Will someone please tell me what this means?

Ellen Thomas
et@..., 202-210-3886

---

Licence application for US deconversion plant

04 January 2010

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/IT-Licence_application_for_US_deconversion_pla\
nt-0401105.html

International Isotopes has submitted its licence application to the
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its proposed depleted
uranium deconversion and fluorine extraction processing facility in
Hobbs, New Mexico. The NRC licence review is expected to take 18-24
months to complete. The facility will remove fluorine from depleted
uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) left over from the uranium enrichment
process - and use it to manufacture high-value fluoride gases. The
company plans to select a design and construction contractor in 2010
and may also initiate some pre-licence construction activities at the
Hobbs site, subject to NRC approval. Construction of the facility is
scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012. International Isotopes
president and CEO Steve Laflin commented, "The submission of this
licence application represents another significant accomplishment for
the company and is the most recent milestone ion our continued
progress towards construction of this unique, commercial,
environmentally friendly nuclear facility. The project is on target
and on schedule."




Ellen Thomas <et@...>
Proposition One in 2010 Campaign
PO Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038
202-682-4282 (dc) - 202-210-3886 (cell)
http://prop1.org - http://propositiononein2010.blogspot.com

Yes, We Can ...
Convert the War Machines ...
Provide for Human Needs ...
Think Globally, and Act Locally ...
Build Solar Panels and Windmills, Not Missiles and Bombs ...
IN OUR LIFETIMES!

LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!!!

Two stories, 3 & 4 Jan 2010:
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/100103-rutherford-localpowerplantcleanup.htm\
l
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/100104-rutherford-localpaducah.html
Further item(s) to come

Jan. 3, 2010

ONE OF A SERIES: Paducah Nuclear Plant Clean Up Still Faces Significant
Hurdles
What Can Piketon (Portsmouth) Expect?

By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter

Huntington, WV (HNN) - Scanning previous internet "news" reports, two stand
out in regard to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant: A Tornado and
suspicions regarding buried Huntington Pilot Plant materials.

Scioto and Pike Counties in Ohio often experience more intense wind bursts
when summer thunder storms form and occasionally turn to tornadoes. On July
11, 2009, NBC reported that "some damage" had been reported at the plant
from a "tornado-like storm," based on word from public information officer
Jack Williams the damage did not impact plant operations.

In 1993, residents complained about an alleged 2.5 hour "unreported
  release." They alleged 13 workers were checked for exposure but no sirens
sounded. However, after investigation, those responsible for the plant
indicated that the 'release' was not a threat to those outside the plant.
The Portsmouth facility has sirens for public notification.

Among citizen complaints , one had concerns about "ground water
contamination from the burial of contaminated material from a nickel plant
in West Virginia" (Note: Actually, the Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction
Pilot Plant buried at Piketon along with the trucks and railcars.) ANSWER:
ATSDR considers contamination from other sites only when it impacts the
exposure levels of the population being evaluated, and in this specific case
will not be addressing the above site in this public health assessment.
(Actually arsenic and other contaminants were alleged but found not viable.
SEE: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/portsmouthgas/pgd_p2.html#publicb1)

Finally (but not all inclusively) the following has been widely reported:

1954-1990 Radioactive gasses, fluorides, and hexavalent chromium are vented
to the atmosphere, mostly at night with venting monitors shut off.
PCB-contaminated oil, trichloroethylene, and nickel carbonyl are dumped in
massive quantities on the south and east sides of the reservation near
Little Beaver Creek and Big Run Creek. The venting and dumping are conducted
with no outside regulation or notification to surrounding residents. The
full extent of venting and dumping remains unknown.

The Portsmouth facility remains in transition. The Centrifuge project did
not receive government loan guarantees; a citizen advisory board begins
ramping up work --- first by attending seminars concerning options and clean
ups at other similar plants --- on the Piketon facility.

Other sites that discuss Piketon issues:
http://www.ohioneighbors.net/html/chronology.html and
http://www.mail-archive.com/pen-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu/msg32710.html

For an illustration of concerns, progress and lack thereof, we will examine
some issues that have surfaced regarding the Portsmouth/Piketon's similar
facility in Paducah, which is further advance in the decommissioning and
clean up process.


PADUCAH CHALLENGES

Plans have been stated for the who, what, when, and how issues at the
Kentucky plant. Yet, the funding for cleaning up and implementation has been
often cut and modified, even as remediation choices are approved.

Here's how a comprehensive Courier Journal report described the site in a
2000 article. In fact, the Western Criminology Review contains an article
published in 2007: State-Corporate Crime and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion
Plant (http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v08n2/29.bruce/bruce.pdf):

Nearly every creature that swims, walks or flies near the Paducah uranium
plant carries unseen poisons that have escaped from the nuclear-fuel
factory.

From the furtive mink to the darting sunfish to the soaring redtailed hawk,
nature's denizens now have new, lifelong companions - chemical and
radiological contamination, reports obtained by The Courier-Journal show.

Toxic chemicals have entered the Western Kentucky food chain, and
abnormalities similar to birth defects have already shown up in at least one
species.

A half-century of emitting, burying and dumping waste from the vast plant
built to safeguard America has caused ecological damage for miles around, a
10-month investigation by the newspaper has found.

Streams, ponds, underground water, soil, plants and animals have been
contaminated with some of the most dangerous chemicals known, including
plutonium and dioxin.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Kentucky officials and the company that
leases and runs the plant say environmental conditions at the site are
improving. They note that polluted areas on plant grounds and in a
surrounding wildlife area, which is used for hunting, fishing and camping,
are marked and roped or fenced off.

And they have assured workers and the public that the contaminants pose no
''imminent'' danger.

(From Louisville Courier Journal, June 26, 2000 )


CORPORATE STATE CRIMES

"Sloppy safety practices, concealed health concerns, and decades of
ignorance, expediency and poor oversight have left workers, nearby wildlife
and the land itself damaged by chemical and radioactive toxins. Workers have
inhaled the radioactive dust, chemicals have seeped into the ground water,
and debris dumped off the site has created pockets of radiation. And the
silent devastation is being seen in creatures ranging from insects to
bobcats-an ominous warning to the humans who share the same soil, water,and
air. In this case, as acknowledged by the federal government, a series of
decisions from the

governmental level to the plant operators ensured PGDP workers, the
environment, and public safety were victims of state-corporate crime." One
academic study presents theoretical framework that helps clarify how such
harms occur and how the state-corporate roles alter over time.

Although nuclear workers seem to have a fruitless fight in gaining
compensation for their patriotism, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson stated
(obviously not very seriously) "nuclear workers' compensation is a nation
debt long due to our Cold War veterans who've paid the highest price for
their service."

However, the AEC has adopted a narrow definition of "workers," it does not ,
for now, include those involved in allied sites where, for instance,
radioactive nickel was recycled, leading to the workers contracting cancers.
Nor, does it account for property owners and individuals living near the
atomic plants, gaseous diffusion plants, or plants ran by major corporations
utilizing contaminated materials from atomic sites.

Here's how the Western Criminology article defines a "state" crime:
State-initiated corporate crime (such as the Challenger explosion) occurs
when corporations, employed by the government, engage in organizational
deviance at the direction of, or with the tacit approval of, the government.
State facilitated state-corporate crime (such as the Imperial Food Products
fire in Hamlet) occurs when government regulatory institutions fail to
restrain deviant activities either because of direct collusion between
business and government or because they adhere to shared goals whose
attainment would be hampered by aggressive regulation.
http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v08n2/29.bruce/bruce.pdf


HOW MUCH WASTE

Enough radioactive scrap metal rests at Paducah to construct a full size
replica of the battleship Missouri; enough low-level radioactive waste would
cover 22 football field a yard deep; ground water would make for 880,000
residential swimming pools; and 37,000 cylinders of spent uranium cylinders
stretched end to end would cover 70 miles.

Anyone remembering such flicks as "Silkwood" or "China Syndrome" will
appreciate that in June 1999, a false claim suit against Lockheed Martin and
the Natural Defense Council alleged that Lockheed falsified environmental
safety reports and caused massive damage by mishandling radioactive and
chemical materials. When the U.S. government joined as a plaintiff on the
hazardous waste issue (2003), the Washington Post went national: Workers at
PGDP had been "exposed to dangerous fission byproducts without their
knowledge". In the following years allegations and evidence of harm to
workers, the community, and the environment continue mounting, not just
related to PGDP, but at Piketon, Oakridge, and, though, uttered only in the
privacy of likeminded thinkers, Huntington, WV.

NEXT: Deception for National Good

=========================

Jan. 4, 2010

PART 2 OF A SERIES: Paducah, Piketon, Other Workers Deceived (Poisoned?) for
Greater National Good

By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter

Huntington, WV (HNN) -- During their Cold War service, employees of the
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant "were generally happy in the belief that
their efforts were protecting the country," states Paul Becker (University
of Dayton) and Alan Bruce (Quinnipiac University) in the Western Criminology
Review article "State Corporate Crime and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion
Plant" (2007).

Due to the threat of missiles from Russia and China, the public supported
the nuclear industry, accepted the sense of urgency and as a result
"environmental concerns were less important than the pressing demands of the
Cold War," a 2000 Department of Energy report stated.


GREATER NATIONAL GOOD

The need to maintain supremacy in the race to build more and more nukes with
larger and larger destructive capacities assured citizens and workers that
the U.S. could "win" a confrontation through a so-called mutually assured
destruction policy, which, inevitably brought the nuclear nations to a
mindful ground zero --- no one wins, everyone loses due to the fallout and
destruction. Fears of bombs falling in the Heartland led to a home accessory
not shared like a swimming pool --- a fallout and/or bomb shelter.

Under these fearful perceptions, including the posted orange and black
public fallout shelter signs on numerous larger structures, health, safety
and environment took a back seat as the expedience of goal achievement
trumped concerns for the individuals and environment, leading to a culture
of "rule bending" at atomic plants and those related thereto, such as by
performing recycling of radioactive materials.

With billions of dollars in defensive and offensive weapons, the nuclear
program shifted from 'bombs' to 'power,' which allowed the private
corporations that had assisted in Manhattan bomb projects unbeknownst to
themselves, to begin developing a new, so-called cleaner energy source.

Relying upon "trust," workers accepted management's attitude that exposure
to radiation and certain chemicals was minimal, according to an Office of
Oversight , Environmental Safety and Health report released in 2000. For
instance, Paducah managers encouraged workers to wear personal (rather than
protective) clothing. Carelessness and lack of knowledge led to
contamination of the plant's lunch room and theatre, the report stated. In
fact, some workers willingly took part in radiation experiments by breathing
and drinking uranium, the DOE and journal article state. Paducah was part of
the rule, not a safety exception. Edward Teller, head of the AEC's Reactor
Standards Committee, in 1953 responded to a safe distance from reactors by
stating, "enforcement of safety regulations must not stand in the way of
rapid development of nuclear power," the criminology article reported.

(Editor's Note: By contrast, several retired Huntington Pilot Plant workers
recall that employees of the facility changed clothes going to work and
showed after work.)

Collaborating and essentially exposing the former need to know classified
materials, USA Today on August 16 , 2000, published POISONED WORKERS,
POISONED PLACES, which explained one conjecture at that time of radioactive
contamination on American soil from building bombs , reactors, and other
nuclear components.

One method of continuing status quo exposure was simply to not test. For
instance, Union Carbide , Paducah's operator in the 50s, asked for studies
concerning "visible radioactive dust" at PGDP in 1953 and 1959. In 1960 , a
request was made for neptunium exposure; it didn't happen due to fears the
union would request hazard pay.

