Subject: NucNews 99/11/07 Briefs Story-Date: 03:53 a.m. PST Saturday , August 7, 1999 Please address replies to articles to the original publisher. Please send NucNews copies? Refuting false information appreciated! 1) CTBT 2) ABM 3) Y2K 4) Cold War 5) Gulf War Syndrome 6) Australia 7) Japan 8) Chechnya 9) India 10) South Africa 11) NATO 12) Downwinders 13) Hanford 14) Military-Congressional Complex 15) Nuke Plants 16) Godzilla [Editors' Note: Our publication schedule has been disrupted of late by our efforts constructing and maintaining The Wall of Denial on the west side of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. At 11:00 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday November 9 there will be a press conference at 11 a.m. on 3rd St NW between Independence and Constitution. The Wall will be brought down around 1:00 p.m. We hope you will join us. We share the hope that the larger wall separating humaniy from peace and community will too soon come down.] The Wall is a 200-ft replica of the Berlin Wall which came down 10 years ago tomorrow (Nov 9). It is a very effective symbolic call for the nations of the world to turn away from Cold War mentality and no longer maintain huge nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert. The Wall has been gloriously adorned with free-form art and messages to Congress and the world. It has appealed to all sorts of people and each day has sported an entirely new set of messages over previous layers. See Mike Flugennock's http://www.sinkers.org/wallofdenial/wallofdenialNov0699.html - or http://www.sinkers.org for photos/videos of the latest D.C. actions.] 1) CTBT Under a cloud When it comes to arms control logic can't compete with party politics and paranoia NewScientist 6/11/99 http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991106/newsstory5.html …But looking beyond domestic politics and the paranoia over warhead reliability some observers detect more calculated thinking on the floor of the US Senate. There are commercial interests in weapons investment. And John Simpson director of the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies in Southampton notes that the ascendant "unilateralist movement" in US politics is talking up the issue of missile defence systems again. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty looks vulnerable. He suspects some right-wingers are looking forward ten years to a time when the US may be in the position to test new devices powered by nuclear explosion. Lott warns Clinton not to defy Senate vote on treaty By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES http://www.washtimes-weekly.com/stories/top.html Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on Nov. 2 rejected the Clinton administration's continued observance of the defeated nuclear test-ban treaty and said the failure to ratify the pact releases the United States from any international legal obligations under the treaty. The Senate leader also warned the White House that continued adherence to the treaty provisions will severely upset relations between the president and the Senate on international affairs. 2) ABM U.S. Presses Russia To Modify ABM Treaty By Charles Aldinger Excite News Updated November 5 1999 http://news.excite.com/news/r/991105/15/politics-arms-russia …(Undersecretary of Defense Walter) Slocombe conceded that Russia might not currently be worried about an attack from North Korea but said that did not apply in the Middle East where a rogue state might one day launch an attack against what was once the heart of the Soviet Union. "I think it's pretty clear that they see the potential of various countries in the Middle East that might fire long-range missiles as a threat he said in response to questions after his speech. God in his infinite wisdom put that part of the world a lot closer to Russia than to the United States." 3) Cold War Blinded By What We Saw At the Wall Ten Years Later It's Obvious That Nothing at All Was Obvious By Robert G. Kaiser Washington Post Sunday November 7 1999 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/07/132l-110799-idx.html When young Germans danced through the final breach in the Berlin Wall 10 years ago Tuesday American thinkers great and small tried to make sense of the Wall's fall. Many tried to forecast what would happen next. The predicting proved perilous. Looking back at them now those prognostications share a certain quaintness. They were nearly all rooted in the Cold War realities that had created the American frame of reference for nearly half a century. But the prognosticators could not grasp the fact that this frame of reference was as doomed as the Wall itself. 4) Gulf War Syndrome Gulf veterans snub government BBC November 7 1999 http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid%5F508000/508154.stm A Gulf War veterans' association has broken off links with the government after accusing officials of "leaving old soldiers to die"… Spokesman Tony Flint told the BBC they had taken the decision they could no longer trust the MoD and the Medical Assessment Programme. Mr Flint said this was because gulf veterans and their GPs were being misled as far as treatment was concerned… Mr Flint said he believed two veterans were now dying every week from illnesses associated with the Gulf war. Fresh calls for Gulf War Syndrome inquiry Four medical inquiries are taking place into Gulf War Syndrome BBC November 6 1999 http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid%5F507000/507414.stm Certainly there were denials that there was a problem, there were denials about the use of organophosphates and certainly then, when there was some acceptance that people were falling ill, the tracing of medical records and the details of those records were just non-existent. … In a separate move an organisation representing hundreds of veterans suffering from so-called Gulf War Syndrome announced it had cut its ties with the MoD after accusing officials of "leaving old soldiers to die". The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association said the decision followed claims that it was not worth testing for the extent of radiation poisoning in veterans. 5) Australia Protestors arrested at Beverley uranium mine Australian Broadcasting November 7 1999 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-7nov1999-41.htm Six anti-uranium protestors have been arrested at the Beverley Uranium mine site in South Australia's northern outback. The protestors were arrested after they allegedly tried to stop construction at the mine. 6) Japan Physician Advises On Radiation By Jackie Jadrnak Journal Staff Writer Sunday November 7 1999 http://www.abqjournal.com/news/2news11-07-99.htm Fred Mettler professor and chairman of the radiology department at the University of New Mexico said the experts were stymied in offering a solid prognosis for the most serious injuries. Two of the men already have lived longer than anyone else previously exposed to such high levels of radiation he said. "It's unique. They (Japanese physicians) have been able to keep them (the victims) alive longer than anybody would have expected at this point Mettler said in a telephone interview. The patients are of a type and situation that haven't been seen before." Government agency blamed for Japanese nuclear leak ABC News Online Fri 5 Nov 1999 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-5nov1999-82.htm An investigating committee in Japan has blamed a Government agency for last month's major nuclear accident… In an interim report submitted to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchian the investigating committee criticised Japan's Science and Technology Agency for failing to uncover illegal procedures at the Tokaimura plant. 