NucNews - June 9, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- australia Australian PM encourages nuclear power debate Thursday, June 9, 2005. 3:30pm (AEST) Australian Broadcasting http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1388563.htm Prime Minister John Howard says he would welcome a debate about the use of nuclear power in Australia. Mr Howard says there are vast supplies of uranium in Australia which could provide an alternative fuel source to coal or gas. He says Australia is mature enough to participate in a robust debate on issues associated with the use of nuclear power. "This country has enormous supplies of uranium and it would strike a lot of people as an odd contradiction that we would not allow a debate on nuclear power in Australia yet we would be quite happy under appropriate safeguards to export large amounts of uranium," Mr Howard said. Mr Howard is the latest in a line of Australian politicians to suggest the country should debate the use of nuclear power, including Treasurer Peter Costello, Science Minister Brendan Nelson, Labor backbencher Peter Garrett and New South Wales Premier Bob Carr. At an Australian Institute of Energy conference in Sydney yesterday, US nuclear power scientist Alan Baxter recommended Australia turn to nuclear power to help turn seawater into drinking water and reduce emissions from coal fired power plants. "It can be used for desalinisation and I believe you have a problem with water in this country," said Dr Baxter, from the US company General Atomics which designs nuclear power plants. "The other of course is just electricity. I believe most of your electricity comes from coal fire plants. Nuclear at least would prevent C and more CO2 into the atmosphere." Federal Liberal Party politician Dennis Jensen also spoke in favour of nuclear power. "You actually get two times the radiation dose by sleeping next to your partner [than] you do from the background radiation as a result of nuclear power generation," Dr Jensen said. "That is simply because in each and every one of our bodies we have radioactive materials. Radioactive materials are absolutely everywhere in the environment." But Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, who led a protest outside the conference, says nuclear power stations produce waste which cannot be stored safely. "We'd also have this enormous amount of radioactive waste that we've got no scientific understanding of how we deal with the consequences of that waste that lasts for a quarter of a million years," she said. "So it's not a long term solution and indeed the Greens say it's not a solution at all." -------- canada Atomic Energy wants to return to Canada's centre stage New safer, smaller reactor shows promise By Mike Levin - Business Edge Published: 06/09/2005 - Vol. 5, No. 23 http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/9764.cfm Every time the price of oil or natural gas increases, the smiles widen at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. The maker of Canadian deuterium uranium-reactor power plants - better known as Candu 6 - says electricity generated by its reactors is already price competitive with fossil fuel plants. And it believes that in a world confronting the dilemma of greenhouse-gas emissions, nuclear power is starting to lose its reputation as an environmental bogeyman. Sixty per cent of Atomic Energy's sales and service contracts are outside Canada, such as this Candu reactor in Shanghai. "Improved technology has created a much greater recognition by the public of the benefits of nuclear power and it's led to a resurgence in the belief that it can deliver the electricity the world needs and still be environmentally attractive," says Ken Petrunik, Atomic Energy's senior vice'-president and chief operating officer. "However, it's a market with a very long-term view and investment is subject to huge variations, both economic or political," he says. That is one reason why Atomic Energy's balance sheet over the years has shown the peaks and troughs of a volatile industry. Figures for the recently ended 2005 fiscal year have not yet been released. But in 2004 there was a significant drop in revenue - to $497 million from $580 million in 2003 when revenue and profit rose on prestige projects in China and Romania, as well as on plant-refurbishment contracts at home. Atomic Energy's results depend completely on year-by-year demand for the company's three products - new power plants (72 per cent of 2004 revenue), renovations and refurbishment to existing Candu facilities (20 per cent) and eight per cent from medical isotopes for research and treatment distributed by MDS Nordion. Since nuclear contracts tend to be huge, a single agreement can change annual revenue from minus to plus quickly. And there is no telling which country will serve up the next deal. "Let's face it. There are parts of the world that can't afford to be without the nuclear option. Even the latest U.S. energy bill includes tax subsidies for it," says Danny Czamanski, senior vice-president of research for the Calgary-based Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI). Atomic Energy is working out financial details for four domestic refurbishments: Two 800-megawatt reactors on the Bruce Peninsula, a 700-megawatt unit at Gentilly in Quebec and a 700-megawatt plant in New Brunswick at Point Lepreau. Those projects cover three of the five operating sites in Canada; the other two are in Ontario at Pickering and Darlington. Approximately 60 per cent of Atomic Energy's business is outside Canada, a market Petrunik believes offers bigger revenue potential than the local industry, especially as Ontario decides how to proceed with nuclear power following Ontario Power Generation's massive budgetary overruns during its Pickering plant refurbishment. "The international market is one of big projects with a steady baseline of services. In the past there was no consistent pattern, but it's now in a phase where demand is ready to grow very fast," Petrunik says. During the past 12 months, Atomic Energy started a second plant in Romania and negotiated more refurbishment contracts in Canada and internationally. With a new design ready for an improved plant - the Advanced Candu Reactor (ACR) - the company believes it is ready to ride what many analysts see as a significant market turn to nuclear power. Atomic Energy executives recently returned from China where they continue to negotiate a program for a third Candu facility - possibly an ACR - near Shanghai. There are also discussions in Romania for a third company-built plant, as well as refurbishment projects in that country, Argentina and South Korea to extend existing reactor life by 25 years. International contracts can quickly unravel, however, because of unforecastable political and economic winds. Atomic Energy suffered a setback early this year when Virginia-based Dominion Resources pulled out of a partnership that would license the company's ACR reactor in the United States. "(That) decision caused us to rethink our marketing and where we should focus our (business efforts)," says Jerry Hopwood, Atomic Energy's general manager of reactor product applications. Hopwood has overseen the development of ACR, a smaller, more efficient version of Candu 6 that uses slightly enriched uranium, instead of natural uranium, and less heavy water to deliver up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity. He says the unit is cheaper, faster to build, more reliable and has increased safety margins. Atomic Energy is one of three companies in the world capable of producing this kind of reactor. While ACR's design phase is finished, orders may still be several years away. Markets include China, the United Kingdom and the U.S. as well as Canada, where Atomic Energy is eying its potential in the oilsands. George Eynon, CERI's senior director for natural gas, sees the possibility of locating a reactor at Saskatchewan's Cree Lake, which could provide all the power for the oilsands. "But producers are looking for self-sufficiency, so any (nuclear option) would have to be some sort of merchant system that allows for this level of competition," he says. Marlo Raynolds, executive director of Calgary-based sustainable development consultancy The Pembina Institute, says this option is still too supply-side driven. "The risk, both economic and political, is just too high for multiple producers (in the oilsands) to bear. The economics alone won't fly without major subsidies, and I don't think taxpayers will go for it when there are many other alternative power sources, like deep geothermal, available that don't have nuclear's risks," he says. Costs associated with nuclear-waste management must also be factored into economic viability. While the federal government says current technology can now guarantee safe containment of spent fuel rods through deep geological disposal, a report by the industry-led Nuclear Waste Management Organization claims this method would cost $24 billion and 60 further years of study and construction before the first rod was buried. "Countries like Sweden and Finland are putting this kind of disposal into operation. We feel this issue is being well addressed, although politically I don't think we're at the point yet where we can go ahead with any specific method," Petrunik