The corporate/state culture at Paducah (and as implied in USA Today's study
many other) concealed knowledge of the radioactive truths. As Paducah
examples:


1. There were ten leukemia deaths among long term health issues; one was the
comparative norm;

2. The Washington Post in 1999 reported workers receiving levels up to 133
times higher than the norm and in 2001 the DOE acknowledged one in ten
workers received doses above regulatory limits (and others went Untested)

3. Between 1994-1999 Nuclear Regulatory inspectors observed workers pounding
on a uranium process line with a hammer, smuggling beer into the plant,
performing tasks without proper training, and sleeping during handling of
liquid uranium hexafluoride.

4. Uranium, fission products and other waste was released "into ditches,
ponds and streams with subsequent flow into the Big and Little Bayou creeks,
ultimately reaching the Ohio River (Office of Oversight, Environmental
Safety Health 2000).

5. Scrap materials, such as wood and metals from PGDP property, were not
screened for contamination before sold to the public. For instance, a
computer donated to a school was contaminated with radiation.

6. Radioactive black ooze seeped from the ground in 1999 and beryllium was
discovered in soil, surface and ground water samples beneath the plant (some
155 times natural levels)

7. Although a recreation/wildlife area has been constructed around portions
of the plant as remediation, neptunium was 509 times as high as in a normal
environment, cesium was 326 times normal, and eleven contaminants spread
extensively (but the truth will remain unknown as more than 25% of safety
concern records were destroyed prior to 1993.

8. On May 31, 1994 the PGDP was identified for priority cleanup and added to
the EPA's Superfund national priorities list. Cleanup was to be completed by
this year; $1.3 billion was allocated and up to $5 billion estimated.
(Huntington had numerous industrial sites on August 11, 1997 added to the
Superfund list. Several of the locations are still operating; several have
documented remediation undertakings available; some have been archived as no
longer of interest to the EPA unless additional evidence is found.)

(Note: These impacts summarized from the State Corporate Crime (2007)
article.)

The Paducah plant is undergoing cleanup. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in
1999 apologized for "concealing information that caused PGDP workers to be
placed in danger." It stated: On behalf of the U.S. government, I am here to
say I am sorry . We are apologizing to the workers in Paducah. From the
evidence that has been uncovered recently, it's obvious that the U.S.
government was not forthcoming about possible exposure to plutonium, and
that was wrong. We should have been straight with our Employees"


AFTER TEN YEARS MANEUVERING, LAW SUIT PROCEEDS

At Paducah, one of many land owners discovered his ground water tainted by
pollution from the plant. Among one government proposal (not implemented)
was to buy up all the private lands of about 120 families to limit
liabilities, the Energy Department for about a decade has been paying the
West McCracken Water District about $65,000 a year to provide free municipal
water to homes whose well water was tainted by the pollution.

Meanwhile, in 2007, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled water
leaks hurt property values and allowed a federal suit to go forward. It was
filed by 16 homeowners who claim 10 billion gallons of polluted water
damaged 82 pieces of property resulting in losses of property, plants,
crops, livestock and wildlife. (Smith, et al. v. Carbide Chem, et al., from
Courier Journal, 2007).


FUNDING CUTS

The Paducah plant ranks #15 among atomic clean up sites. Hanford, a nuclear
reservation in Richland, Washington is number one. 75% of funding goes to
the ten worst of 65 sites. Paducah and others endured higher percentages of
cuts, particularly under the George W. Bush cuts beginning in fiscal 2002.
The stimulus package Congress approved under President Obama contained
$144,729,000 for the western Kentucky site. The money will accelerate the
removal of over 50 years of legacy waste and environmental contamination
stemming from enriched uranium production. Among the wastes, 9,700 tons of
volumetrically contaminated nickel (mostly nickel ingots). Reclamation of
the nickel will bring jobs to compensate for layoffs in decommissioning the
Paducah site. Still, in FY 2008, Paducah took a $20 million reduction in
clean up funds in Bush's $96 million budget proposal.


ISSUES

These are a few of the issues highlighted in the 2000 Courier Journal
investigation:


A. The levels at Paducah weren't on the scale of Love Canal or Times Beach,
but they exceeded standards the state had set for the Energy Department. The
contaminated soil is now stored at the plant in more than 11,000 55-gallon
drums, most of which are buried;

B. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which cause cancer and other diseases
in animals and possibly in humans, have been found at levels ranging from
traces to significant concentrations in fish, hawks, mice, rats, mink,
raccoons and a bobcat;

C. Incomplete records suggest that almost 9 ounces of highly radioactive
plutonium were released into the air and water and buried at the plant,
greater than the amounts released at most other Department of Energy nuclear
sites. Traces of plutonium and neptunium were found in soil samples 11 years
ago as far as nine miles from the plant, and traces of neptunium were found
in apples, but there apparently was no further investigation;

D. Streams that flow off site are now believed to be carrying small amounts
of radioactive material into the Ohio River, the DOE recently conceded.
Though diluted by the Ohio's huge flow, radioactive substances may build up
in sediment and enter the food chain;

E. Underground, three plumes of water contaminated with trichloroethylene, a
suspected carcinogen, and radioactive technetium are spreading northward
from the plant, and one is believed to have reached the river. Traces of
contaminants have penetrated as far as 14 stories below ground.

Although neither the Paducah plant nor the one in Piketon are on the Fortune
500 list of the worst areas, the 2000 article indicated that the Energy
Department data is often unknown. Workers have told of employee lists being
destroyed. Other records too. The DOE in 2000 told the Louisville reporters,
"it's plan for attacking surface water contamination that documentation
pertaining to specific releases from the plant's storm sewer system
currently is not available." The EPA said "lack of information on the
primary pathways for contaminants.. Completely inappropriate."


UNKNOWNS

USA Today completed an investigation August 16, 2000 titled POISONED WORKERS
AND POISONED PLACES which included "Preliminary Partial Dose Estimates From
the Processing of Nuclear Materials at Three Plants during the 1940s and
1950s. Although USA Today commissioned an impartial study of three plants:
Simonds Saw & Steel Co. (Lockport, NY); Harshaw Chemical Co. (Cleveland,
Ohio); and Electro-Metallurgical Co., (Tonawanda, NY), the study generalizes
these conditions as common place at nearly all of the atomic plants
operating in that era.

Of specific interest to Huntington readers, the report indicates inadequate
safeguards when a plant was selected for a standby shutdown, such as the
Huntington Pilot Plant, which remained in that status from about 1960-1979,
when it was demolished and buried.

The article contains a map of states where recycled uranium was handled.
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, as well as Kentucky are listed.

The USA Today series begins with the following statement:

"A USA TODAY investigation finds that the government's reliance on a vast
network of private plants, mills and shops to build America's early nuclear
arsenal had grave health and environmental consequences. Federal officials
knew of severe hazards to the companies' employees and surrounding
neighborhoods, but reports detailing the problems were classified and locked
away.

"The full story of the secret contracting effort has never been told. Many
of the companies that were involved have been forgotten, the impact of their
operations unexamined for half a century. Yet their history carries profound
implications for the thousands of people they employed, as well as for the
thousands who lived - and still live - near the factories.

"At a time when the nation is reassessing the worker ills and ecological
damage wrought by large, government-owned nuclear weapons plants, the record
of the private companies that did the work before those facilities were
built has had little scrutiny.

"Most of the contracting sites were in the industrial belt: through New
England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, around the Great Lakes and
down the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. They were in big cities such as
Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis. And they were in smaller
communities, such as Lockport, N.Y., Carnegie, Pa., and Joliet, Ill."

COMING SOON : RETIREE INTERVIEWS

Top 100 Energy Stories Dec. 28th 2009 – Jan. 3rd 2010

Obama presses review of nuclear strategy
Pentagon is rethinking the unthinkable: Making major changes to Cold
War arsenal

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff  |  January 3, 2010

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/01/03/obama_presses_review_of_nu\
clear_strategy?mode=PF

CHARLIE MISSILE ALERT FACILITY, Mont. - After an hourlong ride down a
nearly deserted highway covered in ice and snow, the two young
officers arrive for their shift at this highly secure outpost deep in
the northern Rockies.

Air Force Captain Chris Ferrer and Lieutenant Moses George, carrying
a bulky orange briefcase of secret codes, descend some 75 feet
underground to a capsule protected by a 4-foot-thick door of steel
and concrete. They will spend the next 24 hours ready to receive a
presidential command to launch dozens of nuclear missiles from silos
buried across north-central Montana.

It is a routine that is virtually unchanged from the 1960s. The
targets, most of them in Russia, also remain largely unchanged from
the Cold War. And there are few signs that will change anytime soon.
"We're not going anywhere for decades to come,'' predicted the two
officers' boss, Lieutenant Colonel Pete Bonetti, 41, of Providence.

But top US officials are now questioning why the United States still
pursues a strategy based on the ability to annihilate its former foe.
In a thorough review expected to be completed early this year, the
size, structure, and even the very mission of America's nuclear
arsenal are being reconsidered as part of President Obama's pledge to
reduce the role of the world's most deadly weapons.

Obama has already reached a tentative agreement with Russia to reduce
the number of warheads on both sides from about 2,200 to between
1,500 and 1,675 in the next several years, while also slashing the
missiles and submarines designed to carry them to between 500 and
1,000. The so-called Nuclear Posture Review, led by the Pentagon,
could recommend going even further, to 1,000 warheads or fewer, top
administration officials have told Congress.

The review is shaping up to be a major showdown for Obama this year.
It is taking on some of the most sacred cows of the nuclear program.
For the first time, influential voices, including a former top
nuclear commander and senior Obama advisers, are proposing that one
leg of the nuclear arms "triad'' - a $30 billion-a-year enterprise
made up of land-, air-, and sea-based weapons - be eliminated.

Another historic change under consideration is adopting a
"no-first-use'' policy, a public declaration stating the United
States would not use nuclear weapons first, a step long advocated by
arms control advocates who believe it would reduce the incentive for
other nations to develop nuclear weapons.

Also on the table, the officials say, is explicitly limiting the
nuclear arsenal's mission to deterring other nuclear weapons - not
chemical or biological attacks or halting a massive conventional
military assault, as current policy stipulates.

"The US-Soviet standoff that gave rise to tens of thousands of
nuclear weapons is over, but the policies developed to justify their
possession and potential use remain largely the same,'' said Daryl
Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a
Washington think tank and leading advocate of disarmament. "Unless
the United States reduces its reliance and emphasis on nuclear
weapons, other states will have a cynical excuse to pursue or to
improve the capabilities and size of their nuclear forces.''

Potential threats studied
The review is assessing the potential threats over the next decade
that would require nuclear weapons, seeking to match the arsenal and
strategy to emerging dangers like North Korea, a rising China, and
nuclear terrorism - and away from the far less likely massive nuclear
exchange with Russia, according to several administration officials
who are familiar with the review.

Unlike the last nuclear weapons review, conducted in 2001 by the Bush
administration, it is intended "to provide a basis'' for future arms
reductions, according to the Pentagon.

Yet as a recent visit to several nuclear bases demonstrated, the
nuclear weapons enterprise is one of the most entrenched in the
national security bureaucracy. Strong opposition to major changes is
building in the Pentagon and Congress as military officers and
defense contractors with a major stake prepare to fight deep cuts to
land-based nuclear weapons or the fleet of nuclear bombers, the
mostly likely targets of reduction, according to interviews with
current and former commanders, top officials, and leading specialists.

Many also express fear that reducing the arsenal too much will be
destabilizing at a time when Russia, China, and other nations are
modernizing their inventories of nuclear weapons and the United States is not.

"There is no broad-based consensus in the policy community on how
important US nuclear weapons are to US security in the post-9/11
era,'' said Clark Murdock, a former strategic planner at the Pentagon
who is now a senior adviser at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic
and International Studies in Washington. "During the Cold War few
disputed that nuclear weapons were a core component of US national security.''

