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Senate panel cuts Yucca mountain waste site funds



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Senate panel cuts Yucca mountain waste site funds

Turkey to try barring nuclear waste from straits

Maralinga documents reveal Australian safety concerns

Belgian gov't reluctant to release MOX fuel data

German sea winds may be answer to energy woes

Brazil takes new crack at controversial nuke plant

Colo. Nuclear Plant Problems Cited

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



Senate panel cuts Yucca mountain waste site funds



WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - A Senate panel on Thursday passed a 

$25 billion bill for energy programs that slashes funds for a nuclear 

waste dump in Nevada while it boosts resources to tend the nation's 

nuclear arsenal and reclaim sites contaminated in its development. 



The bill to fund energy and water projects with the Oct. 1 start of 

the next fiscal year passed unanimously by the Democratic-led Senate 

Appropriations Committee, is $2.6 billion more than President George 

W. Bush sought and $1.4 billion above the version passed by the 

Republican-led House of Representatives. 



While committee members said their bill would fix shortcomings in 

Bush's budget, they warned that funds likely would drop as 

differences are worked out with the House bill and lawmakers struggle 

to stay within overall budget limits. 



In a bow to Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the assistant majority leader who 

also chairs the subcommittee that crafted the bill, $125 million was 

sliced from a program to build an underground dump in Nevada's Yucca 

Mountain to hold radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. 



Nevada is fighting the nuclear power industry's push to make it the 

nation's repository for spent fuel that remains dangerous for 

thousands of years and is accumulating in above-ground storage at 

plants across the country. 



Some $8 billion has been spent over the last 20 years to determine if 

Yucca Mountain will offer safe storage, with critics contending the 

studies have shown it is unsuitable. 



The House's energy and water bill has the $435 million for Yucca 

Mountain that Bush sought, while the Senate panel provided $275 

million. 



The Senate committee bill contains $6 billion to maintain the 

nation's nuclear weapons stockpile, up $925 million from the House 

bill and $705 million more than Bush had sought. 



To continue to clean-up the radioactive mess at various sites across 

the country left by building the arsenal, the bill earmarks $7.23 

billion, $200 million above the House allocation and $900 million 

more than had Bush wanted. 



While the Senate bill emphasized the nuclear weapons complex, it 

offers less money than the House version to the Army Corps of 

Engineers for flood control, river dredging and other water projects.



The Senate plan has $4.3 billion for water projects, $162 million 

less than the House but $405 million more than Bush's plan, which 

targeted them as unnecessary pork. 



But the Senate offered more money for research and development of 

renewable energy sources such as solar and biomass, providing $435 

million, compared with the House's $375 million. Bush sought $275 

million. 

-----------------



Turkey to try barring nuclear waste from straits



ANKARA, July 13 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Friday it would pursue all 

legal measures to stop nuclear waste shipments to Russia via busy 

Turkish waterways, fearing the cargo could wreak an environmental 

disaster in Istanbul, a city of 10 million. 



Russian President Vladimir Putin approved bills on Wednesday opening 

Russia to imports of spent nuclear fuel, sparking fears that unusable 

nuclear waste, rather then recyclable fuel, might also find its way 

into the country. 



Ankara objects to more traffic in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles 

straits -- the only link between Russia's Black Sea region and the 

world's oceans, arguing that they are already overcrowded and ships 

with risky cargo menace the environment. 



"The Environment Ministry will apply all legal methods in order to 

prevent the passage of nuclear waste through Turkish territorial 

waters," Minister Fevzi Aytekin said in a statement. 



The ministry statement did not say what measures Turkey would take. 

The 1936 Montreux Convention bars the country from stopping ships 

from using its waterways in peacetime. 



Turkey's stance will probably compound a dispute with Russia over 

Ankara's wish to limit the number of Russian tankers carrying Caspian 

Sea oil to Western markets through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. 



Critics have said Turkey uses the argument that its waterways have 

limited capacity as a way to win control of the lucrative Caspian Sea 

oil trade. Russia and Iran are also involved in projects to import 

the crude to world markets. 



But collisions are frequent in the Turkish straits. In 1994, 30 

seamen were killed and 20,000 tonnes of oil spilled into the 

Bosphorus after two vessels collided. 



Aytekin said he did not want to be a "prophet of doom," but a 

possible collision between oil tankers and vessels carrying nuclear 

waste or a crash on the coast could cause "a disaster." 



"That would negatively impact people living in Istanbul as well as 

the historical and cultural relics of the city and it could 

exterminate the sea's eco-system and cause pollution in the air, in 

the sea and on the coasts," Aytekin said. 



He said many international agreements to which Turkey is a signatory 

prevent exporting or importing nuclear waste. 



