NucNews August 4, 2006



-------- NUCLEAR 


-------- accidents and safety

ARGENTINA: Residents Face Uranium Threat in Water Supply

Marcela Valente* - Tierramérica
Aug 4, 2006 (IPS) 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34235

BUENOS AIRES, - Argentine judicial authorities are investigating cases of uranium contamination around the Ezeiza Atomic Centre, in Buenos Aires province. A married couple who have been diagnosed with cancer have been accepted as plaintiffs in a related lawsuit.

The first complaint reached the judicial branch in 2000, when residents of the area sounded the alert about possible "poisoning" of the water supply with uranium, and blamed the nuclear facility for the potential health consequences for the nearby population.

"All of the reports recognise that there is contamination, and all are valid. The judge will have to combine the results and reach a conclusion," biologist Raúl Montenegro, president of the independent Foundation for Defence of the Environment (FUNAM), told Tierramérica.

On its web site, the organisation says it obtained a report by the government of Buenos Aires province -- signed by nine officials and filed in late 2005 -- "in which uranium contamination of underground water in Ezeiza is acknowledged."

The group also says the document, marked "confidential", admits that 10 of the 57 Argentine water samples analysed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency surpass the maximum allowable limit of "20 microgrammes of uranium per litre, with a maximum value of 34.5 microgrammes per litre."

"Uranium is radioactive and toxic," and can lead to cancer and genetic malformations, Montenegro said.

"The oncologist told me that there is a direct relation with the uranium," Antonio Rota said in a Tierramérica interview. The 65-year-old suffers from lung cancer that has metastasised in the ganglia. His wife, Beatriz Rodríguez, 62, has breast cancer.

The Ezeiza Atomic Centre includes a radioactive waste management area, with a central deposit for "special irradiated fissionable material" (can undergo nuclear fission), and a fuel production plant for two nuclear power plants, where uranium is handled and stored.

The centre admitted to uranium contamination in two areas -- Campo 5 and Trincheras -- but assured that steps were taken to remedy the situation in one case, and that it is in the process of resolving the other.

The area alleged to be affected involves three districts of Buenos Aires province: Ezeiza, Esteban Echeverría and La Matanza -- with a combined population of 1.6 million people.

Federal judge Alberto Santamarina entrusted an investigation to geologist Máximo Díaz, who found that there exists "important contamination arising from the activities at the Ezeiza Atomic Centre (present and/or past) that affected subterranean waters at a level that impedes their use for human consumption."

The Argentine government's Nuclear Regulatory Authority questioned Díaz's conclusions and expertise. The judge asked for a new investigation, this time by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations body.

The IAEA organised a study for which it brought in experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other independent entities.

The new assessment defended the monitoring capabilities of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, but did not find a direct connection between the uranium in the water and the activities of the Ezeiza Atomic Centre. It stated that cancer mortality rates in the area were no higher than the national average, and that it had not detected radioactive contamination, but had found toxins -- from naturally occurring uranium.

The maximum level of uranium that the WHO allows in water intended for drinking is 15 microgrammes per litre. The IAEA admits that the levels found in the area in question reach 36 microgramme, but justifies them in Argentina's mining law, which allows up to 100 microgrammes per litre.

Residents and environmentalists reject that argument. The law establishes that maximum level for untreated water. But the rules for dangerous waste sets a maximum 10 microgrammes of uranium per litre of water intended for irrigation.

The Regulatory Authority says that with the 100 microgrammes established under Argentine legislation, there is no radioactive or chemical contamination: "It is the law now in force."

Montenegro believes "it is unacceptable that the residents drink water with uranium levels exceeding the WHO standards and higher than that of irrigation water."

"We are confident that the judge will not give in to pressure," said paediatrician Valentín Stiglitz, president of the Esteban Echeverría Association Against Contamination, a neighbourhood organisation that was formed around this contentious issue.

Now the judge will have to issue a decision -- and he will have in hand the studies, and the testimonies of Antonio Rota and Beatriz Rodríguez.

(* Marcela Valente is an IPS correspondent. Originally published July 29 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.) 

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NUCLEAR MISHAP
A Close Call with Catastrophe in Sweden?

August 4, 2006 Der Spiegel

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,430164,00.html

An observer has called last week's mishap in Sweden the worst incident to befall a nuclear power plant since the accident at Chernobyl. Nobody was injured, but for 22 minutes, workers had no idea what was happening in the reactor's core. Swedish officials have taken half the country's nuclear power plants offline until it can ensure their safe operation.

Sweden's nuclear energy authority, SKI, has largely completed its reconstruction of events in an accident last week that led to the closure of a nuclear power plant in the city of Forsmark and, ultimately, the shutdown of half the country's nuclear plants as a precautionary measure. In the incident, two of the plant's four backup generators malfunctioned when the plant experienced a major power outage on July 25. According to officials, who described the event as "serious," a short-circuit triggered the accident, which caused a cut in power to the nuclear facility. Plant workers told Swedish media that it came close to a meltdown.

In fact, the only thing that appears to have stopped a catastrophe is the fact that two diesel backup generators kicked in, enabling the Forsmark facility to operate at least part of its emergency cooling system. Still, for 20 minutes, workers were unable to obtain information about the condition of the reactor and they were only able to respond after 21 minutes and 41 seconds, according to a report in Germany's Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

Swedish media are reporting that a previously unknown technical problem emerged during the emergency that could also be present in all other Swedish nuclear reactors.

In its first report, nuclear authority SKI claimed that operators of the nuclear plant had reacted correctly during the emergency. "In my opinion, the media is exaggerating the issue," said Jan Blomstrang, a member of SKI's committee for reactor security. The two generators that were still operating, he said, could have provided sufficient energy for the reactors if it had been necessary. The agency is expected to release a comprehensive report in the coming days.

On Thursday, Swedish officials shut down two further nuclear power plants as a safety precaution. Plant operators said the move was necessary because they could not guarantee the security of nuclear facilities in the city of Oskarshamm. A spokesman for the company that operates the Oskarshamm plant said he could not rule out the possibility of an incident happening like that at Forsmark.

After an emergency meeting of SKI officials, spokesman Anders Bredfall said that both nuclear power plants in Oskarshamm would be taken offline until investigators were able to deteremine whether the backup generators at that plant could fail in the same way as those in Forsmark.

Official: Worst incident since Chernobyl

Swedish nuclear energy expert Lars-Olov Högland, head of the construction department at Swedish utility company Vattenfall -- and onetime boss at the Forsmark reactor -- has described last week's problems as the "worst incident since Chernobyl and Harrisburg," a reference to the 1979 meltdown at Three-Mile Island in Pennsylvania. He accused the plant's operators of trying to play down the seriousness of the event. For their part, officials at Swedish nuclear authority SKI have rejected Högland's assessment, describing it as "exaggerated."

Following the latest shutdowns, only five of Sweden's 10 nuclear power plants are still operating. Nuclear power accounts for close to half of the electricity produced in Sweden and the shutdowns triggered record price increases. But the Swedish government's energy agency said the nation's electricity supply was not currently at great risk because it can rely more on hydropower during the summer months.

Sweden is in the process of abandoning nuclear energy -- a policy that has led to the shut down of two of the country's total of 12 plants since 1999. However, against a backdrop of concerns about climate change and energy dependency, recent public opinion polls indicate that an increasing number of Swedes would like to go on using nuclear power.

dsl/reuters/afp/ap



-------- britain

Two-thirds oppose replacement for Trident, CND survey finds

By Ian Herbert
04 August 2006 UK Independent

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1212794.ece

Most people in Britain oppose the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system, a report shows. A survey of 1,000 adults for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) revealed that almost two out of three were against a new generation of nuclear missiles. CND said the result was a 5 per cent increase in public opposition to Trident replacement since a similar poll almost a year ago.

A 50,000-signature petition was handed in to 10 Downing Street yesterday as part of a campaign against Britain developing new nuclear weapons. Opposition to Trident replacement has prompted a 300 per cent increase in membership of CND, with Chancellor Gordon Brown's declaration of support for replacing the missile system accounting for a substantial rise in new membership requests.

Kate Hudson, chairwoman of CND, said: "People are increasingly seeing the reality of the situation that replacing Trident will start a new nuclear arms race. If Britain insists it needs nuclear weapons to ensure its security, other countries will conclude the same, leading to increased proliferation."

The poll and petition coincide with the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which killed more than 140,000 people. CND said Britain's Trident system consisted of approximately 200 nuclear bombs, each eight times more powerful than the bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

The Government has promised MPs that they will have the final say on whether to order a new generation of nuclear missiles, which would cost up to £25bn. To fight its case, CND has agreed a 50 per cent increase in staff levels and campaigning budget. But the Government has tried to head off the threat of a damaging political split by saying Britain's existing fleet of Trident submarines may be maintained beyond their original 25-year lifespan. It said last week that it "would be possible" to continue operating them.




-------- business

Energy Chief Offers Nuclear Incentives

The Associated Press
By GREG BLUESTEIN
August 04, 2006

http://www.topix.net/content/ap/1181199566256835282905698215421294024683

It's a very long process. So in order to keep that option open, we are actually taking steps right now that will at least allow us to be in the running 

The nation's energy chief announced a plan Friday to provide incentives to companies willing to build the first new nuclear plants in 30 years, offering $2 billion in federal insurance for construction of six plants.

'I think it's time for the nation that invented this technology to reassert its leadership,' Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said.

The United States has 103 nuclear power plants in 31 states, but utilities have not proposed a new reactor since 1973. High costs and debate over where to store radioactive waste bogged down construction efforts, and a partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in 1979 in Pennsylvania put an end to plans for new reactors.

But with energy prices on the rise, supporters of nuclear power have promoted it as a way to generate cheaper electricity without churning out greenhouse gases.

Bodman said 12 utilities are expected to file papers over the next three years to build 18 reactors. The insurance plan would provide up to $500 million in coverage for the first two plants and up to $250 million for the next four plants.

'This program is crucial, we believe, to reinvigorating the American nuclear power industry,' Bodman told Georgia Power Co. employees during a visit to Atlanta.

Georgia Power, which provides electricity to the Atlanta area, might take up Bodman's offer. The company is considering building a new reactor at its Plant Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Ga.

'It's a very long process. So in order to keep that option open, we are actually taking steps right now that will at least allow us to be in the running,' company spokeswoman Carol Boatwright said.

Bodman's visit to Atlanta came at the end of a nationwide heat wave that set record temperatures and strained electrical grids.

'The industry has performed very well. The problem is, we haven't had sufficient investment,' Bodman said. 'We are the world's biggest economy. We should not have blackouts, brownouts, rolling blackouts. That shouldn't be in our vernacular.'

Department of Energy: http://www.doe.gov/

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Nuclear Power Venture Orders Crucial Parts for Reactor

By MATTHEW L. WALD
August 4, 2006 New York Times
Correction Appended

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/business/worldbusiness/04nuke.html?ei=5099&en=2d47c0770914e6c8&ex=1155355200&partner=TOPIXNEWS&pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — A partnership established to build nuclear reactors has ordered the heavy steel parts needed to make a reactor vessel, as well as other crucial components, apparently the first hardware order for a plant since the 1970’s.

The order, which an executive of the partnership said was worth “tens of millions of dollars,” was a major step toward actual construction after several years of speculation about a nuclear renaissance.

The partnership, UniStar Nuclear, made up of Constellation Energy of Baltimore and Areva, a European company, did not say where the reactor would be built. But it has previously identified as possibilities the Calvert Cliffs reactors, on the Chesapeake Bay south of Washington, and the Nine Mile Point reactors, in Scriba, N.Y., on Lake Ontario. It has said that it was negotiating with other utilities that could provide sites for the reactor, called an evolutionary power reactor, or E.P.R.

One piece of steel has already been forged, a co-chief executive of UniStar, Michael J. Wallace, said, but the construction date is uncertain and the parts might be stored until needed. The company anticipates a rush of construction orders and a waiting line at the few companies equipped to make parts that weigh hundreds of tons. One part can be made by only one company, Japan Steel Works.

Some parts could be made by Le Creusot steelworks in France.

“We’re creating the certainty that the most critical early-on hardware is in hand, so we will be in position to continue to move aggressively for construction of the first E.P.R. if everything else continues to line up correctly,” Mr. Wallace said in a telephone interview.

