Turkey says working on nuclear energy plans .. AND .. Pictures fromPt. Lobos State Park, CA

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Note:  Posted picture link to Pt. Lobos State Park:

http://sandy-travels.com/ptlobos.shtml



Index:



Turkey says working on nuclear energy plans

U.S. to Give Notice on Nuclear Waste Move

Security Plans Weighed for Nuclear Sites

LDP lawmaker's attendance at anti-nuke plant rally draws protest

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



Turkey says working on nuclear energy plans



ANKARA, May 7 (Reuters) - Turkey is working on plans to develop 

nuclear energy and intends to discuss the proposal soon with 

companies from nuclear energy-producing countries, Energy Minister 

Hilmi Guler said on Friday.



He told reporters officials had reached the stage of preparing tender 

specifications and were looking at possible locations for a nuclear 

power station, including Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast.



"Our preference is for the private sector to do this, but if 

necessary we will," Guler said, noting that tenders for a nuclear 

power station had been opened twice before but were unsuccessful.



The previous government of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit put plans to 

build Turkey's first nuclear power plant on hold in July 2000 to wait 

for the country's finances to stabilise.



Turkey's treasury had refused to provide financing guarantees for the 

multi-billion dollar Akkuyu project, arguing that the country's IMF 

accord at that time forbade such large guarantees.



Ankara currently has a $19 billion loan deal with the IMF which ends 

in February 2005.



The project had also faced environmentalist opposition focusing on 

concerns that the planned site lay too close to active earthquake 

fault lines and that it might deter tourists from visiting Turkey's 

Mediterranean coastline.

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



U.S. to Give Notice on Nuclear Waste Move



LAS VEGAS (May 1) - The Energy Department promised Friday to give 

Nevada officials 45 days' notice before shipping radioactive waste 

from a former uranium-processing plant in Ohio to a desert disposal 

facility.



The announcement prompted state officials to declare success in their 

effort to halt shipments from the plant to the Nevada Test Site, 

about 65 miles north of Las Vegas.



But an Energy Department official said the government still plans to 

send Nevada the most dangerous waste remaining at the former Fernald 

plant, about 20 miles northwest of Cincinnati. Fernald processed 

uranium from 1951 until 1989 for use in government reactors to 

produce nuclear weapons.



"We have a schedule," department spokesman Joe Davis said. "The 

exchange of letters does not, in our opinion, upset the schedule."



Davis declined to say when shipments might begin and described 

Friday's promise as "trying to be responsive to the state of Nevada."



Nevada officials threatened earlier this month to sue in federal 

court to stop the shipments if the Energy Department did not respond 

by April 30.



"They blinked," said Marta Adams, a senior deputy Nevada attorney 

general. "We're delighted that (the Department of Energy) decided to 

rethink this ill-conceived plan."



The Energy Department has been moving low-level radioactive wastes 

from Fernald to the Nevada site for years. But Nevada officials say 

higher-level radioactive waste, including uranium ore sludge and 

powdery metallic production wastes, will need a more secure disposal 

site with lined pits.



The test site, a federal reservation larger than Rhode Island, is 

administered by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a 

branch of the Energy Department.



The state also has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an 

emergency order to stop the shipments. Commission officials in 

Rockville, Md., did not immediately respond Friday to messages 

seeking comment.



Nevada also is battling the government in federal court over plans to 

open a national nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, on the western 

edge of the test site.

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



Security Plans Weighed for Nuclear Sites



WASHINGTON (May 7) - After a rash of security lapses, the Energy 

Department is looking to create an elite force of federal guards to 

protect plutonium and weapons-usable uranium from terrorists, while 

also preparing plans to move some of the material to more secure 

areas.

   

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Friday outlined a sweeping set of 

proposals to increase security at nearly a dozen government 

facilities that hold highly radioactive material that could be used 

to fashion a crude nuclear device.



These materials ''must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands,'' 

declared Abraham in a speech to security guards participating in a 

skills competition at the department's Savannah River complex near 

Aiken, S.C.



Abraham cited ''poor performance'' in mock security exercises at some 

weapons sites and other lapses - such as lost keys to secure areas - 

and shortcomings in training to buttress his call for new security 

measures. Although rare, he said, such lapses are unacceptable.



A Department audit recently found guards at one facility cheating in 

mock tests by obtaining advance information about an assault during a 

test. Another investigation found guards inadequately trained in such 

basic tasks as using a shotgun.



For the first time, the Energy Department is closely looking at 

creating a federal police force to guard nuclear weapons facilities 

and establish a specially trained ''elite'' force to protect areas 

with the most sensitive nuclear weapons material, Abraham reported.

