--------- appeals for info
* Wyoming town does its homework on N-waste disposal plans
Geologist Melissa Clark Rhodes is looking for a few good scientists. Given the emotional controversy over a proposed nuclear waste incinerator in Idaho, she thinks it's time to challenge the Department of Energy with more than angry rhetoric.
For all the news, visit our website at http://www.enn.com
--------
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 16:09:27 -0500 To: abolition-caucus@egroups.com From: John Pike <johnpike@fas.org>
As you may be aware, we are in the process of obtaining commercial high-resolution imagery of special weapons facilities in India and Pakistan. http://www.fas.org/eye/indo-pak.html
This complements our ongoing campaign on DPRK facilities. http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/facility/nodong.htm
Part of the challenge is that the imagery is expensive, we have to pay for it by the square kilometer, and a single image is no more than about 10km on a side. This calls for rather greater precision in locating some of these facilities than has hitherto been the case.
Perhaps you can help.
Can you make me an offer as to where the A.Q. Khan Laboratories is located relative to the town of Kahuta http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/pakistan/facility/kahuta.htm We strongly suspect that it is across the river just to the Northeast of the town, but would like some confirmation on this point.
Can you make me an offer as to where the Agni-I and Agni-II pads are to be found @ Balasore http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/facility/itr.htm We reasonably suspect that the Agni-II pad on Inner Wheeler Island is pretty close to the coastline, and within a few km of the Wheeler Islands chain, but we are not entirely confident of this guesstimate. We are less confident in understanding whether the launch areas at the ITR are to the northern or southern end of the facility.
Any help you can provide would be appreciated, and any other folks you might suggest would be equally appreciated. Feel free to pass this email message along to anyone else who might be able to provide some insight.
John Pike http://www.fas.org/
Federation of American Scientists 202-675-1023
307 Massachusetts Ave NE Washington, DC 20002
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion"
------
ANTI-NUCLEAR ORGANIZATIONS WELCOME CAMPAIGN ON PACIFIC TESTING
PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT
Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/2000/February/02-18-05.htm
SUVA, Fiji Islands (February 17, 2000 Radio Australia)---Anti nuclear organizations have welcomed a new campaign to investigate and expose the long-term effects of French nuclear testing on citizens of French Polynesia.
Greenpeace and the Pacific Concerns Resource Center have come out in support of the "Finding the Truth" campaign, launched by ex-Word Council of Churches Executive Secretary for the Pacific John Doom.
The three-year campaign is calling on the French Government to open up its records on 30 years of testing in French Polynesia.
It is also calling for the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa to be registered as official French nuclear sites subject to radiological monitoring.
Greenpeace Pacific spokesperson Samantha Magick said it took the Marshall Islands 30 years to convince the United States to accept responsibility for the consequences of its testing.
She said she hopes French Polynesia won't have to wait that long.
For additional reports from Radio Australia, go to:
Radio Australia: Asia-Pacific http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/default.htm
Radio Australia: International News http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newsrael/
--------- good news
Solar Cars Set New World Speed Record
SYDNEY, Australia, February 18, 2000 (ENS)
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2000/2000L-02-18-04.html
A new world speed record has been set for solar powered cars by race cars in SunRace 2000.
Four vehicles in the cross Australian solar race exceeded 100.9 km/h (62.55 mph) over a measured 100 kilometres (62 miles) on the Hay Plain, between Hay and Mildura.
That record was set in 1998 by the current world champion, Aurora 101, but was topped on Wednesday by four contenders in the SunRace 2000. One entry, Desert Rose, averaged 107.78 km/h while Aurora 101 averaged 106.07 km/h.
The record is acknowledged by the International Solar Car Federation.
Solar cars line up in Sydney for the start of the race. (Photos courtesy SunRace 2000)
SunRace 2000 is a top ranking world solar car event, and is open to electric vehicles that can travel the 1,790 km from Sydney to Melbourne. Senior sponsors include the Australian Greenhouse Office, Whirlpool and BP Solarex.
Last year, the international SunRace 99 featured television coverage that was viewed by 200 million people around the world. That event was won by Australia's "Spirit of Canberra," with the Canadian entry in second place.
SunRace 2000 is "an event that embodies the true essence of energy efficiency, technological innovation, team work and competition," says Mike O'Neill of Whirlpool.
This fourth annual challenge is being promoted as the brain sport of the new century and will finish Saturday at Albert Park in Melbourne.
The solar cars in the race are worth $5 million. A Spanish entry has changed the event into an international competition.
A competitor on the road
"SunRace 2000 gives the Australian Greenhouse Office a chance to raise community awareness about issues relating to greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, while promoting the development of new technologies," says government official Colin Grant. The Office administers a $50 million renewable energy commercialization program and cash incentives for household solar-power generators.
"Most of us have played a role in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions," he says. "The technologies developed for events such as SunRace 2000 are making valuable contributions toward the development of greenhouse solutions."
The prime objective of SunRace 2000 is the promotion of renewable energy and electric vehicle technologies to the widest possible audience.
"Solar car racing had done more than anything else to showcase solar technology to the public," says professor Stuart Wenham, recipient of a prestigious $350,000 Australia Prize for science.
Check the SunRace 2000 website Saturday or Sunday for final race results at: http://sunrace.com.au
--------- depleted uranium
Sick vets worry about effects of depleted uranium
*WebPosted Fri Feb 18 2000 CBC * From: Peter Diehl <p.diehl@sik.de>
HALIFAX - The federal NDP is calling for a public inquiry into the effects of depleted uranium on Canadian troops and their families. The demand came during an emotional news conference Friday by two veterans who served in the Gulf War but came home sick.
*Eldon Berghamer * Perry Holloway and Eldon Berghamer say they fear they're going to die a slow and painful death like former Gulf War veteran Terry Riordon. Traces of depleted uranium were found in Riordon's body nine years after he returned from the Gulf.
They're also concerned about passing on whatever is making them sick to their partners. Both veterans say one of their symptoms is burning semen.
At the news conference, NDP MP Wendy Lil read a letter from the former wife of Berghamer, who served in the Gulf War when he was 19 years old.
In the letter, she said she had eight miscarriages that doctors couldn't explain and when their daughter was born she weighed only two pounds and has suffered many illnesses.
"I have no way of knowing if all or any of these things are related to Eldon's participation in the Gulf War," she wrote. "However, I do think that the military should be helping Eldon to find out if they are responsible and if they are, they should help him."
The military has said depleted uranium poses no health risk, but has offered to test veterans who think they were exposed.
Berghamer believes he could have been exposed to the radioactive metal used in weapons during a scud missile attack. Some scientists believe soldiers may have ingested depleted uranium dust from exploded weapons and they say that could be harmful.
The NDP wants a public inquiry and extensive independent testing of sick veterans. Defence Minister Art Eggleton said Friday his department has requested more information on depleted uranium from other countries and he's open to the findings.
----
GULF WAR ILLNESSES RESEARCH: TOXICITY OF MILITARILY-RELEVANT METALS - DOD
COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 18,2000 PSA#2540
POC Craig D. Lebo, Contracting Officer, 301-619-2036.
http://www.sciencewise.com/foaalert/dod/opp/mti/02180017.htm
The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command is soliciting proposals for studies on biological effects of heavy metals currently used or contemplated for use in armor and as armor penetrators. These include tungsten and tungsten alloys, depleted uranium, depleted uranium and titanium alloys, and oxidation products of these metals and their alloys. Inclusion of positive (e.g. lead) and negative (e.g. tantalum) controls should be considered in study designs. Outcomes of special interest include identification of mechanisms of injury to pulmonary, hepatic, renal, and nervous systems from particulate and solubilized forms; and localized soft tissue responses produced by embedded fragments (distinguishing foreign body, radiation, toxicological and acute phase responses). Exposures should be based on realistic scenarios, should consider current pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic knowledge of the metal or alloy under study, and could include epidemiological studies based on exposure models. Proposals must provide a clear justification and military relevance. Submission of preliminary data is encouraged. Collaborations with DoD medical researchers are encouraged. Awards are expected to average $200K per year for up to four years of support. A total of approximately $5M will be made available for studies in this topic. Proposals should be submitted according to general instructions contained in the Broad Agency Announcement 99-1 (see http://www-usamraa.army.mil). Preproposals are not required; letters of intent (LOI) containing a proposed title, brief description of project scope (150 words), and investigator and institution identification are due by 14 June 2000. These LOI will be used to plan the review process. Do NOT expect a response to your LOI. Full proposals are due no later than 4 p.m., EST, 26 July 2000. Send letters of intent and proposals to: Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, ATTN: GWIRP2000, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5014. Posted 02/16/00 (W-SN425880). (0047)
----------- austria
Europe's Austria Hypocrisy
Washington Post
Friday, February 18, 2000; Page A23
By Charles Krauthammer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/18/048l-021800-idx.html
Joerg Haider's far right Freedom Party has been part of the Austrian government for two weeks now. No sign yet of an invasion of Poland.
From the outraged reaction of the European Union to Haider's inclusion in Austria's ruling coalition, you might have thought the old anschlussed Third Reich appendage was stirring once again for the glory of the fatherland. The EU has ostracized Austria, cut off bilateral meetings and unleashed a steady barrage of threats and denunciations.
Now, there is nothing wrong with the civilized world's registering its protest at the inclusion of a suspect, indeed loathsome, political party in the coalition government of a democracy. But this is hardly the first suspect and loathsome party to join a European government. The French Communist Party, which for most of a century was handmaiden to Stalin and his successors, is currently a full member of the French government.
Moreover, protest and criticism are fine. But the vehemence of European reaction raises a question: Exactly what threat does Haider pose?
He has campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform. And he has made the occasional softball remark about the Nazi past, saying, for example, that Waffen SS soldiers deserve respect for their wartime service. So Europe has risen as one to denounce this cryptofascism.
I have news for the EU:
(1) Nazism has been dead for 50 years.
(2) Hitler is not coming back.
(3) There are people diligently working to finish Hitler's work. They are not Austrian.
Who is manufacturing--today--poison gas for the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Jewish innocents? Who is building missiles to deliver these agents of extermination and aiming at the largest Jewish cities on the planet?
Libya, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Yet even as Europe piously flagellates Austria, it openly consorts with these malevolent dictatorships:
Sept. 13, 1999: The EU lifts most of its remaining sanctions on Libya. The Italian prime minister recently visited Tripoli. Today there is talk of a Gadhafi visit to Brussels.
Jan. 22: An EU economic delegation goes to Syria in order to establish "a strong partnership." Indeed, the EU has, since May 1998, been in talks on a Europe-Syria free trade zone.
Jan. 28: British Foreign Minister Robin Cook defends renewed British "dialogue" with Iran and Libya. This while Iran is acquiring nuclear weapons and missiles that can reach Israel. This while Iran arrests 13 Jews on manufactured charges of espionage. (In 1997 Iran hanged two Jews on the same charge.)
Feb. 10: Italy's Fiat and Germany's Volkswagen go to Tehran to negotiate deals with Iran's state-owned automobile company. In October 1997 the largest French oil company joined a $2 billion project to develop the huge South Pars oil fields in Iran.
For months, France has been trying to get sanctions on Iraq lifted.
Haider's crime is expressing passing sympathy for those who fought in Hitler's army. (A French government official who charged that Haider had made "a number of antisemitic statements" later retracted the claim.) Yet in the Middle East, the government-controlled press routinely publishes Holocaust denial and antisemitic vitriol. Indeed, the very week that Haider came to power, the official Syrian daily Tichrin denounced and ridiculed as a "myth" the Nazi murder of millions of Jews during World War II.
Antisemitism in the official Palestinian press is so ingrained that you find it in the newspaper crossword puzzle. Clue: "Jewish center for eternalizing the Holocaust and the lies." Answer: "Yad Vashem" (Israel's Holocaust memorial).
Haider is reviled. Yet Arafat, who controls this propaganda, is regularly bear-hugged by Western leaders, beginning with best pal Bill Clinton.
There is no cheaper way to burnish phony human rights credentials than to come out resolutely against Nazism. Oh, the courage. Anti-Nazism was a specialty of Soviet propaganda for 50 years. All while the Soviet regime was running a gulag empire and doing its best to eradicate what little Jewish life Hitler had left behind in Eastern Europe.
Austria is a threat neither to democracy nor to Jews. There are, on the other hand, a string of countries whose expressed intention--the expressions are neither subtle nor veiled--is the eradication of the Middle East's single democracy and the expulsion or extermination of the Jews who live in it.
If Europe showed the least bit of outrage at that threat, real and present, one might take a bit more seriously its pious puffing about Austria's toy Hitlerism.
----------- britain
U.K.: Nuke Plant Falsified Records
Associated Press
February 18, 2000 Filed at 1:58 p.m. EST
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Britain-Nuclear.html
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000218/wl/britain_nuclear_2.html
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2000/feb/18/021800669.html?nuclear+OR+plutonium+OR+uranium+OR+radioactiv%3F%3F%3F+OR+missile
LONDON (AP) -- Workers at a nuclear reprocessing plant deliberately falsified records relating to the quality of fuel pellets, and the plant has been shut down until the problem is corrected, the government's safety agency reported Friday.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate said it has been unable to determine why the records were falsified at the Sellafield plant in northwestern England, operated by British Nuclear Fuels PLC. The inspectorate is part of the Health and Safety Executive.
The company faces prosecution over the safety regulations breaches, the Health and Safety Executive said Friday night. The agency said the lapses did not compromise the safety of the uranium and plutonium mixed-oxide fuel used in nuclear reactors.
Energy Minister Helen Liddell said the report documented ``serious management failures'' and noted that she has given company chairman Hugh Collum two months to develop ``comprehensive and radical suggestions for change.''
The report speculated that workers may have falsified records because it was a tedious job.
``There can be no excuse for process workers not following procedures and deliberately falsifying records to avoid doing a tedious task. These people need to be identified and disciplined,'' the report said.
``However, the management on the plant allowed this to happen and since it had been going on for over three years must share responsibility.''
British Nuclear Fuels said it had apologized to its Japanese customer, Kansai Electric Power Co.
Kansai Electric Power Co had planned to use the fuel for an experimental nuclear power program at a reactor in Takahama, in central Japan, starting in January. The program was delayed after BNFL disclosed the quality control problem in December, and Kansai said it would return the fuel.
---
Critical report on falsified Sellafield data today
The Irish Times
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2000/0218/hom25.htm
A critical report into the falsification of plutonium data at British Nuclear Fuel's Sellafield plant is to be published today by the chief inspector of Britain's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.
The 40-page study will call for changes at the plant in Cumbria and a spokesman said it "would not pull any punches".
The Green Party TD, Mr Trevor Sargent, said last night that the Irish Government had to co-operate with the British government to transform Sellafield into a decommissioning plant for nuclear fuels as the first step towards its total closure.
He said the expertise at the plant could be best used to clean up the legacy of the nuclear industry, as reprocessing was no longer commercially viable. He described the falsification of the records at the plant as "not just irresponsible, but alarming and unbelievable".
A Dundalk solicitor, Mr James McQuill, who acts for members of a group which is taking a case against the plant, said it underlined the need for a comprehensive disclosure of the records at the plant to his clients.
Since last October five process workers have been sacked after an investigation by the NII into claims that 22 manual checks on batches of uranium and plutonium mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel rods had been falsified.
An article in the London In- dependent newspaper claimed yesterday that the report would show falsification of data on a wider scale and for longer than first believed at the MOX plant, which began operations in 1994.
A BNFL spokesman said: "We are unable to comment on an unpublished report from our regulator. However the focus at the top of the company is on learning from these events and moving forward."
He said the company's achievements included an improving safety and environmental record, the introduction of new flexible working practices and a number of significant acquisitions.
But a spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry said the findings would be taken into consideration by the British government, which had hoped to part-privatise BNFL soon.
Last Tuesday, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Stephen Byers, told a Commons select committee: "The events (at Sellafield) show a fundamental flaw in the management of BNFL and that has to change."
