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08/30/02 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 10.222
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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 A Relationship in Need of a Spark
2 US: Murkowski hires new campaign manager 
3 False records found at N-plants 
4 METI orders power firms to inspect nuke plants after false reports
5 Koeberg vulnerable - premier
6 Nuclear fission turns into fusion
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
7 US: NRC Issues Assessment for Indian Point 2, Changes Designation; 
8 TEPCO faked repair reports at 3 nuke plants
9 US: Improvement, Albeit Slight, Is Noted in Indian Point Safety
10 IAEA Confirmed Safety of Two Nuclear Units
11 US: NRC Issues Mid-Cycle Assessments for All Nuclear Plants
12 US: Indian Point Taken Off Worst List
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
13 US: Radioactive elements in Ozarks water*
14 Radioactive goat milk destroyed
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
15 US: Nuclear waste disposal method called illegal 
16 US: Editorial: Don't waste money to tout propaganda
17 US: PFS OP: Safe Nuclear Shipping 
18 COUNCILLORS GET FIRSTHAND VIEW OF DECOMMISSIONING
19 US: American Indians will tackle tribal rise in cancer
20 BNFL PLANS TO MOVE 1800 STAFF
21 US: Public input sought on Cotter's safety (Uranium Mill)
22 US: Bush sued over plan for nuclear dump on volcano
23 Task force to discuss Irish Sea nuclear shipment *
24 Sellafield blow good news for anti-nuclear campaigners *
25 US: Ca. Law won't give dump free pass 
 
                         NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 
26 US: Nuclear materials test conducted successfully
27 US: Subcritical experiment called a success
28 Kursk Crew Not Trained With Torpedo
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
29 Deal settles future of Ohio plant
30 Bechtel Jacobs plan under close scrutiny
31 Safety milestone at Y-12 
32 UF6 conversion contract to add jobs in Paducah 
33 DOE Awards $957,000 to Next Generation Economy Community Reuse 
34 DOE Selects Uranium Disposition Services for Uranium Hexafluoride 
 
                          OTHER NUCLEAR
 
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 A Relationship in Need of a Spark
 
[http://www.sptimesrussia.com] 

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002. Page 8 

 By Ariel Cohen 

All of a sudden, it looks like Sept. 11 never happened.	 

After the announcement of a 10-year, $40 billion cooperation deal 
with Iraq, the sale of five nuclear reactors to Iran and the 
recent visit of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, some people in 
Washington are beginning to think that Russia is returning to its 
position as patron saint of the "axis of evil." But not so fast.
 
It is true that powerful interests in Russia would like to 
distance their country from the Soviet-era "principal adversary" 
-- the United States. These forces include the 
military-industrial complex, anxious to maintain markets in 
China, India, Iran and, eventually, Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They 
also include Soviet-era elites still running the Defense and 
Foreign ministries, people like former Prime Minister Yevgeny 
Primakov who fail to realize that in the new century Russia has 
new enemies -- enemies that do not include "American 
imperialists."
 
The window of opportunity for the United States to develop a 
closer relationship with Moscow has not closed -- at least not 
yet. But there are warning signs that the United States' 
inability to deliver the goods for President Vladimir Putin -- 
combined with the anti-Americanism of many of Russia's ministers 
and bureaucrats -- could derail the beginning of a beautiful 
friendship.
 
In the 21st century, alliances are as much about geoeconomics as 
geopolitics. Will the State Department take into account Russia's 
economic interests without compromising U.S. defense concerns? 
Will Russia understand that it cannot dance at Iranian and Iraqi 
weddings while flirting with the United States?
 
The Russian-Iraqi agreement, which has been in the works for two 
years, was announced as the clouds over Baghdad are getting 
darker and the life expectancy of Saddam's regime is getting 
shorter. The Iraqi leader, realizing that he is about to be sunk 
by a U.S. attack, is grasping at straws in the hope of finding 
shelter and support through his former patron.
 
But the Iraqi-Russian economic pact is a fantasy, a figment of 
the bureaucratic imagination in Moscow and Baghdad. The pact was 
lobbied and rammed through the Russian bureaucracy by the 
country's biggest oil company, LUKoil, which is eying Iraq's 
giant West Qurna field.
 
LUKoil, which is owned by Azeri billionaire Vagit Alekperov, has 
signed agreements with Saddam's regime in Baghdad and is hoping 
to preserve its strategic investment in Iraq. But lobbying for 
ties with Saddam today could backfire against its interests in 
postwar Iraq tomorrow.
 
Slavneft and Tatneft are other companies deeply into Iraqi oil 
and active on Saddam's behalf in Moscow. Until recently, 
Slavneft, which has a Belarussian connection straight to 
President Alexander Lukashenko's office, also had close ties with 
the fiercely anti-American, ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir 
Zhirinovsky. State Duma and government sources in Moscow have 
repeatedly alleged that Zhirinovsky and his Liberal Democratic 
Party (which in reality is neither liberal nor democratic) is 
supported by Saddam's purse.
 
Pavel Felgenhauer, the well-known Russian defense analyst, told 
the BBC on Monday that it is not clear which Russian foreign 
policy is served by the recently announced agreement with Iraq: 
that of President Putin or that of LUKoil. "We have several 
foreign policies," Felgenhauer said. 

Other Moscow-based analysts, who requested anonymity, said LUKoil 
had bought the Russian Foreign Ministry "lock, stock and barrel." 
Some took pride in the fact that private interests now influence 
Russian foreign policy, just as in any other state. "It is safer 
that companies influence our decision making," one observer said. 
"In the past it was all done behind the closed doors of the 
Politburo." 

The problem of articulating Russian foreign and defense policy is 
not a new one, but it worries Putin's advisers in Moscow and 
Russia-watchers in Washington. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, an 
appointee of Primakov, reflects the anti-American and pro-Arab 
opinions of Soviet-era diplomats. Ivanov is not trusted by 
Putin's inner circle, but he has not been replaced because Putin 
is delaying a purge of the Foreign Ministry.
 
The Defense Ministry is now under the control of Putin's 
confidant, former KGB General Sergei Ivanov. Ivanov is Russia's 
first "civilian" defense minister, but defense reforms have been 
slow in coming. When U.S. President George W. Bush and Putin 
seemed to hit it off, the bureaucrats were less than thrilled.
 
It will be unfortunate if Putin's foreign policy is hijacked by 
greedy oilmen, corrupt Duma factions and the Soviet-era 
anti-American elite -- for one thing because their figures simply 
don't add up. If Russian-Iraqi trade now stands at about $1 
billion a year, it would need to quadruple in order to meet $40 
billion during the 10-year cooperation period. This is not about 
to happen.
 
However, the gazillion-dollar figure may be a signal to 
Washington that Russia wants to be compensated if Saddam is 
removed. At the recent Group of Eight summit in Canada, Putin 
told Bush that Moscow would shed no tears over Saddam's removal 
-- as long as Iraq repays its $7 billion of Soviet-era debt. 
Adjusted for inflation, Iraq's debt now amounts to about $12 
billion. Furthermore, if Russia loses the oil concessions that 
have been signed off by Saddam, and if oil prices go down as Iraq 
starts to pump more oil to pay for postwar reconstruction, Moscow 
will lose some of its oil-export revenues -- perhaps as much as 
$4 billion a year.
 
With Iran, the story is different. The huge Iranian nuclear 
contract was lobbied for by the Nuclear Power Ministry, a 
Soviet-style monolith that is trying to keep a host of factories 
with tens of thousands of jobs afloat. 

The Nuclear Power Ministry's bureaucrats are not exactly Yankee 
fans. True, in the long term, an Iran with nuclear weapons on 
Russia's borders would make it a difficult neighbor; Tehran could 
stir up unrest in the Muslim areas of the Caucasus and Central 
Asia. But it is short-term greed -- and millions of dollars in 
bribes -- that is keeping the Iranian contract on track, despite 
the United States' loud protests. 

Finally, the take on North Korea in Moscow is that the former 
satellite is finally coming to its economic senses, and could 
provide a lucrative opportunity for Russian companies. The 
Russians believe that the country's Dear Leader, Kim, presides 
over a North Korean version of perestroika, which could bring 
elements of a market economy and foreign investment to Pyongyang. 
Russia does not want to lose out to China, Japan, South Korea -- 
or to the United States -- when the last business frontier opens 
up.
 
So is the honeymoon over for the United States and Russia? The 
message from Putin's policy advisers is that they are still 
willing to negotiate to address U.S. security concerns. As 
Washington contemplates what to do next in its war on terrorism, 
the Kremlin and the White House should seriously explore this 
opportunity to forge a strategic relationship. While Moscow needs 
to understand that it can't entertain Iran and Iraq and still be 
considered a legitimate partner in the anti-terrorism effort, the 
Bush administration should give Russia's economic interests a 
fair hearing.
 
One hopes that the chilly U.S.-Russian summer will not turn into 
a frosty fall.

Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Heritage 
Foundation in Washington and author of "Russian Imperialism: 
Development and Crisis." He contributed this comment to The 
Moscow Times.
 
the TheMoscowTimes.com online 
*****************************************************************
 2 Murkowski hires new campaign manager 

Anchorage Daily News | 

 SHAKE-UP: D.C. lobbyist to run daily operations. 

By Ben Spiess 
Anchorage Daily News 

(Published: August 30, 2002) 

In a staff shake-up in Frank Murkowski's run for governor, 
campaign manager Bill Gordon has been replaced by a Washington, 
D.C., lobbyist and former Murkowski aide to run the daily 
operations of the campaign in the final nine weeks.

 Gregg Renkes took over day-to-day operations of the campaign 
Thursday.

 Gordon will continue to work with the campaign as a strategist 
and adviser, Murkowski said. He will work mostly from his 
Fairbanks home. Gordon's replacement at the top spot in the 
campaign is not a reflection of the job he has done over the past 
eight months, Murkowski said. 

"He's done good work. The campaign is up and running. Now we're 
in a new stage, going back and forth between Washington, D.C. 
(The new campaign structure) is going to work for us," Murkowski 
said.

 In Renkes, Murkowski has brought to Alaska one of his closest 
advisers from his Washington years.

 "Renkes is very close to Murkowski. He knows the issues. He 
knows Nancy (Murkowski). He knows the family. He's almost Frank's 
alter ego," said Curtis Thayer, a Republican political adviser in 
Anchorage.

 Renkes came to Alaska in 1986 after graduating from law school. 
He passed the Alaska bar. A year later, he went to Washington to 
work for Murkowski. He became Murkowski's chief of staff. When 
Republicans took control of the Senate in 1995, Murkowski became 
chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. 
Renkes followed his boss's rise, becoming the committee's staff 
director.

 Renkes also ran Murkowski's Senate campaigns in 1992 and 1998. 
After the 1998 campaign, Renkes used his Washington connections 
and energy expertise to set up a lobbying and consulting firm, 
Renkes Group Ltd.

 He marshaled a string of high-profile oil, gas, nuclear and 
electricity clients, including BP, Arco, Teck Cominco, Florida 
Power &Light, the Southern Co., Puget Sound Energy, Coeur d'Alene 
Mines and the Nuclear Energy Institute.

 Renkes has been involved with the major energy bills in the 
Senate over the past seven years, including legislation to 
deregulate the electricity business and legislation to open Yucca 
Mountain in Nevada as repository for nuclear waste.

 In recent years, Renkes has worked for the Washington, D.C., law 
firm of Steptoe and Johnson. He said he has a special interest in 
American Indian and Alaska Native law. Renkes also has close ties 
to the national Republican Party. He worked on energy and 
environment sections of the 1996 and 2000 Republican Party 
platforms. He also worked on the transition from the Bush 
administration's energy legislation, which is under deliberation 
in the Senate.

