Subject: NucNews 99/12/06 Briefs - China / Y2K / Space / etc Date: Thu Please address replies to articles to the original publisher. Please send NucNews copies? Refuting false information appreciated! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The full text can be found at http://prop1.org/nucnews/9912nn/991206nn.htm} * U.S. secrets aboard latest Chinese sub * Chinese U.S. Military To Meet * American and Russian military officers as the millennium arrives... * Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Reactivated * Mars Missions: Nasa Lost In Space * Space race to Mars between U.S. China? * Mars missions to face greater scrutiny * Mars is not an easy destination * Still no word from Mars lander * Europe Must Spend More on Defense * New Details On Japan Nuclear Accident * Y2K in Asia's nuclear neighbors -- where uncertainty and uncooperation reign * Czech Says Nuclear Plants Y2K-Proof * Y2K bug predicted to bite here there * Bradley's Most Important Vote [Someone should reply...] * Missile defense system makes sense in post-Cold War era * Theoretical Physicist Richard Latter Warned of Nuclear Treaty Cheating * French Nuclear Cos. Merge * Hanford studies safety of nuclear waste tank * TRENDS in RENEWABLE ENERGIES (the condensed version) * COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN SEATTLE **** [GREAT report] * Seattle fiasco raises some risks * After Riots Seattle Is Chagrined Yet Cheerful * Seattle Protest Could Have Lasting Influence on Trade * The Collapse in Seattle * WTO Debacle Likely to Embolden Opposition * Seattle WTO Failure Seen Bad for Asia * The WTO Yes . . . Barter for labor rights the environment. *. . . And No Labor rights and the environment first. * U.S-China Pact Opposition to Intensify Labor Environmental Groups Stepping Up Campaign Against Trade Agreement --------- * U.S. secrets aboard latest Chinese sub By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Washington Times 5am -- December 6 1999 www.washtimes.com China is beginning work on a new strategic submarine that will be targeted against U.S. nuclear forces and carry missiles with small warheads similar to American weapons The Washington Times has learned. The People's Liberation Army Navy will start construction in the next several weeks on its first Type 094 missile submarine according to Pentagon and other administration officials with access to intelligence reports. Preparations for the construction were detected by U.S. spy agencies and reported to senior Pentagon officials late last month. The submarine will carry a smaller underwater variant of China's new DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile which was flight-tested in August. * Chinese U.S. Military To Meet By The Associated Press New York Times December 6 1999 Filed at 9:14 a.m. EDT http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Hong-Kong-China-US.html http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=ASIA&STORYID=APIS715S9K80 HONG KONG (AP) -- Hong Kong-based Chinese military leaders will meet with their American counterparts aboard a U.S. Navy vessel for the first time since NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia a U.S. consular spokeswoman said Monday. * Washington: A small group of American and Russian military officers won't be doing much New Years Eve cork-popping as the millennium arrives at midnight on December 31. Instead they will be guarding against the end of the world. Their concern is the ultimate Y2K catastrophe: computer glitches causing the launch of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. Sydney Morning Herald Date: 04/12/99 http://www.smh.com.au/news/9912/04/text/world6.html * Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Reactivated Associated Press Monday Dec. 6 1999; 1:42 p.m. EST The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline134206_000.htm KIEV Ukraine -- Officials at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have reactivated the plant's only working reactor which was shut down last week because of a leak officials said Monday. Chernobyl operators found a tiny hole in the reactor's backup cooling system during an examination Dec. 1 and turned it off. No radiation leaks were reported. The reactor was restarted again Saturday and was working at 75 percent of capacity by Monday. * Mars Missions: Nasa Lost In Space For Immediate Release December 6 1999 Contact: Bruce Gagnon (352) 337-9274 Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space globalnet@mindspring.com Date: Sun 5 Dec 1999 22:42:07 -0500 The loss in recent days of NASA's $165 million Mars Polar Lander should make taxpayers begin to ask serious questions about the U.S. space program. The Lander fiasco comes on the heels of the September 23 loss of the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter -- because of one NASA team doing calculations in feet the other in meters -- and billions of dollars lost from recent rocket launch failures at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base.... Costs are mounting as the space snafus continue. The International Space Station once set to cost taxpayers $10 billion is now up to $100 billion and still rising. Aerospace industry publication Space News in an editorial that promoted NASA's overall Mars program -- "Mars Missions are Affordable" (7-19-99) -- stated that Early estimates for Mars missions ...ran up to $400 billion. Could not these dollars be better spent on health care education child care programs and the environment back on Earth?..." * Space race to Mars between U.S. China? 