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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 UK: Jeffrey on a nuclear mission
2 British Energy may sue over Torness shutdown
3 Concerns mount on British Energy costs
4 Russia, Iraq to Sign $40B Deal
5 Gibbons criticizes nuclear facilities
6 Russia's Iran nuclear link angers US 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
7 Dungeness closure hits British Energy
8 US: Peach Bottom Nuke plant on track for extension
9 Nuclear power plant disconnected from the power grid 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
10 [southnews] Aussie veterans warn of Gulf War syndrome risk
11 Radioactive gauge lost on the rock *
12 US: Federal Workers Get Evacuation Plan
13 US: D.C. firefighters to get Geiger counters - 
14 Ottawa might expand radiation pill program
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
15 US: Utah defending anti-nuclear waste laws in court*
16 US: Perma-Fix Environmental Services Announces Record Sales And Earn
17 US: TEXT ONLY <../index_to.cfm>
18 US: Community Voices / Bill Walker: Kern at risk from nuclear 
19 US: EDITORIAL: Yucca Mountain vs. the Test Site
20 US: U.S. SENATOR BARBARA BOXER | CALIFORNIA
21 Sellafield proposals 'grossly inadequate' 
22 US: Next in saga over planned dumpsite: Debating list of 293 
23 DOE Official Endorses Building A New Uranium Enrichment Plant*
24 US: Family Feud: Goshutes Split Over Nuclear Waste Site
25 US: Firm fears ruin over waste cleanup delay 
26 US: Overall Seeking U.S. Study On Environmental Impact Of Possible N
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
27 Tokaimura Hibakusha files lawsuit 
28 India Beefs Up Military Capability
29 Russia To Maintain Nuclear Arsenal
30 Iraq Sends Mixed Message on Inspectors
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
31 LLL Scientists Battle Radiation Threat 
32 Lab helps in bomb detection 
33 DOE: Flats shipments to speed up
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
34 Whistleblowers still risk retaliation and dishonor*
35 Fusion Redux
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 UK: Jeffrey on a nuclear mission

/ (Filed: 18/08/2002) /

*Despite a slumping share price, British Energy's chairman is 
convinced that nuclear power has a radiant future. All he has to 
do is convince ministers, says Sophie Barker*

Robin Jeffrey is far too relaxed. British Energy's shares have 
just plunged to a record low, prompting analysts to compare the 
nation's only private sector nuclear generator with battered 
Railtrack.

Long game: Jeffrey could stay on the board of British Energy 
until the age of 70

Yet its executive chairman is telling me breezily that he was 
described as "chunky" in an article. Or was it "compact"? He 
can't quite remember. Either way, Wednesday's press coverage of 
the surprise decision to close down a nuclear reactor because of 
a mechanical fault hasn't thrown the 63-year-old.

Is he putting on a brave face for me? "The only thing I am 
putting on for you is a tie. Oh, and I've tied my shoes," he 
says. He is also sporting a British Energy-branded shirt, which 
he wears to work every day, making him look more like a plant 
worker than the big boss.

So how did he feel last Monday when a reactor was shut down at 
Torness, the station whose construction he oversaw in the 1980s? 
He closes his small blue eyes for ages and ums and ers a lot. 
"You need to understand what type of person I am: I love solving 
problems.

"So it was just a case of thinking very quietly and discussing 
with two or three of my colleagues what the issues were. I sat in 
my car, loaded my laptop and set out the 17 questions we needed 
to know, plugged it into my mobile and sent them to the head of 
our UK business. Then we sat down together on Tuesday morning and 
got the answers."

Jeffrey makes it sound so simple. Unfortunately for Britain's 
nuclear anorak in chief, he is no longer sitting on the floor of 
the Kirkintilloch house where he grew up, playing with his 
Meccano set or taking the family clocks apart.

British Energy has been losing money for the past two years 
thanks to historically low wholesale electricity prices. At the 
same time, it has been battling with the Government to replace 
Britain's ageing nuclear power stations with whizzy new monsters. 
As if that wasn't enough, Monday's unplanned shutdown was the 
company's third in three months.

I wonder whether low prices have forced British Energy to drive 
its stations too hard.

"Not at all. Torness is running no harder than the project 
manager always intended it would, and you'll recall I was the 
project manager. Indeed, there have been restrictions in Torness 
which mean that this Rolls-Royce of a reactor has been going 
along the motorway at 65 miles per hour," he says, smiling at his 
analogy.

Either way, the reactors won't produce any juice for a while. The 
revenue shortfall will be about £55m and analysts are placing 
bets on British Energy announcing its second dividend cut in 
three years at November's half-year results.

Jeffrey is coy about the future dividend. But he thinks that the 
Railtrack analogy, though unfair, may focus government attention 
in a helpful way.

"Governments can't read analysts' reports without saying: 'Hey, 
isn't it time we addressed the inequalities in rates, the 
inequalities in the climate change levy?' We are paying £25m more 
in business rates than the coal and gas burners.

"We are saying this is state aid. That's why we are taking the 
Government to Brussels. Our understanding is that Brussels is 
getting quite stroppy with Her Majesty's Government for dragging 
its heels."

This is beginning to sound like a rant. A career nuclear man with 
a doctorate in fluid mechanics, he admits to having "banged on 
about" these issues for years.

His Glaswegian tones were temporarily silenced when he was exiled 
to North America to build a new division seven years ago, 
securing British Energy's future profits with the £279m lease of 
an enormous Canadian station.

However, the proselytising has returned with a vengeance after he 
was appointed chairman in 2000 and then became chief executive 
with the ousting of Peter Hollins. A former colleague says: "He's 
an entire nuclear zealot. He hasn't grasped that nuclear zealots 
don't convert." So far, the Government has paid little attention.

Unsurprisingly, Jeffrey thinks British Energy is far more 
financially robust than Railtrack. "We are an extremely 
professional, thorough, careful company. I spend a big chunk of 
my time going around the stations telling the people: 'Love your 
reactor, cherish your safety case'."

I ask him whether plant managers think he is a bit bonkers. He 
dodges the question, perhaps failing to understand how anyone 
could not love a nuclear power station. "I take station directors 
into cubby-holes they may not have visited ever," he says.

Yes, but don't they find that a bit annoying? "They appreciate 
it. The most important thing for a station director is to have a 
chairman who cares."

I wonder whether he treats his wife and three children in the 
same way as his staff. Wife Barbara, the daughter of the 
distinguished economist Joan Robinson, probably gives as good as 
she gets. The couple have been married for 40 years and still 
play tennis every weekend.

"We have got a pretty good handicapping system where she plays 
into the doubles court and I play into the singles court. It 
makes me run like mad and get twice as much exercise."

He remembers spotting her in the Cambridge University ladies' 
badminton team. "I saw this beautiful young woman and all I could 
get were the names of the two ladies playing. I then went and 
knocked on the wrong door!

With a bit of fast thinking, I said: 'What about a game of mixed 
doubles and maybe you could bring your friend'." There speaks the 
incorrigible charmer. When they are not on the court, Robin and 
Barbara relax by playing baroque Italian music on their recorders 
(a friend accompanies them on a harpsichord built by Jeffrey).

Anyway, back to the Railtrack comparison. Is a company with such 
inherent risks really suited to the stock market?

Jeffrey is adamant: "We should be in the private sector, there's 
no question about that. The Government is never going to stick 
its hand in its pocket and fund new stations." Banks haven't 
exactly been queuing up to lend British Energy cash either: it 
had to suspend a $500m bond issue at the height of last month's 
market turbulence.

Jeffrey thinks the funding solution lies in a partnership with 
industrial electricity users. Still, when I press him on his 
confidence in the future of British nuclear power, he can't quite 
sign on the dotted line. With electricity prices showing no sign 
of recovery and the Government turning a deaf ear, British Energy 
may soon have to retreat to North America.

His response: "We do not at this point have secret plans to 
decamp to Toronto, but if that's what you've got to do, we'll 
think about it." A new chief exec will be in charge by then. A 
trio of anointed directors have been jostling for months for the 
post, which will be filled by December. Will he give the favoured 
son a free rein? "Of course."

Jeffrey tells me he is entitled to stay on the board as chairman 
until he hits 70. So will he? "I will decide whether there is 
something else I could do that would give me more fun than 
continuing to be a part-time chairman of British Energy."

I can't imagine this man, who lives and breathes British Energy, 
wanting to stay if he is not in charge. The indoor court and the 
music room will suddenly become more appealing.

"My mother, her three sisters and three brothers, all lived to be 
older than 90. My plan is to still be playing tennis when I am 
80!" he tells me excitedly. He will probably still be wearing 
that nuke corporation shirt.

*****************************************************************
 2 British Energy may sue over Torness shutdown

Scotsman.com <http://www.scotsman.com/>

Sat 17 Aug 2002

/John Innes/

BRITISH Energy is considering legal action to recover losses 
suffered after a lightning strike knocked out part of the Torness 
nuclear power station for two days.

The plant in East Lothian was affected when pylons were struck 
during storms in May, causing a power surge which put one of its 
two reactors out of service.

The reactor was out of commission for two days.

Yesterday, the owner said it was consulting lawyers over the 
possibility of suing electricity supplier ScottishPower over the 
incident, which is thought to have cost British Energy about 
£500,000.

Robin Jeffrey, the executive chairman of British Energy, said: 
"We are in the middle of legal discussions and I wouldn?t want to 
comment further."

A spokesman for ScottishPower said the issue was a "minor legal 
dispute, which we hope will be resolved in due course".

The Torness plant was shut down completely on Tuesday after one 
of the gas circulators that cools the reactors started vibrating.

However, the company insisted that this week?s closure was 
unrelated to the lightning strike, which it described as "very 
unusual".

The shutdown caused shares in British Energy to slump 30 per cent 
on Tuesday - wiping £160 million off the value of the company.

A company spokesman said there was no timetable for the 
resumption of power generation at the plant, adding that it would 
remain closed "for the foreseeable future". The plant itself 
accounts for about 12 per cent of the company?s annual energy 
output.

The firm operates a total of eight power plants in the UK and 
runs other nuclear power operations in the United States.

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, the government?s nuclear 
safety watchdog, said all nuclear power stations were fitted with 
safety systems to protect equipment from the effects of lightning 
strikes.

 ©2002 scotsman.com <http://www.scotsman.com> | contact
*****************************************************************
 3 Concerns mount on British Energy costs

Friday Aug 16 2002. All times are London time.

By Matthew Jones
Published: August 17 2002 5:00 | Last Updated: August 17 2002 5:00
british_energy

Concerns are growingthat British Energy, the country's biggest 
nuclear power group, will be unable to meet its £14bn 
decommissioning and clean-up costs because of low power prices 
and weak equity markets.

The risks have been highlighted by the shutdown of two of the 
group's atomic plants due to technical problems, triggering a 30 
per cent fall in British Energy's share price earlier this week.

While there is no short-term risk of the group going bust, 
analysts believe it may fail to earn enough cash over the next 15 
years to decommission its eight UK nuclear sites and to treat 
spent fuel.

"A very plausible scenario has them running out of cash well 
before the end of their liabilities," said Martin Brough, analyst 
at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

British Energy has a segregated fund, similar to a pension fund, 
aimed at paying for £4.8bn of expected power station 
decommissioning costs over the next 113 years. It pays about £18m 
into the fund every year and assumes a real growth rate of 3 per 
cent.

Treatment, storage and ultimate disposal of spent fuel, which 
accounts for the remaining £9.3bn of liabilities, is met from 
general operating cashflows. The group pays about £300m a year to 
British Nuclear Fuels to deal with waste on a contract basis.

British Energy declined to say whether its decommissioning fund 
was in surplus or deficit, but the fund dropped by £27m in value 
last year to £411m.

About 80 per cent of the fund is invested in equities, compared 
with a more conservative average of about 70 per cent for most 
pension funds. Since the fund was last valued at the end of 
March, the FTSE 100 index has fallen by 18 per cent.

Analysts also expressed concerns that the group's cashflows could 
be lower than anticipated because of a 40 per cent fall in 
wholesale power prices since 1998 and recurring technical 
difficulties at power plants.

They added that there were uncertainties over British Energy's 
estimates of the costs of clean-up and decommissioning.

"The only precedent we have is BNFL, which has seen its 
liabilities rise by billions of pounds as they have got closer to 
being dealt with," said Raimundo Fernandez-Cuesta of UBS Warburg.

A British Energy official said the company did not have any 
credit problems and that it was not necessary to make additional 
payments into the decommissioning fund.

"We always take the most prudent view possible on our liabilities 
and have a better handle on our assumptions than the analysts," 
he added.

  Home <http://www.ft.com>
*****************************************************************
 4 Russia, Iraq to Sign $40B Deal
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
August 17, 2002 By SARAH KARUSH ASSOCIATED PRESS 

MOSCOW- Russia and Iraq are preparing to sign a $40 billion 
economic cooperation plan, the Iraqi ambassador to Moscow said 
Saturday. The pact was likely to strain Moscow's relations with 
Washington as the United States considers a military attack 
against Baghdad. 

The five-year agreement envisions new cooperation in the fields 
of oil, irrigation, agriculture, railroads, other transportation 
sectors and electrical energy. It will most likely be signed in 
Baghdad in the beginning of September, Ambassador Abbas Khalaf 
told The Associated Press. 

The announcement came as Washington struggles to rally 
international support for a possible invasion of Iraq. 

Washington is determined to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - 
possibly through a military operation - because of the threat 
posed by his regime's efforts to develop nuclear, chemical and 
biological weapons. Russia, a longtime ally of Iraq, has 
forcefully warned against a U.S. invasion. 

Moscow has also has supported lifting United Nations sanctions 
imposed after Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Moscow hopes 
lifting sanctions would allow Baghdad to start paying off its $7 
billion Soviet-era debt and help expand trade. 

Khalaf emphasized that the new cooperation deal, which is to 
include new projects as well as the modernization of some 
Soviet-built infrastructure, would not violate the sanctions. 
Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday it had no comment on the 
deal. 

In the current standoff with the United States, Iraq is counting 
on Russia to use its leverage in the U.N. Security Council and 
other diplomatic channels to deprive Washington of international 
support for a military operation, Khalaf said. 

"First of all we need moral, political and diplomatic support. 
Because Iraq knows how to defend itself," Khalaf said. 

"The main thing for us is that American aggression does not go 
through the U.N. Security Council and that America does not 
receive a U.N. mandate," he said. "Let America act (alone) as an 
aggressor. It will be condemned from all sides." 

Khalaf dismissed the idea that Russia could yield to U.S. 
pressure and drop its opposition to an invasion. 

"There won't be any concessions," he said. "Iraq is Russia's most 
dependable partner in the East." 

At the same time, Khalaf said he saw no contradiction between 
Russia's friendship with Iraq and its ties with Washington, which 
have strengthened since the Sept. 11 attacks. 

"We see friendship among various countries and civilized peoples 
of the world as a positive step. Any enmity brings harm to a 
country," he said. 

The news of the deal with Iraq followed signs that Moscow is 
maintaining or even increasing its cooperation with Iran and 
North Korea. Along with Iraq, those two countries make up what 
President Bush has labeled the "axis of evil" because of their 
efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. 

Last month, Russia announced a 10-year plan for nuclear 
cooperation with Iran. Under the plan, Russia would build another 
five reactors in addition to the one currently under construction 
at Bushehr. Washington fears such cooperation could help Iran 
develop nuclear weapons. 

This week, the Kremlin announced that North Korean leader Kim 
Jong Il will visit Russia later in August for the second summer 
in a row. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 5 Gibbons criticizes nuclear facilities

Sunday, August 18, 2002
 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal 
 
Security at Russian plants not adequate 
By TONY BATT 
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU 

WASHINGTON -- Nuclear facilities in Russia are in disastrous 
shape, according to Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who visited Moscow 
and England this month to gather information for the House 
Intelligence Committee. 

"There is some security there, but it is nowhere near adequate," 
Gibbons said of his trip to nuclear plants in the vicinity of 
Moscow. "I was very concerned after visiting those areas, not 
only because of the security issues but the infrastructure leaves 
a great deal to be desired." 

A member of the House Intelligence Committee, Gibbons made the 
trip at the request of the panel's chairman, Rep. Porter Goss, 
R-Fla. 

Gibbons was the only lawmaker on the trip. He and two committee 
staffers left Aug. 3 for Moscow. They returned to the United 
States on Aug. 9. 

During his stay in Moscow, Gibbons met with Mikhail Ivanovich, 
first deputy minister of atomic energy for the Russian 
Federation. Gibbons said he voiced reservations to Ivanovich 
about Russia's involvement with Iran on nuclear issues. 

"I told him we are very concerned about the proliferation of 
nuclear reactors in Iran or anywhere else with Russia's help 
because this could help develop weapons of mass destruction," 
Gibbons said. 

Though both men spoke through interpreters, Gibbons said 
Ivanovich understood his comments and seemed to agree with them. 

Gibbons said he was encouraged by the research of Russians on 
thorium, a radioactive metallic element that may be developed 
into nuclear fuel. 

