Subject: NucNews 99/11/21-22 Briefs Story-Date: 02:22 p.m. PST Monday , August 9, 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! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [GOOD NEWS! NucNews archives are re-established online strictly for research purposes. Go to http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm.] * News from Kobe * A Lawmaker's Work Is Never Done * Legacy of Silkwood Case Recalled * A Lightweight He's Not * 'Super Bug's' DNA Deciphered * NBC Runs Disclaimer on Y2K Movie * What money can't buy (loyalty at UN) * China says it can overcome U.S. defenses * China Space Test Has Military Role * Chinese Test Craft For Manned Orbits * China Takes a Giant Leap Closer to Manned Spaceflight * China's space heritage * Russian FM plans visit to Iran * Iran Issues Russia Ultimatum to US * Iran May Be Selling Scud Missiles * Campaign to Stop the Sale of CANDU Reactor Akkuyu Bay Nuclear Plant * Bulgaria Mulling Effects of Y2K * Yeltsin Urges Test Ban Ratification * New Life for 'Star Wars' Response * Chernobyl Plans To Restart Reactor By The Associated Press * Puerto Rico Can't Shut Navy's Water * Conspiracy of Silence: THE PLUTONIUM FILES America's Secret Medical Experiments In the Cold War * Road to Hiroshima: DOWNFALL The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire * Wide Open Spaces * BGE Still Seeking Renewal of Nuclear Plant License * Subject: IAEA report on Tokai criticality accident --------- * News from Kobe From: NOBUE KUGIMAYA - KBNOBU@email.msn.com Date: Mon 22 Nov 1999 22:38:30 +0900 http://www.iijnet.or.jp/c.pro/shinfujin/ The following is the gist of Japan Press Weekly (by Japan Press Service) No.2163 (November 20 1999): U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley spoke to a meeting with local assemblymen from Osaka and Hyogo on 11 November that he wanted U.S. Navy vessels to call at Kobe Port while he was in office. This was the first meeting held at the U.S. Consulate General in Osaka. Japanese Communist Party local assembly members were not present at the meeting. Shushi Kajimoto the secretary of the Hyogo Gensuikyo: "This is intended to express U.S. desire to break the nuclear-free Kobe Formula. His statement to Kobe City Assembly members should be taken as pressure on the unanimous resolution of the city assembly." * A Lawmaker's Work Is Never Done Washington Post November 22 1999; Page A21 By Al Kamen http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/22/046l-112299-idx.html Before leaving town last week however the Senate did confirm a batch of Clinton nominees including: Ivan Itkin for director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Energy Department; Neal S. Wolin as general counsel at Treasury; Paul Steven Miller for the EEOC; Irasema Garza as head of the Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor; T. Michael Kerr to run Labor's Wage and Hour Division; Alan P. Larson to be undersecretary of state for economic matters; Susan Wachter as an assistant secretary of housing and urban development; and Linda J. Bilmes to be an assistant secretary of commerce. * Legacy of Silkwood Case Recalled New York Times November 21 1999 Filed at 4:45 p.m. EST By The Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-LookBack-Silkwood.html CRESCENT Okla. (AP) -- Karen Silkwood died in a mystery-shrouded car crash 25 years ago this month a tragic end to events that transformed her into a heroine to anti-nuclear activists and dumbfounded residents of this small town. ``We're country folks and didn't realize all the hullabaloo was going on '' recalls 67-year-old Phil Yenzer of the plutonium contamination controversy at the nearby Cimarron Facility where Ms. Silkwood was a lab technician. * A Lightweight He's Not New York Times November 22 1999 ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE http://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/safire/112299safi.html WASHINGTON -- The political news of the week is that George W. Bush can comport himself confidently under sustained serious questioning. But asked to be consistent about applying economic penalties to China as well as Russia after human rights abuses Bush waffled. His mind-set is not where his speech text is: "We have got to work with the Chinese" he replied. "We need to be very harsh with China but I don't think we have the same amount of -- maybe we got the same amount of export-import bank loans I can't answer that question in specific. . . ." * 'Super Bug's' DNA Deciphered Compiled from reports by Kathy Sawyer and Rob Stein Monday November 22 1999; Page A11 Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/22/055l-112299-idx.html In 1956 scientists discovered a bacterium thriving in samples of canned meat that were thought to have been sterilized by exposure to radiation. Researchers subsequently determined that the reddish organism dubbed Deinococcus radiodurans is the most radiation-resistant creature known to exist. It can survive 1.5 million rads of gamma irradiation--a dose 3 000 times the amount that would kill a human. Now scientists report in the Nov. 19 issue of Science that they have deciphered the organism's complete genetic code an advance they hope will lead to insights into how it manages to so efficiently repair damage caused by radiation. The work funded by the Energy Department and done by Owen White of the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville and colleagues involved determining all of the nearly 3.3 million individual chemical units that make up the bacterium's DNA. * NBC Runs Disclaimer on Y2K Movie By The Associated Press New York Times November 22 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/e/AP-Y2K-Movie.html NEW YORK (AP) -- In ``Y2K'' the movie power outages darken a chunk of the East Coast and a nuclear meltdown threatens when computers misread the year 2000 as 1900. With the made-for-TV movie about a world gone haywire this New Year's Eve NBC and its affiliates tried to ease any fears viewers might have with disclaimers -- it's just a movie -- and news stories about the so-called Y2K computer glitch. * What money can't buy Embassy Row By