Among the items that had to line up, he said, was the establishment by the Treasury and Energy Departments of programs to distribute the aid packages that were laid out in last summer’s Energy Policy Act. Those packages include loan guarantees, production tax credits and insurance against regulatory delays.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 27 possible reactors are under discussion across the country, as well as four designs that have been approved or are under review. That includes the E.P.R., a design based on the old Westinghouse pressurized water system, which was dominant in the last round of reactor construction, but with a variety of changes. The designers say it will be bigger, more durable and more reliable.

But utility specialists say that not all the projects are likely to be built. Gregory B. Jaczko, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Thursday, “I’m looking to see who is serious about building new plants by looking at who is putting money into buying components.”

The components in question are giant steel rings that will be stacked and welded together. Earlier this week, UniStar said it had struck a deal with BWX Technologies, a subsidiary of McDermott International, for BWX to weld the parts together and machine them at a plant in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Work could also be done at an Areva plant in Chalon-St. Marcel, France.

The finished reactor vessel will be 42 feet high and 19 feet in diameter at the largest point and weigh 1.2 million pounds. The system includes four steam generators, giant heat-exchangers that accept water from the reactor vessel at nearly 600 degrees Fahrenheit and 2,250 pounds of pressure and use it to boil water into steam. They are 80 feet high and 17 feet in diameter.

The vessel and the related parts that produce steam for making electricity would cost $200 million or so; the whole plant could top $2 billion. The price of the forgings is already in Constellation Energy’s capital plans, a spokesman said. In a news release, UniStar said that the order “sets the stage for more substantial financial commitments, which could be made in the coming years.”

One E.P.R. is already under construction, in Olkiluoto, Finland, where the initials stand for European pressurized reactor.

The design is derived from the Westinghouse layout already in service, but with several changes. It is 1,600 megawatts, about a third larger than the largest reactor operating here. It has a double-walled containment building designed to withstand the crash of a large aircraft. It has four emergency core cooling systems, any one of which would be sufficient in an emergency, so that it can continue operating even if some of the systems are deactivated for maintenance and repair. And because of design changes, it has 47 percent fewer valves, 16 percent fewer pumps and 50 percent fewer tanks than a typical existing model.

But it is a step behind the Westinghouse AP 1000 design, which is about 1,150 megawatts, and is also designed with fewer tanks, pumps and valves. The N.R.C. certified that design early this year.

Two General Electric models are also candidates for construction.

Correction: August 5, 2006

An article in Business Day yesterday about equipment orders for new nuclear power plants misidentified the location of a factory owned by BWX Technologies that will build some reactor components. It is in Mount Vernon, Ind., not Ohio


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

-------- depleted uranium

Troops Home Fast: Day 32, Amman, Jordan

Posted on August 4th, 2006
By Cindy Sheehan

http://www.troopshomefast.org/article.php?id=1157

My trip to Jordan from JFK Airport in New York City started out with a Middle Eastern flavor the other day. A group of us came here to meet with Iraqi Parliamentarians and human rights groups to find out what the people of Iraq who don't live in the Green Zone and who do not get their paychecks from the White House think and feel about the occupation and what their hearts' desires are for their country.

While I was still in JFK, an Iraqi gentleman approached me who is now displaced and living in Jordan. He recognized me and was "honored" to meet me and grateful for my work but wanted to convey something to me. He said that while what the peace movement is doing in the US to end the occupation is very gratifying to the people of Iraq, it is "too late" for his country. He said everyone who could leave, has left, and that most of the country is beyond repair. The miraculous Babylon, which has been in existence for thousands of years, didn't even last three years after the Americans got there. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, added to the over a million who died during the sanctions ... He sadly informed me that the Americans are not stopping the sectarian violence, only encouraging it in his country, and he holds little hope for any future for the land that he was born in and loves.

We were picked up at Queen Alia airport in Amman by Munther who has worked in and out of the government of Jordan and consulting for NGOs for years. He helped broker the 1999 peace agreement between Jordan and Israel - as his specialty is water and agriculture. He is so fortunate to live in Jordan with his family, but he has been shot and been the target of rockets in his home for his work for peace. Munther realizes that a true and lasting peace cannot be achieved by eternal war and killing and has paid some tough prices for his beliefs.

The most horrifying testimony of the day was when we met with "Dr. Nada," an Iraqi doctor who stayed in Baghdad to help her people during the sanctions and the invasion. She didn't abandon her country, or sell it out like many privileged people who exited during the Baathist regime (like Iyad Allawi or Ahmed Chalabi) or the sanctions ... which she, as a supervisory physician at a major Baghdad hospital, said killed two million children. The children died of pollution and sicknesses from depleted uranium during the first gulf mistake of George the First. The babies died because of the war, but also because there is no medicine and very limited medical facilities to treat them. Dr. Nada brought the daughter of a friend, three-year-old Farrah, who had short brown hair and big brown eyes. There were so many young children playing in Queen airport yesterday when I got here and dozens running around the hotel. My heart almost bursts with sorrow when I think of all of the children in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan who have had such horrible lives and had many of their lives cut short by the evil war machine that seems to be running our world.

US General Abizaid said to a Senate committee yesterday that Lebanon could be an effective government and US partner in the war on terror if only their equipment could be "upgraded" and their troops "trained" properly and that the US would be happy to "assist" them. With all of the degraded and spent Israeli equipment and bombs and the billions of upgrading the US military equipment needs, it looks like it is going to be another banner year for the war profiteers!

Dr. Nada also told us about seven harrowing days she spent working in an emergency room in Baghdad between April 2 and April 9 in 2003. She said that over 100 casualties PER HOUR were coming through her hospital alone and that many died because they could not be helped in time. She was responsible for the triage and she had to work knowing that number 100 that hour would almost certainly die. The people her hospital operated on at that time were just rolled out into the halls with no histories or IDs. She said that she remembers that time as "amputated body parts swimming in a sea of blood."

Dr. Nada stayed in Iraq all of those years but now lives in Jordan because of the continuing violence of the militias and death squads and kidnappings in her homeland. She says that the Americans, even though they don't kill every innocent Iraqi, are responsible for "100 percent of the deaths," because they are not protecting the Iraqi people, and the occupation is fueling the violence.

I will be leaving Jordan tomorrow to head to Camp Casey III to confront George with the horrors of his failed policies in the Middle East. We just got an update that he will be leaving town on the 9th now, instead of earlier published reports that said the 14th. Munther also commented to me yesterday that he couldn't believe that George didn't have the "courage or courtesy" to meet with me. I responded: "He doesn't even have the courage to be in the same town with me, anymore." This cowardly cowboy and his minions who are so quick to condemn children to early deaths need to face up to the reality of their crimes. We need to be as relentless and as ruthless for peace, and in peace, as they are for war.

I can't bear to stand by and watch more innocent Farrahs and Caseys be killed. So I will be sitting in the ditch on Sunday to ask the same question: "Why?"

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004, and who inspired Camp Casey, which is set up near George's ranch in Crawford, Texas every time he is SUPPOSED to be there. Cindy is also co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and author of three books: Not One More Mother's Child, Dear President Bush and Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism. She is currently in Amman, Jordan, meeting with Iraqi officials while on Day 32 of the Troops Home Fast.

Camp Casey Three will run this summer between August 6th and September 2nd. Everyone is welcome.



-------- europe

Nuclear shutdowns leave Swedes debating

By Ivar Ekman International Herald Tribune
Published: August 4, 2006

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/04/news/sweden.php

STOCKHOLM An incident last week that led to the shutdown of 4 of Sweden's 10 nuclear reactors has thrust the issue of atomic power back onto the national agenda, with leading politicians calling for a broad investigation into the safety of the nuclear industry.
 
Opinions vary on the seriousness of the incident at the Forsmark 1 reactor, about 200 kilometers, or 125 miles, north of Stockholm, where two backup generators malfunctioned during a power failure on July 25.
 
As additional reactors were shut down and the nuclear authorities held emergency talks this week, discussion about Sweden's dependence on nuclear power was reignited.
 
Debate on the issue was fierce a quarter of a century ago, when tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets, singing anti-nuclear songs and carrying banners with slogans like "Yes to the Future, No to Nuclear Power."
 
"You wouldn't think that this issue could rise to the surface again," said Lennart Daleus, general secretary of Swedish Greenpeace and a former anti- nuclear campaigner. "But it is in the nature of nuclear power to enter people's consciousness now and then."
 
The incident at Forsmark was caused by a short circuit at the national grid that feeds power to one of the plant's reactors. In this situation, four diesel generators are supposed to generate enough power for a safe shutdown of the reactor, but the short circuit also stopped two of the four generators.
 
The two remaining generators were sufficient to avoid a more serious outcome: Without power, a reactor of the Forsmark type risks a meltdown in 90 minutes, experts said. But the incident raised the specter of a "station blackout," in which there is not enough electricity to monitor the condition of the reactor and run the pumps that carry off the heat that continues to be generated even after a shutdown.
 
Even though no damage was caused, the incident exposed a serious vulnerability and some analysts argued that the outcome was a matter of luck.
 
"It's a bit like a lottery," said Lars- Olov Hoglund, an engineer who was involved in the construction of the Forsmark plant in the 1980s and who has worked as an independent consultant in the industry since. Although two generators kicked in, he said, it could have been one, or zero.
 
Hoglund said he rated the incident as nearly as serious as the 1986 nuclear explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine and the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in the United States.
 
That view was disputed by most of those involved in the oversight and running of Sweden's nuclear plants. Claes- Inge Andersson, head of communications at Forsmarks Kraftgrupp, which runs the plant, said the risk for a meltdown had been "nonexistent."
 
But both he and a spokesman at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate said they rated the incident as "serious."
 
Three reactors using the same backup power systems as Forsmark have since been taken off line and will remain so pending a review of the incident, while another was already closed. The inspectorate decided Friday to keep the country's five remaining reactors running.
 
With the mere mention of the word "meltdown," the Forsmark incident has rekindled passions here about nuclear energy.
 
Sweden is one of the European countries most dependent on nuclear power, with about 50 percent of its electricity produced by the 10 reactors.
 
In 1980, in a hotly contested referendum, a broad majority voted to phase out nuclear power, with 2010 as the target date. But time and rising energy prices have diluted the urgency once felt for the phase-out.
 
Opinion polls earlier this year showed broad support among Swedes for keeping nuclear power.
 
Since the incident, however, the leaders of the Left and the Green parties, which support the Social Democrat government, have demanded that one reactor be permanently shut down by 2010, and nuclear power has entered the politicking ahead of national elections next month.
 
Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the opposition Moderate Party, criticized Prime Minister Goran Persson on Friday for not addressing the issue since the Forsmark incident, while several party leaders have called for a broad and independent inquiry.
 
"Of course this makes you think about nuclear power and how it might not be as safe as they say," said Anita Berg, a retired nurse on a stroll in Stockholm. "It's really scary."
 
 ----

Swedish Politicians Question Safety of Its Nuclear Reactors

By IVAR EKMAN International Herald Tribune
August 4, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/europe/04cnd-sweden.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=europe&pagewanted=print

STOCKHOLM, Aug.4 — An incident last week that led to the shutdown of 4 of Sweden’s 10 nuclear reactors has thrust the issue of atomic power back onto the national agenda, with leading politicians calling for a broad investigation into the safety of the country’s nuclear industry.

Opinions vary on the seriousness of the incident at the Forsmark 1 reactor, about 200 kilometers north of Stockholm, where two backup generators malfunctioned during a power failure on July 25. Some experts have likened the incident to the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear accidents, while industry officials have scoffed at such comparisons.

But as nuclear authorities shut down reactors and held emergency talks this week, concern has risen among the population, reigniting debate over Sweden’s heavy dependence on nuclear power.

Some 25 years ago, debate on the issue was fierce, when tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets, singing antinuclear songs and carrying bright yellow banners with slogans like “Yes to the Future, No to Nuclear Power.”

“You wouldn’t think that this issue could rise to the surface again,” said Lennart Daléus, general secretary of Swedish Greenpeace and a former antinuclear campaigner. “But it is in the nature of nuclear power to enter people’s consciousness now and then.”

The incident at the Forsmark plant was caused by a short circuit at the national power grid feeding power to one of the plant’s reactors. In this situation, four diesel generators are supposed to generate enough power for a safe shutdown of the reactor, but the short circuit caused two of thefour generators to cease working as well.

The two remaining generators were sufficient to avoid a more serious incident — without power, a reactor of the Forsmark type risks a meltdown in 90 minutes, according to experts — but some analysts argue that the fortunate outcome was a matter of luck.

“It’s a bit like a lottery,” said Lars-Olov Hoglund, an engineer who was deeply involved with the construction of the Forsmark plant in the 1980’s, and who has worked as an independent consultant in the nuclear industry since then. Although two generators kicked in, he said, it could have been one, or zero.