 This summer, Renkes bought a home in Juneau. His wife and two 
children moved to Southeast 10 weeks ago, Renkes said.

 Renkes said that taking over from Gordon has been a tentative 
plan for weeks.

 "The thought was I would take over the combined lieutenant 
governor and governor campaign. The idea was that (Gordon) would 
put together the infrastructure, then, at some point, he would 
move to a strategy role," Renkes said.

 Reporter Ben Spiess can be reached at bspiess@adn.com 
[bspiess@adn.com] or 907-257-4464. 

			 			       
 The Anchorage Daily News [http://www.adn.com] 
*****************************************************************
 3 False records found at N-plants 

Daily Yomiuri On-Line
 
[CRIME-ACCIDENT]   

Yomiuri Shimbun 

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial 
Safety Agency said Thursday that it has found 29 alleged false 
records relating to cracks detected at Tokyo Electric Power 
Company's nuclear plants from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. 

The agency started its investigation into the records two years 
ago based on a tip from a whistle-blower. 

Agency officials believe that the company falsified reports 
regarding voluntary inspections at 13 nuclear reactors at three 
power plants--the No. 1 and No. 2 Fukushima nuclear power plants 
in Fukushima Prefecture and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power 
plant in Niigata Prefecture. The false records include some that 
fail to mention cracks discovered in the core structures of the 
nuclear reactors, they said. 

While the officials said that the alleged falsified records did 
not affect the safety of the nuclear reactors, they expressed 
concern that inappropriate actions by those operating nuclear 
power plants might lead to poor management and result in serious 
accidents at the plants. 

Based on the law governing electric power companies, the agency 
has decided to set up a special team to begin a full-scale 
investigation into the false records. 

TEPCO President Nobuya Minami said that the company would 
postpone a plan to begin pluthermal power generation using 
uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel at the No. 1 Fukushima and 
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plants as early as this autumn, saying, "As 
long as we have lost the public trust, I don't think we can 
implement the plan." 

Observers said the scandal would stall a policy initiative to 
recycle spent nuclear fuels into new nuclear fuels and would have 
an impact on the course of the country's energy policy. 

Suspected irregularities were found in 29 inspection records 
concerning various devices in the core structures, including the 
core shrouds, of 13 reactors at the No. 1 and No. 2 Fukushima 
nuclear plants in and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant. 

Under the law on the control of nuclear reactors, a utility 
company operating a nuclear plant is required to report any 
problems or accidents that hinder normal operations to the 
central government. 

The utility company is also required under the regulations 
governing the establishment and operation of a nuclear reactor 
for commercial power-generation to keep operating records. TEPCO 
may have violated both the law and the regulation, according to 
experts. 

In 18 of the 29 cases, equipment or structures cracked or 
suspected of being cracked have already been replaced or fully 
repaired. 

Yet in the remaining 11 cases at eight reactors, cracked devices 
may still not have been replaced, the agency officials said. 

According to information TEPCO submitted to the safety agency, 
questionable records were found in checks TEPCO outsourced to 
General Electric International Inc. (GEII), the Japan unit of 
General Electric Co. of the United States. 

It is suspected that although cracks or signs of cracks were 
found, no record of the discovery was kept and false records were 
kept regarding the date, nature and findings of inspections. 

According to the agency, inconsistencies in descriptions and 
contradictory data were found when data, including original 
records submitted to the agency by TEPCO and GEII, were compared 
with data from the same dates. 

The agency made safety assessments on the basis of data submitted 
by TEPCO and GEII, but the agency said there is no serious 
problem with the safety of the reactors. The safety of the 
reactors has been confirmed by experts, said a TEPCO official. 

On Friday the agency plans to instruct other nuclear power plant 
operators, including power utility companies, to check for cracks 
in structures and equipment similar to those found at TEPCO 
plants. 

If serious problems are found during the agency's investigation 
in the days ahead, the agency plans to suspend operations at 
nuclear reactors in question.
  
Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun 
*****************************************************************
 4   METI orders power firms to inspect nuke plants after false reports

Friday, August 30, 2002 at 09:53 JST

TOKYO ? The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear and 
Industrial Safety Agency ordered electric power companies and 
nuclear fuel companies Friday to inspect their nuclear plants 
after the revelation of false records on cracks at Tokyo Electric 
Power Co (TEPCO) plants, agency officials said.

The agency ordered electric power companies as well as the Japan 
Nuclear Cycle Development Institute and Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd to 
conduct overall inspections at their nuclear plants to make sure 
they have made no similar false reports.

The agency will soon conduct an on-the-spot inspection at TEPCO 
headquarters and its nuclear plants at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 
nuclear complex in Niigata Prefecture, and the No. 1 and No. 2 
Fukushima nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture.

An inspection is ongoing into Japan's largest power utility and 
its subcontractor over alleged failure to correctly report cracks 
detected at those power plants, the agency said Thursday.

In the inspection, the agency will try to discover when the 
falsification occurred and who was involved in the wrongdoing, it 
said.

TEPCO has submitted a list of 29 allegedly incorrect records on 
cracks or signs of cracks in various devices in the core 
structures of 13 reactors at the plants, which could constitute a 
breach of the law governing electric power companies, agency 
officials said earlier.

There is also concern that eight reactors may still have cracked 
components that have not been replaced or fully repaired, 
although the agency believes the parts would have no serious 
impact on the safety of the reactors, which the agency has 
allowed to continue to operate, the officials said.

It may, however, order shutdowns if they find any serious 
problems during the inspections, they said.

The agency will set up an evaluation committee of legal experts 
to assess the inspections.

Power utilities are required to check components themselves and 
report results to the government agency. The agency does not 
directly inspect the parts because they are considered unrelated 
to the safety of the plants, the officials said.

TEPCO had outsourced inspections to General Electric 
International Inc (GEII), the Japan unit of General Electric Co 
(GE) of the United States. (Kyodo News)

Japan Today
*****************************************************************
 5 Koeberg vulnerable - premier

[http://www.news24.com]                                      

South Africa                
   
30/08/2002 13:23  - (SA)                         

Cape Town - Koeberg nuclear power station on the Cape West Coast 
is vulnerable from the sea, says Western Cape Premier Marthinus 
van Schalkwyk. 

Speaking to the media at the plant's visitors centre after 
touring the facility to get first-hand information on security 
arrangements, he said the problem should be addressed 
immediately. 

Van Schalkwyk was accompanied by environment MEC David Malatsi, 
community safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane and the MEC for finance, 
business promotion and asset management, Ebrahim Rasool. 

Van Schalkwyk's concerns follow a protest by Greenpeace activists 
last Saturday. They scaled the five-storey wall of the nuclear 
power station and unfurled a green banner with the words "Nukes 
out of Africa" before they were arrested by police. 

Van Schalkwyk said he was concerned that security had been 
breached and access gained to the power plant. 

Van Schalkwyk expressed satisfaction with the plant's management, 
but had serious concerns about the storage of high-level nuclear 
waste at Koeberg for the past 18 years. 

*****************************************************************
 6 Nuclear fission turns into fusion

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | 

Neil Hume
Friday August 30, 2002
The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]  		
 		
What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago traders could not 
give away shares in British Energy as concerns about the 
financial viability of the nuclear power generator mounted. 
Yesterday, they were almost trampled in the rush as investors 
piled into the stock on the back of a recommendation from one of 
the City's more influential brokerages.
 
British Energy ended 8p higher at 79p after Deutsche Bank put the 
stock back on its "buy" list and set a 150p share price target on 
the grounds that the government is working on a plan to help the 
company out of its financial difficulties. 

That much should have been obvious to anyone who heard energy 
minister Brian Wilson's supportive comments over the holiday 
weekend. Sometimes City investors need reassurance from a big 
investment bank before they part with their cash. 

For what it is worth, the German broker believes the government 
is considering a number of actions to help British Energy, 
including: changes to the electricity trading market; exemption 
from the climate change levy; a reduction in rates; and a 
contract to run the BNFL's six Magnox generators. British Energy 
confirmed on Tuesday it was in talks with BNFL to take over the 
running of the plants. 

Short-term profit taking or the start of a new down trend? That 
was the question City traders were asking yesterday after the 
FTSE 100 suffered another sharp fall. The benchmark index closed 
64.7 points lower at 4,209.3, hurt by more weak economic data 
from the US. 

With trading volumes light - 1.9bn shares changed hands - the 
bulls reckoned yesterday's decline was nothing more than 
investors booking profits, pointing to the fact that the Footsie 
has risen 432.2 points since hitting 3,777.1 on July 24. 

"We have come too far, too fast and we are giving some of the 
gains back. Simple as that," one dealer commented. 

The bears said the technical picture, particularly in the US, was 
looking grim. 

Overnight, the S&P 500 breached a significant support level at 
925, creating in chartist speak a classic "head and shoulders" 
sell signal. Given that in the past 30 years, markets in the US 
have fallen in September on 21 occasions, that view was being 
taken very seriously yesterday. 

At the specific stock level, insurance shares were the day's 
biggest fallers, unsettled by the market's poor performance and 
weak results from Swiss Re and Munich Re, the world's two biggest 
reinsurance companies. Royal & SunAlliance fell 4.75p to 120.25p, 
Prudential lost 26p to 508p and Friends Provident shed 8p to 
144p. 

Fund management group Schroders, down 22p to 545p, remained in 
the doldrums as Merrill Lynch followed Wednesday's lead from UBS 
Warburg and took the red pen to its profit forecasts. 

GlaxoSmithKline was marked 33p lower at �12.32 after Swiss rival 
Novartis acquired Slovakian generic drugmaker Lek for 795m 
(�516m). Lek makes a copycat version of GSK's blockbuster 
antibiotic Augmentin. ICI, the speciality chemicals company, lost 
18p to 243p amid talk that its Dulux paints division could get 
dragged into a case against former makers of lead paint. 

Sources close to the company said the traders had got it wrong. 
Although a lead-in-paint lawsuit does start next week, they 
pointed out that ICI's Glidden subsidiary was dismissed from the 
Rhode Island case earlier in the year. 

The champagne corks must have been popping at the City offices of 
Cazenove and Merrill Lynch last night after the two stockbrokers 
managed to get Cookson's �277.5m rights issue away. Acceptances 
for the offer, which Cookson will use to reduce its �750m of 
debt, were 91.6%, which helped Cazenove place the rump of the 
issue at 30p, a 5p premium to the rights price. Most of the 
shares were thought to have gone to short sellers who were 
betting the issue would flop. 

Cookson ended up 3p at 29.75p. It was not the best performer in 
the FTSE 250. That accolade went to CMG, the Anglo-Dutch IT 
services company, which gained 12.52p to 77p after interim 
results impressed. The FTSE 250 fell 71.2 points to 4,864.4. 

There was a further twist in the battle for control of car 
dealership Ryland Group, up 2p at 127.5p. Guinness Peat, the 
activist investment company which let its 120p-a-share offer for 
the company temporarily lapse this week, said it had agreed to 
sell its 29.9% stake in Ryland to rival car dealer Pendragon, off 
1p at 323.5p, for 130p a share. On Wednesday, Ryland said it had 
received an approach from a management buyout team. 

Another Guinness Peat stock - NewMedia Spark, the AIM-listed 
investment incubator - was in demand, rising 1.25p to 8.5p. 
Dealers reckon the New Zealand group has added to its 5.5% stake. 

� Market professionals with an eye for oversold situations were 
taking a close look at Weston Medical yesterday. 

Weston fell 11p to 51.5p - an all-time low - as an alliance with 
Swiss drug maker Roche to develop a needle-free delivery system 
for its new hepatitis C treatment, Pegasys, appeared to have hit 
legal problems. 

On Monday, a Californian biotech company named Ribapharm said it 
filed a patent lawsuit to prevent Roche from marketing Pegasys 
with another medicine, ribavirin. 

