***************************************************************** 09/18/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.239 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 UK: Outlook: On the hook as administration beckons at nuclear 2 British Energy mulls FSA complaint after shares slide 3 UK: Ex-BE boss slams nuclear dithering 4 UK: S&P adds to gloom at British Energy 5 Cash-strapped Russia lacks funds to scrap nuclear subs: official 6 Russia not to curtail nuclear cooperation with Iran* 7 UK: Hewitt tries to end BE crisis 8 U.S., Russia Clash Over Iraq 9 US: Ex-official alleges wrongdoing 10 UK: Is nuclear tide turning? 11 Tourism fears after nuclear row 12 DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration Published 13 Intl: Uranium reserve proposed NUCLEAR REACTORS 14 Japan: TEPCO reveals cover-ups, resignations 15 US: Agency fields questions on MOX change NUCLEAR SAFETY 16 US: Tests find tungsten in Fallon water supply 17 US: Virginia: Iodine risk low at area facilities 18 Kenya testing seized 'uranium' NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 19 Nuclear fuel back at Sellafield after an 18,000-mile journey 20 Radioactive cargo back at Sellafield 21 UK: BNFL plans eight ships of nuclear cargo a year 22 Two Nuclear Cargo Ships in Britain 23 US: Wallack concerned NFS project would have harmful impact 24 US: Utah: Hansen gains allies in fighting N-waste 25 US: N-Waste Spill Cleaned Up; Load Taken to Tooele Facility 26 UK: Police guard for nuclear shipment 27 US: Louisiana: Radiation clean-up slated next week 28 UK nuclear waste unloaded amid protests, security - 29 US: Utah: Groups pour $1.4 million into war over Envirocare NUCLEAR WEAPONS 30 Nuclear fuel return 'shames BNFL' * 31 Russia, China Welcome Iraq Decision 32 U.S. Pushes For Iraq Disarmament 33 Soviet Nukes Missing 34 New office for Bellona Europa 35 Far East Decommissioning Conference Cries for Cash 36 AU: Howard reveals Iraq's weapons plans 37 Russia: Nuclear Official Frets Over Spent Sub Fuel 38 OP: Confusion on nuclear policy (Russia/Iraq) US DEPT. OF ENERGY 39 Report looks at DOE's contract overhaul 40 NIF laser's name change ignites furor 41 INEL: Flushing of radioactive sludge begins... How to treat sludge i 42 Work Begins on Hanford Cleanup 43 Nuclear regulators to meet on S.C. plant 44 SRS: Site gets closer to salt solution OTHER NUCLEAR ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 UK: Outlook: On the hook as administration beckons at nuclear generator Independent.co.uk Bloomsbury magic; AOL Time Warner 18 September 2002 The final denouement approaches at British Energy, and unhappily for the nuclear generating company's chairman, Robin Jeffrey, something pretty dramatic will have to be pulled out of the hat if it is not to be the administration that ministers seem minded to order. Technically, it is not the Government's decision, but in practice it is, since administrators will have to be called in if the Department of Trade and Industry refuses to roll over its £410m financial lifeline next week. The main argument against administration is that, as with Railtrack, it might end up costing the taxpayer a good deal more to allow the company to go to the wall than to keep it on life support until a longer-term solution to nuclear's problems is found. A related argument is that if the Government fails to come to British Energy's rescue, what limited chances there were of the private sector financing new nuclear build will have been buried for ever. The parallels with Railtrack are hard to ignore. If things were bad at the time Railtrack was put into administration, they got a whole lot worse, both financially and operationally, afterwards. The same could easily happen with British Energy. Operationally, the business would inevitably go into a steep decline. An administration would also allow the Canadian government to take control of the group's potentially valuable Bruce nuclear power stations in Canada without compensation. Meanwhile the British government would have to bring a £14bn nuclear decommissioning liability back on to its own books, at least temporarily. Against that, the costs of continuing to support British Energy may be comparatively small. British Energy insists the ongoing cash outflow isn't that great, and if something were done immediately on the Climate Change Levy and business rates, it might be halted altogether. The other major downside of an administration is that the Government would in all probability end up having to take the power stations back into public ownership. Stripped of all debt, the administrators might be able to find buyers, but only if the Government agreed to take over responsibility for decommissioning, in which case the stations might as well be in the public sector, as the Magnox plants are. The nuclear industry has always had an unstable relationship with the private sector. When the electricity industry was originally privatised, nuclear had to be taken out of the mix to persuade investors to buy. It was only later that the City came up with a structure to achieve the impossible. If the new electricity trading arrangements had existed then, it could not have been done, and it is with some justification that investors complain the goal posts have been unfairly shifted. Nuclear power in Britain only exists because of public policy, with the modern policy goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions now added to the original two of having nuclear capability for military reasons and reducing our dependence on imported energy. The Government says it wants to find a private sector solution to nuclear's problems. Administration doesn't obviously supply it, and if that's the route ministers are determined to go down, they should perhaps also be prepared to recognise it probably means renationalisation too. The alternative is to extend the lifeline to British Energy long enough for bankers and bondholders to work out a debt-for-equity swap that might make the company commercially viable again. Either way, shareholders will be lucky to end up with as much as a ten bob note. *Bloomsbury magic* Luck is always a bigger factor in business success than most entrepreneurs care to admit. Nigel Newton, chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing, would claim it was more than luck that caused his company to sign up an unknown author called JK Rowling. The judgement of his editors might have entered the equation too. None the less, even Mr Newton could not have foreseen the sensational success that Ms Rowling's Harry Potter novels would become. In just six years, Harry Potter has established itself as quite possibly the greatest book publishing phenomenon of all time, ignoring the religious texts that is. No other work of fiction has sold in such numbers, let alone at such speed. Nor has any other series of novels had such international appeal. New Yorkers used to queue at the dock for delivery of the latest installment of /Little Dorrit/ when Charles Dickens was churning them out in the 1850s, but even by the standards of their time such examples of cross-border publishing success don't even begin to match the wonders of Hogwarts. Transformed by today's global media village into an overnight worldwide phenomenon, the trainee wizard's mass appeal appears to transcend all the usual boundaries of nationality, language, race, religion and creed. Unfortunately for Mr Newton, an easy going Anglo American who set up Bloomsbury in the mid 1980s, he owns the rights only to English speaking editions outside the US. Foreign language editions, the merchandising and film rights, and the lucrative US market, belong to others. Even so, what he did buy has proved quite enough to transform his tiddler of a company into one of the best recognised names in international publishing. Time, surely, to do what successful publishers usually do ? don the tweeds and retire to the country with the labradors? Not a bit of it. Bloomsbury has used the success of Harry Potter to sign a growing array of English speaking writers, both established and new, while the Rowling cash machine is being spent on acquiring a series of repeat income publishers and on cautious expansion into the US. Half-year figures published yesterday confirm the company's continued progress. Some new and genuinely innovative reference books, among them /Business ? the Ultimate Resource/, a hugely ambitious reference book, are being added to the growing stable of old reliables, such as /Who's Who/ and /Whitaker's Almanack/. The effect is to build an annuity of income to compensate for the inevitable lumpiness of the bestsellers. Bloomsbury has so far managed its Harry Potter luck with masterful effect, so much so that worrying about when things might go wrong must sometimes give Mr Newton sleepless nights. Now if only JK Rowling could be persuaded to get off the marital bed and complete that fifth Harry Potter manuscript, we'd all be happy. *AOL Time Warner* Corporate America has disappointed on so many fronts over the past year that the continued survival of Steve Case as chairman of AOL Time Warner shouldn't perhaps