James Morrison Washington Times November 22 1999 http://www.washtimes.com/internatl/embassy.html U.S. foreign assistance does not generally translate into support in votes of the U.N. General Assembly according to a Heritage Foundation study of U.S. foreign aid to 128 U.N. member countries. * China says it can overcome U.S. defenses USA Today 11/22/99- Updated 08:07 AM ET http://usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwsmon02.htm BEIJING (AP) - China's first successful test of a spacecraft for manned flight also had major military implications proving China has mastered technology that could defeat U.S. anti-missile defenses an official Chinese newspaper reported Monday. * China Space Test Has Military Role By The Associated Press November 22 1999 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991122/aponline071433_000.htm BEIJING (AP) -- China's first successful test of a spacecraft for manned flight also had major military implications proving China has mastered technology that could defeat U.S. anti-missile defenses an official Chinese newspaper reported today. The same low-power propulsion technology used to adjust a spacecraft's orbit in flight could also be used to alter the path of offensive missiles helping them evade proposed U.S. anti-missile defense systems known as TMD and NMD military expert Song Yichang told the state-run China Business Times. * Chinese Test Craft For Manned Orbits Space Launch Boosts National Pride Washington Post Monday November 22 1999; Page A01 By Michael Laris http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/22/151l-112299-idx.html BEIJING Nov. 21-Chinese scientists launched the country's first spacecraft designed to carry humans into orbit and guided it back to Earth today making a key breakthrough in the government's seven-year effort to join the United States and Russia in the elite club of manned space flight. * China Takes a Giant Leap Closer to Manned Spaceflight By ERIK ECKHOLM New York Times November 22 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/112299china-spacecraft.html BEIJING -- China announced its first successful launching and recovery of an unmanned spacecraft on Sunday an important step toward the goal of putting its own explorers in space. The launching was not a surprise to Western diplomats and space experts some of whom think that China may be able to put its scientists in space as early as some time next year. But it was the most significant breakthrough yet in President Jiang Zemin's drive for China to join the small club of nations that have succeeded in putting people in space. Jiang personally spurred the project in 1992 as part of his effort to make China a respected global power. * China's space heritage A hand-painted poster trumpets the space voyage By BBC News Online 22 November 1999 Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991122/aponline071433_000.htm http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-space-c.html ... China's success comes 42 years after the former Soviet Union became the first nation to go into space. After the former Soviet Union and the United States China is only the third nation to launch a vehicle capable of carrying a man into orbit. * Russian FM plans visit to Iran UPI November 22 1999 By MOHAMMED el-SEYYED http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/991122/13/international-russia TEHRAN Iran Nov. 22 (UPI) An Iranian official said Monday that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was expected to visit Tehran next week to discuss cooperation and regional issues. ... A Foreign Ministry source told United Press International that Ivanov's talks in Tehran next week were to focus on Russia's cooperation to help build a nuclear power plant in the Iranian city of Bushehr the crisis in Afghanistan and last week's summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Bushehr nuclear plant has been paralyzed by Iran's economic problems and Russia's own inability to help operate it. * Iran Issues Russia Ultimatum to US New York Times November 21 1999 By The Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Israel-Iran.html TEL AVIV Israel (AP) -- Unless the United States pressures Russia to end its military assistance to Iran the Islamic republic will possess a nuclear capability within five years a senior Israeli military official said Sunday. Israel has intelligence that Iran plans to upgrade its Shahab-3 ballistic missile currently still in the testing phase to make it capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and to extend its range to 1 300 miles the official said speaking on condition of anonymity. * Iran May Be Selling Scud Missiles New York Times November 22 1999 Filed at 2:17 p.m. EST By The Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Iran-Scuds.html http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/991122/04/international-congo-missiles http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran sold Scud missiles to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month in the first export of a homemade version of the short-range missile The Washington Times reported today. * Campaign to Stop the Sale of CANDU Reactor Akkuyu Bay Nuclear Plant By Sofia S. Kostos (Free-lance journalist) Jim Karygiannis a Liberal Federal Member of the Canadian Parliament is on a mission to stop the sale of the Candu nuclear reactor from being sold to the earthquake prone area of Akkuyu Bay in Turkey. Scientists environmentalists people from the Eastern Mediterranean Canadians Americans Germans Britain's and concerned politicians who oppose the bid say the recent quake which killed more than 13 000 people and injured 26 000 is evidence that Turkey should not have nuclear power. "The Eastern Mediterranean is an earthquake-prone region -- for God's sake don't put a nuclear plant there said Liberal MP Karygiannis. More information is available at: http://www.diaspora-net.org/nuclear (English) http://www.phantis.com/nuclear.awareness (Greek) http://www.radiation.org http://www.prop1.org * Bulgaria Mulling Effects of Y2K New York Times November 22, 1999 By The Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Bulgaria-Y2K.html KOZLODUI, Bulgaria (AP) -- After assurances that the country's only nuclear plant is safe from the Y2K bug, few Bulgarians are concerned about the potential effects of the millennium rollover. * Yeltsin Urges Test Ban Ratification By The Associated Press, New York Times November 22, 1999 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Russia-Nuclear-Treaty.html MOSCOW (AP) -- President Boris Yeltsin pressed forward Monday with his effort to persuade parliament to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, delegating the foreign, defense and atomic energy ministers to take his case before lawmakers. * New Life for 'Star Wars' Response Russians Could Revive Soviet Strategy if U.S. Decides to Deploy Missile Defense Washington Post, November 22, 1999; Page A18 By David http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/22/056l-112299-idx.html MOSCOW-When the United States raises the prospect that it will build a missile defense system, Russian strategic planners don't have far to go for a response. They can reach for a drawer marked Star Wars" and take out some of the Soviet-era blueprints drawn up more than 15 years ago in response to President Reagan's grand hopes for the Strategic Defense Initiative a missile defense shield. * Chernobyl Plans To Restart Reactor By The Associated Press New York Times November 22 1999 Filed at 12:05 p.m. EST http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Ukraine-Chernobyl.html KIEV Ukraine (AP) -- Operators at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant carried out preliminary tests Monday for restarting the plant's only working reactor after months of repairs. * Puerto Rico Can't Shut Navy's Water November 22 1999 Filed at 2:55 p.m. EST By The Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Puerto-Rico-US-Navy.html SAN JUAN Puerto Rico (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday ordered the Puerto Rican government not to shut off the water to a U.S. Navy base while he considers a complaint that the military is using the water illegally. * Conspiracy of Silence: THE PLUTONIUM FILES America's Secret Medical Experiments In the Cold War By Eileen Welsome Dial. 580 pp. $26.95 Washington Post November 21 1999; Page X04 Review By Deborah Nelson http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/21/009l-112199-idx.html An acquaintance of mine who designed high-tech weapons of destruction was once asked how he dealt with the daily stress of creating new ways to kill people. He didn't consider his job in those terms he said. He simply enjoyed the engineering challenge each new device presented and never really thought beyond. That stunning ability to compartmentalize must be what allowed scientists at Los Alamos who helped build the first generation of atom bombs to celebrate their devastating success in Hiroshima like rowdy college boys after a football victory with honking cars fireworks and parties. And perhaps it begins to explain how in the name of science and national security they could launch secret experiments on unwitting adults and children to measure the effects of radiation on the body. In The Plutonium Files journalist Eileen Welsome provides a disturbing look at what happens when scientists lose touch with their humanity in the single-minded pursuit of scientific advancement. * Road to Hiroshima: DOWNFALL The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire By Richard B. Frank Random House. 484 pp. $35 Review By Ronald Spector Special to The Washington Post Sunday November 21 1999; Page X04 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/21/010l-112199-idx.html ... {T}he heart of the controversy involves the truth or falsity of the statement printed on the ill-fated postage stamp: "Atomic bombs help shorten the war." ... Richard B. Frank's Downfall does not so much refute many of the reigning orthodoxies on both sides of the controversy as demonstrate their irrelevance and ahistorical nature. The author of a widely praised history of the Guadalcanal campaign Frank exhibits the same breadth and depth of research in this new work even arranging for the translation of four volumes of the * Wide Open Spaces Washington Post November 21 1999; Page X10 By Rachel Hartigan http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/21/017l-112199-idx.html IN NEVADA The Land the People God and Chance By David Thomson Knopf. 330 pp. $27.50 ... The test site like "the other great Nevadan theme park" to the south Las Vegas is a peculiar version of hell: toxic with moments of beauty pleasure closely allied to danger. It's the Nevada version of hell or maybe heaven where a drive through the desert is stirringly beautiful but you'd better make sure that your gas tank is full and that you are carrying enough water because you are the only one out there the next gas station isn't for at least 100 miles and what little water you find is likely to be poisoned with alkali. Thomson does eloquent justice to these contradictions -- and insists on their place in the national psyche. "In far more ways than gaming could ever express Nevada is the providential testing place for our recklessness he writes. So we should study the volatile mixture of its danger and beauty then wonder which we deserve." * BGE Still Seeking Renewal of Nuclear Plant License Washington Post Nov. 14 to 20 1999 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/21/117l-112199-idx.html Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will continue to seek renewal of licenses for its reactors at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant despite a federal appeals court ruling that could expand public comment and extend the process. Report On The Preliminary Fact Finding Mission Following The Accident At The Nuclear Fuel Processing Facility In Tokaimura, Japan International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna 1999 http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Documents/japan_report.pdf (6.7MB PDF format) ___________________________________________________ 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.