An NNI spokesman said the report would detail how, where and why falsification happened and by whom and would outline the lessons that needed to be learned.
The NNI spokesman added that although the rods were not necessarily unsafe, "the issue of falsifying data is a serious one and we would not recommend it in any place of work, especially one dealing with potentially dangerous material".
An official from the NII visited Sellafield last year after managers reported that irregularities had been noticed by their quality control team.
It was discovered that sampling of rods was not carried out and the records which showed it had been done were copied from previous checks.
One of BNFL's largest contracts is with Japan, which is planning to run up to 18 reactors on the fuel rods by 2010.
At the time of the discovery last year, two shipments were already on the way to Japan and were not believed to be affected.
Last week, the Japanese government demanded that a shipment of MOX fuel was returned to Britain.
Mr Tom O'Flaherty, chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, said he had yet to see any official report and it was too early to comment on the situation at Sellafield without having seen full document.
---
An Undated File Photo of the Sellafield Nuclear Processing...
Excite News
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/photo/img/ap/britain/nuclear/20000218/lon102?r=/photo/topic/international
An undated file photo of the Sellafield nuclear processing plant in Cumbria, on England's northwest coast, operated by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. Britain's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate reported Friday, Feb.18,2000, that BNFL workers systematically falsified safety records involving plutonium and uranium products and the plant has been shut down until the problem is corrected. (AP Photo / PA Files) UK
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/img/feeds/ap/britain/nuclear/20000218/lon102_full.jpg
--------
An Investigation into the Falsification of Pellet Diameter Data in the MOX Demonstration Facility at the BNFL Sellafield Site and the Effect of this on the Safety of MOX Fuel in Use
by The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the HSE
February 18, 2000 Health and Safety Executive, UK Gov
http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/mox1.htm
FOREWORD
This report sets out the findings of the investigation carried out by HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate into the falsification of quality assurance data associated with the production of MOX nuclear fuel pellets manufactured in the MOX Demonstration Facility at Sellafield.
The investigation was carried out under the control of the Deputy Chief Inspector responsible for regulating the safety at BNFL's sites. The investigation began shortly after BNFL notified NII of suspected falsification on 10 September.
It is the Executive's view that the report gives a thorough analysis of the issues surrounding the falsification of quality assurance data at MDF. It is clear that various individuals were engaged in falsification of important records but a systematic failure allowed it to happen.
It has not been possible to establish the motive for this falsification, but the poor ergonomic design of this part of the plant and the tedium of the job seem to have been contributory factors. The lack of adequate supervision has provided the opportunity. Despite this, self-discipline ought to have ensured that those involved followed the proper procedures.
One point worth noting is that in the new Sellafield MOX Plant, currently being commissioned, the inspection processes for MOX pellets, rods and assemblies are designed to be almost fully automated: this should prevent the falsification of data of the kind described in this report.
There are many lessons to learn, but the MOX Demonstration Facility is shut down and will not be allowed to restart until NII is satisfied that the recommendations in the report have been implemented.
If you have any comments, or would like further information on the issues discussed in this report, write to the Chief Inspector at the following address below:
Laurence Williams Director of Nuclear Safety and HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations Health & Safety Executive St Peter's House Stanley Precinct Bootle L20 3LZ
SUMMARY
The MOX Demonstration Facility (MDF) at BNFL's Sellafield site manufactures MOX (mixed oxides of plutonium and uranium) fuel pellets and assembles these using various customer supplied components to make complete fuel assemblies for use in nuclear power reactors. Each fuel pellet produced passes through a fully automated laser micrometer which checks and records the pellet's diameter at three points along its length, giving a 100% automatic check on all pellets used in a fuel rod. Any undersized or oversized pellets are automatically rejected. Those which fall within the specified diametral tolerance pass onto the next stage where each undergoes further visual checks. As a confirmatory check on diameter and in accordance with the 1% Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) criterion set out in BS 6001, a sample of 200 pellets (approximately 5%) which have passed through both these stages is measured for a second time. This quality check is done using a similar micrometer, but the sample pellets are presented to the micrometer by process workers who type each measured diameter, e.g. 8.195mm, into a computer spreadsheet.
On 20 August 1999 a member of MDF's Quality Control Team identified similarities between the secondary pellet diameter data for successive Lots. After further investigations, on 10 September 1999 BNFL reported to NII that some of these secondary pellet diameter checks on the fuel manufactured for a Japanese customer appeared to have been falsified by copying some data between spreadsheets.
The Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) promptly launched an investigation to establish both the extent of the falsification and the causes of the event. NII concluded that data had indeed been falsified but that this would not affect the safety performance of the fuel, given the automated primary diameter check on 100% of the pellets used in each fuel rod.
NII believes the failure to properly carry out the agreed manual checks of the pellet diameter to be a contractual issue between BNFL and its customer. However, because it also represents a deliberate breach of operating procedures the Inspectorate launched an investigation which centred upon:
1.understanding just what had occurred in MDF and why; 2.whether the fuel involved will be safe in use; and 3.what needs to be done to prevent any recurrence.
NII's investigation into possible reasons for the falsification identified that although various individuals were at fault, a systematic failure allowed it to happen. In a plant with the proper safety culture, the events described in this report could not have happened.
NII commissioned an independent analysis by HSE's statisticians of the extent of the falsification. The results of this and further manual checks of data by NII showed that the initial investigation by BNFL, carried out under severe time pressures was too narrow: there had been a tendency to rush to early conclusions which understated the extent of the problem by assuming that the falsification was largely confined to one shift. Nevertheless BNFL agreed to carry out further, more detailed investigations and, following discussions with NII, has taken steps to address the contributory factors to this incident which the Company and the Inspectorate have identified.
NII is satisfied that in spite of the falsification of the quality assurance related data, the totality of the fuel manufacturing quality checks are such that the MOX fuel produced for Japan will be safe in use. With regard to MDF, the plant is shut down and will not be allowed to restart until NII is satisfied that the recommendations outlined in this report have been implemented to ensure, inter alia, that the deficiencies found in the quality checking process have been rectified, the management of the plant has been improved and plant operators have been either replaced or retrained to bring the safety culture in the plant up to the standard NII requires for a nuclear installation.
CONCLUSIONS
103. The events at MDF which have been revealed in the course of this investigation could not have occurred had there been a proper safety culture within this plant. It is clear that some process workers falsified records of the diameter of fuel pellets taken for QA sampling. One example of falsification has been found dating back to 1996. There can be no excuse for process workers not following procedures and deliberately falsifying records to avoid doing a tedious task. These people need to be identified and disciplined. However, the management on the plant allowed this to happen, and since it had been going on for over three years, must share responsibility.
104. Before NII will allow the restart of MDF, BNFL will need to address all the recommendations in the report to the Inspectorate's satisfaction.
Added to HSE website 18th February 2000
---
HSE TEAM INSPECTION OF THE CONTROL AND SUPERVISION OF OPERATIONS AT BNFL's SELLAFIELD SITE
February 18, 2000 Health and Safety Executive, UK Gov
http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/team.htm
FOREWORD
This report sets out the findings of a multidisciplinary team inspection carried out by HSE into the control and supervision of operations at BNFL's site at Sellafield.
The investigation was carried out under the control of the Deputy Chief Inspector of HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate who is responsible for regulating safety at BNFL's sites. The inspection was carried out between 6 and 27 September 1999. HSE's team consisted of 11 nuclear inspectors and 2 inspectors from its Field Operations Directorate together with administrative staff.
The inspection was requested by the Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations following a series of events at Sellafield where the cause was seen to be weaknesses in control and supervision.
The team found that there were indeed weaknesses in this area and has made recommendations to overcome them. BNFL had also recognised shortfalls in the company's performance and had introduced initiatives to correct the shortfalls.
The weaknesses found showed that there had been a deterioration in safety performance at Sellafield. The recommendations identified in this report are those which BNFL needs to implement to fully meet the standards that are expected of a nuclear site licensee. Sellafield is not unsafe, but strong management action is needed to ensure that it both remains safe into the future and that BNFL makes the practicable improvements which can reasonably be expected.
NII has required BNFL to produce a programme for responding within 2 months to the recommendations of this report. Progress will be monitored as part of NII's normal process of regulation. Should progress be inadequate, NII will not hesitate to use its enforcement powers.
If you have any comments, or would like further information on the issues discussed in this report, write to the Chief Inspector at the address below:
Laurence Williams Director of Nuclear Safety and HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations Health and Safety Executive St Peter's House Stanley Precinct Bootle L20 3LZ
SUMMARY
The BNFL Sellafield Site located in Cumbria contains two types of nuclear installations. Four Magnox type reactors provide steam and electricity for the Sellafield site and supply electricity to the national grid. The remainder of the site, comprising several hundred buildings, is associated with the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and the treatment and storage of radioactive wastes. The team inspection described in this report was carried out on the facilities associated with reprocessing and waste treatment and storage.
During the first half of 1999, an apparent increase in the number of incidents occurring at Sellafield was detected by NII. Investigation of some of these events by the NII inspection team for Sellafield indicated that inadequacies in BNFL's arrangements for the control and supervision of operations appeared to be a significant contributor to the poor safety performance. The Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations therefore decided that a team inspection should be carried out to investigate these apparent shortcomings in the control and supervision of operations.
A team comprising 11 NII inspectors and 2 inspectors from HSE's Field Operations Directorate was assembled. In selecting the team, care was taken to obtain a balance of inspectors with site inspection experience and specialist knowledge in the areas to be inspected and also with experience of inspection at both Sellafield and other nuclear establishments. In order to maximise the time available for inspection on site, planning for the inspection and examination of written information from BNFL was carried out prior to commencing the on-site inspection activities. The team spent two weeks on site in September 1999. Some members of the team also visited BNFL's headquarters at Risley. Whilst on site, the team generally operated as three groups (focusing on the topics of incidents, control and supervision of operations, and staffing and resources), but regrouped where appropriate to pursue central issues associated with the management of the Sellafield site.
One Improvement Notice was served during the inspection requiring improvements to BNFL's system for controlling risks to persons working at heights. On another occasion BNFL voluntarily stopped a plant when serious deficiencies were brought to its attention. BNFL has also agreed to undertake a systematic assessment of the baseline resource levels it requires for undertaking its current activities before any further changes are made to its organisational structure.
The inspection confirmed NII's original concerns about control and supervision. BNFL had already recognised a number of the shortcomings identified during the course of this HSE team inspection. In particular, it has recognised the need to bring about greater integration of the Sellafield site under the management of a team with authority to manage operations on the site and has begun to take steps to address this. It has also put in place a programme of initiatives intended to improve safety in a number of areas. Unless there are proactive systems for checking that the required standards are being maintained, non-compliances are likely either to go undetected, or to have caused significant problems by the time they are detected.
There are three key conclusions from this inspection. The first is that there is a lack of a high quality safety management system across the site which is compounded by an overly complex management structure. The second is that there are insufficient resources to implement even the existing safety management system. The third is a lack of an effective independent inspection, auditing and review system within BNFL. Without a vigorous independent inspection, auditing and review system, HSE does not see how BNFL can make acceptable and timely progress in delivering a high quality safety management system across the site.
Added to the HSE website on 18th February 2000
Back to NII Home Page
http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/nsdhome.htm
Back to HSE Home Page
http://www.hse.gov.uk/hsehome.htm
--------- canada
Army says it erred in radiation report
Friday, February 18, 2000 By DOUG BEAZLEY and PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN
http://www.canoe.com/EdmontonNews/es.es-02-18-0028.html
The army says it made a mistake in failing to tell Edmonton soldiers that radiation had been found in an area they patrolled.
Lt.-Col. Shane Brennan, commander of soldier in the 1st Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, said he's troubled by the fact Ottawa brass chose to brief reporters about the radiation exposure in Kosovo and neglected to tell him.
"Am I concerned? Yes, I'm concerned," said Brennan.
"Am I alarmed some great injustice has been done? No, not yet. I have to get more information to find out exactly where this material was (in relation to troop movements)."
Brennan said it could be another week before he knows whether any of his people were exposed to the radiation.
An Edmonton Garrison press spokesman said Brennan was left in the dark because of a kink in the chain of command that gave the information to the press first.
"Obviously the reason why is being looked into," said Capt. Mike Audette. "It's embarrassing."
Soldiers at Edmonton Garrison yesterday defended their decision to speak to The Sun - instead of their officers - about their radiation-exposure fears.
Members of A Company, 1st Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were stunned earlier this week to learn on a Web site that they may have been exposed to radioactivity in Kosovo last year.
"The officers said we should have come to them first but the fact that no one told us about this shows that the system doesn't work," said one of the soldiers involved.
"They (the Department of National Defence) told journalists about this two weeks ago, which means they've had at least two weeks to come through to us with the information."
The soldiers found out on a DND Web site that Ottawa journalists had been told in a Feb. 3 briefing that two soldiers from the Royal Canadian Regiment had been exposed to low-level radioactivity on the outskirts of Glogovac in Kosovo.
The discovery was made at a bombed-out nickel mine regularly patrolled by A company, 120 strong, when they were stationed at Glogovac before Christmas.
Reform Party defence critic Art Hanger said the lapse proves the need for a public parliamentary inquiry into the health complaints of troops returned from Balkan duty.
Brennan said medical exams performed on his troops late last year showed no symptoms of radiation poisoning.
---
Stress-related illness tag 'outrageous' Reformer fears feds just trying to hide issue
Fred Chartrand / The Canadian Press Friday, February 18, 2000 Back The Halifax Herald Limited
http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaystory?2000/02/18+173.raw
Ottawa - The federal government is sweeping a whole host of mysterious illnesses under the rug by labelling them post-traumatic stress for pension purposes, says Reform MP Peter Goldring.
"The government is not providing any answers, they're not providing any assurances and they're sweeping it under the carpet," Goldring said Thursday after Veterans Affairs Minister George Baker declared post-traumatic stress disorder a disability among military veterans for the first time.
A new section, stress and anxiety disorders, is being added to the Veterans Affairs table of disabilities on which compensation is based, extending benefits to up to 4,000 Gulf War veterans and peacekeepers.
It is the first major revision of the table since it was drafted in 1919.
"It's good to recognize post-traumatic stress and to do something about it," said Goldring.
"But to paint the veterans that come back from these various theatres with the combination of illnesses that they have as stress-related is pretty outrageous."
The provisions not only grant financial compensation to veterans based on degree of disability, but also provide health-care benefits and services.
Baker said the post-traumatic stress section casts a wide net.
It will address virtually all ailments not covered under the existing list of disabilities while a committee of experts develops a new schedule during the next 14 months, Baker said.
"You've got to give these people who are ill their benefits now instead of saying you've got to prove what made you ill," he said. "These people are ill, they're sick, and they've got to receive their pensions. And this is the best way of doing it."
Afflicted soldiers like Matt Stopford, who has suffered from a variety of symptoms since returning from Croatia in the early '90s, blame an unknown environmental toxin for their ills.
However, a military inquiry found nothing in soil samples taken from service areas last summer. The inquiry concluded stress was the main culprit, urging the Forces to stop worrying about causes and simply treat sick soldiers.
The psychological-versus-physical issue has been a sore point with some veterans, but Stopford says it appears academic now.
He said he's discussed the new provisions with Baker and he's satisfied post-traumatic stress is "just a label" that enables veterans to skirt years of bureaucratic runarounds.
"The most important issue we have is getting our people looked after today," said Stopford, who appeared with Baker outside the House of Commons.
"They're not telling people it's post-traumatic stress. They're saying it's a bunch of factors, they're not sure what it is. They're still checking it. What Mr. Baker's done here . . . gets guys help today."
The new program, administered by a special medical board, will be reviewed in three months, Baker said, adding the measures won't likely cost "anything more than it's presently costing us in bureaucracy."
Tory Elsie Wayne lauded Baker for the move, saying it should be given a chance to work.
Meanwhile, Goldring fears authorities aren't doing enough to determine the role of depleted uranium or the cocktail of drugs and chemicals military personnel received before they head overseas.