be much of a surprise to anyone. Gerald Levin, former chief executive, has rightly paid for Time Warner's disastrous AOL merger with his job, so how come Mr Case, who persuaded Time Warner into an acquisition that established new records in value destruction, manages to hang on? One reason is that under the terms of the merger, a majority of more than three-quarters of the board is required to boot him out. During the boom, nobody thought to challenge this crafty little ruse, even if they noticed it. AOL has utterly failed to provide Time Warner with the digital distribution it promised. It is also under investigation for allegedly misleading Time Warner's shareholders by improperly inflating its revenues. Mr Case should have the good grace to go quietly. Unfortunately, grace is these days not a quality much in evidence across the boardrooms of corporate America. /jeremy.warner@independent.co.uk / ***************************************************************** 2 British Energy mulls FSA complaint after shares slide Independent.co.uk © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd By Michael Harrison Business Editor 18 September 2002 British Energy may complain about the Government's behaviour to the Financial Services Authority, after shares and bonds in the embattled nuclear electricity generator resumed their downwards spiral. The renewed investor panic was caused by reports over the weekend and yesterday that ministers were looking upon administration as the most likely outcome for the company. British Energy executives, led by its executive chairman Robin Jeffrey, were yesterday continuing their talks with the Government in an effort to persuade it that keeping the company solvent would be a cheaper option. It is also expected to appoint Merrill Lynch to strengthen its team of financial advisers working on the rescue plan. Privately, British Energy is furious at the Government for briefing against it when the two are still locked in negotiations and is understood to be considering a complaint to the FSA. A £410m lifeline provided to British Energy by the Government last week runs out in 10 days. Unless it is rolled over or a long-term restructuring plan is agreed, then there will be little option but to declare British Energy insolvent. Shares in British Energy fell by a third to close at 12p, valuing the company at £74m. Meanwhile British Energy bonds were trading at just 30 per cent of their face value ? a drop of 28 percentage points on Monday night's closing value. British Energy sources argue that putting the company into administration would cut the value of its assets by £650m and knock a further £100m off the value of its electricity trading contracts. This compares with the £200m it would cost the Government to keep the company solvent by exempting its electricity from the Climate Change Levy and cutting the cost of its reprocessing contracts with British Nuclear Fuels. However, sources questioned the company's figures. "This is a company which ought to be able to flourish in the financial sector but which has been mismanaged," one adviser said. "The Government's instinct is still to find a private sector solution but whether that will leave a role for British Energy's existing investors is another matter." "This is all about getting rid of Robin," one source said. "The Government tried and failed to achieve that by slagging off the management and now they are trying to do it by slagging off the entire company." The sources also accused ministers of undermining morale at British Energy. "They are like little boys in a railway signal box pulling the levers without any idea what the effect will be down the line." This Is London ***************************************************************** 4 UK: S&P adds to gloom at British Energy This is Money /by Robert Lea, Evening Standard/ BRITISH Energy faced a collapse in investor confidence today as credit rating agency Standard & Poor's joined the chorus of City speculation that the Government will push the nuclear generator into insolvency. The shares tumbled 6p to a new low of 12p with more than 20m changing hands. On the bond market, its debt is now trading at just 30% of face value. Downgrading British Energy's credit to BB, S&P said: 'It is becoming apparent that none of the key decision makers appear to have a strong aversion to British Energy being placed into administration.' With projected operating cash outflows, maturing bond issues and other near-term debt repayments of nearly £500m stretching the company's finances to the limit, the Government stepped in last week with a £410m emergency credit facility. With that in place, the company today cancelled a £260m banking facility which it is unable to draw and on which it is racking up charges. It reiterated its position that there can 'be no certainty as to a successful outcome' of its restructuring and financing negotiations with the Government. © Associated Newspapers Ltd., 17 September 2002 Terms and Conditions This Is London ***************************************************************** 5 Cash-strapped Russia lacks funds to scrap nuclear subs: official AFP - 9/18/2002 MOSCOW - The Russian government is allocating only a fraction of the cash needed to scrap decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines despite danger of fuel and radiation leaks, a Russian government official said Tuesday. The government this year paid just 70 million dollars out of 3.8 billion needed to secure the waste, Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Valery Lebedev told an international ecology conference in Russia's Pacific port of Vladivostok. By comparison, one warehouse needed to stock the nuclear reactors of the Russian Pacific Fleet's 45 decommissioned subs would cost some 200 million dollars to build, Lebedev was quoted saying by the Interfax-AVN news agency. Funding shortages are also delaying the dismantling of the Kursk nuclear-powered submarine, which sank in 2000 with 118 men on board and was lifted last year from the bed of the Barents Sea, said the engineer in charge of the project, Rostislav Rimdyonov. Bureaucratic hassles have prevented foreign sponsors, particularly neighboring Japan, from help the cash-strapped Pacific Fleet recycle its decommissioned submarines, said Russian officials. Japanese experts applied for participation in the project in 1999 but Moscow has so far failed to approve the plan, they said. Meanwhile the danger of radioactive leaks looms over the Pacific Far East because nuclear fuel from 42 decommissioned submarines has not yet been unloaded, officials said. © Copyright 2002 AFP ***************************************************************** 6 Russia not to curtail nuclear cooperation with Iran* Wed 18 Sep 2002 /John Innes/ A TRAIN carrying radioactive plutonium fuel which was rejected from Japan yesterday arrived at the Sellafield nuclear plant to complete the last leg of an 18,000-mile journey. The Pacific Pintail freighter delivered the BNFL-owned fuel to a train after docking at Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, amid a flurry of protests from environmental campaigners. Greenpeace activists claimed the ship?s five-tonne cargo of plutonium-mixed oxide fuel (MOX) contains enough radioactive material to make 50 nuclear weapons should it fall into terrorist hands, an argument rejected by BNFL. Protesters mounted two flotillas made up of about 20 boats to confront the two BNFL-owned ships, first as they entered the Irish Sea and later as they neared the Barrow port. Boats flying banners proclaiming "Stop Plutonium Transport" swarmed round the Pacific Pintail, which was being escorted by armed police boats, as she sailed into the final stretches of Walney Channel. Her sister ship, the Pacific Teal, which is not thought to be carrying any nuclear fuel, was due to dock at the same port on last night?s high tide. BNFL has faced a storm of criticism over the return of the shipment which left Takahama, in Japan, in July. About 80 governments are said to have denied the BNFL convoy access to waters surrounding their countries, according to Greenpeace. BNFL says this stems from a misunderstanding over the risk from the fuel which has "very low" radiation levels as it has not been used in a reactor. Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, an independent spokes-man on the security of the transport of nuclear cargo, said BNFL had gone far beyond what was required to ensure yesterday?s shipment was safe. "They have not just met government guidelines, they have exceeded them," said Sir Sandy, who has helped write books on state-sponsored terrorism. He added: "The materials they are carrying are not of much interest to the likes of Saddam Hussein. There are much easier targets for him." Adding that the ships are tougher than most warships, he said: "You would have to put a bloody big bomb under that ship to make anything come out of it." Earlier in the day, a man was arrested after gaining entry to a media site set up near the Barrow dock. The plutonium MOX fuel was originally shipped to Japan in 1999 for Kansai Electric Power Company?s nuclear generating facility. But BNFL had to bring it back after admitting quality checks on the consignment were falsified. The fuel, which is contained in a single, white, armoured flask, will be taken off the freight train later tonight or tomorrow and kept in a "cooling ponds" storage facility until BNFL bosses give the green light for it to be recycled. This involves recovering the fuel?s fissile materials - plutonium and uranium. Greenpeace claims the cost of the entire operation has been about £113 million. A spokes-man said yesterday?s demonstration was intended as a "final humiliation" for BNFL. He said: "Its reject plutonium is now back where it started. "In the course of the journey, BNFL has taken great risks with environmental safety, ignored the protests of 80 countries around the world and outraged public opinion on four continents. "Many people came together today to tell BNFL that they are taking liberties in transporting dangerous plutonium across the high seas and they do not want to see it happening again." Jim Corr, a musician who spent six days aboard Greenpeace?s Rainbow Warrior ship protesting against a shipment of nuclear material, said he was pleased to help raise awareness about transporting the radioactive cargo by sea. He said it was "madness" to carry such a cargo such long distances by ship and hoped that the coverage gained by the environmental group in the past week would help sway public opinion. "Public opinion will then sway the politicians and hopefully the politicians will change the policies regarding hazardous materials on the seas," he said. "I come from a town called Dundalk which is directly across the water from the Sellafield complex. For years I have been listening to stories and BNFL say. ?How can you link that with us?? But you do not have to do much head-scratching." *Nuclear fuel back at Sellafield after an 18,000-mile journey* Taxpayers? ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 20 Radioactive cargo back at Sellafield Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Five tonnes of plutonium fuel, rejected by Japan, returns to Cumbria after 36,000 mile round trip, shadowed by flotilla of protest boats David Ward Wednesday September 18, 2002 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Five tonnes of radioactive plutonium fuel spurned by Japan were back where they started in Cumbria yesterday after a 36,000-mile round trip which took three years and cost an alleged £100m. Just after 10.30am a tug nudged the cargo vessel Pacific Pintail into her berth at Barrow-in-Furness. As the Pintail was made fast, the sigh of relief from BNFL officials and hundreds of police officers was almost palpable. There had been no problems with Greenpeace demonstrators, no terrorist attacks. All they had to do now was watch a crane transfer the single 100-tonne transport flask with shock absorbers and neutron shielding on to a train for the two-hour trundle up the coast to Sellafield. At the plant the cylindrical flask, with a small "hazardous material" sticker on its side, was then shunted at walking pace into shed B532. At 5.02pm doors shut behind it. Afterwards Norman Askew, BNFL's chief executive, said: "This came from a mistake, something that should never have happened. One thing we can never forget is the stupidity of what happened." He confirmed that up to eight annual shipments of MOX fuel - mixed oxide fuel, the product of the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods - could leave Sellafield in coming years. Earlier, Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, Falklands hero and the company's security observer, said he was satisfied with security. "You would have to put a bloody great bomb under that ship to make anything come out of it," he said. "The strength of construction of that ship is tougher than any warship today. It's like a world war one battleship. There is not much risk there." The Pintail, specially designed for the job, has a double steel hull, enhanced buoyancy, two engines, two propellers, two navigation and two communication systems. It is also equipped with hoses and naval guns for repelling unwanted boarders. The MOX fuel was brought back from Takahama in Japan after an embarrassing admission by BNFL that Sellafield staff had faked safety records. Greenpeace, whose flotilla of boats including its flagship Rainbow Warrior had shadowed the Pintail on the last leg of her voyage, condemned the operation as "the final humiliation of BNFL". "Its rejected fuel is back where it started," said a spokesman. "But in the course of the journey, BNFL has taken great risks with environmental safety, ignored protests in 80 countries and outraged public opinion in four continents." He added that the company wanted to make similar cargo trips every three months as it tries to sell MOX supplies to Japan, Belgium, France and Switzerland. The Pintail had approached Barrow at first light to catch the morning tide. It had passed the Isle of Man, rounded Piel Bar, and turned north to pass the medieval castle on Piel Island. It then steamed up the sound between Barrow and Walney Island. In front was the harbour master's boat; to port and starboard were six police inflatables; astern followed a tug and powerful police launch. And behind them four protest boats - the White Heather, the Spinner, the Celtic Legend and Swn y Mor - with yellow banners proclaiming: "Stop plutonium transports" and "Irish Sea - nuclear free". Irish Green MEP Nuala Ahern, on board the Spinner, said she had been shocked to see armed police in black uniforms lined up along the rail of the Pintail. "This is a deadly cargo and it was an awful feeling seeing it come round the spit. It's carrying plutonium, the most dangerous substance on the planet. "We want it stopped and we hope BNFL have got that message bright and clear this morning." Mike Clark, former commercial director of an advertising company, had brought the White Heather over from the Isle of Man, where he can see Sellafield from his home at Laxey. "Every day it's a constant reminder of the horrendous collection of material that started in there," he said. "The Irish Sea is far more radioactive than it used to be. I'm protesting on behalf of my children. This cargo is a horrible legacy for our children." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 21 UK: BNFL plans eight ships of nuclear cargo a year Independent.co.uk By Ian Herbert, North of England Correspondent 18 September 2002 British Nuclear Fuels plans to send up to eight annual shipments of radioactive material through the Irish Sea in coming years, despite opposition to its international cargoes voiced by 80 countries. After a locomotive finally nudged a five-ton consignment of rejected plutonium into a shed at BNFL's Sellafield plant after a humiliating voyage back from Japan, the company's chief executive, Norman Askew, said advance orders for the reprocessed nuclear fuel accounted for 40 per cent of capacity at the new Mox reprocessing plant. The first delivery will go to Switzerland by the middle of next year. Germany, Belgium and France are believed to be ready to take more. The safety concerns of Greenpeace, echoed by politicians and environmentalists in Ireland, could not be dismissed as "rubbish" but did not take account of the firm's 30-year record, Mr Askew said. "We've got to deal with facts." At 5.02pm yesterday, the diesel locomotive pushed the rejected plutonium into shed 3532 at Sellafield and the grey corrugated metal doors were slammed shut. BNFL insisted the return of the single cylindrical flask ? carrying five padlocks and bearing the words: To BNFL plc Sellafield, from Kansai Electric Co, Takahama ? enabled it to draw a line under the "stupidity" of falsifying safety data at the British nuclear facility. But to the very end, the transport of the material ? enough to make five nuclear bombs, according to Greenpeace ? highlighted the opposition from 80 countries on four continents. The last of many peaceful protests greeted the cargo when its carrier, the /Pacific Pintail,/ finally nudged around the Piel Island spit, east of Barrow-in-Furness docks, at 8.19am yesterday. The deck was patrolled by eight guards in balaclavas and body armour, carrying machine pistols ? an indication of the dangers accompanying its transit. The ship lumbered alongside the myriad small vessels that swarmed around it ? an accompanying harbourmaster's boat, four police dinghies and the flotilla of four protest boats, led by the Welsh /Swn y Mor/, which got close enough to the /Pintail/ to make a police craft intervene. The Barrow-registered /Pintail/ docked in the town's locks, two miles away, and was then nudged into a delicate 180-degree rotation alongside the train, which conveyed it two hours north, up Cumbria's west coast to Sellafield. It was a tense afternoon. Police guarded every road bridge and crossing as it began the last leg of the journey. To the concern of Greenpeace, /Pintail's/ escort ship /Teal/, which had travelled to the defence of the consignment, did not see it into its home port, waiting out at sea before its own expected Barrow