Submarines favored
The ability of a behemoth submarine like the USS Maryland to
disappear beneath the waves makes it and 13 other Navy "boomers,''
capable of carrying 24 Trident nuclear missiles each, the least
likely to be recommended for cuts, military officials and private
analysts said.

Nearly 600 feet long and four stories high, the "Fighting Mary'' was
impossible to miss when it was docked at the mouth of the St. Mary's
River in southeastern Georgia in late November. But enemies have
almost no way of knowing its location after it leaves port, making
the sub nearly invulnerable to attack. And it can remain at sea for
extended periods: Last year, over several deployments, the Maryland
was underway a total of nearly nine months out of the year.

"They get underway and disappear for all intents and purposes,'' Rear
Admiral Barry Bruner, commander of Submarine Group 10, said in a
recent interview at his headquarters in Kings Bay, Ga.

At any given time, four of the subs are on patrol, two of them ready
in under an hour to launch their missiles at targets as far as 4,000
miles away. Six are stationed in Georgia, eight in Washington State.

Some arms control groups believe US security interests could be met
with fewer submarines and various studies have recommended as few as
eight or nine, which would save billions of dollars. Already the Navy
has plans to reduce the fleet to 12 by 2030 as it replaces the
submarines with a new model.

But for war planners, they also bring more bang for the buck. Under
the terms of the proposed treaty with Russia, each submarine and its
24 Trident missiles would count as only one "delivery system,''
unlike the land-based missiles, which each count toward the total allowed.

A recent study by the Air Force Association, the main advocacy group
for the Air Force and not traditionally the biggest Navy booster,
concluded that if the United States were to choose to deploy its
nuclear weapons on only one platform, it should keep the submarines.
It was a remarkable statement given the traditional of interservice
rivalries in among the branches of the military.

Bombers could go
The Air Force's 114 long-range nuclear bombers - including the B-52
and B-2 stealth bombers and more than 1,000 nuclear missiles - are
believed to be the most vulnerable of the three legs of the triad.

Some former commanders and a growing number of specialists contend
they have far less military value now that an all-out nuclear war
with Russia is unlikely. Among them is retired General Eugene
Habiger, former commander of the US Strategic Command, which oversees
all US nuclear weapons, and the man who until 1998 was responsible
for America's nuclear war plan.

"I would recommend giving up the bomber leg,'' he said in an interview.

The bomber force emerged with the dawn of the nuclear age, when a
pair of B-29 bombers dropped the atomic bombs on Japan in the closing
days of World War II, destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killing
hundreds of thousands of people. After 1945, bombers were the sole
element of America's nuclear deterrent, until intercontinental
ballistic missiles and nuclear-armed submarines were introduced in 1959.

Their crews are still ready to be in the air within hours, officials
said, though the exact time needed to launch them is classified.

"We still maintain the same capacity we had during the Cold War,''
said Colonel Steven Basham, commander of the Second Bomb Wing at
Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

But sustaining the bomber leg will require billions of dollars in new
investments, according to the Air Force. The B-52s, which make up the
majority of the bomber fleet, are more than four decades old. The
bombers used by Basham's Second Bomb Wing were built in 1960 and
1961. The cruise missiles carried by the B-52s first came into
service in 1962 and there is no plan for a replacement.

There are other drawbacks. The recent study published by the Air
Force Association concluded that land-based missiles and nuclear
submarines are more likely to survive a devastating first strike than
bombers. The study, to the surprise of many longtime observers,
recommended gradually retiring the nuclear bomber force.

Nonetheless, there remains fierce resistance to scrapping the nuclear
bombers both inside and outside the Air Force. Supporters assert
that, unlike land-based missiles already on alert in fixed locations
or nuclear subs that must remain undetected, bombers, by being sent
aloft, can signal US intent to use nuclear weapons to help defuse a
possible crisis, such as with North Korea or Iran.

In other words, it is the only nuclear saber that can be rattled.

"Rolling the bomber fleet onto the flight line could be the first
step in escalation,'' said Adam B. Lowther, a faculty researcher at
the Air Force Research Institute at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

There are other military arguments to support maintaining the bomber
leg. For example, only bombers are currently outfitted to carry the
special version of B61 nuclear bomb designed to strike deeply buried
targets, which some assert might be needed to take out the nuclear
program of a threatening nation or terrorist group.

"Bombers are and will remain critical components of the strategic
nuclear triad because they possess great flexibility and
versatility,'' said General Frank Klotz, commander of the Air Force
Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base.

There is also likely to be significant political opposition. Like the
land-based missile and submarine forces, the bombers have strong
political backers in the states where they are located, including
Louisiana, Missouri, and North Dakota.

Missiles under review
Even if it moves to eliminate the bomber leg of the triad, the Obama
administration, is almost certainly going to have cut some of 450
intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, now spread across
Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming if it wants to bring the US
arsenal down to 1,000 warheads or less.

But even members of his own party - including senators he will need
to pass his proposed arms control treaty with Russia - could stand in his way.

"While we may not oppose modifications or some reductions to our
nuclear force, we are certain that the ICBM force as currently
constituted provides an extraordinary benefit to our national
security while delivering high value to the taxpayer,'' six
Democratic and five Republicans senators told Secretary of Defense
Robert M. Gates in a letter last fall.

The Minuteman III missiles, which can travel more than 6,000 miles
and hit their targets in 30 minutes, are considered the most reliable
of all three legs of the triad. The missile crews have the most
reliable communications with the president - the only person who can
order a nuclear launch - and 99 percent of the missiles are
traditionally on alert ready to launch within minutes.

The silos and launch centers, meanwhile, are disbursed and hardened
against attack, requiring a large-scale first strike by Russia to
take them out.

An adversary "would have to expend everything they have,'' said
Colonel Michael Fortney, commander of the 341st Missile Wing at
Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

The missile wing, which maintains and operates 150 missile silos
spread across 14,000 square miles of rolling hills and steep
plateaus, is responsible for 15 missile alert centers, each ready to
launch at least 10 missiles.

Fortney, like many senior military officers interviewed for this
story, said he is prepared to work under a new nuclear policy regime,
but warned that as the United States goes to lower numbers of
warheads it means that every weapon left becomes more important to
ensure that the nuclear arsenal maintains its capability and
credibility to deter potential enemies. That is likely to require new
investments in missiles and warheads, he suggested.

"There is somewhat of a greater sense of urgency,'' he said, "to make
sure that the systems stay on alert.''

Threats variable
The nuclear review is taking place as threats against the United
States, from former enemies, rogue nations, and potential terrorists,
remain in flux. Even the vestiges of the old Soviet Army seemed to
stir recently, giving ammunition to those who want to keep the
nuclear force closer to its current levels.

In a November exercise code-named "West,'' 13,000 Russian and
Belorussian troops practiced putting down a popular uprising and
storming a beachhead. Then, according to local media reports, the
Russian Air Force simulated a nuclear attack on Poland.

Word of the exercise immediately set off alarm bells in Warsaw, which
had been under Soviet domination for 40 years but is now a member of
the US-led NATO military alliance. It also underscored that Obama's
plans to deemphasize nuclear weapons are not necessarily held by
other nuclear powers.

"The Russian leadership is absolutely committed to their nuclear
weapons,'' said C. Franklin Miller, a former National Security
Council official who is now an unpaid adviser to the US Strategic
Command, the military headquarters based in Nebraska that oversees
all US nuclear weapons. "The Chinese certainly believe in their arsenal.''

Miller and others also point out that Russia also has a 10-to-1
advantage over the United States in so-called "tactical'' nuclear
weapons, smaller bombs that could be used on the battlefield to take
out large formations of troops. Those weapons are not covered in the
proposed arms reduction treaty with Russia, although senior
administration officials have said they intend to include them in
future negotiations.

Indeed, the actions of other nuclear weapons states have some
concerned that the United States could set off a new nuclear arms
race if it cuts its arsenal to 1,000 weapons or fewer.

Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education
Center and a member of a high-level commission that advises the
government on weapons of mass destruction, has argued that reducing
the US arsenal dramatically could lead China or other powers that now
have hundreds of nuclear weapons to try to reach parity by building
up their arsenals - what he calls the destabilizing prospect of a
"packed nuclear crowd.''

But others, like Kimball, note that Russia and the United States have
95 percent of the world's nuclear arms and that there would be plenty
of warning if a country like China, which is estimated to have 350
weapons, tried to catch up.

"The United States and Russia each deploy more than 2,000 strategic
warheads, most of which exist only to deter a massive nuclear attack
by the other,'' he said. "No other country possesses more than 300
nuclear warheads, and China currently has fewer than 30 nuclear-armed
missiles capable of striking the continental United States.''

Bryan Bender can be reached at <mailto:bender@...>bender@....



Ellen Thomas <et@...>
Proposition One in 2010 Campaign
PO Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038
202-682-4282 (dc) - 202-210-3886 (cell)
http://prop1.org - http://propositiononein2010.blogspot.com

Yes, We Can ...
Convert the War Machines ...
Provide for Human Needs ...
Think Globally, and Act Locally ...
Build Solar Panels and Windmills, Not Missiles and Bombs ...
IN OUR LIFETIMES!

LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!!!

Loan Program May Stir Dormant Nuclear Industry

Growth and Skepticism in Nuclear Power

Armenia Approves New Nuclear Plant Over Green Objections

By Gayane Mkrtchyan
YEREVAN, Armenia, December 28, 2009 (ENS)

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2009/2009-12-28-01.asp

Armenia has cleared the way for a new nuclear
power plant, despite green groups' objections
that its location could put the country's capital at risk.

Earlier this month, the government approved the
creation of Atomstroyexport, a joint
Russian-Armenian company that will own the station.

"Today we are taking a political decision, we are
giving our agreement to the creation of a joint
venture with our Russian partners," said Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan on December 3.

Armenia plans to finish the new generating unit
by 2016, and it will replace the Metsamor plant,
which produces 40 percent of the country's power
but is nearing the end of its life. Without the
nuclear plant, Armenia would be largely dependent
on gas imported from Russia or Iran.

"The new nuclear power station will become a
security zone for Armenia in the energy system. A
nuclear reactor is necessary as an energy
resource that can ensure the self-sufficiency of
the country," said Sevak Sarukhanyan, an
economist and deputy director of the Noravank think tank.

Sargsyan said the new station is crucial to
efforts to revive Armenia's economy, which has
suffered both from the post-Soviet collapse and
the blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"If we do not build the nuclear power station
then, of course, our competitive position will significantly worsen," he said.

Construction of the plant will take five or six
years, and it should have a working life of 60
years, which will guarantee Armenia's electricity supply far into the future.

Ecological groups, however, remain strongly
opposed to the plans. Hakob Manasaryan, head of
the Union of Greens, said the government did not
explore other energy options in its rush to
approve a new nuclear plant. He worries that
Armenia, which is prone to earthquakes, could see
a disaster such as the one that struck Ukraine's
Chernobyl reactor 23 years ago.

"I have the impression that the officials are
thinking only of the next 15 or 20 years. A new
structure, with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts
should be at least 100 to 150 kilometers (60 to
90 miles) from big cities. The existing Metsamor
station, which is just 20 km in a straight line
from the capital, does not even meet this condition," he said.

"There is not one safe working reactor. Of course
it is good if it is super-modern, which means, it
is less dangerous, but who can vouch for that?
And with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, the
consequences of the risk could be more
significant. The construction of a new reactor in
the same place [as the Metsamor plant] is even
more dangerous," said Manasaryan.

But Areg Galstyan, deputy energy and natural
resources minister, said new reactors are built
to far higher safety standards than
Chernobyl-type nuclear power stations, and that
the ecologists have nothing to worry about.
[]



Armenia's Metsamor nuclear power station (Photo
courtesy <http://www.nti.org/index.php>Nuclear Threat Initiative)

The Metsamor power station sits in the Ararat
Valley, in the very heart of Armenia, and is
surrounded by the towns of Armavir, Echmiadzin
and Metsamor. Its first unit started producing
power in 1976, and the second in 1980.