But sector specialists said Weston was not developing a delivery 
system for the combination product and there was no reason to 
suppose the lawsuit would delay US approval for the product, 
expected later this year. 

Ribapharm would struggle to defend its patent, they thought, as 
ribavirin had been around for 40 years; even if it did, Pegasys 
was not important to Weston's prospects. 

"The market has got his one wrong. It has made a mountain out of 
a molehill," said one analyst.

Weston therapy

Market professionals with an eye for oversold situations were 
taking a close look at Weston Medical yesterday. 

Weston fell 11p to 51.5p - an all-time low - as an alliance with 
Swiss drug maker Roche to develop a needle-free delivery system 
for its new hepatitis C treatment, Pegasys, appeared to have hit 
legal problems. On Monday, a Californian biotech company named 
Ribapharm said it filed a patent lawsuit to prevent Roche from 
marketing Pegasys with another medicine, ribavirin. But sector 
specialists said Weston was not developing a delivery system for 
the combination product and there was no reason to suppose the 
lawsuit would delay US approval for the product, expected later 
this year. Ribapharm would struggle to defend its patent, they 
thought, as ribavirin had been around for 40 years; even if it 
did, Pegasys was not important to Weston's prospects. "The market 
has got his one wrong. It has made a mountain out of a molehill," 
said one analyst. 

[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 
*****************************************************************
 7 NRC Issues Assessment for Indian Point 2, Changes Designation; 
Public Meeting Regarding Plant Scheduled for Sept. 4
 
  NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 56 - 

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, 
Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 
www.nrc.gov
   
  No. I-02-056           August 29, 2002 CONTACT:     Diane 
Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331     E-mail: 
opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov]   
  
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a mid-cycle 
performance assessment letter for the Indian Point 2 nuclear 
power plant. It has also scheduled a public meeting for 
Wednesday, September 4, to discuss the assessment as well as 
other developments involving the Buchanan, N.Y., facility.
 
In the letter to Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., which owns and 
operates Indian Point 2, the NRC informed the company it was 
closing out a "red" finding issued to the facility in late 2000 
and removing its designation as a "multiple degraded 
cornerstones" plant. That designation was the result of previous 
inspection findings at the plant associated with a reactor 
shutdown with complications in August 1999 and a steam generator 
tube failure in February 2000. The NRC has determined, through 
inspections and assessments, that Entergy has substantially 
addressed performance weaknesses underlying those degraded 
cornerstones to warrant the designation change.
 
Because a "yellow" finding -- issued late last year as a result 
of control room operator training deficiencies -- remains open, 
Indian Point 2 will now shift to the "degraded cornerstone" 
category. Consequently, the NRC will continue to closely monitor 
improvement efforts at the plant.
 
At the public meeting on September 4, NRC staff will meet with 
Entergy representatives to discuss performance improvement 
efforts at Indian Point 2 and recent NRC inspections of those 
efforts. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the 
Vincent F. Nyberg General Meeting Room at Cortlandt Town Hall, 1 
Heady Street, Cortlandt, N.Y. The public is invited to observe 
the meeting and will have an opportunity to ask questions of NRC 
staff before the session is adjourned.
 
Specific topics to be discussed will be Entergy's performance 
improvement efforts at Indian Point 2 as described in the plant's 
Fundamentals Improvement Plan. In addition, NRC staff will 
present the results of recent inspections and assessments 
conducted at the plant, including a team inspection conducted in 
June and July.
 
Copies on the NRC's assessment letter for Indian Point 2 will be 
available on the agency's web site at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/inpt_2002q2.pdf 
[http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/inpt_2002q2.pdf] 
*****************************************************************
 8 TEPCO faked repair reports at 3 nuke plants
 
Asahi Shimbun      [http://www.asahi.com/]

Agency says there is no serious risk from the unfixed parts.
 
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) fabricated repair records for 
three nuclear power plants in the late 1980s and early 1990s-and 
eight reactors left unfixed continue to run, the Nuclear and 
Industrial Safety Agency said Thursday.
 
According to agency officials, 29 repair records were apparently 
faked concerning two TEPCO-operated nuclear plants in Fukushima 
Prefecture and one in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture.
 
Among the problems covered up in the reports were cracks in parts 
surrounding the reactor core, the officials said.
 
Eight reactors that required repairs-but were not fixed-are still 
operating, the officials said.
 
The agency officials, however, said the cracks do not pose an 
immediate threat to the overall safety of the nuclear reactors. 
But the agency will order TEPCO to improve its structure for 
inspections and maintenance because the problems could become 
critical if left untouched.
 
The agency decided to release the early results of its ongoing 
investigation Thursday because of the potential severity of the 
problems.
 
``Having reactors with cracked equipment is a very serious 
situation and we decided to go ahead with the announcement 
because it is important to secure the safety of the reactors,'' 
an agency official said. ``We will thoroughly check the facts 
behind the problem and provide strict guidance measures to 
TEPCO.''
 
News of the faked reports has already damaged part of the central 
government's nuclear program.
 
The nuclear plants where the fake records were filed were 
supposed to play a central role in the government's plutonium 
thermal (pluthermal) program, which recycles plutonium from used 
nuclear fuel by mixing it with uranium.
 
TEPCO President Nobuya Minami said Thursday his company would 
suspend the program.
 
``We personally hurt the public's trust in us,'' Minami said. 
``We cannot ask for understanding to continue the MOX fuel 
project.''
 
As for his own future, Minami said he would think about resigning 
after the entire investigative process is complete.
 
Safety agency officials said they would dispatch their own people 
to the eight reactors during the next annual inspections at the 
plants. They said if major safety concerns are uncovered before 
that time, they might order TEPCO to shut down the reactors.
 
Agency officials began their investigation after an insider leak 
in July 2000.
 
The officials then presented the results of their investigation 
to TEPCO officials as well as officials of GE International Inc., 
which subcontracted the work from TEPCO. Officials from both 
companies admitted there was a possibility that TEPCO's repair 
reports were false.
 
TEPCO is required by law to conduct annual inspections under 
central government guidelines, a process that shuts down nuclear 
reactors for two to three months.
 
The TEPCO inspections for which the fake records were created did 
not involve government inspectors.(IHT/Asahi: August 30,2002)
 
(08/30)
   
  [Copyright Asahi Shimbun.
*****************************************************************
 9 Improvement, Albeit Slight, Is Noted in Indian Point Safety

The New York Times 

August 30, 2002*  

*By COREY KILGANNON*

Federal regulators announced yesterday that the new owner of the 
Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant has made improvements there 
significant enough to raise the plant's dismal safety rating, if 
only slightly.

The plant, on the Hudson River in Buchanan, Westchester County, 
had the worst safety rating of the country's 103 commercial 
nuclear power plants. But in a report released yesterday by the 
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Indian Point 2 was listed 
among the six worst in terms of safety.

Still, the report was mostly positive, and it provides a timely 
boost to the image of Indian Point, which the Entergy Corporation 
bought from Consolidated Edison in September. While Entergy 
officials hailed the report as a milestone, opponents dismissed 
it as insignificant.

Especially after Sept. 11, many environmentalists and politicians 
have called to have the plant closed, warning that a terrorist 
attack or a plant malfunction could be catastrophic, spewing 
radiation many miles around the plant, which is 30 miles from 
Manhattan.

But that opposition seems to have lost some momentum this summer. 
Almost a year after Sept. 11, public apprehension about another 
attack has lessened, and the fear of Indian Point's being a 
terrorist target has become a less effective rallying cry for the 
plant's opponents.

Meanwhile, Entergy has been campaigning to convince the public 
that the plant is safe. The company has mounted a public 
relations drive that includes broadcast ads referring to Indian 
Point 2 as an "energy center" rather than a nuclear plant and 
repeating its new slogan, "Safe, Secure, Vital." The company has 
encouraged the plant's 1,460 employees to attest publicly to its 
safety.

Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy, called the report crucial in 
notifying the public about the plant's safety. "People can start 
feeling better about Indian Point because it's a safe place," he 
said. "The federal regulator has said so itself, and that's 
important to us and the community. We feel we can improve further 
and be one of the best-rated plants in the country."

But foes of the plant dismissed much of the report. Kelly 
MacMillan, a spokeswoman for Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, 
whose district includes Buchanan, warned that "we can't lose 
sight of the fact that this is still an unsafe plant with an 
evacuation plan that cannot protect the public health and 
safety."

She added, "Going from the worst-rated plant in the nation to 
just one of worst rated in the nation isn't cause to feel there 
has been a great victory for the safety of the people, economy 
and natural resources surrounding the plant."

According to the report, eight federal inspectors spent a month 
studying Indian Point 2 this summer and concluded that Entergy 
had operated the plant safely and made progress in addressing its 
"underlying performance issues," including equipment operation, 
engineering methods and oversight by senior management.

The report commended Entergy for addressing weaknesses that had 
led to two major malfunctions: a steam generator tube failure in 
February 2000 and an unexpected reactor shutdown in August 1999. 
These two incidents led to the poor rating.

The biggest current flaw cited in the report was weakness in a 
wall intended to protect the plant's central control room in case 
of fire.

Alex Matthiessen, executive director of the environmental group 
Riverkeeper, said: "The report does nothing to address the fact 
that Indian Point is a potential terrorist target and poses an 
enormous risk to the 21 million people living in the New York 
metropolitan area."

While the report makes no specific mention of how the plant would 
withstand a terrorist attack, Mr. Steets, the company spokesman, 
said that breaking through the reactor was virtually impossible, 
especially with recent security improvements.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
*****************************************************************
 10 IAEA Confirmed Safety of Two Nuclear Units

PARI Daily: 

<http://www.hoovers.com/uk/>

Hoover's UK

August 30, 2002 6:05am

THE CURRENT state in terms of overall safety of Units 3 and 4 at 
the Kozlodoui nuclear power plant complies with the safety of 
similar installations operated in the West, the International 
Atomic Energy Agency /IAEA/ said in its latest report.

In 2002, after the last stage of upgrades, the two 440 MW 
WWER-type reactors have reached a level mandatory for similar 
facilities world-wide, the report stressed.

The report came as an authoritative support for the emerging 
Bulgarian position at the ongoing talks for accession to the EU 
that no deadlines should be set for the decommissioning of the 
two units.

The IAEA report leaves no question that the safety level at Units 
2 and 4 is compliant, and in several aspects even exceeds with 
the scope of the initial recommendations made by the 
international nuclear energy authority.

Bulgaria's ministry of energy has send to the European Commission 
additional information relevant to the negotiations within the 
power engineering chapter of the accession talks. Referring to 
the 2000 credit agreement with the European Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development, the head of the nuclear safety 
department of the energy ministry, Yordan Georgiev, stressed that 
the planned financing for safety upgrades and decommissioning of 
reactors at Kozlodoui do not stipulate any specific deadlines, at 
least as far as Units 3 and 4 are concerned.

Bulgaria will insist that the two reactors must be operated as 
long as their maintenance in perfect safety conditions is 
economically feasible. .


Copyright � 2002 Roubikon Trade &amp; Publishing Complex PARI 
Ltd. Source: Financial Times Information Limited. 
<http://news.ft.com>

<http://www.newsedge.com>
*****************************************************************
 11 NRC Issues Mid-Cycle Assessments for All Nuclear Plants

NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 101 - 

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001     E-mail: 
opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov   
  
  No. 02-101     August 29, 2002   
  
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued mid-cycle 
assessment letters for all 103 operating nuclear power plants and 
posted them to its web site.
 
Every six months each plant receives either a mid-cycle review 
letter or an annual assessment letter along with an NRC 
inspection plan. Updated information on plant performance is 
posted to the NRC web site every quarter. The next annual 
assessment letters will be issued in March.
 	 
