NucNews - March 23, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR Dozens of States Declare Support for Nuclear Power March 23, 2005 — By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7387 PARIS — Nuclear power can play a key role in the 21st century in helping nations meet their energy needs and reduce the spread of greenhouse gases, a statement backed by nearly all 74 states at a nuclear conference said. The declaration was issued at the end of a 2-day conference called "Nuclear power for the 21st century" organised by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and hosted by the French government. "A vast majority of participants affirmed that nuclear power can make a major contribution to meeting energy needs and sustaining the world's development in the 21st century," the statement said. Nuclear power "does not generate air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions," it said, adding that nuclear power generation was a proven technology that can deliver safe and affordable electricity. A European expert at the conference said on condition of anonymity that only "a handful" of states objected to the view that nuclear energy could play a key role in this century -- among them oil-rich Saudi Arabia. On Monday, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said atomic power was coming back into vogue. "All indicators show that an increased level of emphasis on subjects such as fast growing energy demand, security of energy supply and the risk of climate change, are driving a reconsideration in some quarters of the need for greater investment in nuclear power," ElBaradei said. The closing statement said participants agreed that the "health of the environment ... is a serious concern that must be regarded as a priority by all governments." It also said states must ensure the highest possible level of nuclear safety to avoid accidents. Safety and Security The statement also touched on the risk that terrorists might attack atomic facilities or that nuclear material could be stolen for use in weapons. "States must make the necessary arrangements to ensure the highest level of security of nuclear material and facilities," it said. It also called on governments to ensure there were "appropriate options for the management and disposition of nuclear fuel" to prevent nuclear waste from becoming a burden for future generations. ElBaradei said on Monday that despite an improved atomic energy industry: "Nuclear power was dealt a heavy blow by the tragedy of the 1986 Chernobyl accident, a blow from which the reputation of the nuclear industry has never fully recovered." The explosion at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, the world's worst civil nuclear accident, spewed a cloud of radioactivity across Europe and has been blamed for thousands of deaths from radiation-linked illness. More than 100,000 people had to be resettled. -------- accidents and safety Deal near in NY N-fuel suit Plaintiffs in suit on contamination from Hicksville plant site may share $11M BY MARK HARRINGTON NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER March 23, 2005 http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzverizon4187026mar23,0,5954579.story?coll=ny-business-headlines A 3-year-old lawsuit claiming operators of a former nuclear-fuel plant in Hicksville negligently released deadly radioactive material into the surrounding neighborhood decades ago is nearing a settlement, according to court papers. The amount has not been released, but people familiar with the case said the payout will be about $11 million. A special master is to oversee distribution of the settlement, which still awaits a judge's final approval, according to documents filed with federal court in Central Islip. More than 280 plaintiffs, including cancer-stricken residents and the heirs of those who had lived near the plant, had asked for $1.6 billion from companies that included Verizon Communications Inc. Verizon is the successor of Sylvania Electric Products Inc., which operated the facility 1952-1966. In pretrial interviews, former employees said they routinely incinerated uranium shavings in large steel drums, releasing ash and radioactive particles into the air, according to court documents. Experts say radioactive airborne particles can lead to lung and thyroid cancers. The plant, which abuts Cantiague Park, is surrounded by several neighborhoods, whose past and current residents charged that the fuel-making operations were never fully disclosed until decades after the plant was shuttered in 1966. State environmental officials have said the site poses no current hazard to residents, and that the number of cancer cases in the area were not abnormal, but assessments of its effect on underlying soil and groundwater are ongoing. The case was fraught with complications. Lawyers for plaintiffs charged that some 200,000 pages of documents that represented critical evidence had gone missing before the case came to federal court in 2002. The plant was opened by Sylvania in 1952 to produce nuclear fuel rods. The company, which was acquired by GTE, closed in 1966, but residual radioactive uranium and thorium, among other toxic materials, remain in the ground, according to health officials. Some equipment from the plant, including lockers, wound up in Hicksville schools but were removed last year after their presence came to light. GTE in 2000 merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon, the primary defendant in the suit. Verizon funded more than a year of cleanup at the site, estimated at tens of millions of dollars, before the federal government decided to step in earlier this year. Verizon is still overseeing it until a full assessment of the contamination is complete. "A settlement is being negotiated among the parties," said Peter Thonis, a Verizon spokesman, saying final court approval is required. "Terms of the pending settlement are confidential." Attorneys for the plaintiffs also declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries. David Jaroslawicz, of Manhattan, who represents residents, said complexities and the age of the case made fighting it challenging. "In light of the circumstances and the amount of years that passed, we got a very fair settlement," he said. "It was not an easy case." -------- britain Scotland - Nuclear power 'is off the agenda' Scottish ministers have power over planning consent BBC World Wednesday, 23 March, 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4376391.stm Labour's coalition partners have warned that they would aim to block any attempt to build a new nuclear power station in Scotland. The Scottish Executive would have to grant planning consent for any such development north of the border. Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said he could not foresee any circumstances in which his colleagues at Holyrood would support such a move. The Greens and Scottish National Party also oppose a new nuclear option. They were speaking following the publication of a report by Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee. 'Sound analysis' MPs called for an audit of the country's energy resources and suggested a renewed role for nuclear power and coal. Mr Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat member of the committee, said the report provided "sound analysis" without suggesting any particular solutions. He said the possibility of a new nuclear plant in Scotland had not been excluded, although no recommendation had been made. However, he pointed out that the Scottish Executive would have to approve any planning application. "As things stand I cannot foresee the circumstances in which my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament would be prepared to support that decision," he said. "For Scotland, therefore, nuclear energy is off the agenda for the foreseeable future." That warning was echoed by the SNP's Mike Weir, who also sits on the committee. "If Labour in Westminster does try to force a new nuclear power station on Scotland they will be faced with massive opposition," he said. "There are huge issues such as waste and security to be considered." And he argued that green energy provided an alternative. The Scottish Green Party agreed that efforts should be focused on developing renewable energy, rather than the "dead end" of nuclear power. MSP Shiona Baird said: "Those political dinosaurs who recommend a new nuclear power station seem happy to deny the huge threat this poses to health and the environment in Scotland. "Extending production is not an option, neither is a new station." Labour MP and former Energy Minister Brian Wilson said a decision had to be taken "sooner rather than later" on the need or otherwise for nuclear new build. "I think the more we move this debate into the context of global warming and carbon reduction then the less sense it makes to get rid of the one source of electricity in this country which produces large volumes of carbon-free electricity," he said. The report received an enthusiastic welcome from Stephen Boyd, assistant secretary of the STUC. He said Scotland needed a "balanced energy strategy" based on a diversity of fuel sources, with the renewable element increasing as technologies like tidal and wave power proved themselves. "There must also be a continuing role for coal generation subject to introduction of clean coal technologies and recognition that there is no medium-term viable alternative to nuclear if Scotland is to meet its climate change obligations," he said. ---- Weak WMD report leads to British intelligence revamp LONDON (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323204033.vn8ovdqo.html The way in which the British government uses intelligence will be tightened up in light of errors made in the report on weapons of mass destruction it used to justify invading Iraq, Foreign Minister Jack Straw said on Wednesday. In a written statement to the House of Commons Straw said more means would be provided and procedures would be reviewed and tightened up at the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), which provides the government with information gathered by its various intelligence services. The changes follow guidelines in the Butler report, which last July criticised both the work of the JIC and Prime Minister Tony Blair's manner of governance. The JIC, currently composed of 28 staff, will be increased in size by a third so as to better analyse intelligence while government ministers will be given a standardised guide on how to interpret and better judge the intelligence provided. The Butler report said a final version of a government report on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, made public in September 2002, had been weak and lacking in reservations and doubts initially included by intelligence gatherers. Lord Butler also criticised Tony Blair's habit of holding informal meetings with his inner circle of advisors before and during the war where no formal reports were written, which would not be the case at a classic cabinet meeting. -------- depleted uranium Fayetteville Diary A veteran confronts charges Fort Bragg was the wrong place to protest Wed, 23 Mar 2005 GNN By Dennis Kyne http://www.gnn.tv/articles/1225/Fayetteville_Diary From a distance I heard Drew Plummer say, “Hey, Dennis!” He was standing in the Porta Potty crowd, in the middle of a line that was on the end of ten lines that were already twenty people deep. It was eleven in the morning and it was packed; the rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina hadn’t even started. In the distance, musician Ralph Baldwin, a Vietnam veteran, kicked off the rally with a haunting song from his album, Hold Onto The Dream. I knew right then, and I get goose bumps as I write this, that I was in the right place, and this was definitely the right time. The South Carolina Stop the War coalition marched in unannounced as the rally began. Buses from New York City, Washington D.C., Atlanta and all points west arrived continuously, unloading people who walked onto the rally area and created a mass that organizers put at nearly 5,000 – far larger than the “small gathering” reported by some media outlets the following day. Organizer Lou Plummer said this was the biggest protest ever in Fayetteville. The hot topic of the day was the simmering controversy over recent statements by Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the Manhattan-based soldier advocacy group Operation Truth. Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran and a favorite of media outlets from CNN to The New York Times, stated that protesting in Fayetteville represented, “the height of insensitivity by the anti-war organizations” due to its proximity to Fort Bragg, home to the 82nd Airborne. On Air America last week, he repeated the charge, getting into a heated argument with Unfiltered host Rachel Maddow. Aside from the insinuation that troops are trained with sensitivity, it is an incredible assumption to think that all troops on active duty are so dense they don’t know we are there in their interests. One could very easily infer from Rieckhoff’s rhetoric that we were there to spit and curse at the troops. But there were no cries of “babykillers” coming from this crowd. In fact, there was nothing but love for the sons and daughters sent to fight a war sold to the public on a lie. Riechkhoff seems to forget that the organizations hosting this event were all family members of service members who have died in action or are currently serving. In addition, the organizations were made up of many veterans, people who have served in both peace and wartime. Rieckhoff, who is not an active duty soldier, is currently a 1st Lieutenant in the New York State National Guard. Having spent fifteen years in the Army myself, from 1987 until 2003, including service as a medic on the frontlines of Operation Desert Storm, I can tell you, the only person insulting anyone is Rieckhoff. Drew Plummer had just returned from the Navy the day before, having battled the machine long enough to know what it is doing to young women and men. Drew enlisted during his last year in high school, just three months before 9/11. He was released from his military obligations last week after a prolonged legal battle resulting from his exercise of the freedoms he supposedly was fighting to protect. Home on leave, he had joined his father, Lou, at an anti-war vigil. When an Associated Press reporter asked his opinion on the war, Drew replied, “I just don’t agree with what we’re doing right now. I don’t think our guys should be dying in Iraq. But I’m not a pacifist. I’ll do my part.” He paid the price. The Navy charged Drew with making disloyal statements, under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. At his hearing, he was asked if he “sympathizes” with the enemy or was considering “acts of sabotage” against the U.S. military. He replied, no, and was convicted and demoted. Drew told me he had recognized early on that the war was waged under false pretenses. He said, “One of the ways to end war is resistance from the inside. We are making them aware with protests. Troops realize war is wrong sooner or later, and they start the moves to get out.” This is what Drew did, and he received more than fifty letters from around the country in support. He’ll always be a hero to me. So will Jose Couso, the slain journalist from Spain. Jose was hit by a U.S. tank shell while inside the Palestine Hotel during the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. Everyone in the world knew the hotel was where the world’s media was operating out of. His brother, David, traveled from Madrid to Fayetteville in his honor. With the aid of an interpreter, David told me, “It is the right thing to do, when it comes to struggle you have to go to them and invite them because it is open to everyone. This is not an issue of confrontation, this in issue of invitation, we invite everyone to come.” The majority of the people who arrived were from places other than Fayetteville. That is not to say Fayetteville wasn’t alive, and Fort Bragg soldiers and their family members weren’t speaking out just as hard, if not harder, than the out-of-towners. On the condition of anonymity, of course, having been told by commanders on Fort Bragg not to get anywhere near the protest or else risk being punished, there were members of the 82nd Airborne, both current and former present at the protests. The 82nd Airborne is on a steady rotation to combat zones, and Ann Roesler, who was staying in her son Michael’s apartment while he was off fighting, had something to say about Rieckhoff’s statement as well. “Michael is on his second rotation to Iraq with the 82nd. It is a crock of s*** what Rieckhoff says. Many of the troops I have spoken with don’t believe in this war. What Rieckhoff’s doing is creating a hornets’ nest, making things worse.” I concur, so does Ward Reilly, of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, who traveled from Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the event. Ward, a major organizer of the Jazz Funeral For Democracy held in New Orleans earlier this year, said, “One thing that separates us from them is credibility. They [Operation Truth] have no credibility, what Rieckhoff is doing is straight Nixonian. Talk about telling the truth, the Winter Soldiers’ testimony in 1971 was telling the truth, which led to the pulling of money for the war. What Rieckhoff is doing is participating in the division, knowing most likely that power divides each to conquer both.” Many simply asked, “What the hell is Rieckhoff doing?” Responses from Military Families Speak Out, the “Gold Star” mothers and veterans of this current war and many wars past said that Rieckhoff, a young man who is more than likely loaded with good intentions, doesn’t have any idea what he is doing. Rieckhoff wants to blame the White House and everyone else, when the fact is everyone is accountable to the truth. What truth is his operation telling? That the White House lied? Most people in Fayetteville knew that before Rieckhoff ever deployed to Iraq. Kevin and Joyce Lucey were telling the truth as they spoke to the thousands of anti-war protesters. Kevin Lucey told of finding his son, Jeffrey, in the basement of their home strangled with a garden hose. Jeffrey, who was only 23, had left dog tags of two Iraqi soldiers he said he was forced to shoot unarmed on his bed. After hearing these remarkable parents, I was in tears – so were many others. Jeffrey’s fate is similiar to many of the 11,000 Desert Storm veterans I served with who are now dead. As I climbed the stage, held the microphone, and told the crowd I wanted to have a cry, I had to remind myself and the thousands of listeners, “everyone in Fayetteville knows soldiers don’t cry.” I spoke about depleted uranium and the fact that 18,500 Desert Storm Veterans are incarcerated for rape or violent crimes in our federal and state prisons. I mentioned these troops currently are coming home with something deeper than PTSD, it is Soldier’s Heart (WWI), Shell Shock (WWII), the 1,000 yard stare (Vietnam)? I asked, “What will they call it this war?” As the crowd applauded and I left the stage, I was reminded that I was in the right place and it was the right time. It was the right thing, and no 1st Lieutenant in the United States military, still collecting money in a time of war, is going to pass himself off as truth-teller to me, or any of the thousands of anti-war protesters I shared the day with in Fayetteville on the second anniversary of an illegal invasion. While Rieckhoff, and others, believe Fayetteville was the wrong place to protest; Drew Plummer, the Luceys and thousands of others were down south saying, “Bring Them Home Now, we don’t support an illegal war.” For most troops and their families, that is the only operational truth worth telling. Read Paul Rieckhoff’s response to Kyne’s diary here. http://anthony.gnn.tv/ Dennis Kyne is a military veteran who served for fifteen years in the U.S. Army, and was a battlefield medic on the frontlines of Operation Desert Storm, where he saw first-hand the effects of Depleted Uranium weapons and PB Tablets. He is the author of the self-published memoir, Support the Truth, and a musician. For more info, see http://www.denniskyne.com. -------- europe Closing Bulgaria's nuclear reactors would be 'crazy', say Euro deputies Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:38 PM ET Science - AFP http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050323/sc_afp/bulgariaeunuclear_050323173828 SOFIA (AFP) - It would be "crazy" for Bulgaria to yield to a European Union (news - web sites) demand and close two Soviet-era reactors at its nuclear power plant at Kozloduy next year, a group of visiting Socialist members from the European parliament said. "I am convinced that units three and four are as safe as any western reactor. The closure of these units in 2006 is crazy," British labour MEP Terry Wynn told a press conference in Sofia. "I see the lights going out on the Balkans in 2006," Wynn said. He warned that their closure would have repercussions for the Balkans, a major importer of electricity from Bulgaria. Bulgaria exports over six billion kilowatt-hours of electrical power per year, but will most probably have to cut down its energy exports after it closes down the two two old but revamped 440-megawatt reactors. It agreed to close the reactors during its accession talks with the European Union, which it hopes to join in 2007. The decision was taken despite a favourable report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency on the safety of the two reactors, and an EU report to the same effect in March. Wynn and four other socialist MEPs, who visited Kozloduy on Tuesday, urged a more "flexible look" at the plant until Bulgaria opens a second nuclear plant at Belene in the north of the country. The Belene plant is designed to compensate for the older reactors being closed. Bulgaria already closed two of its older units at Kozloduy in 2002, and the 2006 closure will leave the country with only two functioning reactors, each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. -------- india Kashmir remains nuclear flashpoint: ex-Indian naval chief WASHINGTON (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323224241.gnblvds6.html The disputed territory of Kashmir remains a nuclear flashpoint despite two rounds of peace talks between archrivals India and Pakistan, a former Indian naval chief warned here Wednesday. Laxminarayan Ramdas, currently spearheading a civil rights movement to forge peace, said that if India and Pakistan could not build bridges and make peace, the threat of nuclear war "will always remain" a possibility. "There is no doubt that no matter where nuclear weapons tend to raise their heads, then the lights will start flashing, whether it is full blown nuclearization or various degrees of proliferation," said the 1994 winner of the Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel prize. "So that is why we want to avoid war and any further controversy. Otherwise, I am afraid it (Kashmir) will remain (a nuclear flashpoint) whether we like it or not. Ramdas, who went through two and a half wars against Pakistan during his naval stint, said "it is very difficult to draw a line and say we (India and Pakistan) will only fight a conventional war. "Who knows how minds work, who gets pushed to what corner. It is safe to assume the worst," he said at a news conference when asked whether Kashmir remained a nuclear flashpoint. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf warned Wednesday that peace moves could stall unless the two sides made progress on the key issue of Kashmir. The two nuclear-armed neighbors have been engaged in what they call a "composite dialogue" since January last year on resolving eight bilateral disputes, including the core problem of Kashmir, which is divided between them. Both claim it in full. They have been holding official talks since January last year, including on Kashmir which caused two of their three wars and brought them close to a fourth war in 2002. The talks led to an upcoming launch of landmark bus service between the two zones. Despite the enthusiasm generated by the bus service, analysts said little progress has been made on the Kashmir dispute. The 70-year-old Ramdas, chairperson of the India chapter of the Pakistan-India People Forum, suggested that the two countries declare a "nuclear ceasefire" to forge "real peace" and set the stage for a step-by-step global nuclear disarmament process. Ramdas was in the United States to participate in a fellowship program with the US-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Arjun Makhijani, the institute's president, said a "ceasefire" should also be enforced for civilian nuclear facilities following world attention on Iran's nuclear activities. "Some ceasefire, so to speak, is also needed on the civilian side in that the United States and the West should stop planning new uranium enrichment plants," he said. The United States says it suspects Iran is behind a covert nuclear weapons program and has joined the European Union in wooing the Islamic republic with incentives to give up enrichment. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but can also be the explosive core of atom bombs. Makhijani said that in the United States, licenses were being applied for the setting up of uranium enrichment plants in New Mexico and Ohio, while plans were underway in Europe to expand such plants. The New Mexico plant is a collaboration between European and American companies. "So they are saying we can get together and do this but you (Iran) can't do it," Makhijani said. "I agree with the US position actually that enrichment is a proliferation problem but the solution is a little bit deficient." ---- Kashmir remains nuclear flashpoint: ex-Indian naval chief WASHINGTON (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323224241.fcouzntx.html The disputed territory of Kashmir remains a nuclear flashpoint despite two rounds of peace talks between archrivals India and Pakistan, a former Indian naval chief warned here Wednesday. Laxminarayan Ramdas, currently spearheading a civil rights movement to forge peace, said that if India and Pakistan could not build bridges and make peace, the threat of nuclear war "will always remain" a possibility. "There is no doubt that no matter where nuclear weapons tend to raise their heads, then the lights will start flashing, whether it is full blown nuclearization or various degrees of proliferation," said the 1994 winner of the Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel prize. "So that is why we want to avoid war and any further controversy. Otherwise, I am afraid it (Kashmir) will remain (a nuclear flashpoint) whether we like it or not. Ramdas, who went through two and a half wars against Pakistan during his naval stint, said "it is very difficult to draw a line and say we (India and Pakistan) will only fight a conventional war. "Who knows how minds work, who gets pushed to what corner. It is safe to assume the worst," he said at a news conference when asked whether Kashmir remained a nuclear flashpoint. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf warned Wednesday that peace moves could stall unless the two sides made progress on the key issue of Kashmir. The two nuclear-armed neighbors have been engaged in what they call a "composite dialogue" since January last year on resolving eight bilateral disputes, including the core problem of Kashmir, which is divided between them. Both claim it in full. They have been holding official talks since January last year, including on Kashmir which caused two of their three wars and brought them close to a fourth war in 2002. The talks led to an upcoming launch of landmark bus service between the two zones. Despite the enthusiasm generated by the bus service, analysts said little progress has been made on the Kashmir dispute. The 70-year-old Ramdas, chairperson of the India chapter of the Pakistan-India People Forum, suggested that the two countries declare a "nuclear ceasefire" to forge "real peace" and set the stage for a step-by-step global nuclear disarmament process. Ramdas was in the United States to participate in a fellowship program with the US-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Arjun Makhijani, the institute's president, said a "ceasefire" should also be enforced for civilian nuclear facilities following world attention on Iran's nuclear activities. "Some ceasefire, so to speak, is also needed on the civilian side in that the United States and the West should stop planning new uranium enrichment plants," he said. The United States says it suspects Iran is behind a covert nuclear weapons program and has joined the European Union in wooing the Islamic republic with incentives to give up enrichment. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but can also be the explosive core of atom bombs. Makhijani said that in the United States, licenses were being applied for the setting up of uranium enrichment plants in New Mexico and Ohio, while plans were underway in Europe to expand such plants. The New Mexico plant is a collaboration between European and American companies. "So they are saying we can get together and do this but you (Iran) can't do it," Makhijani said. "I agree with the US position actually that enrichment is a proliferation problem but the solution is a little bit deficient." -------- iran Iran and the U.S. have one thing in common Despite feud, both praise nuclear power By Elaine Sciolino The New York Times Wednesday, March 23, 2005 http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/nuke.html PARIS In an unadorned conference center of the Ministry of Finance, the United States and Iran discovered that they have something in common. They are both passionate cheerleaders for nuclear power. It's just that the United States wants to deny Iran the right to build its own nuclear power capability. In a speech Monday to a two-day conference on nuclear energy for the 21st century, Constance Morella, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, told the audience of government officials and nuclear experts from more than 70 countries that American support of nuclear energy "has never been stronger." Nuclear energy is clean, reliable, necessary for the world to have a secure energy supply and "a benefit to humankind," she said. She quoted a study estimating that the global energy demand is expected to rise by about 60 percent over the next 25 years. "America hasn't ordered a nuclear power plant since the 1970s, and it's time to start building again," she quoted President George W. Bush as saying in his State of the Union address last month. In a speech Tuesday, Mohammad Saeidi, a vice president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, delivered more or less the same message. Citing Iran's half-century-long history of developing nuclear energy, he called the generation of nuclear energy "the prime priority" of Iran's nuclear program. Oil and natural gas "are limited and belong to all subsequent generations and unrestrained use of this source of energy is not prudent," he said. The only problem with the presentations was what the speakers left out. The United States wants nuclear energy plants for itself. But it is convinced that Iran's uranium enrichment programs have nuclear bombs and not electricity as their goal. In a de facto reinterpretation of the Nuclear Nonprolifer-ation Treaty, the Bush administration has taken the position that a country like Iran is too dangerous to be allowed the technology to produce nuclear material for electricity, even if the treaty itself does not explicitly ban it. On Wednesday in Paris, officials from France, Britain and Germany, which negotiated a temporary freeze on Iran's uranium enrichment activities last November, will meet with officials from Iran to review three months of negotiations toward a permanent settlement of Iran's nuclear plans. While the United States is convinced that Iran is hiding a secret program to build nuclear weapons, the European trio is only slightly less categorical in its assessment. So the Europeans' suspicions are serious enough that it is negotiating to persuade Iran to permanently give up its uranium enrichment program in exchange for political and economic incentives. Iran, by contrast, has declared it will never abandon its right to enrich uranium, and in his speech Tuesday, Saeidi reaffirmed that Iran will pursue a full-scale nuclear program. "The people and government of Iran are determined to open their way through the tortuous path of peaceful use of nuclear technology despite all imposed restrictions and difficulties," he said. He called research activities, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes an "inalienable right" of signatories of the Non-proliferation Treaty - "without discrimination." Curiously in his speech, Saeidi never mentioned Iran's agreement with the Europeans or the ongoing European negotiations. In fact, he described the functions of some of Iran's nuclear facilities as if all were normal, even though some of them are not operating because of the freeze. Iran's goal, he added, is nothing less than "self-sufficiency in all aspects of using the peaceful use of nuclear energy" - from extracting uranium from mines in Iran to enrichment (a process that can be used to make nuclear material for use in either electricity or bombs.) Meanwhile, Hossein Mousavian, a senior nuclear negotiator, told Iranian state-controlled radio Tuesday that Iran would consider breaking off negotiations with the European trio, which is working under European Union auspices, if the meeting Wednesday concluded that no progress has been made. "If the committee's report shows that there has been tangible and specific progress in the talks with the EU3, then we will continue it for three more months," he said. "But if the report shows the other party has been wasting time, we will reconsider the process of talks with the Europeans." In her speech in Paris, made in the name of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Morella never uttered the word "Iran." However, she said that the pursuit of civil nuclear power must not be diverted to dangerous weapons programs. -------- korea Japan's Koizumi says no sanctions now on NKorea, sees nuke talks resuming TOKYO (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323123309.ufxdi5e8.html Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Wednesday he would hold off on economic sanctions against North Korea, voicing hope it would return to dialogue including talks on its nuclear weapons program. "I understand a lot of people are supporting economic sanctions," Koizumi told a news conference to mark the passage of the national budget. "I don't buy an idea that economic sanctions should come first," Koizumi said. "President (George W.) Bush and I have agreed that the North Korean issue should be resolved peacefully and diplomatically," he said. "In line with policies of dialogue and pressure, we have to work persistently and solve the pending issue as quickly as possible." Japan has seen growing public calls to impose economic sanctions on the Stalinist state after it gave false evidence in a bid to prove the deaths of Japanese whom it kidnapped to train spies during the Cold War. But the United States, China and South Korea have warned Japan to be careful with cash-strapped but heavily armed North Korea, which is embroiled in a separate dispute over its nuclear ambitions. Koizumi, who has invested political capital by trying to engage North Korea including two visits to Pyongyang, said he expected North Korea to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear ambitions. "I think North Korea will come back to the six-way talks because it is in North Korea's best benefit to discuss the nuclear issue at the six-way talks," he said. "The six-way talks include the United States, China, Russia and Japan," he said. "I don't think North Korea will ignore the six-way talks." North Korea has boycotted the talks since last June, demanding bilateral talks with the United States and warning it has a nuclear deterrent. Koizumi also rejected any immediate UN Security Council punishment of North Korea, saying it was possible to bring the case before the Council "but not now." North Korea, which fired a missile over Japan in 1998, has repeatedly warned that Japanese economic sanctions would mean a "declaration of war" and be answered with "decisive" retaliation. A Japanese ruling party study said economic sanctions against North Korea would cost Pyongyang 1.2 billion dollars a year, making its economy contract by seven percent. Tokyo has already suspended food aid after Pyongyang last November handed Japan ashes and other evidence to prove the deaths of eight Japanese kidnap victims. DNA tests showed that the ashes belonged to other people. North Korea released five kidnap victims in 2002 in exchange for Japanese aid but insists that others are dead. Japan believes the eight are kept under wraps because they know state secrets. Earlier Wednesday, Chinese President Hu Jintao met North Korean Premier Pak Pong-Ju in Beijing and urged Pyongyang to play a constructive role in talks on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. "The Chinese side will continue its work calling for peace and promoting dialogue and hopes that all sides can make common efforts and play constructive roles in resuming six-party talks," Hu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as telling Pak. ---- Bush Says Kim Jong-Il 'Must Listen' on Nuclear Wed Mar 23, 4:12 PM ET World - Reuters http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050323/wl_nm/korea_north_usa_dc_5 WACO, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday to return to stalled six-party talks on North Korea (news - web sites)'s nuclear program "for the sake of peace and tranquility and stability." Bush, at a news conference with Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, denied setting a June deadline for North Korea to return to talks and said the five nations that have been negotiating with Pyongyang -- the United States, China, Japan, South Korea (news - web sites) and Russia -- were united. "I'm a patient person. And so are a lot of people that are involved in this issue. But the leader of North Korea must understand that when we five nations speak, we mean what we say," Bush said. At the State Department, deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said reports that the United States had set a June deadline for the six-country talks process are "without foundation." "We have never set any deadlines, and we haven't changed that practice," he told a news briefing. Bush said he received a two-hour briefing from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) about her recently concluded trip to Asia. He said Chinese President Hu Jintao made clear to Rice that it was still the objective of the Chinese government to pursue six-party negotiations. There have been suggestions from the Chinese in the past that the United States must talk directly to North Korea. "There is a way forward, I repeat, for Kim Jong-il. And it's his choice to make. We've made our choice. China has made its choice. The other countries have made their choices," Bush said. "And for the sake of peace and tranquility and stability in the Far East, Kim Jong-il must listen," he said. The six parties have held three rounds of talks since August 2003 but the process has stalled. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said a U.S. proposal put on the table in June remained open for discussion at the talks. That proposal includes an offer for security assurances that North Korea has long sought. ---- Chinese president urges NKorea to play constructive role in crisis talks BEIJING (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323110210.x20fnjr1.html Chinese President Hu Jintao Wednesday urged Pyongyang to play a constructive role in talks on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, saying dialogue was the best option to resolve the stalemate. North Korean Premier Pak Pong-Ju met Hu at the Great Hall of the People after spending the morning at Yanjing Brewery, one of China's most successful beer producers, on the second day of a six-day visit. He handed over a message from reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il. "The Chinese side will continue its work calling for peace and promoting dialogue and hopes that all sides can make common efforts and play constructive roles in resuming six-party talks," Hu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as telling Pak. In talks with Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday, Pak said his country was ready to resume six-party talks on curbing its nuclear weapons programs, but only when conditions were right. Washington has warned it will consider "other options" if Pyongyang fails to negotiate. It has ruled out giving any new incentives upfront in return for disarmament, apart from endorsing a multilateral security guarantee and energy aid by the communist state's neighbors. Pak's commitment came just hours after Pyongyang said it had increased its nuclear arsenal to ward off a US attack. North Korea has expressed anger over ongoing joint US and South Korean military exercises. China is North Korea's closest ally and has been under pressure from the United States to bring the rogue state back to the negotiating table. "I heard that comrade premier yesterday had very good talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and had a deep exchange of views and reached big consensus on bilateral and other big issues," said Hu. "I believe that comrade premier's visit will certainly push forward friendly bilateral cooperation in economics and trade and every area, and push forward the new development in China-NKorea traditionally friendly relations." Wen told Pak the nuclear talks should continue within the current six-party framework, which also include South Korea, Japan and Russia and which have been stalled since last June. In another meeting with senior Chinese Communist Party official Jia Qinglin, Pak was told that China intended to expand relations with Pyongyang in all areas, an effort that would be beneficial to peace and stability in the region. "Sino-North Korea friendly relations do not only conform to the interests of the peoples on both sides, but it also conforms to regional peace and stability," Jia said. Pak is also using his stay to learn about China's 25-year-old experiment with market economic reforms and its integration into the global trading system. He visited a Nokia mobile phone plant at Beijing's Economic and Technological Zone on Tuesday. Later in the week he goes to the booming metropolis of Shanghai and the northeastern industrial city of Shenyang in Liaoning province, which borders North Korea. The North has announced its readiness to adopt Chinese-style economic reforms. But its economy remains plagued by bad planning, energy shortages and a series of natural disasters. ---- Bush presses North Korea on talks, denies deadline WACO, Texas (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323220608.9etpfk87.html US President George W. Bush urged North Korea Wednesday to return to six-nation talks aimed at ending a dispute over its nuclear programs, but denied setting a June deadline for the parleys to resume. "For the sake of peace and tranquility and stability in the Far East, Kim Jong-Il must listen," Bush said as he hosted a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox. "If you want the way forward, if you want to be accepted by the world, if you want not to be isolated, get rid of your weapons programs," said the president, who was spending the week at his ranch in nearby Crawford. Bush said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had given him a two-hour briefing on her recently completed trip to Asia and denied that the chief US diplomat had set a deadline for the stalled talks to resume. "I'm a patient person. And so are a lot of people that are involved in this issue. But the leader of North Korea must understand that when we five nations speak, we mean what we say," said Bush. "And fortunately, it's not just the United States of America saying that," the president said, referring to the US partners in the talks -- China, Japan, Russia, South Korea. "When the president said 'patient,' he was referring to any sort of June deadline. He was saying we have not set any deadline," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told AFP via email. North Korea continues to say it will return to negotiations only if the conditions are right -- meaning the United States has to sweeten its offer on the table. But Washington has ruled out giving any new incentives upfront to Pyongyang in return for disarmament, apart from endorsing a multilateral security guarantee and energy aid by the Stalinist state's neighbors. Three rounds of talks have been held, but North Korea has refused to attend the fourth round scheduled last September and continues to shun the discussions. "The president believes now is the time for North Korea to come back to the talks. We have a proposal on the table and it is time to talk about how to move forward on it," said McClellan. Rice, who held meetings last week with Chinese, South Korean and Japanese leaders, has warned that North Korea faced "problems" if it failed to return to the six-party talks and that Washington was looking at "other options." At the same time, Rice stressed: "We have no intention to attack." On Monday, McClellan warned that diplomatic efforts cannot "drag on forever." This was seen by analysts as a strong hint that Washington might resort to sanctions against the hardline communist state, a move that was flatly rejected by veto-wielding powers Moscow and Beijing three years ago. North Korea last took part in the talks in June 2004. It declared on February 10 that it has nuclear weapons and that it was indefinitely suspending its participation in the dialogue. A senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed concern Monday over what he called "a decided lack of movement" in the talks and difficulty in reading North Korea's intentions. "I think we're concerned that as this drags on, the threat is not being reduced, and that gives a certain sense of urgency to what we are trying to accomplish," the official said. But he added, "We're not yet at the point where we believe that the six-party talks is anything but the preferred way to go." -------- russia Russian Researcher Serving Sentence for Nuclear Espionage Refuses Chance for Pardon (Agence France-Presse, March 23, 2005) http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_3_24.html A Russian arms control researcher serving a 15-year prison sentence on charges of passing classified information about Russia’s nuclear weapons to a London firm has refused to admit guilt in order to receive a presidential pardon, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 17, 2004). “Igor Sutyagin does not consider himself guilty and has not committed any crime. His conviction was a judicial error,” his attorney, Anna Stavitskaya, said yesterday. Sutyagin has maintained he gathered only open-source information, which he legally passed on to the consulting firm Alternative Futures. Russia’s FSB security service, however, has said the company was a front for the CIA. -------- treaties Nuclear Power Is Good: U.S. and Iran Have No Argument There By ELAINE SCIOLINO March 23, 2005 NY TIMES http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/international/middleeast/23iran.html?pagewanted=print&position= PARIS, March 22 - In an unadorned conference center at the French Ministry of Finance, the United States and Iran discovered this week that they had something in common. They are both passionate cheerleaders for nuclear power. It's just that the United States wants to deny Iran the right to develop its own nuclear power capacity. In a speech on Monday at a two-day conference on "nuclear energy for the 21st century," Constance Morella, the American ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, told an audience of government officials and nuclear experts from more than 70 countries that American support of nuclear energy "has never been stronger." Nuclear energy is clean, reliable, necessary for the world to have a secure energy supply and "a benefit to humankind," she said. Ms. Morella cited a study estimating that global energy demand was expected to rise by about 60 percent over the next 25 years. "America hasn't ordered a nuclear power plant since the 1970's, and it's time to start building again," she quoted President Bush as saying recently. In a speech on Tuesday, Mohammad Saeidi, a vice president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, delivered more or less the same message. Citing Iran's half-century history of developing nuclear energy, he called the generation of nuclear power "the prime priority" of Iran's nuclear program. Oil and natural gas "are limited and belong to all subsequent generations, and unrestrained use of this source of energy is not prudent," he said. The only problem with the presentations was what the speakers left out. The United States wants nuclear energy plants for itself. But it believes Iran's uranium enrichment programs have nuclear bombs and not electricity as their goal. In a de facto reinterpretation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Bush administration has taken the position that a country like Iran is too dangerous to be allowed the technology to produce nuclear material for electricity, even if the treaty itself does not explicitly ban it. On Wednesday, officials from France, Britain and Germany, which negotiated a temporary freeze on Iran's uranium enrichment activities last November, will meet in Paris with Iranian officials to review three months of negotiations toward a permanent settlement of Iran's nuclear plans. While the United States is convinced that Iran is hiding a secret weapons program, the three European countries are less categorical in their assessment. Still, the Europeans' suspicions are serious enough that they are negotiating to persuade Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program permanently in exchange for political and economic incentives. (Uranium enrichment is a process that can be used to make nuclear material for use in either electricity or bombs.) Iran, by contrast, has declared that it would never abandon its right to enrich uranium, and in his speech on Tuesday, Mr. Saeidi reaffirmed that Iran would pursue a full-scale nuclear program. "The people and government of Iran are determined to open their way through the tortuous path of peaceful use of nuclear technology despite all imposed restrictions and difficulties," he said. He called research activities, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes an "inalienable right" of signers of the nonproliferation treaty - "without discrimination." Mr. Saeidi did not mention Iran's agreement with the Europeans or the continuing negotiations. In fact, he described some of Iran's nuclear facilities as if all were functioning normally, even though some are not operating because of the freeze. In her speech in Paris, made in the name of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Ms. Morella never uttered the word "Iran." However, she said the pursuit of civilian nuclear power must not be diverted to dangerous weapons programs, citing, among other things, the importance of universal adherence to the additional protocol of the nonproliferation treaty. The additional protocol is a supplement to the treaty that substantially expands the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency, to check for clandestine nuclear facilities. Ms. Morella did not point out that the United States signed the protocol in 1998 but that Congress has never approved it, so the United States has yet to put it in place. -------- u.n. Annan recommends 11 permanent members for UNSC March 23, 2005 GEO TV http://www.geo.tv/main_files/world.aspx?id=70674 UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed enhancing number of permanent members of the UN Security Council to 11. He also called for the Security Council to fix guidelines on when countries may go to war and to agree on a universal definition of terrorism. Unveiling a blueprint for sweeping UN reform, Annan said consensus among member states on when and how the use of military force might be justified was crucial if the world body was to be a forum for resolving differences, rather than "a mere stage for acting them out." He also stressed that consideration of when military force might be justified should encompass issues beyond those of national self-defence to include the prevention of crimes against humanity. On the question of defining terrorism, the secretary general proposed a formula stipulating that no cause or grievance, "no matter how legitimate,” could justify the targeting of civilians. He called his proposals "the most far-reaching reforms in the history of the United Nations" and urged countries to "act boldly," underlining his insistence that global security is inseparable from development and human rights. "We will not enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights," Annan said. He called for immediate dialogue for prevention of increasing trend of plutonium and uranium enrichment among countries of the world. Annan however urged for facilities to non-nuclear countries for peaceful nuclear programs. UN secretary general also stressed for financial and technical assistance to countries for democratization and stability. The report also recommends increasing number of UNSC permanent members to 11 from existing six saying the security council should demonstrate geopolitical realities of the 21st century. -------- u.s. nuc facilities Audit rates DOE pollution control Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005 By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald staff writer http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/6302616p-6178603c.html The Department of Energy could do a better job of pollution prevention to reduce costs and minimize waste at sites such as Hanford, according to an audit released Tuesday by DOE's Office of the Inspector General. The report called for holding managers accountable for pollution prevention and trying new strategies, such as fees for producing new waste. Less emphasis on finding new ways to prevent pollution may have led to a loss of potential savings at Hanford, the audit said. Hanford reported an average of $70 million in pollution prevention cost savings in 2000 and 2001. But after nationwide changes in the program, that fell to an average of $32 million in 2002 and 2003 at Hanford, the audit said. Hanford officials said past efforts led to the implementation of the most promising