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-------- activists
Anti-nuke activities at Dimona and the Knesset
From: nukeresister@igc.org
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 09:42:57 -0700
Dear friends, A new anti-nuclear coalition, including a wide range of groups, is in the beginning stages in Israel. Women activists, primarily from the organization Bat Shalom, are organizing an International Women's Day of Disarmament teach-in and demonstration at Dimona on May 26. There will also be a panel of experts on nuclear weapons at the Knesset on May 24, hosted by Knesset member Tamar Gozansky. I will be attending both of these events, as well as vigiling in front of Ashkelon Prison (where Mordechai Vanunu has spent nearly 14 years). Also attending will be Nick and Mary Eoloff, Vanunu's adoptive parents from the U.S., and Marie Stone, who is active with the U.K. campaign to free Vanunu. FYI, below is the announcement for the Dimona event. Peace, Felice
AFTER THE USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS-NO SIDE WILL HAVE WON. WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PEACE AND DISARMAMENT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS In the midst of the state of Israel there is a Nuclear Reactor which has manufactured, up to the present day, hundreds of atomic bombs. If a failure occurs, unestimatable damage will be done to the surrounding population, and if this failure is a grave one, the damage could spread over the entire area between the Jordan river and the sea..
The nuclear weapons, which are in the hands of Israel, encourage nuclear weapon competition in the region . This will lead to a reality where the majority of countries in the Middle East will have nuclear weapons - in other words- a reality of a nuclear balance of horror. If an atomic bomb is dropped over Tel Aviv the whole area from Hulon to Ramat Aviv and from Givatayim to the sea-will evaporate. People, houses, cars will not turn to dust ; they will turn into gas. About half a million will die and the number of the wounded will be twice as many. The entire area will radiate cancer long after the bombing is over and it will be impossible for people to live there.
Many experts say that the Nuclear Reactor in Dimona is very old. Reactors of a similar type and age have long been closed down in other countries. Moreover, from the little information that the public received recently, we learned that the active radio waste, which is a very dangerous by-product of the reactor, is being buried close to it Esteemed experts of Environmental Protection warn us against this manner of burying the waste. Geologists remind us that Dimona is located in an area of a geological rift, and nobody can guarantee that the buried waste will stay buried.
The only way to prevent the disaster that is liable to happen in our area is to make sure that no country in the region possesses weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. and the government of the United States support this stand, but all Israeli governments continue to oppose it. During the last few years we have witnessed an ever-growing international activity, which calls for the disarmament of nuclear weapons. The international Court of Justice in Hague, in 1997, ruled that atomic weapons are illegal. The realization that after the use of nuclear weapons no winning side will remain, is penetrating the consciousness of the entire world.
Women representing various organization throughout Israel, are organizing a day of protest and study opposite the Nuclear Reactor. The studies will deal with the following issues :
-The right of citizens to obtain information regarding the nuclear capabilities of Israel-
-Health and environmental damages- -Israel's nuclear policy and the ramifications of a nuclear balance on the political reality of the Middle East.-
-The contribution of women to the struggle-
We call upon both men and women to join us in the protest and study tent, near the Reactor in Dimona on Friday, 26. 5. 2000
The Coalition of Women for International Women Day for Peace and Disarmament of Nuclear Weapons
----
Chernobyl Media Distortions & Institutionalized, LEGAL "Chernobyl Roulette"
From: "Nukewatch" nukewtch@win.bright.net and "Bill Smirnow" smirnowb@ix.netcom.com
http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1993/ja93/ja93Halverson.html
"Ticking Time Bombs: East Bloc Reactors"
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html
CRAC-2, NRC Allows Catastrophic Radiation Dangers
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html
NRC Admits To 45% Chance Of Reactor Meltdown
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/locations.html
Locations Of Nuclear Facilities Worldwide
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/violations
Public Citizens "Critical Mass" Allows NRC To Break The Law At Reactor Sites Around The USA
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/chernobyl.html
Chernobyl Health Effects
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/victims.html
Dr Rosalie Bertell documents how the nuclear industry disallows radiation induced illness definitions and deaths and 1.3 BILLION radiation induced cancers, deaths, & diseases
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html
The Commercial Nuclear Industry Would Have Ended If President Jimmy Carter Hadn't Covered THIS Up
In summary, we're all guinea pigs at the mercy of the international nuclear industry.
-------- arms sales
A Scourge of Small Arms
With a few hundred machine guns and mortars, a small army can take over an entire country, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands
by Jeffrey Boutwell and Michael T. Klare,
Scientific American, June 2000 Issue
http://www.sciam.com/2000/0600issue/0600boutwell.html
Most media accounts of the 1994 Rwandan genocide emphasized the use of traditional weapons--clubs, knives, machetes--by murderous gangs of extremist Hutu. As many as one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu perished, many of them women and children. To outsiders, it appeared as if the people of Rwanda had been caught up in a violent frenzy, with common farm implements as their favored instruments of extermination.
But this isn't the whole story. Before the killing began, the Hutu-dominated government had distributed automatic rifles and hand grenades to official militias and paramilitary gangs. It was this firepower that made the genocide possible. Militia members terrorized their victims with guns and grenades as they rounded them up for systematic slaughter with machetes and knives. The murderous use of farm tools may have seemed a medieval aberration, but the weapons and paramilitary gangs that facilitated the genocide were all too modern.
The situation there was far from unique. Since the end of the cold war, from the Balkans to East Timor and throughout Africa, the world has witnessed an outbreak of ethnic, religious and sectarian conflict characterized by routine massacre of civilians. More than 100 conflicts have erupted since 1990, about twice the number for previous decades. These wars have killed more than five million people, devastated entire geographic regions, and left tens of millions of refugees and orphans. Little of the destruction was inflicted by the tanks, artillery or aircraft usually associated with modern warfare; rather most was carried out with pistols, machine guns and grenades. However beneficial the end of the cold war has been in other respects, it has let loose a global deluge of surplus weapons into a setting in which the risk of local conflict appears to have grown markedly.
The cold-war-era preoccupation with nuclear arms and major weapons systems has left those of us in the arms-control community with very little knowledge about the global trade in small arms (technically, pistols, revolvers, rifles and carbines) and light weapons (machine guns, small mortars, and other weapons that can be carried by one or two people). Over the past few years, however, many of us have begun to examine why these weapons are so easily accessible and how they affect the societies now flooded with them. The disturbing findings are driving a new arms-control movement, led by a loose coalition of the United Nations, concerned national governments and nongovernmental organizations.
Small arms and light weapons are weapons of choice in most internal conflicts for a number of reasons: they are widely obtainable, relatively cheap, deadly, easy to use and easy to transport. Unlike major conventional weapons, such as fighter jets and tanks, which are procured almost exclusively by national military forces, small arms span the dividing line between government forces--police and soldiers--and civilian populations. Depending on the gun laws of a particular country (if such regulations even exist or are enforced), citizens may be permitted to own anything from pistols and hunting guns to military-type assault weapons.
In contrast to the declining trade in major weaponry since the end of the cold war, global sales of small arms and light weapons remain strong. No organization, private or public, provides detailed data on the global trade in these weapons, in part because of the difficulty of tracking so many transactions (and because of the low level of attention that has been paid to the problem). Reliable estimates of the legal trade in small arms and light weapons put the annual figure between $7 billion and $10 billion. A large but unknown quantity of small arms--worth perhaps $2 billion to $3 billion a year--is traded through black-market channels. Because data are so scarce, comparing these numbers to those for small-arms exports during the cold war is difficult. But studies in southern Africa and the Indian subcontinent do indicate that during the 1990s the availability of modern assault rifles increased considerably.
Governments transfer vast quantities of small arms, either through open, acknowledged military aid programs or through covert operations. And as the size of their militaries has dwindled, Western and ex-Communist countries have sold off their excess weapons to almost any interested party. Most arms, though, are sold by private firms on the legal market through ordinary trade channels. Although such sales are supposedly regulated, few countries pay close attention. The U.S. probably has some of the strictest controls, but even so, it sold or transferred $463 million worth of small arms and ammunition to 124 countries in 1998 (the last year for which such data are available). Of these countries, about 30 were at war or experiencing persistent civil violence in 1998; in at least five, U.S. or U.N. soldiers on peacekeeping duty have been fired on or threatened with U.S.-supplied weapons.
We have few data on the quantity or dollar value of small arms sold by other manufacturers. Based on existing weapons inventories of military and police forces around the world, though, certain major suppliers can be identified: Russia (maker of the AK-47 assault rifle and its derivative, the AK-74), China (maker of an AK-47 look-alike known as the Type 56 rifle), Belgium (FAL assault rifle), Germany (G3 rifle), the U.S. (M16 rifle) and Israel (Uzi submachine gun).
Common small arms such as the AK-47 are cheap and easy to produce and are extremely durable. Manufactured in large quantities in more than 40 countries, they can be purchased at bargain-basement prices in many areas of the world. In Angola, for instance, a used AK-47 can be acquired for as little as $15--or a large sack of maize. Cost is a crucial factor: many of the belligerents in these internal battles are poor and have often been barred from the legal arms market. As a result, they consider cheap small arms and light weapons, perhaps traded illegally, to be their only option.
The proliferation of automatic rifles and submachine guns has given paramilitary groups a firepower that often matches or exceeds that of national police or constabulary forces. Modern assault rifles can fire hundreds of rounds of ammunition per minute. A single gunman can slaughter dozens or even hundreds of people in a short time. With the incredible firepower of such arms, untrained civilians--even children--can become deadly combatants. Unlike the weapons of earlier eras, which typically required precision aiming and physical strength to be used effectively, ultralight automatic weapons can be carried and fired by children as young as nine or 10 [see "Children of the Gun," on page 60].
Although the figure of $10 billion spent on small arms and light weapons each year may seem insignificant when compared with the roughly $850 billion spent annually on military forces around the world, the money for light weapons has had a hugely disproportionate impact on global security. In addition to ravaging so many countries, the arms have drastically increased the demands placed on humanitarian aid agencies, U.N. peacekeepers and the international community. To cite but one statistic, international relief aid for regions in conflict increased fivefold during the 1990s, to a high of $5 billion a year. At the same time, long-term development aid dropped overall. Short-term remedies have replaced more lasting cures for the worst ills of poverty, deprivation and war. Moreover, armed militias equipped with but a few thousand assault rifles have erased the benefits of billions of dollars and years of development effort in many poor countries.
From 100 Men to the Presidency
Nowhere has the relation between the accessibility of light weapons and the outbreak and severity of conflict been more dramatically evident than in West Africa. Liberia was the first to suffer. On Christmas Eve in 1989, insurgent leader Charles Taylor invaded the country with only 100 irregular soldiers armed primarily with AK-47 assault rifles; within months, he had seized mineral and timber resources and used the profits to purchase additional light weapons. Had he needed to equip his forces with heavier weapons such as artillery, armored cars and tanks--the weapons conventionally associated with a conquering army--Taylor would have faced crippling logistical obstacles. In comparison, a few boatloads of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns were simple to transport and provided more than enough firepower. In 1990 Taylor's ill-trained and undisciplined insurgents toppled the government of President Samuel Doe (who had come to power in a conventional, albeit bloody, coup 10 years earlier). Fighting continued for seven more years.
The firepower of modern small arms--and the rapid escalation of violence that such weaponry makes possible--was evident even in the early stages of Liberia's civil war. In August 1990, in retaliation for Ghana's participation in a West African peacekeeping force (which had tried but failed to stop the fighting), Taylor's troops slaughtered 1,000 Ghanaian immigrants in one day in the Liberian village of Marshall. Likewise, forces loyal to Doe massacred 600 ethnic Gio and Mano--Liberian groups that favored Taylor--as they vainly sought refuge in a church in the capital city, Monrovia.
Sierra Leone was next. In 1991 Taylor and a disgruntled army officer from Sierra Leone, Foday Sankoh, initiated an informal alliance. Soon weapons and fighters were flowing back and forth across the border between the two countries. By 1999 the civil war in Sierra Leone had claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people, while another 100,000 had been deliberately injured and mutilated. Only in the summer of 1999 did the combined efforts of the U.N. and West African peacekeepers prove successful in helping to broker a peace agreement--an agreement that included a campaign to collect and destroy former combatants' weapons.
The current peace efforts in Sierra Leone and Liberia remain tenuous and highly dependent on what happens to the tens of thousands of weapons now in these countries. By October 1999 the disarmament program in Liberia had destroyed some 20,000 small arms and light weapons and more than three million rounds of ammunition. Across the border in Sierra Leone, however, U.N. officials complain that former rebels surrender to peacekeepers without also turning in their weapons, despite a $300 cash incentive to relinquish their guns. Unfortunately, this inability to disarm former combatants has led to renewed outbreaks of fighting during the past several months.
Much the same cycle of violence engulfed Rwanda--but on an even more horrific scale. The majority Hutu government and the minority Tutsi opposition both had been amply supplied with small arms and light weapons. France, Egypt and South Africa outfitted the government; Uganda and China equipped the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). While government forces held off the RPF with mortars and machine guns, Hutu militiamen armed with guns and machetes slaughtered up to one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu in May and June of 1994. The genocide ended only when most Tutsi in Rwanda had been killed or had fled to areas controlled by the RPF.
Similar acts of brutality routinely characterize today's ethnic and sectarian violence. Once competing groups have been armed with automatic weapons, any minor dispute can escalate quickly into a major bloodbath. And the availability of such weapons, even in remote and inaccessible places such as southern Sudan and eastern Congo, makes it difficult for the international community to bring the warring parties to the bargaining table--and, when a cease-fire is signed, to curb the cycle of bloodletting. Brokering peace has proved especially difficult in countries such as Angola and Sierra Leone, where rebel forces have been able to exchange diamonds or other commodities for guns and ammunition on the black market.
The Corrosive Effect of Guns
The root causes of ethnic, religious and sectarian conflicts around the world are of course complex and varied, typically involving historical grievances, economic deprivation, demagogic leadership and an absence of democratic process. Although small arms and light weapons are not themselves a cause of conflict, their ready accessibility and low cost can prolong combat, encourage a violent rather than a peaceful resolution of differences, and generate greater insecurity throughout society--which in turn leads to a spiraling demand for, and use of, such weapons.
In 1998, in a comprehensive survey of the problem of small-arms proliferation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) noted its deepening concerns about this issue, particularly regarding the safety of civilians. As a leading guardian of international humanitarian law, the ICRC stated that it was especially troubled by three dangerous trends. First, the group expressed its alarm at the growing number of civilian deaths and injuries--which often reach 60 to 80 percent of total casualties--that occur in modern conflicts. Equipped with rapid-fire automatic weapons, untrained and undisciplined fighters, few of whom know anything of the Geneva Conventions on human rights, either specifically target civilians or fire indiscriminately into crowds, killing and wounding scores of noncombatants, including women and children.
Second, civilians now suffer increased pain and deprivation when international relief operations must be suspended more frequently because the aid workers themselves have become targets of attack. In the 1990s more than 40 ICRC personnel were killed in Chechnya and Rwanda alone, compared with the 15 who lost their lives in all conflicts between 1945 and 1990.
Third, societies awash in weapons often find themselves caught in a culture of violence even after the formal conflict ends. For young ex-combatants who have known little else besides war, their weapons become a status symbol and a means of making a living, either through individual acts of street crime or as part of an organized criminal operation.
By conducting interviews with its field personnel and by analyzing medical data collected during its operations in Cambodia and Afghanistan, the ICRC has been able to document the high rates of civilian death and injury caused by small arms and light weapons, both during armed combat and after the fighting had stopped. In looking at the data from Afghanistan, for example, researchers found that weapons-related injuries decreased by only one third after the civil war ended and that gunshot fatalities actually increased. In many postconflict societies, up to 70 percent of all civilians still possess military-type firearms, mainly assault rifles such as the M16 and AK-47. ICRC personnel indicate that these weapons are responsible for more than 60 percent of all weapons-related deaths and injuries in internal conflicts--far more than land mines, mortars, grenades, artillery and major weapons systems combined. From El Salvador to South Africa, the story is depressingly similar: years of internal conflict are followed by high rates of social and criminal violence made possible by the easy access to small arms and light weapons.
Faced with the chaos and devastation wrought by the influx of small arms and light weapons, political leaders are now beginning to push for their control. In July 1998 representatives of 21 countries (including the U.S., Brazil, the U.K., Germany, Japan, Mexico and South Africa) met in Oslo and agreed to work together to curb the proliferation of these weapons. The U.N. has also called on member states to tighten their munitions-export regulations and to cooperate in efforts to suppress illicit trade in small arms. But although there is widespread agreement that something must be done, there is considerable uncertainty as to what. Nevertheless, arms experts and others are beginning to devise practical and enforceable methods for controlling the small-arms trade.
Proponents of small-arms control have largely abandoned the goal of enacting a single, all-encompassing instrument like the land-mine treaty. When signed in 1997, that treaty seemed a natural model for an agreement that would prohibit most exports of small arms and light weapons. But eliminating all transfers of small arms between states would never receive the support of those countries that depend on imported weapons for their basic military and police requirements. Many states, including China and Russia, also view guns as legitimate items of commerce and are thus reluctant to embrace any measures that would restrict their trade. Accordingly, the favored approach emphasizes a multidimensional effort aimed at eliminating illicit arms transfers and imposing tighter controls on legal sales, along with promoting democratic reform and economic development in poor, deeply divided societies.
Setting Sights on Arms Control
No widely accepted blueprint describes how to accomplish such broad goals. Arms-control experts have agreed, however, on five basic principles. First, timely information on global trafficking in small arms must be made available for the identification of dangerous trends (such as the buildup of arms stockpiles in areas of instability) and for the facilitation of local or regional curbs on imports. Some data on small-arms deliveries are now made public by individual suppliers--the U.S. and Canada have been particularly forthcoming in this regard--but at present there is no international system of reporting. The only existing mechanism of this kind, the U.N. Register of Conventional Weapons, covers major weapons only.
Second, major military suppliers should adopt strict standards for the export of weapons through legal channels. Although the manufacture of small arms and light weapons is widely dispersed, a dozen or so countries are responsible for the bulk of arms sold on the international market. These include the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council--the U.S., Russia, China, the U.K. and France--plus a number of other European, Asian and Latin American countries. If these countries could agree to a common system of restraints on exports, the sale of arms to areas of instability should fall substantially. Some weapons would still flow through clandestine channels, but most large-scale transactions would be subject to international oversight.
Third, no system that regulates the supply of arms can be entirely effective without an effort to dampen the global demand for arms, especially in areas of recurring conflict. Significant progress has been made in this direction in West Africa, the locale of several of the most pernicious conflicts of the 1990s. In 1998, under the prodding of Alpha Oumar Konaré, the visionary president of Mali, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted a three-year moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of small arms and light weapons. This moratorium represents the first time that a bloc of states that import large numbers of light weapons has adopted a measure of this kind and stands as an important model that other regions can emulate. Already member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have considered such a step; a group of East African states met in Kenya in March to discuss a similar enterprise.
Fourth, efforts to control the legal trade will have only limited effect unless steps are taken to eradicate the black-market trade in arms. The Organization of American States (OAS) has been especially active in working to curb this trade. Recognizing the close link between illicit arms sales, drug trafficking and violent crime, the members of the OAS adopted a convention in 1997 that requires member states to criminalize the unauthorized production and transfer of small arms and to cooperate with one another in suppressing the black-market trade. (The U.S. has signed the treaty, but the Senate has not yet ratified it.) The Clinton administration is pushing to have similar measures incorporated into the Transnational Organized Crime Convention, now being negotiated in Vienna, to make them applicable in every region of the world. To promote further cooperation in this area, the U.N. plans to convene a conference on illicit arms trafficking next summer.
Finally, as U.N. peacekeepers in Angola, Rwanda, Somalia and elsewhere have learned, peace agreements must help reintegrate former combatants into the civilian economy, or fighters are likely to drift into careers as mercenaries, insurgents or brigands--taking their guns with them. The collection and destruction of used and surplus weapons is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the small-arms problem. Nevertheless, individual states and nongovernmental organizations have begun to devise and test possible solutions such as weapons "buy-back" programs. The European Union and the World Bank have also promised to assist in the development of job-training programs and other services for ex-combatants seeking to reenter civil society in war-torn areas of Africa and Latin America.
None of these measures by itself can overcome the dangers posed by the uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons. The problem is far too complex to be solved by any single initiative. Yet each time international leaders have sought to enact controls on nuclear, chemical or biological arms, they have dealt with similar problems. The foundation has now been laid for the world to bring small arms under effective control. If we fail, we are likely to face even greater bloodshed and chaos in the decades ahead.
The Authors
JEFFREY BOUTWELL and MICHAEL T. KLARE are co-directors of the Project on Light Weapons at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and co-editors of Light Weapons and Civil Conflict (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999). Boutwell is associate executive officer at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, where he heads the program on international security studies. Klare is a professor of peace and world securities studies at Hampshire College and is director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies.
-------- australia
South Australia Blocks High Level Nuclear Dump
May 18, 2000 (ENS)
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2000/2000L-05-18-02.html
ADELAIDE, Australia, The government of South Australia has moved to ban the construction of a medium to high level nuclear waste dump in the state.
Premier John Olsen announced Wednesday that legislation will be drafted to prevent the Commonwealth from constructing a facility to store medium to high level nuclear waste in outback South Australia.
John Olsen is Premier of South Australia (Photo courtesy Office of the Premier)
Under the legislation any breach will attract a maximum fine of A$5 million.
"There is significant community opposition to the establishment of a nuclear dump in South Australia," Premier Olsen says. "My position and the South Australian government's position has been very clear - we share that opposition.
"While we support the establishment of a single facility for the storage of low level radioactive waste, we are strongly opposed to a high level waste facility and will not tolerate outback South Australia being used as a nuclear dump," the premier said.
Meanwhile, the search for Australia's national low level radioactive waste repository has been narrowed to five possible sites in the central-north region of South Australia.
The selection of the sites was discussed Wednesday at a meeting of the Regional Consultative Committee, a group which consists of key regional stakeholders including pastoralists, representatives from local and state government, Aboriginal groups and local industry.
Australian Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin (Photo courtesy government of Australia)
Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin, said, "All sites are located in flat, stony desert country on pastoral leases between Woomera and Roxby Downs. Two are in the Woomera Prohibited Area, and the other three are east of the Woomera/Roxby Downs road."
"The search for a low level waste repository should not be confused with the search for a store for intermediate level waste," Senator Minchin explained. "The search for the store has not yet commenced - when it does, it will involve a nationwide search and further public consultation. No decision has been made to co-locate the store at the site of the repository."
Test drilling at the five sites is expected to begin shortly. In addition to four sites which were studied last year, one new site on the Woomera Prohibited Area has been selected for work.
The Woomera Prohibited Area, covering about 127,000 square kilometers, has been set aside by the Australian government for military and approved civil applications. It is home to the Woomera Instrumented Range which supports international and national space, aircraft, air and ground weapons testing and evaluation programs.
Woomera has been revived as a site for satellite launches, with the November 1998 signing of an agreement between the Australian government and the U.S. based Kistler Aerospace Corporation. But the town is shrinking. After 29 years, the Australia/U.S. Joint Defence Facility closed in October 1999. The town shrank from 1,200 to about 300 people in April.
Woomera, South Australia was established in 1947 as a rocket range by a joint project between Britain and Australia. (Photo courtesy St. Michael's Parish School)
"After the five sites have been drilled, the results will be assessed and there will be additional consultation with stakeholders," said Senator Minchin. "In late July or early August, three sites will be selected for further work. Later this year, one of the sites will be determined as the preferred site for the repository."
The preferred site will then be subject to environmental assessment and licensing. The public will have a further opportunity for comment during that part of the process.
Australia's low level radioactive waste includes hospital, research and industry waste such as lightly contaminated soil, clothing, smoke detectors, watch faces, compasses, instrument dials and gauges.
The plan is to bury it in unlined trenches at the national repository. By contrast, intermediate level waste will be dealt with through long term storage in a building above ground, Minchin said.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) objects that a national radioactive waste repository for shallow burial of low level wastes is contrary to recommendations of the 1996 Senate Inquiry "No Time to Waste" that there should be no burial of radioactive wastes in Australia.
Typical land near Woomera (Photo courtesy Australian Space Research Institute)
ACF opposes the proposed national waste dump and instead supports a radioactive waste management regime based on the principles of reduction at source and above ground, plus retrievable and monitored storage at production sites.
In 1992, Australia undertook a site selection study for a national radioactive waste repository, with what the ACF says was "the clear intention to assess the selected site for co-location of the long lived wastes National Storage Facility."
Known by its Aboriginal name of Billa Kalina, this region of central South Australia was selected for the repository site in February 1998. Eighteen potential sites were identified in the region around Woomera in June 1999; in October six preferred sites were selected.
The low-level waste candidate sites were inspected for heritage values by Aboriginal groups in late 1999, and recently a number of Aboriginal groups have conducted further heritage inspections of the sites, said Senator Minchin.
Aboriginal women from the area under consideration do not want the nuclear waste repository located there. The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta Women's Group said, "The Billa Kalina region is very important to us. It is the place where our grandmothers' grandmothers lived. It was our home until we were forced to move off the lands," the women said in a statement published by the ACF.
The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, a council of women elders demonstrate against the nuclear dump in Melbourne in 1998. (Photo courtesy Humps not Dumps)
"The Lake Eyre basin and country is millions of years old and Billa Kalina has ancient mound springs. We've got underground water, that's why we're worrying about the water," the women said. We don't want the poison from the dump leaking into underground water."
They are also worried about the animals. "We eat malu (kangaroo), kalaya (emu), ungkata (frill necked lizard), goanna, ngintaka (perente), porcupine, kipara (wild turkey), kalamina (blue tongue lizard), kalta (sleepy lizard). We're worried that any of these animals, birds will become poisoned and so we'll become poisoned in our turn," the women said.
Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta Women's Group is based in the opal mining town of Coober Pedy and is made up of Aboriginal women from four communities of northern South Australia.
South Australia is front and centre on the international stage this year as the state has been selected by the United Nations Environment Program as the international host of World Environment Day 2000 on June 5. World Environment Day 2000 theme is The Environment Millennium - Time to Act.
-------- bangladesh
Preparing for Jackson
Washington Times
May 19, 2000
Embassy Row James Morrison
http://www.washtimes.com/world/embassy-2000519234828.htm
Ambassador John Ernest Leigh of Sierra Leone says his government is preparing a "public relations campaign" to calm public anger over comments by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who hopes to visit the war-torn country on his current trip to West Africa.
Mr. Leigh this week said Mr. Jackson, acting as a special peace envoy for President Clinton, is expected in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, on Sunday.
Before he left on Wednesday, Mr. Jackson suggested that new peace talks in Sierra Leone should include Foday Sankoh, the leader of a rebel army that is holding 270 United Nations peacekeepers and has brutally assaulted civilians while devastating much of the country.
Mr. Jackson gave the impression that he was comparing Mr. Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) with the African National Congress (ANC), which evolved from urban guerrillas to South Africa's leading political party.
He issued a new statement on Tuesday, denouncing Mr. Sankoh and the RUF.
Mr. Leigh said his government is "readying a public relations campaign so that public anger against Jackson will evaporate during his visit, following alleged derogatory statements by Jackson linking the RUF with the ANC of [former South African] President Nelson Mandela."
Mr. Leigh, who talked by telephone with Mr. Jackson late Tuesday night, said the Clinton envoy emphasized that the "ANC is a completely different organization from the RUF and that Sankoh is the complete antithesis of President Mandela."
Mr. Jackson "deeply regrets the statement he made that caused some people to take his remarks as equating Sankoh to President Mandela. Reverend Jackson wants the RUF to forthwith cease fire and disarm," Mr. Leigh added.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday that Mr. Jackson's visit to Sierra Leone depends on "security conditions." He arrived in Nigeria yesterday and is due to visit Liberia, Mali and Guinea.
'Bangladesh matters'
President Clinton included Bangladesh on his trip to South Asia in March because "Bangladesh matters to America," U.S. Ambassador John Holzman said Thursday.
Mr. Holzman, who is ending his tour as ambassador to Bangladesh, told reporters in the capital, Dhaka, that Mr. Clinton "was not motivated by any grand strategic design" when he stopped in Bangladesh on his visit to India and Pakistan.
His visit was designed to show that "we want Bangladesh to succeed," said Mr. Holzman.
