nuclear.com info nuggets - December 7, 2003

info nuggets - December 7, 2003

Brought to you by

Phonics Sweepstakes! Every month a nice prize!

The Advantage Superstore
"You Want It. We've Got It.

Wireless As Low As $7.99

Today's info nuggets

[see yesterday's items]

* List of 320 documents released Saturday by NRC PDR

Today's source articles

* A new era of nuclear weapons -- Bush's buildup begins with little debate in Congress
James Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle
Reversing a decade of restraint in nuclear weapons policy, Congress agreed to provide more than $6 billion for research, expansion and upgrades in the country's nuclear capabilities. "It hasn't been perceived as such, but this is a nuclear revival," said Stephen Schwartz, publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In addition to the kinds of thoroughly anti-nuclear voices one might expect to be quoted in the Chronicle, this article highlghts Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "I happen to think they're out of bounds on this. There's an important sea change in the world, and we have no idea what our policy is... It's a major national scandal in the making," Weldon said in an interview with The Chronicle last week. "I'm totally frustrated." The article doesn't mention that Rep. Weldon has been really steamed at the White House since the plug was pulled, on quite short notice, on a trip he had planned to North Korea in October. At the time, Weldon was quoted as saying "There has been confusion in the administration over the policy in North Korea for a long time, which is why I got involved in the first place," Weldon said. "We are not going over there to conduct foreign policy. ThatÕs a job for the president and the secretary of state. What we are trying to do is open a dialogue and initiate positive relations."

The best known parts of the nuclear "revival" was the repeal of the law banning the development of smaller, more usable low-yield warheads, the approval to begin research into advanced weapons concepts for the future, and funding for study of a new "bunker-buster" warhead. In addition, Congress approved increasing the readiness of the Nevada Test Site, where weapons were tested underground until a ban was put in place in 1992. Congress also approved $320 million for manufacturing new "pits," the plutonium cores of warheads, almost $90 million more than last year. Another $135 million was appropriated for a program to keep tritium, a radioactive gas used to boost the power of warheads, ready for weapons use and another $265 million for a broad campaign to refurbish the facilities used to produce and maintain the nuclear arsenal.

* Dirty Bomb Warheads Disappear; Stocks of Soviet-Era Arms For Sale on Black Market
Joby Warrick, Washington Post
USSR-built Alazan rockets, designed for weather experiments, have an 8-mile range. In the years since the soviet breakup, however, the three-foot-long, thin rocket has been used by fighters in several countries' ethnic conflicts -- packed with explosives and lobbed into cities. Military records show that at least 38 Alazan warheads were modified to carry radioactive material, effectively creating the world's first surface-to-surface dirty bomb. A number of terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, have sought to build or buy one. The radioactive warheads are not known to have been used. But now, according to experts and officials, they have disappeared. The last known repository was in a tiny separatist enclave known as Transdniester, which broke away from Moldova 12 years ago. The Transdniester Moldovan Republic is a sliver of land no bigger than Rhode Island located along Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine.

Conventional arms originating in Transdniester have been turning up for years in conflict zones from the Caucasus to Central Africa, evidence of what U.S. officials describe as an invisible pipeline for smuggled goods that runs through Tiraspol to the Black Sea and beyond. Now, governments and terrorism experts fear the same pipeline is carrying nonconventional weapons such as the radioactive Alazan, and that terrorists are starting to tap in.

The existence of "radiological warheads" for the Alazan was unknown until two years ago, when military documents describing them were obtained by the Institute for Policy Studies, a research group in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital. The documents, which were provided to The Washington Post, are a series of official letters written in 1994 by a Transdniester civil defense commander, Col. V. Kireev, who apparently became concerned about radiation given off by the rockets. One document described an inventory of 38 "isotopic radioactive warheads of missiles of the Alazan type," including 24 that were attached to rocket. In the two other documents, the commander requested technical help in dealing with radiation exposure related to storage of the warheads. He complained that uniforms of soldiers working with the warheads were so contaminated that they had to be "destroyed by burning and burying."