says. (Mike Levin can be reached at levin@businessedge.ca) -------- depleted uranium Belgium ‘loses track’ of depleted uranium shipment 9 June 2005 Expatica http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id=20911&name=Belgium+%91loses%92+consignment+of+depleted+uranium+ BRUSSELS – Belgium has lost track of 1,457kg of depleted uranium sent from the US, it emerged on Thursday. According to the francophone daily ‘La Libre Belgique’, an independent American agency - the US-International Trade Commission - registered the consignment destined for Belgium in 2002. However, the organisation in Belgium which is responsible for supervising the importation, transit and transportation of nuclear waste had no record of the uranium. The AFCN, the federal agency for nuclear control, has admitted it had no trace of the 1,457kg and had to contact the American Embassy for details of the consignment. Director Jean-Paul Samain said: "We think it was most probably radioactive material which – for one reason or another – would not have been declared when it arrived in the port of Antwerp and which was sent off again without even being unloaded. This kind of incident is very rare." Samain’s admission came after social democrat MP Koen T’Sijen (SPA) questioned interior minister Patrick Dewael over the issue. Samain insisted that the depleted uranium was of little danger to humans. "It’s not very radioactive," he said. "It’s nothing like plutonium or natural uranium." ‘La Libre Belgique’ reported that in Belgium, usually there was only one destination for such deliveries – Belgonucleaire, which uses uranium to produce mox. AFCN said in those cases the material is well packaged and the transport is organised with a lot of discretion. A small part of depleted uranium is used to reinforce plane tails and noses. [Copyright Expatica 2005] Subject: Belgian news -------- iran Iran Preparing for Advanced Nuclear Work, Officials Say By Douglas Frantz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Thu Jun 9, 7:55 AM ET http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050609/ts_latimes/iranpreparingforadvancednuclearworkofficialssay ISTANBUL, Turkey — Iran has plans to install tens of thousands of advanced centrifuges at its huge underground nuclear plant near the central city of Natanz, which eventually would enable the nation to enrich uranium nearly twice as fast as anticipated, Western intelligence officials say. The officials say there is no hard evidence that Iran is currently manufacturing the updated centrifuges and that the timetable for installation remains unknown. However, preparatory work is underway at the plant, they said in recent interviews, and the decision to rely on the superior type of centrifuge suggests Iran could manufacture fissile material for a possible weapon sooner than expected. Diplomats with knowledge of Iran's nuclear program said they could not confirm the information, but Tehran said last year that it intended to use the advanced centrifuges at some point. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States and European Union fear that the country intends to build atomic weapons, in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Stopping Iran from mastering the process of uranium enrichment is the central goal of the U.S. and EU. They have threatened to turn to the U.N. Security Council if Tehran abandons an agreement, reached with three European governments in November, to suspend enrichment activities. The concern is that Iran, after developing sufficient enrichment capabilities, could more readily shift production from low-level enriched uranium for nuclear reactors to high levels for weapons, either secretly or after withdrawing from the nonproliferation treaty. On Sunday, Iranian officials pledged to extend the country's voluntary suspension of enrichment activities until the end of July as part of the nuclear negotiations with Germany, France and Britain. But Tehran has called the suspension voluntary and temporary and says it intends to eventually produce fuel for civilian reactors. An inspection team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, will begin work today in Natanz. The team will verify whether Iran is complying with the enrichment suspension ahead of an IAEA board meeting next week in Vienna. The complex at Natanz, about 150 miles south of Tehran, is the heart of Iran's enrichment effort. Plans call for more than 50,000 centrifuges to be installed in two vast underground halls, where they could produce large quantities of enriched uranium, the Western intelligence officials said. Earlier this year, Iran finished covering the main plant with 25 feet of concrete and an additional layer of earth. Satellite photos show that the entrance to the underground complex and two large air shafts were concealed by what appear to be dummy buildings. Journalists taken on a government-led tour of Natanz in March reported that the 1,100-acre site was ringed by at least 10 antiaircraft batteries. Iranian officials said the missiles and underground facilities were prompted by concerns over possible attacks by the U.S. or Israel. The IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear program since an exile group disclosed the existence of Natanz in August 2002, exposing an ambitious Iranian effort that had been kept secret for nearly two decades. Though questions remain, the IAEA says it has found no evidence of a weapons program. Two Western intelligence officials and a nuclear expert, all from a government opposed to Iran's nuclear efforts, said they had developed "very solid information" about plans to manufacture and install 54,000 centrifuges at Natanz. They said up to two-thirds of them would be the advanced model, known as the P-2. They said they were uncertain about the key issue of when Iran would build and install the machines. Tehran told the IAEA last year that it had stopped all research and development on P-2s. If Iran is building the advanced centrifuges, that would violate its agreements with the three European nations and the international agency, diplomats said. In separate interviews, diplomats close to the IAEA said that, although it is likely Natanz will eventually house P-2s, they had no information that Iran was working on the machines. "Their having made some planning should not be overly surprising," a Western diplomat in Vienna said. "However, if there were production going on, it would be a breach of the suspension." A senior Iranian official dismissed the idea that Iran was now working on P-2s, but he said Natanz was designed to accommodate either the P-2 or the less advanced P-1. A senior IAEA official is expected to provide an update on Iran's compliance when the board meets next week. The Western diplomat in Vienna suggested that the release of information about the P-2s was timed to fuel doubts about Iran. "The question has been: Do they already have the P-2 developed and demonstrated?" said David Albright, a former IAEA inspector who is head of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. "My understanding is that there is not much progress being made on this [question] by the IAEA." Russia has agreed to provide fuel for Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, which is to begin operating next year, but Tehran says it plans a series of reactors to generate electricity and wants to produce its own fuel. Iran began building P-1 centrifuges several years ago and told the Europeans in April that it would install 3,000 of them at Natanz. That number is far more than planned for a nearby pilot plant and could turn out enough enriched uranium for one or two bombs in a year, Albright said. The Bush administration recently pushed back its estimate of the date by which it believes Iran could produce an atomic weapon if it resumed enrichment activities. Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, told a Senate committee in March that Iran was not expected to be able to produce a weapon before early in the next decade, several years later than earlier estimates. Albright said he was told that assessment was shared throughout the U.S. intelligence community. However, Israeli intelligence estimates that Iran could have a nuclear weapon within two years or less of resuming enrichment. Iran admitted under pressure last year that it had secretly bought parts and designs for the P-1 centrifuge from Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan in the late 1980s. Iranian officials later acknowledged that the Khan network sold them designs for the more efficient P-2 in 1995. Iranian officials told the IAEA that they did not work on the P-2 until 2002 and that those efforts were unsuccessful and were halted in 2003. In a report issued last November, the IAEA said a private contractor in Tehran hired by the government had acknowledged trying to buy 4,000 magnets suitable for P-2 centrifuges from a European company and had suggested that he might want far more. Iran also said it had bought magnets suitable for P-2s in 2002. The IAEA said it did not have enough evidence yet to determine whether Iran was telling the truth about the absence of work on the P-2 for seven years. A second diplomat in Vienna said the work had not resumed. It is unclear how quickly Iran could turn out the required number of P-2s. Centrifuges are complex, finely balanced