"Bangladesh is in the midst of a difficult passage from a turbulent past, marked by dictatorship and despotism, to constitutional democracy, [and] Americans understand this never-ending struggle to achieve democracy because it is our struggle too," he said.
"At peace with its neighbors, Bangladesh is a stabilizing element in the subcontinent, which President Clinton called the most dangerous place in the world, as India and Pakistan pursue their nuclear programs" he said.
Prime Minister Sheik Hasina's fall visit to Washington, the first such official visit by any Bangladeshi leader, will help to strengthen bilateral ties, said Mr. Holzman.
-------- britain
OECD study says no health risk from spent nuclear fuel
UK: May 18, 2000
Story by Matthew Jones
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=6728
LONDON - An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development study published this week has found the risk to human health from spent nuclear fuel to be "insignificantly low."
Whether old nuclear fuel is reprocessed or stored, the affect on people was small, concluded the report by the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency.
The report was commissioned by the 15-nation Oslo-Paris commission, a grouping of countries aimed at protecting the marine environment of the north-east Atlantic.
OSPAR meets in June to discuss proposals from Denmark and Ireland aimed at closing Britain's Nuclear Fuel's Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant, part of the Sellafield facility.
Denmark, Ireland and Norway claim substances produced at Sellafield during reprocessing are dangerous to the marine environment.
The study examined the radiological impact - the affect of radiation on human health - from both reprocessing and storing spent fuel.
Both options presented radiological impacts "well below any regulatory dose limits for the public and for workers".
The study said there was "no compelling argument" in favour of either option. But critics of reprocessing were sceptical of the some of aspects of the report.
"I do not think the study is forward-looking enough.
Restricting the examination to the impact on people living today is short-sighed. We need to be looking at the radiological impact for future generations," Frank Barnaby, an independent nuclear consultant working for the Oxford Research Group told Reuters.
"The consequence of reprocessing is plutonium and the threat that brings of nuclear weapons proliferation," said Barnaby, a former atomic weapons specialist.
Mark Johnston, at Friends of the Earth viewed storage as preferable to reprocessing. "It is less expensive and cleaner," he said.
The international campaign against Sellafield, northwest England, has been spurred on by research showing that lobsters and other shell fish in the North Sea and Irish Sea have high levels of Technetium 99, a radioactive isotope generated during reprocessing.
-------- depleted uranium
Greens in German Parliament start initiative to ban DU
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 21:11:44 +0200
From: Peter Diehl p.diehl@sik.de
The parliamentary group of the Greens in the Federal German Parliament on May 17 announced the start of an initative for the ban of DU weapons.
The initiative comprises the following steps:
1) formulation of a parliamentary motion (together with the Social Democrats) for the ban of DU weapons; the motion would at the same time instruct the Federal Government to work for an international ban of DU weapons,
2) the Federal Government shall try to make NATO release more detailed information on DU use in Kosovo,
3) sufficient protective measures are to be taken in the areas concerned from DU weapons use,
4) the Ministry of Defense shall conduct preventive measures for the protection of German soldiers in Kosovo, and shall instruct them on possible compensation claims.
The text of the May 17 announcement is available at: http://www.gruene-fraktion.de/aktuell/neu/index-uran.htm (in German)
-------- france
Serenity for Now
Washington Post
Friday, May 19, 2000; Page A31
By Jim Hoagland
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-05/19/049l-051900-idx.html
Of the many words French and American leaders have used over the years to describe the volatile relationship that links Paris and Washington, "serenity" is not the first that comes to mind. Or even the 101st. But it was the word Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine deployed here with insistence and verve on a brief mission of pacification last week.
"This is a moment of serenity, which comes from good cooperation between our governments," Vedrine said. "Differences still exist. But they have become less and less dramatic, and can be calmed more rapidly."
Relations between the two competitively cooperative nations are never as bad, nor as good, as they seem on the surface. Our ambitions to lead have too much in common, just as our cultures have too much in contrast, for there to be eternal peace or eternal hostility. At any given moment, there is room for maneuver, as Vedrine, a skilled and elegant negotiator who has made reducing unnecessary tensions with Washington a top priority, demonstrated here.
But as I listened to Vedrine explain away his recent questioning of America's "hyperpower" role in world affairs as a matter of poor translation, and heard him offer a tentative but uncritical French reaction to a possible U.S.-Russian deal on missile defense that had once ulcerated Paris, an inevitable question popped itself: What gives? Or, excusez-moi?
The answer may have as much to do with Europe as with the United States. France moves into the chair as the presiding nation of the European Union on July 1 for a six-month term that will shape that 15-member organization's future in fundamental ways. The French have important battles to wage in Europe. A period of transatlantic calm fits France's immediate needs as well as Vedrine's long-term agenda.
Vedrine and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer see the coming six months as crucial in defining Europe's way for the next decade and beyond. They have worked together to bring back to life French-German planning for European political unity and to sketch a vision that reflects the momentous mixture of hope--and of fear--that their nations feel about the European future.
Fischer outlined much of that vision last Friday in a mold-breaking speech at Berlin's Humboldt University. The speech was so thoughtful and unconventional that Fischer had to declare he was not speaking as a foreign minister at all but as a citizen. He then dared utter support for a written constitution for an eventual federation of nations that could become a sort of United States of Europe.
The true brilliance of Fischer's speech was to wrap some hard truths about Europe's transformation in shining words: Promised expansion to Eastern and Central Europe will be slow, difficult and uneven. A core of EU countries able to pursue political and military integration must unite in a new treaty arrangement within the EU treaty. The sagging common currency known as the euro must be better managed by a European government. These conclusions were sketched without any detail, but their outlines were clear.
Vedrine was quick to welcome Fischer's ideas, which will animate political debate in Europe for months to come. But the French diplomat also stressed here that these were not formal proposals for European governments to take up at their high-level review of EU institutions at the end of the six-month French presidency. The French do not want their hands tied in advance of the review.
Nor do they want the quiet quarrels that have raged for the past year between the U.S. national security bureaucracy and Vedrine's ministry over European defense and NATO's prerogatives to continue to be a distraction. Vedrine sought in a variety of ways to turn down the static during his first formal visit here in three years in office.
Six months ago the French declared in NATO councils that they opposed any amendment of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty that would permit the United States or Russia to deploy new national missile shields. Vedrine voiced a much more supple position in an interview here: A combination of "minor changes in the ABM treaty and major benefits from a START III treaty" that would slash U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals "would clearly be an alluring package. . . . We would want to look with an open mind at the strategic consequences of such changes."
Europe has advanced in recent years through a series of lurches forward that were then followed by periods of consolidation or stagnation. The Franco-American truce Vedrine implicitly proposed in Washington last week is one more telling sign of a continent bracing itself for a new leap into the future.
Americans can afford to be supportive of the European effort to become a stronger, more reliable partner in world affairs. And enjoy the truce if it works out. The only certainty is that it won't last forever.
-------- imf / world bank
World Bank to consider Iran loan
USA Today
05/18/00
http://usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm
WASHINGTON - The World Bank's 24 executive directors are scheduled Thursday to consider a delayed proposal to lend $231 million to Iran. The loans for two projects were delayed in April, and the United States will seek another postponement, a U.S. official said. Canada and France are understood to be aligned with the United States in opposition to the loans. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has telephoned several foreign ministers to urge a postponement, according to another U.S. official. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, questioned ''whether Iran should be permitted to borrow from the Bank in view of their continued support for terrorism and their failure to take concrete steps to reform their economy.''
---
Bush urges Congress to expand trade with China
Washington Times
May 18, 2000
By Carter Dougherty
http://208.246.212.80/business/default-200051822657.htm
Texas Gov. George W. Bush yesterday called on Republicans and Democrats in Congress to put aside "posturing and partisanship" and approve a landmark agreement that would expand trade with China. The move came as two key congressional committees gave their support to the deal by unexpectedly large margins.
In a speech at a Boeing aircraft factory in Everett, Wash., the presumptive Republican nominee for president argued that permanent normal trade relations (NTR) for China, and bringing the Asian giant into the World Trade Organization (WTO) would further the economic, political and security interests of the United States.
"For businesses, workers and farmers [NTR] will mean lower trade barriers and enormous opportunities," said Mr. Bush, echoing many of the arguments made by the Clinton administration. "For the people of China, it holds out hope of open contact with the world of freedom."
Mr. Bush's endorsement came as House and Senate panels gave their overwhelming support to permanent NTR for China. The Senate Finance Committee approved the legislation on a 19-1 vote and the House Ways and Means Committee signed off by an unexpectedly large margin of 34-4.
Democrats, the key swing constituency in the House, flocked to support NTR. Reps. Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Karen L. Thurman of Florida and Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, all previously undecided, backed the measure in advance of the full House vote.
"We're not there yet, but this vote is a little momentum," said Rep. Robert T. Matsui, the California Democrat who has led the pro-NTR forces in his party.
The committee also passed additional legislation sponsored by Reps. Sander M. Levin, Michigan Democrat, and Doug Bereuter, Nebraska Republican, that would curb sudden surges in Chinese imports if they injure American industries. Several Democrats said their support on the House floor would be contingent on seeing other proposals by Mr. Levin included in the final package.
"The situation still remains fluid, but we do believe we will be successful next week," U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky told reporters.
In his speech, Mr. Bush stressed that, if elected president, he would pursue many of the trade measures that have eluded the Clinton administration as the American public has become increasingly skeptical of the benefits of open trade and investment.
Speaking only miles away from Seattle, where violent protests helped derail global trade talks last November, Mr. Bush said he would work to obtain the trade negotiating authority that Congress declined to grant the Clinton administration in 1997 and 1998. And, in a pointed criticism of Mr. Clinton's performance in Seattle, he pledged to restart market-opening talks in the WTO.
"They mishandled the global trade negotiations right here in Seattle," Mr. Bush said. "I will make expanding trade a consistent priority."
The China trade agreement, which Mrs. Barshefsky wrapped up last November in Beijing, represents an enormous opportunity for U.S. exporters, Mr. Bush said.
The deal would pave the way for Chinese membership in the WTO, without the need for the United States to make concessions to China, he added.
"For all these gains, we will not have to change a single sentence of our existing trade rules," Mr. Bush said.
The Texas governor also endorsed a central argument the White House has made in support of the agreement: Trade is a lever that will nudge the Chinese people toward democratic change.
"Economic freedom creates habits of liberty and habits of liberty create expectations of democracy," he said.
But Mr. Bush also drew a distinction between the Clinton administration's overall policy toward China, which has sought a "strategic partnership" with Beijing. In particular, Mr. Bush, who has described China as a "competitor," said his administration would be a stronger supporter of Taiwan.
Mr. Bush stressed that his support for the China trade deal was "not just a matter of commerce but a matter of conviction," and interviews with Bush advisers and business and labor leaders in Texas paint the portrait of an instinctive free trader. Mr. Bush's formative experience has been the commercial benefits that have accrued to Texas in the past six years from the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"I think the governor is very strong on trade," said Sen. Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican who has demonstrated little patience with politicians in any party who do not support free trade.
NAFTA, which went into effect in 1994, has had a profound impact on Texas, according to state business leaders. In 1997, Mexico accounted for roughly half of the state's $84.3 billion in exports, and the amount of commercial traffic in Texas has exploded in the last six years. Far from engaging in a fundamental debate about whether NAFTA has been good, state officials spend most of their time wrestling with how to manage its effects, both positive and negative.
"NAFTA is not a panacea to solve all our problems, and the governor knows that," said Gerald Schwebel, executive vice president of the Laredo-based International Bank of Commerce.
At the same time, Mr. Bush has had little success in convincing organized labor in Texas that NAFTA is beneficial for workers.
"It's too easy [under NAFTA] to move a factory to Mexico," said Joe Gunn, president of the Texas AFL-CIO.
Partly as a result of NAFTA, Mr. Bush has developed a strong rapport with Mexican officials, including President Ernesto Zedillo, whose inauguration he attended shortly after becoming governor.
Mr. Bush is also surrounded by a coterie of advisers with strong credentials in trade policy. Robert Zoellick, an undersecretary of state from 1989 to 1993, played a major role in the negotiation of NAFTA. Josh Bolton, the campaign's issues director, and Gary Edson, another adviser, were both senior officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
-------- india / pakistan
US expert plays down future N-test by Pakistan
The News International (Pakistan)
May 18, 2000
From: Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
WASHINGTON: Pakistani press claims that Islamabad is about to carry out its seventh nuclear test are not credible, says a leading US expert. Dr George Perkovich, author of the recently published 'India's Nuclear Bomb' says such claims are probably being made in response to an Indian scientist's assertion that New Delhi should develop fourth generation nuclear weapons and conduct more tests to perfect the hydrogen bomb.
Dr Perkovich was reacting to a report quoted from The Pakistan Observer that Islamabad had made all preparations for a seventh nuclear test in the Chaghai hills, following intelligence reports that "India is all set for a hydrogen bomb explosion very soon".
The Pakistan Observer story said that Islamabad would sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) immediately after the test to neutralise adverse world reactions. Quoting diplomatic sources in Islamabad, the newspaper said spy satellites operating in the region had picked up evidence showing both Indian and Pakistani preparations to resume testing.
"This makes no sense from the Pakistan point of view, they will not go first," Dr Perkovich told Deccan Herald. "I would be also very surprised if India resumed testing now. When President Clinton was in India last March, Prime Minister Vajpayee told him there would be no more tests. What's the rationale for going back on that?"
The Pakistani report, Dr Perkovich speculates, is linked to recent statements by former Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) chairman PK Iyengar that India should develop fourth generation weapons, such as neutron bombs, and carry out more hydrogen bomb tests. Dr Iyengar's statement to this effect, followed by an article he recently published in an Indian newspaper, had been noted and widely circulated among US experts.
----
Pokharan In Retrospect The High Costs of Nuclearism
By PRAFUL BIDWAI
"The Times of India",
May 13, 2000
From: Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
New Delhi, Two years after India and Pakistan exploded their way into the Nuclear Club, they bristle with paradoxes. Consider just three. China went nuclear in 1964. For a good 34 years after that, India did not consider extreme or emergency measures, e.g. raise military spending by 28 percent in a single year, or build nuclear-proof shelters.
Indeed, it didn't even protest against Chinese nuclear tests until the mid-1990s. India's knowledge of Pakistan's nuclear pursuits, for over a decade before Pokharan-II happened, didn't warrant extreme measures either. But Nuclear India, supposedly far more secure, now proceeds to build underground nuclear-command shelters costing Rs. 1,100 crores-more than the Centre is spending to fight the drought! Does this speak of security or rationality? According to classical deterrence theory, nuclear weapons-states (NWSs) do not go to war with one another. Less than a year after Pokharan-II-Chagai, India and Pakistan did just that. One more year on, they appear close to yet another confrontation.
Lest it be thought that Kargil was only an "aberration," as high deterrence theory once termed the Sino-Soviet Ussuri river conflict, we are being treated to a new strategic doctrine: routine, normal, "limited wars" between NWSs! This comes not from some charlatan in the "strategic community," but from India's defence minister, who declares that we can win such conventional wars with ease-despite New Delhi's loss of overwhelming strategic superiority over Islamabad. Cold logic or nuclear bravado? Nuclearisation, many believed, would induce much-needed sobriety, stability and maturity into India-Pakistan relations.
But our government taunted, chided, and cajoled Islamabad into testing by linking nuclearisation with Kashmir. Today, instead of sobriety, we have unprecedented exchanges of vitriolic, hostile, rhetoric, heightening of tensions, and mutual demonisation. The number of Indians who believe that Pakistan's destruction is a precondition for peace in this region (and vice versa), has never been greater. One of the subcontinent's two rivals is convulsed by a coup. In the other, there is an explosion of tub-thumping chauvinism, book-burning bigotry and majoritarian prejudice. Conducive to strategic "balance" between states which can rain mega-death, but won't talk to each other? The Pokharan-Chagai balance-sheet should impel serious introspection.
Pakistan is gravely crisis-ridden. Nuclearisation has strengthened fundamentalist forces there. Chagai accelerated Pakistan's economic downslide through "austerity" measures and impounding of foreign-currency deposits. India and Pakistan together have lost to sanctions $3 billion in aid and concessional loans-equivalent to their annual foreign direct investment inflows. India's assets side too looks ungainly-despite the Clinton lovefest, lifting of sanctions, and vague talk of a Security Council seat. New Delhi is plain lucky that the long-overdue "correction" of South Asia's relations with the world, especially America, a decade after the Cold War's end, should have coincided with Mr Clinton's discovery of India, American NRIs' successes, the IT boom, and with Pakistan's marginalisation.
A gap has opened between US softness on India's nuclear posture and Security Council Resolution 1172. But it is delusory to imagine that India has gained stature as a "nation on the march" with a booming economy, or as a responsible, mature, state with a relaxed nationalism, at peace with itself and its neighbours. India has wantonly antagonised its biggest neighbour. As for India's upbeat commercial image, one IT swallow does not an economic summer make! Nor does a Kargil decisively alter regional strategic equations. Pessimistically, Indian is still one of the sick men of the world; optimistically, a country with much potential (couldn't that have been said pre-Pokharan, or 50 years ago?)-although it shines beside Pakistan. The liabilities side looks grim.
Both countries have hardened their nuclear postures-especially India with its Draft Nuclear Doctrine, ambitions for a triadic, open-ended arsenal, and cynicism towards nuclear restraint, leave alone disarmament. A special synergy now operates between nuclearism, a growing "national security" obsession, jingoism over Kashmir, and rank communalism: Two-Nation Theory prejudices are under revival, complete with condemnation of "Hindu cowardice" and Pakistan's "design" to "disintegrate" India. Never since Partition have militarist hawks and communalists worked in such perfect unison inside and across borders.
These are the heaviest political costs nuclearisation has claimed anywhere. Once "national security" mindsets and "military necessity" doctrines prevail, values of transparency, inclusion, pluralism, participation and human rights are jettisoned. Nuclearisation's economic costs could prove ruinous. Even a small arsenal, one-fifth the size of China's, could over some years cost Rs. 50,000 crores, which exceeds India's entire annual expenditure on primary education. Should India go in for a bigger arsenal, its cost could exceed a frightening three to five percent of GDP, especially if there is an arms race. India will race not just against Pakistan-utterly devastating it-but with China, perhaps devastating itself economically. Nuclear weapons manufacture imposes high ecological costs too.
Cleaning up the environmental mess left behind by the US weapons programme is officially estimated to cost $250 billion-the same order of magnitude as India's GDP. There are harmful radiation and waste releases at each stage of the nuclear "fuel cycle" from uranium mining onwards, including handling, transportation and storage of nuclear materials. The social costs of nuclearisation dwarf all others. Embracing the "abhorrent" doctrine of nuclear deterrence means seeking security through insecurity, terror, and threat to cause havoc on a mass scale, with pitiless disregard for life. This is incompatible with civilised, humane, values.
Nuclearisation spells matsyanyaya-big fish swallowing small ones, as the "natural" order of things, extendable to society itself. Nuclearism entails getting our children to accept a deeply immoral state of society as normal. It means rationalising and routinising mass terror and a grotesque version of "Might is Right". From here, a "realistic" embrace of barbaric "reasons-of-state" irrationality and fundamentalism is one small step. Putting the veneer of "responsible" behaviour and "rational" conduct by "us", and the opposite by "them," won't help. We have seen restraint and sobriety take far too many knocks. Ultimately, we must ask if we want to leave this irrational, violent, legacy to future generations.
If the answer is no, we must change course-to preserve sanity and gain security. Real security can come only through democracy and pluralism, equity and social cohesion, caring and sharing, compassion and justice. Food security, minimum entitlements, gender security, human capacity-building and empowerment, are more important here than military security. India can still claim greatness if it struggles for comprehensive security. It has a historic opportunity: unilaterally freeze nuclear and missile programmes for a limited period, so that the NWSs make deep arms reductions and move towards abolition. Morally and politically, this will be electrifying. That's when the world will take real notice of India.-end-
----
Let India help
Washington Times
Richard Fisher
May 18, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-2000518155556.htm
If a benevolent nuclear-armed democracy were to offer to help deter a not-so-friendly nuclear-armed power, should the United States object? No, instead, the U.S. should cheer when later this year India sends its navy into the South China Sea to affirm its interests in defending freedom of the seas and to stand up to the irredentism of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
In fact, it is about time India has decided to act to defend its vital economic and security interests that lay outside its immediate environs. India's decision to test nuclear weapons in 1998, and to build its own nuclear missile deterrent, was in large part a consequence of the PRC's giving nuclear weapons technology and ballistic missile technology to its rival Pakistan. But the decision to seek its own nuclear deterrent seems to have led to a wider realization in India that it must also seek partners to defend real economic-security interests beyond its region.
Even though the current BJP-led government of Prime Minister Vajpayee continues to express India's traditional foreign policy of non-alignment, in February his Defense Minister George Fernandez went to Tokyo to try to encourage Indian-Japanese naval defense cooperation. While Japanese defense officials are keen to proceed, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs thinks not so fast. Sad, as both India and Japan have a vital interest in securing the sea lanes that connect Persian Gulf energy to a Japanese economy that is a main Indian partner for investment and trade.
But whether the Japanese want to play or not, India does intend to send a small naval group into the South China Sea later this year to conduct exercises with Vietnamese Navy. Both India and Vietnam have reason to be wary of the PRC's maritime ambitions. To a country on India's border, Myanmar, the PRC has just sold attack ships armed with the C-801 or C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles. PRC construction of ports in Myanmar has long been seen a cover for building PRC intelligence-gathering facilities aimed at India.
Vietnam remembers its 1988 clash with the PRC, which saw about 70 Vietnamese soldiers killed as Chinese naval and marine forces took several islands from Vietnam in the disputed Spratly Island group. And since then Beijing has proceeded to implement its territorial claim to most of the South China Sea by gradually building up a military presence in the Paracel Island Group, which now hosts a significant air base, and in the Spratly group to the south. In Mischief Reef, which sits astride a critical sea-trade route called the Palawan Trench, and only about 150 miles from the Philippine islands of Palawan, there are now two large PRC structures, one of which can service military helicopters.
Despite enormous diplomatic activity, led by the members of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, the PRC will not budge from its absurd and threatening claims to nearly the entire South China Sea. This is analogous to the U.S. claiming the whole of the Gulf of Mexico and Cuba as its own. Mischief Reef is about 800 miles from the Chinese Mainland. And the Clinton administration has been disappointingly slow to recognize a U.S. interest in convincing China to stop its aggressive behavior and to negotiate in good faith with other claimants. So there should be little surprise when other states begin to act in their self-defense.
While it may appear that India's naval sortie into the South China Sea is destabilizing, it really is not. India is emerging from its cocoon of non-alignment, and in doing so, is encouraging Japan to assume a greater security burden. This potential cooperation is a consequence of the PRC's actions, and for sure, is directed against it. But it is also a result of a lackluster U.S. response to the PRC's efforts to surround India with client states, and to Washington's slow response to PRC ambitions in the South China Sea.
This author's attendance at a recent conference on U.S.-Indian relations at India's premier private university in Manipal, India, was most instructive. In the wake of President Clinton's successful -yes, successful - visit to India and Pakistan, it appears there is a real opportunity to clear away the fog caused by 50 years of U.S.-Indian mutual mistreatment. And while influential Indians continue to view the U.S. with mixed emotions, there appear to be plenty of Indians willing to work with Washington to build such a partnership.
It is time for the United States to exercise the leadership required to ensure that the world's two largest democracies forge a real and lasting partnership, perhaps even a strategic partnership. With or without U.S. help, India is going to emerge soon in this century as the world's most populous democratic superpower. With or without U.S. help, India also is going to defend its security even if it means standing up to a growing PRC challenge.
An enlightened American policy would help a billion Indians create a democratic superpower in Asia, so that at a minimum, they can show a billion Chinese that a dictatorship is not needed to achieve security and prosperity. This policy can start by thanking India for taking seriously the responsibility of defending the freedom of passage in the South China Sea.
Richard Fisher is a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation.
---
Ex-Indian Naval Chief slams nuclearization
South Asians Against Nukes -
By Our Staff Reporter, DAWN
18 May 2000 Thursday
From: Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
KARACHI, May 17: People-to-people contact between India and Pakistan be increased so that they understood each other better, speakers stressed at a seminar on Wednesday. They said the misunderstanding between the two peoples had been created deliberately by the vested interests so that tension persisted.
The seminar on "prospects of peace and development in South Asia in the context of nuclearization of India and Pakistan" was organized by the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, and Action Committee Against Arms Race.
The former chief of Indian Navy, Admiral Ramdas, said that keeping nuclear bombs was against all ethics and morality because by using it, one can kill millions of civilians who have no relation with war or armed forces.
He recalled that soon after the nuclear testing its supporters said it was deterrence against aggression, but within months there was the Kargil conflict.
He said the bomb supporters claimed it would reduce the arms expenditure, but soon after the nuclear testing a doctrine was prepared which said India should make a plan to spend Rs1 trillion in the next 10 years.
This year the Indian defence budget was increased by 28 per cent as the figure jumped from Rs430 billion to Rs580 billion. This must have put pressure Pakistan and soon it will also have to increase its defence budget.
Admiral Ramdas said a nuclear bomb, including its delivery system, its support system and the need to keep it updated, cost huge money which the economies of the two countries were unable to sustain and would eventually collapse under its pressure.
India, he said, had tested the nuclear device in 1974. So if, after the May 11 Pokharan testing, Pakistan had not gone for its Chaghi testing, it could have gained many benefits in terms of political, financial and militarily support and international respect.
He said both countries by spending huge amounts on arms were bleeding each other to death. Hunger, misery, poverty, illiteracy, and lack of health facilities were the common enemies, and the two governments should curtail their defence spending and shift the funding to the social sector development.
The former Indian navy chief said the extremists on both sides were also the common enemy and it was the duty of saner elements to make people aware of the extremists' designs and try to spread feelings of love, peace and harmony.
He talked of fanatics who lived in both countries. He feared that one day the Indian fanatics might announce plan for crossing over to the Pakistan side of Kashmir. Pakistan could face a great difficulty if over 10 million fanatics tried to cross over the Line of Control.
In reply to a question, he said Kashmir was not a real estate dispute which the India and Pakistan could decide and added that it should be settled the way the Kashmiris wanted it to be settled.
Kamal Mateenuddin, columnist M.B. Naqvi, Dr Asad Saeed, Rehana Iftikhar, Dr Zaki Hassan, and Hassan Abidi also spoke while Sheema Kirmani recited a poem at the seminar.
Terming the territorial dispute a major cause of tension between the two countries, Mateenuddin, a retired general, said that they should behave like good and responsible neighbours and start dialogue on all the issues.
He said that when the Pakistanis had forgotten the issues of East Pakistan and Siachen the Indians should forget Kargil. Dialogue must continue, he stressed.
Mr Naqvi said bombs were built only when there was an intention to use them. He said the two governments had been lying to their peoples; all the time they said they were not making nuclear weapons and then suddenly both of them conducted tests.
He said that "on one hand Pakistan was hosting the Indian prime minister, on the other it was executing the Kargil operation."
Mrs Ramdas said that message of love and peace be spread, and terrorism, wherever it occurred, should be condemned because it was crime against humanity.
-------- iran
Iran seeks help from world nuclear body
IRAN: May 18, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=6718
TEHRAN - Iran asked the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday to help run a nuclear research centre, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Iran, which says it has no ambition to develop nuclear weapons, wants Western experts to help ensure its nuclear power projects conform to top international safety standards.
"Iran is interested in receiving more technical aid from the IAEA," IRNA quoted Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, as telling visiting IAEA Director-General Mohamed Elbaradei.
Aghazadeh invited the Vienna-based IAEA to supervise an educational nuclear facility west of Tehran which conducts research on nuclear applications in agriculture and medicine, IRNA said.
A senior Iranian nuclear official recently said Iran's first nuclear power plant, under construction with Russian help in the Gulf port of Bushehr, had been deprived of top-quality supervision because of Western sanctions on "dual-use" technology.
The United States and Israel are leading a campaign against Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology, fearing it will lead to the manufacture of nuclear arms by a state they see as a threat.
"Just as we are opposed to the use of nuclear technology in making weapons, we are also against (Western) pressure against free and independent countries under the pretext of disarmament," state radio quoted President Mohammad Khatami as telling Elbaradei.
"Efforts should be made to remove the destructive aspect of atomic energy and use it for progress and development." Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a similar pact against the spread of chemical weapons.
It says Western sanctions have hampered its drive to supply 10 percent of the country's energy needs from nuclear sources within two decades.
