***************************************************************** 06/21/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.157 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Fukushima gov't proposes hiking nuclear fuel tax to 13.5% 2 Russia plans to build more nuclear reactors at home, hopes to win 3 Russia's nuclear ministry rejects allegations that Iran may be hidin 4 UK: Wind farm call for nuclear site 5 Russian nuclear know-how pours into Iran NUCLEAR REACTORS 6 Chernobyl victims gain strength, hope from U.S. visits 7 Work continues at Australian nuclear site despite discovery of 8 AU: Fault line must stop reactor: Dems 9 EU sponsors emergency response system for Ukrainian nuclear plants * 10 Fault line must stop reactor: Dems 11 Fault Line Found Australia Nuke Site 12 Work continues at Australian nuclear site despite discovery of 13 Nuclear power station 'set to close' 14 Russia plans to build more nuclear reactors at home, hopes to win 15 EU sponsors emergency response system for Ukrainian nuclear NUCLEAR SAFETY 16 *Deadly Soviet caesium is missing* 17 Uranium Theft May Be Part of Decade Old Heist 18 US: No Parade for This Pill 19 Missing: Soviet radioactive dust NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 20 US: *McRae: YMP lobbying may do more harm than good* 21 US: 'Light' temblor near YMP creates rumbles in D.C.* 22 US: In support of the YMP* 23 US: Nevada third in nation in number of temblors 24 US: Mayor to seek alternate route for 'toxic' train 25 US: AU: Senate launches probe into uranium mines* 26 Loading of MOX fuel to ships starts at Fukui 27 US: S.C. Plutonium Impasse Appeal Denied 28 AU: Cloud over Silex uranium research 29 US: Democrats want contributions from pro-Yucca lawmakers returned 30 US: Reid seeks to cut budget for dump 31 US: Giant Dumbells on Trucks? It's Radioactive Waste! 32 NUCLEAR FAMILY: CARL'S WIFE CASHES IN ON ATOM POWER 33 US: Goodman criticizes use of anti-Yucca money 34 US: Letter: Enough study, settle dump issue 35 US: Reid hopes to cut Yucca budget again 36 US: Senate to study Australia's uranium mines after a series of leak 37 US: Court grants appeal to Hodges NUCLEAR WEAPONS 38 French Football Team Face Up to Grim Reality of Arms 39 US: Stay calm, go shopping 40 US: Bush sends Senate new US-Russia nuclear arms treaty; asks for qu 41 'New' NATO will meet terrorist threats 42 Putin gets Pasko-letter 43 European Union takes action 44 Dirty” bomb could explode in Russia 45 US: 'Dirty' Work Worries Neighbors 46 US: Bush sends Senate new US-Russia nuclear arms treaty; asks for US DEPT. OF ENERGY 47 Tenn. Protesters Found Guilty 48 Report critical of security at DOE sites Officials announce new 49 Better integration sought at DOE sites Study calls for science, 50 Hanford union workers pass 3-year contract 51 Three Y-12 protesters found guilty, sentencing set for 52 Jury convicts nuclear protesters 53 Groups fight cleanup 'slush fund' 54 Our View: Protesters cannot be surprised by verdict, possible 55 Hanford project could miss deadline 56 Judge rules Bechtel trial to be heard next year OTHER NUCLEAR 57 Non-operational radwaste treatment plant off-limits for sponsors 58 Russia Confronting Energy Shortage ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Fukushima gov't proposes hiking nuclear fuel tax to 13.5% Editorial comments: jteditor@japantoday.com Friday, June 21, 2002 at 09:30 JST FUKUSHIMA ? The Fukushima prefectural government on Thursday proposed effectively raising the nuclear fuel tax to 13.5% from the current 7%, prefectural officials said. The government submitted an ordinance amendment bill to the prefectural assembly to raise the ratio of nuclear fuel tax to 10% of the fuel price and to impose an additional tax of 6,000 yen per kilogram of fuel, making the combined effective tax rate 13.5%. (Kyodo News) ***************************************************************** 2 Russia plans to build more nuclear reactors at home, hopes to win contract for building one in Finland * /Fri Jun 21, 7:35 AM ET/ /By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer/ MOSCOW - Having shed the trauma caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Russia has launched an ambitious program of building new nuclear reactors at home and hopes to win a contract for constructing one in Finland, top nuclear officials said Friday. "We are going to make a big surge forward after a long period of stagnation," said Oleg Sarayev, the head of the Rosenergoatom consortium in charge of Russia's nuclear power plants. In March 2001, Russia launched its first new nuclear reactor since the Chernobyl catastrophe, at a plant in the southern Rostov region. Rostov's 1,000-megawatt reactor is of the VVER-1000 type that uses pressurized water to cool its fuel rods instead of the less-stable graphite used in RBMK reactors, like the one that exploded at Chernobyl. A reactor at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, at that time a part of the Soviet Union, exploded in 1986, contaminating a huge area and sending a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. The explosion, the world's worst nuclear accident, is believed to have eventually killed some 8,000 people. The catastrophe caused a public backlash against nuclear power and forced Soviet and then Russian nuclear officials to shelve their plans for expanding the industry. But with the memory of the Chernobyl disaster fading and energy shortages becoming increasingly common, regional authorities throughout Russia are welcoming the construction of new nuclear plants, which spark little in the way of public protest. Sarayev said Friday that reactor No. 3 at the Kalinin power plant in western Russia is nearing completion, and another three reactors at the Kursk, Balakovo and Rostov power plants will follow. In a separate effort, Rosenergoatom is also modernizing the oldest of Russia's 30 existing nuclear reactors to extend their lifetime, Sarayev said. He claimed that Russia's nuclear safety standards were tougher than in the West, and said that most Russian plants meet strict norms and regulations. Deputy Nuclear Power Minister Valery Lebedev said that Russia was competing against companies from the United States, Germany and France to build a nuclear reactor in Finland. "There is a good chance that we will win, taking into account the fact that the Soviet Union built a nuclear reactor in Finland which is considered one of the safest in the world," Lebedev told reporters. Russia has also signed contracts to build nuclear power plants in China, India and Iran. The dlrs 800 million deal with Tehran has vexed the United States, which fears it could help Iran build atomic weapons. But Russia has brushed off U.S. concerns, saying Iran won't acquire weapons material from the project. (vi/ee) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 3 Russia's nuclear ministry rejects allegations that Iran may be hiding nuclear materials from Russian-built reactor * /Fri Jun 21, 6:53 AM ET/ /By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer/ MOSCOW - A top Russian nuclear official on Friday angrily rejected claims that Russia's deal to build a nuclear reactor in Iran might help the Iranian government build an atomic bomb and insisted that the project envisages the return of all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. The United States has voiced strong concerns about the dlrs 800 million deal to build the 1,000-megawatt pressurized water reactor in Bushehr, saying that it could help Iran develop nuclear weapons. Russia has brushed off the U.S. complaints, saying that the reactor can only be used for civilian purposes and will remain under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The environmental group Greenpeace claimed Friday that Russia hadn't yet reached an agreement with Iran on the return of the spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr, citing an internal document of the Nuclear Power Ministry. "That would allow Iran to use the spent fuel to produce plutonium and might help it build nuclear weapons in the near future," the environmental group said in a statement. Greenpeace nuclear coordinator Maxim Shingarkin said that the ministry document allegedly obtained by the group acknowledged that no agreement had been reached on the return of spent nuclear fuel from Iran to Russia. Shingarkin added that even if such agreement is reached, Iranians could covertly produce plutonium by swapping safety rods intended to catch neutrons with rods containing low-enriched uranium. Exposed to radiation coming from the reactor, the rods would yield weapons-grade plutonium-239, he said. "Over five years of the reactor's operation, the Iranians may get enough plutonium to build 10 atomic bombs," Shingarkin said. Deputy Nuclear Power Minister Valery Lebedev dismissed Greenpeace's claim, saying that the contract with Iran provides for the return of all spent nuclear fuel. "The contract says that we will take the spent nuclear fuel back, and we will carry it out," Lebedev said at a news conference. He insisted that Iran would never be able to develop the complex technology for extracting plutonium. Lebedev also said that a Russian law passed last year allowing Russia to accept nuclear waste from other countries for storage and reprocessing strengthened global nonproliferation efforts. The Bushehr reactor is scheduled to be built by December 2003 and start operating by 2005, and Lebedev said the construction is proceeding as scheduled. Officials from the two countries have discussed plans for building another reactor at the same plant, but Lebedev said Friday that the Iranians hadn't yet made specific proposals. Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Iran has strained otherwise warm U.S.-Russian relations, and U.S. President George W. Bush reaffirmed American concerns about Russia's nuclear assistance to Iran during a visit to Russia last month. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave little ground, defending the project as strictly energy-oriented and pointing out that the United States has promised North Korea help in building a similar nuclear reactor. (vi/ee) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 4 UK: Wind farm call for nuclear site BBC News | SCOTLAND | Friday, 21 June, 2002, 15:07 GMT 16:07 [Chapelcross] The station adds up to £20m annually to the economy Greenpeace is calling for two nuclear power stations that are to close earlier than planned, to be replaced by local offshore wind farms. The Chapelcross nuclear power station in south-west Scotland is to shut in 2005, three years earlier than originally envisaged. The plant, which employs 430 staff, will then be decommissioned over the next decade. The decision was confirmed by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) management at the plant near Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, on Friday. [Offshore wind farm] An offshore wind BNFL has carried out an economic review following a collapse in electricity prices and decided to bring forward the shutdown. A second power station, Calder Hall at Sellafield in Cumbria, is also to close. Greenpeace energy campaigner Emma Gibson said offshore wind farms could provide cheap and clean electricity "without the risk of nuclear accidents and without producing radioactive waste". "Britain's offshore wind resource is enormous and just waiting to be harnessed," she added. Prices drop Half of the Chapelcross workforce will be kept on for defuelling and decommissioning after production ceases in March 2005, giving employment until the end of the decade. Works manager Bob Clayton said the over-riding factor behind the decision was financial. "We've seen a substantial drop in wholesale electricity prices in the last couple of years. "The station has a relatively small output and relatively high costs and that, aligned with the fact that the Ministry of Defence has given us notice of their intention to terminate their contract for nuclear material, means that the site is no longer economic to operate," he said. BNFL said it had no plans to build a new nuclear power station on the same site. 'Not unexpected' Energy Minister Brian Wilson told BBC Radio Scotland: "Notice of closure is not unexpected and will give time for the local economies to adjust. "I understand that the trade unions are already proposing that nuclear should be replaced by another nuclear station at Chapelcross. "While there is no proposal from anyone to do this, I hope these views will encourage a sensible debate about our future energy needs." Brian Wilson: "Sensible debate" Dumfries Labour MP Russell Brown said he was disappointed but that closure was "almost inevitable" following the reduction of work at Chapelcross over the past year. "I think some of the difficulties on the site, especially in the past 12 months, have led to the situation being more closely looked at and at the end of the day, it is economic viability," he said. Friends of the Earth Scotland chief executive Kevin Dunion said: "The closure of Chapelcross should intensify our drive for increased energy efficiency and clean renewables not tired old demands for yet more nuclear. "We've got twice as much energy capacity as we need in Scotland at the moment. Another nuclear station is the last thing Scotland needs." Rods accident The plant is 41 years old and where modern operations close valves at the press of a button, the complex relies on engineers to do the job manually by turning a wheel. Safety flaws were highlighted last July when two dozen fuel rods slipped and fell to the floor. The accident happened during a refuelling operation for reactor three. A report into the accident blamed procedural and hardware deficiencies. HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate made several recommendations to improve safety at the plant. Most of the electricity it produces is sent to England, but it has been working under capacity for some time. Chapelcross contributes £15m to £20m to the Dumfries and Galloway economy annually. Colin Mackinnon reports "Chapelcross was scheduled to close in 2008" ***************************************************************** 5 Russian nuclear know-how pours into Iran | csmonitor.com [http://www.csmonitor.com/] Tough calls in child-soldier encounters "When that 14-year-old points a weapon at you, what are you allowed to do and not to do?" from the June 21, 2002 edition A civilian power reactor being built in Bushehr triggers fears that Russian scientists are secretly sharing nuclear technology. By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor MOSCOW – As Aeroflot Flight 515 from Moscow begins its predawn descent into Tehran, the group of middle-aged Russian experts on board begins to fill out landing cards for Iran. Pulling out dog-eared, still-valid Soviet passports, the men write down their profession – engineer – and their destination: Bushehr, the city on the Persian Gulf that is home to Iran's nuclear-power project – and to 1,000 Russian engineers and technicians. Russia sees the Bushehr reactor as a mammoth civilian venture, an $800 million nuclear power project that adheres to international norms, brings home cash, and ensures close relations with the Islamic regime in Tehran. But from the United States' perspective, oil- and gas-rich Iran doesn't need nuclear power. And so the reactor is an indication that Iran – using the civilian project as a cover, the US alleges – is gaining sensitive Russian technology that will help Tehran's hard-line mullahs acquire nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Curbing such proliferation is a key strategy of the US-declared "war on terror." Despite top-level denials of wrongdoing from Moscow and Tehran, and piecemeal indications that Russia has refused several questionable Iranian requests in recent years, US officials say that illicit technology and know-how transfers from Russian entities to Iran are continuing, and could spoil rapidly warming US-Russia relations. "The quality of the relationship with Russia really depends fundamentally on how they address this question in the future," John Bolton, the US undersecretary of state in charge of arms control, warned last week. Russia says it is playing by the rules, and that it has an even greater interest than the US in preventing nearby Tehran from acquiring nuclear capability. Officially, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that both Russia and Iran – for their declared nuclear projects – are adhering to all guidelines. Russia notes that, under a nonproliferation agreement, the US is building a similar reactor in North Korea – another country labeled by Washington as part of an "axis of evil." Loose scientists But the secretive world of nuclear and missile exports; the murky role of Russia's security services, often vulnerable to bribery; and the desperation of Russia's nuclear scientists, impoverished since the USSR's fall, have created new risks. US concerns focus not on mishandling of nuclear materials at Bushehr – which are to remain under internationally monitored Russian control – but on the possibility that Russian know-how will create a nucleus of Iranian experts who could apply new knowledge to a weapons program. "The new generation [of nuclear experts] may work in Iran, and may work on nuclear weapons, because their lives are too hard and they want money, money, money," says Valentin Tikhonov, a Russian Academy of Sciences expert who authored a report last year on the "human factor" of Russian proliferation, for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Most can't see the difference between working on civilian or war production – for them it doesn't matter," Mr. Tikhonov says. "In these conditions it is difficult to speak about human values, about the dangers of their work. They only want to survive. It is a catastrophic situation." Most Russian nuclear scientists make less than $50 per month, according to the report. Under US pressure, three key missile technology deals to Iran were stopped by Russian authorities in the late 1990s. And the sale of critical laser information that could help Iran make fuel for nuclear weapons was suspended in 2000. Still, US sources say such cooperation continues. "[Russia] is giving meaningful help [to Iran] in mastering the nuclear-fuel cycle, and some critical technologies like sophisticated metal alloys [and for] laser isotope separation techniques ... that are involved in building the bomb," says a senior US official, who asked not to be further identified. "There's enough to see a pattern of a determined Iranian effort that has unfortunately struck positive responses from some Russian entities." While Russia calls for evidence of US claims, however, passing on such intelligence is "tricky" because of Clinton-era cases that went awry, the US official says: "When some sensitive information was passed to the Russians, they didn't stop the activity, but they stopped the leak. That leads to great reticence to blow any more sources." Russian analysts argue that Moscow's concerns about Iran precisely mirror Washington's, and that it also wants to stop "freelance" technology transfers. "There is practically zero risk that Iran will use the Bushehr power plant for nuclear proliferation," says Vladimir Orlov, head of the PIR Center, a Moscow think tank, echoing some American analysts. He notes that Russia will cut Iran out of the nuclear-fuel cycle by supplying all such fuel itself and immediately taking spent fuel back to Russia. "Russia doesn't want – and will not support – any ambitions of Iran which may be interpreted as nuclear weapons ambitions," Mr. Orlov says, adding that the US "exaggerates the situation." Moscow has sometimes defied Iran's wishes, Orlov says. In the 1990s it refused Tehran's request to build a more robust heavy-water reactor. And Russia turned down a request for gas centrifuges, which could have led to production of homegrown- weapons-grade material. Moscow's caution was illustrated earlier this year, Orlov says, when Iran asked to buy the Russian version of the shoulder- held US Stinger missile – the Igla, or "needle" – designed to shoot down aircraft. Angering Tehran, Russia said no – because Iran's contacts with anti-Israel Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon meant Moscow was "not certain that Igla would stay in Iran." Still, Moscow is a key factor in any Iranian nuclear aspirations. "Russian technology is unique to the Iranian program, because it is the only game in town," says Rose Gottemoeller, a former Deputy Undersecretary of Energy responsible for nonproliferation programs, who is now at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. "Everyone else has cut off cooperation with Iran on nuclear technology, including the Chinese." While US officials worry that Bushehr will create a nuclear knowledge base in Iran that could be applied to a weapons program, Ms. Gottemoeller says the real risk comes from a "handful" of "bottom feeders – small Russian industrial or research institutions that are desperate, or they wouldn't be trying to take extreme measures, such as false invoices ... to mask their sales." Keeping control The majority of nuclear-related entities here have decided to "stay on the straight and narrow," Gottemoeller says. Recent leadership changes at the top of the Ministry of Atomic Energy are likely to tighten controls further. Still, says Gottemoeller, "the Russian system being what it is, I'm sure there are others [desperate institutions] who could pop out of the mud at any time." Keeping that from happening has been the aim of US pressure on Russia for a decade, since some analysts say that any new nuclear power in the Mideast would almost certainly spark other nuclear weapons programs, and cause global nonproliferation accords – signed by both Russia and Iran – to collapse. Already, the Bushehr project is subject to regular IAEA inspection. Noting that until now Russian controls on sensitive technology have been "half-hearted and incomplete," Gary Samore, a special adviser to Clinton on nonproliferation who is now at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, says: "There may be a real opportunity now, post-Sept. 11, for the US and Russia to work out an agreement that would give the Russians a strong incentive to go all the way in enforcing what they say is their policy." Mr. Samore says the US should recognize that the Bushehr project is too advanced to stop, and offer to "grandfather" the deal. Russia would receive a variety of incentives, Samore suggests, for explicitly limiting the Bushehr deal to power needs, handling all fuel supplies, and for insisting on public commitments from Iran to swear off fuel-cycle ambitions and comply with tougher IAEA "go anywhere" inspections. Samore says such a deal would test Iran's declarations of peaceful intentions, while relieving it of waste-disposal problems. Tehran's rejection of such a plan would lead to the "obvious conclusion" about Iran's nuclear plans, he adds. "The sooner you can step in to slow down or stop [Iran's] program, the better," says Samore. "If we just let the situation drift and don't do anything, they will get closer and closer, and will eventually reach the technical point of no return." As the Bushehr project continues, Russian law enforcement will be critical in guarding against dangerous transfers of technology, experts say. "If their security is as effective as they claim it to be, and we think it is, they should be able to track these things down," says the US official who requested anonymity. "They know who is flying on Aeroflot to Tehran." Copyright © 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights ***************************************************************** 6 Chernobyl victims gain strength, hope from U.S. visits Six-week stay boosts immunity, doctors say *Michelle Saxton* The Associated Press Thursday June 20, 2002; 11:00 AM Ten-year-old Vika Homonovia of Belarus sat in the doctor's office with her arm stretched out, her head turned away and her eyes watering as she waited for the nurses to finish drawing blood. "It's done?" she asked anxiously. Almost, they replied. "I am so proud of you," her host mother, Lori Lancaster of Elkview, told Homonovia once the nurses finished. The blue-eyed girl with blonde pigtails was soon all smiles. This is the fourth year Homonovia has visited with Lancaster's family as part of an American Belarussian Relief Organization program that brings hundreds of children from the former Soviet republic to the United States every summer for medical care. Belarus received approximately 70 percent of the radiation damage from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, according to the ABRO Web site. Getting away from the contamination for a few weeks each year may decrease one's risk of developing leukemia or cancer, said Charleston physician Steven Artz, citing information from the Canadian Atomic Energy Commission. Artz, an endocrinologist and nuclear medicine