* Alliance Demands Nuclear Stand Down
* Back From the Brink Campaign Launched in D.C. Today
* Militia Leader Arrested in Nuclear Plot
* Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY campaign (Y2K WASH)
* Ukraine, Armenia Nuclear Plants Lagging on Y2K
* Blast at a Nuclear Bomb Factory Injures 3
* 10 injured in weapons plant explosion
* Tennessee Weapons Plant Shut After Accident
* Workers still waiting for health screening Piketon plant
* Astronaut Radiation Limits Urged
* Nuclear Waste Group Issues Sanction (N.C.)
* Love Canal Revitalized in Niagara
* China Denies Building Missile Base Near Taiwan
* Clinton concerned about missile threat to Taiwan
But he stresses one-China policy
* World Talks About Policy on Iraq
* Japan To Overhaul Rocket Program
* N. Korea Reactor Deal Expected
* Get Navy Out of Vieques
* Navy Delays Puerto Rico Talks
* Protesters Force Standoff at Puerto Rico Bomb Range
* Yeltsin Angrily Touts Russia's Nuclear Arsenal
* Cold Still Felt Between U.S.-Russia
* U.S. Orders Russian Diplomat to Leave After Spying Arrest
* Luck Exposes Russian Spy Operation
* Timeline of Arrest of Suspected Spy
* Russian Minister: New Weapons Needed
Yeltsin Lashes Out At Clinton
* U.S. Wants Good Ties With Russia Despite Spy Flap
* World Silent As Russia Hits Chechnya
--------- DeAlert Nuclear Weapons
Alliance Demands Nuclear Stand Down
Associated Press December 9, 1999 Filed at 4:46 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Nuclear-Targets.html
http://www2.nando.net/noframes/story/0,2107,500140563-500166011-500606232-0,00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worried that the world could be blasted into a nuclear disaster within minutes, a new alliance is trying to persuade the U.S. government to take 5,000 nuclear weapons off ``hair-trigger alert'' to prompt a similar step by Moscow.
``Many of our citizens believe we already have done this,'' said Bruce Blair, a nuclear control expert who joined politicians, former military control officers and other antinuclear experts to announce a campaign Thursday to get U.S. nuclear weapons off alert status.
Despite a 1994 pact by President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin not to aim nuclear missiles at each other's cities, 5,000 warheads on each side ``remain loaded for wartime targets that can be activated in seconds,'' Blair said. A launch order would take only about 2 minutes to execute, he said.
The alliance is taking no position on a proposed national missile defense system, focusing instead on trying to prevent accidental or unauthorized launch from Russia or a U.S. launch facilitated by a dangerously mechanized system.
The campaign, dubbed ``Back from the Brink,'' includes a Web site -- www.dealert.org -- a video describing a near-launch of Russian missiles in 1995, and grassroots organizing to expose the issue and try to inject it into the 2000 presidential campaign.
Blair, a former Air Force missile control officer and now a defense analyst at Brookings Institution, proposed that President Clinton unilaterally de-alert all U.S. missiles, including those aboard submarines that are on 15-minute notice to fire.
Then, Clinton and Yeltsin could work out a full-scale de-alerting of all nuclear missiles with a verification regime and guarantees from China, Britain and France to follow suit, Blair suggested.
Despite the end of the Cold War and progress in disarmament, ``we're still allowing ourselves 15 to 20 minutes to determine whether or not the planet Earth will be extinct,'' said former Democratic Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, an alliance leader.
``It's like walking along a cliff performing for your girlfriend and saying, 'Look how close I can get to the edge and not fall off,''' Bumpers said.
The alliance also includes Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and representatives of several antinuclear, peace and human rights groups.
---
Back From the Brink Campaign Launched in D.C. Today
National Press Building press conference 10 a.m. Dec. 9, 1999:
Report by Ellen Thomas, prop1@prop1.org
Arjun Makhijani, Bruce Blair, Senator Dale Bumpers and others launched the "Back from the Brink" de-alerting campaign. It was heartening to see so many media there. I think it was Mary McGrory of the Washington Post in the front row? asking interesting questions. Senator Bumpers was particularly eloquent when he urged the reporters to educate the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons. An excellent video was shown. Details about getting the videotape, "Back from the Brink," the organizing packet, fact sheets etc. can be obtained at http://www.DEALERT.org (see below), 1-877-55-BESAFE.
