* President Intervenes On Vieques
Clinton Urges Puerto Rico And Navy to Compromise
* Schroder ready to close all nuclear plants
* China Denies It Bought Israeli Radar
* Russia Tests Sub-Based Missiles on Eve of OSCE (R)
* Russia Tests 2 Ballistic Missiles (AP)
* Russia tests two ballistic missiles
From Time to Time: Nando's in-depth look at the 20th century
* UN Seeks To Inspect Iraq Again
* Japan Rocket May Have Leaked Fuel
* Experts question missile defense
* Clinton, Yeltsin to Discuss Strategic Cooperation
* Bush on missiles
* Closing of Brookhaven Reactor Dismays Scientists, Pleases Environmentalists
------- du
President Intervenes On Vieques
Clinton Urges Puerto Rico And Navy to Compromise
By Roberto Suro Washington Post Staff Writer, November 17, 1999; Page A29
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/17/125l-111799-idx.html
Caught between the Pentagon and a large group of Democratic voters, President Clinton has intervened in a dispute over the Navy's use of a firing range in Puerto Rico, telephoning the island's governor three times in the past five days while also pressing the Navy to compromise.
Because of the timetable for aircraft carriers rotating through the Persian Gulf, by the end of this week Clinton may have to choose between sending Navy ships into a potential combat zone without full training or risking an armed confrontation between federal officers and anti-Navy protesters on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
The political alternatives are no more savory. Unless he can quickly engineer a compromise, Clinton will either damage his wife's chances of winning the Senate race in New York, where Puerto Rican voters can swing a close election, or invite Republican charges that his administration compromised national security for political reasons.
At the heart of the dispute is a demand by Puerto Rican residents and political leaders that the Navy halt any further use of its 12,000-acre firing range on Vieques, which has been a key training ground for the ships and aircraft of the Atlantic Fleet since World War II.
The Navy operations have been the target of periodic protests and legal actions since the 1960s. But the current controversy erupted after a civilian security guard was killed by an errant bomb in April. Since then, Puerto Rican leaders across the political spectrum have rallied behind the demand that "not one more shot" be fired at Vieques. Protesters, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, have set up tents on the firing range and vowed that the government will have to force them out if it wants to bomb Vieques again.
In a report last month, a presidential panel concluded the Navy acted insensitively in Puerto Rico by failing to fulfill promises to promote economic development for the 9,300 inhabitants of Vieques and to limit the use of live ammunition. However, the panel, chaired by Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Frank Rush, also backed the Navy's claim that live-fire exercises at Vieques are "vital" to preparing forces for combat and that "without such training, the risk to personnel is increased."
Clinton has to weigh that risk now, because a carrier battle group led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is due to train at Vieques in early December before departing for the Persian Gulf on Feb. 18. While the carrier's pilots have completed their preparatory training elsewhere, three surface ships would have to sail without meeting the Navy's standard qualifications unless they can practice firing their guns at shore targets with live ammunition, according to a senior Pentagon official.
Vieques is the only place that the Atlantic Fleet conducts such exercises. The Pacific Fleet uses an uninhabited island off the coast of California.
Clinton first called Gov. Pedro Rossello on Saturday to "make it clear that while he is sympathetic to Puerto Rican concerns, he is also prepared to make tough decisions to ensure the nation's military readiness," said a senior administration official. Clinton suggested that the Navy might agree to forgo the use of live ammunition--limiting itself to "inert" ordnance--and set a date within three to five years to halt all training operations, the official said.
But in the call Saturday and two others since then, including one Monday while the president was visiting Turkey, Rossello refused to budge from his opposition to any further bombing at Vieques.
"Live or non-live, no more bombs, not one more--that remains the governor's position," Alfonso Aguilar, Rossello's press secretary, said yesterday.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, insists that it won't compromise until the Puerto Ricans do.
"A range of options have been examined on our side, including the possible use of inert ordinance, but we can't do anything definitive until the other side shows that it is willing to engage in a meaningful dialogue instead of just restating known positions," said a senior defense official.
If the president decides that the Eisenhower battle group must sail without the training it usually gets at Vieques, the Navy will comply, but not happily. "It has been made clear that a civilian will have to issue an order for those ships to deploy with inadequate qualifications," said a senior military officer.
For the Eisenhower battle group to stay on schedule, Clinton needs to make a final decision by the end of this week, defense officials said. If no long-term solution can be reached, the Pentagon has suggested a one-time deal for the Eisenhower and its escorts to train at Vieques while negotiations continue, but so far Rossello has rejected that proposal.