-------- israel
Israel quits Belarus embassy fearing radiation
By Larisa Sayenko,
14:05 05-18-00
MINSK, Belarus (Reuters) - Israel evacuated its embassy in Belarus and sent its staff home to Jerusalem for medical checks Thursday over fears of radioactivity from fires near the Chernobyl power station.
But the Belarussian government insisted that fires raging across peat bogs polluted by fallout from the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl, just over the border in Ukraine, posed no threat.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said a ministry doctor had taken the decision to send all staff home for routine medical checks ``because of the rise in the radioactivity.''
A senior U.S. official said Wednesday that the fires had stirred up radioactive elements left in the environment by Chernobyl and raised radiation levels downwind in Belarus.
No one at the Israeli embassy could be reached for comment but Belarussian Emergencies Minister Valery Astapov told Reuters:
``I officially confirm there is no threat to either local citizens or diplomats. The situation is within normal limits. Allegations of high radioactivity are either a provocation or nonsense.''
He said the ministry was giving embassies information from meteorologists: ``Diplomats have no reasons for anxiety, let alone evacuation.''
He said small increases in radiation had been noted in rural districts adjoining Chernobyl but added: ``These changes are so minimal that they cannot even be detected by satellites. They have no impact on the general level.''
Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor caught fire and exploded in 1986, spewing radioactive dust over much of the rest of Europe.
A 20-mile exclusion zone is still in force around the plant. Large areas of Ukraine and Belarus are still contaminated, including about one-fifth of Belarus's territory.
The Belarussian Foreign Ministry said the embassy would resume normal work next week.
-------- russia
Moscow's overlooked missile defenses
Washington Times
May 17, 2000
James T. Hackett
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-2000517164417.htm
It seems that everyone wants the U.S. to remain undefended against ballistic missiles. The United Nations secretary general, a former NATO secretary generals, the British prime minister, French, German, and Canadian officials, and just about everyone else in Europe is supporting Moscow and Beijing in opposing a U.S. missile defense. To be sure, our allies are polite, but it is disturbing to hear Europeans, with whom Americans fought in two world wars, saying we should not defend ourselves.
After all, the current plan is modest - to deploy just 20 interceptors by 2005 and 100 by 2007. This, we are told, will destroy the ABM treaty, threaten strategic stability, cause Moscow to withdraw from START and other arms control treaties, and lead to a new arms race. The widespread opposition is a reflection of America's predominant position in the world today - others join in trying to hold down the most powerful.
Besides, missile defenses devalue not only Russian and Chinese missiles, but those of our allies as well. And the allies fear that if we become secure in our defenses we will abandon them. So they join our adversaries in opposing a U.S. defense.
But why do they never mention Moscow's missile defense? It has been there for over three decades, silently defending the Russian leadership, with no adverse affects on arms reductions or global stability. It began in 1968 when 64 Galosh ABM interceptors, each armed with a nuclear weapon comparable to a million tons of TNT, were deployed at four sites some 50 miles north and west of Moscow.
The Galosh did not have to be accurate - the enormous fireball created by such a huge nuclear weapon would incinerate incoming warheads. Next came 36 Gazelle short-range interceptors, also nuclear-armed, at sites just outside Moscow, giving the city a layered defense of 100 interceptors, the same number the U.S. plans to deploy in Alaska.
In 1976, the U.S. deployed 100 Spartan and Sprint interceptors in an ABM defense at Grand Forks, N.D., but shortly thereafter deactivated the site and put the interceptors in storage. Not the Soviets. They maintained their defense of Moscow and improved it a decade ago, replacing the Galoshes with new long-range interceptors known as Gorgons. That upgraded Moscow defense, with 100 Gorgons and Gazelles armed with nuclear warheads, remains on alert today. Last November, a Gazelle was taken from its silo and flight-tested to show the system still works.
This ABM defense protects hundreds if not thousands of miles around Moscow that includes the heartland of the country - the national capital, the government and leadership, population centers and major industries - and it is supplemented by deep underground shelters for the leadership. But Russia also has thousands of SA-5, SA-10, and SA-12 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) defending against short-and medium-range missiles such as those in the arsenals of China, North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and other countries. And if these SAMs are connected to ABM radars, as some analysts contend, it would constitute a nationwide ABM network.
On Feb. 10, the Moscow press reported that a new SAM, the S-400 Triumph, was about to undergo a series of flight tests. The report said the S-400 was tested six times last year with results that showed it to be more capable than the newest version of the U.S. Patriot. By the end of this year, the report added, at least 10 flight tests will be completed against supersonic, maneuverable targets, and the S-400 will be ready to join the thousands of SAMs already protecting high priority locations in Russia.
The technically superior S-400, with a reach of 250 miles, can engage ballistic missiles with ranges up to 2,200 miles, and perhaps with longer ranges if it is connected to ABM radars. Today, Russia has the world's only ABM defense around its national capital, plus thousands of SAMs defending the country, up to 3,000 around Moscow alone, and a new model soon to go into production. Yet, the world is silent about Russia's missile defenses.
The U.S. wants similar protection against an accidental, unauthorized or rogue state launch, and against missile blackmail. But Moscow and Beijing want the U.S. to remain defenseless against their missiles, so they protest vociferously. It is ridiculous to say it is OK for Russia to defend itself, but not for the United States to do so.
Every country has the right of self-defense, especially against nuclear missiles. The U.S. should reject the foreign criticism and defend itself. Then it can expand the shield to protect the allies and lead the way to a new era in which defenses promote global stability.
James T. Hackett is a contributing writer to The Washington Times.
-------- spying
THE MIDDLE EAST
Iranian Jew Admits Crime, but Not Spying
Washington Post
Thursday, May 18, 2000; Page A20
WORLD IN BRIEF Compiled by Virginia Hamill
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-05/18/216l-051800-idx.html
SHIRAZ, Iran--The last of 10 main Jewish defendants admitted in court to collecting military information for Israel but insisted he did not consider his actions espionage, a defense spokesman said.
Javid Bent-Yacoub, 42, told the court that religious motives prompted him to collect photographs of Iranian military facilities for Israel, which he visited for 45 days in 1993, spokesman Esmail Naseri said.
"He said he knew he was committing a crime, but not espionage," Naseri told reporters after the hearing. It was not immediately clear if Bent-Yacoub's testimony amounted to a guilty plea.
Meanwhile, an Iranian court sentenced five men to jail terms of up to 15 years for their part in a March assassination attempt on Saeed Hajjariana, a leading reformer, state-run Tehran television reported.
Saeed Asghar, the main suspect, was sentenced to 15 years, and his accomplices each received three to 10 years on charges ranging from complicity against national security to illegal possession of arms. The court acquitted three other suspects.
-------- terrorism
Clinton cites variety of threats to security
USA Today
05/17/00- Updated 12:48 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncswed08.htm
NEW LONDON, Conn.(AP) - President Clinton said Wednesday that Jordan helped U.S. investigators shut down a terror network linked to Osama bin Laden that planned to target Americans gathered for millennium celebrations.
''In December, working with Jordan, we shut down a plan to place large bombs at locations where Americans might gather for New Year's Eve,'' Clinton said in commencement remarks to 184 cadets at the Coast Guard Academy.
''We learned the plot was linked to terrorist camps in Afghanistan and the organization created by Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the 1998 bombings at our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which cost the lives of Americans and hundreds of Africans,'' Clinton said.
Shortly after the plan was uncovered, a Customs agent in Seattle discovered bombmaking materials being smuggled into the United States, Clinton said, ''the same material used by bin Laden in other places.''
It was the fullest accounting yet of the story behind smuggling interceptions involving Algerian natives last year.
Bin Laden, a Saudi exile believed to be in Afghanistan, is among 17 people charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to kill Americans in the embassy bombing cases. Six are in custody in the United States and three overseas.
Clinton was making the point that the new Coast Guard graduates will face a range of threats to America's security, from terrorism to smuggling to the spread of disease.
''Today and for the forseeable tomorrows we, and especially you, will face a fateful struggle between forces of integration and harmony and the forces of disintegration and chaos,'' Clinton said.
''Technology can be a servant of either side, or, ironically, both,'' he said.
By tradition, the president speaks at graduation ceremonies for one of the four service academies each year. He last spoke to Coast Guard cadets in 1996.
Clinton presented each cadet, or senior, with a bachelor of science degree and a commission as an ensign. Ensigns begin their a five-year service obligation with a tour of duty aboard a Coast Guard cutter.
Clinton cited the ''Love Bug'' computer virus as powerful proof of the new kinds of threats to American security in an increasingly smaller, faster and more computerized world, the White House says.
Clinton noted that the virus, which spread by electronic mail, disabled computers worldwide earlier this month and did millions of dollars in damage.
---
Bin Laden blamed in New Year's plots
Washington Times
May 18, 2000
By Bill Sammon THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000518223748.htm
President Clinton yesterday blamed Saudi exile Osama bin Laden for the plot to bomb New Year's Eve celebrations in the United States and Jordan last year, confirming what administration officials have been whispering for months.
"Last December, working with Jordan, we shut down a plot to place large bombs at locations where Americans might gather on New Year's Eve," Mr. Clinton said in a commencement address to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.
"We learned this plot was linked to terrorist camps in Afghanistan and the organization created by Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the 1998 bombings of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which cost the lives of Americans and hundreds of Africans," he added.
The last time Mr. Clinton publicly railed against bin Laden's terrorism camps in Afghanistan was on Aug. 20, 1998, the day Monica Lewinsky testified before a grand jury. The president abruptly ordered the camps to be bombed that day, prompting Republicans to accuse him of "wagging the dog," or contriving a military crisis to divert attention from his domestic troubles.
Also bombed that day was a "terrorist" target in the Sudan that turned out to be a pharmaceutical plant. CIA and State Department officials later acknowledged the bombing had been a mistake and the Treasury Department released assets it had seized from the plant's owner, quietly paying him $1 million in interest.
But yesterday, Mr. Clinton made clear there was no mistake about the evidence linking bin Laden to the New Year's Eve bomb plot.
"A customs agent in Seattle discovered bomb materials being smuggled into the U.S. - the same materials used by bin Laden in other places," the president said. "Thankfully, and thanks to Jordan, New Year's passed without an attack. But the threat was real."
Vincent Cannistraro, former CIA chief of counterterrorism operations, said U.S. intelligence officials got "lucky" when border guards arrested Ahmed Ressam on Dec. 14 as he tried to exit a ferry from Canada at a port near Seattle. Officials say they found bomb materials in his rented car.
"Ressam was caught because Ressam became a nervous wreck at the border crossing, not because they had advance warning that someone was carrying a bomb across the border," Mr. Cannistraro told The Washington Times. "They didn't have advance intelligence on it.
"In other words, it was going to be a simultaneous sequence of violent explosions in Jordan and the United States around the millennium celebrations, and one of the components of that operation was compromised only by pure serendipity," he said. "We caught a lucky break, which is a little frightening, because this was very close to home and conceivably a lot of violence and a lot of death could have occurred on New Year's Eve."
Mr. Ressam, 32, has pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing explosives and transporting them with the intent to cause injury or damage. The Algerian national's trial is set to begin July 10 in Los Angeles, where it was moved because of intense media coverage in Seattle.
Also in U.S. custody is Abdel Ghani Meskini, 31, who was arrested in December in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is charged with providing and concealing support for Mr. Ressam. Another suspected accomplice is Mokhtar Haouari, 31, who remains in Montreal as the United States seeks extradition.
But bin Laden and his top lieutenants remain at large and are believed to be hiding in Afghanistan under the protection of Taleban authorities.
Bin Laden is among 17 persons charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to kill Americans in the embassy bombing cases. Six are in custody in the United States and three overseas.
"The principal people who could have been rounded up have been rounded up, while the actual leadership of these operations is beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement and has gone underground," Mr. Cannistraro said.
"The Jordanians were very effective in rounding this group up," he added. "There's no question there was cooperation with the United States, but I think the success is primarily due to Jordanian intelligence."
In order to beef up U.S. intelligence, Mr. Clinton yesterday called on Congress to increase funding for counterterrorism programs like the ones that intercept communications. The White House already has asked Congress for $9 billion to shield U.S. computers and infrastructure from terrorists.
"Today, I'm adding over $300 million to fund critical programs to protect our citizens from terrorist threats, to expand our intelligence efforts, to improve our ability to use forensic evidence to track terrorists, to enhance our coordination with state and local officials - as we did over New Year's - to protect our nation against possible attack," Mr. Clinton said.
Michael Sheehan, the State Department's ambassador at large for counterterrorism, told a conference of corporate and government security specialists last month that the New Year's period forced the U.S. counterterrorism community to be at its most heightened state of alert since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
Mr. Sheehan said the alert was prompted by not only Mr. Ressam's arrest at the U.S.-Canadian border, but also the arrest in Jordan of a terrorist linked to bin Laden and the hijacking of an Indian airliner by Pakistani terrorists.
"We were able to thwart those and still in a sense keep a certain operational tempo, keep a high degree of readiness without exhausting people," Mr. Sheehan said in a keynote address to a conference sponsored by the National Security Institute.
Mr. Sheehan, a former U.S. Army ranger and West Point graduate, warned that terrorists "are still out there, plotting actively to attack us."
"It's only a matter of time before they break through again," he said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to disrupt it to the best of our ability."
• Bill Gertz contributed to this report.
-------- ukraine
Ukraine Fires Boost Radiation In Belarus Says U.S.
May 18, 2000
Reuters
http://www.russiatoday.com:80/news.php3?id=160401
WASHINGTON, Wild fires in Ukraine have stirred up radioactive elements remaining in the environment from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and raised radiation levels downwind in Belarus, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
"They've detected increased levels of radiation, but not high enough to warrant precautionary measures," the U.S. official told Reuters. He said his comments were based on information from U.S., Belarus and Ukrainian officials.
But in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, the duty officer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant said on Wednesday there were no serious problems there.
"Everything is operating normally," the duty officer who declined to be named told Reuters, adding that the plant had announced a 50 percent power output cut on Monday for repairs to its steam-powered turbine.
Another duty officer at the Emergencies Ministry confirmed the plant had cut power by 50 percent since Monday and said the purpose was preventative maintenance which should last until Saturday. He said there was no danger involved whatsoever.
The U.S. official also confirmed that the remaining working reactor at Chernobyl had been reduced by 50 percent in order to fix a malfunction in a steam line that caused a hydrogen leak. He said there was no radioactive release from the leak.
Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor caught fire and exploded in 1986, spewing a cloud of radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of western Europe.
Ukraine has promised to shut Chernobyl's single functioning reactor later this year. It has frequently seen power cuts and temporary shut-downs for maintenance and repairs.
----
Chernobyl's Continuing Thyroid Impact
by Mary J. Shomon
http://thyroid.about.com/health/thyroid/library/weekly/aa051100a.htm
On April 26th, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history took place in the small town of Chernobyl, located in the Ukraine region of the former Soviet Union. The Chernobyl nuclear plant, located approximately 80 miles north of Kiev, experienced a chain reaction explosion that blew off the reactor's lid, releasing dangerous radiation. More than 30 people were killed immediately, and in the ten days after the accident, clouds of deadly radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere, exposing the people of Chernobyl to radioactivity levels estimated to be 100 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. Radiation also traveled downwind, exposing Eastern Europeans to high levels of radiation, and contaminating food supplies that then affected other areas of Europe as well.
The radioactive materials released during the Chernobyl contained high levels of radioactive iodine, a material that accumulates in the thyroid. People, especially children, in heavily contaminated areas, which included Belarus, the Ukraine, and other areas of Eastern Europe, were heavily exposed to these iodines (particularly iodine-131, with a half-life of 8 days) via food, primarily contaminated milk, and also via breathing the radioactive clouds.
One of the continuing health effects of the Chernobyl accident has been the dramatic increase in thyroid cancer among children in the affected area.
According to the World Health Organization, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will cause 50,000 new cases of thyroid cancer among young people living in the areas most affected by the nuclear disaster. Specifically, the rate of thyroid cancer in adolescents aged 15 to 18 is also now three times higher than it was before the 1986 disaster took place. The incidence of thyroid cancer in children rose 10-fold in children who lived in the Ukraine region.
The most dramatic rate increase is in children who were 10 or younger when the Chernobyl accident occurred, and most specifically, those who were under 4. Researchers have found that in certain parts of Belarus, 36.4 per cent of children who were under four when the accident occurred can expect to develop thyroid cancer. This rate is higher than earlier estimated, and is far above the rates for those exposed to radiation in other parts of the world. Researchers believe this high rate may be due to iodine deficiency in that geographic region.
According to the journal Cancer (2000;68:1470-1476) among children living in Belarus, thyroid cancer is more common and more severe in children who were younger than 2 years old at the time of the 1986 accident. The researchers believe that the rapid cellular growth that occurs in children under 2 facilitated a quicker and broader development of the cancer.
In addition to thyroid cancer, there is another thyroid related problem due to Chernobyl's radiation release. According to the medical journal, Lancet, children exposed to radioactive iodine due to the Chernobyl nuclear explosion may be more likely to develop hypothyroidism. Research conducted at the University of Pisa showed that exposure to Chernobyl's radiation caused the children to have more antithyroid antibodies than other children. These antibodies may cause the children to later develop hypothyroidism.
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----
Ukraine sees May Chernobyl closure announcement
UKRAINE: May 18, 2000
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=6719
KIEV, May 17 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said on Wednesday the government would announce a firm closure date for the troubled Chernobyl nuclear power plant by the end of the month.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Austrian President Thomas Klestil after talks earlier in the day, Kuchma said the date would be determined by a special commission headed by Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko.
``We have set up a government commission headed by the prime minister and the commission will determine the date of closure taking into account all the political, economic and social consequences of the Chernobyl closure,'' Kuchma said.
``The (commission) has been given May as a time frame (to announce its decision).''
Ukraine has promised the West it will close Chernobyl in 2000 in return for financial help in completing reactors at two other nuclear power plants and resolving social problems, such as unemployment, resulting from the shutdown.
Ukrainian officials have frequently complained that Western partners have failed to provide the promised funds to build the new reactors.
Chernobyl operates only one of its original four nuclear reactors.
Its number four reactor exploded in April 1986 in the world's worst civil nuclear accident, spewing a cloud of radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of western Europe.
Another reactor was halted in 1997 after it exhausted its safe lifespan, and the fourth reactor has not been rehabilitated since a fire in 1991.
----
No serious problems at Chernobyl - officials
UKRAINE: May 18, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=6716
KIEV - The duty officer at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant said on Wednesday there were no serious problems there, despite news reports of a malfunction.
"Everything is operating normally," the duty officer who declined to be named told Reuters, adding that the plant had announced a 50 percent power output cut on Monday for repairs to its steam-powered turbine.
Another duty officer at the Emergencies Ministry confirmed the plant had cut power by 50 percent since Monday and said the purpose was preventative maintenance which should last until Saturday. He said there was no danger involved whatsoever.
Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor caught fire and exploded in 1986, spewing a cloud of radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of western Europe.
Ukraine has promised to shut Chernobyl's single functioning reactor later this year. It has frequently seen power cuts and temporary shut-downs for maintenance and repairs.
----
Ukraine fires boost radiation in Belarus - U.S.
USA: May 18, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=6717
WASHINGTON - Wild fires in Ukraine have stirred up radioactive elements remaining in the environment from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and raised radiation levels downwind in Belarus, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
"They've detected increased levels of radiation, but not high enough to warrant precautionary measures," the U.S. official told Reuters. He said his comments were based on information from U.S., Belarus and Ukrainian officials.
But in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, the duty officer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant said on Wednesday there were no serious problems there.
"Everything is operating normally," the duty officer who declined to be named told Reuters, adding that the plant had announced a 50 percent power output cut on Monday for repairs to its steam-powered turbine.
Another duty officer at the Emergencies Ministry confirmed the plant had cut power by 50 percent since Monday and said the purpose was preventative maintenance which should last until Saturday. He said there was no danger involved whatsoever.
The U.S. official also confirmed that the remaining working reactor at Chernobyl had been reduced by 50 percent in order to fix a malfunction in a steam line that caused a hydrogen leak. He said there was no radioactive release from the leak.
Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor caught fire and exploded in 1986, spewing a cloud of radioactive dust over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of western Europe.
Ukraine has promised to shut Chernobyl's single functioning reactor later this year. It has frequently seen power cuts and temporary shut-downs for maintenance and repairs.
----
Malfunction at Chernobyl plant
USA Today
05/17/00- Updated 03:27 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwswed04.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - A malfunction in a steam pipeline has forced officials at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine to cut power back 50%, even as forest fires spread the remnants of radiation from a 1986 disaster at the plant, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The new malfunction caused the turbo generator in the reactor, the only one in operation, to switch off. Repairs are expected to take until Saturday to complete, the official said.
There is no evidence of radiation as a result of the malfunction, the official told The Associated Press.
But, at the same time, the official said, forest fires in the area had caused the circulation into the air of remnants of radiation in roots and stems of plants, with the result that the radiation level in Kiev was elevated slightly,
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the malfunction a glitch that disabled the sixth turbo generator in the reactor, the only one still functioning in Chernobyl. As a result, the reactor was powered down to by about 50%, the official said.
President Clinton is due to visit Kiev June 6 after summit talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A White House official said there were no radiation concerns at this point.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no reason for Clinton to change plans.
It's not a big crisis, the official said, adding: It does not appear to be serious.
-------- us military
Area Reserve Unit Completes a Forgotten--but Risky--Mission Over Iraq
Washington Post
Thursday, May 18, 2000; Page J05
By Steve Vogel Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-05/18/151l-051800-idx.html
Most Americans may have forgotten about the shooting war that takes place over the skies of Iraq on nearly a daily basis, but members of a U.S. Navy Reserve Prowler squadron based at Andrews Air Force Base are not likely to forget it any time soon.
After nearly two months conducting operations over Iraq, the squadron's four EA-6B Prowlers swooped over Andrews in a four-plane diamond formation last Thursday afternoon before landing and reuniting crews with anxious family members. A C-17 cargo plane carrying 30 squadron members landed at Andrews a short time later. Another plane carrying the bulk of the squadron had returned a week earlier.
The squadron, designated VAQ-209, was enforcing the "no-fly" zone north of the 36th parallel in Iraq and monitoring Iraqi compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions. The no-fly zone, along with a similar zone in southern Iraq, has been in place for almost a decade, and despite frequent exchanges of fire between Iraqi antiaircraft sites and allied warplanes, the action draws little attention.
The Prowlers carry weapons and electronic equipment to suppress radar and jam enemy communications.
"Most every day we go in there, they shoot at us," Cmdr. F. Clay Fearnow, leader of the squadron, said after the unit's return. "It's a pretty dangerous environment, and we're pretty lucky we haven't lost anybody yet."
"It's interesting to think that these are reservists who are not just doing their two weeks but are actually in combat on an almost daily basis," said Ensign Jim Calpin, an officer with the squadron who works for a Northern Virginia think tank.
Members of the squadron work in defense, restaurant, automobile, plumbing and roofing businesses, among others. "They come from just about all walks of life," said Fearnow. "But they come and put their uniforms on, and pick it right back up. They do it so much, it's not a problem."
About 150 members of the squadron participated in the deployment. While some served for the entire two months, others were able to get away for only three- or four-week periods and were replaced. Some of the biggest problems turned out to be on the home front. Six members of the squadron had to return from deployment in Turkey because close relatives had died back home.
Mark Kirk, an intelligence officer for the squadron, was a little late joining the mission as he had to first wage a campaign for Congress.
Kirk, former chief of staff for Rep. John Edward Porter (R-Ill.), won the Republican primary in March in the race to succeed Porter, who is retiring after 11 terms representing the suburbs north of Chicago. Kirk will face Democrat Lauren Beth Gash in the November election.
It was the squadron's second hot assignment in a year. In April 1999, the squadron deployed on short notice to Aviano, Italy, in support of Allied Force, NATO's Kosovo operation. Flying virtually around-the-clock to accompany NATO bombers on missions, VAQ-209 Prowlers were regularly greeted with barrages of antiaircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles. The squadron fired 50 HARM missiles--a high-speed, anti-radiation air-to-surface weapon--at radar sites.
Over Iraq, the aircraft encountered regular antiaircraft fire but were not fired upon by ground-based missiles, Fearnow said. On a number of occasions, the Prowlers assisted in attacks on the antiaircraft sites but did not unleash any HARM missiles because of concerns of hitting noncombatants.
"It's a proportional response," said Fearnow. "If there's any chance of collateral damage, we won't respond."
Unlike the Kosovo mission, the squadron did not fire HARM missiles in Iraq. "We came close a couple of times, but there were concerns about collateral damage," Fearnow said.
The concerns were heightened because of the Kosovo experience, when several HARM missiles fired by allied jets went astray.
At Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, where the squadron was based, the troops lived in a tent city that was relatively well appointed, at least compared to the overflowing facility at Aviano. "Compared to Allied Force, it was almost like the Taj Mahal," said Fearnow.
D-Day Paratroopers Reunite
A band of brothers gathered Saturday for a veterans dance in Maryland and showed they could still strut their stuff.
Members of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, along with other veterans, were feted at the event, held at Martin's West in Baltimore.
The paratrooper outfit was immortalized in historian Stephen E. Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers," which depicted the exploits of the unit, from the time it parachuted into Normandy on D-Day through its bitter fighting in the Battle of the Bulge to its arrival at Hitler's Eagle Nest in the Bavarian Alps at the conclusion of World War II.
Bill Guarnere, who lost a leg in the fighting, and Edward "Babe" Heffron, both 77, were among those dancing to the music of the Sentimental Journey Orchestra.
"These guys are just a different breed of people," said Charlie Kratz, 76, a World War II veteran from West Friendship who organized the event.
A little more immortality is in store for the the veterans. Director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks, who teamed up on the movie "Saving Private Ryan," are co-producing a 13-hour HBO miniseries based on Ambrose's book. Guarnere and Heffron are among those who have been interviewed for the production.
'Blue Crab' Forces in Aberdeen
Blue Crab will be in plentiful supply along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay this weekend at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
More than 1,000 reservists from all branches of the armed forces will descend on Aberdeen beginning today for Exercise Blue Crab 2000, with area reserve units from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, as well as active duty Coast Guard and Army units participating in the three-day training operation.
Troops will use the land, air and water around Aberdeen, which sits on the Chesapeake Bay and near a tributary, the Bush River. The scenario involves a small, friendly nation that faces an armed uprising and requests support from the United States.
In its third year at Aberdeen, Blue Crab has grown from 10 reserve units participating to 35 this year.
"Blue Crab will demonstrate that reservists from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey--whether Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, Army National Guard and Air National Guard--can meet the challenge when called," said Adm. Marianne Drew, commander of Readiness Command Region Six.
The command is headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard and includes more than 9,000 reservists supported by 12 reserve centers in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.
"Any time we can get out and 'play with toys' while we hone our skills for real-world application, we are training and motivating our people," said Drew.
Aircraft participating in the exercise will also be part of an Armed Forces Day parade scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the day.
Military Matters appears every other week. Steve Vogel can be reached at vogels@washpost.com via e-mail.
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Army casualties
Washington Times
May 19, 2000
Inside the Ring Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-200051922399.htm
Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, has declared war on soldier suicides.
"We have a serious problem with suicides in the Army," the four-star general said in a message to the troops. "The suicide rate increased in calendar year '98 and it appears to have increased once again in calendar year '99. In the first five days of January 2000, we have already had four suspected suicides."
He adds, "Suicide prevention is commander/leader business. We must understand potential for suicides and increase awareness for recognizing individuals who are at risk or exhibiting self-destructive behavior. It is our responsibility to help our soldiers and civilians understand how to identify at-risk individuals, recognize warning signs, and know how to take direct action."
Gen. Shinseki's warning comes as the Army is experiencing a record rate of peacetime overseas deployments. The fast "op-tempo" (operations tempo) means the average soldier is spending more time away from his or her family. A recent Center for Strategic and International Studies survey found soldiers complaining of too many peacekeeping missions and too few resources to train. Young officers are quitting at an alarming rate.
Army records show suicides increased by 12 in 1998 to 68. There were 65 self-inflicted deaths last year.
An Army statement said, "This number, although very small, is extremely important to the Army since all deaths by suicides are considered needless deaths by the Army senior leadership."
The service has begun a suicide-prevention program that includes:
• Setting requirements for suicide-risk-identification training.