docking last night. All day, BNFL endeavoured to make the best of what was ? in PR terms ? a bad job. First, it delivered the Falklands war veteran Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, who is putting forward BNFL's safety case in return for a contribution to his Falklands Memorial Chapel Appeal. He said the thickness of the carrier vessel's two hulls meant that an attack similar to that by al-Qa'ida activists on the USS /Cole, /which killed 12 people off Yemen two years ago, would not have dislodged the fuel. "You've got to put a bloody great bomb under that ship to make anything come out of it," Admiral Woodward said. Then bacon sandwiches, sushi and chocolate-covered apricots were among the delicacies laid on at BNFL's Barrow media facility. But this operation was precarious. The press tea urn exploded and relations with Greenpeace were further strained when the environmental group was refused entrance to the facility to put its side of the story. "Sushi?" muttered one senior Greenpeace campaigner. "That's the last thing they'll be getting from Japan." /The Irish Examiner 18 Sep 2002/ *By Laura Scott* THE return of shipments of radioactive plutonium fuel, rejected from Japan, is the final humiliation for British Nuclear Fuels, Greenpeace said yesterday. Declaring the protest on the Irish Sea a success, a Greenpeace spokesperson said: "Today is a final humiliation for BNFL after a three-year, 36,000-mile round trip. Its reject plutonium is now back where it started. "In the course of the journey, BNFL has taken great risks with environmental safety, ignored the protests of 80 countries around the world and outraged public opinion on four continents. "It seems that the only thing they are good at is offending people. The main thing we wanted to do was bear witness to what was happening and let BNFL know that people were very unhappy with what they were doing." Five tonnes of plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX) in 100-tonne armoured casks, were lifted by crane from nuclear freighter Pacific Pintail, on to a train under armed police guard, before being transported to the Sellafield plant. The BNFL-owned vessel docked at the Marine Terminal in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, yesterday morning. Sister ship Pacific Teal, not thought to be carrying fuel, docked at the same port. Both ships have completed a controversial journey across the globe which began when they left Takahama in Japan in July en route for the Cumbrian port. Casks containing the fuel were bolted down in the ships designed to withstand collision and remain buoyant. The ships were armed. As the Pacific Pintail entered the final stretch of Walney Channel before reaching the port, it was followed by a flotilla of protesters' boats flying banners bearing "Stop Plutonium Transport". Navy vessels and spotter aircraft were also deployed by the British Government to monitor the BNFL ships as they sailed off the Irish coast. Sinn Féin environment spokesperson Arthur Morgan said an international alliance was needed to block further transport of nuclear fuel. Speaking from a vessel in the anti-nuclear flotilla, Mr Morgan said: "The Irish Sea protest against the transportation of BNFL's nuclear fuel has served to highlight in a dramatic way the dangers involved in this practice. "However, these protests in themselves cannot bring it to an end. We need to build an international alliance of non-nuclear countries who will work with national and international environmental and peace groups to make the extremely dangerous practice impossible," he said. A BNFL spokesman said countries were entitled to their opinions, but much concern stemmed from a misunderstanding over the risk from the fuel. He said it had not been used in a reactor, which meant its levels of radiation were "very low" The Examiner Logo ***************************************************************** 31 Russia, China Welcome Iraq Decision Las Vegas SUN: September 17, 2002 By JUDITH INGRAM ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW- Russia and China, the veto-holding U.N. Security Council members most opposed to a U.S. attack on Iraq, said Tuesday that Baghdad's decision to allow the unconditional return of weapons inspectors was a victory for diplomacy and could avert any need to use force. The United States dismissed Iraq's accession as a tactical ploy to avoid tough international action. The differences among three of the five permanent Security Council members with veto power - Britain and France are the other two - could signal a split on the powerful body. The Security Council would have to vote unanimously to give U.N. approval for military action against Baghdad. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington would seek a new U.N. Security Council resolution spelling out new demands. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov said a new resolution was unnecessary. The Iraqi move, meanwhile, pushed crude oil futures sharply lower and likely will take some of the pressure off OPEC to raise production this week. The United States and other large oil importers have been alarmed by prices hovering near $30 per barrel, which some fear could harm the chances for an economic recovery. But OPEC has been divided about whether to increase production during talks Thursday. Saudi Arabia has not committed itself. Analysts say the price has been inflated by $2 to $4 per barrel on a "war premium" that developed on the belief that President Bush might soon order an attack on Iraq to try to remove President Saddam Hussein from power. Arabs said Iraq's decision could save the region from conflagration. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Baghdad's agreement would be "welcomed by the world." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan credited Moussa and Arab League members with playing a key role in talks that led to Iraq's surprise agreement Monday night to allow the unconditional return of weapons inspectors after nearly four years. In Syria, Damascus radio said in a commentary that despite the Iraqi decision, it found "the hawks in the U.S administration, who are connected to Zionist plots, are still promoting for an aggression against Iraq." Russia said the international community must take Saddam at his word and send U.N. inspectors quickly to examine alleged stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. "Now our main task is to ensure that the inspectors can get to Iraq as soon as possible and start their work," Ivanov told reporters at the United Nations in New York. "It's principally important that today, through our joint efforts, we have managed to put aside the threat of a war scenario around Iraq and return the process to a political channel," he said in comments broadcast on Russian television. China, a longtime Iraq backer along with Russia, said Baghdad's decision gave the country a fresh chance to implement U.N. resolutions adopted at the end of the Gulf War in 1991. "We hope that Iraq will comprehensively implement the U.N. resolutions to create the necessary conditions for the orderly and peaceful resolution of the Iraq issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said. The United Nations imposed sanctions after Iraq invaded Kuwait and the punishing rules cannot be lifted until weapons inspectors certify that Iraq no longer has or is trying to produce chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or the missiles to deliver them. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which will conduct inspections for nuclear weapons, said it could decide on certification within a year if Iraq cooperates. "We could start work tomorrow. We have a plan in place, but we need a green light from the Security Council," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, in New York for meetings with Powell, was skeptical of Iraqi motives. "Inspectors and supervision only work with honest people. Dishonest people know how to overcome this easily," he told Israel Radio. In Iran, a Tehran Radio commentary called on both Iraq and the United States to observe restraint. "It is essential for the international community to maintain its pressure on both players simultaneously to make certain that they move forward within the framework of the U.N. resolutions," it said. France said the international community should test Iraq's commitment by quickly sending inspectors. President Jacques Chirac opposes a U.N. resolution that would approve military action without first giving the inspectors time to do their work. Washington wanted a combined resolution dealing with both inspections and military action if the U.N. team was unsuccessful. "We must let Saddam Hussein's words speak for themselves," Francois Rivasseau, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said on Europe-1 radio. "We must not lose time, act quickly, send in the inspectors." German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has been outspoken in his opposition to military action against Iraq, said Baghdad's offer was "a very important step along the path we have always believed is right." "The