Mr. Hoglund said he rated the incident as almost as serious as the 1986 nuclear explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine and the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in the United States.

This view is disputed by most of those involved in the oversight and running of Sweden’s nuclear power plants. Claes-Inge Andersson, head of communications at Forsmarks Kraftgrupp, which runs the plant, said the risk for a meltdown had been “nonexistent.” But both he and a spokesman at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate said they rated the incident as “serious.”

Three reactors using the same backup power systems as Forsmark have since been taken off line and will remain so pending a review of the incident, while another was already closed. The inspectorate decided today to keep the country’s five remaining reactors running.

With the mere mention of the word “meltdown,” the Forsmark incident has rekindled passions about nuclear energy. Sweden is one of the European countries most dependent on nuclear power, with about 50 percent of its electricity produced by the 10 reactors.

In 1980, in a hotly contested referendum, a broad majority voted to phase out nuclear power, with 2010 as the target date. But time and rising energy prices have dampened the urgency once felt on the phase-out. Opinion polls earlier this year showed broad support among Swedes for keeping nuclear power.

Since the incident, however, the leaders of the Left and the Green parties, which support the Social Democrat government, have demanded that one reactor be permanently shut down by 2010, and nuclear power has re-emerged as a political issue ahead of national elections next month.

The leader of the opposition Moderate Party, Fredrik Reinfeldt, criticized Prime Minister Göran Persson today for not addressing the issue since the Forsmark incident. Several party leaders have called for a broad and independent inquiry.

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Sweden alerted IAEA about nuclear "incident," did not request help

Fri Aug 4, 2006 (AFP)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060804/sc_afp/swedenenergynucleariaea_060804161947

VIENNA - Sweden alerted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the recent "incident" at one of its nuclear plants but requested no technical assistance.

"On Thursday, 27 July, Sweden reported that an incident occurred at its Forsmark 1 reactor... They rated the incident at Level 2 according to the 7-level International Nuclear Event Scale (INES)," IAEA spokesman Ayhan Evrensel said Friday.

"Swedish authorities have not requested any assistance from the IAEA," he added.

According to the scale, level 2 qualifies as an "incident," just one step above an "anomaly".

It is less critical than a "serious incident," and far below the level 7 "major accident" that was the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986, which projected a large quantity of radioactive material beyond the plant's perimetre.

"Incidents" involve a "significant failure in safety provisions but with sufficient defence in depth remaining to cope with additional failures," in other words, a "significant spread of contamination" or "overexposure of a worker" to radioactive material, according to the IAEA.

The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) said Thursday it would open an investigation into the incident.

Swedish authorities have shut down five of the country's reactors, four of them in connection with a potentially dangerous failure caused by an electricity blackout at the Forsmark 1 plant last week.

Following the shutdown, the environmental organisation Greenpeace called Friday for worldwide testing of nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power accounts for nearly half of Sweden's electricity production.

A source close to the UN atomic watchdog told AFP the IAEA "was not alarmed" and televised reports speaking of a near catastrophe were exaggerated.



-------- india 

Senate Likely to OK India Nuclear Deal
Senate Ready to Approve Civilian Nuclear Trade Deal With India

Friday August 4, 3:02 pm ET
By Manik Banerjee, Associated Press Writer

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060804/india_us_nuclear.html?.v=1

NEW YORK (AP) -- A landmark nuclear trade deal between the U.S. and India is likely to win approval in the U.S. Senate after it passed a House of Representatives vote with an overwhelming majority, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

Last month, the House voted 359-to-68 in favor of the agreement that would allow civil nuclear trade with India in return for safeguards and inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military plants would be off-limits.

If passed, the deal would exempt New Delhi from U.S. laws that bar trade of nuclear-related materials with countries that have not submitted to full international inspections.

India considers nuclear power essential to meet the burgeoning energy needs of its booming economy. Its supporters in the U.S. say the deal would provide crucial energy to a friendly country that has a strong nonproliferation record, while allowing U.S. companies to crack a lucrative market.

Senate approval would be only one more hurdle overcome in a long legislative and diplomatic process. The deal also needs to be put before a joint meeting of both houses for approval, and later the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that exports nuclear material, would have to give it the nod.

India must also separately reach an agreement over inspections with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

----

US officials calm Indian fears over nuclear deal

by Staff Writers
Kolkata, India, Aug 4, 2006

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/a060804154124.p97cbc3o.html

A senior US official Friday tried to calm fears of political groups that a controversial America-India civilian nuclear energy deal would harm Indian interests.

The comments came as federal MPs in India's national parliament hotly argued that the landmark deal could blunt India's military nuclear capabilities and called for a resolution to put their fears on record.

"There are apprehensions in India and in the US but we should not worry about this," Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said after arriving in this eastern Indian city.

"We should only think about the final outcome of the legislation which I am confident will be within the framework of what both countries agreed."

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted 359-68 in favor of legislation, a first step for the US and India towards clinching the deal which detractors in Washington say will start a nuclear arms race in South Asia.

Boucher said the pact, cobbled together during a visit in March to New Delhi by US President George W. Bush, would benefit India.

"One of the reasons for the civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement was that India gets clean energy and it does not push on the petroleum reserves ...

"It is the beginning of a new relationship as the US recognises India as a rising global power and one of the emerging five largest economies of the world," he said.

Boucher is scheduled to travel to the capital New Delhi and meet with politicians and business leaders on Monday.

Washington says the pact will also advance US non-proliferation goals by bringing India into the international non-proliferation mainstream.

Under the deal, India will open a series of its civilian reactors to international inspection but keep pre-selected military nuclear facilities out of public scrutiny.

India, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, conducted a series of nuclear weapons tests in 1998 and then imposed an unilateral moratorium on further testing.



-------- iran

Top Iran official: nuclear work will continue

Fri Aug 4, 2006 (AFP)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060804/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpolitics_060804195835

CARACAS - Iran will not stop its controversial nuclear work despite a UN resolution calling for a halt by month's end, the Islamic republic's deputy foreign minister told Latin American television.

"None of these measures can force Iran to put aside its peaceful activities to obtain nuclear technology," Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi told Telesur television, according to a Spanish translation of the interview with the regional broadcaster.

"The Islamic republic will resist without a problem," Mohammadi said.

The UN Security Council demanded Monday that Iran end nuclear activities including uranium enrichment by August 31 or face possible sanctions.

Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday vowed that Iran would not bow to "force and threats."

The West suspects Iran's nuclear program hides efforts to build a nuclear bomb, although Tehran says its work is for peaceful purposes.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Iran last week during a nine-country tour that ended Thursday.



-------- japan

Notes on Japan A-bomb program found
Two scientists' notebooks in U.S. cast light on little-understood project

Friday, Aug. 4, 2006 (Kyodo)

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060804a2.html

WASHINGTON The U.S. Library of Congress has two books of notes written by two scientists involved in Japan's unsuccessful attempt to develop atomic bombs during the war, it was learned recently.

The notebooks of Sakae Shimizu and Yoshiaki Uemura, scientists involved in Japan's program to develop atomic bombs during the war, were recently found in the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington. KYODO PHOTO

Sakae Shimizu and Yoshiaki Uemura worked under Bunsaku Arakatsu, a professor at Kyoto Imperial University -- now Kyoto University -- ordered by the Imperial Japanese Navy to develop atomic bombs, according to the two notebooks, copies of which were obtained by Kyodo News.

The notebooks were seized by the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces during the postwar Occupation. They have been kept with other wartime Japanese documents and not sorted and indexed to date at the library in the U.S. capital.

Discovered 61 years after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the notebooks likely will give significant insight into Japan's wartime nuclear program, about which little is known. There are few notes left written by scientists involved at such a high level in Japan's A-bomb program.

The library has more than 10,000 wartime Japanese documents that have not been cataloged, according to research by Kyodo News and Keiichi Tsuneishi, a professor at Kanagawa University.

Among them are the two notebooks -- one with about 220 pages of notes written by Shimizu and the other with about 75 pages written by Uemura. The notes date from before Japan began full-fledged efforts to develop atomic bombs.

Shimizu, who later was named a professor emeritus at Kyoto University, was involved in the production of a cyclotron, an accelerator used for experiments on nuclear reactions.

His notebook, with the title "Laboratory Notes 2," details the development of the high-voltage accelerator from 1942.

Shimizu, who died in 2003 at 88, visited Hiroshima soon after the atomic bomb was dropped there as part of an academic survey mission.

He also is known for his analysis of dust on the Japanese fishing boat Fukuryu Maru No. 5 that proved the vessel had been exposed to radiation in 1954 from a U.S. hydrogen-bomb test at Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands.

Uemura, who later became a professor at Kyoto University, made notes on the research he did in his notebook, "Research Diary," starting in 1941, including research on nuclear reactions when metal is exposed to gamma rays.

His notes show that it was decided on June 14, 1941, to build a cyclotron and that a comparison was made with the results of testing done by Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who worked on the Manhattan Project, Washington's secret atomic-bomb project.

The U.S. succeeded in developing the first atomic bomb and was the first to use one, on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and another one on Nagasaki three days later.

Japanese scientists recognized the potential of using atomic energy to develop a powerful new bomb even before the war.

While the navy commissioned the Arakatsu laboratory to undertake research, the Imperial Japanese Army also ordered a laboratory headed by Yoshio Nishina at Riken, a national research institute for physical and chemical sciences, to develop an atomic bomb.

The Arakatsu laboratory tried to enrich uranium using a centrifuge but was not successful before the war ended. However, both programs failed.



-------- korea

Threat of repeat Nkorean missile test fades: report

by Staff Writers
Seoul, Aug 4, 2006

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/a060804084838.h3uovcot.html

The threat of a new missile test by North Korea eased Friday after Pyongyang apparently removed a long-range missile from its launch site, a newspaper reported.

One month ago, North Korea test-fired several missiles including a longe-range Taepodong-2 reportedly capable of hitting US soil.

A second Taepodong that had been brought to the missile site prior to the July launch has now been removed from an assembly plant and taken to an undisclosed destination, the JoongAng daily said.

"Satellite photos show the second Taepodong-2 has been transported from Musudanri to an unknown place," an unidentified intelligence official was quoted as saying.

The missile could have been removed at night or under cloud cover to enable the North Koreans to make their move undetected by satellites, experts said.

South Korean media reports said officials were uncertain where the missile had been moved and intelligence sources cautioned that its removal could be only temporary.

The official quoted by JoongAng said North Korean technicians could be working on the second missile to improve it after analyzing why the first launch apparently failed.

US, Japanese, and South Korean officials say the long-range missile disintegrated soon after take-off on July 5.

The missile was one of seven fired by North Korea in defiance of international opposition.

The UN Security Council condemned the missile tests and adopted a resolution imposing weapons-related sanctions on Pyongyang.

The cash-strapped regime, which sees missiles as key to its defense and a lucrative export, rejected the resolution and vowed to push ahead with its missile program.

However experts here said the decision to remove the second long-range missile from the launch pad could be in response to those sanctions.

North Korea may have been surprised by the severity of international condemnation and by the fact that its key ally China supported the UN council's decision.



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


-------- alabama

Browns Ferry Unit 1 restart remains on target for May

Friday, August 04, 2006
Huntsville Times

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1154683207296440.xml&coll=1

DECATUR - The restart of a long-dormant reactor at Browns Ferry nuclear plant is on schedule, a TVA official said Thursday night.

The comment came in a meeting at Calhoun Community College to discuss Unit 1's restart status. The reactor has been dormant since 1985.

"Work on the restart of Unit 1 is 90 percent complete," said TVA Vice President Masoud Bajestani. The unit is scheduled for restart next May.

Bajestani said he is confident about keeping on schedule or "improving on it."

Joe Shea, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's deputy director of the division of reactor projects, called the schedule "tight" and said there is still a lot of testing ahead by the NRC and a lot of work will be in November.

The five-year, $1.8 billion restart project began in 2002. 



-------- nevada

Yucca Mountain and Used Fuel Roundup

Friday, August 04, 2006
NEI Nuclear Notes

http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2006/08/yucca-mountain-and-used-fuel-roundup.html#links

Yesterday's hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the Yucca Mountain Project has generated considerable coverage. Today, I'll be providing links to many of the relevant pieces, and also include other news on used fuel storage I've found in papers around the country.

Here's a good summary of yesterday's hearing from the AP:

    A Senate committee chairman says the Bush administration's new timeline for opening the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada in 2017 ignores the possibility of lawsuits and delays.