Terry Riordon, 45, died last April after suffering for 81/2 years with debilitating symptoms he attributed to Gulf War syndrome. An American doctor who tested his remains found depleted uranium in his bones.
Col. Scott Cameron of Forces medical services, said Thursday any Gulf veteran, serving or retired, who wants a urine test for depleted uranium will be able to have one soon. The military has developed a testing system.
Cameron said existing studies have not been able to link depleted uranium, a byproduct of the uranium enrichment industry, to any of the sorts of symptoms found in Gulf vets.
Peacekeepers' complaints have defied categorization. They don't fit neatly into the 80-year-old list that bureaucrats rely on to dole out benefits.
Symptoms include internal disorders, memory loss, fatigue, stress and organ failure, rendering many unable to work.
The 500-page schedule determines what percentage of the maximum allowable pension a disabled veteran is eligible to receive. Loss of a finger, for example, is worth five per cent of the pension. An eye is worth 10 per cent.
----------- china
China-U.S. security talks progressing
Yahoo News
Friday, February 18, 2000
BEIJING (AP) - China and the U.S. have made progress in resumed discussions on strategic security concerns, including Taiwan, a senior U.S. envoy said Friday as he prepared to wrap up the two-day talks. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott was meeting again Friday morning with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Talbott was also to meet Vice Premier Qian Qichen, the government's top foreign policy expert, and a senior military official before leaving Friday afternoon.
Talbott said Friday the talks "have been going very well. We've covered a lot of ground. The tone has been excellent." Asked if Taiwan had been discussed, he said, "Of course, it's a very sensitive issue. As you know we always talk about that as well as many other things."
China's Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Embassy have refused to provide details except to say the talks covered security issues.
Earlier this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said China planned to raise its concerns about U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan and joint plans to build an anti-missile shield. Beijing is worried that U.S. support for Taiwan will counter China's growing arsenal of missiles, making it easier for the island to resist Chinese overtures for reunification.
-----
US Hits At China In Spat Over Anti-Missile Shield
Inside China Today
Feb 18, 2000
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=135865
GENEVA, -- (Reuters) The United States on Thursday angrily rejected China's criticism of its plan to develop a missile defense system and called into question Beijing's commitment to disarmament.
In the latest diplomatic spat at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, U.S. Ambassador Robert Grey said he rejected China's claim that Washington was trying to weaken or abolish the landmark 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty with its plans for a missile shield.
The United States is seeking amendments to the 1972 treaty, which limits the types of systems which Russia and the United States may deploy to intercept incoming missiles.
"The threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction using advanced means of delivery is real, growing and increasingly unpredictable," Grey said.
"The United States is considering a limited system to defend against such threats. The spread of these technologies shouldn't have happened but regrettably it did," he told the conference, the world's only multilateral forum for arms cuts.
U.S. President Bill Clinton plans to make a decision this summer on whether immediately to begin building a system of 100 interceptors based in Alaska or delay deployment until the United States is confident that the system, designed to block possible missile launches by "rogue states" will work.
The missile defense system is bitterly opposed by Russia and China and has caused major concerns among Washington's European allies. China, backed by Russia, last week proposed negotiations on a global treaty to ban the testing, deployment and use of weapons in outer space.
Grey said Washington was committed to working with Russia "in a spirit of cooperation against a threat we both face."
But he accused China of trying to undermine efforts toward lasting arms control while modernizing its own nuclear force.
"(China) has been building new missile fields in locations that raise concerns. And they call into question an open orderly process aimed at finding necessary adaptations that can keep a long-standing arms control agreement relevant and effective."
Grey said the Chinese position was to block U.N.-sponsored talks on the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, intended to halt the production of nuclear bomb-making material, unless there are parallel negotiations on nuclear arms reductions and outer space.
---
U.S. Official Says China Strategic Talks Intense
Inside China Today
Feb 18, 2000
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=135862
BEIJING, -- (Agence France Presse) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott met a senior Chinese general on Friday as part of what he called "very intense" talks on key strategic issues, including the extremely sensitive topic of Taiwan.
Talbott held a breakfast meeting with Lieutenant General Xiong Guangkai before heading to the Foreign Ministry for further talks designed to patch up China-U.S. ties and clear the air ahead of a presidential election in Taiwan in March.
Xiong, 60, is deputy chief of staff for the People's Liberation Army and among the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party's powerful foreign policy group.
Last month he went to the United States for the first high-level defense talks since U.S. warplanes destroyed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and plunged relations into crisis.
"I can just tell you that the talks are going very well indeed," Talbott told Reuters as he left the breakfast meeting.
"It was very intense yesterday," he said. "I'm looking forward to the rest of the day. Overall, I think we're very glad that we came."
TALKS FOCUS ON TAIWAN
Talbott, heading a team of top White House and military officials, was to meet Vice Premier Qian Qichen and General Zhang Wannian, a vice-chairman of the Communist Party's powerful Central Military Commission, before leaving China later in the day.
Chinese and U.S. officials say the talks were covering global and regional strategic issues, but thorny bilateral issues which continue to hamper slowly improving ties appeared to be high on the agenda.
The main stumbling block is Taiwan, which Beijing views as a rogue province that must be reunified with the mainland.
With the Taiwan presidential vote looming, Washington wants to avoid a repeat of the standoff with China which grew extremely tense during the island's last presidential election in 1996, diplomats say.
Then, China launched war games, including missile launches, off the Taiwan coast in an evident bid to cow voters. The United States sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to signal its support for the frightened island.
Now China wants the U.S. Senate to reject a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would boost U.S. military ties with Taiwan.
And Beijing fears U.S. plans to develop an anti-ballistic missile defense system could be used to protect the island.
"The timing of the trip has been good," Talbott said. "The substance of the trip has been very solid. But our work is continuing."
SPAT OVER MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM
There have been no signs of a repeat of 1996 in the runup to this year's Taiwan election, but China has warned candidates that independence would mean war.
And Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao berated the United States this week over the proposed Taiwan Security Enhancement Act and missile defense system, saying they encouraged Taiwan independence activists and threatened regional stability.
U.S. President Bill Clinton opposes the bill and has urged the Senate to reject it. But the United States has angrily rejected China's criticism of the missile defense system.
"(China) has been building new missile fields in locations that raise concerns," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Grey told the U.N Conference on Disarmament on Thursday.
"And they call into question an open orderly process aimed at finding necessary adaptations that can keep a long-standing arms control agreement relevant and effective."
Other issues on the agenda in Beijing include North Korea's missile program, tensions between India and Pakistan, and U.S. rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty outlawing nuclear tests, diplomats say. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
---
U.S. Urges China to Ease Pressure During Taiwan Election
New York Times
February 18, 2000
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/00/02/18/late/18china.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-China-US.html
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
BEIJING -- Trying to head off a confrontation, the United States has urged China to show restraint as Taiwan elects a new president next month, U.S. officials said today.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Chinese officials spent much of their two days of talks discussing Taiwan, American arms sales to the island and Washington's plans to build anti-missile shields, said the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Washington has suggested that China regard Taiwan's post-election period with "some uncertainty that requires the highest possible degree of restraint, caution, prudence on everybody's part," the U.S. official said.
The U.S. diplomats told the Chinese that by showing restraint China would diminish the need for U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan. The United States is required by law to help Taiwan maintain a defense, but Washington also promised China in a 1982 treaty that it would eventually scale down arms sales to the island.
Beijing fears U.S. support will make it easier for Taiwan, once a close U.S. ally that China calls a renegade province, to resist Chinese overtures for reunification.
Taiwan's presidential election has added a sense of urgency. During its last presidential poll, in 1996, China held threatening war games near Taiwan and Washington sent warships near the island, bringing the countries their closest to armed confrontation since the 1950s.
Talbott held talks with Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and met separately with Vice Premier Qian Qichen, Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai and Gen. Zhang Wannian -- all key players in making Chinese policy toward Taiwan.
Chinese officials displayed "a very sophisticated understanding" of the Taiwanese election and were "really scrutinizing it very closely," one of the U.S. officials said.
Qian told Talbott that Washington should respect its treaty obligations and recognize that Taiwan "is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-U.S. relations," China's Xinhua News Agency reported.
Qian noted that relations "experienced ups and downs in 1999" a reference to the souring of ties after U.S. warplanes bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. But "due to the efforts of both governments and leaders, bilateral relations have been restored and are making further progress," Xinhua quoted Qian as saying.
The U.S. officials also said the talks helped put relations back on track following the bombing.
Talbott and his entourage had more difficulty selling China on U.S. plans to build two anti-missile shields, one to guard the United States from attacks by rogue states and another more limited system for East Asia.
"The Chinese have deep misgivings and very firm opposition" to the anti-missile shields, the official said.
Talbott's talks resumed a dialogue on security issues that China broke off eight months ago following the bombing. Only dialogues on human rights and arms proliferation remain suspended.
The Chinese gave no indication when those talks would be reopened, the official said.
----------- estonia
Soviet-era waste causing concern
Yahoo News
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Estonia-Nuclear-Waste.html
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=0ab341qgrkcpm
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000218/wl/estonia_nuclear_waste_1.html
SILLAMAE, Estonia (AP) - When they withdrew from this seaside Estonian town that for five decades supplied the Soviet Union with enriched uranium to make nuclear bombs, the Soviet military left behind something to remember them by: 12 million tons of greenish-brown radioactive waste.
The sludge is in a pond-sized deposit that lies behind a mud-and-rock containment wall just yards from the Baltic Sea.Chemical wastes and nitrates seep around and through the wall into the sea, which during storms can slap up against the dam, pulling parts of it off.
"It makes us think that we shouldn't wait too long to deal with the situation here," Anti Siinmaa, one of the engineers responsible for ensuring environmental safety at Sillamae, said Thursday.
"Romania goes to show you can't always know what can happen, or when. Let's hope nothing like that happens in Sillamae," he said.
In Romania, a Jan. 30 cyanide spill from a containment dam at a gold mine killed tons of fish and contaminated rivers in neighboring Hungary and Yugoslavia. That focused public attention on the lethal residue left behind by the Soviet Union in its former republics after it collapsed a decade ago.
The European Union included Sillamae, 110 miles east of the capital Tallinn, on a list of about 800 hazardous waste deposits in the former communist bloc. It determined there was a real danger its containment walls could collapse and its toxins splash into the Baltic Sea, poisoning one of Europe's major waterways.
For years, Sillamae has been the largest single source of nitrate pollution in the Baltic, according to the U.S.-based Los Alamos National Laboratory, which recently studied the site.
`The Sillamae deposit is already doing damage to the Baltic on a very large scale,'' said Valdur Lahtvee of the Estonian Green Movement.
While no health dangers have been documented, some of Sillamae's 20,000 residents claim the incidence of cancer, including in children, is higher than average.
The waste deposit covers about 99 acres and is about 20 feet high, rising to within a yard of the top of the containment wall, which is perhaps 50 feet thick at the base, narrowing to 10 feet at the top.
After it won independence in 1991, Estonia appealed for international help, saying it didn't have the expertise to deal with Sillamae alone and could not afford the clean-up costs.
Last October, Estonia signed a $20 million plan to fortify the site with concrete walls, construct a breakwater to prevent waves from pounding it, and seal the entire dump with a waterproof cover. The EU provided $5 million of the funding. Estonia will contribute $3 million; and Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark will pay most of the rest.
``This waste is a byproduct of the Cold War, and that makes it an international problem,'' Dennis Hjeresen, an American researcher at the Los Alamos laboratory, said during a recent NATO-sponsored conference on Sillamae. ``This is part of the clean-up of the battlefield after the war is over.''
Siinmaa said the first step will be to secure the base of the dam with a new concrete wall. That could take til the end of next year to complete. Covering the site could take another five years.
Estonia says Sillamae is only one of a host of environmental problems inherited from the Soviet military, which once had more than 1,500 bases here that sprawled across more than two percent of Estonia's territory. The government has estimated it could cost five billion dollars to clean them all up.
---
[Radioactive] Liquid runs from a pipe
Friday Feb. 18, 2000
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20000218/wl/estonia_nuclear_waste.html
http://us.yimg.com/p/ap/20000218/capt.estonia_nuclear_waste.jpg
At a chemical plant in Sillamae, Estonia 110 miles east of the captial Tallinn-- When the Soviet militry withdrew from the Estonia seaside town of Sillamae, that for five decades allegedly supplied the Soviet Union with weapons grade enriched uranium, they left behind an estimated 12 million tons of greenish-brown radioactive waste. (AP Photo/NIPA)
-------- finland
LETTER TO ORGANISATIONS, GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS ALL OVER THE WORLD CRY FOR HELP!!!!!!!!
Finland 18th of February 2000
Dear friends all over the world!
Enclosed you will find an appeal against the building of a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland. The plans, dating back to the time right before the Chernobyl accident, were reactivated around two years ago. At that time we collected signatures against it from 236 organisations all over the world. Due to the uncertainty whether the plans would be accepted by the Parliament the nuclear industry decided to postpone the plans. But now the time has come! The application for a fifth (sixth?) plant will be made this spring or early summer. At the moment the parliamentarians for and against are fifty ñ fifty so we have a lot to do. Also the media is very much pro.
We therefore need your help!!!! Please sign the enclosed appeal on behalf of your organisation, group or movement. We shall then hand it over to the Government and the Parliament and also try to get the press interested.
It would be disastrous if Finland would again open up the nuclear market in Western Europe. This would certainly be used for promoting nuclear power also in other countries.
Please distribute this appeal further to any organisation, groups or movement that might be willing to sign it.
Please return the appeal before April 10th, 2000 to:
Lea Launokari, Kaksosm"ki 24, 00240 Kirkkonummi, Finland, Europe e-mail: lea.launokari@nettilinja.fi
Thanking you in advance for your support, we remain
yours faithfully,
Lea Launokari Anna-Liisa Mattsoff Women Against Nuclear Power - Finland No More Nuclear Power movement - Finland
A P P E A L
to the Government and the Parliament of Finland
We the undersigned organisations, movements and groups from all over the world, are deeply concerned about the plans to build a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland.
Today there is enough evidence that nowhere in the world has the industry been able to demonstrate that it can safely deal with the highly dangerous wastes that are an inevitable consequence of the nuclear fuel cycle. Uranium mining has caused extreme damage to both environment and mankind. Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Windscale and numerous other accidents have broken the myth that nuclear power is safe and clean. The mess created by the nuclear industry will take centuries to clean up.
In the past, the nuclear industry has survived on massive subsidies, indirect and direct. But deregulation of the electricity supply industry has in recent years exposed the true costs of nuclear power, without even taking decommissioning, waste-management and health damages into account. As a consequence, the nuclear industry has reached a dead end, with no orders for new reactors anywhere in the rest of Western Europe or the United States. Nuclear energy has no future. The political will to realise this and to move ahead towards the Age of Sustainable Energy has become reality in almost all Western economies in the last few years. We sincerely hope that Finland shall not be the only exception.
All around the world Finland has got a reputation of being a high technology country where citizens and politicians show respect for nature and understand the importance of environmental sustainability. Thus Finland is expected to play a leading role in the creating of new energy technologies based on renewable energy sources and in the creating of new methods for energy saving.
We therefore appeal to the Finnish Government and the Finnish Parliament to put an end to the nuclear experiment. Do not invest in an outdated technology ñ invest in the future!
Signature:
Place and date:
Organisation:
Address:
----------- hungary
EU seeks probe on cyanide spill
Yahoo News
Friday, February 18, 2000
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - The European Union's senior environmental official has called for an international task force to investigate a cyanide spill that contaminated two major Balkan rivers. EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem said in Budapest Thursday she wanted a commission set up "within a few weeks" to assess the extent of contamination from the spill and to prevent similar accidents in the future. Wallstroem also announced her office would begin an inventory next week of other potential European ecological time bombs.
Tons of cyanide poured into Romania's Lapus River Jan. 30 from a containment dam at gold mine. The poison passed through Hungary and Yugoslavia via the Szamos and Tisza rivers before returning to Romania on the Danube. Cyanide is used to separate gold ore from the surrounding rock.
