NucNews September 3, 2006 -------- NUCLEAR -------- accidents and safety Trident fleet’s safety alerts double By Rob Edwards Environment Editor 03 September 2006 UK Herald http://www.sundayherald.com/57701 BLUNDERS at Britain’s nuclear bomb bases on the Clyde rose dramatically last year, provoking fears about the safety of extending the lives of the Triden- carrying submarines stationed there. Internal reports from the Royal Navy obtained by the Sunday Herald reveal that the number of serious or significant “nuclear safety events” at Faslane and Coulport, near Helensburgh, has doubled. There were 45 such incidents between June 2004 and May 2005, twice the average for the previous four years. The increase was described as “a matter of great concern” by SNP leader Alex Salmond. “These statistics draw into focus the arrogant desire of Tony Blair to waste billions on extending or replacing the Trident nuclear system and imposing it on Scotland,” he said. The UK government has promised to publish a white paper setting out options for the future of Trident before the end of the year. It is likely to suggest extending the life of the existing system as this will be much cheaper than replacing it. At least 13 of the 45 incidents at the Clyde bases involved one of the four Vanguard-class submarines which carry Trident missiles tipped with nuclear warheads. They are known within the navy as the “bombers”. Other incidents happened on shore or on nuclear-powered submarines armed with conventional weapons. There were multiple failures in radiation protection and a series of problems with submarine reactors. According to analysis by the Royal Navy in August 2005, the increase in serious incidents was “probably as a result of several submarines being alongside for a prolonged period, undertaking a considerable and complicated repair package and then experiencing defects during plant proving”. Another report by safety officials pointed out that there had been several events “involving poor radiological safety controls on submarines” within a few months. “A review of these events indicates a weakness in command understanding and responsibility for this important aspect of safety,” it said. In January 2005 four scaffold workers were given excess doses of radiation by the nuclear reactor on HMS Sceptre, and there was an “unauthorised discharge” of waste water from HMS Trafalgar’s reactor in July 2004. Other lapses included a “cooling water problem”, “failure to set up controlled area” and “unauthorised removal of pipework”. There was also “non-compliance with nuclear procedure by contractor” and an “incorrect reactor compartment waste disposal routine”. In addition to the 45 serious or significant incidents, there were 34 less serious safety events in 2004-05. The internal reports, released by the Ministry of Defence under the Freedom of Information Act, claim the increasing number of incidents did not indicate the Clyde bases were becoming less safe. More events were being recorded because staff were more aware of the need to report mishaps, they suggested. But this was angrily dismissed by John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. “These figures show an appalling decline in safety standards at Faslane,” he said. If the government gets its way, there could be Trident nuclear submarines on the Clyde for the next 40 years, he argued. “In that time there are likely to be over 3000 nuclear incidents at Faslane, just one of which could turn central Scotland into a radioactive wasteland,” he said. However, Neil Smith, spokesman for the Clyde bases, pointed out that remedial action action had been taken in response to every incident. “This shows that our safety systems are working,” he said. “Every incident is treated seriously. Safety is central to everything we do, and if our safety wasn’t up to scratch, the regulators could close us down.” -------- australia Australia assures Indonesia: 'We've no nuke plans' Sun Sep 3, 2006 (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060903/wl_asia_afp/australiaindonesianuclearuraniumweapons SYDNEY - Australia assured neighbouring Indonesia that it was not promoting an arms race by considering whether to enrich uranium which can be used in nuclear weapons. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer pledged that if Australia produced enriched uranium in the future, it would never be used in a nuclear arsenal. "I would have thought that international security would be better served by enriched uranium coming from a country as secure, as stable, as democratic and as responsible as Australia," Downer said. "There isn't any prospect any time in the future of an Australian government of any particular complexion being elected which wouldn't be a true champion of the non-proliferation regime." He was responding to comments on national radio by Dewi Anwar, an adviser to former Indonesian president B.J. Habibi, who said that Australia had to reassure its neighbours it did not wish to acquire nuclear weapons. She said Indonesia would "probably be concerned about Australia doing uranium enrichment until we get more details of it", adding that her country could consider uranium enrichment itself. Australia, which holds the world's largest known reserves of uranium but does not use nuclear power, recently commissioned an inquiry into nuclear power and uranium processing. Downer said while the government had not made a decision on whether to enrich uranium, it could be beneficial on the international level if it proved to be economically viable. Australia currently sells uranium only to countries which have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. -------- depleted uranium Bills Await the Governor's Signature Among issues on his desk as the legislative session ends: health, security, education. By Nancy Vogel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 3, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-bills3sep03,1,3507031.story?coll=la-health-medicine&ctrack=1&cset=true SACRAMENTO — During the legislative session that ended Thursday, lawmakers sent hundreds of bills to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature or veto in the next 30 days. They include: ... Depleted uranium: Bill would require the state to help veterans get a federally funded screening test for exposure to depleted uranium, a heavy metal waste product used in armor-piercing munitions and tank armor. (SB 1720 by Sen. Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata) ... -------- korea N.Korea may hold another missile test: media Sun Sep 3, 2006 (Reuters) http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=TopNews&storyID=2006-09-03T044929Z_01_SEO2834_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C1-TopStories-TopNews-2 SEOUL - North Korea may be preparing for another missile test, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, but a government official in Seoul discounted the report. Yonhap also reported China is likely to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to visit this week in an effort to restore their relationship strained after North Korea's missile tests in July. China is the North's main benefactor. Beijing voted in support of a U.N. Security Council resolution chastising Pyongyang for the missile tests. Beijing was expected to convey its formal invitation to Kim early this week when its new ambassador to Pyongyang takes office, Yonhap reported, citing unnamed diplomatic sources in Seoul and Beijing. South Korean and the U.S. intelligence authorities have detected suspicious vehicle movement in and out of North Korea's major missile test site, Yonhap quoted a government source in Seoul as saying in a separate report on Sunday. "Military intelligence officials have spotted movements by several large vehicles in the North's Gitdaeryeong area," Yonhap cited the unidentified source as saying. "They don't rule out the possibility that it is part of preparations for additional missile tests." The area was used in the test-firing of seven missiles by the North on July 5. These included the North's Taepodong-2 missile, which fizzled out soon after the launch but one day may have a range to hit parts of U.S. territory, experts said. A government official in Seoul played down the Yonhap report. "As far as we know, no new vehicles have moved in that area," the official, who is familiar with defense matters, told Reuters by telephone. The official, who asked not to be identified, said the activity was among vehicles that have been at the site since July. "Given this, it may be too much of a stretch to say this indicates the possibility of new missile tests by the North." ---- Highest alert planned for N. Korea nuke test Japan Times Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/member.html?appURL=nn20060903a3.html The government is preparing to issue the highest level of alert required for a nuclear power plant accident abroad if North Korea undertakes an underground nuclear test, government sources said Saturday. The response would be comparable to that of a major earthquake or other large-scale natural disaster within Japan, because of the possibility of radiation reaching this country, the sources said. If it is determined that Pyongyang has detonated a nuclear bomb, the government will declare an "emergency situation" and a task force will be set up at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, they said. Arrangements call for the task force, which would be led by Takeshi Noda, deputy chief Cabinet secretary for crisis management, to discuss specific steps such as investigating the impact of radioactivity, they said. On the diplomatic front, Japan plans to cooperate with the United States and other nations to introduce a resolution to seek sanctions against North Korea at the U.N. Security Council, according to the sources. Japan would also take its own measures against Pyongyang, including blocking monetary transfers, in addition to those already taken following North Korea's missile tests in early July, the sources said. Citing U.S. officials, ABC News of the U.S. reported Aug. 17 that Pyongyang may be preparing for an underground test of a nuclear bomb. South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Aug. 19 that North Korea ordered residents near a nuclear test facility in the northeast to relocate in July, a move suggesting preparations for a nuclear experiment. The Japanese government has since been stepping up surveillance and gathering of intelligence, the sources said. At this time, however, "we have not detected any specific signs of a nuclear test," one source said. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masahiro Futahashi is taking the initiative in coordinating the steps among relevant government offices in accordance with a guideline formulated last year on handling situations in the event of an accident at an overseas nuclear power plant. For now, Japan will work together with the U.S. and South Korea in reinforcing surveillance via satellites of North Korea's northeastern region, the sources said. The government will also enhance monitoring of seismic activities and radioactive substances in the air, the sources said. ---- Asian Arms Race Would Follow A North Korea Nuke Test by Staff Writers Washington (AFP) Sep 03, 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Asian_Arms_Race_Would_Follow_A_North_Korea_Nuke_Test_999.html A nuclear weapons test by North Korea would create tensions between Western powers and China, destabilize financial markets and trigger an arms race in Northeast Asia, a US study warns. Of all of North Korea's neighbours, South Korea is the most economically vulnerable to destabilizing shocks if Pyongyang carries out a threat to detonate a nuclear device, said the study on the hardline communist state's security policy. The most radical consequence of such a test, however, would be political: it may strengthen Japanese attitudes towards re-militarization, according to the study coordinated by the National Bureau of Asian Research, a nonpartisan US think tank. While China would suffer the least direct economic impact, the study warned of "significant" indirect effects if Beijing's policy towards North Korea became entangled in trade policy tensions with the United States, the European Union and Japan. The three powers are almost certainly to react strongly to a North Korean nuclear test -- including pressing for stepped up sanctions -- and China's response could emerge as a source of tension, it said. Reports of suspicious activity in North Korea recently have fueled speculations the reclusive nation may be preparing for an underground nuclear test, its first since declaring in February 2005 that it possessed atomic weapons. China is North Korea's traditional ally and main benefactor of aid and is the top broker in stalled international talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive. "If the diplomatic tensions over North Korea's nuclear program were to spill into trade policy and encourage protectionist behaviour in the United States, Japan or Europe, this would adversely affect China," Marcus Noland, a Korean expert at the Washington-based Institute of International Economics, told AFP. China's rapid economic growth depends importantly on export surpluses that it maintains with the United States as well as Japan and Europe. And if a dispute erupts with these three powers, "the Chinese government has the least room for maneuver due to the fact that the country's internal social and political stability may in part be tied to the regime's ability to deliver economic growth," Noland said. He analyzed the economic implications of a North Korean nuclear test on Northeast Asia in the study aimed at gauging the effects of any fundamental shift in the unpredictable Stalinist regime's security policy. Among the possible economic implications were capital flights, asset price declines and reduction in investments in South Korea and Japan. Seoul's sovereign debt could also be downgraded. "Though not