Here's a quick link for writing Congress and media urging dealerting:
http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/
--
http://www.dealert.com/
"It's time for the U.S. and Russia to 'de-alert,' taking nuclear weapons off their hair trigger."
The cold war has been over for ten years. Yet the U.S. and Russia continue to have thousands of nuclear missiles on high alert. When detecting a possible attack, strategic plans call for assessing it and retaliating within 15 minutes. In 1995, Russia mistakenly identified a scientific rocket as a nuclear missile moving toward Moscow. President Yeltsin's black briefcase was activated. Eight minutes after the alarm first sounded, the mysterious object fell into the seas. The decision to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike was averted. (full details from PBS FrontLine story).
It is simply too dangerous to leave these weapons poised for a quick launch of massive retaliation. Political realities don't justify this defense posture, and human error is far too likely. We demand that the leadership of the U.S. and of Russia move into the new millennium, standing down our weapons of mass destruction. We support the following petition statement: "It's time for the U.S. and Russia to 'de-alert,' taking nuclear weapons off their hair trigger."
There have been many expert voices raised against a hair-trigger nuclear posture, including former head of the Strategic Air Command, General Lee Butler, Bruce Blair of Brookings Institution, Senator Sam Nunn, and Admiral Stansfield Turner. For more information on nuclear risk and de-alerting, check out the Scientific American article, Taking Nuclear Weapons off Hair-Trigger Alert.
The President has the authority to negotiate nuclear weapons alert status with Russia now. If you agree that it is time to dealert nuclear weapons and wish to forcefully deliver this message to the President and other policy makers, you can (1) sign, (2) tell others, and (3) help out using the form on right hand side of this webpage.
Other Resources
For more information about the Back from the Brink campaign, try our Frequently Asked Questions page. Click on the Press Room for press releases and press contact information. Go to More Resources on de-alerting for in depth analysis.
Representative Markey has introduced a sense of Congress resolution (H .Con. Res. 177) urging the President to take steps to de-alert all U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. More information is available on Representative Markey's website. He has 84 cosponsors to date.
Sign up: http://www.dealert.com
Tell Others This campaign is based solely on word of mouth. It is CRUCIAL that you tell others.
Help Out Volunteers: We need your help.
Send email to info@dealert.org for unanswered questions.
[Actually, Rep. Markey's aide advises that he has close to 200 co-sponsors as of 12/9/99/ et]
-------- us nuc facilities
Militia Leader Arrested in Nuclear Plot
ABC Newswire Thursday December 09 09:06 PM EST From: "Scott Portzline" <happen@pipeline.com> Subject: Crystal River N-Plant identified as target in bomb plot
TAMPA, Fla. (APBnews.com) -- A militia leader is in jail for plotting to blow up a Florida nuclear power plant and black out Atlanta by destroying electrical facilities, federal authorities said today.
Donald Beauregard, 31, of St. Petersburg, planned to carry out the attacks by stealing explosives and weapons from National Guard armories in central Florida, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office here.
Beauregard was arrested Wednesday after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and weapons charges.
Anticipating Armageddon
His arrest, along with the arrests last week of two California militia members accused of plotting to blow up a propane installation, could be part of the FBI's effort to minimize the threat of violence from anti-government groups around the end of the millennium, said a spokesman for a prominent watchdog group.
"There is a real millennial frenzy out there right now on the radical right," Mark Potok of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center told APBnews.com today. "Many believe we are in the run-up to the battle of Armageddon. There are others who believe the Y2K computer bug is going to bring about the crash of Western civilization ... and they see this as an opening to make the revolution they've all been pining for for years."
Potok said the timing of the bust indicates the plot might have been planned for New Year's.
"The FBI may be essentially rolling up people they fear are about to unleash violence around Dec. 31," Potok said.
'Hard-lined militia group'
Beauregard formerly was the leader of the Southeastern States Alliance (SSA), a coalition of militia groups from seven Southern states ranging from Florida to Kentucky to Virginia, Potok said.
The SSA was formed in 1997 to create a unified command structure, he said.
"The SSA is a relatively hard-lined militia group," Potok said. "A lot of groups are very concerned to show they're not racist, not white-supremacist and so on."
Potok said the SSA has a strong "Christian Identity" element in it, referring to the religious doctrine of some anti-government white supremacists.