The assessment letters sent to each licensee will be available on 
the NRC web site at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/listofasmrpt.html 
[http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/listofasmrpt.html] and 
through ADAMS, the Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System. Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRC Public 
Document Room by calling (301) 415-4737.
   


*****************************************************************
 12 Indian Point Taken Off Worst List
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
August 29, 2002 By JIM FITZGERALD ASSOCIATED PRESS 

NEW YORK- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, lavishly praising 
the new owners of Indian Point 2, on Thursday took the 
long-troubled nuclear power station off its list of the nation's 
worst-perfoming plants. 

The commission withdrew the plant's "red" designation, which was 
imposed in 2000 after a broken pipe leaked radioactive steam into 
the atmosphere. Indian Point 2, which sits on the Hudson River 35 
miles north of Manhattan, was the first plant to get the 
bottom-of-the-barrel designation, the closest step to being shut 
down by the commission. 

The commission's color-coded ranking of risk starts with green 
and goes through white and yellow before reaching red, which 
denotes "an issue of high safety significance" and puts a plant 
under the closest NRC scrutiny. 

The February 2000 accident came during the ownership of 
Consolidated Edison. Entergy Corp. bought the plant in 2001, and 
the commission said Thursday that "substantial progress has been 
made." 

"Significant additional resources have been committed by Entergy 
to improvement initiatives," commission Regional Administrator 
Hubert Miller said in a letter to the company. "New plant 
management has brought higher performance standards and levels of 
accountability to the station." 

Jim Steets, an Entergy spokesman, said, "It's important to us and 
the community that the NRC sees the progress we have made in 
making IP2 a safer and better-performing plant." 

However, the NRC's move did not sway activists who have been 
calling for the shutdown of the plant and its companion, Indian 
Point 1, on grounds they cannot be safeguarded in the light of 
last September's terrorist attacks. 

"The official withdrawal of Indian Point 2's "red" designation is 
meaningless as an indicator of the actual risk Indian point poses 
to the community," said Alex Matthiessen, who heads the 
environmental group Riverkeeper. He called the NRC analysis 
"industry-friendly." 

The NRC said it would still be paying extra attention to Indian 
Point 2 because of deficiencies in training that reached the 
"yellow" level last year. 

On the Net: Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov 
[http://www.nrc.gov] 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 13 Radioactive elements in Ozarks water*

By DWAIN LAIR August 28, 2002

*VALLEY SPRINGS - When the Valley Springs Rural Water Department 
drilled its first well in 1973 and erected its first storage 
tank, current water superintendent Gale Ruhwedel hadn't heard of 
water being contaminated because of radon or radium. The water 
from the deep well just north of Valley Springs was treated 
against bacteria with chlorine, a practice that continues today 
with regular testing across the network.*

Then in 1982, after radium was detected in a private well that 
had been drilled alongside Highway 65 near Olvey to supply water 
to a mobile home park, state officials condemned the new well 
because of radium contamination. The well was capped, and tests 
of neighboring private wells also turned up unacceptably high 
levels of the radioactive element.

That helped prompt Valley Springs to extend its water line along 
the east side of Highway 65, a water line that branched to Olvey. 
Valley Springs also drilled a second well, between U.S. 65 and 
Olvey, and erected a second storage tank at the junction of U.S. 
62-65.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), radium 
and radon are "naturally occurring radioactive elements that 
result from the radioactive decay of uranium, which is present in 
small concentrations in common rocks and minerals." Radium and 
radon can be present in groundwater and are measured in 
picoCuries.

In 2000, Valley Springs drilled a third well just north of 
Highway 206 between Everton and U.S. 65. Tests indicated the well 
has an excessive level of radium-226 and radium-228 and "all 
three wells have excessive levels of radon-222." But Ruhwedel 
explained that the level of radium-226 and radium-228 in well No. 
3 is "barely over the limit." He said the well cost $360,000 and 
is too expensive to abandon.

Statistics on the three wells show:

* Well No. 1, drilled in 1973, 2,055 feet deep, 700 feet of 
casing, 225 gallons per minute.

* Well No. 2, drilled in 1982, 2,109 feet deep, 505 feet of 
casing, 225 gallons per minute.

* Well No. 3, drilled in 2002, 2,125 feet deep, 726 feet of 
casing, 200 gallons per minute.

The wells are drilled into either the Roubidoux formation or the 
Gunter Sandstone Member of the Fasconade formation. Ruhwedel said 
the Arkansas Department of Health analyzed core samples as each 
well was drilled to determine the depth of casing. He added that 
each of the 8-inch wells has a 4-inch pump at the bottom of a 
6-inch pipe that reaches the top of the well.

Ruhwedel said the water system has been offered various options 
to lower the level of radium-226 and radium-228 in well No. 3 to 
acceptable levels. The options range in price from $900,000 to 
almost $2 million.

He explained that the most affordable, proven solution would be 
to pump water from well No. 3 to a location about halfway between 
Valley Springs and Highway 206 where it would be blended with 
water from the other two wells and lower the radium-226 and 
radium-228 concentrations "under EPA standards" to all of the 
water system's 1,300 customers.

The USGS stated in a report on radioactive contamination of wells 
in North Arkansas and South Missouri that "both radium-226 and 
radon-222 can cause cancer. The USGS added that lung cancer is 
the primary health risk associated with breathing in radon-222 
and its sister products. It said radon-222 can be released into 
the air from the water supply.

But Genevieve S. Roessler Ph.D. said the calculated daily 
radiation dose from drinking water with small amounts of 
radium-226 is a small fraction (a few percent or less) of the 
average daily natural background dose that most people already 
receive. "These doses are safe doses that will not produce any 
adverse health effects.

"Please be assured that I would not be concerned about drinking 
water containing radium-226 at 6.4 picoCuries per liter," she 
said.

Ruhwedel said untreated water is sampled from each well every 
month. Customers are assessed a 25-cent per month fee to pay for 
the service.

Among the purgeable organic compounds that Well No. 3 was tested 
for earlier this year, before it was gauged to be in satisfactory 
condition, were benzene; carbon tetrachloride; chlorobenzene; 
1,2-dichlorobenzine; 1,4-dichlorobenzine; 1,2-dichloroethane; 
1,4-dichloroethane; cis-1,2-dichloroethane; 
trans-1,2-dichloroethane; 1,2-dichloropropane; ethylbenzene; 
methylene chloride; styrene; tetrachloroethene; toluene; 
1,2,4-trichlorobenzene; 1,1,1-trichloroethane; 
1,1,2-trichloroethane; trichloroethane; vinyl chloride; total 
xylenes; bromobenzene; bromochloromethane; bromodichloromethane; 
bromoform; bromomethane; n-butylbenzene; sec-butylbenzene 
tert-butylbenzene; chloroethane; chloroform; 2-chlorotoluene; 
4-chlorotoluene; 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane; 
dibromochloromethane; 1,2-dibromoethane; dibromomethane; 
1,3-dichlorobenzene; dichlorodifluoromethane; 1,2-dichloroethane; 
1,3-dichloropropane; 1,1-dichloropropane; 2,2-dichloropropane; 
cis-1,3-dichloropropane; trans-1,3-dichloropropane; 
hexachlorobutadiene; isopropylbenzene; p-isopropyltoluene; 
naphthalene; n-propylbenzene; 1,1,1,2-tetrachloroethane; 
1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane; 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene; 
trichlorofluoromethane; 1,2,3-trichlorofluoromethane; 
1,2,4-trimethylbenzene; 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene; 
1,3,5-trimethylbenzene; hexane; and four unidentified analytical 
responses.

Public water sources also are sampled for inorganic compounds, 
including: silver; aluminum; arsenic; barium; beryllium; calcium; 
cadmium; chloride; cyanide; chromium; copper; fluoride; iron; 
mercury; potassium; magnesium; manganese; sodium; nickel; nitrate 
and nitrite nitrogen; lead; antimony; selenium; sulfate; 
thallium; zinc; along with odor, color and turbidity.

And of course, all public water sources are tested for total 
coliform and fecal coliform.

/�Harrison Daily Times 2002/

*****************************************************************
 14 Radioactive goat milk destroyed

AFTENPOSTEN

<http://www.aftenposten.no/english>
 
30.08 kl.12:28

Goat herders in the Norwegian valleys of Valdres and Hallingdal 
had to throw away 30,000 liters of goat milk because it showed 
levels of radioactivity that were too high for use in food 
production. They blame after-effects of the Chernobyl nuclear 
accident in 1986.

The milk was taken from goats that had been grazing in mountain 
areas. It was supposed to be used in the production of goat 
cheese.

Tests performed by state veterinarians, however, showed that the 
milk contained levels of the radioactive substances that 
prohibited their use. The results come less than a month after a 
new report claimed the Norwegian landscape to be the most 
pollution-free in decades.

State veterinarian Amund Lien told wire service NTB that the 
goats may have eaten mushrooms that also contained radioactive 
substances. "At the end of the grazing season, the concentration 
of radioactivity often increases," he said.

He said it's been two years since such high levels of 
radioactivity have been detected. It's believed to stem from 
lingering effects of radioactive particles that drifted over 
Northern Europe and Norway after the Chernobyl tragedy 16 years 
ago.

Aftenposten English Web Desk/NTB

Utgiver: Aftenposten Multimedia A/S, Oslo, Norge. Telefon +47 22 
86 30 00. Alt innhold er opphavsrettslig beskyttet. � Aftenposten 
Multimedia.

*****************************************************************

 15 Nuclear waste disposal method called illegal 

Group seeks injunction against government to stop filling tanks 
at SRS until lawsuit heard 

Thursday, August 29, 2002 

Associated Press

     COLUMBIA-An environmental group says the government should 
not seal 49 tanks containing 35 million gallons of high-level 
radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site until a lawsuit is 
heard.

     SRS has decided the huge underground tanks should be filled 
with concrete and stay at the site indefinitely. Two of the 
site's 51 tanks already are filled with concrete and sealed. 

     SRS chose that method after completing an environmental 
impact study of alternative methods.

     Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit in U.S. 
District Court in Idaho charging that the closure method, which 
the U.S. Energy Department also plans to use in Washington and 
Idaho, violates the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

     That act says waste has to be converted into glass logs and 
buried in deep caverns, possibly at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

     South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, who has fought plans to ship 
surplus weapons-grade plutonium to SRS, is wary of a rush to 
close the tanks and wants site officials to provide more 
information about how they reached their decision.

     "Any disposition of those materials must be backed up by 
good science. We in South Carolina are going to examine it to 
ensure that the method is backed up by good science and is not 
simply a way to cut costs," Hodges said.

     "There are some things we want done cheaper. But we don't 
want cheap disposal of hazardous materials. We want it done 
right." 

     SRS considered alternatives to filling the tanks that 
included doing nothing and removing the tanks and cutting them 
into pieces that would be stored at the site.

     Plans to fill them with concrete leaves the high-level waste 
residue in the tanks. 

     The Natural Resources Defense Council says that is an 
arbitrary and illegal reclassification of the waste intended to 
cut costs and speed tank closure.

     In Idaho, the Snake River Alliance has argued the agency's 
attempt to reclassify high-level radioactive waste as "incidental 
to reprocessing" would use an illegally low standard for cleaning 
up some 100 million gallons of the nation's most highly 
radioactive waste.

     "What the DOE is attempting in South Carolina is what it is 
planning to do in Idaho and Washington," said Gary Richardson, 
executive director of the Snake River Alliance. "It is important 
that it not be allowed to proceed until the merits of our case 
are decided in court." 

     The council wants the federal court to issue an injunction 
against the Energy Department, to prevent any further tank 
closures until the case has been tried. 

     A federal judge has not issued an injunction.

     Hodges said he would like to see a timetable for the tank 
closures, as it relates to the lawsuit in Idaho's federal 
district court.

