***************************************************************** 10/30/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.280 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Weapons Inspector to Visit Bush 2 UN Agency Wants to Pick Inspectors 3 US: tech news Fifty years on: A nuclear legacy 4 US: Buyer repeats nuclear weapons stand during debate 5 Nigeria: Lessons of the Caribbean Crisis (Cuban) 6 Canada looks to solve nuclear question 7 US: Stop Nuclear Fuel Company from Hijacking the NRC Licensing 8 NZ urged to act on North Korea nuke problem* 9 Secret talks bridge gap on Iraq resolution 10 Real Friend: China Offers 3rd Nuclear Reactor to Pak 11 Prof, lobbyist debate possible attack of Iraq 12 Nuclear deadlock at Japan-N Korea talks 13 APEC's raison d'etre 14 Upper hand goes to North Korea 15 N.Korea Shuns Demand on Nuke Program 16 US: 'Guerrilla dynasty,' is it a threat? 17 Japan, North Korea get off to rough start over key issues - 18 INTERVIEW - Chechens could strike nuclear plant next 19 US: National Security Policy Turned on Its Head 20 N.Korea, Japan at Odds As Talks End 21 Powell Sees Path to Iraq Compromise NUCLEAR REACTORS 22 US: Davis-Besse decision revisited before NRC 23 US: N.C. approves Duke's $25 million settlement 24 US: *NRC Defends Davis-Besse Decision* 25 Russia to Create World's First Floating Nuclear Power Plant 26 US: Regulators Approve Duke Settlement 27 US: NRC official defends decision that allowed Davis-Besse shutdown 28 US: Regulators OK FPL Group's nuclear plant buy - 29 The future in a ball (PBMR analysis) NUCLEAR SAFETY 30 Swedish peacekeepers not exposed to uranium in Kosovo 31 Gulf War chaplain is forced to retire (Gulf War Syndrome) 32 US: DOE Health risk firm marks 10 years 33 US: Office of Compensation Analysis and Support / NIOSH 34 UK: Truth on radiation sought NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 35 US: Exhibit examines Hanford's waste tanks 36 US: Utah: Initiative 1 Fight Cost May Be a Record 37 US: 38 Energy Industry Consortium Plots Development of New Uranium 39 Commissioner Busquin welcomes coordinated research on radioactive wa 40 US: LETTERS: We can't afford to lose Yucca fight 41 USEC to begin reviewing Kentucky, Ohio proposals - NUCLEAR WEAPONS 42 Editorial: Win-win policy 43 US: Hotel Has Secret History US DEPT. OF ENERGY 44 Rocketdyne: Ranch EIR shows toxin 45 DOE Funds Environmental Cleanup Research 46 Nuclear insecurity in S. Carolina 47 INEEL to get $6 million for nuclear research 48 SRS one of five sites up for nuclear weapon component facility* 49 Audience divided over plutonium pit facility 50 Trigger plant meeting heats up 51 DOE to assess transfer of K-25 holdings 52 Facilities slated for transfer by year with estimated completion OTHER NUCLEAR 53 US weapons secrets exposed 54 Israeli governing coalition collapses ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Weapons Inspector to Visit Bush Las Vegas SUN October 30, 2002 By BARRY SCHWEID ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- As American diplomats struggled to win over critics of a tough resolution, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency were due to call on President Bush on Wednesday. The officials were invited by the White House to discuss implementation of the U.S. draft resolution, U.N. officials said. They have emphasized the need for tougher weapons inspections rule, and the Bush administration has used their advice to push the U.S. demand for a tough resolution. Secretary of State Colin Powell is signaling a willingness to strike a compromise to get U.N. Security Council approval of a tough resolution on Iraq. Powell said Tuesday "there may be a way" to bridge remaining differences with France, Russia and China on the draft proposed by the United States and Britain. However, he said the resolution must warn Iraq of consequences if it refuses to agree to destroy its weapons arsenals. "Otherwise," Powell said at a news conference, "Iraq will try to deceive and distract" the U.N. weapons inspectors who would go back to Iraq after four years to search for chemical and biological weapons and a nuclear weapons program. "We cannot accept any language that suggests that, in the presence of new Iraqi violations, those violations would be ignored and there would be no consequences," he said. The struggle to win over critics of a tough resolution continued at the United Nations, where France, China and Russia oppose authorizing military action against Iraq before inspectors find out whether Iraq would cooperate with them. In Beijing, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said the Security Council should decide how to deal with Iraq only after new inspections. "In our view, the most important thing to solve the Iraqi issue is to allow as quickly as possible the return of the U.N. inspectors," spokesman Liu Jianchao said. Three administration officials told The Associated Press there could be changes at the margins of the proposed resolution to satisfy such Security Council holdouts as France and Russia. Specifically, one official said on condition of anonymity, the United States was prepared to give Iraq more than the 30 days the resolution permits for Iraq to list chemical programs unrelated to weapons. Also, taking a cue from Blix, the administration is easing its demand that Iraqi scientists who worked on weapons programs be interviewed outside the country. The revision would approve such interviews but not insist on them, a U.S. official said. Powell, even while hinting at compromise, said "our basic principles remain the same." "Clear indictment of Saddam Hussein's past behavior and current behavior has to be in the resolution," he said, and "there has to be a very tough inspection regime." Powell also warned again that if the Security Council does not act Bush "has what he believes is the authority needed and, frankly, the obligation to act with like-minded nations to disarm Iraq." A White House official said the Bush administration was using its threat to act alone against Iraq as a strategy to compel Russia and France to back the joint U.S.-British resolution. While they do not like the resolution, the administration is hoping they will support it rather than be left behind, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. At the United Nations, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Sergey Lavrov, said Russia doesn't want use of force to be automatic "and this is still our position." Powell said "we're getting close to a point where we'll have to see whether or not we can bridge these remaining differences in the very near future." "I don't want to give you days or a week, but it certainly isn't much longer than that," he said, If a decision on the resolution is not reached for a week, Bush would be spared making a potentially explosive decision on whether to go to war before the congressional elections next Tuesday. Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld joined Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Foreign Minister Robert Hill at the news conference after an annual conference on security issues. Hill said he was hopeful Iraq could be forced to abandon its nuclear, chemical and biological programs "without the use of armed force." "But our bottom line is that we do want to see an end to this program. It's gone on for too long," Hill said. "The threat must be removed." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 UN Agency Wants to Pick Inspectors Las Vegas SUN October 30, 2002 By GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENNA, Austria- The U.N. agency poised to send monitors to search Iraq for signs of illicit nuclear weapons said Wednesday that it should have the sole authority to pick inspectors for its teams. "It should be left to us in the United Nations to determine the composition of our team, so that the inspectors are perceived as representing the United Nations and not any single member states," said Mark Gwozdecky, spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency. Gwozdecky spoke to The Associated Press ahead of planned meetings Wednesday between President Bush, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based agency, and chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. The two were invited to the White House to discuss implementation of the U.S. draft resolution on Iraq, U.N. officials said. While teams answerable to Blix are responsible for the search for any biological and chemical weapons in Iraq once the green light comes in form of a U.N. Security Council resolution, ElBaradei's agency is in charge of looking for clandestine nuclear arms programs. It was unclear what prompted the agency to publicly request that it be given a free hand in the composition of its inspection teams. But diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested ElBaradei feared pressure could be exerted on him during the meeting with Bush regarding the composition of the team. The United States has called for "the most qualified experts available," to be part of inspection teams, leading to some concerns that could lead to insistence that the teams be weighed in favor of Americans and Britons, they said. Even while holding open the option of going to war against Iraq without U.N. backing unless Baghdad destroys its weapons arsenals, the United States is seeking compromise with other Security Council members on a resolution that would force Iraq to disarm. France, China and Russia oppose authorizing military action against Baghdad before inspectors determine whether Iraq is ready to cooperate with them. ElBaradei would make clear in talks with Bush that "he hopes the Council will adopt a ... resolution that will lead to a peaceful resolution of the question of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," said Gwozdecky. "We appreciate the opportunity to have whatever influence we may have on the decision-makers in Washington," he said. The agency has said its inspectors are prepared to return to Iraq within 10 days of Security Council approval of a new resolution broadening and toughening the inspection regime. The inspectors pulled out of Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of U.S.-British airstrikes, amid allegations that Baghdad was not cooperating with the teams. By the end of the 1991 Gulf War, inspectors discovered the oil-rich nation had imported thousands of pounds of uranium, some of which was already refined for weapons use, and had considered two types of nuclear delivery systems. Inspectors seized the uranium, destroyed facilities and chemicals, dismantled over 40 missiles and confiscated thousands of documents. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 3 tech news Fifty years on: A nuclear legacy cooltech.iafrica.com | Posted Wed, 30 Oct 2002 Twenty five thousand years from now a concrete dome on the Pacific's Enewetak Atoll will be a lethal legacy of 20th Century mans ultimate weapon of mass destruction - the thermonuclear bomb. Fifty years ago on Friday the United States used the pristine Marshall Island's atoll to ignite mans largest explosion to that time; the 10 megaton Mike, the first hydrogen bomb and still the fourth largest manmade explosion ever. It was massively radioactive and dirty, pushing 80 million tons of soil, including every molecule of Elugelab Island, into the atmosphere. When Washington had finished with Mike and its 42 other nuclear blasts US Army engineers began a $218-million clean up of Enewetak. They swept up 76 000 cubic metres of radioactive soil and debris containing transuranum elements - isotopes of plutonium (Pu), cobalt and strontium. It was mixed with a concrete slurry and pushed into a nine metre deep by 106 metre diameter crater created by the 18 kiloton surface "Cactus" blast in 1958. The crater, lined with a concrete key wall, was capped with 358 panels of concrete, each 45 centimetres thick. In a classic bureaucratic tussle, no single US agency has responsibility for the dome: the Departments of Defense and Energy argue over it. The US National Academic of Sciences reported in 1980 that the dome presented "no credible health hazard... either now or in the future". Experts suggest the dome will last around 300 years but its contents will be deadly for much longer: the isotope 239Pu has a half-life of 24 400 years. Look backward 25 000 years and early homo sapiens were painting bison on European cave walls. In 1980 Enewetak islanders were allowed to move back to three southern islands but the northern islands remain off-limits because of high radiation levels. Enewetak attorney Davor Pevec says many islands, including the main residential island of Enjebi, remain heavily contaminated. The concrete dome on Enewetak Atoll "Five islands were completely or partially vaporized by the nuclear tests." But the islanders want to go home and researchers have considered a variety of strategies, led by US Department of Energy researcher William Robison. One involves scrapping the topsoil away from the residential areas of the island, using fertilizer to suppress radiation in the root crops. Robison has demonstrated that dousing coconut groves with potassium fertilizer blocks the uptake of radioactive caesium by coconuts because the root crops prefer the potassium to the chemically similar caesium. Runit is uninhabitable. Despite the clean up plutonium remains scattered across it enough to harm any unprotected human being at least until 27 002 AD. Quotes from the dawn of the thermonuclear age Halloween Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the first thermonuclear explosion, held on Enewetak, Marshall Islands, in 1952. These are quotes on the event: + "It is part of my responsibility as Commander in Chief of the Armed forces to see to it that our country is able to defend itself against any possible aggressor. Accordingly, I have directed the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) to continue its work on all forms of atomic weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or super bomb." - US President Harry S. Truman, 31 January 1950. + "Inspiration for a hydrogen bomb came from the sun and the stars." - Edward Teller, co-father with Stanislaw Ulam of the bomb + "They (the rise of Hitler and World War II) were terrific times, and yet I am more anxious now than I was then. My thoughts are almost entirely thermonuclear." - Winston Churchill + "I am not sure that the miserable thing will work, nor that it can be gotten to a target except by ox cart." - J Robert Oppenheimer, founder of the Manhattan Project, which build the WWII atomic bomb. + "The program in 1951 was technically so sweet that you could not argue about that." - Oppenheimer + "I have deep sorrow in my heart that such an event happened on land that belonged to my people." - Enewetak councilman - Samson Yoshitaro + "As soon as the war ended, we located the one spot on earth that hadn't been touched by the war and blew it to hell." - Comedian Bob Hope + "Since time immemorial, man's inventiveness has been stimulated to produce weapons and engines for use against his enemies, most of which were eventually turned upon the inventors themselves." - Lewis Strauss, chairman US Atomic Energy Commission. + "If there were no Communists in our government, why did we delay for 18 months ... our research on the hydrogen bomb ... our nation may well die because of that 18 month delay." - US Senator Joseph McCarthy + "We are doing them a great disservice by calling them weapons. That is too mundane a term to describe what happens in a nuclear explosion. I have described them... (as) a species of biological and genetic time bomb, whose effects transcend time and space. They are poised to deform the world and its inhabitants for generation after generation. That is what we are dealing with." - Thomas Power, Commander in Chief of the Strategic Air Command. AFP [http://cooltech.iafrica.com/newsletter] Copyright © 2002 iafrica.com, a division of Metropolis*. ***************************************************************** 4 Buyer repeats nuclear weapons stand during debate MyInKy October 30, 2002 PLAINFIELD, Ind.- A congressman who proposed the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan said during a campaign debate he still believes the weapons could be useful against terrorism. "I don't cower in the face of tough decisions. I want America to be and act like a superpower, and that is how we will place fear into those who seek to terrorize America," U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer said Tuesday during a debate among candidates for west-central Indiana's 4th District seat. The five-term congressman's opponents, Democrat Bill Abbott and Libertarian Jerry L. Susong, each attached more conditions to any nuclear weapons use. Abbott said the weapons should be used only in response to a nuclear attack, while Susong said they could be used as a last resort to decide victory or defeat. Last October, Buyer suggested using small nuclear devices to trap al-Qaida and Taliban forces in their cavern hideouts in Afghanistan rather than risk exposing American troops to possible biological weapons. Now, Buyer said, he is convinced that Iraq's Saddam Hussein is a clear threat, and he supports the war resolution that gave President Bush broad authority to use force against the Persian Gulf nation. Buyer is a Gulf War veteran and is a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserve. Abbott, an Army veteran, compared the current war resolution to the 1964 congressional resolution that opened the way for increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam. "I have to look at you kids and decide if you're willing to die for whatever reason President Bush gives me," Abbott said. Susong also said he was wary that war with Iraq might turn into "another Vietnam," but said that he supports pre-emptive military action if it is justified. "If you're going to be punched in the nose, punch the other guy first," he said. "I'm for defending ourselves, but I'm not for getting into another Vietnam." Plainfield High Schools seniors conducted the 75-minute debate, which was arranged by social studies teacher Chris Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh is Buyer's cousin. [http://www.scripps.com] © 2001 The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 5 Nigeria: Lessons of the Caribbean Crisis (Cuban) allAfrica.com -- Vanguard (Lagos) October 30, 2002 Brimah Kamara. The Caribbean crisis, which took place 40 years ago, was one of the hardest tests for the human race after World War II, writes Brimah Kamara. Two superpowers-the United States and the Soviet Union- were on the edge of a nuclear war. Fortunately, it never broke out. Moreover, lessons of the opposition, which was about to put an end to the human civilization, helped both Moscow and Washington avoid such situations in the future and achieve mutual understanding. So, what happened back in October 1962 in the three epicentres of the crisis-Moscow, Washington and Havana? The story began when the Soviet government headed by Nikita Kruschev took a decision to deploy middle-range missiles to Cuba to protect the island from an invasion which was quite possible, and to obtain means to put some real pressure to bear on the United States. Back then, the Americans had more nuclear warheads than the Soviet Union. But, the most important factor was that American nuclear missiles were stationed in close vicinity to the Soviet borders, in particular, in Turkey. Cuba gave its consent to the deployment of Soviet missiles on the island and were quick to be delivered. The Americans were sluggish enough to miss the moment of the missiles delivery having noticed them only when they were being erected. Washington was in panic-that was the first time America itself vulnerable within the range of a missile attack. Before this, the Americans thought that the atlantic ocean was a guarantee against any threat. On October 22, US President John Kennedy declared a sea blockade of Cuba and demanded that the Soviet missiles be withdrawn from the island. The Pentagon was getting ready to deliver air strikes against Cuba and was forming an invasion contingent. The war seemed inescapable. However, the opposing forces did manage to stop when they were on the edge of disaster. Negotiations between the Soviet and American leaders resulted in that the Soviet Union dismantled and withdrew its missiles. Kennedy, in turn, guaranteed to Kruschev Cuba's security and promised to withdraw missiles from Turkey, which was done in a short while. The world never faced the most terrible war ever-a thermonuclear one. The main result of the Caribbean crisis was that both sides clearly understood that they should do their best to prevent a nuclear conflict in which no one could prevail. The war should not break out at any cost-both Kruschev and Kennedy understood it perfectly well although both of them came under heavy criticsm from the top brass who had been pushing the two leaders towards using means of the last resort. Copyright © 2002 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ***************************************************************** 6 Canada looks to solve nuclear question UN environment expert hired to look at long term options for nuclear waste / * Jim Algie * /Wednesday, October 30, 2002 - 08:00 /*Local news * - Three months after U.S. President George W. Bush approved central storage for U.S. nuclear waste deep beneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Canada remains at least three years away from a decision about long-term plans for its high-level radioactive trash. Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste Act comes into force Nov. 15 and spells out a financial and legal outline for the thorny problem of long-term storage of reactor wastes. It’s the environmental Achilles heel of nuclear power production and one of the most politically charged issues to solve. Highly radioactive spent fuel rods from nuclear power reactors are among the most toxic substances on Earth. They remain hazardous for hundreds of years, requiring perpetual storage isolated from the environment and contact with living things. The technical and political issues remain daunting enough, but the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the bold wave of terror which followed gives new significance to the public risk from potential sabotage to nuclear fuel. Ontario Power Generation manages a storage facility on the Bruce site near Tiverton. The new federal act creates a Nuclear Waste Management Organization which recently appointed former UN environment program executive director Elizabeth Dowdeswell as its founding president. Dowdeswell, whose appointment was announced last week, has been on the job for about a month and has established a four-person office in Toronto. Canada has lots of company among nuclear nations in the search for solutions, Dowdeswell said. “Most of the countries that have facilities that generate fuel waste are going through the same discussion right now,” she said, citing similar developments in Sweden, Finland, France and Switzerland. “We’ve already lived with the benefits of nuclear power generation for some time,” she said. “We can’t afford to leave this problem for our children to deal with. It’s becoming an issue that we have to deal with in the shorter term.” Financed mainly by electricity consumers in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, the new Canadian waste management organization operates with a board of directors appointed by the major utilities. It has three years to develop and recommend a plan for handling the mounting volume of spent fuel and other radioactive wastes from the country’s 22 reactor sites. The path to a solution includes several obvious hurdles including widespread controversy among leading environmentalists about the structure of the agency and its assignment. Some residents in the Tiverton area maintain that government and utility officials have ignored their objections to the growing volume of waste in storage near their homes. Eugene Bourgeois, a local shepherd with long-standing complaints about his atomic neighbour, said he has little confidence in the federal government’s assurances about nuclear safety. A founder of a new area lobby group, Friends of Bruce, Bourgeois also doubts the new agency’s independence from nuclear industry economic interests. “We have our experience that doesn’t give us any confidence,” Bourgeois said in an interview. “Every step along the way has been double speak.” Sierra Club nuclear analyst Dave Martin questions the structure of the new Waste Management Organization. “By accepting this appointment as president of the waste management organization, she has bought into a completely biased and prejudiced plan for radiation waste management,” Martin said. “It’s an insane proposal and I think it will set us on a path of horrible environmental conflict in the years to come,” he said. The plan is bound to set communities which host nuclear power production sites against other communities, he said. “Given the biased nature of the nuclear waste organization it seems very unlikely to me that any other community would be willing to accept high level radioactive waste in good faith,” Martin said. Dowdeswell’s specific assignment is to explore three potential solutions: • Deep geological disposal. • Central storage. • Continued storage at existing sites. Dowdeswell said she is not far enough into her reading to map out a plan for further research but remains open to other options. The law requires her to study the three specified options but “that doesn’t mean those are the only options,” she said. Despite many similar exercises on other nuclear power nations, no long-term waste handling consensus has appeared. “I don’t come to this with any particular agenda,” Dowdeswell said. “I don’t know enough yet about any of the three options to even have a view on it at this stage.” © 2002, OSPREY MEDIA GROUP INC. ***************************************************************** 7 Stop Nuclear Fuel Company from Hijacking the NRC Licensing Process! Public Citizen Action Alert The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it will be receiving comments until November 13 regarding a series of "white papers" issued by Louisiana Energy Services (LES) - an multi-national consortium of energy companies - that address issues concerning LES's proposed development of a new uranium enrichment facility in Hartsville, Tennessee. (For background information on LES and the hazards of uranium enrichment facilities, click here By submitting these white papers, LES is attempting to hijack the licensing process for its proposed uranium enrichment facility in Hartsville, Tennessee. Rather than face a difficult licensing hearing (which ultimately derailed LES's last attempt to build a uranium enrichment plant in Louisiana), LES is trying convince the NRC to establish procedural guidelines for the licencing proceeding that would, in effect, make the result of the hearing a foregone conclusion in favor of LES. The company's proposed uranium enrichment facility - beyond the immediate environmental harm it would cause to the local residents near Hartsville - would provide fuel for the country's nuclear power reactors, and further ensure the future viability of dangerous, dirty nuclear power. We must stop nukes where they start. Thanks to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), the NRC has allowed a comment period on these papers, and it is absolutely imperative that we take this opportunity to submit comments to the NRC on this matter. We ask that you take action and write the NRC to comment on the contemptuous LES white papers. We can act now to stop nuclear power where it starts. [The April 24, 2002, LES "white papers;'' the May 28, 2002, NRC Meeting Summary; DOE's July 25, 2002, comments; and USEC's June 19, 2002, comments are accessible electronically from the NRC Agency wide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html - although this system is unwieldy and difficult to use, to say the least. The ADAMS Accession Numbers for these documents are: ML022350051, ML021480298, ML022350130, and ML021770197 respectively.] > *More National News * Power Search *© 2002 New Zealand City Ltd * ***************************************************************** 9 Secret talks bridge gap on Iraq resolution Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | UN vote on agreed draft may come this week Ewen MacAskill and John Hooper in Berlin Wednesday October 30, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] The US and Britain have narrowed their differences with France on the UN resolution on Iraq, according to a security council source. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, have been in frequent contact since the weekend in an effort to find wording acceptable to both sides. A security council official said the problem it could be sorted quickly, and the US could then return to the council with a new draft resolution. "The resolution could be passed this week," the official added. The private negotiations on the resolution contradict the public utterances in Washington and Paris, which suggest that they are heading for a showdown. The five permanent and 10 other members of the council are being asked to pass a resolution for the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq to hunt for weapons for mass destruction. A French foreign ministry spokesman said that Mr de Villepin had telephoned his counterparts in the US, Britain, Russia and Mexico late on Monday and early yesterday to try to work out a compromise resolution. Mr de Villepin told the national assembly yesterday that he hoped that the remaining obstacles to an agreement could be overcome in the next few days. Mr Powell revealed a minor concession yesterday in an interview with some European papers, in which he offered a debate in the security council before the US took military action against Iraq. But that does not go far enough for France, which has led the resistance to the US draft resolutions, which appear to leave it open for the US to attack Iraq if it does not comply with the resolution. Paris wants a two-stage approach which would give Iraq a chance to comply, and would require a second resolution to authorise force if Baghdad obstructed the inspections. The security council official said the US and France were trying to resolve their final differences. "The resolution has to be strong enough to put the wind up Saddam Hussein, to take the weapons inspectors seriously, but also to assure the French and Russians that there is no hidden trigger." The US and Britain are hopeful of securing the support of 13 security council members. Syria may either vote against or abstain. China, too, may abstain. The US and Britain are confident that neither France nor Russia will exercise its veto. The chief weapons inspectors, Hans Blix, told the UN on Monday that his team could leave for Baghdad within 10 days of the resolution being passed. Within 30 days of it being passed, Iraq will be obliged to declare what biological and chemical weapons it has had and what it has done to develop nuclear arms. Iraq denies that it has any of these weapons now. The inspectors are to report 105 days after the resolution is passed on whether Iraq still has such weapons. As the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, flew to Washington yesterday for talks on patching up Berlin's damaged relations with Washington, the chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, stuck to his guns, saying that he remained adamantly opposed to President Bush's Iraq policy. In his most important policy speech since he won a second term last month, Mr Schröder told MPs that war could be averted by diplomacy, and repeated that Germany would not take part in a military attack. But he said Berlin's links with the US were of "strategic significance and prime importance" and could withstand sincere differences of opinion. Mr Schröder put opposition to a US-led invasion at the centre of his re-election campaign, saying it marked the beginning of a more independent "German way" in diplomacy. Mr Fischer is due to meet Mr Powell today for talks on improving relations. The daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported last week that the US had presented Berlin with a "shopping list" of measures to be taken before it was ready to draw a line under the row. They were said to be support for Mr Bush at next month's Nato summit in Prague, for the US proposal for a 21,000-strong Nato rapid response force, and for Turkish membership of the EU. The report said Washington expected Germany not to oppose Nato support for a US effort to unseat Saddam Hussein. It gave as an example the deployment of Nato Awacs reconnaissance aircraft in support of US troops. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 10 Real Friend: China Offers 3rd Nuclear Reactor to Pak Updated on 2002-10-30 17:49:09/ *ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Oct 30 (PNS) - In another show of strong solidarity and sincere friendship, a Chinese delegation on Tuesday informed Pakistan that it would help in setting up the country's third nuclear power plant to overcome its energy shortage, a top Pakistani scientist said. No demands or strings were attached with this offer by China. * "China has shown its willingness to give us a new nuclear power plant," said Ashfaq Ahmad, head of Pakistan's strategic program and one of the leaders of Pakistan's nuclear program. "We have energy problems so we want to enhance the contribution of nuclear energy." Ahmad Tuesday met a delegation headed by Li Dingfan, chief of China's nuclear program, 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 defense technology to Pakistan. Pakistan's second power plant was built in Chashma, 225-kilometers southwest of Islamabad, in the 1990s with the Chinese assistance. The nation's first nuclear power plant was set up in Karachi in the 1970s with the 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 back in its nuclear weapons program. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has denied those reports. On Monday, Ahmad insisted that Pakistan's nuclear program 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 Energy Commission, said the government also plans to have a fourth nuclear power plant in Karachi. The End. Source: SADA ***************************************************************** 11 Prof, lobbyist debate possible attack of Iraq The Daily Northwestern spacer Digital Partners Network First-hand accounts from Iraq contrast with narratives from U.N. consultant By Amy Rushlow October 30, 2002 An American lobbyist for humanitarian concerns and a Northwestern law professor debated Tuesday night the possibilities for change in the Iraqi government after a U.S. military strike. The lobbyist, Faisal Istrabadi, an Iraqi-born American and Douglass Cassel, director of the Center for International Human Relations at the Law School spoke to a crowd of fewer than 15 people at Scott Hall. The speakers debated sanctions, the Iraqi people's opinions of the United States and of their own government and the international implications of a preemptive United States strike. "I witnessed it first-hand," Istrabadi said. "Enough is enough. 34 years is enough." Istrabadi has worked with the United States Future of Iraq Project to encourage military action to instill a democratic government in Iraq. He focused on seven myths of the Iraqi conflict. Among them were the assertions that the people of Iraq were at each other's throats, that democracy in Iraq cannot work, that the United States should act only with United Nations support and that democracy would work only with United Stated military occupation. Cassel, who has served as a consultant for the United Nations, said that he respects Istrabadi's opinions. But he said the United States should not use military force, especially without the approval of the United Nations. Cassel also challenged President Bush's justifications for war. "What Bush says is that the U.S. faces a threat from a man who hates us and poses a threat to international peace and security," Cassel said. "Anybody who believes these cover stories, I believe, is naive." Cassel called Hussein "a devil, but a rational devil" and challenged White House allegations that Hussein would attack the United States. Istrabadi, who believes the United States should go to war with Iraq, said that Hussein's record in the early 1990's shows his lack of concern for the well-being of Iraqis, and said that Hussein could strike. "I see no other hope for the people of Iraq," he said. "I agree that the case for an imminent threat has not been made, but the day that Saddam explodes a nuclear weapon, that is a day I do not want to wake up." Cassel said he is concerned that a preemptive United States strike would set off worldwide tensions in India and Pakistan or Russia and Georgia. "If the United States says the name of the game is force, how many people are going to die because we let the genie out of the bottle?" Cassel asked. Both speakers agree economic sanctions have to be lifted, and that it was unlikely the United States would take as humanitarian of an approach as is necessary. "To our policy-makers, humanitarian concerns mean absolutely nothing," Istrabadi said. ***************************************************************** 12 Nuclear deadlock at Japan-N Korea talks BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Wednesday, 30 October, [North Korean delegation chief Jong Thae-hwa (second from left) is escorted to his car after Wednesday's morning session] Both sides seem as far apart as before North Korea and Japan have ended two days of talks aimed at normalising relations, without an agreement on Tokyo's demands for the North to halt its nuclear weapons program. They also failed to agree on the permanent return of five Japanese abducted 24 years ago by North Korean spies. During the talks Japan repeatedly said its demands on the two issues must be resolved before normalisation could go ahead. But North Korea has insisted normalisation should come first. "For us it is normalisation first as this would naturally lead to solving of the abduction and security problems," said North Korean official, Pak Ryong-yon. He said the nuclear issue could only be resolved with the help of the United States. "If the Americans will help our country and promise not to attack us we can solve the nuclear problem," said Mr Pak, as the talks in Malaysia ended. Much to gain Despite the lack of progress, the Japanese delegation said it would continue to negotiate with North Korea. North Korea has suggested another round of talks at the end of November, but Japan has not yet formally accepted. Both sides have much at stake. Impoverished North Korea badly needs the billions of dollars in Japanese aid that normalisation of ties would bring. [Megumi Yokota, a Japanese girl who was abducted by North Korean spies in 1977 and is reported to have died (AP photo)] Japan's missing + Eight Japanese said to be dead + Five still alive in North Korea + The survivors have children in N Korea + Kim Jong-il says he has punished the culprits See also: Profiles of the missing And Japan wants its five kidnap victims to stay in Japan permanently and for their families in North Korea to join them. But on Wednesday, North Korea demanded that Japan return the abductees, who are currently in Japan for what was initially supposed to be a two-week visit. "Please send them back to North Korea as promised," Mr Pak said. The BBC's Jonathan Kent in Kuala Lumpur says that for Japan, the issue of its kidnapped nationals seemed to loom even larger than the nuclear programme. The entire Japanese delegation wore blue ribbons in solidarity with the families of the five kidnapping victims and eight others that North Korea says have died The head of the North Korea delegation, Jong Thae-hwa, said North Korea's main priority was getting an apology and compensation from Japan for its colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910-45. "Historically speaking, it is clear that Japan should apologise to the Korean people and compensate for our mental and physical suffering and damage," he said. The row on nuclear weapons stems from a US report earlier this month that North Korea had admitted to the programme when confronted with evidence, in contravention of an important 1994 accord.. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 13 APEC's raison d'etre asahi.com : ENGLISH Asahi Shimbun [http://www.asahi.com/] JAPANESE The forum should try to thrive on its diversity. The subject of terrorism dominated this year's conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Mexico, much like the gathering held in Shanghai immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Top policymakers from the 21 APEC members descended on Mexico in the aftermath of devastating terrorist bombings in the Indonesian island of Bali and the Philippines. As the meeting unfolded, heavily armed Chechen separatists seized a Moscow theater, holding hundreds of theatergoers hostage. The crisis was brought to an end with more than 100 fatalities. The conference was overshadowed by ominous signs that terrorism is proliferating. The APEC leaders issued an anti-terrorism statement condemning the terrorist attacks as direct challenges to freedom and prosperity. North Korea's nuclear weapons program was another key topic at the APEC conference. The APEC leaders issued a special statement urging North Korea to scuttle its weapons program. For decades, the United States, China and Russia have jostled in the diplomatic arena to influence events on the Korean Peninsula. But in an unprecedented act of diplomatic cooperation, they acted in concert to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear ambitions under the framework of APEC. Japan should bring this momentum into its talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) on establishing formal diplomatic relations that began Tuesday in Malaysia. APEC was created in 1989 as a forum for economic cooperation among the Pacific Rim countries amid Asia's emergence as a major economic center. Its role is growing as a venue for talks among regional leaders on a wide range of political and security issues. In its early days, APEC focused on problems like liberalization of trade and investment because of an unwritten rule it should not address political questions. But that changed in 1993, when the first APEC summit was held in Seattle under the initiative of U.S. President Bill Clinton. When leaders gather for the annual APEC meeting, they naturally hold bilateral and multilateral summits on the sidelines of the forum. In Seattle, the U.S. and Chinese leaders held talks for the first time since Beijing crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Since then, the annual APEC conference has played an important role in strengthening bilateral relations among the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), to name a few countries in the region. This year, the issues of terrorism and North Korea's nuclear weapons program put APEC's tilt toward international politics into a clearer focus. On the other hand, the conference failed to make significant progress on the economic front. The only notable achievement in this area concerned conformation that APEC will seek a new multilateral trade pact through talks under World Trade Organization auspices by the January 2005 deadline. Trading powers like China, Japan and the United States have already started moving in the direction of concluding bilateral or regional free trade agreements instead of pursuing a multilateral framework for freer trade. As discussions among trade partners on the liberalization of trade and investment are coming down to specifics, areas where there are conflicts of interest are becoming more visible. The damaging effects of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 still linger in the economies in the region. With its economy mired deep in deflationary doldrums, Japan is in no position to serve as the growth engine for the region. These new economic realities put the raison d'etre of APEC in its original design at risk. But what is important here is that there is no other institution like APEC, which encompasses the entire Pacific Rim region with its great diversity of economic conditions, political systems and cultures. Without feeling pressed to make visible achievements to show off quickly, APEC should make continued efforts to come up with policy initiatives that allow it to thrive on its unrivaled diversity. --The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 29(IHT/Asahi: October 30,2002)(IHT/Asahi: October 30,2002) (10/30) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction ***************************************************************** 14 Upper hand goes to North Korea asahi.com : ENGLISH Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] JAPANESE By TAKASHI OSHIMA and TSUYOSHI NOJIMA, The Asahi Shimbun Pyongyang has an advantage with talks being held in Kuala Lumpur. North Korea may have the home court advantage in normalization talks with Japan that started Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, analysts said. That's because Pyongyang has a particularly close relationship with Malaysia dating back to the early 1990s when it helped the reclusive state stave off food shortages. The Malaysian capital remains a surprise choice, nevertheless. There have been 11 rounds of normalization talks to date. Two rounds each have been held in Tokyo and Pyongyang, with the remaining seven in Beijing. Ordinarily, the current round would have been held in Tokyo since the Sept. 17 summit between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that led to an agreement to resume the normalization process was held in Pyongyang. However, Japan was anxious about security issues in the wake of revelations about abductions by North Korea, which produced a strong anti-Pyongyang sentiment in Japan. During past talks in Japan, rightist groups paraded near the venue with trucks blaring messages from loudspeakers condemning North Korea. On both occasions, the North Korean delegates expressed their displeasure. While Beijing may have appeared to be a logical alternative, recent events ruled out the Chinese capital. There were concerns that North Korean asylum seekers would try to embarrass Pyongyang officials by trying to gain access to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. A large number of North Koreans have sought asylum at various embassies and consulates in China in recent months. When Japanese and North Korea officials considered possible venues in Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur emerged as the main candidate. North Korean officials were at pains to note that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad provided 100 million ringgit (about 3 billion yen) in food assistance about a decade ago. Subsequently, Malaysian companies built agricultural and medical facilities in North Korea as part of economic exchange programs. Kuala Lumpur was also the venue for talks two years ago between North Korea and the United States over North Korea's missile development program, as well as for a light-water nuclear reactor project and American soldiers missing from the Korean War. As a result, the North Korean Embassy in Malaysia is said to have built up extensive knowledge about bilateral negotiations. Use of the embassy also helps North Korean diplomats cut costs. North Korea's economic malaise, coupled with the regime's secretive nature, has meant that government officials avoid staying at hotels during business trips abroad. The embassy in Kuala Lumpur is about the only facility in Southeast Asia in which North Korean diplomats can find lodgings.