Clinton's effort to forge a compromise between the Navy and the Puerto Rican leadership is greatly complicated by factors that have nothing to do with Vieques, according to officials on both sides of the dispute.
Some senior military officers openly worry that electoral politics could influence Clinton's calculations, because first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Gore have sided with the Puerto Ricans. "It looks like the deck is stacked against us and against a decision on the merits," said one officer.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico is mired in a passionate but stalemated debate over whether it should remain a commonwealth--with the benefits of U.S. citizenship but no voting representation in Congress--seek statehood or opt for independence. In this context, Vieques has been one of very few issues to unite residents and politicians of all stripes.
Rossello, the leader of pro-statehood forces, is in a particularly difficult position. If he appears beholden to Washington, he will provide ammunition to his principal opponents, who argue that commonwealth status will best preserve Puerto Rico's autonomy and unique characteristics, such as the use of Spanish as an official language.
-------- germany
Schroder ready to close all nuclear plants
By Imre Karacs in Berlin Independent 17 November 1999
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/Environment/nuclear171199.shtml
Email to the German Federal Press Office http://www.bundesregierung.de/english/mail.html
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was close to a deal last night with his Green coalition partners on the timetable to close all of Germany's 19 nuclear power plants.
The issue has bedevilled the Red-Green government and an agreement would go a long way towards restoring the parties' fortunes. But Mr Schröder can also expect bitter denunciations from the power lobby, who will argue that the Chancellor has performed yet another U-turn, selling out his friends in industry for a semblance of government unity.
Phasing out nuclear power would be a severe blow to the industry worldwide, as it would trigger similar demands in other Western nations. Britain would be faced with the likelyloss of Sellafield's £1.2bn contract to reprocess spent German fuel rods.
Secret discussions have been going on in Berlin for weeks, after the companies running nuclear plants would not yield to the proposals.
The two parties had committed themselves to a gradual phase-out negotiated with industry. With that process faltering, the Greens threatened to walk out of the coalition and scupper Mr Schröder's government.
The deal, according to the newspaper Berliner Zeitung , would see three plants closing in the life-time of the current legislature, with the last one shut soon after 2016.
This formula is a long way from Green ambitions. Jürgen Trittin, the Green Environment Minister, had proclaimed the "end of the nuclear age", only to be forced to retract by Social Democrat colleagues.
Mr Trittin drafted a law in record time, without consulting the Chancellor, and was on the verge of placing an immediate ban on reprocessing before Mr Schröder intervened. Mr Trittin was reined in, though, only with the explicit promise that the utilities would have a year to offer a settlement.
The companies have not done that, and the year will be up in the middle of December.
Joschka Fischer, the Foreign Minister, seen as endowed with more diplomatic skills than Mr Trittin, entered the fray. It is he and Mr Schröder who have been haggling for several weeks, cutting out minions on both sides. Both need a solution in a hurry.
Having given up their dreams for an "ecology tax" and other environmental causes, the Greens could not be seen to be yielding any more ground. The threat to pull out of the government if no plant is shut was not an idle one.
The government's divisions have also hurt the Social Democrat party and Mr Schröder, who is outshone in the popularity stakes by even Helmut Kohl. With crucial regional elections due in the spring, the government is desperate to gain a common purpose.
The proposed deal is not the final word. Industry claims it would be entitled to tens of billions of marks in compensation. But those who produce nuclear power are more likely to come back to the negotiating table if confronted, for once, with a government that is united in its resolve.
-------- china
China Denies It Bought Israeli Radar
By ERIK ECKHOLM New York Times November 17, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/china-israel-arms.html
Related Article
U.S. Seeks to Curb Israeli Arms Sales to China (Nov. 11, 1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/111199israel-china.html
BEIJING -- A government spokesman denied on Tuesday that China's military had bought an advanced airborne radar system from Israel, even though Israeli officials have privately acknowledged to the United States that the sale took place.
At a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Sun Yuxi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, was asked about recent published reports that Israel is installing the $250 million radar system on a Russian aircraft, for delivery to China.
"I don't think what you just mentioned exists," he said.
"There is no defense cooperation between China and Israel," Sun said. American military officials say that Israel has secretly sold China billions of dollars worth of weapons over recent years, in part to help sustain its domestic military industry.