catastrophic," the economic implications "would not be benign," Noland said. But the study pointed out that a North Korean nuclear test "could stimulate an arms race in Northeast Asia" leading "to the advent of nuclear weapons in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea." These "developments would not be in China's best interests," it said. China's strategic clout in the region was damaged when North Korea launched missiles over Japan in 1998. It not only led to enhanced military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea but also strengthened the hands of those in Japan supporting larger defense budgets. If Pyongyang fires a nuclear test this time, it would "likely harden attitudes in Japan toward North Korea and strengthen political forces supporting re-armament," Noland said. It would also galvanize diplomatic support for the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative, a plan to forcibly intercept ships or aircraft suspected of carrying so-called weapons of mass destruction. North Korea has been one of the unstated targets of the plan, launched in 2003 in the immediate aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq and involving more than 70 countries including Australia, Japan and a number of European nations. NKorea Opens Bank Accounts In Russia To Dodge Us Sanctions: Report North Korea has opened some 10 bank accounts at Russian financial institutions in an effort to secure fund flows now blocked by US financial sanctions, a Japanese newspaper said Sunday. Senior officials of the reclusive state were transferring their funds through the accounts, the Sankei Shimbun said, quoting several sources close to North Korean matters. It was part of Pyongyang's efforts to escape pressure from the United States, which has moved to freeze North Korean funds it claims are the profits of drug trafficking, money laundering and other illegal activities, the daily said. Washington was aware of North Korea's money flows through the Russian banks, the Japanese daily said, adding that it may step up pressure on Russian authorities to abandon such support. North Korea has warned the United States it will take "all necessary counter-measures" against Washington for ratcheting up the pressure on the communist state through the financial sanctions. In November, Pyongyang walked out of six-way talks on its nuclear ambitions after Washington accused a Macau-based bank of helping Pyongyang launder earnings from fake US currency, and told US financial institutions to stop dealing with the bank. North Korea Accuses US Of Threatening War After Anti-Missile Test Seoul (AFP) Sept 2 - North Korea on Saturday accused the United States of threatening war by carrying out a test of its missile defense system and conducting joint military exercises with the South. The North's semi-official Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland also attacked South Korea for taking part in the annual war games and said it would only drive Pyongyang to build up its self-defence capability. "The US staged not only a large-scale north-targeted naval and air combined maneuver in the waters around the Korean Peninsula with troops of its allies involved but carried out a missile test-fire to strike the DPRK and intercept its missiles," the committee said in a statement carried by state media. It called the "Ulchi Focus Lens" military drills, which ended on Friday, "little short of a declaration of war against the DPRK (North Korea)", saying the exercises had been "of a more provocative nature" than previous war games. Some 9,000 US troops and an undisclosed number of South Korean soldiers took part in the 10-day exercises. The United States also successfully tested its controversial ballistic missile defense system over the Pacific on Friday, almost two months after North Korea stoked international tensions with its long-range missile tests. The US Missile Defense Agency said a ground-based interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California hit a dummy armed missile in space that had been fired from Kodiak, Alaska. "It is the height of folly for the US to threaten the DPRK and try to bring it to its knees, pursuant to the policy of 'strength'," the committee said, according to the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "This desperate effort on the part of the US will only harden the will and determination of the army and the people of the DPRK to bolster up its deterrent for self-defence," it said. Turning on South Korea, the committee -- which is in charge of inter-Korean exchanges -- said Seoul had committed an "unpardonable crime against the nation" by joining the United States in the war games. "The South Korean authorities' act of supporting the US in its dangerous war moves against the North is a serious perfidy to the June 15 joint declaration and an unpardonable crime against the nation," it said, referring to a 2000 inter-Korean declaration for peace and reconciliation. It said the South's participation in the joint drills "totally bedevils inter-Korean relations and brings dark clouds of a nuclear war to this land." Relations between the two Cold War rivals have been soured since North Korea conducted the missile tests in July, provoking international condemnation and a sharp rebuke at the UN Security Council. The North left six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programmes last November and said it would not return until US financial sanctions against it were dropped. The ABC television network, quoting US officials, said last month that the North -- which claims to have built nuclear weapons -- may be preparing an underground nuclear test. The United States and South Korea -- both parties to the stalled six-way nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, along with China, Japan and Russia -- have warned Pyongyang against any such tests. North Korea said in February 2005 that it had nuclear weapons, but there have never been reports that it has actually tested a nuclear bomb. -------- pacific Indonesia 'concerned' about uranium enrichment talk in Aust Sunday, September 3, 2006 Australia Broadcasting / AFP http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1731694.htm A former Indonesian Government official says talk of uranium enrichment in Australia is making Jakarta nervous. The Federal Government has commissioned an inquiry into nuclear energy, uranium mining and processing, which will report back later this year. Doctor Dewi Anwar was an adviser to former Indonesian president Habibi and has spoken to Radio National. Dr Anwar says Australia needs to reassure its neighbours that it has no desire to acquire nuclear weapons. "I think it's very important that Australia does assure the international community that it will not add another security threat to the already very unstable global situation at the moment," she said. "Indonesia and the (Association of South East Asian Nations) ASEAN countries would probably be concerned about Australia doing uranium enrichment until we get more details of it." Dr Anwar also says her country could consider the possibility of uranium enrichment. "Indonesia would also have the right to enrich uranium as long it is for peaceful purposes and within the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards," she said. "Because Indonesia would not want to be totally dependent on a few nuclear suppliers." But the Foreign Affairs Minister has assured Indonesia that Australian uranium will not be used to make nuclear weapons. Alexander Downer says there is no cause for concern. "I would have that international security would have been better served by enriched uranium coming from a country as secure, as stable, as democratic and as responsible as Australia," he said. -------- security Nuclear site 'like a candy store' for terrorists At a decrepit Serbian nuclear site, clean-up experts race to beat the terrorists. By George Jahn ASSOCIATED PRESS Sunday, September 03, 2006 http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/09/03/3serbianuclear.html VINCA, Serbia — The Vinca reactor stands still, its decrepit innards purged of their unused weapons-grade fuel. But it remains Serbia's little shop of nuclear horrors and a potential magnet for terrorists. It is now part of the world's quest to lift the threat of nuclear material falling into the wrong hands — first by taking control of the fuel that makes atomic bombs, and then by tackling the lesser, but still potent, menace of a dirty bomb, meaning radiation spread by blowing up radioactive material with conventional explosives. At the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences outside Belgrade, there are only a few armed guards in sight, and the barbed-wire fence around the 48-acre facility is only as tall as a person. For would-be terrorists, "it's almost like a candy store," said Mike Durst, the International Atomic Energy Agency's point man working to strip Vinca of its attraction to nuclear thieves. Presidents Bush and Vladimir Putin this summer jointly an- nounced the "Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism," which calls for better accounting and protection of the world's nuclear sites, scattered around the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. The new program is meant to build on others created by the Bush administration, including the 3-year old "Global Threat Reduction Initiative" to deal with a broad range of vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world. Most of the existing programs focus on unused weapons-grade fuel, nearly 100 pounds of which lay in Vinca until four years ago, when Washington, Moscow and Belgrade mounted a joint operation to remove it. Helicopters and 1,200 heavily armed troops including snipers were deployed along with decoy trucks to thwart potential mischief-makers. Half of Belgrade was sealed off, and within six hours, the fuel — enough to make at least two simple nuclear warheads — was trucked from Vinca to the airport and onward to a Russian government plant about 470 miles east of Moscow. But inside the Vinca reactor building, 8,000 spent fuel rods still sit in pools of brackish water. Dozens contain uranium in varying degrees of enrichment — potential dirty bomb material, not to mention the environmental hazard. Research reactors such as Vinca tend to be less heavily protected than power plants, and, though building a full-blown nuclear bomb is technologically daunting, terrorists could easily use the material such as that in the rods to construct a dirty bomb. With just one dirty bomb, "you could hit Broadway, and you couldn't decontaminate it for years," said Obrad Sotic, Vinca's former operations manager. Although no nuclear material is known to have gone missing, employees speak openly of the potential temptations of selling some on the black market as a way supplementing monthly incomes of less than $750. There's a lot to steal — old medical and industrial equipment, and tons of material inside the reactor or in two rickety corrugated metal sheds. There are bags of irradiated grass, containers of depleted uranium ammunition fired by NATO during its 1999 Kosovo campaign, and several tons of yellowcake — processed uranium ore of the kind Iran plans to process and enrich. A centrally monitored alarm system is being installed in Vinca. There's a plan to ship the spent fuel to Russia and to build safer storage facilities for the collected nuclear junk. The ultimate goal is to dismantle the reactor But money is a problem. The Serbian Science Ministry, which is responsible for Vinca, has a budget of less than $90 million for this year. That wouldn't cover the cost of upgrading security, shipping the spent fuel back to Russia and dismantling the reactor. Sending the spent fuel back to Russia will cost around $10 million, and more money is needed to reprocess the fuel. Building better storage will cost an additional $5 million. About 60 percent of that amount has been pledged by donor countries, but dismantling the facility will cost some $60 million. For Serbia's science minister, Aleksandar Popovic, the 2002 operation to remove the weapons-grade fuel has left the job only half done. Popovic said he was very unhappy that help hasn't materialized to complete the job. -------- u.n. Annan wins Iran pledge on Lebanon but warned on nuclear by Farhad Pouladi Sun Sep 3, 2006 (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060903/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearlebanonun_060903191722 TEHRAN- UN chief Kofi Annan won a pledge from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to support a UN resolution bringing peace to Lebanon but was warned Iran would not suspend sensitive nuclear work before negotiations. Annan said after talks with the president that Ahmadinejad assured him Tehran would support the implementation of the UN resolution that ended the fighting in Lebanon and was ready to negotiate over its nuclear program. "He reaffirmed his complete support for the implementation of (Security Council) Resolution 1701" which halted the devastating month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Annan said. He added that Ahmadinejad had agreed that Iran, which backs the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, would "do everything to support the territorial integrity of Lebanon and the independence of Lebanon." "Tehran will work together with us in a collective effort to reconstruct Lebanon," he added. Annan's 10-day tour of the Middle East has been mainly aimed at implementing the UN resolution which halted a 34-day conflict that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, overwhelmingly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. State radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that "Iran is ready to help in the reconstruction of Lebanon and seriously take part in any group activity to rebuild Lebanon." He also said that Israel and its allies Britain and the United States "should compensate Lebanon for the damage inflicted." Meanwhile Ahmadinejad told Annan at the Tehran meeting that he was prepared to negotiate on Iran's nuclear program but would not accept a suspension of uranium enrichment before talks, rejecting a key demand of Western countries. "The president assured me ... Iran is prepared to negotiate and find a way out of this crisis," Annan said. But he added that Ahmadinejad had also said that "Iran does not accept a suspension (of uranium enrichment) before negotiations." Annan expressed hope that the Islamic republic and the international community would find a way to move forward at talks between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's lead nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani this week. Iran has defied Western demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear fuel and, in highly extended form, the core of an atomic bomb. Its rejection of a UN deadline which expired last Thursday to halt enrichment has left it facing a push by the United States for the Security Council to impose sanctions. Annan, in a weekend newspaper interview, expressed reservations over the US drive for enforcement action, warning patience would prove more effective than sanctions in persuading Iran to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment work. The UN chief told reporters that he had had a "very good discussion" with Ahmadinejad on the nuclear issue which he would discuss with the five Security Council permanent members plus Germany which offered Iran an incentives package to suspend nuclear fuel cycle work. "Although we lost our confidence in the Europeans in the three years of negotiations that have gone by, we are nonetheless ready to negotiate under just conditions but they must act to obtain our confidence," state radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge fiercely denied by Tehran, which insists that its nuclear program is solely aimed at providing civilian energy. Annan also raised concerns with Ahmadinejad over a Tehran exhibition of cartoons on the Holocaust and told the Islamic republic the genocide was an incontrovertible fact. Annan said the right to freedom of speech had to be exercised with "sensitivity" and that the Holocaust was an "undeniable historical fact." The UN secretary general, who has already visited Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Syria, left Iran later Sunday for Qatar. He is also due to visit Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. -------- u.s. nuc facilities Energy agency changes irk critics Myrtle Beach Online September 03, 2006 http://www.topix.net/content/kri/0851271098203057437019734356302275199985 WASHINGTON | Months before new health and safety rules are to take effect for more than 100,000 workers at Department of Energy sites across the nation, the DOE is dismantling the office that's in charge of implementing them. The move has drawn sharp criticism on Capitol Hill and from others, who say it will gut the department's worker-safety and health programs. Lawmakers and other critics say the restructuring will roll back more than 20 years of better worker safeguards while appeasing contractors who've long complained about overly restrictive regulations. 'This is the pendulum swinging back,' said David Michaels, who headed the office as an assistant secretary of energy in the Clinton administration. Department officials defended the restructuring, saying the Office of Environment, Safety and Health needed to be overhauled. Combining it with the DOE's security office will increase, not lessen, workers' safety, they said. They bristled at any suggestion that the department is downgrading its commitment to safety. 'That is absolutely and totally incorrect,' said Clay Sell, the department's deputy secretary. Critics said their concerns extended beyond the uncertainty over the new rules. Since the Bush administration took office, they said, security issues and modernizing the nation's nuclear arsenal have taken priority over efforts to clean up the toxic legacy of Cold War weapons production and ensure workers' protection. 'We have great concerns about where this is heading,' said Tom Carpenter of the Government Accountability Project in Seattle, which tracks developments at the Energy Department. The department has 14,000 direct employees and 100,000 more who work for contractors. Those workers face any number of dangers, from exposure to nuclear materials or highly toxic waste to the problems possible at any major construction or industrial site. Recently, there were concerns that workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state were being exposed to possibly dangerous vapors venting from underground storage tanks that hold nuclear waste, and two workers were seriously injured in a construction crane accident at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Since the days of its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, the department has been self-regulating on issues of worker health and safety rules and the environment. But in the mid-1980s, amid mounting reports of serious worker health and safety problems, widespread environmental contamination and abuses by contractors, Congress stepped in to tighten oversight. It created the Office of Environment, Safety and Health to develop and oversee DOE regulations on worker safety and health and environmental issues. It also created an independent watchdog agency, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The department announced Wednesday that it would proceed with merging its Office of Environment, Safety and Health with its security office. -------- georgia Nuclear power: Responses to Jim Wooten's column "Nuclear power makes sense on all levels," @issue, Aug. 27 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, September 3, 2006 Letters http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epaper/editions/sunday/opinion_44af9766925f22f40054.html Safety matters make option less attractive So Jim Wooten thinks nuclear power is economical. If that's so, why does the American public need to subsidize the building of generation plants? Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a man who can diagnose a patient via video, believes that nuclear power is clean. "There's no emissions, no global warming, no side effects to it," Frist told Wooten. Actually, there is something called nuclear waste. This material is radioactive and can kill people (see: Chernobyl). Wooten mentioned the storage (not the elimination) of this waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. But he didn't mention anything about getting this highly toxic material ---it is also highly desirable to terrorists --- to Yucca Mountain. The nuclear waste would have to be transported by rail some 2,200 miles from Georgia, passing through some rather large cities. Then that nuclear waste must be stored a scant few miles from the fastest-growing city in America, Las Vegas. If we are going to subsidize a method of becoming energy independent, we should invest in a system of power generation that is truly clean: solar. ALFRED SMITH, Marietta Don't overlook high costs, burial site I beg to differ with Jim Wooten. For one thing, how many billions in taxpayers' dollars will it take to subsidize Georgia Power Co. and the Southern Co. to build two new reactors at the Vogtle site after the initial down payment by ratepayers? Second, if nukes are so clean, why has Westinghouse been unable to clean up the reprocessing waste from the Savannah River Site despite receiving more than $1 billion to do so since 1990? Remember, atomic power plants once were billed as "clean, safe and too cheap to meter." Yet in every instance, construction costs have far outpaced the original estimates. And there is yet no permanent burial site for the high-level wastes that remain lethal for thousands of years. JEANNINE HONICKER, LaGrange Think long term before big steps Of the numbers Jim Wooten cited in his call for a nuclear power program, he never mentioned 10,000, the number of years we'll have to maintain the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. Also not mentioned was what to do with spent nuclear reactors. The most likely method of disposing of those ugly little "side effects" (because it's the cheapest) is sealing them on site, leaving the landscape littered with these unusable relics for the next (you guessed it) 10,000 years. Before putting future generations on the hook for the next 10,000 years for the profit of a select few in the here and now, I hope we wake up and realize that going forward with this program just doesn't make sense. On any level. DARRYL JOHNSON, Stone Mountain Waste dilemma has no solution It's amusing to see conservatives like Jim Wooten jump on the nuclear bandwagon. There is nothing conservative about splitting the atom in order to boil water, which is the only thing a nuclear reactor does other than create radioactive waste. However, it is Wooten's cavalier treatment of this waste that betrays his incomplete understanding of the nuclear dilemma. It isn't just environmentalists and a few politicians who have blocked use of the Yucca Mountain waste repository. It is the scientists who discovered water leaking into the site at a totally unanticipated and unacceptable rate, and the exposure of falsified documents. Government employees acknowledged that they had fabricated research to make things look better than it was. As of now, there is no solution to the nuclear waste problem. Until there is, new nuclear reactors are only going to make it worse. JOAN O. KING, Sautee -------- nevada Yucca Mountain dead? Don't believe it By MARVIN FERTEL Special to the Las Vegas Review-Journal Sep. 03, 2006 http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Sep-03-Sun-2006/opinion/9364518.html Gov. Kenny Guinn confuses the politics of Yucca Mountain with reality in his Aug. 21 assertion that the federal repository project for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from U.S. defense programs "appears to be headed toward the trash bin of history" (commentary, "Is the Yucca Mountain Project in peril?"). Under any scenario for managing used nuclear fuel that produces 20 percent of America's electricity, a specially designed, underground repository will be needed to safely secure the material. This is true even if Congress shifts U.S. policy to recycle the enormous energy potential that remains in nuclear fuel rods after just one use in today's reactors. Given the intense competition for world energy resources, the global commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and a doubling of U.S. electricity demand expected by 2030, it's no wonder why Congress and the nation are looking at an expanded role for nuclear energy. That expanded role must take into account stewardship of used nuclear fuel. In 2002, Congress confirmed Yucca Mountain as the site for a deep geologic repository based on 20 years and $8 billion of scientific analysis. Some secondary aspects of that scientific pedigree have been challenged, but the broad body of work has withstood rigorous independent scientific review. Moreover, Congress has continued to fund this project each year and is now considering legislation that would facilitate building the repository some 1,000 feet under the desert ridge. The DOE will continue to be subject to broad oversight of the program by the state and scientific and regulatory bodies when it moves to the repository construction phase. The nuclear energy industry shares this commitment to safety at the project, just as it has at 103 reactors in 31 states. As part of this oversight, DOE will be subject to a rigorous licensing process before the independent U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. DOE said it will file the license application to build the Yucca Mountain repository in 2008. Two federal agencies involved in licensing Yucca Mountain have vast experience in licensing nuclear fuel storage facilities. The NRC has licensed more than two dozen fuel storage facilities at nuclear plant sites, and the Environmental Protection Agency licensed an underground nuclear waste disposal facility in the salt caverns of Carlsbad, N.M. More than 3,000 safe shipments of used nuclear fuel demonstrate that the material can be moved without impact to the public or the environment. A National Research Council report earlier this year included the principal finding that "radiological risk associated with transportation of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste are well understood and are generally low." Other used fuel management proposals being considered by Congress would not change the need for the Yucca Mountain repository. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici, who supports a three-pronged effort -- including fuel recycling, interim storage and disposal at a repository -- stated clearly that the Yucca Mountain project must remain a part of a comprehensive used fuel management program. "Yucca Mountain is the cornerstone of a comprehensive spent nuclear fuel management strategy for this country. Let me be clear: We need Yucca Mountain," Domenici said in August. Some Nevada business and community leaders recognize it is inevitable that the repository at Yucca Mountain will move forward, and that Nevada should benefit from partnering with the government on this project. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires that the federal government provide benefits for a repository host state. Therefore, the state could negotiate a benefits package that bolsters education, state health care, infrastructure, water and other needs for the long term. Others in Nevada continue to fight the project without success. A federal appeals court in August handed the state yet another loss in the courts, denying Nevada's claim that the environmental impact statement for the project was flawed and dismissing other claims that were "unripe for review." Recognizing these factors, Gov. Guinn is raising false hopes for Nevadans about a project that figures to be a vital part of providing our nation greater energy independence. In addition, the $60 billion project could provide enormous economic opportunity for the state and a chance for Nevada to become a center of science and energy research. Marvin Fertel is chief nuclear officer and senior vice president at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C. NEI is a policy organization that represents users of commercial nuclear technology in energy, medicine and other applications. -------- MILITARY -------- arms Government unaware of Ukraine weapons consignment, says Nepal Finance Minister Sunday September 3, 2006 Asian News International(ANI) http://in.news.yahoo.com/060903/139/677yv.html Palpa, Sept. 3 (ANI): The Nepalese Government on Saturday said that it did not enter into any arms deal and had no inkling about Nepal-bound arms from Ukraine intercepted by India. "It is not only me, even the government is unaware of this issue," Kantipur Report quoted Nepal Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat as saying. Mahat said that even he learnt about the arms-carrying airplane stranded at Ahmedabad in India through media reports. He said he had learnt that an arms deal was inked during the royal regime. The government is carrying out investigations as to how the weapons were brought to India, he added. The Minister said the weapons would be sent back if they were indeed on their way to Nepal. "Even if they are to be brought in, they could be stored and not used against the people," he added. A plane from Ukraine carrying the consignment via India to Nepal was forced to land at Ahmedabad airport after the Nepal Government told the External Affairs Ministry in India, on August 26, that it knew nothing about such a consignment. The consignment included rifles, ammunition and anti-aircraft missiles manufactured in Israel. The issue came to light when New Delhi asked the Nepal government about the plane and whether to provide airspace to it or not. (ANI) -------- israel / palestine Israel plans for war with Iran and Syria September 03, 2006 The Sunday Times Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, New York http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2340486,00.html THREATENED by a potentially nuclear-armed Tehran, Israel is preparing for a possible war with both Iran and Syria, according to Israeli political and military sources. The conflict with Hezbollah has led to a strategic rethink in Israel. A key conclusion is that too much attention has been paid to Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank instead of the two biggest state sponsors of terrorism in the region, who pose a far greater danger to Israel’s existence, defence insiders say. “The challenge from Iran and Syria is now top of the Israeli defence agenda, higher than the Palestinian one,” said an Israeli defence source. Shortly before the war in Lebanon Major-General Eliezer Shkedi, the commander of the air force, was placed in charge of the “Iranian front”, a new position in the Israeli Defence Forces. His job will be to command any future strikes on Iran and Syria. The Israeli defence establishment believes that Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear programme means war is likely to become unavoidable. “In the past we prepared for a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities,” said one insider, “but Iran’s growing confidence after the war in Lebanon means we have to prepare for a full-scale war, in which Syria will be an important player.” A new infantry brigade has been formed named Kfir (lion cub), which will be the largest in the Israeli army. “It is a partial solution for the challenge of the Syrian commando brigades, which are considered better than Hezbollah’s,” a military source said. There has been grave concern in Israel over a military pact signed in Tehran on June 15 between Iran and Syria, which the Iranian defence minister described as a “mutual front against Israeli threats”. Israel has not had to fight against more than one army since 1973. During the war in Lebanon, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, the Iranian founder of Hezbollah, warned: “If the Americans attack Iran, Iran will attack Tel Aviv with missiles.” According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, both Iran and Syria have ballistic missiles that can cover most of Israel, including Tel Aviv. An emergency budget has now been assigned to building modern shelters. “The ineptness of the Israeli Defence Forces against Hezbollah has raised the Iranians’ confidence,” said a leading defence analyst. In Washington, the military hawks believe that an airstrike against Iranian nuclear bunkers remains a more straightforward, if risky, operation than chasing Hezbollah fighters and their mobile rocket launchers in Lebanon. “Fixed targets are hopelessly vulnerable to precision bombing, and with stealth bombers even a robust air defence system doesn’t make much difference,” said Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative. The option of an eventual attack remains on the table after President George Bush warned on Friday that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. While the American State Department favours engaging with President Bashar Assad of Syria in the hope of detaching him from the Iranian alliance, hawks believe Israel missed a golden opportunity to strike at Syria during the Hezbollah conflict. “If they had acted against Syria during this last kerfuffle, the war might have ended more quickly and better,” Perle added. “Syrian military installations are sitting ducks and the Syrian air force could have been destroyed on the ground in a couple of days.” Assad set off alarm bells in Israel when he said during the war in Lebanon: “If we do not obtain the occupied Golan Heights by peaceful means, the resistance option is there.” During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the Syrian army briefly captured the Israeli strategic post on top of Mount Hermon on the Golan Heights. Some Israeli analysts believe Syria will try again to take this post, which overlooks the Syrian capital, Damascus. As a result of the change in the defence priorities, the budget for the Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza is to be reduced. The Israelis are integrating three elite brigades that performed well during the Lebanon war under one headquarters, so they can work together on deep cross-border operations in Iran and Syria. Advocates of political engagement believe a war with Syria could unleash Islamic fundamentalist terror in what has hitherto been a stable dictatorship. Some voices in the Pentagon are not impressed by that argument. “If Syria spirals into chaos, at least they’ll be taking on each other rather than heading for Jerusalem,” said one insider. -------- ACTIVISTS Anti-war protests come to congressman's lawn Sunday, September 3, 2006 By NATALYA SHULYAKOVSKAYA The Orange County Register http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1264324.php