Angry farmers near the spill site at a gold mine close to Baia Mare, Romania, told Wallstroem Thursday of earlier spills that they knew nothing about until they found livestock dead or blinded.
Romania's environment minister acknowledged for the first time the magnitude of the pollution. "We regret the unfortunate accident that neither Aurul SA nor Romania wanted," said Environment Minister Romica Tomescu, referring to the gold-mining company responsible for the pollution. "Romania did not ever want to hide or play down the magnitude of the accident," said Tomescu, addressing reporters in Szolnok, Hungary.
In Vienna, Austria, Philip Weller, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Danube Carpathian Program, described the spill as "clearly one of the major river disasters that has happened in Europe in the last decade." He compared it to the 1987 spill of tons of agricultural chemicals into the Rhine at Basel, Switzerland, after fire damaged a chemical warehouse owned by Sandoz AG
----------- imf/wto/world bank
Reuters
Feb 18 11:14
Source: RTR_WS - Reuters World Service
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Anarchists, activists, students and union workers are preparing to disrupt the International Monetary Fund meeting here in April, hoping to relive last year's Seattle protests but without the violence.
In December 1999 world trade talks in Seattle were interrupted by protests as thousands took to the streets ending in scenes of property damage, tear gas and clashes with riot police.
Organisers are hoping to recreate the scale of the Seattle protests on the streets of the nation's capital in April to protest the IMF and World Bank -- bodies, they say, that foist the economic will of rich nations on poor countries.
Protesters, copying the Seattle tactics of using the Internet to organise themselves, view the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation as the ``Unholy Trinity.''
This time, however, organisers are hoping the protests can bring the IMF and World Bank meetings to a halt without the violence and property destruction which was seen in Seattle.
``We have a big interest in seeing that violence does not happen,'' Soren Ambrose of the 50 Years Is Enough Network said in a recent interview.
``We don't really need the help of broken windows to get media attention. As long as there are broken windows that's what the cameras will zoom in on instead of focusing on what the IMF and World Bank are doing,'' he said before admitting that, ``Learning from the experience of Seattle we know there is only so much we can do to prevent it.''
At the University of the District of Columbia's Van Ness campus protesters gather on Tuesday evenings to plan the April 16-17 protests, which organisers expect will attract thousands from across the country.
In attendance at a recent meeting was a baby-faced punk with pink hair, an elderly, white-bearded man named Vlad who told everyone ``Seattle was cooler than rock 'n roll,'' and a lady who described herself as ``a free radical.''
The full spectrum of fashion was represented: long-haired hippies, men in ties and sports jackets, scrubbed, preppy youths and girls with pierced tongues were all present. Students rubbed shoulders with Teamsters as more than 100 rapt activists attempted to assemble a strategy for their protests.
Conspicuously absent were African Americans and Hispanics, with the room almost entirely filled with white faces.
``One flaw is that the Seattle protests, and the one planned for Washington, have little black and Hispanic involvement,'' Ambrose said, noting that his group has tried in vain to broaden its appeal. ``A lot of trust issues have built up over the years.''
Over the course of the more than three-hour meeting the yet-to-be-named collective set tasks for a slew of committees: training, first aid, propaganda, communications, logistics and fund raising, among others.
The group prefaced its meeting by reading ``nonviolence guidelines,'' which it wants all protesters to adhere to in the hope of avoiding the mayhem seen in Seattle.
VIOLENCE A ``VALUABLE'' TOOL
But the notion of nonviolent protest was not warmly embraced by all present.
``A number of us are considering direct action, including breaking property,'' said one woman, a veteran of the Seattle clashes.
``Violence, properly used, is a valuable political tool. It worked really well in Seattle and I don't think we should rule it out,'' said one man.
Another added, ``If a large phalanx of police attack us then I think it's good to fight back.''
Washington police Cmdr. Michael Radzilowski said district police were examining what happened in Seattle but would not tolerate violence or property destruction on the streets of Washington.
``A peaceful protest is one thing, but we can't have people lighting fires, throwing rocks and destroying property,'' he said. ``We're going to do everything to prevent that.''
``Our goal is to have the demonstrators express their constitutional right and for the IMF to express their constitutional right by having their conference.''
Most of those organising the April protests would be happiest if the IMF were dismantled, its buildings razed and the tax-free bureaucrats that implement its policies were sent packing to their home countries.
But Ambrose is more realistic. He wants the IMF out of the business of poverty reduction and its abilities to force poor nations to reform their economies curbed.
And if Washington in April creates as much of a splash as December in Seattle, organisers want to keep the momentum going to Philadelphia and Los Angeles -- the cities where the Republican and Democratic conventions will anoint their presidential nominations.
But before that can even be contemplated, organisers are working on more mundane tasks -- finding enough bullhorns, beds and portable toilets for the thousands of protesters they hope will be in Washington in April.
Reut11:11 02-18-00
---
Czech authorities adopt sweeping security plan for IMF-World Bank Meetings
Reuters
http://208.7.193.61/fpweb/fp.dll/$vwbimf/htm/x_dv.htm/_id/640211640/_u/vmc kay/_k/pEVlEXBBm9HA4Mlg
Czech officials have adopted a sweeping security plan for September`s IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, aiming to avoid the violent clashes seen at recent conferences in Seattle and Davos, Reuters reported from Prague.
The government`s coordinator for the meeting said on Tuesday that 11,000 police would protect the week-long event which will gather an estimated 20,000 participants from over 180 countries, including ministers, central bankers and top business leaders.
Local media estimate an additional 20,000 demonstrators -- ranging from passive environmentalists to radical anarchists protesting economic globalization -- will descend on the ancient Bohemian capital where scarce hotels have long been sold out.
Coordinator Zdenek Hruby said government and senior IMF/World Bank officials planned a series of pre-summit meetings from March with leaders of NGOs aiming to define the limits of acceptable protest. He said recent experiences in Seattle, and Davos made relations with the demonstrators a top priority.
"This may even be the most crucial matter for the success of the meeting,`` Hruby told a news conference. Despite its turbulent history, Prague has seen a relatively peaceful decade since 1989`s bloodless "Velvet Revolution`` ended four decades of communist rule. But there have been scattered incidents in recent years when radical Czech groups protesting against rapid economic changes have clashed with police and neo-Nazi groups.
FULL STORY
---
WTO: China very close to joining
Yahoo News
Afternoon Edition for Friday, February 18, 2000
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
BEIJING (AP) - The leader of the World Trade Organization said Friday he was "extremely hopeful" that China would this year conclude the last 14 bilateral agreements it needs to become a member of the WTO. Of the 135 WTO members, just the European Union and 13 nations have yet to reach bilateral agreements with Beijing that would clear the way for China to join the body that makes rules for world trade. "But it's very close in each of those and we know of no substantial reasons why those negotiations shouldn't continue," Director-General Mike Moore said. Rita Hayes, U.S. ambassador to the WTO, also voiced confidence Friday that China should be able to join soon.
----------- india
India Expels Three Pakistan Embassy Staffers
Reuters
February 18, 2000 Filed at 11:44 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-india-p.html
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said Friday it had asked Pakistan to withdraw three diplomats from its embassy in New Delhi because of ``activities incompatible with their official status,'' a phrase generally used for spying.
Foreign ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal said in a statement that Pakistan's acting deputy high commissioner in New Delhi had been summoned and told that the three officials should be withdrawn by February 25.
``The government of India...sought the withdrawal from India of these three officials of the Pakistan High Commission...by 25th February, 2000,'' Jassal said.
The names of the three officials were given as Mohammad Khalil, Rana Mohammad Saghir and Mohammad Amin, but the ministry gave no details of the activities of which they were accused.
Officials at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were not immediately available to comment.
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan regularly expel diplomats from each other's capitals on charges of spying and other activities such as acts of terrorism.
They also often swap charges of harassment and mistreatment of each other's diplomats.
Relations between the nuclear-capable neighbors, which have gone to war three times in the last half century, have plummeted since a bloody, 10-week conflict in the Himalayan heights of Kashmir last summer.
---
India expels 3 Pakistani envoys
Yahoo News
Afternoon Edition for Friday, February 18, 2000
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - The Indian government expelled three members of the Pakistan High Commission on Friday, accusing them of "activities incompatible with their official status." No further details about the activities were given, but the phrase usually is an accusation of spying. India and Pakistan regularly expel each other's diplomats on such charges. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the three embassy staffers - Mohammad Khalil, Rana Mohammad Saghir, and Mohammad Amin - have to leave India by Feb. 25.
-------- japan
Slipshod work found at reactor
Kansai Electric Power Co. denies that any shoddy work was done. But research by Asahi Shimbun suggests otherwise.
Asahi Shimbun February 18, 2000
http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0218/asahi021801.html
Weakened concrete apparently was deliberately used in construction of the No. 3 reactor of a nuclear power plant in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, Asahi Shimbun has learned.
Shoddy construction work was not only commonplace, but condoned by engineers.
Asahi Shimbun learned that workers used watered-down concrete much of the time.
Adding water to concrete leads to early deterioration, but it makes it easier to use, thereby raising worker efficiency.
However, plant operator Kansai Electric Power Co. denied that any underhand work was done. It said engineers were on the site at all times so it was impossible for watered-down concrete to have been used.
Asahi Shimbun talked to drivers of concrete mixer trucks, engineers of the concrete companies who were in charge of quality control and workers of the pump trucks that poured concrete into construction frames.
About 20 people admitted that water was routinely added to the concrete.
Engineers were also in cahoots, the sources said. In strength tests for the concrete, the sources said engineers deliberately chose portions where no water had been added. That way, they were able to cover up the shoddy work, the sources said.
Portions of the reactor appear to fall below the design standards for strength based on a calculation of the volume of water that would normally have been used in the concrete.
Construction on the Mihama nuclear reactor began in July 1972 and the facility went on line in December 1976.
Kansai Electric officials said strength tests showed that there are no problems.
The concrete was provided by local companies and about 200,000 cubic meters was used, the officials said.
The water was added in the concrete mixer truck while the concrete was being transported to the site or immediately after the truck arrived.
The sources said between approximately 50 and 70 liters of water, equal to between one-third to one-fourth of the capacity of the mixer, was added on a normal basis. During the summer when concrete hardened faster, about 100 liters of water, half of the mixer capacity, was added.
Pump trucks were also used to pour the concrete into construction forms, but the pipes frequently became clogged. The problem was overcome by adding water to the mix.
---
Japanese labor union plans antinuclear exhibition in U.S.
February 18, 2000 1:53 AM Japan Economic Newswire, Kyodo News International Inc. 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
HIROSHIMA, Feb. 18 -- A leading Japanese labor union plans to mount an antinuclear exhibition in New York in late April with a U.S. counterpart, organizers said Friday.
The 8-million-strong Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations will mount the exhibition to coincide with a U.N. conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and antinuclear protesters will join the event for several days, a Rengo official said.
The U.S. union, which represents 13 million workers, is expected to help Rengo find an exhibition site in New York, the official said.
Rengo has held similar exhibitions in India and Pakistan in 1998 when those countries conducted nuclear tests, but the New York exhibition will be its first in the United States.
The organizers, who will display photos and artifacts showing the devastation suffered by the two cities, are seeking to borrow similar items preserved in the U.S.
---
FOCUS-UK nuclear row with Japan hits BNFL sell-off
By Edna Fernandes Excite News Updated 11:24 AM ET February 18, 2000
http://news.excite.com/news/r/000218/11/britain-japan-nuclear-politics
LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Britain ordered a management overhaul at British Nuclear Fuels on Friday and said its sell-off plans could be in trouble after a damning report showed it faked data on fuel sent to Japan.
In a bid to repair damage to diplomatic relations with Japan and public confidence in the nuclear fuel industry, Britain told the state-owned company to conduct a "root and branch" review of management structures.
Calls for a shake-up came after Britain's nuclear watchdog blamed the faked data on "a systematic management failure."
Ministers hoped the moves would end fears over nuclear safety and restore confidence in Japan, which insisted again that Britain must take back the nuclear fuel consignment.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman acknowledged the situation was serious: "This is unacceptable. No one's pretending otherwise. Clearly this is serious.
"We need to look at what has happened... and make sure it does not happen again."
Energy Minister Helen Liddell, who has led efforts to resolve the issue with Japan, told the BBC it may scupper the government's plans to partially privatise BNFL.
With the confidence of Japan, BNFL's biggest customer, in tatters the sell-off could be in trouble.
"Our intention was to sell a 49 percent stake in BNFL. Without doubt this is a setback," Liddell told BBC radio. "Without customers, the future of (the sale) is difficult"
Liddell demanded a management review to restore confidence.
"I wrote to the new BNFL Chairman Hugh Collum...that present management arrangements were failing to achieve the standards required and that there needed to be a root and branch review."
WILL BOSSES' HEADS ROLL?
Liddell stopped short of calling for management heads to roll, leaving that decision to Collum.
But speculation swirled on the fate of top bosses after the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate said there were insufficient middle management structures in place to ensure rules were met.
Five junior BNFL staff have been dismissed so far.
BNFL chief executive John Taylor and board member Colin Loughlin were in Japan to apologise personally for the embarrassment and inconvenience caused.
But BNFL is not the only party saying sorry. The government has been desperate to patch up ties with Japan.
Japanese diplomats in London said sorry was not enough.
Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co Inc said on Friday it had told BNFL to take back the controversial consignment of plutonium-based nuclear fuel and demanded compensation for damages caused by false data on the mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel.
One Japanese diplomat in London said the priority was to get rid of the fuel at its Takahama power plant in central Japan.
"At the moment, the fuel remains in Takahama. How to get rid of that is our greatest priority," he said.
Another diplomat told Reuters that Japan had called on Britain to put forward proposals to take back the fuel by the end of the month.
But Britain still hopes to persuade Japan that the fuel is safe to use and it is not necessary to repatriate it, which would mean transporting it halfway around the the world in armed ships at huge cost.
----------- korea
US Urges Koreas To Reduce Tensions
Las Vegas Sun
February 18, 2000
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2000/feb/18/021900222.html?nuclear+OR+plutonium+OR+uranium+OR+radioactiv%3F%3F%3F+OR+missile
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For years, the Clinton administration has tried without success to encourage North Korea to take steps to reduce tensions with its southern neighbor, and former Rep. Stephen Solarz thinks he knows why.
Solarz, one of the few Americans to have met with the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, said Friday the North's leaders believe their survival depends on their ability to maintain a totalitarian regime.
And if they agree to confidence-building measures with the South to lessen tensions, he said "it would diminish the capacity of the North to contend they are living under a state of siege." He added that the communist North is determined not to undertake reforms, lest it wind up as the Soviet Union did almost a decade ago.
Solarz, who specialized in East Asian affairs during his tenure as a Democratic congressman from New York, took part in a forum on North Korea at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The forum took place against a background of yet another turning point in U.S. efforts to wean North Korea off a militaristic path in exchange for the economic benefits that a more normal relationship with the United States would bring.
North Korea has agreed to send in March the most senior representative to Washington since the end of the Korean War nearly 47 yeas ago. Preliminary arrangements will be discussed at a U.S.-North Korean meeting later this month in New York.
Patrick Cronin of the peace institute raised the possibility of a historic bargain between the two countries at the March meeting.
He said North Korea might agree to solidify a 1999 moratorium on testing long-range nuclear missiles if the United States removes it from its list of countries that sponsor international terrorism.
That step could lead a series of economic benefits to which North Korea is now denied. Cronin noted that North Korea has not been implicated in an act of international terrorism since 1987. State Department officials have said North Korea is being advised of the steps it must take to qualify for being purged from the list, which now numbers seven countries.
Scott Snyder, author of a new book on North Korea's negotiating strategy, told the gathering there is one indispensable ingredient for success in dealing with North Korea: "patience, patience, patience."
Solarz, in trying to describe North Korea, recalled the phrase once used by Winston Churchill in his description of Stalinist Russia: "A riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma." North Korea, he added, "makes the People's Republic of China look like a libertarian society."