According to Armenia's Department of State Atomic
Control, the structure was strengthened after the
devastating earthquake of 1988. The waste is not
stored permanently on site, but is sent to Russia for disposal.

Sarukhanyan said an atomic plant is probably the
cleanest possible option for Armenia – compared
to a fossil fuel or hydro station – and would
allow the country to become a major exporter to
neighboring countries. That could even include
selling power to Turkey, if a peace deal agreed this year is ratified.

"What would happen to Armenia, if there is
another war in Georgia? You can say the same
thing about Iran. If, because of the tense
political situation, our gas supplies are cut,
then we would face an energy collapse," he said.

At the moment, Armenia's electricity network has
the capacity to export 200 megawatts to Turkey.
After the two countries normalize their ties,
Yerevan could upgrade the power lines and become
a major source of energy for eastern Turkey, which is growing quickly.

Stepan Safaryan, a parliament deputy from the
Heritage party, said this could prove a major source of revenue for Armenia.

"All predictions about global energy resources,
and particularly for electric energy, in the next
decade show a tendency towards growth. There are
developing countries in the region, therefore in
the long term we have not only a market but also
chances of creating our own electricity," he said.

Sargsyan in spring even announced that Turkish
companies would be welcome to participate in the
tender for the plant's construction, which was
organized by Australia's Worley Parsons.
Nationalists were shocked by his comments at the
time but Sarukhanyan said they need not have
worried, since the only serious bidder for the
project was the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation.

Sarukhanyan said top western companies would not
be prepared to invest such large amounts of money
in exchange for a non-guaranteed return.

"For Russia it is a realistic decision, however,
since it will have a leading position in
Armenia's energy sector. For a French or American
company, it would be a doubtful deal, since the
Armenian economy remains closed," he said.

But Safaryan worries that Armenia is becoming
over-dependent on Russia, which already dominates
much of the Armenian economy, including the telecom and electricity sectors.

"This will lead to a deeper dependence by our
country with all the political consequences
inherent in that," he said. "In this, like in any
other sector, the existence of an alternative and
of diversification is a question of independence and sovereignty."

{Gayane Mkrtchyan is a journalist with
Armenianow.com. This article originally appeared
December 24, 2009 in Caucasus Reporting Service,
produced by the <http://www.iwpr.net>Institute for War and Peace Reporting}




Ellen Thomas <et@...>
Proposition One in 2010 Campaign
PO Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038
202-682-4282 (dc) - 202-210-3886 (cell)
http://prop1.org - http://propositiononein2010.blogspot.com

Yes, We Can ...
Convert the War Machines ...
Provide for Human Needs ...
Think Globally, and Act Locally ...
Build Solar Panels and Windmills, Not Missiles and Bombs ...
IN OUR LIFETIMES!

LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!!!

Obama's nuclear-free vision mired in debate

Pentagon officials have pushed back against the president's goals to shrink the U.S. stockpile and reduce the role of such weapons in foreign policy, sources say.

• LATimes blog - Nevada growing tired of being a dumping ground, nuclear or otherwise - Ashley Powers
• Salt Lake Tribune - Editorial: DU deal--Details are disturbing
• Scripps News - Trainloads of depleted uranium radioactive waste head for Utah - Judy Fahys
• Platts - CPS Energy to make January payment on nuclear expansion project
• Reuters - Texas mayor wants meeting between NRG and utility - Eileen O'Grady
• San Antonio Business Journal - CPS Energy board works to fill vacancy
• San Antonio Business Journal - CPS Energy remains mum on nuclear power estimate
• San Antonio Express - Four finalists for CPS board announced - Anton Caputo
• San Antonio Express - Mayor wants nuclear partners to settle - Anton Caputo
• Knoxville News Sentinel - Big cleanups mean bigger landfills in Oak Ridge - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel - Y-12 to add technology for microwave casting of uranium - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - First alarms of the New Year - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - B&W Pantex scores 95, its highest ever - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - Big cleanups & bigger landfills in Oak Ridge - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - Californium back in good shape at ORNL - Frank Munger
• whsknox.blogs - Dave Nolan's pledge to victims of OSC's lawbreaking
• Miami Herald - Court records reveal trouble at Turkey Point - John Dorschner
• UPI - Depositions reveal nuke plant concerns
• Augusta Chronicle - SRS announces dates for tours open to public throughout 2010
• Free Lance-Star - Design for new reactor not final - Rusty Dennen
• HNN Huntingtonnews - One of a Series: Paducah Nuclear Plant Clean Up Still Faces Significant Hurdles--What Can Piketon (Portsmouth) Expect? - Tony Rutherford
• HNN Huntingtonnews - Part 2 of a Series: Paducah, Piketon, Other Workers Deceived (Poisoned?) for Greater National Good - Tony Rutherford
• TriCities - NFS shuts down production processes; employees shift roles - Dana Wachter
• Montgomery Newspapers - Exelon Nuclear to conduct siren test at 2 p.m. Jan. 4
• Valley News Dispatch - Shallow Land Disposal Area nuclear waste dump cleanup to start in summer - Mary Ann Thomas
• Asbury Park Press - N.J. nuclear plant shut down because of ice in river
• CBS 3 - Ice Slows Operation At N.J. Nuclear Power Plant
• Jersey Journal - Nuclear plant shut down, power cut at another in Lower Alloways Creek because of icing in Delaware River restricting cooling water intake - Bill Gallo Jr.
• NewJerseyNewsroom - Salem nuclear power plant shut down due to river icing - Andy Lagomarsino
• Press of Atlantic City - Cold enough for nuclear freeze - Ben Leach and Elaine Rose
• Press of Atlantic City - Nuclear generator at Salem site shut down due to icing
• AP Yahoo! - Budget, nuclear plant to dominate Vt. session
• 7thSpace - Long-term follow-up of beryllium sensitized workers from a single employer
• CounterCurrents - Apology to The Earth for Nuclear Bombs and War - Mary Hamer, M.D
• Wall Street Journal - A False Nuclear Start--Forty-one Senators vs. Biden on warhead modernization
• FCNL - Nuclear Calendar Update
• DOE - DOE-Sponsored Public Meetings and Workshops
• NRC - NRC to Hold Public Meeting Jan. 14 in Hobbs, N.M., to Discuss License Review of Proposed Uranium De-conversion Plant
• NRC - NRC Approves Final Rule on Nuclear Reactor Vessel Protection Requirements
• Energy Department - NOTICES Amended Record of Decision: Idaho High-Level Waste and Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement (Revised by State 12/21/09) , 137–140 [E9–31151]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - RULES Alternate Fracture Toughness Requirements for Protection Against Pressurized Thermal Shock Events , 13–29 [E9–31146]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Order Imposing Trustworthiness and Reliability Requirements for Unescorted Access to Certain Radioactive Material , 160–166 [E9–31147]
• Tennessee Valley Authority - NOTICES Determinations on the PURPA Standards Set Forth in the Energy Independence and Security Act (of 2007) , 181–184 [E9–31128]
• South America: AP Yahoo! - Slide city mayor seeks Brazil nuke plant shutdown - Tales Azzoni
• Canada: AECL - AECL provides update on NRU activities
• Oceania: Radio New Zealand - French official says demonstration against nuclear law noted
• East Asia: Nuclear Engineering - KEPCO wins UAE civil nuclear bid
• East Asia: AFP Google - S.Korea seeks 'turning point' in ties with North - Nam You-Sun
• East Asia: BBC News - South Korea proposes war dead search to North
• East Asia: UPI Asia - Koreas to seek summit this year - Lee Jong-Heon
• East Asia: Xinhua News - Washington calls on Pyongyang to return to six-party talks
• East Asia: Xinhua News - S Korean president stresses diplomacy, better ties with DPRK in New Year's speech
• East Asia: Chosun Ilbo - Korean Reunification 'Will Cost $5 Trillion'
• East Asia: Dong-A Ilbo - How Aggressive Will P`yang Get on Inter-Korean Summit?
• East Asia: The Hankyoreh - Editorial: S. Korea's response to North Korea's transition and improvements in inter-Korean relations
• East Asia: JoongAng Daily - Editorial: Time for a new nuclear era
• East Asia: Joongang Daily - Time for a new nuclear era
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Editorial: Sudden olive branch
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Lee proposes liaison offices with North - Hwang Jang-jin
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Lee's vows may boost inter-Korean ties - Kim Ji-hyun
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea says dialogue with N. Korea in 2010 should help denuclearize Pyongyang - Sam Kim
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Speculation on inter-Korean summit gathers steam - Sam Kim
• East Asia: Yonhap News - N. Korea's new currency plummets against Chinese yuan: report
• South Asia: The Hindu - Koodankulam project may go on stream by June
• South Asia: Pakistan Observer - Myth of Indian nukes safety - Mohammad Jamil
• South Asia: Thaindian News - Two committees probing BARC fire: chairman
• Europe: Platts - GDF Suez still to contest Belgian nuclear levy after Dec payment
• North Europe: Baltic Times - Lithuania at a loss as power plant shuts down - Oskars Magone
• North Europe: Nuclear Street - Lithuania Shuts Down Its Only Nuclear Plant - Stephen Heiser
• East Europe: Prague Daily Monitor - Šumava residents protest against nuclear waste repository
• Russia: UPI - Russia says arms talks at risk
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - US Nuclear Umbrella and the GCC: From Prevention to Protection Dr Mustafa Alani
• Middle East: AP Yahoo! - Clinton says US still open to talks with Iran - Robert Burns
• Middle East: AFP Google - US says door still open on Iran nuclear issue - Christophe Schmidt
• Middle East: AFP Google - France rejects Iran's nuclear counter-proposal
• Middle East: AFP Google - Iranian president visits Central Asia
• Middle East: AFP Google - Chinese firms trading with Iran evade US sanctions: report
• Middle East: BBC News - US discusses Iran 'next' steps' with partner nations
• Middle East: Reuters - Chinese firms evade U.S. Iran sanctions: report
• Middle East: UPI - Israel balks at U.S. arms deals with Arabs
• Middle East: UPI - Iran scorns visit by U.S. Sen. John Kerry
• Middle East: Xinhua News - Door "still open" for Iran cooperation: White House
• Middle East: PRESS TV - US ready to step up pressure on Iran, Clinton says
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Ahmadinejad says Iran tenfold stronger
• Middle East: PRESS TV - US rejects Iran's ultimatum to West
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Israel claims UNSC will impose new Iran sanctions
• South Africa: DefenceWeb - Book Review: How SA built six atom bombs - Leon Engelbrecht

Uranium Weapons, Low-Level Radiation and Deformed Babies

by Paul Zimmerman

A dramatic increase in the number of babies born with birth defects was recently
reported by doctors working in Falluja, Iraq [1]. One of the proposed causes for
this alarming situation is radiation exposure to the population produced by
uranium weapons. The international radiation protection community dismisses this
explanation as completely unreasonable because (1) the radiation dose to the
population of Iraq was too low, and (2) no evidence of birth defects was
reported among offspring born to survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. This so-called scientific explanation is deeply disturbing, for it
is out of touch with the current knowledge base. Abundant evidence exists which
clearly demonstrates that birth defects are being induced by levels of radiation
in the environment deemed safe by the radiation protection community. In light
of this knowledge, uranium contamination cannot be summarily dismissed as a
hazard to the unborn.