"That's about as hard-line as you can get," Potok said. "It reflects something that's going on in militias. They're becoming harder-edged and there's more and more Christian Identity influence being seen." Potok said a major player in the militia movement, Rick Ainsworth of Alabama, asked Beauregard last year to step down as SSA leader, which he did. Potok said he does not know why Ainsworth made the request. Beauregard remained at the head of his local militia, the 111th Regiment Militia of Pinellas County, which formerly was the 77th Regiment, Potok said.
Investigation began in 1995
The arrest Wednesday came following an investigation that began in February 1995 and culminated with the indictment on Dec. 2, according to court papers.
Over that time, Beauregard conspired with other militia members on a plan to steal weapons and explosives from the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve, and then to destroy energy facilities, the indictment says. He also is accused of participating in combat, firearms, and explosives training; planning to kill a militia member he believed to be an informant; and committing weapons violations, according to the indictment.
In March 1996, Beauregard distributed a memorandum, "Project (Worst Nightmare)," to other militia commands that described plans to shut down federal operations, disrupt federal communications, and detain key federal leaders, the indictment said. Three months later, Beauregard allegedly had a "target map" pinpointing electrical, utility, and police offices in Pinellas County. Coordinated attack planned
The court papers say that at an SSA meeting in North Carolina in November 1997, Beauregard discussed breaking into National Guard armories in central Florida to steal weapons to destroy the Florida Power nuclear plant in Crystal River. He allegedly directed SSA members to develop plans to attack government facilities in each of their states.
A month later, Beauregard discussed carrying out simultaneous attacks on St. Petersburg and Atlanta power facilities, according to the indictment. A "scout" allegedly told him that destroying three key towers serving Atlanta would black out the area.
In March 1998, Beauregard called off plans to steal firearms and explosives from the National Guard Armory in Haines City, Fla., because of the arrest of some militia members in Michigan, the indictment said.
Two months ago, he tried to buy blasting caps in Kentucky, according to court papers, which also cite him for possessing at various times a can of nitromethane, a key ingredient in explosives; grenades, pipe bombs, and having access to a 20 mm cannon and a .50 caliber automatic machine gun.
Held without bond
Beauregard is charged with conspiring to damage government property and destroy energy facilities, and supporting terrorism. He also is charged with four firearms crimes.
He is being held in federal custody without bond, said Monte Richardson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office here.
Beauregard does not have an attorney, said Craig Alldredge, the federal public defender who represented him Wednesday at the suspect's bond hearing in federal court.
Alldredge said he knows little about Beauregard, except that he has no criminal record.
Richardson said he could not comment on the possibility of further arrests. "The investigation is ongoing; that's all we can say," he said. Beauregard faces up to 55 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
By Richard Zitrin, an APBnews.com national correspondent.
-----------
Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY campaign (Y2K WASH)
Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 13:36:36 -0500
From: michael mariotte <nirsnet@nirs.org> Organization: NIRS
Dear friends-
This week, the Y2K WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY campaign (Y2K WASH) is putting maximum pressure on the White House to issue an executive order to Give the Nukes a Rest for Y2K. This would also set a much-needed example for other world leaders. WE NEED EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU TO SHOW PRESIDENT CLINTON THIS WEEK (DEC. 8-9) THAT THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING AND WANTS IMMEDIATE ACTION!
(Fine to keep calling & faxing after that too but we need a flood on these two days. Please don't hesitate to forward this message to everyone you know!)
The Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday is an international alliance of public interest groups and others with long experience tracking the nuclear power and weapons industries (see details in our letter to Pres. Clinton below).
There's lots more info on our website: http://www.y2kwash.org.
PLEASE MAKE THESE THREE CALLS AT LEAST DURING INTERNATIONAL CALL-IN & FAX-IN DAYS THIS WED & THURS DEC. 8TH & 9TH: HERE ARE THE NUMBERS:
President Bill Clinton: (tel) 202-456-1414 & 202-456-1111, (fax) 202-456-2461
John Koskinen, President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion: (tel) 202-456-7171, (fax) 202-456-7172
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) & Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem: (tel) 202-224-5224, (fax) 202-228-0517
(snail mail addresses below- emails not considered very effective)
If you can do more, phone your own Representatives and Senators (they are home in their districts now - numbers are in your phone book), tell them how you feel and ask them to call the White House too. And by all means, be creative, get out in the streets-or go to Washington!
Please let Y2K WASH know what you're doing. Email y2kwash@y2kwash.org. Especially forward copies of your letters & let us know if you are part of an organization that wants to sign on to the campaign.
