***************************************************************** 06/26/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.162 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Taiwan: Investigators demand to see legislators' bank accounts 2 US: Nuke plant owners paying more for security 3 US: Bush approves plan to merge U.S. commands over military's space, 4 African reactors seen as 'soft targets' for terrorists 5 US: Bush approves plan to merge U.S. commands over military's space, NUCLEAR REACTORS 6 US: NRC Issues Finding of Low to Moderate Safety Significance at 7 AU: Earthquake near nuclear reactor site NUCLEAR SAFETY 8 US: NRC Cites Columbia Generating Station for Finding of Low to 9 US: NRC Seeks Comments on Proposed Agenda for Annual Nuclear Safety 10 US: U.S. to Inspect Belgian Cargo Ships 11 Nuclear material controls 'too slack' 12 US: The South Rises Against Plutonium (And The Federal Government) 13 US: Mobile Chernobyl? 14 US: U.S. and Russia to Guard 'Dirty Bomb' Materials 15 US: Foul-Ups Mar Effort On Nuclear Materials 16 US: Radioactive items unsecured 17 US: Gulf War report: More study needed to treat ill veterans 18 US: Opinion - Zach Wamp: Securing the homeland need not be hasty 19 Agency Says 'Dirty Bomb' Could Be Made in Any Country 20 US: State officials refuse free pills for use during nuclear disaste NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 21 US: Proposed Changes to Nuclear Transportation Rule Reflect Dangerou 22 US: Groups release routes for nuclear waste 23 US: Choir members only ones listening to anti-Yucca Mountain song 24 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN BATTLE: GOP pushes Daschle for Senate vote 25 US: Ex-EPA official said Yucca probe led to clash 26 US: Nuclear Waste, Terror And Intrigue 27 US: Cost of state's Yucca fight reaches $7.1 mil. 28 US: Daschle pressed again for Yucca vote, but refuses to set timelin 29 US: Report: Radioactive material would dwarf Hiroshima 30 US: Yucca Nuclear Waste 31 US: US Mayors' Resolution On Waste Transportation 32 US: Railroad Tunnel Fire: A Scenario 33 US: Nuclear Shipments: Unsafe At Any Speed 34 US: Government has yet to figure out how to get waste to Yucca Mount 35 US: Protesters share nuclear waste transport fears 36 US: Utah caught in middle of Yucca fight* 37 US: FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW CALLS FOR BAN ON BARGE SHIPMENTS 38 US: Radioactive waste may roll on Rte. 495 39 Paducah plant prospects clouded - 40 US: County sends for Yucca help - 41 US: N-waste transport is safe* 42 US: Summary of the Next Steps at Yucca Project 43 Public institute ordered to move radioactive soil* NUCLEAR WEAPONS 44 Russia: Jailed journalist appeals spying charges 45 AU: N-ships 'welcome in Brisbane' 46 Ben-Eliezer: World ignoring Iranian nuclear threat 47 Guest editorial: A nuclear Japan? US DEPT. OF ENERGY 48 Public to DOE: Remember us 49 DOE PROPOSES TO SPEND $17 MILLION IN TAXPAYER FUNDS TO CREATE OTHER NUCLEAR ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Taiwan: Investigators demand to see legislators' bank accounts The Taipei Times Online: 2002-06-26 Wednesday, June 26th, 2002 By Crystal Hsu STAFF REPORTER A panel of legislators who are probing alleged corruption by fellow lawmakers regarding sloppy construction work at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant yesterday demanded that the accused allow them to look into their bank accounts to clear up the case. Insisting that they are innocent, the three DPP lawmakers -- Liang Mu-yang (±çªª¾i), Cheng Tsao-min (¾G´Â©ú) and Hsu Chih-ming (®}§Ó©ú) -- all said they would try their best to cooperate. But they reiterated their plea that their accusers must resign as lawmakers if their charges prove to be false. The ad-hoc committee met yesterday for the first time after its formation earlier this month and suggested that the trio sign an affidavit allowing the panelists to look into their bank accounts. PFP lawmaker Chou Hsi-wei (©P¿üÞ³), one of the five investigators, said the move is necessary to help ascertain the truth. "We don't have the authority to do so otherwise," he said. The controversy surfaced in mid-June when TSU Legislator Su Ying-kwei (Ĭ¬Õ¶Q) claimed that fellow lawmakers from the ruling DPP had pressured the state-run Taiwan Power Co to award contracts for construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to a favored firm. Su said he had evidence, provided by China Shipbuilding Corp (¤¤²î), the government-owned company responsible for the project's reactor pedestals, to back up his charges. The allegations were immediately corroborated by PFP Legislator Chiu Yi (ªô¼Ý), who said he also received similar complaints from his constituents. Liang, who has blasted the charge as baseless, said he welcomed the probe. "I hope that this time the [legislature's] disciplinary committee can reverse its past image of being ineffective," he said. "For my part, I would try my best to cooperate." Likewise, Huang Ying-chi (¶ÀÄå®Ü), wife of Cheng, said she would supply all the documents asked for, to clear her husband's name. "The panel may go ahead and suggest the information it needs and I will accommodate their requests to the best of my abilities," Huang said. "I only hope the matter can end as soon as possible." Both called for the banning of their accusers if the investigation proves their innocence. The ad hoc committee -- comprised of members from across party lines -- is slated to go to Kaohsiung next Tuesday to gather evidence and discuss the case again on July 4. Seeking to ensure fairness, panelists also urged Su and Chiu to produce evidence to substantiate their accusations. This story has been viewed 338 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/06/26/story/0000141843] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Nuke plant owners paying more for security The Express-Times New Jersey News Wednesday, June 26, 2002 By TERRENCE DOPP The Express-Times LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK, N.J. -- Security costs at the Artificial Island nuclear plant rose 33 percent in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, plant officials said Tuesday. The government and PSEG Nuclear, the corporation that runs the plant, beefed up secret shortly after the attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Specifics have been a closely guarded secret. But Plant President and Chief Nuclear Officer Harry Keiser said all federally mandated safety procedures are being followed. "One of our frustrations has been that we can't go into the new security with the public," Keiser said during an editorial board meeting with The Gloucester County Times, which is owned by the same company that owns The Express-Times. Those new safety guidelines include increased security patrols, bolstered manpower and a wider perimeter around the plants, according to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the state level, officials plan next month to begin distributing radiation-blocking potassium iodide tablets to those living and working within 10 miles of a nuclear plant. Keiser said PSEG Nuclear and its private security forces can only go so far. "We're not trying to deny access to this land," he said. "We are not authorized under the laws of New Jersey to shoot people outside of the fence." Security officer David Burgin said the plant is also updating some emergency plans such as evacuation procedures in the event a terrorist attack leads to the discharge of radiation. But one government watchdog contends the entire nuclear industry needs to be more open about security. "The situation is bad, meeting the NRC guidelines is nothing to be proud of," said Beth Daley, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight. "The NRC and (Department of Energy) are two very unaccountable agencies." Daley said needed upgrades include granting security forces greater leeway to use deadly force, giving plant workers "whistle blower" protections and better coordinating of in-house security plans with law enforcement. Strengthening the "design basis threat," or level of simulated attack the plant must go through every eight years, is key, according to Daley. Salem passed a 1998 simulated attack. "They have not made an inch (of progress) or even started changing the guidelines," she said. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan disagreed. "We think the changes that have been made will substantially increase the security of the plants. We are at a much higher level of security than we were before Sept. 11," Sheehan said. "We're not expecting that to change." He said all security plans are under consideration, including taking some measures from more-restricted government nuclear labs. "All options are on the table. You have to remember, these are civilian energy operations," Sheehan said. Keiser said an important component of future security plans for Artificial Island will be the potential opening of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository outside Las Vegas. It will essentially serve as a centralized storage facility for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. He and other Salem officials said storing waste in one site will offer greater protection than having it scattered at the plants. After spending years and $8 billion to study the matter, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to move forward with the project, while the Senate is expected to rule on it imminently. Criticisms of the plan have revolved around the safety of shipping waste to the site by truck and rail, a plan that could send rail shipments through parts of Hunterdon and Warren counties. Copyright 2002 The Express-Times. Used with permission. ***************************************************************** 3 Bush approves plan to merge U.S. commands over military's space, nuclear forces Yahoo! News - AP World Politics Wed Jun 26, 5:22 AM ET By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush has approved plans to merge the military's commands over its space and nuclear forces, a lawmaker says. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld could announce the decision as early as Wednesday, defense officials said. The new command, which is yet to be named, would combine the U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Strategic Command. It almost certainly will be based at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where Strategic Command is based now, according to Nebraska's two senators, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Ben Nelson. Hagel said Bush had approved the plan. Space Command is based on Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, which is to be the home of the new Northern Command when it begins operations in October. Northern Command was created to oversee defenses of the United States. Bush has nominated the head of Space Command, Gen. Ralph Eberhart, to oversee the new Northern Command. Military officials say merging Space Command and Strategic Command will streamline the bureaucracy and make it easier to respond to attacks. "To bring those two together would have some obvious economies and it would obviously make sense," Brig. Gen. John Rosa Jr., deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. Many details of the plan have not been worked out, however. Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said Tuesday he did not know if his agency would be put under the merged command. Officials had been studying whether to put the missile defense program under Space Command. ___ On the Net: Missile Defense Agency: http://www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo/ [http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_wo_en_po/inlinks/*http://www.acq.osd.mil/b mdo/] U.S. Strategic Command: http://www.stratcom.mil/ [http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_wo_en_po/inlinks/*http://www.stratcom.mil/ ] U.S. Space Command: http://www.spacecom.mil/ [http://rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_wo_en_po/inlinks/*http://www.spacecom.mil/ ] Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 4 African reactors seen as 'soft targets' for terrorists AfricaOnline.com - Staff Reporter WASHINGTON, 25 June 2002 US officials say it is no secret that terrorists would like to obtain weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons. They also say it is no secret that terrorists are on the lookout for so-called "soft" targets - those considered at low-risk of a terrorist strike. Are there soft targets among the world's nuclear facilities? Authorities say there is at least one reactor in sub-Saharan Africa where the security is questionable. WASHINGTON: The Federation of American Scientists calls highly enriched uranium of the type used in nuclear reactors "the material of choice for terrorists seeking nuclear weapons." It also says the uranium found at small research facilities is at greater risk of diversion, and should have a higher priority for elimination, than supplies found in nuclear weapons bunkers or processing plants. So there was alarm four years ago, when Italian authorities recovered a highly enriched uranium fuel rod from an organised crime group in Italy that was trying to sell it. The source of the fuel rod was not, however, Russia or any of the other former Soviet states where the security of nuclear materials has in recent years been a source of deep concern. Instead, this fuel rod came from a nuclear research reactor in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the least stable countries in Africa. Journalist Michela Wrong has visited the one-megawatt reactor at the University of Kinshasa. She found rusted gates, fastened by a simple padlock, leading to the reactor. She saw only two guards, and gained entrance merely by signing her name in a book. "I think it's an extremely worrying situation there," Wrong said. "I mean, it's almost surreal the security conditions there, and I really emerged from there thinking I couldn't quite believe what I had seen." Wrong, author of In The Footsteps Of Kurtz, Living On The Brink Of Disaster In Mobutu's Congo, interviewed the director of the reactor. He said he believed the fuel rod may have been stolen when his predecessor lent out his keys to the facility. "As we were chatting away about the history of the reactor," Wrong explained, "he revealed, really quite casually, that one day they had realised one of the rods in the reactor had gone missing, and he had learned subsequently that it had turned up in Sicily in the hands of the Mafia, that it had been reclaimed by the Italian police." Risk downplayed The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) acknowledges one of the Kinshasa reactor's fuel rods did go missing. But downplaying the potential risk, it reported the rod contained low enriched uranium with a fissionable U-235 content of 19.9%, just below the 20% threshold that defines highly enriched uranium. But the International Nuclear Safety Centre, operated by the US Department of Energy and dedicated to improving reactor safety worldwide, says the Kinshasa facility's fuel rods are all 20%, or "highly-enriched." Nevertheless, the IAEA is clearly concerned about security issues at the Kinshasa reactor, a Triga Mark II type, built in 1970. Just two years ago, the director general of the IAEA described the facility as one requiring attention. The official said an agency mission sent to inspect the reactor reported soil erosion around the facility that could soon threaten safety. According to the Pentagon, authorities in Kinshasa have approached the United States about removing spent nuclear fuel rods stored at the reactor. The International Nuclear Safety Centre reports there are 58 such rods in storage. However, there is no indication any rods have yet been taken away. The Kinshasa situation is not the only one in Africa involving radioactive material that has garnered international attention. Earlier this year, the IAEA reported sending another mission to the continent, this time to Uganda. There, they assisted in securing what an agency statement described only as a "radioactive source" containing a significant amount of cobalt-60. It provided no additional details, but cobalt-60 is considered by experts to be the type of material terrorists might favour in creating a non-nuclear, but radioactive "dirty bomb." (Voice of America News) Some stupid things people say We all have those times when we know we have said something stupid. It’s happened to you? Well, believe me, you’re not alone. Nah! Never! Does that mean South Africa is in the south? And how’s this from a man who was the most powerful in the world… ’Ah… Yes’, ‘Er… No,’ ‘Well… Maybe,’ ‘Gee… I don’t know…’ "Yes, maam? Right here, this lady. No, she! Yes, right, second row. Next to the guy in the blue shirt, holding her left hand up. It's a he? Sorry about that. Gotta be careful. I'm very sorry. Go ahead! I'm, excuse me, I'm very sorry. Go, ah, I, a thousand apologies, go ahead." - George Bush Sr., Former US President, at a press conference. Just two examples of people saying something they wish they hadn’t. You’ll find a whole lot more here. ©Copyright 2001. All rights reserved. AfricaOnline.com Ltd. ***************************************************************** 5 Bush approves plan to merge U.S. commands over military's space, nuclear forces * AP World Politics* /Wed Jun 26, 5:22 AM ET/ /By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer/ WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush ( news - web sites ) has approved plans to merge the military's commands over its space and nuclear forces, a lawmaker says. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld could announce the decision as early as Wednesday, defense officials said. The new command, which is yet to be named, would combine the U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Strategic Command. It almost certainly will be based at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where Strategic Command is based now, according to Nebraska's two senators, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Ben Nelson. Hagel said Bush had approved the plan. Space Command is based on Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, which is to be the home of the new Northern Command when it begins operations in October. Northern Command was created to oversee defenses of the United States. Bush has nominated the head of Space Command, Gen. Ralph Eberhart, to oversee the new Northern Command. Military officials say merging Space Command and Strategic Command will streamline the bureaucracy and make it easier to respond to attacks. "To bring those two together would have some obvious economies and it would obviously make sense," Brig. Gen. John Rosa Jr., deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. Many details of the plan have not been worked out, however. Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said Tuesday he did not know if his agency would be put under the merged command. Officials had been studying whether to put the missile defense program under Space Command. ___ On the Net: Missile Defense Agency: http://www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo/ U.S. Strategic Command: http://www.stratcom.mil/ U.S. Space Command: http://www.spacecom.mil/ *More from > AP World Politics * Next Story: Women's Open Scores ***************************************************************** 6 NRC Issues Finding of Low to Moderate Safety Significance at Beaver Valley Power Station NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 46 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-046 June 26, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff issued its final determination for an inspection finding at the Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa. The NRC determined the finding should be characterized as "white," meaning it is an issue of low to moderate importance to safety. The two-reactor plant is operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company. At Beaver Valley, the alert and notification system (ANS), which would be used to notify the public of an emergency at the plant, is made up of two types of devices: pole-mounted sirens and personal home alerting devices (PHADs). During an August inspection, NRC inspectors determined that FirstEnergy could not provide early notification to the entire population living within the 10-mile-radius emergency planning zone (EPZ). That's because a majority of the PHADs, which make up a small portion of the ANS, had not been adequately maintained and tested to ensure they would fulfill their design function of alerting members of the public in the Beaver Valley EPZ who might not hear the pole-mounted sirens. Under its safety significance determination process, NRC officials classify certain conditions at nuclear power plants as being one of four colors which delineate increasing levels of safety significance, beginning with "green" and progressing to "white," "yellow" or "red." In an inspection report dated April 12, the NRC characterized the finding as "yellow," meaning it is an issue of substantial importance to safety. The letter forwarding that characterization offered the company the opportunity to meet with the NRC at a regulatory conference to discuss FirstEnergy's assessment of the issue. At the conference, FirstEnergy contended that essentially 100 percent of the ANS was functional and the impact on public health and safety was very low. Specifically, the company had conducted siren tests near PHAD locations and found that the sirens would provide the means for early notification in 75 percent of the areas where PHADs were located and, therefore, less that one percent of the population was potentially affected by PHAD deficiencies. After considering the information developed during the inspection and the information provided by FirstEnergy at the regulatory conference, the NRC concluded that the inspection finding is more appropriately characterized as "white," because the majority of the public would be notified directly by the sirens and functioning PHADs and the rest would likely be alerted by informal alerting such as television, radio, or "word of mouth." FirstEnergy has taken corrective actions to address this finding, including installation and testing of additional sirens to eliminate the need for PHADs. FirstEnergy has 30 days to contest the NRC's significance determination. ***************************************************************** 7 AU: Earthquake near nuclear reactor site Radio Australia News - [http://abc.net.au/ra/] It's been revealed that a medium sized earthquake which shook suburbs in the Australian city of Sydney in February was close to the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. The Seismology Research Centre says the earthquake measured 3.8 on the Richter scale with an epicentre about 80 kilometres south west of Sydney. Details of the earthquake have been released only days after it was revealed Sydney's new nuclear reactor is being built on top of a earthquake fault line. But Seismologist Wayne Peck does not believe such an earthquake would damage a structure like a nuclear reactor. "The usual description we have is that they heard a rumbling and then a loud crash like a car running into the house. We record probably one earthquake of about this magnitude every year within Victoria and New South Wales." 