NucNews November 28, 2006 -------- NUCLEAR -------- accidents and safety AmerGen may alter accident response Change awaits OK from NRC Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/28/06 BY NICHOLAS CLUNN, STAFF WRITER http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006611280309 LACEY — The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant might use a different method to predict the consequences of a serious accident — including the public's exposure to radiation — if the prospective change is approved by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The alternative method is meant to equip U.S. reactors with the most contemporary theories on what would occur during accidents. Called a source term by the industry, the theories are partially based on information yielded by the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant outside Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979. Nuclear power plants use the source term for analyzing possible accident consequences — including potential radiation dose to the public from leakage out of the containment area into the environment — and factor that analysis into plant design and operation, according to the NRC. "It would paint a more realistic picture of what would happen during a serious accident," Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman, said Monday. What occurred during the Three Mile Island accident, in addition to extensive research that followed it, suggests that a radioactive release into a plant's containment area would be phased, rather than immediate, according to the NRC. That finding and others mean that certain preventive measures now taken under the existing predictive method are considered unnecessary. As a result of not performing superfluous jobs — such as changing filters and maintaining certain pieces of equipment — the exposure of plant workers to radiation would decrease, according to the NRC. However, not performing those preventive measures could result in the plant not being as safe, said Paul Gunter, an anti-nuclear activist with the Nuclear Resource and Information Service outside Washington, D.C. "It's a gamble they are taking," said Gunter, referring to AmerGen. Before the NRC accepted the method for possible use by U.S. reactors in 1999, officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection told the agency that they approved of it, according to an NRC document. A representative from the DEP, which has at times been critical of the plant and the NRC, could not be reached for comment Monday. AmerGen has yet to apply to use the new method, but company representatives next week are expected to travel to NRC headquarters to talk about the possibility.The proposal put forth by plant operator AmerGen Energy Co. will have no impact on safety margins currently applied to a much-debated radiation barrier called the drywell liner, said Sheehan. The drywell is the containment structure enclosing the boiling water reactor. It will also not affect the plant's bid for a renewed operating license, Sheehan said. Nicholas Clunn: (732) 643-4072 or nclunn@app.com -------- africa Dwindling forests and resources force Africa to mull nuclear energy by Mariette le Roux Tue Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061128/wl_africa_afp/africaenergynuclear_061128134917 CAPE TOWN - Depleting forests and coal reserves, compounded by the environmental cost of traditional energy sources, are forcing Africa to seriously consider going nuclear, experts say. "For the sake of humanity and the environment we should accept nature's gift," South African energy analyst Andrew Kenny told a conference in Cape Town of scientists, businessmen, energy watchdogs and African government officials. But some warn that a lack of financing, a regulatory void and a dearth of specialist skills could impede Africa's participation in the "nuclear renaissance". "There are good reasons for certain African countries to be considering nuclear energy, but this does not mean they will be able to do it overnight," Alan McDonald from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency told AFP Tuesday. Franklin Osaisai, director-general of Nigeria's atomic energy commission, said Africa simply had to find the money for nuclear energy. "It is not affordable not to invest in energy. We found nuclear to be a viable option -- an expensive initial investment but cheaper in the long-term," he said. Nigeria planned to start generating nuclear power in the next 10 to 12 years, Osaisai said. Several delegates mooted regional cooperation as a possible solution to many of the constraints facing the continent. These included harnessing South Africa's existing regulatory framework and sharing infrastructure between countries. But McDonald said Africa did not feature strongly in IAEA projections for increased nuclear energy production. "Most of the additional plants being foreseen are in countries with established programmes and existing, big plants. It is much easier to start a new plant when you have an established programme ... and a skilled workforce." The construction cost of a nuclear power plant averages about one million euros per megawatt it produces. Nuclear energy was "definitely" an affordable option for Africa, said Anne Renzi, deputy head of export finance at Areva, a global nuclear energy company. "It is a question of comparison. Each time the barrel price of petrol is more than 45 dollars, any nuclear project is competitive," she said. South Africa's Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said Africa should tap its rich uranium resources rather than exporting them, adding that this would need "deliberate and calculated planning on the part of leaders of the continent." South Africa is the only African country with a nuclear power station, which produces about six percent of its electricity. It now wants to expand capacity by developing a pebble bed modular reactor. Several speakers told the conference that nuclear energy was a safe alternative. Kenny said there had only been one nuclear accident claiming more than five human lives, as opposed to 187 such accidents at coal-based power plants. He also said radiation was not a major problem in countries harnessing nuclear energy while coal, wood and paraffin fires caused death, disease and disability on a massive scale in Africa. -------- depleted uranium ISRAELI DEPLETED URANIUM BOMBS SICKEN Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - FreeMarketNews http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=27754 The delivery of at least one hundred GBU-28 "bunker buster" bombs containing depleted-uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination, with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the Middle East. Israeli tank gunners are also using depleted-uranium tank rounds, as photographs verify. -Vietnam Veterans Against the War ---- Depleted Uranium Situation Worsens Doug Rokke November 28, 2006 UN Observer http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=2875&blz=1 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m28618 The delivery of at least one hundred GBU-28 "bunker buster" bombs containing depleted-uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination, with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the Middle East. Israeli tank gunners are also using depleted-uranium tank rounds, as photographs verify. Today, US, British, and now Israeli military personnel are using illegal uranium munitions—America and the United Kingdom's own "dirty bombs"—while US Army, US Department of Energy, US Department of Defense (DOD), and UK Ministry of Defence officials deny that there are any adverse health or environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing, or use of uranium munitions, so that they may avoid liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material—depleted uranium (DU). The use of uranium weapons is absolutely unacceptable and a crime against humanity. Consequently, the citizens of the world and all governments must force the cessation of uranium weapons use. I must demand that Israel now provide medical care to all DU casualties in Lebanon and clean up all DU contamination. American and British officials have arrogantly refused to comply with their own regulations, orders, and directives that require DOD officials to provide prompt and effective medical care to all exposed individuals ("Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties," DOD, Pentagon, 10/14/93; "Medical Management of Army Personnel Exposed to Depleted Uranium (DU)," US Army Medical Command, 4/29/04; Section 2-5 of US Army Regulation 700-48). They also refuse to clean up dispersed radioactive contamination, as required by Army Regulation 700-48, "Management of Equipment Contaminated With Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities" (Department of the Army, September 2002) and US Army Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278, "Guidelines for Safe Response to Handling, Storage, and Transportation Accidents Involving Army Tank Munitions or Armor which Contain Depleted Uranium" (Department of the Army, July 1996). Specifically, Section 2-4 of United States Army Regulation 700-48 (dated September 16, 2002) requires that: (1) Military personnel identify, segregate, isolate, secure, and label all RCE (radiologically contaminated equipment), (2) Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity will be implemented as soon as possible, (3) Radioactive material and waste will not be locally disposed of through burial, submersion, incineration, destruction in place, or abandonment, and (4) All equipment, to include captured or combat RCE, will be surveyed, packaged, retrograded, decontaminated and released. The previous and current use of uranium weapons, the release of radioactive components in destroyed US and foreign military equipment, and releases of industrial, medical, and research-facility radioactive materials have resulted in unacceptable exposures. Therefore, decontamination must be completed as required by US Army Regulation 700-48 and should include releases of all radioactive materials resulting from military operations. The extent of the adverse health and environmental effects of uranium weapons contamination is not limited to combat zones but includes facilities and sites where uranium weapons were manufactured or tested, including Vieques; Puerto Rico; Colonie, New York; Concord, Mass.; Jefferson Proving Grounds, Indiana; and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Therefore, medical care must be provided by the United States Department of Defense to all individuals affected by the manufacturing, testing, or use of uranium munitions. Thorough environmental remediation also must be completed without further delay. I am amazed that fifteen years after was I asked to clean up the initial DU mess from Gulf War I, and over ten years since I finished the depleted-uranium project, US Department of Defense officials and others still attempt to justify the use of uranium munitions while ignoring mandatory requirements. I am dismayed that DOD and Department of Energy officials and representatives continue making personal attacks aimed to silence or discredit those of us who are demanding that medical care be provided to all DU casualties and that environmental remediation is completed in compliance with US Army Regulation 700-48. But beyond the ignored mandatory actions, the willful dispersal of tons of solid radioactive and chemically toxic waste in the form of uranium munitions is illegal and does not even pass the test of common sense. According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DU is a "dirty bomb." The department issued "dirty bomb" response guidelines on January 3, 2006 for incidents within the United States, ignoring DOD use of uranium weapons and existing DOD regulations. These guidelines specifically state that "a radiological incident is defined as an event or series of events, deliberate or accidental, leading to the release, or potential release, into the environment of radioactive material in sufficient quantity to warrant consideration of protective actions. Use of an RDD or IND is an act of terror that produces a radiological incident." Thus, the use of uranium munitions is an "act or terror," as defined by DHS. Finally, continued compliance with the infamous March 1991 Los Alamos memorandum that was issued to ensure continued use of uranium munitions cannot be justified. In conclusion, the president of the United States, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, and the prime minister of Israel must acknowledge and accept responsibility for the willful use of illegal uranium munitions—their own "dirty bombs"—resulting in adverse health and environmental effects. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and Prime Minister Olmert should order medical care for all casualties and thorough environmental remediation, and stop the illegal use of depleted-uranium munitions. Doug Rokke is a Vietnam veteran and the former director of the US Army Depleted Uranium Project. He has a PhD in health physics and was originally trained as a forensic scientist. When the Gulf War started in 1991, he was assigned to prepare soldiers to respond to nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare, and was sent to the Gulf. What he experienced has made him a passionate voice for peace, traveling the country to speak out. -------- iran Tehran to Let IAEA Take More Materials Samples By REUTERS November 28, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iran-nuclear-iaea.html?pagewanted=print TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it would let the U.N. nuclear watchdog take further environmental samples of materials related to an academic center and which Washington fears are part of a covert program to develop atomic weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said it has questions about Iran's nuclear program and wants answers before it can declare Tehran's aims are peaceful. The West accuses Iran of wanting to make atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies. In a report to the U.N. Security Council in April, the IAEA said it took samples from some equipment acquired by the academic center. The IAEA believes the equipment was earlier used at the Lavizan-Shian site, which was razed in 2004 before agency inspectors could examine it. A former physics center at Lavizan-Shian acquired some dual-use machinery useable for uranium enrichment, including vacuum pumps, which had tested positive for traces of highly enriched uranium (HEU) this year. In larger quantities, HEU can be used in bombs. ``Iran has accepted the agency's request to take further samples from the center,'' Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. He did not give the location of the academic center. Iran has admitted that Lavizan-Shian, northeast of Tehran, was once a military research and development site but denied conducting any nuclear weapons research there or anywhere else in the country. Tehran is not required to allow the IAEA into sites where there is no clear sign of nuclear activities. But it says that by permitting such inspections, it wants to show Tehran's nuclear plans are peaceful. The Islamic state has been referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions after failing to heed a demand to halt uranium enrichment work, a process that can be used to make fuel for nuclear power plants or material for warheads. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists it only wants nuclear technology to generate electricity. ---- "Bill Smirnow" IAEA to Iran: Stop Dodging Probe with Legal Excuses By REUTERS November 28, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iran-nuclear-elbaradei.html?pagewanted=print VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran needs to do more than simply comply with its legal obligations if it wants to gain international trust about its nuclear ambitions, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said. Mohamed ElBaradei's forthright message, delivered at the end of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting last week, underscored deep frustration with what he called ``a standstill'' after three years of investigations in Iran. ``In the case of Iran, the unique element is that ... we started from a situation where we came to realize there had been activities for 20 years which we did not know about,'' he said in off the cuff remarks, a transcript of which was given to Reuters. ``Obviously that creates a different situation and means that Iran must take the initiative to explain what happened.'' Iran says its nuclear program is purely civilian. Western nations suspect Tehran has secret plans to make atomic weapons and are pushing for U.N. sanctions to pressure it to halt potentially weapons-related atomic work. ElBaradei said he had tried to impress on Iran that ``you need to go out of your way'' and grant full transparency. ``Much of that goes beyond the ... Safeguards Agreement, so the solution is not going to be found by relying on one legal clause or another,'' ElBaradei said. IRAN ALLOWS NEW SAMPLES Iran confirmed on Tuesday that it would allow U.N. inspectors to take further environmental samples of research equipment linked to previous finds of highly enriched -- or weapons-grade -- uranium. ElBaradei said last week that Iran had also agreed to let agency inspectors examine operating records at its pilot uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. He called Iran's gestures on sampling and enrichment records ``steps in the right direction.'' Tehran is not required to allow IAEA inspectors into sites it has not declared to be engaged in nuclear activities. But it says that by permitting such inspections, it wants to show its nuclear plans are peaceful. But several analysts and diplomats who follow Iran's nuclear case closely said Tehran's latest concessions were mere gestures and did not represent a significant improvement in transparency. In his later remarks ElBaradei said Iran must allow inspectors to conduct short-notice checks of any site ``that we were told might be relevant'' to get to the bottom of questions about clandestine activity. ``When we ask questions in Iran, we ask them because we want to reconstruct the 'history'. What did Iran procure? Who was involved? What was a certain experiment for? When and where did it take place?'' said ElBaradei. ``We still need an explanation of the program from its inception to the present day: how it was developed, what is the scope. That means meeting people, getting records...'' -------- korea 6 US Lawmakers Plan to Visit Kaesong Complex By Lee Jin-woo Staff Reporter 11-28-2006 KoreaTimes http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200611/kt2006112817182010510.htm Six U.S. lawmakers are planning to visit the joint inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea, Saturday, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday. The communist North has not yet approved the U.S. representatives’ application for the one-day trip. If approved, the six would be the first U.S. legislators to visit the complex. A number of U.S. officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Stephens and congressional assistants, have visited the joint industrial complex just north of the heavily fortified inter-Korean border. The planned visit is part of an international forum in which lawmakers from South Korea, the United States and Japan will participate in Seoul on Friday, a spokesman of the ministry said. He said Japanese legislators refused to visit the inter-Korean joint business site. The U.S. representatives are: Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas; Michael M. Honda, D, Calif.; Jim McDermott, D-Wash.; and Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa; F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; and Phil English, R-Penn., according to an official at the ministry’s office for the Kaesong Industrial Complex project. They arrived in Seoul yesterday. They are to be accompanied by Rep. Chung Eui-yong, chairman of the governing Uri Party’s foreign relations committee, two other Uri legislators and a member of the main opposition Grand National Party, the ministry official said. The visit follows the North’s nuclear test on Oct. 9 that prompted a strong U.S. reaction and international condemnation and led to the adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on the Stalinist state. things@koreatimes.co.kr ---- North Korean Options The world may not have much time before a North Korean regime collapse could occur. by Bruce Bennett UPI Outside View Commentator Washington (UPI) Nov 28, 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/North_Korean_Options_999.html The North Korean Army with about 1 million active-duty troops is roughly three times the size of the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein. A unified Korea would not need such a large armed force on top of the existing 550,000-person South Korean Army. But if the North Korean Army were reduced in size or even disbanded, a large number of trained fighters would suddenly find themselves out of work and desperate to make a living at a time of economic turmoil with few available jobs. Following in the footsteps of the unemployed soldiers of the disbanded army of Saddam Hussein, many former North Korean soldiers would turn to insurgency and could go on fighting for years, seeking to strike out against the capitalist South Koreans who had taken control of their country. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction might be one of the insurgents' few options to obtain income. There have been many efforts to compare a North Korean collapse and absorption by South Korea to the unification of East and West Germany in 1990. Unification is reported to have cost Germans about $1 trillion, and the former East Germany is still behind western standards. Yet as bad as conditions were in East Germany, conditions in North Korea are far worse. Some economists have estimated the cost of Korean unification would be several trillion dollars -- an amount that South Korea could not afford alone. Huge amounts of aid from the United States and other nations would be needed to rebuild the North Korean economy. German unification was also easier than Korean unification would be for other reasons. There was far more contact and much more open communication across the inter-German border before German unification. East Germans were not starving in the manner of the North Koreans. And no other country intervened in German unification the way that China may feel compelled to intervene in North Korea because of refugees, nuclear weapons and other factors. The world may not have much time before a North Korean regime collapse could occur. America should begin talks with China, South Korea, Japan and Russia on what happens after Kim slips into history so that the nations can work in partnership and coordination to deal with the chaos of a North Korean collapse. These five nations need to develop ways to put the North Korean military to work after unification. For example, they could set aside funds to hire the former soldiers to fix North Korea's crumbling infrastructure, much as workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps operated in the United States during the Great Depression. They could create incentives for their own domestic industries to open new factories and other facilities in what is now North Korea to create jobs and spur economic development. And the five nations could prepare initiatives to increase their imports from Korea after unification. U.S. financial commitments would clarify America's willingness to help bear the burden of Korean reunification and reconstruction. In addition, the United States needs to make longer-term commitments to not move its military forces to areas in a unified Korea where China would find them threatening. Because China, South Korea and Japan are particularly concerned about their own security, the United States should offer to provide security assistance to deny the effectiveness