The destruction of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl produced a different type of
radiation exposure from that portrayed for the atomic bomb. In Japan, victims
were exposed to an instantaneous flash of gamma radiation and neutrons delivered
from outside their bodies. In contrast, the Chernobyl accident scattered
microscopic radioactive particles from the reactor's core throughout Europe
which was then inhaled and ingested by the populace.  In this situation, those
contaminated began receiving ongoing, low-dose exposure internally.  According
to the current theory of radiation effects embraced by the radiation protection
community, there is no qualitative difference in the two types of exposure. What
matters is the total amount of energy delivered to the body. Thus, the health
effects experienced by the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be considered
to be representative of the health effects produced from any type of radiation
exposure. In the case of birth defects, this assumption has been proven wrong. 
As a result of the external exposure in Japan, there was no increase in the
incidence of birth defects among children whose parents were exposed to the
bombings [2]. In contrast, radiation-induced birth defects have been documented
in populations receiving low doses of internal contamination.  In light of this
contradiction, it's obvious that the accepted theory of radiation effects is in
error and needs to be corrected. The information which follows will demonstrate
the hazard to the unborn produced by radioactive material vented into the
environment.

1.  In the book Chernobyl: 20 Years On, a chapter is devoted to discussing the
birth defects in children who, while gestating in the wombs of their mothers,
were exposed to radioactivity released by the Chernobyl reactor [3]. The author
provides an overview of dozens of studies which confirm that low levels of
radiation present in many areas of Europe after Chernobyl were responsible for a
wide variety of birth defects. These birth defects occurred where radiation
exposure was judged by the radiation protection agencies to be too low to
warrant concern.  Fifteen studies were cited which demonstrated an increase in
the incidence of a wide variety of congenital malformations. Other studies cited
confirmed increases in the rate of stillbirths, infant deaths, spontaneous
abortions, and low birthweight babies. An elevated incidence of Down's syndrome
was also documented. In addition, an excess of a variety of other health defects
were detected which included mental retardation and other mental disorders,
diseases of the respiratory and circulatory systems, and asthma.

In a separate chapter of the same book, Alexey Yablokov of the Russian Academy
of Sciences provided a review of the extensive body of research conducted after
Chernobyl.  Regarding studies on birth defects, he cited an increased frequency
of a number of congenital malformations which included cleft lip and/or palate
("hare lip"), doubling of the kidneys, polydactyly (extra fingers or toes),
anomalies in the development of nervous and blood systems, amelia (limb
reduction defects), anencephaly (defective development of the brain), spina
bifida (incomplete closure of the spinal column), Down's syndrome, abnormal
openings in the esophagus and anus, and multiple malformations occurring
simultaneously [4].

2.   The wide range of birth defects produced by the Chernobyl accident cannot
be accounted for by the data collected from the survivors of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. This is one compelling thread of evidence that something is amiss in
the current field of radiation protection. But there is a further problem.  The
proposed threshold dose of radiation capable of interfering with the development
of a fetus, again based on the research from Japan, is between fifty and one
hundred times greater than what the radiation protection community insists was
the typical exposure in the areas of Europe where the elevated frequency of
birth defects was documented. How are we to make sense of these contradictions?
Chromosome studies conducted in the contaminated regions provide the answer.

In individuals exposed to ionizing radiation, peripheral lymphocytes, those
lymphocytes which circulate in the blood, have an elevated occurrence of certain
types of misshapen chromosomes [3,5]. Of particular interest are dicentric
chromosomes which are produced when radiation breaks both strands of the DNA
double helix in two neighboring chromosomes and the genetic material is then
misrepaired. An increase in the relative frequency of these aberrantly shaped
structures serve as a biological indicator of radiation exposure which is immune
to lies and political propaganda.  More specifically, the increased rate of
these aberrations is proportional to the dose of radiation received. Thus, their
frequency can be used to determine the true level of exposure in contaminated
individuals. Studies of this type were conducted in Europe subsequent to the
Chernobyl accident [3]. These studies demonstrated that the official dose
estimates published by the radiation protection agencies were woefully in error,
greatly underestimating the true level of exposure of people throughout Europe. 
This discrepancy casts further doubt on the scientific integrity of those
organizations who are supposedly protecting the world from radioactive
pollution. When combining the studies of chromosome aberrations with the studies
of birth defects, the science speaks for itself: the population in many areas of
Europe received much higher doses from Chernobyl than claimed and birth defects
were induced by much smaller doses than suggested by current radiation
protection science.

3. As the clouds of fallout from Chernobyl wafted around the planet, governments
broadcast reassurances to their anxious citizens that there was no cause for
concern, that doses to the public would be too low to produce detrimental health
effects. Politically motivated, this advice was medically ill-conceived. What
became evident after the accident was that children who received exposure to
Chernobyl fallout, while still in the wombs of their mothers, experienced an
elevated risk of developing leukemia by the time of their first birthday [6,7].
Relevant to this discussion is the fact that a gene mutation occurring in utero
is one cause of infant leukemia [8,9].)  In countries where unimpeachable data
was collected for levels of fallout deposited in the environment, doses to the
population, and the incidence of childhood leukemia, an unmistakable, uniform
trend emerged: the studied population of children born during the 18-month
period following the accident suffered increased rates of leukemia in their
first year of life compared to children born prior to the accident or to those
born subsequent to the accident after the level of  possible maternal
contamination had sufficiently diminished. This was confirmed in five separate
studies conducted independently of one another: in Greece [9], Germany [10],
Scotland [11], the United States [12], and Wales [13]. Again here is evidence
that defects are being induced in fetuses that we are told by the radiation
protection community are not possible. According to the European Committee on
Radiation Risk (ECRR), these results provide unequivocal evidence that the risk
model of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) for
infant leukemia is in error by a factor of between 100-fold and 2000-fold, the
latter figure allowing for a continued excess incidence of leukemia as the
population of children studied continues to age [6].

4.  Other types of chromosome studies have been performed which demonstrate that
radiation in the environment is producing damage to DNA that is being passed on
to offspring.  Minisatellites are identical short segments of DNA that repeat
over and over again in a long array along a chromosome. These stretches of DNA
do not code for the formation of any protein. What distinguishes these
minisatellites is that they acquire spontaneous repeats through mutation at a
known rate, which is 1,000 times higher than normal protein-coding genes. Dr.
Yuri Dubrova, currently at the University of Leicester, first realized that
these stretches of DNA could be used to detect radiation-induced genetic
mutations by showing that their known rate of mutation had increased subsequent
to exposure.  Dubrova and his colleagues studied the rate of minisatellite
mutations in families that had lived in the heavily polluted rural areas of the
Mogilev district of Belarus after the Chernobyl meltdown [14]. They found the
frequency of mutations being passed on by males to their descendants was nearly
twice as high in the exposed families compared to the control group families.
Among those exposed, the mutation rate was significantly greater in families
with a higher parental dose. This finding was consistent with the hypothesis
that radiation had induced mutations in the the reproductive germ cells of
parents and then transmitted to their offspring. This was the first conclusive
proof that radiation produced inheritable mutations in humans.

Minisatellite DNA testing has also been performed on the children of Chernobyl
"liquidators" i.e., those people who participated in post-accident cleanup
operations. When the offspring of liquidators born after the accident were
compared to their siblings born prior to the accident, a sevenfold increase in
genetic damage was observed [15,16].  As reported by the ECRR, "for the loci
measured, this finding defined an error of between 700-fold and 2,000-fold in
the ICRP model for heritable genetic damage" [6]. The ECRR made this further
observation: "It is remarkable that studies of the children of those exposed to
external radiation at Hiroshima show little or no such effect, suggesting a
fundamental difference in mechanism between the exposures [17].  The most likely
difference is that it was the internal exposure to the Chernobyl liquidators
that caused the effects".

5. In November 2009, Joseph Mangano of the Radiation and Public Health Project
published a study of newborn hypothyroidism near the Indian Point nuclear
reactors in Buchanan, New York [13]. Hypothyroidism is a disease characterized
by an insufficient production of the hormone thyroxine. One cause of the disease
is exposure to radioactive iodine which selectively destroys cells in the
thyroid gland. Currently, the only environmental source of radioactive iodine is
emissions from nuclear power plants. According to Mangano, four counties in New
York state flank Indian Point and nearly all the residents of these counties
live within 20 miles of the reactor complex. During the period 1997 to 2007, the
rate of newborn hypothyroidism in the combined four-county population was 92.4%
greater, or nearly double, the U.S. rate. The rate in each of the four counties
separately was above the U.S. rate, and in two of the counties, the rate was
more than double the national rate. In the period 2005-2007, the four county
rate was 151.4% above the national rate. These finding were consistent with the
fact that the local rate of thyroid cancer is 66% greater than the U.S. rate
[14].

Mangano's study raises important questions regarding our common welfare.  We
live with assurances by government and industry that nuclear reactors are
operating within guidelines sponsored by the radiation protection agencies. 
What radiation they emit are dismissed as too low to warrant concern. An yet,
babies born to mothers living in proximity to Indian Point are suffering an
increased rate of hypothyroidism.  Either the reactor complex is emitting more
radiation than publicly known, or once again, there is an error in the safety
standards published by the radiation protection community.

6. Are weapons containing depleted uranium a cause for concern for producing
birth defects? Given that uranium inside the human body targets the reproductive
system, the elevated rate of birth defects in Iraq strongly suggests that DU
exposure is involved. In experimental animals exposed to uranium compounds,
uranium has been found to accumulate in the testes [20]. Among Gulf War veterans
wounded by DU shrapnel, elevated levels of uranium have been found in their
semen [21]. In light of this discovery, the Royal Society cautions that this
raises "the possibility of adverse effects on the sperm from either the
alpha-particles emanating from DU, chemical effects of uranium on the genetic
material or the chemical toxicity of uranium [21]." In experiments on female
rats, uranium was found to cross the placenta and become concentrated in the
tissues of the fetus [20,21,22].  When DU pellets were implanted into pregnant
female rats, a direct relation was observed between the amount of contamination
in the mother and the amount of contamination in the placenta and the fetus
[23,24]. Most importantly, once dissolved within the body, uranium's primary
chemical form is the uranyl ion UO2++. This form of uranium has an affinity for
DNA and binds strongly to it [25]. This fact alone is should be sufficient to
halt the scattering of DU aerosols amidst populations. Internalized uranium
targets human genetic material! Needless to say, this fact is totally ignored by
the International Commission on Radiological Protection and related
organizations when determining safe levels of exposure to uranium and assessing
the risk posed by uranium for inducing birth defects.

7.  In infants, hydrocephalus is a condition characterized by increased head
size and atrophy of the brain. The frequency of this birth defect has increased
dramatically in Iraq since the first Gulf War [26]. A small and admittedly
incomplete study conducted in the United States lends credence to the hypothesis
that DU exposure is the causative agent [26]. Rural and sparsely populated
Socorro County is located downwind of a DU-weapons testing site, the Terminal
Effects Research and Analysis division of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and
Technology. On average, 250 births occur yearly in the county.  An investigation
by a community activist revealed that between 1984 and 1986, five infants were
born with hydrocephalus. (The normal rate of hydrocephalus is one case in every
500 live births). According to the demonstrably incomplete State of New Mexico's
passive birth defects registry, between 1984 and 1988, 19 infants were born
statewide with the condition, three of these within Socorro county. Regardless
of which accounting is correct, the results are disturbing given that Socorro
contains less than 1% of the state's population.

8.  To conclude, the current dogma regarding radiation effects cannot account
for the increase in genetic malformations in populations exposed internally to
low levels of radiation. Something is deeply wrong with the current science of
radiation safety.  Given this, statements by the radiation protection community
regarding the impossibility that low levels of uranium can cause birth defects
are suspect.  Numerous studies demonstrate that uranium produces a wide range of
birth defects in experimental animals [20,26].  Further, numerous in vitro and
in vivo studies conducted in the last twenty years have proven that uranium is
genotoxic (capable of damaging DNA), cytotoxic (poisonous to cells), and
mutagenic (capable of inducing mutations) [27]. These effects are produced
either by uranium's radioactivity or its chemistry or a synergistic interaction
between the two. These findings lend plausibility to the idea that the observed
increased incidence of deformed babies in Iraq is related to depleted uranium
munitions [26].