He said he believes the North agreed in talks with the United States in 1994 to freeze a nuclear weapons program at Yongbyon only because it knew that much of the rest of world did not know for certain whether it had secretly produced nuclear weapons from plutonium that has never been accounted for. That ambiguity serves as a deterrent against outside attack, Solarz said.
He acknowledged that efforts by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to reach out to the North have produced scant results, but he said he supports the policy so long as it doesn't provide significant military advantage to the North.
"There's not much to be lost, and a lot to be gained," Solarz said.
-----------pakistan
Official Warns on Clinton-Pakistan
Associated Press
February 18, 2000 Filed at 1:29 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Clinton-Pakistan.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tensions between Pakistan and India could be aggravated if President Clinton bypasses Pakistan during his visit to South Asia next month, Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said Friday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the new ambassador said her nation's military rulers are plotting a road map to democracy and economic stability and welcomed Clinton's offer to mediate Pakistan's dispute with India over Kashmir.
``The United States has a declared objective of promoting peace and security in South Asia,'' Lodhi said. ``He will be defeating that objective if he engages with only one country. He may unwittingly embolden the Indians.''
Clinton has left the door open to a stop in Pakistan. His planned visit to India and Bangladesh will be the first presidential visit to the region with one-sixth of the world's population since 1978.
President Jimmy Carter bypassed Pakistan that year, and Lodhi contended the decision emboldened the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan in 1979.
``The United States should be aware of the consequences of a decision not to visit Pakistan,'' the ambassador said. ``That would be unwittingly sending signals. There is a law of unintended consequences.''
Clinton said he would base his decision whether to go to Pakistan on what would best serve U.S. interests in trying to stop a nuclear arms race.
Asked if he would be willing to mediate between India and Pakistan, Clinton responded, ``Absolutely, I would.'' Then he added, however: ``Unless we are asked by both parties to help, we can't get involved.''
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir. Their dispute over the three-fifths of the Himalayan state under Indian control is considered even more dangerous now that they both exploded nuclear devices in 1998.
India never has accepted outside mediators. That means the President's offer to intercede, as he has in the Arab-Israeli dispute and in Northern Ireland, may be academic.
``We welcome that offer,'' Lodhi said. ``A half-century of Indo-Pakistani relations show they are unable to resolve many of their disputes. If the United States and other nations intervened in Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Central Europe, why doesn't one of the most dangerous places on Earth warrant similar intercession?''
To overcome India's historic aversion, ``it is up to the international community to persuade India it is in the interest of world peace that India accept there is a problem in Kashmir, and it needs to be addressed,'' Lodhi said. Force was not the solution, she said. ``Negotiations, talks, dialogue is the answer,'' Lodhi said.
Pakistan sent a cabinet minister, Omar Asghar Khan, to Washington this week to try to neutralize U.S. worries about the training of terrorist groups in Pakistan-held territory and anti-democratic trends in the country.
The ambassador, who presented her credentials to Clinton two weeks ago, said the outlook is good for a return to democracy in Pakistan.
The government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, which seized power last October, ``has come to reform, not rule,'' Lodhi said. ``They have already said local elected government will be in place before the year is out, and they are trying to road-map the return of elected officials at provincial and national levels.''
But before setting dates, she said, ``We want to ensure reforms Pakistan needs are in place.'' An independent election commission must be established and voting lists drawn up. ``There is a lot of work to be done,'' Lodhi said.
And, she said, ``Absolutely, I think the President should go to Pakistan.''
The United States is giving high priority to stopping the spread of nuclear technology, and Clinton's trip to South Asia is ``an opportunity for the President to try to arrest the nuclear arms race between the two countries,'' Lodhi said. ``He cannot do that just be engaging one country and not the other.''
---
Fears Encircle War Games on India-Pakistan Border
New York Times
February 18, 2000
By CELIA W. DUGGER
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/021800india-pakistan.html
Map
Pakistan From Merriam-Webster.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/nytmaps.pl?pakistan
India From Merriam-Webster.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/nytmaps.pl?india
NEW DELHI, Feb. 17 -- More than 100 Indian tanks are churning up billowing clouds of sand as they rumble across the Rajasthani desert this week in war games about 60 miles from India's border with its longtime foe Pakistan.
Just a month before President Clinton visits the region, the Indian military's very public rehearsal of its limited-war strategy is yet another sign of the heightened tensions between these nuclear-armed neighbors, whose leaders have recently been thinking and speaking about the possibility of nuclear war.
The Clinton administration is wrestling with whether Mr. Clinton will stop in Pakistan to meet briefly with its army chief, who took power in a coup four months ago. Fearful that India and Pakistan are headed for more armed conflict, South Asia experts are divided over whether a presidential visit would help rein in Pakistan's provocative military tactics in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir or would legitimize military rule in Pakistan.
At India's invitation, military attachés from 22 countries, including the United States, have been flown to the desert this week to watch India's exercises, which began Monday and are to end on Saturday. Mock battles have featured offensive strikes and the rapid deployment of the tanks, 20,000 troops and 40 fighter jets.
India's defense minister and its army chief said last month that India must be prepared to wage an intense but limited war with Pakistan if the need arises, even in the shadow of the nuclear threat. Indian Army officers said today that this week's exercises are not meant to be provocative, but are the kind of routine practice that keeps their troops and machines from getting rusty.
"You train for that, you prepare for that," one senior officer said in an interview at army headquarters here. "There's nothing aggressive about that."
India notified Pakistan of the exercises two weeks in advance, but Pakistani military officials said they nonetheless see the exercises as muscle-flexing by India. "We are vigilant," Brig.
Rashid Qureshi, a spokesman for the Pakistani military, said in a telephone interview from Rawalpindi. "We are monitoring what they're doing. And if it's felt that Pakistan needs to take safeguards, I'm sure it will."
Relations between India and Pakistan have been in a worsening spiral since last summer, when Pakistani forces infiltrated Indian-held Kashmir -- the disputed territory that Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright recently called "the fuse" in this troubled relationship -- and Indian troops battled to drive them out.
The Dec. 24 hijacking of an Indian Airlines commercial jet -- which India claims was masterminded by Pakistani military intelligence agents -- further deepened animosities, particularly because the Indian government was harshly criticized at home for freeing three jailed militants opposed to Indian rule of Kashmir to win release of more than 150 hostages.
India and Pakistan, which started high-level peace talks a year ago, broke off negotiations last summer and the gap between them just seems to keep widening. Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said he wanted to meet with India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, but only if Kashmir is the main item on the agenda. Mr. Vajpayee said he is willing to talk to Pakistan only if he sees evidence that it is reigning in what it regards a terrorist violence in Kashmir.
Kashmir, claimed by both countries, is now divided by the so-called Line of Control into portions held by India and Pakistan. Every few days, militants who Western intelligence analysts say are supported by Pakistan kill a few Indian soldiers or security agents in Indian-held Kashmir.
Pakistan, which followed India in testing nuclear weapons in May 1998, has been unwilling to promise that it will not use nuclear weapons first. It is far smaller than India and has weaker conventional forces.
In an interview with Doordarshan, India's state television station, taped on Feb. 4 and broadcast Feb. 7, General Musharraf said nuclear weapons should not be used but raised the possibility that they would be used if Pakistan's "national integrity is threatened."
"I wouldn't say there are chances," he said. "If at all India escalates on the Line of Control in Kashmir, there can be chances," he said.
Mr. Vajpayee, who usually speaks in measured phrases, spoke harshly on Feb. 6 at a memorial for Indian soldiers killed last summer in Kashmir, saying that India would strike back if Pakistan hit first.
"Pakistan is threatening a nuclear war, but do they even know what it means?" he said. "They think they will drop one bomb and they'll win and we'll lose. This won't happen. We have said we won't be the first to use nuclear weapons, but if anyone uses them against us, we will not wait for our annihilation."
India's strategy since the hijacking ended on Dec. 31 has been to isolate Pakistan. It has argued vehemently that the United States should declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. And officials here have made it clear that they do not want Mr. Clinton to visit Pakistan or to try to inject himself into efforts to resolve India's differences with Pakistan over Kashmir.
Responding to expressions of alarm in Washington about the state of relations between India and Pakistan, Mr. Vajpayee last week categorically stated that no other country would be allowed "to meddle in our bilateral relations or problems."
And in an interview published today in the French daily Le Figaro, Mr. Vajpayee advised President Clinton to skip Pakistan. He was quoted as saying "a visit to Pakistan while this country is under military dictatorship and sponsors Islamic terrorism around the world would be very badly received by Indian public opinion."
---
Bill Clinton's Asian Itinerary
New York Times
February 18, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/00/02/18/editorial/18fri1.html
Since 1978 no American president has visited South Asia, a region with one-sixth of the world's population. For that reason alone, President Clinton's planned trip to India and Bangladesh next month is long overdue. Conspicuous by its absence on the presidential schedule, however, is Pakistan, where a military coup last October has aggravated tensions with India. Pakistan is now warning that a snub by Mr. Clinton could worsen tensions even further. But the president is right not to stop in Pakistan unless it makes tangible progress in returning to civilian rule, cracking down on terrorist groups and working with India to curb their dangerous nuclear arms race.
Since India and Pakistan exploded nuclear weapons in the summer of 1998, the United States has played a constructive role in reducing tensions between them. But an effort to persuade both countries to sign a treaty banning nuclear tests has lost momentum recently. Last summer, Pakistan's involvement in the incursion of insurgents into the disputed Indian state of Kashmir nearly led to a full-scale conflict. The military coup in October increased distrust, and India has accused Pakistan of complicity in the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet on Dec. 24.
Pakistan has been lobbying hard in Washington to induce Mr. Clinton to visit. Supporters of Pakistan warn that a snub would only undercut American influence and encourage Islamic radicals in the region. They even assert that President Jimmy Carter's decision to bypass Pakistan during his 1978 trip to the region encouraged the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan. These arguments are speculative and ultimately unconvincing.
At his news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Clinton said a final decision about going to Pakistan would be based on whether such a trip promised to contribute to stability in the region. That is the right criterion, but the bar should be high. A visit would make sense only if it can lead to significant steps on nuclear restraint by India and Pakistan. Pakistan has pledged to do more to stop Islamic extremists from waging war on its soil. Concrete steps in this area might also justify a trip. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's leader, must also speed up his timetable for a return to democracy and do more to assure due process for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been charged with kidnapping and other crimes.
Mr. Clinton, who has been engaged in trying to ease tensions in the Middle East, Northern Ireland and other troubled regions of the world, would clearly like to add South Asia to his list of interests. At his news conference he all but offered to get involved in helping to end the conflict over Kashmir. Pakistan welcomes such a step, but India insists on direct negotiations with Islamabad, with no intermediaries. In the four days he plans in India, Mr. Clinton is to visit several major cities and broaden America's contacts with the world's most populous democracy. A trip to Pakistan without concrete progress would send the wrong signal to other trouble spots about the seriousness of American opposition to military coups and reckless intervention in the problems of a neighboring country.
-----------romania
UN to assess cyanide spill
Yahoo News
Afternoon Edition for Friday, February 18, 2000
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Contamination levels of cyanide and heavy metals in the Danube measured three times acceptable European Union standards Friday, more than two weeks after a spill at a gold mine sent the poison streaming through several European rivers.
The United Nations plans to send a team of experts to assess the damage to the Tisza and Danube rivers in Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia, and the EU has called for an international commission to help with the cleanup. The EU is considering tighter regulations on the mining industry following the spill, which environmentalists have called Europe's worst river disaster in a decade. "Maybe we need much stricter rules to control the waste from mining activities," EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem told a news conference Friday in Brussels, Belgium, after flying back from Romania and Hungary. Australian Environment Minister Robert Hill said Friday that his country would help clean up the rivers, as the Australian mining company Esmeralda Exploration is a major partner in the Baia Mare gold mine, where the spill originated. The cyanide had been used to process ore there.
-----------us nuc waste
Company Press Release
Nuclear Waste Shipments to Nevada Facility Pose Serious Risks for Southern California
Business Wire
Friday February 18, 6:32 pm Eastern Time
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000218/nv_agency__1.html
CARSON CITY, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2000--Southern California could be heavily impacted if the federal government is successful in constructing a disposal facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other high-level radioactive wastes 100 miles north of Las Vegas.
That is the conclusion of a review by the State of Nevada commenting of the U. S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The Nevada review also found DOE intentionally hid from the public the proposed highway and rail routes that would be used in shipping waste to Yucca Mountain.
The Draft EIS, which is the subject of a public hearing in San Bernardino, California Tuesday, February 22, contains no information on what routes will be used or what communities will be affected. Bob Loux, Executive Director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the State's Yucca Mountain watchdog agency, notes that the omission seems intentional.
``DOE clearly knows the highway and rail routes to be used for waste shipments,'' Loux said. ``In fact, that information is buried in reference materials used to put the Draft EIS together. The fact that these routes are not made explicit in the document can only be seen as an attempt by DOE to keep people ignorant of the impacts and risks and suppress public involvement in the program outside Nevada for political purposes.''
During a 24 to 39 year period, there would be between 50,000 and 96,000 truck shipments of deadly radioactive materials nationwide, an average of 2,000 to 2,500 per year. Under various scenarios, there would also be between 11,000 and 20,000 rail shipments, averaging 460 to 510 per year. Because of the geography of the nation's rail and interstate highway systems, large metropolitan areas, such as the greater Los Angeles area, will be directly impacted.
``At first glance, DOE's transportation scenarios can be bewildering, perhaps intentionally so,'' observed Loux. ``The bottom line is that, under any credible scenario, spent nuclear fuel shipments will be a daily occurrence in southern California for the next four decades.''
In its review of DOE's draft EIS, the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects found that:
-- Under the DOE's least impacting scenario, between 1,400 and 2,500 rail shipments of spent nuclear fuel would pass through southern California. Additionally, 2,900 rail shipments of defense high-level radioactive waste could pass through northern California. There would be an average of one to two rail shipments per week every week through California for 39 years.
-- Under DOE's transportation scenario where all of the spent fuel and most of the high-level waste are shipped by truck, a minimum of 6,100 to 12,900 shipments would impact the southern California area, an average of one truckload per day every day for 24 to 39 years. Under DOE's preferred routing, truck shipments from California reactors enter the Los Angeles basin on I-5, I-10, I-210 and I-605. Shipments from other states enter California on I-10 and I-40 from Arizona. The three streams of shipments converge on I-15 at San Bernardino and at Barstow. Maps showing nuclear waste shipping routes are attached as files and can also be found on the web at: http:www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/trans/images/16-1.gif and http:www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/trans/images/18-1b.gif.
-- DOE evaluated six alternative highway routing options. Three of the six alternates would route all 96,000 truck shipments to Yucca Mountain through southern California. Under these three scenarios, there would be five to seven truck shipments through southern California every day for 24 to 39 years.
-- Under any of these scenarios, the number of shipments through southern California will substantially exceed the total number of such shipments nationally during the entire history of the U.S. Nuclear power industry.
-- State of Nevada consultants prepared an independent analysis of DOE's shipment numbers, assuming that each reactor ships by truck or by rail according to its current capabilities, and assuming that shipments use consolidated cross country routes to minimize adverse impacts and facilitate emergency response planning and training. Nevada's analysis concludes that the maximum credible number of shipments through southern California would be 26,400 truck shipments and 9,800 rail shipments over 39 years, a combined average of 2.5 shipments per day.
-- Studies by the State of Nevada indicate:
DOE misrepresented the radiological hazards of the spent fuel that would be transported, using reference fuel that is less radioactive than fuel types which will actually be shipped to the repository;
DOE grossly underestimated routine radiological exposures along highway routes in Nevada;
-- DOE significantly understated the consequences of severe transportation accidents and successful terrorist attacks resulting in release of radioactive materials;
-- DOE ignored the economic impacts of cleaning up after severe accidents and terrorist attacks;
-- DOE completely ignored the social and economic impacts of public perception of transportation risks including adverse impacts on property values and business activities along shipping corridors.