of attacks from a desperate North Korean regime. Such assistance could involve offering to deploy U.S. Patriot missile units in Seoul, Beijing and perhaps other cities to provide protection against North Korean nuclear attacks with ballistic missiles. On the civilian side, America should position food and perhaps transportation means in South Korea and China that could help prepare the two nations for the humanitarian disaster and huge number of refugees that could accompany North Korean regime failure. The challenge America and the world face today in deciding how to deal with North Korea is to choose between bad alternatives and worse ones. In making decisions, it's important for leaders to see the world as it is rather than as they would like it to be. If the problems in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq have taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected and be prepared. Bruce Bennett is a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization. United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interest of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited. Source: United Press International -------- russia Nuclear Chief: Russia Plans 42 Reactors Russia's Nuclear Power Chief Says 42 Nuclear Reactors Will Be Built by 2030 Tuesday November 28, 2006 (AP) http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061128/russia_nuclear_power.html?.v=1 MOSCOW -- Russia plans to build 42 new nuclear reactors by 2030 as part of an ambitious program to revive its atomic power industry, the top nuclear official said Tuesday. Federal Nuclear Agency director Sergei Kiriyenko said at a news conference that Russia would need to build at least two nuclear reactors a year to meet the goal. Russia now has 31 reactors at 10 nuclear power plants, accounting for 16-17 percent of Russia's electricity generation, and President Vladimir Putin has called for raising the share to 25 percent. Kiriyenko said the government would earmark some $24 billion for building new nuclear reactors through 2015, and that Rosenergoatom, the state-controlled agency in charge of the nation's nuclear plants, would provide another $26 billion through 2030 as nuclear power generation becomes increasingly profitable. Expanding the share of nuclear energy would allow the nation to save more natural gas for export, Kiriyenko said. The government has kept Russia's domestic gas prices at a fraction of export prices, and gas accounts for about half of electricity generation now. Kiriyenko said that nuclear industries would also develop floating nuclear power plants to deliver energy to remote northern areas and also for exports to other nations, particularly those which did not need high-power nuclear reactors. He said that such reactors could stay afloat near the shore or put on land. In recent years, Russia has overcome a public backlash against nuclear power that followed the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the government has supported efforts to revive the nuclear industries. Kiriyenko also said that Russian and U.S. companies were continuing joint research on a next-generation reactor that would produce hydrogen as a byproduct. "An experimental reactor must be ready by 2015, and then work will start on an industrial reactor," Kiriyenko said. He said that the new reactor would cost some $2 billion to build. He said Russia had won a contract to build two nuclear reactors at a plant in Bulgaria, in addition to plants it is building in Iran, China and India. "That signals Russia's return to the European market," Kiriyenko said. ---- Angara plant to host int’l uranium enrichment center – Kiriyenko 28.11.2006 (Itar-Tass) http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11027491&PageNum=0 MOSCOW, November 28 -- The Russian government has decided to exclude the Angara plant from the list of restricted areas and open an international uranium enrichment center on the plant premises, Federal Atomic Energy Service head Sergei Kiriyenko said on Tuesday. “I hope the formalities will be settled by January 25, an anniversary of the Russian president’s ordinance to open a uranium enrichment center,” he said. The Angara plant will be operating under control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said. Russia has set up a joint venture with Kazakhstan for running the center, Kiriyenko said. The initiative to open international centers, which would give third countries an access to peaceful atomic energy technologies but prevent the nuclear proliferation, belongs to President Vladimir Putin, Kiriyenko recalled. ---- Russia scraps 145 out of 197 decommissioned nuclear submarines 28/ 11/ 2006 (RIA Novosti) http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061128/56123678.html MOSCOW, November 28 - Russia has dismantled 145 out of 197 decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear submarines, the head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power said Tuesday. Russia has signed cooperation agreements on the disposal of decommissioned nuclear submarines with the United States, Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Norway. The disposal program will cost an overall $2 billion, toward which Russia had allocated $850 million as of 2005. "We have a joint nuclear submarine dismantlement program that involves a number of countries, including EU members," Sergei Kiriyenko said. "Out of 195 nuclear submarines decommissioned from the Russian Navy, we have dismantled 145." "The disposal of another 17 is under way, and we are preparing to scrap 32 more in the future," he said. During the dismantling process, spent nuclear fuel is removed from the submarine's reactors and sent to storage, the hull is cut into three sections, and the bow and stern are removed and destroyed. The reactor section is sealed and transferred to storage. "We will scrap all decommissioned nuclear submarines by 2010," the nuclear chief said. -------- security Flight of the Bomb-Sniffing Bees LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, November 28, 2006 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2006/2006-11-28-09.asp#anchor6 Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a method for training the common honey bee to detect the explosives used in bombs. Based on knowledge of bee biology, the new techniques could become a tool to combat the use of deadly improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, encountered by American military troops abroad and also an emerging danger for civilians worldwide. The Los Alamos scientists, including Kirsten McCabe and Robert Wingo, developed methods to harness the honey bee's exceptional olfactory sense where the bees' natural reaction to nectar, sticking out their tongues, could be used to record an unmistakable response to a scent. Using reward training techniques common to bee research, they trained bees to stick out their tongues when they were exposed to vapors from TNT, C4, TATP explosives and propellants. According to Tim Haarmann, principal investigator for the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, the project applies old knowledge to a pressing new problem. Haarmann said, "Scientists have long marveled at the honey bee's phenomenal sense of smell, which rivals that of dogs," said Haarmann. "But previous attempts to harness and understand this ability were scientifically unproven. With more knowledge, our team thought we could make use of this ability." The scientists began with research into why bees are such good detectors, going beyond demonstrating that bees can be used to identify the presence of explosives. By looking at such attributes as protein expression, the team sought to isolate genetic and physiological differences between those bees with good olfaction and those without. They also determined how well bees could detect explosives in the presence of lotions, motor oil, or insect repellant. The team studied structural units in the honey bee's antenna and looked for biochemical and molecular mechanisms that could advance their ability to be trained and retain their training for longer periods of time. Currently supported by a development grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project is a collaboration of scientists and technicians from the Laboratory's Bioscience, Chemistry, and Environmental Protection divisions. Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, BWX Technologies, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. ---- Ex-spy's poison (polonium-210) on the Internet $69 can get you a trace of the commonly used lethal industrial chemical Keay Davidson, San Francisco Chronicle Science Writer Tuesday, November 28, 2006 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/28/POLONIUM.TMP It's one of the deadliest imaginable poisons, a radioactive substance about 100 billion times as deadly as cyanide -- and a Web site run by a physicist and flying saucer enthusiast offers to sell you a trace amount of it for $69 and send it via the U.S. Postal Service or UPS. Contrary to early news reports, polonium-210 -- the poison suspected in the death of an ex-Russian spy in England -- is not some exotic material available solely from nuclear laboratories. The isotope is available from firms that sell it for lawful and legitimate uses in industry, such as removing static electricity from machinery and photographic film. If ingested in large enough amounts, polonium-210 causes a hideous death. "This is not a way you'd want to die -- it's a very slow, painful death," said Kelly L. Classic, a radiation physicist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the media liaison for the Health Physics Society, a national organization of experts on the health effects of radiation. Polonium is an "alpha emitter," which, when it decays, emits high-speed volleys of subatomic alpha particles -- each one composed of two protons and two neutrons bound together -- that rip apart DNA coils and bust up the cells within which they reside. An alpha particle "is huge on an atomic scale," Classic said. "If an electron was a piece of popcorn, the alpha particle (would be) like a bowling ball." Former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died Thursday in London, the victim of what health officials said was polonium-210 poisoning at a hotel bar or a sushi restaurant on Nov. 1. Before he died, he insisted that he was poisoned on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His illness developed rapidly, causing his hair to fall out and ravaging his immune and nervous systems. Police have reported finding traces of radiation at the restaurant and bar. Classic, who is not involved with the British police investigation, speculated that, assuming the ex-spy was poisoned, his killer might have done so by sprinkling the poison in liquid rather than powdered form -- perhaps on the spy's food. A powder would have quickly traveled around a large area, whereas British police say that traces of the poison seem to be limited to small locations, as one would expect if the liquid were spattered here and there in small drops. Experts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the nuclear weapons lab in Livermore, declined Monday to say how much polonium-210 would be needed to harm anyone. They said they were calculating how much would be needed -- but even if they knew the answer, they wouldn't reveal it publicly for ethical reasons. "In this day and age, we need to be extraordinarily careful about how to give out 'how-to' instructions," Livermore health physicist Gary Mansfield said, alluding to the threat of terrorism. "We're not going to provide you a recipe to help the bad guys harm (people)." Polonium-210 is "approximately 100,000 million times more toxic than cyanide," according to "A Guide to the Elements, Second Edition," by Albert Stwertka, published in 2002 by Oxford University Press. (That amount equals 100 billion.) The isotope has a short half-life of 138 days, which might make it difficult to trace after a relatively short time. Although the alpha particles can wreak devastating damage inside