Paul Zimmerman is the author of A Primer in the Art of Deception:  The Cult of
Nuclearists, Uranium Weapons and Fraudulent Science.  A more technical, fully
referenced presentation of the ideas presented in this article can be found
within its pages. Excerpts, free to download, are available at
www.du-deceptions.com.

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[14]  Dubrova Y.E., Nesterov V.N., Jeffreys A.J., et al.  Further Evidence for
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Uranium Weapons and Fraudulent Science.  2009.  www.du-deceptions.com

Nuclear Calendar

• Salt Lake Tribune - Radioactive waste soon to find home in Utah--Guv's deal with DOE requires safety review. - Judy Fahys
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• Middle East: AFP Google - New Iran sanctions within a month: Israeli minister
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• West Africa: Daily Sun - Deregulation will further impoverish Nigerians - NUPENG - Bimbola Oyesola

• Las Vegas Review-Journal - Budget tips for state get reply - Benjamin Spillman
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• Victoria Advocate - Top Stories of 2009: Exelon nuclear delays build - Gabe Semenza
• Knoxville News Sentinel - Safety at NFS halting work--Action letter from NRC forces changes to be made at facility - Jeff Keeling
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• The Tennessean - Nuclear fuel plant suspends production for safety improvements
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• Tarentum Valley News Dispatch - Ludlum mill is VND's story of the year
• Canada: Globe and Mail - Canada's dirty nuclear secret - Neil Reynolds
• Canada: Northumberland News - Radioactive waste clean-up progress is Port Hope's 2009 Newsmaker of the Year - Jennifer O'Meara
• East Asia: AP - NKorea calls for end of hostile relations with US - Kwang-Tae Kim
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• East Asia: Washington Post - N. Korea's New Year's message calls for 'lasting peace' on its peninsula - Kwang-Tae Kim
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• North Europe: CCTV - Lithuania closes its nuclear power station
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• Prescott Daily Courier - 'Downwinder' presentation at Sharlot Hall
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• East Asia: NYTimes AP - NKorea Calls for End of Hostile Relations With US
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• South Asia: Deccan Herald - South Korea to push for nuke deal with India
• North Europe: Focus News - EUobserver: Lithuania nuclear shutdown to test EU-Russia relations
• East Europe: Czech Happenings - Czech in Sumava again protest against nuclear waste repository
• Middle East: Gerson Lehrman Group - Middle East Nuclear Power is more logical than you think
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - UAE-South Korea Nuclear Deal: A Strategic Choice Nicole Stracke
• Middle East: The Guardian - Vanunu: our duty to speak up--The absurd persecution of nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu did not relent on his release - Duncan Campbell
• Middle East: Palestine Telegraph - Israeli Citizen asks Israeli Government to explain IDF use of DU - Maysaa Jarour
• Middle East: AP NYTimes - Standoff in Iran Deepens With New Show of Force - Michael Slackman
• Middle East: AP NYTimes - Iran Warns West It Will Make Its Own Nuclear Fuel
• Middle East: ABS CBN News - West has a month to accept Iran nuclear proposal: FM
• Middle East: AFP Google - Iran 'standing in its own way' on nuclear deal: US
• Middle East: AFP Google - Europe must not isolate Iran over human rights: Italy
• Middle East: AFP Google - Iran gives West ultimatum to accept uranium swap - Aresu Eqbali
• Middle East: The Examiner - Iran again offers to halt uranium enrichment for fuel swap; why won't US and Obama declare peace? - Carl Herman
• Middle East: New York Times - U.S. Sees an Opportunity to Press Iran on Nuclear Fuel - David E. Sanger and William J. Broad
• Middle East: New York Times - Iran Gives West One-Month 'Ultimatum' to Accept Nuclear Counterproposal - Michael Slackman
• Middle East: The Observer - Barack Obama talks tough on terror as Iran raises nuclear stakes - Paul Harris
• Middle East: Arab News - Avoid nuke standoff, Prince Saud tells Tehran - Ghazanfar Ali Khan
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - Iran nuclear 'ultimatum' changes nothing: Germany
• Middle East: Ynetnews - US: Iran 'standing in its own way' with nuke plan
• Middle East: Ynetnews - Iran warns it will make its own nuclear fuel - AP and Roni Sofer
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Obama targets Iran 'Guards' with new sanctions
• Middle East: PRESS TV - European lawmakers plan visit to Iran
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• Pahrump Valley Times - PETT funds were a cash cow from Yucca project - Mark Waite
• Pahrump Valley Times - Nye girds for Yucca closure - Mark Waite
• Las Vegas SUN - Storing the sun's heat--Nevada, Arizona race to be the first to use emerging technology - Stephanie Tavares
• New Times SLO - Letter: Fault should be considered - Rochelle Becker
• UPI - Group moves ahead on Calif. nuclear plant
• Idaho Samizdat - Areva targets Fresno, California, for new reactor - Dan Yurman
• Daily Journal of Commerce - Big cleanup at Hanford needs big contractor - Nathalie Weinstein
• KUOW - Hanford's Year-End Report Card From Washington State Ecology - Anna King
• Grand Junction Sentinel - Time to tap abundant resources of Energy Alley - Gary Harmon
• San Antonio Business Journal - Judge denies order against CPS Energy
• Greeneville Sun - Nuclear Fuel Services Plant 'Standing Down' To Make Changes - Bill Jones
• Knoxville News Sentinel - NFS to temporarily shut down some operations during changes - Jeff Keeling
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - DOE's Jeanette Miller retires - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - IG finds conflicting info on alleged misconduct - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - Deep inside ORNL's Holifield research facility - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - A Pantex/Y-12 contract in the works? - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - ORNL's work for National Security Agency - Frank Munger
• WJZ - Nuclear Fuel Plant Suspends Production
• Aiken Standard - Probe finds distrust at SRS - Mike Gellatly
• Charleston Regional Business - USC receives grant to study nuclear energy industry
• Cape Cod Today - 1958: Cape Cod recommended for nuclear reprocessing plant
• Brattleboro Reformer - Labor unions support VY contract renewal - Bob Audette
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• POWERnews - DOE to Fund Three "Energy Innovation Hubs" for Speedy Commercial Deployment
• DOE:IG - Special Inquiry Report: "Review of Allegations Involving Potential Misconduct by a Senior Office of Environmental Management Official" (pdf-48K)
• NAS - Project Update: Review and Assessment of Closure Plans for the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility and the Chemical Agent Munition Disposal System
• Army Department - NOTICES Environmental Impact Statements; Availability, etc.: Development and Implementation of Range-Wide Mission and Major Capabilities at White Sands Missile Range; New Mexico , 69333 [E9–30594]
• Environmental Protection Agency - NOTICES Environmental Impact Statements; Availability, etc.: Availability of EPA Comments , 69337–69338 [E9–31053]
• UN: IAEA - Looking Ahead to 2010
• UN: IAEA - 2009: Year in Review
• Asia-Pacific: Today's Zaman - Hiroshima: a living memorial to the atomic bomb
• Asia: AFP Google - China's rise erodes Western bargaining power: observers - Robert Saiget
• Asia: NY TImes blog - Chinese Shipping Company Mulls a Nuclear-Powered Fleet - James Kanter
• East Asia: AP - NKorea vows to achieve nuclear-free Koreas - Kwang-Tae Kim
• East Asia: AFP Google - N.Korea calls for end to hostile relations with US
• East Asia: Reuters - North Korea says wants end to hostile U.S. ties
• East Asia: Korea Times - Renewable Energy Use Lowest in Key Nations - Lee Hyo-sik
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea mulls offering aid for release of POWs in North - Kim Hyun
• East Asia: Yonhap News - N. Korea's internal changes may pose new threat to S. Korea: defense head - Sam Kim
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea to increase number of peacekeeping troops to 1,000 - Lee Chi-dong
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Lee says S. Korea paving ground for better ties with North - Byun Duk-kun
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea to center 'grand bargain' offer in North Korea policy - Kim Hyun
• Central Asia: Kelowna - Kazakhstan outpaces Canada for uranium output
• Central Asia: UPI - Kazakhstan world leader in uranium mining
• Europe: Gloucestershire Gazette - Concerns over proposed nuclear power station development in Oldbury - Liza-Jane Gillespie
• Europe: Reuters - GDF Suez to appeal 2009 nuclear levy - Philip Blenkinsop
• North Europe: AP - Lithuania shuts Soviet-era nuclear reactor
• North Europe: AFP Google - Soviet-era Lithuanian nuclear plant shuts down under EU deal - Marielle Vitureau
• North Europe: Baltic Business News - Lithuanian PM: we are prepared to shut nuclear plant today
• North Europe: BBC News - Lithuania shuts its only nuclear power station
• North Europe: EUobserver - Lithuania nuclear shutdown to test EU-Russia relations - Andrew Rettman
• North Europe: EuroNews - Lithuania to close its only nuclear power station
• North Europe: UPI - Lithuania to shut down nuclear plant
• Russia: Foreign Policy - Putin spoiling Obama's nuclear plans? - Josh Rogin
• Middle East: AFP Google - US mulls new sanctions on Iran as year ends - Lachlan Carmichael
• Middle East: UPI - EU visit to Tehran angers U.S. lawmakers
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Israel, US not discussing Iran war, envoy says
• Middle East: PRESS TV - US official hints at new sanctions against Iran
• Middle East: The Guardian - Letter: Vanunu's courage - Ernest Rodker