"If we can develop this fuel and reprocess (existing nuclear 
fuel), this could eliminate the need for Yucca Mountain," Gibbons 
said. Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been 
approved by Congress as the permanent storage site for 77,000 
tons of high level nuclear waste. 

After spending three days in Moscow, Gibbons flew to Manchester, 
England, where he inspected another nuclear fuel storage 
facility. 

The three-term congressman said he was overwhelmed by the 
improvement in security at the British plant compared to what he 
saw in Russia. 

"I was very impressed with the British technology, but I was less 
impressed with their emphasis on (traditional nuclear fuel 
production) instead of developing thorium," Gibbons said.
 
 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002
*****************************************************************
 6 Russia's Iran nuclear link angers US 

BBC NEWS | Middle East | 

Friday, 16 August, 2002, 

[US President George Bush shakes hands with Russian President 
Vladimir Putin]                          

Bush and Putin appear to enjoy each other's company
 	 	 	 	 
By Caroline Wyatt BBC Moscow correspondent                                           
    
It has been a blossoming relationship since Russian President 
Vladimir Putin offered the US President George W Bush a 
sympathetic ear in America's hour of need. 

Since 11 September, both men have been proud to call each other 
friends. But there is one issue threatening to come between them: 
an $800m nuclear reactor being built by the Russians in Iran. 

The US is keeping a close eye on it via satellite - and believes 
the reactor is almost 80% complete. 
	
We have long been concerned that Iran's only interest in nuclear 
civil power... is to support its nuclear weapons programme    
   	
   	US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
 	   	

         Begun by a German firm in 1972, the project was 
abandoned after the Iranian revolution in 1979. 

Then, a decade ago, the deal to finish it was signed by Moscow 
and Tehran. Washington fears it could help Iran create nuclear 
weapons - perhaps using the expertise of Russian nuclear 
scientists. 

US concerns 

The US Secretary of State for Energy, Spencer Abraham, came to 
Moscow to express his government's utmost concern that Russia was 
pushing ahead with the reactor. 

"Iran is aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons, weapons of mass 
destruction, long-range missiles, and we have long been concerned 
that Iran's only interest in nuclear civil power - given its vast 
domestic energy resources - is to support its nuclear weapons 
programme." 

That is an allegation strongly denied by the Iranian ambassador 
to Moscow, Gulam Reza Shafeii. 

He says the nuclear reactor at Bushehr was inspected 60 times 
last year by international experts. 

And he insists Iran has every right to develop nuclear energy. 

"The US, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia - all these 
countries get energy from nuclear power stations," Iran's 
ambassador said. 
	
Economically, it is a very profitable project for us    
   	
        Lev Ryabev Russian energy official                 

 	 
"And under the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which we 
signed, no-one can take this legal right away from us. The 
Americans claim that the spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr could be 
used for military purposes - but that's not true. 

"First of all, it's being tightly controlled, and secondly, 
there's an agreement that the spent fuel will be sent back to 
Russia." 

Skin deep? 

The real question is: why is President Putin so prepared to risk 
his good relations with George Bush in order to cosy up to Iran? 

Is this just old-style wheeling and dealing at the Kremlin, with 
Moscow playing one side off against the other? 

Or is it proof that Mr Putin's new friendship with Mr Bush is 
only skin deep? Russian analyst Konstantin Eggert believes not. 
He has worked in Iran and says there are many other reasons why 
Russia is determination to carry on with this project despite US 
objections. 

"One is money, which the Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia 
expects to earn from this contract and from its continuation well 
into the next decade," Mr Eggert said. 

"And on the other side it is political. The Ministry of Atomic 
Energy and the rest of the Russian military defence elite view 
themselves as keepers of the Russian imperial flame, and the only 
people who can oppose the American influence in the world. 
		 			
[Iranian young women hold signs at a demonstration] Anti-US 
sentiment is again strong in Iran
 		 		 			  
"And to them Iran is a very good ideological cause, too." 

The blossoming relationship between Iran and Russia even extends 
to friendly visits to Russia's own nuclear facilities, and 
Moscow's Ministry of Atomic Energy is hoping it can sell even 
more reactors to Tehran. 

"Economically, it is a very profitable project for us. It is a 
big contract - worth hundreds of million of dollars - and it 
creates jobs for people," said Lev Ryabev, Russian deputy atomic 
energy minister, adding that Moscow also does not want Iran to 
acquire nuclear weapons. 

"We're far from indifferent about whether Iran possesses nuclear 
weapons, because geographically we're much closer to Iran than 
the US is." 

Tough test 

On the streets of Tehran, Iranians make clear their anger at 
being called part of America's axis of evil. 

The antagonism between Iran and the US is bad news for Russia. 

It could prove the toughest test yet of Mr Putin's new ties with 
the West - and Russia doesn't want to be forced to choose between 
friends and allies. 

But in the end Mr Putin may have to. If he doesn't bow to 
Washington's demands, he could find himself looking at the end of 
a beautiful relationship. 

*****************************************************************
 7 Dungeness closure hits British Energy

money.telegraph.co.uk </money/index.jhtml>

By Mary Fagan  / (Filed: 18/08/2002) /

British Energy, the beleaguered nuclear power company, will 
announce tomorrow that it is to close a reactor at its Dungeness 
B power station in Kent for refuelling.

The move may increase City anxieties about its financial 
viability. Last week British Energy's shares plunged by 30 per 
cent after it revealed that it had shut two reactors at Torness 
in Scotland </money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2002/08/14/cnben14.xml> 
because of technical problems.

The company will also disclose tomorrow that a separate unit at 
Dungeness has been closed for maintenance since August 7. The 
entire plant will now be shut. The Torness closures have already 
prompted concerns that a reduction in output and the slump in UK 
wholesale power prices could force a cut in the company's 
dividend.

Torness and Dungeness account for an electricity generating 
capacity of 2,300MW of British Energy's total of 9,600MW. 
Analysts estimate that each 500MW of capacity taken off the 
system loses British Energy £250,000 a day.

The company has said that the closure of the reactors at Torness, 
which suffered problems with coolant pumps, could cost more than 
£50m in lost revenues. Work on Torness and investigations at 
another reactor at Heysham, Lancs, which has a similar cooling 
system, could add £25m to British Energy's costs.

A spokesman for the group could not say how long either the 
refuelling of Unit 21 at Dungeness or the maintenance work on 
Unit 22 would take.

British Energy made a pre-tax loss last year of £493m after a 
£300m write-down on the value of its Eggborough coal-fired power 
station in Yorkshire. But it is upbeat over prospects for its 
North American operations, including the Bruce nuclear complex in 
Ontario, Canada.

There are also concerns that the combination of depressed 
wholesale power prices and the fall in the value of equities 
could threaten its ability to meet nuclear decommissioning and 
clean-up costs.

British Energy has a fund, mostly invested in equities, which is 
intended to cover those costs over the next century.
*****************************************************************
 8 Peach Bottom Nuke plant on track for extension
 
Friday, August 16, 2002   10:01 AM MST

License renewal would be good until 2034

By JENNIFER GISH Dispatch/Sunday News

Southern York County residents learned last night that their 
nuclear neighbor appears to be another step closer to having its 
license renewed -- a federal inspection of Peach Bottom Atomic 
Power Station has revealed only minor problems.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission representatives reviewed the 
results of their two-week site visit during a public meeting at 
the Peach Bottom Inn.

The results of the inspection -- which checked items at the plant 
that aren't routinely replaced such as walls, cables and pipes -- 
were "pretty good," said Michael Modes, NRC senior reactor 
inspector.

Exelon Nuclear Corp. should get a written report next month.

License renewal involves a two-pronged investigation. Last 
night's meeting covered the safety review, which looks into how 
the company will maintain the plant as it ages.

The NRC already has presented findings from the investigation's 
other prong, the environmental impact study, which revealed a 
"small impact" to the environment.

If the plant passes the NRC's 25-month license renewal process, 
it will be allowed to operate through 2034. The NRC will make its 
decision by the end of July 2003.

*Plant well maintained:* Modes said he found the plant to be in 
good shape, and the company appears to be prepared to keep it 
that way.

"The program here is very thorough," he said.

But before passing final inspection, Modes said, the plant needs 
to prove how it will deal with certain aging issues, such as 
having a good plan for coping with power losses.

The inspectors also found that a kit used for training employees 
needs to include samples of cables commonly used at Peach Bottom, 
Modes said.

After Modes reviewed the inspection results, NRC officials took 
questions from the public. Only a quarter of the nearly 25 people 
attending the meeting were concerned residents; everyone else 
worked for the NRC or was affiliated with the plant.

*Familiar opponents:* A familiar face was Sandy Smith, a Brogue 
resident and member of the Pennsylvania Environmental Network.

She began to read a National Geographic article on dealing with 
nuclear waste when NRC's Region 1 director of reactor safety, 
Wayne Lanning, stopped her to say they would only be answering 
questions on license renewal.

She asked if the plant had accident insurance.

NRC officials told Smith all nuclear plants were insured, but the 
chance of an accident was very small.

"Then why are we getting iodine pills, and why are there 
evacuation plans in our phone books?" she said.

*Nuclear debate continues:* For the residents of southern York 
County, meetings with the NRC have become more of a debate about 
nuclear power than about the licensing inspections.

Kip Adams, a Lower Chanceford Township resident, said the 
inspection results don't surprise him.

He said the NRC will probably allow Peach Bottom to stay open, 
but it's important that everyone know many residents in the 
community oppose nuclear power.

"It's very helpful for the NRC and the utility companies to know 
that there are people who are not marching lock-step with the 
decisions, that there are people who have a critical eye on 
what's going on in our backyards," said Adams, a supervisor for a 
Lancaster business that installs solar panels and other 
energy-saving products.

"The government is not giving enough consideration to renewable, 
clean, safe energy resources," he said.

*Renewal process on track:* Al Fulvio, senior project manager of 
license renewal for Peach Bottom, left the meeting happy with the 
results, and said the company spent two years preparing its 
application.

Exelon applied to the NRC in July 2001 to extend the life of its 
two reactors at the Peach Bottom Township site for an additional 
20 years.

The original 40-year license for Unit 2 is set to expire Aug. 8, 
2013, and Unit 3's license would expire July 2, 2014.

Peach Bottom has a generating capacity of more than 2,300 
megawatts and is along the west bank of the Susquehanna River in 
Peach Bottom Township.

Under NRC regulations, the original operation license for a 
commercial nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years and can be 
renewed for up to an additional 20 years.

© 1999-2001 MediaNews Group, Inc. and York Newspapers, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 9 Nuclear power plant disconnected from the power grid 
                                       
August 18, 2002     

  AP World Politics  

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The troubled nuclear power plant in 
Temelin near the Austrian border has been disconnected from the 
country's power grid after workers discovered a minor steam leak 
in its non-nuclear part, an official said Saturday. 

Spokesman Vaclav Brom said the plant's first unit was 
disconnected from the grid Friday night, and reactor output was 
lowered to five percent. 

"We expect to reconnect the unit to the power grid still 
tonight," Brom said. At the second unit, the reactor was 
restarted on Saturday after a four-day outage caused by 
maintenance works in the non-nuclear part of the unit, he said. 

Brom said maintenance work was planned "but took longer than 
expected." The plant, located just 60 kilometers (35 miles) north 
of the Austrian border, has been a source of friction between the 
two countries. 

While critics in Austria claim the plant is unsafe and demand 
that it be shut down, Czech authorities insist the plant poses no 
safety risks. 

Tests in the first unit of the 2,000-megawatt plant — based on 
Russian design and upgraded with U.S. technology — started in 
November 2000. But testing has been plagued by frequent 
non-nuclear malfunctions. 

In June, the first unit entered the last stage of tests and 
should be ready for commercial use in 18 months. 

(nr/rp) 

  Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press.
*****************************************************************
 10 [southnews] Aussie veterans warn of Gulf War syndrome risk
 
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 15:27:24 -0500 (CDT)

 
4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/Ey.GAA/7gSolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

  ----------

Veterans warn of Gulf War syndrome risk

By Brendan Nicholson
Political Correspondent
August 18 2002

More than a decade after the Gulf War, sick veterans of that conflict don't
want Australian troops sent back there to fight a war that might involve
chemical weapons.

The chairman of the steering committee of the Australian Gulf War Veterans
Association, David Watts, told The Sunday Age he did not want to see other
young service personnel suffer.

"I think it's very irresponsible of the government to start talking about
sending people over for another go when they haven't really looked after
the people who went in the first place," Mr Watts said.

Mr Watts said many Gulf War veterans felt that they'd been abandoned since
returning to civilian life. Of the 1865 who served in the Gulf, a
significant proportion suffered health problems, he said.

They were awaiting the results of a comprehensive health study being
carried out by staff at Monash University which they hoped would reveal
whether their illness was related to service in the Gulf.

The research team is expected to report to the government later this year.

More than 300 Gulf War veterans have claimed disability pensions or other
financial benefits as a result of illness believed to be related to their
service.

Mr Watts was a 21-year-old able seaman aboard the destroyer HMAS Brisbane
when he was sent to the Gulf in 1991. He was discharged in 1997. He said:
"A lot of guys are sick from their service there.

"They are much worse off for doing their bit for the country. That's got to
change."

Hundreds of thousands of Gulf veterans from the forces of the United
States-led coalition countries fear they have been left with a collection
of illnesses that has become known as Gulf War syndrome, with symptoms
including severe headaches, nausea, muscular pain, joint swelling,
depression and memory loss. Other common ailments include chronic
diarrhoea, lethargy, skin irritations and digestive problems.

Some believe the illnesses may have been caused by the injections given to
ward off chemical weapons. One drug used was pyridostigmine bromide which
was designed to reduce the effects of chemical warfare agents on the
nervous system.

US scientists are investigating the possibility that a vaccine booster
called Squalene may have been given to US and British military personnel.

Overseas studies have also revealed significant levels of post-traumatic
stress disorder among veterans.

Naval personnel who spent little time ashore were exposed to clouds of
vapour from burning oil wells which hung over the whole region.

Veterans may also have been exposed to depleted uranium, a byproduct of the
uranium-enrichment process. It is only slightly radioactive and is used in
armour and anti-tank shells because it is extremely dense - nearly twice as
heavy as lead - which gives it a greater striking power.

The main health threat comes from its chemical properties rather than from
radioactivity. But some reports say the depleted uranium can be
contaminated with tiny amounts of plutonium, which can cause cancer if
lodged in the body.

As a toxic heavy metal, depleted uranium may cause kidney problems and can
be swallowed or inhaled as particles are dispersed by fires or when shells
hit armour plating.

This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/17/1029114031047.html

  ----------

ANDY MCNAB: OUR LADS WILL DIE IN IRAQ

 Aug 15 2002

 By Naveed Raja

 Hundreds of troops will die in a war against
 Iraq, Gulf War hero Andy McNab warned today.

 The ex-SAS commando, who was captured and
 tortured by Iraqi soldiers in the 1991 conflict,
 says the Iraqi army is professional and should
 not be underestimated.

 Analysing possible outcomes of a war he said:
 "You're looking at hundreds of troops becoming
 casualties, and then comes the question: does
 everyone have the motivation to continue this
 war?"

 Best selling author McNab, who sold millions of
 copies of his book Bravo Two Zero about being
 captured in Iraq, added that Saddam Hussain's
 soldiers were a real threat - unlike the
 ramshackle fighters which allied troops tackled
 in the Gulf War.

 "In the border, in Kuwait, there were a lot of
 conscripts and a lot of kids and even old men
 really," he said.

 "My experience of certainly the equivalent of
 their parachute regiment was that they were well
 disciplined, and their weapons were in very good
 order - old but in good order. And in some cases,
 in better order than some European countries.

 "There was a system that gave them discipline,
 and they were well fed."

 McNab believes any attempt to topple Saddam will
 see the Iraqi battalions retreat into their
 cities, guaranteeing massive bloodshed on both
 sides.

 He believes an attempt to assassinate Saddam
 would be more effective for regime change in
 Iraq saying: "The skills are there, the equipment
 is there, the capabilities are there. What you
 need is information.

 McNab also revealed that American and British
 army officials have been quizzing him about what
 to expect in Iraq with increasing frequency.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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*****************************************************************
 11 Radioactive gauge lost on the rock *

online.ie home </>


 /online.ie 16 Aug 2002/

British forces today searched for a small radioactive gauge 
reported missing two days ago at their naval base on Gibraltar.

Spain, which claims sovereignty over the Rock at its southern 
tip, said it had received assurances from the Foreign Office that 
the level of radioactivity emitted by the tool is extremely low 
and poses no danger to people.

The device is sphere-shaped, two inches in diameter, and used to 
measure radioactivity given off by submarines and other nuclear 
equipment on the base.

It was discovered missing during a routine equipment check on 
Wednesday.

The Spanish Embassy in London approached the Foreign Office that 
same day and was given a preliminary briefing.

"They promised to give us more technical information today as 
soon as they receive it from their Defence Ministry," said 
Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman Fernando Belloso said.

The government of Gibraltar, a British colony, called on Britain 
to review its security arrangements at the base "to ensure that 
these are not compromised in any way in the future."