physician, helped examine the 15 children who visited his office Wednesday. The results will be sent back to ABRO, the children's parents and their host families. "The doctors have proven that if they're over here for six weeks, their immune system builds up," said Linda Banker of Pinch, who helped coordinate the group's visit through Heritage Baptist Church. The church has sponsored such visits for several years. Banker said the effects of the Hiroshima bombing on survivors seemed to be the worst during years 15 through 20. "We're in year 16," she said of Chernobyl. "It's really imperative that we get as many kids over here as possible." The children arrived in West Virginia on June 12 and will stay until July 24. Banker said the visits, which include swimming and going to amusement parks, help the children. "When they leave here in six weeks, they're tan, they gain six pounds," she said. "It's just made a world of difference." The visits also offer spiritual guidance, she said. "It gives them hope," Banker said. "The area they come from is so depressed because of Chernobyl." This marks the sixth visit to West Virginia for Diana Abrazovskaya, 15, of Mogilev, Belarus. "I just like it here, like the people, like everything," said Abrazovskaya, who was staying with Banker. "It's (the) kind of place I would like to live someday." Search here for related stories. © Copyright 2002 Charleston Daily Mail -- Privacy policy ***************************************************************** 7 Work continues at Australian nuclear site despite discovery of earthquake fault line * /Fri Jun 21, 3:28 AM ET/ /By EMMA TINKLER, Associated Press Writer/ SYDNEY, Australia - Work proceeded Friday at the site of a new nuclear reactor in suburban Sydney, despite calls for the government to reconsider the project after an earthquake fault line was discovered there. Peter Russell, spokesman for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, a federal government agency responsible for the reactor, said heavy machinery was excavating the site and preparing the ground for the foundations to be laid. He said a full report on the age of the fault line would not be known for several weeks, but said the nuclear reactor "will proceed at the site ? there's no doubt about that." The fault was found earlier this week by scientists during a routine examination at the reactor excavation site at Lucas Heights in southwestern Sydney. Officials have not released any details of the fault line, but they conceded on Thursday the development was a concern. Science Minister Peter McGauran on Friday played down the discovery, urging the community to wait until scientists had delivered their full report and not "jump to conclusions." "It appears that everything was done by the book and this setback was entirely unpredictable," McGauran said. "These issues will be quickly resolved and the project will proceed post haste." But opposition lawmakers said Friday the government should withdraw its approval of the reactor. "It beggars belief that this kind of basic information was not found as part of the lengthy, but obviously not very effective, assessment and approval processes," said Sen. Natasha Stott Despoja, leader of the Australian Democrats. "The Australian community was told that safety and health concerns are paramount, while the reality is entirely different. Lucas Heights may be the most mismanaged development in Australia," she added. The opposition Labor Party called on the federal government's nuclear regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, to immediately state everything it knows about the fault line. "There is a proposal to build a nuclear reactor ... on an earthquake fault line, that's a matter I think of deep concern to the citizens of Sydney," said Kim Carr, Labor's spokesman on science and research. Sydney has never been struck by a serious earthquake, but a strong 5.6 magnitude quake shook the city of Newcastle, 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north, in 1989, causing widespread damage and killing 13 people. In February, a 3.8 magnitude quake hit Wollongong, only about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the reactor site and was felt in southern Sydney. No damage was reported. The new 300 million Australian dollar (U.S. dlrs 171 million) reactor was approved in April by the federal government, despite protests about safety from environmentalists and residents living nearby. The reactor will produce radioactive material for use in medicine and research but will not generate power. It is being built near an aging reactor that will be decommissioned once the new reactor starts work in 2005. *More from > AP World Politics Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 8 AU: Fault line must stop reactor: Dems Breaking News This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AAP 21jun02 THE discovery of a fault line under the site for Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor must lead to the withdrawal of all approvals, the Australian Democrats have said. The fault line was discovered during construction work on the replacement reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney's south this week. Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja today said if the fault line was confirmed, it was only a matter of good luck it was discovered before the new reactor was built and operating. "It beggars belief that this kind of basic information was not found as part of the lengthy, but obviously not very effective, assessment and approval processes," Senator Stott Despoja said. "The Australian community was told that safety and health concerns are paramount, while the reality is entirely different. "The entire process has been directed towards giving approvals and hastening construction without proper work being done. "Lucas Heights may be the most mismanaged development in Australia." The national nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, granted a construction licence in April for Argentinian company INVAP to build the replacement reactor despite pleas from environmentalists, community groups and local councillors to block the plan. *STORIES IN THIS SECTION* Beattie vow to put flag on bridge Wind-felled trees block roads Police whistleblowers praised Barns won't run in Tasmania Apology over Tallis sign Police probe on pursuit tape Corruption claims stop drug case Video check on MP papers theft Lawyer seeks to clear name Budget backdown on pension $300m to go on fighter program Teen tortured disabled woman AIDS epidemic warning Protesting detainees sew lips $60,000 for pork chop slip 500 booked using faulty speedos Kids a worry in health report 'Business as usual' at Ozemail Costello details disclosure review Job vacancies up 9.1pc Hanson accused of raiding fund Boy killed by train at crossing PM brings in anti-cloning Bill Rail safety defended after cracks 'Chunder bucket' talk fury Carr refuses to fly flag after Origin Reward offered after lake murder Hicks challenges detention Truss tired of beef fight MP's sex remark apology ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * back * privacy © Mirror Australian Telegraph Publications SEARCH Archive Search: Newstext <#> is our online newspaper library ? with more than 150 papers archived. You need to register to search. BUY A PHOTO Pick a pic from our extensive archives at Newsphotos . Keyword(s): JOBS careerone Australia's best jobs database. *Job type:* *Location:* *Keywords:* go Advanced Search REAL ESTATE Find a home anywhere. Suburb or postcode: State: go ADVERTISEMENT Your Motoring Needs ***************************************************************** 9 EU sponsors emergency response system for Ukrainian nuclear plants * /Fri Jun 21,10:38 AM ET/ KIEV, Ukraine - The European Union has helped establish an emergency response system to assist Ukraine in preventing and managing potential future nuclear accidents, officials said Friday. Norbert Jousten, head of the European Commission delegation in Ukraine, and Ukrainian Environment Minister Serhiy Kurykin said the system has undergone extensive testing at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant_ Europe's largest_ and will be soon be operational. The emergency response system, called RODOS, has already been installed in several European countries and testing has been conducted in Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary, said Jousten. "I'm confident the situation has improved (in Ukraine), but one has to be realistic and that's why we have such a system," said Jousten. Jousten said the EU plans to assist Russia and Belarus to establish similar systems. Ukraine already has a radiation monitoring system. Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, when a reactor at the Chernobyl plant exploded, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of Europe. Chernobyl was closed down for good in 2000, but disassembly work continues. Officials could not confirm when the RODOS system would include Ukraine's other three nuclear power plants. (pvs/tv/mb) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 10 Fault line must stop reactor: Dems Daily Telegraph: [21jun02] news.com.au network Source: AAP THE discovery of a fault line under the site for Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor must lead to the withdrawal of all approvals, the Australian Democrats have said. The fault line was discovered during construction work on the replacement reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney's south this week. Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja today said if the fault line was confirmed, it was only a matter of good luck it was discovered before the new reactor was built and operating. "It beggars belief that this kind of basic information was not found as part of the lengthy, but obviously not very effective, assessment and approval processes," Senator Stott Despoja said. "The Australian community was told that safety and health concerns are paramount, while the reality is entirely different. "The entire process has been directed towards giving approvals and hastening construction without proper work being done. "Lucas Heights may be the most mismanaged development in Australia." The national nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, granted a construction licence in April for Argentinian company INVAP to build the replacement reactor despite pleas from environmentalists, community groups and local councillors to block the plan. © Mirror Australian Telegraph Publications ***************************************************************** 11 Fault Line Found Australia Nuke Site Las Vegas SUN June 20, 2002 Scientists found the fault during a routine examination at the excavation site, said Don Macnab, director of the regulatory branch of Australia's nuclear safety agency. "We don't know what the age of it is. There is further work going on to determine what the significance of that anomaly is," Macnab said. Sydney has never been struck by a serious earthquake, but a strong 5.6 magnitude quake shook Newcastle, 90 miles to the north, in 1989, causing widespread damage and killing 13 people. And in February, a 3.8 magnitude quake hit Wollongong, only about 30 miles south and was felt in southern Sydney. No damage was reported. The $168 million reactor was approved in April despite protests about safety from environmentalists and residents living nearby. It will produce radioactive material for use in medicine and research but will not generate power. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 12 Work continues at Australian nuclear site despite discovery of earthquake fault line Fri Jun 21, 3:28 AM ET By EMMA TINKLER, Associated Press Writer SYDNEY, Australia - Work proceeded Friday at the site of a new nuclear reactor in suburban Sydney, despite calls for the government to reconsider the project after an earthquake fault line was discovered there. Peter Russell, spokesman for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, a federal government agency responsible for the reactor, said heavy machinery was excavating the site and preparing the ground for the foundations to be laid. He said a full report on the age of the fault line would not be known for several weeks, but said the nuclear reactor "will proceed at the site — there's no doubt about that." The fault was found earlier this week by scientists during a routine examination at the reactor excavation site at Lucas Heights in southwestern Sydney. Officials have not released any details of the fault line, but they conceded on Thursday the development was a concern. Science Minister Peter McGauran on Friday played down the discovery, urging the community to wait until scientists had delivered their full report and not "jump to conclusions." "It appears that everything was done by the book and this setback was entirely unpredictable," McGauran said. "These issues will be quickly resolved and the project will proceed post haste." But opposition lawmakers said Friday the government should withdraw its approval of the reactor. "It beggars belief that this kind of basic information was not found as part of the lengthy, but obviously not very effective, assessment and approval processes," said Sen. Natasha Stott Despoja, leader of the Australian Democrats. "The Australian community was told that safety and health concerns are paramount, while the reality is entirely different. Lucas Heights may be the most mismanaged development in Australia," she added. The opposition Labor Party called on the federal government's nuclear regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, to immediately state everything it knows about the fault line. "There is a proposal to build a nuclear reactor ... on an earthquake fault line, that's a matter I think of deep concern to the citizens of Sydney," said Kim Carr, Labor's spokesman on science and research. Sydney has never been struck by a serious earthquake, but a strong 5.6 magnitude quake shook the city of Newcastle, 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north, in 1989, causing widespread damage and killing 13 people. In February, a 3.8 magnitude quake hit Wollongong, only about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the reactor site and was felt in southern Sydney. No damage was reported. The new 300 million Australian dollar (U.S. dlrs 171 million) reactor was approved in April by the federal government, despite protests about safety from environmentalists and residents living nearby. The reactor will produce radioactive material for use in medicine and research but will not generate power. It is being built near an aging reactor that will be decommissioned once the new reactor starts work in 2005. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 13 Nuclear power station 'set to close' news.telegraph.co.uk (Filed: 21/06/2002) Politicians have called for talks to soften a jobs blow following the announcement that two of the world's oldest nuclear power stations will close three years early. The decision by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to shut Calder Hall in Cumbria and Chapelcross in south-west Scotland received a mixed response. The company, which reviewed the operation of its whole magnox reactor fleet, said the move was driven by the plummeting cost of electricity in the past two years. There are nearly 800 people employed at the two sites. Numbers are expected to drop to 600 during the 10-year decommissioning period following the closure of the power stations. Management said there would still be about 100 workers needed at each of the sites for an estimated five years after decommissioning. BNFL said both stations had small generating capacity by today's standards and were operating under high fixed overheads. Scottish National Party shadow environment spokesman Bruce Crawford called for job losses to be kept to a minimum. "Clearly the decision made by BNFL to close this nuclear plant is a financial one," he said. "Nuclear power is uneconomic full stop and I hope that this decision signals the beginning of the end for nuclear power in Scotland." South of Scotland MSP Michael Russell said he would be seeking a meeting with management, unions and enterprise agencies to assess the impact of the company's decision. "This needs to be a managed process and I will offer any assistance to help that process have a successful outcome." The Calder Hall reactors, originally due to start closing in 2006, will now shut in March 2003 and those at Chapelcross, originally due to start closing in 2008, will complete a progressive shutdown by no later than March 2005. Chapelcross, near Annan, in Dumfries and Galloway, is to operate longer than Calder Hall to allow completion of a Ministry of Defence contract. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002. Terms &Conditions of ***************************************************************** 14 Russia plans to build more nuclear reactors at home, hopes to win contract for building one in Finland Fri Jun 21, 7:35 AM ET By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW - Having shed the trauma caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Russia has launched an ambitious program of building new nuclear reactors at home and hopes to win a contract for constructing one in Finland, top nuclear officials said Friday. "We are going to make a big surge forward after a long period of stagnation," said Oleg Sarayev, the head of the Rosenergoatom consortium in charge of Russia's nuclear power plants. In March 2001, Russia launched its first new nuclear reactor since the Chernobyl catastrophe, at a plant in the southern Rostov region. Rostov's 1,000-megawatt reactor is of the VVER-1000 type that uses pressurized water to cool its fuel rods instead of the less-stable graphite used in RBMK reactors, like the one that exploded at Chernobyl. A reactor at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, at that time a part of the Soviet Union, exploded in 1986, contaminating a huge area and sending a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. The explosion, the world's worst nuclear accident, is believed to have eventually killed some 8,000 people. The catastrophe caused a public backlash against nuclear power and forced Soviet and then Russian nuclear officials to shelve their plans for expanding the industry. But with the memory of the Chernobyl disaster fading and energy shortages becoming increasingly common, regional authorities throughout Russia are welcoming the construction of new nuclear plants, which spark little in the way of public protest. Sarayev said Friday that reactor No. 3 at the Kalinin power plant in western Russia is nearing completion, and another three reactors at the Kursk, Balakovo and Rostov power plants will follow. In a separate effort, Rosenergoatom is also modernizing the oldest of Russia's 30 existing nuclear reactors to extend their lifetime, Sarayev said. He claimed that Russia's nuclear safety standards were tougher than in the West, and said that most Russian plants meet strict norms and regulations. Deputy Nuclear Power Minister Valery Lebedev said that Russia was competing against companies from the United States, Germany and France to build a nuclear reactor in Finland. "There is a good chance that we will win, taking into account the fact that the Soviet Union built a nuclear reactor in Finland which is considered one of the safest in the world," Lebedev told reporters. Russia has also signed contracts to build nuclear power plants in China, India and Iran. The dlrs 800 million deal with Tehran has vexed the United States, which fears it could help Iran build atomic weapons. But Russia has brushed off U.S. concerns, saying Iran won't acquire weapons material from the project. (vi/ee) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 EU sponsors emergency response system for Ukrainian nuclear plants Fri Jun 21,10:38 AM ET KIEV, Ukraine - The European Union has helped establish an emergency response system to assist Ukraine in preventing and managing potential future nuclear accidents, officials said Friday. Norbert Jousten, head of the European Commission delegation in Ukraine, and Ukrainian Environment Minister Serhiy Kurykin said the system has undergone extensive testing at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant_ Europe's largest_ and will be soon be operational. The emergency response system, called RODOS, has already been installed in several European countries and testing has been conducted in Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary, said Jousten. "I'm confident the situation has improved (in Ukraine), but one has to be realistic and that's why we have such a system," said Jousten. Jousten said the EU plans to assist Russia and Belarus to establish similar systems. Ukraine already has a radiation monitoring system. Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, when a reactor at the Chernobyl plant exploded, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of Europe. Chernobyl was closed down for good in 2000, but disassembly work continues. Officials could not confirm when the RODOS system would include Ukraine's other three nuclear power plants. (pvs/tv/mb) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 16 *Deadly Soviet caesium is missing* 13:05 21 June 02 NewScientist.com news service Large boxes of powdered caesium 137, a powerfully radioactive substance, are lost in the former Soviet Union. In the hands of terrorists, just one would provide enough "dirty bomb" material to badly contaminate large urban areas, forcing their evacuation and possibly their abandonment. These caesium sources are a major reason why the US has committed at least $25 million in 2002 to an urgent effort to track lost radioactive sources in former Soviet states, as *New Scientist* reported on Thursday. Media reports that the caesium was originally spread on fields in secret Soviet agricultural experiments are wrong, says Melissa Fleming,spokesperson for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, which is helping to coordinate the recovery drive. That would have given rise to vast tracts of contaminated farmland, and probably considerable human exposure. But the truth may be worse. The ceasium was in fact enclosed within shielded boxes, and used as a source of gamma rays to irradiate grain, to keep it from germinating in storage, says Abel Gonzales, director of radiation and waste safety at the IAEA. The gamma rays were also used to induce mutations in seeds, a common method for generating improved crop varieties. *Very lucrative* But because the caesium was used entirely as a source of radiation, it remained enclosed within the mobile gamma sources. Hence it is all still there, and with a half-life of 32 years, much of it is still very radioactive. The project, named "Kolos" after the Russian for an ear of corn, was large. "We have no idea how many of these sources there are," says Gonzales. That is bad, because each of them contained 3500 Curies of caesium. "That is very, very big," says Gonzales. By comparison, a caesium source lost from a hospital in Goiania, Brazil in 1987, which killed four immediately and exposed dozens more to heavy doses of radiation held only a few hundred Curies. Unlike the solid Strontium-90 in lost nuclear power sources that have been the subject of recent searches in the former Soviet Union, Project Kolos's caesium was powdered, so in theory it would be easy to pack into a "dirty bomb" - or several. These bombs use conventional explosive to scatter radioactive material. The sources were housed on trucks. But since the fall of the Soviet Union, the trucks have been diverted, so their potentially very lucrative cargoes could be anywhere, experts fear. US participants in the joint Russian-US-IAEA drive to recover the sources say there will be experts in the field in the next few weeks looking for clues. Debora MacKenzie This story is from NewScientist.com's news service - for more ***************************************************************** 17 Uranium Theft May Be Part of Decade Old Heist MOSCOW - Two kilograms from a uranium fuel rod discovered by traffic police in the trunk of a car in Izhevsk, Southern Russia, may be part of a decade old international heist from the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, during which 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium were stolen in 1992 for resale in Europe and the Middle East. Charles Digges, 2002-06-21 02:30 The smuggling cartel that investigators say was behind the original theft at the plant — located in the town of Glazov in the Autonomous Republic of Udmurtiya, Russia — has cast their nets for potential clients and perpetrators from Russia to the Baltics, to Poland and to the Middle East. According to investigators and news reports, a multimillion-dollar deal with Iran for some of the stolen material was even brokered in Grozny, Chechnya, two years before