• Requiring a psychological autopsy.
• Creating local suicide-prevention task forces.
Gen. Shinseki's message said:
"Commanders and leaders must exemplify, by personal example, the Army's existing policies and programs. Training is critical - suicide-prevention training must be conducted to standard and the status of training tracked during command training briefs.
"We are reviewing our suicide-prevention program in a commitment to having the best possible tools and resources available to you and your commanders. The key to suicide prevention rests with commander, leader and soldier involvement in caring for our suicide-prone individuals. I need your urgent attention to this matter. We must take better care of our people."
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The Last Battle of the Gulf War
May 18, 2000
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/00/05/18/editorial/18thu2.html
The Army this week brushed off new reports that American forces needlessly attacked retreating Iraqi troops after a cease-fire was declared in the Persian Gulf war. The accounts, contained in a New Yorker article written by Seymour Hersh, cannot be so easily dismissed. Though questions about the battle were raised as the war ended in 1991, and subsequent Army investigations found no fault, there is good reason for the Pentagon and Congress to revisit the matter. Some officers familiar with the American assault offer detailed testimony that one of the country's most decorated commanders, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, ordered a punishing and unwarranted attack.
The sequence of events described by Mr. Hersh is complex and filled with the confusion and ambiguities that are common in war. There are conflicting accounts about what happened and why, and General McCaffrey, now retired from the Army and serving as the Clinton administration's top drug-control official, has vigorously defended his actions. But none of that justifies the Army's cavalier response to the New Yorker article. Few matters are more important to a democracy than the conduct of its military forces, and any credible accusation of reckless or unjustified killing by American servicemen must be thoroughly investigated by an independent panel of experts. The Army's internal inquiries are not an adequate answer.
The core issue raised by the Hersh piece is whether General McCaffrey, who was commander of the 24th Infantry Division, deliberately provoked a fight with retreating Iraqi forces after the cease-fire was in place by blocking a main escape route and then seizing on the firing of several Iraqi weapons to launch a withering assault. The ferocity of the American attack is not in question. American ground and air units all but pulverized a Republican Guard tank division on March 2, 1991, in one of the most devastating and one-sided battles of the war.
A number of General McCaffrey's fellow commanders, including Lt. Col. Patrick Lamar, who was the division's operations officer, told Mr. Hersh that excessive firepower was used against a weakened and retreating Iraqi force that did not seriously threaten the Americans. They believe that the American assault was a clear and willful violation of the cease-fire rules of engagement that had been established by the Pentagon. General McCaffrey maintains that he acted properly to defend his troops after the Iraqi forces initiated combat. He denies that he blocked their escape route in hopes of forcing a confrontation.
Mr. Hersh examines other serious charges involving General McCaffrey's troops, including reports that they massacred a group of Iraqi prisoners of war, but the evidence he cites here is not definitive. The Army's investigations of all these matters, which cleared General McCaffrey and the division, should not be the last word. The military services have a poor record of holding their own members accountable for misconduct, especially top officers.
As Walter Cronkite, the former CBS News anchorman, noted in a letter to The Times earlier this week, the Pentagon's efforts to restrict coverage of the war denied the American people an immediate and full account of the battles American forces fought in Kuwait and Iraq. More comprehensive coverage might long ago have clarified whether General McCaffrey's order to attack was appropriate.
The Senate did not inquire deeply into the 24th Infantry Division's actions when it approved promotions for General McCaffrey after the war or when it confirmed his appointment to the drug policy post. Secretary of Defense William Cohen should appoint an independent review panel. If he does not, the Senate or House should conduct its own investigation. If General McCaffrey acted responsibly, he should welcome an unflinching examination of the facts.
----
Vaccines During Deployment Linked to Gulf War Syndrome
By Patricia Reaney
Thursday May 18 8:56 AM ET
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000518/ts/health_syndrome_1.html
LONDON (Reuters) - Gulf War syndrome, the mysterious illness that has affected veterans of the 1991 conflict, is linked to the multiple vaccines given to soldiers during the war, British researchers said Friday.
Their study of 923 veterans with records of their vaccinations showed that health problems such as fatigue, muscle pain and difficulty with concentration and memory were associated with the vaccines they received during, but not before, their deployment. ''There doesn't seem to be a specific effect of an individual vaccine,'' Dr. Matthew Hotopf of the Gulf War Research Unit at King College's College in London told a news conference.
``The key finding of this paper is that multiple vaccines received before going to the Gulf War are not associated with increased risk...but if you received multiple vaccines during deployment it does seem to increase risk quite steadily,'' he said.
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The research paper was published in the British Medical Journal.
The scientists said the multiple vaccines in themselves do not seem to be harmful, but were linked to a variety of health problems combined with the physical and psychological stress of deployment.
Veterans who received six or more vaccines against conditions such as hepatitis, polio and typhoid, as well as anthrax and plague, had the most health problems.
Calls For Public Inquiry
British veterans welcomed the study -- funded by the U.S. Department of Defense -- and called for a public inquiry into other factors that may have contributed to Gulf War syndrome.
``We now have a number of pieces to a very complex jigsaw,'' said John Nichols, a Gulf War veteran and president of the Gulf War veterans branch of the Royal British Legion.
``But what this study hasn't examined and what nobody has looked at yet is the effect of multiple vaccines under stress alongside such things as smoke from the oil fires, chemical warfare antidotes, depleted uranium use, pesticides and a multitude of other inputs.''
He said a public inquiry may allay the fears of the veterans and serving military personnel and come up with a reason why so many veterans are ill and hundreds have died.
Nichols also criticized Britain for not funding the study.
``It is a sad indictment that this study has not been funded by our own country but by the United States Department of Defense,'' he said, adding that British servicemen and women deserved better treatment than they have been getting.
Hotopf and his colleagues said their finding was just a piece of a complicated puzzle of Gulf War illness and certainly not the end of the story.
``There are obviously many other health hazards veterans have been exposed to,'' he said.
The researchers said their results implied that routine vaccines for the military should be maintained during peacetime. They stressed that civilian vaccine programs are safe.
They said they were continuing their research into Gulf War syndrome and other scientists in the United States, Australia, Canada and Denmark were conducting similar studies.
----
Nearly one in five fail to register for draft
USA Today
05/17/00- Updated 05:06 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/ndswed03.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly one in five young American men are failing to register for the military draft as required by law, risking fines and jail as well as ineligibility for a wide array of benefits including student loans and government jobs, the Selective Service Administration said Wednesday.
Agency officials said ignorance rather than willful resistance appears to be behind the compliance numbers, which were at 93% a decade ago. ''Since 1990 we have seen an erosion of about 1% a year,'' said agency spokesman Lewis Brodsky.
''Our research has consistently shown that the biggest barrier to young men's compliance is a simple lack of awareness,'' said Selective Service Director Gil Coronado. ''It's tragic to see young men potentially missing out on future opportunities because they just do not know they are required to register.''
''The consequences of not registering for whatever reasons, are enormous,'' said Education Secretary Richard Riley, who joined Coronado at a news conference where they announced the formation of partnerships with educational associations to get the word out to young men.
For men born in 1980 who are now 19 and 20 years old, the compliance rate is about 83%, Brodsky said.
A state-by-state survey issued by the agency showed some large states had low registration levels among those men - California with 79% and Texas, 77%. New Hampshire, by contrast, ranked highest with 95%.
The law requires that all young men living inside the United States and its territories register with the Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday. That includes immigrants and non-citizen residents of the United States.
The names are gathered in case a national emergency should require a military draft. Selective Service officials and members of Congress at the news conference called the system an important national ''insurance policy.'' They said the all-volunteer enlistment policy of the armed services is working as intended in peacetime. The last actual draft was in 1973 near the end of the Vietnam era.
Failure to register can cost young men their chance at student loans and grants, job training, government jobs and citizenship for male immigrations.
It is also a felony punishable by up to five years in jail or prison and a fine of up to $250,000, but such cases are rarely prosecuted. The last prosecution was in 1985, agency officials said.
''To make sure that any draft is as fair and as equitable as possible, we've got to make sure we reach everyone,'' Brodsky said. ''And it's difficult to know who you're not reaching.''
''But we suspect, based on the demographics we've seen, that it's high school dropouts and immigrants'' who are not registering. Brodsky said the agency is working with the Immigration and Naturalization Service as well as schools to try to get more immigrants to register.
The Selective Service survey showed that the states with the lowest compliance rates for men born in 1980 - all of them under 80% - are California, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina, all with a 79% rate; Texas, 77%; Louisiana, 74%, and Hawaii, 73%.
The states with the best compliance - all of them 90% or better - are New Hampshire, 95%; Maine and North Dakota, 93%; Iowa and Nebraska, 91%, and Minnesota, 90%.
Brodsky said there are now 13.5 million men in the Selective Service data base whose ages range from 18 to 25. Men 26 and older are not eligible for the draft. An estimated 1.6 million men age 18 to 25 have not complied with the law, he said.
-------- us nuc facilities
Sick worker resolution debated
by Katherine Rizzo
Associated Press
Thursday, May 18, 2000
WASHINGTON -- The House will debate the idea of compensating defense plant workers sickened by exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazardous substances. But a concrete plan to put checks in the mail to workers remains far from complete.
Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., said he is offering a nonbinding resolution that calls for a compensation program to be set up this year. The program would help workers who have become ill from substances they handled, often without knowing what they were exposed to or the magnitude of exposure.
The resolution will be an amendment to a larger defense bill that lawmakers began debating Wednesday. Whitfield's office said discussion of the compensation plan was expected Thursday.
Richard Miller of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, which represents workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon in southern Ohio, said the debate would be a noteworthy step. He said it nudges the plan higher on Congress' list of priorities in this election-shortened session.
"It's all part of the massive education program that has to go on," he said. "This is going to force hearings."
Whitfield, whose district includes the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, said he drafted the resolution as a fallback strategy, after it became clear that a compensation plan was not the kind of program that would be allowed to become law without committee hearings first.
No House committee has yet held a hearing to consider how much compensation would be appropriate and which government agency should handle the workers' claims.
The Clinton administration wants Congress to approve a minimum of $100,000 for every worker suffering from cancer or beryllium disease as a result of their unknowing exposure and inadequate protection from radiation and hazardous materials.
Lawmakers from states with weapons plants are trying to get at least $200,000 apiece for the workers.
In East Tennessee, a dozen lawsuits have been brought against the United States by 15 former Oak Ridge weapons plant workers who claim they now suffer chronic breathing problems because of their exposure to beryllium at the Y-12 and K-25 plants.
----
Senate Defense Bill
From: Maureen Eldredge maureene@earthlink.net
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2000 7:13 PM
Here are the basic numbers for DOE weapons complex programs from the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate (from Press release by committee).
The bill will be voted on NEXT WEDNESDAY, May 24!! There will be an amendment on Worker Compensation!!
Press Release from Senate Armed Services Committee on the Fy2001 Defense Authorization Bill (S 2549).
Department of Energy (DOE) National Security Programs
The committee has responsibility for oversight and authorization of over two-thirds of the Department of Energy's budget, including the National Nuclear Security Administration, defense environmental management, other defense activities, and defense nuclear waste disposal. The committee also authorizes funds for the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board, an independent agency responsible for external oversight of safety at DOE defense nuclear facilities.
With regard to DOE programs, the committee:
! Authorized $12.8 billion for Atomic Energy Defense activities of the Departmentof Energy (DOE), a $697.0 million increase over fiscal year 2000 funding levels, to ensure that America's nuclear weapons stockpile is both reliable and safe and that wastes generated as a result of the Department's weapons activities are managed in a responsible manner. The authorized amount reflects a net reduction of $323.6 million to the President's request. Reductions were taken principally from the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program and defense environmental management privatization.
! Authorized $6.2 billion for activities of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), in the following programs:
! $4.7 billion for weapons activities, which is a $78.8 million increase over the budget request, and an increase of $332.1 million over fiscal year 2000 levels;
! $847.0 million for defense nuclear nonproliferation activities, which is $59.0 million below the budget request, and a decrease of $2.3 million below fiscal year 2000 levels; and
! $695.0 million for naval reactors activities, which is a $17.4 million increase over the budget request, and an increase of $19.9 million over fiscal year 2000 levels.
! Authorized $6.3 billion for defense environmental restoration and waste management (including defense facilities closure projects and defense environmental management privatization), which is $132.0 million below the budget request, and an increase of $356.4 million over fiscal year 2000 levels.
! Authorized $466.3 million for other defense activities, which is $88.8 million below the budget request, and equal to fiscal year 2000 funding levels.
! Provided an additional $34.0 million to continue progress on restoring tritium production;
! Added $15.0 million to provide infrastructure upgrades at DOE weapons production plants;
! Added $10.0 million to begin conceptual design on a new pit production capability;
! Added $17.4 million for naval reactors facility decommissioning activities;
! Reduced by $40.0 million the Defense Computing and Simulation program.
! Added $30.0 million to enhance counterintelligence at NNSA nuclear weapons laboratories.
! Added $50.0 million to the environmental management technology development program.
! Authorized $450.0 million for the Tank Waste Remediation System privatization project.
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability 202-833-4668 fax: 202-234-9536
----
Nonbinding House of Reps. Resolution,
5/18/2000
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: downwinders@egroups.com
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, MAY 18, 2000 (snip) Amendment, as modified, offered by Mr. Whitfield: The amendment as modified is as follows: At the end of title XXXI (page 467, after line 11), insert the following new section: SEC. XX. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING COMPENSATION AND HEALTH CARE FOR PERSONNEL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ITS CONTRACTORS AND VENDORS WHO HAVE SUSTAINED BERYLLIUM, SILICA, AND RADIATION-RELATED INJURY. It is the sense of Congress that-- (1) Since World War II Federal nuclear activities have been explicitly recognized by the United States Government as an a ultra-hazardous activity under Federal law. Nuclear weapons production and testing involved unique dangers, including potential catastrophic nuclear accidents that private insurance carriers would not cover, as well as chronic exposures to radioactive and hazardous substances, such as beryllium and silica, that even in small amounts could cause medical harm.
(2) Since the inception of the nuclear weapons program and for several decades afterwards, large numbers of nuclear weapons workers at Department of Energy and at vendor sites who supplied the Cold War effort were put at risk without their knowledge and consent for reasons that, documents reveal, were driven by fears of adverse publicity, liability, and employee demands for hazardous duty pay.
(3) Numerous previous secret records documented unmonitored radiation, beryllium, silica, heavy metals, and toxic substances' exposures and continuing problems at the Department of Energy and vendor sites across the country, where since World War II the Department of Energy and its predecessors have been self-regulating with respect to nuclear safety and occupational safety and health. No other hazardous Federal activity has been permitted to have such sweeping self-regulatory powers.
(4) The Department of Energy policy to litigate occupational illness claims has deterred workers from filing workers compensation claims and imposed major financial burdens for workers who sought compensation . Department of Energy contractors have been held harmless and the Department of Energy workers were denied workers compensation coverage for occupational disease.
(5) Over the past 20 years more than two dozen scientific findings have emerged that indicate that certain Department of Energy workers are experiencing increased risks of dying from cancer and non-malignant diseases at numerous facilities that provided for the nation's nuclear deterrent. Several of these studies also establish a correlation between excess diseases and exposure to radiation, beryllium, and silica.
(6) While linking exposure to occupational hazards with the development of occupational disease is sometimes difficult, scientific evidence supports the conclusion that occupational exposure to dust particles or vapor of beryllium, even where there was compliance with the standards in place at the time, can cause beryllium sensitivity and chronic beryllium disease. Furthermore, studies indicate than 98 percent of radiation induced cancers within the Department of Energy complex occur at dose levels below existing maximum safe thresholds. Further, that workers at Department of Energy sites were exposed to silica, heavy metals, and toxic substances at levels that will lead or contribute to illness and diseases.
(7) Existing information indicates that State workers' compensation programs are not a uniform means to provide adequate compensation for the types of occupational illnesses and diseases related to the prosecution of the Cold War effort.
(8) The civilian men and women who performed duties uniquely related to the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons production and testing programs over the last 50 years should have efficient, uniform, and adequate compensation for beryllium-related health conditions, radiation-related health conditions, and silica-related health conditions in order to assure fairness and equity.
(9) This situation is sufficiently unique to the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons production and testing programs that it is appropriate for Congressional action this year.
[Page: H3374] GPO's PDF Mr. WHITFIELD (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment, as modified, be considered as read and printed in the Record.
(snip)
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the amendment, as modified, offered by the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield).
The amendment, as modified, was agreed to.
--
Text of House of Reps. Compensation "Debate" -- PART II
From: easlavin@aol.com
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, May 18, 2000, continued
Mr. UDALL: We need to pass this resolution today and, as so many of my colleagues have called for, we need to put a bill together. In my opinion, we could do it by July 4. That would be fitting because these Americans were warriors in the Cold War, and they were no less deserving of support for the illnesses and injuries that occurred to them than those members of our society who were in the hot war that we fought in the Second World War.
So let us get this done for these Americans. I am proud to stand here with my colleagues.
Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 1/2 minutes to the gentleman South Carolina (Mr. Graham), for the purpose of a colloquy.
(Mr. GRAHAM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Whitfield amendment and enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Hilleary), the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sisisky), the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) about the need for comprehensive legislation to address worker exposures at Department of Energy facilities during the Cold War.
Mr. Chairman, I along with the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence) represent a large number of Cold War veterans at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina who helped this great Nation win the Cold War through their dedication and hard work. We have heard the last several speakers talk about DOE workers across the Nation who were exposed to levels of radiation greater than they should have been, and other DOE workers who were exposed to other substances, including beryllium, which have had an adverse effect on their health.
I think that all Members will agree that if through the course of producing nuclear weapons for this great Nation, Department of Energy or Department of Energy contract employees were caused physical harm, we owe it to them to seek a remedy for their lost wages and medical treatment.
Mr. Chairman, I know that as of late there has been a concerted effort on the part of the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski ), the Department of Energy and others to come up with a plan to offer these workers compensation .
I believe the smart and responsible thing for us to do is to take a look at this situation and make sure we do the right thing for the workers.
Mr. Chairman, I have a letter from the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Smith) of the Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims in which he states, `I hope to work with you and other Members to address the need to compensate workers at DOE weapons production facilities whose health has suffered as a result of their employment. Furthermore, I expect to hold hearings on this subject in the coming months.'
I appreciate the willingness of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) to hold a hearing on this issue.
Mr. Chairman, I believe that the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Hilleary) has a similar letter from the chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Mr. HILLEARY. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GRAHAM. I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.
(Mr. HILLEARY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. HILLEARY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) for yielding, and I rise in strong support of the Whitfield amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I want to make sure we do the right thing for these workers. Many Tennesseans, in my opinion, are Cold War heroes and they deserve to be compensated if, through the course of their work, their health was adversely affected by exposure to radiation or other harmful effects.
I do have a letter from the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) addressed to myself and the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) in which he too commits to hold a hearing this year on this important matter.
In this letter, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) states, and I quote, `I will work with you and the other Members interested in this issue by holding hearings this year and by otherwise helping them in whatever capacity I can to help them pass reasonable workers' compensation for DOE and DOE -contract employees where concrete documentation proves they were adversely affected by their exposure to either radiation or other substances through the course of their work at DOE weapons facilities during the Cold War.'
I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) for his willingness to work on this matter, and as a member of the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, I look forward to participating and finding a real solution that benefits these injured workers and also look forward to assisting the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), who represents Oak Ridge, and other Congressmen from the surrounding area around Oak Ridge in their efforts to help these workers.
Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, May 17, 2000.
Hon. Lindsey Graham.
Hon. Van Hilleary.
[Page: H3376] GPO's PDF Dear Lindsey and Van: I appreciate your interest in resolving the issue of compensating Department of Energy workers for damage done to their health due to exposure to radiation and other substances during their employment at DOE weapon's production facilities during the Cold War.
I understand that Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Kanjorski , Mr. Strickland and others have introduced legislation to compensate these workers for their injuries. I'm also aware that the Department of Energy has proposed legislation to address the problem. These bills have been referred to the Education and Workforce committee for consideration.
I will work with you and the other Members interested in this issue by holding hearings this year and by otherwise helping them in whatever capacity I can to help them pass reasonable workers' compensation for DOE and DOE contract employees where concrete documentation proves they were adversely effected by their exposure to either radiation or other substances through the course of their work at DOE weapons facilities during the Cold War.
I appreciate you bringing this matter to my attention.
Sincerely,
Bill Goodling, Member of Congress.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. Chairman, I would ask the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sisisky) if they will agree to assist us in holding a hearing on this matter this year and make serious efforts to pass comprehensive workers compensation legislation?
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GRAHAM. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Chairman, I agree to work with this gentleman and with all the Members who have shown so much concern for these folks who are Cold War warriors and veterans in practically every sense of the term. I think we realize three things on the committee. One is that we do have a duty to take care of our Cold War veterans, including people who experienced exposure in trying to develop the strategic systems of this country that even today keep this country safe.
Number two, science has shown that there has been exposure, fairly major exposure, to a lot of our workers.
Number three, the fact that we do have a responsibility to take actions and perhaps to abandon this position that we have taken, which has been a presumption against the worker in the past.
So let me just thank all of my friends who have worked on this, and I support totally the Whitfield amendment and I want to let everybody know that we will be holding hearings. We will be working in cooperation with the gentleman, and we did put a couple of million dollars in the bill already to direct DOE to start to construct a program. So let us all work together and put this thing together and we will work with the gentleman.
Mr. SISISKY. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GRAHAM. I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.
Mr. SISISKY. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the work of Members of both sides of the aisle on this issue and look forward to working with the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) in doing what is right for these workers, and I support this amendment and urge the House to accept it.
Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GRAHAM. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the effort of all the Members involved in this issue and thank them for bringing it to the attention of the House. We need to do the right thing for these people who through the course of providing for the defense of our Nation received injury due to exposure to hazardous materials.
I support the amendment and I certainly encourage its adoption.
Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GRAHAM. I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina.
Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Chairman, I also want to acknowledge the hard work of the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) and others who have brought this resolution forth, and I agree to work with them and with the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) in the days ahead. I support the amendment and urge its adoption.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. Chairman, I include the following for the Record: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC, May 15, 2000.
Hon. Lindsey O. Graham, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Lindsey: I appreciate your interest in resolving the issue of compensating Department of Energy (DOE ) workers for damage done to their health due to exposure to radiation and other substances during their employment at DOE weapons production facilities during the Cold War.
It is my understanding that Congressman Whitfield, Congressman Wamp, Congressman Kanjorski , Congressman Strickland and others have introduced legislation to compensate these workers for their injuries. I'm also aware that the Department of Energy has proposed legislation to address the problem. These bills have been referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims for consideration.
I hope to work with you and other members to address the need to compensate workers at DOE weapons production facilities whose health has suffered as a result of their employment. Furthermore, I expect to hold a hearing on this subject in the coming months.
Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention.
Sincerely, LAMAR SMITH,
Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims.
--
Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, May 17, 2000.
Hon. Lindsey Graham,
Hon. Van Hilleary.
Dear Lindsey and Van: I appreciate your interest in resolving the issue of compensating Department of Energy workers for damage done to their health due to exposure to radiation and other substances during their employment at DOE weapon's production facilities during the Cold War.
I understand that Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Kanjorski , Mr. Strickland and others have introduced legislation to address the problem. These bills have been referred to the Education and Workforce committee for consideration.
I will work with you and the other Members interested in this issue by holding hearings this year and by otherwise helping them in whatever capacity I can to help them pass reasonable workers' compensation for DOE and DOE contract employees where concrete documentation proves they were adversely effected by their exposure to either radiation or other substances through the course of their work at DOE weapons facilities during the Cold War.
I appreciate you bringing this matter to my attention.
Sincerely,
Bill Goodling, Member of Congress.
Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Whitfield-Strickland-Udall-Gibbons-Kanjorski sense of Congress resolution in the form of an amendment to cover workers from the Department of Energy and its contractors and vendors.
I would just say to my colleagues that as this legislation moves forward, there is one important category that is not covered and that is those workers, like those at Brush Wellman in Elmore, Ohio, who worked for the Department of Defense as contractors, vendors, subcontractors. I stand today in memory of Gaylen Lemke, a gentleman who died of chronic beryllium illness last year who first came to see me in 1994. It was an absolutely cruel illness. He was as much a veteran of this country as anyone who ever flew an airplane or served on a submarine. I would just hope that as these hearings are held that true compensation could be found for these individuals and their families who have suffered so greatly, actually through no one's fault but through our lack of knowledge about how these metals actually react with the human body.
When one's lungs turn to crystalline over a period of 10 to 15 years, it is among the cruelest of ways to die.
I just want to thank the Members of the Committee on Armed Services here today, my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sisisky), for looking really seriously at this. I would say in my region of Ohio we have upwards of 200 people who have died or will die of this illness. Please do not forget those who have worked on contract to the Department of Defense, especially providing the material that was processed for the interiors of our missiles and our guided missile systems.
[Page: H3377] GPO's PDF Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink).
Mr. KLINK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) for his help and his leadership on this issue and also the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield). It has been a pleasure to work with them on this.
I really want to say that we are seeing the best of Congress here; Republicans in the House and Democrats in the House and the administration coming together to do what is correct.
[TIME: 1730]
We need to help people like Clara Harding and Al Matusick. Clara's husband Joe worked for 18 and a half years at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky which the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) now represents. He worked without any radiation protection in air that was thick with uranium dust and plutonium, neptunium, and possibly ruthenium.
Mr. Harding died in 1980 at the age of 58. Two years ago, Mrs. Harding received only $12,000 in compensation . It is inexcusable. When we stop and think about the problems health-wise that these workers have experienced, it is unbelievable.
My friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski ) and his staff, just doing good casework, they worked with Al Matusick and discovered through him that there were this whole group of Cold War warriors who were suffering. That really began this ball rolling.
I want to thank the gentleman from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski ) for having the foresight and compassion to introduce H.R. 675. I am proud to be a cosponsor of his bill, and want to continue to work with him on H.R. 3418, and work with the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), and thank him for introducing H.R. 4398.
I want to thank Secretary Richardson for agreeing that the administration would work with us to see that the right thing is done on this issue. I think everybody is working together, and I am so happy to hear the dialogue on the floor today that we are going to have hearings and that something is going to be done. Fifty years is so long for people to wait.
We have heard about some of the things in the hearings we have held in the Committee on Commerce, and in fact that people were put at risk. They knew there was a danger there. These workers, many have died. Their families and workers need to be compensated. This Congress can act. It is the right, the correct, the ethical, and the moral thing to do.
Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
In conclusion, I would like to say a couple of personal words.
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my good and dear friend, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), for the work we have been able to do together.
I want to thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Chairman Spence), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sisisky), the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).
This is the right thing to do. This is one of the joys that I have experienced in this House, working together on this particular issue. I just have a heart full of thanks for these Members.
Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I also want to thank everyone. We cannot solve this problem without the efforts of everyone.
If someone worked in a DOE facility during the Cold War and he is a Federal employee, he is covered under the Federal Employee Compensation Act. If he worked as an agent of a contractor and was exposed to one of these diseases, he did not have any coverage. We need to correct that problem. This is the first step.
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of this amendment. Congress must act as soon as possible to provide compensation and health care for the forgotten soldiers of the Cold War--those who constructed America's nuclear weapons.
More than 50 years ago, hundreds of Manhattan Project staff inhaled tiny particles of beryllium while helping develop the atomic bomb at a University of Chicago lab. That lab later became Argonne National Laboratory, a national energy laboratory operated for the Department of Energy by the University of Chicago, and located in the district I represent.
The Department of Energy estimates that as many as 2,300 people in Illinois were exposed to beryllium during the two decades ending in 1963 when the toxic metal was used in the atomic program at Argonne. Inhalation of beryllium dust causes Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD)--a chronic, often disabling and sometimes fatal lung condition. It also causes beryllium sensitization, wherein a worker's immune system becomes allergic to the presence of beryllium in the body.
People who work at Argonne and other national labs are technically employed by the contractors hired to run the labs, so they don't qualify for federal employee health benefits. Meanwhile, state workers compensation laws often fail to provide benefits for occupational illnesses, which--in the case of nuclear weapons workers--can develop years after exposure to beryllium, radiation, or hazardous chemicals and long after a worker's eligibility for compensation has lapsed. Beryllium dust, for example, can cause Chronic Beryllium Disease up to forty years after exposure.
