NucNews - October 8, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR MI5 unmasks covert arms programmes Document names 300 organisations seeking nuclear and WMD technology Ian Cobain and Ewen MacAskill Saturday October 8, 2005 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,10674,1587750,00.html?gusrc=rss The determination of countries across the Middle East and Asia to develop nuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction is laid bare by a secret British intelligence document which has been seen by the Guardian. More than 360 private companies, university departments and government organisations in eight countries, including the Pakistan high commission in London, are identified as having procured goods or technology for use in weapons programmes. The length of the list, compiled by MI5, suggests that the arms trade supermarket is bigger than has so far been publicly realised. MI5 warns against exports to organisations in Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel, Syria and Egypt and to beware of front companies in the United Arab Emirates, which appears to be a hub for the trade. The disclosure of the list comes as the Nobel peace prize was yesterday awarded to Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN watchdog responsible for combating proliferation. The Nobel committee said they had made the award because of the apparent deadlock in disarmament and the danger that nuclear weapons could spread "both to states and to terrorist groups". The MI5 document, entitled Companies and Organisations of Proliferation Concern, has been compiled in an attempt to prevent British companies inadvertently exporting sensitive goods or expertise to organisations covertly involved in WMD programmes. Despite the large number of bodies identified, the document says the list is not exhaustive. It states: "It is not suggested that the companies and organisations on the list have committed an offence under UK legislation. However, in addition to conducting non-proliferation related business, they have procured goods and/or technology for weapons of mass destruction programmes." The 17-page document identifies 95 Pakistani organisations and government bodies, including the Pakistan high commission in London, as having assisted in the country's nuclear programme. The list was compiled two years ago, shortly after the security service mounted a surveillance operation at the high commission which is the only diplomatic institution on the list. Abdul Basit, the deputy high commissioner, said: "It is absolute rubbish for Pakistan to be included. We take exception to these links." Some 114 Iranian organisations, including chemical and pharmaceutical companies and university medical schools, are identified as having acquired nuclear, chemical, biological or missile technology. The document also attempts to shed some light on the nuclear ambitions of Egypt and Syria: a private chemical company in Egypt is identified as having procured technology for use in a nuclear weapons programme, while the Syrian atomic energy commission faces a similar charge. Eleven Israeli organisations appear on the list, along with 73 Indian bodies, which are said to have been involved in WMD programmes. The document also highlights concerns that companies in Malta and Cyprus could have been used as fronts for WMD programmes. The United Arab Emirates is named as "the most important" of the countries where front companies may have been used, and 24 private firms there are identified as having acquired WMD technology for Iran, Pakistan and India. A spokesman for the UAE government said it had always worked "very closely" with the British authorities to counter the proliferation of WMD. -------- asia Nations Hail Project to Destroy Nuke Fuel By BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 8, 4:08 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051008/ap_on_re_eu/kazakhstan_us_nuclear UST-KAMENOGORSK, Kazakhstan - Kazakh officials and U.S. nonproliferation experts on Saturday praised a $2 million joint project to eliminate tons of weapons-grade nuclear fuel that could be used to make dozens of atomic bombs. The project, being conducted at a once-top secret Soviet military facility, is considered a moderate victory for efforts to keep nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists — in a region where Islamic extremism is on the rise. "Today, the most devastating threat is a terrorist attack with the use of nuclear weapons," said former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, a former Armed Services chairman who toured the Ulba Metal Plant on Saturday along with U.S. media mogul Ted Turner. Turner, who co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative with Nunn, decried the fact that the United States and Russia retain thousands of nuclear warheads and vast infrastructure for building, testing and maintaining the weaponry. The organization is a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. "Fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, it's crazy," Turner said. The nonprofit organization joined with the Kazakh nuclear industry to share the costs of the project in Ust-Kamenogorsk, about 560 miles east of the capital, Astana, amid growing fears that terror groups could use materials smuggled from poorly secured institutions to build a bomb. Those fears are heightened in former Soviet Central Asia, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and has seen the spread of Islamic radicalism since the 1991 Soviet collapse. By year's end, about 6,400 pounds of nuclear fuel containing highly enriched uranium — shipped to the Ulba plant last year from a mothballed Soviet-built nuclear reactor in western Kazakhstan — will be blended down so that it cannot be used to make bombs. The uranium, less than 5 percent enriched, will be used for fuel for civilian reactors. After donning protective white robes and masks, the U.S. delegation and journalists toured the plant, which used to make nuclear fuel for military purposes and was once one of the most secret Soviet facilities. Cameras from the International Atomic Energy Agency are monitoring the work, which began in 2002 and is now in its last stages. The facility, which includes two other production plants, is surrounded by a 2.5-meter (8 feet) concrete wall and security checkpoints. Security