Pentagon officials have urged Israel not to sell more radar-equipped planes to China. The early-warning radar system, said to be comparable to the American AWACS system, would bolster China's abilities in a battle with Taiwan, or with American forces seeking to defend Taiwan.
China is rushing to modernize its outdated air and naval forces, which now have little capacity to fight a prolonged battle far from shore.
The Israelis did not deny the sale, but said that no American-supplied technology was involved in the radar system so there was no violation of U.S. export controls, Pentagon officials said.
According to Defense Department officials and press reports from Israel, workers at Elta, a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries, have mounted the Israeli radar complex, known as the Phalcon, on a Russian-made cargo plane for future delivery to China. American officials say China has asked to buy at least four more of the radar systems, also for installation on Russian-built planes.
-------- russia
Russia Tests Sub-Based Missiles on Eve of OSCE
New York Times November 17, 1999 Filed at 7:53 a.m. EDT By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-arms-ru.html
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia test-fired two nuclear-capable ballistic missiles from a submarine in the Barents Sea in the Arctic north on Wednesday, the navy said.
It said in a statement the missiles were launched within two hours of each other and the warhead sections successfully hit a Russian testing ground on the easternmost peninsula of Kamchatka. The head of the navy said on Tuesday earlier tests had been carried out because of U.S. missile defense plans.
The navy statement was issued as President Boris Yeltsin was flying to Istanbul for a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is expected to face criticism from the West over Russia's military campaign in rebel Chechnya and has vowed to take a tough line himself.
``The successful test of the two missiles from the nuclear submarine showed the high level of preparedness of the combat command system and personnel training,'' the statement said.
It said Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, the navy commander, congratulated the submarine crew for the successful test launch and said Russia's strategic naval forces were in good shape.
The statement did not say what class of nuclear-capable ballistic missile was tested. But Kuroyedov said the earlier launches had been designed to provide Russia with a suitable response if Washington presses ahead with plans to deploy a national anti-missile defense shield.
---
Russia Tests 2 Ballistic Missiles
By The Associated Press New York Times Filed at 11:36 a.m. EST November 17, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Russia-Missiles.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991117/aponline095726_000.htm
MOSCOW (AP) -- The Russian Navy said its Arctic Fleet test-fired two ballistic missiles today from a nuclear cruiser submarine, underlining the country's combat-readiness amid heightened tensions with the West.
The missiles were launched from a Typhoon-class submarine within two hours of each other from a site in the Barents Sea off northwest Russia and successfully hit their targets about 3,100 miles away, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, the Navy's press service said.
It was Russia's third test launch in a month, and like the others, it seemed to carry a strong political message.
Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, the commander of the Russian Navy, congratulated the Arctic Fleet on today's launches, saying in a statement, ``the naval strategic force demonstrated top combat-readiness and met the highest modern standards.''
Russia was alarmed by a recent U.S. proposal to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to allow the United States to build a missile-defense system. The United States said it needed the system to protect itself against limited nuclear attacks by so-called rogue states, such as Iraq and North Korea.
But Russian military officials have said the real target was Russia.
The ABM treaty allowed the United States and the Soviet Union to protect just one area each with interceptor missiles, but banned further developments on the assumption that mutual fear of destruction would stop either side from launching a nuclear attack.
But Russian-Western ties have deteriorated in recent years over a series of disputes, cooling the warm relationship that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
NATO's expansion to the east earlier this year, and its airstrikes against Yugoslavia, incensed the Russians. They have angrily rejected Western criticism of their current military campaign against breakaway Chechnya.
On Nov. 2, the Russian military fired an interceptor missile designed to knock down ballistic missiles -- the first such test in years. The missile was one of dozens deployed around Moscow in accordance with the ABM treaty.
Two weeks earlier, it launched a Stiletto intercontinental ballistic missile.
---
Russia tests two ballistic missiles
From Time to Time: Nando's in-depth look at the 20th century
By JUDITH INGRAM Nando Media 11/17/99
http://www2.nando.net/noframes/story/0,2107,500058611-500096572-500382588-0,00.html
MOSCOW (November 17, 1999 9:49 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - As Russia wrangles with the United States over a proposed missile defense system, the country launched its third set of test missiles in a month on Wednesday, sending a message of combat-readiness.
Two missiles were launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea north of Scandinavia and struck their targets about 3,100 miles away on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, the Navy's press service said.
Like two previous launches, the move appeared to carry a strong political message.
Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, the commander of the Russian Navy, congratulated the Arctic Fleet on Wednesday's launches, saying in a statement that "the naval strategic force demonstrated top combat-readiness and met the highest modern standards."
Russian ties with the West have deteriorated over a series of disputes in recent years.
Most recently, Russia has clashed with the United states over a U.S. proposal to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to allow the United States to build a missile-defense system to protect against limited nuclear attacks.
The United States says the modification is meant to protect against nuclear strikes by so-called rogue states such as Iraq and North Korea. But Russian military officials have said the real target is Russia.
The ABM treaty allowed the United States and the Soviet Union to protect one area each with interceptor missiles, but banned the further development of such defenses on the premise that fear of mutual destruction would stop either side from launching a nuclear attack.
NATO's expansion to the east earlier this year, and its airstrikes against Yugoslavia, have also soured relations with Russia - as has Western criticism of Russia's military campaign against breakaway Chechnya.
On Nov. 2, the Russian military began flexing its might, firing an interceptor missile designed to knock down ballistic missiles - the first such test in years. And two weeks earlier, it launched a Stiletto intercontinental ballistic missile.
-------- iraq
UN Seeks To Inspect Iraq Again
New York Times November 16, 1999 Filed at 10:51 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-UN-Iraq.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991116/aponline225155_000.htm
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In a bid to break a nearly year-old deadlock on Iraq, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are meeting every day to draft a resolution that would restart U.N. weapons inspections. Diplomats reported slow progress on Tuesday.
The five veto-wielding council members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- agree on the need to resume weapons monitoring in Iraq and to improve living conditions for the 22 million Iraqis living under U.N. sanctions.
While the United States is upbeat that an agreement may be near, Russia and China, Iraq's closest allies on the council, have said in recent days that there are still serious differences.
``Discussions have been very detailed, very contentious,'' a source close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday night. ``Progress is being made, but slow and tedious.''
The key remaining issues are the length of time between the adoption of a resolution and when the council could consider suspending sanctions and the actual criteria for suspending sanctions, diplomats said.
Russia and China want the so-called ``trigger'' for suspending sanctions to be readily achievable, while Britain and the United States have held out for Baghdad's full compliance with U.N. resolutions calling for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
U.S. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Tuesday that before any temporary suspension of sanctions can take place, Iraq would have to allow inspectors back into the country, fulfill the required disarmament tasks, and cooperate with inspectors ``for a substantial period of time.''
``Iraq's obligations have not changed. It must fully declare and destroy its weapons of mass destruction and prohibited missiles,'' Rubin said. ``And we believe the council believes that this obligation has not been met.''
Taking a somewhat softer line, Anne Gazeau-Secret, spokeswoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, said: ``This resolution must be founded on the principle of a return of inspectors on the ground, and as a counterpoint, must permit a suspension of sanctions.''
It remains unclear whether the United States would accept any language that looked like it was softening on Iraq, or whether Russia, China and France would accept tough language that offered little prospect of easing sanctions in a reasonable period.
The five permanent members are also still discussing the makeup of the new inspection unit that will replace the U.N. Special Commissions, Western diplomats said. Its inspectors pulled out of Iraq in mid-December ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes to punish Baghdad for failing to cooperate. Iraq has barred them from returning.
The United States is preparing to introduce a draft resolution to the Security Council to extend the U.N. humanitarian program in Iraq for another six months, diplomats said. The current phase ends on Saturday.
--------japan
Japan Rocket May Have Leaked Fuel
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999; 1:22 p.m. EST By Ginny Parker Associated Press Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991117/aponline132215_000.htm
TOKYO -- This week's loss of a $94 million satellite just minutes after launch may have been caused by fuel leaking from a rocket booster, Japanese space officials said Wednesday.
The failed launch of the MTSAT satellite on Monday was the second this year caused by problems with the H-2 rocket, the key to Japan's space program. The program is competing with Europe and the United States for a share of the commercial satellite-launching market.
Officials at the National Space Development Agency ordered the rocket destroyed after launch Monday when engine trouble developed and they feared the rocket might veer out of control.
Liquid hydrogen fuel flowing from cracked pipes probably caused the engine trouble, NASDA spokeswoman Makiko Nishihara said.
A video of the launch showed abnormal jets of gas shooting from the rocket's main engine shortly after takeoff. This, along with flight data transmitted during the launch, provided clues about why the rocket malfunctioned, Nishihara said.
She said the agency was still investigating what might have caused the cracks in the pipes.
The failed launch was a major setback for Japan's government-run program.