important thing now is that we do not let slip this chance for a political, non-confrontational and cooperative new order in the Middle East," he told reporters. Britain, America's closest ally, questioned Saddam's motives but acknowledged that diplomacy had worked for now. "This apparent offer is bound to be treated with a high degree of skepticism by the international community," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said, pointing to statements by Iraq only days before placing conditions on the inspectors' return. "To the extent that it represents any movement, this has only arisen as a result of the determined pressure by the international community," Straw added. Turkey, which shared reservations about military action, said it welcomed Baghdad's decision. "This is a step in the right direction toward meeting the expectations of the international community, including Turkey," a Foreign Ministry statement read. -- All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 U.S. Pushes For Iraq Disarmament Las Vegas SUN: September 17, 2002 By ROBERT BURNS ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- The Bush administration stepped up pressure Tuesday for a new U.N. Security Council disarmament resolution for Iraq and disclosed plans for moving B-2 bombers closer to Baghdad, preparing for possible war to remove President Saddam Hussein. President Bush, speaking in Nashville, Tenn., said the United Nations must show that it is more than an "ineffective debating society" in confronting years of Iraq's flouting of council disarmament resolutions. Russia is among countries having second thoughts about a new resolution after Iraq promised unfettered access for U.N. weapons inspectors. The inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 and have not been allowed back. "For the sake of liberty and justice for all, the United Nations Security Council must act; must act in a way to hold this regime to account. It must not be fooled," Bush said. Bush has raised the specter of military action to remove Saddam from power if the Iraqi leader fails to take steps to disarm. He wants that authority to be included, at least implicitly, in any new Security Council resolution. As a signal to the Iraqis, officials said Tuesday the administration is seeking permission from Britain to base a small number of Air Force B-2 stealth bombers on the island of Diego Garcia in the northern Indian Ocean. The B-2's normally are based on U.S. territory, and deploying them in the Indian Ocean site would cut flight time in half. On the diplomatic front, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov challenged the U.S. demand for a new resolution. He said there should be "no artificial delays" blocking the return of the inspectors. "We don't need any special resolution," Ivanov said. He said the inspectors "should go to Iraq and get down to discharging their functions" of determining how many weapons Iraq possesses. Russia's stand is crucial because of its role as a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council. In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed Iraq's offer as the "sort of thing we've heard before." Citing a lengthy list of Saddam's past promises, Cheney told a Republican Party fund-raiser that Iraq's lack of credibility was immediately evident in contention that it has no weapons of mass destruction. Cheney said, for instance, that Saddam has "begun to reconstitute his nuclear programs. We've seen a growing level of threat, He's back at it again." The vice president said he spent the better part of his day on Capitol Hill pressing lawmakers to "authorize whatever force might be necessary." "Time is not on our side," Cheney said. "A nuclear-armed Saddam Hussein is not a pleasant prospect for anybody." Bush will have a chance to make his case directly to the Russians on Friday when he meets with Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The president invited the four top congressional leaders to the White House for a meeting on Wednesday as administration advisers worked on the terms of legislation that would give Bush the authority to use "all appropriate means" to force Iraq's disarmament, an administration official said. In the Senate, Majority Leader Tom Daschle said, "I think there will be a vote well before the election." The comments represented a shift for Daschle, D-S.D., who had earlier declined to predict the timing of a vote. Some Senate Democrats said they wanted to see how inspections played out before authorizing military action. "If they (inspections) fail, then we can consider a lot of options," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. A letter Monday night from Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri offering unfettered U.N. inspections changed the political dynamic here, leaving delegates wondering whether the Bush administration would be able to achieve its goal of a strongly worded resolution. Secretary of State Colin Powell argued forcefully for a new one, saying it's the only way to avoid repeating abuses of the past. Powell said Iraq agreed to allow the inspectors' return only because the "entire international community" united in opposition to Iraq after Bush's speech to the General Assembly last Thursday. Meanwhile, the U.N. body that would travel to Iraq is the United Nations Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission, led by Hans Blix, a veteran arms expert. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said the inspection team "is ready to move as quickly as is practicable" to begin work in Iraq. He also said the Security Council is at the beginning of the process, not the end, suggesting sympathy for Powell's view. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 33 Soviet Nukes Missing Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002 Some 200 Soviet-era nuclear warheads have disappeared, the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party charges. According to Pravda.ru, Pyotr Simonenko said that there were originally 2400 nuclear warheads in Ukraine, although only 2200 can be accounted for. Nobody, he said, has any idea where the other 200 deadly warheads have gone. "Out of 2,400 nuclear warheads which were on Ukrainian territory, the withdrawal of only 2,200 warheads has been verified. The fate of the remaining 200 warheads is unknown," Simonenko told Pravda.ru. And his charges were backed up, Pravda.ru writes, by a member of a Ukrainian parliamentary investigation who admits that some of the warheads have been "lost." Simonenko's revelation was downplayed by the Deputy chief of the Ukrainian Army Headquarters, Nikolay Goncharenko, who insisted that Simonenko’s charges had no basis in fact. Goncharenko told Pravda.ru that the handling of all strategic offensive arms is now under the authority of Russia, a statement, Pravda.ru observed that does nothing to explain why 200 nukes appear to have vanished. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Ukraine, along with two other former Soviet republics Belarus and Kazakhstan, where the Soviets based many of their nuclear warheads, were supposed to have safely returned their Soviet nuclear weapons to post-communist Russia by 1997. Simonenko charges that his country can't account for all of the Soviet warheads or the paperwork concerning the 200 warheads allegedly given back to Moscow. The missing warheads are raising concerns because of the close connections between the governments of Iraq and Ukraine. In a July 9, 2002 story in Britain's Financial Times, correspondent Tom Warner revealed that Iraq was actively seeking weapons technology from Ukraine. "Iraq," he wrote, "is exploiting its growing links with Ukraine in an effort to obtain weapons technologies, arms control experts say. "They say the government of the former Soviet republic has been taking an active role in organising direct ties between Ukrainian companies and Iraq." Warner quoted Timothy McCarthy, a former United Nations weapons inspector as saying "For some years there was an intensive defense-technology relationship between Ukraine and Iraq. This appears to be re-emerging and we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past." Warner revealed that his newspaper has heard recordings "of what appears to be a conversation between Ukraine president, Leonid Kuchma, and Yuri Alexeyev, director of Yuzhmash, Ukraine`s largest rocket maker,[where] the men mention Iraq, Iran and rockets." The recordings, Warner wrote, were supplied to the Financial Times by Mykola Melnychenko, one of Kuchma`s former bodyguards. Kuchma and Alexeyev denied having supplied missile technology to Iraq, but Kuchma, while denying the content, admitted that his conversations had been recorded. Ukraine opened an embassy in Baghdad in 2000 and its ministry of foreign affairs accepted the credentials of Yuri Orshansky, a Ukrainian businessman, as an honorary consul for Iraq. Warner reported that Orshansky told Ukrainian media he has visited Iraq 40 times since 1992, but denies breaking international sanctions. In 2001, Orshansky organised a trade fair in Baghdad. "Even if they want to