Subject: NucNews 99/11/14 Briefs Story-Date: 08:11 a.m. PST Monday , November 15, 1999 Sender: owner-nukenet@envirolink.org X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2.07 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN Please address replies to articles to the original publisher. Please send NucNews copies? Refuting false information appreciated! -------- y2k 1] Senate Panel Seeks Y2K Nuke Plant Contingency Plans Reuters Filed at 5:07 a.m. EDT By Reuters November 14 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-nuclear-utilitie.html WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A special Senate committee overseeing Year 2000 preparedness released a letter on Friday which asks nuclear regulators to provide better information on reactor safety and contingency plans before the new year. 2] 911 centers in Y2K trouble by Paula Shaki Trimble CNN November 12 1999 8:16 a.m. EST (1316 GMT) http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9911/12/911.idg/index.html (IDG) -- Only 50 percent of the nation's 911 centers are prepared to handle the millennium date change according to the Clinton administration's final Year 2000 report released Wednesday.... -------- us nuc weapons plants 3] Idaho Incinerator Proposal Fires Up Environmental Fears By Cat Lazarof Environmental News Service November 11 1999 http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov99/1999L-11-11-07.html BOISE Idaho November 11 1999 (ENS) - Idaho and federal regulators have issued a final draft permit for a proposed radioactive waste incinerator at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL) in southeastern Idaho. The incinerator is vehemently opposed by environmental groups who fear the project could send toxic fumes up to 90 miles downwind into communities and two National Parks.... 4] Stricter cleanup urged for Flats Consultant warns fire could send soil plutonium airborne By Berny Morson Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer http://insidedenver.com/news/1112flats.shtml BROOMFIELD -- Rocky Flats should be cleaned to far more stringent standards than those the federal government is proposing a consultant who has studied the former nuclear weapons plant said Thursday. John Till of Risk Assessment Corp. warned that plutonium left in the soil could become airborne during a brush fire and be inhaled. The current Energy Department cleanup plan which did not take fires into account would leave 65 times as much plutonium in the soil as Till recommends.... -------- us weapons 5] Veteran: Defense spending too high By DAVID KROTZ Of The Globe-Gazette Globe Gazette Sunday November 14 1999 http://www.globegazette.com/news/1999/1199/week3/991114_ni4.html MASON CITY - A retired nuclear submarine captain visited Mason City this week carrying the message that defense spending is too high. Iowans for Sensible Priorities sponsored the statewide tour of 26-year Navy veteran James T. Bush. The goal of the tour was to inform the public and encourage defense budget issue debate among the political candidates visiting the state. 6] America's Role (cont'd.) What's Built Up Must Come Down By Christopher Layne Washington Post Sunday November 14 1999; Page B01 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/039l-111499-idx.html ... It is time to open a new debate--to get past the superpower model and delineate a more productive U.S. role. The issue is not whether the United States should act unilaterally or act cooperatively with others. All states act in their own interests. The salient point is how to define America's interests. Some suggestions: * Washington should encourage and accept Europe's emergence as an equal--independent--actor in world politics. * The United States should stop trying to force its values and institutions on the rest of the world. In some cases such as Russia the American model is inappropriate and has done more harm than good. In other cases notably China Washington's attempt to compel ideological conformity has made an already tense relationship worse. * Finally the United States should not be so quick to intervene overseas instead allowing other states and institutions to assume primary responsibility for the security of regions where America's security interests are not at risk. This is not isolationism; it is a classically realist strategy.... 7] Albright calls for U.S. consensus on arms control Express India Monday November 15 1999 http://www.expressindia.com/news/31901199.htm WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Madeleine urged U.S. politicians in remarks published Sunday to end their differences over the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) saying the world's remaining superpower had to be united on how to deal with nuclear threats reports Reuters. In a commentary in the Nov 22 edition of Time which goes on sale Monday Albright said the Senate vote last month rejecting the treaty had drawn universal shock from U.S. allies and friends. 8] Explosives Topple Towers Once Used To Summon Fleet Demolition Makes Way for Preserve By Todd Shields Washington Post Staff Writer November 14 1999; Page C03 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/101l-111499-idx.html With a sharp blast from 67 explosive charges three former Navy radio towers the height of 30-story buildings buckled toppled ever so slowly and crashed to the ground yesterday across the Severn River from Annapolis. During the Cold War Greenbury Point was a key communications hub for the nation's nuclear submarine fleet. Its antennas sent low-frequency radio waves capable of penetrating the ocean allowing vessels to communicate without surfacing. In recent years with tight defense budgets and advances in satellite communications the antenna field's steel and copper technology became outmoded. It was put out of service in 1996. 9] Panel reportedly critical of antimissile program's progress CNN November 14 1999 Web posted at: 9:21 AM EST (1421 GMT) http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/14/antimissile.report.ap/index.html WASHINGTON (AP) -- An independent panel says the Pentagon's development of an antimissile system continues to be hampered by inadequate testing shortages of spare parts and management mistakes The Washington Post reported. 10] Panel warns of antimissile delays By BRADLEY GRAHAM Washington Post News Service November 14 1999 http://www.bergen.com/morenews/miss14199911145.htm WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's effort to develop an anti-missile system to defend the United States remains plagued by inadequate testing spare parts shortages and management lapses according to an independent panel appointed by the Defense Department.... 11] JFK's role as war hero commander in chief part of new Tampa Bay Tribune 11/11/99 -- 7:09 PM http://www.tampabayonline.net/news/flor1024.htm ... JFK's war experience played a role in his commitment to the country's military strength during the Cold War. "He did what the U.S. had to do to be strong she said. Kennedy also understand the need for peace and to recognize the importance of signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in October 1963, Henderson said. The first disarmament agreement of the nuclear age ended nuclear atmospheric testing.... 