Y2K WASH is getting closer to achieving its goal of temporarily shutting down nuclear power plants, getting them better backup generators with more fuel (for their cooling systems in case of blackouts), de-alerting nuclear weapons, and protecting the community in other ways. The European Union parliament has voted for all the Y2K WASH recommendations, the U.S. Senate Y2K Committee is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do more to ensure public safety, and we hear that Japanese utility executives are starting to think about shutting down the 52 nukes in Japan... With less than one month to go...
Thank you so much for your action at this critical time!
- Barbara George, Exec. Dir. Women's Energy Matters, for the Y2k World Atomic Safety Holiday
ADDRESSES:
President William Clinton 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington DC 20500
Senators Robert Bennett, Chair, and Christopher Dodd, Vice-Chair Senate Special Committee of the Year 2000 Technology Problem Senate Dirksen Bldg., B-40, Suite 3, Washington DC 20510
Mr. John Koskinen, Chair President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion 216 Old Executive Office Bldg., Washington DC 20502
(Text of the Y2K WASH letter to Pres. Clinton is below.)
President William Jefferson Clinton The White House, Washington DC
Dear President Clinton:
We are an alliance of public interest organizations and citizen groups with decades of experience in tracking the performance of the nuclear industry and the NRC, as well as nuclear weapons systems. We include nuclear engineers, scientists, medical doctors, and Y2K computer experts; nuclear plant workers and neighbors; and public interest advocates. Information unearthed and publicized by our organizations has forced the nuclear industry to function at a higher level. Our vigilance and concrete advice has helped enable the United States to claim the best nuclear safety record in the world.
Our initiatives often take years to accomplish, however. In the case of Y2K, we don't have years. We have less than one month. Since 1998, we have raised many substantive questions about nuclear plants' readiness, which have been met with concern, even alarm, in the General Accounting Office, the Senate Y2K Committee, and many Congressional offices-as well as international bodies-but Congress' action window has closed.
Now, you alone have the power-and the responsibility-to enact prudent measures to reduce the risk of nuclear catastrophe in the United States, and by example, to persuade other world leaders to do the same. Y2K is an unprecedented situation, in which all 103 nuclear power plants in the United States and 330 others in the world will be simultaneously challenged within a 24-hour period-and will continue to be at risk as long as Y2K disruptions persist. Unresolved computer glitches in the plants themselves-or in the communications, electrical grid, or other systems on which they depend-could result in serious nuclear accidents.
Myriad potential Y2K mishaps could cause meltdowns in many countries, including ours, spreading radioactive contamination far and wide. Surely you will take no chances that your name would be forever associated with such calamity.
Therefore, in order to reduce risk and protect global public safety, we urge you to use your executive power to implement the critical nuclear risk reduction measures listed at the end of this letter.
The European Union Parliament voted on November 18th to implement these measures in their countries, and urged countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to adopt them also.
Some of the compelling reasons for our concern are outlined below. WHEREAS, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the utilities claim that Y2K problems have been addressed, but the General Accounting Office (GAO) revealed that, in fact, the NRC:
o set no clear standards for Y2K readiness;
o required no independent validation and verification of Y2K work and does not know which reactor sites have been independently validated and verified; and
o in response to questions from the Senate Y2K Committee pursuant to the GAO report, admitted that they had no record of reviews that were conducted;
WHEREAS, the GAO substantiated charges by David Lochbaum, nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, that the NRC's "enforcement discretion" Y2K policy amounts to suspending normal safety regulations, in order to keep plants running that would otherwise be required to shut down because their safety systems are disabled;
WHEREAS, government labs predict that a nuclear meltdown in the United States could cost over 100,000 lives and $300 billion; Chernobyl has cost thousands of lives and at least $285 billion;
WHEREAS, in a recent Roper Starch poll, over 50% of Americans named nuclear power malfunctions as their number one worry regarding Y2K;