    "Experience has shown that the schedule for Yucca is a slippery thing," Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told the project's new director Thursday.

    "My concern is that the new timetable does not include any margin for any further project delays by the (Energy Department), its contractors, or legal action by the state of Nevada all of which would cause DOE to miss these new deadlines," Domenici said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

    [...]

    The administration wants to lift the 77,000-ton storage cap on the dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and allow as much waste as the mountain can safely hold - 132,000 tons or more.

    If legislation making that change doesn't pass, "we will need a second repository in this country," Sproat said.

In April, EPRI issued a report that concluded that Yucca could up to nine times its current design capacity.

Back to the AP story:

    Domenici said the solution also includes a new administration initiative to recycle nuclear waste, and an interim storage plan he's proposed.

    Even if Yucca Mountain opens in 2017 it will take until 2040 to move the nuclear waste already accumulated into the dump, Domenici said.

    "For those who don't think we need to address temporary storage: if everything goes perfectly, it will take over 30 years - longer than I have been in the Senate - to eliminate the existing backlog of spent fuel," said Domenici, elected in 1972.

    Sproat has expressed doubts about the interim storage plan, saying it could take nearly as long to set it up as it would to begin moving waste to Yucca Mountain.

Through the Rutland Herald we learned that the Coalition of Northeast Governors have sent a letter to Senator Pete Domenici stating their opposition to language in the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Bill that makes provisions for interim storage of used nuclear fuel across the country. Click here for a copy of the letter. For some other regional looks at how the issue is playing out across the country, click here for a story from the Decatur Daily and here for a report on local approval for above-ground dry cask storage at the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: Testimony from Senator Harry Reid, Senator John Ensign and Geoff Fettus from NRDC are now available at the Senate Energy Web site.

----

Loux's credibility attacked by pro-Yucca Idaho senator

By Lisa Mascaro <lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com>
August 04, 2006 Las Vegas Sun

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2006/aug/04/566663643.html

WASHINGTON - Sparks typically fly at hearings on Yucca Mountain. Thursday's looked like a welding shop.

Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, a staunch supporter of plans to store nuclear waste at Yucca, let loose an attack on Bob Loux, Nevada's point man in opposing the project.

"I don't know that you have credibility before this committee," the senator said after hearing from Loux and others on a panel of experts appearing before the Senate Energy Committee. "Your purpose is to kill Yucca Mountain. Period. In that status, can you have any objectivity at all? I doubt it."

Loux has worked more than two decades on Yucca, testifying at more than two dozen Congressional hearings. As executive director of the Nevada Agency on Nuclear Projects, he has been appointed by a succession of governors, including most recently Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican.

Guinn's office stood by Loux. Nevada's advocacy on Capitol Hill is no different than that coming from members of the panel who supported Yucca.

"Nevada has made it clear that we do not want the nation's nuclear waste dumped in our back yard," said the governor's spokesman, Steve George. Loux, he said, "has been a longtime resource, and this governor and other governors depend on him very much."

Loux was not fazed by Craig. "I would compare my credibility to his any day of the week."

Lisa Mascaro can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com. 



-------- new jersey

Corzine a skeptic on plant, tax
Gov opposes 20-year renewal of Oyster Creek's license

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/4/06
BY BILL BOWMAN
STAFF WRITER

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060804/NEWS/608040392

In his most decisive statement on the issue to date, Gov. Corzine said Thursday that he is against the federal government relicensing the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant for another 20-year term.

"I don't think this should be relicensed for 20 years under any circumstances, just because there's been too much concern about breakdowns," Corzine said. "I don't think you can give assurances about anything.

"We have to be safe first and intellectually honest," he said. "I would like to know what the status of that plant is."

Corzine made his comments during an editorial board meeting with the Asbury Park Press.

Corzine's statement about safety concerns at the plant was disputed by an Oyster Creek spokeswoman, who said the plant has undergone "rigorous" safety checks by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Located in Lacey, Oyster Creek has for some time been the target of a coalition of environmental and anti-nuclear activists who do not want it relicensed. The coalition conteds the plant is not safe, among other things.

Oyster Creek is operated by AmerGen Energy Co., which is owned by Illinois-based Exelon.

The governor said that he was "more troubled today than I was a year ago at some of the things we see happening on a consistent basis" at the plant.

Corzine said his administration has asked the NRC to commission an independent safety study at the plant, but so far that has not been done.

"If they don't do one, we're going to try to commission one," he said.

The governor said his administration also is crafting an evacuation plan for the site.

"There's going to be chaos there" if anything happens to the plant, he said.

Janet Tauro, a Brick resident and member of a citizens' group opposed to the plant, said she was "thrilled" to hear of Corzine's statement.

"Gov. Corzine is an extremely intelligent man, and I'm sure that once he saw all of the safety concerns from corrosion to terrorism to lack of an evacuation plan, it only makes sense that this plant should not be relicensed," she said. "Any rational person would think this way."

Tauro said opponents to the relicensing "still have our work cut out for us."

"We still have a tough job ahead, but it's easier now because the state is on board."

Brick Mayor Joseph Scarpelli, an ardent opponent of the plant, welcomed Corzine's statement.

"That's a huge decision on the governor's part," Scarpelli said. "I am personally proud of the leadership role that he's going to be taking in this relicensing issue."

Scarpelli said that it's important if the renewal is denied, that the plant's workers are taken care of.

"We have to make sure that's all in place," he said. "There's always been a question of the future of the workers and Lacey's ratable tax base. Money for that has been set aside.

"You have to give credit to the environmental groups and the grass-roots organizations and the League of Women Voters, which made it very clear over the last few months about the safety concerns that we have, the terrorism issue, the evacuation issue," Scarpelli said. "There really is no way that we felt this plant could keep operating another 20 years."

But 20-year licenses are all that are available, said Oyster Creek spokeswoman Rachelle Benson.

"That's what the process allows for," she said. "There are no provisions for five-year or 19-year license renewals."

Corzine did not say whether he would support a shorter renewal period.

Benson said the plant's safety has been "extensively" reviewed.

"On just the application alone, we spent $7.5 million and 93,000 man-hours," she said. "We're confident that the application is of the highest quality and that it's a sound document."

She also said the NRC conducts "rigorous" reviews during the license renewal process.

"They've relicensed many plants, so their process has been tested and proven to be a good process," she said.

She said safety "is the plant's highest priority."

"If we weren't safe, then we wouldn't operate it," Benson said. "Our top priority is to protect the health and safety of the public, and that's what we will continue to do."

Bill Bowman: (732) 643-4212 or bbowman@app.com



-------- tennessee

Concerns raised over increasing amount of spent nuclear fuel

August 4, 2006 Associated Press

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=5239623&nav=8fap

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Environmentalists are worried about increased spent nuclear fuel stored at Tennessee Valley Authority power plants.

They say the waste is "a recipe for disaster," but T-V-A officials say the storage method is safe.

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens has more than 14-hundred metric tons of high-level radioactive waste stored in an elevated pool inside the plant. It's among the nation's leaders in onsite spent nuclear fuel.

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Soddy-Daisy has a full storage pool and outside storage. Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City will need dry-cask storage in about 12 years.

The three plants combined store more than 25-hundred metric tons of waste and radioactive fuel assemblies because there is nowhere else to keep it.



-------- MILITARY 


-------- britain

Secret review of ID cards to be disclosed

By Ben Hall and Clive Cookson
Published: August 4 2006 Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/84e969be-2355-11db-848d-0000779e2340.html

Campaigners against the introduction of identity cards have scored a victory over the government by forcing it to publish a secret internal efficiency review of the troubled scheme.

In a decision that could help shine a light on other large-scale government procurement programmes, the Treasury has been ordered by the freedom of information commissioner to release two studies and a confidential "traffic light" assessment of the project.



-------- mideast

US earmarks 10 million for spare parts to Lebanese army

Fri Aug 4, 2006 (AFP)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060804/pl_afp/mideastconflictus

WASHINGTON - The United States is earmarking 10 million dollars to provide the Lebanese army with spare parts to military equipment once it can assert control over its territory, a Pentagon spokesman said.

The spare parts would be for things like vehicles, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, and commercial utility cargo, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

The money is being drawn from a 200 million dollar Pentagon program to strengthen foreign militaries as part of the 'war on terror," he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agreed to notify Congress that they intend to go ahead and purchase spare parts and hold them for use "down the road," he said.

"The conditions in Lebanon obviously would have to change, and the United States government approach to stability in Lebanon is going to be hugely broader," he said.

He said it would not go into effect until the Lebanese government is able to "assert control over its territory and reduce Hezbollah's operating space."

Hezbollah is the Iranian-backed Shiite militia that is fighting Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and firing rockets into northern Israel.

----

Lebanon’s industrialists count the cost of Israeli air raids

By William Wallis in the Bekaa Valley
Published: August 4 2006 Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1ab10cc4-23d6-11db-ae89-0000779e2340.html

The clock stopped just after midday for the Maliban bottling factory as 4 Israeli missiles wiped out in an instant the fruits of a 40 year collaboration between British Indian businessmen and the inhabitants of Lebanon’s Bekaa valley.

The Madhvani family bought the bottling plant - now worth no more than its price in scrap metal - in 1966. Times were tough then in East Africa and, foreseeing the expulsion of the Asian community by Idi Amin, the family was diversifying from its main sugar business in Uganda.

Maliban carried on producing bottles throughout Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, surviving previous Israeli invasions and closing only for a week in 1975. After the war the Madhvanis invested millions building the company up to become one of Lebanon’s largest industrial enterprises, exporting to countries across the Middle East and Europe with annual turnover of $26m.

But this war is proving a different kind of war. Israel’s adversary is illusive - a guerrilla outfit that slips in and out of the line of fire and has proved far more resilient than the Arab armies it has faced in the past.

In its bid to crush Hizbollah, Israel’s air force has directed its sophisticated arsenal of precision weapons at the fabric of Lebanon’s economy.

At least 45 major factories have been hit directly by Israeli air strikes according to a list compiled by Lebanese businessmen that does not include small and medium enterprises. On the list are factories for furniture, medical products, textiles, paper and a milk plant, where even the cows were blown to bits. Proctor and Gamble’s warehouse in Beirut was bombed with damage to stores estimated at $20m.

In total 95 percent of industries have ground to a halt, according to the Association of Lebanese Industrialists. Those companies not directly targeted have been brought to a standstill by an Israeli blockade.

“At this time, Lebanese factories cannot bring in the raw materials and fuel shipments that they need for producing the goods, especially food and medicine, that the Lebanese population and the 900,000 displaced urgently need,” the association wrote on Friday in an appeal for support from chambers of commerce around the world.

Until fighting broke out last month, Lebanon’s economy was on track for its best year in more than a decade. Exports were up over 100 percent on 2005 and tourism was booming. Annualised growth for the first five months of the year was estimated at 5 per cent.

Economists are now looking at another zero growth year or worse. Lebanon’s council for Development and Reconstruction estimates direct damage to infrastructure and businesses at $2bn in the first twelve days of the conflict alone.

“Israel is taking advantage of the war to destroy what it can of the infrastructure as well as the basic sectors of economy,” said Adnan Kassar, president of the Lebanese Economic Organisation grouping the country’s business associations.

“They want to destroy everything – even pick up trucks loaded with potatoes or watermelons. People on motorcycles have been killed like birds.”

Some Lebanese believe that Israel has calculated that if businesses suffer enough, they will pressure the government to put more effort into neutralizing Hizbollah guerrillas.

In some cases there may be a simpler explanation. A few kms from the Maliban factory, a mechanical workshop was blown up. Gunmen refused access to the site, suggesting that there may have been something to hide there.

Nearby however, the Dalal steel factory was also wrecked. Its Lebanese owner had a contract to provide prefabricated structures for the US military in Iraq. In the area, people could see no obvious reason why Israel would want to destroy either it or the bottling plant, at the potential cost of nearly a thousand jobs.

“We just don’t know why they hit us. You will have to ask them,” said Aurobindo Chowdhury, a project manager from Calcutta who has worked at Maliban since 1972.

In the past when Israel bombed Palestinian bases in the Bekaa they were careful to avoid the bottling plant, said Shrai Madhvani, who ran it, by phone from London.

“They knew who owned the factory and what we were doing. That’s why it was such a shock to know they sent four bombs specifically at us.”

One Indian machine tool operator was killed in the July 19 blasts. Another is still in a coma. If the Madhvanis had not closed the factory three days before, 150 workers might have died on the shop floor.

The business is not covered by insurance for war. Mr Madhvani said his family was unsure how to rebuild it. To do so again from scratch would cost $70m, he said.



