[ RadSafe ] FEATURE - Italy talks of reviving nuclear power

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

FEATURE - Italy talks of reviving nuclear power
Restoring confidence key in nuclear policy: Japan government report
METI chief to order suspension of nuke plants in event of attack
Tribe files federal lawsuit against Yucca Mountain nuclear dump in NV
Alaska Community Researches Nuclear Power
Duke gets approval to use mixed fuel in reactor
Energy Department offers Hanford tank workers health care options
Rocky Flats cleanup under budget, on schedule
Russia's parliament ratifies international convention on liability 
Underground research lab proposed at WIPP
Hitler tested atomic device, German historian says
Smoke found in construction area at nuclear plant
================================

FEATURE - Italy talks of reviving nuclear power

MONTALTO DI CASTRO, Italy, March 4 (Reuters) - The crumbling, rust-
streaked concrete bunkers set back from this Italian beach look like 
a nuclear power station abandoned after a disaster. And that is more 
or less what they are.

The world's worst civil nuclear disaster struck on April 25, 1986. 
Although it happened more than 1,000 miles (1,685 kilometres) away in 
what was then the Soviet Union, Chernobyl had a decisive impact on 
this part of the Italian coastline.

Appalled at the accident, which killed 30 people immediately and 
caused thousands of fatal cancers, Italians voted in a referendum to 
scrap nuclear power -- but their political leaders are now rethinking 
the policy.

"It was 80 percent finished when Chernobyl happened," said Carlo 
Teloni, manager of the Montalto di Castro power station, pointing to 
the squat concrete blocks which should have housed two nuclear 
reactors. "Then construction was interrupted."

Four existing nuclear plants were also closed.

Today the decaying Montalto di Castro nuclear site lies in the shadow 
of Italy's biggest power station which burns oil and gas to produce 
3,600 megawatts of electricity -- twice as much as the nuclear plant 
would have and enough to meet 8 percent of the country's demand.

A landmark for shipping for miles out in the Mediterranean, a 
towering chimney emits a perpetual cloud -- a reminder of the 
inevitable noxious pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) output of 
conventional power generation.

And that is part of the reason Italy is now rethinking its ban on 
nuclear power. Not only does it have no fossil fuel of its own, it 
also faces a huge struggle to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 
meet the terms of the Kyoto Protocol.

To the horror of many environmentalists who for decades have rallied 
to the call "nuclear power? no thanks," the Kyoto treaty, aimed at 
slowing global warming, has made the nuclear option more attractive 
to some people as it does not create CO2.

DOUBLE BLOW

If Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wins a second term in office in 
elections next year, he intends to reopen the nuclear question 
because, he says, Italians made "the wrong choice in the past which 
needs to be reconsidered."

Speaking at the inauguration of a new power line, Berlusconi said 
Italy's no-nuclear policy meant it had to import costly electricity 
from abroad, but at the same was not immune from nuclear melt downs 
elsewhere.

"Our companies pay more, 20 or 30 percent more, for energy which is 
lucrative for others ... and meanwhile we remain at risk in any case 
because the power stations are in countries next door," he said.

Environmentalists were, predictably, outraged.

"The centre-right government wants to contradict the result of a 
popular referendum," said Sauro Turroni, who represents the Green 
party in Italy's upper house of parliament.

But Italy's innovation and technology minister Lucio Stanca said the 
vote belonged to a different era.

"Twenty years have passed from the popular vote, and 20 years in 
technology sectors is an eternity in the course of which there have 
been giant steps in terms of safety," Stanca said.

Europe's pro-nuclear lobby believes the tide has turned in its 
favour. The first new nuclear plant on the continent for years is 
being built in Finland where fears about the technology have 
gradually dwindled since Chernobyl.

NOT REALISTIC

Italian ecologists say changing opinions in this country will be a 
different matter because even if people can be persuaded that modern 
nuclear power plants are far safer than Soviet era rust buckets, no 
one wants to deal with radioactive waste.

"In Italy to put up a gas power plant or a waste incinerator, it is 
extremely difficult to get past local opposition. A nuclear plant? 
It's not realistic," said Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaigner Roberto 
Ferrigno.

"Waste is the biggest problem with nuclear energy and I don't think 
you'll find a single local municipality ready to build a waste 
repository."

The United States plans to dump its nuclear waste under Yucca 
Mountain in the Nevada desert, but densely-populated Italy has no 
such spots to deposit waste which remains radioactive for many 
thousands of years.

