***************************************************************** 02/13/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.38 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Scientists want Lithuania to retain its nuclear power 2 MEXICO: Nuclear Plant a Threat, Says GreenpeaceNews 3 India signs nuclear reactor deal with Russia 4 UK may want faster Magnox nuclear plant clean-up 5 Possible Temelin veto could afflict all EU candidates 6 Putin envoy calls for tighter security at Russian nuclear power 7 Nuclear row mars Czech power sale 8 US: Tightening nuclear power security 9 US: Nuclear plant officials confident about security 10 UK: Brits fail to take leadership on renewables NUCLEAR REACTORS 11 US: NRC Public Comment Period Opens For San Onofre Unit 1 Fuel Stora 12 US: Safety of Minnesota's Two Nuclear Power Plants Remains Uncertain 13 US: NRC Public Comment Period Opens For San Onofre Unit 1 Fuel Stora 14 Scotland: Robots dismantle Dounreay reactor 15 US: Safety of Minnesota's Two Nuclear Power Plants Remains Uncertain NUCLEAR SAFETY 16 US: NRC to Discuss Apparent Violations with Washington, D.C., 17 US: NRC Sends Report to Congress on Regulations for Diagnostic 18 US: Pittsburgh-Area Nuclear Weapons Workers Can Apply for Federal Ai 19 Radiation source removed from military site in western Georgia 20 US: Sick Ex-Nuclear Workers Await Aid 21 US: Feds' 1.3 Million Anti-nuclear Doses Could Treat Only 13,000 22 US: Pittsburgh-Area Nuclear Weapons Workers Can Apply for Federal Ai 23 US: North Carolina rejects feds distribution of potassium iodide 24 US: Nuke comp low in numbers 25 US: Argonne lab workers exposed to beryllium 26 US: Veterans meeting eyes atomic exposure policy 27 US: Feds' 1.3 Million Anti-nuclear Doses Could Treat Only 13,000 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 28 Will Bruce County become Canada's Yucca Mountain? 29 UK: Experts investigate BNFL accident 30 US: Decision on Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Seen Imminent 31 Lithuania considering where to put nuclear waste 32 Romanian intelligence refutes Italian report on transport of 33 Azeri MP says Armenian nuclear station polluting Aras River 34 Croatian radioactive waste dumping ground dubbed ecological 35 US: Livermore group challenges nuclear shipments 36 US: Bush hears from energy secretary on why dump should proceed 37 US: Nevada officials say video shows risk of transporting waste 38 US: Abraham Briefs Bush on Nuclear Dump 39 US: LETTERS: Democrats hypocritical on Yucca cash issue 40 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Dump recommendation delayed 41 Facing a meltdown 42 US: Brian Greenspun: Yucca fight won't end 43 US: Nevadans continue to wait on Abraham 44 US: Goodman says support lacking from resort companies on Yucca, hom 45 US: Nuke cask strength decried 46 US: Letter: Nevadans need to speak up on nuke waste 47 US: Bush mulls Yucca dump 48 US: A Bad Approach To Nuclear Waste 49 US: Waste got, want not: Lawmakers urge feds to relocate nuclear was 50 US: Letter: Leave waste in its place for safety 51 US: Letter: Only compensation for dump is ads - 52 US: Static electricity the likely cause of fire at uranium mine NUCLEAR WEAPONS 53 US: NN reviews emergency plans 54 Top Court Slaps Down 'Pasko Law' 55 Film warns of dangers of nuclear rivalry 56 Ireland: Disaster minister says doomsday still on hold 57 Brisk worldwide trade in raw materials for an atomic bomb 58 Supreme Court slaps down secret decree 59 Russia Court Annuls Military Decree 60 US: So much loss, so little relief 61 US: Subcritical experiment set at NTS 62 India dismisses N-test claim US DEPT. OF ENERGY 63 Flats 881 poses a problem 64 DOE faces questions on nuke cleanup 65 DOE Awards New Grant to Advance ECD Technologies in Russia 66 DOE ordered to answer pleas on Paducah plant - 67 SRS cleanup question 68 DOE Announces Management Changes for Environmental Management OTHER NUCLEAR 69 Obit: Massoud Simnad; worldwide expert on nuclear energy ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Scientists want Lithuania to retain its nuclear power Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) ( February 12, 2002 ) Vilnius (dpa) - More than 100 Lithuanian academics have issued a statement demanding that the Baltic state not abandon its nuclear power capability, Ina Didziulyte, a spokeswoman for the Ignalina nuclear power station, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Tuesday. They called on the European Union to allocate funding to build a new nuclear facility if Ignalina is shut down prematurely. The strongly worded statement by the group comprising mostly scientists was addressed to Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas and Chairman of the Parliament Arturas Paulauskas. The statement criticizes and calls groundless the E.U.'s plan to shut down the Ignalina nuclear power plant well before its lifespan expires. The E.U. views the Chernobyl-type RBMK reactors at Ignalina as unsafe and has called for the second and last reactor at the power facility to be shut down by 2009, something that the scientists say is not realistic unless the E.U. was to fund another nuclear facility. Lithuania is one of the most nuclear-energy-dependent countries in the world. "The relatively new (reactor) blocks at Ignalina can safely operate for another 15 to 20 years," the statement said. "There are reactors in the E.U. that have been safely used for over 40 years." The scientists warned that an early closure of the power station will destroy Lithuanian economic development if no new nuclear reactors are built with E.U. help. The Lithuanian government has pledged to close down the first reactor at Ignalina in 2005 and to make a decision on the second reactor in 2004. International donors and individual countries have pledged more than 250 million euros (220 million dollars) so far to shut down the first reactor. Political observers say the scientists' concern that closing the nuclear plant will have a devastating economic impact on the nuclear dependent country is echoed by many Lithuanian citizens and could have an impact when the country votes on a referendum to join the E.U. Lithuania hopes to join the E.U. in 2004. dpa Copyright 2002 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH ***************************************************************** 2 MEXICO: Nuclear Plant a Threat, Says GreenpeaceNews Yahoo! News - Wed Feb 13, 6:39 AM ET Diego Cevallos,Inter Press Service MEXICO CITY, Feb 12 (IPS) - The environmental organization Greenpeace International accused the Mexican government Tuesday of covering up the serious safety defects at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant in its report to parliament. The authorities claim the plant deserves "excellent" marks. Greenpeace said that the reactors at the site, located on Gulf of Mexico coast, were shut down for an emergency during an inspection by members of a parliamentary investigative commission Jan 31. The visitors were never informed of the action, according to the environmental watchdog group. That interruption was another in a series of dozens of similar episodes recorded since the Laguna Verde facility - the only nuclear power plant in Mexico - began commercial operations in 1990, Greenpeace Mexico's director, Raúl Benet, told a press conference Tuesday. Since 1988, Greenpeace, which opposes nuclear power plants in general, has been gathering documents that show the state-run facility suffers serious safety problems. Laguna Verde, 469 km north of Mexico City, "must be shut down for the good of the country," says the organization. But the government says the power plant, which generate 3.6 percent of Mexico's electricity, poses no safety problems and will continue operating just as it has been. The facility undergoes regular national and international inspections and has received ISO 9001 quality certification, say government officials. The American Nuclear Society (ANS), an international organization that advocates the use of this energy source, says that the 434 nuclear power plants operating today worldwide pose fewer risks than any thermal-generated electrical plant. The ANS further points out that nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse gases that cause global warming, like carbon dioxide, emitted by coal- or gas-fired power plants. Benet announced that Greenpeace and a group of academics have requested a meeting with the legislative commission that is investigating Laguna Verde in order to study the power plant's internal documents and to unmask "the falsehoods into which (its executives) have incurred." The chronology of irregularities dates back to 1987, when the director of the nuclear plant's construction publicly declared that there had been no quality controls in place during the building of the structure. Laguna Verde documents and testimonies from former employees gathered by Greenpeace indicate that the facility has experienced repeated shutdowns and that it has structural defects. In January 2000, after a series of run-ins with the authorities of the Federal Electricity Commission and reports of numerous minor accidents at the nuclear plant, Greenpeace disseminated a special report about the serious deficiencies in Laguna Verde's safety systems. The report, drawn up by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), indicates that the facility's accident simulator does not work properly, the staff lack adequate training and some of the equipment is obsolete. WANO, which inspected the plant in October-November 1999, evaluated activities in 72 different areas. All but nine received critical commentaries from the association. Representatives of the Ernesto Zedillo government (1994-2000) and of the current administration under President Vicente Fox have recognized the existence of the WANO report, but maintain that the conclusions were favorable to the Laguna Verde installation. The authorities have called into question the passages of the report that Greenpeace has highlighted, saying the documents cannot be disseminated under WANO policies and are private under an agreement between the parties to the study. Just days after Greenpeace published parts of the report, the Federal Electricity Commission of Mexico published a letter from WANO which states that "the personnel at Laguna Verde demonstrated a strong desire to improve and have a high level of technical knowledge." However, the WANO executives did not indicate that the document Greenpeace is wielding is invalid. WANO, considered a pro-nuclear organization, was founded in 1986 after the nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, to monitor nuclear power operations around the world. According to Greenpeace's Mexican director Benet, the Fox government should allow an independent evaluation of Laguna Verde and should make all information about the plant's operations available to scrutiny because there is clear evidence that a major nuclear tragedy could occur. The Federal Electricity Commission argues that such information cannot be made public due to security concerns, and assured the lawmakers who are studying the operations at Laguna Verde that there are no problems with the facility. Copyright © 2002 OneWorld.net. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All ***************************************************************** 3 India signs nuclear reactor deal with Russia BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 13, 2002 Text of report by Indian news agency PTI Moscow, 13 February: In a major step towards the implementation of Kudankulam nuclear power project in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has signed a 500m-dollar contract with Russia's "Atmostroy" corporation for the supply of two advanced nuclear reactors and other power-generation equipment. "This is the biggest-ever deal signed by NPCIL with any country and provides for the supply of two most advanced VVER-1000 reactors with 2,000 MW total capacity and other equipment with long production cycle like steam turbines and generators," Chairman and Managing Director of NPCIL V.K. Chaturvedi told Indian media persons in Moscow Tuesday [12 February] after the signing ceremony. Next month another major contract is expected to be signed for the sustained supply of nuclear fuel by Russia for the Kudankulam power plant after its completion in about five years, Chaturvedi said. Most modern infrastructure has already been created at the site and excavation work is nearing completion for the beginning of concreting on 31 March, when Russian Atomic Energy Minister Aleksandr Rumyantsev is expected in India, Chaturvedi added. The initial memoranda for the sale of two nuclear generation units was signed in November 1988 by then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Following several years of delay, on account of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia finally renewed the deal in June 1988, a month after Pokhran-II, despite strong pressure from the US. During Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Russia visit in November 2001, an Indo-Russian memorandum was signed at Moscow, which became the kicking point in the implementation of Kudankulam project. Russia will provide 1.535bn US dollars worth of equipment and services for the construction of Kudankulam plant, 50 per cent of which would be covered by Russian state credit, though initially it was to cover 85 per cent cost of the Russian agencies. However, NPCIL decided to do most of the construction work worth 900m US dollars by itself under Russian supervision to scale down the cost of the power plant, Chaturvedi said. India is also placing orders worth 220m US dollars in Ukraine and other CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries, which were part of the integrated Soviet nuclear power complex. Stating that the Kundakulam site can accommodate six nuclear power units, Chaturvedi said India was exploring the possibility of aquiring two additional reactors from Russia. Source: PTI news agency, New Delhi, in English 0502 gmt 13 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 4 UK may want faster Magnox nuclear plant clean-up UK: February 13, 2002 LONDON - The clean-up timetable for Britain's condemned Magnox nuclear power stations may be accelerated, and their owner BNFL should prepare for the extra costs now, Britain's safety watchdog warned. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told state-controlled British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) that its latest plans to start decommissioning the ageing plants within 85 years of closure - down from 135 years previously - were adequate for now. But it said the group's loss-making Magnox Electric division, which plans to close all the stations by 2021, could be under pressure to shorten the timescale further in five years time. "At the next quinquennial (five-yearly) review we will consider whether the situation is still valid, and if circumstances change we will expect Magnox Electric's decommissioning strategy to reflect such changes," said Laurence Williams, HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations. The review by the HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) said that should Magnox end up having to decommission on a timetable significantly shorter than 70 years, "additional financing will be required unless predicted costs can be reduced proportionately". It also said it may tighten the conditions under which it would award a delicensing certificate to bring BNFL's liabilities for the reactor sites to an end. "Should delicensing be more difficult than currently assumed by Magnox Electric, there could be significant cost and liability implications," it said. BNFL's 11 Magnox plants were mainly built in the 1950s and 1960s and it plans to close them all within 20 years. They were kept in the state sector when much of the UK's nuclear power industry was privatised as British Energy Plc in 1996 because of their age and higher running costs. Magnox stations use reactor rods of pure uranium metal, while most types of modern nuclear power station use uranium oxide and can produce more electricity per plant. Four of Britain's 11 Magnox power stations are already closed. The remaining seven generate about six percent of the UK's power. The only two Magnox reactors outside Britain are already closed. A BNFL spokesman said the company welcomed the findings of the NII which "said a lot of positive things about our strategy". Last year Britain said it would set up a national body to take on BNFL's nuclear liabilities, including the cost of decommissioning old plants. The proposed Liabilities Management Authority would assume the 35 billion pounds ($50 billion) total liabilities of BNFL. Analysts and critics of the scheme said the move could make a second wave of nuclear privatisation more attractive to investors by ring-fencing the liabilities in the public sector. However, the government has since put on ice plans to partially privatise BNFL, whose businesses range from generator design through fuel manufacturing to decommissioning. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 5 Possible Temelin veto could afflict all EU candidates - Telicka Hoover's Online UK - News Centre - Home Page UK | About Hoover's UK | February 12, 2002 10:06pm Source: Czech News Agency, February 12, 2002 PRAGUE, Feb 12 (CTK) - Vienna's possible blocking of Czech EU entry due to Temelin, a new nuclear power plant in south Bohemia, could afflict other candidate countries as well if the EU decided to admit ten candidates together, something which is being considered now, deputy foreign minister Pavel Telicka said today. If this variant of enlargement were implemented, there would be only one accession treaty, and Austria's veto would affect all candidates' entry, Telicka, the Czech Republic's chief EU negotiator, said on BBC. "Let them not promote the blocking or veto, not even jokingly, as this amounts to gambling with a crucial project, which is of a key importance to Austria as well," Telicka said. He said, nevertheless, that he did not believe that Austria would dare to veto the Czech entry. "Austria does not want to run into isolation but to profit from the EU enlargement," he said. Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whom Telicka labelled "a very pragmatic politician", said in Madrid earlier today that the Czech-Austrian conflict over Temelin had to be settled before the EU was extended. He said he hoped that the Czech government would fulfil its commitment to upgrade Temelin's safety. Schuessel said that with "a certain number of problems solved now, 60 percent of Austrians support the enlargement". On January 23, the EC's general director for enlargement, Eneko Landaburu, said that the Temelin conflict was not part of the EU enlargement process. Temelin, situated in south Bohemia, 60km from the Austrian border, is sharply criticised by Austria as well as environmentalists from Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic who say it is not safe because it combines Soviet design and western fuel and safety technology. It started to be launched in October 2000. rtj/dr/ms Copyright © 2002 Financial Times Limited - All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2001,Hoover's Online Europe, Ltd. ***************************************************************** 6 Putin envoy calls for tighter security at Russian nuclear power stations BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 12, 2002 Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Moscow, 12 February, RIA-Novosti correspondent Eduard Puzyrev: The Russian president's plenipotentiary representative in the Urals Federal District (UFD), Petr Latyshev, has called on specialists to be vigilant at installations of the Russian nuclear industry. He was speaking in Chelyabinsk on Tuesday [12 February] at an interdepartmental coordination meeting on the development of Russia's nuclear industry and ways of maintaining radiation safety and guaranteeing the social welfare of citizens who have suffered the consequences of radioactive contamination in the UFD. The conference was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, Atomic Energy Minister Aleksandr Rumyantsev and heads of a number of central departments and constituent parts of the Russian Federation in the UFD. The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry told RIA-Novosti that Petr Latyshev noted the importance of developing up-to-date ways of guaranteeing security at vital state installations, such as enterprises of the nuclear industry. "At a time when terrorism is resorting to more sophisticated methods in its inhuman activities, guaranteeing the reliability and operational safety of all systems in the nuclear industry assumes special importance and the state must ensure this reliability," Latyshev noted. The participants also examined cooperation between the Atomic Energy Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the local authorities in constituent parts of the Russian Federation in the context of ensuring tighter security at Atomic Energy Ministry installations, as well as measures to provide funding for the construction of a BN-800 unit [an 800-MW fast-neutron reactor] at the Beloyarsk nuclear power station. They also discussed questions of the completion of geological prospecting work in Kurgan Region. Special attention was paid to the social support of individuals who suffered as a result of the 1957 accident at the Mayak nuclear enterprise in Chelyabinsk Region, as well as local ecological issues, the Atomic Energy Ministry said. Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1501 gmt 12 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 7 Nuclear row mars Czech power sale BBC News | BUSINESS | 13 February, 2002, Temelin power station lies 60km from the Austrian border The ongoing row over the future of nuclear plant Temelin could have serious economic implications for the Czech government. Already, some Austrian politicians question whether the Czech Republic should be allowed to join the European Union, given the existence of the power plant. The row over safety is not just political - it could jeopardise the government's plans to sell a stake in power company Cez, also the owner of Temelin. The Czech government, which owns 68% of Cez, is trying to sell its stake for $5.5bn. Too expensive? Companies such as Italy's Enel and Electricite de France put in bids but failed to match the asking price. Chris Johnson, editor of the Prague Business Journal, said "the biggest problem was the price, that's what scuppered the deal." "The expectations of the Czech government were high but the bids were quite low," he added. Nevertheless, the government is still keen to push the sale through before elections in the summer. But whoever does buy Cez will find themselves controlling not only an electricity firm, but also one of the most controversial assets in the whole of central Europe. A danger? The Temelin nuclear plant is situated in the southern part of the Czech Republic close to the border with Austria. Many Austrians fear it is dangerous and want it closed. The Freedom Party - a far-right Austrian group - has won widespread support in a recent referendum for a plan to block the Czech Republic from joining the European Union unless Temelin is closed. The Freedom party can't block Czech EU entry without support from all the other members of the Austrian parliament, which it is unlikely to obtain. The Czech government has accused some of its opponents of being pro-fascist. The government says it is determined to press ahead with the project and privatise its power industry. Political fury Freedom Party International Relations spokesman Peter Sichrovsky claims between 80% and 90% of Austrians are anxious about Temelin. "When you have so many people who are nervous, as a political party you have to act," he said. "Fear is a feeling people have the right to be respected for," he added. Nevertheless its protests have infuriated the Czech prime minister Milos Zemen who recently called the Freedom party's leader Joerg Haider "a populist pro-Nazi". Czech foreign minister Jan Kavan says foreigners have no right to dictate his country's energy policy. "Temelin is the safest nuclear power station in Europe and that should dispel the fears of the Austrians," he said. "I respect the fact that some Austrian citizens who know the history of Chernobyl are worried about Temelin but I don't think these concerns are justified," he added. Vocal opposition Demonstrations against the Temelin nuclear power station are frequent in Austria. Austrians protesting against the start-up of the power station] The plant is controversial among Austrians In January, environmental pressure groups closed some of the main roads into the Czech republic as part of their protests. Austria itself is a nuclear free state and is concerned about the safety of power stations in neighbouring countries. Temelin director Milan Nebesar said the plant is safe. "Yes, it has a Soviet design but it is quite different to Chernobyl," he said. "I don't think it poses any more danger to Austria than nuclear power plants in Germany, France or other countries." ***************************************************************** 8 Tightening nuclear power security potential air attacks, better protection for spent-fuel pools Building housing pool for spent nuclear fuel] Buildings like this one at a U.S. nuclear power plant house spent fuel, which could pose a greater terrorist target than nuclear reactors. By Miguel Llanos MSNBC Feb. 12 — A terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant once seemed far-fetched, perhaps the plot for a Bruce Willis movie but certainly not a concern for federal regulators. All that has changed since maps of U.S. power plants were found in an al-Qaida hideout. An industry group said Tuesday that the government is expected to soon order nuclear power plants to tighten security. And a group of lawmakers has stepped up plans to push legislation to require plants to plan specifically for air attacks and better protect the most radioactive areas at the sites. January 31 — Former FBI investigator Clint Van Zandt discusses with MSNBC’s Bob Kur the possible threats against U.S. nuclear power plants. THE FEDERAL Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to soon notify power plant operators that they must upgrade security related to employees, training and physical barriers around plants, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s main lobbying group. “The nuclear energy industry continues to do everything we can to improve security preparedness at the nation’s nuclear plants,” said Ralph Beedle of the institute. The commission had no immediate comment. SENATE TURNS TO POWER SAFETY Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to get Republican support for new legislation that would, most notably, create a federal security force run by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The commission’s chairman, Richard Meserve, adamantly opposes this. Testifying before Congress recently, Meserve said the security staffs at the nation’s nuclear power plants are “well trained, well paid and have high retention rates.” The legislation also would require the NRC to update its worst-case scenarios for a terrorist attack — which are used for training drills — within 90 days and then update them every three years. The NRC says the lawmakers are rushing things. The commission says it’s already reviewing its terrorist scenarios and that the work will take until the end of the year to complete. Until then, Meserve says, the commission has asked states to give security staff at nuclear power plants more leeway in the range of weapons they can use to protect their facilities. But he’s drawn a line on the use of anti-aircraft missiles. While France uses these to protect its plants, Meserve’s says they are unnecessary in the United States because airport security has been tightened. The nuclear industry’s trade group defends the NRC’s current practices, saying the buildings housing the fuel pools, typically 2,000 square feet in size, would be hard to see by someone attacking from the air. “The profile of used-fuel pools is more than 100 times less than that of a World Trade Center tower,” says Steve Kerekes, press director at the Nuclear Energy Institute. “Even in the event of a severe event causing the fuel pool to drain,” he added, operators would have time to get water back into the pool. MSNBC environment coverage WHAT’S AHEAD Congress, for its part, could soon weigh in on the debate. Three Democratic Party heavyweights — Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York — sponsored the power plant safety legislation and might try to attach it as an amendment to an energy bill this week. A congressional source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MSNBC that the Democrats are trying to get Republican support, and that one area of compromise could be to drop the provision calling for a federal security force. Union of Concerned Scientists: Include airstrike as a terrorist scenario, increase plant security, conduct mock attacks more often. Greenpeace: Begin process of shutting down all nuclear plants. Nuclear Energy Institute: Maintain existing high level security alert. Robert Alvarez, former Energy Dept. adviser: Transfer all spent fuel in pools to more secure dry casks. Peter Bradford, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chief: Antiaircraft missiles at plants could take place of reenforcing structures. If this course fails, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to call a safety hearing within a few weeks. Its chairman, Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., is already on record demanding “greater oversight and involvement” of nuclear power plant security. BLAMING THE VICTIM? In the debate over security, Meserve has lashed out a nuclear power critics for adopting a “blame the victim” mentality. “The problem is not the terrorists’ targets, but the terrorists themselves,” he told reporters recently. “It is they who need to be eliminated, not the creations of a modern industrial society.” Peter Bradford, a former NRC commissioner, sees it a bit differently. He worries that Meserve’s statements to date “don’t show much rigor” in response to Sept. 11 — a date that Bradford has described as a defining moment where “the unforeseeable event of one decade becomes the nightmare of the next.” For Alvarez, hindsight offers a lesson. Like NRC officials and others, he figured terrorism was so remote that it didn’t have to be factored in when he headed the U.S. Energy Department’s emergency planning office. “We never believed something like this (Sept. 11) would happen ... but I seriously regret I wasn’t thinking about these things when I was in a position to do something about it.” ***************************************************************** 9 Nuclear plant officials confident about security - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA February 12, 2002 By LINDA ASHTON The Associated Press RICHLAND, Wash. - The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have brought a new sense of realism to the high level of training and security at the Columbia Generating Station, the Northwest's only nuclear power plant. Security forces have always trained for worst-case scenario disasters and sabotage at the 1,200-megawatt plant, which began generating electricity in 1984. ``Our training hasn't changed since Sept. 11. I guess it just became more realistic,'' said Bruce Hugo, a control room supervisor. On Monday, employees of Energy Northwest, the public power consortium that owns the plant, took several members of the media on a security tour. The plant is on leased land at the Hanford nuclear reservation. ``This facility is a fortress,'' said Rod Webring, vice president of operations. ``It was built as a fortress.'' At the direction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Energy Northwest declined to say just how thick steel-reinforced concrete containment walls are at the plant. The reactor itself is encased in steel. Two weeks ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified the country's 103 nuclear power plants that terrorists might be planning an airplane attack on a reactor, although the information had not been authenticated. Energy Northwest executives had long bragged that the plant could withstand the impact of a commercial jetliner, but after Sept. 11 they were forced to admit they had no proof - such engineering design calculations had never been done because the scenario seemed unthinkable. An energy design institute is now looking at the numbers. ``We think there's a high likelihood we would survive with minimal damage,'' Webring said. In a Nuclear Regulatory Commission review in 1998, Columbia Generating Station won high marks for its highly skilled security force. Energy Northwest works closely with the Hanford Patrol, the Benton County sheriff's office to coordinate emergency response plans. In the event of a radioactive release, an estimated 31,000 people within 10 miles of the plant would have to be evacuated. ***************************************************************** 10 UK: Brits fail to take leadership on renewables Guardian Unlimited | Archive Search Harnessing the elements Britain failed to grasp the chance to be a world leader in renewable power. A new report may change that Paul Brown, environment correspondent Guardian Wednesday February 13, 2002 Britain has one of the greatest potentials for exploiting renewables in the world, but has spent the past 25 years failing to grab the opportunity. Tomorrow the prime minister's much leaked review of the Britain's energy policy is to be released. One of the main recommendations is a doubling of the 10% target of electricity from renewables by 2010 to 20% by 2020. Insiders say Mr Blair's review will be treated as a consultation document and be followed by a green paper with the government's firm ideas. Eventually, after yet another consultation, a white paper detailing Britain's energy mix and aspirations for renewables and other forms of generation will emerge as policy for the first half of the 21st century. Since energy policy has been a dog's dinner for 50 years this is a noble aim. For a deeply troubled sector of the economy it will provide a much needed sense of direction. The document is ostensibly the work of the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) of the cabinet office, but it was rewritten, its recommendations toned down and, particularly, the nuclear section changed before it reached Tony Blair. The original members of the PIU team say they are left guessing at its final form. Expensive The problem the team faced is the conflict between ministries and even within the Department of Trade and Industry which is said to have long delayed the formation of a coherent energy policy. Brian Wilson, the energy minister, is said to favour both nuclear and renewables, but it is the nuclear section which was altered to sound more positive. Most PIU members, having looked at the construction and waste disposal problems of the nuclear industry, were ready to write it off as a fading and expensive technology. The state of the renewables industry, which has arguably the greatest future potential, best illustrates what has gone wrong. Take the wind industry, based entirely on renewable energy. Britain has the greatest potential for wind energy of any country in Europe but, having originally developed the technology, Britain failed to exploit it. Denmark saw an opportunity and has become the world leader. The review accepts that onshore wind is becoming the cheapest form of electricity generation but the DTI has realised that offshore wind has even greater potential to provide large-scale power and has provided £100m to expand the technology. This is still a tiny sum compared with the money put up in Denmark and Germany. Germany has wind energy production 10 times the UK's. But, as well as making these positive moves, the DTI gave its blessing to a new system of buying electricity for the grid. This was designed to force down prices for the benefit of consumers. The effect of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements (Neta), however, is to damage the wind industry. It rewards large coal and gas operators with steady production of electricity. Under Neta, supplies must be predictable three and a half hours in advance, and the system heavily penalises those who fall short. Because wind is not predictable it has been heavily penalised by Neta. Sale prices to the grid from small wind suppliers dropped nearly 30% and some wind farms stopped production altogether, effectively put out of business by the new regime. The same is true of another technology that the DTI is allegedly keen to encourage, combined heat and power (CHP). It works best in relatively small generation units where the heat can be distributed locally and the power exported to the grid. In support of the technology, the prime minister installed a 4.5 megawatt unit in Downing Street, heating No 10 and various government buildings. It runs at 70% efficiency as opposed to the industry average for power stations of less than 40%. CHP, too, has a problem with Neta. Its priority is to heat the factory or offices of its owner so exports to the grid are again unpredictable. The cost to the CHP industry in lost electricity sales in one year is estimated by the industry's association to be £140m. Far from expanding, the CHP industry saw its sales drop 61% in the first two months of Neta. The target embraced by the DTI of increasing the amount of CHP from about 7% of the country's power to 14% by 2010 looks like a lost cause, according to the industry. Two of the largest companies in the field, Powergen CHP and Innogy Cogen, who together had 25% of the market, made the decision to get out of new business as soon as the effects of Neta became obvious. They tried to sell assets but have found no takers. Last week Ofgem produced a plan for helping renewables by allowing groups of small producers to band together to sell block supplies. This idea could reduce uncertainties but the various industry groups remain lukewarm. They believe that small renewable producers should be allowed to sell small amounts of power to the grid at a fixed price without having to predict in advance how much. The larger generators believe this is unfair competition. Unstinting The other renewables, apart from the established hydro industry, are even smaller scale. Wave power, another technology with vast potential, had its research and development funding removed by the DTI in the 1980s. After a gap of more than 10 years this has now been restored. Estimates of wavepower's possible contribution vary enormously but 40% of the country's needs is a conservative estimate quoted by the DTI, which has enthusiastically embraced the industry again. The DTI has become an unstinting champion of bio-power, even though this is only ever going to be a small player in electricity generation.Via DTI backing, however, Britain leads the world in burning straw and poultry litter to keep the lights on and is pioneering other bio-mass schemes such as fast growing willow. Solar, too, is getting support but is unlikely to be a significant UK energy producer in the next 20 years. There are continuing contradictions. Ofgem remains delighted by Neta's success in driving down electricity prices. Consumers are paying less but apparently at the expense of renewables. There has also been a marked increase in coal burning, the cheapest form of power production now that gas prices have risen. But this too knocks a hole in the government's plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. These developments have alarmed the government. Its much cherished "world lead" in reducing carbon dioxide emissions could disappear. Last week Cambridge Econometrics, the authoritative research group, said Britain would fail to reach both its 10% renewables target and its pledge to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010. It predicts that unless policies change, CO2 levels would fall by only 6.5%. The government regards these problems as mere hiccups. The main counterweight to the renewable industry's complaints is the obligation on electricity producers to take 10% of their supplies from renewable sources by 2010. There are specific price guarantees from next April for green power which the government says will provide more than enough incentive for developers to go into renewables. Indeed, these promises have spawned a rash of plans which makes the wind industry particularly look very healthy. There are 482.6mw of installed wind capacity, another 200mw approved and 704mw in the planning system. And the Isle of Lewis has just announced plans for a 600mw wind station, claimed to be the largest onshore wind farm in the world. To make most of these work the government accepts some serious obstacles need to be overcome. Most of the windy places in Britain are far from the national grid and the connections required make most of them uneconomic. Mr Wilson's proposal is for a cable down the west coast to solve the problem but even if all goes well completion would still be a decade away. The PIU had no brief to deal with these problems but had to assess the potential of various technologies. They concluded renewables had a bright future - but not unless current policies are considerably adjusted. Tomorrow will reveal by how much. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 11 NRC Public Comment Period Opens For San Onofre Unit 1 Fuel Storage Design [http://www.sce.com] SAN CLEMENTE, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) announced today that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is now accepting public comment on the design proposed for the SONGS Unit 1 temporary used nuclear fuel storage system (commonly known as "dry cask storage"). The public comment period began yesterday and continues through April 29. Members of the public wishing to file comments about the proposed dry cask storage facility are invited to follow the process outlined in the Federal Register Notice (Vol. 67, No. 28, pages 6203-6205). This notice can be accessed online at http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html [http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html] . The NRC will review all public comments in conjunction with its technical review of the storage system design as proposed by Transnuclear West Inc. The NRC review has been underway since the Unit 1 application was filed on Sept. 29, 2000. If approved, SONGS officials will use this dry cask storage system design to permanently package and temporarily store the Unit 1 used nuclear fuel in preparation for its final disposal at a storage site approved by the U.S. Department of Energy. Unit 1, the first of three nuclear reactors built and operated at SONGS, was retired from service in 1992. An Edison International company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 11 million via 4.3 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal and Southern California. For more information on the California electricity market, see http://www.sce.com [http://www.sce.com] . SOURCE Southern California Edison Web Site: http://www.sce.com [http://www.sce.com] Copyright © 1996-2002 PR Newswire Association Inc. All Rights ***************************************************************** 12 Safety of Minnesota's Two Nuclear Power Plants Remains Uncertain Dennis Lien , Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News ( February 12, 2002 ) Feb. 10--What would happen if terrorists crashed an airliner into either of Minnesota's nuclear power plants at Prairie Island or Monticello? The question alone is troubling enough for Minnesotans after Sept. 11. But the answer might be even more disturbing. No one knows for sure. "It is simply not known whether or not a reactor of those types could or could not withstand that sort of attack," said Dean Abrahamson, professor emeritus of energy and environment policy at the University of Minnesota. "I have not heard a responsible person say they can withstand it." State and plant officials minimize the threat, emphasizing the sturdiness of the plants' structures and the heightened security there. But even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the operation of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants, seems less than certain. The agency concedes that none of the plants -- including the two in Minnesota -- were designed to withstand hits from large aircraft such as a Boeing 757 or 767. And while it is working on new security guidelines for plants, they won't be issued until later this year. Concern over the vulnerability of the nation's nuclear power plants to a potential attack has been rekindled in recent days by new disclosures that they may have been targeted by the al-Qaida terrorist network. In his State of the Union address Jan. 29, President Bush revealed that U.S. forces in Afghanistan discovered "diagrams of American nuclear power plants," indicating some were cased in person or researched on the Internet. A successful attack on a nuclear plant's reactors, spent-fuel storage pools or dry-cask containers could not cause a Hiroshima-style explosion. But some observers worry that such an attack could release substantial amounts of radiation. "Terrorists have demonstrated an intent to cause significant damage to the security interests of the U.S.A.," said George Crocker, head of the North American Water Office, an environmental group that has been a persistent critic of the nuclear waste generated at Minnesota plants. "That is the reality. We could continue to pretend that the chances are so infinitely small that we shouldn't pay attention. Evidently, the president thought otherwise the other night." So far, U.S. intelligence officials stress, there have been no plausible threats to any U.S. nuclear power plants. Maureen Brown, a spokeswoman for Nuclear Management Co. of Hudson, Wis., which manages Minnesota's Monticello and Prairie Island plants for Xcel Energy, said the company is confident the reactor domes are secure and operational safeguards are in place. She didn't go into detail, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said such actions include increased patrols, better coordination with law enforcement and the military, and more restrictions on access. "Our belief is that the containment would not be penetrated," Brown said. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said he's comfortable with precautions at the two plants. "I'm not naive enough to think there is no way anybody could do anything to cause a problem there, because terrorists are smart, resourceful and suicidal," Weaver said. "But I feel very good about the preparedness of both sites and the ability of both sites to respond to any threat, whether a tornado or a terrorist. I don't lose any sleep over this." At nuclear power plants, nuclear material often is found in different places, and some plants are more vulnerable than others. Furthermore, each of the materials contain different levels of radioactivity, adding yet another wrinkle to the potential threat they might pose. At Prairie Island, each of the two nuclear reactors is surrounded by a thick dome. An adjacent building contains a spent-fuel pool, and outside, a short distance away, 14 storage casks hold waste material. The reactors each contain relatively little of the most potent material. Both structures consist of a reinforced, 2 1/2-foot-thick concrete dome with a steel liner three-quarters of an inch to 1 1/2 inches thick. Next door is a heavily bunkered steel-and-concrete building housing 800 tons of spent fuel submerged in a containment pool. That material isn't as potent, but there's more of it, and because the building isn't as sturdy as the two domes, experts say, it's more vulnerable. Each cask, meanwhile, contains smaller amounts of even less potent material. Built to withstand strong impact, those cylindrical casks ideally would respond like bowling pins if struck -- toppling but not breaking -- and would be difficult to breach. At Monticello, the reactor and spent-fuel pool are in the same containment building. No dry-storage casks are there because nuclear waste generated during the plant's earliest years was disposed of elsewhere years ago. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Jan Strasma called the containment domes and casks exceptionally strong, and he noted an abundance of safety and backup controls at the plants. But he added a cautionary note. "Pools with highly radioactive spent fuel stored inside are something of a concern," he said. But he called protection at Prairie Island adequate. Abrahamson, Crocker and others aren't reassured. "There is no way they are going to be, in my opinion, directly open to the public about the risk of their product," said state Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul. Crocker contends that a small plane or even a well-aimed missile could damage the building containing the pool. The resulting loss of water would expose fuel rods to air and overheat them, scattering radioactive debris. He said the plant should build a separate protective wall to deflect or lessen the impact of a first strike. David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based nuclear watchdog organization, said emergency workers might only have minutes or hours to stop a meltdown from occurring in a reactor if cooling were disrupted. But they would have more time -- as much as hours to days -- to stop a similar problem in the spent-fuel pool. "At Prairie Island, with the pool below ground, terrorists would have to be a lot more creative," Lochbaum said. Those aren't his only concerns. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, he said, has dropped inspections aimed at exposing security weaknesses at nuclear plants since Sept. 11. "They told me they don't want to do that until they redefine the threat level," Lochbaum said. Strasma said the NRC suspended those inspections so it can concentrate on improving the existing, overall security at the nation's nuclear plants. "We don't want it to distract from focusing on that," he said. Lochbaum also is concerned that past exercises have concentrated on reactor defenses, not the spent-fuel pools and dry casks. And he contends hiring procedures need improvement. "I still don't think it's such a big threat that people should pack up their bags until safe times return," Lochbaum said. "Where do you head to?" To see more of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pioneerplanet.com (c) 2002, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ***************************************************************** 13 NRC Public Comment Period Opens For San Onofre Unit 1 Fuel Storage Design SAN CLEMENTE, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) announced today that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is now accepting public comment on the design proposed for the SONGS Unit 1 temporary used nuclear fuel storage system (commonly known as "dry cask storage"). The public comment period began yesterday and continues through April 29. Members of the public wishing to file comments about the proposed dry cask storage facility are invited to follow the process outlined in the Federal Register Notice (Vol. 67, No. 28, pages 6203-6205). This notice can be accessed online at http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html . The NRC will review all public comments in conjunction with its technical review of the storage system design as proposed by Transnuclear West Inc. The NRC review has been underway since the Unit 1 application was filed on Sept. 29, 2000. If approved, SONGS officials will use this dry cask storage system design to permanently package and temporarily store the Unit 1 used nuclear fuel in preparation for its final disposal at a storage site approved by the U.S. Department of Energy. Unit 1, the first of three nuclear reactors built and operated at SONGS, was retired from service in 1992. An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 11 million via 4.3 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal and Southern California. For more information on the California electricity market, see http://www.sce.com . SOURCE Southern California Edison Web Site: http://www.sce.com ***************************************************************** 14 Scotland: Robots dismantle Dounreay reactor The Scotsman - Wednesday, 13th February 2002 John Ross A QUARTER of a century after it was shut down, robots are to be sent in to clean out Dounreay’s famous fast reactor, as part of the plant’s £4.5 billion decommissioning programme. The landmark golf ball-shaped dome, which will become a listed building, will be all that remains when the nuclear complex is returned to a near-greenfield site within 50 years. But first much of the inside of the dome has to be stripped of hazardous material and nearly six miles of pipework contaminated by the liquid metal used to cool the reactor. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) yesterday announced a £30 million deal, involving six companies, to carry out the latest and one of the most challenging aspects of the decommissioning of the reactor, which will cost a total of £250 million over 40 years. The work announced yesterday is scheduled to last at least until 2012, and possibly until 2020, with £10 million of work going to local firms, creating up to 50 jobs. The skills involved in the project are also expected to be exported for decommissioning projects around the world. Brian Wilson, the energy minister, said: "The decommissioning of the Dounreay Fast Reactor provides an excellent opportunity for UK companies to undertake the necessary clear-up work. "I have made a particular commitment to maintain as much of the work as is feasible within the local area, and I am delighted today’s announcement will benefit both UK companies and the Caithness economy." The Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) was completed in 1958 and operated from 1959 to 1977. It was connected to the National Grid in the 1960s, when it was the world’s first fast reactor to produce electricity for public consumption. It used an alloy of sodium-potassium (NaK) as its coolant, which was pumped through the network of pipes. Bob Matthews, UKAEA’s head of decommissioning at Dounreay, said that, before the primary circuit is dismantled, the remaining NaK must be drained and destroyed. The bulk of this project will be completed in 2004-05. Work will then start on cutting and removing the labyrinth of pipes inside a heavily shielded concrete vault, which Mr Matthews describes as looking "like knitting". The pipes will be frozen to temperatures of -18C to eliminate the risk of ignition, and robots will be used because of the levels of radiation present. The ROVs will cut the pipes into one-metre sections, which will then be removed for cleaning and disposal. Peter Welsh, Dounreay’s site director, said: "This is a milestone in the site restoration plan. " Every step to strip out DFR is being done in conjunction with Historic Scotland, as well as nuclear regulators, under an agreement which means the dome will be formally listed at the end of decommissioning, as a lasting legacy of the nuclear industry’s near 50-year presence in the far north. The clean-out of DFR is seen as the greatest challenge, apart from emptying the cocktail of 16,000 items of radioactive and chemical material from the notorious waste shaft. That project is expected to take 20 years to complete and cost more than £300 million. ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 15 Safety of Minnesota's Two Nuclear Power Plants Remains Uncertain Dennis Lien , Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News ( February 12, 2002 ) Feb. 10--What would happen if terrorists crashed an airliner into either of Minnesota's nuclear power plants at Prairie Island or Monticello? The question alone is troubling enough for Minnesotans after Sept. 11. But the answer might be even more disturbing. No one knows for sure. "It is simply not known whether or not a reactor of those types could or could not withstand that sort of attack," said Dean Abrahamson, professor emeritus of energy and environment policy at the University of Minnesota. "I have not heard a responsible person say they can withstand it." State and plant officials minimize the threat, emphasizing the sturdiness of the plants' structures and the heightened security there. But even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the operation of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants, seems less than certain. The agency concedes that none of the plants -- including the two in Minnesota -- were designed to withstand hits from large aircraft such as a Boeing 757 or 767. And while it is working on new security guidelines for plants, they won't be issued until later this year. Concern over the vulnerability of the nation's nuclear power plants to a potential attack has been rekindled in recent days by new disclosures that they may have been targeted by the al-Qaida terrorist network. In his State of the Union address Jan. 29, President Bush revealed that U.S. forces in Afghanistan discovered "diagrams of American nuclear power plants," indicating some were cased in person or researched on the Internet. A successful attack on a nuclear plant's reactors, spent-fuel storage pools or dry-cask containers could not cause a Hiroshima-style explosion. But some observers worry that such an attack could release substantial amounts of radiation. "Terrorists have demonstrated an intent to cause significant damage to the security interests of the U.S.A.," said George Crocker, head of the North American Water Office, an environmental group that has been a persistent critic of the nuclear waste generated at Minnesota plants. "That is the reality. We could continue to pretend that the chances are so infinitely small that we shouldn't pay attention. Evidently, the president thought otherwise the other night." So far, U.S. intelligence officials stress, there have been no plausible threats to any U.S. nuclear power plants. Maureen Brown, a spokeswoman for Nuclear Management Co. of Hudson, Wis., which manages Minnesota's Monticello and Prairie Island plants for Xcel Energy, said the company is confident the reactor domes are secure and operational safeguards are in place. She didn't go into detail, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said such actions include increased patrols, better coordination with law enforcement and the military, and more restrictions on access. "Our belief is that the containment would not be penetrated," Brown said. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said he's comfortable with precautions at the two plants. "I'm not naive enough to think there is no way anybody could do anything to cause a problem there, because terrorists are smart, resourceful and suicidal," Weaver said. "But I feel very good about the preparedness of both sites and the ability of both sites to respond to any threat, whether a tornado or a terrorist. I don't lose any sleep over this." At nuclear power plants, nuclear material often is found in different places, and some plants are more vulnerable than others. Furthermore, each of the materials contain different levels of radioactivity, adding yet another wrinkle to the potential threat they might pose. At Prairie Island, each of the two nuclear reactors is surrounded by a thick dome. An adjacent building contains a spent-fuel pool, and outside, a short distance away, 14 storage casks hold waste material. The reactors each contain relatively little of the most potent material. Both structures consist of a reinforced, 2 1/2-foot-thick concrete dome with a steel liner three-quarters of an inch to 1 1/2 inches thick. Next door is a heavily bunkered steel-and-concrete building housing 800 tons of spent fuel submerged in a containment pool. That material isn't as potent, but there's more of it, and because the building isn't as sturdy as the two domes, experts say, it's more vulnerable. Each cask, meanwhile, contains smaller amounts of even less potent material. Built to withstand strong impact, those cylindrical casks ideally would respond like bowling pins if struck -- toppling but not breaking -- and would be difficult to breach. At Monticello, the reactor and spent-fuel pool are in the same containment building. No dry-storage casks are there because nuclear waste generated during the plant's earliest years was disposed of elsewhere years ago. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Jan Strasma called the containment domes and casks exceptionally strong, and he noted an abundance of safety and backup controls at the plants. But he added a cautionary note. "Pools with highly radioactive spent fuel stored inside are something of a concern," he said. But he called protection at Prairie Island adequate. Abrahamson, Crocker and others aren't reassured. "There is no way they are going to be, in my opinion, directly open to the public about the risk of their product," said state Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul. Crocker contends that a small plane or even a well-aimed missile could damage the building containing the pool. The resulting loss of water would expose fuel rods to air and overheat them, scattering radioactive debris. He said the plant should build a separate protective wall to deflect or lessen the impact of a first strike. David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based nuclear watchdog organization, said emergency workers might only have minutes or hours to stop a meltdown from occurring in a reactor if cooling were disrupted. But they would have more time -- as much as hours to days -- to stop a similar problem in the spent-fuel pool. "At Prairie Island, with the pool below ground, terrorists would have to be a lot more creative," Lochbaum said. Those aren't his only concerns. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, he said, has dropped inspections aimed at exposing security weaknesses at nuclear plants since Sept. 11. "They told me they don't want to do that until they redefine the threat level," Lochbaum said. Strasma said the NRC suspended those inspections so it can concentrate on improving the existing, overall security at the nation's nuclear plants. "We don't want it to distract from focusing on that," he said. Lochbaum also is concerned that past exercises have concentrated on reactor defenses, not the spent-fuel pools and dry casks. And he contends hiring procedures need improvement. "I still don't think it's such a big threat that people should pack up their bags until safe times return," Lochbaum said. "Where do you head to?" ----- To see more of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pioneerplanet.com (c) 2002, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ***************************************************************** 16 NRC to Discuss Apparent Violations with Washington, D.C., Hospital NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 5 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-005 February 13, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330/ e-mail: OPA1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331/ e-mail: OPA1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of a Washington, D.C., hospital on Wednesday, February 20, to discuss several apparent violations of NRC regulations related to the use of a specific type of nuclear medicine at the facility. The meeting, known as a predecisional enforcement conference, pertains to Providence Hospital, which is located at 1150 Varnum Street in Washington, D.C. It is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., and will be open to the public for observation. Based on an inspection conducted last year, the NRC has identified apparent violations involving Providence Hospital's strontium-90 eye applicator program, under which radiation is used to treat eye abnormalities. Specifically, the NRC has determined there were the following apparent failures: 1.) the hospital's Radiation Safety Committee did not oversee the use of licensed material through an annual review of the radiation safety program; 2.) final treatment plans and related calculations were not verified to ensure they were consistent with written directives prepared prior to treatments; 3.) any unintended deviations from the written directives were not identified and evaluated; and 4.) annual audits of the quality management program for the strontium-90 eye treatments were not conducted in 1998, 1999 and 2000. According to calculations made by the NRC – and subsequently confirmed by the hospital – a total of 14 strontium-90 eye applicator treatments administered between August 1996 and October 2000 exceeded prescribed radiation doses by more than 20 percent and are therefore considered misadministrations. However, a medical consultant hired by the NRC concluded the patients involved did not suffer any adverse effects as a result of the misadministrations. The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement conference does not mean that the NRC has determined that any violations occurred or that enforcement action will be taken. Rather, the purpose of the meeting is to gather information to assist the NRC in making an enforcement decision. ***************************************************************** 17 NRC Sends Report to Congress on Regulations for Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 17 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-017 February 13, 2002 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations regarding the regulatory burden associated with its revised final regulations on diagnostic nuclear medicine. The 2002 Energy and Water Appropriations Act prohibited the NRC from implementing or enforcing its revised regulations in Part 35 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations with regard to diagnostic nuclear medicine (except for certain parts that establish training and experience requirements) until the agency submitted its report. The Commission had approved the final revised regulations for medical uses in October 2000, following consideration of public comments on the proposed regulations and subsequent public meetings and workshops. Because of the Congressional direction, the regulations have not yet been issued and the previously existing regulations have remained in effect. As stated in letters to Congress transmitting the report, the NRC believes that the net reduction in regulatory burden reflected in the revised final regulations is commensurate with the low risk of adverse impact on health and safety from diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures. However, it believes that further reduction of the regulatory burden beyond that in the revised rule may have an adverse effect on public health and safety. The NRC acknowledged that some interested stakeholders have expressed concerns related to the perceived burden associated with the implementation of the new rule. As a result, the NRC has committed to review the licensing and inspection guidance to identify any needed improvements and to train license reviewers and inspectors to implement the revised rule effectively and efficiently. The NRC stated that it will work with stakeholders to develop appropriate guidance. In addition, the NRC may consider future rule changes through the agency's established rulemaking processes as experience with the rule is gained by NRC staff and licensees. The report concludes that the revised Part 35 is necessary to authorize medical professionals who are trained and experienced in radiation safety to administer nuclear material for diagnostic purposes, while at the same time providing for radiation safety of the workers and of the general public. The NRC told Congress that it plans to submit the revised final Part 35 to the Federal Register, for publication, in about 30 days. The rule would not become effective until 6 months thereafter. Copies of the report and of the final revised rule will be available through the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov as an Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS) document. They will also be available for reproduction (for a fee) through the NRC Public Document Room, Washington, D.C. 20555, telephone: 301/415-4737 or 1/800/397-4209, e-mail: pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . The Public Document Room staff is available to provide help in accessing ADAMS. ***************************************************************** 18 Pittsburgh-Area Nuclear Weapons Workers Can Apply for Federal Aid Jim McKay , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News ( February 12, 2002 ) Feb. 12--Nuclear weapons workers from Western Pennsylvania who were made ill by exposure to radioactive or other toxic materials during the Cold War have an opportunity to apply next week for a new federal compensation program. The government is offering $150,000 in a lump sum as compensation to nuclear weapons workers who have developed cancer, chronic beryllium disease or chronic silicosis as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica on the job. The U.S. Departments of Labor and Energy will hold informational meetings Tuesday and Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Coraopolis and Thursday and Friday at the Holiday Inn Meadowlands in Washington, Pa. Similar meetings were held in January, when 143 applications were distributed. Workers who need help filling out claims forms can schedule appointments by calling toll-free (866) 363-6993 or by dropping in unscheduled at the ttwo meeting sites from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The payments are authorized by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which went into effect last July and was amended in December to make adult children eligible if there is no surviving spouse. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that as many as 14,000 Cold War-era workers may qualify for the program, costing taxpayers an estimated $1.9 billion over 10 years. Workers or their heirs who take the money would be precluded from filling lawsuits against the government or its contractors. Production, testing or research on nuclear weapons was conducted in about half of the nation's states, including Pennsylvania, at both large government complexes and smaller private manufacturing plants that had government contracts. It was not unusual for employees to be kept in the dark about what they were handling or to be deceived about their potential levels of exposure. There were several sites in Western Pennsylvania whose employees or survivors could be eligible for the program. A brief description of them, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, follows. Aliquippa Forge, also known as Vulcan Crucible Steel Co. and Universal Cyclops, in the late 1940s was a supplier of rolled uranium rods used in reactors in Hanford, Wash. The Atomic Energy Commission operated a rolling mill, two furnaces and cutting and extrusion equipment at Vulcan. Work on the site ended in 1950. Alcoa's Aluminum Research Laboratories, on Pine and 9th streets in New Kensington, was one of 14 facilities that produced nuclear fuel for the X-10 pilot plant reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and at production reactors at Hanford, Wash. Alcoa used a unique welding process to "can" and seal uranium slugs at the facility, which was also known as the New Kensington Works. C.H. Schnoor &Co. of Springdale provided metal fabrication services for the Manhattan Project beginning in 1943. C.H. Schnoor machined extruded uranium for the Hanford Pile Project. Operations may have continued until 1951 when the building was sold. The company was also known as Conviber and Premier Manufacturing. It was the site of a Department of Energy remediation from 1992 to 1995. Carnegie Tech, now known as Carnegie Mellon University, was a key participant of the Manhattan Project. It did research on special metals and their alloys and worked on the development of equipment and testing construction materials. Heppenstall, also known as Tippins Inc., used its Pittsburgh site to heat, press and water quench uranium ingots. Approximately 100,000 pounds of uranium metal was shaped at Heppenstall over a six-month period in 1955. The forging was done on a 1,000-ton press two days a month by a Heppenstall crew of eight men. Jessop, of Washington, Pa., was under contract to the Atomic Energy Commission for metal fabrication in the early and mid-1950s with some work through DuPont. Uranium metal in nickel scrap was sent to Jessop to make stainless steel piping. Jessop is now part of Allegheny Ludlum Corp., an Allegheny Technologies company. Koppers, in conjunction with Kennecott Copper Co., conducted pilot plant tests at its research laboratory in Verona for the production of uranium hexafluoride. In 1956, Koppers was licensed to receive 8,150 pounds of refined material for study on reactor fuel elements and feed material processing. It was authorized to receive 110 pounds of normal uranium hexafluoride in 1957. The McDanel Refractory in Beaver Falls, also known as Vesuvius McDanel and the Vesuvius Division of Cookson Group, was used to fabricate oddly shaped beryllium crucibles or beryllium crucible stopper rods for the Manhattan Project, but it was not used for large-scale production. The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. began operations in Apollo, Armstrong County, and Parks Township, Washington County, as a nuclearfuels producer in the late 1950s. Atlantic Richfield Co. bought NUMEC in 1967. The facilities were sold in 1971 to Babcock &Wilcox, the current owner. NUMEC processed unirradiated uranium scrap for the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1960s. The Apollo plant also provided enriched uranium to the naval reactors program and fabricated plutonium-beryllium neutron sources. Apollo, which included a plutonium plant and storage areas, ceased manufacturing nuclear fuel in 1983. Parks Township prepared high-enriched uranium fuel and fabricated plutonium fuel and zirconium/hafnium bars. It ceased fuel fabrication activities in 1980. Shippingport Atomic Power Station, in Shippingport, was one of the first large-scale nuclear power plants in the world. The government believes compensation coverage may be limited to a Department of Energy remediation conducted from 1984 to 1995, but claims can be submitted for other time periods. Work done for a Naval Nuclear Propulsion program is exempt. Superior Steel, later purchased by Copperweld, may have rolled production quantities of uranium metal in Scott near Carnegie for National Lead of Ohio (Fernald). The Christy Park Works, of the National Tube Division of U.S. Steel, conducted tests in 1959 and 1960 demonstrating that rotary piercing of uranium was possible. The tests were conducted for National Lead of Ohio. Vitro Manufacturing of Canonsburg was a major uranium milling facility, one of 24 designated for Department of Energy remediation. Vitro recovered uranium from scrap and processed production quantities of radioactive material (UF4) for National Lead of Ohio. It was used as a storage site from 1957 to 1967. The Westinghouse Atomic Power Development plant, also known as the Westinghouse East Pittsburgh facility, prepared uranium metal for Enrico Fermi's staff field experiment and conducted development and pilot-scale production of uranium oxidefuel elements. To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com (c) 2002, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ***************************************************************** 19 Radiation source removed from military site in western Georgia BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 13, 2002 Text of report by Georgian news agency Iprinda Tbilisi, 13 February: The radioactive material strontium-90 which was discovered on 12 February was removed from the Zestaponi motor-rifle battalion garrison territory today. The strength of the source is 10 microroentgen per hour. The source was put into a safe container and prepared for transportation to a special waste processing site by employees of the nuclear and radiation service of the Georgian Civil Defence Department. According to preliminary reports, none of the military personnel have been affected by radiation. Experts inspected the whole area but could not find any other radiation source. According to information available to Iprinda, a Russian chemical warfare unit was stationed in the area in the past. Several radiation sources have been discovered in the area since the Russian unit left and the base was transferred to the Georgian Defence Ministry. The radiation sources found in the area were transported to a nuclear reactor in Mtskheta. Source: Iprinda news agency, Tbilisi, in Georgian 1200 gmt 13 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 20 Sick Ex-Nuclear Workers Await Aid Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 PITTSBURGH- Steelworker Stephen Kaurich remembers those mysterious shipments to his mill in the two years after World War II, the strange metal bars he and his crew were told to roll down to a smaller, more usable size. The shipments arrived hidden under the floorboards of boxcars, and once workers began rolling them through the steel mill's machinery, they noticed the bars did not cool like the materials they were used to shaping. When the work was finished, the factory was washed down with acids, and the boxcars left as mysteriously as they came. "They didn't tell us they were uranium bars," Kaurich said. Now an 80-year-old colon cancer survivor, Kaurich is convinced his illness was caused by exposure to radiation. He is among tens of thousands of sickened nuclear weapons workers and survivors expected to seek federal compensation for having contributed to the nation's Cold War buildup of atomic weapons. But six months after workers and their families could begin applying for the $150,000 lump sums, many applicants are still waiting, with older workers wondering if they will live long enough to see a payout. "Nothing yet," said Kaurich, who filed last year and was not asked for medical records on his 1974 surgery until last month. "Most of the guys are all dead. They should have done something about it a long time ago." Program director Pete Turcic said the process for approving claims can be long and asked applicants to be patient. Of 18,980 claims filed in the first six months, 1,228 cases have been paid out and 74 denied, he said. An additional 2,216 cases have been recommended for approval, and 629 have been recommended for denial. "I understand people are concerned, but we are committed to processing claims as rapidly as possible," Turcic said. Two years ago, Congress approved the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program to provide $150,000, plus medical benefits, for living workers who got sick. Survivors of the dead can apply for the lump sum. The program, administered by the Labor Department, is intended to compensate workers who became ill after being exposed to cancer-causing radiation or silica and beryllium, two metals that can cause lung disease, while working on dangerous weapons materials, often without knowing it. Officials are anticipating 80,000 claims in the first two years of the program, with the vast majority being cancer patients. The Energy Department has to verify the person was employed at certain installations when dangerous materials were handled. Then the Department of Health and Human Services has to determine whether his or her illness was caused by the work. The program covers 318 facilities in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Marshall Islands, with the highest number of sites in New York (38) and Ohio (35). The list includes the University of California at Berkeley, the Great Lakes Carbon Corp. in Chicago, the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab in New Jersey and a Bethlehem Steel operation in Lackawanna, N.Y. Kaurich worked at the Vulcan Crucible Steel Co. in Aliquippa, 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Kaurich said many of the workers died long before the compensation program began. He said eight men in his crew of 10 are already gone. "I'm lucky," Kaurich said. The workers knew the shipments were odd but gave them little thought. Kaurich said he later learned that the uranium was sent to a nuclear plant in Washington state, where it was used to produce plutonium for bombs. Dorothy Baron filed an application in October for her stepfather, Nick Arbutina, a steelworker who worked at the Vulcan plant from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He died of leukemia in 1984. Baron, 71, said she has run into obstacles because the hospital where Arbutina died no longer has his medical records. Baron said she is mainly concerned for her 89-year-old mother, who lost her first husband to a fire in 1937. "She got nothing then because Social Security was just coming out," Baron said. "It'd be nice if she could get something now." On the Net: Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program at http://tis.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/ [http://tis.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/] Labor Department: http://www.dol.gov [http://www.dol.gov] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Feds' 1.3 Million Anti-nuclear Doses Could Treat Only 13,000 NewsMax.com: February 13, 2002 With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff The federal government has stockpiled "millions of doses" of potassium iodide in case of a nuclear attack, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has said - but those doses would treat mere thousands of people and would provide little protection from radiation, NewsMax.com has learned. According to Access to Energy, a respected newsletter that specializes in science and technology: + HHS in January sent a Lear jet to pick up the entire supply of potassium iodide (KI) from a Gonzalez, Texas, company called KI4U - "3,000 bottles with 100 doses each - enough to treat 3,000 people in a nuclear fallout emergency." + Washington then announced it had 1.3 million "units" of potassium iodide in case of a nuclear disaster; "300,000 of these apparently came from KI4U." + However, "The 'units' announcement was misleading. The government actually had enough KI for 13,000 people," not 1.3 million. Earlier this year, NewsMax broke the story that the U.S. had no civilian stockpiles of KI in case of a nuclear attack. Beyond the misleading numbers cited by the federal government, "potassium iodide is only a very small part of what you need" in the event of a nuclear disaster, said Dr. Jane Orient of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which shared with NewsMax.com the information from Access to Energy. Potassium iodide just protects the thyroid gland and does not guard a person from the worst effects of radiation, she told NewsMax.com this afternoon. "If you're going to be dead from radiation poisoning, it doesn't matter if you won't have thyroid cancer 30 years from now," she said. "Potassium iodide is one of the smaller things." Fallout shelters are a good defense from radiation but are woefully inadequate in the U.S. and should become a government priority, she said. More to follow in the coming days on this issue ... NewsMax.com ***************************************************************** 22 Pittsburgh-Area Nuclear Weapons Workers Can Apply for Federal Aid Jim McKay , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News ( February 12, 2002 ) Feb. 12--Nuclear weapons workers from Western Pennsylvania who were made ill by exposure to radioactive or other toxic materials during the Cold War have an opportunity to apply next week for a new federal compensation program. The government is offering $150,000 in a lump sum as compensation to nuclear weapons workers who have developed cancer, chronic beryllium disease or chronic silicosis as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica on the job. The U.S. Departments of Labor and Energy will hold informational meetings Tuesday and Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Coraopolis and Thursday and Friday at the Holiday Inn Meadowlands in Washington, Pa. Similar meetings were held in January, when 143 applications were distributed. Workers who need help filling out claims forms can schedule appointments by calling toll-free (866) 363-6993 or by dropping in unscheduled at the ttwo meeting sites from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The payments are authorized by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which went into effect last July and was amended in December to make adult children eligible if there is no surviving spouse. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that as many as 14,000 Cold War-era workers may qualify for the program, costing taxpayers an estimated $1.9 billion over 10 years. Workers or their heirs who take the money would be precluded from filling lawsuits against the government or its contractors. Production, testing or research on nuclear weapons was conducted in about half of the nation's states, including Pennsylvania, at both large government complexes and smaller private manufacturing plants that had government contracts. It was not unusual for employees to be kept in the dark about what they were handling or to be deceived about their potential levels of exposure. There were several sites in Western Pennsylvania whose employees or survivors could be eligible for the program. A brief description of them, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, follows. Aliquippa Forge, also known as Vulcan Crucible Steel Co. and Universal Cyclops, in the late 1940s was a supplier of rolled uranium rods used in reactors in Hanford, Wash. The Atomic Energy Commission operated a rolling mill, two furnaces and cutting and extrusion equipment at Vulcan. Work on the site ended in 1950. Alcoa's Aluminum Research Laboratories, on Pine and 9th streets in New Kensington, was one of 14 facilities that produced nuclear fuel for the X-10 pilot plant reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and at production reactors at Hanford, Wash. Alcoa used a unique welding process to "can" and seal uranium slugs at the facility, which was also known as the New Kensington Works. C.H. Schnoor & Co. of Springdale provided metal fabrication services for the Manhattan Project beginning in 1943. C.H. Schnoor machined extruded uranium for the Hanford Pile Project. Operations may have continued until 1951 when the building was sold. The company was also known as Conviber and Premier Manufacturing. It was the site of a Department of Energy remediation from 1992 to 1995. Carnegie Tech, now known as Carnegie Mellon University, was a key participant of the Manhattan Project. It did research on special metals and their alloys and worked on the development of equipment and testing construction materials. Heppenstall, also known as Tippins Inc., used its Pittsburgh site to heat, press and water quench uranium ingots. Approximately 100,000 pounds of uranium metal was shaped at Heppenstall over a six-month period in 1955. The forging was done on a 1,000-ton press two days a month by a Heppenstall crew of eight men. Jessop, of Washington, Pa., was under contract to the Atomic Energy Commission for metal fabrication in the early and mid-1950s with some work through DuPont. Uranium metal in nickel scrap was sent to Jessop to make stainless steel piping. Jessop is now part of Allegheny Ludlum Corp., an Allegheny Technologies company. Koppers, in conjunction with Kennecott Copper Co., conducted pilot plant tests at its research laboratory in Verona for the production of uranium hexafluoride. In 1956, Koppers was licensed to receive 8,150 pounds of refined material for study on reactor fuel elements and feed material processing. It was authorized to receive 110 pounds of normal uranium hexafluoride in 1957. The McDanel Refractory in Beaver Falls, also known as Vesuvius McDanel and the Vesuvius Division of Cookson Group, was used to fabricate oddly shaped beryllium crucibles or beryllium crucible stopper rods for the Manhattan Project, but it was not used for large-scale production. The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. began operations in Apollo, Armstrong County, and Parks Township, Washington County, as a nuclearfuels producer in the late 1950s. Atlantic Richfield Co. bought NUMEC in 1967. The facilities were sold in 1971 to Babcock & Wilcox, the current owner. NUMEC processed unirradiated uranium scrap for the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1960s. The Apollo plant also provided enriched uranium to the naval reactors program and fabricated plutonium-beryllium neutron sources. Apollo, which included a plutonium plant and storage areas, ceased manufacturing nuclear fuel in 1983. Parks Township prepared high-enriched uranium fuel and fabricated plutonium fuel and zirconium/hafnium bars. It ceased fuel fabrication activities in 1980. Shippingport Atomic Power Station, in Shippingport, was one of the first large-scale nuclear power plants in the world. The government believes compensation coverage may be limited to a Department of Energy remediation conducted from 1984 to 1995, but claims can be submitted for other time periods. Work done for a Naval Nuclear Propulsion program is exempt. Superior Steel, later purchased by Copperweld, may have rolled production quantities of uranium metal in Scott near Carnegie for National Lead of Ohio (Fernald). The Christy Park Works, of the National Tube Division of U.S. Steel, conducted tests in 1959 and 1960 demonstrating that rotary piercing of uranium was possible. The tests were conducted for National Lead of Ohio. Vitro Manufacturing of Canonsburg was a major uranium milling facility, one of 24 designated for Department of Energy remediation. Vitro recovered uranium from scrap and processed production quantities of radioactive material (UF4) for National Lead of Ohio. It was used as a storage site from 1957 to 1967. The Westinghouse Atomic Power Development plant, also known as the Westinghouse East Pittsburgh facility, prepared uranium metal for Enrico Fermi's staff field experiment and conducted development and pilot-scale production of uranium oxidefuel elements. To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com ***************************************************************** 23 North Carolina rejects feds distribution of potassium iodide [newsobserver.com, Raleigh, NC] WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2002 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina officials are rejecting an offer by the federal government to distribute potassium iodide pills to protect people living near nuclear power plants. State emergency officials said evacuation is safer than relying on a "magic pill" that they say has a limited effectiveness against radiation poisoning in the unlikely event of a nuclear disaster. Distributing the drug and providing instructions would be a logistical nightmare, they say, and could delay an evacuation. "I'd just as soon they don't stop and pop pills," said Mel Fry, North Carolina's director of the division of radiation protection. "I just want them to get out of harm's way." The two nuclear power plants near Charlotte are the Catawba plant on Lake Wylie near Rock Hill, S.C., and the McGuire plant on Lake Norman north of Charlotte. Local emergency officials have estimated it could take from eight to 24 hours to evacuate the areas surrounding the McGuire and Catawba plants. Fewer than four hours is considered effective by the federal government. Potassium iodide, better known by its chemical symbol KI, received FDA approval in 1982, three years after the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania. It helps prevent thyroid cancer from radiation exposure. The drug does not guard against all forms of radiation that could be released in a nuclear disaster. Troy Jones, 37, said he started selling KI almost three years ago, when he moved from Maryland and bought a house eight miles from the McGuire nuclear plant. "If you lived 15 miles away, and you knew everybody was evacuating, would you stay in your house, or would you go?" Jones said. "You're not going to convince people to stay; they're going to go, and that's what they are not planning for." After Sept. 11, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it would spend $1 million to provide states with KI for people living within 10 miles of nuclear plants. Since offering the pills to state officials in December, the agency said Tuesday seven states have requested the drug. Many health experts said KI should be distributed much farther away than 10 miles, citing the number of thyroid cancer cases after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the then-Soviet Union. Cancer cases were diagnosed at a higher rate as far as 300 miles from the 1986 nuclear explosion, according to a World Health Organization study. And an area about 120 miles away saw a 100-fold increase in thyroid cancer cases. Authorities in North Carolina and South Carolina rejected the idea of both planning evacuations and distributing the drug. They don't believe the protection the drug provides is worth the massive distribution effort and what they believe would be a false sense of security for residents. In preparing for evacuations, officials said they have planned emergency broadcast messages and worked with law enforcement crews to set up quicker escape routes. "It's going to require the cooperation of everyone involved in the process," said Thom Berry, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. "Can anybody guarantee that everybody is going to do exactly what they were asked to do and instructed to do?" © Copyright 2001, The News & Observer. All material found on newsobserver.com is ***************************************************************** 24 Nuke comp low in numbers - By Van Rose News Watchman By VAN ROSE NW Staff Wednesday, February 13, 2002 In July 2001, the Department of Labor began processing claims through the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) - a program designed to reimburse sick nuclear workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and other facilities throughout the nation. But very few plant workers in the southern Ohio region have been compensated for the illnesses they contracted through their employment, causing some to question whether the program is fulfilling its intended purpose. Of the 800 to 900 claims processed through the Energy Employees Compensation Center, in Portsmouth, since July, only about 53 have been awarded, explained EEOICPA project manager Dan Charles. The low percentage of approved claims may be due to the number of Portsmouth plant workers who fall under a "special exposure cohort." Those suffering from specific types of cancers are covered by the program as part of the cohort and are not required to prove that their sickness was caused by employment at the plant. "The only thing that is really working is the special exposure cohort," said Charles. "Those claims are being processed very quickly. Others are pending." Workers unable to take advantage of the EEOICPA are turning to regular state workers' compensation, considered by some to be inadequate in comparison to the federal program. But state claims are still being filed, and there is potential for the process to become much easier in the future. A medical panel review of claimants through the Office of Worker Advocacy could significantly improve the compensation process, but is being held up at the state level. Only after a memo of understanding (MOU) is signed will review guidelines be established, opening the door for other workers' compensation. "The federal government says unsafe conditions at the plants, as the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, in Piketon, caused cancers and other illnesses in nuclear workers," told Vina Colley, a former electrician at the Portsmouth plant. "They said that our records are incomplete and only want to pay for cancers, leaving out the soups of toxic poison. Chemical poisoning is the greatest effect from working at the gaseous diffusion plants." According to Colley, she was laid off in 1987 due to chemical exposure and was later diagnosed with bronchitis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, organic brain syndrome and other illnesses. She received some compensation through a state claim, but does not currently qualify for immediate benefits under the EEOICPA. Colley is $75,000 in debt for medication and expenses. Like Colley, former plant worker James Gardner is exempt from federal benefits. He was forced to retire in 1995 after 18 years of employment and now suffers from pharynx cancer, which called for removal of his larynx, or voice box. "To me, we have been completely misled to believe that we would be receiving compensation and now I am wondering if anyone will be getting compensation for having worked at the Portsmouth plant," explained Gardner in letters sent to several Ohio legislators. "I am now forced to seek legal help (which I cannot afford) to see if some type of compensation can be obtained. This will most probably take years (years that I do not have), but maybe my children can benefit from some type of compensation." Improvements have been made in the federal program, like the inclusion of a wider range of cancers and the allowance of victims' children and even grandchildren to become beneficiaries under certain conditions. Mark Lewis, director of the Workers' Health Protection Program, considers the ups and downs of the program as a "bittersweet