***************************************************************** 07/18/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.183 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 ACP summit hears sharp condemnation of US, nuclear fuel shipments 2 ASEAN, 5 nuke powers to meet in Brunei NUCLEAR REACTORS 3 US: Davis-Besse repairs begin NUCLEAR SAFETY 4 US: County to fake nuclear accident 5 US: Terrorism - Nuclear Materials: More Control is Vital 6 US: Testing the Effects of Radiation on Space Travelers 7 Depleted uranium detected at Kandahar airfield, not likely dangerous 8 US: Iodide pills obtained by 1,350 more NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 9 US: Routes to Yucca Mountain discussed 10 US: Letter: Now, more than ever, fight waste dump at Yucca 11 US: Where Should We Put Nuclear Waste? 12 Fijian leader says nuclear waste transports through Pacific must 13 NZ: Protest at plutonium shipment 14 US: Waste shipment faces long wait 15 US: Nuclear waste dump receives 1,000th shipment as INEEL escalates 16 US: NRC asked to halt fuel-rod transfer 17 US: Yucca: Still fighting (Nevada Attorney General) NUCLEAR WEAPONS 18 US: FCNL: Legislative Action Message 07/18/02 19 [generalnews] A-bomb exhibit called too gruesome for display at 20 Pak to maintain nuclear deterrence: Musharraf 21 US: U.S. eyes nondestructive warheads -- 22 US: W: The National Strategy for Homeland Security 23 US: US ponders weapons strategy 24 US: Pentagon Developing Ways to Neutralize Buried Weapons 25 Nuclear Advocate Elected President of India 26 Nuclear Scientist, 70, a Folk Hero, Is Elected India's President US DEPT. OF ENERGY 27 DOE alters security situation 28 Parking lots at ORNL still under investigation (for Contamination) 29 Editorial:INEEL gets a much-needed mission 30 Self-government pioneer, key ORNL personnel remembered 31 Energy Secretary Abraham Applauds National Renewable Energy OTHER NUCLEAR 32 Bush and Power Companies Oppose Lone Star in Energy Bill ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 ACP summit hears sharp condemnation of US, nuclear fuel shipments [Yahoo! Singapore - News] Thursday July 18, 9:58 AM A 78-nation summit, expected to deal with trade and aid issues, charted new waters for itself with strong criticism from conference chair Fiji of US trade policy and nuclear waste shipments across the Pacific. The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations were due to focus primarily during their two-day summit on negotiations between the group and the European Union (EU) on trade access and aid. But it was clear here the 27-year-old group of some of the worlds poorest states is contemplating a stronger political role for itself, akin to the once influential Non-Aligned Movement. In opening remarks to the gathered leaders, Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase assailed the United States for retaliating against the EU last year after the union gave ACP banana producers preferential access to European markets. Qarase called the US action a reminder to developing nations that international affairs were not "warm and cosy". "America had no hesitation in acting against our ACP banana producers when US companies protested about the protocol," he said. The move, he said, showed that free trade was not a level playing field for the ACP, but was "more like a steep and slippery slope for poorer states." He contrasted US actions to those of Australia and New Zealand, who were sympathetic to the development needs of the ACP group. "I would like to gently remind America that the ACP has earned its credentials as a successful international power bloc. Will America, then, consider forming the same kind of bonds with our 78 countries that we have with Europe?" He posed the same question to China. He called for an ACP union that would "reflect our determination to preserve togetherness and mutuality of purpose." "We would be underscoring the absolute necessity for us to act in concert and derive maximum benefit from trade, aid and investment, and protection of our environments." He challenged Washington to recognise the ACP as a successful international power bloc and called on the United States to establish bonds with it similar to those of the EU. Qarase also strongly attacked British Nuclear Fuels Ltd which is currently shipping radioactive waste across the Pacific from Japan to Britain. On Thursday the two ships were near Vanuatu, west of here. "As I speak, a ship carrying plutonium is heading for our waters," Qarase said. "We will be asking you to join with us in expressing our outrage and opposition to those who are so willing to put the Pacific and our peoples at risk." He said the ACP Pacific members were "adamantly opposed to any actions which expose it to threats of pollution, hazardous waste and the destructive effects of nuclear and missile tests." ACP Secretary-General Jean-Richard Goulongana told the gathered leaders that the group should take joint positions at the upcoming Doha round of World Trade Organisation negotiations and the upcoming Sustainable Development Summit in South Africa. "The time has come to decide if we want to be simply a lobby group with the EU, or become an active international organisation," he said. Meanwhile the summit hit a logistic hitch with workers in a key aviation union threatening a strike which could strand ACP delegations here after the summit ends on Friday. Labour Minister Kenneth Zinck told AFP that talks had broken down with the union. Zinck said a strike by the workers would mean "the delegates will be stuck here." Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 2 ASEAN, 5 nuke powers to meet in Brunei Friday, July 19, 2002 at 09:30 JST BANGKOK ? Southeast Asian countries will hold talks with the five nuclear powers next Thursday in Brunei as part of continuing efforts to bring them into the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) treaty, Thai officials said Thursday. But the officials said no breakthrough can be expected from the talks in Brunei's capital of Bandar Seri Begawan among officials and legal experts of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members ? Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. (Kyodo News) Japan Today ***************************************************************** 3 Davis-Besse repairs begin Beacon Journal | 07/17/2002 | [http://www.ohio.com] Nuclear Regulatory Commission says plant faces a thorough review before restart. FirstEnergy holds public meeting, outlines upgrades By Jim Mackinnon Beacon Journal business writer OAK HARBOR - FirstEnergy officials say they are well under way in fixing the damaged Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, but Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials say the utility will have to pass a thorough review before the reactor is allowed to power up. In a lengthy meeting Tuesday afternoon with NRC officials before about 130 people at Oak Harbor High School, First-Energy executives outlined the steps they are taking to upgrade and repair the plant, shut down since mid-February. They also suggested changes in how the plant is managed to ensure its safe operation. The utility says it is on track to have the plant ready to restart sometime before the end of the year, providing it passes an NRC checklist. The NRC outlined that checklist for the first time Tuesday, specifying exactly what FirstEnergy has to do to prove to the regulatory agency that the plant is ready and will be operated safely. Davis-Besse was shut down after a safety inspection found a boric-acid created cavity on top of the steel reactor vessel head, a crucial safety device that covers the radioactive fuel. Critics have said the cavity, if it had not been discovered, could have caused a loss-of-coolant accident that might have released radiation into the environment. No radiation was released. FirstEnergy bought a replacement vessel head from a never-operated reactor in Michigan. The replacement part will arrive at Davis-Besse, likely by truck, by Aug. 1, executives said. The radioactive fuel rods have been removed from the Davis-Besse reactor and stored elsewhere on the property, which overlooks Lake Erie in Oak Harbor, about 25 miles east of Toledo. Replacing the vessel head will mean a hole 20-feet-by 20-feet will have to be cut into the massive containment chamber composed of concrete and steel that surrounds the reactor. In addition, FirstEnergy will do inspections to make sure microbial-induced corrosion isn't present inside the containment chamber, officials said. The Washington, D.C.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, which has taken a skeptical look at how the NRC and FirstEnergy are investigating the Davis-Besse damage, on Monday sent a scathing letter to the NRC, criticizing both parties and calling for independent verification of inspections and repairs. Among other things, the organization said FirstEnergy and the NRC hadn't adequately addressed whether untreated water containing bacteria had seeped into the containment chamber, which could create extensive corrosion. In addition, the organization charged that FirstEnergy staff and management missed obvious signs over the years that something was amiss with the reactor. ``Our reviews continue to suggest that FirstEnergy failed to fully evaluate the safety significance of non-conforming conditions at Davis-Besse and that NRC inspectors repeatedly accepted incomplete evaluations,'' wrote David Lochbaum, nuclear expert for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Lew Myers, the newly hired chief operating officer for First-Energy Nuclear Operating Co., said the company has created an independent ``Restart Overview Panel'' made up of FirstEnergy executives, retired NRC and Davis-Besse personnel, the Ottawa County administrator and others to look over the shoulder of the repair efforts. ``Until we get them satisfied, we won't start up,'' Myers said. Because of that, Myers said he doesn't think the panel requested by the Union of Concerned Scientists and other anti-nuclear groups is needed. Myers called Lochbaum an honorable man, but said ``maybe he doesn't fully trust what we're doing.'' Myers also said the company understands that its mismanagement caused the problems that led to the creation of the cavity. ``It's hard to sit up on a stage and call your baby ugly,'' Myers said. But FirstEnergy is taking steps to make sure that all employees adopt questioning attitudes and not look for easy answers to problems, he said. ``You will regain our confidence based on the quality of the work you do,'' said Jack Grobe, the NRC official who is the chairman of the panel overseeing the Davis-Besse investigation. The key issue to the NRC approving the restart of the power plant is assurance that Davis-Besse will be run safely afterward, Grobe said. The NRC sponsored a second meeting Tuesday night at the high school for the public to ask questions about what's happening at Davis-Besse. Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or [jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com] ***************************************************************** 4 County to fake nuclear accident Augusta Georgia: Metro: 07/18/02 Web posted Thursday, July 18, 2002 By Louie Villalobos Columbia County Bureau It has never happened, but just in case a shipment of nuclear waste is involved in an accident while passing from Aiken County through the area, local authorities want to be prepared. On Wednesday, Columbia County Emergency Services Director Pam Tucker held the first of three pre-planning meetings to organize an Oct. 24 Waste Isolation Pilot Plant transportation exercise, which will simulate what could happen if an accident occurs. It will be the first such exercise held east of Texas and the first of several planned in Georgia, officials said. "They asked for it," said Ron Macaluso, senior trainer for the pilot plant in Carlsbad, N.M. "We offer so many exercises a year, and Georgia wanted one." Since March 9, 2001, nine shipments have traveled through the area on the way to Carlsbad from Savannah River Site. Since 1999, more than 1,000 shipments have been sent from five locations across the country. Officials said no shipment has encountered significant problems. Representatives from several local and state agencies attended the session Wednesday. Among the things decided was the location of the exercise - Wrightsboro Road and John Deere Parkway, just outside of Grovetown. The scenario will consist of a "TRUPACT-II" transport vehicle traveling west on Interstate 20 with two loaded waste containers. After being rerouted to Wrightsboro Road to avoid a car accident on I-20, it will be hit by a bus load of chemicals used to make methamphetamines, sending a waste container into the road and causing several injuries. Workers from at least 12 agencies will treat injuries, clean the area of hazardous material and keep the public informed. "We will be better able to respond, our plans will be strengthened, and overall, our community will be safer once we get done with this," Mrs. Tucker said. Since the pilot plant program began in 1999, Mr. Macaluso said, there have been 22 training exercises to give responders a chance to practice their classroom training in a controlled field environment. "This is one of the hardest hazardous material to train for," Mr. Macaluso said. "But it's out there." SHIPMENT INFORMATION Nine shipments of waste have been transported from SRS since July 15. Shipments will take place the following dates in August: Aug. 3 Aug. 10 Aug. 17 Aug. 19 Reach Louie Villalobos at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 109, or ccchron@augustachronicle.com [ccchron@augustachronicle.com] . [http://augusta.com] . ***************************************************************** 5 Terrorism - Nuclear Materials: More Control is Vital July 1, 2002 One of the benefits of the recent arrest of Jose Padilla, the U.S. citizen accused of planning to construct a radiological device, i.e., “dirty nuke,” is that it helped publicize a woefully under-appreciated threat, namely, the trafficking in and loose control over nuclear materials. Although concern about nuclear terrorism is not new, the proliferation of nuclear materials and nuclear know-how since the end of the Cold War has made at least the likelihood of a nuclear incident more feasible.  According to various reports, nuclear fuels – such as highly enriched uranium – are highly available in research reactors.  In addition, nuclear material control is lax in Russia and in other countries, as physical security is insufficient.  Access control, inventory control, and transportation security are all defective.   Earlier this week the International Atomic Energy Agency warned that all countries, including the United States, need to increase safeguard of radioactive materials.  It believes that more than 100 countries may have inadequate controls to monitor their radioactive materials.  It also admits that before Sept. 11, the agency had concentrated on safe use of those materials, not on protecting them from terrorists. Consider some basic facts on the supply side:  The worldwide stockpiles of separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) are estimated to include some 450 tons of military and civilian separated plutonium and over 1,700 tons of HEU.  A key problem in this arena is the large stocks of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium that are produced by power reactors.  Russia now holds about 150 tons of plutonium and 1,000 tons of highly enriched uranium. A recently published report by the National Research Council found that “theft or diversion of excess Russian HEU for terrorist use represents a significant near-term threat to the United States.”  A complete inventory of Russian materials is not available, so it is impossible to confirm that diversions of materials have not already occurred.  Additionally, there have been more than a dozen seizures of special nuclear material from Russia and surrounding countries since the early 1990s.  About 40 kilograms of weapons-usable uranium and plutonium have been stolen from poorly protected nuclear facilities in the former Soviet Union during the last decade.  While most of that material was retrieved, 2 kilograms of highly enriched uranium filched from a research reactor in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia are still missing.  And, Western countries have been searching in Georgia for potential “dirty bomb” materials – highly radioactive and mobile nuclear batteries containing strontium-90. Publicly available databases, like the Newly Independent States Nuclear Trafficking Abstracts database, run by the Monterrey Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies, reveal the theft of radioactive isotopes with depressing regularity. The U.S. Energy Department cannot fully account for small amounts of potentially dangerous plutonium provided under a 1954 Atoms for Peace program to 33 countries, including Iran, Pakistan and India.  Unfortunately, this material is not under tight control.  A bipartisan Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program was established in 1991, which among other things aims at improving the security of Russian control over fissionable materials, and at making Russian plutonium and uranium unusable as nuclear explosives.  