machines, with about 100 parts manufactured to precise tolerances. P-2s are designed to use rotors manufactured from specialized steel, which Iran would probably have to acquire abroad. Iranian attempts to substitute a carbon-fiber compound in 2002 and 2003 ran into difficulties, the IAEA says. -------- israel Israeli nuclear secrets caught up in computer hacking scandal June 9, 2005 (AFP) http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=3970 JERUSALEM - Israel's rigorously guarded nuclear secrets could have been tampered with in an international computer hacking scandal known as the Trojan Horse affair, the Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported Thursday. Police are investigating a complaint by water company Gal-Al that a rival firm stole drawings and formulas on how to produce and separate heavy water in a project at Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor. Producing and separating heavy water is needed to manufacture a hydrogen bomb. Israel has never admitted having a nuclear arsenal, but is widely believed to have around 200 nuclear warheads. Gal-Al director Baruch Zisser refused to make any comments on the case on public radio. Twenty people, including top business executives, have been arrested in an unprecedented industrial espionage scandal in Israel that has so far implicated 15 companies -- including some of the most prestigious in Israel. Evidence gathered by the police shows among those infiltrated were car importers, television stations, PR firms and telephone companies, to track all actions carried out in the system and even to control the computer remotely. The investigation has spread from Israel to Britain, Germany and the United States. On Wednesday, a key Israeli suspect in the hacking scandal, Yitzak Rath, fell from the second storey of a police station after undergoing a lengthy interrogation in what police believe was a suicide attempt. -------- korea North Korea Boasts It Has More Bombs By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 9, 2005 Filed at 6:54 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-SKorea-US.html?pagewanted=print SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea boasted it was building more nuclear bombs ahead of the South Korean leader's trip to Washington to discuss deadlocked international efforts to get the communist state to disarm. The North is widely believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for a half-dozen nuclear bombs. Asked by ABC News if the North was building more, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said: ''Yes.'' ''As for specifically how many we have, that is a secret,'' he said. Kim also implied the North was able to mount nuclear warheads on its missiles. ''Our scientists have the knowledge, comparable to other scientists around the world,'' he said. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun traveled to Washington Thursday on a one-day whirlwind trip to meet President Bush amid signs of strain in the U.S.-South Korean alliance over the nuclear standoff with North Korea. Friday's meeting comes as international disarmament have floundered for nearly a year. The North has stayed away, citing ''hostile'' U.S. policies and boasting it has nuclear weapons. U.S. officials claimed this week to have made progress in talks with North Korean officials in New York and said Pyongyang expressed its commitment to the arms talks, which also include China, Japan and Russia. However, no date was set for the negotiations to restart, and the South treated the development with skepticism. Roh and Bush have deeply divergent views on dealing with North Korea. While the United States views the North as a rogue regime at risk of proliferating weapons of mass destruction, the South is trying to coexist peacefully with its communist neighbor, said Peter Beck, Seoul-based director of the North East Asia Project for the International Crisis Group. ''There are very serious strains in the (U.S.-South Korean) relationship,'' he said. ''The threat of divorce is real -- both sides are increasingly asking questions that weren't being asked a few years ago.'' This year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the North one of the world's ''outposts of tyranny,'' after Bush laid out a sweeping vision of spreading democracy. Roh has come out against regime change in the North and even expressed understanding of why the North is seeking nuclear weapons -- purportedly for self-defense. Roh has also expressed concern about reforms in the U.S. military to create a more flexible force -- raising worries American troops here could become embroiled in regional conflicts, in particular between Taiwan and China. On Thursday, the United States and South Korea signed an agreement for Seoul to shoulder less of the cost of keeping U.S. military personnel here. Under the pact, South Korea will pay $681 million this year and next -- down 9 percent from last year. Also, U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless paid a secret visit to Seoul this week and told his South Korean counterparts that Washington might withdraw its troops if the two sides continue to disagree on various bilateral issues, local media reported Thursday. South Korea's Foreign Ministry acknowledged the visit but refused to disclose what was discussed. The reports in the Hankyoreh and Munhwa dailies cited South Korean defense officials and diplomats. Ahead of his U.S. trip, Roh met Wednesday in Seoul with top U.S. military commanders to underscore cooperation with Washington. ''Since I became president there have been many changes in the alliance between Korea and the United States, whether they are good or bad are subject to interpretation,'' Roh said. Still, he stressed that Seoul's alliance with the United States was the basis for its success as a democracy and market economy. In one sign South Korean commentators are taking notice of the standoffish relationship, media reports noted this week that Bush has never granted Roh the courtesy given his favorite world leaders: a visit to his Texas ranch. -------- mideast Saudis Seek Relaxed Nuclear Oversight By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 9, 2005 Filed at 12:13 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Saudi-Nuclear-Interview.html?pagewanted=print WASHINGTON (AP) -- Saudi Arabia is seeking to permanently lower international scrutiny of its lone nuclear reactor, but a top Saudi official said Wednesday the request is not a prelude to development of nuclear weapons. ''We have no desire to acquire any type of weapon of mass destruction, period,'' Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said. The Saudi request this spring set off alarm bells at the International Atomic Energy Agency and within the Bush administration, which has accused neighboring Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as cover to develop weapons that could be used against Israel or other U.S. allies in the Middle East. He also said reports, some based on U.S. intelligence, that Saudi Arabia has sought possible nuclear weapons help from Pakistan are ''not correct.'' In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, al-Jubeir said relations between his nation and the Bush administration are strong but ''the environment in which the relationship operates ... still leaves a lot to be desired.'' Ordinary Saudis remain deeply distrustful of the United States in the aftermath of the Iraq war and revelations about mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and a range of complaints about conditions at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, al-Jubeir said. ''Why do they hate you? They don't hate you, they just don't like your policies,'' he said. Al-Jubeir, a senior adviser to the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, said the Saudi regime takes no umbrage at U.S. efforts to spread democracy in the Middle East. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have made democratic expansion a centerpiece of Bush's second-term foreign policy. ''We believe that the idea of spreading freedom and democracy is a noble one,'' but change must come on terms each country can accept, al-Jubeir said. Bush understands this, al-Jubeir said. Despite recent moves to allow more elections, the kingdom remains under centralized, dynastic rule. It is also a key U.S. ally in a volatile part of the world and the world's largest oil producer. Rice has said the United States will not give Saudi Arabia a pass, but the administration has still been careful to voice only general concerns about freedom and human rights in Saudi Arabia. ''We don't believe that change can be imposed from the outside; it's never worked, it never will,'' al-Jubeir said. ''We believe that encouraging countries to change is a positive if it's done in a realistic way. Lecturing or trying to provide a one size that fits all is counterproductive.'' He rejected one recent, specific U.S. criticism of Saudi Arabia. He said he was surprised to learn last week that the United States placed the kingdom on a short list of countries that have not done enough to stop abuse of foreign workers. The State Department erroneously accused Saudi Arabia of looking the other way at mistreatment of manual laborers and domestic workers employed by wealthy Saudis, al-Jubeir said. ''We prohibit