------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
The Ultimate Hatred Is Nuclear
Edward Radford, 79, Scholar of the Risks From Radiation
Pacific rim leaders seize new excuse for cooperation
Canada orders tighter security at nuclear plants
Army's uranium worries Hoosiers
Comments on Senate Bill 472
Nuclear industry hit by terrorism fallout
Czech N-plant output at high as Austrians protest
Thousands join anti-nuclear protests in France
German min wants early phase-out of old nuclear stations
Bush and Putin on brink of missiles deal
Bush and Putin Edge Closer to Missile Deal
Minatom forgets to inform President about spent fuel import
TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS INCREASE POWER OUTPUT
The amazing colossal concrete containment
Are Nuclear Plants Safe From Attack?
NUCLEAR COMMISSION PUTS TRIMMED WEBSITE UP
New UCS fact sheet on spent fuel security

MILITARY
Anti-Terrorism War Could Last Years - UK Military.
At Afghan Border, Many Want Out As Some Slip In
Building a nation in Afghanistan
Soldiers of the Northern Alliance Prepare for a Ground Battle
Anthrax trace found in US House mailroom
Argentina tests confirm letter laced with anthrax
Bioterrorism Preparations Lacking at Lowest Levels
Dozens Dead in Attacks By Groups in Colombia
Rebels double opium output
Israeli tanks advance in West Bank
Palestinian Authority Outlaws Military Wing of Radical Faction
U.S. Demands Israeli Withdrawal
Pakistanis Fear Wider Clash
Pakistan Threatens to Teach India Lesson
Russian veterans say U.S. campaign could be quagmire
MILITARY FRAUD DEPT.
U.S. intensifies strikes against Taliban posts
'Bullets will fly' to take bin Laden
U.S. Jets Strike Taliban Front Line

OTHER
Attacks make energy bill key - US energy chief
Sludge dumps put Corps on the carpet
Green army on US carrier guards the environment
Modified bananas could deliver anthrax vaccine
Mazar-e Sharif Seen Pivotal in Getting Aid to Millions
"Citizen, Can I See Your ID."
ACLU DISAPPOINTED WITH ANTI-TERRORISM LEGISLATION
Lawmakers Seek Inquiry Into Intelligence Failures
Job Seekers Flood Spy Agencies
Bush tells CIA to eliminate Osama
Al Qaeda's Tracks Deepen in Europe

ACTIVISTS
Waging their own war
Mass Blockade of Faslane
MSP's among 150 arrests at Faslane
Police, Protesters Stand Together
Bastion of Dissent Offers Tribute to One of Its Heroes
Academics critical of war face harassment in US



-------- NUCLEAR

The Ultimate Hatred Is Nuclear

New York Times
October 22, 2001
By BRUCE G. BLAIR
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/opinion/22BLAI.html?searchpv=nytToday

Bioterrorism, like the anthrax threats currently rattling America, is horrific. But perhaps the ultimate horror in our newly uncertain world is the prospect of terrorists with nuclear weapons. There is no evidence that any terrorist has nuclear materials now, but the possibility is serious enough so that the government should be heightening security at home by monitoring foreign nations' weapons more closely and planning for military raids, if necessary, to keep weapons out of the wrong hands.

Sophisticated terrorists would be able to make an atomic bomb if they could get the necessary fissile materials - highly enriched uranium or plutonium. Huge quantities exist around the world. Detonated in Manhattan, a relatively small bomb - say 15 kilotons in yield, equivalent to the one used on Hiroshima - could immediately kill 100,000 and cause another 100,000 deaths in the lingering aftermath.

A terrorist wouldn't even need nuclear bomb materials to wreak nuclear havoc on a smaller scale: lethal radioactivity could spew out from a bomb made of nuclear waste and dynamite or from a nuclear power plant attacked by a hijacked plane or a truckload of explosives.

Our first line of defense against nuclear terrorism is at home. Security measures around nuclear power plants, like restrictions on how close planes may fly to them, are already being reviewed, and they should be strengthened as much as possible. But we should also immediately impose better inspection and security regimes at American seaports. Tens of thousands of cargo containers on ships arrive at American ports every day, and given the terrorist networks' extensive business ties around the world, the potential that one of those containers might carry a nuclear device is decidedly too high.

America's actual nuclear arsenal and its fissile materials are heavily guarded, but it's important to make sure security is just as tight abroad. There has been concern for years about the vulnerability of Russian bombs and bomb materials. More than 1,000 tons of bomb-grade plutonium and uranium remain in the former Soviet Union, half stored in its raw form and half inside 20,000 bombs. The United States is already working with Russia in a limited way to secure its nuclear materials and facilities by installing fences and surveillance sensors, but only half of the needed security improvements have been completed. Congress has been balking at continuing to finance this program with $1 billion a year, while it actually should be spending more. Last year, Russia's top security officials urgently sought American help in shoring up security at nuclear weapons sites, but bureaucratic squabbling between the Defense and Energy Departments delayed and diluted the American response. In the end, the Russians got little of the help they had sought.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and other American security agencies should be working with Russian law enforcement not only against terrorists, but to help Russia eliminate organized crime, which could make big profits selling nuclear materials to willing buyers.

Even more pressing, given the American military campaign in Afghanistan and the angry protests by some Pakistanis against their country's cooperation, is ensuring the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Pakistan is estimated to have between 30 and 50 partially disassembled atomic weapons, from 1 to 15 kilotons in yield, stored at several locations 50 to 250 miles from Afghanistan. If the regime were destabilized or toppled, nuclear security would weaken. Moreover, there are radicals within the Pakistani government and military forces, and it is possible that insiders might collude to steal bombs and add them to the arsenal of Osama bin Laden or some other extremist. Pakistani weapons are believed to lack sophisticated locks that would prevent their unauthorized use.

Besides urging Pakistan to strengthen security where its weapons are stored and/or to disable its nuclear devices, the United States should be offering to help out by providing security equipment and guards. And regardless of the degree of cooperation between the two countries, American surveillance and intelligence efforts should be aimed at independently keeping track of the Pakistani arsenal.

To guard against the worst possibility - Pakistani weapons in the hands of our enemies - America should have plans ready to provide security without Pakistan's permission, if emergency circumstances dictate, and even to take Pakistan's weapons out of the country if the need arises. Special operations forces in the region should be kept on high alert for quick, covert incursions to disable or even relocate the weapons to prevent their capture by unauthorized people. Nuclear emergency search teams, which are trained in bomb detection and dismantling, should be ready to accompany such military operations. The teams, some from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, know the basic design of Pakistani weapons from defectors' reports and could devise disabling procedures on the spot.

An even better idea might be to get American and Russian military-civilian bomb response teams together to conduct search and disable missions in Central Asia - and perhaps in Russia itself in an emergency. The mutual benefits would be considerable, and joint operations to protect everyone against nuclear terror could have lasting positive effects on future United States- Russian cooperation.

Obviously, the elimination of nuclear weapons would not eliminate terrorism. But just as obviously, the need for nuclear safety and security has never been clearer.

Bruce G. Blair is president of the Center for Defense Information.

--------

Edward Radford, 79, Scholar of the Risks From Radiation

New York Times
October 22, 2001
By CARMEL McCOUBREY
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/obituaries/22RADF.html?searchpv=nytToday

Dr. Edward P. Radford, who energetically promoted a higher estimate of the cancer risk from radiation exposure and whose position was eventually upheld, died on Oct. 12 at his home in Haslemere, England. He was 79.

The cause was a stroke, his family said.

Dr. Radford was chairman of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences that released an initial report in 1979 indicating that one-half of 1 percent of Americans would develop cancer from manufactured sources of radiation like power plants and X-rays.

The report, widely expected because it was released shortly after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, came in for sharp criticism by some members of the group that prepared it, the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation.

The split in the 21-member committee was so bitter and public that the academy withdrew the report and the next year issued a revised paper that essentially halved the estimated risk, a conclusion that Dr. Radford rejected.

He argued for a model showing that there was a risk, albeit small, even at the lowest levels of exposure, while his opponents favored a model that found there was a threshold below which there was no harm.

The committee's conclusions were important to the nuclear industry because they were used by the Environmental Protection Agency to update its radiation protection standards. One committee member said of Dr. Radford, "If the guideline levels were reduced the way he wants them, there wouldn't be any nuclear industry at all."

Since then, Dr. Radford's ideas have been upheld by many other scientific bodies that study radiation, said Dr. Evan B. Douple, director of the Board of Radiation Effects Research at the National Academy of Sciences. "He's been an outspoken person who's contributed to the debate on radiation protection standards," Dr. Douple said.

Dr. Radford was also known for his research on cigarettes, particularly studies in the 1960's finding that radioactive polonium 210 was present in tobacco and made its way into the lungs of smokers. The concentration was high enough, he and his colleagues said, that the radioactivity could be a contributing factor in lung cancer.

He also developed a kind of chart called a nomogram that was widely used by anesthesiologists to calculate the proper mixture of oxygen and anesthetic in the days before computers, said Vilma R. Hunt, a retired professor of environmental science at Penn State.

"That kind of quantitative rigor characterized his approach to his clinical work and to his work on ionizing radiation," she said.

Edward Parish Radford, who was known as Ted, was born on Feb. 21, 1922, in Springfield, Mass., and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his medical degree at Harvard in 1946. He was in the Air Force from 1947 to 1949; one of his duties was to measure radiation levels at flight altitudes soon after atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific.

He held research positions at the Harvard School of Public Health, DuPont, the University of Cincinnati and Johns Hopkins University, and was the chairman of the department of environmental medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health from 1979 to 1983. He then focused on consulting in legal cases about the health effects of radiation and toxic chemicals.

His marriages to Nettie Garrison and Olivia Kolar ended in divorce.

He is survived by his wife of 18 years, Jennifer Barnard Radford; 4 daughters, Martha Jo Radford of Farmington, Conn.; Donna Radford Patterson of Grand Junction, Colo.; Catherine Radford of Charlestown, Mass.; and Lilith Radford Calkins of Harvard, Mass.; a son, George Leslie, of Exeter, N.H.; and 11 grandchildren.

-------- asia

Pacific rim leaders seize new excuse for cooperation
Bush and Putin announce 'progress' on missile talks, but no changes yet.

Christian Science Monitor
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
October 22, 2001
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1022/p7s1-woap.html

SHANGHAI, CHINA - If the White House thought it would receive carte blanche for the US-led military program in Afghanistan, its trip to Shanghai fell short of expectations. But only slightly.

In his first trip abroad since Sept. 11, President George W. Bush received strong support for the antiterror war amid fears the simmering economic crisis in the Pacific region would deepen. "What we heard for the most part is that this is not just a battle for the future of our children," said a senior US official. "We heard, 'If you don't deal with this problem, we are all in trouble; if you won't lead, no one else will.' It gives everyone an excuse to cooperate."

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum released a lengthy statement elaborating further on recent United Nations resolutions against terror. China, at critical loggerheads with the US last spring, offered support provided it is within a UN context.

One highly placed US source said that all 21 countries, when asked privately, agreed to US overflight in the Afghan campaign if needed - though some states required prior notice.

If the White House had been criticized for unilateralism and for seeming to retreat from foreign commitments, its approach in Shanghai was a complete switch. Mr. Bush was both effusive and serious in tone with his counterparts. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in weekend talks, they "made some progress" toward a new strategic framework on missile defense policy that would include limited missile defenses.

Meanwhile, US officials said privately that Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell were trying to take a greater attitude of listening. "We can no longer ignore the plight of the street in Islamabad," said a senior US official. "We have to look at the Palestine question again, a little harder, [and] why ... we now care about Indonesia in a new way."

While the APEC forum was originally intended to showcase China's rise as an economic dynamo and provide Mr. Jiang a high-profile moment as an international world leader, Jiang gamely allowed the younger Bush to share - and sometimes take over - center stage.