-------- us

Petty officer held in secret for 4 months

By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
August 4, 2006

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=108646&ran=180358&tref=po

NORFOLK — A petty officer has been in the Norfolk Naval Station brig for more than four months facing espionage, desertion and other charges, but the Navy has refused to release details of the case.

The case against Fire Control Technician 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann is indicative of the secrecy surrounding the Navy military court here, where public affairs and trial court officials have denied access to basic information including the court docket – a listing of cases to be heard.

After months of requests, the Navy this week provided The Virginian-Pilot with Weinmann’s name, rank and the charges he faces.

In an e-mail, Theodore Brown, a spokesman for Fleet Forces Command, said, “It is sometimes a challenge to balance the desires of the media, the public’s right to know, and the rights of an individual accused of a crime.”

“In this case,” he concluded, the command “is attempting to provide as much unclassified information as is reasonable, while maintaining an appropriate concern for the privacy of the individual involved. ”

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment Thursday.

The Navy’s position was challenged by military legal affairs experts and First Amendment advocates who say the nation’s courts, whether civilian or military, historically have been open to the press and public.

A docket listing Weinmann’s preliminary hearing, called an Article 32, was never produced. The Navy would not disclose when the hearing was held.

“That’s hogwash,” said Eugene R. Fidell, president of The National Institute of Military Justice and a Washington lawyer .

“I know of no authority to keep the proceeding closed,” he said. “I’ve never seen an Article 32 classified.”

The command’s e-mail to The Pilot this week said that Weinmann was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on March 26 after he had been listed as a deserter. Fleet Forces officials refused to release the so-called charge sheet, which would detail the accusations against the sailor.

Weinmann had been serving aboard the submarine Albuquerque until he deserted in July 2005, according to Brown. Weinmann enlisted in July 2003, he said.

The enlisted man could face a court-martial. An investigative officer who presided over the Article 32 is expected to release a report to Weinmann’s command in the coming weeks. Besides espionage and desertion, Weinmann is charged with failure to obey an order and acts prejudicial to good order and discipline, according to Brown.

Espionage is defined, in part, by the Uniform Code of Military Justice as the communication to a foreign government of any information relating to U.S. national defense. It carries a maximum punishment of death.

Military defense lawyers say secret military hearings and the refusal to release basic charge information have become more common since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Court precedents and federal laws have established the right of public access to court-martial proceedings, including Article 32 hearings, the lawyers and First Amendment advocates say.

The Army Court of Criminal Appeals said in a 1997 case involving an attempt to close a criminal proceeding, “We believe that public confidence in matters of military justice would quickly erode if courts-martial were arbitrarily closed to the public.”

The court said the public and the media have a right to attend military court proceedings, “absent extraordinary circumstances.”

The Supreme Court has ruled that the closure of a court proceeding or the sealing of any criminal case must be decided by a judge on a case-by-case basis.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, said that, even in military courts, an order must be issued closing or sealing a case.

Brown acknowledged Thursday that “there is no order,” but said that the charge sheet in the Weinmann case would not be released.

Dalglish and others said protecting someone’s privacy has never been a legally acceptable reason to exclude the public from a court proceeding or to withhold the identity of someone who’s been in custody for four months.

“We don’t lock up people in this country secretly,” Dalglish said. “Personal embarrassment has never been found to be a justification for closing a proceeding.”

Other than the Weinmann case, Norfolk Naval Station has refused to provide The Pilot with copies of the military court docket since at least November. The docket lists cases heard in military court each day. In March, The Pilot filed a Freedom of Information request for the past year’s dockets but has received no written response.

Beth Baker, a spokeswoman for the Navy Mid-Atlantic Region, has said that computer problems have made it difficult for the Trial Services Office at Norfolk Naval Station to generate a docket.

In two e-mails sent to The Pilot in January and February, Baker said the dockets should be available “soon.”

“The docket for the Trial Service Office has been transferred to a new system that is not user friendly to us at all,” Baker told The Pilot in a March e-mail.

More recent requests for the docket went unanswered.

Some military courts, including Marine Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, Calif., post their court dockets on a Web site.

The National Institute of Military Justice has begun a project to collect military court dockets and post them on its own Web site. Fidell, of the institute, said law students hope to begin pos ting them by the end of the summer.

“Why this continues to be an issue in 2006 is beyond me,” Fidell said.

# Reach Tim McGlone at (757) 446-2343 or tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com.



-------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE


-------- homeland security / national intelligence

Some convinced insects could be used to detect bombs

By NOELLE STRAUB
Billings, MT, Gazette, Washington Bureau
August 4, 2006

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/08/04/news/state/25-bees.txt

WASHINGTON - Montana researchers' vision of honeybees swarming across a field to detect landmines in Afghanistan or roadside bombs in Iraq may get a $5 million boost after Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., included the funding in a Defense Department spending bill.

The researchers believe they are on the verge of perfecting a briefcase-size system that can be carried around and deployed easily, using laser technology to track bees that have been trained to find explosives.

"They're on par with or better than dogs," said Jerry Bromenshenk, a research professor at the University of Montana, who submitted the funding request. "We're asking for a chance to show it can work in (various) applications."

If Congress approves the money, it would flow through the U.S. Army and then to a joint effort involving the University of Montana, Montana State University and private companies in the state to build and deploy a bomb-detecting system based on bees.

Burns, in a tough re-election race, has been running on his ability to bring federal money to the state.

"The practical application for this program is potentially life-saving," said Burns spokesman Matt Mackowiak. "Uncleared land mines are killing 150 people around the world every day, and IEDs are a lethal threat to our soldiers combating terrorism around the world. Senator Burns was pleased to support this program." IEDs are improvised explosive devices, typically homemade bombs.

Burns included $5 million for "biological detection of unexploded ordnance and land mines" in the Defense Department spending bill that the full Senate debated Thursday. House and Senate negotiators still must hammer out details of the final bill.

The researchers estimate the total program cost at $15 million over five years. Congress at Burns' request appropriated money in previous defense spending bills for the bee research, including $1.9 million in fiscal year 2005 and $2.8 million in fiscal 2006.

The researchers' first obstacle, they say, is credibility. It seems people have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of bomb-finding bees.

"When Jerry first approached me to be part of this group, I snickered," said Steven Rice, professor of electronics at UM. "I am convinced. ... We have gone through the prototyping, we've built a couple, we've tested them, I think we have a high degree of accuracy and I think it works well."

To convince potential users, they plan demonstrations at overseas sites, including Croatia, Afghanistan, South Africa, Qatar and Turkey. Bromenshenk said that if the funding is approved, those demonstrations could begin next summer.

The researachers aim to perfect a complete system that users can buy off the shelf. They can currently deploy the system out of the back of a Suburban, but it needs be smaller, they said.

"Once we can do that and take it to someone's site, it sells itself at that point," said David Firth, business professor at UM.

The laser system can pick up individual bees at 150 yards out, they said. The bees could also be trained to find meth labs, dead bodies or other things.

The universities are partnering with S & K Electronics and optics firms in Bozeman that would manufacture the systems.

"We don't want to stay on the government money, we want to see this out the door and being used and creating jobs and manufacturing opportunities for the state," Bromenshenk said.

United Nations officials came to a demonstration and are "very convinced" the project will work, the researchers said. Canada is financing the support costs of bringing them to that country for a full trial soon, Bromenshenk said.

But the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which originally worked on the project, has said it no longer would participate. DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker said the agency has obtained money for honeybee research in the past but has not found it useful and will not pursue it further.

"We have invested in this area for a numbers of years," she said. "Our efforts are finishing up. We believe it's unlikely they would prove useful in explosive detection, IED detection, things like that. We don't plan any further efforts."

Bromenshenk said they had ended their cooperation with DARPA earlier, before the laser technology was developed.

About 70 percent of the funding would be spent in Montana, while about 20 percent would be retained by the Army and the remaining 10 percent would be used to buy equipment not made or sold in the state. 



-------- POLITICS


-------- investigations

Pentagon silent on inquiry into Cunningham contracts
It still isn't known if bribery tainted defense projects

By Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
August 4, 2006

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060804-9999-1n4duke.html

WASHINGTON – Eight months after former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham confessed to taking massive bribes in exchange for providing at least $230 million in questionable defense and intelligence contracts, the Defense Department inspector general still has not determined whether any of those projects were improper.

This week, the Pentagon announced that it would not renew one contract related to the scandal. But officials have been tight-lipped about the status of other taxpayer-funded work that may have been tainted, including a secret counterintelligence program. In fact, although several other Defense Department public affairs personnel and a congressional press aide have said in the past that an investigation into the Cunningham-linked contracts was being conducted, the inspector general's spokesman said yesterday that “as a matter of policy, we do not confirm or deny the existence of ongoing investigations.”

“If one exists, it would be improper to comment,” Army Lt. Col. Brian Maka said. “Obviously, if one does not exist, there would be nothing to say.”

There also have been no formal findings presented by the House panels on which Cunningham served while he channeled taxpayer dollars to two companies that gave him at least $2.4 million in cash, antiques and other gifts.

Cunningham pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to conspiracy and tax evasion. He admitted demanding and receiving cash and gifts from MZM, a Washington-based defense contractor, and Poway-based ADCS.

In return, he used his position as a senior member of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees to steer more than $150 million in contracts to MZM and more than $80 million to ADCS, mainly through earmarks.

The former Navy fighter pilot is serving more than eight years in federal prison.

MZM founder Mitchell Wade pleaded guilty to bribing Cunningham and is awaiting sentencing. ADCS head Brent Wilkes has not been charged.

Several times since Cunningham admitted providing the earmarked appropriations to the two defense contractors, Pentagon public affairs officers have said that “there is an ongoing review by appropriate organizations within the department.” One spokeswoman cited the Defense Department inspector general as the office responsible for that investigation.

The House Intelligence Committee hired an independent counsel to conduct a review of Cunningham's work on that panel. It has not formally announced the results of that review, though committee members reportedly have been briefed on some of the findings.

The House Appropriations Committee is not conducting its own investigation because the panel is closely following an investigation of the contracts by the Pentagon's inspector general, committee spokesman John Scofield said.

“Of course we're concerned; of course we're monitoring the investigation – we've been monitoring it for some time,” Scofield said in March.

Although Cunningham did not serve on the House Armed Services Committee, its chairman, Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has ordered a review of its records by committee lawyers from both parties to see if there were any attempts by Cunningham to influence the panel's actions.

So far, the staffers have not found any improper action.

Although the Pentagon has not confirmed that any of the contracts linked to Cunningham were unwarranted, it announced Monday that it would not renew a $9 million contract awarded to MZM in 2003, forcing the closure of the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center in Martinsville, Va.

The center was set up to conduct background checks on foreign companies doing work for the Defense Department. It was once at the top of Cunningham's priority list, according to prosecutors. The most recent earmark for it was arranged by Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Va., who received sizable campaign contributions from Wade and his family and associates.

Congress approved the funding less than a month after Cunningham admitted his misdeeds. The Pentagon, which never requested the money, said the operation was terminated because “the U.S. government has other entities that provide similar services.” In documents released before Cunningham was sentenced, prosecutors said it was “possible to attribute specific defense contract funding of Cunningham's co-conspirators to Cunningham's corrupt official acts.”

Projects cited in the documents included work on the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center; the National Ground Intelligence Center, a support facility for the Army; a top-secret program called CIFA, or Counterintelligence Field Activity; the Defense Joint Counterintelligence Program, which is part of CIFA; and Global Infrastructure Data Capture, a program to convert government documents into a digital format.

A spokeswoman for the Project on Government Oversight, which has been following the Cunningham scandal, said the group did not understand why the Pentagon inspector general could not determine the propriety of those contracts after eight months. The Foreign Supplier Assessment Center was being run by Athena Innovative Solutions, which acquired “selected assets” of MZM, including “all of the existing contracts,” in August 2005, according to a news release issued at the time by Athena's parent company, New York-based Veritas Capital. 



-------- propaganda wars

Condoleezza Rice on Iraq, Lebanon and Cuba
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells NBC’s David Gregory that there are ‘sectarian differences in Iraq,’ but it is not a civil war

MSNBC Aug 4, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14189415/

In an exclusive interview to air tonight on "Hardball with Chris Matthews," NBC's David Gregory speaks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the war in Iraq, the crisis in the Middle East, and the current situation in Cuba.

In reaction to Sen. Hillary Clinton's comments about United States policy in Iraq, she says, "I do not believe it's failing." Secretary Rice also tells Gregory that Iraq is not sliding towards a civil war.