26/06/2002 18:45:35 | ABC Radio Australia News ***************************************************************** 8 NRC Cites Columbia Generating Station for Finding of Low to Moderate Safety Significance NRC: Press Release Region IV - 2002 - 32 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 www.nrc.gov No. IV-02-032 June 26, 2002 CONTACT: Breck Henderson Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 E-mail: [opa4@nrc.gov] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued its final determination that a May inspection finding at Columbia Generating Station is of low to moderate safety significance and will be characterized as "white." The nuclear plant, near Richland, Wash., is operated by Energy Northwest. During a refueling outage that ended in June 2001 Energy Northwest installed 16 new safety-related and six important-to-safety electrical circuit breakers. After the replacement, a part in the breakers called a mechanism-operated cell switch, failed or malfunctioned, which affected the operation of equipment on four occasions between June 2001 and February this year. Analysis of the failures determined that Energy Northwest had not incorporated the manufacturer's maintenance requirements to lubricate the cell switch in its maintenance procedures. The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a color coded significance determination process which classifies regulatory findings as being in one of four color categories: green, white, yellow, or red in increasing order of regulatory safety significance. In addition to a white inspection finding, the NRC has issued a Notice of Violation to Energy Northwest for failing to verify the design adequacy of the new equipment and to promptly correct the breaker failures and malfunctions. Energy Northwest will be required to submit a written statement within 30 days explaining the reason for the violation and corrective actions taken. The white finding may require additional NRC inspection at Columbia Generating Station. ***************************************************************** 9 NRC Seeks Comments on Proposed Agenda for Annual Nuclear Safety Research Conference in October NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 77 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comments on its proposed agenda for the Nuclear Safety Research Conference, which will be held October 28-30 at the Marriott at Metro Center, located at 775 12th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C. Formerly known as "The Water Reactor Safety Meeting," the conference is designed to promote dialogue with stakeholders on research matters and gather feedback for future agency regulatory decisions. The conference is an international regulatory gathering attended by researchers, regulators and utility representatives from the United States and some 20 other countries. It will provide participants with the opportunity to interact with NRC officials and colleagues to better understand the agency's research programs and its safety priorities. The complete proposed agenda is attached. Comments should be forwarded by July 15 via e-mail to Sandra Nesmith, at srn@nrc.gov [srn@nrc.gov] . PRELIMINARY AGENDA Nuclear Safety Research Conference (NSRC) October 28-30, 2002 Marriott at Metro Center (775 12th St. NW, Washington DC) Monday, October 28, 2002 8:30-8:45am Opening Remarks 8:45-9:30am Keynote Speaker 9:30 - 11:30am Panel Discussion - Advanced Reactors Objective: This panel will discuss the regulatory research needed to support the licensing of advanced reactor designs and focus on the kind of research that is needed to resolve technical/policy issues. Potential panel members to include:Representatives from DOE, Industry, University, public interest groups, and NRC. 11:30 - 1:00pm LUNCH 1:00 - 5:00pm Degradation of Reactor Coolant Pressure Boundary Materials Objective:To describe the results of research addressing the response of reactor coolant pressure boundary materials to active degradation mechanisms and mitigation/repair methodologies. Potential topics for presentation include: + Discussion of PWSCC, Alloy 600, and welds Advanced Reactors Session Objective: To present specific work or planned work on gas cooled reactors and present DOE's envision for Generation IV reactors. Potential topics for presentation include: b + Test matrix for TRISO fuel + Applications of graphite technology to advanced reactors + Generation IV roadmap + GRSAC code as a regulatory tool Tuesday, October 29, 2002 8:30 - 9:30am Plenary - NRC Chairman Speech 9:45 - 11:45am Fuels Session Objective: To describe recent work on the technical basis for embrittlement criteria and evaluation models that are applicable at high burnup for loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) analysis and for establishing optional performance-based criteria in 10 CFR 50.45 Potential topics for presentation include: + Testing of high burnup BWR fuel under simulated LOCA conditions + Measurement of oxidation kinetics of cladding from high burnup fuel + Testing for ductility in cladding subjected to LOCA conditions + - Analysis of high burnup fuel behavior under LOCA conditions Formal Decision Methods and Nuclear Safety Research Objective: To describe research activities for developing the technical basis and enhancing the transparency and objectivity of decision-making in the regulatory environment. Potential topics for presentation include: + The formal decision making framework + Probabilistic risk analysis: a component of formal decision-making + Research activities in the field of regulatory decision-making + Stakeholder input to the decision-making process 11:45 - 1:15pm LUNCH 1:15 - 5:00pm Dry Cask Storage and Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel Session Objective: To communicate recent accomplishments and future plans to assess key safety issues related to spent fuel transportation and storage in dry casks. Potential topics for presentation include: + Determination of the performance of dry casks during transportation + Risk Assessment of on-site dry casks + Assessment of structural integrity of on-site storage casks Fuels Session Objective: To describe recent work on the technical basis for fuel enthalpy criteria that are applicable at high burnup for reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) analysis and for modifying Regulatory Guide 1.77. Potential topics for presentation include: + Testing of high burnup fuel under simulated RIA conditions + Measurement of cladding-to-coolant heat during transients + Measurement of cladding mechanical properties applicable to RIA conditions + Analysis of high-burnup fuel behavior under RIA conditions Wednesday, October 30, 2002 8:30-9:15am Plenary - Commissioner Speech 9:30-11:30am Panel Discussion - Risk Informed Initiatives Objective:This panel will communicate recent improvements on how NRC uses risk information in regulatory decision making and how work in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research supports such uses. Potential panel members include: Representatives of industry, EPRI, international organizations, and NRC. 11:30 - 1:00pm LUNCH 1:00 - 3:00pm Clearance Session (Session A) Objective: To discuss the status on the development of the technical basis for control of slightly contaminated materials. Potential topics for presentations include: + Surveys of volumetric contamination and difficult geometries + Revision of NUREG-1640 (individual doses) + Follow-on work to address collective doses PRA Session (Methods/Analysis, and Operational Experience) Objective: To communicate recent advances in risk analysis methods as well as recent advances in using operational data in agency regulatory activities. Potential topics for presentation include: + Fire risk analysis + Human reliability analysis + Assessment of uncertainties + PRA standards + Standardized plant analysis risk (SPAR) models + Risk-based performance indicators 3:15pm CLOSING REMARKS ***************************************************************** 10 U.S. to Inspect Belgian Cargo Ships Las Vegas SUN June 26, 2002 WASHINGTON- U.S. inspectors, trying to prevent smuggling of nuclear and other deadly weapons, will screen cargo containers destined for the United States before they leave Antwerp, Belgium, the Customs Service said Wednesday. The agreement with the Belgian government allows U.S. customs inspectors to be stationed at that port for the first time. Customs has entered into similar agreements - aimed at improving cargo security at the world's seaports - with Canada and Singapore. An agreement with the Netherlands was announced Tuesday. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner is working on more agreements, including one involving the seaport in Le Havre, France. With roughly 6 million cargo containers entering U.S. seaports each year, Bonner says it is critically important to ensure that terrorists don't use containers to smuggle themselves or their weapons into the country. Given that brisk traffic, Customs officers physically inspect around 2 percent of those containers. Customs relies on computerized reviews of shipping manifests to help screen and identify cargo that requires a closer look. Technology is used to scan the insides of containers, and specially trained dogs search for traces of narcotics and other contraband items. Some containers are selected for random physical inspections. Last year, around 115,000 cargo containers entered the United States from Antwerp, Customs said. Customs spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency hopes to place some officers at the Antwerp seaport in a few months. He said the agreement didn't specify an exact date. On the Net: Customs: http://www.customs.gov [http://www.customs.gov] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Nuclear material controls 'too slack' BBC News | UK | Tuesday, 25 June, 2002, [BNFLs nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, UK] Nuclear materials are vulnerable to illegal acquisition By Tim Hirsch BBC Environment Correspondent Fears about the possible risks of radioactive material being used by terrorists have tended to focus on the poor security in place in those countries which used to make up the Soviet Union and its satellite states. But Tuesday's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the problem goes much wider. It says more than 100 countries lack the controls to prevent or even detect the theft of these materials. The danger of handling powerful radioactive sources can no longer be seen as an effective deterrent Mohamed El Baradei, IAEA Millions of sources of radioactivity have been used widely for decades for functions unconnected with the nuclear industry, from diagnosing illnesses to monitoring oil wells. While most of these do not give off enough radiation to cause serious harm, the fear is that with thousands outside the control of national or international authorities, it would not be difficult for terrorist groups to obtain the materials needed to set off a so-called "dirty bomb". Even if the substances used did not in fact present a genuine threat to health, the detonation of any device containing radioactive material may well create the social and psychological disruption which is the main aim of terrorists. Witness the huge political and economic impact of last year's attack on New York which went way beyond the actual physical damage and loss of life. No complacency The IAEA report guards against complacency in advanced democracies that this is a problem "out there" in countries with weak systems of regulation. Even in the United States, it says, nuclear regulators report that since 1996, companies have lost track of 1,500 sources of radioactivity, and less than half have since been recovered. The European Commission recently estimated up to 70 such sources were lost each year, with a further 30,000 disused materials in danger of escaping the clutches of the authorities. [The health and oil industries also use radioactivity sources] A black market trade in radioactive substances could increase But it is in the former communist bloc and the developing world that actual cases of radioactive contamination, most of them accidental, have been documented. The worst of these took place in the Brazilian city of Goiania in 1987. Scavengers dismantled a metal canister from a radiotherapy machine at an abandoned cancer clinic, and left it in a junkyard. This released the radioactive substance caesium 137 which contaminated more than 200 people in the city. Four subsequently died. Some children and adults even rubbed the deadly powder on their bodies, thinking it looked pretty. The only known deliberate attempt to use this kind of material to harm people was in 1996, when Chechen rebels left a container of caesium 137 in a Moscow park, fortunately it did not create any contamination. Stricter controls But the IAEA warns of a widespread black market trade in radioactive substances. Most of it is carried out for the value of the metals themselves but an "important fraction" involves people who expect to find buyers interested in the terror value of the material. The agency's director general Mohamed El Baradei warns that if people are prepared to ignore their own personal safety, it becomes much easier to smuggle these substances concealed in a lorry or packed in a suitcase. "The danger of handling powerful radioactive sources can no longer be seen as an effective deterrent, which dramatically changes previous assumptions," said Mr El Baradei. [Lake Erie nuclear reactor power plant, Detroit, Michigan, USA ] In the US less than half of lost radioactivity sources have been recovered The IAEA said there had been improvements in international co-operation to strengthen control over radioactive material, but much more needed to be done. It is unrealistic to imagine that controls will be tight enough in the foreseeable future to prevent a determined terrorist from laying his hands on the material needed for a "dirty bomb". Years of neglect of this problem have provided a chilling dimension to the potential arsenal of groups looking for new ways to create havoc. ***************************************************************** 12 The South Rises Against Plutonium (And The Federal Government) TOMPAINE.com - [http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm/ID/4965] In light of the Jose Padilla "dirty bomb" plot, where else is our country vulnerable? The nation's nuclear weapons complex, of course. (And The Federal Government) [http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=realimpact/tompaine/kropf20020621 .rm] An Interview With SC Reporter Schuyler Kropf Steven Rosenfeld is a commentary editor and audio producer for TomPaine.com. AUDIO: [http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=realimpact/tompaine/kropf20020621 .rm] To download RealPlayer for free, [http://www.real.com] For much of this spring, South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges has been waging a war of words and lawsuits with the Department of Energy to stop the agency from shipping plutonium into his state for storage and processing. Last week, a federal court ruled against the state. Schuyler Kropf is a state government reporter with The Charleston Post and Courier who covered the controversy. He was interviewed by TomPaine's Steven Rosenfeld. TomPaine.com: Give us the background. The Department of Energy wants to ship plutonium from Rocky Flats in Colorado to South Carolina, for processing and storage until a long-term storage facility is ready, and Democratic Governor Jim Hodges has been saying, ‘No way.’ What’s this been all about? Schuyler Kropf: Well what they want to do is take this plutonium and turn it into a type of fuel that’s more suitable for commercial nuclear reactors, and they want to build that plant in South Carolina. There’s similar plants in Europe, that are being used to do the same thing with the weapons from the former Soviet Union, as they convert this into commercial reactors and they want to do it here. And the governor, his concern was that the plan might not go through and that the SRS [the proposed storage and processing site] would be turned into a long-term storage facility. One of the things that was being worked out in the contract between Congress and the Department of Energy and the state of South Carolina, would be that there would be fines imposed if this wasn’t done. Some of those would be $100 million a year and millions of dollars a day. And Governor [Jim] Hodges’ position was that 15 years down the road, 20 years down the road, the government might see that as a suitable fee to pay, to just keep the plutonium in South Carolina without converting it. TP.c: The governor apparently spent a lot of his own campaign money to pay for ads to oppose this. Were those ads effective at all? Kropf: It’s hard to say on something like that. We’re in the middle of a Republican primary for governor here, and when I talk to the DOE they say they didn’t get a lot of phone calls in from the state. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, because the governor’s ads were urging South Carolians to call the Department of Energy with their concerns. The governor used his campaign funds and they came off looking like a campaign ad for him, so we’ll have to wait and see. The jury’s out on that one. TP.c: So what happened this week [week of June 24] in federal court on this whole issue? Kropf: Basically, the court stepped in and said the government was working in good faith, and that plutonium was a federal issue. They pretty much -- it was a slam-dunk for them. TP.c: What’s the lesson here then, regarding a state’s ability to regulate transportation of nuclear materials? Kropf: It’s interesting, because evidently the governor of Idaho several years ago had effectively thwarted plans to store this material out there also, and the governor’s staff here was going to try to use that as a role model. Why it was stopped -- I’m not sure. But the [South Carolina] governor put up a fight, but evidently he just lost out in court. TP.c: Do you know when the actual transporting of these nuclear materials is supposed to begin? Kropf: It supposed to begin possibly as early as this Saturday. TP.c: Are there any details being given about routes or highways to be used? Kropf: No, that’s not something that they advance. TP.c: So, if you were to step back from this as a reporter, was this an entirely futile gesture on the governor’s part? Kropf: He didn’t win, so you could argue that it was futile on that point. But he put up a fight, so you could say it was successful on that point. He went through the motions of representing the state, so ... TP.c: But there don’t seem to be any other larger lessons that one can draw about fighting the federal government on issues of federal policy? Kropf: I’ve seen a couple of comparisons made -- not that Jim Hodges is a George Wallace -- but it was the same kind of mentality of fighting the federal government at the schoolhouse door. It was the same kind of fighting or putting up to the feds, and he lost. TP.c: All that talk about standing up in the highway and blocking the trucks from coming in -- was that just a lot of good political theatre? Kropf: I’ve talked to several constitutional professors who thought that was -- they tended to say that a deal would have been worked out beforehand, both for the protection of the plutonium shipments and the safety of the governor -- so, maybe. Published: Jun 25 2002 TP.commentary ***************************************************************** 13 Mobile Chernobyl? TOMPAINE.com - Op Ads MapScience.org Tracks Nuclear Waste Through Everytown, USA Are you ready for radioactive waste to roll through your home town? Congress and the White House may soon approve opening a dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, where the nuclear power industry hopes to bury its little problem -- 77,000 tons of radioactive waste. It’s supposed to be a safe long-term repository, a matter subject to hot debate. Meanwhile, the waste is stored where it’s created -- at 131 sites in 39 states. If Yucca Mountain opens in 2010, as scheduled, all that waste must travel American highways or railroads to get there -- some 100,000 shipments over three decades through thousands of American communities. The potential for a serious accident or terrorist hijacking has opponents to the transport plan calling it "Mobile Chernobyl." One in seven Americans -- 38 million people -- live within one mile of a proposed route, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The study shows 14,500 schools are within the one-mile zone, as are the White House and the U.S. Capitol. How close are YOU to a proposed route? EWG has a Web site -- www.MapScience.org [http://www.MapScience.org] -- that will show you. Just enter your address and ZIP code and see how close you are. How secure will these shipments be? The nuclear industry and the U.S. Department of Energy say we shouldn’t worry. But DOE’s Transportation Security Division, which moves nuclear weapons and radioactive materials on public highways, failed six out of seven security tests in 1998, according to the Project On Government Oversight (www.POGO.org). No wonder the U.S. Conference of Mayors, on June 17, asked Congress to ban nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain until communities along the way get "adequate funds, training and equipment to protect public health and safety in the event of an accident." Published: Jun 25 2002 ***************************************************************** 14 U.S. and Russia to Guard 'Dirty Bomb' Materials (washingtonpost.com) By Peter Slevin Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 25, 2002; Page A15 The Bush administration, moving beyond the protection of nuclear materials, expects to spend $20 million this year to safeguard dangerous radiological materials in the former Soviet Union that could be used to make a "dirty bomb," U.S. officials said yesterday. Scores of radioactive power generators and more than a dozen poorly guarded storage areas for radiological material would be targeted for protection in a joint U.S.-Russian program. The effort comes in response to fears that terrorists could manufacture a radioactive dirty bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to release a report in Vienna today that will warn of the dangers of unprotected radiological materials around the world. The IAEA, which has operated a security program in the former Soviet republic of Georgia since 1997, will join the Americans and Russians in part of the expanded effort. "What this really represents is the first time the international community has begun the development of a concerted and comprehensive plan to address this," a Department of Energy official said yesterday. The administration expects to spend $20 million this year and seek $20 million next year to find and protect radiological materials, the official said. The job is enormous in Russia and the former Soviet states alone, where "orphaned" material is often unguarded. A particular concern is an array of small power sources called radiothermal generators, which deliver power to remote locations, such as a military base or a cliffside beacon. In the arctic coast in far-northeastern Russia, for example, investigators found virtually no controls over 85 generators installed in the 1960s and 1970s. In Georgia, three woodcutters received serious injuries after finding one of the lead-encased devices in the middle of a forest last Christmas. "What was previously a hypothetical threat has become a very real concern in light of recent events," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said yesterday. He noted that the agreements with Russia and the IAEA are intended to expand the focus to materials in the former Soviet Union "that are most vulnerable to theft and misuse." Programs to safeguard nuclear material have been underway for years, but the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 provided new urgency as worries grew that terrorists could acquire the makings of a dangerous bomb, whether with a chunk of highly enriched uranium, a cylinder of radioactive strontium 90 or a quantity of medical isotopes. Unlike nuclear devices designed to explode, a dirty bomb likely could be constructed by packing radioactive material around conventional explosives. The chief danger would be contamination that could have long-delayed effects. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 15 Foul-Ups Mar Effort On Nuclear Materials (washingtonpost.com) By Guy Gugliotta Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 26, 2002; Page A16 U.S. efforts to control the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive material in foreign countries are poorly coordinated and haphazardly administered, resulting in foul-ups that have left needed equipment idled in packing crates, sometimes for years, congressional investigators said. Nonetheless, the investigators said in a new report, these international programs are in many cases more substantial than the safeguards at domestic borders, where U.S. Customs Service inspectors rely mostly on hand-held pagers to detect radioactive material. "It's a pretty damning report," said Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.), ranking Republican on the Senate Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. "Quite a few of us have been working on this for several years, and we had some suspicions. The report confirms them." The study was produced at Roberts's behest by the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm, and is scheduled for release today. The Washington Post obtained a copy in advance. The study examines programs administered by six federal agencies that spent $86 million in about 30 countries between 1992 and 2001 to help them monitor and control the movement of radioactive materials that could be used in nuclear weapons or radiological bombs, known as "dirty bombs." The assistance, mostly to Russia, former Soviet republics, and Central and Eastern European countries, is used to buy detection devices and other equipment, technical assistance and training. The investigators found that no agency coordinated the programs, resulting in the absence of an overall strategy, duplicate bureaucracies and marked differences in the quality of equipment given to different countries. The report noted that the Defense and Energy departments gave Russia and another country sophisticated monitors that could read neutron emissions -- critical in detecting the presence of plutonium, a key component of nuclear weapons. The State Department installed monitors in several other countries that did not have the capability. The report also said that the State and Energy departments run two programs each and that the two Energy Department administrators don't communicate with each other even though they fund the same equipment. The other agencies that provide anti-smuggling assistance are Customs, the FBI and the Coast Guard. "The current multiple-agency approach . . . is not, in our view, the most effective way to deliver this assistance," the report said. "We believe the development of a government-wide plan is needed." The report also criticized the lack of bureaucratic follow-through on how the assistance was used once it had been delivered. The investigators said the Defense Department reported early this year that much U.S.-supplied equipment either had never been used, had been used only to impress visiting Americans or was idle because it needed new batteries or repairs. The report also noted that several State Department-supplied vans with radiation detection equipment had been idled because they couldn't be operated in cold weather or because they were too expensive to supply with fuel. The vans cost about $90,000 each. In Estonia, $80,000 worth of equipment was stored in an embassy garage for seven months while an agreement to release it was negotiated. In Lithuania, the U.S. Embassy stashed radiation detectors in the basement for two years until the United States and Lithuania agreed on the purchase of a $12,600 power supply. Roberts said the GAO included Customs' information on domestic surveillance as a supplement to the main report, because Customs was late in responding to the GAO's request for information. Customs said its 7,500 inspectors had 4,200 radiation pagers -- the simplest of detection devices -- but planned to equip everyone by September 2003. Customs also said it had deployed 200 detectors in vans as well as other X-ray equipment for small packages. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 16 Radioactive items unsecured USATODAY.com - 06/25/2002 - Updated 11:55 PM ET By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY More than 110 nations, including the U.S., lack the controls needed to guard radioactive materials that could be used to create dirty bombs, a nuclear watchdog agency reported Tuesday. The findings were part of an announcement from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it will participate in a two-year, $40 million effort by U.S. and Russian officials to police loose radioactive sources in the former Soviet Union. Fears of dirty bomb plots have risen in the U.S. in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and with the recent detention of an American citizen suspected of planning a dirty bomb attack. A dirty bomb packages radioactive material with a conventional weapon, enabling it to spread radioactivity over several square blocks when detonated. Officials of the atomic energy agency say they hope the U.S.-Russian agreement sparks a worldwide effort to secure uncontrolled radioactive materials. In particular, roughly 300 industrial facilities worldwide that use radiation to sterilize food and medical equipment need guarding, says the IAEA. Such facilities can harbor large amounts of radioactive cobalt, strontium, cesium or iridium, often with little oversight. "We need to focus on the most powerful radioactive sources," says IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky. Since 1993, his agency has recorded 263 incidents of illicit trafficking in dirty bomb materials. "International cooperative efforts are important in dealing with this threat," says Michael Levi of the Federation of American Scientists. In Russia, the collapse of the Soviet Union, an industrialized nation that often used radioactive materials in industry, agriculture and medicine, makes it a focus of IAEA activities. But Gwozdecky says that even in the United States, radioactive material from 100 different sources disappears annually. "This new effort will focus on those materials in Russia and the former Soviet Union that are most vulnerable to theft and misuse," says Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Russia has its own dirty bomb worries. The only known use of such a device was in Moscow in 1996, when individuals left a dirty bomb in a park and then alerted the media to its presence before it could explode. It contained radioactive cesium powder, used in Soviet-era seed-germinating trucks. The IAEA and others stressed that dirty bombs are not nuclear weapons. Outside those killed in the initial blast, few deaths would result from a dirty bomb, says Gwozdecky. Car crashes among those fleeing in panic would likely cause more deaths, he says. Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of [http://www.gannett.com] --> ***************************************************************** 17 Gulf War report: More study needed to treat ill veterans - June 25, 2002 CNN.com - WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal advisory committee studying illnesses in Persian Gulf War veterans has recommended more study to develop treatments for those illnesses and to determine if and how they may have been connected to service in the conflict against Iraq. In a preliminary report released Tuesday, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses said that 25 percent to 30 percent of those who served in the Gulf War are ill and that their illnesses go "beyond that which is explained by stress or psychiatric diagnosis." The committee, reporting to the Department of Veterans Affairs, did not specifically conclude that the illnesses plaguing Gulf veterans were caused by exposure to some toxic agent during the war, but it did note that at least one category of complaint appeared to be neurological in nature. [RIGHT] That category included a higher-than-expected rate of ALS (better known as Lou Gehrig's disease), problems with the autonomic nervous system, an increase in cold sensory threshold and low levels of the enzyme paraoxonase. Low levels of paraoxonase, which is involved in breaking down organic phosphates, suggests a biochemical or genetic explanation, the report said. The committee further concluded that "research on Gulf War illnesses has broad implications to the war on terrorism." The report noted that Gulf veterans were exposed to a variety of risk factors, including low-level nerve agents, depleted uranium, oil fires, mustard gas, stress, medical countermeasures to biowarfare and nerve agents as well as infectious diseases. Veterans of other wars have been exposed to many of the same risk factors, and some suffer from similar illnesses. The report recommended increased funding and better coordination of research efforts. © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 18 Opinion - Zach Wamp: Securing the homeland need not be hasty The Oak Ridger Online - Wednesday, June 26, 2002 U.S. House of Representatives Zach Wamp The responsibility to protect our homeland is spread throughout 100 different governmental organizations. Not one agency has the primary mission to protect Americans here at home. President George W. Bush recently unveiled his bold vision to establish a new Department of Homeland Security. The creation of an entirely new federal department will not only require extensive legislative action on Capitol Hill, but it will also have a long-lasting impact on the size and scope of the federal government. For the next several months, the Congress will be required to restructure committees and to modify jurisdiction. These changes will create some friction and inevitably upset the proverbial "apple cart" even though there is widespread agreement on the merits of the reorganization. Some on Capitol Hill have asked that this massive new program -- the most sweeping change in the federal government in over a generation -- be enacted into law by Sept. 11, 2002, the first anniversary of that horrific day. As a country, we should and will pay proper tribute to the many lives lost in a powerful way by showing the world that we are unified in spirit and resolve. However, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security will be a very complicated legislative process that should not be rushed or hastily put together. There are times when the Congress needs to pivot quickly and expedite legislation to the floor. We did precisely that following Sept. 11 with emergency spending bills and relief packages. But, this is not one of those times and the only deadline we should concern ourselves with is the constitutional end of the current 107th Congress that is set to adjourn by the end of this year. We have a duty to the American people to make sure that this new Department of Homeland Security is established in a very careful and decisive way to actively carry out the missions. Our country needs this new agency at this critical moment in history. The president's proposal includes creating a clear and efficient executive structure with four divisions: Border and Transportation Security; Emergency Preparedness and Response; Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures; and Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection. President Bush did what needed to be done when he called on Congress to take this course of action. We obviously face challenges that require a new approach and a new management organization. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I have already begun to weigh in with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Appropriations Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) on my desire to actively participate in this historic realignment of the federal government in this new era. Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga, represents Tennessee's Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 19 Agency Says 'Dirty Bomb' Could Be Made in Any Country The New York Times *June 26, 2002* *By SERGE SCHMEMANN* UNITED NATIONS, June 25 ? The International Atomic Energy Agency said today that virtually any country in the world had the radioactive materials needed to build a "dirty bomb," and that more than 100 of these countries had inadequate controls to prevent their theft. The agency, an arm of the United Nations, said in a news release issued at its headquarters in Vienna that "orphaned" radioactive materials ? those outside regulatory control ? were a "widespread phenomenon" in the former Soviet Union. The agency said that on June 12, some of its officials met with others from the Department of Energy and the Russian Ministry for Atomic Energy to develop a coordinated strategy to locate and secure the orphaned sources. A dirty bomb is one in which radioactive materials are dispersed through a conventional explosion to spread radioactivity. Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, fears have grown that terrorists could deploy a dirty bomb. Earlier this month, the United States announced that an American citizen who had converted to radical Islam had been detained on suspicion of planning to build and detonate such a device. According to the atomic energy agency, radioactive materials that could be used in a dirty bomb are widely used throughout the world for a variety of purposes, from the treatment of illnesses to irradiating food. Though most are too weak to cause serious radiological harm, the agency said industrial radiography, radiotherapy, industrial irradiators and thermo-electric generators use highly radioactive materials like cobalt 6, strontium 90, cesium 137 and iridium 192. "What is needed is cradle-to-grave control of powerful radioactive sources to protect them against terrorism or theft," the director-general of the agency, Muhammad el-Baradei, said in the statement. "One of our priorities is to assist states in creating and strengthening national regulatory infrastructures to ensure that these radioactive sources are appropriately regulated and adequately secured at all times." The agency noted that there has already been one attempt at radiological terror. In 1996, Chechen rebels placed a container of cesium 137 in a Moscow park, but the material was not dispersed. Though the largest problem was in the former Soviet Union, the agency noted that even the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reported that American companies have lost track of nearly 1,500 radioactive sources since 1996, and more than half were never recovered. A European Union study estimated that about 70 radioactive sources are lost every year from regulatory control. Most of these, however, would not pose a serious threat in a dirty bomb. ***************************************************************** 20 State officials refuse free pills for use during nuclear disaster stltoday [Thursday, July 4, 2002] SITE SEARCH >> By Lisa Eisenhauer Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau 06/26/2002 07:31 PM Callaway nuclear power plant near Fulton. ( Gary Bohn/P-D) WASHINGTON ? If Missouri chooses to hand out potassium iodide to people living close to the Callaway nuclear plant near Fulton, that city's administrator won't be first in line. "If the pills become readily available to the public, my family will not be running out to buy them," says the administrator, Bill Johnson. Like state officials in Missouri and Illinois, Johnson has more confidence in the safety at the nuclear plant just 10 miles from his city ? and in the region's emergency response plan ? than he has in the pills, which block absorption of cancer-causing radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland. In December, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified 34 states with nuclear reactors in them or nearby that it would provide free potassium iodide pills. The agency asked the states to consider distributing two, one-day doses to people who live within 10 miles of the plants. Fourteen states have accepted the pills. Missouri and Illinois have not. Among many reasons that officials cite are risks posed to children by adult-dosage pills and the lack of guidelines to get