situation." He and others working to process claims are learning more all the time. He has helped some 25 workers receive payment but is aware of approximately 60 or so that are still waiting. "Some have gotten it. Some haven't," said Lewis concerning compensation. "We have to wait. We're learning as we go." ***************************************************************** 25 Argonne lab workers exposed to beryllium Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 10:44 a.m. on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 by Brandon Loomis Associated Press CHICAGO -- The U.S. Department of Energy has identified seven former or current Argonne National Laboratory workers who have been exposed to dangerous beryllium dust and two more who show signs of potentially fatal chronic beryllium disease. The two, who worked in nuclear weapons development at the lab outside Chicago, show signs of the disease although their blood did not test positive in initial screenings, the department said. The metal, toxic when breathed as dust or vapor, was used to deflect neutrons in test reactors and as an alloy for crucibles because of its high melting temperature. It can cause incurable lung disease that has killed several nuclear industry workers. The testing is mandated by Congress. Compensation of $150,000 and continuing medical care is available for victims. "Years ago the department did not know that exposure to beryllium would cause disease," Energy Department spokesman Brian Quirke said. "We are sorry that these employees' work caused them harm. We're happy that Congress has found a small way to recognize these people's contribution." The tests show sensitization to beryllium, indicating antibodies are fighting the metal's presence in the lungs, Quirke said. They do not verify the disease's progression. Fewer than 5 percent of people exposed to beryllium show any ill effects. The nine workers -- one of whom is still employed at Argonne -- were referred to specialists to determine if they have the disease. Nationally, Energy Department screenings of nuclear workers have found 546 out of 27,835 whose blood shows a reaction to beryllium in the lungs. Of those, 183 have developed beryllium disease. At Argonne and the former Site B experiment station operated by the University of Chicago, officials identified 1,012 former employees who may have been exposed, and 780 of them were still alive. The department found current addresses for 380 and invited them to participate, and 149 said they were interested. So far the government has tested 97, with six testing positive. Another 424 of the lab's current 3,500 workers were considered potentially exposed, and 66 of them wanted the test. Of 48 tested to date, one tested positive. Argonne spokeswoman Donna Jones Pelkie said the lab still has small amounts of the metal in crucibles and X-ray machine windows, but employees are safe from exposure. "Today we don't do anything to it," she said. "We don't machine it, cut it, do anything that would cause the creation of dust." The Chicago Tribune reported the test results Tuesday before meetings in Joliet and Willowbrook to discuss the compensation fund. Workers have drawn $91 million from the fund, though most of that went to cancer victims at weapons sites in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. On the Net: Department of Energy: http://www.energy.gov [http://www.energy.gov] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 26 Veterans meeting eyes atomic exposure policy Back to Index Published on 2/12/02 By KEVIN BLANCHARD Acadiana bureau LAFAYETTE -- "Atomic veterans," military personnel who served near radiation such as the bomb blast at Hiroshima or nuclear testing sites, will meet next month in Lafayette. The meeting will focus on changes in policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which recently decided to broaden the definition of who can qualify for compensation for radiation-caused illness. The Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Atomic Veterans will meet at 9:30 a.m. March 3 in Lafayette Hall, 600 Renaud Drive, Lafayette, chapter President Earl Brown said. Since 1988, the federal government has compensated veterans whose sickness was caused by being exposed to radiation during service. In January, the department announced that five cancers of the bone, brain, colon, lung and ovaries have been added to the previous list of eligible illnesses. The department also decided then to include exposure to radiation because of underground nuclear tests in Alaska and service at gaseous diffusion plants at Paducah, Ky.; Portsmouth, Ohio; and Oak Ridge, Tenn. Previously, the Department of Veterans Affairs compensated only veterans who had been part of the occupying force in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, who were on site during tests, or who were American prisoners of war in Japan during World War II. Veterans who qualify, or family members of deceased atomic veterans, can apply through the Veterans Affairs Office or the state Veterans Service Office, Brown said. The state Veterans Service officer in Lafayette, Hugh Thompson, will be at the March 3 meeting to explain the new regulations and answer questions, Brown said. For more information about the meeting, call Brown at 985-446-1747 or e-mail him at tlgnnr@aol.com. Or call Nelson "Buz" Broussard at 337-234-7813 or e-mail at semperbuz@aol.com. According to its Web site, the National Association of Atomic Veterans was formed by a man who fought for seven years to have the government pay for his leukemia treatment and acknowledge the disease was caused by his service in a radiation risk activity. Before the recent expansion of the program, which will go into effect March 26, the following diseases were covered, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs: · Leukemia. · Cancer of the thyroid, breast, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, gall bladder, bile ducts, salivary gland, or urinary tract. · Multiple myeloma; lymphomas, except Hodgkin's disease; primary cancer of the liver, unless cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated; and bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma. ***************************************************************** 27 Feds' 1.3 Million Anti-nuclear Doses Could Treat Only 13,000 NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story February 13, 2002 The federal government has stockpiled "millions of doses" of potassium iodide in case of a nuclear attack, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has said - but those doses would treat mere thousands of people and would provide little protection from radiation, NewsMax.com has learned. According to Access to Energy, a respected newsletter that specializes in science and technology: HHS in January sent a Lear jet to pick up the entire supply of potassium iodide (KI) from a Gonzalez, Texas, company called KI4U - "3,000 bottles with 100 doses each - enough to treat 3,000 people in a nuclear fallout emergency." Washington then announced it had 1.3 million "units" of potassium iodide in case of a nuclear disaster; "300,000 of these apparently came from KI4U." However, "The 'units' announcement was misleading. The government actually had enough KI for 13,000 people," not 1.3 million. Earlier this year, NewsMax broke the story that the U.S. had no civilian stockpiles of KI in case of a nuclear attack. Beyond the misleading numbers cited by the federal government, "potassium iodide is only a very small part of what you need" in the event of a nuclear disaster, said Dr. Jane Orient of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which shared with NewsMax.com the information from Access to Energy. Potassium iodide just protects the thyroid gland and does not guard a person from the worst effects of radiation, she told NewsMax.com this afternoon. "If you're going to be dead from radiation poisoning, it doesn't matter if you won't have thyroid cancer 30 years from now," she said. "Potassium iodide is one of the smaller things." Fallout shelters are a good defense from radiation but are woefully inadequate in the U.S. and should become a government priority, she said. NewsMax.com ***************************************************************** 28 Will Bruce County become Canada's Yucca Mountain? Straight Goods - Canada's independent on-line source of news Wednesday, February 13, 2002 The proposed Canadian site for tens of thousands of tons of American radioactive waste is raising controversy on both sides of the border Dateline: Friday, February 08, 2002 Tens of thousands of tons of high level radioactive waste from America's defense and nuclear energy industries is destined for permanent storage deep inside Yucca Mountain, Nevada. But across the border in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, more than 18,000 tons of high level nuclear waste materials from the Bruce nuclear plant will be stored for most of this century, on-site and above ground, on the south east shoreline of Lake Huron. News of the nuclear waste site came as a surprise to many US environmentalists, including officials from the EPA and the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes who were gathered in January, 2002 at Port Huron, Michigan, for a Great Lakes Workshop. The waste site is called the Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF). It's part of the Bruce nuclear power generation complex in Kincardine Township, Ontario. With its 9 reactors -- 4 on line, 2 more about to come on line and 3 which are closed or decommissioned -- as well as waste storage and other facilities, the site is the largest of its kind on the planet. Inventory The WWMF and Yucca Mountain are similar in many ways, and quite different in others. Both are in the final stages of construction. Both will house materials which remain deadly for hundreds of years, and radioactive for thousands of years. But while the Nevada site lies deep underground in a dormant volcano, far from major population centres, lakes and rivers, the Ontario site is above ground and on the Lake Huron shoreline. Yucca Mountain tunnels are designed to contain high level radioactive waste permanently, but the WWMF will provide only temporary storage, starting as early as 2002-03. For despite decades of effort, Canada has yet to select a permanent storage site. The WWMF already stores low and medium level waste from Ontario's 21 nuclear powered reactors. An incinerator burns low level waste on site. Cooling pools contain hundreds of thousands of used fuel bundles taken from the cores of the reactors. But it's the latest addition to the WWMF which is getting the attention. It's an above ground dry storage complex that will eventually house three quarters of a million highly radioactive used fuel bundles. Through the lifetime of the Bruce nuclear facility, as many as three quarters of a million more bundles could be added. And while the search for a permanent storage site for high level nuclear waste goes on, records indicate such waste could still be in storage at WWMF in 2088. Terrorism, Accidents and Other International Concerns The Western Waste Management Facility has never undergone an independent environmental assessment. The plant operators have done their own assessments, and they insist that the site is safe and the chance of a major accident is very slim. Planned radioactive emissions from the plant occur on a regular basis, facilitated by guidelines and limits set by Canadian regulatory authorities. Just what the effect of the build-up of those emissions in the lake might be is a question which brings speculation from all sides. But other jurisdictions are taking action on emissions from nuclear plants. Late last month, Norway's foreign affairs committee asked the Norwegian government to bring economic sanctions against Britain. Norway wants radioactive emissions from the U.K.'s Sellafield nuclear plant to cease. Traces of the radioactive compound technetium-99 originating from Sellafield have been found along the entire Norwegian coastline. Norway wants an international agreement which would make polluting countries liable for the clean-up of spills wherever they occur. Then there is the record of unplanned spills at the Bruce plant. While minor so far, there is the fear of a major spill or accident. Norm de la Chevrotiere is an insurance actuary and President of a volunteer citizen's group called the Inverhuron and District Ratepayers' Association (IDRA). The IDRA has filed an application with the Supreme Court of Canada requesting, among other things, an independent environmental assessment of the WWMF. "We're not anti-nuclear. But we are concerned about the concentration of nuclear related risks in the Great Lakes basin," says de la Chevrotiere, noting that 21 of Canada's 23 reactors are on the shores of Lakes Huron and Ontario. "The chance of a major accident or terrorist attack is hopefully very small, but the severity of such an event could be catastrophic for Canada and the US." Security has greatly increased at the Bruce facility since September 11, 2001. A three mile "no-fly zone" and strict front gate inspection procedures are now in place. But despite these security upgrades, two swamped fishermen managed to go under the lake-side perimeter fence, break into a building on the site and call 911, without being detected. And while plant management insisted at a recent public meeting that it wants to keep the facility accessible to the public for such emergencies, there are concerns about the conflicting goals of complete security on the one hand and emergency public access on the other. Where to put the waste? Canadian environmental groups wonder if the WWMF site is being expanded to house high level waste from all of Canada's nuclear power plants. They point to new federal legislation as paving the way. But Canada's nuclear regulators and operators flatly deny such claims, and say the search for a permanent site is still very much ongoing. In the meantime, high level waste is contained as per the present waste industry credo of "store it where you make it." And while the piles get bigger, a permanent solution seems no nearer. A February 2, 2002 Globe and Mail article quotes an Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. official working at Yucca Mountain as saying, "Canada is at least 10 years behind the United States on (long term storage)." Norm de la Chevrotiere says the IDRA is all too aware of the situation. "Everyone understands something has to be done with the waste. Our concern is that this temporary WWMF site has all the appearance of becoming much more permanent." Responsible Parties The Western Waste Management Facility is operated by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), a public utility and one of a number of smaller entities created from the government's break-up of the former giant public electric power monopoly, Ontario Hydro, the corporation which has been described as "a run-away freight train." OPG has taken over ownership of the 9 nuclear reactors on the Bruce site, as well as 12 reactors at two other sites in Ontario. But OPG doesn't operate the Bruce reactors. The operator is a private sector firm called Bruce Power. As part of its move to reign in the electric utilities, deregulate the sector and open the Ontario electricity market to competition, the provincial government ordered OPG to drastically reduce its provincial market share by 2012. So, last year, OPG leased the Bruce nuclear power generation facilities to Bruce Power, which is 82.4% owned by United Kingdom electrical giant, British Energy. British Energy operates nuclear power plants at home and abroad, including in the United States as part of the AmerGen program: Bruce Power has announced plans to increase sales of its electricity into the U-S market. All of this means that while federal regulators continue to seek a permanent site for Canada's nuclear waste, and the WWMF acts as a "temporary" Yucca Mountain, Bruce Power sits alone at the leading edge of the new electricity marketplace in Ontario. Thus it should have come as little surprise to anyone when, late last year, Bruce Power announced a $90 million profit for its first six months operating the Bruce facility. Little wonder that British Energy president Robin Jeffrey has declared Canada "a great place to do business." For further information, contact info@friendsofbruce.ca. The Bruce Centre for Energy Research and Information is a not-for-profit corporation located in Inverhuron, Bruce County, Ontario. The Centre conducts research into: 1) safety, cost and accountability issues related to the world's largest nuclear power complex, also located in Inverhuron, Bruce County, and 2) issues related to alternative energy production (including wind, solar, hydrogen, cogeneration, etc.) The Friends of Bruce project is the public information component of the Bruce Centre. © Straight Goods, 2000-2001. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 29 UK: Experts investigate BNFL accident online.ie 12 Feb 2002 Nuclear Installations Inspectorate experts have been called in to investigate an accident at Sellafield. British Nuclear Fuels says fuel taken from one of the reactors was dropped six metres as it was being removed at the power plant's Calder Hall site. BNFL says there was never any danger to staff at the plant and the incident has been rated below the International Nuclear Event Scale. Reports claim that the company says the process was overseen by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and a full in investigation is now underway. ***************************************************************** 30 Decision on Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Seen Imminent Reuters February 12, 2002 07:03 PM ET By Chris Baltimore WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush could act this week on a politically charged recommendation by the Energy Department to choose a remote Nevada site to store vast amounts of the nation's radioactive waste, Democratic congressional sources said on Tuesday. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to forward to Bush a formal recommendation as early as on Wednesday to build a repository under Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas. Critics of the plan, including Nevada politicians, worry that radioactive material might seep into the ground, posing health risks for residents, and cite the risks of transporting nuclear waste over great distances. The site would store 70,000 tons of radioactive materials from the nation's nuclear power plants for about 10,000 years deep within the mountain. The waste now is stored on-site at each of the nation's nuclear plants. "The president is expected to make his decision to take the recommendation of the energy secretary (Wednesday) to designate Nevada as the permanent storage site for nuclear waste," a Democratic congressional staffer said on condition of anonymity. White House and Energy Department sources, however, emphasized that no final decision had been made. "The president has not made any determinations as to timing or substance" of a Yucca recommendation, said an administration official. A decision would follow last week's lobbying blitz by Nevada's Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and Republican U.S. Sen. John Ensign, who urged Bush to consider safety concerns such as the risk of long-term radiation leaks. Although Bush's endorsement is a key step in the process, the plan for a repository at Yucca Mountain would still face obstacles before construction can begin. If Nevada objects, as Guinn made clear he would, Congress would have 90 days to decide the issue with a simple majority vote. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must also approve a license for the site, which would also likely face legal challenges. Nevada politicians are also turning up the heat to dissuade Bush from making a decision they say could cost the Republican Party in upcoming races, including in November's pivotal congressional elections. The state's politicians have accused the Energy Department of putting politics ahead of science in their decision to recommend Yucca Mountain, citing a December report from the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, that urged a delay until at least 2010 because of incomplete facts. Abraham nonetheless last month approved Yucca Mountain, saying there were "compelling national interests that require us ... to move forward." Used fuel from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants is piling up at a rate of about 2,000 tons a year, according to the U.S. utility industry, which is pressing for Yucca Mountain as a waste repository. ***************************************************************** 31 Lithuania considering where to put nuclear waste BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 12, 2002 Vilnius, 12 February: Lithuania is considering various possibilities for disposing of spent nuclear fuel, including a possible setting up of a burial facility, a regional facility and export abroad. Lithuania's recently formed Radioactive Waste Regulation Agency will have to consider the costs and benefits of the various alternatives. The director of the agency, Dainius Janenas, told a press conference in Vilnius on Tuesday [12 February] that the main task of the agency for dealing with nuclear waste set up by the Lithuanian Economics Ministry was to find a final resting place for fuel from the Ignalina nuclear power plant (INPP) after the nuclear reactors there are shut down. He said the agency had other nuclear material to worry about as well. Arturas Dainius, deputy economics minister responsible for INPP issues, said something like from 5 to 10 per cent of Lithuania's nuclear waste was produced by industrial producers and medical facilities. "This has become a problem in Lithuania. Some enterprises have gone bankrupt, and are unable to clean up these materials," Dainius said... The current practice is to transport radioactive waste to the Lithuanian physics institute based in Vilnius for temporary storage until the hazardous materials are transferred to the INPP north of Vilnius. Waste from nuclear power production at the INPP, mostly spent fuel rods, is cooled on-site in a special pool, then placed in dry containers. Janenas said there were 20,000 cubic metres of solid nuclear waste and 13,000 cubic metres of liquid radioactive waste at the INPP. The plant produces roughly 1,100 cubic metres of solid waste and 1,000 cubic metres of liquid nuclear waste annually. There are 60 containers for holding nuclear waste at the INPP currently, although that number will have to grow to 700 after the nuclear facility goes off line. In closing the plant down, Lithuania is faced with the problem of what to do with all the left-over radioactive materials. One alternative might be to ask Russia, the supplier of nuclear fuel rods for Lithuania's INPP, to accept the spent rods and other waste. Another prospect is long-term burial at a facility in Lithuania. Janenas reported his agency was considering the feasibility of a common regional burial site to be built by several states, although the problem remains much the same as with the other two possibilities: which country would volunteer to take the material. The deputy economics minister, Dainius, noted that Russia did agree to accept nuclear waste shipments for long-term storage. "Let's say after a hundred years pass Russia decides to send it back," the deputy minister speculated on long-term storage possibilities. If a local burial facility is chosen as the best alternative, INPP territory would be the likely site, although some geologists contend a more secure location would be near Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city. Early estimates of what a burial site might cost come to something between 100 and 250m euros. Lithuanian officials at Tuesday's press conference said Lithuania could decide on the final disposition of its nuclear waste after several decades, with intermediate containers good for 50 years. Dainius said setting up intermediate containment facilities would cost between 70 and 90 m euros... Source: BNS news agency, Tallinn, in English 1236 gmt 12 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 32 Romanian intelligence refutes Italian report on transport of nuclear materials BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 12, 2002 Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres Bucharest, 12 February: The Romanian Intelligence Service, SRI, knows of no transportation of radioactive materials in Romania, said chairman of the parliamentary commission of control of the SRI, Ioan Stan. He said that Romania provided "no such transportation" and that Interpol representative in Romania, Paolo Santori, had said the same thing. The parliamentary commission reached this conclusion on Monday [11 February]. It denied information in the Italian magazine Panorama, which said that Romania provided transportation of radioactive materials. Source: Rompres news agency, Bucharest, in English 1005 gmt 12 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 33 Azeri MP says Armenian nuclear station polluting Aras River BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 11, 2002 Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency MPA Baku, 11 February: "The contamination of the Aras River from the discharge of radioactive waste (radionuclides) from the Metsamor nuclear power station has reached such levels that the water can no longer be used for drinking or irrigation," the chairwoman of the parliamentary commission for natural resources, ecology and energy, Asya Manafova, has told MPA. She said that Azerbaijan had repeatedly called for an end to be put to the discharge of radioactive waste. The problem was discussed during international meetings with Georgian and Armenian MPs. The Azerbaijani side suggested inspecting the border waters, but Armenia proposed to sign a trilateral agreement through which it could receive a grant. Manafova stressed that Azerbaijan was against the signing of any agreement. Unlike Georgia and Armenia, Azerbaijan has joined the Helsinki convention on border waters. Manafova said that during her recent visit to Baku, Georgian Speaker Nino Burjanadze had promised to consider the issue when she returned to Georgia. "The fact that Yerevan wants to receive grants proves once again that Armenia takes a hostile attitude towards the region while the Azerbaijani Republic is developing cooperation with international organizations for environmental and water protection on its own territory and in the region," Manafova said. Source: MPA news agency, Baku, in Russian 11 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 34 Croatian radioactive waste dumping ground dubbed ecological time-bomb BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 10, 2002 Text of report by Croatian TV on 10 February [Presenter] As part of a project entitled The reclamation of radioactive areas, the radioactive waste dumping ground belonging to the former Jugovinil company of Kastela [near Split on the Adriatic coast] has been declared the most dangerous out of 35 contaminated areas in the country. A solution to the problem has been sought for years. The fact eliciting most concern is that the dumping ground is near a densely populated area, on porous ground along the very coast. [Report] This dumping ground was once entirely fenced off by double wire fencing. There was also a security guard there once looking after the ground night and day. The well-known radioactive signs were also in place once and the level of radioactivity was measured regularly. All of this does not exist anymore. Three years ago the Health Ministry instructed the new owner of the former Jugovinil company, Adriakem, to rectify the situation in cooperation with the Kastela municipality. The mayor of Kastela has refused to accept this proposal. [Mayor of Kastela Ante Sanader] We do not feel responsible for the radioactive sludge, since the sludge was in part transferred from the Jugovinil thermoelectric power plant, and in part from Rasa [Istria] after a directive from the former Yugoslav government. [Reporter] Although these images show something entirely different, head of the Adriakem company Petar Covo assured us in a telephone conversation that the problem was being dealt with and that the radioactive sludge was being taken care of. On paper maybe, but on the radioactive waste ground - certainly not. [Ivan Bucan, chairman of Kastela ecological association] Because the stream and the flow of water have not been redirected, the water runs through the dumping ground and takes with it radium into the sea. According to findings by the institute in Zagreb, in some places the level of radioactivity of the very toxic radium 226 is almost 700 times higher than allowed. [Reporter] For your information, the half life of radium is 1,006 years. The radioactive waste ground and the lack of necessary care are only one piece of evidence to show how little life and the environment have been worth in Kastela in the past ten years. That this mindlessly industrialized but at one point beautiful bay is an ecological time bomb is clear. When will it explode? Source: HRT1 TV, Zagreb, in Serbo-Croat 1830 gmt 10 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 35 Livermore group challenges nuclear shipments Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 3:48:25 AM MST By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - -->LIVERMORE -- An anti-nuclear group based in Livermore is suing the Energy Department to protest plutonium shipments to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory from a site in Colorado. Members of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment announced this week that they plan to file a lawsuit today under the National Environmental Policy Act, calling the plutonium shipments a "shell game." Marylia Kelley, executive director for Tri-Valley CAREs, said she fears that the plutonium shipped from the Energy Department's Rocky Flats site, a former nuclear weapons production facility, could end up being stored at Livermore Lab "for a very long time," perhaps on the order of several years. The lawsuit seeks to stop the Rocky Flats plutonium shipments to and from the lab. Members of Tri-Valley CAREs and Earthjustice, an environmental legal assistance group, are planning to discuss the lawsuit during an event today at the Livermore Lab Visitors Center. Lab officials say that plutonium shipments from Rocky Flats are a regular, ongoing activity, and that plutonium is not stored at the lab for a prolonged period. "The implication that things are going to sit around for years -- that's not the case," said David Schwoegler, a lab spokesman. "It is not building up, not sitting around for years." Lab workers have been converting plutonium nuclear weapons parts from Rocky Flats into different forms for many years, Schwoegler said, shipping the processed plutonium to the Savannah River Site, a nuclear weapons production site in South Carolina. "Everything we're shipping now goes to Savannah (River)," he said. The lab uses two methods to process the incoming plutonium parts, he added. The processes can produce either a plutonium oxide or metal ingots of plutonium. "There's nothing new ... we've been doing this for just about a decade now," Schwoegler added. Though post-Sept. 11 worries and a dispute between South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges and Energy Department officials has held up plutonium shipments to Savannah River, Schwoegler said he is not aware of any impact on Livermore Lab's shipments of plutonium to that site. Meanwhile, Kelley said that Livermore "is in the middle of this national controversy" over plutonium shipments. But Schwoegler said he is not aware of any major fluctuations in the volume of plutonium the lab is handling from the Rocky Flats site. Livermore Lab can store up to 1,543 pounds of plutonium on site, and the lab is well within that limit, he added. Rocky Flats, which for 40 years built the plutonium "triggers" required to detonate nuclear bombs, closed in 1989. The site is now in the midst of a major environmental cleanup that is scheduled for completed in 2006. ©1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 36 Bush hears from energy secretary on why dump should proceed Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy Secretary Spence Abraham briefed President Bush on Tuesday about why a nuclear waste dump should be built at Yucca Mountain despite widespread opposition within Nevada. Bush made no decision but is inclined to approve the site as early as Friday, several officials said. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and the state's senators, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign, lobbied Bush last week to block the project. Abraham endorsed the site last month, but has yet to present formally to Bush a document outlining his recommendation. By law, he had to wait 30 days before doing so, which passed Saturday. A 1987 law designated Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the only location to be studied for disposal of nuclear waste now stored at multiple sites around the nation. The law gives Nevada 60 days to override a presidential decision. Congress then would have 90 legislative days to counter Nevada's objection by majority votes in both houses. Abraham traveled to Los Angeles last week and was still editing this week the paper he will give to Bush. Aides said it was ready for presentation, but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Abraham did not give it to the president Tuesday. "The president had a good opportunity to listen to both sides on the issue and follow up with questions," Fleischer said of the sessions with Abraham and the Nevadan delegation. Bush has not decided, Fleischer said. He would not say which way Bush is leaning, but other officials said he is likely to accept Abraham's recommendation. White House officials believe Yucca Mountain would pass Congress. They are also mindful of the politics of the decision, however, one administration official said. A move to move ahead could endanger re-election prospects of Republican Guinn, although he has no serious Democratic rival now. Three House seats are at stake in Nevada, including one new one based on the 2000 Census. Fleischer said politics would play no part in Bush's decision. Abraham, who notified Nevada officials on Jan. 10 that he will recommend the site to the president, called it a "scientifically sound and suitable" place to bury the nation's used reactor fuel now kept at the power plants. The Energy Department's schedule calls for opening the site to waste shipments by 2010. That timetable could be overly optimistic, government and industry officials acknowledge. On the Net: Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov/ [http://www.ymp.gov/] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Nevada officials say video shows risk of transporting waste Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada lawmakers are trying to decide whether to focus national attention on a videotape that shows a missile blasting a hole in a nuclear waste canister, potentially sending radiation into the environment. The footage could be used as part of a campaign to raise doubts about the safety of shipping radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain. State and congressional officials have been analyzing a 4 1/2 -minute video of a 1998 metal cask test. The video was obtained recently by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "I believe it represents what our worst fears are, especially in the wake of nine-11," Berkley said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., believes more research should be done, spokesman Nathan Naylor said. "There are too many questions still for us to give this our seal of good housekeeping," Naylor said. Interest in the video by Nevada officials coincides with increasing expectation that President Bush will sign off on a recommendation to build a nuclear repository to store 77,000 tons of radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The videotape of a test at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland shows an anti-tank TOW missile blowing a grapefruit-sized hole in a 15-inch thick iron cask called a Castor V/21. The missile costs less than $200,000 and is in use by militaries in 40 countries, according to its manufacturer, Raytheon Corp. It can be fired from a 200-pound launcher stationed on the back of a flatbed truck. Experts said it is possible to breach the casks, but they disagreed over the severity and the likelihood of that happening. "The (current transportation casks) are extremely robust," said John Vincent, a senior project manager for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top trade group. "But we have said all along that if you got a good hit it was likely to perforate the cask. But it is likely to be very small (damage) and you won't get much (radioactive) material out, so you don't have a huge problem." The video was produced by a New York-based company called International Fuel Containers Ltd., a marketing arm of a German company called Gesellschaft Fur Nuklear Behalter, which manufactures the Castor V/21. The video was produced to showcase the strength of the new concrete compound, patented by IFC in 1999, said IFC president Thomas Kirch. Kirch gave the video to Berkley after she requested it, he said. Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, who has seen the video, said it shows the potential vulnerability of nuclear waste shipped in casks that might be weaker than the one tested. "We would argue that DOE and the nuclear industry have said they don't know of anything known to man that would penetrate these things," Loux said. "Well, here's something that does." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 Abraham Briefs Bush on Nuclear Dump Las Vegas SUN Today: February 13, 2002 at 6:55:16 PST WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy Secretary Spence Abraham briefed President Bush on Tuesday about why a nuclear waste dump should be built at Yucca Mountain in Nevada despite widespread opposition within the state. Bush made no decision but is inclined to approve the site as early as Friday, several officials said. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and the state's senators, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign, lobbied Bush last week to block the project. Abraham endorsed the site last month, but has yet to formally present to Bush his recommendation. By law, he had to wait 30 days before doing so, which passed Saturday. White House officials say Bush plans to accept the recommendation at the same time he announces his decision. A 1987 law designated Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the only location to be studied for disposal of nuclear waste currently held at multiple sites around the nation. If Yucca Mountain were to become the nation's nuclear waste site, the material would have to be shipped there from 103 spots around the country and through 43 states to Nevada. Opponents hope such a prospect, especially after Sept. 11, will be enough for those states' representatives to kill the project in Congress. Energy Department officials say it is premature to address transportation issues for a site that has yet to be designated. Anyway, say nuclear industry officials, radioactive waste can be transported safely by rail and truck. The law gives Nevada 60 days to override a presidential decision. Congress then would have 90 legislative days to counter Nevada's objection by majority votes in both houses. Abraham traveled to Los Angeles last week and was still editing this week the paper he will give to Bush. Aides said it was ready for presentation, but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Abraham did not give it to the president Tuesday. "The president had a good opportunity to listen to both sides on the issue and follow up with questions," Fleischer said of the sessions with Abraham and the Nevadans. Bush has not decided, Fleischer said. He would not say which way Bush is leaning, but other officials said he is likely to accept Abraham's recommendation. White House officials believe Yucca Mountain would pass Congress. They are also mindful of the politics of the decision, however, one administration official said. A move to move ahead could endanger re-election prospects of Republican Guinn, although he has no serious Democratic rival now. Three House seats are at stake in Nevada, including one new one based on the 2000 Census. Fleischer said politics would play no part in Bush's decision. Abraham, who notified Nevada officials on Jan. 10 that he will recommend the site to the president, called it a "scientifically sound and suitable" place to bury the nation's used reactor fuel now kept at the power plants. The Energy Department's schedule calls for opening the site to waste shipments by 2010. That timetable could be overly optimistic, government and industry officials acknowledge. On the Net: Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov/ [http://www.ymp.gov/] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 39 LETTERS: Democrats hypocritical on Yucca cash issue Wednesday, February 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal To the editor: In response to Jane Ann Morrison's recent story on political money and its relationship to Yucca Mountain, I'm disappointed -- though not surprised -- to see Republicans once again circling the wagons and going into a "prevent defense" instead of fighting fire with fire. Democrats, led by state chairman and state Sen. Terry Care and congressional candidate Dario Herrera, have tried to make hay out of Republicans accepting campaign contributions from House GOP leaders who are on record supporting Yucca Mountain. They've suggested that GOP candidates refuse money from such individuals and boycott their appearances here in Nevada. If only these Democrats weren't such hypocrites. Various labor unions have been on record as actively supporting Yucca Mountain for years, going so far as to run full-page ads in the nation's capital urging Congress to approve the nuclear dump site in our state. But I didn't see Mr. Herrera or Rep. Shelley Berkley or the rest of the Democrats running from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney like scalded dogs when the union held its annual meeting here in Las Vegas last December. In fact, it was a veritable love fest. Perhaps the Democrats should consider the warning about people in glass houses not throwing stones. And maybe Republicans should wake up, stop turning the other cheek and start throwing their own punches for a change. I won't hold my breath waiting for either. CHUCK MUTH LAS VEGAS The writer is chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Feb-13-Wed-2002/opinion/18075138.html [http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Feb-13-Wed-2002/opinion/18075138.html] ***************************************************************** 40 YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Dump recommendation delayed Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Citizen Alert, records a video postcard Tuesday at Las Vegas City Hall. Mayor Oscar Goodman arranged for her message and 60 others expressing opinions on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository to be sent by e-mail to President Bush. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Wednesday, February 13, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Backers still seeking action within week By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham met with President Bush on Tuesday to discuss nuclear waste but held off on making his recommendation that Yucca Mountain be authorized as the nation's permanent site for storage of the nation's most lethal radioactive materials. Abraham, who told Gov. Kenny Guinn last month a Nevada repository is important for national security and the nation's energy security, hasn't decided when he will pass the case up to Bush, DOE spokesman Joe Davis said. "The secretary hasn't made a decision on when to deliver the recommendation," Davis said. "I'm not going to predict a timeline here." Many people watching the issue expected the Yucca Mountain recommendation to be on a straight and quick path to Bush's desk since a 30-day waiting period for Abraham expired on Sunday. It gave rise to speculation among Nevadans that Bush may heed warnings from state officials that Yucca Mountain is a bad idea. Others said it could mean nothing. Abraham could issue his recommendation today, and the president could sign off immediately or before he leaves the country on Saturday for a weeklong trip to Asia. "The expectation is that it's going to be (Wednesday). That's something I've always been generally advised of," said Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, a leading Senate backer of the repository program. "I've assumed they're just reviewing it, going over it," Murkowski said of the recommendation. The Associated Press reported Bush is inclined to approve the site as early as Friday, citing unnamed White House officials as sources. Lobbyists for the nuclear energy industry and other groups that favor a Yucca Mountain repository said it is important for Bush to sign off on the repository this week if Congress is to have time to finalize a site recommendation later this year. "Barring some other reason, I'd suggest (Bush) move as soon as he can," Murkowski agreed. "This thing has dragged on too long." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday he would not predict when Bush would decide on Yucca Mountain. "The president has not yet received (a recommendation) and the president will give it some careful thought," he said. "Until he receives a recommendation, there is nothing to decide." Fleischer denied the White House has signaled Abraham it doesn't want him to submit his recommendation yet. "No," he said. "There is no question of that." Abraham notified Guinn on Jan. 10 that he would tell Bush that Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is a suitable candidate for nuclear waste storage. In an Oval Office meeting with Bush last Thursday, Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., laid out Nevada's case, citing questions that independent scientists have raised about the suitability of the mountain to prevent radionuclides from leeching into groundwater. They also called Bush's attention to General Accounting Office and DOE reports critical of the repository program, and warned him that the Energy Department is far from having a grip on the safety of nuclear waste as it would be shipped from power plants in 34 states to the Nevada site. DOE officials say there is time to address transportation before a repository opens in 2010 if department projections hold true. The nuclear power industry maintains nuclear waste can be shipped safely. "I can hope this reflects the serious concerns that were brought to light by the Nevada delegation to the president last week," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. "What in heaven's name is the rush? Shouldn't the president have all the information?" said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "There was every indication the president listened intently to what the governor and the two senators said," Guinn spokesman Greg Bortolin said. "It's heartening the president would be sincere and listen to what we said and also to study the issue and take it very seriously." Meanwhile in Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman added a new dimension to his anti-Yucca Mountain campaign. He invited residents to stop by a conference room at City Hall where a special camera has been set up to record "video postcards" from people who want to weigh in on the government's plans to transport and bury nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. The 30-second videos are being sent by e-mail to Bush. On Tuesday, 60 people had recorded messages, including Goodman, who told Bush that hauling highly radioactive, spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain "is not Nevada's problem, this is a national problem, particularly in view of your position as far as homeland security is concerned." In another message, Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental group, urged Bush to use caution in considering Abraham's expected recommendation. "This is not a final solution. This is another added terrorist threat," Tilges said. Back in Washington, Democratic Party operatives were not waiting for Bush's decision to bash Republicans on nuclear waste. Jenny Backus, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Bush attempted to blur the nuclear waste issue when he campaigned in Nevada during the 2000 campaign issue. "He claimed he was for sound science (on Yucca Mountain's suitability), but since he's been in office he doesn't seem to be paying attention to these reports like the one from the General Accounting Office that say Yucca isn't ready," Backus said in a telephone briefing for reporters. Review-Journal staff writer Keith Rogers and Stephens Washington Bureau staff writer Tony Batt contributed to this story. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 41 Facing a meltdown -- The Washington Times February 13, 2002 By Carter Dougherty THE WASHINGTON TIMES The only U.S. company that produces fuel for nuclear-power plants faces a bleak financial future and could go bankrupt within six years, according to a confidential report prepared for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. USEC Inc., based in Bethesda, is suffering from high operating costs and a failure to invest in new, more-efficient technology that would allow it to compete with foreign companies, the report states. "USEC's financial condition may not allow the expectation that the company can remain in business for an additional five years" after 2003, when the NRC will conduct a regular review of its five-year operating permit, the report states. The NRC regulates the nuclear-power industry. USEC spokesman Charles Yulish dismissed the assessment as part of a "cottage industry of reports predicting USEC's demise," he said. USEC was created in 1998 through the privatization of the U.S. Enrichment Corp., the former government monopoly in charge of turning uranium into nuclear fuel. It operates a single plant, in Paducah, Ky., which is owned by the Department of Energy. It recently closed another facility in Ohio. The company also administers a program called "Megatons to Megawatts" that funnels Russian uranium recovered from dismantled nuclear warheads to electric utilities. The failure of USEC would leave American utilities completely dependent on imported uranium to run their plants, said John Longenecker, a nuclear-industry analyst and former Department of Energy official who was involved in the privatization of USEC. "If USEC were to go out of business, the Russians would meet the [American] demand easily," he said. "We ought to have a debate about that." Though the NRC prepared the report with outside consultants in August 2000, the document has remained under wraps, labeled "sensitive and proprietary information." At the time, the NRC said the study of USEC's finances could be expanded, but that it probably lacked the legal authority to do so. But nuclear-industry analysts said little has changed in the last 18 months that would change the report's assumptions. "USEC is the high-cost supplier," Mr. Longenecker said. "And that's the vendor that usually exits the market first." The company uses an outdated technology to "enrich" uranium into nuclear fuel. The company's financial weakness means it does not have the means to invest in new facilities that would make it more competitive, the NRC report states. USEC's profits, which hit $9.5 million in the last quarter of 2001, are due largely to the liquidation of its inventories rather than efficient operations, the report adds. As a result of its finances, USEC faces tougher terms from its creditors. The company currently has a $150 million credit line for which it does not have to put up any collateral. Now, its creditors are demanding that it put up "certain assets" as security for the money, according to documents it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in January. The NRC also has imposed tough financial conditions on USEC. Federal regulators want to make sure that USEC takes care of lingering byproducts from the fuel-manufacturing process if the company abandons the Paducah plant. The NRC required the company to pay an "insurance deposit" of $21.4 million to cover any clean-up costs, according to SEC documents. "It's like saying if you have a $200,000 insurance policy, you don't just pay premiums, you pay $250,000 up front," a nuclear-energy industry source said. Steven Toelle, USEC's director of regulatory affairs, dismissed such interpretations of the NRC's move. "This requirement is made of all sorts of facilities in the nuclear industry," he said. Financial markets recently have reached similar judgments about USEC, whose stock is now worth one-third of its value at privatization in June 1998. Standard &Poor's rates the company's debt as junk status. On Jan. 23, the investment service put USEC on a "creditwatch negative" list, meaning its credit rating stands a good chance of being lowered in the next three months. Most critically for USEC, the prices it receives for the uranium that it enriches into nuclear fuel are not enough to meet its cost of production, the report states. Though prices have risen over the past year, USEC is still locked into contracts that put it at a disadvantage, according to Scott Sprinzen, an S analyst. "Market prices are improving, but the prices in their contracts are getting worse," he said. USEC stock fell 5 cents to $5.84 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. ***************************************************************** 42 Brian Greenspun: Yucca fight won't end Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. "IS THE SUN throwing in the towel?" What a strange question I thought as I continued to read Frank Perna's letter. Why on earth would this newspaper, the first daily newspaper in this state to challenge the federal government's scheme to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain and the only one to consistently rail against the thought of such an outrage in the face of significant risk, be throwing in the towel? More importantly, why would one of our longtime readers and more prolific letter writers think that we were doing just that? I read his letter over again just to see if I was missing something. I wasn't. What Frank and most of us are experiencing is that time we all believed might come, and the seeming helplessness that would come with it when the president of the United States tapped Nevada as the host nobody else wants to be. With all of our stories, all of our editorializing, all of our prognosticating of what might happen if people don't focus on this "dumpsite" thing, the fact remains that we may be within hours or days of President George W. Bush singling out Las Vegas to be the busiest place in the world when it comes to dealing with radioactive waste. And that reality, my friends, is a most depressing one. For years we have covered this growing story and our major industry's singular lack of attention to the dangers lurking within it, with the belief that nobody who occupies the White House would dare be so callous and uncaring about the people who live in Nevada and, specifically, Las Vegas that they would designate us to be the burial ground for the deadliest poison known to man. Somewhere in the back of our minds we wanted to believe that whoever was our president, that good and common sense would prevail and that science would get the nod over back room politics. But, alas, by the time you read this or shortly thereafter, it looks like we have been wrong, duped by our own naivete and shortsightedness. If what we are hearing from our own Nevada GOP leaders is correct, President Bush will shove that stuff down our Yucca Mountain and his party faithful will cover his behind for doing it. That, all by itself, is depressing. But that doesn't mean the fight won't continue. More to Mr. Perna's point, I think Nevada's mothers and fathers, in an exercise of the family values that call for the protection of one's children as the paramount duty of parents, will just move our fight to a different arena. Whether it be in the courts of this land, the ballot boxes of this state or, to take a page out of our more violent history, on the roads and across the railroad tracks that run behind our homes, I believe that the people who live here will no longer trust those in positions of power -- political, business or social -- to watch out for them and their families. And that is the most depressing thought of all because people should have the right to expect leadership from those in power and the luxury to trust that it will be exercised properly. So far, Nevada has lost on all counts. Not that it isn't all the other guy's fault because each of us must share the blame on that account. I know that when Bill Clinton was president of the United States he committed to our then-governor, Bob Miller, that only science would determine the outcome of Yucca Mountain. And not once on his watch did those who favored sticking Nevada with the nation's nuclear garbage get their way. Even during some of his darkest personal moments, President Clinton honored his word and vetoed Congress' plan to start the trucks rolling our way. Candidate Bush made a similar pledge to Gov. Kenny Guinn when he was asking Nevadans for their support. He told us that science and not politics would drive any decision about Yucca Mountain. How I would like to believe in him now! With every report from every scientific organization saying how much the Department of Energy has botched the science or, just as bad, not completed it before recommending the site to President Bush, and that any decision about moving forward was premature and potentially dangerous, it seems incredulous that Bush would plow ahead. And, yet, that's the message from his own party faithful in this state in their own efforts to lessen the pain to their political futures and maintain some semblance of party unity behind a very popular president. So let's get something straight. I don't know one American who isn't foursquare behind this president's war on terrorism. Just like we should be regardless of who our president is. But I don't know of a single Nevadan, except those who think only of their pocketbooks with no regard for their families or neighbors, who believes that a decision by the president to site the waste dump at Yucca Mountain is anything other than a payoff to the power industry and its congressional and DOE supporters. To believe otherwise is to ignore a very simple reality when it comes to nuke waste: If this stuff is so safe why on earth does everyone want to move it out of their own back yards and into ours? And that, Mr. Perna, should provide the answer to your question. If the Sun is throwing in the towel on this fight we are throwing in the towel on our future as well. And that, sir, is not who we are. The real question is this: Is the rest of Nevada up for this fight? All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 43 Nevadans continue to wait on Abraham Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 WASHINGTON -- Nevada officials early today continued to await word that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham had officially recommended that Yucca Mountain become the nation's nuclear waste burial ground. A business news website, www.cbsmarketwatch.com, reported Monday that Abraham forwarded the recommendation to President Bush. But the Energy Department has not confirmed that. An Energy spokesman did not return phone calls to the Sun today or Monday. Abraham was expected to make the recommendation to President Bush Monday. Bush is expected to approve the recommendation, possibly this week, which would trigger a formal veto of Bush's action from Gov. Kenny Guinn. Congress would then vote on the veto. Both the House and Senate are expected to override the veto. The project faces other hurdles: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would have to license the site as a waste dump, an approval process that would take several years. Waste would not be shipped to Yucca until 2010 at the earliest. The Energy Department has been studying the desert ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas for 20 years. Nevada officials have long fought the project. Congress in 1987 tapped the site as the most suitable place to store 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste from U.S. defense sites and commercial nuclear power plants. Nevada officials say scientific evidence data shows that the site is not safe, but Energy officials have said there is no evidence to stop the project. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 44 Goodman says support lacking from resort companies on Yucca, homeless Mayor gives gaming industry earful Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 By Richard N. Velotta < [velotta@lasvegassun.com] > Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman joked that when he was asked to give an address on the record of corporate responsibility by the gaming industry to the American Gaming Summit that he could do it in about 10 seconds. But when Goodman completed his Monday keynote speech, gaming executives in attendance weren't laughing. And, when Goodman blasted them for their lack of support, they knew he wasn't joking. "I like to be the cheerleader for this city when I make appearances," said Goodman, who often refers to himself as the "happiest mayor in America." "But I've been sorely disappointed by the lack of support" from gaming interests on everything from battling a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain to rallying for a National Basketball Association team. "Unless the gamers step up, we're going to lose it," Goodman said of the fight on Yucca Mountain, "because the city can't do it alone." Goodman listed several issues in which he's been disappointed with the gaming industry's apparent lack of interest. In addition to the fight against Yucca Mountain, the mayor said the community's problem with homeless people is multiplying and the industry has impeded efforts to get a major league sports franchise to locate in the city. Bill Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association, said nothing positive can come from the type of remarks Goodman has been making. "I think over the past year or so, the mayor's rhetoric has seemingly gotten harsher because the gaming industry has not stepped up to back what are his pet projects," Bible said. In his speech, Goodman also said the industry doesn't pay its fair share of taxes. "We've already passed Cleveland (by population) and they have baseball, football and basketball," he said. He said when he asked representatives of the gaming industry to help woo the Vancouver Grizzlies NBA franchise to town, two industry representatives he didn't name told him they wouldn't support the effort because NBA games "would take people out of the casinos for four hours." The NBA had asked casinos to remove its games from sports book betting as a condition of locating a team to Las Vegas. The gamers balked. The Grizzlies ended up moving to Memphis, Tenn. Bible said the mayor's call for gaming to help fund a downtown arena and a medical center campus are simply unproductive because he said the industry can not "realistically" contribute to either project without more study. On Yucca Mountain, Goodman said any kind of accident involving nuclear waste would clear out Las Vegas the same way the aftermath of the terrorists attacks did Sept. 11. Bible noted that the NRA has opposed Yucca Mountain for the past 10 years, approving resolutions to fight the proposed waste dump and even seeing some members -- like Station Casinos -- donate money to the state's fight. While Goodman chided the industry in general and said no one had come forward to help, he did single out two businessmen -- Stephen Cloobeck, owner of Polo Towers near the Strip, and Glenn Schaeffer, president and chief financial officer of the Mandalay Resort Group -- for contributions to the community. Cloobeck has been one of the few industry voices opposing Yucca Mountain. Schaeffer has helped bring 1986 Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to hold its Endowed Chair of Creative Writing, and Syl Cheney-Coker to become the first writer to participate in Las Vegas' City of Asylum program, which protects writers who face persecution in their home countries. Asked about his expectations of the industry after his speech, Goodman said all he wants is for them to pick up the phone. "I just want the (Nevada Resort Association) to give me a call so we can talk about what they can do," Goodman said. "Let's talk about it and figure out what we can do together." Bible, however, said he would meet with the mayor if he was asked, but Bible was critical of the mayor's comments. "Nothing positive can come from the type of comments the mayor has been making," Bible said. Goodman apologized to his hosts for telling them something they didn't want to hear and for being abrasive. "Maybe it's just me, but I think that the state's primary industry should do more to get behind the city," Goodman said. "But it may be me (that they don't like) because I don't kiss their rear ends." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 45 Nuke cask strength decried Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 Nevada leaders say tape shows high risk of transporting waste By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Nuclear industry and federal tests show that a missile could blow a hole in a nuclear-waste transportation cask, potentially sending radiation into the environment, industry experts told the Sun. Reacting to a videotape of a 1998 test at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland that shows an anti-tank missile blowing a grapefruit-sized hole in a waste-storage container, experts said it is possible to breach the casks, but they disagreed over the severity and the likelihood of that happening. A government test in 1978 proved a missile could puncture a cask, experts said, noting that some in government and industry have known that for years. "The (current transportation casks) are extremely robust," said John Vincent, a senior project manager for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top trade group. "But we have said all along that if you got a good hit it was likely to perforate the cask. But it is likely to be very small (damage) and you won't get much (radioactive) material out, so you don't have a huge problem." As Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham prepares to make his recommendation that Yucca Mountain become the nation's nuclear waste repository, Nevada officials are studying the video to determine if it bolsters their arguments that transportation of nuclear waste is unsafe and susceptible to terrorist attack. "I believe it represents what our worst fears are, especially in the wake of 9-11," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. Industry experts, though, say the risk of a successful terrorist missile strike or a widespread leak from such an attack is minimal. Industry analysts said the video proves only that a perfectly orchestrated explosion under ideal test conditions could puncture a nuclear waste container. It's highly unlikely a terrorist could successfully strike a moving target under tight security, several experts said. "It could happen, but given the level of protection provided around these shipments, they are not an easy target," nuclear industry consultant and nuclear engineer Eileen Supko said. Experts also stressed that a small missile likely would create a small hole that could be quickly plugged and would release minimal radiation. The waste -- spent fuel rods taken from nuclear reactors -- would be tough to dislodge, they said. "These warheads are designed to make a hole but are not designed to dislodge much of the material inside," said Skip Young, a security official with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He declined to say how much radiation could be released. Retired nuclear engineer Bob Jefferson oversaw tests at the Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratory that started in the late 1970s in which the containers were burned, submerged, dropped, even hit by a train. The containers were not breached in those tests, a fact often touted by nuclear industry officials. But in a 1978 test that has not been widely discussed, scientists simulated a missile strike using a detonated charge, Jefferson said. "It poked a hole in the cask," he said. The container was similar in construction to casks used to transport U.S. waste today, Jefferson said. Asked about any other tests in which casks failed, Jefferson declined to comment, saying the tests were classified. But he said a terrorist would have a difficult time blowing a hole in a cask in a real-world situation. He said test coordinators at Sandia and Aberdeen detonated charges directly into the cask at a perfect 90-degree angle for maximum damage. And transportation casks likely would be surrounded by some type of screen that could trigger the missile's explosion before it reached the cask. Terrorists likely would have to hijack the truck hauling the cask to get enough time to blow a hole in it, Jefferson said. The experts also acknowledged Monday that some government and industry officials have known for years that an explosive charge detonated in a test under ideal circumstances could penetrate waste containers and theoretically release radiation into the environment. "I don't think this is a new story," Supko said. But Yucca watchers and state officials disagreed. "There's been no public publicity of that information and it seems like a big secret," said Kevin Kamps, an anti-Yucca activist with Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "Our organization tries to stay on top of this kind of information and we've never heard of it." The vulnerabilities of waste containers to missiles have not been widely publicized, several people said. "Not only have they not been publicized -- the reverse has been publicized," said Joe Egan, a Washington-area lawyer hired by Nevada. "The industry has made numerous representations that these casks are virtually indestructible and that they have been fully analyzed against armor-piercing weapons." Officials who knew about the missile tests should have made them public, Berkley said. "If they knew about this then they had an obligation to disclose to the people who live along the transportation routes the fact that these casks are vulnerable," Berkley said. On Sunday the Sun reported that Nevada's congressional delegation is studying 4 1/2 minutes of video footage from the 1998 Aberdeen test that shows an anti-tank TOW missile blowing a hole in a German-made storage cask. That cask -- licensed for transportation in other nations, but not in the United States -- is essentially the same strength as casks currently usedto transport U.S. nuclear waste, Vincent and several other experts said. Vincent said he had seen the tape. Both Jefferson and Supko said the cask's failure was known by some in the industry and government, and several industry experts shrugged off the significance of video footage recently obtained by Nevada officials. The Aberdeen video has stirred interested because it shows a 50-inch TOW missile blowing a grapefruit-sized hole in a 15-inch thick iron cask called a Castor V/21. The missile was mounted on the cask, not fired at it, said Thomas Kirch, a private nuclear industry executive who arranged the test. But the detonation was rigged to simulate the most powerful missile strike possible, Kirch said. The cask in the video is certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a storage cask, not a transport cask, although it is used in other nations for both purposes. The cask is cast iron; the casks currently in use for transportation in the United States are mostly steel and lead or steel and depleted uranium, industry sources said. The NRC has not tested the containers currently certified to transport waste to simulate a missile strike, spokeswoman Sue Gagner said. But Young said the Energy Department and the NRC oversaw missile-simulation tests at Sandia in the early or mid-1980s, although he would not disclose the results. The Aberdeen video shows two experiments. In one the missile blows a hole in the container. In the second, the missile merely cracks the cask surface because the cask was protected by a concrete compound "flak jacket," roughly one yard thick. The video was produced by a New York-based company called International Fuel Containers Ltd., a marketing arm of a German company called Gesellschaft Fur Nuklear Behalter, or GNB, which manufactures the Castor V/21. The video was produced to showcase the strength of the new concrete compound, patented by IFC in 1999, said IFC president Kirch. The experiments were conducted at Aberdeen in June 1998, in cooperation with the military. Kirch had hoped to sell the concrete compound flak jacket to nuclear utility companies, to use for encasing the waste stored in casks at nuclear plants. Kirch has had no buyers -- most utilities store waste in casks in cheaper concrete bunkers, he said. Kirch gave the video to Berkley after she requested it, he said. Although he originally produced the footage to help advertise a product, he agrees with Nevada lawmakers who believe it may also demonstrate the dangers of shipping waste. "This definitely shows the potential exposure of a naked cask," Kirch said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 46 Letter: Nevadans need to speak up on nuke waste Las Vegas SUN Today: February 13, 2002 at 9:03:16 PST One can feel the progress, quietly congratulated behind closed doors, of efforts to gain the necessary approvals to activate the nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain. The mood in the area remains skeptical of the outcome, and I have heard younger people with families talk of moving away, fearing what might lie ahead. Many of us may not have given up on a possible reversal of this misguided effort to sacrifice our area to the needs of the nuclear power industry and the callous attitude of people elsewhere, who have calculated that regardless of what happens at the Yucca Mountain site, that they would be a safe distance away. It leads to a feeling of isolation, vulnerability and helplessness. Presumably there is also anger and resentment as many of us feel that all we have is at risk. Most importantly we could be written off as collateral damage, in the event of a nuclear accident, the current vernacular for what is considered the inadvertent loss of life necessary to protect a greater good. Some of us may take exception to that offhand comparison, but we can't take for granted the compassion of others. A right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" does not seem to apply equally to residents of each of the fifty states. It is a perversion of justice that we should even have to think of protecting ourselves from the acts of our national government in order to assure our own safety. Nevertheless, that is central to what is currently at stake. Nevadans must speak up in order to avoid the prospect of becoming collateral damage. ERIC STEFIK All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 47 Bush mulls Yucca dump Today: February 13, 2002 at 11:22:22 PST Abraham makes pro-repository case to president By Benjamin Grove and Erin Neff WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham briefed President Bush on Tuesday about why a nuclear waste dump should be built at Yucca Mountain, despite widespread opposition within Nevada. Bush made no decision but is inclined to approve the site as early as Friday, several officials said. Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis declined to offer details about the meeting and said Abraham had not set a timetable for his recommendation. "When we make a recommendation, we'll let you know," Davis said. Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., lobbied Bush last week to block the project. Several Nevada officials said Tuesday that Bush may be carefully weighing the arguments made by the state's top politicians and wanted a quick response from Abraham. Bush has not decided on Yucca Mountain, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, declining to say which way the president is leaning. "The president had a good opportunity to listen to both sides on the issue and follow up with questions," Fleischer said of the sessions with Abraham and the Nevadan delegation. Many officials had predicted before the Nevada leaders' meeting with Bush that Abraham would make his recommendation Monday and Bush would immediately endorse it. White House sources have said the president will likely get the recommendation and approve it as soon as Friday. The silence from the Energy Department and White House raised questions among Yucca Mountain critics about the debate going on within the Bush administration. It would be good news for the state if Bush put off the decision, said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, a Yucca project watchdog. "That's been our theory all along, that a delay works for us," Loux said. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said it's her hunch that Bush's political and policy advisers may be at odds over whether to proceed with Yucca now, though she said she couldn't be sure. She said she couldn't predict when Bush would act. "I was raised in Las Vegas, I only bet on sure things," Berkley said. Berkley press secretary Michael O'Donovan noted that a decision on Friday would make sense, "because it seems to be the M.O. for the DOE, which releases bad news on Fridays so the press can't properly cover the news." Reid's press secretary Nathan Naylor said the senator is hoping Bush does not decide immediately upon receiving Abraham's recommendation. "We've gone in there and presented our case and we hope he takes this more seriously," Naylor said. "For every day that goes by (without a decision), it is a win for the country and for all of those who are concerned about a rush to judgment about Yucca Mountain." Guinn's spokesman Greg Bortolin said the governor believes his meeting with Bush bought Nevada some time by raising some important issues. "We have no reason to believe that the president is doing anything other than carefully considering what was presented," Bortolin said. Abraham told Guinn last month he would recommend the site, but has yet to present formally to Bush a document outlining his recommendation. By law, he had to wait 30 days before doing so, which passed Saturday. The law gives Guinn 60 days to override a presidential decision. The governor has promised to veto the recommendation, but said he hasn't decided whether he will do so immediately or let the clock run through the 60 days first. Guinn said part of the state's strategy involves keeping that decision secret until it happens. Congress then would have 90 legislative days to counter Nevada's objection by majority votes in both houses. The timing of those actions could determine where in the election the Yucca debate falls. Abraham traveled to Los Angeles last week and was still editing the recommendation and the supporting material he will give to Bush. Aides said it was ready for presentation, but Fleischer said Abraham did not give it to the president Tuesday. White House officials believe Yucca Mountain would pass Congress. But sources with Nevada's congressional delegation said each day that passes gives Reid, Ensign, Berkley and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., more time to win more votes. Today Berkley will send a "Dear Colleague" letter to House members about the transportation issue. Tomorrow she plans a follow up letter about the cost of the project, she said. Nevada lawmakers also are planning a Thursday press conference on Capitol Hill, possibly complete with a fake nuclear waste cask and truck bubbling with the help of dry ice, provided by an anti-Yucca activist group. The event is expected to be attended by the state's four lawmakers and citizens and environmental groups and possibly Democratic House leadership. The White House is mindful of the politics of the decision, one administration official said. A move to move ahead could endanger re-election prospects of Republican Guinn, although he has no serious Democratic rival now. Three House seats are at stake in Nevada, including one new one based on the 2000 Census. Fleischer said politics would play no part in Bush's decision. Abraham, who notified Nevada officials on Jan. 10 that he will recommend the site to the president, called it a "scientifically sound and suitable" place to bury the nation's used reactor fuel now kept at the power plants. The Energy Department's schedule calls for opening the site to waste shipments by 2010. That timetable could be overly optimistic, government and industry officials acknowledge. The Associated Press contributed to this story. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 48 A Bad Approach To Nuclear Waste (washingtonpost.com) By Arjun Makhijani Wednesday, February 13, 2002; Page A27 President Bush is due to make a decision soon of a kind that has never been made by any head of state. He will decide whether he agrees with the finding of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that Yucca Mountain in Nevada is a suitable site for a repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste. Most of this waste is spent fuel from nuclear power plants, now stored at dozens of power plant sites around the country, generally in huge, swimming-pool-like concrete tanks. More than 40,000 tons of it, containing hundreds of tons of plutonium -- the stuff from which nuclear weapons are made -- have accumulated so far. It will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. A great deal is at stake, including the integrity of today's decision-making for generations far into the future. There are immediate issues too. Spent fuel storage is the most vulnerable part of the nuclear power system today. Will declaring Yucca Mountain a suitable site advance the goal of securing spent fuel against terrorist attacks by consolidating it all at one site, as Secretary Abraham claimed? To eliminate security risks arising from on-site spent-fuel storage, it is essential to remove all the spent fuel from the pools and put it into some form of sub-surface storage, either on site or in a deep repository. In the long term (several decades) no reasonable substitute for a deep geologic repository exists. But the spent-fuel pools cannot be closed while their existing nuclear power plants are operating. Underwater storage for several years is essential, else the spent fuel will melt and release large amounts of radioactivity. In other words, to end the security vulnerability of spent-fuel pools, existing nuclear power plants must be phased out. That is just a difficult technical reality. It will take decades to do that, since these plants generate about 20 percent of the country's electricity. But it can be done in an orderly fashion. Whether or not new nuclear plants that don't have the vulnerabilities of existing plants can be built is an open question. But that doesn't solve the security problem at hand. Moreover, the Bush administration, like its predecessor, is encouraging re-licensing of existing power plants far beyond their current licenses. In this context, Abraham's claim is simply wrong. Yucca Mountain will not consolidate spent fuel at a single site. The administration's nuclear power policy ensures that dozens of sites will continue to operate with spent-fuel pools. Given re-licensing, Yucca Mountain, which is crisscrossed with geologic faults, may well run out of room before it can take the spent fuel from existing power plants, to say nothing of new ones. Then there's the hundred million gallons of high-level radioactive waste in the nuclear weapons complex, mostly stored in dangerous liquid form, some of it in tanks that have leaked. These tanks are near some of the most important water resources of the United States: the Columbia River and the Snake River Plain aquifer in the Northwest and the Savannah River in the Southeast. Although Abraham has stated that military high-level wastes would also be sent to Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department has already floated a trial balloon to the contrary. It is exploring the possibility of simply declaring much high-level waste to be low-level waste by fiat, mixing it with cement, and disposing of it on-site. Finally, Yucca Mountain is a poor site. Federal regulations have already been changed or set aside several times to accommodate it. The computer models that the Energy Department used to assess site suitability are riddled with uncertainties. The site's history carries the whiff of politics rather than sound science. By early 1986, the selection process, mandated by the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, included sites in New England, but it was abruptly abandoned in mid-1986. That happened just a couple of weeks after concerned New England residents went to see a top aide to then-Vice President George Bush, just as he was preparing to launch his presidential campaign. The next year Congress named Yucca Mountain as the only site to be investigated. It is possible to do a far better job, but the Energy Department seems incapable of it. It has essentially ignored an excellent 1983 study that it commissioned from the National Academy of Sciences. President Bush should declare both Yucca Mountain and the Energy Department unsuitable for the job and create a blue-ribbon commission to recommend a new program to him. That approach stands a far better chance of actually restoring some confidence in public science and leading to a sound geologic repository program, which is needed for both security and environmental reasons. The writer is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. A study he co-authored in 1992 on nuclear waste was partially funded by the state of Nevada. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 49 Waste got, want not: Lawmakers urge feds to relocate nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain Kansas Legislature | CJOnline.com | The Topeka Capital-Journal | 02/12/02 By Chris Grenz [cgrenz@cjonline.com] The Capital-Journal A file photo showed Wolf Creek nuclear power plant's spent fuel containment room, where depleted uranium is stored. The Senate Utilities Committee is working on a resolution that would urge Congress to approve construction of a disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DAVID EULITT/The Capital-Journal The federal government has dragged its feet long enough on a national repository for high level nuclear waste, and Kansas lawmakers should urge the feds to get moving, the president of Kansas' lone nuclear power plant told legislators on Monday. Otto Maynard is president and chief executive officer of Wolf Creek nuclear power plant, located about 60 miles south of Topeka near Burlington. At a Senate Utilities Committee hearing Monday, legislators were considering passing a resolution that would encourage the federal government to promptly approve, construct and begin operation of a federal nuclear waste dump. Maynard told lawmakers that the U.S. Department of Energy has been studying Yucca Mountain in Nevada for two decades at a cost of nearly $7 billion to determine whether the walls of the mountain safely could contain radioactive waste for thousands of years until it is no longer harmful. Kansas ratepayers already have spent about $170 million on the study of Yucca Mountain. Scientists have said the site would be safe, and the study has gone on long enough, Maynard said. The government already has reneged on promises to take possession of nuclear waste, forcing plants across the country -- including Wolf Creek -- to spend millions of dollars to expand on-site storage options, he said. "We've wasted a lot of time and money and (more delays are) going to end up making it even more expensive in the future," Maynard said after the hearing. "It's important that we move this forward." Spencer Abraham, U.S. secretary of energy, announced this past month that he would formally endorse Yucca Mountain as the waste repository site. Even if the site is approved, it would take about a decade of construction before it begins accepting waste. The House Utilities Committee earlier this month took no action after considering a similar resolution. Sen. Stan Clark, R-Oakley, chairman of the Senate Utilities Committee, acknowledged a resolution from the Legislature would carry no authority. But with a federal energy policy moving through Congress, committee members believed the timing was right to try to pressure the federal government. "Maybe this is the year to move forward and address some of these issues," he said. "Long term, America has to do something. I'm going to trust the experts saying that Yucca Mountain is the place to put it." Clark raised concerns, however, about the possibility of large quantities of nuclear waste passing through Kansas on its way to Nevada. The Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club, a national environmental advocacy group, opposed the resolution for that reason. "We know that the transporters of these wastes claim that the probability of an accident causing harm to anyone is very small," Charles Benjamin, Sierra Club lobbyist, said in written testimony. "However, given the toxicity of these kinds of materials, all it takes is one accident." Benjamin asked lawmakers to urge the federal government to pay for training and equipment for emergency personnel who would respond to an accident. Senate Utilities Committee members Sens. Mark Taddiken, R-Clifton, center, and Robert Tyson, R-Parker, right, listened Monday at the Statehouse to the testimony of Wolf Creek president and chief executive officer Otto Maynard, far left. CHRIS OCHSNER/The Capital-Journal The Nuclear Waste Project Office in Nevada has projected that nearly 3,000 cement casks containing tons of high level nuclear waste would pass through Kansas by rail and truck. Sen. Jim Barone, of Frontenac, is the ranking minority member of the Senate Utilities Committee. Although Barone believes storing waste at Yucca Mountain is the best option, he wanted to hear testimony from emergency management workers before he voted. Barone wanted to be reassured that emergency workers would be prepared to respond to an accidental spill during transportation of waste. "Typically we say silence is concurrence or silence is acquiescence," he said. "I think this could have too much potential ramifications for the state. I want people to stand up and be counted." Chris Grenz can be reached at (785) 296-3005 or cgrenz@cjonline.com. Here's where you get all of the really practical stuff: how to request a document, where to call, how to take a tour ... Click Here All contents © Copyright 2002 Morris Digital Works and The Topeka Capital-Journal. ***************************************************************** 50 Letter: Leave waste in its place for safety - Ron Bourgoin [http://www.nevadaappeal.com] Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has turned a repository into a national security issue. The American people aren't stupid. They know that you don't protect used uranium and plutonium by removing them from their present safe storage. Those who would argue that fresh nuclear fuel is being shipped all the time without incident, and, therefore, that spent fuel would also be shipped without incident aren't thinking clearly. Fresh fuel is shipped once a week to any one of over 100 nuclear reactors spread out all over this country. On the other hand, 6 to 7 canisters of spent fuel per day are due to go to one single location. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is an enormous security risk. If national security is really a chief concern, the very best guarantee that terrorists won't get their hands on this potential mass-destructing material is to leave it where it is. RON BOURGOIN Rocky Mount, N.C. ***************************************************************** 51 Letter: Only compensation for dump is ads - Celia S. Hecht http://www.nevadaappeal.com] Tuesday, February 12, 2002 The only compensation that the state of Nevada is likely to receive from the Yucca Mountain project is lining former Gov. Bob List's pockets to spread front page propaganda for the nuclear power industry all over the media. He is being paid to promote the nuclear power industry's interests not the people of the state of Nevada, or the American people's health, safety and protection. The state of New Mexico finally agreed to accept the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant nuclear waste dump based on financial promises from the Department of Energy. Here's what really happened: 1. No jobs - local residents were not hired. Out of 800 jobs created, 7580 percent were filled by out-of-state workers brought in by the contractor. 2. Unemployment went up since WIPP opened. 3. Local businesses moved away. New spinoff jobs and industries were not created as promised. 4. No money for roads- New Mexico had a court mandate to receive $57 million for highways and $20 million a year for 14 years. None of it has been paid to New Mexico. Property Values and Nuclear Waste Routes Disclosure laws require sellers to tell potential buyers the truth if their property is located on a potential nuclear waste transportation route. This means that even if nuclear waste isn't already passing our homes, our property values will more than likely decrease. Experience has shown that property values decline significantly along nuclear waste routes. In 1992, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld a jury decision (in Santa Fe vs. Kornis) to award John and Lemonia Komis $337,815 in damages for perceived loss, due to public fear of the dangers associated with nuclear waste transportation. Insurance Won't Cover Nuclear Accidents. Neither homeowners insurance nor health insurance covers problems caused by radiological accidents. Check your policy! It will explicitly state that you will not be covered if your damage or illness is caused by a nuclear accident. CELIA S. HECHT Carson City ***************************************************************** 52 Static electricity the likely cause of fire at uranium mine Radio Australia News - Static electricity is thought to be the most likely cause of a large fire at the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia's far north last October. Chris McLoughlin reports. "WMC Resources Ltd which owns the mine says it's investigation didn't reveal beyond any doubt how the fire began on October 21st. However, its says based on available evidence the likely cause was static electricity from a polythene pipe carrying a kerosene-like solvent. Strong winds spread the flames throughout the solvent extraction area, resulting in about 20 million dollars damage. It was the second large blaze in the area in less than a year. WMC Resources Limited says it's redesigned the solvent extraction plant taking into account any possible cause for a fire to ensure it doesn't happen again." 