NucNews - July 9, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- australia Atomic debate heats up in Australia July 09, 2005 By Greg Ansley http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334951 Australia is facing yet another dark prophesy of its future. Still gripped by the worst drought in a century, despite recent heavy rains, the world's driest inhabited continent was warned this week that its soil is being stripped by the millions of tonnes by dust storms and dumped in the ocean. This is not a new phenomenon, but the study by the Desert Knowledge Co-operative Research Centre makes disturbing reading for a country that is becoming increasingly concerned at its vulnerability to climate change, a process that has finally been accepted even by a previously sceptical Prime Minister John Howard. In turn, this has given rise to a political demon - the prospect that Australia will turn to nuclear power as a clean alternative to the coal that at present powers most of its electricity generators. And with vast deposits of uranium - about 40 per cent of known global reserves - a large increase in production to supply nuclear power plants in other countries seems almost certain. A warming Earth and greenhouse gas emissions have given the atom a shiny new face. For the first time in decades there is a marked shift in favour of nuclear energy in Australia. The old fears that blocked a proposed chain of reactors 30 years ago are eroding in the face of potential climate disaster and new scientific arguments, swinging even former opponents away from blanket rejection and enabling the beginnings of a debate which would have been unthinkable when Howard first rose to prominence in the Government of Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Back then, badges bearing the legend "Export Fraser not uranium" flourished in a movement that in effect blocked the development of more uranium mines. But in the past few weeks some surprising faces have joined the call for a renewed nuclear debate. New South Wales' Labor Premier Bob Carr, a self-avowed greenie, urged Australia to compare the dangers and pollution of coal with the advantages of nuclear reactors: "The planet is warming up and we need some new energy source until wind and solar and hydrogen become available," he said. "I just think the world has to debate whether uranium-derived power is more dangerous than coal." Although Carr said his mind was not yet made up, his call was echoed from across the political divide by Howard, who regards Australia as sufficiently mature now to talk about the possibility: "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." Labor, the political citadel around which the anti-nuclear movement gathered and which ensured that no more uranium mines would be added to the three already operating, is discovering cracks in the wall. The party now has some influential members who believe the option has to be examined. The stockmarket has also pricked up its ears, buoyed not only by the prospect of increased uranium mining and export in Australia but by reports of impending global supply shortages and rising prices. The past week has seen prices rise for Australian resource companies with uranium interests, including Paladin Resources, Deep Yellow, Arafua Resources and Summit Resources. Australian economic forecasters share investors' confidence. Although reserves of uranium are vast and sufficient to power global electricity generation for several centuries, output from the world's mines remains well below demand, with the gap filled by secondary supplies from surplus commercial stocks, decommissioned nuclear warheads and the reprocessing of spent fuel. But the Nuclear Energy Agency warns that secondary supplies are diminishing and even the most optimistic projections of future mining output fall short of long-term requirements. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics notes that in the two years to May world uranium prices rose from US$10/lb to more than US$26/lb and are expected to soar by a further 43 per cent this year. Because Australia has so much uranium, the extension of the argument is that as well as mining it the country should be using it. Economics is bolstered by the emerging moral argument that increased exports will help the environmentally sound development of energy-hungry Third World countries - notably the notoriously dirty, coal-fired China - and greatly reduce Australia's own output of greenhouses gases. Australia has only one nuclear power station - the research reactor at Lucas Heights in southeast Sydney - and that has caused heartache enough. Operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation since 1958, the reactor is a constant magnet for protests. The reactor is scheduled to be replaced after a long and bitterly opposed process, and is still unpopular. A nationwide survey for Greenpeace by market researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres showed 77 per cent opposition to a replacement reactor - at least until the problem of waste is resolved - with only 19 per cent in favour. With various estimates suggesting that Australia would need up to 30 nuclear power plants, the political minefield is still just too explosive to enter. The huge coal industry is also opposed. Coal is by far the cheapest fuel for large-scale energy generation in Australia and more coal-fired generators to meet demand would be considerably cheaper than nuclear equivalents. It is also a major industry. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says the state's economy would be damaged by any shift away from the 300 years of coal reserves. "The big challenge for us is to ensure that we develop clean coal technologies, which is what we are working on now," he said. "Why would you go down the road of bringing in another source of energy like nuclear power, which has long-term problems and long-term risks?" CERTAINLY, no major power suppliers in Australia have nuclear reactors on their immediate horizons. Instead, nuclear advocates are starting on the easier, but nonetheless touchy, question of increased mining and exports of uranium, supported by both economic and environmental arguments. They have had some surprising backing - including the advocacy of nuclear power as a "clean" energy source by environmentalist James Lovelock, who proposed the Gaia hypothesis of an interconnected world. The International Energy Agency predicts that global primary energy demand over the next 30 years will soar by 60 per cent, with renewable sources such as wind and power continuing to contribute their present level of about 14 per cent of total supplies. Nuclear proponents argue that unless production of atomic energy increases - especially in China and India - coal-fired generators will overwhelm even the most determined attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, Canberra is pursuing major uranium sales to China and wants to open more uranium mines. At present there are three, with two others awaiting political approval, and advocates point to a shift in opinion in Europe - except Germany - and 44 more reactors planned by China and India. In the US, President Bush has urged the construction of more atomic plants. IN CANBERRA, parliamentary committees are already considering nuclear options and the development of non-fossil fuel energy, including the strategic importance of the nation's uranium reserves. This is expected to expand into a further inquiry into the potential for nuclear power in Australia. Any of these moves will be fiercely resisted. The environmental movement remains firmly opposed to uranium mining, supporting its case with a series of accidents at the Ranger mine in the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park south of Darwin. The park's traditional owners are also opposed. Senior Mirarr traditional owner Yvonne Margarula wrote in a submission to the uranium mining inquiry: "Uranium mining has taken our country away from us and destroyed it. Billabongs and creeks are gone forever, there are hills of poisonous rocks and great holes in the ground with poisonous mud where there used to be nothing but bush." Environmentalists also dispute claims that nuclear energy can considerably reduce greenhouse gases. The Australian Conservation Council says 17 reactors would have to be built by 2012 in Europe alone to meet Kyoto Protocol requirements. Quoting similar studies, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War describes the argument that nuclear power is clean as a false premise and that it will never solve the huge problem of fossil fuels consumed by transport, and that nuclear power is itself a large consumer of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. Opponents of atomic energy also argue that nuclear waste remains a huge and unsolved problem, that health issues are sufficient on their own to reject any increase in uranium mining or nuclear power generation, and that the threat of weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism is too great. There is one certainty: Australia will be hearing a lot more of these arguments. -------- business Alliant selling power plants 00:00 am 7/09/05 Judy Newman, Wisconsin State Journal http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/index.php?ntid=45926&nt_adsect=edit Alliant Energy Corp.'s stable of assets is shrinking again, with one nuclear power plant sold, another snaring a buyer and the company's investments in China going up for sale. • The Kewaunee nuclear power plant, back at full power Monday for the first time in 4 months, changed hands Tuesday. Dominion Resources, Richmond, Va., bought the 568- megawatt reactor for $191.5 million from Alliant subsidiary Wisconsin Power & Light Co. of Madison, and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., part of WPS Resources Corp. of Green Bay. "We think it's a great asset and we think that the people working there are very professional," said Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher. Some of the plant's backup systems had to be modified, creating the lengthy outage, Alliant spokeswoman Janice Mathis said. Kewaunee's license expires in 2013. "Our intent is to seek to renew the license for an additional 20 years," Zuercher said. He said Dominion has no plans to build another nuclear reactor at the site in Carlton, nine miles south of Kewaunee. The Citizens Utility Board blasted the sale. "If this sale isn't overthrown by the courts, WPS and WPL will have signed over Wisconsin's nuclear future to an out-of-state corporation that will run Kewaunee for profit rather than to preserve the reliability of Wisconsin's electric system," said CUB executive director Charlie Higley, in a written statement. • FPL Energy, Juno Beach, Fla., said Tuesday it will buy Alliant's 70 percent stake in the Duane Arnold nuclear plant near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for $380 million. FPL already has several holdings in the Midwest, including a wind farm in Montfort. • Alliant plans to sell its power plants in China by June 2006, the company said Tuesday, but may get only half of what they're worth. That's largely because of the rising cost of coal in China and the Chinese government's lack of action to pass along part of the expense to customers, Alliant spokesman Scott Smith said. Alliant's 11 Chinese power plants were valued at $192 million as of March 31. "We evaluated a number of alternatives and determined that exiting the China generation market was in the long-term interests of our shareowners," said president and chief executive officer Bill Harvey in a written statement. "They had no business being in those markets," said Mason Carpenter, professor of strategic management at the UW- Madison School of Business. "It's just another example of U.S. hubris when investing abroad," he said. "It's a huge market, very attractive, so it's very seductive, like a trap." Alliant said it will use the proceeds to reduce debt at Alliant Energy Resources, the subsidiary that oversees nonregulated businesses. Dave Parker, senior utilities analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., said all three moves are good news. "Alliant has, historically, made good money on its China investment," but conditions have changed, he said. Parker maintains an "outperform" rating on Alliant with a $30 price target. Alliant shares closed at $28.61 a share, up 16 cents. Contact reporter Judy Newman at jdnewman@madison.com or 252-6156. ---- Mitsubishi Heavy offers to buy US nuclear builder Westinghouse Sat Jul 9, 2005 12:21 AM ET Agence France Presse http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050709/bs_afp/japanusnuclearenergycompanymitsubishiwestinghouse_050709041859&printer=1;_ylt=ApyQ1mV2qfjgzAkc4twAC2aoOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has offered to buy US nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse for 200 billion yen (1.8 billion dollars) in a bid to expand its overseas business, a report says. Japan's biggest heavy machinery maker hopes to strike the deal by the end of this year, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. A Mitsubishi spokesman could not be reached for comment. Westinghouse's parent firm, British nuclear reprocessing group British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), said last week it was putting the US company up for sale. Apart from Mitsubishi, France's AREVA, the world's largest nuclear engineering group, and US giant General Electric are also interested in acquiring Westinghouse, the Japanese daily said. Demand for nuclear power construction has levelled out in Japan and domestic heavy machinery makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy, Hitachi and Toshiba are aiming to expand their nuclear power operations abroad. Mitsubishi Heavy hopes the acquisition of Westinghouse will boost the number of overseas orders for new nuclear power plants amid rising global demand for energy, the report said. -------- depleted uranium Mission Accomplished - Iraq is Broken SAUL LANDAU, CounterPunch July 9, 2005 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m13532&l=i&size=1&hd=0 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070705H.shtml http://progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Landau&otherweek=1120712400 It's hard to believe that supposedly intelligent people like Senators Joseph Biden (DE), Hillary Clinton (NY) and John Kerry (MA) call for "staying the course" in Iraq and acting responsibly by sending more US troops with more fire power over there. Don't they understand that American soldiers break, not fix? The more US soldiers in Iraq, the more damage they will do and the more enemies they will make. To limit damage, to act morally and responsibly, remove the cause of violence and chaos in Iraq: the US military presence. Since the early 1950s, US Presidents have used troops and the CIA to break other countries, not fix them. In 1953, the CIA shattered Iran's integrity by overthrowing the elected Mossadegh government. 26 years later, Iranians overthrew the US-backed Shah. In 1979, Iranians showed the depth of their rage by also seizing scores of US officials as hostages. The Ayatollah's regime labeled the United States "The Great Satan" ­ for screwing their country. In 1954, the CIA smashed Guatemala by overthrowing a democratically elected government and replacing it with a military gang that killed and looted for forty years. Embraced by the Pentagon, these gangsters in uniform slaughtered as many as 100,000 Guatemalans (mostly indigenous peasants) and stole their land. The country has not yet recovered. On September 11, 1973, Richard Nixon helped rupture Chile by "destabilizing" its elected government. For seventeen subsequent years, Washington supported a bloody military dictatorship led by General August Pinochet, a specialist in assassinating, disappearing and torturing his opponents at home and abroad. In 1991, the civilian government's National Truth and Reconciliation Commission listed Pinochet's crimes: 3,197 people assassinated or disappeared, tens of thousands tortured, hundreds of thousands forced into exile. In March 2003, George W. Bush ordered the US military to break Iraq. The US arsenal destroyed the electricity and water supply, damaged sewage treatment and other vital sanitary facilities and pulverized bridges, other public places and thousands of homes. On May 1, 2003, dressed in a jump suit, Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln and announced: "Mission Accomplished." His critics, myself included, laughed at such braggadocio. We misunderstood him. He had accomplished the standard post-WWII US military mission: He broke another country. The US-led Coalition has not restored what it demolished in Iraq, nor reestablished services to the level of Saddam Hussein's regime. They imprisoned tens of thousands of Iraqis, subjecting many of those to systematic torture. Former prisoner Ali Abbas told journalist Dahr Jamail that to break the will of Iraqi prisoners, US guards at Abu Ghraib "used electricity on us" while millions of homes lacked electricity for hours each day. "They also shit on us, used dogs against usand starved us." As Abbas told Jamail, "the Americans delivered electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house" (Jamail testimony at the World Tribunal on Iraq, June 25, 2005, Istanbul). Estimates of Iraqis in prison range as high as eighty thousand, most of whom have not been charged. In 1991, during the first Gulf War, the breaking began. US planes and artillery delivered more than 300 tons of uranium tipped bombs and shells to targets in southern Iraq alone. Residue from these weapons turned into particles that people -- including US troops ­inhaled. In 2003, more US toxic material rained down on the Iraqi environment. In September 2002, I saw dying kids in the Baghdad Children's Hospital. Iraqi doctors had already surmised that only the presence of depleted uranium could have caused such a profound spike in the cancer rates among children. In June 2005, Dr. Thomas Fasy of the Mr. Sinai School of Medicine concluded that data from Iraqi hospitals indicated that depleted uranium's effect had shown up dramatically in a more than 400% rise in children's cancer in just over a decade. Uranium ions bond with DNA and this, he said, has also caused a notable leap in children's leukemia rates along with sharply elevated incidences of congenital birth defects. The United States literally released cancer-causing material into Iraqi air, soil and water. This toxic metal had performed the coup de grace to the Iraqi health system, already devastated by US bombing and embargo, Fasy said. The cost of such breakage: human life (World Tribunal on Iraq, June 26, 2005). In November 2004, US soldiers carried out punitive action in Falluja, a city of some 300,000 residents, an operation that surpassed the 1936 Nazi bombing of Guernica in Spain. Falluja was reduced to rubble. Thousands died. On the economic front, Washington broke Iraq as well ­ of its socialist habit. US colonial administrator J. Paul Bremer forced a constitution down Iraqi throats ­ to break their statist economic system. He planned to privatize some 200 state-owned enterprises. Management of port facilities at Umm Qasr went to