***************************************************************** 10/18/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.268 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Papers stunned by nuclear 'ploy' 2 Russia May Construct Nuclear Power Station in Vietnam 3 U.S. Approaches to N. Korea And Iraq Are Vastly Different 4 US: FPL profits fall 55 percent 5 N Korea's nuke program hinders normalization: Koizumi 6 What Will U.S. Do About N. Korea? 7 India's concern over transfer of nuke tech involving Pak, NKorea 8 Pak, N Korea signed secret N-deal 9 US: Approved by the Social Policy Commission of KSU/* 10 Japan: Rokkasho plows ahead despite obstacles* 11 Roh Calls for Meeting Over NK¡¯s Nuclear Development 12 Candidates Propose Meeting Pres. Kim to Discuss NK Nuclear Issue 13 Doosan Heavy makes Korea's first export of nuclear power station 14 N. Korea Pact Was Always in Trouble NUCLEAR REACTORS 15 US: Security Zone; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, 16 US: NRC Assigns New Resident Inspector to Hope Creek Nuclear Plant 17 US: Oyster Creek N-plant sirens not reaching everyone 18 US: FirstEnergy faces more fines - 19 US: Davis-Besse Nuclear plant erred in incident* 20 US: Connecticut Yankee heads back to court* NUCLEAR SAFETY 21 [southnews] Attack on Iraq would expose soldiers to depleted 22 US: Near power plant? Time to get pills 23 Story of atoll's radioactive past about to be closed 24 25 US: Helicopter to check for radiation in Iowa 26 US: Congress unhappy with port security 27 US: Customs' radiation checks lacking 28 US: Deal on Terrorism Insurance Close NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 29 US: LETTERS: Common sense on Yucca Mountain issue 30 US: American Ecology Announces Plans to Sell Oak Ridge, Tennessee 31 US: State trip costs $64,000 Governor is lame duck but still flies 32 US: Groups seek comment on Hartsville proposal * 33 US: LES: More comment needed* NUCLEAR WEAPONS 34 Bush Administration Backs Down on U.N. Iraq Resolution 35 [southnews] UN: France forces US to back down on Iraq strike 36 3 Countries May Have Helped N.Korea 37 Ministerial Talks to Address Nuclear Issues 38 Kim Jong Il told Koizumi that N. Korea has nukes 39 Japan-N. Korea talks must focus on security 40 N-arms admission jeopardizes KEDO project 41 Handling N. Korea's nukes 42 Q and A: North Korea's nuclear programme 43 US: Officials question Test Site plan 44 US: Mercury uprising: A photo essay from the front lines of the 45 Report: US Vows to Protect Israel from Iraqi Scuds 46 France, Russia Consider Plan on Iraq 47 Nuclear-armed North Korea? 48 Kawaguchi urges peaceful approach* 49 North Korea: A pariah state, its secret nuclear programme - and a 50 France says action may be needed against N. Korea 51 UAE voices concern over Iraq situation 52 *IAEA: Difficult for Iraq to hide nuclear program* 53 U.S. backs off on U.N.-Iraq threat 54 [NK Nuke Program] Kim Welcomes US Pledge to Resolve NK Issue 55 Korea Editorial: Crisis or opportunity? US DEPT. OF ENERGY 56 Plutonium plant plans discussed 57 Hanford monument panel fears delays could force it to disband 58 59 Amarillo Globe-News: Local News: Report: Amarillo, Pantex exceede 60 *New Mexico sites first, last on list for nuclear weapons factory* 61 ORNL's vision in first line of defense OTHER NUCLEAR 62 Get drinking water from the sea via nuclear technology, say 63 Tiny Atomic Battery Could Run For Decades Unattended ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Papers stunned by nuclear 'ploy' BBC NEWS | Monitoring | Media reports | Friday, 18 October, 2002, 11:44 GMT 12:44 North Korean admission has shocked many North Korea's admission it still has a nuclear weapons programme has caused shock among Asia's press. "Behind the facade of flexible diplomacy in dealing with Japan... North Korea persists in its dangerous manoeuvres," says Tokyo's right-leaning Sankei Shimbun. Pyongyang must scrap its weapons programme immediately Nihon Keizei Shimbun The paper says Pyongyang has often instigated "reckless hostile acts" against Japan or South Korea, then turned to its "smile diplomacy" to soften the impact. "Surprise concessions" on the return of abducted Japanese nationals do not mean that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is now an "amicable gentleman", the paper warns. Tokyo should get tough on the abductions, and link economic aid to the nuclear issue, it says. Brinkmanship Professor Masao Okonogi points out in the centrist Manichi Shimbun that "it will now be difficult to differentiate between Iraq and North Korea". "Theoretically, the US will now have to apply its pre-emptive strike doctrine to North Korea," he warns. The centrist Asahi Shimbun also draws a parallel with Iraq. While some believe the North's move is a "diplomatic ploy", the paper says it has given ammunition to Washington hawks. [Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi] Japan's Koizumi wants North Korea to stick to nuclear agreements "It could lead to more calls from the United States that North Korea poses an even greater threat than Iraq," it says. "Pyongyang's big surprise dims prospect of better ties," is another headline in the same paper. The article says that while Japan-North Korea normalisation talks will go ahead, "Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions will assume equal priority with the abduction issue". While a third article in Asahi Shimbun believes Washington will now try to get its allies to "adjust the speed" of their rapprochement with Pyongyang. The threat posed by North Korea's nuclear programme to all its neighbours is stressed by leading business daily Nihon Keizei Shimbun. "Pyongyang must scrap its weapons programme immediately, and allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities," the paper says. It describes the acknowledgement of "nuclear ambition" amidst apparent efforts to improve Pyongyang's image as "a gambit of diplomatic brinkmanship". Clouded sunshine Papers in South Korea likewise do not mince words. "Crisis brought about by North Korea's nuclear fraud," reads a headline in the country's largest daily, the often nationalistic and anti-North Choson Ilbo. North's nuclear development is a grave threat to the South's security Chungang Ilbo The paper says the government's "sunshine policy" towards the North now faces a "serious dilemma". The second-largest daily, Chungang Ilbo, though usually moderate, makes the same point. "Betrayed sunshine policy," is the headline of the main editorial. It says the North's push for nuclear development as well as pursuing an appeasement strategy "makes us angry". "North Korea's nuclear development... is a direct and grave threat to our security," the paper says. The widely-read Tong-a Ilbo, despite its usual moderation, calls North Korea's nuclear development "shocking" and a "betrayal", adding that it poses a "clear, existing threat". It criticises the government's response as "too moderate" and urges it to "strongly protest to North Korea". However, the centre-left Hangyore, usually sympathetic toward the North, merely calls the disclosure "very surprising". It warns against "hasty judgment and emotional reaction" and urges the government to "find out the facts". The pro-government Taehan Maeil calls on North Korea to "completely stop" its nuclear development. But it also highlights the importance of "positively and peacefully" resolving all issues through close co-operation with the US and Japan. Maeil Kyongje, South Korea's most widely-read business paper, asks: "Is nuclear development the answer to Sunshine?". The paper complains that the North's display of intentions to open up are "merely for show". "It is most important to consolidate South Korea-US-Japan cooperation," the paper concludes. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 2 Russia May Construct Nuclear Power Station in Vietnam Pravda.RU ¹ Oct, 17 2002 The Russian Atomic Ministry is considering the possibility of constructing a nuclear power station in Vietnam, the press service of the Ministry told RosBusinessConsulting. Last week Russian Atomic Minister Alexander Rumyantsev and Vietnamese Industry Minister Hoang Trung Hai negotiated on financial terms of a project on constructing the station. The Atomic Ministry pointed out that the project was "very promising". It may take some 12 years to put into operation one energy unit and its cost may be from $1bn to $1.5bn. Such countries as Japan, France, China and South Korea are also interested in constructing the station. Russia and Vietnam signed an agreement on collaboration in the sphere of use of nuclear energy in 2001. © RBC Copyright ©1999 by " [http://www.pravda.ru/] ". When reproducing our ***************************************************************** 3 U.S. Approaches to N. Korea And Iraq Are Vastly Different Friday, October 18, 2002 BY STEVEN R. WEISMAN THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration responded Thursday to the disclosure of North Korea's nuclear weapons program with a strategy of urgent diplomatic pressure free of military threats or even a tone of crisis. It was a marked contrast with the drumbeat of warnings about force and mobilization of troops and equipment against Iraq, also a member of the "axis of evil" identified by President Bush, but one he says poses the most serious danger to the United States. The two separate and, in some respects, contradictory strategies reflected the administration's desire not to let North Korea derail Washington's plans to confront Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. The risk was that some Americans might wonder why conciliation ought not to be tried with both countries. Aides to Bush were quick to assert that the two situations are entirely different. "There is not one policy that fits all," said Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman. "Each situation has to be dealt with on its own." Administration officials say that although Iraq probably does not yet have nuclear weapons, it poses a more serious threat to its region because of its record of already using chemical weapons against its enemies and of invading two neighboring countries. Whereas North Korea is described by many experts as wanting its weapons as a defensive measure, to deter an invasion of its territory by others, Iraq is feared generally as a nation willing to use its weapons to bully others. This concern is what the administration says justifies its policy of pre-emptive action against Baghdad. "North Korea is a fundamentally conservative dictatorship," said a former diplomat who has dealt with problems on the Korean peninsula over three decades. "They're the worst kind of totalitarian regime, and their willingness to cheat is unquestioned. But they do not pose an imminent threat to regional stability. The fundamental threat from North Korea is still deterred by the presence of American troops in South Korea. So the administration is right to focus on Iraq." A State Department official said Iraq was different from North Korea not simply because it has used so-called "weapons of mass destruction" and has ties with terrorists but because it has proven itself to be "at least sometimes susceptible to international pressure." As a result, he said, diplomacy was justified, at least for now. The administration's low key strategy toward North Korea was being carried out by the four partners with which it has been working for years to coax North Korea into living peacefully with its neighbors. The clear hope at the White House was that Japan, South Korea, China and Russia could salvage the possibility of negotiation to remove an advanced nuclear threat from a nation as isolated, dictatorial and unpredictable as any on earth. For Iraq, by contrast, the administration was continuing to threaten the use of force as a way of bludgeoning Saddam's regime to accept inspections, followed by disarmament, of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. Perhaps inevitably, many in Washington and in policy circles were focusing Thursday on why the approach of engagement toward North Korea -- which included the implication that economic aid could resume some day -- might not also be valid for Baghdad. "The American reaction shows you the difference between dealing with a country that already may have nuclear weapons and one that doesn't," said Gary Milhollin, who is director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms and is also a leading expert on nuclear proliferation issues. The North Koreans were believed as early as 1993 to have one or two nuclear bombs from their plutonium program, and the latest revelations about their parallel program in developing highly enriched uranium means they could have more. This means, according to Milhollin, that North Korea could have the capacity to attack Tokyo, Seoul or even the United States right now, which necessitates a cautious approach in dealing with the secretive government in Pyongyang. North Korea's artillery, rockets and other conventional weapons -- which experts say could easily destroy large parts of Seoul -- have for decades served as a deterrent against any possibility of an attack initiated by the United States. Military experts say that, for all its erratic conduct, North Korea has armed itself to deter attacks rather than blackmail or coerce neighboring countries. In some ways, the purpose of North Korea's nuclear program is viewed by diplomatic experts as analogous to that of Pakistan's. Just as North Korea has acquired nuclear arms to protect itself from being overrun by South Korea, Pakistan has moved to acquire such weapons to counter the threat presented by it much larger neighbor, India. If there was disagreement over how to handle North Korea in the Bush administration, which was divided early last year, it wasn't evident on Thursday. That could have been because the so-called hawks and doubters who have criticized past conciliatory moves toward North Korea are now preoccupied with mounting a military action against Iraq. For North Korea, the negotiating approach is back in fashion for now, and an administration filled with officials critical of the 1994 Clinton-era accord under which the North promised to give up its nuclear weapons program is working to see if the agreement can be revived and made foolproof. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 4 FPL profits fall 55 percent PalmBeachPost.com: By Deborah Circelli, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, October 18, 2002 JUNO BEACH -- FPL Group Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter profit plummeted 55 percent from the same period last year, as the utility company canceled out-of-state power plant projects and pulled back on expanding its fiber-optic network. FPL Group (NYSE: FPL), parent company of Florida Power & Light Co., said it earned $150 million for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, or 85 cents a share, down from $334 million or $1.98 a share. Revenue also fell 5.5 percent in the period to $2.35 billion, from $2.49 billion. FPL Group blamed the sharp drop on a $167 million after-tax charge stemming from its FPL Energy subsidiary. An oversupply of power in many regions of the country, and a weaker wholesale market, forced FPL Energy to halt all natural gas power plant projects that were in the planning stages. In addition, FPL said its fiber-optic subsidiary, FPL FiberNet, is stopping plans to expand its network into additional cities in Florida because of a low demand for fiber in the telecommunications market. The big utility remained upbeat, however. Chief Financial Officer Moray Dewhurst called the earnings "slightly better than expected," and said FPL Group raised its profit forecast for the full year. The company now expects to earn between $4.75 and $4.80 a share, instead of $4.70 to $4.75. "Our outlook for the remainder of the year is strong," Dewhurst said. "We... are optimistic about the future." For example, he said FPL Group plans to close its $836.6 million deal to buy a majority interest in the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire in November -- a month ahead of schedule. FPL Energy also plans to add 700 to 1,200 megawatts of wind energy between now and the end of 2003. Investors responded positively to the quarterly profit report and future outlook. Shares of FPL stock closed Thursday at $54.46, up $1.46. "The market wants more certainty in earnings and return on assets," said David Parker, senior utility analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co. in Tampa. "It's clearly a prudent move on FPL's part to pull back operations." Also in the third quarter, net income at Florida Power & Light was $284 million, down 2 percent from the same period last year. Despite adding 86,000 new customer accounts since last year and seeing a 3.6 percent increase in electric use per customer, the utility was hit with a $250 million annual rate reduction that went into effect in April. FPL Energy reported a loss of $34 million, or 19 cents a share, including the one-time charges. Looking ahead to 2003, FPL Group expects earnings of $4.80 to $5 a share, up slightly from this year's estimates. FPL Energy's earnings growth is expected to be 30 percent to 50 percent next year, while Florida Power & Light's is expected to be 4 percent to 5 percent. deborah_circelli@pbpost.com [deborah_circelli@pbpost.com] Copyright © 2002, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 N Korea's nuke program hinders normalization: Koizumi Saturday, October 19, 2002 TOKYO ? Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday voiced strong concern that North Korea's continuation of its nuclear weapons program will hinder Tokyo's efforts to establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. "Normalization will not go well" if North Korea fails to follow international accords such as one Washington and Pyongyang signed in 1994 to freeze the North's nuclear weapons program, the premier told reporters at his office. The premier also said he understands the United States places priority on the nuclear problems in the North when considering the security of the region around the Korean Peninsula. But Koizumi did not say how Tokyo will prioritize a range of issues such as the North's nuclear program and its abductions of Japanese nationals in bilateral talks on normalizing ties slated to start Oct 29. Koizumi cited a declaration he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signed last month urging Pyongyang to comply with "all related international agreements." The premier said the 1994 Agreed Framework and the agreements stipulated in the Pyongyang Declaration cover issues such as the North's acceptance of U.N. inspectors for weapons of mass destruction. The U.S.-North Korea pact requires Pyongyang to freeze and dismantle its graphite-moderated nuclear reactors in exchange for two light-water nuclear reactors and a supply of heavy fuel oil for heating and electricity production. On Wednesday, Washington said Pyongyang admitted continuing its development of nuclear weapons during Oct. 3-5 bilateral talks in the North's capital, adding North Korea informed the United States the accord was "nullified." The U.S. made the allegation public to signify that Washington cannot neglect the nuclear problems in the North, Koizumi said. "The security problem is the biggest interest for the U.S.," Koizumi said Friday. The U.S. announcement about the North's nuclear weapons program was made as settling the kidnappings issue between Tokyo and Pyongyang became the top news in Japan. Five Japanese abducted to North Korea in 1978 visited their homeland for the first time in 24 years this week. (Kyodo News) Japan Today Discussion ***************************************************************** 6 What Will U.S. Do About N. Korea? Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 18, 2002 2:10 PM WASHINGTON (AP) - Over the years, the U.S. government has tried just about everything with North Korea - the threat of war, the cold shoulder, sanctions, lifting sanctions and billions of dollars in aid - to dissuade it from pursuing various arms programs. So what will it do now that the hardline communist regime has admitted to secretly developing nuclear weapons? The possibilities range from diplomatic pressure to more incentives to military action. But the Bush administration was keeping its options open Thursday, revealing little about how it will respond to the unpredictable, longtime adversary. Asked whether the United States might use military force, Secretary of State Colin Powell said: ``We're not planning anything of that nature right now.'' Its hands full with Iraq and the global war on terrorism in general, the administration would be hard-pressed to take on North Korea, with its 1.7 million-man army and array of missiles, attack aircraft and other capabilities, analysts said. ``The reality of the United States using force unilaterally against North Korea is extremely difficult, if not impossible,'' said Daniel Pinkston, a Korea specialist at the Monterey Institute for International Studies. Some 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to help keep an uneasy peace because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty. And though successive U.S. military commanders have said a war there would be winnable, they estimate that casualties could be massive and destruction to South Korea catastrophic. There is only one approach the administration has admitted to pursuing so far. ``It's diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy,'' said Charles Curtis, a former Energy Department official in the Clinton administration and president of the anti-proliferation Nuclear Threat Initiative. North Korea told the Bush administration of its nuclear program on Oct. 4 and U.S. officials concealed the news for nearly two weeks before it was leaked to the news media. A senior administration official said officials still were consulting with U.S. allies and Congress, and would have liked more time to do that before the story got out. So far officials have said they passed the information to China, which they described as stunned by the news, and they were sending emissaries to more than a half dozen nations for consultations about what to do next. They must also pressure countries supplying North Korea with the equipment it's using in its nuclear program, one analyst said. China is believed among them, though Pakistan and Russia are the main suppliers, a senior defense official said on condition of anonymity. Some of the equipment has industrial as well as military uses and transits countries that may not know what North Korea is doing with it. White House officials said President Bush and his senior advisers decided to confront the new revelation on North Korea in a low-key fashion. And while Bush spoke out against Iraq's Saddam Hussein on Thursday, he made no public statements on North Korea. Stressing the diplomatic approach, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said, ``I think we're going to see that no one wants to have a nuclear-armed North Korea and that effective international pressure may have an effect on North Korea.'' China, Russia, Japan and South Korea are among the countries which have a stake in a nuclear-free North Korea, Rice said Thursday on ABC's ``Nightline'' program. Analysts said the issue should be worked bilaterally as well as with those nations. ``This is a little bit on the back burner,'' Pinkston said. ``I think they're taking the right approach ... in consultation with Japan, South Korea.'' Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said North Korea must allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities and agree to destroy whatever weapons of mass destruction it has. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested inspections could be skipped since North Korea already admitted it has had a secret nuclear weapons program. Humanitarian food aid through the World Food Program is likely to continue because officials are loathe to use food as a weapon. But analysts and several lawmakers said the Bush administration must terminate a 1994 agreement under which North Korea pledged to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return for construction of two light-water reactors, financed mostly by South Korea and Japan. Officials said the administration is talking with allies about shutting down the program, under which the United States provides North Korea with 500,000 tons of heating oil annually. The program is designed to help North Korea meet its energy needs during a transition period before the planned construction of the reactors. ``I think certainly that Congress and the taxpayers would want us to stop sending fuel oil to the North Korea military at tax payers' expense,'' said Fred C. Ikle, a former undersecretary for defense policy now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He and others said that whatever options are decided upon, the United States should avoid falling into the trap of buying North Korea's cooperation. A longtime and profitable tactic of the regime has been to do something that will cause an uproar, then negotiate to stop it in return for money or other payment. ``Past experience is that they do that, they get rewarded,'' Ikle said. ``It has worked well for them.'' Several analysts said they suspect this was part of the reason North Korea acknowledged the nuclear program this month - to use as a bargaining chip to negotiate new aid. On the Web: State Department's North Korea site: http://www.state.gov/p/eap/ci/kn/ Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 7 India's concern over transfer of nuke tech involving Pak, NKorea PAK-NUKE-CLANDESTINE NEW DELHI, OCT 18 (PTI) Voicing concern over reports of clandestine transfers and acquisition of missile and nuclear technology involving Pakistan and North Korea, India today said the issue needs to be seriously investigated. Asked about report in New York Times that Pakistan was a major supplier of critical equipment for North Korea's newly-revealed clandestine nuclear weapons programme in return for missiles it could use to counter India's nuclear arsenal, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said ''this does not surprise us''. The report quoting US intelligence officials said the equipment, which may include gas centrifuges used to create weapons-grade uranium, appears to have been part of a "barter deal" beginning in late 1990s in which North Korea supplied Pakistan with the missiles. He said it was known that Pakistan's missile programme has been developed with the assistance of other countries including North Korea. ''Reports that Pakistan has in return aided North Korean nuclear programme deserves to be seriously investigated,'' he said. Observing that Pakistan today was the ''epicentre of international terrorism,'' he said ''the problem of clandestine transfers and acquisition of missile and nuclear technology involving Pakistan is a matter of deep concern to us''. He said ''building up of nuclear arsenals in our region through such methods are a matter of perpetual concern for us and they may form subject of dialogue'' India will have with its key interlocutors. ***************************************************************** 8 Pak, N Korea signed secret N-deal INDRANI BAGCHI TIMES NEWS NETWORK �[ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2002 07:28:49 PM ] NEW DELHI: The father of the Pakistani nuclear programme, AQ Khan visited North Korea 13 times between 1992 and 1994 to sew up a nuclear-missile deal, a deal that was finally signed into existence by former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto during an unpublicised visit to Pyongyang in 1995. This was revealed by senior Indian government officials on Friday in the aftermath of a /New York Times/ report today. The US newspaper reported that since 1997, Pakistan and North Korea had been executing an exchange of gas centrifuges for enriched uranium in return for missiles and missile technology. This arrangement, started from Nawaz Sharif's time continued into Gen Musharraf's regime and, according to the newspaper, even after September 11. Since September, Pakistan has been labelled the US's vital ally in this region in the war against terrorism. Responding to questions, an MEA spokesperson on Friday said the international community should be greatly concerned at the building of a Pakistani nuclear programme through clandestine transfer of equipment and technology from North Korea and other countries. The report deserves to be seriously investigated since Pakistan is the epicentre of international terrorism, he said. While the proliferation was well-known, it was the recent admission by North Korean officials to US intelligence that was the decisive evidence. A senior government official who had been tracking Pakistan's clandestine acquisition and proliferation programmes said on Friday that the initial deal between North Korea and Pakistan was a barter of missiles for rice, as North Korea was undergoing its most severe famine. However, after the agreed framework with the US in 1994, Western food aid poured into Pyongyang. This prompted the deal to be reworked to give Pakistan missiles in return for the nuclear reprocessing technology which had been illegally sourced by Pakistan from Holland. Therefore, the official argued, the Ghauri series of Pakistani missiles came from the North Korean Nodong. The more recent Shaheen goes a step further. The technology, according to missile experts here, comes from the Taepodong missile, which North Korea tested over the Japan Sea in 1998. Indian diplomacy is expected to go into overdrive in the weeks to come to emphasise the dangers of Pakistani proliferation. To this end India will be sponsoring a resolution in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on WMD and terrorism, the debate on which is scheduled soon. The US Department of Energy in a classified 1999 report concluded that Pakistan was assisting a North Korean uranium enrichment programme. India has raised the subject of Pakistani proliferation repeatedly with the US, Indian officials said. However, specific US intelligence on this was revealed by the Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage last June. And the US administration has used its senior officials like John Bolton to talk repeatedly of proliferation from South Asia. Since 9/11, the US has apparently raised this issue with the Pakistanis quietly, in their private conversations, but hesitated to make it public. In fact, the US Arms Export Control Act should be invoked against Pakistan which would bring back all the sanctions that have been lifted. But officials here don't expect any of these laws to be applied against Pakistan at this point when the US needs the country more than ever as they conduct special operations against Taliban and Al Qaeda groups inside Pakistan. According to the /Times/, one of the reasons for the US administration keeping quiet on the Pakistani proliferation was to prevent a distraction of attention from the present focus on Iraq. Copyright 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 Approved by the Social Policy Commission of KSU/* Friday, October 18, 2002 KSU - Environmental Policy Foreword In the summer of 2001 KSU's Social Policy Commission set up an Environment Policy Committee. The Committee has organised a number of activities and information campaigns, while lobbying for improved environmental policies at the University. The terms or reference of the committee were: /"To study issues of environmental relevance and act as an environmental pressure group through (i) the organisation of activities; (ii) the dissemination of information; (iii) participation in a network of environmental organisations"/ Almost one year later, the Committee is now a statutorily recognised organ of KSU and is in a position to bring forward its proposals that are the fruit of its work over the past year. This document is the result of extensive research and consultation with experts and interest groups. The Committee identified five major areas that it chose to study and develop. These were the natural environment, the marine environment, traffic, waste and energy. The general philosophy of our proposals is based upon the right of future generations to enjoy the environment equally in some cases, and in a better manner in others, than present generations. We note that the risks to human health inherent in a misdirected environmental policy may no longer be taken lightly. We also note that the public has the right to be appropriately informed about the state of the environment and its implications on mankind and his surroundings. Such information should be both that available to the general public and information disseminated to students at schools. Therefore we also call for environmental education to be included in the National Minimum Curriculum. We also believe that Government and Local Councils should consult with NGOs in the formulation of policies. Where this has been done so far, the benefits have been great. On the other hand, we note that lack of consultation and use of proper information all too often leads to a dire state of affairs. This document is an opportunity for the authorities to tap the expectations of today's students. We believe that our proposals can and should be adopted by the relevant authorities within a reasonable time. Justin Borg Barthet, Social Policy Commissioner, KSU Marie-Louise Schembri, President, Environment Policy Committee Energy The requirements of a technologically advancing society in terms of energy production have an unquestionable impact in terms of environmental damage. Nevertheless, KSU notes with satisfaction that technological advances have also been registered in terms of cleaner production of energy. It is through the marriage of these advances that technological development can truly be sustainable and beneficial to mankind in the long-term. The ongoing use of fossil fuels in Malta need not necessarily continue to produce the same negative effects that are being produced presently. KSU notes that sulphur emissions from Power Stations may be controlled through spraying of lime and water. Furthermore we call upon the authorities to invest in cleaner fuel and strongly support calls for use of a gas pipeline between Libya and Sicily that would provide sulphur-free fuel. Should it result that this is not possible, KSU proposes that sulphur should be treated; this may then be sold for use by industry in the form of sulphuric acid. With regard to the energy produced at Power Stations, we also call upon the authorities to make proper use of the heat-energy produced. Rather than releasing this into the sea and causing further damage thereat, this energy may possibly be put to good use and reducing energy use elsewhere, thereby reducing damage in a number of ways. We also call upon the Planning Authority to introduce regulations imposing greater energy efficiency in new buildings thereby reducing the requirements of energy production in households and other buildings, and consequently on a national level. The use of solar energy should also be given priority in Malta. Permits from the Planning Authority for the installation of solar heating panels should be issued with greater ease. We also call upon Government to exempt solar heating panels from any taxation. Furthermore we call upon the authorities to allow the connection of privately produced clean energy to the grid, thereby providing incentives for the lucrative use of such energy. Such steps have been taken successfully in some other European countries and should be encouraged in Malta. KSU applauds efforts to study the feasibility of offshore wind-energy production in Malta. Investment in research, through national agencies and at the University, should be encouraged and financed appropriately. This should also be considered to be an investment in financial terms and consequently must be given due importance not only in terms of the environmental benefits to be had. Government should also make an effort to bring positive changes in energy policies on an international level. To this end KSU proposes that Malta should support efforts towards the eradication of nuclear Power Stations due to the undeniable hazards caused by the waste produced and the potential greater hazards of damage through accident. To this end KSU also calls upon the authorities to increase transparency about the effects of international and national energy production. Government must fulfil its duties under the Stockholm Convention, and encourage all signatories so to do, while doubling efforts to increase the number of signatories. 