a cell, paradoxically they're too frail to break through human skin -- meaning that no one would be able to detect them escaping from the human body. In the United States, it is legal for vendors licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to sell small amounts of polonium-210 and other radioactive sources without the buyers having to receive special permission from the government. United Nuclear Scientific Equipment & Supplies of Sandia Park, N.M., will sell you a small amount of polonium-210 for $69 in a small, yellow, disk-shaped container. The firm offers a long list of available radioactive sources on its commercial Web site -- which includes buttons marked, "Add to Cart" next to items for purchase. "Because our products can be potentially hazardous in the wrong hands," the site states, "we will occasionally terminate and refund orders if we feel you are juvenile posing as an adult, inexperienced with the materials ordered, or using our products to make any sort of explosive device. All packages containing hazardous chemicals will require an adult signature on delivery." United Nuclear is run by Bob Lazar, who attracted national attention when he claimed to have worked on crashed alien spaceships at a U.S. military base in Nevada called Area 51. In May, the Albuquerque Journal reported that agents from the U.S. Department of Justice raided Lazar's firm in 2003. Lazar claimed that federal government officials wanted his firm to stop selling chemicals that they said could be used to make explosives, the paper reported. A woman at Lazar's company, who identified herself only as "Michelle," said the firm sells polonium-210 in "small, small, minuscule" amounts ... What we carry is so small you can't see it with your naked eye." She said she is only an employee at the firm and doesn't know where Lazar obtains the polonium-210. Lazar couldn't be reached for comment Monday. ---- Poison linked to former spy's death is available through Web By KEAY DAVIDSON San Francisco Chronicle 28-NOV-06 http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=POLONIUM-11-28-06 It's one of the deadliest imaginable poisons, a radioactive substance about 100 billion times as deadly as cyanide _ and a Web site run by a physicist and flying-saucer enthusiast offers to sell you a trace amount of it for $69 and send it via the U.S. Postal Service or UPS. Contrary to early news reports, polonium-210 _ the poison suspected in the death of an ex-Russian spy in England _ is not some exotic material available solely from nuclear laboratories. The isotope is available from firms that sell it for lawful and legitimate uses in industry, such as removing static electricity from machinery and photographic film. If ingested in large enough amounts, polonium-210 causes a hideous death. "This is not a way you'd want to die _ it's a very slow, painful death," said Kelly L. Classic, a radiation physicist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the media liaison for the Health Physics Society, a national organization of experts on the health effects of radiation. Polonium is an "alpha emitter," which, when it decays, emits high-speed volleys of subatomic alpha particles _ each one composed of two protons and two neutrons bound together _ that rip apart DNA coils and bust up the cells within which they reside. Former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died Thursday in London, the victim of what health officials said was polonium-210 poisoning at a hotel bar or a sushi restaurant on Nov. 1. Before he died, he insisted that he was poisoned on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His illness developed rapidly, causing his hair to fall out and ravaging his immune and nervous systems. Police have reported finding traces of radiation at the restaurant and bar. Classic, who is not involved with the British police investigation, speculated that, assuming the ex-spy was poisoned, his killer might have done so by sprinkling the poison in liquid rather than powdered form _ perhaps on the spy's food. Experts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the nuclear-weapons lab in Livermore, Calif., declined to say how much polonium-210 would be needed to harm anyone. They said they were calculating how much would be needed _ but even if they knew the answer, they wouldn't reveal it publicly for ethical reasons. "In this day and age, we need to be extraordinarily careful about how to give out 'how-to' instructions," Livermore health physicist Gary Mansfield said, alluding to the threat of terrorism. "We're not going to provide you a recipe to help the bad guys harm (people)." Polonium-210 is "approximately 100,000 million times more toxic than cyanide," according to "A Guide to the Elements, Second Edition," by Albert Stwertka, published in 2002 by Oxford University Press. (That amount equals 100 billion.) In the United States, it is legal for vendors licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to sell small amounts of polonium-210 and other radioactive sources without the buyers having to receive special permission from the government. United Nuclear Scientific Equipment & Supplies of Sandia Park, N.M., will sell you a small amount of polonium-210 for $69 in a small, yellow, disk-shaped container. The firm offers a long list of available radioactive sources on its commercial Web site _ which includes buttons marked "Add to Cart" next to items for purchase. United Nuclear is run by Bob Lazar, who attracted national attention when he claimed to have worked on crashed alien spaceships at a U.S. military base in Nevada called Area 51. In May, the Albuquerque Journal reported that agents from the U.S. Department of Justice raided Lazar's firm in 2003. Lazar claimed that federal officials wanted his firm to stop selling chemicals that they said could be used to make explosives, the paper reported. A woman at Lazar's company, who identified herself only as "Michelle," said the firm sells polonium-210 in "small, small, minuscule" amounts ..." She said she is only an employee at the firm and doesn't know where Lazar obtains the polonium-210. Lazar couldn't be reached for comment. (E-mail the author at kdavidson(at)sfchronicle.com) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.) -------- u.n. Disarmament and non-proliferation both needed to fight nuclear threat – Annan 28 November 2006 UN News Centre http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20759&Cr=nuclear&Cr1= The only way forward to reducing “the greatest danger of all” – the threat posed by nuclear weapons – is to tackle the objectives of non-proliferation and disarmament simultaneously and equally vigorously, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today. In a lecture at Princeton University in the United States, Mr. Annan said fierce disagreement between countries over which objective was more urgent meant the world was stuck without a common strategy for dealing with the problem. “I said earlier this year that we are ‘sleepwalking towards disaster.’ In truth, it is worse than that,” Mr. Annan said, voicing particular concern at the recent failure to update and strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). “We are asleep at the controls of a fast-moving aircraft. Unless we wake up and take control, the outcome is all too predictable.” He said States which advocate non-proliferation first and those which push disarmament as a priority have become locked in a sterile debate – “the result is that ‘mutually assured destruction’ has been replaced by mutually assured paralysis.” The only option is to tackle both fronts at the same time, he said, adding it is also vital to address the threat of terrorism, “as well as the threats, both real and rhetorical, which drive particular States or regimes to seek security, however misguidedly, by developing or acquiring nuclear weapons.” Mr. Annan called on those nations which already have nuclear weapons “to develop concrete plans – with specific timetables – for implementing their disarmament commitments. “And I urge them to make a joint declaration of intent to achieve the progressive elimination of all nuclear weapons, under strict and effective international control.” But countries which insist on disarmament first must realize that lack of progress on that question cannot be a legitimate excuse for failing to tackle the dangers of proliferation. “No State should imagine that, by pushing ahead with a nuclear weapon programme, it can pose as a defender of the NPT; still less that it will persuade others to disarm,” the Secretary-General stated. He also urged those countries to acknowledge disarmament wherever it does occur and to support the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and others to find ways of guaranteeing that all States have access to fuel and services for civilian nuclear needs without spreading sensitive technology. “Countries must be able to meet their growing energy needs through such programmes, but we cannot afford a world where more and more countries develop the most sensitive phases of the nuclear fuel cycle themselves.” -------- u.s. nuc weapons Agency outlines plan in Vegas for nuclear arms component plant RYAN NAKASHIMA Associated Press Tue, Nov. 28, 2006 http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16117376.htm LAS VEGAS - The U.S. nuclear weapons agency outlined plans Tuesday to consolidate operations and build a plant to produce nuclear arms components called plutonium pits by 2022. The plan by the National Nuclear Security Administration, called "Complex 2030," calls for the construction of a plutonium pit plant in one of five locations, including the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., said Ted Wyka, document manager for the plan's environmental impact study. Such pits, which serve as the trigger of a nuclear weapon, have been produced in low quantities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico since the Rocky Flats facility near Denver was shut down by the FBI in 1989 for alleged environmental crimes. The Los Alamos facility was designed for interim production, and a new, higher capacity plant producing 125 pits per year is needed to help rejuvenate an aging stockpile that contains nuclear weapons averaging more than 20 years old, Wyka said at a public hearing in Las Vegas. "We haven't replaced any weapon in over a decade," Wyka said. "Components will continue to age and wear out, and we must be able to continue to fix those problems." Other sites being considered for the pit plant include the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the Pantex Plant in Texas and Los Alamos. The plan has been criticized by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an anti-nuclear group based in Cambridge, Mass., which argues there's no need to replace nuclear weapons for at least half a century. It might also inflame sensitivities as the United States attempts to dissuade Iran and North Korea from pursuing nuclear weapons programs of their own, said Lisbeth Gronlund, the union's co-director of global security. "It's sort of continuing this line of thinking that was standard during the Cold War," she said. "There are all kinds of downstream effects which seem to not have been thought through." The plan to overhaul the U.S. nuclear complex also includes moving flight testing from the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico or to the Nevada Test Site. Overall, the plan aims to consolidate operations from eight nuclear weapons sites around the country by cutting redundancies and making security more efficient. Since December 2004, the agency has begun moving a ton of high-security nuclear material from Los Alamos to the Nevada Test Site, which is considered better protected. The move will be complete by September 2007. Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director Citizen Alert, a Nevada group that is opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, said her group favors reducing plutonium pit production rather than expanding it. "How many nuclear bombs do we need?" she said. "My biggest concern is that they really don't want our input and that they're going to go ahead and do what they want to do." The United States has committed to reducing its nuclear arsenal to some 1,700 to 2,200 operational, deployed nuclear weapons by 2012, about half the level of 2001. The agency is holding 90 days of public hearings on its plan until Jan. 17 in South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico and California. It expects to draft an environmental impact statement by the summer, hold more hearings and make a decision in late 2008. ON THE NET Complex 2030, http://complex2030peis.com/ -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- idaho -------- illinois Idaho Power envisions nuclear plant in 20-year plan Associated Press Tuesday, November 28, 2006 http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650210504,00.html BOISE — The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is taking public comment on a 20-year plan from Idaho Power Co., the state's largest utility, which envisions a nuclear power plant by 2023. The company estimates that its customer base will increase from the 455,000 customers it has now to about 680,000 customers by the end of 2025. The plan calls for an additional 1,300 megawatts of power to meet demands. One megawatt can power about 650 houses for one year. In addition to its own nuclear facility, the plan says Idaho Power might also be able to acquire 250 megawatts from an anticipated nuclear plant at the Idaho National Laboratory in 2023. The company also wants to try other modes of power generation, with plans to add 100 megawatts of wind-generated power in 2007. An additional 170 megawatts could be added in 2008 by expanding the Danskin natural gas plant near Mountain Home. A coal-fired plant to be added in 2013 could generate an additional 250 megawatts. The plan also calls for expansion of the Jim Bridger Plant in Rock Springs, Wyo., which is one-third owned by Idaho Power. In 2017, the company could generate 250 megawatts with clean-coal technology called Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle. Pocatello and Soda Springs in southeastern Idaho are possible sites for such a plant. Transmission upgrades could add 285 megawatts, according to the plan. In particular, Idaho Power is considering upgrades for the lines from McNary Dam near Umatilla, Ore., to Boise. The company estimates an additional 187 megawatts could be made available through conservation programs to reduce power demand. The commission is taking comments through Jan. 22. -------- nevada Industry exec: Yucca backers must work with Reid ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER Posted: 11/28/2006 http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061128/NEWS18/61128007&oaso=news.rgj.com/breakingnews WASHINGTON (AP) — Industry supporters of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump must work with incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., but also consider alternate waste storage plans, an energy executive said Tuesday. Despite Reid’s strong opposition to a nuclear waste dump in his state, “Harry Reid and the Democrats have to be part of the solution,” said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group. “If they are going to support nuclear power, we’ve got to figure out ways that we continue to move forward on the nuclear waste issue,” Kuhn said at a press conference on the energy industry’s agenda in a Democrat-controlled Congress. Some congressional Republicans have offered plans to create temporary waste storage sites around the country because of increasing delays at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, which is not projected to open until 2017 at earliest. Some 50,000 tons of nuclear waste is already waiting at power plant sites around the country. Reid and others in the Nevada delegation want to leave it there, stowed in long-term storage containers. “We’re open, I think, to looking at various alternatives that might be able to move forward on a step-by-step basis,” Kuhn said of that idea, which may get more attention with Reid vowing to cut funding for Yucca and keep pro-Yucca legislation off the Senate floor. “I think that there is going to have to be talks with the Republican and the Democratic side about some new ideas that are coming up here, too, to perhaps look at other interim sites for the nuclear waste,” Kuhn said. “But I think it is extremely important for us to continue moving forward with Yucca Mountain.” -------- south carolina Federal regulators begin inspection of York County power plant Published Tuesday, November 28, 2006 (AP) http://www.islandpacket.com/news/state/regional/story/6256251p-5460745c.html COLUMBIA, S.C. - An inspection of degraded protective seals at the Catawba Nuclear Station was launched this week because of several issues this year involving water at the York County power plant, federal regulators said Tuesday. In May, water from a cooling tower flowed into a diesel generator room, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said in a news release. During a heavy rain storm several months later, water seeped into a turbine building in August. And, earlier this month, onsite NRC inspectors determined that some backup emergency equipment could also be susceptible to flooding, the commission said. These incidents have not put the plant or its neighbors in danger, Duke officials said. "We responded immediately to each of the incidents and have taken appropriate action in each case," said Valerie Patterson, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy. "None of these issues or incidents ... pose a threat to the public or impact plant operation." There are always NRC inspectors at the plant, and Duke employees are working with them to make sure it remains safe, Patterson said. Regulators plan to issue a report on their findings within 30 days of the inspection, the NRC said. ---- Federal regulators begin inspection of York County power plant Associated Press Tue, Nov. 28, 2006 http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/16117409.htm COLUMBIA, S.C. - An inspection of degraded protective seals at the Catawba Nuclear Station was launched this week because of several issues this year involving water at the York County power plant, federal regulators said Tuesday. In May, water from a cooling tower flowed into a diesel generator room, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said in a news release. During a heavy rain storm several months later, water seeped into a turbine building in August. And, earlier this month, onsite NRC inspectors determined that some backup emergency equipment could also be susceptible to flooding, the commission said. These incidents have not put the plant or its neighbors in danger, Duke officials said. "We responded immediately to each of the incidents and have taken appropriate action in each case," said Valerie Patterson, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy. "None of these issues or incidents ... pose a threat to the public or impact plant operation." There are always NRC inspectors at the plant, and Duke employees are working with them to make sure it remains safe, Patterson said. Regulators plan to issue a report on their findings within 30 days of the inspection, the NRC said. -------- us nuc waste Nuclear waste dump a step closer November 28, 2006 Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Nuclear-waste-dump-a-step-closer/2006/11/28/1164476190412.html Australia's nuclear research body will have a greater say in the storage of radioactive material. Federal parliament passed legislation on Tuesday enabling the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) greater power in managing nuclear waste. This would also include control of radioactive material or waste if an Australian nuclear facility becomes the target of a terrorist or criminal attack. The move comes despite attempts by the Australian Democrats to limit the storage to material generated by Australia's Lucas Heights Research facility in Sydney and also health and medical facilities. The Democrats amendment was designed to stop the storage of radioactive waste from overseas. However government minister Amanda Vanstone told the Senate that the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Amendment Bill 2006 did not allow for the importation of all manner of radioactive waste. "(The Bill) will not authorise ANSTO to import any radioactive waste. It will authorise ANSTO to manage once returned to Australia the waste arriving from overseas, re-processing of ANSTO's spent fuel," she said. The Democrats proposed changes would also have had an impact on the government's planned radioactive waste dump scheduled for 2011 in the Northern Territory. Democrat leader Lyn Allison said there were concerns that the legislative changes would make it easier to import nuclear waste. "It's really to make sure that there is no hidden agenda here, no intention that high level waste from anywhere else...ends up in the Northern Territory," Senator Allison said. Despite backing from Labor and the Greens, the Democrats were unable to force a change to the government's legislation which was passed. -------- MILITARY -------- asia War drums sound in Sri Lanka after rebels demand Tamil state by Barry Parker Tue Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061128/wl_sthasia_afp/srilankaunrest_061128113144 COLOMBO - Sri Lanka was facing the prospect of a return to all-out civil war after the Tamil rebel leader wrote off the island's peace process and charted a course to full independence for his people. Velupillai Prabhakaran, the ruthless leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), accused the Colombo government of waging war on Tamils under a cover of peace. The 2.5 million minority were left "with no other option but an independent state," Prabhakaran declared in an annual speech Monday evening. However, the Colombo government renewed its commitment to a negotiated settlement. Asked if Sri Lanka was at war now, defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the government was committed to peace. "We are pursuing peace ... But we will respond if we are attacked," he said on Tuesday. "We want a clarification from the Norwegians if the peace process is still on." The demand was put in writing to Oslo, which brokered a ceasefire agreement in 2002, along with a letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission of Scandinavian truce observers to ask if a 2002 ceasefire remained in effect, said Rambukwella, also policy planning minister. The Norwegian embassy in Colombo had yet to receive the clarification request, spokesman Erik Nurnberg said. Truce monitors met senior LTTE members in the unofficial rebel capital Kilinochchi in the north on Tuesday morning, the group announced. No details emerged. Prabhakaran went back on a pledge to accept a federal solution under which the Tamils would enjoy broad autonomy. He said the truce that came out of the pledge was now "defunct". President Mahinda Rajapakse, "by openly advocating attacks on our positions, has effectively buried the CFA (Ceasefire Agreement)." Tamils today faced "arrests, imprisonment, and torture, rape and sexual harassment, murders, disappearance, shelling, aerial bombing." The guerrilla leader stopped short of declaring independence, but stressed the peace process was over with the Sinhalese nationalist-led government elected a year ago. "It is now crystal clear that the Sinhala leaders will never put forward a just resolution to the Tamil national question," he said. Former Tamil rebel turned politician Dharmalingam Sithadthan saw war on the horizon. "He has gone for a declaration of war," Sithadthan told AFP. "All these days what we had was 'undeclared war'. "Now he is saying that he has ditched the peace process and is taking the 'Eelam' route," meaning a separate Tamil nation on the Sinhalese-majority island. "After all-out war, maybe the two sides might come again for talks, it could be in about a year or more," Sithadthan said. "He could go in for a big push immediately," Sithadthan