the pills to the public. They also say they worry that people won't understand that the pills offer limited protection. Charles Hooper, an environmental engineer with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, says concern that the pills would convince residents they are safe amid a nuclear accident is one reason Missouri hasn't yet acted on the NRC's offer. "I think a lot of people think it would do what Cipro would do for anthrax, and that's just not the case," Hooper said. Missouri officials estimate that 14,000 to 16,000 people live within 10 miles of the Callaway plant, the only nuclear plant in the state. The plant is about 100 miles west of St. Louis. Hooper and others point out that radioactive iodine is one of several airborne hazards that a nuclear accident might produce. But it's the only one that potassium iodide protects against. Tim Diemler, director of emergency operations for Callaway County, and others say that while public interest in the pills seems to have spiked since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the pills would probably be useless in what some terrorism experts say is the most likely form of radiological attack, the use of a "dirty bomb." Such an attack is unlikely to release radioactive iodine. NRC spokeswoman Rosetta Virgilio said the commission recognizes the pills' limitations and doesn't advocate their use as a replacement for other emergency response plans. "It would serve as a supplement to sheltering and evacuation," Virgilio said. In Illinois, Patti Thompson of the state Department of Nuclear Safety says that her agency has gotten inquiries about the pills since Sept. 11 set off new fears of a nuclear attack. "The question for us has always been, 'Does it contribute to our overall emergency response plan?' " Thompson said. "Because of its limited effectiveness, the answer has always been 'no.' " The department is still looking into whether to make the pills available to the 180,000 people who live near Illinois' six nuclear plants. Even if it does, she said, evacuation will remain the focus of its response to an accident. *"Overwhelming support" * Ohio is one of the 14 states that plan to hand out potassium iodide. Jay Carey of that state's Department of Health said it decided to pass out the pills after gauging public interest at hearings. "It was just overwhelming support for potassium iodide from the general public," Carey said. The state is awaiting delivery of the pills from the NRC. Just how they will be distributed to the 650,000 people that the state estimates could be within the 10-mile target zones in a nuclear accident hasn't been decided. He said the state will see that the pills are stocked at shelter sites and perhaps handed out by pharmacies. Carey says that because the pills carry some health risks and should be taken in the proper dose, Ohio also is considering a public education campaign on their use in conjunction with the handout. While acknowledging that potassium iodide carries some health risks, the Food and Drug Administration has supported the pills' distribution. Their benefits in a nuclear accident "far exceed the risks of overdosing," the agency says. Thompson says Illinois is moving toward a decision this summer on the free pills. In the meantime, she points out that the same pills are readily available over the counter. "We have never discouraged people, if they're interested, in purchasing these pills," she said. Apparently, many Americans are doing just that. Alan Morris, president of the nation's largest maker of potassium iodide pills, says business is booming. His company, Anbex Inc., had been selling a few hundred of its 14-pill packs a year. Since the terrorist attacks, it's selling thousands of packs a month at $9.95. Morris is skeptical of state officials who cite health or distribution concerns for not handing out the pills. Their usefulness, he says, "is a given, this isn't disputed." He suspects that some state officials are holding back on support for the pills because they don't want to erode public confidence in the nuclear industry or breed fear of an accident. He points out that the FDA studies have credited potassium iodide with saving the lives of people in Poland who were exposed to nuclear radiation from the accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986. "What is assumed," he said, "is that it won't happen here." *Reporter Lisa Eisenhauer: E-mail: leisenhauer@post-dispatch.com Phone: 202-298-6880 * WASHINGTON -- Nevada's anti-Yucca Mountain effort, which features a pile of lawsuits and a broad-ranging media campaign, has cost nearly $7.1 million so far, according to state records. Most of the money is committed to legal costs. About $2 million has been spent on a public relations war aimed at raising public awareness about Yucca Mountain, and ultimately persuading senators in an effort to derail the project. The expenditures include lobbyists, TV and print advertisements, direct mailers and polling to find out what people know about Yucca Mountain and how they respond to certain anti-Yucca messages. "What's really going on here is a political campaign," said Bob Loux, director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects, which manages the anti-Yucca fund. The public relations campaign is not over yet, and state leaders vow to continue the assault -- and the spending -- until the final Senate vote on Yucca. The vote could come as early as this week, or the week of July 8, when Congress returns from an Independence Day holiday. The Senate is expected to approve Yucca, despite the state's efforts. The vote will mark the final congressional hurdle for the federal plan to construct a national dump for the nation's most dangerous nuclear waste at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The state's anti-Yucca fund balances are not entirely up-to-date as revenue and expenses continue to dribble in and out. But a look at of some of the transactions thus far reveals where most of the money came from -- and where it went. It also illuminates the inner workings of multi-pronged approach to influence senators in a long-shot effort to defeat Yucca. "We are going to try to continue to try to defeat this legislation, not just because we believe it's bad for our state, but more importantly, we believe this legislation is really wrong-headed for the United States of America," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Tuesday on the Senate floor. About $9 million has been raised to date for the "Nevada Protection Fund," and Nevada leaders are still asking for donations. Other donations are not filtered through the fund -- for example, the American Gaming Association is paying GOP lobbyist Ken Duberstein a reported $300,000 to lobby Republican senators. Much of the fund's revenue so far has come from taxpayers. The Nevada Legislature has committed nearly $6 million; Clark County pitched in $2.5 million. About $435,000 had been raised through mid-June from other sources, including businesses and private citizen donations. Much of the money is obligated to expenses for two law firms -- $4.5 million for Egan &Associates; and $600,000 for San Francisco lawyer Antonio Rossman. Those figures are what the state owes the lawyers through the end of June 2003. Egan is the lead firm on two lawsuits designed to derail Yucca, filed against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and against the project's manager, the Energy Department. Rossman is the lead attorney on a lawsuit filed against the Environmental Protection Agency, and another suit against the Energy Department for failing to follow federal law in compiling an environmental impact statement. The state fund also owes nearly $1.9 million to Las Vegas firm Brown &Partners Advertising and Public Relations, which oversees the state's public relations campaign. A key part of the strategy centers on anti-Yucca Mountain television commercials, which have now run in Vermont, Utah, Wyoming and Iowa. More commercials are likely in other states, including Georgia and Missouri, sources said. The 30-second spots encourage viewers to call or write their senators, urging them to oppose Yucca. A trio of high-level staffers -- Sen. Harry Reid's chief of staff Susan McCue, Sen. John Ensign's chief of staff Scott Bensing, and Gov. Guinn's chief of staff Marybel Batjer -- make final determinations about where to run commercials, Loux said. Advertising firm Greer Margolis, with offices in Washington and Los Angeles, produces the commercials, at varying costs. The Vermont advertisement, narrated by actor Ed Begley Jr., cost $40,000 to produce and $300,000 to buy the air time. Viewers may be somewhat mislead about who pays for the spots -- a tagline at the end of the commercials informs them that the message was "sponsored" by listed public interest groups. The groups are used to lend the spots more credibility, but the groups are reimbursed at least in part by Nevada's anti-Yucca fund. For example, the Vermont commercial credits three groups for sponsoring the ad: Physicians for Social Responsibility, Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club, and Vermont Public Interest Research Group. But Yucca fund invoices show that the state fund reimbursed $70,000 to the Vermont Sierra Club. In another case, the state paid Physicians for Social Responsibility back $149,000 for air time it had purchased in Utah. Nevada leaders are using a variety of other media to ultimately influence the Senate vote. Most of the money has been spent in 11 target states, where Nevada leaders hope to win support in the Senate, said Mark Brown of Brown &Partners. "The strategy was a broad-based campaign that includes new technology, along with some tried and true methods -- and to do it on a very limited budget," Brown said. A sampling of what the anti-Yucca money is buying: + Newspaper advertisements. One anti-Yucca ad ran in The Washington Post, on April 10, at a cost of $45,000. The same ad ran in the Washington Times for $5,000. Newspaper ads also ran in six Utah cities on three days. The cost was unavailable. More newspaper ads in other states are planned. In addition, Brown has contacted a number of newspapers to urge them to consider anti-Yucca editorials. In the last three weeks, Brown also sent out 5,000 "information kits" to newspapers, universities, public interest groups and chambers of commerce. Kits cost about $2 a piece. + Phone banks. Brown also paid $10,000 to Washington consulting firm Issue Dynamics, Inc., which keeps phone lists of key leaders in the target states who have special influence with their senators. In another grass-roots effort, Brown has paid environmental groups to urge their allies to contact senators. + Toll-free number. Issue Dynamics also set up a hotline number whose operators patched callers through directly to their senators. The phone number has appeared in direct mailings and newspaper advertisements. + Direct mail. Anti-Yucca literature has been sent to 60,000 households in major cities in Utah. + Internet. Mailings and advertisements urge readers to visit the website, nuclearneighborhoods.org. From there, website users can fax a letter to their senators. They can also send narrated anti-Yucca "flash commercial" messages to other users. Between May 15 and June 19, nearly 1,400 letters and phone calls inundated the two Utah Senate offices, thanks to the Internet site and toll-free hotline, Brown said. + Polling. To help state officials and the companies sharpen their advertising strategy, Brown paid Washington pollsters $46,700 for polls taken in late May. Polls gauged how much people already knew about Yucca Mountain, and waste transportation issues. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 28 Daschle pressed again for Yucca vote, but refuses to set timeline Las Vegas SUN June 26, 2002 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Senate advocates of Yucca Mountain on Tuesday again pressed Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., for a vote on the nuclear waste dump. But Daschle, who sets the Senate agenda, refused to set a specific timeline for a vote and reiterated his personal opposition to the project. "I would urge my colleagues to oppose it as well," Daschle said. "I know we have a large majority of our colleagues on this side of the aisle who oppose it." The comments came as Daschle sparred briefly with several GOP leaders on the Senate floor over Yucca. Republican leaders in recent days have been prodding Daschle to call for debate and a vote on Yucca Mountain. GOP Yucca advocates say it is Daschle's job to call for action on the measure. But Daschle, closely allied with his top deputy, Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., won't do it. Under a unique provision in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, any senator is allowed to call for a vote on Yucca at any time, and Daschle is determined to force a Republican to do it. Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., seemed to serve notice that a GOP senator would call for a vote the week of July 8, when Congress returns from an Independence Day holiday. The Senate this week is debating an important Defense Department spending bill, and even Yucca backers are reluctant to interrupt that with 10 hours of debate on Yucca. "By going to this issue the first week we're back, everybody will know when to expect it to come up, and there will be an assurety we'll get it done before the expiration date of July 27," Lott said. He was referring to a vote deadline outlined in the nuclear waste act that requires Senate action on Yucca. "It's time we make a decision and move forward with this repository," Lott said. Long-time Yucca advocate Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, echoed Lott. "I would urge the two leaders to proceed," Murkowski said. "We have to bring this matter to a vote." Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., thanked Democratic leader Daschle for his Yucca opposition, then rebuked his GOP colleagues. Ensign said that no Republican should call for a vote because it would be a direct challenge the will of the Senate majority leader. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 29 Report: Radioactive material would dwarf Hiroshima Las Vegas SUN June 26, 2002 LAS VEGAS SUN Trucks and trains each carrying 240 times the radioactive material released at Hiroshima could travel through hundreds of U.S. communities if the Senate approves Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear dumpsite in the next few weeks, according to a report released Tuesday. The 63-page report issued by the nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. Public Interest Research Groups says the Department of Energy's proposal could send truck shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste each day for four decades through towns along planned routes in 44 states. Chicago would see a shipment every 15 hours; St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver, every 13 hours; Des Moines and Omaha, every 10 hours; Salt Lake City, one shipment every seven hours. Shipments of nuclear waste would travel on interstate and local highways as well as mainline rail routes. Other waste shipments could be carried by barge over waterways like the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan. The Energy Department intends to ship the waste in transportation casks, but size and weight limitations make it impossible to build a transportation cask that does not leak some radiation, the report says. A truck carrying a nuclear cask will emit the equivalent of one chest X-ray per hour of radiation to those who are caught in traffic nearby, according to the report. "In the best-case scenario, these shipments are rolling X-ray machines," said Pierre Sadik, a U.S. PIRG staff attorney. "In the worst-case scenario, these shipments are mobile Chernobyls." According to one DOE estimate, during transport 310 accidents will occur. There have been at least eight reported nuclear waste transportation accidents in the U.S. The proposed shipments would represent a 30-fold increase over U.S. shipments in the past. Emergency medical services officials have stated that they do not have the training or equipment to respond to a severe nuclear accident that could involve thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in property damage, the report says. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 30 Yucca Nuclear Waste *June 26, 2002* How Secure Is a Nuclear Waste Truck? To the Editor: Re "How Secure Is a Nuclear Waste Truck?" (Op-Ed, June 19): Jim Hall answers his own question with the kind of scare tactics that have clouded the debate over the proposed national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. In reality, we can safely move nuclear waste around the country because that's exactly what we have been doing for decades. Mr. Hall not only doesn't acknowledge this safety record, but he also does not disclose that he is a paid consultant lobbying for the State of Nevada. We cannot afford our current strategy of leaving nuclear waste scattered at sites around the country. Now, more than ever, we need a central, secure facility where we can concentrate all of our resources on keeping our nuclear waste safe. FRANK H. MURKOWSKI Washington, June 25, 2002 The writer is ranking member, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 31 US Mayors' Resolution On Waste Transportation TOMPAINE.com - The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The Conference holds its Winter Meeting each January in Washington, DC and an Annual Meeting each June in a different U.S. city. Editor's Note: The following resolution was passed on June 18th by the US Conference of Mayors at their annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. Transportation of High Level Nuclear Waste Whereas, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have issued a report commissioned by the DOE concluding that the DOE lacks sufficient information to predict the suitability and hydrogeologic performance of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository; and Wheras, the Department of Energy (DOE) has no feasible plan for transportation of these materials; and Whereas, the Department of Transportation has stated it is not fully prepared for the forecasted increase in shipments of High Level Waste (HLW); and Whereas, the casks used to ship(HLW)have never undergone full-scale physical testing to determine if they can withstand likely transportation accident and terrorism scenarios; and Whereas, there is national acknowledgment of risks to our security and the safety of our communities presented by the transportation of HLW; and Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the United States Conference of Mayors urges the United States Congress to pass legislation that prohibits the movement of any HLW unless beginning three (3) years prior to any such movement, all cities along the proposed transportation route have received adequate funds, training and equipment to protect the public health and safety in the event of an accident; Be it further resolved, that in order to ensure that the actual transport of HLW be safely accomplished that prior to the movement of HLW, state of the art technology, engineering and procedures related to the transport of this material be reviewed in the context of past transport incidences and or future or predictable incidences related to transport accidents. That the lessons learned from this review be applied to HLW transport. Published: Jun 25 2002 ***************************************************************** 32 Railroad Tunnel Fire: A Scenario TOMPAINE.com - Conditions Ripe For Radioactive Release Matthew Lamb is a research associate at Radioactive Waste Management Associates Marvin Resnikoff is a senior associate at Radioactive Waste Management Associates Last summer a train carrying hazardous material caught fire in a downtown Baltimore tunnel. Local residents choked on toxic fumes and area businesses were badly affected. But what if that train had been carrying nuclear waste destined for Yucca Mountain in Nevada? Soon after Baltimore's tunnel fire, Matthew Lamb and Marvin Resnikoff, of the New York-based Radioactive Waste Management Associates, published a report detailing what would have happened if nuclear fuel had been on that train. The report estimated that some 390,388 residents in the area would have been exposed and that between 4,972 and 31,824 related cancer deaths would occur in 50 years. Total cleanup costs could run to $13.7 billion. Following are excerpt from the report: "Radiological Consequences Of Severe Rail Accidents Involving Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments To Yucca Mountain: Hypothetical Baltimore Rail Tunnel Fire Involving SNF." If the proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository opens, a large number of irradiated fuel and high-level waste shipments will converge in Nevada. Depending on a range of factors, hundreds to thousands of shipments will traverse Nevada annually for a period of 24 to 38 years. A major impact of these shipments is the potential release of radioactive materials during a severe accident involving a long duration, high temperature fire… Public and official concerns about the ability of [spent nuclear fuel] casks to survive severe fires have