About 35 members of Military Families Speak Out face off with Rep. Rohrabacher at his house in Huntington Beach. HUNTINGTON BEACH – About 35 people, carrying anti-war signs, walked down the quiet street and knocked on the congressman's door. Surfing gear and a couple of children's strollers were on the porch. A window fan was working. But no one answered. The activists from Military Families Speak Out, three of them with sons serving in Iraq, went to a nearby park. They returned with a giant mock check for an "endless war" and put it on the doorstep of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach. Then, one by one, they placed black combat boots on the grass. The boots had tags with names of soldiers killed in Iraq. The activists, part of a national "house call" campaign to reach politicians during their recess, filled up the sliver of grass between the road and the sidewalk. They stood quietly for several minutes. Rohrabacher has supported the Bush administration on the war in Iraq. Then, the protesters started shouting: "Bring them home! Now!" As the pitch rose, the congressman ran out of his grey stucco home. He was barefoot. "You just woke my babies!" Rohrabacher said. He and his wife, Rhonda, have 2-year-old triplets. Rohrabacher said he was on his back porch when he heard crying over a baby monitor. "I am going to get all of you arrested if you don't leave right now." "My son is in Iraq!" responded Tim Kahlor, 48, whose son is on his second tour of duty in Iraq until January 2007. "And he does not get much sleep!" "Did he volunteer?" Rohrabacher yelled back. "Wait a minute, man, you are standing on my property. You are violating my rights… And you are violating my family's rights!" Pat Alviso, a teacher whose 30-year-old Marine son will deploy in Iraq for his second tour of duty next week, said the activists tried to visit the congressman in his office last Wednesday, but were told that his calendar was full. "Did somebody call my office ahead of time?" Rohrabacher asked. "I met with people all last week, I talked to them about the war…. But unlike you, they were courteous, they were not arrogant." By the time four police cruisers, called in by neighbors, rolled by Rohrabacher's home, the protesters had gone back to the park. No one was arrested. Huntington Beach police Lt. Mike Reynolds later said that generally, people can be arrested for blocking a sidewalk in front of someone's home and refusing to leave. The activists said they felt their 50-minute protest was a success. "We came here out of desperation. Now, we hope, the congressman has something to take back with him to Washington," said Alviso, who organized the "house call" with her husband, Jeff Merrick, 59, an Air Force retiree who served in Vietnam. The couple started protesting after their son, a career Marine, was sent to his first tour of duty in Iraq last September. "My son believed we went there to bring democracy to Iraq," Alviso said. She said he came back disillusioned. "We are protesting because our sons in the military cannot. We are doing it for them." CONTACT US: natalya@ocregister.com or 714-796-7024 ---- New fall films bring Iraq war to home to U.S Sun Sep 3, 2006 By Bob Tourtellotte LOS ANGELES (Reuters) http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=filmNews&storyID=2006-09-03T132426Z_01_N31326258_RTRIDST_0_FILM-LEISURE-WARMOVIES-DC.XML It took years for the Vietnam war to "come home" to U.S. moviegoers, but a series of fall films will soon test the appetite for cinematic tales about U.S. politics and the human toll of the war in Iraq. Whether the movies, which include documentary "The Ground Truth" and feature film "Home of the Brave" from Oscar-winner Irwin Winkler, will challenge White House policies or impact audiences is open for debate. But audiences will find it hard, if not impossible, to watch the movies without considering current events and the Iraq war, and that is a marked change from previous eras. "It used to be that you digested events before you had to comment on them, and I don't think that's true anymore," said Richard Schickel, a veteran critic for Time magazine. "Now, people have instant opinions, and they get them out there." Another long-time Hollywood watcher, Maxim magazine critic Pete Hammond, said the speed of communication around the globe and the Internet combine to cause filmmakers to want to get their unique stories into theaters faster. The Vietnam era yielded 1968's "The Green Beret," a gung-ho John Wayne flick. It was not until 1978, three years after the fall of Saigon, that audiences got "Coming Home" and "The Deer Hunter" which explored the human toll of that unpopular war. None of the makers of the upcoming Iraq war film said their movies were meant to stir opposition to the Iraq war or to President George W. Bush. Yet, the movies all raise questions that have no easy answers. CLOSE TO HOME "At the heart of our story is an unpopular war, a president that was less than honest with the country, and if you criticized (the administration) for that, they called you unpatriotic. Does that sound familiar?," said John Scheinfeld of September documentary "The U.S. vs. John Lennon." Scheinfeld and co-director David Leaf's story tells how President Richard Nixon's administration tried to silence former Beatle Lennon, a popular anti-Vietnam war activist. Another documentary, Sundance award winner "Iraq in Fragments" in November, looks at lives of ordinary Iraqis. Director James Longley said he hopes it helps audiences learn about that country's people, who they are and how they think. "People want to know if what we are doing is of benefit to the Iraqis, to the United States. You have to ask yourself that question when you are spending (billions of dollars) on an occupation that is going nowhere," Longley said. Like Vietnam War movie "Coming Home," "The Ground Truth" and "Home of the Brave" explore the physical, mental and emotional injuries of soldiers returning from war. "Ground Truth" director Patricia Foulkrod said she was inspired not by anti-war politics but by her personal outrage that many soldiers were coming home and not getting the care they needed. In particular, her film looks closely at post traumatic stress disorder. Whether audiences turn out is an open question. Moviegoers did for 2002 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" ($120 million U.S. and Canada box office), but Michael Moore's anti-Bush film failed to influence the presidential election as he hoped. Film industry experts like Schickel say mainstream movie audiences want to be entertained with fantasy, action and adventure, not injured war veterans and presidential politics. Still, movies are not only about box office, and regardless of whether they change elections, films can influence minds. "What did I know about Vietnam? I knew 'Platoon.' I knew 'Full Metal Jacket,' 'Apocalypse Now,"' said Sean Huze, 31, former U.S. marine, Iraq veteran and self-described "grunt" who appears in "Ground Truth."