(IHT/Asahi: October 30,2002) (10/30) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction ***************************************************************** 15 N.Korea Shuns Demand on Nuke Program Las Vegas SUN October 29, 2002 By ERIC TALMADGE ASSOCIATED PRESS KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia- Blaming the United States for pushing it into a corner, North Korea rejected demands it give up its nuclear weapons program during an acrimonious opening round of talks Tuesday with Japan on establishing diplomatic ties, Japanese officials said. The talks were the first the two countries have held in two years on establishing ties, and hopes were high North Korea would offer some sort of concession on the nuclear issue and growing outrage in Japan over the kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s. But along with ignoring calls to halt its nuclear weapons development, the North strongly rebuffed Japan on the abduction issue, heightening an already emotional tug-of-war between the Asian neighbors. "Not much progress," Japanese delegation chief Katsunari Suzuki said as he returned from the talks. Still, officials said talks would continue as scheduled Wednesday. Since the North acknowledged its nuclear arms program this month, Japan has insisted scrapping it was a precondition for normalization between the longtime rivals. The North "completely denied" calls for the country to give up its nuclear weapons program, a senior Japanese delegation official said. The North blamed concerns over its nuclear weapons program on the United States, saying the hard-line U.S. stance against it was the "root of the problem," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. North Korea has long justified efforts to bolster its military by claiming the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea is a threat against which it must be able to defend itself. "Japan wants to focus on the abduction and security issues," said Pak Ryong Yeon, the North Korean delegation's No. 2 official. "But our thinking is, that if we work toward diplomatic ties, then the security issues will be solved along the way." North Korea acknowledged the secret nuclear weapons program to a visiting senior U.S. official this month. For Japan, the 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 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Mexico over the weekend, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi joined President Bush and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in demanding Pyongyang end its nuclear program in a "verifiable way." But Tokyo has wavered over how tough a line to take with North Korea and has chosen to continue dialogue for the time being. "This is just the first stage," Koizumi said after returning from Mexico. "Things are just getting started, but we will negotiate strenuously." The normalization talks are the offshoot of an unprecedented Sept. 17 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Koizumi. But the nuclear issue and Japanese anger over the abductions has soured the budding detente. Revelations that only five Japanese abductees survive from the 13 kidnapped by North Korea caused widespread anger in Japan. The five survivors are now in Japan for their first homecoming. But Tokyo announced last week it will not return them to the North as planned and is demanding their seven children, as well as the American husband of one, be allowed to travel to Japan. In Tuesday's talks, the North Koreans accused Japan of breaking a promise to return the five, prompting Japan to remind the North that the five abductees were "the victims of a criminal act." Even so, Japanese officials acknowledged they did not persuade the North to set a date for the children's departure. 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 North was expected to press Japan Wednesday for compensation for the colonial period and economic aid. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 'Guerrilla dynasty,' is it a threat? | csmonitor.com from the October 30, 2002 edition MILITARY THREAT? North Korean women soldiers march in a massive military parade in April. The country spends more than half its budget on its armed forces. KATSUMI KASAHARA/AP/FILE Nuclear weapons were not the top concern during Japan-North Korea talks Tuesday, analysts say. By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor SEOUL – Weeks after admitting to a secret nuclear program, North Korea – regarded 10 years ago as the No. 1 threat to Asia and the US – is being rated more a diplomatic than a security crisis. North Korea does have missile and biological and chemical weapons programs, along with its bid for a "nuclear option" – and all have been significantly improved in the past decade. Yet more persuasive to many Asian and Western states is a widely held consensus that the isolated North is changing: The North talks of reforming its medieval economy. Its military, once thought capable of holding the US to a standstill in Korea, today can only hold Seoul hostage to a fierce artillery barrage. Even leader Kim, formerly an unknown recluse, is spoken of as a hands-on rational player – logical, not suicidal – whose interest is the survival of his regime: by gradual reforms and by securing a US guarantee not to attack. In normalization talks with the North in Malaysia Tuesday, Tokyo seemed to give the North's abduction of 12 Japanese a higher priority than the nuclear issue, some Japanese analysts say. So prevalent is the view that the North is changing and that Kim lacks the food and fuel for a military adventure that experts living near the demilitarized zone are almost apologetic about saying the threat from the North is not over. A comment made by a North Korean official to US envoy James Kelly earlier this month is echoing in US military circles. "You have 37,000 troops on our border," the North official said, according to a senior US official, "Of course we have a nuclear-weapons program." An arresting picture Indeed, a clinical appraisal of the North's threat offers an arresting picture, US intelligence and other experts say. The crude and inaccurate Scud missiles deployed by the North in the early 1990s have given way to 600 accurate "Nodong" missiles with a range of 750 miles. A "confession" by a senior North official published last January speaks of a mountain called Kwanmo-bong that has been hollowed out at night, sandbag by sandbag, for a secret nuclear plant. North Korea was formed by a military force: the strongest of bickering rebel units that fought the Japanese. Kim Il Sung, Kim's father, created a military nation – a "Guerrilla Dynasty," to use the title of North Korea expert Adrian Buzo's recent book – a main focus of which was to carry out operations in the South. Today, it spends more than half its budget on its Army, and has the largest special operations force on the planet – some 100,000 crack troops. "What is the most troubling threat by the North? I'd have to say the biological and chemical threat is the major one," says a senior US official whose brief includes the Korean peninsula. Weapons stockpiles In the 1990s, North Korea stockpiled an estimated 5,000 tons of chemical and biological agents, US sources say – including VX nerve agent and sarin gas. A South Korean white paper published in 1999 says the North's capability in the biochemical area is "underestimated," and that Pyongyang may have 10 different toxic agents under development. Speaking last month to the Korean-American Association in Seoul, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton argued that the North's bioweapons program is one of the largest in the world. In the long term, worries also persist about North Korea's missile program. In 1998 the North launched a missile, the Taepodong-1, that showed Pyongyang had mastered the art of "stage separation," crucial in the eventual development of ICBMs. The North has agreed to a moratorium on testing missiles, something appreciated by Tokyo. But scientists can still work on technical aspects of the missiles – range and accuracy – as they are reported to be doing on a Taepodong-2 missile with a range of 7,000 miles, according to a report in February by analyst Anthony Cordesman. Yet, Mr. Buzo points out, ordinary crisis management with Kim may be difficult, since "never before has a regime so indissolubly identified state survival with the possession of nuclear weapons." After inspectors found traces of plutonium in a Korean reactor in 1993, the North threatened to withdraw from the Nonproliferation Treaty. Instead, the US agreed to build the North two reactors in exchange for international inspection of the North's plutonium. Still, the North is thought to have secreted away enough plutonium for two bombs – and it would have enough plutonium for five more bombs if it breaks from the 1994 "Agreed Framework" with the US, as it this month threatened to do. Nor is that all. The North mines uranium by the thousands of tons – offering plenty of raw material for the secret uranium enrichment program it admitted to US officials this month that it had. A South Korean Defense Ministry "Handbook," published last December, states that "North Korea's nuclear technology is in the early stage of manufacturing finished high-explosive devices and the beginning stage of high-explosive testing." One clear bit of evidence of bomb-making by Pyongyang is its ongoing work on "high explosive lens" testing, a necessary aspect of atomic weapons construction. "If the north has stopped its nuclear-weapons program, why is it doing any high-explosive lens testing?" asked US strategist Stephen Bradner at a conference in Seoul two days before Kim admitted to his secret program. What gives some comfort, says one senior Bush administration official, "Is that, thank heavens, we have not yet seen the marriage of weapons and missiles in the North." The US threat "What most accounts of Northern capability ignore is the picture from the other side," says a US scholar and expert on the North in Seoul. "Today, the US forces would end a war quickly. The minute Kim attacks, he knows the US will conduct an instant regime change.... Kim's got a lot of reliable technology from the 1950s and 60s, including nuclear, to exact a cost. But he's got no gas, no fuel – one reason he's had to change his operational plan and put 70 percent of his troops in forward positions." The North's fuel stockpiles are unknown, but gas is so depleted there that few cars run on city streets. Flights into Seoul at night show a huge glittering power grid in the South; 30 miles to the west, and as far as the eye can see into North Korea, is only a vast unlit darkness. Still, one analyst in Seoul argues that "We know [Kim] has fuel shortages, but we also know he has huge reserves for his army. The logic of a military state is to take care of its military." For further information: • North Korea's Nuclear Breach [http://www.ceip.org/files/nonprolif/templates/article.asp?NewsID=3832] Carnegie Endowment for International Peace • North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program [http://www.asiasource.org/news/at_mp_02.cfm?newsid=88268] AsiaSource • Nuclear Weapons Program - North Korea [http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/nuke/index.html] FAS • North Korean Central News Agency [http://www.kcna.co.jp/] Please Note: The Monitor does not endorse the sites behind these links. We offer them for your additional research. Following these links will open a new browser window. Copyright © 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Japan, North Korea get off to rough start over key issues - 10/30/2002 - ENN.com Wednesday, October 30, 2002 By Teruaki Ueno, Reuters KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Japan and North Korea got off to a rough start in high-profile talks on Tuesday, with Pyongyang rejecting Tokyo's demand to scrap its nuclear arms program and the two sides apparently on a collision course over the issue of Japanese abducted decades ago. The talks, the first full-scale negotiations between Tokyo and the reclusive communist state in two years, come as pressure mounts on Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear arms program it has admitted pursuing in violation of a 1994 agreement. A Japanese official said that at the start of the two-day talks, being held in Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo pressed for progress on the emotional issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea and sought a pledge from Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons program. The official also denied that the two sides had basically resolved the emotional issue of Japanese citizens abducted decades ago. A North Korean negotiator earlier told reporters that the "core problem" concerning abductions had been resolved. But the Japanese official contradicted that, saying, "We are on a collision course on this issue. There was absolutely no agreement." NO SIGN OF COMPROMISE Japan's top negotiator, Katsunari Suzuki, told the North Korean delegation earlier on Tuesday that Tokyo planned to put first priority on the abduction issue as well as security concerns including Pyongyang's nuclear arms ambition. But the North Koreans suggested that the two Asian neighbors remained far apart over the key issues hampering their efforts to establish diplomatic ties. "Although we gathered here for talks on normalizing ties, certainly, we are far apart," North Korea's top negotiator, Jong Thae-hwa, told Suzuki after the two shook hands before the talks began. "There are differences over various views. There are issues which cannot be solved without cooperation," Jong added. The two historic foes agreed to restart stalled talks on forging diplomatic relations last month when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi obtained a surprise admission from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that Pyongyang's agents had kidnapped Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies. The situation has since been complicated, however, by the unpredictable communist state's admission to U.S. officials that it had a nuclear weapons program, in violation of a 1994 landmark pact with Washington. The Japanese official, briefing reporters on the morning session of Tuesday's talks, said the North Koreans showed no signs of complying with the 1994 Agreed Framework, which obliges Pyongyang to freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program. "North Korea has not accepted our demand at all," the official told reporters, referring to the nuclear issue. He said North Korean negotiators had argued that Pyongyang's nuclear program was a response to a hostile policy by the United States. ECONOMIC AID CARD Japanese, U.S., and South Korean leaders agreed in meetings in Mexico on Saturday to demand that Pyongyang dismantle its nuclear weapons program in a "prompt and verifiable manner." Koizumi, U.S. President George W. Bush, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung did not spell out the consequences of inaction. But a subsequent statement by Pacific Rim leaders made it clear that Pyongyang risked losing out on the economic benefits of regional cooperation if it failed to comply. North Korea wants to negotiate chiefly with the United States on the nuclear issue, but Japanese officials said Tokyo should play a key role. "The nuclear issue is not just an issue for the United States. Japan is threatened by North Korea's nuclear weapons program," Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said. North Korea stunned Japan and the rest of the world by test-firing a Taepodong ballistic missile that passed over Japan and fell into the Pacific ocean in August 1998. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said on Monday that Tokyo would not normalize ties with North Korea or give it economic aid unless Pyongyang abandoned its nuclear weapons program. RISKY BALANCING ACT Japanese officials said, however, that Tokyo would be reluctant to break off the talks with North Korea, as shutting doors to the hermit state could escalate regional tensions and ruin chances of resolving the abduction issue. Kawaguchi expressed concern that talking tough with Pyongyang carried risks, including the possibility of endangering discussions on the fate of five surviving abductees, now visiting Japan for the first time in a quarter-century, and of their families back in North Korea. Japan decided last week not to send the five survivors back to North Korea after their families in Japan demanded that they stay longer, if not permanently. Tokyo wants assurances that North Korea will let the seven children of the five join their parents in Japan and is pressing for Pyongyang to disclose more facts about eight other Japanese who were kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s who Pyongyang says are dead from suicide, illness, or accident. Many Japanese believe they are either still alive or the victims of foul play. For its part, North Korea is expected to press for the settlement of issues stemming from Japan's harsh 35-year colonial rule of the Korean peninsula until 1945. Koizumi apologized for Japan's actions at the September summit but rejected North Korea's demand for reparations. Instead, the two leaders agreed to discuss Japanese aid for Pyongyang later. Tokyo gave South Korea $500 million when they normalized ties in 1965. Analysts have said Tokyo could provide up to $10 billion to the economically crippled North. Copyright 2002, Reuters Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 INTERVIEW - Chechens could strike nuclear plant next Planet Ark : DENMARK: October 30, 2002 COPENHAGEN - Chechen militants, like the group that took Moscow theatre-goers hostage, may take even more drastic action to oust Russian forces from their province, the envoy of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov said. Akhmed Zakayev said Chechnya's elected leaders were ready for a political solution with Moscow but that desperate Chechen militants were beyond their control. "We cannot guarantee that there will not be another group on Russian territory," he told Reuters in an interview. "Terrorist acts are possible. We cannot exclude that the next such group takes over some nuclear facility. The results may be catastrophic, not only for Russian society and for Chechen society but for the whole of Europe," he said. Chechen rebel fighters have in the past threatened to sabotage Russian economic targets and even strike at nuclear power plants. Zakayev said Russia's leadership would have to bear responsibility for any such attacks because it had failed to end violence in Chechnya, a mostly Muslim region on Russia's southern fringe. "What happened in Moscow was a gesture by desperate people, the result of the continuing war in Chechnya. These are people who have been subjected to violence, humiliation, who have lost their relatives," he said. Zakayev reiterated that the Moscow theatre hostage-takers had acted without the knowledge of Maskhadov, a moderate who was elected Chechen president in 1997 but is now in hiding. Maskhadov has condemned the action of the 50 or so guerrillas, most of whom were killed when Russian special forces stormed the theatre early on Saturday. POLITICAL SOLUTION? But his envoy said Russian authorities could have handled the siege differently, negotiating with the guerrillas and averting the mayhem in which 118 hostages died. Zakayev said the guerrillas had presented "concrete demands of a political nature: to stop the violence, to pull out the Russian troops." The next group of militants might not put forward demands but opt for direct action, he said. "We are ready to move from the military fight to political means of solving the conflict," Zakayev said, speaking on behalf of Maskhadov's administration. "But if the Russian military leadership expects our capitulation, this will not happen. Never. We have means to continue our struggle for as long as it will be needed, five, 10, 15 years." Maskhadov led Chechen separatists in a 1994-96 war but became Moscow's preferred partner in talks that ended with peace and de facto independence. But he was unable to stop the region descending into lawless chaos. In 1999, when Russian forces returned to Chechnya, the Kremlin equated Maskhadov with warlords it calls terrorists. Zakayev, in Copenhagen for a Chechen conference, said he had heard reports of a crackdown on Chechens living in Moscow, after the siege ended and reports suggested that some gunmen escaped. Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to cancel a visit to Copenhagen next month in protest against Denmark allowing the meeting of exiled Chechens to go ahead. Story by Gleb Bryanski REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 19 National Security Policy Turned on Its Head [The Cato Institute] [25 Years of Advancing Liberty] Cato University [http://www.cato-university.org/] October 30, 2002 by Ivan Eland Ivan Eland is the director of defense policy at the Cato Institute. Even though the Pentagon's emerging war plan to invade Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein will apparently require far fewer forces than evicting Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991, the Pentagon plans to mobilize an equal number of National Guard and Reserve personnel (250,000). Why? To protect civilian targets in the United States and military bases abroad. That seemingly prudent precaution raises a larger question: Has Bush's national security policy turned "national security" on its head? People from all political persuasions could probably agree that the first responsibility of the national security policy of any government is to ensure the security of its citizens and territory. Logically, policies should not be undertaken that would undermine this core objective, especially when they might serve only peripheral interests or address only vague threats in the future. Yet Bush's policy of launching an unprovoked invasion against a small, relatively poor nation that has never attacked the United States and shows no sign of doing so soon-and would have no incentive to do so in the future unless provoked (according to the CIA)-could actually endanger the citizens and territory that it purports to protect. Most of official Washington is afraid to tell the emperor he has no clothes, but the robust deployment of Guard and Reserve forces to guard the home front indicates that the bureaucracies have a cloak ready. When backed into a corner and threatened with extinction, Hussein would have every incentive to commission attacks in the United States using Iraqi intelligence agents or radical terrorist groups. More frightening, Hussein has chemical and biological weapons, which heretofore he has been deterred from using against a superpower that can retaliate with thousands of nuclear warheads. Yet Hussein has no real incentive not to use chemical or biological weapons, or provide them to terrorists, should all-out war ensue. Understandably, the U.S. government likes to keep this horrifying possibility quiet, but the massive planned deployment of Guard and Reserve forces reveals the government's fears. And fear we should. U.S. military intervention results in retaliatory terrorism. According to the U.S. State Department, 1991, the year of the Gulf War, saw the most international terrorist attacks since the end of the Cold War. A disproportionate share of those incidents occurred during the war itself -- January and February of that year. Many of the incidents in 1991 were acts committed in perceived solidarity with the Iraqi cause. In 2002 or 2003, in the wake of an unprovoked attack on a Moslem country, an inflamed radical Islamic world could perpetrate a repeat performance of 1991. And, of course, Hussein- who was not faced with extinction in 1991 and who has heretofore supported terrorist groups that do not focus their attacks on the United States and never given them weapons of mass destruction-could become much more active in striking the United States either directly or indirectly through surrogates. Why is Bush endangering the U.S. homeland to go after a petty third world thug in a faraway land that has been effectively contained for more than a decade? Because during the Cold War the United States intervened often in the Third World and pushed its defense perimeter ever forward to check Soviet expansionism. After the end of the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy remained on autopilot. Official Washington became comfortable with the outdated interventionism of the past. The events of 9/11 should have jarred the nation into a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of such an activist policy. With the demise of the Soviet superpower rival, the advantages of getting mired in disputes in faraway lands diminished greatly. The retaliatory attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in protest of the "infidel" U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, the land of Islam's most holy sites, should have been a wake-up call to the U.S. government that worrying about the security of other nations could endanger the citizens and territory of the United States. But the 9/11 attacks seem to have had the opposite effect on the Bush administration. For instance, it issued a national security statement that said "the best defense is a good offense" and has proceeded to enlarge the already overextended U.S. defense perimeter. The administration sent troops to Yemen, Georgia, and the Philippines, established military bases in several countries in central Asia and will expand NATO and probably attack Iraq. Yet on Sept. 11 nimble terrorists penetrated all the layers of the forward defenses and attacked the core. The Bush administration should realize that enmeshing ourselves further overseas by unnecessarily attacking and occupying Iraq could paint a bull's eye on the American people. 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C. 20001-5403 Phone (202) 842-0200 Fax (202) 842-3490 All Rights Reserved © 2002 Cato Institute ***************************************************************** 20 N.Korea, Japan at Odds As Talks End Las Vegas SUN: October 30, 2002 By ERIC TALMADGE ASSOCIATED PRESS KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia- North Korean and Japanese negotiators ended a contentious round of talks on establishing ties Wednesday, still at odds over the North's nuclear weapons program and the fate of Japanese kidnapped decades ago by the isolated communist nation. In a morning session, the North's delegates expressed frustration over Japan's demands on the two issues, a Japanese official said. The North's top negotiator insisted the talks should deal with aid to his impoverished country. "It is clear that Japan should compensate our country for the mental and physical damage it caused us" during its colonial rule, said Jong Thae Hwa. He stressed the North's desire for future "economic cooperation." The morning session did not deal with the nuclear or abductions issues - and it was not immediately known if they were discussed in afternoon talks, which ended after two hours. The two countries were meeting for the first time in two years to discuss normalizing relations, following up on an unprecedented summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang last month. But the mood of detente that marked the summit has been replaced here by acrimony, with both sides offering little room for compromise. On the first day, the North rejected Japan's demands that it halt its program to develop nuclear weapons, which Pyongyang admitted possessing to U.S. officials last month. Japan also seeks the permanent return of five Japanese who were kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s by the North to train its spies in the Japanese. Tokyo wants the five - the only survivors of 13 Japanese Pyongyang admits abducting - returned along with their families in the North. Pyongyang has refused the demand. Japan's delegation chief, Katsunari Suzuki, said "modest advancement" was made in Wednesday's morning session. But he said there was still "no agreement" on the two issues. With the North expressing irritation over Japan's demands, the morning session dealt instead with details of a planned working-level forum on security issues, a Japanese delegation official said. The forum was agreed to at the Sept. 17 summit. North Korea also stressed its desire for economic aid and compensation for Japan's often-brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945. Japan has insisted that the North must scrap its nuclear arms program as a precondition for normalization. But the North has refused, saying the problem is Washington's fault and can only be resolved through talks with the United States. North Korea has long justified efforts to bolster its military by saying it must defend itself against the tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea. For Japan, the security issue is an urgent concern. Tokyo wants the North not only to abandon nuclear weapons development but halt deployment of long-range missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in Japan. The missiles are believed capable of carrying warheads at least as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. For the Japanese public, however, the abduction issue has been the focus of attention since Kim's surprise confession at the Sept. 17 summit that North Korean spies abducted at least 13 Japanese in the 1970s and '80s. North Korea has allowed the five adbuctees who are still alive to return to Japan for their first homecoming in a quarter century. But Tokyo announced last week that, although Pyongyang intended the visit to be short, it would not send them back and demanded their families who stayed behind in the North be sent to Japan as soon as possible. North Korean officials have criticized Japan for overreacting to the abductions, saying they were insignificant when compared to brutalities during Japan's colonial rule. Japan and North Korea have held normalization talks on and off since 1992. The last round, held in Beijing, broke off after the North angrily denied any role in the abductions. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Powell Sees Path to Iraq Compromise Las Vegas SUN: October 30, 2002 By BARRY SCHWEID ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- Secretary of State Colin Powell is signaling a willingness to strike a compromise to get U.N. Security Council approval of a tough resolution on Iraq. Powell said Tuesday "there may be a way" to bridge remaining differences with France, Russia and China on the draft proposed by the United States and Britain. However, he said the resolution must warn Iraq of consequences if it refuses to agree to destroy its weapons arsenals. "Otherwise," Powell said at a news conference, "Iraq will try to deceive and distract" the U.N. weapons inspectors who would go back to Iraq after four years to search for chemical and biological weapons and a nuclear weapons program. "We cannot accept any language that suggests that, in the presence of new Iraqi violations, those violations would be ignored and there would be no consequences," he said. As American diplomats struggled to win over critics of a tough resolution, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency were due to call on President Bush on Wednesday. The officials were invited by the White House to discuss implementation of the U.S. draft resolution, U.N. officials said. They have underscored a need a tougher weapons inspections rule, and the Bush administration has used their advice to push the U.S. demand for a tough resolution. The struggle to win over critics of a tough resolution continued at the United Nations, where France, China and Russia oppose authorizing military action against Iraq before inspectors find out whether Iraq would cooperate with them. In Beijing, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said the Security Council should decide how to deal with Iraq only after new inspections. "In our view, the most important thing to solve the Iraqi issue is to allow as quickly as possible the return of the U.N. inspectors," spokesman Liu Jianchao said. Three administration officials told The Associated Press there could be changes at the margins of the proposed resolution to satisfy such Security Council holdouts as France and Russia. Specifically, one official said on condition of anonymity, the United States was prepared to give Iraq more than the 30 days the resolution permits for Iraq to list chemical programs unrelated to weapons. Also, taking a cue from Blix, the administration is easing its demand that Iraqi scientists who worked on weapons programs be interviewed outside the country. The revision would approve such interviews but not insist on them, a U.S. official said. Powell, even while hinting at compromise, said "our basic principles remain the same." "Clear indictment of Saddam Hussein's past behavior and current behavior has to be in the resolution," he said, and "there has to be a very tough inspection regime." Powell also warned again that if the Security Council does not act Bush "has what he believes is the authority needed and, frankly, the obligation to act with like-minded nations to disarm Iraq." A White House official said the Bush administration was using its threat to act alone against Iraq as a strategy to compel Russia and France to back the joint U.S.-British resolution. While they do not like the resolution, the administration is hoping they will support it rather than be left behind, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. At the United Nations, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Sergey Lavrov, said Russia doesn't want use of force to be automatic "and this is still our position." Powell said "we're getting close to a point where we'll have to see whether or not we can bridge these remaining differences in the very near future." "I don't want to give you days or a week, but it certainly isn't much longer than that," he said, If a decision on the resolution is not reached for a week, Bush would be spared making a potentially explosive decision on whether to go to war before the congressional elections next Tuesday. Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld joined Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Foreign Minister Robert Hill at the news conference after an annual conference on security issues. Hill said he was hopeful Iraq could be forced to abandon its nuclear, chemical and biological programs "without the use of armed force." "But our bottom line is that we do want to see an end to this program. It's gone on for too long," Hill said. "The threat must be removed." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 22 Davis-Besse decision revisited before NRC The Plain Dealer 10/30/02 John Funk, Stephen Koff and John Mangels Plain Dealer Reporters Washington - The nuclear industry is hearing two conflicting takes on the government's controversial decision last fall to allow the Davis-Besse power plant to continue operating when regulators strongly suspected that the reactor's lid was cracked and leaking. On one hand, a top Nuclear Regulatory Commission official yesterday gave a detailed presentation in support of the agency's use of a new analytical process that focuses attention on areas deemed to have the most risk while eliminating unnecessary regulation. On the other hand, the NRC's harshest critics say the methodology created a "regulatory fiasco" at Davis-Besse. Using the risk-informed process, "not one person said 'I object' or 'I have a technical problem' " at an NRC staff meeting last November to hash out the final decision, Brian Sheron, the agency's senior licensing and technical official, said yesterday at the NRC's annual meeting on nuclear safety research. "It may not be their ideal [decision], but they all said it was acceptable . . . from a safety standpoint." The NRC lacked the solid proof its lawyers said was necessary to shut down Davis-Besse before owner FirstEnergy Corp. wanted to, Sheron said. And letting the plant run six weeks longer did not significantly heighten the risk to the public. Also, the president of FirstEnergy's nuclear division personally assured the agency that the reactor lid had been properly inspected. The counter view comes from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The evidence at Davis-Besse "strongly suggests that the NRC's risk-informed sword is razor-sharp on the side that cuts regulatory requirements, but is dull as a Nerf knife on the side that imposes requirements," said UCS nuclear safety engineer David Lochbaum in prepared remarks that are to be delivered today. "We may not be so lucky as we were this time at Davis-Besse if the NRC continues with its 'business-as-usual' swordsmanship," he said. The NRC last year asked operators of plants like Davis-Besse to provide evidence that their reactors were safe to continue operating. That evidence, in the form of visual or instrument-aided inspections of reactor lids, could only be obtained when the reactors were shut down. Officials at Davis-Besse, which was at high risk for cracking and leaks because of its operating temperature, wanted to do the inspection during a refueling outage in March, three months later than the NRC wanted. The utility brokered a compromise shutdown on Feb. 16. Soon afterward, workers found that not only was the lid cracking and leaking but that corrosive coolant residue that had accumulated for years atop the lid had bored a hole all the way through the 6½-inch-thick steel. Only a thin, stainless steel liner prevented a major accident. The agency prepared a shutdown order as a bluff and also as a backup in case FirstEnergy played hardball and wouldn't shut down, said Sheron. "I haven't seen a plant yet that wants an order from the NRC," Sheron said. "What it does to their bond and stock rating is a disaster. . . . [But] I told my staff we are going to have to back it up with an order. "But our lawyers said if you issue an order you must have an immediate safety concern." And FirstEnergy's nuclear division president, Robert Saunders, had assured the agency that inspections of the reactor lid had found no signs of leakage, he said. If there were cracks in Davis-Besse's lid, Sheron said, the agency's analysts were saying that the likelihood they would cause an accident during the additional few weeks FirstEnergy wanted to run the plant "can't be measured." UCS' Lochbaum and other critics maintain that the decision violated most if not all of the agency's own safety guidelines for making risk-based decisions. Those safety principles say that when utilities want to make changes in operating conditions, they must ensure that the plant continues to preserve safety margins and protective barriers and meets NRC regulations. "They are not hard-and-fast rules, just guiding principles the staff should take into consideration when it has to make a technical judgment," Sheron said. It was only after the rust hole was found in March that the NRC began to learn that FirstEnergy had not presented a complete and accurate picture of the lid's condition. "They cleaned their [lid] like my kid cleans his room," Sheron said. "If we knew they had 3 to 4 inches of [boric acid] caked on top of the head . . . we probably would have re-thought whether we could approve anything beyond Dec. 31." In a separate interview yesterday, NRC Chairman Richard Meserve said that he is "comfortable that in the aftermath of the Davis-Besse plant, there's been a very thorough examination of reactor vessel pressure heads. I am satisfied that the kind of corrosion that was found in there is not occurring anywhere else." To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 skoff@plaind.com, 216-999-4212 jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4282 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. Advertise With Us © 2002 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 N.C. approves Duke's $25 million settlement newsobserver.com : business Wednesday, October 30, 2002 12:00AM EST By DUDLEY PRICE, Staff Writer RALEIGH -- The N.C. Utilities Commission unanimously approved a $25 million settlement with Duke Power on Tuesday after an audit showed the company under-reported profits to keep from cutting rates. Commission members said Duke Power made serious mistakes when it changed accounting methods and understated profits, but rejected criticism that the settlement wasn't harsh enough. Errors by the company didn't warrant the wider inquiry that was sought by big electricity users, commission members said. "The regulatory compact between this commission and Duke has been damaged but certainly not broken," said Chairwoman Jo Anne Sanford. "I believe it is time to resolve this, and that time is today." Under the settlement, the average residential ratepayer will see monthly bills reduced by 36 cents for one year beginning next summer, for a total of about $4.30. Duke, which denies intentional wrongdoing but admits accounting errors, also has agreed to restore $50 million to its nuclear insurance reserve fund. Duke Power, based in Charlotte, has about 2.1 million customers in the Carolinas, including 166,000 in the Triangle, mostly in Orange, Durham and Granville counties. The settlement still isn't final because it must be approved by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. South Carolina regulators were supposed to discuss the matter Tuesday but decided to postpone the matter indefinitely because some members wanted more time to study it, director Gary Walsh said. The agreement is likely to be approved as early as next week, however, because three-quarters of Duke's customers are in North Carolina and staffs of both commissions have recommended it. The matter surfaced in 2001 when Duke accountant Barron Stone told South Carolina regulators the utility was under-reporting income to avoid a rate decrease. If a regulated company makes more than a target profit, the state commissions can lower its rates. Stone told commission members Monday that top Duke officials intentionally understated profits. An independent audit firm was hired and reported last week that Duke didn't report $124 million in profits between 1998 and 2000. The audit said Duke officials were concerned about a possible rate reduction in 1998 after PSCSC reduced rates for another utility. Duke said accounting errors totaled only $13 million, and those errors were found by company employees. The Carolina Utility Customers Association, which represents 55 large electricity users including GlaxoSmithKline, DuPont and Bayer, said the settlement was too low and plans to appeal it. James West, a lawyer representing the group, said Duke could have overcharged customers $1 billion between 1999 and 2001 if profits had been reported properly in 1998 and rates lowered. Staff writer Dudley Price can be reached at 829-4525 or dprice@newsobserver.com. © Copyright 2002, The News &Observer Publishing Company. All ***************************************************************** 24 *NRC Defends Davis-Besse Decision* OAK HARBOR -- A Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said there was no proof known to the commission last year of a serious technical problem with the reactor head at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant. Had proof been known, a shutdown might have been ordered sooner than actually happened, Brian Sheron, the agency's senior licensing and technical official, said Tuesday at the NRC's annual meeting in Washington on nuclear safety research. With knowledge that boric acid was causing corrosion on the reactor head ``we probably would have rethought whether we could approve anything beyond DEC. 31,'' Sheron said. Davis-Besse shut down for routine maintenance in February. But investigators in March found that leaking boric acid had nearly eaten through the 6-inch steel cap on the reactor vessel. The plant in this Lake Erie city, about 20 miles east of Toledo, has been closed since then as repairs are made. Sheron made a presentation in support of the NRC's use of a new analytical process that focuses attention on nuclear plant areas having the most risk while eliminating unnecessary regulation. Regarding a meeting last November on whether Davis-Besse should be allowed to operate beyond a planned DEC. 31 shutdown for maintenance, Sheron said there were no objections raised. The NRC believed then that letting the plant run six weeks longer did not significantly heighten the risk to the public. Also, the president of FirstEnergy Corp.'s nuclear division personally assured the agency that the reactor lid had been properly inspected, Sheron said. ``We may not be so lucky as we were this time at Davis-Besse if the NRC continues with its 'business-as-usual' swordsmanship,'' said Union of Concerned Scientists nuclear safety engineer David Lochbaum in prepared remarks for the meeting Wednesday. Lochbaum and other nuclear power industry critics maintain that the decision to extend violated most if not all of the NRC's own safety guidelines for making risk-based decisions. Posted 10/30/02 @ 7:15 a.m. by MDH All content © Copyright 2000 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 25 Russia to Create World's First Floating Nuclear Power Plant 16:15 2002-10-30 Will floating nuclear power plants become the targets of terrorists? The head of the Ministry for Nuclear Power, Alexander Rumyantsev, approved of the technical project of a vessel to be equipped with nuclear power generators for an electric power plant of low capacity. The world’s first floating nuclear power plant will be constructed in the city of Severodvinsk (the Arkhangelsk region). It will be finished by the 2008. Sevmash Enterprise, which specializes in the construction of military submarines, will build a special vessel for the floating nuclear power plant. The vessel will be equipped with a power-generating unit with a capacity of 70 Megawatts per hour. The Russian nuclear giant Rosenergoatom is going to build no less than two floating nuclear power plants for the Arkhangelsk region. Each will cost $100-120 million. The project has been approved of by the independent ecological expertise. About 150 Severodvinsk residents took part in its discussion: students of St. Petersburg Technical University, ecology specialists, ect. The project is allegedly ecologically safe. Ecologist V.I. Vashchenko commented on the issue: “We conducted a preliminary estimation of the documents about the floating nuclear power plant project. The project considers the influence of radioactive wastes both on the workers of the Sevmash Enterprise and on the rest of the city’s residents. The documented data allowed us to come to the conclusion that harm from the floating nuclear power plant will be minimum. I can verify this fact as an ecologist. Residents should know that the project of the nuclear station was totally approved of by ecological and other controlling units.” Russia's major sources of energy are basically heating and hydroelectric power stations. Nuclear plants generate about 15% of all energy produced. In America, the number is 39%. In France, it is manufactures about 70%. However, one should not discount alternative sources of energy such as wind power. The heating and electric station of Severodvinsk operates with the help of coal, which contains a large quantity of natural radionuclids, particularly, radium 226. When they burn, they become concentrated, harming the local population (those people are close to a source of ionizing radiation). The harm of a floating nuclear power plant will be a lot less than that of coal-powered plants. If the future nuclear power plant works at full capacity, then the entire dose of the radiation will be 15 times less in comparison with the same index of a heating and electric power plant. In other words, the nuclear power will 15 times safer. There is also another relevant issue: a large number of premature deaths. The use of nuclear power implies only one premature death during the entire operation of the station (40 years) vs. 280 incidents every year with the use of a coal-powered plant. About 17 thousand tons of soot “fall” down on the people of the Arkhangelsk region every year because of the use of coal. The station to be built by the Sevmash Enterprise is going to be the main one. The floating nuclear power plant in Severodvinsk will be accessible to the public. Any investor will be able to go there and see everything with his own eyes. The project stipulates fivefold radiation safety, whereas the norm requires double safety ( Chernobyl nuclear power plant). This level of security is meant to avoid any kind of breakdown both inside and outside the plant (earthquake, plane crash, and so on). It will be possible to store the spent fuel for 12 years. Nevertheless, not all ecologists rejoice in the nuclear future of the city. Many publications of the ecological site www.bellona.ru attempt to prove the harm that will be caused. It was particularly written that the floating nuclear power plants will bring much more harm to the nature than nuclear subs. The Russian ecological organization Green Cross and the Center of Ecological Politics of Russia wrote a detailed report pertaining to the floating nuclear power plants of Russia and threats that they pose to the ocean. The report was signed by respectable ecologists and nuclear scientists (both Russian and foreign). The scientists came to the conclusion that the floating nuclear power plants will be dangerous from an ecological point of view. It was also added that they will not be profitable from an economic point of view either. According to scientists’ opinion, the floating nuclear power plants will lead to the considerable expansion of opportunities to produce materials needed for the development of nuclear weapons. These plants could also become objects of international nuclear blackmail and terrorism. Vitaly Bratkov PRAVDA.Ru Translated by Dmitry Sudakov Related links: PRAVDA.Ru Underground nuclear power station to be built in Crimea PRAVDA.Ru Bashkiria Re-Starts Building Nuclear Power Station PRAVDA.Ru Closure of Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania to Cause Many Problems CBC : Examination of Koreas history with nuclear power Australia Watchdog Gives Nod to New Nuclear Reactor Blacks Hurt More by Power Plant Pollution -Study Christian Science Monitor : Leaks at Indias nuclear-power plants: cause for concern? Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/1/last_news_3.html [http://www.pravda.ru/1/last_news_3.html] Copyright ©1999 by "Pravda.RU [http://www.pravda.ru/] ". When reproducing ***************************************************************** 26 Regulators Approve Duke Settlement Las Vegas SUN: October 29, 2002 By GARY D. ROBERTSON ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH, N.C.