been heightened by an accident which recently occurred in the Howard Street tunnel on the CSX railroad in Baltimore, Md. The fire began on July 18, 2001, and continued for five days. According to news accounts, the peak fire temperature was estimated to be at least 1000°F to 1500°F, and the fire may have burned at or above these temperatures for several days... [If nuclear waste were involved in such an accident, the] first release of radioactive material could begin when the cask seals degrade, which we have estimated to occur approximately 1.3 hours after the onset of the fire for a steel-lead-steel cask, and 2.4 hours after the onset for a monolithic rail cask. However, in the particular case of the Baltimore tunnel accident, the fire department was not notified until over an hour after the accident, and the city's warning sirens weren't sounded until 2.5 hours after the accident. This may not have left enough time for officials to effectively evacuate the areas closest to the accident before the release began. Further, since the central downtown area was blocked off, evacuation could not have occurred in the most efficient manner. Clearly, people should be kept out of a contaminated area, and not track contamination from a contaminated area to a clean area, but blocking major thoroughfares also impedes the evacuation process. The case of a fire-only accident involving spent fuel gives some time between the onset of the fire and the rupture of fuel rods leading to the most significant release of radioactivity, most likely long enough to evacuate the area immediately surrounding the tunnel where the highest exposures would be seen. This action would significantly reduce the health consequences of such an accident. In order to reduce long-term dose, significant decontamination of the effected areas would be required, along with the likely relocation of a large number of households and businesses most affected. This would result in the virtual crippling of the southwest side of Baltimore.... The scenario involving a spent nuclear fuel cask in a situation similar to the Baltimore tunnel fire would be disastrous. [The report extimates the cost of cleaning up such a disaster at $13.7 billion.] Read the full report: Radiological Consequences Of Severe Rail Accidents Involving Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments To Yucca Mountain: Hypothetical Baltimore Rail Tunnel Fire Involving SNF Published: Jun 25 2002 ***************************************************************** 33 Nuclear Shipments: Unsafe At Any Speed TOMPAINE.com -+ The Documented Failures Of DOE's Transportation Security Division The Project on Government Oversight investigates, exposes, and seeks to remedy systemic abuses of power, mismanagement, and subservience by the federal government to powerful special interests. The following is an edited excerpt from "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Security At Risk" by the Project On Government Oversight. See POGO's Web site [http://www.POGO.org] for the full text of this excerpt and the entire report. Transportation Security Division The Department of Energy Transportation Security Division (TSD) moves nuclear weapons, as well as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, from site to site across the nation on public highways. The protective forces in the Transportation Division are civilian federal employees. In late 1998, TSD submitted a Site Safeguards and Security Plan (SSSP) to Headquarters for approval. Preliminary examination of the testing scenarios revealed that the SSSP used simplistic attacks and "dumbed down" use of weapons. During planning phases the TSD team of specialists and commanders were aghast at the proposed use of sniper rifles with armor-piercing incendiary rounds by the adversaries. The DOE Inspector General determined that DOE management considered the use of a sniper rifle unreasonable and that only "super adversaries" would use them. In fact, these weapons have been available since World War I. The GAO found in an undercover investigation that more than 100,000 rounds of Pentagon-surplus, armor-piercing incendiary rounds have been sold on the civilian market. At the DOE Pantex nuclear weapons-assembly facility [in Texas], security officials believed that armored Humvees were death traps, because of the availability of armor-piercing incendiary rounds. The Pantex Security Director lamented that he would never allow his protective forces to fight from them, and that it would have been just as effective to buy Yugo's. Incredibly, the next day, Secretary Richardson's security team was at Sandia [in New Mexico], and found officials in the process of buying armored Humvees. Using these readily-available armor-piercing incendiary rounds, terrorists could shoot through the armored truck cabs, killing the driver and protective forces, making the transported nuclear materials ready for the taking. In the simulation phase only four tests were run. According to sources familiar with the test, the TSD protective forces were literally annihilated in tens of seconds after an attack was started. In after-action briefings the convoy commander admitted that they had experienced similar results in force-on-force testing many months earlier. Part of the problem was that the guards' weapons were of inadequate range to reach the adversary. A December 12, 1998 internal DOE memorandum reported on the computerized Joint Tactical Simulations (JTS) evaluations of the Transportation Division's SSSP conducted at Sandia: "JTS results on the first worst case scenario ... were 3 losses and no wins. JTS results on the second worst case scenario ... were 3 losses and 1 win. The high TSD JTS loss rate for the first two worst case scenarios caused TSD to request termination of JTS activity. TSD requested DOE Headquarters' assistance to analyze the poor results and begin to determine possible corrective actions." In early 1999, a special force-on-force test was run at Fort Hood for the luminaries from Washington -- Deputy Secretary, Undersecretary and top security and program officials -- to show that the TSD could handle the threat. The U.S. Army Special Forces provided the adversaries. The protective force won. However, according to a Special Forces representative, he noticed a piece of paper held by a protective force member that he had just "shot" -- it was a complete outline of the mock terrorists' attack plan. The protective force was cheating. Secretary Richardson's Special Assistant, Peter Stockton, proved the cheating to the Albuquerque manager and the TSD manager. No action was taken. In November 1999, an Army Special Forces representative found that the new sniper rifles used by TSD were target range variety, not for combat in rugged terrain. In fact, the sights on the rifles were very sensitive and would not survive the rigors of combat. More than half of the unclassified recommendations made by the DOE Inspector General regarding the SSSP process were focused on improving the security of the TSD program. * Related links: "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Security At Risk" [http://www.pogo.org/p/environment/eo-011003-nuclear.htm] by the Project On Government Oversight [http://www.pogo.org] Published: Jun 25 2002 ***************************************************************** 34 Government has yet to figure out how to get waste to Yucca Mountain safely - 6/26/2002 - ENN.com Wednesday, June 26, 2002 By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Every year the Navy and a few utilities ship about 60 loads of highly radioactive used reactor fuel from submarines and atomic power plants over short distances, usually by rail, without public notice or protest. The national numbers will soar as shipments start moving by rail or truck through all but a handful of states if a nuclear waste dump is put 90 miles from Las Vegas, as President Bush hopes to do. The Senate plans to decide soon whether to remove the last political hurdle to burying the waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, and opponents are using the transportation issue in an uphill effort to sway lawmakers to vote against the project. The government has spent $7 billion over two decades studying Yucca Mountain as the preferred site for the proposed dump, but it has devoted only $200 million to figuring out how to get the wastes there. "They're trying to downplay transportation because they know once the American people realize their homes lie on these transportation routes, they'll be outraged," said Kevin Kamps, an antinuclear activist. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has asserted repeatedly that the wastes — mostly used reactor fuel — can be shipped safely to Nevada. Once there, he has argued, the material will be more secure than at dozens of reactor sites in 31 states where it is being stored now. The Energy Department, however, is at least a year away from providing any detailed plan on how waste shipments will get to Nevada or how cities and towns along the route might be affected. Also undecided are whether the shipments would be mainly by rail or by truck and the design of shipping containers. Railroads have suggested that if they are to be the primary carrier, special trains should be devoted to the shipments. The government hasn't made a decision on that either. The leading Senate opponent of the project, Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, says the Bush administration "has refused to focus" on the danger posed by hundreds or thousands of waste shipments, most of them from the eastern third of the nation. A preliminary Energy Department estimate predicts 10,600 shipments to Yucca Mountain over 24 years — beginning in 2010 when the facility would open — if most of the waste was moved by train. If trucks are the primary transport, there would be more than 53,000 shipments. On any given day, several dozen trucks would be on a highway somewhere in the country. In all, the waste site would hold 77,000 tons, with 3,000 tons going there each year on average. Abraham recently told senators that as few as 175 shipments a year are likely. But that assumes virtually all long-distance shipments going by dedicated trains, each carrying two to four railcars full of waste and no other cargo. Bob Halstead, a transportation consultant hired by Nevada, calls such a scenario unrealistic, saying it would require building a 100-mile rail line to Yucca Mountain as well as other rail lines from barge or truck connections to at least two dozen reactor sites in the East. Shipping costs also would soar, he maintains. Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Energy Department, said the details of the transportation plan remain to be worked out in part because the department wants to coordinate the program with the states through which waste will pass. "We can move the waste safely," he said. He said the focus has been on the approval of Yucca Mountain because that is what Congress told the department to do. "We weren't told to study transportation" prior to a decision on the Yucca facility, Davis said. Department officials and the nuclear industry argue it's only logical that a detailed transportation plan await a decision on the site itself. Others contend the public and lawmakers ought to know details of where wastes will travel and how the shipments will be protected before they agree to the Nevada dump. "They're trying to slip this through before (the transportation questions) are focused on by the American people," said Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and now a consultant for the state of Nevada. If the Senate affirms overriding Nevada's objections and letting the administration proceed with the project, "the momentum of the decision will sweep everything else aside," Hall said. Supporters of the Nevada project say critics are ignoring the protection afforded such shipments and the fact that wastes have been shipped for years without a release of radiation. "It all boils down to the waste canisters," said Scott Peters, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade group. The cylinders, with 15-inch-thick triple-layer walls of steel and lead, are designed to withstand severe accidents. Tests have shown them to stand up to impacts equal to a 120-mph collision, puncture tests, and exposure to a 1,475-degree-Fahrenheit fire. Still, the September terrorist attacks brought a new dimension to the issue, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is re-examining the vulnerability of waste shipments to potential terrorist attacks. Tests by the government's Sandia National Laboratory have concluded that waste containers could be penetrated by a missile or other high energy weapon. Nevada officials say the radiation released from such an attack would produce cancers in 48 people at some point in their lives and billions of dollars in economic and cleanup costs. Copyright 2002, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 35 Protesters share nuclear waste transport fears Wednesday, June 26, 2002 By ANDREW LYONS (andy.lyons@news-jrnl.com [andy.lyons@news-jrnl.com] ) Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH -- Motorists traveling through Volusia and Flagler counties could share Interstate 95 with trucks carrying three tons of nuclear waste if the U.S. Senate allows the radioactive cargo to be transported to Nevada for disposal. Special interest groups alarmed by the potential dangers stopped in Daytona Beach on Tuesday on a cross-country public relations tour, urging elected officials to oppose a plan to ship the waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev. Federal approval would allow shipments next year on Florida's interstates, highways and railroads through densely populated cities. "We've got terrorists looking for dirty bombs. What's a bigger dirty bomb than one of these?" Claude Ward, a member of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, asked during Tuesday morning's press conference attended by a handful of people. Although final routes for shipping the waste haven't been chosen, the U.S. Department of Energy identifies possible rail routes along the Atlantic Coast, as well as highways including I-95, I-10 and I-75. If the Senate approves the plan next month, waste that historically has been stored on-site at plants will be shipped next year from Florida's three nuclear facilities: Florida Power &Light Co.'s Turkey Point plant near Miami, FPL's St. Lucie Plant north of West Palm Beach and Florida Power's Crystal River plant on the Gulf Coast north of Tampa. Volusia and Flagler emergency management officials said Tuesday that planning and training are already in place should a catastrophic accident occur involving chemicals or radioactive materials. They talked about the strict safety measures required for the shipping of hazardous materials. "It's part of our normal Hazmat (hazardous material) training," Volusia County Deputy Fire Chief Jim Mauney said. "I don't think we have a problem." Motorists don't realize the dangerous materials that already flow down Florida highways, railways and even the Intracoastal Waterway, including highly explosive rocket fuel shipped to Cape Canaveral, said Troy Harper, division chief for Flagler County Emergency Management. "There's really not a whole lot we can do to stop it," Harper said of the transport of dangerous material. The nuclear power industry says there's little or no danger in shipping nuclear material. More than 3,000 shipments of used nuclear fuel have been made for more than 35 years with no injuries, fatalities or environmental damage because of the radioactivity of the cargo, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Tony Ehrlich, on the other hand, is plenty concerned. The spokesman for the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice said more than 2 million people in Florida live within 1 mile of an interstate highway or railroad tracks where the waste would be transported. He said his daughter and grandson live only a 1 1/2 miles from railroad tracks. "National security is not just for Washington, D.C.," he said. "It applies also to the residents of Florida." Such shipments have been controversial in other parts of the country. In South Carolina, Gov. Jim Hodges threatened to "lie down in front of the trucks" to stop plutonium from being moved into the state. Last weekend, the U.S. Department of Energy was expected to start shipping 6.5 tons of nuclear material to South Carolina for storage from its Rocky Flats site near Denver. -- The Associated Press contributed to this story. 2002 News-Journal Corporation, news- journalonline.com (SM) - Our privacy policy - Terms of Service ***************************************************************** 36 Utah caught in middle of Yucca fight* HarkTheHerald.com TAD WALCH The Daily Herald on Tuesday, June 25 PROVO -- Utahns who don't want nuclear waste stored at Skull Valley on the Goshute Reservation are being courted by both sides of the Yucca Mountain debate. Supporters say that without the proposed national storage site north of Las Vegas, the nation will turn to Utah. Opponents of Yucca Mountain say the proposal doesn't account for thousands of tons of waste, which could wind up in Utah. Pressure is mounting on the two camps as the U.S. Senate nears a final vote on the project. The vote could come this week and must be held by July 26. The opponents struck Monday when a Washington thinktank claimed U.S. energy officials knowingly mislead Americans when they say Yucca Mountain would eliminate waste scattered at more than 100 facilities in dozens of states and consolidate it in one place. "The whole premise that Yucca Mountain provides complete relief is false," said Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group. "Old waste will be shipped out, but new waste will remain at most of those facilities because they'll keep operating. "That means all the old concerns about leaks or terrorist attacks at those facilities still remain." The problem, it turns out, depends on the definition of "full." The Yucca Mountain plan proposes to ship 77,000 tons of radioactive material from 131 facilities in 39 states to a single storage site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. EWG found evidence in the Department of Energy's study of the project that it expects thousands of tons of nuclear waste to be left around the country when Yucca Mountain reaches that 77,000-ton cap. In fact, Cook said the nuclear industry will have produced 77,000 tons of waste by the time the facility would open in 2010 or 2011. He also said the DOE report estimates another 42,400 tons would have been produced and would have no home by the time shipments to Yucca Mountain stop in 2046. "Yucca Mountain would be, in effect, full the day it opened," Cook said. "We'll end up right where we are now, except we'll be shipping nuclear waste across the country, too." The figures cited by the EWG are found in Appendix A, tables A-7 and A-8, of the DOE's Environmental Impact Study on Yucca Mountain. "A 'yes' vote on Yucca Mountain poses the problem that as Yucca Mountain fills up, there will be more pressure to ship the excess elsewhere, like Utah," Cook said. However, DOE spokesman Joe Davis, accused by EWG of misleading statements that Yucca Mountain would rid nuclear power plants of waste, said EWG isn't forthcoming about the fact the proposed repository would not be full at 77,000 tons. "Here's what they're not telling you," Davis said. "Yucca Mountain is physically capable of holding all the nuclear waste foreseeably produced in this country. Congress simply decided in 1987 to cap the amount in a single repository at 77,000 metric tons." Davis said Congress can eliminate that cap and that Utahns should hope it would and should support Yucca Mountain. "Without Yucca Mountain, all roads lead to Utah and the Goshute tribe," Davis said. "We can move nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain or ship it to facilities like the one proposed on the Goshute reservation." Cook said he knew the cap was arbitrary, but took issue with Davis' statement. "He's not in a position to guarantee Yucca Mountain's capacity will be expanded because the law says another repository would have to be opened before Yucca Mountain could go beyond 77,000 tons," Cook said. "What worries me is that we're having a piecemeal debate, that Yucca Mountain as now proposed to the Senate will solve the waste-storage problem when in fact it won't." A private company, Private Fuel Storage, wants to store, temporarily, excess nuclear waste from several out-of-state power plants on the Goshute Reservation in Utah's West Desert. It is opposed by Gov. Mike Leavitt. EWG's work on Yucca Mountain is funded by several foundations. The group has created a Web site -- www.mapscience.org -- that uses DOE data to show what roads, railways and waterways the DOE would use to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. /Tad Walch can be reached at 592-3122 or at twalch@heraldextra.com./ This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A3. # News by TAD WALCH The Daily Herald © 2002 by HarkTheHerald.com . ***************************************************************** 37 FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW CALLS FOR BAN ON BARGE SHIPMENTS AND SAFER WASTE STORAGE AT NUCLEAR PLANTS BREDL Press