concerns prevented authorities from publicizing the project before now. The United States has been involved in projects to reduce the threat of having weapons material leak out of Kazakhstan and the rest of the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s. Kazakhstan had been a major production and test site for the Soviet military's nuclear program. It housed the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal, including 1,410 nuclear warheads. Production stopped after 1991 and the entire arsenal was moved to Russia in 1995, but the country was left with tons of weapons-grade nuclear material, millions of tons of radioactive waste and large contaminated areas — all guarded poorly or not at all. The presence of unemployed, highly trained weapons scientists, along with lax border controls and economic decline further raised fears that nuclear material could end up in terrorists' hands. President Nursultan Nazarbayev praised the project, but also criticized the United States and Russia for not doing more to reduce their own nuclear arsenals. "Some countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons and modernize them. Other countries are banned from having them, even to do research," Nazarbayev said. "It's wrong, disproportionate and unfair." ---- New Project Aims to Eliminate Nuclear Fuel US Group, Kazakh Officials Announce Project to Eliminate Weapons-Grade Nuclear Fuel By BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA Associated Press Writer The Associated Press Oct 8, 2005 http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1195184&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 UST-KAMENOGORSK, Kazakhstan — A U.S.-based nonproliferation group and Kazakh officials on Saturday unveiled a project to eliminate about tons of weapons-grade nuclear fuel which could be used to make some two dozen atomic bombs. The $2 million project is part of nonproliferation efforts have taken on added urgency in Central Asia, which has seen the spread of Islamic radicalism since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It was initiated by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The U.S. group and the Kazakh nuclear industry shared the costs. NTI co-founder and media mogul Ted Turner used the announcement ceremony to urge the United States and Russia "to reduce their nuclear weapons as much as possible." "Fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, it's crazy," he said. Under the project, about 6,400 pounds of nuclear fuel containing highly enriched uranium from a mothballed Soviet-built nuclear reactor in western Kazakhstan will be blended down so that it cannot be used to make bombs. The uranium, less than 5 percent enriched, will be used for fuel for civilian reactors. The fuel was transported from the Mangyshlak nuclear power plant to the Ulba Metal Plant in the eastern Kazakh city of Ust-Kamenogorsk last year and is expected to be blended down here by the end of the year, according to NTI. The project, which was launched in 2002, has been monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA and its chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Friday won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. ElBaradei said in a message that the project could serve as a model for other countries. President Bush called the project a sign of "Kazakhstan's continued success in converting nuclear material to peaceful and productive uses," according to a message read by Robert Joseph, U.S. undersecretary of state for international security. The United States has been involved in projects to reduce the threat of weapons material leaks out of Kazakhstan and the rest of the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s. -------- britain Ex-minister says 'nuclear or bust' talk is dangerous GERRI PEEV POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Sat 8 Oct 2005 The Scotsman http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=2057682005 A FORMER Blairite minister has warned that the government's obsession with nuclear power could be "dangerous" for Britain. Writing in The Scotsman, Stephen Twigg, the former education minister who lost his seat at the last election, criticised the "nuclear or bust" message coming from ministers, as the Prime Minister prepares to make an announcement on renewing ageing power stations. One possible development could be a new power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire. Mr Twigg, who now heads the Foreign Policy Centre think-tank, likened the "fashion" for nuclear energy to a "puffball skirt" - "a costly and potentially dangerous choice for Britain's consumers". While including some nuclear power into the energy mix was not wrong in principle, he said, "the debate seems to have shifted to an idea of nuclear or bust", with renewables squeezed out because of the "myth" that they were more expensive. -------- mideast Yemen Supports IAEA Control of Radioactive Materials By Yemen Observer staff Oct 8, 2005 - Vol. VIII Issue 40 http://www.yobserver.com/news_8333.php SANA'A - Yemen supports International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) activities that control illegal trade in nuclear and radioactive substances. The head of the National Atomic Energy Committee, Mustafa Bahran, announced in the 49th conference of the IAEA, held recently in Geneva, that Yemen had taken initiatives to limit the use of radioactive materials and nuclear weapons. The IAEA report declared that Yemen’s National Atomic Energy Committee had quickly brought the proliferation of radioactive materials under control. -------- russia Russian nuclear sub successfully tests missile Posted 10/8/2005 6:22 AM (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-10-08-russiamissile_x.htm MOSCOW — Russia's military conducted a successful ballistic missile test Saturday from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea, hitting a target on the eastern peninsula of Kamchatka, officials said. The two-stage Volna missile was launched from submarine Borisoglebsk around 5:30 p.m. ET and it hit the Kura training area on Kamchatka an undetermined time later, Defense Ministry spokesman Capt. Ivan Dyagalo said. The launch was at least the fifth test of a missile from a sea-based vessel this year. Russian forces have conducted regular test launches of Soviet-built ballistic missiles to check their readiness. The Barents Sea is a section of the Arctic Ocean northwest of Russia and north of Norway. -------- u.n. ElBaradei becomes second Egyptian to win a Nobel in seven years October 8, 2005 Associated Press http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=3950649 CAIRO, Egypt The mother of the new Nobel Peace Prize winner says "God rewarded him for his hard work." Mohamed ElBaradei's (ehl-BEHR'-uh-day) mother tells Egyptian state T-V that the prize that was awarded to the head of the U-N nuclear watchdog agency has brought "great happiness" to the family. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is the fourth Egyptian and second in seven years to win a Nobel prize. State T-V interrupted a soap opera to announce his win. The Nobel committee split the prize between ElBaradei and his agency. Egyptians have won Nobel prizes in chemistry, literature and now two peace prizes. ---- Egypt press says IAEA Nobel prize a message to US, Israel CAIRO (AFP) Oct 08, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051008093606.butv5vrr.html Several Egyptian newspapers asserted Saturday that the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the UN nuclear watchdog and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei, constituted a warning to the United States and Israel. "By handing the prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its boss, the Nobel committee wanted to send a message to the entire world that nuclear weapons were and still are a threat to the whole of humanity and need to be opposed by any means," the state-owned Al-Ahram daily said. "The specific choice of ElBaradei is an implicit message, notably to the United States and Israel," the top-selling newspaper went on, quoting the Nobel committee as describing the laureate as "unafraid" in his advocacy of new measures to prevent nuclear proliferation. The independent Al-Masri Al-Yom entitled one its editorial "ElBaradei, the embodiment of impartiality". "Despite his placid character, the man is solid ... and while subjected to intense pressure, notably from the United States and Arab commentators, he pressed on without making any concessions, displaying true professionalism and commitment," editorialist Alaa al-Ghatrifi wrote. "His impartiality on all issues earned him huge popularity on the board" of the agency, he explained. ElBaradei, 63, received his prize on Friday and became the fourth Egyptian Nobel laureate in history. He was also the second to obtain the Peace Prize after then president Anwar Sadat, who was awarded the honour in 1978 along with Israel's Menachim Begin for their historic peace deal. Sadat was later assassinated for his pains. The Egyptian press, state-owned and independent alike, gave abundant front-page coverage to ElBaradei's award and carried a variety of biographies and features about the new national hero. "Every Egyptian is overwhelmed by joy and pride, because when we watch ElBaradei accomplish his mission, courageously and patiently, we are aware that one of ours is engaging on a difficult path but has the ability to overcome obstacles," Al-Gomhurriya's Samir Ragab wrote. ElBaradei had irked Washington over his scepticism about claims that Iraq was harbouring weapons of mass destruction. More than two years after US-led coalition troops invaded the country, none have been found. The Egyptian diplomat has also been accused by some US officials of being too lenient towards Iran, which Washington suspects of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. An indefatigable anti-proliferation advocate, ElBaradei has also called for a "nuke-free zone" in the Middle East and urged Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. But some Arab commentators have complained that ElBaradei failed to take a strong enough stance against Israel, which is widely known to possess nuclear weapons although it never officially recognised it. ---- The man who took on George Bush and won (the Nobel Peace Prize, that is) By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor Published: 08 October 2005 UK Independent http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article318053.ece In a dramatic rebuff to President George Bush, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the man who dared to tell the Americans that the main plank of the US argument for waging war on Iraq was based on a lie. The Nobel committee bestowed the prestigious award for 2005 on Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN official who rose to prominence by exposing the lengths that America would go to in its efforts to build a case for war. Mr ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which shares the prize, delivered a body blow to the Bush administration on the eve of the Iraq war. During a televised meeting of the UN Security Council in March 2003, he told assembled foreign ministers that documents purporting to prove Iraq had attempted to import uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon were fake. Leading lights of the Bush administration, particularly Condoleezza Rice and Vice-President Dick Cheney, had advanced Iraq's supposed nuclear weapons programme as a major reason for going to war. Ms Rice memorably said of the UN weapons inspectors' search for a "smoking gun" before the war: "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Britain also cited the now discredited Niger connection to push the case for immediate military action against Saddam, suggesting that he was in the process of adding a nuclear capacity to his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. No weapons of mass destruction of any sort, far less any evidence of a nuclear programme, have ever been discovered. The recognition of Mr ElBaradei and the IAEA is also seen as a warning to President Bush- and to Tony Blair who backed Mr Bush over the invasion - against military strikes on Iran over its nuclear programme. The underlying message of the Nobel committee, which said the threat of nuclear weapons "must be met through the broadest possible international co-operation", is that weapons inspections are a better way of dealing with any crisis than war. The decision, which came on the 60th anniversary of the American atomic bomb strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, signals a move by the Nobel committee in Norway to return to its