warned, noting current heavy monsoon weather favoured guerrilla warfare. Prabhakaran hinted the conflict could resume and urged international recognition of the "freedom struggle ... at this historic time when the Tamils are recommencing their journey on the path of freedom." The rebels stepped up artillery fire Tuesday against military bases in the east, killing at least one soldier and wounding several others, military sources said. "There is heavy long-range fighting going on," said a military official in Batticaloa. "Security forces are also retaliating." Exactly a year ago the LTTE commander-in-chief had given the new government one year to find a political solution to Asia's longest-running ethnic conflict. "He (Rajapakse) rejected our final call ... Instead, he intensified the war," Prabhakaran said. Rajapakse had Sunday renewed a call for more peace talks after saying he was preparing a new "political package", but offered no detail. Prabhakaran's address was closely-watched by Sri Lankan leaders as well as in donor countries who have warned of aid policy reviews if fighting escalates. A Western diplomat close to the negotiations also saw more bloodshed. "I would read it as end of the peace process," he said. "He has set the stage to justify any attacks in the future." The conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives. -------- israel / palestine 'N. Command ordered cluster bombing' By YAAKOV KATZ Nov. 28, 2006 Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378506069&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull In direct opposition to an order by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz, the IDF's Northern Command led by its former chief, Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam, is suspected of ordering the firing of cluster bombs into populated areas during the last few days of the war in Lebanon, military sources have told The Jerusalem Post. Maj.-Gen. Gershon Hacohen, commander of the IDF's Military Colleges, was appointed by Halutz to investigate the military's use of cluster bombs during the war against Hizbullah. According to military sources, Hacohen, who questioned senior officers in the Northern Command during his investigation, plans to present his findings to Halutz in the coming days. IDF regulations, set by Halutz, had permitted the use of cluster bombs - used to destroy airfields, tanks and soldiers and capable of scattering some 200 to 600 mini-explosives over targets - only in open and unpopulated areas. An initial IDF probe, conducted by Brig.-Gen. Michel Ben-Baruch, found that in some cases the deadly munitions were not used in accordance with Halutz's directive. The military sources told the Post that Northern Command ordered artillery units to use the deadly munitions during the last days of the war, despite Halutz's command. Hacohen is also investigating whether Halutz sufficiently publicized and clarified his order not to fire the bombs into populated areas. Military Advocate-General Brig.-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit is reviewing the findings of the probes to determine if there are grounds for criminal charges to be pressed. High-ranking sources in the Northern Command did not deny the charge when asked to comment on the report. According to the United Nations, the vast majority of cluster bombs were fired by the IDF during the last 72 hours of the conflict. According to media reports, up to 40 percent of the bomblets failed to explode. Some estimate that a million mini-charges are spread throughout fields and villages in southern Lebanon. Lebanon claims 24 civilians have been killed and 76 wounded by cluster bombs since the end of the war. Most of the shells exploded in fields and orchards. The IDF Spokesperson's Office released a statement that all of the cluster bombs fired by the military - even in populated areas - were done with the utmost caution and only on enemy military targets. After the war, the IDF also gave UNIFIL maps with the positions of the targets that were hit with cluster bombs during the war. ---- Israel approves 1.5 bln shekels in post-war costs 28 Nov 2006 18:09:40 GMT Source: Reuters http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28262407.htm JERUSALEM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Israel's parliamentary Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a payment of 1.5 billion shekels ($350 million) to help cover expenses incurred by Israel's war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas this past summer. As part of the month-long war that ended on August 14, Hezbollah fired some 4,000 rockets at northern Israel while Israel air strikes pounded Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Israel also deployed ground troops in Lebanon. The Defence Ministry has sought billions of shekels in order to restock on ammunition and equipment and to help prevent future attacks. Israel's budget will also be increased by 3.5 billion shekels in 2007 in one-time costs for defence and to help rebuild areas of northern Israel damaged by Hezbollah rockets. The extra spending will boost the budget deficit to 2.9 percent of gross domestic product from a planned 2.0 percent in 2007. The deficit in 2006 is estimated at 1.8 percent of GDP. ($1 = 4.29 shekels) -------- nato Blair urges 'flexible' Nato force Tuesday, 28 November 2006 (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6190408.stm Tony Blair wants a "flexible" Nato force to prevent Afghanistan falling back into the hands of the Taleban. He is joining other Nato leaders in the Latvian capital Riga for a summit to be dominated by events in Afghanistan. Mr Blair, President George Bush and Nato commanders are pressing for more deployments in the fight against the Taleban in the south of the country. But member states including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have limited their troops to more peaceful areas. Speaking ahead of a Nato meeting in Latvia, Mr Bush berated Nato members reluctant to send troops to Afghan hotspots, demanding they must accept "difficult assignments". Last week, Mr Blair reiterated the UK's support for the Nato mission and the Afghan government during a visit to the country. En route to Riga, Mr Blair said during his visit he found - "contrary to some of the things I expected" - determination amongst British forces "but also among the Afghan authorities to make sure that the Taleban were not allowed back into Afghanistan and the country was not again to become a breeding ground for terrorism". Outlining what he hoped to gain from the Nato summit, Mr Blair said there were four requirements, including military and government roles. He said it was important to have "additional flexibility and force generation" to make the mission a success. He emphasised the reconstruction and development was essential in showing the Afghan people that progress was being made. "And then finally, of course, it's about building up the capability of the Afghan government." He also wanted the mission to be restated "with confidence". Southern presence There are about 32,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan, with the majority of the 6,000 British based in the southern Helmand province which has seen some of the heaviest fighting. The UK, US, Canada, and the Netherlands are expected to press other member states to commit more troops. Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox, in a speech to the Conservative Way Forward group, criticised Germany, Italy and Spain for limiting troop activities to the relatively peaceful west and north of the country. Mr Fox said the British, Canadians, Australians, Americans and "a few honourable others" were operating as a single Nato force, while the Germans, Italians and Spanish saw themselves as national forces under a Nato umbrella. ---- Georgia's Nato bid irks Russia By James Rodgers BBC News, Tbilisi Tuesday, 28 November 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6190858.stm The Russian-designed rifles give it away. Everything else on at the headquarters of Georgia's Second Infantry Brigade makes it look as if the country has already joined Nato. The Nato flag even flies next to the Georgian one above the parade ground. The Kalashnikov assault rifles the soldiers carry betray the fact that Georgia was once part of the Soviet Union, and of the Warsaw Pact - the military alliance which was Nato's Cold War foe. In driving rain, troops storm an abandoned building. This is only an exercise, but it is deadly serious. Georgia's army is leading its country's charge westwards - towards Nato, and perhaps eventually the European Union. Its ties with Moscow are being discarded like the spent bullet cases which litter the rifle range. Lt-Col Alexander Osepaishvili is the brigade's commanding officer. "I call this long way, short time," he told me. "During two years, my brigade has changed. The Georgian military has changed - very big changes," he explains. US role The US Army has sent instructors to drive that change. At a military camp outside the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, they are training Georgian troops for checkpoint duty in Iraq. Lt-Col Craig Jones says he is impressed by what he has seen. "Obviously the soldiers that we are working with initially trained and learned under Russian tactics and learned a Russian style of fighting," he says. "Initially there was some question with that. But they want to learn the American way and the Nato way." Georgia's path to Nato membership will not be easy. It does not control all of its territory. The breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have in effect been independent since the early 1990s. Two decades of political upheaval have led to widespread joblessness. Diplomatic row Georgia's Deputy Defence Minister, Levan Nikoleishvili, sees the country's bid for Nato membership as part of an ambitious solution to his country's ills. "We look to Nato as a club and as an organisation, which will not only be a guarantee for security but will also be a guarantee for development for us," he explains. "After that we are looking to other steps to join other European institutions," he adds. Then there is the question of Russia - already embroiled in a bitter diplomatic row with Georgia. Matters came to a head in September when Georgia expelled four Russians it accused of spying. Moscow responded by severing diplomatic ties and transport links. Hundreds of Georgians living in Russia were accused of breaking the immigration law and deported. Moscow offers moral and material support to the separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. That angers Tbilisi. Georgia is pressing ahead with its bid to join Nato. That angers the Kremlin. Russia is keen to stop its influence declining across the former Soviet bloc. "For the Baltic countries, for Poland and for those who want to join Nato, like Georgia, their main reason to join Nato is to have a guarantee against the Russians," says Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military analyst. "That makes Nato and Russia basically enemies. In a sense they are on a collision course. So a real partnership is hardly possible and any expansion of Nato is seen, in Russia, in Moscow, as a threat to our interests." But Georgia is determined to press ahead with its bid to join Nato. The Russian media have already speculated that the war of words between Russia and Georgia could lead to armed conflict. Further confrontation could have repercussions much further afield. ---- NATO leaders see progress on Afghanistan troops By Paul Taylor and Mark John Tue Nov 28, 2006 (Reuters) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061128/ts_nm/nato_summit_dc_6 RIGA - NATO leaders reported progress on Tuesday in freeing up more troops to fight Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, signaling that some nations had agreed to drop limits on their forces as an alliance summit opened in Latvia. President Bush appealed to allies to provide more soldiers with fewer national restrictions for the most dangerous ground mission in NATO's 57-year history. NATO's top military commander said he had received word that some nations whom he would not name were ready to allow their units in Afghanistan to be used more flexibly in moves equivalent to fielding an extra 2,000 troops. The most urgent needs are in southern Afghanistan, the main battleground with resurgent Taliban fighters, where Canadian, British and Dutch soldiers have suffered heavy casualties. "To succeed in Afghanistan, NATO allies must provide the forces NATO military commanders require," Bush said just before the summit began in Riga, many of whose inhabitants had left town to avoid disruption caused by the tight security. "Member nations must accept difficult assignments if we expect to be successful," he said, taking aim at so-called national caveats restricting where, when and how troops operate. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer backed the call, complaining that allied forces in south Afghanistan were 20 percent under-resourced. "Afghanistan is mission possible," he said, pointing to progress in Afghan public health, education and economic growth. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose troops are based mostly in west Afghanistan, called for results from the summit. "In Afghanistan there are not enough troops and it's necessary to have a strong political signal," he told reporters. A suicide bomber killed two Canadian soldiers on Monday in the latest attack on an alliance convoy in southern Afghanistan, prompting Canada's foreign minister to warn public support could turn against the mission if allies did not help. "WE SHALL SEE" Asked what progress NATO was making in overcoming caveats, Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones told a news conference: "We have about 10 to 15 percent positive trend. That translates to about 2,000 more troops." Soldiers would be freed up elsewhere in the 32,000-strong peacekeeping force to be deployed when needed, Jones indicated. Asked if the nations involved were France, Spain and Italy, he said in French: "On verra (We shall see)." Chancellor Angela Merkel told Germany's N24 television that her country's forces, based in the less turbulent north of Afghanistan, could help in the south "in emergencies." De Hoop Scheffer gave a glimpse of NATO's exit strategy in an apparent effort to reassure nervous Europeans they do not face an open-ended commitment in a country where guerrilla warfare defeated the Soviet army in the 1980s. "I would hope that by 2008, we will have made considerable progress -- with ... effective and trusted Afghan security forces gradually taking control," he said. But he said any talk of withdrawals at present in Afghanistan was premature. Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described the Afghan mission as the most important in NATO's history and told reporters it was vital troops could be deployed as necessary. "The alliance's credibility is at stake there," he said. Bush, weakened by election reverses at home, rejected talk that Iraq has plunged into civil war and vowed not to withdraw his troops until the completion of their mission. He also restated his belief that democracy would triumph in the Middle East despite recent setbacks and reaffirmed support for further NATO enlargement into the former Soviet Union, backing Ukraine and Georgia as future members. Russia, which objects to those plans, was not invited to the Riga summit, which Bush called "the first time our alliance has met in one of the captive nations annexed by the Soviet Union." A statement by France that Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed arriving after the summit for dinner on Wednesday with French President Jacques Chirac and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga startled officials in Riga. But the Kremlin announced late on Tuesday that the visit, which would have been the first by a Russian president to Latvia since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, would not take place. Putin had suggested the dinner to mark Chirac's 74th birthday but the Kremlin said the scheduling would not work out. (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan in Tallinn; Louis Charbonneau in Berlin; Marcin Grajewski in Riga) -------- prisoners of war EU parliament report claims 11 governments knew of CIA prisons 11/28/2006 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-28-cia-prisons_x.htm BRUSSELS — A European Parliament report on Tuesday said Britain, Poland, Italy, Germany and seven other EU nations were aware of the running of CIA secret prisons in Europe. The draft report, written after months of a special committee investigation, also accused top EU officials, including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, of not coming clean about the alleged U.S.-run secret jails and secret abductions of terror suspects across the European Union. The draft presented to the EU assembly's special committee investigating alleged CIA kidnappings and prisons in Europe, called on national authorities to launch separate legal probes into claims whether they violated EU human rights laws. The report criticized EU anti-terror coordinator Gijs de Vries and Solana of "omissions and denials" made during their testimonies to the committee. While thin on proof to back up their allegations, the committee report claimed it got information from secret documents and information from several sources in the United States and from national authorities in the 25-nation bloc. "At least 1,245 flights operated by the CIA have flown into the European airspace or stopped over at European airports," the draft said. The report said 11 EU nations — Britain, Poland, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus — had knowledge of the alleged U.S. secret anti-terror measures taking place on European soil. It said the committee had obtained "serious circumstantial evidence" showing that Poland may have hosted a temporary secret detention center for the CIA. The report also slammed most of the 25 EU governments for lack of cooperation in their probe, which was launched in January and is expected to last until Jan. 2007. The draft report will be voted upon by the special committee after the EU assembly's Christmas break, officials said. Allegations that CIA agents shipped prisoners through European airports to secret detention centers, including compounds in Eastern Europe, were first reported in November 2005. Human Rights Watch later identified Poland and Romania as possible locations of the alleged secret prisons, but both countries have repeatedly denied involvement. An investigator for the Council of Europe, a leading human rights group, said evidence pointed to the likelihood that planes linked to the CIA carrying terror suspects stopped in Romania and Poland and likely dropped off detainees there. In September, President Bush acknowledged for the first time that terrorism suspects have been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but did not specify where. -------- space Space Cost Controls Urged Nov 28, 2006 by Hil Anderson United Press International (UPI) http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Space_Cost_Controls_Urged_999.html The United States military is being urged to take a more deliberate pace in its acquisition of high-priced satellites and other space-based equipment that are a linchpin of the 21st Century fighting force. While the sky literally appears to be the limit when it comes to new uses for satellites, the Government Accountability Office (GOA) said in a report this month that Department of Defense (DOD) space programs were getting ahead of the technology that holds so much promise. The result, the GAO said, has been a tendency by the Pentagon to plunge headlong into new projects before the technologies are mature enough, resulting in a process that has more bumps than expected and budgets that quickly stumble into the red. "Costs for DOD space acquisitions over the past several decades have been consistently underestimated -- sometimes by billions of dollars," the GAO said in the report. "For the most part, this hasn't been caused by poor cost estimating, but rather by the tendency to start programs before knowing whether requirements can be achieved within available resources." The report was compiled at the request of Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, who said at a hearing last spring that, "The warfighter's reliance on space operations will continue to grow and the management of our space programs must enable further technology development within the limits of a tightening budget." There is no doubt that space-based technologies, which generally means satellites, has become a keystone of U.S. military operations. The GAO report comes at a time when military space planners are developing a number of ambitiously designed new spacecraft that promises to provide hugely expanded communications capabilities, finely tuned reconnaissance images and the ability to alert a defense system against nuclear ballistic missiles. There is, in fact, so much going on in space that one of the current higher priorities of U.S. Air Force Space Command is securing a better "space surveillance" system so that the military knows just what is orbiting the planet and, more importantly, what those satellites are designed to do. "We have a system that is very good at surveying the heavens, but not as good as you would want it to be as an Air Force officer operating in that domain," Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of Space Command, said at a recent media briefing in Southern California. "It is more than just knowing where all the dots are in the sky." The briefing, held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of the Air Force in Beverly Hills, touched on several programs, each with its own ambitious goals and sense of urgency as the United States seeks to stay a step ahead in the Global War on Terrorism and the likelihood of nuclear arms proliferating into so-called rogue states. Being able to do more with fewer troops depends a great deal on good battlefield intelligence and robust communications and the ability to share that data around the world in real time if necessary. The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite program, for example, will increase the amount of bandwidth available to the military by 10 times what current satellites can handle, Chilton said. "And," he added, "We are always thinking of new ways to use it and push data through those satellites." But the AEHF was one of six space acquisition programs studied by the GAO, which noted that the project's $6.1 billion price tag was about $2 billion over the original estimates, due in no small part to the need to change plans and increase the weight of the AEHS space craft in order to accommodate those mind-boggling data rates that Chilton referred to. The situation is an example of what the GAO found to be the tendency for the Pentagon to plunge feet first into the shark tank of budget allocations where there seems to be a natural tendency to promise the moon at a bargain basement price to address "must-have" priorities. "DOD starts its space programs too early, that is, before it has the assurances that the capabilities it is pursuing can be achieved within available resources and time constraints," the report said flatly. "This tendency is caused largely by the funding process, since acquisition programs attract more dollars than efforts concentrating solely on proving technologies." The GAO recommended that the military increase the transparency of its space acquisition programs to keep a tighter rein on cost estimates, cooperate more closely with outside government cost-estimating agencies, and do more to study previous programs and cooperate with the super-secretive National Reconnaissance Office on satellite technology. The Air Force, to its credit, has concurred and taken steps to tighten-up the estimates of the cost of developing what will be the backbone of U.S. military capabilities for decades to come. "Frankly, I think that we have