• Deseret News - Board proposes new safeguards on depleted uranium - Amy Joi O'Donoghue
• Tooele Transcript-Bulletin - Letter: Leave DU out of our backyards - Rebecca Boren
• Arizona Republic - Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station cancels security alert notice due to earthquake - Jackee Coe
• Hanford News - Obama moves to curb federal secrets - Anne Flaherty
• San Antonio Express - NRG Energy loses first round - Anton Caputo and Tracy Idell Hamilton
• Knoxville News Sentinel - Y-12 focus changing from bomb making to national security - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel - OR operations got record funds for non-DOE work - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel - ORNL working with Marines to upgrade combat vehicle - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - A look back at the Kiriyenko visit to Y-12 - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - Y-12 technology boosts nuke dismantlement - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - DOE's Boyd: 2011-12 budgets could be 'tough' - Frank Munger
• Augusta Chronicle - Nuclear commission upgrades safety regulations - Rob Pavey
• Toledo Blade - Davis-Besse should have issued alert, NRC says
• Boston Globe - Potent fuel at MIT reactor makes for uneasy politics - Bryan Bender
• MassLive - Opponents of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant from Franklin County to join Vermont march - Cori Urban
• iPetitions - NNWJ & P.R.E.S.S.--Petition For Congress to Pay Benefits to Workers
• Scripps News - Dessert: Obama: No more Mr. Nice Guy - Dale McFeatters
• PR Newswire - Southern Alliance for Clean Energy: New Loan-Guarantee Bailout for New Nuclear Reactors Puts U.S. Taxpayers at Risk as Department of Energy Hands Over Billions of Dollars to 'Poster Child for Cost Overruns'
• UPI - New submarine delivered to U.S. Navy
• Energy Department - NOTICES Meetings: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah, 69085 [E9–30961]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Decision to Evaluate a Petition to Designate a Class of Employees to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA , 69103 [E9–30984]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Decision to Evaluate a Petition to Designate a Class of Employees to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort: Westinghouse Electric Corp, Bloomfield, NJ , 69103–69104 [E9–30983]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort, Hanford site in Richland, Washington, 69105 [E9–30985]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort, Metals and Controls Corp. in Attleboro, Massachusetts, 69104 [E9–30986]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort, Oak Ridge Hospital, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 69105 [E9–30987]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort, Piqua Organic Moderated Reactor site, Piqua, Ohio, 69104 [E9–30988]
• Health and Human Services Department - NOTICES Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort, Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, 69104–69105 [E9–30989]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Confirmatory Order Modifying License: U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority, et al. , 69149–69152 [E9–31019]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Consent to Indirect Change of Control and Issuance of License Amendment to Materials License: Cogema Mining, Inc, Irigaray and Christensen Ranch Facilities , 69152–69153 [E9–31036]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Meetings; Sunshine Act , 69153–69154 [E9–30974]
• Mexico: Business News Americas - Up to 2.8GW of new nuclear capacity through 2024, says Sener
• Canada: Canada NewsWire - NRU Status Report No. 36
• Oceania: The Westender - Why not nuclear? - Mike Head
• Asia-Pacific: Xinhua News - Japan warms relations with India but future accord remains hazy
• Asia: Xinhua News - China's contribution to Copenhagen climate talks praised
• East Asia: The Economist - KEPCO wins a nuclear contract--Korean reactors trump Western ones
• East Asia: UPI Asia - North Korea may conduct nuclear test in 2010
• East Asia: UPI - S. Korea seeks return of reactor gear
• East Asia: Xinhua News - Discussions to resume six-party talks ongoing: FM
• East Asia: Korea Herald - KEPCO to open graduate school on nuclear power studies - Cynthia J. Kim
• East Asia: JoongAng Daily - From student to teacher in 20 years
• East Asia: Korea Times - Nuclear Power Plant for Sale - Choi Yearn-hong
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Regional powers seek quick resumption of talks on N.K. nuke: minister - Lee Chi-dong
• East Asia: Yonhap News - N. Korea in row with KEDO over nuke reactor site equipment - Lee Chi-dong
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Koreas open renewed military communication lines - Tony Chang
• Central Asia: AFP Google - Kazakhstan, Iran deny uranium deal
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• Central Asia: Bloomberg - Kazakhstan Says It Became the Biggest Uranium Producer in 2009 - Maria Kolesnikova and Nariman Gizitdinov
• Central Asia: Reuters UK - Update 1-Kazakhstan raises 2009-10 uranium output targets
• South Asia: UPI - Pakistan gets early warning radar
• Europe: BBC News - New group opposes Hinkley Point nuclear plans
• Europe: Times & Star - Waste dump plan submitted
• Europe: Whitehaven News - Uranium is shipped from Thorp to Russia
• North Europe: Baltic Course - Lietuvos Energija is ready for operation after closure of Ignalina - Petras Vaida
• East Europe: Sofia Echo - Russia ready to finance two years of Belene NPP construction
• Russia: BBC News - Vladimir Putin attacks US missile defence
• Middle East: Asharq Alawsat - Inside the UAE's Nuclear Program - Salman Dossari
• Middle East: The Guardian - Iran 'close to deal' for Kazakh uranium - Daniel Nasaw
• Middle East: Reuters - Iran denies secret deal to import Kazakh uranium - Ramin Mostafavi
• Middle East: Washington Post - As standoff with Iran continues, U.S. prepares targeted sanctions - Glenn Kessler
• Middle East: UPI - Israelis ponder the perils of hitting Iran
• Middle East: Xinhua News - Accusations against Iran's nuclear program "irresponsible:" Russian diplomat
• Middle East: PRESS TV - 'Japan ready for nuclear cooperation with Iran'
• Middle East: PRESS TV - 'West trying to force Iran to withdraw from NPT'
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Iran mulls over producing research reactor fuel
• Middle East: PRESS TV - US spies: Israel or UK forged nukes report on Iran

• Knoxville News Sentinel - DOE: Bechtel Jacobs out as contractor at K-25 site - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - A big, big question: What to do about 9212? - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - Trivette retires from DOE's Oak Ridge office - Frank Munger
• Troy Media - The Manhattan Project: The building of the Atomic Bomb (Part 4 of 4) - Bob Weinstein
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Applications and Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses Involving No Signifacnt Hazards: Biweekly Notice , 68867–68872 [E9–30675]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES NUREG–1934, Nuclear Power Plant Fire Modeling Application Guide Draft Report for Comment , 68872–68873 [E9–30823]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Request for Action Under 10 CFR 2.206 Entergy Operations, Inc., et al. , 68873 [E9–30822]
• Asia: Reuters UK - RPT-Factbox-China's nuclear power plants and plans - Eadie Chen and Chen Aizhu
• East Asia: AFP Google - N.Korea: American detained for illegal entry - Simon Martin
• East Asia: Chosun Ilbo - Korea Has Come a Long Way in Nuclear Technology
• East Asia: Dong-A Ilbo - Self-sufficiency in Nuke Technology Sought by 2012
• East Asia: The Hankyoreh - KEPCO consortia UAE nuclear power plant budget examined
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Korea to boost exports of nuclear reactors
• East Asia: Yonhap News - N. Korea investigating American for "illegal" entry: KCNA - Tony Chang
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Expectations grow for third inter-Korean summit in 2010 - Kim Hyun
• South Asia: Hindustan Times - India, Japan waltz closer, to sign mega deal today - Samar Halarnkar, Hindustan Times
• Russia: AFP Google - Russia needs new arms to counter US shield: Putin - Alissa de Carbonnel
• Russia: Reuters - U.S. missile shield holding up nuclear deal: Putin
• Russia: Reuters - The return of the Russian bear
• Middle East: BBC News - Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu arrested
• Middle East: AFP Google - Israel's nuclear whistleblower Vanunu detained
• Middle East: Reuters - Israeli police arrest nuclear whistleblower Vanunu
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Iran mulls over producing research reactor fuel
• Middle East: PRESS TV - US spies: Israel or UK forged nukes report on Iran
• Middle East: PRESS TV - Larijani raps US, UK over Tehran protests

Top 100 Energy Stories Dec. 21st – 27th 2009

Top 100 Energy Stories Dec. 21st – 27th 2009

NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT - YES, WE CAN! IN OUR LIFETIME!

• Grand Junction Sentinel - Two companies push Uranium mining in region - Gary Harmon
• Grand Junction Sentinel - 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings moving away from Colorado River site - Gary Harmon
• Grand Junction Sentinel - Company wants to build Uranium plant near Green River - Gary Harmon
• Nuclear Street - NINA Responds To CPS Legal Action - Stephen Heiser
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - ORNL working on Light Armored Vehicle - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - New ORNL work for National Security Agency? - Frank Munger
• Nuclear Street - NRC and TVA Reach Accord - Mark McFadden
• Hilton Head Island Packet - Court to decide on disposal practices at Barnwell nuclear-waste dump - Sammy Fretwell
• The State - Federal regulators study design for SC reactors
• Reuters - NextEra NH Seabrook reactor back at full power - Scott DiSavino
• Bennington Banner - Man alleges that Entergy lied about decommissioning funds - Bob Audette
• Columbus Free Press - A quiet but HUGE no nukes triumph - Harvey Wasserman
• Discovery News - The Next Nukes - Gene Charleton
• Reuters - U.S. loans to boost nuclear industry seen soon - Ayesha Rascoe, Eileen O'Grady
• Energy Department - NOTICES Reimbursement for Costs of Remedial Action at Active Uranium and Thorium Processing Sites , 68598–68599 [E9–30624]
• National Nuclear Security Administration - NOTICES Environmental Impact Statements; Availability, etc.: Y–12 National Security Complex; Public Hearings; Extension of Public Comment Period , 68599 [E9–30628]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - RULES Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities; CFR Correction , 68498 [E9–30739]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Docketing of Amendment Request for Material License SNM 2511: Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; Diablo Canyon Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation , 68638–68639 [E9–30618]
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NOTICES Temporary Exemptions: Southern California Edison San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3 , 68639–68641 [E9–30674]
• Oceania: Brisbane Times - Uranium smelter street to be remediated
• Asia-Pacific: Bloomberg - Tokyo Electric Starts Commercial Run at Quake-Hit Reactor - Megumi Yamanaka
• Asia-Pacific: Reuters UK - TEPCO resumes commercial ops at quake-hit plant - Chikako Mogi and Osamu Tsukimori
• Asia-Pacific: Reuters - Japan PM to pursue thaw in India ties, boost trade - Krittivas Mukherjee
• Asia-Pacific: China Post - Majority in Taiwan favors replacing nuke power with renewables
• East Asia: AFP Google - S.Korea eyes nuclear contract with Turkey
• East Asia: AFP Google - S.Korea to give 22 million dollars of aid to North
• East Asia: AFP Google - N.Korea built plant for uranium enrichment: report
• East Asia: New York Times - South Korea to Build Reactors in Middle East - David Jolly
• East Asia: Reuters UK - South Korea nuclear stocks soar on UAE deal - Jungyoun Park and Rhee So-eui
• East Asia: Reuters India - Wrapup 2-S.Korea wins landmark Gulf nuclear power deal - Amena Bakr and Cho Mee-young
• East Asia: RIA Novosti - Russia's Lavrov says six-party talks with N.Korea 'mandatory'
• East Asia: UPI - Seoul seeks to boost nuclear activities - Lee Jong-Heon
• East Asia: UPI - S. Korea, UAE, sign nuclear reactors deal
• East Asia: Washington Post - Pakistani scientist depicts more advanced nuclear program in North Korea - R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick
• East Asia: The Hankyoreh - Landmark nuclear power plant deal sounds energy alarm within South Korea
• East Asia: The Hankyoreh - Editorial: S.Korea needs to lead in alternative energy technologies not nuclear plant exports
• East Asia: Korea IT Times - Discussion of Nuclear Power Policies - Daniel Ko
• South Asia: Deccan Herald - Japan offers nuke technology to India
• South Asia: Economic Times - Irda sounds out insurers on nuclear accident cover
• Europe: The Guardian - Sheep farmers still stuck under a Chernobyl cloud - Leo Hickman
• Europe: Northumberland Today - Water remains safe following tritium release - Joyce Cassin
• Europe: NW Evening Mail - West Cumbrian low-level radioactive dump plans move forward
• Europe: Nuclear Street - French Nuclear Power Industry Acknowledges ENEC's Decision - Linton Levy
• North Europe: Baltic Business News - Darkness returns to Lithuania
• East Europe: Asbarez News - Armenia Approves New Nuclear Plant Over Green Objections
• Russia: Barents Observer - New attack submarine ready for mooring trials
• Russia: People's Daily - Russian nuclear sub resumes service after repairs
• Middle East: Bernama - UAE's Four Nuclear Plants To Provide 25 Percent Electricity Demand By 2020
• Middle East: AFP Google - Iran nuclear plant 'immune to conventional strike'
• Middle East: New York Times - Tehran's Biggest Fear - Selig S. Harrison
• Middle East: Reuters - Exiled Iranian group urges sanctions for Tehran
• Middle East: Ha'aretz Daily - Barak: New Iran nuclear facility resistant to regular bombs - Jonathan Lis

Johnson: Priest guilty of fortitude

By Bill Johnson
Denver Post Columnist
POSTED: 12/25/2009

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14067987

As the seven-person jury filed from the courtroom, having just
returned two guilty verdicts against him, Father Carl Kabat rose from
his chair and applauded them.

The St. Louis priest was convicted in Greeley on Tuesday of criminal
mischief and trespassing, both misdemeanors, for cutting a hole in a
fence that guards a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo in Weld County
last August, draping antiwar banners around the silo, saying a prayer
and trying unsuccessfully to pry open its lid.

It is what Carl Kabat does. He has spent the better part of the past
three decades in prison for staging similar protests here and across
the United States against the missiles, whose very existence he calls
"simply insane."

Weld County Court Judge Dana Nichols sentenced the 76-year-old priest
to the 137 days he spent in county jail following his arrest and gave
prosecutors time to seek restitution to F.E. Warren Air Force Base
for damages.