The DOE public hearing on the Draft Yucca Mountain EIS is scheduled to be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on February 22 at the Radisson Hotel, 295 North E Street, in the city of San Bernardino.
Nuclear waste transportation expert Robert J. Halstead will be available for media interviews before, during, and after the hearing. Halstead can be reached at 909/381-6181 on the day of the hearing, or at the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects 775/687-3744.
Contact:
State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Robert J. Halstead, 775/687-3744
Related News Categories: aerospace/defense, environmental
http://biz.yahoo.com/n/y/y0001.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/n/y/y0011.html
---
Ruling: Uranium Mill to Keep Recycling Waste
Salt Lake Tribune
Friday, February 18, 2000
BY JIM WOOLF
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
http://www.sltrib.com/2000/feb/02182000/utah/27009.htm
The White Mesa uranium mill near Blanding can continue to recycle uranium-bearing waste cleaned up from old nuclear-weapons production facilities around the nation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has ruled.
The Utah Division of Radiation Control had challenged the practice, arguing that some of the waste being sent to the mill contained so little uranium that it was unprofitable to extract it. State officials said it appeared mill owner International Uranium Corp. was using recycling as a pretext to convert the facility into an unofficial disposal site for these wastes.
But the NRC ruled this week that International Uranium is following all the rules and providing a valuable service by extracting uranium before the residue is placed in the mill's tailing pond. The ruling implies the company can take any suitable waste as long as it contains at least some uranium.
"We were very gratified," said Earl Hoellen, president of Denver-based International Uranium. "It was a very strong decision."
Bill Sinclair, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said attorneys for the state are reviewing the decision and planning their next step. "Certainly we could appeal it if we vehemently disagreed," he said. "But we probably will look at some alternative approach for resolving this."
Officials from International Uranium and the state already have started discussions about how much uranium ought to be in waste for it to be considered suitable for recycling. Sinclair said both sides agree wastes containing "miniscule" levels of the radioactive element are inappropriate for processing by the mill -- even if allowed under the NRC ruling. The challenge is finding a minimum level that both sides can agree on. If a number can be established, Hoellen said he would be willing to sign an agreement pledging not to accept waste with lower uranium concentrations.
There also appears to be progress in a long-standing dispute over whether International Uranium needs a state groundwater-protection permit. The company has argued that NRC regulations adequately protect the groundwater and there was no need to submit to additional state regulations. However, Hoellen said Thursday the company "doesn't have a problem" with applying for the permit as part of an overall effort to improve relations with state regulators.
"We want to have a good relationship with the state," he said.
-----------us nuc facilities
Nuclear Leak Prompts Criticism of Con Edison and Regulators
New York Times
February 18, 2000
By DAVID W. CHEN
http://www.nytimes.com/00/02/18/news/national/regional/ny-nuke.html
BUCHANAN, N.Y., Feb. 17 -- In tones ranging from concern to anger, public officials and citizens' groups accused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Consolidated Edison today of mishandling events leading up to the radiation leak at the Indian Point 2 nuclear plant this week, and then of not notifying the public properly.
The plant, in this town just 35 miles north of Manhattan, was forced to close down Tuesday night after a steam generator leaked a small amount of radiation. The emergency prompted Con Edison, the plant's owner, to issue an alert -- the second of four ascending levels of nuclear emergency -- for the first time since the plant opened in 1974.
The alert ended about 24 hours later, as officials declared that the incident posed no health threat. But that did little to dissipate the anger that continued to build today, from a protest outside the plant's entrance, to a sharply worded statement from the Westchester County executive, Andrew J. Spano, to a series of I-told-you-so pronouncements from environmental advocates.
Some people, including two state assemblymen, reiterated their call that the plant be closed. Others contended that Con Edison should be prevented from going through with its plans to sell the plant.
In a statement, Gov. George E. Pataki said he planned to ask the state's Public Service Commission to investigate the accident, saying that "New Yorkers deserve a full accounting for the events surrounding this incident."
A spokeswoman for Mr. Spano said that he was particularly disturbed to learn that both Con Ed and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission knew of a faulty pipe in the steam generator several weeks ago but decided the situation was not an emergency.
"I am outraged," Mr. Spano said in a statement. "It raises grave questions over the N.R.C.'s ability to oversee the safety issues regarding Indian Point, and I question their competence and their attitude in evaluating the pending sale of these nuclear power plants."
In a interview this evening, Stephen Quinn, a Con Edison vice president who once managed the plant, said that reports of what had happened were much worse than the reality. He defended the company's response as prudent and appropriate.
"This leak did not represent a threat to the health and safety to the public nor to our employees," he said. "If someone were to light a match in a theater for a cigarette, yes, that could lead to a conflagration and to a fire. But you don't come in and yell 'Fire!' and say you have the option to evacuate if you want to."
Most officials did not question the handling of the emergency on Tuesday night -- though some residents were still upset today that no sirens had been activated, warning them of the potential for danger. Instead, much of the anger centered on the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Con Edison knew that the plant had begun to show signs of a faulty pipe in a steam generator several weeks ago, but had concluded that the problem was not serious enough to close the plant.
Amplifying those concerns, Paul Gunter, a project director at the Nuclear Information and Resource Center, an antinuclear organization in Washington, cited a report of the regulatory commission that said that the tubes of nickel-based alloy used at Indian Point were more prone to corrosion than newer models.
It did not help matters, Mr. Gunter added, that Con Edison, which last inspected Indian Point's steam generators in 1997, persuaded regulators to delay an inspection scheduled for June 1999 until this June because the plant had already been out of commission for 10 months.
In addition, many officials were unsettled by a report by Public Citizen, an environmental group, saying that Con Edison, which bought new steam generators 12 years ago, had originally considered replacing its steam generators in 1993 before deciding that the existing ones would be good until 2004.
"What we have here is an old plant, getting older and more run down," said Mark Jacobs, director of the Westchester People's Action Coalition, an environmental group. "And we have a company which places profits before safety."
No less troubling, said James P. Riccio, a senior analyst for Public Citizen, was the group's report that Con Edison had -- like at least 13 other utilities around the country -- settled a lawsuit first filed nearly two decades ago against Westinghouse Electric, the manufacturer of the steam generators, claiming that the equipment's quality was poor.
And in a very competitive industry, it is small wonder, Mr. Riccio charged, that the regulatory commission appears to be under increasing pressure from lobbyists to relax its inspection procedures.
"The N.R.C. is supposed to be the public's regulator," Mr. Riccio said. "Unfortunately, they have been captured by the industry."
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the commission, said that he was baffled that critics of nuclear power were trying to use this week's accident tojustify closing the plant.
The small leak that was first detected several weeks ago totaled about three gallons a day -- when normal leakage is about two gallons a day. "It's not unusual for these generator tubes to leak," Mr. Sheehan said. "To say that this is the death knell for the plant, that might be quite a reach."
Even so, many public officials and citizens' groups were skeptical. On Tuesday, the county legislature plans to convene a special session to grill officials from Con Edison and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the accident. Today, two state assemblymen, Alexander J. Gromack and Samuel Colman, wrote to Eugene McGrath, Con Ed's chairman, about their concerns.
"Regardless of our longstanding belief that Indian Point should be closed, the fact remains that old equipment cannot do the critical jobs required of a nuclear power plant," they wrote.
This afternoon in Buchanan, about 60 demonstrators unfurled banners and chanted antinuclear slogans next to the driveway leading to Indian Point 2, and Indian Point 3, the nearly identical New York Power Authority reactor next door, which silently churned out megawatts.
As a shift of workers exited the plants, the crowd chanted: "Solar yes, nuclear no. This ticking time bomb has to go."
---
S&P revises Kansas City Power & Light outlook
Press release provided by Standard & Poor's)
Reuters
Friday February 18, 10:17 am Eastern Time
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000218/sx.html
NEW YORK, Feb 18 - Standard & Poor's today affirmed its ratings on Kansas City Power & Light Co. (KCPL). (See list below.)
At the same time, Standard & Poor's revised the ratings outlook to negative from stable.
The outlook revision reflects deterioration in key bondholder protection measures and continued investment in riskier unregulated businesses (mainly fiber optics, oil and gas development, and energy services).
KCPL's financial parameters are weak relative to its average business profile.
KCPL's financial condition has suffered recently, owing to the unavailability of Hawthorn 5 (a coal-fired plant that was heavily damaged during an early 1999 explosion), higher expenses, a Missouri rate reduction, and accelerating capital outlays for new generation sources.
The company's business position is a function of a vibrant service area with manageable industrial concentration, solid nuclear operations, and very low fuel costs.
These attributes are partially offset by heavy nuclear asset concentration, with the 47%-owned Wolf Creek station constituting over 100% of common equity, onerous capital spending for installation of new combustion turbines and reconstruction at Hawthorn 5, and aggressive financial policies.
While retail electric rates are a bit high, overall production costs are in line with the regional average.
Management's commitment to credit quality is overshadowed by efforts to enhance shareholder value, as evidenced by a high common dividend payout, accounts receivable financing, liberal use of hybrid preferred securities, floating rate debt exposure, and continued development of unregulated businesses that carry greater business risk.
Recently, the company announced that it will seek board approval to separate its generating assets from the transmission and distribution business.
Prospectively, stronger earnings and cash flow will be needed to compensate for the resulting riskier consolidated business profile.
Although studies of electric industry restructuring and competition have been completed and several bills have been introduced, no legislation has been enacted in Missouri or Kansas.
Given the existence of relatively low rates in the two states, Standard & Poor's does not expect the legislatures or the commissions to assume aggressive postures regarding deregulation.
This cautious approach will give KCPL time to mitigate potential stranded costs.
OUTLOOK: NEGATIVE
The outlook for KCPL reflects subpar bondholder protection measures, aggressive financial policies, and management's plan to grow its riskier unregulated businesses. While financial improvement is expected with the winding down of the company's heavy construction program in mid-2001, key financial ratios are not expected to return to former levels of credit quality for several years, Standard & Poor's said. RATINGS AFFIRMED
RATING Kansas City Power & Light Co.
Corporate credit rating A/A-1 Senior secured debt A Senior unsecured debt A- Preferred stock BBB+
Commercial paper A-1 KCPL Financing I
Preferred stock* BBB+
*Guaranteed by Kansas City Power & Light Co.
Related News Categories: options, US Market News
http://biz.yahoo.com/n/z/z0002.html
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-----------us nuc weapons facilities
Los Alamos Scientist Trial Date Set
Associated Press
February 17, 2000 Filed at 5:47 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-BRF-Scientist-Secrets.html
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- The trial of fired nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee was set for Nov. 6, which is nearly a year after he was arrested on charges of breaching Los Alamos National Laboratory security, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge John Conway told attorneys he will push hard to ensure a speedy trial.
Acting U.S. Attorney Robert Gorence said, ``November-December is a very doable time period.'' He has estimated the trial could take four to five weeks.
But defense attorney John Cline said he doubted trial could begin this year.
``Whether this is totally realistic or not none of us knows at this point,'' he said. But he added that setting a date now ``will help hasten things along.''
Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Taiwan, is charged with 59 counts involving security breaches -- but not espionage. He could get life in prison if convicted.
Lee is accused of downloading classified information onto unsecured computers and computer tapes, seven of which prosecutors contend may still exist. Lee has said the tapes were destroyed.
---
Fired Nuke Scientist To Go On Trial In November
Inside China Today
Feb 18, 2000
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=135864
ALBUQUERQUE (Reuters) A federal judge on Thursday set November 6 as the trial date for Wen Ho Lee, a former government scientist charged with illegally copying U.S. nuclear weapons secrets.
Lee, 60, at the center of a controversy over alleged Chinese espionage, has been in jail since he was arrested in December on charges of downloading and copying classified nuclear weapons data from computers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Lee has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, which were filed seven months after the physicist was fired by Los Alamos last March amid allegations from congressional critics that China had stolen nuclear arms secrets in the 1980s.
China has called those charges baseless.
Lee has not been charged with espionage and the government has acknowledged it has no evidence that any secrets were passed to another country. The charges against him relate to computer downloads allegedly made in 1993, 1994 and 1997.
A federal appeals court in Denver is considering Lee's request to overturn a lower court's January decision that he be kept in jail in Santa Fe without bail pending his trial.
Federal prosecutors contend Lee must be kept in jail because seven computer tapes he allegedly made have not been found. Defense lawyers have argued the government has no proof those tapes exist.
---
Our Views: Y-12 contract should have job creation section
The Oak Ridger
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://www.oakridger.com/stories/021800/opE_0218000016.html
The request for proposals for the management of the Y-12 Plant is scheduled to be released in early March.
The contract, widely viewed as the most lucrative of the Oak Ridge complex, ought to include a provision for economic development.
The potential bidders ought to be committed to working with local entities to promote the area economy.
We don't know whether the contract will include such a section. The East Tennessee Economic Council has asked for it. Whispers and speculation from the Department of Energy say it will not be in the contract.
That would be a shame, if true.
The contract will be worth more than $2 billion over a five-year period. That is the total revenue, not profit to the contract, but it is safe to say the profit is substantial -- tens of millions of dollars per year.
Committing a few of those millions to help with the regional economy is a sensible and practical provision.
Oak Ridge, Roane and Anderson counties are all working diligently to attract new and different industry to the region. They are having some success.
However, the region -- Oak Ridge and the surrounding counties -- remains substantially dependent upon the federal government.
Seeking, and getting, some modest economic assistance for economic development ought to be an easy sell. The federal government should be leading the charge -- and asking for a commitment from the next Y-12 contractor is one way to do that.
-----------us nuc weapons
Issues by the Half Dozen
Associated Press
February 18, 2000 Filed at 3:04 a.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/p/AP-Comparing-Positions.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fury of the campaign to win South Carolina's Republican presidential primary is casting the positions of Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain in sharper relief, turning differences into a seemingly great divide.
Here is how Bush, McCain and Alan Keyes compare on a half dozen issues:
ABORTION: McCain and Bush both say abortion should be illegal except in cases of rape, incest or to save the woman's life. Yet, both say there's not enough support now to pass a constitutional amendment banning abortion, and neither has committed explicitly to making anti-abortion views a prerequisite for federal judges or a vice president.
Only McCain supports amending the Republican Party platform to spell out the exceptions they both believe in. Bush supports the platform language, although he said earlier that ``I support the goal of a Human Life Amendment with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.''
Keyes' campaign is underpinned by his beliefs against abortion. He says induced abortion is immoral in all cases.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: With Bush delving a little deeper into campaign finances, the chief differences between him and McCain on the issue are narrower now, but still significant.
The senator would ban all soft money -- the unlimited and unregulated donations to parties -- while the governor would prohibit it from corporations and unions, but not from individuals. As well, unlike McCain, Bush would preserve the right of advocacy groups to run ``issue ads'' during campaigns.
Keyes has said he would support a ban on soft money but also has expressed concern about any infringement on political expression.
DEFENSE: Bush and McCain both have proposed spending at least $1 billion more a year to raise military salaries beyond a recent pay increase. Bush wants an aggressive program of weapons research and development, while McCain has outlined some $4 billion in proposed savings by closing more bases. He's also identified what he considers unneeded weapons systems, including the B-2 bomber.
Both men support the current ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy on gays in the military; Keyes would ban them from serving. All three support development of a national missile defense system.
EDUCATION: The GOP candidates all say more education decisions should be made locally but have different ways of going about it.
Bush has laid out a detailed plan to improve public education through use of federal financial incentives and penalties. He'd set minimum national standards for state tests of pupils and link federal education money to how well states perform in raising student achievement.
McCain proposes to send block grants to schools ``with no bureaucratic strings attached.'' He'd also offer $500 million a year for teacher merit pay in return for matching state grants. Although he, too, speaks of the need to measure student performance, he hasn't explained how he can achieve that kind of accountability when he would give schools no-strings grants.
All three support using federal aid to help send poorly served pupils to schools of their parents' choice, including private schools, although the details of their plans differ.