made great strides in our analysis and rigor and our confidence in our risk assessment of the cost of future programs," Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. "Of course, the proof is in the pudding." Hamel's confidence is reassuring because space payloads are getting ever larger and more complex, and the current world situation makes their presence as a dot in the sky too important to risk moving either too slowly or too quickly. -------- spies 1,245 Secret CIA Flights Revealed by European Parliament November 28, 2006 ABC News Blogs Brian Ross and Maddy Sauer Report: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/1245_secret_cia.html The CIA flew 1,245 secret flights into European airspace, according to a European Parliament draft report obtained by ABC News. The report is the result of a year-long investigation into secret CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights and prisons in Europe. No European country has officially acknowledged being part of the program. But citing records from an informal meeting of European and NATO foreign ministers last December that included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Parliament's draft report concludes "member states had knowledge of the programme of extraordinary rendition and secret prisons." The report said the recently fired head of Italian intelligence, General Nicolo Pollari, "concealed the truth" when he appeared before the Parliament's investigating committee and stated "that Italian agents played no part in any CIA kidnapping." The report detailed the involvement of many European countries in what it called the CIA's "illegal" program. It listed the number of CIA flights, or stopovers, it found in a number of countries. Italy: 46 stopovers. United Kingdom: 170 stopovers. Germany: 336 stopovers. Spain: 68 stopovers. Portugal: 91 stopovers. Ireland: 147 stopovers. Greece: 64 stopovers Cyprus: 57 stopovers. Romania: 21 stopovers. Poland: 11 stopovers. -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- drug war Afghan opium fight hurts poorest Updated 11/28/2006 By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-28-afghan-opium_x.htm U.S. and European efforts to end heroin production in Afghanistan have done little to hamper the drug industry and have hurt the country's poorest people, according to a new report by the United Nations and the World Bank. The report, released today, is the latest indication of the difficulties faced by the British-led effort to eradicate Afghanistan's opium crop, which drives the economy in parts of the embattled nation and has helped to fund a resurgence of the Taliban. The report says the production of opium, whose poppies are used to make heroin, permeates daily life in Afghanistan and eliminating the illegal drug trade there could take decades. The opium trade accounts for about $2.7 billion in Afghanistan's economy — equal to more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product — and is responsible for thousands of jobs, the report says. The Taliban government, which had harbored al-Qaeda, virtually eliminated opium production in 2001, before U.S.-led forces toppled it. Production has soared since, even as the United States and its allies have stepped up efforts to kill fields of opium and persuade farmers to grow other crops. Opium has remained the nation's most lucrative crop by far, and drug traffickers — through incentives and intimidation — have kept farmers in the opium business across Afghanistan, which the United Nations says produces about 87% of the world's opium. Last year, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan produced 4,100 metric tons of opium, nearly as much as the biggest harvest in 1999. The United Nations predicts a record harvest in 2007. Today's report describes how opium farmers' flexibility has helped harvests increase. When government officials end the opium trade in one province, opium brokers typically move cultivation and trade elsewhere, the report says. Counter-narcotics efforts also have fueled corruption, the report says. Farmers who can afford it have bribed local officials to preserve opium crops, while the poorest farmers have been driven deeper into debt when their crops are destroyed, the report says. Investigators found several instances in which farmers planned to replant opium to pay their debts. The report also says local government officials sometimes help drug lords drive competitors out of the market in exchange for a cut of the profits or protection payments. Antonio Maria Costa of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime has recommended focusing agents on areas with less opium cultivation to keep such farming from spreading and help establish an alternative economy. The U.S. State Department's Anne Patterson, acknowledging "there is no silver bullet" to the opium problem, has said much of the growth in production is in areas with weak local governments. -------- homeland security / national intelligence Scientists Say Trained Bees Can Sniff Bombs By REUTERS November 28, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-bombs-bees.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print PHOENIX (Reuters) - Scientists at a U.S. weapons laboratory say they have trained bees to sniff out explosives in a project they say could have far-reaching applications for U.S. homeland security and the Iraq war. Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said they trained honeybees to stick out their proboscis -- the tube they use to feed on nectar -- when they smell explosives in anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts similar to those used by suicide bombers. Researchers in the program, dubbed the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, published their findings on Monday.by a sugar water reward, researchers said they trained bees to recognize substances ranging from dynamite and C-4 plastic explosives to the Howitzer propellant grains used in improvised explosive devices in Iraq. ``When bees detect the presence of explosives, they simply stick their proboscis out,'' research scientist Tim Haarmann told Reuters in a telephone interview. ``You don't have to be an expert in animal behavior to understand it as there is no ambiguity.'' The findings followed 18 months of research at the U.S. Energy Department's Los Alamos facility, the nation's leading nuclear weapons laboratory. ``We are very excited at the success of our research as it could have far-reaching implications for both defense and homeland security,'' Haarmann said. While scientists have trained wasps to respond to the trace of explosives, Haarmann said research with bees appeared to show more promise. Haarmann said the bees could be carried in hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box, and could be used to sniff out explosives in airports, roadside security checks, or even placed in robot bomb disposal equipment. He said the next step would be to manufacture the bee boxes and train security guards in their use. ``It would be great to start saving some lives with this,'' he said. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy Professor Devises New Form of Solar Cell November 28, 2006 — By Associated Press http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11739 LEWISTON, Idaho — A University of Idaho professor is devising a new form of solar cell she says could lead to a breakthrough that would make solar energy commercially feasible. Chemist Pam Shapiro, her graduate students and her colleagues at the university are working on creating better materials and combining them in new ways that could more than double the efficiency of present solar cells. If successful, she said the new technology could help the U.S. break its oil dependency. "People are trying to make solar cells that are more efficient," Shapiro told The Lewiston Tribune. "But it's so much cheaper to use fossil fuels, despite all the obvious advantages of solar cell technology." So far, Shapiro's team has created a compound called a "quantum dot" that is made of elements that include copper, indium and selenium. Shapiro said that the quantum dots would be embedded between layers of a solar cell and would absorb energy that is otherwise wasted due to overheating. "These solar cells based on quantum dots aim to make better use of that excess energy," Shapiro said. She said her team has created the quantum dots, but that a working prototype is years away and completion will likely require the combined skills and knowledge of her colleagues at the school. "Collaboration is a big thing," she said. "Funding agencies are encouraging it. You have to be a jack of all trades, and a master of none." Some of the research money for the program comes from a federal and state partnership called Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Federal money must be matched by state money. Don Evans is the outreach specialist for the program and has asked state lawmakers to visit the university so that matching funds from the state can be approved and research on the solar cells can continue. Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, and Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, have both visited the school. Ringo, a member of the joint House-Senate appropriations committee, recently visited UI materials scientist Eric Aston. "It was enormously interesting for me," Ringo said. "I think it underscored for me the importance of keeping those research dollars coming." -------- OTHER -------- environment UN Meeting Tackles Toxic Waste Story by Daniel Wallis REUTERS KENYA: November 28, 2006 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39177/story.htm NAIROBI - Delegates from some 120 nations met in Kenya on Monday to tackle the growing global threat from hazardous waste including toxic chemicals, obsolete electronics and rust-bound ships and aircraft. The main focus of five days of talks is the mounting problem of so-called "e-waste" -- obsolete computers, mobile telephones and televisions shipped mostly to the developing world, where many are dumped and burned at open air sites. "We have managed to create yet another problem on this planet," Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said at the opening of the conference, which gathers parties to the Basel Convention that monitors hazardous waste. "One of the great challenges of our time is to collectively agree on what is waste and what are secondhand products. This question extends to end-of-life ships as much as electronic goods." Proposals on the table this week include making manufacturers take financial responsibility for their products, from the design stage to final disposal. Delegates will also seek to tighten international waste regulations to prevent a repeat of the disaster in Ivory Coast in August, when 10 people were killed after toxic petrol "slops" were tipped around its main city Abidjan. Steiner said that "brazen" case of hazardous waste dumping in one of the world's poorest nations was a "sad reminder" of the inability of governments to protect their civilians, and he said it should spur the talks towards concrete solutions. PLANES AND SHIPS Participants will also discuss what to do about a huge growth in the number of "hyperbulk" items -- mostly old planes and ships -- due to be scrapped over the coming years. According to new figures published by UNEP, almost a third of the 25,000 large civil aircraft now in service will be dismantled in the next 10 to 15 years. The number scrapped is expected to increase to more than 35,000 by 2035, it says. New tanker rules following oil spills in Europe in 1999 and 2002 will mean some 2,200 ships -- many carrying asbestos and other hazardous materials -- will end service in Europe by 2010. Another 1,800 will be scrapped in North America, Brazil and China, UNEP says. In 2004, Basel classified old ships as "toxic waste", but delegates have difficult choices to make. Countries like Bangladesh, whose workers currently break down more than half the world's old ships, fear tougher environmental protection laws could force them out of jobs.