***************************************************************** 01/13/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.12 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Japan: Utilities want government to assist nuclear projects 2 US: U.S. orders libraries to destroy key CD-ROM NUCLEAR REACTORS 3 Vladimir Mikheyev: Danger equivalent to 500 Chernobyl 4 US: Hearing on Vermont Yankee sale brings out nuclear opponents 5 Lithuanian nuclear workers call to keep reactor open, mull privatisa 6 US: TMI sirens fail yearly alarm test NUCLEAR SAFETY 7 US: N-plant neighbors want radiation pills 8 US: Irradiated package sickens at least 11 workers, official says 9 US: Calvert Wants Pills in Case of Nuclear EmergencyCalvert Wants 10 US: Md. to Stock Radiation Pills For Power Plant Neighbors 11 US: Feds stockpiling anti-radiation pills 12 US: Sen. Clinton urges New York to stockpile anti-radiation pill NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 13 US: Inside Yucca Mountain: Time is necessary tool for researchers, 14 US: Yucca: North-South battle looms 15 US: RGJ editorial: Yucca Mtn. choice politics not science 16 US: Nevadans gather to fight dump decision 17 US: Yucca neighbors say lawsuits coming over nuclear dump decision 18 US: Indian waste site skirts nuclear rules 19 US: Judge halts EPA transfer of ombudsman 20 UK: Terror attack on Sellafield 'would wipe out the north' 21 US: Gephardt Statement on Yucca Mountain 22 US: PSR Condemns Choice of Yucca Mountain as Nuclear Waste Site 23 US: Nevada Democrats say dump decision will cost GOP in elections 24 US: Opponents of nuclear dump in Nevada pause before next push 25 US: Sununu says Nevada shouldn't create resentment over dump 26 US: Hazmat Trucks On Bridge Leads To Crackdown 27 US: Nuclear waste accident exercise planned this weekend 28 US: Skull Valley: Nuclear Censorship 29 US: Powers that be whisper 'Lie down,' but Nevada's fight must conti 30 US: LETTERS: Republicans bringing us nuke dump 31 US: Yucca: EDITORIAL: The dog that hasn't barked 32 US: Yucca: When it's time to fix blame, make sure the aim is true 33 US: Yucca decision attracts attention 34 US: Nuclear waste may pass through Kansas 35 US: YUCCA DEBATE: Sununu: Nation is watching 36 US: Yucca opposition to focus on legal challenges, education 37 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Sununu remarks draw response from Nevadans 38 US: Nuclear-waste fight headed for Congress -- 39 US: Nevada says nuclear-waste fight will continue Energy secretar 40 US: Editorial: Abraham to Nevada: Glow to hell 41 US: RGJ editorial: Yucca Mtn. choice politics not science 42 US: Nevadans gather to fight dump decision 43 US: Yucca neighbors say lawsuits coming over nuclear dump decision 44 US: Dump opposition spurs diverse groups to join forces 45 US: Oped Columnists: NEVADA IS FOR NUKES 46 British ignoring advice on Sellafield, says expert 47 US: Attorney general sues Starmet over radioactive material storag 48 US: AU: Radioactive leak at SA uranium mine not a danger - managers 49 AU: SA govt's response to uranium leak reckless - Democrats 50 US: AU: SA government criticised over handling of uranium leak 51 US: AU: Uranium leak a state matter: Vanstone 52 US: AU: SA Govt denies radioactive spill cover-up claims 53 US: Nevada mountain to be nuclear garbage can 54 US: AU: Mine back in operation after radioactive leak 55 US: Nuke debris can now go in landfills 56 US: Governor Kenny C. Guinn's Statement Regarding Secretary Spencer 57 US: Dump opposition spurs diverse groups to join forces 58 US: Nuclear waste accident exercise planned this weekend NUCLEAR WEAPONS 59 US: Bush Misses Historic Opportunity on Nuclear Cuts - UCS 60 Nuclear war an option, India says 61 Pakistan enhancing nuclear warhead carrying capabilities 62 IAEA team to visit North Korean nuclear facilities next week 63 US: 'SNIFFERS' SCOUR CITY FOR BOMBS 64 Russia Seeks New Arms Pact With U.S. US DEPT. OF ENERGY 65 Energy Secretary took thousands from nuke industry 66 Lee Says Nuclear Codes Were Junk 67 Group Criticizes Nuke-Workplace Rules 68 Our View: Cleaning up the INEEL is far from guaranteed 69 Richardson Denies Race Role in Probe 70 SRS equipment trouble is being resolved ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Utilities want government to assist nuclear projects Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] JAPANESE The Asahi Shimbun Implementing nuclear fuel recycling policy will be too costly to achieve without help, power companies say. The nation's electric utilities, aware of the expense involved in implementing government policy on nuclear fuel recycling, are about to ask the government to help them pay the tab, industry officials say. The anticipated request is prompted by concern among big utilities that, as the government presses on with deregulation of delivery of electricity, newcomers to the industry not encumbered with expensive nuclear power generating plants may gain a competitive edge in power rates. Their appeal is intended to ease the burden utilities face in paying for nuclear fuel recycling-seen as a necessity in this resource-scarce nation-as well as offsetting the cost of building new nuclear power plants. Utilities intend to ask the government to endorse surcharges on electricity retailers that enter the market after deregulation to pay for their use of the bigger utilities' power-transmission lines, the officials said. Utilities also intend to seek government support for a so-called carbon tax, which would be added to the bill for electricity generated by fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, for the amount of carbon dioxide-a greenhouse gas-produced as a byproduct of power generation. The result would be relatively less expensive electricity fees for power generated from nuclear fuels compared to fossil-fuel alternatives, the utility officials said. Both measures are intended to pass the cost of power policy on to electricity customers. Utilities have not yet calculated the exact costs that will be the basis for their appeal to the government to share the cost. But the figures are to be determined based on the cost of a nuclear fuel-cycle plant now being established as a joint project in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, after it goes into operation this spring. The cost of maintaining the Rokkasho facility, plus the cost of dismantling obsolete nuclear plants, yielding radioactive waste, will be factored into the total, the officials said. Nuke proves costly The fact that electric power utilities are about to seek new government support for financing nuclear power projects represents an acknowledgment that electric power generated from nuclear energy is not as cost-effective as they had anticipated, industry analysts say. As the utilities prepare to take on the imminent challenges of new competition in a deregulated electric power industry, they find themselves forced to acknowledge the realities. The now-discredited assumptions by the utilities were based upon estimates from the government's Advisory Committee for Energy. In December 1999, the committee submitted a report that anticipated electric power generated from nuclear sources would cost just 5.9 yen per 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity, compared to 6.4 yen and 10.2 yen, respectively, for the cost of generating the same amount of electricity by natural gas and by oil. Since the utilities now say they will need help from the government, they are basically admitting that the committee, which included industry representatives in its members, were wrong. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which has a relatively large number of aging nuclear power generating plants, says its cost to generate 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity is about 8 yen. Introduction of a new nuclear generator brings the cost to about 12 yen, since it now involves spending more in the early stages to repay the initial costs involved in building a new power plant. Smaller utilities that serve rural areas find nuclear power generation is a heavy headache as they begin bringing new nuclear reactors on line, industry sources say. For example, Hokuriku Electric Power Co. in Toyama intends to bring a new nuclear power generator on line in March 2006, but it would bring a power-generating capacity increase that surpasses the combined demand increase of its service area over the past 15 years. The utility wants to resell half the power it generates to nearby Kansai Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co., but those utilities would have to buy electricity from a rival, and more expensive, nuclear power plant. (01/12) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction or ***************************************************************** 2 U.S. orders libraries to destroy key CD-ROM The Arizona Daily Star Sunday January 13 03:38 AM EST By Inger Sandal, ARIZONA DAILY STAR The U.S. government ordered libraries including the UA's to destroy a CD-ROM on the nation's water supply because of fears of a chemical or biological attack after Sept. 11. The data on the computer disc had been open to the public nearly two years. About the same time, federal agencies pulled information including nuclear plant sites, pipeline maps and aviation records from their Web sites. Some cited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a reason for cutting off access. "To have government information withdrawn at this rate has not happened before, to my knowledge," said Karen Williams, team leader of the University of Arizona's Digital Library Initiatives and Special Collections. "It's a real professional dilemma for us. It's a professional value to make this information available," she said. "No one is suggesting there shouldn't be classified information. But what's difficult is when it's not so clear — information that's already been publicly available." Librarians across the country are finding themselves in the middle of an escalating national debate between honoring the public's right to know and protecting national security. The U.S. Geological Survey ( [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news? p=%22U.S.%20Geological%20Survey%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw] - [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=U.S. %20Geological%20Survey&cs=nw] ) wanted the CD-ROM pulled because part of its data mapped out the country's public water intakes — the pipes that tap into a stream or reservoir to feed a community's water supply. "That was the piece of the information we were concerned could fall into the hands of people who wanted to use it for less than desirable reasons," said Geological Survey spokesman Butch Kinerney. He said the agency tried to decide what would give terrorists an additional tool that wasn't already widely available — for example, through maps sold at convenience stores. "It's an incredibly fine line that you walk," Kinerney said. "We gather information and we process it and we give it back to people. That's our job. But this was an unprecedented time." A library employee destroyed the UA's copy of the CD-ROM — a disc that can store thousands of pages of information — without question after getting the Oct. 12 letter. The U.S. Government Printing Office routinely sends orders to remove information that contains errors or needs to be updated. But library administrators are now discussing how to respond if there are more orders, and looking for alternatives to destroying information. "It may be in the end we don't have any options, but we want to be sure of that," Williams said. "We don't want to jeopardize the receipt of future information because that would go against our mission. It's a tough situation." Congress set up the Federal Depository Library Program nearly 200 years ago to ensure the public's access to government information. Today it provides materials directly from the U.S. government, the world's largest disseminator of information, at no cost to more than 1,330 designated depository libraries throughout the nation. The UA library is one of 15 in Arizona. So is the Tucson/Pima Main Library, which did not have the CD-ROM. Janet Fisher, the regional depository librarian at the State Library in Phoenix, was also ordered to destroy its copy of the same CD-ROM, titled "Source Area Characteristics of Large Public Surface-Water Supplies in the Conterminous United States: An Information Resource on Source Water Assessment, 1999." Superintendent of Documents Francis J. Buckley Jr. issued the order for the repository system because of the U.S. Geological Survey concerns. He made it very clear the command was difficult to make but had better be followed, Fisher said. The government could take away the entire collection from a library that didn't follow the program's guidelines. "They are just not going to frivolously send out letters," said Fisher. "We trust that the system works and that the reasons were good. But I just don't look forward to the researcher in 20 years saying, ÔI'd like to get my hands on this. Where is it?' " The State Library is the only depository in Arizona designated to receive every publication distributed by the Government Printing Office through the program. "To limit access for many because of the actions of a few is really sad," Fisher said. Buckley did not return telephone calls seeking comment. But Kinerney, the Geological Survey spokesman, said his agency never asked that libraries destroy the information. "We would have been happy if it had gone into a locked drawer for a while, but we were told by the printing office they couldn't expect libraries to maintain security," Kinerney said. He predicted the CD-ROM will probably be reissued because it has information used by a wide variety of people. The Geological Survey also pulled some pictures from its Web site and stopped selling certain maps. Federal agencies are now re-evaluating what to return to public view. The way various agencies have removed information since Sept. 11 has raised concerns on both sides of the debate. "It was pretty crazy from what I understand. They pulled stuff off pretty quickly and now they are trying to re-evaluate what should be put back up," said Angela Logomasini, director of risk and environmental policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. She said she worries that individual agencies are making decisions without input from security experts. Logomasini, who advocates for business interests, wants Congress to restrict more information, arguing that sensitive documents can be used as weapons and should not be available in libraries for anonymous access. Advocates for greater public access complain that even though four months have passed since the Sept. 11 attacks, formerly public information continues to disappear haphazardly and without explanation. "I don't think any of us that believe in public access are blindly pursuing our beliefs in the post-Sept. 11 environment," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a nonprofit group formed about 20 years ago to monitor the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. But if data must be restricted, Bass said, there should be public discussion. OMB Watch has met with government officials and is leading a growing coalition "trying to wrestle with these thorny issues." OMB Watch's Web site now includes an inventory listing material known to have been removed or restricted since Sept. 11. "It's very difficult to maintain this kind of list — you don't know what you don't know," Bass said. It also includes Attorney General John Ashcroft ( [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news? p=%22John%20Ashcroft%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw] - [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=John %20Ashcroft&cs=nw] )'s Oct. 12 memorandum urging federal agencies to use greater caution in disclosing information requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Topping the inventory is Buckley's order to destroy the Geological Survey's CD-ROM on water. Libraries may have few options, Bass said, because losing the depository program would have huge consequences for a research university. The UA Library's government repository information dates to the turn of the 1900s and includes maps, reports to Congress, and data on water supplies, Indian lands, the environment and much more. Atifa Rawan, the UA's documents librarian, said she has seen the government ask to destroy material for security concerns only a handful of times in her nearly 20-year career. "This is new to all of us in the whole worldwide. Terrorism and Sept. 11 is waking us up in many directions," Rawan said. "My personal thought is we should not really limit information in libraries." The government collections are kept, unrestricted, on the third floor of UA's Main Library. "We don't police them," Rawan said. "What we get is what the government puts out and what the government is allowing us to have." + Contact Inger Sandal at 573-4115 or [isandal@azstarnet.com] . Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc., and ***************************************************************** 3 Vladimir Mikheyev: Danger equivalent to 500 Chernobyl catastrophes is stored in Siberia Pravda.RU Jan, 09 2002 Today’s guest is director of the Civic Center for Nuclear Non-proliferation (in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk), Vladimir Mikheyev. He was born in 1955 and has a higher education. Has been working on nuclear safety problems since 1989. He is also a founder of the Ekologichesky Vestnik (Ecological Bulletin) newspaper, which was the first ecological newspaper on the territory of the former CIS. The first issue of the newspaper was illegally printed on October 14, 1989. Since 1989, Vladimir Mikheyev has been one of the leaders of the Krasnoyarsk public ecological organization Green World. In February of 1990, he was one of the organizers of the regional ecological movement, and in 1994, he was elected chairman of the movement. The ecological movement organizes actions to inform the population of the consequences of the processing of nuclear waste. Vladimir Mikheyev, together with independent experts, initiated expeditions on the Yenisei river for the analysis of the river’s radiation pollution. The information was then published in the mass media. He is the author of several publications on the problems of nuclear pollution and the processing of spent nuclear fuel. - There is not so much information about the activity of the Civic Center for Nuclear Non-proliferation that you lead. Tell us about the main objectives of the Center. - Our main objective is informing of the community and mass media of nuclear security problems, the consequences of processing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear non-proliferation. For this purpose, we publish books and booklets, constantly update our official site, and organize press-conferences. We also provide information about nuclear problems for people concerned; our public library is open for everyone. - What is nuclear security for Russia ? - “Do no harm” is the key principle of nuclear security for Russia. It means that all plans of the Russian Ministry for Atomic Energy are to be clear for the population; they are also to be approved by the people of the regions where the construction of new nuclear power plants or depositories of spent nuclear fuel are planned. - We have been witnesses of a long discussion between supporters and opponents of the import of spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Spent nuclear fuel is already being transported to the ghost town of Zheleznogorsk. Officials of the Ministry for Atomic Energy say that this is a way to earn $20 billion, which is to be spent on the solutions to vital ecological problems of Russia. For many people, the explanation is rather agreeable. - First of all, the sum of $20 billion was officially published for the first time by a representative of Non-Proliferation Trust, Inc. (America) at the beginning of 1999. You may find articles about it on our official site. Second, the sum of $20 billion is the total cost of the project, from which all expenses are to be deducted. Russia’s Minister for Atomic Energy, Rumyantsev, said in Krasnoyarsk on July 13, 2001 that Russia would get only a part of the sum. Even the minister does not know the exact amount. This is to be the sum after the deduction of the project’s net cost (transportation, construction of depositories, and other expenses) from the earnings. Our center expects that Russia will earn only $350 million within 40 years. Third, it is not ruled out that a part of the sum will be stolen in Moscow, as the ministry is personally interested in obtaining the money. The resignation of ex-minister for Atomic Energy Yevgeny Adamov in March 2001 was caused by his commercial activity in his private interests. The Duma has already published documents that reveal the existence of corruption in the Ministry. - But not only our own and imported spent nuclear fuel poses a threat to nature and the population of the Krasnoyarsk region. What are other most threatening problems ? - Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is the most dangerous operation in the nuclear fuel cycle (from uranium production to radioactive waste disposal). Ninety-five percent of noxious discharge falls during reprocessing. That is why, as the ministry plans to import spent nuclear fuel, it will also reprocess. The ministry plans to launch its RT-2 plant by 2020. As of now, radioactive wastes and spent nuclear fuel with the activity of 3.7 billion curie are stored at the depository in the town of Krasnoyarsk-26. For reference, after the catastrophe in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl, about 59 million curie were discharged. That is why we may say that a catastrophe 74 times larger than that one of Chernobyl is being stored at the mining chemical plant in Krasnoyarsk-26. The ministry plans to construct a new dry depository for spent nuclear fuel with a capacity of 33 000 tons for imported and domestic spent nuclear fuel. This is a great additional loading at the rate of 20 billion curie. If the existing depository is expanded, the loading will gain 3 billion curie more. If the ministry’s plans succeed, the loading of the mining chemical plant in Krasnoyarsk-26 will make up over 25 billion curie by 2010-2015 (or a discharge equivalent to 500 Chernobyl catastrophes). Therefore, we may say that the depository may become the most contaminated place not only in Russia but in the whole world within the next 10-15 years. - During the period of perestroika, ecologists played a very important role. However, today, we observe no mass protests even against most detrimental projects. What is the reason for it ? - There are two reasons for it. The population is preoccupied with the settlement of everyday, routine problems; the society’s activity has decreased. Russia’s ecological organizations carve out a miserable existence because no support is obtained from local authorities. - Which public organizations and political parties does the center cooperate with? - We try to avoid politics. The center has close contacts with Russian and foreign public organizations, which allows us to obtain efficient information and organize joint-campaigns. - Tell us about the rich history of the ecological movement. - The creation of the regional ecological movement was accompanied by demonstrations the population of the Krasnoyarsk region against the construction of platform #27 in the summer of 1989. The peak of the population’s activity fell at this very period. Several ecological anti-nuclear meetings supported by writers Viktor Astafiev and Roman Solntsev were organized. The joint efforts helped save the land where the Ministry for Atomic Industry (today’s Ministry for Atomic Energy) planned to construct platform #27, an enterprise for the storage and processing of spent nuclear fuel. That very event is considered to be the organization’s birth. However, there was no information about the activity of the mining chemical enterprise in the town, and the ecological movement aimed at informing the population about the enterprise’s work and its harmful consequences. The examination of the nuclear production was the key objective of the movement’s work at that time. The movement wanted the people to know the truth about the harmful production, but the authorities of that time prevented the mass media from publishing such information. Then, we decided to publish our own ecological newspaper, and Ekologichesky Vestnik newspaper illegally issued on October 14, 1989 for the first time. We published seven issues illegally before the newspaper was officially registered. In the newspaper, we published exact information about radiation pollution of the Krasnoyarsk region caused by the mining chemical enterprise. The movement organized several ecological expeditions on the Yenisei river to examine radiation pollution of the water. The Krasnoyarsk public ecological organization Green World was founded in the summer of 1989; on its basis, the Krasnoyarsk regional ecological movement was created in 1990. The organization collected over 50 000 signatures against the construction of the RT-2 plant in the region. Then, the regional ecological movement, together with the Krasnoyarsk regional administration, organized three international radiological conferences on conversion and nuclear security problems. The Civic Center for Nuclear Non-proliferation was created then to continue the work of the ecological movement. - And let us speak about the future now. What may happen within the nearest time if nuclear security problems are not settled in Russia and other countries ? - Several catastrophes of Chernobyl extent may occur… - Most part of information about the environment is top-secret, as it is connected with the defense complex. However, the government protects the sphere rather strictly (we may judge about it by the court’s verdict on the case of journalist Grigory Pasko). How does the center settle the problems that arise in this connection? We know that the center works on the creation of a system for public control over the activity of the mining chemical enterprise in Krasnoyarsk-26. - We have been working on the problem since 1989. Different kinds of pressure from the KGB, Federal Security Bureau, and Federal Intelligence Service have been exerted on the organization, but we still keep on working on the problem. The center has opened its subsidiary in Krasnoyarsk-26. - Tell us about the future plans of the Civic Center for Nuclear Non-proliferation and the Krasnoyarsk regional ecological movement scheduled for 2002. - We plan to work on informing the community and mass media of the danger that may be caused by the further development of the plutonium industry in the Krasnoyarsk region and the construction of an international depository of spent nuclear fuel. One of the main objectives is also to increase our professionalism in opposition to the popularization of the Ministry for Atomic Energy. - They say that two classes of ecologists exist: pessimists and well-informed optimists. How do you characterize yourself ? - I belong to the second type of your classification. - Do the Russian authorities and the society understand the importance of ecological problems ? If not, how should we achieve this? - There is no understanding of this kind so far, which is why we should exert pressure on the authorities to achieve it. Vladimir Mikheyev was interviewed by Andrey Lubensky PRAVDA.Ru Translated by Maria Gousseva Read the original in Russian: http://pravda.ru/main/2002/01/09/35396.html [http://pravda.ru/main/2002/01/09/35396.html] RIA 'Novosti' ***************************************************************** 4 Hearing on Vermont Yankee sale brings out nuclear opponents By Associated Press, 1/11/2002 17:17 BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) A public hearing on the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee turned into a discussion of whether the nuclear plant should continue to run at all, with most speakers saying it shouldn't. About 30 speakers at the statewide hearing via Vermont Interactive Television opposed the sale, with many appealing to the Vermont Public Service Board to shut the reactor down. The six people who spoke in support of Vermont Yankee included at least two plant employees and a Central Vermont Public Service executive who said he was speaking as a private citizen. PSB Chairman Michael Dworkin refused to say whether the board could order Vermont and out-of-state owners to shut the plant. ''We would need to hear some legal advice,'' Dworkin told Guilford resident Eesha Williams. Topics of concern included breast cancer, terrorism and waste disposal, and ranged across the country from Vernon to Utah. Utah is where Entergy Nuclear Corp., the company seeking to buy Vermont Yankee for $180 million, and other utilities want to put a waste storage site on an Indian reservation. Hannah Tidman summed up the general sentiment when she said the board should not be weighing just the dollars and cents of the transfer. ''This is not about economics; this is about ethics,'' she said. Approximately 40 to 50 people attended the Brattleboro hearing -- leaning against the walls, sitting on the floor in front of the TV, and spilling out into the hall, where those who couldn't fit inside hugged their knees and strained their necks to listen. The hearing ended at 10 p.m. when Dworkin closed comments. But if Windham County has strong feelings about nuclear power and the proposed sale, it appears the rest of the state largely doesn't care. There were 12 people at the Springfield site -- several from the Brattleboro area -- five in Colchester, and no more than three at the rest of the 12 sites. No one showed up for the hearing at several sites. The board is expected to make a decision on the sale later this year. Boston Globe ***************************************************************** 5 Lithuanian nuclear workers call to keep reactor open, mull privatisation - The Times of India MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2002 AFP [ SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2002 6:04:03 AM ] ILNIUS: Employees at Lithuania's Chernobyl-style nuclear power plant urged on Friday that the reactor be kept open for another 30 years and possibly privatised, despite pressure from the EU to shut it down by 2009. "The second unit of the plant could and should operate during its projected term until 2017, and after modernization it could be operated for another 10-15 years," said a statement adopted at a meeting of the Ignalina nuclear power plant's employees. The reactor's 4,600 workers also called on the Lithuanian parliament to "create a legal basis for possible privatisation of the plant and attracting foreign investment into the Lithuanian nuclear energy sector." As part of its preparations to join the European Union, Lithuania has already committed itself to shut down the first of Ignalina's two reactor units before 2005. The government plans to set next month a tentative date for the closure of the second reactor, but the final decision rests with parliament. The EU, which wants the second reactor unit shutdown by 2009, has warned Lithuania it will not close membership negotiations this year unless it sets a closure date. Lithuania is hoping to complete accession negotiations this year and join the EU in 2004. The EU has offered to help finance the closure of Ignalina's two Soviet-built RBMK reactors, which it considers unsafe by design, despite large sums spent to improve their safety over the past decade. Ignalina produces about 70 percent of Lithuania's energy. Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. | ***************************************************************** 6 TMI sirens fail yearly alarm test Intelligencer Journal LancasterOnline.com Nearly half remain silent Saturday, January 12 By Rebecca Ritzel Intelligencer Journal Staff Exelon Nuclear officials heard troubling sounds of silence Friday, when almost half of the sirens for Three Mile Island failed to sound during a special annual alarm test. Most of the trouble occurred in York County, where none of the 34 sirens went off at 9:15 a.m. as scheduled. In a separate malfunction, a siren on Snyder Road in Mount Joy Township failed to go off at the same time. Exelon spokesman Ralph DeSantis attributed the York County problems to computer problems, not siren failure. "There was a faulty port in the computer, and the modem in that computer was not functioning properly. The signal never made it to the sirens," DeSantis said. That computer and modem were being replaced Friday afternoon, and Exelon planned to run a silent test on the sirens later last night, DeSantis said. The sirens seemed to be functioning normally last Tuesday when the company ran its weekly silent test, he said. The company is still in the process of determining what went wrong with the Snyder Road siren, DeSantis said, and will retest it at a later date. "All of the other sirens sounded in Lancaster County," DeSantis said. He was unsure of exactly how many sirens there are, but estimated there are several dozen in the county, in Elizabethtown Borough and Conoy, Mount Joy and East and West Donegal townships. Gerald Cole, chair of the Mount Joy Township supervisors, said he heard the Hershey Road siren go off on Jan. 5 at noon, right on schedule for the monthly audible test. "As far as I know, this is the first time we've had a problem with our sirens," Cole said. Last August, Exelon was cited with a safety violation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for siren problems in southern Lancaster County, where seven municipalities lie in the emergency zone for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. The company fired an electrical contractor that was supposed to be maintaining those sirens, but that company did not work on the TMI alarms, DeSantis said. ©2001 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. ***************************************************************** 7 N-plant neighbors want radiation pills Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 08:04:28 -0800 N-plant neighbors want radiation pills By JACK KASKEY Staff Writer, (609) 272-7213, E-Mail Barbara Bailine lives about nine miles north of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township, so she wants to be ready for the worst. The worst, she says, would be an accident or terrorist attack that releases enough radiation to spread cancer across southern New Jersey. Although nuclear power plants are robust structures, some experts say the highly radioactive bundles of spent fuel at New Jersey's nuclear plants are vulnerable to attack by a suicide bomber. "If you have people ready to give up their lives for a cause, you better be prepared for the worst," Bailine said. "I feel like I'm living on the side of a volcano." So the Pine Beach resident purchased potassium iodide. Taken immediately after a radiation release, the over-the-counter pill prevents radiation from accumulating in the thyroid, where it can cause cancer. Thyroid cancer is the biggest short-term cancer risk caused by breathing airborne radiation or eating food or milk contaminated by radiation. New Jersey officials on Wednesday may decide to follow Bailine's example when a secret committee decides whether to stockpile enough potassium iodide to protect everyone living near the state's two nuclear power plants. The committee also must grapple with the issue of how to distribute the pills. New Jersey's former health commissioner, Christine Grant, recommended in August that the state stockpile 900,000 potassium iodide pills. That's enough to give two days' protection to the estimated 450,000 residents and summer tourists who could be within 10 miles of nuclear plants in Salem and Ocean counties. Because Ocean County has so many tourists, Grant recommended that the state distribute the pills after a radiation release, rather than giving them out in advance. Post-Sept. 11 urgency To date, the recommendations have not been implemented, but there has been a national push to stockpile potassium iodide since Sept. 11. On Dec. 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new instructions for administering potassium iodide after a radiation release. The FDA recommendation notes that after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, children in countries downwind of the radiation have been developing thyroid cancer at 10 to 100 times the normal rate. The exception is Poland, where quick distribution of potassium iodide prevented any increase in childhood thyroid cancers, according to the FDA. On Dec. 20, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it will buy potassium iodide for any state that requests it, on a first-come first-served basis. "Obviously, Sept. 11 added some urgency to get this moving ahead," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said. "Vermont has already expressed great interest." Tennessee, Arizona and Alabama purchased their own stockpiles years ago. The pills would be provided only to those within 10 miles of a plant because people near an accident would be exposed to more radiation and have less time to evacuate than people further away, Sheehan said. People as far as 50 miles from a plant could be affected by a nuclear accident, depending on which way the way the wind blows, and federal law requires states to make emergency plans for people that far away. No public input When New Jersey's radiological emergency committee discusses the potassium iodide issue this week, no one from the public will be permitted to observe, said Dennis McGowan, a spokesman for the state Division of Health and Senior Services. The meeting includes health, emergency management and environmental officials, as well as nuclear utility representatives, but it is closed to the public, he said. However, any decisions made Wednesday must be finalized by the Health Department, said John Haggerty, a spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Management. Ruth Fisher, a resident of South Dennis in Cape May County, was upset to learn that the nuclear utilities will help decide whether residents get potassium iodide, while the public will not. "One of my grandchildren might survive if the unthinkable happened, and I want to do anything that might help them," said Fisher, who has been lobbying local officials to stockpile potassium iodide for a year. Plants vulnerable Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer who has worked at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants, detailed the vulnerability of the state's nuclear plants in a Jan. 7 letter to the NRC. Spent fuel at Oyster Creek in Ocean County and Hope Creek in Salem County is stored above ground, making it particularly vulnerable to an air or ground assault that could drain cooling water, wrote Lochbaum, who now works for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. "The uncovered and uncooled irradiated fuel in the spent-fuel pool could then overheat and release large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere," Lochbaum wrote. In addition, a fire large enough to prevent the safe shutdown of a plant could be started at any of the state's nuclear-generating stations by crashing a fuel-filled airplane or by saboteurs with inside knowledge, he wrote. The nuclear industry, however, maintains that any attack would not lead to a major radiation release. "We do believe that nuclear plants are the strongest physical assets of any kind of infrastructure in this country," said Mitchell Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group. He also cautioned that iodide pills will not make a person invulnerable against all the effects of radiation. "One of the things we've always stressed is that in a nuclear emergency, evacuation is the safest precaution," Singer said. Still, demand for potassium iodide is rising, particularly near nuclear plants. At the Medicine Shoppe in Lacey Township, for instance, requests for potassium iodide have increased fivefold in the months since Sept. 11, pharmacist Tom Kelley said. To satisfy the demand, Kelley said he stocked the shelves this month with potassium iodide for the first time in five years. Ocean County resident Bailine already has purchased enough pills to protect herself, her sister, mother and brother-in-law, as well as her nephew, his wife, a friend and her cats and dogs. If the worst happens, she wants to be heading out of town, not making a run to the drug store for potassium iodide. "I figure that's a hell of a time to be looking for it," she said. ***************************************************************** 8 Irradiated package sickens at least 11 workers, official says Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 08:11:50 -0600 (CST) Health & Science: Irradiated package sickens at least 11 workers, official says By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (January 11, 2002 9:25 a.m. EST) - A package that was irradiated as part of the government's anti-anthrax screening gave off a noxious gas Thursday when it was opened at the Commerce Department, sickening at least 11 workers, a fire official said. The workers complained of nausea, breathing problems and throat irritation, and two were admitted to a hospital in undetermined condition, D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter said. The FBI and hazardous-materials workers were dispatched to the scene and blocked off 14th Street in front of the Commerce Department during the evening rush hour. The building is situated at 14th and Constitution Avenue, a block from the Ellipse. Etter said a package of copy paper tightly wrapped in plastic gave off a noxious gas when it was opened. He said health officials believe the irradiation process can cause paper to give off hydrocarbons that are harmful when concentrated. Gas was held inside the package at the Commerce Department because it was tightly wrapped, Etter said. Two women who work on the fifth floor of the building called 911 at about 3:45 p.m., after they began to have trouble breathing. The women, who were not identified, were taken to the hospital. As an investigation was under way, other workers began to call emergency officials to report that they had some of the same symptoms. Etter said irradiated mail has made people sick at least five times in Washington over the past several weeks. "People respond differently to this based on their current health condition," he said. "We don't know how serious it can get." Thursday's incident was the first indication that the screening for anthrax spores or other biological agents in mail could cause health problems. Postal officials have said only that the process could damage such perishables as film and medication. Officials have been irradiating mail to all federal buildings in the aftermath of the anthrax scare in which two letters tainted with the bacteria were sent to Capitol Hill. Etter said Commerce officials would have to decide whether to allow workers into the room Friday. A department spokeswoman did not return a message left on her answering machine late Thursday night. ***************************************************************** 9 Calvert Wants Pills in Case of Nuclear EmergencyCalvert Wants Pills in Case of Nuclear Emergency washingtonpost.com: By Raymond McCaffrey Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, January 13, 2002; Page SM07 The Calvert County commissioners hope to hear from the state this week on its plan to stockpile federally issued potassium iodide pills to help residents guard against radiation in the event of a nuclear power plant mishap. Maryland officials announced Friday that they intend to accept the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's offer last month to provide the pills, which can help prevent thyroid damage, to residents living within 10 miles of reactors. The commissioners expect to talk Tuesday with a representative of the Maryland Department of the Environment, which will be working out the details of distributing the pills to residents, such as those living near Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant at Lusby. "Clearly Calvert needed to play a major role in those decisions," Board of Commissioners President David F. Hale (R-Owings) said. The state will receive about 160,000 doses of potassium iodide, or two pills for each of the 80,000 residents within that fallout zone, according to Michael Sharon, chief of the emergency response division at the state Department of the Environment. Three-fourths of those individuals live in Calvert, St. Mary's and Dorchester counties within a 10-mile radius of the Calvert Cliffs plant, the state's only such facility, with the rest living in Harford and Cecil counties, near the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Maryland's announcement came days after Massachusetts said it had accepted the NRC's offer, the first state to do so. "We wanted to at least have a quantity of tablets available in the state as soon as possible so we didn't have to wait in line," Sharon said. Maryland's decision represents a change of policy for the state, which has strictly advocated evacuation and sheltering in response to a nuclear plant emergency, but did not stockpile potassium iodide for residents, partly in fear that people would become reliant on a pill that offers limited protection. Sharon said Maryland did not even consider distributing the pills statewide because the NRC offered potassium iodide only for those living within the 10-mile area the federal regulators have determined must be evacuated in an emergency. The distribution plan for the pills, according to Sharon, could involve methods such as handing them out at a central location or delivering them door to door. So far, the cost of distributing them is unknown. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 10 Md. to Stock Radiation Pills For Power Plant Neighbors (washingtonpost.com) Distribution Issues Remain; Va. Weighs NRC Offer By Raymond McCaffrey and Fredrick Kunkle Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, January 12, 2002; Page A05 Maryland will become the second state to stockpile federally issued potassium iodide pills to help residents guard against radiation in the event of a nuclear power plant mishap. State officials announced yesterday that they intend to accept the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's offer last month to provide the pills, which can help prevent thyroid damage, to residents within 10 miles of a reactor. Maryland will receive roughly 160,000 doses of potassium iodide, or two pills for each of the 80,000 residents who live within that fallout zone, according to Michael Sharon, chief of the emergency response division of the state Department of the Environment. Seventy-five percent of those people live in Calvert, St. Mary's and Dorchester counties and within 10 miles of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant, the state's only such facility. The rest live in Harford and Cecil counties, near the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Maryland's announcement came days after Massachusetts announced that it had accepted the NRC's offer. Virginia officials said yesterday that they were still considering whether to request the nonprescription tablets. D.C. Health Director Ivan C.A. Walks said the District has no plans to stockpile potassium iodide. There are no nuclear power plants in the District. "If we need it, we will handle it like other medications that we have distributed in the past few months," he said. "We would expect to be able to access the national pharmaceutical stockpile." Maryland's decision represents a change of policy for the state. It and most other states have strictly advocated evacuation and sheltering in response to a nuclear plant emergency but had not stockpiled potassium iodide for residents, partly in fear that people would become reliant on a pill that offers limited protection. Sharon acknowledged that Maryland's decision to change its policy was heavily influenced by public reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Since 9-11, there is heightened concern," Sharon said. "That's what we feel the public would want us to do." Virginia emergency management officials met with officials from nuclear utilities and the Virginia health department Jan. 4 to review the issue. Among unanswered questions are whether the state should stockpile the supplies or distribute the pills to members of the community. "We really haven't finished looking at it yet," said Janet L. Clements, spokeswoman for the state Department of Emergency Management. "Of course, we also want to see exactly what the federal government is offering. What are the dosages, for example? Are they in adult form? Do they have doses for children?" In Calvert, where the nuclear power plant has operated under heightened security since Sept. 11, even shutting down its visitors' center to the public, officials were left grasping for information about what role they will play in the delivery of the pills -- and residents were questioning what the shift in policy meant to them. "What are they trying to tell us, that there are problems up there?" asked William Hopkins, a community activist in Chesapeake Ranch Estates, located near the plant. James Riccio, a nuclear power analyst for Washington-based Greenpeace, maintained that public fear was exactly why the NRC took until January 2001 to change its policy and begin advocating potassium iodide as a supplement to be used in response to nuclear emergencies. "NRC has known for eons that this stuff should be distributed," Riccio said. "They were afraid it would infer that the plants weren't safe." Sharon said Maryland did not consider distributing the pills statewide because the NRC offered potassium iodide only for those living within the 10-mile area that the federal regulators have determined must be evacuated in case of an emergency. Sharon said that state officials will meet with local authorities to help determine a distribution plan for the pills, which could range from handing them out at a central location to delivering them door-to-door. It is uncertain how much it will cost to distribute the pills. David F. Hale, president of the Calvert County Board of Commissioners, said the county wanted to be involved in that decision process and asked to meet with an official of the state Department of the Environment on Tuesday to find out more about the pills. "Are they going to be distributed to individual households?" Hale (R-Owings) asked. "Will they be made available at schools? Will they be made available at mass-casualty centers? "I think the initial reaction is we should distribute the drug to everybody, because it seems like the best solution. But there are other factors I think that we should consider. The safest thing that people should do if there is an event is to evacuate. I don't want the distribution of a little pill to override an evacuation order." Staff writer Avram Goldstein contributed to this report. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 11 Feds stockpiling anti-radiation pills Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ajc.com: January 13, 2002 Drug called 'psychological Valium' Mike Toner - Staff Sunday, January 13, 2002 The threat of nuclear terrorism --- including an undisclosed threat in mid-December --- has triggered a rush by two federal agencies to acquire millions of doses of radiation-blocking potassium iodide pills. The pills, if taken in a timely fashion, can prevent thyroid cancer, but some nuclear safety experts say they are merely "psychological Valium" that would provide little real protection in a nuclear mishap. Some states, including Georgia, are so concerned that the 11-cent pills might promote a false sense of security that they might pass up a federal offer to supply them with the pills for free. Nuclear terrorism had been a concern among federal law enforcement agencies for years. Until now, though, the use of potassium iodide, which blocks the uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland, has not been a priority for the agencies now building up the country's stockpile. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been urged by public policy groups to distribute potassium iodide ever since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. On Dec. 20, it announced that it was setting aside $800,000 to buy enough potassium iodide to treat all 3 million people living within 10 miles of every U.S. nuclear power plant. (Georgia has four nuclear power units, two each at Plant Vogtle and Plant Hatch.) Simultaneously, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which for three years has been building a national stockpile of drugs to combat biological and chemical terrorism, has begun quickly expanding into the nuclear protection arena. "Potassium iodide is no silver bullet for radiation poisoning, but there was a threat and we didn't want to be without it," said Steven Bice, chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pharmaceutical stockpile program. "We moved very quickly. We had more than a million doses in two days." In mid-December, the U.S. Office of Emergency Preparedness hastily ordered 600,000 doses of potassium iodide and picked up the pills from a distributor the same day. Between Christmas and New Year's, the stockpile purchased an additional million doses of the drug and announced plans to purchase up to 10 million more doses within the next few months at a cost of $1 million. A bill in Congress sponsored by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) would require an even larger reserve of the pills --- enough to treat everyone within 200 miles of any nuclear facility, roughly a third of the country's population. The sudden interest in radiation-blocking pills comes against a backdrop of growing concern that terrorists might explode a "dirty bomb" that would spread radioactivity over a wide area or attack a commercial nuclear power plant. Although no specific threats have been publicized, the risks have struck a public nerve. At retail outlets around the country, potassium iodide is flying off shelves as fast as Cipro did at the height of the anthrax scare. "We've seen a hundredfold increase in sales since people started getting anxious about nuclear terrorism," says Troy Jones, president of NukePills.com, which sells 14-tablet packages of potassium iodide over the Internet for $9.95. "To be honest, though, I'm not sure most of them realize that this is not a miracle drug that will protect them against all kinds of radiation." Among radiation health professionals, however, the enthusiasm for "anti-radiation pills" is much cooler. So far, in fact, the government has had trouble giving the stuff away. Despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's offer to give them free to any of the more than 30 states with nuclear power plants, there have been few takers. Reversing an earlier state policy, Massachusetts has requested 660,000 of the pills, two each for the 330,000 residents living within 10 miles of its three nuclear power plants. Vermont, New York and New Jersey seem to be leaning toward accepting the offer, too. South Carolina wants them, but only for emergency workers. Alabama, Tennessee, and Arizona already have stocks of the drug as a precaution against nuclear accidents. Officials in several states, including Georgia and Illinois, have said flatly that they don't want them. "At best, stockpiling potassium iodide would be a waste of money and effort," says Jim Hardeman, the manager of Georgia's environmental radiation program. "At worst, the notion that we have some super anti-radiation pill could breed a false sense of security." Mike Sinclair, chief of preparedness for the Illinois Nuclear Safety Department Department of Public Safety, agrees. "Based on the limited applicability of the drug, it doesn't add anything in terms of public health," he says. The public has its own ideas. Because it has been a familiar staple in emergency workers' kits for decades, there is widespread agreement about the effectiveness of potassium iodide but little consensus on its value in the unfamiliar face of nuclear terrorism. Taken before exposure, or within a few hours of it, potassium iodide effectively prevents the uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland and greatly reduces the risk of thyroid cancer. The problem is getting it to people who need it in a timely fashion. When the Three Mile Island accident occurred, the government rushed 237,000 doses of potassium iodide to the scene, but it didn't arrive until six days later. That was too late to have done any good if large quantities of radiation had escaped. Stockpile director Bice says distributing the pills in such a short time poses a "logistical conundrum" that the CDC has yet to resolve. Even the 12-hour delivery that is the government goal for its emergency "push packages" would be too slow. Some states have experimented with distributing the pills ahead of time, but most of them are quickly lost in household medicine cabinets. "To do any good at all, you'd have to carry these pills around in your pocket," says Georgia's Hardeman. "They're just not practical." The Food and Drug Administration and the American Thyroid Association have endorsed the drug for radiation emergencies, but both emphasize the drug's limitations. "Potassium iodide cannot protect against absorption of any materials besides radioactive iodine," the thyroid association says. "It also offers no protection whatsoever against direct radiation and it doesn't protect any other organ of the body," says Illinois' Sinclair. "If you're in the way of a large release of radiation, protecting your thyroid is the least of your problems." Proponents of potassium iodide say the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident shows how useful the drug can be. Since the accident, thyroid cancers have increased a hundredfold in the surrounding region of Ukraine, where potassium iodide was not distributed. In adjoining areas of Poland, where the drug was distributed, the rate is dramatically lower. "That's 11,000 cases of thyroid cancer that could have been prevented if the government had distributed potassium iodide in time," says Alan Morris, president of Anbex, one of two Food and Drug Administration-approved U.S. manufacturers of the drug. Morris says use of potassium iodide has never been pushed in the United States because the nuclear industry feared that widespread distribution of something intended for use only in event of a nuclear accident would stir concern about the safety of commercial reactors. "They were more interested in protecting their reputation than the public, but now that they can blame the heat of terrorism, it's OK." Even as it now presses states to consider accepting stocks of potassium, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission takes pains to point out that the drug is intended only as a supplement to what it has always maintained is the preferred way to deal with a nuclear crisis: evacuating the area. In Georgia, where people living in the evacuation zone around Plants Vogtle and Hatch number in the tens of thousands, evacuation could be accomplished swiftly. Many reactors, however, are located in densely populated areas where evacuation would be a huge task. "The commission believes [the pills are] a reasonable, prudent and inexpensive supplement to evacuation but not a substitute for it," says NRC health physicist Trish Milligan. "It isn't the answer for everything, but maybe it will make people feel psychologically reassured." But Georgia's Hardeman says too much reassurance in the face of a nuclear accident isn't very helpful. "Some people are going around saying that potassium iodide is to radiation what Cipro is to anthrax," he says. "The truth is that, the way many people perceive it, it's more like psychological Valium. The answer to a nuclear emergency is not to take a pill. The answer is to evacuate the area." © 2002 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ***************************************************************** 12 Sen. Clinton urges New York to stockpile anti-radiation pill By Seanna Adcox, Associated Press, 1/11/2002 17:38 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton urged New York state to stockpile a pill that could help prevent thyroid cancer caused by a nuclear power plant explosion. But state officials say the senator's push won't affect their already-underway discussions about providing potassium iodide, a hard-to-find medicine known by its chemical compound abbreviation KI. In a letter sent Friday to Gov. George Pataki, the New York Democratic senator asked state officials to take advantage of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's offer to pay for the state's KI stockpiles. The NRC has budgeted $800,000 over the next two years to provide it on a first-come, first-served basis. On Wednesday, Massachusetts became the first state to submit a request, asking the NRC for 660,000 pills two for each resident who lives within 10 miles of nuclear reactors in Plymouth, Ma., Seabrook, N.H., and Vernon, Vt. New York state has a total of six reactors, at Indian Point in Westchester County north of New York City, at Nine Mile Point north of Syracuse and the Robert E. Ginna plant 16 miles east of Rochester. Security at all the plants has been beefed up since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack destroyed the World Trade Center towers. ''While it is all our sincerest hope that a radioactive release will never take place at any of the nuclear power plants in our state, developing a potassium iodide stockpile will provide a proven and added level of protection ...'' Clinton wrote. State Sen. James Seward, who chairs the Senate Task Force on State and Local Emergency Preparedness, has just wrapped up his research on the idea, said his spokesman Duncan Davie. The Otsego County Republican will present his report to the task force soon, which will then make its recommendation to the Senate, Davie said. ''While he (Seward) welcomes Sen. Clinton's input, that doesn't affect in any way the study of the issue,'' Davie said. Meanwhile, a separate KI task force led by the State Emergency Management Office has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday, said SEMO spokesman Don Maurer. ''We welcome input from all members of the public,'' he said. But the meeting is ''unrelated to this letter.'' In a radioactive release, people could inhale or ingest radioiodine, which can eventually cause thyroid cancer, particularly in children. KI, which prevents the gland from storing the cancerous chemical, works best when taken a few hours before exposure. New York's current policy calls for distributing KI to emergency workers before they go to the scene, while evacuating the general public. Current stockpiles for workers and others who can't leave, such as hospital patients, vary by county, Maurer said. In the past, state officials avoided more widespread stockpiling for fear people outside the immediate area would regard the pill as a panacea and not evacuate. But updated FDA dosage guidelines released Dec. 10, combined with the NRC's request that states consider distributing KI to the general public and its offer to pay for it had caused New York officials to re-examine their 20-year-old policy. Though an over-the-counter pill, KI is not found in most pharmacies. It is available over the Internet for about $10 per 14 pills. The NRC is trying to negotiate a cheaper price with manufacturers. Boston Globe ***************************************************************** 13 Inside Yucca Mountain: Time is necessary tool for researchers, but a precious commodity for the state January 13, 2002 Don Cox RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/12/2002 07:29 pm Marilyn Newton/RGJ Sunlight pours into the north portal of the tunnel at Yucca Mountain. YUCCA MOUNTAIN — Scientists working in Alcove Five deep inside this sagebrush covered ridge in the southern Nevada desert will finish on Monday the first half of an eight-year experiment to see how rocks and water react to temperature changes. At Yucca Mountain, everything takes time. The testing is another small part of ongoing research to determine what must be done to complete a project that’s one of the most controversial ever undertaken in the state — constructing an elaborate tomb for the nation’s nuclear waste inside the mountain. On Thursday, the mountain was moved a big step closer to becoming the world’s first central storage facility for high level radioactive garbage, most if it in the form of used uranium fuel pellets from nuclear power reactors located across the U.S. The nation’s Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, announced his support for Yucca Mountain as the dump site for 77,000 tons of waste. Formally, it was Abraham’s notice that he’ll recommend the mountain to President Bush. Abraham’s declaration touched off the expected uproar, with Nevada’s congressional delegation, governor and other political leaders protesting and threatening legal action. It all took place in Washington D.C., Carson City, Reno and Las Vegas — the outside world. Inside Yucca Mountain, at the time Abraham announced his decision, it was business as usual. Scientists studying computer screens and reading instruments didn’t stop what they were doing. They were 1,000 feet below Yucca Mountain’s crest and nobody came running down the tunnel to Alcove Five with Abraham’s news. Scientists and engineers have been studying the mountain, inside and out, for two decades. They call it “site characterization.” They will continue, even as the above ground fight over Yucca Mountain goes on. So far, all the digging and studying has cost more than $3 billion. The scientists and engineers don’t often talk about the politics of Yucca Mountain. Mostly, they talk about the science and engineering of Yucca Mountain. “It’s geological disposal,” said Richard Craun, an engineer. “We’re trying to keep nuclear waste away from humans and humans away from nuclear waste.” Craun and Steve Frishman, a geologist, are the yin and yang of Yucca Mountain. Both are experts. They express opposite viewpoints. Craun, who lives in Las Vegas, about 100 miles southeast of the mountain, is a senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Energy. He represents the DOE’s position that scientific evidence shows Yucca will work safely as a storage facility. Frishman, who lives in Mason Valley near Yerington, is technical policy coordinator for Nevada. He represents the state’s position that Yucca is flawed and science hasn’t been able to prove otherwise. “I continue to make the point that you can’t go into this unless you can demonstrate that what you know today is sufficient,” Frishman said of uncertainties about Yucca Mountain. Unlike the politicians above ground, Craun and Frishman don’t threaten. They don’t even raise their voices. Underground, they both explain what’s going on in Alcove Five, where scientists talk about “radio wave snapshots,” hydrology and geophysics. The gist of it is, scientists spent four years monitoring a section of rock heated to a continuous temperature of 400 degrees. On Monday, the heat will be switched off and scientists will spend four years monitoring the cooling rock. They want to know more about how the mountain, and especially water inside the rock, will react to the process of stored nuclear waste going from hot to cool over time. Despite Abraham’s announcement, the project faces years of hearings and debates, along with all the possible lawsuits, before it can be built and put into operation. If construction is authorized, work could begin no sooner than 2006, with completion in 2010, according to the DOE. Right now, Yucca Mountain is an underground laboratory. Scientists have been working inside since digging was completed on a five-mile main tunnel in 1997. Eight alcoves, research areas that resemble caves, are connected to the main tunnel. “You learn a lot when you go underground,” Craun said. Yucca isn’t a mountain, at least in the traditional form of a sharp peak and steep slopes. It’s a seven-mile long flat-topped ridge, 1,200 feet high, running north-south, in the Yucca Range that rises up from the desert. The tunnel, called the Exploratory Studies Facility by scientists, is U-shaped. But the base of the U is longer than the arms that serve as access ramps, sloping down at gradual three degree angles from the entry points — the north and south portals — in the side of the ridge. A giant boring machine that sits idle outside the south entry dug the tunnel, 25 feet in diameter. Inside, the tunnel is cold, with the ventilation system constantly pumping in fresh air from outside. A narrow railroad track stretches the length of the tunnel. Small diesel engines run on the tracks, pulling strings of open-sided passenger cars, bigger than, but similar to the miniature railroads children ride in amusement parks above ground. If the access ramps were much steeper than three degrees, there wouldn’t be enough traction for the tunnel railroad. Although it’s a lab, the Yucca Mountain scientists aren’t clad in white coats. Instead, everyone wears construction hard hats, plastic safety glasses and yellow utility belts. Each is equipped with a flashlight and small respirator, so you can see and breathe in an emergency. Earplugs are a tunnel fashion accessory. It’s noisy, with most of the racket coming from the diesel-powered people movers. All sorts of wiring and piping run along the tunnel walls, which are supported with steel braces. If the nuclear repository is built, it will consist of 51 smaller disposal tunnels running east-west from the main tunnel and containing metal canisters of the spent fuel. One thing Yucca Mountain probably won’t have is Yucca trees, which flourish in the surrounding desert. Only three have been spotted growing on the ridge. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. Use of ***************************************************************** 14 Yucca: North-South battle looms January 13, 2002 Lenita Powers RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/12/2002 01:05 am Marilyn Newton Steve Frishman, technical policy coordinator for the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, records readings of rooms being heated to 400 degrees Thursday inside Yucca Mountain. Debate over whether to send tons of radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain through Reno or Las Vegas could divide and weaken Nevada in its battle against becoming the nation’s nuclear dumpsite, a state consultant said Friday. No exact route has been selected, but two that are proposed would ship waste on Interstate 80 and along the Union Pacific Railroad line through Reno to Yucca Mountain, about 80 miles north of Las Vegas. “Frankly, the folks in southern Nevada consider Reno-Sparks to be rural,” said Robert Halstead, transportation adviser to the state Nuclear Projects Agency. “That’s my greatest concern: that the state will end up being divided by the transportation issue,” Halstead said. “Either Las Vegas interests will be imperiled or interests in the northern state will be imperiled.” U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended Yucca Mountain as the site for the nation’s nuclear dump Thursday, focusing attention in northern Nevada on transportation issues. Federal officials insist transporting radioactive waste is safe, but others disagree. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said he believes the Department of Energy has been elusive intentionally about the possibility of a waste route through northern Nevada in order to avoid panic. “I think the Department of Energy has done everything it could to divert attention from the highways and railways where they plan to ship nuclear waste,” Reid said. Nevada’s congressional delegation and Gov. Kenny Guinn have vowed to fight that decision at the White House level, in Congress and in court. Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin could not be reached for comment Friday, but Sparks Mayor Tony Armstrong said a nuclear dump in Nevada would damage the economy statewide. “It would have a more negative impact than Nevada’s had with prostitution, quickie divorces or gambling years ago back in the ’30s,” Armstrong said. “We’re no longer ‘Sin City’ but we’d be seen as a scary place where if you go there, you glow.” Armstrong doesn’t buy the DOE’s assurances that transporting nuclear waste across the country to Nevada will be safe. “They claim that these casks are very safe and that implementing this is very safe, and my response to that is if it’s so safe, why don’t they leave it where it is?” Nuclear waste may already be moving through northern Nevada. Union Pacific has hauled material for the DOE for a number of years, said Mark Davis, a spokesman in the railroad’s headquarters in Omaha, Neb. He said he couldn’t say if and how many shipments of nuclear waste might have come through Reno and Sparks. “There are two things we don’t discuss about shipments: the routing and the types of materials.” Davis said Union Pacific cannot refuse to haul the nation’s nuclear waste. “As a common carrier, we are required to haul any type of commodities,” he said. Proposals include Reno-Sparks Several options exist for transporting nuclear waste to the southern Nevada site by rail and truck, including Interstate 80 or the Union Pacific rail passing through the Truckee Meadows. Much of the waste could come from reactors or research facilities across the West, including California, Oregon and Washington. “It’s quite possible a large percentage of the shipments — 15 to 20 percent of the trucks and 15 to 20 percent of the rail shipments — could come through the Reno-Sparks area,” Halstead said. “I think that’s going to be the most probable route.” Halstead said a draft plan prepared by the DOE shows five rail spurs to carry nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain are under consideration: four in southern Nevada and one in the north, where shipments would travel through Reno-Sparks or from Elko to the Carlin area and then south along a new track for the 300-plus mile trip to the dump. The northern route would be the easiest to build and would avoid shipment of nuclear material through Las Vegas area, Nevada’s largest city with a greater metropolitan area population of more than 1.5 million. A worst-case scenario would be an accident involving fire and the release of nuclear material from a ruptured cask spewing deadly radiation in Reno-Sparks or across sensitive areas like the Truckee River canyon, which provides the area’s water supply, Halstead said. The fight on the Hill Nevada’s fate is not yet sealed as the site to bury up to 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste shipped from 131 sites in 39 states across the nation. Reid said if President Bush doesn’t reject the Secretary of Energy’s recommendation, the state could veto the proposal, an action formally called a “notice of disapproval.” The matter would then go before Congress, where a majority vote in both houses would be needed to support Nevada’s veto. “And that will be very hard to get,” Reid said. Reid, the state’s senior congressman and second most powerful Democrat in the Senate, said Nevada has two clear ways of fighting Yucca. One would be a lawsuit based on the federal government’s failure to conduct an environmental study on transporting the waste. Reid said the National Environmental Policy Act requires the DOE to conduct an environmental assessment or an even more extensive environmental impact statement, which it has not done. ☺ “I think the DOE hasn’t done it because, number one, it would never pass, and number two, it would frighten the hell out of everybody.” Another obstacle is that the Nuclear Regulatory Agency still has to license the dump before construction can begin, Reid said. “The Nuclear Regulatory Agency has to license it, which could take years,” Reid said, adding he expects the agency will be fairer in its review than the DOE has been. “In the preliminary work they have done, they already have been more objective.” Reid said Nevada’s congressional delegation will try to sway Congress against using Yucca Mountain by recommending an alternative to a single, national dumpsite: “Leave it where it is in dry cask containment storage.” That’s already being done in a number of nuclear plant sites, such as the one in Calvert Cliffs just outside of Baltimore, Md., Reid said. “It’s inexpensive and it’s safe. That would be good for 100 years, and maybe by then we would have some new technology to better deal with it.” Federal energy officials: transport safe The DOE has not yet identified any specific routes to transport waste, but it would be on a federal highway or rail line, Joe Davis, the federal agency’s director of public affairs, said. Davis said the DOE has safely transported nuclear waste over the rails and highways for 40 years. “During that time, I believe there have been only eight traffic accidents involving the shipment of nuclear waste, and none of them resulted in any exposure that was harmful to any individual or the environment,” he said. If Yucca Mountain becomes the nation’s storage site for nuclear waste, the DOE’s target date to begin shipments is 2010. Davis said the DOE, the Department of Transportation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will determine what routes will be used to ship the waste. Staff writer Jeff Delong contributed to this story. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 15 RGJ editorial: Yucca Mtn. choice politics not science January 13, 2002 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL ASSOCIATED PRESS A train carrying workers enters the opening of the Yucca Mountain Project near Mercury, Nev. Thursday was a day Nevadans knew would eventually come, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take. More than a decade of study and political posturing culminated with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s announcement that he would recommend to President Bush that Yucca Mountain be the future home to the nation’s 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. That decision begins the real battle between Nevada leaders and the Bush administration over a project based on flawed studies and political motivation, not “sound science” as Bush had promised. It’s a battle that Nevada politicians have been expecting, and readying for, for years. The first shot was fired back in 1987, when Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the only site for study for a possible national nuclear waste dump. The skirmishes continued through the 1990s, when Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan spent much of their time on Capitol Hill scuttling repeated attempts for an interim waste dump at Yucca Mountain. They were quite successful, in part, because of help from the Clinton administration, which opposed an interim dump, and in part, because of sheer determination and hard work. Today, the interim dump is no longer the concern: It’s the threat of the real thing that has Nevadans jittery. Nevada’s congressional delegation in concert with Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Nevada Nuclear Project Agency chief Bob Loux have been ramping up for this fight over the past few years. Nevada already has begun taking its case to the courts and continues to sock away money for what likely will be a lengthy court fight. Guinn also put Abraham on notice that as governor he would veto the DOE recommendation, a veto Congress can override with a simple majority. That may ultimately put the dump’s fate in the hands of Reid, freshman Sen. John Ensign and Reps. Jim Gibbons and Shelley Berkley. Reid’s powerful position as Senate majority leader will help, as will the ability of the entire delegation to lobby members of both parties in both houses. While they are armed with strong arguments, the group does not face an easy fight in Washington, D.C. There are more than 30 states that are currently storing nuclear waste in temporary facilities and would quickly welcome the chance to dump their toxic trash anywhere, including Nevada. Those states must be convinced of the dangers that come with transporting nuclear waste across the nation’s railroads and highways. What about the public safety and health risks associated with a potential transportation spill in an urban area? What about the risk of waste seeping into the ground water of southern Nevada or the potential for a disastrous leak caused by the earthquakes that periodically hit the Yucca Mountain area. Proponents characterize the Yucca Mountain site as remote, but it is really only 90 miles from one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, which also happens to play host to many thousands of tourists each week. In the wake of Sept. 11, the seemingly distant possibility that Yucca Mountain could be a potential terrorist target is now a valid concern and threat. Oh, and what about the non-partisan General Accounting Offices report that urged Bush to postpone a decision because of 293 questions it raised about the project, largely related to the mountain’s geology and the strength of metal casks that would encase the spent fuel? Looking only at the facts, it seems Nevada will win the battle with the federal government, but so far, the Energy Department’s selection process has been more about political agendas than “sound science” and facts. Guinn’s words to Abraham Thursday were harsh, but accurate: “I think this decision stinks, the whole process stinks and we’ll see him in court.” He’s right; it does stink. Fortunately, the battle is still far from over. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 16 Nevadans gather to fight dump decision January 13, 2002 Mary Thompson and Susan Voyles RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/11/2002 10:23 am Attacking Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s recommendation Thursday to turn Yucca Mountain into the nation’s nuclear waste dump, Nevada officials united for a fight they said would be waged in court and in Congress. Gov. Kenny Guinn and the state’s congressional delegation also said they would pressure President Bush, who must approve the designation, and lobby lawmakers in states where the nuclear waste would pass en route to the Nevada site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. “This is not going to be let go with the secretary of energy,” Guinn said in a teleconference Thursday. Guinn said Congress may ultimately decide, if he cannot persuade President Bush to reject the plan. Already, the state is launching what Guinn called an aggressive legal strategy that officials contend could tie up the licensing process for years. Officials say the plan to ship and bury up to 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain has long been opposed by Nevada legislators who fear the site threatens health and public safety. Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. John Ensign said they will attempt to enlist the help of other senators whose states would be on the route of trains coming to Nevada with loads of nuclear waste. “Nobody foresaw the World Trade towers and a plane becoming a weapon,” Ensign said. “It would be easy, based on what we saw there, to design something and break one of these canisters as it is crossing Los Angeles.” Reid said Abraham’s decision is premature. He said the General Accounting Office, the congressional watchdog, is in the midst of 300 scientific investigations of the site and so far has the results from only seven studies. With Abraham making a recommendation before those reports are in, “We have ammunition we have never had before,” Reid said. While campaigning in 2000 in Nevada, Reid said President Bush indicated Yucca Mountain would not go forward unless there was “good science.” Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin said he and nine other mayors at a Nevada League of Cities meeting on Thursday in Las Vegas voted unanimously to oppose storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Griffin said he and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman also will be working with other mayors across the country whose cities are on the shipment routes to block the project. Reid, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, expects an uphill fight. “The odds are we can’t get 51 votes,” he said. “But we are going to work our tails off,” Ensign said. Idaho’s two GOP senators, Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, applauded Abraham’s decision because it will speed up moving nuclear waste out of their state. “This is another major step in the critical and necessary move to get waste out of Idaho and into a permanent waste facility,” Craig said in a statement. “I have always believed that sound science should guide this decision, and the science clearly states that this site is geologically favorable for development as a long-term repository.” But some say Nevada’s desert may not be the perfect location as some had envisioned. U.S. Public Interest Research Group an environmental organization, said Abraham’s decision ignores environmental concerns, including a GAO report that questioned how quickly the storage casks will leak radioactivity. “In 1998, PIRG and more than 100 environmental, consumer and safe energy organizations petitioned then-Energy Secretary (Bill) Richardson to disqualify Yucca Mountain because it would not meet standards for containing the waste,” said Anna Aurilio, the group’s legislative director. “Instead, DOE weakened the site guidelines.” Right now, the nation’s nuclear waste is stored in temporary facilities at power plants in 35 states. Moving the waste to Nevada is a major concern, said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. “Before anyone starts shipping hundreds of tons of radioactive waste across America’s highways and railways, the government needs to make sure it is taking the safest, wisest course,” Daschle said in a Thursday statement. “I hope President Bush will agree and delay his decision until all of the necessary studies are finished.” Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, agreed, disqualifying the debate as a partisan issue. “It is unfortunate that Secretary Abraham would continue green-lighting a project that has been riddled with corruption and mismanagement since its inception,” Gibbons said. “From day one, this project has lacked the necessary scientific consensus that would ensure the public’s safety.” Reid said DOE already has wasted $8 billion on Yucca Mountain and the total project could cost $70-$100 billion. Nevada officials expect the Department of Energy to issue a more complete environmental analysis, including transportation concerns, when Abraham makes his final recommendation to the president within 30 days. Reporter Doug Abrahms contributed to this story. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 17 Yucca neighbors say lawsuits coming over nuclear dump decision Enter Search Term January 13, 2002 Current Temp 36° Local News AP National & International News Business Sports Life Technology Opinion Entertainment Outdoors Weather Obituaries Weddings & Announcements Columnists TV Guide Movie Listings Special Reports Forums Customer Help Key Contact Links Subscribe Renew Advertise with us Place classified ad Send us a news tip Letter to the editor Win a Pocket PC Click to win! Yucca neighbors say lawsuits coming over nuclear dump decision Ranchers, farmers vow 'heck of a fight' Don Cox RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/11/2002 09:51 am Stephen Reich/RGJ Related Stories Dump opposition spurs diverse groups to join forces How Yucca Mountain would work Nevadans gather to fight dump decision Supporters, foes say Yucca Mountain decision will have Utah impact Sen. Ensign fears Yucca's political fallout for Nevada GOP E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to the paper online LAS VEGAS — The farmers and ranchers who can see Yucca Mountain from their fields in Amargosa Valley said Thursday they will keep fighting plans to store nuclear waste there. “They are going to be in for a heck of a fight,” said Ed Goedhart, who manages a 1,500-acre dairy farm about 15 miles south of Yucca Mountain. “It is going to be difficult to make Nevada swallow this bitter pill.” Inside Yucca Mountain, just hours before the Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made his announcement, workers were conducting a temperature test on a section of rock. At the opening of the tunnel, Nevada state scientist Steve Frishman anxiously awaited the announcement, which he predicted would not be the final word. “There is going to be a lawsuit on any move,” he said. That seemed to be the consensus around the state on Thursday. Goedhart, whose Ponderosa Dairy accounts for almost 30 percent of the milk produced in Nevada, said he fears customers will think the milk will be tainted. He predicts a flurry of lawsuits against the Yucca Mountain project. “It’s going to be a big deal for the federal government,” said Goedhart, who wasn’t surprised by Abraham’s announcement. “They’re making a big mistake.” Ralph and Debbie McCracken, who grow pistachio nuts on property near Goedhart’s dairy, also plan to continue fighting against nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. They, too, are concerned about the perception of their product growing so close to a nuclear waste dump. “Just because it’s the most studied piece of real estate, doesn’t make it the best piece,” Ralph McCracken said of the continuing research and testing of Yucca Mountain’s suitability. “It’s not over. The lawsuits will start flying.” Debbie McCracken agreed with her husband. “You lose one battle, but the war is not over,” she said. “Abraham obviously didn’t look at any communities out here.” Feelings were mixed in Las Vegas, which has a metropolitan population of about 1.5 million living about 90 miles southeast of Yucca Mountain. “It is pretty far away,” said Greg Beasley, a hotel front desk manager who has lived in Las Vegas since 1991. But the mountain is close enough to make Curtis Gilbert, a casino card dealer, uncomfortable. “I think it is too close,” he said. “But the only people who really know are the scientists.” In Beatty, an old mining town about 40 miles northwest of the site on U.S. 95, John Lisle, a retired high school science teacher, hopes Abraham is right. “If they are satisfied it is safe, I am for it,” he said. Find a Job Post a Resume Northern Nevada's most complete source for buying and selling real estate on the web. Home Search Relocation Tools New Homes Newcomer's Guide © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. Use of this site signifies agreement to our terms of service (updated 08/01/2001). ***************************************************************** 18 Indian waste site skirts nuclear rules Brattleboro Reformer Special Report: Vermont Yankee Saturday, January 12, 2002 - 12:42:27 AM MST Signage changes set for hazardous intersection Girls hockey here to stay Doors to close on Canal Street School By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff Saturday, January 12, 2002 - -->BRATTLEBORO -- In Skull Valley, Utah, the homes of the Goshute Indians, say those who have visited from the northeast, are across the road and only about a quarter-mile from a planned high-level radioactive waste storage facility in the Utah desert. Sandy Streeter, of Bernardston, Mass., recalls seeing children playing in the sand as the wind swept up the desert valley, across the proposed site toward the homes. "It's an immense space out there," says Deborah Katz, executive director of Citizens' Awareness Network and one of the members of a "Caravan of Conscience" that visited the Goshute reservation in October. "It's desert. It's beautiful. There are buffalo ranging, grazing on native land. There are cows grazing. "(The proposed waste site) would be right across the road (from homes) ... it's really gruesome." The facility would be a "temporary" holding place for high-level radioactive waste -- the most dangerous of all byproducts of nuclear power. The irradiated fuel rods that have ended their useful life as reactor fuel are so dangerous that there is no permanent place to put them. They remain dangerous for, conservatively, 200,000 years. The Skull Valley project is spearheaded by Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, which under Minnesota law can't store more than 17 casks of spent fuel on site at its Prairie Island reactors. If the federal government doesn't construct a permanent repository soon enough, Prairie Island would have to shut down. Xcel officials aren't betting on the Department of Energy to come through on time, so they want to build a "temporary facility." So Xcel, along with seven other nuclear operators, formed Private Fuel Storage and set about finding a site approximately five years ago. Potential Vermont Yankee buyer Entergy inherited a 12.9 percent share in PFS when it bought Indian Point 2 in New York from Consolidated Edison. The site chosen by the companies was the Goshute Indian reservation. Isolated, inhabited by only about 125 people, the reservation has an additional advantage: Because it is a sovereign Indian nation, PFS doesn't have to get the approval of the state of Utah to build a facility there. "They ... have clearly exploited an impoverished and politically powerless tribe," says Larry Jensen, an assistant attorney general in Utah. "(The Goshutes are) a small, very impoverished, politically vulnerable group of people ... (PFS) can plop (the waste) down in Utah on a reservation but they don't have to really deal with Utah." PFS has secured an agreement with the tribe through its representative, Council Chairman Leon Bear. But Bear was relieved of his seat in September amid allegations of corruption. Now it's unclear whether Bear was authorized to sign the agreement -- and unclear whether a small band of Indians will find themselves living indefinitely next to 40,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste they never agreed to host. "The Goshutes do not want high-level waste stored near their reservation or on their reservation," Katz says. "They are opposed to it. They believe that this is an act of environmental racism. They believe they were chosen for it because they are a poor rural tribe ... "If there's no permanent solution found in 50 years they could become the de facto dump for the country. They're also concerned about terrorists attacks at this point. Just as the waste is a terrorist target at Vermont Yankee it's a terrorist target in Utah. "I can't even conceive of how many Hiroshima bombs you're just going to put in one place." Because the facility is designed to be "temporary," the plan is for the 4,000 casks, holding the equivalent of all the high-level nuclear waste produced in the country to date, to stand in orderly rows in the open air, on a concrete pad. The ethics of nuclear waste storage have played an important role in hearings on the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee to Entergy. Entergy, in testimony, has indicated that it "does not anticipate making ... a delivery" of Yankee's spent fuel to the Goshute reservation, but a spokesman said last week that it was too soon to tell. As PFS goes forward with its plans in Utah, industry officials are feting the Secretery of Energy's recommendation that Yucca Mountain in Nevada become a final repository for waste from Vermont Yankee and from all the nation's other nuclear reactors and weapons facilities. "It really is a major step for the county's future," said Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams Friday evening. "... A centralized storage facility will correct the problem of having spent fuel stored throughout the country at operating and decommissioning plants. This is really in the long-term best interest of Windham County, the state, and the country." What about the residents of Nevada -- which, like Utah, doesn't have any nuclear reactors? "Certainly Nevada, the residents there, have been afforded a very fair and thorough scientific review of that area," Williams said. "It's an old nuclear test range, in fact." Nevadans feel otherwise. So do Utah residents. Jensen and others say there is no reason why Utah or Nevada should have to bear waste created in Vermont, Massachusetts, or anywhere else. "We just don't understand why the state of Utah should be asked to bear the risks that go with the storage of ... the entire current inventory of spent nuclear fuel in the country," Jensen says. "It's like the political process has been sidestepped somewhere." Katz says when Yankee Rowe shut down 10 years ago, she and others wanted the waste taken away as soon as possible. Then she realized that "away" from Rowe merely meant closer to someone else. "When we realized what may have happened to us from this waste, the idea of shipping it to another community ... became immoral and unconscionable," she said. "I think what we have is a terrible situation in which there are no good solutions. ... It's all terrible solutions at this point." ***************************************************************** 19 Judge halts EPA transfer of ombudsman Rocky Mountain News: Local By Berny Morson, News Staff Writer A federal judge in Washington Friday halted the transfer of the ombudsman who won a pledge from the Environmental Protection Agency to remove radioactive waste from a Denver neighborhood. Ombudsman Robert Martin had been ordered to report for a new assignment Monday in the office of the EPA's inspector general. But U.S. District Court Judge Richard Roberts issued a temporary restraining order, delaying the transfer until Feb. 26. Roberts issued the order from the bench, said Hugh Kaufman, an EPA official and friend of Martin who was in the courtroom. Martin has charged repeatedly that the reassignment will strip him of the authority to conduct investigations into cases such as the one that allowed radioactive waste to be buried in Denver's Overland Park Neighborhood. The transfer was announced by EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman in November. It came after years of complaints from EPA executives who saw their decisions reversed after Martin's investigations. But the transfer has sparked opposition in communities, including Denver, where Martin is a hero. Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard asked Whitman in a telephone conversation last week to delay the transfer. He has introduced legislation to establish an independent ombudsman's office in EPA. Earlier Friday, Kaufman said Martin was not planning to show up for a meeting Monday with his new supervisor, Gary Johnson of the inspector general's office. "Why should he?" Kaufman asked. He said Martin has never received the official papers transferring him to the inspector general's office. Johnson did not immediately return a phone call Friday. January 12, 2002 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 20 Terror attack on Sellafield 'would wipe out the north' Guardian Unlimited | Archive Search Paul Brown and Richard Norton-Taylor Guardian Thursday January 10, 2002 A terrorist attack on Sellafield could render the north of England uninhabitable and release 100 times the radioactivity produced by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, the House of Commons defence committee was told yesterday. The most vulnerable part of the facilities at Sellafield, dating back to the 1950s, contain giant tanks of high level radioactive waste which has to be constantly cooled and stirred to prevent a chain reaction. Gordon Thompson, executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said he believed that documents from both the nuclear industry and the government showed neither had ever attempted a thorough analysis of the threat or the options for reducing it. Dr Thompson, who was based in the UK for 10 years and gave evidence at the 1977 Windscale inquiry into reprocessing at Sellafield, and the Sizewell inquiry, is an expert on the potential fallout from a nuclear accident or deliberate act of terrorism. As well as the threat of a bomb, missile or hijacked plane hitting Sellafield, Dr Thompson raises the possibility of a rogue worker or terrorist infiltrator at Sellafield sabotaging the cooling equipment which prevents the stored waste from boiling and causing a massive radioactive release. Dr Thompson's report, sent this week in response to the committee's call for new evidence following a report it published last month, is likely further to alarm the Irish government, which has repeatedly protested about danger from the high level waste tanks at Sellafield. The problem is that the plant which is supposed to turn this liquid waste into more managable and less dangerous glass blocks has never worked properly and a backlog cannot be cleared for another 15 years. Among the possibilities Dr Thompson raised was a vast release of liquid waste into the Irish Sea. That would contaminate fisheries and travel north on currents, making fishing in western Scotland impossible. Anywhere downwind of Sellafield during the releases would be rendered uninhabitable probably for generations and people caught in the fall-out would have a greatly increased chance of getting cancer. Depending on the direction of the wind, cities like Newcastle, Edinburgh and Leeds would be well within fallout range, as would be Dublin. Dr Thompson said: "A civilian nuclear facility is a potential radiological weapon if the facility contains a large amount of radioactive material that can be released into the environment. "A notable example of a potential radiological weapon for an enemy of the UK is the B215 facility at Sellafield. This facility houses 21 steel tanks and associated equipment in above ground concrete cells. The tanks contain high level radioactive waste in the form of self heating, acidic liquid that requries continuous cooling and agitation." He said these tanks contained 2,400 kilograms of caeisium-137, the main cause of off-site radiation exposure from the Chernobyl accident. The total amount released from Chernobyl was 27 kilograms, almost 100 times less than the potential release from the facility at Sellafield. Dr Thompson said that the buildings designed in the 1950s could not withstand a crash from an airliner. The Commons defence committee in its report said that "attention has particularly focused on perceived vulnerability of nuclear installations". However, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday that a "quick response" procedure was in place to cover the whole of the country in the event of a hijack attack. The task of shooting down a hijacked commercial airliner has been assigned to RAF Tornado F3 fighters based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 21 Gephardt Statement on Yucca Mountain U.S. Newswire 11 Jan 17:17 Gephardt Statement on Administration's Decision to Store Nuclear Waste at Yucca Mountain To: National Desk Contact: Erik Smith or Kori Bernards, 202-225-0100, both of the office of the House Democratic Leader Web site: http://democraticleader.house.gov/ [http://democraticleader.house.gov/] WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement by House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt on the administration's decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain: "It is regrettable that the administration is moving forward with its plan to store nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain, in Nevada. Only last month, the General Accounting Office declared that the Energy Department did not have sufficient information to make such a recommendation, and urged the Secretary to postpone any decision until all the data is available. Shelley Berkley and Harry Reid, among others, have rightly pointed out that the science is far from conclusive -- and that such an important decision should be delayed until all the facts are in. "The administration's decision is contrary to sound public policy and contrary to current scientific knowledge. The country -- and Nevada residents most of all -- deserve a fair assessment of this issue based on scientific fact rather than the political leverage of the corporate energy interests. We must guarantee the environmental safety and health of all Nevadans." Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 22 PSR Condemns Choice of Yucca Mountain as Nuclear Waste Site U.S. Newswire 11 Jan 10:32 Choice Based On Politics, Not Sound Science, Says Group To: National Desk Contact: Tarek Rizk of Physicians for Social Responsibility, 202-667-4260 ext. 215 WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that President Bush designate Yucca Mountain as the repository for some 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Although the DOE claims that the area is "scientifically sound and suitable," there is little evidence to support this finding, which is bitterly opposed by Nevada residents, local and state legislators, and environment and health public interest groups. The nuclear industry has long pressed for the transportation of nuclear waste from commercial facilities and other sites to Yucca Mountain. This would allow current and new nuclear power stations to go on producing radioactive waste without regard for the environmental consequences. "There is credible scientific evidence that harmful radiation from Yucca Mountain could contaminate the aquifer that supplies drinking water for Las Vegas and Los Angeles," said Robert K. Musil, Ph.D., M.P.H., Executive Director and CEO of Physicians for Social Responsibility. "Secretary Abraham has arrived at this decision under pressure from big energy corporation campaign donors." The Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have eased regulations proposed for controlling the site more than once, as tests showed that Yucca Mountain could not meet normal standards for protecting public health and the environment. Leaks from the site could well contaminate the freshwater aquifer located beneath Yucca Mountain. This aquifer is the only source of drinking water for the residents of Las Vegas, Nevada and surrounding areas. It also supplies drinking water for southern California. "The science is simply not there to support this decision", said Jaya Tiwari, Director of Research for the PSR Center for Global Security and Health. "The rush to choose Yucca Mountain could endanger public health for a thousand generations." Worse, the waste that will be sent to Yucca in as many as 50,000 shipments is comprised of highly radioactive material from U.S commercial nuclear reactors and atomic weapons facilities spread out across 31 states. 90 percent of the waste would travel via train or truck from east of the Mississippi River. This presents a high risk of accident and, in the current climate, a major terrorist threat. "Any one of these shipments could be hijacked by terrorists and exploded as a 'dirty bomb', spreading nuclear fallout across the center of an American city," said Martin Butcher, Director of Security Programs for PSR. "The proliferation dangers of this decision are staggering, Secretary Abraham is giving terrorists 50,000 chances to wage war with a weapon of mass destruction." Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 23 Nevada Democrats say dump decision will cost GOP in elections Las Vegas SUN January 11, 2002 CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Top Nevada Democrats say Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's plan to recommend a nuclear waste dump northwest of Las Vegas will hurt Republicans running for the state Legislature this year. But GOP leaders say the proposed dump at Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles from Las Vegas, is still a long way from approval and won't be a significant factor in the legislative contests. After Abraham disclosed his recommendation Thursday, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., warned that President Bush's approval of the project could cost Republicans two hotly contested congressional seats in Nevada. Democrats couldn't agree more about the House contests - and added their candidates for state Assembly and Senate seats will benefit, too. "This will be a good issue for Democrats to run on in every state Assembly and Senate race and congressional race," said Jeff Burbank, communications director for the Nevada State Democratic Party. "We've just had eight years of a Democratic president who deferred and was willing to let the scientific research take its course," said state Democratic Party Chairman Terry Care. "Now we have a Republican president who says the heck with that," added Care, an attorney and state senator. "The Republicans are going to have to explain that." But state Republican Chairman Bob Seale said the nuclear dump "is not a partisan issue, even though the Democrats are trying to make it one." "We have people on both sides of the political aisle who are opposed to the nuclear dump," Seale added. "I think it will have very little impact as a campaign issue." The most obvious targets of any anti-dump sentiment generated by Abraham's move would be incumbents who favored the dump and are seeking re-election. But in the 2001 session, when an anti-dump resolution won easy approval, the only "no" votes were cast by Sens. Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas, and Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden. Neal isn't up for re-election this year and Jacobsen is leaving office as a result of reapportionment. Still, Democratic strategists say Republican candidates - whether they're for or against the dump - could suffer if anti-dump Nevada voters blame President Bush for letting the project move ahead. Voters will elect all 42 members of the state Assembly and 11 members of the 21-seat state Senate. The balloting will determine whether the GOP maintains control of the Senate and if Democrats keep the upper hand in the Assembly. The redistricting plan approved by lawmakers in 2001 was designed to give Democrats who now control the Assembly a 25-17 advantage in the lower house, and give Republicans who run the Senate a 12-9 advantage. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 24 Opponents of nuclear dump in Nevada pause before next push Las Vegas SUN January 11, 2002 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Opponents of a federal plan to bury the nation's radioactive waste in Nevada said Friday that they will mount a series of legal and political challenges against the project. The Energy Department says the decision will withstand all such tests. "We certainly believe that the scientific evidence proves that Yucca Mountain is an appropriate site," said Joe Davis, spokesman for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in Washington, D.C. A flurry of denunciations Thursday of Abraham's announcement that he'll recommend approval of the Yucca Mountain site left grass-roots opponents on pause Friday - with no immediate hearings, reports or events on which to focus. "I'm getting a lot of calls from people asking, 'What can we do?'" said Judy Treichel, who founded a Las Vegas-based activist group, the Nuclear Waste Task Force. "I don't have a good answer," she said. "You can't file a lawsuit on the Environmental Impact Statement until you have an Environmental Impact Statement, and you can't file against the recommendation until they actually make it." U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he sent President Bush a letter asking him to tell Abraham to reconsider. U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., the House minority leader, endorsed Nevada's opposition to the plan. He called Abraham's decision "contrary to sound public policy and contrary to current scientific knowledge." Bob Loux, the top Nevada state appointee fighting the proposed repository, said the state is tapping a $5.1 million anti-dump fund built with contributions from the Legislature, counties, cities and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. He said the money will buy advertising in states through which nuclear waste will be transported and pay for lawsuits and lobbying. "The study phase is over," Loux said. "It's headed into the legal and political process now." Abraham notified Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn on Thursday that he will recommend to President Bush in 30 days or more that the two-decade-old project go forward. The project's final environmental impact statement will be made public when it goes to the president with Abraham's recommendation, Davis said. Guinn pledges to fight the plan at every step - including a state veto if Bush approves the project. Loux said the state probably will file suit against the environmental study. It also likely will sue to challenge the work that law firm Winston &Strawn did for the Energy Department before withdrawing after conflict-of-interest allegations. The president has no deadline for deciding whether to ask Congress to authorize the Energy Department to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to operate the facility. If the president gives the go-ahead, Guinn has 60 days to challenge it. Congress can override Guinn within 90 days on a simple majority vote. The Energy Department wants to begin entombing 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel in 2010. However, a congressional General Accounting Office report in November said that with 293 technical questions yet to be answered, the department is unlikely to meet its 2010 date. The GAO said the Energy Department also has no reliable estimate what the dump would cost. Project administrators have said they expect it to cost $58 billion and remain open for 17 years. The site would be radioactive for 10,000 years or more. The radioactive material - mostly in the form of heavy solid waste pellets - would be encased in casks and maneuvered by rail into tunnels some 1,000 feet deep in Yucca Mountain. The state already has filed three lawsuits against the project. One, filed last month in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, challenges the criteria on which Abraham made his decision. Another, filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last summer, challenges the radiation standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Loux said that case has been moved to the Washington, D.C., court. In the third case, the 9th Circuit in November sent back to a U.S. District Court judge in Las Vegas the state's effort to block the federal government from getting the water needed to develop the Yucca Mountain project. Davis said Abraham's decision was based on sound science - as Congress required when it first commissioned studies of the Yucca Mountain site in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Abraham also said "compelling national interest" also came into play. Davis said nuclear waste stored at 103 nuclear power generating stations around the country will be safer in the underground repository at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site - a vast, secure federal range northwest of Las Vegas where the nation's nuclear testing was carried out from 1951 to 1992. "We believe this is an issue of utmost national importance," Davis said. Stephen Cloobeck, owner of the Polo Towers on the Las Vegas Strip, said southern Nevada business owners will become more active in the anti-dump effort. "The fight next goes to (Capitol) Hill," Cloobeck said Friday. "We're going to make sure that all the representatives and senators understand clearly that this is not just a Nevada not-in-my-backyard issue." Cloobeck focused on what opponents have called the project's Achilles heel - plans to ship nuclear waste by rail and truck cross-country to Nevada. "This stuff is going to go through 43 states and people in the United States do not understand this," Cloobeck said. "There aren't many places with emergency responses capable of handling an accident of nuclear magnitude." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 25 Sununu says Nevada shouldn't create resentment over dump Las Vegas SUN January 12, 2002 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada would be wise to remember that other states have a major stake in the Yucca Mountain debate, a pro-repository lobbyist is warning. John Sununu, who served as a chief of staff to the first President Bush, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Friday that Nevada residents may be repulsed by the idea of a nuclear waste repository in their back yard. But he added that there is similar unease in locales where nuclear waste continues to be stored temporarily. Those states have the congressional math in their favor, and their position was bolstered by the Sept. 11 attacks, which underscored the need to place the nation's stockpile of radioactive waste in a single secure location, Sununu said. "If I were advising Nevada long term, I would suggest they do whatever they have to do politically in a way that doesn't create resentment in the country," Sununu said. "If Nevada is not willing to do its part in what is part of a national plan for homeland security ... maybe Americans ought to vacation somewhere else." Sununu made his comments in a telephone interview with the newspaper one day after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that he intends to recommend that 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste be stored at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Saturday that Sununu is "dead wrong in saying that Nevada has run away from our obligations to America." "There are families in Nevada right now that have loved ones serving abroad in the war on terrorism," Reid said. "At the Nevada Test Site, Nevadans are training first responders from all over this country to fight terrorists, and our land will be scarred by the atomic tests of the Cold War for centuries. "Maybe John should come to Nevada before he speaks and see for himself what we've given already." Sununu and one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro were hired as lobbyists late last year by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to push for the Yucca Mountain repository. Sununu, a former Republican governor of New Hampshire, said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reinforced the need for a single location to dispose of radioactive waste. Reid's spokesman, Nathan Naylor, said Saturday that Sununu "attacked the patriotism of every Nevadan and questioned the state's willingness to sacrifice for our country." Nevada officials have criticized Abraham's decision, with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman referring to Abraham as "that piece of garbage." Joe Davis, a spokesman for Abraham, said Friday that the harsh criticism does not bode well for continuing relations between Abraham and the state. Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 26 Hazmat Trucks On Bridge Leads To Crackdown Thursday January 10 11:22 PM EST If trade is America's lifeline, then the Ambassador Bridge is the main artery. Every day more than 32,000 vehicles cross over -- trucks carrying precious cargo and something else. The Defenders have discovered hazardous materials are being carried illegally across. The Ambassador Bridge is restricted by federal regulations, prohibiting corrosives, explosives, radioactives and flammable loads. Gregg Ward, Detroit /Windsor Ferry: "I think the public takes the assumption the law is enforced. So they assume that they're safely crossing these facilities." In our three-month investigation, defender cameras catch truckers carrying over illegal loads. On this day, a fuel truck crosses the bridge. A flammable sign warns of dangerous cargo. But no one stops the truck, a clear violation of the law. Gary Percy, Windsor Fire Department: "As far as a fuel vehicle, I don't even want to think about it, but we would have a real problem." If a situation did occur, Windsor firefighters would be one of several agencies to respond. That's why Assistant Fire Chief Gary Percy supports regulations prohibiting hazardous materials crossing the bridge. Percy: "There is no water supply on the bridge. If it actually burst into flame, I'd have a real problem and concern with the actual structure of the bridge." Defender cameras roll as this truck with flammable signs exits the bridge. Surprised? It happens more often than you think. In fact, a Canadian government report reveals 9,000 truck drivers every year are illegally driving hazardous materials over the Ambassador Bridge. So how are trucks carrying hazardous materials supposed to cross the river? The ferry. It costs $100 – at times, more than twice the cost of using the bridge, but it's legal. Trucker Mike Zelco takes the ferry, plays by rules and wishes others would follow. Zelco: " I don't think it's fair having hazmat cross the bridge because it's a cable-suspended bridge and they're diesel fuel. When you're sitting up there who knows what is going to happen?" How is this happening? Sources tell the Defenders some truck drivers actually take the signs off their trucks and then sneak across the bridge, hoping not to get caught. But the Defenders discovered the companies who own the bridge actually know and allow certain trucks to cross, even though their loads are illegal. Company letterhead shows they're from the Detroit International Bridge Company and Canadian Tranist Company, private businesses that own the bridge. The documents are dated as far back as 1996 and as recent as two months ago. In this letter, the bridge company gives one trucking company permission "to cross the bridge even though they (the commodities) are placarded as hazardous." This letter allow the same company to transport empty alcohol tankers, still considered flammable, a violation of the law. This letter allows another company to transport illegal materials across. And so does this document. The memo reads "Do not prohibit access to our facility for this vehicle." Those documents are not legal. We took the paperwork to the Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Unit. The agency monitors commercial traffic on the bridge. Sgt. Susan Fries, Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Unit: "Even though the bridge is a private structure, Michigan Department of Transportation says that it is a restricted route and those items cannot cross." We went to the bridge company to get answers. Dan Stamper, the man in charge of the bridge, would not talk to us on camera. By telephone he admits some trucks carrying hazardous material are allowed to cross the bridge. He also admits handing out memos identifying the companies that have been granted permission. Stamper: " We have a number of letters like this that have been issued to customers of the bridge who have explained what they are hauling." Karen Drew: "I showed those documents to state police and they say those documents are illegal. Those types of trucks carrying those types of commodities should not cross on the bridge." Stamper: "We don't believe the state has the authority to determine what crosses a private piece of property." Fries: "They maintain there is an underlying agreement that they don't have to comply with those regulations. We maintain that they do." Drew: "Now the bridge companies tells me that they will continue to hand out those letters giving truck drivers permission to cross with their illegal loads. Michigan State Police says they were just alerted to this problem. They are going to start to crack down on these illegal drivers. They have already handed out three tickets. One went to a fuel truck who was crossing the bridge with his load of fuel." Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! ***************************************************************** 27 Nuclear waste accident exercise planned this weekend Nevada Appeal January 12, 2002 Geoff Dornan While the politicians argue whether shipping and storing nuclear waste in Nevada is safe, emergency response agencies are preparing in case the worst happens. An exercise is scheduled today north of Lathrop Wells on the access road to the Nevada Test site near Las Vegas to see how well state, county and federal agencies can cope with an accident involving a shipment of nuclear waste. Public Safety Director Dick Kirkland said the exercise deals with shipments of transuranic waste from the Nevada Test Site to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant at Carlsbad, New Mexico. He said the waste involved is considered low level waste and that the exercise is not specifically related to the kind of waste proposed for storage at Yucca Mountain. But Kirkland said the exercise is valuable for learning better how to handle incidents involving higher levels of waste as well. "It applies to everything, the concepts and principles," he said. Kirkland said large amounts of low level wastes are being transported throughout the nation, including Nevada, and that his crews as well as local authorities, medical and fire personnel all have to be ready to deal with any kind of incident that might happen. Kirkland said one problem for all authorities is that there are really no requirements to report and track those shipments so it's difficult to tell how many of them may be on the roads at any one time. He said he would like to discuss ways of improving that reporting with lawmakers. The Carlsbad plant is a disposal facility for plutonium contaminated wastes from the U.S. Energy Department. It is already receiving waste from DOE facilities in Idaho, Colorado and Washington. The exercise beginning at 9 a.m. will involve emergency response and public safety personnel from the state highway patrol health division and department of transportation, the division of emergency management, Nye County Sheriff's Department, county fire and rescue personnel, medical personnel and ambulance teams. Copyright Nevada Appeal. ***************************************************************** 28 Skull Valley: Nuclear Censorship The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, January 13, 2002 The NRC has officially completed its Final Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Skull Valley PFS nuclear waste dump in Tooele County, yet refuses to release the entire report to the public citing public safety and terrorist concerns. The state is correct in investigating the legalities of this action. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the public must be allowed to review and comment on all federal environmental reports. Still, based on the draft statement which was released to the public, we have a realistic picture of what is covered within the current report. We know that the NRC has made little effort to study the very real threats to public safety through the shipment of nuclear waste into Utah and the operation of an above-ground, high-level nuclear storage facility. The Department of Energy acknowledges that transportation of nuclear waste is the most dangerous aspect of handling this deadly material. These shipments would pass right through the most populated areas of Utah and there is not enough emphasis by the NRC on the dangers to the urban areas of the Wasatch Front as well as the thousands of communities across the country through which this nuclear waste would travel. The NRC does not explore the risk of accidents or terrorist attacks and the resulting environmental and economic catastrophes. DOE says that one accident could contaminate 42 square miles and cost over $1 billion per square mile to clean up an urban community. Who would pay for this? Taxpayers would pick up the bill since current law limits PFS's liability in case of a disaster. Another important consideration is the fact that Yucca Mountain may never open as a permanent nuclear dump, forcing PFS's nuclear waste to remain in Utah indefinitely in unsafe conditions. The NRC refuses to look at the reality of this dangerous proposal. Obviously, the NRC is not really interested in protecting the safety of the public and environment. Indeed, the NRC is just a pawn of a nuclear industry desperate to get nuclear waste out of its facilities so it can continue to create more instead of looking at viable environmentally safe alternatives for producing electricity. REINARD KNUTSEN Nuclear Free Great Basin Campaign Salt Lake City © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 29 Powers that be whisper 'Lie down,' but Nevada's fight must continue Sunday, January 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal COLUMN: John L. Smith Outsiders and those unfamiliar with the state's history must wonder why so many Nevadans have chips on their shoulders. We do. Or, at least, we should. Sure, at times residents of the Silver State can be almost comically self-conscious and hypersensitive to criticism. Casual observers must wonder why a state that promotes 24-hour partying can't seem to lighten up and take a joke. What are we, paranoid? Well, as the old line goes, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you." People in high places, it turns out. Legalized gambling is partly to blame for our hypersensitivity. Bringing cards and dice out of the shadows in 1931 caused a deafening roar across the land. "Cancel Nevada's Statehood!" the Chicago Tribune proclaimed. The Los Angeles Times was equally subtle, calling Nevada a "vicious Babylon." Generations later, we're still scrubbing off that stigma. I have been reminded of our image problem as well as our paranoid tendencies since Thursday morning, when Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced his decision to recommend Yucca Mountain as the site of America's nuclear waste repository. Outsiders and Nevada's Yucca supporters have argued for years that the dump, with its 77,000-ton capacity, was inevitable and it was unproductive and even damaging to the state's interests to continue to fight. Politicians who fight against it are accused of pandering, and others who flatly oppose it are labeled unreasonable, ill-informed and paranoid. It's in the middle of nowhere, they say. Nevada's population is low, they say. The state already has the test site, they say. You keep it, we shout. No, you take it, Abraham announced. Although Gov. Kenny Guinn has promised to oppose Abraham's recommendation, President Bush -- whose relationship with Big Power is already the subject of journalistic investigation -- is expected to brush aside Nevada's plea for leniency. With few Nevada allies in Congress, the site is slated to open as early as 2010, but more likely by 2015. Projected cost: up to $58 billion. So why not give in, as Yucca's allies suggest, and try to negotiate for benefits? Why not accept our new mantle as the nation's nuclear waste graveyard? Hey, maybe we can market it and make a buck, right? We can change the state's motto from "Battle Born" to "America Dumps on Us." We could do that, and maybe collect a federal stipend for our cooperation, or we can fight for the next decade. In that time, our clout in Congress can only improve. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and the rest of the delegation might collect enough political favors to generate hearings to address the propriety of the study process. In that time, Nevada will have a chance to fully explore its legal options. With potential litigation from the city of Las Vegas to the state, the land has many courts. In that time, science and technology will have dramatically improved the odds of finding clean uses and on-site solutions for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive military garbage. And if we fail, at least we can tell our children that we tried. Perhaps by then the project's supporters will provide credible answers to a few basic questions: If it's so safe to transport, why isn't it safe to store in the states that use it? If there is a jackpot at Yucca Mountain, why not tell us how much? If the repository will employ many Nevadans, why are there no reliable estimates? There is no pot of gold buried at Yucca Mountain. Think about it: Would even $1 billion and a couple hundred jobs change the collective quality of life in a state with an annual general fund budget of $1.9 billion? What would one spill, and the resulting international news story, do to our tourism industry? Nuclear waste is a volatile political issue in those states now reaching their storage capacity. They don't want it, and Nevada has been designated to relieve the pressure. Beyond the politics and even the science, there's the tattered image of a state already maligned more than most. I think it's worth fighting over. John L. Smith's column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail him at Smith@lvrj.com or call him at 383-0295. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 30 LETTERS: Republicans bringing us nuke dump Sunday, January 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal To the editor: The secretary of energy decided that spent nuclear fuel rods are safe to store at Yucca Mountain. I agree 100 percent with his decision. The whole issue is political -- Nevada doesn't want it in its back yard. But why not accept the fact that Yucca Mountain is owned by the federal government as is about 85 percent of Nevada? Further, legal maneuvering by Nevada politicians would just delay the process and waste a lot of taxpayer money. There are 49 states that do not want nuclear waste stored in their backyard, and their congressional delegations will vote for Yucca Mountain. That is, except for those few senators and representatives who will trade favors with our congressional delegation for votes on other issues. So the folks who live in Las Vegas and surrounding areas better get used to the fact that spent nuclear fuel rods will be stored at Yucca Mountain, and at no risk of radiation contamination. ROY J. KIRK LAS VEGAS To the editor: First off, I would like to express my 7-year-old's opinion after hearing the news that Nevada has been the suggested site of a nuclear waste dump: "I thought the president was nice. Why would he want to hurt us?" Correct me if I am wrong, but is the nuclear waste that is to be transported here coming from nuclear reactors that sell power to the private sector for profit? If this is the case, and Nevada does become the dump site, perhaps in return the industry should provide all Nevadans with free power. TIM MYERS HENDERSON To the editor: Well, folks, keep voting those GOPers into power. See where it got you. Thank God for Sen. Harry Reid, who will try to lead the charge to stop the nuke dump. Let Spencer Abraham put the dump in Michigan -- or better yet Dubya and his Texas cronies could put it near his ranch in Crawford. BILL EYDLER LAS VEGAS Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 31 Yucca: EDITORIAL: The dog that hasn't barked Sunday, January 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Nevada's leaders afraid to put federal government in its place Nevada politicians almost to a man -- and a woman -- put on a good show of stomping their feet and shouting "No, no!" every time the federal government takes another step toward stockpiling the nation's high-level nuclear waste in the labyrinth of rocky tunnels already being drilled some 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The familiar Kabuki was repeated this week when federal Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made his eminently predictable announcement that the "sound science" practiced by his department has determined Yucca Mountain will make a really fine site for the nuclear dump. None of this is to say the federal government's conduct in siting this facility hasn't been high-handed and cynical, or that Nevadans and their elected representatives shouldn't fight the dump by every legal means. Problem is, our elected representatives aren't fighting the dump through every legal means, which is precisely why cynicism is the proper response to a lot of this familiar foot-stomping. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- never repealed -- is written in such plain English that even the lawyers have not yet managed to screw it up: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Ninth and 10th amendments are the vital "default settings" of a government of limited powers, making it clear that the bureaucrats of the Potomac have only those powers specifically written down. And what does the Constitution say about the power of Congress when it comes to siting a facility inside one of the several states? Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power to ... exercise exclusive Legislation in all areas whatsoever, over such District ..." (the District of Columbia is described) "... and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful buildings. ..." And there you have it: The only way in which Congress can lay hands on a piece of land within one of the several states to use as it sees fit for a needful facility. The federal government is barred from high-handed enterprises such as Yucca Mountain within any of the 50 states by the 10th Amendment. So why hasn't Sen. Harry Reid pushed Gov. Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Frankie Sue del Papa to file a 10th Amendment suit, demanding that the Supreme Court give the federal executive branch 72 hours to pack up its tunnel-boring rigs and get off Nevada land? Because while the big-government advocates in our midst argue the Yucca Mountain plan is "unfair," they secretly cringe in far greater fear of what could happen if such a suit were to succeed -- restricting Washington's jurisdiction to override the will of the state legislatures when it comes time to enforce all manner of edicts. There is a way to stop Yucca Mountain -- providing the Supreme Court has the courage to enforce the Constitution as written. The question is whether Nevada's politicians really want it stopped. And if so, why this lawsuit hasn't yet been filed. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 32 Yucca: When it's time to fix blame, make sure the aim is true LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: OPINION: COLUMN: Steve Sebelius Sunday, January 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal COLUMN: Steve Sebelius "But just making the decision that we think nuclear power deserves another look, that it may offer us significant potential for the future, that does, in fact, then entail us going back and addressing the waste question." -- Vice President Dick Cheney on CNN, May 8, 2001 The greatest irony in a sea of ironies that swirls about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump -- despite the frequent promise to base the final decision on "science, not politics" -- is this: There has never been a scientific decision made concerning Yucca Mountain. It was politics that put Nevada on the short list of nuclear waste sites in 1986. It was politics that made Nevada the only site to be studied in 1987. It was politics that kept Nevada's four congressional delegates from reversing those actions. And it was politics that prompted Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham last week to sign off on Yucca Mountain, despite a mountain of scientific questions that remain to be answered. Science? Never heard of it. While Abraham deserves most of the blame for kicking off the official Yucca Mountain endgame, there's plenty more to go around. First, Nevadans should make no mistake that their state is being sacrificed for the convenience of the nuclear power industry. As industry spokesman (and vice president) Dick Cheney said, without a dump, there is no new nuclear power. And because the Bush administration covets nuclear power as a key part of its energy plan, a dump is an absolute necessity. Second, anyone who favors nuclear power by extension shares a bit of the blame for the need for Yucca Mountain. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, who has pledged to thwart the nuclear power insurance subsidy that is the Price-Anderson Act, still favors nuclear power. But asking Nevadans to accept a politically located spent fuel dump in their state is just as wrong as asking the residents of any other state to do so. Every Nevada lawmaker ought to be an opponent, not just of Price-Anderson reauthorization, but of nuclear power in general. Third, national Republicans are to blame. Certainly, a Democrat wrote the law that named Nevada the lone dump state in 1987, and a bipartisan Congress passed it. (Then again, a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, signed it into law.) Argue if you will that Democratic former President Bill Clinton would have signed a Yucca Mountain bill, had the political stars aligned. Or even that former Vice President Al Gore would have done so, had the Supreme Court not named Bush to the presidency. But no one can truly argue that either Clinton or Gore would have been inclined to speed Yucca on its way. President Bush, by contrast, seems eager to end the Yucca debate as quickly as possible. He was vigorously supported by energy concerns during his campaign, and the chief of the Nuclear Energy Institute was one of his "Pioneer" fund-raisers. Nevada political consultant Pete Ernaut worked with the Bush campaign team on a Yucca Mountain statement that saw Bush promise to use "science, not politics" to decide the fate of Yucca Mountain. Ernaut says Gov. Kenny Guinn will remind Bush of that promise when the two meet on the Yucca issue in the near future. A Republican, Ernaut disagrees that any single party is to blame. He says Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle should act to keep Congress from overriding Nevada's inevitable veto of the dump. (By the same token, Reid continues to insist that Bush might not accept Abraham's recommendation, killing the issue.) Neither seems very likely. But Ernaut also makes a sound point: Nevada's job is now to use all methods at her disposal -- lawsuits, vetoes, appeals to regulatory bodies -- to delay the dump as long as possible until a viable scientific alternative to underground storage is found. (The problem of waste isn't going to go away, and there is the rapacious energy industry to think about.) "I'm very optimistic, at the worst, we'll continue to delay this project," Ernaut says. Nevada should hope, most fervently, that Ernaut is right. Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. His column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 383-0283 or by e-mail at Steve_Sebelius@lvrj.com. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 33 Yucca decision attracts attention Sunday, January 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Region by region, newspapers weigh in By JANE ANN MORRISON REVIEW-JOURNAL In Illinois, Idaho and South Carolina, news that the nation was one step closer to placing its nuclear waste in Nevada was received with a sense of salvation. In Missouri, Kansas and Arizona, news accounts noted high in the stories the concerns about the dangers of transporting high-level nuclear waste through the respective states. The policy-shaping New York Times began its Friday story by recounting the lengthy process and the $4.5 billion it already has cost to arrive at Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's Thursday announcement that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site to permanently store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste. The decision "is only one step in a tortuous process with an outcome that is still uncertain," the paper reported. And paper after paper Friday printed some version of Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn's gut-level response, that the decision "stinks." Media-savvy nuclear waste foe Richard Bryan, a former Democratic senator, said headlines and localized Associated Press stories appearing in Arizona and Missouri show that "headway is being made" in the area he and other nuclear waste opponents believe will be their biggest political opportunity: transportation concerns. "There would not have been that reaction a couple of years ago," Bryan said, referring to the emphasis on transportation. "That's exceptionally good news. Part of our difficulty is that nobody outside of Nevada five years ago ever heard of Yucca Mountain." The headline on The Associated Press news wires in Phoenix read, "Nuclear waste could cross Arizona en route to Nevada storage site." In Kansas City, Mo., it was, "Recommendation by officials could bring nuclear waste through region." Reams of quotes by Nevada politicians were usually summed up in one sentence: Nevada officials reacted angrily to Thursday's announcement and promised to fight it. The first quote in the Phoenix story came from Citizen Alert's Kalynda Tilges: "If you're on a transportation route, you're in just as much danger as if you are in Nevada. This isn't a `Bewitched' kind of thing. No one is going to wiggle their nose and make the waste magically appear at Yucca Mountain. We're talking about three to 10 shipments a day for 30 to 50 years." Bryan is delighted to see quotes like that widely disseminated in regional newspapers because "you can't sit down and talk with the 51 million people who live within a mile of the transportation routes." While The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times tend to drive policy, the newspapers along the route can drive politics, he said. "And this has less to do with policy and more to do with politics," he added. The Las Vegas attorney was also pleased with a Dec. 19 Los Angeles Times editorial advising the Bush administration to stop rushing a decision on nuclear waste storage. Dow Jones news wires started their Friday story with comments from nuclear energy observers predicting that Nevadans opposing the site selection "face long odds" and that President Bush is expected to approve the plan. That's not Guinn's belief. He told Nevada and national news media that Abraham's decision "was a political decision by the secretary, not based on sound science," and he reiterated his hope the president will recognize scientific problems that exist and reject Abraham's recommendation. Though Guinn contends Bush's decision will be independent of Abraham's recommendation, Bryan disagreed. He said Abraham wouldn't have made his call without White House approval. And while the decision caused Nevada politicians to erupt in angry outbursts -- including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's reference to Abraham as "that piece of garbage" -- it was celebrated by Idaho Sen. Larry Craig. "This is another major step in the critical and necessary move to get waste out of Idaho and into a permanent waste facility," Craig was quoted as saying in Associated Press reports out of Washington, D.C. "The science clearly states that this site is geologically favorable for development as a long-term repository." In Illinois, with its 11 nuclear reactors, a Chicago Tribune headline read, in part: "Illinois applauds decision." The story went on to say Abraham's intention to recommend the site was "heralded as an environmental victory" by U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., whose district houses 1,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. In South Carolina the headline read: "Nevada nuclear disposal site decisions may help Savannah River Site rid its waste." The story quoted U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., saying his state would probably be affected as much or more than any other state because of its reliance upon nuclear power. Agence France-Presse's headline: "Nevada's Yucca Mountain to be nuclear garbage can." And in the Las Vegas Sun, Friday's headline screamed: "Yuck-a." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 34 Nuclear waste may pass through Kansas Lawrence Journal-World: The Associated Press Saturday, January 12, 2002 Kansas City, Mo. — Thousands of shipments of nuclear waste could pass through Missouri and Kansas under a recommendation made by federal officials Thursday. If affirmed by President Bush, the shipments of highly radioactive waste, possibly as many as one or two a day, would be expected through this region to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. "This is a real threat to the state of Missouri," said Kay Drey, a longtime anti-nuclear activist in St. Louis. Missouri officials have expressed concerns about shipments traveling on crumbling Interstate 70, as one recent shipment did, or through population centers. If shipments became frequent, the state would need to examine how it could pay for safety measures, said Dru Buntin, interstate issues coordinator at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Missouri has insisted on checking the shipments for radiation leaks and on providing Missouri State Highway Patrol escorts. One shipment passed through the state last year. State officials insisted it be delayed so it wouldn't pass through St. Louis during rush hour or by Kauffman Stadium during a Royals game in Kansas City, Buntin said. About 70,000 tons of radioactive waste are expected to flow to Yucca Mountain for about 20 years after it opens in 2010. The site would remain radioactive for 10,000 years. But waste shipments could begin before 2010, with waste stored in temporary sites until the permanent site opens. The U.S. Energy Department, which transports the waste, has touted its safety record. Of about 2,000 shipments in the United States over several years, eight have involved accidents that released small amounts of radioactivity. The wastes are shipped in casks that the Energy Department says can withstand extremely high temperatures and tremendous trauma. But anti-nuclear groups have questioned the testing of the casks. The specter of Sept. 11 also hangs over nuclear shipments. "There really is a serious potential for terrorist attack" of shipments, Drey said. Copyright © 2001, the Lawrence Journal-World. All rights ***************************************************************** 35 YUCCA DEBATE: Sununu: Nation is watching Saturday, January 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Dump backer says Sept. 11 reinforced need for secure site By DAVE BERNS lasvegas.com GAMING WIRE Nevada would be wise to remember that other states have a major stake in the Yucca Mountain debate, a pro-repository lobbyist warned Friday. John Sununu, who served as a chief of staff to the first President Bush, said Nevada residents may be repulsed by the idea of a nuclear waste repository in their back yard. But he added that there is similar unease in locales where nuclear waste continues to be stored temporarily. Those states have the congressional math in their favor, and their position was bolstered by the Sept. 11 attacks, which underscored the need to place the nation's stockpile of radioactive waste in a single secure location, Sununu said. "If I were advising Nevada long term, I would suggest they do whatever they have to do politically in a way that doesn't create resentment in the country," Sununu said. "If Nevada is not willing to do its part in what is part of a national plan for homeland security ... maybe Americans ought to vacation somewhere else." Sununu made his comments in a telephone interview one day after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that he intends to recommend that 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste be stored at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada officials criticized the secretary's decision, with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman referring to Abraham as "that piece of garbage." Abraham's spokesman on Friday cautioned against further attacks on the secretary, saying they could backfire on Nevadans. Gov. Kenny Guinn employed less-pointed words than Goodman, but vowed to fight the repository as the issue winds through an intricate legal and regulatory process that could take years. "If you go through this process and you still don't get it stopped and you're in court, you use your appeals and you get your ruling, and then you have to live by the ruling you get," Guinn said Friday. "I would abide by the court rulings. I would abide by those who would say this is safe scientific data. Then your patriotism has to come out." Sununu and one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro were hired as lobbyists late last year by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to push for the Yucca Mountain repository. Sununu, a former Republican governor of New Hampshire, said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reinforced the need for a single location to dispose of radioactive waste. It is much easier to protect a single site, he said, than dozens of sites scattered throughout the nation, sites to which trains regularly have carried the potentially lethal waste for years without any reported safety troubles. "The country has a responsibility to itself and its citizens to do the right thing," Sununu said. "Even without the reality of September 11, the right thing is to take nuclear waste from a set of distributed sites and put it in a spot that is appropriately designed. That is the prudent way of doing it." Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., the casino industry's chief lobbyist in Washington, D.C., discussed the Yucca Mountain issue Thursday with his longtime friend Sununu. Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said those on either side of the issue recognize certain undeniable facts that will continue to shape the Yucca Mountain debate. People universally understand that a majority of Nevada residents do not want the repository, he noted. Equally clear is that Nevada, with its four-person congressional delegation and four votes in the Electoral College, operates from a political disadvantage. Nevada officials have been highly critical of Thursday's announcement and have showed that they intend to be heard. Joe Davis, a spokesman for Abraham, said Friday that the harsh criticism by Nevada officials of the secretary's decision does not bode well for continuing relations between Abraham and the state. Davis singled out the comment in which Goodman ripped Abraham. "It's unfortunate when people divert from the issue into personal attacks," Davis said. "We've tried to be upfront and informative, and we are disappointed." Informed of Davis' complaint, Goodman remained defiant. The mayor said he would not retract his comment and does not regret having personalized the nuclear waste debate with Abraham. "It is personal," Goodman said. "Every Nevadan is being affected by this fraud that he attempted to perpetrate on us." The mayor said he is not worried about making an enemy of Abraham. "What more can he do to us? He can't hurt us any more than he already has," Goodman said. Goodman added he absolutely is not interested in communicating with Abraham as the Energy Department continues to develop the repository. "Our communication will be in court," he said. Guinn has had several conversations this week with Nevada Sens. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican, to develop a strategy to defeat Abraham's proposal. An Ensign aide said the senator was unavailable for comment Friday. A top Reid assistant failed to return a phone message seeking comment. In a Friday interview, Guinn demonstrated his well-known penchant for process. He disavowed any use of civil disobedience, a tactic that some, including one local labor leader, have said should be considered. "I think we have to look at all means in resisting 77,000 tons of nuclear waste coming into our back yard, whether it be the legal, the political," said Culinary Local 226 staff director D. Taylor. "If you want to create a movement, certainly one of the tactics that has to be used is massive civil disobedience." Instead, Guinn, who faces a re-election race this year, said he sees several points where the Abraham plan could be quashed as it moves through the political and legal processes. For example: • President Bush has 30 days to accept or reject the recommendation that Abraham is scheduled to formally make next month. Guinn, Reid and Ensign hope to meet with Bush to persuade him to kill the plan. No meeting had been scheduled as of Friday afternoon. • Guinn would then have 60 days to veto that decision. He expects to take virtually all of the two-month period because some other option may arise during that time to defeat the proposal. • The Republican-controlled House and Democratic-run Senate would have 90 days to override a likely Guinn veto. Guinn and others believe the plan would pass the House but could die in the Senate, especially if Reid and Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., successfully keep it from coming up for a vote. If it is approved by the Senate, the plan could face lengthy court challenges and end up in the U.S. Supreme Court, but the process will not unfold entirely within courtrooms. The Nevada Democratic Party sought to display the state's resolve with a Friday night candlelight vigil outside the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration facility in North Las Vegas. The party sent out a news release inviting reporters to cover the "Showdown at Sundown," a vigil aimed at dramatizing Nevadans' opposition to the proposed repository. Reporters from the Review-Journal, an alternative weekly newspaper and three television stations were there to cover what was scheduled to be the first of several planned protests at the facility. But no demonstrators showed up for the event, which was canceled for lack of attendance. Party spokesman Jeff Burbank, the only nonmedia person in attendance, said he was disappointed by the turnout for the event, which he said was organized by Reid's office. Earlier in the day, Sununu, the at-times caustic Washington insider who was trained as an engineer and has co-hosted CNN's shoutfest "Crossfire," was quick to minimize any perceived threat to health and safety posed by a nuclear waste repository. "The way to demonstrate that," he said, "is to have the people of Nevada give me 150 acres on the site north of Vegas closest to the facility, and I will build a beautiful, nice vacation home. I'd stay there. I'd invite my children and grandchildren to stay there." Donrey Washington Bureau staff writer Tony Batt and Review-Journal staff writer J.M. Kalil contributed to this report. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 36 Yucca opposition to focus on legal challenges, education Saturday, January 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal State spending millions to fight repository By SEAN WHALEY DONREY CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- Nevada leaders say Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's Thursday announcement that he plans to recommend Yucca Mountain as the site for a national nuclear waste repository will accelerate efforts on many fronts to stop the project. "We have already started the process," said Brian McKay, a former attorney general and chairman of the state Commission on Nuclear Projects. "The time of implementation has yet to be determined, but I can tell you it will be sooner rather than later." Although strategies to challenge the project are being refined constantly, past discussions have focused on two major areas: legal challenges on every legitimate issue and a public education campaign in other states to convince political leaders and voters that the transportation of nuclear waste is a dangerous idea. To fund these fights, Gov. Kenny Guinn obtained $4 million from the 2001 Legislature for the Nevada Protection Fund. The account has since been augmented by donations from cities and counties, including $1 million from Clark County. Part of that money, $2.5 million, was obligated by state officials in September to hire a Washington, D.C., law firm to fight federal efforts to build the high-level nuclear waste repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The firm of Egan &Associates will assist the state with any licensing proceedings for Yucca Mountain by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the three-year term of the contract. Joseph Egan, the chairman of the firm, is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained nuclear engineer who once worked at a nuclear power plant. Egan said Friday there are numerous areas where legal challenges may be appropriate: from a finding by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission committee that said a decision on Yucca Mountain is premature to the scientific finding that groundwater moves much more rapidly through the mountain's geology than scientists believed initially. Egan would not discuss when such legal challenges might be filed, referring such questions to Guinn. "I think the governor has said essentially that this is the beginning of the battle, not the end," Egan said. "The real opportunity to challenge what has been done commences now." The decision by Abraham to recommend Yucca Mountain is "egregiously bad" both from a scientific and legal position, he said. The San Francisco office of attorney Antonio Rossmann was hired by the state for $300,000 a year to challenge the environmental impact statement used by the Energy Department to qualify Yucca Mountain for the dump. And the attorney general's office is involved in lawsuits about the state's refusal to grant groundwater permits to the Energy Department for construction of the repository, said Senior Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams. Other lawsuits already in progress in the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals involve the siting guidelines used by the agency to find Yucca Mountain suitable and the radiation standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Adams said areas being considered for future legal filings include: • a halt to Abraham's recommendation to President Bush, due 30 days from Thursday, because of incomplete scientific analysis; • a similar challenge to halt the president's recommendation for approval, if that is his decision; • a challenge to the final environmental impact statement, which should be issued soon; • assuming that Yucca Mountain is approved eventually by Congress, a challenge to the license application by the Energy Department to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; • and if the NRC ultimately approves the license, a challenge to that decision. Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the other prong of the campaign, to convince politicians and voters in other states that they are in potential danger if nuclear waste is shipped through their communities, also is moving forward. A Las Vegas firm, Brown &Partners Advertising and Public Relations, was hired in November at a cost of up to $1 million to develop a strategy for the public information campaign. A nationwide campaign, in the form of advertisements in national newspapers such as USA Today, could be out later this month or early February, he said. Guinn, McKay and other Nevada officials have said the best chance of defeating Yucca Mountain might be to make people in other states aware of the problems of transporting nuclear waste to the state. The intent is to generate votes in Congress that favor Nevada's position. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Thursday the events of Sept. 11 make the transportation concerns of even greater import. "Most senators know nothing about this issue, other than we've got nuclear waste in my state, and I want to get it out of my state and put it in someone else's state," he said. "They've never heard the arguments about transportation, and post-September 11, you can bet that is one of the arguments we're going to hit them on and hit them on hard." webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 37 YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Sununu remarks draw response from Nevadans Sunday, January 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Reid says lobbyist is motivated by money By DAVE BERNS lasvegas.com Gaming Wire Sen. Harry Reid labeled as hypocritical and mercenary a former White House chief of staff who contends that Yucca Mountain should be transformed into a nuclear waste repository for the good of the nation. Reid, D-Nev., delivered his angry characterization of John Sununu on Saturday, a day after the one-time chief of staff to the first President Bush said Americans might choose to spend their money elsewhere if Nevada is unwilling "to do its part" for homeland security. Sununu, a former Republican governor of New Hampshire, was hired late last year by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to lobby on behalf of the proposed nuclear waste repository that would be located 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro also was hired by the chamber to lobby for the project. "I think it's just one of the most hypocritical things I've ever seen," Reid said of Sununu's comments. "This man is a paid gun. He would say anything for money. He should be ashamed of himself." Reid fired off his angry remarks two days after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that President Bush approve a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which could open as early as 2010. Reid, who serves as assistant majority leader in the Senate, has worked with Gov. Kenny Guinn and the three other members of Nevada's congressional delegation to oppose the nearly 20-year-old plan, arguing that the proposal poses severe health and safety risks to people in the region. "His sentiment is arranged by dollars," Reid said of Sununu. "If he were being paid to say the ocean is green, he would say the ocean is green. I think he's done a disservice to Nevada and the country." Sununu, who has an engineering degree, said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reinforced the need for a single location to dispose of radioactive waste. As proposed, Yucca Mountain would be built to store 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste, most of it spent fuel from nuclear power plants. "The country has a responsibility to itself and its citizens to do the right thing," Sununu said in a Friday interview with the Review-Journal. "If Nevada is not willing to do its part in what is part of a national plan for homeland security ... maybe Americans ought to vacation somewhere else." Sununu on Saturday responded to Reid's comments by saying that Nevadans who oppose the repository "should not do it in a way that would make Americans want to spend their money somewhere else." "I'm saddened that the senator chooses to talk about as important an issue as this in those terms," Sununu said. "I have been involved in trying to have this country develop a constructive energy policy all of my adult life, over 40 years. "These are lifelong held positions, and for the senator to suggest that these are positions adopted only because I have accepted the role of trying to help the public debate on the Yucca Mountain issue, then it is clear he doesn't understand how critical the debate is to the nation." Top aides to Guinn and Reid said their bosses could be seen before Saturday morning's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in downtown Las Vegas animatedly discussing Sununu's Friday remarks. The advisers said the two Nevadans clearly were angered by the tone and substance of the comments. "To say that Nevada hasn't given to this country is just wrong," Reid said, noting that the state has been a setting for several military bases and was used as a test site for nuclear weapons throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Guinn declined a Saturday interview request to discuss the lobbyist's remarks, but his press secretary said the normally low-key governor was irritated by the implication that Nevadans are unpatriotic by opposing the proposal. "John Sununu's comments were disappointing, but typical for a lobbyist for the nuclear industry," said Guinn spokesman Greg Bortolin. "In no way, shape or form should exerting your due process be viewed as unpatriotic. That's what being a good American is, and we'll exhaust every option in this battle. We'll do this as good, patriotic Americans." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 38 Nuclear-waste fight headed for Congress -- The Washington Times January 12, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS The Energy Department's embrace of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the nation's future nuclear-waste dump is being hailed as a breakthrough by the nuclear industry and its supporters. But it will be far from the last word, even if President Bush, as expected, gives the project the green light. The next real battleground likely will be the Congress, where the Nevada congressional delegation vows to continue its fight. The Nevadans are expected to get help from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who called the endorsement of Yucca Mountain "unfortunate and premature." South Dakota, like Nevada, has no nuclear-power plants. But Sen. Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, acknowledged in an interview that "it's going to be a tough deal" to overturn Mr. Bush if he goes along with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who said Thursday he was recommending Yucca Mountain. "Nothing has been easy on this thing," said Mr. Reid, who is No. 2 in the Senate leadership and has fought against the Yucca Mountain recommendation for years. He hopes that he will be able to sway senators to Nevada's side by emphasizing that approval of Yucca Mountain will mean thousands of shipments across 45 states and over interstate highways and rail lines through urban centers like Chicago and St. Louis. "This is about more than Nevada," he insists. Mr. Abraham said he would tell Mr. Bush that the Yucca Mountain site approximately 100 miles from the glitter and lights of Las Vegas is a "scientifically sound and suitable" place to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. The government has spent the past dozen years studying Yucca Mountain, which is adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear bombs were detonated during the Cold War. So far, the studies have cost more than $6.8 billion. But thanks to a law passed 20 years ago, Nevada's chances to bar the waste shipments may not yet be dead. The law allows Nevada to veto the president, although in turn Congress may override the state's objection and let the project proceed anyway. All site contents copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. ***************************************************************** 39 Nevada says nuclear-waste fight will continue Energy secretary recommends storing radioactive material at Yucca Mountain Page 8A By Martin Kasindorf USA TODAY Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended Thursday that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants be deposited under Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Abraham's conclusion that the remote desert site is ''scientifically sound'' and ''important to our national security'' ignited a storm of protest from Nevada politicians, environmental groups and gambling interests. ''This decision stinks,'' said Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican. Led by elected officials from both major parties, critics vowed to step up their 20-year fight against the $58 billion project by pressing President Bush, Congress or the courts to kill it. ''We've got a legal strategy, a public relations strategy and a congressional strategy,'' Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said. ''The bottom line is that the Yucca Mountain project should be indefinitely postponed.'' Abraham called the burial ground on federal land an anti-terrorism measure that would move wastes now stored at 131 locations to ''one underground location that is far from population centers.'' Welcoming Abraham's move, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Washington lobbying group for the nuclear power industry, said it is ''the right scientific thing to do.'' The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called it ''a decisive step forward.'' Opponents, too, based their positions on anti-terrorism. They cited possible attacks on trucks carrying waste to the site. ''This is a dirty nuclear bomb on 18 wheels waiting to happen,'' said Nathan Naylor, press secretary for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Many Nevadans also fear damage to the state's image and tourism-based economy. ''We got a very good smattering of it Sept. 11,'' said Stephen Cloobeck, owner of three hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. ''Everyone lost 50% of revenues.'' Reid said Abraham was ignoring a critical report released Dec. 21 by Congress' General Accounting Office. The report said a decision on the site's suitability would be ''premature'' because 293 scientific questions about safety were still unanswered. Spent pellets from reactor fuel rods used at the nation's 103 nuclear power plants contain elements that will remain radioactive for 10,000 years. Opponents of the Yucca Mountain project say that until science finds a way to neutralize the waste, it is safer where it is now -- in pools of water and concrete casks at commercial power plants and Energy Department facilities in 39 states. But so far, the focus has been on Yucca. In 1982, after years of delay, Congress ordered the Energy Department to find a geologically stable deep-disposal site. The law was amended in 1987 to make Yucca Mountain the only site to be considered. The mountain sits on the western edge of the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear weapons were tested for four decades. The next step is up to Bush. If he recommends Yucca Mountain to Congress, Nevada has 60 days to veto the project. Majority votes in both houses of Congress could override that veto. Then, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would decide whether to license the repository. That process would take three to four years. Deposits of waste would not begin until at least 2010. ''I think it's an uphill battle for us in Congress,'' Reid said. He didn't share the optimism of other Nevada leaders that the state's four-member congressional delegation could derail the project. Nevada plans to build support in Congress with a $5.5 million, state-financed national advertising and public-relations campaign that would emphasize the danger of terrorist attacks on waste-hauling trucks. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., supports the Nevada delegation's bipartisan stand against Yucca Mountain. He said last year that he would use parliamentary maneuvers to keep an override measure from reaching the Senate floor. But Reid said Daschle ''doesn't have the statutory authority to do that.'' Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he'll try to build support among mayors of cities that waste trucks would pass through. The federal courts have been an arena of battle for years. Three lawsuits by Nevada against the federal government to stall the project are in full swing. Bob Loux, Guinn's top aide for nuclear waste issues, said two more will be filed if Bush goes along with Abraham. The White House regarded the issue as so sensitive that Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, gave Guinn a heads-up phone call Thursday. Polls consistently show that 80% of Nevadans don't want a repository they call a nuclear ''dump.'' © Copyright 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 Editorial: Abraham to Nevada: Glow to hell Las Vegas SUN January 11, 2002 On Thursday Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that President Bush approve the construction of a nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Despite the enormity of the matter -- the permanent burial of 77,000 tons of man's deadliest waste -- there was no suspense leading up to Abraham's decision. The Department of Energy has demonstrated for years in its investigation into Yucca Mountain's suitability that it doesn't give a whit about science, and it has ignored evidence showing how dangerous it is to bury nuclear waste just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. When he was a U.S. senator, Abraham voted for legislation that would have made it easier to store nuclear waste in Nevada. George W. Bush also has been a champion of nuclear power, an industry that is doing everything it can to get a dump built at Yucca Mountain. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn said Abraham's decision "stinks" -- and we couldn't agree more. But while the governor is holding his nose, Guinn should remember that he and other prominent Republicans in this state are the ones who helped persuade a plurality of Nevadans in 2000 to give the state's four electoral votes to Bush. They assured us that Bush, even though he was embraced by the nuclear power industry, would treat Nevada fairly on the nuclear waste dump issue. If this is the Bush administration's definition of fairness, we'd hate to see what the White House would do to us if it was angry. Despite Abraham's recommendation, this fight isn't over -- in many ways it is just starting. Assuming that Bush ultimately agrees with Abraham's recommendation, and Guinn uses his veto to object to the president's declaration, both the House and the Senate would have to affirm the president's decision by a majority vote. So members of Nevada's congressional delegation will have an opportunity to court their colleagues to join them in this battle. The state's delegation could get a boost from our city and county officials. As elected officials from Southern Nevada meet and contact their counterparts who live along what would be the transportation routes for high-level nuclear waste, they will have an opportunity to make a persuasive case about the dangers posed to their constituents by the thousands of shipments that would occur from across the country. It would be a tremendous help if municipal officials in other states contacted their members of Congress and told them that they don't want nuclear waste rolling through their towns, shipments that could result in accidents or be the target of terrorist attacks. Nevada's gaming industry says that it will lobby members of Congress about the matter, too. It's about time the industry stepped up to the plate. If a transportation accident ever were to hap pen in the city, the tourism industry would be devastated. The odds of getting Congress to derail the dump aren't promising, though. In the Republican-controlled House, Speaker Dennis Hastert has been one of the most vocal supporters of a nuclear waste dump in Nevada, and Republican members would fear crossing him. To get an idea of just how rabid Hastert is on this issue, on Thursday he said those who opposed the dump were engaging in "left-wing political grandstanding," a characterization that will dumbfound conservative and moderate Nevadans who oppose the dump. In the Senate, the situation would be somewhat better, because the Democrats are in charge and Nevada's Harry Reid is the assistant majority leader. Still, it would be an uphill battle since the Democrats hold just a one-vote majority. And not all Democrats can be counted on, either, since many of them represent some of the 31 states with nuclear power plants looking to get rid of the waste. Reid will have to make a strong push, as will Republican John Ensign, who argued in his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in 2000 that Nevada needed a Republican so that the state's residents would have a voice within that party on Yucca Mountain. Of course, fighting it out in Congress, or opposing Yucca Mountain's selection in the courts, wouldn't be necessary if the president simply would honor the pledge that he and Dick Cheney made to Nevadans during the 2000 campaign -- that they wouldn't approve a dump that wasn't scientifically sound. A recent report by the General Accounting Office, the independent investigative arm of Congress, recommended that the Bush administration postpone a decision on Yucca Mountain because there were 293 unanswered questions about the project, matters that included questions about the mountain's geology and just how well the nuclear waste storage casks would hold up over time and keep the waste from spilling out. As the president weighs Abraham's recommendation, he should reflect on his only campaign stop in Nevada, one that he made in June 2000 at Lake Tahoe to demonstrate his commitment to the environment. Bush talked about the importance of being a "steward of the earth." Well, it's time for the president to be that steward. Bush should reject Abraham's recommendation and stop wasting billions of dollars on an ill-fated project that would put in harm's way not only Nevadans, but also all those millions of Americans who live along the nation's major highway and railway lines. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 41 RGJ editorial: Yucca Mtn. choice politics not science From the Jan. 11, 2002, opinion page of the Reno Gazette-Journal RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Thursday was a day Nevadans knew would eventually come, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take. More than a decade of study and political posturing culminated with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s announcement that he would recommend to President Bush that Yucca Mountain be the future home to the nation’s 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. That decision begins the real battle between Nevada leaders and the Bush administration over a project based on flawed studies and political motivation, not “sound science” as Bush had promised. It’s a battle that Nevada politicians have been expecting, and readying for, for years. The first shot was fired back in 1987, when Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the only site for study for a possible national nuclear waste dump. The skirmishes continued through the 1990s, when Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan spent much of their time on Capitol Hill scuttling repeated attempts for an interim waste dump at Yucca Mountain. They were quite successful, in part, because of help from the Clinton administration, which opposed an interim dump, and in part, because of sheer determination and hard work. Today, the interim dump is no longer the concern: It’s the threat of the real thing that has Nevadans jittery. Nevada’s congressional delegation in concert with Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Nevada Nuclear Project Agency chief Bob Loux have been ramping up for this fight over the past few years. Nevada already has begun taking its case to the courts and continues to sock away money for what likely will be a lengthy court fight. Guinn also put Abraham on notice that as governor he would veto the DOE recommendation, a veto Congress can override with a simple majority. That may ultimately put the dump’s fate in the hands of Reid, freshman Sen. John Ensign and Reps. Jim Gibbons and Shelley Berkley. Reid’s powerful position as Senate majority leader will help, as will the ability of the entire delegation to lobby members of both parties in both houses. While they are armed with strong arguments, the group does not face an easy fight in Washington, D.C. There are more than 30 states that are currently storing nuclear waste in temporary facilities and would quickly welcome the chance to dump their toxic trash anywhere, including Nevada. Those states must be convinced of the dangers that come with transporting nuclear waste across the nation’s railroads and highways. What about the public safety and health risks associated with a potential transportation spill in an urban area? What about the risk of waste seeping into the ground water of southern Nevada or the potential for a disastrous leak caused by the earthquakes that periodically hit the Yucca Mountain area. Proponents characterize the Yucca Mountain site as remote, but it is really only 90 miles from one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, which also happens to play host to many thousands of tourists each week. In the wake of Sept. 11, the seemingly distant possibility that Yucca Mountain could be a potential terrorist target is now a valid concern and threat. Oh, and what about the non-partisan General Accounting Offices report that urged Bush to postpone a decision because of 293 questions it raised about the project, largely related to the mountain’s geology and the strength of metal casks that would encase the spent fuel? Looking only at the facts, it seems Nevada will win the battle with the federal government, but so far, the Energy Department’s selection process has been more about political agendas than “sound science” and facts. Guinn’s words to Abraham Thursday were harsh, but accurate: “I think this decision stinks, the whole process stinks and we’ll see him in court.” He’s right; it does stink. Fortunately, the battle is still far from over. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com] ***************************************************************** 42 Nevadans gather to fight dump decision January 13, 2002 Mary Thompson and Susan Voyles [] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Attacking Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s recommendation Thursday to turn Yucca Mountain into the nation’s nuclear waste dump, Nevada officials united for a fight they said would be waged in court and in Congress. Gov. Kenny Guinn and the state’s congressional delegation also said they would pressure President Bush, who must approve the designation, and lobby lawmakers in states where the nuclear waste would pass en route to the Nevada site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. “This is not going to be let go with the secretary of energy,” Guinn said in a teleconference Thursday. Guinn said Congress may ultimately decide, if he cannot persuade President Bush to reject the plan. Already, the state is launching what Guinn called an aggressive legal strategy that officials contend could tie up the licensing process for years. Officials say the plan to ship and bury up to 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain has long been opposed by Nevada legislators who fear the site threatens health and public safety. Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. John Ensign said they will attempt to enlist the help of other senators whose states would be on the route of trains coming to Nevada with loads of nuclear waste. “Nobody foresaw the World Trade towers and a plane becoming a weapon,” Ensign said. “It would be easy, based on what we saw there, to design something and break one of these canisters as it is crossing Los Angeles.” Reid said Abraham’s decision is premature. He said the General Accounting Office, the congressional watchdog, is in the midst of 300 scientific investigations of the site and so far has the results from only seven studies. With Abraham making a recommendation before those reports are in, “We have ammunition we have never had before,” Reid said. While campaigning in 2000 in Nevada, Reid said President Bush indicated Yucca Mountain would not go forward unless there was “good science.” Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin said he and nine other mayors at a Nevada League of Cities meeting on Thursday in Las Vegas voted unanimously to oppose storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Griffin said he and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman also will be working with other mayors across the country whose cities are on the shipment routes to block the project. Reid, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, expects an uphill fight. “The odds are we can’t get 51 votes,” he said. “But we are going to work our tails off,” Ensign said. Idaho’s two GOP senators, Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, applauded Abraham’s decision because it will speed up moving nuclear waste out of their state. “This is another major step in the critical and necessary move to get waste out of Idaho and into a permanent waste facility,” Craig said in a statement. “I have always believed that sound science should guide this decision, and the science clearly states that this site is geologically favorable for development as a long-term repository.” But some say Nevada’s desert may not be the perfect location as some had envisioned. U.S. Public Interest Research Group an environmental organization, said Abraham’s decision ignores environmental concerns, including a GAO report that questioned how quickly the storage casks will leak radioactivity. “In 1998, PIRG and more than 100 environmental, consumer and safe energy organizations petitioned then-Energy Secretary (Bill) Richardson to disqualify Yucca Mountain because it would not meet standards for containing the waste,” said Anna Aurilio, the group’s legislative director. “Instead, DOE weakened the site guidelines.” Right now, the nation’s nuclear waste is stored in temporary facilities at power plants in 35 states. Moving the waste to Nevada is a major concern, said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. “Before anyone starts shipping hundreds of tons of radioactive waste across America’s highways and railways, the government needs to make sure it is taking the safest, wisest course,” Daschle said in a Thursday statement. “I hope President Bush will agree and delay his decision until all of the necessary studies are finished.” Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, agreed, disqualifying the debate as a partisan issue. “It is unfortunate that Secretary Abraham would continue green-lighting a project that has been riddled with corruption and mismanagement since its inception,” Gibbons said. “From day one, this project has lacked the necessary scientific consensus that would ensure the public’s safety.” Reid said DOE already has wasted $8 billion on Yucca Mountain and the total project could cost $70-$100 billion. Nevada officials expect the Department of Energy to issue a more complete environmental analysis, including transportation concerns, when Abraham makes his final recommendation to the president within 30 days. Reporter Doug Abrahms contributed to this story. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 43 Yucca neighbors say lawsuits coming over nuclear dump decision Ranchers, farmers vow 'heck of a fight' Don Cox [dcox@rgj.com] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/11/2002 09:51 am LAS VEGAS — The farmers and ranchers who can see Yucca Mountain from their fields in Amargosa Valley said Thursday they will keep fighting plans to store nuclear waste there. “They are going to be in for a heck of a fight,” said Ed Goedhart, who manages a 1,500-acre dairy farm about 15 miles south of Yucca Mountain. “It is going to be difficult to make Nevada swallow this bitter pill.” Inside Yucca Mountain, just hours before the Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made his announcement, workers were conducting a temperature test on a section of rock. At the opening of the tunnel, Nevada state scientist Steve Frishman anxiously awaited the announcement, which he predicted would not be the final word. “There is going to be a lawsuit on any move,” he said. That seemed to be the consensus around the state on Thursday. Goedhart, whose Ponderosa Dairy accounts for almost 30 percent of the milk produced in Nevada, said he fears customers will think the milk will be tainted. He predicts a flurry of lawsuits against the Yucca Mountain project. “It’s going to be a big deal for the federal government,” said Goedhart, who wasn’t surprised by Abraham’s announcement. “They’re making a big mistake.” Ralph and Debbie McCracken, who grow pistachio nuts on property near Goedhart’s dairy, also plan to continue fighting against nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. They, too, are concerned about the perception of their product growing so close to a nuclear waste dump. “Just because it’s the most studied piece of real estate, doesn’t make it the best piece,” Ralph McCracken said of the continuing research and testing of Yucca Mountain’s suitability. “It’s not over. The lawsuits will start flying.” Debbie McCracken agreed with her husband. “You lose one battle, but the war is not over,” she said. “Abraham obviously didn’t look at any communities out here.” Feelings were mixed in Las Vegas, which has a metropolitan population of about 1.5 million living about 90 miles southeast of Yucca Mountain. “It is pretty far away,” said Greg Beasley, a hotel front desk manager who has lived in Las Vegas since 1991. But the mountain is close enough to make Curtis Gilbert, a casino card dealer, uncomfortable. “I think it is too close,” he said. “But the only people who really know are the scientists.” In Beatty, an old mining town about 40 miles northwest of the site on U.S. 95, John Lisle, a retired high school science teacher, hopes Abraham is right. “If they are satisfied it is safe, I am for it,” he said. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 44 Dump opposition spurs diverse groups to join forces Frank X. Mullen Jr. [fmullen@rgj.com] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/12/2002 07:09 pm [Yucca Mountain as seen from U.S. 95, a few miles north of Lathrop Wells. - Marilyn Newton/RGJ] Marilyn Newton/RGJ Yucca Mountain as seen from U.S. 95, a few miles north of Lathrop Wells. An unprecedented coalition of Indian tribes, business groups, environmental activists and consumer advocates is preparing to fight the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump plan with lobbyists, lawsuits, demonstrations, and public education. “Gov. Kenny Guinn is mobilizing the business community statewide, and the Las Vegas Greater Area Chamber of Commerce has already pulled out of the national chamber because of its support for the nuclear dump plan,” said Richard Bryan, a former U.S. senator. “We will speak with our pocketbook and with every other means to oppose Yucca Mountain,” he said. The Energy Department last week gave the go-ahead for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas, contending the site is scientifically sound and that “compelling national interests” override the state’s strong objections. While Guinn and Nevada’s congressional delegation oppose the proposal in Congress, activists and business people are planning a many-pronged attack on the government’s plans. Groups that are usually on opposite sides of the table — such as environmentalists and business interests, casino lobbyists and Indian tribes — are coming together to fight Yucca Mountain. Last week, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, met with representatives of Nevada Indian tribes and the nuclear issue was high on the agenda, said Alan Mandell, chairman of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. “Both the primary and secondary rail routes for nuclear waste come right through our reservation, and the Interstate-80 route follows the Truckee River, which is the tribe’s lifeline,” Mandell said. “We haven’t discussed strategies to fight this yet, but I’m sure we’ll be forming partnerships and relationships with those who are also opposed to Yucca Mountain. Let’s all come to the table and do something about it,” he said. Lawsuits will multiply, opponents said. “Environmental groups will be getting together to file lawsuits in addition to the lawsuits filed by governments,” said Kalynda Tilges, organizer of Citizen Alert, a Nevada environmental group. “There are many grounds for lawsuits, including (Las Vegas) Mayor Oscar Goodman’s claim that the federal decision amounts to racketeering by the government. This was obviously a done deal long before the announcement.” She said other grounds for suits include arguments about state’s rights, bad science, and due process. Citizen Alert has also staged peaceful demonstrations to bring attention to the nuclear storage and transportation issues, she said, and those will continue. She said the more than 40,000 tons of waste now stored at reactors will have to pass through dozens of states to get to Yucca Mountain — increasing the chances of a terrorist attack or rail accident. “This stuff won’t be magically transported to Nevada,” Tilges said. “The Department of Energy would have people believe that Nevada is a lone voice against this, but all the states should be outraged that a problem, and a terrorist target, will be spread out for thousands of miles.” Lisa Gue, an analyst for public Citizen, a consumer lobbying group, said bringing waste to Yucca Mountain will mean “radioactive roads and rails” for dozens of states. “We’ve been getting out the word that Nevada isn’t standing alone on this,” she said. “The DOE has consistently sidestepped the issue of transportation and that’s because they know it’s one of the plan’s fatal flaws. “The DOE pushes it as consolidating the waste in one place, but because they have to transport it, they are spreading out the problem. There are concerned citizens working against this all over the country.” Reid and other Nevada officials, as well as many environmentalists, contend the waste should be kept at reactor sites where some power utilities already have aboveground temporary storage in concrete bunkers. That’s the way it’s done in other areas of the world because most governments don’t want to transport the waste and increase the chances of disaster, Yucca Mountain opponents said. They said they will work to educate the public in other states about the transportation issue, but the real battle will be in Congress, where the nuclear industry contributes to lawmakers’ campaign chests. “The whole process is really subverted,” Gue said. “Big money talks. The challenge is to make good policy speak louder than big money.” © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 45 Oped Columnists: NEVADA IS FOR NUKES NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: By JAY AMBROSE January 12, 2002 -- SECRETARY of Energy Spencer Abraham has recommended Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the U.S. burial ground for as much as 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, and if that strikes some as worrisome, they should understand that the alternative is not that the toxic material somehow disappears. The alternative is that it sits where it is, in dozens of above-ground repositories in 39 states - not a smart idea. Supposing there's a fear that terrorists might steal or bomb the waste, what's better - to have most of it 1,000 feet underground in a single place surrounded by U.S. security forces, or to have most of it dispersed hither and yon? As for all the other sorts of things that could go wrong, the same, obvious answer applies: It's far better to put this material in a central spot where it can be guarded and monitored with extreme care, especially if it is far from any population center in a location deemed geologically suitable. Nevada officials are against plunking the waste 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas because, after all, that's their back yard. They warn the waste could poison Nevada water someday. It's true that a General Accounting Office report said there are matters that need to be addressed about Yucca. But raising questions is not the same as finding fault. Abraham is confident research demonstrates the site's safety, just as he thinks transporting waste to the site can be done safely. Those expressing exaggerated concern about placing the waste in trains and trucks ought to acknowledge that sooner or later it has to happen and that transporting nuclear materials is not new. The Abraham decision is not a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing. More than 40 years ago, the government began seeking a place where nuclear waste from power plants and weapons facilities could be kept safely for thousands of years. Congress selected the Yucca site for further study. There's been plenty of that, 14 years' worth at a cost of billions. Now the president has to accept or reject the Abraham recommendation. If he says yes, Nevada officials get their say. If those officials say no, and they will, the issue goes to Congress. If Congress says yes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must still decide on issuing a license. If it says yes, construction begins and the site is opened in 2010, maybe. Some say 2015. Federal law called for a site to be opened in 1998, but politics has continuously intervened and, meanwhile, some of the country's nuclear plants are running out of storage room. Further postponement of a decision will only aggravate a bad situation. E-mail: AmbroseJ@shns.com [http://www.nypost.com] ***************************************************************** 46 British ignoring advice on Sellafield, says expert online.ie : News The Irish Examiner 12 Jan 2002 By John Breslin THE British government is ignoring warnings from security experts of a possible terrorist attack on Sellafield. Richard Thompson, the executive director of the US-based Institute for Resource and Security Studies and an expert on the consequences of a nuclear fall out, said an accident at the north of England plant would release 100 times more radiation than that emitted following the Chernobyl disaster. Mr Thompson said Dublin would be well within the range of any fallout as would Newcastle and Edinburgh, depending on wind direction. He said the most vulnerable part of the facilities at Sellafield are giant tanks of high level radioactive waste that need to be constantly cooled and stirred. He said buildings at Sellafield designed in the 1950s could not withstand a crash from an airliner. As the public here continue to wait for the much vaunted and delayed release of the State's updated National Emergency a series of plans to deal with major emergencies was updated following the September 11 attack. A national emergency committee was set up to review these plans. But the National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents is separate and dates back to the early 90s. Work on an updated one first began under the rainbow coalition in November 1996 and was continued by the present Minister of State, Joe Jacob. Following September 11, there was growing pressure to publish the updated plan and a promised fact sheet. In September, Mr Jacob said they would be available within days. He later said his department was waiting until after a full scale exercise on November 10. At a media briefing on that day, Mr Jacob said the updated plan would be available in days. At the start of December he said that consultants were reviewing the results of the exercise and it would be mid-December before it would be available. It has still not been published. ***************************************************************** 47 Attorney general sues Starmet over radioactive material storage By Associated Press, 1/11/2002 17:40 BOSTON (AP) The state has sued a company that made specialty munitions for the U.S. Army because it allegedly stored at least 3,800 barrels of radioactive waste in violation of its license. Attorney General Thomas Reilly and Department of Public Health Commissioner Howard Koh sued Starmet Corp. Friday in Suffolk Superior Court. Starmet has not provided financial assurances to cover the cost of cleaning the Concord site and is keeping the materials even though it does not have a legitimate production purpose, the suit says. The state is seeking an injunction ordering Starmet to remove the 55-gallon drums, and prohibiting any future storage of radioactive waste at the facility. ''Our goal is to eliminate any potential threat to the health of residents and the way to accomplish that is to compel Starmet to remove these materials,'' Koh said. Starmet, formerly known as Nuclear Metals Inc., made depleted uranium armor-piercing bullets for the U.S. Army at the site until 1999. The company had no plans for disposing of the waste and was transporting radioactive waste to Concord from its South Carolina facility, according to the suit. A message left with a Starmet official Friday was not immediately returned. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also responsible for assuring the cleanup of areas of the facility, spokeswoman Alice Kaufman said. The site has been added to the agency's Superfund list, which guarantees federal funds for the cleanup. However, the EPA, which said it expects test results on some of the waste later this month, is also negotiating with Starmet, the Army and other parties for the cleanup. ***************************************************************** 48 AU: Radioactive leak at SA uranium mine not a danger - managers theage.com.au, Breaking News SYDNEY, Jan 12 AAP|Published: Saturday January 12, 9:18 PM Up to 60,000 litres of radioactive liquid have gushed from a pipe at a South Australian uranium mine. Heathgate Resources, that operates the Beverley Uranium Mine, 600km north of Adelaide, said today the leak last night was contained and did not pose a risk to personnel or the environment. Company spokesman Stephen Middleton said the plant was shutting down for maintenance at 6.30pm (CDT) yesterday when pressure built up in a pipe, causing it to rupture and leak the mining fluid. The liquid contained salty ground water, sulphuric acid, added oxygen and uranium, and was "naturally radioactive", Mr Middleton said. Much of the liquid was contained within a purpose-built run-off drain surrounding the plant, and the rest was pumped out, he said. "There was no spillage beyond the immediate plant area," Mr Middleton told AAP. "There's been no impact on the environment and no impact on worker's safety." South Australia's acting Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rob Lucas, today announced a full inquiry would be carried out, with an inspection of the mine set down for Monday. "Initial reports provided to the government indicate there has been no harm to any personnel or the environment but a full investigation into the incident is underway," a spokesman for Mr Lucas said. "South Australia's chief inspector of mines will visit the site on the first available flight on Monday along with inspectors from the government's radiation protection branch." Mr Lucas said further details would be released as they became available. Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All rights ***************************************************************** 49 AU: SA govt's response to uranium leak reckless - Democrats theage.com.au, Breaking News CANBERRA, Jan 13 AAP|Published: Sunday January 13, 6:46 PM The South Australian government's response to a 60,000 litre radioactive liquid spill in the state's north bordered on reckless, the Australian Democrats declared today. The Democrats today called for an immediate halt to operations at the Beverley Uranium Mine, where the spill happened on Friday. Democrats Leader Natasha Stott Despoja also demanded an independent inquiry and assessment on the environment after groundwater containing sulphuric acid and uranium erupted from a pipe during routine maintenance at the mine. "The inquiry must examine the reporting and response procedures of the mine and the South Australian government," Senator Stott Despoja said. "The performance of the state government in response to this spill has bordered on reckless." She said the state government had failed to alert the public to the spill for 24 hours. "Then the state environment minister, who as of today still had not been properly briefed, refuses to stop mine operations because the state's mining minister is on holiday," Senator Stott Despoja said. She said an inquiry must look broadly at issues relating to uranium mining in South Australia and the implications for the recently approved Honeymoon uranium mine. "The Beverly mine uses in situ leaching to remove uranium from ground water, the same method as recently approved for use at Honeymoon," the Democrats leader said. "This method of extraction is not permitted in any other western country because of its history of contaminating ground water." Senator Stott Despoja said promises from the federal government and uranium mining industry that technology would solve environmental and safety problems rang hollow. "There is no technology that reverses radioactive poisoning," she said. "There is no technology that safely stores radioactive waste." Heathgate Resources spokesman Stephen Middleton said the Beverley Mine was shutting down for maintenance at 6.30pm (CDT) on Friday when pressure built up in a pipe, causing it to rupture and leak the mining fluid. He said much of the liquid was contained within a purpose-built run-off drain surrounding the plant while the rest was pumped out. Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All rights ***************************************************************** 50 AU: SA government criticised over handling of uranium leak theage.com.au, Breaking News ADELAIDE, Jan 13 AAP|Published: Sunday January 13, 1:25 PM A South Australian anti-nuclear political party today accused the state government of incompetence over its handling of a uranium leak in the state's north. Up to 60,000 litres of radioactive liquid gushed from a pipe at the Beverley Uranium Mine, 600km north of Adelaide. A spokesman for the mine's operator, Heathgate Resources, said the plant was shutting down for maintenance at 6.30pm (CDT) on Friday when pressure built up in a pipe, causing it to rupture and leak the mining fluid. Much of the liquid was contained in a purpose-built runoff drain surrounding the plant, and the rest was pumped out, spokesman Stephen Middleton said. "There's been no impact on the environment and no impact on workers' safety," he said. SA Nuclear Free spokeswoman Cherie Hoyle said the government had bungled yet another radioactive accident by delaying their statement for more than 24 hours. She said the leak followed a string of mining-related accidents in SA in recent months, including two fires at Olympic Dam and acid leaks at the Honeymoon Uranium Mine. "Procedures for the release of information regarding radioactive material and waste management remain ineffective under the state government," Ms Hoyle said. She claimed that when reporters asked the government what the spill contained, they could not respond. Australian Democrats spokeswoman Sandra Knack today said it was outrageous that the plant was allowed to reopen before a full inspection by government officers. "Until government inspectors from the Mines and Radiation Protection Branch have arrived, made their inspection and given the all clear, all operations at Beverley must be suspended," she said. The plea echoed calls from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) which claimed there had been no official report on the nature or extent of the leak, and moves by the company to resume operations at the mine were premature. ACF nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said there must be a full public inquiry into the leak, which he said was further evidence of the dangers of uranium. South Australia's acting Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rob Lucas, yesterday announced a full inquiry would be carried out following the leak. "Initial reports provided to the government indicate there has been no harm to any personnel or the environment but a full investigation into the incident is underway," a spokesman for Mr Lucas said. Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 51 AU: Uranium leak a state matter: Vanstone theage.com.au, Breaking News CANBERRA, Jan 13 AAP|Published: Sunday January 13, 12:48 PM The federal government says it will not investigate a leak at a uranium mine in South Australia's north. Up to 60,000 litres of ground water containing sulphuric acid and uranium gushed from a pipe on Friday during routine maintenance at the Beverly Uranium Mine, 600km north of Adelaide. The Conservation Council of South Australia has estimated up to 13 kilograms of uranium and two-and-a-half kilos of cadmium dust may have escaped into the environment following the leak. While the mine operator, Heathgate Resources, said the leak had not affected the environment, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has called for a suspension of the mine's operations and an independent inquiry into the leak. A spokesman for acting federal Environment Minister Amanda Vanstone said the leak was a matter for the South Australian government. "The commonwealth is involved in approval for uranium mines and also has involvement in uranium mines in territories, but if a uranium mine is in a state, then we're out of the picture," he told AAP. "The commonwealth's main role is in the approval process." Heathgate Resources spokesman Stephen Middleton said the plant was shutting down for maintenance at 6.30pm (CDT) on Friday when pressure built up in a pipe, causing it to rupture and leak the mining fluid. The liquid contained salty ground water, sulphuric acid, added oxygen and uranium, and was "naturally radioactive", Mr Middleton said. Much of the liquid was contained within a purpose-built run-off drain surrounding the plant, and the rest was pumped out, he said. "There was no spillage beyond the immediate plant area," Mr Middleton told AAP. He said the leak did not pose a risk to personnel or the environment "There's been no impact on the environment and no impact on worker's safety." Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All rights ***************************************************************** 52 AU: SA Govt denies radioactive spill cover-up claims ABC News - 14/01/02 : The South Australian Government has denied attempting to cover-up a radioactive spill at the Beverley Uranium Mine in the state's far north on Friday night. Up to 60,000 litres of salty ground water containing uranium and sulphuric acid burst from a pipe at the mine around 6:30 ACST. US company Heathgate Resources contacted government officials around two and a half hours later. However, the government did not release a statement about the incident until 24 hours after it occured, and did not confirm the liquid contained uranium until two hours after that. The state Opposition has accused the government and Heathgate of conspiring to minimise bad publicity surrounding the spill. Acting Minister for Minerals and Energy Rob Lucas, says the government has become the victim of unreasonable criticism. He says claims of a cover-up are absolute nonsense. Premier Rob Kerin says the government notified the public as soon as possible. "What's happened at Beverley we found out yesterday, we got out and told the media straight away," Mr Kerin said. "There's people on their way up there at the moment, they'll have a good look and they'll take the appropriate action." Heathgate Resources also disputes allegations of a cover-up. Corporate Affairs manager Stephen Middleton, says the first priority was cleaning up the spill, and the government notified the public as soon as the details of the incident were checked. The Environment Protection Authority says it has not been officially informed of the incident. A spokesman says the EPA expects a full report on the spill from Heathgate Resources today. However, at this stage it will not be sending any of its staff to the mine. Inquiry Environmental groups are demanding the mine be shutdown until an independent inquiry into the spill is completed. Dave Sweeney, from the Australian Conservation Foundation, says the plant is dangerous. He says the in situ leaching method of extracting uranium is not allowed in any other western countries. "The only places where it has been used in the past are in the former east block countries in particular East Germany and Bulgaria and in those countries it was responsible for very significant and continuing contamination including contamination of groundwater," he said. Heathgate Resources says radioactive readings show the site is safe. South Australian Democrats Sandra Kanck has echoed the view of conservationists and the Opposition that operations at the plant should be immediately suspended. "This mine is located very very close to the Great Artesian Basin, it matters a great deal and we should not allow this mine to continue operating when we do not know that things are safe," Ms Kanck said. Shadow Environment Minister John Hill says Labor will closely examine the controversial in situ leach mining method used at the site if it wins power in the upcoming state election. Inspectors from the South Australian Government's Radiation Protection Branch and the Chief Inspector Of Mines are on their way to the mine. Conservation Council The Conservation Council of South Australia estimates that 13 kilograms of uranium and two and a half kilograms of cadmium dust escaped during the leak. Nuclear issues spokesman for the Conservation Council Dr Denis Mathews says the radioactive liquid would have turned to dust and could have been ingested or inhaled. Dr Mathews says mining should not be allowed to resume until a thorough investigation has been completed. "What you've got is kilometres of this pipeline with hundreds of joints and a number of pumps, all under pressure," he said. "It will only take one leak to occur, one joint to give way, not close to the processing plant at night where it's not easily detected, and we'll have a lot more than 60,000 litres of this radioactive toxic cocktail spread around the countryside." © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 53 Nevada mountain to be nuclear garbage can ABC Sci-Tech - 14/01/02 : Mon, Jan 14 2002 1:32 PM AEDT United States Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has designated Nevada's remote Yucca Mountain as the federal repository for, eventually, more than 77,000 tonnes of nuclear waste. Because of heightened security concerns in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, Mr Abraham said "sound science and compelling national interests" necessitated the development of a federal facility to store the highly-radioactive waste, rather than keeping it at 131 nuclear reactors around the country. The decision on Thursday drew resounding protests from elected officials in the western desert state, who, despite the anticipated $50 billion windfall in jobs and income it could bring Nevada, fear the environmental and health consequences of storing spent nuclear fuel on their terrain. "This decision stinks," Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn told reporters after speaking to Mr Abraham. "I said to (Abraham) that on behalf of all Nevada, he is putting politics over sound science." Congress in 1987 chose Yucca Mountain -- a desolate, uninhabited spot about 145 kilometres north-west of the glitzy Las Vegas -- from among sites in three states as the optimal location for a national nuclear repository for the safe storage of waste. More than 6.8 billion in federal dollars has been spent digging 274 metres into the ground to conduct tests at 400 degrees to simulate the temperature generated by the waste. A 1982 Nevada law allows the state to challenge the federal decision; only the US Congress can override the state's veto. © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 54 AU: Mine back in operation after radioactive leak ABC News - 12/01/02 : The Beverley Uranium Mine, in South Australia's far north, has recommenced operations just 24 hours after a 60,000 litre spill of radioactive material. A spokesman for mine's operator, Heathgate Resources, Stephen Middleton, says there has been no harm to any personnel or the environment. The Chief Inspector of Mines and inspectors from the South Australian Government's Radiation Protection Branch are on their way to the site to conduct a full investigation. Mr Middleton says the incident happened last night when a mixture of groundwater, acid and uranium burst from a pipe. "A computer system detected a fault in the back-up power supply," he said. "That caused the plant to shut down automatically but there was a malfunction, we think, and the mining solution from the fields continued to flow out from the well fields, continued to flow into the plant. "There was a build-up of pressure and a small elbow joint fractured and that caused the solution to spill onto the plant." He says radioactive readings at the plant are safe. "I don't have the precise figures but I'm told by the people at the plant that there's very difficult to detect any difference between normal background inside the plant and the area around the spill," he said. South Australia's Acting Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rob Lucas, says a full investigation is underway. "There hasn't been any harm to the personnel or to the environment but obviously it will be fully investigated," Mr Lucas said. "The Chief Inspector of Mines, I'm told, will be visiting the site as soon as possible, together with inspectors from the Government's radiation protection branch." © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 55 Nuke debris can now go in landfills ContraCostaTimes.com Published Sunday, January 13, 2002 + The oversight and monitoring required of radioactive waste facilities can be sidestepped under a new state policy By Geoffrey Mohan LOS ANGELES TIMES A little more than two years after the state abandoned plans to open a nuclear waste dump at Ward Valley in the Mojave Desert, officials are set to allow shipment of radioactive debris to ordinary landfills never designed to safely store such material. Under a policy finalized in November by the state Department of Health Services, dirt and debris from decommissioned nuclear power plants and other mothballed facilities could be disposed of without the oversight, licensing and monitoring that have long been required of all radioactive waste. Although Ward Valley would have been closely monitored, the site, about 20 miles from the Colorado River, raised fears that radioactive particles could migrate to the river or into other drinking water sources. Now, critics of the latest policy fear that similar radioactive waste will instead wind up in poorly designed landfills, where it could emit radiation at levels more than 10 times higher than would have been permitted at the Mojave Desert site. "There are 170 municipal waste facilities in the state and no one knows if they'll become nuclear waste sites, and it's all happened overnight and under cover of dark," said Dan Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, which opposed the Ward Valley site and is suing the state over the new disposal policy. The state's top radiologic health official countered that a provision of federal law has always allowed disposal in landfills of radioactive debris and soil from decommissioned nuclear sites. The official said his agency has adopted recently toughened federal standards for how much radiation can remain at dismantled nuclear facilities before they are freed from regulation and material from them is eligible for disposal elsewhere. "It could have been released a few years ago at much higher [radiation] levels," said Edgar Bailey, chief of the Radiologic Health Branch of the state Department of Health Services. Nonetheless, just more than two years ago, Bailey informed Safety-Kleen Inc., an industrial waste site operator in Kern County, that accepting any material with the most minimal amounts of radiation "would be a violation of California law." Safety-Kleen had been accepting material from a former Manhattan Project site in New York. The new state policy, however, applies only to material from sites that have been "released for unrestricted use," which had not happened at the New York site that sent its material to Safety-Kleen. In California, at least half a dozen power plants and laboratory sites are poised for decommissioning. If the sites are given a clean bill of health by regulators, they can be used for a variety of purposes, even for new housing or parks. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows unrestricted use of a decommissioned facility if what remains at the site won't expose a hypothetical resident to more than 25 millirems of radiation annually -- roughly equal to about 2 1/2 chest X-rays. "Nothing on the site can exceed that amount," Bailey said. "To get that dose, you have to be living on the site, you have to grow your crops there, and you have to drink from the wells there." But the 25-millirem exposure level is not a measure of the radioactivity of specific waste matter or chunks of soil. It is a measure of the intensity of radiation that would percolate out on hypothetical pathways, and is based on factors that include soil densities and the type of development expected in the area. Activists and landfill regulators worry that truckloads of dirt or individual items of debris could be both "hotter" than would have been allowed at Ward Valley and much more exposed to the public at municipal landfills, which are not equipped or licensed to isolate radioactive waste. Bailey acknowledged that there is "a remote possibility" that some debris from a decommissioned site could be more radioactive than the overall average for the site. "It's astounding that [the Department of Health Services], not even having a clue on how municipal landfills are set up, makes a rule that affects all the landfills in the state," said David Roberti, a member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, which oversees the operation of municipal landfills statewide. The Ward Valley facility, near Needles, was to have radiated no more than 2 millirems per year -- less than one-tenth of the 25-millirem level the Department of Health Services now would allow a decommissioned site to radiate. A closer look at the federal regulations adopted by the state, however, shows that exceptions can be granted that would allow decommissioned sites to radiate at levels many times higher than 25 millirems. Antinuclear activists warn that such a scenario is likely. Last week, they said, the Department of Energy decided it would clean up the former Rocketdyne site in Simi Valley only to its department standards and not to the stricter levels required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That difference in standards can translate to a steep increase in the statistical odds of cancer in populations exposed to hazardous chemicals. Bailey said material from the former Rocketdyne facility could be sent to landfills, but only after it has been cleaned up to a promised level of 15 millirems. "All of the waste that is leaving that is above 15 millirems is presently going to a low-level waste site, and it probably would go out of state anyway because it's a Department of Energy project," Bailey said. ***************************************************************** 56 Governor Kenny C. Guinn's Statement Regarding Secretary Spencer Abraham's Announcement FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2002 CONTACT: Greg Bortolin PHONE: 775-684-5670 FAX: 775-684-7198 Governor Kenny C. Guinn's Statement Regarding Secretary Spencer Abraham's Announcement "At 11:05 a.m. this morning, I received a telephone call from Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham informing me of his decision to put the nuke waste dump in Nevada." "I told him that I am damn disappointed in this decision and to expect my veto. I explained to him we will fight it in the Congress, in the Oval Office, in every regulatory body we can - we'll take all of our arguments to the courts. This fight is far from over." "I also told him that on behalf of all Nevadans, I am outraged that he is allowing politics to override sound science." "At the conclusion of the call I told the Secretary that I think this decision stinks, the whole process stinks and we'll see him in court." ***************************************************************** 57 Dump opposition spurs diverse groups to join forces January 13, 2002 Frank X. Mullen Jr. RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/12/2002 07:09 pm Marilyn Newton/RGJ An unprecedented coalition of Indian tribes, business groups, environmental activists and consumer advocates is preparing to fight the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump plan with lobbyists, lawsuits, demonstrations, and public education. “Gov. Kenny Guinn is mobilizing the business community statewide, and the Las Vegas Greater Area Chamber of Commerce has already pulled out of the national chamber because of its support for the nuclear dump plan,” said Richard Bryan, a former U.S. senator. “We will speak with our pocketbook and with every other means to oppose Yucca Mountain,” he said. The Energy Department last week gave the go-ahead for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas, contending the site is scientifically sound and that “compelling national interests” override the state’s strong objections. While Guinn and Nevada’s congressional delegation oppose the proposal in Congress, activists and business people are planning a many-pronged attack on the government’s plans. Groups that are usually on opposite sides of the table — such as environmentalists and business interests, casino lobbyists and Indian tribes — are coming together to fight Yucca Mountain. Last week, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, met with representatives of Nevada Indian tribes and the nuclear issue was high on the agenda, said Alan Mandell, chairman of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. “Both the primary and secondary rail routes for nuclear waste come right through our reservation, and the Interstate-80 route follows the Truckee River, which is the tribe’s lifeline,” Mandell said. “We haven’t discussed strategies to fight this yet, but I’m sure we’ll be forming partnerships and relationships with those who are also opposed to Yucca Mountain. Let’s all come to the table and do something about it,” he said. Lawsuits will multiply, opponents said. “Environmental groups will be getting together to file lawsuits in addition to the lawsuits filed by governments,” said Kalynda Tilges, organizer of Citizen Alert, a Nevada environmental group. “There are many grounds for lawsuits, including (Las Vegas) Mayor Oscar Goodman’s claim that the federal decision amounts to racketeering by the government. This was obviously a done deal long before the announcement.” She said other grounds for suits include arguments about state’s rights, bad science, and due process. Citizen Alert has also staged peaceful demonstrations to bring attention to the nuclear storage and transportation issues, she said, and those will continue. She said the more than 40,000 tons of waste now stored at reactors will have to pass through dozens of states to get to Yucca Mountain — increasing the chances of a terrorist attack or rail accident. “This stuff won’t be magically transported to Nevada,” Tilges said. “The Department of Energy would have people believe that Nevada is a lone voice against this, but all the states should be outraged that a problem, and a terrorist target, will be spread out for thousands of miles.” Lisa Gue, an analyst for public Citizen, a consumer lobbying group, said bringing waste to Yucca Mountain will mean “radioactive roads and rails” for dozens of states. “We’ve been getting out the word that Nevada isn’t standing alone on this,” she said. “The DOE has consistently sidestepped the issue of transportation and that’s because they know it’s one of the plan’s fatal flaws. “The DOE pushes it as consolidating the waste in one place, but because they have to transport it, they are spreading out the problem. There are concerned citizens working against this all over the country.” Reid and other Nevada officials, as well as many environmentalists, contend the waste should be kept at reactor sites where some power utilities already have aboveground temporary storage in concrete bunkers. That’s the way it’s done in other areas of the world because most governments don’t want to transport the waste and increase the chances of disaster, Yucca Mountain opponents said. They said they will work to educate the public in other states about the transportation issue, but the real battle will be in Congress, where the nuclear industry contributes to lawmakers’ campaign chests. “The whole process is really subverted,” Gue said. “Big money talks. The challenge is to make good policy speak louder than big money.” © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 58 Nuclear waste accident exercise planned this weekend Nevada Appeal January 12, 2002 Geoff Dornan While the politicians argue whether shipping and storing nuclear waste in Nevada is safe, emergency response agencies are preparing in case the worst happens. An exercise is scheduled today north of Lathrop Wells on the access road to the Nevada Test site near Las Vegas to see how well state, county and federal agencies can cope with an accident involving a shipment of nuclear waste. Public Safety Director Dick Kirkland said the exercise deals with shipments of transuranic waste from the Nevada Test Site to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant at Carlsbad, New Mexico. He said the waste involved is considered low level waste and that the exercise is not specifically related to the kind of waste proposed for storage at Yucca Mountain. But Kirkland said the exercise is valuable for learning better how to handle incidents involving higher levels of waste as well. "It applies to everything, the concepts and principles," he said. Kirkland said large amounts of low level wastes are being transported throughout the nation, including Nevada, and that his crews as well as local authorities, medical and fire personnel all have to be ready to deal with any kind of incident that might happen. Kirkland said one problem for all authorities is that there are really no requirements to report and track those shipments so it's difficult to tell how many of them may be on the roads at any one time. He said he would like to discuss ways of improving that reporting with lawmakers. The Carlsbad plant is a disposal facility for plutonium contaminated wastes from the U.S. Energy Department. It is already receiving waste from DOE facilities in Idaho, Colorado and Washington. The exercise beginning at 9 a.m. will involve emergency response and public safety personnel from the state highway patrol health division and department of transportation, the division of emergency management, Nye County Sheriff's Department, county fire and rescue personnel, medical personnel and ambulance teams. Copyright Nevada Appeal. Materials contained within this site may ***************************************************************** 59 Bush Misses Historic Opportunity on Nuclear Cuts - UCS January 10, 2002 Statement by Tom Z. Collina, UCS Global Security Program Director WASHINGTON, DC -- "The Pentagon announced today that thousands of nuclear weapons to be retired over the next decade will be stored, not destroyed. Administration officials claim that this is a prudent hedge against an uncertain future. The irony is that by not dismantling these weapons now the Bush administration actually compounds future uncertainty, since Russia will feel compelled to hold onto its weapons, too. Will Russia later deploy them, aimed at the United States? More likely, Moscow will find it too expensive to keep them and will take them apart and store the nuclear materials-increasing the chance that these deadly items will find their way to "rogue" states or terrorist groups. "There is a better way. The United States and Russia should instead agree to dismantle the weapons they remove from deployment. They should commit to store and dispose the resulting fissile material under international safeguards to preclude its reuse in nuclear weapons. In this way the US will know that these weapons will not be reused -- by Russia or anybody else. "There is no conceivable future threat that requires the United States to maintain more than a few hundred survivable nuclear weapons. Yet the Bush administration intends to maintain some 2,000 deployed weapons and to preserve the option of increasing the US arsenal to Cold War levels. By not locking in the nuclear reductions now, the President is wasting an historic opportunity to reduce the possibility of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism." For a discussion of a more prudent US nuclear policy that will lead to a more secure future, please see Toward True Security: A US Nuclear Posture for the Next Decade, available at www.ucsusa.org/publications/NPRall.pdf --> For info on this release, call: [ border=] TOM Z. COLLINA 202 223-6133 PAUL FAIN 202 223-6133 To set up interviews, or for UCS info, contact: [ border=] PAUL FAIN Assistant Press Secretary 202 223-6133 pfain@ucsusa.org [pfain@ucsusa.org] RICH HAYES Media Director 202 223-6133 rhayes@ucsusa.org [rhayes@ucsusa.org] MICHAEL PANCOOK Transportation Media & Outreach Coordinator 510 843-1872 mpancook@ucsusa.org [mpancook@ucsusa.org] UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02238 617-547-5552 Contact us at ucs@ucsusa.org [ucs@ucsusa.org] ***************************************************************** 60 Nuclear war an option, India says January 12, 2002 Nuclear war an option, India says General warns Pakistan: Washington nervous as sabre-rattling over Kashmir intensifies Jan Cienski National Post WASHINGTON - India's top military chief said yesterday the country was prepared for a nuclear war and threatened the annihilation of Pakistan if the countries' latest confrontation over Kashmir should come to that. General S. Padmanabhan said India would not be the first to use atomic weapons, but would retaliate fiercely if Pakistan launched a nuclear attack. "The perpetrator of that particular outrage shall be punished so severely that their continuation thereafter in any form of fray will be doubtful," said Gen. Padmanabhan in the Indian capital. "If we go to war, jolly good!" Mincing no words, Gen. Padmanabhan said the massive Indian deployment along the border with Pakistan was not for show. "We don't play soldiers on the border," he said. "What I'm doing is for real. I have not gone to do an exercise. I have to be ready for war to defend my country." A senior Indian official was quick to say the General's bellicose remarks were not cleared or sanctioned by the Prime Minister's office.The war talk came on the eve of a much-anticipated speech today by General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's President, in which he is expected to announce further steps to clamp down on militants using Pakistan as a base to attack Indian-ruled Kashmir. Washington is becoming increasingly nervous as the two nuclear powers ready for war, threatening to fracture George W. Bush's carefully constructed anti-terrorist coalition. Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, is flying to the subcontinent next week on a peace-keeping mission. "The President continues to call on all of the parties to recognize the importance of working to fight terrorism," said Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, from Air Force One yesterday. "The President remains concerned about the region. India and Pakistan have a mutual enemy in terrorists, not in each other." Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defence, warned any hostilities between India and Pakistan would hugely complicate the U.S. effort to root out al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan. The U.S. military flies most of its men and supplies from vessels in the Arabian Sea, through Pakistani airspace and on to Afghanistan. "In the event of a conflict, Pakistan would have a very different view about the use of its airspace than it does now," Mr. Rumsfeld said. As it prepares for a possible war, Pakistan has quietly asked the United States to reduce its presence at two of the four bases it is using for its Afghan operations. So far, Pakistan is maintaining troops along its border with Afghanistan, helping capture fleeing al-Qaeda operatives. But if tensions with New Delhi continue to rise, those soldiers may be moved to respond to the more serious threat from India. New Delhi blames Islamabad for supporting the two Kashmiri separatist groups it accuses of staging a suicide attack on its parliament on Dec. 13. It is demanding that Pakistan hand over 20 terrorist suspects and has called Gen. Musharraf's arrest of the leaders of two Kashmiri separatist groups and hundreds of supporters inadequate. Both countries have severed diplomatic links, put their armed forces on alert and moved hundreds of thousands of troops to their joint border. Yesterday, the two sides exchanged mortar fire along the border, with India claiming it had killed eight Pakistani troops and had destroyed 19 Pakistani bunkers. In the state of Kashmir, where guerrillas have been waging a bloody struggle to split the majority Muslim state from overwhelmingly Hindu India, Indian troops said they had engaged in several gun battles that left six militants and one civilian dead. A Pakistani military spokesman denied the Indian claims. The exchange of bullets was matched by the fierce rhetoric coming from both national capitals. In his sabre-rattling press conference, Gen. Padmanabhan warned that India was "fully ready" for war. "When two forces are opposite each other, you are close to actual war," he said. He also said India was preparing to go ahead with military exercises along the border and, if events warranted, his forces were prepared to move on Pakistan to dismantle Kashmiri training camps. "We may not cross [into Pakistani territory] but our weapons will have to cross. Our aircraft will have to cross," he said. In Islamabad, the Pakistani military spokesman warned about the consequences of India's military buildup. "We know the Indians have amassed troops at the border ... which is causing friction between the two countries," said General Rashid Quereshi. As the two sides jostle for military and propaganda advantage, India is attempting to drag the United States into the fray. Using the anti-terrorist goals first spelled out by Mr. Bush, Lal Krishna Advani, India's hawkish Home Minister, was in Washington this week, trying to persuade the United States the Kashmiri problem is part of the wider war on terrorism and urging Mr. Bush to put pressure on Pakistan. "The Pakistan government has been financing terrorists. The Pakistan government has been supplying them arms," Mr. Advani told PBS television. While Gen. Musharraf has moved against Kashmiri militants, he is not expected to abandon Pakistan's tradition of support for groups trying to secede from India. The neighbours have fought two wars over the divided state since gaining independence in 1947 and the General risks a domestic backlash if he abandons Kashmir. jcienski@nationalpost.com [jcienski@nationalpost.com] Copyright © 2002 National Post Online | Privacy Policy | ***************************************************************** 61 Pakistan enhancing nuclear warhead carrying capabilities rediff.com: In an apparent bid to enhance its capability of carrying nuclear warheads, Pakistan has started a programme of missile production at its most vital defence installation near Islamabad recently, according to highly placed intelligence sources in Jammu. Pakistan's missile factory, built with Chinese help, has so far produced eight HATF-I, HATF-II and HATF-III missiles during last one-and-a-half years at Fatehgunj, about 52 km from Islamabad, the sources said on Saturday. Chinese technocrats and experts, the sources said, have been working on guidance and control systems, solid fuel and M-4X missile variants, reportedly supplied by Beijing to Islamabad. Most of these missiles, namely Ghauri, Shaheen and HATF-I, produced by the factory were based on the dynamics of M-9 and M-11 technology, the sources said. Entire nuclear and missile technology was assisted by China and based on clandestine procurement of technology and material from dubious sources, they said. Due to lack of appropriate guidance system, Pakistan's indigenous missile development programme suffered setbacks, the sources said, and added that as a result Pakistan went in for surface-to-surface M-11 missiles from China. So far Pakistan possesses 110 HAFT-I, 90 HAFT-II (M-11), six Shaheen-I and two Shaheen-II missiles, the sources said, and added that HAFT-I has a range of 60 to 100 km, followed by HAFT-II with 250-300 km range and pay load carrying capacity of 800 kg, Shaheen-I with a range 700-750 km and Shaheen-II with 2000 km range, the sources said. Not only this, Pakistan also possesses 12 to 15 small to big missile launchers, the sources said and added these have been moved to very specific areas from where Indian cities could be easily targeted. Around June 1999, a China-Pakistan deal was finalised at US $700 million, particularly for technology transfer, they said. A team of nuclear scientists, engineers and other skilled personnel were sent for training in assembly and use of missiles to Beijing recently in this connection, they said. HATF-III test fired by Pakistan towards the end of 1999 was a version of M-9 missile of Chinese origin assembled in Fatehjung missile factory, the sources said. Similarly, HATF-I missile with a range of 80 km has also been test-fired by Pakistan over 17 times but the weapon apparently lacked a suitable guidance system, they said. HATF-II, which is said to have a range of 300 km, is comparable to M-XII missiles, the sources said. Meanwhile, an agency report said a top Pakistani defence official is scheduled to visit China next week. Pakistan's chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, General Muhammad Aziz Khan, ranking next only to president and army chief Pervez Musharraf and vice chief of army General Muhammad Yousuf, will hold talks with high ranking Chinese officials in Beijing on January 15, official APP news agency said on Saturday. He is visiting Beijing at the invitation of Gen Fu Quanyou, Chief of China's Peoples Liberation Army. China recently supplied 40 new F-7MG fighter jets, which considerably strengthen the ageing fleet of Pakistan Air Force. (c) Copyright 2001 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or ***************************************************************** 62 IAEA team to visit North Korean nuclear facilities next week IAEA-North Korea /WRD/ Vienna, Jan 11, IRNA -- A technical team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, will visit neuclear facilities in the Nyongbyon area of North Korea from 15-19 January, IAEA announced here on Friday. The visit will include the Isotope Production Laboratory, an installation that the DPRK has stated was involved in the early stages of development of their nuclear programme, it added. "This is a small but welcome step towards a return to full-fledged inspections required under North Korea's safeguards agreement," said Mohamed El Baradei, IAEA Director General. Since 1993, the IAEA has been unable to fully implement its comprehensive safeguards agreement with the DPRK, and has been therefore unable to verify the completeness and correctness of the DPRK's initial 1992 declaration of its nuclear inventory. If it were to resume these inspections, the Agency estimates the work required to verify that all nuclear material in the DPRK had been declared to the Agency would take 3-4 years with full co-operation on the North Korean side. In May 2001, the Agency proposed to the DPRK concrete steps that need to be carried out in that verification process, and indicated its readiness to start implementing these measures immediately. However, at a technical meeting between the North Korean envoys and the Agency in Vienna in November 2001, the nation did not agree to promptly start to implement those proposals, citing the delay in implementation of the USA-North Korea Agreed Framework as the principal reason for declining. North Korea, however, did agree to a visit, not an inspection, by Agency inspectors to the Isotope Production Laboratory. Pursuant to a UN Security Council request and in accordance with the "Agreed Framework" between the USA and the DPRK, the Agency has since November 1994 been monitoring the "freeze" of the DPRK's graphite moderated reactors and related facilities. It has also maintained a continuous inspector presence at the Nyongbyon site. North Korea withdrew its membership from the Agency in June 1994. The IAEA Director General encouraged North Korean government to normalize its relations with the Agency including resumption of full safeguards inspections. MHJ/KS ***************************************************************** 63 'SNIFFERS' SCOUR CITY FOR BOMBS By LARRY CELONA, ADAM MILLER and NILES LATHEM NYPOST.COM Regional News: [http://www.nypost.com] January 12, 2002 With growing evidence that Osama bin Laden may be developing so-called "dirty bombs," the feds have been deploying high-tech "bomb-sniffing" trucks around the city to protect against the possibility of a crude nuclear attack, The Post has learned. The trucks are manned by elite response teams who are trained to locate and disarm these "dirty bombs," along with other weapons of mass destruction. The bombs spew potentially deadly radioactive particles into the environment when detonated. The bomb-sniffing vehicles, which look like firetrucks, have been deployed in the city at least twice - Jan. 5, and one day during the Christmas holiday season, a law-enforcement source said. Both times, they were accompanied by detectives from the NYPD Bomb Squad. "These teams did a search of the city last week and one day last month during the holidays," the source said. "They're checking for dirty bombs. They're expected to continue in the future. They're doing it for prevention and on intelligence." The bomb-sniffing vehicles have been deployed in other major U.S. cities as well, the source added. Finding enough radioactive material to make a "dirty bomb," which consists of waste byproducts from nuclear reactors wrapped in traditional explosives, is relatively easy, experts say. There is mounting evidence that bin Laden has added these bombs to his arsenal. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said U.S. investigators have already inspected a few dozen sites in Afghan where biological, chemical and nuclear weapons research may have been conducted. But Rumsfeld has said they're unsure how far the terror master has advanced in any bomb-making process. The disclosure of the bomb-sniffing trucks came after The Post reported that cops patrolling Times Square on New Year's Eve would be armed with high-tech sensors to protect partygoers against the threat of nuclear terrorism. A large number of cops used "personal radiation detectors" on loan from the U.S. Customs Service. The gadget, which is slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, is capable of alerting the user to radioactivity nearby. If it detects radiation, the device vibrates, sounds a tone and displays flashing lights. [http://www.nypost.com] ***************************************************************** 64 Russia Seeks New Arms Pact With U.S. World - Associated Press Saturday January 12 12:48 PM ET MOSCOW (AP) - Russia expects a formal accord with the United States on deep nuclear weapons cuts to be reached by May or June, a Russian general leading talks with U.S. officials next week said Saturday. ``The central issue of the Washington consultations will be the development of a new agreement between Russia and the U.S. on the reduction of strategic offensive arms,'' Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky told reporters in Moscow, according to Russian news agencies. The agreement should be ready by the time President Bush visits Russia in late May or early June, said Baluyevsky. ``It should be a legally binding document what will clearly outline the mechanism of controlling the process of reduction,'' he said. Bush pledged in November to cut the U.S. arsenal to 1,700-2,200 warheads, and Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying Russia would reduce its stockpile to 1,500 warheads. Each country is now allowed 6,000 nuclear warheads under the 1991 START I treaty. Putin has pushed for a formal treaty on the new cuts, but Bush has balked. In a reconciliation gesture, a senior U.S. official said Thursday that the Bush administration would be willing to codify cutbacks with a statement or even a treaty, provided there would be no tortuous Cold War-style negotiations. Baluyevsky heads a delegation going to Washington to work out details of the cuts Monday and Tuesday, and the talks are expected to be tough. Russia has bristled at the Pentagon's plan to downsize American nuclear arsenals by putting weapons in reserve rather than destroying them. Baluyevsky said the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would also be discussed. After years of Russian efforts to prevent such a move, Bush announced in December that the United States is withdrawing from the treaty within six months so that it can build a national missile defense. Putin called the decision a mistake but said it would not threaten Russia's security. Baluyevsky said that Russia would present a formal reaction to the U.S. withdrawal within six months. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 65 Energy Secretary took thousands from nuke industry Abraham got thousands from nuke biz Energy secretary: 'Sound science' drove Nevada choice By William Spain, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:19 PM ET Jan. 11, 2002 LAS VEGAS (CBS.MW) -- Although Enron's large contributions to key legislators and members of the Bush administration apparently were not enough to pull its financial fat out of the fire, one group of major energy-business political donors just hit the jackpot. While it will be at least a decade -- if then -- before radioactive waste begins pouring into Nevada's Yucca Mountain, the Department of Energy's decision to recommend the site is a big victory for the nuclear power industry. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Thursday he plans to formally recommend the Silver State site as a new federal repository for nuclear waste -- delighting plant operators and infuriating Nevada businesses, politicians and environmentalists. Transporting all of its radioactive byproducts to one central location and storing it there -- both at taxpayer expense -- has long been at the top of the nuclear industry's wish list. Currently, most nuclear waste generated from commercial plants is stored on-site, a cost shouldered by the operators. The Nuclear Energy Institute wasted no time in hailing Abraham's decision: "Safely transporting nuclear waste from 35 states to one secure, specifically designed federal disposal facility underground is the best solution to protect our environment and our national security," said Joe Colvin, president of the trade group. Companies backed Senate bid Abraham received thousands of dollars in contributions from the industry in his campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate from Michigan in 2000. In addition to NEI's $4,000, private nuclear-plant operators DTE Energy (DTE: news, chart, profile), with $5,000, Exelon (EXC: news, chart, profile), at $2,000, Constellation (CEG: news, chart, profile), $2,000, and FirstEnergy (FE: news, chart, profile), also $2,000, ponied up for his failed bid. Abraham also accepted at least $9,500 from energy-trading company Enron (ENE: news, chart, profile) between February of 1999 and October 2000. Although Attorney General John Ashcroft recently recused himself from involvement in the criminal probe of Enron because he had accepted over $50,000 of the company's money in the past, Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, insisted that Abraham has no such conflict. Abraham based his decision solely on "sound science and compelling interests [of] national security and environmental protection," he said. While the nuclear industry has given to both major parties, the GOP has long received the lion's share of the booty. For instance, the Center for Responsive Politics said that in the last election cycle Republican candidates got more than two-thirds of the $335,000 given by NEI and nearly three quarters of $819,000 contributed by leading nuclear operator Exelon. The next call in the ongoing battle will be made by the White House, which is on record as being in favor of both expanded nuclear power and the establishment of a central repository for nuclear waste. If, as expected, the Bush administration approves the site, Nevada's governor or state legislature gets a chance to veto the decision, which will stop the project until and unless Congress overrides it. Furious members of the state's congressional delegation, including Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, have vowed to do whatever it takes to keep the Yucca from opening. And, even should they fail, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, has vowed a court battle. William Spain is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Chicago. Make CBS.MarketWatch.com ***************************************************************** 66 Lee Says Nuclear Codes Were Junk Las Vegas SUN January 11, 2002 LOS ALAMOS, N.M.- In a new memoir, former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee says the nuclear "crown jewels" he was accused of mishandling were really the "crown junk" and were not vital to national security. The files he downloaded were old, with much of the information already public and very little of it classified, Lee says in "My Country Versus Me," published by Hyperion. He says he copied the material onto tapes because he had lost files before and did not trust the computer system. He describes himself as a loyal "Cold Warrior" for the United States, yet says the FBI threatened him with execution "like the Rosenbergs" if he did not confess to giving nuclear secrets to China. "I want to share through this book how I fell into a trap," Lee says, "one slippery step at a time, not even realizing what was happening until it was too late." Lee, a Taiwanese-born naturalized citizen, was arrested in December 1999 and indicted on 59 felony counts alleging he transferred nuclear weapons information to portable computer tapes. He was held in solitary confinement for nine months, though never charged with spying. As the government's case crumbled, Lee pleaded guilty to a felony count of downloading sensitive material, and was set free. The FBI's mishandling of the case was a major embarrassment for the bureau. While Lee was behind bars, one senior scientist called the files "the crown jewels." Lee says the downloaded tapes were all work-related, routine and contained in a secure area at Los Alamos National Laboratory "In fact, the 'crown jewels' are largely the crown junk," he says. "This is the biggest nuclear weapons secret that LANL and the government have to hide." Lee says he copied the files - needed to design computer simulations for nuclear explosions - so he could have backup copies. "In 1993, I lost several files as a result of a computer system conversion at the lab," he says. "One of the codes I lost was about nuclear reactor safety. ... This was an important code, and it was gone." A call to the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque on Friday was not immediately returned. Lee, who has been a U.S. citizen since 1974 and spent 20 years doing top-secret work at the lab, is suing the government for defamation and claims he was targeted because he is ethnic Chinese. "Had I not been Chinese," he says, "I never would have been accused of espionage and threatened with execution. ... Now I know that political whimsy can destroy the contributions of a life's work." In a recent deposition made public Friday, former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said that ethnicity was not a factor in his firing of Lee or the decision to investigate him for possible security breaches. While in solitary at the Santa Fe County Jail, he says, he was kept shackled and handcuffed during exercise periods with a soccer ball. The 62-year-old colon cancer survivor says he had difficulty getting the special diet he needed and lost weight. "How will I ever forget this nightmare?" he asks. Lee said he was threatened with execution in March 1999, when he was interrogated by FBI agents: "They told me that unless I confessed to giving nuclear secrets to China, I might be executed, like the Rosenbergs." Julius and Ethel Rosenberg went to the electric chair in 1953 for giving atomic secrets to the Soviets. The accusation of espionage, leaked to news media, was never formally lodged against Lee. Prosecutors conceded the evidence was insufficient. Lee speculates that at least some of his troubles might have been averted if he had not thrown away his data tapes. Demoted from the lab's top-secret X Division after the espionage leaks, Lee says he was confronted with the problem of what to do with the classified data he was no longer entitled to possess. He deleted files with help from the lab help desk, he says, and threw the computer tapes into a lab trash bin. The unaccounted-for tapes triggered near-frenzy at the FBI, which insisted on proof they had not been turned over to a foreign government. Except for giving his word, Lee could not provide that proof. Agents searched for days at the Los Alamos County landfill for the tapes. Lee says even today, his wife, Sylvia, "still has nightmares about being awakened by the FBI." The Lees plan to stay in Los Alamos. Lee says he has his garden, favorite fishing spots and a safe, secure environment. "The main reason for us to stay here is the warmth of our neighbors, our friends and the real community we are part of," he says. On the Net: Lee supporters: http://www.wenholee.org [http://www.wenholee.org] Los Alamos lab: http://www.lanl.gov/worldview/ [http://www.lanl.gov/worldview/] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 67 Group Criticizes Nuke-Workplace Rules The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, January 13, 2002 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A group made up of organized labor and government watchdogs doesn't like proposed Department of Energy rules that would cover private-sector employees sickened while making nuclear weapons. A law passed by Congress two years ago authorized the Energy Department to help workers made ill by solvents and other materials file workers' compensation claims. Under the proposed rules, a federal office could evaluate workers' claims against the rules of various existing state workers' comp programs. The critics say that could doom many of the claims. State workers' comp systems often have trouble dealing with disease-related claims, says John Burton, a Rutgers University professor and a member of an Energy Department advisory committee. A department spokesman says it is confident that the final rules -- when decided -- will help workers. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on Utah OnLine is ***************************************************************** 68 Our View: Cleaning up the INEEL is far from guaranteed IdahoStatesman.com Sunday, January 13, 2002 After 13 years and $6.8 billion worth of research, don´t fool yourself into thinking Yucca Mountain is a done deal, or a dump deal. This fight will continue, even though the Energy Department gave its blessing Thursday to digging the nuclear waste repository into a bare rocky ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. So Idaho´s political leaders need to be prepared for bitter battle over Yucca Mountain, which could start taking high-level nuclear waste from Idaho within a decade. And Gov. Dirk Kempthorne needs to hold DOE to its cleanup promises to Idaho. Kempthorne pledged in his State of the State address Monday to hold DOE to its word, or he will oppose further waste shipments into Idaho. That´s a good start. Understanding the waste issue at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory is a matter of understanding several waste problems: • High-level waste. This is the stuff that would go to a national dump such as Yucca Mountain. It´s hot, in terms of temperature and radiation, and will stay so for millennia. It includes highly radioactive leftover wastes from processing used nuclear fuel rods, and old fuel from reactors, such as the infamous Three Mile Island site. Since the 1980s, the DOE has planned a single storage site. The waste sits at 131 sites, including commercial reactors and federal installations such as the INEEL. It´s more secure to have the waste at one site. That makes all the more sense in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Nevadans vow to continue the fight, most likely in Congress. They´ll likely argue again that Nevada has been steamrolled politically. They´ll argue against putting shipments on interstates and railways -- perhaps suggesting, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal did in a Friday editorial, that the concept of a centralized waste dump is a craven attempt to leverage post-Sept. 11 fears. But this debate, as it continues to grind along, ought to focus on science. That´s not too much to ask, $6.8 billion down the road. Idaho´s political leaders, who support Yucca Mountain, need to help keep this discussion moving, and focused on science. • Buried waste. The feds are years behind schedule in retrieving barrels and boxes of plutonium-laced trash at the INEEL. And they don´t know exactly what they will do with it. The plutonium in the waste can cause cancer if ingested or inhaled, and remains radioactive for 240,000 years. Some of the waste has been sitting since the 1950s above the Snake River Plain Aquifer, which provides drinking water for about 200,000 Idahoans. The DOE has asked for even more time to dig up waste on the much-delayed Pit 9 project. It´s Kempthorne´s call, and Monday he made his opinions clear. "The federal government must recognize its obligations to remove this buried waste from Idaho," Kempthorne said. The tough talk is appropriate. The state needs to remain vigilant. • Waste shipments. INEEL crews are playing catchup in trucking waste to a New Mexico underground dump. It´s the same kind of waste that needs to be extracted from Pit 9 -- tools, clothes and rags contaminated with plutonium. Material is now stored above ground at the INEEL. The DOE´s binding agreement with the state requires it to ship 3,100 cubic meters, or about 15,000 drums, by year´s end. It has shipped 1,043 cubic meters, INEEL spokesman John Walsh said. The INEEL thinks it can catch up on these shipments -- briefly delayed after Sept. 11, and now at the mercy of winter road conditions. But this is a major deadline in the cleanup agreement signed in 1995 by then-Gov. Phil Batt. Kempthorne´s office needs to keep a close eye on the process. Cleaning up and storing away a half century´s worth of radioactive waste is a slow process. DOE´s backing of Yucca Mountain is a step, but not the final step. It´s up to Idaho political leaders to help keep a notoriously slow DOE on schedule. The lasting environmental implications are too great to ignore. ***************************************************************** 69 Richardson Denies Race Role in Probe Newsday.com - By ROBERT GEHRKE Associated Press Writer January 11, 2002, 12:47 PM EST WASHINGTON -- Ethnicity was not a factor in his firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee or the decision to investigate Lee for suspected possible security breaches, former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said in a recent deposition. Lee was already the sole target of the investigation at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the New Mexico home to some of the nation's most sensitive nuclear programs, by the time Richardson came to the Energy Department. But Richardson, who is now campaigning for governor of New Mexico, agreed there were numerous reasons to focus on the Taiwanese-born Lee apart from his ethnicity, including his contact with Chinese nuclear scientists during trips to China, his access to nuclear testing data and his failure of a lie detector test. The deposition, taken Dec. 20, was made public after a review by government security officials to ensure classified information was not divulged. Former Los Alamos intelligence chief Notra Trulock is suing Lee and two government security officials for defamation because of their statements that racial profiling led Trulock to focus the investigation on Lee. Richardson's testimony contradicts Lee's statements in his own deposition and in recent interviews in which he claims he was a scapegoat and wouldn't have been prosecuted if he was white. "Secretary Richardson confirms that Wen Ho Lee was not selected for investigation because he was Chinese. You can't get more definitive testimony than that of the secretary of the department," said Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, the conservative group representing Trulock. Richardson says he is especially sensitive to issues of ethnicity because of his own Hispanic heritage. Klayman said Friday that Richardson's videotaped deposition will be key evidence in the trial scheduled to start Feb. 19. Richardson approved Lee's firing on March 8, 1999, after FBI agents found copies classified documents in Lee's Los Alamos office that had classification markings blotted out or cut off. Classified information was also found on Lee's computer. In an NBC News interview, Lee said the documents he was accused of mishandling were not vital to America's nuclear programs. "Some of them are garbage," he said. Lee was indicted on 59 felony counts of transferring nuclear weapons data to unsecure computers. He was not charged with spying, but was held in solitary confinement for nine months before the case crumbled. In September 2000, he pleaded guilty to one count of downloading sensitive material and was released from jail. The judge in the case apologized to Lee and then-President Clinton said his imprisonment "just can't be justified." Former Los Alamos counterintelligence chief Robert Vrooman and Trulock's predecessor, Charles Washington, both said Lee's race was the reason he was targeted. A recently declassified Justice Department report criticized the Energy Department's focus on Lee and the shoddy investigation by DOE and the FBI, but disputed Vrooman and Washington's claims of profiling. The initial investigation "had many serious problems. Racism was not one of them," the report said. Lee has sued Richardson and the government for defaming him by leaking information to the media that portrayed Lee as being a spy. On the Net: Wen Ho Lee supporters: http://www.wenholee.org Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 70 SRS equipment trouble is being resolved Augusta Georgia: Technology: Web posted Saturday, January 12, 2002 By [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer Savannah River Site is close to solving problems with its three evaporators, an executive at the federal nuclear-weapons site said. "It's the brightest picture I've had on evaporators since I came to high-level waste eight years ago," said Steve Piccolo, the vice president in charge of Westinghouse Savannah River Co.'s high-level waste division. Westinghouse operates the federal nuclear weapons site for the Department of Energy. "We're coming out of the hourglass in terms of space and system flexibility," Mr. Piccolo said. The evaporators vaporize water from highly radioactive liquid wastes in the site's 49 underground waste tanks, thus freeing space in the SRS "tank farms." Without the evaporators, the tanks quickly would fill with waste generated by other SRS facilities. Some observers said they still had concerns about the evaporators, which are crucial to operation of several major SRS plants, including its two reprocessing "canyons" and the Defense Waste Processing Facility. "Just because you've got three cars that are running, but they are old, doesn't mean you have dependable transportation," said Don Moniak, an Aiken resident and community organizer for Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. "Those things have been breaking down so often that they are undependable." Problems had plagued the evaporators in recent years, leading to a shortage of space inside the site's 49 underground waste tanks last summer. The site keeps about 38 million gallons of waste in its tanks. The 2H evaporator was sidelined in January 2000 because of a buildup of silica inside the unit. A new, larger evaporator, 3H, opened that spring, but its operation was slowed by a faulty cooling system. More recently, both the 2H and 2F evaporators were shut down in November because of problems with their safety analyses. Mechanical problems kept both units inoperable even after that issue was resolved. The 2H evaporator was shut down because of an elevated concentration of flammable vapor inside a leak-detection box; 2F was hampered by a broken pump. The problems were solved by December, when the three plants evaporated 1 million gallons of liquid, Mr. Piccolo said. The plants freed about 575,000 gallons of space in the waste tanks, he said. "All three evaporators are running at very high capacity," Mr. Piccolo said. Some issues have yet to be resolved, Mr. Piccolo said. Still, the fixed evaporators will allow SRS engineers to concentrate on other priorities, such as accelerating treatment of the site's radioactive wastes, he said. "Now we can start executing our plan rather than reacting to the conditions," Mr. Piccolo said. "We're a lot less reactive than we were last year, but we still need a year of good production to get out of the woods." Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************