The program is inadequately funded.  A past U.S. blue-ribbon advisory panel called for spending an average level of about $3 billion a year over the next decade for securing, monitoring and reducing Russian nuclear weapons, materials, and expertise.  The amount in the FY 2002 budget for these activities was only about $750 million, even after substantial increases by Congress.  And the proposed FY 2003 budget reverses past Bush administration’s attempts to cut back these programs, but still represents a cut compared to what was appropriated in FY 2002. In January 2001, a U.S. bipartisan commission chaired by Howard Baker, former Senate Republican majority leader, and Lloyd Cutler, former Clinton White House counsel, found that “[t]he most urgent unmet national security threat to the United States today is the danger that weapons of mass destruction or weapons-usable material in Russia could be stolen and sold to terrorists or hostile nation states and used against American troops abroad and citizens at home.” A recently released report by the U.S. General Accounting Office found that U.S. efforts to control the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive material in foreign countries are poorly coordinated and haphazardly administered, resulting in foul-ups that have left needed equipment idled in packing crates, sometimes for years.  The report examined programs administered by six federal agencies that spent $86 million in about 30 countries between 1992 and 2001 to help them monitor and control the movement of radioactive materials that could be used in nuclear weapons or radiological bombs, known as "dirty bombs." The assistance, mostly to Russia, former Soviet republics, and Central and Eastern European countries, is used to buy detection devices and other equipment, technical assistance and training. The investigators found that no agency coordinated the programs, resulting in the absence of an overall strategy, duplicate bureaucracies and marked differences in the quality of equipment given to different countries. Nor are foreign countries the only problem.  In the United States, it is estimated that of roughly 2 million small-but-valuable radioactive contraptions used annually – in everything from construction to healthcare to scientific research. Hundreds of these devices have been lost, stolen, or even abandoned, most of which are never retrieved, and 30,000 are unaccounted for.  The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission fined the owners of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut nuclear power plant $288,000 this week for failing to account for two missing fuel rods.  The NRC has also reported that companies have lost about 1,500 radioactive sources since 1996 and more than half were never recovered. In late March 2002, the Energy Department warned officials in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that it lacked the funds to adequately protect the nation’s nuclear weapons research facilities – a warning that came shortly after the Bush administration had offered public assurances that security was more than adequate. Terrorists could also target the storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, which is kept in special pools on site at most plants.  Permanent storage, probably at a Nevada underground facility, remains years away.  The spent fuel rods typically are stored in barrels beneath 30 feet of water.  The water absorbs radiation and keeps the fuel from overheating.  A large plane crashing into the pool could displace or evaporate enough water to leave the rods exposed, and the resulting buildup of heat would trigger a large release of radiation.  The storage pools do not have hardened roofs.  There are about 40,000 tons of such spent fuel, including hundreds of tons of plutonium, stored at operating and closed plants around the country, usually in concrete-reinforced cooling pools that were supposed to be temporary but now hold more radioactive material than the reactors themselves. On average, spent fuel ponds hold 5 to 10 times more long-lived radioactivity than a reactor core.  Particularly worrisome is the large amount of cesium 137 in fuel ponds, which contain anywhere from 20 to 50 million curies of this dangerous isotope.  With a half-life of 30 years, cesium 137 gives off highly penetrating radiation and is absorbed in the food chain. Most of the spent fuel pools are housed in fairly standard concrete or corrugated buildings; the Union of Concerned Scientists describes them as “Kmarts without neon.” Despite legislation requiring that it does so, the Energy Department has not uniformly secured the nation’s nuclear waste, which could be used by terrorists to build radiological weapons.  According to the department, it already is running 12 years behind schedule. Consequently, U.S. lawmakers want to expand the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to include monitoring radioactive materials used in a variety of commercial and medical activities, and are now considering legislation to require the agency to regulate materials that could become the source of a terrorist radiological weapon.  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., have proposed the Dirty Bomb Prevention Act of 2002 in both houses. The Act would require the commission to recover lost or stolen radioactive materials and to reinstitute a nationwide tracking system that was discontinued in 1984.  In addition, it would tighten export controls and levy fines for industrial facilities, hospitals or food irradiation plants that do not properly handle or dispose of such materials. Sources: June 25, 2002 IAEA Press Release, “Inadequate Control of World's Radioactive Sources,” [http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/2002/prn0209.shtml] National Research Council, “Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism,” [http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10415.html?onpi_topnews_062402] U.S. General Accounting Office, May 2002, “U.S. Efforts to Help Other Countries Combat Nuclear Smuggling Need Strengthened Coordination and Planning,” [http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02426.pdf] NIS Nuclear Trafficking Database, [http://www.nti.org/db/nistraff/index.html] By David Isenberg Independent Consultant [sento@earthlink.net] CENTER FOR DEFENSE INFORMATION 1779 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036-2109 Ph: (202) 332-0600 · Fax: (202) 462-4559 [info@cdi.org] ***************************************************************** 6 Testing the Effects of Radiation on Space Travelers The Phantom Torso: radiation_evarm_020716 Astronauts working outside the International Space Station (ISS) are exposed to about 27 times as much radiation annually than people on Earth, but the levels are still very low for space, Canadian researchers announced Tuesday. Preliminary results from a year-long study funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) show that astronauts were subjected to lower than expected levels of high-energy proton and electron radiation sent from the Sun over the last five months. The Extravehicular Activity Radiation Monitor study (EVARM) began in February, with astronauts wearing radiation detectors as they worked in space. Shown is the storage/badge reader unit for the Extravehicular Activity Radiation Monitoring (EVARM) experiment. It contains sets of three radiation detector badges for up to four spacewalkers, designated EV-1, EV-2, EV-3 and EV-4. The EV-1 badges are shown plugged into the badge reader, while others are stored in the lid. The storage/badge reader unit measures roughly 8 by 8 by 9 inches (20.32 by 20.32 by 22.86 cm). Click to enlarge. Report Warns That Solar Storms Could Harm Spacewalking Astronauts Solar Tantrums Could Last Two More Years; Space Telescopes Feel Pain Solar Weather Prediction Still In Its Infancy "This is good news for the astronauts," said EVARM lead researcher Ian Thomson during a telephone interview. Thomson is also president of Thomson Nielsen Electronics, Ltd., an Ottawa company that manufactures radiation-measuring devices for medical uses. "It looks like we're at a lower end of the radiation sent by the 11-year [sunspot] cycle." Radiation doses are measured in Sieverts (Sv), though levels are usually quite small and denoted as milliSieverts (mSv). On Earth, humans receive an annual dose of about 2 mSv from background radiation, though radiation workers, who deal with radioactive substances daily, are capped at a maximum exposure of 20 mSv a year. The astronauts floating in low Earth orbit outside the ISS are bombarded by 54 mSv a year, nearly three times the amount of a professional radiation worker on Earth, Thomson said. But as the years wear on, he added, the levels should rise in conjunction with the Sun's sunspot activity. The findings were announced during the July 16 meeting of the American Association of Medical Physics in Montreal. Nine astronauts aboard the ISS have taken the detectors, tiny silicon dosimeters mounted on aluminum badges the size of matchboxes, along on spacewalks. One detector located near the head monitored the amount of radiation hitting the eyes, another measured radiation levels on the trunk of the body where spacesuit equipment offers some shielding, and a third on the leg, where there is little protection. "Radiation exposure is a known risk for these astronauts, it's just space weather and you can't avoid it," Thomson said. "But you can try and minimize it, by measuring how much radiation an astronaut gets." In general, the more radiation doses a person receives, the higher the risk of developing cancer or radiation sickness. By knowing the amount of radiation an astronaut has received, their risk could be lowered in the future by simply avoiding spacewalks. The knowledge of radiation doses could even lead to the development of better shielding techniques. Thomson Nielsen Electronics Ltd. has also adapted the silicon dosimeters used in space to gauge radiation doses for cancer patients on Earth. More than 400 cancer clinics around the world are using the detectors, which could be used in the future for pediatric radiology and cardiology. © 2002 SPACE.com, Inc. ALL RIGHTS ***************************************************************** 7 Depleted uranium detected at Kandahar airfield, not likely dangerous says experts World - Ottawa Citizen Online HOME [http://www.ottawacitizen.com] | FRONT NAHLAH AYED KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - An environmental survey has detected possible depleted uranium at the Kandahar airfield where Canadian soldiers have been stationed, but it's unlikely to pose a health risk, experts say. A recent U.S. survey and an earlier Canadian assessment of the environment here also discovered that asbestos is present on the base, where thousands of anti-terrorist coalition soldiers have lived for the past several months. The two surveys of the environment on this southern Afghan airbase also included a look at elevated noise levels, dust, and the effects of smoke from burning garbage on the air quality. The American team identified several small pieces of "an unknown metal substance suspected to be DU (depleted uranium)" but has yet to be confirmed by a laboratory. The substance was found in the remains of a burnt out aircraft away from living areas, said a spokeswoman for the team. "These pieces emitted a small radiation signature, which would have posed no threat to human health," said Maj. Annette Hildabrand. "Regardless, these pieces were collected and removed as a precautionary measure. The radiation readings returned to background levels immediately after removal. Therefore, no known radioactive material exists at Kandahar airfield." The Canadian team did not make a similar finding of depleted uranium, according to a representative in Ottawa. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of uranium and is about 40 per cent as radioactive. Because it is extremely dense, it is used on the tips of ammunition to help it pierce armoured vehicles. It can also be used in solid form to balance an aircraft. Because it is a heavy metal, it can pose health risks both as a chemical poison and a radiation hazard. But experts disagree about the extent of its adverse health effects. If unfired, or if found in a solid state as it was in Kandahar, the metal poses little health risk because it emits little radiation, experts say. But once it penetrates armour, depleted uranium particles can become airborne and can easily enter the human body. Canadian soldiers wear detectors to keep track of any exposure to radiation. At this point, there is no reason for Canadian soldiers who have served in Kandahar to worry about the effects of depleted uranium, said Maj. Rod Keller, of 12 Field Squadron of 1 Combat Engineer Regiment. "When our team came through, at that time they did not find depleted uranium anywhere where the Canadians were either living or working," he said. Keller said he was informed by the American safety officer that the depleted uranium that was discovered here was "extremely isolated" and "you would have had to either ingest a hunk of this or somehow put it into your system" before it posed any health risk. The U.S. safety officer has left Kandahar and was not available for comment. Depleted uranium became a concern a couple of years ago after the death of Capt. Terry Riordon, a Canadian Gulf War veteran. An autopsy showed a high level of the radioactive substance in his body. His wife has been advocating that the federal government impose testing for depleted uranium on any soldiers involved in the fight against terrorism. Initial findings of both surveys in Kandahar also showed that asbestos is present in some buildings on the airbase. Neither team has yet to receive data on whether asbestos is actually in the air, and therefore a bigger threat to soldiers here. The Canadian survey found asbestos in an area where Canadian soldiers were living, but it has been dealt with appropriately, said Keller. "What we couldn't remove and what may have caused more danger to either the occupants or the person actually removing it, was isolated, and through normal industry standards and practices, it was sealed off and is now safe." Of some concern to Canadian soldiers here are the lab results from an area they were stationed earlier in the deployment, downwind of where garbage was being burned daily. Lieut. (Navy) Chris Knowlton, Ottawa project director of the environmental survey, said those results and all others stemming from the survey are in, and are being assessed by experts. A final report on the results will not come until September, he added. Both the Canadian and American surveys also looked into noise levels on the airfield. Some of the living quarters on both the Canadian and U.S. camps lay close to the runway where dozens of flights land and take off each day. "We did noise readings in several areas of the Kandahar airfield and found elevated noise levels in the vicinity of the airstrip," said Hildabrand. Lt.