***************************************************************** 10/29/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.279 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 FTW: Wheels Come Off U.S. War Plans For Iraq 2 North Korea Rejects Demands to Abandon Nuclear Program 3 Economic bait dangled at North* 4 Famine looms once again for North Korea* 5 China to aid Pak in setting up nuclear power plant 6 Arms Inspectors Back Tough Terms to Pressure Iraq 7 The five permanent council members are still divided 8 Iraq Wants Independent Monitoring of Inspectors 9 *OP-ED: *Daniel Ellsberg?s Iraq scenario 10 US: Sense and nonsense about self-defense when proof is needed 11 UK: George Monbiot: Do as we say, not as we do 12 European Union Prepares for Terror 13 US: Feds Want Terror Report Kept Secret 14 Inspectors Back Tough Line on Iraq 15 Japan: N.Korea Won't Abandon Program 16 N. Koreans Learning From Neighbors 17 Japan and NK Resume Normalization Talks in Malaysia 18 NK Rejects Nuclear Talks with Japan 19 U.S. knew about 'secret' nuclear program 20 Japan ed: Tokyo must remain firm with Pyongyang. 21 NK: The Greatest Threat 22 Perils of a one-superpower world (VERY GOOD) 23 Kim urges U.S. to continue building reactors in N.K. NUCLEAR REACTORS 24 US: Yankee restarts 25 Pickering delay irks energy minister * 26 Canada: Three reactors could be closed* 27 US: NRC Approves Transfer of Operating License for Seabrook to FPL 28 US: NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet November 7 29 US: *TVA looking for money to restart nuclear plant* 30 US: Group sues nuke plant on Hudson over water 31 US: Fact-finders may take look at Davis-Besse 32 US: Ralph Besse is dead; talented farmer's son backed nuclear power 33 US: JCPB votes to participate in Alabama project 34 US: TVA financial tactic to open Browns Ferry 35 US: NC regulators approve $25 million settlement with Duke 36 MDS Nordion's MAPLE 1 Reactor Authorized for Low-power Commissioning 37 US: St Lucie Plant vows to reduce radiation exposure 38 US: Reactor will be back in service next year after repairs 39 Canada: Power 'fix' costs $1B extra 40 CANADA: Three reactors could be closed NUCLEAR SAFETY 41 US: Atomic Vet Lyerly is denied compensation once again* 42 US: Checks coming in for ex-workers with illnesses linked to test si 43 US: Results of radiation detection effort will take several months. 44 US: Former Westinghouse employees want to be on nuclear list NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 45 Russia: Why mountains matter (site of dozens of N-dumps) 46 Elizabeth Dowdeswell to Lead Study of Approaches to Manage Used Nucl 47 Sellafield as risky to Irish as it is to Cumbrians 48 Canada: Undersea weapon dumps a worry NUCLEAR WEAPONS 49 Echoing Bush, Putin Vows Expansive Effort Against Terror 50 Time to free Vanunu 51 Iraq Talks to Resume at U.N. 52 Nuclear bombing for the beginner US DEPT. OF ENERGY 53 Benton delays decision on backing FFTF 54 Bechtel lays off 100 craft workers 55 Mid-Columbia looks beyond cleanup 56 Commission takes on fight to save FFTF 57 Activists will attend SRS nuclear meeting OTHER NUCLEAR 58 Hyde Urges Bush to Help Oust Venezuelan President 59 China's shift to multilateralism ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 FTW: Wheels Come Off U.S. War Plans For Iraq Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 00:00:31 -0600 (CST) Posting to Headlines Wire of Scoop Article: www.UnansweredQuestions.org Date: Tuesday, 29 October 2002 Time: 5:28 pm NZT UQ Wire: Wheels Come Off U.S. War Plans For Iraq Unanswered Questions: Thinking For Ourselves Presented by http://www.unansweredquestions.org/ Wheels Come Off U.S. War Plans For Iraq Administration Making Riskier, More Volatile Moves to Begin "All or Nothing" Gamble for Iraqi Oilfields From: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/102802_wheels.html by Michael C. Ruppert 10/28/02 **************** INSIDE THIS REPORT: * Reported Coup Attempt in Qatar Threatens Base * Worldwide Attacks on U.S. Interests * Massive Domestic/International Protests * U.N./Foreign Political Opposition Proves Effective **************** Oct. 28, 2002, 18:30 PST (FTW) -- All over the world, both internationally and here at home, the wheels are coming off of the Bush Administration's plans for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. And Bush Administration responses to recent events appear to be moving a tense international situation into a new phase where chaotic, scattered and increasingly bloody violence may spread risk to civilian populations and the estimated 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. troops that have been forward-deployed in anticipation of the attacks for months. U.S. troop deployments in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Djibouti, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and a Kurdish controlled region of northern Iraq -- once offensive staging points or strategic postings -- are now becoming vulnerable defensive liabilities as world sentiment mounts against the U.S. invasion. Britain is also reported to have troop deployments in Oman on the Southeast tip of the Arabian Peninsula. At stake is a nation which holds 11 percent of the world's oil and which is one of only two nations capable of quickly increasing production in time to avert a major economic collapse for the U.S. A recently reported coup attempt in Qatar, perhaps the most vital country to a successful U.S. invasion plan, has raised serious questions about whether the administration can afford to wait much longer without risking the entire collapse of both its prestige and a plan which has recently been shown to be years in the making. The assassination today of the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Amman, Jordan follows on the heels of recent attacks in Kuwait, the Philippines, South Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bali, most of which have been reportedly linked to terrorist organizations sympathetic with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. An interpretation not offered by the administration, but which has been voiced by some Islamic foreign nationals contacted by FTW, is that the flimsy justification for invasion offered by the U.S., along with what is perceived as successful international opposition leading to vacillation by the administration, have encouraged attacks from some quarters that have had minimal or no connections to Al Qaeda. These events are reminiscent of a warning issued by Pentagon hawk, Richard Perle, who stated in an Aug. 18 Washington Post story, "Timing is everything when you do this. If you launched [a public campaign] too far in advance and nothing followed, that would raise questions and fuel a debate that would not be helpful to the administration...If you join the debate now, but don't act for months, you pay a worse price." Perle's prediction is coming true just two months after he made it. In spite of routine denials USAID has regularly been linked to the Central Intelligence Agency and has reportedly served as a cover for CIA operations. Jordan remains a particularly sensitive country for the U.S. because of its geographic position between Israel and Iraq, its perceived status as a U.S. ally, and the fact that as many as 6,000 U.S. troops have been positioned in Jordan since late-August in anticipation of the U.S. invasion. FTW reported on Aug. 21 that the total number of U.S. troops, as reported by the Jordanian news agency Petra and other Mid East news sources had topped 6,000 and included light armor, medical detachments and Special Forces troops. An on-the-record eyewitness statement confirmed visual sightings of U.S. troops in the country. [For additional coverage on troop deployments and war plans please visit: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/082102_deployment.html.] Jordan, like many other countries in the region, has been sending ambiguous signals about the role it will or will not play in the U.S. invasion. These mixed and often changing positions, shifting like the sands of the desert, clearly reflect the tectonic pressures that are mounting in the region each day that an invasion is not executed. A Reuters story on Aug. 12 indicated that Jordan was being considered as a launch point for the Iraqi invasion at a time when the Jordanian military was engaging in joint exercises with U.S. troops. However, a July 10 Associated Press story indicated that Jordan would not participate in any U.S.-led invasion. Amid repeated stories that the U.S. intends to "Balkanize" the region, splitting Iraq and possibly Saudi Arabia into several kingdoms divided between Hashemite, Sunni Arab, Kurdish and Shiite ethnic groups, tensions between Muslim countries in the region have been steadily mounting. [For more information: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/082102_saudi_arabia_1.html]. On Oct. 22 Reuters reported that a Jordanian journalist had been sentenced to death in Qatar for allegedly spying for Jordan and reporting on U.S. troop deployments in that country. Qatar is home to the multi-billion-dollar, state-of-the-art Al Udeid air base. According to numerous press reports and published photographs, Qatar is virtually sinking under the weight of U.S. military equipment, including M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, which have been positioned there for the Iraqi invasion. That move came after Jordan recalled its ambassador in August from Doha, the Qatari capital, and closed the Amman offices of Al Jazeera, the feisty Arab news organization based in Qatar. ********************* A COUP ATTEMPT IN QATAR? On Oct. 16 the Arabic News issued a story stating that reports from Cairo and several Persian Gulf states had resulted in the Oct. 12 arrest of "scores of Qatari army officers" after an attempted coup by pro-Taliban elements against Qatari leader Sheikh Hamad bin Khaleifah al-Thani. The coup was reportedly suppressed with the assistance of "American personnel in civilian costumes." An Oct. 24 New York Times story clearly stated the Qatari position. It carried the headline: "A Tiny Gulf Kingdom Bets Its Stability on Support for U.S." Stories about the massive Al-Udeid air base and its intended use as the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command for the Iraqi invasion have been circulating for months. On Sept. 12th, the Washington Post's Vernon Loeb reported that Central Command had announced a plan to send 600 personnel in November from Florida to Qatar for a readiness test of the headquarters facility. A Reuters story dated just 10 days after the reported coup attempt stated that the planned exercise had been moved from November to an unspecified date in December. While making no mention of the coup attempt the story did state that, "The Gulf region is bristling with U.S. troops and weaponry." Upon learning of the coup attempt, FTW made an immediate request to the White House asking for comment. In a rare return call, which took place within two hours, a spokesperson for the National Security Council stated, "We [the NSC] are not even aware of a coup attempt. No comment." A spokesman for the Department of Defense said, "We don't know anything about any coup attempt, and U.S. forces were not involved." The subscription intelligence service Stratfor stated in an Oct. 24 story that it received confirmation of the coup attempt from Qatari and Russian intelligence sources. It also added some twists which indicate the quicksand-like nature of Middle Eastern alliances. Translating from the Egyptian daily al-Joumhoreyah, Stratfor reported that members of the Qatari ruling family had been taken into custody and that that they had recently expressed opposition to the regime's pro-U.S. policy. As it turns out Sheikh al-Thani took power in a bloodless coup in 1995 from his father who remains a good friend of Saudi Arabian elements that oppose the invasion of Iraq. Tensions between the two countries reached a high point in September when Riyadh recalled its ambassador from Doha. Saudi Arabia remains the ultimate ambiguity in its support for the U.S. invasion on a measure equal with glaring recent contradictions in stated U.S. support for the kingdom which contains 25 percent of all the oil on the planet. [For additional information: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/082102_saudi_arabia_1.html]. Withdrawal of support for the U.S. invasion in Qatar would most likely make the invasion of Iraq an impossibility. The support offered by other Middle Eastern nations, already under intense pressure from their populations, would likely evaporate completely. Even Turkey, a staunch NATO ally has been strongly signalling its reservations in recent weeks, and it is not capable of single-handedly hosting the invasion. ********************* DIPLOMATIC POWER PLAYS DEEPEN CRISIS Moves by Russia, France and China to delay a U.N. vote favorable to the U.S. plan have been extremely successful on the world stage. Prolonged negotiations and a delayed vote in the U.N. Security Council on a resolution needed by the Bush Administration to keep its fragile alliance together are producing responses from the administration that sound more like whining than leadership. Over the weekend, Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin arrived late -- a major diplomatic snub -- for a summit at President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch and failed to give him the endorsement for action against Iraq that Bush so desperately needs. This move apparently gave strength to continuing opposition from France and Russia in the U.N. Security Council. And the backroom arm-twisting, carrot-offering, wheeling and dealing of the administration to divide the spoils of an Iraqi conquest has also failed to produce the desired outcome: a global blessing for the Empire to do what it wants to do. [For additional information, please visit: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/101802_the_unseen.html.] American major media, trying desperately to put a positive spin on what is increasingly a major diplomatic defeat, continue to report that the U.N. is making progress in getting what it wants. But each minute of delay weakens the U.S. position economically, politically and militarily. Today the president was seen almost whining that the U.S. would act without U.N. approval if necessary even as CNN wrote, "The U.S. game plan on Iraq was encountering significant Security Council resistance." Bush's position today is on its face no different from what he said in his speech to the U.N. Sept. 12, yet no action has been taken. ********************* AT HOME AND ABROAD In the meantime major demonstrations took place on Oct. 26 all over the United States and around the world protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In Washington, D.C. a crowd estimated by police at in excess of 100,000 loudly protested the war on which the administration is betting all of its political chips. In San Francisco an estimated 75,000 people turned out while other large demonstrations were reported in cities all over the country. Following on the heels of previous anti-war crowds of 400,000 in London and more than 1 million in Italy, protestors filled the streets in Berlin, Frankfurt and Amsterdam to establish that the U.S. and the world are anything but united over this war. This is the first time in modern American history that there has been a vocal anti-war movement before the war even started. In Brazil yesterday, former Marxist and Workers' Party candidate Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva scored a landslide victory with 61 percent of the vote, becoming president of the largest democracy in South America. Da Silva's victory, another political slap in the face to the Bush Administration, follows on the heels of a second recent, failed coup attempt against Venezuela's independent President Hugo Chavez, an often vocal critic of many U.S. policies in South America. It is clear that global and domestic opposition to the invasion of Iraq is growing. But it is not a given that these developments have rendered the administration impotent or weakened its resolve. As FTW has been saying consistently since the administration took office -- and especially since 9-11 -- the degree of criminal, unconstitutional and aggressive behavior by the administration only serves to guarantee that its future moves will only be more illegal, more dangerous and more costly of human lives. Some activists and analysts have openly speculated that the recent tragic death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, perhaps the administration's most vocal and committed critic in the Senate, was a murder perpetrated by a ruthless regime capable of stealing a presidential election and complicit in allowing the attacks of 9-11 to take place in order to provide it with a pretext for what is happening now. [FTW will have a story on a number of major inconsistencies in the Wellstone tragedy sometime this week.] Last week this writer had conversations with two Democratic Party members of the House of Representatives and both unhesitatingly expressed their belief that Wellstone was probably murdered. Recently an anti-war activist was asked why no one was making a point of the now documented and glaring inconsistencies in the Bush Administration's actions, statements and conduct since the attacks of 9-11. "It's irrelevant," the activist said. An angry response came from the internet, "If you had paid attention to all the warnings and evidence of administration complicity in 9-11 we would not be looking at the coming murder of tens of thousands of people in the Middle East." The point, well taken, was that the people in control of the U.S. government are capable of anything. And while these recent developments show that the administration is not omnipotent, it does not make it any less dangerous, any less capable of horrific actions, either overseas or right here at home. And the rest of the world, following the U.S. example, is showing increasing signs of instability that could unleash a variety of conflicts, the outcomes of which cannot be predicted. ********************** [Copyright, 2000, From The Wilderness Publications, www.fromthewilderness.com. All rights reserved. May be copied, distributed or posted on the Internet for non-profit purposes only.] STANDARD DISCLAIMER FROM UQ.ORG: UnansweredQuestions.org does no necessarilyt endorse the views expressed in the above article. We present this in the interests of research -for the relevant information we believe it contains. We hope that the reader finds in it inspiration to work with us further, in helping to build bridges between our various investigative communities, towards a greater, common understanding of the unanswered questions which now lie before us. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Scoop website is at http://www.scoop.co.nz/ This Story is at http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0210/S00200.htm ***************************************************************** 2 North Korea Rejects Demands to Abandon Nuclear Program The New York Times October 29, 2002* *By HOWARD W. FRENCH* KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 29 ? North Korea flatly rejected international demands that it abandon its nuclear weapons program in the opening session of normalization talks with Japanese that began here today. The North Korean rejection, reflected in opening remarks and repeated during the first day of talks between the two countries, came just two days after the conclusion of consultations in Mexico between leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan, in which the three countries urged North Korea to unilaterally terminate its uranium-based bomb program. "Japan expressed grave concern on nuclear issues and we also referred to the statement issued last week by Japan, the United States and South Korea," a Japanese official here said. "To put it in one sentence, North Korea's response was they do not accept it at all." Even before the two-day talks opened here this morning, a North Korean diplomat, Jong Thae Hwa, signaled his delegation's unwillingness to discuss security issues with Japan, saying "we have come with no such preparations." In a brief exchange of greetings, Mr. Jong set the tone for two days of difficult talks, adding, "Although we gathered here for talks on normalizing ties, certainly, we are far apart." In a joint statement issued on the sidelines of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this weekend, the United States and its closest East Asian allies, South Korea and Japan, warned that "North Korea's relations with the international community now rest on North Korea's prompt and visible actions to dismantle its program to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons." Japanese diplomats said, however, that Mr. Jong blamed the United States' "hostile stance toward North Korea" for the region's security problems. The sudden entry of security issues, particularly questions about nuclear weapons, comes after the surprise admission by Pyongyang, during talks with the United States last month, that it had been developing nuclear arms in secret, through a process of uranium enrichment. The admission came after the United States confronted North Korea with intelligence evidence revealing the existence of the weapons program, which Washington said is in violation of a 1994 agreement between the two countries. Washington has since urged Japan and South Korea, as well as China, to help it apply "maximum pressure" on North Korea to force it to halt its uranium enrichment program. So far, however, none of North Korea's three neighbors has shown the kind of commitment that the Bush administration has sought on the nuclear issue. Indeed, South Korea, which under President Kim Dae Jung has become a major supplier of aid to North Korea, has issued statements in recent days casting doubts on American characterizations of Washington's recent conversations with North Korea. Since the beginning of secret talks between Japan and North Korea over a year ago, Tokyo has reportedly offered Pyongyang a huge amount of economic aid in exchange for normalized diplomatic relations. In the last week, however, senior Japanese officials have said that normalization talks with North Korea can only bear fruit if the country satisfies international concerns about its attempts to develop nuclear weapons. Regional political analysts say that message has been substantially muddled, however, by Japan's apparent prioritizing of what has come to be called the abduction issue. During a summit meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang last month, North Korea acknowledged the kidnapping of 13 citizens from Japan beginning in the late 1970's, for use in the country's spy training program. Mr. Kim acknowledged that 8 of the 13 are dead, and since the summit meeting has allowed the 5 survivors to visit Japan temporarily. This has fueled a groundswell of emotion in Japan over the stories of separated families and untold hardship, and, significantly, fanning the first serious criticism within Japan of Mr. Koizumi's diplomacy. *Continued* 1 | 2 Copyright The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 3 Economic bait dangled at North* *by Kim Young-sae * Octorber 29, 2002 Twenty-one leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting nudged North Korea to abandon its nuclear-weapons program with a bait of "economic benefit." The leaders wrapped up a two-day meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, early yesterday, agreeing on the importance of "fighting terrorism." That was as much reference there was in the leaders' main declaration to the tension surrounding developments in North Korea or Iraq. "We condemn in the strongest terms recent terrorist acts in the APEC region," said the closing statement, which was read by the host, Mexican President Vicente Fox. The leaders reaffirmed their determination to enhance cooperation in countering and responding to terrorism. But if the statement made no direct reference to North Korea's secret nuclear weapons program, Pyeongyang was a weighty topic of discussion at the weekend meetings, especially in separate consultations held on the sidelines by APEC leaders. They released a separate statement on North Korea, saying there was a "potential" for North Korea to "benefit economically" through greater participation as a member of the regional community, which would in turn be possible by abandoning its nuclear weapons program. "We call upon [North Korea] to visibly honor its commitment to give up nuclear weapons programs," the statement said. The leaders fell short of issuing a condemnation of the North's program. South Korean President Kim Dae-jung met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin after the APEC summit, and the two reaffirmed their call for a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula. Multilateral discussions by South Korea, the United States and Japan now move to the working level, based on the two principles of a commitment to peaceful resolution of the issue and the call to the North to dismantle the nuclear program. The Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group will meet in early November. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Seoul for a meeting of the Community of Democracies, a gathering of foreign ministers, also in November. Confronted by a U.S. diplomat this month, North Korea admitted that it was pursuing a uranium-enrichment project aimed at producing nuclear weapons. It said it had a "right" to the program, but has hinted it would drop it in exchange for a nonaggression treaty with the United States. ¨Ï 2002 JoongAng Ilbo , Joins.com . All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 Famine looms once again for North Korea* United Press International By Shihoko Goto UPI Senior Business Correspondent Published 10/28/2002 5:36 PM WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- North Korea will be facing yet another famine this year, and nearly 6.4 million people could starve should the international community fail to provide adequate food assistance, a United Nations agency reported Monday. The Food and Agriculture Organization stated that by November, Kim Jong-Il's regime will be short of nearly 1.1 million tons of cereal that will keep nearly a quarter of its population famished, even though the country is likely to see its best harvest since its height in 1995. But even the 4.9 percent increase in cereal production from a year ago to 3.84 million tons will not be enough, according to the Rome-based agency. "Despite the recovery in 2001 and 2002, domestic production still falls well below the minimum food needs and the country will again have to depend on substantial external food assistance as its capacity to import commercially remains highly constrained," the FAO said, adding that at least 512,000 tons of overseas food aid will be necessary in 2003 to avert a crisis. Yet, recent revelations that Pyongyang had developed nuclear weapons in violation of an agreement with the United States, Japan, and South Korea could jeopardize the country's ability to secure food aid from U.S. sources. "The predominance of super-hawks in the Bush administration leaves open the question of food aid," said Peter Beck, director of research at the Korea Economic Institute of America, pointing out that North Korea clearly violated the 1994 agreement through which it received economic benefits from the three countries in return for promising not to build nuclear weapons. North Korea's admission earlier this month that it had a program to develop highly enriched uranium that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons has increased speculations that U.S. hard liners would scrap the entire 1994 agreement and seek to isolate Pyongyang, which the Bush administration has already labeled one of the three so-called "axis of evil" nations, from the international community. Still, there is yet no official word on whether the United States would cut down or indeed cease humanitarian assistance to Pyongyang altogether as prospects for the average North Korean citizen continue to look grim. "The State Department has a more moderate stance...to date, the official policy is not to use food aid in foreign policy as a tool for achieving diplomatic and security goals," Beck said, even though he admitted that even under the Clinton administration, there was a tendency to reward "good behavior" by the North Koreans by increasing U.S. food aid. But even if the current administration were to reduce the amount of humanitarian assistance it provides to Kim Jong-Il's regime, Japan and South Korea could compensate for the decrease in U.S. aid. In the case of Japan, the country had tended to shy away from providing aid to the country it has yet no formal diplomatic ties with, but efforts to support the rogue nation both in providing food and financial aid has increased in recent years, and is seen likely to increase as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi became the first Japanese premier to visit Pyongyang in early September. Likewise, South Korea had made strident steps over the past few years to open its doors to the communist North, and many analysts believe that the country remains committed to improving relations with its neighbor in the longer term. Both Japan and South Korea are, however, likely to be wary of challenging U.S. policy on North Korea head-on, but the KEI's Beck pointed out that it would unlikely be in the United States' interest to retaliate against North Korea's transgressions of the 1994 agreement too severely. If North Korea were to be deprived of basic food aid, the country "would have so much taken away from it, there would be nothing to stop it from lashing out in retaliation," Beck cautioned. Meanwhile, the FAO noted that failure for the international community to provide adequate assistance would ultimately hurt the most vulnerable in the country, and it also warned that further aid may be needed should conditions worsen still further. "If rising prices in the farmers' markets further erode consumer purchasing power, additional assistance may be required for marginal families, predominantly in urban areas," the agency said, adding that "breaks in the food pipeline be avoided, as these will have widespread and serious health implications for women, children, and the elderly in particular." Copyright © 2002 United Press International ***************************************************************** 5 China to aid Pak in setting up nuclear power plant INDIATIMES PTI �[ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2002 11:11:53 AM ] ISLAMABAD: A Chinese delegation on Monday told Pakistan that it would help set up the country's third nuclear power plant to overcome its energy shortage, a top Pakistani scientist said. "China has shown its willingness to give us a new nuclear power plant," said Ashfaq Ahmad, head of Pakistan's Strategic Programme and one of the leaders of Pakistan's nuclear programme. "We have energy problems so we want to enhance the contribution of nuclear energy." Ahmad on Monday met a delegation headed by Li Dingfan, chief of China's nuclear programme, to discuss proposals for setting up a power plant in the remote eastern Punjab town of Chashma, which would be the country's third. A longtime ally, China is a leading supplier of weapons and defence technology to Pakistan. Pakistan's second power plant was built in Chashma, 225 km southwest of Islamabad, in the 1990s with Chinese assistance. The nation's first nuclear power plant was set up in Karachi in the 1970s with Canadian help. Islamabad's plans to set up a nuclear power plant with China's aid comes amid reports that Pakistan provided assistance to North Korea a few years ago in its nuclear weapons programme. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has denied those reports. On Monday, Ahmad insisted that Pakistan's nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. The current Chashma plant has the capacity of generating 600 megawatts of power, he said. Ahmad, the former chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energt Commission, said the government also plans to have a fourth nuclear power plant built in Karachi. ***************************************************************** 6 Arms Inspectors Back Tough Terms to Pressure Iraq The New York Times *October 29, 2002* *THE U.N.* *By JULIA PRESTON* UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 ? The leaders of the United Nations weapons inspections teams asked the Security Council today for an aggressive new mandate backed up with a threat of enforcement action, giving the United States a boost in negotiations over its draft resolution to disarm Iraq. In a closed briefing in the Council, Hans Blix and Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei questioned some details of the inspection regime Washington has proposed. They appealed strongly to the Council to overcome its disputes and reach consensus on a clear mandate for the inspectors' work. Speaking to reporters after the session, Mr. Blix said it was important for Iraq to understand that any lack of cooperation "will call for reactions on the part of the Council, and it has to be not only in the first month, but on a continuous basis." In general the weapons inspections chiefs indicated today for the first time to the full 15-member Council that they accepted the inspections terms in the draft resolution offered by the United States and Britain. Mr. Blix is the head of the United Nations biological and chemical weapons inspection team, and Dr. ElBaradei is the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, which is in charge of nuclear inspections. American and British diplomats, cheered by the inspectors' remarks, said they were willing to revise their draft to incorporate their criticism. Diplomats on all sides of the tense debate over Iraq said the meeting today seemed to clear the way for broad agreement on the inspections regime, leaving negotiators to focus on the vexing question of if and when to authorize military force. While President Bush publicly berated the Council nations for dragging out the negotiations, administration officials here at the United Nations emphasized that talks were still progressing and might extend into next week. In painstaking discussions since Saturday, American and French officials agreed that the resolution would warn in its final paragraphs of "serious consequences" to Iraq if it failed to disarm through the inspections, diplomats said. "Serious consequences" is Council code for a military attack. The entire debate, now nearing seven weeks, has boiled down to sharply differing interpretations of the assertion in the American draft that Iraq is in "material breach" of past Council measures. "Council unity is of the greatest importance," Mr. Blix said, according to notes from participants in the session. "We have difficulty in acting with full strength if we feel we do not have the backing of the whole Council." Adding some of their own fuel to the "material breach" argument, Mr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei pointed out that Iraq had openly violated past resolutions by barring arms inspectors for the last four years. "This is not the first time that the Security Council declares Iraq to be in material breach," Dr. ElBaradei said, noting that it had done so in a resolution as long ago as August 1991. Mr. Blix said there would be "great practical difficulties" in removing Iraqi weapons experts and their families from their country to interview them, as the draft resolution provides. But he welcomed the authority the draft gives the inspectors to decide how, when and where to conduct the interviews. Mr. Blix also advised that it would not be practical to expect Iraq to give a complete declaration of all its chemical and biological weapons capacities 30 days after the resolution is adopted, as the draft demands. The arms chiefs appealed to Council nations to help them with intelligence about which sites to visit, but said they would report the results of their work only to the Council. Mr. Blix beseeched the Council not to put him in the position where "we have war and peace in our hands." "We report," he said. "It is the Security Council and its members who decide." Both men sought to maintain a detached technical position regarding the debate. They did not explicitly advocate an authorization of military force, but made it clear they believed they needed a council commitment to back them up. In the American draft, the Council declares that Iraq has been for years "in material breach of its obligations" to the United Nations. United States officials argue that these words simply repeat what the Council has stated many times before. But with distrust smoldering here over Washington's pledges that it will not go to war against Iraq until the arms inspectors have done their work, French officials see in these words an explosive "hidden automatic trigger" that the United States can use to begin the fight. "We want clear rules of the game," a French diplomat said. Although the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, threatened over the weekend to challenge the United States by offering a competing resolution, French diplomats made no move to do so here today and the Security Council focused entirely on the American draft. Copyright The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 7 The five permanent council members are still divided First Published 2002-10-29, Last Updated 2002-10-29 09:53:52 *De Villepin urges unanimous UN decision on Iraq* If we are going to have just unilateral decision of one country, we will never get strong message: French FM. UNITED NATIONS - The United States said the gap has narrowed in the UN Security Council over a strong draft resolution to disarm Iraq and will pursue talks as France called for a unanimous decision. "We think we are making progress; we think we have narrowed down the differences to a few key issues," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, adding: "Everyone wants a strong resolution." The comment followed a blunt ultimatum from President George W. Bush, who labelled his Iraqi counterpart Saddam Hussein "a person who has made the United Nations look foolish." "The message from America is this," he said. "If the United Nations does not have the will or the courage to disarm Saddam Hussein, and if Saddam Hussein will not disarm ... the United States will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein." However deputy US ambassador to the UN James Cunningham said he had been sounding out key council members "so we can see if there is a way we can achieve the same goal in the best fashion, and we'll continue to do that." For French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin it is vital for the council to agree a unanimous approach. "The problem among the international community is not: to act or not to act. It is how efficient we are going to be in the action we decide," he told the BBC. "That's why we think that this resolution must be decided by all the Security Council, by a unanimous decision. "If we are going to have just a unilateral decision of one country, we will never get the strong message, we will never get the efficiency that is needed to have Iraq complying with its obligations." "We need a resolution that is going to say which are the practical arrangements needed to have (United Nations) inspectors back in Iraq, and how these should work. "And then if Iraq does not comply with its obligations then the Security Council will have to convene again and decide what to do." The chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, had met council members Monday to answer questions about the US proposals to strengthen the inspectors' mandate. The five permanent council members are divided - the United States and Britain in one camp, France and Russia in the other, with China non-committal - and both sides claimed that their position had been strengthened by Blix's comments. Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), was accompanied by Mohammed El-Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). UNMOVIC and the IAEA share the task of supervising the elimination of Baghdad's chemical and biological weapons, long-range missiles and nuclear arms programme under council resolutions adopted after the 1991 Gulf War sparked by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Diplomats said Blix had welcomed a US proposal giving Iraq 30 days to make a "currently accurate, full and complete declaration" of its banned chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes." But he noted that Iraq, a major oil exporter, has a large chemical industry, and it might be unrealistic also to demand a declaration of chemical programmes not related to weapons production in the same period. Blix also noted that there might be "great practical difficulties" in taking Iraqis out of the country to interview them, as proposed by the draft, unless the Iraqi authorities were willing to help. Outside the council, Blix said the intention in the US draft was to give "very clear signals" to Iraq and to avoid the kind of "cat-and-mouse play" that plagued inspectors between 1991 and 1998, when they were withdrawn from Iraq. "It helps us if Iraq is conscious that non-cooperation will entail reactions by the council," he said - a remark seized upon by US officials. In London, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair also said the time was close when a vote would have to be taken on the US draft. Both France and Russia have been pushing for a two-step UN process that would require the council to reconvene to decide on the action to take if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein failed to comply fully with UN weapons inspections. While the Big Five - each with a veto - have been negotiating for several weeks, the 10 non-permanent members were not given the US draft until last Wednesday. Few diplomats in New York believe France, Russia or China would veto the US-British proposals, but the draft still needs nine 'yes' votes among the 15 to be adopted. Iraq has steadfastly urged the Security Council not to make any concessions to the United States. In Baghdad, the ruling Baath Party newspaper said Tuesday that the Bush administration "has been isolated and will carry the responsibility alone of any adventure". Ath-Thawra added a warning that Iraq would fight if attacked. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri for his part accused the United States and Britain of "evil doing" in an interview with the BBC. "This shows how these people are determined to go in the way of evil doing, in the way of blood, of causing instability, of trying to undermine peace in this region and the world. This shows how these people despise the United Nations," Sabri said. He said the inspectors would "disclose to the whole people of the world the lies, the fabrication of the US administration and Mr Tony Blair". ***************************************************************** 8 Iraq Wants Independent Monitoring of Inspectors October 29, 2002 08:52 AM ET By Hassan Hafidh BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said Tuesday independent media and individuals should accompany any U.N. arms inspectors, voicing fears that Washington would otherwise use the inspections as a pretext for war. In the United States, President Bush pressed hard for a U.N. Security Council resolution to end seven weeks of wrangling and force Iraq to surrender any weapons of mass destruction. Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan made clear in remarks published by Iraqi newspapers that Baghdad did not trust the United States or the inspectors. <#> "America doesn't want the return of inspectors. It wants to issue a resolution with a (tough) formula in order to be rejected by Iraq and give it a pretext to commit aggression against Iraq," Ramadan said. Putting forward the idea for independent media and individuals to accompany the inspection teams, he said: "We will not allow the inspectors to be the sole source (of information) because we don't trust them." Ramadan said it was wrong to rely solely on the "head of any (inspection) team who would send a report to the (U.N.) Security Council which would issue a resolution based on that report." The United States, backed by Britain, has been urging the other three veto-wielding Security Council members -- France, Russia and China -- to back a new resolution to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up any weapons of mass destruction or face dire consequences. Baghdad denies possessing any chemical, biological or nuclear arms. FRANCE, RUSSIA SEEK DIFFERENT APPROACH France and Russia have been leading efforts to dilute some of the tough language demanded by the United States, seeing it as an attempt by Washington to secure an automatic trigger for war if Baghdad fails to comply. Bush has made no secret of his desire to see Saddam toppled from power. U.S. officials have called this week decisive but have set no deadline for giving up on the U.N. One official said it was remotely possible the matter could slip into next week. Bush told a political rally in Denver, Colorado, on Monday: "The message from America is this. If the United Nations doesn't have the will or the courage to disarm Saddam Hussein, and if Saddam Hussein will not disarm, for the sake of peace, for the sake of freedom, the United States will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein." At the United Nations, the two men poised to lead the efforts to uncover any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction endorsed the idea of warning Saddam of consequences for failing to cooperate with inspectors. Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in charge of inspecting any Iraqi nuclear arms, met the 15-member Security Council as it continued its debate on Iraq. UN INSPECTORS LEFT IN 1998 Iraq agreed to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons after the 1991 Gulf War that was sparked by its invasion of neighboring Kuwait. The task of finding such arms was assigned to U.N. weapons inspectors. But they left before a 1998 U.S.-British bombing raid, ordered because Iraq was allegedly thwarting their efforts, and have never returned. On October 1 Baghdad reached a deal with weapons inspectors allowing the U.N. officials to return to Iraq. The proposed U.S. resolution would give the inspectors broad powers and privileges to carry out their job in Iraq. It would warn Iraq of "serious consequences" if it obstructs inspections. It would also declare Iraq in "material breach" of U.N. resolutions. That could nullify the cease-fire pact with Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, raising the possibility that the United States would use it as U.N. authorization for war. In Paris, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said France would not accept any clause in a U.N. resolution that included an automatic recourse to military action. "Recourse to force can only be the last resort," he said. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in comments published Tuesday it was too soon to decide whether the Security Council should meet at ministerial level on Iraq. France has aired the idea of such a meeting. So far horse-trading over a resolution has been dragging on at ambassadorial level at U.N. headquarters in New York. "It's an option," French newspaper Le Monde quoted Powell as saying in an interview with several newspapers. "It is too soon to decide. We will see things a bit more clearly in a day or two," he said. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Tuesday he believed war with Iraq could be avoided if Baghdad was disarmed, but reiterated that Germany would not take part in any attack. "Due to the international discussion above all in the Security Council there is a chance that a military confrontation in the Gulf can still be avoided," Schroeder said in his first major speech to parliament since winning re-election last month. During the election campaign, Schroeder's strident opposition to any U.S.-led war against Iraq went down well with voters and was credited with helping him narrowly win a second term. But U.S. officials said the rhetoric had poisoned ties. ***************************************************************** 9 *OP-ED: *Daniel Ellsberg?s Iraq scenario Daily Times /Ahmad Faruqui According to Daniel Ellsberg, Saddam?s ability to be deterred from using his weapons of mass destruction has already been tested during the Gulf War. However, under the attack Washington is preparing to launch against him in January, the danger is very real that he would use such weapons and trigger a US or Israeli nuclear response/ Washington is preparing to go to war against Iraq, with or without UN approval. But what form is the war likely to take? Winston Churchill observed famously, ?The future, though imminent, is obscure.? Daniel Ellsberg has laid out very clearly what a future US war against Iraq is likely to look like. Ellsberg rose to fame when he published the Pentagon Papers in 1971, a book that helped change the history of the Vietnam War. He has published a memoir, ?Secrets?. The book details how several American presidents, both Democrat and Republican, consistently lied to the American people about why the war was being fought, and how people like Ellsberg, working inside the government, were prevented from sharing the truth with law makers in Congress. Because of the Pentagon Papers, many labelled Ellsberg a traitor, even though he had served his country faithfully in the Marine Corps. In recent speeches and interviews, Ellsberg paints a very grim future about the coming war with Iraq. Recalling the ?Nuclear Posture Review? that was leaked to the Los Angeles Times earlier in the year, he says that ?Israeli and US tactical nuclear weapons could very plausibly be launched against Iraq within months,? if Saddam Hussein launches short-range missiles armed with chemical warheads against invading American troops or against Israel. Both countries have warned that such an act would lead to the ?annihilation? of Iraq and to the ?destruction? of its society. Ellsberg opines that the American people should not think that these are just threats that are meant to deter Saddam. They are statements about Washington?s future intentions. What is the likelihood that Saddam would use his biological and chemical weapons against the US armed forces? CIA chief George Tenet provided a letter to the House and Senate committees on intelligence prior to the Congressional vote on Iraq. Tenet wrote that his Agency had concluded that Baghdad ?appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or CBW [Chemical and Biological Weapons] against the United States.? The Agency also had determined, ?Should Saddam conclude that a US-led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions.? Tenet argued, ?Saddam might decide that the extreme step of assisting Islamist terrorists in conducting a WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] attack against the United States would be his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him.? In other words, Saddam is not likely in the near future to hit the United States or share his weapons with Al Qaeda or other anti-American terrorists, unless the United States assaults Iraq. This is hardly the picture the President is sharing with the American public. Ellsberg said that Saddam?s ability to be deterred from using his weapons of mass destruction even when under heavy air attack, not accompanied by invasion of Iraq, has already been tested during the Gulf War. However, under the attack Washington is preparing to launch against him in January, the danger is very real that he would use such weapons and trigger a US or Israeli nuclear response. Ellsberg says ?we are at this moment in the most dangerous nuclear crisis since the Cuban Missile Crisis.? Ironically, and for entirely different reasons, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made the same observation. The ?chicken hawks? in the administration ? Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz ? have never served in war, and it remains an abstraction for them. Their views dominate the views of the generals and admirals in the Pentagon, for whom war is a deadly serious matter that may claim hundreds to thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands to millions of Iraqi lives. The generals and admirals know that there is no military justification for this war. So how could these war planners impose such risks on American lives? In the Ellsberg scenario, they will launch a preemptive war in the face of a real threat to American soldiers, even though there is no real threat to American national security. Down the road, the majority of Americans may well support the use of nuclear weapons against Iraq if it uses weapons of mass destruction against Israel. Dick Armey, head of the Republican team in the House, made this very clear during his speech in Congress supporting the Iraq Resolution when he said, ?an attack on Israel is an attack on America.? So why is the US likely to wage this war? Control of Iraqi oil fields that contain the world?s second largest reserves has often been mentioned as a primary driver. Ellsberg concurs with this explanation, but takes it much further. The Bush administration will not be content just to have the oil fields of Iraq under its control. They have their eyes on the oil fields of Kuwait, and the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. There is a strong possibility that the US would occupy the eastern oil fields of Saudi Arabia. In the Ellsberg scenario, once Iraq has been subdued and converted into a vassal state like Hamid Karzai?s Afghanistan, the US will turn its attention to Iran. Israeli intelligence reports suggesting that Iran is providing arms shipments to the Hizbollah and the PLO have surfaced periodically over the past several months. The US has expressed concerns about Iran?s acquisition of Silkworm missiles from China and nuclear technology from Russia. In due course of time, Iran would be painted as posing a grave threat to American national security, even though it has one of the few functional democracies in the Muslim world, and has never attacked any of its neighbours or used biological or chemical weapons. Covert action against Iraq would probably be launched from US bases in Iraq and elsewhere, ?all of which is going to enrage the Muslim world, and the Arab world.? The White House argues that Saddam?s removal would bring about a democratic revolution in the Middle East. This is so unlikely to happen that it raises a question about the intelligence level of people like Dick Cheney. Citing his experience in the Pentagon, Ellsberg says, ?Anyone can be as dumb as he has to be to keep his job.? Cheney ?knows we?re not heading towards democracy. We?re heading to replace a monstrous, tyrannical dictator in Iraq with a dictator more to our liking.? Citing his own experience, Ellsberg calls on people inside the Bush administration to come out with the truth, since, ?telling the truth, revealing wrongly-kept secrets, can have a surprisingly strong, unforeseeable power to help end a wrong and save lives.? /Dr Faruqui is a fellow of the American Institute of International Studies, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the author of ?Rethinking the National Security of Pakistan,? Ashgate Publishing, forthcoming 2002/ WorldCALL Internet Solutions ***************************************************************** 10 Sense and nonsense about self-defense when proof is needed The Taipei Times Online: 2002-10-29 The US is claiming it might have to invade Iraq for `self-defense,' perhaps in the same way as Timothy McVeigh thought he was defending the US Constitution By George P. Fletcher If patriotism is, as Samuel Johnson suggested, the last refuge of a scoundrel, then self-defense is the last refuge of an aggressor. The justification of self-defense comes readily to the lips of both paranoids and those who reasonably wish to defend themselves against imminent attack. The argument for the US' putative invasion of Iraq is, of course, self-defense, that is, the need to shield itself and its allies against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's possible use of weapons of mass destruction. But claims of "self-defense" also find less reputable invoca-tions. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who murdered 168 people in 1995, thought he was defending the US Constitution against a predatory federal government. Yigal Amir thought he was defending Israel against a prime minister willing to surrender sacred land to the enemy when he assassinated Yitzak Rabin later in the same year. Perpetrators of violent acts rarely concede that they are aggression pure and simple, rather than actions in defense of life, liberty, or some other important value. Is there a sensible boundary between sense and nonsense in claiming self-defense? Lawyers must seek this distinction, for if we surrender to the rhetorical claims of statesmen and paranoids, the line between aggression and self-defense will disappear. The UN has tried to delimit the scope of self-defense, but it goes too far by permitting states to resort to force only if "an armed attack occurs." This makes little sense, because states must retain the right to defend themselves against impending attacks as well. Imagine, say, the Japanese warplanes zeroing in on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The US Navy surely had the right to defend itself -- if it could -- before the bombs fell. Or consider former Egyptian president Gamel Nasser's massing of Egyptian troops on Israel's border in 1967, threatening to wipe it off the map. Is this not akin to a mugger pointing a gun at your head and threatening to shoot? If self-defense is not permissible in cases of manifest, imminent attack, then the doctrine can hardly appeal to ordinary moral intuitions. But these clear examples quickly fade into an ambiguous and disputed range of cases, such as Israel's fear of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. Building a nuclear reactor is a far cry from launching a nuclear missile. Israel's bombing of the Osirak reactor must, therefore, be regarded as a "preemptive" or a "preventive" strike -- words meant to capture the shadow land of self-defense. There is little point in struggling with the meaning of these elusive words, because both miss the point. Some say that the real point is the risk of attack and the destruction that might occur if weapons of mass destruction are deployed. They employ something like a cost-benefit analysis based on a subjective sense of danger. But there is no way of making an objective assessment of fear, and even if it were possible, using cost-benefit analysis to invade the territory of another country would wreak havoc with the global system of national sovereignty and international law. The better way to make sense of self-defense is to invoke two principles that underlie legal claims of justification in both domestic and international law. The first principle is reciprocity, which implies that if Israel had the right to attack the Osirak reactor, then Iraq had the right to bomb the Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona. If the US now has the right to attack Baghdad, then Iraq -- which has made no public statements of aggressive intent toward the US -- has the reciprocal right to attack Washington. What is good for the goose must be good for the gander. There is no way for a state to claim as a matter of law: You are a "rogue" state and we are good guys, and therefore we operate under different rules. Admittedly, prior actions and intentions matter in making a judgment about whether to fear an attack. In the relationship between Israel and Iraq, Saddam Hussein's lobbing of scud missiles at Tel Aviv in 1991 has relevance in judging the dictator's current intentions toward Israel. But there is no comparable evidence of Iraqi aggressive behavior against US territory. This brings into focus the second requirement of self-defense. Evidence of aggressive design must be public and visible to all. Publicity is a critical element in a legal culture. Impending aggression cannot be documented in secret dossiers but only by events that can be filmed by CNN. The aggressor must do something that all can see as a dangerous threat by, for example, aiming a guided missile at a country and threatening to use it. If we look back at irrational claims of individual self-defense -- McVeigh, Amir and others -- we see that their fears were based on private evidence not shared by more than a small circle of friends and co-conspirators, at most. Insisting on public evidence provides some guarantee against paranoid self-defense by individuals and political manipulation by national leaders. If the requirements of reciprocity and publicity are applied to the current plans to invade Iraq, the implications are clear. If they are not, US President George W. Bush risks engaging in unlawful aggression against a foreign country. George P. Fletcher is Cardozo professor of jurisprudence at Columbia Law School and the author of Romantics at War: Glory and Guilt in the Age of Terrorism. This story has been viewed 382 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/10/29/story/0000177531] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 UK: George Monbiot: Do as we say, not as we do Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | While Lula's Brazil kowtows to the free market, Blair's Britain only pretends to do so George Monbiot Tuesday October 29, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Democracy in Brazil both won and lost on Sunday night. It won because, for the first time in its history, the nation chose a man of humble origins and radical views to be its president. It lost because that man is now forbidden to be radical. The strictures imposed by the capital markets and the International Monetary Fund prevent him from intervening in the economy or commissioning the new social spending so desperately needed by the poor. Instead, he must follow the economic model to which all governments must adhere: a model that subordinates democracy to the free market. This, at any rate, is the story the world is telling itself, and the story which all those of us who are unhappy with the way the world is run have endlessly reiterated. Over the past few months I have begun to see that it is, in one respect, quite wrong. There is not a single economic model, universally applied. There are two models. One of them is the market fundamentalism to which the poor nations have been forced to submit. The other is the way the rich world lives. In order to achieve access to the markets of other nations, rich countries have to be seen to have opened up their economies, to have reduced or eliminated subsidies and removed the protective measures that could bestow unfair advantages upon their own industries. This is what the rich world's governments claim to have been doing. Our mistake is to have believed them. The continuing subsidies for farming in Europe and for farming and steel in the United States - defended by France and Germany last week - are generally seen as anomalous interventions in a market that is otherwise mostly free. But while both Europe and the US have been blatantly picking losers, they have also been quietly picking winners, with devastating consequences for the rest of the world. For several years, critics of Britain's private finance initiative have been puzzled by its extraordinary resilience. Study after study has shown that it offers worse value for money than conventional public funding. The scheme commands less public support than Mrs Thatcher's poll tax. It threatens to destroy this government's reputation for economic prudence. So why has it still not been abandoned? The PFI certainly keeps a very powerful corporate constituency quiet, while allowing the government to defer today's spending to future generations. But there is a third factor, which nearly all of us have overlooked. The private finance initiative is turning into one of the United Kingdom's biggest export industries. If the government were to drop it, it would instantly destroy a vast and growing source of revenue. Both the development and the continued existence of PFI in Britain can be interpreted as a massive export promotion scheme. In March 1996, the chancellor of the exchequer, Kenneth Clarke, travelled to South Africa with a group of bankers and consultants. Mr Clarke explained to his hosts that in Britain the private finance initiative was "maximising efficiency" and striking "the best balance between cost, design and effective operation". Coming just five months after the completion of the first PFI project commissioned in the UK - the Skye Bridge - which was already emerging as the biggest failure in government procurement since the Poulson scandal of the 1960s and 1970s, this was breathtaking chutzpah. But his audience knew nothing of this and similar scandals. Mr Clarke explained that "the full spectrum of techniques" had been "tried and tested in the UK". The private finance initiative was now ready to be exported to South Africa. Soon after the Labour government came to power, a delegation of civil servants from South African health authorities were given what appears to have been a highly selective tour of British PFI projects. This was followed by the biggest healthcare trade mission the British government has ever organised. Two years ago, South Africa started signing the first contracts for PFI hospital schemes. Many of the contractors, unsurprisingly, are the companies that have "tried and tested" the model in Britain. The government has been careful to ensure that South Africa does not find out that it has fallen for a monumental confidence trick. At the end of last year, for example, Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the Treasury, travelled to Cape Town, where he cited "independent research" showing that PFI was, on average, 17% cheaper than public procurement. The "independent research" was actually a study commissioned by the government, whose findings, wildly distorted by the terms of reference the consultants were given, have been ridiculed over here. But, with the help of such selective accounts, at least 13 other governments have been persuaded to adopt the British model of procurement. Once they have taken the bait, British companies have been the first to offer their services. The first projects in Ireland's massive PFI programme for schools, for example, have been snaffled by Jarvis and Barclays Bank. Warsaw's £2bn Underground project, described by consultants as the "template for infrastructure investment across Poland" is being developed by a British consortium. Holland's first big PFI scheme, the high-speed rail link connecting Amsterdam to Rotterdam and Belgium, is buzzing with British lawyers, consultants and financiers. Last year, the Royal Bank of Scotland estimated that the global PFI market for infrastructure projects alone would be worth £25bn by 2006. Britain's disaster is being exported worldwide. All this could be viewed as a triumph for Britain's export promotion policies. It could also be seen as an extraordinarily ambitious intervention in the market. The PFI industry in the UK has been developed entirely at public expense. Several different models have been tried, often with catastrophic consequences, allowing the corporations to discover which ones are profitable and politically viable. British people are the guinea pigs upon whom the models have been tested. By the time the scheme was ready for export, it was obvious that it wasn't working, but if the government dropped it at home, it could never be sold abroad. At least part of the £23bn committed so far - and the £64bn still planned - is a vast but hidden export subsidy for a developing industry. When one considers the new intellectual property rights regimes designed to protect companies in the rich world, the subsidies for oil, gas, the nuclear industry, biotechnology and drugs companies, the government support for the defence, transport and farming industries, the relocation grants and regional assistance, one begins to wonder whether there is a single sector of the rich world's economy which does not receive massive help from the state. There is an argument for government intervention in poor nations: all the countries which are wealthy today supported their industries during the development phase. There is no viable argument for government intervention in rich nations. Yet the very countries that need it least are those which appear to use it universally, while those which may need it most are told that unless they open and expose their markets, they must lose their credit ratings and contemplate economic ruin. The free market is something the rich world imposes on the poor. · www.monbiot.com [http://www.monbiot.com] . Useful link Green party of England and Wales [http://www.greenparty.org.uk] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 12 European Union Prepares for Terror Las Vegas SUN October 28, 2002 By KIM HOUSEGO ASSOCIATED PRESS CANJUERS, France- Emergency response teams from across the European Union trained Monday as part of a drill in how to respond to terror attacks that employ chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. Dozens of rescue workers from Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden joined 800 French forces at a military base in southern France for the second day of the exercises named "Euratox 2002." The exercises, planned months ago, sought to test the ability of the EU's new crisis center, set up in Brussels, Belgium, after Sept. 11, to cope with an attack in which every member state could be solicited for help. "The events of Sept. 11, Bali and recently the Moscow theater show that these threats are no longer fiction," Pia Brucella, head of the Civil Protection Unit at the European Commission, told reporters. In Monday's drill, a helicopter flew over a sports stadium, and "victims" collapsed to the ground supposedly suffering under the effects of a highly concentrated mustard gas. Their symptoms were detailed on tags hanging around their necks - "convulsions, loss of consciousness, troubled vision, breathing difficulties, burning throat." Rescue workers sweltering in head-to-toe biohazard suits moved in. Their first task - to decide who can be saved and who must be left for dead. The EU crisis center is responsible for coordinating access to national stocks of vaccines and antibiotics, hospital and emergency services across Europe, or finding specialized hospital beds for victims contaminated by radioactive substances. But in a sign of the difficulties of cooperation between different European countries, equipment is not always compatible. Hoses from Italian fire trucks generally don't fit French fire hydrants, for example. "Every country works with different material, it's a problem that we are trying to overcome here," said Natale Inzaghi, an Italian firefighter and one of 60 EU observers at the exercises. Some of the drills - such as the simulated explosion of a radioactive bomb in a cinema - were hauntingly similar to a real event - the use of gas by Russian special forces in a crowded theater in order to end a hostage crisis early Saturday, in the third day of the standoff with Chechen rebels. The rebels stormed the theater on Wednesday during a performance, taking hundreds of hostages. Russian forces entered the theater Saturday to end the crisis, using a gas to incapacitate the rebels. The compound killed 116 hostages. Inzaghi criticized the Russian medical response to the event. "One should immediately provide oxygen to the victims and give them antidotes," he said. He added that the victims should have been decontaminated before being taken to hospital. He pointed to a special tent erected near the sports field where Italian workers showered, dried, and covered the "victims" with fresh blankets. Most rescue officials declined to comment on the theater raid in Moscow, saying the circumstances inside the building and the nature of the gas remained unclear. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 13 Feds Want Terror Report Kept Secret Las Vegas SUN October 28, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- A classified document describing terror suspect Jose Padilla's multiple contacts with top al-Qaida leaders should remain secret, federal prosecutors said in court papers filed Monday. Lawyers for Padilla, a former Chicago gang member accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb," say U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey of New York should not review the classified document because prosecutors have refused to share it with them. The case involves whether Padilla should be held as an enemy combatant. In the federal filing, U.S. Attorney James Comey of New York contends that an unclassified version of the document includes most of the key information regarding Padilla's contacts with al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The classified version, prosecutors said, is intended to provide the judge with intelligence information about Padilla's status as an enemy combatant. "The need to maintain confidentiality here is most compelling, because the intelligence information at issue arises in the midst of an ongoing armed conflict" against terrorism, prosecutors say. "Disclosure of classified intelligence information could compromise intelligence-gathering crucial to the ongoing war effort" by revealing sources and methods. Padilla has been held since his May 8 arrest as an enemy combatant, which the government says means he can be held without charge. Padilla's lawyers contend he is being held illegally. Monday's government filing also contends that if the judge agrees that Padilla is a combatant, he is not entitled to legal representation. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 14 Inspectors Back Tough Line on Iraq Las Vegas SUN October 28, 2002 By EDITH M. LEDERER ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED NATIONS- Giving some needed support to the United States, top weapons inspectors backed delivering a tough U.N. warning to Saddam Hussein, but insisted it was up to the Security Council, not inspectors, to decide on war or peace in Iraq. At a Security Council meeting on Monday, the inspectors also made clear they'd like some changes in the new inspection regime envisioned by the United States. But the key issue remains the dispute in the council over whether a new U.S. draft resolution gives a green light for the use of force against Iraq. The inspectors comments laid the basis for ongoing negotiations, beginning in capitals of key Security Council nations on Tuesday and wrapping up late in the day at another full council meeting. The United States has been pressing for a vote this week on its draft resolution, but administration officials said Monday it could be pushed back a week. That would delay a high-stakes showdown in the divided council until after the Nov. 5 U.S. congressional elections. The U.S. draft resolution, written with British support, includes references to "material breach" and "serious consequences" - language which key council members believe could authorize military force if Saddam fails to comply with inspectors. France, Russia and China - all veto-wielding council members - oppose any green light for military action before inspectors can test Iraq's willingness to cooperate with inspectors on the ground. Should Iraq obstruct the inspections, the three powerful members envision a second resolution dealing with consequences. France and Russia have circulated rival proposals but have not formally introduced them in the council. When U.N. chief inspector Hans Blix was asked whether a resolution warning Iraq of consequences if it didn't cooperate would strengthen the hand of inspectors, he replied: "Yes, I think it is desirable that Iraq understands that any lack of cooperation or violation of the provisions of the resolution will call for reactions on the part of the council." But Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency which is in charge of nuclear inspections, steered clear of endorsing any specific language. The chief inspectors also moved quickly to squash reports that they held war and peace in Iraq in their hands. "Our job is to report, and the decision whether there is war or peace or reaction - that is for the council and its members," Blix stressed. During their closed-door briefing, the inspectors generally supported U.S. proposals to strengthen inspections, including allowing surprise inspections of presidential sites where advance notice is now needed and "freezing" sites so nothing is changed or taken out. But they were critical of several elements, including authorization to interview Iraqis and their families outside the country and away from Iraqi government observers. "There would be great practical difficulties in using such authority, unless there was cooperation by the Iraqi side," Blix told the council, according to his prepared remarks obtained later. Blix supported the U.S. call for Iraq to make a declaration of its weapons programs, but said it might not be possible for Baghdad to declare all its chemical and biological programs within 30 days as Washington proposes. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said after the council meeting that Washington and London will consider points that might need clarification. "We'll need further time to absorb what we've heard," he said. "Over the next few days we'll be able to move to closure." Neither the French nor the Russian proposal mentions "material breach," and the Russian proposal leaves out "serious consequences." The French plan, a modification of the U.S. draft offered as a possible compromise, links consequences to a report by inspectors of noncompliance. President Bush, speaking at a political rally in New Mexico on Monday, said Saddam "has made the United Nations look foolish," and reiterated his demand that the world body adopt a tough resolution. Bush spurred the Iraq debate in a Sept. 12 address to the U.N. General Assembly warning world leaders to act decisively to disarm Saddam Hussein or stand aside as the United States takes action. Days later, Iraq announced it would allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return after nearly four years. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he hoped the council would come up with a resolution, "but it will require some compromises." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 15 Japan: N.Korea Won't Abandon Program Las Vegas SUN October 29, 2002 By ERIC TALMADGE ASSOCIATED PRESS KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia- North Korea rejected demands that it give up its nuclear weapons program Tuesday, marring the country's first talks with Japan in two years on establishing diplomatic ties, Japanese officials said. Since the North admitted earlier this month that it had a project for developing nuclear arms, Japan has insisted that scrapping the program was a precondition for normalization between the longtime rivals. The two days of talks, which opened Tuesday, have also been overshadowed by the issue of the North's abductions of Japanese in the 1970 and 1980s. The North's negotiators on Tuesday accused Japan of breaking a promise that five surviving abductees - now on their first trip back home - would be returned to North Korea. During the talks, the North "completely denied" calls for the country to give up its nuclear weapons program, a senior Japanese delegation official said on condition of anonymity. The North blamed the concerns over its nuclear weapons program on the United States, saying the hardline U.S. stance was the "root of the problem," he said. North Korea's No. 2 delegation official, Pak Ryong Yeon, said Tuesday that Pyongyang wants the matter of the nuclear program dealt with as normalization talks continue, not as a precondition for normalization. "Japan wants to focus on the abduction and security issues," he said. "But our thinking is, that if we work toward diplomatic ties, then the security issues will be solved along the way." The ambassador-level talks continued Tuesday and were expected to go on as scheduled Wednesday. Tokyo has wavered over how tough a line to take with North Korea on the nuclear issue and has chosen to continue dialogue for the time being. The talks are the offshoot of an unprecedented Sept. 17 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. But the nuclear issue and Japanese anger over the abductions has since soured the budding detente. North Korea admitted to a visiting senior U.S. official this month that it was conducting a secret nuclear weapons development program in violation of a 1994 agreement. For Japan, that news was especially frightening because Pyongyang has demonstrated that it can fire missiles well beyond Japan's main islands. And with nearly 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan, it would likely be a primary target should war break out. At a summit on the sidelines of the APEC meetings in Mexico over the weekend, Koizumi joined President Bush and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in demanding Pyongyang end its nuclear program in a "verifiable way." As they opened Tuesday's meetings, officials from the isolated communist state and its former colonial ruler vowed to "work sincerely" to improve relations. But North Korean delegation chief Jong Thae Hwa acknowledged the talks would not be easy. "Though neighbors, our countries remain distant," he said in his opening remarks. "There are differences between the two countries, including public opinion." Revelations that only five Japanese abductees have survived from the 13 kidnapped by North Korea and used to train its spies in the Japanese language caused widespread anger in Japan. The five survivors are now in Japan on their first homecoming, but Tokyo has said it will not return them to the North as originally planned and is demanding their seven children, as well as the American husband of one, be allowed to travel to Japan as well. In Tuesday's talks, the North Koreans accused Japan of breaking a promise to return the five, the Japanese official said. The Japanese side reminded the North that the five were "the victims of a criminal act" and stressed that the five returnees cannot freely express whether they want to remain in Japan because their children are still in North Korea. North Korea's delegation official, Pak, played down the abduction issue, saying Pyongyang sees it as largely resolved, though some "details" still need to be worked out. Relatives of the abductees also expressed dissatisfaction, urging Tokyo to push for a specific date for the children to return. "We want them to set the date for their children in North Korea (to return) no matter what," Hidekazu Hasuike, whose son Kaoru was abducted in 1978, told Japanese television network NTV. Kaoru has two children in the North with fellow abductee Yukiko Okudo. North Korean officials have criticized Japan for overreacting to the abduction issue, saying it was insignificant compared to Japan's brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 until its World War II defeat in 1945. The two countries' track record on normalization talks is not good. They have been held on and off for the past 10 years. The last round, held two years ago, broke off abruptly after North Korea angrily denied the abduction issue. Japan cut off its aid to the North that same year. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 N. Koreans Learning From Neighbors Las Vegas SUN October 29, 2002 By PAUL SHIN ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea- Top North Korean economic officials took a ride on a "bullet" train and toured science and industrial facilities Tuesday on a tour of rival South Korea, officials from the South said. The 18-member North Korean economic survey team, headed by the communist country's top economic planner, has been keeping busy "beyond our expectations" since arriving Saturday, said Kim Soo-hae, an official at the Ministry of Finance and Economy. The North Koreans have visited information technology plants, a confectionery, an amusement park and shopping malls, and mixed briefly with ordinary South Koreans on a Seoul subway. "They are unusually frank and eager to learn far more than we expected," Kim said. The visit, reflecting the North's hopes to reform its battered economy, was scheduled before new tensions rose earlier this month, when Pyongyang admitted to visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly that it has been pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Officials on the North Korean economic team avoided the nuclear issue and other sensitive topics, said Southern officials. The Northern delegation is headed by Park Nam Gi, chairman of the government committee that oversees economic development, and Chang Sung Taek, a senior official in the communist Worker's Party and brother-in-law of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Other delegates include top officials in trade, tourism, the chemical industry, engineering, computers and agriculture. On Tuesday, the North Koreans rode a French-designed "bullet" train on a test run near Daejeon in central South Korea. When completed in 2004, the train will halve traveling time between Seoul and Busan, the nation's second largest city, to 2 1/2 hours. The North Korean delegation is most interested in the information technology sector, South Korean officials said. While visiting a small information technology company in Seoul on Monday, the chief North Korean delegate asked if the firm was interested in investing in a new free-trade zone Pyongyang plans to set up near the border with South Korea. The company said it will study the possibility. In September, North Korea designated Sinuiju, a city on the Chinese border, as a free-trade zone. In November, it plans to set up another zone - exclusively for South Korean plants - near Kaesung, a town near the Southern border. Hundreds of garment, footwear and other labor-intensive South Korean firms have shown interest in moving plants there. Average wages in North Korea are less than one-eighth of those in the South. North Korea's economy is in tatters. It has been relying on international handouts since 1995 to feed its 22 million people. The Koreas, divided in 1945, share the world's most heavily armed border after the 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Japan and NK Resume Normalization Talks in Malaysia Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Daily News in English About Korea Updated Oct.29,2002 15:26 KST Talks are underway between Japan and North Korea in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia aimed at forging diplomatic ties after a two-year hiatus, however, the path to normalizing relations appears to be a long and winding road. Tokyo plans to put maximum pressure on getting the North to end its nuclear weapons program, while cash-strapped Pyongyang is likely to demand compensation for Japan's colonization of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. The abduction issue is another key topic expected to hit the negotiating table, as Japan seeks hard bargaining on the surviving victim's permanent return. A joint statement is to be announced after the two-day normalization talks, resulting from a landmark summit between the leaders of the two countries in September. (Arirang TV) ***************************************************************** 18 NK Rejects Nuclear Talks with Japan Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Daily News in English About Korea Updated Oct.29,2002 18:50 KST by Kwon Dae-yeol (dykwon@chosun.com) TOKYO - North Korea initially rejected Japanese requests to scrap its nuclear weapons program during their first talks held in the Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on establishing diplomatic ties with Japan, foreign network news agencies, including AFP reported, Tuesday. A Japanese diplomat said, expressing serious concern over the nuclear weapons, Japan addressed the content of the statement issued by the three leaders of South Korea, the US, and Japan in Los Cabos, Mexico, but the reaction from the North was negative, the network news agency reported. The North Korean delegation chief, Jong Tae Hwa said it was inappropriate for him to discuss nuclear development with Japan as part of negotiations on normalizing diplomatic ties. Katsunari Suzuki, head of Japan's delegation, said the two issues of nuclear weapons and abductions were Japan's top priorities, urging the North to do its best. ***************************************************************** 19 U.S. knew about 'secret' nuclear program Tallahassee Democrat | 10/25/2002 | By Dan Stober and Daniel Sneider KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE SAN JOSE, Calif. - Despite its startling announcement a week ago, the Bush administration had detailed knowledge for more than a year about North Korea's program to covertly make uranium fuel for an atom bomb, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News. North Korea's admission that the country's secretive, authoritarian government was pursuing a new route to nuclear weapons sparked international alarm last week. But interviews with experts and former Clinton administration officials, and a review of little-noticed statements by Bush officials, raise questions about why the administration waited so long to deal with this threat, now the subject of intense diplomatic efforts. In addition, the administration had strong evidence, dating back to the Clinton presidency, that North Korea received help from Pakistan's top nuclear weapons scientist. The Pakistanis appear to have given nuclear technology to North Korea in exchange for long-range ballistic missiles that could reach deep into the territory of its traditional foe, India. Bush administration officials pointed a finger at this in early June 2001, at a time when they were courting India. But shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when Pakistan became a key ally in the war on terrorism, they turned mum on the Pakistan connection. It is not clear who authorized the deal, but the existence of the Pakistan-North Korea tie was known more than two years ago, during the Clinton administration. "Our concerns were addressed to the Pakistanis at the highest levels," in connection with President Clinton's trip to Islamabad in 2000, said a senior Clinton official who was involved. "Our concern was about whether the Pakistani government was sufficiently in control of its nuclear labs and certain nuclear scientists." That information was apparently passed on to the new administration. On June 1, 2001, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage used language that was clearly understood to refer to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the flamboyant founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. He expressed concern that the Pakistani nuclear labs, the Khan Research Laboratory and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Agency, known as PAEC, might be spreading nuclear technology to North Korea. A trail to North Korea The concerns centered on "people who were employed by the nuclear agency and have retired," Armitage told the Financial Times of London. He spoke two months after the sudden retirement of Khan, who had been the well-known face of Pakistani nuclear weapons for decades. "It is suspected that he did something on his own with North Korea as a quid pro quo for missile technology," said Rifaat Hussain, a prominent Pakistani political scientist who has written extensively on the country's nuclear program and is now a visiting scholar at Stanford University. The Khan Research Laboratory has both a missile development center and an industrial-sized gas centrifuge plant for enriching uranium for Pakistan's nuclear weapons. "If there was a transfer, Khan's organization at the lab would probably be the contact," said Gaurav Kampani, an expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. "But he could not have done it without the sanction of the military," which tightly controls the nuclear weapons program, Kampani said. Pakistani government officials have denied the charges that they aided the North Korean nuclear program. And a State Department spokesman refused to explain Armitage's remarks and how they related to last week's revelations, citing a policy of not commenting on intelligence matters. The National Security Council also refused requests to explain the administration's policies on this issue. Pakistan faces scrutiny The Bush administration told reporters last week that North Korea has a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 international agreement to halt their weapons effort. The North Koreans admitted the secret program three weeks ago after being presented with evidence by a visiting senior U.S. diplomat. The Bush administration explained that North Korea was attempting to enrich uranium, a secret program separate from its earlier efforts to make a bomb from another radioactive metal, plutonium. U.S. intelligence officials subsequently told the New York Times that Pakistan was a major supplier of the uranium-enrichment equipment, part of a barter deal to obtain North Korean ballistic missiles. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told CNN on Sunday that there was evidence of North Korea's pursuit of this program going back to at least 1999 but that they decided to confront the North Koreans based on evidence confirmed only this past summer. She referred to a "shadowy proliferation network" that supplied the technology but did not name any specific countries. The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence caught North Korea trying to import large quantities of high-strength aluminum that could be used to construct centrifuges. There also was evidence of significant new construction, the Post reported. Khan, the man thought to have supplied the North Koreans, is a metallurgist who worked at a Urenco uranium enrichment facility in the Netherlands until 1975, when he left with stolen blueprints for centrifuges and a list of Urenco's key technology suppliers. The Khan Research Laboratory in Kahuta was founded the next year. Khan's high-profile lifestyle and nuclear bravado made him a household name in Pakistan. He is seen as instrumental in Pakistan's development of a uranium bomb and its first test in 1998. The rivalry between the two Pakistani weapons labs became more intense after the 1998 nuclear test, with scientists squabbling over credit for the success, some of them angry at Khan's grandstanding. In the 1990s, both labs competed to design a ballistic missile to counter India, with KRL championing a liquid-fuel missile while the PAEC pursued a solid-fuel model. Pakistan's Ghauri missile, designed by Khan's lab, is based on the North Korean No-Dong missile. North Korea's aid to Pakistan's missile program goes back at least to the 1980s, says Joseph Bermudez, who has written extensively about North Korea's military for Jane's Intelligence Review. "We saw all that activity," Bermudez said. "We didn't know exactly what the North Koreans were getting in return, but we didn't think it was money, because Pakistan was in such a bad way." Help with the North Korean nuclear program was considered a possibility, he said. Rumors of a North Korean centrifuge program, perhaps hidden underground, had circulated for some time. It was curious that the North Korean bomb program had pursued only plutonium, while most other nuclear states followed a dual-track effort of producing both plutonium and uranium, Bermudez said. What specific help Pakistan may have given North Korea is unknown. It could be equipment, materials, blueprints, expertise or a shopping list of where crucial items might be purchased, said Kampani, the expert at the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "If it was a bargain, it fits together so perfectly," he said. [http://www.knightridderdigital.com/press/index.html] Copyright ***************************************************************** 20 Japan ed: Tokyo must remain firm with Pyongyang. asahi.com : ENGLISH Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] JAPANESE EDITORIAL: Japan-North Korea talks Normalization talks between Japan and North Korea get under way in Malaysia on Tuesday, a process that has aroused considerable international interest. Issues of grave importance face the two countries: the North's development of nuclear weapons and missiles and abduction of Japanese citizens as well as Japan's colonial rule of Korea before and during World War II. The road ahead looks extremely bumpy. But the resumption of the negotiation was agreed upon by the leaders of the two countries, Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The outcome of the negotiations is directly linked to the informal ties that already exist between the two countries, and also to peace and stability in Northeast Asia, which by extension means the world at large. The two countries should enter the talks with the aim of improving their ties and eventually normalizing diplomatic relations from a broad, global perspective rather than precipitously trying for short-term gains. Japan as a nation is riveted by the abduction issue and the government has decided to indefinitely keep the five returnees making their first homecoming in 24 years. An urgent issue is for their family members living in North Korea to come to Japan as soon as possible. There is also a pressing need to get to the bottom of the eight abductees Pyongyang says are dead. The government has many things to ask of the North Koreans, such as whether any other Japanese were abducted. At the international level, people are watching for tangible progress on the nuclear issue. North Korea has already admitted it continued a clandestine program to develop nuclear weapons by trying to produce enriched uranium. It has developed missiles and exported some of them. The special statement issued by world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Mexico called on North Korea to free itself of nuclear weapons. Recent meetings between the leaders of the United States and China, and Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) all urged an immediate halt to North Korea's nuclear development program. North Korea had promised the United States and South Korea it would not develop nuclear weapons. Just last month, Junichrio Koizumi and Kim confirmed in their Pyongyang declaration that the North would comply with all the relevant international agreements for a comprehensive solution to the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula. In view of such developments, Japan must take a firm approach in pressing North Korea to fulfill its promises and to desist from violations. Such an approach will work since the North expects Japan to extend economic cooperation. Japan should request North Korea to act transparently in abandoning its nuclear ambitions and get it to agree to inspections by international organizations. It is also important to freeze the North's development of missiles and test firings as well as suspending their deployment and export. Since North Korean spy ships have prowled the seas around Japan, this nation's security cannot be assured without the North offering a proper explanation and ensuring it will not happen again. When Japan and South Korea held similar negotiations in the 1950s and 1960s, the process lasted 13 years and eight months. In all, 1,200 rounds of talks were held. The negotiations between Japan and North Korea have already gone on for more than 10 years with no tangible result. The North's rigid approach is to blame for this. North Korea should not walk away from the negotiating table ever again. --The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 28 (10/29) ***************************************************************** 21 NK: The Greatest Threat The New York Times *October 29, 2002* *By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF* The scariest place in the world right now is not Iraq, but rather the Korean peninsula. We're being blackmailed by a nuclear power, and so President Bush is in an exceptionally difficult situation ? one that he has handled very ably so far. But the administration's game plan to isolate North Korea is, as our allies are desperately trying to tell us, potentially catastrophic. President Bush wants to squeeze North Korea into abandoning the uranium enrichment program to which it recently confessed. We're almost certain to cut off fuel oil shipments to North Korea. Unfortunately, the moment we cut off oil shipments and apply economic pressure, North Korea may kick out international inspectors at its nuclear plant in Yongbyon. Then it may threaten to "uncan" the plutonium rods there, preparatory to using them to make nuclear bombs. North Korea has enough plutonium in Yongbyon to rapidly make at least five nuclear weapons, possibly more. That's its leverage: threatening to turn Yongbyon into a nuclear assembly line, which in turn might ultimately lead Japan and South Korea to go nuclear as well. So play the scenario out. We cut off fuel oil and introduce sanctions. Then North Korea revives Yongbyon and threatens to uncan the plutonium. From there, it's easy to imagine the U.S. bombing Yongbyon (both the first Bush and the Clinton administrations had contingency plans to do just that), after which North Korea lashes out with artillery at Seoul. I called Kim Myong Chol, a North Korean unofficial spokesman, who said his country would respond to sanctions not just by reviving Yongbyon, but also by ramping up weapons exports. "North Korea can export missile and nuclear technology to the highest bidder," he noted dryly. "It's a capitalist practice." "If America tries to knock out Yongbyon," Mr. Kim added, "North Korea will retaliate immediately on New York and Washington, wipe out South Korea, wipe out Japan." (I observed to Mr. Kim that I was speaking from Midtown Manhattan. "Well okay," he said obligingly, "maybe not New York. Washington and Chicago instead.") In fact, North Korea's ballistic missiles probably can't reach the continental U.S. Still, North Korea's artillery can destroy Seoul. Don Oberdorfer, in his book "The Two Koreas," cites an estimate from a former American commander in South Korea that a war could kill one million people, including 100,000 Americans. Dear Leader Kim Jong Il may also feel that the focus on Iraq gives him more room to push the U.S. around. "North Koreans firmly believe that the U.S. cannot now make a military strike, because South Korea is a hostage and because of the Iraqi situation," said Han Park, an American scholar who has often visited the North. "That may make North Korea a bit more reckless." So what should we do? Donald Gregg, a former ambassador to Seoul who is president of the Korea Society, says imposing sanctions on North Korea "would be crazy." Likewise, a military strike is not feasible, given that it would probably trigger a new Korean war. On the other hand, how can we accept a North Korea with a large nuclear arsenal? How can we continue to ship fuel oil to the North as if nothing had happened? That leaves only one alternative, holding our nose and negotiating a deal with North Korea (without ever calling it negotiating, and possibly using proxies like China). The North would give up its nukes and missiles, all sides would agree to end the hostilities of the Korean War (there never was a peace treaty), and Western countries would normalize relations with the North. "The way to distinguish the hawks from the doves in this administration is the speed with which a person realizes you have to talk to the North," explains a longtime player. "The doves are already there. The hawks are struggling with, and resisting, the notion." In the coming months, the most delicate problem in international relations will be how to negotiate an end to this crisis. If all sides play their cards wisely, we could not only defuse the confrontation, but also launch North Korea on a path like the one China pursued away from Stalinism. North Korea is the most totalitarian country in the world, and possibly the most dangerous adversary we face. But that's precisely the reason we need to engage it. *Forum:* Join a Discussion on Nicholas D. Kristof's Columns (Moderated) Copyright The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 22 Perils of a one-superpower world (VERY GOOD) http://www.malaysiakini.com Comment Richard Butler 2:03pm Tue Oct 29th, 2002 In the 13 months since the terrorist attack on the United States, much has been learnt about the network of international terrorism and the evolving response by the US. As the Bali bombing so hideously illustrated, the terrorist network is widespread and diverse, and will clearly be difficult to run to ground. The shape of the "war on terrorism" being waged by the US suffers from no such ambiguity. It will be pursued with determination and for a very long time. It will be driven by the Bush doctrine. This doctrine was enunciated in a series of statements by President George W Bush as he sought to formulate his policy position and response to the Sept 11 attacks. It has three parts: the US will draw no distinction between terrorist groups and countries that in any way harbour or assist them; those countries that do not support the US in the war on terrorism will be considered opponents of the US; the US will not wait to be attacked by a terrorist group or country, it will strike first if it perceives an emerging danger. At odds with international law This new US doctrine changes everything. For virtually all of the previous 50 years since the end of World War II and including the 40-year period of the Cold War, the US stance was one of defence and deterrence. It was never a posture of pre-emptive strike. In these new circumstances, the US will determine which countries or groups it considers might threaten it in the future and initiate military action against them. Under international law, all countries have the right to self-defence but all are also obliged never to initiate an attack upon another and when disputes arise to seek to settle them by peaceful means. A US policy of pre-emptive strike would be at odds with these principles. The Bush administration is aware of this and has sought to solve the problem by describing any future first-strike action against a source of perceived threat to the US as "anticipatory defence". While this might sound rational, there is no such concept in law. Another response to this problem of a conflict between US national interest and agreed principles of conduct within the international community has been the attempt by some of the more strident nationalists in the Bush administration to seek to exempt the US from any international legal standard. This has taken the form of their declaring a principle of "exceptionalism". Under this claimed principle, it is reasoned that, because the US is now the sole superpower and has global responsibilities, it is exceptional, indeed unique, and accordingly international law cannot and should not be applied to it in the way it is to all other countries. While this is new and certainly uncharted territory, the Bush doctrine and the associated rationales advanced for the claim that the US can now do whatever it pleases anywhere in the world at least answers the burning question left over from the Cold War. That was, what would a world of one superpower look like and how exactly would the US use that power? We now know the answer. It is more than ironic that it was the actions of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda that forged this clarity. But, in this case, clarity is not the same thing as stability, consistency or predictability. The past US posture of defence and deterrence made a massive contribution to stability in international relations. The new US policy on first strike produces an inherently unstable situation. It would be less so if the considerations that the US has announced will guide its decisions on "anticipatory defence" were consistent and could be expected to be applied predictably. Contradictions, inconsistencies For example, Bush's identification of an "axis of evil", which he said was formed by three countries  Iraq, Iran and North Korea  is now widely regarded as a clumsy and damaging rhetorical indulgence. This is not to say that each of those countries does not present problems with regard to weapons of mass destruction and support for terrorism. But to suggest that they in some way formed an axis and to fail to recognise the significant differences between them does little to breed confidence in the Bush administration. In one respect, incredulity over the axis of evil statement and related utterances served to reduce alarm about the prospect of future unilateral action by the US. Simply, it was impossible to think the US could actually implement its rhetoric because, if it did, it would be obliged to go to war immediately with about 30 countries. The important issue of consistency is in sharp focus right now. The Bush administration has made it crystal clear that it is prepared to go to war with Iraq in the near future. It claims this is necessary because of Saddam Hussein's continuing development of weapons of mass destruction. The US has also signalled that it wishes to remove Saddam from power for other reasons  such as his serial violations of human rights and, most recently, because of his support for terrorism, possibly including al-Qaeda. But it has now been revealed that North Korea has been developing nuclear weapons and is almost certainly more advanced than Iraq. Yet there is no suggestion of military action against North Korea. This lack of consistency is more than matched by the extraordinary double standard on the issue of weapons of mass destruction. The enforcers of the law on weapons of mass destruction are themselves the major owners of such weapons. This contradiction does not go unnoticed in the community of nations. In the case of the US, now equipped with the Bush doctrine that presumably includes use of its own weapons of mass destruction as it chooses, the contradiction is seen as disturbing. 50-year setback to civilisation If the emergence of worldwide terrorism  from New York to Bali  has a central meaning, it is that the system of the conduct of international relations among sovereign states, in accordance with the law, has been dramatically challenged by non-state actors  terrorists. These terrorist groups represent no one but themselves. They have no responsibility for government or territory. They respect no law. Civilisation itself is directly challenged by them. Interestingly, they do not dispute this. Indeed, they say that to challenge the existing order is precisely their purpose because they do not consider that the way in which relations among states, peoples and cultures are conducted deserves the term "civilisation". If the terrorists are to be defeated, civilisation will have to live up to its name. States that have responsibility for both the provision of decent standards of living and a fair system of justice within their own jurisdiction, and the observance of international law in their foreign and security policy, must pursue and defend those ends vigorously. It also means that if action, especially military action, is to be taken against terrorist groups and their state supporters, it must be done in accordance with international law  that is, authorised by the Security Council of the United Nations. If the other unilateral course is followed, as the Bush doctrine appears to suggest, then we will have stepped back from more than 50 years of striving to assert the civilised principle that the conduct of the world's affairs can be regulated and enlightened by law and principle to the admittedly more ancient idea that more important than anything else is the possession and exercise of raw power. Isn't this what the terrorists want? Australians are justifiably shocked and angry at the Bali outrage. Many will feel that a simple response of retaliation, or indeed revenge, is called for. What form this should take is not clear because it is not yet clear who the bombers were. The danger a gut reaction rather than a considered response holds is that Australians and the Australian government may be tempted to take an approach similar to the Bush doctrine under which Australia would join in whatever action is being promoted by the US as the next step in the war on terrorism. The clearest case is what appears to be a virtually inevitable American attack on Iraq  even without UN authorisation. We Australians should think more critically and carefully than this and, above all, remember our history, culture and values. They point to our sticking with the law, not the jungle. RICHARD BUTLER is a former executive chairperson of the United Nations special commission to disarm Iraq and a former Australian ambassador to the UN.  GVNN/The Age Copyright © 2002 Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 Kim urges U.S. to continue building reactors in N.K. Korea Herald!!_National http://www.koreaherald.com SEATTLE - President Kim Dae-jung urged the United States on Monday not to stop construction of light-water reactors in North Korea in retaliation for its nuclear weapons development program. He also made clear his opposition to the U.S. imposing economic sanctions against the communist country, saying such punitive measures will lead to war on the Korean Peninsula. Kim spoke at a meeting with about 260 ethnic Koreans here after arriving in this U.S. city from Mexico, where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and held a three-way summit with the United States and Japan. He said that like a military option, punitive actions against the North, including a halt to provide light-water reactors or interim heavy oil, is "dangerous." "Economic sanctions, if imposed, will lead the North to be eager to develop nuclear bombs, creating a nuclear-war crisis," Kim told the participants. There are concerns in South Korea that the Bush administration may scrap the light-water reactor project as a reprisal for the North's virtual nullification of the Agreed Framework signed by the two countries in 1994 to defuse a nuclear crisis. Under the Geneva deal, the United States promised to provide the reactors deemed less suitable for making nuclear weapons to the North by 2003 in return for the North's freeze of its nuclear development activities. Washington has stopped short of threatening economic sanctions against the North should it refuse to cooperate on dismantling its recently exposed nuclear development program. Bush promised to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully, ruling out launching a military strike against the North during his meeting with Kim and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi held Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Mexico. But some hard-liners in the administration have said the next step the United States will take is to mobilize as much international pressure as possible on the North, forcing it to discard its program. Following the meeting of Korean residents in the United States, Kim received a courtesy call from Washington Gov. Gary Locke and discussed issues of mutual concern. The President met Microsoft founder Bill Gates Tuesday morning, and the two shared the need for South Korea and the U.S. computer software giant to expand bilateral cooperation in information technology. Kim will arrive in Seoul Wednesday evening after winding up his six-day trip. (shinyb@koreaherald.co.kr) By Shin Yong-bae Korea Herald correspondent 2002.10.30 (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 24 Yankee restarts Brattleboro Reformer Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - 12:30:47 AM MST By JAMES PENTLAND Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant restarted Sunday after a 22-day refueling shutdown -- the shortest in the plant's history, according to officials. During the outage, which began Oct. 5, one-third of the plant's fuel was replaced and "virtually every system and component was inspected and tested after maintenance," according to plant spokesman Rob Williams. Williams said the plant's main transformer, which boosts power coming from the generator to 345,000 volts for transmission to the New England electrical grid, was also replaced. Williams was unable to provide a cost estimate Monday for that work or for the outage as a whole, which involved 900 contract workers in addition to the plant's 460 full-time employees. Besides being Vermont Yankee's shortest refueling shutdown, the outage also set a national record for lowest worker radiation exposure, according to owner Entergy Nuclear. "It's an industry goal to ensure that exposures to workers are minimized," Williams said. "This outage was the best that any boiling water reactor in the United States has ever had." Each worker wears radiation-detection equipment known as dosimeters, and any exposure is monitored and controlled by the plant's radiation protection department. Williams said that although the refueling outage was completed in record time -- two days less than the last one in the spring of 2001 -- nothing was rushed. "(The outage) is very carefully planned throughout the year," he said. "Each task is studied for how it can be done more efficiently." Vermont Yankee was expected to be back at full power by today. Its output was 30 percent of full power early Monday, and Williams said it usually takes a day to reach full power. ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and NENI Newspapers ***************************************************************** 25 Pickering delay irks energy minister * CBC Ottawa Oct 29 2002 09:42 AM CST / OTTAWA / - Ontario Power Generation says much needed electricity won't come from the Pickering A Nuclear Generating Station until at least March of 2003. Energy Minister John Baird As well, the utility says it may not proceed with the refit of three other reactors at Pickering A. On Monday, OPG said the cost of refurbishing just one of four reactors at Pickering A, is $230 million over budget. This does not please Energy Minister John Baird. "I'm certainly concerned about the management of the project and concerned about the delays in the project," he said Monday. "They (OPG) made estimates that were overly ambitious." Ontario's Liberal energy critic says things have gotten so bad at Pickering A that OPG is now having second thoughts about fixing the other three reactors. Sean Conway says if the generators were left mothballed, the Ontario power grid would be short 1550 megawatts of much-needed electricity. "It will certainly continue to put strong upward pressure on everybody's electricity bill," he said. Asked Monday if he would consider shelving the Pickering refurbishment altogether, Baird said he wants to take it one step at a time. Copyright © 2002 CBC ***************************************************************** 26 Canada: Three reactors could be closed* globetechnology.com RICHARD MACKIE Tuesday, October 29, 2002 Ontario Power Generation has warned that it could scrap three of its four non-functioning nuclear reactors at Pickering, further reducing supplies of electricity and pushing prices up in the province. Energy Minister John Baird confirmed that the future of the three reactors, and their 1,545 megawatts of power, will be re-examined sometime next year. The revelation came with the news that OPG, which is owned by the government, made a profit of $215-million in July, August and September, as consumers were paying record prices for power. Adding to the bad news on the electricity front for the government was a claim made by federal and provincial Liberals that Ontario residents will pay an extra $1.4-billion in GST because the provincial government "bungled" the drawing up of the new electricity bills. Electricity bills are higher than they need to be because the 7-per-cent goods and services tax is being imposed on payments dedicated to bringing down the $20-billion in debt left over from the breakup of the old Ontario Hydro, Liberal MPP Michael Bryant said. These debt-reduction payments are included in the bills paid by the four million residential and business electricity consumers in the province. Mr. Bryant and federal MPs Roger Gallaway and Dan McTeague said the provincial government could work out an arrangement with the federal government to exclude the debt payments. The unexpected news about the possible permanent shutdown of three reactors at Pickering came directly from Ontario Power Generation along with the statement of its financial results for the third quarter. "Progress on the first unit to return to service has been somewhat slower than expected as a result of construction challenges encountered in the refurbishment of certain systems," the report said. It added that the first of the four units being refurbished, Unit 4, will begin coming back on stream in March and will cost an additional $230-million, on top of $1.025-billion already spent to try to fix the four reactors. A decision whether to continue trying to rebuild the other three units will be based on whether Unit 4 is brought back into operation successfully, Ontario Power Generation said. "The cost and schedule to return the remaining units to service will be reassessed based on OPG's experience with the first unit returning to service, in order to determine the appropriateness of the $300-to-$400-million estimate per unit." The non-functioning reactors are the first four built of the eight that now exist at Pickering. Known as Pickering A, they were shut down in 1997 after external investigations indicated serious problems with their ongoing maintenance and operation. The reactors were supposed to start returning to operation in 1999. That target date was shifted to mid-2001 and then to this December. Mr. Baird said that if these three units are shut down, the province will be able to obtain new power from two reactors at the Bruce installation that are being refurbished by Bruce Energy. On another issue, Mr. Baird said he was not alarmed that Ontario Power Generation had big profits during the hot summer months. "In the third quarter, the profits were certainly greater than they had been in the past. [But for] the year to date, the first three quarters combined, [profits] are less than what they were last year." Excess profits at Ontario Power Generation will be returned to consumers through a mechanism that was established to provide rebates to consumers that go up as the company's income goes up, Mr. Baird added. The size of the rebate would depend on the size of the consumer's bill. They could average $250, but that would vary widely. Liberal energy critic Sean Conway criticized the financial burden being put on consumers who "are paying through the teeth" for electricity to generate Ontario Power Generation profits. © 2002 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 NRC Approves Transfer of Operating License for Seabrook to FPL Energy NRC: News Release - 2002-126 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-126 October 28, 2002 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of the operating license for the Seabrook nuclear power station to FPL Energy Seabrook, LLC. North Atlantic Energy Service Corporation (NAESCO) was the previous licensed operator and co-owner of the Seabrook Station, located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. The plant began commercial operation August 19, 1990. On May 17, NASESCO and FPL Energy Seabrook submitted applications to the NRC requesting approval for the license transfer. Current licensees which own interest in Seabrook Station but are not involved in this license transfer are Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant, and Hudson Light and Power Department, all of which will remain licensees. The key issues considered by the NRC technical staff in its review included the adequacy of decommissioning funding, insurance and FPL's technical and financial qualifications. The Commission published a notice of the transfer request and an opportunity for a hearing in the Federal Register June 14. No comments or requests for a hearing were received. Wednesday, October 30, 2002 ***************************************************************** 28 NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet November 7 - 9 in Rockville, Maryland NRC: News Release - 2002-127 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-127 October 29, 2002 The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) will hold a meeting on November 7 - 9 in Rockville, Md., to discuss, among other items, design features of the Westinghouse AP1000 advanced nuclear reactor and risk-informed improvements to standard technical specifications. The meeting, most of which is open to the public, will be held in Room T-2B3 of the agencys Two White Flint North building, at 11545 Rockville Pike. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. each day. A complete agenda is attached. For additional information, please contact Dr. Sher Bahadur, at 301-415-1038, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. ACRS AGENDA THURSDAY 8:30 - 8:35 A.M. Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open) Opening Statement Items of current interest 8:35 - 10:00 A.M. Proposed Resolution of Generic Safety Issue (GSI)-189, Susceptibility of Ice Condenser and Mark III Containments to Early Failure from Hydrogen Combustion During a Severe Accident (Open) Remarks by the Subcommittee Chairman Briefing by and discussions with representatives of the NRC staff on the results of their additional analyses and proposed recommendations for resolving GSI-189. Representatives of the nuclear industry may provide their views, as appropriate. 10:00 - 10:15 A.M. ***BREAK*** 10:15 - 11:45 A.M. Early Site Permit Process (Open) Remarks by the Subcommittee Chairman Briefing by and discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding Early Site Permit Process. Representatives of the nuclear industry may provide their views, as appropriate. 11:45 - 12:15 P.M. Peach Bottom License Renewal Application (Open) Report by the Subcommittee Chairman regarding the October 30, 2002 Plant License Renewal Subcommittee meeting on the license renewal application for the Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant, Units 2 and 3. 12:15 - 1:15 P.M. ***LUNCH*** 1:15 - 3:15 P.M. Westinghouse AP1000 Design (Open) Remarks by the Subcommittee Chairman Briefing by and discussions with representatives of Westinghouse regarding the design features of and test information on, the AP1000 design. The NRC staff will provide a status report regarding its review schedule. 3:15 - 3:30 P.M. ***BREAK*** 3:30 - 5:00 P.M Risk-Informed Improvements to Standard Technical Specifications (Open) Remarks by the Subcommittee Chairman Briefing by and discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding staffs progress on risk-informed improvements to Standard Technical Specifications and related matters. Representatives of the nuclear industry may provide their views, as appropriate. 