Stevedoring Services of America, a US company. "Bremer studiously ignored the rapidly rising unemployment and social disorder that arose from the destruction of a social order." "If privatization isn't halted," wrote Naomi Klein, 'free Iraq' will be the most sold country on earth" (The Nation, April 28, 2003). But Iraqis resist. They continually sabotage the oil pipeline. Indeed, such tactics have caused major oil companies to lose enthusiasm for owning Iraqi oil. Besides, they do well under the current OPEC arrangement -- $60 a barrel -- and have no wish to change it. Iraqi workers also have not welcomed the selling of state-owned factories to foreigners. Some work forces have even threatened to assassinate prospective buyers. This does not make investors feel as if modern Iraq provides a welcome climate (Naomi Klein, speech at Cal Poly Pomona, November 2004). The chaos that engulfs Iraq does not improve from the presence of US troops. Iraqis who testified in the Istanbul World Tribunal on Iraq told about intense hatred of their people for the occupiers. The Iraqis feel abused by far more than the publicized incidents at Abu Ghraib. On routine US patrols and raids, trigger-happy young soldiers gun down innocent Iraqis. Pilots drop bombs on coordinates where people live. The 2004 documentary Gunner Palace resembles scenes from the TV show Cops. GIs bash down doors, charge into homes with fingers on rifle triggers shouting "on the floor motherfucker," while women scream and children cry. The humiliated and handcuffed men go to prison. The soldiers then return to their posh living quarters and count the days remaining before they can go home. Like the GIs in Vietnam three plus decades ago, those in Iraq sacrifice lives, limbs and psyches. But as the film makes clear, most don't know the purpose of their military mission. Indeed, Iraqis recall well how US troops watched passively while massive looting took place of their national, historic treasure [How does one fix a broken Babylon? A crime wave swept the country and Armed Americans shrugged. Women can no longer walk the streets in safety as they once did. US occupations has also pitted Sunnis against Shiites, Kurds against Turkmen. Some Iraqi Christians have fled in fear to Syria. Bush omitted these facts and ignored the violence and chaos that define daily life. US personnel avidly train young Iraqis into constabulary form ­ those that survive the regular suicide bombings and other attacks aimed at the police. This scenario ­ reality -- does not penetrate the heads of key Democrats who continue to talk about "our obligation" to fix Iraq. Words don't fix broken lives or property. Commitment to democracy calls for more than the United States appointing an Iraqi government and calling it democratic or forcing an Iraqi election in which millions bravely voted, but for what never got reported. The media and the White House ignored the startling fact that the majority of Iraqis voted against the US-chosen Iyad Allawi and for the United Iraqi Alliance, which demanded "a timetable for the withdrawal of the multinational forces from Iraq" (The Nation, February 11, 2005). Instead of picking up on the withdrawal demand, before more breakage occurs, foolish Democratic Senators demand that Bush send in more troops. Bush ironically appears as more moderate as he appeals for patriotic unity in the form of flying the flag on July 4. What must Iraqis feel at the sight of that flag on July 4? In its name, the US military has destroyed their cities, tortured their people, shot many of them for no reason at checkpoints or wherever the troops happened to be patrolling. Iraqis have scarce electricity, food and water and no secure jobs. Yet, Bush keeps repeating that he "liberated Iraq." On June 28, addressing the Special Forces at Fort Bragg, Bush asked implying that "our" people had given up a lot to wage his war : "Is the sacrifice worth it?" He quickly answered his own question. "It is worth it" The Iraq war has cost him nothing ­ perhaps a few hours of missed video golf. "We have more work to do," he stated. Yes, Bush stands as a national model of sacrifice and hard work! And Iraqis must think that those Democrats who ask for more troops are either crazy or stark opportunists. It will take them that much longer to restore some integrity to their broken society. Saul Landau teaches at Cal Poly Pomona University and is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. Landau testified before the World Tribunal on Iraq June 24-27, Istanbul. :: Article nr. 13532 sent on 10-jul-2005 00:29 ECT :: The address of this page is : http://www.uruknet.info?p=13532 :: The incoming address of this article is : http://www.counterpunch.org/landau07092005.html -------- pacific French Pres Ordered Greenpeace Ship Sabotaged - Paper By REUTERS July 9, 2005 Filed at 12:08 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-france-greenpeace-mitterrand.html?pagewanted=print PARIS (Reuters) - The sabotage of the Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior 20 years ago was carried out with the ``personal authorization'' of France's late president Francois Mitterrand, documents showed on Saturday. Le Monde newspaper published extracts in its Saturday edition of a 1986 account written by Pierre Lacoste, the former head of France's DGSE foreign intelligence service, giving the clearest demonstration yet of Mitterrand's direct involvement in the sinking of the campaign vessel. Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira died in the attack on the ship that was leading Greenpeace's campaign against French nuclear tests on the Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific. ``I asked the president if he gave me permission to put into action the neutralisation plan that I had studied on the request of Monsieur (Charles) Hernu,'' Lacoste wrote. Hernu was defense minister at the time. ``He gave me his agreement while stressing the importance he placed on the nuclear tests. I didn't go into greater detail on the plan as the authorization was explicit enough,'' he said. Lacoste added that he ``would not have launched such an operation without the personal authorization of the President of the Republic.'' The scandal, which triggered Hernu's resignation and Lacoste's departure from the DGSE, shocked the world and tarnished France's image in the South Pacific. Two French agents were later tried and imprisoned for blowing up the ship in