opportunities, contributing to the decrease in annual cost savings. DOE also pointed out Hanford had some major projects that reduced radioactive waste costs. It named demolition of Hanford's 233-S Plutonium Concentration Facility as a winner in its 2005 pollution prevention program. Careful characterization of waste from the facility was used to greatly reduce the amount of wastes characterized as transuranic, which is typically contaminated with plutonium. Transuranic wastes must be sent to an underground repository in New Mexico and disposed of at a cost of about $39,000 per cubic meter. But most of the waste from a four-story-high process hood at the plant was separated and characterized as low-level waste, allowing it to be buried at Hanford for about $89 per cubic meter. Typically, all the waste from the hood would have been considered transuranic. The project saved $2.7 million, and such characterization methods are expected to be used at other DOE sites, according to Fluor Hanford, the project contractor. In addition, Hanford plans to separate high-level radioactive waste from the 53 million gallons of waste stored in its underground tanks left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Much of the other waste can then be treated and buried as low-activity radioactive waste at Hanford -- at far less cost that disposing of high-level radioactive waste. High-level waste must be sent to an underground repository, such as Yucca Mountain, Nev. Pollution prevention managers at all four DOE sites visited by auditors said they needed more support to do a more thorough job. At Hanford, the pollution prevention staff has been cut from seven to one employee since fiscal year 2003. The remaining employee focuses on monitoring ongoing recycling activities and reporting waste generation data. The staff of DOE's Richland office for Hanford has been cut by about 80 people in the last four years. The report did not list potential projects at Hanford, but listed projects that have been discussed and not started at other sites. They included using lead-free bullets on firing ranges and using more water-efficient cleaning systems. The audit also praised a program at the Los Alamos, N.M., site that charges a fee for waste generated and invested the $600,000 it collected last year in pollution prevention projects. -------- california Additional storage requested for Diablo PG&E wants to install temporary dry racks for radioactive used fuel David Sneed The San Luis Obispo Tribune Wed, Mar. 23, 2005 http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/11209036.htm Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants to create additional storage at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant for highly radioactive used fuel. To do this, the company would install temporary racks that would fit into the plant's storage pools. PG&E officials say the racks are needed as backup storage if a planned above-ground storage facility at the plant is delayed. One temporary rack that can hold 154 used reactor fuel assemblies would be added to each pool. The utility applied for permission to use the racks from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November. The agency has not yet issued a permit. "We want to have them there as an insurance measure in case we run into any problems with the dry cask facility," said PG&E spokeswoman Sharon Gavin. PG&E has all the regulatory permits it needs to begin construction of the above-ground dry cask storage installation. It is expected to open in February 2007. If the dry cask facility proceeds without delay, the temporary racks will either be stored or installed in the pools and used as additional storage. The nuclear watchdog group San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace is opposed to the racks, saying they will add more spent fuel to pools that are already more densely loaded than plant designs originally intended. Jill ZamEk, a Mothers for Peace spokeswoman, said the temporary racks pose several potential problems. Foremost is the increased threat of a pool fire. Densely racked fuel assemblies are more likely to catch fire if the pools were ever drained by an accident or a terrorist attack. Addition of the temporary racks will also cause the assemblies in the pools to be moved around, increasing the likelihood of a mishandling accident. Mothers for Peace finds "the many uncertainties, unanswered questions, additional risks, reduced safety margins and added costs disturbing," ZamEk said. Even if the temporary racks are used, the number of assemblies in the pools will be within the limits allowed by the NRC. In 1987, PG&E received permission from the NRC to increase the number of spent fuel assemblies it can store in the pools, Gavin said. Uranium fuel assemblies are removed from the plant's reactors after they have become depleted. The used assemblies are highly radioactive and must be stored in the pools for five years before they can be placed into dry casks. Diablo Canyon's spent fuel pools will be full in 2006 if no additional storage is created. The temporary racks would extend the life of the pools to 2010. The dry cask facility will create enough storage to contain all of the plant's fuel through 2025. -------- nevada Yucca’s delayed, not ended Editorial RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 3/20/2005 10:40 pm http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2005/03/20/95052.php The discovery that someone — possibly several someones — may have fabricated data for the Yucca Mountain project is scandalous, but it is good news for Nevada. It means progress on opening the repository will be delayed yet again. It’s not so good for Washington. Proving how very public electronic communications can be, Department of Energy examiners preparing to file the licensing application uncovered a flurry of e-mail messages between U.S. Geological Survey scientists discussing falsification of data. It seems that water flowing through the mountain may very well corrode storage casks and carry radioactive waste into the water table, after all. There have been suspicions all along about “sound science.” An inquiry was launched in 2003, prompted by whistleblowers who reported problems with quality assurance, modeling program errors and lost data. In the end they declined to testify amid fears they would lose their jobs. All this speaks strongly for predetermined collusion, if not conspiracy in Washington. Three different recent incidents may help to unravel the plan as it currently exists. A federal court rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s radiation standards and ordered that the project meet heightened levels. Congress cut the president’s budget request, and now, falsified documentation has compromised the project. The site, as Attorney General Brian Sandoval said, is “literally a volcano that sits on an earthquake fault, above an aquifer, next to the Nevada Test Site, next to one of the nation’s largest organic farms, next to the state’s largest dairy, adjacent to … the United States’ fastest growing metropolitan area, next to one of the busiest Air Force bases in the country.” In Washington, none of that seems to matter. With all this going on, Energy officials will have a hard time meeting their December deadline to apply for an operation permit. In fact, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials say it is no longer possible to open by 2010. Further, questions raised by the latest discovery cast suspicion on all other data. Regardless of how far into the future the delays will push the project, the Energy secretary emphasizes the need for a permanent geological nuclear waste repository. The administration will continue to target Yucca Mountain. Nevadans tried a variety of creative tactics calculated to stop or slow progress, from protesting the site on Indian land to proposing a bill that would make it obsolete. Washington won’t stop its forward motion on the project; Nevadans shouldn’t stop, either. -------- new hampshire Broken breaker forces nuclear disconnect By Shir Haberman, Wed. March 23, 2005 Portsmouth Herald / Seacoast Online http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/03232005/news/71271.htm SEABROOK - The Seabrook Station nuclear power plant was forced to disconnect from the New England Power Grid Tuesday, after workers failed to fix a damaged circuit breaker found during a routine maintenance review of the plant’s solid state protection system. "We took the turbine off-line at about 3 p.m.," said plant spokesman Alan Griffith. "It should be hooked back up to the grid by mid-day Wednesday." While the breaker is being fixed, the reactor is being cooled down, Griffith said. Workers had tried to fix the breaker while the plant was still running, but were unable to within the strict time frame allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Seabrook spokesman said. The shutdown comes just as the nuclear plant prepares to undergo another refueling process. While a specific date for the refueling has not been released because of security concerns, Griffith said it will take place sometime in April. -------- ohio FirstEnergy to hire up to 3,000 in 3 years Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Toledo Blade http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050323/BUSINESS06/503230372 FirstEnergy Corp., the Akron parent of Toledo Edison Co., said yesterday it will hire up to 3,000 utility workers in the next three years in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Most of the hires will replace skilled and experience workers expected to retire in the next few years, the firm said. About 1,600 of the hires are expected this year and next. Executives said the company is taking the step to enable new employees time to work with experienced colleagues. The company employs 13,000 in the three states. FirstEnergy will hire for just about every operation, including engineering, finance, dispatching, information-systems, line, and technical jobs, said spokesman Ellen Raines. She said the firm cannot forecast how many new jobs will be offered in the Toledo Edison region of northwest Ohio, which includes the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Oak Harbor. -------- south carolina Fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium heads to South Carolina Associated Press Posted on Wed, Mar. 23, 2005 http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/11208992.htm http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/0305/215468.html CHERBOURG, France - Two ships outfitted with naval guns set sail for the United States early Wednesday loaded with a special commercial nuclear fuel made from U.S. weapons-grade plutonium, officials said. The four rods of MOX, as the transformed fuel is known, left this English Channel port at 3:05 a.m. for Charleston, S.C., said a statement from Areva, the company that transformed the plutonium. The shipment was loaded aboard the Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail, specially rigged for transporting nuclear materials. Outfitted with naval guns, the vessels also are protected by specialized armed forces for the journey home, Areva said. The highly radioactive material, which was brought to France in October, was transformed into MOX, a mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide, at a factory in southern France. It was the first time that France has transformed weapons-grade plutonium into MOX, which can be used in commercial reactors. The U.S. Energy Department had to ship the plutonium - 275.5 pounds - overseas for conversion because no plant in the United States can do it. The plutonium was taken from nuclear warheads to be transformed into a commercial fuel to help fulfill the terms of a September 2000 U.S.