The Spanish branch of Greenpeace complained that the incident 
revealed "a lack of security in the handling of such equipment" 
and called on the Madrid government to act forcefully and demand 
an explanation from the British.

The two countries are negotiating a new status for Gibraltar that 
features shared sovereignty, although the 30,000 local 
Gibraltarians are vehemently opposed to coming under any kind of 
Spanish rule.

A broken-down British nuclear-powered submarine spent a year at 
the Gibraltar base until it left in May 2001 after being 
repaired. The incident infuriated residents of southern Spain and 
served to energise the Spanish drive to recover the tiny 
territory it ceded to Britain in 1713.

*****************************************************************
 12 Federal Workers Get Evacuation Plan
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
August 17, 2002 
 
ASSOCIATED PRESS 

WASHINGTON- The Bush administration has reportedly approved a 
plan designed to initiate an evacuation of the nation's more than 
2 million federal workers within 15 minutes if there is a broad 
attack or threat from nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. 

Under the plan, the heads of the Office of Personnel Management, 
Federal Emergency Management Agency and General Services 
Administration may release up to 350,000 federal workers in the 
Washington area and 1.8 million nationwide if a threat is 
confirmed, The Washington Post reported in Saturday editions. 
Directors of the three agencies could alert the White House, 
local officials and regional emergency managers within minutes, 
the Post said. Federal agencies and the public would then be 
notified. 

The plan, prompted by confusion during the Sept. 11 attacks, is 
intended to allow for an orderly evacuation, the newspaper said. 
The procedures have been months in development and were presented 
to local government officials this summer. 

The three agencies have set up new 24-hour operation centers, 
which are in constant contact with federal, state and local law 
enforcement, the Post said. Some government officials have been 
assigned cellular or satellite phones or other wireless devices 
along with emergency call lists. 

Scott Hatch, a spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management, 
told the Post the plan is designed to begin the evacuation within 
15 minutes. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 13 D.C. firefighters to get Geiger counters - 

CNN.com - 

August 17, 2002
 	 	
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- District of Columbia firefighters are being 
equipped with Cold War-era Geiger counters to detect radiological 
material in case of a "dirty bomb" attack, a fire department 
spokesman said Saturday. 
				 
"Washington, D.C. is a potential target and we are going to do 
whatever it takes to get the resources we can in this war," said 
spokesman Alan Etter. 
				 
The Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition that some 
fire crews near downtown Washington, D.C., are using the devices, 
which are used to detect the presence and intensity of radiation. 
				 

Biological and chemical weapons    

Dirty bombs are conventional explosives wrapped in some kind of 
radioactive material and designed to spread radiation and inspire 
panic. 
				 
The hazardous materials unit of the D.C. fire department carries 
more sophisticated detection devices, but rank-and-file 
firefighters say Geiger counters could help those first on the 
scene of a terrorist attack, the Post reported. 
				 
Firefighters will also be given other equipment to help counter 
other forms of terrorism, such as bacterial or biological 
attacks. 
				 
"We are trying to marshal as many resources as we can to this 
effort," Etter said. 
		 
An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 14 Ottawa might expand radiation pill program
'Worst-case scenario' if terrorists attack

[A part of canada.com] <http://www.canada.com>
[NATIONAL POST] 

Friday » August 16 » 2002
 
Joseph Brean National Post

Federal health officials are considering expanding a drug 
distribution program designed to mitigate the effects of 
radiation poisoning after a nuclear accident.

In the Toronto area, where 50,000 people live in the shadow of 
the Pickering and Darlington nuclear plants, two of five such 
plants in the country, a current effort to get potassium iodide 
pills into local medicine cabinets is widely ignored.

The pills can prevent the body's absorption of a toxic isotope if 
taken soon after nuclear byproducts are released into the air, 
either by accident or a terrorist act.

Pharmacies in the Durham region, which includes both Pickering 
and Darlington, report that hardly anyone has taken up the local 
health authority's offer of free pills at pharmacies, since most 
are unaware of it. The program was announced this spring.

Now, though, Health Canada officials have begun meeting with 
provincial and municipal authorities "to re-look at the whole 
stockpiling of potassium iodide and perhaps other things for the 
potential of nuclear, biological or chemical attacks on the 
public," said Jean Patrice Auclair, manager of the nuclear 
emergency preparedness and response division of Health Canada.

"Since September 11, there has been a realization that we have to 
expand our thinking about the worst-case scenario," he said.

"They're basically studying whether they need to revise their 
estimates of worst-case scenario, or whether they need to look at 
going farther than the 10 kilometres."

Provincial emergency response plans require stockpiling the pills 
in hospitals and schools for treating everyone living within 10 
km of a nuclear plant. This applies to Canada's plants in 
Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, but also to plants across the 
border, for such places as Windsor, Ont., which has stockpiled 
potassium iodide in the event of an accident at a nuclear plant 
outside of nearby Detroit.

There is a long-standing provision that Canadian citizens are 
covered by compensation plans for any U.S. nuclear accident that 
has effects across the border, and vice versa.

In New Brunswick, where there are only 500 people living within 
10 km of the Point Lepreau plant, authorities have already given 
a supply to everyone. But to expand the radius much past 10 km at 
the Pickering and Darlington plants would mean encapsulating 
Toronto's population of more than two million.

In Pennsylvania yesterday, the announcement of a free potassium 
iodide distribution program prompted an overwhelming response, 
with 1,800 people crowding one of the distribution centres near 
Pittsburgh, and more than 40,000 doses collected state-wide. 
Other states are expected to follow suit, on orders from the 
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which warned of terrorists 
possibly attacking nuclear plants.

A key point in the debate over how to reform the provincially 
regulated Canadian programs, and the impetus for the Pickering 
and Darlington effort, is the need for swift application of 
potassium iodide after a nuclear accident for the drug to be 
effective.

Potassium iodide pills flood the thyroid gland, which regulates 
the body's hormonal balance, with harmless iodine to prevent 
absorption of iodine 131, a harmful isotope released in nuclear 
reactions, which can later cause thyroid cancer. The isotope is 
not released by uranium smelting or by dirty radiological bombs.

Hospitals, which often use radioactive iodine as a tracer, also 
stockpile the pills, Mr. Auclair said.

Colin Hunt, research director for the Canadian Nuclear 
Association, a lobby group, said potassium iodide's use as a 
prophylactic for thyroid ailments is rather academic, though, 
since the other health threats from nuclear accidents, such as 
radiation sickness or burns, are so devastating.

"Potassium iodide does not protect you against radiation. It only 
protects against the ingestion of iodine 131. In other words, 
it's usefulness is distinctly limited," Mr. Hunt said.

He said most effort is put into preventing accidents, rather than 
preparing to contain them and mitigate their effects.

Christine Lee, manager of the Liverpool pharmacy in Pickering, 
one of five in the Durham region program, said take-up on the 
program has been so slow that she has given out only about 30 
bottles of the Thyro-Block tablets, made by Carter-Horner Inc., 
of Mississauga, Ont.

"I don't think it's been well publicized at all," she said. "They 
only had ads for a day or so, and it wasn't so well received."

The Durham Regional Heath Department issued a news release about 
the program in April, and the Pickering plant printed a brief 
item in its newsletter, headlined "Drug Stores to carry Potassium 
Iodide tablets."

Dominic Barone, owner of Courtice Guardian in nearby Courtice, 
said he has given out 31 bottles.

"If these things had been available after 9/11, we wouldn't have 
had enough supply," he said.

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN CANADA AND NEIGHBOURING STATES:

U.S. nuclear plants

Washington:

WNP-2, Columbia

Minnesota:

Monticello, Monticello

Prairie Island 1-2

Red Wing

Wisconsin:

Kewaunee, Carlton Township

Michigan:

Cook 1-2, Bridgman

Fermi 2, Newport

Palisades, Covert

Ohio:

Davis-Besse, Oak Harbor

Perry, North Perry

New York:

FitzPatrick, Oswego

Ginna, Rochester

Indian Point 2-3, Buchanon

Nine Mile Point 1-2, Oswego

Vermont:

Vermont Yankee, Vernon

New Hampshire

Seabrook, Portsmouth

Point Beach 1-2, Two Creeks

© Copyright  2002 National Post
*****************************************************************
 15 Utah defending anti-nuclear waste laws in court*

HarkTheHerald.com <http://www.harktheherald.com/>

The Associated Press on Saturday, August 17

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- State lawyers filed a federal appeal on 
Thursday in a bid to salvage a package of laws meant to block the 
storage of high-level nuclear waste on the Skull Valley Goshute 
Indian Reservation.

Assistant Utah Attorney General Monte Stewart said the 10th 
Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver could be more receptive to 
arguments dismissed July 30 by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell.

Campbell ruled Utah could not interfere with the federal 
government's authority to license nuclear waste storage or the 
business affairs of a sovereign American Indian tribe.

"Judge Campbell gave a very thorough ruling," said Sue Martin, 
spokeswoman for Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight 
nuclear-powered utilities behind the Goshute deal.

The consortium has signed a lease on 680 acres of reservation 
land where it plans to store up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear 
fuel rods. The reservation is about 45 miles southwest of Salt 
Lake City.

Campbell struck down Utah laws that banned spent fuel rods from 
the state and made it prohibitively expensive for anyone to get 
into the nuclear-waste business.

At the heart of Utah's appeal is an issue Campbell refused to 
consider: the argument that Congress never explicitly authorized 
the storage of radioactive waste on private land.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A3.

 
# News by The Associated Press 

© 2002 by HarkTheHerald.com
*****************************************************************
 16 Perma-Fix Environmental Services Announces Record Sales And Earnings *

Friday, August 16, 2002 *Tell us what you think*

Bell South <http://www.bellsouth.com>

08-12-2002

ATLANTA -- Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. today announced 
revenues of $22.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, 
compared to revenues of $17.8 million for the quarter ended June 
30, 2001. The increase in revenues is principally from the 
Nuclear Segment, which showed a 70% increase in revenues over the 
same period of 2001. This increase is partially a result of the 
resolution of certain contract changes under the Oak Ridge 
contracts, which resulted in the Company recognizing 
approximately $2.2 million of additional revenue. Net income for 
the quarter was approximately $2.8 million or $.08 per share as 
compared to a net loss of $746,000 or $.03 per share for the 
quarter ended June 30, 2001. The earnings before interest, tax, 
depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 192% to $4.9 
million from $1.7 million for the same quarter in 2001. EBITDA 
was positively impacted by improvements in gross margins within 
the Nuclear Segment.

For the six months ended June 30, 2002, consolidated revenues 
increased to $38.9 million from $36.6 million for the period 
ended June 30, 2001. Net income for the six months increased to 
$735,000 or $.02 per share from a net loss of $1.3 million or 
$.06 per share for the same period in 2001. EBITDA for the six 
months ended June 30, 2002, increased to $4.9 million from $3.4 
million for the same six months in 2001.

Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, 
commented, "We recognized early on the growth opportunities which 
existed throughout the country and the opportunity to clean-up 
nuclear waste utilizing our proprietary technologies. We raised 
the capital, went through the long process of building and 
improving our facilities, and are now actively and successfully 
engaged in the process of dealing with this major national 
priority. We are, at last, enjoying the fruits of this long 
process and are pleased with our record results, and the 
continued success of all three of our nuclear facilities. We 
thank our shareholders for their patience and support, which have 
helped us achieve these important milestones."

*****************************************************************
 17 TEXT ONLY <../index_to.cfm>

voanews.com
Africa

Nuclear Waste Sparks Debate*

/Sheri Quinn/
/Skull Valley, Utah/
/17 Aug 2002 09:00 UTC/

Quinn report - Download 700k (RealAudio)  

<http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/quinn_skull_valley_nuclear_waste_feature_16aug02.rm>

AP Photo
AP

A horse grazes on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley, 
Utah*

/Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the U.S. government's controversial 
choice to be the nation's permanent nuclear waste dump, won't be 
ready to accept any radioactive refuse for at least eight years. 
In the meantime, that waste may well be headed to a far 
less-well-known corner of the vast western desert - Northern 
Utah, in Indian country, where it could remain for 40 years. The 
small tribe of Goshute Indians has few economic alternatives and 
wants the millions of dollars in storage fees that the nuclear 
waste would bring. The federal government's decision on whether 
to allow this arrangement has come down to an unusual assessment 
of risk./

When you hear decision-makers worry that airplanes could crash 
into pillars of nuclear waste in the Utah desert, you might 
imagine they're talking about acts of terrorism. But that's not 
their concern.

AP Photo AP *A truck passes a sign warning haulers not to 
transport high level nuclear waste without a permit, along 
Highway 186 leading to the Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull 
Valley, Utah*

What dominates this place, Skull Valley, Utah, is not the oceans 
of sagebrush or the layered mountains. It's the sky. The nation's 
largest overland combat training range is right next door. It's 
where fighter pilots learn how to become warriors and test their 
weapons?in short, Skull Valley is a military treasure.

Colonel Ron Fly, a retired pilot, says the Air Force wants to 
keep it that way. "Skull Valley is used as a transition corridor 
to get from civilian air space into the range airspace where we 
do all of the real aggressive type of training," he says.

AP Photo AP *An informational kiosk describing a proposed spent 
nuclear fuel storage facility stands in the only store on the 
Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley, Utah*

Despite fierce protests from the state of Utah, environmental 
groups, and even some members of the small Goshute tribe, Skull 
Valley tribal leaders agreed to lease a large chunk of their land 
to a consortium of eight power companies called PFS. If the 
company gets its way, rows of cement casks filled with highly 
radioactive waste will line the Skull Valley desert like 4,000 
giant soldiers. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is trying to 
figure out whether the fighter jets and the aboveground storage 
facilities are a safe mix. Up to 7,000 F-16s fly over Skull 
Valley every year. Over the past decade, 140 of them have 
crashed.

"We were basically fighting our way out against opposition 
aircraft. In the midst of that I had an engine failure?," says 
pilot Frank Bernard, who had engine trouble during a combat 
training mission in Canada. Despite the danger, Frank Bernard 
found he did not want to give up his mission or his plane. He 
stayed in the cockpit as long as he could.

/"I'm bailing out... " WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING?"/

No matter what he did, the plane was going down. Traveling at 240 
kilometers per hour, he pulled the ejection handle.

The F-16 slammed into the Canadian tundra and Frank Bernard 
safely ejected at the last minute. According to people close to 
the NRC proceedings, how he and other pilots like him behave in 
this life-threatening situation is what will probably decide 
whether nuclear waste can be stored on the Goshute land. The 
storage company, PFS, says the risk of a plane crashing into the 
site is less than one in a million per year, which the NRC would 
find acceptable.

But to arrive at this low rate, the NRC allowed PFS to change its 
initial evidence, which showed the odds were much worse, one in 
365,000. PFS contends pilots will be able to steer a crashing 
plane away from any structures or populations, before they eject.

Some pilots aren't so sure. Hugh Horstman, who also used to fly 
F-16s, says when an Air Force pilot is losing a plane, he or she 
may not have time to think about exactly where it will fall. "I 
agree that they are the most wonderful pilots in the world, but 
we've reviewed a number of accidents where pilot error is one 
factor and they make mistakes on a routine basis. The assumption 
from PFS is pilots will never make a mistake and that is simply 
not valid," he says.

Because PFS says the chance of a crash at the site is extremely 
low, the facility doesn't have to be designed to withstand one, 
says spokeswoman Sue Marti. "There are all sorts of risks that we 
face everyday of our lives that have a much greater probability 
than this, driving your automobile is the primary one, even 
smoking cigarettes," she says.

Hearings on this issue concluded last month (July) in Washington 
DC. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing board is expected 
to make a decision by early December.

/This land is your land, this land is my land, from the redwood 
forest to the?.."/

Moving the nation's nuclear waste to Skull Valley, Utah would 
mean the same cross country shipments of the same waste on 
American rail lines as Yucca Mountain will require. The proposed 
waste dump just hasn't won the same attention as the Nevada site 
largely because Congress is not involved.

This site is on Indian land, so decisions about the land's use 
are between the Goshutes and the power companies, requiring only 
the approval of the NRC. Utah residents, state officials, and 
environmental groups nevertheless hope they can bring some kind 
of pressure to bear on supporters of the Skull Valley site, even 
if it means something as subtle as singing together at this rally 
in Salt Lake City.

But activists' hopes for keeping the nation's nuclear waste out 
of Utah will most likely ride on the odds that a doomed F-16 jet, 
abandoned to crash harmlessly in the desert, could instead ignite 
a radioactive catastrophe.

Us <http://www.voa.gov/index.cfm>| Contact VOANEWS 
*****************************************************************
 18 Community Voices / Bill Walker: Kern at risk from nuclear 
shipments

bakersfield.com - Opinion
 
[http://www.bakersfield.com]   

Friday August 16, 2002, 08:35:04 PM 

Your article on the possibility of nuclear waste being 
transported through Bakersfield to Nevada need not have left 
readers wondering about routes the U.S. Department of Energy has 
selected through Kern County.