- North Carolina's utility regulator Tuesday approved a $25 million settlement with Duke Power Co. after an audit determined it understated profits between 1998 and 2001. With no dissension, the state Utilities Commission agreed to the deal reached between its staff and Duke. A company accountant alerted regulators to a changed accounting method that lowered the reported profits. Commission members were disappointed with Duke Power but didn't believe its errors rose to the level of requiring further investigation beyond an outside audit. "The regulatory compact between (the commission) and Duke has been damaged but has not been broken," commission chairwoman Jo Anne Sanford said before the vote. "I believe it is time to resolve this, and I believe that time is today." Under the agreement, the settlement would be credited against future fuel costs, meaning that average residential consumers would see about 36 cents a month in reduced bills for a year. 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. The settlement's approval came the day after Duke's accountant told commissioners he believed the accounting differences were deliberate, not mistakes as the company contends. Barron Stone, who still works for Duke, 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. The company has denied intentional wrongdoing, saying that an accounting firm it hired disagreed with an independent auditor who determined that Duke's practices resulted in not reporting $124 million in profits between 1998 and 2001. The independent auditor was hired by regulators in North Carolina and South Carolina, where Duke Power provides electricity. Duke paid for the auditor at a cost of $800,000. Its 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. A company spokesman acknowledged there were mistakes and acknowledged Duke Power should have communicated better with state regulators. In addition to 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. Stone and a group representing about 50 business and industrial electricity customers asked for a full hearing and further investigation to determine more closely what occurred. The commission Tuesday rejected that request by the Carolina Utility Customers Association. James West, an attorney representing the association, told the commission Tuesday 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. The association plans to appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 27 NRC official defends decision that allowed Davis-Besse shutdown extension AP Wire | 10/30/2002 | [The Beacon Journal] CLEVELAND - A Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said there was no proof known to the commission last year of a serious technical problem with the reactor head at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant. Had proof been known, a shutdown might have been ordered sooner than actually happened, Brian Sheron, the agency's senior licensing and technical official, said Tuesday at the NRC's annual meeting in Washington on nuclear safety research. With knowledge that boric acid was causing corrosion on the reactor head "we probably would have rethought whether we could approve anything beyond Dec. 31," Sheron said. Davis-Besse shut down for routine maintenance in February. But investigators in March found that leaking boric acid had nearly eaten through the 6-inch steel cap on the reactor vessel. The plant in Oak Harbor, about 20 miles east of Toledo, has been closed since then as repairs are made. Sheron made a presentation in support of the NRC's use of a new analytical process that focuses attention on nuclear plant areas having the most risk while eliminating unnecessary regulation. Regarding a meeting last November on whether Davis-Besse should be allowed to operate beyond a planned Dec. 31 shutdown for maintenance, Sheron said there were no objections raised. The NRC believed then that letting the plant run six weeks longer did not significantly heighten the risk to the public. Also, the president of FirstEnergy Corp.'s nuclear division personally assured the agency that the reactor lid had been properly inspected, Sheron said. In a separate interview, NRC Chairman Richard Meserve told The Plain Dealer that he is "comfortable that in the aftermath of the Davis-Besse plant, there's been a very thorough examination of reactor vessel pressure heads. I am satisfied that the kind of corrosion that was found in there is not occurring anywhere else." "We may not be so lucky as we were this time at Davis-Besse if the NRC continues with its 'business-as-usual' swordsmanship," said Union of Concerned Scientists nuclear safety engineer David Lochbaum in prepared remarks for the meeting Wednesday. Lochbaum and other nuclear power industry critics maintain that the decision to extend violated most if not all of the NRC's own safety guidelines for making risk-based decisions. Information from: The Plain Dealer ***************************************************************** 28 Regulators OK FPL Group's nuclear plant buy - 2002-10-29 - South Florida Business Journal Juno Beach utility FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) said it received approval Monday from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its subsidiary, FPL Energy Seabrook, to become the operator of Seabrook Station, a nuclear power plant in New Hampshire. FPL Group said the approval to transfer of the license from North Atlantic Energy Service Corp. is the last regulatory approval required for FPL Group to complete its acquisition of 88.23 percent of the 1,161-megawatt plant. FPL Group said it expects to complete the transaction by Nov. 1. The company did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Owners selling their interests in Seabrook include North Atlantic Energy Corp., United Illuminating Co., Great Bay Power Corp., New England Power Co., Connecticut Light & Power Co., Canal Electric Co., Little Bay Power Corp., and New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. In May, North Atlantic Energy Service, the selling owners, and FPL Energy, a subsidiary of FPL Group, submitted an application to the NRC requesting approval for the license transfer. Before it granted the license transfer, NRC technical staff reviewed the adequacy of decommissioning funding, insurance and FPL Group's technical and financial qualifications. © 2002 American City Business Journals Inc. ***************************************************************** 29 The future in a ball (PBMR analysis) [http://www.rnw.nl] Wednesday, 30 October, 2002 by Franz Kruger, 26 October 2002 [pebbles180] The "pebbles" that fuel the PBMR With carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels a significant cause of global warming, and political tensions high in the oil-rich Middle East, the search for alternative energy sources seems more important than ever. While the recent world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg failed to set targets for renewable energy source use, solutions are being offered from an unlikely quarter; the nuclear energy industry. On David Nicholls' desk there's a tennis ball-sized object that he hopes will change the world. He displays a cross-section: "What you've got here are very small, half millimetre diameter uranium particles, which are then coated with a series of layers. That's actually the fuel, [like] little particles of salt and pepper inside the sphere." Radically different The dark-grey ball is at the heart of a technology Mr Nicholls believes can deliver all the advantages of nuclear energy, with none of the problems. He's the chief executive of PBMR, short for Pebble Bed Nuclear Reactor, and says the technology he's pushing is radically different from a conventional nuclear reactor. [chern100] Regrettable: The Chernobyl reactor The most important difference, according to Mr Nicholls, is the technology's inherent safety. Tough coatings around the uranium particles keep radiation inside, and the plant is designed in such a way that it cannot get hot enough to damage the coatings. Meltdown is impossible, says Mr Nicholls, and that saves money. "It came about because we realised that the cost of ensuring the safety of the public on a light water reactor was making the technology very difficult to market. It's a cost issue." Green claim There are other advantages, too. The pebble bed reactor will be built in smaller units and can therefore be used more flexibly. It's more efficient than a traditional reactor, and like a traditional reactor doesn't produce carbon dioxide. That makes it really green technology, says Mr Nicholls. But environmental groups are having none of it. Muna Lakhani of Earthlife Africa has just launched an anti-nuclear campaign: [http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/hotspots/sa021026.rm] [http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/hotspots/sa021026.rm] 3´28 "Radiation is dangerous, and it doesn't matter how you cut it, it will remain dangerous for thousands of years. To say that one kind of reactor creates less radiation than another would be a lie, and certainly to differentiate between types of radiation would be a foolish exercise. It is unsafe." Nevertheless, nuclear energy is being given new attention internationally. Professor Harold Annegarn, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's School for the Environment, says serious nuclear accidents – particularly the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 - destroyed the credibility of nuclear reactors. But since then, its been realised that the carbon dioxide produced when fossil fuels are burned contributes significantly to global warming, and is a major environmental problem. "We are caught in a growth curve on carbon dioxide emissions and anything we can do to reduce that carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is worthwhile. Hence despite its unpopularity over two decades, there is a serious re-examination of nuclear [energy]." "Relatively benign" Prof Annegarn calls the pebble bed a relatively benign technology. But although he says it's removed the danger of meltdown, the disposal of the used fuel remains a problem. The major issue is the thousands of years the radioactive waste has to be stored before it becomes harmless. [nuke100] Nuclear power plants produce no CO2 "It's this enormous question of how do we take responsibility for events hundreds or thousands of years beyond our own lifetime." David Nicholls and the team developing the pebble bed technology say they will be able to find suitable sites for the radioactive waste. In the short term, the company is working to get permission from the South African government to build a demonstration plant near Cape Town. And then their doors will be open for business, looking for orders from the US and other countries. Links + [http://www.earthlife.org.za/] + [http://www.pbmr.com/ ] Disclaimer: Radio Netherlands is not responsible for the content of external Web sites ***************************************************************** 30 Swedish peacekeepers not exposed to uranium in Kosovo ekathimerini.com | S/E Europe [http://www.iht.com] Balkan Briefs STOCKHOLM (AP) - A new study has confirmed that Swedish peacekeepers in Kosovo are not exposed to dangerous levels of uranium, a researcher said yesterday. The Swedish Defense Research study showed 21 Swedish soldiers leaving Kosovo with lower levels of uranium than when they arrived six months earlier. The results confirmed an earlier Swedish study that dispelled concerns about the use of the slightly radioactive metal in munitions. NATO’s use of ammunition containing armor-piercing depleted uranium sparked a scare across Europe that it may have caused serious illnesses in peacekeeping troops who served in the Balkans. Boka Star Croatia’s Interior Ministry said yesterday it was trying to identify the explosives found last week on a cargo ship allegedly bound for Iraq. The Interior Ministry said that multipurpose explosives were seized during the search of 240 tons of cargo on the Boka Star, held in the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka since last week after police acted on a tip by Western intelligence services. Further investigation should establish the exact nature of the explosives, as well as as their purpose and origin. (AFP) Delay European Union candidate Romania said yesterday it was worried that waning commitment among EU members to enlargement after a first round in 2004 may delay Romania’s and Bulgaria’s entry beyond 2007. “There is already nervousness among the 15 member states about wider enlargement. The accession of the first 10 countries will raise a lot of questions... and pressure within the EU may delay Bulgaria’s and Romania’s entry,” Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase told a news conference in Bulgaria. (Reuters) Hacker A 25-year-old Romanian man has been sentenced to three years in prison for hacking into a US company’s computers, stealing information about its customers and then trying to blackmail the firm, a court said yesterday. Nicolae Mircea Harapu was found guilty of blackmail and violating private correspondence by a court in Timisoara, west of Bucharest. He was arrested in 2000 after hacking into the computers of Zwirl.com of New York City and demanding $5,000 in exchange for keeping confidential private information, including credit card numbers. (AP) [editor@ekathimerini.com] ] [ [webmaster@kathimerini.gr] ] ***************************************************************** 31 Gulf War chaplain is forced to retire (Gulf War Syndrome) The site where Norfolk news really matters* * GEOFF PULHAM * October 29, 2002 10:45 A former Army chaplain last night said he refused to "crawl away and die like a poisoned rat" after being forced to retire as a Norfolk vicar with what he believes is Gulf War Syndrome. The Rev Dave Peachell, who left the Army in 1998 to become priest-in-charge of Hockering, Honingham and North and East Tuddenham, near Dereham, served as a padre with the 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers during the 1991 conflict, often on the front line. Two years ago, he organised a service at St Mary's Church, North Tuddenham, in memory of the 49 British Servicemen killed in the war and the 433 thought to have died since from illnesses blamed on a cocktail of factors including nerve-gas vaccinations and using depleted-uranium shells. The number of ex-Servicemen thought to have died from what is now referred to as Gulf War Illness has risen to 556. A further 5110 have been diagnosed as suffering from the disease. Now, Mr Peachell, 57, has become a casualty of war himself and will retire to Eaton near Norwich on Thursday after a mixture of chronic fatigue and an agonising illness affecting his immune system left him incapable of fulfilling his priestly duties. "It is using all the faith I can muster to accept the fact that I am a victim, whereas before I was a helper and supporter, and a lot of anger sometimes erupts," said Mr Peachell, who is married to Christine and has two children, Beth, 17, and Adam, 21. "It is an ongoing, debilitating pile of conditions, and staff at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge have told me it is incurable. My GP is convinced it is due to the Gulf War." He added: "To say it has traumatised me is an understatement. I can't walk around any more, and chronic fatigue doesn't begin to describe how I feel. I can't get comfortable in bed, I can't sit, stand or lie down. Normal life and activity is effectively over." Mr Peachell said: "There are dark days. When my wife goes out and I am alone I can get very angry. There is no particular target, but there is a great anger, like a volcano rising." He added: "I am not prepared to crawl away and die like a poisoned rat. "America has come clean about it and pensioned people and treated people. But here no politician or prime minister can hack it. They have not got the calibre." Mr Peachell initially suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder before succumbing to chronic fatigue and an inflamed prostate gland. He is now in the throes of an immune-system disease in which his antibodies attack the nuclei of his own cells, causing excruciating pain. As a result, he has been given a disability pension by the Church of England and his Army war pension is currently under review ? but the chance of compensation from the Ministry of Defence is a distant prospect. Shaun Rusling, chairman of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said: "The MoD's attitude has been one of dismissal and trying everything they possibly can to show they have no responsibility or accountability." In June, the Government said it was spending £7m on research and working with America to establish the "scientific truth". An MoD spokesman said: "We recognise that there are a number of illnesses that people developed after the Gulf War, but do not agree they were specifically related to conditions in that particular theatre." Copyright © 2002 Archant Regional. All rights ***************************************************************** 32 DOE Health risk firm marks 10 years The Oak Ridger Online -- Feature: Business -- Tuesday, October 29, 2002 SENES Oak Ridge Inc., Center for Risk Analysis, celebrated 10 years of successful business operation last month. Under the direction of president F. Owen Hoffman, Senes offers consulting services on human risk estimation, radiation epidemiology, exposure assessment and risk characterization with respect to the presence of radiation and chemicals in the environment, according to information provided in a news release. SENES is currently helping to update the National Institute of Health's 1985 Radioepidemiological Tables, the release says. The tables are used to calculate the probability that a case of cancer was caused by exposure to radiation. The tables are being replaced by a computer program created by SENES. The program is called tne Interactive Radio-Epidemiological Program (IREP). The user types in the personal information and details of exposure, and the code returns the calculated probability of causation, including the associated uncertainties, the release says. The program is designed for use over the Internet. Through its web page, SENES Oak Ridge Inc. has made available to the public a prototype of an interactive web-based computer code to calculate individual risk and dose (IRAD) that considers the effect of combined exposures to I-131 in weapons fallout and from releases from the 1944-1956 operation of radioactive lanthanum processing at Oak Ridge. For more information, email the company at senesor@senes.com [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 33 Office of Compensation Analysis and Support / NIOSH NIOSH Home [http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html] > Office of Compensation Analysis and Support The NIOSH Office of Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS) conducts activities to assist claimants and support the role of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (The Act). Our Web site changes frequently as we update and add new information. We encourage you to use the "refresh" or "reload" feature on your Web browser to ensure that you are viewing the current version of our Web site. [OCAS News Tab] [small bullet] Presentation on Dose Reconstruction Townhall Meeting in St. Charles, Missouri October 23, 2002 Dose Reconstruction for Cancer-Related Claims Under EEOICPA (PDF; 13 pp; 91 KB) [small bullet] Dose Reconstruction Contract Awarded On September 11, 2002, NIOSH awarded a five-year contract to Oak Ridge Associated Universities to support NIOSH’s responsibilities under EEOICPA. The contractor will work directly with OCAS to provide services in the following areas: (1) Database management; (2) Data collection related to claims and petitions; (3) Dose reconstruction research; (4) Claimant interviews; (5) Dose estimation and reporting; and (6) Technical and program management support. Copy of Contract 200-2002-00593 (PDF; 41 pp; 266 KB) Copy of the attachments to the contract: Attachment 1: Table 1--Examples of Information Potentially Useful for Dose Reconstruction (PDF; 3 pp; 173 KB) Attachment 2: Non-SEC Cancers Received by DOL as of November 6, 2001 Entire document (PDF; 4 pp; 2.3 MB) Pages 1-2 (PDF; 2 pp; 1.1 MB) Pages 3-4 (PDF; 2 pp; 1.1 MB) Attachment 3: Example Script for a Telephone Interview Entire document (PDF; 14 pp; 2.3 MB) Pages 1-5 (PDF; 5 pp; 868 KB) Pages 6-10 (PDF; 5 pp; 921 KB) Pages 11-14 (PDF; 4 pp; 1 KB) Attachment 4: Standard Form 294--Subcontracting Report for Individual Contracts (PDF; 1 pg; 526 KB) Attachment 5: Standard Form 295--Summary Subcontract Report (PDF; 1 pg; 695 KB) Attachment 6: CDC Staff Manual on Confidentiality Entire document (PDF; 25 pp; 12.8 MB) Pages 1-5 (PDF; 5 pp; 2.4 MB) Pages 6-10 (PDF; 5 pp; 3.3 MB) Pages 11-14 (PDF; 5 pp; 3.3 MB) Pages 15-20 (PDF; 5 pp; 1.6 MB) Pages 21-25 (PDF; 5 pp; 1.7 MB) Attachment 7: Privacy Act System Notice 09-20-0147 (PDF; 6 pp; 1.2 MB) Attachment 8: Cost Plus Award Fee Evaluation Plan (PDF; 7 pp; 832 KB) Copy of ORAU's Policy on the Confict of Interest for Dose Reconstruction Under EEOICPA (PDF; 6 pp; 81 KB) ORAU's Press Release (PDF; 2 pp; 86 KB) [small bullet] Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Procedures for Designating Classes of Employees as Members of the Special Exposure Cohort Under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 CFR 83) (PDF; 13 pp; 140 KB) The public comment period for this proposed rule closed on August 26, 2002 (list of public comments submitted). [small bullet] International Conference on Occupational Radiation Protection: Protecting Workers Against Exposure to Ionizing Radiation Geneva, Switzerland August 26-30, 2002 Below are the posters and corresponding papers presented at the conference by OCAS staff. + A Method for Determining Organ Dose from External Exposure Monitoring Data Poster (PDF; 1 pg; 330 KB) Paper (PDF; 5 pp; 1.1 MB) + Comparison of ICRP 30 Models to Newer Models Poster (PDF; 1 pg; 253 KB) Paper (PDF; 4 pp; 764 KB) + Guidelines for Determining the Probability of Causation Under the U.S. Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) of 2000 Poster (PDF; 1 pg; 262 KB) Paper (PDF; 4 pp; 784 KB) + United States Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program: Adjudication of Radiation-related Cancer Claims Utilizing Dose Reconstruction and Probability of Causation Procedures Poster (PDF; 1 pg; 190 KB) Paper (PDF; 4 pp; 791 KB) [small bullet] Guidelines for Physician Panel Determinations on Worker Requests for Assistance in Filing for State Workers' Compensation Benefits (10 CFR 852) (PDF; 17 pp; 107 KB) The Department of Energy's (DOE) final rule on the guidelines on how: (1) a qualified individual can submit an application for review and assistance (2) the Program Office determines whether to submit the application to the Physician Panel (3) the Physician Panel determines whether the illness or death of the qualified individual arose out of and in the course of employment and through exposure to a toxic substance at a DOE facility (4) the Program Office processes a determination by a Physcian Panel (5) appeals may be undertaken [small bullet] UPDATE: Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) Dosimetry Records Identified As part of ongoing efforts to identify and collect dosimetry information for workers at AWE facilities, NIOSH personnel electronically captured some exposure data for workers at multiple AWE facilities. These records were recovered from a storage vault at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. OCAS staff will begin reviewing the information in an attempt to identify records which may be useful for radiation dose reconstruction. List of facilities recovered. [small bullet] Final Rule: Methods for Radiation Dose Reconstruction (PDF; 23 pp; 130 KB) [small bullet] Final Rule: Guidelines for Determining the Probability of Causation (PDF; 20 pp; 184 KB) [About Our Web Site Tab] OCAS expects a wide variety of people to visit this Web site. Therefore, we have included as much information as possible on OCAS, our activities, and The Act. If you have any questions or problems finding the information you need, please contact us at 513-841-4498 (toll-free at 1-800-35-NIOSH) or by email at ocas@cdc.gov [ocas@cdc.gov] . Accessibility [http://www.hhs.gov/siteinfo/508web.html] | Privacy Policy Notice [http://www.cdc.gov/privacy.htm] Our Web site changes frequently as we update and add new information. We encourage you to use the "refresh" or "reload" feature on your Web browser to ensure that you are viewing the current version of our Web site. [Link to Help A-Z] [Link to About OCAS] [Link to The Act] [Link to Advisory Board] [Link to Claim Information] [Link to DOE Physician Panels] [Link to Dose Reconstruction] [Link to FAQs] [Link to Phone Interview Information] [Link to Probability of Causation--NIOSH-IREP] [Link to Public Meetings] [Link to Regulatory Records--The Public Docket] [Link to Related Links] [Link to Special Exposure Cohort] [Link to OCAS Main Page] This site was last updated on Friday, October 25, 2002. ***************************************************************** 34 UK: Truth on radiation sought [http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk] By David Tilley A great grandmother whose husband committed suicide 18 years after flying his RAF plane through a cloud of nuclear radiation is continuing her battle for justice for the survivors of nuclear testing. Eric Denson slit his wrists aged 44 in 1976. His widow Shirley said he was a changed man, becoming depressive and withdrawn, after the test which subjected him to the equivalent of 6,500 full body x-rays in a matter of seconds when he flew a Canberra bomber through a cloud over the Pacific in April 1958. Earlier this year the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court ruling on the Government's immunity under section 10 of the 1947 Crown Proceedings Act, depriving hundreds of ex-servicemen of the chance to claim compensation for injuries from the Ministry of Defence. The High Court had held the immunity was a breach of an individual right to a fair hearing provided for under the European Convention on Human Rights. Leave to appeal to the House of Lords has been granted and Mrs Denson, of Trenchard Court, Morden, is confident the case will be heard early in the New Year. "The one thing they've been totally frightened for is the children and the children's children. It's probably one of the reasons that successive governments have not had the courage to face up to their responsibility," she said. The Ministry of Defence has consistently denied any link between the tests and the fact the average life expectancy of a test survivor is 56. Independent scientific research has also concluded that incidents of leukaemia are much higher among survivors' children and grandchildren. "I fear for the health of my granddaughters," added Mrs Denson. New Zealand prime minister Helen Clarke is keen to meet Mrs Denson to discuss her campaign for justice for her husband and the 22,000 servicemen who attended the nuclear tests in the Pacific between 1952 and 1958. 12:05 Wednesday 30th October 2002 © Copyright 2002 Newsquest Media Group - A Gannett Company [http://www.newsquest.co.uk/] ***************************************************************** 35 Exhibit examines Hanford's waste tanks The Oregonian 10/30/02 ANDY DWORKIN Visitors to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry have the chance to stand where only unlucky earthworms have been: under a steel tank leaking radioactive waste from Hanford Nuclear Reservation. At 5 p.m. today, OMSI will unveil an exhibit about the highly polluted southeastern Washington site. The exhibit includes a model of huge steel tanks holding millions of gallons of radioactive waste, some of which has leaked and is flowing toward the Columbia River. The display, which will stand for at least five years, tells how Hanford's history of making plutonium for nuclear weapons produced one of the world's most polluted areas. The exhibit teaches about radiation and details the plan to treat the waste stored in underground tanks by melting it into glass logs, which will be buried in long-term nuclear waste storage. OMSI's display does not focus on simmering debates about how quickly to proceed with the cleanup or whether to use methods other than turning waste into glass, said Doug Riggs, a member of Hanford Information Network who proposed the exhibit. "The goal here is to give a basic understanding of the threat and what everybody agrees needs to be done." The exhibit evolved from presentations about Hanford that the advocacy group gives to high school classes. The exhibit is aimed at children of middle school age and older, said Karen Kane, an OMSI spokeswoman. OMSI tackled the topic because it's important to Northwest residents, she said. "It's such a big thing, and people don't quite understand what it is, except that there's garbage potentially entering the Columbia River." Riggs said the exhibit was financed by two companies that work at Hanford -- Bechtel and CH2M Hill -- and designed with comment from the U.S. Department of Energy and state environmental regulators. © 2002 OregonLive.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 36 Utah: Initiative 1 Fight Cost May Be a Record The Salt Lake Tribune -- Wednesday, October 30, 2002 BY JUDY FAHYS Envirocare of Utah has pumped nearly $2 million into its campaign to defeat Initiative 1 in the past six weeks, outspending supporters of the initiative more than 6 to 1 and keeping the proposed radioactive-waste law on track to be the most expensive ballot question in Utah's history. Financial disclosures filed Tuesday also show that Utahns Against Unfair Taxes, the Envirocare-funded political issues committee, continues to line up some of the biggest names in Utah behind its opposition campaign, including U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell. The latest report shows that Cassell was paid $12,830 by the anti-Initiative 1 committee Oct. 1. But both Cassell and the opposition campaign say that is a clerical error and that the federal judge advised opponents and was paid for his work months ago. "All of this took place before I was on the bench," said Cassell, who was a legal consultant for the opposition the month before the U.S. Senate confirmed him as a federal judge May 14. Proponents reported neither big names nor big bucks. Utahns for Radioactive Waste Control, the political issues committee behind Initiative 1, spent $286,744 on its efforts. The initiative, which will appear on Nov. 5 ballots as the Radioactive Waste Control Act, would ban higher levels of radioactive waste from coming to Utah, raise taxes on the waste already allowed and direct those tax revenues to schools and anti-poverty programs. Proponents told the state Elections Office they raised $254,297 in the past six weeks. The largest portion, $102,000, came from the Utah Education Association, the 18,000-member teachers union and another $100,000 came from the National Education Association. "We will not reach the $1 million mark," predicted Frank Pignanelli, a leader of the pro-Initiative 1 campaign. He noted that more than half of the $717,032 sum the campaign has spent this year went toward getting the initiative on the ballot. The campaign's balance in the last week before the election is just $1,139. Bankrolling the opposition is Envirocare, a company that operates a low-level radioactive waste landfill in Tooele County and boasts revenues of $120 million a year. It has spent a total of $3 million fighting Initiative 1. "It's $3 million we have to spend to avoid going out of business," said Hugh Matheson, leader of the opposition campaign. He chided proponents for not using the money they spent in support of the initiative on school textbooks or food and shelter for the homeless. Envirocare fought a radioactive waste tax that was imposed last year and that has generated $300,800 for the state in its first year. So far, in its campaign to defeat the initiative, the company has spent 10 times the amount it has paid in state radioactive waste tax. According to the financial disclosures filed Tuesday, the opposition campaign has enlisted the aid of a number of high-profile figures. One is veteran GOP political consultant Eddie Mahe, a campaign adviser to Gov. Mike Leavitt. Another is Jan Crispin-Little of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, who was paid $7,740 for a market study of the radioactive waste market. The report validated the view that hiking radioactive waste taxes would decrease the quantity of waste coming to Utah and cut into its existing tax base. The latest financial disclosure also noted a $20,800 contribution to the state Republican Party and $8,687 to Webb Consulting, a business operated by Deseret News columnist and former Leavitt adviser LaVarr Webb. Matheson confirmed that Cassell wrote a brief on the constitutionality of Initiative 1 before it landed on the ballot. The brief was later sent to the Utah Attorney General's Office and state Elections Office to make the case that the initiative should not be allowed to appear on the ballot. The Cassell payment landed on the latest spending report by mistake, Matheson said, after someone at Envirocare realized that the expense did not belong on the company's books and moved it to the Utahns Against Unfair Taxes financial disclosure. He said the reports would be amended to bring them into compliance with state law. The "total mess-up," as Matheson calls it, is embarrassing to the opposition campaign for two reasons. First, the campaign has repeatedly attacked Initiative 1 proponents over alleged financial reporting violations and has even petitioned the Utah Attorney General's Office to investigate those allegations. Secondly, the mistake was embarrassing because it would be improper for a federal judge to have private clients. According to the Code of Judicial Conduct: "A judge should not lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of others; nor convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge." Meanwhile, Cassell has already ruled on one Utah radioactive waste case. Last month he dismissed a lawsuit brought by Skull Valley Goshute tribal members over a high-level radioactive waste storage site proposed for their reservation. The proposal is unrelated to the initiative or to Envirocare. Pignanelli said proponents were uncomfortable that a nominee for the federal bench was working on the opposition campaign last spring. "That ought to be disconcerting to a lot of people," he said. "It goes to show the reach of Envirocare into this community." fahys@sltrib.com © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on Utah OnLine is ***************************************************************** 37 deseretnews.com Opinion Wednesday, October 30, 2002 E-mail story *Nature of waste distorted* The Deseret News editorial "The trouble with Initiative 1" (Saturday, Oct. 19) distorts the nature of radioactive waste. It states, "People who don't give much thought to the issue often confuse radioactive waste with nuclear waste." Apparently this confusing statement was meant to distinguish between radioactive waste that comes from nuclear reactors and that coming from other sources. Both, of course, are radioactive, but the author's intent was to suggest that Envirocare only dumps non-nuclear reactor radioactive waste, such as microwave oven parts. This is highly deceptive in two ways. First, it distorts what Envirocare is primarily dumping: out-of-state radioactively contaminated soil (Class A waste) and toxic chemicals, not Utah microwave parts. Second, it ignores what Envirocare is aggressively trying to get permission to dump: "Iow-level" Class B and C radioactive wastes, 90 percent of which, by Envirocare's admission at a debate at the Salt Lake Main Library, would come from nuclear reactors. *Alex Jack* Salt Lake City World & Nation + Utah + Sports + Business + Opinion + Front Page © 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 38 Energy Industry Consortium Plots Development of New Uranium Enrichment Plant in Tennessee *BACKGROUND* A consortium of energy companies called Louisiana Energy Services (LES) is seeking to develop a new uranium enrichment plant in the continental United States. The LES consortium was formed in the late 1980s (at which time the group was composed of a somewhat different collection of partners), and assumed the name "Louisiana Energy Services" because the group originally intended to locate its new uranium enrichment plant in a rural area near the small town of Homer, Louisiana, but was ultimately forced to abandon these plans after protest from local groups who claimed that LES was guilty of environmental racism for choosing a site populated by minorities. In fact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), rejected LES?s petition for a license (its first and only denial of such a license) on these grounds. More recently, LES backed out of another potential site that it had been scouting for the development of a uranium enrichment plant: Unicoi County, Tennessee. Here, the consortium was met with fierce opposition from local environmental groups. *CURRENT SITUATION* On September 9, 2002, representatives of LES?with the blessing Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist?announced the chosen site for their proposed uranium enrichment plant: Hartsville, in Trousdale County, Tennessee. This site was formerly owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)?a quasi-governmental public utility company?but has been released to local economic development authorities. The chairman of LES, Pat Upson, has said he hopes the facility will come on line by 2007. After being pushed out of two other areas by local residents fueled by indignation, LES is back at it, trying to push its hazardous plant on another unfortunate rural community. This country and these communities have no need for another polluting uranium enrichment plant. *WHO IS LES?* The LES consortium is led by Urenco?itself a consortium of British, Dutch, and German government and corporate entities?and also includes the construction firm Fluor-Daniel and the energy industry giants Exelon Corp., Entergy Corp., Duke Energy, Westinghouse Electric Co., and Cameco Corp. Exelon, Entergy, and Duke are public utilities that operate nuclear power reactors, and are in consultation with the NRC to develop new nuclear reactors. Ownership in a domestic uranium enrichment facility would significantly reduce fuel costs for their current and, potentially, future nuclear power stations. Exelon has the largest nuclear fleet in the nation, operating ten nuclear power stations with a total of seventeen reactors. Entergy operates eight stations with a total of ten reactors, and Duke owns three stations with a total of seven reactors. Westinghouse is owned by British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd. (BNFL), and is the world?s largest manufacturer of nuclear reactors. Cameco, a Canadian corporation, is the world?s largest uranium provider, operating a host of mines and mills in the province of Saskatchewan. Each of these companies has an interest in greater ownership of nuclear fuel chain, and this is why they have collectively formed LES, which exists solely for the purpose of developing a new domestic uranium enrichment facility. Increasing the capacity of domestic enriched uranium production merely serves the profit interests of these corporations. *A NEW URANIUM ENRICHMENT PLANT IS NOT NEEDED* The nuclear power industry is dependent upon "enriched" uranium as fuel for its nuclear reactors, which require fuel with a higher proportion of the isotope uranium-235, relative to uranium-238, than that which is found in natural sources. The enrichment process increases the proportion of uranium-235, making the substance usable as fuel in nuclear reactors. The LES consortium is competing with USEC?the only domestic producer of enriched uranium as fuel for nuclear power reactors?to build another uranium enrichment facility in the States. USEC, a former government-owned company known as U.S. Enrichment Corporation, was privatized in 1998, and has since suffered from serious financial woes. Against the wishes of the U.S. Government, USEC was forced to close its Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (which had been operating at one-quarter capacity) in Ohio, in June of 2000, leaving its Paducah, Kentucky plant (which is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] and leased by USEC) as the only uranium enrichment facility in the country, which runs at about fifty-percent capacity. But now, USEC, in partnership with the DOE, is seeking to develop a new uranium enrichment plant to replace its aging Paducah plant. USEC, now a private corporation, provides the lion?s share (about 68 percent in 2001) of enriched uranium to domestic nuclear power reactors. The remainder of enriched uranium is imported, and is subject to tariffs. But the large nuclear power utilities?including Exelon, Entergy, and Duke, which are part of the LES consortium?want to secure ownership of a cheap, domestic source of enriched nuclear fuel so that they may further monopolize all stages of the nuclear fuel chain. The foreign partners in the consortium also have an interest in sharing ownership in a plant in the U.S. Urenco, for example, must now pay an extra 3.7 percent duty on its exports to the U.S., as ordered in early 2002 by the Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission, which found that Urenco and other foreign nuclear fuels providers had been dumping their products into the U.S. market at unfairly cheap prices. The development of a new uranium enrichment facility would only serve to pad the profits of nuclear power utilities and nuclear fuels and services providers. The industry, no doubt, hopes that a new, vertically-integrated uranium enrichment operation would propel the development of new nuclear power plants by reducing the cost of fuel and making new nuclear plants more economically feasible. *THE HAZARDS OF URANIUM ENRICHMENT PLANTS* The nuclear power industry has engaged in a campaign to portray itself as a "green" source of power, claiming that its plants have only negligible emissions relative to the fossil fuel-burning energy plants. But the old saying holds true: "There is no such thing as a free lunch." In addition to the toxic and radioactive waste that nuclear reactors produce?which is, of course, a very serious problem in its own right?the production of fuel for nuclear power plants is, in fact, an extremely energy-intensive process that is wrought with dangerous effluent pollutants at every step of the way. From mining to milling to conversion to enrichment, the nuclear fuel chain is dirty, dangerous, and potentially deadly. Enrichment is the final step in the refinement process, required to convert uranium into fuel usable in commercial nuclear reactors. Prior to enrichment, uranium must be converted to a chemical form, uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which is both chemically toxic and radioactive. Moreover, UF6 can release a highly toxic hydrofluoric acid if it comes into contact with moisture. Enrichment facilities have had several serious accidents involving uranium hexafluoride. One such accident at the old Sequoyah Fuels conversion plant (which was in operation until 1993) in Gore, Oklahoma killed one worker and hospitalized 42 other workers and 100 nearby residents. Transportation of UF6 to and from the plant creates an additional hazard, which is compounded by the fact that the chosen site is accessible only by way of secondary, two-lane highways, which are not suitable for heavy truck traffic, and increase the likelihood of an accident, which could result in a serious and immediate health hazard to area residents. Uranium enrichment facilities have a tarnished history of worker exploitation and extreme environmental irresponsibility. Lockheed Martin and Martin Marietta, operators of the Paducah plant in the 1980s and 1990s, are currently subject to a massive class-action lawsuit filed by former employees at the plant, who claim that they are suffering from illnesses and diseases caused by their exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation on the job. The plaintiffs claim that they were not made aware of the degree of danger involved in their occupations. On October 30, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed the "Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act," which provides compensation to former DOE nuclear-complex workers and their families for medical expenses and suffering due to illness caused by the hazards to which they were unknowingly exposed in their occupations. In addition to the hazards to which workers at Paducah were unknowingly exposed, the plant?s pollutants have also put the general public in harm?s way and defiled the local environment. According to a report in the Washington Post, the Paducah plant is responsible for the following abuses and acts of negligence: * Radioactive contaminants from the plant routinely spilled into ditches and eventually seeped into creeks, a state-owned wildlife area, and private wells. * Former workers at the Paducah plant claim that waste from the facility was deliberately dumped into nearby fields, abandoned buildings, and a landfill not licensed for hazardous waste. * Between 1952 and 1987, 61,000 pounds of radioactive uranium flowed out of the plant with wastewater and into the Ohio River. * In 1988, wells near the Paducah plant were discovered to be contaminated with technetium and chemical carcinogens, which prompted a multimillion-dollar groundwater cleanup under the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency. (Eventual cleanup of the Paducah complex is expected to cost $240 billion and take at least 75 years.) Compounding these flagrant acts of environmental irresponsibility is the massive amount of toxic and radioactive waste that such facilities produce on a day-to-day basis. The uranium enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; and Portsmouth, Ohio have produced a total of 700,000 metric tons of depleted uranium?a radioactive and toxic byproduct of nuclear fuel production?over the past half-century. This waste now sits in some 50,000 steel cylinders, each weighing about thirteen tons, stacked in huge piles outside the enrichment plants, where it has the potential to enter into the environment through leaks in the cylinders. *CONCLUSION* While the nuclear power industry has been in steep decline since the 1980s, the industry and its allies in the federal government?now buoyed by the pro-nuclear Bush Administration?are hoping to promote a "nuclear renaissance." For this reason, giants among the nuclear power utilities?such as Exelon, Entergy, and Duke?are investing in their own uranium enrichment facility through the LES consortium as a way to ensure a cheap source of fuel for their reactors. The nuclear power utilities? speculation into the uranium enrichment business is based on the assumption that new nuclear power plants (which will, of course, require great amounts of enriched uranium as fuel) will come on line in the near future. A new uranium enrichment plant would not only have disastrous environmental consequences in its immediate location, but it would, in fact, feed the nuclear power industry, which produces the most hazardous waste known to humankind. We do not need to create a nuclear fuel facility to add to the mess created by the nuclear power industry. There is no reason to capitulate to this dying industry, desperately grasping at any opportunity to sustain itself with no regard for the extreme hazards it creates. We should invest in clean, safe, and renewable energy sources?such as wind and solar?in addition to increasing energy efficiency and practicing conservation. This is the path toward a sustainable energy source that will provide for generations to come as it provides for us. *RESOURCES* /*Public Interest Organizations*/ * Citizens for the Preservation of the Valley Beautiful. Conservation organization in Unicoi County, Tennessee, where LES backed out of its plans to construct a uranium enrichment facility because of opposition from this group and others. * Citizens for Smart Chocies . Local group in Hartsville, Tennessee, organized in opposition to the proposed LES uranium enrichment plant. * Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). National organization that assists local communities in their efforts to oppose the dangerous projects of the nuclear industry. * Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). Information and scientific research on the energy production and its environmental consequences. * WISE (World Information Service on Energy), Uranium Project. Provides comprehensive information on the uranium enrichment process and its hazards. */Industry/* * Urenco. Leader of the LES consortium and owner of three uranium enrichment facilities in Europe. * USEC . Only domestic operator of a uranium enrichment facility. * Exelon. Public utility and partner in the LES consortium. * Entergy. Public utility and partner in the LES consortium. * Duke Energy . Public utility and partner in the LES consortium. /*Government*/ * Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). U.S. government agency responsible for the regulation of the nuclear industry. * Department of Energy (DOE). U.S. government agency responsible for the regulation of the energy industry. * Energy Information Administration. The DOE?s comprehensive resource site for energy information. A listing of the nuclear power station holdings of particular public utilities?such as Exelon, Entergy, and Duke?can be found here (as well as on the NRC website). 