"The Environment Ministry is totally against the use of the Aegean-

Black Sea route to transport nuclear waste to Russia's Siberia from 

Europe for reasons of human and environment safety." 

-----------------



Maralinga documents reveal Australian safety concerns



13 July, 2001, Australian Broadcasting Corporation - It is claimed 

that Australian officials were alarmed by the safety  measures 

available to workers at the Maralinga nuclear weapons tests.



British researcher Sue Rabbitt Roff says archival documents just  

obtained reveal concerns by senior officials that the manager of  the 

 Australian Radiation Detection Unit had no higher qualifications 

than  his school leavers certificate. 



She says the 50 members of the unit took part in a two-week training  

course before becoming responsible for the health and safety of  

thousands of men working at Maralinga during the 1950s. 



Ms Rabbitt Roff says radiation protection regimes at Maralinga relied 

on  very simplistic cleaning techniques, such as scrubbing under  

fingernails. 



"I think what it shows is the lack of concern, under the period of 

great  pressure that the British were under... that they didn't 

prioritise this  work," she said. 



"You'd think that having your own citizens on the ground at a nuclear 

 weapons test you might put them first, but what the British 

Government  was most concerned about was to analyse the contents of 

the bomb as they  were being developed."

-----------------



Belgian gov't reluctant to release MOX fuel data



BRUSSELS, July 13 (Kyodo) - Belgian Interior Minister Antoine 

Duquesne indicated Friday his government will not likely disclose 

quality control data on plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel 

intended for use at a nuclear power plant in Japan. 



The minister told the Senate that the government will not positively 

deal with a request to disclose the data on MOX fuel produced by 

Belgonucleaire S.A. in Belgium for use at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 

nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. 



The disclosure request was made by Sen. Anne-Marie Lizin, who was 

asked to do so by members of the Kashiwazaki municipal assembly 

during their visit to Belgium in June. 



Lizin, also mayor of Huy, led a movement opposing the construction of 

a nuclear power plant in Huy in the mid-1990s. 



Japanese civic groups opposed to the nuclear plant operated by Tokyo 

Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) have demanded that Belgonucleaire and 

TEPCO disclose the MOX fuel data following a revelation nearly two 

years ago of data falsification by British Nuclear Fuels PLC (BNFL) 

on fuel manufactured for shipment to Japan. 



In September 1999, it came to light that quality-assurance data on a 

consignment of MOX fuel intended for use at the Takahama nuclear 

power plant in Fukui Prefecture had been falsified by workers at 

BNFL's Sellafield plant in Cumbria, northwest England. 



Duquesne said the disclosure request for the MOX fuel data should be 

sent to Belgonucleaire and that the government cannot do anything on 

the matter. 



He also said the data have been conveyed to TEPCO and Japanese 

authorities and requests should be made to these bodies. 



TEPCO has offered data on the MOX fuel pellets' external diameter and 

other numerical figures, but antinuclear groups demand more precise 

data. 



It remains unknown whether the data allegedly sent to TEPCO and 

Japanese authorities by Belgonucleaire were what the civic groups 

requested. 



TEPCO has told the groups it cannot release the more precise data 

because Belgonucleaire prohibits them from being taken out of its 

plants. 

----------------



German sea winds may be answer to energy woes



LUEBKE-KOOG, Germany, July 13 (Reuters) - How do you meet the energy 

needs of Europe's largest economy without exceeding pollution limits 

set out in the Kyoto treaty, just months after you abandoned nuclear 

power? 



The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind, says German pig farmer 

Hans-Detlef Feddersen. 



Just off the North Sea coast of Germany in fact. 



Feddersen and other farmers in his community have installed 32 wind 

turbines behind the dikes on Germany's northern coast, producing a 

hefty 55 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to 

supply power for around 16,000 households. 



As the three blades of a turbine drone 60 metres (197 feet) overhead, 

Feddersen points out to the grey waves near the popular German 

holiday resort island of Sylt. 



"That's where we want to go next. Offshore." 



Germany leads the world in using clean or renewable energy. Half of 

all the wind power in Europe is produced in Germany, which is around 

a third of the world total. 



Feddersen and those like him have transformed wind power from the 

crackpot dreams of a few ex-hippies into a serious option for 

supplying a large chunk of world energy needs. 



Now the big power companies are starting to take notice and wind 

power will be a major talking point at the Bonn climate conference 

which starts on July 16, where countries will try to reach a deal on 

cutting greenhouse gas emissions, many of which are produced in coal, 

gas or oil-burning power stations. 



About 2.5 percent of Germany's energy needs come from wind turbines 

but that could increase dramatically once the latest stage of wind 

power generation moves from drawing board to reality. 



"We've got a lot of wind up here, but we never knew what to do with 

it. All the cheap energy today is going to cause problems for the 

next generation. But wind power doesn't leave a trace," says 

Feddersen. 