The following is a transcript of the interview, which will air tonight on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" at 5 and 7 p.m. (ET).

DAVID GREGORY, HARDBALL: Secretary Rice, let me start on the topic of Iraq. Yesterday, on Capitol Hill, Senator Hillary Clinton called -- after the testimony of Defense chief Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld -- for his resignation and said, in effect, it was time to choose a new team that could come up with a new strategy to deal with Iraq. How did you react to that?

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I reacted that the president of the United States has great confidence in Don Rumsfeld and so do his colleagues. And we are the team that has been involved in Iraq since the very beginning. I believe that we've made progress.

Everybody knows that this is a very, very difficult situation, that what the Iraqis are trying to do is really unprecedented in the whole region. It's certainly unprecedented in Iraq, but it's unprecedented in the whole region, and that is to take a political culture that has largely either been run through oppression or through violence and to put in place democratic political institutions that are going to help people deal with their differences.

That's hard, it's turbulent, but it's very, important to the future of the Middle East and, indeed, important to our future security.

GREGORY: Was it striking to you, however, that Senator Clinton -- obviously, a Democrat, but has not joined other Democrats in calling for a withdrawal of troops, she has not joined other Democrats in calling for Rumsfeld's resignation -- would do so at this point?

RICE: I can't speak for Senator Clinton. Obviously, she's a senator. She has the right to say whatever she pleases. And I heard some of the testimony yesterday. I heard Generals Abizaid and General Pace, as well. I heard them talk about the challenges in Iraq, and I also heard them express confidence that they believe they have the right forces and the right structure in place to deal with those challenges.

GREGORY: Is this is a failed policy, as Senator Clinton alleged?

RICE: The policy in Iraq is under way to produce in Iraq the first real democracy in this entire region. And, David, it's going to be hard. This is a huge historic change. Historic change doesn't come without difficulty and without turbulence.

But we somehow seem to think back on an Iraq that was a pristine Iraq, where the Iraqi people were somehow thriving. That wasn't the Iraq that we found. We were dealing with an Iraq with a brutal dictator, with 300,000 people in mass graves, who had used weapons of mass destruction, who'd attacked his neighbors, against whom we'd gone to war in 1991 and again in 1998 to try to control his power.

So when we look at the Iraq of today, we have to remember the Iraq that we were dealing with. And what the Iraqi people have done is quite

extraordinary: They've put in place a political process that gives them a chance to learn to deal with their differences in a political way.

But, yes, it's hard.

And I know that, when people see the terrible scenes of violence on television, when we mourn the death of each and every American man and woman in uniform or a civilian that's killed in Iraq, that it's hard to see the progress that's being made and it's hard to believe that this is all going to come out for the better.

GREGORY: But the question is, is it failing or is it succeeding?

RICE: No, I do not believe that it's failing. I believe that, in fact, we are in the midst of this huge historic change. And when you're in the midst of it, sometimes it's hard to see what's at the end of the process. And at the end of the process, I believe Iraqis, who are going to control their own future, who are going to control their own security forces, they're going through an extraordinarily difficult time. But what they don't need is to have doubt that America is committed to them in this struggle in which they find themselves.

GREGORY: Is it a civil war in Iraq now?

RICE: The Iraqis have sectarian differences; there's no doubt about that.

GREGORY: A little bit more than sectarian differences, isn't it?

RICE: No, they have sectarian differences, and some of those are violent. But everything that Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi people -- not the people who are trying to cause failure there -- what the Iraqi people and their leaders are trying to do is to build a unified Iraq.

It's not civil war when 12.5 million people go out and vote for a government that bridges all of the sectarian groups. It's not civil war when the Iraqis are able to then, on the basis of that vote, form a unity government that is now trying to work both toward reconstruction and reconciliation. It's not civil war when you have a prime minister of Iraq, who is himself a Shia, who sits with the defense minister, who is a Sunni, with an interior minister who's a Shia, with a president who is Kurdish. That's not civil war.

GREGORY: So the commanders on the ground who say the sectarian violence is worse than it's ever been and, if unchecked, will lead to a civil war, they don't have it right?

RICE: Well, I read those statements. And what General Abizaid said is that he had confidence that, in fact, we could help the Iraqis to arrest what could be a slide toward civil war. He did not say that there is a civil war going on there, and it would be wrong to quote him as saying so.

We know that the dangers of sectarian violence, of spinning out of control, it's on everybody's mind, of course. But the Iraqis have a lot of institutions and, by the way, a lot of commitment to not having that happen. And what we need to do is to support them in this process that they're involved in that really is unique to the region.

GREGORY: If it's not a civil war, then what is it we're in the middle of?

RICE: What we're in the middle of is the transformation of a society that has handled its politics through repression to a society that will handle its politics through democratic institutions.

I was with our ambassador, Zal Khalilzad, not too long ago, and the way that he explained it is that these are people who are learning to relate to each other, not to depend on a strong man to just hold in check their differences, but to literally relate to each other through institutions that are brand new. It's very difficult; it's hard.

But they're doing this. We need to remain committed to them, to help them build security forces that can help to secure them, to help them reconstruct the country, and to help this political process move ahead.

GREGORY: But, Secretary Rice, isn't it striking that the administration is now taking a tone where there is more acknowledgement of Iraq sliding toward civil war when it was just months ago when the administration, from the president and other top officials, was accusing the news media and others of misrepresenting success there?

RICE: David, I think it's extremely important to get the tense right here. I didn't say "sliding towards civil war." I said that we all believe that there are great dangers inherent in sectarian violence of this kind, but the Iraqis themselves, first of all, don't want civil war. That's very clear.

Civil war usually starts when somebody is determined to start one.

The Iraqis...

GREGORY: What evidence is there they don't want it?

RICE: Well, the unity government that they've formed; the armed forces that continue to fight; the people who continue to show up to serve in the police forces or in the army, despite the violence that is being done against them; the fact that their neighbors are rallying around them; the fact that you have a prime minister who sits with a national unity government to make policy every day.

Those are very strong indications that these are people who want to live together. They've had plenty of opportunity to say, "No, we would rather like as Kurds, and Shia, and Sunni." That's not what they've done. In fact, the Kurds, who everybody accused of being just ready to secede any moment, the president of Iraq is a Kurd. He's one of the founding fathers, if you will, of a new Iraq.

And so, yes, it's very, very difficult, but I really think that we do not do them justice, many of them who have lost family and friends as a result of this steadfastness about the need for a unified Iraq, when we tell them they're sliding into civil war.

GREGORY: You talk about the desire for democracy, the desire to avoid civil war. This was a government that we helped put into place, helped to organize, and it is led by a prime minister who has sharply criticized Israel. And in the streets of Baghdad, there have been demonstrations, pro-Hezbollah demonstrations, a group which we've talked a lot about recently calling for the destruction of Israel. Is this the Iraq that the administration promised us?

RICE: There is -- well, first of all, what the administration promised was that we would help to build a democratic Iraq, in which Iraqis could express themselves and in which Iraqis could have control of their own future.

We're not going to agree with everything that every Iraqi says or every Iraqi leader says. Those are democratic choices. But I can tell you that this is an Iraq that is going to be at peace with its neighbors, that's going to fight terrorism, that is not going to do the sorts of things that Saddam Hussein has done, and is, therefore, going to be a pillar in a different kind of Middle East which will, indeed, have room for a resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

That is the kind of Iraq that this is going to be. Now, I know that it's a deeply emotional time, David, in the Middle East, very emotional time and, of course, there are going to be demonstrations and there are going to be people who will say things with which we don't agree.

But we have to keep our eye on what kind of Middle East is going to prevent these spasms of violence, what kind of Middle East is going to create a circumstance in which Israel and Palestine can live side-by-side and a two-state solution that the president has proposed.

And it was never going to be that kind of Middle East with Saddam Hussein in power.

It has a very good chance of being that kind of Middle East in the future, with an Iraqi government that is committed to a unified and democratic Iraq.

GREGORY: You talk about being hopeful for the future of Iraq. But it's also clear, isn't it, that you don't really know how it's going to turn out?

RICE: Well, David, if you always knew how things were going to turn out, if you could be certain that things were going to turn out in a particular way, that would, of course, be better. But I think it actually goes without saying that one never knows precisely how things are going to turn out.

What we can do and what we are doing is to help the Iraqis create institutions that give them a very good chance of succeeding. I don't think anybody would have believed, by the way, 50 years ago, that France and Germany were never going to fight again either. They don't.

So things as seen impossible one day suddenly seem inevitable many days later. And so I would suggest that we not try and take a snapshot in what is the huge historical circumstance to assume that this has a bad outcome.

GREGORY: Is the news media misrepresenting the story there?

RICE: Well, I think the problem is that everybody takes a snapshot every day of how we're doing in what is a huge and historical transformation. It's natural that that is the case.

But I would be surprised, if you look back on the other big historical transformations that the world has been through, that people didn't do the same thing. I think they probably took snapshots that now, in retrospect, when you look back on them, look pretty shortsighted.

GREGORY: More with Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right after this break. A lot more ground to cover.

GREGORY: Secretary Rice, I want to return to the subject of Secretary Rumsfeld. James Baker, a Republican, very close to this administration, was reportedly writing the following in his book that is critical of the Defense Department. "After fighting successfully against the State Department to secure the lead role in winning the peace and reconstructing Iraq, the Defense Department," he writes, "made a number of costly mistakes, including disbanding the Iraqi army, outlawing the Baath party, failing to secure weapons depots, and perhaps never committing enough troops to successful pacify the country."

It's not just Democrats, Republicans, too, who think Secretary Rumsfeld has led a failed policy.

RICE: I don't know what Jim Baker has written in his book, but I do know that the policies that were pursued in Iraq were the policies of this administration as a whole.

Now, was anything executed perfectly? No, everything was not executed perfectly. Did we plan for every contingency? No. Did we plan for and prevent contingencies that did not come about? Did we succeed in places that we might have failed? Absolutely.

David, there will be plenty of time to go back and examine what might have been done differently, but whenever you're dealing with something as complex as taking down a dictator of Saddam Hussein's depth and breadth in his society, trying to deal with institutions that turned out essentially not to be institutions. The army essentially disbanded itself. Dealing with a society that had really been traumatized by all of these years of tyrannical rule, it's going to be hard and you're going to make some mistakes and I'm sure we did.

GREGORY: Should the Malaki government fail to succeed in its mission of securing Baghdad, which is where the focus is, there's more U.S. troops there, what is plan B in Iraq?

RICE: We are very focused on helping Prime Minister Malaki succeed with his Baghdad security plan. And it's not just a matter of more troops in Baghdad. I think it would be a caricature of what he is planning and what we are planning to just talk about more troops in Baghdad.

The more troops in Baghdad are to help deal with the very difficult security situation, but he also has a plan for national reconciliation, a plan that really does invite people to lay down their arms. It's become a part of the new Iraq.

There are efforts going on to reform the interior ministry and to make the police a more important and, indeed, reliable factor in Iraqi security. He has worked to increase electricity in the area to show that the government can do that, and, by the way, they have increased electricity since he became prime minister.

So, yes, the troops are important, but we really have to note that it's a broad-scale plan for the security of Baghdad.

GREGORY: But is there not some discussion about what happens if this doesn't work, a plan B?

RICE: David, what you want to do is to settle on a plan and then press as hard as you can to make that plan work and that's where everyone's energies are at this point and I think this plan is going to work.

GREGORY: But when does staying the course become less a strategy and more of a copout?

RICE: David, we've just begun the Baghdad security plan. Malaki has only been in office several weeks. This is...

GREGORY: But it was your administration, this administration that said he would not have an unlimited amount of time to succeed.

RICE: Well, I think we should probably give him more than, what is it, two months. These are very difficult changes. And I know there's a certain concern and impatience. Sometimes I feel that impatience myself.

But I also know that when you are undertaking something of as big a circumstance as historic instance, as really unprecedented instance, that you also have to recognize that it's hard and that it takes time.

The Iraqis have been given a chance, by the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, to build a very different kind of polity in the Middle East.

They're working at it. They're sacrificing.

Sometimes there's almost a sense that the Iraqis don't want this.

Well, of course they do, or they wouldn't be making the sacrifices that they're making in order to achieve it.

And so I think our best course is to support them, to help them build their institutions, to help them provide security, to help them with the reconstruction, and to give them a chance to achieve what they clearly are all trying to achieve.

GREGORY: I want to turn to the other war in the Middle East right now that is between Hezbollah and Israel. You are pursuing a resolution in the Security Council. There's a lot of diplomacy at work now. What are the particulars, if it all comes together? If the administration gets what it's looking for, what will happen?