According to Ferrigno, the politicians know nuclear is not a viable 
option, but they want to get the public used to the idea of Italian 
involvement in nuclear projects elsewhere.

The state controlled utility Enel has just bought 66 percent of the 
Slovakian firm Slovenske Elektrarne which produces nuclear power and 
Italy also hopes to get involved in the global nuclear fusion 
research project ITER which could be based in France

"The talk of Italy returning to nuclear power is about banalising 
nuclear to get people over the shock of Chernobyl," Ferrigno said.
------------------

Restoring confidence key in nuclear policy: Japan government report

TOKYO, March 4 (Kyodo) - Restoring public confidence in Japan's 
nuclear power plants is the key to a successful nuclear energy policy 
in the aftermath of a recent series of accidents and coverups, a 
government report said Friday.

The Atomic Energy Commission spelled out the objective in the 2004 
White Paper on Nuclear Energy which was presented to the Cabinet.

The report cited a number of accidents, including a deadly accident 
at a Kansai Electric Power Co. plant in Fukui Prefecture last August 
and defect coverups by Tokyo Electric Power Co. which came to light 
in August 2002.

The commission is headed by Shunsuke Kondo, a professor at the 
University of Tokyo.

The white paper also covered a coolant leak accident at a nuclear 
fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture that came to 
light in February 2002, as well as the sodium leak accident at the 
fast-breeder reactor Monju in Fukui Prefecture in December 1995.

The white paper said the government must fully explain to nearby 
residents dangers associated with nuclear projects, including those 
of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, interim storage facilities for 
spent nuclear fuel, and of a nuclear fuel cycle centered on the 
pluthermal process.

The white paper also emphasized the importance of communication 
between the central and municipal governments. It also discussed ways 
to promote nuclear power generation under a market economy despite 
the high costs involved.

In the 2003 white paper, which was published after a five-year 
hiatus, the commission also highlighted the restoration of public 
confidence in the wake of Japan's first-ever fatal nuclear accident 
at the Tokaimura nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture in September 
1999.

The 1998 white paper, which also stressed the importance of public 
confidence, covered an explosion at the Tokai reprocessing plant in 
1997 that was then run by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel 
Development Corp., now known as the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development 
Institute.
-----------------

METI chief to order suspension of nuke plants in event of attack

TOKYO, March 4 (Kyodo) - The economy, trade and industry minister 
will be empowered to order the operators of nuclear power plants to 
suspend their operations when an attack by a foreign country or 
terrorists is imminent or in the event of such an attack, according 
to draft basic evacuation guidelines unveiled Friday by the 
government.

The education, culture, sports, science and technology minister will 
also be authorized to issue an order to suspend operations of 
experimental nuclear facilities in an emergency, the guidelines say.

The guidelines also call for the public to refrain from using 
electricity when operations of nuclear power plants are suspended, 
while defining measures to secure power supply from alternative 
sources.

The guidelines, which will serve as a manual for local governments 
for evacuating or rescuing residents in an emergency, will be 
approved by the Cabinet by the end of this month and will later be 
reported to the Diet.

Prefectural governments and organizations will then formulate their 
own evacuation manuals based on the basic guidelines during fiscal 
2005.

The guidelines call on the central government to support prefectural 
governments to promote cooperation in evacuation and rescue of 
residents.

They also call for authorities to give special consideration to 
elderly and disabled people when evacuating them, while urging them 
to preserve relevant documents to protect individuals' rights and 
interests.

The government compiled the draft guidelines after listening to 
opinions from local governments and organizations on an outline of 
the evacuation plan which was adopted last December.

The outline presented evacuation routes and rescue operations based 
on four types of possible attack scenarios -- those involving assault 
landings, guerrilla action, ballistic missiles and aircraft.

The outline, however, did not describe the details of such measures 
to be taken on nuclear power plants and ways to secure power supply 
in an emergency.
-----------------

Tribe files federal lawsuit against Yucca Mountain nuclear dump in 
Nevada

LAS VEGAS (AP) - An American Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit 
Friday aimed at stopping the government from building a national 
nuclear waste dump on ancestral land in Nevada.

Members of the Western Shoshone National Council cited a 19th-century 
treaty with the federal government that they said gives the tribe the 
right to stop the nuclear repository from being built at Yucca 
Mountain.

"Mother Earth is sacred to the Shoshone and is not to be hurt by us," 
Western Shoshone Chief Raymond Yowell said outside court.