disarmament roots. "This is a message to all the people of the world: Do what you can to get rid of nuclear weapons," said the committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, as he announced the prize. "The people's power is formidable." Egyptian-born Mr ElBaradei, who learned of the award as he was watching television at home with his wife, declared that the prize would be "a shot in the arm" for the IAEA, now sidelined over the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, the countries posing the biggest nuclear threat to world peace and security. The IAEA has also been refused access to the architect of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is now under house arrest. Mr Khan was the informal CEO of an illicit nuclear supermarket that had dealings with more than 30 companies in 30 countries, and who passed nuclear secrets to North Korea and Libya. Mr ElBaradei said at IAEA headquarters in Vienna: "The award sends a very strong message: 'Keep doing what you are doing - be impartial, act with integrity', and that is what we intend to do." Mr ElBaradei said, to applause from UN staff: "The advantage of having this recognition today, it will strengthen my resolve." He said the prize was a recognition that "the number one danger we are facing today" comes from the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation. Described as a "fearless advocate" of disarmament, Mr ElBaradei's power is that he will not shy from telling politicians the unpalatable truth, based on spin-free verified evidence from on-the-ground inspections. However it was not the IAEA, but Iranian defectors who first sounded the alarm about Iran's clandestine nuclear programme. Investigations by the UN weapons inspectors proved Iran had been working on a nuclear programme for 18 years before they were caught red-handed. Even now, after years of inspections, the IAEA has not decided conclusively that they are working on a weapons programme, which in any case they deny. On North Korea, the IAEA can only guess what is going on in the hermit regime because inspectors were thrown out in 2002. Disarmament negotiations with Pyongyang have now, in effect, been taken over by six-party talks involving regional players and the United States. Mr ElBaradei is the enforcer of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime. Since taking over as director-general of the IAEA in 1997,after moving up through the organisation during 13 years, he has particularly lambasted what he sees as double standards on the part of countries that have nuclear weapons, but which seek to prevent others from procuring them. "We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security - and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use," he said. Mr ElBaradei's award is unlikely to please the Americans, who are working with the IAEA in hopes of referring Tehran to the UN Security Council for failing to come clean on the full extent of its nuclear programme. John Bolton, now the US ambassador to the UN, launched an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Mr ElBaradei when Mr Bolton was still the top US official responsible for disarmament. But Mr ElBaradei has just been confirmed for a third term as the rest of the board, including Britain, rallied round his candidacy and the US withdrew its objection. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- alabama Worker dies after accident at North Alabama TVA nuclear plant October 8, 2005 Associated Press http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=3950755 ATHENS, Ala. A north Alabama man has died from injuries suffered in an accident while working in the Tennessee Valley Authority's nuclear plant near Athens, Alabama. Richard "Bubba" Haynes of Killen died yesterday at Huntsville Hospital. He had been on life support after he was struck by heavy equipment he was helping move on Saturday at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident, as is Haynes' employer, Illinois-based L.E. Myers. A second worker was injured but was treated and released from the hospital. Nuclear Unit One -- which was shut down in 1985 amid safety concerns -- is being prepared for a 2007 restart. A T-V-A spokesman says the accident Saturday was away from any radioactive elements. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission classified it as an industrial accident and does not plan to investigate. -------- colorado Rocky Flats wraps up radioactive cleanup Last of 62,000 shipments signals 'closure of an era' By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News October 8, 2005 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4142500,00.html The end of an era arrived Friday when the last load of radioactive waste left Rocky Flats, departing aboard a semi-truck headed for a hazardous waste dump in Utah. The last load, a few boxes filled with lightly contaminated survey and demolition equipment, rolled away from the defunct nuclear weapons plant about 2 p.m., the last of some 62,000 waste shipments that have departed the facility since 2000. "It's just the closure of an era," said Bobby Leonard, the facility's traffic and transportation manager, one of about 20 titles he said he's held during his 24 years at the plant. It was good to be part of the weapons program, Leonard said. "Now, I'm proud to be part of the last cleanup efforts. It's a good thing to do; it's the right thing to do for the Denver area." The last bit of radioactive material leaving the 54-year-old site nearly coincides with the completion of work at Rocky Flats by Kaiser-Hill Co., the main contractor for the $7 billion demolition, cleanup and closure project for the U.S. Department of Energy. Remaining work, including grading and reseeding the last of the land once covered with 800 buildings over 385 acres, should be completed within the next two weeks, said John Corsi, a spokesman for Kaiser-Hill. "It's the first nuclear weapons site to be cleaned up and closed anywhere in the world," said Corsi, who also describes it as the "most complex environmental cleanup in U.S. history." When complete, Kaiser-Hill will have compressed what the DOE once described as a 70-year, $36 billion job into a decade, at less than one-fourth the initial price projection. The company did it, in part, by finding speedier and safer ways to secure and dispose of contaminated material, Corsi