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to give my strong support for this amendment. It represents an overall bipartisan effort that I believe must move forward in order to provide fair and just compensation for those who worked long and hard to win the Cold War: the Atomic Veterans. Many of these Atomic Veterans are ill or dying from diseases due to their exposures to hazardous materials at Department of Energy facilities.
New Mexico has a long and valued tradition of service to our Nation. New Mexico's workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, have suffered from illness due to their exposures to radiation, beryllium, and other hazardous materials used in the production of nuclear weapons. It is right that we compensate the Atomic Veterans from all over this great nation who have sacrificed so courageously for their country. We spend billions of dollars on cleanup of nuclear waste sites; we now take responsibility for the human cost of the Cold War.
Congress must act, first to support this amendment, and then to pass legislation that is just and fair. When I introduced legislation to compensate Atomic Veterans from Los Alamos National Laboratory, I urged my colleagues from around the country, Democrats and Republicans, who also have victims in their districts, to work together to craft a solution to this problem at the national level. This amendment is a step in that direction.
Compensation is important because these workers are true patriots. They loved their country, they worked for their country, and now we need to do what is right and compensate them fairly for their illnesses.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the amendment, as modified, offered by the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield).
The amendment, as modified, was agreed to.
----
Please Forward to Appropriate Party
May 18, 2000
Subject: Whistleblower Hearing May 23, 2000 on "Whistleblowers at Department of Energy Facilities: Is There Zero Tolerance for Contractor Retaliation?"
Dear Sir:
I am a two-time Whistleblower, first with the Department of Energy and the second time with a Department of Energy Contractor. Not only should there be "Zero Tolerance" for Contractor Whistleblowers, but there should be "Zero Tolerance" for DOE Whistleblowers. Today, neither exists. There are hundreds of DOE and DOE Contractor Whistleblowers like myself, who have suffered for complying with Federal Laws and reporting illegal activities.
This is such an important issue for the nation because without protection up front and an incentive, the average employee will not risk his or her career as I did, and I would be most happy to testify and answer any questions in person. I believe, as most Whistleblowers that our Government does not understand the economic loss both from a lack of safety and productivity from the lack of accurate information which Whistleblowers do provide. I believe that only when Government starts punishing managers that are guilty of retaliation will there be a reason for those who break the law to not coverup their actions. Only when there is absolutely NO RISK to an employee will every employee be free and without fear to report Waste, Fraud and Abuse. This is vital for the safety and health of the employees and the public!
With Lockheed Martin, I was, from the beginning, continually directed not to disclose illegal activities. And when I complied with the requirements of the Federal Laws for reporting such illegal activities, neither the Department of Energy or the Department of Labor, or the Justice System protect me. Contractor employees have fear, which prevents them from reporting outrageous illegal behavior.
Please review the attached three newspaper articles, (one was one of the two stories in the paper which was picked up by the Associated Press). At the end of June there will be two additional articles in the Louisville Courier Journal on two separate and major issues concerning my Whistleblowing while employed by Lockheed Martin, who (from my experience) has a total disregard for health and safety. And these are not all of the significant illegal activities that I reported to both DOE and the Department of Labor. The Courier Journal will continue to document other major issues. The personal article describes how my career and personal life has been destroyed when I was fired in retaliation for doing what the law requires. In addition, after applying for approximately 5,000 jobs in the last six years, I believe that I have been blackballed from gainful employment by Lockheed Martin. This is why I was the only employee that reported the numerous illegal activities by Lockheed Martin at two separate sites. The result in my case as with most Whistleblowers, false performance issues are created for retaliation and termination. In my case I was promoted for good performance to Installation Facility Safety within eleven months of my initial employment and then had a sudden downturn in good performance appraisals. What bothers me the most is how my doing the right thing resulted in my wife of 26 years suffering not only by not having a normal lifestyle, but not even having basic health care, which both of us require and have not received.
In the late 1980's, while employed by DOE, I called the Whistleblower's hotline concerning Department of Energy's disregard of laws 3678 & 3679, the Anti-Deficiency Act and the Misuse of Government Funds, which was covered up because it was a common practice within the DOE Albuquerque Operations Office to use leftover funds for projects outside the scope of the Schedule 44's and the Line Item Projects as defined within the Congressional Data Sheets. My personal phone bill documents my original call to the so-called confidential Whistleblower Hotline, which resulted in almost immediate and outrageous retaliation against me, including attempts to force me to retire under medical disability for cardiovascular problems, problems which in fact were being caused by the extreme stress due to retaliation. I received a thirty-day suspension that was rescinded, a second thirty-day suspension that was not rescinded, demoted in grade, and was transferred from Florida to Albuquerque Operations Office when I refused to address the lies concerning a bogus performance issue after being overload with work assignments. I have documents that indicate that others were told that the FBI was investigating me resulting from false allegations that I was selling religious materials. When brick and Mortar un-classified construction drawings, which had been sent to two hundred Construction Firms across the US, were classified after I had given them to my attorney, I was threatened in writing with a breech of security and was forced to drop my case, whichwas extortion. Because of fear, I decided to end my 21-year career with the U.S. Government.
Today, my family and I have suffered because the United States Government does not protect its employees when they comply with the law and Blow the Whistle.
Sincerely,
Kenneth P. Brooks Former Installation Facility Safety Manager for Lockheed Martin Former Facilities and Construction Manager, Department of Energy
-------- kentucky
DOE finds new hazardous sites
The storage areas are illegal, have never been analyzed and could result in fines, the site manager says.
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
May 18, 2000
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10636.htm
Controversial waste storage areas at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant contain hazardous materials, Department of Energy Site Manager Don Seaborg said Wednesday. "There could be substantial penalties and fines (against the plant)," he said. "I don't know what's going to happen."
Seaborg said he wrote state and federal environmental protection officials Wednesday to inform them that the waste has hazardous components. Although he was uncertain how much of the waste is hazardous, Seaborg said 13 binders, each about 3 inches thick, were sent to regulatory agencies documenting the materials.
Much of the waste has been stored at the plant for many years without being analyzed. Having hazardous waste that is uncharacterized and improperly stored is a violation of environmental laws, Seaborg said.
The waste is composed of about 1 million cubic feet of material in 148 areas, including barrels and scrap piles in various parts of the plant. DOE says 73 of those pose slight risks of a "nuclear criticality," or uncontrolled reaction.
The storage areas, controlled by DOE, were targeted by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative and auditing arm, in a report released earlier this month. The report said DOE may have underestimated the cost of plant cleanup by billions of dollars, partly because the storage areas are not budgeted for cleanup.
A criticality is a threat to worker safety because it can result in "a burst of radiation that generally lasts several hours; it is, however, a localized event that would not result in an explosion or release of radioactivity to the atmosphere," the report says.
DOE is paying plant operator USEC Inc. about $4.8 million to do a safety review by July on the 10 areas that have the highest criticality risk. But the agreement does not address the needs for a review of the 63 other sites, the GAO report says, and the work schedule does not include reviewing the rest of the areas.
Another troublesome problem for the plant is that youths are ignoring radiation control boundaries by loitering in Little Bayou Creek at Ogden Landing Road, which runs behind the facility. Earlier this month, plant health physicist Ron Fowler caught teen-agers drinking beer in the creek, having bypassed radiation control chains and signs, Seaborg said.
Fowler is one of three plant employees who filed a false-claims lawsuit against former plant contractor Lockheed Martin a year ago. An ensuing DOE investigation found that areas of contamination around the plant were not properly posted and segregated, resulting in the erection of thousands of feet of radiation control chains and signs.
Ingesting contaminated sediment is the main risk in the creek, Seaborg said.
"There's an environmental monitoring station there, too, with a fence around it, but it's not stopping anyone," he said. "We have to do a better job telling the public to avoid those areas."
Seaborg said part of the solution may be going door-to-door around the plant. He said he has also asked the plant's citizens' advisory board for recommendations.
-------- new jersey
Thorium cleanup on track at last
Thursday, May 18, 2000
By SCOTT FALLON Staff Writer,
Bergen Record
http://www.bergen.com/pcentral/thoriumsf200005181.htm
WAYNE -- Federal authorities have approved the final phase of a three-year cleanup aimed at turning the radioactive W. R. Grace industrial site into a tract safe enough for home construction.
The excavation of the remaining 17,000 cubic yards of thorium-laced soil and demolition of a contaminated three-story building on the property will begin within a month and may take a year to 18 months to complete, federal officials said.
Officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that they now have enough funds to complete the cleanup at the 6.5-acre tract on Black Oak Ridge Road. The project has been slowed by a lack of money.
To date, $90 million has been spent cleaning the tract, one of the largest Superfund sites in North Jersey. Federal officials expect to allocate $22 million for the final phase.
"After years of excuses, delays, and interruptions, we have this project on the fast track toward finality," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. "It has been a step-by-step process that we have had to keep on top of every day."
Under the plan, approved this week by Corps of Engineers officials and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the site would be restored to residential standards.
Remaining soil would still have about double the radioactivity that is found naturally in New Jersey soil, but it would meet acceptable health standards. Thorium breaks down into the radioactive element radon, which has been linked to liver disease and cancer.
The plan also calls for demolition of the three-story building on the property, which has pockets of contamination but has been used by the corps during the cleanup.
All 2.1 million gallons of contaminated water that lie in 16 burial sites on the tract also would be removed.
The corps is awaiting word on an application to the state Department of Environmental Protection to discharge treated water into nearby Sheffield Brook. Currently, contaminated water is sucked out of the ground, treated at the site, and transported to a processing plant in Valley Forge, Pa.
There also will be a five-year ground-water monitoring program to make sure there are no pockets of radioactive material that were not removed.
An aquifer -- a water-bearing rock formation -- about 15 feet below the surface has not been contaminated, because of a thick layer of clay right above it, said Allen Roos, a project manager with the Corps of Engineers.
"We're happy to finish up what we started," he said. "We want to be able to live up to the commitment we made two years ago."
The thorium waste dates to 1947, when Grace began extracting thorium from ore for industrial purposes. The company closed its Wayne operation in 1974, leaving behind tons of polluted soil.
The federal Department of Energy took over the site in 1984, and the corps now oversees contractors who are excavating, monitoring, and cleaning the site.
In the past two years, the corps has removed more than 80,000 cubic yards of the soil and transported it to a waste site in Utah.
In 1998, Grace agreed to pay $32 million in a settlement with the federal Justice Department. The amount outraged several local and federal officials, including Pascrell, who believed the household-products giant should have paid the entire cost of the project.
Earlier plans called for the site to be cleaned to a lower commercial standard so office buildings and factories could be built. But that changed a year ago with increased funding from the federal government.
-------- new mexico
Usually Worse
From: "Paul" webmaster@globalcircle.net
Remember it's usually worse than the mainstream media is allowed to tell, and the lack of official information in this has been unprecedented. We attended the standing-room only meeting with state officials in Santa Fe last night, and the meeting with Siberian environmental professionals at St. Johns the night before, and no one has any independent assurances that all is well. Official assurances keep going on about the concrete bunkers being safe, but they won't talk about the tons of toxic contaminants on the ground where it burned, and what the onsite air monitors would have read if they hadn't burned. There are lots of tests and sampling techniques they admit they just aren't doing at all, but radiation isn't everything. Carol Miller of LASG and the Green Party made a well reasoned argument for outright shutdown on that basis. We live under that initial cloud of smoke just as Carol does. Look at the cloud on our site at http://globalcircle.net/losalamosfire.htm . These crowds were outraged at the lack of sufficient warnings and information, and lack of Spanish translation in the official warnings.
Now it hits the fan. The summer storms start soon, and people are going to be asking blunt questions all down the Rio Grande through Texas to the Gulf. The fruit and citrus industry downriver may never hear the end of this. How much food contamination will grocery buyers put up with? Does anybody believe they're going to clean up thousands of acres in time for the summer storms?
-- paul, webmaster
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Runoff Poses Possible Danger
Thursday, May 18, 2000
By Ian Hoffman
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/35548news05-18-00.htm
SANTA FE - Disastrous as the Cerro Grande Fire has been for Los Alamos and its federal nuclear-weapons lab, scientists say things could get uglier. Envision floods and tons of cinder-speckled mud washing out of the charcoaled Jemez Mountains into Los Alamos' burned neighborhoods and the lab's canyons. The gushing floodwaters scour the burned EF and PHERMEX sites at the lab's Technical Area 15, both littered by pieces of chemical high explosive, toxic metals and radioactive elements. Any PCBs the fire did not convert to airborne dioxin, the runoff rinses out of a canyon behind the lab's power plant.
Back at Technical Area 16, the waters carry away high explosives from an old explosives machining building and Material Disposal Area P, an explosives and toxic metals dump. The floods blast through the most burned and contaminated canyons - Los Alamos, Pueblo and Water - picking up dozens of contaminants mixed in soils no longer anchored by plants. They flush into the Rio Grande and Cochiti Reservoir.
How real is this scenario? Quite, lab officials say. The mountains and lands of Los Alamos are likely to assume new shapes, perhaps form the beginnings of new canyons. The largest canyons probably will create large new deltas of sand and rock in the Rio Grande. "We're really looking at some catastrophic problems for the lab and the county coming off national forest lands," said Dave McInroy, a LANL cleanup manager. Beyond that, the uncertainties are huge.
No one has gauged with any confidence the mudslide danger to Los Alamos' western side. No one is sure what kinds and what levels of contaminants will leave the lab, but lab scientists believe they will and at rates much greater than those of the last decade, if not since the Manhattan Project. So far, LANL environmental officials say the canyon contaminants are so low in concentration and so likely to be diluted by water and eroded soil that they probably will not reach humans at dangerous levels. But toxicologists know very little about the threat of exposure to multiple contaminants, especially for sensitive aquatic and amphibious wildlife.
Sometimes, low-level toxins can be synergistic in effect. They can weaken different yet intertwined biological functions in ways that, for example, could increase vulnerability to illness. "The problem is quantifying that," said Russ MacRae, an environmental contaminant specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque.
Much depends on what the U.S. Forest Service and Los Alamos National Laboratory do in the next few weeks. Both are mobilizing contractors and checking with dealers for rock for riprap, jute matting and native seed. Scientists are flying over the burned forest and lab today. A plane specially equipped for spectral imaging also was to perform two days of passes, creating a detailed map of the land's reflection of light - an indicator of burn intensity and thus erosion potential.
The Dome Fire of 1996 and the Oso Complex Fire of 1998 produced spots of extraordinary erosion. Heavily burned lands lost soil at rates of 100 tons an acre or more. So far, people working the Cerro Grande Fire report seeing large, scattered splotches of intense burn on steep slopes. One lab official said he has heard post-fire runoff estimated at 100 to 200 times normal.
Experts for LANL, the state Environment Department and the federal Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation, or BAER, team already are fanning out on foot to inspect the blackened territory. They will estimate erosion potential, then draw up a plan to shore up burned areas and protect the lab and town. It is the first time such an interagency rehab team has ever dealt with a fire around and inside a nuclear site, especially one with a 57-year accumulation of contaminants. Meanwhile, lab scientists are checking many of the lab's roughly 1,000 waste dumps or spills - potential release sites, or PRSs.
The fire itself has added a new slew of contaminants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, that result from incomplete burning. Some are innocuous, like those in a cup of coffee; others rank among the most carcinogenic substances. Potential release sites featuring the worst combinations of potential for erosion and heavy contamination may have to be dug up or fortified by rock, mats or hay bales. "We're going to make every effort we can to protest those," said McInroy, a scientist in charge of regulatory compliance for LANL's Environmental Restoration Project, which prepares sites for cleanup or stabilization. Lab environmental restoration scientists are hunkered down in a Santa Fe office, poring over maps of waste sites and the burned territory. Project leader Julie Canepa has assigned them to list the 10 or 15 most threatening potential release sites and a plan of attack.
Water Canyon alone - heavily burned and draining several sites where scientists exploded various metals - contains traces of 11 radioactive elements from nuclear-weapons research, plus 95 manmade chemicals. They range from high explosives to insecticides and more than a dozen toxic metals. Fortunately, few houses lie in the canyons that are both burned and contaminated.
The greatest risk for human exposure is expected to be to hikers, mountain bikers and others trekking in the canyons. "So we have low concentrations and low rates of use," said Lars Soholt, senior risk assessor for the restoration project's SWAT team. "Our preliminary assessment is the human risk, even under these changed conditions, hasn't changed. And we think the risk associated with the (contaminated) sediments is minimal."
To be certain will require intense ground inspections, tests of water and soils and computer simulations. "It's going to take weeks to months to really clear up the picture," said Soholt. The work is intense, and some of Canepa's SWAT team lost homes and possessions in the fire. On Tuesday, "I had them go around the room and tell their stories," Canepa said. "There's a few people who are really affected, so I have to be careful with them. Then I have the Santa Fe people, who are saying 'Let me get back to work. I want to do something.' ''
----
Los Alamos fire-radiation findings are based on inadequate data, critics say
By Lawrence Spohn
Albuquerquer Tribune reporter
May 18, 2000
http://www.abqtrib.com/fire/051800_airrad.shtml
LOS ALAMOS -- Scientific critics are quickly taking issue with government claims that air monitoring has revealed no unnatural health risks from smoke created by the Cerro Grande Fire.
Citing "naturally occurring radioactive materials," in forest-fire smoke, a collaborative government statement concludes the burning of lab property does not appear to have contributed anything unusual to the smoke's toxicity.
"How can they know that?" asked Dr. Dan Kerlinsky of New Mexico Physicians for Social Responsibility, which is located in Albuquerque. "How can they even make such a claim based on the data they are citing? It's terrible science."
In a joint announcement Wednesday, five government institutions monitoring the smoke said gross levels in the atmosphere have risen for all three types of radiation -- alpha, beta and gamma rays -- with gamma being the most intense.
No specific numbers were provided, and no data were supplied to the media, despite previous promises by Environmental Protection Agency officials to do so.
The announcement promised the data as soon as possible and indicated the agencies are planning to analyze for specific radioactive elements. No information about chemical air pollutants was released and might not be until Friday, a state official said.
The EPA was called in to provide independent measurements, but critics have suggested that delays in releasing the radiation-monitoring data, coupled with meetings among the institutions to discuss their individual data numbers, raise serious credibility questions.
The air-monitoring announcement was issued through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Center in Espańola. FEMA spokesman Eugene Brezany said no scientific expert was made available to answer questions -- specifically how much the air-radiation levels increased during the fire.
Brezany said he could not answer specific questions about the basis for the government claims, the monitoring or analysis of the data.
Monitoring has been done by the lab's permanent network of detectors; by EPA and New Mexico Environment Department portable detectors; and by portable detectors monitored by several other Department of Energy labs and agencies.
Vermont radiation health physicist Stewart Farber, who has studied radioactivity in trees and wood ash, said that to distinguish between natural and unnatural sources of radioactivity, the monitoring agencies need to have spectral analysis looking for peaks of individual radioactive elements.
"I can't believe they haven't already done that, especially considering the capabilities of a place like Los Alamos," he said. "But if they are basing this on gross measurements -- and that is what they're saying -- then there is no way that they can say that."
Earlier this week, Farber said he has "no doubt" that the Cerro Grande smoke and ash contain radioactive cesium and strontium, and not necessarily because of any direct lab activities that would have released them through fire and smoke.
His studies show that trees accumulate cesium and strontium which are fallout products from nuclear-weapons testing decades ago. From past experiences, Farber said, government agencies "just don't know how to handle radiation in public."
He said he doubts that radioactivity in the smoke poses a serious health risk, but acknowledged studies to confirm that have not been done.
The fire burned some 7,700 acres on the grounds of the nation's premier nuclear-weapons lab, but lab officials have repeatedly said there were no radioactive releases and no monitoring indication of radioactivity above background levels.
The government announced "naturally occurring radioactive materials, which occur in all living organisms, are released during all forest fires.
"Based on the data analyzed to date, radiological health risks from the Cerro Grande Fire do not appear to be any different because it burned on Los Alamos National Laboratory property," according to the government press release.
"This (logic) would not even be accepted in any graduate-school course, in epidemiology, statistics, health physics or any advanced science course, as valid," Kerlinsky said.
----
Report cites critical mistakes in Los Alamos fire
By Zelie Pollon, May 18, 2000
http://www.envirolink.org/environews/reuters/articles/Environment/05_18_2000.reulb-story-bcenvironmentlosalamos.html
SANTA FE, New Mexico, May 18 (Reuters) - Federal officials made ``critical mistakes'' in setting a New Mexico brush fire that raged out of control last week, devastating the town of Los Alamos and scorching the largest U.S. nuclear weapons lab, investigators said on Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt presented the report by government wildfire experts investigating how a National Park Service ``controlled burn'' set on May 4 erupted into New Mexico's worst wildfire.
In Washington the White House said it would work to compensate victims of the Los Alamos wildfire for any losses they suffered, but left open the question of who was to blame.
Babbitt, releasing the report in Santa Fe, praised it as a ``thorough, detailed, critical and thoughtful investigation.''
New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson said the report put the burden of responsibility squarely on the federal government.
``Los Alamos has been hit by an 18-wheeler and the government was driving that 18-wheeler,'' Johnson said.
The report criticised the Park Service's plan for the controlled burn, which was aimed at reducing wildfire danger by burning brush and dried timber on 1,000 acres (400 hectares) in a remote corner of Bandelier National Monument.
``This prescribed fire was based upon a flawed plan and required fire management policies were not followed,'' the report said. ``Throughout the planning and implementation, critical mistakes were made.''
Those mistakes included not having enough firefighters on hand initially to stop a ``slopover,'' when the fire spread out of bounds the day after it was set. Halting it there could have stopped or at least slowed the fire, the panel said.
The Park Service also underestimated the risks of the controlled burn, failed to get wind forecasts for the days following the start of the burn and did not stick to the latest federal guidelines for wildfire management.
``The investigation team believes that the Federal Wildland Fire Policy is sound; however, the success of the policy depends upon strict adherence to the implementation actions throughout every agency and at every level for it to be effective.''
The investigators stopped short of specifying who exactly was accountable, leaving that to a four-member review board of federal and state forestry experts who are scheduled to give their findings to Babbitt by May 26.
Bandelier superintendent Roy Weaver, who last week took responsibility for the decision to set the controlled burn, has been suspended with pay pending the investigation.
In neighbouring Colorado, Gov. Bill Owens on Thursday used a new state law to order a temporary suspension of controlled burns on federal lands within the state, saying he was afraid not enough has been done to prevent another Los Alamos fire.
``I am very concerned that your agencies are acting irresponsibly with respect to protecting the public from negative consequences caused by the use of prescribed fires,'' Owens said in a letter to the secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture.
Babbitt last week ordered a 30-day suspension of controlled burns on federal lands in Western states in reaction to the Cerro Grande fire, which has consumed more than 47,000 acres (19,000 hectares).
The blaze still burned on Thursday but firefighters continued to make progress, containing 60 percent of the fire's borders as favourable winds turned the fire back on itself.
Most of Los Alamos's 11,000 residents have returned to the town after evacuating it on May 10, but the fire left more than 400 people homeless by destroying more than 200 houses and apartment buildings.
The blaze destroyed parts of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nation's major nuclear lab, including the wooden buildings that housed the Manhattan Project where the first atomic bomb was built.
Plans were being made to reopen the Los Alamos laboratory, possibly as soon as Monday. ``We hope to be back and up to work by Monday,'' said lab spokeswoman Kathy Delucasshe.
----
Officials Thought N.M. Fire Might Spread, Papers Show
Washington Post
Thursday, May 18, 2000; Page A28
NATION IN BRIEF From news services
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-05/18/213l-051800-idx.html
LOS ALAMOS, N.M.--The National Park Service, which started a brush fire that erupted into New Mexico's worst wildfire, knew in advance its fire was "somewhat likely" to get out of control, according to agency documents released yesterday.
Firefighters continued to battle the blaze sparked by a controlled burn set May 4 and aimed at preventing just such wildfires by burning away fuel on the forest floor. Instead, the fire charred 47,000 acres, destroyed more than 200 houses and apartment buildings in Los Alamos, and damaged the largest U.S. nuclear weapons lab, which remained closed as small fires broke out on the grounds.
Officials said firefighters had contained about 45 percent of the fire's 89-mile perimeter and hoped to make more headway despite stiff winds that could fan the flames again.
The Park Service's plan for a controlled burn of about 1,000 acres in Bandelier National Monument showed that administrators estimated the risk of the fire getting out of control as "moderate."
"Escapes from the burn area are somewhat likely, but fuel and terrain features should minimize fire growth outside the burn unit," said the burn plan, released on the agency's Web site at http://fire.nifc.nps.gov/fire/default.htm.
But the plan estimated that the chance of successfully controlling the burn "is high as natural features . . . and control resources will be adequate for anticipated conditions."
In Arizona, winds died down at the Grand Canyon, aiding firefighters' efforts to contain a blaze that has charred 13,350 acres on the North Rim. The Outlet fire, which began as a 1,500-acre controlled burn April 25, was driven out of control by high winds a week ago.
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Plan for Burn Near Los Alamos Called Wildfire Risk Moderate
New York Times
May 18, 2000
By DOUGLAS JEHL
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/051800nm-alamos.html
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., May 17 -- A National Park Service plan for igniting what has become the largest fire in New Mexico history called the risk that the prescribed blaze would escape beyond its bounds "moderate." The plan said any damage would likely be confined to "timber and private land values," not buildings.
At the same time, however, the plan warned that federal officials might be underestimating the danger that such a fire, set to reduce the possibility of unplanned fires, might spill beyond its intended limits.
"You have not lost one in a long time and are starting to feel a little smug," said the 250-page plan, dated April 19 and filed to the National Park Service headquarters in Washington.
It has been reported that before the fire was set, the National Weather Service told Park Service officials that winds would be brisk, humidity low and the chance of volatility high. Park Service officials have said that they knew that there was some danger of the fire spreading, but that conditions for a successful controlled fire are typically similar to those for a dangerous wildfire.
A copy of the plan was made available by federal investigators who are tracing the decisions that led to the fire, which has consumed more than 46,000 acres, destroyed more than 200 homes and shut down the nation's leading nuclear weapons laboratory.
Preliminary results of the investigation are scheduled to be released in New Mexico on Thursday, when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will arrive to discuss the handling of an event that has the potential to reshape the government's fire policy.
Already, in the days since the Los Alamos blaze began to rage out of control, the government has imposed a 30-day ban in the West on the type of deliberate ignition that led to the conflagration. The fire was set by the Park Service at Bandelier National Monument on May 4 to diminish the chances of a catastrophic wildfire. The goal was to clear underbrush that had accumulated over years in which federal policy has emphasized suppressing fires, rather than allowing them to run their course.
Today, fire officials said, firefighters had controlled about 45 percent of the blaze. The rest was burning in heavily forested areas north and east of Los Alamos, out of range of most human habitation.
It was not clear who wrote the planning document for the fire, because all names were blacked out in the version released by the federal investigators. A spokeswoman for the task force would not identify the authors or recipients of the plan.
Still, the document revealed deep apprehension among federal experts about risks inherent in setting fires, though the practice has become a routine part of forest management.
The plan for the Los Alamos burn warned that escaping flames were "somewhat likely" and that "political problems" that might result could affect future controlled fires. The language seemed to refer to the potential for adverse publicity should the fire go awry and threaten the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The laboratory, the founding home of the nation's nuclear weapons program, remains closed, along with schools and most businesses in the area. Most residents in the town of Los Alamos have been allowed to return home, but at least 20 percent of the town remains off limits, with more than 400 structures burned.
About 1 in 100 controlled fires ignited by federal workers typically escapes the expected bounds, Forest Service officials said today.
In the case of Los Alamos, the report filed in April calculated the fire's expected range at 968 acres. Instead, driven by high winds and fueled by dry weather, it has consumed some 50 times that territory.
The wind-driven fire quickly overran the burn area and roared into the town. Some lawmakers have called for a re-examination of the nation's controlled burn policies, which have been put on hold in 11 Western states until at least June 11.
National Park Superintendent Roy Weaver, who took responsibility for igniting the blaze, has been placed on paid leave and declined requests to be interviewed.
The plan spelled out a number of conditions that should have been satisfied before any fire was ignited. It was unclear whether any of the conditions had been satisfied.
The plan said dead wood in the burn area was to be tested for moisture content for at least three weeks before the fire was set and weather conditions were to be monitored hourly afterward. Smaller test fires were to be set before the big one.