Jiang, for his part, showed a certain international éclat by reading both of the Shanghai final statements in English for the first time. Bush told the gathering he had decided to come to Shanghai despite an international crisis because "it was China" that was hosting the meeting.

Jiang also mentioned that in the future, Bush and he could "pick up the phone" whenever they felt the need. It was an effort to smooth over tensions from the spy plane incident last spring, a time when several White House calls to Jiang went unanswered.

What improved US-China relations greatly, some experts say, is China's effort to take a leading role on the world stage, and to cease being viewed primarily as a developing country with a troubled history of xenophobia and anti-Western reactions. China's agreement to work with the US on the antiterror front is an example.

"We are all in for a complicated learning experience in the coming years," says James Spence, a professor of Chinese history at Yale, speaking of the war against terror. "China has said it will be part of that learning experience. I think that is a very interesting new development."

One striking example came during a press conference Saturday, when a Taiwanese reporter asked a question of Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, referring to China as "Communist China." "This is Shanghai, a big city on Chinese soil," retorted Minister Tang. "How dare you call us 'Communist China.' Communist China has become history. Such a term no longer exists."

Earlier reports that the US was preparing to lift sanctions on China and sell parts for Blackhawk helicopters, used for mountain fighting where rebel Muslims rebels live, were quashed this weekend by the White House. Such sales would involve the lifting of sanctions placed on China during the Tiananmen massacres, and White House sources said that human rights groups had complained bitterly, and had been heard.

Some anticipation in Shanghai centered around the stances Malaysia and Indonesia, APEC's two Muslim-majority countries, would take on the war. Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri, with 10,000 Muslims protesting in the streets of Jakarta this week, was not able to work out a meeting with Bush. But in a walk to one meeting, Megawati told the president that "foreigners would be safe" in Jakarta, sources say.

Chris Johnson contributed to this report from Shanghai.

-------- canada

Canada orders tighter security at nuclear plants

by David Ljunggren,
22/10/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12915/story.htm

OTTAWA - Canada said yesterday it had ordered the operators of the country's seven nuclear power plants to increase security immediately following a review of their procedures in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Linda Keen, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, said that while there was no evidence of any increased threat to the plants it was clear that security had to be tightened because of a higher perceived risk.

She also said the commission was studying the idea of widening an existing ban on flights over the plants, which could, in theory, mean air force jets would be on alert to shoot down threatening aircraft.

The nuclear power generators had already boosted security in the wake of the attacks but Keen said she wanted to ensure every plant followed the same set of rules.

Late on Thursday she ordered operators to station armed response units at the plants. They must also boost security checks on people and vehicles entering the plants, tighten access to sensitive areas, upgrade security checks on some workers and provide better equipment to security guards.

"I want these measures put into place over a short time period...Some of them are immediate," she told a small group of reporters in her Ottawa office.

Five of the seven plants are in Ontario. Two are run by Bruce Power, a partnership between British Energy Plc and Cameco Corp. , and three by Ontario Power Generation Inc. Quebec and New Brunswick have one nuclear station each.

The new security measures also apply to the Chalk River nuclear laboratory, northwest of Ottawa, operated by the federal agency Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

Keen met the operators of all seven plants earlier yesterday to explain the new measures, which were put in place in response to queries she made on Oct. 1 as to what exactly the facilities were doing about security.

"I asked them if there were any impediments to putting this in place...but there was no questioning of the order at all. The order is in place," she said.

In the United States, which has over 100 operating nuclear power plants, fears are high that a major attack on a facility could spread radioactive contamination over a large area.

Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant returned to normal on Thursday, a day after the operator reported receiving what it called a credible threat.

"There has not been an attack or the threat of an attack against a nuclear facility in Canada but we talked (to the operators) on the basis of a higher perceived risk by the regulator based on the events on Sept. 11 in the United States and our proximity to the United States," Keen said.

Her officials said the CNSC - which is in very close contact with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - would be sending its security chief to Washington for talks next week.

The CNSC will now start looking at what other security measures could be introduced at the seven plants, including the idea of broadening air exclusion zones over the facilities.

"The question of exclusion zones for aircraft is under active consideration," Keen said.

Asked if this meant fighter jets could one day be asked to shoot down aircraft deemed to be a threat, she replied: "If you're going to have one (an exclusion zone) in place you have to be prepared to enforce it as well."

She declined to discuss the topic further, saying it was a matter for the transport and defense ministries to decide.

A CNSC official said that if a plane did crash into a Canadian power plant it would shut down and any radioactivity leaks would be contained locally.

The safety commission, which regulates more than 4,000 enterprises using nuclear material, will now start studying security at other less critical nuclear facilities.

These include fuel processing plants as well as operations that process radioactive isotopes and nuclear waste.

Canada's seven nuclear power stations - which contain a total of 22 working reactors - provide about 15 percent of the country's electricity.


-------- depleted uranium

Army's uranium worries Hoosiers
Military wants to leave it at proving ground

By Grace Schneider
The Courier-Journal
Monday, October 22, 2001
From: uranium@t-online.de

MADISON, Indiana -- More than 150,000 pounds of uranium -- the refuse from a decade of weapons testing -- lies buried at the Army's now-closed Jefferson Proving Ground near Madison.

Although the uranium isn't highly radioactive, there is widespread concern that it might break down in the soil or be washed off the proving ground, posing a significant risk to the environment and to people who live near the property.

But the Army, citing the danger involved in cleaning it up, is proposing to leave the uranium there and stop tests for health and environmental hazards.

That has outraged neighbors, local officials and environmentalists, who have challenged the Army's decision in its first decommissioning of a portion of a former U.S. military installation that would forever be off-limits to the public.

''I don't know why we should be the guinea pigs,'' Jefferson County Commissioner Julie Berry said. ''A lot can be at stake here. There are a lot of unknowns.''

The opponents have found a significant ally -- U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th District, who represents the region. Also, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed that the Army's plan doesn't pass muster.

What is Depleted Uranium?

Depleted uranium is what's left over after uranium is enriched for use in weapons or reactors. Gaseous-diffusion plants remove the rarer and more radioactive uranium 235. That's accomplished by heating the uranium into a gas and then running it through a filter that separates the U-235 from the more common and less radioactive U-238. What remains after removal of U-235 is known as depleted uranium. Only slightly radioactive but very heavy and hard, it is used as counterweight in aircraft and boats and in weapons designed to penetrate armor. Between 1984 and 1994, the Army shot depleteduranium rounds into a 2,000acre target zone at Jefferson Proving Ground near Madison, Ind. Although some of the uranium was picked up and recycled, 77 tons remains embedded in the soil. In a fact sheet on depleted uranium, the World Health Organization warns of the possibility of contamination of food and drinking water where depleted-uranium weapons have been used. Careful monitoring should be conducted anywhere there is a ''reasonable possibility'' that depleted uranium could enter the ground water or the food chain, the fact sheet says.

In the opponents' view, the danger of the so-called ''depleted uranium'' is that no one -- not the Army, the NRC or the world's top scientists now studying its hazards -- can guarantee that the stuff buried in the woods and fields on the Army firing range won't create havoc someday.

''They just don't know,'' said Vicki Jenkins, an assistant professor of philosophy at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany who lives with her husband on 35 acres along Big Creek, which flows through the middle of the area containing the uranium.

The NRC is reviewing the Army's plan for closing off 2,000 acres within the former firing range. Regulators say it could take three to five years to complete the decommissioning, at which point the Army would pull out.

The debate about the Army's plans is tinged by a cruel irony:

According to nuclear regulators, a cleanup of the depleted uranium might have been possible under different circumstances. The problem is that the Army, with NRC approval, fired the uranium rounds from artillery into a tract already loaded with unexploded ordnance from other testing, preventing the safe removal of the depleted uranium.

''We raised this issue'' when the Army requested the federal license to handle depleted uranium, said Richard Hill, president of Save the Valley, a local environmental group.

Depleted uranium is a heavy metal left over when most of the highly radioactive components of natural uranium are removed and used to manufacture nuclear weapons and fuel for nuclear reactors.

Depleted uranium is valued for its weight and hardness. It is 70 percent heavier than lead, and ammunition that contains it can punch through armored vehicles, erupting into a burning vapor cloud of radioactive dust.

Munitions containing depleted uranium were first used by American forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and later in air attacks on Kosovo, in the Balkans.

Scientists and health officials have only recently begun to examine the health and environmental consequences of exposure to depleted uranium -- after reports that large numbers of European peacekeeping soldiers have fallen ill with leukemia and other ailments.

Although scientists haven't established a link between those illnesses and depleted uranium, European governments have called for more thorough research. The European Parliament voted in January to ban the use of depleted uranium until studies on its health risks are in.

The Army obtained an NRC license in 1983 to handle depleted uranium at Jefferson Proving Ground. For a decade, rounds being tested for trajectory were fired at canvas targets stretched across telephone poles on the southern edge of a rectangular 2,000-acre tract.

Most of the projectiles were embedded in the soil in the so-called ''delta impact area,'' where ominous yellow signs now warn of radioactive contamination.

The area is sliced diagonally by Big Creek, which eventually feeds into the Muscatatuck River.

Tests Involving depleted uranium ended in 1994, and Jefferson Proving Ground was closed in the fall of 1995, one of many military installations shut down to save money.

Though it still owns the land, the Army recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for that agency to manage the area north of the firing line, calling it Big Oaks Wildlife Refuge. That area contains the acreage contaminated by the depleted uranium.

The Air National Guard continues to conduct bombing practice in another section of the refuge.

At other decommissioned military sites, communities have created developments such as industrial parks.

But in the case of the Jefferson Proving Ground testing site, the Army has proposed a ''restricted use,'' given the dangers of the unexploded shells in the area with the depleted uranium. Access to the area would be prohibited -- even though it's contained within the wildlife refuge -- and there would be no cleanup.

The Army said in January that no uranium was found in twice-yearly tests on ground water and that tests on wildlife also detected no problems.

Therefore, the Army said, it saw no need to continue the monitoring. It also said computer modeling showed little risk to the surrounding area from the depleted uranium.

The Army says that ''institutional controls'' -- limiting the number of keys to locked gates, for example, and weekly checks on the fence around the property -- would keep people away from danger.

However, in a challenge before the NRC, Save the Valley questioned why the Army has refused to attempt to remove the depleted uranium.

Save the Valley also said it doubted that the Army had adequately examined whether the uranium could be washed into neighboring wells and farm fields and be ingested by animals that freely roam the range. They urged the NRC to order the Army to continue to monitor indefinitely for contamination in soil, sediment, surface water and ground water.

''DU has a half life of 4 1/2 billion years. They've only been monitoring (at the proving ground) for 15 years,'' said Richard Hill of Save the Valley. (The half-life of a radioactive element is the time it takes to lose half its radiation through natural decay.)

Last month the NRC rejected the Army's plan and pointed to seven deficiencies, most of them involving the Army's purported failure to assess whether contaminants could migrate from the firing range.

The commission said the Army should evaluate whether depleted uranium could be carried down Big Creek during floods and should examine the potential impact from natural disasters such as tornadoes and earthquakes.

The NRC also asked the Army to examine the depleted uranium's composition thoroughly, in light of recent scientific findings that it is not pure uranium but also contains plutonium, americium and neptunium -- all much more dangerous radioactive substances.

''There's obviously a lot of concern,'' said Thomas McLaughlin, an NRC project manager. ''I think the rejection reflects some of the concerns that citizens raised.''

McLaughlin said the commission won't allow the Army to release the property until the agency is satisfied that all concerns have been dealt with.

Paul Cloud, the Army's environmental and base-transition coordinator, said officials are preparing to submit an environmental report that should answer some of the commission's concerns. In the meantime, he said, the Army will keep trying to complete the required process.

McLaughlin said he thinks the Army has done an admirable job of keeping the community informed at public meetings and giving tours to citizens' groups and others who have questions.

The NRC, meanwhile, accepts the Army's argument that the area can't just be cleaned up and reopened to the public.