Auckland harbor, New Zealand on July 10, 1985. They began their sentences in New Zealand but were later transferred to a military base in French Polynesia and were released within three years of the attack. Lacoste's account, dated April 8, 1986, is contained in a 23-page handwritten document that has only now come to light. Ordered by then defense minister Andre Giraud shortly after France's current President Jacques Chirac became prime minister in 1986, the document was kept quiet so as not to destabilize the power sharing agreement, or 'cohabitation', between the Socialist Mitterrand and Chirac's right-wing government. The account is supported by documents in the secret service's archives and others likely to be in Lacoste's own possession, Le Monde said. -------- space NASA to Research Antimatter Rocket Posted by timothy on Saturday July 09, @05:37PM from the skeptical-until-it-blows-me-up dept. Slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/09/206238&from=rss Fraser Cain writes "One of the dozen technologies selected by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) this year is Positronics Research's ideas for an antimatter rocket engine. Instead of 3100 kg of propellant on board Cassini, the spacecraft could get by with just 310 micrograms of electrons and positrons. Of course, making the antimatter can be expensive." -------- terrorism The war on Iraq made the attack on London inevitable Faisal Bodi Saturday July 9, 2005 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1524752,00.html Amid all the punditry about whether there was an al-Qaida connection to Thursday's attacks on London commuters, it should not be forgotten that the bloody trail of blame leads straight to 10 Downing Street. The prime minister's early return to Westminster was a fitting response to the carnage unleashed on the capital. It was the only hint of personal responsibility for our entanglement in a war that has made prime targets of innocent Britons. The fury generated by Tony Blair's decision to coat-tail George Bush into what only the blind still call a justified war has put us all in the firing line. When Blair led us into the war on terror, he knew that a country with which Islamist networks had no immediate axe to grind would be drawn into their sphere of hate as a consequence. That is why we have had tightened anti-terrorism laws, public scares and training exercises for emergency services. They were all premised on the inevitability of blowback for Blair's foreign exploits. In the calculation that staked our security against some ill-conceived national interest in occupying Iraq, our government has turned us all into expendable pawns, in the same way it did Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan. Not that this outrage is likely to shock us into realising we have become involuntary martyrs for Blair in the service of his master's imperial cause. In the politics of fear, attacks like Thursday's rarely lead to awareness beyond the most immediate danger. Those further down the chain of causation usually escape censure in the resulting wave of revulsion. So it came as little surprise to see Blair trotting out the same tired juxtaposition of our civilisation and their barbarism. Those responsible have no respect for human life, he said. At such times of high emotion we can perhaps forgive him for losing a sense of perspective. It might serve him well to remember our conduct in a conflict waged without rules and mercy. Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and the bombing of innocent Afghans in their homes might conjure up images of US brutality, but our policies and military action ever since the first Gulf war, including sanctions and the use of depleted uranium, have maimed and wiped out hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, whose only crime was to live under a tyrant of our making - not theirs. Blair is in too deep for us to hope for extrication in the lifetime of this parliament. The anti-war protests have come to a halt in the cul-de-sac of Downing Street. Iraq is now a forgotten war in the national media. Besides, it has taken on a momentum of its own and too much blood has been spilled for any party to make a clean break. Perhaps the bombings are an attempt to remind us that, however we try to put it out of our minds, Bush and Blair's war goes on. Nor can we be clear that the perpetrators are Bin Laden's lieutenants, despite the internet claims being attributed to groups linked with al-Qaida. In 1995 Paris was hit by metro station bombings, believed to be the work of Algerian Islamists punishing the French for their support of the Algiers government. No one declared responsibility for the attacks, and they were attributed to the GIA, one of Algeria's more radical anti-government groups. But subsequent evidence under oath from former members of the Algerian military, now widely acknowledged to have infiltrated the GIA, pointed the finger at the Algerian secret services. Whoever carried out Thursday's abomination, the fallout is likely to have an impact on Britain's Muslims. Community organisations are receiving reports of verbal assaults and of Muslims afraid to venture out. Many have asked the community to be on its guard in the knowledge that Islamophobic incidents are directly proportional to terrorist atrocities. We are all victims in this phoney war on terror, some of us more than others. · Faisal Bodi is news editor at the Islam Channel bodi_fy@yahoo.co.uk -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- connecticut NRC criticizes response to Millstone shutdown Associated Press Published July 9 2005 http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-09123456.apds.m0254.bc-ct--milljul09,0,6392594.