*****************************************************************
07/16/02 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 10.181
*****************************************************************
   RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
*****************************************************************

                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 US: TVA: Breeder site not suitable for large industry
2 US: DOE: INEEL to play key role in new Commercial nuclear programs
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
3 US: New questions raised on Davis-Besse's safety 
4 US: A sharper eye on Davis-Besse
5 US: NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETINGS REGARDING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL
6 US: Seabrook sale could cut electric rates 
7 US: NRC Announces the Availability of License Renewal Application fo
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
8 US: Core concerns With the threat of terrorism, Universities' Nuclea
9 US: White House releases Homeland Security strategy 
10 US: Two held in alleged extortion of Arizona nuclear plant
11 Uranium link to Gulf War Syndrome studied
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
12 Nuclear Fuels Report £2.3bn Losses                 
13 US: State tries to join federal suit on radioactive waste
14 Record loss for BNFL Nuclear power accounts for about a quarter of t
15 Zheleznogorsk and Neighbouring Cities Fail to Find Common Language
16 US: Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Reid shines in setback
17 US: Columnist Benjamin Grove: Can Reid-Ensign bond survive beyond Yu
18 US: Columnist Jon Ralston: The day the final screw turned
19 US: Residents can chat with mayor
20 US: U.S. Energy Secretary Says Skull Valley N-Plan a Waste
21 Nuclear waste ship slips past Greenpeace
22 US: U.S. Senate screws Nevada as the public yawns
23 Unicoi Residents Protest Proposed Uranium Enrichment Plant
24 US: Letters: Nevada repository isn't answer for nuclear waste
25 US: Nuclear Waste Site Managers Seek "Keep Out" Tactics Good for 10,
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
26 Russia: He's been appointed spy
27 CIA: Iraq a nuclear danger          
28 AU: Downer worried by Iraq nuclear arms report
29 US: Archaeologists Explore Cold War Nuclear Test Site
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
30 Hanford worries prompt state to join lawsuit 
31 Craig: INEEL to play role in nuclear energy system development 	 	
32 Strengths, weaknesses exist in Y-12 screening process 
33 Dick Smyser: Oak Ridge 'temporary' as recently as 1972? 'Squirrely' 
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
 1 TVA: Breeder site not suitable for large industry
 
The Oak Ridger Online 
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
by R. Cathey Daniels 
Oak Ridger staff 

The Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project site might not be as 
attractive for large-scale industrial development as once 
believed.
 
An engineering study has pared the 1,200-acre site to about 110 
to 120 acres of property that is economically feasible for 
industrial use.
 
"The property might be developed for different uses, yes," said 
TVA engineer Tom Hill in response to an Industrial Development 
Board member query on developing the steeper slopes on the site. 
"But economically for industrial use, it (grading slopes of 
greater than 20 percent) is impractical. If you develop it, you 
can't sell it."
 
The expense from grading could drive costs as high as $60 million 
($250,000 per acre) in site preparation alone for 250 acres of 
large-scale industrial development. Mid-range development, 
dividing the property into 50- to 75-acre lots, would cost about 
$15 million ($100,000 per acre), according to the TVA engineers.
 
Dividing the property into smaller parcels is feasible on about 
113 acres and would cost about $806,000, or approximately $7,200 
per acre, according to the report.
 
City Council member Ray Evans said that the study may indicate 
that current land-use plans would need to be revised in regard to 
the city's interest in gaining more land for industrial 
development.
 
A land-use focus group has been meeting periodically since August 
at the Department of Energy's behest due to a lawsuit that was 
planned by the Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation, the 
Tennessee Conservation League and the Southern Environmental Law 
Center. The organizations were trying to persuade DOE to refrain 
from making individual land-use decisions without completing a 
comprehensive environmental study on the impact of those 
decisions on the 34,242-acre Oak Ridge Reservation.
 
"This might be an opportunity to jointly pursue some other 
opportunities," Evans said during a presentation of the study to 
a joint meeting of the Industrial Development Board and the City 
Council's Economic Development Committee held at 4 p.m. Monday at 
the Central Services Complex, 100 Woodbury Lane.
 
"All of us have been talking about a 1,200-acre industrial park, 
and planning our needs around that, when in fact we might have 
less than 10 percent of that available," said Evans. "We may need 
to rethink some of those strategies." 

Doug Janney, chairman of the Industrial Development Board, said 
this morning: "It's additional land, not under Department of 
Energy ownership, and it certainly is of interest. But it's a bit 
unfortunate that the property is not suitable for large 
industrial development."
 
Janney noted that both the Roane County Industrial Park and 
Horizon Center at the west end of Oak Ridge have parcels 
available now for smaller-scale industrial development, and that 
both are further ahead than the TVA land in terms of 
infrastructure.
 
Evans reported on the issue to City Council at its regular 
meeting Monday night.
 
"We might explore the possibility that the city, the IDB and the 
Roane County Industrial Board approach TVA with some plan to do 
something with the property," said Evans.
 
In other news the Industrial Development Board agreed to send a 
letter to Powell River Laboratories asking the ammunitions 
company to pay about $6,000 in back rent owed to the city, and to 
close on the sale of the property leased by the board to the 
company within 30 days or to vacate the premises.
 
Principal stockholder Harold Beal appeared before the board and 
said that his company intends to either secure financing to 
continue operations or vacate the property. The company has been 
attempting to secure financing from area banks and lending 
institutions to automate its manufacturing process.
 
"You couldn't ask for a better place to work than in Oak Ridge," 
said Beal. "But the basic problem here is there's no banking that 
can help starting businesses."
 
The board has a prospect interested in purchasing the building 
space, and that prospect will be invited to the August meeting.
 
Also, Janney reported that the speculative building project in 
Horizon Center is moving forward, with the Community Reuse 
Organization of East Tennessee providing geo-technical services 
needed to complete a grant application to help with interest 
payments.
 
That survey showed rock elevations to be well below the surface, 
said Janney, which he noted is good news for the industrial site 
and for the grant application.
 
Janney said that CROET and a developer are completing acquisition 
agreements for the spec building property, and that those 
agreements depend on the successful transfer of the land from DOE 
to CROET. That transfer is expected by summer's end, but could be 
held up due to concerns about the environmentally sensitive 
portion of the park.
 
The developer has requested anonymity, according to Janney.

All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger
*****************************************************************
 2 DOE: INEEL to play key role in new Commercial nuclear programs

energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release
    	 
RELEASE DATE: July 15, 2002     

Secretary Abraham Announces New Nuclear Energy Mission for Idaho 
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory INEEL To Serve 
As Nation's Premier Nuclear Technology Center; Abraham Announces 
$5 Million In Additional Funds To Jump-Start INEEL's New Mission 
Objectives      

Idaho Falls, Idaho - In a speech to employees at the Department 
of Energy's (DOE) Idaho National Engineering and Environmental 
Laboratory (INEEL), Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced 
today a major mission realignment for the lab, establishing the 
site as the Nation's leading center of nuclear energy research 
and development. Abraham announced that INEEL would receive an 
additional $5 million in funding to "jump-start" the transition 
of the site from Environmental Management to the Office of 
Nuclear Energy. 

The laboratory, which has been managed by the department's 
environmental management program, will now be reassigned to the 
Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, where it will 
become a major contributor to initiatives such as Generation IV 
nuclear energy systems and advanced, proliferation-resistant fuel 
cycle technology. 

"INEEL will be the epicenter of our efforts to expand nuclear 
energy as a reliable, affordable and clean energy source for our 
Nation's energy future," said Secretary Abraham. "While 
environmental cleanup remains a priority for us at Idaho, the 
importance of advanced, safe nuclear energy for the future 
demands that we return the Idaho labs to their core mission of 
nuclear technology research, development and demonstration. This 
realignment is an important first step to rebuilding our advanced 
nuclear research capabilities and we look forward to working with 
Governor Kempthorne, Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, and the 
entire Idaho congressional delegation on the transition to a long 
term nuclear energy mission." 

Secretary Abraham directed the heads of DOE's nuclear energy and 
environmental management programs -- Bill Magwood and Jessie 
Roberson -- to form a joint transition team, comprised of senior 
officials from headquarters program offices and the Idaho 
Operations Office. This team will begin work through the end of 
the current fiscal year to develop a transition plan that will 
effect this change on the earliest possible schedule. During the 
transition, DOE's Acting Manager for Idaho Operations, Warren 
Bergholz, and the transition team will work in close consultation 
with the congressional delegation, state and local officials and 
other stakeholders on the new nuclear R mission for DOE's INEEL 
operations. 

For more than 50 years, INEEL and Argonne National 
Laboratory-West have led the development and demonstration of 
nuclear technology and have designed, constructed and operated 
more than 50 reactors at the site. The Idaho labs maintain 
world-class expertise and highly specialized and unique 
facilities and equipment that cannot be economically replicated 
and are critical to developing new, advanced nuclear energy 
systems. Specifically, the Idaho labs will provide key support to 
the expanding international Generation IV initiative; Nuclear 
Power 2010; and investigation of advanced fuel cycle and 
transmutation technologies. (More information regarding DOE's 
Generation IV and Nuclear Power 2010 initiatives can be found at 
www.energy.gov [http://www.energy.gov] ) 

Among the facilities needed to respond to our current and 
anticipated needs are: the Idaho Nuclear Technology and 
Engineering Center and Advanced Test Reactor at INEEL; and the 
Fuel Conditioning Facility, the Zero Power Physics Reactor, and 
the Transient Reactor Test Facility at Argonne-West. 

Secretary Abraham announced a near term investment of $5 million 
over the next year to jump-start INEEL's new mission profile. The 
Secretary also directed the head of DOE's nuclear energy program, 
Bill Magwood, to launch a 90-day review of the U.S. nuclear 
energy infrastructure that will identify the facilities and 
capabilities needed at Idaho to support the administration's 
goals of expanding nuclear energy in the U.S. The department will 
work with DOE's independent advisory committee, the Nuclear 
Energy Research Advisory Committee (NERAC) to conduct this 
review. 

Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Hope Williams, 
202/586-5806 Release No. PR-02-144 

*****************************************************************
 3 New questions raised on Davis-Besse's safety 

07/16/02
 John Mangels and John Funk 
Plain Dealer reporters 

A watchdog group is raising serious new concerns about the 
Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, including the possibility that 
bacteria are boring through the steel barrier that shields the 
reactor from the outside world. 
	
The Union of Concerned Scientists also questions whether the 
radiation monitors inside Davis-Besse and many other plants may 
fail when they are needed most, during an accident. 

[http://ads1.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story
/n/nnmed/@StoryAd?x] 
	
The organization, well regarded by the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, is worried that neither Davis-Besse's operators nor 
the NRC itself is identifying and correcting such problems while 
the crippled reactor is undergoing extensive repairs. 

"There is pitifully little information being released that 
suggests, let alone demonstrates, that the company is backing its 
words with actions," David Lochbaum, nuclear safety engineer for 
the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a letter yesterday to 
the federal regulators who are overseeing Davis-Besse. 

The scientists' group has a long history of measured, 
scientifically based critiques of the nuclear power industry. 

Lochbaum is a 17-year veteran of nuclear plants and is considered 
an authority on safety matters. 

The NRC is taking a much more passive role at Davis-Besse than 
the commission has in investigations of accidents and near-misses 
at other plants, Lochbaum said. 

This is why his organization and 14 others want an independent 
review before the government allows the plant to restart. 

The NRC has been concentrating on FirstEnergy's plan to replace 
the reactor's damaged lid, a process that has never before been 
attempted in this country. It also is investigating how the 
damage could have gone undetected. NRC officials "haven't gotten 
down to some of the other issues," Lochbaum said. Also, 
FirstEnergy has been less forthcoming with the NRC than have 
other nuclear operators in similar situations, he said. 

The NRC is studying Lochbaum's concerns and an independent review 
but had no comment yesterday. "Obviously we'll take a look and 
respond," said spokesman Jan Strasma. Some of the 14 safety 
questions that Lochbaum raised may be discussed today, when the 
Davis-Besse oversight panel meets in Oak Harbor, near the plant, 
23 miles east of Toledo. 

The NRC began investigating the plant in early March, after 
FirstEnergy workers performing a repair on the reactor's lid 
accidentally discovered that boric acid in the reactor's coolant 
had leaked through cracks and eaten a hole the size of a bread 
loaf all the way through the 6½-inch-thick metal. 

Only a thin sheet of stainless steel kept the radioactive coolant 
from spewing out of the reactor and into the containment 
building, in what could have been a major accident. 

The containment building's last and biggest barrier to keep 
radiation from escaping the plant is a nearly 300-foot-tall steel 
"can," or liner. One of Lochbaum's concerns is the condition of 
that liner; specifically whether tiny organisms in soil and 
groundwater might be devouring the 1½-inch-thick steel from the 
outside, in an area that's difficult to inspect. 

Davis-Besse two years ago reported to the NRC that water had 
seeped through the waterproof membrane that surrounds the 
foundation of the 2½-foot-thick concrete containment building, 
passed through pores in the concrete wall and puddled in small 
areas next to the steel liner. 

At the time of the inspection, the visible portion of the liner 
did not appear to have been damaged, the company's report said. 
The parts of the liner embedded in concrete couldn't be examined, 
but conditions there were less likely to allow corrosion, the 
inspectors reasoned. 

FirstEnergy didn't propose doing anything about the leak, and the 
NRC didn't seek any action, Lochbaum said. At the time of the 
inspection, the company discounted the possibility that the 
groundwater leaking into the containment building might contain 
types of bacteria known to have caused damage at other plants. 
However, the NRC warned of such a scenario as long ago as 1985, 
in one of several advisories it issued to nuclear plants about 
"microbiologically induced corrosion." Bacteria capable of boring 
into construction materials have been found in everything from 
soil and water to oil, the NRC notice said. 

FirstEnergy workers "deluded themselves that untreated 
groundwater at Davis-Besse, unlike untreated groundwater 
elsewhere on the planet, cannot contain harmful micro-organisms," 
Lochbaum wrote yesterday. 

That same lack of caution led the company to allow leaking boric 
acid to remain on the reactor's lid for years, in the belief that 
it would never corrode through the metal, he said. 

FirstEnergy last week ordered tests of the water found at the 
leak sites for the presence of bacteria, spokesman Todd Schneider 
said. The results will not be known for several weeks. The 
company, at the suggestion of NRC officials, plans to test the 
entire containment liner for leaks later this summer. 

The other major concern that has emerged from Davis-Besse's 
near-miss is the vulnerability of radiation monitors inside the 
reactor building. The continuously operated monitors are supposed 
to give reactor operators information about the level of 
radiation - a powerful indicator of possible reactor leakage. 

In the event of an accident, the monitor readings help operators 
determine the condition of the reactor core and help company and 
safety officials make decisions about evacuation. 

The monitors at Davis-Besse repeatedly malfunctioned during the 
last four years because their air filters were choked with 
airborne rust from the corroding reactor lid. Workers had known 
of the problem since 1999 but were unable to pinpoint its source. 

Lochbaum's worry is that if such a small leak was capable of 
disabling the monitors, a major rupture of reactor piping and the 
resultant haze of steam and debris would quickly have the same 
effect, depriving operators of information during conditions that 
could lead to a meltdown. 

Radiation monitors at other nuclear plants are similar to those 
at Davis-Besse, and thus would be susceptible to the same 
problem, Lochbaum said. The NRC apparently has not considered 
such a possibility, he said. 

FirstEnergy will examine the ramifications of monitor-clogging if 
the NRC decides Lochbaum's questions merit action, Schneider 
said. Davis-Besse has other ways of monitoring radiation around 
the reactor that would not be affected by airborne debris, he 
said. 

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: 

jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 

© 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. 

© 2002 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 4 A sharper eye on Davis-Besse

More From The Plain Dealer
Editorials
07/16/02
                 
No one likes delays, but if you're sitting a few miles away from 
Davis-Besse, the turned-off nuclear reactor with the hole in the 
top, you probably don't mind waiting for a few tests before it's 
turned on again. 
	
Davis-Besse was shut down in March after a boric acid leak 
devoured a hole in the lid of the reactor. So, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission has brought some much needed caution to 
FirstEnergy Corp.'s plan to get Davis-Besse working again by the 
end of the year. It nudged the company to conduct more thorough 
testing to make sure no radioactive leaks will develop after a 
replacement lid is put on the reactor. Before the reactor can be 
turned on again, FirstEnergy must carve a huge hole in the 
300-foot-tall containment vessel that surrounds the reactor, 
remove its old lid and replace it with another. 