the trafficking in persons,'' he said. ''It's against our values, it's against our faith. It's unacceptable.'' The report is misinformed, either because the U.S. did not ask Saudis for the right information or the Saudis did not provide it, al-Jubeir said. He predicted the State Department will quickly remove Saudi Arabia from the list once the Saudis provide more information. On the nuclear issue, al-Jubeir said his nation's small reactor for medical and scientific research should not require stringent international oversight. He said the 1970s-vintage reactor is incapable of producing components for nuclear weapons. The Saudis asked the U.N. atomic agency to add Saudi Arabia to a group of more than 70 nations presumed to have limited nuclear activities. The agreement sharply curtails the International Atomic Energy Agency's oversight in those countries, on the theory that the agency has bigger fish to fry. Born of more trusting days, the agreement is now viewed with suspicion within the agency, after revelations of other loopholes that have allowed prewar Iraq, Iran, Libya and other countries to work secretly on known or suspected nuclear weapons programs. The IAEA is expected to reluctantly grant the Saudi request next week, despite suspicion on the part of some diplomats at the IAEA that the Saudis have not been forthcoming about their nuclear program or ambitions. On the Net: Video from the AP Interview is available at: http://wid.ap.org/video/saudi.rm -------- pacific New Zealand Lawmakers to Reconsider Contentious Nuclear Ship Ban By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor June 09, 2005 http://www.cnsnews.com/ForeignBureaus/archive/200506/FOR20050609b.html (CNSNews.com) - New Zealand lawmakers will consider legislation that would allow nuclear-powered ships to return to the country's ports, two decades after a law banning the vessels sent a chill through New Zealand's relations with the United States. A proposal to end the ban comes in the form of a private member's bill, initiated by a small conservative opposition party and drawn Thursday in a ballot that determines which privately introduced measures will be put before parliament. Authored by Act Party lawmaker Ken Shirley, the bill proposes the removal of a clause in 1987 legislation that reads: "Entry into the internal waters of New Zealand by any ship whose propulsion is wholly or partly dependent on nuclear power is prohibited." Prime Minister Helen Clark's Labor Party government, which may call early elections soon, says it plans no changes to its nuclear policy, while the official opposition National Party has voiced mixed views on the port visit ban question. An earlier Labor administration passed legislation in the mid-1980s prohibiting ships armed with nuclear weapons as well as those powered by nuclear reactors from entering New Zealand waters. The policy shift prompted Washington formally to end its defense obligations to Wellington under a joint Australia-New Zealand-U.S. (ANZUS) military pact, which came into force in 1952. While Australia and the U.S. remained close allies, ties with New Zealand were downgraded and have remained relatively cool ever since. New Zealand prides itself on its "nuclear-free" status, and polls have consistently shown majority support for the policy. In recent years, however, calls have grown inside and outside the country for an end to the ban on nuclear-powered - as opposed to nuclear-armed - vessels. Lending weight to the domestic campaign has been concern that New Zealand could miss out on achieving a free trade agreement (FTA) with the world's largest economy. Australia and the U.S. launched an FTA last January, but there has been no movement on starting negotiations for a U.S.-New Zealand deal. There also has been more pressure from the U.S. side. American Ambassador Charles Swindells said in an Oct. 2003 speech that when it came to the nuclear port ban issue, the U.S. was not simply going to "get over it." Two months earlier, U.S. trade undersecretary Grant Aldonas told a business meeting in Auckland that getting access to New Zealand ports for U.S. ships was important in the context of the war against terrorism. "We look at the freedom of the seas and the ability to project power off our shores as being integrally related to a policy of trying to take on terrorism wherever it starts," he was quoted as saying. "So the idea that there be some limitations on our freedom to project that power - in defense of what we think are both New Zealand and U.S. interests - is something where you can appreciate the reaction in our defense quarters and in Congress." On Thursday, Shirley called on lawmakers to "rise above meaningless slogans and mantras" and support his bill when it comes up for a first reading, probably late next month. He said the clause he wants removed was the "final obstacle to New Zealand re-establishing participation in the ANZUS alliance, which is clearly in our strategic interest." Re-establishing New Zealand's ANZUS commitment "would put us on equal footing with Australia in negotiating an FTA with the United States." 'Nonsensical' Clark's critics argue that the 1980s legislation was driven by an "anti-American" faction within the Labor Party, including Clark herself. Shirley said the clause was put into place "in a mood of chest-thumping bravado. It is now time to display more maturity." Scientists have long called into question the validity of the ban from a safety point of view. In 1992, an expert inquiry found that modern nuclear-powered ships docking at New Zealand ports would pose minimal risk to public safety or the environment. The inquiry pointed out that a major Auckland hospital emitted more radiation into the atmosphere each day than was released by the entire U.S. nuclear-powered fleet in a year. "There is no environmental or health reason to continue the nonsensical nuclear propulsion ban," Shirley said. "Lifting it would allow us to shake off the self-imposed shackles of the past two decades." Anti-nuclear activists have never been impressed by the 1992 study, saying their opposition to port visits goes beyond the question of safety. "These mighty warships when seen anywhere have always symbolized the presence of nuclear weapons, and for most people still say, here is a manifestation of the presence of a nuclear power," Robert White of the Center for Peace Studies at Auckland University wrote in an article three years ago. "For us to accept visits by one of these behemoths would be widely seen as a complete abandonment by us of our anti-nuclear stance," he said, arguing that New Zealand's policy had won it "very high standing ... in the U.N. as a truly anti-nuclear and nuclear free nation." ---- Marshall Islands Survivor Testimony From: Raulmax@aol.com Date: Thu Jun 9, 2005 10:19am The Marshall Islands were the site where the US tested 67 atomic bombs during the late 1940s and 1950s. In July of this year, New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, will chair a US Senate Committee that will look into the problems caused by the US bombings to the people of the Marshall Islands. Ms. Chiyoko Tamayose's Testimony Hearing on the Changed Circumstances Petition (CCP) US Congress House Joint Hearings Resources Committee and Foreign Affairs Pacific Area. May 25, 2005 My name is Chiyoko Tamayose. I was born May 2, 1937. I am from Rongelap atoll in the Marshall Islands. I returned to Rongelap in 1957, three years after the nuclear fallout contaminated my homeland & at the time when scientists informed us that the land was clean and safe to go back home. I noticed that not everything was right in 1957. The arrowroots that before grew everywhere were gone. The coconut trees were bearing green and yellow nuts from the same tree; very unusual. The water changed color when we cooked our foods; we tried to change the water many times, but the same thing kept happening. On occasion, we found some of our fish had thyroid problems. Small hardened nodules were found in the fish gills; these were very hard to crack; but after opening them up & tossed in the water; the water changed to the colors of a rainbow. Because we did not understand the reason for the change in the water; we played & splashed in it. We were only instructed not to eat the coconut crabs which were plentiful in Rongelap, but during the times when there was a shortage of food we ate these delicacies. As we ate other locally grown food, we developed blisters all over our mouths, but we continued to eat them because we were hungry. Later on, we were told that it was alright to eat the coconut crabs – meaning that all locally available food was safe to consume. I became very sick with the convulsion, and at the more severe times my family thought I was dead. When I came through, I saw they were crying by my side. I could not bear to be in bright daylight. All the windows and doors of my house were kept shut. The Department of Energy officials sent me to New York for treatment. There's this machine (I do not know what it was called) that they put me inside. I could not remain in it any second longer because my body felt like it was on fire and pierced by a thousands fine needles. I was told that the radiation content in my body was higher than some of the survivors of 1954 fallout in Rongelap. I had my thyroid surgery at a hospital in