* Argentine president seeks London's apology for Falkand war nuclear weapons
Agence France Presse
Back in 1982, British naval ships routinely carried WE177 nuclear depth charges. And that includes ships sent to fight in the war that year for the Falkland Islands. Argentina, which invaded the Islands and then lost the subsequent 10-week war, thinks this nuclear thing was quite rude of the UK. Argentine President Nestor Kirchner said "The United Kingdom must ask our forgiveness" for bringing nuclear weapons into the vicinity of Argentina. Cabinet head Alberto Fernandez told radio Mitre on Saturday. "We are worried about what could have occurred, and want to know if any nuclear material is in the Argentine Sea." He noted that several British ships had been sunk (seven, to be precise) during the conflict and questioned whether they had nuclear arms on board.

The British Defense Ministry said Friday that an undetermined number of the nuclear depth charges had been on board vessels in its naval task force, but stressed that atomic weapons had not entered the Falklands' territorial waters -- they were transferred at sea to other ships before reaching the Falklands. The Ministry also said that some of the arms were damaged during ship-to-ship transfers.

* Global economy stings workers; Low-skill employees in U.S. lose jobs that are unlikely to return
Greg Barrett, Gannett News Service
Of the 50 best-paying jobs listed today by the Labor Department, 48 require at least a college degree. The two exceptions are air traffic controllers and nuclear power reactor operators.

* NASA's funding displaced by 'pork'
Gwyneth K. Shaw, Orlando Sentinel
Although the recent NASA appropriations agreed to by Congress totaled the same as the President's request, there were a few programs which were cut, with others substituted. $20 million was cut from Project Prometheus, a key element of the agency's hopes of finding a way to convert nuclear energy into electricity for in-space propulsion and power.

* OR won't be getting federal appropriations
Bob Fowler, Knoxville News Sentinel
The city of Oak Ridge Tennessee has been seeking federal funding. Increased DOE financial support is a linchpin in the city's long-range strategic plan to lower Oak Ridge property tax rates to within a 75 percent range of comparable cities. An attempt earlier this year to obtain an increase in payments in lieu of property taxes for the 34,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation was rebuked by DOE. City officials contend that the city's growth has been hampered by its role as one of the areas involved in the creation of the first atomic bomb. The city has been paying the law firm of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz $12,000 a month since Feb. 2002 to try to wrest more federal support for Oak Ridge. Another city with a nuclear legacy, Los Alamos, N.M., receives $8 million annually in funding for its school system through the energy and water appropriations bill. This year's bill includes language discussing Oak Ridge's financial plight, but no new money.

* Prejudging Bush in Iraq
Rachel Alexander, MichNews.com
Ms. Alexander is the editor of www.IntellectualConservative.com, and in this article she presents a stout defense of the Bush adminisration's actions regarding the war in Iraq. Here's the nuclear-related part: Critics of Bush contend that Hans BlixÕs inconclusive search for WMDs was persuasive evidence that Iraq did not pose a threat to the U.S. However, this places an undue emphasis on the fact that Hans Blix did not find any WMDs at that particular time. In actuality, how significant were Hans BlixÕs findings? Hans Blix is not the objective inspector that he has been portrayed as. As a student, he was president of the World Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth. He served as a member of SwedenÕs delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in the 1960s and 1970s. He is considered a leading scholar on SwedenÕs neutrality policy (translation: avoid war at all costs). Former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Per Ahlmark, has noted that Blix is considered, Òa little too accommodating to dictators,Ó and describes him as, Òpolitically weak and easily fooled.Ó Blix was appointed to head the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1981, the agency charged with inspecting Iraq for weapons under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Right under BlixÕs nose, Iraq built its nuclear weapons program. David Kay, an official of the IAEA at that time, stated that Iraq perfected techniques for hiding its program from BlixÕs inspectors. According to David Albright, president of the U.S. Institute for Science and International Security, ÒBlix was fooled for yearsÉHe ran a toothless agency, and despite many reports that Iraq had a nuclear program, they [the IAEA] didnÕt do anything.Ó