OFFSHORE DREAMS 



Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, a member of the Greens who was 

largely responsible for coordinating Germany's decision to abandon 

nuclear power over the coming years, shares Feddersen's vision of 

offshore wind farms. 



"The boom in wind power is a sign that Germany is taking the issue of 

renewable energy seriously, despite difficulties at an international 

level," Trittin said as he launched a position paper setting out the 

government's goals for wind energy. 



Germany's roughly 9,400 existing land-based wind turbines produce 

around 6,100 megawatts of power a year. 



"But we can only reach our goal of doubling the share of renewable 

energy use in Germany by 2010 if we begin wind energy generation at 

sea," Trittin said. 



European countries want to boost sea wind energy because the supply 

of land-based sites is rapidly running out. The increasing efficiency 

of turbines means that wind energy could be the answer to the 

continent's electricity needs. 



One of the main reasons for the success of wind energy in Germany is 

that since April 2000 the country has had a new renewable energy law 

with fixed guaranteed prices -- a model hailed widely in the industry 

as a basis for growth. 



Feddersen and other farmers in the area have set up a shareholding 

fund to allow people to buy shares in their offshore wind project, 

with hundreds of concrete windmills producing millions of kilowatt 

hours of energy. 



Other groups examining offshore wind farms include Energiekontor AG, 

a Bremen-based renewable energy firm and one of a number of 

alternative energy companies in Germany who have gone to the stock 

exchange for funding for such projects. 



"We've seen a dramatic rise in the use of wind power in recent years, 

a real explosion since we set up in 1990. We are looking at four 

sites, three off the German coast and one off Britain," says 

Energiekontor spokeswoman Cerstin Lange. 



Lange says one of Energiekontor's North Sea projects would have 450 

turbines, producing 1.8 million kilowatts of power with an estimated 

investment of five billion marks ($2.18 billion). They hope to have 

the offshore farms operational by 2004. 



And the big multinational energy firms are listening too, 

particularly as growing numbers of activist shareholders demand more 

investment in environmentally-friendly power. 



"We're working on it," runs an advertisement by the north German 

energy company Schleswag, showing a picture of a woman drying her 

hair with a hair dryer plugged into a potted plant. 



The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant Royal Dutch/Shell said last month 

that it would renew its billion-dollar renewable energy investment 

programme for the next five years. 



While Shell Renewables concentrates mainly on solar power, it is 

currently participating in two trial projects totalling eight 

megawatts of wind generating capacity. 



SHREDDING BIRDS? 



Not everyone is happy about offshore wind farms. 



There have been complaints about the environmental effects of wind 

turbines, particularly noise, and concerns that they spoil areas of 

natural beauty in seaside areas. 



Ornithologists fear the blades could act as bird-shredders, or they 

could throw songbirds off course. Others are worried that sea mammals 

might become disoriented by wind turbines, while fishermen fear their 

fishing grounds may be affected. 



On top of this there are uncertainties about the authorisation 

procedures and the lengthy consultation process involved in getting 

permission for an offshore wind farm. 



Feddersen says the first tranche of funding for his group's offshore 

wind farm will be used to investigate the environmental impact but 

says it's important to try this new approach. 



"There's a lot of idealism in this. It could be that in 20 years time 

my daughter turns around to me and laughs at our misguided efforts," 

he says. 



"But then we'll just turn the windmills into ships' masts and that's 

it. Unlike the other forms of energy production we have today, there 

will be no harm done." 

-----------------



Brazil takes new crack at controversial nuke plant



RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 12 (Reuters) - Brazil, in the grips of 

an acute energy crisis, is mulling plans to expand its controversial 

nuclear complex amid an international debate on whether atomic power 

plants should be phased out. 



Government officials expect a tough discussion in the National Energy 

Council later this month, but indicate the $2.4 billion new reactor 

at Angra dos Reis, 80 miles (130 km) west of Rio de Janeiro, will 

likely go ahead. 



The two-reactor Angra complex, surrounded by lush tropical forest and 

a popular bay resort area, is a constant target of  environmentalist 

attacks. 



They argue the plant's first reactor, built in the 1980s under the 

nuclear program drawn up by Brazil's military rulers, has a 

dangerously high level of shutdowns, the reactors are too expensive 

and there is little space to store nuclear waste. 



Advocates of the expansion say the plant is safe, clean and the 

location is ideal for supplying the two key cities of Sao Paulo and 

Rio with cheap energy produced by Brazil's own uranium. Brazil has 

the world's sixth-largest uranium reserves. 



Brushing off criticism as ideologically charged, they insist that the 

reactor would increase Brazil's power capacity and reduce the 

country's dependence on water resources while providing more jobs to 

local residents. 



"The plant has total acceptance in the region. People consider it 

safe. The opposition is all in universities ... all those professors 

with ideological issues in mind," said Flavio de Moura, president of 

Eletrobras Termonuclear, the nuclear energy arm of the federal power 

holding Eletrobras <ELET6.SA>. 



One government official, who did not want to be identified, said the 

chronic power shortage, which made the government impose tough energy 

rationing in June, would be the wild card in the hands of those 

seeking a stamp of approval for Angra 3. 



Latin America's largest country now relies on hydroelectric plants 

for more than 90 percent of its power, but recent droughts have dried 

up reservoirs there, triggering a major crisis.  



Gas-fired plants are seen as the key answer, but a new 1,350-megawatt 

nuclear reactor in five years would come in handy. De Moura said 

atomic generation costs are lower at $37.8 per megawatt-hour, 

compared to $38.6 at gas-fired plants. 



Apart from the need for more power, de Moura is banking on the fact 

that Brazil has already spent $700 million on the equipment for Angra 

3: "We have to finish Angra 3, which is a great national necessity. 

As a poor country, we cannot just forget about the millions already 

invested." 



ANTI-ATOM GERMANY STILL VIEWED AS NUCLEAR ALLY 



De Moura denied some reports that Germany, which had long signed up 

for the construction of Angra reactors, had refused to continue 

financing and providing equipment for Angra 3, as it is preparing to 

start phasing out nuclear power at home. 



"German banks, state and private, are going to help with the 

financing. There is no problem here. They will finance everything 

that involves German equipment," said de Moura. Brazil needs some 

$200 million worth of German equipment. 



A senior German Embassy official said Germany had never formally 

blocked the financing and was now awaiting proposals from the 

Brazilian government. "Probably in August they will come up with 

something concrete," he said. 



As for the remaining $1.5 billion, Moura said Eletronuclear itself 

would have to find financing. "We are on course for that. We don't 

want the government's money." Some experts say parent company 

Eletrobras could eventually fund the project. 



Brazil's nuclear program ran into economic problems in late 1980s. 

Angra 2 started working only last year after a delay of nearly a 

decade and a big injection of German money. 



De Moura, who expects the council to approve Angra 3, said Brazil 

should build it as soon as possible and then "sit and analyze" the 

world's stance on nuclear plants. 



"The United States, where the Bush administration now sees a big 

future in nuclear fuel, may well come up with a new-generation 

reactor. Then we can follow that path." 



Environmentalists disagree. 



"The electricity crisis will pass, but a nuclear reactor is a problem 

that Brazil will have forever due to nuclear waste," said Delcio 

Rodriguez, head of Brazil operations of international environment 

watchdog Greenpeace. "We hope the expansion plans get scrapped." 

----------------



Colo. Nuclear Plant Problems Cited



DENVER (AP) - The former chief security officer at the Rocky Flats 

nuclear weapons plant said it had serious security problems five 

years ago and people who complained faced retaliation from the 

federal government. 



Edward McCallum, now an anti-terrorism official with the Defense 

Department, told a federal judge Wednesday that the government barred 

investigators from looking into security complaints for a month. 



He also said he believed he was the target of retaliation for 

exposing security risks at the now-closed plant 16 miles northwest of 

Denver. 



Jennifer Thompson, a spokeswoman for Kaiser-Hill Co., which is 

cleaning up the plant under a federal contract, acknowledged there 

were security problems in 1996. But she said the problems have been 

fixed and the company is getting satisfactory ratings from the Energy 

Department, which operated the plant. 



U.S. Magistrate Patricia Coan is hearing testimony this week on a 

motion to dismiss a $400 million lawsuit filed by three former 

security workers at Rocky Flats. 



Named as defendants are Kaiser-Hill, security contractor Wackenhut 

Services and EG&G Rocky Flats, a former operator of the plant. The 

plaintiffs are seeking to recover money paid to contractors, claiming 

they ignored security in a rush to clean up the plant. 



McCallum, who testified for the plaintiffs, was allowed to speak only 

after the government put a specialist in the courtroom to advise both 

sides on what matters were official secrets that could not be 

discussed. 



McCallum said Rocky Flats officials made misleading statements when 

they said the plant had no serious security deficiencies. 



``I don't know if I would use the term 'cover-up.' I was aware of 

deficiencies that existed over numerous years that were not 

corrected,'' McCallum said. 



McCallum also said he was prevented from testifying about some of the 

problems before Congress, and the government tried to prevent other 

whistle-blowers from going public. 



The plant, which closed at the end of the Cold War, still holds 14 

tons of weapons-grade plutonium and six tons of enriched uranium. The 

government hopes to turn Rocky Flats into a wildlife preserve. 



On the Net: Energy Department: http://www.energy.gov 



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	

Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626                    



Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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