NucNews - October 11, 2005



-------- NUCLEAR 


-------- accidents and safety

Nuke pills not ready despite '03 deadline

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
Updated 10/11/2005 1:04 AM

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-11-nuke-pills_x.htm

WASHINGTON — Despite an order from Congress, the Bush administration has not given millions of people living within 20 miles of nuclear power plants access to pills that could help protect them if they are exposed to radiation.

It will be early 2006, at the earliest, before potassium iodide pills are made available to those people. Congress had ordered that the pills, which help prevent thyroid cancer, be stockpiled by mid-2003.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said it's "outrageous" that the administration hasn't made the pills more widely available.

"Nuclear power plants are at the top of the al-Qaeda target list," he said. "Potassium iodide is an inexpensive way to protect infants and children."

The federal government already makes pills available to states that have residents living within 10 miles of a licensed nuclear reactor. The nation has 104 such reactors spread across 33 states.

After the Sept. 11 attacks raised concerns that terrorists might try to attack nuclear power plants, members of Congress decided more people should be protected.

A nuclear accident produces radioactive iodine. Potassium iodide pills, if taken quickly, fill the thyroid with non-radioactive iodine, thereby blocking the radioactive element from the thyroid.

As part of broad bioterrorism legislation passed in 2002, Congress set a June 2003 deadline for the administration to offer free potassium iodide pills to states that have residents living within a 20-mile radius of a plant.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 4.7 million people live within a 10-mile radius of the nation's plants, and 21.9 million live within a 20-mile radius. Because the pills are recommended only for people 40 and younger, who are more likely than older people to get thyroid cancer, not everyone would need them.

The once-a-day pills are approved by the Food and Drug Administration and must be started within four hours of exposure. Thyroid cancer would be a leading health concern, particularly among children, in the event of a radioactive iodine leak caused by an accident or a terrorist attack.

Robert Claypool, director of the emergency preparedness planning office at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), acknowledges the government is way behind schedule.

He blames bureaucratic indecision during the past two years about which government agency — HHS or the Homeland Security Department — should be in charge of the federal government's stockpile of drugs and anti-dotes for anthrax, smallpox and other diseases.

The dispute was resolved this year in favor of HHS.

"All of us understand that more time has elapsed than Congress intended," Claypool said. "We're doing our best to try to comply with it."

States have the option of stockpiling their own potassium iodide pills.

Under the bioterrorism law, HHS must offer guidelines to states on how to store, distribute and use them. HHS published guidelines for public comment in August.

Claypool said the administration is pushing to get the program in place. But he added that officials are concerned that the pills, which protect the thyroid against inhaled or ingested radioactive iodine by saturating it with harmless potassium iodide, "will be overrelied on as a panacea" in lieu of evacuation and decontamination.

Alan Morris, president of Anbex, a company that sells the pills over the Internet, says the government could buy them for only 18 cents per pill. Most people would probably need to take the pills only a few days before the radiation dissipated.

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Correction: BRF-Nuclear-Plant-Fatal Story

Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:48 PM ET (AP)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051011/ap_on_re_us/brf_nuclear_plant_fatal_corrective_1

ATHENS, Ala. - In an Oct. 7 story about a worker fatally injured at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear plant, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the accident occurred inside the reactor. John Moulton, a TVA spokesman in Knoxville, Tenn., said the worker was struck by equipment at a project to restart Unit 1 but was not inside the reactor. 



-------- australia

Push on for council nuclear-free zones

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 Australian Broadcasting

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200510/s1479388.htm

Western Australia's country MPs are being called on to encourage their local councils to declare themselves nuclear-free zones.

The Member for Albany, Peter Watson, has written to the city of Albany asking it to amend its town planning scheme to prohibit nuclear activity.

The move comes after the Liberal Party declared its support for uranium mining at its state conference earlier this month.

Mr Watson says the issue is an important one for regional areas and other country MPs should follow his lead.

"If there's going to be any nuclear waste dump it's going to be in country areas, I can't see them dumping it in the middle of Perry Lakes stadium, so I'm calling on all the other country members to try and have this done in their particular councils and shires right throughout the state so we can tell Canberra we don't want anything to do with it in our regions," he said.



-------- britain

Blair 'open' over nuclear future
Mr Blair said he was not 'pre-empting' the debate

Tuesday, 11 October 2005 (BBC)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4332176.stm

Tony Blair has called for an "open-minded" debate on the future of nuclear power in the UK.

The prime minister said concerns over possible fossil fuel shortages and global warming were "too strong for anybody reasonably to ignore".

But the UK's targets for using more renewable sources, such as wind and wave power, were "very ambitious".

But Mr Blair told his monthly news conference he was not "pre-empting the debate at all" over nuclear energy.

The government has not ruled out building more atomic power stations to help it meet carbon emission targets and plug the energy gap created by the closure of ageing plants.

Mr Blair said the nuclear industry needed a "decision and a framework".

He added that it was "responsible to start this debate and have it in a very open way" and to "take what decisions we think are right for the country".

Trade Secretary Alan Johnson has said government will bring forward proposals for nuclear power next year to allow a public debate on the issue. 

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'Keep open mind on nuclear power'

Oct 11 2005
IC Wales

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0600uk/tm_objectid=16236128%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=%2dkeep%2dopen%2dmind%2don%2dnuclear%2dpower%2d-name_page.html

Prime Minister Tony Blair has appealed for people to keep an "open mind" on the merits and disadvantages of nuclear energy as the debate gets under way on whether to replace Britain's atomic power stations.

Mr Blair insisted that he had not yet made up his mind on whether to order the construction of new nuclear plants to replace the ageing power stations as they are phased out over the coming 10-15 years.

But he said that the need to halt climate change and ensure the UK's security of energy supply meant it would be irresponsible simply to discount the nuclear option.

Speaking at his monthly press conference at 10 Downing Street, Mr Blair said: "The reasons why it has got to go on the agenda - and I am not expressing a concluded view - are security of supply and global warming.

"There will be a debate about that, but it should be conducted with an open mind, I hope, by everybody.

"The issue of energy is, in my view, going to start to come centre-stage, not just in our own politics but in the politics of other similar countries, and that is for a very simple reason.

"We have the evidence of global warming which is there, and that is very strong now - I think too strong for anybody responsibly to ignore.

"Secondly, for a country like Britain, our present nuclear power is going to be phased out over 10-15 years. We have a very ambitious renewables target and there are obviously issues there that we have got to address and get right."

Mr Blair promised: "I am not pre-empting the debate at all. We will take whatever decisions are right for the country."



-------- china 

China mulls nuclear plant on southern island of Hainan

BEIJING (AFP) Oct 11, 2005

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051011032346.q5pr7muh.html

China's largest nuclear plant builder is in talks with the southern island province of Hainan to construct a reactor there, state media reported Tuesday.

"We finished preliminary talks with senior government officials last week and further negotiations are expected next year," an unnamed director of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) told the China Daily.

The site has not yet been chosen and the plant's size will depend on the power demand forecast for the province, which aims to expand industrial sectors such as petrochemicals and steel, the director said.

The proposal is yet to be approved by the country's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, the report said.

CNNC has plans to build a wide network of plants across coastal provinces including Liaoning, Shandong, Fujian and Guangdong and most have been included in the country's 11th five-year economic plan (2006-2010).

Earlier reports said China plans to build 40 nuclear reactors over the next 15 years to boost combined nuclear power capacity from the current 8,700 megawatts to 40,000 megawatts by 2020.

China currently has nine nuclear power plants of various sizes in operation, with two more Russian-made reactors expected to go on line by early next year, and eight others already having central government approval.

China has outlined plans to increase the proportion of its electricity generated by nuclear power from the current 2.4 percent to four percent in 15 years' time.

China relies on coal for 70 percent of its energy demands but the recent economic boom has highlighted the risks of being so overly dependent on one energy source.



<a name="du"></a>

-------- depleted uranium

Leuren Moret: Depleted Uranium Is WMD

Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 1:52 pm
Opinion: Leuren Moret
Translations: French, Italian German

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00138.htm

My grandfather, U.S. Army Col. Edwin Joseph McAllister, was born in Battle Creek in 1895. He does not know that his first grandchild is an international expert on depleted uranium. I have worked in two U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, and in 1991 I became a whistleblower at the Livermore lab. Depleted uranium is very, very, very nasty stuff:

# Depleted uranium (DU) weaponry meets the definition of weapon of mass destruction in two out of three categories under U.S. Federal Code Title 50 Chapter 40 Section 2302.

# DU weaponry violates all international treaties and agreements, Hague and Geneva war conventions, the 1925 Geneva gas protocol, U.S. laws and U.S. military law.

# Since 1991, the U.S. has released the radioactive atomicity equivalent of at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs into the global atmosphere. That is 10 times the amount released during atmospheric testing which was the equivalent of 40,000 Hiroshima bombs. The U.S. has permanently contaminated the global atmosphere with radioactive pollution having a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

# The U.S. has illegally conducted four nuclear wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and twice in Iraq since 1991, calling DU "conventional" weapons when in fact they are nuclear weapons.

# DU on the battlefield has three effects on living systems: it is a heavy metal "chemical" poison, a "radioactive" poison and has a "particulate" effect due to the very tiny size of the particles that are 0.1 micron and smaller.

# The blueprint for DU weaponry is a 1943 Manhattan Project memo to Gen. L. Groves that recommended development of radioactive materials as poison gas weapons - dirty bombs, dirty missiles and dirty bullets.

# DU weapons are very effective kinetic energy penetrators, but even more effective bioweapons since uranium has a strong chemical affinity for phosphate structures concentrated in DNA.
ADVERTISEMENT

# DU is the Trojan Horse of nuclear war - it keeps giving and keeps killing. There is no way to clean it up, and no way to turn it off because it continues to decay into other radioactive isotopes in over 20 steps.

# Terry Jemison at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs stated in August 2004 that over 518,000 Gulf-era veterans (14-year period) are now on medical disability, and that 7,039 were wounded on the battlefield in that same period. Over 500,000 U.S. veterans are homeless.

# In some studies of soldiers who had normal babies before the war, 67 percent of the post-war babies are born with severe birth defects - missing brains, eyes, organs, legs and arms, and blood diseases.

# In southern Iraq, scientists are reporting five times higher levels of gamma radiation in the air, which increases the radioactive body burden daily of inhabitants. In fact, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan are uninhabitable.

# Cancer starts with one alpha particle under the right conditions. One gram of DU is 1/20th of a cubic centimeter and releases 12,000 alpha particles per second.

Before my grandfather died, he told me that his generation had made a mess of this planet. I wonder what he would say to me now I would tell him to see "Beyond Treason" (www.beyondtreason.com), a new documentary about the history of treason by the U.S. government against our own troops: Atomic veterans, MK-Ultra, Agent Orange and DU. After Vietnam, Henry Kissinger said, "Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. . ." (from Chapter 5 in the "Final Days" by Woodward and Bernstein).

*************

Leuren Moret is an international radiation specialist, with a B.S. degree in geology from University of California at Davis, a M.A. degree in Near Eastern studies from University of California at Berkeley and has done post-graduate work in the geosciences at UC-Davis. She is environmental commissioner for the City of Berkeley, Calif.

***************

ITALIAN TRANSLATION

Una donna di scienza parla.

L’INVESTIGATORE di BATTLE CREEK

Martedì 9 Agosto 2005

(Tradotto in Italiano da Serena e Paolo)

L’uranio impoverito è un WMD (Arma di Distruzione di Massa)

Leuren Moret

Mio nonno, nato nel 1895 a Battle Creek, si chiamava Edwin Joseph Mcallister ed era un Colonnello dell’esercito americano. Si meraviglierebbe se sapesse che la sua prima nipote è oggi un esperto internazionale in uranio impoverito. Ho lavorato in due laboratori americani di armi nucleari e, nel 1991 ho lanciato l’allarme dal laboratorio di Livermore. L’uranio impoverito è una cosa molto, molto, molto pericolosa.

# Le armi all’uranio impoverito (DU) rientrano perfettamente nella definizione di armi di distruzione di massa in due delle tre categorie del Codice federale degli Stati Uniti, sezione 2302, capitolo 40, articolo 50.

# Le armi all’uranio impoverito violano tutti i trattati e gli accordi internazionali di guerra, le Convenzioni di La Hague e Ginevra, il protocollo di Ginevra del 1925 concernente la proibizione di usare gas in guerra, le leggi americane e le leggi militari degli STATI UNITI.

# Dal 1991, gli STATI UNITI hanno rilasciato, nell’atmosfera mondiale, un equivalente radioattivo di atomicità pari a 400.000 bombe di Nagasaki. Una quantità dieci volte maggiore rispetto a quella liberata durante gli esprimenti atmosferici, che equivalevano comunque a 40.000 bombe d’Hiroshima. Gli STATI UNITI hanno contaminato, in modo permanente, l’atmosfera mondiale con un inquinamento radioattivo avente una emi-vita pari a 4,5 miliardi di anni.

# Gli STATI UNITI hanno illegalmente condotto 4 guerre nucleari: Iugoslavia, Afghanistan e per ben due volte, dal 1991, l’Irak, definendo le armi all’uranio impoverito “armi convenzionali”, quando di fatto sono armi nucleari.

# L’utranio impoverito, sul campo di battaglia, ha tre principali effetti sugli esseri viventi: è un “veleno” chimico di metallo pesante, è un veleno “radioattivo” e ha un effetto “particellare” dovuto alle dimensioni infime delle particelle che lo costituiscono, inferiori a 0,1 micron (un micron corrisponde a un milionesimo di metro).

# Il programma per le armi ad uranio impoverito (UI) è racchiuso in una nota del 1943 del Progetto Manhattan, redatta dal Generale L. Groves che raccomandava lo sviluppo del materiale radioattivo come armi a gas mortali – bombe sporche, missili sporchi e proiettili sporchi. (Le famose bombe sporche dei terroristi sono dunque note dal 1943 e sicuramente utilizzate sin dal 1973 durante la Guerra dei Sei Giorni. I carri armati egiziani sono stati quasi sicuramente decimati da proiettili ad uranio impoverito).

# Le munizioni all’uranio impoverito sono dei perforatori ad energia cinetica molto efficaci, ma sono anche e soprattutto delle armi biologiche poiché l’uranio possiede una forte affinità chimica con le strutture di fosfato concentrate nel DNA.

# L’uranio impoverito è il cavallo di Troia della guerra nucleare – irradia ed uccide nel tempo senza tregua. La decontaminazione non è possibile e il decadimento in altri isotopi radioattivi, che si conclude dopo 20 passaggi, non può essere fermato.

# Terry Jemison del Ministero degli Affari dei Veterani americani ha riferito nell’Agosto del 2004 che più di 518.000 veterani della Guerra del Golfo (durata di 14 anni) sono ora invalidi mentre nello stesso periodo solo 7039 soldati furono feriti in battaglia. Più di 500.000 reduci, inoltre, sono senzatetto.

# Alcune inchieste condotte sui soldati che hanno avuto bambini normali prima della guerra mostrano che il 67% dei loro figli nati dopo la guerra presentano delle gravi malformazioni – nati senza cervello o senza occhi o senza altri organi, nati senza braccia o gambe, affetti da malattie sanguinee.

# Nel sud dell’Irak, gli scienziati parlano di un livello cinque volte superiore di raggi gamma nell’aria, un irradiamento permanente e quotidiano che aumenta la contaminazione degli abitanti. Di fatti, Irak, ex Iugoslavia e Afghanistan sono terre inabitabili.

# Il cancro scaturisce da una particella alfa inserita "nelle giuste condizioni". Un grammo di uranio impoverito, 1/20 di cm3, libera 12.000 particelle alfa al secondo.

Prima di morire, mio nonno mi disse che la sua generazione aveva fatto uno scempio di questo pianeta. Mi domando cosa mi direbbe ora dopo aver visto “Oltre il tradimento” (www.beyondtreason.com), un nuovo documentario sul tradimento del governo degli STATI UNITI contro le nostre truppe: Veterani atomizzati, MK-Ultra (fucili con pallottole all’uranio), Agente Orange e uranio impoverito. Dopo il Vietnam, Henry Kissinger ha dichiarato che “I militari sono degli animali sordi-muti e stupidi, da utilizzare come pegno in politica estera” (Tratto dal capitolo 5 di “Gli ultimi giorni” di Woodward e Bernstein).

Leuren Moret è una specialista internazionale nel campo delle radiazioni. Dottore in geologia all’Università della California a Davis, possiede anche un master in studi mediorientali conseguito all’Università di Berckeley, California. Ha insegnato geo-scienza nell’Università di UC-Devis. E’ un membro della commissione ambiente nella città di Berckeley in California.

***************

FRENCH TRANSLATION

une femme scientifique parle

L’INVESTIGATEUR de BATTLE CREEK

(traduit en Français par Patrick et Maurice)

L'uranium appauvri est une ADM (Arme de Destruction de Masse)

Par Leuren Moret

Mon grand-père, Colonel de l’armée des ETATS-UNIS, Edwin Joseph McAllister, naquit à Battle Creek en 1895. Il ne savait pas que sa première petite-fille est une experte internationale de l’uranium appauvri. J'ai travaillé dans deux laboratoires d'armes nucléaires américains, et en 1991 je suis devenue une lanceuse d’alerte au laboratoire de Livermore. L'uranium appauvri est une substance très, très, très méchante :

# Les armements en uranium appauvri (UA) correspondent à la définition de l’ADM (l'arme de destruction de masse) dans deux des trois catégories sous la section 2302 du chapitre 40 du titre 50 du code fédéral des ETATS-UNIS.

# Les armements en uranium appauvri (UA) violent tous les traités et accords internationaux de guerre, de La Hague et de Genève, le protocole des gaz 1925 de Genève, les lois américaines et loi des militaires des ETATS-UNIS.

# Depuis 1991, les ETATS-UNIS ont répandu l'équivalent radioactif d'atomicité d’au moins 400 000 bombes de Nagasaki dans l'atmosphère mondiale. C'est 10 fois la quantité libérée pendant les essais atmosphériques qui étaient l'équivalent de

40 000 bombes d'Hiroshima. Les ETATS-UNIS ont, de manière permanente, contaminé l'atmosphère mondiale avec de la pollution radioactive ayant une demi vie de 4.5 milliards années.

# Les ETATS-UNIS ont illégalement mené quatre guerres nucléaires en Yougoslavie, Afghanistan et deux fois en Irak depuis 1991, appelant l’UA armes "conventionnelles" quand, en fait, se sont des armes nucléaires.

# L’UA, sur le champ de bataille, a trois effets sur les systèmes de la vie : c'est un poison "chimique" de métal lourd, un poison "radioactif", et a un effet "particulaire" dû à la taille très minuscule des particules qui sont inférieures à 0.1 micron (un micron = un millionième de mètre).

# L’autorisation de départ pour les armements avec uranium appauvri (UA) est une note de 1943 du projet de Manhattan au Général L. Groves qui a recommandé le développement de matériaux radioactifs comme armes à gaz mortels - bombes sales, missiles sales et balles sales. << les fameuses bombes sales envisagées par les terroristes sont donc connues depuis 1943 et utilisées depuis ? Certainement en 1973 pendant la Guerre des Six Jours. Les tanks égyptiens ont été décimés très certainement par des obus à UA >>.

# Les munitions à UA sont des perforateurs à énergie cinétiques très efficaces, mais des armes biologiques bien plus efficaces puisque l'uranium a une affinité chimique forte pour les structures de phosphate concentrées dans l’ADN.

# L’UA est un Cheval de Troie de la guerre nucléaire - il continue à rayonner et continue à tuer. Il n'y a aucune solution pour le décontaminer, et aucune voie pour l'arrêter parce qu'il continue à se désintégrer en d'autres isotopes radioactifs dans plus de 20 étapes.

# Terry Jemison du Ministère des Affaires des Vétérans des ETATS-UNIS a indiqué en août 2004 que plus de 518 000 vétérans de l’ère du Golfe (période de 14 années) sont maintenant en invalidité médicale alors que 7039 ont été blessés sur le champ de bataille dans la même période. Plus de 500 000 Vétérans américains sont des SDF.

# Dans quelques études de soldats qui ont eu des bébés normaux avant la guerre, 67 % des bébés d'après-guerre naissent avec des malformations de naissance graves - cerveaux, yeux, organes, jambes et bras manquants et des maladies de sang.

# Dans l’Irak méridional, les scientifiques rapportent des niveaux cinq fois plus élevés de rayonnement gamma dans le ciel, ce qui augmente la contamination du corps des habitants par rayonnement quotidien. En fait, l'Irak, la Yougoslavie et l'Afghanistan sont inhabitables.

# Le cancer commence avec une particule alpha placée dans ‘de bonnes conditions’. Un gramme de UA, c’est 1/20e cm3 et libère 12 000 particules alpha par seconde.

Avant que mon grand-père ne meurt, il m'avait dit que sa génération avait fait un gâchis de cette planète. Je me demande ce qu'il me dirait maintenant que je lui dirais de voir "Au-delà de la trahison" (www.beyondtreason.com), un nouveau documentaire au sujet de l'histoire de la trahison du gouvernement des ETATS-UNIS contre nos propres troupes : Vétérans atomisés, Mk-Ultra << j’ignore ce sigle ; désolé ! >>, agent Orange et UA. Après le Vietnam, Henry Kissinger a dit "Les hommes militaires sont des animaux juste sourds-muets et stupides à employer comme gages en politique étrangère. . " (tiré du chapitre 5 dans "Jours ultimes" par Woodward et Bernstein).

Leuren Moret est une spécialiste internationale des radiations, avec un degré B.S. en géologie de l'université de Californie à Davis, un degré M.A. en études Proches Orientales de l'université de Californie à Berkeley et a tenu un poste universitaire supérieur dans les géosciences à UC-Davis. Elle est commissaire environnementale pour la ville de Berkeley, Calif.

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GERMAN TRANSLATION

BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER

ABGEREICHERTES URAN, DEPLETED URANIUM (DU), IST EINE MASSENVERNICHTUNGSWAFFE

Eine Wissenschaftlerin spricht

Von Leuren Moret

Übersetzt ins Deutsche von Albrecht Schott

Mein Großvater, der Offizier der US-Armee Edwin Joseph McAllister, wurde 1895 in Battle Creek geboren. Er weiß nicht, dass sein erstes Enkelkind eine internationale Expertin auf dem Gebiet des DU ist. Ich habe in zwei US Kernwaffenlabors gearbeitet; 1991 wurde ich whistleblower am Livermore Labor. DU ist ein sehr, sehr, sehr widerlicher Stoff:

Auf DU trifft die Definition für Massenvernichtungswaffen in zwei von drei Kategorien zu gemäß U.S. Federal Code Title 50 Chapter 40 Section 2302.

# DU Waffen verletzen alle Internationalen Verträge und Übereinkünfte, die Haager und Genfer Kriegskonventionen, das Genfer „Gasprotocol“ von 1925 und US-Gesetze und US Militär Gesetze.

# Seit 1991 haben die USA mindestens die 400.000 Nagasaki Bomben entsprechende Menge Radioaktivität in die Erdatmosphäre freigesetzt. Das ist das 10-fache der während der oberirdischen Atomwaffentests freigesetzten Menge an Radioaktivität. Diese entspricht 40.000 Hiroshima Bomben. Fortwährend haben die USA die Erdatmosphäre mit Radioaktivität, die eine Halbwertszeit von 4,5 Milliarden Jahren hat, verschmutzt.

# Seit 1991 haben die USA illegale Atomkriege geführt: In Jugoslavien, Afghanistan und zweimal im Irak, wobei sie DU als „konventionelle“ Waffe bezeichneten obwohl sie in Wirklichkeit eine Kernwaffe ist.

# DU hat auf dem Schlachtfeld drei Wirkungen auf alles Leben: als Schwermetall ist es chemisch giftig, es ist radiologisch giftig und es entwickelt durch die submikroskopische Größe der entstehenden DU Partikel von unter 0,1 µm eine spezifische Partikelwirkung.

# Der Gedanke an DU-Waffen ist Teil eines Memorandums des Manhattan Projekts von 1943 an General L. Groves, welches die Entwicklung von radioaktiven Materialien als Giftgaswaffen, schmutzige Bomben, schmutzige Raketen und schmutzige Geschosse empfiehlt.

# DU-Waffen sind sehr effektive kinetische Waffen, d.h. sie haben hohe Durchschlagskraft; aber zugleich sind sie weit effektivere Biowaffen, da Uran eine starke chemische Affinität zu den Phosphatgruppen der DNA hat.

# DU ist das Trojanische Pferd des Atomkriegs: es bleibt präsent und tötet weiterhin. Es gibt keine Möglichkeit, kontaminierte Flächen zu reinigen, ebenso keine Möglichkeit, es sozusagen abzuschalten da es fortwährend in über 20 Schritten in andere radioaktive Isotope zerfällt.

# Terry Jemison vom US Department für Veteranen-Angelegenheiten stellte im August 2004 fest, dass über 518.000 Golfkriegsveteranen – nach 14 Jahren – medizinisch zu behandeln sind und dass 7.039 damals auf dem Schlachtfeld verwundet wurden. Über 500.000 US-Veteranen sind obdachlos.

# Mehrere Studien über Soldatenfamilien, die vor dem Krieg gesunde Babies bekamen zeigen, dass 67% der Nachkriegsbabies mit schwersten Geburtsschäden zur Welt kamen: Ohne Gehirn, Augen, Organe, Beine und Arme, sowie mit Blutkrankheiten.

# Wissenschaftler berichten, dass im Südirak eine 5-fach höhere Gamma-Strahlung in der Luft gemessen wird, was die tägliche Strahlenbelastung der Bevölkerung erhöht. Faktisch sind der Irak, Jugoslavien und Afghanistan unbewohnbar.

# Krebs entsteht unter entsprechenden Bedingungen durch die Wirkung eines Alpha-Teilchens. Ein Gramm DU ist 1/20 Kubikcentimeter und erzeugt in einer Sekunde 12.000 Alpha-Teilchen.

Bevor mein Großvater starb sagte er mir, dass seine Generation unseren Planeten in Unordnung gebracht habe. Ich frage mich, was er zu mir sagen würde, wenn ich ihn „Beyond Treason“ (www.beyondtreason.com) anschauen ließe, eine neue Demonstration der Geschichte des Verrats der US-Regierung an unseren eigenen Truppen, Atom-Veteranen: MK-Ultra, Agent orange und DU. Nach dem Vietnam Krieg sagte Henry Kissinger: Soldaten, Militärisches Personal sind eben stumme, dumme Tiere zum Gebrauch als Marionetten der Außenpolitik (from Chapter 5 in the „Final Days“ by Woodward and Bernstein).

Leuren Moret ist internationale Strahlenspezialistin mit Geologie-Examen (B.S.) der Universität von Kalifornien in Davis, und einem Examen (M.A.) in Nahoststudien der Universität von Kalifornien in Berkeley. Sie hat an der Universität von Kalifornien in Davis geowissenschaftlich gearbeitet. Sie ist Umweltbevollmächtigte der Stadt Berkeley in Kalifornien.



-------- europe

Romania Has No Objections to Bulgaria's Belene Nuclear Plant Project

Source: BBC Monitoring European
Tuesday, 11 October 2005

http://www.rednova.com/news/science/268035/romania_has_no_objections_to_bulgarias_belene_nuclear_plant_project/index.html?source=r_science

Text of report in English, headlined "Romania approves of work done on Belene nuclear plant project", by Bulgarian news agency BTA website

Ruse, on the Danube, 11 October: "Romania has no objections to what has been done so far on the Belene nuclear power plant project," Romanian Environment and Water Management Minister Sulphina Barbu said here on Tuesday [ 11 October], emerging from a session with her Bulgarian counterpart Dzhevdet Chakurov. "Bulgaria complies with all standards for such projects," Barbu said, adding that Belene is an example of good practice in the two countries' interaction. She noted the involvement of Romanian experts in assessing the environmental impact of the Belene project and in related public discussions.

The Belene project was suspended in 1991 and unblocked in December 2002, when Bulgaria shut down the two oldest reactors of its nuclear power plant at Kozloduy. Russia's Atomstroyexport and the Czech Republic's Consortium Skoda Alliance have been admitted to the second stage of the bidding procedure for a contract to design and build two nuclear reactors at Belene. The National Electric Company (NEK) Board of Directors on Tuesday approved a report by the bid evaluation commission. Both bidders were found to comply with the bidding rules and will be invited to submit concrete offers. The NEK Board of Directors decided that the future offers will be discussed with the bidders on 15 December.



-------- iran

Diplomats See Possible Iran Compromise

Tuesday October 11, 2005 5:46 PM
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5336517,00.html

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has signaled it may grant access to sites linked to possible work on nuclear weapons and other demands from the U.N. atomic watchdog agency to avoid referral to the Security Council, diplomats said Tuesday.

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said a high-ranking delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency was in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss details of a possible Iranian offer.

Besides seeking access to two military sites, the agency also wants to interview military officials thought to be associated with what Iran calls a purely civilian nuclear program. The agency is also asking for documents linked to Tehran's uranium enrichment program.

IAEA officials view those three outstanding issues as crucial to their nearly three-year inquiry meant to test Iranian assertions that more than 18 years of clandestine nuclear activities first discovered in 2002 were geared solely toward generating power.

Iran's foot-dragging on those points contributed to a decision last month by the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors to find the country in violation of provisions of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The board also passed a resolution clearing the way for it to refer Tehran to the Security Council as early as next month.

The diplomats, who are accredited to the agency, said that after signals from Tehran that it was ready to compromise, all three points were being discussed between Iranian officials and the IAEA delegation, led by Olli Heinonen, an agency deputy director general.

Iran strongly denies assertions from the United States and its allies that its nuclear program is a cover for a weapons program or that its military is involved in atomic activities.

In Moscow on Tuesday, Russian analysts said that the United States' push to refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions would only deepen the crisis.

Alexei Arbatov, head of the Center for Security Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the U.S. could resolve the impasse by joining talks between Iran and the European Union, represented by Britain, Germany and France. The talks collapsed in August after Iran resumed uranium reprocessing work.

``Handing the Iranian nuclear issue over to the Security Council will only split it and encourage Iran to raise the stakes,'' Arbatov said during a round-table meeting that attracted some of Russia's top experts on Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week dismissed speculation that Moscow might join talks between Iran and the EU mediators. Arbatov argued that Moscow's mediation would make no sense, because no agreement could be reached without the U.S.

He said that Washington could persuade Tehran to drop its uranium enrichment program by restoring diplomatic relations and offering security guarantees to Iran.

Russia has said it shares the goal of preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear arms capability but differs on the tactics. It has been at the center of the dispute because it is building a $800 million nuclear reactor in the Iranian city of Bushehr that is scheduled for launch by the end of 2006.

Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Moscow. 

On the Net:

http://www.iaea.org

----

ElBaradei Nobel Prize targets Iran nuke dossier

Tuesday, October 11 , 2005 - © 2005IranMania.com

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=36546&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

LONDON, October 11 (IranMania) - Encouraged by his Nobel Peace Prize, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei will be able to take more serious measures against Iran and drift away from the neutral stance that the IAEA is supposed to take, Dr Ali Khorram said.

The political analyst told the Mehr News Agency that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the IAEA director general so that the investigation of Iran?s nuclear program can be stepped up, because he would not have been given such a great honor under normal circumstances. 

On the apparent contradiction between the United States? initial opposition to ElBaradei?s reelection as IAEA chief and the fact that he has now been awarded the Noble Peace Prize, Khorram stated that the U.S. has adopted a carrot and stick policy and allowed ElBaradei to win the prize in order to encourage him to follow the US line. 

Khorram, who was formerly the Iranian representative on the United Nations human rights and disarmament committees, compared ElBaradei?s recent remarks stressing the need to intensify the investigation of Iran?s nuclear dossier and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi?s optimism about the IAEA?s new stance, saying that there is a great difference between ElBaradei?s plan to resolve the dispute over Iran?s nuclear program and the Iranian Foreign Ministry?s preferred approach. 

Khorram, who has been critical of Iran?s diplomacy on the nuclear issue, went on to say that Iran helped ElBaradei win the award and now his Noble Peace Prize means that the world will support his decisions. 

This also means that the countries that helped ElBaradei receive the Nobel Prize will support the idea of referring Iran?s nuclear dossier to the United in conclusion. 

Meanwhile, former Iranian representative to the IAEA Mohammad Kiarashi told the Mehr News Agency on Monday that there were ulterior motives behind the decision to give ElBaradei the Noble Peace Prize, namely to make him famous, to influence world public opinion, and to hide the fact that ElBaradei?s stances are politically motivated. 

He noted that the Noble Peace Prize was originally designated for people who fearlessly strove to establish world peace and to guide society toward justice, peace, and development, although in recent years it has been turned into a tool to help the major powers achieve their objectives.

Kiarashi cited as examples the fact that the peace prize has been given to some notorious political figures like former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, who was one of the founders of the Zionist regime?s nuclear weapons program. 

After World War II, the victors established international organizations to help them realize their goals, legitimize their illegitimate actions, and impose their undemocratic demands on the world under a democratic facade, he added. 

With his new prestige as a peacemaker, ElBaradei can now help the United States pursue its hostile policy toward the Islamic Republic?s nuclear program, Kiarashi said in conclusion. 

----

Iran softens tone in nuclear stand-off

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - © 2005IranMania.com
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19198

TEHRAN: Iran softened its tone amid a crisis over its disputed nuclear program, with a senior national security official saying the country had made a "strategic choice" to pursue negotiations. "Negotiations are Iran's strategic choice in the nuclear issue, and we think that there is no other way forward except through talks," Ali Agha Mohammadi, spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told the student news agency ISNA.

"Iran wants its nuclear case to be transparent and other countries want to ease their concerns through negotiations, so therefore the only solution to reach these objectives is to talk," he added.

Talks with Britain, France and Germany broke down in August, when Iran slammed the door on an offer of incentives in exchange for a cessation of fuel work. Iran also ended a freeze on fuel cycle work by resuming uranium conversion - a precursor to potentially dual-use enrichment work.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board passed a resolution finding Iran to be in noncompliance with the NPT - paving the way for the matter to be referred to the UN Security Council.

Iran has threatened to respond to the resolution by blocking tougher IAEA inspections and even resuming enrichment itself.

But in recent days Iranian officials have eased their tone, and both the EU-3 and Iran have been openly calling for negotiations to resume ahead of the next IAEA meeting in November - when a Security Council referral could be on the cards.

According to Mohammadi Iran could accept a compromise on uranium conversion proposed by South Africa, a country which has been supporting Iran's position, as a precursor to resuming enrichment itself.

"If we need seven or eight more months of talks to reach a final decision on enrichment ... during this period we could accept receiving uranium yellowcake from South Africa and sending back UF6 gas produced at Isfahan," he said.

At Isfahan, Iran is converting raw mined uranium into the more concentrated yellowcake and then converting that into UF6 - the gas that would eventually be fed into cascades of centrifuges, the process known as enrichment. This proposal, however, remains at odds with the positions of the U.S. and EU, which are trying to keep Iran from possessing fuel-cycle technology, and in particular from acquiring large stocks of UF6. - AFP



-------- latinamerica

Venezuelan Energy Minister denies plan to buy Argentinean nuclear reactor

Published: Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Bylined to: Venezuelanalysis

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=46322

Venezuelanalysis.com writes: Responding to news reports that Venezuela is interested in purchasing a nuclear reactor from Argentina, Venezuela’s Minister of Energy & Petroleum, Rafael Ramirez, denied that this is true.

Rather, Venezuela is interested in training and research on nuclear technology, in cooperation with Argentina, as part of its existing cooperation agreements.

The report that Venezuela was interested in purchasing a nuclear reactor from Argentina originated with an AP summary of a news story in the Argentinean newspaper Clarin. According to this report, diplomatic sources had told the Clarin that the request had been made during a meeting last August 29. The reactor type, known as CAREM, is of medium capacity and would be used only for peaceful purposes.

    Ramirez, making his comments to the press following a cabinet meeting, said, “there is no negotiation [for the purchase of a reactor]. There are agreements for scientific cooperation, that is, for technological exchange and research development. But there is no concrete agreement for the acquisition of anything having to do with the generation of atomic energy.” 

Ramirez pointed out that Venezuela is indeed interested in nuclear technology, but only for training and for medical purposes. “Venezuela will bring itself up to date in the area of atomic energy,” said Ramirez.

According to Ramirez, Venezuela was one of the first countries of Latin America to have a nuclear reactor, which was a pilot reactor. Nuclear technology, however, was given little attention in the past few decades in Venezuela and now the Chavez government is interested in updating itself in this area.

Argentina and Brazil are both countries with advanced nuclear capabilities Ramirez reminded the press. According to DPA Argentina has exported reactors to countries such as Australia, Peru, Algeria, and Egypt. 



-------- pakistan

Pakistan, Indian say nukes safe after quake

ISLAMABAD (AFP) Oct 11, 2005

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051011074021.wqmvl31y.html

Rivals Pakistan and India said their nuclear warheads and installations were safe after the weekend's devastating earthquake which caused major casualties on both sides.

The South Asian neighbours conducted tit-for-tat atomic tests in 1998 and in 2002 came to the brink of war along their ceasefire line in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir, the area worst hit by Saturday's 7.6 magnitude quake.

"There is no danger to our nuclear installations and weapons from earthquakes," Pakistan military spokesman major general Shaukat Sultan told AFP. "They are fully safe."

Sultan said he was not immediately able to say up to what intensity the Pakistani nuclear facilities could withstand earthquakes and aftershocks.

Indian government officials declined to comment on the status of their atomic bombs but Indian defence experts said no warheads are deployed anywhere near the border with Pakistan.

Separately, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said they had "not received any reports of any damage to any of our facilities". India's 15 nuclear power plants also withstood a giant quake in Gujarat in January 2001, the corporation's website said.

Up to 40,000 people are thought to have died in Pakistan from the weekend's monster quake, many of them in Pakistani Kashmir, and a further 950 have been confirmed dead in India's sector of the region.

The quake also caused massive structural damage, wiping out whole villages and laying waste to some 75 percent of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

Pervez Hoodbhoy, professor of physics at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University, said the quake posed more danger to nuclear power plants than the nuclear weapons.

Pakistan's main uranium enrichment facility in Kahuta, near Islamabad, is located about 75 kilometres (46 miles) southeast of Kashmir.

"It will not be a military installation, the danger could be at Chashma," Hoodbhoy, also an activist against nuclear weapons, told AFP refering to a Chinese-built facility some 400 kilometres (248 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

"Chashma is in a seismic zone and if an earthquake is centred close to it (the nuclear power plant) there could be loss of radioactive material and a Chernobyl like situation," Hoodbhoy said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their bloody partition in 1947 but they launched a peace process in January 2004 that renewed cultural, sports and economic links snapped in 2002.

The two countries had poured troops onto their border in 2002 following an attack by suspected Pakistan-backed militants on India's parliament. India blamed Pakistan for the attack, but Islamabad denied the charge.

They have since been involved in peace talks including confidence-building measures to avoid an accidental nuclear war between them.

----

India sends aid to Pakistan for first time in decades

NEW DELHI (AFP) Oct 11, 2005

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051011065537.zvxw6zhs.html

India was to fly tonnes of relief supplies to nuclear rival Pakistan on Tuesday, the first such airlift in decades to aid earthquake victims, adding new impetus to peace efforts.

The 25-tonnes of food, medicines, tents and mattresses was scheduled to depart New Delhi aboard an Indian Air Force aircraft during the afteroon.

"It should leave between 15:30 (1000 GMT) and 16:00 (1030 GMT). For Islamabad it should be about two hours travel time maximum. It should reach Islamabad evening time," said an air force spokesman.

Foreign secretary Shyam Saran announced the aid effort on Monday evening as the death toll in Pakistan was estimated as high as 40,000 with another 60,000 injured. Almost 1,000 Indian lives were lost in Indian Kashmir.

He said that the humanitarian mission was very likely the first such airlift from India to its longtime enemy since the 1971 war between the two countries.

"The prime minister (Manmohan Singh) has directed that a consignment should be put together on an urgent basis and delivered to Pakistan," Saran said.

Pakistan's ambassador to India, Aziz Ahmed Khan, had accepted India's offer after meeting Singh.

As India and Pakistan grapple with the aftermath of Saturday's earthquake, analysts in both nations said that the aid delivery could spur their peace process.

Uday Bhaksar, deputy head of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, a New Delhi think tank, called it a "symbolically important" development.

"In the past there has been a certain reluctance by Pakistan to accept assistance from India," Bhaksar said. "This will have a positive effect on the peace process and the perception of one about the other."

The shared tragedy has struck both sides of the de facto border that divides Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan territory that has twice led the two nations to war.

"It is a very good development in bilateral relations between the two countries," I.A. Rehman, head of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told AFP.

"In tragedies like this, when people are afflicted, rivals come to their senses. They realised they need to work together," he said.

India and Pakistan began a peace process in January 2004 that renewed cultural, sports and economic links snapped in 2002.

The two countries had poured troops onto their border in 2002 following an attack by suspected Pakistan-backed militants on India's parliament. India blamed Pakistan for the attack, while Islamabad denied the charge.

They have since been involved in peace talks including confidence-building measures to avoid an accidental nuclear war between them.

But mountainous Kashmir remains at the heart of their dispute.

New Delhi repeatedly accuses Pakistan of not reining in Muslim militants who infiltrate Indian-held Kashmir to wage a bloody insurgency.

"The latest development augurs well in improving relations between Pakistan and India," Pakistani political and defence analyst, retired Lieutentant General Talat Masood, told AFP.

"It shows both countries want to show goodwill whenever the opportunity arrives," he said. "As Pakistan is in distress, it is a good gesture from India. Pakistan has made similar gestures to India in the past."

In the wake of an earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2001, Pakistan sent several planes with tents and other relief supplies to India.



-------- security

Secret Government Team Fights to Negate Nuclear Threat
ABC News Gets Exclusive Opportunity to Observe Teams Deployed to Detect Radioactive Material

The NEST teams scour cities and major events for signs of radioactive material, like a "Ghostbusters" for nuclear bombs. (ABC NEWS)

Oct. 11, 2005 (ABC News)

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Nightline/LooseNukes/story?id=1200558&page=1

If you live in a big city, chances are a secret government team has been in your neighborhood hunting for radioactive material — even terrorist bombs. But you probably didn't even notice.

ABC News' Cynthia McFadden got an exclusive, inside look at one of the most secretive units working in the war on terror — a little-known government SWAT team called the Nuclear Emergency Support Team.

"We look like normal people out there. Miniskirts and flip-flops and baseball hats," said one female NEST member, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.

The unit serves as a sort of "Ghostbusters" for nuclear bombs, often scouring major events such as Super Bowls or Olympic competitions for signs of trouble.

They hide their detection equipment in briefcases, knapsacks, even beer coolers, and travel in mobile labs disguised as ordinary delivery vans. They often work right out in the open, but remain hidden from the untrained eye.

The woman next to you in the ballpark, the executive at the airport, the man with the golf bag — any of them could be carrying sophisticated, well-disguised radiation detectors.

Scientists, Not Soldiers

NEST is made up of nuclear physicists and scientists who work in the nation's weapons labs, but when their pagers alert them, they become an investigative unit tasked with finding a terrorist's nuclear weapon before it explodes.

Though they're often chasing dangerous characters, NEST members carry technical equipment rather than weapons.

"That is why we are attached at the hip to law enforcement," said Debbie Wilbur, who heads NEST for the Department of Energy's Nuclear Security Administration. "They understand the risks. These guys run toward the problem. Everybody else is hightailing it out of there."

To see what they do, ABC News went to Las Vegas last summer to get a rare glimpse of a NEST team in action at its headquarters at Nellis Air Force Base.

Drilling for Disaster

As a drill, a team of NEST investigators was asked to search the grounds of the base for a small amount of cobalt-60 — a highly radioactive material that can be deadly if used in a dirty bomb. They piled into a NEST van packed with high-tech equipment to begin the search.

The cobalt-60 had been hidden in a nearby parking lot, and the highly-sensitive detection equipment in the van began beeping soon after the search began. Background radiation from construction equipment, granite or even just the Earth can register alerts for an elevated radiation level. The challenge for the team is to determine which hit is the real threat. 



-------- ukraine

Repairs Cut Output at Western Ukrainian Nuclear Plant

Excerpt from report by Interfax-Ukraine news agency
Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union, 11 October 2005

http://www.rednova.com/news/science/267230/repairs_cut_output_at_western_ukrainian_nuclear_plant/index.html?source=r_science

Kiev: One of the two turbogenerators at power unit No 1 of the Rivne nuclear power plant was disconnected from the power grid at 1952 [local time] on 10 October for scheduled maintenance in line with current distribution limits.

The work is to be completed on 12 October, the media relations department of the Enerhoatom national nuclear power-generating company said today.

The maintenance had been agreed in advance, the company said. The second turbogenerator remains operational.

Thirteen out of the 15 power-generating units are operational at Ukrainian nuclear power stations at the moment. Power unit No 2 at the Khmelnytskyy nuclear power station is undergoing large-scale scheduled preventive maintenance, while power-generating unit of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is down for medium-scale scheduled preventive maintenance.

The radioactive background around Ukrainian nuclear power plants is normal.

[Passage omitted: output limits and other technical characteristics of Ukrainian nuclear plants]



-------- u.n.

Did Mohamed ElBaradei and the IAEA Deserve to Win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Tuesday, October 11th, 2005 Democracy Now!

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/11/1451248

World leaders are hailing the International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief Mohamed ElBaradei for their efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. But a number of environmental groups and activists are asserting that the IAEA has actually heightened the threat of nuclear war by promoting nuclear power. We host a debate between former Clinton official Nancy Soderberg and British writer George Monbiot. [includes rush transcript] On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief Mohamed ElBaradei were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. The Egyptian-born ElBaradei has served as Director General of the IAEA since 1997. Speaking to reporters in Vienna soon after the announcement, he called the prize a "shot in the arm" for the agency. ElBaradei won the prize just months after the United States tried to force him from his job after the Bush administration repeatedly clashed with him over Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In the run-up to the Iraq war, ElBaradei argued that nuclear experts had found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He called the launch of the US-led invasion "the saddest day of my life." Leaders from across the globe have come forward in support of the Nobel peace committee's selection of El Baradei and the IAEA. This is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

But not everyone has supported El Baradei and the IAEA. A number of environmental groups and activists are criticizing the Nobel Peace Prize committee for their selection. The French group, Sortir du Nucleaire - or Get Out of Nuclear - criticized the IAEA for "promoting" civilian nuclear plants. Meanwhile, Greenpeace was also critical of the selection.

    * George Monbiot, Author and columnist for the London Guardian.
    * Nancy Soderberg, She held senior positions on the National Security Council staff, and the U.S. delegation to the U.N., during the Clinton administration. She is author of the book, "The Superpower Myth, The Use and Misuse of American Might."

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: This is U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

      KOFI ANNAN: I think it's a message for all of us that we should take the issue of non-proliferation and disarmament very, very seriously. 

AMY GOODMAN: But not everyone has come in support of ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of environmental groups and activists are criticizing the Nobel Peace Prize committee for their selection. The French group, Sortir de Nucleaire, or Get Out of Nuclear, criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency for what they called “promoting” civilian nuclear plants. Meanwhile, Greenpeace was also critical of the selection.

      JAN VANDE PUTTE: We're really shocked, because the atomic agency has been responsible for over 50 years to promote the spread of nuclear technology. And this is the cause of the spread of nuclear weapons. Every country with a nuclear reactor has enough plutonium every year to produce about 30 nuclear weapons. So there is a direct link between nuclear power and nuclear bombs. 

AMY GOODMAN: Jan Vande Putte of Greenpeace. To talk more about the selection of Mohamed ElBaradei and the IAEA for the Nobel Peace Prize, we're joined by two guests: George Monbiot, author and columnist for the London Guardian joins us on the line from Britain, and on the line from Florida, Nancy Soderberg. She held senior positions in the National Security Council staff of President Clinton and the U.S. delegation to the U.N. She's author of the book, The Superpower Myth: The Use and Misuse of American Might. Well, let's begin with Nancy Soderberg. Why do you think the IAEA and its chief are a good choice for this year's Nobel Peace Prize? And welcome.

NANCY SODERBERG: I think it's a brilliant choice, because at a time when the Bush administration has been undermining virtually the entire alphabet soup of arms [inaudible], and it sends a strong message of the importance of that. And the head, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, deserves great credit for transforming what was a very sleepy, useless organization during the Cold War into a real force for change.

AMY GOODMAN: George Monbiot, your thoughts?

GEORGE MONBIOT: Well, I think the man from Greenpeace was largely right. While it is true that ElBaradei has stood up to the United States and to the United Kingdom, who have both done their best to wreck the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he has not stood up to the fundamental contradiction within that treaty and the fundamental contradiction within his role, which is that he is simultaneously charged with stopping the spread of military nuclear technology and facilitating the spread of civil military technology.

When you stop to consider that all the new nuclear states or attempted nuclear states have achieved their nuclear status by transforming their civil nuclear programs into military nuclear programs, you realize that with the one hand, he has been quite effectively trying to prevent proliferation, and on the other hand, he's been even more effectively helping proliferation. And the fact that he has never publicly stood up and said there is a real problem with this role, there is a fundamental contradiction in the mandate of the IAEA and a fundamental contradiction in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, means that he has unfortunately done more harm than good during his tenure.

AMY GOODMAN: Nancy Soderberg, your response?

NANCY SODERBERG: Yeah, I mean, I think the -- I have the utmost respect for Greenpeace and those who around the world are advocating nuclear disarmament, which is a goal that’s probably decades away from even being seriously talked about. I think the Clinton administration had that goal. Previous presidents have had that goal. I think this particular administration is trying to create new nuclear weapons, not trying to move forward towards disarmament.

But ElBaradei has to deal with the real world. And the real world today is that there is an increasing number of civilian nuclear plants around the world, and he's trying to work to make sure that any nuclear technologies are contained, controlled, and inspected. He's been trying to get Brazil, for instance, to allow inspectors in there. He's working on the cutting edge of trying to push Iran back from the brink of a nuclear weapon. So he's trying to swim against the tide of nuclear proliferation. I don't think it’s a dual role at all. I think his job is to try and recognize reality, that there are civilian plants, let's keep them civilian uses of nuclear energy and make sure that there is total control over nuclear weapons.

He’s put forward a couple of years ago a very interesting proposal to create centers of international inspection for any civilian plant so that the dangerous materials that are the waste from some of the civilian nuclear plants will be maintained and kept away from rogue states, new nuclear weapons states and, perhaps most importantly, terrorists.

And I think you also have to look at the context in which this award was given. This is a man who against great international pressure stood up to the United States and said, ‘Actually, there are no nuclear weapons in Iraq.’ Opposed the invasion. He’s been on the cutting edge of trying to get a more responsible stance from Washington in trying to create a carrot and stick approach in Iran and, in fact, the Bush administration has essentially adopted that program, too little, too late, so there is now a much tougher regime in Iran. But I think this is a man who has greatly advanced the cause of proliferation against great odds and deserves great credit for it.

AMY GOODMAN: George Monbiot

GEORGE MONBIOT: Nancy, with respect, I feel you haven't addressed my point. The point I'm making is that part of the reason why there has been a great increase in civil nuclear facilities, which could be turned into military nuclear facilities, is that the organization which Mr. ElBaradei runs is actually charged with increasing the proliferation of civil nuclear facilities. One of his official roles is to spread so-called “Atoms for Peace” and encourage countries to adopt civil nuclear technology and indeed encourage the official nuclear powers to give that civil nuclear technology to the non-nuclear powers.

And partly as a result of the efforts of the IAEA and the Non-Proliferation Treaty, every state -- Israel, South Africa, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Iraq -- which has sought to develop a nuclear weapons program over the past thirty years has done so by diverting sources from its nuclear power program, and that nuclear power program, in most of those cases, has been promoted and developed by the IAEA. If you look, for example, at what’s happened in India, as a result of the brokerage by the IAEA, Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Norway and the United Kingdom provided India with all the materials it needed to develop its nuclear bombs. Similarly, in Pakistan, Canada, U.S., Germany, France, Belgium, China, and the United Kingdom, again, provided all the materials they required to develop their nuclear bombs. And it's ElBaradei who has been going around the world saying, ‘Hey, we can put you together with these countries which have got nuclear materials. They can help you develop a civil nuclear facility.’ And then a few years later he turns around and says, ‘Oh, my gosh! You have used a civil nuclear facility to produce nuclear weapons. Well, that’s very unfortunate, and you really shouldn't be doing it.’ He has actually been spreading proliferation.

NANCY SODERBERG: Well, I think, I mean –

AMY GOODMAN: Nancy Soderberg.

NANCY SODERBERG: You're greatly exaggerating the role of the IAEA and these efforts by most of the countries that you mentioned to seek access to technology for nuclear power energies. And we can have a debate about whether nuclear energy should be eliminated from the face of the earth. I don't think that that’s a realistic proposal. We have nuclear energy plants, and we're going to have nuclear energy plants for the foreseeable future --

GEORGE MONBIOT: But, Nancy, would you deny that as those plants are spread around the world.

NANCY SODERBERG: So the question here is on the large picture of trying to reign in the threat of nuclear proliferation, the IAEA has done an extraordinary job of trying to contain those civilian plants from diverting nuclear weapons into -- nuclear weapons products into weapons.

Just take, for instance, the role that they're playing right now with Iran. They have been pressing for some kind of approach in Iran that had some chance of realism towards it. And for, you know, the last four-and-a-half years the Bush administration has been saying we don’t do carrots, we’re not going to push this. They followed the same proposal towards the North Korean program. Meanwhile, both countries are beginning -- North Korea is just sitting there churning out two types of nuclear weapons. Iran is marching merrily towards a weapons production capability. And we have yet to put forward a proposal until recently where the Europeans and the Bush administration came together and put forward a proposal. It's now been referred to the Security Council and the IAEA will be smack in the middle of these negotiations. It's very late. You have a harder line regime now in Iran. So I think it's going to be very difficult there.

But this come at a time the IAEA is looking at the current threats today, and the efforts of the Nobel Peace Prize to recognize that those were not a fight about the civilian issues of nuclear energy, but on the cutting edge of the threats that we face today, which are Iran, North Korea, what was going on in Iraq, and trying to maintain international control over the many nuclear power plants around the world, which are a fact of life.

AMY GOODMAN: Nancy Soderberg, I wanted to ask you a question. Holding senior positions on the National Security Council staff of President Clinton, you talked about how ElBaradei had from the beginning said that Iraq didn't have nuclear weapons, Mohamed ElBaradei calling the launch of the U.S.-led invasion the saddest day of his life. And, yet, the whole Democratic establishment in this country -- I mean the establishment, the core of it, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton here in New York, John Kerry, John Edwards, the presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, all voted to authorize the invasion. What were your thoughts on that?

NANCY SODERBERG: Well, at the time, I think there was a general consensus that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, because he had never accounted for those that we knew he had at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

AMY GOODMAN: You're saying ElBaradei himself was saying it was the saddest day of his life. He was saying, no, the man that, you know, you're applauding now. So why didn't the Democratic establishment support that at the time?

NANCY SODERBERG: There was a general consensus on the chemical and biological weapons which turned out to be wrong. But I think the Bush administration blatantly was putting forward false information that he had nuclear weapons and, you know, that whole famous Joe Wilson trip that whether or not they acquired those efforts from Nigeria. But there was a misinformation campaign on the nuclear side from the Bush administration that those who followed it very closely, like myself, I was in the administration up until 2001, generally felt that they did not have nuclear weapons. And ElBaradei was one of the few international folks actually to stand up and say, ‘No, in fact, they do not have nuclear weapons.’ So there’s a gray area on the chemical and biological weapons. But ElBaradei turned out to be, you know, quite right. I have the quote right here. He said, "No evidence or plausible indication of a revival of the nuclear weapons program in Iraq."

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, it was the nuclear weapons that were the most frightening and the most often cited in the U.S. Congress when the Congress members and Senators stood up in support of the invasion. It was the threat of the nuclear mushroom. Yet, you had these people like ElBaradei. Why weren't they taken seriously at the time?

NANCY SODERBERG: Well, I think that the Democrats here are having a hard time justifying their stance on the position, other than to say that they were under the impression that the threat was imminent from the President of the United States. And they believe that President has the right to make that decision. I think there is a lot of Democrats sort of scratching their head on that point right now. But I think at the time Democrats were not standing up to President Bush.

And I think you also have to remember this is right after 9/11. The whole country was in a bit of a fetal position after that and is only now emerging to sort of challenge what’s going on. That's why the morass of Katrina and those others is sort of a wake-up call to the rest of the country that, hey, wait a minute, these guys may not be as competent as they have claimed to be over the last four-and-a-half years. And I think you're seeing the removal of the rose-colored glasses that have been on most of the eyes of many of our country's leaders. And the press, as well. And they're beginning now to finally questioning the competency of this administration.

AMY GOODMAN: George Monbiot?

GEORGE MONBIOT: Well, I do think the Democrats have been completely pathetic. And in the run-up to the war with Iraq, it was very striking that large numbers of people on both sides of the Atlantic could see that Bush was lying. They could see that there was no threat from Saddam Hussein, nuclear, chemical, or biological. They could see that even if he possessed chemical or biological weapons he had no intention and no means of attacking the West with those weapons.

And the sense of intense frustration with both the Democratic Party in the United States and the Labour Party in the United Kingdom was palpable among liberal people on both sides of the Atlantic. And it was a perpetual mystery to us why our supposed representatives, the people whom we had elected to represent our views, could not see the very obvious things that the rest of us could see. And it seemed to us that they had been mesmerized and bamboozled by Bush and by Blair, and that they had quite willingly and deliberately accepted their lies. And I still feel an enormous amount of resentment towards the Labour Party as a whole over here and the Democrat Party as a whole in the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: We're going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you both very much for being with us. George Monbiot is author of Manifesto for a New World Order, and Nancy Soderberg, a high-level Clinton administration official in the National Security Council and also on the U.N. staff. 



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

GE's New-Generation Nuclear Reactor Chosen for Two Proposed Projects

NEMA 11 Oct 2005

http://www.nema.org/media/ind/20051011a.cfm

The U.S. utility industry has announced plans to prepare license applications to build a new generation of nuclear reactors at three sites in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, with two projects featuring GE Energy's advanced reactor design, the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR).

On September 22, U.S. utility consortium NuStart Energy Development, LLC, announced it would develop a federal construction and operating license (COL) application at a site adjacent to member utility Entergy's Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Miss. GE's reactor is NuStart's preferred reactor technology for this project.

Separate from its NuStart project, New Orleans-based Entergy said it also will simultaneously develop a license application to potentially build and operate a second reactor, this one adjacent to the utility's River Bend nuclear power plant near St. Francisville, Louisiana.

The license applications could be among the first such license requests in three decades. Utilities must obtain a federal construction and operating license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to have the option of building a new reactor.

"We look forward to working closely with NuStart and Entergy to begin more detailed, site-specific engineering work required to complete the construction and operating license applications for these projects," said Andy White, president and chief executive officer of GE Energy's nuclear business.

The ESBWR is a new reactor design of the Generation III+ class, designed to be safer and more cost-effective to operate due to passive safety systems, simplified design and a smaller footprint, thus reducing its construction schedule and costs.

"This announcement means we will be taking the necessary steps to have the option to build new nuclear capacity—especially if nuclear energy continues to be the lowest cost, best option for its power customers in the future," said Dan Keuter, Entergy's vice president of nuclear business development. "Our customers want a stable, low-cost electricity source that also does not contribute to climate change. Advanced reactors like the ESBWR can provide both."



-------- connecticut

New Appraisal Of Millstone: $1.3B
Town-funded Review Is $500M More Than Dominion's Figures

By PATRICIA DADDONA
The Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 10/11/2005

http://www.theday.com/eng/we/news/re.aspx?re=b8410225-d803-44f2-821f-5979ac6bdbcf

Waterford — According to an appraiser hired by the town, Millstone Power Station was worth $1.3 billion in the first tax year after Dominion Nuclear Connecticut bought it, a value the town plans to defend at trial in February.

Dominion has sued the town in the state Court of Tax and Administrative Appeals, claiming the 2002 fair market value and accompanying assessment were excessive and unfair. The nuclear reactor complex is really worth $854 million, the company said.

The town's appraiser, Federal Appraisal of Whitehouse Station, N.J., has determined that, for tax year 2002, the nuclear reactor complex was actually worth $1.317 billion, or about $135 million more than the $1.2 billion figure the town used at the time to figure Dominion's tax, First Selectman Paul B. Eccard said Monday.

“We've developed overwhelming information to show that the town's 2002 fair market value of Millstone was conservative based on Connecticut tax law,” Eccard said.

Eccard, who has persuaded town officials to finance what is already a $1.3 million legal battle, will leave office in November, but hopes the new administration will continue to defend the town against Dominion's appeal. At stake, he argues, is more than $3 million a year in tax revenue for the town, a sum that will climb as state subsidies meant to offset the impact of the Millstone sale drop off.

In 2001, the company paid about $1.3 billion for the property at auction in a newly deregulated market. Before deregulation, the plants' fair market value topped $3 billion.

This past spring, the town won the first half of its court case when the court ruled that Dominion is not entitled to tax credits on equipment used to minimize environmental pollution. The trial is set to resume in February.

According to Eccard, the town's first appraiser, AUW of Milwaukee, set the fair market value of Millstone at a little under $1.2 billion, but Dominion refused to share information used to predict future income the plants would generate. Dominion also refused to share what it knew about the market value of nuclear power compared with other forms of energy, Eccard said.

The court has since ordered Dominion to disclose that information to the town, which is using it to build its case. The company is complying with the directive, Eccard said.

Since the nuclear power industry is no longer fully regulated by the government, the company and town should have worked together more closely after the sale to define the “fundamental” fair market value of the property, Eccard said.

“There should have been a more forthcoming attitude” from Dominion, he said. “I'm glad about getting out of this office because I want to study and write about this. It's almost unimaginable to me that it wasn't clear this value would be upward trending. That's what makes Dominion a pretty smart company, to figure out what the bid was to win the asset without (overpaying) to buy it.”

Dominion made what it considered a competitive bid in 2001 and then hired an appraiser “immediately” to evaluate the true value of its purchase, Pete Hyde, a spokesman for the company, said Monday.

He would not comment on the information the town alleges has been withheld.

“We gave them as much information as we felt was prudent,” Hyde said. “We have offered on numerous occasions to sit down with the town, so we are where we are today because Waterford has refused to meet with us.”

According to the town's original fair market appraisal, Dominion owes $13.9 million in taxes for the 2002 tax year. Dominion believes it should only have to pay $11.3 million.

So far, about 70 percent of the town's legal expenses have covered the financial research required to defend the town, Eccard said. The revised appraisal cost $55,000. The final legal bill is expected to cost about $1.5 million, he said, but even if the town wins, Dominion could appeal the verdict to a higher court.

The town needs to recover the money it has taken from surplus accounts for litigation, because in a couple years, the money will be needed to pay the tab for school re-construction, Eccard said.

p.daddona@theday.com



-------- georgia

Nuke Pills Not Distributed Near Plant Vogtle

By Joshua Quinn, jquinn@wagt.com
October 11, 2005 10:25 PM WAGT-TV NBC 26 Atlanta 

http://www.wagt.com/news/local/1904112.html

Millions of pills designed to help protect people from nuclear fallout have yet to be produced or delivered--despite an order from Congress.

People living near Plant Vogtle still have questions about the effectiveness of the medication.

David Royal lives in Girard, about seven miles from Plant Vogtle, one of the country's 104 plants hosting at least one licensed nuclear reactor.

He's heard about a pill that's supposed to protect him but doesn't know much more than that.

"Most of us don't really know what it will and will not do for us," Royal said.

The pill is Potassium Iodide and is smaller than a dime. It's designed to guard your thyroid against radioactive iodine in the event of a severe nuclear accident.

Burke County has about 1,400 of the pills sealed in a box, but Emergency Management Director, Rusty Sanders, says they'll only be given out if there's a need.

"I don't believe we should use them prematurely," Sanders said. "They do have a shelf life expectancy and there could be some side effects with them."

In fact, Chief Sanders said he'd rather relocate people away from Plant Vogtle than distribute a pill he said can be minimally effective.

"It's only designed to protect your thyroid gland," Sanders said. "It's not going to protect you from exposure to your skin, lungs, or any other area of your body."

That's why Royal is interested in the pill but would probably leave it behind if he had to get out of harm's way in a hurry.

"Everybody would forget about that pill anyway," Royal added, laughing. "Might be better off to have a bunch of them wherever we're going!"

Roughly 3,100 people live within 10 miles of Plant Vogtle.

For more information, visit Frequently Asked Questions About The Potassium Iodide Pill.
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/emerg-preparedness/protect-public/ki-faq.html



-------- idaho

PDA takes step to bring IsoRay Medical to town: Agency chips in $200,000 to help fund test at INL

By Jimmy Hancock - Pocatello ID State Journal Writer
Tuesday, October 11, 2005

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2005/10/11/news/local/news03.txt

POCATELLO - The Pocatello Development Authority moved a step closer Monday to bringing a nuclear medical company and its 100 to 150 high-paying jobs here.

The PDA voted unanimously to put $200,000 of its discretionary fund toward an important test at the Idaho National Laboratory to determine if INL's advanced nuclear reactor can be used for IsoRay Medical, based in Richland, Wash.

”The only way to test it is to shut down the reactor,“ said PDA chairman and Pocatello City Councilman Harry Neuhardt. ”It costs $400,000. In round numbers, the PDA is going to pay half of that.“

Battelle Energy Alliance, which runs INL, and IsoRay will pick up the rest of the tab for the test.

IsoRay manufactures Cesium-131, a radioactive isotope used in the treatment of prostate cancer. The company is currently in research and development phases of several similar treatments for other cancers.

Their need for a nuclear reactor is in the development of the isotope. The manufacturing process of Cesium-131 includes placing the chemical borium into the reactor. The processing in the reactor is part of what turns borium into Cesium-131.

INL houses an advanced reactor that is one of the largest in the country. The test will determine if the reactor can be used both by IsoRay and the INL's current customer for that reactor, the U.S. Navy.

”We have to run a test to make sure that putting borium into the reactor will not contaminate the Navy's fuel rods that are prepared in that reactor,“ Neuhardt said. ”Chemists, physicists, all those who understand these things say ‘no, it won't be a problem.'“

He said the test nonetheless must be completed and verified. To repay roughly half the cost of the test, Neuhardt said IsoRay will in turn agree to install a facility in Pocatello.

Ray Burstedt, executive director of Bannock Development Corporation, said the PDA will be sending IsoRay a ”memorandum of understanding,“ a standard business document.

”It will clearly outline their responsibilities to the community once the (test) gets the go-ahead,“ Burstedt said.

Roger Girard, chairman and chief executive officer of IsoRay, told the Journal his company has not yet decided to relocate to Pocatello.

”No decision has been made about anything at this point,“ Girard said. ”We have been for about a year in serious discussions with (Pocatello) about locating there. We will probably end up with facilities in Washington, Idaho and Europe and potentially Pennsylvania.“

The company already has the Washington location in Richland and he said Pocatello is on a short list of three likely expansion locations. Because of Idaho State University and its nuclear accelerator, which the company will need for future research, he said Pocatello could become a major location for the company.

”Regardless of where we are located we have to have the reactor at INL,“ Girard said. ”It's critical to our production of the medical isotope.“

He said the INL makes Idaho a great option for IsoRay and Pocatello is the only city in the state his company has dealt with. Girard said the tests at the INL must be verified before any decisions are made.

That means a decision from IsoRay will not likely come before next spring, as the test takes 23 weeks. Neuhardt said the reactor must be shut down so the borium and Navy rods can be placed inside.

The reactor is then powered up and run for the necessary time. Once the time is up, the reactor is again shut down and the items removed and tested for any cross-contamination.

If the test results show no cross contamination and IsoRay chooses to locate some part of its business in Pocatello, the result could be an acceleration in modifications to the INL that could attract companies with nuclear needs to the area.

As part of its agreement with the U.S. government when contracted to run INL, Battelle must install a ”rabbit“ in its advanced reactor. The rabbit is a modification that allows items to be placed into and pulled out of the reactor without shutting it down.

There is one such device in the U.S. today, at the nuclear laboratory run by the University of Missouri in Columbia. Burstedt said IsoRay and other companies use this and others in Europe.

He said INL's advanced reactor is significantly more powerful than the University of Missouri's and would make it a premier facility in the nation.

Bannock Development Corp. is working to secure funding for the early installation of the rabbit. Battelle is currently scheduled to install it in 2010 but has said it would do so sooner if funds were made available.

He said no funds have yet been collected or promised to the project and the money may take various forms including a loan, a grant or any combination of the two. Burstedt said Bannock Development and Pocatello don't mind doing the lion's share of the work raising the funds to get the rabbit installed, even though IsoRay won't be the only company to use it.

”In our minds it's much broader than just IsoRay coming here,“ Burstedt said. ”It opens industry to all types of companies who will need this same service from the laboratory. All of Eastern Idaho will benefit.“ 



-------- iowa

Iowa Utility company argues for sale of nuclear plant

Associated Press
Posted on Tue, Oct. 11, 2005

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/12873144.htm

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Despite opposition from the state, a utility company that wants to sell its interest in a nuclear power plant to an out-of-state company says its customers would benefit from the sale.

Interstate Power & Light Co. has made an application to the Iowa Utilities Board to sell its share in the Duane Arnold Energy Center to a Florida-based company.

A hearing by the Iowa Utilities Board is scheduled to begin Nov. 1 on the issue. The board has said it hopes to make a decision by Nov. 30.

Interstate Power & Light, owned by Madison, Wis.-based holding company Alliant Energy Corp., filed an application in July to sell its 70 percent interest in the 598-megawatt nuclear plant near Palo to a subsidiary of Florida Power and Light Company.

The company contends in a rebuttal to the state's opposition that selling the plant would provide approximately $56 million in estimated benefits to its electric customers.

"The sale of DAEC is the right thing to do on behalf of our customers," Tom Aller, president of Interstate Power & Light said in a statement. "From the beginning of this process, our customers' best interests have served as the foundation for the sale of DAEC."

The company said in a news release that $33 million of those benefits would come through anticipated net proceeds. The other $23 million would come through rates that would likely be lower over the next nine years than if Interstate Power & Light continued to own the plant under traditional Iowa ratemaking.

The actual customer benefits would be determined when the transaction closes, which the company said was expected to take place in the first quarter of 2006 if it gets approval from the state board.

Iowa's Office of Consumer Advocate said late last month that it opposes the sale. John Perkins, the state's consumer advocate, said the sale is contrary to the public interest and to the interests of the utility's customers.

He said in a statement that evidence shows that the power plant is very efficient and low-cost and "will continue to operate safely and efficiently for years to come."

In its rebuttal case, Interstate Power & Light said that the sale of the plant would continue to provide energy and capacity to customers at a lower cost through 2014.

Interstate Power & Light has said it would not relicense the plant if the board does not approve the sale, and will shut it down when its license expires in 2014.

The company's rebuttal said that customers' future risks would be minimized by eliminating the following:

_Exposure to future operating costs as a result of unplanned outages and capital expenditures

_Uncertainty associated with the total decommissioning costs of the plant by 2014

_Costs related to the storing of spent nuclear fuel

Another benefit, the company argued, was that selling the plant would retain approximately $92.3 million in total annual regional labor income and continue to strengthens the regional economy because the plant generates about $423 million of annual industrial output.

On the Net:

Office of the Consumer Advocate: http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/oca/

Alliant Energy Corp.: http://www.alliantenergy.com/

Iowa Utilities Board: http://www.state.ia.us/government/com/util/util.html




-------- kansas

State looks at disaster plans
Kansas governor wants procedures, policies reviewed

By DAVID KLEPPER
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Tue, Oct. 11, 2005

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/12869716.htm

Kansas emergency management officials aren’t satisfied planning just for the state’s trifecta of disasters: floods, tornadoes and ice storms.

So they’ve also drawn up plans for earthquakes, bioterrorism, plague, livestock disease, nuclear attack, a nuclear reactor meltdown and toxic spills. Now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, they’re preparing for disasters in other states that might prompt thousands of evacuees to head for Kansas.

“I’ve been here 30 years, and Katrina was the first time we took in evacuees from another state,” said Joy Moser of the state’s Emergency Management Division.

Because of the much-maligned response to Hurricane Katrina, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has asked the division to take another look at all its plans.

“The governor has asked them to do a complete review,” said Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran.

Kansas will never face the eye of a hurricane. Preparation for ice storms, tornadoes and flooding occupies most of the state’s disaster-planning energies. But an entire section of the Emergency Management Division is dedicated to planning for large-scale evacuations in the event of a wider catastrophe.

Emergency preparedness plans exist in a web of federal, state and local government. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the federal government has required states to maintain plans for a host of disasters. The state requires counties and cities to have emergency plans. In theory, governments should be able to coordinate their plans when disaster strikes.

However, as the world saw with Sept. 11 and Katrina, simple communications can be a challenge. And as surrounding communities found out after Katrina, your neighbors’ disaster can quickly become your own.

To work out the kinks, emergency management officials coordinate drills with local and state authorities.

For Kansas, the most likely scenario is a wave of evacuees from elsewhere or a biological disaster. An outbreak of a disease such as foot and mouth disease could devastate livestock and the economy.

The state has plans, reviewed every year, for evacuations around the nuclear reactor at Wolf Creek.

During the Cold War, Kansas planned for a nuclear attack. Though the state still considers the possibility of a single nuclear device –– such as a “dirty bomb” in the Kansas City area –– it hasn’t updated plans for a widespread nuclear attack in years.

Earthquakes might seem a small threat to the Sunflower State, but temblors have struck Kansas.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has assessed the earthquake vulnerability of each of its Kansas dams and is early in a $200 million project to earthquake-proof the Tuttle Creek Dam.

If a disaster should strike, the Kansas governor can declare an emergency, giving the governor power to issue orders, spend money and make decisions that ordinarily would need input from the Legislature.



-------- michigan

Fermi generates pair of milestones 
The nuclear power plant passed an environmental audit and racked up 5 million work hours without a serious injury.

By CHARLES SLAT - ctslat@monroenews.com
10/11/2005 Monroe, Michigan, News

http://www.topix.net/r/05KQAC65=2B9p3CnEOW2BSxTed2HTYgm7NS1UvB=2FGsppJENeGpGx=2FUAoeCsr3aS7mpL1v7ywa33oprgmeJXCDmNIp3NbNhyvcJ56kWJj9b4dlg=3D

A shipment of low-level radioactive waste left the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant Monday, the first of its kind so far this year.

One shipment in 10 months is a bit unusual, given the plant has been operating at 100 percent power for most of the year, according to Dan Craine, general supervisor of radiological engineering at the plant.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the marshes nearby swam a turtle whose shell is patched with fiberglass. A car struck it on plant’s entry road about two years ago and Maureen Janssens, a Fermi employee, rescued it. A Gibraltar veterinarian repaired the shell, plant staffers dubbed it “Enrica Fermi,” and later released it on plant grounds.

The two events aren’t exactly unrelated - they’re the product of the plant’s common commitment to protecting the environment, DTE Energy officials say. That commitment was celebrated Monday as the Fermi plant achieved ISO 14001 certification, an international standard for managing environmental impacts.

At the same time, plant workers marked a milestone of 5 million work hours without a lost-time accident.

“Protecting the environment and working safely - they go hand-in-hand as you see,” said William T. O’Connor Jr., vice president for nuclear generation for DTE Energy, which owns the plant. “But it is more than just doing things that are good for the environment or following orders to work safely. It’s a mindset. It’s what we do everyday and how we do our jobs. It’s how we think.”

Fermi is the last of eight DTE generating plants in southeast Michigan to achieve ISO 14001 certification, awarded after a third-party audit and reviewed periodically for compliance.

“It drives environmental awareness to every employee in the organization,” said Skiles Boyd, DTE’s environmental management and resources director. “They understand our environmental responsibility whether they work in the office or are turning the valve out there in the plant.”

Dozens of government officials joined the utility Monday in marking the occasion and Fermi employees were treated to a picnic lunch afterward.

Douglas R. Gipson, DTE’s chief nuclear officer, said it’s believed that DTE is the first utility in the country to achieve independent ISO certification of all of its generating facilities.

He said the milestones signified that DTE employees are “stewards of the environment and stewards of our personal safety.”

And Rich McDevitt, a plant worker and vice chairman of the Fermi division of Local 223, Utility Workers Union of America, said the initiatives are the result of a worker partnership with senior management. “Without any of these efforts, this site would be nothing but trouble,” he said.

With respect to safety, he said, workers are more diligent about making sure everybody has the required safety equipment on the job, whether it’s a hardhat, gloves or hearing protection.

Among those attending the Fermi celebration was U.S. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Dearborn, who commended the utility, particularly for its donation of 600 acres of Fermi land to the International Wildlife Refuge, which Rep. Dingell played a key role in forming.

Fermi is a 1,189-megawatt plant that began operating in 1988, previously was designated as one of Michigan’s Clean Corporate Citizens and has been certified a wildlife habitat by the Wildlife Habitat Council. 



-------- nevada

Finding common ground
Yucca foes Reid, Domenici said to be in talks over nuke bill

By Benjamin Grove <grove@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun Washington Bureau Chief
October 11, 2005

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2005/oct/11/519492881.html

WASHINGTON -- Could it be true?

Are Yucca Mountain's biggest opponent in the Senate and one of its biggest supporters working together on a nuclear waste bill that would shift the focus away from Yucca?

The trade publication Energy Daily reported Thursday that Yucca's chief antagonist, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., were discussing Reid's legislation that would require the Energy Department to take ownership of nuclear power plant waste and store it at the plants indefinitely.

The paper said another point of discussion may focus on the development of a U.S. reprocessing program, in which plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel rods would be recycled to create new fuel, theoretically decreasing the amount of waste that would be stored at Yucca.

Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said the senators are not talking about any specific proposals or bill language.

"I'm not sure where the rumors are coming from," Hafen said.

Reid has not yet introduced the legislation because he is securing support for it behind the scenes among his Senate colleagues. Reid aides point to Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, who on Sept. 20 announced he was shedding his support for Yucca in favor of on-site storage, as an example that Reid's efforts are paying off.

Getting the support of Domenici would boost the bill's chances immediately and help the state in its fight to stop the plan to ship highly radioactive waste now piling up at the plants to the proposed underground repository at Yucca for permanent burial.

A Domenici spokeswoman declined to comment to Energy Daily and could not be reached Monday by the Sun. A spokesman in Domenici's New Mexico office was unavailable Monday. Federal offices were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

Industry officials say the nation needs a geologic repository whether it pursues reprocessing or not, and were reportedly uncomfortable that Reid and Domenici could be discussing legislation that would decrease momentum for Yucca.

Some industry officials at times have said that Yucca Mountain was important to their plans to construct a new generation of nuclear power plants.

A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top lobby group and leading Yucca supporter in Washington, was unavailable for comment on Monday.

Energy Daily reported that NEI chairman Adm. Skip Bowman sent a memo to nuclear industry insiders last week that said the potential for a Reid-Domenici bill was "not good news."

The publication reported that Bowman wrote, "We have been doing our dead-level best to stamp out this notion." He also wrote that leaving waste at plants could "completely dampen new plant enthusiasm."

The potential for an agreement in which the Energy Department would "take title" to the waste as it sits at the plants could actually benefit the industry, said nuclear waste specialist Kevin Kamps of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. It would at least solidify a government plan for waste, even if the industry didn't like it, Kamps said.

"Then they could say, 'Hey, what's the problem with building new reactors?' " Kamps said.

NIRS opposes reprocessing because it is a "messy" process that poses environmental and worker risks, as well as weapons proliferation concerns, Kamps said.

If Congress decides to pursue reprocessing it could be bad news for Nevada because Yucca Mountain could be chosen as the reprocessing site, Kamps said. Yucca could potentially be a waste site for the reprocessing by-product as well as the plant site, Kamps said.

"Nevada could get a double whammy," he said.

Domenici made a cryptic comment after Bennett's announcement when the Sun asked Domenici about Yucca Mountain.

"Yucca Mountain must remain alive," he said. When pressed to clarify the comment, he said, "I didn't say what it (Yucca) should be."

Reprocessing, though, would mean that nuclear waste would be shipped across country, which runs counter to arguments made by Yucca opponents.

Domenici has an interest in pursuing reprocessing technology because national laboratories in his home state stand to benefit from the research contracts, Public Citizen analyst Michele Boyd said.

But it's unlikely that any discussions between Reid and Domenici would yield a landmark agreement in the final weeks of the congressional session, largely because Domenici faces a complicated task in detaching his support from Yucca, Boyd said.

"Everybody's looking for an easy solution, and they haven't been able to find one in the last 50 years," Boyd said. "I don't think they will be able to find one this month, or next month."

Benjamin Grove is the Sun's Washington bureau chief. He can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or by e-mail at grove@lasvegassun.com. 



-------- south carolina

SC - Millions near nukes lack protective pill
State offers potassium iodide, but few near Oconee Station take action

Posted Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 6:00 am
By Mimi Hall
USA TODAY

http://www.greenvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051011/NEWS01/510110316

WASHINGTON -- Despite an order from Congress, the Bush administration has not given millions of people living within 20 miles of nuclear power plants access to pills that could help if they are exposed to radiation.

It will be early next year, at the earliest, before potassium iodide pills are made available to those people.

Congress had ordered that the pills, which help prevent thyroid cancer, be stockpiled by mid-2003.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said, "Nuclear power plants are at the top of the al-Qaida target list. Potassium iodide is an inexpensive way to protect infants and children."

People living within 10 miles of reactors, including those in South Carolina, were offered the pills two years ago, but some residents had little interest, a spokesman for the state's health agency said Monday.

Only about 12 percent of the nearly 800,000 potassium iodide tablets have gone to residents near the reactors, while the rest are stored by county health agencies nearby for distribution in an emergency, said Thom Berry, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"We had some areas that had a lot of interest, and we had other areas that had very little interest," he said.

The state offered the pills at sites near the facilities, Berry said. But not all areas reacted to the offers equally.

Berry said interest was at "barely a trickle" in Pickens and Oconee counties, near the Oconee Nuclear Station; the area around a plant near Hartsville; and some locations near another plant in Fairfield County.

He said interest was strong in York County, which was the first to receive the tablets.

At Tega Cay, he said, the city asked for a stockpile of the pills to offer to new residents.

"Anyone who moves into Tega Cay and comes to city hall to get their utilities turned on are offered the tablets," he said.

About 17,000 tablets were handed out to residents within 10 miles of Oconee Nuclear Station in Pickens and Oconee counties, officials said previously.

"We wanted to get out as much as we could," Berry said. "We did not go in with a goal in mind."

Oconee residents said two years ago they weren't worried about any nuclear accident but would get the iodide pills anyway. "Peace of mind is good for those who need it," Nancy Basket, an Oconee County businesswoman told The Greenville News then.

On the federal level, Congress, as part of broad bioterrorism legislation passed in 2002, set a June 2003 deadline for the government to offer free potassium iodide pills to states that have residents living within a 20-mile radius of a plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says 4.7 million people live within a 10-mile radius of the nation's plants, and 21.9 million live within a 20-mile radius. The pills are recommended only for people 40 and younger, who are more likely than older people to get thyroid cancer.

The once-a-day pills must be started within four hours of exposure.

Robert Claypool, director of the emergency preparedness planning office at the Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledges the government is way behind schedule.

He blames bureaucratic indecision during the past two years about which government agency should be in charge of the federal government's stockpile of drugs and antidotes for anthrax, smallpox and other diseases.

Alan Morris, president of Anbex, a company that sells the pills over the Internet, says the government could buy them for only 18 cents per pill. Most people would probably need to take the pills only a few days before the radiation dissipated.

Greenville News staff writer 



-------- MILITARY 


-------- afghanistan

Kyrgyzstan says US can keep airbase until Afghanistan stable

10.11.2005, 12:11 PM (AFX)

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/10/11/afx2270637.html

BISHKEK - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received an assurance here that Kyrgyzstan would let the United States maintain an airbase there until the situation in nearby Afghanistan was stable.

'We have repeatedly emphasised that the coalition base in Manas will be necessary until the situation in Afghanistan is completely stabilized,' Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev told reporters after talks with Rice.

Bakiyev and Rice signed a joint statement expressing support for the presence in the former Soviet Central Asian republic of US-led 'coalition forces until the mission of fighting the terror in Afghanistan is completed, a mission supported by the UN.'

As a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional body dominated by Russia and China, Kyrgyzstan has however supported calls from that group for the United States to spell out a timetable for the withdrawal of its military personnel from the region.

The leadership of neighboring Uzbekistan ordered US forces deployed there to leave by the end of the year, and Washington is reported to be looking for another place to base military personnel in one of the other former Soviet republics on Russia's southern flank. 



-------- africa

UN panel warns arms influx into Somalia risks broader conflict

NAIROBI (AFP) Oct 11, 2005

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051011152250.5o6ggk5p.html

A United Nations expert panel has warned that a surge in weapons being sent to Somalia in violation of a 13-year-old UN arms embargo risks sparking broader conflict in the lawless, war-shattered Horn of Africa nation.

Amid new charges and counter-charges about acquisitions of military hardware by bickering factions in Somalia's transitional government, the panel said it was alarmed by a "dramatic upswing" in weapons deliveries to rival camps.

"The dramatic upswing in the flow of arms into Somalia is a manifestation of the highly aggravated political tension between the (transitional government) and the opposition," according to UN Monitoring Group on Somalia.

"This has correspondingly given rise to the increasing militarization of both sides, which has resulted in the severely elevated threat of widespread violence in in central and southern Somalia," it said.

The report, seen by AFP on Tuesday, was sent to the UN Security Council late last week by the panel which is charged with reviewing the 1992 arms embargo slapped on Somalia after it descended into anarchy a year earlier with the ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre.

In it, the experts said neighboring Ethiopia, Yemen and an unnamed third country in the region were violating the embargo with increasing weapons shipments to the increasingly hostile factions within the transitional government.

In addition, they said private Yemeni arms dealers and Ethiopia's rebel Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF) were fueling instability by smuggling arms to the profit-driven weapons market in the lawless capital of Mogadishu.

The report accused Ethiopia and Yemen of supplying weapons to the government faction allied with transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who has incurred the wrath of a rival camp by refusing to base himself in Mogadishu.

It did not identify the third country involved in the illicit shipments, but aides to Yusuf have repeatedly claimed that Eritrea is channelling weapons to the president's foes in retaliation for arch-foe Ethiopia's support of him.

Yusuf is opposed by some members of his government, lawmakers and the warlords who control Mogadishu and insist that the administration should be based in the capital.



-------- mideast

Cyprus to hold first large-scale war games in four years

NICOSIA (AFP) Oct 11, 2005

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051011084008.1cm6vodj.html

Cyprus will hold its first large-scale military exercises in four years, the defense ministry said Tuesday, ignoring objections from the United Nations, Washington and London.

"Nikiforos 2005" will take place October 18-23 across the "sea, land and air space of the Cyprus Republic," a statement aid.

The statement made no reference to the fact that the northern third of Cyprus is occupied by Turkish forces, who back a self-proclaimed state recognised only by Ankara.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

The war games, which had mobilised around 20,000 Greek Cypriot reservists, were shelved after 2001 to create an improved climate for UN-sponsored peace talks to reunite the divided island.

Cyprus held the exercises in conjunction with the Greek armed forces carrying out similar manouvres, codenamed Toxotis, in the region.

When Greece decided to back out of joint exercises in recent years, Cyprus followed suit in order to cultivate a climate of goodwill and reduce tensions while UN peace efforts continued to search for a Cyprus settlement.

This time, Cyprus has decided go ahead on its own regardless of what Athens decides to do.

The United Nations, Washington and London had all encouraged the exercises not to take place so as not to worsen tensions in the region, and the Cypriot government can expect some fall-out from this decision.

However, there has been growing pressure from some political parties and sections of the media for the manoeuvres to go ahead. Tuesday's announcement ends months of speculation.

The latest diplomatic effort to end partition failed in April 2004 when the Greek Cypriots voted down a UN-drafted reunification plan, while Turkish Cypriots overwhelmingly supported it.

The UN plan has been in the deep freeze ever since.

The Cyprus issue is a stumbling block for Turkey's European aspirations, as Ankara refuses to recognise Cyprus.



-------- nato

US urges NATO to divert Afghan forces to quake effort

BRUSSELS (AFP) Oct 11, 2005

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051011141448.b2zdz6sj.html

The United States on Tuesday urged NATO to consider diverting resources from its peacekeeping force in Afghanistan to help victims of the earthquake in neighbouring Pakistan.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns made the call as the military alliance finalized plans to help after the deadly quake, which has left tens of thousands dead and millions homeless.

"We have a lot of allies next door," he said referring to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, to which Germany and France are the biggest contributors.

"It is certainly our strong hope that those allies step up with the provision of equipement especially," he added, noting that Pakistan in particular needs helicopters and earth-moving equipement.

The NATO-led ISAF, deployed to keep the peace in the violence-scarred country after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, also includes forces from Turkey, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

Burns was speaking ahead of a meeting of NATO ambassadors to decide how the 26-member alliance can respond to a Pakistani request, in particular for rescue and cargo helicopters and other equipment such as tents, blankets and food.

"We hope today NATO will be able to ... chip in in a very big way and we expect that will be the result," the US official said.

NATO, which has in recent years expanded well beyond its traditional European theatre of operations, helped ship European aid to the United States last month after the deadly Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.



-------- spies

Pentagon wants new spying powers in US
Pentagon says it won't spy on 'innocent' Americans, but critics say past record shows this is false.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
posted October 11, 2005 at 11:30 a.m. 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1011/dailyUpdate.html

Claiming it needs greater latitude for the war on terror, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has approved a request from the Pentagon for the right to "covertly" gather intelligence on US citizens in order to determine whether they can recruit them as informants, without telling them that they are doing so on behalf of the US government. Reuters reported Friday that the Pentagon said the measure, which is aimed at the Muslim community in the US, could help them fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    "We believe there are people in the United States who have information of value to us," said Jim Schmidli, deputy general counsel for operations at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency. "That information is within different ethnic communities in this country -- recent additions to our population from distressed areas of the world, primarily the Middle East."

But civil libertarians and leaders of the Muslim community charge, however, that the Pentagon is using the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to reclaim domestic spying powers that Congress had taken away from it after those powers were abused to spy on Americans during the Vietnam era.

The intelligence committee has backed the request as part of the 2006 intelligence spending authorization bill. The full Senate will take up the bill later this month. The Pentagon's request was not included in the House version of the bill, which was passed in June. The bill will now go to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Newsweek reported recently that this is not the first time the Pentagon has asked for these powers.

    The provision was included in last year’s version of the same bill, but was knocked out after its details were reported by Newsweek and critics charged it could lead to “spying” on US citizens. But late last month, with no public hearings or debate, a similar amendment was put back into the same authorization bill—an annual measure governing US intelligence agencies—at the request of the Pentagon. A copy of the 104-page committee bill, which has yet to be voted on by the full Senate, did not become public until last week. 

Newsweek also reported that the committee included two other controversial amendments in the spending bill: one that would allow intelligence agencies greater access to databases on US citizens, and one that would grant the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency the right not to disclose "operational files" under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Los Angeles Times reports that supporters of the bill say it gives Pentagon intelligence officers the same authority that the CIA has to approach Americans abroad. The CIA cannot spy on US citizens, but its agents "routinely approach American business executives and overseas travelers to provide information on foreign targets."

The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Pentagon defended its request for the new powers last week, saying that as the Pentagon expands its role in counterterrorism, it needs more flexibility.

    "This is not about spying on Americans," [DIA general counsel George Peirce] said in an interview in which he defended legislative language approved last week by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence ..."We are not asking for the moon," Peirce said. "We only want to assess their suitability as a source, person to person" and at the same time "protect the ID and safety of our officers." The CIA and the FBI already have such authority, he added, and the [Defense Intelligence Agency] needs it "to develop critical leads" because "there is more than enough work for all of us to do."

In a separate article, the Post reports that the idea has not been well received in the US Muslim community, or by other critics of the new power.

    "This has a back-alley, dead-of-night feel to it that I don't think would be received well by the Muslim community," said Ibrahim Cooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations.

    Lisa Graves of the American Civil Liberties Union scoffed at a defense official's assertion that the proposed change would not allow for carte blanche Pentagon spying inside the United States. "That's some spin," Graves said. "The change would allow them to gather information on Americans surreptitiously. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."

In late September, The New York Times reported that Republican members of Congress were expressing concerns that the Pentagon "may be carrying out new intelligence activities through programs intended to escape oversight from Congress and the new director of national intelligence," John D. Negroponte.

“We see indications that the [Pentagon] is trying to create parallel functions to what is going on in intelligence, but is calling it something else,” Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R) of Michigan and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview.

Mr. Hoekstra said he believed the activities were designed to "obscure" the Pentagon's intelligence activities in order to keep them out of Mr. Negroponte's jurisdiction.



-------- us

Special Forces Suicides Raise Questions

Tuesday October 11, 2005 (AP)

http://www.wjla.com/headlines/1005/267795.html

DENVER - Chief Warrant Officer William Howell was a 15-year Army Special Forces veteran who had seen combat duty all over the world. Sgt. 1st Class Andre McDaniel was a military accountant. Spc. Jeremy Wilson repaired electronics. They had little in common, other than having served in Iraq with the 10th Special Forces Group based at Fort Carson, Colo. They did not know each other, and they had vastly different duties.

Each, however, committed suicide shortly after returning home, all within about a 17-month period.

The Army says there appears to be no connection between the men's overseas service and their deaths, and Army investigators found no "common contributing cause" among the three. The fact they were in the same unit is only a coincidence, Special Operations Command spokeswoman Diane Grant said at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Others are not so sure. Steve Robinson, a former Army Ranger and veterans' advocate, said he suspects there were problems in the men's unit - namely, a macho refusal to acknowledge stress and seek help.

"It could be that there's a climate there that creates the stigma which prevents people from coming forward," said Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "The mentality of this particular group seemed to be 'Ignore what you think and feel and keep doing your job and don't talk to me about that (expletive) combat stress reaction stuff.'"

Special Forces soldiers specialize in what the Army calls "unconventional warfare" - commando raids, search-and-destroy missions, intelligence gathering. They go through specialized psychological screening. They also undergo rigorous physical training and learn survival techniques and other skills, including foreign languages.

Howell, 36, a father of three, shot himself March 14, 2004 - three weeks after returning from Iraq - after hitting and threatening to kill his wife, Laura.

She said she did not see any warning signs until the night he threatened her.

"You look back every day and think what could I have done different. I can't think of anything," she said.

She said she did not know of any connection between her husband and the two other soldiers, and did not know them or their families. But she agreed with Robinson that Special Forces soldiers might have a more difficult time than other military personnel overcoming the stigma associated with seeking counseling.

"My husband would probably see getting help as a weakness," she said. "Even as mature and old and experienced as he was, he may look at it as 'I can handle it, it's not that bad.'"

Special Forces officials said the Colorado-based unit experienced heavy combat in Iraq. Two members were killed in the first half of 2004 - one by a roadside bomb, another in a vehicle rollover. Another member, former Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany, was sent home and charged with cowardice when the sight of the mangled body of an Iraqi caused a panic attack and prompted him to ask for psychological help. Charges against Pogany were later dropped, and he received a medical discharge.

Staff Sgt. Kyle Cosner, spokesman for the 10th Special Forces Group, declined to comment. Grant said unit morale appears high because the unit's soldiers re-enlist at a rate that is among the highest in the command.

She also said chaplains trained in counseling and suicide intervention are available to members of the 10th Special Forces Group and their families, and every Army unit's commanders are required to provide regular suicide prevention training.

The Army says its overall suicide rate in 2003 was 12.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers, while the rate in the general U.S. population was 10.5 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Military officials contend the 2003 figure for the Army was skewed by a spike in suicides among soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait; the 2004 rate was 11 per 100,000, Army spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robbins said. An Army surgeon general's report said the suicide rate among soldiers sent to Iraq and Kuwait in 2004 was 8.5 per 100,000.

The Army has learned much about mental health in recent years and is working to improve treatment and ease soldiers' reluctance to seeking help, Robbins said.

Robinson has been pushing military leaders to stop using paper questionnaires to screen for problems among returning soldiers and switch to face-to-face meetings with mental health professionals.

"There have been improvements, but it's been like pulling teeth from a lion's mouth to get the Department of Defense (website) to do things they're not willing to do because of the dollars," he said.

Laura Howell said she blamed Lariam, an Army-issued anti-malaria drug, for her husband's suicide. The drug's manufacturer, Roche Pharmaceuticals, says side effects can include anxiety, paranoia, depression, hallucinations and psychotic behavior. Pogany, the soldier unhinged by the sight of a mangled corpse, also believes the drug played a role in his case.

Roche and the military maintain the drug is safe, and it is among the drugs recommended by the CDC (website/news) for preventing and treating malaria.

Wilson, 23, hanged himself in the post barracks July 9, about a month after returning from Iraq. The Associated Press was unable to find members of his family.

McDaniel, 40, a father of two, shot himself in August 2004, six weeks after he returned from Iraq. He had recently been arrested for allegedly arranging to have sex with an undercover officer who had posed on the Internet as a 13-year-old girl.

His widow, Linda, said her husband seemed withdrawn when he returned from Iraq. He had called home around Easter 2004 and said his unit was being shelled.

"He said goodbye at that particular time because he was scared he wouldn't be coming home," she said.

On the Net:

Army: http://www.army.mil

National Gulf War Resource Center: http://www.ngwrc.org

----

'Don't get hurt. Don't get sick.'
PORTAGE: 27-year reserve veteran wrangles with Army over unexpected discharge in midst of medical treatment

BY JOYCE RUSSELL
joycer@nwitimes.com
219.762.4334
nwitimes.com Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:36 AM CDT

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2005/10/11/news/top_news/0bf98bcfb26a59b9862570970005a5cd.txt

PORTAGE | For 27 years, Bob Rodriguez has given part of his life to the U.S. Army.

A reservist since 1978, he's been called to active duty twice. A medic, he spent two tours of duty in Panama and most recently spent 18 months away helping process soldiers in and out of the country from Fort Bragg, N.C. He serves with the Army Reserves 7203rd Support Unit based in Gary.

Rodriguez, 54, says the military is something he loves. It's in his blood. His grandfather served in World War I, his father in World War II. His oldest son, Rob, spent 10 years with the Marine Corps. His youngest son, Rick, a National Guard member, recently spent a tour of duty in Iraq.

"I recommend the Army to any young kid," he said recently. But then quickly added a caveat.

"But don't get hurt, don't get sick, because you don't know if they will take care of you," Rodriguez said.

For more than a month, Rodriguez has been battling with the Army he loves to do the right thing. On Sept. 2, in the middle of medical treatment for a line-of-duty medical condition, Rodriguez was discharged from active duty with 12 hours' notice, leaving him without insurance for a short time, without any income and without any real guidance.

An Army representative said the Army did what it was supposed to do, but a representative of the American Legion's national headquarters in Washington, D.C., says Rodriguez's story is all too familiar.

Kim Waldron, a spokesperson for the Army Forces Command Headquarters at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, said the conflict between Rodriguez and the Army's decision may be the result of a misunderstanding, or it points to a problem in the new community-based health care initiative designed to help reservists and national guardsmen return home from active duty.

"This is not a crack (in the system), this is a major gap. They can't kick him to the curb and give him a tin cup," said Steve Robertson, a legislative lobbyist for the American Legion who has been working with Congress to improve the "seamless transition" from soldier to civilian.

Rodriguez's story began one night in June 2004.

After serving 18 months at Fort Bragg, Rodriguez's tour of duty was over. He drove 14 hours from North Carolina to his Portage home. He planned to take a week's vacation and then return to his civilian job as a salesman for a food broker in Chicago.

Tired, Rodriguez went to bed.

"The next morning, I got a call from my mom saying he was in the hospital," son Rob said.

Bob had suffered a brain aneurysm and was eventually airlifted to the University of Chicago Hospitals where he spent a week in the intensive care unit and remained hospitalized for nearly two months.

"I don't remember anything. They say I have a problem with short-term memory. I have to really, really think about what I did Saturday, but I can tell you what I did a year ago in Fort Bragg," Rodriguez said, adding he also suffers from severe headaches each day, has some problems walking and is continuing to undergo physical and occupational therapy as well as counseling.

After an initial glitch in the system, the Army agreed to keep Rodriguez on active duty until he could be released by his civilian doctors to return to work. His pay and medical benefits for himself, his wife Rosa and college-age daughter, Becky, would continue.

His two neurologists estimated Rodriguez would be released to return to work at the end of this year. His last visit to a military doctor was in February 2005. They last spoke to that doctor in May 2005 and the family was assured, they say, that Rodriguez would remain on active duty until he had completed treatment and was released by his civilian doctors.

Then, on Sept. 2, Rodriguez received a telephone call from military payroll in Fort Knox, Ky. He'd been medically cleared for active duty discharge in 12 hours. His pay would end, as would his insurance.

"They told me to go on unemployment. I said, 'I still have a job, but I'm waiting to be released by my doctors.' They said some general told them they needed to clear the dockets, that they have too many people on medical hold. I don't want to stay on forever. I just want to get better and get on with my life," Rodriguez said.

Since then, Rodriguez has been caught in a quagmire of red tape and bureaucracy. With the assistance of son Rob, they've visited unemployment offices. He was turned down. They've had appointments with the Veterans Administration. He doesn't qualify for insurance and a disability claim could take six months. They've sought help from the Social Security Administration. They were told the administration could do nothing until he returns to work.

Waldron said the military doctor overseeing Rodriguez's case was ready to clear him for an active duty discharge in June, but granted a two-and-a-half-month extension at Rodriguez's request.

"In general terms, we've fixed you, we've gotten you healthy, you are fit to go back to your civilian job," Waldron said. "If the Army said you are good to go, but the other doctors said you were not, it would be between his civilian doctors, civilian job and Sgt. Rodriguez."

However, Waldron said Rodriguez's case may point to problems in the new community-based health care initiative, in particular, what to do with a returning soldier who may be caught in a gap such as Rodriguez's, when the military doctor and civilian doctor do not agree on the same time frame for a soldier to be released to return to his civilian job.

"It is a brand-new program created because of the impact of the wounded guardsmen and reservists returning from the Gulf," she said. "We are not saying this is a perfect system."

Robertson said what happened to Rodriguez should never have happened. He said Rodriguez should have not been discharged from active duty until either his medical condition was cleared by his own doctors or until a claim had been filed with the VA so that agency could have taken over his case.

"He should have had a seamless transition from active duty to the VA. There was a disconnect. The VA should have been aware of his case and awarded him a disability. It shouldn't have happened until a decision was made," Robertson said.

They also contacted U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky's office. A congressional aide has been working with the family, spokesman Justin Kish said. The aide discovered Rodriguez may be eligible for incapacitation pay -- something no one from the Army told them about.

"The congressman and (his chief of staff) Chuck Brimmer have been making calls on Mr. Rodriguez's behalf. We've followed up with the Army liaison and still waiting to see if he's eligible. We are trying to expedite the case," Kish said.

Army representatives were to contact Rodriguez on the incapacitation pay issue, but have not as yet.

Waldron said she has never heard of incapacitation pay.

Rodriguez has expedited his own care with his civilian doctors in order to get back to work as soon as possible. Moving up his December medical review to meeting with a doctor late last month where, said Rob Rodriguez, the doctors have agreed to release his father earlier than first advised, possibly sometime this month.

In the meantime, Rodriguez waits to hear from the Army as to why he was abruptly given an active duty discharge. He's still a member of the reserves, he says, planning to officially retire early next year.

That, in itself is an irony.

"I've been discharged off active duty status, but I'm still officially in the reserves. But they (his reserve unit) tell me I'm not well enough to perform my duties or to participate in the drills," he said.



-------- POLITICS


-------- propaganda wars

Recruiting in the Schools
No Lie Left Untried

By DAVE LINDORFF
October 11, 2005 CounterPunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10112005.html

When it comes to a reputation for selling snake oil, surely the army recruiter has long been right down there in the muck with the used car salesman and the patent medicine huckster. It's common knowledge that the promises made by recruiters about postings and future positions and training are worthless, and that once someone signs on as a recruit, her or his fate is at the whim of the military. That said, recruiters these days, desperate to fill the pipeline to Iraq's slaughterhouse with new bodies, are resorting to an interesting new spiel this days.

Word comes in from students in the Philadelphia area that recruiters at area high schools are warning them to enlist now, when they can pick the type of service they'd like to do, "because there's a draft coming next year and then you'll have no choice."

It's an interesting come-on because the White House and Pentagon keep saying that there are no plans for a draft.

Granted, two years ago they began a crash program at the Selective Service System to rebuild the local and regional draft boards, which had been allowed to languish for years with seats going unfilled, and which are essential to a functioning system of conscription. And granted that this year was the worst year for enlistments and reenlistments for all branches of the uniformed services since Vietnam, with even the Marines failing to reach their quota, and with the army raising its maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42.

Still, a draft would be a bitter pill for elected officials in 2006, especially with the entire House up for re-election and with support for the war in Iraq now in the toilet.

So we're left with two alternatives: either the recruiters know something that the rest of us and our elected political leadership in Congress don't know, or there is no draft coming next year and the recruiters are using lies to scare young kids into signing on the dotted line.

If it's the former, it's time for our representatives to hold hearings to find out what's up. If it's the latter, schools should be banning the recruiters from high school campuses and from college information fairs, just as they would if an unaccredited school were lying and saying it offers an accredited degree. Lying recruiters have no place in a school, even if the "No Child Left Behind" law mandates that schools provide the names, addresses and home phone numbers of all high school juniors and seniors to recruiters.

While they're at it, schools should all get their act together and provide every student aged 16 and up with an opt-out form as provided by law, so that they or their parent(s) can return it and have that child's contact information kept from recruiters.

A growing grassroots movement of students and parents is resulting in more and more students turning in such forms. The principal's office in my school district of Upper Dublin, PA, reports that this year a significant number of the junior and senior class have turned in the opt-out forms that were sent out as part of a back-to-school school information packet last August. In Montclair, NJ, 94 percent of the junior and senior class reportedly opted out this year, giving recruiters a pretty small group to harangue.

For information about protecting your child from these deceitful and threatening recruiters of cannon-fodder for Bush's Iraq War, contact the American Friends Service Committee's National Youth and Militarism Movement office. (Their website has an opt-out form that can be downloaded and printed out, to be turned in to your local high school or school board.)

Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled "This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press. Information about both books and other work by Lindorff can be found at www.thiscantbehappening.net.

He can be reached at: dlindorff@yahoo.com



-------- ACTIVISTS

Local Ark. Republicans hold annual dinner; several veterans protest

By Brook Reinhard Staff Writer brookr@nwanews.com
Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

http://nwanews.com/story.php?paper=bcdr&section=News&storyid=26369

ROGERS — Benton County Republicans’ annual dinner Monday brought hundreds of local Republicans and U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson to the Embassy Suites in Rogers — as well as several military veterans protesting Bush administration policies.

Nicholson, a retired Army colonel, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and former chairman of the Republican Party, said he was honored to be in a Republican stronghold such as northwest Arkansas. "I’m delighted to be here. This is just an exciting place in the center of things," he said.

He said the people of northwest Arkansas have values consistent with those of President Bush: smaller government and lower taxes.

Several veterans outside the hotel had a number of questions for Nicholson, including why some veterans’ disability benefits are being questioned, in the wake of Veterans Affairs budget cuts. "I’d call it less of a protest, really, than an informal action," Norman "Bill" Williams said Monday. "We have … questions that we think will be of interest to these folks. They all have to do with veterans issues and supporting the people who serve us in uniform."

He has specific issues with government policies, including using weapons with depleted uranium, overextending the military’s reserve troops through heavy deployment, VA budget cuts and signs that the Bush administration might veto an antitorture bill that passed 90-9 in the Senate.

Williams, a Vietnam veteran, was flanked by Rod Greig, a veteran of World War II and Korea, and Bernard Sulliban, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. The three stood outside the hotel as men and women in suits streamed into the building Monday night, but the veterans were not allowed to hold up signs or distribute unsolicited literature.

Nicholson said he didn’t have any problem with protesters and wouldn’t mind if they listened to his remarks at Monday’s dinner, but said he couldn’t comment on their concerns. "I’d have to first of all hear what the particulars are," he said. Nicholson said the biggest challenge for the VA is serving all the new veterans, but added that under Bush, the VA’s budget has increased by 50 percent. "We want to make sure we do a good job of taking care of our newest veterans, as well as the older ones," he said.

Ret Miles the Benton County Republican chairman, said the Monday dinner is the local party’s biggest fundraiser. The dinner, themed "Let Freedom Reign," featured music from singer and business owner Jose Ortega, as well as speeches from Nicholson and others.

Miles said it’s important to have a dialogue with veterans such as Williams. "I think it’s great," he said. "I disagree with them, but if they’re veterans, they’ve definitely earned the right."

Miles said the Bush administration has been very supportive of veterans. But has it been enough? "I don’t think any administration has ever done enough," Miles said. "We can never do enough for our veterans." 

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Ecologists Mock Nobel Peace Prize Decision

By Galina Stolyarova
Staff Writer, St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
Tuesday, October 11, 2005

http://www.times.spb.ru/story/15769

Russian environmentalists are crying foul at the controversial decision of the Nobel Committee to award this year’s Peace Prize to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its head Mohamed ElBaradei.

The Nobel Committee announced that IAEA and ElBaradei have won the prize in recognition of their efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons on a global scale. The winner was selected from 199 candidates, which included, among others, Ukranian president Viktor Yushchenko, the Salvation Army, rock musician Bono and ex-president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari.

“At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA’s work is of incalculable importance,” the Nobel Committee said in its official statement.

To the consternation of many Russian environmentalists, however, ElBaradei has openly supported a move by the Nuclear Power Ministry to build a giant international site for spent nuclear fuel from other countries for storage and reprocessing in Siberia.

Russian environmentalists expressed their bewilderment at the commitee’s move. Lev Fyodorov, head of Russian environmental organization Ecodefence, said he was shocked by the Nobel Committee’s verdict.

“The Peace Prize has never before been awarded to such a deeply compromised organization,” Fyodorov told The St. Petersburg Times on Monday. “IAEA has been involved with distribution of dual-use nuclear technologies but, most disturbingly, it tainted its reputation by trying to turn Russia into an international nuclear waste dump .”

Ecologists have repeatedly pointed to Russia’s inability to deal with waste from its own nuclear industry, let alone from abroad.

Dmitry Artamonov, head of the St. Petersburg branch of Greenpeace, told The St. Petersburg Times on Monday that the situation at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station, or LAES, is indicative of the plight of the industry on nationwide level. He said that the storage facilities at LAES are overloaded by over 40 percent.

“The station’s overloaded storage site is located only 90 meters from the Gulf of Finland,” Artamonov said. “The plant’s authorities said they are compressing the waste to make it safe to store larger amounts of material, but the problem is that radioactive material isn’t safe in principal.”

The decision to give the award to IAEA and El Baradei was welcomed by many international high-ranking politicans from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. But Greenpeace International has scathingly branded ElBaradei as serving “nuclear policeman and nuclear salesman” at the same time.

Spent fuel and other radioactive waste from power plants is currently kept in temporary facilities warehouses and reprocessed in various countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Japan. A number of countries are unable to treat their nuclear waste and send it abroad.

The material only becomes harmless after 10,000 years of storage. All current facilities store the waste on a temporary basis, and no permanent agreements have yet been made, though Russia appears to be on the verge of making one.

Since 2004, the IAEA and ElBaradei have been backing a plan to construct a global nuclear waste storage warehouse in Siberia. Russia is the only country in the world where legislation would allow for such a plan . In 2001, the State Russian Duma amended the country’s environmental legislation and allowed the import of spent nuclear fuel from abroad for reprocessing and storage.

Advocates of the idea have included head of the Russian Nuclear Ministry Alexander Rumyantsev and the former head of the ministry, Yevgeny Adamov. They have argued that a commercial fuel dump would bring Russia billions of dollars that could be spent on nuclear security. The Siberian storage site alone would fill the state coffers with $20 billion over a period of ten years.

But security concerns remain high.

Greenpeace’s Artamonov has also expressed alarm at the fact that the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station is repairing its outdated Chernobyl-type reactors to prolong their use, without having carried out environmental tests. “The first block, currently being repaired, was designed to serve for 25 years. This term expired last year, but the plant is repairing it as there’s no money to replace it with a new one.”

Over the past decade, Russian environmental organizations have also reported a number of minor leaks at different plants, including LAES.

Russian ecologists are not alone in having criticized the Nobel Committee’s decision. The Japanese humanitarian organization Hidankyo, which was established to support and represent the surviving victims of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has expressed its disappointment at the choice.

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Whistleblowers meet to share stories, plot strategies

By Chris Strohm
cstrohm@govexec.com
October 11, 2005

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1005/101105c1.htm

CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. - More than two dozen national security whistleblowers, lawyers and public interest advocates gathered Monday night in a pristine fishing village on Virginia's eastern shore to discuss strategies for strengthening legal protections against reprisal and to exchange stories.

Participants in the three-day National Security Whistleblowers Conference included former and current employees of some of the government's most secretive agencies, including the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, CIA and FBI. The event was funded by five advocacy groups: the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, the Project on Government Oversight, the Fund for Constitutional Government, the Cavallo Foundation and the Fertel Foundation.

As night settled over Chincoteague Bay, NSA whistleblower Russ Tice chatted with noted national security lawyer Roy Krieger. Members of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, a group founded by FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, plotted legislative and publicity strategies. And Daniel Ellsberg, the former Marine who leaked the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War to the media in 1971, met the latest military whistleblower on the block: intelligence specialist Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, who has stirred up a frenzy in Washington by reporting that a classified Army program identified one of the main ringleaders of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks more than a year before they occurred.

Most of the whistleblowers at the conference said they were ardent conservatives or lifelong Republicans. But their experiences have brought them into a world where they mingle with representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union and Democratic lawmakers.

Conference participants said they'd spent the better part of their careers in government or military service, and had never thought about going public with their allegations, which ranged from suspected espionage inside national security agencies to criminal misconduct by superiors. But efforts to report allegations and complaints through their formal chains of command failed, they said, leaving them no alternative but to become public whistleblowers.

Through panel discussions and keynote speeches, participants told their stories, heard from organizations that support whistleblowers, and discussed legal, legislative and media strategies. They talked of building a sustained movement that will help career civil servants, military service members and government contractors report wrongdoing.

"We are here to stay," Edmonds said. "We have different ideologies, we have different personalities, we have different agencies, but we have a common goal."

That goal, they say, is government accountability, which includes strong congressional oversight and protections for employees who disclose suspected wrongdoing at national security agencies.

Perhaps more than anything, though, the conference was a way for whistleblowers to lend each other moral support. Reporting wrongdoing can be a lonely and intimidating experience, participants said. Most felt they were penalized and their careers ruined for reporting their allegations. Some said they have gone deeply in debt as a result of litigating complaints. Most whistleblowers don't win their complaints or lawsuits, participants said.

"The key thing is being able to stay with it, and that it is a long-term struggle," said former CIA analyst Patrick Eddington, whose 1997 book, Gassed in the Gulf, was one of the first to comprehensively examine Gulf War syndrome.

"At the end of the day, if you're going to make a decision to move forward, you either have to do it relatively clandestine and try to shield your involvement, or you have to make a decision to go completely all the way outside the organization and go public in order to try to shine the spotlight on the problem," Eddington added. "Trying to do something in between is the worst of both worlds, because nobody's in a position to protect you and you wind up being in a position of maximum exposure."

Meetings like this one, however, give whistleblowers and advocacy organizations hope, said Danielle Brian, POGO's executive director.

"If nothing else, it's tremendously important for these isolated individuals to get together and realize they're not alone and they are suffering some very similar situations," Brian said.