341 St Paul Street Valletta VLT 07 | Tel: (+356) 21241464 ***************************************************************** 10 Japan: Rokkasho plows ahead despite obstacles* Friday, October 18, 2002 ** *Merits of nuclear reprocessing questioned amid cost overruns, safety scandals* By ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writer ROKKASHO, Aomori Pref. -- Despite the recent string of nuclear safety scandals and growing international doubt over Japan's nuclear energy program, the government remains determined to go forward with the opening of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant now being constructed in the village of Rokkasho. News photo *A nuclear fuel reprocessing plant is being constructed in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture.* As of August, nearly 90 percent of construction at the reprocessing plant had been completed. Japan Nuclear Fuels Ltd., which will operate the plant, expressed confidence that it would open as scheduled in July 2005. "From 2005, the plant will be able to reprocess about 800 tons of spent fuel per year, equivalent to the annual amount of spent fuel generated by about 30 power plants," said Yoshio Hirata, senior managing director of JNFL's reprocessing business division. The Rokkasho reprocessing plant is just one of many buildings that sit on about 3.8 million sq. meters of windswept marshes on the northern edge of Aomori Prefecture. Originally conceived as a storage area for oil in the event Japan lost its Middle East supply, the town of Rokkasho became a center for the nation's expanding nuclear energy program in the 1980s, when the government decided to build a uranium enrichment plant and a low-level radioactive waste-disposal center in the area. Both facilities were completed in 1992. A high-level waste facility, built to store waste from spent Japanese fuel reprocessed overseas, was opened in 1995. "At the uranium enrichment plant, the plan is to produce 1,500 tons of uranium per year, enough to meet one-third of Japan's nuclear fuel needs," Hirata said. "Current capacity is just over 1,000 tons a year. The low-level waste facility holds 200 liter drums of things like used gloves, uniforms, old rags, and other items that have been exposed to small amounts of nuclear radiation." About 145,000 drums of low-level waste from nuclear power plants all over Japan are currently buried at Rokkasho, and the plan is to expand the facility to the point it will be able to hold 3 million drums. However, a series of incidents at the waste-disposal site have called into question the effectiveness of Rokkasho's safety procedures. In September 1999, radioactive liquid leaks were discovered on waste drums shipped from power plants in Fukushima Prefecture and Hamaoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. An investigation showed that some of the liquid waste that had been mixed with cement had not fully dried and that there was corrosion on the drums, causing leakage. The high-level waste-storage area is an underground facility that currently can store nearly 1,500 canisters of vitrified high-level waste. There are plans to increase the capacity to nearly 3,000 canisters. "The high-level waste is stored here for 30 to 50 years," Hirata said. "After that, it will be taken out and buried deep in the ground elsewhere in Japan." Where, exactly, has not yet been decided, as the national government has yet to begin discussions with local governments about the possibility of accepting some of the waste for burial. But the most controversial facility at Rokkasho is the one currently under construction -- a reprocessing plant that will convert spent nuclear fuel from uranium reactors into mixed uranium/plutonium, or MOX, fuel. The plant, if put into operation, will be able to reprocess about 800 metric tons of uranium per year, and, in the process, create nearly 5 metric tons of plutonium. JNFL says it does not plan to let the plutonium just sit there. It wants to get into the MOX fuel fabrication business about four to five years after the reprocessing plant opens, and to manufacture about 130 tons of MOX per year for Japanese, and possibly foreign, nuclear power plants. Thus, there are plans for the construction of 120 billion yen worth of facilities for a MOX fabrication plant. But just how realistic is it to expect that Rokkasho will work as JNFL is advertising? Between the cost overruns for the reprocessing plant -- the estimated 2.17 trillion yen is three times the original estimate -- the public trust lost due to the scandal involving Tokyo Electric Power Co., and questions about Rokkasho's safety, many inside and outside Rokkasho have their doubts. Masako Sawai, a staff member of the Tokyo-based Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, an antinuclear group, says the problems of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant start with the way it was constructed. "The basic architectural blueprints for the plant came from a French company, but the plans had to be altered to take into account the possibility of earthquakes," Sawai said. "Japanese firms were in charge of the necessary alterations and additions, but because of the complexity and rush to finish the plant, some of the designs were mistranscribed, and this resulted in a number of faulty or missing parts having been discovered during construction." In February, 2000, it was learned that a storage tank for low-level waste and two storage tanks for high-level waste were lacking important parts because a blueprint had been mistranscribed. "Fortunately, these mistakes were discovered. But, in the rush to finish construction by 2005, you have to wonder whether or not other, similar mistakes were made," Sawai said. And, even assuming the Rokkasho plant operates without technical problems, questions remain over whether it makes sense economically, and not just among antinuclear activists. On top of the construction overruns, costs are expected to balloon at the reprocessing stage -- making for a more expensive product -- and again at the burning stage. The Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy estimates that reprocessing at Rokkasho will cost at least 350 million yen per metric ton of spent fuel, or roughly 1 1/2 times what it costs to reprocess fuel in England or France. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based in Maryland, adds: "The plutonium fuel from Rokkasho would be the most expensive in the world by far. Abandoning Rokkasho would, economically, be the wise thing to do." Like the Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, the U.S. institute estimates that the nuclear fuel extracted at Rokkasho will cost nearly 20 times what it costs to burn conventional uranium. Rokkasho officials and utility companies, however, continue to insist that the reprocessing plant and other facilities will play a key role in meeting Japan's energy needs. At the same time, however, they admit that the road to convincing the public of that appears longer than ever. "We need to work harder at explaining to the public what Rokkasho is all about and show that we have made safety our top priority," the JNFL's Hirata said. But given the growing doubts about the wisdom of Rokkasho even among nuclear power supporters, Hirata's -- and JNFL's -- task seems likely to grow increasingly difficult. *The Japan Times: Oct. 18, 2002* (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 11 Roh Calls for Meeting Over NK¡¯s Nuclear Development KoreaTimes : Roh Moo-hyun, presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), proposed a meeting between President Kim Dae-jung and presidential candidates over North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons program yesterday. Roh said that the government and each political party have to put aside differences to prevent tension from rising on the peninsula, adding that the sharing of exact intelligence is required to know the North¡¯s true intention. The candidate also stressed that the North¡¯s nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully through dialogue, noting that the United States¡¯ move to address the issue peacefully is natural and fortunate for South Korea. ``The government has to strengthen policy coordination with the U.S. and Japan while asking China and Russia to persuade the North on the issue,¡¯¡¯ Roh said in a statement, adding that national consensus should be reached on the issue. Roh, who supports President Kim¡¯s ``Sunshine Policy¡¯¡¯ of engaging the reclusive North, urged the North to abandon its project to develop nuclear weapons. ÀԷ½ð£ 2002/10/18 17:40 [webmaster@hankooki.com] ***************************************************************** 12 Candidates Propose Meeting Pres. Kim to Discuss NK Nuclear Issue KoreaTimes : By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter Lee Hoi-chang, presidential candidate of the Grand National Party (GNP), yesterday proposed to meet with President Kim Dae-jung to discuss state issues, including North Korea¡¯s secret nuclear weapons development program. Roh Moo-hyun, standard-bearer of the pro-government Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), proposed President Kim meet with all presidential candidates over the nuclear issue. Lee said in a news conference that he wished to meet with the president, as the candidate of the party with a majority in the National Assembly, to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue. He, however, rejected Roh¡¯s proposal, saying that he wants a one-on-one meeting with President Kim. Lee urged Pyongyang to allow in nuclear weapons inspectors to guarantee its nuclear transparency. He demanded the government overhaul its policy on North Korea and called for the Mt. Kumgang tourism project to be stopped until North Korea shows a ¡°sincere attitude¡± to resolve the nuclear issue. Roh said that the government and each political party have to narrow their differences over the nuclear issue to prevent tension from rising on the peninsula. Roh, who supports President Kim¡¯s ``Sunshine Policy¡¯¡¯ of engaging the reclusive North, stressed that the North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully through dialogue. jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr ÀԷ½ð£ 2002/10/18 20:24 ***************************************************************** 13 Doosan Heavy makes Korea's first export of nuclear power station equipment to U.S. welcome to Korea Herald!!_Business http://www.koreaherald.com In Korea's first-ever export of a key nuclear power station facility to the United States, Doosan Heavy Industries &Construction Co. yesterday dispatched four steam generators for use in a U.S. nuclear power plant, dubbed Sequoyah. The four Doosan-built 1,200 MW-class steam generators, valued at $50 million, were loaded on a U.S.-bound freighter at the company's in-house port in Changwon of South Kyongsang Province, during a ceremony attended by executives from the two U.S. buyers - Tennessee Valley Authority and Westinghouse. A steam generator, measuring 5 meters in diameter, 22 meters in height and 340 tons in weight and equipped with 5,000 20-meter U-shape tubes, is a key facility designed to generate high-temperature and high-pressure steams for supplies to turbine generators. Notably, Doosan substituted for imports of the advanced tube support grids in the process of building the steam generators, displaying its technological superiority and an upgraded competitiveness in other future international biddings. "It is the first time that Korea's self-designed and self-built nuclear power plant facilities are exported to the United States. It is an epoch-making technological breakthrough after Korea dedicated its first nuclear power station 25 years ago in 1977," said a company spokesman. The Doosan-built steam generators will be used as replacements for the 18-year-old Sequoyah station in Soddy Daisay of Tennessee State. Doosan secured the order from the Sequoyah plant in September 1999 through fierce competition against world-class generator makers from France and Canada. "The Sequoyah deal has put Doosan in an advantageous position in the future nuclear facility replacement market of the United States valued at $1.5 billion," said the spokesman. In August, Doosan obtained a $68 million order for steam generators for use in the U.S. power station, dubbed Watts Bar. (cmyoo@koreaherald.co.kr) 2002.10.19 ***************************************************************** 14 N. Korea Pact Was Always in Trouble Las Vegas SUN October 17, 2002 By RON KAMPEAS ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- Almost as soon as North Korea averted war with the United States in 1994 by pledging not to develop nuclear weapons, there were signs it was abrogating the agreement - a deception it has now acknowledged to U.S. diplomats. Kim Jong Il's caginess from the outset immediately aroused the suspicions of U.S. intelligence agencies, which began tracking questionable purchases and military maneuvers by the world's last Stalinist redoubt. By the beginning of this year, the United States believed at least two nuclear weapons had probably been built; in July, the paper trail ended with purchase orders for a program to enrich uranium. In a dramatic two-day encounter earlier this month, a top U.S. diplomat confronted the North Koreans with the evidence. After a day of vehement denials, the North Koreans about-faced with defiant acknowledgment: Yes, they had a nuclear capability - and more. The revelation recalled the dark days of 1993, when Kim's father, longtime strongman Kim Sung-Il, stunned the world by quitting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The recalcitrant leader's already abundant paranoia had been fed by the collapse of the Iron Curtain and China's increasing flirtations with the West: He apparently wanted to prove his nation could stand alone, or at least take others down. His threat led to months of escalating tension, and the Clinton administration even considered precision airstrikes - a possible precursor to another all-out war of the kind that consumed the Koreas from 1950-53 - if the North didn't back down. Fate stepped in on July 8, 1994, when the elder Kim died of a massive heart attack. His son gradually assumed power and appeared to lean toward conciliation. On Oct. 21 of that year, U.S. and North Korean negotiators signed the "Agreed Framework." North Korea's nuclear weapons program would be frozen, and the West would help Kim Jong Il pull his people out of near-starvation-level poverty. The heart of the deal was a pair of modern nuclear reactors that would use non-weapons-grade radioactive materials. Mistrust dogged the accord almost from the beginning, when U.S. intelligence found that the earlier threat to "begin" weapons development was itself a feint. A nuclear weapons program had been in place since at least the 1980s, when North Korea had purchased enough plutonium for two bombs. Soon evidence began to accumulate suggesting that North Korean scientists were building the bombs to house the existing plutonium, according to Leonard Spector of the Monterey Center for Nonproliferation Studies. There were reports of tests on the kind of engines that would power such a bomb, and of North Korean scientists prodding colleagues for design information consistent with a nuclear bomb. "It wasn't a revelation, it was more that a consensus began to emerge" that the north had a bomb, said Spector, who monitors weapons development in east Asia. One problem for the United States was North Korea's refusal to allow weapons inspectors to check suspected nuclear waste sites. The agreement's language was vague, but the United States said its negotiators had obtained promises of inspections within two years of the agreement. Such findings inhibited some - but not all - of the promised Western aid to North Korea. Food aid and other relief programs were launched almost immediately. Still, the North Koreans were furious at the delay in building the reactors and flexed muscles to show their impatience, selling missile technology to Iran, Iraq and Syria, deals that threatened to undermine the fledgling Mideast peace. In August 1998, they fired a multistage rocket that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, proving the North Koreans could strike any part of Japan's territory. Despite such posturing, the Clinton administration insisted on inspections before it would allow the building of the nuclear reactors. North Korea finally relented in May 1999, allowing inspectors into what U.S. intelligence believed was an underground nuclear facility in exchange for an increase in food aid. The inspectors found nothing. That helped warm up talks, and North Korea soon agreed to a moratorium on long-distance arms testing. That year, President Clinton eased economic sanctions against North Korea for the first time since the Korean War and a U.S.-led international consortium signed a $4.6 billion contract to build the reactors. Given that progress, the U.S. government was stunned again in July 2000 when the North Koreans issued dark threats. If they were not compensated for electricity they lost because of the delay, the North Koreans warned, they would resume missile testing. They said they "will have no option but to turn out electricity by graphite-moderated reactors" - the type that can be used to extract weapons-grade uranium. At the same time, the North Koreans were also demonstrating their openness to engagement, discussing family reunions, shared industrial parks and new road and rail links with the South Koreans. When President Bush took office in January 2001, he immediately made clear he would not put up with such good cop-bad cop behavior. He took the position apparently in part on the basis of intelligence indicating the North Koreans had indeed built two nuclear bombs, perhaps using the 1980s-vintage plutonium. Talks broke down. By July, U.S. intelligence was reporting that North Korea had tested the engine of its long-range Taepodong-1 missile; a Taepodong-2 missile in the works could reach Hawaii and Alaska. In January of this year, Bush described North Korea as part of a post-Sept. 11 "axis of evil" with Iraq and Iran, although by April he had resumed talks. The United States pinned down Pyongyang's program to enrich uranium by July, with copies of purchase orders for materials necessary to the process. On Oct. 3, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly met in Pyongyang with his Korean counterpart for scheduled talks and showed him the evidence. The North Koreans denied it outright, but changed their minds overnight. "It was, 'We have this, we have more and you forced us into this,'" said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 15 Security Zone; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 13:53:13 -0400 (EDT) http://www.epa.gov/fedreg/ ====================================================== [Federal Register: October 18, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 202)] [Proposed Rules] [Page 64345-64346] >From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18oc02-19] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165 [CGD05-02-080] RIN 2115-AA97 Security Zone; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Chesapeake Bay, Calvert County, MD AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Coast Guard proposes establishing a security zone in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Chesapeake Bay, Calvert County, Maryland. This security zone is necessary to help ensure public safety and security. The security zone will prohibit vessels and persons from entering a well-defined area around Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Coast Guard on or before January 16, 2003. ADDRESSES: You may mail comments and related material to Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Activities, 2401 Hawkins Point Road, Building 70, Port Safety, Security and Waterways Management Branch, Baltimore, Maryland, 21226-1791. The Port Safety, Security and Waterways Management Branch of Coast Guard Activities Baltimore maintains the public docket for this rulemaking. Comments and material received from the public, as well as documents indicated in this preamble as being available in the docket, will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Activities, 2401 Hawkins Point Road, Building 70, Port Safety, Security and Waterways Management Branch, Baltimore, Maryland, 21226-1791 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lieutenant Dulani Woods, at Coast Guard Activities Baltimore, Port Safety, Security and Waterways Management Branch, at telephone number (410) 576-2513. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Request for Comments We encourage you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting comments and related material. If you do so, please include your name and address, identify the docket number for this rulemaking CGD05-02- 080, indicate the specific section of this document to which each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. Please submit all comments and related material in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for copying. If you would like to know that your submission has reached us, please enclose a stamped, self- addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and material received during the comment period. We may change this proposed rule in view of them. Public Meeting We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a request for a meeting by writing to Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Activities Baltimore at the address under ADDRESSES explaining why one would be beneficial. If we determine that one would aid this rulemaking, we will hold one at a time and place announced by a separate notice in the Federal Register. Background and Purpose Based on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon building in Virginia, there is an increased risk that subversive activity could be launched by vessels or persons in close proximity to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. On February 28, 2002, the Coast Guard published a temporary rule entitled ``Security Zone; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Chesapeake Bay, Calvert County, MD,'' in the Federal Register (67 FR 9203). The temporary rule established a security zone around the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. Based on a continuing need for the protection of the plant, the effective date of the rule establishing a temporary security zone surrounding the plant was recently extended until March 31, 2003 (67 FR 61494, October 1, 2002). There is no indication that the present rule has been burdensome on the maritime public; users of the areas surrounding the plant are able to pass safely outside the zone. No letters commenting on the present rule have been received by the public. Discussion of Proposed Rule The Coast Guard proposes to establish a permanent security zone on specified waters of the Chesapeake Bay near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant to reduce the potential threat imposed by vessels or persons that approach the power plant. The proposed security zone will be in effect continuously. Its effect would be to prohibit vessels or persons from entering into the security zone, unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port, Baltimore, Maryland. Federal, state and local agencies may assist the Coast Guard in the enforcement of this rule. Regulatory Evaluation This proposed rule is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, and does not require an assessment of potential costs and benefits under section 6(a)(3) of that Order. The Office of Management and Budget has not reviewed it under that Order. It is not ``significant'' under the regulatory policies and procedures of the Department of Transportation (DOT) (44 FR 11040, February 26, 1979). We expect the economic impact of this proposed rule to be so minimal that a full Regulatory Evaluation under paragraph 10e of the regulatory policies and procedures of DOT is unnecessary. This proposed security zone is of limited size, and vessels may transit around the zone. Small Entities Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612), we have considered whether this proposed rule would have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The term ``small entities'' comprises small businesses, not-for-profit organizations that are independently owned and operated and are not dominant in their fields, and governmental jurisdictions with populations of less than 50,000. The Coast Guard certifies under 5 U.S.C. 605(b) that this proposed rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This proposed rule would affect the following entities, some of which might be small entities: the owners or operators of vessels intending to transit or anchor in a portion of the Chesapeake Bay near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. If you think that your business, organization, or governmental [[Page 64346]] jurisdiction qualifies as a small entity and that this rule would have a significant economic impact on it, please submit a comment (see ADDRESSES) explaining why you think it qualifies and how and to what degree this rule would economically affect it. Assistance for Small Entities Under section 213(a) of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-121), we want to assist small entities in understanding this proposed rule so that they can better evaluate its effects on them and participate in the rulemaking. If the proposed rule would affect your small business, organization, or governmental jurisdiction and you have questions concerning its provisions or options for compliance, please contact Lieutenant Dulani Woods, at Coast Guard Activities Baltimore, Port Safety, Security and Waterways Management Branch, at telephone number (410) 576-2513. Collection of Information This proposed rule would call for no new collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520). Federalism A rule has implications for federalism under Executive Order 13132, Federalism, if it has a substantial direct effect on State or local governments and would either preempt State law or impose a substantial direct cost of compliance on them. We have analyzed this proposed rule under that Order and have determined that it does not have implications for federalism. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1531-1538) requires Federal agencies to assess the effects of their discretionary regulatory actions. In particular, the Act addresses actions that may result in the expenditure by a State, local, or tribal government, in the aggregate, or by the private sector of $100,000,000 or more in any one year. Though this proposed rule would not result in such an expenditure, we do discuss the effects of this rule elsewhere in this preamble. Taking of Private Property This proposed rule would not affect a taking of private property or otherwise have taking implications under Executive Order 12630, Governmental Actions and Interference with Constitutionally Protected Property Rights. Civil Justice Reform This proposed rule meets applicable standards in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform, to minimize litigation, eliminate ambiguity, and reduce burden. Protection of Children We have analyzed this proposed rule under Executive Order 13045, Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks. This rule is not an economically significant rule and would not create an environmental risk to health or risk to safety that might disproportionately affect children. Indian Tribal Governments This proposed rule does not have tribal implications under Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, because it would not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal Government and Indian tribes. We invite your comments on how this proposed rule might impact tribal governments, even if that impact may not constitute a ``tribal implication'' under the Order. Energy Effects We have analyzed this proposed rule under Executive Order 13211, Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use. We have determined that it is not a ``significant energy action'' under that order because it is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866 and is not likely to have a significant adverse effect on the supply, distribution, or use of energy. It has not been designated by the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs as a significant energy action. Therefore, it does not require a Statement of Energy Effects under Executive Order 13211. Environment We have considered the environmental impact of this proposed rule and concluded that, under figure 2-1, paragraph (34)(g), of Commandant Instruction M16475.lD, this rule is categorically excluded from further environmental documentation because this rule establishes a security zone. A ``Categorical Exclusion Determination'' is available in the docket where indicated under ADDRESSES. List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 165 Harbors, Marine safety, Navigation (water), Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Security measures, Waterways. For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Coast Guard proposes to amend 33 CFR part 165 as follows: PART 165--REGULATED NAVIGATION AREAS AND LIMITED ACCESS AREAS 1. The authority citation for part 165 continues to read as follows: Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1231; 50 U.S.C. 191; 33 CFR 1.05-1(g), 6.04-1, 6.04-6, and 160.5; 49 CFR 1.46. 2. Add Sec. 165.505 to read as follows: Sec. 165.505 Security Zone; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Chesapeake Bay, Calvert County, Maryland. (a) Location. The following area is a security zone: All waters of the Chesapeake Bay, from surface to bottom, encompassed by lines connecting the following points, beginning at 38[deg]26'06'' N, 076[deg]26'18'' W, thence to 38[deg]26'10'' N, 076[deg]26'12'' W, thence to 38[deg]26'21'' N, 076[deg]26'28'' W, thence to 38[deg]26'14'' N, 076[deg]26'33'' W, thence to beginning at 38[deg]26'06'' N, 076[deg]26'18'' W. These coordinates are based upon North American Datum (NAD) 1983. (b) Regulations. (1) Entry into or remaining in this zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Coast Guard Captain of the Port, Baltimore, Maryland. (2) Persons desiring to transit the area of the security zone may contact the Captain of the Port at telephone number 410-576-2693 or on VHF channel 16 (156.8 MHz) to seek permission to transit the area. If permission is granted, all persons and vessels must comply with the instructions of the Captain of the Port or his or her designated representative. (c) Authority. In addition to 33 U.S.C. 1231 and 50 U.S.C. 191, the authority for this section includes 33 U.S.C. 1226. Dated: October 7, 2002. R.B. Peoples, Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the Port, Baltimore, Maryland. [FR Doc. 02-26462 Filed 10-17-02; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-15-P ***************************************************************** 16 NRC Assigns New Resident Inspector to Hope Creek Nuclear Plant NRC: News Release - Region I - 2002-062 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-062 October 17, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: [opa1@nrc.gov] Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa., have selected Marc S. Ferdas as the new resident inspector at the Hope Creek nuclear power plant in Hancocks Bridge, N.J. He joins Senior Resident Inspector Joseph Schoppy at the site. Ferdas replaces Christopher Cahill who was reassigned to the NRC Regional Office in King of Prussia. Ferdas joined the NRC in 1998 as a reactor engineer intern. After a period of training, he was assigned as a region-based inspector in the Region I Division of Reactor Safety. As such he performed inspections at nuclear power plants in the northeastern United States. Ferdas earned a degree in chemical engineering from Rutgers College of Engineering in Piscataway, N.J. He is currently pursuing a masters degree in engineering management from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He also is a graduate of the U.S. Department of Agricultures Executive Leadership Program. Every commercial nuclear power plant in the U.S. has at least two NRC resident inspectors. They have an office and work at the facility, conducting regular inspections and monitoring significant work projects. The Hope Creek resident inspectors can be reached at 856/935-3850. Friday, October 18, 2002 ***************************************************************** 17 Oyster Creek N-plant sirens not reaching everyone Ocean County News: The Press of Atlantic City October 18, 2002 By KATIA RAINA Staff Writer, (609) 978-2012 LACEY TOWNSHIP - In the hometown of Oyster Creek Generating Station, residents and workers had little trouble hearing the three-minute sound of emergency sirens earlier this week from the nuclear plant's annual emergency testing. But many people who were closer to the edge of the 10-mile emergency evacuation border said the signal has not reached their ears, at least not indoors. Some of them have listened for the signal, knowing it was scheduled. Other have not expected it. Either way, those residents who had missed Tuesday's sirens found it bothersome that the sound was so hard to pick up. "Were we supposed to hear it?" asked local resident Melissa DeFeo, who was shopping in Manahawkin that morning. "What good is it if we can't hear it?" DeFeo said she's lived in the area for 20 years and had no idea that the Oyster Creek station was conducting these tests annually. "We couldn't hear it in here," said Terry Buonanno, who works at the Comcast regional office in Stafford Township, which is about 71/2 miles from the nuclear facility. "We were probably busy, you know talking, answering the phones. The TV was on." "And that's scary," Buonanno added, after a moment of reflection. Curious, she then went inside the office to check with co-workers. One of them heard it when she came out on the front porch of her Manahawkin home, Buonanno reported, but the rest did not. Barbara Bailine of Pine Beach, who lives about nine miles north from the Oyster Creek facility, had been wondering for several years now whether the plant even does emergency testing. This year, Bailine caught an advance notice in a newspaper, and at the scheduled time strained to listen for the siren. Hearing nothing, Bailine went outside where she picked up the sound that she described as rather faint. When she went back inside her house, she could only hear the sound when she "really strained," she said, adding: "If I had the radio on, that would absolute obliterate that." Bailine checked with a neighbor and the town hall. "They said nobody has heard anything either," she said. "The thing is, you don't want to scare people with the siren, on the one hand," she said. "But on the other hand, you scare them worse when they don't hear anything." Concerned, Bailine has since called and written to federal, state and county authorities. "They said the siren was within the federal guidelines, and then I said, 'Then these guidelines should be changed, because their whole purpose is to alert the public,'" she said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that at least 90 percent of the nuclear plants' sirens be activated during such tests. The sirens are located throughout the area. The Oyster Creek station's co-owner Exelon Nuclear said only one of 42 sirens did not go off according to the schedule on Tuesday. "If they are in the 10-mile radius, they should have heard it," Fallano said. "Unless they were in that one area (Harvey Cedars, where the siren didn't activate), the residents should have heard it in all other cases. And they should be able to hear it within their home." To e-mail Katia Raina at The Press: DHarper@pressofac.com ***************************************************************** 18 FirstEnergy faces more fines - portclintonnewsherald.com Thursday, October 17, 2002 By JENNIFER FUNK Staff writer CARROLL TOWNSHIP -- A clerical error on a work permit likely caused greater exposure than necessary to workers in April at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station -- which could result in a monetary fine against the energy company. That's according to preliminary findings by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection team released Wednesday morning during a meeting at the plant. An error in a "radiation work permit," which shows the expected levels of contamination in the steam generator area, read about 1,000 times higher than what it should have, said inspection team leader Tom Kozak. "Given the levels calculated and based on the best guess of (FirstEnergy) the exposure is not expected to be of (physical) consequence to the workers," Kozak said after the meeting. That mistake, along with two others, could net Davis-Besse's parent company, FirstEnergy, possible civil penalties from the NRC, including monetary fines up to $120,000. NRC official Jack Grobe said, however, that he doesn't expect the maximum to be levied against FirstEnergy. The two other mistakes came when plant officials failed to control radiation particles from leaving the plant on the contaminated contractors' clothes, and when officials failed to test the contractors right after the incident for overexposure. FirstEnergy Chief Operating Officer Lew Myers said his camp agreed with the findings. "We did not handle the issue as well as we could," he said. Two of the seven workers affected have undergone tests and those samples have been sent to independent laboratories. The results are not expected back for three weeks, and that is when officials will determine how great the exposure actually was. The contractors did not detect contamination increases in the work area because they were misled by the erroneous permit, which showed the unusually high levels to be normal, Kozak explained. The workers unknowingly went into the contaminated area without respirators and hoods -- which plant officials deemed would be too cumbersome and would slow down work, thereby increasing radiation exposure, Kozak said. After monitors alerted workers to possible contamination, the seven men showered and were retested up to seven times. Only one worker was able to pass cleanly through monitors. The rest were sent to another area where they were tested for possible internal ingestion of radioactive particles. It was there that plant officials assumed the contamination was internal and let the workers go with their clothing. The workers moved on to work at other power plants and several set off monitors at other sites. After an intense investigation, 16 of the microscopic radioactive particles were found on workers' clothing and in their homes. The particles carried outside the plant are not believed to be harmful to the general public, but the NRC sets strict regulations that disallows any type of radioactive material leaving the plant. + Watchdogs lose faith in Nuclear Regulatory Commission. + Safety culture remains an issue at Davis-Besse facility. Originally published Thursday, October 17, 2002 Copyright ©2002 News Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 19 Davis-Besse Nuclear plant erred in incident* home By Kelly Davis /Anderson Independent-Mail/ 10/18/2002 SENECA ? An Ohio nuclear power plant was deemed at fault for allowing five nuclear power plant contractors, including three who subsequently came to the Upstate, to leave with contaminated clothing, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported this week. In March, three workers who left the Davis-Besse plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio, came to the Oconee Nuclear Station to help hundreds of other contract workers with a routine refueling operation, Duke Energy spokeswoman Dayle Stewart said. Despite taking decontaminating showers as they left the Ohio plant, microscopic particles were found on the workers' shoes and underwear when they arrived at the Oconee Nuclear Station's onsite "inprocessing facility," Ms. Stewart said. The contamination was reported immediately to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, she said. The radioactive particles were microscopic and not a threat to anyone's health or safety, she said. The workers where decontaminated and returned to work. The disclosure that the Ohio plant's procedures were inadequate was made this week as the federal agency looked into radiation exposure levels at the plant. Ms. Stewart said the contamination was discovered as part of the Oconee Nuclear Station's routine "body-burden analysis," also called a "whole-body count." The workers stand in a machine that scans for all types of internal and external radioactivity in a matter of minutes. Depending on the results, another monitor can be used to check specific body areas to localize a problem, she said. "It was really a regulatory issue, not a health issue," she said. *Anderson Independent-Mail* PO Box 2507, Anderson, SC 29622 (800) 859-6397 ©2002 Independent Publishing Company, a division of E.W. Scripps ***************************************************************** 20 Connecticut Yankee heads back to court* By MATTHEW HIGBEE, Middletown Press Staff October 18, 2002 *HADDAM -- Connecticut Yankee heads back to court on Monday when the U.S. Court of Appeals hears an appeal of the power company's January settlement with the town of Haddam, granting it the right to build a dry-cask storage facility for highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel in a residential zone, three-quarters of a mile away from the footprint of the shut down plant.* Andrew Egri of 95 Cove Road in Haddam Neck has brought the appeal to the $13 million dollar settlement. His property of 15 acres abuts a portion of Connecticut Yankee's 538 acres of mostly woods and wetlands, all of which was zoned for residential development in the 1960s. Egri is not disputing the power company's right to store the fuel in Haddam Neck, but rather its location. He wants the waste confined to the 10-acre site designated by Haddam zoning authorities in 1962 for buildings housing nuclear reactors and turbine generators. "The town of Haddam sold CY a building permit for $13 million when CY had no legal right to it," said Egri. "This kind of decision establishes the worst kind of precedent for local zoning regulation." The agreement settled a lawsuit brought by Connecticut Yankee after it was denied a building permit to construct the storage facility. Construction of a concrete slab for the 43 16-foot-high steel and concrete casks is now close to completion and the transfer of 1,019 fuel assemblies from a pool on the plant site to the casks is scheduled to begin next spring, according to Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith. Second District Court Judge Alan Nevas had dismissed a previous suit filed by the company after the Haddam Planning and Zoning Commission had unanimously rejected the company's application to rezone its chosen storage site from residential to industrial. Instead of appealing Nevas' decision, Connecticut Yankee applied for a building permit. Subsequent to a denial from the town, it again filed suit. This time around, Nevas encouraged a settlement. The town accepted Connecticut Yankee's offer after a Board of Selectmen vote. Selectman Phil Pessina and then-selectman Keith Ainsworth were in favor and First Selectman Toni Bondi voted against. Since the settlement, Nevas has held Egri's attorney, Nancy Burton, in contempt for filing further lawsuits for other clients, attempting to stop construction of the storage facility and fined her $170,000. Burton has appealed this order to the U.S. Court of Appeals, along with several other lawsuits fighting the construction and dismissed by Nevas. Egri and Burton, are concerned that the settlement opens up the entire property as a potential nuclear waste dump. "Any time CY wants to change the zoning it can go back to this judge and history will repeat itself," said Burton. Connecticut Yankee insists that the 15-acre wooded valley east of the plant is the best place to site the spent nuclear fuel. "For us the most important issue has been safety. We looked at 8 different areas on the property," said Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith. Smith contends that a spent fuel storage site on the plant footprint would place it within view of the Connecticut River and therefore put it at risk in a post-September 11, 2001 world. But the company decided on its location before the terrorist attacks raised the security concerns. Earlier, the possibility of a gas-fired power plant on the same footprint was a major factor in its decision to find a storage location elsewhere. According to Smith, placing waste storage near an operating gas plant would have been unsafe. That argument is largely moot now that AES, the power company behind the gas plant, has suffered substantial financial losses and withdrawn its interest in the site. Connecticut Yankee has another reason, not directly related to its concern for safety, for moving the fuel off the footprint. In order for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to release the company from its nuclear operator's license at the end of the decommissioning process, it cannot find levels of radioactivity that exceed a relatively low threshold. The NRC standard says the extra radiation from the footprint can be no more than 25 millirems above what a person would normally be exposed to in the course of a year. People who don't work with radiation are typically exposed to 350 millirems annually from X-rays and medical procedures, cosmic rays, and naturally radioactive rocks and minerals. According to Smith, the radioactivity of fuel stored on the footprint would inhibit the NRC from taking accurate readings of the remainder of the site. This would make it difficult for the NRC to determine whether the rest of the site was sufficiently clean for them to terminate Connecticut Yankee's license, according to Smith. Since the company was pushing hard for a partial site release when the gas plant was still a possibility, while spent fuel sat in a pool several hundred yards away, several Connecticut Yankee critics are wondering why the company couldn't do the same for a storage site. "Why can't you clean the parking lot and know it's clean, and then store the fuel there?" asked Citizens Awareness Network member Sal Mangiali. Whatever the outcome of the Egri case, lawyers for Connecticut Yankee are sure to be back in New York City. On its way its way to the Appeals Court is the case brought by Douglas Warmsley, an heir of Broteer-Venture Smith, an African prince who was captured in the early 18th Century, brought in chains to Barbados and then New England, where he served several masters before buying his freedom. Smith later became a legendary figure for his success as a farmer and fisherman and as a patriot during the Revolutionary War. He eventually bought more than 100 acres on Haddam Neck, the same property where the spent fuel site is being constructed. The Smith Homestead is now being considered for the National Register of Historic Places. "Nobody would be talking about building a nuclear waste site anywhere near Monitcello or Mount Vernon," said Douglas Jones, an amateur historian who has joined in Warmsley's lawsuit. To contact Matthew Higbee, call (860) 347-3331 ext. 223, or email mhigbee@middletownpress.com. /©The Middletown Press 2002/ ***************************************************************** 21 [southnews] Attack on Iraq would expose soldiers to depleted Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 14:29:21 -0500 (CDT) Plan to Sell a Home? http://us.click.yahoo.com/J2SnNA/y.lEAA/MVfIAA/7gSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ---------- Attack on Iraq would expose soldiers to depleted uranium By Scott Taylor ON TARGET ---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, September 30, 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited ---------------------------------------------------------------- A SENIOR Iraqi medical official warns that any U.S.-led military action against Iraq will have to confront "the hidden killer" as well as Saddam Hussein's forces. "If they wish to launch Gulf War II, they had better be prepared to lose many of their soldiers to Gulf War Syndrome II," says Mona Al Jibowei, dean of the science faculty at Baghdad University. "The allied soldiers went home after being exposed to depleted uranium for only a short period of time. Iraq has lived with its devastating effects for the past 12 years." Since the end of the Gulf War, tens of thousands of allied veterans have developed debilitating illnesses and have qualified to collect medical pensions. Despite the fact these ex-service members have been compensated for their disabilities, officials say there is no scientific proof their illness is linked to service in the Persian Gulf or exposure to depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is the waste byproduct of nuclear reactors. In the 1980s, U.S. researchers recognized that the material's density gave it tremendous armour-piercing potential. In addition to being able to punch through layers of hardened steel, shells coated with depleted uranium also ignite on impact, creating a fiery burst of radioactive particles inside an enemy armoured vehicle. It is this "aerosol" that most experts believe causes the variety of long- term health problems associated with Gulf War Syndrome. "Although depleted uranium itself contains only low levels of radiation, once tiny aerosol particles are breathed in and become lodged in the lymph nodes, this radiation continues to attack the immune system and to alter reproductive chromosomes," Al Jibowei said. "This is why it creates such diverse results in different individuals." Al Jibowei is on the executive committee of a special Iraqi research project to monitor the health hazard created by depleted uranium. A specialist in toxicology and pathology, the British-educated Al Jibowei has spent a lot of time since the Gulf War liaising with a number of international experts. "This is entirely new science," said Al Jibowei. "The Gulf War was the first time that (such) munitions were used on an actual battlefield, and no one at the time had any idea what effect they would have on the body." By analysing the available case information, the Iraqi researchers realized that the epicentre for effects is around Basra, in southern Iraq. The U.S. and British air forces expended an estimated 300 tonnes of depleted-uranium ammunition in and around this key staging area for Iraq's military. International researchers consider Basra to be "ground zero" as it represents the heaviest concentrations of depleted uranium next to a major urban centre. "What we have noticed here is a tremendous increase in soft cancers like leukemia, particularly among children," said Al Jibowei. "There has also been a horrific epidemic of birth defects over the past 12 years." The Iraqi surveys show children with such anomalies are almost exclusively born to parents who were directly exposed to depleted uranium. "Either they were in the vicinity of Basra during the war, or their fathers were serving in the army and were exposed to (the material) in Kuwait," Al Jibowei said. While attending an international conference in New York last year, the Iraqi research team met with U.S. Gulf War veterans to compare statistics. "It was amazing the similarities in the birth defects between the U.S. and Iraqi babies," he said. Any potential ground invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led forces would most likely be launched from Kuwait, and troops would have to pass straight up the Death Highway to Basra. The hulks of thousands of Iraqi vehicles still litter the sides of this highway. Although the aerosol from the coated shells has long since dissipated, Iraqi scientists believe the particles remain in the desert sands. Uranium possesses a radioactive half-life of 200 million years and therefore, would still pose a serious risk. Despite increasing evidence linking the material to degenerative health disorders, the British and American militaries steadfastly refuse to suspend their use of such weapons. On Aug. 16 of this year at the annual UN Human Rights Convention, a motion was tabled to ban the use of depleted-uranium munitions until a full-scale medical survey can be conducted. Britain and the U.S. were the only two countries to vote against the motion. It is a decision both countries could come to regret should hostilities erupt. "If the Americans do attack us, they will inherit a hostile environment of radioactive toxicity," said Al Jibowei. "They will face the same tragedy that Iraq is already experiencing and suffering. Everyone will end up buried in Iraq." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: southnews-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 22 Near power plant? Time to get pills Charlotte Observer | 10/18/2002 | Free potassium iodide is available on 2 days SCOTT DODD AND ERICA BESHEARS Staff Writers N.C. residents who live near the Charlotte area's two nuclear power plants can line up starting this weekend for free pills that could save their lives in a disaster. The distribution will be the first of its kind for local health departments, which received the potassium iodide for free from the federal government. More than 200,000 people live within 10 miles of Duke Energy's McGuire and Catawba plants. All N.C. residents who fall in that radius are eligible for the pills, which will be distributed on Saturday and Tuesday. Thousands who live in South Carolina can't get them yet, though, because health officials in their state haven't decided whether to accept the free pills. Officials say they worry the tablets might give residents a false sense of security and dissuade them from evacuating after a nuclear accident. Known by its chemical symbol KI, potassium iodide blocks radiation that causes thyroid cancer -- the No. 1 illness following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union. Children are especially at risk. Medical experts say taking KI is the most important way residents can protect themselves after a radioactive release -- short of a speedy evacuation, which would be difficult in many parts of the Charlotte region. Residents who come out Saturday or Tuesday will receive two free tablets. One provides protection against thyroid cancer for about 24 hours. People can pick up pills for family members, as well. "It's an honor system," said Mecklenburg County Health Department spokesman D.C. Lucchesi. Officials have 350,000 pills available for Mecklenburg, Catawba, Gaston, Iredell and Lincoln counties and can request more from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission if they run out. But they don't know whether to expect big crowds or not. They've received more calls about West Nile virus lately than potassium iodide. If pills are left over after next week, officials could make them available to people who work in the 10-mile zones. Bruce Bowman's job is on Brawley School Road, the only access to a peninsula of more than 10,000 residents that would be hard to evacuate after a disaster at the McGuire plant. But he has no plans to get the pills. "I think it's ridiculous," Bowman said. "There are more things to be afraid of than a nuclear facility. (The pill's) going to be something that people place on the shelf." In other states, less than 25 percent of the people eligible for the pills have shown up when they've been distributed. For those who do want them but live outside the 10-mile zones, several local drugstores began carrying KI this month. They say demand jumped after the counties announced plans to distribute the pills. "As soon as we get them, we sell right out of them," said Melissa Manriquez, a technician at the CVS on N.C. 150 in Mooresville. The store expects another shipment today, she said. The pills sell for about $1 each and usually come in packs of 14. Some pharmacies don't carry the drug and say they haven't had enough requests to order it. For example, half the pharmacies checked Thursday in southern Iredell County, close to the McGuire plant, stock it. Many national health experts, including the American Thyroid Association, say everyone who lives or works within 50 miles of a nuclear plant should have KI. They've urged officials to distribute the pills since 1982, when it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. It took Sept. 11 and fears of terrorist attacks against power plants to persuade the NRC to act. In December, the NRC offered pills to every state with residents who live within 10 miles of a plant. So far, 16 of the 34 eligible states have asked for them. At a national conference this month, thyroid experts said that's not enough, urging all those states to participate. "It's easy, cheap and largely nontoxic," said Dr. David Becker, professor of radiology and medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York, who wrote his first paper touting KI's potential benefits in 1985, before Chernobyl proved him right. "It works," Becker said, "so what's the problem?" The Carolinas have a dozen nuclear plants, including McGuire on Lake Norman and Catawba on Lake Wylie. But both N.C. and S.C. officials originally said no when the NRC offered the pills. The states agreed to reconsider only after facing public criticism. North Carolina decided to take the tablets after health officials studied medical data from the Chernobyl disaster showing a 100-fold increase in thyroid cancer cases in a region up to 150 miles away. Areas of a similar distance in Poland, where people took KI, suffered no increase. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control continues to debate KI, with no date set for a decision. Many emergency officials -- even those giving out pills this weekend -- say they prefer to concentrate on evacuation, rather than letting people think they could rely on the tablets. "It's not a Superman pill," said Curtis Hopper, Gaston County's environmental health administrator. "You can't take it and sit back on your coach and wait. It is to be taken along with evacuation." But evacuating everyone within 10 miles of the McGuire or Catawba plants could take at least eight to 24 hours, according to local emergency plans. Less than four hours is considered optimal by the NRC. "If we had a meltdown at McGuire, I think I'd go to the church and pray," said Davidson planning director Warren Burgess. "The roads clearly couldn't handle that." -- STAFF WRITER KAREN CIMINO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE. -- SCOTT DODD: (704) 358-5168; [SDODD@CHARLOTTEOBSERVE.COM] . ***************************************************************** 23 Story of atoll's radioactive past about to be closed [http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/subscribe/] Posted on: Friday, October 18, 2002 By Jan TenBruggencate Advertiser Science Writer More information on the Johnston Atoll landfill is available on the Web at www.dtra.mil/news/nw_index.html [http://www.dtra.mil/news/nw_index.html] . Defense Department crews have buried radioactive material within an existing excavation on Johnston Island and are awaiting radiation tests before sealing the landfill. They hope the action will mark the final chapter in the military's toxic relationship with one of the world's most isolated atolls, located 717 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu. The Army is closing the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System now that the nerve gas and blistering agent munitions once stored on the island have been destroyed. It has been four decades since a series of nuclear rocket failures drenched the island in radioactive contaminants. Ironically, Johnston has been a national wildlife refuge since 1926. It is a nesting ground for threatened green sea turtles and more than a dozen species of sea birds and migratory birds, and its waters are home to 300 species of fish. The Navy took over the atoll in 1934, and the Air Force subsequently assumed control in 1948. The site was used for high-altitude nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s before it was maintained as a storage and disposal site for chemical weapons until 2000. On June 20, 1962, Starfish, a Thor missile with a nuclear warhead, was blown up directly over Johnston when it failed one minute after launch. Metal parts and debris fell back onto the island. A month later, on July 25, a launch dubbed Bluegill Prime was destroyed on the launch pad, scattering radioactive material. Neither explosion was a nuclear detonation, but the radioactive material in the warheads was widely distributed. Divers picked up the debris they found on the lagoon floor and the contaminated runway was torn up and piled near the launch site. Some material was hauled down a ramp made of contaminated coral, loaded into landing craft, and taken out to the channel to be dumped in the deep ocean. Special equipment was used to identify and collect particularly "hot" particles and separate them for special treatment. After a series of studies and public hearings in Hawai'i earlier this year, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency concluded that the best alternative was simply to bury the most radioactive material and cover it with coral debris of relatively low radioactivity. That work started this summer and is nearly complete. "The contaminated metal and concrete debris, and coral that did not meet the cleanup standard, were buried in the Radiological Control Area under a cap of clean coral soil that is a minimum of 2 feet thick," said Cindy McGovern, public affairs specialist for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup. She said the agency is now conducting a radiological survey to be sure the site meets requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency. An estimated 45,000 cubic meters of now-buried coral has an average radioactivity of 200 picocuries per gram. Under EPA rules, material with that level of contamination must be sealed from exposure to the environment. The 240 tons of radioactive metal and 200 cubic meters of concrete debris has not been tested, but they are assumed to be contaminated. All that material was covered with a 2-foot-thick cap of coral that has a far lower level of radioactivity — an average of 7.7 picocuries per gram. That level does not require special treatment under EPA rules. The EPA set the Johnston Atoll cleanup standard at a radioactivity level of 13.5 picocuries per gram. At that level, the radiation risk for people on the island for one year is slightly less than the radiation dose an airline passenger receives flying coast to coast, federal officials said. Some types of home smoke detectors contain materials with levels of radioactivity several times higher. The anticipated human exposure from the rocket explosion debris on Johnston is considered to be a fraction of the "average annual radiation dose to the U.S. public from all sources (natural and man-made)," according to a fact sheet on the project prepared by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The contaminated landfill will be compacted and its surface shaped to shed rainwater, although tests suggest radioactive materials are not soluble in Johnston's coral soils, and are not leaching into the waters at the atoll. Once the project is complete, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency intends to regularly monitor the landfill site for five years. "If any radiological contamination is found after landfill monitoring is completed, the contamination will be evaluated by the DTRA health physics staff and appropriate action taken," McGovern said. "We are confident that the EPA-recommended cleanup standard will have been met atoll-wide," she said. The Maui-based Earth Foundation said yesterday it continues to be skeptical of the safety of the landfill method, and feels the radioactive material should be removed from the atoll and hauled to an approved nuclear waste storage site like the one at Yucca Mountain, Nev. "The problem is plutonium has a half life of 24,000 years and is life-threatening for that entire time. There are places on the mainland that are better-equipped to contain radioactive nuclear waste than an atoll vulnerable to hurricanes and erosion from the ocean," said a statement from the group. One issue brought up during public hearings in March is the level of threat from erosion due to hurricanes or tsunamis. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's corrective measures study, published in June, assumes that the seawall surrounding Johnston eventually will fail, and calculated the threat to the environment if the radioactive landfill is washed into the lagoon. It concluded that the amount of radioactivity added to the material already in the ocean would increase the radioactivity threat by only about 1 percent — a level it decided was so low that it does not justify the expense of maintaining the seawall. Biological studies prepared by the military for Johnston suggest the threat from radioactivity to wildlife is very low. The Hawaiian monk seal, which occasionally visits the atoll, would potentially accumulate the most radioacivity, by eating fish that feed around the most radioactive sediments in the lagoon. Even if a seal fed year-round only on bottom-feeding fish from the most contaminated area of the lagoon, it would reach just 10 percent of the radiation exposure limit set by the International Atomic Energy Commission, said the corrective measures study. Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com [jant@honoluluadvertiser.com] or (808) 245-3074. © COPYRIGHT 2002 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co ***************************************************************** 24 Guarding Against Nuclear Smugglers | CBS News | October 18, 2002 06:03:18 October 18, 2002 06:03:18 The Early Show WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2002 The U.S. has equipped Russia with 250 portal monitors to guard against smuggling of nuclear materials, but 172 of the devices ordered for U.S. use have yet to arrive. (AP / CBS) "The protection of U.S. borders... really begins thousands of miles from our shores." Linton Brooks, of the Energy Department, on why the U.S. has spent millions helping Russia guard against smugglers (AP) It may be several years before border checkpoints will have the equipment needed to detect nuclear material being smuggled into the country, government auditors told a congressional hearing Thursday. One lawmaker called the program to beef up border checkpoints "ineffective and plodding." The General Accounting Office said that while the federal government in recent years has spent more than $11.2 million to install portal radiation monitors in Russia, only one U.S. border point has them more than a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and that is part of a pilot project to test the equipment. More than 4,200 radiation "pagers" that have been given to border patrol agents and are designed to hang from their belts "have limited range and are not designed to detect weapons-usable nuclear material," the GAO said. It said the devices "may be inappropriate for the task" because of their limitations. Customs officials said the pagers have been shown to detect radiation that could be used for making a dirty bomb. Unlike the pagers, the portal monitors are designed to scan individuals and vehicles for nuclear material as they pass through checkpoints on the nation's borders or at other entry points such as airports. U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said the agency has bought 172 of the radiation devices, with 40 of them expected to arrive soon. More are being ordered. "These systems are being and will be deployed as rapidly as the manufacturers build them," Bonner told a House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee. But deployment of the portal detectors also has been complicated because the technology is so sensitive, Customs officials said. It detects the smallest levels of radiation from a shipment of bananas or a cargo of TV sets as easily as hidden plutonium or uranium, Customs spokesman Dennis Murphy said in an interview. To deal with that, the agency is buying devices that can identify different isotopes to work in tandem with the portal monitors, said Murphy. "One of our concerns is jamming up the borders with too many (false) hits. You could really create some backups that we don't need." The GAO report to the subcommittee said Customs hopes to have 400 of the portal radiation monitors a year from now, but that it will probably take several more years to evaluate the equipment, get it working properly and train users. Still, lawmakers were not impressed with the progress so far. The government is spending $8.3 billion on a missile defense shield and a war with Iraq will cost billions and cost American lives, said Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., the subcommittee's chairman. "Given these stark facts, there is simply no explanation for the federal government's diffuse, ineffective and plodding effort to secure this nation's ports and borders from nuclear terrorism." "Our ports and borders are not significantly more secure against nuclear smuggling than before the (September 11) attacks," added Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the full Energy and Commerce committee. Bonner said that 200 X-ray vans with radiation detection units have been deployed to examine individual packages coming through checkpoints. And 96 large-scale X-ray systems that can detect gamma radiation are being used to screen samples of cargo containers coming into the U.S. ports. The portal monitors have been effective in Russia. Linton Brooks, acting administrator of the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, said that over the last five years 250 of the devices have been deployed in Russia under a DOE program. "The protection of U.S. borders," he said, "really begins thousands of miles from our shores." Bonner and other administration officials testified that their effort is focused on detecting nuclear, chemical or biological material before it reaches U.S. ports and - as Bonner put it - "pushing our zone of security outward so American borders are the last line of defense, not the first." A key element of the strategy involves targeting high-risk containers and other shipments by closely examining shipping manifests before a cargo leaves the foreign port. Any high-risk containers would then be screened by available radiation detection technology. Seven countries, representing 11 of the largest 20 ports that ship to the United States, have agreed to the screening and inspection programs. But Bonner acknowledged the success of the program largely depends on accurate cargo manifest information. And the program is focused on the more than 5.7 million cargo containers that are shipped into the United States annually, and not finding nuclear material that might be carried by an individual or a single vehicle, crossing a border checkpoint. By H. Josef Hebert © MMII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. • Willing, But Not Required To Deal On Iraq • Terror Warning From CIA Chief • Guarding Against Nuclear Smugglers • Close Call In Kuwait Or Confused Kid? • 'We Got The Nerve' • Gulf War Hostages: Where's The Money? • Senate Passes $355B Defense Bill • Saddam Hussein Wins One-Man Race ***************************************************************** 25 Helicopter to check for radiation in Iowa Omaha.com October 18, 2002 MIDDLETOWN, Iowa (AP) - A helicopter crew will begin looking for signs of radiation at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant next Wednesday with a low-level flyover that will take four to six days to complete. Rodger Allison, environmental projects coordinator for the plant, said the specially equipped helicopter will cover the entire 19,000-acre complex in southeast Iowa. The helicopter will pass about 50 feet above the ground, its equipment measuring radiation in 200-foot swaths, covering 5 square miles a day. It also will fly over areas of Middletown that border the plant, Allison said. The helicopter will search for radiation hazards - such as plutonium, depleted uranium or radium - that might have been left behind by the now-defunct Atomic Energy Commission, which assembled and test-fired nuclear weapons components at the plant from 1947 through the mid-1970s. The discovery of declassified documents and information provided by former workers suggested that some contamination may remain. Two years ago, shards of depleted uranium were discovered at two test-firing sites and barium was found buried on the plant grounds. Allison said results of the flyover would be included in a report that will be issued by the Army in March, but that the plant is prepared to take immediate action if anything is found that is considered an imminent threat to employees or the public. Omaha World-Herald: ***************************************************************** 26 Congress unhappy with port security Tri-Valley Herald Friday, October 18, 2002 - 3:04:54 AM MST House legislators call Customs 'plodding By Lisa FriedmanWASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- U.S. Customs authorities took a beating Thursday as leading House lawmakers criticized the agency for making feeble progress in protecting seaports like the Port of Oakland from nuclear terrorism. "There is simply no explanation for the federal government's diffuse, plodding and ineffective effort to protect our ports and borders," said Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., chairman of the House Commerce Committee oversight panel. "The security of our nation's ports and borders remain insufficient to protect us against the threat of nuclear terrorism," he said. Long before the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the nation's 361 ports were known to be tempting targets for terrorists. Mostly located in densely populated urban areas like Oakland and Long Beach where people live and work, U.S. seaports conduct more than 95 percent of the country's trade. But, as politicians and experts often point out, only about 2 percent of the thousands of containers that pass through ports each day undergo inspections, leaving facilities vulnerable to attack. Experts have warned that a terrorist smuggling in either a "dirty bomb" or nuclear device through a U.S. seaport is a real possibility, and one that could cause untold devastation. Since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Customs officials have installed 96 large-scale X-ray machines at ports across the country as well as about 5,000 radiation detection devices. The agency has set aside funds to buy 172 portal radiation detectors of the kind that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has installed at key border crossings in the former Soviet Union. But lawmakers Thursday said the U.S. Customs Service has not done enough. They also accused top agency officials of not knowing who, if anyone, is in charge of beefing up security. "The past year has been marked by quibbling and delay," said Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Fla. Only a few months ago the Transportation Security Administration told committee staff they were in charge: "It remains unclear to us who, at times, is running the show." Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner defended his agency's work, saying "I don't agree with the statement that Customs hasn't made any progress." Meanwhile, Dr. Stephen Younger, former director of national security at Los Alamos National Laboratory and currently director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said installing devices to detect radiological devices isn't as easy as it seems. "We need to be realistic about our prospects," Younger said, adding that the possibility that scientists will ever create a foolproof shield is slim. But, he said, "We can do better than we're doing today," particularly by improving the ability of sensors to detect radiation when a nuclear device is shielded by plastic or lead. When material is well-shielded, he said, "detection ranges drop dramatically." Younger also said scientists are still learning about the practical applications of radiological detectors. "Does it work in the rain? Does it work when it gets dirty? Does it work when the batteries get low? Can you train a 19-year-old to use this?" he listed among the operational questions scientists are still answering. ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 27 Customs' radiation checks lacking 10/18 Despite efforts by the Customs Service to step up the detection of smuggled nuclear devices, the agency still has not installed radiation-detection equipment at every U.S. border crossing and port of entry, according to the General Accounting Office. In a report delivered to Congress Oct. 17, GAO said that Customs' primary radiation-detection equipment — radiation pagers worn by most border inspectors — may be inappropriate for detecting the deadly radioactive components for a nuclear weapon. "Customs has not yet deployed the best available technologies for detecting radioactive and nuclear materials at U.S. border crossings and ports of entries," said the report to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Since 1998, Customs has provided more than 4,000 pagers to its border inspectors and plans to deliver another 4,000 by September 2003. However, the radiation devices are not widely viewed as search instruments but "rather as personal safety devices to protect against radiation exposure," the report said. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner told the panel at a hearing that Customs has ratcheted up efforts to detect contraband before it gets to U.S. borders. In a series of policy changes, he said cargo is inspected at the port of departure, and shippers soon will be required to provide lists of their cargo electronically at least 24 hours before their vessels leave a foreign port. "An important part of our strategy to address the nuclear and radiological threat is pushing our zone of security outward so that American borders are the last line of defense, not the first line of defense against such a threat," Bonner said. The goal, Bonner said, is to prevent terrorists from using cargo containers to conceal nuclear weapons or radiological materials by deploying "sophisticated automated targeting technology to identify high-risk containers, those that may contain terrorist weapons or even terrorists." There is still a long way to go, according to Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Four hundred and one days have passed since the attacks on [Sept. 11], yet our ports and borders are not significantly more secure against nuclear smuggling than before the attacks," Tauzin said. [FCW.COM is a product of FCW Media Group, a 101 Communications company] ***************************************************************** 28 Deal on Terrorism Insurance Close Las Vegas SUN: Today: October 18, 2002 at 9:13:53 PDT By JESSE J. HOLLAND ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- House and Senate negotiators moved closer to inking a final agreement on a $100 billion terrorism insurance package that lawmakers hope will stimulate the economy and help cover the cost of insurance against future terrorist attacks. But time ran out as the Senate left Washington on Thursday to do last-minute campaigning before the Nov. 5 election. House lawmakers departed a day earlier. Lawmakers worked until the final minutes, but were unable to get the final House and Senate leadership signatures on a compromise negotiators said would have the government cover 90 percent of all terror losses after insurance companies pay an initial amount of $10 billion. "I regret we were unable to get that done, but I believe that before the final gavel comes down on this session, whenever that is, the Congress of the United States will have a chance to express its approval for this effort," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., one of the chief negotiators. Lawmakers also worked on other national security items before leaving, including a port security bill, which would give the Coast Guard additional powers and require background checks of some port employees and new tracking systems for commercial ships. Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, concerns have been raised about possible attacks on ships containing highly flammable liquids or on fuel farms near ports, as well as the possibility of a nuclear weapon or other device hidden inside a container ship. The House and Senate had both passed a port security bill and worked out their main differences but couldn't agree on how to come up with the $1.2 billion to pay for it. Lawmakers also found out Thursday that it may be several years before border checkpoints will have the equipment needed to detect nuclear material being smuggled into the country. Despite spending more than $11.2 million to install portal radiation monitors in Russia, only one U.S. border point has them. "Our ports and borders are not significantly more secure against nuclear smuggling than before the (Sept. 11) attacks," said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the full Energy and Commerce committee. Portal monitors are designed to scan individuals and vehicles for nuclear material as they pass through checkpoints on the nation's borders or at other entry points, such as airports. U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said the agency has bought 172 portal radiation monitors, with 40 of them expected to arrive soon. Customs plans to have 400 of the devices within a year. House and Senate negotiators also made one final push to get something done on terror insurance. The legislation is supposed to protect the insurance industry from calamitous losses in the event of another attack by requiring the government to pick up some of the losses. Many insurers, who faced record payouts after Sept. 11, limited or dropped coverage for casualty and property losses due to terrorism. But with most lenders requiring insurance to finance real estate, plant expansion and other construction projects, industry representatives have warned of damage to the economy. House and Senate negotiators agreed to a three-year, $100 billion package that would have the government cover 90 percent of all terror losses after insurance companies pay an initial amount of $10 billion, a Democratic Senate source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. But it soon became apparent that lawmakers still had some issues to work out. For example, the Senate source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the treasury secretary would have discretion to require insurance companies to repay the government for its help, but that the legislation does not require such a payback. However, a Republican House source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said insurance companies would be required to pay the government back for the first $15 billion of an economic bailout. Beyond that, the treasury secretary must collect the money but has discretion as to when and how, the GOP source said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 29 LETTERS: Common sense on Yucca Mountain issue reviewjournal.com -- Opinion: Friday, October 18, 2002 To the editor: A letter in the November issue of Discover magazine made more sense regarding the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain than anything I've ever read on the subject. (Incidentally, the September issue of Discover has the most balanced write-up on Yucca Mountain I've ever read. It should be required reading for anybody interested in that program.) In his letter, the author says we are designing for 10,000 years of storage on the unstated assumption that there will be no future advances in the state of the art regarding such storage. (And, of course, that has everybody in panic because they say there is no way we today can guarantee containers with that kind of shelf life, and that 10,000 years from now they will have leaked into the ground water, earthquakes will have wracked the area, etc., etc., etc.) In the author's words, "Would it not be simpler and more logical to design a 100-year solution? In those 100 years, scientists and engineers would continue to look for ways to store the material for a longer period." Or 250 years ... or however long it would take to develop a safe, permanent method of storage. Accepting that hypothesis, why not assume that the current container design will certainly last until that happens, and stop all the hysterical wailing and gnashing of teeth? Is it not also possible that in the distant future some use may be found for that waste? Technology and knowledge are not going to cease increasing just because the politicians can't see past their noses. That, of course, is and always will be the problem. Government agencies have cost this country untold billions of dollars trying to solve or resolve issues by placing unrealistic demands and restrictions on industry and the unsuspecting public. Common sense is obviously not a prerequisite. ED ANDREWS BOULDER CITY Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 Stephens Media ***************************************************************** 30 American Ecology Announces Plans to Sell Oak Ridge, Tennessee Subsidiary; Company To Focus on Expanding Its Core Waste Treatment and Disposal Business BW0057 OCT 18,2002 7:02 PACIFIC 10:02 EASTERN ( BW)(ID-AMERICAN-ECOLOGY)(ECOL) American Ecology Announces Plans to Sell Oak Ridge, Tennessee Subsidiary; Company To Focus on Expanding Its Core Waste Treatment and Disposal Business Business Editors/Environment Writers BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2002--Stephen Romano, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Ecology Corporation (Nasdaq:ECOL), today announced that subsidiary American Ecology Recycle Center, Inc. ("AERC") is being offered for sale. AERC provides low-level radioactive waste processing and environmental remediation services to government and industry. "American Ecology's profitable, core business is the safe management of hazardous, PCB and radioactive wastes at our strategically located disposal sites in Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Washington," Romano explained, adding "Our Oak Ridge processing plant does not fit into our business model since the majority of wastes processed by AERC are not eligible for burial at our disposal facilities." AERC provides low-level radioactive waste survey, decontamination and volume reduction services, primarily to electric utility companies, at a state permitted facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Field Services, a separate AERC business unit, utilizes a mobile permit to deliver building decontamination and demolition, site characterization and waste removal services at sites nationwide. A series of initiatives were undertaken in the past year to prepare AERC for prospective sale. "American Ecology has committed significant time and resources to removing large volumes of legacy waste and other contaminated materials from our Oak Ridge site over the past year," Romano commented, adding, "We also resolved a long-standing Department of Justice investigation, entered a new collective bargaining agreement with our union, purchased an adjacent rail siding to increase transportation efficiency, and significantly expanded AERC's profitable Field Services business." The Company indicated that financial, regulatory and other information on the two AERC business units was being provided on a confidential basis to a number of prospective buyers, and that expressions of interest were being accepted from other qualified parties. "This marketing initiative is in response to a fundamental 'business model' issue and does not reflect any lack of effort by our dedicated and hardworking Oak Ridge employees," Romano emphasized. "In fact, were it not for the substantial site improvements achieved by our Oak Ridge team this past year, we would probably not be in a position today to attract qualified buyers." The AERC offering will be discussed during the Company's third quarter 2002 investor conference call on Monday, October 28, 2002 at 10:00 am Mountain Time. Romano, Chief Financial Officer James Baumgardner, and Controller Michael Gilberg will host the call. Interested parties may submit questions in advance to [info@americanecology.com] , or by facsimile to 208/331-7900. To join the call, dial 877/679-9055. Participants will be asked to provide their name and affiliation. American Ecology Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides radioactive, PCB, hazardous, and non-hazardous waste services to commercial and government customers throughout the United States, such as nuclear power plants, steel mills, medical and academic institutions and petro-chemical facilities. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, the Company is the oldest radioactive and hazardous waste services company in the United States. This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, beliefs, and assumptions about the industry and markets in which American Ecology Corporation and its subsidiaries operate. Actual results may differ materially from what is expressed herein and no assurance can be given that the Company can successfully implement its growth strategy, generate improved earnings, or conclude an agreement for the sale of subsidiary American Ecology Recycle Center, Inc. For information on other factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations, please refer to American Ecology Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. --30--BRM/se* CONTACT: American Ecology Chad Hyslop, 208/331-8400 [info@americanecology.com] [http://www.americanecology.com] KEYWORD: TENNESSEE IDAHO INDUSTRY KEYWORD: GOVERNMENT ENVIRONMENT ENERGY SOURCE: American Ecology ***************************************************************** 31 State trip costs $64,000 Governor is lame duck but still flies By Rebecca Ferrar, News-Sentinel business writer October 18, 2002 In Italy: The delegation met with members of the automotive and tile industries, which have businesses in Tennessee. In Barcelona: The delegation visited a biotech center affiliated with the city's university to see what similar work might be undertaken at Oak Ridge and the University of Tennessee. In London: The delegation met with officials of URENCO, the parent company of Louisiana Energy Systems, which plans to build a uranium enrichment plant at the partially finished Hartsville Nuclear Plant site. Three months before he leaves office and during tight budget times, Gov. Don Sundquist led a trade mission to Europe at a state cost of $64,000, returning this week after spending personal time in Italy. He was accompanied by first lady Martha Sundquist, three top economic and community development officials, nine business leaders, other public officials and a state trooper. The delegation traveled Sept. 29 to Oct. 8 to London, Barcelona, Spain and Milan, Italy, and included TVA Director Bill Baxter and former TVA Chairman Craven Crowell. The Sundquists skipped the Barcelona leg of the trip and Baxter traveled only to London. But Sundquist and the first lady stayed behind in Italy to take a personal trip to Venice and Rome, returning to Nashville Tuesday, said Tony Grande, Economic and Community Development commissioner and a member of the delegation. "A big part of being governor is recruiting new business and new jobs and finding export markets for Tennessee, and that's what these trade missions are all about," said Kriste Goad, the governor's press secretary. "The governor has said all along that he will continue to be governor until his last day in office.'' Sundquist leaves office on Jan. 17 after serving two terms. While the Sundquists paid for their expenses while on the private portion of the trip in Italy, they returned home on a state-paid plane ticket. "Even if they hadn't stayed (longer in Italy) they would have had to have flown back," Goad said. Highlights of the trip included a $7,682 reception for 150 people - mostly business prospects - at the American embassy in London that was hosted and paid for by TVA, as well as a lunch meeting with about 50 prospects hosted by FedEx at the Palazzo Visconti in Milan. Goad said the trip cost $8,000 for each of the eight state officials. Other state officials who made the trip were Justin Wilson, deputy to the governor on policy; Leigh Weiland, director of policy for the governor; Anne Locke, ECD director of international affairs; and John Word, ECD director of European investment. At least one legislator questioned whether the timing and expenditure was appropriate. "Many of us could have done that at a much cheaper rate," said Sen. Micheal Williams, R-Maynardville. "At a time when the state is grappling for money, trying to keep TennCare afloat, and then we get this latest ruling about the schools, it sends a poor message.'' The Tennessee Supreme Court recently ruled that teacher salaries must be equalized among urban and rural school systems, with cost estimates ranging as high as a $450 million estimate from the Tennessee Education Association. Grande said excursions like the European trip help the state develop relationships with companies in other countries. "This governor is ending his administration and we're setting the stage for the next administration,'' he said. "The purpose of the trip was to meet with companies overseas and recruit their investment in Tennessee. It's a regular practice not only of Gov. Sundquist to make overseas trade trips, but (has been) for the last three governors." Wilson handles energy and environmental issues for the governor and made the trip to London only for the URENCO meeting. "This is a huge capital investment," he said. "They have a variety of issues they need to address." According to TVA, Baxter's airfare cost $1,366 and his hotel cost $347. Business leaders on the trip were Frances W. Almany, a Sumner County real estate business owner; Reginald W.H. Burrows, Nashville businessman and representative for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce international initiative; Donovan McNamee, Burrows' partner; Arles Greene and his brother, Shannon Greene; partners in a Nashville construction materials company; Ryan Kurtz, Nashville attorney who specializes in international law focusing on Italy; Albert McCall, who owns a Carthage furniture company and has a major supplier in Italy; and Carolyn Nash, a former Nashville banker. Rebecca Ferrar may be reached at 865-342-6357 or ferrarr@knews.com. Copyright 2002, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 32 Groups seek comment on Hartsville proposal * * *Thursday, 10/17/02* | Middle Tennessee News & Information* *Middle Tennessee briefs: /ERIC PARSONS / STAFF The international group that wants to build a uranium-enrichment facility in Hartsville will ask federal regulators to extend the deadline for public comment on issues it wanted the regulators to resolve before it seeks licensing for the plant. The 30-day period for comment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expires Nov. 1. Rod Krich, who heads Louisiana Energy Services' effort to obtain a license for the $1.1 billion proposed plant, said in a written statement yesterday that LES will urge the NRC to have the 30 days run from Monday, when a public forum was held in Hartsville. Krich said the change would ''give those who are interested adequate time to review the materials and provide their input.'' The Tennessee Environmental Council has asked for an additional 60 days for public comment, its executive director, Will Callaway, said. The NRC has not decided whether to extend the deadline. Comments may be sent to Michael Lesar, Chief, Rules Review and Directives Branch, Division of Administration Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555. *Metro Parks offering Halloween activities* The folks at Metro Parks are offering safe Halloween activities at community centers throughout the city. At centers in Metro parks, staffers will be offering a range of activities, including parties, skating, carnivals and youth basketball tournaments. Call individual centers to find out what's going on at yours. Call 862-8424 or visit www.nashville.gov/parks . *Used-book sale profits to help school library* University School of Nashville will hold a used-book sale 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 26 to raise money for the school's library. Most paperbacks will go for 75 cents and most hardbacks for $2. Also for sale: used recorded books, games, CDs, puzzles and children's computer software. The school is at the corner of 19th Avenue South and Edgehill Avenue. For more information, contact Cary Rayson at 491-5440. *Tell us about religious outreach on HIV/AIDS* Vanderbilt University is holding a conference on religion and AIDS on Saturday. Does your church, synagogue, temple, mosque or congregation have a specific program to help people suffering from HIV/AIDS in Africa? E-mail /Tennessean/ religion reporter Brian Lewis and tell him about it at brlewis@tennessean.com or send a fax to his attention at 259-8093. Please include your name and phone number. Your response may be used as part of the newspaper's coverage of this issue and event. © Copyright 2002 The Tennessean ***************************************************************** 33 LES: More comment needed* WXPort *October 19, 2002* The licensing manager for Louisiana Enrichment Service?s (LES) proposed uranium enrichment plant planned near Nashville said Wednesday he will recommend that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extend the public comment period for the policy issues raised by LES in correspondence to the NRC and discussed in a public NRC meeting this spring. Rod Krich, who is heading the licensing effort for LES?s proposed $1.1 billion project, said the 30-day public comment period on the policy issues is scheduled to expire Nov. 1. Krich noted that since these issues were discussed in a meeting open to the public, the meeting summary including the policy papers submitted by LES are available on the NRC Web site, www.nrc.gov. ?Our recommendation to the NRC is that the 30-day comment period begin Monday [Oct. 14], since some of those attending the public forum on the plant held Monday night in Hartsville indicated they were unaware of the policy issues that have been raised, or the comment period,? Krich said. ?This will give those who are interested adequate time to review the materials and provide their input.? Krich said LES, which opened an information office in Hartsville Monday at 104 E. Main St., has a policy of openness and being as responsive as possible to questions by area residents. ?We are proposing a very safe technology that has been proven over many years,? Krich said. ?But it is normal for residents to have questions about any new industrial activity coming to their area, so we need to answer those questions as fully and accurately as possible.? About 250 people attended the public forum held Monday night in the Trousdale County High School gymnasium. Attendees heard presentations and responses to questions from George Dials, president and CEO of LES; William Rickman, a Trousdale County native and engineer specializing in hazardous and radioactive waste; Tim Johnson of the NRC; and Will Callaway, executive director of the Tennessee Environmental Council. Doyle Gaines, former county executive of adjoining Macon County, is manager of the LES Information Office and will be responsible for coordinating information about the plans for the plant in the local community. ***************************************************************** 34 Bush Administration Backs Down on U.N. Iraq Resolution Go To Original [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-UN-Iraq.html?pagewanted=print &position=top] By The Associated Press Thursday, 17 October, 2002 UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Facing strong opposition from dozens of nations, the United States has backed down from its demand that a new U.N. resolution must authorize military force if Baghdad fails to cooperate with weapons inspectors, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday. Instead, the United States is now floating a compromise which would give inspectors a chance to test Iraq's will to cooperate on the ground. If Iraq then failed to disarm, the Bush administration would agree to return to the Security Council for further debate and possibly another resolution authorizing action. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said he believes there are now ``favorable conditions'' for council agreement on a resolution that will lead to the quick return of inspectors. The new compromise also drops tough wording explicitly threatening Iraq upfront, although the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a threat of consequences will be implied. The diplomats said France, which has been the main stumbling block for the United States, was studying the new offer amid a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at solving an impasse among the Security Council powers on Iraq. During an open Security Council debate on Iraq, which started Wednesday and continued Thursday, more than two dozen nations -- including Iraq's closest neighbors and key U.S. allies -- refused to endorse the Bush administration's demand for an authorization of military force if Baghdad fails to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspections. They said Iraq must be given a chance to completely disarm without the imminent threat of military action. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of Britain, whose country is supporting the U.S. position, said the emphasis was on reaching a deal that all sides could accept. ``We're looking for unity in the council,'' he said. Many U.N. members favor the two-resolution approach proposed by France and backed by Russia and China. Ivanov said Thursday that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told him the new U.S. and British proposals will take Russia's opinion into account, and will be submitted in the next day or two. ``We believe that there are favorable conditions now to preserve the unity of the global community and ensure the return of international inspectors and their efficient work in Iraq,'' he said. ``We are looking forward to seeing this document.'' He said Powell ``underlined that the United States is interested in reaching a consensus among the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council in order to implement all U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq.'' Ivanov said he told Powell that Russia is ``ready for the most constructive cooperation to find common understanding so that a new resolution would become an important element supporting international inspectors, who should leave for Iraq as quickly as possible.'' Under the French approach, the first resolution would toughen U.N. inspections and warn Iraq that it will face consequences, including the possible use of force, if it doesn't comply with inspections. The second would authorize action against Iraq if it failed to cooperate. ``Every possible effort should be made to avert war,'' Bangladesh's U.N. Ambassador Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told the council on Thursday. In speech after speech, ambassadors from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America called Iraq's decision last month to allow U.N. inspectors to return an important first step -- and said the council should send the inspectors back quickly and test Baghdad's commitment. Many warned that a new war would add to the suffering of the Iraqi people, possibly engulf the Middle East in conflict, and have dire consequences on global stability and the world economy. ``This war is useless because its motives are not well-founded,'' Tunisia's U.N. Ambassador Noureddine Mejdoub said Wednesday. ``It would unleash a chain of reactions in Iraq and in the region.'' The council meeting was held at the behest of the Nonaligned Movement, comprising 115 mainly developing countries that favor a peaceful solution in Iraq, and it was open to all 191 U.N. member states. Some 50 nations that aren't on the council took up the opportunity, and they were speaking ahead of the 15 council members who will wrap up the debate on Thursday. Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri was pleased at the opposition to military action and support for the return of inspectors in Wednesday's speeches. He said he expected to hear more of the same on Thursday. Reiterating that Iraq would cooperate with the U.N. inspectors ``in every possible way,'' al-Douri told the council that the United States was attempting ``to hamper and delay the return of inspectors'' to adopt a new resolution which would serve as ``a pretext to cover aggression against Iraq.'' Since the 1980s, Iraq has gone to war with two of its neighbors -- Iran and Kuwait -- but neither supported an immediate authorization to use force. Both urged the Iraqi government to strictly comply with all U.N. resolutions to avert war. ``Any use of force must be a last resort and within the United Nations framework and only after all other available means have been exhausted,'' said Kuwait's Ambassador Mohammad Abulhasan. Several U.S. allies -- the European Union, Canada, Australia and New Zealand -- backed the U.S. view that after 11 years of failing to comply with U.N. resolutions, Iraq should be given a tough new mandate spelling out that inspectors must have unconditional and unrestricted access to all sites. However, none of the allies called for a new resolution to include a green light for military action. Denmark's U.N. Ambassador Ellen Margrethe Loj, speaking on behalf of the EU, said: ``The government of Iraq should make no mistake about the fact that noncompliance with this inspection regime would have serious consequences.'' ***************************************************************** 35 [southnews] UN: France forces US to back down on Iraq strike Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 19:03:14 -0500 (CDT) Sell a Home with Ease! http://us.click.yahoo.com/SrPZMC/kTmEAA/jd3IAA/7gSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> At the end of a two-day, four-session open meeting, the 15 UN Security Council members addressed the situation regarding the return of inspectors to Iraq, a new resolution on the subject and the use of force, Frances representative said any automatic decision on the use of force would profoundly divide the Council. Fundamental issues were at stake. "Even beyond Iraq", he said, "we are talking about the future of international order, relations between North and South, and notably, our relationship with the Arab world". ---------- US forced to back down on Iraq strike threat By Caroline Overington, Herald Correspondent in New York October 19 2002 France has forced the United States to rewrite a resolution that would have given the US permission to lead an attack on Saddam Hussein if he interfered with the work of weapons inspectors. US diplomats were last night writing a new resolution for the United Nations Security Council to consider. It would direct weapons inspectors to return to Iraq under tough, new conditions, but without the threat of an automatic military strike. The development is a significant victory for France, which stood firm against the US, even as fellow members of the Security Council were preparing to support the US position. The French position in effect challenges President George Bush to consider the ramifications of leading an attack on Baghdad without the support of the Security Council. Alternatively, he must wait to see if the work of weapons inspectors is hindered, and then ask the Security Council for permission to strike. France has not ruled out the possibility of supporting a strike if Iraq interferes with the weapons inspectors' work, but is adamant that they at least try to do their work before the threat is made. The French position received support from many - probably most - of the 51 nations that addressed the UN in New York during marathon debates on Iraq over the past two days. The French ambassador to the UN, Jean-David Levitte, told the Security Council that the new resolution should clearly state "the rules of the game" to Iraq. He said if Iraq refused to co-operate with inspectors, "the Security Council should meet immediately to decide appropriate measures to take, ruling out no alternatives". Mr Levitte said the Security Council had to remain united in the face of the problem of Iraq, and that "any automatic decision on the use of force would profoundly divide the council". "Only a united front will convince Iraq not to repeat its error," he said. Mr Levitte warned the US not to go into Baghdad without the support of the UN, saying the future of international order, "and, notably, our relationship with the Arab world", was at stake in the debate, and that "any action that does not enjoy the support of the international community would not be understood". Iraq's representative at the UN, Mohammed Aldouri, responded by telling the Security Council that weapons inspectors would find "the doors are wide open, including those of palaces, small houses, hospitals and schools. Let them come. We are not afraid." The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told reporters in New York that the new resolution would leave "no opportunity for the Iraqis to deter the inspectors from their work or to defeat their efforts". Under the terms of the new resolution, weapons inspectors would return to Iraq without armed guards, and report immediately any attempt to obstruct their work. The Security Council would then meet to discuss the consequences. The time frame is short: the US wants Iraq to get no more than 24 hours' notice of a military strike. In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, welcomed the new resolution, saying that it would "preserve the unity of the international community and ensure the return of international inspectors" to Iraq. However, Britain's representative at the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who supports the US position, warned that it would be an "abdication of responsibility" to ignore Iraq's repeated defiance of security council decisions. "If we fail to send that tough signal, we shall be ignoring the realities. The weaker we collectively appear, the more probable it is that military action will be the outcome," he said. This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/18/1034561314730.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: southnews-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 36 3 Countries May Have Helped N.Korea Las Vegas SUN: Today: October 18, 2002 at 12:50:10 PDT By GEORGE GEDDA ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- Intelligence officials suspect that Russia, Pakistan and China are suppliers of equipment North Korea has used to develop its nuclear weapons program, an allegation Moscow and Islamabad quickly denied Friday. "This has absolutely nothing to do with reality," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko. "No exchange of any sort was done with North Korea," said Gen. Hamid Gul, a former chief of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence. "North Korea's technology has always been ahead of ours ... North Korea has always been close to China and Russia ... we are in no position to help them." Two U.S. officials said Friday that while China is believed to be among North Korea's sources, Pakistan and Russia are its main suppliers of equipment needed to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Some of the equipment has industrial as well as military uses and passes through countries which may not know what North Korea is doing with it. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer would not comment on a New York Times report that Pakistan, in the late 1990s, forged a deal supplying Pyongyang with the equipment in exchange for North Korean missiles. But he said: "Since Sept. 11, many things that many people may have done years before Sept. 11 ... have changed." Pakistan has become a major ally among the 90-nation anti-terror coalition established since the Sept. 11 attacks on America. Another official, asking not to be identified, confirmed that Pakistan has carried out exchanges with North Korea on weapons technology but said they took place before President Pervez Musharraf took office in 1999. Pressing suppliers to deprive North Korea of nuclear-related equipment will have to be part of the intense diplomatic effort launched by the Bush administration, since North Korea startled officials with the admission it has been secretly pursuing its nuclear program despite agreeing not to, one analyst said. The administration is working to form an international coalition to steer North Korea away from its decision to pursue nuclear weapons. "I think we're going to see that no one wants to have a nuclear-armed North Korea," Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, said Thursday night on ABC's "Nightline." "Effective international pressure may have an effect on North Korea," she said, adding that China, Russia, South Korea and Japan could fill that role. Sen. John McCain said Friday he thought economic sanctions ought to be leveled immediately against Pyongyang. "I'm not ruling out the military," he said on NBC's "Today" show, "but there are other actions that would have to be tried first. And I believe that strong economic sanctions could bring down that government." The U.S. diplomatic offensive began not long after the administration disclosed Wednesday that North Korea had acknowledged, during bilateral talks earlier this month, that it was attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Two top State Department officials, John Bolton and James Kelly, flew to Beijing for talks Thursday with Chinese officials. China is a major trading partner of North Korea's and perhaps the one country capable of extracting concessions from the communist nation through economic sanctions, an administration official said. President Bush is expected to raise the issue with Chinese President Jiang Zemin next week when they meet at Bush's ranch in Texas. Kelly plans consultations in Japan and South Korea on North Korea. Bolton's itinerary includes stops in Russia, Britain and France, all nuclear powers which may have views on how to influence North Korea. Chang-beom Cho, South Korea's deputy foreign minister for policy planning, said Friday in Washington his government was involved in "intensive consultations" with the United States and Japan on what to do about the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons program. "We are urging North Korea to fully comply with their commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and also with a South-North agreement signed a decade ago on de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he said. Cho said he hoped the threat "will be wisely dealt with, hopefully through peaceful means and intensive dialogue soon as possible." Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States had no plans to undertake military action against North Korea. Rice suggested it would be a mistake to equate the situation in North Korea with that of Iraq, where the United States is contemplating use of force to disarm that country. "We've tried everything with Saddam Hussein. Nothing has worked," she said. North Korea's nuclear program came to light when a U.S. delegation confronted North Korea with evidence gathered over the past several months, including recent bills of sale, that Pyongyang had been working to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, officials said. That equipment most likely was part of a gas centrifuge program to separate weapons-grade uranium from ordinary fuel-grade uranium, private analysts said Thursday. North Korea's earlier nuclear efforts relied on plutonium, which makes smaller, lighter bombs but is much more difficult to produce and work with than enriched uranium. It was not clear to U.S. officials whether the North actually has a nuclear capability or whether it is still in development. At a minimum, North Korea apparently is close to joining the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, India and Pakistan as declared nuclear powers. Israel is thought to have hundreds of nuclear warheads but has never confirmed it has a nuclear weapons program. But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference Thursday he believes the North Koreans already have produced "a small number" of the weapons. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Ministerial Talks to Address Nuclear Issues Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Daily News in English About Korea Updated Oct.18,2002 18:04 KST by Kim In-ku (ginko@chosun.com) A high-ranking government official said Friday, representatives attending the 8th ministerial level talks in Pyongyang from October 19 would urge North Korea to respect the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework, and find out the background of its admission concerning a secret nuclear weapons program. The official noted that ministers will deliver the government's position on keeping the peninsula nuclear weapon free and opposing any development of such. He said that information regarding the program had come from the US, and so the government would seek verification at the talks in the North. The South Korean delegation led by Minister of Unification Chung Se-hyun will leave for Pyongyang via Korean Air at noon on Saturday. The government is delivering W1 billion worth of equipment to the North, also on Saturday, to be used in re-linking east and west coast railways and roads. In related news, the Grand National Party strongly criticized the government's sunshine policy at the National Assembly, and demanded the suspension of aid and cooperation until an inspection of nuclear facilities takes place. On the other hand the Millennium Democratic Party said there should be a minimum level of support maintained to enable Seoul to take the initiative in negotiations with North Korea. Minister of National Defense Lee Jun told the Assembly that nuclear weapons made from enriched uranium could be used without testing, and that he thought the North had made considerable progress in developing a weapon as Pyongyang had admitted possession of the material. Minister Lee said it was estimated that North Korea had acquired up to 12 kilograms of plutonium prior to the 1994 agreement, which could produce two weapons in the five to 10 kiloton range. ***************************************************************** 38 Kim Jong Il told Koizumi that N. Korea has nukes Mainichi Interactive - Top News Gov't has betrayed Amagasaki residents over highway pollution North Korean leader Kim Jong Il allegedly told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that his country is capable of waging a nuclear war with the United States during their summit talks held in Pyongyang last month, it was learned Friday. Mainichi Shimbun Kim Jong Il told Koizumi that his country is capable of waging a nuclear war. Koizumi did not deny the allegation, which was first made in some news reports on Thursday. "I won't reveal what had been said between us during the summit talks except things that were mentioned in the official version of the event," the prime minister said to reporters Friday. Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi echoed Koizumi. "Topics discussed at the summit have already been publicized in the press release. I can't say anymore about this issue because it is a delicate diplomatic matter." During the summit talks held on Sept. 17, Kim Jong Il reportedly hinted at the level of nuclear armament development in his country to the visiting Japanese prime minister by saying, "No one knows what will happen if we fight a nuclear war against the United States." On Friday, Liberal Democratic Party bigwig Yohei Kono emphasized the importance of finding a peaceful solution to North Korean issues. "We must find a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue and we must also get to the bottom of the abduction issue (of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents)," the former Foreign Minster said. "Only then can we start working on the essential issue of building a stable Northeast Asia. "Japan is the only country in the world sitting at the negotiation table with North Korea at the moment. We have a significant responsibility in regards to this affair." North Korea has reportedly admitted to visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly that it breached the 1994 non-nuclear accord under which the Stalinist state agreed to halt its nuclear weapons developing program in return for light water reactors and other energy aid. Moreover, on Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Washington believes North Korea already has a "small number" of nuclear weapons. Japanese government sources said that Tokyo was aware of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program even before the Sept. 17 summit talks but was under pressure from the White House not to publicize the issue. Pyongyang's admission of nuclear weapons development is certain to adversely affect normalization talks between Japan and North Korea. The normalization talks are scheduled to kick off in late October in Malaysia but are already facing a lot of problems because of the anger generated among the Japanese public over Pyongyang's admission of abducting Japanese. (Compiled from the Mainichi and wire reports, Oct. 18, 2002) © 2002 The Mainichi Newspapers Co. ***************************************************************** 39 Japan-N. Korea talks must focus on security Daily Yomiuri On-Line Keiko Iizuka Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Upcoming talks on the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea will have to place more emphasis on security issues in the wake of recent White House revelations about Pyongyang's nuclear arms development activities, observers said. During the normalization talks, which are to resume Oct. 29 after a two-year hiatus, Tokyo faces the especially onerous task of convincing Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons program immediately as Washington and Seoul are toughening their stance toward the North. On Wednesday, the United States showed an uncompromising attitude toward North Korea as Washington revealed that country's secret nuclear arms program, saying there was no way for Washington to improve its relations with Pyongyang--implying reluctance by Washington to hold security talks with North Korea. According to a government source, South Korea, too, is unlikely to play a leading role in negotiations with North Korea, because observers believe it is likely that Seoul's "sunshine policy" toward Pyongyang will change when South Korean President Kim Dae Jung steps down at the end of the year. Given these circumstances, the observers said that with the United States and South Korea standing on the sidelines, Japan will be the only major player to continue to deal with North Korea on security issues. Concern has been growing within the government over possible contingencies on the Korean Peninsula. "U.S. President George W. Bush's administration is taking such a severe stance toward North Korea that it might consider attacking that country after (it deals with) Iraq," a senior Foreign Ministry official said. As things stand, Japan, which like South Korea are relying on a dialogue in dealing with North Korea, now must share information and keep in close contact with the United States, so that Tokyo, Seoul and Washington can maintain their framework of trilateral cooperation, according to the observers. Indeed, the united front presented by the three countries led North Korea to soften its attitude toward international dealings in the late 1990s. "The most important thing is to maintain cooperation (among the three countries)," so that Pyongyang would not be able to take advantage of weakening ties, the government source said. In that respect, according to the observers, Japan should play the role of negotiator while the United States, backed by its overwhelming military power, provides the muscle. Some observers, however, have pointed to increasing concerns within the Bush administration over the Japanese government's handling of Pyongyang, after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage revealed that North Korea was conducting a secret nuclear weapons program Wednesday to visiting former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who is deemed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's political foe. A source familiar with Japan-U.S. relations said Thursday, "The United States is concerned about how the Koizumi administration will conduct its negotiations with North Korea as it places top priority on the abduction issue and is thought not to be reluctant to offer economic aid to Pyongyang." The source also said Washington is worried the recent return of the five abductees on a short visit will soften public sentiment toward Pyongyang, which could take advantage of the situation to promote normalization talks. The observers said the international community expects Koizumi to take the lead in improving the cooperative relationship among Tokyo, Seoul and Washington in a bid to sweep away such concerns, allowing the three to work closely to stop Pyongyang's nuclear arms development. === Prolonged talks feared Government and ruling coalition officials have grown increasingly fearful that the White House's revelation will prolong normalization talks, because the talks are to deal comprehensively with pending issues between Japan and North Korea. "It's almost certain that the negotiations will take longer than anticipated to bear fruit," the government source said. It has been reported that the United States unofficially notified Japan of the North's secret nuclear weapons program in advance of the Sept. 17 summit between Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Therefore, the government will not change its plan to hold talks on schedule as Koizumi signed the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration with the knowledge of the nuclear arms program, according to the observers. But the observers also pointed out Japan likely would be forced to reconsider the central topic of the talks, after the United States called for the international community's cooperation in halting the nuclear program. Amid this global political climate, Koizumi on Thursday spoke with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, confirming that the normalization talks would place top priority on security-related problems along with the abduction issue. Government officials, however, have different views on how to develop the talks. "North Korea sees the abduction and security issues as a package," the senior Foreign Ministry official said. "If the talks on security issues stalled, then the government would find it hard to resolve the abduction issue." The government source, however, thought otherwise, saying: "If the United States takes a harsher stance toward North Korea because of its nuclear weapons program, Japan would become the sole nation for North Korea to depend on." "The government then would see breakthroughs in the abduction issue," according to the source. Meanwhile, the government sees further progress on the issue of economic aid to North Korea--Pyongyang's highest priority item on the negotiations agenda--as difficult. According to sources, many government officials say they see no need to rush to conclude the negotiations with Pyongyang, given that the United States is not anticipating progress in the Japan-North Korea talks. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 40 N-arms admission jeopardizes KEDO project Daily Yomiuri On-Line Yomiuri Shimbun Following North Korea's admission that it continued a nuclear weapons program, the government is considering temporarily freezing the ongoing project by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) to build two light-water nuclear reactors in the communist country, government sources said Friday. Construction of the light-water reactors was made possible following the signing of the 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea. In the normalization talks to be resumed on Oct. 29, Tokyo will press for the truth about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development program and will consult with the United States and South Korea before making a final decision on the matter, sources said. KEDO, which was jointly established by Japan, the United States, South Korea and other countries in 1995, began pouring concrete into the basic structure of the light-water nuclear reactors in August. Now that North Korea has failed to honor its obligation under the 1994 accord, there are mounting calls within the U.S. government for an immediate freeze on the project. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda will discuss the matter with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, who will visit Tokyo on Sunday, the sources said. As Japan did not hear the admission directly from North Korea, the Japanese delegation to North Korea will confirm the information at the upcoming normalization talks, the sources said. However, as Pyongyang has told Washington about its nuclear weapons development program, there is growing pressure within the government to follow the U.S. lead, unless North Korea declares suspension of the program in the talks, the sources said. According to the sources, the continuance of the KEDO project will top the agenda of the Fukuda-Kelly meeting. With North Korea violating KEDO's fundamental principles, Kelly will likely ask what action Tokyo will take as the United States will not provide crude oil to North Korea after 2003, the sources said. The KEDO board, comprising Japan, the United States and the European Union, can make decisions, including a freeze, on the construction of light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea. If the two key members--the United States and Japan--seek a freeze, it will likely spell the end of the project. Suspension a condition Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday that the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration covers inspection of North Korea nuclear facilities and Pyongyang's compliance with international laws, including the 1994 Agreed Framework. Normalization will not go through if North Korea does not abide by the laws, he said. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 41 Handling N. Korea's nukes Daily Yomiuri On-Line Thomas H. Snitch Special to The Daily Yomiuri Like individuals, nations that make wrong-headed decisions and deliberately choose dangerous paths must eventually face the consequences of their actions, as painful as they may be. As the old adage says, "Once you have made your bed, you have to lie in it." For whatever reason, North Korea has now decided to pull back the bedcovers on its nuclear weapons program. At the same time, North Korea must be made to pay a heavy price for its odious behavior. For those of us who have studied North Korea over the past three decades, this admission is not a surprise--it simply validates what had been suspected for a very long time. On the other hand, there are many in both Asia and the United States who profess shock over the revelation North Korea may possess several functional nuclear devices, along with "more powerful" weapons. It is ironic that the very day the United Nations was debating whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, North Korea decided to "nullify" the 1994 nuclear accords and state boldly it had run a secret nuclear weapons program for many years. Now that North Korea has laid some of its cards on the table, the international community must decide how to respond. North Korea's nuclear intentions are no longer the concern of only the United States, Japan and South Korea--the entire world now has a stake in this issue and its future. Given the facts that are now known, what steps should the international community take to address this highly troubling situation? First, the United Nations and every member of that body must quickly move to condemn, in the strongest terms, North Korea's nuclear activities. Pyongyang has deliberately violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is the foundation of the global nonproliferation regime. These actions, combined with North Korean claims of possessing more powerful weapons, cannot be ignored by the United Nations. Second, China and Russia, both patrons of North Korea, must disavow any connection with these activities and challenge Pyongyang to dismantle or give up their weapons of mass destruction. Chinese President Jiang Zemin will be meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch on Oct. 25. It is incumbent on Jiang to provide the United States with an outline of China's plan for reacting to and dealing with this situation. China needs to demonstrate it will not allow North Korea to maintain a nuclear arsenal and is working to promote stability on the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been presented with a tremendous opportunity to enhance his role as a world leader. Russia should immediately offer to take possession of and quickly dismantle all North Korean nuclear weapons. As one of the few nations that has regular discourse with North Korea, Russia can use its experience disarming and destroying nuclear warheads to help stabilize the situation. Such action could solidify Putin's credentials as a strong supporter of global nuclear nonproliferation. Third, the international community, acting through the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency, must immediately be granted unrestricted access to all known or suspected North Korean nuclear facilities. Fourth, since North Korea has stated the 1994 nuclear accords have been "nullified," the construction of two civilian nuclear energy plants in North Korea by the Korean Peninsular Energy Development Organization (KEDO) must be halted at once. The accords were originally negotiated to freeze and dismantle the North Korean nuclear weapons program in return for peaceful nuclear assistance from the West. It is now clear North Korea has been using these agreements for the past eight years to conceal its weapons programs. The United States, Japan and South Korea must cease work on these nuclear plants immediately. The 1994 accords also mandated that the nations party to the KEDO agreement would provide fuel oil to North Korea to make up for electricity lost due to the shutdown of existing nuclear plants. The fuel oil shipments must be halted at once. With winter approaching, this will obviously cause pain in North Korea. However, as stated previously, dangerous choices lead to serious consequences. Fifth, humanitarian aid and food assistance can only continue if North Korea allows the distribution of this help to be monitored by a third party. This can be a U.N. agency, such as UNICEF, or a private voluntary organization, perhaps Oxfam or Church World Services. Nonetheless, Pyongyang must be able to guarantee food aid is being delivered directly to the starving people of North Korea and not siphoned off to feed the military. If North Korea is unwilling to agree to this approach, this assistance must be halted as well. Sixth, Japan, South Korea and the United States must closely coordinate their responses to North Korea's statements about its nuclear ambitions and intentions. The leaders of the three nations must maintain a united front. Everyone must sing from the same score as this is not the time for discord among friends. Seventh, and along the same lines, the United States must stand squarely behind Japan and South Korea on the abduction issue. Pyongyang needs to release the remaining relatives of the Japanese abductees that are being held hostage in North Korea. It must also directly address South Korea's concerns that hundreds of their citizens have been abducted by North Korea. The abductees and their families, be they Korean or Japanese, cannot be forgotten. Eighth, North Korea must come clean about any and all activities involving chemical and biological weapons, as well as the ballistic missiles used to deliver them. The international community cannot become preoccupied with the North's nuclear efforts and ignore the ongoing development of other dangerous weapons. Ninth, the United States, while currently preoccupied with Iraq, cannot allow North Korea to fall between the cracks. While many in Asia harshly criticized Bush for naming North Korea as a member of the "axis of evil," the bottom line is that he was correct. That said, the United States must continue to exert leadership in meeting the North Korean challenge, just as it is doing with Iraq. Finally, Japan and North Korea's other neighbors must not panic in light of these new revelations. The situation in North Korea has not changed. They have possessed weapons of mass destruction for many years and no one expects Pyongyang to use them anytime soon. Perhaps, as some suggest, North Korea wants to clear the air and embark on a new set of relationships with the rest of the world. If this is the case, it certainly is an unfriendly way of ingratiating oneself. Others say Pyongyang is calling the world's bluff and trying to establish itself as a major player on the international scene. If so, this is a very odd and dangerous course of action. The motivation behind North Korea's statement about its nuclear capabilities is less important than realizing the need for an international agreement that this situation is unacceptable and appropriate action must be taken. North Korean nuclear weapons are not a Japanese, South Korean or American problem--they are challenges to every nation on the planet and they must be addressed as such. Snitch is president of Little Falls Associates Inc., a U.S.-based consulting firm, and specializes in Asian security and business issues. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 42 Q and A: North Korea's nuclear programme BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Friday, 18 October, 2002, Following the release of a US report that North Korea has admitted to developing nuclear weapons, BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus examines the background to Western policy towards the secretive regime in Pyongyang. Q: How do we know if North Korea has a nuclear weapons programme? A: According to US accounts, the North Koreans admitted they had a nuclear weapons programme, along with a reference to "more powerful weapons" (assumed to be a reference to chemical or biological arms), at a meeting earlier this month with Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in Pyongyang. The Bush Administration confronted the North Koreans with new evidence that showed that they had broken their agreement of 1994 to freeze all nuclear-related activities. Most arms control experts suspect North Korea of pursuing an active weapons programme - certainly up to 1994 - but so far the necessary inspections by the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog) have been rejected by Pyongyang. The IAEA wants to sample fuel rods in a reactor cooling pond to try to work out if material has been diverted for a weapons programme. Q: What is the possible size of the arsenal? A: Very hard to say without the above inspections. Experts believe that North Korea may have extracted sufficient plutonium for a small number of bombs. The latest disclosures appear to relate to a parallel programme to enrich uranium with some technical help coming from Pakistan. Quite how far this has gone is not clear. Q: Should we be worried? A: Yes - arms proliferation matters, especially when weapons of mass destruction fall into the hands of secretive, unpredictable regimes which may well be heading for catastrophic failure. Many experts believe that the North Korean system is in terminal decline. Its people suffer great poverty and frequent famine. How the regime ends matters, and managing this potential crisis is made harder if it has nuclear arms. There is also the danger that an unstable regime like this could provide such weaponry to third parties. North Korea already has a bad track-record in the proliferation of missile technology. Q: Wasn't there a deal with the Americans to stop Pyongyang developing nuclear weapons? A: Yes there was - the 1994 agreement - by which North Korea agreed to halt all its nuclear activities and in due course to allow full inspections of its materials and facilities. In return it was to be supplied with two power-generating reactors of a type that was less likely to prove a source of weapons-grade materials. The reactors are being supplied by an international consortium known as KEDO with the bulk of the finance coming from South Korea and Japan. Some early work has begun at the reactor site. But the programme is way behind schedule. And the Americans say that it is about time the North Koreans allowed inspectors in so that their work can be completed by the time critical reactor components are ready to be delivered. Q: Why isn't George Bush threatening North Korea like Iraq? A: Well, they are two rather different cases. North Korea is already an isolated regime with huge domestic problems. Two of America's regional allies - South Korea and Japan - have an active policy of engagement to try to win Pyongyang round to a more compliant line. The US may believe that nuclear deterrence will stop North Korea from using its bomb. At the end of the day North Korea is believed to have the bomb, while Iraq does not yet have it. The view in the Bush Administration is that action has to be taken before a country gets a nuclear capability. With North Korea it is just too late, so Washington has to manage the consequences as best it can. Q: Would North Korea have had help developing its nuclear arsenal? A murky business. There have been all sorts of allegations about past Chinese help for example. However, the Bush team now argues that more recently Pakistan has given North Korea critical help. This cooperation is said to have begun in the late 1990s and may well have continued even beyond 11 September last year. The idea that one of America's key allies in the "war against terrorism" should be helping one of the "axis of evil" to develop nuclear arms presents a massive problem for the Bush foreign policy team. Q: What can the international community do? Caution, engagement, diplomacy seem to be the watchwords at the moment. The Americans are playing all of his down, clearly wanting to focus on one crisis at a time. All sorts of interpretations have been given as to why North Korea should make this uncharacteristic admission now (and we only have the Bush Administration's account of this meeting). The US is likely to raise the whole question of North Korea's activities with China which is seen as one of the few outside powers with at least limited leverage over the secretive North Korean regime. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 43 Officials question Test Site plan Las Vegas SUN: Today: October 18, 2002 at 10:17:16 PDT By Mary Manning Not one person spoke in favor of the Nevada Test Site becoming the nation's new nuclear bomb "pit" plant at a public hearing in North Las Vegas Thursday night. "You get rid of Yucca Mountain and then maybe we'll talk to you," Judy Treichel, executive director of the watchdog group Nuclear Waste Task Force, said, referring to the proposed high-level nuclear waste dump approved by President Bush and Congress. The Test Site is one of five sites on the Energy Department's list to replace a former production plant closed in 1989 at Rocky Flats, Colo., because of safety and contamination concerns, said Mike Mitchell, the National Nuclear Security Administration project manager. The Test Site's remote desert location and its security are positive points for its selection, Mitchell said. Nevada officials are concerned that the Test Site could become another Rocky Flats. The state has taken no position on the project that could cost between $2 billion and $4 billion to build, said Joe Strolin of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. At issue is the nature of the plutonium pits, which are the size of a softball and are at the heart of nuclear weapons. Pits would be made at the site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is currently making about 20 plutonium pits a year to maintain aging nuclear weapons. A nuclear weapons program based at Los Alamos but approved for the Test Site has been shrouded in secrecy, Strolin said. "The state has been unable to find out anything about the program," Strolin said. "There is universal concern at the state level that the facility not be another Rock Flats." Jay Rose, in charge of preparing an environmental impact statement, said some information would be classified, but as much as possible would be open to the public. About 125 plutonium pits would be made each year if a new plant opens in 2018, Rose said. The plutonium would arrive at the Test Site from the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas, in two shipments per month over the 50-year life of the plant. Once the aging plutonium arrives at the Test Site, it would have to be processed, stripped of impurities by acidic solvents, then remade to replace the grapefruit-sized pits. The retooled pits would then return to Pantex for assembly. Since liquid wastes are not buried at the Test Site, the waste streams would be changed into solid form at the site then shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in Carlsbad, N.M., for burial, Rose said. "We are trying to improve the process after Rocky Flats," Rose said. FBI agents discovered plutonium contaminating ventilation systems and soils surrounding the Rocky Flats facility, about 20 miles from Denver. Contamination potential and the possibility that the plutonium could go critical -- that is, create a nuclear chain reaction -- will be part of the analysis of all the sites, Rose said. Besides the Test Site, Los Alamos, the Pantex Plant, the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., and the Waste Isolation Pilot Project are the sites being considered for the plutonium pit project. The department plans to choose one site by April 2004. A preferred site could be chosen by May 2003. The new plant is needed because plutonium pits decay over time, although it is not clear when they become useless in a weapon. The only community that has welcomed the project is Carlsbad, near the plutonium burial site, Rose said. "I'd say it was 99.9 percent in favor," he said. Between 1,000 to 1,500 jobs would come with the project at an annual budget of $200 million to $300 million. As for any further nuclear weapons activity, Kalynda Tilges, executive director of the Shundahai Network, told officials that no new projects are welcome. "We want the DOE and the Nevada Test Site out of Nevada," she said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 44 Mercury uprising: A photo essay from the front lines of the Action For Nuclear Abolition Summit Las Vegas City Life Saturday, October 19, 2002 By David Hare MERCURY - Bloodshot sky brightening in the rearview mirror. Cold blue road running through the desert like a vein. This truck's heading north to where the bombs went off not too long ago. Last stop - Mercury, Nev. Along the road a procession of colors passes by - about 30 walkers made up of women and men, young and old, pushing baby strollers, waving flags and banners, singing. The walkers are greeted by a group of fellow protesters. They call out to each other from across the road dividing them. Most of these Family Spirit Walkers have been hoofing it for almost two months. Eight-hundred miles on foot from Los Alamos, N.M. They walk off the road, onto the desert. They stream into the camp with arms and voices raised. Gilbert Sanchez leads the group south along a footpath. He's a member of the Tewe tribe from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico. At the entrance to the camp, standing atop a small hill, is Johnnie Bobb of the Western Shoshone tribe, beating a ritual drum. Sanchez approaches the hill and stops in his tracks. The other walkers do the same. "We come in peace," Sanchez says aloud. He then leads the group up the path heading toward the prayer circle. There they are met by Corbin Harney, spiritual leader of the Western Shoshone. Waiting with Harney are about 25 people who join him in welcoming the walkers. The two tribal leaders come face-to-face inside the prayer circle. "Our country is sick; our planet is sick," Sanchez says to Harney. Johnnie Bob beats a ritual drum with a "coming-in song" as walkers finish an 800-mile trek from Los Alamos, N.M. People exchange handshakes and embraces. The once divergent groups huddle together in prayer. "Whenever you fall, stand back up," Sanchez says, "for that is the challenge of your heart." To the north, about a half-mile from here, is the entrance to the Nevada Test Site. For those participating in the Action For Nuclear Abolition Summit, this is the end of the road. "The people are the backbone of our government. It looks like they forgot about us." Harney is addressing the people, who are locked hand-in-hand around the prayer circle. A small fire burns in its center. "Let's stop this nonsense and madness of our leaders," he says. "Our leaders talk about our young generation, but it seems to me they're not concerned about our young generation at all." His voice is soft but resonant. It's audible from outside the circle, but a gust of wind can overtake it. Gilbert Sanchez, left, of the Tewe tribe in New Mexico, hugs Corbin Harney of the Western Shoshone at the end of an 800-mile walk from Los Alamos, N.M. "They aim to poison our young generation," Harney continues. "They're using our land for bad things." Harney leads the group in a morning prayer song. Later, more singers step into the circle. About 30 yards down the trail, their voices fade out. The next day the area looks completely different. Red, yellow and orange pup tents are spread out across the desert. Cars from all around the country are parked near the camp entrance, buses too. Reading the license plates is like following a cut-and-paste map of America: Maine, Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California. Red-lettered graffiti is painted on the overpass near the Test Site: "NO WAR" and "HELL'S GATE." It wasn't here yesterday. The road from the camp to the test site entrance At the media registration tent a woman is rolling a joint. People move in and out from under the tent, which is nothing more than a pop-up canopy attached to the woman's van. Ka Flewellen enters the tent. She's with an environmental group based in Washington, D.C. She says her group represents 16 communities that have been contaminated by nuclear or chemical facilities. She counts them off: "Vieques, Puerto Rico; the Savannah River Site in Georgia; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Washington state ..." A meeting is being held in the Big Tent. At the north end of the tent, a group of people is sitting in a circle talking about white oppression. Above their heads is a handmade sign: "The Three I's: Institutional Oppression - Interpersonal Oppression - Internalized Oppression." A black man in a leather cowboy hat tells the group that not all whites are bad. To the south, a larger group is gathered. More talk about white oppression coming from the mouths of white faces. Across from the Big Tent is a blue Winnebago someone's converted into the Museum to End the Nuclear Age. Inside is an exhibit titled "Nuclear Reactor Accidents." On the wall is a picture of a "Chernobyl child with hydrocephaly." His head appears to be the size of a pumpkin. Underneath his picture is a newspaper photograph of a stuffed and mounted stillborn double-headed calf found on a farm about five miles from Three Mile Island. Back on the midway, a man on stilts passes by. Virginy is from France. She says it's her first time in America. She's visiting a friend who is an activist. Her sister is a television reporter in Paris. Virginy works in the theater. That explains why she's on the campground making a puppet out of papier-mache. Her hands are dripping with glue. "Maybe," she says, when asked if she is going to the rally tonight at the test site. Protesters gather at the test site entrance. On her way to Mercury, in the middle of the night, she stopped in Las Vegas for three hours. "It was like a dream," she says. People are filing toward the mess tent. The schedule calls for direct action at the test site after lunch. No one here wears a watch. They keep saying, "We're on Indian time." The sun is dropping closer to the mountains in the west. "Everything passes away - suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes toward the stars? Why?" -Novelist and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov Amy Hadden March, in tent, and Scott Thomas broadcast the proceedings from the Big Tent on 104.7-FM, a five-watt micro radio station. Dusk settles on the desert floor. At the test site entrance just down the road, guards are bracing for the evening's activities. One of them climbs a ladder and screws a light bulb into a tall steel pole overhanging a white line painted on the ground. The stage is set. Greg Zoland from Ontario, Canada is one of the first to arrive. He resembles a retired college professor. He says this is the fourth or fifth Test Site demonstration he's attended. "These people are like my spiritual kin," he says. We hear them first, marching down the road, whooping and shrieking. Then they emerge from the darkness like something out of a child's dream: men on stilts, bicycle riders, painted faces, mothers, fathers, grandparents. When they reach the white line they stop. On the other side stand about a dozen security guards and officers from the Nye County sheriff's department. Among the protesters is a man standing at the front of the pack. His name is Vermin Supreme. He aims his blow horn at the uniformed men and women, and calls out to them from across the divide: "Come out with your hands up. You are surrounded by love. If you don't surrender, we'll be forced to chant." One of the police officers approaches the line and asks: "How many people are planning on crossing the line tonight?" Danielle Johnson, a University of Reno environmental studies major, reads the citation she got after being detained for entering the site. His query is met with laughter, more taunts. This goes on for some time until, finally, one of the protesters crosses the line. Immediately he's placed in custody and dragged inside a holding pen on the side of the road. His arrest is soon followed by several others. Last count before leaving: 24 people arrested. More on the way. Walking back along the dark road. The stars reveal their endless, eternal nature. David Hare is CityLife's staff writer. He can be reached at 702-871-6780 ext. 396 or dhare@lvpress.com. After crossing the line, a protester holds up a document from the Western Shoshone which gives him permission to be on what they claim to be their land. Copyright 2002 Las Vegas City Life ***************************************************************** 45 Report: US Vows to Protect Israel from Iraqi Scuds Fri, Oct 18, 2002 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration made a pledge to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to protect Israel from Iraqi missile strikes should the United States go to war against Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Friday. Israel was told that the United States would deploy Special Operations forces in western Iraq at the start of any war to destroy facilities that could be used to launch missiles at Israel, the newspaper reported, citing senior U.S. and Israeli officials. The report said the pledge was made this week's during Sharon's three-day visit to Washington and underscores the strong U.S. desire to keep Israel out of any war. Last month Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told lawmakers it would be "overwhelmingly in Israel's interest to stay out" of any U.S. campaign against Iraq, as it did when Baghdad fired Scud missiles at Israeli targets in the 1991 Gulf War. Israeli military action against Iraq would almost certainly undermine Arab support for a U.S. war to oust Saddam over his suspected weapons of mass destruction. It is conventional wisdom in Israel, however, that by not responding to 39 Scud missile attacks in 1991, Israeli deterrence in the Arab world was undermined. Those missile strikes caused heavy damage but few casualties. Sharon is expected to face heavy public pressure at home to strike back, in the even of a biological or chemical attack. COVERT MISSION The Post said Washington's pledge follows a covert reconnaissance mission in western Iraq this summer by Israeli special forces to determine whether the Iraqis had the capability to launch drone aircraft, in addition to Scud missiles, from its desert air bases. The question of whether Israel would strike back if Iraq attacked it with missiles in retaliation for a U.S. military offensive to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein topped the agenda for Sharon's meeting with President Bush on Wednesday. A senior Israeli official told reporters who accompanied Sharon to Washington that in his talks with Bush, the Israeli leader came away better informed about action the United States might take to neutralize an Iraqi missile threat against Israel in case of war. Bush said he had not decided to attack Iraq and hoped the United Nations could persuade Saddam to end his suspected chemical, biological and nuclear programs. "Our hope is that the Iraqi regime will disarm peacefully," Bush said, hours after signing a congressional resolution giving him authority to wage war against Iraq if needed. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or ***************************************************************** 46 France, Russia Consider Plan on Iraq Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | [UP] Friday October 18, 2002 5:20 PM UNITED NATIONS (AP) - France and Russia were considering a new U.S. compromise for a Security Council resolution on Iraq, with Moscow saying for the first time Friday that it might agree to military action if Baghdad fails to cooperate with weapons inspections. In an effort to end a five-week impasse among the permanent members of the council, the United States, supported by Britain, dropped a demand that a resolution explicitly authorize military force against Iraq. The new offer was designed to win support from the other three permanent members of the council - France, Russia and China - which want to give Iraq a chance to cooperate with weapons inspectors without the threat of force. Still, the Bush administration made clear there would be consequences if Iraq fails to comply with returning inspectors, and Secretary of State Colin Powell said the president already had the authorization he needed from Congress. French diplomats were reported to be pleased with the latest U.S. offer, which eliminates the threat of using ``all necessary measures'' against Iraq. But there remained some concern about other phrases that could trigger military action, such as a reference to Iraq being in ``material breach'' if it violates any U.N. resolution. The same legal terminology was used by the United States to take action in Kosovo in 1999 to oust Slobodan Milosevic's forces. In Paris, French Foreign Ministry deputy spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo said the new U.S. proposal was the subject of intense negotiations. ``It's not a question today of victory for anyone,'' she said. ``Our objective is to maintain unity within the international community and the Security Council.'' The new proposal calls for inspectors to ``report immediately to the council any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament,'' according to excerpts of the new U.S. proposal obtained by The Associated Press. Once a failure is reported, the Security Council would convene immediately ``to consider the situation and the need for full compliance with all the relevant council resolutions in order to restore international peace and security.'' U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States would agree to confer with the council then, but would not feel bound to wait for a council decision before taking action. In addition, the United States was prepared to drop some demands on a new weapons inspections regime, including armed escorts, an idea inspectors oppose. Inspectors also believe a U.S. idea to fly Iraqi scientists outside of the country for interviews is unworkable. Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, and Jacques Baute with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency met Friday in New York with their board of international weapons experts to discuss preparations for a return to Baghdad. Blix said his meeting with Powell on Thursday had been positive and that he hoped a new U.S. plan would take his concerns into account. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said if weapons inspectors encounter obstacles in Iraq, the United Nations could consider passing a resolution authorizing the use of force. ``If the inspectors began to work in Iraq and in the course of this work, problems arise, the inspectors should report what problems have arisen. Then the U.N. Security Council should again consider this issue and decide whether harsher measures, right up to the use of force, are required,'' Ivanov said at a news conference. It was the first time Moscow explicitly said it might at some point agree to military action. Ivanov said a day earlier that the new U.S. offer presented ``favorable conditions'' for the council to work with. But Russia still seemed to be pushing for a two-step approach envisioned by France and favored by many U.N. members. Despite the U.S. offer, France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said Thursday that France was sticking to its demand for a first resolution to empower inspectors - and a second to authorize action if Iraq obstructs their work. Intense negotiations on Iraq began five weeks ago when Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and told skeptical world leaders to confront the ``grave and gathering danger'' posed by Iraq - or stand aside as the United States acts. Iraq responded to the escalating threat of U.S. military action by suddenly inviting U.N. weapons inspectors to return after barring them for nearly four years. The inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes punishing Iraq for obstructing their work. Inspectors must certify that Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs have been destroyed before sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted. On Wednesday and Thursday, the council held a public debate on the Iraq crisis for the first time this year. More than 60 countries spoke during the debate, with many warning that a new war would add to the suffering of Iraqis and further destabilize the region. Only Britain and Israel endorsed the original U.S. demand. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 47 Nuclear-armed North Korea? BulletinWire | October 17, 2002 North Korea has acknowledged its pursuit of nuclear weapons, the State Department announced yesterday. The admission came nearly two weeks ago in Pyongyang, after U.S. officials confronted North Korea with evidence of a North Korean program to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Such activity violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (signed by North Korea in 1985) as well as the 1994 U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework (in which North Korea agreed to freeze development of nuclear weapons in exchange for construction of two light-water reactors by the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and a supply of fuel oil). It is not known whether North Korea successfully made a nuclear weapon. Inspections at nuclear sites in North Korea, which were one element of the Agreed Framework, had been stymied because inspection dates were linked to progress on the much-delayed construction of the two light-water reactors, as David Albright and Holly Higgins reported earlier this year (?North Korea: It?s Taking Too Long?). The recent revelations, of course, put an end to the question of whether or not Pyongyang wants to build a nuclear arsenal. New questions revolve around whether any weapons yet exist. Although the State Department?s information revealed a secret uranium enrichment program (about which no details have been made available), most experts believe that in the past North Korea extracted plutonium for weapons (see ?How Much Plutonium Does North Korea Have?? and ?North Korea and the Worst Case ?Scare-nario,??). Bulletin Resources North Korea: It?s Taking Too Long, by David Albright and Holly Higgins, January/February 2002 How Much Plutonium Does North Korea Have? by David Albright, September/October 1994 North Korea and the Worst Case ?Scare-nario,? by David Albright, January/February 1994 Additional Resources North Korean Nuclear Program, U.S. State Department BulletinWire | October 10, 2002 More tests revealed On October 9, the Defense Department disclosed information about 27 biological and chemical agent tests conducted from 1962-1973 that involved an estimated 5,500 military personnel. In a Pentagon briefing, William Winkenwerder, the assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, stated that the operational tests were designed to ?test equipment, procedures, military tactics, et cetera, and to learn more about biological and chemical agents. The tests were not conducted to evaluate the effects of dangerous agents on people.? Despite this, about 55 of the participating veterans have filed health complaints related to the tests. Approximately half of the experiments used harmless simulants; in the other half, live agents like the deadly nerve agents sarin, soman, tabun, and VX were used. This is not the first revelation of secret military tests of biological or chemical agents. In 1994, Leonard Cole reported in the /Bulletin/ on the army?s chemical testing conducted in unsuspecting Minneapolis: ?In 1953, the army told municipal officials it was developing a smoke screen to protect against aerial attack. Instead, it was spraying zinc cadmium sulfide from rooftops and slow-moving trucks to see how far the agent would spread.? Bulletin Resources Clearing the Air in Minneapolis, by Leonard A. Cole, November/December 1994 Additional Resources Briefing on Cold War?Era Chemical and Biological Warfare Tests, Department of Defense ***************************************************************** 48 Kawaguchi urges peaceful approach* Saturday, October 19, 2002 ** Japan hopes the United States will not resort to force in dealing with efforts by North Korea to develop a nuclear weapons program, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday. "The United States has said it will resolve the issue peacefully," Kawaguchi said. "This is an issue that the international community shares, and our country will take up the issue. But we also hope the United States will deal with the matter peacefully." The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that North Korea had informed the U.S. earlier this month that it has a secret program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and is no longer bound by a 1994 accord designed to stop activities of this kind. James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, was told about the program during his visit to North Korea between Oct. 3 and Oct. 5. Kelly will arrive in Japan on Sunday for a two-day visit. Asked whether she plans to meet Kelly, Kawaguchi said a meeting is still being coordinated. Kawaguchi said Japan will brief Kelly on its planned resumption of normalization talks with North Korea, scheduled to take place on Oct. 29 in Kuala Lumpur. Japan will also explain that in addition to security matters, the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea will top the talks agenda, she said. Meanwhile, Richard Armitage, U.S. deputy secretary of state, said the United States hopes Japan will address the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons program during the normalization talks. "It seems to me that Prime Minister (Junichiro) Koizumi and his colleagues have been very attentive to security needs and security concerns that the United States, the Republic of (South) Korea and Japan all have," Armitage told reporters. "So I know that Japan will (go) forward if they decide to do so, keeping those concerns foremost in their mind." Japan and North Korea agreed to resume normalization talks during a landmark summit meeting in Pyongyang on Sept. 17. between Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The talks were suspended in October 2000 due to differences over the abduction issue and North Korea's demand for compensation over Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. *The Japan Times: Oct. 19, 2002* (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 49 North Korea: A pariah state, its secret nuclear programme - and a new crisis for Bush Independent.co.uk 19 October 2002 06:11 BDST By Rupert Cornwell in Washington It is a tale of fathers and sons: of a reclusive dynasty in an impoverished country in Asia, where the son, like the father, has lavished its few assets on building a terrifying array of weaponry; and of an American presidential dynasty, in which the father began a war in Iraq the son now wants to finish. With North Korea's stunning admission that it has a secret nuclear weapons programme, in breach of its international undertakings, the parallel ambitions of George Bush and Kim Jong Il have become entangled in a crisis which could trigger a new upheaval in Asia, and which seems bound to complicate US efforts to win international support for a preventive military strike against Baghdad. Yesterday, senior State Department officials began a hasty tour of east Asia to forge a concerted strategy. As James Kelly, the assistant Secretary of State, and the Under Secretary, John Bolton, arrived in Beijing, en route for Tokyo and Seoul, Mr Bush described the admission as "troubling and sobering". Washington has demanded that North Korea fulfil its obligations and abandon its nuclear programme. Japan and South Korea said yesterday they would continue to seek improved relations with North Korea. But the development can only confirm their worst suspicions about their reclusive Communist neighbour. It also signifies the effective end of the 1994 nuclear control agreement between Pyongyang and Washington. Here, and in capitals around the world, diplomats and government leaders are puzzling over the motives and the impact of the disclosure. Washington's uncertainty is reflected in the long delay between Mr Kelly being told of the programme when he visited the North from 3 to 5 October, and the announcement by the State Department on Wednesday, almost a fortnight later. The immediate fears in Washington are twofold: first, that a new crisis might erupt on the divided and heavily armed Korean peninsula, where 35,000 US troops are stationed. It has been described as "the most dangerous place on Earth". The second worry is that the restrained US reaction will lead to accusations that America operates double standards in its dealings with Iraq and North Korea, making the search for a tough United Nations resolution against Saddam Hussein even trickier. Insisting that it wanted to settle the dispute with Pyongyang peacefully, the White House said the cases of Iraq and North Korea were different, although both belong to President Bush's "axis of evil", and North Korea appears to be well ahead of Iraq in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iraq, Mr Bush never misses a chance to proclaim, represents a "unique" threat, by combining support for terrorism with weapons of mass destruction, with a leader who has a track record of aggression and has not hesitated to use those weapons against neighbouring states and his people. But Iraq, it transpires, may not be unique. In the eight years since the agreement with the Clinton administration, which essentially bartered US economic aid for the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear programme, Pyongyang appears to have mounted a secret one, based on enriched uranium. Unlike the plutonium technology mothballed in 1994, reactors are not needed in this process. But it does require centrifuges, precisely the technology Washington claims the Iraqis are trying to assemble in their own pursuit of a bomb. Under the old plutonium-based programme, the North Koreans acknowledged they possessed 100 grams of the deadly material. But the CIA always believed the stock was much more, enough to produce one or two atomic weapons. It is unclear whether North Korea has produced a weapon from the enriched uranium programme. "We're not certain it has been weaponised yet," a senior official told /The New York Times/ yesterday. But that may be small comfort. Scarcely less alarming was Pyongyang's claim, reported by US officials with Mr Kelly at the start of the month, that it had unspecified "more powerful" weapons. This is being taken as confirmation that North Korea already has chemical and biological arms, as all its neighbours and most weapons proliferation specialists have long believed. Perhaps the most baffling aspect of the revelation is its timing. The truculence of North Korea is an apparent contrast to the recent overtures of its leader, Kim Jong Il, to its old foe Japan, the gradual thaw in relations with the South, and the country's cautious embrace of capitalist economic reforms. Only a month ago, at a summit with Junichiro Koizumi, Mr Kim asked the Japanese Prime Minister to convey a message to Mr Bush stressing North Korea's desire to improve relations with the US. So what is the eternally mysterious North really up to? Not surprisingly, reactions are sharply divided. Hardliners believe the North has burnt its bridges with the West, and the moves towards normalisation with Japan and South Korea were a feint. They believe all relations with Pyongyang should be severed, saying North Korea now represents a nuclear proliferation threat that must be confronted head-on. Another school holds that the admission ? however belligerently delivered ? is another step along North Korea's tortuous path towards rejoining the outside world, and an implicit recognition that rapprochement is impossible without coming clean about its nuclear programme. "This is a signal they want to be treated with respect," said Donald Gregg, chairman of the Korea society in New York, and a former US ambassador to Seoul. The decision to admit to Mr Koizumi the kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s was psychologically much harder. "What they did with the Americans was much easier," Mr Gregg said. "North Korea has a growing sense of our satellite surveillance capacity. So they think, why fool around? They are hoping for better dialogue and engagement." Korea-watchers note the admission of a secret programme also fits the hard- nosed, backs-to-the-wall style of bargaining the North has perfected in crises past. Selig Harrison, director of the national security programme at the Centre for International Policy in Washington, said: "This is the North's answer to the Bush administration's threat of preventative action." With the US failure to deliver the proliferation-proof reactors to replace the plutonium reactors for electric power generation, Mr Harrison believes: "This is a warning, saying, 'If you don't live up to the 1994 agreement, the agreement will unravel'." In that sense, Iraq and North Korea really /are /different. Kim Jong Il has a leverage President Saddam can only dream of. Both regimes may be pariahs, but North Korea, with or without a nuclear capability, represents a special threat. Mr Bush appears to be the latest US president to conclude that an attack on North Korea, bristling with weapons, would almost certainly entail a new Korean war, and devastation for America's ally, South Korea. *THE RACE FOR NUCLEAR ARMS* In addition to the five declared nuclear powers, the following countries have clandestinely acquired, or are working to acquire, a nuclear capability. /NORTH KOREA: /In 1994 it agreed to mothball and eventually eliminate its weapons programme but has admitted to a project using highly enriched uranium. The US has not said whether Pyongyang has produced a nuclear weapon. /INDIA:/ Tested a missile with a range of 150 miles, which could carry a nuclear payload, in 1988. Its first nuclear test was in 1994. India decided to build a nuclear bomb after China had done so in the 1960s, and has an estimated 60 weapons. /PAKISTAN: /In 1989, Pakistan test-fired a ballistic missile with a range of up to 60 miles that could carry a nuclear payload. Pakistan started its nuclear programme after war with India in 1971. Its first nuclear test was in 1998. It is believed to have 10 nuclear warheads. /ISRAEL: /Activated a nuclear weapons programme from the days following its creation. Estimates of its nuclear stockpile range from 75 to 400 weapons. /IRAQ:/Continued work on a nuclear weapon despite the Israeli bombing of its French-built nuclear reactor in 1982. UN inspectors in the 1990s in effect eliminated the nuclear weapons programme, but the US fears it has been restarted. /IRAN:/ The US is concerned at Russian co-operation with Iran, which is thought to have a nuclear weapons programme. ***************************************************************** 50 France says action may be needed against N. Korea 18 Oct 2002 11:56 PARIS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The international community may have to take action against North Korea to neutralise the nuclear arms that Pyongyang has just admitted to having, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Friday. Alliot-Marie, speaking in Washington after meeting with top United States officials, also said Pyongyang could use the arms to blackmail other states or sell them to terrorist groups. Asked whether the international community might have to disarm North Korea as it was considering doing with Iraq, she said: "Indeed, I think some action will have to be taken." "We have always expressed our mistrust towards that regime and we refused to establish diplomatic relations," she added. France has refused to go along with other countries that have opened diplomatic relations with the North Koreans in recent years. "There is a risk that they use (the nuclear arms) for blackmail, but also that they sell them to we don't know who, including terrorist networks," the minister said. "It is imperative that we work together to neutralise these arms," she said. "We will work with the international community to see how to pressure North Korea so it stops producing them." Alliot-Marie said the nuclear threat from North Korea was extremely serious and that France would work closely with the United States to deal with it. France is one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. ***************************************************************** 51 UAE voices concern over Iraq situation <#> * Dubai:Friday, October 18, 2002* WAM |New York | 18-10-2002 * The UAE yesterday voiced concern at the delay in settling ensuing questions of the Iraqi case since 12 years and pleaded with the international community to activate pre-emptive diplomacy to avoid a third Gulf war that will have grave consequences. The remarks were made by the UAE's Permanent Ambassador to the UN Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi before the Security Council special session on Kuwait-Iraq issue. "It has become quite clear today more than anytime before that the gap between Iraq and the UN Security Council is widening over interpretation of international resolutions on disarmament of weapons of mass destruction and their implementation," he said. "Negative consequences of this situation have not only raised security and political tension in the region but also cast far-reaching affects on the socio-economic and development aspects for countries and peoples of the region," he said. On the humanitarian situation in Iraq, he said the Oil-For-Food Programme had failed to meet the basic humanitarian needs of Iraqi people given the deteriorating living conditions there. On the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq, Al Shamsi said that the UAE welcomed the Iraq initiative allowing the UN weapons inspectors and International Atomic Energy Agency's experts to return to Iraq unconditionally. He said that the recent Vienna understanding which stipulated procedures for the immediate resumption of the inspectors mandate in Iraq was welcomed. The UAE's envoy to UN urged the Security Council to promptly take up this positive Iraqi initiative taking into account Iraq's concerns over possible repetition of previous flaws by UNSCOM. Al Shamsi said the initiative should be taken as an initial step towards Iraq's full adherence to its legal commitments in application of the UN resolutions in regard to disarmament of internationally banned weapons. He said that stability and security in the region would only be guaranteed by five fundamental elements: First, to find a peaceful, just,final and comprehensive settlement to all pending issues pertaining to the Kuwait-Iraq case, a settlement that is based on transparency and away from double-standard approaches to the issue. Second, to guarantee the implementation of the provisions of the security council's resolutions, which call for the security, safety, sovereignty, unity and non-intervention in the internal affairs of Iraq. Also, to reject all kinds of escalation and confrontation which would subject Iraq to a military strike that might devastate the whole gulf and Arab region. Third, to urge Iraq to immediately carry out its undertakings and commitments as stipulated by the resolutions of the security council' and the Arab League's summits which necessitate cooperation in finding solution to the case of Kuwaiti Prisoners of War and to give back Kuwaiti properties which are in Iraq's possession since 1990. Fourth, to respond to calls for lifting of sanctions levied against the Iraqi people which have caused the death of over 1.7 million of its population and to help Iraq in reconstructing its infrastructure. Fifth, to affirm that para. 14 of resolution 687 0f 1991 is comprehensively applied to all the countries of the region and not to Iraq alone. To commit Israel into removing its nuclear arsenal and other weapons of mass destruction and place the same under the warranty of the International Atomic Energy Agency prior to constructing a nuclear-free zone. ***************************************************************** 52 *IAEA: Difficult for Iraq to hide nuclear program* First Published 2002-10-18, Last Updated 2002-10-18 16:02:51 We can always see traces: ElBaradei Atomic agency chief says inspectors would by be deterrent to Baghdad developing WMD once set up in Iraq. VIENNA - Iraq would probably be unable to hide a nuclear weapons program if it allowed international inspectors back into the country, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Mohamed Elbaradei said Friday. He also said that once inspectors were set up in Iraq they would by their very presence be a deterrent to the country developing nuclear weapons. "It is difficult for them to hide" a nuclear program, Elbaradei told reporters at his headquarters in Vienna. He said this was "providing of course that we have full-fledged inspections because nuclear products always have a signature. We can always see traces ... if they used highly enriched uranium or plutonium." Elbaradei said the inspectors would carry out such measures as environmental sampling, gamma radiation surveys from helicopters, internal periodic visits to all capable sites and "interviewing all the former nuclear scientists to make sure that they are not working in the nuclear program." He said the IAEA could not give a 100 percent guarantee but that the presence of inspectors would be "a good deterrent and a good mechanism for detection." In addition, it was necessary to control imports to Iraq since "one of the risks of course is Iraq gettting nuclear material from outside the country," Elbaradei said. There must also be "physical protection of all nuclear material, particularly in the former Soviet Union, strong unanimous support by the UN Security Council" to force Iraq to comply and "finally as much intelligence information as we can get" to steer inspectors to "anything we need to inspect or any item hidden from our inspectors." The Security Council has been meeting in open session to discuss the Iraq issue ahead of a crucial vote on the conditions under which UN weapons inspectors will return to Baghdad, which they left in 1998, to verify Iraqi assertions that it has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. ***************************************************************** 53 U.S. backs off on U.N.-Iraq threat Salon Wire *By EDITH M. LEDERER* Oct. 18, 2002 | UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- After backing away from a demand that a new U.N. resolution explicitly authorize military force against Iraq, the Bush administration made clear it already has the authorization it needs to attack. Confronting strong global opposition to a war against Iraq, the United States offered a compromise resolution aimed at winning support from France, Russia and China, who want to give Iraq a chance to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors without the threat of force. The new U.S. resolution makes clear Baghdad will face consequences if it obstructs inspections, diplomats said Thursday. But it drops tough language in the initial U.S. proposal instructing inspectors to report any "interference or problems" to the U.N. Security Council and then authorizing member states to use "all necessary measures" to force compliance -- a green light for military action. Instead, the compromise calls for inspectors to "report immediately to the council any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament," according to excerpts of the new U.S. proposal obtained by The Associated Press. Once a failure was reported, the Security Council would convene immediately "to consider the situation and the need for full compliance with all the relevant council resolutions in order to restore international peace and security." Some diplomats saw the compromise as a victory for France, which led the opposition to the original U.S. proposal. French diplomats were reported to be pleased with the elimination of the reference to "all necessary measures" but concerned about other phrases that could trigger military action, such as a reference to Iraq being in "material breach" if it violates any U.N. resolution. A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "material breach" could be interpreted as allowing for consequences, and was used by the United States to take military action in Kosovo in 1999 to oust Slobodan Milosevic's forces. The White House official insisted that the U.S. compromise would give President Bush "maximum flexibility" to mete out consequences should Saddam not comply -- and a second resolution would not be needed for Bush to act against Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in New York, "The United States does not need any additional authority, even now, if we felt it was necessary to take action to defend ourselves. The United States is now operating behind the authority given to the president by a joint resolution of the Congress." Powell spoke by telephone with his French counterpart Thursday, and officials in Paris were studying the latest U.S. offer. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov welcomed the new U.S. proposal and said Powell told him it would be presented formally to the council within days. "We believe that there are favorable conditions now to preserve the unity of the global community and ensure the return of international inspectors and their efficient work in Iraq," Ivanov said. While the United States, with British support, has pressed for a single U.N. resolution spelling out consequences if Iraq fails to comply with inspectors, France has pressed for a two-step approach. France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said France was sticking to its demand for a first resolution to toughen inspections -- and a second to authorize action against Iraq only if it obstructs inspections. That position is supported by China and Russia, the other veto-wielding council members. The crisis began five weeks ago when Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and told skeptical world leaders to confront the "grave and gathering danger" posed by Iraq -- or stand aside as the United States acts. Iraq responded to the escalating threat of U.S. military action by suddenly inviting U.N. weapons inspectors to return after barring them for nearly four years. The inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 ahead of U.S. and British air strikes punishing Iraq for obstructing their work. Inspectors must certify that Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs have been destroyed before sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted. The standoff among the five permanent, veto-wielding members dragged on for weeks behind closed doors. On Wednesday and Thursday, the council held a public debate on the Iraq crisis for the first time. More than 60 countries spoke during the debate, which was requested by the Non-Aligned Movement comprising 115 mainly developing countries pressing for a peaceful solution. Ambassadors from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America warned that a new war would add to the suffering of Iraqis, possibly engulf the Middle East and have dire consequences for global stability. With the exception of Britain and Israel, they refused to endorse the original U.S. demand. "The message was we don't want war, we want peace. We can resolve this peacefully," said South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, whose country heads the movement. "It showed that many, many countries want the inspectors to return to Iraq immediately ... so the Security Council just has to let them go." Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri expressed hope that Bush and the U.S. Congress, who he said issued "a virtual declaration of war" against Iraq, heard the overwhelming number of countries in the Security Council speak out "in favor of peace and diplomacy." He urged inspectors to return soon. "They will be very welcome in Iraq," he said. "Our doors are wide open. Our palaces, our small houses, our hospitals, our schools. Let them come and go where they will. ... We are not afraid." Salon.com >> News © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information ***************************************************************** 54 [NK Nuke Program] Kim Welcomes US Pledge to Resolve NK Issue Peacefully KoreaTimes : President Kim Dae-jung welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush¡¯s pledge to resolve the issue of North Korea¡¯s nuclear program yesterday. In a meeting with heads of economic organizations at Chong Wa Dae, Kim said, ``It is hard to predict what to expect even in a near future regarding a potential hardening of U.S.-North Korea relations after Pyongyang¡¯s admission to running a nuclear weapons program.¡¯¡¯ ``This could add to the burden to the national economy,¡¯¡¯ he said. ``Fortunately, the United States has decided to resolve the issue in a peaceful manner, while the North is seen by some resorting to dialogue. This is the grounds for hope, however small it may be.¡¯¡¯ In the meeting, government and economic leaders agreed that there was little possibility of another economic crisis but pledged not to let their guard down. In connection, the government planned to lower tariffs on raw materials imported from overseas in order to soften the blow on consumer prices, while extending by six months taxes on investment to keep facility investments flowing. oh@koreatimes.co.kr ÀԷ½ð£ 2002/10/18 18:03 ***************************************************************** 55 Korea Editorial: Crisis or opportunity? welcome to Korea Herald!!_Oped http://www.koreaherald.com North Korea has recently stunned friends and foes alike with a series of surprise moves on the economic and diplomatic fronts. But nothing could be more astounding than Pyongyang's latest admission of a clandestine nuclear weapons development program, revealed in Washington and Seoul on Thursday. What really shocked - or puzzled - longtime North Korea watchers, however, was not so much the country's pursuit of atomic weapons as its confession. The information is too fragmentary and one-sided yet to know anything for sure, so calm thinking should prevail over hasty action. First of all, the government should get a better grasp of the facts. There are a multitude of questions to answer: Are the alleged nuclear bombs based on plutonium, highly enriched uranium or both; have these weapons already been tested, or are they still being developed or even in planning stages; was the acknowledgement premeditated or accidental, etc. Seoul needs to mobilize all sources and channels of information it can to get to the heart of what happened and the North's intention behind it. According to the U.S. officials who visited Pyongyang early this month, their North Korean counterparts first denied but later acknowledged the secret program when confronted with evidence. The Pyongyang officials were also reportedly more belligerent than apologetic, nullifying in effect the 1994 Agreed Framework on a nuclear freeze. The North has yet to make any official response to these reports. But pro-Pyongyang news media have indirectly expressed complaints about the "arrogance" of U.S. envoys and Washington's "unilateral leakage" of information. Based on what is known already, the North appears to have proposed a package deal, in which Washington guaranteed the regime's existence and economic aid in exchange for Pyongyang's concession on its nuclear, missile and conventional forces. The nuclear program was the North's device to up the ante to a maximum. But the American visitors might have flatly turned it down, stressing the nuclear issue was non-negotiable, which disappointed the hosts. At any rate, the decision must have been beyond the discretion of the U.S. delegation. As it turned out, the U.S. envoy's visit was aimed not at making compromises but simply laying down the law, the trademark Bush administration style. Washington is still adamant that Pyongyang must first drop nuclear programs if it is to resume bilateral negotiations. Nor is the North likely to yield to such pressure, at least for the time being, causing some pessimists here to worry about the recurrence of the 1994 nuclear crisis, during which America considered a preemptive attack on suspected weapons production sites at the risk of massive counterattack. We welcome in this regard U.S. President George W. Bush's reported intention to seek a peaceful resolution to this nuclear stalemate through diplomatic channels. As the U.S. administration correctly understands, the Korean Peninsula currently carries much less strategic weight than the Middle East, while any war in this densely populated part of the world would incur almost irreparable destruction. Pyongyang also would find it next to impossible to return to its "diplomatic brinkmanship," in view of its economic difficulties and other reasons. Currently, America seems at a loss about what to do, because of both difficulties in reading the mind of Pyongyang and its preoccupation with Iraq. It may likely wait to act until next spring when a new administration in Seoul, possibly a more hawkish one like that in Washington, takes office, and America will have completed handling the Middle East crisis. The greatest victims of this diplomatic deadlock will be President Kim Dae-jung and his sunshine policy of engaging the North. The Seoul government might well feel betrayed by Pyongyang's double dealing as well as miffed by Washington's uncooperative conservatives. Still it has no other choice but to carry out the dual tasks of stopping the North's adventurism, while persuading America to continue dialogue. Seoul should be able to tell Pyongyang to stop taking the security of its compatriots hostage for whatever reason and under whatever circumstances. Only then could the South persuade the hawks in Washington to listen. In this vein, some ultra-rightists' blaming of the appeasement policy for the latest nuclear trouble is not only undesirable but dangerous. Without the sunshine policy, the South might have not even had a chance to directly talk with the North, let alone deliver its demands. The rival political parties ought not to seek political advantage out of a national security issue. Some conservative lawmakers calling for the severance of all ties with the North should learn from most ordinary citizens who demand caution - not to mention consider the stability of the stock market. We understand the North might think a couple of atomic bombs would help guarantee the regime's security. But a much better way is to come clean on weapons of mass destruction and show it is sincere in feeding its people and rebuilding its tattered economy through peaceful and democratic means. Washington for its part could promise support in proportion to Pyongyang's progress on this issue. Seoul needs to play the role of a patient arbitrator, if not the overall coordinator. The inter-Korean cabinet-level talks in Pyongyang today will be a good starting point to turn crisis into an opportunity. 2002.10.19 (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. Story last updated at 2:50 p.m. on Thursday, October 17, 2002 Oak Ridge on call for weapons inspections by R. Cathey Daniels Oak Ridger staff Who best to recognize a calutron when they see one? Oak Ridge weapons inspectors, of course. So if the Bush administration chooses technical weapons inspections over war with Iraq, Oak Ridge will be ready. "With maybe two exceptions, Oak Ridge has had someone on every inspection team up to the time inspections were interrupted in 1998," said Bob Upchurch, who along with Bill Bibb assembled the first technical cadre of Department of Energy laboratory experts to travel to Baghdad in the early 1990s. Since the post-Desert Storm inspections began in 1991, the International Atomic Energy Agency has sent 29 teams to Iraq to tease out weapons programs and proliferation. Oak Ridge was at the heart of recognizing uranium enrichment equipment hidden in the desert during the first inspection. Upchurch, now working in nuclear materials detection at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was at that time director of national security programs for Lockheed Martin. Bibb, now retired, was assistant manager for defense programs at DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office. Both were in Washington, D.C., the day the call came in for DOE support in Iraqi weapons inspections. "It was the predominant view within the government that the scientists working for Saddam Hussein's regime were pursuing gaseous centrifuge as a primary method for uranium enrichment," said Upchurch. Sure enough, because of Oak Ridge's extensive knowledge of 1940s vintage enrichment equipment, the inspectors knew a calutron when they saw one hidden in desert sands. Michael Whitaker, manager of International Safeguards of the Nuclear Science and Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, describes it this way: "When they found equipment buried in the field, and began digging it up, Oak Ridge people were able to recognize that they were calutrons. Someone else may have said, 'Wow, a magnet.' But Oak Ridge could tell, yeah, looks just like the Beta calutron, and now, just how extensive is this?" The Beta calutron facility, now a Nuclear Historic Landmark, functioned as a uranium enrichment facility during World War II and furthered the Y-12 weapons plant's mission of producing enriched uranium for the atomic bomb. "We could look at operations in Iraq and help determine how close they were getting to the technology and how soon before they could separate it into meaningful quantities," said Whitaker. Recently Whitaker was charged with scrubbing off Oak Ridge's list of inspections experts, and sent in about a dozen names so officials with the International Atomic Energy Agency would be ready to make calls if necessary. The DOE also has put out a plea for technology proposals for inspections, for which Oak Ridge has sent several, said Whitaker. Though names and ideas were not disclosed, Whitaker said a particular emphasis has been placed on chemical expertise this time around. Most inspections have included Oak Ridge knowledge in the manufacturing tools arena, according to Upchurch. "Machining tools by their very character lends itself to multiple use," said Upchurch. "Thus the challenge is to understand which machining capability is used to make missiles or nuclear weapons components, and which are for legitimately producing consumer goods." Along with its on-site expertise in a number of fields, in the past Oak Ridge has also provided technical training for inspectors, and has assisted with interviews of a defector. Weapons inspections in Iraq are not expected to resume until the United Nations Security Council passes a new resolution on the issue, according to the IAEA Web site. R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or [danielsrcd@oakridger.com] . [http://www.oakridger.com/contact/index.html] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [http://www.oakridger.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.oakridger.com/news/sto ry@Right] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [http://www.oakridger.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.oakridger.com/news/sto ry@Right1] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [http://www.oakridger.com] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Top] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 59 Report: Amarillo, Pantex exceeded toxic limits 10/18/02 Amarillo Globe-News: Local News: From staff reports A report issued Thursday by a national environmental group says more than 21 percent of Texas' industrial and municipal facilities, including the Pantex Plant and the city of Amarillo, exceeded Clean Water Act permit limits for toxic chemicals during a three-year period. The report, produced by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, reviewed environmental data from the Environmental Protection Agency and found that Texas facilities discharged dangerous levels of toxic chemicals into state waterways. The report, dubbed "In Gross Violation: How Polluters Are Flooding America's Waterways with Toxic Chemicals," was released on the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. The report also criticizes the Bush administration for pursuing proposals that would slash the EPA's enforcement budget for 2003 and weaken Clean Water Act programs. "Even though municipal and industrial polluters continue to break the law and threaten public health, the Bush administration wants to take environmental cops off the beat," Luke Metzger, Texas field officer for PIRG, said in a statement. The PIRG report said the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly plant reported violating its permit for zinc in 10 different reporting periods during a three-year time span; manganese for four reporting periods; titanium for three reporting periods; and silver for one period. The report said Pantex illegally discharged the chemicals into four playa lakes and that the chemicals are suspected neurological, developmental and reproductive toxicants. Dan Glenn, director of Amarillo Site Operations for the Pantex Plant, noted that Pantex already had disclosed the "exceedances" in reports to the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. "As noted in these documents, the exceedances of zinc, manganese and titanium were the result of storm events transporting soil containing these naturally occurring metals through permitted outfalls," Glenn said in a statement. Problems involving silver cited in the report occurred after a Pantex photo processing system failed to remove desired amounts of silver, but Pantex implemented new controls to prevent wastewater releases that did not meet treatment standards, Glenn said. Glenn also said the report includes incomplete information, which he said can mislead the public. "Such misinformation not only casts doubt on their own credibility, but also on the credibility of each organization cited in the report, which results in a disservice to the public," Glenn said."We continue to welcome public input and review of the completed environmental data that has been presented at our monthly public meetings over the last several years." The report said the city of Amarillo sewage treatment plant exceeded its permit for mercury by 1076 percent, dumping the chemical into the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. Tim Loan, city superintendent of wastewater treatment, said two parts per million of mercury was detected at the Hollywood Road Wastewater Treatment Plant in June 2000. "We have not had any detection since that time," Loan said. "It could have been a faulty test. We're not really able to tell. What you have to pay attention to is trends." This detection appears to have been an isolated event, Loan said. 1996-2002 Amarillo Globe-News ***************************************************************** 60 *New Mexico sites first, last on list for nuclear weapons factory* RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Associated Press 10/18/2002 06:45 am The federal government's nuclear waste dump in southern New Mexico is last on the list of possible sites for a new nuclear weapons factory, according to a review by the U.S. Department of Energy. But the agency rated Los Alamos National Laboratory the best site in the country for the factory, which would manufacture plutonium parts for U.S. nuclear weapons. Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a nuclear weapons design laboratory in northern New Mexico, say they don't want the project, while community leaders in Carlsbad, near the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, are enthusiastically courting it. The report is based on the analysis of 10 unnamed Energy Department officials who were asked to numerically rate possible sites for the plutonium factory. Los Alamos scored the highest, followed in order by the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas, the Pantex Plant outside Amarillo, Texas, and WIPP. The document was completed prior to the formal announcement in September of the five sites that are candidates for the project. The Albuquerque Journal recently obtained a copy of the report. Los Alamos scored well because the factory was viewed as highly compatible with the lab's nuclear weapons mission and its existing plutonium operations. Los Alamos has the nation's largest plutonium laboratory complex. A small production line for plutonium weapon parts is already being built there. Los Alamos officials say they do not want the plant. "It is not our intention at Los Alamos to have that facility at our site. We don't think it fits our (research and development) mission,"lab director John Browne said during a Sept. 25 public hearing in Santa Fe. Carlsbad scored low because the factory was not viewed as compatible with WIPP's current nuclear waste mission. WIPP also scored poorly because it's the only finalist not run by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the DOE division that is responsible for nuclear weapons. Carlsbad officials are aggressively pursuing the project, saying the large construction budget and eventual work force of more than 1,000 would benefit their small southeastern New Mexico city. Other factors considered were sites'proximity to populated areas; ability to provide necessary security; the distance nuclear materials would need to be transported; and presence of the necessary infrastructure for the project. Energy Department officials had repeatedly refused to release the report, saying they did not want its contents to influence testimony at public hearings now being held around the country. Jerry Freedman, head of the DOE's plutonium pit program, said his department planned to release the report after the hearings are completed later this month. The next public hearing will be Oct. 24 in Los Alamos. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., criticized the department for withholding the document. He said the citizens of Carlsbad should have an opportunity to see what is in the report. "The Department of Energy has a good relationship with Carlsbad,"Bingaman said Thursday in a statement."I don't think DOE officials should put that at risk by failing to disclose information that is relevant and should be made available to the public." ___ On the Net: U.S. Energy Department:http://www.energy.gov © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal , a Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 61 ORNL's vision in first line of defense The Oak Ridger Online -- State News -- Thursday, October 17, 2002 by R. Cathey Daniels Oak Ridger staff When the Army needed a vision for the warrior of the future -- and an idea of the technology it would take to build that soldier -- it turned to Oak Ridge. About a year ago the National Security Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, headed by Frank Akers, pulled together a cadre of creative thinkers, about 20 experts in various technologies and a consultant who could draw their thoughts on paper, to come up with the Objective Force Warrior, good to go from 2015 to 2025. Not only that, but the team provided a schedule for when certain technologies might be available to outfit the soldier depending on how funds are focused, according to George Fisher, project manager and program director for the National Security Directorate. All which bodes well for ORNL and associated high-tech industries. "It puts us in a good position to insert technology into that military program," Akers told a room full of Friends of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Wednesday. Akers was featured speaker at the organization's monthly lunch meeting held at the Civic Center. "We've Š worked in the past tense in so many cases," noted Akers, in obvious reference to response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "If we can become more visionary we can in fact help ourselves defeat these problems over time." The soldier of the not-so-distant future -- whose uniform could house an exoskeleton allowing more weight to be carried at faster foot speeds; contain embedded sensors for reporting positioning and status; and even apply its own tourniquet and administer medicine to injuries -- is just one of a long line of initiatives ORNL has taken on to advance technology to the front line of homeland defense. From sensitive detectors to reside as warning systems on cell phone towers, to algae-monitoring techniques to test for disturbances to the nation's water supply, to developing detectors of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear devices, Oak Ridge is part of the national defense vision, said Akers. But it takes more than technology. "There's great science, but the connection gets made at the people level," he said, noting that ORNL works to provide those links from the principal investigators to the "customers." Oak Ridge has provided advice to Tom Ridge, named secretary of the Department of Homeland Defense, and assisted in oversight of post-Sept. 11 operational exercises in several U.S. cities. The lab has leveraged its expertise in simulation and modeling to reduce the cost of testing technology to private industry and government agencies. Support and resources have been injected into the Oak Ridge Center for International Threat Reduction and other security programs. The array of initiatives are helped substantially by $156 million in new funds and a budget in a growth mode, said Akers. But, he noted, collaboration with other national laboratories is not what it should be. "I'd like to tell you the cooperation is excellent; it's not," said Akers, indicating that it's tough to get beyond the competition and into collaboration. Akers said that stepped-up homeland defense would likely mean more classified work space at ORNL to carry out the division's mission. The National Security Directorate was initiated in April 2000, and currently has 20 staff members, though it pulls resources from many other division. Its largest programs are in nonproliferation and Department of Defense-funded work for others. R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or danielsrcd@oakridger.com [danielsrcd@oakridger.com] . [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 62 Get drinking water from the sea via nuclear technology, say experts + [http://www.spacedaily.com/] MARRAKESH, Morocco (AFP) Oct 17, 2002 Experts attending an international water conference in this southern Moroccan city on Thursday called for the use of nuclear energy to extract drinking water from the sea to be made easier, as global demand for fresh water increases and accessibility shrinks. "Nuclear energy provides an inexpensive, non-polluting means of desalinating water, and is accessible to everyone," said Abdelhamid Mekki-Berrada, head of the Association of Atomic Engineers of Morocco (AIGAM), which has co-organised the three-day meeting with the World Council of Nuclear Workers (WONUC). However WONUC acknowledged that the use of nuclear energy to desalinate water continues to run up against the obstacle of the anti-nuclear lobby, which "categorically opposes anything containing the slightest hint of nuclear energy". During the conference, devoted to using nuclear power to desalinate seawater, engineers, scientists and industrialists from 35 countries are to present the results of studies they have carried out on removing salt from water using nuclear energy. More than 97 percent of the world's water reserves are salt water, contained in the planet's oceans. Only a tiny proportion of the 1.3 billion square kilometers that makes up the world's water reserves is fresh water, and just 0.4 percent of those reserves is accessible. However, rapid economic and social development around the world continue to push demand for fresh water upward. Drinking water demand grew twice as fast as the world's population between 1990 and 1995, and is expected to grow another 40 percent by 2025. According to a statement released by WONUC before the conference, "In many parts of the world, the discrepancy between fresh water needs and availability has already made any possibility of development or even survival haphazard." The statement also says that in 50 years, around 40 countries in the world could face a shortage of drinking water. Already, "hundreds of millions of women and children are enslaved by the daily quest for water" in parts of the world where drinking water is not readily available," the statement says. A shortage of fresh water also "limits food production, reduces people to destitution and poverty and leaves them with no choice but disappearance or exodus." Desalination of water is, therefore, a solution "as much for the present as for the future of humanity," said Mekki-Berrada. But: "Suspected of the worst by a public opinion manipulated by the anti-nuclear associations, industrial circles dare not propose the use of nuclear energy" for desalination, the WONUC statement says. The Marrakesh meeting is backed by the World Water Council (WWC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Other participants at the conference said that nuclear desalination now "a realistic and viable option", in the light of the climbing global demand for fresh water. ***************************************************************** 63 Tiny Atomic Battery Could Run For Decades Unattended ScienceDaily Magazine -- Source: Cornell University (http://www.cornell.edu/) Date: Posted 10/18/2002 ITHACA, N.Y. -- While electronic circuits and nanomachines grow ever smaller, batteries to power them remain huge by comparison, as well as short-lived. But now Cornell University researchers have built a microscopic device that could supply power for decades to remote sensors or implantable medical devices by drawing energy from a radioactive isotope. The device converts the energy stored in the radioactive material directly into motion. It could directly move the parts of a tiny machine or could generate electricity in a form more useful for many circuits than has been possible with earlier devices. This new approach creates a high-impedance source (the factor that determines the amplitude of the current) better suited to power many types of circuits, says Amil Lal, Cornell assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. Lal and Cornell doctoral candidate Hui Li described a prototype of the device at a U.S. Department of Defense meeting of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) investigators in Detroit in August. The prototype is the first MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) version of a larger device that Lal designed and built while a member of the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, working with nuclear engineering professors James Blanchard and Douglas Henderson. The prototype device uses a copper cantilever 2 centimeters long. Future nanofabricated versions could be smaller than one cubic millimeter. The prototype is made up of a copper strip 1 millimeter wide, 2 centimeters long and 60 micrometers (millionths of a meter) thick that is cantilevered above a thin film of radioactive nickel-63 (an isotope of nickel with a different number of neutrons from the common form). As the isotope decays, it emits beta particles (electrons). Radioactive materials can emit beta particles, alpha particles or gamma rays, the last two of which can carry enough energy to be hazardous. Lal has chosen only isotopes that emit beta particles, whose energy is small enough not to penetrate skin, to be used in his device. The emitted electrons collect on the copper strip, building a negative charge, while the isotope film, losing electrons, becomes positively charged. The attraction between positive and negative bends the rod down. When the rod gets close enough to the isotope, a current flows, equalizing the charge. The rod springs up, and the process repeats. The principle is much like that underlying an electric doorbell, in which a moving bar alternately makes and breaks the electric circuit supplying an electromagnet that moves the bar. Radioactive isotopes can continue to release energy over periods ranging from weeks to decades. The half-life of nickel-63, for example, is over 100 years, and Lal says a battery using this isotope might continue to supply useful energy for at least half that time. (The half-life is the time it takes for half the atoms in an element to decay.) Other isotopes offer varying combinations of energy level versus lifetime. And unlike chemical batteries, the devices will work in a very wide range of temperatures. Possible applications include sensors to monitor the condition of missiles stored in sealed containers, battlefield sensors that must be concealed and left unattended for long periods, and medical devices implanted inside the body. The moving cantilever can directly actuate a linear device or can move a cam or ratcheted wheel to produce rotary motion. A magnetized material attached to the rod can generate electricity as it moves through a coil. Lal also has built versions of the device in which the cantilever is made of a piezoelectric material that generates electricity when deformed, releasing a pulse of current as the rod snaps up. This also generates a radio-frequency pulse that could be used to transmit information. Alternatively, Lal suggests, the electrical pulse could drive a light-emitting diode to generate an optical signal. In addition to powering other devices, the tiny cantilevers could be used as stand-alone sensors, Lal says. The devices ordinarily operate in a vacuum. But the sensors might be developed to detect the presence or absence of particular gases, since introducing a gas to the device changes the flow of current between the rod and the base, in turn changing the period or amplitude of the oscillation. Temperature and pressure changes also can be detected. Lal, Li and Cornell doctoral candidate Hang Guo are now building and testing practical sensors and power supplies based on the concept. The prototype shown in August was gigantic by comparison with the latest versions, Lal says. An entire device, including a vacuum enclosure, could be made to fit in less than one cubic millimeter, he says. Editor's Note: The original news release can be found at http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Oct02/cantilever.ws.html Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Cornell University for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit Cornell University as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation: Copyright © 1995-2002 ScienceDaily Magazine | Email: editor@sciencedaily.com ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************