I don't have many heroes, but Carl Kabat is one of them. I deeply
admire men of conviction, particularly those who buck the system and
gnaw relentlessly at it in the pursuit of peace.

I was introduced to him years ago, not long after he was released
from the federal penitentiary in Florence, having done 10 hard years
for staging a similar missile silo protest.

He sat down with me for dinner, shrugged and acted as if he had just
served an hour in third-grade detention.

"Do you know how many men I ministered to in Florence?" I remember
him saying over and over as I marveled that any man would so freely
give up his liberty in the pursuit of a cause so many people over the
years have abandoned.

I caught up with him this week as he rushed to get home to St. Louis
to spend Christmas with his younger sister, his only surviving
sibling, and the rest of his family.

I asked him of his applauding the jurors, some of whom wept as they
filed out.

"They were good people, intelligent, serious and thoughtful. They
were good eggs," he said.

He had fired his court- appointed lawyers during the two-day trial, a
preplanned move he had insisted on so he could address the jury
personally.

"I don't know you," he told them during closing arguments, "but you
are my sisters and brothers. We're all God's children, and we have to
look after one another. We have to be significant actors."

"Significant actors" is one of Carl Kabat's favorite expressions. It
means going outside of yourself, he always says, to take positive
action against that which you know to be wrong.

He had wanted, he explained, for one or more on the panel to see the
righteousness of his cause and hang the jury.

"What are you going to do?" he said. "I applauded them to thank them.
They had given it thought."

We talked for a long time, about the law and morality, him recalling
a time long ago that he stepped off a bus and saw a sign.

"It said 'black water' and 'white water.' I kick myself to this day
that I didn't take a drink of black water, even one swallow. What
could they have done to me?"

I asked him, as I always do, if he planned yet another protest
anytime soon. And for the first time ever, Carl Kabat hedged.

"I'm 76 years old, older than my old man when he died, so I might be
living on borrowed time," he said.

"I might have died in prison, I might die on the way to St. Louis.
Either way is OK with me. I am just going to take my life and the
message day by day."

Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at
303-954-2763 or wjohnson@....

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14067987#ixzz0avVNuhED

=====

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.

• Tri-City Herald - Hanford bus a rolling piece of history - Annette Cary
• Tri-City Herald - Asarco's bid to use bankruptcy to avoid cleanup a cautionary tale - Les Blumenthal
• Ontario Argus Observer - Firm set to seek license for local atomic plant--AEHI will work to secure permit in the second quarter of 2011 - Jessica Keller
• Tulsa World - Vian, Cherokees fight waste-well plan--A Muskogee firm wants to build the well for disposal of runoff materials. - Susan Hylton
• San Antonio Express - Councilman shone in nuclear debate - Jan Jarboe Russell
• Knoxville News Sentinel - Climate bill, clean-energy industry key to Tennessee's economic revival - Susan Richardson Williams and Cortney Piper
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - One of my favorite nuke stories - Frank Munger
• Knoxville News Sentinel blog - Lynchburg Foundry closes; link to early Oak Ridge - Frank Munger
• ArmsControlWonk - Experts Predict 2010 Will Be a Terrible Year - Michael Krepon
• Canada: PR-CANADA - AEP's Cook Nuclear Unit 1 Reaches Full Reactor Power
• Oceania: Sydney Morning Herald - Radioactive waterfront home to be razed - Ben Cubby
• Asia-Pacific: Xinhua News - Japanese PM leaves for India visit - Xiong Tong
• Asia: Reuters - China introduces law to boost renewable energy
• Asia: Sydney Morning Herald - China's part in the world crisis - Satyajit Das
• East Asia: AFP Google - S.Korean-led group wins $20.4-bln UAE nuclear deal
• East Asia: BBC News - South Korea awarded UAE nuclear power contract
• East Asia: Reuters UK - S.Korea wins $40 billion UAE nuclear deal - Amena Bakr and Cho Mee-young
• East Asia: Reuters UK - Factbox-S.Korea marks 1st commercial nuclear power export - Cho Mee-young
• East Asia: Strategy Page - Cleaning Up The Mess
• East Asia: Reuters - S.Korea wins $40 billion UAE nuclear deal
• East Asia: Dong-A Ilbo - Korea Wins $40 Bln Nuclear Plant Deal From UAE
• East Asia: Dong-A Ilbo - How Korea Won the UAE Mega Nuke Reactor Deal
• East Asia: Dong-A Ilbo - Editorial: Great News From the UAE
• East Asia: Joongang Daily - Korea wins $40 billion nuclear deal - Ser Myo-ja
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Editorial: Dream come true
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Korea wins landmark nuclear deal - Hwang Jang-jin
• East Asia: Korea Herald - UAE export deal a big step for Korea's nuclear power industry - Kim Yoon-mi
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Korea wins landmark nuclear deal - Hwang Jang-jin
• East Asia: Korea Herald - Lee to hold summit with UAE leader - Hwang Jang-jin
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea wins US$40 billion nuclear deal from UAE - Byun Duk-kun
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea becomes world's 6th nuclear reactor exporting nation - Lee Joon-seung
• East Asia: Yonhap News - UAE nuclear deal highlights growth of S. Korea's nuclear energy capability
• East Asia: Yonhap News - News Analysis: S. Korea wins chance to become nuclear powerhouse with UAE deal - Byun Duk-kun
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Chronology of major events leading up to UAE nuclear reactor sale
• East Asia: Yonhap News - S. Korea signs nuclear deal worth potential US$40 bln with UAE - Byun Duk-kun
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Kim Jong-il conducts about 200 field guidance tours this year: KCNA
• East Asia: Yonhap News - Activist breaches N. Korean border for human rights campaign: activists
• East Asia: Yonhap News - UNDP to resume operations in N. Korea in February
• Southeast Asia: Business Mirror - Koica seeks govt approval to study geothermal areas in RP - Paul Anthony A. Isla
• Southeast Asia: Jakarta Globe - W. Kalimantan Uranium May Power Province for 150 Years
• Southwest Asia: Reuters UK - S.Korea, Turkey in talks on nuclear power deal - Cho Mee-young
• South Asia: AFP Google - Japan PM heads for India
• South Asia: Business Standard - Japan wants India to restate N-trade vows - Jyoti Malhotra
• Europe: Reuters UK - A2A to unveil nuclear plans at start of 2010-paper - Nigel Tutt
• Middle East: Business Week - UAE inks deal nuclear plants deal with S. Korea - Adam Schreck
• Middle East: Financial Times - S Korean consortium wins Emirates nuclear contract - Andrew England
• Middle East: Reuters - UAE likely to unveil nuclear deal result on Sunday-reports - Cho Mee-young
• Middle East: Reuters - Timeline-UAE nuclear development
• Middle East: Xinhua News - UAE, South Korea sign deal on nuclear plants
• Middle East: Al-Bawaba - Korea Electric Power Corporation to build UAE nuclear plants
• Middle East: Emirates Business 24/7 - Kepco to build four nuclear power units - Nissar Hoath
• Middle East: Emirates Business 24/7 - UAE awards Dh75bn nuclear contracts
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - UAE to Build Dh75b Nuclear Plants Haseeb Haider
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - Nuclear Reactors to Generate Cheap and Clean Electricity
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• Middle East: Khaleej Times - Nuclear Deal to Boost UAE's Power, Stature
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - UAE Does the Region Proud
• Middle East: Khaleej Times - N-Power to Meet 25pc of Needs
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• Middle East: The National - UAE: Korean consortium to build nuclear power stations - Chris Stanton
• Middle East: WAM - Emirates News Agency - UAE to construct fleet of nuclear power plants at different locations: Al-Hammadi
• Middle East: Tehran Times - Iran to host conference on nuclear disarmament
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• West Africa: Nigeria Punch - Editorial: Don't toy with nuclear programme

http://snipurl.com/tv7ea [Oped news]
December 23, 2009

A Quiet but HUGE No Nukes Triumph

By Harvey Wasserman

In the wake of Copenhagen, an unheralded but hard-fought No Nukes
victory has moved us closer to a green-powered Earth.

It has happened in upstate New York, where the Unistar Nuclear Energy
front group asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay its
application to build a reactor at Oswego, near Syracuse. Meanwhile, in
Texas, the San Antonio city council's deliberations over building two
new reactors has disintegrated into recriminations, resignations and
firings over a multi-billion-dollar price jump in projected cost
estimates, a furor that could doom reactor construction there as well.
And in Vermont, Entergy has threatened to shut its Yankee reactor if
the legislature does not approve a complex maneuver that would allow
its owners to escape certain financial liabilities.

Throughout the US, while the corporate media hypes a "renaissance" of
new nukes, facts on the ground say the opposite is happening. The
longer that trend continues, the more likely we are to win a world
powered by the Solartopian technologies that really work, including
wind, solar, geothermal, sustainable bio-fuels, increased
efficiency/conservation, and more.

The Oswego postponement stems from the successful national grassroots
campaign sparked by NukeFree.org and others dating to late 2007. When
the Bush Administration asked for $50 billion in loan guarantees to
build new reactors, a well coordinated campaign rose up, complete with
a music video from Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, K'eb Mo
and Ben Harper ( http://www.nukefree.org ).

With help from key Congressional Democrats, a wide range of
organizations and individuals rallied to get the $50 billion package
out of proposed energy legislation. Grassroots opposition has since
beaten the proposed guarantees two more times.

It is as yet unclear what new reactor funding will come from Washington in the
near future. There is still an $18.5 billion loan guarantee fund left over from
the Bush Era. But the Department of Energy has run into serious political and
procedural problems in administering the money.

It may soon announce one or more new reactor projects designated to get the
money, possibly including one in Georgia, where ratepayers have been put on the
line to underwrite construction even if the plant never opens.

Republican proposals for virtually unlimited future loan guarantees are now
being targeted for a Climate Bill and other legislation that may or may not make
it through Congress in the coming months. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and other
industry supporters are pushing hard for major federal financing. The Obama
Administration has made some pro-nuclear rumblings, but remains elusive in terms
of firm commitments.

Because the reactor industry cannot get private financing for new
reactors, all the pro-nuke rhetoric in the world will mean nothing
without federal subsidies. After 50 years, the industry doesn't have
Wall Street's backing. Nor can it get private liability insurance in
case of a major disaster. And it still lacks a solution for its
radioactive waste problem.

Most critically of all, the longer new construction is delayed the less
competitive the industry becomes. Cost estimates are literally all over the map,
with $7-9 billion for a 1000 megawatt reactor being current used as a benchmark.
But even that is not expected to last. The Oswego project involves a design
financed by the French government. This latest setback indicates even they may
not be as bullish on reactors as they hype would indicate. As Michael Mariotte
of the Nuclear Information & Resource Service puts it, "Unistar's postponement
is just another indicator that new reactors will not be built unless American
taxpayers are forced to take the financial risk."

Thus as the dust settles from the failures in Copenhagen, the US might
look to the conference's host country. In the 1970s a powerful Green
movement stopped the Danes from going nuclear. Instead, as even the New York
Times's pro-nuclear Thomas Friedman has recently acknowledged, Denmark
successfully focussed on wind power. Today the wind industry is one of Denmark's
top employers, and is a major source of both clean green energy and significant
financial profit.

Throughout the world, the cost of renewables is plummeting while
reactor prices soar. So if America's thus-far successful grassroots
campaign against massive federal loan guarantees and other nuclear
bailouts can continue, we just might find ourselves on a parallel path
to a green-powered Earth.

---------
Harvey Wasserman's SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH is at
http://www.harveywasserman.com, as is HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE US.  He
is senior advisor to Greenpeace US, and senior editor of
http://www.freepress.org.

Author's Bio: HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE US is available at
http://www.harveywasserman.com/, as is A GLIMPSE OF THE BIG LIGHT and clues to
the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.
=====

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.