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New England Governors' Conference Urges Congressional Support for Yucca Mountain Proposal



Index:



Governors' Conference Urges Support for Yucca Mountain Proposal

Iran's Kharrazi hopes for new Russian nuclear deal

Capacity at Japan's nuclear reactors above 80% in FY 2001

Keys to UK nuclear control room stolen

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



New England Governors' Conference Urges Congressional Support for 

Yucca Mountain Proposal

  

BOSTON, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The New England Governors' 

Conference, Inc. has written New England's Congressional Delegation 

urging their support of the Bush Administration's selection of Yucca 

Mountain in Nevada as the repository site for the nation's high-level 

radioactive waste. 



In a letter to the New England Congressional delegation, the 

governors of the six state New England region expressed their support 

for the Yucca Mountain proposal based on several factors including 

the fact that the selection of the site is the result of a detailed 

technical evaluation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and their 

belief that the insurmountable odds of selecting another site means 

that nuclear fuel will remain in storage on rivers and seacoasts in 

New England indefinitely. 



The governors voiced their agreement with Secretary of Energy Abraham 

that a repository is important to our homeland security and cautioned 

that the "up to 30 year stockpiles" of spent nuclear fuel at New 

England reactor sites are a security concern.  They urged the 

delegation not to allow the issue of the transportation of nuclear 

fuel become a reason for not selecting Yucca Mountain.  They noted 

that, while safe transportation of nuclear fuel to a repository at 

Yucca Mountain clearly requires the utmost care and planning, non-

commercial spent fuel (university and research spent fuel, spent fuel 

from foreign sources, high level radioactive waste from US Department 

of Energy sites), and nuclear weapons materials currently move 

routinely through the United States.  They warned that the 

alternative of "indefinite storage at our New England sites is not an 

acceptable policy solution." 



The letter from the governors, notes that the Nuclear Waste Policy 

Act allows the State of Nevada 60 days to object to Secretary 

Abrahams recommendation, after which both houses of the Congress must 

approve the site by a simple majority within 90 days  or the 15 year 

consideration of Yucca Mountain is terminated.  The governors have, 

therefore, urged members of Congress to  "vote in a manner to avoid 

amendments and procedural delays." 



The New England Governors' Conference, Inc., an informal alliance 

dating back to colonial times, was formally established by the 

governors of the six state region in 1937 and incorporated as a non-

profit, non-partisan organization in 1981.  The Conference, which 

promotes New England's economic development, also provides the 

governors with a forum where they can meet to discuss, and ultimately 



resolve, problems and issues which are regional in nature.  In 2002, 

Governor Lincoln Almond of Rhode Island serves as Chairman of the 

Conference.  Governor Jane Swift, of Massachusetts is Vice-Chairman. 

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



Iran's Kharrazi hopes for new Russian nuclear deal

  

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said 

Thursday he hoped to persuade Russia to incorporate additional 

reactors into a nuclear power plant Moscow is building -- to 

Washington's considerable irritation. 



Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Tehran is a thorn in its otherwise 

improved relations with Washington, which lists Iran among 

nations belonging to an "axis of evil." Russia insists the deal is 

strictly for civil purposes and within international law. 



"The issue of building new reactors for the nuclear power station ... 

is set to be decided at the negotiating table," Kharrazi said as he 

outlined the agenda of his delayed Moscow visit in a speech at 

Moscow's prestigious Diplomatic Academy. 



Kharrazi, originally due to visit Moscow in February, meets President 

Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin Friday. 



Russia was the only country to agree to finish work on Iran's sole 

nuclear power station in Bushehr, years after the original German 

contractors withdrew. Tehran now wants Moscow to build a second 

reactor in addition to the one initially planned. 



Iranian President Mohammad Khatami paid a visit last year to the 

plant producing the first reactor. 



Russia's atomic energy ministry said last month it had received the 

government's go-ahead for extending nuclear cooperation with 

Iran, but did not specify whether that meant permission to build the 

second reactor. 



If such a deal is struck, it is certain to upset Washington, which 

has pressed its criticism of Moscow's ties with Tehran even after 

the two countries spoke of a new era in relations after Russia 

endorsed the U.S. anti-terror drive. 