7) Chechnya Generals Campaign Against Early End to Chechen Conflict By Daniel Williams Washington Post Foreign Service http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/07/184l-110799-idx.html Hardly a day goes by without a commander warning leaders in Moscow not to end the war before all of Chechnya is pacified. Today Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and armed forces chief of staff Anatoly Kvashnin issued an unusual denial of reports of a government-military conflict. They signed a statement calling the stories "lies" meant to "cause a split in the state and military leadership." 8) India India admits plan to test missile ABC News Online Sat 6 Nov 1999 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-6nov1999-108.htm India says it will test a long-range ballistic missile soon the first admission from the Government that such a missile exists. A junior Defence Minister Bachchi Singh Rawat told reporters the missile will have a range of 5 000 kilometres. 9) South Africa Query Over Khoza's Nuke Stakes By Mungo Soggot The Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg S. Africa) November 5 1999 http://www.africanews.org/south/southafrica/stories/19991105_feat21.html Two ministers are investigating the conflict of interest arising from the chair of Eskom's material stake in a company contracted to South Africa's nuclear programme. The Mail & Guardian reported last week that Eskom's chair Reuel Khoza is also the founding chair of an investment holding company that has a 29% stake in a group Eskom is paying to develop a nuclear power project. Khoza sits on Eskom's nuclear oversight committee. He has been non- executive chair of Eskom since 1997 and spends most of his time running Co- ordinated Network Investments (CNI). The research company in which CNI has a 29% stake is called Integrated Systems Technology (IST). 10) NATO France Presses for a Power Independent of the U.S. By CRAIG R. WHITNEY New York Times November 7 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/110799france-defense.html In a Europe that is increasingly concerned about unilateralism and resurgent isolationism in the United States France seized the moment last week to urge the European allies to develop a more independent defense and foreign policy. 11) Downwinders Senate panel approves extra compensation for radiation victims CNN November 2 1999 http://cnn.com/US/9911/02/radiation.victims.ap/index.html More people harmed by radiation from aboveground nuclear tests or uranium mining could get compensation from the federal government under a measure approved Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 12) Hanford Reports track health problems among Hanford nuclear site workers CNN November 3 1999 http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9911/03/hanford.health.ap/index.html -- Nearly half of former Hanford production workers had initial chest X-rays showing abnormalities. Eighteen percent had diminished lung function when the comparable average for the same age range would be about five percent. -- Seventy percent of workers had hearing loss compared with about 50 percent for a comparable industrial population. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed reported hearing impairment compared with 22 percent in the general population. -- More than five percent of those tested were positive for beryllium sensitization. Beryllium is a metal that was used at Hanford and can cause lung disease. Between one-third and one-half of those workers can expect to develop lung disease within five years researchers said. 13) Military-Congressional Complex Anchors Aweigh! By Al Kamen Washington Post Sunday November 7 1999 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/07/098l-110799-idx.html Winter is fast upon us and a chill is in the air. And Loop Fans working on the Hill know that means one sure thing: It's time to plan for some freebie getaways to warmer climes. Once again our old friend U.S. Navy Cmdr. Brian Nutt has come through with some of those fine Navy excursions each one "a unique professional education opportunity as he puts it in this year's Dear Chief of Staff" letter to congressional offices. In Washington code that means you don't have to take vacation days to go on the trips. 14) Renewables ISRAELI BREAKTHROUGH PROMISES INDUSTRIAL SCALE SOLAR POWER WorldScan Weekly Notebook: November 5 1999 http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov99/1999L-11-05ws.html A new design for a solar power system has the potential to use solar energy and natural gas in combined cycle power plants. The Weizmann Institute of Science is constructing the world’s first power plant that uses solar energy to directly power the gas turbines used to generate electricity. 15) Nuke Plants Sloan becomes a voice for conservation By Missy Stoddard Fayetteville (NC) Observer-Times November 7 1999 http://www.fayettevillenc.com/foto/news/content/1999/tx99nov/n07slon5.htm In 1972 Carolina Power & Light announced plans to build a nuclear power plant on the South River which runs through Sampson and Bladen counties. Catherine Sloan owned several hundred acres of land along the river and she was not about to accept the company’s plan without a fight. “CP&L is such a powerhouse ... and they tried to galvanize the neighborhood ” Sloan says. She organized the South River Association which sued CP&L. B&W Parks plant cleanup nears completion By Patrick Shuster Staff writer November 7 1999 http://www.valleynewsdispatch.com/vn41107.html The cleanup of the former Babcock & Wilcox plutonium processing plant along River Road is nearing completion - relatively speaking. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced that BWX Technologies has approval to begin the removal of Building A the largest of three buildings at the site. 16) Godzilla Japan's Godzilla Stomps Back For New Millennium By Linda Sieg Deseret News Reuters Updated November 5 1999 http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1 1249 125014229 00.html A resurrected version of the nuclear-spawned villain who first trampled his way through Tokyo 45 years ago will ring in the new millennium in a saga complete with a battle in Tokaimura -- the site of Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident.