***************************************************************** 02/18/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.43 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Japan mulls steps to forestall terror on nuclear power plants 2 Ruling on Sydney nuclear reactor license delayed. 3 Russia in talks on building another nuclear power unit in Iran NUCLEAR REACTORS 4 US: Town apathetic about safety at Indian Point power plant 5 US: Security staying high at Limerick nuclear plant 6 L&T hands over nuclear shields to NPCIL 7 Bulgarian nuclear reactor shut down for scheduled maintenance 8 US: Nuclear plant resumes cranking out kilowatts 9 Commissioning Gears up at South China Nuclear Power Plant 10 EU to help boost safety of Armenia's ageing nuclear plant 11 US: 200,000 Ohioans living near nuclear plants to receive pills 12 Russia: Small radioactive leak at Ukrainian nuclear reactor: officia 13 Workers stop radiation leak at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine 14 Decontamination starts after radiation leak at Ukrainian power 15 Reactor incident suspected in Russian capital NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 16 US: about that waste site GW just approved 17 US: Nevada Governor Defends Nuclear Waste Site Lawsuit 18 Sellafield safety details a secret 19 US: Nevada fights nuclear dump decision 20 Bulgaria pays over two-thirds of nuclear waste storage bill 21 BNFL: Retain Nuclear Generation Option 22 US: Yucca strategy: Sue, stall 23 US: Yucca dump politics just starting 24 USEC to Modify Ky. Plant 25 US: Cleaning up nuclear waste will close book on Cold War - NUCLEAR WEAPONS 26 International law is in the US' best interest 27 Russian prosecutor-general says Kursk probe is over US DEPT. OF ENERGY 28 Oak Ridge a player in nuclear power revival 29 Security changes curtail historical tours, at least for now 30 Feds want faster INEEL cleanup 31 OPINION: PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS DESERVE FULL FUNDING 32 Midwest pegged for nuclear physics lab OTHER NUCLEAR 33 Alternative to DU: Tougher than steel 34 UK: The Energy Review ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Japan mulls steps to forestall terror on nuclear power plants Saturday, 16-Feb-2002 8:01PM Story from AFP Copyright 2002 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) TOKYO, Feb 17 (AFP) - Japan's government plans to set a standard for preventive measures against terrorist attacks on nuclear power facilities, a newspaper said Sunday. The government is to inspect power companies regularly to ensure they take necessary precautions for protecting their nuclear plants, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The standard will include protection measures based on simulated routes and times needed for guerrillas to reach reactors, the business daily said, quoting official sources. The government will submit legislation on the issue to parliament in January next year, the daily said. As part of its effort to back global anti-terrorism moves, Japan is meanwhile to send a fact-finding mission next month to Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus to help those countries prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists, the daily said. Tokyo also plans to host an international conference in October to discuss measures to avoid the proliferation of nuclear materials, it said. ***************************************************************** 2 Ruling on Sydney nuclear reactor license delayed. 18/02/2002. ABC News Online The Australian Radiation Protection Authority says its ruling on a construction license for a nuclear reactor in southern Sydney should be completed next month. The license had been expected to be finalised this month. However, the authority's chief executive, John Loy, is still awaiting the conclusion of several reports. The group, Sydney People Against a New Nuclear Reactor, are today protesting about the deal outside the authority's offices. The group claims the decision has been delayed partly because waste management issues remain unresolved. [http://www.abc.net.au] © 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), AAP(International), APTN, Reuters, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. AEDT = Australian Eastern Daylight Time which is 11 hours ahead of UTC (Greenwich Mean Time) ***************************************************************** 3 Russia in talks on building another nuclear power unit in Iran BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 18, 2002 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 18 February: Russia and Iran are considering building a new nuclear power unit in Iran, Viktor Kozlov, director-general of Atomstroyeksport, told Interfax today. Talks on this subject are under way, Kozlov said. He could not say when they are expected to be completed. Russia has sent Iran a feasibility study containing plans for building nuclear power units in Iran, which suggests sites where a new power unit could be constructed, Kozlov said. The Iranians have repeatedly said that they need three power units, but have not said where they want the units to be constructed. Atomstroyeksport, engaged in the construction of the first power unit at the Bushehr nuclear power station, expects to launch the unit at the end of 2003, Kozlov said. The Iranians have been investing in the project as agreed, he said. The Bushehr construction contract is worth over 800m dollars. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 0956 gmt 18 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 4 Town apathetic about safety at Indian Point power plant Greenwich Time - By Vesna Jaksic Staff Writer February 17, 2002 Safety at the Indian Point nuclear power plant has been hotly debated in New York since Sept. 11, but it has hardly caused a ripple in Greenwich, which is less than 25 miles from the site. Yet, Greenwich probably would be affected by a terrorist attack at the plant because of its proximity to the site, said David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer at the Cambridge, Mass.-based Union of Concerned Scientists. "If there were an accident, the winds would likely send the radiation toward the east," Lochbaum said. Greenwich is located about 23 miles southeast of the plant in Buchanan, N.Y. Alex Matthiessen, executive director of the Garrison, N.Y.-based Riverkeeper Inc., a nonprofit group that has been spearheading the campaign to close the plant, echoed Lochbaum's concerns. "Even if (Greenwich residents) are not in the direct path, it would take little time for any radiation fume to travel there," he said. "Even if they were able to evacuate safely, they may still have no home to return to." Reactors at Indian Point 2 and 3 each generate about 1,000 megawatts of electricity when running at full power. An attack could cause the plant's fuel -- essentially radioactive steam -- to explode, with radiation spreading beyond the 10-mile emergency zone established in the facility's 2,000-page evacuation plan. More than 7,000 New Yorkers, 40 organizations, 30 municipalities and dozens of state legislators in the Empire State are engaged in a battle to shut down the plant. In Greenwich, there have been no organized efforts to stop the plant's operations. "This (issue) has been raised, it's an issue in our emergency planning," First Selectman Richard Bergstresser said. But he added, "on the priority list, it's not very high." Some town officials said they would like to examine the risks further. "If we had a severe reaction of radiation, it would most likely have a harmful effect on our population," said Bob Richardson, chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Representative Town Meeting. "Not only do we have to have a plan, but we have to have it communicated to the population of Greenwich." Environmentalist Jane Milliken, said it would be worthwhile to examine the danger the plant presents to the town. "I think all these issues need someone to spearhead," the Greenwich resident said. "It needs activism." Bergstresser and officials at the Greenwich Department of Health said an accident at the plant would be handled like any other emergency. "It's all about notification," said Health Director Caroline Calderone Baisley, who also heads a townwide bioterrorism task force. "I feel pretty confident, at least since Sept. 11, that our neighbors would notify Connecticut in event there were any problems." Federal guidelines allow up to 432 gallons of fuel to leak per day before the plant is considered unsafe. But last week's report of small radioactive leaks at the plant -- deemed "insignificant" by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission because it was emitting only 0.04 gallons of fuel per day -- generated new fears among some New Yorkers. "We've gotten into huge problems before and now it looks like we're heading into huge trouble again," said Stephen Kent, coordinator of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition, referring to an incident two years ago in which a radioactive generator leak closed the plant for nine months. The coalition consists of some 40 groups working to close the plant. Officials at NRC and Entergy Inc., which operates the plant, said the amount of fuel leaked -- about a half of a cup a day -- poses no threat. Entergy officials also maintained the building is well guarded from terrorists. "Our containment building is built for the exact purpose of containing tremendous forces and these same qualities will enable it to withstand tremendous forces from the outside," company spokesman Jim Steets said. Indian Point is not only secure, but greatly benefits the surrounding community, Steets said. The plant employs about 1,500 workers and supplies enough electricity for up to 2 million homes, he said. It provides between 20 and 30 percent of the electricity for New York City and Westchester County. Lochbaum said the two spent fuel pools at the plant -- each containing about 600 tons of fuel -- are more vulnerable to terrorist attacks than the reactors because they are in a building that is easier to enter. The mock attacks used to prepare plant workers for emergencies do not involve spent fuel pools, Lochbaum said, so the pools' safety has not been challenged. Steets said the pools are just as secure as the reactors because they also are protected by thick concrete buildings. The pools are mostly located underground and have about 27 feet of water above them, which serve as a shield, he said. But some New Yorkers still do not feel safe. Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano recently asked for more than half of a million potassium iodide tablets for people living in the immediate area. The tablets, which thwart thyroid cancer induced by radiation, are given without charge to residents who live within 10 miles of the plant. Bergstresser said he has not considered ordering the pills -- which the town would have to purchase because Greenwich is outside the emergency zone -- but said he may discuss the option with the Westchester-Greenwich Task Force, which addresses issues shared by the two neighboring communities. Richardson, who took over Greenwich's Health and Human Services Committee last month, said his group wants to look further into the risks the nuclear plant poses. "Sometimes we react as if a border had a very high wall, and it doesn't," he said. Copyright © 2002, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. ***************************************************************** 5 Security staying high at Limerick nuclear plant By JOHN GENTZEL, Special to the Local NewsFebruary 17, 2002 LIMERICK -- Citing the continued high-threat environment, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered the nation's 104 nuclear power plants and other key nuclear facilities to further increase security measures. The commission's announcement is in response to the continued reports of terrorists planning attacks on key facilities throughout the United States, targeting specifically, in several instances, the nation's arsenal of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons facilities. The order was issued, the commission cited, because it was decided that the generalized high-level environment has persisted longer than expected and that the security measures should remain in place for the near future. Exelon Nuclear's Limerick Generating Station, the area's only nuclear power plant, has been operating at the high security state ever since the tragedies of Sept. 11 unfolded, spokeswoman Lisa Washak explained. The commission's order Thursday is just its way of "formalizing the measures we already have in place," Washak added. "We've already implemented all those initiatives at the station," she said. Although they must remain secret for security reasons, the initiatives include additional personnel access controls, enhanced requirements for guard forces, increased stand-off distances for searches of vehicles approaching nuclear facilities and heightened coordination with appropriate local, state and federal authorities. Since Sept. 11, visitors to the Limerick generating station have noticed the increased security personnel, especially National Guardsmen patrolling the area. As new intelligence information becomes available and is shared with facilities like the generating station, Washak explained, "We'll take the measures appropriate to account" for those threats. "This is an ongoing and continuous process," she added, "and as more information is made available to us, Limerick Generating Station will take the appropriate steps. "Limerick is continuing to work closely with local and state authorities in a continuing effort to protect the facility. We're very confident in their ability to assist us in protecting the public." ©Daily Local News 2002 ***************************************************************** 6 L&T hands over nuclear shields to NPCIL The Times of India; Feb 18, 2002 AHMEDABAD: Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) formally handed over India's first-ever 500 MW nuclear shield to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) on Saturday, according to a press release. This critical equipment has been fabricated in India for the first time and it will be installed at the Tarapur atomic power plant in Maharashtra. This end shield is the first of the four such 500 MW end shields which are under fabrication at L&T's Hazira works. These end shields form a crucial part of the pressurised heavy water cooled and heavy water moderated nuclear power reactors (PHWRs) that India has opted for in the first phase of the country's nuclear power programme. The end shields are critical equipment in the reactor system. These are not only thermal, radiation and biological shields, between the reactor vessel and the environment in PHWRs, but they also play an additional role of a channel for on-power fuelling and also for removing with the help of heavy water coolant, the heat generated by the nuclear reaction. All through the manufacture, a very close interaction was maintained between NPCIL and L&T to ensure that all the design intents are fully met. This successful completion of manufacture is a milestone in India's high-tech sector development, in general and nuclear programme in particular. ***************************************************************** 7 Bulgarian nuclear reactor shut down for scheduled maintenance BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 18, 2002 Text of report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA web site Vratsa, northwestern Bulgaria, 18 February: Unit 3 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant was shut down in the night of 15-16 February for scheduled annual maintenance and refuelling, the nuclear plant said in a press release. The shutdown of the unit is envisaged in the approved repair schedule of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and has been coordinated with the dispatcher centre of the National Electric Company in Sofia. In addition to routine repairs during the shutdown, the accident localization system will be modernized by installing a jet vortex condenser, which is already in place in Unit 4 since the end of last year. This offsets the lack of a containment vessel of the generating units using VVER-440 Model V 230 reactors and makes substantial progress in ensuring safety up to modern standards. The modernization of this type of reactors through installation of jet vortex condensers has been supported by all participants in an international seminar organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Moscow in October 1999. The scheduled maintenance of Unit 3 is expected to be completed by 1 July, when the unit will be brought back on stream, the nuclear plant press release specified. Source: BTA web site, Sofia, in English 18 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 8 Nuclear plant resumes cranking out kilowatts Published Sunday, February 17, 2002 The Callaway Nuclear Plant returned to service Friday night after shutting down Jan. 31 so crews could investigate and repair a problem involving a degraded seal inside the plant’s condensate storage tank. The plant is expected to return to full power over the next few days, according to a prepared statement from Mike Cleary, spokesman for plant owner AmerenUE. The 500,000-gallon condensate storage tank is outside the turbine building at the plant and contains non-radioactive water that is used to make up for any water loss in the system that produces steam to drive the turbine-generate and produce electricity. The tank also provides water to an auxiliary feedwater system that removes heat from the reactor cooling system when the plant shuts down. During a shutdown in December to repair a different problem, a piece of the degraded seal from the condensate storage tank prevented one of three auxiliary feedwater pumps from operating normally. During the shutdown that was just completed, plant personnel corrected the seal problem then performed an inspection of the entire auxiliary feedwater system. While AmerenUE officials say the incident had a very low safety significance due to redundant barriers and safety equipment, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating. NRC spokesman Breck Henderson told the Tribune on Feb. 1 that it would be weeks before the commission determined whether AmerenUE would face punitive action. Copyright © 2002 The Columbia Daily Tribune. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 Commissioning Gears up at South China Nuclear Power Plant Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 18, 2002 More than 600 engineers and technicians at south China's Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant have spent their Lunar New Year holiday finishing the final commissioning, so that the plant can be operational before the peak electricity use period in July this year. More than 600 engineers and technicians at south China's Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant have spent their Lunar New Year holiday finishing the final commissioning, so that the plant can be operational before the peak electricity use period in July this year. Officials at the four-billion-U.S. dollar plant near Shenzhen in Guangdong Province said they expect the nuclear power plant to be put into service on June 30, 15 days ahead of schedule. The plant was loaded with nuclear fuel before the Spring Festival, the officials said. The Ling'ao plant, with two 900,000-kilowatt generating units, will be the third nuclear power plant in service in China. The other two are the Daya Bay plant, also in Guangdong, and the Qinshan plant, in east China's Zhejiang Province. Vietnam to Build Nuclear Power Plant Three Nuke Power Plants Ready for Use This Year China's First Domestically-Designed Nuclear Power Plant Operational Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 10 EU to help boost safety of Armenia's ageing nuclear plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 16, 2002 Yerevan, 16 February: A 10m-euro TACIS [Technical Assistance for the CIS] programme of the European Union is planned to start in 2002. The programme envisages greater safety for the Armenian nuclear power station, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan has told Arminfo. He said that a TACIS technical programme for the safety of the Armenian nuclear power station ended in 2001. Cooperation with the European Union in this field started in 1992-1993 within the TACIS programmes and EU-Armenia working group. This year will see the launching of TACIS' 4m-euro programme to restructure and build new hydro power stations in Armenia. The programme has already been submitted to the EU for approval. Movsisyan said that cooperation with the European Union continued also within the INOGATE [Interstate Oil and Gas Transport to Europe] regional programme, which envisages energy exports from the Caspian region. Amongst other things, a programme to the amount of 3m euros has been worked out to restore and reconstruct Armenia's gas infrastructure. The project has also been submitted to the EU. A regional programme for small investments in the oil and gas infrastructure of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan will also be implemented in 2002. [Passage omitted: minor details] Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 0730 gmt 16 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 11 200,000 Ohioans living near nuclear plants to receive pills [enquirer.com] Monday, February 18, 2002 State recommending anti-radiation pill distribution The Associated Press CLEVELAND — Ohio health officials say they will meet with local leaders and residents of communities near power plants before distributing pills that are supposed to offer some protection against radiation release. The state, which is recommending free potassium iodide pills be supplied to about 200,000 people who live within 10 miles of nuclear power plants, will hold meetings over the next few weeks near the Davis-Besse plant in Port Clinton, the Perry plant in North Perry and the Beaver Valley plant in western Pennsylvania. FirstEnergy Corp., which owns the plants, has said any radiation release is unlikely. The pills, which can be obtained through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, stop the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine, which can guard against thyroid cancer and other diseases that could result from radiation exposure. Each person would receive two tablets, which don't guard against all types of radiation. Jay Carey, an Ohio Health Department spokesman, said some logistical problems must be worked out before the pills could be distributed in Ohio. Officials will discuss whether to give out the pills before an accident or at special distribution centers set up after a radiation release. They also will have to figure out how to persuade people that the pills are not a substitute for evacuation. So far, nine other states have taken up the NRC's offer to distribute the pills. Some states were prompted by concerns of increased vulnerability of nuclear plants after the Sept. 11 attacks. About half the NRC's supply of 7 million pills will be distributed to New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Florida, Connecticut, Alabama and Arizona, said Patricia Milligan, an emergency planning specialist at the NRC. The agency is spending $1.2 million for the pills. 1995-2002. The Cincinnati Enquirer ***************************************************************** 12 Russia: Small radioactive leak at Ukrainian nuclear reactor: officials Sunday, 17-Feb-2002 10:35AM Story from AFP Copyright 2002 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) MOSCOW, Feb 17 (AFP) - A small leak of radioactive water was discovered Sunday at Khmelnitsky power station in western Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported, quoting Ukrainian government officials. The leak -- which was found in the reactor's cooling system and immediately stopped -- was not serious, according to officials at the country's emergency situations ministry. The water, which was found to contain gamma rays measured at 240 microroentgen an hour, spread over a 30-square-metre (35-square-yard) surface. The Soviet-built Khmelnitsky power station has a 1,000-megawatt VVER-type reactor, pressurised by water. Ukraine is currently in negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to redevelop the Khmelnitsky power station and build a second reactor. In April 1986, a reactor blew up at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, spreading radiation over much of Europe but particularly over northern Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia. Ukrainian authorities estimate the disaster caused the deaths of between 15,000 and 30,000 people. ***************************************************************** 13 Workers stop radiation leak at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine KPnews.com -- News about Ukraine 18 Feb 2002 The Associated Press KYIV, Feb. 18 - Workers at Ukraine's Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant stopped a leak of radioactive water on the plant's territory, an official said Sunday. The workers detected the leak Saturday morning in a pipe that transferred the radioactive water from a nuclear reactor to a purifying system, said Ihor Krol, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. The leak was stopped Saturday afternoon, he said, adding that it caused a spill of about 30 square meters (36 square yards), with a radiation level of 240 microroentgens per hour. None of the plant's workers were affected by the radiation, Krol said. He said a cleanup of the area and an investigation into the accident's cause had begun. While minor malfunctions are common at Ukraine's four nuclear power plants, Saturday's incident was the first in recent years that caused resulted in a radiation leak. Ukraine was the site of world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, when a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl power plant exploded and caught fire. Chornobyl was closed down for good in 2000. © 2000 SputnikMedia.net. The material may not be reproduced ***************************************************************** 14 Decontamination starts after radiation leak at Ukrainian power station BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 17, 2002 Text of report by Russian news agency Interfax Kiev, 17 February: Thirty cubic metres of industrial land have been contaminated by radiation as a result of water leaking from a pipeline of the Khmelnytskyy nuclear power station [in Ukraine]. No staff members have been injured as a result. The strength of the gamma radiation dose was 240 microroentgen per hour, according to the Emergencies Ministry. The dripping leak from a pipeline transporting water from the reactor section to a special water-purification facility has been stopped. Work on decontaminating and burying the contaminated earth is being carried out by the power station's emergency brigades. An investigation is under way. [ITAR-TASS reported at 1332 gmt that the leak was thought to have been caused by water thawing in an end section of the pipe after overnight frosts.] Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1156 gmt 17 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 15 Reactor incident suspected in Russian capital BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 17, 2002 Traces of iodine-131 have been found in the atmosphere in northern Moscow, near a site containing eight research reactors. According to specialists in radioactive emissions, iodine-131 can only occur in the event of a mishap with a nuclear reactor. The authorities are refusing to comment, but it seems that all 11 reactors in the city are being inspected for signs of trouble. The following is the text of a report published by the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on 14 February. The Radon Moscow Science and Production Association Press Service yesterday released a report that in the capital's Northern District two stationary posts monitoring the atmosphere (there are more than 200 of these posts in Moscow) simultaneously detected traces of the radioactive isotope iodine-131. Sources of radioactive contamination are present in Moscow on average 50-80 times a year. Furthermore the amount of iodine-131 discovered in the air was extremely small. But according to Radon, which collects and recycles radioactive sources in Moscow, this isotope can be present in the atmosphere in only one set of circumstances - "if there has been a breach of the technological process during the operation of a nuclear reactor". In other words if a mini-Chernobyl has taken place in Moscow. There are 11 nuclear reactors in an operational state within the city. Eight of them are located near the monitoring posts where the traces of the radioactive isotope were registered. They are at the Kurchatov Institute. No one knows yet what happened. Or no one wants to say. People at the scientific centre have not commented on the incident. At the department that organizes the supervision of ionizing sources of radiation at the Centre for Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision they also refused to talk until the circumstances have been finally clarified. But we were told at the capital's Administration for Civil Defence and Emergency Situations that emergency workers have now begun a check of all the reactors in the city. It is common knowledge that a minor incident can very often develop into a major one. [Footnote:] Where Moscow's nuclear reactors are located The Kurchatov Institute Russian Scientific Centre has eight. The Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics has one. The Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (MIFI) has one. The PIiKI [expansion unknown] of Power Engineering has one. Source: Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moscow, in Russian 14 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 16 about that waste site GW just approved Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 13:31:33 -0600 (CST) http://www.honorearth.org Yucca Mountain: No Place for Nuclear Waste Corbin Harney, Western Shoshone spiritual leader Yucca Mountain, in the heart of the Western Shoshone Nation, is a place of deep spiritual significance to Shoshone and Pauite peoples. Despite this, the federal government plans to send there 98 percent of the radioactivity generated during the entire Nuclear Age. The Department of Energy (DOE) has already spent 3 billion dollars towards the project and wants to spend 35 billion more to complete it before the end of the decade. The government has no right to use Yucca Mountain this way. Newe Sogobiathe land guaranteed the Western Shoshone Nation by treatyincludes Yucca Mountain. Even the mere study of the site is a violation of the treaty. The Shoshone people have made their wishes clear: They want the DOE off their land and their mountain restored to them. Because of U.S. nuclear testing over Nevada, the Western Shoshone Nation is already the most bombed nation on earth. They suffer from widespread cancer, leukemia, and other disease as a result of fallout from more than 900 atomic explosions on their territory. More than 100 grassroots environmental groups, Native and non- Native, organized to gain broad participation in the Yucca Mountain Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. But the vast majority of people who might be affected by this decision still are not aware of the danger. The Yucca Mountain EIS largely sidesteps the issue of transport. 90,000 shipments of high level waste designated for Yucca Mountain will be passing by the front yards of more than 50 million Americans along highways and train routes. Obviously, the transport of this waste poses a huge public health risk. Even DOE studies anticipate a rate of one accident per 343 shipments or 268 nuclear accidents over the next thirty years, at a minimum. In addition to illegal treaty violations and the possibility of a "mobile Chernobyl" while the waste is on the road, Yucca Mountain is simply not a safe repository for nuclear waste. According to the DOE study, at least one storage canister of the more than 10,000 canisters envisioned at Yucca will fail within the next thousand years. After 10,000 years, all the canisters may degrade, according to a report on the DOE proposal in The New York Times. More than 621 earthquakes have been recorded in the area (at magnitudes of 2.5 on the Richter scale or higher) in the last twenty years. An earthquake at Yucca Mountain could cause groundwater to surge up into the storage area forcing dangerous amounts of plutonium into the atmosphere and contaminating the water supply. (Given this, it is not surprising that the nuclear industry has fought against any groundwater radiation standards for the facilitythese standards could derail the entire project.) As the federal EIS process grinds on, the industry is doing all they can to expedite and insure Yucca's opening. Each year for the past five years, legislation has quietly appeared in Congress in a backroom effort by the industry to change current law and seal a Yucca deal. This year's proposed changes to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act pretty much "threw radiation standards out," according to Michael Marriotte of the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS) in Washington, D.C., going so far as to strip the EPA of authority for setting standards. All this, says NIRS, is to "make the Yucca shoe fit" and insure the production of more nuclear waste. On April 25, 2000, President Clinton did the right thing and vetoed the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act as he promised. A Senate vote to override the veto scheduled for Tuesday, May 2nd, failed by a narrow margin. So, for one more year, the Western Shoshone, Yucca Mountain, and fifty million Americans are safe from the nuclear industry. But what about next year? _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ***************************************************************** 17 Nevada Governor Defends Nuclear Waste Site Lawsuit Reuters | February 18, 2002 01:00 AM ET Reuters Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn said on Sunday he was moving ahead with a legal challenge of the president's decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain because the administration had not shown proof the site was geologically safe. "The Department of Energy and the secretary of energy have not completed their scientific data collection and therefore, they have not found it sound science to make a recommendation," Guinn said in an interview on CNN. Guinn, a Republican, filed a lawsuit late on Friday in U.S. District Court against the Bush administration after President George W. Bush announced that Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would be the permanent storage site for radioactive waste material from the 103 U.S. nuclear power plants. The lawsuit named Bush, the U.S. Department of Energy and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. The plaintiffs were the state of Nevada, Las Vegas and Clark County. "We are going to certainly move forward with a suit with the Department of Energy, Secretary Abraham, the president of the United States because they have made their decision based on a false premise that the science is sound and it is not," Guinn told CNN. "The preponderance of evidence shows that it is not safe." Guinn said the state had already filed two lawsuits in the Yucca Mountain dispute and would soon file a third lawsuit "because of the lack of the completed staff work that President Bush made his decision on." Guinn and other critics of the Yucca Mountain plan worry that radioactive material might seep into the ground, posing health risks for residents. They also warn about the risks of transporting nuclear waste over great distances. The lawsuit alleges that the Energy Department violated the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act when it announced in December that Yucca Mountain would require man-made barriers as well as the mountain's natural geology to contain the waste. The lawsuit also accuses the Energy Department of breaking rules by not allowing the state to review environmental studies 30 days before approving the site. "Not even to have an environmental impact statement for a $70 million project that's supposed to last for 10,000 years in your backyard," Guinn said. "Every state and every city in America has to have one of those just to build a single-family subdivision." By law, Nevada's state government has the right to appeal Bush's decision to Congress. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must also approve a license for the site, which the Energy Department hopes to activate by 2010. ***************************************************************** 18 Sellafield safety details a secret Irish Newspapers - THE Irish nuclear watchdog has been refused information on the security measures protecting Sellafield from terrorist attack - until the British Government grants permission for the confidential information to be released. But the British Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the nuclear plant is not protected from terrorist attack by anti-aircraft missiles. The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland sought detailed information months ago on how Sellafield is protected from a September 11-style attack. But its British counterpart, the Nuclear Installations Institute, said government clearance was necessary for such information to be released. Dr Tony Colgan, RPII's scientific officer, said permission was being sought through official channels. He said the RPII was "extremely concerned" about the security at the nuclear plant and wanted to be able to inform the Irish public about the protection measures. But the British Ministry of Defence revealed Sellafield was not protected by anti-aircraft missiles because it would be "impractical to deploy these assets permanently to all possible targets across the UK, even if that were desirable." MOD private secretary David Williams gave the information to the Celtic League, a lobby group promoting co-operation between Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man and monitoring military activity in these areas. The Celtic League had asked the Ministry of Defence if it would mirror the efforts publicised in relation to France, post-September 11, which had included the stationing of anti-aircraft missile batteries near nuclear power stations. Grainne Cunningham © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 19 Nevada fights nuclear dump decision Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Matthew Engel in Washington Monday February 18, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Nevada united in anger yesterday after President Bush rubber-stamped a decision to place a centralised nuclear waste site for the US in the state. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles north-west of Las Vegas, has been chosen as the national dump 15 years after officials first began considering the proposal. America generates 2,000 tonnes of nuclear waste each year, which, at present, is stored above ground in 131 different locations. Most of that waste would be transported to Nevada and stored in a sealed tomb which officials believe would afford much better protection against terrorist attack. Nevada remains unconvinced. The state's powerful Democratic senator, Harry Reid, said President Bush had promised him he would personally review all the evidence. In the end, Mr Bush followed advice from his energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, less than a day after receiving it. Senator Reid said the president was responsible for a "big lie" which had sent him to the White House - a switch of 11,000 votes in Nevada would have made Al Gore president. The state's Republican governor, Kenny Guinn, intends to veto the plan and has filed a lawsuit against it. However, his veto can be overridden by Congress and, since existing facilities are in 39 separate states, even Mr Reid's influence, as Democratic whip, is unlikely to be enough. Mr Abraham said he had considered "national compelling interests", such as security, environmental concerns and long-term energy goals. But Mr Reid said the risk of transporting the waste had not been properly considered. The energy department wants to ship 77,000 tonnes of waste to the site from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants. Nevada is one of the most sparsely populated states in the US and, in normal elections, its four electoral college votes are insignificant. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 20 Bulgaria pays over two-thirds of nuclear waste storage bill BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 16, 2002 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Krasnoyarsk, 14 February: The Kozloduy nuclear power plant has paid 25m dollars for the storage of nuclear waste at the Zheleznogorsk mining plant (Krasnodar Territory), covering 68 per cent of the storage cost, Russian Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Valeriy Lebedev told a news conference in Krasnoyarsk on Thursday [14 February]. The first 41 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel was delivered from Bulgaria in November 2001, he said. "We fulfilled the terms of the agreement signed under the Soviets. The Kozloduy nuclear power plant was built by our specialists, who used our developments, and everyone who is now working at the plant studied in the USSR. We supply the plant with fresh fuel and, under the terms of the agreement, take the spent (fuel)," Lebedev said. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1453 gmt 14 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 21 BNFL: Retain Nuclear Generation Option U.S. Newswire 14 Feb 12:10 'Act Now To Retain The Nuclear Generation Option' Says BNFL's Chief Executive To: National Desk Contact: BNFL Press Office (London), 0207 202 0914 or 0207 202 0883 LONDON, Feb. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- BNFL today welcomes publication by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) of their report to Government on The Energy Review, which concludes that the necessary actions should be taken to retain the nuclear generation option. "We have been calling for clarity on the future of energy policy in this country for a long time. We welcome this report which confirms that nuclear generation will continue to remain an integral part of the UK's future energy mix" said Hugh Collum, chairman, BNFL. "Only by rational, open debate can we hope to stimulate sufficient education and understanding for the issues to be considered on their merits. The PIU report, together with the recent inquiry by the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee, are welcome contributors to the debate. This will allow informed choices of our energy options to be made for the future," he added. BNFL's Chief Executive, Norman Askew said: "The report is quite clear in stating that we must keep the nuclear option. However, if we do not act now on some key policy issues and in a more timely way than recommended by the PIU, nuclear generation will not be an option for the future. "Our view is that a low carbon future can only be delivered with nuclear generation and renewables contributing in tandem as part of a balanced energy mix. Nuclear power can provide reliable carbon free baseload generation, against a backdrop of increasing demand. "Without nuclear's contribution, this country cannot have a continued, secure, diverse and environmentally friendly energy supply." BNFL's submission to the PIU's review of UK Energy Policy recommended five policy changes to enable nuclear to be brought to the marketplace: -- Modifying climate change mechanisms to recognize that nuclear generation should benefit from the fact that it emits virtually no greenhouse gases -- Improving planning and regulatory approval processes to ensure replacement nuclear build can be delivered effectively and efficiently -- Reviewing how long-term electricity supply contracts, for any baseload fuel type are going to emerge in the current market -- Providing a policy for the management of spent fuel -- Continuing to encourage provision of nuclear education, training and R&D "I am pleased that in its report the PIU has made a number of recommendations which recognize that without these important policy changes nuclear may not be part of the future energy mix," added Askew. BNFL, with 23,000 employees worldwide, has unique capabilities and is at the leading edge in a number of international markets. The company is particularly well positioned to compete in this market place with its new generation of reactor designs, one of which, the AP600, is already licensed in the USA. Additionally, BNFL services its nuclear utility customers world wide with its capability in fuel manufacturing, management of spent fuel and ultimately decommissioning the reactors at the end of their lives. Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 22 Yucca strategy: Sue, stall Las Vegas SUN February 18, 2002 State hopes legal battles will slow or kill project By Erin Neff Now that President Bush has approved a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada officials plan to stuff the courts with lawsuits, tying up the issue for as long as possible. Although the state's ultimate goal is to block the repository, attorneys and officials admit that with the federal government's deep pockets and their own questionable legal grounds, Nevada's real court strategy is delay. "Delay has sort of always been the state's motto here," said Robert Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Bret Birdsong, an environmental law professor at UNLV's Boyd School of Law, said time is on the side of the plaintiff -- or in this case Nevada -- in environmental suits. "If you can just throw enough sand in the gears it can slow things until different science emerges or the political winds change," Birdsong said. "If you just stop the process, it improves your chance for victory." What started as a small suit disputing water safety has grown to a smattering of cases -- and plaintiffs -- in courts around the country. Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa even had to ask her staff Friday how many Yucca Mountain challenges are out there. The state already had four lawsuits -- including one joined by Las Vegas and Clark County -- even before Bush's decision. The lawsuits argue everything from the government following a faulty process in making the decision to the Energy Department basing the decision on incomplete science. Both Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation Thursday and Bush's move Friday gave the state additional fodder for lawsuits. "Now we have a final decision," Marta Adams, senior deputy attorney general, said. "Before much of our legal argument was premature because there was no final agency decision." On Friday the state sued again, this time naming Abraham and Bush in addition to alleging the Energy Department failed to rely on Yucca Mountain's geological suitability in naming the site. Las Vegas and Clark County also amended their case Friday naming Bush as a defendant. The state's new suit and the city and county's amended suit are both before the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington. "This was a political decision, not based on sound science," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a criminal defense attorney, said. "Some people have expressed concern that it's over," Goodman added. "But the fight has just begun." Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic said it is asking the court to hear the city's arguments as soon as possible, even as the city explores additional legal remedies. Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera added there is "political, legal, and public relations ammo that hasn't been realized yet." But what chance does Nevada really have in the courts? Gov. Kenny Guinn describes it as a David versus Goliath fight. "These people are just unbelievable," Guinn said referring to the nuclear energy industry. "They don't have a budget and they've hired the best law firm they can." "Fighting the government is tough, and we're a very small state," Guinn added. Carl Tobias, a UNLV constitutional law professor, said there is an opportunity and legal precedent for Nevada to successfully make Yucca Mountain a state's rights issue. The Supreme Court ruled favorably twice for states based on 10th Amendment arguments. In New York v. United States -- a 1992 case involving nuclear waste in New York -- the court said the federal government was "commandeering" the state's infrastructure to transport the waste. The second case involved a Montana challenge to the Brady Law's gun registration requirement. Lawyers for a Montana sheriff argued the federal government was "commandeering" local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks. "Nevada could try that argument," Tobias said. "But it's a fairly narrow window." Adams said the state believes both Abraham and Bush's decisions have legal and procedural faults that could lead a judge to side with Nevada. "It's safe to say our strategy is to delay," Adams said. "But there are real legal grounds." The state has two suits pending on the safety of water under Yucca Mountain. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kicked one of those suits back to federal district court in Nevada and the other is in district court in Tonopah. Nevada has also filed suit in Washington over the radiation standard and the site guidelines used by the Energy Department. Birdsong said he thought the water challenge was "a minor sideshow," but that the state's site guideline challenge may prove successful. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act specifies Yucca Mountain can be recommended as the repository because its geologic isolation allows it to safely store nuclear waste. But the Energy Department last year successfully argued for a change in that law to allow the mountain's suitability to be based on constructed barriers -- not geologic isolation. But Birdsong warns that many courts will defer to the agency when there is a question about environmental law. In addition, he added, national environmental laws are generally weak and would likely give the government the edge. Still Birdsong said there may be enough in the 10,000-page environmental impact statement to "interest a judge." Among the documents in the 80-pound package of information DOE has submitted is a report assessing Yucca Mountain's science as "poor to fair." "A judge may see that and say, 'No you can't go forward'," Birdsong said. Loux said all it takes is one legal victory to block the site. And Guinn vows to fight any of the cases as far as they will go. "We just have to be litigious," Guinn said. "On science, people can say it's safe and other people can say it isn't. "We have to rely on the courts to settle that part of our fight," Guinn added. "The presidency of the United States was settled in court and the American people abide by it." Adams said both the state's internal and private legal teams are "in a good position to make something stick." Nevada officials are not commenting on how much the state intends to spend in court. However, the Nevada Protection Fund -- established by Guinn to fight the repository -- has $5.4 million. Guinn said another major donation to the fund will be announced this week, and he encouraged all residents and businesses to give what they can to the fund. "It's a commitment all of us need to make," Guinn said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 23 Yucca dump politics just starting [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] Jon Ralston [online@rgj.com] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 2/17/2002 11:54 pm President Bush’s middle-finger salute to Nevada -- coming exactly one week after he patronized the state’s Three Musketeers in a face-to-face meeting at the White House -- signals the end is near for the political battle against the nuclear waste dump. But the politics of exploitation are just beginning. Just listen: Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, after claiming (with a straight face) he had confidence in the president and after telling people after meeting with him that he seemed sincere, called Bush a liar. Sen. John Ensign (“I really think President Bush took our concerns . . . into consideration.”) and Rep. Jim Gibbons (“Clearly the president has been misled by the Department of Energy.”) risibly tried to portray Bush as some passive player in all of this -- as if that would be exculpatory even if it were true. And then Sunday on “Meet the Press,” Democratic strategist James Carville referred to what the administration had done “to those poor people in Nevada” and suggested this was part of Bush’s grand energy strategy. No matter how this ultimately plays out politically in 2002 -- whether it hurts the Republicans because the enormously popular president will be of no help to them here -- this has been handled with incredible clumsiness by the administration. Forget that Reid is right: Bush did lie when he and his political minions claimed during his campaign that he would allow “sound science” to govern his decision. He has proved otherwise and he and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham didn’t even try to hide it. Abraham had a cup of coffee at Yucca Mountain, then immediately announced he intended to recommend the site. Bush then met with Gov. Kenny Guinn and the two senators, then, only days later, Abraham made his recommendation official -- again with a condescending nod to Nevada by slapping the phrase “sound science” at the top of his missive. Only a day later, Bush signed off, hours after pro-dump lobbyists John Sununu and Geraldine Ferraro similarly made perfunctory and quick trips to the dump site. Carville’s comments were interesting in that he has signaled the national Democrats will use the administration’s decision as part of an axis of energy -- to show that the Bushies are drenched in Enron/nuclear/Big Energy money and that the dump decision was all part of it. Could be a problem for the local GOP, especially because Bush treated the state so shabbily. The Democrats cannot just sit back and smile, though. That’s because a few months from now, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will have to make good on his promise to kill Yucca Mountain, which he made in Las Vegas last June. The Democrats can mewl all they want that Daschle would never have been faced with holding the Democrats caucus if Bush hadn’t signed off. True enough. But, ironically, as the legal cases remain the state’s best and probably only hope, the real dump politics are just beginning. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 24 USEC to Modify Ky. Plant (washingtonpost.com) Monday, February 18, 2002; Page E02 USEC, which makes enriched uranium used in nuclear power plants, will consolidate its transfer and ship operations at its Paducah, Ky., plant this summer. Bethesda-based USEC said the move would save about $40 million annually beginning in 2003. The consolidation includes eliminating about 440 jobs -- from 1,350 -- at its Portsmouth, Ohio, plant and would create 30 to 50 positions at the Paducah plant. The Portsmouth job cuts are expected to begin in June and take place over six months. The Paducah plant is still shipping its enriched uranium product to the Portsmouth plant, although USEC ceased enrichment there in May. The Paducah plant is being modified so it can shipping directly to fuel fabricators, which would provide significant savings, the company said. USEC said it will cost $29 million for capital improvements and training at Paducah, and severance and other benefits for Portsmouth employees. MARYLAND Orion Power Holdings, of Baltimore, said it received federal approval for its merger with Reliant Resources of Houston. The approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the final approval required under the merger agreement. The companies are to close the transaction Feb. 19. Reliant is buying Orion for $2.9 billion. Corporate Office Properties Trust, an office-building developer in Columbia, said its largest shareholder, Constellation Real Estate, is selling 9.4 million shares. Corporate Office did not disclose what percentage Constellation's ownership represented. Constellation Real Estate is a division of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, a Rockville HMO, approved an authorization of about $12.1 million to its stock repurchase program, bringing the authorized amount to $30 million. In September, the managed-health care company added $25 million to its buyback program. DISTRICT Strayer Education said that opening three campuses in the area and strong growth in enrollment fueled its fourth-quarter and year-end revenue but that net income declined in the latter part of the year. Strayer reported net income of $6.4 million (45 cents a share) and revenue of $27.2 million in the fourth quarter, compared with net income of $6.9 million (45 cents) and revenue of $22.1 million a year earlier. For 2001, Strayer earned $22.8 million ($1.55) and revenue of $92.9 million, compared with net income of $21.7 million ($1.41) and revenue of $78.2 million in 2000. VIRGINIA Capital Automotive REIT, a McLean owner of car dealership real estate, became a component of the Nasdaq financial 100 index on Friday. Capital Automotive replaced Old National Bancorp, which is delisting from the Nasdaq. Capital Automotive has a market value of about $557 million. United Defense Industries, an Arlington weapons maker, said its Bofors Defence AB unit bought Cell Interactive Training & Simulation's defense business segment for about $4.2 million, plus an earn-out based on future revenue. United Defense expects the acquisition to add to 2002 earnings. Choice Hotels International, a national franchiser of hotel brands, said it will report a fourth-quarter net loss because of $26.9 million in charges for restructuring and investment in Friendly Hotels. The company, whose hotel brands include Clarion, Comfort, Quality Inn and Econo Lodge, said excluding the charges it expects quarterly net income of $12.6 million, with annual profit of $55.6 million. Choice said it will record charges related to its investment in Friendly of about $21 million after taxes, in addition to a previously announced pretax charge of $5.9 million. Choice said the charge reflects a decline in Friendly's value. Compiled from reports by the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones News Service and Washington Post staff writers © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 25 Cleaning up nuclear waste will close book on Cold War - By Spencer Abraham, U.S. Secretary of Energy The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Monday, February 18, 2002 By Spencer Abraham U.S. Secretary of Energy The history books will tell that the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago. But for many Americans who live near the sites and weapons labs that produced and processed the nuclear materials we used to defeat the Soviets, the struggle isn't entirely over. That's because one consequence of the critical work done at these sites over a half century is leftover nuclear waste. That waste didn't just disappear with the Soviet Union. This nation's post-Cold War mission should have been obvious. Clean up those contaminated sites, and close the ones we no longer needed. And do it as safely, as quickly, and as efficiently as possible. This nation owed that much to the understanding neighbors whose sacrifices helped safeguard America's freedoms. But somewhere along the way over the last decade, this cleanup program came off its rails. Though many good people with good intentions worked on the program, the job wasn't getting done. In fact, when I became energy secretary a little more than a year ago, I was presented with the old plan for cleaning up these sites, which called for a timetable of some 70 years to complete and at a cost of $300 billion. My immediate reaction was that it was not good enough, not for the residents living near those sites, not for the taxpayers, and not for the Department of Energy. A timeline of 70 years means decades treading water on environmental hazards that need to be eliminated, not just managed. It's not fair to tell people who live near these sites that if everything works right, then perhaps their grandchildren will live in communities that are free of risk. I commissioned a top-to-bottom review of the environmental management mission. Our objective was to develop a new plan to swiftly clean up serious problems at sites and also reduce the risks to humans as well as the environment. On Feb. 8, I announced this new plan of action. Called "Securing Our Communities: A Blueprint for Addressing Risks and Accelerating the Environmental Restoration of the Nation's Nuclear Sites," it emphasizes three basic goals: one, eliminating significant health and safety risks as soon as possible; two, reviewing remaining risks on a case-by-case basis working with state and local officials to determine the most appropriate remediation schedules and approaches; and three, streamlining cleanup so that funding spent on routine maintenance and security — which the program estimates accounts for two-thirds of the total EM budget — will be put to use for further expedited cleanup. Further, this plan fully incorporates the department's Homeland Security Strategy, which is to significantly accelerate the consolidation of nuclear material and waste into more secure locations and configurations. The Energy Department's new budget helps put this plan in motion. It includes an extra $800 million for an expedited cleanup account, providing funds to those sites that agree to work with us to meet these goals. This new plan will stress accountability. Meaningful and attainable deadlines will be set, and cleanup will be closely monitored to ensure that those deadlines are met. I will hold my managers — federal and contractors' employees alike — responsible for meeting our goals. Plus we will strive to build trust with local officials and community leaders who have grown frustrated with the pace of the old strategy. For skeptics who say this approach can't work, I point to our Rocky Flats, Colo., site, which we have used as a testing ground for our ideas while formulating our plan. When we began, the schedule for Rocky Flats said it would take 65 years to complete, and at a cost of $36 billion. But through innovative reforms similar to our new plan, Rocky Flats will now be cleaned up and closed 55 years ahead of schedule in 2006. And as a bonus, it will save nearly $30 billion. We've instituted similar reforms at our Fernald, Ohio, site. Rocky Flats and Fernald are the kind of success stories that convince me our larger goals are attainable, in far less than 70 years and at far less cost than $300 billion. Nothing could make me happier as secretary of energy than for us to write this final chapter and close the book on the Cold War once and for all. ***************************************************************** 26 International law is in the US' best interest The Taipei Times Online: 2002-02-18Monday, February 18th, 2002 ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA The Bush administration is shedding its opposition to international agreements because of the simple fact that if one party does not honor them, no one will By Christoph Bertram For some time now America has appeared to be intent on discarding the basic ordering instrument of relations between states -- international treaties and the institutions that watch over them. The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty with the former Soviet Union banning missile defense has been cancelled. A protocol seeking to supervise the prohibition of biological weapons production has been rejected. The Kyoto Protocol on climate change has been declared unacceptable to the US. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty -- negotiated with major US involvement -- has been dismissed. The project of an international court of justice is ridiculed and resented. Indeed, when Russia demanded that agreed limitations on nuclear strategic warheads be defined in a document binding both Moscow and Washington, the US balked, preferring a vague declaration of principle instead. International covenants, the George W. Bush administration conveyed, are maybe all right for lesser powers -- but they are an unacceptable restriction on the freedom of action of the world's only superpower. It is not only America's enduring willingness to use her unique power in ways generally benign to international stability that should put fears over this trend to rest; nor the other familiar phenomenon that American administrations tend to start off with ideology before they arrive at pragmatism. We are not witnessing a Copernican revision of the orbits of global diplomacy. For, although a world without treaties and institutions would hurt most other countries more, it would hurt the mighty US as well. The Guantanamo experience on how to treat Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters is a clear case in point. In the past, the Geneva Convention prescribed how regular prisoners of war and members of irregular military forces should be treated when apprehended: they are not to be dealt with as criminals. At first, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared this international agreement inapplicable. Soon, however, the Pentagon's language lost its sharp edge: the problem did not really exist as the captives would be released soon anyway, and were treated well anyway. Finally, President Bush announced that Taliban fighters but not al-Qaeda terrorists would enjoy the Geneva Convention's protections. The reason for this reversal is obvious: if the US puts the Geneva Convention in doubt, American soldiers, if taken prisoner, could lose their protections. Once the US claims the right of redefining or dismissing international treaties as it pleases, it can scarcely blame others if they do so as well. Because it is so fragile, international law depends on the support of the most powerful participants in international affairs; if their commitment is in doubt, it will not be upheld. But the ability of powerful nations to exercise their international influence also depends on international law being upheld. For its military power, America depends on no one; for its influence in the world, however, the US continues to depend on the acceptance of other, lesser countries. Were the US to opt out of international law, the strongest symbol for a more equitable international system, it would progressively lose influence. That is the lesson of Guantanamo. It is also the reason why the rest of the world need not worry. The US is going through one of its phases of redefining the world, which usually ends with helping the world work. American uneasiness about the prevailing body of international law dealing with conflicts is not entirely frivolous. Given the new challenges of globalized insecurity caused, at least in part, by the privatization of force, there is now an urgent task to develop international norms that are relevant to today's conditions. Merely to insist, as some legal purists want, on the sanctity of existing agreements, is not enough; if they were adequate for past international requirements, this does not mean they are viable in a time when non-state actors are muscling into an arena hitherto monopolized by states. So there may be a case for re-examining the Geneva Convention just as there is for looking afresh at the project to establish a permanent international criminal court. Since America persists in rejecting the present court proposal (which has not yet entered into force), European governments, instead of sticking to it with equal obduracy, would do better to suggest an ad hoc international court to deal with al-Qaeda-type culprits, perhaps attached to The Hague Tribunal now sitting in judgment over the war criminals of the Balkan Wars. Creating such a court would demonstrate that acts of international terrorism are an affront to the international community as a whole, not merely to the US. It could also help the Bush administration come up with a more convincing procedure than the one presently envisaged for honoring the president's vow to bring the perpetrators of Sept. 11 to justice. International agreements and international law are so essential for coexistence on this crowded globe that not even the most powerful nation can do without them. Even in politics it is foolish to oppose logic, and the simple logic of international agreements is that if one party does not honor them, neither will others. In the debate over the Guantanamo Bay prisoners and the Geneva Convention, America's realists have, once again, won out over America's ideologues. As if to confirm that the lesson has sunk in, Secretary of State Colin Powell has just informed Russia that the US is ready, after all, to enter a binding treaty on the reduction of nuclear weapons. Christoph Bertram is director of the Foundation for Science and Policy in Berlin. Copyright: Project Syndicate This story has been viewed 286 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/02/18/story/0000124376] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 Russian prosecutor-general says Kursk probe is over BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 18, 2002 Text of report by Russian Mayak radio on 18 February The investigation aboard the nuclear submarine Kursk is over, Russian Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov said today [at the naval base] in Roslyakovo. He stated that a huge amount of work had been done and evidence which would form the basis of the criminal case devoted to the Kursk tragedy had been collected. The prosecutor-general and [Russian] navy C-in-C [Fleet Adm] Vladimir Kuroyedov arrived at Roslyakovo today. They held a meeting devoted to forthcoming scrapping of the submarine. Source: Radio Mayak, Moscow, in Russian 1000 gmt 18 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 28 Oak Ridge a player in nuclear power revival By FRANK MUNGER Oak Ridge National Laboratory will play a role in an ambitious new program to boost nuclear power in the United States and bring an advanced reactor on line by the end of this decade. ORNL has about $3.3 million in funding this year to develop multicoated, micro-sized fuel particles of potential use in a couple of reactor designs under consideration for the project. Gordon Michaels, ORNL's director of nuclear technologies, said he anticipates the lab receiving even more money in fiscal 2003 if Congress fully funds the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative. "Fuel development is not the only thing we'll be involved in," he said. "Oak Ridge has done a lot of pioneering work in gas-cooled reactors - everything from design of the core to helium coolant systems." Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made a speech last week touting the need for nuclear energy and the 2010 project, which is supposed to demonstrate processes for quick and effective licensing of new power plants. Some Department of Energy sites as well as sites owned by nuclear utilities will be evaluated as a possible location for the new power plant, Abraham said. Oak Ridge is not being considered as a possible site, Michaels said, but ORNL will work with the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory on a couple of advanced reactor concepts - the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor and the Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor. Michaels said uranium fuel particles would be coated with four layers of carbon and silica-carbide compounds that would act as a "miniature containment system." Advocates say the coated fuel will make the reactors essentially "meltdown-proof." "If you had a complete loss of coolant, it would simply heat the temperature up to where the fuel is stable and safe and without a release of fission gases to the environment," the ORNL official said. The Oak Ridge lab developed micro-sized fuel particles - less than a millimeter in diameter - many years ago and then transferred that production capability to private industry. But the U.S. momentum for new reactors was lost over time and so, too, was the industry capability to produce that type of nuclear fuel. Michaels said ORNL's immediate task is to re-establish that expertise, which will include hiring some retired lab scientists and engineers as consultants on the project. "The aging population of (nuclear) scientists is a concern," he said. ORNL initially will do fuel development on a bench-scale level, with the possibility of later doing a pilot project that could set the stage for commercial fuel production. The perceived revival of nuclear energy in the United States is generating enthusiasm at ORNL and other labs that built their reputations on nuclear research and development. "I can tell you there are a lot of nuclear engineers here walking around now with big smiles," Michaels said. "Compared to the early 1990s, this is a very exciting time for those of us in nuclear energy research." (Contact Frank Munger of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at http://www.knoxnews.com.) February 17, 2002 Copyright © 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights ***************************************************************** 29 Security changes curtail historical tours, at least for now By Frank Munger News-Sentinel senior writer Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Graphite Reactor is an enduring symbol of the early atomic age. For decades, it has been a popular tourist attraction and a walk-through classroom for easy lessons in history and science. But public access to the old reactor was curtailed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and things may never return to normal. While it'll still be possible to see the Graphite Reactor -- a National Historic Landmark -- no longer will visitors be able to drive up, park their cars and take a self-guided tour. Bethel Valley Road, which provides access to ORNL, is no longer open to the general public. From now on, only pre-planned groups accompanied by a guide will be allowed at the Graphite Reactor. That's a shame, of course, but just another sacrifice for security's sake. The Graphite Reactor was constructed in 1943 as part of the World War II Manhattan Project, and it became the world's first nuclear reactor to operate "at power." Before that, of course, Chicago Pile-1 at Stagg Field demonstrated a self-sustaining and controlled nuclear chain reaction. The initial mission was as a pilot plant for the production and separation of plutonium. The Oak Ridge "pile" created tiny amounts of plutonium and served as the model for reactors at Hanford, Wash., that ultimately produced material used in the A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. After its initial war role, the Graphite Reactor operated for 20 years and became a pioneering research facility, producing the first electricity from nuclear energy and staging experiments that explored the very essence of matter. Also, for a time, the Oak Ridge reactor was the world's preeminent source of radioisotopes for medicine and industry. On Aug. 2, 1946, the lab made its first isotope shipment (carbon-14) to a cancer hospital in St. Louis. The reactor was shut down in 1963 as more modern research facilities came on line. In 1966, it was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior, and in 1992 the reactor received a similar designation from the American Nuclear Society. Visitors to the site can still see the massive front face where workers once hand-loaded the reactor with tons of uranium fuel slugs and the old control room, which seems antiquated -- and rightly so -- by comparison with today's nuclear power plants. Steven Wyatt, a U.S. Department of Energy spokesman, said the federal agency has authorized the April restart of four-day-a-week tours of ORNL and the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Those popular tours, which include a stop at the Graphite Reactor, were cut short last fall by Sept. 11. The bus tours are organized at the American Museum of Science &Energy, Tuesday through Friday, usually leave around noon and last about 2 1/2 hours. Also, guided tours of the Graphite Reactor and other facilities at ORNL can be arranged for groups of 10 or more, according to Marilyn McLaughlin, the lab's visitor relations coordinator. "All those have to be pre-arranged with all the necessary security, but we can continue to show people the reactor," McLaughlin said. "It's just not as easy as it was. I think the heightened security has made everybody evaluate and reassess everything." For information about group tours at ORNL, call McLaughlin at (865) 574-4163. Wyatt said he doesn't anticipate a total reopening of access to the historic nuclear site -- at least not anytime soon. "That situation is not going to change," he said. "It will remain closed except for special tours.... Certainly, if in the future the security environment changes, then we can look at that. But I suspect it'll be a long time before that changes." Copyright 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 30 Feds want faster INEEL cleanup IdahoStatesman.com Monday, February 18, 2002 State and EPA will have to agree to new type of plan By Faith Bremner Gannett News Service If you go What: Department of Energy Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Lab cleanup meeting When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Where: College of Southern Idaho, Taylor Administration Building, Room 276, Twin Falls Details: Call (208) 526-7300. What do you think? Post your comments about this story on the message board [http://www.idahostatesman.com/f_messageboards.shtml] or send a letter to the editor [http://www.idahostatesman.com/f_letter2editor.shtml] . WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy is promising to thoroughly clean up nuclear waste at Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Lab despite a new plan to do it for half the cost and in less than a sixth of the time of a previous plan. Department officials have been unveiling their expedited cleanup plan for INEEL in a series of meetings with Idaho residents and the state´s congressional delegation. The new plan -- contained in the president´s budget released Feb. 4 -- calls for spending $17 billion and finishing the bulk of the cleanup within 10 years. The old plan called for spending $34 billion over 68 years to contain, dig up and ship out contaminated waste, soil and debris. This faster, cheaper cleanup is possible if the department rearranges its work schedule to be more efficient, said Kathleen Hain, who heads the Energy Department´s environmental-restoration program at INEEL. The standards that must be met -- spelled out in agreements among the DOE, the state and the Environmental Protection Agency -- will not change, Hain said. The state and EPA must sign off on the expedited cleanup plan and the new target dates before it can go forward, she said. "What we are trying to negotiate with the state and EPA Region 10 are some changes on how we get there -- what you do first, second and third -- not what the final status of the site will be," Hain said. Kathleen Trever, who heads Idaho´s INEEL Oversight Program, said she could not comment on DOE´s expedited plan because state officials haven´t seen any specifics. The state is not opposed, however, to doing the work faster and at less cost, she said. "There are cleanup objectives in place and the state has always worked toward meeting those objectives faster and cheaper," she said. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said the expedited plan creates a great deal of uncertainty for the lab, located in his district. "We never seem to know where we´re going from year to year," he said. "Three years from now, what happens if a new administration comes in? "I want to know what we´re doing for the next 10 to 20 years and what the future of the site would be." The state, EPA and DOE signed an agreement in 1991 that established a process for cleaning up INEEL after decades of poor waste-management practices. From 1949 to the 1970s, DOE flushed wastewater containing organic cleaning solvents and radionuclides directly into the aquifer; dumped thousands of barrels of plutonium-contaminated waste from Colorado´s Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant into unlined pits at an 88-acre burial site; and allowed extremely radioactive waste stored at a tank farm to leak from transfer lines. A separate agreement signed in 1995 between the state and DOE spells out when DOE will ship spent nuclear reactor fuel, high-level radioactive waste and plutonium-contaminated waste from INEEL to permanent storage facilities, such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Most of the waste covered under the 1995 agreement is safely stored and is not a threat to the environment. Although those agreements require the federal government to clean up its mess and remove the stored waste, none of them say exactly what environmental "cleanup" means, said Beatrice Brailsford, a member of the Snake River Alliance, a nuclear-waste watchdog group. ***************************************************************** 31 OPINION: PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS DESERVE FULL FUNDING Saturday, February 16, 2002 Bob Ives is a local attorney who lives in Hazel Dell with his family. His column appears on the Other Opinions page alternating Saturdays. His e-mail address: robi@pacifier.com. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray was right to take on the White House budget office over potential cuts of up to $262 million in the Hanford Nuclear Reservation cleanup project. Even in tight-economic-times budgets and with the present diversion of money to military needs, there are public health priorities that predate Sept. 11 that should not be shortchanged. Hanford is certainly one of these. If trimmed budgets nix the cleanup of the ultra-polluted sites at Hanford, then cleanup of National Priorities List sites in Clark County and elsewhere might also be in jeopardy. Federal supervision through the Environmental Protection Agency and funding are vital to hold such cleanup efforts together. The EPA's Superfund authority allows it to consult with local and state officials to designate National Priorities List sites. These are locations that, when ranked among the thousands of polluted sites throughout the nation, are considered to pose a significant risk to public health. Simply put, these sites are the worst areas of toxic pollution in the country, and the federal government is empowered to coordinate site cleanup to protect the public. Local, state and EPA officials design a long-term remedial response to such threats. Witches' brew of waste When my family lived near Denver in the late 1980s, a lively debate raged over what to do with Rocky Flats, the plutonium trigger factory west of the city, once it was decommissioned. Rocky Flats is a close relative of Hanford. Both were essential to the U.S. nuclear weapons program, and both are often termed "the most toxic place on Earth." In public forums, then-U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth of Colorado would float the idea of making Rocky Flats a "national sacrifice area" just fence it off and prohibit any use whatsoever forever. The problem with that is the pollution identified in Superfund sites is not permanently confined to one place. At Hanford and elsewhere, the witches' brew of industrial chemical waste or nuclear waste has created ecological time bombs. As severely contaminated sites age, toxic substances leach into groundwater and into municipal water supplies. They flow into food grown on land tainted with toxic soils and become airborne contaminants that can be breathed. Through Superfund cleanup programs, the source of pollution is identified and attacked through programs designed to remove or neutralize toxic soil and prevent plumes of contamination from reaching drinking water. Clark County is within EPA's Region 10 and has seven Superfund sites. Three of these sites have made progress under EPA-supervised cleanup plans. The remaining four are subject to federal and local action to prevent contamination to wells. The Boomsnub-Airco Superfund site in Hazel Dell is managed to reduce the risk that a 37-acre groundwater plume of chromium and volatile organic compounds poses to the Troutdale aquifer, which is a source for Clark Public Utilities wells. Those wells provide drinking water to more than 60,000 people. The Frontier Hard Chrome Inc. Superfund site is managed to contain and remove groundwater and soil contamination from hexavalent chromium that was illegally discharged from a chrome plating operation. Superfund sites Vancouver Water Station Nos. 1 and 4 are maintained by the city and the EPA. They operate air-stripping towers to remove chemical contaminants from the city water supply. The source of contamination at these sites was never discovered, but unsafe levels of perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and other volatile organic compounds were found in some of the wells that supply drinking water to city and county residents. The companies that caused all these problems are either unknown, out of business or don't have the resources to complete the job. While Superfund legislation allows the EPA to seek restitution from polluters, in many cases additional public funding is needed to get sites to the point that they can be delisted, as several Clark County sites have been. Protecting drinking water is a basic and appropriate role for the federal government. Murray should continue the fight to keep funding that protects public health. Copyright © 2002 by The Columbian Publishing Co. P.O. Box 180, Vancouver, WA ***************************************************************** 32 Midwest pegged for nuclear physics lab SouthBendTribune.com: February 17, 2002 MSU, Chicago-area labs vying for Department of Energy’s rare isotope accelerator By DEE-ANN DURBIN Associated Press Writer Staff engineer Chris Compton works on a niobium superconducting radio frequency cavity used for linear particle acceleration in a clean room at Michigan State University's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory last week in East Lansing, Mich. The U.S. Department of Energy is planning to build a $900 million rare isotope accelerator, and will likely choose either Michigan State University or the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago to be its home. AP Photo/AL GOLDIS EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Scientists know that when the universe began, it consisted mainly of hydrogen and helium. They believe the other elements -- including silver and gold -- were created by nuclear reactions within the stars. Still, much remains a mystery. No one knows exactly how those reactions occurred. No one knows where or when they took place. The answers may lie in a facility called a rare isotope accelerator. There is no RIA in the world -- for now. But the U.S. Department of Energy is planning to build the $900 million facility, and will likely choose either Michigan State University or the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago to be its home. If the government selects Michigan State, it would be a boon for a nuclear physics program that is already considered one of the best in the country. It also would be a boon for the state, generating an estimated 400 jobs and $80 million a year. The buzz has been enough to make Gov. John Engler a champion of nuclear physics. Engler included $2 million in his 2003 budget for designing the RIA and building prototype equipment. "The RIA laboratory, located on Michigan State's campus, would profoundly change the university and cement its reputation as the world leader in high-energy physics," Engler said last month in his State of the State address. "In fact, this could be the most important decision in the history of the university," he said. Still, it could be a tough sell. Argonne, which is owned by the Department of Energy and run by the University of Chicago, has more than 4,000 employees and has been operating since 1946. Donald Geesaman, director of physics at Argonne, said Argonne already has about $60 million worth of facilities Michigan State would need to build to house the RIA. It also has more experience dealing with the low-level nuclear waste the facility will generate, he said. Geesaman said the state of Illinois also has promised major investments, including building a research center. Illinois gave Argonne $1.6 million last year and $2 million this year to study RIA. Rare Isotope Accelerator Facts about the Rare Isotope Accelerator that Michigan State University is hoping to build on its campus. + What: The RIA is a facility that moves atomic nuclei at high speeds, causing them to break into smaller pieces that scientists can study. Until now, it has been impossible to study some of those nuclei -- called rare isotopes -- because they can decay and disappear within milliseconds. + Where: Michigan State wants to build the RIA on its East Lansing, Mich., campus. Michigan State envisions that the facility would include a new 160,000-square-foot office complex for researchers and students. + Who: Michigan State estimates that there would be at least 400 full-time staff members at the RIA. Worldwide, there are about 2,000 scientists devoted to researching rare isotopes. + How much: The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the RIA would cost at least $900 million to build. The federal government would pay for most of those costs. The Department of Energy also would pay an estimated $80 million a year to operate the facility. + When: The Department of Energy hasn't yet decided when and where to build the RIA. Michigan State officials have estimated it will take at least five years to build and won't be operational until at least 2010. Sources: Michigan State University, U.S. Department of Energy But Geesaman stressed that both locations offered benefits. "I have tremendous respect for the Michigan State scientists, so I believe they can do it," he said. "Both Michigan State and Argonne want this facility to be built, wherever it ends up, because of the science." The Department of Energy -- and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, an MSU graduate and former U.S. senator from Michigan -- haven't said when they plan to announce the RIA's future home. Wherever the RIA is built, it probably won't be operational before 2010, said Rex Morin, an engineer who serves as the executive director of Michigan State's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. A federal task force has estimated the facility will take five years to build. Michigan State contends it's the best place for the RIA because of the experience it has gained with its cyclotron lab. A cyclotron is a machine that hurls atoms against each other at a rate of 100,000 miles per second. The speed allows scientists to separate the nuclei of the atoms and study their properties. Michigan State built its first cyclotron in 1982 and its second in 1988. Last summer, the university and the National Science Foundation completed a $20 million upgrade that combined those cyclotrons to make the most powerful cyclotron in the world to date. The NSF is an independent government agency that awards $3.3 billion annually in research grants. Last month, the NSF said it plans to give Michigan State around $75 million each year to operate the cyclotron. That's an increase of $25 million a year. Bradley Keister, the director of nuclear physics for the foundation, said the grant reflects the scientific community's high regard for Michigan State's program. "At the present time, it is certainly one of the best facilities in the country," Keister said. "It will be a very important center of activity in nuclear science for the next five to 10 years." Within the decade, however, more advanced technology will be needed to help scientists further their research. That's where the RIA comes in. The RIA would be at least 10,000 times more powerful than the combined cyclotrons. Unlike the cyclotrons, which are circular structures housed within rooms full of wires and pipes, the RIA would consist mainly of a long corridor. Beams of stable isotopes -- the nuclei of the elements -- would be shot at high power through the corridor. The process would break those stable isotopes into the rare isotopes the accelerator is named for. Rare isotopes are the unstable nuclei that scientists believe formed the known elements. The problem is, rare isotopes decay so quickly -- sometimes within 10 milliseconds -- that they have never been studied on earth. [http://www.southbendtribune.com/copyright.html] ***************************************************************** 33 Alternative to DU: Tougher than steel Orange County Register - Business Liquidmetal Technologies says its patented alloy is the third revolution in materials. February 18, 2002 By EMILY BITTNER The Orange County Register LAKE FOREST -- Only the toughest metals can burrow through concrete walls, bore into underground caves or pierce tank armor. From Liquidmetal Technologies' headquarters in a plain gray building identical to its neighbors, it would be difficult to guess that its executives hope to manufacture armor-piercing ammunitions. Pictures of grinning professional golfers line the lobby to promote the company's only commercial product already on the market: alloy-coated golf clubs sold around the world. Glossy brochures and company executives describe the alloy as a "revolutionary" material that will transform cell phones, surgical knives and watch cases. Peek inside a conference room, though, and the models of two-foot-long bullets with jagged fins erase any notion that Liquidmetal wants to manufacture only drivers and putters. Liquidmetal, with about 80 employees, was awarded a $2 million defense contract in September to study the munitions potential of its patented alloy, dubbed Liquidmetal. Founded in 1994, Liquidmetal plans to sell within the next year its array of commercial products. It's also planning to sell shares to the public. At a time when the public may be increasingly willing to fund military research and development, the company also wants to tap the defense markets with sales of spare parts and munitions, said Chairman James Kang. "Liquidmetal is a plastic for the 21st century," Kang said. "Where it's ultimately used is only limited by our imagination." Kang calls Liquidmetal the third revolution in materials. He compared the importance of its creation to the Bessemer process - which in 1856 turned mass steel production into a cheap operation - and the invention of plastic in 1945. The company's scientists say that Liquidmetal's alloy, a zirconium-and-titanium-based metal, is so strong that bullets made from the substance would sharpen while they slice through tanks. Other scientists confirmed that the alloy is being studied for the bullets and said that the company's scientists working on the proposal are highly respected in their field. "Indeed, the material exhibits a very high strength," said Enrique Lavernia, chairman of the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of California, Irvine. "Although I have not seen this data, their (the scientists') past work renders credibility to this claim." Armor penetrators cut through the air like darts, hurtling toward their targets at a mile and a half a second. Including the canisters that contain them, the largest of the rounds would measure about three feet long and 120 millimeters around and be fired from tanks. Fighter jets and lightly armored vehicles would launch smaller rounds, said Steve Collier, president of Liquidmetal's defense division. The U.S. now uses depleted uranium bullets to pierce tanks, but controversy is growing over the mildly radioactive munitions. Depleted uranium has been blamed for Gulf War Syndrome and cancer in Balkans peacekeepers. While the military says the radiation hasn't been proven dangerous, the government wants Liquidmetal to research materials that eventually could provide an alternative, said Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is funding the research. The government needs an effective, environmentally safe and politically expedient alternative to allay fears of veterans, allies and scientists, said Steven Zaloga, a senior analyst with the Teal Group, an independent aerospace and defense consulting firm based in Virginia. Kang agrees with the government that depleted uranium is safe - except for tanks and soldiers on the receiving end - but said his company can provide rounds that could still pack the punch of depleted uranium. "It's not very nice to spray your neighbors with radioactive dust. And that's what these things do," Kang said of the depleted uranium bullets. "You might be able to use some in the Iraqi desert, but if you go into a populated area, these weapons have become politically incorrect." The alloy could replace depleted uranium in as soon as three years, said Liquidmetal chief scientist Atakan Peker, who, with California Institute of Technology Professor William Johnson, invented the alloy in 1992 and patented it in 1993. Johnson continues to teach at Cal Tech, but also works with the Liquidmetal scientists on the alloy. Depleted uranium sharpens as it bores into tank armor and sparks ammunition fires and "spall," - molten metal that sprays around inside the tank and decimates those inside, Zaloga said. European nations launch tungsten alloys, which aren't radioactive, but are less effective than depleted uranium because they don't sharpen on impact. According to the government, initial studies have shown that alloys like Liquidmetal are the only other material that actually sharpens during penetration. For now, Liquidmetal kinetic penetrators remain closer to the blackboard than the battlefield. Several scientists and munitions experts have said that Liquidmetal's alloy work shows potential - but cautioned that the metal has yet to prove itself as a viable alternative to depleted uranium. Preliminary tests have shown that Liquidmetal penetrators perform on par with depleted uranium at speeds slightly lower than the actual flight rate, Collier said. "Paper testing only goes so far," Zaloga said. "Until they actively test-fire the stuff, it's not going to be clear what its effects with steel are. No matter how wonderful the metal, it's all going to depend on how this metal interacts with armor." Liquidmetal Technologies announced in November that it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of up to $120 million in common stock. The number of shares and estimated price range have not been disclosed, nor has a date for the offering been set. Merrill Lynch &Co. is the underwriter. According to its filing with the SEC, Liquidmetal had revenue of $3.0 million and a net loss of $28.4 million in the first nine months of 2001, compared with revenue of $3.3 million and a net loss of $6.3 million in the same period in 2000. The company said it plans to use proceeds from the IPO to repay $4.4 million of outstanding debt, and for general purposes that may include acquisitions or joint ventures. The company expects to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol LQMT. Potential applications for Liquidmetal alloy Applications and potential applications of the Liquidmetal alloy: Golf clubs Liquidmetal says its alloy is being used to create drivers that perform longer and straighter than any others available today. Electronic-product casings Liquidmetal says its alloy can produce thinner, smaller and stronger casings for electronic products and cellular handsets. Since the alloy is easier to process than other metals, it gives manufacturers the same design flexibility as plastics, the company says. Watches Being nearly three times as strong as titanium and four times as elastic, the alloy can be formed into intricate engineered designs, the company says. It can reduce to two steps from 31 the number of separate operations required for the manufacture of a watchcase, according to the company. Source: Liquidmetal Technologies Register staff writer Katy Chase contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 34 UK: The Energy Review A Performance and Innovation Unit Report - February 2002 CONTENTS Foreword by the Prime Minister Executive Summary Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: The Challenge Ahead Chapter 3: Framework Chapter 4: Security in the Energy System Chapter 5: Lessons from Scenarios Chapter 6: Options for a Low Carbon Economy Chapter 7: A Programme for a Low Carbon Future Appendix to Chapter 7: Institutional Barriers Chapter 8: Institutions Chapter 9: Concluding Themes Chapter 10: Implementing the Recommendations Annexes Annex 1: The Role of the Performance and Innovation Unit Annex 2: Project Team, Sponsor Minister and Advisory Group Annex 3: Organisations Consulted and Submissions Received Annex 4: Impact of Energy Review Recommendations on Fuel Poverty Annex 5: Energy Efficiency: The Basis for Intervention Annex 6: The Potential for Cost Reductions and Technological Progress in Low Carbon Technologies Annex 7: Timelines Affecting Decisions Annex 8: Chief Scientific Adviser's Energy Research Review: Summary and Recommendations Annex 9: Glossary Annex 10: References Copyright Cabinet Office 2002 | Room 4.17 Admiralty Arch, London, SW1A 2WH | 020 7276 1416 | piu@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk [piu@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk] ***************************************************************** 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. 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