Cleveland and was informed that there were three more thyroids to remove later on. I was given so many kind of medication as treatment. I did not want to take so many pills; I was a grown woman, but crying unashamedly because I was afraid to take those medication. I was one of the people who were secretly given injection for unknown reasons. The DOE doctors assigned us numbers; we were referred to only in numbers and as the "Control Group". I believe this program was called Project 4. It was the people who were not exposed to nuclear fallout, but became exposed and sick from the injections that doctor gave us without our consent and from eating food crops that were grown in the contaminated soil. I watched the doctors drew blood from my vein, mixed it in some type of solution before returning it again to my body. Sometime this procedure was repeated 3 or 4 times in one sitting. I was frightened to see so much blood taken from me, but I patiently allowed that to happen. I trusted the American doctors to treat me fairly and take good care of my illness, rather than using me as guinea pig as I later on learned. In 1992 when the DOE official documents were declassified and made available to the public, I received a letter to inform me that the injections that I previously received were routine tests. I do not believe that. I have 12 children and some of them are physically handicapped. I believe in my heart that their problems began with me. I have one son that had liver cancer; he was operated on at the Kuakini Hospital in Honolulu and he died during the operation. He left a family of 4 children and a wife. Another son had problems with his thyroid -- so severe that he could not eat nor swallow water. A daughter was born with the lower body so soft as if there was no bone. I have a 40 year old son who was born with a good size blister on his back. Two weeks later we were sent to the Naval Hospital in Guam for surgery. The doctors informed that they'd never seen that type of case before. He became paralyzed; he crawls around the house, he helps me prepare meals when I am tired; he changes his own pampers. He's a great son, but very heart-breaking for a mother to see in that condition. These are cases involving my immediate family. There are numerous cases in Rongelap that have not been reported or heard by many people or doctors. One of my cousins, gave birth to what is known these days as jelly fish baby; another one of her babies was born without any back bone. These are unusual cases that never happened to us before. I am asking you to come to the Marshalall Islands and listen to the survivors' stories. Hold hearings in the Marshall Islands and in Hawaii where many survivors reside now in order to be closer to the hospitals. My voice is one of the survivors. There are hundreds of cases that you must hear as you deliberate on the Changed Circumstances Petition. The Changed Circumstances Petition is critical because if it is not approved by Congress that means all the survivors and their affected descendants are left to fend for themselves -- which means either stay at home and receive minimal health care or travel off island to receive treatment. There will be no funds to treat their health condition. That is not so attractive an idea for those who can not afford to travel. If the Petition is not approved, that means Congress is washing its hands off its moral obligation to care for the problems that it created. Today, I am 68 years of age - more than half of my life I've lived with many types of health problems such as thyroid. I believe the health problems that we in the Marshall Island have now will continue beyond my time. Your support is critical for as long as these problems that derived from the nuclear testing program exist. Thank you. -------- russia Swiss court orders release of former Russian nuclear minister BALZ BRUPPACHER Thu, Jun. 09, 2005 Associated Press http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/breaking_news/11854303.htm BERN, Switzerland - A Swiss court ruled Thursday that former Russian nuclear energy minister Yevgeny Adamov should be released from detention, but he remained in prison pending an appeal from the Swiss Justice Ministry, a spokesman said. The Federal Criminal Court upheld an appeal from Adamov, but the ministry immediately appealed the decision to the country's supreme court. Adamov will remain in custody until the court rules on that appeal, said Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli. "The federal supreme court hasn't responded yet, but at the moment he's still in detention," Galli told The Associated Press. Lawyers for Adamov, who was originally arrested in Switzerland on a U.S. warrant, appealed May 17 against his detention on the basis that Switzerland violated his immunity as a former minister. Lanny Breuer, Adamov's American attorney, told a news conference in Washington that the Swiss court found that Adamov's arrest was illegal and violates Swiss and international law. "This decision shows that without question that the Swiss courts are independent and have shown, in our view, great wisdom," Breuer said. "The rule of law in Switzerland remains strong despite, in our view, the overreaching of the United States government and the United States Department of Justice." In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra declined to comment on the ruling or its future implications. He said the department does not "comment on extradition on specific cases." He referred questions to the U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh, which didn't return a message. At the United States' request, Adamov was arrested May 2 during a visit to his daughter in the Swiss capital Bern. He has since been indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on conspiracy to transfer stolen money and securities, conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering and tax evasion. The United States says he diverted up to $9 million from U.S. Energy Department funds intended to improve Russian nuclear security. Russian authorities, concerned that he could divulge nuclear secrets if extradited to the United States, have demanded he be sent instead to Russia to face allegations concerning the illegal appropriation of money intended for nuclear security. In Moscow the Russian Foreign Ministry and prosecutor general's office declined to comment on the Swiss court ruling. The United States still has yet to file for Adamov's extradition but has until June 30 to make an official request. Associated Press reporter Kim Hefling in Washington contributed to this report. -------- security Documents returning to on-line library after NRC security review (Platts) 9 June 2005 http://www.platts.com/Nuclear/News/5087442.xml?S=n Washington -- NRC said today it is restoring 70,000 documents to its on-line library, Adams. The agency said the documents, which were removed last October, have cleared a security review to ensure they do not contain sensitive information that could potentially aid a terrorist. NRC said the documents are administrative, contractual, and research papers that are not connected to a specific licensee. The agency said it is still reviewing documents dealing with nuclear materials. NRC expects to re-post several thousand documents per day to limit the impact on its electronic records system. The process is anticipated to be completed by June 20. The material was left over from nuclear bomb making, a process that began at Mallinckrodt Chemical in north St. Louis. The waste was taken to a 22-acre site near the airport, considered the country in 1946. Twenty years later, a company bought the waste, and dried it, and used it to make other nuclear material. However, the waste had sat for 20 years, and over time, with wind, rain and man, the ground became contaminated. Now, Uncle Sam, in the form of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is spending $50 million a year to clean up the site and others around the airport. The dirt is picked up, and hauled away to a dump in Idaho. Six hundred thousand cubic yards of dirt have been hauled away so far, with tens of thousands more to go. The material is put into rail cars, inside huge bags, which are sealed up and shipped. While federal officials downplay the seriousness and danger of the contaminated dirt, long time nuclear activist, Kay Drey, has another view. She thinks there are so-called "hot spots" in the contaminated area, and they are hotter than they should be, creating real danger to the community. ---- ROAD TRANSPORT OF PLUTONIUM DEFENDED Published in Whitehaven News on Thursday, June 9th 2005 By David Siddall http://www.businessgazette.co.uk/viewarticle.asp?id=251720 ANTI nuclear group CORE claims a French firm was used to move high security plutonium MOX fuel from Sellafield by road to Workington. CORE stated last week that over the Bank Holiday weekend, Sellafield’s British Nuclear Group shipped four MOX fuel assemblies (containing around 80kg of plutonium) from Sellafield by road to Workington docks for onward shipment on the BNFL ship Atlantic Osprey to Switzerland via the French port of Cherbourg. Because of its plutonium content, the fuel is classified at the highest security level and requires maximum security and safety measures to defend against terrorist attack. CORE’s spokesperson Martin