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire HARTFORD, Conn. -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission criticized how operators at the Millstone nuclear power reactor in Waterford handled an emergency shutdown in April, according to a recent report. Investigators cited plant technician performance, insufficient diagnosis of the reactor's problem and poor communication. They said that together, the three factors created unnecessary risks. The report also said supervisors for Dominion Nuclear of Connecticut Inc. didn't provide clear guidance on the scope of review needed in the days after the shutdown. "Our operators responded very conservatively to these events, and we strongly support that," said Peter Hyde, a spokesman for Dominion. "But, we recognize this was not our finest hour." Overall, the problems were non-threatening, according to the report, and overall response by operators was deemed adequate. The emergency shutdown was apparently prompted by the malfunctioning of a computerized reactor protection system's circuit card, investigators said. During the shutdown, a safety valve that opened automatically to release heat produced as a result of the shutdown was open for too long. Dominion determined that an insignificant amount of radioactive liquid and steam was released from Unit 3 because of the shutdown, the NRC report said. Information from: The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com -------- new jersey Millstone may have overreacted to emergency Associated Press July 9, 2005 http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=3570139 WATERFORD (AP) -- An unplanned reactor shutdown at the Millstone nuclear power complex in April has turned up problems with the way plant operators assess emergencies, according to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC has told complex owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut to improve the way it handles emergencies like the one on April 17, when a metal filament on a computer circuit card triggered an accidental shutdown of the Unit 3 reactor. The incident included some mechanical malfunctions and a public alert that overstated the seriousness of the shutdown, which did not result in any major problems or health concerns. NRC Region 1 spokesman Neil Sheehan told The Day of New London that the agency wants Dominion to improve the way supervisors and workers operate the plant during emergencies and keep equipment in more reliable condition. "We always want (reactor owners) to be conservative and err on the side of caution," Sheehan said. "However, there are consequences when you overreact, too. They really need to be able to size up the significance of an event at the plant very quickly and very accurately." The NRC found that there were no violations connected with the shutdown because safety was never jeopardized and operators did not willfully break federal rules or procedures, an agency report says. When the Unit 3 reactor began to shut down unexpectedly, workers diagnosed the problem as a steam generator valve being stuck open, a condition that would indicate low pressure from a possible break in the steam line. An alert was declared, but the NRC said the valves were operating properly. The NRC also said the crew did not properly manage the temperature of the coolant in the control room, a situation which forced safety valves to remain open 30 minutes longer than necessary. In addition, agency inspectors found that the crew was not trained properly on equipment used to simulate shutdown conditions. Since the mishap, computer software used to simulate actual conditions has been corrected and workers and supervisors at Unit 3 have been retrained under new guidelines "to ensure there is no gap" between what happens in the control room and how they train for it, said Dominion spokesman Pete Hyde. The NRC is still drafting an informational notice on the tin whisker that it plans to distribute throughout the industry. "We learned a great deal from this, and we've passed along what we hope are valuable lessons to the rest of the industry," Hyde said. -------- ohio Group claims access to reactor Akron's FirstEnergy Corp. says entrance is not 'security issue' Saturday, July 09, 2005 John Funk Plain Dealer Reporter http://www.cleveland.com/ohio/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/112090163963332.xml&coll=2 They stopped and photographed the plant's cooling tower, waited "a while" and left without security ever appearing. Citizen Action is running the photo and a brief article on its Web site: www.ohiocitizenaction.org. "We are not saying they got inside the nuclear reactor, only that it seems odd that they got in this far and nobody questioned them," said the group's executive director, Sandy Buchanan. FirstEnergy Corp. said the couple were nowhere near the reactor, but in a parking lot where contractors leave their cars before walking through a series of checkpoints. "Is it possible to get into areas like that? Yes. But does it get you near any vital equipment? No. This is bogus, a publicity stunt," said company spokesman Richard Wilkins. The commission issued tougher security standards last fall and FirstEnergy's three nuclear power plants met them, Wilkins said. "I am not aware of any requirement that this parking lot has to be secured by security forces," he said. NRC spokesman Jan Strasma agreed that Davis-Besse meets regulations. "I can understand how a member of the public would think that if they drive past the cooling tower, they are in an area that should be secured," Strasma said. "But we don't see a security issue here." David Lochbaum, nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a watchdog group, disagreed. "The NRC wants the plant security to be aware of who is there and why," he said. "This is why the public is doubtful of nuclear plant security claims." To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 -------- tennessee Government increasing Oak Ridge plant security July 9, 2005 Associated Press http://www.wmcstations.com/global/story.asp?s=3564240&ClientType=Printable OAK RIDGE, Tenn. The government will spend up to 25 million dollars to boost security at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge by moving the inspection of warhead parts. The location is where workers evaluate the parts returned from the field to see if materials have deteriorated or been damaged during years of deployment. The plant specializes in the secondary stage of nuclear warheads, known as "secondaries," which are made of highly enriched uranium and other materials. According to a memo from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the work is being relocated to Y-12's assembly/disassembly building where warhead parts are built and taken apart. Plant officials say work should be completed in April 2007. Y-12 is the nation's principal storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. About 47-hundred people work at the 800-acre defense complex. -------- MILITARY -------- arms Military's energy-beam weapons delayed By Brian Bergstein, Associated Press Technology Writer 7/9/2005 