12/03/99- Updated 12:23 PM ET http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/neuharth/neu020.htm ... (L)ast week ... China completed its first successful launch and recovery of an unmanned spacecraft after 14 orbits of Earth. * Mars missions to face greater scrutiny 12/05/99- Updated 11:30 PM ET http://usatoday.com/news/ndssun02.htm PASADENA Calif. (AP) - NASA's ambitious campaign of Mars exploration could face uncertainty after the embarrassing loss of an orbiter in September and the growing likelihood that the Polar Lander may never be contacted. * Mars is not an easy destination By The Associated Press 12/03/99- Updated 12:23 PM ET http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/neuharth/neu020.htm Of 25 U.S. and Russian missions to Mars since 1962 11 have failed and four did not have complete missions. Some recent failures: Mars Climate Orbiter: The $125 million spacecraft was lost Sept. 23 as it was about to go into orbit to study weather and look for signs of water. Investigators later blamed the loss on English-style units of measurement - feet and inches - that were not converted to the metric system as well as a failure within NASA to catch the error. Mars Observer: The $1 billion NASA spacecraft disappeared Aug. 21 1993 just before going into Mars orbit. It is believed to have exploded during fuel line pressurization. Mars 96: Russia's $300 million probe suffered rocket engine failure during the launch and crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 16 1996. Phobos 1: The first of a pair of Soviet probes received an inadvertent suicide command at launch in July 1988. Phobos 2 stopped transmitting in 1989 after collecting data about Mars and one of its moons. * Still no word from Mars lander 12/07/99- Updated 03:59 AM ET http://usatoday.com/news/ndsmon01.htm PASADENA Calif. (AP) - NASA again failed to detect a signal from the Mars Polar Lander early Tuesday during what engineers called the ''last best'' opportunity to hear from the spacecraft. Any chance of ever contacting the $165 million probe is now remote at best * Europe Must Spend More on Defense Washington Post Monday December 6 1999; Page A27 By William S. Cohen http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/013l-120699-idx.html For 50 years the political unity and military deterrence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has kept Western Europe secure peaceful and prosperous. But this year's engagement with Yugoslavia revealed that NATO's military capability -- while powerful -- doesn't match its political solidarity. * New Details On Japan Nuclear Accident Science Daily Date: Posted 12/6/99 Source: American Institute Of Physics (http://www.aip.org/) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991206072234.htm ... The Physics Today account provides new information on why the workers added about 7 times as much uranium to a given container as was allowed. The article identifies three errors that were made the first by the plant's operating company in modifying the government-approved procedure without authorization the second and third by the workers themselves possibly with concurrence of their immediate management. * Reports: Japan Urging N.Korea Talks The Associated Press Sunday Dec. 5 1999; 7:54 a.m. EST http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991205/aponline075441_000.htm TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said the government should begin negotiations on normalizing ties with North Korea as early as this week local media reported Sunday. Obuchi also said Japan could resume food aid before the end of this week and that it could start negotiations on lifting all sanctions against North Korea Kyodo News agency reported. * Y2K in Asia's nuclear neighbors -- where uncertainty and uncooperation reign Miami Herald Posted at 9:13 a.m. EST Saturday December 4 1999 NEW DELHI India -- (AP) -- Early this year when relations were on an upswing the leaders of India and Pakistan pledged to cooperate on sharing technology and reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war. Three months later the two countries were engaged in their worst fighting in almost three decades and were on the brink of their fourth full-scale war since both won independence from Britain in 1947. Among the casualties of that episode was a plan for Indian experts to visit Pakistan to work on technical problems possibly including cooperation on the unpredictable Y2K computer glitch. * Czech Says Nuclear Plants Y2K-Proof Associated Press Monday Dec. 6 1999; 9:37 a.m. EST The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline093705_000.htm PRAGUE Czech Republic -- The Czech Republic's nuclear plants will not be affected by the Y2K computer glitch partly because they are not yet fully computerized an official said Monday. The controversial Soviet-designed Temelin plant which will not start generating power before 2001 will be switched off at midnight Dec. 31 said Josef Capek a spokesman for the State Center for Nuclear Safety. * Y2K bug predicted to bite here there USA Today 12/06/99 By Barbara Slavin USA TODAY http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsmon02.htm WASHINGTON - In Thailand computer users with homegrown software will almost certainly avoid the Y2K bug. That's because most Thai software is pegged to the Buddhist calendar where it is already the year 2542. The rest of the world might not be so lucky. Lawrence Gershwin the CIA's national intelligence officer for science and technology told Congress recently that Russia Ukraine China and Indonesia ''are among the major countries most likely to experience significant Y2K-related failures.'' The problems might kick in if a computer erroneously reads the year 2000 as the year 1900. * Bradley's Most Important Vote Washington December 5 1999; Page B07 By George F. Will http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/05/179l-120599-idx.html Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Bill Bradley said at Tufts University on Monday we were sure about one thing: We knew where we stood on foreign policy. ... At Tufts describing the dissolution of the Cold War policy consensus that he retroactively postulates Bradley said there still are times and places where "the national interest is clear: Iraq 1991." Clear? The Senate's Jan. 12 1991 vote on the crucial question of going to war was 52-47. Bradley's most important vote in his 18 years in the Senate was cast that day in