Because of BlixÕs pacifist stance and history of incompetence in inspecting Iraq, he wasnÕt UN Secretary General Kofi AnnanÕs first choice to lead UNMOVIC, the U.N. agency set up in the late 1990s to continue weapons and disarmament inspections. Annan settled on Blix as a compromise, because Russia, France, and China vetoed his first choice as too hawkish. Russia, France, and China were concerned with keeping on friendly terms with Iraq in order to continue their secret arms sales to Iraq. After BlixÕs appointment, one newspaper editorialized, ÒTo choose Blix, 72, to ferret out IraqÕs nuclear secrets is like hiring Inspector Clousseau to do the job.Ó Blix conducted inspections in Iraq under UNMOVIC for three years, between 2000 and 2003, and admitted that the Iraqis were not cooperating but hoped that given even more time, they might begin to cooperate. Given this admission, as well as BlixÕs inability to discover IraqÕs nuclear weapons program in the early 1990s, how could anyone think that BlixÕs inability to find WMDs this time around conclusively meant anything? Furthermore, the Iraqis have now had many more years to further perfect their hiding techniques, and their refusal to cooperate should raise suspicion. Some of the Iraqi scientists who have cooperated have been killed.

Instead of relying upon BlixÕs dubious findings, the Bush administration looked instead to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a report put together by veteran CIA analyst Stuart Cohen, the vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, composed of senior intelligence analysts responsible for advising the CIA. The report concluded that there was a high probability Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, and missiles with ranges exceeding the 150-kilometer limit set by the U.N. Security Council. In a recent article in the Washington Post, Cohen pointed out that the U.N. as well as several friendly and unfriendly intelligence services had reached the same conclusions. The NIE conclusions were based upon information accumulated over 15 years, and Cohen noted that participants in the NIE swore under oath to Congress that the Bush administration did not put any pressure on them to come to any particular conclusions.

The Bush administration also relied upon information linking Saddam Hussein to Osama Bin Laden. Although the Left repeatedly insists there is no link, evidence has been emerging showing that there was a connection. The Weekly Standard obtained a copy of a memo from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas J. Feith, dated October 27, 2003, addressed to two Senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee. It contained information compiled from a variety of domestic and foreign agencies, including the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. The report included substantiated and corroborated evidence that Iraq established contacts with al Qaeda in 1990, and continued that relationship until this year. Iraq provided al Qaeda with explosives and weapons training, and in return al Qaeda used its connections with Afghanistan to facilitate the shipment of weapons and equipment to Iraq.

* U.S., Japan, S. Korea sending nuclear proposal to N. Korea; They'll ask China to relay offer in hope of more 6-nation talks
Sang-Hun Choe, Associated Press
If Pyongyang accepts the joint proposal, a second round of six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis will convene in Beijing, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck told South Korean reporters upon returning home from a trip to Washington. Before the Washington talks, South Korean officials had said the proposal would deal with the main sticking point: when the United States should give written security assurances to North Korea. The North wants Washington to issue the assurances at the same time as a North Korean renunciation of its nuclear weapons program, while the United States wants the North to move first. "The three countries have reached an understanding on the wording of a joint statement and agreed to give it to China," Lee said. "China will send it to Pyongyang and then there will be a response. "The next few days are crucial. I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic," he added. He did not give details on the proposal, drawn up in talks with his Japanese counterpart, Mitoji Yabunaka, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly. The three are their countries' top negotiators at the nuclear talks, which also include China and Russia.

* A long voyage: Edison set to ship reactor core
Paul Sisson, North County Times
Just getting the San Onofre-1 reactor vessel to the barge will be quite a trip. Here's a description of the 17-mile drive south from San Onofre to Oceanside Harbor:

A crane will load the 770-ton package aboard a special 16-axle transport trailer with 192 tires. The trailer is pulled by a "prime mover" semi-trailer. Together, the prime mover, transport trailer and reactor package top 900 tons.

On the day of departure, the transport vehicle will pull the heavy trailer south down a frontage road that parallels Interstate 5. Once the procession reaches Skull Canyon just south of the Las Pulgas Gate at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, the journey must change paths, moving through the slow lane of I-5 for about a quarter of a mile. "That part will probably happen at 4 or 5 in the morning," Golden explained. He added that Edison has reinforced the frontage road and the freeway where necessary to make sure the reactor vessel's ponderous bulk does not leave a path of cracks and potholes in its wake.

Once past Skull Canyon, the reactor and its transport will veer off the freeway, slicing diagonally onto Red Beach at Camp Pendleton. There it will roll onto a custom-built, temporary roadway along the beach made of interlocking rubber mats. Crews will lay a mile of mats along the beach, continually removing those that have already served their purpose and laying them down again to extend the path south in a hopscotch fashion.