''The overriding fact is the UXO (unexploded ordnance),'' McLaughlin said. If it weren't there, he said, ''they would be out cleaning up the site right now.''

The Army does not agree that the depleted uranium could be removed if other ordnance weren't there, Cloud said. It would require hundreds of millions of dollars to, in effect, strip mine the land to fully recover all the uranium.

Madison Mayor Al Huntington said he's disturbed by the fact that the Army intends to retain ownership but not monitor the soil and ground water.

''My personal opinion is the Army just wants to walk away,'' he said. ''Nobody knows what's going to happen if (the depleted uranium) breaks down. I'll guarantee you that if this were a (private) corporation, they'd be finding a way to clean it up.''

Rep. Hill said he intends to ask the Army to explain its proposal to him. He said he does not accept the argument that there are no alternatives to what's now being proposed.

''I want to talk with the Army, and at least give them an opportunity to tell me their side of the story,'' he said. ''Right now, I don't understand their side of the story.''

----

Comments on Senate Bill 472

Here is some info to chew on:
Senate Bill S.472

From: "Lisa Helms" <lisa@miltoxproj.org>
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001

"To ensure that Nuclear Energy continues to contribute to the supply of electricity in the United States"

I know that Military Toxics Project, (MTP) is not on a mission to fight nuclear energy and the vast amount of environmental issues attached to nuclear energy, but we are directly concerned about the depleted uranium, (DU) waste that is generated in the nuclear energy process. Therefore we think this Bill is relevant and that we must encourage our Political Representatives to vote against S.472.

Of particular interest to MTP are Title 1, Subtitle C, Sections 127, 128, and 129.

Title 1, Subtitle C Sec 127 appropriates $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004 to "...develop improved 'in situ' leaching mining technologies...including low-cost environmental restoration technologies..." In Situ mining means "on site" mining, the material is processed as it is extracted. This leaching process does not have a good global record and the radioactive material will be pulled through a sole-source aquifer that provides water for almost 15,000 people. For more details and how you can help, contact Anna Rondon-Manuelito, SW Indigenous Uranium Forum PO Box 5058 Gallop NM 87305 505-733-2519 lightningstruck@msn.com

Title 1, Subtitle C Sec 128 allows $8,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002, 2003, 2004 for maintenance of a viable domestic Uranium Conversion Industry. There is a series of hearings coming up, (see information listed below) that you can support the local communities and submit your comments. Our main concerns are:

the inference that these conversion methods will render the DU "safe,"

the handling and transportation of the DU with known transuranic elements,

the means and methods of disposal need to be more specific.

The conversion process is a step in the right direction but this is not as complete a cure as presented, and there are reasons to suspect that the people working in these positions are at risk of being contaminated. The DOE readily admits that the condition of the containers of DU create a potential human hazard due to their deteriorating conditions. The conversion facility in Portsmouth is expected to receive all of the DU that is currently rusting at Oak Ridge. DOE officials will be available at each meeting and public comments on the proposed scope of the document are welcomed.

DATES TIMES AND LOCATIONS - HEARINGS ON DU CONVERSION FACILITIES:

Portsmouth OH: Thursday, November 1, 2001, from 6-9 p.m., at the Vern Riffe Pike County Vocational School, 175 Beaver Creek Road (off State Route 32), Piketon, Ohio 45661. Contact Vina Colley 740-259-4688 or vcolley@earthlink.net

Paducah, Kentucky:
Tuesday, November 6, 2001, from 6-9 p.m.,
at the Information Age Park Resource Center,
2000 McCracken Blvd.,
Paducah, Kentucky 42001.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee:
Thursday, November 8, 2001, from 6-9 p.m.,
at the Pollard Auditorium, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education,
10 Badger Avenue,
Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830.

Title 1, Subtitle C Sec 129 There are no surprises here, this sections puts the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant into cold standby condition for a period of five years but would allow for a restart if domestic demand created the need. The plant is to receive $36,000,000 for preparation of cold standby for fiscal year 2002 and "such sums as are needed for 2003, 2004, and 2005.

The rest of this Bill uses fluffy, happy and safe environmental language to describe nuclear power and sets the stage for the assurance of continued production of DU. We have to work against this ideal from many fronts and get our Senators and Representatives to VOTE NO ON S.472

-------- europe

Nuclear industry hit by terrorism fallout

Environment Daily 1086,
22/10/01
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm ?action=article&ref=10734

Europe's nuclear energy industry is proving to be a victim of September's terrorist attacks in the USA. A rising fear of massive radioactive releases is galvanising the anti-nuclear movement and raising new questions about the sector's long-term future.

First in the firing line are the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield in Britain and La Hague in France, following alarming estimates of potential radioactive releases in the case of an aircraft collision similar to those on 11 September.

According to a report by consultancy Wise-Paris released late last month, the potential release of caesium-137 from La Hague's irradiated fuel cooling ponds is 60 times the amount released in the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine. This month, Britain's New Scientist magazine reported the potential caesium release from Sellafield at 44 times that released from Chernobyl.

These dire forecasts were taken up in a debate in the European parliament today, with Irish Green MEP Nuala Ahern calling for "no fly zones" to be established around both plants. "Nuclear plants are a ticking time bomb in our midst and the only logical response is to close them all down and end this terrible threat," she argued.

Even strongly pro-nuclear European states have had their nerve tested by the realisation that reprocessing and other nuclear plants could be terrorist targets; the French government last week said that anti-aircraft missile batteries were to be stationed at La Hague.

In Germany, the effect has been to cement or even speed up the ongoing nuclear phase-out programme, culminating in media reports this weekend that economic minister Werner Muller has called on power firms to phase out their oldest stations ahead of schedule. This follows a pledge by environment minister Jurgen Trittin to order plant closures in case of a credible threat of attack (ED 10/10/01 http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm ?action=article&ref=10783) .

The new sense of insecurity has pervaded protests from the Irish government and UK environmental groups over the British government's decision to licence a new plutonium fuel manufacturing plant (ED 03/10/01

----

Czech N-plant output at high as Austrians protest

22/10/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12910/story.htm

PRAGUE - The Czech Republic's controversial Temelin nuclear power plant has boosted output from its first reactor to 75 percent despite renewed protests from neighbouring Austria, a spokesman said yesterday.

Milan Nebesar, spokesman for the Soviet-designed plant, said in a statement that output from the reactor had reached 705 megawatts.

CTK news agency reported that dozens of Austrians protesting that the plant was unsafe blocked a major border crossing with the Czech Republic for several hours. The blockade ended peacefully, it said.

Temelin, 60 km (37 miles) from the border, has been plagued by Austrian objections. Vienna says that despite the introduction of western safety systems to the Communist-era design, the plant is unsafe and should be shut down. The Czechs say the plant is safe.

Austria has threatened to impede the Czech Republic's EU accession talks and says it will block closure of the energy chapter next week unless its concerns about Temelin are addressed.

The plant's first reactor had been operating at 55 percent output until it received permission from the Czech nuclear power watchdog yesterday to boost it to 75 percent. Nebesar said some 300 tests will be conducted during the current phase.

The plant's owner CEZ has said it hopes to have the reactor in full operation by the end of the year, more than 18 months behind schedule.

Temelin was allowed last week to conduct final tests on the second block before nuclear fuel loading later this year. The second reactor is expected to be operational next year.

-------- france

Thousands join anti-nuclear protests in France

by Catherine Bremer,
22/10/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12913/story.htm

TOULOUSE - Thousands of anti-nuclear protesters demonstrated across France yeasterday amid heightened fears of guerrilla attacks on the country's 19 nuclear plants after last month's attacks on the United States.

Police said some 2,500 protesters marched through the southern city of Toulouse, chanting anti-nuclear slogans and brandishing banners demanding the abolition of France's highly-developed nuclear power and defence industries.

"The fact that we are several thousand in the streets of Toulouse, and elsewhere in France, proves that the French people are truly frightened of nuclear energy," said Andre Crouzet, head of the "Let's Get Out of the Nuclear Age" Association.

Activists pointed to the September explosion at a Toulouse petrochemicals plant, which killed 29 people and injured thousands, as an example of how easily accidents can happen.

Another 3,000 massed in Lyon in the southeast, while slightly smaller protests were under way at Colmar in the northeast, Lille in the north and Nantes in the southwest.

Green Party head Dominique Voynet said in Lyon, "We are not condemned for life eternal to be the most nuclearised country in the world, the country which exports low-price electricity to its neighbours while keeping the nuclear waste."

France's 19 nuclear plants produce 76 percent of national electricity, the highest proportion of any country. Nuclear power produces just over a third of European Union electricity.

Joining demonstrators in Lille, Noel Mamere - currently the front-runner Green candidate for France's April presidential elections - called on the government to reduce nuclear power, pointing to German plans to phase out nuclear energy by the early 2020s. Belgium and Sweden have also opted to get rid of nuclear power stations, largely on environmental grounds.

TIGHTER SECURITY AT NUCLEAR PLANTS

While opponents evoke the risk of deadly explosions like that at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1986, which exposed five million Europeans to radiation, supporters say nuclear plants do not produce carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas targeted by the 1997 Kyoto climate change deal.

Yesterday, France said it had deployed ground-to-air missiles near a nuclear waste reprocessing plant at La Hague in northern France as a precaution following the hijack attacks on U.S. landmarks.

France has boosted security around all its nuclear plants, aware that a guerrilla attack on a nuclear power station could cause devastating and widespread damage with little effort.

While Paris had not been informed of any particular threat, Defence Minister Alain Richard said this week France was prepared to use warplanes to shoot down hijacked planes. Putting missile batteries in place was a complementary measure, he said.

Earlier this month, anti-nuclear protesters met rail shipments of waste from German nuclear plants to the La Hague reprocessing site - the first atomic waste to arrive from Germany since the attacks on New York and Washington.

Some 50 anti-nuclear campaigners gathered near Strasbourg, saying it was irresponsible to transport nuclear waste at a time of increased risk of guerrilla attacks.

-------- germany

German min wants early phase-out of old nuclear stations

22/10/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12911/story.htm

BERLIN - German Economics Minister Werner Mueller said in remarks published yesterday that power companies should consider phasing out old nuclear power stations ahead of schedule due to the threat of possible attacks. Mueller said in a newspaper interview to be published on Monday that in return, companies could allow more modern nuclear plants to stay on line for longer than planned.

Mueller told Berliner Zeitung newspaper that he did not want to unravel the deal reached between the government and the energy industry under which the country's 19 nuclear reactors are to be phased out at differing speeds by the mid-2020s.

But he added: "In this case, I'm in favour of the power industry considering this proposal."

A spokesman for the environment ministry said that planned legislation would allow Mueller to implement his proposal.

The September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States have raised fears that nuclear power stations could be targeted in similar strikes.

-------- missile defense

Bush and Putin on brink of missiles deal

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington and Calum MacLeod in Shanghai
22 October 2001
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=100765

President George Bush has won Russia's full support for his anti-terrorist attacks against Afghanistan, and also appears to have narrowed his differences with President Vladimir Putin on missile defence and cuts in the two countries' still massive nuclear arsenals.

Whether the two leaders are on the brink of a breakthrough will only become apparent next month when the Russian President visits Washington before going on to spend time with Mr Bush at his ranch at Crawford, Texas.

But yesterday's meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum summit in Shanghai left little doubt as to how the terror attacks of 11 September are transforming ties between the two former superpower rivals.

Speaking after a 90-minute discussion with Mr Putin, the American President confirmed they had examined a new round of cuts in their nuclear arsenals from the level of 3,000 to 3,500 warheads apiece contained in the Start-2 treaty. This, he added, would be within a framework "of limited defence protecting both our lands from political blackmail".