create a nuclear bomb, we will study this," he was quoted as saying. "After all, in 50 years, maybe we will offer our services." All Rights Reserved © NewsMax.com ***************************************************************** 34 New office for Bellona Europa BRUSSELS - Bellona Europa opened its new office in Brussels on 11 September. At the event marking the occasion, the Bellona representatives focused on the main priorities for Bellona's work towards the European Union. From the opening of the new Bellona Europe office in Brüssels. At the far right the office's two employees, Soizick Martin and Paal Frisvold. The somewhat sceptical looking man in the middle is ESA President Einar Bull. Nils Bøhmer/Bellona Bellona Europa, 2002-09-17 13:58 Bellona Europa marked the opening of its new office with a small reception for its friends and contacts in the EU environment. Located a five minutes walk from the European Parliament, the light and spacious loft-like office above a printing office, provides Bellona Europa with an inspiring place to work. Of the guests that attended the event were Mr. Einar Bull, President of the EFTA Surveillance Authority, Mr. Bjørn T. Grydeland, the Norwegian Ambassador to the EU, Ms. Heidi Hautala, Member of the European Parliament, a number of officials form the European Commission, Parliament, the European Environmental Bureau, as well as from Bellona partners from business and industry. Central issues In her words of welcome, the Director of Bellona Europa, Ms. Soizick Martin emphasised on the close co-operation between The Bellona Foundation and the European Parliament regarding the work on promoting Human and Environmental Rights in Russia. Alexander Nikitin has himself expressed that he would probably still be in prison if it had not been for the international political pressure promulgated by the European Parliament. Today, the case of Russian journalist Grigory Pasko, sentenced to four years in labour camp for reporting on the environmental effects of the Russian Pacific Fleet, requires similar mobilisation. His nomination for the European Parliament's Shakarov Prize for the Freedom of Thought, is a step in the right direction, Ms. Martin said. She went on talking about Bellona's work to stop Russia from importing spent nuclear fuel, which is also the focus of a joint Inter Parliamentary Working Group (IGWP) between the European Parliament and the Russian State Duma. Bellona is organising the IPWGs forthcoming trip to Murmansk in October. Paal Frisvold, policy advisor at Bellona Europa, drew attention to Bellona's efforts to monitor and lobby EU legislation regarding the Internal Market. In this regard, Bellona is particularly following EU policy initiatives in the fields of industry, environment, energy, and transport. The Norwegian refusal to join the EU in 1994 - while legally bound to adopt all EU legislation through the EEA Agreement, made it all the more important for Bellona to be present where key legislation is conceived, discussed and adopted, he said. Contact Bellona Europa at: Bellona Europa aisbl 25, rue de Sceptre, B- 1050 Brussels Phone: 00 32 648 31 22 E-mail: soizick@bellona.org paal@bellona.no Publisher: [bellona@bellona.no] , President: [frederic@bellona.no] Information: [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 35 Far East Decommissioning Conference Cries for Cash VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIAN FAR EAST - The chief official of the Russian Atomic Ministry, Minatom’s, department of ecology and decommissioning told an international conference on nuclear security that in this Pacific port town that corrosion was eating away at the hulls of 39 ships that store spent nuclear fuel, or SNF, from Russia’s Pacific Fleet submarines. Vladivostok's symbol — a Red Army solder — may well be replaced by retired nuclear submarines laying beached. Charles Digges, 2002-09-18 11:52 That official, Viktor Akhunov, said that the facilities used to store the material are inadequate and that security around the facilities is alarmingly lax. He declined to say where the ships were based or how much fuel they contained, but said the corrosion on their hulls poses "the greatest danger," but various international observers attending the conference have indicated the ships are located throughout the Primorye region, from near Vladivostok, to the Kamchatka Peninsula — where some reportedly lay beached. Akhunov said two such ships had been decommissioned over the past two years. The ecology and decommissioning chief also said security is lacking and storage facilities "dilapidated" at the Russian military bases around the country that store spent nuclear fuel from 170 submarines. Four of those bases are located in the Russian Far East, he said, though refused to be more specific about the number of vessels located in the Far East. . Of the 190 Russian submarines that have been taken out of service Russia-wide since the end of the 1980s, only 71 have been secured to some extent, meaning their nuclear fuel had been removed and some of them were scrapped, Akhunov said. Other subs remain docked off Russia's Pacific coast and in the Arctic Ocean, awaiting full decommissioning. In the Pacific Fleet alone, 42 out-of service submarines that still have their spent nuclear fuel on board still remain precariously afloat. It was ecologists and ecology groups like Alexei Yablokov and Bellona who first raised the alarm in 1995 about these submarines, bobbing at dockside, still loaded with their nuclear fuel — which is a specifically Russian method for storing submarine SNF. At that time, revelations of such information brought allegations of treason, particularly against Bellona’s Aleksandr Nikitin, who was finally acquitted of these charges in December 1999. But in recent months, Minatom has declared that the problem of these submarines is one of its main priorities. According to Akhunov, the current Russian budget assigns the equivalent of $70 million to improve nuclear safety in the country — the most funding allotted any single environmental project since the break-up of the Soviet Union. But he and other experts at the conference said the sum was still insufficient to meet the decommissioning program's basic needs. He said Russia plans to decommission 131 submarines by 2010 — an effort that will cost $3.9 billion, with a start up cost of $60 million this year alone. Where that money will come from, said Eduard Avdonin, Director of Minatom’s International Center for Environmental Safety, no one yet knows. Two of these waiting submarines have had accidents in their reactors, and salvaging them could be dangerous, said Vladimir Shishkin, chief designer of the Minatom’s Institute for Energy Equipment Research and Design, who also spoke at the Vladivostok conference. The government plans to build a special shelter to store the submarines until the fission capability in their nuclear reactors ends in about 300 years, he said. Akhunov said several projects to improve the storage and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are dogged by a lack of funding. He said his ministry was trying to drum up $7 million in foreign funding to upgrade a railroad link that would connect the Russian Far East fuel storage site at Zvezda shipyard — where fuel assemblies removed from nuclear submarines are taken to be shipped to a reprocessing facility. Avdonin added that Russia’s Northern Fleet has been dealing with the same problems for many years. The problem, he said, was that an infrastructure, not to mention a system of international attention and donors, was in place for addressing the Northern Fleets woes. According to Avdonin, the railroad track in need of repair — that was mentioned by Akhunov — is a mere 27 kilometers long. At the conference, Akhunov said a new construction project — a nuclear fuel storage base at Razboinik Bay near Vladivostok — lacks sufficient funds. The base would store fuel from 19 submarines in the bay, which are currently being kept afloat with pontoons. The Razboinik Bay project gained urgency after two decommissioned submarines sank off the north-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula in 1997 and 1999, said Defence Ministry's Vice Admiral Nikolai Yurasov, who oversees nuclear safety in the Russian Navy. The submarines were quickly raised and caused no environmental damage, he said. Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] , President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 36 AU: Howard reveals Iraq's weapons plans Financial Review - Sep 17 Geoffrey Barker The Federal Government yesterday stepped up the campaign against Iraq by revealing Australian intelligence assessments that the country was seeking enriched uranium to construct nuclear weapons. Responding to persistent Opposition questioning in Parliament, Prime Minister John Howard provided greater detail than previously about alleged Iraqi attempts to secure weapons of mass destruction, but he did not produce compelling evidence. Mr Howard warned that if Iraq secured fissile materials on the international market, its acquisition of a nuclear device could be "measured by months rather than years". He used the rare public reference to the intelligence analysis to bolster the case for a tough United Nations inspection regime and possible military action. The Prime Minister was speaking before a parliamentary debate due today on Australia's involvement in any war with Iraq. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who has been at the UN over the past week, will put the government's case. "If Iraq could obtain access to fissile material overseas, its nuclear ambition could be achieved in a period of time measured by months rather than years, although a longer time-frame would be involved if that material could not be obtained overseas," Mr Howard told Parliament. "Australian intelligence agencies believe recent Iraqi procurement activities are consistent with efforts to resume a uranium enrichment program," he added. The Opposition later attacked the government over what it claimed was its reluctance to provide hard information on an Iraqi weapons program. Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd accused Mr Howard of being "excessively sensitive" about providing such evidence. The Opposition has been pressing for greater disclosure. Mr Howard's case against Iraq - similar to claims made in documents released last week by the US - was designed to answer Opposition demands that the government make public any new evidence of Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. It was also crafted to shore up public support for the government's strong backing for US President George Bush, who has warned that the US will take military action if the UN does not force Baghdad to comply with UN resolutions. Mr Howard said Mr Downer had met the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, in New York and had concluded "he had not seen any substantial change in Iraq's position on the central issue of weapons inspections". He said nobody seriously disputed Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction. "Given the lessons that the world has learned from the terrorist attacks on the United States last year, that dimension alone has implications for the way in which the world behaves," Mr Howard said. Reading from a document later tabled in Parliament, Mr Howard referred directly to Australian intelligence sources four times to support his contentions about Iraq's program for weapons of mass destruction. Insisting that the central issue now was Iraq's non-compliance with US resolutions, Mr Howard said evidence of Iraqi activity in weapons of mass destruction since 1998 was "fragmentary but nonetheless very disturbing". But, he said, "accumulation of evidence from human and technical sources pointed to Saddam Hussein having continued or increased his WMD programs". Australian intelligence agencies advised that Iraq had continued attempts to procure equipment, material and technologies that could assist its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, Mr Howard said. He said the UN could not account for thousands of unfilled munitions and hundreds of tonnes of precursor chemicals that could provide a substantial chemical warfare arsenal. Iraq had also sought to conceal its program to produce and weaponise VX, the most lethal CW nerve agent. Since 1998, it had rebuilt chemical production facilities at Fallujah, a known site in its chemical warfare programs. Mr Howard said Iraq had admitted producing thousands of litres of anthrax, botulinim toxin and aflatoxin for delivery as weapons in missile warheads, bombs and aerial spraying. Iraq had maintained the expertise and knowledge base to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program. "Australian intelligence agencies believe recent Iraqi procurement activities are consistent with efforts to resume a uranium enrichment program," Mr Howard said. "Australian intelligence agencies believe that at least one of the short-range ballistic missiles Iraq has developed since 1991 exceeds by up to 50 kilometres the range limit of 150 kilometres imposed by [UN] resolution 687," he said in a document tabled in Parliament. "The Australian intelligence community judges that Saddam Hussein's WMD ambitions have not diminished." [http://afr.com/australia/index.html] ***************************************************************** 37 Russia: Nuclear Official Frets Over Spent Sub Fuel [http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/index.html] Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2002. Page 4 By Anatoly Medetsky The Associated Press VLADIVOSTOK, Far East -- A nuclear official has raised alarm bells about the storage of spent nuclear fuel from Russian nuclear submarines, saying the facilities used to store the material are inadequate and that security around the facilities is frighteningly lax. Viktor Akhunov, head of the Nuclear Power Ministry's department of ecology and decommissioning, told an international conference on nuclear security in Vladivostok on Monday that corrosion is eating away at the hulls of 39 ships that store spent nuclear fuel from submarines. He declined to say where the ships were based or how much fuel they contained, but said the corrosion on their hulls poses "the greatest danger." He said two such ships had been decommissioned over the past two years, and one of them was already six years past its intended life span. Akhunov also said security is lacking and storage facilities dilapidated at the military bases around the country that store spent nuclear fuel from 170 submarines. Four of those bases are located in the Far East, he said. Of the 190 Russian submarines that have been decommissioned since the end of the 1980s, only 71 have been dismantled and had their nuclear fuel removed, Akhunov said. Others remain docked off the Pacific coast and in the Arctic Ocean, waiting to be salvaged. Two of the submarines have had accidents in their reactors, and salvaging them could be dangerous, said Vladimir Shishkin, chief designer of the Nuclear Power Ministry's Institute for Energy Equipment Research and Design, who also spoke at the Vladivostok conference. The government plans to build a special shelter to store the submarines until the fission capability in their nuclear reactors ends in about 300 years, he said. Akhunov said the current federal budget assigns the equivalent of $70 million to improve nuclear safety in the country -- the most funding allotted since the breakup of the Soviet Union but still insufficient to meet the program's basic needs. He said Russia plans to salvage 131 submarines by 2010 -- an effort that will cost $3.9 billion. Akhunov said several projects to improve the storage and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are dogged by a lack of funding. He said his ministry was trying to drum up $7 million in foreign funding to upgrade a railroad link that would connect the Zvezda storage plant in the Far East with a reprocessing facility. He also said a new construction project -- to be a nuclear fuel storage base at Razboinik Bay near Vladivostok -- lacks sufficient funds. The base would store fuel from 19 submarines in the bay that are currently being kept afloat with pontoons. The Razboinik Bay project gained urgency after two decommissioned submarines sank off the northeastern Kamchatka Peninsula in 1997 and 1999, said Pacific Fleet Vice Admiral Nikolai Yurasov, who oversees nuclear safety in the navy. The submarines were quickly raised and caused no environmental damage, he said. [http://www.themoscowtimes.com ***************************************************************** 38 OP: Confusion on nuclear policy (Russia/Iraq) Posted September 18, 2002 *Our position:* It doesn't make sense to ignore Soviet-era nuclear materials. Congress is suffering from mass confusion on its policy for weapons of mass destruction. To eliminate the threat posed by Iraq's weapons, many members are ready to give their approval to a U.S.-led invasion that could cost tens of billions of dollars. Yet Congress is at odds over expanding a successful program to destroy nuclear weapons and remove nuclear material from the countries of the former Soviet Union. And the program's price tag -- about $400 million -- is a fraction of the potential cost of another war with Iraq. Go figure. In the past decade, the so-called Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has destroyed or deactivated thousands of nuclear weapons and removed significant stockpiles of nuclear bomb-making material from ex-Soviet republics. But the program doesn't have the authority to operate elsewhere, even though the raw materials for nuclear weapons are stored in hundreds of poorly secured sites in dozens of countries. Now, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana has persuaded his Senate colleagues to expand the program he co-founded to other countries, and add chemical weapons to its targets. But opponents in the House -- still stuck in a Cold War mind-set of distrusting the Russians -- would rather pick apart the program and demand more money from other countries. The Nunn-Lugar program has been too successful to fall victim to outdated thinking. If House members are truly serious about eliminating the threat of weapons of mass destruction, they'll go along with Mr. Lugar's proposal. Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel ***************************************************************** 39 Report looks at DOE's contract overhaul This story was published Tue, Sep 17, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Over the past several years, the Department of Energy did a massive overhaul of how it contracts with companies that do its work. But that huge overhaul has shown no signs of improving DOE's work in nuclear cleanup and other projects, according to a federal General Accounting Office report released Friday. "DOE cannot tell ... if the contract reforms have resulted in better performance by its contractors or more favorable contract terms for the government. Limited evidence we developed suggests that contractors managing DOE's major projects are performing no better in 2001 than on similar projects in 1996," the GAO report said. The GAO is Congress' investigative arm. The report's roots go back to the early 1990s when DOE was heavily criticized for delays, cost overruns and other problems in managing its field programs -- especially in nuclear cleanup. An overwhelming majority of DOE's work -- 90 percent in 2001 -- is actually done by companies working under contracts with the federal agency. DOE is the largest nondefense contracting agency in the federal government. In the early 1990s, a typical DOE contract reimbursed a contractor for all its expenses, regardless if the company went significantly over budget. On top of those reimbursements, DOE paid a mostly subjective award fee, which was the contractor's profit. And companies were reimbursed annually, regardless of if their projects were on schedule. All this led critics to say contractors had no incentives to finish work on time and within budget. In the late 1990s, DOE began changing how it set up contracts, hoping to create greater incentives for companies to finish work ahead of schedule and under budget. The new contracts required companies to stay within specific budgets. They penalized companies financially for cost overruns and delays and increased companies' profits if they performed ahead of schedule and under budget. All of Hanford's main contractors now work under some type of the new performance-based contracts. However, the GAO criticized DOE's approach to these new contracts. Essentially, DOE has emphasized getting new performance-based contracts in place but shortchanged setting measurable goals to actually improve cleanup, research and other DOE work, the report said. "DOE emphasized contract reform itself rather than improved results," the GAO report said. Consequently, DOE has no statistical proof that the new contracts are accomplishing nuclear cleanup better than the old contracts, the GAO said. DOE has offered anecdotes on how the new contracts improved work. But the GAO said other anecdotes also have surfaced on how the old contracts worked better. The GAO did a limited comparison of the results of some old and new DOE contracts. It concluded the new approaches performed no better or no worse than the old approach. Meanwhile in an Aug. 27 letter to the GAO, DOE wrote that many of its current work problems are due more to the complicated technical nature of its projects and management troubles and less because of the nature of the new contracts. However, DOE agreed to develop objective criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of its new contractual approach. The GAO report also noted: -- The effectiveness of the new "closure contracts" still is unknown. With this approach, a contract will run until the project is completed, supposedly by a deadline. And the bulk of DOE payments will depend on a contractor finishing on time. DOE plans to replace Hanford's current environmental restoration contract, presently managed by Bechtel Hanford, with a closure contract late this year. Under this contract, a still-unpicked contractor would remove most of Hanford's river shore contamination plus demolish and seal up most of the site's defunct reactor complexes by 2012. DOE already has closure contracts in place to finish cleanup at its Rocky Flats, Colo., and Fernald, Ohio, sites by 2006. The GAO report said whether Fernald and Rocky Flats can make those 2006 deadlines will be the first true test of the effectiveness of closure contracts. But earlier this year, two DOE Inspector General's Office reports concluded it is unlikely the Fernald and Rocky Flats cleanup efforts will meet their 2006 deadlines, with underfunding being a major reason. -- Since 1999, DOE has penalized six contractors nationwide $5 million for missing goals on performance-based contracts. CH2M Hill Hanford Group tallied the biggest penalty of $2 million in 2001 for safety management problems, -- Under performance-based contracts, Hanford met its cleanup goals for 2001. But the GAO report added, "It remains to be seen if contractors will meet milestones throughout the contracts' full lengths, and, if they do not, if DOE will require the contractors to forfeit (advanced) fee payments." Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 40 NIF laser's name change ignites furor Tri-Valley Herald [http://www.trivalleyherald.com/] - Fremont bombs on offer to filmmakers Wednesday, September 18, 2002 - 2:53:13 AM MST Tauscher: Program By Lisa FriedmanWASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- What's in a name? Not much, said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo -- at least not if it's the name of a $3.5 billion laser project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that is supposed to help scientists keep nuclear weapons up-to-date. For the second time in as many months, Congress has berated the Department of Energy for changing the name of the program being conducted at the National Ignition Facility. DOE wants to call the mission "high energy density physics" and drop the word "ignition," whichsome see as a back-door way of scaling back the project's goals. But Tauscher, whose district includes Livermore Lab and who is the top advocate in Congress for building the taxpayer-funded laser, said the NIF will do everything the lab promised law makers it would. She called the decision to change the program name "benign." Lack of word 'ignition' upsets lawmakers "Some people liked one name better than the other," she said. "The discussion to change the name had the unintended consequence of stirring up the NIF naysayers who are nothing if not diligent and always watching. ... They got all whipped up as they do about virtually everything." Critics of the mega-laser program have long contended the NIF has only a small chance of achieving ignition, or simulating a thermonuclear explosion. But the prospect of being able to do just that -- a key factor in helping scientists understand how to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal -- is what convinced Congress to fund the NIF in the first place. In a report passed recently by the House Appropriations Committee, lawmakers gave the NIF $214 million for next year. But they said they were "disturbed" that the DOE removed the word "ignition" from the overarching program name. "Ignition now appears to be only one of several objectives for the NIF," lawmakers wrote. "At this stage in the construction project, the Committee expects that confidence in achieving the ignition objective should be increasing, not receding." The language mirrors even harsher criticism heaped upon the DOE by the Senate last month. Tauscher said she has no plans to try to get the wording removed, calling it "a little taking to the woodshed" but ultimately "nonbinding rhetoric." Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the DOE's National Nuclear Security Agency, said former Administrator John Gordon changed the name from the Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High Yield campaign to High Energy Density Physics because "it was pointed out to us that the original title didn't show us that NIF was connected to the stockpile stewardship program." The stockpile stewardship program is the U.S. effort to maintain its nuclear arsenal by scientifically monitoring and updating weapons as they age and deteriorate, rather than test and develop new weapons. The NIF is expected to aid in that effort by simulating pressures and temperatures approaching those inside a hydrogen bomb. Scientists can then take that data and, with the help of supercomputers, understand how age or changing materials might affect the performance of nuclear weapons. Wilkes did not explain how the new name better underscores the purpose of the NIF. "It was just the opinion of General Gordon that it did," he said. But, Wilkes added, it's all a moot point. "We're going back to the original program name." ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 41 INEL: Flushing of radioactive sludge begins... How to treat sludge is undecided* *Thursday, September 19, 2002* *Twin Falls, Idaho* *****************************************************************