"This doesn't just reflect poorly on the National Space Development Agency, it leaves serious doubts for Japan about the future of space as a business," said an editorial in the Nihon Keizai newspaper, Japan's main business daily.
U.S. companies considering launching satellites with Japanese rockets might now reconsider, it said.
Over the past few years, Japan's space program has been plagued by bureaucratic wrangling, cost overruns and technical difficulties. Still, it has successfully put a satellite in orbit around the moon and was the first to dock two satellites in space by remote control.
Concerned by the development of long-range missiles by its unpredictable communist neighbor, North Korea, Japan has promised to launch its first spy satellites in 2003.
-------- us nuc weapons
Experts question missile defense
By John Omicinski, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE USA Today 11/16/99
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncstue02.htm
WASHINGTON - The $10 billion national missile defense system has a ''high risk'' of failure, missile experts told the Pentagon's ''Star Wars'' agency Tuesday, warning it not to move too quickly.
Moreover, huge technical problems in the National Missile Defense system - NMD - were made worse by ''confusion about authority and responsibility,'' said a panel headed by retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch.
NMD's development is placing ''severe demands on management,'' it warned, saying officials in charge also had to overcome a ''legacy of over-optimism'' in similar programs that did not work out.
In particular, the report said that its visits to Raytheon's Tucson plant ''did not provide the panel with confidence'' that sufficient attention is being paid the strength of the Raytheon-developed ''exoatmospheric kill vehicle'' - or EKV - and its ability to withstand the vibrations and speed while sitting atop the Boeing-developed NMD rockets on its ride into space.
The EKV is the core of the missile defense program.
The Welch panel called these ''environments of space'' a ''high risk'' to the missile defense program. It also raised questions about whether the EKV could withstand a nuclear blast near it in space.
However, some of the group's warnings were softened by the successful first test of the NMD Oct. 2. A 120-pound EKV rode into space atop an old Minuteman II rocket and destroyed a simulated incoming warhead more than 140 miles up in a collision at a combined speed of more than 15,000 mph.
The latest Welch report was finished Sept. 17, two weeks before the successful test EKV - which was not fooled by a pair of decoys - was fired from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.
Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said the rocket to be used in the NMD would be considerably faster than the Minuteman, which he called a ''taxi into space.''
But at the same time, he said the EKV doesn't rely on the rocket for striking its target. The Oct. 2 EKV traveled alone on the final 1,400 miles to the kill. ''Of course it was moving at 4,000, 5,000 mph so it didn't take long to get there,'' Lehner said.
Lehner said he didn't consider the report a ''ding at Raytheon.'' The company, he said, was ''doing a good job.''
The Welch report, however, said that it found in Tucson an EKV program that was ''hardware-poor.'' There were ''no spares, no development articles, and no articles available for parallel activities ...''
The first EKV built, the report said, ''appears to be the one that will fly.''
Lack of spares is ''driving flight delays,'' he said, adding the Pentagon budget calls for more spare parts.
A second test launch is scheduled for January. The Kwajalein rocket-boosted EKVs must go 2-for-4 in hitting targets before President Clinton will even consider going ahead with the program next summer.
Pentagon officials say they need the decision by next summer's end in order to choose construction sites - probably in North Dakota and Alaska - that have extremely short construction seasons.
The NMD decision may end up being one of Clinton's last big acts before leaving office.
--
Experts question 'Star Wars' defense
USA Today 11/17/99- Updated 10:29 AM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/nc1.htm#miss
WASHINGTON - A planned U.S. missile defense system has a ''high risk'' of failure, missile experts warned the Pentagon on Tuesday. A panel headed by retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch sounded alarm over the $10 billion project planned by the Clinton administration. Huge technical problems in the National Missile Defense system are made worse by ''confusion about authority and responsibility,'' the panel says in a report.
---
Clinton, Yeltsin to Discuss Strategic Cooperation
Reuters Updated 1:51 PM ET November 15, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/r/991115/13/politics-arms-usa
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The presidents of Russia and the United States will discuss arms issues and a nuclear test ban treaty at talks in Istanbul this week, a spokesman for Russian President Boris Yeltsin said Monday.
Yeltsin and President Clinton are to meet as part of a Nov. 18-19 summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul.
"As far as the meeting with Clinton is concerned, then questions of strategic cooperation will be discussed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin told Russian NTV television.
He said Russia had been worried by the U.S. Senate's rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on Oct. 13.