1. For more information on the process of uranium enrichment, see "Uranium: Its Uses and Hazards." Fact Sheet, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. http://www.ieer.org/fctsheet/uranium.html. 24 August 2000. 2. This figure includes the highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the former Soviet nuclear weapons stockpile that was "downblended" (meaning that it was reprocessed so that it is suitable for use in commercial nuclear reactors) by USEC under the U.S.-Russia "Megatons to Megawatts" nonproliferation agreement. Taken from "Owners and Operators of U.S. Civilian Nuclear Power Reactors Purchases of Enrichment Services by Origin and Delivery Year, 1997-2001." Uranium Industry Annual 2001: Table 25. Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy. May 2002. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/uia/table25.html. 3. Bredmeier, Kenneth. "A Nuclear Power Fissure; USEC?s Plans for Advanced Plant, Pacts with Russia Cause a Split in Energy Industry." Washington Post. Financial Section. 19 August 2002. 4. Warrick, Joby. "In Harm?s Way, And in the Dark; Workers Exposed to Plutonium at U.S. Plant." The Washington Post. A Section. 8 August 1999. Public Citizen ***************************************************************** 39 Commissioner Busquin welcomes coordinated research on radioactive waste management ***************************************************************** 40 LETTERS: We can't afford to lose Yucca fight Las Vegas Business Press To criticize Gov. Kenny Guinn for supporting the use of tax money to fight the Yucca Mountain program at a time when the state is facing budget shortages, as Kevin Rademacher did ("Money well spent," Oct. 21) may make for good rhetoric, but it sadly misrepresents the real issues Nevada is facing. There are always competing priorities for the limited resources of state and local governments. That's true in good times as well as bad. The issue isn't whether to spend money on schools or highways; on police and fire services or parks and recreation; on fighting Yucca Mountain or providing health services. All of these things are important in their own right. The issue is how make the best use of available resources to ensure that all of these essential governmental functions are supported. With respect to the money being spent to carry out Nevada's legal challenges to the Yucca Mountain project, this expenditure can and should be seen as a necessary investment to protect our state against future losses that could be devastating if the nuclear waste dump in southern Nevada be built. State researchers have convincingly documented potential losses to state revenues in the billions of dollars in the event of an accident involving radiological contamination in or near Las Vegas. Such an event would have consequences that would be felt for years, if not decades, and would dwarf the small amount of money that is currently earmarked for Nevada's legal fight to stop the project. It should also be recognized that government funds allocated to the Yucca Mountain fight are just a part of the mix in the Yucca Mountain fight. Individuals, corporations, and even local governments contributed over $3 million to the cause, doubling the buying power of the state monies and assuring that the burden is not borne by state government alone. What is sorely needed in Nevada is not more hand-wringing about how one priority or essential service is receiving more money than some other service or need, but rather a focused and reality-based examination and revamping of Nevada's revenue system so as to ensure that all essential state functions are adequately funded. That is precisely what Gov. Guinn has set out to do with his state revenue task force. Nevada cannot afford not to do all it can to stop Yucca Mountain. The economic downside to this project is simply too potentially devastating for us to do otherwise. The issue isn't whether fighting Yucca Mountain means less money for schools (or other things), which it doesn't, but how to do the creative and necessary things on the revenue front to make sure our state has the resources it needs to do all of the essential things that need doing. Bob Loux Executive director Agency for Nuclear Projects Copyright 2002 Las Vegas Business Press ***************************************************************** 41 USEC to begin reviewing Kentucky, Ohio proposals - The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, October 30, 2002 By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 USEC Inc. said Tuesday that it had received final incentive proposals from Kentucky and Ohio for a 50-job plant to test enriching uranium by gas centrifuge starting in 2005. Gov. Paul Patton presented Kentucky's multimillion-dollar package to USEC Chief Executive Officer William "Nick" Timbers on Thursday in Paducah at a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The packages remain confidential pending USEC review. "We appreciate the thoughtful proposals put together by the states of Kentucky and Ohio, and we will continue to work with both states to ensure that we make the most economical and appropriate decision," said Dennis Spurgeon, USEC executive vice president and chief operating officer. USEC will decide in about a month where to build the plant, which will provide updated cost, schedule and performance data for a commercial plant costing roughly $1.5 billion by the end of the decade. The firm has said the winner of the test plant will have an advantage in getting the 500-job commercial plant, which will eventually replace the outdated Paducah factory. Also Tuesday, USEC reported quarterly earnings of $1.2 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $4.7 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. USEC, based in Bethesda, Md., repeated that it expects to earn $9 million to $12 million for the fiscal year ending June 30 — down from $78.4 million in fiscal 2001 and $16.2 million last fiscal year. The projections reflect spending about $150 million during the next few years toward the test plant. During the last quarter, ending Sept. 30, USEC spent $6 million on centrifuge development. Because of the significant decline in earnings, questions remain about USEC's ability to fund the commercial plant. "We are confident that successful demonstration of the (test plant) will attract partners and/or investors for the construction of the commercial enrichment plant," Spurgeon said. ***************************************************************** 42 Editorial: Win-win policy /30 October 2002/ As one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, France’s insistence upon the authority, effectiveness and legitimacy of international action against Iraq is driving the Bush White House to distraction. Indeed, the French stand has been welcomed by everyone except Washington. It seems even the British have been grateful that the French have been saying publicly what the Blair government was only prepared to whisper in private to George W. Bush and his hawkish administration. With its stand, President Jacques Chirac’s government has won support throughout both the Arab and wider world. However, since altruism is rarely the basis on which nations formulate their foreign policy, analysts have been speculating why Paris is taking such an uncompromising line on Iraq. The easy explanation is that the French have long made a fine art of being splendidly contrary in their international politics. In the 1960s they pursued their own independent nuclear deterrent and as a result, refused to come under the NATO command umbrella. At the height of the Cold War, when Washington was trying to lead a united front against the Soviet Union, the French opened their own bilateral relations with Moscow. Though their traditional rivals, the British, would like to characterize French behavior as willful, the French have the political savvy to play a long and farsighted game. Before Saddam invaded Kuwait, French commercial involvement with Iraq was extensive and profitable. This was widely assumed to be the motive behind the Chirac government’s prominence in calling for an easing of sanctions against Iraq. France wanted to be well placed to pick up contracts when a grateful Saddam regime returned to the international fold. It is likely that Chirac is thinking several moves ahead, to the point where the Bush regime has flown in the face of all friendly advice and launched its military into Iraq. Give or take the odd chemical counterattack or heroic last-ditch stand by the Republican Guard, Saddam’s defeat will probably be a walkover. It is the post-invasion period that Paris may be thinking about. Americans are psychologically ill-equipped to be an army of occupation in an Arab world for which they have demonstrated a complete lack of understanding. Whatever good will they will bring to their attempts to organize a successor regime to Saddam will be destroyed immediately by their continued slavish support for Israel. Any US-installed government will be doomed by that association. By extension, British influence too will have been damaged by Washington’s failure. Then step forward the French government, at the head of European Union mediators, with the probable backing of Russia and perhaps China, to sort out the mess created by Washington and London and thus earn extensive regional gratitude and standing. Indeed, French diplomacy at the moment approaches the immaculate. If Washington is dissuaded from its dangerous unilateral aggression against Iraq, it will be the French who will be seen to have successfully championed common sense and the legitimacy of the UN. Truly a win-win game for Chirac. ***************************************************************** 43 Hotel Has Secret History CBS News | Hotel Has Secret History | October 30, 2002 12:02:39 NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2002 (CBS) The Early Show’s "On the Go" series visits a four star hotel with a big secret. The Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. is one of the nation’s great resorts. Its history goes back to the Civil War. "The Greenbrier was used by the North and South, of course at different times during the Civil War," says Bo Dahmer, an employee at the Greenbrier. "They didn't burn it because they thought they might want to come back to it so it was saved. It's very historic." However, it holds a story that was hidden for decades. Early Show Contributor Debbye Turner explains that most visitors go to the Greenbrier to play a round of golf . But, the upscale resort hotel was once the site of a highly-classified government operation that was a secret for more than 30 years. Dahmer has worked for the Greenbrier for 53 years. He says that starting in the early 1960s, there were rumors among the staff that a top secret government bunker had been built underneath the hotel. "There were a lot of rumors, some knew about it, I did," says Dahmer. "It was just a whispered thing. In those days there was a lot of loyalty to the Greenbrier and a lot of patriotism to America so it just wasn't talked about." In 1959, ground had been broken on a new wing to the hotel. But the building of the West Virginia wing was in fact a cover, used to conceal the construction of a massive government fallout shelter code-named "Project Greek Island." The shelter was being simultaneously being built beneath the new wing. Once built, the existence of the shelter was a national secret, and those who maintained it worked undercover. "These government employees' cover were TV repairmen, and they did have a TV repair room, and a small portion of the time they worked on TVs, so it worked real good and that was their cover," says Dahmer. An article in the Washington Post published in 1992 finally exposed the Greenbrier Congressional bunker. Within three years, the government decided that Project Greek Island was no longer viable and in 1995 the 25-ton door to the bunker was opened to the public for the very first time. The secret, which had been kept for more than 30 years, was that the massive bunker was built to house the entire U.S. Congress and their staff in the event of a nuclear war. Working undercover, Fritz Bugas was the on-site director of the bunker for more than two decades. "The facility is equivalent to two football fields, one on top of the other about 115,000 square feet of space," says Bugas. "In the facility, you have 18 dormitory. Each dormitory would sleep 60 individuals. You have a bunker cafeteria that will feed 400 at a seating. You have a power plant that in effect provides purified air and power to the occupants." During the 90-minute tour of the facility, visitors glimpse a bit of Cold War history — from the decontamination showers to a subterranean hospital ward. "The bunker is self-sustaining," says Bugas." "You have enough food and fuel to, in effect, operate the bunker for a 50 to 60 day period of time assuming that you have 1,000 people occupying the bunker." There are also two assembly halls — one for the House and the other for the Senate — and a communications room that was once equipped with a television studio. Though it was never used, the $12 million facility was in place and functional during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It remained an integral part of the nation’s contingency plan until the 1990s. Bogas says tourist are intrigued by the fact that the bunker was kept a secret for as long as it was. He says they are also intrigued by the size of the facility and how it is arranged. For 30,000 tourists who visit each year, the Greenbrier bunker is a reminder of how seriously the U.S. took the threat of nuclear war and how one hotel was able to keep a very big secret. The Greenbrier Hotel now owns the congressional bunker; they charge $25 to take the tour. For more information: The Greenbrier 300 West Main Street White Sulphur Springs West Virginia, 24986 Tel: 1-800-453-4858 Fax:1-304-536-7854 Web site: www.greenbrier.com [http://www.greenbrier.com] Getting there: The Greenbrier is located a few minutes from I-64 in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. The resort is approximately a four-hour drive from Washington, D.C. Amtrak service from New York and Chicago, with intermediate stops, brings guests to the White Sulphur Springs station, directly across from The Greenbrier's Main Entrance. Contact The Greenbrier Travel Service at 304-536-1110 Ext. 7512 for specific flight information. Ground transportation directly to The Greenbrier from Lewisburg (approximately 15 minutes away) is available. Call The Greenbrier Transportation Service at 304.536.1110, ext. 7459 for information and reservations. You may also contact The Greenbrier Travel Service at 304-536-1110 Ext. 7512 for information about air service to The Greenbrier via Beckley, W.V. or Roanoke, V.A.. Beckley is approximately 45 minutes away, and Roanoke is less than 90 minutes away from The Greenbrier. Limousine and other ground transportation is available from Beckley and Roanoke, as well as Lewisburg. © MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All ***************************************************************** 44 Rocketdyne: Ranch EIR shows toxin L.A. Daily News Article Last Updated: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - 11:40:29 PM MST By Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer The contaminant perchlorate has been found in a well that Ahmanson Ranch plans to use for irrigation, and activists Tuesday said they are concerned that chemicals from a nearby Boeing laboratory could have migrated to the site of the proposed 3,050-home development. The finding of perchlorate was included in the revised supplemental environmental impact report released in September, but only recently came to light because of technical glitches in releasing a compact disc containing the study. While Ahmanson Ranch opponents said the finding should result in further study, spokesmen for Boeing and the developer said there is no proof the Santa Susana Field Laboratory is the source of the perchlorate. Officials in Ventura County, where the 2,800-acre project is proposed, also said there is no link between the perchlorate and the lab. But because officials also cannot rule out the lab as a possible source, officials likely will recommend during a hearing today that additional monitoring be done for other contaminants. The developer, Washington Mutual, said it can clean the water to drinking standards -- another likely condition the county will recommend -- but activists said more information is needed. "It is significant new information. Responsible public policy would suggest that they send this back to figure out where it came from and why it's there," said Tsilah Burman, executive director of Rally to Save Ahmanson Ranch, which has been fighting the project with support from actors Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner and Larry Hagman. Burman said the proposal to decontaminate the water and conduct further tests "doesn't really answer the question: If it's there, is it anywhere else on the property? "It really doesn't address the public health and safety issue. If they haven't found out where it's coming from, what (does) it mean to all those people -- if they are going to build these homes -- who'll live there?" The Boeing spokesman said the company is tired of being a target for Ahmanson opponents. "We are used to being the bogeyman in the Ahmanson Ranch thing," Dan Beck said. "There just is not the scientific evidence that any contamination from Rocketdyne could have contaminated this site." Perchlorate -- generally a component of rocket fuel manufacture and disposal, and also found in fireworks and missiles -- can interfere with thyroid function in humans. Perchlorate was in one of four measurements taken at a well drilled west of Las Virgenes Creek on land that Ahmanson donated for open space as part of the conditions for development. The land is now owned by a public agency and will eventually be turned over to the National Park Service. Washington Mutual retained rights to the water well on the site, officials said. The land abuts Rocketdyne, and sits on the northwest side of the planned community that is slated to bring homes, shops, offices, schools and golf courses in the southeast corner of Ventura County. Ventura County supervisors approved the development a decade ago, but have since called for supplemental reviews to deal with the discovery of a sensitive flower and an endangered frog species on the site. The supervisors are slated in December to review the final reports that are being considered today by a county environmental committee. Washington Mutual hopes to break ground on the $2 billion project next year. The perchlorate contamination measured 28 parts per billion -- seven times higher than the federally recommended level that would mandate notices if it were used for drinking, but below the 40 ppb that would be required to shut the well down, the county said. Senior planner Dennis Hawkins said the county was working Tuesday to come up with a mitigation strategy by today's meeting of the Environmental Report Review Committee. He said the finding of perchlorate in the well did not initially raise officials' concerns because the water was to be used for irrigation, not drinking. He said it's the only such well the developer plans to use on the site, and other wells would probably be shut down as part of construction. But Hawkins said because the water would be used to irrigate the golf courses, it could eventually migrate into the habitat for the endangered red-legged frog. Therefore, the county is considering recommending that the developer clean it to drinking standards. Because the origin of the perchlorate is unknown -- Hawkins said it could have been from explosives used to excavate the well or it could have been simply dumped there -- the county is likely to require the developer to continue monitoring the site for other contaminants. "It created kind of an unknown circumstance, where we can't really say whether it's Rocketdyne or not," Hawkins said. "Until we can prove it's not Rocketdyne in origin, we have to assume that's at least a possibility. We have to be on alert for other contaminants," Hawkins said. "People are concerned perchlorate is just the tip of the iceberg." Washington Mutual spokesman Tim McGarry said the company plans to clean the water to drinking standards, but added there's no indication of further contamination on the site. And after two years of supplemental review, and six hearings this year on the latest document, McGarry said, it's time for Ventura County to move forward. "Now is the time to bring things to a close and make some decisions," he said. He pointed to a previous study the developer conducted that addressed the issue of contamination from the Rocketdyne lab. "Our scientists tell us it is unlikely Rocketdyne is the source because there's no known geological connection for groundwater to travel from the Rocketdyne site to the (Ahmanson) site," he said. "There's been substantial review. There's no basis to claim any Rocketdyne contamination." Boeing officials, who said the company has taken no position on the controversial development, said they are tired of having opponents pull them into the debate. They also said the Boeing property is at least three miles from Ahmanson, and that its perchlorate is not what's in the well. They pointed to perchlorate discovered a few years ago in Simi Valley that was not linked to their site -- noting that the contaminant is found in various operations, from fireworks to fertilizer. "Nothing from our operations has ever been shown to be down there," said Steve Lafflam, an environmental-affairs official for Boeing. The Rocketdyne site, in the hills north of the Ahmanson Ranch and west of Chatsworth, is in the midst of a federally funded, multimillion-dollar cleanup after chemical and nuclear contamination were found on the site more than a decade ago. The site had conducted nuclear research for decades, as well as rocket testing. Anti-nuclear activist Dan Hirsch, who is part of a group that has long monitored contamination and cleanup of the Rocketdyne site, said the perchlorate issue needs to be fully addressed before the Ahmanson project moves forward. "The county should defer finalizing the project until the significance of this critical finding has been thoroughly investigated," Hirsch said. Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News ***************************************************************** 45 DOE Funds Environmental Cleanup Research AmeriScan: October 29, 2002 WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2002 (ENS) - The Department of Energy (DOE) has granted $33 million for 38 research projects to help solve environmental cleanup challenges. Researchers at 30 universities, nine Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories, one other government and two private institutions will conduct scientific studies focusing on environmental problems at DOE facilities that were once part of the nation's nuclear weapons production complex. Funding for the projects will come out of the DOE's fiscal year 2002 environmental management budget. "These projects are designed to apply advanced scientific research and initiatives to make significant strides in nuclear waste cleanup efforts at DOE sites across the country," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "The success of these programs and the success of the department's Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) will be measured in actual cleanup results, and we expect these programs to deliver." The 38 science awards focus on: location and characterization of subsurface contaminants and characterization of the subsurface; conceptual modeling; containment and stabilization; and monitoring and validation. The funded projects were selected after evaluations by external peer reviewers and DOE technical managers familiar with the DOE's cleanup needs. Members of the research teams will attend periodic meetings with federal staff to review the status of the projects, and each project team is required to provide a written progress report on an annual basis. This is the seventh year of grants and other awards made under the agency's Environmental Management Science Program, established by Congress in fiscal year 1996. The science program is overseen by the DOE's Office of Environmental Management, which is responsible for the environmental cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons complex, and by the Office of Science, which manages the department's basic research programs. A complete list of the projects, including funding and research summaries, is available at: http://emsp.em.doe.gov [http://emsp.em.doe.gov] Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights ***************************************************************** 46 Nuclear insecurity in S. Carolina GreenvilleOnline.com - News Posted Monday, October 28, 2002 - 6:54 pm e-mail 3rd District candidates weigh in on national security issues By Anna Simon CLEMSON BUREAU asimon@greenvillenews.com [ asimon@greenvillenews.com] With Oconee Nuclear Station at one end of the Third Congressional District and Savannah River Site at the other, national security has emerged as a key issue for all three candidates for Congress in their final week of their race. All three candidates in the 10-county U.S. House district live and work near nuclear facilities. State Rep. Gresham Barrett, the Republican nominee, a Westminster furniture storeowner, lives near Oconee Nuclear Station and many of his constituents work there. The Rev. George L. Brightharp, the Democratic nominee, is an educator, Baptist minister and funeral home owner in Trenton, near the Savannah River Site, and many members of his congregation work there. Libertarian Michael Boerste, a chemist and environmental engineer living in near North Augusta, works at the Savannah River Site. The three are vying for the position now held by U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, a Seneca Republican who is running against Democrat Alex Sanders of Charleston for the U.S. Senate. Despite philosophical differences, all three support conversion of plutonium to MOX fuel at Savannah River Site and the future of nuclear energy. "We're going to have to bite the bullet and deal with nuclear waste," said Brightharp, 57, who calls for federal travel and disposal standards and continued safety monitoring by watchdog groups. Conversion of plutonium creates jobs in the district, helps meet national energy needs and provides an alternative to non-renewable fossil fuels and dependence on Middle Eastern oil, said Brightharp, who met with Democrats in Aiken on Monday. South Carolina could become a focal point for nuclear medicine research to help patients with cancer, sickle cell anemia and AIDS. Barrett, 41, who was meeting people at fundraisers in Saluda and Greenwood on Monday, said he is "100 percent in support of " the Savannah River Site's mission in processing plutonium and keeping it out of enemy hands, but permanent disposal should be at Yucca Mountain. Barrett is against federalizing security at nuclear facilities and said Oconee Nuclear and the Savannah River Site are among the best run nuclear facilities in the nation and are extremely safe and secure. He said the nuclear industry is critical in supplying the nation's energy needs. Boerste, 39, said consolidation and conversion of plutonium at the Savannah River Site is critical to national short-term security and keeps it out of terrorists' hands. Conversion to MOX fuel is a long-term solution that also creates local jobs. "Putting this usable fuel to work is also important to our national economy in these days of foreign oil reliance and Western brownouts, and recycling instead of trashing plutonium is important to our environment – despite our current governor's pleas for deliberate wasting," Boerste said. But he worries that "schedule fines" proposed by Graham could dangerously hasten preparation and prefers internal budget transfers from non-clean-up federal Department of Energy programs. On national security, Brightharp said he would build on the CIA, FBI and Secret Service and work to adequately fund these agencies to do their jobs in terms of homeland security and covert activities to protect against conspiracies that threaten government, industry or other organizations. Brightharp said he supports President Bush's Homeland Security plan but doesn't believe war with Iraq is a long-term answer to security, although he said he wouldn't fight the president on the issue. "I think they are a bubble on the water compared to the might of the U.S. I believe diplomacy and intellectuality ought to be exhausted before one shot is fired because you can't take back a shot after it is fired," Brightharp said. Barrett said he is concerned about Clinton-era cutbacks and lack of funding to CIA, FBI and Secret Service. He said he stands firmly behind Bush on Iraq. "He has done a great job to try to garner international support for some type of action and we need to continue that dialogue. But if and when my country's security or well-being is at stake, we need to do whatever we have to do to keep this country safe and secure," Barrett said. Saddam Hussein either has or is on the verge of having weapons of mass destruction and would use whatever means he could "to hurt this country and our way of life," said Barrett, a Citadel graduate and former active duty field artillery captain. Boerste said he supports an active intelligence network to identify real plots anywhere in the world but is opposed to any activity that could undermine constitutional safeguards at home. Boerste said he supports retribution against Al Qaida and the Taliban but not "military or economic world war on every dictatorship President Bush says may become a threat." Boerste, who opposes big government, said a worldwide presence of large conventional and nuclear forces "is no longer prudent," and would close foreign bases and cut foreign aid. He supports a homeland missile shield against terrorism and smaller military forces with special training, ultramodern equipment and rapid any-distance deployment capabilities. Copyright 2001 The Greenville News. ***************************************************************** 47 INEEL to get $6 million for nuclear research / All content © Copyright 2000 - 2002 WorldNow and WISTV. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 49 Audience divided over plutonium pit facility The Sun News | 10/30/2002 | [sunnews.com - The sunnews home page] By Jacob Jordan The Associated Press NORTH AUGUSTA — A sometimes contentious crowd of more than 300 people gathered at a public meeting here to learn more about a proposed new facility at the Savannah River Site that would make components to trigger the country's nuclear weapons. U.S. Energy Department officials, elected officials, environmentalists and others attended Tuesday night, the last scheduled public meeting before the DOE drafts an environmental summary of a proposed modern pit facility. If the department chooses to build the facility, it could cost up $4 billion. It would have an annual operating cost of about $250 million and employ 1,000 people. Plutonium pits are spherical, metallic objects needed for atomic weapons. The United States does not have the capability to make pits, and the DOE is trying to decide if it needs a facility to make pits and where to locate it. SRS, the former nuclear weapons complex near Aiken, is one of five possible sites for the modern pit facility. The Energy Department has a stockpile of plutonium pits but is unsure when that plutonium will decay. Officials said they think plutonium pits would last about 45 to 60 years, and because most were made in the 1970s and '80s, the DOE has to begin preparing for the facility in order for it to be fully operational by 2020. Safety and environmental concerns were raised again Tuesday, and environmentalists say there is no need for a new pit facility. Some said an interim pit facility that would make about 20 pits a year would be enough to meet the department's needs. DOE officials have said the pit facility would make at least 125 each year. Legislators from South Carolina and Georgia were on hand, most of them in support of locating the pit facility at the SRS. ***************************************************************** 50 Trigger plant meeting heats up Augusta Georgia: Metro: 10/30/02 By Eric Williamson [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau Rhetoric and raised voices dominated a public meeting on a proposed nuclear triggers plant Tuesday night at the North Augusta Community Center. The meeting was meant to address the possible environmental impact of the facility at Savannah River Site. SRS is one of five locations being considered as a production site for the component, also known as a plutonium pit. At one point in the meeting, a representative from an anti-nuclear group came into conflict with the meeting moderator for exceeding her one-question limit. The room erupted. Proponents of the Modern Pit Facility, which outnumbered protesters in the crowd of nearly 500, shouted, "Next! Next!" The speaker, Glenn Carroll, of Georgians Against Nuclear Energy, relinquished the microphone after the moderator tried to pry it from her hand and two policeman stormed to the front of the room. Almost every elected official in the metro Augusta area was represented either in person or by letter as showing support for the proposed facility, including Sen. Strom Thurmond, whose letter was read by state Sen. Greg Ryberg, of Aiken. Comments varied from the sober to the fiery. "If we had not had the Tommy bomb, you would not be speaking English in this community," boomed Georgia Sen. Don Cheeks. Proponents of the plant say the United States is the only nuclear power that cannot make a nuclear weapon. U.S. production ceased in 1989. They say the environmental impact will be minimal on a site such as SRS, which has experience in handling plutonium. But they also say the possible addition of 1,000 jobs couldn't hurt. Augusta Mayor Bob Young downplayed the charge that jobs are the primary motivator for his support, referencing a New York Times article that appeared the same day chronicling Augusta's dwindling job base. Opponents of the plant mentioned the environmentally checkered past of the now-closed Rocky Flats, Colo., facility and the moral concerns that come with the potential for a nuclear war. If chosen for the Modern Pit Facility, SRS would be slated to create new pits while deactivating old ones, no longer considered reliable, in another project called MOX. The MOX, or mixed-oxide, fuel would be created by turning the old plutonium into a fuel for nuclear reactors. A possible "synergy" of the plants is being reviewed, an event organizer said. Louis Zeller, representing the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, disputed the Department of Energy assertion that plutonium pits will become unreliable because of age in a matter of decades. Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . --From the Wednesday, October 30, 2002 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle [http://www.augustachronicle.com/faq/copyright.html] 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. Read our privacy policy. Contact the webmasters. [http://www.augustachronicle.com/feedback/webmaster_form.shtml] AugustaChronicle.com is a proud member of Augusta.com [http://augusta.com] . ***************************************************************** 51 DOE to assess transfer of K-25 holdings The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- Wednesday, October 30, 2002 by R. Cathey Daniels Oak Ridger staff The realm of what appears impossible changes rapidly in the DOE world. The Department of Energy is preparing to release a document that examines the environmental impacts of transferring K-25 property out of federal hands. That idea seemed unfeasible in 1997 when officials released an environmental assessment on leasing the property. The best DOE thought at the time was that running the assessment gantlet on complete title transfer was unnecessary because it was basically out of the question. "It was looked at but not totally analyzed," said David Allen, DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office National Environmental Policy Act compliance officer. "Transferring title didn't seem reasonable at the time because we were nowhere near in the cleanup process that that was even possible. Now with accelerated cleanup, we're getting closer and are closer to transferring property that is effectively cleaned, though that's yet to be determined." So the original environmental assessment will now get an addendum evaluating title transfer as well as "additional areas" that were not included in the original assessment, according to a DOE notice of intent published in The Oak Ridger's Oct. 16 edition. Those areas consist of roads, grounds, and other infrastructure that have been leased primarily for maintenance purposes, states the notice of intent. The document is slated for release toward the end of January, according to Susan Cange, team leader for reindustrialization at Oak Ridge Operations. She saidv a 30-day public comment period is planned, and during that period a public information session will be held, likely in early February. According to Cange, the assessment is to meet NEPA requirements that are part of the process used for transfer. "We are using the 770 process to transfer title of the facilities at ETTP (East Tennessee Technology Park, or the K-25 site), and the NEPA review is part of the 770 process," said Cange. The 770 process, or transfer rule, is a little-used DOE mechanism devised to speed up land conveyance and assist energy communities with economic development. Since its institution in 2000, only a handful of applications from across the DOE national complex have been made under the rule, and Oak Ridge has three of those in the hopper: two for the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee and one for Methodist Medical Center. The K-25 site is a former gaseous diffusion plant, and is scheduled for cleanup, take-down and closure by fiscal year 2006. R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or danielsrcd@oakridger.com. [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 52 Facilities slated for transfer by year with estimated completion month and square footage The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- Wednesday, October 30, 2002 FY 2003 Completion Square Feet K-1007 March 132,168 K-1330 April 14,400 K-1035 June 47,724 K-1036 June 80,122 K-1580 June 38,211 K-708 June 200 K-1225 July 30,720 K-1400 September 13,104 K-709 September Land Parcel 3 September Land 356,649 sq. ft. FY 2004 K-1000 July 2,000 K-1039 July 4,000 K-1513 September 3,000 K-1515 September 6,500 K-1515H September 1,000 Parcel 4 September Land K-33 September 2,828,714 2,845,214 sq. ft. FY 2005 K-791-B July 64,816 K-1037 September 291,375 K-1652 September 23,232 Railroad September Land K-31 September 1,659,628 2,039,051 sq. ft. FY 2006 K-1547 July 1,000 K-1650 August 21,120 K-29 September 582,400 K-1065 Group September 224,000 828,520 sq. ft. 6,069,434 sq. ft. total [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 53 US weapons secrets exposed Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 00:08:46 -0600 (CST) US weapons secrets exposed Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday October 29, 2002 The Guardian Respected scientists on both sides of the Atlantic warned yesterday that the US is developing a new generation of weapons that undermine and possibly violate international treaties on biological and chemical warfare. The scientists, specialists in bio-warfare and chemical weapons, say the Pentagon, with the help of the British military, is also working on "non-lethal" weapons similar to the narcotic gas used by Russian forces to end last week's siege in Moscow. They also point to the paradox of the US developing such weapons at a time when it is proposing military action against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein is breaking international treaties. Malcolm Dando, professor of international security at the University of Bradford, and Mark Wheelis, a lecturer in microbiology at the University of California, say that the US is encouraging a breakdown in arms control by its research into biological cluster bombs, anthrax and non-lethal weapons for use against hostile crowds, and by the secrecy under which these programmes are being conducted. "There can be disagreement over whether what the United States is doing represents violations of treaties," Mr Wheelis told the Guardian. "But what is happening is at least so close to the borderline as to be destabilising." In a paper to be published soon in the scientific journal Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the two academics focus on recent US actions that have served to undermine the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. In a move that stunned the international community last July, the US blocked an attempt to give the convention some teeth with inspections, so that member countries could check if others were keeping the agreement. Mr Dando believes Washington's motive for torpedoing the deal, which had the support of its allies, was to maintain secrecy over US research work on biological weapons. He said that work includes: CIA efforts to copy a Soviet cluster bomb designed to disperse biological weapons A project by the Pentagon to build a bio-weapon plant from commercially available materials to prove that terrorists could do the same thing Research by the Defence Intelligence Agency into the possibility of genetically engineering a new strain of antibiotic-resistant anthrax A programme to produce dried and weaponised anthrax spores, officially for testing US bio-defences, but far more spores were allegedly produced than necessary for such purposes and it is unclear whether they have been destroyed or simply stored. In each case, the US argued the research work was being done for defensive purposes, but their legality under the BWC is questionable, the scientists argue. For example, a clause in the biological weapons treaty forbids signatories from producing or developing "weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict". Furthermore, signatories agreed to make annual declarations about their biodefence programmes, but the US never mentioned any of those programmes in its reports. Instead, they emerged from leaks and press reporting. The focus on Washington's biological and chemical weapons programme comes at an awkward time for the Bush administration, which is locked in negotiations at the UN for a tough resolution on arms inspections of Iraq. According to Mr Dando, British and US research into hallucinogenic weapons such as the gas BZ encouraged Iraq to look into similar agents. "We showed them the way," he said. Mr Dando added that the US was currently working on "non-lethal" weapons similar to the gas Russian forces used to break the Moscow theatre siege. Those include "calmative" agent which are designed to knock people out without killing them. "What happened in Moscow is a harbinger of what is to come," Mr Dando said. "There is a revolution in life sciences which could be applied in a major way to warfare. It's an early example of the mess we may be creating." He added that Britain "is implicated as well", as the Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate has worked with British officers on its research. Jonathan Tucker, a chemical weapons expert at the US Institute for Peace in Washington, said much of the work on non-lethal weapons was being carried out by an institute under the US justice department but was funded by the Pentagon. "They are trying to keep it at arms length, but it is problematic especially for military purposes. The chemical weapons convention makes a very clear distinction between riot control and incapacitants," he said. While Mr Tucker believes that such knock-out gases are explicitly banned under the treaty, Mr Dando and Mr Wheelis believe the Pentagon has exploited a loophole that allows for such weapons for "law enforcement purposes". But by blurring the edges of the treaty, they argue the US is inviting other countries to do the same. The US, Mr Dando said, "runs the very real danger of leading the world down a pathway that will greatly reduce the security of all." ***************************************************************** 54 Israeli governing coalition collapses BBC NEWS | Middle East | Wednesday, 30 October, 2002, [Shimon Peres and Ariel Sharon] Labor and Likud have had an uneasy alliance Talks to prevent Israel's fragile coalition government from collapsing have failed and Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres have both resigned. We made every effort... to preserve the national unity government. These efforts failed Silvan Shalom Finance minister, Likud Mr Ben-Eliezer, leader of the Labor Party, and Mr Peres pulled out of the government after the failure of three hours of talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to resolve a dispute over the state budget. Mr Sharon was asked after the talks if this resignation spelt the end of his 18-month coalition with Labor: "Yes, it looks that way," he replied. Correspondents say the developments cast a further cloud over the prospects of ending Israel's violent confrontation with the Palestinians. Warning Mr Sharon later told the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, that Mr Ben-Eliezer had "provoked the rupture of the national unity government". "The whole world knows the importance that I place on a national unity government," the prime minister told deputies. Mr Peres said all of his Labor colleagues in the government were giving in letters of resignation. They would take effect after 48 hours. The Labor Party joined forces with Mr Sharon's Likud Party in response to the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, which started two years ago. Mr Ben-Eliezer had earlier warned he would quit the coalition if Mr Sharon did not divert millions of dollars earmarked for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. He was insisting that $150m allocated for the settlements be channelled into social spending and job creation. But Mr Sharon, a long-time supporter of the settlers, rejected Labor's demand, warning he would force out any party voting against the budget. [Binyamin Ben-Eliezer] Ben-Eliezer wants more spending on jobs and social services Reports say the talks were acrimonious. The Associated Press news agency says shouts were heard coming from the meeting and at one point Mr Ben-Eliezer stormed out before being persuaded to return. Later Mr Ben Eliezer urged Labor Party deputies to go into parliament "and vote all of us as one party against the budget." However, parliament approved the budget by 67 votes to 45. 'No choice' Mr Sharon left the talks surrounded by bodyguards and walked, without expression, to a meeting with Likud Party colleagues. Without the support of Labor, Mr Sharon could cobble together a narrow parliamentary majority based on small right-wing and religious parties. But such a narrow government could prove unstable and unpopular, and the prime minister may have no choice but to call an election within 90 days. [The grave of a Jewish settler] Jewish settlers mourn a teenager killed by Palestinians That would delay any efforts to find a new path to peace with the Palestinians. And after an early election there could well be a prolonged period of political bargaining before a new government is formed. A poll published in Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper says that if an election was held now, Labor would slide from 26 seats to 21 seats and Likud would rise from 19 to 29. There are more than 140 Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Their presence causes great disruption to the Palestinians and many Israelis believe settlements should be abandoned in the interests of reaching a compromise peace with the Palestinians. The resignations were welcomed by Labor deputy Haim Ramon, who is planning to challenge Mr Ben-Eliezer's leadership of the party. "I'm happy that we will not be partners in a government that is a failure in all aspects of life," he said. "We need to leave the government and present an alternative." © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************