WHEREAS, nuclear power plant cooling systems require constant power from the electrical grid to prevent meltdown, but government reports have conceded that Y2K may cause electricity and water pumping failures-especially in rural areas, where many plants are located;
WHEREAS, without cooling, a reactor will begin meltdown in only two hours;
WHEREAS, without cooling, spent (used) fuel pools may melt down within twenty-four hours;
WHEREAS, most U.S. reactors have diesel generators to provide backup power, but their reliability record is poor-54% have had problems since January-and they stock only seven days' fuel;
WHEREAS, shockingly, many spent fuel pools, situated next to reactors, have NO backup generators and, moreover, the NRC says it does not know which ones do or don't have them;
WHEREAS, faulty data, human error and lax regulations triggered disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Tokaimura; and Y2K may cause a multitude of faulty data and human errors;
WHEREAS, significant Y2K problems have already occurred during Y2K testing; these were unanticipated, suggesting that other unforeseen problems could arise:
o A Y2K test in February, 1999 at the Peach Bottom reactor in Pennsylvania caused a day-long crash of the plant's primary and backup computers; with blank screens, operators could not view conditions inside the reactor;
o At the Indian Point reactor, 35 miles North of New York City, operators just discovered that a crucial computer system that monitors/alarms for reactor core "hot spots" and control rod functioning was erroneously disabled during a Y2K test in March;
o Owners of the Brunswick reactor, in North Carolina, relied exclusively on manufacturers' certifications that its software and embedded systems were compliant; while owners of Salem, in New Jersey, conducted tests on some of the same systems and they flunked;
WHEREAS, many countries lacked the knowledge or resources to fix Y2K nuclear problems, but their leaders may take prudent action if they can be convinced that the problem is truly serious, and if power assistance is provided for nuclear-dependent countries; the best-and perhaps only- chance to ensure nuclear safety in those countries is for the United States to lead by example;
WHEREAS, electricity from nuclear plants will NOT be needed in the United States at New Year's; nuclear power provides, on average, 19% of U.S. electricity, but at least a 45% surplus of electricity is expected over New Year's weekend because January is a low-use electricity month; New Year's is a long holiday weekend; and many industries are closing down for the rollover;
WHEREAS, other hazardous and essential industries-including several of the largest oil pipelines, and chemical refineries owned by Rhone-Poulenc, Dupont and Hess-are temporarily shutting down for the Y2K rollover, as a failsafe measure to protect the health and safety of the public;
WHEREAS, Y2K problems in nuclear weapons systems could cause false signals of missile attacks; false signals have in the past brought us within minutes of nuclear war; and thousands of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons are on hair-trigger alert, while other nations have de-alerted nuclear weapons;
WHEREAS, Congress has adjourned, and the NRC and the Pentagon report to no higher authority than the Executive Branch;
FOR ALL THESE REASONS, we respectfully request that you issue an executive order to:
1) Temporarily shut down all U.S. nuclear reactors in a phased procedure to be completed by no later than noon, December 30th; and allow a phased restart after January 1st only when normal functions of electrical transmission, communications and water systems have been restored and validated, and nuclear plants have been independently verified Y2K compliant;
2) Ensure that there are reliable backup generators and sixty days' fuel supplies for reactor cooling systems and other nuclear facilities that rely on cooling, particularly for ALL spent fuel pools;
3) Close all other nuclear facilities and suspend nuclear shipments for the New Year's weekend;
4) Protect communities by practicing emergency drills and distributing potassium iodide tablets;
5) Provide government subsidies for the cost of backup generators and fuel and for nuclear workers' lost pay and utilities' lost revenues during the temporary shutdown;
6) De-alert nuclear weapons systems and implement trust-building measures among nuclear nations;
7) Renew these measures for February 29, 2000 and December 31, 2000-January 1, 2001; and
8) Encourage other world leaders to undertake these initiatives as a joint international effort so that the financial status of a nation is not an impediment to a WORLD ATOMIC SAFETY HOLIDAY.
Since time is of the essence, we request your reply, or a meeting, by no later than December 13th.