-Russia disarmament accord in which both countries promised to destroy 34 tons of military plutonium. The environmental group Greenpeace has protested the shipment as risky. It also objects to the overall project of transforming excess weapons-grade plutonium into commercial fuel. On Monday, a Cherbourg court forbid Greenpeace from getting closer than 100 yards to the convoy as it traveled to the port on Tuesday under threat of a heavy fine. The MOX is to be used at South Carolina's Catawba Nuclear Station - a test run to confirm that the fuel works there. A MOX factory would then be built with French help at the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., to dispose of the rest of the plutonium the United States agreed to destroy. Another MOX factory would be built, likely with Areva help, in Russia. -------- SRS executive on ‘loan' will aid SCSU in planning By South Carolina Times & Democrat Staff Wednesday, March 23, 2005 http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2005/03/20/news/doc423cfbb898aef682062460.txt Howard Walls, an executive at the Savannah River Site, will serve as a "loaned executive" to South Carolina State University in Orangeburg for the next six months. As vice president and director of strategic planning and mission integration for the Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Walls directs the development of strategies in support of SRS' present missions and the integration of new missions. SRS was built during the early 1950s to produce the basic materials used in the fabrication of nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium-239, in support of our nation's defense programs. WSRC operates SRS with a team of companies for the U.S. Department of Energy. WSRC's parent company is Washington Group International. Walls holds bachelor of science degrees in physics and mathematics from Tougaloo College, a master of science degree in nuclear engineering from Tuskegee Institute and an executive MBA from Stanford University. He has 27 years of managerial experience in business operations. As a loaned executive to SCSU, he will assist in strategic planning, integration and assurance of sound project plan development of the university's capital improvement spending plan. "Providing Howard Walls as a loaned executive will strengthen what has already been an excellent relationship between SRS and South Carolina State University," WSRC President Bob Pedde said. "In the past, WSRC has partnered with South Carolina State University in environmental restoration research and the university's nuclear engineering program providing an ideal example of the valuable contribution education and industry can make to each other," Pedde said. SCSU last year signed a memorandum of understanding with WSRC intended to stimulate joint efforts to improve science and technology education and research in the areas of nuclear engineering, machine tooling and fabrication techniques, measurement techniques, mechanical and robotics design, environmental services, hydrogen fuel-cell technologies for transportation and transportation delivery systems for nuclear materials throughout South Carolina. The memorandum of understanding also provides opportunities for personnel exchanges, faculty/scientist loans, joint student research mentoring and the sharing of state-of-the-art research equipment and facilities. -------- washington Hanford health project seeks former 'downwinders' Officials want to educate those who lived near the nuclear site decades ago about possible health risks Wednesday, March 23, 2005 The Oregonian ANDY DWORKIN http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1111575569135580.xml Federal health workers are making a final push to contact people who lived near Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the mid-20th century, when the nuclear weapons manufacturing site leaked radiation into the environment. Officials say these people -- sometimes called "Hanford downwinders" -- and Northwest doctors all should be aware of special health concerns that may affect onetime Hanford-area residents, especially as they age. The education effort, called the Hanford Community Health Project, already has about 9,000 names on an information mailing list. "But we know that there are many more downwinders out there . . . who we think would probably be interested in knowing what their exposure was and whether they should be concerned," said Capt. Gregory Thomas, the U.S. Public Health Service officer overseeing the program. The information project is racing the clock. Its U.S. Department of Energy funding will run out this fall. Thomas and others have created a Web site, www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hanford, to help them contact new doctors and downwinders in the coming months. Children living near Hanford in the mid-1940s and 1950s probably got the highest radiation doses, researchers estimate. Today, those people are mostly adults ages 54 to 65. Project workers think some still live near Hanford, but many probably have moved. Longtime community concern The education effort plays out against a long history of suspicion by downwinders about the government's motives. For years, many federal officials ignored or denied any possible health problems from the site. Court hearings will begin April 25 in Spokane on a 15-year-old lawsuit brought by some downwinders with thyroid disease. Many residents were exposed to radiation when the site's reactors made plutonium for nuclear weapons for more than four decades, starting in 1944. That process released pollutants including a radioactive form of the element iodine called I-131. People need iodine to live, especially so the thyroid gland can make hormones that regulate the body's metabolism. People exposed to I-131 can incorporate the radioactive iodine in their bodies, and studies indicate that large doses can cause thyroid cancer or other thyroid diseases. Federal scientists have estimated iodine releases and think the biggest risk is to children who lived downwind of Hanford in Adams, Benton or Franklin counties from 1944 through 1972. Children are at higher risk because, for their body weight, they probably ate more milk, fruits and vegetables contaminated with iodine. Cows and goats that grazed on contaminated pastures concentrated the radioactive iodine in their milk, posing the biggest threat. Degree of threat debated The degree of that threat to Hanford-area residents is hotly debated. Many studies show an increase in thyroid cancers from exposure to radioactive iodine, such as after the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the former Soviet Union. The National Cancer Institute estimates that above-ground nuclear tests in Nevada during the 1950s and 1960s could cause 49,000 excess cases of thyroid cancer across 160 million U.S. residents. On the other hand, a 2002 study of Hanford downwinders by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found few problems, though the estimated iodine dose from Hanford roughly equaled that from the Nevada tests. The congressionally mandated report, the main study of Hanford downwinders' health, said all research participants had roughly the same risk of cancer and other thyroid diseases, no matter how much iodine they were exposed to. Although the researchers found thyroid problems, they reported "no indication that the rates of disease . . . are any higher than what have been reported around the world." Project to clear up confusion The 2002 study relieved some, but a follow-up survey by the CDC "found there was a high percentage of people who just didn't know where to go, didn't know what to believe," said Moka Pantages, a spokeswoman for the community health project. The project was created to address those doubts, Thomas said. Organizers started a few small health studies -- including ones looking at heart conditions and autoimmune disease -- while focusing mostly on education and outreach. That does not mean reassuring people everything is fine, despite the 2002 study, Thomas said. In fact, he said, downwinders face many difficult health questions, such as whether they should choose more aggressive treatment if they discover a health problem, such as a lump on their thyroid. The project focuses on thyroid problems because that gland is so sensitive to I-131, though "downwinders have many, many health concerns" besides thyroid problems, Thomas said. Much of the project's work is educating doctors, many of whom weren't born when Hanford's biggest radiation releases happened, Thomas said. They need to know that some of their patients have special risks to be considered. To that end, the project just mailed a guideline on thyroid treatment for downwinders to more than 26,000 doctors in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, he said. Doctors or downwinders interested in learning more about Hanford and health can request information at the project's Web site or by calling 1-800-207-3996. Anyone who registers will get a packet of basic information. The Web site has more detailed information as well as a map of areas affected and a quiz that lets people estimate their exposure, to see whether they are downwinders. Andy Dworkin: 503-221-8239; andydworkin@news.oregonian.com -------- MILITARY -------- arms E.U. Wavers On Allowing Arms Sales To Beijing U.S. Pressure, China Law May Keep Embargo in Place By Glenn Frankel Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, March 23, 2005; Page A10 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56977-2005Mar22.html LONDON, March 22 -- The European Union's consensus to lift a 15-year embargo on arms sales to China has fallen apart under increasing pressure from the United States, a new Chinese threat to Taiwan and intensified criticism at home, officials and analysts said Tuesday. While President Jacques Chirac of France remained committed to resuming weapons sales, officials said the leaders of Britain and several other European countries are backing away from making an immediate decision. The position of Germany, which had supported the lifting of the ban, was unclear Tuesday evening. In explaining the shift, officials and analysts cited strong U.S. lobbying against lifting the ban, as well as the passage last week of a Chinese law authorizing the use of force against Taiwan if it seeks formal independence. The embargo issue was not on the formal agenda for the two-day E.U. summit that began Tuesday night in Brussels, but officials said it was certain to be discussed in private sessions and would likely be raised by reporters at news conferences. They stressed that no decision had been made to delay the lifting of the embargo, but that Javier Solana, the E.U.'s foreign policy chief, faced the difficult task of forging a new consensus. Under E.U. rules, any one of its 25 members could veto a lifting of the ban. Last December, E.U. leaders committed themselves to work toward ending the ban. Although they did not set a firm timetable, several officials, including British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, predicted it would be scrapped before July. But on Sunday, Straw told Britain's ITV network that human rights problems and the Taiwan issue "have actually got more difficult rather than less difficult." Solana's spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, said the E.U.'s official position had not changed, but added, "We have to admit at least one issue has made the process of decision-making more complex, which is the anti-secession law." The British government has said it continues to support in principle the idea of lifting the embargo but has insisted upon updating a code of conduct it says would help regulate the kinds of weapons and technology China would receive. "The bottom line is there are more people in the anti-lift brigade right now than backing the French position," a British official said on condition of anonymity. France and Germany have long derided the ban as a Cold War relic that has hobbled the growth of trade between China and Europe. In October, Chirac reiterated his opposition to the ban during a state visit to China, where he announced $5 billion in new contracts for French exports. Human rights groups in Europe have said scrapping the embargo would send the wrong signal to the Chinese government. The European Parliament has passed four resolutions over the past year supporting the embargo, and leaders of the foreign affairs committee of Germany's parliament have also opposed lifting the ban. "The fact is, legislators on both sides of the Atlantic don't want to end the embargo," said John Wyles, an E.U. analyst in Brussels. "The argument's beginning to hit home that European soft power is all about democratic rule of law, human rights and so on, and here we are about to reward the Chinese for doing nothing." "The French are hanging tough because they have a different vision: Lifting the embargo moves Europe a little further from the United States and closer to the Asian land mass," Wyles said. "But the Germans are pretty crucial." After Iraq, he added, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, "doesn't want to get into another argument with Bush or with the American Congress." China signaled its anger over reports that the E.U. might delay lifting the ban. "The arms embargo against China is political discrimination, which is not in line with today's reality," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, according to the Associated Press. -------- asia New Kyrgyz minister threatens force to quell protests Jeremy Lennard and agencies Wednesday March 23, 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1444232,00.html Kyrgyzstan's new interior minister warned today that authorities might use force to restore order in the south of the country, where protesters demanding the president's resignation have taken control of several towns. Keneshbek Dushebayev - the former chief of police in Bishkek and an acknowledged hardliner - spoke shortly after the president, Askar Akayev, sacked his predecessor and the chief prosecutor over the unrest in the south. "Our primary task is to restore constitutional order in all regions, but strictly in accordance with the constitution," Mr Dushebayev said. "The law gives us every right to take action, including by using physical force, special means and firearms." Article continues "We will never shoot law-abiding, peaceful citizens: women, children and old people," he said. However, he vowed that, in restoring order, the government would "use the whole arsenal of legally available means". Shortly after the appointment of Mr Dushebayev, riot police broke up a small opposition rally in the centre of the capital, Bishkek. Some 200 police encircled groups of protesters calling for Mr Akayev's downfall, scuffling with those who resisted and locking elbows to force a similar number of demonstrators out of the central square. Police dragged some of the demonstrators away and appeared to detain about 20 people. Those present at the protest said the detainees included one of their organisers, Bolotbek Maripov, from an opposition youth movement, and Edil Baisalov, head of the Coalition of Civic Groups for Democratic and Civil Society. Mr Akayev also installed the security chief of his administration, Murat Sutalinov, as the country's new chief prosecutor today, while, in the south of the country, opposition supporters - who already wield some power in Kyrgyzstan's second city, Osh, and the town of Jalal Abad - seized administrative headquarters in the town of Pulgon overnight. The latest opposition advance in the south came after the newly installed parliament asked Mr Akayev to consider emergency rule to quell the protests. The president has promised