A spokesman for the Energy Department declined comment.

Nevada also is fighting the nuclear dump. It won a partial victory in 
a case last July that said the Energy Department's plan did not go 
far enough to protect people from potential radiation.

The department plans to entomb 77,000 tons of highly radioactive 
commercial, industrial and military waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles 
northwest of Las Vegas.

The lawsuit filed Friday against the Energy and Interior departments 
cites a 1863 treaty that recognized vast stretches of territory in 
present-day Nevada, California, Utah and Idaho as tribal land.
------------------

Alaska Community Researches Nuclear Power

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (March 4) - Electric stoves are a convenience, but 
in the Yukon River city of Galena, many people pass them by - the 
appliances suck up more juice than residents can afford.
   
With Galena tucked into the western part of Alaska, diesel oil that 
powers the electrical plant must be towed 350 miles by barge. 
Customers pay 30 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to a national 
average of 8.71 cents, so they cook with propane, turn off lights and 
limit television time.

In need of relief, the community of 700 people is turning to nuclear 
power. But Galena's plant would be far different from other U.S. 
commercial nuclear power plants - at 10 megawatts, it would be 
downright tiny.

City officials met recently with staff from the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission to discuss licensing a plant being developed by Toshiba 
Corp. that could be a test case for providing cheap power to rural 
communities.

''Some people believe nuclear is coming around again,'' said Marvin 
Yoder, Galena's city manager.

The smallest U.S. commercial nuclear power plants are the Fort 
Calhoun Nuclear Plant, 19 miles north of Omaha, Neb., and the Ginna 
Nuclear Plant, east of Rochester, N.Y. Both have electrical output of 
470 megawatts, roughly 45 times larger than what Toshiba is 
contemplating, said NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.

Joe Williams, an NRC senior project manager in the new reactors 
section, described the meeting with Galena officials as a get-
acquainted session to hear about the city and lay out the formidable 
process for building a nuclear plant.

Williams and Burnell stressed that the commission's role is not to 
discuss whether nuclear power is a viable alternative for rural 
America, but to ensure that reactors are safe.

Few places are as rural in America as rural Alaska and options for 
low-cost power are few. Galena is 185 miles west of the nearest link 
to the nation's highway system. Diesel oil is shipped to residents on 
the Yukon and Tanana rivers.

Like all of Interior Alaska, Galena experiences wild temperature 
extremes, from a summer high of 92 to a winter low of 64 below zero.

''It's a little bit like people in Florida getting used to 
hurricanes,'' Yoder said. ''Cars don't like to run. You hope the 
windows are insulated good. If they aren't, you feel the cold coming 
right through.''

A reactor would be a dramatic contrast with Galena's austere 
infrastructure. Its roads are gravel, and only a few homes are on a 
piped water and sewer system. Most have water delivered and sewage 
pumped out of holding tanks.

Galena began considering nuclear power after determining that wind 
and solar power were impractical and that coal was too costly. After 
discussions with Toshiba, city officials concluded nuclear power 
would be the cleanest and least expensive alternative, lowering costs 
to 10 cents per kilowatt hour.

Toshiba officials said the small reactor would not be operational for 
five to 10 years. The actual reactor would be about 7 feet tall and 
30 inches in diameter and would be near the bottom of a concrete tube 
about 60 feet below the ground.

The reactor's fuel, which has not been specified, would stay 
encapsulated for 30 years, unlike fuel at a conventional reactor that 
is routinely replenished.

Yoder expects an encased reactor, with few moving parts using a low-
grade plutonium or other fuel that could not be reused for weapons, 
would be cheaper to operate and protect than a conventional reactor.

It will take at least another two years to determine whether Galena 
is an appropriate site for a reactor. It also remains to be seen 
whether such a small plant presents economies of scale that would 
allow such a tiny plant to pay for security costs, disposal of spent 
fuel and other expenses.

''We don't have information to be able to judge that at this point,'' 
the NRC's Williams said.

If it's successful in Galena, there are likely to be applications 
elsewhere.

Yoder said no opposition has surfaced at City Council meetings, but 
attributed that to the fact that there are so many unknowns and that 
the council's endorsement must be renewed again in two years.

Yet Galena's neighbors on the Yukon River, the fourth-largest 
drainage basin in North America and home to the world's largest 
inland salmon run, have misgivings. Rob Rosenfeld of the Yukon River 
Intertribal Watershed Council, an organization created by the Yukon's 
indigenous people to protect the river, said villages around Galena 
worry about the experimental status of the reactor and what would 
happen to spent fuel.