Afterwards Mr Putin seemed to soften his opposition to the amendment or scrapping of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty ­ changes implicit if Mr Bush is to go through with his plans for a defence shield protecting America from a missile attack. Yesterday, President Bush again described the ABM treaty, which Russia has long regarded as the cornerstone of nuclear arms control efforts, as "outdated and dangerous". Instead of rejecting this approach, as he did before 11 September, Mr Putin indicated that agreement was possible, "taking into account the national interests of Russia and the US". The same clearly goes for reducing the two countries' weapons stockpiles, acknowledged by both sides to be far higher than necessary in the post-Cold War era. Washington and Moscow both retain more than 6,000 warheads, and Mr Putin ­ joined now perhaps by Mr Bush ­ is keen to push the figure down to 1,500.

Particularly welcome to Mr Bush was Russia's specific endorsement of the air and ground operations against Aghanistan. Indonesia and Malaysia, which are predominantly Muslim, prevented the Apec summit explicitly backing the military offensive against Islamic Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden.

But Mr Putin had no such inhibitions. Calling the US response "measured and adequate", Mr Putin also pledged Moscow's full co-operation with Washington in combating nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. He underlined his commitment to the cause when he arrived in Tajikistan early today for talks with Burhanuddin Rabbani, the deposed president of Afghanistan and leader of the Northern Alliance.

Moscow depicts its long campaign to suppress the Chechen insurgency as part of the global struggle against terrorism, of a piece with American retaliation in Afghanistan.

Though the bilateral meeting with Mr Putin was the most important moment of Mr Bush's stay in Shanghai, American officials professed themselves "thrilled" with the wider summit's statement "unequivocally condemning" the 11 September attacks.

Shelving their strictly economic remit, participants at the annual meeting of the Apec forum issued the first political statement in the organisation's 12-year history. While the wording of the statement avoids mention of Osama bin Laden and the ongoing assault on Afghanistan, to accommodate the sensitivities of Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, a senior American official told reporters yesterday: "We're thrilled with this statement ... it does everything we wanted it to." For the first time, President Bush called the 11 September attacks an attempt to destroy world financial markets and to ruin the global economy.

The uncertainty following the attacks has hit many Asian economies, which are highly dependent on exports to America. "The nations meeting here in Shanghai understand what is at stake," Mr Bush said.

--------

Bush and Putin Edge Closer to Missile Deal

By Mike Allen and Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 22, 2001; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31132-2001Oct21.html

SHANGHAI, Oct. 21 -- President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin said today they made progress on a deal allowing the United States to build a missile defense system in return for sharp reductions in nuclear arsenals and said they would negotiate specifics at Bush's Texas ranch in November.

Administration officials acknowledged a compromise may not be complete by then, but suggested Bush is prepared to move unilaterally with his missile defense plans in January if a deal with Putin is not forthcoming.

Should the two leaders fail to reach an agreement at the November summit, Bush would face difficult choices. He could press ahead with a testing schedule that would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which would anger Putin, who has recently backed Bush's drive against terrorism. Or Bush could push back the timetable of a project that his aides contend is an essential part of a new arms control framework. The aides have said this could be one of Bush's most important legacies.

Standing side by side with Putin at a news conference, Bush argued that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington have made a missile defense system more urgent. Bush told the Russian leader that missile defenses would "protect both our lands from political blackmail, from potential terrorist attack."

"Both our nations must be able to defend ourselves against the new threats of the 21st century, including long-range ballistic missiles," he said. "The events of Sept. 11 make it clearer than ever that a Cold War ABM Treaty that prevents us from defending our people is outdated, and I believe dangerous."

However, Putin did not accept this argument. "It would be difficult for me to agree that some terrorist will be able to capture intercontinental missiles and will be able to use them," he said.

Putin defended the ABM Treaty as "an important element of stability in the world," but he reaffirmed a willingness to modify the pact in return for deep cuts in offensive nuclear weapons by both sides.

"Our task is to develop parameters of such reductions and to design a reliable and verifiable method to reduce nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States," Putin said. "As for ABM-related issues, we also made some progress. At least, I believe we do have understanding that we can reach agreements."

Putin added, "We should look into the future, and we should react adequately to possible threats in the future. And we are prepared to discuss that with our American partners."

The Bush administration has said its missile defense program schedule could violate ABM restrictions within months, and has awarded a contract to begin work on a testing facility in Alaska next spring. To withdraw from the treaty, the United States must give six months' notice, which would have to come by November to allow the work in Alaska to proceed next April.

U.S. officials said Bush and his advisers had discussed giving that notice to Putin during today's meeting, which took place on the sidelines of an international economic conference in Shanghai. But national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters, "He did not deliver a deadline."

Asked if a unilateral U.S. pullout from the treaty was broached with Putin, Rice said, "They simply talked about moving beyond" the treaty. Bush has said the United States would withdraw from the ABM Treaty on its own timetable, with or without Russian assent.

Rice acknowledged that a deal to scrap or modify the ABM Treaty might not be hammered out before the Nov. 12-14 Bush-Putin summit in Washington and Crawford, Tex.

"We are continuing to work on this issue, and they're going to work on it at Washington-Crawford. They're going to work at it beyond Washington-Crawford," she said. "We're not looking for any specific breakthroughs at any given meeting. . . . The structuring of a new relationship is going to take time."

But she added: "We are not going to permit a program of testing and development to be constrained by a treaty that we think is outmoded. . . . The president has made very clear that he thinks that it's going to be time to move on fairly soon."

Bush seemed impatient during the news conference, briefly drumming his fingers on the side of the lectern on an elaborate red-and-gold stage built by the famed Shanghai Film Studio.

Bush and Putin met for about an hour and 15 minutes, including a brief one-on-one session before they were joined by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other officials. After the news conference, the two men attended an informal dinner with members of both delegations.

Putin described the talks as "forthright and trustful" and "really productive," but noted that Bush did not present a specific proposal for arms reductions -- a step the Russians have said would be necessary for serious negotiations to continue.

Bush said he did not present a specific plan on arms reductions because his administration had not completed a review in time for today's session, and he promised to get back to Putin soon. "We've got work to do between now and Crawford, and I look forward to continuing to work with him," he said. "But he knows my feeling about the ABM Treaty, and so does America."

The United States has about 7,000 strategic nuclear warheads while Russia has about 6,000, and Bush has already promised to reduce the U.S. stockpile to under the ceiling of 3,500 for each side mandated by the 1993 START II treaty. Putin has proposed that both countries slash their arsenals further, to about 1,500 long-range weapons each. Some U.S. military officials want to keep the American arsenal at about 2,200 to 2,500.

Bush met separately with the leaders of eight nations during the economic conference, including Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and thanked each of them for their support of the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign. But the United States issued a separate joint statement on terrorism only with Russia, and Bush saved his warmest words for Putin.

"Vladimir Putin was the first person to call. That's what a friend does, calls in time of need, and he called," Bush said of the events of Sept. 11. "He extended his sympathy and he extended his support. He did something more. . . . To simplify our situation, to show solidarity, he ordered Russia's military to stop a set of exercises that were getting underway."

Russia has backed the U.S. moves in Afghanistan by offering to share intelligence, granting assent to the use of airspace, urging Central Asian states to cooperate with the United States and promising to continue arming opposition forces fighting Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. Today, Putin said he believes the U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan were "measured and adequate to the threat the United States was confronted with."

Bush said he also raised more sensitive issues with Putin, including urging Russia to respect freedom of the press, respect the territorial integrity of Georgia and continue a political dialogue with rebels in Chechnya. "It's important to distinguish between those who pursue legitimate political aspirations and terrorists," he said.

-------- russia

Minatom forgets to inform President about spent fuel import

Rashid Alimov,
2001-10-22
Minatom
http://www.bellona.no/imaker?id=22140&sub=1

The Ecodefence! envirogroup said that Tekhsnabexport, or TENEX, one of Minatom's sub-units, is about to ship spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria to Russia.

A special train for transportation of spent nuclear fuel departed from Russia two weeks ago and now is waiting at the terminal of Bulgarian Kozlodoy nuclear power plant.

According to the contract, signed by TENEX and Kozlodoy NPP in summer 2000, 41 tonnes of spent fuel would be brought to the Russian Chemical and Mining Combine in Krasnoyarsk-26.

This will be the first shipment of spent nuclear fuel after President Putin signed bills, which legalised and structured the proceedings for storage of foreign nuclear waste in Russia. But will those regulations be followed? Most likely not.

According to the information obtained by Ecodefence!, the head of the State Nuclear Regulatory (GAN), Yury Vishnevsky, sent a harsh letter to TENEX on October 16th, pointing out that such activities require an official licence. Moreover, the spent nuclear fuel bills stipulate that each shipment must receive proper environmental evaluation. Besides, TENEX must prove that a part of funds earned on the imports will be allotted to the remediation of contaminated areas in Russia, even if such programs have not been developed yet.

There is no information whether TENEX answered to GAN. But the company has nothing to answer anyway.

Signing the bills this summer, President Putin said that he would personally control each spent nuclear fuel import contract. Putin also said that he would establish an independent commission to evaluate such business. The commission was to be headed by Nobel prize winner physicist Zhorez Alferov.

As of today, no commission has been set up, Putin most likely has not heard about the spent fuel coming from Bulgaria, whereas the remediation programs have not been written yet.

Minatom's promises of huge revenues on the import operations (amounting to $20bn) are also fading away. Bulgaria is ready to pay $620 for one kilogram of spent nuclear fuel. Minatom used to say it would take not less than $1000 per kilo.

Bills approved by State Duma

The Russian State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, endorsed the spent nuclear fuel import bills in third reading on June 6th. The first bill legalises spent nuclear fuel import from other countries by amending art. 50 in the Russia's Environmental Protection Law in favour of spent fuel imports. The second bill sets frames for leasing of Russia's manufactured nuclear fuel abroad. While the third functioned more as an incentive for the Duma members and public in general, stipulating the remediation programs for radioactively contaminated areas.

The environmental groups, GAN and reasonable politicians in the Russian State Duma warned earlier against the import plans. But the warning calls were futile. Now Minatom has legalised its corporative business, which is under no independent control. The revenues of this business will be diverted to support post Soviet vast nuclear weaponry complex, which has been mostly useless after the cold war was over. Whereas the future generations will enjoy taking care of the hazardous waste for the coming thousand of years.

Duma keeps approving

On Thursday, the State Duma passed the second reading of the Law On Environmental Protection. MPs almost unanimously voted for spent fuel imports to Russia and abolished governmental environment funds, transferring money back to the common budget.

308 MPs voted for the bill, 36 voted against, and 99 did not cast their vote. Earlier the nuclear lobby, supported by Minatom made amendments to article 50 of the Law On Environmental Protection, allowing spent nuclear fuel imports to Russia. In June 2001, these amendments were signed by President Putin and came into force. But yesterday MPs had to consider the law as a whole, and that is why they returned to the controversial amendments to the article 50.

The opponents of the spent fuel imports again tried to stop turning the country into an international nuclear dumpsite, but failed. The majority of the MPs did not want to vindicate themselves before their electorate. Polls say more than 90% of Russians oppose the import of spent nuclear fuel.

Challenging the bills

The liberal Yabloko party keeps on criticising the idea of nuclear imports. Yabloko faction proposed two new amendments to the article 50, at least to minimize the damage from Minatom's activity and to ban eternal storage of the imported spent fuel in Russia. Yabloko also suggested that all the waste generated during reprocessing of the foreign spent nuclear fuel and newly manufactured fuel should be returned to the country of origin. But the MPs refused to discuss Yabloko's amendments and approved the article as it is.

Nuclear safety turns out to be particularly important issue in the wake of the terror acts in the US. "It's a pity, the majority of the MPs don't take the catastrophe in US as a warning... But the threat of nuclear terrorism is very actual in Russia, and becomes increasingly actual after the country has resolved to accept spent nuclear fuel from all over the world," Yabloko faction member Sergey Mitrokhin said.

Referendum vs spent fuel, nuclear lobby vs referendum The bills favouring spent nuclear fuel imports, approved by the State Duma and signed by the President, may be abolished by a national vote. Yabloko is going to initiate it, supported by envirogroups.