the outbreak of open civil war there. Nuclear scientists were quick to point out that low-enriched uranium (LEU) would be infeasible for making bombs because sophisticated, difficult to obtain equipment — not to mention scientific expertise — is necessary to re-enrich the uranium to truly destructive levels. Nonetheless, the Chepetsk uranium has, for the past decade, been turning up all over, said Lyudmila Zaitseva, who is an information analyst for Stanford University's Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft and Orphan Radiation Sources. "Parts of the material [stolen from the Chepetsk plant] went in different directions, were seized on several occasions in Belarus, Chechnya and Lithuania. And some of it may still be coming up," she told Bellona Web. Zaitseva added that it was "likely" that the uranium that turned up last week in Izhevsk — Udmurtiya's capital — in the trunk of the car, a Zhiguli, is connected to the 1992 theft. Traffic police in Izhevsk Wednesday told Bellona Web that the Zhiguli, allegedly driven by a 48-year-old man they would only identify as Rifkat, was stopped on June 10 for reasons police spokesmen would not specify. Russian news reports said the driver, who was employed locally in Izhevsk, was from Tatarstan, a multi-ethnic republic in Central Russia. When officers searched the trunk of the suspect's car, they apparently found two kilograms of uranium as well as 300,000 roubles (around $9,700) that police allege was payment — or partial payment — for the uranium. The material was sent to the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant — which is run by Russia's Nuclear Power Ministry (Minatom) — for analysis. Tests revealed that the seized material was part of a uranium rod used as fuel at nuclear power plants, but shed no light on the origin of the rod, investigators said. At the time of the seizure, the two kilograms of uranium were emitting 2,000 micro-roentgens per hour — much higher than the background radiation level considered safe for humans — a local spokesman for the Udmurtiya Federal Security Service, or FSB, said. He said the seizure was made as the result of a covert operation by security service, in cooperation with the Izhevsk police, to recover the uranium, which he said "was more than likely" connected to the 300 kilograms that went missing ten years ago. The FSB, spokesman, who did not wish to be identified, said the suspect allegedly expected to net $50,000 from the supposedly intended sale. "We cannot say for certain if the uranium is from [the same 1992 theft]," said the spokesman. "But we are pursuing that possibility vigorously." He would not say if any connection between the suspect arrested last week and the original Chepetsk thieves had been established. When asked if security services had been engaged in long-term surveillance of the suspect, or if any other suspected uranium peddlers were currently on the FSB watch lists in the autonomous republic of Udmurtiya, he declined further comment. Discovery of the 1992 theft Stanford's Zaitseva corroborated the suspicions of the FSB. According to her research, the theft from the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant was discovered when 300 kilograms of LEU turned up missing during an inventory in October, 1992, after Russian security services and officials from the Izhevsk Prosecutor's Office foiled an attempt by thieves — one of whom worked at the Chepetsk plant — to sell 100 to 140 kilograms of the uranium. The material stopped by the initial sting, which investigators fixed at 100 kilograms, was valued at $100,000 to $170,000 per kilogram, an official at the Udmurtiya Prosecutor's Office, who was familiar with the aging case, told Bellona Web. However, Vladimir Kuznetsov, a former Russian nuclear regulatory official who now works with the NGO Green Cross, said the initial intercept of low-enriched uranium (LEU of 0.2 to 0.4 percent), was closer to 140 kilograms. The remaining 160 kilograms, according to Kuznetsov's data, have remained at large and apparently done some traveling. International clientele Two months after the theft was discovered, Prosecutors in Udmurtiya, announced that a group of 13 people had been arrested for stealing uranium from the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, and smuggling it into Poland, according to an Agence France Presse report of December 1992. The lion's share of the material — prosecutors could not indicate how many kilograms that share was — allegedly was sold for $700,000 per kilogram in Western Europe, its ultimate destination apparently being countries of the Middle East. Another portion of the uranium turned up in Grozny, the capital of Russia's breakaway Republic of Chechnya, where it was eventually purchased by a group of ethnic Azeris for resale in Iran for $15 million, the spokesman for the Udmurtiya Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday. Buyers of un-enriched uranium-238 stolen from the Chepetsk Plant included an allegedly organized-crime group of ethnic Armenians who, in November of 1992 — just a month after the theft was discovered — reportedly paid 280 million old denomination rubles (about $9,000) for an unspecified amount of the material. According to JPRS-Proliferation Issues' Nov. 24, 1992 edition, the transaction took place also in Grozny and the material was shipped to Iran. Days earlier, Belarusian KGB officers arrested two Russians, a Belarusian and a Polish citizen after they were found in possession of 2.35 kilograms of low-enriched uranium-238, according to JPRS-Proliferation Issues' Nov. 12 1992 edition. The periodical reported that the smugglers were part of a larger group that had stolen approximately 100 kilograms of uranium from the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant. Then, in 1993, a Lithuanian businessman who had bought two uranium rods in hopes of selling the material abroad dumped his cache into the Nevezis river in Lithuania after he heard the original thieves had been arrested. The uranium had been stolen from the Chepetsk plant, according to Reuters. The suspect, Raimondas Urbonas, admitted to smuggling 486 kilograms of uranium from Russia to Lithuania to be sold in Poland. Urbonas said that, afraid of being caught, he dumped the material into the river. Prosecutors believe that he was lying, and that the material had already been sold, the Daily Telegraph reported. Security concerns at Chepetsk — and beyond All told, this litany of thefts from the Chepetsk facility points to an entire international syndicate, which comprises — or once comprised — Russia, Belarus, the Baltic states and Poland, and smuggles LEU to Western Europe, the spokesman for the Udmurtiya Prosecutor's Office said. He added, though, that last week's comparatively paltry discovery could mean the cartel is dissolving. Indeed, according to Kuznetsov, current security at the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant is "among the best in Russia." "Security upgrades performed there with the help of [US Department of Defence financed Cooperative Threat Reduction Act (CTR)] came shortly after the upgrades performed at [Moscow's] Kurchatov Institute, which are among the best anywhere," he said in a telephone interview with Bellona Web. Granted, he said, those security upgrades did not begin for some time after the CTR Act came into existence in 1992. Even with 300 kilograms of LEU floating around Europe and the Middle East, Kuznetsov said the best security that could have been hoped for 1992 theft is the low grade of the uranium stolen. "You need to put the uranium in a reactor to enrich it and produce plutonium, and that's expensive, requires specified knowledge and attracts attention," he said. Iran Of special concern are the multimillion-dollar sales of some of the pinched uranium in Grozny, which authorities said were bound for Iran. The high prices paid indicate a higher grade LEU that could feasibly be burned in reactors and reprocessed for plutonium, defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said. This uranium, according to Kuznetsov, would have to be about 4 percent enriched to be used as fuel. The Stanford Database indicated that fuel of such enrichment was among that which went missing in 1992. Russia's Nuclear Power Ministry, Minatom, furthermore, is engaged in building a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, which the United States and Israeli governments have all but called a front for a nuclear weapons program. If burned in these reactors, this stolen LEU from Chepetsk could yield plutonium waste, Felgenhauer said. "Perhaps [the Iranians] were putting a little something away for the future," when their emissaries bought the LEU in 1992, Felgenhauer said. Minatom has repeatedly insisted that the reactor project is for "peaceful purposes," and did so again when contacted Thursday. Spokesmen refused, however, to answer questions regarding the possibility of reprocessing the stolen uranium into weapons usable material and said they would require 40 days to respond to questions regarding the decade old theft and any connection it may have to Iran. 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 ***************************************************************** 18 No Parade for This Pill (washingtonpost.com) Friday, June 21, 2002; Page A24 A June 9 Nation in Brief item said "anti-radiation" pills have been made available in New York. As a nuclear scientist, I think that if someone has invented such a thing, we should have a parade. The potassium iodide pills in question saturate the thyroid gland with harmless iodine so that any radioactive iodine that may be taken into the body will have a reduced probability of accumulating in that gland. That's all the pills do. Also, contrary to the article, nuclear facilities do not "release" radiation but may release radioactive materials, which then, later, emit radiation. Exposure to this radiation may be internal or external, depending on where the material is located. The "anti-radiation" pill will do nothing to mitigate any external exposure to, say, a cloud of radioactive cesium, nor will it mitigate any internal exposure to radioactive elements other than iodine. W. C. EVANS Germantown © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 19 Missing: Soviet radioactive dust Boston Globe Online By Gareth Cook, Globe Staff, 6/21/2002 [S] pecialists tracking the world's radioactive material revealed a new concern yesterday: a highly radioactive powder, used by the Soviets, whose location is currently unknown. [http://rmedia.boston.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.boston.c om/news/globe/nation/10567/CENTRAL/g_loews_ros01c/big336Final.gif /34306638323133323364316161353730] The Soviet Union used the substance in a bizarre series of agricultural experiments, the specialists said, a disclosure that raises concerns that terrorists could acquire the powder and use it to fashion radioactive ''dirty bombs.'' Although details about the program remain murky, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna said yesterday that it had received reports of the program from ''reliable sources'' in Russia, as well as photos of trucks used to move the powder around. The agency is alarmed because the powder is highly radioactive, easily dispersed, and unaccounted for. ''It is the post 9/11 era, and we don't want this stuff to get in the wrong hands,'' said Melissa Fleming, the IAEA spokeswoman. Fleming said that the United States and Russia will announce Tuesday a joint two-year program to locate and secure radiation sources that authorities lost track of when the Soviet Union fell apart, and that finding the powder will be one of their priorities. The joint program, which will be managed by the IAEA, will receive about $40 million, according to an article in today's issue of the journal Science, which also reported the existence of the agricultural program. An advance copy of the Science article was provided to journalists yesterday. The material used by the Soviets was a form of cesium-137 called cesium chloride, Fleming said. According to IAEA's sources, the radioactive powder was placed in the back of a truck, with heavy lead shielding to protect the driver, and driven over fields, to expose planted seeds to radiation. The precise purpose of the experiments is unclear, as is their timing, Fleming said. Exposure to radiation would cause random genetic changes in the seeds. The experiments were abandoned, Fleming said, but it is not known what was done with the radioactive material. Such material becomes less powerful over time, but cesium-137 decays slowly, losing half of its potency about every 30 years. The security of radioactive material has been an increasing concern, especially since the US government announced earlier this month that it had disrupted a plot to explode a radioactive bomb in the United States. Gareth Cook can be reached at [cook@globe.com] . This story ran on page A18 of the Boston Globe on 6/21/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. ***************************************************************** 20 *McRae: YMP lobbying may do more harm than good* By RICH THURLOW, Editor June 21, 2002 *Nye County Commission* For better or worse, the Nye County Commissioners will stay the course as it regards lobbying for benefits and protections from the Yucca Mountain Project. Commissioner Cameron McRae aired the disagreement among the commissioners regarding the approach to the issue, which includes frequent trips to Washington, D.C., by Commissioners Jeff Taguchi and Henry Neth. The topic was broached when the agenda item calling for approval of out of state travel expenses came up during Tuesday's meeting in Pahrump. The funding was ultimately approved by a 3-1 vote, with McRae opposed. Along with being in Washington for the Senate vote to override Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the selection of Yucca Mountain, Taguchi also suggested funds for trips to the National Assn. of Counties and the National Assn. of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, both in July, in Portland, Ore., and New Orleans. Taguchi previously announced the National Assn. of Counties was prepared to endorse Nye's bid for "protections" as they relate to Yucca Mountain, the only site being considered for the permanent storage of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Taguchi and Neth have been "working the halls" of the House and Senate office buildings trying to drum up support for Nye benefits and protections due to its status as the home of the YMP. McRae said he has been hearing the efforts might not be as effective as Taguchi and Neth might think, though he did not identify the source(s) of information. "I'm not certain our presence at this point puts us in an advantageous position based on the infighting that's going on out there," McRae said. Taguchi disagreed, calling the trips to Washington "very beneficial" since they give senators and representatives a chance to hear first-hand Nye's point of view on the issue. Taguchi said he always got the feeling the efforts were "the responsible thing to do," and that there was a perception in Washington that it is "admirable" Nye County is doing something. McRae said that he was hearing the opposite, that in trying to assert itself into the picture the county's tactics were being perceived, at least by some, as "arrogant." He also said caution is in order in regard to the perception "individual self-interest" might be served by the trips as opposed to what was in the county's best interest. McRae didn't get any more specific about that comment, but he did say it might be appropriate for the commissioners to "reevaluate where we are going and what platform we are presenting as county commissioners." That might best be addressed by putting together a new "white paper" that clearly states the county's position. If Taguchi was upset by what McRae said he didn't show it, saying only that he was ready to accept a motion either way regarding funding for the trips. Commissioner Joni Eastley wanted to know what difference it would make if county officials weren't on hand when the YMP vote was held. Neth said he thought it was important for senators to "see the faces of the people they are affecting" when the vote is held. The "essence" of the message he has been delivering is that the situs county deserves some protections, he said, while also acknowledging several of the trips "could have been better." "I haven't agreed with every one of those trips and all the results, but I think the overall position Nye County has taken has worked well for us," Neth said. "Results will tell." Neth concluded his remarks by saying if there was feedback that his performance in Washington was not helping the county, he would "gladly step aside and spend more time with my family and let someone else take it over." Neth then made the motion to approve the funding for the trips, and Eastley seconded. She said McRae "raised a valid point if we are getting feedback that our efforts are not being received as well as we think they are." She also supported McRae's proposal for a new white paper outlining the county's goals. "That needs to be addressed," she said. Taguchi said he wasn't getting the same feedback, and it was his belief the county was acting correctly. /©Pahrump Valley Times 2002/ ***************************************************************** 21 'Light' temblor near YMP creates rumbles in D.C.* By HENRY BREAN, Managing Editor June 21, 2002 *NTS* It may have stirred up lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but last week's earthquake at the Nevada Test Site barely registered in Amargosa Valley and Beatty, the two communities closest to the epicenter. Several Amargosa and Beatty residents said they felt the June 14 temblor, but there were no reports of damage. Described as "light" by the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake registered 4.4 on the Richter Scale. It occurred at 5:40 a.m. at Little Skull Mountain at the southern end of the test site, roughly 10 miles from Amargosa Valley, 29 miles from Beatty and 13 miles from Yucca Mountain. Long-time Beatty resident Richard Stephens, a part-time reporter and photographer for the PVT, described the feeling as a very brief ride on a bumpy road. Opponents of the Yucca Mountain Project, meanwhile, have characterized the earthquake as the end of the road for the federal government's plans to turn the volcanic rock ridge into a permanent repository for 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste. As a vote looms in the Senate on an override of Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the repository, Nevada's congressional delegates are using the quake as ammunition against the project. In a statement issued just hours after the quake, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said it was further proof that the "nuclear dump site is not safe." Before June 14, much of the discussion on Capitol Hill focused on the risks associated with transporting waste to Nevada, Reid said. "But we cannot forget that there's another danger - that after the waste arrives at Yucca Mountain, it would still not be safe." But project officials are downplaying the seriousness of the quake, which occurred in what they described as "a known and studied geologic zone." According to a release from the U.S. Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, the repository is being designed to withstand a local earthquake 1,000 times stronger and a regional earthquake 30,000 times more powerful than last week's quake. Ten years ago this month, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook Little Skull Mountain, damaging the DOE's field operations center for Yucca Mountain. "That one we felt much more strongly (in Beatty)," Stephens said. According to a release from DOE, the 1992 quake released approximately 30 times more energy than the one a week ago. There was no damage to any Yucca Mountain facilities as a result of the June 14 quake. A June 15 public tour of the Nye County mountain took place as scheduled. /©Pahrump Valley Times 2002/ ***************************************************************** 22 In support of the YMP* *Letters to Editor* By: June 21, 2002 *06-21-02* I'm writing as a supporter of the repository at Yucca Mountain and a supporter of how rural Nevada has approached the issue. In fact, I wish our congressional delegation and state leaders would approach the repository project with the same common sense and rational thinking those members of your commission has. We have a flamboyant mayor here in Vegas who claim he will arrest the truck driver that comes through Las Vegas with nuclear waste. That's all well and good because it makes for good political rhetoric and sound bites because rural Nevada is going to bear the brunt of the transportation of the waste and spent fuel to the site. Our mayor also calls leaders in the beltway names, which does no good in the fight against the repository, but he continues to shoot from the hip and only continues to hurt the state's already low credibility on the issue. I would like to commend Nye County as they are the only independent entity that will be able to either verify or contradict the Department of Energy's scientific work if and when it reaches licensing, because the state has wasted their over $85 million to oversee he project by using the money to wage a public relations effort against this scientific project. I used to work at the test site as an electrician and a lot of my union brothers and sisters work at the test site and Yucca Mountain and do a good job and make their homes in Nye County. It's important that rural Nevada look out for them because the state and Clark County certainly aren't. The project moves forward, the state files lawsuit after lawsuit to try and stall and delay the inevitable. Where is the leadership? Where is the vision? I think there is a lot to be said for the independent thinkers in rural Nevada. Respectfully yours, Bill Vasconi Las Vegas /©Pahrump Valley Times 2002/ ***************************************************************** 23 Nevada third in nation in number of temblors 4.4 earthquake's epicenter 30 miles from town By MARK WAITE VIEW STAFF WRITER Some Pahrump residents noticed the trembling of the earth last Friday morning. An earthquake of 4.4 magnitude was recorded at 5:30 a.m., centered 12 miles southeast of Yucca Mountain, or about 30 miles from Pahrump. John Anderson, a supervisor at the University of Nevada, Reno Seismological Lab, said the tremor occurred in the same location as the Little Skull Mountain earthquake of 1992 that measured 5.6. "These small earthquakes are a reminder we live in earthquake country," Anderson said. In fact, Nevada ranks third in the nation in the number of recorded earthquakes ranking 7.0 or greater, behind California and Alaska. "If this earthquake gets a name, it'll probably be called the Little Skull Mountain Earthquake of 2002," Anderson said. "The Little Skull Mountain earthquake in 1992 caused a little bit of damage to buildings on the test site. With this being a whole magnitude unit smaller, I think that with the minimal damage to that one, it would be very surprising if anything was damaged this time." The Friday earthquake was caused by the same fault that triggered the 1992 quake, which is unnamed because it hadn't ruptured the surface, Anderson said. There were six aftershocks from the quake lasting until 10:40 a.m., he said, the largest one measured 1.4. The largest earthquake to strike Nevada occurred in a place people don't normally associate with earthquakes, Winnemucca, where a 7.3 magnitude earthquake rattled residents in 1915. The largest earthquake in Southern Nevada was a 6.1 magnitude quake to strike Caliente in 1966. An increase of one number on the scale means an increase of 10 times the amplitude and 30 times the energy of an earthquake, Anderson explained. The famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906 measured 7.9. The Northridge earthquake of 1994 measured 6.9 on the scale. Opponents of Yucca Mountain quickly seized on the news as evidence the site isn't suitable for storing 77,000 tons of nuclear waste. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued a statement that read: "Today, we saw more proof that the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump site is not safe. An earthquake happened this morning. It was centered just 15 miles from the place where the Department of Energy wants to put tons of the deadliest material ever known to humanity. It was a magnitude of 4.4, which is large enough to potentially cause structural damage to buildings and other man-made objects. We also need to remember that this was not an isolated incident. Yucca Mountain is a region of frequent earthquake activity. " The U.S. Department of Energy countered with a press release stating there wasn't an earthquake at Yucca Mountain, but "a light earthquake" at Little Skull Mountain with no damage to any of the underground exploratory study facilities at Yucca Mountain. "The 24 years of scientific studies at Yucca Mountain have taken an exhaustive look at the possibility of earthquakes. In fact, Yucca Mountain scientists have used earthquakes greater in magnitude than this morning's quake to study and design a nuclear waste repository. Yucca Mountain repository designs could withstand a local earthquake with 1,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning and a regional earthquake with 30,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning." Closer to home, Anderson said there is a named fault, the Stateline fault, which runs along the California-Nevada state line through Pahrump Valley, but it's inactive. "The biggest hazard you have to worry about is earthquakes in Death Valley. There are major faults in Death Valley and those faults are capable of producing 7 to 7 1/2 earthquakes. That, I believe, is without any question the main source of the hazard that you have," Anderson said. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 would cause damage, he said. "For people it's pretty safe to assume the building is not going to fall down on them," Anderson said. "Probably, the greatest losses lately have been due to nonstructural damage, items falling off shelves." The Nye County Sheriff's Department received one phone call from a woman who called to say her house was shaking, a dispatcher said. Community Partner ***************************************************************** 24 Mayor to seek alternate route for 'toxic' train > The Manville By: Alec Moore , Staff Writer 06/20/2002 * Train would carry nuclear waste through borough on way to Nevada * When it comes to potential catastrophes facing the borough, Mayor Angelo Corradino says an ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure. On Friday, the mayor will be meeting with state legislators and officials from Somerset County and surrounding municipalities in response to a recent U.S. Senate proposal to transport nuclear waste through the heart of the borough while en route from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New York to a location in Yucca Mountain, Nev., via the Lehigh rail line of CSX Transportation. "This is just a bad route for this train and in today's (international) climate we don't want to take any chances," said Mayor Corradino, who noted that the proposed route would allow for the train to pass within a one-mile radius of more than 9 million people. "My hope is that this meeting of the minds will encourage the Legislature to alter the route of this train to a less densely populated area," the mayor said. Hillsborough Mayor Joseph Tricarico, who will be attending the conference also, has serious concerns over the proposed rail route. "I've got mixed feelings on this. I certainly don't like the idea of this train coming through Hillsborough with toxic materials but on the other hand, it has to be transported somehow," said Mayor Tricarico, who pointed out that if the nuclear waste is not transported by rail it could end up being shipped by trucks. In addition to the local mayors, Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., and Sen. John Corzine, D-N.J., Congressman Michael Ferguson, R-N.J., state Sen. Walter Kavanaugh, R-16th, and state Assemblyman Christopher "Kip" Bateman, R-Morris, Somerset and Peter Biondi, R-Morris, Somerset, are expected to attend the conference. /©Packet Online 2002/ *Date: Jun, 23 2002* Don't we have enough problems as it is? To bring nuclear waste through populated areas just seems crazy to me. Do you have any idea how bad it could be if-God forbid-the train crashed or got derailed? I don't like to think of things like that, but the truth is-everyone in the surrounding area will be affected by this train coming through here. Do we really want to live in fear everytime a train comes through town that we may die or be seriously injured? I don't want to have to worry about it. I have family in Manville and Bound Brook and South Bound Brook and Somerset and Franklin, and I dont want to have to worry about something bad happening. I would like the state to think about the hazards that this could cause! Number of Opinions: 1 ***************************************************************** 25 AU: Senate launches probe into uranium mines* www.yourguide.com.au By AAP Australia's uranium mine operations will be subject to a Senate inquiry after a recent spate of leaks and accidents. The inquiry will be set up after Labor, the Australian Democrats and Greens teamed up to raise the issue in Federal Parliament. The Senate inquiry should report by December this year on the regulatory, monitoring and reporting regimes that govern environmental performance at the mines. The inquiry is to focus on the role of the Commonwealth in ensuring adequate health and environmental standards. Opposition environment spokesman Kelvin Thomson said the inquiry was needed to restore public confidence, especially given evidence of contamination of water leading into a creek. "At one stage there was uranium found at the order of 14,000 parts per billion, that is 700 times the Australian drinking water standard," he said. Energy Resources of Australia Ltd said it looked forward to expressing its views on the effectiveness of reporting regimes and changes and improvements the company wanted adopted. The Northern Territory Government recently announced an environment review of ERA's Ranger mine and Jabiluka lease within Kakadu National Park. The independent technical review comes after concerns over elevated uranium levels in water run-off earlier this year. Already, the Federal Government's Supervising Scientist has warned ERA to lift its game or face restrictions. In South Australia, a state Government investigation found the Beverley uranium mine must make sweeping changes to safety and operational procedures after four separate spills this year. The local Mirrar people in the Kakadu area, near the Ranger mine, said the inquiry was recognition there were fundamentally flawed regimes in place. "This is a recognition that at Ranger and Jabiluka we have a fundamentally flawed regulatory regime that has seen repeated environmental failures at both operations," Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation executive officer and Mirrar people spokesman Andy Ralph said. Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said the inquiry would be focused and could lead to better operations. ***************************************************************** 26 Loading of MOX fuel to ships starts at Fukui Editorial comments: jteditor@japantoday.com Friday, June 21, 2002 at 17:30 JST TAKAHAMA ? The loading of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel being shipped back to Britain after a falsified data scandal started Friday at a port for a nuclear power plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture. Two ships will transport the MOX fuel stored at Kansai Electric Power Co's nuclear plant in Takahama, to British Nuclear Fuels PLC (BNFL), the manufacturer, in early July. The loading of the fuel onto one of the ships is expected to be completed Friday, said officials of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry. (Kyodo News) ***************************************************************** 27 S.C. Plutonium Impasse Appeal Denied Las Vegas SUN June 20, 2002 COLUMBIA, S.C.- A federal appeals court Thursday rejected Gov. Jim Hodges' last-minute attempt to stop plutonium shipments from entering South Carolina. Hodges had sought an order barring the shipments while he appeals an earlier ruling allowing them. The federal shipments from the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado to the Savannah River Site in Aiken could begin as early as Saturday. Also Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to expedite Hodges' case, setting oral arguments for July 10. "While I am disappointed the court is letting the Department of Energy ship plutonium into South Carolina this Saturday, I am encouraged by the court's decision to hear our case so quickly," Hodges said in a statement. The governor has appealed a federal judge's ruling that he didn't present enough evidence the shipments or long-term storage at Savannah River would harm the public. If Hodges is able to win his case in July, the state would be able to prevent everything but a "small amount of their shipments," said his lawyer, William Want. The Energy Department wants to move about 6 tons of plutonium to the Savannah River Site, about 20 miles east of Augusta, Ga., as part of the agency's effort to clean up and close Rocky Flats. Federal officials say the material will be converted at Savannah River into fuel for nuclear reactors. But Hodges fears the conversion program might never be funded and that the plutonium might be stored permanently in South Carolina. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 28 AU: Cloud over Silex uranium research theage.com.au - The Age By Lucy Beaumont June 21 2002 Shares in Australian uranium technology research company Silex Systems dived more than 40 per cent yesterday despite assurances that the United States company funding its core research was still on board. Silex shares hit a 42-month low of $1.40 before closing at $1.52, down $1.08 on the day. The stock reached $3.50 in March but has slid steadily amid speculation its partner, United States Enrichment Corporation, was shifting its focus to centrifuge uranium extraction, an established technology. On Tuesday, USEC inked a deal with the US Department of Energy to process Russian uranium and committed to establishing a plant using the centrifuge method by 2011. Silex chief executive Dr Michael Goldsworthy said USEC would "continue to fund 100 per cent of the project costs" but his statement seemed to fall on deaf ears. Wilson HTM director Paul McCarthy said the stock would stabilise before climbing in value, but another analyst was not so positive, predicting Silex stock would "drift lower" in the short term. The analyst said USEC's announced deal with the Department of Energy sent a clear message to investors. "It looks as if centrifuge is now being adopted," he said. "The door is still open for Silex but the gap is pretty narrow." Mr McCarthy dismissed such arguments, saying that "sentiments override fundamentals in the first instance and that's what's occurring". He remained confident that Silex stock would regain lost value and called for patience. "We've probably seen the bottom. A good set of test results in the next six months will restore confidence," he said. "The value of the stock is potentially so far above prices we've ever seen. That's going to emerge over the next five years. Genuine technology companies take time to deliver." Mr McCarthy said that Silex, which stands for Separation by Laser Excitation, was "one of the most exciting technologies that Australia potentially has". Copyright © 2002 The Age Company Ltd ***************************************************************** 29 Democrats want contributions from pro-Yucca lawmakers returned Election 2002 Friday, June 21, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Porter vehemently defends Yucca Mountain credentials By JANE ANN MORRISON REVIEW-JOURNAL Prominent Democrats rallied once again Thursday to bash Republican congressional candidate Jon Porter for accepting $69,000 in campaign donations from House Republican leaders who are working to put a nuclear repository in Nevada. State Democratic Chairman Terry Care said his party plans to circulate petitions calling on Porter to give back those contributions. It was hardly the first time the suggestion had been made, only to be rebuffed by Porter, a Yucca Mountain opponent. But this time Porter's response was more vehement against his Democratic opponent in the new 3rd Congressional District, Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, who also opposes the repository. "Enough is enough. It's hard to take a guy seriously whose personal ethics and whose personal finances are in question," Porter said. "I cannot be bought." Porter said the call for him to return money from members of Congress is "subterfuge" and "grandstanding" by Herrera. He said it is laughable in light of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs' decision to consider withdrawing its endorsement of Herrera because of ethical concerns. "His ethics are in question," Porter said. "This is a subterfuge. His personal finances and ethics come up time and time again." Herrera said he is sure he will retain the support of the law enforcement group after it meets Thursday. "It's obvious that Jon Porter is so desperate to deflect attention from his Yucca campaign cash, that he would stoop so low as to attack my family's decision to invest in our home, like most families do. Does he think only millionaires can be congressmen?" The police group endorsed Herrera before ethical questions were raised about how he obtained a public relations contract from the Las Vegas Housing Authority without going through the bid process. A recent Review-Journal story also raised concerns about Herrera's lifestyle. Herrera conceded he and his wife are living day to day in a $405,000 home. He said the equity in that home exceeds $100,000. He and his wife have dipped into their retirement accounts and paid 38 percent penalties to help pay for the home, but reported no credit card debt. "I think voters care about leadership and who will fight for them against powerful special interests, not who has the biggest bank account," Herrera said. Porter's campaign asked if Herrera had returned the $10,000 he accepted from House members who voted to send nuclear waste to Nevada. Herrera's camp responded that Herrera did accept some money from representatives who voted for the repository, but did not accept money from those actively working to bring nuclear waste to Nevada. They also said that if the contributions from everyone who voted for the repository were included in their analysis, then Porter should give back nearly $200,000 he collected from House members in his past two congressional races. Care said there was no specific number of signatures the party was seeking. He said he didn't know how many party volunteers would be used for the petition effort, but that the effort would be more that just one news conference. Porter has said repeatedly that he opposes the Yucca Mountain Project and still welcomes the support of House leaders since they will be working with him on other issues critical to the state. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman proffered the harshest rhetoric against Porter on Thursday for accepting the $69,000. "You pay a politician that kind of money, they become your lapdog," he said. He later clarified that description only applies to people who take money from "somebody with the anticipation you're going to do something morally reprehensible." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 30 Reid seeks to cut budget for dump Friday, June 21, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Defense bill in Senate chops request for Yucca Mountain by $100 million By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- While Congress publicly debates the Yucca Mountain Project, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., quietly is trying once again to gut its budget. A 2003 defense bill being formed in the Senate cuts $100 million from the proposed Nevada nuclear waste repository. If Congress follows through, the Bush administration's budget for nuclear waste disposal next year would be cut by 19 percent. White House officials said the cut could stall waste burial at Yucca Mountain even if the Senate ends up endorsing President Bush's site selection. "This reduction would have a devastating impact on the administration's goal of submitting a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2004 so that the repository can open in 2010," the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. Reid had a hand in the decision by the Senate Armed Services Committee to target the Yucca program, his spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. "There was some prompting from Senator Reid that this project was certainly one that could be cut if there was such limited funding to go around," Hafen said. "There are a lot higher priorities in the defense bill than a poorly conceived nuclear waste dump." The episode gives a glimpse at the Yucca Mountain maneuvering taking place behind the scenes as lawmakers publicly debate the merits of storing radioactive spent fuel 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. And the episode shows that Reid and other Yucca Mountain opponents probably will continue to attack the repository through the Capitol Hill budget process even if the Senate, as many expect, finalizes the Nevada site selection in a vote expected early in July. Also, the cut demonstrates the political reach of Reid, the Senate's second-ranking Democratic leader. Reid does not sit on the Armed Services Committee but was able to pull strings through staff-level discussions with its chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. The Yucca Mountain Project is part of the defense budget because the Pentagon has committed to paying for part of the repository to store military nuclear waste. The Defense Department's contribution for 2003 was proposed to be $315 million, but the Senate bill cuts that to $215 million. Other parts of the Yucca program are paid by utility ratepayers through a special fund whose spending is routed by Congress through the Energy Department. All told, the Bush administration wants lawmakers to allocate $527 million for Yucca Mountain in fiscal 2003. "We believe full funding for Yucca Mountain budget requests is important for the program," DOE spokesman Joe Davis said Thursday. "America's national security benefits by safely and securely moving nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, a scientifically sound and suitable site." The 2003 defense bill, a $393 billion measure, is being considered on the Senate floor. A House version of the bill contains full funding for Yucca Mountain, and the final size of the Pentagon's contribution would be determined by a joint conference committee later this year. Hafen said Reid will seek further Yucca Mountain budget cuts as other energy-related bills come up. The Nevadan is chairman of a Senate energy and water subcommittee that plays a big role in setting spending for Energy Department programs. Reid has made it an annual exercise to attack the nuclear waste budget. Last year, he engineered a 15 percent decrease to $375 million, the eighth consecutive year Congress reduced Energy Department proposals for Yucca Mountain spending. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 31 Giant Dumbells on Trucks? It's Radioactive Waste! ens WASHINGTON, DC, June 20, 2002 (ENS) - The U.S. Senate is likely to vote on Nevada's Yucca Mountain site for the nation's nuclear waste repository after the July 4 recess, if the vote is not derailed on procedural issues raised by senators who want to let stand Nevada's veto of the project. Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat, today countered the latest Republican attempt to move forward on Yucca Mountain. Senator Frank Murkowski, an Alaska Republican called on the Senate to vote quickly on passing Yucca Mountain, setting aside debate on the Defense Authorization Bill to do so. Reid, who is Senate Majority Whip, would not allow an accelerated vote. He said, "It's the wrong thing to do. It's not a Nevada related issue. It's an issue that affects everybody in this country. And for anyone to even suggest that the Defense Authorization Bill should be set aside to take up this? We're talking about giving our men and women in the military additional resources to fight the war on terror, to make this country secure." While political maneuvering takes place on Capitol Hill, a wagon train of mock nuclear waste casks is touring tranportation routes across America targeted by the U.S. Energy Department (DOE) for shipping 77,000 tons of radioactive waste to Nevada from nuclear reactors and Defense Department facilities. [casks] Two mock casks in Madison, Wisconsin (Photo courtesy Citizens Awareness Network [http://www.nukebusters.org/ic/can/index.html?id=aK5EFyCE&mv_pc=1 8] ) In February, the DOE outlined road, rail, and barge routes from current storage sites to Yucca Mountain that cross 45 states and the District of Columbia. No Yucca Mountain shipments are projected though Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, or Rhode Island. Six citizens groups are hauling the full size replicas of nuclear waste truck casks - dumb-bell shaped cylinders, 20 feet long and seven feet tall - around on trailers, to show residents along the routes what nuclear transport would look like. "When it comes to nuclear waste transportation, we all live in Nevada," said Kevin Kamps of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a tour organizer. Three casks converged at the St. Louis Arch on June 12, then joined several more casks in a convoy to Washington, DC for an event on June 18. Now each cask is returning to its own region of the country to continue the tour until the Senate vote. The six groups involved are: the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Citizens Awareness Network, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Citizen Alert of Nevada, and two groups from Washington, DC - Public Citizen, and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. Public Citizen warns that current nuclear waste transport casks have never been physically tested under the conditions that would occur in a highway or rail accident. "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's performance requirements are outdated and dangerously underestimate today's worst case accident scenarios," the group said. Western North Carolina Physicians for Social Responsibility worry that the potential for road or rail accidents or terrorist attacks on the shipments increase the likelihood of serious public health emergencies. "Western North Carolina is a crossroad of these shipments," said one Asheville doctor, and informed citizens must convince our U.S. Senators to strongly oppose these actions.” The nuclear industry's Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) assures the public that radioactive waste transport is well regulated and safe. "The annual Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended radiation exposure limit for humans is unlikely to be exceeded even within six feet of a used fuel container. A person would have to be within the six foot zone longer than 10 hours before the 100-millirem regulatory exposure limit would be exceeded," the NEI says. But a public safety statement on the NEI website does not address risks from accident or terrorist attack during a shipment of high-level radioactive waste. Nevada Senator Harry Reid has posted a map showing the DOE's proposed transport routes state by state on his website at: http://reid.senate.gov/welcome.cfm ***************************************************************** 32 NUCLEAR FAMILY: CARL'S WIFE CASHES IN ON ATOM POWER NYPOST.COM News Columnists: By ROBERT HARDT JR. June 21, 2002 WHILE a nuclear-power plant in Westchester has become a hot issue in the governor's race, the wife of candidate Carl McCall quietly has been profiting off one of the plant's leading uranium suppliers. Joyce Brown, who sits on the board of United States Enrichment Corp., received $46,500 in fees in 2000 from the company - which recently supplied as much as 70 percent of the fuel for the Indian Point power plant. According to the McCalls' 2000 joint tax returns, they received $6,261 in dividends from shares of USEC stock that Brown owns, which are worth about $113,000. McCall has been less vocal than his Democratic rival, Andrew Cuomo, about closing Indian Point. But he says the plant should be closed. McCall spokesman Steve Greenberg said: "Dr. Brown's position on the board has absolutely zero to do with Carl's position on Indian Point." * Tom Golisano is stuffing the mailboxes of the state's Conservative Party voters with a harsh mailing assailing Governor "Patakifeller." The billionaire Rochester businessman has sent out a color flier to 137,000 homes that depicts Gov. Pataki morphing into Nelson Rockefeller - the liberal GOP governor who became a bete noir for conservatives. Golisano's harsh attack notes that Pataki "joined Al Sharpton in opposing military exercises in Puerto Rico" and is "author of the most sweeping gun-control proposal in the nation." * Like many prognosticators, Campaigns and Elections magazine was a little off last year when it came to predicting the outcome of the mayoral race, saying that Mark Green was going to win - until two days before the election, when it declared the race a dead heat. The publication is back in the guessing game, laying odds on the governor's race, calling Cuomo and McCall even and giving Pataki a 70 percent chance of winning re-election. Before Sept. 11, Pataki'sodds were only 57 percent. [http://www.nypost.com] ***************************************************************** 33 Goodman criticizes use of anti-Yucca money Las Vegas SUN June 21, 2002 By Diana Sahagun Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman criticized the anti-Yucca Mountain advertising campaign on Thursday, saying that if the city's $150,000 contribution went toward television commercials, it could have been better spent. The mayor said the ad campaign failed to capture the attention of hundreds of mayors across the United States. Goodman said that during his trip to Madison, Wis., last week for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, he found that none of the mayors had seen the commercials, which ran in Vermont, Utah, Wyoming and Iowa. The city contributed $150,000 toward the governor's fight against Yucca Mountain, and the funds were earmarked for the advertising campaign. Goodman said that if all the money went toward the advertising campaign -- rather than the state's legal fight -- it could have been spent in a more useful way. "If the end product is that the mayors are supposed to see it and be impressed by it, it's been an absolute failure," Goodman said. The state has raised $1.9 million in public and private donations that officials thought would be matched through a $3 million fund set up by the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee. Nevada officials learned this week, however, that the committee can release only $434,000 to fund the campaign against the proposed nuclear-waste repository. The issue is expected to be voted on by the U.S. Senate within the next few weeks. The Senate's vote is the last step in the federal government's approving the Yucca Mountain site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a repository for 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Goodman said the campaign won't be won over the airwaves, but through a "person-to-person campaign" with officials about the dangers of transporting nuclear waste across the country. Goodman said the state's fund would have been better spent it it were given to him to defray costs of his upcoming trip to Washington to lobby officials. Goodman plans to travel to Washington next week, at the invitation of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The mayor has identified specific congressmen he wants to meet with, including Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who the mayor once worked for, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. When asked what he could do in Washington that Nevada's two senators couldn't, Goodman said: "I don't know, I'm a character. They know I'm the mayor of Las Vegas ... They know I was a mob lawyer in my heyday. They like to hear what I have to say." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 34 Letter: Enough study, settle dump issue Las Vegas SUN June 21, 2002 I live in Pahrump. About last Friday morning's wake-up call earthquake -- before running out with the sky-is-falling attitude -- I did my research and found the facts. Here is what I found out. It was a 4.4 earthquake at about 5:40 a.m. The Department of Energy has spent 24 years studying the site, including the issue of earthquakes. In fact, the Yucca Mountain scientists have used earthquakes greater than last Friday's to design the repository. The repository designs the DOE is looking at could withstand an earthquake with 1,000 times more energy than last Friday's and a regional earthquake with 30,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning. Let's not get caught up in the media hype of this. Let's let the Nuclear Regulatory Commission make the decision on the site's suitability and that's what would happen if the Senate approves the resolution of Yucca Mountain. Let's be solution-oriented on this issue. One way or another I'm sort of getting tired of this issue. After 24 years of study I think it's time to come to some resolution on the site. REBECCA M. SMITH All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 35 Reid hopes to cut Yucca budget again Las Vegas SUN: Photo: Attorney David Kahn and Eric Hogensen secure a petition June 21, 2002 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- As Nevada's senators try to derail a vote on Yucca Mountain, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is working behind the scenes to cut the nuclear waste dump project's annual budget. Congress each year sets the Yucca budget, allocating money from two pots: a federal dump fund that is fed by ratepayers who use nuclear-generated electricity; and Defense Department money. That's because high-level nuclear waste from both commercial nuclear power plants and U.S. Defense wastes -- mostly spent fuel from nuclear submarines -- would be buried at Yucca. This year, President Bush proposed spending $527 million on Yucca in the 2003 fiscal year. The bulk -- $315 million -- would come from the Defense Department budget. Reid staffers went to aides for Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and quietly negotiated to slash the $315 million by $100 million, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. "There are a lot more important priorities in the nation's Defense budget than Yucca Mountain," Hafen said. Each year Reid uses his influence as the Senate's No. 2 Democrat and his perch on the Senate Appropriations Committee to trim the Yucca budget, ultimately slowing the project and frustrating Yucca advocates. Reid last year played a part in trimming the Yucca budget $70 million to $375 million. Reid's maneuvering frustrates the Energy Department, which manages Yucca. "Full funding for Yucca Mountain is important," Energy spokesman Joe Davis said today. "America's national security and environmental protection is enhanced by safely and securely moving nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, rather than having waste stranded at 131 sites in 39 states." White House officials also want next year's Yucca budget restored. A budget cut now will only result in delays that increase the project's final pricetag, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement this week. "This reduction would have a devastating impact on the Administration's goals of submitting a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2004 so that the repository can open in 2010," the OMB statement said. The congressional budget process requires that lawmakers first agree to spend money on defense programs by approving a Defense Authorization bill, now under consideration. Later, lawmakers will hammer out an appropriations bill that sets final project budgets. The process allows for much private and public negotiating, and Reid's trims likley will be at least partially restored as lawmakers debate Defense spending details. "I'm sure the House people will work to raise (the Yucca budget) back up," Hafen said. In other action, Senate leaders continued today to parry over when the Senate will vote on Yucca. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he wants the Senate to finish work on the defense authorization bill next week and then debate and vote on the project. "Maybe I'm dreaming here on this first day of summer to think that we could actually finish (the defense bill) a little early, but I'm hoping for the very best," Lott said on a Senate floor. But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he did not expect a Yucca vote before the end of next week, when Congress breaks for a week-long holiday. Daschle said he will not call for a vote, and lamented that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act allows any senator to make a motion to proceed. By Senate tradition, only the leader can do that. "I can do nothing about the current circumstances," Daschle said. "I would oppose (a motion to proceed) when and if it was offered." Reid said it was not a "slam dunk" that the Senate would vote to act on Yucca. "Whenever a Republican decides to bring it up, there will be a vote on the so-called motion to proceed," Reid said. "And I'm hopeful and optimistic that it won't prevail." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 36 Senate to study Australia's uranium mines after a series of leaks - 6/21/2002 - ENN.com Friday, June 21, 2002 By Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia — The Senate will hold an inquiry into a series of leaks of radioactive waste from Australian uranium mines, opposition lawmakers announced Thursday. There have been at least five leaks of contaminated water and radioactive waste at two of Australia's three uranium mines this year, government reports have said. Government and mining company scientists have said none of the spills threatened employee safety or caused environmental damage, but opposition parties and environmental groups have challenged that finding. The probe will focus on the role of the federal government in ensuring that adequate health and environmental standards are maintained at mines, opposition Labor Party lawmaker Kelvin Thomson said Thursday. Thomson said the inquiry, which will investigate environmental regulations, monitoring, and reporting at the mines, was needed to restore public confidence in uranium mining in Australia. Early last month, almost 15,000 liters (3,900 gallons) of contaminated water spilled from a pipe at the Beverley Mine in South Australia state. The incident came just four days after another spill and was the third at the site this year. At the Ranger mine in Australia's Northern Territory, which is surrounded by the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, a leak in April was found to contain 14 times the normal level of contaminants. It followed another leak on the site, which is operated by Energy Resources Australia Ltd. (ERA) in February. ERA said Thursday it looked forward to expressing its views on the effectiveness of reporting requirements and the changes and improvements the company wants the government to adopt. Environmental groups also welcomed the inquiry. Copyright 2002, Associated Press ENN is a registered trademark of the Environmental News Network Inc. Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Court grants appeal to Hodges Augusta Georgia: Metro: Web posted Friday, June 21, 2002 By [matthew.boedy@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau AIKEN - Although it is unlikely he will win, Gov. Jim Hodges on Thursday was granted an expedited hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals. The 4th Circuit Court, however, denied the governor's motion to stay U.S. District Court Judge Cameron Currie's ruling last week that gave the U.S. Department of Energy the go-ahead to begin shipping plutonium to Savannah River Site. Thursday's ruling means shipments could begin Saturday - the day the DOE has said would be the earliest it would be ready to ship from its former nuclear facility near Rocky Flats, Colo. Mr. Hodges had threatened to block the shipments but was ordered by Judge Currie to refrain. "While I am disappointed the court is letting the Department of Energy ship plutonium into South Carolina this Saturday, I am encouraged by the court's decision to hear our case quickly. I look forward to our day in court," the governor said in a statement. The DOE is expected to send 6 tons of plutonium from Rocky Flats and about 30 tons from other sites to SRS in the next 18 months. In four weeks, attorneys for Gov. Jim Hodges will argue in appellate court to stop plutonium shipments. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a statement thathe looks forward to working with South Carolina's congressional delegation. Members of the delegation are sponsoring legislation that would fine the department if it didn't remove the plutonium by the specified dates. Mr. Hodges sued the DOE after he and Mr. Abraham couldn't agree on a plan to take the plutonium from the state. The DOE has pledged to build a facility to convert the plutonium for use in nuclear power plants, but the pledge has not yet become policy. Mr. Hodges has said he fears that the agency won't keep its promise, thereby leaving the plutonium in the state indefinitely. Reach Matthew Boedy at (803) 648-1395 or [matthew.boedy@augustachronicle.com] [http://augusta.com] . ***************************************************************** 38 French Football Team Face Up to Grim Reality of Arms Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 14:26:33 -0500 (CDT) * News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International * 21 June 2002 EUR 21/001/2002 The French 1998 World Cup soccer champions and their coaches who were defeated in the tournament last week have signed a statement calling on "the French government and the governments of the European Union to take initiatives that will lead to genuine control" of international arms transfers. The French team statement, expresses concern that most of the victims "of wars being waged at the present time are civilians" and that, "according to UNICEF, eight out of every ten victims are women and children. Children as young as five are being kidnapped, then trained to kill other civilians, including children." The soccer stars identify "the principal countries responsible for arms exports" as "the United States, France, Great Britain and Russia, who alone account for 80% of world trade." Echoing the appeal by Amnesty International to the forthcoming Summit of the Group of Eight on 26-27 June, the French team states: "We international footballers join with the many organisations who are calling for a halt to arms sales to countries that violate human rights." The following is a translation into English of the full statement sent by the French football team. Further information about Amnesty International's appeal to the G8 Summit can be found at http://web.amnesty.org/G8/ ********** COLLECTIF CONTROLE DES TRANSFERTS D'ARMES Amnesty International French Section, Monitoring the Transfer of Arms ACAT, Agir ici, CANVA, Justice & Paix, LDH, MAN, Pax Christi, Riseau Foi et Justice, Survie Monitoring the Transfer of Arms to Save Lives! Every year, millions of people become victims of the arms trade. The International Rescue Committee puts the annual number of deaths as a direct or indirect consequence of the war since 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 700,000. The International Committee of the Red Cross says that over 80% of the victims of wars being waged at the present time are civilians. And according to Unicef, eight out of every ten victims are women and children. Children as young as five are being kidnapped, then trained to kill other civilians, including children. These people live in countries where the government and armed bands prefer to sell off their country's riches to buy arms rather than secure the sustainable development of the country and the security of their people. The principal countries responsible for arms exports are the United States, France, Great Britain and Russia, who alone account for 80% of world trade. Although it is true that in 1988 the governments of the Member States of the European Union adopted a Code of Conduct prohibiting deliveries of arms to countries where they might be used for human rights violations, the code is not strictly applied. We international footballers join with the many organisations who are calling for a halt to arms sales to countries that violate human rights, and request the French government and the governments of the European Union to take initiatives that will lead to GENUINE CONTROL! ****************************************************** The following is the list of the football players and coaches who have signed the famous letter: Lilian Thuram Fabien Barthez Christophe Dugarry Vincente Lizzarazu Djibril Cissi Emmanuel Petit Thierry Henry Johan Micoud Willy Sagnol David Triziguet Gregory Coupet Philippe Christanval Vincent Candela Alain Boghossian Iouri Djorkaef Patrick Viera Sylvain Wiltord Michael Sylvestre Roger Lemerre, coach Bruno Martini, assistant coach Guy Stephan, assistant coach ********************************** **************************************************************** You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the list subscription message may be removed. **************************************************************** To subscribe to amnesty-L, send a message to with "subscribe amnesty-L" in the message body. To unsubscribe, send a message to with "unsubscribe amnesty-L" in the message body. If you have problem signing off, contact . handles only messages concerning list administration. Past and current Amnesty news services can be found at . Visit for information about Amnesty International and for other AI publications. Contact amnestyis@amnesty.org if you need to get in touch with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. ***************************************************************** 39 Stay calm, go shopping Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 09:21:30 -0500 (CDT) Stay calm, go shopping AL Kennedy Friday June 21, 2002 The Guardian I don't know about you, but I find I am resting much more easily in my bed now that the splendid FBI and CIA have proved themselves able to predict whenever a cohort of the Evil Axis is considering a plan to possibly begin thinking about the sketches for what might turn out to be a dirty bomb. No one will make fun of intelligence agencies in the Oval Office any more and a new joint crest can proudly show the left hand of Central Security joining the right hand of Federal Security and together finding and covering their noble president's arse. Likewise, I am glad that Evil will not row its way under Gibraltar, rendering our plucky rock explosive or, even worse, Spanish. But, of course, the forces of Light and Truth cannot be everywhere and (due to budgetary constraints and the public's wrong-headed insistence on inconvenient civil liberties) their crusaders cannot tap, tape, scan or steam open every possible communication throughout the globe. We must face the fact that people all over the world are passing secrets to each other - sometimes in Arabic, and that's a fantastically difficult language. Why, it's a wonder Arabic-speaking people can even buy a packet of crisps without accidentally ordering a missile launcher and accepting responsibility for any number of outrages. This means we may never uncover the dreadful Iraqi scheme to build a network of huge trampolines that will catapult smallpox-infected koi carp into the Mediterranean, causing alarm to tourists everywhere. North Korean agents have already managed to sneak a prison reformer's portrait on to the new "magic serial number" fivers. This has confused British bank tellers and embarrassed the government at a time when we should be banging up as many scumbag Brits and (most likely Evil) refugees as possible. This would mean they would succumb to suicidal depression in various mismanaged hell holes, thus reducing strains on the immigration and probation services and the risk they would have posed to national security. Thank God the Notes of Evil were recalled in time. A Libyan scheme to steal David Beckham has been thwarted by ensuring that one of 12 possible Beckhams is always kept in a high-altitude orbit, but quite frankly other much less important people could be poisoned, squashed, blown up or irradiated by Evil any minute. Our only hope lies in channelling the entire combined domestic product of the Forces of Light into intelligence gathering and arms production. So, out with safe drinking water, hospitals and schools and in with more submarines, Sarin and those lovely banned landmines we still sort of sell. Now the cost of these improvements to freedom's essential defences will naturally place a considerable strain on the British and US economies that are, in turn, supported by consumer debt. This means that, in order to protect your limbs and loved ones, each British citizen will soon be expected to service at least two car loans, seven store credit cards, two conventional credit cards, an overdraft and a 100% mortgage on an inner-city flat with severe structural faults, or a jerry-built semi in the middle of a flood plain. Only with your help can Goodness triumph. Naturally, consumers are less willing to consume when they are afflicted by pointless fears over their physical wellbeing and nagging doubts about their futures. So it is important that all relevant security services should soothe the masses with triumphant bulletins outlining the daring way they have already foiled plots by the Shining Path to reverse the direction of bath taps in Plymouth, or al-Qaida's scheme to render all British condom vending machines mildly radioactive. There must be plots, they must be harmlessly unmasked, there must be consumer spending and those all-important Weapons of Goodness must be constructed and deployed. There must also be no confusion over what constitutes a Weapon of Goodness. Britain's chemical, biological and nuclear illegal weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction are Good, as are those of our allies. Anyone else's are Evil, unless we or our allies supplied them. Good Weapons remain Good, even if we sell them to leaders intent on oppressing and murdering their own populations - as long as said leaders support the IMF. Said supremos may also terrorise the populations of neighbouring countries, unless those countries are also our allies, or contain things we may want - in which case, said leaders become Evil. Unless they're in Israel. Or the US, or Pinochet's Chile. Good is Good, Bad is Bad and everyone should just stay calm and keeping spending. comment@guardian.co.uk Guardian Unlimited ) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ----- FAIR USE NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. ***************************************************************** 40 Bush sends Senate new US-Russia nuclear arms treaty; asks for quick ratification * /Thu Jun 20, 6:55 PM ET/ WASHINGTON - President Bush submitted to the Senate on Thursday the nuclear arms treaty he signed with Russia last month and asked lawmakers for prompt ratification. "The Moscow Treaty is emblematic of our new, cooperative relationship with Russia," Bush said in a formal message to the Senate accompanying the treaty. He and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact May 24 during Bush's trip to Russia. It calls for the United States and Russia to slash their strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,700-2,200 deployed warheads each over the next decade, a two-thirds reduction. "When these reductions are completed, each country will be at the lowest level of deployed strategic nuclear warheads in decades," Bush said. "This will benefit the peoples of both the United States and Russia and contribute to a more secure world." Under the Constitution, the Senate must ratify any treaty the president negotiates before it can be implemented. "I therefore urge the Senate to give prompt and favorable consideration to the treaty, and to advise and consent to its ratification," Bush said. Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, faulted Bush, however, for yet maintaining at least 2,000 nuclear weapons. "The Senate should promptly consider the new treaty, but also explore additional steps towards dismantling the remnants of the U.S.-Russian nuclear doomsday machine," Kimball said. At a White House meeting earlier this month, the president lobbied Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for swift action on the three-page treaty. Biden said then that he envisioned a half-dozen Senate hearings on the treaty and a fall vote by the full Senate. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 41 'New' NATO will meet terrorist threats United Press International By Jenni Chew for United Press International Published 6/20/2002 5:27 PM WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- NATO will need substantial new capabilities in order to continue to adapt to its demanding new mission of tackling international terrorism, George Lord Robertson, NATO's secretary general, said Thursday at a think tank forum. "The old NATO will not be enough to meet today's risks and challenges," Robertson said at the meeting, which was sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute's New Atlantic Initiative. "NATO has decided that the Alliance must play a prominent role in defending its own populations and forces against terrorist attacks," he said. The New Atlantic Initiative is an international program that focuses on the expansion of NATO, and on policy issues of common interest to the United States and Europe. NATO forces must be able to "deter, defend, disrupt and protect against terrorist attacks or threats of attacks directed from abroad, and to act against such terrorists who harbor them," Robertson said. One significant change in policy he described is that, on a case-by-case basis, "NATO will be able to support a non-NATO operation" aimed at terrorists. Changes like these make it apparent that NATO is prepared to act as a focus of the international community's military preparations for defense against terrorism, Robertson said. "They also underscore the need to develop global deployment capabilities." Robertson said NATO must focus on four critical military capabilities to carry out its mission, including the ability to secure communication and information systems and to be able to mobilize and maintain troops. The other focus elements are to work together seamlessly and to win in combat, and to defend against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. Robertson notes that although these areas of focus may seem obvious to Americans, "for many European countries, this is a quantum leap in the way that they think about armed forces." Robertson said NATO must develop several capabilities that represent "radical breaks with the past" as it moves forward to retool the Alliance to tackle terrorism. These include nation-specific commitments, role specialization, and common acquisition of funding for key assets. One example Robertson gave is a prototype Deployable Nuclear, Chemical and Biological, or NBC analytical laboratory. This, along with other changes, show that "NATO gets it," he said. The possibility that terrorists might gain access to potent weapons of mass destruction and use them without a second thought "puts an immense burden on the governments of the free world," he said. He pointed out the enemies of today not like past antagonists. "They are not rational and predictable. They are not prepared to balance interests and risks. No, they are extreme fanatics, driven by hatred, and operating beyond rationality and predictability." America's NATO allies have been working "crush terrorism," Robertson said. For example, the Article 5 declaration that "September 11th was an attack against all 19 NATO Allies," shows that NATO realizes the immense threat of terrorism. The Alliance has already taken strides to defeat terrorism. It has dealt the terrorists serious setbacks by rooting out and arresting the members of defeating key Al Qaida cells in North America, Europe and North Africa. NATO will provide support that will be crucial in the defeat of terrorists, he said. "Far better to work with friends to avert a crisis then to find yourself alone with the crisis on your doorstep and your friends all looking the other way," Robertson said. "Countering terrorism is at the heart of NATO's new relationship with Russia," he noted. "Russia is now willing to play an honest, cooperative role in working with us." Russia's support of NATO (and perhaps its eventual membership) would be "an historic contribution to our common security and a major contribution to the success of our long-term fight against new threats we all face," he said. "Taking all elements together, the transformation of NATO will make a key -- indeed an essential -- contribution to U.S. security, to the security of all NATO nations, and in turn to the safety of future generations," Robertson said. "My message to NATO leaders has been consistent: we must be ambitious or we risk being negligent." Copyright © 2002 United Press International *Copyright © 2002 United Press International. All rights ***************************************************************** 42 Putin gets Pasko-letter Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. On June 25 the Russian Supreme Court will hear the case of Grigory Pasko. In a recent letter to Vladimir Putin, the Sierra Club, USA's largest environmental NGO, highlights the political aspects of the case. 2002-06-19 18:12 The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 with 182 charter members. Throughout the last century its grassroots advocacy has made it America's by far most influential environmental organisation. Today it has around 750.000 members and is engaged in a number of environmental and human rights issues all over the world. Given the history of the organisation, it should come as no surprise that it has engaged itself in the case of Russian journalist Grigory Pasko who will be tried in absentia by the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court on June 25. In a letter to President Vladimir Putin dated June 18, signed by executive director Carl Pope, and cc'd to George Bush jr's national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, and the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, the Sierra Club expresses its concern regarding the prosecution of Pasko. The organisation believes that the Russian Supreme Court's deliberations and eventual ruling on his case will test Russia's commitment to democratic principles, including the freedom of speech. A useful reminder The Sierra Club points to the fact that Pasko on December 25, 2001 was acquitted of nine out of ten charges, and only convicted for possessing handwritten notes taken at a meeting of the Pacific Fleet staff in 1997 with the alleged intention to transfer the notes to Japanese media. Thus, even the December 25 ruling confirms that Pasko did not reveal state secrets. This could in fact be a useful reminder for Putin, who when visiting Paris in January 2002 said that not even Pasko's lawyers questioned "the fact" that Pasko had transferred secret information to Japan. The Sierra Club names the Pasko case as one of several recent examples of cases in which the Russian prosecution has flouted the rights guaranteed in the Russian Constitution and attempted to silence journalists and scientists, who have tried to bring environmental crimes to light. The Pasko-case reflects poorly on Russia's commitment to democracy, continues the Sierra Club, before concluding: "If Pasko's conviction is allowed to stand, it will come at a cost of Russia's reputation among free nations". ***** Grigory Pasko was arrested on November 20, 1997 and accused with treason through espionage. He was acquitted by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok on these charges on July 20, 1999, but sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for misusing his position and released on a general amnesty. Both sides appealed the verdict. In November 2000 the Russian Military Supreme Court cancelled the verdict, and sent the case back for a new trial at the Pacific Fleet Court. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001 and ended on December 25, with Pasko being convicted to four years of hard labour for treason and taken into custody. The verdict has led to huge protests inside of as well as outside Russia. The appeal case is scheduled for hearing on June 25, 2002. 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 ***************************************************************** 43 European Union takes action The Pasko Case Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. The Moscow-delegation of the European Union will follow the hearing of Pasko's appeal case closely. In the European Parliament critical questions are raised on the Russian authorities' handling of the case. Jon Gauslaa, 2002-06-20 15:47 The European Union will follow the forthcoming hearing of Pasko's appeal case closely. This is confirmed by the European Commission's delegation in Russia in a letter to the Bellona foundation dated June 18. The letter stresses that the European Union has brought to the attention of the Russian authorities its concern that the trial "should demonstrably conform to all legal norms, including Russia's international obligations." It also underlines that the European Union is well aware of the views regarding the prosecution of Pasko that has been raised by Amnesty International, the Helsinki Federation, the Committee to protect Journalists, the PEN-club and others. Russian desinformation In a written parliamentary question raised today, Mr. Matti Wuori, a Finnish lawyer and member of the European Parliament, focused on what appears as a Russian desinformation campaign on the Pasko-case. In particular Mr. Wuori pointed to the fact that president Vladimir Putin, when meeting Jaques Chirac in Paris earlier this year, stated publicly that it was an undisputed "fact" that Pasko had transferred classified information to Japan. He also underlined that the Kremlin-controlled ORT-TV has transmitted several programs on the case presenting a twisted version of the events in order to smear Pasko in the public eye as a traitor and a spy. Pasko was, however, not convicted for transferring any single item of information to Japan. His alleged crime was that he possessed information that he "intended" to hand over to the Japanese. Although the prosecution was not even close to prove that Pasko had this intention, he was still convicted to four years. Mr. Wuori asked whether or not the European Commission would bring up with the Russian authorities that the said circumstances seem to be in disconformity with the presumption of innocence. * Grigory Pasko was arrested on November 20, 1997 and charged with treason through espionage. He was acquitted of these charges by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok of on July 20, 1999, but sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for 'abuse of his official position although he was not charged with that crime, and released on a general amnesty. After both sides had appealed, the Military Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in November 2000 and sent the case back for a new trial at the Pacific Fleet Court. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001 and ended on December 25, with Pasko being convicted to four years of hard labour and taken into custody. Both sides again appealed against the verdict. The appeal case has been scheduled to June 25, 2002. 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 ***************************************************************** 44 Dirty” bomb could explode in Russia Pravda.RU “ Jun, 21 2002 [http://english.pravda.ru] Today’s PRAVDA.Ru guest is Lidia Popova, director of Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy Centre of Social-Ecological Union. In 1969 Lidia Popova graduated from physical faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University and started to work for Institute of Information and Technical and Economical Research on Atom Science and Technics. She occupied herself with analysis and planning of nuclear fuel cycle in the USSR. At the same time, Lidia Popova studied problem questions of atom energy through foreign sources. She was mostly impressed by a US specialist’s book "Poisoned Energy.” Thhough, Lidia Popova understood that it was impossible to turn the nuclear complex to solving the issue of nuclear waste and effectively solve other nuclear problems, so she accepted the invitation of Maria Cherkasova and Svyatoslav Zabelin, the leaders of the Centre of Nuclear Ecology and Ecological Policy and joined them as co-ordinator of the programme on alternative energy. PRAVDA.Ru has asked Lidia Popova several questions. Question. Everybody speaks about nuclear security. Though, let us clear up what it is? What does this notion include? Answer. Nuclear security means non-admission such circumstances when a spontaneous chain reaction is possible. Though, there is also the notion of radioactive security. It is being defined in the Law about Radioactive Security of the Population: “Radioactive security of the population is a state when today’s and future generations of people are protected from harmful influence of ionizing radiation upon their health.” On one hand, this is a good definition, because it takes into account interests of the future generations. On the other hand, it leaves too much for today, because protectability from harmful influence of ionizing radiation upon human health is mentioned. With development of science develops, we start better to understand our environment, and what is now considered to be harmless, tomorrow could suddenly become harmful. Recently, too many works appeared, devoted to small dozes of radiation. From these publications, one could conclude that long influence of small dozes could cause much more serious consequences, than a single big-doze radiation. While speaking about radiation security, one usually means a human being. Though, environment also react to ionizing radiation. Ecological scientists from the city of Tomsk found out that radioactive pollution of an area causes disappearance of some species. The question is about some kinds of plants and animals which are too small and their disappearance cannot be noticed at once. Though, everything is connected in nature. So, man-caused changes injures natural balance. Geneticists have a term “genetic instability.” Radiation’s influence (for example, after a nuclear explosion) causes breakage of genetic apparatus. In a time, these breakage disappears and the wounds seem to be cured (at least in the case of test mice). Though, in 40 generations, some changes in genetic apparatus appear again. According to the scientists, this is not a normal situation, so consequences could be very serious. Q. When, actually, did people understand that splitting of atom is not such a harmless thing, if even this is done for peaceful aims? After the Kyshtym catastrophe, people many dozens of years lived (and I suppose, still live) in polluted territories. They simply did not know that it is dangerous to live there. In the USSR, “nuclear problem” was a secret. A. People did not at once understand that radiation was dangerous for human life. A classical case is known. In a country, workers of a clock factory put radium on clock deal (to make them shining in the dark). They did it with a usual paint brush and licked the brash to do it more accurately. As a result, they died of tongue cancer. This case, as well as some other, made scientists study radiation influence upon human health. So, radiobiology and dosimetry appeared. After Kyshtym catastrophe, people really did not know that they lived in polluted areas. They learned it only in the late 80s, in 30 years after the Kyshtym catastrophe. Though, it does not mean that these people have no troubles with health. There are cases of negative influence of radiation upon the third or fourth generation after the accident. So, now the court makes Mayak Plutonium work pay compensation. Q. You are the director of the Centre of Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy. Tell us, please, about the Centre’s work and about its tasks. A. The task of our centre is information assistance in ecological movement, especially as concerned nuclear fuel cycle, production of fissile materials and other nuclear-radiation issues. We also co-operate with other ecology organizations in the field of energy policy, while offering some alternative decisions for today’s expensive and not fully effective nuclear energy. Moreover, we consider questions of energy together with politics in the field of changing climate, because in our view all these issues are connected with each other. We issue an information bulletin Energetika i Okruzhauschaya Sreda (Energy and Environment). We have translated and published several foreign books and wrote a common book together with experts Plutonium in Russia. Its second edition is being prepared. We also write some articles and publish them in other editions. We carry out daily training called “Stable Energy.” Moreover, we co-operated with previous State Duma Committee on Ecology. We try to deliver information we possess to people who personally takes important decisions. I two times was a member of Commission on State Ecological Examination which passes bills on nuclear waste import in Russia. Of course, I voted against it. Q. Which problems in nuclear sphere should be solved immediately and which could be postponed? A. First of all, we should solve the problem of out-of-exploitation atom submarines, the problem of nuclear fuel collected in Russian atom power stations, problem of radioactive pollution from Mayak Plutonium work, problem of open settling tanks in the cities of Seversk and Zheleznogorks. We should stop burying fluid radioactive waste in the cities of Zheleznogorsk, Seversk and Dimitrovgrad. These territories should be regarded as reservations, where it should be forbidden to live. Q. There were many discussions about nuclear waste import to Russia. The opponents of this idea stated that we were creating a danger for the future generations’ health, while its supporters explained economical benefit from this bargain: as if we could solve our ecological issues with these means. What is your opinion? A. This project will cause many troubles for our future generations. This is a lie that we should beforehand gather with us this “costly strategic stuff.” It is not known when that technologies will be created - if this will be at all – allowing to turn nuclear waste as row materials. So far, that are dangerous waste, and it should be regarded in this way. Future generations could face the issue of leakage of dangerous radionuclides to environment. Actually, this is dangerous to speak about future in connection with isotopes, whose half-value period makes dozens or even hundreds of years. The future generations will probably speak another language, so they hardly will understand our instructions. As for solving ecological problems, for burying 20 tons of nuclear waste, 7 billion dollars will be apportioned. The US has already spent about 60 billion for refinement of its polluted territory. Americans concluded that the refinement does not work from physical reasons: the area will be clean only after radionucledes are split. The radioactive pollution could be gathered and carried to another area, though it cannot be annihilated physically. As for pollution of subsoil waters and surface reservoirs, this problem cannot be solved at all. Q. Russia has enough atom problems besides foreign nuclear waste. For example the issue of Karachai lake in Chelyabinsk Region. Does anybody know how to settle it? A. They try to fill up Karachai lake to avoid repeating the 1967 catastrophe, when hurricane spread the pollution over dozens of kilometres. Though, what to do with underground radioactive lens? Q. Actually, should we build or, wise versa, close atom power stations? A. We cannot close them immediately, though to build atom power stations according to already existing designs is an economical gamble. Even the Atom Power Ministry admits that so-called light-weight reactors use nuclear fuel not effectively: only 1 percent of uranium is being burned in such reactors. Q. What could you say about atom energy from economical point of view? A. Atom power stations are very capital-intensive constructions. To build an energy block of 1,000 megawatt power with one reactor, 1 billion dollars should be spent. Moreover, exploitation of atom power station is also very expensive. Q. According to some experts, there is no alternative to atom power station in the nearest future… A. It sounds like a spell. In Russia, there is the main alternative – the great – up to 40 percent – potential of energy-saving. This is a real energy resource. Though, to use it, we should change our mentality and the whole culture of production and consume. Q. Now, about the most actual problem. There were publications reporting that terrorist were ready to use so-called “dirty” bombs. Is it possible? Could something like that take place in Russia? A. I suppose, it could. The effect, of course, cannot be compared with that one caused by atom bomb, though this hardly could comfort the possible victims. Moreover, such explosions could change psychology of the society, “collective psychics” will be injured. Q. What should society and authorities do to avert at least the most serious nuclear menaces? A. Society should change its culture and start with honour consider human person, while authorities should learn to speak with people without cynicism. Ligia Popova was interviewed by Andrei Lubensky PRAVDA.ru Translated by Vera Solovieva Read the original in Russian: [http://pravda.ru/main/2002/06/21/42990.html] ***************************************************************** 45 'Dirty' Work Worries Neighbors (washingtonpost.com) With Radioactive Materials in Use in Thousands of Places, Security Causes Concerns ___ Primer ___ 'Dirty Bombs': Answers to questions about the creation and effects of 'dirty bombs.' _____On the Web_____ • [http://www.fas.org/ssp/docs/030602-kellytestimony.htm] before Congress on Nuclear Terrorism Threat • [http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/speeche s/2001/s01-029.html] by Chairman of United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission By Michael E. Ruane Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 21, 2002; Page B01 Mike Oberdorfer picks his way across the railroad tracks, trots up the grass embankment and lays his hand on the black chain-link fence surrounding the small cluster of industrial buildings. See, he indicates, it wouldn't be hard: You could be over the top and inside with very little trouble. Dusk is falling on the rural Montgomery County hamlet of Dickerson. The tracks are deserted, and the countryside, dripping from rain, feels remote and isolated. What's behind the fence isn't gold or jewels but something Oberdorfer, 59, fears could be far more interesting to perpetrators of modern calamity: radioactive cobalt 60. In the wake of the arrest this month of an American associate of al Qaeda for allegedly plotting to build a radioactive "dirty bomb," alarm has grown among government officials and local residents about businesses and institutions that have materials that might be used in such a device. A dirty bomb is not a nuclear device, which might level a city; rather it is the packaging of radioactive material with a conventional explosive to spread contamination and fear, experts say. Officials have said there are thousands of facilities across the country and dozens locally that have materials such as cobalt, cesium, strontium and americium that might be used in a dirty bomb. They include hospitals, universities and businesses. In March, the Federation of American Scientists briefed Congress on the possible effects of a dirty bomb detonated with a modest amount of cobalt, for example. "No immediate evacuation or medical attention would be necessary," federation President Henry Kelly testified. "But long-term contamination would . . . render large urban areas useless." The dirty bomb scare stunned some residents of Dickerson, who have long fought and litigated over possible environmental contamination from a firm called Neutron Products Inc., which processes cobalt 60 for cancer therapy and uses it to irradiate certain food and other products that need purification. The firm was repeatedly cited by state regulators in the past decade for violating procedures designed to protect workers and the community from radioactive exposure. But state inspectors found no problems with its security measures in a December inspection. And Neutron President Jack Ransohoff said he feels confident that a series of locked gates and doorways would keep intruders out. The neighbors were not mollified. "We were freaked," said Carol Oberdorfer, 56, president of the Dickerson Community Association and Mike Oberdorfer's wife. "We saw this as a candy store for terrorists." The Oberdorfers, who live a few hundred yards from the plant, contend that it would not be hard to get over the fence -- which appears to be about seven feet high -- and inside the six-acre facility. "They don't have cameras around," Mike Oberdorfer said. "I can go up to the side of the building. I can go up and grab the fence. No alarms go off." Plus, he said, "the bad guys have shown they're very capable of thinking out of the box." His wife noted: "You'd have to have the right protective clothing on" to steal the cobalt, which is stored in 10- to 25-foot-deep pools or canals of water and is dangerous to handle. "And you'd have to have some kind of shielded box to put the stuff in. . . . But presumably the people that do that have the wherewithal to take those measures." Ransohoff, 73, the firm's founder, said that when the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a warning in October to firms with large amounts of radioactive material, he installed a special electronic gate that closes automatically. "It's easier to get people to keep the gate shut," he said. He said last week that he planned another company security meeting to reassess the situation, and would institute further measures. "There are a number of things . . . that you can do that just make it very much more difficult for anybody to steal a [radioactive] source. And so we'll do some of that stuff." State Department of the Environment inspectors visited the plant in December and reported that they were satisfied with the steps Neutron Products had taken to secure its radioactive material, including storing the matter under several feet of water behind several sets of locked doors and barriers. Since July 1, the state agency has conducted 228 inspections -- always unannounced -- of sites using radioactive materials, including hospitals, industrial plants, research companies and universities. Thirty-one other states are "agreement states" that license and regulate sites on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In Virginia and the District, the NRC remains the inspection agency. Since Sept. 11, it has issued more than 20 advisories to states and facilities with recommendations for increasing security. Ransohoff said his facility is staffed "pretty much" round-the-clock and neighbors keep an eye out. A determined intruder probably could get inside the perimeter, he acknowledged, but would have difficulty after that. "This is not a place that some dedicated person cannot get into," he said. "That's for sure. It's not a Fort Knox." At the same time, "somebody that doesn't know anything about the place, doesn't know much about the technology and doesn't know what's where and how to work it and stuff like that, would have a hell of a time stealing a source. Handling these things bare, you would not last very long." In addition, he said much of Neutron's cobalt 60 is in the solid form of a rod or a slug that he believes would not be easily fragmented by a bomb explosion. That may not stop the terrorists from targeting the plant, Carol Oberdorfer said. "It's isolated. It's full of stuff. It could be that it's unlikely or even impossible. But it seems dangerous to us." Staff writer Susan Levine contributed to this report. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 46 Bush sends Senate new US-Russia nuclear arms treaty; asks for quick ratification Thu Jun 20, 6:55 PM ET WASHINGTON - President Bush submitted to the Senate on Thursday the nuclear arms treaty he signed with Russia last month and asked lawmakers for prompt ratification. "The Moscow Treaty is emblematic of our new, cooperative relationship with Russia," Bush said in a formal message to the Senate accompanying the treaty. He and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact May 24 during Bush's trip to Russia. It calls for the United States and Russia to slash their strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,700-2,200 deployed warheads each over the next decade, a two-thirds reduction. "When these reductions are completed, each country will be at the lowest level of deployed strategic nuclear warheads in decades," Bush said. "This will benefit the peoples of both the United States and Russia and contribute to a more secure world." Under the Constitution, the Senate must ratify any treaty the president negotiates before it can be implemented. "I therefore urge the Senate to give prompt and favorable consideration to the treaty, and to advise and consent to its ratification," Bush said. Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, faulted Bush, however, for yet maintaining at least 2,000 nuclear weapons. "The Senate should promptly consider the new treaty, but also explore additional steps towards dismantling the remnants of the U.S.-Russian nuclear doomsday machine," Kimball said. At a White House meeting earlier this month, the president lobbied Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for swift action on the three-page treaty. Biden said then that he envisioned a half-dozen Senate hearings on the treaty and a fall vote by the full Senate. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 47 Tenn. Protesters Found Guilty Las Vegas SUN June 20, 2002 KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- A federal jury Thursday convicted a Roman Catholic nun and two other protesters of trespassing at the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant during a "stop the bombs" demonstration. Elizabeth Ann Lentsch, who is known as Sister Mary Dennis, 65; Mary Elinor Adams, 61; and Timothy Joseph Mellon, 46, were arrested April 14 and charged with federal trespassing violations. The three had climbed over a metal barricade blocking an entrance at the Department of Energy site known as Y-12 about 20 miles west of Knoxville. Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 20. The maximum penalty is a year in prison and $100,000 fine. The defendants and their attorneys declined to comment. The trial began Tuesday. "Stop the bombs" demonstrations are staged each April and August in Oak Ridge, the city that produced the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Previous protesters have been charged in city courts and fined $50. Federal officials have not said why they chose to prosecute. The protesters had hoped the case would allow them to speak out against the production of nuclear weapons and to claim the work at Y-12 violates international law and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty the United States signed in 1970. A judge barred the arguments last week. A fourth protester who was arrested in April pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 48 Report critical of security at DOE sites Officials announce new set of reforms Tri-Valley Herald Friday, June 21, 2002 - 2:53:37 AM MST By Glenn Roberts Jr. Staff Writer Dysfunctional, multi-layered bureaucracy impairs science and security within the Energy Department, and tools and technology for security programs "are woefully inadequate," says a report released Thursday by a policy research center. Energy Department officials had commissioned the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private and nonpartisan center in Washington, D.C., to produce the 18-month study, titled, "Science and Security in the 21st Century." The study recommends that the Energy Department clarify chains of command, "restore a climate of trust" while better integrating science and security missions, strengthen protections for computerized information, and develop new security tools that "move beyond the department's labor-intensive, paper-based system." John J. Hamre, president and chief executive officer for the center, served as chairman for the commission that conducted the study. Hamre served as U.S. deputy secretary of defense under then-President Bill Clinton from 1997-99. Energy Department officials, in concert with the report's release, announced a set of security reforms. The department has begun to implement 39 of the 45 commission recommendations, officials said. Energy Secretary Abraham said he does not believe that science and security are conflicting goals, "To achieve our mission we need to demonstrate excellence in the performance of both." Abraham also cited the formation of an Energy Department nuclear security agency in 2000, and a reorganization of the department's Office of Science as examples of efforts "to clarify roles and responsibilities and eliminate conflicting and duplicative layers of management." Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, and Stanford University's linear accelerator center are Energy Department sites in the Bay Area. John McTague, vice president for laboratory management at the University of California -- which manages Livermore, Berkeley and Los Alamos labs for the Energy Department -- said in a statement Thursday that the "tension" that exists between science and security "can be resolved constructively so that both are done well." "The Hamre report is an important step in that direction," he added. The study includes a set of recommendations in five areas: clarify lines of responsibility and authority, integrate science and security, develop and practice risk-based security, adopt new tools and techniques, and strengthen computer security. Among other security changes, Energy Department officials are revising foreign visit and assignment policies "to assist in flexible, prudent management of visitors to (department) facilities." Officials are also revisiting the system it uses to classify information into different categories based on the sensitivity of the information, and a an effort to reorganize department regional offices -- which department officials say will "remove an unnecessary layer of management oversight of the laboratories," is under way. John Belluardo, a spokes-man at the department's regional office in Oakland, said, "(Managers) are still meeting and developing strategic plans to move forward" with the reorganization. The report's executive summary is available online at www.csis.org [http://www.csis.org] ©1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 49 Better integration sought at DOE sites Study calls for science, security work Tri-Valley Herald Friday, June 21, 2002 - 2:56:39 AM MST By Glenn Roberts Jr. Staff Writer Dysfunctional, multi-layered bureaucracy impairs science and security within the Energy Department, and tools and technology for security programs "are woefully inadequate," says a report released Thursday by a policy research center. Energy Department officials had commissioned the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private and nonpartisan center in Washington, D.C., to produce the 18-month study, titled, "Science and Security in the 21st Century." The study recommends that the Energy Department clarify chains of command, "restore a climate of trust" while better integrating science and security missions, strengthen protections for computerized information, and develop new security tools that "move beyond the department's labor-intensive, paper-based system." John Hamre, president and chief executive officer for the center, served as chairman for the commission that conducted the study. Hamre served as U.S. deputy secretary of defense under then-President Clinton from 1997-99. Energy Department officials, in concert with the report's release, announced a set of security reforms. The department has begun to implement 39 of the 45 commission recommendations, officials said. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said he does not believe that science and security are conflicting goals, "To achieve our mission we need to demonstrate excellence in the performance of both." Abraham also cited the formation of an Energy Department nuclear security agency in 2000, and a reorganization of the department's Office of Science as examples of efforts "to clarify roles and responsibilities and eliminate conflicting and duplicative layers of management." Lawrence Livermore Labora-tory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, and Stanford University's linear accelerator center are Energy Department sites in the Bay Area. John McTague, vice president for laboratory management at the University of California -- which manages Livermore, Berkeley and Los Alamos labs for the Energy Department -- said in a statement Thursday that the "tension" that exists between science and security "can be resolved constructively so that both are done well." "The Hamre report is an important step in that direction," he added. The study includes a set of recommendations in five areas: Clarify lines of responsibility and authority, integrate science and security, develop and practice risk-based security, adopt new tools and techniques, and strengthen computer security. Among other security changes, Energy Department officials are revising foreign visit and assignment policies "to assist in flexible, prudent management of visitors to (department) facilities." Officials are also revisiting the system it uses to classify information into different categories based on the sensitivity of the information, and a an effort to reorganize department regional offices -- which department officials say will "remove an unnecessary layer of management oversight of the laboratories," is under way. John Belluardo, a spokesman at the department's regional office in Oakland, said, "(Managers) are still meeting and developing strategic plans to move forward" with the reorganization. The report's executive summary is available online at www.csis.org [http://www.csis.org] ©1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 50 Hanford union workers pass 3-year contract This story was published Thu, Jun 20, 2002 By the Herald staff Hanford's union workers approved a three-year contract Wednesday with the four main contractors at Hanford. Turnout for the vote was heavy, and the contract was approved by a wide margin, said Tom Schaffer, president of the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council. This was the second time HAMTC members voted on the proposed contract. They rejected a previous tentative contract six weeks ago by a 2-1 margin because of dissatisfaction over the proposed medical benefits costs. This time, the proposed contract puts a 10 percent cap annually on potential increases in medical benefits costs. The wage package was the same voted on six weeks ago, featuring a 4 percent annual wage increase. The previous five-year HAMTC contract that expired March 31 had a 3 percent annual wage increase. The extra 1 percent in the new contract is supposed to counteract workers paying greater medical costs. HAMTC is an umbrella organization for 14 Hanford-related union locals. It has 2,600 to 2,800 members. HAMTC members voted Wednesday on a contract with Fluor Hanford, Bechtel Hanford, CH2M Hill Hanford Group and Battelle. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 51 Three Y-12 protesters found guilty, sentencing set for mid-September The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- p.m. on Friday, June 21, 2002 from staff and wire reports KNOXVILLE -- Department of Energy officials hope the Thursday convictions of three anti-nuclear protesters on federal trespassing charges will deter future demonstrators from trying to enter an Oak Ridge weapons plant. Mary Elinor Adams, 61, of Bisbee, Ariz.; Elizabeth Ann Lentsch, a Catholic nun known as Sister Mary Dennis, 65, of Apison; and Timothy Joseph Mellon, 46, of Oak Ridge, were arrested April 14 after they climbed over a metal barricade blocking an entrance at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a Department of Energy site. They were the first protesters at the Oak Ridge site charged with a federal crime. On Thursday, the jury convicted them of trespassing on an enclosed property, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and $100,000 fine. Jurors rejected defense arguments that the government didn't prove the outer boundary of the Y-12 property was enclosed. The defendants and their attorneys declined comment on the verdict. Sentencing was set for Sept. 20. Defense attorney Mike Whalen said a jury in the District Court deliberated about 25 minutes before returning the verdict. "I was very surprised at the verdict," Whalen said. He said the jury took the case about 11 a.m. and deliberated about 25 minutes. The trial went into a third day Thursday after U.S. Magistrate Clifford Shirley recessed the court Wednesday to consider a defense motion to reduce the charges to simple trespassing, which carried a $5,000 fine but no time in jail. After the judge rejected the motion, the defense rested its case without calling any witnesses. The convictions could affect how authorities will deal with protesters at future "stop the bombs" demonstrations staged each April and August in Oak Ridge, the city that produced the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Before April, protesters had been charged in city courts and fined $50. Y-12 officials said they told the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which helps stage the annual protests, before the last demonstration that trespassers would be arrested on federal charges. Plant officials said the protesters were becoming more aggressive and they needed a more effective deterrent than city fines. Today Y-12 officials planned to begin security preparations for the group's next protest at the plant in August that commemorates Hiroshima Day. Calling the April arrests a "dry run," Donat St. Pierre, an official at the plant's safeguards and security division, said, "I'm not surprised if we get more people at the next one, but we're hoping over time it will dissuade them." U.S. Attorney Sandy Mattice Jr., lead prosecutor in the case, declined comment on how the convictions might affect future protests or if more trespassing cases would end up in federal court. The defendants' supporters didn't seem bothered by the verdict or the possibility of more trials. "It's not an effective deterrent. What it is doing is challenging the conscience of the people to work for peace," alliance coordinator Ralph Hutchison said. "This country is violating the Nonproliferation Treaty every day. I am hopeful through the justice system, the truth will prevail." Shirley had prevented the protesters from staging a defense based on arguments during the trial that work at Y-12 violates international law and the 1970 Nonproliferation Treaty. Workers at the Y-12 plant, created as part of the Manhattan Project, currently disassemble and refurbish so-called "secondaries" or the second stage of retired nuclear warheads. Enriched uranium is also stored at the site. Lena Shallitt Feldman, 26, of Lexington, Ky., pleaded guilty to the offense earlier and will be sentenced at a later date. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 52 Jury convicts nuclear protesters KnoxNews: Local By Rachel Kovac, News-Sentinel staff writer June 21, 2002 It took jurors only 30 minutes Thursday to return a guilty verdict for three protesters charged with trespassing at an Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant. The trial was the first-ever prosecution in federal court of protesters charged with trespassing at Y-12. Mary Elinor Adams, 61, of Bisbee, Ariz.; Elizabeth Ann Lentsch, a Catholic nun known as Sister Mary Dennis, 65, of Apison, Tenn.; and Timothy Joseph Mellon, 46, of Oak Ridge; were arrested April 14 and charged with federal trespassing violations after they climbed over a metal barricade blocking an entrance to Y-12. The jury was given the opportunity to find the defendants guilty of either trespassing into an enclosed area or a lesser charge of simple trespass. Closing arguments Thursday were short. U.S. Attorney Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice, asked the jurors to use their "common sense" in deliberation. He said he would trust them to define the term enclosed. Lawyers for the defendants argued that Adams, Lentsch and Mellon did not trespass into an "enclosed" area because the boundary of the Y-12 plant is lined by a barbed wire fence that is open in several places where traffic can pass through. Defense attorney John Eldridge told jurors during his closing argument that his client was guilty of willfully and knowingly crossing onto federal property, but was not guilty of trespassing into an enclosed area. Jurors rejected defense arguments and convicted the three defendants of trespassing on an enclosed property, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and $100,000 fine. The defendants and their attorneys declined comment on the verdict. Sentencing was set for Sept. 20. The trial went into a third Thursday after U.S. Magistrate Clifford Shirley was asked on Wednesday to consider a defense motion to reduce the charges to simple trespassing, which carried $5,000 fine but no jail time. After Shirley rejected the motion on Thursday morning the defense rested its case and final arguments were heard. Rachel Kovac may be reached at 865-342-6322 or kovacr@knews.com. The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 53 Groups fight cleanup 'slush fund' Paducah, Kentucky Friday, June 21, 2002 The citizens'groups say the DOE procedure is an effort to avoid cleanup agreements, and will leave out the Paducah plant. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Watchdog groups want Congress to pull the plug on an $800 million "slush fund" of accelerated cleanup money, a slice of which the Paducah uranium enrichment plant is seeking. The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, composed of 33 citizens' groups around nuclear sites nationwide, sent setters Thursday asking Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, and other members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to eliminate the fund and provide "adequate, stable funding" for all nuclear sites. The letters charge that the Energy Department's "cleanup reform" account is mainly money taken from what Congress funded this year for more than a dozen nuclear sites. "As a matter of fact, the better part of the $800 million is already promised, and Paducah is nowhere close to an agreement," said Mark Donham, president of the Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists and chairman of the citizens' advisory board to the plant. "This amounts to nothing more than a sophisticated form of blackmail to allow DOE to get out of previous cleanup agreements." Joe Davis, a spokesman for DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the group is wrong. "Aside from the fact that the allegations are false and from uninformed sources, it's surprising that self-proclaimed watchdogs for the environment would vehemently oppose accelerating cleanup at DOE facilities, including Kentucky," he said. "Fortunately, we are working with Kentucky state regulators and members of the congressional delegation who understand that ensuring a smart, accelerated cleanup plan should be in place before we throw more good money after bad. Our work has accomplished progress with Kentucky, and we look forward to finishing the deal." Energy Department officials want state and federal regulatory approval of a plan for faster cleanup allowing the Paducah plant to apply for the money by Aug. 1, the deadline for submission to the Office of Management and Budget. All but about $43 million of the money has been pledged in letters of intent to various sites across the country, said Bob Schaeffer, public education director for the alliance. He said $433 million went to a closed nuclear fuel facility in Hanford, Wash.; $104 million to the Oak Ridge, Tenn., nuclear complex; and the rest to six other sites. "DOE's allocating it isn't the same as spending it, because the agency doesn't make that determination; Congress does," Schaeffer said. "Both houses have expressed serious concerns about whether this is a good way to spend the money." At a public meeting here Tuesday night, regulators said they agree that faster cleanup is needed but disagree with DOE on details and aren't ready to back away from a 1998 agreement. Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton, local DOE task force Chairman Ken Wheeler and other local leaders say state delays could cost Paducah's chances for the money. Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, countered that the cabinet and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responded last month to a DOE draft plan. Since then, there have been phone conversations and e-mail exchanges trying to resolve differences, he said. This week, Natural Resources Secretary James Bickford promised Jessie Roberson, DOE's assistant secretary for environmental management, that the state wants to complete the process, York said. He said Bickford is waiting to hear from Bill Murphie, new cleanup manager for the Paducah plant, on the date of a meeting next week. "Our job is to be protective of human health and the environment, and we're going to take a close look at everything that is presented," York said. "The first thing we received was a general conception, and now we’re down to the details, so we're not delaying anything." The alliance letter accused DOE of using the $800 million to pressure state officials "to change existing agreements and plans in order to regain lost funding for the sites and regulatory costs. Such a scofflaw practice would result in less cleanup, thereby endangering public health and violating commitments made to affected communities to address the effects of nuclear weapons production." The alliance wants the committee "to support real reform" by requiring the Energy Department to submit a separate, itemized cleanup budget for its sites. That would allow Congress and the public to prioritize cleanup and hold DOE accountable, the letter said. A letter sent Wednesday by alliance board President Jay Coghlan urges similar support from DOE Undersecretary Robert Card. Coghlan reminded Card that only about one-third of DOE's $6.3 billion environmental management budget actually goes to cleanup and other risk-reduction work. ***************************************************************** 54 Our View: Protesters cannot be surprised by verdict, possible consequences 06/21/02 The Oak Ridger Online - Opinion - It took about 25 minutes Thursday for a federal district court jury in Knoxville to convict three defendants of trespassing on federal property. That may be about the same amount of time the defendants and their attorneys took in seemingly trying to switch defense strategies. Gone in a hurry, it seemed, was the supposed moral high ground claimed by the defendants when they said they had no choice but to trespass, that their civil disobedience was a calculated and appropriate response to what they claimed were U.S. violations of international law governing the production of weapons of mass destruction. By mid week the defendants, through their attorneys, appeared to be running for cover. Perhaps it had become apparent through assorted motions and admissions that three individuals, and not the U.S. government, were on trial here. Maybe the reality of steep fines and long sentences upon conviction were starting to take hold with the defendants. In any event, the subject had clearly changed. Suddenly their attorneys were quibbling about outer borders, security perimeters and what constitutes trespass. At one point the cross-examination went beyond the ridiculous to the absurd, with a defense attorney raising the specter of a cow accidentally wandering into, or out of, a secured area. But the jury obviously was not buying any hypothetical parallel with grazing cows or, for that matter, peace protesters accidentally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. These defendants, true to their initially stated objective, were out to make a point and be arrested. They mounted a barrier on Bear Creek Road at the entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex, ignored repeated written and verbal warnings, and essentially taunted assembled authorities to apprehend them. This was not about their right to free speech or peacable assembly, or even philosophical piety. Rather, it was, is, about trespass and breaking laws that are grounded in purposefulness. In short, they did just what they said they were going to do when, in advance of their April arrest, they scoffed at past local law enforcement and noted that the price of protest had never been made easier or cheaper. What they apparently did not bank on was first-time stiffer federal prosecution which, instead, will test the depth and sincerity of their own future civil disobedience. The defendants face the possibility of prison sentences of up to one year and fines of up to $100,000. How fitting that a September sentencing also marks the first anniversary of a savage and bloody terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The world has changed greatly in this past year, not necessarily for the better, and certainly not as rapidly as either the defense strategy changed or jury verdict was reached in this trial. But the defendants are guilty, additionally, of being unmindful of, or oblivious to, this change. Essentially, that change comes down to this: authorities charged with protecting the lives of Americans should not be expected to distinguish between conscientious objectors and crazed terrorists when our security is physically, and deliberately, breached. These protesters need to gain a clue, before the next national conversation centers around whether officials were justified in firing weapons at those who would breach our security. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 55 Hanford project could miss deadline This story was published Thu, Jun 20, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Hanford's K Basins project is slipping far enough behind schedule that the Department of Energy thinks a major deadline could be missed. Six weeks ago, the project was a month behind. Today, it is two months behind. If Fluor Hanford cannot turn that around and start catching up within a few weeks, it might become mathematically impossible for the project to meet a Dec. 31 legal deadline to remove almost half the fuel from the K Basins, said Steve Veitenheimer, director of DOE's Hanford spent nuclear fuel office. However, Veitenheimer and Dave Van Leuven, Fluor Hanford's executive vice president, believe the project can make its July 2004 legal deadline to remove all fuel from the basins. Meanwhile, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board -- an expert panel that advises DOE on nuclear cleanup -- sent a letter June 5 outlining the troubles to DOE cleanup czar Jessie Roberson. "We have been concerned for a long time," said board chairman John Conway. The basins are two water-filled, leak-prone, indoor pools that originally held 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel 400 yards from the Columbia River. They are considered Hanford's second-greatest problem. Hanford's master plan is to put the fuel inside specialized containers, dry it and store it in a huge underground vault in central Hanford. The trickiest part is moving radioactive fuel in the K West pool, washing and knocking off chips and debris, inserting the fuel into special baskets and putting the baskets into specialized transportation-and-storage canisters. All that must be done underwater by remote control. The project has been plagued with equipment failures, mostly in the underwater segment. Those failures highlight a major design flaw. Several points are bottlenecks because if one part fails, the entire fuel removal system stops until it is fixed. "The root cause of the thing is that it's a very complex, automated system. ... Simpler would have been better," Van Leuven said. He said Fluor inherited complicated designs from former lead contractor Westinghouse Hanford Co. in 1996. One example is a barrel-like device that acts like an underwater washing machine. The barrel rolls to act as an agitator while water is jet-sprayed on fuel rods to knock off loose bits. The device was supposed to last almost four years. But it got too banged up and had to be replaced after about 18 months. The rest of the fuel removal stalled for several days while it was replaced, adding to the schedule slippage. On March 17, the project had moved 49 canisters of fuel to the central Hanford vault -- 13 behind schedule. On May 3, 63 canisters had been moved -- 17 behind schedule. And on Wednesday, 73 had been moved -- 30 behind schedule. Hanford is supposed to move about 190 canisters by Dec. 31 and about 400 by July 2004. Van Leuven said the project can still meet its Dec. 31 target, especially since the K Basins have ramped up to a 24/7 operation. "I've got to have sustained operations at maximum capacity to get that done," he said. Fluor is also studying how to deal with the bottlenecks and is stocking up on spare parts to speed repairs. The defense board's letter criticized the project for not learning from past troubles and improving plans to deal with them in the future. Van Leuven and Veitenheimer said Fluor is concentrating on fixing that. Veitenheimer said DOE will hold Fluor to its contract targets. If the Dec. 31 target is not met, DOE could deduct money from the annual fee it pays Fluor. The K Basin master plan calls for the speediest fuel movement this year. That's because 2002 is the first year with around-the-clock shifts, and the project is dealing with the well-packed fuel of the K West Basin. Conway worries the K West fuel's slow pace will stall efforts to deal with K East fuel, which is more corroded and incompletely packed. "The more we wait, the more those fuel elements deteriorate," he said. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 56 Judge rules Bechtel trial to be heard next year This story was published Thu, Jun 20, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer A subcontractor's $1.33 million lawsuit against Bechtel Hanford won't be heard for another year, a federal judge decided. Last week U.S. District Court Judge William Nielsen set a jury trial date of June 9, 2003, in Roy F. Weston Inc.'s case against Bechtel. Weston is alleging that the Hanford company piled on extra work, then refused to pay the bill. In its court filings, Bechtel denies the charges, contending the subcontractor now wants to change the terms that the two companies agreed upon in 1998 for the extra work. Bechtel declined to discuss the lawsuit. Weston did not return Herald phone calls to its Seattle office. Weston filed the lawsuit against Bechtel in February in U.S. District Court in Spokane. Weston is suing over a project in which it removed contaminated soil just north of Hanford's 300 Area at a place called the South Process Pond, where predominantly uranium-laced water was poured into the ground during the Cold War. Weston entered the contract in 1997, but Bechtel later determined the South Process Pond was much more contaminated than previously thought. The companies revised the agreement, but Weston charged that Bechtel found more and more contamination. Weston also alleged Bechtel failed to keep it up-to-date on new discoveries of contaminated soils, and that Bechtel frequently moved Weston's work around that area with little or no advance notice. All this increased Weston's expenses and almost tripled the time it spent on the project from 57 days to 157 days. In November 2000, Weston submitted a $191,146 bill to Bechtel. But Bechtel paid only $94,088 and withheld the rest, Weston alleged. The lawsuit contends the extra work hurt Weston's finances while enriching Bechtel, which accounts for the subcontractor seeking $1.33 million. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 57 Non-operational radwaste treatment plant off-limits for sponsors Nuclear Powered Icebreakers Russia operates a fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers and one nuclear powered lighter vessel. This section focuses on radwaste and nuclear safety issues related to the operation of the civilian nuclear fleet. Non-operational radwaste treatment plant off-limits for sponsors A delegation from the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs was in late May this year denied access to the Norwegian-funded liquid radioactive waste treatment plant at nuclear icebreakers' Atomflot base in Murmansk. The $5 million-worth treatment plant is still not put into operation. The liquid radioactive waste treatment plant is built inside the building to the left at the Atomflot site, north of Murmansk. Thomas Nilsen, 2002-06-20 15:29 Last week, representatives of the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs met with the Russian Ministry of Nuclear Energy, Minatom, in Moscow to discuss current and future nuclear safety projects. State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Elsbeth Tronstad (the Norwegian Conservative Party), is the head of the Norwegian delegation. The co-operation with Russia is not progressing entirely without problems. In the end of May, State Secretary Mrs Tronstad brought a delegation to the Kola Peninsula. According to the official travel report the aim of the trip was to become more familiar with the Norwegian-Russian co-operation on nuclear safety in Northwest Russia. The visit hit off at a rather bad start, as the delegation, visiting the base of nuclear icebreakers at Atomflot in Murmansk, was supposed to be updated on the progression of the new treatment plant for liquid radioactive waste. Numerous Norwegian and international delegations and state secretaries have visited the plant before. The planned plant for treatment of liquid radioactive waste has for many years been a construction site. Tronstad and her delegation were denied access to the buildings in which the treatment plant is situated. According to the travel report, the reason for the denied access was that radioactive material was at the time being processed inside the plant. This is however incorrect. The treatment plant has not yet been put into operation, and in comparison, the old treatment plant situated next to the new one is not a subject to any restrictions regarding visitors even when it is processing waste. Only in case of an incident, causing increased radiation, restrictions can be set for visitors. As far as Bellona knows, there were no incidents in the end of May. According to Bellona's sources in Murmansk, the actual reason for the Norwegian delegation being denied access was the rather embarrassing fact that the plant has not yet been put into operation, and, perhaps more serious; no one knows whether it will ever be in operation due to design faults. The official statement from the Russian group in charge of the Norwegian delegation’s visit is that there simply was no time for the delegation to go inside the plant, whereas the head of the delegation Mrs Tronstad was not insistent to go inside. Lepse village In 2001 the Bellona Foundation financed a set of housing containers for the workers on board the Lepse ship. The radiation on board the ship far too high for the workers to reside on the boat for longer periods. Read more about the Lepse village. Bellona's lunch Rather than being guided around the treatment plant, the Norwegian delegation was politely escorted northwards at the port facilities of Atomflot, where they were served lunch inside housing containers financed by Bellona for the Lepse workers. At the time of the Norwegian visit at Atomflot several phone calls were made between Moscow and Murmansk. The Russian Ministry of Transport, which is in charge of the nuclear icebreakers fleet, made an official enquiry to form of an independent commission and to carry out a complete examination of all technical aspects of the new non-working treatment plant. Vyacheslav Ruksha (to the right), former Director General of MSCo, in company with President Putin on board one of the company’s ice-breakers in Murmansk. The enquiry was addressed to Minatom, which is the agency in charge of the Norwegian-Russian co-operation on nuclear safety. Vyacheslav Ruksha, the Russian Deputy Transport Minister, who knows the issue like the back of his hand, signed the enquiry. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Transport Minister in September 2000, Ruksha held the position of general director of nuclear icebreakers fleet before he was promoted to the position of general director of Murmansk Shipping Company (MSCo), the commercial operator of the nuclear icebreakers. Norway contributed $2 million In his letter to Minatom, Ruksha claims that the Russian management of the new treatment plant suffers from insufficient insight into the technical aspects of the project. It is the semi-governmental company Nuklid, which has been in charge of the project for the Russian side, whereas Norway, in co-operation with the USA, has funded the plant. The total costs as of today has mounted to just above $5 million. The Norwegian share of $2 million has been financed through the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ plan of action for nuclear issues. Background Read more about the radioactive waste in Northwest Russia.  Note by Bellona » [http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/status/4111.html] The questions of why the plant still is not operating are just as many as the answers. When the Norwegian Office of the Auditor General handled the project, it was stressed that the Norwegian project management was not satisfactorily either. The USA side accentuates a poor project management on the Russian side as a reason for the plant being inoperative. The Russians, however, blame inadequate funding from Norway and the USA for the commissioning of the project as an excuse. Despite the fact that parts of the technology were shipped from the USA, the main parts of the plant are based on Russian technology, supplied by VNIPIET institute in St Petersburg. More and more workers at the Atomflot base are now considering the choice of Russian technology to be a mistake. London Convention against nuclear dumping Three years ago, when the plant was taken through tests for the first time, it turned out that the pipes held a too weak pressure to treat liquid radioactive waste. Whether the reason was too long pipelines or too weak pumps is also subject to different opinions. However, all parties agree that the plant has not yet commenced operation. Discharge of radioactive waste at sea From 1959 to 1993 the Russian Northern Fleet and the Russian civil fleet of nuclear icebreakers dumped huge amounts of radioactive waste directly to sea. The radioactive waste was discharged in the important fishing grounds of the Barents Sea. Read the Bellona report on nuclear dumping » [http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/7566.html] Furthermore, the background for the initial implementation of the project is also an issue of dispute. In 1994, when the first steps towards a Norwegian-American initiative were taken, it was based on a wish to assist Russia with a treatment plant so that the country could comply with its commitments stated in the London Convention, which prohibits dumping of radioactive materials at sea. Liquid radioactive waste from the civil fleet of nuclear icebreakers was until 1989 dumped in the Barents Sea, whereas the Northern Fleet dumped wastes at sea until 1993. Prior to the new treatment plant, which would be able to process 5,000 cubic meters annually, Atomflot had an old plant with a capacity of 1,200 cubic meters. The old plant has sufficient capacity to treat all liquid waste generated by the operation of the nuclear icebreakers, their service vessels as well as waste from the various plants at the Atomflot site. The main purpose of the new treatment plant was in fact to handle liquid radioactive waste from the Northern Fleet, including liquids with a high salt-content. Other liquid waste treatment plants in operation The one question both Norway and the USA neglected to put forward previous to the initiation of the project: Who was going to be financially responsible for the processing of the liquid nuclear waste from the Northern Fleet? The Northern Fleet is not regularly known to pay for the treatment of their own generated waste. Atomflot, which may soon become a part of the privately owned MSCo, does not wish to do the job for the Northern Fleet for free. Nor does Norway wish to pay for it and the USA has withdrawn from the entire project for quite some time ago. Both Atomflot and nuclear icebreakers fleet are still and will remain to be the federal property operated by commercial MSCo. Russian shipyards Radioactive wastes are being treated and stored at several shipyards on the Kola Peninsula and in Severodvinsk. In 1996, Bellona published a comprehensive report describing this issue.  Read the Bellona report on the Russian Northern Fleet Most probably Minatom should be the one to pay for the operation carried out at the new plant on Atomflot. However, Minatom may have the job done at less expense in one of the new plants that have been constructed after the Atomflot project was initiated. Those plants have their technical limitations, however, such as they are not capable to process all types of waste. In Severodvinsk, at the state marine shipyard Zvezdochka, a new plant for purification of liquid radioactive waste has been built. Norway paid for the upgrading of the storage tanks, whereas the USA, through the Cooperative Threat Reduction, or CTR, programme paid for the waste treatment plant. Furthermore, another purification plant for liquid radioactive waste, with low output however, is currently in use at the Northern Fleet. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Control The Norwegian Radiation Protection Control (NRPC) has since the early 1990s engaged itself in the issue of nuclear safety in the Northwest Russia, and in doing so, operated as project supervisor of several initiatives financed by Norway. Read more about the NRPC’s activities in Russia. According to the first construction plan the plant at Atomflot was scheduled to be in operation from 1996. This plan failed, however, and in 1996 construction works were hardly commenced on. In 1998, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Knut Wollebaek, was supposed to officially open the plant. Wollebaek, accompanied by a considerable Norwegian press corps, was nevertheless deprived of that honour, as the plant at the time was little more than a construction site. Later the same year King Harald, followed by an even bigger press corps, made a visit to the site, but he was not given the opportunity to officially open the plant either. The next in line, the Norwegian labour politician, Espen Barth-Eide, was during his visit invited to lunch on board the nuclear icebreaker Sovetski Souz, instead of taking part in a ribbon cutting ceremony. Embarrassing for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs The project in general was growing increasingly embarrassing for the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Russians turned to Norway for more money, but Barth-Eide made it clear that Norway had no intention of granting any more to the project. This decision was made in spite of the Norwegian Radiation Protection Control’s (NRPC) recommendations stated in a progress report of December 2000, where the institute strongly advice to grant additional money so that the testing of the plant could be concluded and the purification of thousands of cubic metres of liquid radioactive waste from the Kola Peninsula could start up. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible for the Norwegian progression plan concerning nuclear issues in Russia. Since the mid-1990s Norway has spent more than $60 million on nuclear safety in Russia. For further information read the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ progression plan. NRPC also stressed the importance of concluding the project, which was perceived by many as a project of prestige. NRPC wrote: “A slight expansion of the total project costs would help speed up the work progression. The sooner the plant can be put into operation the greater the effective output for other projects will be.” In June last year Norway had had enough. In order to conclude its participation in the project in a polite way Norway arranged an official handing over ceremony of the treatment plant at Atomflot. The phrase 'opening ceremony' was, however, consciously never applied in this respect, as there was nothing to open. What was officially handed over was a plant worth $5 million that did not operate. Till this day no one really knows how to put the plant into operation, and more and more Russians are of the opinion that the plant require a complete reconstruction. It makes hardly strange then that the Norwegian State Secretary was denied access to the treatment plant. 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 ***************************************************************** 58 Russia Confronting Energy Shortage Las Vegas SUN June 21, 2002 MOSCOW- Russia is confronting its growing energy shortage with an ambitious program of refurbishing old nuclear reactors and building at least four new ones, top government nuclear officials said Friday. The country also is competing with companies from the United States, Germany and France to build a reactor in Finland, Deputy Nuclear Power Minister Valery Lebedev said. The expansion of Russia's nuclear program comes after years of stagnation resulting from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, when a reactor at the Ukraine plant exploded, sending a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. The explosion, the world's worst nuclear accident, is believed to have killed thousands from radiation-related illnesses. The catastrophe in the former Soviet Union caused a public backlash against nuclear power and forced nuclear officials to shelve plans for expanding the industry. "We are going to make a big surge forward after a long period of stagnation," said Oleg Sarayev, the head of the Rosenergoatom consortium in charge of Russia's nuclear power plants. Regional authorities throughout Russia are welcoming the construction of new plants, which now generate little public protest. Sarayev claimed Russia's nuclear safety standards were tougher than the West's. Reactor No. 3 at the Kalinin power plant in western Russia is nearing completion and three reactors at the Kursk, Balakovo and Rostov power plants will follow, Sarayev said Friday. Rosenergoatom also is modernizing the oldest of Russia's 30 existing nuclear reactors to extend their lifetime, Sarayev said. In March 2001, Russia opened its first new nuclear reactor since the Chernobyl catastrophe at a plant in the southern Rostov region. The new 1,000-megawatt reactor uses pressurized water to cool its fuel rods instead of the less-stable graphite used in the Chernobyl reactor. Russia also has signed contracts to build nuclear power plants in China, India and Iran, and is optimistic it will land the Finland contract. "There is a good chance that we will win, taking into account the fact that the Soviet Union built a nuclear reactor in Finland which is considered one of the safest in the world," Lebedev said. Russia's $800 million reactor deal with Tehran has vexed the United States, which fears it could help Iran build atomic weapons. But Russia has said Iran will not acquire weapons grade material from the project. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************