[http://ads1.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story
/o/oxedi/@StoryAd?x] 
	
If an accident occurs, that soaring containment vessel is the 
only barrier protecting Toledo-area suburbs. 

FirstEnergy originally had planned to do a leak test that focused 
on the edges of the 20-by-20-foot hole the repair crew must make 
to get the lid into the containment vessel. But the NRC 
recommended more stringent testing that checks the entire 
container vessel for air leaks. Davis-Besse can be restarted only 
if no leaks appear. 

It is good to see the NRC erring on the side of caution and 
public safety. Arguably, it did neither when it allowed 
Davis-Besse to delay its inspection until February, even though 
its staff engineers wanted to shut down the reactor because they 
suspected cracks had formed in nozzles around the reactor lid. 
They were right, and the nozzles were leaking acid that damaged 
the lid. 

The NRC inspector general is investigating that puzzling 
decision. 

Meanwhile, more stringent testing of Davis-Besse is a sign that 
the NRC is subjecting the plant to a level of scrutiny it has 
long needed. 

© 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. © 2002 
cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 5 NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETINGS REGARDING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL
 IMPACT STATEMENT FOR PEACH BOTTOM LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION

July 15, 2002   

NRC NEWS  No. I-02-047 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office 
of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, 
Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov

CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 
337-5331     E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov]  
 
  Members of the public will have an opportunity on Wednesday, 
July 31, to comment on a draft report that assesses the 
environmental impact of extending the operating licenses for the 
Peach Bottom nuclear power plant. Exelon Corporation has 
submitted an application to renew the licenses of the 
twin-reactor facility near Delta, Pa., for an additional 20-year 
period. The NRC will hold two meetings on July 31 to accept 
comments, with one session scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and 
another at 7 p.m. Both meetings, which are scheduled to last up 
to three hours each, will take place at the Peach Bottom Inn, 
6085 Delta Road in Delta.
 
In addition, NRC staff will be available for an hour prior to the 
start of each meeting for informal discussions of the report.
 
Interested parties may pre-register to attend or present oral 
comments at the meetings by contacting Duke Wheeler of the NRC at 
1-800-368-5642, ext. 1444, or by sending an e-mail to 
Peach_Bottom_EIS@nrc.gov [Peach_Bottom_EIS@nrc.gov] , no later 
than July 24. Members of the public may also register 15 minutes 
before each session to provide oral comments. Individual comment 
time may be limited by the time available, depending on the 
number of persons who register. Written comments on the draft 
report will also be considered by the NRC staff. Comments can be 
submitted by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, 
Division of Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6 D59, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. The 
public comment period ends on September 17, 2002.
 
Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a 
commercial nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The 
license can be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC 
requirements are met. The current operating license for Peach 
Bottom Unit 2 is due to expire on August 8, 2013, while the 
current operating license for Peach Bottom Unit 3 is scheduled to 
expire on July 2, 2014. (Peach Bottom Unit 1 has been permanently 
shut down since 1974.)
 
Exelon submitted a license renewal application for the Peach 
Bottom reactors in July 2001. As part of its application, the 
company submitted an environmental impact report. The NRC staff 
reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff 
also considered comments made during the environmental scoping 
process, including those offered at public meetings held last 
November in Delta. Based on its review, the NRC staff has 
preliminarily recommended that the Commission determine that the 
adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Peach Bottom 
Units 2 and 3 are not so great that preserving the option of 
license renewal for energy planning decision-makers would be 
unreasonable.
 
When issued in its final form (scheduled for February 2003), the 
statement will be a Peach Bottom-specific supplement to the 
"Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License 
Renewal of Nuclear Plants," (NUREG-1437).
 
The draft report can be viewed electronically via the NRC's web 
site, at: 
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement10/.
Copies of the report can also be reviewed at the NRC Public 
Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 
Pike, Rockville, Md., 1-800-397-4209, and at the following 
libraries: + Harford County Public Library, Whiteford Branch, 
2407 Whiteford Road, Whiteford, Md. 21160. + Collinsville 
Community Library, 2632 Delta Road, Brogue, Pa. 17309. + 
Quarryville Library, 357 Buck Road, Quarryville, Pa. 17566.
*****************************************************************
 6 Seabrook sale could cut electric rates 
                                       
PSNH lawyer predicts savings of 6 to 7% 

Tuesday, July 16, 2002
By HARRY R. WEBER
 [http://wire.ap.org] 
 
        A Florida utility told New Hampshire regulators yesterday 
that its plan to buy a majority stake in the Seabrook nuclear 
power plant would lead to lower electric rates.

        Florida Power & Light hopes to buy an 88 percent stake in 
Seabrook for $837 million. The deal, announced in April, is 
expected to be completed by the end of the year.

        A lawyer for Public Service of New Hampshire, which built 
the plant, said the sale would bring customers a 6 to 7 percent 
rate reduction by 2005.

        But an environmental group objected to the proposed sale.

        The Aziscohos Lake Preservation Committee based in 
Walpole said Florida Power & Light has a poor environmental 
record in Maine, where it owns dozens of hydroelectric stations 
and power plants.

        Alan Johnson, co-chairman of the group, which is named 
after a lake in western Maine, accused Florida Power & Light of 
destroying wetlands and failing to preserve water quality in that 
state. He also questioned the high price.

        "I own a business and I become suspicious when someone 
offers to pay me more than something is worth," Johnson told the 
three-member state Public Utilities Commission. "I become 
suspicious when someone promises one thing and then does 
another."

        New Hampshire officials have said the amount offered for 
the plant is $300 million to $400 million more than expected. Art 
Stall, senior vice president of FPL's nuclear division, said FPL 
would benefit from gaining a nuclear energy foothold in the 
Northeast.

        "It's a big plant, it's new and it is in excellent 
condition," Stall said. "You're looking at a plant that can run 
into 2049. When we looked at it and did the math, it was a 
win-win situation."

        Stall also defended his company's environmental record 
and said it has won awards for its service.

        The hearing was to continue for several days. Regulators 
in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts must approve the 
sale.

        The 1,161-megawatt plant began operating in 1990.

        Florida Power & Light, Florida's largest electric 
utility, serves 3.9 million households in 34 Florida counties.

        Its parent company, FPL Group of Juno Beach, Fla., owns 
power plants in 15 states, including Maine, Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island. In 1999, it bought 31 hydroelectric stations, three 
oil-fired plants and one wood-burning plant from Central Maine 
Power Co.

        FPL Group has about 11,000 employees and owns four other 
nuclear plants, all in Florida.

        The Seabrook shares being sold are owned by 
Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities, Public Service's parent 
company; United Illuminating Co. of New Haven, Conn.; Granite 
State Electric's parent company, British-based National Grid 
Group; NSTAR of Boston; BayCorp Holdings of Eliot, Maine; and the 
New Hampshire Electric Cooperative in Plymouth.

        Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., Taunton 
(Mass.) Municipal Lighting Plant, and the Hudson (Mass.) Light 
and Power Department are keeping their shares, FPL said.
 

   [http://www.cmonitor.com/cgi-bin/traps/mbb.cgi]   
    
©  [http://www.concordmonitor.com] and New Hampshire Patriot P.O. 
Box 1177, Concord NH 03302 603-224-5301 
*****************************************************************
 7 NRC Announces the Availability of License Renewal Application for 
H.B. Robinson Nuclear Plant, Unit 2
 
  NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 82 - 

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001     E-mail:  
[opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov   
  
  No. 02-082     July 15, 2002   
  
  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is announcing the 
availability of an application for a 20-year renewal of the 
operating license of the H.B. Robinson nuclear power plant, Unit 
2. Carolina Power & Light Co. submitted the application on June 
17. The plant is located in Hartsville, South Carolina. The 
current operating license for the facility expires on July 31, 
2010. Unit 1 is a fossil fuel plant.
 
A copy of the application will be available on the NRC web site 
at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications.html.
 
The application also is available through the NRC's Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). Help in using 
ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room 
staff at 301/415-4737 or 1/800/397-4209, or by sending a message 
to  [pdr@nrc.gov] via e-mail.
 
In addition, a copy of the license renewal application is 
available at the Hartsville Memorial Library, in Hartsville, S.C.
 
The NRC staff is currently conducting an initial review of the 
application to determine whether it contains enough information 
for the required formal review. If the application has sufficient 
information, the NRC will formally "docket," or file, the 
application and will announce an opportunity to request a 
hearing.
   


*****************************************************************
 8 Core concerns With the threat of terrorism, Universities' Nuclear 
Research Reactors come under scrutiny
                        
Mark Clayton 
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor 
	   	 
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – It's a sultry day on the gritty industrial 
fringe of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, and 
as pedestrians stroll by, none of them even bother to glance at a 
dome that looks like a city water tank. 

It's not. But if the public mistakes a nuclear reactor for a 
water tank, that's fine with John Bernard, director of the MIT 
Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. Less attention is better. He knows, 
however, that neither he nor federal authorities can assume a 
terrorist is so inattentive.            

So Dr. Bernard, a beefy man with close-cropped hair, has studied 
a theoretical airliner crash into the MIT containment dome, a 
feat that would require great flying skills, given that the 
structure is only a few stories tall. An engine might get through 
the shell, the study showed.
 
Bernard has also examined a hypothetical truck-bomb explosion. 
"The truck-bomb scenario is more likely, more realistic," he 
says. "But honestly, with two feet of steel-reinforced concrete, 
even that isn't going to bother us."
 
Perhaps so. But after years of being virtually ignored as a 
security threat because of their relatively small amounts of 
nuclear fuel, the nation's 26 university research reactors – and 
hundreds of other research reactors worldwide – are being 
fingered by nuclear security experts as prime terrorist targets.
 
The result is a real educational dilemma for universities with 
nuclear-engineering programs: Can campus reactors be outfitted 
with enough security to thwart terrorists and still make economic 
sense? With such heavy guarding, can colleges avoid creating the 
impression that they're on the verge of war?
 
"Nobody wants to talk about university research reactors," says 
George Bunn, an architect of arms control and a nuclear 
consultant to the Center for International Security and 
Cooperation at Stanford University. "But they're a big problem 
because, typically, research reactors are much closer to city 
populations. The one at the University of Wisconsin is in the 
middle of Madison. The one at MIT is on a city street."
 
Big nuclear power plants like the one at Three Mile Island in 
Middletown, Pa., were the focal point after Sept. 11 because of 
their large quantities of nuclear fuel. Now – because of doubts 
about the preparedness of campus police forces, the bomb-grade 
nuclear fuel in some of the reactors, and the reactors' proximity 
to large populations – US campus nuclear programs are under a 
magnifying lens.
 
Theft and sabotage are the critical threats. Theft of highly 
enriched weapons-grade uranium (HEU) fuel, like that used at MIT 
and five other US research reactors, could enable terrorists to 
build a nuclear weapon, says a new report by Dr. Bunn. Another 
recent report, by Harvard University's Project on Managing the 
Atom, says the 300 or so HEU-fueled research reactors in the US 
and worldwide "remain dangerously insecure."
 
Commercial US power reactors and most research reactors in the US 
do not use bomb-grade uranium. Low-enriched uranium (LEU) is the 
fuel of choice.
 
Yet since Sept. 11, some experts say that terrorists might try to 
use conventional explosives to blow up an LEU reactor in a city 
or on campus, creating a "dirty bomb" that spreads radioactivity 
and panic. Spent fuel could be stolen for the same purpose.
 
Proximity to people
 
Unlike the one at MIT, most university reactors in the US do not 
even have a protective containment dome. Many are housed in 
ordinary lab buildings. But it is their proximity to masses of 
people that is the big concern.
 
Giant commercial power reactors like the notorious Three Mile 
Island plant are by law isolated from people by an uninhabited 
exclusion zone. That zone greatly lessens the threat from 
radioactive release, because the intensity of radiation 
diminishes dramatically each mile from the source.
 
Most university research reactors, however, are located on or 
near heavily populated campuses or in urban centers. The MIT 
reactor sits in Cambridge, Mass., one of the most heavily 
populated areas in the country, with about 15,000 people per 
square mile.
 
"Research reactors pose a safety threat because they are not as 
closely regulated as nuclear power plants," says the US 
Department of Energy's 2003 congressional budget request. "If 
attacked with a conventional explosive, some could have a 
radiological release equivalent to Chernobyl."
 
This latter vulnerability was driven home last month by the 
arrest of Jose Padilla, who authorities say was conspiring to 
create a dirty bomb with materials acquired from "university 
facilities."
 
Edwin Lyman is president of the Nuclear Control Institute in 
Washington, one of a small cadre of watchdog groups that have 
argued for years that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
needs to boost security requirements for campus reactors.
 
"The vulnerability of research reactors to sabotage is a very 
sensitive issue," Mr. Lyman says. "It's so sensitive to the NRC 
that almost no public information about their internal analysis 
has been revealed. Many of these university reactors are poorly 
secured and they're in the middle of highly populated areas."
 
Efforts to boost security
 
NRC spokesman Victor Dricks denies that "nonpower" reactors – a 
category that includes university research reactors – are weak on 
security. But he adds that improvements are being made.
 
"We are looking at other steps that could be taken to strengthen 
security at the nonpower reactors," Mr. Dricks says. "These 
reactors, by and large, have very small quantities of radioactive 
materials on site, and the danger they pose is markedly lower 
than large commercial power reactors – and the security is 
commensurate with the risk."
 
Lyman says commercial nuclear plants are required to have 
security forces trained in armed response to repel small numbers 
of armed attackers – three, to be precise. "Research reactors 
don't have even that requirement. They're not required to be 
protected against sabotage," he says.
 
That may change. Like their commercial brethren, university 
reactor operators were advised last month by the NRC to further 
tighten security. The MIT reactor reported publicly that it had 
hired an armed guard to be on site 24 hours a day. And campus 
police and Cambridge police are on the alert. But some wonder if 
that is enough.
 
"From the beginning, university reactors were thought of as 
innocent," part of the Atoms for Peace program, Bunn says. "If 
you look at current NRC rules, the focus is still all on 
[commercial] power reactors."
 
Not so, says Marvin Mendonca, the NRC's project manager for 
nonpower reactors.
 
"We have issued advisories and licenses that have enhanced and 
heightened their security posture above and beyond normal," he 
says. "We believe they have an adequate level of security."
 
Security experts also agree that US research reactors are 
somewhat less of a target than they used to be. Since the 
mid-1980s, the NRC has required US research reactors – and others 
overseas that use US-supplied nuclear fuel – to convert to LEU 
fuel, which cannot easily be used to make a nuclear bomb. Eight 
US research reactors, however, including MIT's, still use HEU 
fuel.
 
Regardless of the type of fuel, their main vulnerability is 
sabotage or theft, Lyman and others say.
 
In the 1980s, Daniel Hirsch had his students at the University of 
California, Los Angeles, track a shipment of spent fuel from the 
campus reactor back to its source. At one point, the drivers left 
the truck full of radioactive spent fuel unattended for hours in 
a parking lot.
 
"I hope things have gotten better, but I'm not optimistic," says 
Mr. Hirsch, now executive director of the Committee to Bridge the 
Gap, a nuclear watchdog group in Los Angeles."When you put this 
stuff in the hands of university people who are not used to heavy 
security, or even trucking companies, it's a bit like the 
Keystone Cops."
 
Dwindling ranks of nuclear engineers
 
Such security concerns, combined with a public-funding crunch in 
higher education, have arrived at a bad time for 
nuclear-engineering schools. Some nuclear reactors are on the 
brink of being shut down. It's also bad for the nuclear-power 
industry – which has not had an order for a new power plant in 
decades – and for nuclear-weapons maintenance and nuclear-waste 
disposal projects, all of which require well-trained people.
 
"We risk losing a critical mass of knowledge," says Ralph Butler, 
interim director and chief operating officer of the University of 
Missouri research reactor program in Columbia. "There are so few 
new folks coming in that university administrators, with the 
declining economy, have just been eliminating programs."
 
Undergraduate and master's degree enrollments nationally slumped 
3 percent a year from 1980 to 1992, and have fallen 15 percent 
annually since then, according to Kenneth Roberts, a former 
commissioner of the NRC.
 
Some universities began shuttering their reactors and closing 
nuclear engineering departments in the late 1960s. The number of 
such reactors has fallen from more than 60 two decades ago to 26 
today. Cornell University and the University of Michigan are 
still officially on the NRC's list, but are in the process of 
pulling the plug on their research reactors. Even MIT is weighing 
that step.
 
Most observers agree that the decline has been caused by a lack 
of student demand and the cost of running the reactors. At MIT, 
the nation's largest program, there are about 100 graduate 
students and 20 undergraduates.
 
Inside a reactor's control room
 
At MIT, William Kennedy, a fifth-year student who is certified by 
the NRC to operate the reactor, monitors gauges and switches, 
making sure the reaction in the room above is running smoothly. 
Safety features on the reactor are supposed to shut it off 
automatically if problems arise.
 
"There's a shortage of engineers in the nuclear industry," he 
says. "So I'm not too worried about finding a job when I 
graduate. It's a great career and I'm excited about it."
 
But there are too few like Mr. Kennedy. Working alongside him is 
Andrew Baughns, another senior. A mathematics major, he too is 
licensed by the NRC, but for him this is just a well-paying 
campus job, not a career.
 
"The campus in general is laid back, but here we're pretty 
security conscious – and this building is pretty secure against 
truck bombs," he says. "It's not easy to get our fuel. They'd all 
die in the process and not accomplish anything."
 
Rising security concerns add to cost – and cost is a factor in 
whether reactors like this one live or die, observers say. The 
MIT reactor gets hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for its 
own operations from grants and from fees for irradiating 
materials for medicinal and other purposes. So do the University 
of Missouri reactor and others. Still, MIT spent $840,000 on the 
reactor last year, says Dr. Bernard, the program's director.
 
On the plus side, MIT's reactor is one of only a few university 
reactors to have a containment dome. But protection against 
terrorism is still an issue.
 
Some information about the reactor, including its location and 
proximity to major streets and a rail line, is easily observable 
and available on the Internet, if not widely known by the public.
 
Since last year, MIT has removed from the Internet some detailed 
floor plans and diagrams of the reactor building.
 
The level of concern about MIT as a potential target varies. "The 
MIT nuclear reactor does not pose any terrorist threat," city 
fire officials reported at a Cambridge round table on security 
issues last October. "It contains some low-level radioactive 
material in neither the quantity nor quality to be used as a 
weapon."
 
Even though it is the nation's second most powerful university 
research reactor, MIT's has only about 1/600 the power of a 
commercial reactor. The water that cools its gauzy blue 
radioactive core is only as hot as a dishwasher's. Such factors 
have put many people at ease.
 
But others say that if terrorists stole fuel from the reactor, 
they might have enough to make a nuclear weapon.
 
A Hiroshima-type bomb, the simplest construction, would require 
at least 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of the kind of fuel that MIT 
uses – bomb-grade highly enriched uranium (U-235). A published 
report says as little as 12 kilograms may be needed for a 
different design. And some say a bomb could be made with even 
less.
 
At least 9 kilograms, nearly 20 pounds, of U-235 are inside the 
MIT reactor at any one time – a fact posted on the International 
Atomic Energy Agency website.
 
Fresh fuel is not stockpiled on site, Bernard says.
 
But spent fuel, which accumulates on site, retains most of its 
lethal bomb-grade qualities, although it is so radioactive that 
it would be difficult for a terrorist to transport. "We try to 
keep our spent [fuel] and fresh fuel at zero, so even if someone 
got in, there would be nothing to steal." Bernard says.
 
Despite the threat of truck bombs, budget battles, and the 
struggle to sell enough nuclear medicine to stay in business, 
Bernard soldiers on. "I think we can survive this. I hope we can. 
If we can't, then terrorists have succeeded in destroying 
something very important."
 
German reactor raises concerns
 
A new German research reactor that is fueled with highly enriched 
uranium is raising questions among those concerned about nuclear 
proliferation.
 
The German government is poised to grant an operating license to 
an HEU-fueled FRMM-II research reactor at the Technical 
University of Munich. The reactor would use about 40 kilograms 
(88 pounds) of HEU each year, supplied by Russia, says Alexander 
Glaser, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. It would establish a large supply chain vulnerable to 
theft, and set a "horrible precedent," he says.
 
Highly enriched uranium is the perfect fuel for research 
reactors. And the same scientific specifications make it ideal 
for building a simple atom bomb like the one that destroyed 
Hiroshima.
 
For terrorists, a key issue is acquiring enough HEU to build a 
bomb. Recent reports warn that time is running out to gather this 
material, located in 345 civilian reactors in more than 58 
countries.
 
Most HEU is controlled by national armed forces. But about 20 
tons is in civilian hands, fueling reactors, medicine, and 
industry. (Ten to 20 kilograms is needed to build an atomic 
bomb.)
 
Around 1986, the United States began to gather up HEU and promote 
the conversion of research reactors to low-enriched uranium 
(LEU), which can't be easily used in a bomb.
 
Alan Kuperman, a policy analyst with the Nuclear Control 
Institute in Washington, says the US program, called the Reduced 
Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors, is "one of the unsung 
heroes" of nuclear nonproliferation efforts. It is run by the 
Department of Energy for about $5 million annually.
 
A few years later, the International Atomic Energy Agency got on 
board. At least 34 of 71 reactors in 19 countries were converted, 
says Mr. Glaser. Yet that work is being threatened. "If Germany 
operates a new reactor with HEU fuel, South Africa refuses to 
convert its reactor to available LEU fuel.... [A] resurgence of 
HEU commerce could soon follow," Kuperman wrote in a January 
report.
 
Part of the problem, he and Glaser say, is that the Germans are 
able to justify using the HEU by charging that the US is dragging 
its feet on converting six university reactors "in process" (see 
list below) and pointing to research reactors at MIT and at the 
University of Missouri at Columbia that have no plans to convert.
 
The director of the MIT reactor, John Bernard, says he is happy 
to oversee a conversion to LEU fuel once a blend usable in the 
reactor is available. "We'll be doing that as soon as possible," 
he says.
 
• E-mail  [claytonm@csps.com] 

Fuel status of university research reactors in the US
 
University reactors use two basic kinds of fuel: HEU 
(weapons-grade highly enriched uranium) and LEU (non-bomb-grade 
low-enriched uranium). Some have converted from HEU to LEU.
 
Uses HEU fuel – because suitable low-enriched uranium (LEU) is 
unavailable: Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of 
Missouri, Columbia
 
Uses HEU fuel – conversion in process from HEU to LEU: Oregon 
State University Purdue University Texas A&M University 
University of Florida University of Wisconsin Washington State 
University
 
Uses LEU fuel – conversion complete: Ohio State University 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute University of Massachusetts, 
Lowell University of Michigan (being shut down) University of 
Missouri, Rolla Worcester Polytechnic Institute
 
Always has been an LEU reactor: Cornell University (being shut 
down) Idaho State University Kansas State University North 
Carolina State University Pennsylvania State University Reed 
College University of Arizona University of California, Irvine 
University of Maryland University of New Mexico University of 
Texas, Austin University of Utah
 
Source: US Department of Energy RERTR program
     
  Copyright © 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
*****************************************************************
 9 White House releases Homeland Security strategy 

 The Oak Ridger Online -- State News --

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

by Curt Anderson 
Associated Press 

WASHINGTON -- The White House is stepping up the offensive for 
President Bush's version of a Homeland Security Department, 
sending a cadre of Cabinet secretaries to lobby Congress and 
unveiling a broad new strategy for confronting terrorism within 
U.S. borders.

 The Select House Committee on Homeland Security was to hear 
today from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, 
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Transportation Secretary 
Norman Mineta and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

 The panel will assemble legislation to create the new Homeland 
Security agency out of recommendations made by other House 
committees, many of which conflict with Bush's own proposals. The 
administration is urging lawmakers to stick with Bush's 
blueprint.

 "This is a national strategy, not a federal strategy," Bush 
wrote in a letter to the nation released Monday. The plan, he 
said, is the product of eight months of consultation with 
thousands of people, including politicians, civil servants, and 
victims and their families.

 "The U.S. government has no more important mission than 
protecting the homeland from future terrorist attacks," Bush 
said. "Yet the country has never had a comprehensive and shared 
vision of how best to achieve this goal."

 Tom Ridge, Bush's homeland security chief, today called the 
White House strategy document "a roadmap designed to take 
advantage of the universe of assets we have in this country, in 
order to protect ourselves and our country."

 Asked if he were interested in becoming secretary of the new 
Department of Homeland Security, Ridge demurred, telling NBC's 
"Today" show "there are expectations that the president has of me 
right now," to guide anti-terrorism strategy from the White 
House.

 The 100-page homeland security strategy, previewed Monday by 
White House aides, was being released formally by the president. 
Many lawmakers, especially Democrats, had criticized Bush for 
proposing a new department before a strategy for dealing with 
domestic terrorism was completed.

 The strategy, the first of its kind in U.S. history, says its 
goals are to prevent terrorism, reduce vulnerability to attacks 
and minimize damage from any that do occur. It leaves little 
doubt that groups such as al-Qaida are all but certain to strike 
again.

 "Our society presents an almost infinite array of potential 
targets that can be attacked through a variety of methods," a 
summary of the strategy says. "We must be prepared to adapt as 
our enemies in the war on terrorism alter their means of attack."

 The White House document recommends numerous changes in state 
and federal laws and outlines dozens of long-range initiatives to 
improve homeland security.

 For example, the strategy suggests that states adopt similar 
laws for getting a driver's license to guard against ease of 
access by terrorists and that states make terrorism insurance 
more readily available to businesses and property owners.

 On the federal level, it says extradition agreements with other 
nations should be expanded, that the federal government should 
get greater authority to call out the National Guard and that the 
president should have greater power to transfer money 
appropriated by Congress to deal with terrorist threats inside 
U.S. borders.

 In addition to the new Cabinet-level agency, the strategy 
recommends several key initiatives, such as securing 
international shipping containers, augmenting vaccine stockpiles, 
enhancing the FBI's analytical capabilities, improving 
cooperation among different levels of federal, state and local 
governments and upgrading computer security.

 Ridge urged lawmakers to revisit numerous changes made to Bush's 
plan for a new department. They include keeping the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency independent to deal with natural 
disasters and retaining the Coast Guard in the Transportation 
Department amid concern that a move would reduce emphasis on such 
duties as marine search-and-rescue and maintaining fisheries.

 Ridge also took issue with a decision by the House 
Appropriations Committee to reject Bush's proposal to permit the 
new department's secretary to transfer up to 5 percent of each 
year's budget within programs without consulting Congress. Ridge 
said that power would help negate predicted transition costs of 
$3 billion and is critical to permit quick response to emerging 
or unforeseen terrorist threats.

 Lawmakers jealously guard their constitutional power of the 
purse, however. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, the panel's 
chairman, said it was unlikely Congress would grant Bush's 
request for broad transfer authority.

[http://www.oakridger.com/dailydouble] 

All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger 
*****************************************************************
 10 Two held in alleged extortion of Arizona nuclear plant
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
Today: July 16, 2002 at 0:30:29 PDT 
 
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) - Two men accused of trying to extort 
$92,000 from an Arizona nuclear plant for return of $3 million 
worth of reactor cooling system parts are scheduled to appear in 
court Tuesday. 

Kevin Mitlo, 20, of Azusa and Tony Mitchell, 31, of Duarte were 
arrested and booked for investigation of extortion, grand theft 
and conspiracy. They are being held in a San Bernardino County 
jail on $2 million bail each. 

Authorities said both men were trying to determine the cost of 
repair to the reactor cooling system parts and billed the Palo 
Verde plant for work claimed to have been done. The plant, 
located 55 miles west of Phoenix in Wintersburg, supplies power 
to 4 million customers in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and 
California. 

Jim McDonald, spokesman for Arizona Public Service, which 
operates the plant, wouldn't discuss specifics of the case. 

"It's a legal matter under investigation. And since that's the 
case, we can't talk about it," he said. 

The FBI arrived Monday to investigate and the U.S. Attorney 
General may take over the case, sheriff's Detective Steve 
Brownell said. 

The men were arrested and the parts were recovered at Three 
Sisters Truck Stop in Fontana, where they had arranged a meeting 
with representatives of the plant. 

Power plant officials had filed a complaint Thursday with the 
Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff's Department alleging that a 
Fontana company, All Machines Specialists, failed to return parts 
that were sent to the company under a contract. 

Maricopa County contacted San Bernardino County, which began an 
investigation. Brownell said each of Palo Verde's nuclear 
reactors has two enormous water pumps for cooling, and their 
parts routinely require refurbishing by contract companies. 

The parts sent to the Fontana men were substantial - 45,000 
pounds and requiring a 45-long flatbed trailer for hauling, the 
detective said. 

The men misrepresented All Machines Specialists as being a large 
company with resources "when in reality they didn't have any 
equipment at all," Brownell said. 

They received a contract to inspect the parts solely for purposes 
of estimating the cost of repair. The power plant sought the 
return of the parts when it received an estimate about five times 
the typical $40,000 to $45,000 cost of such work, he said. 

The men then billed the power plant $92,000 for alleged work on 
the parts but which had not been done at the time, Brownell said. 

After billing Palo Verde the men allegedly took the parts to a 
machine shop for "minor" cleaning and machining that cost in the 
$6,000 range, he said. 

"The parties involved told the Palo Verde generating station they 
would not return the parts without a payment of the $92,000," he 
said. 

The men were believed to have operated under five company names 
and had other business with Palo Verde, he said. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 11 Uranium link to Gulf War Syndrome studied
 
[fredericksburg.com]     [fredericksburg.com]   
  
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Researchers at Virginia Tech are again 
studying Gulf War Syndrome, trying to determine if the uranium 
used in high-tech ammunition, combined with battlefield stress, 
could cause nerve damage.

 Depleted uranium ammunition, used by U.S. and NATO forces 
against heavy-armor vehicles such as tanks, has been criticized 
in recent years by European officials who are concerned that the 
uranium may increase the risk of cancer in soldiers who come in 
close contact with the munitions or its residue. 

Several European soldiers who served in Kosovo with NATO forces 
have reportedly died of cancer, and American veterans groups have 
speculated whether depleted uranium could be causing some of the 
physical problems experienced by thousands of U.S. personnel who 
served in the Persian Gulf War. U.S. military officials and 
radiation experts have vehemently denied any link with cancer, 
saying that depleted uranium is far less radioactive than natural 
uranium and is not dangerous at the levels encountered by 
military personnel. Other critics, however, have suggested that 
depleted uranium may cause chemical poisoning in some 
circumstances. 

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine 
received more than $660,000 to study depleted uranium's chemical 
effect on the body during both short- and long-term exposure. The 
researchers will also introduce stress into the equation to see 
if the toxic effect is greater. 

Laboratory rats will be given doses of depleted uranium and then 
stressed by forced swimming. Researchers believe that stress may 
influence the body's reaction to chemicals in a variety of ways, 
including removing some of the natural barriers that block toxins 
from reaching the brain during times of low stress. 

Tens of thousands of Gulf War veterans have complained of 
illnesses, including memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, nausea, and 
chronic muscle and joint pain. 

Date published: Mon, 07/15/2002 

  
   Copyright 2002, The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. of 
Fredericksburg, Va. fredericksburg.com 
[http://fredericksburg.com] , 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, 
Virginia 22401 Information: info@fredericksburg.com 
[webmaster@fredericksburg.com] , Phone: 540-374-5000; Fax: 
540-374-5535 Fredericksburg.com is powered by ZOPE 
[http://www.zope.org] .
*****************************************************************
 12 Nuclear Fuels Report £2.3bn Losses                 

Headline news from Sky News 
Last Updated: 10:12 UK, Tuesday July 16, 2002   

State-owned British Nuclear Fuels has reported record losses of 
£2.3bn - but still insists it is pleased with its performance.

The company actually made an underlying pre-tax profit of £22m.
   
But the massive costs of decommissioning two nuclear sites, and 
the early closure of two power stations, sent it deeply into the 
red.

Chairman Hugh Collum - who has just got a £15,000 pay rise to 
take his salary to £165,000 - said it had been a "landmark year" 
for the company.

The £22m profit compares with a loss of £210m the previous year.

'Staggering'

BNFL, which owns Sellafield, said this showed its performance had 
"significantly improved" in all its businesses, while safety and 
environmental performance targets had been met.

But pressure group Friends of the Earth called for an 
investigation into the government's management of the company.

Its nuclear campaigner Roger Higman said the scale of the losses 
was "staggering." He claimed: "They underline the fact that 
nuclear power is completely uneconomic."

 © 2002 BSkyB
*****************************************************************
 13 State tries to join federal suit on radioactive waste
 
The Seattle Times
Tuesday, July 16, 2002, 12:00 a.m. Pacific 
By The Associated press 
	     		   		
YAKIMA — The state of Washington moved yesterday to take part in 
a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy, which wants to 
reclassify some highly radioactive waste. 

The issue is whether the Energy Department can unilaterally 
decide to manage the waste under less-stringent standards, 
potentially avoiding the removal of the waste from leaky 
underground storage tanks. 

Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire asked the U.S. 
District Court in Boise, where the case will be heard next week, 
to allow Washington to participate as a "friend of the court" 
because of its interest in cleanup and its role as a regulator at 
the Hanford nuclear reservation. 

The lawsuit was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, 
the Snake River Alliance and the Yakama Nation in protest of a 
1999 Energy Department order. 

The lawsuit contends the order threatens aquifers at Hanford, the 
Savannah River site in South Carolina and the Idaho National 
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. 

At Hanford, more than 53 million gallons of highly radioactive 
waste are stored in 177 underground tanks, some of which have 
leaked over the years. Construction begins next week on a plant 
that will turn the lethal waste into glass logs for long-term 
storage. 

The Energy Department order in question does not apply 
specifically to Hanford or its tank farms, but the state wants to 
be sure that the federal government doesn't use it to avoid its 
cleanup obligations at Hanford. 

If the department were allowed to reclassify sludge in the tanks 
and the tanks themselves as incidental to processing, the tanks 
could be filled with concrete, capped and abandoned on site. 

Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
 14 Record loss for BNFL Nuclear power accounts for about a quarter of the UK's energy needs
              
BBC News 

State-owned nuclear fuels giant BNFL has reported a £2.3bn loss 
for last year, the worst result in the company's history. 

BNFL claims that its operating performance has improved. 

Chairman Hugh Collum said it had been a "landmark" year for the 
company, which had achieved an underlying profit before tax and 
exceptional items of £22m. The record losses are thought to 
reflect the cost of cleaning up Britain's radioactive sites as 
well as the cost of closing some reactors. 

Last month, the government unveiled proposals to create a 
separate agency to take on these clean- up costs - effectively 
passing the costs onto the taxpayer. 

The creation of this agency was seen as a first step towards the 
sale of the company. 

* More cash for boss

On Monday, BNFL chairman Hugh Collum was awarded a 10% pay rise. 
He is set to continue in his job for another two years on a 
£165,000 salary. The pay rise prompted calls for the National 
Audit Office to investigate the company's management. 

"BNFL is haemorrhaging money at the taxpayers' expense, yet the 
government has rewarded its chairman with a 10% pay rise," 
anti-nuclear campaigner Roger Higman said. 

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "Hugh has 
rebuilt the board and steered the company through difficult 
times." 

* Clean-up costs 

The estimated costs of decommissioning old nuclear plants and 
storing radioactive waste continue to grow. 

As of March this year, the total estimated cost was £47.9bn, up 
sharply from a previous estimate of £35bn. 

The latest estimate covers decommissioning and demolition of 
aging plants, processing, storage and disposal of nuclear waste 
and environmental restoration. 

Earlier this year, Energy Minister Brian Wilson unveiled 
proposals for the Liabilities Management Agency (LMA). 

Crucially for BNFL and the government, ring-fencing the company's 
liabilities in this way should make it more attractive to 
potential buyers. BNFL missed out on the last wave of nuclear 
privatisation. 

Some of its Magnox plants are old and expensive to run, and as 
such it was deemed better that they were kept in state hands when 
the rest of the industry was sold in 1996. 
	         
© MMII
*****************************************************************
 15 Zheleznogorsk and Neighbouring Cities Fail to Find Common Language

Charles Digges / Bellona   
2002-07-15 23:08

NEAR SOSNOVOBORSK, CENTRAL SIBERIA - Standing in the heat, 
swatting at mosquitoes and answering sometimes hostile questions 
at a tent city pitched by environmentalists at the side of the 
road that leads to the closed nuclear city of Zheleznogorsk is 
probably not how Eduard Zavdugayev wants to be spending his 
afternoon.
 
Just 15 kilometres up that road is his office in that city, which 
is shown on few maps, and he is probably missing the 
air-conditioners administration officials get this time of year 
when the summer sun burns into the flat Siberian plains. 

Zavdugayev is the chief public affairs officer for the 
administration of Zheleznogorsk — also known as Krasnoyarsk-26 — 
which houses one of Russia's three remaining plutonium burning 
reactors and an estimated 3,000 tonnes of high level spent 
nuclear fuel (SNF) in its RT-2 facility. His administration is 
angling for the import of even more foreign and domestic SNF to 
the region to fill a proposed 20-tonne capacity nuclear waste 
storage repository to be built in the region. 

This combination of activities and plans has made the 
Zheleznogorsk State Chemical Combine (GKhK) a lighting rod for 
fierce arguments between the state and environmentalists about 
not only the import of SNF, but its possible internment within 
the Krasnoyarsk region. 

The SNF imports championed by the combine also called into 
question principles of democracy on July 1, when the Krasnoyarsk 
Regional Court upheld the scrapping of a locally generated 
signature drive that would have forced the issue of accepting 
foreign SNF in the Krasnoyarsk area to a regional referendum. The 
court kicked the question back to Moscow, saying the handling of 
SNF was a federal decision.
 
Irreconcilable differences

As such, Zavdugayev — as an advocate of foreign SNF imports and 
the proposed SNF internment facility — was not making many 
friends at the camp when he was invited earlier this month for a 
dialogue with the environmentalists. "This to me is not an 
environmental protest," he confided to Bellona Web about the 
camp. 

Casting a jaded look at the protest banners and cars on the 
highway that honked their support of the camp, Zavdugayev said 
the gathering was "an opportunity for a bunch of young kids to 
come out to the woods, rest a little, have some fun. And none of 
them has a clue as to what we do down the road at Zheleznogorsk — 
and I bet not one in ten of them could explain what SNF is." 
"They all think life [in Zheleznogorsk] is horrible, that the 
city is glowing with radioactivity, but it is some of the best 
living you can know in Russia," he added. "There's no crime, you 
can walk the streets at night, there is a supply of food in the 
stores unmatched by what you can get in these surrounding 
villages." 

Indeed, many gathered at the camp would have loved to get a 
closer look at what happens in Zheleznogorsk, but entrance 
permits for Russians who don't live there take several days to 
process, and permits for foreigners take a month and a half. 
Bellona Web, at the invitation of Zavdugayev, plans to file the 
necessary paperwork for a legal visit. 

Even so, the trips are strictly ushered affairs, say journalists 
and activists who have gone on them, which show the brighter face 
of the city that houses a plutonium reactor, is begging Moscow 
for more waste, and is one of the biggest radioactive polluters 
in Russia, contaminating Siberia's Yenisey River. Nevertheless, 
Zavdugayev repeated an oft-cited dictum regarding Russia's closed 
nuclear cities, the pass regimens and barbed wire that keep out 
undesirables, the adequate funding base from Moscow, and the high 
military presence that lead to cleaner, safer streets and 
well-stocked stores is a fair exchange for living on top of a 
potential Hiroshima.
 
Health in the closed city  

Pavel Morozov, the 73-year-old press secretary for the 
Zheleznogorsk GKhK — spry despite his age and potbellied 
countenance — said he "couldn't think of a healthier place to 
live." 

"We have trees and fresh air around, fishing in the Yenisey, 
natural resources forest and health in abundance," he told 
Bellona Web while visiting the environmentalists' tent city with 
Zavdugayev. 

As proof of his hail physique, he invited a bystander to punch 
his bicep. Then he produced his medical papers — a small booklet 
containing the results of periodic radiation check-ups by doctors 
required for all GKhK workers. A bad check-up in that book can 
mean the loss of a job for a combine worker, though Morozov did 
not have figures for those who wash out at check-up time because 
of detected radiation poisoning. 

"See," he said pointing to his papers. "I'm clean. I've worked at 
the GKhK for more than 20 years and not a thing is wrong with 
me." He then did a set of pull-ups on a nearby tree branch. 
Dusting off his hands after four repetitions, he said: "Your 
health is as safe, if not safer, living in Zheleznogorsk, and I 
am living proof."
 
Check-ups on the sly

But what of combine workers who — unlike press secretaries and 
bureaucrats who sit in offices — actually have to deal with the 
plutonium waste from the reactor, unload incoming shipments of 
SNF, and work with radioactive material every day? 

Several doctors in Sosnovoborsk and Krasnoyarsk, who spoke with 
Bellona Web on the condition of anonymity, said they routinely 
treated patients from the GKhK, who come to them on the sly for 
radiation related illnesses, most notably cancer. These doctors 
then forge a clean bill of health in their patients' medical 
papers and return them to work. 

"I have at least ten patients who will be dead within the next 
two years of cancer from radiation poisoning," said one 
Krasnoyarsk doctor. "But without a clean bill of health, they 
cannot work, and if they can't work, they get a tiny medical 
pension and slow death. This way they can at least pay for some 
treatment and prolong their lives." 

Another area doctor, who makes frequent trips to Zheleznogorsk, 
suggested the following: "Have a look at birth and death dates on 
some of the gravestones in the cemetery inside the closed city 
and the picture becomes clear: 1968-1995; 1955-1981; 1960-1988 — 
these people are not dying of natural causes." 

But according to the Zheleznogorsk administration, it is all in 
how you understand the dangers involved. 

"We already have 3,000 tonnes of SNF in storage at RT-2 and that 
poses no danger to anyone," said Zavdugayev. "It's not that we 
don't understand the danger of this, but that we do understand it 
and understand that it is minimal. The greens do not understand 
this danger. I wouldn't want to live in any other city in 
Russia."
 
Zheleznogorsk, also known as "the Iron City", is situated 
approximately 50 km north of Krasnoyarsk (Highway M53) on the 
eastern side of the River Yenisey in Krasnoyarsk county.  

In Sosnovoborsk — Zheleznogorsk's immediate neighbour by 10 
kilometres, many people would rather live in any other city in 
Russia. Built as a barracks city to house the some 5,000 workers 
who erected Kransnoyarsk-26, and then some of the factory workers 
themselves, the town has fallen into drab disrepair of peeling 
paint and gutted buildings, and the population of about 10,000 
simmers with an anger toward its nuclear neighbour that, 
officially anyway, it can't express. 

Bella Mironova, interviewed by Bellona Web on one of the town's 
trash-strewn central squares, seemed to speak for many of her 
fellow citizens. "They have waste over there that is capable of 
catastrophes, and that waste rolls not 50 meters from the edge of 
our town by railroad. What if it spilled? What would there be for 
us then?" she said. 

"And anyone can get in and out of that place and get their hands 
on anything they like, any kind of terrorist." 

Others interviewed expressed similar sentiments and were dismayed 
by the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court's decision that cast aside the 
referendum effort. Indeed, on June 27, a six-car trainload of SNF 
trundled into Zheleznogorsk through Sosnovoborsk from Ukraine. 

"I want my children to grow up safely in a world where they won't 
be threatened by Chernobyl type accidents," said a young mother 
named Svetlana, who would not give her last name. 

According to Yevgeny Spirin — effectively Sosnovoborsk's sole 
environmentalist — it is no surprise that residents were reticent 
to give their last names. "These issues are the kinds of things 
we are all aware of but will only talk about in private," he said 
in an interview with Bellona Web. "There is a culture of 
intimidation, and when you talk too loudly about environmental 
safety, bad things can happen." 

As an example, he cited a town meeting held in May, which dealt 
with a number of planned civic improvements. Spirin's then 
co-environmental activist, Taisia Panina, spoke up about issues 
concerning the Zheleznogorsk Combine. Discussion ground to a 
halt, as Spirin recounts it. 

Shortly after that meeting, agents of the Federal Security 
Service, or FSB, visited the school where Panina worked as an 
administrator, and she lost her job. Then, her 16-year-old son 
Gleb was arrested by local police on a trumped up drug charge. 

"He was taken to the police station where he was beaten and his 
pants were torn off his body," said Spirin. "They told him they 
were going to feed him to the real cons. Finally they let him go 
at 2:00 am, but the message was clear enough." 

Since then, a radiation related illness has kept Panina 
bed-ridden and out of environmental activity, and she and Gleb 
were unable to be interviewed because their flat does not have a 
phone — a common problem in Sosnovoborsk and surrounding towns, 
but one that would be virtually unheard of in Zheleznogorsk.
 
Not that Zheleznogorsk is not suffering from problems of its own 
— mainly the scheduled closure of the plutonium reactor in 2006 
as part of an agreement with the US Department of Energy, which 
will create vast shifts in the local job market. The town also 
continues to suffer from security problems. 

Last February, Yabloko party lawmaker Sergei Mitrokhin — 
accompanied by a television crew of three and two activists from 
Greenpeace — made a splash by marching purposefully into the RT-2 
nuclear waste storage facility at Zheleznogorsk via a 
two-by-two-meter hole in the security fence. 

Filming all the way, the team followed a well-worn footpath that 
took them into the facility, where they posed for pictures next 
to 3,000 tonnes of highly radioactive SNF. "The guards drove past 
us several times and we passed by their sentry boxes," but were 
ignored, Mitrokhin recounted at a news conference in Moscow 
afterwards. "I was shaken to see it." 

Copycat actions by other activists at other loosely guarded 
facilities across Russia prompted Russia's Nuclear Ministry, or 
Minatom, a month ago to announce security upgrades, which 
included giving guards the right to shoot intruders. But, despite 
these declarations, not much has improved since Mitrokhin's trip 
to RT-2, according to people familiar with the situation. Local 
activists from Zheleznogorsk say security has been increased 
during the day, and some of the fences — like the one Mitrokhin 
breached — have been mended. But these activists, who spoke with 
Bellona Web on the condition of anonymity, said it is still 
possible to make forays into RT-2 by different routes than the 
one followed by Mitrokhin and his entourage. 

The activists also said that Mitrokhin's visit didn't shed light 
on any particularly new problem. 

"There literally are footpaths," said one of the activists. "And 
depending on the security schedule — which Mitrokhin showed on 
national television makes little difference anyway — you follow 
the paths and can end up at RT-2, almost by accident, it's been 
that way for many years." 

By comparison to Sosnovoborsk, the activists describe the streets 
of Zheleznogorsk as clean of trash. Meters measuring background 
radiation, they say, hang like clocks from most of the main 
buildings in town.
 
Similarly unattended are the railroad tracks that bear trains 
full of SNF into the territory of the closed city. Bellona Web 
observed only one checkpoint located a few kilometers from where 
the restricted area actually began, and it was easy enough to 
walk along the tracks beyond the restricted area as hikers and 
flower pickers and approach the sentry box, from where guards 
control the gate. 

The gate — as rickety as the unmanned guard tower 100 meters 
behind it — could be seen to hang about a half meter's distance 
from the ground giving a person ample room to roll under. The 
sentry box itself was empty when Bellona Web arrived and only 
after several shouts did the gatekeeper — an old woman obviously 
of pension age — appear. 

She would not let the group of activists pass through her gates, 
though she happily offered to guide them to areas closer to the 
restricted nuclear zone — but not officially on its grounds — 
reachable through holes in the fence, where more verdant flower 
fields could be found. The group chose against exploring that 
option. 

"These tracks are one of my main concerns," said Spirin. "Anyone 
dressed up as a mushroom hunter can get close to them. My fear, 
naturally, is that terrorists will blow up the rails and cause a 
spill of highly radioactive SNF." 

For now, though, there are relatively few people Spirin can share 
his fears with, besides groups of like-minded activists who 
occasionally drift in his remote direction. 

"The authorities are not going to pay attention until something 
awful happens, and even then, their reaction will be flaccid," he 
said. "Let whoever in and out of the city through these fence 
holes as long as the administration can keep the notion of peace 
and security and block outsiders from interfering with their 
plans, even if it means pressuring the residents of Sosnovoborsk 
into silence."
   
[ (c) BELLONA -- Reuse and reprint recommended provided source is 
*****************************************************************
 16 Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Reid shines in setback
 
July 12, 2002 
Las Vegas SUN

 Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.
 
 NEVADA SEN. HARRY REID has a quiet demeanor that fools some 
people into underestimating his ability and courage. This has 
been his strength since working with his father in mines near 
Searchlight and as an amateur and college boxer. Although he 
sometimes had only enough money for a meal, he didn't allow this 
discomfort to detract from his concentration on school studies 
and research. He returned from Washington, D.C., and successfully 
passed the Nevada bar exam a year before finishing law school.
 
This week The Wall Street Journal's Shailagh Murray wrote about 
Reid's long struggle in an attempt to block Republicans in 
Congress from approving the dumping of nuke waste on Nevada.
 
Murray wrote, "The fact that the campaign went on for so long is 
a testimony to Mr. Reid's formidable persuasive powers -- a gift 
that could still put him in line to be his party's next leader, 
despite the biggest defeat of his career."
 