 In June, the Environmental Working Group created a Web site 
(www.mapscience.org) that allows anyone to enter an address and 
find out how close they are to a proposed nuclear waste transport 
route. The information is based on the DOE's own data --- buried 
in an unwieldy technical appendix the public was unlikely to see.

 Trainloads of highly radioactive waste would be shipped through 
the heart of Bakersfield, on tracks parallel to Highways 204 and 
58, passing within a mile of more than a dozen schools and 
several hospitals.

 We publicized this information because the government has not 
given the American people the information needed to participate 
in the biggest transportation safety decision in the nation's 
history. DOE and the nuclear industry tout the safety record of 
past shipments. They don't mention that the amount of waste 
shipped to Yucca Mountain each year will be double the entire 
amount shipped over the last 30 years, or that weapons readily 
available on the terrorist black market are easily capable of 
piercing the 5- to 11 inches of armor on the waste containers. 

They also don't admit that this scheme won't get rid of the 
problem it was intended to solve: When Yucca Mountain is full, 
there will be more high-level waste stored at the Diablo Canyon 
and San Onofre nuclear power plants than there is today.

 You don't have to be against nuclear power to believe that the 
U.S. is simply not prepared to safely transport 77,000 tons of 
highly radioactive waste through dozens states over the next few 
decades.

 But the Senate has approved the plan, sending the decision to 
the courts -- which hopefully won't be swayed by the wishes of 
the nuclear power industry.

 Bill Walker of Oakland is vice president/west coast of the 
Environmental Working Group. Community Voices is an expanded 
commentary that may contain up to 500 words. The Californian 
reserves the right to republish contributed commentaries in all 
formats, including on its Web page. 

Print this Article Email this Article Discuss this page 
[http://discussion.bakersfield.com] 

[webmaster@bakersfield.com] 
*****************************************************************
 19 EDITORIAL: Yucca Mountain vs. the Test Site

Apparent contradiction disappears on closer inspection 

Sunday, August 18, 2002
 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal 
 
Rumors of the demise of the Nevada Test Site appear to have been 
seriously premature. 

First came news in July that -- due primarily to security 
concerns after a 1997 mock terrorist attack by Army Special 
Forces spirited away 200 pounds of fissionable materials from the 
New Mexico facility -- the aging TA-18 Critical Experiments 
Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory is now expected to be 
closed and relocated to a locale with a much better reputation 
for security, the Nevada Test Site. 

About 70 technical and clerical employees and postdoctoral 
students work at the facility -- the only place in the U.S. 
weapons complex where high-level nuclear materials are used for 
hands-on emergency response training. The Critical Experiment 
Facility is currently operated by the University of California 
under a $23.3 million annual budget, and could be relocated by 
2005 to the Nevada Test Site's Device Assembly Facility -- along 
with, in all probability, "several tons" of weapons-grade, highly 
enriched uranium and plutonium. 

Now, in a separate development, Dale Klein, executive director of 
the Nuclear Weapons Council -- an elite liaison group of defense 
and energy officials -- says the United States may need to resume 
full-scale underground nuclear tests in Nevada within five to 10 
years, to check the effects of corrosion due to age on the 
nation's decades-old nuclear weapons stockpile. 

Both these proposed uses are fully compatible with the nature and 
purpose of the test site and -- providing transportation and 
security issues are adequately resolved -- will doubtless receive 
wide support from Southern Nevadans. 

That may seem like a contradiction to observers who wonder why 
residents of the Silver State can view such programs with 
equanimity, while objecting so strenuously to the federal 
proposal that the spent fuel rods of the nation's nuclear 
reactors be dumped down a hole in Yucca Mountain, only a short 
distance west of the test site. 

But there's no inconsistency here, really. 

Nevadans have always been proud of the part their state has 
played in the nation's Cold War victory, and in her general 
military readiness. They're ready to continue to do their share 
toward those goals, again today. And no, the value of attracting 
or retaining some highly paid technical jobs, diversifying the 
economy of this otherwise forbidding desert, isn't lost on them. 

On the other hand, take Yucca Mountain. Please. 

It's being imposed on Nevadans by a haughty federal authority, 
without their advice or consent. Proof of the theory that it will 
be safer to transport those thousands of tons of fuel rods from 
their present locations has yet to be demonstrated. And downright 
disingenuous is the claim that those materials will be safer from 
terrorist sabotage or seizure once they arrive here, for 
America's spent commercial fuel will never be centralized in one 
site -- current plans call for more rods to be constantly used up 
and stored in cooling pools at those same remote reactor sites, 
long after Yucca Mountain is full. 

Craziest of all is the notion that any eventual repository at 
Yucca Mountain should not be constantly monitored and designed to 
facilitate retrieval should reprocessing become a more attractive 
option in future, but instead sealed with much waving of arms and 
utterance of curses and hieroglyphs, like some Egyptian tomb. 

Yucca Mountain isn't based on "science," as politicians claim -- 
it's a political Band-Aid to cover up a problem Congress created 
50 years ago when it waved its magic wand and excused the 
fledgling "private" nuclear energy industry from seeking 
liability insurance from free-market insurance carriers ... who 
would doubtless have said, "Wait a minute, how are you going to 
get rid of all this stuff?"
 
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002
*****************************************************************
 20 U.S. SENATOR BARBARA BOXER | CALIFORNIA
 
U.S. Energy Department Acknowledges Rocketdyne Waste Disposal At 
Additional California Landfills
 
Boxer Calls for Immediate Halt of Radioactive Waste Shipments to 
Local Landfills
 
August 15, 2002
         

Los Angeles, CA -- The U.S. Department of Energy has informed 
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer that radioactive material from 
Rocketdyne has been shipped to two additional California 
landfills in Los Angeles County: the Calabasas Landfill and the 
Sunshine Landfill. The Department of Energy previously 
acknowledged that radioactive waste had gone to the Bradley 
Landfill. At the request of Senator Boxer, Secretary of Energy 
Spencer Abraham disclosed the details of these shipments.
 
"This is another instance in which the Department of Energy has 
disposed of radioactive material by sending it to municipal 
landfills," Boxer said. "This practice is irresponsible and it 
must end. These landfills, often situated near neighborhoods and 
without sophisticated monitoring systems, are not suitable 
disposal sites for radioactive materials. I call on the 
Department of Energy to immediately cease these shipments. 
Radioactive waste collected from highly contaminated sites must 
not be handled like the trash collected from our kitchens."
 
The Rocketdyne site was used since the 1950's by the federal 
government to test nuclear reactors and rocket engines. Residents 
and former workers at the site are concerned that chemical and 
radioactive contamination threatens neighboring communities. 
Senator Boxer recently met with local residents, many of whom 
believe that their medical problems are caused by exposure to the 
site. Copies of Senator Boxer's letter requesting information 
about disposals from Rocketdyne and Secretary Abraham's letter of 
response are attached. --> 
 
*****************************************************************
 21 Sellafield proposals 'grossly inadequate' 

BBC NEWS | UK | England | 

			 	 			 	 
Friday, 16 August, 2002

[Sellafield plant, Cumbria]                     

Each part of Sellafield will be regulated

Environmental campaigners have criticised government plans for 
new regulations to govern radioactive waste disposals at 
Sellafield nuclear plant. The Environment Agency has published 
proposals following a four-month consultation period, which 
included asking the public for its view. 

Among the recommendations are cutting discharge limits, controls 
on individual plants at the site, a pan-Sellafield authorisation 
certificate, and environmental improvements. 

But Greenpeace claims the proposals will allow BNFL to increase 
discharges from Sellafield. 

'Important milestone' 

Spokesman Peter Roche told BBC News Online: "The proposals are 
grossly inadequate. 

"Despite all the talk of significant reductions in discharge 
limits, the actual radioactivity going into the Irish Sea and our 
atmosphere is likely to double over the next few years." 

The government has said the UK will implement the Ospar 
(Oslo-Paris) Radioactive Discharges Strategy, to "ensure the 
reduction of radioactive substances into the marine environment." 

But Greenpeace says allowing the thermal oxide reprocessing plant 
to continue discharging radioactivity into the sea, means the UK 
cannot meet a commitment to "close to zero concentrations" by 
2020. 
		 			
[Sellafield] The Sellafield report has gone to Margaret Beckett
 		 		 			  
The Environment Agency admits that Sellafield is "a major source 
of radioactive discharges into the environment" and has called 
its new proposals an "important milestone" in reducing 
discharges. 

An agency statement said: "We propose significant reductions in 
most discharge limits. 

"This will reduce potential radiation doses to the most exposed 
members of the public - those living in Cumbrian coastal 
communities bordering the Irish Sea - as well as average doses to 
members of the public." 

Legal limits 

The agency says more than three-quarters of the limits on aerial 
discharges, and half the liquid discharge limits, from the 
Sellafield site will be reduced. 

It says it will reduce radiation doses to the most exposed 
members of the public, at the proposed limits, by between 25% and 
35%, with doses well within legal limits and constraints. 

Controls will be introduced on discharges from individual plants 
as well as from the site as a whole. 

Dischareges 

A new, single integrated certificate of authorisation for 
regulating waste disposals to air, sea and land from Sellafield, 
is proposed. 

A BNFL spokesman said: "We have made continuous and progressive 
reductions in discharges over many years, regardless of what the 
actual limits in place at the time have been. 

"We are committed to further reductions where they will have a 
positive environmental benefit." 

But BNFL said the overall benefits of what the agency is 
proposing would be difficult to quantify and doubted whether the 
environment would benefit. 

Waste legacy 

The Environment Agency also wants to see a significant programme 
of environmental improvements. 

Environment Agency chief executive Barbara Young said: "These 
proposals set the foundations for a cleaner future. 

"They enable BNFL to continue to clean up the legacy of waste 
from Sellafield's industrial past, within a tighter and more 
focussed regulatory control framework. " 

The proposals have been sent to the Secretary of State for 
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett, the 
environment minister, Michael Meacher, and the Secretary of State 
for Health, Alan Milburn.                            

© MMII | News Sources | Privacy 
*****************************************************************
 22 Next in saga over planned dumpsite: Debating list of 293 
unresolved issues 

Photos: Geological study | Test hole | Measurements 

Las Vegas SUN
 
August 16, 2002 

By Benjamin Grove <grove@lasvegassun.com [grove@lasvegassun.com] 
>
  
The Categories

 The Energy Department has agreed to provide the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission with volumes of additional data on 293 
topics related to the Yucca Mountain project. The topics fall 
into nine categories:
 

  + Likelihood and consequences of a volcano
 
  + Evaluation of an earthquake
 
  + Long-term changes in the repository's environment
 
  + Predictions about waste containers, and how much waste might 
leak from containers
 
  + How heat and moisture interact inside the repository
 
  + The design of the repository
 
  + Groundwater flow under Yucca
 
  + How radioactive particles might be carried out of the 
repository
 
  + Total system performance -- how well the repository works as 
a waste isolating system
 
Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's list of 293 
"unresolved" scientific issues at Yucca Mountain often has been 
the center of debate about the project.

 To a layman, the list is virtually undecipherable, written in a 
secret language of technical jargon.

 To Nevada officials, the list is prose, a beautifully itemized 
catalog of gaps in Energy Department research to make Yucca the 
world's first high-level nuclear waste burial ground.

 To Energy officials, the list is a guide that will help them 
fulfill NRC requirements and win its approval.

 During the next 17 months, the list -- a compilation of requests 
from the commission for more information -- is expected to play a 
starring role in the ongoing saga of Yucca as the Energy 
Department scrambles to submit an application for a license to 
construct the dump.

 Department officials view the 293 data requests as a collection 
of mere loose ends, not "show-stoppers."

 But Yucca critics say many will be difficult to answer, 
ultimately casting even more doubt on the project they say has 
been plagued by missing and flawed research.

 "The DOE has not done good scientific work," said Arjun 
Makhijani, an engineer who is the Institute for Energy and 
Environmental Research president and a longtime Yucca critic. 
"They have spent a lot of money, and people tend to confuse the 
two. The $7 billion has not produced a body of scientific 
evidence that supports Yucca Mountain."

 The science

 The Energy Department fought for years to earn its final victory 
in Congress, which came when the Senate approved Yucca in July. 
Now the department faces an even more formidable hurdle than 
layman lawmakers: an army of NRC scientists and engineers.

 Nevada officials welcome the venue change, saying they have 
always had a better chance of killing the project in a scientific 
or legal arena, as opposed to a political one.

 "There is no question in my mind that on a level playing field, 
under a strict and impartial technical review, the site doesn't 
stand a chance," Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency Director Bob Loux 
said.

 Still, state officials are skeptical of the commission, which is 
closely tied to the pro-Yucca industry it regulates and not 
likely to be a "neutral arbiter of fact," Loux said.

 Many observers disagree, saying the Rockville, Md.-based NRC is 
staffed by some of the nation's leading scientists who are 
committed to an impartial Yucca review.

 But observers also acknowledge that the five-member panel 
perched atop the agency is under tremendous political pressure to 
approve the site.

 "It's way too early to tell," if the NRC could ever reject Yucca 
based on science, said Allison Macfarlane, director of a Yucca 
research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 Energy Department officials are confident Yucca will hold up 
under NRC scrutiny. They believe the site is backed by impressive 
scientific data, with more on the way.

 Scientists considered every future scenario at Yucca -- even ice 
ages and flooding and devastating earthquakes, department 
officials say. None of the research suggests that Yucca would 
fail to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards within the 
next 10,000 years, they say.

 "Some of the world's best scientists examined every aspect of 
(Yucca Mountain)," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told 
lawmakers in May. He told President Bush that he never would have 
recommended Yucca if it was dangerous to the public, "including 
those Americans living in the immediate vicinity, now and into 
the future."

 But critics say the 293 issues prove the jury is still out.

 Makhijani strongly believes in the concept of a geologic waste 
repository, but argues research proves Yucca is a bad site.

 "We need someone to stand up and say, 'The emperor has pretty 
skimpy clothes,' " he said.

 The list

 The list was cobbled together last year as the Energy Department 
was finalizing many of its studies. The department spent 20 years 
compiling thousands of studies and reports about the desert 
ridge's hydrology, geology and history.

 But department officials still didn't know if they had amassed 
enough data for the NRC to consider their license application. 
They needed to know if they were close.

 So NRC staffers drew up an itemized accounting of notable "gaps" 
in the department's research.

 What emerged in September was a 37-page document that listed the 
293 gaps, often called "agreements." Both agencies agreed the 
department would have to fork over more data on each issue -- in 
some cases, a lot more -- before the NRC would consider it 
complete.

 If the department coughs up all the necessary information, only 
then will the NRC consider "docketing" the application and 
launching an in-depth review.

 In the end, the NRC -- not the Energy Department -- will 
"resolve" whether the department's data supports its case that 
Yucca is a safe site to permanently bury the nation's most 
radioactive waste, according to NRC high-level waste chief Janet 
Schlueter.

 The issues

 The 293 data requests vary widely. For example, the NRC wants 
supporting data on how the Energy Department approached 
evaluating seismic risks; additional documents on metal waste 
container corrosion tests; and more information on 
"thermohydrologic flow" -- how heat affects moisture in the 
tunnels.

 Officials sorted the 293 points into nine groups called "key 
technical issues," which insiders call KTIs. For example, one 
group consists of 23 requests for more information about how the 
design of the underground repository will affect heat and 
moisture inside it. Placing heat-emitting waste containers closer 
together would make the repository's temperature higher. The 
Energy Department has not yet chosen a "hot" or "cold" design. 
The groups closely mirror many issues that Nevada officials for 
years have said made Yucca a bad place to bury waste.
 
•••

 Hydrology: "The best way to think of it is to follow the water," 
Macfarlane said. She supports the concept of a geologic waste 
dump, but has criticized much of the Energy Department's 
research, including studies of whether water flow at Yucca may 
one day carry radioactive particles outside the mountain.

 "It's unknown how much rain might fall in the future and unclear 
how the water moves through the repository now," she said.

 Rain may seep through the mountain's cracks faster than 
expected, critics say. That means water could enter the tunnels, 
even drip on the metal containers, corroding even the most 
high-tech metals over time.

 "We don't know what those travel times are with any precision. 
This is an area of concern for the NRC. They would like to 
understand it better," said Debra Knopman, a hydrology and 
systems analysis expert and a member of the 11-person Nuclear 
Waste Technical Review Board, an independent panel created by 
Congress to watch Energy Department studies.

 The department disagrees. Less than a half an inch of rain a 
year seeps beneath Yucca's surface, Abraham told Congress. "Our 
studies indicate that the vast majority of water samples taken 
from (inside) the mountain are thousands of years old."
 
•••

 Volcanoes: Even Nevada consultants say it's unlikely that 
ancient volcanoes near Yucca could erupt during the next 10,000 
years. But the department should know a lot more about how likely 
-- and how damaging -- "igneous activity" could be before they 
build a repository, Nevada officials say. A study published last 
month by a team of Dutch, English and U.S. scientists said molten 
rock could blast into the repository at 600 mph and fill it 
within hours if dormant volcanoes near Yucca awoke.