TENEX

The joint stock company Tekhsnabexport (TENEX) was founded in 1963 as a trade office within the USSR Ministry of External Trade. The main task of Tekhsnabexport was to export radioactive isotopes and rare metals to the East European and other countries. In 1968, Tekhsnabexport also began enriching uranium for export. In 1988, the company was transferred from the trade office to the Ministry of Atomic Energy. In 1989-90, Tekhsnabexport started to export natural uranium mined in Russia, as well as enriched uranium. In 1990, it shipped the first 12,000 tons of natural uranium abroad. Today the main activity of TENEX focuses on implementation from the Russian side of the HEU-LEU contract, launched by the US administration with a view to control Russian nuclear materials.

Last year, environmentalists tried to start the referendum, but the Central Electoral Committee said 0.6m of 2.5m of signatures collected were not valid. According to the Russian legislation, to start the referendum 2m signatures must be collected in a period of three months.

But the Minatom lobby tries to prevent the coming vote. In early October, a group of little known MPs proposed bills, hampering citizens' initiative for the referendum.

Both bills are called "On the amendments and additions into the federal constitutional Law On the Referendum in Russia". One of the amendments is that the questions, put forward for people's evaluation, should be approved by the upper and the lower chambers of the Russian parliament. That violates article 3 of the Russian Constitution, which stipulates that referendum is the "supreme and direct expression of people's power". Another amendment calls for that a group, who initiates a referendum, should be registered not in a centre of a federative subject, where the majority of the group lives, but in the Central Electoral Committee in Moscow.

According to the legislation in force, the initiative group may collect signatures anywhere, but not in the places said specifically about. The third amendment stipulates, that the Central Electoral Committee will define the place for the collection of signatures on its own choice.

-------- u.s. nuc facilities

U. S. Operating Commercial Nuclear Power Plants
http://www.mindspring.com/~what/usnuke.html

----

TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS INCREASE POWER OUTPUT

October 22, 2001
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-22-09.html

WASHINGTON, DC, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved requests by two nuclear power plants to increase their electricity generating capacity.

Carolina Power & Light Co. will increase the generating capacity of the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant by about 4.5 percent, or 51 megawatts.

The power uprate at the plant, near Raleigh, North Carolina, will increase the generating capacity of the reactor to about 968 megawatts of electricity. The facility intends to implement the power increase in December.

The NRC's safety evaluation of the requested power uprate for the plant focused on several areas, including nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences, operations and technical specification changes. The NRC determined that the licensee could increase the power output of the reactor by using more new fuel in the core and by replacing the steam generators.

TXU Electric Company will increase the generating capacity of the Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station by 1.4 percent for Unit 1, and 0.4 percent for Unit 2. The plant is located near Glen Rose, Texas.

The power increase will be implemented now at Unit 2 and next spring for Unit 1.

The NRC's safety evaluation of the requested power uprate for the plant focused on several areas, including nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences, operations and technical specification changes. The NRC determined that the licensee could increase the power output of the reactor with minor modifications to plant equipment because of technical refinements that permit more precise measurements of reactor operating conditions.

----

The amazing colossal concrete containment

From: "Scott D. Portzline" <sportzline@home.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001

Over the last two months, reactor containment buildings are magically getting thicker. Sizes ranged from 2-3 feet before the attacks on September 11. Shortly afterward they grew to 4 feet. Two weeks later some containments were 5 feet thick. Then on "60 Minutes a week ago they were up to 6 feet thick." Now I am pleased to know that some are more than 10 feet thick according to the engineer in the story below.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency was on a television call-in program last week. A woman asked "what are the dangers of nuclear power plants?" He answered, "Nothing more than a well run factory." That was it - no explanation of potential radioactive release or need to evacuate. And we pay him big buck to help Pa's citizens be prepared.

Scott Portzline

--------

Are Nuclear Plants Safe From Attack?
Protecting the nation's nuclear facilities.

Monday October 22 08:26 AM EDT
By Amanda Onion
ABCNEWS.com
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20011022/ts/strike_nukesafety011022_1.html

In light of the Sept. 11 attacks and the recent string of anthrax exposures, scientists and authorities have been forced to plan for another kind of unthinkable attack - on nuclear power plants.

If the improbable happened and terrorists managed to attack and penetrate a nuclear reactor core at a power plant, it could trigger an explosive meltdown that could spread radiation for hundreds of miles and trigger lethal health problems, if not immediate death among large populations. An undercover intruder could wreak similar havoc by sabotaging a plant from the inside.

Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and others emphasize that such events are highly unlikely and claim that facilities are protected against attacks.

But it's clear the idea has been considered, if not by terrorists, then at least by terrorist impersonators. Last week, two airports near the Three Mile Island nuclear facility near Harrisburg, Pa. were closed after authorities said they had received a "credible" threat against the plant. By Thursday morning, the threat was dismissed and airports were reopened.

The false alert was a reminder of the vigilant defense needed at nuclear power plants. Some point to the 1986 accidental Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine, which killed as many as 2,500 people, as an example of possible damages wrought by a nuclear power plant meltdown.

Daniel Hirsch, president of the Los Angeles-based nuclear watchdog group, the Committee to Bridge the Gap, recently told reporters gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that nuclear reactors are "among the most high-value targets that we have in the United States."

NRC: We Are Ready

The NRC is vague but confident when asked if the 103 nuclear plants across the United States are braced against attack.

"Yes, we are ready. We can't say how, but we are ready," said NRC spokesman Victor Dricks.

One line of defense is the structures that enclose nuclear reactors. Although they vary slightly in design, NRC guidelines stipulate that containment buildings be designed to withstand the impact of a bomb or small plane. That durability was proven in a 1989 test when Sandia National Labs in New Mexico sent a rocket-propelled F-4 fighter jet into a containment wall at 480 miles per hour. The jet disintegrated while the wall sustained only 2.4 inches of penetration.

"Typically these are concrete structures that are reinforced with steel that can be 10 feet thick or more," said Al Ghorbanpoor, a civil engineer at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee who has provided consulting in design for nuclear power plants. "They have been designed to sustain a large bomb impact, and the impact of a small plane, but if you're talking about a 747, I'm not sure."

No similar tests have been done using large passenger airplanes like the ones that hijackers flew into the World Trade Center Sept. 11. But Dricks claims even a large plane could not penetrate to the reactor core of these facilities. Still, Hirsch and others have called for extra caution and for positioning antiaircraft weaponry around nuclear power plants to fend off aerial suicide attacks.

France's defense minister recently announced that such measures have been taken to protect that nation's main nuclear waste processing plant. The NRC has not responded, at least publicly, to such requests.

Nuclear Waste: Small Targets?

Although a strike against a nuclear reactor core would wreak the greatest damage, there are other elements at nuclear power plants that could also be vulnerable.

Nuclear reactors in the United States have generated an estimated 45,000 tons of waste, which emit high levels of dangerous radioactive particles. The waste is being stored in temporary tanks or concrete and steel bunkers on site at nuclear power plants as debate over where and how to store it permanently continues. Some fear these storage facilities could also be targeted.

Dricks says all pools containing nuclear waste are enclosed in "robust" structures and that the steel bunkers are also secure - to a degree. Their best defense, he says, is their size.

"They're not required to withstand the impact of a large airplane," Dricks said. "But striking one would be extremely difficult because they're small."

Kim Kearfott, a professor of radiation safety at the University of Michigan, spent last year working at Detroit Edison's Fermi II Nuclear Plant and other plants in Michigan and is confident materials from these plants are safe from attack.

"These places are tightly protected," she said. "In fact, I feel safer at the plant than I do here in my office."

Attack From Within

Even if nuclear facilities are bolstered against terrorist raids and attacks, there remains the prospect of undercover intruders gaining access to vital controls at a nuclear power plant.

To prepare for such incidents, the NRC conducts regular drills and sends in would-be terrorists to see if they could take over or disable a plant. The drills are taped and then reviewed for possible flaws. Reports have indicated that since 1991, about half of the drills have revealed potential vulnerabilities. According to Hirsch, these drills did not incorporate the possibility that there could be large groups of possibly suicidal terrorists.

But Dricks says that since identifying potential weaknesses, the NRC has rapidly increased security. And since the attacks, he says, "some scenarios or threats that had not deemed credible or likely have been reconsidered."

In addition to increased patrol of the sites, security background checks have been re-run for all employees at nuclear power plants - even ones who have worked there for years.

-------- us nuc politics

NUCLEAR COMMISSION PUTS TRIMMED WEBSITE UP

October 22, 2001
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-22-09.html

WASHINGTON, DC, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) website is back up, though in a far sparer form than existed before the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The website, which was closed down last week, was restored with a limited amount of information.

"Taking down the agency website was a precaution to make sure it did not contain information that could be helpful to terrorists," the NRC says in a statement on the pared down site. "As the agency's review continues, other information and documents deemed non-sensitive will be added to the site."

So far, the site allows access only to the agency's mission statement, news releases, information about employment, public meetings and rulemaking, and details on how to report safety concerns - including threats of terrorist activities.

Before the September 11 terrorist attacks, information on exact locations of nuclear power plants, design and construction information, and contingency plans for nuclear accidents were all available on the site.

The website carried information on the background of all U.S. nuclear power plants and other facilities regulated by the NRC. A great deal of background information on individual plants, their security problems, and various design issues, could have been used in planning attacks on nuclear facilities, the NRC feared.

"In support of our mission to protect public health and safety, the NRC is performing a review of all material on our site," the NRC states. "In the interim, only select content will be available. We appreciate your patience and understanding during these difficult times."

-------- us nuc waste

New UCS fact sheet on spent fuel security

From: Alden Meyer [mailto:ameyer@ucsusa.org]
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001

Spent Fuel Security

Much of the discussion since the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has focused on the resistance of reactor containment structures to aircraft strikes. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) needs to analyze this issue so that its answer is known rather than debated.

More importantly, the NRC must address the vulnerability of spent fuel storage at all US nuclear power plants now. Spent fuel pools contain more highly radioactive fuel than the reactor cores. And the spent fuel pools at all US nuclear plants are located outside the reactor containment structure. When the spent fuel pools fill up, spent fuel is stored in concrete casks outside the plant. Thus, spent fuel is a softer target that could yield graver consequences than an aircraft crashing through the reactor containment structure.

What is the spent fuel pool?

The spent fuel pool is a 45-feet deep concrete pit that stores highly radioactive fuel assemblies after their removal from the reactor core. Water storage is required because spent fuel assemblies continue to emit considerable amounts of both heat and radiation for many years. The fuel pool water is continuously cooled to remove the heat produced by the spent fuel assemblies. Without cooling, the fuel pool water will heat up and boil. If the water boils or drains away, the spent fuel assemblies will overheat and either melt or catch on fire. NRC studies have estimated that many thousands of people living within 50 miles could die from the radiation released when spent fuel assemblies melt or catch on fire.

Where are the spent fuel pools located?

The spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants with pressurized water reactors are located in buildings adjacent to the reactor containment structures. Typically called the Fuel Handling Buildings, these structures are designed to withstand nature (e.g., earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and snow storms) but not man (e.g., sabotage and accidental or intentional aircraft strikes). The Fuel Handling Buildings are basically standard, industrial-grade buildings (much like K-Mart but without the neon signs).

The spent fuel pools themselves are generally below ground level within the Fuel Handling Buildings. Consequently, it is less likely for water to drain out of the spent fuel pool when its floor or walls are damaged than if it were located above ground.

The spent fuel pools for nuclear power plants with boiling water reactors are located above ground in the building surrounding the primary reactor containment structure. The photograph at left shows a boiling water reactor under construction. The steel foundation for the spent fuel pool's floor and walls is being erected. The large hole in the center of the photograph allows personnel to access equipment inside the reactor containment structure. A smaller hole in the lower left of the photograph, partially obstructed by reinforcing bar for an upcoming concrete pour, allows spent fuel assemblies to pass underwater from the reactor core to the fuel pool. As can be seen, the reactor containment structure is a steel-lined, reinforced concrete building whereas the spent fuel pool building is simplymade of reinforced concrete.

The picture below shows the spent fuel pool in the completely constructed plant. The racks visible in the bottom of the pool store the spent fuel assemblies. The gap in the concrete wall in the lower right connects the spent fuel pool to the transfer area. Fuel assemblies are lowered from the vertical position to the horizontal position in the transfer area for transport through the small containment hole to the reactor core.

The concrete wall on the far side of the picture, behind the railing and traversed by sheet-metal ventilation ductwork, is an outside wall. In the construction picture, this wall is represented by the reinforcing bars for the concrete.

An aircraft-or missile-would not need to completely level the fuel building to cause harm. It would merely need to crack the concrete wall or floor of the spent fuel pool and drain the water out. The spent fuel pool is designed to remain intact following an earthquake, but it is not designed to withstand aircraft impacts and explosive forces.

Some of the nuclear power plants with boiling water reactors are even more vulnerable. For example, the spent fuel pool is in the taller building on the left side of the nuclear plant shown below. The longer, shorter building on the right houses the turbine/generator. The photograph on the right shows the platform used to move fuel within the spent fuel pool. It rides on rails and spans the width of the spent fuel pool. The dark wall in the background is the blue panel shown in the picture on the left. It is corrugated metal siding that would hardly stop a Cessna from penetrating, yet alone a fully loaded commercial jet. As suggested from the photographs, the spent fuel pool at this plant is as high above ground as possible. About the only way to elevate it further would be to balance it on top of the red and white striped chimney in the background.

What about spent fuel stored in dry casks?

When the spent fuel pool in the "attic" of the nuclear plant fills up, some of the highly radioactive fuel assemblies are loaded into large casks and stored outside on concrete pads as shown below. Weapons available on the black market, and even some that can be legitimately purchased in the US, or explosives could cause the casks to be penetrated resulting in the release of large amounts of radiation. At some plants, the casks are line-of-sight visible from open access (i.e., unsecured) areas while other plants place casks inside unguarded chain-link fences.

What should the NRC do about spent fuel security?

Easy. Existing federal regulations (10 CFR 73.55) require plant owners to provide adequate security to protect spent fuel-whether stored in pools or casks-from radiological sabotage. All the NRC needs to do is simply enforce regulations already on the books. No more studies are required, no more rulemaking is needed, no more evaluations are necessary, and no more delays are warranted.

Alden Meyer
Director of Government Relations
Union of Concerned Scientists
1707 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
phone: 202-223-6133, Ext. 127
fax: 202-223-6162
e-mail: ameyer@ucsusa.org website:
http://www.ucsusa.org


-------- MILITARY


Anti-Terrorism War Could Last Years - UK Military.
War Details Remain Secret for Years

AP; Reuters.
22 October 2001.

WASHINGTON and MUSCAT -- A decade later, Americans still don't know how far special operations forces went inside Iraq during the Gulf War. Some parts of the fighting in Kosovo and Vietnam -- even Korea -- remain sketchy.

Even in conventional wars, the secrets are many.

In the war against terrorism, where special operations forces play a crucial, almost unprecedented role, the public may never learn more than a sliver of what happens inside Afghanistan.

"If they catch someone on the most-wanted terrorist list, they might eventually acknowledge that," said John Pike, a military and intelligence analyst in Washington. "But not quickly. Anybody they'll catch, they're going to want to interrogate first" in secret, to help catch others.

And when American special ops soldiers die? "They'll tell us that," Pike said. "But they may not say where -- or how."

Saturday's overnight raids by 100 airborne Army Rangers and other special forces into southern Afghanistan were the first publicly acknowledged covert missions of the war -- and a bit of an anomaly.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday that no prisoners were taken.

But he said officials would never again provide such detail.

U.S. officials would not say what the raid's objectives were, beyond gathering "useful intelligence" on the movements of Taliban leaders, specifically leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. They wouldn't say what they found, beyond a cache of weapons and documents. They said two soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in neighboring Pakistan, but provided almost no details.

Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops were still conducting secret operations inside Afghanistan -- including some operations that will be kept secret even when they're over.

"Some of the invisible operations we will provide information on," said Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"There will be other invisible operations where we will not say a thing."

Americans were so outraged by the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that they will give the military much leeway to wage war, and will not demand constant accounting, said Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution.

But over time, "If people don't get a sense of movement, that this is the direction things are headed, they are going to get extraordinarily antsy," said Dan Goure, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute.

The military will announce its successes, most believe, perhaps omitting details of how they happened. But secrecy also allows officials to hide bad news, at least temporarily.

They might wait to announce troop deaths, for example, until they also can announce positive results.

Goure noted that many military operations, both special ops and conventional, become public only when former soldiers tell war stories -- sometimes decades later.

Details of the killing of refugees at No Gun Ri by Army troops in 1950 took a half-century to surface, Goure said.

Information about Sen. Bob Kerrey's actions as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam came out more than 30 years later.

Stories of special ops teams hunting Scud missile sites in the Gulf War have appeared, but there has been no hard information about how far the teams went into Iraq.

It's still unclear where all the Apache helicopters were based during the Kosovo air campaign, Pike said.

All of that secrecy will be magnified in Afghanistan -- and beyond.

"Here, almost everything we do will be behind the line of secrecy," Daalder said.

Meanwhile, Britain's military chiefs said on Monday that the international war on terrorism could go on for years and they are planning for the long haul.

The stark assessment was made by Air Force and Navy commanders who flew into Oman for operation Swift Sword, Britain's biggest military exercise since the 1982 Falklands War.

It was planned as a war game but now looks increasingly like a dress rehearsal for the real thing.

Rear Admiral Alan West's assessment was blunt: "I have taken the prime minister (Tony Blair) at his word that it will go on for years because I think it will. I have looked at how to maintain levels of commitment for years."

Air Chief Marshal Sir John Day, commander-in-chief of the Royal Air Force strike command, agreed: "We are into a long haul but it will depend on what the government decides it wants to do as its contribution."

Operation Swift Sword, which has been four years in the planning [N.B.], has brought more than 20,000 British troops to this Arabian peninsula nation just as U.S. and British forces go to war over Afghanistan 600 miles to the north.

-------- afghanistan

At Afghan Border, Many Want Out As Some Slip In

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 22, 2001; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31100-2001Oct21.html

CHAMAN, Pakistan, Oct. 21 -- A sea of Afghans, wearing turbans or skullcaps or covered head-to-toe, waited today to enter Pakistan at a run-down desert crossing. Behind them, trucks stuffed with smuggled goods, mattresses, personal belongings and possibly even heroin stretched into the dusty horizon.

Donkeys brayed. Women on the Pakistani side of the border, separated by a shout from their children in Afghanistan, wailed. Pakistani border guards barked "Stand back. Go back," and menaced refugees with canes and whips. At one point today, they fired warning shots, hitting a teenage boy, witnesses said.

About 150 feet back, dour Taliban officials wearing bright white turbans and perched on pickup trucks wielded AK-47s as they surveyed the crowd of hopefuls seeking a peaceful night outside their homeland.

On the Pakistani side, religious militants ready to fight the "devil America" plotted their passage into Afghanistan to join the battle against the United States.

Two weeks after the United States began its war against the Taliban and suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, a trip to the Chaman border post in southwestern Pakistan, one of Afghanistan's main openings to the outside world, offers a view of the horror and the hope that war has brought that ravaged land.

"Afghanistan is slowly falling apart," said Abdul Wali, an Afghan from the southern city of Kandahar who was returning home to keep watch over his house after having brought his wife and children to Pakistan. "You can see it happening here."

Brutalized by days and nights of nonstop attacks, Afghans who can move are moving. The U.S. ground attacks have given new impetus to leave. Many say they want a new government and, in a marked change from several weeks ago, many say they are no longer afraid of the Taliban.

"Ninety-eight percent of us want a coalition government," said Wali, a former journalist who ended his career with the Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency when it stopped paying salaries. "We want the old king to return. What can the Taliban do if I say this? Everybody is saying it now."

An Afghan doctor walked by. Abdul Bari is a physician at Mir Weis Hospital, the only functioning civilian medical facility in Kandahar, the spiritual center of the Taliban movement.

Bari, who speaks softly and wears a finely knit pale yellow fez, was on duty Oct. 7, the night the U.S. strikes began in Kandahar. He provided the first witness account of a story that has been widely reported in Pakistan -- that the first round of strikes killed a son of Mohammad Omar, the leader of the Taliban, and the boy's uncle.

"Mullah Omar brought in his 10-year-old boy and his uncle and asked us to do what we could," Bari recalled. "The boy had injuries to his abdomen and a right femur fracture. We were in a hurry to help him, but he died."

Bari said that was the last time he saw the reclusive Afghan leader, who is believed to be hiding in caves above the city. "No one sees him now."

Bari said the hospital has about a 10-day supply of medicine. Water is a serious problem because the U.S. strikes knocked out electricity, so the city's pumps don't work. After three years working in that hospital, Bari said, he has decided to leave Afghanistan. He said his house is too close to Omar's residence -- a potential U.S. target.

Today he was crossing back into Afghanistan to pick up his wife and children. "We are hoping for a change," he said. "Many of us want the Taliban to go."

Moments later, another voice in the Afghan conflict surfaced.

Clothed in a fine pajama-like garment in shades of gray, his hazel eyes sparkling with passion, Faisal Mohammed strutted up to the chain-link fence holding the white-and-black striped flag of a Pakistani religious party and the white standard of the Taliban.

"Where are you going?" he was asked.

"To holy war," came the reply, incongruous for a man who appeared to be in his fifties. "To fight devil America. Long live the Taliban."

Within seconds he had disappeared into the crowd of Afghans waiting on the other side.

Next came a group of 20 youths, graduates of religious schools, or madrassas , that have sprung up throughout Pakistan in the last decade and profited from the collapse of state-funded schools. They marched toward the border, only to be turned back by a member of Pakistan's Frontier Corps. "Back!" the guard yelled, swinging his truncheon.

The youths hailed from all over Pakistan. They were young; some had barely any facial hair. None sported beards that would pass muster with the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the feared Taliban religious police. Beards on that side of the border have to be at least as big as a fist.

"We are going to die fighting the Americans," said one prospective warrior. Blocked at the crossing, he and his comrades took a side road and sprinted into Afghanistan a short while later. "Allah is all powerful!" one cried.

As they made an end run into Afghanistan, a train of donkey carts was making an end run out.

"Stop them!" an officer in the sole Pakistani watchtower yelled into a microphone. "Stop the cart men, stop the donkeys!"

Pakistan has refused to allow refugees to enter the country en masse -- although there have been exceptions for individuals, thousands of them. Pakistan's argument is that if it opens its borders, hundreds of thousands of Afghans will flood into the country. Nearly 5 million Afghans -- almost a fifth of the population -- already live as refugees, mainly in Pakistan or Iran.

In theory, only those who have Pakistani identification cards or relatives, or require medical treatment because of the airstrikes, can cross the border. Today, a stream of injured people -- eyes, legs and arms wrapped in bloody bandages -- trickled out of Afghanistan.

But the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is 1,400 miles long and there are many byways, both bureaucratic and through the mountains.

About 10 miles inside Afghanistan, in the town of Spin Buldak, a fast trade has emerged in counterfeit Pakistani identification cards. At the border, a faster trade has emerged in bribing the guards. Then there are the men on jerry-built Yamahas who will brave a fusillade of gunfire to take passengers -- and some smuggled goods -- into Pakistan cross-country for a fee. Today, a flock of them, like waiting buzzards, surveyed the scene from a nearby ridge.

Maj. Aftab, the Frontier Corps post commander, said that between 10,000 and 15,000 Afghans and 100 to 200 trucks were waiting to enter Pakistan but that he had received no orders to let them in.

"Over there it is horrible," said the dashing, mustachioed commander, pointing out the window of his watchtower at the throng waiting in 97-degree heat on the other side of a dirt patch and a few rolls of barbed wire. "There are sick people, injured people, patients. They have brought just one loaf of bread, two loaves of bread in a sack, which they will eat for a week."

Aftab, who declined to give his first name, said the exodus began in earnest last week, after electricity and water failed in Kandahar. On Friday, border guards let 3,500 people into Pakistan -- at that point the biggest single-day influx since the war began, although it was not clear why they were allowed entry. Upwards of 5,000 crossed there Saturday.

"The men are sick, the women are pregnant, the children are dying. The conditions are pathetic," Aftab said. "Some of them bring bodies from that side over here to bury."

But he added, "Pakistan can't afford to let them in."

Today in Islamabad, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said the war would cost Pakistan between $1 billion and $2.5 billion -- a staggering sum for a country deeply in debt.

U.N. relief agencies have urged Pakistan to open its borders, warning that a humanitarian crisis is imminent, and have identified several areas where refugees could be housed. Trucks of tents were seen heading toward the border, but there is no sign that the Pakistani government is ready to relent.

Today, at the border, U.N. agencies were negotiating with Pakistan for permission to cross into Afghanistan and help the refugees, said William Sakataka, head of the Quetta office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "The situation is tense," he said. The United Nations says there will be a need to feed 6 million to 7 million people in Afghanistan this winter.

Soon after Sakataka left, thousands of Afghans streamed into Pakistan, Western relief workers said. Frontier corpsmen fired warning shots to slow the refugees, hitting a 13-year-old boy, witnesses said.

On a dirt patch near the border crossing, a wizened, middle-aged woman who identified herself as the widow of Sali Mohammed was crying. She would not give her name because Afghan customs view women as the property of their husbands. "I am a widow," she cried. "And they won't let me have my children."

She said she had been living on the dirt patch for three days. Pakistani border guards had allowed her daughter and two grandchildren to cross, but not her sons. "I don't have anything," she said. "I have nothing. Nothing to eat. And I have lost my family, too."

Scanning the scene, Aftab turned to a visitor and asked: "Are you Special Forces? SAS? A Green Beret?"

"Let me tell you, it is all useless, this air war," he said, leaning back in his chair. "More people are getting killed and more people are getting allied with the Taliban. . . . The only solution is by the ground. But you must start soon. In a few weeks, winter will be here."

--------

Building a nation in Afghanistan
The US is in discussions with Zahir Shah, the former king, and Pashtun leaders met yesterday.

Christian Science Monitor
October 22, 2001
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1022/p6s1-wosc.html

BAZARAK, AFGHANISTAN - Hundreds of men with long faces pile their shoes at the door and file into a simple yellow mosque here to mark the 40th day of mourning for Afghanistan's rebel chief Ahmad Shah Masood.

Many more, all paying respect to the assassinated guerrilla leader revered for his role in ousting Soviet invaders in the 1980s, are crowded on the roof of the mosque in Mr. Masood's home village.

But the somber mood is not only a reflection of their sorrow for their slain leader. It's also about the daunting challenges facing their Northern Alliance in the future, as it attempts to create a post-Taliban coalition for Afghanistan.

The US is counting on the alliance - a collection of ethnic minority groups once held together by the glue of Masood's unifying presence - to help topple the radical Islamic Taliban regime.

But US officials have put the brakes on alliance military plans to advance on the capital, Kabul, until a workable coalition - which includes Pashtun groups that make up nearly 40 percent of the population, and are dominant supporters of the Taliban - is formed.

"It's US juggling of military and political aims," says Martha Brill Olcott, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "You can't create a power vacuum in Afghanistan, without some plan to fill it."

But details of that plan, she says, remain unclear even to policy planners. "Until the Taliban is more close to collapse, no one knows how the pieces are going to fit back together," Ms. Olcott says. "We are in an intelligence void, and will have to wait and see."

Nation-building, however, will not be easy here. The violent groove of factional fighting is far more familiar to Afghanistan's 20 million poverty-stricken people.

In an attempt to break that cycle, Northern Alliance and US officials have been in discussions with Zahir Shah - the former king of Afghanistan, who has lived in exile since 1973 and is ethnic Pashtun. A 120-member Supreme Council - with half its members appointed by the alliance, and half proposed by the king - is on the table.

Pashtun opposition leaders were also meeting yesterday in the Pakistani city of Quetta. And a CIA operation is reportedly under way inside Afghanistan - backed up by US Special Forces troops - to convince Pashtun tribal leaders to break from the Taliban.

The key is likely to be Northern Alliance efforts, since this group - which US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said was receiving US money and ammunition, which are most likely to make military gains on the ground.

"The alliance has matured enormously in the past two months," says Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani analyst contacted in Lahore, who has covered Afghanistan for 20 years and written a recent book on the Taliban. "Despite critics, you can't compare them with the Northern Alliance of the past. They have admitted mistakes.

"These new leaders are taking enormous risks to put a national agenda first," Mr. Rashid says. The reason is that Masood, alone among warlords here, insisted on creating a cadre of educated, intelligent advisers around him.

The result may be the current wisdom of Northern Alliance policies, says Rashid: "But we have to see if these intentions are born out in fact."

Overcoming Pashtun fears - after so many years of inter-ethnic fighting, blood feuds, and a built-up sense of revenge - will not be easy, even if the Taliban were to crumble.

"It's going to be important to prevent massacres and ethnic killings as these cities fall," adds Rashid. The reins of power should be handed over immediately to the Supreme Council as Northern Alliance forces advance, "to reassure citizens - and especially Pashtuns - that they will not be ruled by warlords."

The standard is low and bloody, and dates back to 1992, when mujahideen factions ousted the Soviet-installed regime that collapsed into a civil war that destroyed several districts of Kabul.

For residents of the capital, those four years of bloodshed remain fresh in the memory, despite the religious excesses of the Taliban. Alliance commanders today say they are mindful of that legacy, and trying to reverse it.

"We told [political leaders] that it is good not to go into Kabul, but to go to the gates and establish a security force," says alliance General Babajan, who controls the front north of Kabul. In 1992, he recalls, mujahideen "went to Kabul and took some places for themselves. They were not under one command. Now everybody is under one command, so we won't have the same problem."

Still, the Northern Alliance is fighting an uphill political battle - made worse by the fact that the charismatic Masood is now out of the picture.

"It's an enormous challenge for the Northern Alliance to put together a coalition that would win acceptance in the country," says Olcott. "These people start with lots and lots of strikes against them."

Breaking ties with drug dealers and gun runners may also be an issue, she says. And broadening a ruling coalition so that no single group has a majority will be critical - but possibly unacceptable to the Northern Alliance, if it is making military gains.

There may be a legitimate political or even peacekeeping role for the United Nations, Olcott adds, noting that under special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, it is the "only organization that has not discredited itself in the past five years" in Afghanistan.

Still, bringing an end to the Taliban is an American war aim explicitly spelled out by Mr. Rumsfeld on Friday.

"The military role will be over there when the Taliban and al-Qaeda [bin Laden's network] are gone," Rumsfeld said. "That's what this is about."

The Taliban are already feeling that pressure. A Taliban minister on Saturday called for both sides to bury their differences and "form one front against the [American] attacks."

But at the Panjshir mosque where Afghans mourned Masood, there is deep conviction that Masood's legacy of unity will see the Northern Alliance through to triumph - and Taliban hardliners are not welcome. "[Masood] gathered all the people under one roof," says Mohamed Aman, a commando and former Masood bodyguard.

"We want to follow Masood's way. He taught us," Mr. Aman says. "Whenever we capture places of the Taliban, we should give a seat [in the council] for every ethnic group. We should include them in a state. But Arabs, Pakistanis and Taliban that are treacherous - we will never let them in government."

--------

Soldiers of the Northern Alliance Prepare for a Ground Battle

New York Times
October 22, 2001
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/international/asia/22CND-MILI.html

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 - American warplanes were reported to have carried out a second round of attacks today on the Taliban's front-line troops north of Kabul. After the first substantial raids on the positions, on Sunday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell indicated that the United States would like the opposition Northern Alliance to advance toward the Afghan capital.

Today two jets circled over the Taliban front lines and fired at four targets, Reuters reported from the Bagram airbase, north of Kabul. The Taliban responded with heavy antiaircraft fire, the agency said.

In a second strike, an American jet released two missiles and two huge orange flashes erupted on the ground, Reuters said.

Sunday's raids drew cheers from the forces of the Northern Alliance, who appeared to be marshaling soldiers for an attack across the maze of trenches, bunkers and minefields that lie between them and Kabul, 35 miles to the south.

In recent days at least 1,000 of the Northern Alliance's better troops have arrived in the area around the Taliban's front-line positions, bolstering an estimated 2,000 alliance troops already there. Pentagon officials, however, have said that 10,000 to 15,000 Taliban troops are defending the front north of Kabul.

The rebel group has had few military successes in recent years. Whether it can succeed in advancing on Kabul is far from clear, and its political leaders have offered to stop short of entering the capital.

"The Northern Alliance is on the march in the north toward Mazar-i-Sharif, and I think they're gathering their strength to at least invest Kabul, or start moving on Kabul more aggressively," Secretary Powell said. As a retired general, he used the word "invest" in its military sense, meaning to surround and lay siege to an objective.

The bombing raids and Secretary Powell's virtual invitation to the rebels to surround Kabul suggest a growing sense of urgency in Washington about the military operation.

President Bush has said he is determined to carry on the search for Osama bin Laden and efforts to topple the Taliban leadership that shelters him even if takes a year or more. But the harsh Afghan winter will hamper American and British ground actions in Afghanistan.

Another factor is the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November, about the same time that winter sets in. The Pentagon has said nothing to indicate that it is planning to suspend or slow its attacks during Ramadan. Military strikes during that period, however, would further inflame anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world, a concern that the Americans' sole military ally, the British, have noted.

So while the United States and the British are prepared for a long campaign, they are striving to achieve a breakthrough in the next four weeks.

"I think it would be in our interest and the interest of the coalition to see this matter resolved before winter strikes and it makes our operations that much more difficult," Secretary Powell told the Fox News television channel on Sunday, referring to Washington's crucial military objectives.

A senior British defense official also said that the allies were racing against time. Asked if the United States and the British were trying to achieve their war aims before winter and Ramadan, Adam Ingram, the British Armed Forces Minister said, "Clearly we are planning to try and achieve that very objective."

Other administration officials echoed Secretary Powell's desire to wrap up the campaign in Afghanistan. "There is some pressure to get as much done as we can by Ramadan," said a senior administration official. "But frankly I don't know what we're going to do when it comes to that time."

In a television interview, Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not talk today as if Northern Alliance intervention would be decisive, nor did he seem to think that it was likely that Washington would achieve all of its war aims by the winter.

"As the president said, this is going to be a very, very long campaign," General Myers said on ABC television, referring to the fight against terrorism. "It may take till next spring. It may take till next summer. It may take longer than that in Afghanistan."

The American decision to bomb the Taliban front-line defense north of Kabul was a milestone. Since bombing started on Oct. 7, the Americans have not carried out such attacks, save for four bombs dropped on some Taliban front-line troops early last week, according to reports from the Northern Alliance.

Observers of Sunday's raids today there were at least two attacks on the Taliban front line north of Kabul.

A senior American official suggested that American forces had not retained control of a remote airfield 50 miles southwest of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, but could secure it again in the future.

On Sunday the Pentagon identified the two men killed as a result of the Friday raid. They were Pfc. Kristofor Stonesifer, 28, of Helena, Mont., and Spec. Jonn J. Edmunds, 20, of Cheyenne, Wyo. The two soldiers, who served at Fort Benning, Ga., with the 75th Ranger Regiment, were on an Army helicopter that crashed in Pakistan.

Administration officials said attacks on the Taliban's front-line troops had been a lower priority than efforts to strike at Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader, and the Qaeda terrorist network.

In addition, the Northern Alliance is dominated by ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks and is therefore unacceptable to the Pashtuns of Afghanistan, the country's largest ethnic group and the one from which the Taliban emerged. Washington was concerned that more Afghans might rally around the Taliban if the Northern Alliance were to rush into the capital.

But, with time pressing, Washington appears to have altered its calculation. The Administration has secured a promise from the Northern Alliance that it will approach Kabul, but not enter the city.

"We are saying we want to go to the gates of Kabul and stop there," said Haron Amin, the senior Washington envoy for the Northern Alliance. "Basically, we want to have a demilitarized Kabul and have a security force in place."

Mr. Amin said the security force could be supervised by the United Nations in order to maintain a balance of power between Afghanistan's rival factions.

Before returning to Moscow from talks in Asia, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, stopped in Tajikistan, where he met with Burhanuddin Rabbani, the political leader of the Afghan opposition government, the Northern Alliance, telling him that Russia would continue to supply weapons to the alliance. Mr. Putin said the Northern Alliance should be included in a new government but that the Taliban should be excluded.

For the United States, there is a clear military utility in striking the Taliban's front lines. To strengthen the front lines and discourage defections, Arab and other troops recruited by Mr. bin Laden have taken up positions there.

Those troops are a high-priority target for Washington. A garrison of them near Mazar-i-Sharif was among the first targets struck in Washington's military campaign. So far, the Northern Alliance, which consists of four factions, is the only group mounting a military challenge to the Taliban. There is as yet no organized resistance on the part of Pashtun tribes in south.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who signaled the decision to lend more support to the Northern Alliance last week, has expressed frustration with the faltering efforts to build Pashtun resistance.

"We do not have the kinds of interaction with some elements in the south that I would have to have to see progress," he said on Friday.

The military ability of the Northern Alliance is still uncertain. In recent days, for example, fighting near Mazar-i-Sharif has see-sawed, as the alliance pushed to the edge of the airfield outside town only to pull back under a Taliban counterattack. The Americans began air attacks there on Saturday.

-------- biological weapons

Anthrax trace found in US House mailroom

by Jonathan Wright,
22/10/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12920/story.htm

WASHINGTON - A swab from a U.S. House of Representatives mail room proved positive for the potential germ warfare agent anthrax, a police spokesman said on the weekend, adding to the alarm about a spate of anthrax findings.

Close to 40 people in the United States, including 28 who work at the nearby U.S. Senate, have been exposed to anthrax bacteria in the past month. Eight people have been infected with the disease and one man has died.

U.S. officials said they do not know if the outbreaks, stretching from Florida in the southeast to New Jersey and New York in the northeast, are linked with the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which Washington blames on the al Qaeda organization of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden.

U.S. President George W. Bush, making his weekly radio address from Shanghai, called the anthrax mailings "an act of terror" and sought to enlist Pacific Rim leaders on Saturday in a global campaign to protect people from bioterrorism.

Capitol Police spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols said the staff who work in the contaminated mail room, in the Ford House Office Building three blocks from the U.S. Capitol, would be tested to see if they have been exposed to the bacteria.

Hours later, District of Columbia officials told a a news conference that a Washington postal worker was in the hospital in nearby Virginia and was being tested for the disease.

"A gentleman out at Fairfax Hospital (in Virginia) is now being treated. There is a possible situation. The Centers for Disease Control is now out there monitoring that situation and tests are being done," Mayor Anthony Williams said.

A doctor from the federal Centers for Disease Control, Rima Khabbaz, told the news conference that initial nasal swabs on the man had proven negative for anthrax but more tests were pending and results expected within 24 hours.

OTHER MACHINES ARE NEGATIVE

The positive swab in the Ford building turned up during a precautionary "environmental sampling" of the whole Capitol complex, ordered this week after a contaminated letter reached the offices of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

It was from a machine that bundles mail for the Longworth House Office Building, which houses the offices of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, a written statement said.

"All other bundling machine tests are negative. Because of the suspension of mail delivery, it is not known whether any affected mail was delivered," it added.

Nichols said the investigators did not know if the latest trace of anthrax came from a second letter or through cross-contamination from the letter to Daschle.

All letters to the U.S. Congress pass first the mail handling center where the man in hospital works, before splitting into mail for the Senate and mail for the House of Representatives, officials said.

Senate physician John Eisold said the new finding was no surprise if you follow the trail of the mail.

"We will go ahead and test the workers in that facility and, pending results, will initiate prophylactic antibiotics," he added. Medical authorities are recommending a two-month course of the antibiotic Cipro for people exposed to anthrax.

Nichols said it was up to the House leadership to decide whether to go ahead with plans to reopen the House on Tuesday.

For the first time in U.S. history, the House closed at the end of business on Wednesday, because of the anthrax scare. The Senate, despite having confirmed cases of exposure, remained open as usual on Thursday.

The latest case of anthrax infection emerged yesterday when The New York Post said an employee at the tabloid newspaper had tested positive for the cutaneous, or skin-related, variety.

Though caused by the same bacterium, the cutaneous variety is less deadly than the inhaled variety that killed a tabloid photo editor in Florida earlier this month.

Along with the real cases, the United States and other countries have seen a spate of false alarms and apparent hoaxes with envelopes containing white powder.

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Argentina tests confirm letter laced with anthrax

Story by Gilbert Le Gras,
22/10/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12926/story.htm

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentine health authorities have confirmed that a letter sent from Miami to a woman in Buenos Aires was laced with anthrax spores but they believed she was not at risk of becoming infected.

After initial tests on Thursday showed it was "highly probable" there were anthrax spores in the envelope, further DNA tests conducted yesterday confirmed earlier suspicions.

"We are announcing that the test results were positive," Health Minister Hector Lombardo told a news conference, adding that a special fund was created yesterday to help pay for laboratory tests of suspicious letters.

Before Friday, Kenya was the only other country outside the United States to confirm the presence of the potentially deadly bacteria in a letter. That letter was mailed in Atlanta.

Many Argentines fear their country, the only Latin American nation to send troops to the 1991 Gulf War and a strong ally of the United States, could be a victim of attacks after the Sept. 11 suicide-hijack plane assaults on New York and Washington.

Brazilian officials in Rio de Janeiro said a letter sent to the New York Times bureau there from New York City "suggested bacteria or spores consistent with anthrax" after a preliminary test.

Argentine authorities said they were studying tighter screening measures for incoming mail.

"There is no one in Argentina with anthrax, no one, all we have is an envelope with the bacillus (rod-shaped bacteria)," Lombardo said. "We are working with the post office to create a sterilization process with ozone for all letters that arrive."

The woman who received the letter in Buenos Aires, who has not been named, did not open the envelope but sent it for tests.

"The patient was identified and taken to the Muniz Hospital and I gave her a check up, I talked to her and the person is perfectly fine because she knew she did not have to open the envelope so she did not and she has not been in contact with the confirmed (anthrax) bacteria," said Dr. Jorge San Juan, head of intensive care at the Muniz Hospital.

San Juan and Lombardo said the envelope, mailed in Miami, bore the logo of Carnival Cruise Lines , but a spokeswoman for the company said it had not been contacted by Argentine authorities.

"At this point in time we do not believe the mail came from Carnival," said spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz. "According to information we've been provided by our sales office in Argentina it does not appear the Argentine authorities believe the letter came from Carnival."

Argentine Security Secretary Enrique Mathov said he did not know the origin of the envelope but it would likely be one topic discussed at a security meeting on Saturday morning.

Interior Minister Ramon Mestre said an emergency meeting of the Interior Security Council would be held to analyze additional safety measures and the president would call on the military to assist if their aid is deemed necessary.

Andres Ruiz, head of the state-run Malbran Institute, said that of more than 580 suspicious letters tested to date, only one had tested positive.

Governments around the world have become increasing fearful that anthrax smeared on letters is being used as a biological weapon. About 40 people have tested positive in the United States for exposure to the disease and one has died.

The anthrax case dominated news broadcasts in a nation where memories of the bombings of Israel's embassy and a Jewish community center in the 1990s - in which over 100 people died - are still fresh. (Additional reporting by Mayra Pertossi.).

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Bioterrorism Preparations Lacking at Lowest Levels
Despite Warnings and Funds, Local Defenses Come Up Short

By Joby Warrick and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 22, 2001; Page A07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31008-2001Oct21.html

The chaos, long lines and misinformation that roiled Washington in the wake of last week's anthrax attack has underscored a long-standing weakness in the nation's defense against terrorism:

In preparing for bioterrorism, the federal government has not always clued in the emergency workers, hospitals and physicians who must manage the front lines in any assault.

"Confusion reigns at the lowest levels," said Mohammad Akhter, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who watched with growing unease last week as a single anthrax-tainted letter pushed the Washington area's emergency response system to the limit. He added, "This is the one thing that causes us to shake in our boots."

The federal government has staged more than 200 training exercises in the late 1990s, some of which were designed to help local emergency officials prepare for future attacks by terrorists wielding everything from anthrax aerosols to crude nuclear devices. The exercises were part of an increased effort to prepare the nation for terrorist threats, an effort in which spending tripled to nearly $10 billion a year since 1996.

As recently as last year, however, special federal panels and government audits warned of critical gaps at state and local levels. Half of all U.S. states lacked even a single "disease detective" to investigate outbreaks, public health officials said. Ten percent of the nation's 120 largest city and county health departments did not have e-mail.

"The Executive Branch and the Congress have not paid sufficient attention to state and local capabilities for combating terrorism," concluded a December 2000 report by a White House advisory panel on terrorism chaired by Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R). A "disproportionately small" amount of the federal government's nearly $11 billion counterterrorism budget trickles down to the state and local readiness efforts, the panel said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Bush administration has asked for an additional $1.5 billion to prepare the nation for a broad array of biological threats, including anthrax and the plague. Only a fraction of the money is aimed at preparing communities for future threats.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on Friday called the additional spending a "first step" and predicted that more money would be found for communities. But public health officials say the experiences of the past two weeks have underscored an urgent need to strengthen local public health infrastructures, from hospital emergency rooms to local laboratories.

"My impression is that everyone is stretched to the limit," said Margaret Hamburg, a former New York City health commissioner and former assistant secretary of Health and Human Services. "It certainly does tell us that we have to make sure that we have greater depth on the bench for the future."

The Gilmore report and another high-profile advisory panel, the National Commission on Terrorism, both issued reports last year warning of other major gaps in the nation's bioterrorism defense, including inadequate research into technologies to detect, treat and decontaminate biological hazards in a terrorist attack.

They also criticized "insufficient" federal government controls on existing stocks of terrorism-friendly pathogens such as anthrax and smallpox, as well as the specialized equipment needed to transform them into weapons. Scores of universities and private laboratories maintain supplies of anthrax spores for research purposes and federal officials acknowledge they have no central database for tracking the stocks. Federal investigators believe anthrax cultures sold to an Iraqi university in 1988 by a Manassas, Va., lab were co-opted into Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program.

"None of the recommendations were enacted into law" until the Sept. 11 hijackings pushed domestic terrorism to the top of Congress's agenda, said L. Paul Bremer III, co-chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism and the former State Department "ambassador-at-large" for counterterrorism.

One reason for the inaction: Security experts were divided on whether the bioterrorism threat was real or merely theoretical. The General Accounting Office, drawing on interviews with top counterterrorism officials, concluded in a report last year that the risk of large-scale attack was small, owing to formidable technical obstacles involved in dispersing lethal pathogens over a large area.

"Much of the federal effort to combat terrorism has been based on vulnerabilities rather than an analysis of credible threats," the GAO said in its April 2000 report.

The anthrax scare that began with the death of a Florida photo editor two weeks ago is the first fatal instance of bioterrorism in the nation's history. After one death, seven confirmed illnesses and several dozen exposures, it remains unclear whether the deadly spores originated in this country or overseas, or if they were orchestrated by an international terrorist organization such as al Qaeda or a domestic copycat group.

What is clear is that that attack on the U.S. Capitol building rattled a public health system unaccustomed to dealing with such threats.

The first hours after t