Later Murray quotes Anna Aurilio, lobbyist for the U.S. Public 
Interest Research Group, a large environmental outfit. Aurilio 
said, "This is the best vote we've ever gotten in the Senate. We 
absolutely credit Harry Reid with that."
 
The WSJ article took a close look at reasons why Reid is 
respected in that august body. Murray wrote, "One reason Sen. 
Reid is popular is his no-frills approach to his leadership job. 
He isn't one of the Senate swans who run from news conferences to 
television talk-show studios. Mr. Reid is nearly always present 
on the Senate floor; when he isn't there, he is working the 
phones in his nearby office. 'He's constantly there, 
facilitating, making it work,' says Senate Finance Chairman Max 
Baucus."
 
The Harry Reid I have come to know during the past 46 years is 
the man who, last Tuesday, looked into the Senate gallery where 
several highly paid nuke lobbyists were sitting and said:
 
"Madam President, I know there are people in the audience all 
around here who are being paid lots of money. They are coming 
here to see what is going to happen. They are being paid lots of 
money. They drive here in limousines and have Gucci shoes and 
nice suits. It is interesting to know that in the places where 
they work, Washington and New York, they have editorials 
supporting this bad situation, trying to ship Yucca Mountain 
waste on our highways, railways, and our waterways.
 
"In this morning's paper, it says the Senate should pass the 
Yucca Mountain bill now. This is part of the unending stream of 
money. That is what this is all about -- money, lots of money; 
money to run newspaper ads; unlimited vacations to Las Vegas to 
look at Yucca Mountain for two hours and spend three days being 
wined and dined in Las Vegas; unlimited dollars to send 
representatives to Capitol Hill.
 
"I know how this works. The state of Nevada had a few dollars and 
we wanted to hire a lobbyist, but we could not find one. They 
were all hired by the Nuclear Energy Institute. We could not hire 
them. They had conflicts of interest. So all you people here, 
just bill everybody, feel good about it; you are perpetrating a 
travesty on the people of this country."
 
Were any of the lobbyists squirming? I don't know, but if they 
were it was because they were in a rush to drink, dine or go to 
the bank. Again another powerful corporate energy group had 
influenced enough congressmen and White House officials to get 
their way. Some day Americans will again reap the sad results of 
their Pyrrhic victory. The losers will be the same people who 
have lost their jobs and 401(k) earnings in recent months because 
of the prior victories corporations have won in Congress.
 
                All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.                                       
*****************************************************************
 17 Columnist Benjamin Grove: Can Reid-Ensign bond survive beyond Yucca?
 
July 12, 2002
Las Vegas SUN 

 AFTER YEARS of legislative wrangling, months of intense 
lobbying, and hours of spirited final debate, senators late 
Tuesday afternoon filed into the Senate chamber to vote on Yucca 
Mountain.
 
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., knew they were 
whipped.
 
As the "aye" votes flooded in, the two men huddled together on 
the floor -- a band of two battle-scarred brothers.
 
They shook hands. And they smiled -- fleeting, sad smiles. At 
that moment, the political odd couple was closer than ever.
 
"We just said, 'We gave it everything we had,' " Ensign said 
later.
 
Reid: "At that moment we realized that it wasn't as if we had 
taken a called third strike with the bases loaded. We played a 
good game. Looking back, I just really don't know what we could 
have done differently."
 
The two had lost the Yucca battle, as everyone expected they 
would. But they did it "valiantly," as one anti-Yucca activist 
put it -- and perhaps more importantly, they had done it 
together.
 
"You don't go through something like that without trust," Ensign 
said later.
 
Of course by now everyone knows the Reid-Ensign story: two bitter 
foes from the 1998 Senate race that Reid won by the narrowest of 
margins, just 428 votes.
 
Then they were thrown together just two years later when Ensign 
was elected to Nevada's other Senate seat. They quickly agreed to 
cultivate a working partnership, but it blossomed into a 
friendship that surprised even them.
 
The two often recount the tale at a weekly breakfast in an ornate 
Capitol room held each Thursday for Nevadans visiting Washington. 
Guests chuckle at the notion that this Democrat, the assistant 
majority leader, and this most conservative of Republicans get 
along so well.
 
The two swap inside jokes, and tease each other's staffers. They 
are the "envy" of other lawmakers who are mired in petty 
rivalries with the other senator from their state, Reid said.
 
There's no question Nevada benefits from the healthy political 
alliance. The question is: Can it last?
 
To be sure, slogging through the trenches during the Yucca wars 
cemented their friendship. "Nevada's slogan is 'Battle Born,' " 
Ensign said during Senate debate. "When it comes to Yucca 
Mountain, we intend to fight."
 
Reid and Ensign's relationship was battle born, too.
 
But what now? These two politicians will have far less reason to 
remain close. Their frequent Yucca strategy sessions will cease. 
They both have lots of other fights vying for their attention. 
Will they grow apart?
 
Ensign has at times deferred to Reid's judgment, seeking the 
senior senator's guidance. As the freshman becomes more and more 
comfortable in his senator's shoes, will he seek Reid's counsel 
less?
 
Will the Reid and Ensign staffs, which by all accounts work well 
together now, fall into nasty, partisan patterns so common on 
Capitol Hill?
 
As the election season heats up, both men likely will be active 
campaigners for their teams. Reid, as a high-profile Democratic 
leader, will continue his public critiques of President Bush. 
Ensign understands this role. But will it gnaw at him?
 
In two short years, when Reid is challenged for his seat, will 
Ensign vigorously campaign against his friend?
 
My guess is Reid and Ensign will continue to deftly avoid 
situations that call on them to criticize each other directly -- 
including elections.
 
But they likely will drift off on their own separate paths. The 
luster on their celebrated alliance may fade. Still, they'll 
remain collegial. The two, along with their aides, will continue 
to work together on legislation and budget issues that benefit 
Nevada.
 
"You go through these battles and they tend to strengthen your 
relationship," Reid said, "rather than weaken it." 
 
                All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.                                      
*****************************************************************
 18 Columnist Jon Ralston: The day the final screw turned

Las Vegas SUN
July 12, 2002

WASHINGTON -- Only the chairs were listening. A few minutes after 
11 a.m. on Tuesday, The Day The Final Screw Turned, Sen. Harry 
Reid stood up on the floor of the U.S. Senate and explained that 
he and fellow Nevadan John Ensign believed that "it is important 
that members have the benefit of some debate prior to this most 
important vote" on Yucca Mountain.
 
As the majority whip spoke, only four other senators were in the 
chamber -- Ensign, and Yucca Mountain proponents Frank Murkowski, 
Larry Craig and Minority Leader Trent Lott. Other than them, only 
the empty chairs were listening.
 
Almost exactly seven hours later, when the fateful vote was 
taken, only a handful of the senators had taken the time to 
listen to any of the faux debate, which generally rehashed 
familiar issues. Important vote? Only to Reid, Ensign, a few dump 
advocates and the nuclear industry, which will use the 60-39 
approval (actually 61 because an absent Jesse Helms by proxy was 
an affirmative vote) as a license to get new plants and remove a 
crushing financial liability from its ledgers (perhaps Arthur 
Andersen could help).
 
As senators consoled Harry Ensign in the Senate's well as the 
vote was being taken, it was obvious that they felt sorry for 
their colleagues -- no schadenfreude in this collegial chamber -- 
but that they also felt, as Murkowski would acknowledge in an 
interview later, that better that Western wasteland than their 
home states.
 
That was true in 1987, when the first screw turned, and it was 
true on July 9, 2002, a day that will live in infamy in Nevada. 
But this was no Pearl Harbor -- many have seen this coming for 15 
or 20 years -- and the question is whether, despite all the John 
Paul Jones imitations by the Nevada political elite, the fight is 
at an end.
 
By the morning of the vote, Reid and Ensign knew only the chairs 
would be listening. But it almost didn't happen that way. What is 
little known is how dicey this became for the proponents in the 
days leading up to the vote, as Ensign was convinced he had both 
Utah senators and a few others may have been wavering. Helms 
couldn't be there, no one is ever sure if near-centagenarian 
Strom Thurmond of South Carolina will vote and another 
Republican, Ohio's George Voinovich, might have been absent for a 
family funeral.
 
Do the math -- the Republican dump adherents don't have Utah's 
Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett, Thurmond, Helms and Voinovich and 
suddenly it's a ballgame. Reid and Majority Leader Tom Daschle 
turn their own screws to a few caucus members and this is the 
equivalent of gaming losing an important vote in Carson City.
 
But then the White House roped Hatch and Bennett back into the 
corral and it was over. Momentum dead. Ensign, in the end, was 
able to get zero new Republicans, and Reid and Daschle, seeing 
what had occurred with the Utahans, decided not to hammer any of 
the caucus members to cast potentially risky votes. End of story.
 
Moments before the vote, Reid put the entire dump fight, a 
parochial battle most of the Club of 100 couldn't care less 
about, into national perspective: "Corporate interests are 
pushing this ... The only person who could have stopped this 
corporate abuse today, it appears, is the president of the Untied 
States. He misled the people of Nevada. That is the reason he is 
president of the United States, I am sorry to say. If he had told 
the truth about Yucca Mountain, he would not be president."
 
Only the chairs were listening -- most senators had not come to 
the floor for the vote yet -- but Reid was right. If Bush had not 
delivered that big lie during the campaign -- via fax, no less -- 
that he would let science not politics determine this, he might 
well have lost Nevada and thus the White House.
 
Reid did all he could. As for Ensign, he truly looked despondent 
afterward. How humiliating for him to garner no new Republicans. 
It's hard to say that he should have been expected to do so -- a 
freshman senator vs. a president of the same party is no contest. 
But Ensign set himself up for criticism by running two Senate 
campaigns saying Nevada needed a voice in the GOP caucus. His 
voice might have been heard if the same election that delivered 
Ensign to Washington had not given George W. Bush the presidency 
and thus sealed this vote.
 
So what now? Is this the beginning of the end or the end of the 
beginning? Does the kitchen sink of legal cases have any chance, 
can the dump be slowed and killed by the time the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission is slated to license it? Will dump 
advocates, emboldened by this victory, try to accelerate the 
timetable by resurrecting Nevada as an interim storage site?
 
All those questions will be answered -- and probably sooner than 
later. But if I were a Nevada politician imploring voters to put 
away their white flags, I would worry that this issue has reached 
a critical mass in Nevada and that the nuclear political reaction 
could be for voters to explode in fury after two decades of 
rhetoric has produced a political dud.
 
What do the politicians say then? They might find as they talk to 
their constituents that only the chairs are listening. 

                All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.                                     
*****************************************************************
 19 Residents can chat with mayor

July 16, 2002

Las Vegas SUN
 
Residents looking for a casual setting to talk with Las Vegas 
Mayor Oscar Goodman will have an opportunity on Friday at a 
northwest area Starbucks.
 
Goodman will meet with residents from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Friday at 
the Starbucks at 7660 W. Cheyenne Avenue at Buffalo Drive. 
Friday's meeting takes place in Ward 4, which is represented by 
Councilman Larry Brown.
 
This is the fourth time that the mayor has scheduled a "coffee 
with the mayor."
 
The mayor also has regular open door meetings, where residents 
can address their concerns at City Hall council chambers. That 
meeting will also take place on Friday, at 10 a.m.
 


 
                All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 20 U.S. Energy Secretary Says Skull Valley N-Plan a Waste
                              
BY REBECCA WALSH 
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 
Tuesday, July 16, 2002  

BOISE, Idaho -- U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Monday 
it is unnecessary to store nuclear waste in the desert west of 
Salt Lake City. 
    
With congressional approval of the underground bunker in Yucca 
Mountain, Nev., last week, Abraham said such "ad hoc, makeshift" 
ideas for disposing of waste from American nuclear power plants 
should end. The energy secretary's statements were in addition to 
a cryptic letter he wrote to Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob 
Bennett last week to ensure their vote for Yucca Mountain in 
which he said the department would spend no money on the Skull 
Valley project. 
    
"There is no need for that project to go forward," Abraham told 
governors at the National Governors Association meeting in Boise. 
"Now that we have a decision [on Yucca Mountain], it would be my 
strong hope that these ad hoc approaches would cease and we would 
move forward with a single repository." 
    
But the Cabinet secretary stopped short of saying the Energy 
Department would actively oppose the Skull Valley project. 
Critics say federal funds never were proposed for the Utah 
storage site and that the Utah senators' deal was weak. 
    
The backers of the Skull Valley facility reaffirmed last week 
that they intend to proceed with their $3.1 billion project in 
light of the uncertainty that continues to plague Yucca Mountain. 
    
A consortium of utility companies, Private Fuel Storage, has been 
pursuing a license to store waste on a 100-acre pad on the Skull 
Valley Goshute Indian Reservation 45 miles west of Utah's 
population center. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected 
to make a decision on its application by the end of the year. 
    
If licensed, the Utah facility could begin accepting up to 44,000 
tons of spent nuclear fuel rods in two years. But the state of 
Utah and other proponents probably will sue if the project is 
approved. 
    
Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt pressed the secretary Monday on the 
nuclear waste storage plans, asking who will pay for the $50 
billion Yucca Mountain project and whether electrical ratepayers 
would foot the bill for Skull Valley. 
    
"Should private utilities profit from the storage of nuclear 
waste?" Leavitt asked. 
    
Abraham said the federal government should manage the job of 
storing the nation's nuclear power-plant waste. 
    
Leavitt said he believes Abraham is sincere. 
    
"To make that investment in Yucca Mountain and then spend several 
billion dollars on something that is flimflam in comparison is a 
waste of money," he said. "The federal government sees it as a 
distraction. It's a bad idea." 
    
The Abraham letter to Hatch and Bennett was one of three that 
surfaced last week suggesting approval of Yucca Mountain would 
mean the end of Skull Valley. Two of the letters were written by 
Abraham, the third by executives from six of the eight Private 
Fuel Storage utilities, who promised that Private Fuel Storage 
members would not fund construction of the Skull Valley project 
as long as "repository development proceeds in a timely fashion." 
   
But Sue Martin, Private Fuel Storage spokeswoman, said the 
letters would not affect the consortium's plans. 
    
"This does not stop us dead in our tracks," she said, "and we 
expect to continue on to the construction phase." 
    
The federal government, which has spent more than $7 billion and 
two decades trying to secure a long-term repository for nuclear 
waste, has said it can get Yucca Mountain ready by 2010. 
    
But Yucca Mountain faces five lawsuits from the state of Nevada 
and a five-year regulatory process before it could begin 
accepting the waste, so proponents of Skull Valley believe the 
industry still will need storage for its nuclear waste in the 
interim.

  © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on 
Utah OnLine is copyrighted The Salt Lake Tribune and associated 
news services. No material may be reproduced or reused without 
explicit permission from The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
 21 Nuclear waste ship slips past Greenpeace
    
16/07/2002 18:08:27 | 

ABC Radio Australia News 
 
The environmental group Greenpeace says the current location of a 
ship carrying nuclear waste through the Pacific is a mystery.

The ship - en route from Japan to Britain - was last spotted near 
the Federated States of Micronesia.

Speaking from New Zealand, Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaigner, 
Bunny McDiarmid, says the group has been unable to track the 
ship's progress: "Currently we don't know. We did spot it inside 
the EEC of the federated states of Micronesia on Saturday. But we 
have not sighted it again. We're preparing to go up tomorrow off 
Vanuatu and hopefully we'll spot it again." 




 
*****************************************************************
 22 U.S. Senate screws Nevada as the public yawns

Las Vegas City Life
Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Jonathan Galaviz speaks as John Hunt checks his watch to see how 
much longer he has to hang out with all these pesky protesters.  

By David Hare (dhare@lvpress.com)
 
Nevada just got screwed by the U.S. Senate's 60-39 Yucca Mountain 
vote.

But only a few Southern Nevadans have a right to complain.

Judging from the low turnout at the Yucca Mountain protest held 
at the Clark County Government Center on July 7, Las Vegans have 
better things to do on a Sunday.

So do print journalists, photographers and TV reporters, for that 
matter, but at least we showed up.

But politicians, who apparently DON'T have anything better to do, 
almost outnumbered the protesters. Included were Nevada attorney 
general candidate John Hunt, congressional candidate and County 
Commissioner Dario Herrera and Jonathan Galaviz.

Galaviz, a Republican candidate for Clark County assessor, says 
he's against the federal government's plans to store 77,000 tons 
of high-level nuclear waste about 100 miles north of Las Vegas.

Outside of Nevada, Republicans against Yucca Mountain are about 
as common as active Mormons marching in a gay pride parade. 

"The Republican Party is being bought by the nuclear power 
industry," Galaviz said.