Sincerely, For the Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday,
Mary Olson, Nuclear Information & Resource Service Barbara George Women's Energy Matters Mary Beth Brangan & Jim Heddle, Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday Yumi Kikuchi Y2K Wash, Tokyo, Japan Jim Riccio Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project
cc: Mr. John Koskinen, Senator Robert Bennett, Senator Christopher Dodd
Endorsers Include:
National: Nuclear Information & Resource Service, Washington DC Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project, Washington DC Safe Energy Communication Council, Washington DC SUN DAY Campaign, Takoma Park MD Los Alamos Study Group, Santa Fe NM Global Action Resource Center for the Environment, NY NY Mothers Alert, NY NY WAND, Arlington MA War Resisters League, NY NY Women's Energy Matters, Berkeley CA Proposition One Committee, Washington DC
State & Local: Berkeley City Council, Berkeley CA Redwood Alliance, Arcata CA Save Ward Valley, Needles CA Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore CA Women for Peace-East Bay, Oakland CA Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, Boulder CO Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, Mystic CT Connecticut Green Party, Storrs CT Earth Challenge, Decatur GA 20/20 Vision, GA Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Indianapolis IN Yggdrasil Insitute (Earth Island), Georgetown, KY CAN-Citizens Awareness Project, Shelburne Falls MA Metro-Boston Comm. De-Alert Nuclear Weapons, Lexington MA Sound & Hudson Against Atomic Development, Huntington NY Indian Point Project, NY NY West Suffolk Greens, Huntington NY Citizens Protecting Ohio, Bexley OH Earth Day Coalition, Cleveland OH Three Mile Island Alert, Harrisburg PA Pennsylvania Environmental Network, Clearville PA Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping, Amarillo TX Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Montpelier VT
International: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Berlin Friends of the Earth, Sydney Australia WISE International, Amsterdam The Netherlands Energie Zukunft M|hlviertel, St. Stefan Austria ARGE Gemeinsam gegen Atomgefahren, St. Peter Austria AntiAtom International, Vienna Austria Women for Peace and Ecology, Brussels Belgium B|rgerinitiative Umweltschutz, Budweis, Czech Republik Centrum Energie, Budweis, Czech Republik Women for Peace, Berlin Germany Unifem-commission, Berlin Germany Y2K WASH, Tokyo, Japan WISE Slovakia, Bratislava Slovakia Plutonium Free Future, California USA The Atomic Mirror, California USA Grandmothers for Peace International, California USA Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, USA
---
UN Nuclear Chief: Some Reactor Countries Not Y2K Ready
(Dow Jones Newswires -- requires paid registration/AP) Sanger & Shannon's Review of Y2K News Reports http://sangersreview.com http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=DI-CO-19991209-004989.djml
"The head of the U.N. nuclear agency expressed concern Thursday that some nuclear reactor countries are not sufficiently prepared for the rollover into the new millennium and resulting computer glitches." Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said, "There is ... some concern that some nuclear power plant operators are falling behind in their efforts to complete the necessary Y2K tasks owing to late actions and a shortage of funds... At this point there is a need for heightened preparedness to respond to possible Y2K related complications... I want to emphasize, however, that this need will continue even after the rollover into the new year." ElBaradei was particularly concerned about Soviet-era nuclear reactors. This piece does not name countries, but this next one does:
---
Ukraine, Armenia Nuclear Plants Lagging on Y2K
(Richard Murphy, Yahoo! News/Reuters) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991209/tc/yk_nuclear_1.html
"IAEA spokesman David Kyd said ElBaradei was referring mainly to Ukraine, site of the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, and Armenia, which also has Soviet-era reactors... The IAEA was asking countries in Western Europe and North America to donate funds so the necessary upgrades could be made but the sums needed were modest..." Kyd said, "The most significant are Ukraine and Armenia... They are struggling because of financial constraints. They have fixed the main safety-relevant systems but there are subsidiary systems such as radiation monitors that will not be fixed in time... They haven't had enough money and time to put all the problems right by January 1 so we're encouraging them to do it as quickly as possible thereafter -- not because we're expecting something really catastrophic to happen, but it's just not good for those systems to be a question mark."
-------- us nuc weapons facilities
Blast at a Nuclear Bomb Factory Injures 3
New York Times December 9, 1999 By THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/nuke-blast.html
WASHINGTON -- A chemical explosion Wednesday morning at a nuclear bomb factory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., injured three workers, one seriously, and contaminated a fourth worker with uranium.
The incident occurred about 9:30 a.m. as workers tried to clean up a mixture of sodium and potassium that had been spilled last Friday. Something, possibly water, reacted with the sodium to cause the explosion, plant officials said.
One worker was airlifted to a hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., with second-degree burns over 25 percent of his body, said Margaret K. Morrow, acting vice president for defense programs at Lockheed-Martin Energy Systems, which runs the factory for the Department of Energy. The worker was in serious but stable condition, she said. Two others with lesser burns were admitted to a hospital in Oak Ridge.
The Energy Department is assembling a team for an investigation.
---
10 injured in weapons plant explosion
USA Today 12/09/99- Updated 02:13 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/digest/nd1.htm#soldier
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - A chemical explosion at a nuclear weapons plant injured 10 workers - including one seriously - who were cleaning a welding area that had been shuttered since 1993.