Paul Gunter, director of the Reactor Watchdog Project for the Nuclear 
Information and Resource Service in Washington, D.C., voiced concerns 
about how a reactor would stand up to the harsh Alaskan climate.

''This design pushes all those envelopes to an extreme,'' he said.
-------------------

Duke gets approval to use mixed fuel in reactor

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Duke Power has received final approval to begin 
testing nuclear reactor fuel that contains weapons-grade plutonium at 
its power plant on Lake Wylie.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a license Thursday that 
allows the Charlotte, N.C.-based company to begin testing four mixed-
oxide fuel assemblies at the Catawba Nuclear Station, which is about 
75 miles north of here.

"We found that there is reasonable assurance that the use of MOX 
fuels at Catawba will be safe and will comply with the commission's 
regulations," said Tad Marsh of the commission. "Additional 
protective measures proposed by Duke will provide enhanced security 
for the MOX fuel assemblies, beyond the measures currently in place."

Some environmental and nuclear nonproliferation groups have opposed 
the MOX testing because the groups say it's dangerous and they have 
security concerns. The groups argue the weapons-grade plutonium 
should be encased in glass and buried.

Duke does not yet have any MOX fuel. The company is waiting on a 
shipment of fuel from France and plans to begin testing later this 
spring.

"We are pleased that NRC agrees with our assessment that it is safe," 
MOX project manager Steve Nesbit said. "This NRC approval is an 
important step toward the goal of disposing of surplus nuclear 
weapons material and thereby advancing international nonproliferation 
efforts."

The conversion to mixed-oxide fuel is a key part of the Bush 
administration's effort to safeguard the tons of excess weapons-grade 
plutonium held by both the United States and Russia and reduce the 
risk of the material being obtained by terrorists or a rogue state.

Under an agreement with Russia, the United States plans to blend 34 
tons of U.S. plutonium no longer needed for warheads with depleted 
uranium to be used in a commercial power reactor. Russia also would 
build a conversion plant for 34 tons of its excess plutonium.

The construction of the U.S. plant at the Savannah River Site near 
Aiken has been delayed because of liability issues with Russia.
------------------

Energy Department offers Hanford tank workers health care options

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation who 
may be concerned about inhaling vapors from underground waste tanks 
may be screened through a new health program beginning next month.

The program follows months of allegations that workers were being 
endangered by vapors expelled from 177 underground tanks at the site. 
The tanks hold about 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste 
left from Cold War-era plutonium production for the nation's nuclear 
weapons arsenal.

Congress appropriated $790,000 to start medical screening of the 
workers and continue a broader screening program for former Hanford 
workers. Both programs are to be run by the University of Washington.

John Shaw, the U.S. Department of Energy's new assistant secretary 
for environment, safety and health, announced the start of the new 
program Thursday during his first visit to the Hanford site.

The visit was a chance to bring a message to workers that new Energy 
Secretary Samuel Bodman and Shaw's office are committed to their 
health and safety, Shaw said.

More than 1,800 chemicals have been identified as either present or 
capable of having formed in the air cavity of the tanks. However, 
little or no information about potential danger is available for 
about 1,400 of those chemicals.

Last year, a federal investigation concluded that workers' health had 
been at risk from vapors expelled from the tanks. The report by the 
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health also stressed 
the importance of medical monitoring for workers who might be exposed 
to tank vapors.

The contractor handling tank waste cleanup, CH2M Hill Hanford Group, 
now requires that workers wear respirators with air tanks when 
working in the tank farms.

Tank farm workers may choose to be screened by Hanford's current 
occupational medicine contractor, AdvanceMed Hanford, or the new 
university program. Workers also may use the university program to 
get a second opinion, said Dr. Tim Takaro, who will run the program 
for the university.

Shaw also presented a safety award to the primary analytical 
laboratory for highly radioactive samples. The laboratory won star 
safety status for excellent safety and health programs in 2003 
shortly before operation of the lab was transferred to CH2M Hill.

Star safety status does not transfer to a new contractor, and CH2M 
Hill had to reapply.
--------------

Rocky Flats cleanup under budget, on schedule

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) - The cleanup of the former Rocky Flats 
nuclear weapons plant will finish under budget, possibly as early as 
October, the project contractor said.

Kaiser-Hill Co. and U.S. Energy Department officials told a citizens 
advisory board on Thursday the project is a year ahead of schedule 
with 90 percent of the cleanup complete, said Kaiser-Hill vice 
president David Shelton.

"To see all the progress and the end in sight, it's very rewarding," 
he said during a meeting with the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory 
Board.

The final cost of the project will be about $7 billion, or 7 percent 
below the initial estimate, said Shelton.

"It wasn't magic," Shelton said. "We used innovative ways to transfer 
waste and we've had excellent support from the state."

The cleanup began in 1995. When finished, the site west of Denver 
will be converted to a wildlife refuge.

The company plans to lay off 500 workers later this month.

This week, crews began demolishing buildings that once stored 
plutonium. Among them is Building 776, which was highly contaminated 
from a 1969 fire and had been ranked by the Energy Department as the 
second-most dangerous building in the country.

Removal of the rubble from the building should be completed in May, 
leaving Building 371 as the last standing building at the plant to 
have contained plutonium.

Some critics of the cleanup, including the foreman of a grand jury 
that investigated environmental crimes at the plant, say the work 
will be incomplete because the then-contractor lied about areas where 
contaminated material was dumped.

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., has asked the Government 
Accountability Office to review the cleanup.
-----------------

Russia's parliament ratifies international convention on liability 
for nuclear accidents

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday 
ratified an international agreement on liability for nuclear damage 
that would oblige the Russian government to pay compensation to 
victims of nuclear accidents.

The State Duma voted 344-45 to ratify the Vienna Convention on Civil 
Liability for Nuclear Damage, which requires a nuclear operator to 
pay at least US$60 million in overall damages for an accident, 
according to a Russian government presentation to lawmakers. Since 
all of Russia's nuclear power plants and other atomic facilities are 
in state hands, the government would be liable for any damage in 
future accidents.

Officials and leaders of the pro-Kremlin parliament majority argued 
Wednesday that joining the agreement would protect Russia from much 
higher damage claims in case of accident.

"The ratification of the convention would allow us to set the upper 
limit of civil liability," said Konstantin Kosachev, the head of 
Duma's foreign affairs committee. "That would be much less than 
possible damage claims."

The Soviet Union hasn't paid any liabilities for the 1986 blast at 
the Chernobyl nuclear plant - the world's worst commercial nuclear 
disaster - in the former Soviet republic Ukraine. About 30 people 
died from immediate effects of the explosion, and an estimated 5 
million people were exposed to radiation.

Sergey Antipov, a deputy chief of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy 
Agency, said Russia's failure to ratify the document in the past had 
"caused tensions in relations with our partners," stemming 
international cooperation.

The issue of liability for nuclear accidents has been a key stumbling 
block in Russia's negotiations with the United States and other 
Western nations that have pledged financial assistance to help secure 
Russia's nuclear stockpiles, dismantle atomic submarines and build 
storage for radioactive waste.

"The ratification of the Vienna Convention will help protect our 
political and economic interests," Antipov said. The document is not 
retroactive, and only refers to future accidents.

Some opposition lawmakers said the convention would harm Russia by 
making it liable for nuclear accidents. "We are putting another 
burden on Russia," said ultranationalist lawmaker Alexei Mitrofanov.

The ratification bill still needs to be endorsed by the upper house 
of parliament, the Federation Council, and signed by President 
Vladimir Putin to take force.

The 1963 Vienna Convention aimed at a worldwide system, but so far 
has attracted a scattered membership of only 32 states. Two-thirds of 
the members joined in the last 10 years, including non-nuclear states 
such as Cameroon, Niger, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The 1988 Joint Protocol attempted to link the Vienna Convention with 
the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear 
Energy, but the goal of a global treaty has not been met.
----------------

Underground research lab proposed at WIPP

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) - Scientists are proposing a research lab in the 
federal government's nuclear waste dump 2,150 feet below the surface 
of southeastern New Mexico.

The proposal from a team led by a University of California scientists 
argues that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad is ideal 
for their work because existing excavation facilities at WIPP could 
be used at minimal cost.

The proposal is one of eight submitted Monday to the federal 
government's National Science Foundation to study sites around the 
country for a possible underground research area, NSF spokesman Mitch 
Waldrop said. The NSF expects three to five proposals to be funded 
for further study.

It's expected to be years before a final site for the lab is chosen.

Physicists have long sought to shield delicate physics experiments 
from the radiation of cosmic rays by locating them deep underground. 
Scientists toured WIPP in 2001 at the invitation of the Department of 
Energy's former WIPP manager to look into the possibility of part of 
the repository housing such experiments.

The proposed lab also would include geophysicists studying the deep 
Earth and biologists studying organisms that live deep underground.

A proposal to locate the laboratory at an old gold mine in South 
Dakota fell through in 2003, so the NSF has launched a search for a 
new site.

The WIPP proposal is led by researchers David Cline of the University 
of California Los Angeles and C.J. Martoff of Temple University in 
Philadelphia. Other participants include New Mexico State University 
in Las Cruces and the University of Texas at El Paso.

WIPP, which opened in March 1999, buries nuclear waste from the 
nation's defense work in vast underground rooms excavated in ancient 
salt beds. The plutonium-contaminated waste includes such things as 
clothing, tools and other debris.

A contractor, Washington TRU Solutions, manages the $2 billion 
repository for the DOE.
-------------------

Hitler tested atomic device, German historian says

BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - Nazi Germany was not only trying to 
develop nuclear weapons but actually tested atomic devices near the 
end of World War Two, the publisher of a yet to be released book by a 
German historian says.

The pre-publication claims by historian Rainer Karlsch drew headlines 
in German newspapers on Friday but the publisher of "Hitlers Bombe" 
(Hitler's Bomb) declined to give details or answer further questions 
until the book is launched on March 14.

Other historians played down any suggestion the Nazis were anywhere 
close to taking on the United States in a nuclear war.

According to the publisher, Karlsch says Nazi scientists tested 
"nuclear bombs" in 1944 and 1945 on the Baltic island of Ruegen and 
in central Germany under the supervision of the SS, but they were not 
ready to be deployed before the war ended.

Bernhard Fulda, a lecturer on 20th Century German history at 
Cambridge University, said even though Germany's interest in 
harnessing nuclear energy was well known, the idea that the Nazis 
almost won the nuclear arms race was implausible.

"I would dismiss any suggestion that these were tests comparable to 
those carried out by the Americans as part of the Manhattan project," 
he told Reuters, referring to the secret programme which led to the 
Hiroshima bombing of August 1945.

Karlsch has been on the staff of Berlin's Free and Humboldt 
universities, publisher DVA said.

DVA spokesman Markus Desaga said the book was based on research 
reports, construction plans, diaries, aerial photos, spy reports and 
testimonies of some of the scientists involved.

"Under the supervision of the SS, German scientists tested nuclear 
bombs on Ruegen and in Thuringia in 1944 and 1945," Desaga said. 
Hundreds of prisoners of war and internees died during this process, 
he added.

QUESTIONS

Radiation measurements and soil analysis were also used to back up 
the assertions, he said. He said no further details on the book would 
be released until its publication.

Karlsch studied economic history and has published books on the 
development of atomic weapons. He will give no interviews on the book 
before its publication, Desaga said.

DVA said the book asserts there was an operational nuclear reactor 
close to Berlin in 1944-45, and that Nazi physicists had drafted a 
patent for a plutonium bomb as early as 1941.

"The Third Reich was on the verge of winning the race to deploy the 
first nuclear weapon. Was this Hitler's final hope, the miracle 
weapon he talked of in 1944/1945?" DVA said in a statement on its 
forthcoming title.

The book raises the question of whether the world was on the brink of 
a nuclear war before Germany surrendered in May 1945.

But Fulda said Germany's economic resources were so stretched, 
particularly in the final phases of the war, that it would have had 
"no chance" of realising its nuclear ambitions.
-----------------

Smoke found in construction area at nuclear plant

BERWICK, Pa. (AP) - Workers noticed smoke in a construction area at a 
nuclear power plant in Luzerne County on Friday afternoon, prompting 
a low-level alert declaration that lasted almost an hour, a plant 
spokesman said.

PPL's Susquehanna nuclear plant Unit 2 declared an "unusual event," 
the lowest of the federal government's four emergency classifications 
for nuclear power plants, for about 55 minutes, the company said.

"Our plant fire brigade responded and no fire was found. The smoke 
has stopped," plant spokesman Joe Scopelliti said. Plant officials 
are investigating the cause of the smoke, which was spotted while the 
unit was out of service for refueling.

Unit 1 continues to operate at full power, the company said.

The Susquehanna plant, about seven miles north of Berwick, is 
operated by PPL Susquehanna LLC, a subsidiary of Allentown-based PPL 
Corp. It is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna and Allegheny Electric 
Cooperative Inc.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle 
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306 
Fax:(949) 296-1144

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