RICE: Well, remembering that it was the attack by Hezbollah on Israel that started this, and that that attack was because Hezbollah is a kind of state within a state. The authority of the Lebanese government to control all of its territory, to control all of its actors, not to let its territory be used in this way, is really the centerpiece of any future resolution of the crisis.

And therefore, the Security Council resolution is, of course, aimed at stopping the violence -- that's very important -- but stopping it in a way that doesn't permit the conditions to come back into being that led to the circumstance that we find ourselves in now.

It's also a resolution that, when it's passed and when it's implemented, I think will show that, in the short term, while Hezbollah may be enjoying -- Nasrallah may be enjoying having his picture on television all the time, that the loss of the south by Hezbollah, the deployment of international forces to the south, the extension of Lebanese authority throughout the country, the rebuilding of the Lebanese armed forces will be a strategic defeat for Iran, which, after all, is Hezbollah's principal sponsor.

GREGORY: We'll pick up on that point when we come back in just a minute. More with Secretary Rice on the wars in the Middle East when we come back on HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GREGORY: About this international force, what will its parameters be? Will its primary mission be to disarm Hezbollah?

RICE: Well, the mandate of the international force has not yet been written because we wanted to get to a place that we could establish certain political conditions that would not allow return to the status quo ante. But I don't think there's any expectation that the international force is somehow going to disarm Hezbollah.

GREGORY: Well, then who does it then, is the question?

RICE: The Lebanese.

GREGORY: But the Lebanese government has yet to even condemn Hezbollah. Is that a concern?

RICE: Let's remember that Hezbollah has two wings. It has the political wing; it has the military wing. You can't have one foot in politics, one foot in terror. And the Lebanese government has certain obligations under not just Resolution 1559, which was passed a couple of years ago in the Security Council, but also under something called the Taif Accords, which was essentially brokered by Saudi Arabia in 1989 to disarm militias.

Now, right now, the country is (INAUDIBLE) state within a state. It has Hezbollah that has this military wing that caused this attack, that operates singularly in itself. And so, yes, you have to extend the authority of the Lebanese government. You have to rebuild the Lebanese armed forces.

But the Lebanese do not want a circumstance in which their territory can be used in this way, bringing destruction down on the entire country. So this is a matter of getting the status quo -- not going back to the status quo ante in the south and then allowing a political process, with the support of the international force, to disarm Hezbollah.

GREGORY: Do you think that Hezbollah, which will have to be an important part of this process, will actually allow an international force to come in which will have the mandate of helping the Lebanese government effectively destroy it?

RICE: Well, first of all, (INAUDIBLE) the Lebanese themselves, when Prime Minister Siniora was at Rome, called for an international force.

He went back, and he got a cabinet decision that included the two Hezbollah ministers that there should be an international force, U.N.-mandated force.

We will see what Hezbollah does, but they will certainly be outside of the consensus of their own country. They'll be outside the consensus of the region if they do want to see the conditions that would permit a sustainable end to the violence.

GREGORY: In the view of the administration, has Hezbollah to date been sufficiently degraded to justify the wide-scale loss of human life?

RICE: Well, I cannot speak to the military realities on the ground. I do think that the issue of Hezbollah at the border, able to carry out the kinds of attacks that it has, with the command and control that it has, and so forth, that there has been significant degradation of some of those capabilities.

But the real key here, of course, is to create conditions in the south so that they cannot operate freely in this militia way without the consent of the Lebanese government, without the consent of the Lebanese armed forces. And that's what we have to try and establish. And that would be a real change, David, a real change in the circumstances of Lebanon.

GREGORY: As the fighting continues, as more lives are lost, there is some sense of urgency within the international community to end the fighting. But how concerned are you, especially with threats from Hezbollah that they might attack Tel Aviv, that this could become a wider war, could become a more intense war, before you get around to a cease-fire?

RICE: Well, you have to be concerned about the potential for the region as a whole. I think everyone is concerned about that. But we are moving, I think pretty effectively now, with the French and with others in the United Nations, toward a cessation of hostilities, toward an end to the fighting, an end to the violence, so that -- and, by the way, on the basis of a kind of political framework that would prevent this return to the status quo ante.

We then have to move in a second phase to a security force, and we do have to get to a sustainable and permanent cease-fire. This is a process that we will be beginning with the resolution that we hope will be ready, and I believe will be ready, within days.

But, obviously, Lebanon remains a place that is greatly fragile, but it's been fragile for a lot of years. Syrian forces were there for 30 years. We finally succeeded in getting Syrian forces out. You now have a government in Lebanon that is democratically elected, that has a wide range of people in it, obviously, but also has a kind of democratic center coming out of the March 14th movement, the true democrats of the country.

And so there is a lot to work with here. And while it may be fragile, while clearly this terrible spasm of violence has had tremendous costs, human costs to Lebanon, human costs for Israel, what we must stay focused on is getting a sustainable cease-fire, a sustainable end to this violence that will not allow this to happen again in several months or even in several years.

GREGORY: Secretary Rice, only a couple of minutes left, let me turn to the issue of Cuba in our remaining moments. What is the latest this government knows about Fidel Castro's condition, his health?

RICE: Well, given the nature of that society, I don't think anyone knows the nature of Fidel Castro's health. I will say this though,

David: A transition is clearly under way in Cuba. One way or another, a transition is under way.

The people of Cuba have lived too long without freedom. They've lived too long as the exception in this hemisphere. And as you go down the street here to the Organization of American States, the only seat that's empty is Cuba, and that is because you have to be a democracy to be a part of the Organization of American States.

It's time for the Cuban people to have their freedom. And so, as this transition goes forward, the United States is prepared and has been preparing, through a commission that the president appointed several years ago, to plan for support to the Cuban people in their aspirations for democracy and freedom. We're working with international partners to make certain that the Cuban people know that they would have support and help in what will undoubtedly be a difficult transition.

But it's extremely important that no one think that it is acceptable when there is a change in Cuba that the Cuban people have to go from one dictator to another. In a hemisphere in which democracy is the rule not the exception, the Cuban people deserve a better future...

(CROSSTALK)

GREGORY: How concerned is this government about an attempted mass exodus from Cuba?

RICE: Well, clearly we believe that Cubans should stay in Cuba and be a part of what will be a transition to democracy. That's why we want to put in place and are putting in place efforts to help in whatever may be the near-term problem of Cuba and the Cuban people, as they come out of this transition.

We've looked at humanitarian assistance to them. We've looked at international support to them, what kinds of support would they need in that transition. So Cubans can stay knowing that they will have the support of the United States for a peaceful and democratic transition.

GREGORY: Secretary Rice, one final point on Iraq, that a lot of people, of course, think about, particularly when there's discussion of civil war: Is it more or less likely now that American troops can come back in sizable numbers by the end of this year?

RICE: The president has always said that what the conditions are on the ground -- whatever the conditions are on the ground, he will cue his decision to those conditions and his commanders will tell him what they need. I think we've demonstrated that this is not a question of troop levels; this is a question of enough troops to do the job. And so the president will make those decisions.

David, the day is coming when the United States will wrap up its military mission there, because we're training Iraqi Security Forces, because the Iraqi political system is now finally a permanent political system. But it would be wrong, at the time when Iraqis are trying to make this transition, to leave then without support. What we must not do is to lose sight of why Iraq is so important. An Iraq that makes this transition to a stable and democratic future is going to be a centerpiece of a Middle East that will not produce the kind of ideologies of hatred that cost us so much in the war on terrorism.

An Iraq, however, that is -- does not have that kind of support and that is left to the likes of al-Qaida in Iraq is undoubtedly to be an Iraq that will cause security problems for us. And so American and Iraqi security are linked, and we need to give them as much support as we can as they make this very difficult transition.

GREGORY: Secretary Rice, as always, thank you.

RICE: Thank you.



-------- us politics

Book: The Dunces of Doomsday 

10 Blunders That Gave Rise to Radical Islam, Terrorist Regimes, And the Threat of an American Hiroshima

By Paul L. Williams
August 4, 2006

http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1838

The war on terror has become a household subject since the attacks on September 11, 2001. In reality, the jihad against America did not happen overnight. It has been coming for quite some time. "The Dunces of Doomsday" documents 10 blunders that resulted in an invigorated radical Islam, terrorism worldwide, and the coming "American Hiroshima."

The blunders documented include:

# The Peanut Farmer and the Ayatollah — How the worst president in America's history permitted and invigorated the rise of radical Islam

# The Great Offense Against Islam — How the invasion of Iraq under President George H. W. Bush and the installation of U.S. military bases between Islam's holy cities of Mecca and Medina sparked the holy war and the plan for the American Hiroshima

# The Poppy Fields Remain in Bloom — How the war on terror could have been averted by fire-bombing the poppy fields of Afghanistan

# The Clinton Follies: From the Mullahs to Monica — How the Clinton administration, which largely ignored international problems, failed to address the growing threat of Al-Qaeda after the attack on the U.S. embassies, the counterresistance in Somalia, and the attacks on the USS The Sullivans and the USS Cole

# W Uses the Wrong Word — How President George W. Bush's message that Islam means peace obscured the reality that Islam means submission to Allah.

"The Dunces of Doomsday" chronicles the mistakes that have been made and provides a guide for preventing radical Islam and terrorism's dream of carrying out the "American Hiroshima."

Author Paul L. Williams, Ph.D., is a journalist and the author of "The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse"; "The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia"; and "Osama’s Revenge: The Next 9/11 — What the Media and the Government Haven’t Told You." He has served as a consultant for the FBI, as editor and publisher of the Metro in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and as an adjunct professor of humanities at the University of Scranton.



-------- ENERGY 


-------- alternative energy

Brazil Could Double Ethanol Output By 2014 - Unica

Story by Peter Blackburn
REUTERS BRAZIL: August 4, 2006

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37518/newsDate/4-Aug-2006/story.htm

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil could nearly double sugar cane-based ethanol production to 31 billion liters in 2014 by planting more cane and using new technology, the President of Sao Paulo's Cane Agroindustry Union said on Thursday.

Sugar cane-based ethanol helps power Brazil's growing fleet of flex-fuel cars that run on ethanol, gasoline, or a blend of the two, helping the country become energy self-sufficient.

Ethanol's appeal is growing as motorists around the world seek a cheaper, cleaner fuel than gasoline, whose global price has soared 285 percent in three years.

Brazil is the world's biggest ethanol exporter, yet only 15 percent of its output is exported.

Eduardo Pereira de Carvalho said US$10 billion in investment was planned for 92 greenfield cane mills. These will include 17 in the northeast and 75 in the center-south, with 44 of those in Sao Paulo state, Brazil's main cane grower.

Brazil could double production if about two-thirds of the planned projects are executed, Carvalho told Reuters after he addressed a Hart fuels and refining conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Carvalho said some 5.5 million hectares were planted with sugar cane in Brazil, compared with a total crop area of 60 million ha and 300 million ha of livestock pasture.

"Over the next 15 years, an extra 100 million hectares could be planted with cane, primarily on pasture land," Carvalho said, adding that the expansion would not involve felling trees.

Sao Paulo state alone has some 10 million hectares of pasture that could be converted to sugar cane, he added.

Ethanol yields are also seen rising due to the planting of new varieties and use of new technology to process cane bagasse, or waste.

BOOMING DEMAND

The ratio of cane crushed into ethanol is seen rising to 58 percent, from an estimated 50 percent in 2006/07, to meet strong world and domestic demand.

Carvalho said Brazilian ethanol shipments to the United States have risen sharply over the past three months, despite a 54 cents-per-gallon import tariff.

Brazilian cane-based ethanol shipped to the US West coast is about half the cost of US corn ethanol and much more energy efficient, according to Unica.

Although US ethanol production is surging, the United States still imports ethanol to meet surging demand after refiners phased out production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a widely used fuel additive that pollutes water.

The US is importing 103.5 million gallons of ethanol a year under the Caribbean Basin Initiative which allows up to 7 percent of the US's total import needs duty free, according to Brazilian ethanol exporter Coimex.

Coimex, along with other companies such as Brazil's Crystalsev and the US's Cargill have built ethanol distilleries in the region to supply the growing US market.

----

Ethanol Boosts Economies of US Midwest Farm Towns

Story by Chris Baltimore
REUTERS US: August 4, 2006

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37519/newsDate/4-Aug-2006/story.htm

CHANNAHON, Illinois - The prospect of reaping easy profits from turning corn into motor fuel has brought an unlikely economic boom to small towns across the Midwest, like this one about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.