said. Some regulatory changes also helped, including one that allowed the company to leave some contaminated building foundations in place, deep below the ground where officials say they pose no danger to the public. After the DOE gives final approval of the cleanup work in the coming months, most of Rocky Flats' 6,200 acres will be transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will manage the site as a wildlife refuge. Eventually, public access will be permitted on much of the site. On Friday, crews were down to the last vestiges of the cleanup, erasing the last traces of Rocky Flats by tearing up railroad track that once carried boxcars filled with various waste away from the site. Indeed, the last rail shipment of radioactive waste left the site on Wednesday. It was a staggering sight as the final scraps of what was once a complex the size of a town, with streets, a fire department and sprawling buildings, have all but disappeared as the site reverts to the prairie it was when ground was broken in 1951. For Leonard, 47, the day was bittersweet. "I've been in everything from building weapons to nuclear operations to security" at Rocky Flats, he said. He isn't sure what he will do next, but he may move out of state for the opportunity to work at another DOE facility - though with some regrets. "There's no nicer place in the DOE" than Colorado, he said. A big haul • 62,000: Number of waste shipments from Rocky Flats since 2000 • 600,000: Cubic meters of radioactive waste hauled away from the site, enough to fill a string of railcars 90 miles long • 11: Number of states, including Colorado, where waste was shipped to either landfills or other DOE facilities hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5048 -------- nevada Fledgling political party puts focus on energy policies Carson City-based group led by 77-year-old By SEAN WHALEY Oct. 08, 2005 Las Vegas Review-Journal http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Oct-08-Sat-2005/news/3738790.html CARSON CITY -- A new political party with the goal of energy self-reliance through expanded oil drilling and nuclear power plant construction has filed with the secretary of state's office. The American Energy Party, based in the capital, filed papers on Sept. 30. The chairman is Mike Oliver, a 77-year-old with expertise in energy matters. Proposed parties must collect 7,914 signatures by Aug. 11, 2006, to qualify as a party with a slate of candidates for the Nevada ballot. "Either we're going to become energy independent or they (oil producing countries) are going to harass us to death," Oliver said Friday. Collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot shouldn't be difficult, he said. "People are paying so much for gas, we should get a lot of signatures." Even if the party doesn't get enough signatures to qualify for the 2006 ballot, the party will serve as a source of information on how and why the nation needs to end its dependence on foreign oil, he said. Oliver, who wrote an article called "Drill or Die," said the country needs 500 new nuclear power plants to win energy independence from foreign countries. Oil revenues generated in other countries in some cases are being used to fund terrorism, he said. The article is on the Internet at http://energytruth.com. Additional oil drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is also a goal of the party, he said. But Oliver said a nuclear waste repository proposed for Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is unnecessary even with an increased number of nuclear power plants. "We need to recycle the waste," he said. It could be made harmless in a much shorter period of time through recycling than burial, Oliver said. Those with the technological know-how to create recycling facilities won't bother, however, if there is no guarantee that the technology will be licensed and put to use, he said. Oliver has no patience for environmental groups, either. They claim to work for the people, but they actually have held up the construction of new power plants of all types, helping to drive the cost of energy higher, he said. -------- vermont Yankee prepares to use 'high octane' in reactor October 8, 2005 By Susan Smallheer, Rutland Herald Staff http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051008/NEWS/510080348/1003 BRATTLEBORO — Entergy Nuclear will load "high-octane" nuclear fuel into Vermont Yankee's reactor core during its regular refueling this month, once again gambling it will get federal approval to boost power production. The enriched uranium fuel will be installed in anticipation of Entergy getting approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to increase production by 20 percent, even though the project is two years behind schedule. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Friday that Entergy is free to load the enriched fuel during the upcoming outage at its own cost, but he said that the company does not have approval to operate at a higher level. "Just because you put higher-octane gasoline in your car doesn't mean you can break the speed limit; the speed limit's still 65," Sheehan said. He said the higher-level fuel would be very closely tracked by the NRC. Entergy hopes to use the enriched fuel to generate the additional 110 megawatts at the 540-watt nuclear plant in Vernon, replacing the fuel on a faster cycle, and redesigning fuel patterns in the reactor. Sheehan said Entergy would use nuclear fuel with an enriched content of 4.2 percent, while the highest level allowed by the NRC is 6 percent. By comparison, he said, nuclear weapons use 90 percent enriched fuel. Entergy spokesman Robert Williams confirmed Friday the company would load the enriched fuel despite the lack of federal approval for the 20 percent power boost, or uprate. "The fuel is designed to support the uprate," he said. The enriched fuel would allow the reactor to produce more heat and steam to power its turbines. He said the move was "cost effective" for the company despite the increased cost of the fuel. "It's cost effective because when we do get approval, we would have to shut down and reload the reactor," he said. "This way it's ready to go." Sheehan said the NRC was not concerned about the extra cost of the fuel. Last year, Entergy spent about $60 million retrofitting the reactor, then 32 years old, in anticipation of