13/02/2002 21:06:32 | ABC Radio Australia News ***************************************************************** 53 NN reviews emergency plans HAMPTON ROADS, VIRGINIA February 13, 2002 10:51 PM By Fred Carroll Daily Press Published February 13, 2002 NEWPORT NEWS -- It could begin with a single 911 call. Perhaps a bunch of them. Newport News officials, though, probably won't know that the city has suffered a terrorist attack involving a weapon of mass destruction -- whether biological, chemical, nuclear, explosive or incendiary -- until firefighters and police officers arrive at the scene or until victims fill hospital rooms. Such a catastrophe might never occur here, but public-safety officials say they're ready if it does. They began revising a plan that outlines who does what during such emergencies soon after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. On Tuesday, the City Council reviewed the updated plan. "Nothing is foolproof," Councilman William Haskins said. "We just do the best we can." The plan broadly spells out which individuals and agencies should be notified of a possible terrorist attack and when they should be notified. It charts who's in command and how local, state and federal agencies will cooperate in rescue, investigative and rebuilding efforts. "We're as prepared as we can be at this moment," City Manager Ed Maroney said. "We're going to improve that." With the plan completed, city officials expect to contact officials at potential targets to better coordinate emergency responses. They also expect to simulate attacks for training and to promote emergency preparedness among residents. Police, fire and emergency-management officials have compiled a list of equipment and staffing needs totaling $6 million in one-time expenses and $2 million in annual costs. They say the items will better prepare them to respond to a terrorist attack. Maroney expects to review the request with the City Council this spring. Fred Carroll can be reached at 247-4756 or by e-mail at fcarroll@dailypress.com Copyright © 2002, Daily Press ***************************************************************** 54 Top Court Slaps Down 'Pasko Law' Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002. Page 1 By Nabi Abdullaev and Natalia Yefimova Staff Writers In what is being hailed as a major victory for human rights advocates, the military arm of the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to invalidate a secret Defense Ministry document used to prosecute such high-profile espionage suspects as environmentalist Alexander Nikitin and military journalist Grigory Pasko. The 1996 document, known as Order No. 55, gives a list of data that the Defense Ministry considers eligible to be classified as state secrets. But the Supreme Court's military collegium decided that the order is "void and cannot give rise to legal consequences" because it was not properly registered with the Justice Ministry and has never been made publicly available. Pasko's lawyers, who filed the complaint together with colleagues involved in a different treason case, were elated by the decision and predicted it could become an important deterrent against the wave of spy mania playing out in the country's courts. "The legal basis for the prosecution's case against Pasko has collapsed," lawyer Ivan Pavlov said in a telephone interview. "Without this order, the whole system of defending state secrets is paralyzed because it will be impossible to designate information as a state secret." Pasko was charged with treason in 1997 for giving Japanese journalists information about the dumping of nuclear materials by the Pacific Fleet. He was acquitted in 1999 and was charged with the lesser offense of abusing office. Last year, after his lawyers appealed the decision, Pasko was sentenced again on treason charges and is serving a four-year prison term in Vladivostok. Colonel Vladimir Milovanov, an aide to the country's top military prosecutor who was present at the trial, said he supported the complaint by Pasko's defense team because Order No. 55 did not conform with a federal law on state secrets. "The Defense Ministry violated the procedure for issuing the order: Specifically, this order was not registered with the Justice Ministry," Interfax quoted him as saying. Russia has a federal law on state secrets, but its categories of classified information are very general and it allows ministries and other federal agencies to make up their own lists of potentially secret data. Pavlov said Order No. 55 had been "a major mechanism" for implementing the law. The court's decision can be appealed within 10 days; if no appeal is submitted, the ruling will come into effect at the end of that time. The Defense Ministry's representative at the trial, Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Rusanov, was quoted by Interfax as saying he did not know whether his agency would appeal the ruling. Pavlov called the court's terms for bringing the ruling into force "a mistake," saying the order should be considered void from the moment of its issuance in August 1996. He said he would submit an appeal to make the court's ruling retroactive. The first blow to Order No. 55 came last fall when the Supreme Court upheld a complaint filed by Nikitin's legal team and annulled 10 of the document's 650 articles. The Defense Ministry challenged the decision but the appeal was rejected. Nikitin's lawyer Yury Shmidt was pleased with Tuesday's decision, viewing it as a continuation of the effort by him and his client. "Our mission was to trigger a domino effect and have everybody follow suit," Shmidt said by telephone from St. Petersburg. He added that he and Nikitin have filed a number of similar complaints to the Supreme Court, in part calling for a change in the law on state secrets that would strip federal agencies, including ministries, of the right to draw up their own lists of classified data. "We hope to introduce some order to the mechanism of classifying data as state secrets and to decrease the total volume of such data," Shmidt said. "Our activity is aimed at eliminating the restrictions on citizens' rights to obtain information and at reducing the legal possibilities for creating spies." Shmidt said the annulment of Order No. 55 could have significant ramifications for two jailed espionage suspects whose charges are largely based on the document -- Igor Sutyagin, a researcher with the USA and Canada Institute, and businessman Viktor Kalyadin. Kalyadin's lawyer, Lyudmila Trunova, filed the case against Order No. 55 together with Pasko's attorneys. Her client, the head of a Moscow-based company that traded in dual-purpose technologies, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars last October on charges of committing treason by revealing state secrets. Kalyadin, who maintains he is innocent, was convicted of trying to sell classified documentation on a tank defense system to a U.S. company. All of the alleged mediators in the deal, including a U.S. businessman, were either not charged or received nominal sentences, Trunova told reporters last week. She said Kalyadin's verdict was based on the conclusions of military experts who said the documentation in question fell under Order No. 55. Yelena Yevmenova, the lawyer for scientist Valentin Danilov, who is accused of divulging classified information about space satellites to a Chinese company, welcomed the decision, although she was skeptical it could help her client. The charges against Danilov are based on a secret order of the Education Ministry that, Yevmenova says, was also not registered by the Justice Ministry. In a telephone interview from Krasnoyarsk, Yevmenova said she plans to file a complaint within the next week asking the Supreme Court to annul the order and Tuesday's decision may raise the likelihood of a ruling in her favor. However, she feared that investigators would present new charges against her client, taking advantage of the vague wording in the law on state secrets. Law professor and former judge Sergei Pashin said the ruling was a "good decision." He said it was too early to say whether the ruling represented an isolated case of unbiased decision-making or a more systemic change in Russia's legal system, but he added that support for the decision from the military prosecutor's office could indicates a positive trend. http://www.themoscowtimes.com ***************************************************************** 55 Film warns of dangers of nuclear rivalry online.ie: entertainment news Reuters 13 Feb 2002 By Adam Tanner BERLIN (Reuters) - Of the 400 films playing during this year's Berlinale film festival, perhaps none is as topical as "Jang Aur Aman" (War and Peace), a polemical look at the dangerous nuclear weapons rivalry between India and Pakistan. The three-hour documentary highlights the absurdities of unbridled nationalism with footage from India, Pakistan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan as well as the United States. "My film is against all this kind of patriotic idiocy," filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, 51, said in an interview. "Not just Pakistan and India. America is very similiar, that is the point I am making in the film." "I was in America after September 11," he said. "Every house, every car had an American flag. This is juvenile, I think, in the 21st century." Patwardhan spent three and a half years travelling around with a small digital camera to make the film, typically staying with friends or supporters of the Indian peace movement. The film -- which first screens at the Berlinale on Wednesday -- is especially effective in showing the human face of villagers near nuclear test sites as well as the mix of pride and passion the tests ignited in the South Asian country. It also shows politicians shamelessly using militarism to solidify their own power base. NUKES OUT OF MIND India detonated its first nuclear device in 1974 but said it was for atomic research, not weapons. In 1998, it carried out five underground nuclear tests and announced plans to build a nuclear arsenal. Rival Pakistan conducted six tests of its own in response. Tension between the former British colonies, who have fought three wars since independence in 1947, surged in December after gunmen attacked the Indian parliament in New Delhi. Patwardhan said that many Indians do not want to discuss the dangers of their nuclear rivalry with Pakistan. "People do not want to deal with it because it is such a huge catastrophe," he said. "People pretend or even subconsiously keep it out of their minds because it is too huge to imagine." Americans also ignore the horrible reality of wars past and present, Patwardhan said. "The American public is given a sanitised version of the effects of its own war machinery is," he said. "America even today won't come to terms with the fact that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs weren't necessary." The passionate filmmaker attended an American university during the anti-Vietnam war movement and went on to make documentaries on religious tensions in India, poverty and other themes. He spends a lot of time seeking an audience for his work, and has fought court battles to get Indian television to broadcast them. "Even if I were to take my video projector and do screenings every day of my life I would still reach less than one percent of the Indian population," he said. "The only way to reach out and really make an impact both politically and socially is to get it on TV." If Patwardhan fails to get the message across, "War and Peace" carries an omimous conclusion. "If the mad race for armaments continues, it is bound to result in a struggle such as never happened in history," it says. ***************************************************************** 56 Ireland: Disaster minister says doomsday still on hold Irish Newspapers - FIVE months on, junior minister Joe Jacob admitted that his much-awaited advice to the nation in the event of a nuclear doomsday is still not ready. Last September, Mr Jacob became the object of much ridicule after a shambolic interview on RTE radio in which he admitted that there was no national plan to deal with a nuclear emergency. Speaking to Marian Finucane in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks in the US, Mr Jacob - who later became dubbed the Minister for Disasters - said that there was no need for "alarmistic" reactions. And he promised that his energy ministry would soon have a leaflet ready for distribution to every household advising people on what actions to take to mitigate disaster. Yesterday, as well as no leaflets, the hapless Mr Jacob was forced to admit to the Dail that distribution of anti-radioactive iodine tablets has not yet begun either. Mr Jacob said he could not give a date for the distribution of the information leaflet. But he promised the leaflets "will be distributed to every household". As for the iodine, he again promised that the health department "will have supplies of up-to-date tablets" for every household. The government is taking a very serious view of the whole area of emergency planning, he said. Geraldine Collins, Dail Correspondent © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 57 Brisk worldwide trade in raw materials for an atomic bomb HS Foreign 12.2.2002 - Attempts to smuggle radioactive material through Finland By Petteri Tuohinen The threat of a nuclear strike carried out by a terrorist organisation sounds rather remote, and ultimately it is. Although the situation on the surface looks calm enough, governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are nevertheless actively battling against nuclear terrorism. The member-states of the IAEA (which Finland joined in 1958) have in recent years reported hundreds of cases of illegal trafficking in nuclear materials. To take one example, last November Turkish police arrested two men in Istanbul who were in possession of 1.16 kilos of enriched uranium and tried to sell it - at a knock-down price - to undercover agents. The enriched uranium, believed to have come from one of the former Soviet republics, could have been used to make a nuclear device. According to the IAEA, since 1993 the Agency has had reports of 376 cases in which people have attempted to buy and sell radioactive sources or nuclear material. Of these, "only" 18 actually involved quantities of enriched uranium or plutonium suitable for making weapons. One of the largest seizures took place in Russia in 1998. Russian Federal Security Service officers intercepted around 18 kilos of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium from an "insider" criminal gang in the Urals, near the nuclear weapons plant at Chelyabinsk. The IAEA warns that this quantity alone would be close enough to fashion a single nuclear weapon. The authorities point out, however, that the usual quantities that are confiscated are very much less significant. For all that, the truth must be faced that the IAEA statistics are based only on reported cases, which implies that the amount of radioactive material on the illegal market is a great deal larger. We know from experience that police and customs drug hauls do not provide an accurate picture of the extent of the traffic in narcotics. They are merely the tip of the iceberg. Finland, too, has had experience of radioactive goods being smuggled across the eastern border. In the 1990s, the customs picked up each year 20-30 passengers who were trying to bring radioactive materials into the country illegally. In 2000, there were "only a handful" of such cases. According to the Finnish authorities, there has only been one documented case of someone trying to smuggle weapons-grade material into this country. At the beginning of the 1990s, frontier guards picked up a smuggler who was attempting to get californium through Finland and onto to some third party countries. Californium, a radioactive rare earth metal produced in very small quantities and used in nuclear reactors as a neutron source, could in principle be used as a triggering device for a nuclear weapon. The use of Finland as a transit route for shifting nuclear material from the East is not a particularly profitable or sensible exercise, since radioactive materials are monitored automatically at the borders. If the monitoring devices issue an alert of the presence of radioactive material, the frontier is closed immediately. An extensive terrorist operation such as the al-Quaeda network would have three alternative routes to get a nuclear device: building it, stealing it, or buying it. Building an atomic bomb would be an extraordinarily difficult exercise. In the first place it would require getting hold of plutonium or highly-enriched weapons-grade uranium-235. In order to put together a "crude" nuclear device, you would require around 8 kilos of plutonium, or alternatively 25 kilos of U-235. The high-tech nuclear nations, meanwhile, are capable of building much smaller weapons. Just to provide a comparison, Saddam Hussein spent around USD 10 billion on Iraq's nuclear programme in the decade leading up to the Gulf War. The project employed around 10,000 people and still only managed to generate 1.5 kilos of uranium. The IAEA states that uranium that contains the fissionable isotope U-235 in a concentration of no more than 20 percent (the threshold figure for "highly enriched") could feasibly be used in a weapon, even though the nuclear powers enrich their weapons-grade uranium way up to 90% and more. It has to be said that enriching uranium is not something that can be done under garage or garden shed conditions, but the material must be bought already highly enriched. A terrorist with a yen for making a nuclear statement would also have to hire a weapons expert to build a bomb. There are fears that some weapons experts from the former Soviet Union may have "defected" to the payrolls of so-called rogue nations to develop nuclear arms programmes. In order to stem this dangerous brain-drain, the ISTC or International Science and Technology Center was set up in Moscow in 1992. The Center is funded jointly by the United States, the EU, Japan and Russia, and is charged with providing weapons scientists from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with opportunities to redirect their talents towards peaceful research. It is now more than half a century since the first atomic bomb was built and detonated. The basic design principles for constructing an atomic bomb are available to practically anyone who wishes to try, and lack of scientific know-how is not seen as a significant threshold for the task. In addition to numerous Internet sites, there are books on the subject in the public domain, such as Robert Serber's Los Alamos Primer: First Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb. In the 1960s, an experiment was carried out in the United States. In a government project, three physics students with the ink barely dry on their graduation diplomas were given the task of building an atomic bomb based solely on information available in the public domain. Three man-years of research later, they had a viable design. And that was in the 1960s… All the same, for terrorists it would be more practical to buy or steal a weapon than to manufacture one. A few years ago the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin's national security adviser Gen. Alexander Lebed reported that dozens of "suitcase-sized" nuclear devices had gone missing in Russia. Lebed said that the 1-kiloton devices were around 60 cm x 40cm x 20 cm in size, and weighed around 30-45 kilos each. Later Lebed retracted his remarks about the missing suitcase-nukes. The then Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin called his allegations "'absolute stupidity". There is no categorical evidence either way on the question of whether Russia has or does not have such suitcase-bombs (the name is probably misleading in any case; a US Department of Defense spokesperson has commented that such tactical munitions are not flat and would require two people to carry them), and hence the idea of their having fallen into the hands of terrorist cells is pure conjecture. Some intelligence sources have stated that Osama bin Laden has been trying to get his hands on nuclear weapons since the early 1990s. There are claims, for instance, that bin Laden would have paid Chechen elements USD 30 million in cash and consignments of opium worth around USD 70 million in order to secure 20 suitcase-bombs. Osama bin Laden is known to have links with Chechen rebels, whose war against the Russians he helped to finance. In principle, the idea of such bombs is not pure science fiction, as the smallest nuclear warheads built have been only around 30 centimetres long. Then again, even if a terrorist grouping were to have a suitcase-sized bomb or two, the usability of these devices is somewhat uncertain, as nuclear weapons require an upgrade or "refurbishment" every five to ten years. If these devices were built during the Soviet era, then their condition would have had to be inspected on at least two occasions by now. Besides attempts to buy nuclear weapons, from time to time news stories have surfaced of attempted thefts. In one case, in October last year, the man in charge of Russia's military nuclear security Gen. Igor Volynkin reported that twice during that year terrorists had been caught spying on a Russian nuclear storage site, presumably with a view to liberating some of its contents. Tero Varjoranta, who heads up the Nuclear Waste and Materials Regulation Unit of STUK, Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, believes that Russia has begun to pay extra careful attention to the security around its nuclear weapons depots ever since the country's conventional armed forces have been run down and strategic and tactical nuclear forces have been given a more important role. "There has to be a further commitment to get this under control. It's a kind of new nuclear arms race, getting to the weapons-grade material and making it safe before the terrorists can get hold of it", says Varjoranta. In spite of the relative improbability of a bin Laden atomic weapon, the IAEA is concerned about the possibility of a nuclear strike from such a direction. "There are good reasons to be concerned", said Charles B. Curtis, President of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, as he summed up an IAEA Special Session on Combating Nuclear Terrorism held last November. He argued that with the attacks of September 11th and the dangers posed by biological agents "thresholds have been crossed, and we can now imagine our worst scenarios." The NTI is a privately-funded charitable organisation set up in January 2001 with a mission to reduce the risk of use and spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.2.2002 Links: NTI - Nuclear Threat Initiative A number of assorted nuclear weapons links on a Catholic resource site ISTC – The International Science and Technology Center IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency Bin Laden is looking for a nuclear weapon. How close has he come? The Guardian, 7.11.2001 PETTERI TUOHINEN / Helsingin Sanomat petteri.tuohinen@sanoma.fi ***************************************************************** 58 Supreme Court slaps down secret decree The Pasko Case Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. Major victory: (Oslo / Moscow:) The Russian defence ministry's secret decree 055 was declared illegal by a ruling in the Supreme Court's military collegium Tuesday. The decision is a major victory in the fight for Russian environmentalists' right to express concern on military related issues, such as handling of nuclear waste. Thomas Nilsen, 2002-02-13 14:42 Decree 055 issued by the Russian Defence Ministry in 1996, listed categories of data the ministry considers eligible to be classified as state secrets. But the decree had neither been published nor registered legal by the Ministry of Justice. The principal question for challenging the decree was simply based on the logic question: How can a person know if he or she is violating the law when the text of the decree never has been made public available? Decree 055 has been used by the Russian secret service, FSB, to prosecute environmentalists like Bellona employee Aleksandr Nikitin, and later Pacific fleet journalist Grigory Pasko. While Aleksandr Nikitin was acquitted for all charges when the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court put the final end to the case in September 2000, Grigory Pasko was sentenced to four years prison term in Vladivostok on December 25 last year. The verdict in the Pasko case was based on decree 055. It was Pasko's lawyers who filed the complaint on Decree 055 together with lawyers involved in a different treason case. Talking to Bellona web on phone from Moscow, Pasko's lawyer Ivan Pavlov says "The legal basis for the Pasko verdict has collapsed. Without this order (Decree 055), the whole system of defending state secrets is paralysed because it will be impossible to designate information (listed in Decree 055) as a state secret. Pasko's other lawyer, Anatoly Pyshkin told Echo Moskvy that even though the Pasko's sentence is based on a decree that is to be invalidated, that does not mean that Pasko will be discharged and acquitted automatically. The deputy chief military prosecutor of Russia, Colonel of Justice Vladimir Milovanov said that he had supported the request by Pasko's lawyers to invalidate the decree since it is outdated and contradicts the federal law 'On state secrets'. Milovanov told Gazeta.ru that the decree was not properly registered with the Ministry of Justice, as required by the law. Tuesday's Supreme courts ruling can be appealed within ten days. A spokesman of the Defense Ministry, Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Rusanov, was quoted by Interfax as saying he did not know whether the Defence Ministry would appeal the ruling. If not appealed, the ruling will come info effect at the end of the ten days period from now. But the words of the ruling can be misinterpreted, since the Supreme courts say it will only come into force from February this year. The decree was issued in 1996, and the illegal use of the decree should be considered void from the moment of its issuance in August 1996. Grigory Pasko first time charged with treason for violating the decree in 1997. Ivan Pavlov called Tuesday's Supreme Court decision on declaring the decree illegal from today's date "a slip of the pen". Pavlov says he would submit an appeal to make the court's ruling retroactive back to the date of the issuing of Decree 055. It is not the first time Decree 055 has been challenged in court. Last autumn, Aleksandr Nikitin's lawyers won a case in the Supreme Court where 10 of the listed articles in Decree 055 were anulled. The Defence Ministry appealed that decision, but the complains was rejected and the decision reached legal force on November 6, 2001. It is in this decision clearly stated that the 10 articles were anulled from the date of their issuing. Today, the military board of the judges of the Supreme Court will review a second claim filed by Grigory Pasko's defense team, asking the court to also invalidate the USSR Defense Ministry decree No. 010 from 1990. That decree contains a clause banning military personell from having contacts with people from other nations, unless such contacts are a part of their duties. Grigory Pasko had contact with a Japanes journalist before he was arrested in 1997. * Grigory Pasko was arrested on November 20, 1997. He was acquitted by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok of treason through espionage on July 20, 1999, but sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for misusing his position and released on a general amnesty. Both sides appealed the verdict. In November 2000 the Military Supreme Court cancelled the verdict, and sent the case back for a new trial at the Pacific Fleet Court. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001 and ended on December 25, with Pasko being convicted to four years of hard labour for treason and taken into custody. The verdict is appealed again by both the defence and the prosecution. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 59 Russia Court Annuls Military Decree Las Vegas SUN February 12, 2002 MOSCOW (AP) - A wing of the Supreme Court on Tuesday nullified a military decree used to jail journalist Grigory Pasko for treason, but the ruling did not overturn his conviction. In December, Pasko was sentenced to four years for treason by a military tribunal in Vladivostok. Pasko said the case was brought in retaliation for his reports on alleged environmental abuses by Russia's Pacific Fleet, including the dumping of radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan. Such information was proscribed from public disclosure by a 1966 order by the defense minister and was used to convict Pasko. The military collegium of the Supreme Court, ruling on Pasko's challenge of the constitutionality of the defense minister's order, struck it down as of Tuesday. Pasko's lawyer Ivan Pavlov said the journalists would file another appeal with the Supreme Court asking it to invalidate the Defense Ministry decree retroactively and overturn the conviction. In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists hailed the ruling, saying it "pulls the rug out from under the prosecution's case. "We hope the military collegium will overturn Pasko's treason conviction on appeal and set him free,' said Ann Cooper, the committee's executive director. An official at the Supreme Court's military branch refused comment on whether the tribunal would hear a further appeal from Pasko. The Defense Ministry has 10 days to appeal the ruling, but a ministry official would not comment on whether a challenge was planned. On Wednesday, the military collegium is to consider another decree used against Pasko that forbids servicemen and people who have access to government secrets from contact with foreigners except in work-related meetings. President Vladimir Putin has hinted that Pasko should apply for a pardon, but Pasko's lawyers said he would not because to do so would mean accepting guilt. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 60 So much loss, so little relief Buffalo News - The federal government says it wants to compensate people who got sick because they worked on nuclear weapons. But good intentions haven't gotten the job done. RONALD J. COLLERAN/Buffalo News "We hope for (compensation), but we don't pray for it. You don't pray for cash. You pray for health, and at least we've got that right now," said Cathy Pierowicz, whose late father worked with radioactive cobalt at Bethlehem Steel. She is shown with her mother, Emily Pielecha. By HOLLY AUER and JOHN F. BONFATTI News Staff Reporters 2/11/2002 Edward Pielecha's job at Bethlehem Steel Corp. put food on his family's table for almost four decades. It was good, reliable work that he was glad to have. But 15 years after Pielecha's death, his family suspects the job may have killed him. And while there is no dollar figure that can be placed on his life, the government is saying it may pay his family members $150,000 if they can show that he died from the effects of radiation to which he was exposed on the job. Pielecha's widow, Emily, recently filed a claim under a federal law designed to acknowledge the government's role in the illnesses and deaths of thousands of citizens while the United States established itself as the world's first nuclear superpower. The program is set up to pay $150,000, plus additional benefits for medical treatments, to people who developed radioactivity-induced cancer after working at sites that contracted with the federal government for nuclear weapons work during World War II and the Cold War. If the worker has died, his family may receive the award. Pielecha's only child, Cathy Pierowicz, remembers the soot-covered man who walked through the door of their home each night after a shift in front of the Lackawanna plant's coke ovens. Radioactive cobalt was used in steel production until the late 1950s, and Pielecha had constant contact with the compound as he tended coke ovens. Pierowicz recalls thinking, even as a child, that the noxious dust must have been seeping into his body. Pierowicz is sure her father understood the dangers of working in a steel plant - his brother died after suffering a head injury at the plant - but he never said a word. "He wasn't a complainer," Pierowicz said. "He always came home with a smile on his face." But how difficult will it be for the Pielechas, and thousands of other Western New Yorkers who believe they qualify for the compensation program, to actually get the money? Very difficult, it seems. The obstacles are huge: Hundreds of thousands of workers. Hundreds of facilities nationwide. Events that happened, in many cases, 50 years ago. As of mid-January, 1,093 area residents who toiled at now-shuttered factories such as Bliss &Laughlin in Buffalo, Simonds Saw and Steel in Lockport and Electro Metallurgical in Niagara Falls had filed a claim looking for that lump-sum payment, according to a federal officials. And now the federal government must reconstruct and/or retrieve records to show how much contact workers had with radioactive materials and demonstrate how credible that data is. Some who have closely followed the process have their doubts. "The key question for a lot of people, I think, is: Is the data bogus?" said Dan Guttman, former executive director of the President's Advisory Commission on Human Radiation Experiments. For many years, the federal government steadfastly denied that nuclear workers were in any jeopardy. Guttman and others wonder if the government can be trusted to do the right thing now that it has acknowledged its role in making workers sick. "A lot of people are saying, "Look, we now find out that the government didn't tell us or contractors didn't tell us what we were exposed to,' " said Guttman, a lawyer who is now a fellow in American studies at Johns Hopkins University. "Now they say, no problem, somebody is going to take data and tell us what we're exposed to," he said. "Why should we believe that their data is correct?" Five-page claim application For the Pielecha family, completing the Labor Department's five-page claim application last fall required correspondence to Bethlehem Steel's headquarters in Bethlehem, Pa., calls to the Social Security Administration and a search for medical records that were disposed of seven years after Pielecha's death. Now, from the West Seneca home where Piero- wicz, her husband and her mother live, the family waits for a decision. The promise of the money means more now that Bethlehem Steel has filed for bankruptcy. Emily Pielecha takes medication each day to control her thyroid disease and takes prescription painkillers frequently, when her osteoarthritis flares up. The drugs cost more than $100 a month, even with insurance coverage. Pielecha and other Buffalo-area families who filed an application with the program should begin receiving judgments by April or May, according to the program's deputy director, Roberta Mosier. If their application is denied, Pierowicz said, she and her mother will appeal the decision within the 60 days allotted by Labor Department guidelines. "We hope for it, but we don't pray for it," she said. "You don't pray for cash. You pray for health, and at least we've got that right now." 13 area companies involved The government says 13 area companies handled nuclear materials for either the Department of Energy or its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission. DOE spokesman Josh Silverman acknowledged that detailed information about the quantities of materials used - and how much radiation workers were exposed to - varies from site to site. "The DOE owns some records that will be very helpful for some of the facilities in the Buffalo area, in particular for Simonds Saw and Steel," said Silverman, a program analyst for the DOE's Office of Worker Advocacy. "We have better records for some facilities than we have for others." Some data spotty at best There are some records that will help those processing claims reconstruct the radiation dose a worker received. After the dose reconstruction, processors will use complicated computer models to determine the likelihood that radiation caused a claimant's cancer. "If (the likelihood) is 50 percent or greater, they're going to get an award," said Larry Elliott of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the branch of the federal Department of Health and Human Services in charge of dose reconstruction. Elliott said that for those workplaces where records of worker exposures are available, his office is confident it can re-create the dose those workers absorbed. But those who have followed the program say the records are spotty at best. Guttman said it has been documented that for some of the government-owned sites, "the data was lousy or even misrepresented." For at least four sites, the data was so dubious that a special category was created. For those four sites, the government acknowledged its data is too badly flawed to be valid, and all workers have to do was show they worked at the site, in an area where they were exposed and came down with one of the covered illnesses. In those cases, there would be no attempt at dose reconstruction. The claim would simply be accepted, and the victim, or his family, would receive compensation. "Once our process guidelines are out and people understand what they must do (to petition for special-category status), I anticipate we'll get a number of petitions," Elliott said. Those guidelines, as well as a number of others that will help determine who gets a settlement, are still being formulated. It's hoped they will be ready in April. In the meantime, Roberta Mosier of the Department of Labor urged those who have filed claims already to check with a toll-free hot line, (888) 859-7211, to find out about the status of their claim. And there's another complicated issue: "What happens if you were there and the facility was contaminated, even if they were no longer working for the government?" asked Richard Miller with the Government Accountability Project, a watchdog agency that supports whistle-blowers. Don Finch worked from 1974 to 1994 at Linde Air Products in the Town of Tonawanda, one of 13 Western New York plants identified by the government as part of the compensation program. Finch said he has watched many of his co-workers get sick with cancer, and some die. He doesn't believe those workers, or their families, will ever be compensated. "I call it a cruel hoax," he said. "It's just an all-around shame." The living are haunted The shadow of Western New York's nuclear facilities haunts the living, too - former workers who are still battling illnesses related to their work at the plants. Every day for 24 years, Charles Goodman treaded across the dirty cracks in the floor at Simonds Saw and Steel in Lockport. He, too, has filed for compensation, after fighting a string of illnesses that he says ruined his life. After doctors diagnosed him with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1981, Simonds Saw and Steel went bankrupt. In quick succession, Goodman lost his job, his car and his house, and his medical benefits were cut off in the middle of a round of chemotherapy. Later, doctors removed a cancerous kidney, and Goodman continues to battle other illnesses still today. The $150,000 won't make him whole again, but it might defuse some of the lingering hurt - and the nagging fear of the future. "I sure could use the money," he said. "I keep up with the bills, but just barely. I'd like a little something for my wife for after I'm gone." Last month, Goodman received a letter from the Labor Department asking for additional documentation of his renal failure. The letter asked for a response within 30 days; Goodman had the information ready to send out by the end of the weekend. But he's growing weary of the paper chase. "They took my kidney out. It had cancer," said the Albion resident. "What more proof could they possibly want?" e-mail: hauer@buffnews.com ***************************************************************** 61 Subcritical experiment set at NTS Las Vegas SUN Today: February 13, 2002 at 9:34:32 PST LAS VEGAS SUN Scientists from the United States and Great Britain will team up at the Nevada Test Site Thursday for a subcritical experiment, part of the National Nuclear Security Administration's mission to maintain America's nuclear weapons stockpile. The underground experiment -- Vito -- is scheduled noon Thursday. Subcritical experiments are designed to answer questions after a violent spray of atomic particles are ejected from a material's surface. The experiments do not produce a critical mass, and there is no nuclear explosion. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 62 India dismisses N-test claim CNN.com February 13, 2002 Musharraf has called for external mediation in Pakistan's dispute with India NEW DELHI, India -- New Delhi has dismissed as "totally baseless" suggestions by Pakistan that India may have carried out a fresh nuclear test. On a visit to Washington, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he has seen "indications" of a possible new nuclear test by India, but gave no time frame and said he had no proof. A Pakistani government official later said that Musharraf had received intelligence suggesting one might be "imminent." Musharraf made the comments while preparing for a Wednesday meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House. U.S. officials on Tuesday distanced themselves from the charge, and India on Wednesday strongly refuted Musharraf's claims. "We reject such allegations, which are completely baseless and false," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao told Reuters news agency. India has had a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear testing in place since underground explosions conducted in the summer of 1998. The two nuclear neighbors are locked in a confrontation after an attack on India's parliament in December, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists. Both India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since 1947, have developed a nuclear capability. U.S. help General Musharraf says he wants Washington to intervene in Pakistan's dispute with India over the disputed Himalyan state of Kashmir. But it seems unlikely the United States will agree to such a role. "We are not looking to mediate ... we are looking to assist, if both parties request our assistance," an official told reporters Tuesday. For its part, the U.S. would like to see continued Pakistani action against Islamic extremists who have been blamed for the parliament attack and for fomenting violence in the disputed border province of Kashmir. The U.S. would also like to see moves towards a restoration of democracy in Pakistan, Associated Press reports. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has pledged parliamentary elections in October. Ailing economy [Indian soldiers patrol north of Srinagar amid tightened security] Indian soldiers patrol north of Srinagar amid tightened security Wednesday's talks between Musharraf and Bush are also expected to cover the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and help for Pakistan's ailing economy. Musharraf has supported the war effort despite Pakistan's earlier support for the Taliban regime and fierce domestic opposition to the campaign. The U.S. was permitted to use Pakistani air bases, share intelligence and put troops near the Afghanistan border to catch fleeing al Qaeda and Taliban members. In response for this co-operation, Pakistan is seeking U.S. assistance in the form of billions of dollars of debt relief and other economic and military help for the impoverished nation. Musharraf is also likely to ask for the U.S. to open up its market to more Pakistan textile exports. Pakistan also wants a more formalized and less ad-hoc relationship with the U.S., particularly regarding defense issues. ***************************************************************** 63 Flats 881 poses a problem Rocky Mountain News: Local Experts ponder how to demolish building By Berny Morson, News Staff Writer Scientists at Rocky Flats experimented with uranium and plutonium during the Cold War as part of nuclear weapons design. Walls around the laboratory in Building 881 were built of steel-reinforced concrete -- 4 and even 5 feet thick -- just in case something got out of control. Now, workers are trying to figure out how to demolish a structure designed to withstand a nuclear catastrophe inside the lab. Building 881 is scheduled to begin coming down this year as part of the plan to close Rocky Flats by Dec. 15, 2006. "We won't get it down with just chipping on it for a long time," said Kurt Kehler of Kaiser-Hill Co., the firm hired by the Energy Department to clean up the defunct nuclear weapons plant. Kehler is manager for the part of Rocky Flats that includes Building 881. He led a tour Tuesday of hard-to-demolish buildings for officials from communities surrounding Rocky Flats. Included in the tour was Building 886. Designed to withstand a nuclear strike, it is built into a hillside, with sub-basements extending 25 feet below the lowest grade level. A report outlining alternatives for demolishing the buildings is expected this month from demolition expert Mark Loizeax of Baltimore. Kent Dorr of Kaiser-Hill said some methods that have been discussed for the building in the hillside include tearing out the interior walls, then pushing the outer walls into the hole. Explosives may or may not be used to fracture the concrete. The building where the experiments were conducted will probably require explosives, Kehler said. Rocky Flats officials have vowed not to use explosives unless all toxic contaminants have been scrapped from walls. In addition to plutonium, the buildings contain asbestos and berylium. But even with that guarantee, local officials are worried that explosives might raise a cloud of toxic dust. "I really have a problem with blowing anything up out here," said Westminster City Councilwoman Sam Dixion. Kaiser-Hill officials have said repeatedly that a quick explosion is safer for workers than using conventional demolition equipment, which can be hazardous. "They say it's a safety factor for the workers; I say it's a safety factor for everyone if you blow it up," Dixion said. February 13, 2002 2002 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 64 DOE faces questions on nuke cleanup United Press International: By Scott R. Burnell UPI Science News Published 2/12/2002 1:55 PM WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A Senate committee on Tuesday fired strong criticism at the Department of Energy's chief financial officer for the department's fiscal 2003 budget plans, particularly concerning cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee member Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., quietly reproached Bruce Carnes, DOE's chief financial officer, for what she termed the department's "creative accounting" in allocating funds for work at Hanford. The nuclear reservation there stores millions of gallons of radioactive waste in underground tanks, some of which have leaked, threatening the Columbia River, a primary water source for the state. "To fall behind in Hanford cleanup is not only a violation of (consent orders), it's unacceptable to the people of Washington and the Northwest," Cantwell said. "Nonetheless, the administration proposes a 20 percent cut of nearly $262 million in funding for Hanford cleanup." White House plans for replacing those funds seem to involve questionable accounting practices similar to those in the Enron scandal, Cantwell said, and could result in even sharper losses for the Hanford budget. She asked Carnes for assurances that the project would continue to move forward. Carnes denied any improprieties in the budgeting process, and said DOE can meet the requirements of the consent orders and other legal agreements. The department would return to Congress next year for additional funds if necessary, he said. "Hanford is an extremely high priority for us," Carnes said. "We feel we must do whatever we can to hasten the cleanup of these sites and achieve real reduction in risk. This means in some cases looking at (details of) various agreements." Cantwell stressed that the agreements already include explicit deadlines for improvements, so further negotiations in the matter would constitute breaking the agreement. Carnes couldn't give any assurances the agreements wouldn't be reviewed, but promised to work with state and local officials on the matter. At the same hearing, a senior Interior Department official said the Bureau of Indian Affairs would immediately start using operational funds to issue overdue checks for Indian trust fund recipients. The BIA is embroiled in a long-running legal battle over inefficient management of Indian trust funds. Interior Secretary Gale Norton was scheduled to discuss the budget with the committee, but instead had to prepare for a court appearance in the case, said Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles. The department understands the necessity for handing out trust fund payments promptly, Griles said, but has been stymied by a court-ordered shutdown of its fund management software. "Last night I sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators, informing them that we will take money from our appropriation side and begin to pay individual Indian accounts a percentage of the monies we know are in there," Griles said. "We can't continue to allow the individual Indians not to get money; they're going bankrupt and lacking important care." Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., committee chairman, asked if the letter amounted to a request to reprogram the department's current budget. Griles said no and added that the trust fund system should be restarted quickly enough to allow the operational budget to be reimbursed this year, he said. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the department must realize it's incapable of handling the trust funds and contract the job out to professional managers. The department is considering such action, but a change of that magnitude would require congressional action, Griles said. Griles also mentioned another bone of contention in the Interior Department's operations, the Klamath River Basin water-management crisis in California and Oregon. The department has been criticized for relying on endangered species laws for withholding river flows needed for irrigation. A recently released National Academy of Sciences study said the department's decisions lack any scientific basis. Secretary Norton has ordered the department to evaluate the study and report back to her on available options by the end of this week, Griles said. Copyright © 2002 United Press International ***************************************************************** 65 DOE Awards New Grant to Advance ECD Technologies in Russia Yahoo - Tuesday February 12, 1:29 pm Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (Nasdaq: ENER [http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ener&d=t] - news) announced today that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a new $750,000 cost-shared grant to Sovlux Battery, ECD's U.S.-Russian joint venture with the Chepetsky Mechanical Plant in Glazov, Russia and the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) for the further development of ECD's proprietary metal hydride technology to provide clean energy for the Russian market. The grant was awarded under the DOE's Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) program which provides funding to employ scientists and engineers, formerly engaged in the production of metal alloys for nuclear weapons, in the pre-production and qualification of materials for use in nickel metal hydride batteries for a wide range of applications, including hybrid electric vehicles and electric scooters. A variation of the materials may be used for hydrogen storage systems. The metal hydride materials being qualified enable Sovlux Battery to be an economically attractive supplier of materials to ECD's battery subsidiary, Ovonic Battery. Stanford R. Ovshinsky, ECD's president and chief executive officer, said, ``This award will help to convert Russia's previously large nuclear weapons industry to build new, needed industries for clean energy production. It will also contribute to U.S. economic growth, U.S.-Russian scientific collaboration, a safer and more sustainable energy future, and reduction of environmental pollution and greenhouse gases.'' ECD is the leader in the synthesis of new materials and the development of advanced production technology and innovative products. It has pioneered and developed enabling technologies leading to new products and production processes based on amorphous, disordered and related materials, with an emphasis on advanced information technologies and alternative energy, including photovoltaics, fuel cells, hydride batteries and hydride storage materials capable of storing hydrogen in the solid state for use as a feed stock for fuel cells or internal combustion engines or as an enhancement or replacement for any type of hydrocarbon fuel. ECD designs and builds manufacturing machinery that incorporates its proprietary production processes, maintains ongoing research and development programs to continually improve its products and develops new applications for its technologies. ECD holds the basic patents in its fields. ECD's web site address is http://www.ovonic.com [http://www.ovonic.com] . This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions which ECD, as of the date of this release, believes to be reasonable and appropriate. ECD cautions, however, that the actual facts and conditions that may exist in the future could vary materially from the assumed facts and conditions upon which such forward-looking statements are based. SOURCE: Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy ***************************************************************** 66 DOE ordered to answer pleas on Paducah plant - The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, February 13, 2002 By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 A federal judge in Benton, Ill., has ruled that a backlog of Freedom of Information requests is no excuse for the Department of Energy not to respond to two September 1999 requests by an area citizens group for information regarding the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert ruled Feb. 5 that DOE must respond by March 11 to one of two requests by Mark Donham and Kristi Hanson of Brookport, Ill., and their Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists (RACE). The deadline is for documents relating to the once-proposed Vortec radioactive waste incinerator project at the plant. A second request involves records of dismantled nuclear weapons shipments made during the Cold War between the Pantex facility in Amarillo, Texas, and Paducah for precious metals recovery and burial. Gilbert ordered the Energy Department to submit a proposed compliance schedule, supported by affidavits and other evidence. RACE will have a chance to respond to the schedule. On Aug. 8, 2000, the DOE Office of Hearings and Appeals dismissed Donham's appeal to the agency, saying it did not have the appropriate information to review. RACE filed suit Feb. 16, 2001, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The Energy Department responded that it has a backlog of more than 600 Freedom of Information requests, handled on a first-come, first-served basis. According to Gilbert's ruling, DOE said on April 25 that it would take four to six months to respond to the Vortec request, and as long as 18 months for the weapons information to reach final declassification review. DOE had no firm estimate of time to complete the weapons request. DOE provided partial response to the Vortec request Nov. 15 and said the rest would be done by the middle of this month. Gilbert denied the agency's request to postpone response indefinitely because of the backlog and to schedule a status conference within a year. He said the backlog was not an "exceptional circumstance" qualifying for the indefinite delay. ***************************************************************** 67 SRS cleanup question Augusta Georgia: Web posted Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham created quite a stir at the Savannah River Site and other nuclear-weapons facilities with his plan to accelerate the contamination cleanup program, now estimated to take seven decades at a cost of $300 billion. "A time line of 70 years means decades of treading water on environmental hazards that need to be eliminated, not just managed," Abraham said in his proposal. "It's not fair to tell people who live near these sites that if everything works right, then perhaps their grandchildren will live in communities that are risk free." No one who lives in the shadow of SRS would disagree with that, yet President Bush's 2003 Energy budget slashes SRS cleanup funds to $961 million - down 9.7 percent, or $103.3 million, from this year. Jobs would have to be cut to stay within the budget - an odd way to accelerate the cleanup. But then the Energy secretary cited an expedited $800 million his agency is putting into the environmental cleanup pot for "sites that agree to work with us to meet those (accelerated) goals." By that he means "reviewing remaining risks on a case-by-case basis" with state and local regulatory authorities to determine "appropriate remediation schedules and approaches." Is this for real, or is it bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo? No one's sure, not even U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who represents the district that includes SRS. It doesn't look like the $800 million is new money for N-waste cleanup, but rather that Abraham is just shuffling funds to arrive at new "appropriate remediation schedules" with states and localities. So-called nuclear watchdog groups, such as the Washington-based Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, often go overboard in their ideologically-driven opposition to anything nuclear, but ANA may have a point when it cautions that DOE's idea of accelerating the cleanup may mean talking state and local officials into accepting lower cleanup standards - and using the "expedited" $800 million to help bring them around. Of course, cleanup goals can be reached much sooner if standards are reduced. If that's what the agency is up to, then the relevant authorities must not be lured into accepting the thinly veiled bribe. On the other hand, Abraham's proposal shouldn't be cynically dismissed either. There's a long way to go between the president's budget proposals and Congress' dispositions of them. For now, Abraham deserves the benefit of the doubt. 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 68 DOE Announces Management Changes for Environmental Management Program energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: February 13, 2002 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As part of its Environmental Management Program review, the Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that 40 percent of the 70 Senior Executives in the Environmental Management (EM) program are being reassigned in order to strengthen, streamline, and delayer the leadership of the program. This action also reduces the number of Senior Executives in EM headquarters by approximately 30 percent. "The purpose of these reassignments is to better leverage the unique talents of these executives, force better integration between the field and headquarters of the real, on-the-ground challenges confronting the program, and to stimulate new thinking and creative solutions to our cleanup challenges," Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Jessie Roberson said. These changes are consistent with recommendations from the recently released top-to-bottom review of the Environmental Management program. Cross-rotational assignments will be used with greater frequency across senior levels of the organization to ensure that executives have both field and headquarters expertise. A total of 27 senior staff are involved in the first round of executive reassignments. Reassignments include moves from headquarters to the field, field to headquarters, moves between field offices, and positional moves in headquarters. The 30 percent reduction in headquarters executives is being achieved by executives leaving the Senior Executive Service, reassignment into Senior Advisor positions, and moves to other field or headquarters organizations. "Executive reassignments will continue in order to better develop the program's leadership cadre and to keep a fresh and dynamic perspective about solving the EM challenges," Assistant Secretary Roberson said. Some of the reassignments announced today include: + Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, James Owendoff, will become the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology. + The current Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology, Gerald Boyd, will move to the Oak Ridge Operations Office in Tennessee to fill the recently vacated position of Assistant Manager for Environmental Management. + Two of EM's site managers -- Dr. Harry Boston, currently at the Office of River Protection in Washington, and Dr. Susan Brechbill, Ohio Field Office -- will relocate to EM headquarters. Also moving to headquarters is Robert Roselli, Deputy Manager for the Richland Operations Office in Washington. + Roy Schepens, currently at Savannah River Site in South Carolina, will replace Dr. Boston as the Office of River Protection Site Manager. + A new position -- to be filled by William Murphie from headquarters -- is being created to manage the Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Ky. sites. + Kim Chaney and Robert Goldsmith are being reassigned from headquarters to the Rocky Flats Field Office in Colorado as the Deputy Manager and Assistant Manager for Safety Programs respectively. + Marvin Garcia, also from headquarters, will become the Assistant Manager for Business and Logistics for the Savannah River Operations Office in South Carolina. + Sandra Johnson will move from the Office of River Protection to headquarters as the Director of the Office of Safety, Health and Security. + Mark Frei, currently the acting Field Manager for the Idaho Operations Office will be returning to headquarters in the near future as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Site Closure. + Dr. Theresa Fryberger, from EM headquarters, will move into DOE's Office of Science as the Division Director for Research and Environmental Remediation. + David Huizenga is moving from EM's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Integration and Disposition to DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration. + Thad Konopnicki, also from EM headquarters, is moving to DOE's Office of Engineering and Construction Management. + Replacements for the Idaho Operations Office and the Ohio Field Office manager positions will be selected through the competitive process. Media Contact: Dolline Hatchett, 202/586-5806 Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. PR-02-025 ***************************************************************** 69 Massoud Simnad; worldwide expert on nuclear energy SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- By Jack Williams UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 12, 2002 Services are scheduled Sunday for Massoud Simnad, an internationally recognized expert on nuclear energy who taught until December at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Simnad, 81, died in his sleep Dec. 15 in Charlottesville, Va., where he had moved late last year from La Jolla. He was scheduled to resume teaching in the spring semester at UCSD, where he had been an adjunct professor since 1981 in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Services will begin at 3 p.m. at the UCSD Faculty Club, to be followed by a reception on the terrace. Dr. Simnad, a native of Iran, became a U.S. citizen after accepting a guest fellowship in 1949 at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In 1956, he moved to La Jolla to be a senior technical adviser on materials and fuels for nuclear energy and fusion research at General Atomics. During more than 50 years as an educator, Dr. Simnad wrote three books, published more than 135 scientific articles and was issued more than 15 patents, including two involving nuclear fuel. He also lectured worldwide and was an authority on the application of materials in the aerospace industry. In April 1977, he helped organize the first international conference on the transfer of nuclear energy in Shiraz, Iran. He returned to his native land in December 1999 for the Congress of Non-Renewable Energy Sources in Tehran, marking the first time since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that the United States had sent a scientific delegation to the country. In 1994, he had helped the Federation of American Scientists arrange a meeting in Vienna with the Atomic Energy Commission of Iran. Dr. Simnad was instrumental in setting up nuclear reactors for General Atomics and took an interest in converting nuclear reactors from military to civilian use, said his nephew, Ali Gheissari, an associate professor in religious studies at the University of San Diego. "He was very high-spirited," Gheissari said. "Very much loved by his colleagues and students. He enjoyed sharing interesting life stories from his early days." Dr. Simnad grew up in Istanbul, where he learned English. At 15, his family sent him to London, where he studied mining engineering at London University's Imperial College of Science and Technology. He received a doctorate in materials science at Cambridge University. A standout athlete, he was captain of the judo team, earned a black belt in the discipline and competed in rowing. From 1950 to 1956, he served on the faculty at Carnegie-Mellon. After joining General Atomics, he took a sabbatical in 1962 to teach materials science and nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He turned down the offer of a full professorship at MIT to return to La Jolla, where his wife, Lenora, was involved in neurology and virology research at the Salk Institute. Dr. Simnad was honored in 1993 with the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Materials Science and Technology Division of the American Nuclear Society. The award, the highest conferred by the organization, was based on Dr. Simnad's contributions to materials science and technology for nuclear energy. In 1995, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honors in his specialty. Survivors include his wife, Lenora Brown-Simnad; a daughter, Virginia Simnad-Ashlin of Charlottesville, Va.; a son, Jeffrey of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and a sister, Fardin Simnad of Boston. Donations are suggested to the Massoud Simnad Scholarship Fund, UC San Diego Foundation, in care of Adam Di Profio, Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering Department, Mail Code 0411, UCSD. Jack Williams: (619) 542-4587; jack.williams@uniontrib.com © Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************