The Energy Department was investigating the Wednesday morning explosion at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. No nuclear materials were affected, officials said. Three workers were hospitalized for burns or smoke inhalation.
One man suffered second-degree burns over his face and chest. The others were treated and released. The exact cause of the explosion is unclear, said a spokesman for the Energy Department.
---
Tennessee Weapons Plant Shut After Accident
Reuters Updated 12:39 PM ET December 9, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991209/12/news-nuclear-accident
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (Reuters) - Three workers were being treated at hospitals for burns on Thursday following a chemical accident at a U.S. government nuclear weapons facility, officials said.
No nuclear material was involved in Wednesday's accident and there was no danger to anyone outside the plant, according to Bill Wilburn, spokesman for the Department of Energy facility.
In all seven workers were injured when two chemical compounds accidentally mixed during a cleaning process, he said. All were treated and released except for three who were in stable condition at hospitals in Oak Ridge and Chattanooga, Tenn.
About 50 people normally work in the building where the accident happened, part of a complex where nuclear weapons are manufactured. Wilburn said the building has been closed while investigators tried to determine the accident's cause.
The plant is not part of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which is located elsewhere in Oak Ridge.
---
Workers still waiting for health screening Piketon plant
Despite promises, the federal government hasn't come up with the money.
Columbus Dispatch Wednesday, December 08, 1999 By Jonathan Riskind
http://www.dispatch.com/pan/localarchive/nobuxnws.html
WASHINGTON -- They promised.
But federal officials haven't kept their pledge to pay for expanded health screening of current and former uranium-enrichment workers in southern Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The federal budget, recently passed, included $7 million for the programs until Congress removed it in last-minute maneuvering.
Some Republicans in Congress say the Energy Department could pay for the program by reallocating money, but that hasn't happened.
Outraged workers, lawmakers and screening-program administrators say that, as a result, thousands of people exposed to dangerous materials aren't getting medical checkups that could save their lives.
At the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant alone, more than 300 former and current employees are awaiting screening, said Mark Lewis, a worker at the Piketon, Ohio, facility and coordinator of the Worker Health Protection Program there.
Until the program is expanded, only former employees are eligible, he noted.
"The money's not there so far,'' Lewis said. "I'll believe it when it's there.''
One former Piketon employee underwent screening in October to find out what the spots on his lungs mean. He said all the plant's workers should have such an opportunity.
"That's a pretty hazardous place to work,'' said Jesse Skinner, 69, of Waverly, Ohio, who performed mechanical maintenance. "I know, because I worked in all the buildings.''
The Clinton administration unveiled a proposal Sept. 16 to provide $5.8 million for expanded health checks of workers at the Piketon plant, a sister facility in Paducah, Ky., and a former uranium-enrichment plant in Tennessee. An additional$1.2 million was for identifying and assessing the health and safety risks former and current workers have faced at those plants.
The money would have covered checkups, including tests for early detection of lung cancer, for nearly 6,000 former and current workers.
Currently, $1 million is available, enough to cover about 1,200 former workers -- and that screening doesn't include early lung-cancer detection.
About 2,000 Piketon workers, 1,800 Paducah workers and 15,000 living former workers -- about 5,000 from Piketon -- are eligible for the program.
The money reportedly was taken out of the Department of Energy's $17 billion annual budget in partial retaliation for resistance to House GOP attempts to increase congressional oversight of the department.
A spokesman for Rep. Ron Packard, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Energy and Water Subcommittee, said $49 million already was in the bill for medical monitoring of Energy Department workers nationwide; Packard felt that was sufficient and asked the agency to "reallocate and prioritize'' the cash.
In the final bill, the Energy Department was directed to "reprogram'' existing funds to pay for the expanded screening program.
"My impression is it's kind of like a standoff,'' said Rep. Ted Strickland, D- Lucasville. "It's a damn shame.''
Strickland, whose district includes the Piketon plant, and other lawmakers have threatened to prevent the Energy Department from shifting around any other money until the health-screening money is made available.
Department of Energy spokesman Jeff Sherwood said, "Obtaining funding for this program is a priority of Secretary (Bill) Richardson. We are working on getting that funding right now.''
Richardson said in September that the increased money was needed in light of revelations that unwitting workers were exposed to plutonium and other deadly radioactive elements because as part of a Cold War-era uranium-recycling program.