not to resort to emergency measures, but there are concerns he could cite the legislature's request as an indication that the people of the former Soviet republic in central Asia want to see a crackdown. Dimitrij Rupel, the Slovenian foreign minister and chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), offered to help to bring an end to the tension today. The chairman's envoy, Alojz Peterle, was expected in Bishkek to seek a platform for negotiations, the OSCE office in Bishkek said. It was the OSCE that condemned the staging of the first round of parliamentary elections on February 27 and the second round on March 13, adding weight to opposition claims of unfairness. Russia's ambassador to the OSCE accused election monitors today of contributing to the unrest. "They to some extent triggered the dangerous course of development in [Kyrgyzstan]," Borodavkin told the Associated Press news agency. In Jalal Abad - the epicentre of the protest - about 1,000 opposition supporters rallied outside the opposition-controlled regional administration headquarters today, shouting "Akayev, out!" and holding banners calling for his resignation. "Akayev doesn't care about the people," said Kamal Zakirov, 76, a retired carpenter. "He should leave office peacefully." Mr Akayev's spokesman, Abdil Seghizbayev, said the country's prime minister, Nikolai Tanayev, was planning to visit Osh to seek negotiations with the opposition, but he stressed there would be no talks with "criminal groups that are controlling the situation there". The opposition has rejected talks that do not include the president. Mr Akayev, 60, is prohibited from seeking a third term in office, but the opposition has accused him of manipulating the parliamentary vote to gain a compliant legislature that would amend the constitution to allow him another term. Mr Akayev denies the charge. Kyrgyzstan is home to both Russian and US military bases. The US operates a base used for refuelling planes in Afghanistan, about 200 miles north of Osh. The Russian base is 12 miles east of Bishkek. -------- latin america Rumsfeld: US and Brazil to strengthen security ties BRASILIA (AFP) Mar 23, 2005 Agence France-Presse http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323193340.278hmdb9.html The United States and Brazil want to strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism and organized crime, said US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Wednesday. Rumsfeld held talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Minister of Defense Jose Alencar. "Our two countries are looking (for) ways to work together more closely to confront the anti-social threats by organised crime, by gangs, drug-traffickers, hostage-takers and terrorists," the Pentagon chief said after the meeting. Rumsfeld also lauded Brazil's leadership in building the coalition of Latin American troops which form the core of a United Nations peacekeeping force in violence-wracked Haiti. "Brazil can be proud of the leadership it is exercising in the region and several parts of the world," he said. "It is a welcome contribution to stability in our hemisphere." During his meeting with Rumsfeld, Lula said Brazil was making "every effort toward a more stable, integrated and economically prosper Latin America," according to government sources. Alencar meanwhile said his meeting with Rumsfeld "reinforced the already excellent relations between Brazil and the United States," the sources added. Rumsfeld, who is on a tour of Latin America this week and will head next to Guatemala, spoke before departing north for Manaus to visit the offices of SIVAM, the US-supported radar- and satellite-based system of surveillance for the Amazon basin region. Aside from environmental protection, the system is useful in monitoring aircraft flights that could be involved in drug trafficking. "I call it probably the most ambitious technological undertaking in South America," said a senior Pentagon official who to remain anonymous. "It'll help Brazil assert effective sovereignty over its entire territory, airspace and so on," the official said. "One of the chief concerns we have is the problem of dealing with flights by illegal actors: terrorists, drug traffickers, arm smugglers, you name it," the official said, adding that five years ago "nobody knew what was going above" the enormous Amazon basin region -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- homeland security / national intelligence Former DHS Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin on Homeland Security Project On Government Oversight (POGO), March 23, 2005 http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2005/03/former_dhs_insp.html Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) Clark Kent Ervin spoke to POGO fellow Lauren Robinson last month from his new position at the Aspen Institute to discuss his two years at DHS. POGO: You’ve been lauded for your frank and honest appraisals of DHS. Do you believe your not being invited back is a sort of punishment? ERVIN: Well, not really. Clearly, I made myself unpopular in certain quarters of the department. [But] the news articles I’ve seen haven’t done a good job of explaining what happened. Really, the issue is that the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee never scheduled a vote on my confirmation, so I never got on to the Floor of the Senate. At the end of 2003, the President gave me a recess appointment, which is a very extraordinary thing. I would be IG now if at any time during 2003 or 2004, Senator Collins had scheduled a confirmation for me. What are some examples of waste and inefficiency you’ve found at DHS? There are so many. We did this undercover work where we found that it was still easier than it should have been after 9/11 to sneak guns and knives and bombs onto airplanes. We were able to confirm that ABC News was able to smuggle depleted – not weapons-grade – uranium into the United States. Even though Customs and border protection had inspected those containers, the Department missed it on two occasions. In terms of border security, they’re not catching as many people as they might if their systems were interoperable with the FBI’s. It’s entirely a DHS decision not to, the reason being the FBI takes ten fingerprints while DHS only takes two. When asked why, [DHS Under Secretary] Asa Hutchinson said it would be too time consuming. I don’t know why. It’s not five times more time consuming, you just put down all ten fingers instead of two! What is your main concern for Homeland Security right now? My main concern is that there has been a mindset at the senior level that has ignored problems or excused them. For example, [when ABC News smuggled uranium into the US] and the Department gives you the response, “well, we targeted the container and inspected it,” as opposed to admitting that they just didn’t find the uranium, that suggests a ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ mentality. There are a lot of problems, and you’ve got to acknowledge them before you can begin to solve them. Are we more our less vulnerable to a terrorist attack now? We are safer than we were on 9/11. A number of things have been done since 9/11 that will help in the fight against terrorism, but we’re not as safe as we need to be, we’re not as safe as we can be, and we’re not as safe as we think we are. Are you concerned for other public servants who may be discouraged from speaking forthrightly about inefficiencies and problems? The Inspector General Act gives us a lot of power to do what I did, but there needs to be an amendment [to IG language] for Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, and CIA. Those IGs can be prevented from inspecting, auditing, or investigating matters if, in the judgment of the Cabinet Secretary, the IG’s doing so might compromise national security. That provision, to Secretary Tom Ridge’s great credit, was never invoked by him against me, but it could have been. And so we need to remove the temptation for Secretaries to use it. Such provisions are inconsistent with the notion of an independent Inspector General. Any advice for your fellow public servants? Well, just do your job and let the political chips fall where they may. Unless you’re willing to do that, it seems to me you shouldn’t take the job in the first place. -------- POLITICS -------- us politics House Congressional Resolution 35 109th Congress, 1st Session http://democracyrising.us/content/view/177/165/ Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 26, 2005 Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself, Ms. LEE, Mr. OWENS, Mr. STARK, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. FARR, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. WATERS, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. WATSON, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, and Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq. Whereas the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243) was passed by Congress on October 11, 2002, and signed into law by the President on October 16, 2002; Whereas Public Law 107-243 specifically cited Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and its harboring of members of the al Qaeda terrorist organization as the foundation for the use of United States military force against Iraq; Whereas the Iraq Survey Group, led by American weapons inspector David Kay, was enlisted by the President to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; Whereas on October 2, 2003, David Kay wrote, in a statement prepared for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Committee on Appropriations (Subcommittee on Defense), and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the Iraq Survey Group found no evidence that Iraq had stockpiled unconventional weapons before the United States-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003; Whereas on October 6, 2004, Charles Duelfer, whom the President chose to complete the work of the Iraq Survey Group, stated that the 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequent United Nations inspections destroyed Iraq's illicit weapons capability and that the Iraq Survey Group found no evidence of concerted efforts by Iraq to restart an illicit weapons program; Whereas on January 12, 2005, the President officially declared an end to the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; Whereas more than 1,350 members of the United States Armed Forces have been killed as part of the ongoing combat operations in Iraq; Whereas the Department of Defense has estimated that at least 10,300 members of the Armed Forces have been wounded as part of the ongoing combat operations in Iraq; Whereas various estimates place the number of unarmed, innocent Iraqi civilians killed as part of the ongoing combat operations in Iraq between 15,000 to 17,000 individuals, and possibly much higher; Whereas more than $230,000,000,000 has been appropriated by Congress to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly $160,000,000,000 of which has been allocated for military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq; Whereas in 2005 the President is expected to request Congress to appropriate as much as $80,000,000,000 in additional funds for military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and elsewhere; Whereas the President's former Chief Economic Adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, was publicly criticized by high-ranking members of the Administration for suggesting that the war in Iraq might cost as much as $100,000,000,000 to $200,000,000,000; Whereas the legitimacy of the January 30, 2005, elections in Iraq has been severely undermined by daily attacks by Iraqi insurgents, by the decision to hold such an election before the country is safe enough to ensure widespread participation, and by the fact that an occupying military force is present within the country; Whereas dozens of Iraqi election workers have been killed, and hundreds more have quit their posts out of fear of being killed; Whereas Iraqi insurgent forces remain capable of killing United States troops and Iraqi police and soldiers throughout Iraq almost daily; Whereas the very presence of 150,000 Americans in Iraq has become a rallying point for dissatisfied people in the Arab world, and has both intensified the rage of the extremist Muslim terrorists and also ignited civil hostilities in Iraq that have made United States troops and Iraqi civilians substantially less safe; Whereas the removal of the United States military from Iraq will help diminish one of the major causes of Iraq's growing insurgency; Whereas the best way to truly support members of the United States Armed Forces stationed in Iraq is to remove them from harm's way; and Whereas the time has come to begin a withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq before the United States becomes further embroiled in an unnecessary and dangerous international conflict: Now, therefore be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the President should-- (1) develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq; (2) develop and implement a plan for reconstructing Iraq's civil and economic infrastructure; (3) convene an emergency meeting of Iraq's leadership, Iraq's neighbors, the United Nations, and the Arab League to create an international peacekeeping force in Iraq and to replace United States Armed Forces in Iraq with Iraqi police and Iraqi National Guard forces to ensure Iraq's security; and (4) take all steps necessary to provide the Iraqi people with the opportunity to completely control their internal affairs. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy Drivers Who Subscribe to TerraPass Help to Fund Renewable Sources of Energy March 23, 2005 — By Akweli Parker, The Philadelphia Inquirer http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7390 Karl Ulrich, a proud environmentalist who bikes to work daily, used to fret over what his fuel-thirsty Ford F-150 pickup did to the atmosphere every time he drove from Pennsylvania to property he owns in Vermont. "I'm living with this contradiction," Ulrich said. "I think, 'I'm burning up a lot of gas.' ... But there's no way for me to write a check, to pay for my sins." Ulrich, a professor who chairs the Wharton School's operations and information management department, bet that other enviro-conscious motorists also suffered from heavy consciences. So he recruited the most readily available minds to tackle the problem: his students. As a class project late last year, about 40 Wharton students helped develop TerraPass, a Web-based business that lets drivers of dirty vehicles wipe their consciences clean. TerraPass pools its subscribers' money to help pay for renewable energy projects such as wind farms and biomass energy. Those no-emission and low-emission projects cleanly create electricity that would have otherwise been produced at polluting, coal-fired power plants. Fully operating since February, TerraPass says it has already attracted a few hundred members and is now trying to build its brand -- in part by pressuring famous people to sign up. Earlier this month, its Web site issued a challenge to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to have his personal fleet of Hummers certified by TerraPass. Wharton business student Tom Arnold, who serves as the company's chief environmental officer, makes no bones about targeting the Terminator. "The neat thing about Arnold is that he straddles both left and right, is pro business and pro environment," Tom Arnold said. "To us, this looks like an ideal TerraPass customer." So far, Schwarzenegger has not responded. The service won't appeal to everyone, Ulrich acknowledged. Once the concept is explained, "about one in 10 hand you their money." Assuaging guilt and fueling a sense of environmental righteousness are the usual motivators. Rusty Feasel, a TerraPass customer in Dallas, makes his living selling all-terrain vehicles. "I'm looking at this TerraPass to buy off my guilt about what I'm selling now," Feasel said. Here's how the system works: A motorist goes to the company Web site, (www.terrapass.com) and signs up for a year's worth of "offset" emissions. The price, paid online via credit card or a PayPal account, depends on the type of vehicle -- $29.95 for hybrids; $39.95 for compact cars; $49.95 for larger cars; $79.95 for sport utilities and gas-guzzling sports cars. TerraPass passes on part of the money to enterprises that fund "green" energy projects -- those that produce electricity with zero or reduced emissions. A portion of the proceeds funds TerraPass itself; Ulrich would not say what portion of the money stays with the company. The customer receives a windshield "certification" similar to an inspection sticker, plus a bumper sticker reminding other drivers, "Clean Up After Your Car." TerraPass' MBA student-managers draw no salaries, although they do have equity shares of the company. In addition to start-up money provided by Ulrich, the company said it recently convinced local angel investors to loosen their purse strings; the firm is also a semi-finalist in the Wharton Business Plan Competition, and will compete for a grand prize of $75,000 in cash and services next month. The firm's student managers are convinced they have a market for their product. "We believe there's a base that's excited about this. We just have to find them," said MBA student Adam Stein, one of 10 students who decided once the class was over to try to further develop the company. For now, TerraPass uses an intermediary company to fund renewable energy projects and ensure that they achieve the promised reductions in emissions and energy use. TerraPass is also a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange, a kind of marketplace for industrial emissions. The exchange allows industrial firms to buy and sell carbon "credits" on the world market so they can meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, a 39-nation agreement on controlling global warming. While the United States is not a party to the Kyoto agreement, the exchange says the buying and selling of carbon credits -- with companies whose emissions exceed the agreement's limits buying "credits" from those that belch out less than the allowed amount -- could become big business. Clearly -- or perhaps not so clearly -- the concept gets pretty abstract pretty fast. But, Ulrich said, "This is real. ... We do remediate." He said the TerraPass program actually gives consumers more air-clearing bang for their bucks than buying a low-emissions vehicle. For $10, he said, it can buy clean energy that makes up for a ton of carbon dioxide emissions. A small car typically spews out three to four tons of carbon dioxide per year; an SUV, twice that much. So while customers' cars still pollute as much as ever, the idea is that the clean-energy projects supported by their payments to TerraPass -- wind turbines, hydroelectric power and the like -- will fill in with electricity that would have otherwise been made at air-fouling powerplants. The concept behind TerraPass, while novel, is not unique. Several outfits worldwide offer to plant trees to offset the carbon emissions of automobiles. Better World Club Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based travel club, throws in $11 carbon "offsets" that fund clean-energy projects when members sign up for insurance or book their travel through the club. Arthur Stamoulis, policy analyst for the Clean Air Council in Philadelphia, lauded the concept when he heard about TerraPass. "Any program that addresses global warming is a welcome step," he said. Still, Stamoulis challenged consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars. "I wouldn't view buying a TerraPass as a free pass for SUV owners," he said. "It's not absolution for the sins of driving a Hummer." -------- OTHER -------- environment EPA Chided for Disregarding Study of Benefits from Mercury Curbs March 23, 2005 — By John Heilprin, Associated Press http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7391 WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency's decision to ignore researchers' analysis of possible health benefits from reducing mercury pollution from power plants was criticized Tuesday by Democrats in Congress. "Why is the EPA suppressing the evidence that mercury pollution can be controlled better and faster?" asked Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. EPA officials said the study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis wasn't submitted until Feb. 22, more than a month after the deadline the agency set for considering new data. The agency published its new regulations on mercury pollution from power plants on March 15. The agency had received an overview of the Harvard study in early January, but it didn't include the authors' responses to peer reviewers' comments or all of the final numbers, said James Hammitt, a co-author of the study and director of the Harvard center. EPA officials said they rejected the preliminary document as flawed. Hammitt's study estimated the potential public health benefits from cutting mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants in half 15 years from now at $5 billion a year, compared to the EPA's estimate of up to $50 million a year. The EPA put the cost of the cleanup to utilities and users of electricity at $750 million a year in 2020. The difference in the benefit numbers comes from Hammitt's inclusion of fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and less-contaminated oceangoing fish in his calculations. The EPA estimates that U.S. power plants account for 1 percent of global mercury pollution. The government now advises that high levels of mercury in some fish, including albacore tuna, can pose a hazard for children and for pregnant or nursing women, causing brain and nerve damage. EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the agency doesn't believe the science on mercury is solid enough to weigh possible benefits from fewer cases of heart disease and cleaner ocean fish. She said the Harvard study assumes each pound of mercury coming from plant smokestacks will wind up in the ocean, a conclusion counter to what EPA researchers found. Bergman acknowledged the benefits could be greater than the EPA estimated, because the agency took into account only freshwater benefits, but not 100 times greater. Hammitt acknowledged "wide uncertainty" over calculating the benefits. "It could be ten times bigger, or ten times smaller," he said. "Part of the science underlying the subject is just not solid enough to specify things really precisely." But Hammitt said the EPA should have provided a range of benefits, even though that might have undercut its regulatory approach of letting industry trade rights to pollute rather than insisting each plant install new pollution controls. "In analyzing the benefits of this or any other rule, we need to be honest that there is quite a lot of range of uncertainty, and we ought to characterize that range," he said. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said he was outraged that the EPA would suppress the Harvard study while claiming stricter controls would cost industry far more than the projected health benefits of its regulatory proposal. ---- Actor Leonardo DiCaprio Campaigns for Clean Water March 23, 2005 — By Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — Actor Leonardo DiCaprio helped environmentalists launch an international campaign Tuesday to draw attention to the billion people worldwide who don't have access to clean water. "We are here to help raise awareness about what is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today," said DiCaprio, speaking on World Water Day at the Clift Hotel with Global Green USA President Matt Petersen. DiCaprio, who earned a best-actor nomination this year for playing Howard Hughes in "The Aviator," signed a petition that calls on President Bush and other government leaders to commit to a legally binding United Nations treaty declaring clean water as a basic human right. DiCaprio screened a short film he helped produce that highlights the need to conserve the world's limited supply of fresh water and provide greater access to it for more than 1.2 billion people. The film, called "Water Planet," will be distributed starting next month on the Internet, at film festivals and to television stations and schools to educate the public about what DiCaprio calls the "growing global water crisis." About 2.5 billion people worldwide lack water sanitation services, and five million people die from waterborne diseases each year, according to Global Green USA. -------- ACTIVISTS Daniel Ellsberg: Free Mordechai Vanunu Antiwar.com, March 23, 2005 http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=5306 Editor's note: The following is a statement by Daniel Ellsberg on the recent indictment of Mordechai Vanunu in Israel for his violation of restrictions banning him from speaking to foreigners or giving interviews to foreign journalists. Ellsberg has just returned from Israel, where he had been invited to testify against these restrictions on March 16 before a committee of the Knesset; the committee hearing was canceled, evidently in secret anticipation of this indictment. Ellsberg is available for a limited number of interviews on this subject, through the Institute for Public Accuracy. The fact that Israel has a large and growing nuclear arsenal – larger than Britain's – has been recognized by the rest of the world ever since Mordechai Vanunu revealed it conclusively 19 years ago. For demolishing his country's policy of concealment, denial, and "ambiguity" of its status as a nuclear weapons state, Vanunu served 18 years in prison, including an unprecedented period of 11 and a half years of solitary confinement in a six-by-nine-foot cell. Meanwhile, not one of the harms that some feared might result from his revelations has materialized in the slightest degree. The notion that any further details he could disclose, 19 years later, could harm Israel's national security is absurd. Why then, after he has served his full sentence, is the State of Israel invoking British Mandate Emergency Regulations of 1945, pre-dating its own independence, to threaten him with prison for exercising his fundamental human rights to speak to foreigners and foreign journalists? Why do its leaders still insist on suppressing any open discussion in Israel itself of its real military posture and its implications for their security? Here's one possible answer. This very month, both Israel and the U.S. are making open threats of armed attacks as early as this summer on Iran's nuclear weapons potential. For Israel to confirm openly Vanunu's revelations at this particular time – dramatically abandoning forty years of obfuscation – would attract unfavorable attention to the fact that such threats or attacks against Iran are aimed not at achieving a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East but at prolonging, indefinitely, Israel's monopoly of nuclear weapons in the region. That is an unstated aim for both the U.S. and Israel, but a less than compelling justification for war. This may be a reason – but not a legitimate one – for returning Mordechai Vanunu to silence in solitary. What the world needs of this prophet of the nuclear era is not his silence but his freedom to speak and travel, to inspire others to follow his example of truth-telling in their own countries, above all here in the United States.