opposition to authorizing the use of U.S. forces to expel Iraq from Kuwait.... [Someone needs to respond to this editorial which trashes Bradley's decision. Feedback: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm] * Missile defense system makes sense in post-Cold War era Florida Today 12/03/99By John Omicinski A Gannett News Service column http://www.flatoday.com/space/explore/stories/1999b/120399e.htm WASHINGTON - This year's successful test of a Star Wars-generation space-shooter that zaps incoming missiles with pinpoint accuracy at speeds up to 15 000 mph is another remarkable feat of American technology. Called an exoatmospheric vehicle - EAV - the weapon makes construction of a national missile defense not only possible but likely. * Theoretical Physicist Richard Latter Warned of Nuclear Treaty Cheating Monday December 6 1999; Page B06 Washington Post By Adam Bernstein http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/138l-120699-idx.html Richard Latter 76 a theoretical physicist who warned of clandestine ways to cheat arms-reduction treaties during the Cold War died of lung cancer Dec. 2 at the Hospice of Northern Virginia. He lived in McLean. Dr. Latter who once was termed "conservative cubed" politically headed what became the physics department at Rand Corp. in the 1960s. He later became a founder and vice president of the defense technology think tank R and D Associates (RDA) in 1971. He led RDA's Washington office from 1974 to 1979. Logicon Inc. now a subsidiary of Northrup Grumman bought RDA in the early 1980s. * French Nuclear Cos. Merge By Clar Ni Chonghaile Associated Press Monday Dec. 6 1999; 4:30 p.m. EST http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991206/aponline163052_000.htm PARIS -- France's Framatome and Germany's Siemens said on Monday they had agreed to merge their nuclear operations creating a world leader in nuclear power technology. The deal had been widely-expected since Framatome restructured its finances in July. It is the latest example of growing cross-border corporate cooperation following the introduction in January of the European single currency the euro. * Hanford studies safety of nuclear waste tank Sludge in Tank Z-361 laced with radioactive plutonium Associated Press Spokesman Review 12/05/99 http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=120599&ID=s715940&cat= Hanford nuclear reservation officials are taking a close look at safety issues posed by an underground waste tank that had largely been ignored for two decades. Scientists are studying samples from the 20 000 gallons of radioactive sludge inside Tank Z-361 to figure out how dangerous the contents are and determine what to do with the waste. * TRENDS in RENEWABLE ENERGIES (the condensed version) Date: Sat 27 Nov 1999 14:16:04 -0500 Issue #107 (week of November 22 - 26) From: Bill Eggertson Organization: Canadian Association for Renewable Energies Archives are posted at http://www.renewables.ca Excerpts from hopeful news stories about renewable energy. * COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN SEATTLE by Portland student/reporter Jim Desyllas Posted at http://www.emperors-clothes.com 12-2-99.) Date: Fri 03 Dec 1999 06:43:15 -0500 From: Elizabeth McAlister Subject: Fwd: Police brutality in the streets of Seattle] Called-in from a pay phone outside Seattle. Wed. 7:30 pm Pacific time. ( I just spent 4 days in Seattle. The "information" people are getting from the mass media is false. This was not as Pres. Clinton claims a peaceful protest marred by the actions of violent protesters. This was a massive strong but peaceful demonstration which was attacked repeatedly by the police with the express purpose of provoking a violent response to dismiss the movement and to provide photo opportunities for the Western media. I know because I watched it happening. I'll tell you how they did it.... [Be sure to read this outstanding report at http://prop1.org/nucnews/9912nn/991206nn.htm. As Jonah House's Liz McAllister said this is the best report I've read on Seattle. Et]) * Seattle fiasco raises some risks USA Today 12/06/99- Updated 07:52 AM ET http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/edtwof.htm * After Riots Seattle Is Chagrined Yet Cheerful New York Times December 6 1999 By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/120699wto-seattle.html * Seattle Protest Could Have Lasting Influence on Trade New York Times December 6 1999 By STEVEN GREENHOUSE http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/120699wto-trade.html * The Collapse in Seattle New York Times December 6 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/06mon1.html * WTO Debacle Likely to Embolden Opposition New York Times December 6 1999 Filed at 12:31 a.m. ET By Reuters http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-wto-impact.html * Seattle WTO Failure Seen Bad for Asia New York Times December 6 1999 Filed at 3:09 a.m. ET By Reuter http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-wto-asi.html * The WTO Yes . . . Barter for labor rights the environment. Washington Post Monday December 6 1999; Page A27 By Peter M. Gerhart http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/012l-120699-idx.htm *. . . And No Labor rights and the environment first. Washington Post December 6 1999; Page A27 By Jerome I. Levinson http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/014l-120699-idx.html * U.S-China Pact Opposition to Intensify Labor Environmental Groups Stepping Up Campaign Against Trade Agreement Washington Post December 6 1999; Page A16 By Donna Smith Reuters http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/058l-120699-idx.html ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe NucNews: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm Distributed without payment for research and educational purposes only in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. [You have our permission to download copy and forward any and all of NucNews. Help keep the information flowing!]