12] Reality Before Legacy By Jim Hoagland, Washington Post Sunday, November 14, 1999; Page B07 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/056l-111499-idx.html ... A Russian analyst says that Moscow is full of Chinese arms purchasers combing the crumbling Russian defense industry for solid fuel for intercontinental missiles and anything else they can buy. Recent disclosures of a Chinese deal with Israel and Russia for a sophisticated long-range airborne radar system lend credibility to these reports.... 13] Air Force test launches Minuteman 3 missile Florida Today Nov. 14, 1999 http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/111499d.htm VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - The Air Force announced a successful booster test of a Minuteman 3 missile, firing the device far out into the Pacific early Saturday.... 14] Problems Plague U.S. Missile Defense, Panel Says By Charles Aldinger Reuters Updated 12:55 PM ET November 14, 1999 http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991114/12/news-arms-usa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Pentagon report has warned that the drive to develop a U.S. missile defense remains plagued by problems ahead of next year's presidential decision on whether to begin building a system, defense officials said Sunday. The report by independent experts, sent to Congress on Friday, said inadequate testing, parts shortages and management confusion were hampering a costly program to shoot down long-range enemy missiles, the officials told Reuters.... 15] Panel Faults Antimissile Program on Many Fronts 'High Risk' of Failure Remains, Experts Report By Bradley Graham Washington Post Staff Writer, November 14, 1999; Page A01 / Los Angeles Times http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/141l-111499-idx.html http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/19991114/t000103772.html The Pentagon's effort to develop an antimissile system to defend the United States remains plagued by inadequate testing, spare parts shortages and management lapses, according to an independent panel appointed by the Defense Department. -------- us nuc power 16] Revving the Energy Engine Means Rising U.S. Emissions Environment News Service November 9, 1999 http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov99/1999L-11-09-01.html WASHINGTON, DC, November 9, 1999 (ENS) - Growth in energy demand in the United States will lead to increasing greenhouse gas emissions through 2020, according to government forecasts released today. The U.S. already emits more greenhouse gases than any other nation, with China rated second. Heat-trapping emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and four other gases produced by combustion of fossil fuels are blamed for global warming.... Nuclear generation is predicted to decline 37 percent by 2020, as some existing plants retire. But the number of retirements is lower than in earlier projections due to a reevaluation of the capital costs to build replacement fossil-fuel capacity. Reference case projections from the Annual Energy Outlook 2000 and an overview of the results can be accessed online at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/earlyrelease/index.html Copies are available through EIA's National Energy Information Center, Forrestal Building, Washington, DC 20585. Tel: 202-586-8800. 17] BGE Vows to Push for Relicensing Washington Post Sunday, November 14, 1999; Page C03 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/092l-111499-idx.html METRO IN BRIEF - MARYLAND Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will continue to seek a license renewal for its Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant despite an adverse federal appeals court ruling, a spokesman for the utility said yesterday. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had unfairly ignored opponents of the renewal as it reviewed BGE's application for relicensing.... -------- other 18] Loud and Clear The most secret of secret agencies operates under outdated laws. By James Bamford, Washington Post Sunday, November 14, 1999; Page B01 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/040l-111499-idx.html ... For decades, Menwith Hill has been the key link in a worldwide eavesdropping network operated by America's super-secret National Security Agency (NSA), the agency responsible, among other things, for electronic surveillance and code breaking. It is the NSA's largest listening post anywhere in the world. During the Cold War, the station played a major role in the West's ability to monitor the diplomatic, military and commercial communication behind the Iron Curtain. But rather than shrinking in the decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Menwith Hill has grown.... -------- korea 19] Is S. Korea boosting its rocket range? New York Times November 14, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/111499skorea-missile.html http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,130007623,00.html? http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/world/docs/korea14.htm http://www.pioneerplanet.com/seven-days/1/news/docs/007833.htm U.S. intelligence analysts have discovered evidence that South Korea is trying to develop longer-range ballistic missiles while keeping some of the program's key aims secret from Washington, American officials say.... 20] U.S. Concerned About SKorea Missile Program - NYT Reuters Updated 2:11 AM ET November 14, 1999 http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991114/02/news-korea-missile NEW YORK (Reuters) - South Korea is keeping the United States in the dark about parts of its missile program as it works on developing longer-range ballistic weapons, the New York Times reported on Sunday. -------- china 21] Charting a Course With China Washington Post Sunday, November 14, 1999; Page B06 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/053l-111499-idx.html THE PROCESS OF finding the Soviet Union, now Russia, a fair and stable place at the global strategic table has gone on for 30 years and is far from over. But the newer process of finding China such a place becomes increasingly sensitive and urgent. The quest is made so by the explosive pattern of China's ambitions and anxieties. It is bound to preoccupy Washington for an indefinite time.... -------- russia 22] Russian Police Raid Home of U.S. Environmental Scholar Environmental News Services November 10, 1999 http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov99/1999L-11-10-02.html MOSCOW, Russia, November 10, 1999 (ENS) - Russian Police are targeting environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists in a security crackdown that gained momentum after a terrorist scare last month.... 23] Mikhail Gorbachev Los Angeles Times 11/14/99 http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/19991114/t000103607.html We knew . . . [the communist] system wasn't working Mikhail Gorbachev says in an interview in Commentary (Nov. 9). But he implies that the capitalist system also has defects, especially when it is for getting rid of the ABM treaty and for building a missile defense." He blames this on the "military-industrial complex." President Eisenhower also warned us about the military-industrial complex. But we keep letting its lobbyists talk Congress out of paying our dues to the U.N. and into spending our money on nuclear weapons. And it is nuclear weapons that could kill everything on this planet including our children. HAROLD WATERHOUSE Pacific Palisades ...