UNDER PRESSURE 



Despite Moscow's talk of keeping an independent line on Tehran, 

Kharrazi clearly felt U.S. pressure in February, when he was forced 

to postpone his visit to Moscow at the last moment as it coincided 

with a trip by a top U.S. official. 



No formal explanation was given, except that work on some documents 

had to be completed. Russian analysts spoke of Iran 

becoming a diplomatic problem if Moscow really wanted to forge close 

long-term relations with the United States. 



Carving up the oil-rich Caspian Sea is another key issue on 

Kharrazi's Moscow agenda, with Tehran and four ex-Soviet littoral 

states at loggerheads over how to divide its riches. A deal would 

pave the way for billions of dollars of investment.  



Addressing the Diplomatic Academy, Kharrazi spoke of "grandiose" 

Russian-Iranian projects and depicted a positive and rosy 

picture of future relations between the two countries. 



He named the creation of a North-South transport corridor -- due to 

link an Indian port to Europe and cut delivery times for shipments 

from Asia -- as another major venture to be discussed. 



Earlier in the day, Kharrazi ruled out unilateral steps by Gulf 

nations to cut oil supplies to the United States as a way of putting 

pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories. 



Kharrazi was responding to an Iraqi call on its neighbors to stifle 

the U.S. economy by halting oil shipments overseas. 



"This is not a decision that one country alone can make for itself. 

It has to be a collective decision for it to be effective. If Muslim 

oil producers take such a decision, it will be an effective weapon," 

Kharrazi told reporters. 

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



Capacity at Japan's nuclear reactors above 80% in FY 2001

  

TOKYO, April 4 (Kyodo) - Fifty-two nuclear reactors used commercially 

in Japan ran at 80.5% capacity in fiscal 2001 which ended 

March 31, exceeding 80% for the seventh year in a row, the Nuclear 

and Industry Safety Agency said Thursday. 



The capacity ratio was down 1.2 percentage points from the second-

highest ratio of 81.7% in fiscal 2000, but shows that operations 

are generally stable, agency officials said. 



The highest capacity ratio was 84.2% marked in fiscal 1998. 



By reactor type, the capacity ratio was 78.6% at boiling-water 

reactors, and 82.9% at pressurized-water reactors, according to the 

agency which operates under the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.

The average period between safety checks at the 52 plants was 12.9 

months, the longest on record. The legal maximum is 13 

months. 



The agency said it received 15 reports of accidents in fiscal 2001, 

down from 26 in the year before. Of the 15 accidents, six led to 

operations being halted at reactors. These included the Chubu 

Electric Power Co.'s No.1 and No. 2 reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear 

plant in Shizuoka Prefecture. 



The accident which occurred last November at the No. 1 reactor of the 

Hamaoka plant stemmed from a rupture in the plumbing and 

was classified as ''level one'' on the International Nuclear Event 

Scale. The other accidents were classified as being less serious at 

''level zero,'' the agency said. 

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



Keys to UK nuclear control room stolen

  

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - The theft of keys to a control room at an 

atomic research facility in southern England does not pose a 

security risk, Britain's nuclear authority said on Wednesday. 



The keys to the emergency control room at Harwell atomic research 

centre, in Oxfordshire, were inside a case belonging to a junior 

member at the centre's Emergency Response Team when it was snatched 

from his car 10 days ago. 



"The car was parked outside Reading train station and had a case 

stolen out of it," Beth Taylor of the UK Atomic Energy Authority 

told Reuters. "There was nothing sensitive in it." 



She said the case also contained an emergency incident log, a 

shortwave radio, a mobile phone and possibly a contact list for 

senior members of staff. 



News of the theft, which was revealed in British media reports, 

follows a call for tougher security at atomic facilities by the 

United 

Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.  



The plan, which was announced at the end of last month, urges states 

to tighten protection against guerrilla attack and to recover 

missing radioactive material. 



Taylor said that the theft was being treated as opportunistic, but 

said the locks of the control room had been changed as a precaution. 



"We've no reason to believe it was anything other than an 

opportunistic crime," she said. "I assume the case is now in a 

rubbish bin somewhere.



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

Sandy Perle

Director, Technical

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com

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



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