 Department officials say the chance of an eruption is one in 70 
million each year for the next 10,000 years. Nevada officials 
don't trust that statistic.

 "The probability of an eruption is pretty low," said Eugene 
Smith, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor who is leading 
a state-contracted study of eruption probability rates. "But I 
don't think (the department) has calculated the probability of 
volcanic activity to the satisfaction of the NRC."
 
•••

 Waste containers: Of the 293 points, 58 were requests for more 
information about the giant metal casks that department officials 
say will encapsulate waste for 10,000 years.

 Nevada officials say the containers may be the biggest flaw in 
the entire project, in part because the department plans to 
construct the containers out of a newly developed nickel-based 
alloy often called Alloy-22.

 Not enough is known about the metal to form any "reasonable 
assurance" that it won't rust or otherwise corrode, critics say.

 "They are fighting Mother Nature for hundreds of thousands of 
years with a metal that has just been discovered," Makhijani 
said.

 Part of Nevada's legal effort to kill Yucca depends on the 
argument that the Energy Department is relying too heavily on 
Alloy-22 containers to isolate waste -- and not primarily on the 
mountain itself, which federal law intended, state officials say.

 The Energy Department plans to rely on mere "first-of-a-kind, 
man-made contrivances," Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa 
argued in a petition filed last month at the NRC, urging that it 
create stricter Yucca licensing rules.

 Alloy-22 is simply unproven over time, and scientists don't have 
enough data to make accurate performance predictions, Joe Egan, 
one of the state's lawyers, said.

 "It's almost as if they are back to square one," Egan said. 
"You're back to saying, 'We've got to have a container that lasts 
10,000 years, now what are we going to make it out of?' "

 Department engineers sharply disagree that Alloy-22 would 
corrode. They have been conducting three sets of tests on the 
metal, looking for signs of cracking or corrosion. The primary 
test dates back five years in which "hundreds, if not thousands" 
of 3- to 4-inch square Alloy-22 samples have been submerged in 
water with varying chemical compositions at Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory in California, Energy Department engineer 
Paige Russell said.

 The bottom line: The tests show "extremely low rates" of general 
corrosion that suggest an Alloy-22 waste container would not leak 
within 10,000 years, Russell said.

 Department and nuclear industry officials also assert that their 
scientific evidence proves they rely on Yucca geology and the 
waste containers working "in concert," as Abraham put it.

 "This project does not depend on a miracle metal," added Rod 
McCullum, a senior project manager at the Nuclear Energy 
Institute, the nuclear industry's top trade group.

 The deadline

 It's not clear whether the department can gather all the 
necessary data to satisfy the NRC by December 2004.

 The General Accounting Office is skeptical. The investigative 
arm of Congress concluded that the department needed until 2006 
to adequately finish its studies, based largely on information 
provided by project contractor, Bechtel SAIC.

 But Bechtel promptly rejected a draft version of the GAO report, 
which Abraham said was "fatally flawed."

 Department officials are optimistic. They laid out a timeline 
for turning over all the research by December 2004. The 
department already has complied with 52 points -- leaving 241.

 At a recent meeting, Energy Department Yucca chief Margaret Chu 
told a National Academy of Sciences panel that resolving every 
one by the end of 2004 was among her highest priorities, but 
acknowledged, "There are 160 KTI that we haven't even started 
addressing."

 George Hornberger, head of the NRC's Advisory Committee on 
Nuclear Waste, which advises the commissioners on Yucca issues, 
said the department seems to be on track.

 "As the committee has followed the processes, we certainly 
haven't seen any huge roadblocks that cause us to say, 'Wow, this 
is really stupid,' " Hornberger said.

 But the panel also has been critical of the project's science. 
In September it issued a sharply worded report about the 
department's "total system performance assessment," essentially 
the department's analysis of whether Yucca works.

 The report said the department "relies on modeling assumptions 
that mask a realistic assessment of risk." And it said department 
"computations and analyses are assumption-based, not 
evidence-supported."

 That opinion hasn't changed much in the last year, but it 
certainly could by 2004, Hornberger said.

 Observers expect the 293 issues to be the beginning, not the 
end, of NRC requests for information. It is notorious for poring 
over every detail, industry insiders say.

 "Just satisfying the NRC's thirst for information is not easy -- 
and it shouldn't be," McCullum said.

 In the days when the NRC was still licensing nuclear power 
plants, it used to throw "books" of key technical questions at 
licensees, said Robert Bernero, who spent six years overseeing 
plant safety at the agency.

 "Of course the NRC will find more issues that need to be 
resolved (at Yucca)," said Bernero, a consultant and member of 
the National Academy's Yucca panel. "This is just a list of 
initial issues."

 Decades more work

 Even if the Energy Department submits all the materials 
necessary to satisfy the NRC by December 2004, reviews will 
continue for decades after Yucca Mountain opens, advocates and 
opponents say.

 The department plans to carry out a "performance confirmation 
program" in which scientists will carefully monitor the mountain 
for signs of flaws. That will go on until Yucca closes -- 
decades, even a century or two.

 In addition, many advocates and opponents say in-depth 
scientific research -- beyond routine monitoring -- should 
continue at Yucca for generations. The extent of the research has 
not been defined and likely will depend on how much Congress is 
willing to fund, observers say.

 "The vast majority of the board would support a research and 
development program that would extend well beyond the opening of 
the repository, considering the significance of the uncertainties 
that exist," said Bill Barnard, staff director of the Nuclear 
Waste Technical Review Board, Congress' Yucca watchdog.

 As part of its license application, the department must outline 
its "performance confirmation plan." It's likely those plans will 
include studies on the waste containers, including possible 
full-scale tests, which have never been conducted, said Tim 
McCartin, a senior NRC adviser for performance assessment.

 Among other benefits, those long-term tests could be vital to 
proving whether Alloy-22 is corrosion-proof, said Alberto Sagues, 
a University of South Florida professor and metals corrosion 
expert and former member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review 
Board. So far, the metal's longevity is uncertain, he said.

 "The question is, as time progresses, will the department be 
doing these studies with the intensity that the problem demands?" 
Sagues said. "We are dealing with such an unprecedented 
performance period that you can't say, 'We've solved everything 
and now we're going to forget about it.' "

 Of course, years after Yucca opens it will be difficult to 
cancel the project even if ongoing studies uncover serious flaws, 
most observers agree. But continued study will allow scientists 
to make necessary corrections.

 "You don't have to pin every detail down," McCullum said. 
"That's a tactic used by the (Yucca) opponents to try to nail 
down every answer so that they have a target. If you have to make 
adjustments, you make adjustments."

 But Yucca critics fear the department's promises of ongoing 
study may be designed to merely make a bad project more palatable 
to a doubting public.

 "When I see the DOE promising a bunch more studies, I think: 
'Why did they make the (site recommendation) decision already? If 
they have already decided (Yucca) is OK, then why are they 
planning this research?' " Macfarlane said.

 And Nevada officials say they don't want promises of a future 
science experiment; they want all the answers before trucks and 
trains begin hauling waste from all over America to the desert 
ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 "It's very bizarre," Loux said. "You would think that with a 
first-of-its-kind project, they would want to have the whole 
thing nailed down. It's like a Kafka novel."

 For now, Energy Department officials are focused on meeting all 
of the NRC's 293 demands. They expect that by the end of 2004, 
Congress' Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will offer a more 
optimistic opinion of the science than one issued in January. In 
a widely discussed finding then, the board concluded that the 
scientific evidence supporting Yucca Mountain was "weak to 
moderate."

 It's likely that assessment will improve by December 2004, 
Barnard said. But it's not a guarantee.

 "Sometimes," Barnard said. "more information creates more 
uncertainty."
 
All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 23 DOE Official Endorses Building A New Uranium Enrichment Plant*

<http://www.xtn.net>

*125 West Summer Street - Greeneville, TN - (423) 798-0545*
*
By: /By BILL JONES/Staff Writer / Source:/ The Greeneville Sun 
<http://greene.xtn.net> / 08-17-2002

The need for a new U.S. uranium enrichment plant, such as one 
that could potentially be built in Unicoi County, recently was 
endorsed by a U.S. Department of Energy official in a letter to 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In an early August letter to the director of the NRC?s Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, William D. Magwood IV, 
the Department of Energy?s director of the Office of Nuclear 
Energy, Science and Technology, cited a number of reasons why he 
felt a new uranium enrichment plant is needed.

The letter, which was found on the Internet during a computer 
database search, indicated that Magwood had been invited by the 
NRC to comment on ?the general policy issues raised by the 
Louisiana Energy Services (LES) in preparation for its enrichment 
plant license application.?

LES is an international consortium that is proposing to build a 
uranium enrichment plant using ?gas centrifuge? technology 
pioneered by Urenco, a European company that operates similar 
plants in England, Germany and the Netherlands.

A 100-acre tract in the town of Unicoi is one of several sites 
around the country under consideration by the LES consortium as a 
location for a $1 billion uranium enrichment plant.

A group called ?Citizens for Preservation of the Valley 
Beautiful? has rallied against location of the proposed plant in 
Unicoi.

Last week a leading energy industry newsletter said LES is 
expected to choose a site for the proposed plant by the end the 
month.

Capacity Said Needed

According to Magwood?s letter, an analysis under the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) shows a need for U.S. electric 
power companies to increase generating capacity by half over the 
next 20 years and that nuclear power must play a role. ?The 
Department has concluded that nuclear energy will continue to 
play a critical future role in powering the American economy,? 
Magwood wrote. ?The National Energy Policy estimates that 
electric utilities must increase capacity by at least 50 percent 
to keep up with demand in the next two decades. ?Nuclear 
utilities must increase proportionately if we are to maintain a 
balance between economic growth and protecting the environment 
from greenhouse gases.

?Uranium enrichment is a critical step in the production of 
nuclear fuel. Within the past two years, domestic uranium 
enrichment has fallen from a capacity greater than domestic 
demand to a level that is less than half of domestic 
requirements.

?If the trend continues, 80 percent of projected demand in 2020 
for nuclear power could be fueled from foreign sources.

?In interagency discussions, led by the National Security 
Council, concerning the domestic uranium enrichment industry, 
there was a clear determination that the United States should 
maintain a viable, competitive, domestic uranium enrichment 
industry for the foreseeable future.

?The recent agreement between the Department (DoE) and USEC Inc. 
reflects that policy objective of encouraging private sector 
investment in new uranium enrichment capacity. The Department 
(DoE) firmly believes that there is sufficient domestic demand to 
support multiple domestic enrichers and that competition is 
important to maintain a healthy industry.?

Application Pending

USEC Inc. operates a ?gaseous diffusion? uranium enrichment plant 
in Kentucky and proposes to apply for a license from the NRC to 
build a new U.S. uranium enrichment plant. USEC?s application is 
expected to be filed late this year at the same time the LES 
consortium is expected to file a competing application. Magwood 
wrote, ?Having said the above, however, it is not the 
Department?s intent to opine on the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission's responsibilities under NEPA.? Magwood?s letter 
indicated that in its dialogue with the three European government 
partners in Urenco Ltd. (Great Britain, The Netherlands, and 
Germany), the U.S. Government has expressed support for 
consideration by Urenco to partner with a U.S. company or 
companies for the purpose of transferring Urenco technology to 
new U.S. commercial uranium enrichment facilities.

Government?s Concerns

The letter also cites what Magwood calls ?the U.S. Government's 
concerns? about maintaining a uranium enrichment capability in 
the U.S.

The concerns cited in Magwood?s letter include:

? ?Maintaining a reliable and economical U.S. uranium enrichment 
industry is an important U.S. energy security objective.

? ?The U.S. Government supports the deployment of Urenco gas 
centrifuge technology in new U.S. commercial uranium enrichment 
facilities as a means of maintaining a reliable and economical 
U.S. uranium enrichment industry.

? ?Existing Department of Energy nuclear sites could be made 
available to facilitate timely licensing of a new U.S. commercial 
uranium enrichment facility and the facilities to build Urenco 
centrifuge in the U.S. The U.S. would place a high priority on 
ensuring that nuclear nonproliferation safeguards are in place 
and that protections for public health, safety, and the 
environment are maintained.

? ?The U.S. Government has encouraged USEC Inc. and other U.S. 
companies to explore with Urenco mutually viable economic terms 
or partnership arrangements for the purpose of transferring 
Urenco technology to a new U.S. commercial uranium enrichment 
facility.

? ?The U.S. Government would appreciate (the three Allied 
governments?) support and encouragement for partnerships between 
U.S. companies and Urenco, Limited, to provide technology on 
economically viable terms for a new, economically competitive and 
reliable uranium enrichment plant in the United States utilizing 
Urenco gas centrifuge technology.?

Waste Disposal Questions

Magwood?s letter notes that there has been no formal 
determination by NRC that depleted uranium (which is a byproduct 
of uranium enrichment operations) is ?low-level radioactive 
waste? for purposes of Section 3113 of the 1996 USEC 
Privatization Act.

?Consequently, DoE is not obligated to accept it (depleted 
uranium) for disposal unless and until NRC makes such a 
determination (that depleted uranium is low-level radioactive 
waste).

?However, in view of the Department?s plan to build depleted 
uranium disposition facilities and the critical importance the 
Department places on maintaining a viable domestic uranium 
enrichment industry, the Department acknowledges that Section 
3113 may constitute a ?plausible strategy? for the disposal of 
depleted uranium from the private sector domestic uranium 
enrichment plant license applicants and operators.

?The procedures and costs for this potential service are yet to 
be determined.

?The Department notes that Section 3113 (3) provides for 
reimbursements in an ?amount equal to the Secretary's cost, 
including a pro rata share of any capital costs.? ?Unlike Section 
3113 (2), the reimbursement for the recovery of the costs for 
disposal of depleted uranium is not capped by the amount charged 
by commercial, state, regional or interstate compact entities for 
disposal services,? Magwood wrote.

© 2002 East Tennessee Network - R.A.I.D. (Regionalized Access 
*****************************************************************
 24 Family Feud: Goshutes Split Over Nuclear Waste Site

The Salt Lake Tribune -- 

Sunday, August 18, 2002   

  The Skull Valley Goshute Reservation lies southwest of Salt 
Lake City. The home to 121 tribe members is the center of 
controversy. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune) 
  
BY JUDY FAHYS

    Editor's note: The Skull Valley Band of Goshutes infuriated 
Utah leaders and divided its own community by agreeing to store 
discarded nuclear fuel on its West Desert reservation. 

    In coming months, The Salt Lake Tribune will examine this 
high-stakes, high-anxiety enterprise. 

   SKULL VALLEY -- This desert looks nothing like the promised 
land imagined when Goshute Indian leaders struck a lucrative deal 
to rent a patch of their reservation to store poisonous nuclear 
waste nobody else wants. 

    Milk and honey have yet to flow into their sun-scorched 
village. 

    Animosity, though, is at flood stage. 

    Five years have passed since leaders of the Skull Valley Band 
of the Goshute offered to make tribal land an open-air parking 
lot for 44,000 tons of the nation's highly radioactive 
power-plant waste just 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The 
shock wave split the tiny tribe and rolled its way to Washington, 
D.C., where the reverberations have never ceased. 

    The consortium of eight utility companies advocating the 
storage site has fought for it in courts, in political arenas and 
in the arena of public opinion. By Dec. 5, the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission is expected to decide whether to license 
the Skull Valley facility. 

    The deal has been attacked by Utah political leaders, whose 
constituents do not use nuclear power. With bitter memories of 
the government's deadly atomic-testing in the 1950s and '60s, 
Utah is increasingly uneasy in its role as the nation's dumping 
ground. 

    In Skull Valley, the 121 Goshutes have watched their dream of 
reclaiming their tribal identity fractured by infighting over 
money, power and the future itself. 

   The waste project deal, which could bring unimaginable wealth 
to the tribe, has triggered a tribal election scandal, subpoenas 
from a federal grand jury, a regulatory tug of war, a half-dozen 
lawsuits and a plea for help to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. 

    "They are waving this like it's economic development, like 
it's a really good deal, when it has poisoned us, when it has 
killed our natural awareness," says Margene Bullcreek, a tribal 
member who is opposed to the project. "Everybody is going to say, 
'We don't want this' later. But it's going to be too late." 
    
   The Rez: Bullcreek and fellow opponent Sammy Blackbear see 
only ramshackle trailers and houses from their windows in the 
tribal village at the western base of the Stansbury Mountains. 

    All but a half-dozen of the reservation homes are empty. Only 
a few have working toilets. They are loosely strung together by 
barren yards dotted with trucks and cars that have not run for 
years. 

    Many critics believe they know where advance money for the 
project has gone. They point to a tidy cottage in the village's 
southeastern corner. It is the home of Goshute Chairman Leon 
Bear. 

    Carpeted with irrigated greenery and shaded by tall 
cottonwoods, the yard seems transplanted from the suburbs over 
the mountains. There is a child's swing-set and newer-model 
trucks, trailers and cars. Two of them are shiny white sports 
sedans. 

    Bear's oasis has inspired dire speculation since he first 
championed the reservation as a storage site. Everyone knew from 
the outset the consortium had deep pockets and Bear's backing. 