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-09-army-weapons_x.htm ARLINGTON, Va. — For years, the U.S. military has explored a new kind of firepower that is instantaneous, precise and virtually inexhaustible: beams of electromagnetic energy. "Directed-energy" pulses can be throttled up or down depending on the situation, much like the phasers on "Star Trek" could be set to kill or merely stun. Such weapons are now nearing fruition. But logistical issues have delayed their battlefield debut — even as soldiers in Iraq encounter tense urban situations in which the nonlethal capabilities of directed energy could be put to the test. "It's a great technology with enormous potential, but I think the environment's not strong for it," said James Jay Carafano, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who blames the military and Congress for not spending enough on getting directed energy to the front. "The tragedy is that I think it's exactly the right time for this." The hallmark of all directed-energy weapons is that the target — whether a human or a mechanical object — has no chance to avoid the shot because it moves at the speed of light. At some frequencies, it can penetrate walls. Since the ammunition is merely light or radio waves, directed-energy weapons are limited only by the supply of electricity. And they don't involve chemicals or projectiles that can be inaccurate, accidentally cause injury or violate international treaties. "When you're dealing with people whose full intent is to die, you can't give people a choice of whether to comply," said George Gibbs, a systems engineer for the Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad Program who oversees directed-energy projects. "What I'm looking for is a way to shoot everybody, and they're all OK." Almost as diverse as the electromagnetic spectrum itself, directed-energy weapons span a wide range of incarnations. Among the simplest forms are inexpensive, handheld lasers that fill people's field of vision, inducing a temporary blindness to ensure they stop at a checkpoint, for example. Some of these already are used in Iraq. Other radio-frequency weapons in development can sabotage the electronics of land mines, shoulder-fired missiles or automobiles — a prospect that interests police departments in addition to the military. A separate branch of directed-energy research involves bigger, badder beams: lasers that could obliterate targets tens of miles away from ships or planes. Such a strike would be so surgical that, as some designers put it at a recent conference here, the military could plausibly deny responsibility. The flexibility of directed-energy weapons could be vital as wide-scale, force-on-force conflict becomes increasingly rare, many experts say. But the technology has been slowed by such practical concerns as how to shrink beam-firing antennas and power supplies. Military officials also say more needs to be done to assure the international community that directed-energy weapons set to stun rather than kill will not harm noncombatants. Such issues recently led the Pentagon to delay its Project Sheriff, a plan to outfit vehicles in Iraq with a combination of lethal and nonlethal weaponry — including a highly touted microwave-energy blaster that makes targets feel as if their skin is on fire. Sheriff has been pushed at least to 2006. "It was best to step back and make sure we understand where we can go with it," said David Law, science and technology chief for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. The directed-energy component in the project is the Active Denial System, developed by Air Force researchers and built by Raytheon Co. It produces a millimeter-wavelength burst of energy that penetrates 1/64 of an inch into a person's skin, agitating water molecules to produce heat. The sensation is certain to get people to halt whatever they are doing. Military investigators say decades of research have shown that the effect ends the moment a person is out of the beam, and no lasting damage is done as long as the stream does not exceed a certain duration. How long? That answer is classified, but it apparently is in the realm of seconds, not minutes. The range of the beam also is secret, though it is said to be further than small arms fire, so an attacker could be repelled before he could pull a trigger. Although Active Denial works — after a $51 million, 11-year investment — it has proven to be a "model for how hard it is to field a directed-energy nonlethal weapon," Law said. For example, the prototype system can be mounted on a Humvee but the vehicle has to stop in order to fire the beam. Using the vehicle's electrical power "is pushing its limits," he added. Still, Raytheon is pressing ahead with smaller, portable, shorter-range spinoffs of Active Denial for embassies, ships or other sensitive spots. One potential customer is the Department of Energy. Researchers at its Sandia National Laboratories are testing Active Denial as a way to repel intruders from nuclear facilities. But Sandia researchers say the beams won't be in place until 2008 at the earliest because so much testing remains. In the meantime, Raytheon is trying to drum up business for an automated airport-defense project known as Vigilant Eagle that detects shoulder-fired missiles and fries their electronics with an electromagnetic wave. The system, which would cost $25 million per airport, has proven effective against a "real threat," said Michael Booen, a former Air Force colonel who heads Raytheon's directed-energy work. He refused to elaborate. For Peter Bitar, the future of directed energy boils down to money. Bitar heads Indiana-based Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems Ltd., which makes small blinding lasers used in Iraq. But his real project is a nonlethal energy device called the StunStrike. Basically, it fires a bolt of lightning. It can be tuned to blow up explosives, possibly to stop vehicles and certainly to buzz people. The strike can be made to feel as gentle as "broom bristles" or cranked up to deliver a paralyzing jolt that "takes a few minutes to wear off." Bitar, who is of Arab descent, believes StunStrike would be particularly intimidating in the Middle East because, he contends, people there are especially afraid of lightning. At present, StunStrike is a 20-foot tower that can zap things up to 28 feet away. The next step is to shrink it so it could be wielded by