FOREIGN POLICY: McCain says he'd support, in some fashion, forces trying to overthrow regimes in ``rogue states'' such as Iraq and North Korea. He'd also ``use our primacy in world affairs for humanity's benefit.''
Bush, too, counsels against isolationism but has emphasized more than McCain that the United States should intervene in conflicts when it is in the nation's direct interest to do so.
In a debate Tuesday, for example, McCain indicated he would commit U.S. forces to try to prevent a genocide such as the one in Rwanda in 1994; Bush indicated that would not meet his benchmark for intervention. Keyes says even humanitarian intervention can backfire.
Bush and McCain are ardent supporters of freer trade and agree China should be let into the World Trade Organization. Keyes disagrees.
TAXES: Bush proposes a package of tax cuts double the size offered by McCain, who wants to use more of the projected federal budget surpluses to shore up Social Security and Medicare.
Bush's plan would eventually cut income taxes for most people, bringing the highest bracket down to 33 percent and the lowest to 10 percent. McCain would keep the lowest bracket at 15 percent but let couples with taxable income of up to $70,000 qualify for that rate.
Bush pays for his plan by tapping into the portion of the budget surplus not devoted to Social Security. McCain dips into the non-Social Security surplus, too, but not as deeply. He pays for part of his plan by ending an assortment of tax breaks, which he calls corporate loopholes. Keyes wants to replace the income tax with a national sales tax.
-----------nuc medicine
Company Press Release
Corporate Profile for ADAC Laboratories,
Business Wire
Friday February 18, 6:03 am Eastern Time
February 18, 2000
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000218/profile_ca_6.html
(BUSINESS WIRE)--The following Corporate Profile is available for inclusion in your files. News releases for this client are distributed by Business Wire and also become part of the leading databases and online services, including all of the leading Internet-based services.
Published Date: February 18, 2000
Company Name: ADAC Laboratories
Address: 540 Alder Drive Milpitas, CA 95035
Main Telephone Number: 408/321-9100
Internet Home Page Address (URL) www.adaclabs.com
http://www.adaclabs.com
Chief Executive Officer: R. Andrew Eckert
Chief Financial Officer: Neil J. Laird
Investor Relations
Contact: Linda Snyder
Business number: 408/468-3750
E-mail address: lsnyder@adaclabs.com
mailto:lsnyder@adaclabs.com
Industry: Medical Systems and Software
Trading Symbol/Exchange: Nasdaq:ADAC
Market Makers: Knight Securities, Credit Suisse, Bear Stearns
Company description: ADAC Laboratories is the world market-share leader in nuclear medicine and radiation therapy planning systems and a technology leader in providing clinical workflow solutions, management information and knowledge systems to healthcare organizations in North America. The company reported revenues for fiscal year 1999 ended October 3, 1999 of $342.1 million, an increase of approximately 14% over 1998 revenues of $300.5 million.
Contact: ADAC Laboratories
-----------us nuc weapons facilities
USA Today
00/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Tennessee Knoxville - A federal judge dismissed seven lawsuits from former Oak Ridge nuclear weapons workers who claim they now suffer chronic breathing problems from exposure to beryllium. Also, the judge ruled that the U.S. Department of Energy cannot be held liable for injuries . The lawsuits contended the DOE and its contractors knew that exposure to beryllium was dangerous but failed to adequately protect workers.
----------- us nuc facilities
Nuclear Waste Shipments to Nevada Facility Pose Serious Risks for Southern California
Updated 6:32 PM ET February 18, 2000
http://news.excite.com/news/bw/000218/nv-agency-nuclear-proj http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000218/nv_agency__1.html
CARSON CITY, Nev. (BUSINESS WIRE) - Southern California could be heavily impacted if the federal government is successful in constructing a disposal facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other high-level radioactive wastes 100 miles north of Las Vegas.
That is the conclusion of a review by the State of Nevada commenting of the U. S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The Nevada review also found DOE intentionally hid from the public the proposed highway and rail routes that would be used in shipping waste to Yucca Mountain.
The Draft EIS, which is the subject of a public hearing in San Bernardino, California Tuesday, February 22, contains no information on what routes will be used or what communities will be affected. Bob Loux, Executive Director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the State's Yucca Mountain watchdog agency, notes that the omission seems intentional.
"DOE clearly knows the highway and rail routes to be used for waste shipments," Loux said. "In fact, that information is buried in reference materials used to put the Draft EIS together. The fact that these routes are not made explicit in the document can only be seen as an attempt by DOE to keep people ignorant of the impacts and risks and suppress public involvement in the program outside Nevada for political purposes."
During a 24 to 39 year period, there would be between 50,000 and 96,000 truck shipments of deadly radioactive materials nationwide, an average of 2,000 to 2,500 per year. Under various scenarios, there would also be between 11,000 and 20,000 rail shipments, averaging 460 to 510 per year. Because of the geography of the nation's rail and interstate highway systems, large metropolitan areas, such as the greater Los Angeles area, will be directly impacted.
"At first glance, DOE's transportation scenarios can be bewildering, perhaps intentionally so," observed Loux. "The bottom line is that, under any credible scenario, spent nuclear fuel shipments will be a daily occurrence in southern California for the next four decades."
In its review of DOE's draft EIS, the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects found that:
-- Under the DOE's least impacting scenario, between 1,400 and 2,500 rail shipments of spent nuclear fuel would pass through southern California. Additionally, 2,900 rail shipments of defense high-level radioactive waste could pass through northern California. There would be an average of one to two rail shipments per week every week through California for 39 years.
-- Under DOE's transportation scenario where all of the spent fuel and most of the high-level waste are shipped by truck, a minimum of 6,100 to 12,900 shipments would impact the southern California area, an average of one truckload per day every day for 24 to 39 years. Under DOE's preferred routing, truck shipments from California reactors enter the Los Angeles basin on I-5, I-10, I-210 and I-605. Shipments from other states enter California on I-10 and I-40 from Arizona. The three streams of shipments converge on I-15 at San Bernardino and at Barstow. Maps showing nuclear waste shipping routes are attached as files and can also be found on the web at: http:www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/trans/images/16-1.gif and http:www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/trans/images/18-1b.gif.
-- DOE evaluated six alternative highway routing options. Three of the six alternates would route all 96,000 truck shipments to Yucca Mountain through southern California. Under these three scenarios, there would be five to seven truck shipments through southern California every day for 24 to 39 years.
-- Under any of these scenarios, the number of shipments through southern California will substantially exceed the total number of such shipments nationally during the entire history of the U.S. Nuclear power industry.
-- State of Nevada consultants prepared an independent analysis of DOE's shipment numbers, assuming that each reactor ships by truck or by rail according to its current capabilities, and assuming that shipments use consolidated cross country routes to minimize adverse impacts and facilitate emergency response planning and training. Nevada's analysis concludes that the maximum credible number of shipments through southern California would be 26,400 truck shipments and 9,800 rail shipments over 39 years, a combined average of 2.5 shipments per day.
-- Studies by the State of Nevada indicate:
-- DOE misrepresented the radiological hazards of the spent fuel that would be transported, using reference fuel that is less radioactive than fuel types which will actually be shipped to the repository;
-- DOE grossly underestimated routine radiological exposures along highway routes in Nevada;
-- DOE significantly understated the consequences of severe transportation accidents and successful terrorist attacks resulting in release of radioactive materials;
-- DOE ignored the economic impacts of cleaning up after severe accidents and terrorist attacks;
-- DOE completely ignored the social and economic impacts of public perception of transportation risks including adverse impacts on property values and business activities along shipping corridors.
The DOE public hearing on the Draft Yucca Mountain EIS is scheduled to be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on February 22 at the Radisson Hotel, 295 North E Street, in the city of San Bernardino.
Nuclear waste transportation expert Robert J. Halstead will be available for media interviews before, during, and after the hearing. Halstead can be reached at 909/381-6181 on the day of the hearing, or at the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects 775/687-3744.
--------- colorado
In a message dated 00-02-18 12:23:37 EST,
andersa@spot.colorado.edu writes:
Criminal probe of EPA lab.url (168 bytes) DL Time (28800 bps): < 1 minute
Isn't it interesting that Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) can intentionally and illegally and criminally (although no one ever prosecuted them) contaminate a public water supply for 30 years here in Denver and be at the heart of controversy over children's' deaths, defects and diseases as a result; poison the drinking water of Burbank, California; be fingered by its own workers as part of the cover-up of plutonium contamination at Paducah; be found guilty of price-fixing and other contact improprieties, and still be hired by EPA to run one of its labs, now under investigation for doctoring lab data?
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?????
Adrienne Anderson Environmental Studies Program University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado 80309-0339 Phone: (303) 492-2952 (message) Fax: (303) 329-0217
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/epa15.html
---
Here comes the sludge
But officials say Lowry Landfill clean-up plan poses no danger
By BRIAN HANSEN Colorado Daily Staff Writer, February 18, 2000
http://www.codaily.com/Headlines/headline5.htm
The state of Washington this week blocked a company from selling "fertilizer" containing hazardous wastes derived from nuclear fuel production, but officials here stand ready to implement a plan that critics say effectively authorizes the spreading of plutonium-laced sewage sludge on farm fields in eastern Colorado.
The plan, which could be launched within the next six weeks, authorizes the city of Denver to treat contaminated groundwater from the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site at its York Street municipal sewage treatment plant.
According to the plan, the Lowry groundwater will be incorporated into the plant's sewage sludge, which has for years been sold as a commercial composting and fertilizer product known as "Metrogro." Additionally, the processed sewage sludge -- which industry groups prefer to call "biosolids" -- will be routinely applied to about 52,000 acres of taxpayer-owned farm lands near Dear Trail, Colo.
The practice of using sewage sludge as a "fertilizer" has long been controversial, since such "products" have been found to contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides, heavy metals and tens of thousands of other toxic substances.
But critics are particularly alarmed with Denver's plan, since the permit governing the flow of groundwater from the Lowry Superfund Site authorizes the municipal sewage treatment plant to accept wastewater containing specified amounts of plutonium, Americium, strontium and other radionuclides.
"We believe that we have the only case in the United States where a sewage treatment authority has approved a permit for the release of plutonium, depleted uranium and other nuclear wastes ... to become incorporated into sewage sludge 'fertilizer' for ... unsuspecting farmers and home gardeners," said Denver resident Adrienne Anderson. "Our investigation of this case over the last four years concludes that this is a staggering state and federal cover-up of an illegal ... nuclear waste dumpsite that federal officials wish to ignore."
There are, in fact, scores of documents -- and at least one eyewitness -- that declare that nuclear wastes from Rocky Flats were illegally dumped at the Lowry Landfill prior to its being shut down in 1980. But federal officials downplay the documents, saying they were either flawed scientifically or drafted by companies in desperate attempt to force the U.S. Department of Energy to contribute to the landfill's clean-up costs, or both.
Nevertheless, despite what may or may not have been dumped at Lowry, the sewage sludge-based "fertilizer" produced by the Denver plant will not pose any public health risks, said plant spokesman Steve Pearlman.
"We have a program in place to have our biosolids monitored for radioactivity on a regular, ongoing basis by the United States Geological Survey," Pearlman said. "The biosolids -- whether they're in the bag or on the fields -- will meet every standard set for them by the federal and state government."
Pearlman said that the radionuclide discharge limits were written into in the Lowry permit as a precautionary measure, and that they should certainly not be construed as "evidence" that the landfill contains higher-than-background amounts of radioactive materials. And as long as the permit levels are adhered to, Pearlman said, the Superfund Site groundwater will have virtually no effect on the plant's sewage sludge-based fertilizer, which he said was "perfectly safe" if used as directed.
"We did the prudent thing by any stretch of the imagination," Pearlman said. "The way we meant the limits in the permit was to say, if there was radioactivity out there, this is all (Lowry is) allowed to discharge to us."
Critics aren't convinced. They argue that there is no safe level of plutonium -- and certainly when it has the potential to be incorporated into a product sold as fertilizer.
Moreover, the thousands of documents that the Environmental Protection Agency refuses to make public on the Lowry case is indicative of a cover-up, critics say.
Pearlman denies the charge, but he said he can't talk about the deals that were cut between the city of Denver and the scores of companies that the EPA identified as "potentially responsible parties" for the Lowry clean-up.
"There's no cover-up, but I cannot discuss the financial arrangements because I would be in contempt of court to do so," Pearlman said.
Pearlman said the EPA-backed plan to pump the Lowry groundwater to Denver's York Street plant could begin as early as next month. For more information on the plan, see the plant's Web site at www.metrowastewater.com.
Adrienne Anderson Environmental Studies Program University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado 80309-0339 Phone: (303) 492-2952 (message) Fax: (303) 329-0217
--------- kentucky
Bechtel Jacobs records seized
February 18, 2000 By Joe Walker Paducah Sun Business Editor
http://www.sunsix.com/pw/PaducahSun/news/2000/Febuary/feb18a.html
KEVIL, Ky.
The U.S. Department of Energy has seized computer records from the Kevil offices of its lead environmental contractor as part of a Justice Department probe into a federal false-claims lawsuit.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Campbell, who is heading the investigation, confirmed that the hard drives of about 30 computers were obtained starting Tuesday, as well as backup tapes of the computer system operated by Bechtel Jacobs Co. Campbell said agents of the DOE inspector general's office took the records after serving a subpoena.
No computer records were obtained from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, for which Bechtel Jacobs does environmental and waste management work, Campbell said.
"What they did was essentially make a mirror image of the hard drive," Campbell said. "The DOE inspector general retained the original hard drive and left a mirror image with each computer."
He would not say specifically what evidence was being sought but said the records were obtained "to facilitate the investigation" into the false-claims suit filed last year by three plant employees and a large nuclear activist group. Campbell said a federal judge has given his office until early April to finish its work.
"At this point, we do have a court-imposed deadline that we're working fervently to meet," he said. "If there is additional evidence that we have to evaluate, then we might file a petition with the court (for an extension). But at this point no decision has been made about that."
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court at Paducah, alleges that Lockheed Martin (formerly Martin Marietta) fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in performance bonuses from DOE while secretly poisoning workers and the public. Justice Department investigators are trying to determine if the allegations, denied by Lockheed Martin, have enough merit for the government to join the suit as a plaintiff.
Among the claims is that the company compiled DOE-published annual environmental reports that contained false information and deceived the public. Neither DOE nor Bechtel Jacobs is a defendant in the suit, but many Bechtel Jacobs employees once worked for Lockheed Martin, maintaining computer records of environmental sampling and cleanup, and waste management. Bechtel Jacobs replaced Lockheed Martin as the contractor two years ago.
Some light may have been shed in a DOE fact sheet distributed a week ago to employees of Bechtel Jacobs and its subcontractors in the Kevil area and to employees of USEC Inc. who work at the plant.
The fact sheet revealed that tritium, a radioactive component of nuclear-bomb triggers, was found in five of eight outfalls sampled in May 1991. One of the outfalls, where treated effluent drains into creeks, is in the northwest corner of the plant near a classified burial ground containing parts of nuclear bombs without warheads. The fact sheet also said that tritium reservoirs could have smelted or buried at the plant during the Cold War era.
Other documents published by DOE say that fewer than 20 grams of tritium typically are in reservoirs, which are vessels used to help detonate nuclear bombs. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen that is harmful if ingested. About 90 percent of the substance decays into a form of helium in 40 years, the department says.
Although the traces of tritium found in drainage were well below safe drinking-water standards, there is no record that the findings, made by Martin Marietta, were disclosed to state environmental protection officials, DOE says.
Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet, said that before the fact sheet came out, the state was unaware that tritium was present in drainage at the plant. The state regulates effluents by issuing permits that are supposed to list all contaminants for monitoring purposes.
Since 1991, tritium has not been mentioned in annual environmental reports. York said data are reviewed by the state before they go into the reports. Bechtel Jacobs officials said the firm has not seen the substance in sampling in the past two years.
York said the state knew that some materials used to detonate bombs were in a landfill.