    Two years before the Goshute waste contract was signed in 
1997, the Mescalero Apaches in New Mexico agreed with the 
utilities to host a facility half as big. Mescalero leaders said 
the project would be a $250 million boon to the tribe, but their 
people vetoed it. 

    Goshute leaders will not say how closely their deal mirrors 
the Mescaleros' deal. But even if the Goshutes merely matched 
that windfall, the sum would exceed $2 million for each Skull 
Valley member, whose average income is about $8,000 a year. 

    With the waste project, there would be more than just chrome 
wheels and indoor plumbing for everyone. So says Bear. 
    
   The Storage Contract: Terms of the contract are secret, known 
only to Bear's inner circle and the principals at Private Fuel 
Storage (PFS), a limited liability corporation representing eight 
utilities with 33 nuclear reactors dotting the East Coast, 
California and points in between. 

    The nuclear industry wants to get rid of its power plant 
waste sooner than the federal government can take it at the 
permanent underground repository proposed for Nevada's Yucca 
Mountain. The federal government has not yet sought a license and 
cannot accept waste there until 2010 at the earliest. 

    So, PFS agreed with Goshute leaders in 1997 to build a 
100-acre, soil-and-cement storage slab across the two-lane 
highway below the tribal village that leads to Dugway Proving 
Ground, where the military works with biological and chemical 
agents. The utility consortium plans to use Skull Valley for up 
to 40 years as a way station for 4,000 concrete-and-steel waste 
casks. 

    The amount of waste proposed for Skull Valley is equal to all 
the power plant waste ever produced by commercial reactors in the 
United States. PFS and Bear insist the project poses virtually no 
health or safety risk, a claim the state flatly rejects. 

    The project will cost PFS an estimated $3.1 billion. And 
supporters say it is a smart way for the Goshutes to make money 
from one of their few assets -- reservation land. Dissident 
Goshutes, though, say there has been no financial accounting 
given to tribal members. 
    
   Civil Strife: "You know what the greatest danger of this 
project is?" says Danny Quintana, a one-time tribal attorney who 
helped craft the PFS deal. "It's the money." 

    Such concerns have driven dissenting Goshutes to seek redress 
in the courts, from U.S. senators, the Interior Department, the 
NRC and the FBI. Non-Goshutes want answers, too, but critics have 
found them hard to come by. 

    Goshute business affairs are strictly private, say Bear and 
PFS. 

    Bear claims that the Tribal Council, constituted of all the 
adult members of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, understands 
and approves of the deal. Tribal critics say that is nonsense; 
they accuse the Executive Committee of operating in secret. Bear 
heads the three-person Executive Committee that manages tribal 
business and signs all the checks. 

    He will not talk about tribal finances. Nor will he respond 
to allegations of vote-buying with project money, of enriching 
the annual dividend checks of his supporters and reducing those 
of his opponents. Dividends come from tribal investments and 
other enterprises. 

    "This conversation is just out of courtesy," a defiant Bear 
told a Tribune reporter at the tribe's South Salt Lake City 
offices. 

    "I don't need [public support]. Who's going to scrutinize me? 
You? The public? The only people I care about is the Tribal 
Council." 

    But critics within the tribe complain that Bear and the 
Executive Committee are using tribal finances as leverage for 
support. 

    "They don't have to answer to anyone," Bullcreek says. "If 
they put the money in their pockets, nobody knows." 

    Bear says he will draft a plan for spending the money once 
the NRC decides whether to license the project. 

    Proceeds will not go to individual members but to better 
health care, new housing, a cultural center, police headquarters 
and infrastructure on the reservation, Bear says. The nuclear 
facility will provide up to 80 jobs for tribal members (there are 
only 72 adults now). 

    "These are my dreams," Bear says. "This is what I expect." 
    
   The Fight: The opposition is dwarfed by the PFS juggernaut. 
Nevertheless, Bullcreek, Bear's neighbor and chief antagonist, 
has attempted through news media conferences and anti-nuclear 
meetings all over the nation to rally opposition. 

    "This waste," she says, "is messing up our sovereignty." 

    Blackbear is just as vocal. 

    "We're fighting over basic civil rights," says Blackbear. 

    Blackbear's complaints about Bear's leadership are detailed 
in four lawsuits, three of which were dismissed. The fourth is a 
civil case in U.S. District Court against Interior Secretary 
Norton, whose department oversees the federal government's trust 
responsibilities to American Indian tribes. 

    The case, which accuses Interior of illegally signing off on 
the project, is set for a September hearing before newly 
appointed U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell, a former University 
of Utah law professor. 

    In depositions and elsewhere, Blackbear has claimed that 
Bear: 

    * Offered tribal members "thousands of dollars" to sign 
documents backing the project. 

    * Cut off tribal dividend payments to opponents. 

    * Handed out dividend checks during election meetings. 

    * Mishandled tribal business ventures, such as proposed 
waste-recycling and rocket-testing facilities. 

    * Misspent federal housing funds, a Tooele County tax rebate, 
and compensation payments for thousands of sheep killed by 
military nerve gas tests in Skull Valley during the 1960s. 

    "Just because somebody says it doesn't mean it's true," Bear 
says. 

    "I'm still sitting here, and I'm still the chairman. As far 
as I'm concerned, it's settled." 

    Duncan Steadman, Blackbear's attorney, says the tribe is much 
worse off than before the project was proposed. "No matter what 
good intentions people had when this thing got started, [Bear] 
has got all the money, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." 

    Last summer, Blackbear helped organize a tribal recall to 
oust Bear. The dissidents claim a majority of tribal members 
elected them to the Executive Committee but the courts and the 
federal government refuse to recognize any change. 

    Aided by the legal team of Brigham Young University law 
professor Larry EchoHawk and his sons, Paul and Mark, the 
dissidents assert that the federal government will commit an 
environmental injustice if it lets the waste project go forward 
without resolving leadership and financial issues first. 

    Last fall, dissidents asked the Interior Board of Indian 
Appeals to throw out the BIA's pivotal decision to approve the 
waste-site lease. They later asked Interior to get involved, but 
neither has responded. 
    
   A Tribal Constitution: The would-be tribal chairwoman, 
Marlinda Moon, talks about helping the Skull Valley Goshutes 
reclaim control over the nuclear waste project. Steering a 
borrowed Buick Le Sabre through the tiny reservation village, she 
tells about what she would do if Bear were ousted: allow members 
to reassess the waste project, share financial decisions openly 
and revive the Goshutes' democratic tradi- tion. 

    Minutes later, she declares with a shrug: "That's all there 
is to the reservation. I feel we should have more." 

    One-time tribal secretary Rex Allen has taken a different 
approach. 

    One of three Goshutes who signed the PFS lease contract in 
1997, Allen says Bear claims to have removed him from the tribal 
Executive Committee last summer. 

    When Allen and his sister Mary, the waste contract's third 
signatory, went to the tribal offices in South Salt Lake last 
fall to pick up a tribal mailing list, Mary Allen injured her arm 
in a scuffle with Bear. 

    Rex Allen believes the Skull Valley Goshutes lack an 
enforceable, written constitution that could provide the legal 
structure necessary to supervise the PFS contract. 

    He says Bear has refused to enact meaningful environmental 
regulations and the tribe will not be able to enforce health and 
safety standards at the waste site. So he is drafting a tribal 
constitution to present to the Tribal Council on Saturday. 
    
   "My People:" Bear does have his defenders. 

    The BIA and the utility consortium have stood by him in the 
courts and in regulatory battles over the site. 

    Even the NRC has stepped into the fray, temporarily blocking 
a judicial order issued by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, 
which screens nuclear-facility license applications for the NRC. 
Last winter, the board ordered Bear to account for the waste 
project money in light of the corruption allegations raised by 
dissident Goshutes. 

    But the NRC intervened on grounds that financial disclosure 
might violate tribal sovereignty. It has not yet said whether it 
will dismiss the allegations for good. 

    Quintana, the Goshutes' former attorney, calls Bear an 
honest, courageous leader. The tribe's current attorney, Tim 
Vollman of Albuquerque, insists he has seen no evidence of 
corruption or stonewalling at the tribal meetings he has 
attended. 

    "What I have witnessed is a general policy of fair 
distribution to members," he says. 

    When the Skull Valley Goshutes gather Saturday, the 
nuclear-waste project should dominate the discussion, especially 
about what should be done over the next few years when PFS money 
begins raining down on Skull Valley. 

    When that happens, Bear says his dreams for the tribe's 
future can be realized. 

    "If they see it the way I see it," he says, "that's where the 
money will go." 

    fahys@sltrib.com 
    
  © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune
*****************************************************************
 25 Firm fears ruin over waste cleanup delay 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Health, Science and Environment
 
Company awaits financing to move 

Sunday, August 18, 2002
By Tom Gibb, Post-Gazette Staff Writer 

PIPER, Pa. -- While humankind was grinding its big, grimy 
footprints into most of the rest of the planet, it stepped 
lightly here.

 This wild stretch of northeast Clearfield County has a 
population that could fit into a single, urban high-rise 
apartment building. And most of those people, 11 per square mile, 
live to the south, away from these empty reaches.

 But civilization did plant one ugly footprint here.

 It's radioactive waste, left by a federal contractor several 
decades ago.

 It has led to a clash between the state and federal governments 
over who should get the tab for the cleanup, and that impasse has 
squeezed the finances of a 130-employee local manufacturer who is 
stuck at the site for now.

 The blotch is hidden in the wilds, a couple miles back two-lane 
Reactor Road, in a boxy, gray, three-story-high steel building 
where a half-century succession of manufacturers has worked with 
radioactive material.

 The footprint is especially deep in a handful of rooms dubbed 
hot cells, each no bigger than a small office, surrounded by 3 
1/2-foot-thick concrete walls.

 One of those rooms, a sealed-up cubicle known as Cell 4, is 
heavily tainted with radioactive Strontium 90.

 This radioisotope is insidious because the body mistakes it for 
calcium and absorbs it into bones, where it can cause leukemia or 
bone cancer. And it's dangerous enough that when federal 
contractor Martin Marietta Corp. worked with it here three 
decades ago, workers handled it only with robotic arms, from the 
other side of those concrete walls.

 "I don't want to be here when they go into Cell 4," said A.E. 
Witt, president of the hardwood flooring manufacturer that leases 
the space now.

 He won't have to worry about it soon.

 What was touted three years ago as a fast, thorough cleanup of 
radioactivity has now bogged down.

 The cleanup is expected to cost about $40 million, state 
Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Ronald Ruman 
said.

 But when DEP tried to pass the tab to the federal government -- 
reasoning that Martin Marietta Corp. sullied the place while 
working for the federal government in the 1960s -- the agency was 
rebuffed.

 "The federal government is reneging on their responsibility to 
clean up," DEP Secretary David Hess said Friday.

 U.S. Department of Justice officials told DEP that the federal 
government might go to court hunting others, like past tenants of 
the building, to share the blame, Ruman said. And that's a 
prospect DEP doesn't relish because a legal hunting expedition 
could drag out the cleanup process, he said.

 So, the state will take the federal government to court if 
Washington doesn't come across with the money, Hess said.

 For its part, the Justice Department would release only a 
statement saying that it is trying to resolve the matter and 
"trying to determine what the government's fair share should be."

 One local congressman hopes to break the logjam.

 Paul Feenstra, spokesman for Rep. John Peterson, R-Venango, said 
Peterson plans to get federal and state officials to sit down 
together early this fall "and see what can be resolved."

 A.E. Witt said his 130-employee company, PermaGrain Products 
Inc., is suffocating from the delay.

 By now, it was supposed to be settling into clean, new digs 
eight miles away, with the $8 million cost picked up by the 
federal government.

 Witt, an affable, white-bearded doctor of chemical engineering, 
said his $20 million-a-year company couldn't swing the cost on 
its own. But while PermaGrain stays where it is, he said, the 
imbroglio has helped raise his annual property insurance premium 
fourfold to $295,000, his workers' compensation premium has 
doubled and lenders are looking askance at him.

 "They look at us and say, 'Uh, if there's a release of 
radioactivity, all our collateral could be radioactive and tied 
up for who knows how long,' " Witt said. The delay doesn't sit 
well with local sportsmen either.

 "We're sitting on a gold mine here -- hunting, fishing, 
cross-country skiing, hiking," local industrial development 
President Ray Savel said. "But it's hard to promote the area as a 
wild area with a polluted place in the middle of it."

 The 50,000 largely pristine acres around the site are officially 
Quehanna Wild Area, a state-owned circle that covers the 
mountains and plateaus across parts of Clearfield, Cameron and 
Elk counties.

 But in 1955, before the wild area was set up, the commonwealth 
sold much of the ground to Curtiss-Wright Corp., which worked in 
what local residents say was Cold War-inspired seclusion on 
projects such as jet engines, electronics and the development of 
plastics.

 "Curtiss planned to make it the quasi-commercial East Coast 
equivalent of Los Alamos," Witt said. "Several thousand 
employees." With the scant labor pool in such small population 
centers as Clearfield, 45 minutes away, the company couldn't get 
the workers, gave up and turned the ground back to the state in 
1966.

 After that, the site hosted Martin Marietta, Penn State 
University and Piper Aircraft.

 By 1978, the tenant was PermaGrain, which makes wood/acrylic 
flooring. It is located here partly because a key part of its 
flooring manufacturing process requires low-level radiation.

 The high-durability flooring is used in such constant traffic 
areas as shopping malls, and to help the acrylic permeate the 
wood, the flooring is dipped into a 24-foot-deep pool where 
cobalt-60 rods that were once part of a reactor take care of the 
chemistry.

 The cobalt-60 is relatively benign; the water in the pool enough 
to shield workers from radioactivity, Witt said.

 The big problem is 120 feet away, in Cell 4, where the strontium 
90 and strontium nitrate legacy from Martin-Marietta is so 
intense that the cleanup crew, Connecticut-based NES Scientech 
Inc., will use a robot from Pittsburgh-based RedZone Robotics 
Inc. to do the dirty work.

 When it's all done, EPA's Ruman said, the building could be 
hauled away, too.

 According to a plan offered by the state in 1999, PermaGrain 
would have been moved out by now and that part of the cleanup 
would have begun in earnest. But, last month, PermaGrain got word 
of the impasse between DEP and the Justice Department, Witt said.

 In a plea to Gov. Mark Schweiker to push the project ahead, Rep. 
Bud George, D-Clearfield County, lamented that "a project that 
was supposed to be on the fast track is going nowhere fast."

 And while they share quarters with the fouled hot cells, Witt 
said, workers worry.

 In September 1998, DEP said, cleanup workers removing 
contaminated equipment to put it in storage set off a radiation 
release inside the building that "slightly contaminated" several 
Scientech workers and required that a PermaGrain worker shower 
and change clothes before leaving the plant.

 DEP said the exposure levels were "well below Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission and state limits." 

"But for the first time, we're losing workers who are scared," 
Witt said.
 
Tom Gibb can be reached at tgibb@post-gazette.com or 
412-263-1601.
 
 Copyright ©1997-2002 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights 
Reserved.       
*****************************************************************
 26 Overall Seeking U.S. Study On Environmental Impact Of Possible NFS
Plant Expansion *

<http://www.xtn.net>

*125 West Summer Street - Greeneville, TN - (423) 798-0545*

By: /By BILL JONES/Staff Writer /
Source:/ The Greeneville Sun <http://greene.xtn.net> /
08-17-2002

Park Overall, the actress and environmental activist, said Friday 
that she intends to file a request under the federal Freedom of 
Information Act in an attempt to learn more about an 
environmental impact study conducted in 1997 on a proposal to 
convert highly enriched uranium into low-enriched uranium to make 
fuel for a TVA nuclear power plant.

Part of the ?down-blending? of highly-enriched (weapons grade) 
uranium for the project is scheduled to take place at the Nuclear 
Fuel Services, Inc., plant in Erwin. In a press release issued 
earlier this week, NFS said the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), 
in 1997, had performed ?an extensive Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) on the TVA project, including the operations 
planned for Erwin.?

The NFS press release was issued, at least partially, in response 
to Overall?s filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
of a request for a public hearing on NFS? request to amend its 
nuclear materials license to allow the uranium down-blending 
project to go forward.

Seeks New Study

Overall, in her filing with the NRC, had requested that a new 
environmental impact study be conducted on the possible impact of 
the uranium down-blending project on the Nolichucky River.

On Friday, she said she understood that the 1997 Deaprtment of 
Energy?s environmental impact study was ?not site specific.?

Asked earlier this week if DoE personnel had visited the NFS 
plant site when the 1997 environmental impact study was being 
conducted, NFS spokesman Tony Treadway said he did not know.

?Public hearings on the project were held in 1996,? the NFS press 
release stated. ?Since that time, the EIS has been reviewed by 
the TVA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC),? the 
release said. ?Yet, petitioners now are seeking that a new EIS be 
carried out and that the NRC hold hearings on requested minor 
modifications to NFS? existing license to store and process 
highly enriched uranium and low-enriched uranium for the 
project.?