For the planned fire to take place, the plan said temperatures were to be between 40 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with relative humidity of 15 percent to 20 percent and wind speeds of no more than 8 miles per hour.
A National Weather Service report sent to the Park Service the day the fire began forecast temperatures of 68 to 72 degrees and a humidity of 14 percent to 18 percent.
But that weather report also forecast winds of 5 to 10 m.p.h.
at lower elevations and 10 m.p.h.
at the ridge tops. Additionally, winds were projected to increase the next day to up to 15 m.p.h., with gusts reaching 20 m.p.h. at the ridge tops.
The report also predicted humidity would fall overnight, creating dry and unstable air, making for conditions in which wildfires can easily rage.
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Report Blames Park Service Officials for N.M. Fire
New York Times
May 18, 2000
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/18cnd-alamos.html
SANTA FE, N.M. -- The National Park Service officials who started the devastating Los Alamos fire did not follow proper procedures and did not have enough fire crews on hand to keep the blaze under control, according to a preliminary investigation by the Interior Department.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt released the results this afternoon, saying the fire was caused by a complex chain of failures in the plan to burn underbrush at Bandelier National Monument.
Bandelier officials started the fire May 4 and high winds blew it out of control. The fire burned more than 200 homes in Los Alamos and more than 47,000 acres. It also threatened the storied Los Alamos nuclear laboratory but spared the main buildings.
The report says Bandelier employee Mike Powell, who directly oversaw the prescribed burn, notified firefighting dispatchers in Santa Fe the morning of May 4 that the burn was to take place that evening. A dispatcher expressed concern that Bandelier was lighting a fire when the Forest Service had already suspended prescribed fire activities because of adverse conditions, the report said.
The report said that the prescribed burn plan was "not adequate" and was "not substantively reviewed" before it was approved by Bandelier Superintendent Roy Weaver. He has taken responsibility for the blaze and has been placed on leave.
There was no answer today at Weaver's home. No one answered the phone at the only listing for a Mike Powell in northern New Mexico.
"Basically, the Park Service screwed up bad, and I don't know how it could be worse," said Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.
By today, the fire was 60 percent contained. There are still 1,200 firefighters active around Los Alamos, strengthening fire breaks, extinguishing hot spots and attacking the fire's still-active northwest flank.
"Things are looking up," said Scott Sticha, a fire spokesman. "There's actually folks starting to head home."
A team specially trained to rehabilitate burned areas arrived Monday, he said.
Weather was working in firefighters' favor -- low temperatures and wind predicted to reach only 10-15 mph, Sticha said.
Some residents who lost their homes were angry at Weaver.
"We're hoping that if he's guilty, we can get something back. Everything we owned is gone," said Tracie Korth, 29, who is expecting twins in August. She and her husband lost their rented home and had no insurance.
As Gloria Brown combed through the rubble of her home Wednesday, she and her husband managed to salvage a couple of small ceramic pots. Little else was left of the 26 years they spent there.
"I'm not angry. I don't think it was intentionally done," she said. "Maybe Roy Weaver used bad judgment, but he's human."
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Still no air-quality data
By KRISTEN DAVENPORT
The New Mexican
5/18/2000
From: "Paul" webmaster@globalcircle.net
The state Environment Department on Wednesday received raw data on results of air monitoring in the area of the Cerro Grande fire, and officials say the data appear consistent with earlier findings by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Energy that the smoke was only slightly more radioactive than what is normally in the air.
However, there was no detailed analysis of the data - nor any actual numbers - available to the public more than a week after fires began burning on lab property.
Federal and state environmental agencies did not release specifics on what three dozen air monitors found this week and said they will wait until a detailed analysis is performed to make any statements about public health.
The Department of Energy, which runs the lab, as well as LANL environmental officials say their own tests of air from last week showed only slightly higher levels of radiation than normal and attributed the levels to natural radiation caused by the fire.
However, anti-nuclear activists and other residents of Northern New Mexico have been waiting for independent after-the-fact verification of those numbers by agencies outside the Department of Energy and LANL.
The Environmental Protection Agency brought its mobile air-monitoring lab to New Mexico over the weekend. In conjunction with the New Mexico Environment Department and LANL, the EPA placed about three dozen air monitors around the area - from Los Alamos to Abiquiú - to measure not only radiation levels but also chemicals in the air.
Those monitors were placed around the northern part of the state early this week - three to four days after the worst of the fire burned lab property.
"This information is qualitative rather than quantitative," said Eugene Brezany, public-affairs officer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, one of the organizations that is coordinating the air monitoring. "They're saying the radiation is no greater than would be expected with the fire.
"It's like when the doctor tells you you're sick and you have a 105-degree fever. Sometimes the number is useful. But they're telling us we're not sick."
However, environment officials plan to spend the next few days analyzing the numbers and sending data off to laboratories for more detailed reports on what the smoke contained.
"The analysis of the health risks will be made after a more detailed isotopic analysis," Brezany said.
Also, the only information available so far is about the radiation levels. Results from 12 monitors sniffing the air for bad chemicals - PCBs, dioxin or other volatile compounds that could have been released when the fire crossed lab property - will not be available until the end of the week.
"Our people are reviewing the data as we speak," said Nathan Wade, public information officer for the New Mexico Environment Department. Wade said the department does have small amounts of data taken by the state when the worst of the fires were burning on lab property.
Wade said the environment department is not to blame for the delay getting solid information to the public.
"We have a two-inch-thick mountain of data" that the department didn't receive until Wednesday, he said.
Pat Hammack, head of the Environmental Protection Agency team in the area to do air monitoring, said the EPA mobile lab had trouble handling so much data - especially because of a power outage in Espańola that set the crew behind several hours.
"This information is essentially emergency data," Hammack said. "It's real quick stuff."
More detailed analysis might not be available until next weekend because a five-agency team - the state environment department, EPA, DOE, LANL and the New Mexico Department of Health - has to coordinate and jointly approve the release of information.
The raw data could be put on the New Mexico Environment Department's Web site by this morning at www.nmenv.state.nm.us.
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ARMY IMPROPERLY SELECTS WEAKEST CLEANUP CRITERIA FOR FORMER A-BOMB REFINERY IN TONAWANDA, NY
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:36:36 EDT
From: df7332@aol.com
Combined with an AWOL U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Congress' 1997 transfer of the Energy Department's FUSRAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is producing cleanup fiascos at many old radioactive waste sites and also contaminating other, unlicensed facilities that should not be receiving radioactive material. USACE recently issued an extremely weak "cleanup" decision for the radioactive contamination at the Linde/Praxair FUSRAP property in Tonawanda, NY. (Linde Air Products Co. operated a uranium refinery on this property under contract with the Army's Manhattan Project during World War II which supplied uranium for the first A-bombs, including the Hiroshima bomb.)
The fundamental problem has been NRC's failure to exercise control over the huge volumes of FUSRAP radioactive wastes, despite a 1978 law (UMTRCA) passed by Congress specifically directing NRC to regulate these wastes. A local public interest group, F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc., went to federal district court in 1998 to require NRC to acknowledge its jurisdiction and to assume regulatory control of these wastes. The case, 98-CV-0354E(H), Western District of NY, remains undecided; however USACE continues its improper practices. The EPA, the NYS DEC, and independent radiation experts have severely criticized USACE's Linde risk analysis, which uses a very restrictive industrial use scenario to arrive at cleanup criteria that are 6 to 300 times weaker than those used in previous FUSRAP cleanups. The USACE decision would allow concentrations of uranium up to 554 pCi/g to remain in surface soil (first six inches) and up to 3,021 pCi/g to remain in subsurface soil.
The Energy Department had previously established a uniform soil uranium cleanup level of 60 pCi/g for Tonawanda, as part of an extensive environmental review process involving the preparation of the 1993 Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
However, NRC policy since 1981, implemented at several smaller sites, has been to release for unrestricted use only those properties having total uranium concentrations that do not exceed 10 pCi/g (10 pCi/g total uranium is equivalent to 5 pCi/g U-238 and 5 pCi/g U-234). Also, it is a violation of NRC rules to employ dilution as a means of achieving concentration limits -- by either averaging over clean or cleaner volumes (as USACE has proposed at Linde/Praxair) or the physical blending down of higher concentrations with cleaner material.
Based on actual waste volumes removed in completed operations at Tonawanda compared to Energy Department figures, it is appears that USACE has utilized soil blending, which to a certain extent is unavoidable in large earth moving operations. This is why it is essential that before any digging occurs the proper cleanup levels and removal methods be established, and also why F.A.C.T.S. sought a temporary restraining order when it brought suit over the earlier USACE Ashland cleanup decision.
CLEANUP DECISION DETAILS:
The Army Corps has used the CERCLA (Superfund) law to invoke two lax cleanup regulations that are neither legally applicable nor appropriate for the affected environment at the Linde site, a heavily populated area subject to intensive land use and re-use, including residential habitation.
The first regulation is a radium cleanup standard developed twenty years ago by EPA to address radon-related sickness in communities near remote western uranium mill tailings sites (radium decays to radon gas). This standard provides a 15 pCi/g cleanup level for subsurface soil (deeper than six inches) that is three times less stringent than its 5 pCi/g surface soil (top six inches) cleanup level -- the rationale being that the relaxed subsurface level was adequate to protect the remote residents from excessive levels of radon gas emanating from the uranium mill tailings piles. Uranium contamination of groundwater generally was not an issue at these sites at that time.
At the same time EPA was promulgating this radium standard [40 CFR 192], the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopted a comprehensive policy for cleanup of uranium from past operations that addresses all the radioactive members of the uranium decay chain, not just the radium [46 FR 52061-3, October 23, 1981]. Under this NRC policy as implemented at many sites across the country, for a property to be released for unrestricted use, i.e habitation by a resident farmer, the maximum concentration level of each uranium decay chain member must not exceed 5 pCi/g at all soil depths. The appropriate cleanup of the Linde property for unrestricted future use, i.e. proper license termination, requires application of this NRC policy.
In a January 12, 2000 letter to the USACE, EPA states:
"EPA disagrees with the interpretation of the appropriateness of the use of 15 pCi/g as a subsurface radium cleanup limit, especially in light of the fact that your subsequent benchmarking of the dose from this radium concentration is used to derive the equivalent subsurface uranium concentration of 3,021 pCi/g as a limit. We do not recognize the 15 pCi/g radium level is an ARAR [applicable or appropriate and relevant requirement], and therefore do not accept that the technique of benchmarking is applicable in this circumstance."
The "technique of benchmarking" that EPA refers to is the second regulation that Army Corps has improperly selected to set lax cleanup levels at Linde. This recent NRC regulation, called the Uranium Recovery Facilities Rule [69 FR 17506, April 12, 1999], was developed specifically as a loophole for four currently operating western uranium mills which claimed they could not meet the NRC's general License Termination Rule, previously adopted on July 21, 1997 [at 62 FR 39058]. Prior to its taking effect, F.A.C.T.S. commented to NRC on the weak provisions of the Uranium rule and its inapplicability at FUSRAP sites because no impact assessment had been done for such sites. NRC subsequently agreed that this rule was not applicable to FUSRAP sites.
Ironically, in an August 23, 1999 letter to USACE, DEC complains that contaminated material containing concentrations of uranium greater than 339 pCi/g (i.e., well below the USACE cleanup levels) is source material by definition and as such requires state regulation in the form of a radioactive materials license. In fact, the State Labor Department had license control of the Linde FUSRAP material by Amendment 4 to License No. 1983-0143 issued June 9, 1978 under the authority of the state's Industrial Code Rule 38 [12 NYCRR Part 38]. This license was unlawfully and prematurely terminated by the state in 1996, in violation of section 38.23 of these regulations.
Of great importance, in that letter DEC does clarify the current "Performance Standard District" zoning classification of the Linde/Praxair property. Dwelling units, i.e. residential uses, are not prohibited. DEC concludes: "[e]xamples of industrial property being put to residential use are increasingly common. In fact, the day after the June 3, 1999 public hearing on the Linde site, on the front page of the local section of The Buffalo News was an article about a developer turning the Trico complex into apartments. Therefore, this Department concludes that residential uses of the property are strongly possible and that the USACE should use a residential use scenario as the basis for their dose modeling."
A group of local politicians called CANiT (Coalition Against Nuclear materials in Tonawanda), led by Congressman John LaFalce, Deputy County Supervisor Carl Calabrese and County Legislator Chuck Swanick, has misinformed the public by repeatedly stating that the current zoning status limits re-development to only commercial/industrial uses. Of course, zoning is generally not recognized by responsible agencies as a durable means to control future property use.
IMPROPER WASTE DISPOSAL
Both the Army Corps and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been severely criticized by residents and officials in Utah, California, and elsewhere for allowing the improper disposal of Tonawanda Site wastes. The local citizen group F.A.C.T.S. has consistently criticized the CANiT politicians for pursuing the use of physically unsuitable, improperly licensed sites as cheaper alternatives to the properly licensed disposal facilities. Several years ago, F.A.C.T.S. opposed CANiT when it actively sought the use of the Newmont/Dawn Mine site near Spokane, Washington -- an unsuitable storage location already plagued by groundwater contamination. In their sudden rush to make this fifty year old problem go away, CANiT politicians have not only supported the USACE's inadequate "cleanup" but also encouraged the use of unsuitable waste storage sites.
USACE is shipping large volumes of Tonawanda's contaminated soil to International Uranium Corporation's White Mesa mill near Blanding, Utah for supposed "reprocessing" under the terms of a special amendment to IUC's license granted by NRC. The White Mesa mill is not licensed as a disposal facility for FUSRAP wastes. The State of Utah and public interest groups have formally protested to NRC that this reprocessing amendment is a sham since it was previously determined in three separate studies commissioned by the Energy Department that volume reduction treatment, i.e. "reprocessing", of Tonawanda's soils is not economically feasible. It is believed that Tonawanda's wastes are going directly into the White Mesa mill's disposal area. Although NRC denied the petitions, recently USACE announced that it would no longer use the White Mesa mill for disposal of other FUSRAP sites' wastes without first consulting Utah. However, the Tonawanda shipments are to remain unaffected.
Last summer, the State of California became upset when it discovered the contaminated demolition debris of Building 30 had been sent to a Safety Kleen dump near Buttonwillow, CA during an earlier "interim action" (see "Shoddy Interim DOE Cleanup Unmasked", page 3, 3-21-97 Buffalo ALT [URL: http://members.aol.com/factsofwny/32197alt.htm] ) at the Linde property. This hazardous waste facility is not licensed to receive FUSRAP radioactive wastes. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer led the call for a Congressional hearing into USACE's FUSRAP waste disposal practices which was originally set for last fall. At the urging of state radiation protection officers, including NY's Paul Merges, this hearing was expanded to include consideration of USACE's lack of authority to make radiological cleanup decisions.
NRC was asked to appear. The delayed hearing, which had been rescheduled for April 12, was cancelled following a public expose of the FUSRAP program in an April 10 Washington Post story by Mike Grunwald. The hearing has yet to be re-scheduled.
Back in the 80's Linde/Praxair itself demolished the FUSRAP- contaminated Building 37. Despite a written request by F.A.C.T.S. to the Energy Department, the identity of the local landfill which illegally received this radioactive material remains publicly unknown.
Interestingly, after demanding that Building 14 (the only Manhattan Project building built by Linde) be decontaminated and after several unsuccessful attempts to decontaminate this building to unrestricted use levels which cost a total of almost $10 million, Praxair now wants the building to be torn down and to be reimbursed for its full value (the Tonawanda assessor's office reported its full value assessment as $322,000 in 1997) plus $1.5 million in improvements that were made following its "decontamination". The Energy Department's Environmental Impact Statement had called for this building and others to be demolished at a cost of approximately $1.5 million. Such are the results when a legitimate public review process is abandoned by an irresponsible Congress.
The history of the Tonawanda Site is a long and sorry story, an almost unbelievable litany of regulatory failure and legislative irresponsibility. Those persons interested in learning more are encouraged to read "Nuclear Cleanup's Fallout" by Mike Grunwald in the April 10, 2000 Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44680-2000Apr9.html, and to visit the F.A.C.T.S., Inc. website at: members.aol.com/factsofwny.
James Rauch is a pharmacist and analyst for F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc., a public interest group that has been monitoring the cleanup of four designated, radioactively contaminated properties known as the Tonawanda FUSRAP Site.
e-mail: cb955@freenet.buffalo.edu (James Rauch)
SEE ALSO: freenet.buffalo.edu/~cb955
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The fires in Los Alamos Much reason for Oak Ridge to relate, respond
Thursday, May 18, 2000
Editor's License Dick Smyser
http://www.oakridger.com/ns-search/stories/051800/opE_0518000053.html?NS-search-set=/392c4/aaaa169352c4229&NS-doc-offset=1&
The forest fires that have devastated Los Alamos, N.M., within the past week have likely caused Oak Ridgers to wonder, "Could it happen here?" Brush fires do occur and several times each year one can look west and north from our ridgetop and see smoke plumes rising from Walden's Ridge or the Cumberlands beyond -- at night the glow of flames.
In October 1952, after a summer of record heat and drought, fires actually did creep up behind homes on Outer Drive, although it was primarily confined to leaves on the ground, not leaping high from one tree to another. And, looking out over the just-emerged lush leaf cover of this particular spring, it is difficult to conjure our woodlands burning with such fury.
But more than by settings, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos are linked by history, origins. For though we are in the East Tennessee hills and Los Alamos is in the New Mexico mountains, one can stand in certain sections of each city and imagine one is in the other, particularly in areas of nearly identical housing built expediently in 1943-1944 as the Manhattan Project got urgently under way. Add Hanford/Richland Wash., the third of these "World War II-born Tri-Cities" with so much in common -- like cemesto board -- though half a continent apart.
There is significant cross-pollination of residents as well: Oak Ridgers who previously worked and lived in Los Alamos; Los Alamosans who previously worked and lived in Oak Ridge. Like John and Katie Tauxe, he formerly with the environmental sciences division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With their son, Dustin, 5, and 3-year-old twins, Cameron and Zoe, born in Oak Ridge, they had lived here on West Outer Drive until John transferred to Los Alamos several years ago with Neptune, a private firm under contract with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Through mutual friends, I contacted John's parents, Dr. W.E. and Margaret Tauxe, now of Pittsburgh, Pa., and also former Oak Ridgers. (Dr. Tauxe, known as "Dub," was formerly with the ORNL health division.) They shared with me John's e-mail account of his family's "fire week" experience. It was written Sunday evening while they were still evacuees although they had learned that their house, located in one of the relatively newer areas of Los Alamos, had been spared. And Tuesday they were able to move back in.
John's narrative, which he sent to friends throughout the country, follows in part:
"We are well, though a bit frazzled after all the activity in Los Alamos. We are currently staying with friends in Eldorado, a subdivision southeast of Santa Fe. Tim and Deb Carlson have taken us in as refugees for now, though we hope to get back close to home in White Rock soon. ...
"As of now (Sunday evening) the fire is out of the town of Los Alamos, I believe, and we know that our house is OK. Almost 200 homes were burned to the ground, as you probably have seen in the national news, and this included many structures that were multi-family, so even more families have been displaced.
"Earlier this afternoon, White Rock, a bedroom community of about 7,000 several miles southeast of Los Alamos, reopened after being evacuated at 2 a.m. Thursday. We got to participate in that evacuation as well, since we had gone there to stay with some friends from work. Now that White Rock is open again, we hope to rejoin our friends until Los Alamos lets us back in. We expect to be one of the first neighborhoods to be repopulated.
"In the end, this has all been a big scare and adventure for most of us, but for many in Los Alamos it has been catastrophic. This afternoon, I went up to Pojoaque to retrieve our mail and talked to some of the folks standing in line. They had been renting one of the places burned to the ground, and had no renter's insurance, and so were left with whatever they had managed to pack out. One sad story of many.
"We owe many thanks to the thousand-plus firefighters who showed up to fight the Cerro Grande fire, and to the kind folks of Santa Fe and other surrounding areas who took in the refugees. I was truly moved by the efforts of volunteers at the Red Cross shelters and by the tremendous quantity of stuff donated by people and businesses. Although traditionally, the Santa Feans hold the Los Alamos crowd in suspicion and low regard, they still treated us with kindness and generosity when we got into serious trouble.
"Again, we expect to be back in our home soon, and I hope we will have the opportunity to return some kindness and generosity in helping the folks who got burned out. We have a couple extra rooms, so maybe we can house someone who is trying to put the pieces of their life back together."
* John's parents talked with him Tuesday after he and his family had returned to their house. All was in order, John said, but for one mystery. The floor of their garage had turned black, why, how he could not immediately determine.
* Oak Ridge has two "sister cities," one in Japan and one in Russia. But with our mutual Manhattan Project origins, Los Alamos is Oak Ridge's "sister" too.
Should not there then be some gesture by Oak Ridge to let our fellow "Atomic City" residents know that we have been concerned about them as we have seen, heard and read the fire reports: At very least a City Council resolution?
Some reports say that among the fire-damaged buildings were some of historic significance. Might Oak Ridge somehow offer some of its history as replacement, for indeed it is a momentous history -- judged by some the most important happening of the 20th century, -- that both cities, along with Hanford/Richland, share? -- RDS
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Ex-Oak Ridgers among thousands fleeing wildfire in Los Alamos
Thursday, May 11, 2000
from staff and wire reports
http://www.oakridger.com/ns-search/stories/051100/new_0511000083.html?NS-search-set=/392c4/aaaa169352c4229&NS-doc-offset=0&
Two former Oak Ridgers who live in White Rock, N.M., were among the latest to be evacuated from encroaching flames of the wildfire that was sweeping Los Alamos today.
Clarice Thompson, Oak Ridge, tried to call her daughter and son-in-law, Fred and Jane Bolton, at 6 their time this morning and got their answering machine, leading her to conclude that they'd been evacuated sometime during the night. She heard later this morning that they had gone to Santa Fe, taking everything with them that they could. They are staying with friends there.
Thompson said she had last talked to her daughter two days ago, at which time the Los Alamos National Laboratory and local schools had been shut down. At that time, Los Alamos residents were being evacuated to White Rock. Now, residents are being being evacuated to Santa Fe and another smaller nearby town, Pojoaque, she said.
The Boltons had formerly lived in Los Alamos but moved to White Rock 13 years ago. Fred Bolton is employed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Jane Bolton is the aunt of David Parker, new-media director for The Oak Ridger. The Boltons have three children.
A firestorm swept through the abandoned streets of Los Alamos today, burning at least 100 homes while frustrated firefighters ran short of water and were forced to retreat.
At least 18,000 people were evacuated from Los Alamos, including 7,000 in suburban White Rock this morning, where many evacuees had once sought safety.
"We weren't ready down here. We were the refugee center for our friends," Kirk Christensen said as he and his wife loaded their camper and headed into a sea of cars crawling down the highway. They were headed for a friend's house in Santa Fe, to camp in the yard.
No injuries have been reported, but President Clinton declared New Mexico a major disaster area.
At the storied Los Alamos National Laboratory, for the first time shut down by fire, flames singed a research building but it did not ignite. Explosives and radioactive material were protected in fireproof facilities, lab officials said.
"We can assure the country and New Mexico that our nuclear materials are safe," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico congressman.
The fire was set by the National Park Service a week ago to clear brush, but quickly flared out of control, racing through stands of ponderosa pine as it grew to some 18,000 acres. Winds gusted to 50 mph Wednesday and forecasters said they could increase today to 60 mph.
The fire was too dangerous to battle head-on, firefighters said. They pulled back as flames advanced, moving their command post to relative safety.
"This fire's got a mind of its own," county spokesman Bill Lehman said late Wednesday. Firefighters were reluctant to back off, Lehman said, but "there was just nothing we could do, because of the wind."
Water-bombing helicopters and airplanes dropping pink fire retardant bombarded the blaze, hoping to narrow its westward and northward thrust.
Los Alamos, 70 miles north of Albuquerque, is essentially a company town for the federal lab. It sprang up in the 1940s as the base of operations for the Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bomb. There are still military barracks and military-style housing in Los Alamos, along with relatively upscale, newer developments.
Neighborhood by neighborhood, the town burned Wednesday.
House after house filled with fire, glowed like jack-o-lanterns, then exploded in pulsing orange flames. Just after sundown, flames marched to a tree-covered ridge overlooking downtown, lighting the night sky.
As evacuees fled to shelters, hotels and motels outside Los Alamos, firefighter Sam Schroeder stood outside one flaming home.
"This is bizarre -- this house won't be touched," she said, pointing to the house next door. "This one will go all the way to the ground."
About one-third of the 10,000 residents in western Espanola, in a valley 10 miles below Los Alamos, were advised to leave because of flames sparked by embers from the Los Alamos blaze.
The Los Alamos laboratory declared a general emergency at 11 p.m. Wednesday, saying there were grass and brush fires at three of its research facilities. Its weapons-engineering tritium facility at Technical Area 16 was swept by fire, but the masonry building was left intact, lab officials said.
Public Service Company of New Mexico has shut off natural gas service to the lab, which was closed for the fourth straight day today.
James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director, planned to tour Los Alamos today, along with Richardson and New Mexico's U.S. senators, Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici.
In south-central New Mexico, a fire started Sunday by a campfire burned more than 8,600 forested acres in the Ruidoso area and forced the evacuation of several neighborhoods.
The fire, primarily in the Lincoln National Forest, was 35 percent contained by late Wednesday.
Another fire flared up some 50 miles northwest of Los Alamos in the Santa Fe National Forest.
The blaze, first reported Wednesday morning, was burning in mixed conifer trees at the edge of the Jicarilla Apache reservation.
A fire also scorched more than 100 acres of cottonwood and Russian olive trees and salt cedar brush along the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. Firefighters contained the blaze south of Belen and were watching for any possible flareups this morning.
"We weren't ready down here. We were the refugee center for our friends," Kirk Christensen said as he and his wife loaded their camper and headed into a sea of cars crawling down the highway. They were headed for a friend's house in Santa Fe, to camp in the yard.
No injuries have been reported, but President Clinton declared New Mexico a major disaster area.
At the storied Los Alamos National Laboratory, for the first time shut down by fire, flames singed a research building but it did not ignite. Explosives and radioactive material were protected in fireproof facilities, lab officials said.
"We can assure the country and New Mexico that our nuclear materials are safe," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico congressman.
The fire was set by the National Park Service a week ago to clear brush, but quickly flared out of control, racing through stands of ponderosa pine as it grew to some 18,000 acres. Winds gusted to 50 mph Wednesday and forecasters said they could increase today to 60 mph.
The fire was too dangerous to battle head-on, firefighters said. They pulled back as flames advanced, moving their command post to relative safety.
"This fire's got a mind of its own," county spokesman Bill Lehman said late Wednesday. Firefighters were reluctant to back off, Lehman said, but "there was just nothing we could do, because of the wind."
Water-bombing helicopters and airplanes dropping pink fire retardant bombarded the blaze, hoping to narrow its westward and northward thrust.
Los Alamos, 70 miles north of Albuquerque, is essentially a company town for the federal lab. It sprang up in the 1940s as the base of operations for the Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bomb. There are still military barracks and military-style housing in Los Alamos, along with relatively upscale, newer developments.
Neighborhood by neighborhood, the town burned Wednesday.
House after house filled with fire, glowed like jack-o-lanterns, then exploded in pulsing orange flames. Just after sundown, flames marched to a tree-covered ridge overlooking downtown, lighting the night sky.
As evacuees fled to shelters, hotels and motels outside Los Alamos, firefighter Sam Schroeder stood outside one flaming home.
"This is bizarre -- this house won't be touched," she said, pointing to the house next door. "This one will go all the way to the ground."
About one-third of the 10,000 residents in western Espanola, in a valley 10 miles below Los Alamos, were advised to leave because of flames sparked by embers from the Los Alamos blaze.
The Los Alamos laboratory declared a general emergency at 11 p.m. Wednesday, saying there were grass and brush fires at three of its research facilities. Its weapons-engineering tritium facility at Technical Area 16 was swept by fire, but the masonry building was left intact, lab officials said.
Public Service Company of New Mexico has shut off natural gas service to the lab, which was closed for the fourth straight day today.
James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director, planned to tour Los Alamos today, along with Richardson and New Mexico's U.S. senators, Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici.
In south-central New Mexico, a fire started Sunday by a campfire burned more than 8,600 forested acres in the Ruidoso area and forced the evacuation of several neighborhoods.
The fire, primarily in the Lincoln National Forest, was 35 percent contained by late Wednesday.