5:00 - 5:15 P.M. ***BREAK*** 5:15 - 6:00 P.M. Report Regarding Recent Operating Events (Open) Report by the Cognizant ACRS member regarding recent operating events of interest. 6:00 - 7:00 P.M. Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open) Discussion of proposed ACRS reports on: Proposed Resolution of GSI-189 Early Site Permit Process Risk-Informed Improvements to Standard Technical Specifications FRIDAY 8:30 - 8:35 A.M. Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open) 8:35 - 12:00 Noon Organizational and Personnel Matters (Closed) The Committee will discuss organizational and personnel matters as well as the potential improvements to internal ACRS policies and procedures. [NOTE: This session will be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c) (2) and (6) to discuss organizational and personnel matters that relate solely to internal personnel rules and practices of ACRS, and information the release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. ] 12:00 - 1:00 P.M. ***LUNCH*** 1:00 - 4:00 P.M. Safeguards and Security Activities (Closed) [THIS SESSION WILL BE HELD IN ROOM T-8E8] Report by the Subcommittee Chairman regarding matters discussed at the October 31 meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Safeguards and Security. Discussion of the content of a proposed report to the Commission on Safeguards and Security matters. [NOTE: This session will be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) to protect national security information.] 4:00 - 4:15 P.M. ***BREAK*** 4:15 - 5:00 P.M. Future ACRS Activities/Report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee (Open) Discussion of the recommendations of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee regarding items proposed for consideration by the full Committee during future ACRS meetings. Report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee on matters related to the conduct of ACRS business, including anticipated workload and member assignments. 5:00 - 5:15 P.M. Reconciliation of ACRS Comments and Recommendations (Open) Discussion of the responses from the NRC Executive Director for Operations to comments and recommendations included in recent ACRS reports and letters. 5:15 - 5:30 P.M. ***BREAK*** 5:30 - 7:00 P.M. Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open) Discussion of proposed ACRS reports on: Proposed Resolution of GSI-189 Early Site Permit Process Risk-Informed Improvements to Standard Technical Specifications SATURDAY 8:30 - 10:00 A.M. Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open) Continue discussion of the proposed ACRS reports listed under previous item. 10:00 - 10:15 A.M. ***BREAK*** 10:15 - 12:15 P.M. Annual ACRS Report on the NRC Safety Research Program (Open) Remarks by the Subcommittee Chairman regarding matters discussed at the November 6, 2002 Subcommittee meeting. Discussion of a draft ACRS report to the Commission on the NRC Safety Research Program. 12:15 - 12:30 P.M. ***BREAK*** 12:30 - 1:00 P.M. Miscellaneous (Open) Discussion of matters related to the conduct of Committee activities and matters and specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, as time and availability of information permit. Tuesday, October 29, 2002 ***************************************************************** 29 *TVA looking for money to restart nuclear plant* * Saturday, October 26, 2002 * -- /270-783-3249/ The Tennessee Valley Authority is trying to get its 158 power distributors to use cash reserves to buy discount power ? money that TVA would use to restart a nuclear-powered generating plant. ?They need capital for projects and have pretty well worked themselves into a political position where much of Congress feels like they shouldn?t borrow money,? said Bill Ray, general manager of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board. ?So they are asking us for the money.? It will take more than $1.8 billion to reactivate Browns Ferry Unit 1 in Limestone County, Alabama. The idea is that distributors would hand over their reserves to purchase blocks of discount power, earning the equivalent of a 6 percent return on their money over 15 to 20 years. In theory it sounds good, considering that most power distributors are probably earning just 2 percent to 3 percent on their reserves. At first TVA wanted utilities to commit to blocks of power costing $1 million, but that number is in flux. Smaller blocks can be purchased, Myron Callahan of the Bowling Green TVA office told Russellville Electric Plant Board earlier this month. Callahan told the board the program would save them about 2 cents a kilowatt hour. Board members questioned how quickly they would have to provide the cash, since some of their money was in long-term certificates of deposit. Callahan said it?s not clear since the proposal is in its infancy. Callahan also has talked to Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Co. and Bowling Green Municipal Utilities about the idea. ?If a utility had the capital in reserve, it probably would be a pretty good deal,? said Gerald Hayes president and chief executive officer of WRECC. There?s a but, though. ?It gets some discounts but there is no ownership in the system and it would lengthen one?s relationship with TVA,? Hayes said. Both WRECC and BGMU are evaluating their relationships with TVA. Bowling Green formally gave its five-year notice it would look for other power sources. ?We are evaluating our options,? said Larry Miller, BGMU general manager. Miller said because it has given its notice, he doubts BGMU would even be eligible to participate in the discount power program. At any rate, the utility has just about $2 million in reserves and would like to keep it that way. Hayes said the same about WRECC?s $4 million reserve. ?We need it if anything catastrophic were to happen,? he said. Callahan said utilities could borrow the money back from TVA at a very competitive rate if they needed it for major repairs. ?But who knows what the (lending) market might be three years from now if we were to need the money,? Hayes said. And WRECC is in serious discussions with other power distributors but has not yet provided a required five-year notice to TVA. ?It is our fiduciary responsibility to try to get the best deal for our members,? he said. With more than 56,000 customers in all or parts of eight counties, WRECC is the 12th largest TVA customer, Hayes said. The potential loss to TVA would be significant, he said. That?s why Ray said his board will be watching how TVA handles BGMU and WRECC. ?We?ll see if they get a better deal because they have threatened to leave,? he said. TVA shut down all five of its nuclear power units ? three at Browns Ferry and two in Chattanooga, Tenn. ? in 1985 because of safety and general management concerns, according to John Moulton, a TVA spokesman in Knoxville, Tenn. ?Since then they have retroffited the plants and brought them back on line as power has demanded it,? Moulton said. The first unit came back on line in 1991 and Browns Ferry Unit 1 is the only one still nonoperational and wouldn?t be on line until 2007. BowlingGreenJobs.Com ***************************************************************** 30 Group sues nuke plant on Hudson over water [Democrat and Chronicle] [http://www.democratandchronicle.com THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (October 29, 2002)  ALBANY  A group of environmentalists and Democratic state lawmakers sued the Pataki administration and a nuclear plant operator on Monday to force the state to act on a lapsed permit to use the Hudson River to cool the power plants. Entergy Nuclear Northeast Inc. uses 2.4 billion gallons of water daily to cool its two Indian Point reactors under a 1987 state permit that expired in 1992. That large intake and subsequent discharge of heated water kills fish, eggs and other organisms, argued those bringing the suit, Democratic Assemblymen Richard Brodsky of Westchester County and Adam Clayton Powell IV of Manhattan, along with a group of residents and environmentalists. Indian Point sits in Buchanan, Westchester County, 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan. The damage to the river is enormous, Brodsky said. The water use is the largest remaining insult to the river. Under state law, these permits are extended automatically until the state Department of Environmental Conservation decides whether it should be renewed. The group argues that provisions of the state permit now conflict with the federal Clean Water Act. ***************************************************************** 31 Fact-finders may take look at Davis-Besse » The Plain Dealer 10/29/02 John Mangels, John Funk and Stephen Koff Plain Dealer Reporters Washington- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's five-member governing board is considering holding a rare fact-finding hearing of its own because of the unprecedented corrosion damage that has shuttered the Davis-Besse nuclear plant for eight months. The commissioners are also considering changing the way they oversee commercial reactors, in the wake of the Davis-Besse debacle. Top NRC officials revealed the developments yesterday during the first day of a three-day annual nuclear safety conference. The session was dominated by discussion of the problems at the Toledo-area plant, which continue to force federal regulators and the nuclear industry to rethink assumptions about the durability and maintenance of the massive lids atop the nation's nuclear reactors. Davis-Besse "leads us down a path that says here's an area where we don't know as much as we thought," said Larry Mathews, chairman of a nuclear industry group studying why the nozzles in the lid are prone to cracking and leaking of the reactor's coolant. "The whole world is learning from these issues." Commissioners Jeffrey Merrifield and Nils Diaz, two of the NRC's five governors, said the commission will decide within the next several weeks whether to conduct an extraordinary meeting in which the agency, plant owner FirstEnergy Corp. and industry observers would review the factors that led to the pineapple-sized hole in the 6½-inch-thick steel lid. While the NRC staff continues to hold regular meetings on Davis-Besse, this would be the first time the commissioners have taken up the matter. "I personally think it would be a good thing," Diaz said in an interview after addressing the safety conference attended by as many as 400 representatives of industry, government and universities. Merrifield said the timing of such a hearing would depend on the progress of several agency investigations, including an inquiry into possible criminal wrongdoing by FirstEnergy in its successful campaign last fall to persuade the NRC to postpone a mandatory shutdown of Davis-Besse for a safety inspection. Investigators are trying to determine if FirstEnergy altered or withheld documents that would have shown the true condition of the lid. Both commissioners and William Travers, the NRC's executive director for operations, defended the agency management's decision to allow the plant to keep operating, despite the staff's near certainty that Davis-Besse's lid was cracked and leaking. "We made the appropriate judgment there," Travers said. "We'd all like to have more information. I'd like to have known that corrosion was occurring." In the wake of a highly critical assessment by the agency of its oversight of Davis-Besse in the years leading up to the discovery this March of the rust hole, Travers said he has asked senior NRC managers to recommend changes in the way the agency operates. Travers said he expects the group's report within weeks. He then could submit its findings to the commission for approval. The NRC has not decided whether or when to allow Davis-Besse to resume making electricity. FirstEnergy is installing a new lid and making extensive repairs and improvements with the hope of restarting early next year. Davis-Besse, along with other nuclear reactors where cracking and coolant leaks have recently been found, has spawned a major research effort to understand more about how cracks form, how fast they grow and how the leaking turns into a corrosive force. At the time the rust hole was discovered at Davis-Besse, "there was a good deal of fundamental degradation rate data and corrosion rate data . . . that just simply did not exist," said William Cullen, senior materials engineer for the NRC. The industry and the agency are each working on computer models that attempt to predict when and under what conditions cracks and corrosion will form and worsen. Those models disagree in some significant ways and are not yet ready to be used by the NRC for guidance. The NRC's policy is that thorough, regular visual checks of the reactor lids are adequate to spot signs of leaking early enough to prevent major corrosion damage like that at Davis-Besse. However, recent inspections findings at several nuclear plants have shaken that confidence and are forcing the NRC and the industry to reconsider whether instrument-aided exams are warranted. Regarding Davis-Besse, the NRC is employing two government labs to go beyond computer modeling. At Argonne, near Chicago, scientists are considering making a mockup of the rust hole to study corrosion growth. And at Oak Ridge, near Knoxville, Tenn., engineers are planning to test a replica of the thin stainless-steel liner, which was all that kept Davis-Besse's coolant from spewing out of the reactor. The lab will measure the pressure needed to burst the metal, which was bulging, cracked and thinner than expected. FirstEnergy will pay for that research, said Cullen. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842 jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 skoff@plaind.com, 216-999-4212 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. © 2002 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 32 Ralph Besse is dead; talented farmer's son backed nuclear power » More From The Plain Dealer 10/29/02 Alana Baranick Plain Dealer Reporter Shaker Heights- Ralph M. Besse, the son of a dairy farmer, helped create a community college system, directed a Cleveland utility company into a new era, and has a nuclear power plant named after him. Memorial services for the retired executive and lawyer, who died of a heart attack at age 96, will be Friday. Besse, born in Shadyside, in Belmont County, was the first in his family to go to college but almost missed getting there. Neither his intellectual ability nor his desire to go was questioned. He skipped eighth grade by passing an exam and went on to become valedictorian of his senior class at Hartville (Ohio) High School. But his family could not afford college. H.B. Stewart, a lawyer and president of the Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad, who was impressed with Besse's valedictory speech, came to the rescue by offering him a loan. "His helping me changed my life so much," Besse said years later. "I kind of felt an obligation to do for others what he did for me. It kind of launched me into what I did for education." Besse packed a sparse war- drobe into a cardboard suitcase hastily bought at an Army-Navy store and caught a train for Heidelberg College. After graduating with highest honors in 1926, he studied law at the University of Michigan, again with Stewart's aid. When Besse repaid the loans during the Depression, Stewart was said to have replied: "You were the only investment I made which paid off in full." Besse joined Squire Sanders & Dempsey in 1929 and became a partner in 1940. He left the law firm in 1948 to join Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. By 1960, he was the utility's president. He was chairman and chief executive officer from 1967 until he retired in 1970. He then resumed his law career with his old firm. He retired altogether on his 80th birthday. Under Besse's leadership, CEI and four utilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania united. The companies formed the Central Area Power Coordination Group to pool financial resources to build nuclear power plants. Besse once told a reporter that atomic power "is the only solution we have" to meet consumers' needs and keep rates low. The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant is named for Besse and Toledo Edison Chairman John K. Davis. The plant, at Oak Harbor near Toledo, began operating seven years after Besse retired from CEI. Besse devoted much of his life to empowering a broader spectrum of the public to access higher education. In the late 1950s and early '60s, he led the Cleveland Commission on Higher Education, a coalition of private colleges. He wielded his influence to get the state legislature to approve establishment of a community-college system. Once that was accomplished, Besse helped start Cuyahoga Community College, where an annual award for teaching excellence was established in his honor. Besse was a trustee of Case Western Reserve University, Heidelberg College, University School, the Educational TV Association of Metropolitan Cleveland and Ursuline College, where the library bears his name. He was a past chairman and co-founder of Cleveland Council of College Trustees and past regional chairman for the United Negro College Fund. His numerous honors include the National Conference of Christians and Jews' Human Relations Award, Martha Holden Jennings Distinguished Citizen Award, Jewish Community Federation's Charles Eisenman Award and the National Committee for Civic Responsibility's John F. Kennedy Memorial Award. Besse died Friday at his home in Shaker Heights. Survivors include his wife, Augusta M.; daughter, Jean B. Minehart of Charlottesville, Va.; sons, William T. of Mayfield and Robert A. of Alliance; 10 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Memorial services will be at 4 p.m. Friday at Plymouth Church of Shaker Heights, 2860 Coventry Road. Arrangements are by Brown-Forward Funeral Home, Shaker Heights. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: abaranick@plaind.com, 216-999-4828 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. © 2002 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 33 JCPB votes to participate in Alabama project 10/23/2002. By Alyssa Spradlin Press Staff Writer Investing in the Tennessee Valley Authority?s efforts to restart a reactor at an Alabama nuclear plant while increasing the possibility of a higher rate of return seemed like good business sense to Johnson City Power Board officials. The utility?s Board of Directors voted Tuesday for General Manager Doyle Walters to sign a non-binding letter of intent with TVA to participate in a program that would allow the Power Board to pre-purchase power at a 2½ cent discount. ?TVA was tasked with finding a way to generate funds to restart the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant,? Walters told the board. The Power Board?s current investments are yielding a one and a half to two percent return. The rate of return for the Browns Ferry project would be about six percent. ?You can never go wrong by buying kilowatt hours at a 2½ cent discount,? Walters said. Distributors buy power from TVA at a certain rate so the discounted rate would provide the profit. The general manager cautioned directors about the potential downfall of the investment, namely the possibility that the rate of interest would increase to 19 or 20 percent as it did in 1970. ?If we wanted to participate in this program I wouldn?t feel more comfortable investing more than $1 million,? Walters said, indicating the lowest level of participation. Under the 10-year plan, which was the board of director?s preference, an investment of $1 million would be ?paid back? in terms of 435,000 kWh per month for a total of 52,200,000. Multiplying that total by the savings equals $1,305,000. The $305,000 would be profit the Power Board may otherwise realize, Walter said. Customers should not worry about seeing an increase in their own power bills to fund the project. The Board of Directors opted to take $1 million out of its reserve fund to buy the discounted power, with returns realized to that fund monthly. There is about $6.3 million in the fund, Walters said. Of some concern is a Senate Bill proposed by Trent Lott, R-Miss., to keep TVA from starting new projects or raising funds for new projects, he said. The board voted to send a letter to Lott, with copies to Tennessee legislators, asking that he take the bill off the Senate floor. Browns Ferry opened with three reactors in the late 1970s. TVA shut the nuclear plant down in 1985. Unit Two was returned to service in 1991 and Unit Three in 1996. The current fund-raising efforts are to reactivate Unit One. /(Contact Alyssa Spradlin at aspradlin@johnsoncitypress.com )./ © 2001-02 Johnson City Press and Associated Press All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 34 TVA financial tactic to open Browns Ferry Daily News ONLINE - Bowling Green, Kentucky. Saturday, October 26, 2002 [http://www.bgdailynews.com Daily News 813 College St. PO Box 90012 Bowling Green, KY 42102 270-781-1700 Robyn L. Minor, rminor@bgdailynews.com -- 270-783-3249 The Tennessee Valley Authority is trying to get its 158 power distributors to use cash reserves to buy discount power – money that TVA would use to restart a nuclear-powered generating plant. “They need capital for projects and have pretty well worked themselves into a political position where much of Congress feels like they shouldn’t borrow money,” said Bill Ray, general manager of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board. “So they are asking us for the money.” It will take more than $1.8 billion to reactivate Browns Ferry Unit 1 in Limestone County, Alabama. The idea is that distributors would hand over their reserves to purchase blocks of discount power, earning the equivalent of a 6 percent return on their money over 15 to 20 years. In theory it sounds good, considering that most power distributors are probably earning just 2 percent to 3 percent on their reserves. At first TVA wanted utilities to commit to blocks of power costing $1 million, but that number is in flux. Smaller blocks can be purchased, Myron Callahan of the Bowling Green TVA office told Russellville Electric Plant Board earlier this month. Callahan told the board the program would save them about 2 cents a kilowatt hour. Board members questioned how quickly they would have to provide the cash, since some of their money was in long-term certificates of deposit. Callahan said it’s not clear since the proposal is in its infancy. Callahan also has talked to Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Co. and Bowling Green Municipal Utilities about the idea. “If a utility had the capital in reserve, it probably would be a pretty good deal,” said Gerald Hayes president and chief executive officer of WRECC. There’s a but, though. “It gets some discounts but there is no ownership in the system and it would lengthen one’s relationship with TVA,” Hayes said. Both WRECC and BGMU are evaluating their relationships with TVA. Bowling Green formally gave its five-year notice it would look for other power sources. “We are evaluating our options,” said Larry Miller, BGMU general manager. Miller said because it has given its notice, he doubts BGMU would even be eligible to participate in the discount power program. At any rate, the utility has just about $2 million in reserves and would like to keep it that way. Hayes said the same about WRECC’s $4 million reserve. “We need it if anything catastrophic were to happen,” he said. Callahan said utilities could borrow the money back from TVA at a very competitive rate if they needed it for major repairs. “But who knows what the (lending) market might be three years from now if we were to need the money,” Hayes said. And WRECC is in serious discussions with other power distributors but has not yet provided a required five-year notice to TVA. “It is our fiduciary responsibility to try to get the best deal for our members,” he said. With more than 56,000 customers in all or parts of eight counties, WRECC is the 12th largest TVA customer, Hayes said. The potential loss to TVA would be significant, he said. That’s why Ray said his board will be watching how TVA handles BGMU and WRECC. “We’ll see if they get a better deal because they have threatened to leave,” he said. TVA shut down all five of its nuclear power units – three at Browns Ferry and two in Chattanooga, Tenn. – in 1985 because of safety and general management concerns, according to John Moulton, a TVA spokesman in Knoxville, Tenn. “Since then they have retroffited the plants and brought them back on line as power has demanded it,” Moulton said. The first unit came back on line in 1991 and Browns Ferry Unit 1 is the only one still nonoperational and wouldn’t be on line until 2007. ***************************************************************** 35 NC regulators approve $25 million settlement with Duke By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press Writer The state Utilities Commission on Tuesday agreed to a $25 million settlement with Duke Power Co. over underreported profits, rejecting criticism that the agreement wasn't strong enough. With no dissenting votes, the seven-member commission agreed to the deal publicly announced last week reaached between its public staff and Charlotte-based Duke. An independent auditor determined that a change in Duke's accounting method resulted in not reporting $124 million in profits between 1998 and 2001. The settlement will mean average residential consumers would see about 36 cents a month in reduced bills for a year. Besides the settlement money, Duke has agreed to shift $50 million back to a nuclear insurance reserve fund. More than $80 million of Duke's underreporting involved money in the fund. The settlement will mean a one-time $19 million charge to fourth-quarter earnings for parent Duke Energy Corp. Commission members, who heard Monday from the Duke accounting whistleblower in the case, said they were disappointed with the electric utility. "There's been some serious regulatory damage done," said Commissioner Lorinzo Joyner. "There is no right way to do a wrong thing." South Carolina still must approve the deal. Its Public Service Commission delayed a meeting on the matter scheduled for Tuesday until the middle of November. Duke accountant Barron Stone, who first alerted the company about the problems, told commissioners he believed the accounting changes were deliberate, not mistakes as the company contends. Company executives knew about the changes, he said. Stone said his company underreported quarterly income to avoid a rate decrease. If a regulated company doesn't hit target incomes, the commission can adjust its rates. Duke Power, with 2 million customers in the Carolinas, denied intentional wrongdoing, saying that an accounting firm it hired disagreed with the independent auditor's findings. But it admitted it failed to adequately explain significant changes to its accounting practices. "We've made errors," said Tom Williams, a Duke Power spokesman, adding the company is pleased with the commission members' vote. "We've also acknowledged that we need to have better communication with them going forward." The independent audit said Duke officials were concerned about the threat of a rate reduction in 1998 after the South Carolina Public Service Commission reduced rates charged by another utility. Duke Power said it was surprised by the unprecedented decision but did nothing out of the ordinary in examining its profits. The board Tuesday rejected a request by a group representing about 50 business and industrial electricity customers asking for a full hearing and further investigation to determine more closely what occurred. James West, an attorney representing the Carolina Utility Customers Association, told the commission that Duke may have overcharged customers $1 billion between 1999 and 2001 had the profits been reported properly in 1998. The higher profits would have prompted a rate reduction, he said. Commissioner Sam Ervin IV said he didn't believe the panel's ratemaking authority allowed it to funnel every dollar earned beyond the regulated rate of return back to consumers. "We can't say what would have happened had the correct accounting gone forward," Ervin said. Duke Power said its rate of return would have been "well within a reasonable range surrounding the benchmark" of 12.5 percent even if the independent auditor was correct in all its opinions, according to a company response to the independent audit. The association plans to appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals. Commission chairwoman Jo Anne Sanford hoped that the trust between Duke and the commission would be restored after closing the matter. "I believe it is time to resolve this, and I believe that time is today," Sanford said before the vote. Last modified: October 29. 2002 2:52PM heraldtribune.com © Sarasota Herald-Tribune. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 36 MDS Nordion's MAPLE 1 Reactor Authorized for Low-power Commissioning Canada NewsWire [http://www.investorcanada.com] Attention Business/Financial Editors: This step advances process towards full commercial production of medical isotopes OTTAWA, CANADA, Oct. 29 /CNW/ - MDS Nordion, the world's largest supplier of medical isotopes, announced today that a restart of low-power commissioning of its MAPLE 1 reactor in Chalk River, near Ottawa, has been authorized by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The reactor is one of a pair that, along with an adjacent New Processing Facility, will, when fully operational, be capable of supplying more than 100% of the world's demand for the key isotopes used in a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic medical applications. "We have been looking forward to this restart of low-power commissioning because it represents the next concrete step in the process towards full commercial operation of MAPLE 1 and, eventually, its twin, MAPLE 2," said Iain Trevena, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Medicine at MDS Nordion. "These reactors will be the only ones in the world to be dedicated exclusively to the production of medical isotopes, and when they go fully online, they will help ensure the security of the global supply of these critical products that doctors rely on to help diagnose and treat cancers, brain disorders, heart disease and other illnesses for thousands of patients every day." Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), which built and will operate the MAPLE facility on behalf of MDS Nordion, received CNSC authorization late last week to restart low-power commissioning of MAPLE 1, a process that had been interrupted in July 2000 when problems were encountered during testing of the reactor's shut-off rods. AECL has subsequently met a series of conditions set out by the CNSC as prerequisites to the restart of the process. Further authorizations to load fuel in the MAPLE 2 reactor and to start active commissioning of the New Processing Facility are expected to follow. Once all phases of commissioning are completed to the satisfaction of the CNSC, commercial production of medical isotopes in the MAPLE reactors and New Processing Facility will begin. In the meantime, AECL will continue to supply MDS Nordion with isotopes produced in its NRU reactor, also located at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories. When fully operational, either of the two 10-megawatt MAPLE reactors will be able to supply in excess of 100% of the world's current demand for molybdenum-99, iodine-131 and xenon-133. Since the reactors that currently are being used for isotope production worldwide are all at least 35 years old, this back-up capability that has been established at Chalk River will ensure security of supply for the foreseeable future. MAPLE is a pool-type reactor with a compact core of low-enriched uranium fuel surrounded by a heavy-water reflector vessel. The reactor is at the bottom of a light-water-filled pool that simultaneously provides shielding and cooling of the core. Novel processing facility technology complements the new reactors by providing a solidification process for the management of waste. The new process will generate only solid waste forms, and eliminate the need for long-term tank storage of liquid fissile waste. "The MAPLE facility is a concrete example of MDS Nordion's commitment to nuclear medicine and our willingness to invest considerable resources in security of supply," said Dr. Trevena. "This latest advance in its progress is the result of the hard work and commitment to high quality and safety by our partners at AECL." About MDS Nordion ----------------- MDS Nordion (www.mds.nordion.com) is a global healthcare company specializing in radioisotopes, radiation, and related technologies used to diagnose, prevent and treat disease. The company is part of MDS Inc., (NYSE: MDZ; TSX: MDS) an international health and life sciences company. In many of its products and services, it is among the largest and most respected companies in the world. MDS is focused on advancing health through science. It does this by providing laboratory testing, imaging agents for nuclear medicine testing, sterilization systems for medical and consumer products, research services to speed discovery and development of new drugs, therapy systems for planning and delivery of cancer treatment, analytical instruments to assist in the development of new drugs, and medical and surgical supplies. MDS employs more than 10,000 highly skilled people at its global operations on five continents. -30- For further information: Kirsten Gartenburg, inmedia Public Relations, Tel: (613) 234-7227 x230, E-mail: kgartenburg@inmedia.ca; or Paula Burchat, Manager, Media and Public Relations, Tel: (613) 592-3400 x2881, E-mail: pburchat@mds.nordion.com [cnw@newswire.ca] Technical Issues - webmaster@newswire.ca [webmaster@newswire.ca] © 2002 Canada NewsWire Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 37 St Lucie Plant vows to reduce radiation exposure PalmBeachPost.com: Tuesday, October 29 By Deborah Circelli, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 29, 2002 In the wake of an incident at the St. Lucie nuclear plant earlier this month, a Florida Power & Light Co. official Monday said the company expects to reduce exposure to employees during future maintenance shutdowns. But Don Jernigan, the plant's site vice president, said despite 33 workers being exposed to low levels of radiation during the incident, the state's largest electric utility likely will not lengthen the amount of time needed for maintenance at its nuclear power plants. Jernigan said FPL officials are still reviewing the Oct. 6 incident, but that steps will be taken to improve the next inspection at both St. Lucie Unit 2 and Turkey Point near Miami next spring -- such as using metal shielding instead of plastic to prevent radiation from spreading. "We will take the lessons learned from this inspection and other nuclear plants, and apply it to future inspections," Jernigan said, responding to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review of workers being exposed to 1 to 2 millirems of radiation while two other workers were pressure-washing the reactor head. An internal report on the incident will be finished by FPL in the next few weeks, he said. The NRC is also looking into complaints by some employees alleging they and outside contractors were rushed to finish the maintenance in 16 days. The agency's preliminary review shows no safety risk, but officials expressed concern with the large number of people exposed. The nation's 69 nuclear reactors, including the four owned by FPL, are under orders from the NRC to conduct inspections because of cracks and corrosion found at some other plants. Jernigan said FPL was given only a few weeks to prepare since the NRC said the inspections needed to be conducted at the next scheduled maintenance. He added that there was no guidance, and that FPL was one of the first to conduct the inspections. No cracks were found during the inspection, despite the incident. And, the amount of exposure to the workers who ultimately conducted the ultrasonic inspection was cut in half because of the high-tech pressure-washing. FPL would not comment, however, on the resignation last week of Ray McCullers, head of radiation protection at the St. Lucie plant, or whether it was tied to the Oct. 6 incident. Employees at the plant and the local electrical union president confirmed the resignation, but McCullers said he is "not at liberty to discuss anything." [deborah_circelli@pbpost.com] Copyright © 2002, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 38 Reactor will be back in service next year after repairs DailyProgress.com - Officials: By AUSTIN GRAHAM / Daily Progress staff writer Oct 28, 2002 LOUISA - Dominion officials expect to bring Reactor 2 at Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna nuclear power station in Louisa County back on-line next year after replacing a reactor head that was discovered to have small cracks in it. The reactor, which was taken off-line in September for refueling, was reported in May to have 11 cracks or "indications," with the most serious having boric acid leaking out and requiring immediate repair. Most of the cracks, according to Dominion spokesman Rick Zuercher, were in the reactor's tubing but only penetrated through about one-seventh of the wall, so it still met the American Society of Mechanical Engineer's guidelines. At the time, Dominion officials considered replacing the reactor heads at their two nuclear power plants - North Anna and the Surrey station - in Virginia. Since North Anna's reactor is down, Zuercher said that now is as good a time as any to do repairs. "We just determined it would be more cost-effective to just replace it," Zuercher said. "We expect to get the new head in December and return the unit to service in January." Dominion purchased a crack-resistant vessel head from a French company earlier in the month. Officials expect to replace North Anna's other head and the two at Surrey during the next few years. "It can be expensive to fix, and since we were going to replace the heads on Surrey and Anna in 2004 and 2005, we figured that, with the opportunity to buy this head … that it would just make sense to go ahead and replace it now," Zuercher said. Nuclear power stations nationwide came under scrutiny this year when investigators discovered a six-inch hole in the steel dome of a reactor at the Davis Besse plant in Ohio. The hole there also was caused by boric acid, and the discovery led to 12 nuclear plants - including the two in Virginia - being put on a Nuclear Regulatory Commission "close watch" list. Zuercher reiterated Monday that the indications at the North Anna and Surrey plants were minor when compared to others across the nation. "This is the phenomenon that Davis Besse in Ohio saw. However, at Davis Besse, they allowed this to continue for years," Zuercher said. "Ours is really not a safety issue so much as a technical issue."
© 2002 Media General
Terms and Conditions [http://www.mediageneral.com] ***************************************************************** 39 Canada: Power 'fix' costs $1B extra Thestar.com  > News Oct. 29, 2002. 05:21 AM Nuclear plant price has nearly doubled By John Spears and Richard Brennan STAFF REPORTERS MICHAEL STUPARYK/TORONTO STAR RON OSBOURNE: The chief executive of Ontario Power Generation Inc., says he'll push ahead with the Pickering A project despite cost overruns and delays. The cost of bringing the troubled Pickering A nuclear generating station back online has ballooned to $2.5 billion — almost twice its original projected price tag, the chief of Ontario Power Generation Inc. said yesterday. And it will take a year longer than forecast to finish the project. The news prompted Energy Minister John Baird to warn that part of the project might be scrapped — despite Ontario's electricity shortage. "I'm certainly concerned about the management of the project and I'm concerned about the delays of the project," Baird told reporters yesterday afternoon. "They (OPG) made estimates that were overly ambitious ... there has got to be closer scrutiny on this project." But at a speech just a few hours later, Baird said the project would likely go ahead. "At this stage every indication is that it's still commercially viable, and a clean source of power to the grid," he told reporters at a meeting of the Independent Power Producers' Society of Ontario. Pickering A has four generating units and OPG says it will "reassess" the cost and schedule for bringing the remaining three units back to service once the first unit returns about the middle of next year. It's "appropriate" to review plans for the remaining three units, Baird said, then added, "I expect you'd see them proceeding, but that doesn't negate the work that they should do after they complete the first one." In the Legislature earlier yesterday, Baird said "it is no secret that this project is not Ontario Power Generation's finest hour. As minister, I'm not happy with what we've seen." Ontario Power's chief executive Ron Osborne insisted yesterday he's pushing ahead with the project, despite seeing the estimated cost rise to as high as $2.5billion from an initial estimate of $1.3billion. Preliminary estimates had pegged the cost at $800million, but Osborne said they weren't based in detailed analysis. In its annual information form filed at the end of last year, OPG had pegged the cost of restarting Pickering A at $2billion. Earlier this year, Ontario's auditor-general, Erik Peters, urged the province to probe the delays and cost increases at Pickering A, but the province didn't act on his advice. The Pickering A plant was supposed to have one of its four reactors in service early in 2003, according to the most recent estimate. But Osborne said yesterday that starting the first unit has been pushed back to mid-2003. As for the three other units, instead of coming on stream at six- to nine-month intervals as previously announced, they'll now come back at one-year intervals, Osborne said. That means the plant won't be fully up and running until mid-2006, rather than the previous estimate of 2005. OPG's third-quarter earnings statement, released yesterday, warns "the cost and schedule to return the remaining units to service will be reassessed based on OPG's experience with the first unit returning to service." Liberal MPP Sean Conway said if OPG halts the retrofit on the remaining three reactors, Ontario will experience a serious power shortage and will require action to find other sources in fairly short order. "I think we are going to face in the short and intermediate term, over the next two to three years, some really significant pressure in supply," he said. Critics also noted that OPG over the past several months has made windfall profits during a time Ontarians have seen their electricity bills double. In a speech to the Independent Power Producers' Society of Ontario, Osborne insisted OPG is still proceeding with Pickering A, despite the wording of the earnings statement. "This is not intended to signal any lack of confidence in the Pickering A project," he told his audience. "We are simply tired of setting artificial deadlines for the sake of having deadlines." Osborne said costs have increased because it has taken much longer than expected to rehabilitate the plant, and "time is money." It is Ontario's oldest big nuclear plant, designed in the 1960s and built in the 1970s. It was shut five years ago, when the province's power supply essentially met the then-lower demand. But Osborne also acknowledged that OPG erred in not running the project as the primary manager from the beginning. Initially, Osborne said, the restart was being run by a "three-headed monster" of which OPG was only one head. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which provided much of the engineering work, and the building's chief construction contractor, were also partners at the table, Osborne said. In retrospect, Osborne said, "I would have outsourced less." Osborne said OPG has now taken over as the primary project manager. He also blamed regulatory delays — such as a full environmental assessment that OPG had not expected to be required — for delaying work and pushing up costs. The ballooning costs of the project have pushed up the cost of producing power at Pickering A to about 4 cents a kilowatt-hour from the initial estimate of 2.5 cents, Osborne said. But he noted that the generating cost of a gas-fired plant is about 6 cents a kilowatt-hour. Because OPG dominates Ontario's electricity market, it's required to refund customers revenue it collects if the average price exceeds 3.8 cents a kilowatt-hour. Since the average price to date is over 5 cents a kilowatt-hour, OPG has set aside about $500million in refund money. That works out to about 1.8 cents a kilowatt-hour. A consumer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours monthly would receive a refund of about $18. TheStar.com Legal Notice:- Copyright 1996-2002. Toronto Star Newspapers ***************************************************************** 40 CANADA: Three reactors could be closed globetechnology.com: News [http://www.globeandmail.com] RICHARD MACKIE Tuesday, October 29, 2002 Ontario Power Generation has warned that it could scrap three of its four non-functioning nuclear reactors at Pickering, further reducing supplies of electricity and pushing prices up in the province. Energy Minister John Baird confirmed that the future of the three reactors, and their 1,545 megawatts of power, will be re-examined sometime next year. The revelation came with the news that OPG, which is owned by the government, made a profit of $215-million in July, August and September, as consumers were paying record prices for power. Adding to the bad news on the electricity front for the government was a claim made by federal and provincial Liberals that Ontario residents will pay an extra $1.4-billion in GST because the provincial government "bungled" the drawing up of the new electricity bills. Electricity bills are higher than they need to be because the 7-per-cent goods and services tax is being imposed on payments dedicated to bringing down the $20-billion in debt left over from the breakup of the old Ontario Hydro, Liberal MPP Michael Bryant said. These debt-reduction payments are included in the bills paid by the four million residential and business electricity consumers in the province. Mr. Bryant and federal MPs Roger Gallaway and Dan McTeague said the provincial government could work out an arrangement with the federal government to exclude the debt payments. The unexpected news about the possible permanent shutdown of three reactors at Pickering came directly from Ontario Power Generation along with the statement of its financial results for the third quarter. "Progress on the first unit to return to service has been somewhat slower than expected as a result of construction challenges encountered in the refurbishment of certain systems," the report said. It added that the first of the four units being refurbished, Unit 4, will begin coming back on stream in March and will cost an additional $230-million, on top of $1.025-billion already spent to try to fix the four reactors. A decision whether to continue trying to rebuild the other three units will be based on whether Unit 4 is brought back into operation successfully, Ontario Power Generation said. "The cost and schedule to return the remaining units to service will be reassessed based on OPG's experience with the first unit returning to service, in order to determine the appropriateness of the $300-to-$400-million estimate per unit." The non-functioning reactors are the first four built of the eight that now exist at Pickering. Known as Pickering A, they were shut down in 1997 after external investigations indicated serious problems with their ongoing maintenance and operation. The reactors were supposed to start returning to operation in 1999. That target date was shifted to mid-2001 and then to this December. Mr. Baird said that if these three units are shut down, the province will be able to obtain new power from two reactors at the Bruce installation that are being refurbished by Bruce Energy. On another issue, Mr. Baird said he was not alarmed that Ontario Power Generation had big profits during the hot summer months. "In the third quarter, the profits were certainly greater than they had been in the past. [But for] the year to date, the first three quarters combined, [profits] are less than what they were last year." Excess profits at Ontario Power Generation will be returned to consumers through a mechanism that was established to provide rebates to consumers that go up as the company's income goes up, Mr. Baird added. The size of the rebate would depend on the size of the consumer's bill. They could average $250, but that would vary widely. Liberal energy critic Sean Conway criticized the financial burden being put on consumers who "are paying through the teeth" for electricity to generate Ontario Power Generation profits. © 2002 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. [http://www.bellglobemedia.com] ***************************************************************** 41 Atomic Vet Lyerly is denied compensation once again* By R.W. Rogers Daily Press Published October 29, 2002 NEWPORT NEWS -- James Lyerly - an Atomic Veteran who attributes decades of health problems to his participation in nuclear-weapons testing in the 1950s - has been turned down again by the Veterans Affairs Department in his bid for compensation. Lyerly was the subject of a series of stories in the Daily Press in September. The series chronicled Lyerly's health problems - and those of his family - from the time that he took part in weapons testing in 1956 during Operation Redwing to the present day. Those health problems included the stillborn death of a daughter in 1958 and severe asthma in his grandchildren today. Like many other Atomic Vets - the name given to those who tested nuclear weapons - Lyerly and his family think that radiation is to blame for many of their health problems. "In a nutshell, the letter said I was disapproved because my cancer had come too late after the test that I participated in and therefore was not related to it," said Lyerly, 67. "I was surprised. I thought that this time, it would be automatic approval. "But then, I know that dealing with the VA is like dealing with the worst enemy that we Atomic Vets have. "I didn't even ask for an appeal because it isn't worth it. I don't think I'll put in another request. They'd just deny it again." Lyerly estimated that he had been denied compensation 25 times since 1958. For decades after the nuclear-weapons testing, the government refused to compensate Atomic Vets for illnesses allegedly caused by radiation. In the late 1980s, the government began compensating Atomic Vets diagnosed with certain cancers. Lyerly has failed to qualify under any current programs. Rick Rogers can be reached at 247-4629 or by e-mail at rrogers@dailypress.com Copyright © 2002, Daily Press ***************************************************************** 42 Checks coming in for ex-workers with illnesses linked to test site jobs Monday, October 28, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Two years after a compensation program was launched, the first six-figure checks are trickling in for former Nevada Test Site employees who came down with illnesses linked to their nuclear weapons jobs. Bob Agonia, manager of the local program office, reports that out of 1,521 claims filed by test site workers, 59 have been paid, totalling nearly $7.5 million. Agonia's staff includes four caseworkers and an administrative assistant. Half the number of claims, 761, are cancer cases that have been sent to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for review. The remaining cases are primarily those linked to former workers' exposure to beryllium or silica that resulted in debilitating conditions. Most of the 59 former workers or their survivors who have been compensated fit this category. Passed by Congress in October 2000, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Program Act provides $150,000 in a lump-sum payment, as well as coverage of related medical expenses, to workers who became seriously ill from exposure to beryllium, silica or radiation while working for the Department of Energy and its contractors or subcontractors. The program also gives benefits to their surviving spouses and children. Diseases covered include a variety of cancers caused by radiation, chronic beryllium disease and chronic silicosis. The program didn't cover hearing impairments that many former Nevada Test Site workers blame on working in tunnels where heavy equipment was used. One former test site worker, John Funk, said he is having a difficult time persuading the government to compensate him for a rare disease linked to exposure to radiation or high levels of benzene. The disease that he has been diagnosed with having, myeloproliferative disorder, affects the bone marrow's ability to make blood cells. He noted that a rare, nonmalignant but dangerous brain tumor, Schwannomas, also is not covered under the program even though it has been linked to radiation exposure and has affected some of his former co-workers. "Both of these can kill you but we can't get compensation," Funk said. Agonia said based on Department of Energy estimates, thousands of former workers or their survivors could eventually file compensation claims given that the test site has had roughly 100,000 employees since full-scale nuclear weapons testing began there in 1951. The Energy Department's Nevada operations work force includes workers who participated in the Cannikin Spartan missile warhead test at Amchitka, Alaska, in 1971. The Nevada Test Site is located 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. There is no deadline for filing claims, Agonia said. -- KEITH ROGERS Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 43 Results of radiation detection effort will take several months. The Hawk Eye Newspaper Tuesday, October 29, 2002 IAAP sweep ends By Dennis J. Carroll The Hawk Eye MIDDLETOWN — Scientists completed their flyover of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant Monday morning, and apparently found no immediate severe threat to humans or the environment from radiation sources, a state regulator said. Dan McGhee with the Iowa Department of Public Health's bureau of radiology said the preliminary data showed no evidence of any large immediate problem. However, that doesn't mean that radiation hazards might not be lying around somewhere. It will take several months for scientists at the Remote Sensing Laboratory in Las Vegas to sort through the data they collected during the low–level flyover of the 19,000–acre military installation. The purpose of the flyover was to scout for possible radiation hazards left by the Atomic Energy Commission, which built, disassembled and tested components of nuclear weapons at the plant from the late 1940s to the mid–1970s. The plant's commander, Lt. Col. Yolanda Dennis–Lowman, said the lab's helicopter, equipped with special radiation–detection gear, made passes over the plant on Saturday, Sunday and another on Monday. In addition, the pilots flew a 500–foot–wide swath around the plant's perimeter that included parts of Middletown and Augusta. They also followed Brush Creek, which is fed by Mathis Lake as it flows south of the plant into Skunk River. The helicopter was not able to fly much on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday because of low cloud cover, Dennis–Lowman said. Officials said the high–tech radiation detection gear was capable of detecting gamma rays from such sources as depleted uranium, plutonium, cesium, rad–ium and cobalt. Department of Energy documents suggest that over the decades IAAP workers handled such materials. The Army had insisted that the AEC cleaned up its operations before it moved its nuclear operations to Texas in the mid–1970s. However, those assertions were cast into doubt when large chunks of depleted uranium were found at Firing Site 12, and tons of the heavy metal barium, used by the AEC, were discovered near several open–air burn pads. McGhee said the helicopter was able to detect the contamination at Firing Site 12 and could pick up evidence of depleted uranium stored at the plant for use in the construction of anti–tank weapons. "I was happy with the way (the flyover) was conducted," said McGhee. "They were really conscientious about the accuracy of doing their job." The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk · 319-754-6824 FAX · 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free ***************************************************************** 44 Former Westinghouse employees want to be on nuclear list PittsburghLIVE.com - By Mary Ann Thomas [mathomas@tribweb.com] VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH Monday, October 28, 2002 CHESWICK: Former nuclear workers from Westinghouse want their plant added to the list of eligible sites for a federal entitlement program offering $150,000 to former nuclear workers and their families. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICP) of 2000 entitles former nuclear workers who became ill because of work on nuclear weapons to a lump sum payment of $150,000 and medical benefits. Of the 26 former nuclear weapons' employers in the state, Westinghouse Cheswick is not on the list. About 100 Cheswick site workers have cancer or other illnesses, according to Toge Clark, 72, of Lower Burrell. Clark worked at Cheswick from 1957 to 1990 and retired as a manager of operations at the electromechanical division of Westinghouse. "I'm surprised we're not on the list," said Clark. "People don't realize all the divisions we had at Cheswick." Clark said the facility was involved in manufacturing astro fuel, atomic fuel and had a plutonium laboratory, among other nuclear operations. Whether or not the compensation act covers those activities is what Clark and others want to find out. "The best bet is to get whatever information they have, submit it to the Department of Energy for consideration as a DOE contractor facility," said Peter Turcic, director of the EEOICP. And, if the Cheswick site doesn't fit the legislation, Turcic said, "There may be some other compensation programs they may be entitled to." Other sites have been added to the original list, he said. AttorneyPhilip McCalister, of New Kensington, is working to represent the Cheswick group. "I'm going to try to a find a political solution to the exclusion of these people for the program," said McCalister. "We're gathering all potential people and taking their names and addresses to D.C." Turcic cautioned that the Cheswick workers had to be involved in production and testing of nuclear weapons to qualify as a new site. McCalister will work with the current program, but plans to appeal to federal legislators for help. The workers want answers. "We were mislead when we worked at Cheswick," said Allan Beattie, 69, of Upper Burrell. "Our government knew of the risks, but the Cold War demanded the production of nuclear weapons." + Former workers in nuclear operations at the Cheswick Westinghouse plant, who are interested in joining with other Cheswick workers to include the site in the EEOIC program, should contact the following former employees: Toge Clark, Lower Burrell, 724-335-5651; Dan Moretti, Arnold, 724-335-0378; Dom Pizoli, Cheswick, 724-274-5286 and Dick Hessom, Leechburg, 724-845-7747. + Apollo and Parks nuclear processing plants former workers or the families of deceased workers can apply for compensation and medical benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act. Workers must have or had cancer and other illnesses covered by act. For more information, contact: Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program help line: 1-866-888-3322. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: 1-800-356-4674 or e-mail ocas@cdc.gov [ocas@cdc.gov] . U.S. Department of Labor, EEOIC, 1001 Lakeside Drive, Suite 350, Cleveland, OH 44114; or call 216-802-1300. Mary Ann Thomas can be reached at mathomas@tribweb.com [mathomas@tribweb.com] or (724 )226-4691. copyright © 2002 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 45 Russia: Why mountains matter (site of dozens of N-dumps) `BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Tuesday, 29 October, 2002, [mountain and lake] Mountains are vital for human life, scientists say By Alex Kirby BBC environment correspondent An international conference on the problems of the world's mountains is taking place in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Delegates from more than 60 countries are expected to attend the Global Mountain Summit, which has been organised with UN support. Kyrgyzstan is an appropriate place for a conference of this sort: 93% of the country is classified as mountainous. The conference will look at the ways in which agriculture and development are eating away at the mountains, with climate change and human conflict worsening the problems. For people who live in the mountains, this means a possible threat to their way of life and even to life itself if natural disasters like avalanches and floods become more likely. But the organisers insist that mountains matter to everyone. Dr Klaus Toepfer of the United Nations Environment Programme, calls them "the water towers of the world". Graphic new evidence has emerged here of the changes taking place in fragile mountain environments. Lake worry Water levels in a vast lake in the north-east of Kyrgyzstan, Lake Issyk-Kul, have been falling for 70 years, apart from brief episodes when they rose instead. But since 1998 they have risen by 26 centimetres - a huge amount, given that the lake's surface area is more than 6,000 square kilometres. Scientists here say the rising levels are being caused by climate change and believe they could make Lake Issyk-Kul an important regional water resource for the arid countries of Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan has another reason for concern about what happens to the world's mountains. Although it has no nuclear power of its own, its territory holds 25 separate dumps of nuclear waste from the old Soviet Union. The country is an earthquake zone and its people fear the consequences of any seismic shock that could disturb the dumps. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 46 Elizabeth Dowdeswell to Lead Study of Approaches to Manage Used Nuclear Fuel [http://www.investorcanada.com] Attention Business Editors: OTTAWA, Oct. 24 /CNW/ - Elizabeth Dowdeswell has been appointed President of the newly-created Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) which will investigate long-term approaches for managing Canada's used nuclear fuel. Ms. Dowdeswell's appointment was announced today by Richard Dicerni, Executive Vice President of Ontario Power Generation who is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the NWMO. "The Board is delighted that Ms. Dowdeswell has agreed to accept this challenge," said Mr. Dicerni. "She is a highly qualified executive with a truly impressive breadth of experience." The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has been established under the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act (NFWA). Its members are Ontario Power Generation, Hydro Quebec and New Brunswick Power, Canadian companies that produce used nuclear fuel as a byproduct of electricity generation. The NFWA requires the NWMO to complete a study of approaches within three years, and put forward a recommended plan to the federal government for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. As President, Ms. Dowdeswell will oversee an extensive public consultation process and a thorough study of long-term waste management approaches. Ms. Dowdeswell has held a number of senior posts within government, and has been active in a broad range of environment-related programs, including a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change in 1992. Ms. Dowdeswell was former Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program. "Science and technology have improved our quality of life and enriched our society immensely. But such progress also has its challenges," said Ms. Dowdeswell. "Managing used nuclear fuel is a public policy matter which will require ingenuity, transparency and a meaningful engagement of citizens as we work to find solutions," she said. "Ms. Dowdeswell's record of championing sustainable development and promoting environmental protection in Canada and at the United Nations uniquely qualify her to head up this important new organization," added Mr. Dicerni. "The Board is confident that she will ensure this study has full transparency and complete public policy debate." BACKGROUNDER The Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Organization October 24, 2002 OTTAWA - The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been established under the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act (NWFA) to investigate approaches for managing Canada's used nuclear fuel. The NWFA results from the Government of Canada's response to the Nuclear Fuel Waste Management and Disposal Concept Environmental Assessment Panel, which was chaired by Mr. Blair Seaborn and reported in March, 1998. The Government of Canada introduced Bill C-27 for First Reading on April 25, 2001. Following House and Senate Committee reviews, the legislation received Royal Assent on June 13, 2002. The Nuclear Fuel Waste Act requires electricity generating companies which produce used nuclear fuel to: - establish a waste management organization to provide recommendations on the long-term management of used nuclear fuel to the Government of Canada and, - establish segregated trust funds to finance the long term management of the used fuel. The NWFA also requires the NWMO to: - establish an Advisory Council whose comments on the waste management organization's study and reports will be made public. Among the first activities for the organization will be a study of long- term management approaches for used nuclear fuel, including the design of an innovative and wide-ranging program of public consultation. Within three years of the legislation coming into force, the NWMO is to submit to the Minister of Natural Resources proposed approaches for the management of used nuclear fuel, along with comments of the Advisory Council, and a recommended approach. The legislation authorizes the Governor in Council to decide on the approach. The government's choice will then be implemented by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, subject to all of the necessary regulatory approvals. October 24, 2002 Elizabeth Dowdeswell OTTAWA - Elizabeth Dowdeswell has had an extensive career in government, education and international affairs. From 1993 to 1998 she served as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, where she led the agency's transformation into a modern organization, developing programs in state-of-the- environment assessment and reporting, environmental law, and tackling new issues of trade and globalization. Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Dowdeswell was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada from 1989 to 1992, responsible for the national weather and atmospheric agency. In that capacity she played a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. She was also Canada's permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization; principal delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Canadian Chair of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. Ms. Dowdeswell has worked as a management consultant to the Government of Canada and led a number of public inquiries into issues such as Canada's unemployment benefits program, water policy and meteorological services. She has served as a member on numerous Canadian and international boards, advisory panels and commissions. Early in her career, Ms. Dowdeswell served as Deputy Minister of Culture and Youth for the Province of Saskatchewan, directing a major public review of cultural policy and developing heritage legislation. Before that, she was a human rights ombudsman and educational consultant with the Department of Education, a university lecturer and a high school teacher. More recently, Ms. Dowdeswell's professional activities have included: management consulting; Visiting Professor in Global Health, Genomics and Ethics at the University of Toronto; Commissioner of the Commission on Globalization; and Associate Fellow of the European Centre for Public Affairs. Ms. Dowdeswell is the author of numerous publications in both popular press and professional journals. She holds a Master of Science degree in behavioral sciences from Utah State University, a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics and a teaching certificate from the University of Saskatchewan. She is the recipient of nine honorary degrees including six Doctor of Law degrees from various universities, a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax and the Memorial Gold Medal awarded by Charles University in Prague. -30- For further information: Media Contact: Michael Krizanc, (416) 592-3701 NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION has 2 releases in this database. © 2002 Canada NewsWire Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 47 Sellafield as risky to Irish as it is to Cumbrians Irish Examiner [Sellafield nuclear plant] 29/10/02 By Dan Buckley HEALTH and radiation surveys have pointed to the Sellafield nuclear processing plant in Cumbria as being almost as much a hazard for people on Ireland's east coast as it is to those living and working near the British plant. Liquid waste discharged from the plant owned by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) ends up in the Irish Sea and nuclear waste is transported across the sea. A serious accident at Sellafield could shower Ireland with radioactive fallout. In 1997, the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland announced that reports monitoring fallout over Ireland from a 1957 accident at Sellafield were never included in the final data recording the fallout pattern from a nuclear fire. According to Eddie McGrady, SDLP MP for South Down, a full fallout survey was never completed. An investigation the following year by the Green Audit Irish Sea Research Group focused on coastal areas in Wales believed to be affected in ways similar to the Irish coast. The Welsh survey revealed between 1974 and 1989, children living close to the Irish Sea were on average 4.6 times more likely to contract leukaemia. The statistics also showed a reduction in risk as the distance from the seashore increased and appeared to give credence to the belief that seashore spray could carry radioactive particles several kilometres inland. Dundalk, just 60 miles from Sellafield, has a cancer rate 12% higher than the Irish average. Out of a population of only 3,000, 76 died of cancer over a three year period. In 1997, an investigation by Britain's own Department of Health found plutonium in the teeth of some 3,000 teenagers in the UK and Ireland, but declined to speculate on its source. Anti-nuclear campaigners believe it could only have come from Sellafield, either by airborne particles or spray. Sellafield emissions fell somewhat in the 1970s-80s. But the advent of reprocessing at the THORP plant in Sellafield has led to a dramatic increase in levels of technetium 99 another toxic radionuclide in the Irish Sea. Levels of krypton 85, a radioactive gas monitored since 1993, are also up. Some Dundalk residents initiated court action against BNFL and the Irish Government, the latter on grounds they were not bringing enough pressure on the British to close Sellafield nor to prevent the THORP plant from opening. Since 1979 the State has backed opposition to Sellafield which has intensified within Ireland following ongoing disclosures of BNFL's systematic falsification of MOX fuel records and the exposure of its indequate 'safety culture'. By the spring of 2000, the Irish Government lost patience with Britain's prevarication on the issue. Exasperated by Tony Blair's reluctance to adequately address Ireland's concerns, in March the Taoiseach announced: "British Nuclear Fuel's facilities at Sellafield represent a clear and totally unacceptable danger to the Irish people. This Government's objective is to bring about the closure of the Sellafield operations as soon as possible. I believe enough is enough." [http://breaking.examiner.ie/] © Irish Examiner, 2002, Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH ***************************************************************** 48 Canada: Undersea weapon dumps a worry New Brunswick Telegraph Journal As published on page A1/A5 on October 29, 2002 *CAMPBELL MORRISON* /Times & Transcript Staff/ *OTTAWA - * With interest in oil and gas exploration off Canada?s east coast growing, so is the concern that testing may release mustard gas and other wartime chemicals that were dumped into the ocean 50 years ago. There are 10 known military dump sites off Canada?s east coast and at least two of them are believed to contain unused canisters of mustard and nerve gas dating to the end of the Second World War. There are another 60 sunken ships that are known to contain live ammunition, including sites in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy. A recent study done for the Department of National Defence has recommended further study on those 70 "priority class one" sites to determine the danger posed. Another 18 sites are classified as "priority class two" for which action is also "required." The sunken ships are a combination of armed warships and merchant vessels carrying munitions in their cargo bays. The navy has responded by creating a warfare agent disposal working group in Ottawa. Myles Kehoe, an antiques dealer and environmentalist from Cape Breton, has spent 12 years gathering information about the east coast dumping. Off Sydney, he said in an interview, there is a 30-mile dump that contains 16,000 tonnes of mustard gas and unexploded shells of all sorts. It may even contain nuclear rods from Canada?s early nuclear program at Chalk River, Ont. "Cape Breton is full of mustard gas and nerve gas," he said. It is not alone. The Canadian government also dumped 3,000 tonnes of mustard gas near Sable Island in 1946, and it invited the media to record the event so that the citizens of Cornwall, Ont., where the barrels had been stored, could be assured that the poison had been eliminated. The Americans too were actively dumping off Newfoundland in several huge sites, Kehoe said. He also said there are two uncharted dump sites off the Magdalen Islands as well as several sunken ships. The government-commissioned study said the evidence about mustard gas was "anecdotal" but compelling. "Although the nature of munitions disposed of in these areas was not documented, anecdotal information suggests the presence of mustard gas at the Sydney and Argentia dump sites." Other coastal nations face similar problems. Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States all also dumped unneeded military equipment into the oceans. Kehoe said the U.S. government has estimated it would cost $18 billion to clean up the problem off the east coast, and predicted that the bill in Canada would be similar. His work in culminating is a current petition to the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, an officer in the auditor general?s office. "Conversations with elderly career fishermen, retired merchant mariners and Armed Forces personnel indicate that a sizeable portion of Canada?s stockpile of surplus chemical weapons agents, in particular mustard gas, may lie off the coast of Cape Breton," says Kehoe?s petition. "More lies off of Newfoundland?s coast, the north coast of the (Magdalen) Islands and near Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy." Six government departments are required to respond to 14 questions Kehoe submitted through the commissioner. Inka Milewski, a marine biologist with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said the risks posed by the sunken material are unknown. "We know that these sunken vessels become rusting hulks and you can see how you can spring a leak in some of these containers that are down there and that this material is getting out." Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative MP Gerald Keddy said that the government should take the first step and stop all dumping now. The dumping of munitions continues. In 1999 the government began gathering unexploded ordinances from the sunken Second World War merchant ship MV Claire Lilly near Halifax harbour and dumping them into the ocean at a site 45 nautical miles southeast of Halifax. "That is a huge mistake. We should not be doing it. That has got to stop," he said. "We all have to be responsible for our own contaminants. Let?s start destroying them in a way that is safe and gets rid of that product." Nova Scotia NDP MP Peter Stoffer said more study needs to be done to determine the best course of action: whether it is more dangerous to lift the chemicals out of the ocean, cover it over, or declare the dump sites off limits to all activity. Copyright © 2002 Brunswick News Inc. All rights reserved. Any ***************************************************************** 49 Echoing Bush, Putin Vows Expansive Effort Against Terror The New York Times October 28, 2002* *By STEVEN LEE MYERS* MOSCOW, Oct. 28 ? President Vladimir V. Putin said today that Russia was prepared to strike at international terrorist groups and the countries that harbor them, explicitly echoing the arguments that President Bush made after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to declare a war on terrorism. Speaking to his cabinet in the confused and anguished aftermath of the 57-hour siege of a Moscow theater by Chechen guerrillas, Mr. Putin did not directly address the controversy over the use of a debilitating gas to end the siege on Saturday morning. All but 2 of the 117 hostage deaths recorded so far have been attributed to the gas. But Mr. Putin did acknowledge that Russia was not yet prepared to deal with "more brazen" attacks like the one here last week. Russian officials have said, so far without providing evidence, that the theater takeover was organized and planned with the help of Islamic extremist groups abroad. Mr. Putin ordered Russia's military to draft new doctrine that would adapt its forces and tactics to counter the threat from terrorism both internally and externally, presaging sweeping changes for a military that has been slow to change. "The tragic events are over," Mr. Putin said, "but there still remain very many problems. We are paying a heavy price for the weakness of the state and inconsistency of actions." Russian officials continued today to deflect questions about the rescue effort, which began before dawn on Saturday when scores of commandos began to pump into the theater a debilitating gas described as a variant of a common anesthesia. On Sunday, senior health officials acknowledged that the gas had caused the deaths of all but one of the 117 hostages killed in the raid. The Russians also refused again to disclose the name or specific characteristics of the gas, although they did provide the American Embassy, along with other embassies, what one American official said was "some preliminary information on the effects of the agent used." That official and those of another foreign embassy said that an examination of survivors of the raid had concluded that the hostages and hostage-takers alike were exposed to a vaporized form of an opiate, which quickly knocked many of them unconscious. An official at the United States Embassy here said today that an American, identified elsewhere as Sandy A. Booker, appeared to have been one of the 117 hostages killed during the climactic end to the hostage siege. (What would be the 118th victim of the siege, a woman, was killed as the crisis unfolded on Wednesday night, when she was shot trying to enter the theater.) Mr. Booker, a 49-year-old electrician from Oklahoma City who came to Russia to meet a woman from Kazakhstan he intended to wed, was one of nine foreign citizens so far believed to have died in the raid. They are citizens of Austria, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and three from Ukraine. Despite misgivings among Russia's conservative military and security leaders, ever since the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Putin has strongly supported the Bush administration's declaration of war on terrorism and sought to portray his country's own bloody civil conflict in Chechnya as a struggle against terrorism. The siege of the theater, which began Wednesday night during a performance of a popular Russian musical called "Nord-Ost," has let Mr. Putin and other officials argue that the Chechen guerrillas who held and threatened to kill more than 750 theatergoers were not simply resisting Russia's dominance of Chechnya. They were also terrorizing innocent civilians, roughly 1 in 10 of them foreigners, in a renovated, Soviet-era House of Culture less than three miles from the Kremlin. "I must say there are many Russians who are alarmed by the emphasis of President Bush after Sept. 11, but the president's vocabulary is very much the same," said Sergei A. Karaganov, a former member of Parliament, who is now with the Council for Defense and Political Issues an institute in Moscow. "And that is because we face the same threat." *Continued* 1 | 2 Copyright The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 50 Time to free Vanunu [Guardian Unlimited] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/talk/] Search Tuesday October 29, 2002 Today Mordechai Vanunu will take his place in an Israeli court, submitting a case for his immediate parole after serving well over two-thirds of an 18-year sentence. Vanunu was kidnapped from Rome by Mossad agents because he told the Sunday Times of Israel's secret stockpile of nuclear weapons, manufactured at Dimona Nuclear Research Centre, where he had worked as a junior technician. Concerned about the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, Vanunu gave his information because he thought the world should know the truth, and the Israeli public have the chance to debate the threat posed by their possession of these weapons. In the interests of justice Vanunu's parole application should be granted. Holding him for over 16 years in prison, 12 of which were spent in solitary confinement, has been condemned by Amnesty International as inhuman. Vanunu's continued imprisonment cannot be justified. He has suffered enough; his calls for peace should be made beyond prison walls. Ben Birnberg, Bruce Kent, Yael Lotan, Harold Pinter, Andrew Wilski, Susannah York Campaign to Free Vanunu [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 51 Iraq Talks to Resume at U.N. Las Vegas SUN: October 28, 2002 By EDITH M. LEDERER ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED NATIONS- The U.N. Security Council begins critical negotiations on a new Iraq resolution this week, still sharply divided over language that could trigger military action against Saddam Hussein. France, Russia and China - all veto-wielding council members - want the resolution to give Iraq a chance to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. If Baghdad fails to comply, they want the Security Council to meet and only then consider military action in a second document. But the United States and Britain, the other two veto-wielding members, are demanding a single resolution. Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed Saturday that it must include "the threat of force and the threat of consequences ... or we know that Iraq will not respond." The Security Council starts consultations Monday with a briefing from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is in charge of nuclear inspections. Washington says it wants a vote this week on its tough resolution. Blix and ElBaradei are expected to be asked during the closed-door meeting about new rules to strengthen inspections in the U.S. draft. France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte has said their assessment will be "very important." While the inspection rules are a key element of the resolution, the issue of authorizing military force is critical. In a surprise move Friday, Russia and France introduced their own proposals to challenge the U.S. draft resolution. Both eliminated two U.S. references to Iraq being in "material breach" of its obligations, which they view as a hidden trigger for military action. Russia, Iraq's closest council ally, wants to stick closely to current inspection rules. Its draft also eliminates a U.S. reference to the council repeatedly warning that Iraq will face "serious consequences" if it keeps violating its obligations to dismantle its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs. France, which sees itself as a potential broker between Washington and Moscow, wants to water down some U.S. inspection proposals. Its proposal would recall the council's warning of "serious consequences" - but only if the council convened to consider a report from inspectors that Iraq had failed to comply with the United Nations. The 15 Security Council members discussed the three proposals behind closed doors Friday. France said afterward that eight countries supported its two-stage approach: Mexico, Cameroon, Guinea, Ireland, Mauritius, France, China and Russia. Syria opposes any new resolution. An American. official countered that the U.S. draft had equal backing - if not more - but did not identify supporters. For a resolution to be adopted, it needs at least nine "yes" votes and no veto by one of the five permanent members. U.S. Deputy Ambassador James Cunningham said Friday that the briefing by Blix and ElBaradei would help. But Powell said Saturday that prospects for a tough resolution may be slipping away and a compromise "may evade us." Bush spurred the resolution debate with his Sept. 12 address to the U.N. General Assembly warning that if the Security Council did not act decisively to disarm Saddam Hussein, the United States would take action on its own. Days later, Iraq announced it would allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return after nearly four years. Bush renewed his pledge over the weekend to mobilize a coalition against the Iraqi leader - without the United Nations, if necessary. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said it would be "not very hard at all" to assemble an alliance to confront Saddam without the United Nations. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 52 Nuclear bombing for the beginner [http://www.ft.com] By William Schneider Published: October 28 2002 20:16 After years of fervent posturing to the contrary, the North Korean leadership has admitted it has a clandestine nuclear weapons programme and, as one of its diplomats put it, "more powerful things as well". The admission is an event of utmost importance. The North Korean programme contravenes its obligations under both the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty and the framework agreement it signed in 1994. Important as this event is for regional security, its most decisive consequence may be to show how weapons proliferation occurs and the threat this poses to global security. How Pakistan became the source of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme is a template for 21st-century weapons proliferation It has been reported that Pakistan was the source of nuclear technology that enabled North Korea to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU), although Pakistan denies that. The acquisition of HEU technology is in addition to the plutonium North Korea indigenously produced by exploiting gaps inthe International Atomic Energy's inspections required under the non-proliferation treaty. North Korea ostensibly abandoned its nuclear weapons programme in 1994 when it signed the framework agreement to the treaty (a deal secured by President Jimmy Carter, the Nobel Peace Prize winner). How Pakistan became the source of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme is a template for 21st-century proliferation, although the story began more than two decades ago. North Korea illicitly acquired the Scud, the venerable Soviet-era short range (500km) ballistic missile, in the 1970s. It "reverse engineered" the Scud - a derivative of the second world war German V-2 rocket - to produce a variant of the Soviet system. It then reaped substantial foreign exchange earnings from sales of the Scud to Iran during the "war of the cities" in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. These foreign exchange earnings provided the finance needed to produce a medium-range missile known as the No Dong. The No Dong was successfully tested in 1993 and again in 1998 in a celebrated overflight of Japanese territory. The North Korean regime had found the "sweet spot" in the international missile market. The No Dong missile was subsequently transferred to Iran (where it is known as the Shahab 3) and Pakistan (where it is known as the Ghauri). Both nations could use the missile to deliver nuclear payloads to targets throughout the region. If light-weight biological payloads were employed, the range could be far greater. The missile had important limitations, however. Its propulsion system needed improvement. Assistance was provided through clandestine Russian support to Iran - support that Mohammad Khatami, Iranian president, acknowledged in 1998. The missile also needed a nuclear weapon, since Pakistan did not have one, despite years of effort. In the 1980s, China obliged with the transfer of a fully tested design complete with fissile material. The cumulative effect of these transactions was to produce a structure for the perpetuation of nuclear weapon and missile proliferation. A development, test, production and support infrastructure was established in each of the three nations. A path was created whereby improvements made in a missile in one market could be transferred to another with only modest amounts of cash changing hands. This 21st-century template for proliferation not only mitigates the technical hurdles any single nation might encounter with a solely domestic programme; it also eliminates the need for extensive, and revealing, national test programmes. It is not surprising that there has been little flight-testing of missiles and, until India's resumption of nuclear testing in 1998, no developmental need to test nuclear weapons either. More ominously, the existence of a weapon and missile infrastructure creates a pressure towards export in order to maintain the domestic infrastructure. In 1998, three years before becoming US secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld led a committee to review intelligence data on the ballistic missile threat to the US. The report concluded that any potential adversary could acquire long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction with "little or no warning". At the time, this was brushed off by the Clinton administration as "worst-case thinking". It is now clear that it was not. What we do not yet know is what other transfers have already taken place between a group of states whose only shared interest is in acquiring nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technology. The writer is chairman of the US Defence Department's defence science board © Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2002. "FT" and "Financial Times" ***************************************************************** 53 Benton delays decision on backing FFTF This story was published Thu, Oct 24, 2002 By Nathan Isaacs Herald staff writer Supporters of Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility have to wait until next week before knowing if they continue to have the financial support of Benton County in their fight to restart the dormant reactor. The wait comes despite overwhelming public support at a meeting held Wednesday by Benton County commissioners at the WestCoast Tri-Cities Hotel in Kennewick. Commissioner Leo Bowman had required the meeting be held before he decided to invest more money into efforts to save FFTF. The county is being asked to contribute $16,500 toward a potential lawsuit against the Department of Energy. Richland and the Port of Benton, limited partners with the county in the effort, also were asked to contribute money. Richland agreed to spend $16,500 last week. The Port of Benton delayed making a decision. Port Commissioner Hal Lindberg said a budget workshop Wednesday suggested there isn't any money to contribute, but a final decision won't be made until the commission's Nov. 12 meeting. County commissioners had continued their Monday meeting to the hotel and could have made a decision Wednesday night. However, that won't be done until next week. Bowman said Wednesday's meeting was a chance to hear from FFTF proponents and opponents in a somewhat neutral setting. Supporters want the reactor saved to produce isotopes for new medicines to treat cancer and other diseases. They also say saving FFTF would create jobs and possible tax revenue. At the meeting, people who've lost loved ones to cancer or have the disease themselves made emotional, heartfelt appeals to keep up the fight in restarting the reactor. Scientists, doctors and others testified to the merits of the reactor and that its benefits shouldn't be ignored and can't be replaced. Past and present politicians were also on hand to voice their encouragement that the county join in the lawsuit. It's the lawsuit, however, that's caused some unrest by officials and others who otherwise may support restarting the reactor. They believe money invested now would be but a drop in the bucket if the legal fight were to last years. Allyn Boldt of Kennewick didn't take a position on the reactor. But he did question the county's authority to jump into such a lawsuit. And while the commissioners may agree to spend the $16,500, he said he wants any more requests to be put to a public vote. The suit, expected to be filed in the next two weeks, would argue that DOE failed to complete environmental studies required before deciding to shut down the reactor. It also would attempt to get a court injunction stopping decommissioning work at the reactor. The decommissioning work, however, is being fast-tracked by the federal government. DOE plans to begin draining the liquid sodium from the dormant reactor's cooling systems in early November. Such a step would make it unlikely the reactor could safely be restarted. That's why the need for a lawsuit. Benton Commissioner Claude Oliver said the lawsuit buys FFTF supporters time to build a coalition to save the reactor. He and others believe the reactor could make millions of dollars while also working to kill cancer. As Keith Smith of Kennewick said at the close of his comments in support of fighting to save FFTF: "The taxpayers of this little county in Southeastern Washington can be the heroes of the nation." Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 54 Bechtel lays off 100 craft workers This story was published Fri, Oct 25, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Bechtel National has laid off slightly more than 100 union craft workers from Hanford's glassification complex construction project over the past several weeks. The layoffs came in bits and pieces for a variety of reasons, said Bechtel spokesman John Britton. Most were because some engineering work and safety training did not keep up with the construction. As Bechtel hires workers, they have to be trained and certified to federal nuclear quality assurance standards. That certification process has proceeded slower than anticipated. A similar lag time exists with training suppliers to provide materials that meet federal nuclear quality standards. Meanwhile, the project is short by about 100 engineers, which has slowed the design and engineering work. And Britton said Bechtel overestimated how fast it could get through the complicated process to get authorization from the Department of Energy to tackle some individual subprojects. Also, he said, Bechtel had a night shift pouring concrete during the summer to help compensate for the hot days. Extremely hot weather complicates and slows the pouring of concrete. As summer ended, Bechtel eliminated the night shift concrete workers. "We're going to try to hold the craft force fairly steady now until we ramp up again in January," Britton said. Right now, Bechtel employs almost 3,000 people. Fourteen months ago, it employed approximately 1,200. The 3,000 figure includes 700 to 800 union craft workers in central Hanford, along with about 500 other support workers on the site. The rest of Bechtel's employees are engineers and administrative people in Richland. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 55 Mid-Columbia looks beyond cleanup This story was published Sun, Oct 27, 2002 By Wendy Culverwell Herald staff writer Working in an unpretentious office near Richland's Uptown area, Jim Carroll and his small staff support a popular software program that helps businesses streamline how they buy supplies. Carroll and his staff of five at ExpensePath Software are among many who owe their jobs, at least in part, to a government program created to wean communities from reliance on federal dollars -- the so-called 3161 program. It takes its name from Section 3161 of the Defense Reappropriations Act, passed by Congress to help 14 "energy communities," including the Tri-Cities, develop independent economies. The Mid-Columbia economy relies strongly on federal money, with nearly $1.8 billion appropriated to clean up Hanford in 2002. From 1995, when DOE made the first appropriation, until this year, 3161 has injected $21.2 million into efforts to diversify the Tri-City area economy. That investment has yielded 2,006 jobs, according to the Tri-City Industrial Development Council, which coordinates Tri-City 3161 efforts. In broadest terms, that equates to one job for every $10,568 invested. That's probably about average, based on job creation figures cited by Matt Chase, deputy executive director of the National Association of Development Organizations in Washington, D.C. The federal Economic Development Administration calculates that public works projects generate one job for every $3,100 invested, while the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development uses a figure of about $20,000 per job for community-building programs. Chase said state-level efforts can much higher. Mississippi, for example, spends between $90,000 and $100,000 per job to attract car makers. Locally, federal officials call the 3161 program a success, but hint broadly at diminishing dollars in the future. "It's clearly been a beneficial tool for the Tri-Cities," said Colleen Clark of DOE's Richland office. "This community's ability to successfully transition its economy away from Hanford becomes even more important as we gain momentum in completing the cleanup program. We see a lot of passion and hard work to do just that. But under the current economic and budgetary circumstances, we should not rely on 3161 funds to sustain that movement." The 3161 money has been used in a variety of ways, from supporting the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's entrepreneurial leave program to helping businesses acquire surplus Hanford equipment. A significant amount has gone to support entrepreneurs and recruit new businesses. For instance, 3161 money provided incentives for companies such as Ferguson Enterprises, a Virginia-based plumbing supplier, to locate in Richland. It also pays the salary of Cruz Gonzalez, a former banker who counsels minority entrepreneurs. The money has helped the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau promote the area to potential tourists and helped set up business incubators for promising young businesses. Incubators include the Tri-Cities Enterprise Center, the Applied Process Engineering Laboratory, or APEL, and the Agri-Business Commercialization & Development Center, or ABCD. Tight DOE budgets eliminated most 3161 money in 2001 and 2002, but 2003 is expected to bring $600,000 in grants. That will be $200,000 each for marketing, minority business counseling and the incentive fund that helped convince Ferguson Enterprises to invest $25 million to build a warehouse in Richland's Horn Rapids Industrial Park. DOE rather optimistically predicts the new grants will generate 400 new jobs, which would be $1,500 per job. A TRIDEC analysis of 3161-supported programs shows a mixed track record. Some efforts led to employment for hundreds, but others fell apart. One failure, the Columbia Basin Minority Economic Development Association (CB MEDA), was so troubled it shut down. A new program has since been created to serve minority entrepreneurs. Big investment The APEL has received $3.5 million through 3161, the most given any effort. That money was awarded between 1997 and 2000 and was paired with matching funding and in-kind contributions from Mid-Columbia companies and the community. The result is a facility worth about $8 million. Director Chuck Allen said 3161 money transformed a 90,000-square-foot building owned by Energy Northwest into a haven for science and technical work. APEL has specialized laboratories and equipment that entrepreneurs need, as well as necessary environmental permits that speed company startups. PNNL occupies about half the facility, which has about 40 office/lab spaces. APEL is off to a slow start, however, producing about 40 new jobs to date. Its most successful tenant has developed a system for capturing airborne contaminants and employs about 15. But Allen has faith, saying startup businesses don't follow predictable patterns. "We've just got to hit a few doubles and triples," he said, employing a baseball analogy. "Right now, we're hitting mostly singles." One-on-one pays off Former banker Cruz Gonzalez developed the minority business program in 2000 with support from TRIDEC and Columbia Basin College. From his Pasco office, Gonzalez counsels would-be entrepreneurs on bookkeeping, marketing, business planning and working with investors. His efforts are not connected to CB MEDA, the unsuccessful earlier effort to help minority businesses. In the first year, Gonzalez's clients secured $530,000 in financing. Last year, that grew to almost $1 million. One early client, Pasco's Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, is preparing to expand to Kennewick. Owner Isidro Ortiz confirmed plans to open a restaurant near Wal-Mart. "We want to concentrate really where we can target families," he said. Ortiz's payroll hovers between 10 and 15 and will double when the new restaurant opens. "That's one of our visions as well, to create jobs for the community," he said. Another Gonzalez client, a Pasco furniture store that caters to Hispanic consumers, is on the brink of purchasing a much larger building on Lewis Street. The minority counseling program was credited with saving or creating 31 jobs as of the end of 2001. Its $200,0000 grant for 2003 opens a new set of opportunities, said Gonzalez, whose previous budget was $60,000. His chief goal is to reach beyond the Hispanic community and help other minority entrepreneurs. Young businesses get help ExpensePath Software, formerly Credit Card Solutions Inc., might not have started if 3161 money wasn't available to help PNNL employees form their own companies while on entrepreneurial leave. Jim Carroll was the first PNNL employee to use the program. He set his company up in the Tri-Cities Enterprise Center, a business incubator supported by 3161 money. Entrepreneurial leave let Carroll keep his health benefits, and he left PNNL with some assurance he could return if his enterprise failed. The married father of three said it would have been hard to leave without that safety net. ExpensePath spent its first three years at TEC. The facility has received about $1.5 million, which makes it second to APEL for funding. As with APEL, the enterprise center gives businesses a place to start. Besides office space, it offers a receptionist, computer and telephone lines and a conference room. Other TEC tenants have developed spicy snacks with nuclear names and "trail skates" for off-road adventurers. TEC invested $100,000 in 3161 money in ExpensePath, giving it a minority ownership stake. The investment allowed Carroll to develop his purchasing card system, market it to clients and, most importantly, ride out the bad months. "We're profitable, so we're OK," said Carroll, who reported revenues just under $1 million in 2001, his best year to date. TEC President Bill Henderson said that of 12 companies that received seed money from TEC, six remain in business and a seventh was sold. "That's an excellent record for seed investment." TEC is credited with creating or saving 560 jobs. Golfers, wine lovers The Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau regards winning 3161 funding as a watershed event. From 1996 to 2000, the bureau received $936,500 to promote the area to potential tourists. Kris Watkins, the bureau's president, said 3161 money provided resources to create a sports marketing bureau, reach out to travel writers around the world and develop riverside destinations such as the Family Fishing Pond and the Playground of Dreams. The effort has paid off. Golf and wine tourism is on an upswing and sports tournaments now routinely pack area hotels. New facilities in the offing at Kennewick's Columbia Center, TRAC and elsewhere in Pasco will add about 400 new guest rooms, in addition to the 150 or so rooms added since 1996. Bureau statistics say tourism generated $24.3 million and 417 jobs. Priorities are shifting The process of awarding 3161 funding is a somewhat cumbersome dance. TRIDEC prioritizes projects and submits them to DOE, which decides which, if any, to support. TRIDEC established a set of priorities in 1999, when it created a list of more than $17 million in projects. But no project won support for the next two years. DOE provided just enough money for TRIDEC to continue administering ongoing 3161 programs, but nothing else. Bill Martin, TRIDEC president, said the agency didn't see a point in creating a new set of priorities, but now that new funding has become available it will start the process. The belated decision to review the list stirred protests. Watkins, of the visitor bureau, said she would have liked to have competed for the latest funding. Three years ago, the bureau's request for $700,000 for a community image campaign was rated near the bottom. It hasn't been submitted for consideration since then. "We're a nonprofit, and funding is always a problem," she said. Clark, the DOE spokeswoman, said Tri-City projects compete for 3161 money against projects submitted by 13 other TRIDEC-like agencies from energy communities. The 14 "community re-use organizations" each apply for grants to pay for specific projects. DOE officials in Washington, D.C., prioritize the projects and award money. Last year, DOE awarded $20 million in grants. Winners and losers A recent analysis identified bright spots in the 3161 programs, as well as some dogs. Investing in entrepreneurs produced the biggest payoff. The Entrepreneur Support Network, consisting of TEC, the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments and the Business LINKS program at Washington State University Tri-Cities, is collectively credited with creating or retaining about 670 jobs and received high marks from evaluators. A $1 million investment to help the city of Pasco expand its Pasco Processing Center has yet to yield new employers. Still, it has the potential to be a big winner when new food processors move in, according to the evaluation. Food processors such as Twin City Foods and Reser's Fine Foods have invested tens of millions in the processing center, employing about 500. Evaluators gave low marks to an early effort to reach minority entrepreneurs, the CB MEDA. It shut down in 1999 in part because of "internal management problems." Two PNNL programs, however, the entrepreneurial leave program and the technical assistance program, received high marks. The assistance program provides private companies up to 40 hours of technical assistance from PNNL. Together, the programs received about $1.5 million in 3161 money and are credited with creating about 250 jobs. Small projects also have received 3161 funding. About $100,000 was allocated to establish a Tri-City irradiated food program, and $332,000 was committed to promote the area as a hub for the medical isotope industry. Neither effort has produced any jobs so far. The Port of Benton received $200,000 to improve roads and utilities in the industrial facility known as the 3000 Area and another $60,000 to study taking over the Hanford railroad. There also was $250,000 allocated to extend Horn Rapids Road to the HAMMER training facility and about $127,000 to the Yakama Indian Nation's commercial fish farm at Hanford. For most recipients, it's been at least two years since they received 3161 money. Like the Visitor and Convention Bureau, they're finding ways to live without it, but note it sometimes means ending successful programs. Henderson, of the Enterprise Center, said there is no longer "seed" money available to launch promising companies. "The reality is the DOE money all across the country is being reduced. We would love to have more of it, of course ... but I wouldn't use the word frustrated," he said. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 56 Commission takes on fight to save FFTF This story was published Tue, Oct 29, 2002 By Nathan Isaacs Herald staff writer Benton County commissioners agreed Monday to spend up to $70,000 to join a lawsuit against the federal government to try to save Hanford's dormant test reactor. That is $53,500 more than what commissioners were asked to contribute. Commissioner Leo Bowman upped the amount from $16,500 after hearing from residents through more than 100 recent e-mails and a public meeting last week. He had delayed commission action until Monday to get more input before spending more money. Bowman said the additional money would be needed eventually. The suit, expected to be filed in the next two weeks, would argue DOE failed to complete environmental studies required before deciding to shut down the Fast Flux Test Facility and would seek an injunction to stop decommissioning work. "The more success you have, the more expenses you're going to have," Bowman said. Supporters want FFTF saved to produce isotopes for treating cancer and other diseases. They also say saving FFTF would create jobs and possible tax revenue. Opponents argue the efforts are futile against the DOE machine. They also doubt a private company could successfully manage the reactor and say public money is being wasted. The county money apparently comes with the condition that Richland and the Port of Benton ante up equal shares. The county, port and city have a limited partnership to pay for expenses associated with saving the reactor. Before the current request, the three have chipped in about $40,000 this year. The county already has spent more than $100,000 this year, paying for staff time, trips to Washington, D.C., and other expenses. Commissioner Max Benitz Jr. made the motion Monday requiring the other agencies to spend the same amount, although the motion was unclear on a specific amount. Commission Chairman Claude Oliver agreed a united front is important. "This community lives together and dies separately," he said. And Bowman said he envisioned the county's $70,000 growing to $210,000 because of the partnership. But that might not happen. Richland agreed two weeks ago to pay $16,500, but a majority of city council members warned they would eventually reject such requests. And the Port of Benton doesn't have money to participate, said Port Director Scott Keller. He said port commissioners came to that conclusion after a budget workshop last week. If they do decide to contribute money, Keller said they want participation to be proportional to each agency's budget. The earliest they could contribute is Nov. 13. Benton commissioners shrugged off the possibility their partners may not participate, saying they would address that if it happens. Oliver plans to talk to city council members and port commissioners later this week. Keller said port commissioners don't want to be a party in the suit because of anticipated dealings with DOE. Also, he said port commissioners want more private investors to participate. That has happened to a limited extent, Oliver said. Citizens for Medical Isotopes has spent about $20,000 to hire an attorney, and other groups have chipped in another couple thousand dollars. But supporters suffered a setback Monday when the Benton-Franklin Health District decided not to contribute $1,000. District board members said they support restarting FFTF but also have budget concerns and doubt the small amount could help. There is some urgency to get the money and file suit before DOE drains liquid sodium from the reactor cooling system, which Oliver expects to happen Nov. 11. Such a step would make it unlikely the reactor could safely be restarted. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 57 Activists will attend SRS nuclear meeting Augusta Georgia: Metro: 10/29/02 By [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau Public input will be accepted tonight on the potential environmental impact a new nuclear trigger plant would have on the Savannah River Site. Registration begins at 6 p.m. at the North Augusta Community Center, with the meeting starting at 7. AIKEN - Anti-nuclear protesters say they will attend tonight's meeting regarding a proposed nuclear trigger plant at Savannah River Site, one of five locations being studied. Although the meeting is meant to address the potential environmental impact of such a plant at SRS and its surrounding area, the word "proliferation" is sure to come up. Activists fear that building triggers could lead to a new era of nuclear buildup. Many of them argue that the process is in violation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. "Absolutely not," says James "Jay" Rose, the National Nuclear Security Administration's document manager over the environmental impact study. His group, a part of the Department of Energy, contends that the treaty is a good-faith agreement to eliminate nuclear weapons "at the nearest possible date." The group says that given the state of international affairs, the goal is simply to maintain current stockpiles by replacing the triggers, also known as plutonium pits, which they say have a lesser certainty of firing with age. "Pits are going to age whether they are at Pantex (the Amarillo, Texas, storage facility) or deployed in nuclear weapons," said Jerry Freedman, the manager of the new pits project. The so-called Modern Pit Facility would be in full production by as early as 2020. The $2 billion to $4 billion plant price tag is just an estimate, officials said Monday at a news conference. Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . --From the Tuesday, October 29, 2002 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. Read our privacy AugustaChronicle.com is a proud member of [http://augusta.com] . ***************************************************************** 58 Hyde Urges Bush to Help Oust Venezuelan President Posted Oct. 29, 2002 By J. Michael Waller Warning of the formation of a potential "Axis of Evil" in the Americas, an influential lawmaker has called on President George W. Bush to support the ouster of left-wing Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Just days before Brazilians elected radical populist Lula da Silva as their president on Oct. 27, House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) sent President Bush a powerfully phrased letter warning that a triumvirate of political extremists leading economic powerhouse Brazil, oil giant Venezuela and the terrorist-sponsoring regime of Cuba constitute an emerging "Axis of Evil" that the United States must stop. Insight obtained a copy of the two-page letter, dated Oct. 24. Hyde is concerned that da Silva's professed desire to renew Brazil's nuclear-weapons program and his hints at building the country's economy and global stature through proliferation of advanced weapons, is particularly alarming — especially in light of the Brazilian leader's open support for hemispheric terrorist organizations. Combined with the State Department's continued listing of Cuba as a sponsor of international terrorism and the Venezuelan paratrooper-turned-president's open embrace of Havana and fellow terrorist regimes in Iran and Iraq, Hyde has become alarmed at the administration's apparent inaction. Hyde recounts the Chavez regime's record, which, according to the letter, includes "fundamental" violation of the Venezuelan constitution and usurpation of powers of the legislative and judicial branches; "public alliances with state sponsors of terrorism including Cuba, Iraq and Iran" and subsidizing the Fidel Castro regime with oil; and support for "terrorist organizations attacking nearby fragile democracies including the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] in Colombia and radical antidemocratic groups seeking to destabilize Bolivia and Ecuador." "The Clinton administration remained unconscionably silent about the antidemocratic actions of President Chavez," according to Hyde, who urged Bush to stop continuing the Clinton policies and to start telling the truth about Venezuela: "This is the time for the Bush administration to set the factual and historical record straight: The current regime of President Chavez is illegitimate because it is based upon the systematic violation of the Venezuelan constitution in force in 1999," Hyde wrote. "The Bush administration should also declare itself in sympathy with the pro-democratic civil-military coalition in Venezuela which seeks to restore democracy and should do so at once." According to Hyde, "all the pro-democracy elements of the society, including the genuinely democratic political parties, the labor unions, business associations and religious institutions, have been gathered for two days in coalition with a group of active duty military officers of flag rank demanding that President Hugo Chavez resign and that new, free and open elections be held." Such action might moderate the incoming da Silva government in Brazil. Hyde is especially concerned that da Silva would make good on his statements to build and proliferate nuclear weapons. Other lawmakers share Hyde's concern. The International Relations Committee chairman told Bush, "Recently, many of my colleagues in the Congress wrote you a letter in which they expressed their concerns about the ten-year-long association of Mr. Lula da Silva with Latin American, European and Middle Eastern terrorist organizations in a forum which he convened and organized in silent partnership with Castro. "They also expressed their concern about Mr. Lula da Silva's recent statements indicating an interest in reviving Brazil's nuclear-weapons program, which from 1965-1994 not only wasted enormous resources that could have helped the poor, but also succeeded in designing a 30 kiloton nuclear bomb which could be quickly tested if the program were revived. "There is a real prospect that Castro, Chavez and Lula da Silva could constitute an axis of evil in the Americas which might soon have nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. ... This is the time to support the pro-democratic coalition in Venezuela and to help the people of Brazil understand the truth about Chavez so that they do not make a similar mistake and elect another pro-Castro radical who will neither help the poor, nor help their economy, nor live at peace with democratic neighbors." J. Michael Waller is a senior writer for Insight magazine. email the author [mwaller@insightmag.com]   [http://www.broadbandpublisher.com] Copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. ***************************************************************** 59 China's shift to multilateralism Asia Times [http://www.atimes.com By Tim Shorrock WASHINGTON - Chinese President Jiang Zemin's pledge to work with the Bush administration and the leaders of Japan and South Korea to develop a common approach to North Korea reflects Beijing's gradual shift toward multilateralism in its foreign policy, China experts say. That shift, which began in the mid-1990s, has been marked by a gradual warming of relations with Europe and Russia and a tendency to work more closely with Japan despite Tokyo's close security ties with the United States, said Yan Xuetong, director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University. "While Bush adopts a unilateral approach, we label ours as multilateral," Yan told a seminar here on Chinese foreign policy sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. "It's really a way to avoid conflict and improve confidence in each other," added Yan, also a member of the China Committee of the Council of Security Cooperation of Asia-Pacific. Yan spoke one day before Jiang met with US President George W Bush in Texas on Friday and just before both leaders flew to Mexico for the weekend meetings of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The key topic of the Bush-Jiang meeting was North Korea's revelation to US diplomats this month that it has pursued a program to enrich uranium - a first step toward acquiring nuclear weapons - and the Bush administration's attempts to enlist China and other countries in a campaign to pressure Pyongyang to abandon the scheme. In Mexico, Bush, Jiang and other APEC leaders discussed possible United Nations action in Iraq and reached agreement on how to confront the rising threat of terrorism in Asia. In both meetings, Jiang was sympathetic to US policy but refused to endorse specific US requests for tougher actions against North Korea and Iraq. At a news conference with Bush on Saturday, Jiang admitted that China had been caught off guard by North Korea's program and said China would consult closely with Washington to resolve the standoff peacefully. "China has always held the position that the Korean Peninsula ought to be nuclear weapons-free," he pointed out, but without saying that China would use its considerable economic and political leverage to put pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to abandon the enrichment program. On Iraq, Jiang was silent about the US drive in the United Nations to build support for a military strike against Baghdad if Saddam Hussein does not agree to immediate and full international arms inspections and eliminate nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. At their joint news appearance, Bush said that "we discussed, and I urged President Jiang to support, a new Security Council resolution demanding Iraq fully disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction". Later, administration officials quoted Jiang as saying China wants Iraq to "comply fully" with all UN resolutions on inspections. On Korea, the officials were privately pleased that Jiang publicly opposed North Korea's attempt to obtain nuclear weapons and characterized the United States and China as working behind the scenes to persuade Pyongyang to change its ways. "We play the bad cop, the Chinese play the good cop, and the Japanese potentially play the sugar daddy whose investment in North Korea is at stake," a Bush official told reporters, according to the New York Times. At the Sasakawa seminar, Yan said China's cooperation with Washington - as limited as it might seem to the Bush administration - reflects a calculation in Beijing that it must avoid open conflicts with the United States at all costs. That is because the government's No 1 priority is economic development and making China a world power. "After the Cold War, our leaders decided that our economic foundation is more important than anything; more important than military capabilities," he said. "The United States is the only superpower and country with the capability to make our [economic] environment worse or better. I call this avoiding comprehensive confrontation with the United States," Yan pointed out. That policy works in favor of both countries, he explained, because China needs US technology and investment, while the United States needs China's market. Although they have disagreements on military issues, human rights and ideology, "we don't want to argue with the United States about this", Yan said. "We don't want to continue these finger-pointing wars between China and the United States." China's approach to the United States has changed significantly, agreed Robert Sutter, a visiting professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a former US diplomat and intelligence officer. "China's policy is much more moderate than it was two to three years ago," when Chinese leaders constantly talked of US "hegemonism" and loudly criticized the US campaigns to enlarge the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, upgrade its security treaty with Japan and build a missile defense system, said Sutter. He credited the Bush administration for changing its approach to China from the days of the Bill Clinton administration, which he said gave China the leverage to obtain concessions from the United States on Taiwan. Bush, in contrast, concentrated on improving relations with Russia and India and did not seek engagement with China or worry about swings in US ties with Beijing. "This put the onus on China to improve the relationship," he said. Sutter predicted that bilateral ties will become "smoother and better" in coming years. That is important as the United States and its Asian allies seek to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions without setting off a regional crisis, Sutter said. "Without China's help, it won't work. That's the first time we've had a situation like that in the Bush administration." While recognizing the importance of strong bilateral relations with Washington, China is also pursuing multilateral diplomacy with Japan and Europe, Yan said. Because Japan's economic stake in China is much greater than America's, Yan said, China has focused on improving relations with Tokyo in recent years. "Without Japan's participation, China cannot offer this leadership for the region," he said. "China needs to take joint efforts with Japan for regionalization." European governments are easier to deal with because they do not take a dogmatic approach to differences on human rights, Yan said. "People believe the European attitude to human rights is different from the United States," he said. "The US is a superpower trying to impose its values on China. So there's a kind of different feel that makes it easier for the Chinese to accept European pressure." (Inter Press Service) Copyright Asia Times Online, 6306 The Center, Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************