High gasoline prices have fed a voracious demand for corn, which will mean the highest average US price in 10 years. Federal tax subsidies enacted last year also have helped Illinois farmers get more cash for their corn by selling it to ethanol plants.

These plants, in turn, make a tidy profit and provide jobs, pumping more money into the local economy.

"This is just a huge thing to the farm community," said Dennis Denton, a farmer in Princeton, Illinois, who has about 3,500 acres under development.

Denton was among about two dozen farmers and industry representatives who gathered at the Channahon Village Hall to sing the praises of ethanol.

"We want to replace imported oil with home-grown fuels like ethanol," said Illinois Republican Rep. Jerry Weller, who introduced the keynote speaker, US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman.

"You're all going to do well making ethanol," Bodman said.

Ethanol is an easy message for US lawmakers to sell with gasoline prices at US$3 a gallon.

"Do you like buying foreign oil?" asked a sign posted on a telephone pole in Kendall County, Illinois.

"We raise gas on US soil," the next sign pronounced.

Bodman thanked the group for promoting ethanol, but cautioned that federal subsidies for corn-derived ethanol, slated to expire in 2010, will not last forever.

"We've got to get out of the subsidy business and let markets operate," he said. "The question is when."

Weller was not pleased with Bodman's choice of words. "I don't use the term subsidy," Weller said. "I use the term incentive."

The Energy Department on Wednesday unveiled a plan to spend US$250 million over five years to fund private research into finding new ways to make fuels from other renewable sources such as soybeans, wood chips and agricultural cast-offs.

New sources are needed because gasoline supplied from corn-blended ethanol is unlikely to exceed 14 billion gallons a year -- about 10 percent of the entire US fuel supply, Bodman said.

But for now, corn is the word. In Weller's congressional district alone, ethanol companies plan to build four plants. The district's one existing biodiesel plant has doubled its production over the last year.

It's a trend that is playing out across the United States. Ethanol costs about US$1 a gallon to produce, but ethanol makers get a 51 cent incentive from federal tax subsidies. Ethanol producers can sell their product for around US$2.50 a gallon.

Analysts at Fimat Energy have forecast that US ethanol supplies will rise by more than 90 percent by the end of 2008, setting the stage for a potential ethanol glut in the Midwest.

Denton said he is not worried, and has shifted his crop away from soybeans to take advantage of soaring corn prices.

"It's much more profitable than growing (soy) beans right now," Denton said.

----

Modern ceiling fans can cut heating, cooling costs

Updated 8/4/2006 
By Carol Elliott, South Bend Tribune

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-08-04-ceiling-fans_x.htm

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Remember the ceiling fan at grandma's house? That squeaky contraption with dull blades that moved the air about as well as the bomber-size fly also circling the room?

You can pack that memory away in the nostalgia trunk.

Ceiling fans today not only sport a wide variety of finishes, paddle styles and sizes, but also are designed to cut energy bills.

"The trend is that ceiling fans are going to be used a whole more," says Richard Cardosa, operations manager for Home Depot. "Not just today, but here on out because of energy costs."

Fans are not just for use during hot weather, Cardosa says. In the summer, they turn counterclockwise, which moves the air against your skin and creates a wind-chill effect, making you feel cooler. But in the winter, the reverse setting available on most fans operates the blades in a clockwise motion, which produces an updraft. This forces warm air near the ceiling down into the living space.

Cardosa says the improved airflow in the room gives the thermostat a more accurate reading of temperature and allows you to conserve energy.

Fans can reduce energy bills significantly, as much as 40% in the summer and 10% in the winter, according to the American Lighting Association. The cost to run a fan is usually estimated at pennies per day, or only as much energy as a 100-watt light bulb. Fans can lower a room temperature as much as 7 degrees in the summer.

While even Grandma's wobbly fan might be able to achieve a slight wind-chill effect, newer fans have undergone some leaps in design that make them quieter, more efficient and way more stylish.

Living and family rooms have long been favorite spots to install a fan. But they are becoming standard equipment in other parts of the house.

"A lot of people almost always put them in their master bedrooms," says Tamara Schneider, owner of McCaffery Lighting in South Bend.

Children's bedrooms, exercise rooms, kitchens and foyers — especially two-story foyers — also are popular spots to place fans.

Outdoor fans for porches and gazebos are gaining in appeal as people incorporate their yards, patios and decks into extensions of their living space.

"Ceiling fans move the air and help keep away mosquitoes," Schneider says. The fans are designed to withstand the weather, with enclosed motors and with paddles typically made of a composite instead of wood to prevent warping.

Styles of the outdoor fans range from plain to customized finishes with paddles carved to look like leaves or other patterns.

"They have really come a long way," Schneider says.

That goes for interior ceiling fans as well. Styles range from sleek, nickel-plated space-age- looking models to detailed brass-finish fans with rosewood blades.

There are paddles made of clear acrylic; others looks like rattan or bamboo.

Customers often choose styles that match lighting in the house, Schneider says. She is seeing a lot of novelty in the styling, such as paddles resembling sails — popular for lake houses — or fans with nautical rope designs.

U.S. 31 Supply in South Bend sells a fan that has folding blades, which open slowly like a flower as the fan's speed increases.

But if you are undecided about style, "it's best to use white," Schneider says. "They just blend in."

Cost is pretty much all over the board, too. Probably to no one's surprise, experts recommend buying the best fan you can afford. Cheaper fans have less powerful motors, which are more likely to be noisy and less efficient at driving the blades. Plus, the blades are more likely to warp and be difficult to balance, which is a key factor in quietness.

The retailers say you should plan to spend $79 to $99 for a good-quality, basic fan.

"After that, it's really wrapping," Schneider says, referring to the cost of the custom features. Ultra-custom fans can cost $1,500 and up.

Regardless of the fan style or size, there is one item Cardosa of Home Depot urges on all owners: Clean your fans — regularly.

"It's critical that at least once a week you dust those blades off," he says. "Debris gets on the leading edge. The effect is that it impedes airflow and puts strain on the motor."



-------- OTHER


-------- environment

Military Waste In Our Drinking Water

By Sunaura Taylor and Astra Taylor, AlterNet. Posted August 4, 2006

http://www.alternet.org/story/39723

The U.S. military is poisoning the very citizens it is supposed to protect in the name of national security.

In 1982 our family was living on the southside of Tucson, Ariz., in a primarily working class and Latino neighborhood not far from the airport. That year Sunaura was born with a congenital birth defect known as arthrogryposis, a condition that severely impedes muscle growth and requires her to use an electric wheelchair. On nearby blocks, women were giving birth to babies with physical disabilities and neighbors were dying of cancer at worrisome rates. Over time, we learned that our groundwater was contaminated.

Most of us are vaguely aware that war devastates the environment abroad. The Vietnamese Red Cross counts 150,000 children whose birth defects were caused by their parents' exposure to Agent Orange. Cancer rates in Iraq are soaring as a result of depleted uranium left from the Gulf War. But what about closer to home?

Today the U.S. military generates over one-third of our nation's toxic waste, which it disposes of very poorly. The military is one of the most widespread violators of environmental laws. People made ill by this toxic waste are, in effect, victims of war. But they are rarely acknowledged as such.

On Sept. 11, 2001, we were living together in New York City. In the months following the attack on the World Trade Center, the media and government routinely informed a fearful citizenry of the importance of clean drinking water. Terrorists, they warned, might contaminate public sources with arsenic. We were instructed to purchase Evian along with our duct tape.

In 2003, when the Defense Department sought (and later received) exemptions from America's main environmental laws, the irony dawned on us. The military was given license to pollute air and water, dispose of used munitions, and endanger wildlife with impunity. The Defense Department is willing to poison the very citizens it is supposed to protect in the cause of national security.

Our family knows of something much more dangerous than arsenic in the public aquifers: trichloroethylene, or TCE, a known carcinogen in laboratory animals and the most widespread industrial contaminant in American drinking water.

Disturbingly common

Last week a study was released by the National Academy of Sciences, raising already substantial concerns about the cancer risks and other health hazards associated with exposure to TCE, a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers that is also "widely used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and to clean fuel lines at missile sites." The report confirms a 2001 EPA document linking TCE to kidney cancer, reproductive and developmental damage, impaired neurological function, autoimmune disease and other ailments in human beings.

The report has been garnering some publicity, but not as much as it deserves. TCE contamination is disturbingly common, especially in the air, soil and water around military bases. Nationwide millions of Americans are using what Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, D-NY, has called "TCE-laden drinking water." The Associated Press reports that the chemical has been found at about 60 percent of the nation's worst contaminated sites in the Superfund cleanup program.

"The committee found that the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001," the study says. "Hundreds of waste sites are contaminated with trichloroethylene, and it is well-documented that individuals in many communities are exposed to the chemical, with associated health risks."

The report urges the EPA to amend its assessment of the threat TCE poses, an action that could lead to stricter regulations. Currently the EPA limits TCE to no more than five parts per billion parts of drinking water. Stricter regulation could force the government to require more thorough cleanups at military and other sites and lower the number to one part per billion.

The EPA found it impossible to take such action back in 2001, because, according to the Associated Press, the agency was "blocked from elevating its assessment of the chemical's risks in people by the Defense Department, Energy Department and NASA, all of which have sites polluted with it." The Bush administration charged the EPA with inflating TCE's risks and asked the National Academy to investigate. Contrary to the administration's hopes, however, the committee's report has reinforced previous findings, which determined TCE to be anywhere from two to 40 times more carcinogenic than previously believed.

Thousands contaminated

We didn't know it when we lived there, but our Tucson neighborhood's public water supply was one of thousands nationwide contaminated with TCE (along with a medley of other toxic chemicals including, ironically, arsenic). It wasn't terrorists who laced our cups and bathtubs with these poisons -- it was private contractors employed by the Air Force.

Beginning during the Korean War, military contractors began using industrial solvents, including TCE, to degrease airplane parts. Hughes Missiles Systems Co. (which was purchased by the Raytheon Corp. in 1997) worked at the Tucson International Airport, spilling chemicals off the runway and letting them sink into the soil of a city entirely dependent on its underground water supply. What didn't seep into the earth was dumped into unlined pits scraped into the desert floor. Over the course of many years Hughes used barrels and barrels of TCE at the airport hangars and at weapons system manufacturing facilities on government-owned and contractor-operated land not far from where we lived. As late as 1985, 2,220 pounds of TCE was still being dumped in Tucson landfills every month.

Like so many other toxic hotspots, Tucson's southside is primarily a working-class community called home by many people of color. It is situated near the San Xavier Indian reservation, which also had residential areas affected by runoff.

Generally, fines associated with hazardous waste laws are up to six times higher in white communities than their minority counterparts. What has happened in Tucson since the early '80s reflects this unevenness. There has been only one legal case against the military and its cohorts, a lengthy personal-injury lawsuit filed in behalf of 1,600 people against the aircraft manufacturer, the city of Tucson and the Tucson Airport Authority (citizens are not allowed to sue the federal government over such matters). The case excluded thousands of potential plaintiffs and did not include funds from which future claimants could collect for illnesses like cancers, which typically do not appear until 10 or 20 years after chemical exposure. As a result, many southside residents have yet to be compensated and probably never will be. To this day, some area wells remain polluted, and most estimate cleanup will not be completed for another 20 to 50 years. Meanwhile, residents have the small consolation their water supply is being monitored.

The National Academy of Sciences study is a step in the right direction, but one that will certainly be met with resistance. In Tucson, because the lawsuit was settled out of court, none of the defendants had to admit that TCE is carcinogenic. Instead of acknowledging the link between TCE and local health problems, officials blamed the smoking and eating habits of local residents and said their cancer was the result of "eating too much chili." It was suggested to our parents, who are white, that Sunaura's birth defect may have been the consequence of high peanut butter consumption.

But people who have lived on the southside of Tucson don't need experts to verify that TCE is deadly. Some estimate that up to 20,000 individuals have died, become ill, or been born with birth defects. Providing further proof, the Tucson International Airport area is one of the EPA's top Superfund sites. Arizona state guidelines also assert that TCE is toxic; they say one gallon of TCE is enough to render undrinkable the amount of water used by 3,800 people over an entire year. Over 4,000 gallons drained into Tucson aquifers. As a result of this week's report, Arizona's environmental quality chief says the state is independently and immediately going to adopt stricter TCE soil standards.

It's an ugly truth that manufacturing weaponry to kill abroad also kills at home. The process involves toxic chemicals, metals and radioactive materials. As a consequen