   

The sites, including federal weapons labs and other facilities such 

as the Savannah River complex where Abraham spoke, now are guarded by 

private contractors. The number of guards is classified.



Abraham said the department was also moving toward consolidation of 

nuclear material because some facilities holding weapons-usable 

material may never be able to meet the most stringent security 

requirements being demanded in light of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.



The department acknowledged for the first time Friday that plutonium 

used for weapons-related research at the Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory in California may have to be moved.



Abraham said he expected to make a decision on that by early next 

year as part of a broad review on the needs of the nuclear weapons 

complex over the next 20 years. Consolidation is ''one of the surest 

ways'' to increase protection of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, 

he said.



''Because the stakes are so high everything is on the table,'' 

Abraham said.



Livermore lab officials have opposed removing the plutonium, arguing 

that it is needed for a number of research programs related to 

maintaining the nation's stockpile of nuclear warheads. But, said 

Abraham, ''over the long term we should look for a better solution'' 

and suggested that some of the work at Livermore might be shifted 

elsewhere so the plutonium could be move to a more secure, remote 

location.



Some members of Congress and an independent watchdog group, the 

Project on Government Oversight, have argued for some time that 

Livermore, nestled in a suburban, residential setting 40 miles from 

San Francisco, is ill-suited for having plutonium on site.



Abraham also said that highly enriched weapons-suitable uranium now 

at the Sandia National Laboratory near Albuquerque, N.M., will be 

removed within three years as a research reactor there is closed 

down. The department previously announced plans to transfer plutonium 

at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, also in New Mexico, to the 

Nevada Test Site where better security conditions exist.



He noted the department also is building a central facility at the Y-

12 National Security Complex in Tennessee to consolidate highly 

enriched uranium within that sprawling site and disclosed that the 

government may ''downblend'' as much as 100 tons of the uranium there 

so it can't be used for a nuclear weapon.



Critics of DOE security programs reacted cautiously.



Danielle Brian, POGO's executive director, praised Abraham's 

initiatives, but added that the department ''and its contractors have 

a long history of stonewalling security reforms.''



''He's outlined the most important things that need to be done,'' she 

said. ''But we still need to see them happen.''



Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., accused the department of ''recycling 

initiatives made public years ago'' and long advocated by watchdog 

groups and members of Congress. ''The secretary should be 

implementing bold changes that address these (security) problems,'' 

not promising to consider reforms, said Markey.

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



LDP lawmaker's attendance at anti-nuke plant rally draws protest



AOMORI, Japan, May 8 (Kyodo) - A lawmaker from the pro-nuclear 

Liberal Democratic Party made an appearance Saturday at an anti-

nuclear gathering in Aomori Prefecture, host to a core nuclear fuel 

facility, causing ripples within the governing party.



Delivering a speech at the rally in the city of Aomori, Taro Kono 

urged that uranium testing, which paves the way for full-fledged 

operations of the spent fuel reprocessing plant, be postponed.



"We must pause and deepen national debate" on the issue, he said.



Kono's plan to deliver the speech had drawn protest from the LDP 

prefectural chapter of Aomori. It sent a letter to Prime Minister 

Junichiro Koizumi, who heads the LDP, to register its objection to 

Kono's speaking engagement at the gathering.



Aomori Prefecture in northeastern Japan hosts a major complex of 

facilities, now being built, to reprocess spent fuel from nuclear 

power plants in Rokkasho.



The LDP backs the government's policy of promoting nuclear power 

generation, including establishing a nuclear fuel cycle.



Taro Kono, a son of former foreign minister and current House of 

Representatives speaker Yohei Kono, has expressed caution over the 

reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, given the massive costs it 

entails and other factors.



Kono said in his speech that "discussions over how to dispose of 

spent uranium fuel had not been settled in Japan."



Despite divided opinion within the party over his visit to Aomori, 

Kono said he believes the visit will not be meaningless if people 

nationwide would learn that the reprocessing issue is being subject 

to discussion.



Government officials and supporters of the reprocessing plant also 

attended the rally.



Late last month, Aomori Gov. Shingo Mimura approved the restart of 

transportation of spent nuclear fuel to a facility in Rokkasho, which 

was suspended due to a series of leaks of water since 2001 at one of 

the spent fuel storage pools.









***************************************************************

Sandy Perle                           

Vice President, Technical Operations                          

Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.    

3300 Hyland Avenue   

Costa Mesa, CA 92626             



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

Fax: (714) 668-3149  



E-Mail: sperle@globaldosimetry.com      

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net                      

                 

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

Global Dosimetry Solutions Website: http://www.globaldosimetry.com/



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