Another fire flared up some 50 miles northwest of Los Alamos in the Santa Fe National Forest.
The blaze, first reported Wednesday morning, was burning in mixed conifer trees at the edge of the Jicarilla Apache reservation.
A fire also scorched more than 100 acres of cottonwood and Russian olive trees and salt cedar brush along the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. Firefighters contained the blaze south of Belen and were watching for any possible flareups this morning.
-------- washington
Alarm disrupts work at Hanford
But take-cover alert canceled hours later
Thursday, May 18, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.seattlep-i.com:80/local/hanf18.shtml
RICHLAND -- A take-cover alarm that sounded after employees reported a sulfur smell yesterday at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation was canceled about four hours later.
The source of the smell was not found, but the alarm was canceled at about 11:50 a.m., Energy Department spokesman Mike Talbott said.
"We haven't found a specific source, but we don't have an emergency happening at the Hanford site right now," Talbott said.
Five employees were checked briefly at a medical facility on the 560-square-mile nuclear reservation but returned to work with no restrictions, the Energy Department said.
There was no release of radioactivity and the incident had no impact outside the reservation's boundaries, Talbott said.
The alarm meant as many as 2,500 employees working in the 200 East area in the center of the reservation were told to stay indoors until the source of the smell could be identified, Talbott said.
The 200 East area is where plutonium was chemically processed for nuclear weapons and where 177 underground high-level waste storage tanks are located.
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Stench briefly halts Hanford nuclear cleanup
USA: May 18, 2000
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=6735
SEATTLE (Reuters) - An unexplained sulfur smell that sickened five workers at the Hanford, Wash., nuclear facility halted cleanup operations and kept some 2,500 workers indoors for four hours, the contractor said Wednesday.
A Fluor Corp. subsidiary cleaning up various forms of toxic waste at the now-defunct U.S. Department of Energy site lifted a ``take cover'' warning after determining the odor did not indicate radiological contamination.
``We've yet to determine where the sulfur smell came from,'' said Fluor spokesman Michael Turner, speculating that an overflowing septic tank might be the culprit.
Of the workers treated for scratchy throats and nausea, three had been cleared to return to work, Turner said.
The 560 square mile Hanford facility in southeast Washington state produced weapons-grade plutonium for decades. It was built in the 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project, which yielded the first U.S. atomic bombs.
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A River Runs Through It: The Impact of Hanford on the Columbia
Norm Buske Presentation
("Slides" of Greenpeace investigations of Hanford, Mururoa, and Amchitka)
October 14, 1998 - Vancouver, Washington
http://www.whistleblower.org/images/buske/buskeslide1.htm
Norm Buske is a scientist and founder of Nuclear Weapons-Free America, a non-profit organization based in Spokane , and successor to the Greenpeace-USA nuclear campaign. As a Scientific Campaigner, Norm has conducted radiological investigations of American, French and Russian nuclear weapons sites for public interest groups. From 1983 until 1991, he has performed extensive analyses and published scientific papers focusing on the impacts of the radiological contamination of the Hanford Nuclear Site on the groundwater and the Columbia River.
Norm conducted investigations of accidents, mishaps, fires, and risks, performed reconstructive testing of components; computer simulations; and provided extensive testimony as an expert witness in legal proceedings. As an Oceanographer, he has performed catastrophic risk analysis of 24 near-shore site for structure design and for Navy Ops; performed Environmental Impact study of power-plant thermal outfalls and more.
Norm earned an MA in Oceanography from Johns Hopkins University (1967) with Ph.D. course work in 1967-68; and a BA and MS in Physics from the University of Connecticut.
He can be reached by e-mail at search@igc.org.
Copies of Norm Buske's studies are available upon request from the Government Accountability Project Offices. Call (206) 292-2850, or e-mail to gap@whistleblower.org.
Contact GAP for a copy of our recent videotape, "A Window on Hanford," featuring Norm Buske and other Hanford scientists and engineers. Available for $15 plus $1.50 shipping and handling. To Order, call (206) 292-2850, or e-mail to gap@whistleblower.org.
Government Accountability Project, 1402 Third Avenue, Suite 1215, Seattle, WA 98101.
--------- us nuc weapons
Today in Congress
Washington Post
Thursday, May 18, 2000; Page A11
Reuters
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-05/18/220l-051800-idx.html
Armed Services--2 p.m. U.S. strategic nuclear force requirements. Closed. 253 Russell Office Bldg. S-407 Capitol.
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Physicist details '50s plan for lunar atomic bomb blast
Bergen Record
Thursday, May 18, 2000
The Associated Press
http://www.bergen.com/morenews/bomb1820000518.htm
http://www.sltrib.com/05182000/nation_w/50074.htm
http://www.herald.com/content/thu/news/brknews/docs/021986.htm
The United States considered detonating an atom bomb on the Moon during the late 1950s as a demonstration of the nation's Cold War might, a Chicago physicist says.
The secret project, innocuously titled "A Study of Lunar Research Flights," was never carried out. But its planning included calculations by the astronomer Carl Sagan -- then a young graduate student -- of the behavior of the dust and gas generated by the blast.
Viewing the nuclear flash from Earth might have intimidated the Soviet Union and boosted Americans' confidence after the launch of Sputnik, said physicist Leonard Reiffel, who directed the inquiry at the former Armour Research Foundation, now part of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
"Now it seems ridiculous and unthinkable," said Reiffel, 72, who later served as a deputy director at NASA during the Apollo program. "But things were remarkably tense back then."
Sagan went on to become a worldwide celebrity for popularizing science on television. He died in 1996.
Reiffel described the plan in a letter to the scientific journal Nature.
Nature published a review of two new Sagan biographies. The author of one of the books suggested that Sagan breached security in 1959 by revealing the classified project in an application for an academic fellowship. Reiffel concurred that Sagan probably released classified information.
The U.S. space program was sputtering while the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and a pair of lunar probes.
The Eisenhower administration considered the lunar blast as a way to reassure Americans that the Soviet threat could be countered, while demonstrating to the Kremlin that the United States had an effective nuclear deterrent.
Under the scenario, a missile carrying a small nuclear device was to be launched from an undisclosed location and travel 238,000 miles to the Moon, where it would be detonated upon impact. The planners decided it would have to be an atom bomb because a hydrogen bomb would have been too heavy for the missile.
Military officials apparently abandoned the idea because of the danger to people on Earth in case of a failure. The scientists also registered concerns about contaminating the Moon with radioactive material, Reiffel said.
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Antimissile System's Flaw Was Covered Up, Critic Says
New York Times
May 18, 2000
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/051800sci-missile-defense.html
A prominent antimissile critic has found what he says is a major flaw in the Pentagon's antimissile plan and is calling on the White House to appoint a high-level scientific panel to investigate what he says were fraudulent efforts to cover it up.
If the critic is correct, the flaw may cripple or even kill the proposed weapon system, the cost of which is estimated at up to $60 billion.
The critic is Theodore A. Postol, professor of science and national security studies at M.I.T., author of many reports on antimissile systems and in the 1980's a science adviser to the chief of naval operations on ballistic missile technologies and potential weapons against them. He made his new accusations in a May 11 letter to John D. Podesta, the White House chief of staff, after reviewing Pentagon data gathered by an antimissile whistle-blower.
Dr. Postol's critique centers on the hardest part of the missile defense challenge, distinguishing incoming weapons from decoys and destroying them.
In the letter, a copy of which he gave to The New York Times, Dr. Postol said Pentagon sensor data he had obtained from the first antimissile test flight in June 1997 showed that the ground-based interceptor was inherently unable to make the distinction and that the Pentagon and its contractors had tried to hide this failure.
The coverup, he said, was "like rolling a pair of dice and throwing away all outcomes that did not give snake eyes."
An inability to tell cheap decoys from costly warheads in theory could force a defender to fire interceptors at every threatening object, which as a practical matter could make the system useless.
P. J. Crowley, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the White House was carefully weighing Dr. Postol's appeal but was unlikely to move quickly.
"It's premature to say this merits an outside review," Mr. Crowley said. "We have to let the Department of Defense complete its deployment readiness review," which starts in late June and lasts a month.
A senior federal official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that if a scheduled antimissile flight test failed, that would tend to bolster concerns about the system and probably help prompt an independent investigation.
Lt. Col. Richard Lehner of the Air Force, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said a detailed written response was being prepared for Dr. Postol and the White House.
"We take allegations of fraud very seriously," Colonel Lehner said. "We have looked at many of these allegations in the past, and have found nothing which supports either the scientific criticisms or any fraud."
But Richard L. Garwin, a top federal science adviser who has expressed doubts about some aspects of the missile defense idea, said he had seen Dr. Postol's letter and considered his technical points "very important."
In a recent New York Times/CBS poll, 58 percent of the respondents said they favored trying to build an antimissile defense. But that figure dropped to 25 percent, the poll found, when respondents were asked what their opinion would be "if many scientists conclude it is unlikely that such a system will ever work."
Testing of the would-be antimissile weapon has not gone smoothly. The first two flight experiments simply gathered sensor data on mock warheads and decoys. The most elaborate of these, in June 1997, is the subject of Dr. Postol's attack.
Last October, the Pentagon hailed the first intercept try as a success but later conceded that the interceptor had initially drifted off course and picked out the decoy balloon rather than the warhead. In a January test, a sensor coolant leak caused the interceptor to miss the target.
A third intercept test is set for late June.
President Clinton is expected to decide afterward whether the United States should build a limited defense against missile attacks by rogue countries.
To date, targets in the interception tests have consisted of a single mock warhead and a single decoy balloon. The Pentagon says it plans to increase decoy complexity in future tests.
In his letter to the White House, Dr. Postol said the Pentagon's analysis of the more elaborate June 1997 sensor test "urgently needs to be investigated by a team of scientists who are recognized for their scientific accomplishments and independence from the Pentagon." His three-page letter had four detailed attachments meant to back up his claims.
His charges are based partly on an antimissile criticism by Nira Schwartz, a former senior engineer at TRW, a top military contractor. In a suit against TRW, Dr. Schwartz has accused the company of faking antimissile tests and evaluations of computer programs for the interceptor's sensor and then firing her when she protested. Through her litigation and a Pentagon inquiry, Dr. Schwartz obtained many antimissile reports and data, some of which she has shared with Dr. Postol.
A nuclear engineer by training, Dr. Postol in his analysis of the Pentagon reports goes beyond questions of computer analysis of data from incoming targets. In fact, he said, the test showed that warheads and decoys appear so similar that sensors might never be able to tell them apart.
He also says the Pentagon conspired to cover up this sensor problem.
The brightness readings from the mock warhead and decoys, he told the White House, "fluctuated in a varied and totally unpredictable way," revealing no feature "that could be used to distinguish one object from the other."
Faced with this upset, Dr. Postal continued, the analytical team arbitrarily rejected and selected data to create an "elaborate hoax" that was then hidden in reports by the use of "misleading, confusing, and self-contradictory language."
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Issue Brief: Why the Nuclear Target List Should Shrink
From: Daryl Kimball dkimball@clw.org
May 18, 2000
As the Clinton-Putin summit approaches and US-Russian START III/ABM talks intensify, there are reports that the White House and Pentagon are considering lower strategic nuclear warhead limits than the 2500 number that is ensconced in current policy and nuclear war-fighting plans.
Some hard-line pro-nuclear members of Congress are trying to prevent any change in policy, while others are encouraging the Clinton administration to revise the policy for the better. The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear testimony from Chairman of the JCS, Henry Shelton, on the topic. However, it is clear that this is only a limited review and truly deep reductions (below 2000) will not be possible without new "guidance" from the President with regard to U.S. nuclear weapons and war-fighting plans that determine warhead "requirements."
The following Coalition Issue Brief by Bruce Blair of the Center for Defense Information addresses the issue.
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"Cold War Era Assumptions Drive U.S. Nuclear Force Levels:
Why the Target List Should Shrink"
COALITION TO REDUCE NUCLEAR DANGERS & THE CENTER FOR DEFENSE INFORMATION
ISSUE BRIEF Volume 4, Number 7, May 18, 2000
by Dr. Bruce Blair, President of the Center for Defense Information
LAST WEEK, several leading newspapers reported that the Pentagon is reviewing U.S. nuclear force "requirements" in connection with ongoing U.S.-Russian talks on the outlines of a third strategic arms reduction treaty (START III). According to a "senior" Pentagon official who spoke with The New York Timesand who is familiar with the review: "We are not looking outside the [2000-2500] range, and no one has come to us yet with pressure to say, we need to go below those numbers." Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to hear testimony from the Joints Chiefs of Staff on the nuclear force review.
Why can't the Pentagon accommodate a lowering of the START III floor to a level below 2,000 strategic weapons? The answer is actually quite simple, algebraic actually. It is because the strategic war plan - known as the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) - consists of a very long and redundant list of targets in Russia and a shorter list of targets in China that Pentagon planners say the U.S. needs to be able to destroy in order to meet the latest presidential guidance on nuclear war planning (Presidential Decision Directive 60, issued in November 1997).
Nuclear Target Proliferation
Oddly enough, the targeting list has been growing instead of contracting since START II was originally signed in 1993. The target list has grown by 20% over the last five years alone. The vast bulk of the targets are located in Russia. The former nuclear republics of the USSR (Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazahkstan) were dropped from the SIOP in 1997, but nevertheless the list grew from 2,500 in 1995 to 3,000 in the year 2000. There are about 2,260 "vital" Russian targets on the list today, divided into the four traditional categories - nuclear (1,100), conventional (500), leadership (160), and war-supporting industry (500). It is important to consider that there are 500 nuclear weapons aimed at a Russian army on the verge of a nervous breakdown; that there are 160 nuclear weapons aimed at leadership targets in a country that is practically devoid of leadership; and nuclear weapons aimed at 500 factories that produced almost zero armaments last year.
As a rule of thumb, U.S. strategic planners historically set the required level of damage against vital targets at the 80% "damage-expectancy" level. This is tantamount to requiring our strategic forces to be able to destroy 80% of the 2,260 Russian targets, which in turn requires the ability to deliver approximately 1,800 warheads to their targets. It is no accident that we have about 2,300 strategic missile warheads on launch-ready alert at this very moment (98% of the Minuteman III and Peacekeeper land-based force on 2-minute launch readiness plus 4 Trident submarines, two in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific, on 15-minute launch readiness). The land-based missiles need to launch on warning to ensure the survival and launch of U.S. forces that are sufficiently lethal against very hard targets such as Russian silos to meet the damage requirements.
If U.S. strategic forces have to quickly deliver at least 1800 warheads, then the Pentagon says we need a larger arsenal in total because of the unavoidable demands of replenishment and maintenance. For instance, typically, 6 out of the 18 Trident submarines are port-bound at any time and cannot be counted upon to survive and deliver nuclear warheads. Thus, the U.S. needs one-third more sea-based strategic weapons than it can expect to deliver in wartime.
New Targets for American Nuclear Bombs
Additional targeting requirements drive up the numbers of total strategic weapons in the U.S. arsenal. In 1998-99, the Pentagon put China back into the SIOP after a hiatus of about 20 years. (This was the result of President Clinton's 1997 nuclear guidance.) There are now two "Limited Attack Options" (LAOs) involving a handful of U.S. Trident sub and bomber weapons in each case assigned to attack Chinese leadership, nuclear targets, and critical industries. By comparison, the SIOP consists of 65 LAOs against Russia, each ranging from 2 to 120 weapons; and a handful of Major Attack Options, the smallest of which would send more than 1,000 U.S. strategic warheads to attack Russia's nuclear complex. In addition, there are hundreds of non-SIOP targets in China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea that have been assigned to the U.S. strategic forces (so-called strategic reserve forces). This targeting requirement further drives up the size of the U.S. strategic arsenal.
Add it all up, and you get 2,500 U.S. warheads at minimum that are deemed necessary to fulfill the SIOP goals against Russia and China (the two countries that, as Vice-President Gore says, represent our "vital partners," not our "enemies"). The START III floor may be lowered somewhat because several hundred hard targets (silos) in Russia will disappear as a result of START II or III reductions or obsolescence over the next decade.
Toward A More Sober Nuclear Policy
Getting below 2,000 will be difficult unless the SIOP target requirements are eased by new presidential guidance. Which of course they could be. No sober U.S. general, much less a political leader really believes that deterrence depends on the present scale of massive nuclear operations in wartime. Almost without exception, they regard the "Major Attack Options" that unleash thousands of nuclear warheads as absurd and grotesquely massive. They do not believe that a cold-blooded, deliberate nuclear strike by Russia or the United States against each other is remotely plausible. The only plausible scenarios for them are usually contingencies that involve the use of one or a handful of U.S. nuclear weapons (usually tactical rather than strategic weapons) against a country other than Russia.
There is no doubt whatsoever that deterrence would remain robust with far smaller arsenals on far lower levels of alert. The United States could easily drop to 1,500 warheads - the force ceiling under consideration in the START III talks with Russia. Such a force could consist of: 10 Trident submarines armed with 24 missiles each, and 2 warheads per missile (480 in total); 300 Minuteman III land-based missiles with one warhead apiece (300 warheads); 20 B-2 bombers with 16 weapons apiece (320 in total); and 50 B-52 bombers modified to carry 8 warheads apiece (400 in total), for a grand total of 1,500 warheads.
Alternatively, the Trident submarines could carry START II loadings of 5 warheads per missile, for a total of 1200 warheads, in lieu of the B-2 and B-52 bomber force, which could be retired from the strategic arsenal. However, U.S. strategic planners cringe at the thought of removing a leg from the vaunted TRIAD, a vestige of Cold War-era inter-service rivalry. Various intermediate loadings offer practical alternatives.
U.S. nuclear deterrent "requirements" could be adequately met with 1,500 strategic nuclear weapons. This force level would be more than necessary to assure the destruction of 250 targets of any choice in retaliation for any sudden strike under normal conditions, and assured destruction of 1,000 targets in retaliation to an attack in crisis conditions. If this degree of nuclear threat projection does not deter a prospective adversary, it is difficult to conceive of a retaliatory threat that would.
# # #
The Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, an alliance of 17 non-proliferation and arms control organizations including the Center for Defense Information, is committed to a practical, step-by-step program of action to reduce nuclear dangers. *The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of every member of the Coalition. For more information, contact: D. Kimball 202-546-0795 x136; or Dr. Bruce Blair 202-332-0600.
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GLOBAL NETWORK SPACE ALERT ! NEWSLETTER # 9
From: "Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space" globalnet@mindspring.com
Summer 2000
1. OUR GOAL: To create an active and well informed global constituency dedicated to protecting space and the Earth from a space-based arms race and ecological destruction.
2. TREASURY DEPARTMENT DEMO: Loring Wirbel from Colorado Springs writes: Our Keep Space for Peace events started in Washington DC in an atmosphere of hope and good spirits. A demonstration against Star Wars at the Treasury Department on April 14 drew 140, and the numbers swelled to 200 during an hour long picket line at the White House. Speakers at the rally included Dr. Michio Kaku and representatives from the Greens, WILPF, Peace Action, England, Puerto Rico and many others. An incredible amount of media were present and stayed for much of the event, due largely to the fact they were waiting for the IMF/World Bank protests to begin that weekend. Friends in New Mexico said they saw us on TV. It was great fun protesting with our overseas friends!
3. SPACE CONFERENCE: Loring Wirbel continues: The Global Network (GN) April 15 conference at American University had an overabundance of excellent speakers, capped by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The former mayor of Cleveland, Ohio also spoke at the April 16 Mobilization for Global Justice rally in DC. Kucinich addressed issues of space militarization as stridently and succinctly as he addressed global debt. The Congressman left many in the Saturday audience feeling that he not only understood space weapons issues, but that he was the first Democrat in many years to exude honesty and intelligence in his convictions. Rep. Kucinich made the connections between "missile defense" and planetary dominance, and warned that "We cannot survive as a nation with a Sword of Damocles approach." Speakers at the conference ranged from the lively Australian Helen Caldicott to the moving South African poet Dennis Brutus to the comedic but factual presentation by Bill Hartung of the World Policy Institute. Our Saturday evening supper party entertainment included moving folk music presentations by Holly Graham (Olympia, WA), Aurel Duta (Romania) and Michael Scott Miller (Ventura, CA), as well as a dynamic multimedia presentation from the "physics chanteuse" of San Francisco State University, Lynda Williams. This years conference included representatives from Romania, Ghana, Niger, England, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany and from all corners of the U.S. Other representatives from Bangladesh, Togo, Sierra Leone and Uzbekistan could not attend due to Visa troubles, despite concerted efforts by the GN Board of Directors to line up Congressional complaints to the State Department. Thanks to all who made this a great event!
4. NPT REVIEW CONFERENCE: The United Nations Non-Proliferation Review Conference began in New York on April 24 with Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system "could well lead to a new arms race." Annan said that plans to move away from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty "may well reduce, rather than enhance, global security." The U.N. conference was called to review a 1968 treaty in which non-nuclear states agreed not to try to develop or acquire nuclear weapons as long as the nuclear powers pursue disarmament. Hundreds of representatives from NGO's around the world came to the event to lobby all the nuclear powers to move quicker toward disarmament. The GN, along with Abolition 2000, hosted a panel discussion for NGO's and U.N. missions that drew a large crowd to hear Karl Grossman, Alice Slater, Dr. Rashi Mayur, and Bruce Gagnon speak about space weapons. GN Board member Regina Hagen (Germany) also represented the GN on another panel dealing with space during the several week event. To a considerable extent the U.S. plan to deploy Star Wars set the tone and dominated the conference deliberations because of the obvious implications for arms control.
5. BMD LATEST NEWS: The cost is going up! A recent Congressional Budget Office figure is now at $60 billion through 2015. The next test from Vandenberg AFB in California and Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean will be June 26 and an extra test has been set for October. Each National Missile Defense (NMD) flight test costs $100 million. Russia's recent ratification of the CTBT and Start II, as well as calls for missile reductions in the range of 1,500, is causing North Carolina's Republican Sen. Jesse Helms' veins to harden. Clinton will meet with Russia's President Putin in Moscow on June 4-5 to try to get Russia to agree to changes in the ABM Treaty that presently restricts systems like BMD. Clinton is said to be offering cuts of his own in nuclear weapons under a new Start III treaty in exchange for Russian acceptance of BMD. Star Wars proponent Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa) recently fumed that, "People like Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton have been overwhelmed by the arms control crowd."
6. PROBLEMS FOR BMD: Several key obstacles are popping up that could cause a delay in deployment of BMD. The first is that a former senior engineer at TRW, Dr. Nira Schwartz, was recently fired by the corporation after she told them the system will not work. She is now suing the company alleging that BMD is "not a defense of the U.S..It's a conspiracy to allow them (TRW) to milk the government. They are creating for themselves a job for life." A delay by Boeing Corporation in delivering key simulation software for NMD could also delay the system. Flight tests performed so far cannot test the ability of NMD to counter a wide range of potential missile attacks. The head of the Pentagon's testing and evaluation directorate recently stated that, "Absence of a functioning and valid simulation software will place significant limitations on the DoD's ability to assess the potential effectiveness of the NMD system at the deployment readiness review" that will be done before Clinton makes his final decision. Another key problem is that deployment of the new BMD fleet of surveillance and tracking satellites called Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) that is central to the operation of the system will not be in place until a year after the rest of the program is scheduled to be ready.
7. NEW BMD RADARS: In order to properly direct the BMD system the Pentagon must build new radar facilities and expand existing ones. The most important new radar would be built on Shemya, the Aleutian island off Alaska that sits about 1,500 miles from the nearest military outpost. The difficulty of building a radar dome on Shemya is driving the tight decision-making schedule that requires Clinton to make his final decision by this fall. Other radar upgrades would happen at Menwith Hill and Fylingdales in Yorkshire, England; Thule, Greenland; at Vardo in northern Norway near the Russian border; Cape Cod, MA.; Blaylock Ranch, Texas; Grand Forks, N.D.; and Beale AFB in California. The resistance movement must build links in all these areas.
8. PAVE PAWS: On Cape Cod, MA. sits a 21-year old Pentagon radar site called PAVE PAWS. The early warning radar, which would be part of the BMD up-grade system, emits electromagnetic radiation and is being blamed for Cape Cod's higher-than-average cancer rates. In a recent series of public hearings on the Cape, residents have turned out demanding that the radar facility be closed. The lead scientist on a panel appointed by the state to study health impacts of the radar was discovered to have worked for the Pentagon.
9. MENWITH UPDATE: Menwith Hill, England is the U.S. space surveillance base that is also undergoing up-grade for BMD. Lindis Percy (Campaign for Accountability of American Bases - CAAB) reports that "The construction of the two SBIRS radomes (radars) at Menwith is taking off now. The 'stems' which will hold the satellite dishes have been lifted into place and it looks as if the frame of the dishes are on the ground. The next stage of the legal action (to challenge this construction) which should have been on May 11 has been temporarily postponed. Maybe it will be to our advantage as it gives us more time to prepare. There is an awful (I mean just that!) lot of information coming in now isn't there?" In another development at Menwith, GN Board member Helen John was arrested on May 9 for blockading the highway in front of the base. She was expected to be in jail for nine days.
10. FUTURE VISIONS: There is growing evidence that the military is already looking way beyond the BMD system. A recent Pentagon report, Premises for Policy: Maintaining Superiority in the 21st Century states that, "In order to neutralize - and selectively deny access to space, DoD must develop the means to control and destroy space assets (both in space and at ground level)." The Pentagon is exploring different technologies in case the present BMD system runs into problems. Chief Scientist of the Air Force Space Command Gene McCall recently stated that, "Right now, we just don't have the capability for killing it (enemy satellites), but we are going to have to do that. That's going to come." Pentagon leadership feels that they have insufficient funds for development of "future capabilities." Asked by Congress if they need more money for testing NMD, Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), recently remarked that a better way to spend money would be to explore "alternative paths to accomplish NMD goals."
11. SPACE-BASED LASERS: The "follow on" technology to the Trojan horse BMD is a constellation of 20-30 space-based lasers now under development at TRW, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. These nuclear powered weapons could be used to intercept missiles, attack "enemy" satellites in space, and hit ground based targets. This system would complete the U.S. first strike capability. The Pentagon is saying that the "time is ripe for lasers and other directed energy systems." Called the Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment the hardware is being eyed to fly into orbit in 2012 and carry out tests for about three years. "The idea of a space-based laser has been around since 1977. Since then, a lot of technology has matured. We believe we're right at the point where we can now tackle the big challenge of integrating that technology together and flying it in space, " said Air Force Major Arnie Streland, head of Space-Based Laser Acquisition, Planning and Management in Los Angeles. Much of the work on these systems will be done at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico where the Air Force Research Laboratory hosts the Directed Energy Directorate.
12. NEW POLL: A recent ABC News poll revealed that 53% of Americans were opposed to a new Star Wars program because of the fact that the plan won't work, is too expensive, and could create a new arms race in space. Forty-four percent were in favor of the system. Other recent revelations that the Pentagon could not show receipts for $2.3 trillion in 1999 and that Boeing Corporation executives cashed in on multi-million bonuses last year are indicating that taxpayers' hard earned dollars are being wasted in record quantities at the very time that social programs are under assault. Voters will respond positively to these issues if they are forced into the public discourse. Boeing is responsible for nearly $1 billion in cost overruns on the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing will also get another $1 billion contract from the Air Force soon to upgrade the GPS satellite system. The military consumed more than 41% of the federal budget for fiscal year 1999.
13. JUNE 26 NMD TEST: Since the Pentagon has set the date of June 26 for the next NMD test from Vandenberg AFB and Kwajalein Atoll, the GN has put out the call for protest actions to be organized on/before the test. Several key space facilities will draw protests on June 24 (Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral, Space Command HQ in Colorado Springs, and Menwith Hill in England.) We urge people to organize local protest actions in your communities before the June 26 test and please let us know about them.
14. UK ACTIONS: Dave Webb in Yorkshire reports the following: May 26 is the anniversary of the start of the 1972 ABM Treaty which is under threat from NMD plans. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has produced a postcard that we are asking people across the country to send to Tony Blair on May 26. On June 26 CAAB will be at Menwith Hill to voice our protest against the planned NMD test from Vandenberg and Kwajalein. Media and governments around the world will be watching the NMD test which makes it a significant event. On July 4 CAAB and Yorkshire CND are organizing an "independence from America" demonstration at Menwith Hill. At noon that day we will send off a group of walkers who will be striding out over the moors to the U.S. Early Warning Radar Station at Fylingdales during the following five days. The walkers will include Dave Knight (CND Chair), Bruce Kent (CND Vice-President), Lindis Percy (CAAB) and Jeremy Corbyn (Member of Parliament, MP). We don't want U.S. Star Wars in the UK - or anywhere! For more information check our UK website at: http://www.gn.apc.org/cndyorks/caab/
15. GOVERNMENTS PROTEST: At the grassroots level in the U.S. and overseas we are now seeing a dramatic growth in opposition to Star Wars. Efforts to pressure Clinton and Congress before the fall BMD decision are rapidly building. On the government level, especially in Europe, there has been major activity lately. Denmark, which still has some control over Greenland, has said that if the ABM Treaty is violated then Greenland "can't support plans for an upgrade of the Thule radar." German President Johannes Rau, while recently in the U.S., stated that "What is at stake is the fate of the entire world.arms control and disarmament must not be allowed to come to a halt." In England more than 270 MP's have signed motions urging their government to have nothing to do with Washington's new son of Star Wars. And Mikhail Gorbachev on April 25 warned the U.S. of its dangerous "superiority complex" and criticized Madeleine Albright for saying that there were "exceptional circumstances" in which the U.S. had the right to use military force unilaterally, even if other countries objected. Even Canada is showing some reluctance to go along with Uncle Sam and France is issuing strong words of caution to the U.S. In response the CIA is claiming that Iran will soon be able to hit Europe with nuclear missiles and dropping hints that the BMD system could be enlarged to cover Europe at almost double the cost. (Of course European governments would have to cancel their "national health care" to pay for it.) Secretary of Defense William Cohen recently stated in a news briefing that "The Russians are unlikely to agree to anything (changes to ABM) as long as they feel they can split the alliance on this, because we need the cooperation of several key allies as far as forward deployed radars. The more solid we are the better." Russia is feeling encircled, by the expansion of NATO, by the demands of U.S. led international banking institutions, and now BMD. Russia is deeply concerned that the BMD system is just the beginning of a larger space-based weapons system that would threaten their deterrent capability. They can hardly afford to participate in a costly new arms race.
16. AND CHINA TOO: Long enemies, Russia and China are now meeting to discuss military cooperation to counter U.S. domination in international affairs. The prospect of the U.S. deploying Theatre Missile Defense (TMD) on ships, airborne lasers, or on land in/around Taiwan is freaking China out. The U.S. maintains that TMD is intended for the "rogue state" North Korea. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman recently stated that, "The U.S. is a huge superpower and you're afraid of little North Korea? Is it convincing? What is more plausible is that American strategic thinkers have China in mind. So this TMD could be even more dangerous for Russia and China than the NMD." While the U.S. now expands arms sales to Taiwan and recently refused to ratify the CTBT, China has become convinced that America is determined to maintain and expand its military superiority over Russia and China. Some in Congress are showing more of an interest in TMD as well. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Deleware), and ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recently asked Clinton to delay deployment of the NMD system. But Biden has said that a sea-based TMD program, deployed on U.S. Aegis destroyers homeported at Yokosuka, Japan, should go forward instead. This option might mollify the Europeans the thinking goes.
17. ISRAELI TMD: Warning of a growing missile threat in the Middle East, a new U.S.-Israel program called Arrow is being deployed for "countrywide defense." The biggest obstacle Israel faces is paying for all of the missiles they need, so they hope to cover the cost of Arrow by selling the system to Britain, Turkey, and Japan. Israel is also pushing for access to classified U.S. satellite imagery as part of their wider plan to use space for regional military superiority. Outgoing Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliahu says that "I don't want to make bombastic declarations about space superiority, although I will say that we share a similar concept with the Americans, albeit on a much smaller scale." Israel is seeking nearly $17 billion in U.S. military assistance and technology and voted to abstain, along with the U.S., at the U.N. General Assembly last November on a 138-0-2 vote on a resolution calling for a global ban on weapons in space. Russia has said it will sell advanced multi-warhead missiles capable of overwhelming Israel's new Arrow system to its allies in the Middle East.
18. CYBERWAR: The U.S. used computers to attack Yugoslavia during last year's war. Air defense systems and Yugoslavia's banking records were cyber destroyed. Come next October, the U.S. military's offensive cyberwarfare programs will be consolidated at the U.S. Space Command in Colorado. Cyberwar raises a host of unprecedented legal questions. The line between military sites and civilian infrastructure may not exist. Russia is proposing talks on "electronic arms control."
19. OCTOBER 7 ACTIONS: The GN, along with a growing list of other sponsors, will be promoting an International Day of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space on October 7. Since the Pentagon recently decided to try to squeeze in one more NMD test in October, our October 7 actions will be a great opportunity to raise the Star Wars issue at a peak moment. A particularly large action, including civil disobedience, is now being planned for Vandenberg AFB on that date. Please consider organizing a local protest on October 7 and help us spread the word. We'll keep you posted as things develop.
20. MARS OR BUST: The disappearance of NASA's Mars Polar Lander last December was no surprise to the agency. Prior to its arrival at Mars, a review board had already identified a fatal design flaw with the braking thrusters that doomed the mission, but NASA withheld the information from the media and the public. The Polar Lander vehicle's braking engines had failed testing during construction. But rather than begin an expensive redesign, a NASA official simply altered the conditions of the testing until the engine passed. Another $165 million down the drain! NASA administrator Daniel Goldin will be asking for more money from Congress in 2001 than was originally appropriated. NASA and its supporters blame recent Mars snafus on a lack of funding for the agency. NASA is considering the use of several nuclear-powered spacecraft in the future to explore Mars. Another NASA mission that will be using nuclear power on-board, the Europa Orbiter, originally scheduled for launch in 2004 will likely be postponed to January, 2006 due to continuing technical problems.
21. WORKERS EXPOSED: Eight workers at the Department of Energy's (DoE) Los Alamos labs in New Mexico were exposed to deadly plutonium 238 on March 16 when they inhaled the toxic substance. It is the worst incident in seven years at the lab. The workers were making plutonium generators for future space missions. The DoE is expanding their production of nuclear devices for space and is even considering re-opening previously closed plutonium productions facilities at their string of labs.
22. RADIATION WORKERS IN SPACE: NASA plans to send 30 astronauts into space this year to begin building the International Space Station. They will be exposed to deadly doses of solar radiation and have been officially classified as "radiation workers" by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Space radiation is more damaging to astronauts than radiation encountered by workers on Earth. One former spacewalking astronaut once described himself feeling like a walking "time bomb" because of exposure to space radiation. The mainstream media won't be covering this story.
23. SPACE PROPERTY GRAB: As aerospace corporations line up to prepare for space mineral exploitation there is growing concern among them about international treaties that ban private land claims on planetary bodies. One company, Applied Space Resources, Inc., is planning a private sample-return mission from the Moon in 2002. Alonzo Fyfe, Vice-President of Strategic Planning for the company, recently stated that, "It's crucial to approach the issue (of property rights) intelligently, lest legal entanglements and a public backlash threaten the development of such a system. Some think the U.N.'s Moon Treaty language that outer space is 'the common heritage of mankind' means its riches should be distributed to all or touched by none...these sentiments might push courts and legislatures to interpret the U.N.'s Outer Space Treaty as forbidding private entities...from making territorial claims in space. Either result would damage the industry, either by banning resource development missions outright or by clouding title to space resources that a private company might discover and develop. The more fear we generate..the more we risk boycotts and other types of consumer backlash - not to mention opposition to useful measures such as 'zero gravity/zero tax' laws."
24. NEW BOD: At our GN annual meeting on April 16 in Washington a new Board of Directors was approved for 2000. They are: Karl Grossman, Convener (New York); Dave Webb, Treasurer (England); Bruce Gagnon, Secretary/Coordinator (Florida); Regina Hagen (Germany); Dr. Michio Kaku (New York); Aurel Duta (Romania); Helen John (England); Edward Appiah Brafoh (Ghana); and Sonya Ostrom (New York). Janet Cuevas (New York) was chosen to be our U.N. representative since our official NGO status was recently approved. Janet is a lawyer and is interested in developing greater expertise in space law issues. The BOD meets regularly via the internet.
25. NEXT GN ANNUAL MEETING: The membership approved our next annual meeting for the spring of 2001 and our friends in Yorkshire, England (home of Menwith Hill and Fylingdales U.S. spy bases) will host that event. There will also be a day of direct action at the bases as part of the meeting.
26. KUCINICH VIDEO: Place your order now for a new video copy of Rep. Dennis Kucinich's speech at our recent conference at American University in Washington. This excellent presentation (runs about 40 minutes) is a must see and can be obtained from us for $13 (includes s/h). The Congressman concludes the speech by saying that, "We have to address this as a moral issue.We cannot accede to those powerful institutions who would simply, blindly, lead us down a path to destruction of freedom in this country and around the world.We have to recognize the essential humanity of everyone. We need a politics which is focused on human rights. Which is focused on love, not hate."
27. STICKERS/PACKETS: We have bumperstickers for sale at $1 each (12 for $10). Pick either KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE or NO WEAPONS IN SPACE. We also have space organizing packets (which include a copy of the Space Command's Vision for 2020) at $5 each.
28. MEMBERSHIP: Much thanks to those affiliate groups and individuals who have sent in their 2000 membership dues. Without your support we could not do this newsletter and the other work of the GN. Our annual fee is $10- $100 (pay what you can best afford within the sliding scale.) Donations to the GN are tax deductible. Check our web site at: http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
29. PETITION: Click onto and sign our No Star Wars - No BMD on-line petition addressed to Clinton & Congress. Help spread the word about it to your personal e-mail list. http://www.petitiononline.com/BKG/petition.html
30. HELP DISTRIBUTE: If you'd like to help distribute this newsletter please let us know how many copies you could use. A donation to cover bulk postage would be most appreciated.
Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 Gainesville, FL. 32607 (352) 337-9274 globalnet@mindspring.com http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
-------- us politics
Fourth Amendment Sneak Attack
Reno's outrageous Secret Searches measure.
[Talking about secrets ... a little off "nuc" news, but still important when you look at the larger picture of what nuclear weapons are here to protect....]
5/18/00 9:50 a.m.
By Dave Kopel, of the Independence Institute
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment051800a.html
The Reno Department of Justice is very good at being sneaky. The DOJ's lobbyists are on the verge of successfully sneaking into law a provision which will authorize federal agents to stealthily enter people's homes, search the homes, and not tell anyone.
The Secret Searches measure is so outrageous that it would have no chance of being enacted as a bill on its own, when subjected to public scrutiny and debate. So instead, the DOJ has nestled the Secret Search item deep inside a long bill dealing with methamphetimines. The measure is further disguised with the innocuous title of "Notice Clarification."
Subject to virtually no public discussion, the Secret Searches item has already passed the Senate, hidden inside the methamphetimine giant S. 486. Next week, the House Judiciary Committee will take up H.R. 2987, the House version of the Senate bill, which also contains the buried clause on Secret Searches (section 301). The federal bankruptcy reform bill (which has passed both houses, and is currently in a conference committee) likewise has the hidden Secret Searches language.
If the Secret Searches provision became law, it would apply to all searches conducted by the federal government, not just searches involving methamphetimines or bankruptcy.
When conducting searches, federal agents are currently required to announce their presence before entering, and to provide an inventory of any items they take. Because the person whose home or business is being searched knows about the search, he can exercise his Fourth Amendment rights, and make sure that the police have a properly-issued search warrant. He can also see if the search is being conducted according to the warrant's terms - i.e., the police are searching only for items authorized by the warrant, they are searching the right address, etc.
But under a Secret Searches law, federal police could enter a person's home surreptitiously, conduct a search, and not tell the homeowner until months later.
Even months later, the police would not have to provide an inventory of "intangible" items which were taken in a search. So if the police entered your home secretly, and photocopied your diary or made a copy of your computer hard disk, they would never have to inform you of their actions.
Should the Secret Searches item be deleted from the methamphetimine and bankruptcy bills, it is likely that Clinton will try to sneak the item into a gigantic budget bill, during the Congressional Republicans' annual fall appropriations surrender. Take note: In a previous Congress, Clinton was able to obtain authority for warrantless wiretaps - which had been defeated after public debate earlier in the year - by hiding the authority in the year's omnibus budget bill.
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Crime wave
Sure nickle-and-dime criminal acts are down, but what about the big-money corporate lawbreakers?
By Ralph Nader
http://www.sfbayguardian.com/nader/101.html
Listen to Ralph Nader's March 3 speech in San Francisco.
http://www.sfbayguardian.com/listen/green.html
On May 7 the Federal Bureau of Investigation released data on serious crime in the United States. The FBI notes that both murder and robbery registered 8 percent declines since 1988. Missing from the news release was any data on crime in the suites.
That information vacuum is notable because corporate crime and violence are often the result of calculated, rational decisions made by people who clearly would be deterred by stronger penalties and enforcement.
Corporate decision-making determines many of the key questions that affect our lives. These decisions are made not through the democratic process, but in the private suites of major corporations here and abroad. Decisions about how our natural resources will be used. The kind and price of products and services. Where and how much toxic pollution will be released into the air, water, and soil. Whether jobs will be created, taken away, or moved. Whether conditions in workplaces will be safe. Worker pay. Whether women and minorities will receive truly equal opportunities. Which political parties, groups, and candidates will have enough money to saturate the airwaves. What technologies will be developed that fundamentally affect the natural world and the shape of our urban skylines. And the way crops are grown.
Many of these decisions are constrained by market forces and addressed by state and federal statutes and regulations. But market forces don't work where, as is often the case, various dimensions of competition are minimized and consumer access to information is weak. Moreover, due to corporate lobbying and the competition among states for corporate business, the laws governing corporate conduct set low standards - which give executives plenty of leeway within the weak existing legal strictures.
The influence on corporate decision-making by shareholders - let alone by employees, consumers, affected small businesses, and surrounding communities - is pathetically weak, because our system of regulating corporate governance is a failure. Rules for corporate control have been left to the individual states, and the result is well-known: a race to the bottom in which states compete to offer the package of rules and incentives most attractive to business.
Weak legal provisions and an imbalance of power between corporate management and shareholders are one thing, but what is worse is that even the relatively low standards set by the law - such as limits on misconduct like fraud, toxic dumping, hazardous work conditions, and marketing dangerous products - are often flouted. As bad as street crime is, the evidence is stronger than ever that wrongdoing by corporations inflicts far more preventable violence and economic damage on society.
We don't know the precise magnitude of corporate crime due to the curious absence of Justice Department data on such lawlessness, but there is reason to believe it is enormous. The FBI reports that in 1999, burglary and robbery cost our nation approximately $3.8 billion. Meanwhile, according to W. Steve Albrecht, professor of accountancy at Brigham Young University, white-collar fraud - doctor and lawyer overbilling, defense procurement scams, and the like - costs us perhaps $200 billion a year.
Street criminals do not have a monopoly on violent crime, either. About 24,000 people in this country are murdered each year, says the FBI. But far more Americans - 100,000, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health - die annually from work-related diseases like black lung and asbestosis. Sixty-five thousand die preventable deaths due to air pollution. More than 400,000 Americans die annually from tobacco-related disease (a result of longtime tobacco industry marketing practices aimed at hooking adolescents into a lifetime of tobacco addiction).
Corporate environmental crimes are also widespread. Exxon, International Paper, United Technologies, Weyerhaeuser, Pillsbury, Ashland Oil, Texaco, Nabisco, and Ralston-Purina have all been convicted in recent years.
Against the backdrop of these factors - immense power and influence by the major corporations and weak controls by shareholders, labor, and other concerned constituencies; a disastrous race to the bottom in state corporate chartering; and an epidemic of corporate misconduct - citizens need to consider a Corporate Decency Act, a new approach to ensuring that our largest corporations act as good citizens in our society.
Where traditional federal regulation has focused on the external relationships of the corporation - don't pollute, don't fix prices, don't air deceptive advertisements - the Corporate Decency Act would seek to reform the internal governance structure of our largest corporations so that, in a manner consistent with our free-market economy, companies would exercise their power and discretion in more democratic and accountable ways.
It's time for corporate crime to be treated like street crime - as a dangerous affront to an organized, law-respecting society.
Citizens interested in getting tough on crime in the suites can find a model Corporate Decency Act on the following Web page: http://www.nader.org/modellaws/decency.html.
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Report: Nader visit to the Yale Co-op in New Haven May 17 2000
From: "mitzi" upthesun@cshore.com
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 01:36:47 -0000
It was an enthusiastic audience of (my and other's "guesstimate") about 250-300. Ralph Nader compared the billions spent on military planes unwanted by the Pentagon with the complaints of "no money" for social needs. When he referred to pollution in the cities he failed to mention nuclear contamination. He spoke of the U.S. increase in nuclear weaponry while Russia is opposed to such spending. He referred briefly at the end to nuclear weapons, weapons in space and how the projected "1000" nuclear power plants in the US never happened and called for a solar economy in response to my question about the connection in the nuclear technology between the military and commercial use. He was late for his next stop, but I was disappointed that he didn't address recent developments, eg MOX, deregulation and the auctioning of old nukes for pennies on the dollar, the decommissioning fund ripoff, DU use in Iraq, Yugoslavia and Vieques, the proliferation of nuclear power technology, recycling of radioactive waste into consumer products, the planned new generation of nukes, the Los Alamos threat, etc., instead sounded as though he was still in the 1980s. Still, everything else he touched upon was true and to the point.
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House panel targets telephone tariff
Washington Times
May 18, 2000
By John Godfrey THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000518233950.htm
The House's tax-writing committee yesterday unanimously approved a plan to repeal a century-old, on-again, off-again excise tax on telephone and teletype services.
"Whether it was used to help fund wars or simply to put more money in the federal coffers, public policy-makers have always figured out a way to keep this cash cow around," said Rep. Rob Portman, Ohio Republican.
"This tax is regressive and increasingly hard to administer," said Rep. Robert T. Matsui, California Democrat, who is co-sponsoring the excise-tax repeal.
The repeal would begin to take effect 30 days after enactment, be fully phased in over three years, and save taxpayers about $20 billion over the next five years.
In the Senate, a similar repeal was introduced by Sens. William V. Roth Jr., Delaware Republican, and John B. Breaux, Louisiana Democrat.
Mr. Roth, who chairs the Senate's tax-writing committee, hopes to bring it up this year, but has not yet placed it on the schedule, said Ginny Flynn, spokesman for the committee.
In recent years, the repeal has not been a priority for either party, but it found new life this spring because it fits the Republican plan to pass a series of discreet and hopefully irresistible tax cuts instead of one gigantic tax-cut plan. Democrats like the repeal because it most helps working-class families, but worry how it will fit into the overall budget.
The telephone excise tax was first imposed in 1898 to help finance the Spanish-American War. The tax, then only on long-distance calls, was repealed in 1902, but reinstated during World War I. It was again repealed in 1924, but reenacted in 1932. During World War II, it was extended to include local service.
The tax has been in effect ever since, despite periodic legislation to repeal or phase it out, and today remains at 3 percent.
There are numerous exemptions to the tax, including local calls from pay phones, leased telephone lines, long-distance calls made in the collection of news by the public press, and long-distance calls by members of the armed services who are stationed in combat zones.
Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said the tax is economically inefficient and becoming increasingly difficult to administer as "technological advances blur the distinction between taxable and nontaxable communications services."
Nonetheless, while the repeal is a "worthy policy objective," it should "only be enacted as part of an appropriate, overall budget framework," Mr. Summers said in a letter yesterday to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, Texas Republican.
Rep. Jerry Weller, Illinois Republican, accused the administration of "hedging" and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, said the administration's "maneuvering . . . is disturbing."
Others noted that Democrats and President Clinton earlier this year raised similar objections to repealing the earnings limit on Social Security benefits just days before reversing course and announcing they would back the repeal.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, said he had been persuaded by Sen. Charles S. Robb, Virginia Democrat, that the repeal "is overdue." Mr. Robb is one of the cosponsors of the Senate version of the bill.
"I not only support, it but will join [Mr. Robb] in making whatever effort necessary on this side to repeal it," Mr. Daschle said.
Mr. Archer jokingly countered that former Virginia Gov. George F. Allen - who is challenging Mr. Robb in his bid for re-election - is the "only reason" he brought the repeal up in his House Ways and Means Committee.
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Gore takes aim at Bush's plan for private retirement accounts
Washington Times
May 18, 2000
By Andrew Cain THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000518223117.htm
Vice President Al Gore hopes to deride George W. Bush's Social Security plan to victory in November, despite the Texas governor's gains among senior voters.
Mr. Bush's plan for private retirement accounts would "take the security out of Social Security," Mr. Gore told 10,000 senior citizens yesterday at a convention of the American Association of Retired Persons in Orlando.
"I don't think your retirement should be up for discussion," Mr. Gore said. "I don't believe your Social Security should be up for grabs."
Seniors remained Mr. Gore's strongest demographic group, even as he lost ground to Mr. Bush in recent polls.
But Mr. Bush is closing the gap, drawing within 9 points of Mr. Gore among seniors.
"The American people want leadership and results on Social Security reform, not four more years of Al Gore's flip-flops, denials and attacks," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday.
Last year Mr. Gore spoke in favor of Mr. Clinton's plan for a partial privatization of Social Security. The vice president now says he only explored the idea.
In 1996, President Clinton won among older voters by 6 percentage points, according to a Washington Post exit poll. Among voters aged 60 and older, Mr. Clinton won 49 percent of votes, to 43 percent for Republican Bob Dole and 7 percent for Reform candidate Ross Perot.
Seniors made up 23 percent of the electorate.
Mr. Clinton won among seniors by 12 points in 1992.
AARP, a nonpartisan group of 30 million seniors, has not taken a position on the Bush plan. But AARP believes individual retirement accounts should be "in addition to Social Security, not as a substitute," said John Rother, legislative director of the AARP.
The leader of another seniors organization said Mr. Gore's attempt to "scare seniors for political gain" will not work.
"The days of Democratic demagoguery are done, and Al Gore, the duke of demagoguery, is going to find that out," said James L. Martin, 64, president of the 60-Plus Association.
Mr. Gore challenged Mr. Bush to hold a debate, "as soon as possible," on their competing Social Security proposals.
"I believe we can reform Social Security the right way," Mr. Gore said. "We can reform it in a way that preserves its fundamental guarantee - and also pays down our debt, keeps our economy strong and enables us to meet our other great challenges."
Mr. Gore proposes to pay down the national debt through budget surpluses and to shore up the Social Security Trust Fund through the interest savings.
Mr. Gore tried to raise doubts about the Bush plan by raising unanswered questions about transition costs and whether Mr. Bush would raise the retirement age for Social Security.
"Can we really settle for so many unanswered questions on an issue as great as Social Security?" Mr. Gore asked.
Mr. Bush said Tuesday that voluntary personal savings accounts "build on the promise of Social Security."
Mr. Bush told workers at a company that builds railroad cars in Portland, Ore., that such accounts strengthen Social Security, "give people the security of ownership," and help them "build wealth, which they can pass on to their children."
Both parties have vied for seniors' votes in the run-up to the congressional and presidential elections.
Earlier this month Mr. Bush proposed a $7.4 billion, five-year plan of tax breaks to help Americans care for elderly relatives at home or in nursing homes.
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore have pushed for a Medicare plan with a prescription drug benefit that would cost $20 billion annually.
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Bush pushes for China relations in trade talk
USA Today
05/17/00- Updated 10:04 AM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/e98/e1802.htm
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - Against the backdrop of a gleaming new airplane, George W. Bush today was urging Congress to grant China normal trade status to boost U.S. sales overseas and spread liberty in the Communist nation.
The Republican presidential candidate acknowledged his rare moment of agreement with the Clinton administration, which is pushing for normalization. He said political differences should not prevent the House from voting in favor of the agreement once debate starts on Wednesday.
The Senate would take up the matter later if the House approves it.
''The stakes are high on all sides,'' Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery at a Boeing Co. airplane factory. The Washington-based company is the nation's largest exporter, and the plane that served as a backdrop, the Boeing 777, is a popular pick for Asian airlines.
''For businesses, workers and farmers across our country, it will mean much lower trade barriers and enormous opportunities for U.S. exports. For the people of East Asia, it will affect their relations with the region's major power. For the people of China, it holds out the hope of more open contact with the world of freedom,'' Bush said.
The China bill would end the annual practice of renewing China's trade status and grant Beijing the same normal trade relations that the United States extends routinely to nearly every other nation in the world.
The bill also would ease China's entry into the World Trade Organization - although China could still become a member without congressional consent.
While President Clinton favors trade normalization, Vice President Al Gore, Bush's Democratic opponent, remained quiet on the issue until recent days for fear of offending labor unions. They generally oppose the new trading status.
Last week, standing with former Presidents Ford and Carter at the White House, Gore declared: ''It is right for American jobs. It is right for the cause of reform in China and I believe it will move us closer to the strong and stable world community that we all seek to create.''
In pushing for trade normalization, Bush argued for support not only from Democrats, but also the Republicans for whom he serves as titular party head.
''This is not a Republican or Democratic concern. It is an American concern,'' the Texas governor said.
Bush also highlighted the agreement's economic benefits.
Boeing, for example, projects that China to be its largest market for airplanes over the next 20 years.
Also, China must cut industrial tariffs and allow more imports of wheat, corn and other agricultural products, perhaps creating new markets for U.S. farmers.
However, Bush argued that the benefits would be more than economic.
''The case for trade is not just monetary, but moral, not just a matter of commerce, but a matter of conviction. Economic freedom creates habits of liberty, and habits of liberty create expectations of democracy.
''There are no guarantees, but there are good examples, from Chile to Taiwan. Trade freely with China, and time is on our side,'' Bush said.
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Bush on Social Security
Washington Times
EDITORIAL • May 18, 2000
http://208.246.212.80/op-ed/ed-house-200051819610.htm
When President Clinton delivered his 1999 State of the Union address, Vice President Al Gore was there to applaud the president's proposal to "reform" Social Security. Under Mr. Clinton's plan, over the next 15 years the federal government would invest $700 billion in Social Security payroll tax revenue in the stock market, making the United States government the largest single shareholder in the economy.
Precipitating the Clinton-Gore administration's proposal was the simple fact that the stock market has consistently generated much higher returns over the long run, averaging 7 percent annually after inflation. By contrast, the return from the Social Security program for families with earners born after 1976 is less than 2.5 percent. Indeed, within less than 40 years, the current system will be able to pay only 75 percent of the promised benefits. The 1999 Clinton-Gore proposal went nowhere not because it was foolish to attempt to capture higher returns offered by the stock market, but because it would have given the U.S. government undue influence over the stock market through the investment of very large sums of money. Rather, the U.S. Senate, in a 99-0 resolution, deep-sixed the plan because of its socialist foundation.
Now comes Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, with a much better plan to shore up Social Security. Also designed to capture higher returns, the proposal Mr. Bush offered Monday would allow individuals, as opposed to the government, to invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in the stock and bond markets. Mr. Bush recognizes that the only way to preserve the long-term viability of Social Security is to increase the ludicrously low rates of return projected under the current system. Moreover, his plan excludes the intrusion in business decisions under a system in which the government directly controlled so many business assets.
Mr. Bush specified few details - although he did rule out any increase in payroll taxes, announced that no current or imminent retirees would be affected and pledged to dedicate all of Social Security's near-term surpluses to resolving its long-term problems. Addressing both the retirement of the baby boomer generation and beyond, Mr. Bush proposed to form a bipartisan commission after his election to prepare a detailed plan to implement the partial privatization of Social Security. Most bipartisan proposals circulating in Congress today envision earmarking 2 percentage points of the 12.4 percent Social Security payroll tax for private investment accounts.
Predictably, Mr. Gore responded in demagogic fashion. Referring to Social Security as "a solemn compact between the generations," Mr. Gore neglected to mention that this "solemn contract" has produced an estimated unfunded liability over the next 75 years of nearly $20 trillion. Recently, in a demonstrable falsehood, he has even denied that the $700 billion he and the president foolishly proposed to have the federal government invest in the stock market would have come from Social Security payroll taxes.
For eight years, the Clinton-Gore administration has squandered the opportunity to address the unsustainable burden of Social Security's "solemn compact." Instead, Messrs. Gore and Clinton have politicized the problem for their party's electoral benefit. As a breath of fresh air, Mr. Bush declared, "The days of spreading fear and panic are over. The days of delaying, dividing, demagoguing are over. When I am elected, this generation and this president will solve Social Security." That is what leadership is all about.
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