Golden said the transport vehicle should move at 2 to 3 miles per hour on paved ground and slower over the beach, meaning the entire trip to the harbor will take between five and seven days.

To receive permission to drive across the beach and through part of the San Onofre State Park, the California Coastal Commission required Edison to take pains to avoid damaging the environment. The trip is scheduled for the winter to avoid the nesting seasons of the western snowy plover and the California least tern. A biologist will travel with the package from start to finish, to make sure the path does not harm native plants or animals. "The biologist can stop the whole thing at any time if he finds a problem," Golden said.

When the package arrives at Oceanside Harbor, it will be trucked to a dock in the Del Mar Boat Basin, which is operated by Camp Pendleton, where the barge will be pulled alongside a pier. A crane will load the oversized canister aboard the barge, where it will be bolted and welded in place. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must inspect the installation to make sure it's secure, then an ocean tug will tow the Paul Bunyan out to sea. A second companion tug will travel with the first tug, making three trips to shore to retrieve diesel fuel and supplies.

* UC wrestles with future of its 3 labs
Ian Hoffman, Oakland Tribune
Academic-corporate teams have won two of the three most recent competitions for national lab management contracts. The University of California (UC) and its competitors for the Berkeley, Livermore, and Los Alamos labs suspect that the Energy Department is wary of entrusting its premier labs solely to academic institutions that key purse-string lawmakers for the agency in Congress perceive as good at science but lax on operations, management and security. Berkeley is a basic science and energy lab. Livermore and Los Alamos are nuclear weapons labs. Although many at UC want to retain the contract for all three labs, it's not sure that the system will bid for Los Alamos, or perhaps even Livermore. One problem is financing the bid. Federal prosecutors are eyeing some $4-million in repayment and fines for Livermore overbillings in the late 1990s -- and that represents about a quarter of UC's annual DOE payments. Another problem might arise -- the UC faculty includes many who are not pleased that the university is involved in nuclear weapons work.

* Academic science in the age of weapons of mass destruction
Stephen E Bialkowski, Salt Lake Tribune
Bialkowski is a chemistry professor at Utah State University. He claims that our country and society do not value science, and that science is being molded by politically motivated, nongovernment organizations. He describes an ongoing war against science: "It is a political battle. It is a battle for democracy, freedom and accuracy of speech." He was offended that, during orientation about terrorism at a DOE national environmental lab, environmentalists were used as an example of a type of terrorist group. Your humble nuclear.com editor doesn't begrudge Prof. Bialkowski his opinion, but we wonder why he seems so eagar to lump scientists and violent activists in some common cause; and we wish he'd take some of his peers to task for exaggerating the science instead of lamenting about a society which he believes "is becoming more conservative and hostile to science". The current issue of Science, for example, contains an article by a pair of world-class climate scientists (Karl and Trenberth) which, if one can believe the press release, estimates that there's a 90% probability that global mean temperature will rise by 1.7 to 4.9 degrees C between 1990 and 2100. This claim sounds pretty similar to the quite misleading abstract of a Wigley and Raper paper in Science shortly after the UNIPCC's Third Assessment Report. Trenberth has published at least one pretty disgustingly misleading op ed piece since then, too. Society's hostility to exaggerating scientists ought to be nothing compared to other scientists' hostility to same.

* Attack is 'worst nightmare' for U.S. ports
Caroline Drees, China Post

* ElBaradei Aims to End Nuclear Threat
William J. Kole, Las Vegas SUN

* Britain says no nuclear weapons on ships sunk in Falklands war
SpaceDaily

* Argentina rejects British statement on Falklands, insists on apology
SpaceDaily

* Court rejects SA bid to block nuclear dump
ABC

* Tianjin tightens control over radioactive stone building materials
People's Daily

* Germany's Schroeder says atomic export to China unstoppable
SpaceDaily

* Germany holds crisis talks over atomic exports to China: reports
SpaceDaily

* Iran Says It Will Sign Nuclear Protocol
Ali Akbar Dareini, Las Vegas SUN

* Bunning blasts inefficient spending for Paducah plant
Louisville Courier Journal

* DOE challenged to spend more on actual cleanup
Bill Bartleman, Paducah Sun

* Union Workers lack guarantees when contractor changes
Bill Bartleman, Paducah Sun