Release [BREDL logo] BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE Working to make our world better: One community at a time. P.O. Box 88, Glendale Springs, NC 28629 phone: 336-982-2691, fax: 336-982-2954 email: bredl@skybest.com , www.bredl.org JUNE 24 Press Advisory JUNE 25 Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice Press Release - Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow rolls into Daytona JUNE 26 - Statement of Claude Ward JUNE 21 Press Advisory JUNE 24 Press Release - Roadshow launched in Jacksonville JUNE 25 Press Advisory (Roadshow heads to Miami) JUNE 26 Press Release - Roadshow in Miami calls for ban on barge shipments and safer nuclear waste storage PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26, 2002 CONTACT: Claude Ward, BREDL 910-604-0214 cell phone Mark Oncavage, Miami Sierra Club 305-251-5273 Dorothy Serotta, Temple Israel 305-866-2929 Louis Zeller, BREDL 336-982-2691 Today at a press conference in Miami, the Miami Sierra Club and the multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League called for a ban on barge shipments of high-level nuclear waste into Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Also, local residents called for safer storage of nuclear waste at Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear stations instead of transport to Nevada. Claude Ward, Nuclear Campaigner for BREDL, revealed that 104 to 175 barge shipments of nuclear waste could enter the Port of Miami if the Department of Energy plan to transport the waste to a dump in Nevada is approved by Congress. Ward asked, “Is Miami prepared for nuclear waste barge accidents at sea or in port?” Federal regulations require an undamaged cask to withstand submersion in deep water for only 1 hour. Waste casks which are punctured must withstand submersion in only three feet of water. Ward said, “A damaged cask submerged in water deeper than three feet could leak radioactive waste.” Ward noted that Miami’s port channel will be deepened to more than 40 feet next year. He also reported that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has serious concerns about nuclear waste casks submerged in water. Ward said, “There is a real possibility of nuclear chain reaction caused by water entering a damaged waste cask.” Mark Oncavage, Energy Chair of the Sierra Club - Miami Group, ridiculed the DOE plan and advocated the alternative of safe, secure on-site storage of nuclear waste at the Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point reactor. “Are there any reasonable scientists that would choose to bury thousands of tons of deadly nuclear wastes in an active earthquake and volcano zone? The Department of Energy is telling the senators to approve this plan because they have no other plan.” Miami resident Dorothy Serotta, past-chair of the Temple Israel Social Action Committee, called for an end to the plan to ship nuclear waste to Nevada, saying, “Nuclear waste should not be transported from state to state.” The Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow, which began in Jacksonville on Monday, will continue from Miami to Gainesville, Tallahassee, and other communities, tracing waste routes from Florida‘s five nuclear reactors. Roadshow events include rallies, public information meetings, media programs, and press conferences. Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the project early in July. -end- More info: 2-page excerpt regarding Barge Shipments from Yucca Final Environmental Impact Statement.(in .pdf) BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE www.BREDL.org ~ PO Box 88 Glendale Springs, North Carolina 28629 ~ Phone (336) 982-2691 ~ Fax (336) 982-2954 ~ Email: BREDL@skybest.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26, 2002 CONTACT: Claude Ward, BREDL 910-604-0214 cell phone STATEMENT OF CLAUDE WARD The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League launched the southern Mock Nuclear Waste Roadshow in Wilmington, NC on May 30 to oppose a high-level nuclear waste dump in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Since then, we have hauled our full-sized replica of a highway nuclear waste transport cask 4,000 miles across the country to alert citizens to this threat. People we meet on the highways and byways of our nation oppose the US Department of Energy’s plans to transport high-level radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain. They join us when we say: Don‘t dump on Nevada! The people of Miami have much at stake if nuclear waste is shipped from the two reactors at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point. The US Department of Energy estimates that from 104 to 175 shipments of nuclear waste would enter the Port of Miami on barges. Turkey Point is 24 miles south of Miami. From the seaport the waste would be transferred to rail or highway vehicles. Also, Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale could receive 73 to 166 barges of nuclear waste shipped 80 miles from FP&L’s reactors in St. Lucie. Is Miami prepared for nuclear waste barge accidents at sea or in port? An undamaged cask is required to withstand submersion in deep water (656 feet) for only 1 hour. Waste casks which are punctured must withstand submersion in only three feet of water. But a damaged cask submerged in water deeper than three feet could leak radioactive waste. The controlling depth of the channel in Biscayne Bay, where barges travel, is at least 8.5 feet. And the Army Corps of Engineers plans to deepen the channel to 43 to 52 feet next year. (Federal Register: August 28, 2001 Volume 66, Number 167) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission notes that there is a real possibility of nuclear chain reaction, or criticality, caused by water entering a damaged waste cask. Water in a submerged waste cask could act as a reflector of neutrons which are emitted by the intensely radioactive material. These neutrons could cause a nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear waste traveling through populated areas is a danger to the public. Nuclear waste from Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant would come within eight-tenths of a mile of Miami City Hall. A fully loaded nuclear waste truck transport may hold 850,000 Curies, a train cask could carry over 5 million Curies. Even without accidents, people‘s health will be affected and their lives shortened by radiation exposure. The nuclear industry and their yes-men in government agencies tell us that nuclear waste transports have occurred without incident. But DOE experience with nuclear waste transport is but a tiny fraction of the 96,000 shipments that would be needed to transport thousands of tons of high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. A single mistake would affect thousands of people. The Titanic and the Hindenburg were accidents that were not supposed to happen. But happen they did and the results were devastating. Studies show that nuclear waste casks cannot withstand modern explosive charges and shoulder-mounted weapons. We do not need dangerous, radioactive hazards on our roads or in our communities. -end- Claude Ward is a Community Organizer on BREDL staff since 1997. His wife, Bonnie, is a BREDL Vice President and serves on BREDL’s Board of Directors. They live with their dog BJ in eastern North Carolina. Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice www.FCPJ.org [http://www.FCPJ.org] ~ PO Box 336 Graham, Florida 32042 ~ Phone (352) 468-3295 ~ Email: FCPJ@juno.com [FCPJ@juno.com] PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 25, 2002 CONTACT: Heather Kane, Florida PIRG 941-416-1092 cell phone Tony Ehrlich, FCPJ 386-673-2972 Claude Ward, BREDL 910-604-0214 cell phone Louis Zeller, BREDL (336) 982-2691 FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW ROLLS INTO DAYTONA Groups Release Report: Radioactive Roads and Rails Today at a press conference in Daytona, the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League joined with Florida Public Interest Research Group to release a new report: Radioactive Roads and Rails: Hauling Nuclear Waste Through Our Neighborhoods. Standing near a full-size replica of an actual nuclear waste transport cask, they called on elected officials to oppose a nuclear dump in Nevada which would put thousands of shipments of highly radioactive waste on Florida’s interstates, highways and railroads. Heather Kane, field organizer for Florida PIRG which co-authored the report, said, “Florida alone could see 5,223 truck shipments over the course of 38 years. Commuters on I-95 could find themselves stuck in traffic beside three and a half tons of nuclear waste.” Kane faulted the Department of Energy’s selection of a dump site, saying, “At the end of the road, under this ill-conceived plan, the waste will be dumped at Yucca Mountain - a volcano on an aquifer in an earthquake zone. Yucca Mountain is unsound as the designated site for the permanent storage of nuclear waste.” Tony Ehrlich, spokesperson for the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Volusia County Green Party, cited the risks to residents of Florida who live near transport routes saying, “Over 2 million people live within 1 mile of the interstate highways and railroad tracks that would transport deadly nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. My daughter and grandson in Daytona Beach live only 1.4 miles from the Florida East Coast Railway!” Claude Ward, nuclear campaigner for Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, said, “Nuclear waste traveling through populated areas is a danger to the public because of the risk of a terrorist attack.” Ward noted that hundreds of railcars with nuclear waste from Florida Power & Light’s St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear plants would come within one-tenth of a mile of the Daytona Beach City Hall. He added, “Studies show that nuclear waste casks cannot withstand modern explosive charges and shoulder-mounted weapons. A railroad cask fully-loaded could hold 5 million Curies of radioactive waste. We do not need dangerous, radioactive hazards on our roads or in our communities.” The Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow began in Jacksonville and will continue from Daytona to Miami, Gainesville, Tallahassee, and other communities, tracing waste routes from Florida‘s five nuclear reactors. Roadshow events include rallies, public information meetings, media programs, and press conferences. Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the project early in July. -end- More info: Download the FloridaPIRG report from the BREDL website or from Florida Public Interest Research Group [http://www.floridapirg.org/] . PRESS ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 25, 2002 CONTACT: Louis Zeller, BREDL 336-982-2691 Mark Oncavage, Miami Sierra Club 305-251-5273 Claude Ward, BREDL 910-604-0214 cell phone THIRD DAY OF FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW MIAMI RESIDENTS WILL CALL FOR SAFER WASTE STORAGE AT NUCLEAR PLANT On Wednesday, June 26th the Sierra Club of Miami, the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, and the multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League will hold a joint press conference in Miami. Residents will call for safer storage of nuclear waste at Turkey Point nuclear station instead of transport to Nevada. Present at the conference will be a 20-foot long, full-size replica of a high-level nuclear waste highway transport cask. The Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow began in Jacksonville on Monday and will continue from Miami to Gainesville, Tallahassee, and other communities, tracing waste routes from Florida‘s five nuclear reactors. Roadshow events include rallies, public information meetings, media programs, and press conferences. Campaigners have logged over 4,000 miles since beginning the southeastern roadshow in North Carolina on May 30. Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the project early in July. -end- PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 24, 2002 CONTACT: Claude Ward, BREDL 910-604-0214 cell phone David Pred, FCPJ 352-468-3295 Louis Zeller, BREDL 336-982-2691 FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW LAUNCHED IN JACKSONVILLE GROUPS DENOUNCE FEDERAL PLAN TO SHIP WASTE Today at a press conference in Jacksonville the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League kicked off a statewide campaign to alert the people of Florida to the dangers of high-level nuclear waste transportation. Displaying a full-size replica of an actual nuclear waste transport cask, they called on elected officials to oppose a nuclear dump in Nevada which would put thousands of shipments of highly radioactive waste on Florida’s interstates, highways and railroads. Claude Ward, nuclear campaigner for Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, said, “Nuclear waste traveling through populated areas is a danger to the public because of the risk of a terrorist attack.” Ward said that 980 truckloads of nuclear waste from Florida Power & Light’s St. Lucie nuclear plant alone would come within six-tenths of a mile of Jacksonville’s City Hall. He added, “Studies show that nuclear waste casks cannot withstand modern explosive charges and shoulder-mounted weapons. This highway cask fully-loaded could hold 850,000 Curies of radioactive waste. We do not need dangerous, radioactive hazards on our roads or in our communities.” Statewide, over two million people live within a mile of a nuclear transport route. David Pred, Assistant Coordinator for the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice, said, “By playing this atomic shell game, the industry is betting Americans will think we are solving the nuclear waste problem. What they don’t want to admit is that America’s operating reactors will continue to churn out thousands of tons of nuclear waste each year.” He noted that on-going nuclear power operation and waste generation would fill Yucca Mountain dump to capacity within a decade. Pred concluded, “Instead of solving the nuclear waste problem, Yucca just guarantees that the nuclear industry will have room to make more of it.” The Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow will continue along nuclear waste shipping routes to Daytona, Miami, Gainesville, Tallahassee and other communities. Events this week include rallies, public information meetings, media programs, and press conferences. The Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice (FCPJ) is a long-standing coordinating organization of approximately fifty peace, social justice, environmental and faith-based groups and over 2,300 individuals throughout the state of Florida. FCPJ makes the connection between environmental destruction, social injustice and military escalation, and works to promote a more just and humane world through statewide action. The multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League was founded in 1984 in response to the federal proposal to build a high-level nuclear dump in the eastern United States. Since launching the Roadshow in North Carolina on May 30th, BREDL campaigners have logged over 4,000 miles with their Mock Nuclear Waste Transport Cask. -end- PRESS ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 24, 2002 CONTACT: Louis Zeller, BREDL (336) 982-2691 Heather Kane, Florida PIRG 941-416-1092 cell phone Claude Ward, BREDL 910-604-0214 cell phone David Pred, FCPJ (352) 468-3295 FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW ROLLS INTO DAYTONA GROUPS TO RELEASE NEW REPORT ON HIGH LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE IMPACTS On Tuesday, June 25th the Florida Public Interest Research Group [http://www.floridapirg.org/] , Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice [http://www.fcpj.org/] , and the multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League will hold a joint press conference in Daytona Beach to release a detailed report which exposes how trucks and trains carrying many times the radioactive material released at Hiroshima could rumble north on Interstate 95 and the Florida East Coast rail line if the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project is approved. Press Conference Time and Place: 10:00 am at City Island Library parking lot (pavilions nearby if raining) Present at the conference will be a 20-foot long, full-size replica of a high-level nuclear waste highway transport cask. The Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow began in Jacksonville and will continue from Daytona to Miami, Gainesville, Tallahassee, and other communities, tracing waste routes from Florida‘s five nuclear plants. Roadshow events will include rallies, public information meetings, media programs, and press conferences. Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the project early in July. -end- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 21, 2002 CONTACT: Louis Zeller, BREDL (336) 982-2691 David Pred, FCPJ (352) 468-3295 FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW KICK-OFF MONDAY On Monday, June 24 the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and the multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League will hold a press conference in Jacksonville to launch the Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow. The press conference will begin at 12:00 noon at Riverside Park, on the park side of Park Street. Representatives of the sponsoring organizations and local citizens will speak. Present at the conference will be a full-size replica of a high-level nuclear waste highway transport cask. The nearby junction of Interstates 95 and 10 could see hundreds of shipments of dangerous high-level nuclear waste from FP&L’s St. Lucie nuclear station if the federal plans for a dumpsite at in Nevada are approved. The Roadshow will continue from Jacksonville to Daytona, Miami, Gainesville, Tallahassee, and other communities. Events will include rallies, public information meetings, media programs, and press conferences. Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommend that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the project early in July. Senator Nelson is considered a swing vote. PRESS ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 19, 2002 CONTACT: Louis Zeller, BREDL (336) 982-2691 David Pred, FCPJ (352) 468-3295 Heather Kane, FPIRG (941) 416-1092 FLORIDA NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW The Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice [http://www.fcpj.org/] , Florida Public Interest Research Group, local organizations across the state, and the multi-state Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League will sponsor the Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow beginning June 24th through and continuing through June 28th. Events will include press conferences, rallies, public information meetings, and media programs. The itinerary includes: June 24 Jacksonville June 25 Daytona June 26 Miami June 27 Gainesville June 28 Tallahassee Specific events, times, and locations will be announced. The centerpiece of the roadshow will be a full-size replica of a high-level nuclear waste highway transport cask which is tracing proposed shipping routes from nuclear power plants in Florida to a dumpsite in Nevada. Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommend that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the project early in July. Senators Nelson is considered a swing vote. -end- MORE INFO: BREDL Southeastern High-Level Nuclear Waste Roadshow page - complete with pictures, reports, press releases, links. Map of transport routes analyzed for shipments toYucca Mountain through North Carolina and South Carolina. BREDL Yucca Mountain page + ***************************************************************** 38 Radioactive waste may roll on Rte. 495 MetroWest Daily News.c o m - LOCAL NEWS By Michael Kunzelman Wednesday, June 26, 2002 BOSTON - A caravan of trucks hauling tons of radioactive material will trek down Rte. 495 if the U.S. Senate votes to designate a Nevada mountain as a permanent storage site for nuclear waste, according to a MassPIRG report issued yesterday. According to the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group report, the U.S. House of Representatives already has approved plans for trucks and trains to make about 105,000 shipments of nuclear waste from power plants across the country to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Although federal officials insist the shipments are safe, MassPIRG claims each truck and train will carry 240 times more radioactive material than was released when the United States bombed Hiroshima. "If you're stuck next to one of these trucks for an hour, you have received a chest X-ray's worth of radiation," said Derek Haskew, a MassPIRG attorney. "These casks can't be designed to be completely radiation-proof." A stretch of Rte. 495 in MetroWest is one of the routes that the trucks are expected to travel. The waste would be coming from the Seabrook nuclear power plant in southern New Hampshire and Pilgrim in Plymouth. Towns along the planned route include Franklin, Hopkinton, Holliston, Medway, Northborough and Westborough. Massachusetts alone could see 2,268 truck shipments or 773 rail shipments during the 38 years that the Yucca Mountain project would last, the MassPIRG report said. "If you live within a half-mile of these routes, your family will be irradiated about once a week," Haskew said. Joe Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy, said the federal government has safely transported nuclear waste for more than 30 years and over 1.6 million miles. "There has never been an accident that has resulted in the release of radioactive material," he said. "The casks we use are safe and secure. They have been tested beyond belief." The government has spent $7 billion over two decades studying Yucca Mountain as the preferred site for the proposed dump, but it has devoted only $200 million to figuring out how to get the waste there. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has asserted repeatedly that the waste - mostly used reactor fuel - can be shipped safely to Nevada. Once there, he has argued, the material will be more secure than at dozens of reactor sites in 31 states where it is being stored now. A preliminary Energy Department estimate predicts 10,600 shipments to Yucca Mountain over 24 years - beginning in 2010 when the facility would open - if most of the waste was moved by train. Bob Halstead, a transportation consultant hired by Nevada, calls such a scenario unrealistic, saying it would require building a 100-mile rail line to Yucca Mountain as well as other rail lines from barge or truck connections to at least two dozen reactor sites in the East. Shipping costs also would soar, he said. Davis said the details of the transportation plan remain to be worked out in part because the department wants to coordinate the program with the states through which waste will pass. "We can move the waste safely," he said. MassPIRG and other groups are merely employing "scare tactics," Davis added. "They're opposed to Yucca Mountain because they don't like nuclear power," he said. The Senate is expected to vote on the Yucca Mountain project by July 25. The House voted 306-117 in favor of the plan on May 8. U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a staunch critic of nuclear power, led the opposition to the plan in the House. "This is a bad idea," said Markey spokesman Israel Klein. "The dilemma here is (that) most nuclear power plants are east of the Mississippi (River) and Yucca is in Nevada. Nuclear waste is going to be criss-crossing the country." Yucca Mountain is located about 90 miles outside Las Vegas. Nevada officials vehemently oppose building a permanent nuclear waste repository at the underground site. "The Yucca Mountain is a volcano sitting on an aquifer in an earthquake zone," Haskew said. Even if the Senate signs off on the project, the facility wouldn't open for shipments until 2010 at the earliest, according to Davis. The MassPIRG report warns that thousands of lives and billions of dollars could be lost if one of the waste-carrying trucks or trains crashes. The Department of Energy projects that up to 310 traffic accidents could occur during the project's first 24 years of transportation, according to the report. MassPIRG also questions whether the shipments could become targets for terrorists. "If there was a concerted effort against these convoys, it's a totally different accident profile," Haskew added. The nuclear waste should be stored at the plants themselves, Haskew argued. "The plants know better than anyone else how dangerous this material is, and they want to limit their liability by shunting it off on taxpayers," he said. (Associated Press material was used in this report.) © Copyright by the MetroWest Daily News and Herald ***************************************************************** 39 Paducah plant prospects clouded - Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Earthquakes and environmental issues cast doubt over Paducah's ability to land a enrichment plant to compete with the one planned by USEC. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Paducah's chances of landing a new uranium enrichment plant to compete with the one being planned by USEC Inc. are clouded by concerns over earthquakes, environmental problems and USEC's control of property on which the plant might be built. A decision by USEC competitor Louisiana Energy Services on where to locate the plant has again been delayed as the consortium continues to review potential sites. LES, which met again Tuesday with Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials, had hoped to decide this week but now is unsure when it will name the winner. "Obviously, things haven't moved as quickly as we had hoped," said Peter Lenny, chief executive officer of European enrichment firm Urenco's United States subsidiary. He declined to say when a decision would be made but restated plans to file an application by December with the NRC to build a gas centrifuge plant that would be in commercial operation by 2008, about two years earlier than USEC's. The enrichment corporation, which also has a December application target, plans to build a gas centrifuge plant either in Paducah or Piketon, Ohio. Last week, Rod Krich — vice president of licensing for consortium member Exelon, a large nuclear power firm and one of USEC's largest customers — described Paducah as a serious contender among eight to 12 sites nationwide. Although some news accounts have said the field is down to three, Lenny would not say Tuesday whether the list has been shortened or whether Paducah is still on it. "We just prefer not to say anything until we're ready to say something in a very positive way," Lenny said. According to NRC records, LES told the commission March 19 that it would build the plant on an existing nuclear site and that the selection would "address low seismic hazard, no previous contamination, moderate climate and redundant high quality electrical supplies." While Kentucky's climate is moderate and it has some of the lowest power costs in the nation, the Paducah plant is heavily contaminated and sits over the New Madrid Fault. Lenny and Krich would not say this week whether those issues hurt or helped Paducah's standing, although Krich said the eight to 12 sites were picked before seismic concerns were addressed. The threat of an earthquake is a serious consideration for any site because it increases the design and construction costs of a centrifuge facility, they said. "Seismic is an important criterion, because when you have a centrifuge spinning and it suddenly starts shaking around, that would be a problem," Krich said. The 40-foot-tall devices use centrifugal force to produce nuclear fuel material by separating the useful and non-useful isotopes of uranium hexafluoride, or UF. They use about a third of the electricity of outdated gaseous diffusion, which does the work via miles of pressurized piping. Last week, USEC signed an agreement with its landlord, the Department of Energy, to have a commercial centrifuge plant running at Piketon by 2009 or Paducah by 2010. The agreement gives USEC first rights to non-leased DOE land at Piketon or Paducah for use in developing centrifuge. Lenny said he is aware of the wording but declined to say whether it has affected site selection. "All I can say is, LES continues to be confident that we can deploy the technology." USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said the wording is essentially the same as in 1996 federal legislation that privatized USEC and in its lease agreements with the Energy Department. "That means if a third party, say a shoe plant, wished to lease space on the DOE reservation, DOE would first offer the space to USEC to lease before leasing it to the third party," she said. Stuckle said USEC is not opposed to a third-party lease that doesn't interfere with its business operations. She would not address how that might apply to the consortium's efforts. LES is trying to add competition to the domestic enrichment market to keep USEC from controlling prices. Members of a local nuclear energy task force have expressed hope that Exelon and financially troubled USEC will eventually join in building a centrifuge plant. Otherwise, if LES picks a site other than Paducah and USEC eventually opts for Piketon — which has a mothballed centrifuge building — Paducah will lose on both counts, they say. "That's too iffy to go into at this time," USEC Communications Vice President Charles Yulish said. "That (LES) project has always been iffy, and we're moving ahead." ***************************************************************** 40 County sends for Yucca help - Inyo Register: By Kevin McCormick June 18, 2002 Inyo's position on proposed nuclear waste storage site sent to Senators Feinstein and Boxer By Kevin McCormick The Inyo County Board of Supervisors sent letters requesting support for Nevada's Yucca Mountain veto to California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein earlier this month, stating that the finding of site suitability was "premature", due to unresolved hydrology and transportation issues. Approved on June 4, the letters briefly detail to both Senators why Inyo County hopes they will support the veto, which could be overridden as soon as July, through S.J. Res. 34. S.J. Res. 34, which has already made it past the Senate Energy Conunittee is "a resolution to override the State of Nevada veto of the Yucca Mountain repository," the letter says. Inyo County drafted and sent the letter at the request of Senator Feinstein's office, explained Inyo County Yucca Mountain Assessment Office Project Coordinator Andrew Remus. Boxer has already made her opinion known on the use of Yucca Mountain as nuclear waste storage. In a statement last January she called Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's site recommendation a "terrible and costly mistake." This was prior to President Bush's recommendation of the same. According to Remus, 12 sites were originally chosen as possible permanent waste sites in the early eighties, and by 1987, the field was narrowed to three, one in Washington state, one in Texas, and Yucca Mountain. "'Under the Nuclear Waste Act, Yucca Mountain was the only site to be further analyzed," Remus said, explaining that the DOE cited, among other things, site remoteness and the lack of nearby aboveground water. But while Yucca may sit in a desert, the letter said and Remus reiterated, underground water could conceivably be affected, and surface in Inyo County. Groundwater travel times and flow direction are two issues that require more study, the letter states. A primary transportation route to Yucca Mountain runs through Inyo County and the impacts on the highway system have not yet been addressed, the letter continues. "Until these impacts ... have been addressed, the proposal cannot be placed in the context necessary to support a siting decision," it says. Inyo has found an ally, it seems, in the United States Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, which in its most recent reports, Remus said, found the technical basis for Yucca Mountain to be "weak to moderate." Remus explained that Inyo County has requested studies from the department of energy to evaluate and address these concerns. "Through the NEPA process, we requested that the Department of Energy, do further study of the hydrologic system and transportation," Remus said. "The county feels that the entire site recommendation process is premature." Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Nevada had one opportunity to veto President Bush's recommendation, which they took. Congress can then override that veto, but, according to Remus, it must be overridden in both houses of Congress. Fifty-one votes will be needed to decline the veto in the Senate, Remus explained. "If the anti-Yucca mountain contingent doesn't round up 51 votes to decline the override, the project goes forward," he said. Even if the project goes forward, it will still be subject to annual appropriations in Congress, said Remus, unless they take the repository off the budget. The Yucca Mountain Project, two decades old and counting, has found opposition from groups and leaders across the Western United States, including Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman, Nevada Senator Harry Reid, Boxer and the Utah State Congress, which drafted a resolution against Yucca Mountain last March. The proposed proj ect has taken a beating in the media as well. Scientists recently told the Los Angeles Times that it's not a question of if the repository would leak, it's a question of when. "They don't know of any way to design a corrosion proof canister," Remus explained. Any nuclear waste repository, he added, has to be projected to hold for 10,000 years before it can be approved. An alternative to the central storage location, Remus said, is destroying the waste at the plant where it was used, a technology that already exists. "A number of reactor sites are actually going to that because delays have caused real problems to power generators," Remus explained. Proponents say, however, that Yucca Mountain will hold, and that one centralized storage unit would be far safer than the temporary sites where waste is currently stored across the country, especially after the events of last Sept. 11. Remus doesn't buy the latter statement. "A comprehensive risk assessment hasn't been done to decide whether a central repository equates to less over-all risk," he said. "That's a hard thing to quantify,, especially in the post 9/11 era." If one examines how the transfer to Yucca would function, Remus said, the fuel rods would be transferred to above ground storage at their current sites, then to above ground temporary, storage at Yucca Mountain, and finally underground. "There will obviously be a reduction in targets, but we're not getting anything significant for decades." "That situation won't change for a long time," he said. "Let's not muddle the Yucca Mountain discussion with a national security discussion." When one adds in the necessity of transporting the waste from around the country to Yucca Mountain, Remus indicated, it turns into trading risk for more risk. "It's one of, those highly malleable issues," he said ***************************************************************** 41 N-waste transport is safe* deseretnews.com Opinion Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Politicians have a good time scaring us about the dangers of transporting and retaining nuclear waste, thus preventing any rational solution to this problem ("Just say no to Yucca, Rocky says," May 22 ). A central underground federal facility to hold spent nuclear fuel is an absolute requirement for comprehensive national energy and security policies. Keeping the material at 131 less secure above-ground sites around the country is deliberately inviting serious trouble. With additional anti-terrorism recommendations recently published by the National Academy of Engineering and the former director of the National Transportation Safety Board, waste transportation by the proposed Yucca Mountain opening date of 2010 will undoubtedly be far safer than just driving your car home from work ? if proper procedures are followed. Clearly, acceptable anti-terrorist transportation procedures would include numerous alternate paths and avoidance of population centers. Yes, there is great political hay to be made from dredging up Frankenstein monsters and calling them nuclear waste. But this is no way for responsible public representatives to behave. *Kevan Crawford, Ph.D. * Salt Lake City © 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 42 Summary of the Next Steps at Yucca Project White Pine County, Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office Online Information Center Summary of the Next Steps In the Yucca Mountain Project Site Recommendation Process 1/10/02 Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham notified Governor Guinn and the Nevada Legislature of his intent to recommend approval of the Yucca Mountain Site for development of a repository. (Sec. 114(a)(1) NWPA, as amended) No sooner than 30 days following notification of Governor and Legislature, Secretary of energy shall submit to the President a recommendation regarding the Yucca Mountain Site. (Sec. 114 (a)(1) NWPA, as amended) 2/9/02 Earliest date Secretary of Energy could submit recommendation of the Yucca Mountain site to the President. (Sec. 114 (a)(1) NWPA, as amended) Secretary of Energy recommendation must be accompanied by a comprehensive statement of the basis of such recommendation including: A description of the proposed repository, including preliminary engineering specifications for the facility; A description of the waste form or packaging proposed for use at such repository, and an explanation of the relationship between such waste form or packaging and the geologic medium of such site; A discussion of data, obtained in site characterization activities, relating to the safety of such site; A final environmental impact statement prepared pursuant to Sec. 114 (f) of the NWPA, as amended, and the National Environmental Policy Act, together with comments made concerning such environmental impact statement by the Secretary of the Interior, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Preliminary Comments of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission concerning the extent to which the at-depth site characterization analysis and the waste form proposal for such site seem to be sufficient for inclusion in any application to be submitted by the Secretary of Energy for licensing of such a site for a repository; The views and comments of the Governor and Legislature, together with the response of the Secretary to such views; Such other information as the Secretary considers appropriate; and Any impact report submitted under Sec. 116(c)(2)(B) by the State of Nevada. Section 114 (f) of the NWPA, as amended, states that "A final environmental impact statement prepared by the Secretary under such Act shall accompany any recommendation to the President to approve a site for a repository." 2/14/02 Secretary of Energy formally submitted his site recommendation to President Bush. (Sec. 114 (a)(1) NWPA, as amended) 2/15/02 If, after recommendation by the Secretary, the President considers the Yucca Mountain site qualified for application for a construction authorization for a repository, the President shall submit a recommendation of such site to the Congress. The President submitted his recommendation on February 15th. (Sec. 114(a)(2)(A) NWPA, as amended). No recommendation of a site by the President shall require the preparation of an environmental impact statement (Sec. 114(a)(3)(B), as amended). 4/9/02 Governor Guinn submitted a notice of disapproval to the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate. The notice included a statement of reasons for the disapproval (Sec. 116(b)(2)NWPA, as amended). 4/24/02 House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee voted 24-2 to approve Yucca Mountain for a repository. 5/8/02 House of Representatives voted 306-117 to override Governor Guinn's veto. 5/16/02 - 5/23/02 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold hearings to receive testimony on S. J. Res. 34 and consider the President's recommendation of Yucca Mountain and Governor Guinn's objections. 6/5/02 The Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-10 to override Governor Guinn's Veto and send a Yucca Mountain resolution to the Senate floor. 