Of the five declared nuclear powers only Britain and France have ratified the treaty, which would put an end to nuclear weapons testing, while the U.S., Russia and China have yet to do so.
Yakushkin said Yeltsin would probably soon send the nuclear test ban pact for consideration by the State Duma lower house of parliament but gave no precise date.
"Apart from this rejection by the (U.S.) senators, we are also very worried by attempts to change the ABM treaty system," he said.
Moscow has fiercely rejected Washington's proposals to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which Russia calls the foundation of the Cold War arms control process.
The United States has said it would like to amend the agreement to allow it to build a national missile defense system, banned under the ABM treaty.
---
Bush on missiles
Washington Times 5am -- November 17, 1999 www.washtimes.com
http://www.washtimes.com/politics/inside.html
George W. Bush, the front-runner for the Republican Party presidential nomination, said yesterday he favored going ahead with a national missile defense system even if it means pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty over Russian objections.
"I think we need to give Russia time to agree to amend the treaty," he said in an interview on NBC's "Today." show. "Otherwise we ought to abrogate the treaty.
"I can't tell you how important I think it is for America to develop not only theater-based but strategic-based anti-ballistic missile systems," Mr. Bush said in the interview from his home in Austin, Texas.
"The world has changed since the treaty was signed in the '70s," he said. "This is now a world of uncertainty. . . . As I say in my ads, there are madmen and dictators and missiles."
----------- nuc weapons plants
Closing of Brookhaven Reactor Dismays Scientists, Pleases Environmentalists
New York Times November 17, 1999
GREAT NECK, N.Y. -- Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory were dismayed Tuesday at the Department of Energy's decision to permanently close an aging nuclear reactor that has been shut since 1996, but environmentalists praised the move.
"There's a bunch of very unhappy people, a lot of very disappointed people," said Thomas R. Sheridan, deputy director for operations at Brookhaven. "We thought we had an understanding about what the process was going to be. We feel like we got the rug pulled out from under us."
The announcement Tuesday by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson came as a surprise because discussions with the department had been going on for two years about the lab's High Flux Beam Reactor, Sheridan said. "The part where everybody got to comment was yet to come," he said, referring to an ongoing environmental impact study. The secretary, who had a preliminary draft of the report, said in October that he saw no major hurdles to its reopening, but he also requested further study.
Environmentalists said they would like to see the results of the draft study. Ever since a tritium leak was discovered in 1997 and the reactor put on standby, the STAR Foundation, an anti-radiation group based in East Hampton, had been working to make sure the reactor would never be allowed to start back up.
"We're delighted," said Scott Cullen, the organization's counsel. "I think it's a good decision for the environment on Long Island. It will allow the people at Brookhaven to now focus on the cleanup that is sorely needed."
Geri Barish, president of 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Action Coalition, agreed, but added that she was concerned the draft environmental study would not be released now that a decision had been made.
"I hope they do release it," Ms. Barish said. "I think the public has a right to know. Too many secrets have been hidden from us already. I think it's time that they face up to what is going on and see what we can do about it."
The scientists at the laboratory described the decision as an irreparable blow to research, describing it as the best reactor of its kind in the northern hemisphere. But Sheridan said he did not think the decision to permanently shut down the reactor would have much effect on the laboratory as a whole. The reactor represented about 5 percent of its $400 million total budget, he said.
Brookhaven will need money to close the reactor. "This is a pretty substantial undertaking even though it's a pretty puny reactor," he said. "There will be a couple of years of planning of what we are going to do with it. Most important, where is that money going to come from? That's going to cost a lot more than starting it would have."
Sheridan said it was unclear whether Brookhaven would dismantle the reactor or "just shut it down and stand guard in front of it for the next 30 years."
Bill Reeside, the reactor division manager, said more staff may be needed over the next two to three years for the cleanup. The division has 90 permanent employees and eventually jobs will be lost, he said.
Funding for research of the type done at the reactor would continue, but not necessarily on Long Island, said Michael Holland, the director of the project management division for the Department of Energy. New instruments would continue to be developed and some work would be transferred to other national laboratories.
The laboratory's mission would continue, Holland said. "It's a vibrant facility."
Steve Shapiro, a scientist who had used the reactor for 30 years to study properties of various materials, was angry.
"I can't tell you what discoveries won't be made," he said. "The amount of work has been reduced. There are just not enough facilities to support the demand for all of the users. Most of the scientists here have been using other facilities but producing less science. It is a national shame."