He says what makes the Yucca Mountain Project particularly 
egregious is the proposed transportation routes, as they are now 
written in the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Impact 
Statement.

"The nuclear waste is being routed predominantly through minority 
and low-income communities in order to reduce majority opposition 
in the U.S. Senate," he said.

According to this logic, the senators couldn't possibly support a 
plan that calls for transporting nuclear waste near posh 
communities, such as Georgetown or Beverly Hills. But areas 
densely populated with po' colored folk, well, that's just 
jim-dandy.

On June 28, Galaviz filed a 12-page lawsuit against the U.S. 
government alleging that the plan to ship nuclear waste to Yucca 
Mountain is discriminatory toward minorities.

But this is not a political issue, he says, and those who are 
using Yucca Mountain as a means of campaigning are doing a 
disservice to their constituents.

During his anti-Yucca Mountain speech before the small crowd 
gathered on the lawn of the Clark County Government Center, 
Galaviz never once mentioned that he's running for political 
office.

On the other hand, John Hunt was joined by his supporters who 
were spotted carrying placards announcing his candidacy for 
attorney general.

Hunt, a Democrat, said keeping nuclear waste out of Nevada is the 
top priority on his political platform.

"Yucca Mountain is a fight for our survival," he said. "All it 
takes is one bad day, and this state is finished."

If, indeed, Yucca Mountain is a fight for our survival, and 
victory depends on public support, then Nevada has about as much 
of a chance of winning as Orrin Hatch being named People 
magazine's "sexiest man alive."

Back to the beating-a-dead-horse department, last week's turnout 
for the Yucca Mountain rally was pitiful. Furthermore, the 
protesters themselves showed early signs of apathy when they 
backed out of a plan to shut down an Interstate 15 on-ramp for 10 
minutes to demonstrate solidarity in blocking potential shipments 
of nuclear waste by rail or truck.

Depending on who was asked, reasons for canceling the roadblock 
ranged from safety concerns to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn's office 
issuing a statement that such a stunt would disrupt commerce.

And a truck transporting casks of high-level nuclear waste along 
Interstate 15 would be a boon for the Las Vegas economy?

Finger pointing isn't the way to go, say the protesters. 

That said, if Nevada is going to play hard ball against the U.S. 
Department of Energy, we need a bigger team with better players.

As Woody Allen once said, "Eighty percent of success is showing 
up."

Copyright 2002 Las Vegas City Life
*****************************************************************
 23 Unicoi Residents Protest Proposed Uranium Enrichment Plant
A large group held up signs and marched around town hall.
    
by Sara Diamond
 Jul 15, 2002
  
A group of citizens who don't want a uranium enrichment plant in 
Unicoi are now saying their concerns aren't being heard. 

What was supposed to be a meeting, turned out to be a public 
protest over a proposed uranium enrichment plant in the town of 
Unicoi. 

Signs reading "hear us" and "yes to valley beautiful were seen 
outside Unicoi's town hall....held by protesters who say their 
concerns are falling on deaf ears. Resident Dr. Rebecca Nunley 
says, "We've come up with different answers than what they've 
given us in the public and in the newspaper and press, so we'd 
like to have an opportunity to clear those issues up." 

But Unicoi's Town Recorder and Treasurer Marcia Johnson says town 
officials don't know anymore than the rest of the town. 

Johnson adds, "Those citizens who feel ignorant of the facts know 
just as much as we do. Which is why its premature to have any 
meetings on the subject." 

Protestors had requested to speak at Monday night's regularly 
scheduled Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, but it was 
canceled. Johnson adds that the meeting was canceled for lack of 
agenda items. She adds the board will only discuss facts...which 
they have yet to receive. 

Johnson says, "The Board of Mayor and Aldermen is interested in 
the health, safety and welfare of the citizens. Its their 
responsibility, duty and in their interest to see to it they get 
all the information that they can gather, and as much citizen 
input that they can gather." 

Those who don't want nuclear materials to be transported in their 
area, say they just want town leaders to hear their concerns, 
before any decision is made. 

Dr. Nunley adds, "Our concern is that all these negotiations were 
taking place without public input and public awareness. And 
that's essentially why we're here." 

Johnson counters, "The town would have no interest in re-zoning 
if it were not in the best interest of the citizens." 

Something these citizens say they want to make certain happens.
*****************************************************************
 24 Letters: Nevada repository isn't answer for nuclear waste
 
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
PalmBeachPost.com 

The nuclear power industry claims, in its push to open the flawed 
Yucca Mountain, Nev., nuclear waste dump, that it is better to 
consolidate the nation's waste at one site rather than leave it 
at nuclear reactors across the country. The industry also argues 
that it is essential to get the radioactive waste out of Florida. 
The Post agrees with these points in its editorial last Thursday, 
"Yucca light stays on."
 
The problem is that even if Yucca Mountain opens, high-level 
nuclear waste will remain at every operating nuclear waste site 
(unless the industry plans to permanently close its reactors -- 
an unlikely scenario), including the ones in Florida. According 
to the Department of Energy's Environmental Impact Statement, 
there are 1,982 metric tons of lethal high-level radioactive 
waste in Florida. Following a 24-year waste shipment program, 
which would include anywhere from 348 shipments (if made 
primarily by rail) to 5,223 shipments (if made primarily by road) 
in Florida, we still would have 1,350 metric tons of this waste 
within the state of Florida. This is because Yucca Mountain is 
limited, by law, in how much waste can be placed there.
 
Clearly, Yucca Mountain would not solve the nation's radioactive 
waste problem, it would just spread it across our highways and 
railways. The Senate should reject the earthquake-prone Yucca 
project and begin work on a real solution to nuclear waste.
 
JIM MILES West Palm Beach
 
          Copyright © 2002, The Palm Beach Post. All rights 
reserved
*****************************************************************
 25 Nuclear Waste Site Managers Seek "Keep Out" Tactics Good for 10,000 Years

Summary As the United States designates permanent repositories 
for storing nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain and 
elsewhere, there's a need to develop warning systems that would 
alert people 10,000 years from now about the potential risks. 
Earthpulse -----> +                       

        Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News July 11, 2002

The Senate vote earlier this week to authorize Yucca Mountain in 
Nevada as the permanent repository for at least 77,000 tons of 
nuclear waste will trigger a license application and approval 
process that is likely to take several years. 

One requirement in the approval process likely to be imposed by 
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be the development 
of a warning system to alert people living 10,000 years from now 
of the dangers associated with the lethally radioactive nuclear 
waste dumps created in the early 21st century. 

Designing a "Keep Out" sign that lasts for 10,000 years and still 
holds meaning is not an easy task. 

After all, about 10,000 years ago, the Sahara was a fertile 
savanna, and humans were just beginning to put down their spears 
and figure out how to grow food. Ten thousand years from now, 
Earth could conceivably be populated by extraterrestrials. 

In a clever bit of reverse archaeology, the U.S. Department of 
Energy has consulted futurists, archaeologists, materials 
scientists, astronomers, and others for the past decade to 
develop a long-term warning plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot 
Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. 

Protecting Future Generations 

The DOE began by forming two teams of experts in the early 1990s. 
They were given the task of coming up with a conceptual design 
for the warning system [see sidebar]. 

"The biggest obstacle the teams faced was the fact that you never 
know what the future will bring," said Kathleen Trauth, assistant 
professor of civil and environmental engineering at the 
University of Missouri–Columbia and lead author of the teams' 
final report submitted to the DOE in 1996. 

The teams got some clues to the difficulties they faced in 
creating warning systems as they studied ancient monuments such 
as Stonehenge, the obelisks of the Aztecs, Egyptian 
hieroglyphics, Native American pictographs, and a wealth of other 
artifacts from ancient cultures. 

Just to begin with, the occupants of Earth 10,000 years from now 
might not speak or even know of any of the languages spoken 
today. 

Obelisks and monuments such as the pyramids are usually 
constructed to honor a place or deed—a purpose hardly in line 
with directives to "Stay Away."

Overstating the danger—the "Touch one stone and die" approach—has 
its own pitfalls. 

"Inevitably, someone will investigate the site in a non-intrusive 
manner. Nothing will happen to the person, and the rest of the 
message will therefore be ignored," the teams of consultants 
concluded. 

The same is true of efforts to try to scare people away; museums 
and private collections are full of the guardian figures ancient 
cultures designed—unsuccessfully—to keep thieves at bay. 

Need to Last 

Factors like these had to be weighed against a very practical 
consideration: any warning system structure would have to be 
built of materials that are extremely durable, even in highly 
fluctuating climate cycles, but not susceptible to recycling or 
valuable enough to draw the attention of thieves. "We used the 
two-team approach to get some diversity of ideas," said Trauth. 
"What was interesting were the commonalities between the two 
teams. Both agreed on the need to use multiple levels of 
language, a diversity of communication methods, and multiple 
materials to convey the warning." 

The DOE's development of a final design continues, but there's no 
big hurry. "The [Carlsbad] site will be actively monitored for 
100 years after it closes, which is projected to be in 2033," 
said Roger Nelson, chief scientist at the Waste Isolation Pilot 
Plant. 

A warning system would not be built until then, he explained, "so 
we have plenty of time to test new materials for durability, 
determine how to inscribe markers, and so on." 

"There's even more time for Yucca," he added, suggesting that 
lessons could arise that would be helpful in setting up a warning 
system at the newly approved nuclear waste site. 

Multiple Languages and Levels 

Some of the conceptual designs the two teams considered—but did 
not recommend to DOE—were definitely designed to terrify 
potential intruders. 

The current DOE design is considerably less dramatic. The nuclear 
waste burial site will be surrounded by an earth-and-boulder berm 
33 feet (10 meters) high and close to 100 feet wide (30 meters). 

Inside the berm will be granite monuments, markers, and an 
information center with messages ranging in complexity from, say, 
pictographs showing a screaming face to highly technical 
information. 

The technical information will be written in seven 
languages—Navajo and the six official languages used by the 
United Nations: English, Spanish, Russian, French, Chinese, and 
Arabic. Navajo was included because it is the language of the 
largest indigenous group living in the region today. 

The warning information will be duplicated in two rooms that will 
be buried beneath the ground—one inside the berm and the other 
outside of it—in case something happens to the above-ground 
structure. 

Of course, no warning system will work against people determined 
to ignore the message. 

"The warning system is designed to prevent someone from 
accidentally digging or drilling at the site," said Nelson. "The 
signs are for honest people. We cannot predict the cultural or 
societal setting 10,000 years from now, but we can predict human 
behavior. 

"The only way to protect people who are dishonest," he said, "is 
to maintain an active presence—keep the area policed and fenced." 

• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
[http://www.nrc.gov/waste.html] 
							 							 
  "Keep Out" 

Both the teams that advised the U.S. Department of Energy on 
warning systems for nuclear waste sites agreed on the need to 
convey warnings in multiple places and at several different 
levels. 

At the most basic level, pictographs and symbols on granite 
monuments and stone markers throughout the site would convey 
danger even to someone who could not read or had no understanding 
of common languages. 

At the highest level, messages would explain how the site is laid 
out, what is buried there, and other relevant information such as 
what "radioactive" means and the fact that it can cause cancer, a 
description of what cancer is, and so on. 

The task force suggested that the message below summarized the 
information that needed to be conveyed at its most basic level. 

This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is 
commemorated here. Nothing valued is here. This place is a 
message and part of a system of messages. Pay attention to it. 
Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves 
to be a powerful culture.   

  
  Team Makeup 

The initial ideas on how to design a warning system for use at 
radioactive nuclear waste sites thousands of years from now came 
from two advisory panels, each made up of: 

• an anthropologist (who works to understand different, but 
contemporary, cultures) 

• an astronomer (who may search for extraterrestrial 
intelligence) 

• an archaeologist (who is an expert in cultures that differ from 
ours in terms of both time and space) 

• an environmental designer (who studies how people perceive and 
react to a landscape and the buildings within it) 

• a linguist (who studies how languages change over time) 

• a materials scientist (who is familiar with the kinds of 
materials, natural and human-made, that might be able to 
withstand 10,000 years of weather effects)   

© 2002 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 26 Russia: He's been appointed spy
 
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. 

2002-07-16 14:37 By Victor Tereshkin Bellona

In front of me lays a book, Grigory Pasko is smiling on its 
cover. Young, handsome, in the uniform of a commander. The book 
is called “We’re Singing to the Deaf”. It was written in the 
cells of the Vladivostok house of detention, where he had spent 
long twenty months. While reading it, I feel ashamed and it hurts 
me that I hadn’t read this book before my trip to Primorye 
county.

Having spent almost eight months in an one-man cell, he wrote the 
following: “I will approach this border of the human 
consciousness, where the unconscious begins. And I’ll feel the 
terrible wish to cross this border. Every day, coming from 
conclusions to cries, from cries to lows, from lows to physical 
pain in my head and breast, confusing between days and nights, I 
ordered myself: don’t surrender.” If I had only read this small 
volume before my departure to Vladivostok, if I had… Many of my 
reports from the court sessions would be different. Now Grigory 
is imprisoned in a one-man cell again. And that hurts. Like a 
blunt needle, stuck in the heart, aching. 

A suffocated cry 

Grigory called Vladivostok Gadyukino (“Village of Snakes”) in his 
book. He was feeling suffocated there. Indeed, it’s a very 
peculiar city at the edge of the country. Gray masses of warships 
at the piers. A mark of neglect on them. They will die near the 
berth. Hills mutilated by boxes of houses. Powerful explosions, 
which begin the day. Newcomers turn round uneasily. But the 
inhabitants reassure them: don’t be afraid, it’s the arsenal that 
exploded accidentally eight years ago. It was located inside the 
city boundaries. And the engineers are still blasting the 
scattered mines and the shells. The city is dirty, filthy, the 
streets are full with waifs and strays, refugees, beggars. And 
with luxurious Jeeps driven by short-haired bulls. 

It was the first day of the trial when the prosecutor, Colonel of 
Justice Alexandr Kondakov, started reciting the indictment [of 
the investigation], and the lawyers clearly understood that the 
case against Pasko was started by KGB as early as in 1992. The 
appearance of the new type of journalists, like Grigory, was for 
them like a bolt from the blue — how dared he write like this!.. 
And soon an unexpected thing was said at the trial: it was the 
Pacific Fleet headquarters who had demanded that the military 
journalist Pasko publish articles on environmental problems of 
the Fleet no less frequently than twice a month. And Pasko had 
published 420 articles over seven years. He was the best 
journalist at the “Boevaya vakhta” [“Military watch”] newspaper. 
And, in fact, he was the best in Primorye county. 

During the eighth day of the trial, reserve commander Anatoly 
Fomin, formerly a subordinate of Grigory, gave an exact wording: 

- It’s a political trial. Pasko’s heart bleeds for the 
fatherland. And he wrote [his articles] to solve the 
environmental problems of the Fleet. It was a cry of his heart, 
but it was suffocated. 

Prosecutor threatens 

After every session of the court, I interviewed the witnesses, 
lawyers, Grigory himself, quickly wrote reports and sent them to 
the Norwegian environmental Bellona Foundation and the Moscow 
based magazine “Index – Dossier on the Censorship”. These reports 
were carefully studied not only by environmentalists and human 
rights defenders -- on the 20th day of the trial, prosecutor 
Kondakov, blandly smiling, told me: - You still can’t adapt to 
the new climate? No, you won’t live to see the end of the trial 
in our climate, you won’t live that long. 

And this way he “hinted-threatened” not only to me, but also to 
Pasko’s lawyer Ivan Pavlov for his being too frank with the 
journalists. 

People shouldn’t know about this 

One day of the trial, answering to the court’s inquiry, the 
technical administration of the Pacific Fleet presented the 
detailed information about radioactive contamination of the 
territory of a coast technical base. The FSB accused Grigory of 
having illegally breached the territory of the base and for 
handing a sketch of it to Japanese journalists. The data about 
radioactive dirt at the base were horrible: some radionuclids 
exceeded the norm 30 thousand times. The judge read out the 
inquiry of the Vladivostok Duma [elected council, local 
parliament of Vladivostok. (translator’s notice)] to the Pacific 
Fleet Headquarters, asking what was happening with the spent 
[nuclear] fuel, with the decommissioned submarines, and with the 
liquid radioactive waste. One vice-admiral answered simply: the 
data can not be made public. And the Duma washed itself [after 
such a spit] and wasn’t so curious anymore. 

The testimony of rear-admiral Moiseenko stuck to the memory of 
the lawyers. He testified that it was he personally, who took 
journalist Pasko to the coast technical base, that it wasn’t a 
closed object, and falls within the authority of the 
international treaties on the strategic arms reduction. Every 
year the American military visits the base for checks. After 
Grigory’s articles were published, the base was granted 
additional funds, the laid up missiles decommissioning increased, 
and the employees began getting wages. 

Experts of the joint staff as the mirror of the [Russian] 
officers In September the experts of the 8th department of the 
Joint Staff came. It was they who drew the conclusion about the 
classified status of the documents, which were allegedly 
withdrawn during the ransack at Grigory’s flat. Now they had 
again examined the documents for two weeks and made a conclusion, 
that only part of them were considered classified. The lawyers 
were meticulously questioning the experts for every item of their 
conclusion, and often they had noting intelligible to say. 
Moreover, all their expert evaluations were based on the secret, 
not officially published decree of the Minister of Defence, No. 
055. which was struck down as illegal by a verdict of the Supreme 
Court. One of the experts, Poryadny, will remain in my memory. 
Short-haired, well-built, furious. He didn’t look like an officer 
of the Joint Staff at all. He had an appearance of a typical 
gangster. During one of the breaks of the court session, we were 
smoking, standing close together. He began to speak, and I felt 
as if he had flung mud at me. He told, that all of us, including 
me, Grigory Pasko, and the lawyers, are spies, CIA agents, 
homosexuals, and that we sold ourselves for cigarettes. Our 
pockets are full of dollars. I began to retort, citing as an 
example the case of Nikitin. -Nikitin, - Poryadny squinted 
darkly, - I would shoot this scumbag with my own hands! 

At the beginning of the last century the Tsarist government had 
one of the terrorists judged and sentenced to death. The 
executioner was never found. In the whole vast empire. The Joint 
Staff officer Poryadny is ready to shoot.

The last card
 
By the end of October 54 witnesses had been questioned. Our 
defense team for Pasko was sure that the judge, Lieutenant 
Colonel of Justice, Dmitry Kuvshinnikov, was in possession of all 
the evidence that would have acquitted Girgory. Moreover, he had 
time to make certain that the whole case was put-up -- that FSB 
had forged signatures in procedural documents, had done away with 
audio-tapes of Grigory’s phone conversations with the Japanese 
journalists, and with many other documents; that even in the 
written transcripts [of his phone conversations], there was no 
evidence of his guilt. Kuvshinnikov also had time to see that 
accusation and the experts’ evaluation were based on the two 
secret decrees of the Minister of Defense. 

The forty-sixth day of the trial began. At 10 o’clock sharp, 
admiral, the first deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy, 
Zakharenko, grandly proceeded into the hall. He was the 55th 
witness. Later he left the hall, cheerfully humming the 
“Katyusha” melody. Lawyer Anatoly Pyshkin commented: -The admiral 
came to the point of uttering an absurdity – that in the notes, 
which Pasko made during the debriefing of the military exercises, 
and which were put on one sheet of paper of normal size, there 
was the plan of the commander-in-chief of the Navy about 
deployment of the strategic forces of the Navy, and this plan was 
connected with carrying out the missions, set by the Supreme 
Commander-in-Chief, the President of Russia. Many officers, even 
admirals had seen these notes many times in four years, the notes 
were twice examined by the experts of the 8th department of the 
Joint Staff, and no one detected anything like that. And also 
Zakharenko claimed, that when he read an article in a newspaper, 
that Pasko was arrested, he decided to carry out reforms at the 
Fleet right away. And he transferred several units, ships, and 
submarines. But it’s a shame for the [deputy] commander-in-chief 
of the Fleet: He made these decisions based on an article in a 
newspaper, without sending for the chief of FSB of the Navy, the 
Navy prosecutor, without listening to the assistants and the 
department-commanders. 

This court is a show trial 

And the last, the 56th, day of the trial came. The day of the 
announcement of the verdict. The corridors and the stairs were 
full of stalwart naval infantrymen. Grigory’s wife Galina asked 
me to stand near her during the reading of the verdict, but I 
stupidly refused, because I wouldn’t be able to make photos then. 
She was afraid she might faint. It was like at the first trial. 
Judge Kuvshinnikov finished reading the verdict. I saw Grigory 
with a pale face take off his watch and lie it at the table. The 
director, who staged this court show, did do his best. In July, 
1999 Grigory was released from the defendant’s cage, with the 
handcuffs taken away. Now – they brought him into the cage, 
giving the TV-men an opportunity to film this picture. With the 
handcuffs on, he was brought out from the hall to the guardhouse. 
Lawyer Ivan Pavlov followed the officers and in ten minutes 
returned to the hall. He silently put Grigory’s cravat on the 
table. And this cravat was cutting the heart. That’s the way to 
the prison hell began for him again. 

The verdict must be cancelled 

Lawyer Ivan Pavlov commented on the verdict as such: During four 
years Grigory Pasko stood accused of having collected, kept and 
handed over to the Japanese journalists ten documents, containing 
state secrets. That was sixty episodes, which the investigation 
considered to be proven. But even the military court admitted in 
the verdict, that the accusation was for 98% simply a soap 
bubble. The court hadn’t enough courage to admit it for 100%… Now 
about the matter, in which Pasko was found guilty. Hardly had the 
ink on the verdict dried out, when the FSB, in the person of the 
omnipresent general Zdanovich hurried to claim, Pasko was proven 
to be guilty of having transferred secrets to the Japanese. But 
it’s a lie, no word of Zdanovich can be trusted. There was only 
one accusation of collecting and keeping one object with the 
intention of handing to a Japanese journalist, which was claimed 
by the experts of the 8th department of the Joint Staff to be 
secret. 

According to the verdict, Grigory Pasko is guilty of his presence 
at the debriefing of the military exercises in the headquarters 
of the Pacific Fleet. But he was a journalist of the Fleet 
newspaper, and it was his duty to cover combat training of the 
Fleet. Grigory explained to the court that he was present [at the 
debriefing] and made notes to write an article for the newspaper. 
But the court didn’t listen to him, and made, as Ivan Pavlov 
says, absolutely unfounded and groundless conclusion that Pasko 
made the notes to hand them over to the Japanese journalist 
Tadashi Okano. The notes were made on September 11th, more than 
two months passed before the arrest, while Pasko didn’t even try 
to hand a single sheet of paper to the Japanese journalist. He 
didn’t take it with him when he went to Japan. There is no 
evidence of Grigory’s intention to hand it to the Japanese 
journalist, though he was under surveillance of FSB, it tracked 
his every step, made records of all his phone calls, of all the 
conversations in his flat. The court motivated its conclusion 
about the illegal purpose by the fact that Pasko had contacts 
with this Japanese journalist and they communicated unclassified 
environmental information. And from these two absolutely harmless 
premises the court made a conclusion, that Pasko had an 
opportunity to hand to the Japanese journalist [among other 
information] also secrets. 

The lawyers are firmly convinced that the prosecutor has no 
evidences. In their appeal to the Military Collegium of the 
Supreme Court they write that the verdict referred to the 
provisions of the secret decree of the Minister of Defence no. 
055, which was disaffirmed by a ruling of the Supreme Court. And 
there was used another secret decree of the Minister of Defence 
no. 010, written in 1990, when USSR was still alive. The defence 
team writes in the appeal, that the verdict was based on 
provisions of the out-dated version of the Law on the State 
Secret, which violate the Constitution. That in the verdict the 
court transgressed the limits of the produced accusation. That 
the court based its verdict on the evidence received in violation 
of the laws. The lawyers also write, that in the Pasko’s notes 
there are no secret data, even were the decree no. 055 applied 
here. 

Speaker Mironov supports Pasko 

Sergey Mironov spoke in his interview in the Izvestia in support 
of the journalist four days before the verdict was pronounced. 
The speaker said that the notorious MoD decree no.055 shouldn’t 
be applied in the case, and he advised Grigory Pasko to appeal 
the President for pardon, should the accusatory verdict be made. 
And the speaker was even ready to support such appeal personally. 
In his letter to the speaker, Pasko answered: “thank you for your 
willingness to help, but I won’t ask for any pardon.” On January, 
9th during his visit to Saint-Petersburg, Mironov decided to meet 
Pasko’s lawyer Ivan Pavlov and asked him to produce the 
procedural documents, and said, that he was ready to sign a 
personal bail to help Pasko have his preventive punishment 
changed. The environmentalists perceived the speaker’s statements 
in two ways: many of them decided that it was a step, 
co-ordinated with Putin. Another PR action – pardon for the 
convicted journalist. Like it was with Edmund Pope. The other 
part of the environmentalists perceived interference of the third 
person as an indication, that the Federation Council is now 
presided by the man who can get moving forward the skidding cart 
of the judicial reform. 

Putin looked incompetent 

Do you remember, how at the era of Yeltsin his advisers, press 
secretaries, ministers usually came to his help, when he 
permitted himself to speak in some very unexpected style or 
perspective? Putin hasn’t allowed such things so far. And all of 
a sudden on his January 15th press conference in Paris, asking on 
a question about the Pasko case, the President said: “It’s a pure 
legal problem. Frankly speaking, I’m not deep in it. I only know, 
that Mr. Pasko is accused of handing classified documents to 
representatives of a foreign state for some reward. This fact 
isn’t called into question by anybody, even by his lawyers. But I 
find it difficult to speak about details, I simply don’t know. 
But the very matter [of this case] may hardly be of interest of 
the country.” Russian Information Agency “Novosti” presented this 
news as if the President was ready to pardon Pasko, as if the 
episode of handing over classified documents is proven. The 
lawyers Anatoly Pyshkin and Ivan Pavlov were outraged, for Pasko 
that’s a heavy blow: the head of the country says, that the fact 
of “handing over” is proven. Look, how did Putin secure himself: 
“I’m not deep in this case, can’t speak about details, the 
details are hardly of interest of the country.” But in the same 
time the guarantor of the Constitution introduce into the public 
opinion the thought, favourable to FSB: the journalist handed the 
secrets over to the representatives of a foreign country for some 
reward, and this fact isn’t challenged by his lawyers. If this 
way Putin was made out incompetent by his former colleagues, - 
the President met Nikolay Patrushev before his departure to 
France, - then it means that FSB manipulates the President, 
palming him off with misinformation. But if that’s collusion made 
by Putin, FSB and the military prosecutor office, then it’s very 
bad. And it means only beginning of such coordinated operations. 
What has the trial shown? 

In opinion of lawyer Anatoly Pyshkin, the trial has shown that 
there is a great number of problems accumulated in the court 
mechanism itself. It needs urgent reforms. The court must be made 
independent, so that it would be governed only by the 
Constitution and laws. The Pasko case has also shown, that the 
prosecutor’s office needs reforms. The prosecutor’s office in its 
today state is useless to Russia. It’s a huge, clumsy machine, 
which serves only itself and to the people at the helm, 
performing their orders only. This court trial has shown the 
necessity to reform the investigating agencies. Prosecutor 
Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, Frontier Guards and 
Fiscal Police should be deprived of the right of investigation, 
there must be only one investigative body. And further 
specialists should be engaged in different categories of the 
cases. But the main thing: there must be no investigation like 
today -- it’s a cudgel to make short work of everyone. The trial 
against journalist Pasko did clearly show, that today FSB is not 
under control of the state, that it doesn’t submit to anybody. 
The norms, proclaimed in the Law on FSB are not supported by any 
mechanism and instruments to control this organisation. Today FSB 
is almost the only body, which may not care about the rulings and 
demands of the court. During the trial, the court did repeatedly 
request documents to shed light on this case, on the story of its 
appearing. But FSB kept answering: we can not bring the documents 
forward! The Law on FSB stipulates that President, the Duma, 
Prosecutor Office and court can control this body. Nothing like 
this in reality! 

They are deifying Felix [the founder of KGB, “Iron Felix” 
Dzerzhinsky. (translator’s notice)]. They will restore the 
monument to him at Lubyanka. They’re tenacious of life. They 
don’t sink, like shit or wood doesn’t sink. They’re numerous. 
Much more, than you think, or the decree about them mentions. 
They’re not coming back from the year 1937: they have already 
come back. Look around and you’ll see them, the wooden children 
of the Iron Felix”. Grigory Pasko, from the book “We’re singing 
to the deaf”.   
        
  [ (c) BELLONA -- Reuse and reprint recommended provided source 
is stated ] 
*****************************************************************
 27 CIA: Iraq a nuclear danger          

July 16, 2002   
By Greg Sheridan  
 		 				
IRAQ'S Saddam Hussein is no more than three years away from 
developing a usable nuclear weapon, according to the latest 
assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency in the US. Details 
of the assessment, obtained by The Australian show the CIA 
believes Mr Hussein has been able to continue to acquire fissile 
material in sufficient quantities to build at least several such 
weapons within two to three years. 

The CIA believes Iraq has also continued developing its missile 
program. Nuclear weapons deliverable by missiles would be a 
deadly risk to all Iraq's neighbours, especially Israel, Kuwait 
and possibly Saudi Arabia. Israel is the only country in the 
region with a known nuclear weapons delivery capability. The 
prospect of Mr Hussein acquiring nuclear weapons is adding 
urgency to US efforts to remove the Iraqi dictator from office 
and secure a more cooperative government in Baghdad. 

But some CIA analysts believe an even greater regional threat is 
posed by Iraq's programs to "weaponise" biological agents. 

While Mr Hussein is known to have used chemical weapons against 
Kurds in his own country and against the Iranians in the 
Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, this form of weapon is regarded as a 
lesser regional security threat. 

Though several thousand of people are believed to have died from 
these incidents, the technical difficulties in making chemical 
weapons an effective weapon of mass destruction are formidable. 

Therefore, the CIA is much more fearful of what Mr Hussein has 
been doing with biological weapons. 

The agency has details of numerous so-called dual-use facilities, 
which ostensibly serve a peaceful purpose but are really used to 
manufacture biological weapons. Several are located in Iraqi 
hospitals, according to the CIA. 

The CIA's assessment is that the threat of Mr Hussein's regime 
developing weapons of mass destruction is greater than the danger 
of it sponsoring international terrorism. Nonetheless, the 
possibility of it providing a weapon of mass destruction to a 
terrorist group, such as al-Qa'ida, remains a nightmare scenario. 

But the assessment of the Bush administration after an exhaustive 
inter-agency review is that there is no "smoking gun" linking 
Iraq to the terrorist attacks of September 11. 

Iraq has sponsored a great deal of terrorism in the past, mainly 
through the Abu Nidal group. 

But its links with al-Qa'ida are more murky. The US has evidence 
of some al-Qa'ida activity in areas of northern Iraq that are not 
fully under Mr Hussein's control. 
*****************************************************************
 28 AU: Downer worried by Iraq nuclear arms report

theage.com.au
Tuesday July 16, 4:30 PM

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says he is deeply 
concerned by a US report that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will 
have a usable nuclear weapon within three years.

The report, published by The Australian and citing an assessment 
by the CIA, showed the intelligence agency believed Saddam had 
continued acquiring fissile material in sufficient quantities to 
build at least several such weapons within two or three years.

The CIA also believes Iraq has continued developing its missile 
program, the paper said.

The prospect of Saddam acquiring nuclear weapons was adding 
urgency to the US efforts to remove the Iraqi dictator from 
office and secure a more cooperative regime in Baghdad.

But some CIA analysts said an even greater regional threat is 
posed by Iraq's programs to "weaponise" biological agents.

The agency was said to have details of numerous so-called dual 
purpose facilities, which ostensibly had a peaceful use but which 
were really used to manufacture biological weapons. Several were 
located in Iraqi hospitals, according to the CIA.

Downer, who last week voiced strong support for a pre-emptive US 
military strike on Iraq, told reporters that the report had 
raised "very serious issues for the international community."

"It simply reminds us all that Saddam Hussein must adhere to UN 
Security Council resolutions and the rule of international law, 
allow international inspectors to go into Iraq, to conduct 
inspections and to have his weapons of mass destruction 
capability destroyed," he said.

Downer said he hoped Saddam would cave in to international 
pressure and the issue could be resolved peacefully.

But he repeated his concern of last week -- that the 
international community would pay a very high price if it adopted 
a policy of appeasement.

 ©2002 [aap] Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All 
rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 29 Archaeologists Explore Cold War Nuclear Test Site

Summary Bright yellow radiation suits are not standard-issue 
attire for archaeologists. Nor is a Geiger counter. But these 
precautions are sometimes required for the researchers exploring 
the eerie A-bomb rubble and ghost towns left over from Cold War 
blasts at the Nevada Test Site, formerly the Nevada Proving 
Grounds, on 1,375 square miles of desert 65 miles northwest of 
Las Vegas. Earthpulse -----> +                       
 			
By Bijal P. Trivedi National Geographic Today

[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/ngchannel.html] 

July 15, 2002

Bright yellow radiation suits are not standard-issue attire for 
archaeologists. Nor is a Geiger counter. But these precautions 
are sometimes required for the researchers exploring the eerie 
A-bomb rubble and ghost towns left over from Cold War blasts at 
the Nevada Test Site, formerly the Nevada Proving Grounds, on 
1,375 square miles of desert 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

From 1951 until a test moratorium in 1992, 928 nuclear devices 
were exploded at the Nevada site. Aboveground tests were allowed 
until 1963, and night explosions were visible all the way to Las 
Vegas. 

Cold War Hot Zone Worth Preserving 

"The Nevada Test Site was one of the battlefields of the Cold 
War," said Troy Wade, who spent 31 years with the program, 
starting as an explosives engineer and retiring as an assistant 
secretary of Energy for Defense Programs at the United States 
Department of Energy (DOE). "Just as artifacts from a World War 
II battlefield are worth preserving, so are these." 

Colleen Beck and her colleagues suit up to explore the Reactor 
Maintenance Assembly and Disassembly building where the 
scientists tried to develop nuclear rocket engines.

"I'm one of the diminishing number of people who saw atmospheric 
tests," Wade added. "It's hard to describe the feeling of awe, 
when you see blinding light, feel the intense heat, and brace 
against the shock wave—it was very intense and very scary." 

The unnatural Dr. Strangelove-era desert landscape is littered 
with mock towns, bridges, bomb shelters, bank vaults, underground 
parking structures, empty animal pens, and railroads, which were 
exposed to atomic blasts to determine what could survive a 
nuclear attack. 

To Wade, the twisted relics at NTS represent "a snapshot of the 
destructive power of these weapons." Wade is chairman of the NTS 
Historical Foundation, which is planning a research center and 
museum in partnership with the DOE and the Desert Research 
Institute (DRI), a nonprofit environmental institute in Las Vegas 
that's affiliated with the Nevada state university system. The 
museum will house historic films and photos as well as artifacts 
from NTS. The DOE and DRI have sponsored an archaeological 
mission to survey and discover structures that are worthy of 
preservation. To date seven sites have received this "historic 
place" status, with many more pending. 

Though one might expect the government to have extensive 
documentation of this site, the only way to find what lies here 
is to look, said Colleen Beck, an archaeologist at DRI. 

"There are many things that exist in the plans but were never 
built and vice versa," said Beck. For example, archaeological 
surveys reveal crumpled aluminum shelters and animal pens that 
were not included in original plans. 

Twisted Relics 

Aboveground testing was confined to three areas—Frenchmen Flat, 
Yucca Flat, and Pahute and Rainier Mesas, where the 
archaeologists do most of their work. When determining whether 
something is worthy of being deemed an historic site, the more 
destruction that occurred, the better, said Bill Johnson, an 
archaeological team leader from DRI. "The more damage, the 
greater its integrity—it actually looks as though it was 
subjected to a nuclear weapon." 

At Yucca Flat, a 700-foot (213-meter) tower that once stood at 
Ground Zero holding a bomb is now a gnarled, twisted mass of huge 
I beams and steel cables covered in glass formed from molten 
sand. 

The parched lakebed of Frenchman Flat was exposed to 14 
explosions. Here, a few hundred structures have been found. One 
survivor 1,150 feet (350 meters) from the blast site is a 
battered but intact Mosler bank vault—all the documents inside at 
the time were unharmed. 

"These structures convey fear—frightening times, terrifying 
power," said Johnson. 

"There is a mystique to the Atomic Age, and Bill's work creates a 
link between the mythology and the physical remains," said 
historian Mandy Whorton, formerly of DOE, now with the 
environmental research firm Harding ESE, in Golden, Colorado, who 
has studied early radar sites in the Arctic Circle, Greenland, 
and Alaska. 

Ghost Towns, X-Files, and Lunar Landscape 

Johnson's colleague Beck ventured into a huge structure known as 
the Reactor Maintenance Assembly and Disassembly building, where 
scientists worked to develop nuclear rocket engines. 

"The building was filled with water and there was no 
electricity—it was my most 'X-files'-like moment," Beck said. 
Wrapped in bright yellow suits and armed with flashlights and 
Geiger counters, "we walked through mini hot cells and tracks 
that had been used to move radioactive material around." 

At Yucca Flat, Johnson has explored an Atomic Age ghost town, the 
disintegrating skeletal remains of a Japanese village. The 
village was never subjected to a nuclear explosion; instead a 
bare nuclear reactor spewed radiation into these houses to help 
determine the exposure levels of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
survivors. Scientists used the dosage information for medical 
studies and treatment regimens. 

When the testing moved underground in 1963, the program became 
more secretive, said Beck. But the results of the subterranean 
program could not be completely hidden. An aerial view of the 
Site reveals a cratered surface caused by underground explosions. 
The landscape is so moonlike that one crater, the Schooner 
Crater, was actually used to train Apollo astronauts for moon 
walks. 

A-bomb Mannequins 

One of the more bizarre artifacts yet to be discovered is a 
family bomb shelter equipped as if for a "Leave It to Beaver" 
family, with fully dressed mannequins, TVs, furniture, and a 
kitchen full of canned goods. 

"It would be like opening King Tut's tomb" to find that 1950s 
time-capsule shelter, Johnson said. 

He's already tracking one set of mannequins. The strongest clue 
is that they were dressed in clothes from J.C. Penney. In 1955, 
J.C. Penney stores in Nevada displayed the mannequins before and 
after an A-blast, a store manager at the time has told Johnson. 

"You just know those mannequins are sitting in a J.C. Penney 
basement somewhere," Johnson said. 

  Archaeology of "Peace Camp" 

Colleen Beck, an archaeologist at the Desert Research Institute 
in Nevada, is investigating the "Peace Camp" on the other side of 
the highway from the Nevada Test Site (NTS)—where nuclear weapons 
were exploded for 41 years. At the Peace Camp, anti-nuclear 
activists staged protests almost as long. 

To date, Beck and her colleagues have recorded 112 features, 
including geoglyphs—designs made from rocks and pebbles—rock 
rings showing the positions of campsites, graffiti, sweat lodges, 
and various American Indian sites. Currently archaeologists are 
documenting the relics scattered throughout NTS, but Beck's work 
at this site is a complementary exercise. "It's important to 
document what is out there—record the other side of history."   
  
© 2002 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 30 Hanford worries prompt state to join lawsuit 
                        	
The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA   	   	 	 	   	 	
Linda Ashton; The Associated Press 
(Published 12:30AM, July 16th, 2002)
     
YAKIMA - The state of Washington moved Monday to take part in a 
lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy, which wants to 
reclassify some highly radioactive waste. 

The issue is whether DOE can unilaterally decide to manage the 
waste under less-stringent standards, potentially avoiding the 
removal of the waste from leaky underground storage tanks, the 
Washington attorney general's office said.

Attorney General Christine Gregoire asked the U.S. District Court 
in Boise, where the case will be heard next week, to allow 
Washington to participate as a "friend of the court" because of 
its interest in cleanup and its role as a regulator at the 
Hanford nuclear reservation.

The lawsuit was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, 
the Snake River Alliance and the Yakama Indian Nation in protest 
of a 1999 DOE order. The lawsuit contends the order threatens 
aquifers at three sites - the Idaho National Engineering and 
Environmental Laboratory, the Savannah River site in South 
Carolina and Hanford.

"This waste is among the most deadly substances known to humans, 
and it will remain highly radioactive for thousands of years," 
Gregoire said Monday.

"We intend to make sure it is handled with the urgency and 
precaution that this health threat demands, not defined as 
'incidental' because it is too difficult or expensive to do what 
is right."

At Hanford, more than 53 million gallons of highly radioactive 
waste are stored in 177 leaking underground tanks.

The lawsuit is scheduled for hearing next Monday.    
	 	
© 2002 Tacoma News, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 31 Craig: INEEL to play role in nuclear energy system development 	 	
        
07/15/2002 
Associated Press 
Idaho News KTVB.COM

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory will 
expand its operations beyond waste management to development of 
nuclear energy systems. 

Senator Larry Craig and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham 
announced the decision to workers at the site in eastern Idaho. 

Abraham said INEEL will get an additional $5 to begin the 
transition from environmental management to nuclear energy. 

It will be involved in designing the next generation of nuclear 
reactors and investigating advanced fuel cycle and transmutation 
technologies. 

In the past decade the work force at the site has dropped from 
nearly 13,000 to 7500. 
                                                                                     
 ©MMII Belo Interactive & KTVB-TV   
*****************************************************************
 32 Strengths, weaknesses exist in Y-12 screening process 

The Oak Ridger Online 
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
by Paul Parson 
Oak Ridger staff
 
The manager of Oak Ridge's weapons plant has been informed that 
its process for identifying, reporting and correcting nuclear 
safety noncompliances generally meets the Department of Energy's 
expectations.
 
Although some weaknesses in the process were identified, many of 
those were based on a prior process used at the Y-12 National 
Security Complex. BWXT Y-12, the plant's manager, revised the 
process shortly before it was reviewed.
 
"We are encouraged that DOE's Office of Price-Anderson 
Enforcement has found that our program meets [DOE and the 
National Nuclear Security Administration] expectations and that 
our program has a number of significant strengths," said Bill 
Wilburn, a spokesman for BWXT.
 
The NNSA is the quasi-independent agency within DOE that oversees 
the nuclear weapons complex.
 
"As noted in the report, we had already identified some 
weaknesses and we revised our program in March 2002 to correct 
those problems," Wilburn said. "We are committed to an effective 
and proactive program to assure compliance with the requirements 
of the Price-Anderson legislation."
 
The Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 requires DOE to 
undertake regulatory enforcement actions against contractors for 
violations of nuclear safety requirements. The enforcement 
program is designed to have contractors correct procedural 
violations to prevent more serious events from occurring.
 
DOE's Office of Price-Anderson Enforcement conducted its review 
of BWXT's screening process in mid May. In a recently released 
report, the office acknowledged that the review used information 
pertaining to the old process because there were limited data 
available from the new procedure.
 
The review noted a number of strengths in BWXT's screening or 
determination process, namely:
 
  + A management assessment and an independent assessment of the 
BWXT's noncompliance determination and reporting process were 
conducted in 2001, with improvements to the process implemented 
earlier this year.
 
  + The backlog of issues to be screened for noncompliance 
determination has been substantially reduced. Since January 2002, 
the backlog dropped from 258 to 19 by May 2002.
 
  + BWXT's Facility Improvement Working Group -- a team of senior 
individuals and managers -- is a positive step toward identifying 
broader management and systemic problems, according to the 
report. The group convenes quarterly to analyze Y-12 operational 
and safety performance and to formulate recommendations for 
senior management. Some of the weaknesses noted in the review 
include the following:
 
  + The screening of deficiencies to identify noncompliances is 
not consistently timely. Some took over a year to complete, 
although a number of others were completed in one to three 
months.
 
  + Heavy reliance is placed on "no potential for radiological 
harm or not directly affecting nuclear or radiological safety" as 
the basis for not classifying a deficiency as a noncompliance in 
screening determinations, leading to several misclassifications.
 
  + Screenings often do not identify the specific noncompliance 
that occurred. In some cases this led to classifying conditions 
as noncompliances when noncompliances didn't occur.
 
                    All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger
*****************************************************************
 33 Dick Smyser: Oak Ridge 'temporary' as recently as 1972? 'Squirrely' too?  

The Oak Ridger Online   
Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Steve Jenkins, assistant city manager, in an interview at The Oak 
Ridger office reported in the July 5 edition: "They were always 
told the city was temporary so they didn't set aside funds to do 
the maintenance we are doing today. ... We're paying for what 
didn't happen in maintenance projects 30 years ago ...".
 
*

 There were some who thought the city was temporary in its very 
earliest years. As early as early 1947, however -- the city then 
not yet five years old -- top officials of the newly formed 
civilian U.S. Atomic Energy Commission assured that Oak Ridge had 
a future.
 
On April 7, 1947, in a talk at the auditorium of what was then 
Oak Ridge High School (on Kentucky Avenue overlooking Blankenship 
Field), David Lilienthal, the first chairman of the USAEC, 
declared AEC's intention that both Oak Ridge's nuclear facilities 
and the community become permanent -- were important to the 
postwar period.
 
A first step, Lilienthal said, would be removal of the fences 
surrounding the town, and thus the "Opening of the Gates" on 
March 19, 1949.
 
And for the next 10 years -- until municipal incorporation in May 
1959 -- if there were those "always told the town was temporary," 
they were difficult to find. Much more evident were citizens 
pressuring the AEC to sell the city's World War II-built housing 
-- sell it to them. And the AEC did sell -- mostly from 1956 to 
1958 -- and virtually everyone bought.
 
Equally as numerous, and often one and the same, were citizens 
meeting night after night thrashing out how best to move the 
community to self-government: What sort of city charter? City 
manager or mayor-council? An independent school district or 
schools answerable to the council?
 
And simultaneously these years the federal government was 
improving city streets -- adding sidewalks and gutters, building 
additional housing, both single homes in Woodland and the Garden 
Apartments and ultimately a new Oak Ridge Hospital and the 
Municipal Building.
 
Meanwhile also, citizens were organizing a gas utility district, 
building their churches of choice, founding, strengthening and 
expanding community theater, music and art organizations; 
forming, strengthening and expanding youth, health and welfare 
groups and, in important instances, setting statewide precedents 
for programs in mental health and care for the mentally retarded.
 
Approving the first big bond issues also to build a Civic Center 
and a new Jefferson Junior High School.
 
Always told the city was temporary and thus paying now for what 
didn't happen in maintenance projects 30 years ago?
 
That would be 1972, and Jenkins may have a case that not enough 
was put aside for the future. But it's quite a reach to suggest 
that Oak Ridgers didn't do so because they expected -- 30 years 
after the city's founding -- that Oak Ridge would disappear.
 
According to Helen Jernigan's account of the year 1972 in The Oak 
Ridger's 25th anniversary edition in January 1974, that was the 
year that both major plant unions -- the Atomic Trades and Labor 
Council at Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Oil, 
Chemical and Atomic Workers at Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion 
Plant-- signed new three-year contracts.
 
Anderson and Roane counties were moved into the Third 
Congressional District.
 
Citizens elected a seven-member charter commission all of whom 
favored keeping the city manager system -- this slate winning 
over a slate supporting a change to the mayor-council form.
 
City Council approved financial assistance for a recycling 
center.
 
Bob Peelle became the first Oak Ridger elected to the Roane 
County Commission.
 
And since the concern is that Oak Ridgers had neglected its 
infrastructure, there is also this in Jernigan's review of '72:
 
"Continuing to pave the way for industrial development, City 
Council approved contracts for road, sewer, and water extensions 
into the Municipal Industrial Park on Lafayette Drive."
                                     

 From a July 10 page one article by R. Cathey Daniels about city 
officials warning residents to be wary lest home improvements 
encroach on utility lines:
 
"The problem stems partly from the way the city was originally 
laid out, which (Kathryn) Baldwin (community development 
director) describes as 'attractive but squirrely.' The lot lines 
aren't straight, which makes the older neighborhoods esthetically 
pleasing."                                  


 Some insights on "the way the city was originally laid out" from 
"City Behind A Fence," definitive book about Oak Ridge's first 
four years -- 1942-46 -- by University of Tennessee history 
professors Charles W. Johnson and Charles O. Jackson: "Colonel 
James C. Marshall and his staff, however, had doubts about Stone 
and Webster's (construction firm) overall town plan ... Wilbur 
Kelly, principal engineer for the Corps (of Engineers), confirmed 
those doubts. Stone and Webster, he noted, had shown no 
originality or innovation in its basic town design ... 
"Subsequently, MED (Manhattan Engineer District) turned to the 
John B. Pierce Foundation of New York and the Boston 
architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill ... "... the 
Pierce-Merrill plans seemed well thought out. Some through 
streets and loops would have to be realigned and some blocks 
enlarged, especially where houses of a larger type had been 
turned at an angle to the street, but in general these plans 
showed much more thought and originality."
 

 Correction: It is Gene Kimmelman, not his brother Benno, who is 
with Consumer's Union and frequently quoted by papers like The 
New York Times and The Washington Post, as noted in this column 
on Thursday (July 11). As one who was also often confused with 
his brother, my apologies. -- RDS
 
Richard D. Smyser is founding editor of The Oak Ridger. He can be 
reached by e-mail at rdsandmps@aol.com [rdsandmps@aol.com] .
       
                    All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger
    
*****************************************************************

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: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************