     "We are obviously concerned that a lawsuit is pending on 
this issue, and we will have conversations on their timetable for 
this new procedure," Hodges said.

     The Energy Department's announcement did not contain a 
timetable for closing the 49 tanks. 

     Work on emptying the tanks is ongoing, said Julie Petersen, 
an Energy Department spokeswoman at SRS. 

     She said there is no definite timetable to close the tanks.

     "This is in the courts now, and where we go is yet to be 
decided," she said. "The department has simply indicated the 
method it has chosen."
     
 Copyright � 2002 Charleston.Net. All Rights Reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 16 Editorial: Don't waste money to tout propaganda

Las Vegas SUN: 

August 30, 2002 

 Two years ago Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., used his clout as a 
member of the Appropriations Committee to put an end to Energy 
Department ads -- run in the Las Vegas media -- that promoted 
public tours of the Yucca Mountain Project.

But the advertising ban -- on tours that were no better than 
propaganda -- was only in effect for one year. And now that 
Congress has given its approval to build a nuclear waste dump at 
Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department has started the ads again.

 It's important that people learn as much as they can about an 
issue, but the Yucca Mountain Project tours are one-sided 
presentations that mirror the nuclear power industry's gung-ho 
views on burying its deadly garbage in Nevada. It's like a tour 
of Cuba: The communist officials only let you see what they want 
you to see. If the tours presented both sides, including 
information about the real dangers from nuclear waste burial, 
that would be a different story. But it's not, and we hope Reid 
can once again end the waste of taxpayer money to promote the 
tours, which also are a transparent attempt to soften Nevadans' 
opposition to the burial of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear 
waste here. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 17 PFS OP: Safe Nuclear Shipping 
 
The Salt Lake Tribune -- 

Friday, August 30, 2002   

    Thank you for educating Utah residents (Tribune, Aug. 25) 
about the facts regarding the practices and the safety record for 
shipping spent nuclear fuel. I would just like to add some 
information to balance the story's assertion that there is no 
shipping plan for the proposed Skull Valley facility. 

    Private Fuel Storage is committed to complying with all 
federal regulations and best industry practices, which deserve at 
least part of the credit for the outstanding safety record for 
spent nuclear fuel shipments over the past 40 years. When 
customers contract with PFS to store spent fuel at the facility, 
PFS will immediately begin developing a shipping plan that will 
identify the shipping routes from their particular plant 
location. The shipping plan is very thorough and will take time 
to develop in coordination with the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the operating 
railroads, and state and local governments. With the exception of 
security details, this information can be shared with the public. 
We will assist states with emergency response training where 
needed, although many states are already actively involved in 
this type of training. 

    Mayor Rocky Anderson implies there has not been adequate 
research on the safety of shipping spent nuclear fuel. This 
simply isn't true. Not only have the shipping casks been 
analyzed, tested and certified, but the NRC has spent the past 
several years reviewing its regulations covering transportation 
and has held public meetings in key cities around the country to 
gather public input. Beyond the research, there is actual 
experience, in this country covering 40 years and nearly 3,000 
shipments (and even more experience abroad), which has confirmed 
the adequacy of safety measures that are in place. 

    While there are certainly risks involved in shipping any 
hazardous substance, the potential risks of spent fuel shipments 
are minimized by the design and construction of the shipping 
casks, the regulations that govern shipping, and the extreme care 
employed in best industry practices. Because of these measures, 
any accidents that might occur are extraordinarily unlikely to 
affect the health and safety of the public. 
    
    JOHN PARKYN Chairman Private Fuel Storage La Crosse, Wis. 
    
  � Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune
*****************************************************************
 18 COUNCILLORS GET FIRSTHAND VIEW OF DECOMMISSIONING
 
[The Whitehaven News] [http://www.cumbria-online.co.uk]   

[DECOMMISSIONING TOUR: Councillors meeting at Sellafield to see 
the work on decommissioning at the advanced gas-cooled reator, 
Sellafield] THE Leader of Copeland Council George Usher and his 
Executive recently saw nuclear decommissioning at first hand 
during a visit to UKAEA's Windscale site.

UKAEA's Head of Site, Peter Mann, gave the visitors an overview 
of the decommissioning and restoration programme with the focus 
on two of the UK's most challenging decommissioning projects - 
the Windscale Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (WAGR) and the 
Windscale Pile One reactor.

The Executive then visited the WAGR control room to see remote 
dismantling of the graphite core of the reactor. WAGR is the UK 
demonstration project to show that decommissioning a power 
reactor can be done safely, cost effectively and using existing 
technology.

Peter Mann said: "The Government proposals for managing the UK's 
nuclear clean-up programme have put a welcome spotlight on our 
decommissioning work. It was therefore an ideal time to welcome 
the Copeland Executive to Windscale to learn our plans for 
restoring the site and to see a key stage of dismantling a power 
reactor."

Council Leader George Usher added that he had been impressed with 
the work being done at Windscale. "On behalf of Copeland, I have 
been involved in discussions with the team who are shadowing the 
arrival of the new Liabilities Management Authority. I was 
therefore pleased to hear from Peter Mann about the positive 
approach that UKAEA is taking to the formation of the LMA." he 
said.   

[news@whitehaven-news.co.uk
*****************************************************************
 19 American Indians will tackle tribal rise in cancer
 		 			 			 		 		 			 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 		 
To serve Native Americans and gain insight, UA and NAU woo them 
into medicine. [Rare Metals] Uranium mines, processing facilities 
and tailings were a common sight on the Navajo Reservation. In 
these photos taken 20 years ago at Rare Metals by the Citizen's 
P.K. Weis, only barbed wire and this sign separated Navajos 
living a short distance from what was once a busy 
uranium-processing facility. Rare Metals, which was just east of 
Tuba City and included about 20 homes for employees, has since 
been razed and the tailings have been capped. P.K. WEIS/Tucson 
Citizen

  [adenogea@tucsoncitizen.com] Tucson Citizen Aug. 29, 2002

 Leftover rubble from Navajo uranium mines to be studied

        American Indians have long reported the lowest incidence 
of cancer in the country, but the rate is rising twice as fast as 
that of the general population. And when they do get cancer, they 
are much more likely than members of any other ethnic group to 
die from it.

The mystery of this increasing burden of cancer for the first 
Americans is going unsolved largely because of cultural barriers 
to conducting research in this population. And it's a double 
whammy as many of the same factors prevent Indians with cancer 
from getting all the care they need.

A new program at the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona 
University aims to resolve this quandary by increasing the ranks 
of American Indian cancer researchers, doctors, nurses and other 
medical professionals.

"Until we address the shortage of Native Americans in 
cancer-related careers," said Roger Van Andel, director of 
comparative medicine at NAU, "we will have limited ability to 
address these cancer disparities."

Van Andel and Louise Canfield, a UA professor of biochemistry and 
public health, are co-principal investigators on the grant paying 
for the program.

Canfield said with trust and communication gaps among the biggest 
obstacles to serving the American Indian population, the need for 
health-care professionals from their own communities is critical 
to conducting research, implementing cancer prevention measures 
and overcoming the reticence some may have to seeking cancer 
treatment.

 The Native American Cancer Research Partnership is being funded 
over the next five years by a $7.5 million grant recently awarded 
to UA and NAU by the National Cancer Institute.

 The program provides coursework and seminars on cancer and 
research methodology, as well as mentoring by health 
professionals. The UA portion of the program already has 25 
students involved, most of them of Navajo descent, Canfield said. 
There is one Tohono O'odham student in the program.

 NAU gets the lion's share of the grant - $4.5 million - and that 
includes funding for American Indian faculty.
 
[Bancroft] 

One of the women living in a hogan near the tailings was Nez 
Bancroft (above), who said she and her 20-plus children and 
grandchildren often noticed funny smells emanating from the 
tailings. P.K. WEIS/Tucson Citizen

 "We hope that some of our students end up at NAU as faculty 
doing research. We hope some of our students will wind up in the 
community as doctors," Canfield said.

 Now, Canfield said, too few American Indians are entering the 
health and science fields. UA's College of Medicine graduated 
four this year. None graduated last year and the college expects 
to have one graduate in 2003 but none in 2004.

 The six-year graduation rate for American Indian undergraduates 
starting in 1995 in all majors at UA was only 25 percent. And 
Canfield estimated it is even lower for those students in the 
health professions majors.
 
 The reasons for the shortage of American Indians in the health 
sciences and their struggles in university environment are many.
 
 They often come from small, close-knit communities and can be 
overwhelmed by the challenges of living alone for the first time 
and being one of a huge freshman class, said Erica Tom, an 
Eastern Band Cherokee and UA student pursuing a master's of 
public health.
 
 It can be very lonely, especially when there are few faces that 
resemble your own, she and other students said.
 
 "Going back to the reservation, if you think about it, the only 
opportunities that are available are within tribal politics, 
within education or within the Indian Health Service system. 
Those are the three main job options," said Naomi Young, a Navajo 
and a senior majoring in molecular and cellular biology.
 
 "Other than that, it's work at a gas station or you can work at 
the Navajo Nation Inn as a waitress. There's really nothing 
available. Coming down here, you're never told that there's 
Native American physicians. You're never told there's Native 
American lawyers. Your never really told to dream big, unless you 
hear it from your family."
 
 According to Canfield, the program will draw on NAU's experience 
in working with Indian students. NAU led the nation last year in 
the number of American Indian graduates. It awarded degrees to 
253 graduates at the undergraduate, master's and doctorate 
levels.
 
 At the same time that few American Indians are pursuing health 
careers, there is a strong mistrust of outsiders.
 
                                [Rare Metals] The homes in Rare 
Metals, just east of Tuba City, have been razed in the past 20 
years and the tailings from a nearby uranium processing facility 
have been capped. P.K. WEIS/Tucson Citizen
 
 There is a mistrust of Anglo doctors who don't speak their 
language, researchers who have used them as "guinea pigs" in the 
past, and of the federal and state governments that the tribes 
feel have taken advantage of them, Young said.
 
 There are also communication issues. Inadvertently saying the 
wrong thing or being too forward can blow a research project or 
wreck a doctor-patient relationship from the start, students in 
the program said.
 
 Many American Indian cultures view it as disrespectful to really 
look someone in the eye, Tom said. Doing so, could make a patient 
feel uncomfortable.
 
 Asking for a blood sample, considered a minor thing by most 
people, can be a big deal for some American Indians, Young said. 
The person asking needs to preface the request with a long 
explanation of why the sample is needed and what will be done 
with it.
 
 "You also have to answer how it will benefit them," Young said.
 
 Students in the program said they have an advantage because they 
know the unspoken rules of their communities. Many of them speak 
the native language, which can create an instant bond between a 
caregiver and a patient.
 
 "We are all from the communities. And we know what the lifestyle 
is and how we grew up," said Racheal James, a Navajo and UA 
microbiology senior.
 
 The grant is renewable indefinitely, and Van Andel and Canfield 
hope to create a program that will train American Indian 
health-care researchers and health-care providers for decades to 
come.
 
[UA cancer researchers] UA cancer researchers (from left): 
Carlyle Begay (senior, molecular and cellular biology), Erica Tom 
(grad student, public health), Naomi Young (senior, molecular and 
cellular biology), professor Louise Canfield and Rachel James 
(senior, microbiology). XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson Citizen
 
 "This is a very special group of students," Canfield said. "I 
have taught for 20 years and I have never seen students that were 
as dedicated, as respectful of themselves and others and as eager 
to learn and go back and serve their community. They are a real 
treasure and we absolutely cannot lose them."
 