-Col. Pat Stogran, commanding officer of the Canadian battalion, said the survey will help in the future should any health problems crop up among the more than 800 soldiers stationed here. "We did this environmental assessment in order to document the threats that were around here in the event that soldiers do come down with ailments in the future; that we might be able to trace it back to an exposure," he said. "Everybody has different sensitivity levels . . . there were none that were serious enough to cause illness or threat to life, but it was recorded in case somebody came up with the symptoms." Knowlton said the Canadian team checked for contaminants associated with an airfield, such as petroleum products, paints and varnishes, and checked for contaminants in water used on the airfield. Until recently, the water was purified by a Canadian reverse osmosis unit. That work has been taken over by an American unit now that the Canadians are leaving Kandahar. © The Canadian Press, 2002 ***************************************************************** 8 Iodide pills obtained by 1,350 more Asbury Park Press   July 18, 2002 The Jersey Shore's News Source   Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/18/02 By GREGORY J. VOLPE MANAHAWKIN BUREAU LITTLE EGG HARBOR -- State officials hope to disseminate potassium iodide pills to many more people in the future, with outreach programs for the homebound and tablets for everyone who lives within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant. Health officials were at Pinelands Regional High School yesterday for the second of three distributions set for Ocean County residents living or working within 10 miles of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. The state Department of Health and Senior Services has provided a free, one-day supply of potassium iodide, which helps protect people from thyroid cancer if exposed to radiation. The state doled out 5,606 pills to 1,350 people yesterday, getting a better response than at Manchester Township High School Saturday, when 3,800 pills were picked up by 1,200 people. Another 720 people picked up 4,225 pills in Salem County Saturday. The final Ocean County distribution is scheduled for July 27 at Manchester Township High School. The state is developing other distribution methods for the future, said Jim Blumenstock, the state department's senior assistant commissioner. One problem has been getting the tablets to the homebound. Officials in Barnegat and Lacey have argued that it's unfair to make senior citizens drive up to 15 miles to receive their dose. State officials have not figured out how to solve that problem, Blumenstock said. The state also is considering keeping a supply of pills available for tourists and new residents, and may expand the coverage area from 10 to 20 miles and possibly 50. "After we created this schedule, we received some really good feedback," Blumenstock said. "We haven't quite found out how to implement them, but distribution will be ongoing." In the event of an evacuation because of radioactive release, the state is also planning to distribute pills to people when they come to the regional evacuation centers -- Manchester and Pinelands Regional high schools. Customers line up early The pills are in demand. People began lining up at Pinelands Regional at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, 1 1/2 hours before distribution was scheduled to begin, Little Egg Harbor Police Chief William Kleinow said. Distribution began early so that residents -- a majority of whom were seniors -- didn't have to wait outside in the heat. Most people interviewed said they don't fear a problem at Oyster Creek, but picked up their supply "just in case." Others had more compelling reasons. "This is why, right here," said Jason Soltis of Stafford, as he pointed to his 15-month-old son, Erik Matthew. "I just want to be around for his bachelor party. They can take me as long as they don't hurt him." Soltis and his wife, Danielle, said they never worried about the plant until Sept. 11. "It's scary," Danielle said. "When we pulled up and saw all the cars here, I said, 'It's scary.' But it's good that they're doing this (giving out pills)." She asked the pharmacists on hand about dosages for the baby. Alan Aronowitz, a member of the New Jersey Pharmacists Association, said most people asked about allergies, storage and pets. He recommended that anyone within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant should have pills on hand -- especially for children whose thyroids are developing and who will live longer, giving thyroid cancer more time to appear. People of retirement age made up a majority of yesterday's crowd, but Blumenstock said there seemed to be more younger families than at Saturday's session. For some, picking up the pill was just part of life living near a nuclear power plant. "We're not worried, but we think we should be prepared in case something happens," said Betty Mack, a Middletown resident who has a summer home in Stafford. "I don't think anything will happen." At the July 27 distribution, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Manchester High, people who live or work in the following towns will be eligible: Barnegat, Barnegat Light, Beachwood, Berkeley, Dover Township, Harvey Cedars, Island Heights, Lacey, Long Beach Township, Pine Beach, Waretown (Ocean Township), Ocean Gate, Seaside Park, Ship Bottom, South Toms River, Stafford and Surf City. Gregory J. Volpe: (609) 978-4584 or gvolpe@app.com ***************************************************************** 9 Routes to Yucca Mountain discussed Thursday, July 18, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Energy Department official says rail most likely choice but decision won't be made for years By SEAN WHALEY REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU STATELINE -- An Energy Department official told members of a legislative conference Wednesday that railroads are the most likely choice for nuclear waste shipments to a repository at Yucca Mountain, and that the material can be transported safely. But Jozette Booth, special assistant to the director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said a decision on whether to use highways or railroads won't be made until 2005, or at least five years before the Yucca Mountain repository can begin receiving the waste. "To date, no rail or highway routes have been selected," she said. "We plan to identify preliminary routes approximately five years before shipments begin, and no decisions will be made final on the routes until we have had an opportunity to work with the states and talk about the routes that have been chosen." Booth said more than 2,700 shipments of spent nuclear fuel have been made in the United States in the past 30 years without an accident releasing radioactive material. But Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said highways are the more likely choice for shipment because there is no railroad running to Yucca Mountain. A costly 450-mile rail line would have to be constructed from the northern part of the state to reach the site under one proposal being considered by the Energy Department, he said. With either method, accidents are inevitable, and a release of radioactive material could cost billions of dollars to clean up, Loux said. "The point being, we don't necessarily believe that relying on historical records or regulations that have not been revisited since 1982 are necessarily sufficient and adequate to carry out a shipping campaign to Yucca Mountain," he said. The two speakers made their comments at a panel discussion of the Council of State Governments West annual meeting. Although Yucca Mountain has been approved by Congress as the repository for the nation's 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, transportation remains a major issue as the project moves to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for licensing procedures. Loux said the number of shipments to be made to Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, will exceed in one year all the shipments of such material in the past 40 years. Shipments from across the country will make their way to the site over 24 years. Using U.S. Department of Energy historical accident rates involving spent fuel shipments, the state has calculated that if trucks are used, there will be 161 accidents, he said. If trains are used, there will be 390 accidents, Loux said. An accident resulting in the release of radioactive material in an urban area would produce up to 1,370 latent cancer-related deaths and between $20 billion and $270 billion worth of damage and cleanup costs, Loux said. Booth said the agency's next task will be to develop a transportation plan. If the railroad is selected for the bulk of the transportation, the agency will announce the preferred route through Nevada to Yucca Mountain, she said. A rail extension would have to be built, or the casks would have to be loaded onto trucks for the trip to the site, Booth said. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 10 Letter: Now, more than ever, fight waste dump at Yucca Las Vegas SUN July 18, 2002 It is quite disturbing to note the defeatist air that has been pervading around the valley after the Senate's endorsement of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal project. Instead of taking this setback as a rallying point to energize our efforts in stopping the trucks and trains from rolling, and helping our elected leaders in their efforts to block this disservice to Nevadans, we are harping on "compensatory trade-offs" because of the perception that it's already a foregone conclusion. Are we all planning to accept that in the near future, tons of nuclear waste will be buried a mere hundred miles from where we're sleeping, and we can't do anything about it? It's high time we get roused from our apathetic slumber. High-level nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain will be a detriment to the health and welfare of the citizens of Nevada and everyone else who resides along the mesh of transportation routes designed to funnel the world's most lethal poison down our comparatively sparse throats. Why Nevada? Once the death plumes begin, by accident or decay, we are the least expensive real estate to cross off the map! Ask former residents of Hanford, Wash., or Rocky Flats, Colo., or Oak Ridge, Tenn., how well our government scientists protected their environment. Fools forever? Are Nevadans only loyal to cash? Nevada was "Battle Born"; start fighting beside one another for the rights guaranteed Nevadans and our progeny by the United States Constitution. KEITH SPENCER All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Where Should We Put Nuclear Waste? (washingtonpost.com) Thursday, July 18, 2002; Page C14 What do you do with trash that can kill people or make them very sick -- trash that will stay lethal for 10,000 years? Bury it 1,000 feet underground at a place in Nevada called Yucca Mountain. That's what the government wants to do with radioactive waste piling up at America's nuclear power plants. Thanks but no thanks, say many Nevada residents. They and environmental groups believe the nuclear waste could leak into people's drinking water or spill out of a truck or train on its way to Nevada. Last week the U.S. Senate voted in favor of using Yucca Mountain. But the battle is not yet over, say opponents, who have vowed to keep fighting. Fern Shen takes a closer look at the controversy. What is high-level nuclear waste, and why is it a bigproblem? It's the used-up uranium fuel rods from nuclear power plants, and it is among the deadliest substances known to man. Nuclear power plants use the energy produced when atoms are split apart to heat water, which turns turbines that generate electricity. Each rod is a 14- to 18-foot metal tube filled with uranium pellets. While a rod powers the plants for about 18 months, it's dangerous for 10,000 years. It can eat through flesh and cause cancer and birth defects. Nuclear power plants have been storing old fuel rods in big, swimming-pool-like concrete tanks. This cannot continue, say the people who run the plants. For one thing, about 40,000 tons of waste have been created, and the plants are running out of space to store it. And as it piles up, there's a greater chance the "hot" waste could leak through the ground and into the water under the Earth's surface. What does the government want to do? Officials considered shooting the rods into space, or dropping them into deep ocean trenches. But they finally decided on deep underground burial. The Department of Energy and President Bush support a plan to put all the waste in one central spot -- Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It's a dry, barren-seeming place. But about 3,000 people live and farm in the area, some as close as 12 miles away. The plan is to encase the used-up fuel behind layers of metal and lead and ship it to Yucca Mountain -- most of it by train, some by truck. Would the waste stay put and not seep out over 10,000 years? Yes, say supporters. The government has spent about $8 billion so far studying the site, drilling into the mountain, figuring out ways to encase the waste. Groundwater there is very deep and the hard, granite-like rock would act as a natural barrier. No, say critics, who point out that there's also a lot of porous volcanic rock at the spot, through which water could travel. Another complaint is that there has not been enough testing to prove the containers won't leak over such a long time. And they worry that the area is prone to earthquakes. What happens if there's an accident on the way to Yucca Mountain? That would be serious. The shipments are highly radioactive, and they would pass by train or truck through 43 states. Yucca's fans point out that the nuclear industry has a good transportation record, that there have never been any major accidents moving nuclear material. Yucca's foes point to last summer's big fire in a Baltimore train tunnel, where temperatures reached as high as 1,500 degrees. If that train had been carrying nuclear waste, according to one study, the containers would have melted, spilling their dangerous cargo. If the waste isn't sent to Yucca, what could be done with it? Some Yucca opponents suggest storing the waste more safely at each plant and just leaving it for now. Others think the idea of a central, long-term burial chamber is good, but that a better site should be found. Of course, people have been talking about Yucca for the past 20 years, and even if the plan goes ahead, the Nevada location won't be able to accept any waste until 2010. The country's 131 nuclear plants generate 20 percent of the country's electricity. And at the rate new nuclear waste is being produced -- 2,000 tons each year -- Yucca Mountain would be full by 2034. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 12 Fijian leader says nuclear waste transports through Pacific must be opposed AP World Politics Thu Jul 18, 5:24 AM ET NADI, Fiji - Fiji called on a group including most of the world's poorest and smallest states to join it in opposing shipments of radioactive nuclear fuel traveling through the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Britain. "We will be asking you to join with us in expressing our outrage and opposition to those who are so willing to put the Pacific and our peoples at risk," Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said Thursday in a speech to a summit of the 78-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific group meeting in this Fijian resort town. His call came as the environmental group Greenpeace accused two ships carrying the fuel from Japan to Britain of breaching the 320 kilometer (200 mile) sea zones of four small Pacific states. The British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. ships, carrying 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of a rejected mixture of plutonium and uranium known as MOX, had disregarded the wishes of Pacific states to avoid their exclusive sea zones, said Greenpeace Pacific nuclear campaigner Ange Heffernan. The shipment has been heavily opposed by environmentalists who fear a leak of radioactive material, accident or terrorist attack. Qarase said the Pacific Ocean had defined the region's peoples, shaped their cultures, created their myths and traditions and fed them. "This relationship with the ocean will make it easy for you to understand why we are so adamantly opposed to any actions which expose it to threats of pollution, hazardous waste and the destructive effects of nuclear and missile tests," he said. The two ships are expected to pass through the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand this weekend, where an anti-nuclear flotilla of a dozen yachts is waiting for them. The armed cargo vessels set off from Japan on July 4 for the two-month journey to take the rejected radioactive material back to its maker in Britain. Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co. imported the fuel in 1999 for an experimental nuclear power program. But British Nuclear Fuels, the fuel's maker, later admitted it had falsified quality records and agreed to ship the fuel back to Britain. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. ***************************************************************** 13 NZ: Protest at plutonium shipment 19.07.2002 7.13 am A Greenpeace protest flotilla is expected to confront two British ships carrying plutonium in the Tasman Sea this weekend. The Pacific Teal and Pacific Pintail are likely to pass through a narrow gap between Lord Howe and Norfolk islands on their way from Japan to Britain in the next few days. Greenpeace spokeswoman Bunny McDiarmid said the flotilla of 11 small boats planned a symbolic protest against the ships, which were carrying 225kg of uranium and plutonium oxide fuel. The weapons-usable material was first shipped to Japan three years ago but when British Nuclear Fuels admitted faking safety records, it was ordered to take the cargo back. © 2002 New Zealand Herald ***************************************************************** 14 Waste shipment faces long wait Augusta Georgia: Technology: Web posted Thursday, July 18, 2002 By [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau AIKEN - Congress had its final say last week, but much more lies ahead before Savannah River Site can begin shipping its deadliest waste to the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. The Department of Energy estimates it will have the underground storage tunnels ready by 2010. In the eight years until then, DOE hopes legal challenges fail and its licensing process goes smoothly. "There are five lawsuits filed by the state of Nevada alone trying to slow down the process," said DOE spokesman Joe Davis. DOE officials have said it might be December 2004 before the department completes its application for permanent storage at Yucca Mountain. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could then take up to four years to consider approval of the project - with numerous public meetings required along the way. Opponents argue that the location, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is unsuitable, but DOE says the deserted location and vast storage capacity make it the most sound place to house the materials. Yucca Mountain is cleared to accept only 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste. Of that amount, 7,000 metric tons will come from DOE reactors, and the rest would be commercial waste. The department will lobby Congress in the upcoming years to approve more space, contending that Yucca Mountain can accommodate all of the nation's nuclear waste. Aiken's 130,051 cubic meters of high-level waste will come from its Defense Waste Processing Facility. The worst 10 percent of the waste from Cold War weapons production is mixed with glass in a process called vitrification. "Our waste tanks contain the periodic table, literally," said Dean Campbell, a spokesman forWestinghouse Savannah River Co. He said the waste mixtures to be transported will contain large amounts of cesium and strontium, along with traces of plutonium and uranium that cannot be recovered. Aiken is expected to be among the first sites to move its waste to Nevada, most likely transporting the waste by rail because of the size of the protective canisters involved. The Senate voted 60-39 on July 9 to build the waste dump at Yucca Mountain, although the proposal had been on the table for years. House approval came in May. Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 15 Nuclear waste dump receives 1,000th shipment as INEEL escalates shipments /The Associated Press / CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) ? The federal government?s underground nuclear waste dump has received its 1,000th shipment since opening more than three years ago. The milestone was reached with a shipment from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado last weekend, said Dan Balduini, spokesman for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. It was one of 26 shipments received last week, he said. Fifteen of those were from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, where the Energy Department has started picking up the pace in the face of Dec. 31 deadline for moving 15,000 drums of plutonium-contaminated waste out of eastern Idaho. With the exception of a few weeks, the New Mexico dump has been receiving 20 or more shipments a week since the beginning of the year, Balduini said. About 28,000 drums of waste have been delivered to the $2 billion facility since it opened in March 1999. More than 9,800 of them have come from INEEL under a court-enforced waste cleanup agreement the state cut with the federal government in 1995. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Half those shipments were made since the year began, and officials said they accelerating the schedule now that problems with equipment and driver availability seem to have been resolved. Dec. 31 is the first major waste removal deadline that the Energy Department has had to meet under the 1995 agreement. INEEL officials have targeted Nov. 15 for the 3,100th shipment. Balduini emphasized that shipments to the New Mexico facility have covered 2 million miles of road so far without incident. Under the Idaho agreement, all plutonium-contaminated waste must be removed by 2019. The state and federal governments are at odds over whether that includes 30,000 cubic meters of buried waste, and the state has asked a federal judge to rule that it does. A decision is pending. The Bush administration has also proposed expediting cleanup ? if Congress provides the money ? so that all plutonium-contaminated material is removed by 2013, six years early. Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Thursday, July 18, 2002 Copyright © 2000-2001 Montana Standard ***************************************************************** 16 NRC asked to halt fuel-rod transfer Activists say the storage of spent nuclear fuel at Maine Yankee fails to take in account possible terrorist threats. --> [http://www.mainetoday.com] Thursday, July 18, 2002 By , Associated Press WISCASSET — An activist group is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to halt the planned transfer of Maine Yankee's spent fuel rods, saying that the agency did not consider the possibility of terrorist attacks when it approved the move. Friends of the Coast Opposing Nuclear Pollution claims regulators are violating safety standards in the Atomic Energy Act by permitting spent nuclear fuel to be stored in airtight canisters in a facility on the site. Margaret Mlynczak Stern, the attorney representing Friends of the Coast, wrote that the movement of spent fuel to the dry casks will result "in an immediate hazard to the health and safety of the public" because the NRC did not evaluate the possibility of terrorism. Maine Yankee spokeswoman Catherine Ferdinand said plant owners are working closely with the NRC, which has issued interim regulations for casks and is evaluating security at plants like Maine Yankee. Maine Yankee, which is in the process of being decommissioned, expects to begin moving the fuel rods later this summer, she said. The rods are now kept in a pool in the reactor's containment building. The stainless steel and concrete canisters will be stored on a concrete pad outdoors on the property. They were designed to be transported on trains to a yet-to-be-built federal repository for high-level radioactive waste. The Friends of the Coast's letter to the NRC suggests two possible alternatives to the current storage plan. One is to store the casks inside the empty reactor dome, which is made of 4-foot reinforced concrete and can be sealed to contain any radioactivity. The other is to store the casks at a military installation. "Parking 900 tons of nuclear waste in an open field and predicting terrorists can't blow it up just doesn't cut it," said Ray Shadis, spokesman for Friends of the Coast. Copyright [http://www.mainetoday.com/copyright.shtml] © Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Yucca: Still fighting (Nevada Attorney General) Thursday, July 18, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal To the editor: In the aftermath of the U.S. Senate vote overriding Nevada's veto of the Yucca Mountain project, I am writing to assure state residents that our ability to defeat the proposed repository is strong. Now that Nevada's political remedy has been overridden, the state is better able to advance its substantial legal arguments in the courts. As Nevada's chief legal officer, I believe that there is every reason for optimism that Nevada will ultimately prevail and prevent development of this ill-conceived project. However, the public's continued support for the litigation is vital to our efforts. At present, Nevada is involved in seven lawsuits involving Yucca Mountain. Through the efforts of our excellent legal team, five of the lawsuits were initiated by the state to challenge, among other things, the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site itself to contain and to isolate spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste from the human and natural environment. Not only are there nearly 300 open-ended technical issues relative to the site identified by neutral third parties, but the most basic legal criteria for building the project are missing. Two additional lawsuits involve federal challenges to the Nevada state engineer's denial of water for the construction and operation of the proposed repository. Each of the state's cases is strong on the merits and portends favorable results for Nevada's cause. Our expert legal team is currently contemplating filing additional lawsuits and an administrative petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In addition, the hurdles the Department of Energy faces in a licensing proceeding are formidable, particularly in view of the technical concerns expressed by the NRC itself. Undoubtedly, Nevada is the David against the nuclear industry's Goliath. Although the nuclear industry's political muscle proved unbeatable in Congress, Nevada's presentation of the science, the facts, and the state's resolve will be potent weapons in the courtroom and before administrative tribunals. We are convinced that the fight is winnable with your support. FRANKIE SUE DEL PAPA CARSON CITY The writer is Nevada's attorney general. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 18 FCNL: Legislative Action Message 07/18/02 Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 15:33:32 -0500 (CDT) FCNL LEGISLATIVE ACTION MESSAGE - July 18, 2002 The following action items from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) focus on federal policy issues currently before Congress or the Administration. TOPIC: OPPOSE FUNDING FOR NEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS (House) Efforts are continuing to eliminate funding for a study that could lead to the production of a new nuclear weapon, the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP). Pres. Bush, in his Fiscal Year 03 budget request asked for $15.5 million for such a study. Funding for the study was included in both the Defense Authorization bill and the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. Eliminating the funding in either bill could derail the project. The House passed the Defense Authorization bill in May with the RNEP funding intact. An amendment to eliminate RNEP funding, offered by Rep. Markey (MA), was defeated by a 172-234 vote. The House will take up the Energy and Water Appropriations bill next week (week of July 22). Rep. Markey is expected to again offer an amendment to delete RNEP funding. There is reason to believe that more representatives could be persuaded to oppose RNEP funding at this time. To find out how your representative voted on the earlier Defense Authorization RNEP funding amendment, follow this link: http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2002&rollnumber=141. ACTION: Contact your representative by phone, email or fax. Ask her or him to vote for Rep. Markey's amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill to eliminate funding for the new nuclear weapon. USE FCNL'S WEB SITE TO MAKE LETTER-WRITING EASIER: Start with the sample letter posted in our Legislative Action Center, personalize the language, then send your message as an email or a free fax directly from our site. You can also print it out and mail it. To view a sample letter to your representative, click on the link below, then enter your zip code and click in the box. Here is the link: http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=323531&type=CO BACKGROUND: The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) would be designed to destroy hardened and deeply buried targets such as bunkers containing chemical and biological weapons. Because of its lower yield and earth penetrating capability, the RNEP is considered to be a more "usable" nuclear weapon than large yield, "strategic" nuclear weapons. However, reports by scientists indicate that the RNEP is far from being a "clean" weapon. If detonated in an urban setting, 10,000 to 50,000 people would receive a fatal dose of radiation within the first 24 hours. This does not take into account injuries from the extreme pressures of the blast or the heat of the explosion. Nor does the casualty estimate consider the consequences of fires and the collapse of buildings from the seismic shock that the explosion would produce. (More information about the RNEP is posted on the Federation of American Scientists web site at http://www.fas.org/faspir/2001/v54n1/weapons.htm.) Development of this new nuclear warhead may require the resumption of U.S. nuclear weapons testing, ending the international moratorium which the U.S. has been observing for ten years. The development of a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator would have disastrous consequences for the international arms control regime. A nuclear weapon designed for battlefield use would increase the perception that nuclear weapons were as usable as any other part of the U.S. conventional weapons arsenal and that the U.S. was preparing to use them. If the U.S. proceeds with these weapons, other nations with far less conventional weapons capability will seek to deter a U.S. attack by developing their own weapons of mass destruction, most likely chemical or biological weapons. Finally, proceeding with the production of the RNEP would significantly undermine the global non-proliferation regime because the obvious targets for these weapons are non-nuclear weapon states. The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) prohibits the use of nuclear weapons against such states. The U.S. and other nuclear weapon states pledged in 1995, not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states (with certain exceptions), as an inducement for those non-nuclear weapon states to agree to extend, indefinitely, the NPT. Therefore, the development or testing of these weapons would be a de facto repudiation of these assurances. CONTACTING LEGISLATORS Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 Sen. ________ U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Rep. ________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Information on your members is available on FCNL's web site: http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/directory/directory.dbq?command=congdi r CONTACTING THE ADMINISTRATION White House Comment Desk: 202-456-1111 FAX: 202-456-2461 E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov WEB PAGE: http://www.whitehouse.gov President George W. Bush The White House Washington, DC 20500 ----------------------------------------------------------------- This message supplements other FCNL materials and does not reflect FCNL's complete policy position on any issue. For further information, please contact FCNL. Mail: 245 Second Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795 Email: fcnl@fcnl.org Phone: (202) 547-6000 Toll Free: (800) 630-1330 Fax: (202) 547-6019 Web: http://www.fcnl.org Your contributions sustain our Quaker witness in Washington. We welcome your gifts to FCNL, or, if you need a tax deduction, to the FCNL Education Fund. You can use your credit card to donate money securely to FCNL through a special page on FCNL's web site http://www.fcnl.org/suprt/indx.htm FCNL also accepts credit card donations over the phone. For more information about donating, please contact the Development Team directly at development@fcnl.org. Thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------- This message may be found regularly on FCNL's web site http://www.fcnl.org where a printer-friendly version is available and on PeaceNet in the fcnl.updates conference. This message is distributed regularly via the fcnl-news mailing list. To subscribe to this list, please visit FCNL's web site at http://www.fcnl.org/listserv/quaker_issues.php. Alternatively, you can send an e-mail message to majordomo@his.com. Leave the subject line blank. The message should read "subscribe fcnl-news." Please Note: Make sure that you are sending this message from the e-mail address to which you would like fcnl-news materials to be sent. If you currently receive this message via the fcnl-news mailing list and are no longer interested in receiving messages from this list, send an e-mail message to majordomo@his.com. The message should read "unsubscribe fcnl-news." ----------------------------------------------------------------- We seek a world free of war and the threat of war We seek a society with equity and justice for all We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled We seek an earth restored... ***************************************************************** 19 [generalnews] A-bomb exhibit called too gruesome for display at Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 23:18:40 -0500 (CDT) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Save on REALTOR Fees http://us.click.yahoo.com/Xw80LD/h1ZEAA/Ey.GAA/7gSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> A-bomb exhibit called too gruesome for display at U.N. The Asahi Shimbun Some photos are too graphic for children, but the Japanese group refused to compromise.The United Nations has canceled a scheduled exhibition about the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at its headquarters in New York this fall, saying some photographs offered for display are ``too gruesome.''Officials of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), which organized the exhibits, received word from U.N. headquarters Saturday that the exhibition would not go ahead because some people might find it distressing.The exhibition was to have been held at the conference hall lobby of U.N. headquarters from Sept. 18 through Oct. 27. The display items included 80 photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki immediately after the bombings as well as scenes of hibakusha. Among another dozen or so objects for display was a clock that stopped at 8:15 a.m., the precise moment ``Little Boy'' detonated over Hiroshima.Hidankyo officials said U.N. officials in charge of the exhibition contacted them last Thursday to say the exhibition was being canceled and an explanation would be relayed later. Officials in New York said there was a possibility the exhibition could be held at a future date.A Hidankyo delegation visited U.N. headquarters in May to discuss its proposals for the exhibition. U.N. officials cautioned that gruesome photos should be avoided, since children would view the exhibits.Hidankyo officials considered replacing some of the more horrific shots, but decided to stick to the original exhibit plan on grounds the significance of the presentation would suffer without an ``in your face'' approach.This is not the first time an exhibition of this type has been canceled. In January 1995, an exhibition planned for the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum was dropped after protests from U.S. veterans' groups.Lisa Yoneyama, an associate professor of cultural studies in the Literature Department at the University of California, San Diego, called the decision a frightening form of censorship.``There might have been restraint behind the use of the words `too gruesome' for the feelings of New York citizens who were victims of the terrorist attacks last Sept. 11,'' she said. ``Any nation will try to conceal aggressive actions on its part, and historical displays of Japanese aggression against Asia have also often caused controversy. This is a frightening form of censorship, especially at a time when the U.S. government has indicated it was preparing a policy of first-strike use of nuclear weapons.''Yoneyama was also critical of the Smithsonian's decision to cancel an exhibition featuring the Enola Gay, the aircraft used to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.(07/16) ________________________________________________ Grassroots International News Association (GINA) 4909 El Molino Ave Riverside CA 92504 media@ccsi.com http://www.geocities.com/rootmedia Join our news lists for daily news articles: To subscribe: Send a message to media@ccsi.com with your name, and e-mail address and the name of the list(s) you would like to be added to. General News News for general broadcast and distribution. Environmental News News about environmental issues and causes. Immigrant News News articles about immigration and migration. Labor News News about Union struggles and labor issues. Latino News News about Latino issues and stuggles. Queer News Articles about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Trans issues. Anti-Racism News Articles about racism and struggles against oppression. World Black News World news about African peoples and issues. Women's News Articles about Women's liberation. *Caution: News lists may have heavy traffic. Grassroots International News Association http://www.geocities.com/rootmedia o unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: generalnews-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 20 Pak to maintain nuclear deterrence: Musharraf FRONT PAGE Updated on 2002-07-18 12:01:26/ *ISLAMABAD, July 18 (PNS): Reiterating that Pakistan was a responsible country and its nuclear programme was for the sake of its defence and national security, President General Pervez Musharraf has announced that "we will maintain nuclear deterrence to ensure protection for the security and integrity of the country". * He was addressing the senior military officers here Wednesday on the second day of ongoing war games at National Defence College. He held that the training process would continue to harmonise the army with the modern needs and keep it ready to face the challenges. The armed forces of the country have always set the grand traditions for the country and nation and the excellent standard of professional training in all the three services to frustrate the evil designs of the enemy, he held. Responding to a question he said that armed forces are not only equipped with the sophisticated skills for the defence of the country but also for launching offensive strikes. He noted that Pakistan's army ranked among the best forces in the world and it would maintain this standard. He urged the Corps Commanders and war planners to keep a vigil look on all activities of the enemy, evaluate its lapses and then devise their strategy so that they could demonstrate high proficiency in every branch of war and defence. Regarding the amassing of Indian army on the borders he said that by deploying forces, India had provided us opportunity to impart training on modern lines to our forces in a more effective way. 'We will capitalise on this opportunity', he stressed. He said that it was encouraging to note that Pakistan Navy and Air Force were also participating in the war games in a forceful manner hand in hand with the army. 'Our armed forces have capability to inflict humiliating defeat on the enemy not only on land but also in water territories and air spaces', he asserted. President will attend the games for six days. ***************************************************************** 21 U.S. eyes nondestructive warheads -- The Washington Times July 18, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS The Pentagon is exploring new ways of attacking underground sites containing chemical or biological weapons, including the use of a deep-penetrating warhead that would encapsulate its target in a hard or sticky foam rather than detonate it, an official said yesterday. Stephen Younger, director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, told reporters the goal is to find a way of denying an enemy such as Iraq the use of their chemical or biological weapons without detonating them and perhaps allowing some of the harmful agent to escape into the atmosphere. An attack by conventional means, with a high-explosive warhead, would be especially problematic in cases where the chemical or biological agents are stored in a highly populated area or in the vicinity of U.S. ground troops. An explosive warhead may not destroy the agent . "It's not as simple as blowing it up," Mr. Younger said. "What you really want to do is deny the use of that material to an adversary." Another idea, besides the use of a hard or sticky foam, is a weapon that would disperse flammable material inside the site, creating a fire hot enough to destroy the agents, Mr. Younger said. "It's still in the concept stage," with a focus on what kind of neutralizing material would work best, he said. "The thing that has changed over the past few years is a recognition that the component technologies are there — the basic research has been done," he said. "What's required now is the development." In some cases, "it might not be years" before this capability is available, he said. This work is part of a broader effort by Mr. Younger's agency and other elements within the Defense Department to give the military more options for dealing with weapons of mass destruction. It's a problem the Pentagon faces in the case of Iraq. The Bush administration believes that country has or is developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Mr. Younger said his agency also is developing devices that could detect the presence of chemical and biological agents at longer distances, so that U.S. or allied troops could know in advance whether an area they intend to attack is contaminated. He said the Pentagon also is considering putting a conventional warhead on intercontinental-range ballistic missiles. This would represent a major departure from the practice of arming globe-girdling missiles only with nuclear warheads. One of the problems with putting a non-nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is that its launch would raise fears — especially in Moscow — that the United States was starting a nuclear war. Mr. Younger acknowledged political problems with the idea, which he said was still on the drawing board. One use for the weapon, he said, might be if U.S. intelligence determined that a Scud missile armed with a biological warhead was about to be launched and no U.S. aircraft were close enough to attack before the missile was fired. ***************************************************************** 22 W: The National Strategy for Homeland Security Executive Summary Office of the Press Secretary July 16, 2002 President's Remarks This document is the first National Strategy for Homeland Security. The purpose of the Strategy is to mobilize and organize our Nation to secure the U.S. homeland from terrorist attacks. This is an exceedingly complex mission that requires coordinated and focused effort from our entire society -- the federal government, state and local governments, the private sector, and the American people. People and organizations all across the United States have taken many steps to improve our security since the September 11 attacks, but a great deal of work remains. The National Strategy for Homeland Security will help to prepare our Nation for the work ahead in several ways. It provides direction to the federal government departments and agencies that have a role in homeland security. It suggests steps that state and local governments, private companies and organizations, and individual Americans can take to improve our security and offers incentives for them to do so. It recommends certain actions to the Congress. In this way, the Strategy provides a framework for the contributions that we all can make to secure our homeland. The National Strategy for Homeland Security is the beginning of what will be a long struggle to protect our Nation from terrorism. It establishes a foundation upon which to organize our efforts and provides initial guidance to prioritize the work ahead. The Strategy will be adjusted and amended over time. We must be prepared to adapt as our enemies in the war on terrorism alter their means of attack. Strategic Objectives The strategic objectives of homeland security in order of priority are to: · Prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; · Reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism; and · Minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur. Threat and Vulnerability Unless we act to prevent it, a new wave of terrorism, potentially involving the world’s most destructive weapons, looms in America’s future. It is a challenge as formidable as any ever faced by our Nation. But we are not daunted. We possess the determination and the resources to defeat our enemies and secure our homeland against the threats they pose. One fact dominates all homeland security threat assessments: terrorists are strategic actors. They choose their targets deliberately based on the weaknesses they observe in our defenses and our preparedness. We must defend ourselves against a wide range of means and methods of attack. Our enemies are working to obtain chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons for the purpose of wreaking unprecedented damage on America. Terrorists continue to employ conventional means of attack, while at the same time gaining expertise in less traditional means, such as cyber attacks. Our society presents an almost infinite array of potential targets that can be attacked through a variety of methods. Our enemies seek to remain invisible, lurking in the shadows. We are actively engaged in uncovering them. Al-Qaeda remains America’s most immediate and serious threat despite our success in disrupting its network in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Other international terrorist organizations, as well as domestic terrorist groups, possess the will and capability to attack the United States. Organizing for a Secure Homeland In response to the homeland security challenge facing us, the President has proposed, and the Congress is presently considering, the most extensive reorganization of the federal government in the past fifty years. The establishment of a new Department of Homeland Security would ensure greater accountability over critical homeland security missions and unity of purpose among the agencies responsible for them.2 American democracy is rooted in the precepts of federalism -- a system of government in which our state governments share power with federal institutions. Our structure of overlapping federal, state, and local governance -- our country has more than 87,000 different jurisdictions -- provides unique opportunity and challenges for our homeland security efforts. The opportunity comes from the expertise and commitment of local agencies and organizations involved in homeland security. The challenge is to develop interconnected and complementary systems that are reinforcing rather than duplicative and that ensure essential requirements are met. A national strategy requires a national effort. State and local governments have critical roles to play in homeland security. Indeed, the closest relationship the average citizen has with government is at the local level. State and local levels of government have primary responsibility for funding, preparing, and operating the emergency services that would respond in the event of a terrorist attack. Local units are the first to respond, and the last to leave the scene. All disasters are ultimately local events. The private sector -- the Nation’s principal provider of goods and services and owner of 85 percent of our infrastructure -- is a key homeland security partner. It has a wealth of information that is important to the task of protecting the United States from terrorism. Its creative genius will develop the information systems, vaccines, detection devices, and other technologies and innovations that will secure our homeland. An informed and proactive citizenry is an invaluable asset for our country in times of war and peace. Volunteers enhance community coordination and action, whether at the national or local level. This coordination will prove critical as we work to build the communication and delivery systems indispensable to our national effort to detect, prevent, and, if need be, respond to terrorist attack. Critical Mission Areas The National Strategy for Homeland Security aligns and focuses homeland security functions into six critical mission areas: intelligence and warning, border and transportation security, domestic counterterrorism, protecting critical infrastructure, defending against catastrophic terrorism, and emergency preparedness and response. The first three mission areas focus primarily on preventing terrorist attacks; the next two on reducing our Nation’s vulnerabilities; and the final one on minimizing the damage and recovering from attacks that do occur. The Strategy provides a framework to align the resources of the federal budget directly to the task of securing the homeland. Intelligence and Warning. Terrorism depends on surprise. With it, a terrorist attack has the potential to do massive damage to an unwitting and unprepared target. Without it, the terrorists stand a good chance of being preempted by authorities, and even if they are not, the damage that results from their attacks is likely to be less severe. The United States will take every necessary action to avoid being surprised by another terrorist attack. We must have an intelligence and warning system that can detect terrorist activity before it manifests itself in an attack so that proper preemptive, preventive, and protective action can be taken. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies five major initiatives in this area: · Enhance the analytic capabilities of the FBI; · Build new capabilities through the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Division of the proposed Department of Homeland Security; · Implement the Homeland Security Advisory System; · Utilize dual-use analysis to prevent attacks; and · Employ "red team" techniques. Border and Transportation Security. America historically has relied heavily on two vast oceans and two friendly neighbors for border security, and on the private sector for most forms of domestic transportation security. The increasing mobility and destructive potential of modern terrorism has required the United States to rethink and renovate fundamentally its systems for border and transportation security. Indeed, we must now begin to conceive of border security and transportation security as fully integrated requirements because our domestic transportation systems are inextricably intertwined with the global transport infrastructure. Virtually every community in America is connected to the global transportation network by the seaports, airports, highways, pipelines, railroads, and waterways that move people and goods into, within, and out of the Nation. We must therefore promote the efficient and reliable flow of people, goods, and services across borders, while preventing terrorists from using transportation conveyances or systems to deliver implements of destruction. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies six major initiatives in this area: · Ensure accountability in border and transportation security; · Create "smart borders"; · Increase the security of international shipping containers; · Implement the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001; · Recapitalize the U.S. Coast Guard; and · Reform immigration services. The President proposed to Congress that the principal border and transportation security agencies -- the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Transportation Security Agency-- be transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security. This organizational reform will greatly assist in the implementation of all the above initiatives. Domestic Counterterrorism. The attacks of September 11 and the catastrophic loss of life and property that resulted have redefined the mission of federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities. While law enforcement agencies will continue to investigate and prosecute criminal activity, they should now assign priority to preventing and interdicting terrorist activity within the United States. The Nation’s state and local law enforcement officers will be critical in this effort. Our Nation will use all legal means -- both traditional and nontraditional -- to identify, halt, and, where appropriate, prosecute terrorists in the United States. We will pursue not only the individuals directly involved in terrorist activity but also their sources of support: the people and organizations that knowingly fund the terrorists and those that provide them with logistical assistance. Effectively reorienting law enforcement organizations to focus on counterterrorism objectives requires decisive action in a number of areas. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies six major initiatives in this area: · Improve intergovernmental law enforcement · coordination; · Facilitate apprehension of potential terrorists; · Continue ongoing investigations and prosecutions; · Complete FBI restructuring to emphasize prevention of terrorist attacks; · Target and attack terrorist financing; and · Track foreign terrorists and bring them to justice. Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets. Our society and modern way of life are dependent on networks of infrastructure -- both physical networks such as our energy and transportation systems and virtual networks such as the Internet. If terrorists attack one or more pieces of our critical infrastructure, they may disrupt entire systems and cause significant damage to the Nation. We must therefore improve protection of the individual pieces and interconnecting systems that make up our critical infrastructure. Protecting America’s critical infrastructure and key assets will not only make us more secure from terrorist attack, but will also reduce our vulnerability to natural disasters, organized crime, and computer hackers. America’s critical infrastructure encompasses a large number of sectors. The U.S. government will seek to deny terrorists the opportunity to inflict lasting harm to our Nation by protecting the assets, systems, and functions vital to our national security, governance, public health and safety, economy, and national morale. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies eight major initiatives in this area: · Unify America’s infrastructure protection effort in the Department of Homeland Security; · Build and maintain a complete and accurate assessment of America’s critical infrastructure and key assets; · Enable effective partnership with state and local governments and the private sector; · Develop a national infrastructure protection plan; · Secure cyberspace; · Harness the best analytic and modeling tools to develop effective protective solutions; · Guard America’s critical infrastructure and key assets against "inside" threats; and · Partner with the international community to protect our transnational infrastructure. Defending against Catastrophic Threats. The expertise, technology, and material needed to build the most deadly weapons known to mankind -- including chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons -- are spreading inexorably. If our enemies acquire these weapons, they are likely to try to use them. The consequences of such an attack could be far more devastating than those we suffered on September 11 -- a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear terrorist attack in the United States could cause large numbers of casualties, mass psychological disruption, contamination and significant economic damage, and could overwhelm local medical capabilities. Currently, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear detection capabilities are modest and response capabilities are dispersed throughout the country at every level of government. While current arrangements have proven adequate for a variety of natural disasters and even the September 11 attacks, the threat of terrorist attacks using chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons requires new approaches, a focused strategy, and a new organization. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies six major initiatives in this area: · Prevent terrorist use of nuclear weapons through better sensors and procedures; · Detect chemical and biological materials and attacks; · Improve chemical sensors and decontamination techniques; · Develop broad spectrum vaccines, antimicrobials, and antidotes; · Harness the scientific knowledge and tools to counter terrorism; and · Implement the Select Agent Program. Emergency Preparedness and Response. We must prepare to minimize the damage and recover from any future terrorist attacks that may occur despite our best efforts at prevention. An effective response to a major terrorist incident -- as well as a natural disaster -- depends on being prepared. Therefore, we need a comprehensive national system to bring together and coordinate all necessary response assets quickly and effectively. We must plan, equip, train, and exercise many different response units to mobilize without warning for any emergency. Many pieces of this national emergency response system are already in place. America’s first line of defense in the aftermath of any terrorist attack is its first responder community -- police officers, firefighters, emergency medical providers, public works personnel, and emergency management officials. Nearly three million state and local first responders regularly put their lives on the line to save the lives of others and make our country safer. Yet multiple plans currently govern the federal government’s support of first responders during an incident of national significance. These plans and the government’s overarching policy for counterterrorism are based on an artificial and unnecessary distinction between "crisis management" and "consequence management." Under the President’s proposal, the Department of Homeland Security will consolidate federal response plans and build a national system for incident management in cooperation with state and local government. Our federal, state, and local governments would ensure that all response personnel and organizations are properly equipped, trained, and exercised to respond to all terrorist threats and attacks in the United States. Our emergency preparedness and response efforts would also engage the private sector and the American people. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies twelve major initiatives in this area: · Integrate separate federal response plans into a single all-discipline incident management plan; · Create a national incident management system; · Improve tactical counterterrorist capabilities; · Enable seamless communication among all responders; · Prepare health care providers for catastrophic terrorism; · Augment America’s pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpiles; · Prepare for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear decontamination; · Plan for military support to civil authorities; · Build the Citizen Corps; · Implement the First Responder Initiative of the Fiscal Year 2003 Budget; · Build a national training and evaluation system; and · Enhance the victim support system. The Foundations of Homeland Security The National Strategy for Homeland Security also describes four foundations -- unique American strengths that cut across all of the mission areas, across all levels of government, and across all sectors of our society. These foundations -- law, science and technology, information sharing and systems, and international cooperation -- provide a useful framework for evaluating our homeland security investments across the federal government. Law. Throughout our Nation’s history, we have used laws to promote and safeguard our security and our liberty. The law will both provide mechanisms for the government to act and will define the appropriate limits of action. The National Strategy for Homeland Security outlines legislative actions that would help enable our country to fight the war on terrorism more effectively. New federal laws should not preempt state law unnecessarily or overly federalize the war on terrorism. We should guard scrupulously against incursions on our freedoms. The Strategy identifies twelve major initiatives in this area: Federal level · Enable critical infrastructure information sharing; · Streamline information sharing among intelligence and law enforcement agencies; · Expand existing extradition authorities; · Review authority for military assistance in domestic security; · Revive the President’s reorganization authority; and · Provide substantial management flexibility for the Department of Homeland Security. State level · Coordinate suggested minimum standards for state driver’s licenses; · Enhance market capacity for terrorism insurance; · Train for prevention of cyber attacks; · Suppress money laundering; · Ensure continuity of the judiciary; and · Review quarantine authorities. Science and Technology. The Nation’s advantage in science and technology is a key to securing the homeland. New technologies for analysis, information sharing, detection of attacks, and countering chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons will help prevent and minimize the damage from future terrorist attacks. Just as science has helped us defeat past enemies overseas, so too will it help us defeat the efforts of terrorists to attack our homeland and disrupt our way of life. The federal government is launching a systematic national effort to harness science and technology in support of homeland security. We will build a national research and development enterprise for homeland security sufficient to mitigate the risk posed by modern terrorism. The federal government will consolidate most federally funded homeland security research and development under the Department of Homeland Security to ensure strategic direction and avoid duplicative efforts. We will create and implement a long-term research and development plan that includes investment in revolutionary capabilities with high payoff potential. The federal government will also seek to harness the energy and ingenuity of the private sector to develop and produce the devices and systems needed for homeland security. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies eleven major initiatives in this area: · Develop chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasures; · Develop systems for detecting hostile intent; · Apply biometric technology to identification devices; · Improve the technical capabilities of first responders; · Coordinate research and development of the homeland security apparatus; · Establish a national laboratory for homeland security; · Solicit independent and private analysis for science and technology research; · Establish a mechanism for rapidly producing prototypes; · Conduct demonstrations and pilot deployments; · Set standards for homeland security technology; and · Establish a system for high-risk, high-payoff homeland security research. Information Sharing and Systems. Information systems contribute to every aspect of homeland security. Although American information technology is the most advanced in the world, our country’s information systems have not adequately supported the homeland security mission. Databases used for federal law enforcement, immigration, intelligence, public health surveillance, and emergency management have not been connected in ways that allow us to comprehend where information gaps or redundancies exist. In addition, there are deficiencies in the communications systems used by states and municipalities throughout the country; most state and local first responders do not use compatible communications equipment. To secure the homeland better, we must link the vast amounts of knowledge residing within each government agency while ensuring adequate privacy. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies five major initiatives in this area: · Integrate information sharing across the federal government; · Integrate information sharing across state and local governments, private industry, and citizens; · Adopt common "meta-data" standards for electronic information relevant to homeland security; · Improve public safety emergency communications; and · Ensure reliable public health information. International Cooperation. In a world where the terrorist threat pays no respect to traditional boundaries, our strategy for homeland security cannot stop at our borders. America must pursue a sustained, steadfast, and systematic international agenda to counter the global terrorist threat and improve our homeland security. Our international anti-terrorism campaign has made significant progress since September 11. The full scope of these activities will be further described in the forthcoming National Security Strategy of the United States and the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. The National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies nine major initiatives in this area: · Create "smart borders"; · Combat fraudulent travel documents; · Increase the security of international shipping containers; · Intensify international law enforcement cooperation; · Help foreign nations fight terrorism; · Expand protection of transnational critical infrastructure; · Amplify international cooperation on homeland security science and technology; · Improve cooperation in response to attacks; and · Review obligations to international treaties and law. Costs of Homeland Security The national effort to enhance homeland security will yield tremendous benefits and entail substantial financial and other costs. Benefits include reductions in the risk of attack and their potential consequences. Costs include not only the resources we commit to homeland security but also the delays to commerce and travel. The United States spends roughly $100 billion per year on homeland security. This figure includes federal, state, and local law enforcement and emergency services, but excludes most funding for the armed forces. The responsibility of providing homeland security is shared between federal, state and local governments, and the private sector. In many cases, sufficient incentives exist in the private market to supply protection. Government should fund only those homeland security activities that are not supplied, or are inadequately supplied, in the market. Cost sharing between different levels of government should reflect the principles of federalism. Many homeland security activities, such as intelligence gathering and border security, are properly accomplished at the federal level. In other circumstances, such as with first responder capabilities, it is more appropriate for state and local governments to handle these responsibilities. Conclusion: Priorities for the Future The National Strategy for Homeland Security sets a broad and complex agenda for the United States. The Strategy has defined many different goals that need to be met, programs that need to be implemented, and responsibilities that need to be fulfilled. But creating a strategy is, in many respects, about setting priorities -- about recognizing that some actions are more critical or more urgent than others. The President’s Fiscal Year 2003 Budget proposal, released in February 2002, identified four priority areas for additional resources and attention in the upcoming year: · Support first responders; · Defend against bioterrorism; · Secure America’s borders; and · Use 21st-century technology to secure the homeland. Work has already begun on the President’s Fiscal Year 2004 Budget. Assuming the Congress passes legislation to implement the President’s proposal to create the Department of Homeland Security, the Fiscal Year 2004 Budget will fully reflect the reformed organization of the executive branch for homeland security. That budget will have an integrated and simplified structure based on the six critical mission areas defined by the Strategy. Furthermore, at the time the National Strategy for Homeland Security was published, it was expected that the Fiscal Year 2004 Budget would attach priority to the following specific items for substantial support: · Enhance the analytic capabilities of the FBI; · Build new capabilities through the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Division of the proposed Department of Homeland Security; · Create "smart borders" · Improve the security of international shipping containers; · Recapitalize the U.S. Coast Guard; · Prevent terrorist use of nuclear weapons through better sensors and procedures; · Develop broad spectrum vaccines, antimicrobials, and antidotes; and · Integrate information sharing across the federal government. In the intervening months, the executive branch will prepare detailed implementation plans for these and many other initiatives contained within the National Strategy for Homeland Security. These plans will ensure that the taxpayers’ money is spent only in a manner that achieves specific objectives with clear performance-based measures of effectiveness. __________ 1The National Strategy for Homeland Security defines "State" to mean "any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the trust territory of the Pacific Islands." The Strategy defines "local government" as "any county, city, village, town, district, or other political subdivision of any state, any Native American tribe or authorized tribal organization, or Alaska native village or organization, and includes any rural community or unincorporated town or village or any other public entity for which an application for assistance is made by a state or political subdivision thereof." 