DoE: Cannot Copy Study

On Friday, however, Overall said she had been told by U.S. 
Department of Energy officials in Oak Ridge that the only way 
she, or other members of the public, could view the 1997 
environmental impact study conducted by DoE is to come to Oak 
Ridge and view it.

She also said she was told copies of the study could not be made, 
although anyone wishing to view the study could take notes while 
reading it. Overall said she finds it ?odd? that the DoE won?t 
allow members of the public to copy the study.

In response to being denied a copy of the document, Overall said, 
she is filing a request with DoE headquarters in Washington, 
D.C., to obtain a copy of the document.

Overall, and other environmental activists, say they fear the 
?cumulative effect? that the proposed uranium down-blending 
project, combined with decades of nuclear-fuel manufacturing 
operations NFS has conducted in Erwin, could have on the 
Nolichucky River.

The actress, who is a native of Greeneville, owns a farm off 
Ripley Island Road in Greene County. She contended in a hearing 
request filed with the NRC last week, that she is concerned the 
the NFS uranium down-blending project could harm the river and 
negatively affect the value of her property, which borders the 
river.

However, Marie Moore, Nuclear Fuel Services? vice president for 
safety, has said "The impact of this important project in no way 
poses a risk to the public or the environment. In fact, no 
modification to our existing permit for liquid effluents is 
necessary at all. Thus, any claims that the project will somehow 
negatively impact the Nolichucky River are completely unfounded."

© 2002 East Tennessee Network - R.A.I.D. (Regionalized Access Internet
*****************************************************************
 27 Tokaimura Hibakusha files lawsuit 
 
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 23:23:45 -0700 (PDT)

 
From: "Satomi Oba" <dogwood@muc.biglobe.ne.jp> | This
is Spam | Add to Address Book 
To: "Leuren Moret" <leurenmoret@yahoo.com> 
CC: "Sisa journal" <snype00@e-sisa.co.kr>, "Mari
Takenouchi" <mari999@jk9.so-net.ne.jp> 
Subject: Tokaimura Hibakusha files lawsuit 
         
Dear friends,

Greetings from Hiroshima!
Thank you very much for your kind messages for
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Day from corners of the world.

Nuclear hazard is not past history or a potential
menace in future, but
a reality under which residents are suffering in
Tokaimura, Ibaraki
Prefecture in Japan. 

On September 30, 1999, more than 600 people were
exposed to neutron ray
emitted from criticality of uranium solution at JCO
plant, Tokaimura.
Two workers on the site were severely damaged and
died, Mr. Ohuchi in
December, and Mr. Shinohara in April in 2000. 

Those who were exposed radiation includes residents in
the vicinity,
workers at neighboring companies, and firefighters and
policemen. The
government has continually rejected health complaint
of the people, and
the company JCO has never paid compensation for the
serious health
effects.

The workers (except for those from JCO) and residents
organized
association to support themselves each other in
February 2000, and
continued negotiation with JCO. Last month, as the
company rejected all
demand of the people, three of them decided to file a
lawsuit for
compensation by JCO.

On August 5 this year, Mr. Mitsunari Ohizumi,
Secretary of the
association came to Hiroshima and reported above story
in front of 30
audience at a session of the World Conference against
A and H bombs by
the Gensuikin.

Mr. Mitsunari Ohizumi was not in Tokaimura that day,
when criticality
accident took place. But his parents were working with
another worker 
at
their company "Ohizumi Kogyo," a factory for car
component, located 
next
to JCO. 

The accident occurred at 10:35, but there were no
official announcement
from anywhere. They ate lunch in the factory with the
window open.
Around 1:10 p.m. they saw firemen walking around, and
asked what
happened. So, they at last knew that there were some
accident happened
at the next building. They didn't know what factory it
was. 
There had been no announcement or direction for
evacuation to Ohizumi
Kogyo by the local municipality or agency until they
decided to leave
for their home outside Tokaimura around 4:30 p.m.,
when they asked a
clerk of the village office walking there, who told
them that the
residents were evacuating.

Mr. and Ms. Ohizumi, who were at 120-130 meters away
from criticality
center, have been suffering from serious health
problems since then. 

The next day, Keiko Ohoizumi, mother of Mitsunari, had
severe diarrhea,
and fell into coma for three days. She was diagnosed
that the stomach
had been severely damaged. After recovering from coma
and stomach
problem, melancholy continued, and prevented her from
daily life. Her
doctor diagnosed that it was trauma caused by the JCO
accident.

Shoichi Ohizumi, father of Mitsunari, who is now
president of the
Hibakusha's association, had diabetes before the
accident, but it was
not so serious. After the accident it became worse,
and he  suffered
from skin disease also. He found to have dehydration,
vomiting,
diarrhea, and fever on October 9, 1999, when he was
mowing the yard. 

Last year he had to stay in hospital for six months,
and for two months
this year, for diabetes and pneumonia. After the
accident, he lost 
three
healthy teeth, suffering from cataract on both eyes,
going to go under
operation soon.

The family had to close their company after the JCO
accident, and had
not paid any compensation for the loss, except for the
income estimated
for half day (!) of the accident. 

Among the people, reportedly, there are other
complaint such as heart
disease became worse, or they are catching cold
oftener than before. 

The government insists that the health effects would
be limited to be 
as
low as undetectable, but about 200 people went to take
physical checkup
being conducted by the prefecture these two years.
They, not only 
having
actual health problems, but also have fear about the
potential
radioactive hazard including effects to the future
generation. 

JCO has rejected to pay any compensation to their
health problems
including PTSD which clearly diagnosed, by saying that
those problems
were caused by radiation, while they paid 4.5 billion
yen to the loss 
of
agriculture. 

The association of the radiation hazard victims have
about 200 members,
but only three of them decided to become plaintiff of
the lawsuit. The
fear of discrimination is serious among them. After
bombing of 
Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, many of the survivors have suffered from
discrimination 
in
various forms, especially in marriage. In Tokaimura,
the same thing is
happening. Though angry at JCO and the government,
fearing that their
children's disadvantage, most people remain silent. 

Mr. Mitsunari Ohizumi asked the audience, how they can
obtain friendly
support to their struggle in court from the public.
They are not
experts, ordinary citizens without knowledge about
radiation. 

Mr. Shoichi Ohizumi also worry about children in the
vicinity, as the
kinder garden and school were located just 500 meters
from the
hypocenter. The mayor could directed evacuation only
from inside 350
meters radius, when the government authority and the
prefecture didn't
take any measure after the accident. 

It is a painful story.  I have heard that there are
health and mental
effects caused by the accident observed in and around
Tokaimura. But I
heard it directly from the privy for the first time.
All the reports
relating to the health effects and residents' struggle
had come not 
from
major media, but from small citizens' groups. 

This morning, the Mainichi Newspaper reported that
Tokaimura Hibakusha
decided to file a lawsuit, a first one by the
residents in the history
of nuclear development in Japan.
The article was written by Ms. Emiko Osanai, a staff
writer of the
Mainichi in Hiroshima. As far as I know, the recent
story of Tokaimura
came out in a major media for the first time. 

Please send solidarity to Ohizumi family, and the
members of the
association. 
We have 52 nuclear reactors in operation and other
nuclear facilities 
in
Japan. Now we know, if there should occure a nuclear
accident and
exposure to radiation, how the victims would be
dismissed.  We have to
resist the authority's and industry's coverup. 

I have more stories to tell you about Hiroshima Day of
this year, but I
will postpone it because it has become too long. 

In prayer, 

Satomi Oba

Director of Plutonium Action Hiroshima


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs
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*****************************************************************
 28 India Beefs Up Military Capability

Las Vegas SUN: 

August 16, 2002 By NIRMALA GEORGE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

NEW DELHI, India- The Defense Ministry plans to start production 
of a nuclear-capable intermediate range missile, officials said 
Friday. 

The Agni missile, which is currently undergoing field trials, 
will be produced and introduced into the arsenal of the nation's 
armed forces, officials said Friday on customary condition of 
anonymity. The most advanced version of the Agni has a range of 
1,500 miles. 

The government also announced it would begin production and 
deployment of the supersonic cruise missile Brahmos, which can be 
launched from ships, submarines and planes. India also plans to 
jointly produce 11 advanced light helicopters with Russia and 
assemble an unspecified number of T-90 tanks from kits imported 
from Russia. 

The Brahmos cruise missile, with a range of 185 miles, can fly to 
a height of 9 miles at twice the speed of sound. 

Introducing new tanks and missiles were among 15 initiatives 
announced late Thursday in a government statement to mark the 
55th anniversary of India's independence. 

"The Defense Ministry will take several new initiatives to 
strengthen national security," the statement said. 

Tensions between India and neighboring Pakistan have been running 
high for months, and the nuclear rivals have massed more than a 
million troops along their border. 

The standoff began after a Dec. 13 militant attack on India's 
Parliament that New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based militant 
groups and Pakistan's spy agency. Pakistan has denied involvement 
in the attack but has banned two militant groups. 

India conducted five nuclear tests in 1998, which were followed 
by Pakistani nuclear tests. New Delhi has been working to perfect 
its missile delivery system and had conducted several test 
firings of the Agni in the past few years. 

The Brahmos cruise missile was developed jointly by India's 
Defense Research and Development Organization and Russia's 
Mashinostroyenia, both state-run companies. 

India is also developing army and air force versions of the 
short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile Prithvi; the 
Trishul, a surface-to-air missile that targets aircraft and can 
counter sea-skimming missiles; and the anti-tank Nag missile. 

India says it is developing its missile program as a deterrent 
against neighbors China and Pakistan, both with nuclear arms. 

During the Cold War, when U.S. policy on the subcontinent was 
tilted toward Pakistan, India and Russia shared a close strategic 
relationship. Nearly 70 per cent of India's military purchases 
were from Russia. Last year Russia's defense exports to India 
were valued at $4.4 billion. 

However, the last few years have seen a gradual warming of 
U.S.-Indian ties and New Delhi has looked more to the United 
States for weapons supplies. Earlier this year, New Delhi firmed 
up a $146 million deal with the United States to buy 
weapons-locating radars for anti-insurgency operations in the 
strife-torn disputed northern state of Jammu-Kashmir. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 29 Russia To Maintain Nuclear Arsenal

Las Vegas SUN: 
 
August 16, 2002 By STEVE GUTTERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS 

MOSCOW- Russia will maintain its arsenal nuclear weapons for the 
foreseeable future, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Friday, 
boasting that the country's SS-20 missile was capable of 
penetrating any defense system in existence. 

In a visit to a Strategic Missile Forces base in the Ural 
Mountain region, Ivanov said the troops responsible for 
land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles were a key element 
of Russia's national defense and would receive "priority 
attention" from the Kremlin. 

"The Strategic Missile Forces have been and remain a most 
important factor in the deterrence of aggressive aspirations and 
intentions toward Russia and our allies," the Interfax news 
agency quoted Ivanov as saying at the base in Kartaly, in the 
Chelyabinsk region. 

He did not name any allies and said Russia's plans for its 
nuclear forces have "no relation to the U.S. plans for a national 
missile defense system," according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. 
"Russia will develop its Strategic Nuclear Forces regardless of 
the relations it maintains with the United States or any other 
country," it quoted him as saying. 

The United States angered many in Russia this year by withdrawing 
from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which barred both 
countries from building national missile defenses like the one 
the Bush administration wants to create. 

But President Vladimir Putin made little of the U.S. withdrawal, 
and Moscow's relations with its former Cold War foe have improved 
significantly since Putin offered support for the U.S.-led war 
against terrorism after Sept. 11. Putin and Bush signed a treaty 
in May to slash their nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds, to 
between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads apiece. 

Ivanov boasted about the "superpowerful, highly effective RS-20 
missiles" deployed at Kartaly, saying the missile - known in the 
West as the SS-20 Satan - is the "core of the combat might" of 
the strategic forces and can "overcome the most modern missile 
defense system." 

However, Ivanov said the decision to continue deploying the SS-20 
was "in no way connected" to the American withdrawal from the ABM 
Treaty. 

The United States says it wants a national missile defense to 
defend against attacks by rogue states or terrorists, not Russia. 

As his defense chief sought to raise morale among the missile 
forces, Putin visited the design bureau of a top Russian military 
jet maker, Sukhoi, and promised support for the industry, Russian 
news agencies reported. 

"The leadership of the country will be paying close attention to 
the development of this industry," Interfax quoted Putin as 
saying. Aircraft make up half of Russia's weapons exports, and 
Sukhoi accounts for 45 percent of that total, the agency said. 

Russia's government adopted a draft budget Thursday that would 
raise defense spending by 26 percent to about $11 billion, with 
some of the extra money to provide for higher pay and new 
equipment for the military, whose morale, prestige and financing 
have plunged since the Soviet collapse in 1991. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 30 Iraq Sends Mixed Message on Inspectors
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
August 17, 2002 By EDITH M. LEDERER ASSOCIATED PRESS 

UNITED NATIONS- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had wanted Iraq 
to accept a Security Council roadmap for the return of U.N. 
weapons inspectors and issue a "formal invitation" for 
inspections to resume. He got neither. 

Instead, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said, Iraq wants to 
continue a dialogue with the United Nations on the return of 
inspectors - but with conditions the secretary-general has 
already rejected. 

With the Bush administration stepping up talk of possible 
military action against Saddam Hussein and the United States 
claiming Iraq is rebuilding its weapons of mass destruction, Iraq 
has come under pressure to let the inspectors return. 

But Sabri's letter, released Friday in Baghdad, gave no 
indication of any breakthrough. 

In contrast to the moderate tone of Sabri's earlier invitation to 
chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to visit Baghdad for technical 
talks, the new letter was sharper and anti-American, blaming 
Washington for fomenting the crisis over inspections. 

"This is nothing but old wine in new bottles," a U.S. official 
said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The Iraqis know what 
they need to do - and that is to allow weapons inspectors back in 
at once and move toward verifiable disarmament." 

Robert Einhorn, a U.S. nuclear disarmament expert who served in 
the Clinton administration and is on an advisory panel to the 
U.N. weapons inspection agency, agreed. "This is not going to 
meet the test," he said. 

Sabri's initial invitation to Blix on Aug. 1 raised expectations 
because it marked the first time Iraq had mentioned the return of 
inspectors since they left in December 1998 ahead of U.S. and 
British airstrikes. The attacks were launched to punish Iraq for 
not cooperating with U.N. inspectors - and Baghdad has barred the 
inspectors from returning. 

In that letter, Sabri said Blix and Iraqi experts should meet to 
determine the outstanding issues about Iraq's alleged weapons of 
mass destruction at the time the inspectors left and figure out 
how to resolve them before inspectors return. 

Annan rejected that proposal in his Aug. 6 reply, insisting that 
Iraq must abide by the plan laid out by the Security Council in a 
1999 resolution. It requires U.N. weapons inspectors to visit 
Iraq and determine within 60 days what questions Baghdad still 
must answer about its chemical, biological, nuclear and missile 
programs. The Security Council must approve the list of 
outstanding issues. 

In his latest letter to Annan, Sabri kept to Iraq's original 
invitation. "We reaffirm our offer to conduct a technical round 
of negotiations to evaluate what was achieved in the previous 
phase," he said. "At the same time, the technical team of the 
United Nations can put forth issues deemed necessary to ... build 
common ground for the next inspection." 

This should include "the practical arrangements for the return of 
the inspection system," he said. 

Sabri said Iraq wants a settlement of all outstanding issues with 
the United Nations - not just inspections. 

But Blix stressed before Sabri's new letter was released the 
Security Council has not authorized him to discuss outstanding 
disarmament issues. 

"We have consistently turned down that we should discuss issues 
from 1998, and we have consistently been positive to the idea of 
discussing practical arrangements," he said. 

Annan, who is on vacation, was not expected to formally respond 
to the letter until next week. 

Sanctions imposed by the Security Council after Iraq's 1990 
invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify 
that its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons have been 
destroyed along with the long-range missiles to deliver them. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 31 LLL Scientists Battle Radiation Threat 

The KCRA Channel - 

Counter-Terrorism Experts Keep Eyes On Air Cargo

Updated: 7:51 a.m. PDT August 16, 2002

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Because of recent threats of radiation 
attacks and "dirty bombs," scientists at the Lawrence Livermore 
Lab are looking for ways to detect radioactive materials.
 
[Nuclear Tester] "We have an inspection scheme in place so we 
have some protection now. I think we certainly need more. There's 
universal agreement that more is needed," said counter-terrorism 
expert Harry Vantine.
 
Lawrence Livermore is evaluating several detectors, because the 
United States needs reliable methods of discovering hidden 
nuclear materials. Millions of containers enter the us every 
year. They're a likely mode for terrorists trying to smuggle in 
nuclear devices or materials. There's also concern about air 
cargo boxes with material inside that could mask the 
radioactivity. 

Fortunately, radioactivity leaks even through most shielding. So 
it's possible to find it from the outside if detectors are 
sensitive enough. And what should inspectors be looking for? 