 The six leading causes of death for all Americans:
 	
  + Heart disease
 	
  + Cancer
 	
  + Stroke
 	
  + Chronic lower respiratory diseases
 	
  + Accidents
 	
  + Diabetes Leading causes of death for American Indians:
 	
  + Heart disease
 	
  + Cancer
 	
  + Accidents
 	
  + Diabetes
 	
  + Stroke
 	
  + Chronic liver disease Source: CDC National Center for Health 
Statistics, 1999 data
 
 CANCER COMPARISONS:
 	
  + The incidence of cancer among American Indians is 203 cases 
per 100,000 people. For whites, the rate is 401 per 100,000. 
Blacks have the worst rate at 445 cases per 100,000.
 	
  + From 1973 to 1998, the increase in cancer cases was 4 percent 
for the general population versus 10 percent among American 
Indians.
 	
  + The five-year survival rates for American Indians with cancer 
are among the lowest in the country. One study put it at 36 
percent versus 47 percent among other Americans.

        Sources: The American Cancer Society, National Cancer 
Institute, the journal Cancer
 
[http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/resources/email.html] 
                                       
Copyright � 2002 Tucson Citizen
*****************************************************************
 20 BNFL PLANS TO MOVE 1800 STAFF
 
[The Whitehaven News] "http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk

IN its bid to move 1,800 staff off the Sellafield site, BNFL is 
planning to build six office units at Yottenfews car park. A 
planning application has been lodged with Copeland Council.

The nuclear plant is keen to see a reduction in the number of 
employees' vehicles allowed into Sellafield to help site 
security. It would give security officers more time to search 
vehicles, especially at peak periods and on-site emergency 
management arrangements would also be eased.

Regulatory bodies the NII (Nuclear Installations Inspectorate) 
and the Office of Civil Nuclear Security strongly support the 
move.

BNFL says Yottenfews is an ideal location for those people who do 
not need to be on the licensed site but within easy distance if 
they need to visit plants on a regular basis.

BNFL's requirement is for two off-site locations at Westlakes and 
Yottenfews, however, the company recognises Copeland Council's 
requirement to promote regeneration of its town centres and as a 
result is looking at the possibility of a new office building 
somewhere in Whitehaven.   


*****************************************************************
 21 Public input sought on Cotter's safety (Uranium Mill)

Welcome to The Pueblo Chieftain Online <http://www.chieftain.com>  

*Friday August 30th, 2002*

By TRACY HARMON

*CANON CITY* - Public comment is being accepted by the Colorado 
Department of Public Health in connection with worker safety 
problems at Cotter Corp's uranium mill here.

The health department announced Thursday it will accept public 
comment Sept. 3-24. Written comments will be considered by the 
department before it makes a final decision on whether to allow 
the plant to again receive outside materials for processing.

Cotter has been barred from receiving shipments since July 9 due 
to unresolved violations of worker safety and other issues 
related to the processing of uranium at the mill. Cotter 
responded Aug. 19 with procedures designed to resolve the issues.

Doug Bevevento, health department director of environmental 
programs, said the public comment period was established at the 
request of state Rep. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas.

"Rep. Kester requested that the citizen comment period be 
established on the specific issue of worker safety so that 
members of the public, Cotter employees, and the union that 
represents Cotter employees could comment before the department 
makes a final decision," Benevento said.

Cotter officials hope to receive radioactive materials from Li 
Tungsten, N.Y., and the Maywood, N.J., cleanup sites in order to 
make ends meet while it works to finalize plans to process 
zirconium ore, which is relatively low in radioactivity.

Delays have forced Cotter to lay off 45 workers since May 1. An 
additional 10 workers were laid off in mid-August.

Cotter Corp. Manager Patrick Mutz referred calls for comment to 
Cotter Vice President Rich Ziegler. However, Ziegler could not be 
reached for comment Thursday.

www.cdphe.state.co.us/lr/lrhom.asp
<http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/lr/lrhom.asp> . Written comments on worker
safety issues can be sent to Jake Jacobi, manager, Radiation Services
Program, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 8100
Lowry Blvd., Denver, CO 80230; or via e-mail to jake.jacobi@state.co.us
<mailto:jake.jacobi@state.co.us> .

<http://www.chieftain.com>
The Star-Journal Publishing Corp.
Pueblo, Colorado U.S.A.
*****************************************************************
 22 Bush sued over plan for nuclear dump on volcano

Times Online

August 30, 2002

From Chris Ayres in Los Angeles
 			   		 		
THE state of Nevada is to pursue as many as six separate lawsuits 
against President Bush and various government agencies over plans 
to build a $58 billion (�38.3 billion) nuclear waste dump in the 
middle of an active volcanic field. 

The planned site, at Yucca Mountain about 90 miles outside Las 
Vegas, would be America�s first national nuclear waste dump and 
probably the biggest of its kind in the world. 

Tens of thousands of lorries and trains carrying used uranium 
pellets, which are currently stored at 131 power plants and 
government sites in 39 states, would be transported to the dump 
every year. 

Joseph Egan, the Washington lawyer hired by Nevada to fight the 
case, said earlier this week that he would work on a no-win, 
no-fee basis. �I am very confident that they will never open this 
repository,� he said in the desert city of Reno, near Yosemite 
National Park. �We will win long before they ever do.� 

Campaigners against the Yucca Mountain dump, which was finally 
given the go-ahead by Mr Bush in July after nearly two decades of 
fierce debate, say that the site is on sacred Indian ground, and 
would be safe for only 10,000 years. The National Academy of 
Science recommends a standard safety span for nuclear dumps of 
one million years. 

There is also a one in 1,000 chance of an eruption at the site 
over its lifespan, with scientists warning of a �nuclear 
volcano�. Earthquakes could also pose a threat to the dump. 

Nevada also says the site fails to comply with a 1982 ruling by 
Congress that nuclear dumps should be �geologically safe� and not 
made safe by engineers. So far, Nevada has filed five lawsuits, 
one of which is against President Bush personally, as well as 
Spencer Abraham, the Energy Secretary. 

The other lawsuits are aimed at the US Environmental Protection 
Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy 
Department. It is thought that a sixth lawsuit will accuse 
federal agencies of violating their constitutional duties in 
handling the Yucca Mountain issue. 

Nevada is being sued in return by the Energy Department for 
refusing to give access to its groundwater for research. Most of 
the lawsuits are likely to reach the Supreme Court.
   											 									
[http://www.timesonline.co.uk
*****************************************************************
 23 Task force to discuss Irish Sea nuclear shipment *

 /online.ie 

30 Aug 2002/

A task force chaired by Defence Minister Michael Smith is to meet 
next week to discuss the shipment of mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear 
fuel being returned to Sellafield through the Irish Sea.

The MOX fuel was originally sent from Sellafield to Japan, but 
the Japanese authorities sent it back after Sellafield owners 
British Nuclear Fuels admitted falsifying safety data.

The Government has already ruled out sending Irish naval vessels 
to escort the shipment, but the emergency task force established 
after last year's attacks on the US is believed to be considering 
such a move.

The MOX is due to arrive in the Irish Sea on two ships in 
mid-September.

<mailto:feedback@online.ie>  Site Map 
<http://www.online.ie/info/>   
*****************************************************************
 24 Sellafield blow good news for anti-nuclear campaigners *

 /online.ie 29 Aug 2002/

The nuclear plant at Sellafield in Britain has been dealt a 
devastating blow this evening, and anti-nuclear campaigners are 
confident that the plant is now in grave danger.

Greenpeace has claimed that Japan - which is Sellafield's biggest 
overseas client - has ordered a halt to its plutonium trade with 
the plant.

This decision came in the light of reactor faults which were 
discovered at one of Japan's biggest nuclear plants.

Greenpeace's Shawn Burke said: "Over the last couple of weeks it 
has started to emerge that a number of nuclear reactors in Japan 
had serious problems related to corrosion."

Following an emergency press conference tonight in Tokyo, the 
president of Japan's largest electrical company, Tokyo Electric, 
announced their plutonium programme would be indefinitely 
postponed.

Mr Burke said: "The reason for this is that it has been revealed 
that Tokyo Electric and the government have been covering up 
vital safety inspections over a number of years for the reactors, 
including reactors licensed to use plutonium mox."

Tokyo Electric is BNFL's second largest Japanese client.

They had hoped that Tokyo Electric and other bigger Japanese 
clients would be signing contracts for hundreds of tonnes of mox 
fuel.

"They will put a brave face on it," said Mr Burke, but "they know 
it is catastrophic for future operations at Sellafield".

*****************************************************************

*****************************************************************
 25 Ca. Law won't give dump free pass 

bakersfield.com - Local News
 
 [http://www.bakersfield.com]   
  
  Bob Christie Email [local@bakersfield.com] (661) 395-7413 

[http://discussion.bakersfield.com] 


By VIC POLLARD, Californian Sacramento Bureau 
e-mail: vpollard@bakersfield.com 
Thursday August 29, 2002, 11:11:00 PM 

SACRAMENTO -- Safety-Kleen won't get off the hook after all for 
what the state says was illegally dumping trainloads of atomic 
trash in its Buttonwillow facility.

 A provision that would legalize the dumping of the slightly 
radioactive material by the environmental services company in the 
Kern County dump three years ago has been removed from a 
regulatory bill that passed the Assembly on Thursday. The Senate 
is expected to send it to Gov. Gray Davis today.

 Its author, Democratic Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles, said 
the Buttonwillow exemption, as it was called, was stripped from 
the bill because she and other supporters of the measure learned 
belatedly that there is a pending lawsuit against Safety-Kleen 
over the issue.

 "We accepted the exemption with incomplete information," Romero 
said. "Once we were aware that there was a lawsuit pending, we 
removed it. Passing legislation that would affect a pending 
lawsuit is not a good thing to do."

 However, the lawsuit has been on hold since Safety-Kleen 
declared bankruptcy last year, said Raphael Metzger, the Long 
Beach attorney who filed it on behalf of an organization called 
Toxic Injuries Corp.

 Metzger, who specializes in litigation over water pollution 
issues, said Toxic Injuries is an independent group for which he 
has filed many lawsuits over pollution and toxic waste issues.

 He said the suit was filed in Los Angeles County, rather than in 
Kern, because it was combined with a previously filed suit 
against Safety-Kleen over alleged water pollution from its 
parts-cleaning operations in that area.

 The suit asks the court to order the firm to remove the atomic 
waste and return all the profits it made from the storage of the 
material.

 Metzger said he believes Romero's removal of the exemption 
strengthens his chances of prevailing in court once the company 
emerges from bankruptcy.

 "Now that they're not going to get their exemption they're going 
to have to deal with that waste," Metzger said.

 Safety-Kleen spokesman John Kyte said the company is 
disappointed about the removal of the exemption.

 "I believe it would have helped solve a very important issue, 
but at the same time, these kinds of things happen," he said.

 Passage of the bill without the exemption will not require 
Safety-Kleen to remove the radioactive waste. However, the 
exemption would have put an end to an investigation of the 
dumping by the state Department of Health Services, said Dan 
Hirsch, an official with the Committee to Bridge the Gap, which 
is a nuclear watchdog group that sponsors the Romero bill.

 The material consists of hundreds of tons of wood, bricks and 
other building materials from a demolished structure in New York 
state that was used during the development of the atomic bomb in 
World War II. Safety-Kleen insists that it had both state and 
federal approval and that the material has such a low level of 
radioactivity that it poses no hazards to groundwater or to the 
health of nearby residents.

 Some Buttonwillow-area residents disagree, but not all of them 
think digging up the material is a good answer.

 "That would just stir it up," said Renee Nelson, one of the most 
outspoken local critics of Safety-Kleen.

 Other critics, such as Cathy Palla, a Bakersfield businesswoman 
and former county supervisor candidate, say the material will 
pose a danger to local water supplies and the nearby California 
Aqueduct as long as it remains in the ground.

 The Romero bill bars the dumping of low-level radioactive waste 
in municipal landfills or in hazardous waste dumps like the 
Buttonwillow site. It passed the Assembly 48-19 after Assemblyman 
Dean Florez, D-Shafter, told lawmakers, "I live in one of those 
communities where tons of this material has already been dumped." 