"We knew the location but were not aware of any other issues related to (tritium and nuclear weaponry)," he said. "We'll be requiring information from DOE and will be seeking to get regular reports on monitoring for tritium."
The computer records seizure was the latest in a string of intriguing incidents at the Bechtel Jacobs offices and the plant.
A week ago, FBI agents entered the plant and asked security officers to guard five classified records storage areas there. While issuing the fact sheet, DOE banned the shredding of all documents, even paper jammed in office equipment. That followed disclosure of a false-claims statement from a plant health physics manager who was worried about worker safety because he was told as much as 1,600 tons of old nuclear weapons parts had been buried at the plant.
Earlier this week, sources said the Central Intelligence Agency had at least one agent at the plant to interview some employees, although it was unclear why. CIA spokesman Tom Crispell said he could not confirm the report, but said CIA presence at the plant would be "highly unusual" because the CIA has no domestic jurisdiction.
"The agency is an international collector of intelligence. It operates abroad and not in the United States," he said. "Those would be U.S. weapons systems. We have enough problems worrying about foreign weapons systems. That's completely outside our legal portfolio."
USEC Inc. is known to be looking at gas centrifuge, a procedure used extensively in some foreign countries, as a more efficient replacement for expensive gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium. Crispell said it is more plausible for the CIA to be involved in intelligence gathering for that issue, but that is speaking hypothetically.
DOE spokesman Walter Perry and Campbell referred questions about the CIA to Crispell. "I'm not in a position to respond to that right now," Campbell said.
s--------- louisiana
USA Today 02/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Louisiana New Orleans - Entergy Corp. has plans for at least three new power plants, the company's head says. The natural gas-fired plants will be the first built by Entergy in 15 years and could provide a considerable boost to the company's regulated power sales in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas. Summer power demands have outpaced power plant capabilities in recent years.
----------- toxics
USA Today
00/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
New York Syracuse - Honeywell International has agreed to remove toxic chemicals and demolish two contaminated buildings at the former Allied Chemical Co. plant, a 25-acre site identified by officials as one of the main polluters of Onondaga Lake. The cost of the cleanup has not been determined, but the company expects to take about a year to decontaminate the site .
----------- us military
USA Today
02/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Arizona Phoenix - A district judge has ordered the Defense Department to provide more material on a lighted object reportedly seen over Arizona before he will decide to dismiss a self-described UFO lawyer's lawsuit. Peter Gersten, of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy wants information on a football field-sized triangular object reportedly sighted on March 13, 1997. He also wants to be able to question Defense Department officials under oath.
----------- spying
2 AGENCIES TO REVIEW CLASSIFIED MATERIAL ON PERSONAL COMPUTER
From the Los Angeles Times Friday, February 18, 2000 From Reuters
WASHINGTON--The Pentagon said Thursday it was reviewing classified material that former CIA Director John M. Deutch had on a non-secure home computer and will seek to answer the question, "How did this happen?"
Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon have any evidence that any of the classified material was obtained by an outsider, but both agencies are conducting separate reviews of what might have been compromised if someone had obtained the secret information.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said the two agencies efforts were not duplicative.
"If there was classified [defense information], we're in a better position than they to determine the severity of compromise that may have occurred," Quigley said.
"And by the same token, they're [CIA] in a better position than we to determine the severity of any classified information as it would pertain to CIA activities," he said.
On Feb 7, the Pentagon received from the CIA information from Deutch's computer that was defense-related. That information included copies of journals of Deutch's activities, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
Deutch was stripped of his CIA and high-level defense intelligence clearances last August for mishandling classified information.
After parts of a classified CIA inspector general's report into the investigation of Deutch's handling of secret material at home became public this month, Deutch voluntarily asked the Pentagon to remove remaining security clearances that allowed him to advise companies on classified defense projects.
Deutch's home computer with the secret material was used to connect to the Internet by someone in his household, raising concerns that outside hackers could have accessed the computer files.
Deutch has agreed to appear Wednesday before a closed Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
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Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 15:39:21 EST From: PATBNAAV@aol.com
Oh my God! The former CIA Chief and board member for 13 years (and may still be) of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the contractor which performs so-called radiation dose reconstructions for the DTRA, (formerly DSWA, formerly DNA), who then provides them to the VA guaranteeing that those applicants for VA benefits because of radiation exposure IS A SPOOK? Before he became the CIA director he was undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology, according to a Los Angeles Times article January 10, 1994. That article also stated: "In that role, he has developed a high public profile for his work researching the causes of the mysterious post-Persian Gulf war maladies reported by men and women who served in the conflict and for renegotiating the contract for development of the troubled C-17 cargo plane."
--
Deutch lapses puzzle Pentagon
Washington Times
February 18, 2000
By Bill Gertz
http://208.246.212.80/national/news4-02182000.htm
The Pentagon cannot explain how former CIA Director John Deutch placed highly classified defense information on his unprotected home computers, a spokesman said Thursday.
"How could classified material have gotten onto an unclassified system? . . . How did this happen?" asked Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the spokesman of two investigations being conducted by the department. "Just how did that material get to where it got?"
The spokesman was responding to a report in The Washington Times that the Pentagon is investigating whether Mr. Deutch compromised ultrasecret special access programs, known as "black programs" because they are so secret, by placing details about them on his home computers.
In a related development, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence announced Thursday that Mr. Deutch will appear before a closed-door meeting of the committee on Tuesday to answer questions about the security breach.
A committee spokesman said Mr. Deutch would be questioned about the information found on his home computers, including data from both the CIA and the Pentagon.
"The committee is going to inquire about all aspects, including the nature of the information," the spokesman said.
The committee is investigating whether the CIA tried to cover up the investigation into Mr. Deutch's mishandling of classified material.
Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was concerned about the latest disclosures relating to sensitive Pentagon data.
"At the present time, the primary jurisdiction is with the Intelligence Committee but I and the Senate Armed Services Committee are following this closely," Mr. Warner said through a spokesman.
In the House, a spokesman for the committee on intelligence said that panel is waiting to see the results of various investigations before deciding whether to conduct its own inquiry.
The president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board also is investigating some aspects of the handling of the matter.
Asked about the special access programs, Adm. Quigley would not answer directly. He said it could be something "that was relevant" to the department "at any classification level."
"We're reviewing paper that was provided to us by the CIA that they felt pertained to DOD equities," Adm. Quigley said. "If it was a subject that we would care about, we were provided paper by the CIA that says,'Here, this is what we know, this is what we found. You guys do with this what you will.' "
Mr. Deutch was stripped of most of his security clearances in August after a CIA investigation determined that he had improperly stored CIA secrets on his home computers.
Earlier this month, the CIA provided a diary kept by Mr. Deutch to the Pentagon that officials said contained details of special access programs.
Adm. Quigley said two investigations were launched at the Pentagon on the material. One is a security review of the material and the second is a probe by the Pentagon inspector general.
Once the material is reviewed, "we'll take the appropriate steps, but we're just not to that point yet to say with definition what the next step is," he said.
Adm. Quigley said the inspector general's office has been hampered by the sensitivity of the material.
"In other words, the inspector-general personnel that are accomplishing this part of the review don't necessarily have the requisite security classification, the security clearance, to review the material," he said.
The second review is being carried out by various elements of the Pentagon who have all the needed security clearances to review the material.
Special access programs include some of the Pentagon's most sensitive information. Past programs have included special high-technology weapons and special intelligence collections systems.
The Pentagon also has launched a special access program on electronic "information warfare" -how to attack electronic and computer systems. That information is known to be a target of foreign intelligence services.
Asked why the sensitive information, which was discovered in early 1997, was only supplied to the Pentagon 11 days ago, Adm. Quigley said, "I don't know that we had a full understanding at that point of what information may have been involved that was relevant to the Defense Department."
"First, we need to understand what the material that we received from the CIA contains. Where does that point us for future directions and courses of action? We just don't know yet until we're done reviewing that," Adm. Quigley said.
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INS official charged with spying
Yahoo News
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=0ab341qgrkcpm
MIAMI (AP) - A U.S. immigration official with "secret" security clearance was arrested Thursday and charged with spying for the Cuban government, the FBI said. Mariano Faget, 54, was being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami and was to appear in court Friday, the FBI said. Faget, a native of Havana, is employed at the Immigration and Naturalization Service as a supervisory district adjudication officer. He held a "secret" security clearance and was responsible for supervising decisions that affected immigrants and people seeking political asylum, the FBI said. "Faget has access to classified and sensitive INS files relating to confidential law enforcement sources and Cuban defectors," the FBI said. The agency said he had made unauthorized contacts with Cuban intelligence officers in Miami and in other U.S. cities. The FBI said it wouldn't release any further details on the case until a news conference set for Friday morning. Russ Bergeron, director of media relations at INS headquarters in Washington, said he could not comment on Faget's arrest. He said it is INS policy to cooperate with such investigations. Jose Basulto, president of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue, said he believed there were many Cuban spies working in the U.S.
---
Update: INS official charged with spying
Yahoo News
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=b3ufm5ajjiosu
MIAMI (AP) - A U.S. immigration service supervisor was charged with spying for the Cuban government, and authorities said Friday that he passed on information within minutes after he was told something last week as part of a sting operation. Early today, authorities were searching the home of Mariano Faget, 54, in the Miami suburb of Kendall. Faget, who had "secret" security clearance within the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, is suspected of divulging classified information about defectors to Cuban intelligence officials, the FBI said in a statement Thursday. At a briefing today, FBI spokesman Paul Mallett said Faget waited only 12 minutes last Friday to pass on information about the defection of a Cuban official - false information given to him as part of the sting. Faget called a New York businessman on his personal cell phone after meeting with the assistant district director of the FBI in Miami, Mallett said. The arrest comes amid already-strained relations with the Communist island over Elian Gonzalez.
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----------- other activism
USA Today
00/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Wisconsin Madison - Campus police used pepper spray against students during a protest demonstration at the University of Wisconsin's chancellor's office. Students, some of them carrying lunches with plans to spend the night, objected to working conditions and low wages in factories that manufacture UW materials .
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Mexico school reopening disrupted
Yahoo News
Friday, February 18, 2000
http://f1.mail.yahoo.com/py/ymTop.py?y=1&.rand=0ab341qgrkcpm
MEXICO CITY (AP) - The gradual return of normal academic life to Mexico's largest university after a prolonged strike was partially disrupted Thursday by die-hard strikers in several faculties and schools. Temporary blockades were reported at the Social Work and Social Science faculties, while a university-affiliated high school was occupied overnight, and radical students demanded assemblies to discuss possible occupations in several other facilities.
But despite the problems, the slow march towards the full reopening of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, known as UNAM, continued. Students and teachers back on the huge campus in southern Mexico City concentrated on getting the paperwork out the way, the Formato 21 radio station reported. Strikers had occupied and effectively paralyzed academic activity at UNAM from April 20 until Feb. 6, when they were ousted by a dawn police raid in which hundreds were arrested. The continuing detention of some of those arrested in the raid has served as a rallying cry for the ousted strikers, but although a march last week attracted tens of thousands, the response to calls for further strikes have received only a patchy response.
UNAM rector Juan Ramon de la Fuente announced Thursday that classes throughout the university would officially begin Monday. De la Fuente also said he was setting up a special commission to oversee preparations for a congress to discuss the future of the troubled university that is home to 270,000 students. He said wide-ranging reform was "the only way to compensate for this long, costly and painful last 10 months, that has not yet concluded and will not be concluded until the reform is completed." The strike was triggered by a proposed hike in annual tuition from a token few cents to the equivalent of dlrs 140. It developed into a much vaguer protest movement after the university authorities backed down from the threatened fee.
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Portland church ordered to limit attendance
Washington Times
February 18, 2000
By Joyce Howard Price
http://208.246.212.80/national/news5-02182000.htm
A 100-year-old United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., has been ordered by a city official to limit attendance at its worship services and to shut down a meals program for the homeless and working poor it has been running for the past 16 years.
Nearly the entire religious community in Portland - including Protestants of all denominations, Catholics, Jews and Muslims - has rallied in support of Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist Church, which is appealing the city's order.
Local church groups and religious scholars charge that last month's ruling by Portland land-use officer Elizabeth Normand infringes on religious freedoms protected by the First Amendment.
"I've really been impressed by the religious community coming together on our behalf. Oregon is the least religious state in the union," said the Rev. Timothy Lewis, co-pastor at the Sunnyside Centenary Church.
Mr. Lewis noted that last Sunday about 1,200 people of different faiths filled the church for a rally to protest Mrs. Normand's Jan. 17 ruling. Her order was issued in response to a complaint filed with the city by the Sunnyside Community Association.
"This is the first case I'm aware of in which a government official has tried to restrict attendance at a particular church," said Derek Davis, director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University, in a telephone interview.
Sunnyside is an older Portland neighborhood that was once low-income but has become upscale in recent years with the arrival of young professionals.
Its community association sought to end the twice-weekly program of prayer, singing, Bible study and dinner the local United Methodist church offers the poor.
Some residents charged that the program, normally attended by about 100 people, attracts alcoholics and drug addicts who cause disturbances.
Mr. Lewis insists any such problems "attributed to the church have diminished to almost nothing" as a result of security measures it has taken. The measures include starting a hot line for residents to report concerns, hiring a security guard, and training a volunteer patrolman to walk the neighborhood during the program.
"We have about eight street drinkers in our area. Two live in a house about a block away from the church, so incidents do occur, but all these people are banned from our program," said Mr. Lewis.
In the last 10 years, zoning conflicts between churches and cities have become a leading church-state issue. Disputes have arisen over church soup kitchens or homeless shelters in suburbs, expansion of church facilities, parking squeezes on Sunday, breaches of noise ordinances or disagreements on what kind of meetings the zoning permits.
Growing churches that seek new land to relocate often cannot win zoning approvals in the face of public protest over traffic. In 1997, the Supreme Court sided with the city of Borne, Texas, in its denying a building permit to a Catholic church seeking to expand.
While the media have portrayed the Sunnyside Church's program as a soup kitchen for the homeless, church officials note that only a third of participants are homeless. The majority, they say, are low-income working people.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Normand's 30-page ruling ordered that the meals program be shut down. It also imposed an attendance limit of 70 worshippers at the church, which can hold up to 500 persons.
The neighborhood association had not asked for such an attendance cap, and Mrs. Normand has refused to say why she imposed it. In several media interviews, she said her job was "quasi-judicial," and she was not required to explain decisions.
In addition, the land-use order placed conditions on the operation of the Sunnyside Church's nighttime homeless shelter, a day care center and its Indochinese Socialization Center.
Mr. Lewis said 75 persons attended worship services last Sunday, five more than the number allowed by the city ruling. But because the church has appealed Mrs. Normand's order, the attendance cap is not yet in effect. The City Council will hear the church's appeal March 1.
Late last week, Portland's Senior Deputy City Attorney Kathryn Beaumont issued a memorandum, which recommended that the City Council delete "references to specific numerical limitations" on church attendance that are now part of Mrs. Normand's order.
"Having a civil official place restrictions on church attendance is highly suspect. . . . I'm shocked and appalled," Mr. Davis said.
He read from an opinion in the 1947 Supreme Court case of Everson vs. the Board of Education of Ewing, N.J., in which Justice Hugo Black outlined the parameters of religious freedom under the First Amendment. "He wrote that neither states nor the federal government can force or influence any person to go to or remain away from church against his will," said Mr. Davis.
Neither Miss Beaumont nor Mrs. Normand returned repeated phone calls from The Washington Times.
Mr. Lewis said he is hopeful the Portland City Council will do away with the attendance cap. But he said the church is still fighting to continue its meals program. He insists those programs, held on Wednesdays and Fridays, are also worship services.
"We're afraid that the city will interpret religious freedom and expression as applying only to [conventional] worship services," the minister said.
John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal and educational services, said Thursday the city of Portland "must show a compelling state interest to shut down" the meals program.
"It sounds as if this is a good program . . . and that this is another case of government overreach," Mr. Whitehead said.
Larry Witham contributed to this report.