7/25/02 (tentative) Senate deadline for acting on Yucca Mountain Designation (Sec 115(c) NWPA, as amended). Fall 2002 (tentative) If the site designation is permitted to take effect, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission an application for a construction authorization for a repository not later than 90 days after the date on which the recommendation of the site designation is effective (Sec. 114(b) NWPA, as amended). ***************************************************************** 43 Public institute ordered to move radioactive soil* Wednesday, June 26, 2002 ** TOTTORI (Kyodo) The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute received a court order Tuesday to remove uranium-contaminated soil it abandoned in the prefecture about 40 years ago. A residents' association in the town of Togo filed a suit with the Tottori District Court in 2000, demanding that the government-affiliated institute remove the radioactive soil it left in the Katamo district. Tottori Prefecture and Togo have assumed the judicial costs and are backing the suit. In 1988, it was revealed soil the institute had mined for uranium from 1958 to 1963 around the Ningyo Toge pass near the border between Tottori and Okayama prefectures was left in the district. According to the appeal, the residents' association agreed in 1990 with the predecessor of the institute, the now-disbanded Power Reactor & Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., that the corporation would remove about 3,000 cu. meters of high-level radioactive soil out of a total of about 16,000 cu. meters abandoned in the area. The soil to be removed emitting five times the annual allowable level of radioactivity. The institute had planned to take the soil to its research facility in Okayama Prefecture. But when the prefecture strongly opposed the plan, the issue became deadlocked. The residents' association and the institute were mainly disputing the wording that was used in the letter of agreement, which said, "The removal will be carried out with the cooperation of concerned municipalities." The association claimed that the wording failed to take into consideration the agreement of local municipalities accepting the soil, while the institute argued that the agreement of Okayama Prefecture and other concerned local municipalities was a precondition for the removal. In handing down the ruling, presiding Judge Koji Naito termed the institute's administration of the removal insufficient, given that more than 10 years have passed since the agreement was concluded. "At the time of the agreement, it was not assumed that the removal would be postponed for a number of years," Naito said. The court was packed with local residents and supporters of the association, prompting the judge to take the unusual move of letting some people stand to listen to the ruling. *The Japan Times: June 26, 2002* (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 44 Russia: Jailed journalist appeals spying charges Mail&Guardian Online Friday, July 5, 2002 Moscow /25 June 2002 10:16/ Russia's Supreme Court began deliberating on an appeal by jailed journalist, Grigory Pasko, against a spying conviction imposed for what campaigners say were legitimate whistle-blowing activities. Reporters were allowed briefly into the courthouse on Tuesday before the closed-door hearings got under way to reconsider a conviction branded by Pasko's defenders as the product of "pressure from the FSB", the Russian security services. A ruling was expected later in the day. Pasko, a 40-year-old former reporter for the newspaper of the Russian Pacific Fleet, was sentenced to four years imprisonment in December 2001 for illegally collecting classified information on navy manoeuvres with the aim of passing it on to Japanese media. Environmental protection and human rights groups said the conviction was motivated by "political reprisal" for a 1993 expose he wrote of the Russian navy dumping nuclear waste in the Pacific. Calling for the hearings to be made public, Pasko's lawyer, Genry Reznik, said the defence was "convinced that there is nothing secret involved in this case, and we are not going to reveal anything that the court could describe as state secrets". Military prosecutor, Igor Murashkin, insisted the hearings should be held behind closed doors, and was backed by the court president who said that "issues relating to state secrets could be mentioned during the hearings". Pasko was represented in court by three defence lawyers. The court, however, ruled that the president of the Russian PEN Club, defending media rights, could attend the hearings as a representative of civil society. The court decision on whether to confirm Pasko's conviction, to maintain or amend his sentence, to refer the case back to a lower court or to acquit him will be taken by three judges. Pasko is currently imprisoned in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East. He has consistently denied the charge against him and accused the FSB of forging evidence against him. States. - Sapa-AFP INTERNATIONAL NEWS | ***************************************************************** 45 AU: N-ships 'welcome in Brisbane' news.com.au - By Paul Osborne THE Queensland government will encourage nuclear warships, as well as cruise ships, to use a new terminal planned for Brisbane. Construction company Multiplex was today named the preferred developer for the proposed $140 million Portside Wharf, to be built on the Brisbane River at Hamilton. State Development Minister Tom Barton said visiting nuclear warships would have substantial economic spin-offs. "In Townsville several weeks ago, there was a United States aircraft carrier and you couldn't move for the thousands of sailors and marines," Mr Barton said. "They were in every cafe, every restaurant and every ice-cream shop. "I think it's important for us that we do attract warships and our allies to visit for their R and R. "While we would prefer not to have nuclear weapons or nuclear capacity around Brisbane, I think in terms of the US Navy, they have always made it very clear they would neither confirm nor deny whether they are carrying nuclear capacity." Mr Barton said the wharf would be built with private money, at no cost to the taxpayer. Multiplex was shortlisted for the project alongside an Ariadne Australia-Watpac consortium, and a bid by Australand with the Walter Construction Group. Portside Wharf will include a cruise terminal for ships up to 76,000 tonnes, a 350-unit residential development and retail space, employing almost 500 people. Mr Barton said that pending successful contract talks over the next few months, construction would start next year, with the project expected to be finished in mid-2004. He said the government would consider proposals for further cruise terminals in regional cities such as Cairns, Townsville and the Gold Coast, but they would have to "stack up" financially. The state government is working on a strategy to secure more cruise ship visits, estimated to be worth a potential $80 million a year to the Queensland tourism industry. AAP ***************************************************************** 46 Ben-Eliezer: World ignoring Iranian nuclear threat The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition Jun. 26, 2002 By TOVAH LAZAROFF Among the elements threatening to destabilize the region is an expected US attack on Iraq, the build-up of nuclear weapons in Iran, Hizbullah's conventional military arsenal, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors last night in Jerusalem. Once the US focuses on destroying Iraq, Israel will be one of Iraq's first retaliatory targets, Ben-Eliezer said, and they have the weapons to do us harm. Israel is working with the US to overcome any damage from such an attack, Ben-Eliezer said. However, Iran, which borders Iraq, also has missiles. They can reach almost anywhere in Israel, most notably the densely-populated center of the country, Ben-Eliezer said. Iran will have nuclear capability within three or four years, the defense minister noted. "The whole world is sleeping while Iran builds a core nuclear infrastructure that is going to do something bad to the interests of the world," Ben-Eliezer added. Hizbullah has grown from a tiny terrorist organization to one that has 10,000 katyushas and hundreds of long-range missiles and rockets. They are supported by Syria and are one of the main terror threats today. "They are trying to escalate the situation in the North and we are doing everything not to let that happen," Ben-Eliezer said. "The strategy of restraint is a must. We want to concentrate on the struggle with the Palestinians." It's clear that Arafat is trying to escalate the conflict with Israel into a regional one, Ben-Eliezer said. The leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt believe this is Arafat's intention. "What worries Egypt and Saudi Arabia today are internal problems as the result of the struggle that is happening here, and their consequences upon the stability of the Middle East. They are worried about the Iranian connection. There is a connection between Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, and the Palestinians that could crush Middle East stability," Ben-Eliezer said. He believes US President George W. Bush was correct in telling Syria to stop backing terrorist organizations and in particular Hizbullah. He added that he spoke last week with the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was concerned about the regional conflicts because 82 percent of all industry there is dependent on Middle Eastern oil. "Increasingly, Europe and Japan realize that the game Arafat is leading might damage the oil producers," Ben-Eliezer. There is room for cooperation between the US, Europe, Russia, and some Arab countries, all of whom want the region to remain stable, Ben-Eliezer said. "More and more they realize that Arafat is the obstacle and not the solution. More and more nations realize that this is not a conflict just between Israel and the Palestinians, but one that has damaging consequences for the security of the region," Ben-Eliezer said. In fighting the Palestinians, Israel has a very strong army, but its aircraft and tanks do not help it against the suicide bombers, the defense minister said, citing a macabre joke that it's easier to find a man or woman to volunteer to be a suicide bomber than it is to find the explosives with which to arm them. Ben-Eliezer said he viewed the speech Bush gave Monday very positively, particularly his focus on the need for a change in Palestinian leadership and the imperative to dismantle terrorist organizations. It must be the start of any negotiation process, Ben-Eliezer said. "But we should not forget that the president spoke of two nations, the Palestinians and the Israelis. Most of my life has been spent in the military and I can tell you one thing: there is no military solution to this problem. Militarily we are doing quite well... But at the end of the day and I do not know which day we are talking about we have to sit down at the table and negotiate an agreement between both sides. Those who try to ignore that reality are wasting their time. We can not ignore the fact that we are two people living on the same piece of ground," Ben-Eliezer said. Arafat can not be the one that sits down to conduct those negotiations. "Arafat has chosen terror as the main channel to achieve his dream," Ben-Eliezer said. But there are other more reasonable Palestinians who can become the leaders, and when they step forward, Israel is willing to sit down and begin negotiations to come to a solution acceptable to both sides, he added. © 1995-2002, The Jerusalem Post ***************************************************************** 47 Guest editorial: A nuclear Japan? [http://www.naplesnews.com/] Naples Daily News] Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Toledo Blade Japan's consistent post-World War II position of opposition to nuclear weapons is now being called into question in Japanese government and opposition political circles. Three related reasons seem to lie behind the review — a slight resurgence of militarism as a function of national pride, doubt about American security guarantees, and Japanese perceptions of more relaxed U.S. attitudes toward nuclear-weapons capacity after Sept. 11. Japan's consistent post-World War II position of opposition to nuclear weapons is now being called into question in Japanese government and opposition political circles. Three related reasons seem to lie behind the review — a slight resurgence of militarism as a function of national pride, doubt about American security guarantees, and Japanese perceptions of more relaxed U.S. attitudes toward nuclear-weapons capacity after Sept. 11. The world's second-biggest economy and a technically advanced nation, Japan remains a non-nuclear power in an Asia that includes nuclear-armed China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Russia. It is not for lack of capacity. Japan is judged to have enough plutonium from its nuclear power plants for thousands of nuclear warheads. Rockets from its space program could be modified into missile launchers. Japan, of course, is the only nation to have been attacked with nuclear weapons in war. That experience lies at the basis of a policy, considered in Japan to have virtual constitutional status, known as the three non-nuclear principles — no ownership, no production, and no presence of nuclear weapons on Japanese territory. That policy has been called into question, an issue raised publicly by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's top aide and by an important opposition leader. Mr. Koizumi stated at the end of the day that he had no intention of changing the three principles, but the question has nonetheless been raised. Reaction from China and South Korea, victims of Japanese aggression in the 1930s and 1940s, was sharply negative. U.S.-Japanese relations enter into the equation. The Japanese realize that with the old Soviet Union no longer U.S. enemy No. 1, their own role as a platform for U.S. military attention to Russia's eastern flank has become less important in overall U.S. defense calculations, raising doubts about U.S. willingness to defend it in case of attack. Meanwhile, China becomes stronger and the United States has accepted the existence of India's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons programs. The Japanese thus ask themselves why they should continue to stay out of the nuclear club. ***************************************************************** 48 Public to DOE: Remember us 06/26/02 The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- The Department of Energy's Environmental Management Waste Management Facility will initially hold up to 400,000 cubic yards of waste, including low-level radioactive, mixed, hazardous and polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated materials from cleanup efforts on the Oak Ridge Reservation. DOE has several cleanup projects going on in Oak Ridge, and the federal agency is working on a plan to accelerate some of those efforts. -- Photo by Lynn Freeney /DOE by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff That was just one of the messages some community members delivered to the Department of Energy during a meeting Tuesday night at Jacobs Technical Center. Around 70 people attended the event on the federal agency's plan for accelerating the cleanup of some high-risk Oak Ridge sites. Lorene Sigal, an Oak Ridge resident, suggested that whoever drafted documents associated with the accelerated cleanup program was oblivious to stakeholder input. This is a problem that several local oversight groups have recently noted. "This doesn't give me a very comfortable feeling," Sigal said. Gerald Boyd, DOE's assistant manager for Environmental Management in Oak Ridge, said he understands Sigal's concern. However, he chalked up the lack of public input to "strict guidelines" and a fast-paced work schedule in getting a proposal and plan together to participate in the accelerated cleanup program. "There was never any intent to ignore stakeholders or the general public," said Boyd, adding that DOE has every intent to use what the community has to offer. Sigal also asked Boyd if DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office had been successful in convincing DOE headquarters that progress has been made locally in cleanup efforts. Current Oak Ridge cleanup efforts were labeled "mediocre" in a comprehensive review that DOE headquarters did of its Environmental Management program. For one thing, Oak Ridge has focused on the "easy work," not on higher-risk activities, according to the review, which essentially spawned the accelerated cleanup program. "We have done a lot," Sigal said. Boyd responded by saying moving forward is the best thing to do. "Looking back probably won't help us," Boyd said. Bill Pardue, an Oak Ridge resident, quizzed officials on how DOE and its regulators -- the state of Tennessee and the Environmental Protection Agency -- came to such a quick agreement on the accelerated cleanup plan. The whole process took around two months. John Owsley, director of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's DOE oversight division, addressed that question by saying that the agreements, for the most part, were in place and that they just needed commitment from DOE. Oak Ridge's plan places an emphasis on accelerating the cleanup of two high-risk areas -- the Oak Ridge K-25 site, which was built in the 1940s to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons, and the Melton Valley waste burial grounds at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Norman Mulvenon, who serves on a couple of environmental oversight groups, pointed out that Oak Ridge had requested $165 million from the accelerated cleanup program for fiscal year 2003, but got only $105 million. Boyd said DOE's regulators believe the federal agency should be able to work with $105 million. "This is a number we can live with," said Boyd, who indicated that the $165 million figure is an "initial, unscrubbed" number. "We truly believe we can hit the ground running in October (the start of fiscal year 2003)." DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office has to submit a draft plan for the cleanup work to headquarters by July 15, with a final version due by Aug. 1. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 49 DOE PROPOSES TO SPEND $17 MILLION IN TAXPAYER FUNDS TO CREATE MORE RADIOACTIVE WASTE NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE Paul Michael 2 127 2002-06-26T17:16:00Z 2002-06-26T17:16:00Z 2 718 4094 NIRS 1424 16TH STREET NW SUITE 404, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 202.328.0002; f: 202.462.2183; www.nirs.org [http://www.nirs.org/] ; nirsnet@nirs.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 26, 2002 CONTACT: Michael Mariotte or Paul Gunter 202-328-0002 The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) today strongly criticized the Department of Energy (DOE) as reckless and wasteful in the wake of Secretary Spencer Abraham’s decision to provide a $17-million dollar spending spree to three private nuclear power utilities to seek permits to build new atomic reactors in Virginia, Illinois and Mississippi.  The DOE proposes that taxpayers give handouts to support multi-billion dollar corporations, including Dominion Resources, Exelon Corp. and Entergy Corp. to pay for their application fees to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build new nuclear reactors at their North Anna, Clinton, and Grand Gulf nuclear power sites, respectively.    “It’s an old story,” said Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of NIRS. “When the nuclear industry won’t risk its own money, it lobbies the DOE and Congress to pour more taxpayer money into this bottomless hole.” Mariotte also termed the new DOE program a slap-in-the-face to those trying to adopt a responsible nuclear waste program for the United States. “DOE’s effort to promote building new reactors without a scientifically sound nuclear waste management strategy is irresponsible to current and future Americans,” said Mariotte. “It is the height of arrogance for Secretary Abraham to hand out taxpayer money to expand the same nuclear industry that poses radioactive transport risks to millions of Americans,” said Mariotte. “Even as the U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada—Secretary Abraham is giving the go-ahead to create still more atomic waste, without the slightest idea of how we are going to care for this most lethal of substances. Yucca Mountain is not large enough to handle even the waste the current generation of nuclear reactors will create; how can Secretary Abraham justify spending taxpayer dollars on creating yet more waste that would have no disposal site?” said Mariotte. Of all the energy sources in the United States, the nuclear power industry is the most heavily subsidized, historically receiving the lion’s share of all federal energy research and development dollars since 1948—yet it still produces only 20% of the nation’s capacity.  The industry continues to receive limited liability coverage under the federal Price-Anderson Act as no commercial insurer will take on the catastrophic accident risk. The commercial nuclear reactor business has been moribund for years, with no private utility willing to risk its own money on new reactor construction--no new reactor orders have been placed since 1978 with no reactors ordered after 1973 ever completed. “Since September 11, how can any utility in its right mind think of building new reactors, which present new targets for terrorism,” said Paul Gunter, Director of the NIRS Reactor Watchdog Project. “Short of building a military base around the reactor, the real cost of adequate security alone makes new nuclear power plants unacceptable.”  While the nuclear industry and its proponents tout new designs as “inherently safe,” a closer look reveals designs that are more vulnerable to the new threat of terrorism. Exelon’s now-abandoned Pebble Bed Module Reactor (PBMR) had eliminated its containment structure to save on construction costs. The Westinghouse AP-600 and AP-1000 reactors, both advanced pressurized-water-reactor designs, utilize containment structures just 2 ½ feet thick, making them less costly but extremely vulnerable to terrorist attack.  The Westinghouse designs’ passive safety feature for the Emergency Core Cooling System, relying upon gravity rather than pumps and motors, sits its water storage tank vulnerably on the top of the reactor structure outside primary containment. “The “early site permit” process that DOE is proposing to fund won’t even include the reactor design that the utilities will choose to build,” said Gunter. “Indeed, the utilities involved are loathe to admit they even want to build new reactors. But either DOE is giving this money to encourage new reactor construction—despite the security, safety and waste problems of nuclear power--or the utilities involved are just looking for some quick millions of dollars of taxpayer money to pad their books. Either way, this program is unacceptable and we, and grassroots activists in all of these areas, will not rest until this program is ended forever.” -30- ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************