[http://discussion.bakersfield.com] 

*****************************************************************
 26 Nuclear materials test conducted successfully

  [Las Vegas Review-Journal] 
    
Friday, August 30, 2002
 Copyright � Las Vegas Review-Journal 
 
REVIEW-JOURNAL 

Government scientists from New Mexico successfully conducted the 
nuclear materials experiment, Mario, on Thursday at the Nevada 
Test Site. 

National Nuclear Security Administration officials said a small 
amount of plutonium was detonated at noon Thursday in an 
underground chamber at the test site, 85 miles northwest of Las 
Vegas. 

As designed, the so-called subcritical experiment by scientists 
from the Los Alamos, N.M., national laboratory did not cause a 
nuclear chain reaction. It was the nation's 18th subcritical 
experiment at the test site since 1997. 

Officials for the administration, a branch of the Department of 
Energy, have said subcritical experiments are essential for 
scientists to gather data on how plutonium blows apart when 
detonated. The information is needed to certify that the aging 
stockpile is safe and reliable in the absence of full-scale 
tests. 

Anti-nuclear activists, however, took issue with the Mario 
experiment, saying in a statement Wednesday that it amounts to 
"continued hypocrisy" by the U.S. government. 

This story is located at: 
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Aug-30-Fri-2002/news/19524716.html
[http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Aug-30-Fri-2002/news/19524716.html]
*****************************************************************
 27 Subcritical experiment called a success
 
August 30, 2002 
 
LAS VEGAS SUN

 The National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos 
National Laboratory successfully conducted a subcritical 
experiment called "Mario" on Thursday at the Nevada Test Site.

 "Mario" was the 18th subcritical experiment conducted in a 
cavern about 960 feet underground at the Test Site, 85 miles 
northeast of Las Vegas.

 The experiment was designed to answer questions about plutonium 
after a high explosives blast sprays particles from a material's 
surface following the shock wave.

 Scientists conduct subcritical experiments in order to gather 
technical information about the state of the nation's nuclear 
weapons stockpile without actual underground nuclear testing.

 Subcritical tests do not support a nuclear chain reaction.
 
All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 28 Kursk Crew Not Trained With Torpedo

Las Vegas SUN
 
August 29, 2002 
 By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV ASSOCIATED PRESS 

MOSCOW- The crew of the submarine Kursk was never trained to use 
the kind of torpedo that exploded and sank the nuclear boat, and 
leaks of a torpedo propellant similar to the one that triggered 
the August 2000 disaster were found throughout Russia's Northern 
Fleet. 

Details of the prosecutor general's probe into the catastrophe 
that killed the Kursk's entire 118-man crew filled four pages of 
the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Thursday. 

Prosecutors gathered frightening evidence of neglect of safety 
regulations in the cash-strapped navy, but concluded that none of 
the violations directly brought on the disaster. 

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov closed the books on the 
catastrophe last month, and said no one was to blame for the 
explosion. 

The report said the blast was caused by highly volatile hydrogen 
peroxide seeping out of cracks in the torpedo and exploding when 
it came into contact with kerosene and metal. The torpedoes - 
stored in the bow - detonated, dooming the boat. 

The torpedo that exploded on the Kursk was built in the Central 
Asian republic of Kazakhstan in 1990, shortly before the Soviet 
collapse, and it underwent repairs in 1993-1994. Investigators 
have determined that some of its components had served from one 
to six years beyond their designated service life. 

They said no malfunction had been spotted in the Kursk's 
torpedoes before the submarine went on its fatal mission, but 
pointed to an absence of data about the condition of the 
torpedo's rubber gaskets, which required frequent replacement. 

The prosecutors said that a check of other Northern Fleet 
submarines in 2000-2001 revealed the use of bad gaskets, which 
resulted in hydrogen peroxide leaks from torpedo tanks, the 
newspaper said. The inspection even found signs of corrosion on 
the surface of some weapons. 

The probe also revealed that the torpedo that exploded on the 
Kursk was checked and loaded on the submarine by navy staff who 
were not authorized for the job. And it established that the 
Kursk crew had never used such torpedoes and lacked the proper 
training to handle them. 

Moreover, the order allowing the Kursk crew to use the torpedoes 
was issued by navy officers who didn't have the right to sign 
such documents. 

Ret. Rear Adm. Yuri Senatsky, the former chief of the Soviet 
navy's rescue service, said the official probe left him "burning 
with shame for the Russian navy." 

"We have proven our complete helplessness and misery," Senatsky 
said Thursday on the Echo of Moscow radio. 

When the Kursk sank, the navy's rescue efforts were thwarted by a 
similar combination of sloppiness, irresponsibility and 
inadequate equipment. 

The Northern Fleet's flagship, the Peter the Great cruiser, was 
close to the disaster area and its acoustics registered the 
blasts. But the Northern Fleet chief, Adm. Vyacheslav Popov, who 
was leading the maneuvers on board the cruiser, ignored the 
acoustics report and led the ship away from the area. 

He launched an all-out search for the Kursk nine hours after the 
explosions, and it took the navy 31 hours more to spot the 
submarine lying on the seabed. Earlier this year, a top navy 
official said that 23 crew members who initially managed to 
survive the blasts and gathered in the stern might have stayed 
alive for three days. But Ustinov has rejected such speculation, 
saying that all the crew members died of carbon monoxide 
poisoning from fires and the rise in pressure within eight hours 
of the blasts - long before any help could arrive. 

It might have been possible to locate the Kursk more quickly if 
its emergency buoy hadn't been incapacitated by manufacturing 
flaws and crew error that prevented it from rising to surface. 

While Russian officials refused to accept any foreign aid, 
Russian submersibles spent a week in vain attempts to hook up to 
the Kursk's escape hatch. The official probe revealed that the 
navy crews who operated submersibles had never been adequately 
trained in rescue missions and lacked the supplies and spares to 
properly run their capsules, the newspaper said. 

The government's bungled handling of the rescue effort shook the 
nation and dented President Vladimir Putin's prestige. 

All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 29 Deal settles future of Ohio plant

Beacon Journal | 08/30/2002 | 

 Government awards contract to build two facilities to convert 
uranium waste

 Associated Press
 
WASHINGTON - The Energy Department awarded a $558 million 
contract Thursday to build a pair of plants in Ohio and Kentucky 
that will convert vast amounts of uranium waste into a safer 
form.
 
The decision ended speculation over whether the southern Ohio 
plant would get additional jobs to help offset last year's loss 
of uranium enrichment operations.
 
The waste conversion plants are expected to bring about 150 
long-term jobs and as many as 300 construction jobs at each site, 
said Dan Minter, president of the local union that represents the 
Ohio workers.
 
``It was always Congress' intent to have two plants constructed, 
and now we are finally going to see that happen,'' said Rep. Rob 
Portman, R-Cincinnati, whose newly redrawn congressional district 
includes the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.
 
Portman and others had argued that legislation passed in 1998 
required the government to build facilities at both Piketon and 
Paducah, Ky. The Bush administration maintained the language 
wasn't mandatory and that it was inclined to build one facility 
to save money.
 
Congress last month passed an anti-terrorism spending bill that 
again required the government to build two facilities.
 
``It's unfortunate that it literally took a second act of 
Congress to get it done, but I'm happy that it's finally 
happening,'' said Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland, who currently 
represents the Ohio plant.
 
About 60,000 cylinders of depleted uranium are stored at Energy 
Department facilities in Paducah, Piketon, and Oak Ridge, Tenn. 
Environmentalists say some of the cylinders are in poor condition 
and could leak. The new plants will convert it into a more stable 
form for either long-term storage, use or disposal.
 
The hazardous waste is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment 
process that the government used to manufacture nuclear weapons. 
Today, only the Paducah plant enriches uranium, and it does so 
for commercial purposes.
 
Hundreds of workers at the Piketon plant were thrown out of work 
last year when USEC Inc. scaled back to just one enrichment 
facility in Paducah.
 
Supporters of building two plants said cleanup would be slower 
with one operation and it would have been expensive, and 
potentially hazardous, to ship all the waste to one facility.
 
Lawmakers say they do not have a firm figure on the construction 
cost but that one estimate puts it at $400 million. Construction 
is to begin by July 31, 2004, and the plants are expected to 
operate for up to 25 years.
 
Uranium Disposition Services, a consortium of energy companies 
based in Oak Ridge, will build the two plants and operate them 
for five years, the Energy Department said. Five companies had 
bid for the contract, which runs until 2010.
 
Gov. Bob Taft called the contract a ``significant victory'' for 
southern Ohio and an acknowledgment of the quality of the 
region's work force. ``We fought hard for these jobs,'' he said.
   
Ohio.com 


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 30 Bechtel Jacobs plan under close scrutiny
 
 The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News --

Friday, August 30, 2002

by R. Cathey Daniels 
Oak Ridger staff 

As two behemoth cleanup projects lumber their way toward a 
contract in the next few months, the subcontracting community 
will be keeping a very close eye on Bechtel Jacobs.

 So will the Department of Energy.

 "We've told them we want to watch this carefully," said Gerald 
Boyd, of Bechtel Jacobs' decision to send more work through an 
online reverse auction process, and the possibility that the K-25 
and K-27 buildings at the west end of Oak Ridge would be bid that 
way. Boyd is Oak Ridge Operations assistant manager for the 
environmental management program.

 Bechtel Jacobs holds the environmental management contract for 
DOE and is currently awaiting word from the federal agency on the 
status of that contract. About three months ago the company began 
touting the reverse online auction as a new tool that could save 
the government and taxpayers money, and held an orientation in 
June.

 "We sort of have to let them try that," said Boyd. "We have 
contracted with them to get the work done. We don't want to 
prematurely or unnecessarily get in their way. If we begin to see 
it's stymieing innovation or preventing competition � if it looks 
like it's going to create problems we will work with Bechtel 
Jacobs on that. I think Bechtel Jacobs is going to watch this 
very closely."

 Boyd noted he had been given assurances from Bechtel Jacobs that 
should the company bid the two buildings at the East Tennessee 
Technology Park, formerly the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and 
problems arise, a retreat could be called without delay.

 "They have assured me that if they start to use reverse auction 
on that project and it begins to show that we're not getting the 
bidders to the table that we need or we're not getting the 
innovation we need, they can simply stop that and go to a more 
traditional approach without losing any time," said Boyd.

 According to Bob Lynch, procurement manager, the decision to bid 
that contract through reverse auction has not yet been made, 
though he noted that if the scope of work can be well-defined, 
it's a distinct possibility. Work that cannot be well-defined 
would not be put through the reverse bidding process, said Lynch.

 Nick Perry, deputy procurement manager, said, "We'll have to 
wait and see the entire package, but we feel at this point our 
engineers have done a good job of creating a clear and crisp 
statement of work for that project."

 But the possibility of the contractor bidding large, complex 
cleanup jobs through reverse auction has subcontractors 
concerned. They say it is very hard to define the many unforeseen 
problems that can occur on such a project, and that a company 
submitting lowest bid might not have the necessary creative 
technical experience to pull the job off.

 Add to that an accelerated cleanup schedule, and there could be 
trouble, said Jenny Freeman, executive director of the East 
Tennessee Environmental Business Association.

 "Does DOE have the experience in reverse auction to oversee the 
aftermath of a low-bidder winning the work with a bid that leaves 
no flexibility to deal with unforeseen issues under an 
accelerated schedule?" asked Freeman.

 She noted that the environmental companies are open to change, 
have "embraced" the fixed price contracting, think the new plan 
will work for discreet, well-defined projects and purchases, but 
said companies continue to register concerns that the plan 
encourages the low-bid mentality to the possible detriment of 
environmental projects.