"For a suspected terrorist device, you would suspect it would 
either have plutonium or it might have enriched uranium. So in 
both cases, you would expect to see gamma radiation," said arms 
control expert William Dunlap. Lawrence Livermore scientists have 
also helped develop Cryo3 -- a portable and very sensitive 
spectrometer. In the future, it could be used by U.S. Customs, 
the Coast Guard, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and 
the military.
 
The cargo container evaluation program will continue at least one 
more year at Lawrence Livermore. Officials hope that in the end, 
they'll have a full understanding of the nuclear security issues 
Americans currently face.
 
Security experts are particularity concerned about shipments from 
the former Soviet Union, where leaders admit that unknown 
quantities of nuclear materials are missing. 

Copyright 2002 by TheKCRAChannel. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 32 Lab helps in bomb detection 

Tri-Valley Herald

Friday, August 16, 2002 - 3:05:14 AM MST                                                
 			
Study tested ability of

By Ian Hoffman
STAFF WRITER
 			
For a devoted terrorist, getting the materials for a so-called 
"dirty bomb" is hardly difficult -- the U.S. government itself 
doled out thousands of suitable radioactive sources in the 1950s, 
and others are not well secured at oil drilling and food 
companies. Acquiring a nuclear weapon is a far tougher, more 
expensive proposition. 

The blockbuster plot of terrorists smuggling such bombs into the 
United States, hidden inside a cargo container, is still a 
palpable reality. U.S. Customs inspectors are trained to flag 
suspicious shipments, and they wear belt-mounted radiation 
detectors as they move about ports such as Oakland's. But they 
still inspect only about 2 percent of the millions of arriving 
containers. 

Last month, President George W. Bush named the thwarting of a 
terrorist nuclear attack as "our top scientific priority." Weeks 
before, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had 
set up their own cargo container with bomb materials and launched 
rigorous tests on 19 commercial radiation detectors, including 
the belt-mounted ones, lab managers announced Thursday. So far, 
the news is encouraging though qualified. A detector made to 
alert people to radiation dangers can, in the roughest sense, 
also find bombs. Yet port inspectors and law enforcement want to 
know more. "So we're trying to find how well it applies to the 
terrorist problem," said physicist Bill Dunlop, chief of 
Livermore's proliferation prevention and arms-control program. 

The Livermore report, due to the U.S. Department of Energy in 
coming weeks, will serve as advice on the best available 
instruments for hunting nuclear and radi- ological bombs on 
America's bustling waterfronts and runways. It too will point the 
way toward next-generation sensors that will be faster, more 
sensitive and so able to reveal more without triggering a traffic 
jam in American commerce, scientists said. 

The detector generally must be close to the container for enough 
time for rays and particles to reach the detector in sufficient 
quantities for the machine to discern what's inside the 
container. That's a matter of a few feet and several minutes for 
the current state-of-the-art detector, which Livermore showcased 
Thursday for reporters. 

Years ago, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley and Livermore labs 
began miniaturizing the type of bulky but sophisticated radiation 
detector that usually squats in a laboratory to instead be 
carried in hand. Inspectors for the International Atomic Energy 
Agency wanted such a device for precise measurements in the 
field. 

The Cryo3, as the instrument is called, can do more than sense 
the X-rays and gamma radiation that can escape a cargo container. 
In a few minutes, the machine can draw such a unique radiation 
signature of the cargo that, when connected to a computer, even a 
non-physicist could tell whether the contents were a nuclear 
bomb, a radiological bomb or a set of mildly radioactive 
Fiestaware. Lab officials are looking for a business partner to 
produce the instrument for commercial use. 

"They're just like fingerprints," said Livermore physicist John 
Becker. Becker's counterparts at Berkeley made the detector 
smaller by jettisoning its large cryogenic cooler for a tiny 
refrigeration pump found on European cellular transmission 
towers. 

New detectors in testing at Livermore and elsewhere could use 
neutrons and gamma rays for "active interrogation" of containers. 
They would create pictures of the contents by making them 
momentarily radioactive. 

Port officials are intrigued by the new technologies but wary of 
delays from added layers of detection and inspection. 

The work of Oakland, its sister ports and the rail and trucking 
networks they feed are so tightly entwined that even small delays 
at a single location tend to create a ripple throughout the 
system. That is especially true within the port itself. On 
average, more than 4,000 cargo containers a day go through the 
Port of Oakland. The traffic tends to be highest now through 
October, as American retailers stock up for the Christmas season. 
Many containers spend hours or days stored in the terminal, but 
some are off-loaded from vessels at a rate of as many as 35 an 
hour, trucked directly to the railyard and sent on their way 
within minutes. 

Radiation detectors could be shifted to the rail or truck yards, 
but the risk of delay would be unchanged, said Raymond Boyle, the 
port's general manager for maritime operations. 

"It's a fragile latticework, and everything's interconnected and 
moving very quickly," Boyle said. "After 9/11, we have to step 
back and say there are potential risks, and we need heightened 
security, but we need to do it so it doesn't significantly slow 
down pace of commerce." 

Scientists are trying to strike that balance, although others say 
detection will never be a full answer to America's vulnerability. 

"While detection technologies provide a lot of promise, it's 
crucial to do our absolute best to make sure radioactive and 
nuclear materials do not get into circulation in the first 
place," said Jaime Yassif, a researcher at the Federation of 
American Scientists in Washington, D.C. 
			 			
©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
 33 DOE: Flats shipments to speed up

The Daily Camera: State/west
 		 		
Delays caused by S.C. governor made target cleanup more difficult to make

By Robert Gehrke, Associated Press
August 17, 2002

WASHINGTON — The Energy Department plans to speed up shipments of 
highly radioactive plutonium from the former Rocky Flats weapons 
plant to make up for delays and to meet a 2006 closure goal, 
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. The delays were caused by 
South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges' opposition to moving the 
weapons-grade plutonium to his state. That made the 2006 target 
date more difficult to make, but it remains possible, Abraham 
said in a letter to Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., this week. 

"I want to assure you and the people of Colorado that the safe 
closure of Rocky Flats is still possible, and it remains DOE's 
commitment to complete the job on schedule," Abraham wrote. 

Details of how the department will accelerate the shipments are 
classified. The Energy Department is moving 6 tons of plutonium 
from the decommissioned facility near Denver to South Carolina, 
where the department plans to build a $4 billion plant to convert 
the plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors. 

To meet the 2006 cleanup goal, all the waste must be moved out of 
Rocky Flats by the end of 2003. Delays would also mean having to 
prolong the security presence at the facility, at an estimated 
cost of $4.5 million, Abraham wrote. Allard is seeking to add $18 
million to an energy spending bill to provide a four-month buffer 
to ensure that if there are delays the security costs don't cut 
into the money available for other cleanup. 

Rocky Flats, about eight miles south of Boulder, made triggers 
for nuclear weapons until the facility closed in 1989. 

Plutonium shipments were scheduled start in mid-May in order to 
meet the 2006 target date. But they were delayed for several 
months, first by negotiations between Hodges and Abraham and 
later by a lawsuit filed by the South Carolina governor. His suit 
was dismissed earlier this month by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals. 

The Energy Department told Allard two weeks ago that it had 
started shipping the Rocky Flats waste. 

Once the plutonium and other radioactive waste is removed, Rocky 
Flats is to become a wildlife sanctuary. 
  
   [http://www.scripps.com]     Copyright 2002, The Daily Camera 
and the E.W.
*****************************************************************
 34 Whistleblowers still risk retaliation and dishonor*

By T. Shawn Taylor Business Correspondent Posted August 18 2002

The accounting misdeeds that led to the collapse of corporate 
giants such as Enron, Arthur Andersen and WorldCom have left many 
wondering: "Why didn't someone blow the whistle on these 
dishonest practices sooner?"

Frederic Whitehurst, who as a FBI forensic scientist blew the 
whistle on evidence tampering and false testimony within the 
FBI's crime laboratory, thinks he knows the answer.

"When you do what they call blowing the whistle in this country, 
they pull your guts out about 30 yards down the road and stomp on 
[them]," said Whitehurst, who now resides in Bethel, N.C.

Exposing gross misconduct in the workplace almost always has a 
price, whistleblower advocates say. Punishments range from being 
shunned by colleagues to termination to blacklisting. 
Whistleblowers have become victims of smear campaigns. Friends 
and family may distance themselves; some marriages don't survive 
the ordeal.

Today, whistleblowers have the best legal protections ever, 
advocates say, but it typically takes a scandal to inspire 
Congress to act. Corporate accountability legislation signed by 
President Bush in July extended employees of publicly traded 
companies -- such as WorldCom -- federal protection from 
retaliation by employers.

"We're thrilled about the legislation," said Louis Clark, 
executive director of the Government Accountability Project, a 
whistleblower watchdog group in Washington. "I would say right 
now that employees of publicly traded companies have the best 
protection of any other employees right now."

But Congress has yet to pass a uniform whistleblower law that 
shields all workers equally. Employees of companies that are not 
publicly traded still have no federal protection, said Steve 
Kohn, a Washington attorney who represents whistleblowers.

"Protections depend on where you live and the industry you're 
blowing the whistle on," said Kohn, who said some states have 
decent whistleblower laws. However, attorneys for employers have 
successfully argued that federal law supersedes the state's or 
have forced disputes into arbitration.

*Real Fears

*Another deterrent may be films about famous whistleblowers that 
effectively depict their shattered lives. For instance, The 
Insider, about Jeffrey Wigand, the tobacco company researcher who 
exposed his employer on 60 Minutes for lying about the dangers of 
smoking, takes the viewer through Wigand's job loss, financial 
troubles and marital separation.

Despite progress on the legal front, blowing the whistle remains 
risky business. Whistleblower advocates say retaliation doesn't 
always occur, but the whistleblower should prepare for it.

"The whistleblower will get hammered no matter what the 
protections," said Kris Kolesnik, executive director of the 
National Whistleblower Center, which has lobbied successfully for 
better legal protections for whistleblowers.

Kolesnik cautioned that even employers who appear grateful for 
the disclosures might be plotting to get rid of the 
whistleblower.

At the minimum, whistleblowers should expect to lose their jobs, 
advocates say. Whitehurst, 54, who sued the FBI and agreed to 
retire in 1998 as part of a settlement, wanted to continue 
working at the agency. But the FBI would rather pay Whitehurst 
his full salary for the rest of his life to stay at home.

"It's the end of their life as they know it," Whitehurst said of 
whistleblowers like himself.

*Exposing flaws

*Randy Robarge, a former radiation protection supervisor at Com 
Ed's nuclear power plant in Zion, Ill., has been unable to land a 
job in the nuclear power industry since he blew the whistle in 
1996 on alleged procedural violations he feared could lead to a 
catastrophic event.

"I was doing my job. Under no circumstances did I think I was a 
whistleblower," he said.

The plant was fined after Robarge reported radioactive material 
found on a lunch table. When he was told by his department head 
to skirt reporting procedures, he refused and was fired, he said.

A federal investigation proved that Zion's radiation containment 
procedures were lax, and the plant was eventually shut down.

Whistleblowers in the nuclear power industry are protected under 
the Energy Reorganization Act. Robarge sued Com Ed and won a 
settlement. But now, he's an untouchable. A separate lawsuit 
accusing Com Ed of breaching the original settlement and 
blacklisting Robarge is pending, said Kohn, his attorney.

"Am I going to have to carry this my whole life? I never want to 
go through something like this again, and I hope I don't have 
to," he said.

*Doing `the right thing'

*Joyce Rothschild, a professor of sociology at Virginia 
Polytechnic Institute and State University, who said she has 
interviewed 300 whistleblowers as part of a study, said many are 
"organizationally naïve."

"They did not set out to say, `Risks be damned. I don't care.' 
They felt somebody up there wants to know this and will thank me 
because it will improve the organization," Rothschild said.

Whistleblowers are often misjudged.

"They tend to be the kind of people who have to do the right 
thing. They can't look the other way," Kolesnik said.

Depression is common, said Don Soeken, who runs a retreat for 
whistleblowers called the Whistlestop in White Sulfer Springs, W. 
Va. He also operates a whistleblower hotline called Integrity 
International.

A two-time whistleblower, Soeken said if someone came to him 
before they blew the whistle, he would advise them not to. But 
most, like himself, would not only blow the whistle once, they'd 
do it again and again and again.

He added: "They're more concerned with trust and honesty than 
their own health and safety. `I did the right thing. I can sleep 
at night. My conscience is clear.'"

T. Shawn Taylor writes for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Co. 
newspaper.

Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel 
<http://www.sun-sentinel.com>

*****************************************************************
 35 Fusion Redux

*BY JIM WILSON*
*Photo by Donna Coveney/MIT*

Miklos Porkolab with MIT's Levitated Dipole Experiment, which 
helped tame plasma turbulence.

After being virtually abandoned, fusion power is poised for a 
comeback. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the stars. 
For more than 50 years, scientists have been trying to bring that 
power down to Earth. Fusion generators are appealing because they 
produce none of the pollutants associated with fossil- and 
nuclear-fuel power plants. Researchers at the Princeton Plasma 
Physics Laboratory in Plainsboro, N.J., estimate that a 
1000-megawatt nuclear fusion plant would produce about 4 pounds 
of waste a day, compared to 31,000 tons from a coal-fired plant 
of a similar capacity. And while some radiation would be created, 
there would be none of the lethal radioactive wastes formed when 
fission reactors split uranium atoms.

*Lighting The Fire* Fusion occurs when the cores of hydrogen 
atoms--which naturally repel each other--are compressed so 
tightly they fuse. This produces new atoms of helium while 
liberating enormous amounts of energy. Fuse a few pounds of 
hydrogen atoms at once and you can obliterate a large portion of 
a Pacific island, as the Atomic Energy Commission demonstrated 
during its 1950s-era hydrogen bomb tests. If, however, the fusion 
reaction could be controlled, the energy could be recovered and 
used to produce steam to spin the turbines of electric 
generators.

*Wet Matches* Initially, scientists believed the most difficult 
task would be achieving the 100 million-degree temperatures at 
which deuterium and tritium--two rare forms of hydrogen--fuse. 
Using ordinary hydrogen was ruled out because it would require 
temperatures far above those that existing materials could 
contain. Using deuterium alone was considered, but also ruled out 
because of temperature limits.

After spending an estimated $50 billion of taxpayer money, 
scientists have learned how to light the fire. The problem is to 
keep it burning. Just as the flame atop a candle dances in a 
breeze, a fusion reaction is buffeted by currents that develop 
inside the magnetic "bottle" that contains the swirling plasma.

Year after year, projected dates for the debut of fusion 
generators moved further into the future. "In 1980, the U.S. 
government determined that the energy crisis was over and that 
the development of new energy technologies would be left to the 
private sector," says Stephen Dean, president of Fusion Power 
Associates, a fusion education group based in Gaithersburg, Md. 
In 1996, the Department of Energy (DOE) snuffed out the candle 
completely when it cut off U.S. contributions to the 
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The $14 
billion project will instead be built with Canadian, European and 
Japanese support, and most likely be constructed near Clarington, 
Ontario. Although the Canadian government has begun work on an 
environmental impact statement, no date has been set for the 
groundbreaking.

With no fusion funding in sight, young scientists in the United 
States turned their backs on the science that undergirds fusion 
machines--plasma physics. Last year, the National Research 
Council (NRC) soberly reported that among the 1300 physicists in 
the 25 leading university research departments, only three young 
scientists, holding the rank of assistant professor, were experts 
in plasma physics.

*A New Dawn* This year brought the first signs of improvement in 
more than a decade. In February, Raymond Orbach, chancellor of 
the University of California at Riverside, won congressional 
approval as the new director of the DOE Office of Science. A 
professor of physics, Orbach previously held visiting 
professorships in England, France and Israel. The fusion 
community sees his appointment as exactly the combination of 
technical and diplomatic skills the United States needs to build 
bridges after turning its back on ITER. "President Bush is 
particularly interested in the potential of ITER, and has asked 
us to seriously consider American participation," Secretary of 
Energy Spencer Abraham told the Conference of G8 Ministers who 
met in Detroit in May.

The DOE also has promised researchers more money, offering to 
increase the roughly $225 million-a-year budget for the Fusion 
Energy Science Program to as much as $377 million by 2006.

There had been optimism about fusion energy generation before, 
but this time it is more firmly grounded in science. "Theory and 
modeling are now able to provide useful insights into 
instabilities and to guide experiments," the NRC concluded in its 
2001 study of plasma physics. "Many of the major experimental and 
theoretical tools that have been developed are now converging to 
produce a qualitative change in the program's approach to 
scientific discovery."

More to the point, the chief limitation of the first generation 
of fusion machines--the inability to control turbulence in a 
roiling mass of magnetically confined plasma--has begun to yield 
to technical solutions, explains Miklos Porkolab, director of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Plasma Science and Fusion 
Center in Cambridge. "We have shown that, in principle, it is 
possible to eliminate turbulence," he says. "To me, this is just 
a mind-boggling achievement. With adequate federal funding, a 
prototype nuclear fusion reactor could be tested within 30 to 40 
years. A commercial reactor could be deployed by the middle of 
the century."

    
*****************************************************************

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************