troops and used in civilian locales like airplane cabins or building entrances. Xtreme ADS also needs more tests to establish that StunStrike is safe to use on people. But all that takes money — more than the $700,000 Bitar got from the Pentagon from 2003 until the contract recently ended. Bitar is optimistic StunStrike will be perfected, either with revenue from the laser pointers or a partnership with a bigger defense contractor. In the meantime, though, he wishes soldiers in Iraq already had his lightning device on difficult missions like door-to-door searches. "It's very frustrating when you know you've got a solution that's being ignored," he said. "The technology is the easy part." -------- ACTIVISTS Letter to America by Eve Ensler (Saturday July 09 2005) Media Monitors Network http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/16577 "America, there is not much time left. The fire is spreading, consuming the world. We are the arsonists. We will need each other to find our way out through the lies and haze. It will take our greatest imagination, courage and skill to subdue these flames." Dear America, I am longing to reach you-crossing this river of indifference and consumption and denial. I am trying to find you, reaching out through the desperate limitations of words and descriptions, swimming through the rhetoric of terror and God. I need you to wake up. The house is on fire and you are still sleeping, lulled by the intoxication of smoke and mirrors. I need you to wake up and I know that shaking you, scaring you will only make you cling to your sleep and sleep more. How then do I tell you what's going on? How do I tell you about the one hundred thousand dead Iraqi people that you and I are responsible for murdering.[1] Each one of them valued their life, longed for their morning, cherished their first cup of milk or coffee or tea. In what way shall I deliver what I learned? The substance identical to illegal napalm that melted tender five year old skin; the cluster bombs that have left their murderous and disguised offspring, throngs of bomblets set to explode, scattered on the Iraqi earth; the depleted uranium from the Bunker Busters we dropped that now lives in lungs and livers and soil. [2] How do I tell you about the strategic planning of such atrocities in the boardrooms, the backrooms, the back seats of limos, the organized take over and looting of Iraq right out from under the terrorized, hungry, thirsty Iraqi people. [3] How do I get you to listen to the stories of our soldiers who are trying to kill themselves now, longing to escape the madness of murdering and maiming for no reason? [4] Please don't go back to sleep. I know how hard it is to hear of the massive black holes, called prisons we have dug to hold thousands without charging them, without trials or the torture, the meanness, the cruelty we are inflicting upon them. [5] America, those who now control our country have changed and ended law. I do not believe you are so calloused or selfish that you do not care. Your sleep is induced. You are distracted and derailed. The corporations have concocted and perfected these sleeping potions for years, developing ingredients to make you despise every bit of yourself, to feel ugly and fat and stupid and poor and not enough. And so you spend your time and every bit of the money you do not have buying products that will make you better, skinnier, lighter, whiter, tighter. And as you consume and consume, the corporations consume you. They take your money and your time and your voice and your instincts and your outrage and your sorrow and your anger and your grief. They consume your courage and leave fear in its place. They devour your conscience and your memory and your compassion. And how do I speak when they are sure to tie my tongue? When they will say I do not love my country or support the troops or honor the dead or believe in their God? How do I break through your sealed wrapping, your self-obsession, your TVheadphonedDVDcell pod? America I am getting desperate and I know this will not get me published or heard. Those who control the information will say I'm extreme, that I've gone mad. But I have heard the cries of children in the exploding houses of Falluja. (6) I have seen the agonized faces of the sleepless Iraqi women who still clutch the outline of their charred dead babies in their arms. I have watched as we as a nation grow more isolated, despised and alone. America, there is not much time left. The fire is spreading, consuming the world. We are the arsonists. We will need each other to find our way out through the lies and haze. It will take our greatest imagination, courage and skill to subdue these flames. Eve Ensler This letter was written immediately after The World Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul where I served with thirteen others from around the world on a jury chaired by Arundhati Roy. The Tribunal consisted of three days of hearings investigating various issues related to the war on Iraq, such as the legality of the war, the role of the United Nations, war crimes and the role of the media, as well as the destruction of the cultural sites and the environment. The session in Istanbul was the culminating session of commissions of inquiry and hearings held around the world over the past two years. Footnotes: [1]. Iraq death toll soared 'post war'- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3962969.stm 100,000 Iraqis dead (Lancet survey) [2]. US admits to use of napalm - http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030810-napalm-iraq01.htm Irregular Weapons Used Against Iraq - http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2003/0407 irregular.htm WHO studies depleted uranium in Iraq - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1506151.stm [3]. Rumsfeld, Amnesty trade barbs over prisoner abuse - http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=64 [4]. Army probes soldier suicides - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-10-13-army-suicides-usat_x.htm Military Families Against the war- http://www.mfso.org [5]. Rumsfeld, Amnesty trade barbs over prisoner abuse - http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=64 Systematic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces- http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=68 [6]. This Is Our Guernica- http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1471011,00.html