2The distribution of the National Strategy for Homeland Security coincides with Congress’ consideration of the President’s proposal to establish a Department of Homeland Security. The Strategy refers to a "Department of Homeland Security" only to provide the strategic vision for the proposed Department and not to assume any one part of the President’s proposal will or will not be signed into law. ***************************************************************** 23 US ponders weapons strategy BBC News | AMERICAS | Thursday, 18 July, 2002 09:03 GMT 10:03 UK US ponders weapons strategy [US Navy Nautilus Submarine ] ICBMs can be fired from US submarines The United States military is considering the idea of using intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) armed with conventional warheads in future conflicts. An official said the advantage of the missile, launched from a submarine anywhere in the world, was its speed. He did not mention Iraq, but the BBC Washington correspondent says the work is part of an attempt to find ways of combating weapons of mass destruction. President George W Bush has said that Iraq is part of an "axis of terror", which is stockpiling such weapons. Rapid deployment The Pentagon has a large number of ICBMs, developed during the Cold War. Now they are no longer targeted at Russia and are no longer tipped with nuclear weapons. Stephen Younger, head of the Pentagon's Defence Threat Reduction Agency, stressed the advantage of rapid deployment offered by ICBMs. "For example, if you were to see from a satellite that an adversary was preparing to launch a Scud missile and you had reason to believe there was a biological warhead on it, then you would want to have the ability to destroy that target very quickly before that Scud was launched," he said. However, Mr Younger confirmed that there were problems to be overcome, including the danger that an ICBM launch might be mistaken by Russia as a nuclear attack. There is also the issue of whether other nations could object to the missiles overflying their territory. The Pentagon is also developing sensors that could detect chemical and biological agents over long distances, thus giving troops better advanced warning of the presence of such weapons. Foam theory Another plan under consideration is the use of a thick foam to envelop suspected chemical or biological weapons. It would be safer than using conventional weapons, which run the risk of triggering a leak of poison gas or biological agents. "It's not as simple as blowing it up," said Mr Younger. The basic research had been done, he added, and the technology was available, although the idea was still at the "concept stage". There are two kinds of foam under consideration - a hard foam that would block access to facilities, or a sticky foam that would temporarily disable objects and give US troops time to attack. The foam could be dropped using a bomb with an earth-penetrating warhead, or sprayed by land forces. Another refinement could be the use of toxic agents in the foam, or chemicals that would destroy the agent being attacked. ***************************************************************** 24 Pentagon Developing Ways to Neutralize Buried Weapons The Salt Lake Tribune -- Thursday, July 18, 2002 BY ROBERT BURNS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- As the Pentagon looks for ways to neutralize chemical or biological weapons underground, it is considering development of a warhead that would surround them with a hard or sticky foam rather than blow them up. Another possibility is a nonexploding warhead that spreads flammable materials to incinerate biological agents. Both approaches are still on the drawing board. They would be alternatives to conventional high-explosive warheads, which might allow contaminants to escape, threatening civilians or U.S. troops. "It's not as simple as blowing it up," said Stephen Younger, director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a Pentagon office charged with assessing and countering weapons of mass destruction. David Wright, a weapons expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he had not heard of the concept of attacking chemical or biological agents with foams or flammable materials. He said, however, that it seemed questionable whether such warheads could penetrate far enough into buried facilities. In an interview Wednesday, Younger said that if a facility containing the chemical or biological agents were large enough that U.S. commanders decided it had to be destroyed rather than temporarily neutralized, then a deep-penetrating nuclear weapon might be used. The Pentagon has asked Congress for $15 million in its 2003 budget to study such a weapon, called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. It would burrow into the earth and detonate, transmitting a large fraction of the energy from the nuclear explosion to the ground. That would create a strong seismic shock wave that could destroy or damage the buried target, experts say. Critics, however, argue that use of such a weapon would create an intense and deadly radioactive fallout. The question of how to neutralize or destroy bunkers containing chemical, biological or nuclear materials has gained urgency as the Bush administration contemplates the possibility of using military force to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Prior to the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was actively developing nuclear weapons and possessed chemical and biological agents that could be used as weapons. Younger said that although the United States does not know what kinds of weapons Saddam may have developed since United Nations inspections ended in 1998, it is a "reasonable assumption" that the Iraqi leader either has or is pursuing weapons of mass destruction. The Pentagon is contemplating unpleasant scenarios that could emerge in Iraq or elsewhere, Younger said. One possibility: A U.S. satellite detects a Scud ballistic missile, possibly armed with biological agents, being readied for launch. What could the United States do to stop it? In the future, an answer might be to strike with a non-nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile. Experiments also have been done on arming a Hellfire air-to-ground missile with a thermobaric warhead, which ignites an explosive mist which sends a powerful shock wave through a cave or tunnel, annihilating everything and everyone inside. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 25 Nuclear Advocate Elected President of India (washingtonpost.com) Kalam Says Poverty Reduction and Rural Development Are Priorities _____News From India_____ • WORLD (The Washington Post, Jul 17, 2002) By Laurinda Keys Associated Press Writer Thursday, July 18, 2002; 9:11 AM NEW DELHI, India –– A missile scientist who advocates nuclear weapons as a war deterrent was elected India's ceremonial president Thursday. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam won 89.58 percent of the votes cast on Tuesday by 4,896 members of the national Parliament and the state legislatures, according to the Parliament Presidential Election Cell, which supervised the balloting. The only other candidate was Lakshmi Sehgal, a woman proposed by the leftist parties. Kalam, 70, told reporters Thursday that the alleviation of poverty and development of rural areas are important issues for India. "India has to be transformed into a developed nation ... a prosperous nation, and a healthy nation, with a value system," Kalam said. He also said his scientific career prepared him for politics. Kalam helped develop missiles to carry nuclear weapons and rockets to launch satellites. "Unless political decisions are taken, the satellite won't be in orbit, the missile won't reach its target, the nuclear weapon won't be there," Kalam said. With gray, shoulder-length hair and a wardrobe of short-sleeved shirts and flip-flop sandals, Kalam is expected to bring more informality to the 340-room presidential palace. He will be sworn in as India's 12th president on July 25, replacing Kocheril R. Narayanan, who completed a five-year term. Kalam, an advocate of scientific education for children, has insisted his presidency would not signal warlike intentions from India. Instead, it would show the world "technology is going to be used for development of the nation." Born Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam on Oct. 15, 1931, he began his early education at a village school in the southern port of Rameshwaram. He later received a degree in aeronautical engineering. For many Indians, Kalam's rise – from humble beginnings as the son of an illiterate boatman in Tamil Nadu state to the top of India's scientific and political establishments – symbolizes the strength of India's democracy. Critics, however, worry he does not have enough political experience to handle India's chaotic and fractured system. Though the office is largely ceremonial, the president can play a crucial role. If Parliament is deadlocked, his verdict is final. He can call elections or decide which party gets the chance to form a government. Although born to Muslim parents, Kalam does not describe himself as Muslim. He reads Hindu scriptures each day and is a vegetarian. When asked about who would act as his first lady, the unmarried Kalam waved his hands and said, "No, no, I'm a brahmacharya." The Hindu word means someone who has given up worldly pleasures, including sex and marriage. © 2002 The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 26 Nuclear Scientist, 70, a Folk Hero, Is Elected India's President The New York Times *By DAVID ROHDE* NEW DELHI, July 18 ? An exuberant and eccentric 70-year-old scientist who is considered the father of India's nuclear missile program was overwhelmingly elected president today by legislators. The vote for the largely ceremonial office reflected both the growing disdain of the country for professional politicians and its ambition to be taken seriously on the world stage. The scientist, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, a boatman's son who rose to become a nuclear folk hero in India, emerged as the surprise candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling Hindu nationalist party, only a month ago. He won nearly 90 percent of the votes cast by legislators. A best-selling author, he functions as a kind of nationalist self-help guru who vows to use science, technology and nuclear and space research to allow India to develop, assert itself and achieve greatness. He has emerged as a cult figure since he helped oversee India's successful nuclear tests in 1998. His latest book, "Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India," blares his can-do, nationalist message. "India has to be transformed into a developed nation," Dr. Kalam said after being elected today, "a prosperous nation and a healthy nation, with a value system." Dr. Kalam, an ethnic Tamil, will be the third Muslim to serve as president of Hindu-dominated India. Nominating him allowed the ruling party to bolster its secular credentials after being condemned for allowing Hindu extremists to kill hundreds of Muslims in Gujarat earlier this year. But critics question Dr. Kalam's scientific credentials, say he has never truly fought for Muslim causes and call him a political novice unprepared for Indian political combat. Leftists accuse him of nuclear jingoism and challenge his support for vast high-technology projects, like an unmanned Indian mission to the moon, which they contend will waste millions. "His scientific ideology is more of society being at the disposal of science," said Sita Ram Yechury, a spokesman for the leftist parties opposing Dr. Kalam, "rather than science being at the disposal of society." But such criticism is faint in a country where Dr. Kalam has become a mythic figure. A bachelor, vegetarian and amateur musician and poet, Dr. Kalam brings an unorthodox style to the 340-room presidential palace. Until now, he has professed to live the life of an ascetic, reading poetry and strumming the vina, a traditional guitarlike instrument, in his spare time. His trademark is the long mop of gray hair that flops down each side of his face. Dr. Kalam's best-selling autobiography, "Wings of Fire," and a children's book, "Eternal Quest," recount his life and times. Born on Oct. 15, 1931, in Rameswaram, a spit of land that juts out between Madras and Sri Lanka, he excelled in school while selling newspapers to support his father. The idyllic account of his life that follows features inspirational verse from the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita, T. S. Eliot, Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Kalam himself and others. It describes Muslims and Hindus growing up in harmony, and teachers and family members helping him get into boarding school and college. Dr. Kalam went on to study aeronautical engineering at the prestigious Madras Institute of Technology. He never received a Ph.D., but he is always referred to as "doctor" in India, having received 30 honorary doctorates and the country's three highest civilian honors. His only visit to the United States came in 1963, when he spent about five months touring NASA rocket centers. Throughout his career, Dr. Kalam, who declined a request for an interview, worked tirelessly to ensure that Indian technology could succeed, according to Dr. K. Kasturirangan, now the head of India's space program and a colleague of Dr. Kalam's for 35 years. "He is a humble, he lives a spartan life," Dr. Kasturirangan said, listing the qualities that attract an Indian public weary of political corruption. "He is deeply committed to any cause he undertakes in life." After working on the team that developed India's first satellite vehicle in the 1970's, Dr. Kalam ran a program that developed five missiles to counter Chinese and Pakistani systems in the 1980's. When the Bharatiya Janata Party took office in 1998, he served as scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defense and lobbied for nuclear tests. Indian tests that year set off an international outcry and an arms race with Pakistan. But Dr. Kalam argues that nuclear weapons are a deterrent that helped prevent another war between India and Pakistan this spring. Dr. Kalam, who takes office July 25, will have limited power under India's parliamentary system. Expected to serve as an evenhanded arbiter, the president breaks ties in Parliament, can call elections and can decide which party can form a government. Dr. Kalam will also have the bully pulpit to argue for development projects that he says will eliminate poverty in India by 2020. Groups he helped establish have developed prosthetic limbs from lightweight materials from the missile programs. Another distributes information on weather, crops and genetically altered farm animals to farmers. Opponents may continue to attack him as a yes man for Hindu nationalists, a proponent of militarism and creator of an Indian military-industrial complex. But his upbeat message is likely to continue to drown them out. "Nations consist of people," his new book begins. "And with their effort, a nation can accomplish all it could ever want." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 27 DOE alters security situation The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- 07/18/02 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Wackenhut Services Inc. will continue to provide security for the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge facilities for at least another year. In addition to extending Wackenhut's stay, DOE also made a notable modification to the company's contract that could have long-term consequences. The federal agency split the deal in two in an attempt to streamline the management of security activities. One contract continues to cover security-related activities for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge K-25 site and the Federal Building. The new contract focuses on security programs for the Oak Ridge Central Training Facility and the Y-12 National Security Complex -- a nuclear weapons plant. Previously, all these facilities were covered under one security contract. However, DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt acknowledged that the contract modification could ultimately lead to having different security providers for the federal agency's Oak Ridge facilities. "In essence, it's possible," Wyatt said this morning. "It's our preference that we have one security provider." Having different security providers would not be too farfetched. DOE broke from tradition several years ago and began selecting different managers for its Oak Ridge facilities. Regarding the modifications to Wackenhut's contract, DOE officials said there should be no employee impacts as a result of changes. Wackenhut was selected to perform security and other related protective services for the local DOE facilities in September 1999 and began operations in January 2000. The three-year contract had two one-year options. Security has been a major issue for DOE since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Following last year's tragic events, DOE was one of many government agencies and other organizations that beefed up security as a precautionary measure. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 28 Parking lots at ORNL still under investigation (for Contamination) The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- 07/18/02 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Officials have yet to determine the source of some low-level radioactive contamination that closed a couple of Oak Ridge National Laboratory parking lots two weeks ago. In fact, the investigation could take two to four more weeks to complete. An investigation report is expected to be issued when all the information has been gathered and analyzed. Strontium 90 -- a byproduct of the fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear reactors -- was suspected as the element discovered in parking lots at the east end of ORNL. "The contamination is in the form of particles that cover an area of approximately 5 to 8 acres, although a larger area was surveyed," said Dennis Hill, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co. Bechtel Jacobs was asked by ORNL and the Department of Energy to head the investigation. Some ORNL facilities managed by Bechtel Jacobs as part of the Environmental Management program contain strontium and are potential sources for the contamination, according to Hill. Officials said all government and private vehicles that parked in the affected areas have been surveyed, as well as those personal vehicles that employees requested be surveyed. "Contamination was found on four government vehicles to date, with two of those appearing to be legacy contamination," Hill said. "Subsequent surveys of dozens of vehicles found no contamination. "Surveying is continuing in some grassy areas where there is no pedestrian or vehicular traffic. These areas are posted as potentially contaminated. Those postings will be removed as those areas are surveyed and determined not to be contaminated. If additional contamination should be found, the area would remain posted until the contamination is removed." The recent ORNL event isn't the first time that some discovered contamination has been connected to vehicles or parking areas. In the early 1990s, some vehicles at the lab set off detectors and alarms after running over radioactive frogs that had been living in contaminated ponds at ORNL. The event garnered lots of media attention and was the inspiration for a folk song, "Hot Frogs on the Loose," by Fred Small. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 29 Editorial:INEEL gets a much-needed mission Idaho State Journal Our View: The Department of Energy announcement this week concerning reactor research is great news. 07/17/02 With eastern Idaho's economy still in a state of uncertainty, it was welcome news this week when Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham outlined a mission for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory that could keep scientists and support staff at the site busy for decades to come. By designating the INEEL the DOE's center for Generation Four reactor research, Abraham ensured the site will have a long-standing mission that should outlast the ongoing efforts to remove stored nuclear waste and the work being done to clean up contamination at the expansive eastern Idaho laboratory. It's been our concern for some time that INEEL's only concrete goal was to clean up after itself, possibly for eventual closure. This announcement gives the facility something of a new lease on life. Generation Four reactors, the next generation of nuclear reactor, are still in the concept phase, and research to ensure their safety and effectiveness is still needed. By granting the INEEL license to go full steam ahead on research, the DOE chief is not only ensuring the long-term stability for the site, he's sending a message to the world that the United States is dedicated to furthering nuclear research in an effort to make it safer, cleaner and even more economical. It's likely no small coincidence that this announcement comes on the heels of other important developments in nuclear research and advancement. Now that the country has a designated nuclear waste storage site in southern Nevada — Yucca Mountain — the risks of investing in further research are greatly diminished. We've said many times before that the nuclear industry desperately needs a dose of positive news, and this may be it. In order to attract new scientific minds to the field, the overall image of the industry must improve — it's our hope that the country's commitment to Generation Four reactors, which are thought to be the cleanest and safest ever conceptualized, will provide the shot in the arm the industry's image needs. Furthermore, we firmly believe the INEEL is the right place from which to conduct the research, with the caveat, of course, that all the proper safety measures are put firmly in place. It's great that this research finally gives the site a clear-cut mission, but unless the science is done in a safe environment, the INEEL will have accomplished little. No timeline for implementation of the site's new mission has been announced, and that's fine — it gives ample time for DOE officials to come up with a wise commencement strategy and it provides time for locals concerned about possible problems to air their worries and have them addressed. This week's announcement means our region's largest employer is embarking on a bold new mission. And we encourage officials, including our federal delegates, to work to develop additional new and concrete missions for the INEEL. It's not enough that we lobby to continue having federal funding routed to the facility; there must be programs carried out there that are worthy of broad governmental and public support. [http://www.mywebpal.com] ***************************************************************** 30 Self-government pioneer, key ORNL personnel remembered The Oak Ridger Online - Opinion - Dick Smyser: 07/18/02 OPINIONS From Oak Ridge's very first years there were those restive for self-government. Even amidst the compelling emphasis on the secret mission -- developing a nuclear weapon -- there were citizens looking ahead to the time when the community which had been created virtually overnight behind security fences would be something other than a government reservation. One of the most diligent and effective of these pioneers for local democracy, as opposed to Manhattan Engineer District fiat, was Ethelyn Snell. Spouse of a distinguished scientist, while he contributed key knowledge at the laboratory, she contributed key energies and insights, chiefly through the League of Women Voters, toward laying the groundwork for the successful vote to incorporate in May 1959. She was especially active in the initial discussions of a proper city charter. She and others saw Oak Ridge's opportunity to create a form of local government significantly different from those of older municipalities, not just in Tennessee but anywhere in the nation. Out of these discussions came a consensus that Oak Ridge would have a city manager-city council form of government -- different, at that time, from most Tennessee cities which operated under the more traditional mayor-council form. Immediately after the end of the World War that had created Oak Ridge, local sentiment for self-government strengthened. By then a charter writing committee was meeting and debating regularly. The charter writers had no real legal authority but they had substantial citizen support, and federal overseers paid attention. Ethelyn, soft-spoken but forthright, was immensely effective in these discussions. Nor was it all academic. There were those who sought to exploit the town's lack of a legal government structure -- its political naiveté. One especially crafty scheme would have led to a quasi-incorporation the real purpose of which, at a time when Tennessee allowed legal liquor sales only in incorporated cities, was to establish a liquor sales monopoly. She and others quashed such moves simply by being alert and then alerting fellow citizens. Thanks to these alerts, The Oak Ridger, then just beginning publication, learned quickly about local political charlatans. In one of its first efforts to engage readers in community affairs, The Oak Ridger sponsored a contest to originate a community slogan. There was a good response and the winning suggestion came from Ethelyn Snell: "Opportunity's Hometown." It never caught on widely, but in essence it is quite appropriate still today. * Within days of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania in late March 1979, scores of Oak Ridgers were involved. Either they were called to the scene or were offering assistance from their laboratories and shops here in Oak Ridge. One of those was Lester King, Oak Ridge National Laboratory chemical engineer. Specifically he and others from ORNL devised a chemical process for decontaminating water that had been released during the accident which, though in actuality resulting in only very minor human exposures, changed the course of nuclear power development in the United States. For years both before and after the call for help from Pennsylvania, he had managed ORNL's Transuranium Processing Plant, known as TRU, a position of considerable responsibility for the highly radioactive materials involved. Located adjacent to and operated in conjunction with ORNL's High Flux Isotopes Reactor (HFIR), TRU had a special role in producing californium, transuranium (above uranium on the periodic table) element used in medicine. * Fred Kappelmann Jr. was one of the pillars of ORNL's Chemical Technology Division. He was a pillar also of the Oak Ridge Lions Club which he served as president in 1972-1973. Always genial, he was an ardent golfer and enthusiastic coach of Little League baseball and basketball. In my first years in Oak Ridge, he was a fellow single, always adding warmth and good humor to the varied social occasions we were innovative in organizing and enjoying. -- RDS Richard D. Smyser is founding editor of The Oak Ridger. He can be reached by e-mail at [rdsandmps@aol.com] . [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 31 Energy Secretary Abraham Applauds National Renewable Energy Laboratory on its 25th Anniversary NREL, DOE Employees Build Energy-Efficient "Habitat for Humanity" Home to Commemorate Progress in Renewable Energy energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: July 18, 2002 WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today congratulated the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., on its 25th Anniversary. "For a quarter century, the Department of Energy and the nation have been fortunate to have this valuable research institution, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and its dedicated staff, pursuing solutions to the nation's energy problems and helping strengthen our energy security," Secretary Abraham said. "NREL has made many important contributions over the years, especially in reducing the costs and increasing the efficiency of renewable energy sources. So much of the progress we have made in these crucial technologies can be traced to the ground-breaking research and development work performed by NREL." When NREL was launched in 1977 it was known as the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI). At that time, electricity produced by solar photovoltaic systems cost several dollars a kilowatt-hour. Today, the cost has been reduced to 20-25 cents a kilowatt-hour. Wind energy at that time cost about 40 cents per kilowatt-hour. It can now be produced for 4-5 cents per kilowatt-hour; Wind is the fastest growing source of energy in the world. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush designated the facility a DOE national laboratory, and SERI became the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL is also a leading research facility for biomass power, biofuels, geothermal energy, hydrogen, fuel cells, distributed power, hybrid vehicles, advanced vehicle design, fuels utilization and building energy technologies. In honor of the 25th Anniversary, NREL held a ceremony today to thank volunteers for the significant progress they have made in building a state of the art energy-efficient home, sponsored by Habitat for Humanity. David Garman, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, was in attendance. Employees from NREL, the DOE Golden Field Office and the Denver Regional Office are donating their time to design and build the Habitat for Humanity home for a low-income family in the Denver area. Energy efficient features include a sun-tempered living and dining area, advanced windows, sprayed foam wall insulation, enhanced floor insulation, solar hot water, a grid-tied photovoltaic system and energy-efficient appliances. The employee commitment calls for 3,000 volunteer hours. NREL's managing partners, Midwest Research Institute (MRI), Battelle and Bechtel, are sponsoring the home's construction by providing the $50,000 sponsorship fee. Media Contact: Chris Kielich, 202/586-5806 Release No. PR-02-145 ***************************************************************** 32 Bush and Power Companies Oppose Lone Star in Energy Bill Opposition to Renewable Electricity Contradicts Administration's Own Study The Bush administration and big electric utilities have announced their opposition to a Senate energy bill provision that would increase wind, solar and other renewable energy produced by major electric companies to 10 percent by 2020. This opposition to one of the lone bright spots in the energy bill comes despite findings from the administration's Energy Information Administration (EIA) and new data from the Union of Concerned Scientists that show that the provision could be a boon for consumers and the economy. "Bush's opposition to the renewable electricity standard makes no sense given that its own study shows that the renewable electricity standard would actually save consumers billions of dollars," said Alan Nogee, UCS Clean Energy Program Director. "The administration is catering to big utilities that want to continue dishing out the same old mix of dirty fossil fuels. The summer air conditioning and smog season is a stark reminder of the need to develop clean energy sources." The Senate energy bill includes a renewable electricity standard that requires major electric companies to increase sales of electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources from 2 percent today to about 10 percent by 2020. This would result in a quadrupling, by 2020, of the amount of clean, renewable energy produced. The 74,000 megawatts of renewable energy that would be online by 2020 would be enough to power about 53 million homes. Twelve states, including Texas, have enacted their own renewable electricity standards. "Because of the Texas renewable electricity standard that President Bush signed when he was Governor of Texas, the amount of wind turbines built in Texas last year was more than those built in the entire U.S. in any year," Nogee said. "It's a shame that Bush won't support the clean air, consumer savings and energy security benefits that renewable energy could provide on the national level." New research from UCS finds that the Senate's renewable electricity standard could save consumers nearly $3 billion through 2020. Recent analysis by the Bush EIA shows that a more comprehensive 10 percent renewable electricity standard than the one included in the Senate energy bill would save consumers over $13 billion through 2020 on reduced energy bills. Despite this evidence, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham recently sent a letter to Congress stating that the administration opposes the federal renewable electricity standard. In addition to opposing the consumer-friendly renewable energy standard, utilities and Washington are colluding to propose weakening other consumer protections in the electricity market. Energy technologies like wind, solar and bioenergy can also help reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases that are causing global warming, as well as reducing smog-forming pollution that fossil-fuel burning power plants emit. These clean electricity sources are available throughout United States. For example, Illinois has the technical potential to generate all of its current electricity needs from renewable power alone. Search news releases [ border=] ALAN NOGEE 617 547-5552 PAUL FAIN Press Secretary 202 223-6133 pfain@ucsusa.org [pfain@ucsusa.org] ERIC YOUNG Assistant Press Secretary eyoung@ucsusa.org RICH HAYES Media Director 202 223-6133 rhayes@ucsusa.org [rhayes@ucsusa.org] 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02238 617-547-5552 Contact us at ucs@ucsusa.org [ucs@ucsusa.org] © 2002 Union of Concerned Scientists [http://www.ucsusa.org/] ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************