 "Reverse auction bids shifts the focus away from technical merit 
to strictly low bid," said Freeman.

 Bruce Kimmel, vice president with CDM, an engineering consulting 
company focusing on environmental work, said that he would have a 
difficult time convincing management of his firm to participate.

 "I have to seriously question the wisdom of a reverse auction 
approach in what already amounts to a low bid environment," said 
Kimmel. "Especially considering the accelerated cleanup schedule 
in Oak Ridge.

 "These are projects that require complex remediation -- that 
kind of work inevitably requires people to exercise professional 
judgment and problem solving, in situations with typically a lot 
of surprises and unexpected developments in the field."

 Alex Silva, business manager for Williams Environmental Services 
in Atlanta, and a member of the East Tennessee Environmental 
Business Association, puts it this way:

 "You wouldn't hire an attorney based on which one could bid the 
lowest, or a dentist. We're talking about professional services, 
and with that, it's not the bottom dollar that's of utmost 
value."

 While both Lynch and Perry agree that the opportunity exists for 
companies to continually resubmit lower bids, an option not 
available in a "paper" bid, they say they encourage companies to 
enter the process with a walk-away price and to stick to it.

 "These companies are the best of the best and we expect them to 
make sound business judgments, whether it's a paper bid or 
whether it's in a reverse auction," said Perry.

 The environmental business membership, about 80-members strong, 
presented Bechtel Jacobs with a list of concerns two weeks after 
seeing the program in June, and more recently, about 30 percent 
of members returned an informal survey on the matter, what 
Freeman terms "overwhelming response" in terms of survey 
interest.

 The Oak Ridger obtained a copy of the survey and Freeman agreed 
to discuss the results.

 "As to eliminating competition, almost fifty percent of 
respondents indicate they won't participate in reverse auction," 
said Freeman.

 Of the 28 respondents, seven indicated they would participate in 
reverse auction for work on the Oak Ridge Reservation; 13 
indicated they would not participate and eight said they were 
undecided.

 "We're talking about well-established companies with up to 20 
years experience here that are taking a close look at whether 
they will compete under this scenario," said Freeman. "These are 
the very companies we want to be involved in upcoming remediation 
work.

 "Is this what the department wants?"

 Thus far Bechtel Jacobs has held one reverse auction, which was 
for travel services. Perry said the process saved the company 
about 20 percent over it's previous rate.
 
R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or 
danielsrcd@oakridger.com [danielsrcd@oakridger.com] .

[http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents �Copyright The Oak Ridger 
*****************************************************************
 31 Safety milestone at Y-12 

The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News --

Friday, August 30, 2002

Workers in the Y-12 National Security Complex's Enriched Uranium 
Operations reached a significant safety milestone recently when 
they recorded nearly 21 months of work without a lost-time work 
injury, according to a BWXT Y-12 press release.

 A lost-time injury is one that would cause someone to miss a day 
of work.

 Richard Carlson, Y-12 director of manufacturing, said in a 
written statement, "The single most important factor in safety 
performance is attitude. Both enriched uranium operations 
management and line workers have clearly established a positive 
attitude involving personal safety."

 Jimmy Stone, manager, said the division is on a "great trend."

 "These statistics are a reflection of the dedication and 
commitment of the people in enriched uranium operations to 
safety," said Stone.

 BWXT Y-12 operates the Y-12 National Nuclear Security Complex 
for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

[http://www.oakridger.com/contact/index.html] 

[http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents �Copyright The Oak Ridger 
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 32 UF6 conversion contract to add jobs in Paducah 

The Paducah Sun
Paducah, Kentucky
Friday, August 30, 2002

A company in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will build facilities in Paducah 
and Piketon, Ohio, to convert hazardous waste. 

By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
 
About 150 permanent jobs and as many as 400 construction jobs 
will be created when an Oak Ridge, Tenn., firm builds a facility 
to convert about 37,000 cylinders of hazardous waste at the 
Paducah uranium enrichment plant into a safer material. 

The $558 million contract awarded Thursday to Uranium Disposition 
Services LLC is expected to create 20 major subcontracting 
projects for the facility, which will treat and recycle depleted 
uranium hexafluoride, or UF6, left over from enrichment work at 
the plant during its 50 years of operation. 

"Our intent is to have preferential hiring from the local area," 
said Pat Hopper, UDS president and chief executive officer. He 
declined to give pay ranges but said wages and salaries "will be 
competitive with the market area." 

The company, which already has two other conversion plants, beat 
four other bidders, including one involving enrichment plant 
operator USEC Inc. Under the new contract, UDS will also build a 
conversion plant in Piketon, Ohio, and run both it and the 
Paducah plant for five years through Aug. 3, 2010. 

Under a recent congressional mandate, construction must start by 
July 1, 2004, which Hopper called an "aggressive" target date. 
The new legislation, part of an anti-terrorism spending bill, had 
required the Energy Department to award a contract for the 
project within a month of the president's signing the bill. 

The Paducah facility will be built immediately south of the 
cylinder yards on the east side of the enrichment plant entrance 
road and across from the Energy Department Site Office, he said. 

Hopper said the Energy Department requires that all the material 
be converted in 25 years or less. UDS' contract is for the first 
five years. After that, DOE will determine what to do with the 
rest of the material, he said. 

The conversion breaks down toxic, slightly radioactive UF6 into 
uranium oxide and hydrogen fluoride, or HF. Although there are 
established markets for HF, the oxide remains a question mark, he 
said. 

"We have a program to look into commercial recycling uses for 
uranium oxide," Hopper said. "If there are outlets available, 
we'll find and use them. If not, the material will be buried in 
an approved facility in the Southwest." 

Three firms joined forces to form UDS specifically to bid on the 
project. The group's components: 

+ Framatome ANP (Advanced Nuclear Power), a leading nuclear 
technology provider, based in Lynchburg, Va. Framatome, part of a 
French consortium, operates UF6 conversion plants in Richland, 
Wash., and in Germany. 

+ Lakewood, Colo.-based Duratek Federal Services, whose advanced 
nuclear waste disposal technology is used at many Energy 
Department sites. 

+ Burns and Roe Enterprises of Oradell, N.J., an 
architectural/engineering firm that has done nuclear power plant 
work nationwide. 

Hopper said he thought UDS' experience and reputation, combined 
with having existing conversion plants, were factors in winning 
the contract. 

"I think the technology obviously was a factor, because it is a 
very simple, one-step conversion process," he said. "It's not 
complicated and doesn't have a lot of moving parts. It's 
operating safely and efficiently under NRC (Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission) rigor right now, so it's a mature, proven process." 

UDS was one of three finalists when the Energy Department 
abruptly stopped the evaluation in January after months of 
review. The other finalists were American Conversion Services, 
formed by USEC and the environmental firm CH2M Hill, and Jacobs 
COGEMA, formed by Jacobs Engineering Group and COGEMA. The 
two-plant process � originally mandated by Congress in 1998 
through the strong efforts of the Kentucky delegation � was 
halted because the Office of Management and Budget questioned the 
need for two plants. This summer, the delegation had new language 
passed to enforce building plants in Paducah and Piketon. 

Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, and Jim Bunning, 
R-Southgate, along with Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, lauded 
the new contract after four years of stalled efforts. They said 
the project will create jobs while cleaning up 700,000 metric 
tons of hazardous waste, much of which is at Paducah. 

McConnell said the Energy Department met one part of the 
legislation by awarding the contract on time. He said he will see 
that DOE meets the second requirement � seeking adequate funding 
in fiscal 2004 and beyond to "ensure completion of the project." 

Washington policy analyst Richard Miller, who helped McConnell�s 
staff write the new legislation, said the question now is whether 
the Energy Department will "free up" $373 million set aside for 
the project. The money, collected by USEC from its utility 
customers for use in UF6 disposal, was put into a fund 
established by the 1998 law but has never been used, he said. 

"That will cover the cost of building the two facilities and then 
some, and not require a vast amount of appropriations," said 
Miller, who works for the Government Accountability Project, a 
national watchdog group. "I think the next challenge is for the 
OMB and DOE to come forward and make those monies available. 
Until this point, they've been under lock and key." 


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 33 DOE Awards $957,000 to Next Generation Economy Community Reuse 
Organization -->      

energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release

August 29, 2002   

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded 
$957,000 in the form of competitive grants to the Next Generation 
Community Reuse Organization (NextGen). NextGen is the community 
reuse organization (CRO) for the department's site in 
Albuquerque, New, Mexico. 

"The Energy Department is a good neighbor to the communities 
surrounding our sites," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. 
"We will continue to work with the NextGen and other community 
reuse organizations around the country, to retain, expand or 
create jobs for workers affected by restructuring efforts." 

NextGen applied for funding from the department's Office of 
Worker and Community Transition in the form of competitive 
grants. Each CRO can apply for funds under the Small Capital 
Program (small cap) up to $200,000 and/or the Large Capital 
Program (large cap) up to one million dollars. 

NextGen applied for one large cap and two small cap grants. The 
large cap grant of $682,000 will be used to develop a 
Microsystems fabrication facility. NextGen has been working with 
the Intel Corporation to receive a complete production line from 
Intel's local facility. The CRO could potentially receive 
equipment valued at $20 million. The funds from this grant will 
be used to transport the Intel equipment to a secure storage 
site, and insure the equipment and purchase warranties on each 
piece of equipment until a fabrication facility is established. 

NextGen also applied for two small cap grants. The first is a 
small cap grant in the amount of $200,000 that will be used for 
NextJob New Mexico � a web-based application to better understand 
the workforce issues in Central New Mexico. The ultimate goal is 
to stimulate the economy through information about the region's 
workforce, employers and education, and training institutions. 
The second small cap grant in the amount of $75,000 will fund 
Style New Mexico � a design competition for New Mexico artisans 
to focus national attention on the depth, breadth, and quality of 
New Mexican art-orientated business. 

These grants are expected to create 50 new jobs. 

Media Contact:  Dolline Hatchett, 202/586-5806 Release No. 
PR-02-174 

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 34 DOE Selects Uranium Disposition Services for Uranium Hexafluoride 
Conversion Plants in Ohio and Kentucky -->      

energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release

August 29, 2002   

WASHINGTON, DC � The Department of Energy (DOE) announced today 
the competitive selection of Uranium Disposition Services, LLC to 
design, build, and operate facilities in Paducah, Kentucky and 
Portsmouth, Ohio to convert the government's inventory of 
depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) for disposal and/or reuse. 
The contractor will also be responsible for maintaining the 
depleted uranium and product inventories and transporting 
depleted uranium from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to the Portsmouth, 
Ohio, plant for conversion. 

Uranium Disposition Services, which was formed specifically to 
bid on this new contract, was formed by Framatome ANP Inc., 
Duratek Federal Services Inc., and Burns and Roe Enterprises Inc. 
The estimated value of the contract is $558 million. The contract 
is being awarded today after a full and open competition and is 
consistent with Public Law 107-206 recently enacted by Congress 
mandating the construction of the two facilities. Design, 
construction and operation of the facilities will be subject to 
appropriations of funds from Congress. Five companies submitted 
proposals. 

The Department of Energy has a large inventory of DUF6 material 
with 56,000, 198,000 and 450,000 metric tons currently stored at 
its facilities in Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky respectively. 
DUF6 is a material byproduct of weapons production activities 
that occurred over the years at the three facilities. 

This contract runs from August 29, 2002 to August 3, 2010. The 
conversion plants will convert the DUF6 material to triuranium 
octoxide (U3O8 ) which will be suitable for use or disposal. 
Uranium Disposition Services will operate these facilities for 
five years after construction has been completed. 

Media Contact: Joseph Davis, 202/586-4940 Dolline Hatchett, 
202/586-5806 Release No. PR-02-179 

    
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have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
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