getting approval for the power uprate — but it is still waiting for federal approval. Sheehan said Entergy still hadn't answered all of the NRC staff questions about the uprate plan. A technical review subcommittee of the NRC is slated to hold hearings in Vermont next month about the Entergy uprate, but those hearings are conditional on the NRC staff issuing its preliminary recommendations about the uprate. Sarah Hofmann, public advocate for the Vermont Department of Public Service, was in Washington, D.C., on Friday working on the state's continuing objection to a portion of Entergy's uprate plan. The state has found an ally in a national technical advisory group, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, which last month said NRC staff was violating its own advisory rules on how reactors were allowed to calculate reactor pressure during emergency situations. On Friday, the NRC staff got "another bite of the apple" Hofmann said, in its attempt to change the committee's recommendations. No decision was reached on the issue, Hofmann said. Neither Williams nor Sheehan would say exactly what time this month Vermont Yankee is scheduled to shut down for its regular refueling and maintenance outage, citing the competitive nature of power markets. He said 800 additional temporary workers will work at the Vernon reactor during the outage. Most of the activity during the shutdown, Williams said, will be on normal maintenance work. "There are no major changes to the plant, no major component change outs," he said. Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. -------- washington Feds push back Hanford deadline Costs delay construction time frame for 4th time October 8, 2005 ASSOCIATED PRESS BY SHANNON DININNY http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20051008&Category=NEWS06&ArtNo=510080368&SectionCat=&Template=printart YAKIMA -- The U.S. Department of Energy has notified officials in Washington state that it likely will not meet the legal deadline for operating a multibillion-dollar waste treatment plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation. If the Energy Department fails to have the plant up and running by 2011, it would mark the fourth time the federal government has missed a deadline to complete its largest construction project. The deadline already has been pushed back three times. The plant is being designed to treat highly radioactive waste left from decades of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. The Energy Department halted construction on major portions of the plant last month amid skyrocketing costs stemming from seismic issues and construction problems. Delay of estimates Federal officials have repeatedly refused to release a new cost estimate for the plant -- currently tagged at more than $5.8 billion. Congress has estimated the latest problems could push the cost as high as $10 billion and delay the start by four years. The Energy Department notified state officials Thursday that a new cost estimate and schedule for completing construction on the plant will not be ready before June 2006. "We continue to be frustrated by this update, but at the same time agree that USDOE and the contractors should do the job right and not make promises they cannot keep," Sandy Howard, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Ecology, said Friday. Howard also said it was too soon to say if the state would consider legal action against the federal government. Under the Tri-Party Agreement, the legal pact signed by the state Department of Ecology, Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department, which manages cleanup at Hanford, the plant was to have been fully operating by 2011. Notification promises Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman committed to notify both Washington's governor and congressional delegation of developments related to the plant when they are available, Energy Department spokesman Mike Waldron said. "Based on our review to date, there are a number of technical issues that have made it clear we likely will not be able to meet the 2011 milestone," Waldron said. The federal government soon will formally notify state officials and Congress of an expected cost increase of at least 25 percent, as required by law, Waldron said. The Energy Department also notified the state that it might not meet two deadlines for cleaning up sludge from two leak-prone pools of water near the Columbia River. The K East and K West basins were built at Hanford to store spent nuclear fuel, but cleaning them up has proven more difficult than envisioned. The federal government was to have sludge removed from the K East basin by July 31, 2006, and all sludge from the K West basin in containers by June 30, 2006. The Energy Department warned it may miss both deadlines. Cleanup cornerstone The waste treatment plant has long been considered the cornerstone of cleanup at Hanford, which was created in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Today, it is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site. The greatest risk is posed by 53 million gallons of decades-old radioactive waste brewing in 177 underground tanks. Retrieval of the waste is a priority because some of the tanks are known to have leaked, threatening the aquifer and the Columbia River less than 10 miles away. The plant will use a process called vitrification to turn the waste into glasslike logs for permanent disposal in a nuclear waste repository. Once completed, it will stand 12 stories tall and be the size of four football fields. The operating deadline already had been pushed back three times from the original deadline of 1999. Critics argue the current slowdown could have been avoided if the federal government had conducted a more thorough seismic review. The price tag already has grown from $4.3 billion to the current $5.8 billion. Cleanup of the entire 586-square-mile Hanford site is expected to total $50 billion to $60 billion, with completion by 2035. -------- MILITARY -------- afghanistan U.S. soldier killed in Afghan blast; American death toll at 200 10/8/2005 2:53 PM (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-10-08-soldier-killed-afghanistan_x.htm KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. soldier was killed after stepping on a land mine while patrolling in southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday, bringing to 200 the number of American troops slain here since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. The soldier was part of an offensive patrol in a part of Helmand province that has been wracked by rebel violence recently, a military statement said. U.S. military spokeswoman Sgt. Marina Evans said it was not immediately known whether the mine had been recently laid and was meant as an attack on the patrol or whether it was one of thousands of mines left over from a quarter-century of war. "It's a sad day any time a comrade dies in this ongoing struggle," Brig. Gen. Jack Sterling, a deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition, said in the statement. "The pain of the loss is tempered only by the knowledge that his efforts and sacrifice have brought closer the day when the growing democracy in Afghanistan removes the terrorists from this country forever," he said. "While we mourn this loss, we will continue to work to ensure that Afghanistan remains a stable democracy." The soldier's name was withheld pending notification of the next of kin. The death brought to 200 the number of U.S. service members who have died in and around Afghanistan since 2001, according to military figures. This year has been the deadliest yet for the 21,000-strong U.S.-led coalition force. Fighting escalated sharply ahead of Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, with more than 1,300 people killed including hundreds of Taliban-led militants during the past seven months. The vote itself passed off relatively peacefully despite Taliban threats of violence. Four years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. military says the insurgents are far from defeated but are recruiting younger fighters and staging smaller attacks as they suffer losses in clashes with coalition and Afghan forces. -------- ENERGY FEATURE - Nuclear power quietly confident in energy debate October 8, 2005 By Jeremy Lovell (Reuters) http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/10/8/worldupdates/2005-10-08T004717Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-218644-1&sec=Worldupdates SELLAFIELD, England - The nuclear power industry is quietly confident that the world is about to beat a path to its door in an increasingly desperate search for "clean" energy that doesn't heat up the planet. Soaring oil prices and new data on global warming -- brought into sharp focus by devastating hurricanes in the United States -- have heated up the nuclear debate and outraged the environmental lobby, which says nuclear power is not the answer. China plans to invest some $50 billion to build around 30 new nuclear reactors by 2020, there are investment incentives in the United States and nuclear power was back on the agenda at a summit of the Group of Eight industrialised nations in July. The nuclear industry now feels it is on a roll -- 20 years after an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor spread a cloud of radioactivity over Europe and dealt a severe blow to the reputation of a sector long denounced by environmentalists. "Nuclear power is in the ascendant world-wide -- less so in the (United Kingdom) than elsewhere, but that will change," said Ian Hore-Lacy of the World Nuclear Association (WNA), which aims to promote nuclear power as a sustainable energy resource. Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged a review of the country's climate change commitments which he said must include looking at the nuclear option. A few days later, a government minister said Britain must decide within a year whether to invest in a new wave of nuclear power generation but added no decision had yet been made. Scientists' warnings about global warming have increased the pressure on rich nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Experts have said that the earth's temperature will rise by at least two degrees centigrade by the end of this century due to greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, putting millions of people at risk from floods and droughts. It is difficult to tell if global warming caused hurricanes Katrina and Rita, scientists say but they forecast more unpredictable weather as the world gets hotter. CLEANING UP ITS IMAGE The nuclear debate has long stirred passions in Britain, home of one of the most intensively used nuclear sites in the world at Sellafield, northwestern England. In the late 1990s, Sellafield found itself in the firing line after a report criticised safety standards at the nuclear reprocessing plant which has been operating for some 50 years. Now, workers understand the public relations challenge. "We have got to demonstrate that we can clean up the legacy of the past. That way we can show we can deal with the waste of the future," said Tony Price, head of the clean-up programme. Waste has long been an industry black spot. The enriched uranium used in atomic reactors in nuclear plants is highly radioactive and spent fuel remains hazardous for 100,000 years. "As we show we are dealing with the legacy waste, people are starting to get more confident," Price said. The nuclear industry's most optimistic projection, from the WNA, sees global nuclear power capacity doubling to around 750 gigawatts over the next 25 years but its share of world electricity supply only edging up to 18 percent from 16 due to booming demand, expected to double between 1990 and 2020. To put that in context, 750 gigawatts of capacity could produce up to 5.2 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity which would be enough to supply every person in the United States, Britain, Russia, France and Germany for a year. "Between 2030 and 2050 you could see nuclear as a percentage of world electricity supply rising sharply," Hore-Lacy said. "It is not hard to envisage a scenario where nuclear could provide 50 percent of world electricity." "THE WRONG ANSWER" Environmentalists say the true costs of nuclear power are three times those stated, there is a risk terrorists could get hold of deadly plutonium, and waste is a problem for the future. "We are not taking an ideological view ... We have analysed the pros and cons ... and we have concluded that (nuclear power) is the wrong answer," said Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth. "A much more positive set of options are there," he said, citing a combination of energy efficiency, microgeneration, renewables, carbon capture, and more sustainable transport. Greenpeace told the European Parliament last week that far from being the answer, nuclear power should be phased out. "To replace one environmental catastrophe -- polluting fossil fuel power -- with another environmental disaster -- nuclear energy -- is clearly not the answer," it said. Environmentalists want more use to be made of renewable energy like solar, wind and waves. The wind power industry says that by 2020 wind could provide 12 percent of the world's electricity, but it complains of administrative barriers. It says wind power has no carbon emissions, employs many and is good for local economies -- although most complaints come from people who don't want wind farms in their back yards. In Europe, Germany takes the lead with renewable energy sources supplying 10 percent of electricity while in neighbour France, nuclear power provides nearly 80 percent of electricity. In Britain, where Blair advocates tackling global warming, renewables provide only 3 percent of electricity with 19 percent coming from nuclear power but plants are getting old, hence the need for a prompt decision on whether to build new ones. WNA's Hore-Lacy argues that the nuclear industry has high start-up costs but low running costs and dismisses the notion that waste causes any problems. -------- ACTIVISTS 'Dr. Atomic' radiates fiery melodic flair TIMOTHY ANDRES Published Saturday, October 8, 2005 Yale Daily News http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=30224 It's big news when a major opera company commissions a new opera, and the frenzy surrounding the October 1 premiere of John Adams's "Dr. Atomic" in San Francisco has reached fever pitch. The much-anticipated opera has been on the radar since it was announced in 2002 -- and judging by Adams's previous two, this was an occasion not to be missed. Dr. Atomic takes the Manhattan Project as its subject, centering on Robert Oppenheimer, the cultivated and controversial head scientist. Set in the New Mexican desert in July 1945 on the eve of the world's first successful test of an atomic weapon, the opera explores the wide-ranging moral, political and scientific viewpoints surrounding the building of the "Gadget." The most unique aspect of "Dr. Atomic" is the libretto, or the lack thereof -- the opera's eclectic text was compiled piecemeal from various sources. A 1940s informational packet on nuclear energy, declassified Truman-administration transcripts, a John Donne sonnet, a passage about Vishnu from the Bhagavad Gita, and verses of Oppenheimer's beloved Baudelaire are transformed into conversations, arias and choruses. The man responsible for this assemblage is Peter Sellars, a longtime Adams collaborator, who also directed the opera. On its own, such disparate material is a patchwork, but thanks to Adams's music, the text gains poignant cohesion. His well-loved musical voice has been further honed, and it plumbs new depths. Conductor Donald Runnicles and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra turned the masterful score into a viscerally engaging performance. Threatening rumbles, unpredictable brass blasts, and gristly harmonies permeate what is perhaps the tensest three hours of music ever written. The opera begins with a collage of pre-recorded sounds, reminiscent of the composer's memorial for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, "On the Transmigration of Souls". Trucks, machinery, bombers, thunder, loudspeakers and fractured bits of a 1940s radio tune rumble over 70 loudspeakers, creating the impression that the entire opera house is a giant freight elevator taking its audience to an underground bunker. The chorus -- which acts as a Greek chorus commenting on and occasionally participating in the action -- bursts in almost immediately, blustering "matter can be neither created nor destroyed". Certainly, no one but Adams could have set the Law of Conservation of Matter to music so gracefully. Another peculiarity of this drama is the barely-existent plot. The main conflict is a moral one -- Oppenheimer never questions the nuclear intentions of the government, while the young scientist Robert Wilson is racked with doubts. The conclusion does not absolve anyone of internal struggle, save General Leslie Groves, the unwavering commander whose only worry is that a violent thunderstorm will disrupt the test. Forgoing the expected explosion, Adams represents the bomb's detonation with a distant swell, tolling bells, and a disembodied Japanese voice repeating "A drink of water, please." While the male scientists argue around their lab tables, the female characters provide the philosophical backbone of the opera. Oppenheimer's wife, Kitty, singing poetry by Muriel Rukeyser, vies desperately for her husband's romantic attentions during an abortive bedroom scene. Kitty is imbued with a prophetic gift, despite her high-strung alcoholism. Her huge opening aria of act II, a lyrical plea for peace, was sung with melancholy conviction by mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson. Baritone Gerald Finley, as Oppenheimer, sang and moved with frightening intensity during the opera's dramatic crux, the setting of John Donne's sonnet "Batter my heart, three-person'd God" (the poem which inspired the ever-literate Oppenheimer to name the test site "Trinity"). Adams's music traverses centuries here -- at once ancient, Romantic, and apocalyptic, it is the most immediately memorable melody of the opera. The only weakness of the opera was the most easily remedied: staging. The set and props were minimal and effectively atmospheric, but their use was fussy. The chorus continually shifted poles, scaffolds, and ducts to different positions around the stage, for seemingly no dramatic purpose. A troupe of dancers only served to confuse the main activity with balletic leaps weaving around the singers. Throughout most of Act II, the life-sized atomic bomb model was suspended over the crib of Oppenheimer's child, a move temptingly symbolic, but heavy-handed. But these complaints are mere nit-picking; Adams and Sellars have outdone themselves with Dr. Atomic. Despite its difficulties, the opera is sure to become a repertory staple. It is modern mythology, high drama, and one of the most convincing anti-war statements in the history of music.