Forwood said: “We understand the road journey from Sellafield to Workington was undertaken by lorries owned by Cogema Logistics (part of French reprocessing company). “French plutonium transport methods were highly criticised in a recent report and we’ll be seeking clarification about their use in West Cumbria. We are also questioning once again the transport of a highly dangerous material in second-hand BNFL ship with second rate safety and security features.” The four MOX fuel assemblies were produced in the Sellafield MOX plant for the Swiss Beznau power station and transported on two Cogema Logistics lorries onboard the BNFL ship Atlantic Osprey from Workington Docks to the port of Cherbourg. But BNFL say all their movements of MOX fuel use high security vehicles, with numerous safety and security features and are accompanied by the UKAE constabulary. During the UK road journey and on board the Atlantic Osprey the fuel was escorted by an armed team of officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. Describing the transport operation, Captain Miller, Head of International Transport for British Nuclear Group confirmed that: “Safety of the public is ensured by the very robust packages that contain the fuel which are designed and tested to international standards. “The ship, Atlantic Osprey, also has a range of safety features over and above a normal cargo ship, such as an additional watertight bulkhead, cargo fire protection, back up electrical supplies, etc to provide additional safety. “The vessel is classified as INF2 by the International Maritime Organisation; a classification specifically for the carriage of nuclear materials. “Security is provided by the High Security Vehicle, the armed Civil Nuclear Constabulary escort and additional security measures on the Atlantic Osprey. The transport plan for this delivery, including the security arrangements, have been approved by the UK Government's independent Office of Civil Nuclear Security. “British Nuclear Group has more than 40 years experience of transporting radioactive cargoes including spent nuclear fuel, high level waste, plutonium and nuclear fuels including MOX without any incident resulting in the release of radioactive material.” -------- u.n. Bush Team Appears to End Effort to Oust Atomic Chief By DAVID E. SANGER and STEVEN R. WEISMAN June 9, 2005 NY TIMES http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/politics/09elbaradei.html WASHINGTON, June 8 - The administration signaled Wednesday that it was dropping its objections to a third term for Mohamed ElBaradei as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, effectively ending its yearlong effort to replace him with someone more amenable to American policies. Administration officials have been acknowledging for months that they have been unable to convince any of their major allies that Dr. ElBaradei should be ousted. American officials tangled with Dr. ElBaradei in the period leading up to the Iraq war. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, confirming news reports that she had summoned Dr. ElBaradei to see her in Washington on Thursday, said that "we have worked well with Dr. ElBaradei in the past." She said she looked forward to discussing with him "his vision for what the I.A.E.A. will be in these next extremely important years." A senior administration official, parsing Dr. Rice's careful wording, said her comments were intended to indicate that President Bush's aides were prepared to put aside their objections and try to work with Dr. ElBaradei on several issues, particularly the American and European effort to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. Within the administration, and also among Europeans and others involved in trying to influence the atomic energy agency, the end of the effort to oust Dr. ElBaradei was seen as a defeat for John R. Bolton, until recently the under secretary of state for arms control and international security and now the nominee to be United Nations ambassador. Mr. Bolton had convinced his colleagues at the State Department and the White House that Dr. ElBaradei should be ousted, but administration officials said he had failed to win international backing or to persuade anyone with comparable credentials to step forward to replace him. A senior administration official said that Mr. Bolton's efforts "never got enough altitude" and that more recently he had been involved in getting himself confirmed for the United Nations job, with no one else in the administration ready to step in and push what he started. Dr. ElBaradei's relationship with the administration has been strained for years. Among other things, he has said that despite administration pronouncements, his inspectors have yet to find evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. At the same time, he has kept the investigation open, saying he was continuing to press for answers to a series of questions about nuclear activities the country hid from the agency for at least 17 years. While some Americans noted that Dr. ElBaradei would not go as far as they wanted in labeling Iran's activities an arms program, Europeans argued that his caution made him all the more credible in accusing Iran of not being forthcoming on its nuclear-related activities. Ms. Rice said on Wednesday that "obviously, how Iran would be handled is an important issue." Officials of several allied nations in Europe and Asia said they were puzzled by the administration's eagerness to replace Dr. ElBaradei, arguing that it was beneficial to have a Middle Eastern-born Muslim with a long record in nonproliferation heading the agency at a time of tension with Iran. Dr. ElBaradei is Egyptian. But Ms. Rice argued that the United States was opposed to anyone's holding such a post for more than two terms. News of the likely change in the administration's position was reported on Wednesday in The Washington Post. Mr. Bolton's role in the drive to oust Dr. ElBaradei was highlighted during his confirmation hearings earlier in the spring. In an interview with the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 6, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, the chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, charged that "Mr. Bolton overstepped his bounds in his moves and gyrations to try to keep Mohamed ElBaradei from being reappointed as I.A.E.A. head." Mr. Wilkerson said Mr. Bolton was "going out of his way to badmouth him, to make sure that everybody knew that the maximum power of the United States would be brought to bear against them if he were brought back in." Senior officials of the I.A.E.A. said that at the same time, the United States declined to share some of the intelligence it collects about proliferation issues with the agency, including details of its investigation into the network run by A. Q. Khan, the Pakistani scientist who built the largest known nuclear proliferation network in history. ---- U.S. Would Support 3rd Term for Nuke Chief By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 9, 2005 Filed at 4:03 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Nuclear-Agency.html?pagewanted=print WASHINGTON (AP) -- Reversing course, the Bush administration said Thursday it was prepared to support a third term for the head of the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency. Last December, the administration called on Mohamed ElBaradei to step down after his term ended this summer. Differences over Iran and also Iraq, where ElBaradei supported extended weapons inspections, were behind U.S. dissatisfaction. But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday that if other nations on the IAEA's board voted this summer for a third term for ElBaradei, the United States was prepared to join the consensus. The announcement followed a half-hour meeting between ElBaradei and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They agreed on the urgency of halting the spread of nuclear weapons technology and that the agency's focus should be placed on suspicious Iranian actions, McCormack said. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has opposed a third term for ElBaradei, and Rice agrees that ''the two-term rule is an important principle'' within the U.N., McCormack said. ''It leads to a healthy U.N. system.'' But, he said, ElBaradei and agency officials assigned to overseeing Iran ''are working in a serious way.'' ''He understands clearly where we are on the issue'' after talking to Rice and other administration officials, the spokesman said. ElBaradei did not speak to reporters as he entered and left the State Department for his meeting with Rice. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the private Arms Control Association, said the administration's decision on ElBaradei ''recognizes the political reality that no one else supported his ejection'' during a sensitive period of working on Iran and on the impact of a weapons technology ring headed by A.Q. Khan of Pakistan. ''While there is broad agreement on the need to stop proliferation, the United States has not yet come into alignment with ElBaradei and its own European allies about how to strengthen the nonproliferation regime,'' Kimball said in an interview. Rice had signaled at a Wednesday news conference that the position on ElBaradei was about to change, saying that ''we have worked well with Dr. ElBaradei in the past'' and that she looked forward to talking to him about ''how Iran would be handled.'' The Bush administration is determined to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and is relying heavily on diplomatic efforts by Germany, France and Britain. In a pat on the back for ElBaradei, spokesman McCormack said Thursday the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency ''is serious in its work'' and in seeing that Iran complies with its commitments to the agency. ''We look forward to working together,'' particularly in closing any loopholes in the treaty that might allow countries to acquire nuclear technology, McCormack said. ---- UN alert as nuclear plans go missing Blueprints disclosing key steps to build a bomb feared up for sale Ian Traynor in Vienna Thursday June 9, 2005 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1502378,00.html# Electronic drawings that give comprehensive details of how to build and test equipment essential for making nuclear bombs have vanished and could be put up for sale on the international black market, according to UN investigators. The blueprints, running to hundreds of pages, show how to make centrifuges for enriching uranium. In addition, the investigators have been unable to trace key components for uranium centrifuge rigs and fear that drawings for a nuclear warhead have been secreted away and could be for sale. Inspectors at the UN's nuclear authority, the International Atomic Energy Agency, have been investigating the worst nuclear smuggling racket ever uncovered, headed by the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The operation was discovered two years ago to be selling sensitive nuclear technology to Libya and Iran. A senior official said several sets of blueprints for uranium centrifuges - the so-called P-1 and more advanced P-2 systems which were peddled by the Khan network - have gone missing. "We know there were several sets of them prepared," said the official. "So who got those electronic drawings? We have only actually got to the one full set from Libya. So who got the rest, the copies? "We have no evidence they were destroyed. One possibility is another client. We just don't know where they are." A European diplomat privy to western intelligence on the Khan network added: "This is what keeps people awake at night. It's very sensitive. The fact that there are [nuclear] proliferation manuals kicking around is deeply disturbing." The blueprints detail how to manufacture the components for a uranium centrifuge, what materials are needed, how to assemble the machines, and how to test them. The centrifuges are the main route to producing bomb-grade uranium. Uranium concentrate is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas which can be spun through cascades of centrifuges at super-high speeds to be enriched to weapons grade. "The big question is who else got this stuff [apart from Iran and Libya]," the European diplomat said. Another diplomat pointed out that the Khan network was based in the Middle East and that Khan was known as the father of the Islamic bomb. He suggested that Syria and Egypt could be potential customers for the materials if they were still being offered. Khan is a national hero for creating the Pakistani nuclear bomb but is under house arrest in Islamabad since confessing to heading the network and being pardoned in February last year. Although the network's operations extended to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the far east, its headquarters were in Dubai. Khan maintained a luxury apartment in Dubai. Following the uncovering of the network in October 2003, investigators went to the Dubai apartment only to find that it had been emptied, apparently by Khan's daughter Dina. The Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadafy, confessed to his secret nuclear bomb programme and gave it up in December 2003. Three months later in Tripoli, the UN inspectors were given two CD-roms and one computer hard drive. One CD contained aset of drawings and manuals for the P-1 centrifuge system, the other for the more advanced P-2. The instructions are in English, Dutch and German, and the designs are from Urenco, the Dutch-British-German consortium which is a leader in centrifuge technology and is the source of Khan's knowhow from his time working there in the 1970s. The CDs and hard drive are at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, where they have been analysed. The investigators now know that the scanning of the original blueprints was done in Dubai and when. In addition to these blueprints, Khan also supplied Libya with drawings for an old Chinese nuclear warhead design. The drawings, now in Washington under IAEA seal, were not complete, say sources, but were adequate to construct a crude nuclear device. Investigators suspect that the warhead design was also copied into electronic form and is still available to prospective clients. "There is reason to believe that there might even be some drawings related to nuclear weaponisation in electronic form," said the senior official. It is now also clear that multiple components secretly made for Libya's $100m (£54.6m) centrifuge programme did not reach Libya and have gone missing. From their investigations of the nuclear programmes in Libya and Iran, the IAEA has concluded that pieces of the nuclear jigsaw have not been located. "We are still missing something from the picture in terms of critical equipment, certain parts of centrifuges ... There is equipment missing important enough for us to search, an amount that makes us worried," said the official. Around a dozen individuals, including engineers, businessmen, and middlemen, were key figures in the Khan network, with dozens of other companies operating at a secondary level, according to those familiar with the investigation. Alleged Khan associates have been arrested in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Dubai, and Malaysia, although none of those cases has yet come to full trial. British customs is also conducting an investigation into a British suspect. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- new hampshire Rep. Bradley confident that Seabrook nuclear plant is safe By TERRY DATE Dover, NH Democrat Staff Writer Thursday, June 9, 2005 tdate@fosters.com http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050609/NEWS07/106090082 SEABROOK—A New Hampshire congressman weighing in on Seabrook Station security says the nuclear power plant is safe, and he is confident any problems will be corrected. U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley's comments follow harsh criticism of plant security by Massachusetts Democratic congressmen. They have recently written the Nuclear Regulatory Commission letters about video surveillance camera failings, problems with the plant's perimeter detection system, overworked guards, and the head of security lacking experience in that field. Bradley, a Republican, has a much different view than his colleagues to the south. He said in an interview Wednesday that he has toured Seabrook Station numerous times and has found security "to be extensive and heightened significantly since 9/11." "The security there is very tight," he said. Bradley said plant owners, along with federal, state and local agencies, will give proper attention to any issues requiring it. The congressman bases his confidence on the plant's record of providing energy safely and reliably for many years. In addition, he said he has been assured by NRC Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield that at no time has there been any problems that threatened the security of the plant. Meanwhile, New Hampshire's governor awaits the results of an NRC inspection team's findings. The NRC security team has returned to Seabrook Station to review problems found in an inspection last month. The NRC does not get into security specifics. Gov. John Lynch, through his press secretary, said Bruce Cheney of the state office of emergency management is participating in meetings between the NRC and representatives of FPL, the owner of Seabrook Station. Lynch remains in contact with Cheney, said press secretary Pamela Walsh. State Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, was not immediately available when called for comment. On Tuesday, Massachusetts congressmen Edward Markey, John Tierney and Martin Meehan released a letter written to the NRC chairman. The congressmen are urging the NRC to take immediate action. Meehan toured the plant Saturday. In a press release Tuesday, the congressman stated, "In this age of terrorist threats, it is unexcusable for a nuclear power plant to have so many holes in its security defenses." Plant spokesman Alan Griffith said he and others heard Meehan tell the public on Saturday that Seabrook Station is safe. Yet, 48 hours later, the congressmen has done a "180." Regrading the NRC inspection, agency spokesman Neil Sheehan said earlier this week that the team wants to delve more deeply into what the agency found in May. The team, which arrived Monday, is expected to be on site for about a week before returning to the regional office to analyze and evaluate the information. -------- vermont Next stop for dry-cask storage plan: PSB (AP) Thursday, June 9, 2005 Information from: Brattleboro Reformer http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050609/NEWS0103/106090040 BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — The company that owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant expects within a few weeks to make a formal request to the Public Service Board to store highly radioactive nuclear waste in dry casks on the plant's grounds in Vernon. Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said that would be the next step now that the Vermont Legislature has passed a law authorizing Entergy to make the request to the three-member PSB. The case could take a year or longer, depending on the number of parties the board allows to intervene. Williams said the company was studying the new state law in order to incorporate its terms into the application it must make to the board. The company already has filed its request with the Windham Regional Commission, which it is required to do before going to the PSB. Jim Matteau, executive director of the regional commission, said he was bothered that the new law does not require Entergy to come back to get lawmakers' OK before trying to extend the plant's license beyond its 2012 expiration date. "There's not going to be public discussion about re-licensing. There will be a Public Service Board proceeding, but that's not really accessible to the public," he said. Members of the public may attend the board hearings, but only parties officially involved in the case can participate. Supporters of the bill argued that legislative approval would be required for storing any nuclear waste generated by operations continuing past 2012, effectively giving lawmakers a say in relicensing. Both the regional commission and the nuclear watchdog group New England Coalition have been parties in the ongoing PSB case on Vermont Yankee's bid to boost its power output by 20 percent. Both are also expected to be parties in the dry-cask storage case. Vermont Yankee officials say they're running out of room to store spent nuclear fuel in a pool of water inside the plant for that purpose. They say that to continue operating after 2008, they need to begin storing the spent fuel in concrete and steel casks on the plant's grounds. -------- MILITARY -------- us Army bonuses may rise to $40K By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY Posted 6/9/2005 11:53 PM http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-06-09-army-bonuses_x.htm WASHINGTON — The Army wants to double the top cash bonus for new recruits to $40,000 in an effort to stem a continued recruiting shortfall in the midst of the Iraq war. As another incentive, the Army is proposing a pilot program to provide up to $50,000 in home mortgage help for recruits who sign up for eight years of active duty, Lt. Col. Thomas Collins said in an interview Thursday. Congress must approve both plans. The $40,000 bonuses would apply only to a limited number of hard-to-fill and still-undetermined jobs, Collins said. The Army raised bonuses for some jobs to $20,000 in 1999. It has steadily made more jobs eligible for bonuses this year as the recruiting shortfall has deepened. Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey first raised the proposals during an appearance Tuesday, Collins said. They have not been sent to Congress. The incentives have surfaced as the Army confirmed an account in The New York Times this week that it fell about 25% short of its May goal of 6,700 recruits, the fourth consecutive month the service has failed to meet its target. The Army is running about 17% short of its annual recruiting goal of 80,000. At that pace, it will fall almost 14,000 recruits short for its fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Initial congressional reaction was positive, although Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the proposals would not fix a "chronic" recruiting problem. Graham, a former Air Force officer who serves on the Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon needs a comprehensive strategy on recruiting and retention. That would include more troops, better benefits for Army National guardsmen and reservists and a more focused pitch to potential recruits that military service is vital to the winning the global war on terror. Without them, Graham said, "we're in a world of hurt." Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he would favor increased bonuses but believes they will help "minimally." Skelton said he believes the Army will fall short of its year-end recruiting goal. Army spokesman Paul Boyce said a busy summer will help the service meet its recruiting goals. As U.S. deaths in Iraq approach 1,700, the Army has also offered enlistment hitches as short as 15 months. Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, the head of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, last month described the recruiting environment as "the toughest ever faced by the all-volunteer Army." The Pentagon will release May recruiting figures for all military branches today. Army National Guard and Reserve recruiting is behind as well; each was about 20% short of its goal at the end of April, Harvey said. The Army also said Thursday that it will ease requirements for new officers by accepting older candidates and being more tolerant of past minor crimes. Contributing: Reuters -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- drug war Thursday, June 9, 2005 Marijuana decision perpetuates standoff By DANIEL ABRAHAMSON GUEST COLUMNIST Legally speaking, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Monday was unsurprising and broke no new ground. The court, in Gonzales v. Raich, did what most observers predicted: It reaffirmed that federal law enforcement officials have the power to enforce federal laws banning marijuana possession and cultivation against seriously ill patients who use physician-approved marijuana for medical purposes. In so ruling, the court maintained the legal status quo that has been in place for several decades. Practically, the decision promises to perpetuate the political standoff, brewing since the mid-'90s, between state and federal governments regarding medical marijuana. Despite the Raich ruling, states remain free to enact and enforce laws permitting sick people to use medical marijuana. Meanwhile, the federal government still has a choice -- it can waste taxpayer dollars by going after sick and dying patients or it can pursue individuals who pose a real danger to society. To date, 11 states (including Washington) in the past eight years have enacted statutes permitting seriously ill patients to use physician-approved medical marijuana to relieve their suffering. It is conservatively estimated that at least 100,000 such patients are benefiting from the laws. The Raich case involved a valiant legal gambit by two California women patients, Angel Raich and Diane Monson, to prevent federal law enforcement officials from seizing their herbal medicine and arresting them for violating federal drug laws. Monson has a degenerative spinal disorder and Raich suffers from multiple debilitating conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor. She had tried 30 other medicines, and marijuana has proved to be her only effective analgesic. Nevertheless, the court refused to rein in the power of federal police to interfere with her state-sanctioned medicine. Mounting scientific evidence about marijuana's medical efficacy, and Congress' refusal to change federal law on this issue, are almost certain to energize more states to pass laws that confer state protections on people who need medical marijuana. Indeed, even the high court acknowledged in its Raich decision that the evidence on behalf of medical marijuana should "cast serious doubt" on Congress' decision to keep it illegal under federal law. If history is any guide, it appears that federal officials lack either the will or the resources to arrest or prosecute more than a handful of the tens of thousands of people using medical marijuana around the country, perhaps because federal juries are reluctant to convict sick people for using a medicine that relieves their pain. The average medical marijuana patient who complies with state law likely will have little to fear from the federal police. Of course, even a single federal prosecution of a sick person for using a physician-recommended medication is too many, and occurs against the will of the majority: At least 70 percent of U.S. adults support patients' access to medical marijuana. In his majority decision, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the issue of medical marijuana should be heard in Congress. Meanwhile, the House will soon have a chance to protect vulnerable patients by voting yes on a bipartisan amendment by Reps. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., which would prohibit the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration from spending any money on undermining state medical marijuana laws. Last year, almost 150 representatives signed on to the Hinchey/ Rohrabacher amendment, and this year it is poised to pick up more support. It is a win-win for elected officials: By voting for the amendment, they are not only doing what's popular with their constituents, they are doing what's right. Daniel Abrahamson is the director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance.