NucNews - November 27, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- britain No choice over nuclear - Beckett Nuclear energy provides 20% of Britain's electricity (BBC) Sunday, 27 November 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4476058.stm Nuclear power may have to be embraced in a bid to combat climate change even though it is not a "sustainable" energy source, Margaret Beckett has admitted. The environment secretary said she was very reluctant to build new nuclear power stations, but that she had "accepted that it could happen". But Mrs Beckett said any investment in nuclear must not be at the expense of renewable energy sources. An energy policy review is set to be announced early this week. In an interview with ITV1's The Jonathan Dimbleby Programme, Mrs Beckett was questioned about her view that nuclear power is not a sustainable energy source. "I don't think you can argue that it meets the definition of sustainability," she stressed. "But that's a separate issue from saying, however, despite those enormous problems, you're driven to it by other considerations such as climate change and I've always accepted that that could happen." Nuclear power currently meets about a fifth of Britain's electricity needs, but that is set to fall to just 4% by 2010 when old power stations are decommissioned. Mrs Beckett's comments come as a report in the Sunday Times suggested the government's chief scientific adviser Sir David King wants to put a levy on consumers' energy bills to fund a new generation of power stations. Energy mix Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker said: "Rather than increasing fuel costs to pay for nuclear the government should be investing in renewable energy." A Department of Trade and Industry spokesman said the government's policy was to carry out a review which looked at the entire energy mix. "There is no silver bullet to meeting our objectives and we will continue to look at a mixture of energy sources including use of fossil fuels and developing renewable energy as well as energy efficiency measures. "We will also examine the options for civil nuclear power and whether and to what extent we should replace the existing generating stations that will reach the end of their lives over the next 30 years." Any further use of nuclear power would require an extensive public debate, he added. Green group Friends of the Earth said research showed many potential sites for new nuclear power stations are at risk from sea level rises. It called on the government to drop any idea of building new plants. ---- Nuclear power? Don't dismiss it We cannot afford to dither any longer about the impending energy crisis. All governments must act now Henry Porter Sunday November 27, 2005 The UK Observer http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1651679,00.html The great game of the 21st century is being played out before our eyes, but few seem to notice. Last week, Tony Blair hinted that he was prepared to go ahead with a new generation of nuclear reactors at an as yet unknown cost. In Iraq, an American-inspired deal to hand over development of oil reserves, the third largest in the world, to US and British companies is being rushed through by the oil minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi before next month's election. In Russia, President Putin has ruthlessly constructed a monopoly of oil and gas production which controls some 90 per cent of the country's reserves. On the way, he imprisoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky, stripping his oil giant, Yukos, of its assets and, in a separate deal, paid off Khodorkovsky's fellow oligarch, Roman Abramovich, with US $13 billion for his stake in the oil producer Sibneft. The link is the supply of energy to the high-consuming, wasteful Western democracies. With about 50 years of oil reserves left and maybe 85 years of gas, the struggle for control of the world's energy resources will increasingly dictate events. It will impact on each of us and there will be almost no area of domestic or foreign policy unaffected by this desperate scramble. Lest people think that the invasion of Iraq was undertaken to establish democracy and eliminate Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, rather than to secure Iraq's oil reserves, then last Monday's revelations about Chalabi's 30-year binding contracts should give them pause. If you imagine that Tony Blair's musing on the nuclear option popped out of the blue, just remember Putin's visit to Britain in October and the conversation the two leaders had on the sidelines of the Russia-EU summit. Believe me, they were talking about gas, not chatting about democratic reform in Russia. Having consolidated Russia's state monopoly, Putin came to Europe with his power greatly enhanced. More than 25 per cent of Europe's natural gas is supplied by Russia: By 2020, that figure will be nudging 40 per cent. The former KGB officer has got his hand resting on Europe's throat and with rising gas prices, it cannot be anything but sensible for Blair to look at other options. These events and the cold assessment of what lies ahead are way above an average individual's understanding or awareness. We are so used to having all the energy we require that we are barely conscious of our needs and do not trouble ourselves with realities of the world as it is and, more seriously, as it will be. I am often reminded of Sydney Pollack's 1975 classic thriller, Three Days of the Condor, which starred Robert Redford as Joe Turner and Cliff Robertson as a CIA officer named Higgins. Turner uncovers the CIA's covert plan to invade the Middle East and secure the oil supply for the US. At the end of the film, the two meet outside the offices of the New York Times, where Turner has just delivered a dossier exposing the CIA's operation. Higgins asks the idealistic Turner what the US government should do when people start running out of fuel. Turner replies: 'Ask them.' 'Not now; then!' Higgins snaps. 'Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!" Never a truer word was spoken in an espionage thriller. When the film was released in the wake of Watergate, Joe Turner seemed unquestionably heroic, but 30 years on, it's possible to admire Higgins's scathing realism for the reason that at least he's not having it both ways. Today, there's so much in the liberal stand against the war in Iraq that is simply politics for the naive, who tremble at the idea of the war while at the same time demanding as much energy as they can use. We were lied to about Saddam's WMD because realists like Dick Cheney, Alastair Campbell and Ahmed Chalabi knew that the Western public would not accept that oil was even part of the mission in Iraq. They know that in our hearts, we just want them to get it for us. Iraq is an utter mess and the invasion has undoubtedly played into al-Qaeda's hands, but I suspect the highest counsels both in Russia and the West regard the menace of al-Qaeda as a side issue in the scramble for energy. Indeed, the fear of terrorism can be rather useful to governments that want to impose greater controls on their societies or even persuade them to go to war. What we need is true enlightenment in the liberal classes, not the naivety that shudders at the idea of nuclear power, or places undue faith in renewables, or runs an SUV that uses four times the fuel of an ordinary car, or maintain homes haemorrhaging energy. The other day, I flew into Britain on one of those cold, clear evenings when everything is pin-sharp. It's a spectacular sight if you forget that the carpet of light is one of the reasons why we're heading for such trouble. Half the people producing all that light below were probably against the war in 2002. The same proportion have doubts about nuclear power and fret about global warming. But all were spewing energy and carbon into the atmosphere, apparently unaware that these things are related. (I am far from guiltless in this respect. For one thing, I was on a transatlantic flight, typically calculated to release about one ton of carbon dioxide per passenger.) Nuclear power appears to be a solution because it is held to occupy a position where the requirements for clean electricity and for independence from suppliers like Vladimir Putin overlap. I am tempted, but have yet to be convinced. No sensible debate has yet taken place and I am certain it would be disastrous if Tony Blair briskly commits us to this course without one. We need to know the costs and estimate the risks of nuclear power and see how they compare with other combinations of power generation, including renewables. More important, this debate has to take place in a context of a settlement between government and the people about the immediate need for energy conservation, which is why David Cameron's idea of cross-party group dedicated to the environment is a good one. This is no longer a matter for party politics. The urgency is great. Those who read the scientific press or attend conferences on climate change know of the profound threat. Equally, they can see the disconnect between what society accepts intellectually and how people continue to behave. We have to understand that the crises of energy and global warming will intersect soon and that this will change the course of history in a most terrifying manner. Governments can do much to help - creating a dedicated ministry that links energy to the environment would be a start. The redeployment of funds allowed for, say, the update of Trident (£12.5bn) and the ID card scheme (upwards of £3bn) into energy conservation and education is essential. But it requires a shift on our part, for these things have become a matter of conscience - of linking the use of the SUV with your stance on the war, of tying together the cheap flight to Majorca with a failure to insulate your home. We can no longer expect the government to get fossil fuels for us to burn because, quite apart from anything else, they ain't going to be there for much longer. -------- canada The Rush for Alberta's Uranium With prices soaring and supply dwindling, the race is on to find new sources of the nuclear fuel Gina Teel Calgary Herald Sunday, November 27, 2005 http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/story.html?id=e1da89f1-0f1e-4aa0-ac04-a34fb02cabb8&k=47840 Mel and Dianne Thomson own the land near Whiskey Gap, Alberta, just north of the U.S. border, where North American Gem Inc. has started drilling for uranium. At the bottom of a coulee on a wind-swept ranch near Whiskey Gap, two drillers manning a portable rig at the back end of a tractor pull a core sample from the ground. Hovering nearby on a snow-crusted pasture, Charles Desjardins, president of North American Gem Inc., waits as the first core from drill hole 1 is eased into a wooden sample box. A high-stakes treasure hunt for uranium is underway in Southern Alberta, and Desjardins' company is the first to drill the region's depths in search of sandstone-hosted deposits of the radioactive ore used as a feedstock for nuclear reactors. Uranium's spot price has roared to $34.25 US per pound from $20.20 last November. That's nearly five times from the $7.10 fetched five years ago. Running uranium up the charts is a global supply gap that's anticipated to widen as nuclear energy regains prominence. For Desjardins, the exploratory drilling isn't just about finding uranium, but finding it in the right kind of geological structure to be produced through in situ leaching (ISL). Similar to water injection for oil recovery, ISL pumps an oxidizing solution into an injection well that loosens uranium from sandstone, then pumps the mixture back up to the surface through a retrieval well. Unlike an open pit mine, ISL leaves the underground and surface largely undisturbed. "If we find the right situation in place, then I think the game's on for the area," Desjardins says. Uranium is responsible for about 16 per cent of the world's energy supply, but the amount of uranium available to fuel the world's 440 reactors, never mind those planned or under construction in emerging economies like India and China, is dwindling. This year, total global demand for uranium will be 178 million pounds, while the total supply from mines is 105.5 million pounds, says analyst Ray Goldie of Salman Partners. While part of the gap is being filled by recycled uranium and weapons uranium from Russia, totalling some 38 million pounds, that still leaves a shortfall of 35 million pounds this year, he says. "Utilities are scrambling to buy uranium now because they are worried they might not be able to find enough uranium to keep their plants running," Goldie says. Meanwhile, demand is growing at 1.1 per cent a year, he says, and there's not much new supply coming on stream. Currently, about 15 per cent of Canada's electricity comes from nuclear power. According to Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, global demand is predicted to outpace existing supply over the next decade by more than 400 million pounds. The uptick in the uranium market earlier this year sparked a staking rush in Southern Alberta, as a half dozen junior companies staked claims on a swath of land totalling some 4,000 square kilometres running south of Calgary to the Montana border and east toward Cypress Hills. And while prospectors have over the years turned up plenty of surface indicators to support the theory that sandstone-hosted uranium deposits may lurk in the depths of Alberta's southern regions, nothing of significance has been found to date. Desjardins hopes exploration of the Whiskey Gap Project, comprising some 18,000 hectares located southeast of Cardston near the Alberta-Montana border, changes all of that. Various points on the property have shown high levels of radon in water samples. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas formed by the disintegration of radium, a decay product of uranium. Particularly high levels of radon may indicate a uranium presence somewhere nearby in the soil and rocks. Sandstone-hosted uranium deposits account for 13 per cent of global uranium production. Finding uranium in sandstone is no easy task, however. "It's a very difficult target to define by geophysics and by almost any classical exploration technique other than drilling," says geologist Glenn Hartley, who is directing the Whisky Gap Project for North American Gem. Desjardins watches as prospector Lester Vanhill runs a scintillatometer -- a device for measuring gamma radiation and used to locate radioactive ores such as uranium -- over the core sample. The needle in the scintillatometer's gauge waivers as Vanhill passes the device -- refurbished with the latest electronics -- over discolourations on the core. This sample, like the others to follow, will be sent to the Saskatchewan Research Council to be assayed. Whether North American Gem finds a deposit right here or not is not really the point, says Desjardins. "There's two million acres staked behind us here, and I think the game would be on for everybody," he says. All told, Desjardins estimates North American Gem will invest about $225,000 in the Whisky Gap Project. The Vancouver company also has 81,000 hectares staked nearby in the Del Bonita area. Back at the ranch, the excitement of landowners Mel and Dianne Thomson is palpable as they go about their business. The couple has lived on the 1,280 acre (two sections) spread for 32 years, but this spring was the first they learned uranium may be on their property. The thought that finding a deposit on their land has the potential to launch a new industry in the area sits well with the couple. "It kinda gives you a little bit of prestige, I guess," says Mel. "Lester says that it could be as big a breakthrough for uranium as Leduc was for oil." Canada is the world's largest producer of uranium. In 2004, Canada produced 13,676 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate -- about 30 per cent of total world production -- at a value of about $800 million. High-grade uranium has been mined from the Athabasca Basin in Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan for decades. While most of these ore deposits are highly radioactive and require remote-controlled equipment and other safeguards to be mined, sandstone-hosted uranium deposits tend to be small and of low grades and can be mined differently. Lower grades don't mean a lower market price, however. "You make it into yellow cake, which is uranium oxide, and it doesn't matter what grade it came from -- it's just a question of how much you want to spend to get to that," says Alun Richards, spokesman for Saskatoon-based uranium producer Cogema Resources Inc. Cogema's uranium mines in Northern Saskatchewan have grades averaging 20 to 25 per cent. Southern Alberta isn't on their radar. Vanhill argues sandstone-hosted deposits do have one advantage over deposits in the Athabasca Basin: cost. Most northern sites are remote and can only be reached by helicopter -- a cost that runs about $100 per five minutes -- so it's more economical for junior companies to explore in Southern Alberta, he says. "I can go and pick the core boxes up with the truck and take them to the core shack compared to a $1,000 chopper ride," Vanhill says. This holds true for operating costs. Salman Partner's Goldie estimates it costs about $20 million to build an ISL operation compared with $1 billion to build an underground mine in the Athabasca Basin. Until now, no one had looked for uranium in Southern Alberta since the last uranium boom ended in the early 1980s. That's when the price of uranium fell from about $40 a pound to about $8, following the Three Mile Island incident in the U.S. Helping to rekindle interest is an old Alberta Geological Survey report published in 1994 highlighting the province's mineral potential. Compiled by Reg Olson and others, including members of the AGS, the report contained an old exploration report that identified a 1981 uranium 'occurrence' along the Waterton River, meaning there are signs uranium could be in an area as opposed to a deposit. According to the old report, the occurrence was from a rock sample with a uranium grade of 0.2 per cent. As things turned out, it didn't much matter. All exploration in Southern Alberta was dropped before any companies could drill or conduct further exploration as nuclear power fell into disfavour following the Three Mile Island incident in the U.S. and, in 1986, Chernobyl in Russia. At the same time, the fall of the Iron Curtain, particularly between the U.S. and Russia, saw the agreement to decommission nuclear weapons, and that enriched uranium was used to fuel existing reactors, so supply wasn't an issue, says Olson, now leader of the Northern Resources Development section of the Alberta Geological Survey. That cycle ended about two years ago, he says. Still, the uranium potential of Southern Alberta lay largely forgotten until last December, when Vanhill, an enterprising prospector and owner of SandSwamp Exploration Ltd. near Dapp, in northern Alberta, came across Olson's old report. Vanhill staked the original property and sold it to Edmonton's Firestone Ventures Inc. this spring. That said, Olson says at this stage of early exploration, the uranium potential in Southern Alberta is unknown. He estimates the potential is somewhere between low and possibly high, but at this stage it's impossible to say. "That's the nature of the mining exploration game, especially with the juniors," Olson says. "It is a risky business at this point in time." Firestone is now in the early stages of prospecting and exploring 48,000 hectares staked in the Fort Macleod and Cardston areas. Firestone president Lori Walton makes no bones about the high risk nature of the venture. The chances of actually finding an economic deposit of sandstone-hosted uranium -- mine company speak for the motherlode -- are pretty well one in 2,000, she says. Any mining activity, if a deposit is found, would be at least five to 10 years down the road, given the exploration and lengthy federal and provincial regulatory processes required before starting a uranium mine. The time frame isn't a concern for Walton. She believes the long-term outlook for uranium is solid. "Uranium is in Southern Alberta; what we're looking for is an economic concentration of it, and that will take years to determine," Walton says. Rick Boulay, president of Marum Resources Inc., is preparing to begin exploratory drilling south of Fort Macleod in early December. Marum's permits, located 10 kilometres south of Fort Macleod, cover 368 square kilometres. The plan is to drill 25 holes to a depth of about 100 metres each over a 10-day period, he says. Boulay, a longtime prospector, says he likes that there's existing industrial infrastructure and access in Southern Alberta. But there's more. "The geology there is a dead ringer for several uranium producing areas of the Western U.S.," he says. Salman Partner's Goldie notes these types of deposits do tend to occur on the fringes of major oil and gas fields. With Saskatchewan right next door, its likely the basement rocks underneath the oil bearing rocks are enriched in uranium, he says. "So there's two of the most promising ingredients for that kind of deposit -- a source of uranium and a place to put it," Goldie says. Indeed a lot of the interest in Southern Alberta has to do with its geology, which is very similar to a district in Wyoming, Nebraska and Texas where sandstone-hosted uranium has been successfully mined for years. Cameco has used ISL mining methods to mine uranium at its Crow Butte mine in Nebraska and the Smith Ranch-Highland mine in Wyoming since the 1980s. In 2004, Crow Butte produced 0.8 million pounds of uranium and employed 40 people, while the Smith Ranch-Highland property produced 1.5 million pounds and employed 80 people, says Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn. Production from the two ISL properties in the U.S. represents about 11 per cent of Cameco's overall production, he says. It's tough to measure the economic impact of the ISL mines. "In situ leach operations tend to be smaller," Krahn says. "The deposits in Northern Saskatchewan are exceptional and world class, so they are obviously at a substantially higher grade and really a whole different ball of wax." The Thomsons may not own the mineral rights to their property, but they do get something out of the deal for allowing North American Gem to explore their land -- two water wells drilled anywhere they want on the ranch, representing a savings of about $20,000. They're also benefitting from the economic spin-off of the exploration. It's their tractor that North American Gem hired to haul the drilling rig in, and the couple may end up hauling in water for the drilling operation. Vanhill and the drilling crew, and Hartley and Desjardins when they're in town, all lodge at the Thomson Rangeview Ranch guesthouse facilities -- Mel and Dianne run a working guest ranch in the summer -- and also provide meals to the Whisky Gap crew. Vanhill adds he's spent a couple of thousand dollars in Cardston and Lethbridge in gear alone. Economically, a uranium strike has the potential for being a big thing in the area, says Mel. Dianne adds that any economic benefit wouldn't be confined to the Thomson ranch. "If they can find enough here, then it's all the way through this area," she says. That's something that concerns Susan Nelson, manager of the Southwest Alberta Sustainable Community Initiative. Headquartered at Pincher Creek, the organization works to provide comprehensive information to the community and environmental groups. The southwest region is dealing with a number of potential growth issues related to tourism, wind energy, natural gas refineries, and now uranium exploration. Nelson says there's talk among stakeholders in the community about getting a study done of the area to try and understand exactly what would happen to the area if all these projects came to be. She admits she has some concerns about a potential uranium development in the area. "I certainly want to make sure that there are regulations in place that are going to make sure that these guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing," she says. gteel@theherald.canwest.com New reactors fuel growing demand for uranium There were 440 nuclear power reactors in 31 countries at the end of 2004. As of May 2005, there were 24 nuclear reactor plants under construction, another 40 being planned and 73 proposed, mostly in Asia and Eastern Europe. Here are the world's main nuclear power players: Staked territory in southern Alberta Rising uranium prices have sparked a staking rush as a half dozen junior companies staked claims on a swath of land running from south of Calgary to the U.S. border. Although there are surface indicators of uranium, prospectors have yet to find anything of significance. -------- depleted uranium The UNITED STATES of MONSTERS: DEPLETED URANIUM jouna, iraq-war.ru November 27, 2005 Uruknet http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m18214&date=28-nov-2005_01:26_ECT The UNITED NATIONS subcommission (August 2002) reports that the United Stated use of DEPLETED URANIUM violates the following INTERNATIONAL LAWS: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Charter of the United Nations. The Genocide Convention. The Convention Against Torture. The four Geneva Conventions of 1949. The Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. (forbidding poisoned weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering) All of these laws are designed to spare civilians from unwarranted suffering in armed conflicts (cfwww.sundayherald.com/32522). This means that the call of Iranian president, Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to have those in United States responsible not only should, but must be tried as war criminals for war crimes in courts (cf. http://www.iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/71438). To be resolved in these trials include also the following issues: US rejects Iraq DU clean-up, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2946715.stm. GULF WAR SYNDROME BIRTH DEFECTS IN IRAQ CHILDREN DEFECTS IN IRAQ CHILDEN BABIES EXTREME BIRTH DEFORMITIES DEPLETED URANIUM AMMUNITION, www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/extremedeformities.html. Iraq Links Cancers to Uranium Weapons, www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0113-01.htm DU: Cancer as a Weapon – Radioactive War, www.mothersalert.org/du3.html. DEPLETED URANIUM BURNING: AN E T E R N A L MEDICAL DISASTER, www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/ud_main.html. Horror Of US Depleted Uranium In Iraq Threatens World, www.rense.com/general64/du.htm. I restrain from doing this, because I’m a private citizen, not directly targeted by United States. However, I do expect the all the nations in the world, who feel their response to answer to the call of the Mr. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and bring forth the charges for these crimes in the front of the international courts. -------- iran EU accepts Iran's call for fresh nuclear talks Sun Nov 27, 2005 3:14 PM ET (Reuters) By Parisa Hafezi and Paul Taylor http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-27T201445Z_01_FLE768877_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/print.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10357397 TEHRAN/BARCELONA - Britain, France and Germany agreed on Sunday to exploratory talks with Iran on resuming negotiations over its disputed nuclear programme, which broke down in August, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. "A letter has been conveyed to Iran this afternoon ... from the three countries and myself. We offered Iran to have conversations, dialogue to see if we have enough common basis to start negotiations," he told reporters at a Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona. An EU diplomat said the letter called Iran's resumption of uranium ore conversion a "major setback" but dropped the previous European insistence that negotiations on long-term cooperation could only restart if Iran resumed a full suspension of activities related to uranium enrichment. The letter set no date but Iran's official IRNA news agency said ambassadors of the so-called EU3 countries had accepted a resumption of the talks in December, quoting a statement issued by Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, wrote to the EU3 this month calling for the resumption of talks, which collapsed in August when Tehran reactivated a plant converting uranium ore into a gas, a precursor to making enriched nuclear fuel. The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board decided on Thursday not to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council to give time to try to broker a compromise. RUSSIAN PROPOSAL The EU diplomat said the EU3 letter said talks could cover a Russian proposal, backed by Washington and the European Union. That plan would allow Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear programme but uranium enrichment, the most sensitive stage of the nuclear fuel cycle that can be used to make fuel for bombs, would be transferred to Russia under a joint venture. "We believe these could provide important elements of a comprehensive solution," the letter said, according to elements seen by Reuters. "We would therefore welcome concrete signals by Iran of its willingness to meet the expectations of the international community and hope Iran will create conditions that will enable a resumption of our discussions," it said. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi reiterated on Sunday that Iran's right to a full nuclear cycle on its soil was non-negotiable. "We will only review those proposals which include mastering the nuclear fuel cycle inside Iran," Asefi told a weekly news conference. He said that Iran had not received a formal proposal from Russia but would study it if it arrived. Diplomats and intelligence officials told Reuters last week that Iran was preparing to start enrichment at its underground plant in Natanz, suspended under a November 2004 deal with Britain, France and Germany. Asefi rejected the report, saying western media were "fabricating news" to pressure Iran to abandon its programme, as the United States and other Western countries had been trying to convince Tehran to give up potentially weapons-related work. "It seems they want to solve Iran's nuclear issue through media ... But we prefer it to be solved through talks," he said. ---- Iran trumpets "EU retreat" over nuclear issue Iran Focus, Nov. 27, 2005 http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4602 Tehran, Iran– Iran confirmed on Sunday that the European Union has dropped its precondition for resumption of talks with Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program, as the country’s officials and state-run media trumpeted the European retreat as a “clear victory for the uncompromising positions of President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad”. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said that it had received a letter from the Foreign Ministers of Britain, France, and Germany indicating that they were willing for negotiations to resume from where they were left off in August. Britain’s Jack Straw, France’s Philippe Douste-Blazy, and Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier were responding to a letter by Iranian SNSC secretary general Ali Larijani, who had offered to resume talks provided that Iran continue to carry out uranium conversion, a condition that the EU-3 had originally ruled but have since reluctantly accepted. The letter was delivered by the three countries' ambassadors to Tehran in a meeting with the SNSC deputy secretary general, Javad Vaeedi, on Sunday, the SNSC said in a statement. Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that the EU’s response “marks a retreat from their earlier stance when they had made resumption of talks conditional to Iran's renewed suspension of its uranium enrichment activities”. Members of the hardline-dominated Majlis (parliament) praised the country’s ultra-Islamist President Ahmadinejad for his “tough and resolute stance” which led to the EU retreat. “Iran’s position in the nuclear talks is gaining more strength every day”, Saeed Abutaleb, an ultra-conservative Majlis deputy told the news agency ISNA. “The recent statement by the IAEA board of governors is the outcome of the firm position of President Ahmadinejad in his speech at the UN General Assembly, the active diplomacy of our country, and the Majlis resolution which said Iran would resume its nuclear activities if the case is referred to the UN Security Council”. “This showed us that whenever we deal firmly with the Europeans and the Americans, and if we are united within our ranks, we will force them to retreat”, Abutaleb said. “This is the springboard for more diplomatic victories on the nuclear front. In the next stage, we must resume uranium enrichment activities in Natanz and produce more yellow cake, too”, the deputy added. Another deputy, Ahmad Avai, agreed. “Europe and the U.S. found out that they could not address Iran with the language of force, threats and intimidation”, Avai said. “We have created an environment that is more conducive to our interests in the nuclear talks”. Parviz Soruri, an influential Majlis deputy who is a former Revolutionary Guards commander and a key ally of President Ahmadinejad, told ISNA that “the Americans and the Europeans have realised that if they send Iran to the Security Council, this would be a big shock to the oil market and world economy, and they don’t have the capacity to absorb the shock”. On Wednesday, the state-run daily Kayhan, which reflects the views of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, boasted victory after an "EU climb-down". “With full confidence that the U.S. and EU’s hand is empty, Iran must only accept a continuation of negotiations on the condition that the subject of discussion is how to start enrichment and a clear timeline to do so”, the paper’s editorial noted. -------- israel Report says Israel should dismantle nuclear weapons By Barbara Ferguson 11/27/05 "Arab News" http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11164.htm In order to contain Iran’s nuclear development and prevent a nuclear arms race in the region, Israel must begin nuclear disarmament. This, according to a recent report, entitled “Getting Ready for a Nuclear— Ready Iran,” published by the US Army War College, commissioned and partially funded by the Pentagon, argues that Iran’s nuclear weapon development cannot be stopped by any current military or diplomatic options. The report instead recommends that the United States convince Israel to “mothball” its Dimona nuclear reactor and agree to international monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, something it has refused to do. Israel, to date, has never officially confirmed that it does not have nuclear weapons, nor denied it. Credible reports of Israel’s sizable arsenal of nuclear bombs are well-documented, as well as their stable of missiles and aircrafts to deliver them any where in the Middle East. Israel has long-said its nuclear program has prevented conventional attacks from hostile neighbors, but some experts believe Israel’s position may have motivated other countries to develop their own nuclear options. The study also argues that Israel’s action would persuade other Middle East countries, Egypt or Algeria, to “follow suit and mothball their own nuclear facilities,” which would lead to a regional halt to the production of fissile material that would be the most effective method to successfully isolate Iran. “It should be made clear, however, that Israel will take the additional step of handing over control of its weapons-usable fissile material to the IAEA only when all states in the Middle East dismantle their fissile producing facilities (large research and power reactors, hexafluoride, enrichment plants, and all reprocessing capabilities) and all nuclear weapons states (including Pakistan) formally agree not to redeploy nuclear weapons onto any Middle Eastern nation’s soil in time of peace,” said the report. Nuclear nonproliferation expert Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, and Iran specialist Patrick Clawson, Deputy Director for Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, edited the report, based on research and meetings with the nation’s leading experts on Iran, the Middle East, and nuclear proliferation. India and Pakistan have already proved their nuclear capabilities, and the Middle East is close to a nuclear weapons arms race, Sokolski told reporters: “You have a whole neighborhood of folks poised, at any time, to go nuclear.” He said the call for Israel to suspend its nuclear development activity is “controversial,” but said: “A Middle East with yet more nuclear powers could turn into a big, big death bath.” “An Iran with advanced nuclear capabilities that put it close to having a bomb would likely be a more assertive Iran. Iran might well want to throw its weight around,” co-author Patrick Clawson said during a recent discussion of the study at the Washington Institute. “For example, it could claim that the fate of Jerusalem is a matter that concerns all Muslims and therefore Iran should have a say in any settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Iran might become active in the many disputes in the Caucasus region, such as in Chechnya; after all, this is territory Iran lost to Russia less than two hundred years ago.” Washington’s involvement in Mideast nuclear negotiations are essential, Clawson argued because the US and Iran may well become involved in a Cold War, which he said would only end “as the regime evolves.” -------- korea Iran encourages N.Korea with free oil & gas offer Sunday, November 27 , 2005 - © 2005IranMania.com http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=38135&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs LONDON, November 27 (IranMania) - Iran encouraged North Korea to pursue its nuclear programme with an offer of free oil and natural gas, according to a press report quoting Western intelligence officials. A senior Iranian official who presides over a group called the Iranian-North Korean Friendship Society made the offer during a visit to North Korea in mid-October, German magazine Der Spiegel reported in its latest issue to be released Monday, AFP said. Intelligence officials were not sure how to react to the proposal, which could have allowed the Stalinist state breathing space in its drawn-out negotiations with neighbouring China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, the magazine said. On September19 , North Korea agreed in principle to halt its nuclear weapons programme in exchange for economic and diplomatic benefits, but it later declared it would do so only after it had obtained a light-water reactor for electricity production. On Wednesday, a US-led international consortium called a halt to construction of two light-water reactors promised under a 1994 deal to divert Pyongyang from its atomic bomb drive. Tehran's oil and gas offer had a double objective, Der Spiegel said. Iran wanted to continue cooperating with Pyongyang on ballistic missiles because it's Shahab III missiles were based on North Korean technology. And if the communist state ended its nuclear program Tehran would be exposed to increased UN pressure to accept restrictions, the magazine said. Iran claims it has the right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium to produce fuel for electricity production, but Western powers fear the material could also be diverted to make atomic weapons. Tehran has spurned a compromise offer from Russia to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf. The International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday postponed taking Iran to the Security Council to allow more time for Russian diplomacy to resolve the standoff. In a fiery speech on Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blasted attempts by Western powers to limit its nuclear ambitions. "Who has given you the right to prevent Iran from acquiring the nuclear technology?" he told a25 th anniversary parade of the Basij revolutionary militia. -------- russia Russians fear nuclear expert will spill secrets By Jason Cato PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, November 27, 2005 http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_398320.html Hardly talked about here, the possible extradition of a former Russian nuclear energy minister to face federal charges in Pittsburgh makes the national news every few days there, observers say. That's because many Russians are convinced the United States is after Yevgeny Adamov for the secrets he harbors, not the laws he allegedly broke. "The Russians clearly have a very deep anger about this and feel like we're abusing our relationship," said Marshall Goldman, associate director of Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. "They believe once we get our hands on him, he'll reveal all their state secrets. ... They see this as a return to the Cold War." Adamov, 66, was visiting his daughter in Bern, Switzerland, in May when he was arrested at the request of the U.S. government, which claims he stole $9 million of U.S. Department of Energy money intended to improve safety at Russian nuclear plants. Some of that money, prosecutors say, ended up in bank accounts in Pittsburgh, where Adamov owned two businesses with Monroeville resident Mark Kaushansky, 53. The men are charged with money laundering, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Adamov faces up to 60 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine if convicted. Kaushansky faces up to 180 years in prison and a $5 million fine. Attorneys for both men say their clients are innocent. Like all defendants in the federal court system, Adamov has three options: maintain his innocence and take his chances at trial, plead guilty but refuse to cooperate with the U.S. government, or plead guilty and cooperate. The third option would be rewarded with the least amount of time in jail. "He may choose to cooperate because he'd save his own skin," said Douglas McNabb, senior principal partner with McNabb Associates, a global criminal defense group with offices in Washington, D.C., Houston, London and Milan. "If I was Russia, I'd be incredibly worried that Mr. Adamov could disclose national security secrets the United States did not know about and confirm ones the U.S. suspected." Adamov, a nuclear physicist, headed the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering, one of Russia's largest nuclear engineering and technology centers, from 1986 to 1998. He was appointed Russia's nuclear energy minister in 1998 by then-President Boris Yeltsin and was dismissed in 2001 by President Vladimir Putin over allegations of corruption. Adamov returned to work as a leading scientist at the institute. Russian prosecutors filed fraud and abuse of office charges against him in May, shortly after he was arrested in Switzerland. Given his extensive knowledge of the Russian nuclear energy program, Adamov possesses enough nuclear security secrets to cause a diplomatic meltdown, said Nikolai Sokov, a senior research associate with the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., and a former employee of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Should Adamov reveal everything he knows, Sokov said it would be the most serious breach of nuclear security in Russian or U.S. history. "This could completely shut down cooperation between Russia and the United States on the safety and security of fissile materials," Sokov said. Many speculate that the U.S. is interested in Adamov's knowledge of the nuclear programs in Iran, China and North Korea. Sokov doesn't think there's much that Adamov could reveal that the U.S. doesn't already know. The real damage could come if Adamov discloses secrets about Russia's nuclear weapons program, including design information and operation details. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan in Pittsburgh has heard the rumblings coming out of Russia. "I am familiar with the concerns that some individuals in Russia have raised, but there is no merit to those concerns," said Buchanan, adding that Adamov is being prosecuted "solely for violating federal laws in the Western District of Pennsylvania." Buchanan and a U.S. delegation working on the case traveled to Moscow in October to meet with Russian prosecutors. Buchanan would not say what was discussed during the trip. Yevgeniy Khorishko, spokesman for the Russian embassy in Washington, said the government is aware some Russians fear the U.S. action against Adamov is motivated more by a desire for intelligence than justice. He called that fear "pure speculation." The only official statement from the government is that Adamov should be extradited to Russia, not the United States, Khorishko said. "We should have priority," he said. A Swiss lower court disagreed in October when it ruled in favor of the U.S. extradition request. Both countries now are awaiting a decision on an appeal filed with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. A ruling could come in January, said spokesperson Michel Vogelsang. Adamov is being held in a Swiss jail. His attorney, Lanny Breuer, of Washington, D.C., did not return calls seeking comment for this story. Kaushansky is free on $100,000 bond. He entered a plea of not guilty in U.S. District Court on May 17. No trial date has been set. Kaushansky moved to the U.S. from the Soviet Union in 1979. From 1985 to 1997, he worked as a nuclear power plant engineer for Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Pittsburgh, according to the indictment. Kaushansky and Adamov met in the early '90s while Kaushansky was acting as an interpreter for Westinghouse, the indictment states. The indictment states that Adamov and Kaushansky formed two companies -- Energo Pool Inc. and Omeka Ltd., a consulting firm, both of which had offices Downtown. The firms have since closed. McNabb, who is not involved in the case, said he doesn't believe the U.S. has ulterior motives for wanting Adamov. But the fact Adamov could be prosecuted and divulge intelligence secrets is a win-win for the United States, he said. That victory could cost more than it's worth, said Sokov. "It's like a hot potato in your hands. You want it, but it's too hot to handle," he said. "This case is only valid if the U.S. limits interrogations to the specifics of the case. "Personally, I think the U.S. has a problem there -- because the potato is so hot. So much so, they may prefer not to handle it at all." Jason Cato can be reached at jcato@tribweb.com or 412-320-7840. -------- MILITARY -------- war crimes Iran President: Charge Bush for War Crimes Posted on Sunday, November 27 @ 09:15:34 EST By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer http://egyptelection.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=913 Iran's hard-line president said Saturday the Bush administration should be tried on war crimes charges, and he denounced the West for pressuring Iran to curb its controversial nuclear program. "You, who have used nuclear weapons against innocent people, who have used uranium ordnance in Iraq, should be tried as war criminals in courts," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an apparent reference to the United States. Ahmadinejad did not elaborate, but he apparently was referring to the U.S. military's reported use of artillery shells packed with depleted uranium, which is far less radioactive than natural uranium and is left over from the process of enriching uranium for use as nuclear fuel. Since the Iraq war started in 2003, American forces have fired at least 120 tons of shells packed with depleted uranium, an extremely dense material used by the U.S. and British militaries to penetrate tank armor. Once fired, the shells melt, vaporize and turn to dust. "Who in the world are you to accuse Iran of suspicious nuclear armed activity?" Ahmadinejad said during a nationally televised ceremony marking the 36th anniversary of the establishment of Iran's volunteer Basij paramilitary force. Iran has been under intense international pressure to curb its nuclear program, which the United States claims is part of an effort to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies such claims and says its program is aimed at generating electricity. Iran insists that it has the right to fully develop the program, including enrichment of nuclear fuel — a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or atomic bombs. On Thursday, the European Union accused Iran of having documents that show how to make nuclear warheads and joined the United States in warning Tehran it could be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Iran has temporarily stopped its enrichment program, but negotiations with Britain, France and Germany broke off in August after Tehran restarted another part of its program: the conversion of raw uranium into the gas that is used as the feeder stock in enrichment. Iran also has rejected European calls to halt work at its uranium conversion facility near the central city of Isfahan. Ahmadinejad dismissed Western concerns over his country's nuclear program. "They say Iran has to stop its peaceful nuclear activity since there is a probability of diversion while we are sure that they are developing and testing (nuclear weapons) every day," Ahmadinejad said. "They speak as if they are the lords of the world." State-run TV said more than 9 million Basij members formed human chains in different parts of the country to mark their militia's anniversary. Thousands linked hands to make a 12-mile chain along an expressway in northern Tehran. Some Basij members also formed chains around an enrichment plant in the central city of Natanz and a nuclear plant under construction in the southern city of Bushehr, symbolizing their readiness to defend the country's nuclear program, Iranian TV reported. It is estimated that the Basij comprise 15 percent of Iran's population, or about 10 million people.