Dr. Steven Markowitz, an occupational disease specialist directing the screening program, said one reason it's so important to conduct comprehensive health screenings is that the workers as a group are relatively young. Illnesses or potential illnesses such as lung cancer could be detected, monitored or treated in ways that could save lives, he said.
Markowitz noted that billions of dollars are spent each year to clean up soil and water at the gaseous-diffusion sites.
"We've developed a plan. We're all set to go. We've gotten promises from Democrats and Republicans and we see billions of dollars flying around,'' he said. "All the people at Piketon are asking is to be treated at least as well as dirt.''
----------- us nuc other
Astronaut Radiation Limits Urged
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 5:04 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Astronauts-Radiation.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. and Russian astronauts working on the international space station should limit their exposure to radiation during intense solar activity, a scientific advisory panel recommended Thursday.
Plans for construction of the space station by 2004 call for some 43 space shuttle missions and about 1,500 space walks.
This work will coincide with the peak of the 11-year cycle of solar activity next year, the National Research Council noted in its report.
The council recommended that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration take extra precautions to protect astronauts from potentially dangerous radiation, including seeking additional data on when solar storms occur so astronauts can be warned.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are already cooperating in monitoring the sun's activity.
One satellite, already orbiting a million miles from Earth, will detect a rise in charged solar particles and give an hour's warning of dangerous radiation arriving. That warning also would allow spacewalking astronauts to seek the safety of the shuttle or the space station.
The council also urged adding radiation exposure meters to spacecraft as soon as possible to determine the amount of exposure during a flight.
The council is an arm of the National Academy of Science, which provides scientific advice to government agencies.
----------- us nuc waste
Nuclear Waste Group Issues Sanction
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 3:00 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Low-Level-Waste.html
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) -- A commission set up to develop a disposal site for low-level radioactive waste in the Southeast demanded Thursday that North Carolina return $80 million in start-up money and pay a $10 million fine for not building the dump.
The 14-member Southeast Compact Commission voted 12-0. North Carolina's representatives did not attend. The commission also threatened to take North Carolina to court if the state rejects the sanctions.
North Carolina Attorney General Michael F. Easley had no immediate comment. The state has contended that it withdrew from the compact in July and that the commission has no authority to impose sanctions.
Eight Southeastern states created the compact in 1984 to share responsibility for disposing of low-level radioactive waste created by power plants.
North Carolina was chosen in 1986 to develop a site to replace an older one in Barnwell, S.C. The state was given $80 million in development funds from the commission, and Easley said the state spent an additional $50 million of its own money.
The project never got beyond the planning stages. North Carolina regulators never licensed the facility because of environmental objections.
South Carolina pulled out of the compact in 1995.
The six other states have no alternative for a new regional site, although Barnwell still accepts waste.
Tennessee Commissioner Michael Mobley said Wednesday there is no hope North Carolina ever will build the facility.
``Everything that can be done has been done, and all assistance that can be given has been given,'' he said. ``We have to take the appropriate actions here.''
Ten such regional commissions have been formed around the nation. One other state has been sued by its regional commission for failing to provide an agreed-to site: Nebraska.
---------- love canal
Love Canal Revitalized in Niagara
Associated Press December 9, 1999 Filed at 10:59 a.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Love-Canal.html
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) -- Twenty years ago, when 7,500 residents left Love Canal, it seemed the area would never again be a community. But the agency given the task of revitalizing the neighborhoods has held its last meeting.
Agency officials said their work to bring people back to the area, which was declared a federal disaster in 1978 because of chemical contamination, is done.
The Love Canal Revitalization Agency has renovated 240 homes in Love Canal and sold all but one. Seniors who once lived in Love Canal have returned. Young couples have bought their first home there.
There are children again on streets that didn't see a school bus or a bike for almost two decades as ``Love Canal'' became synonymous with the health threat of industrial waste.
``Our agency was created with the mission to stabilize and revitalize Love Canal,'' said Frank Cornell, the agency's executive director. ``We've done that. That's why we can close up.''
The agency plans to end day-to-day operations on Dec. 31. Cornell hopes everything else will dissolve by the end of May, when the agency's fiscal year ends. A resolution must be filed in the state Assembly in order to close the agency for good.
Thousands of tons of dioxin, PCBs and other chemicals had been buried at the site along the Niagara River. The dumping ground was one of areas that led to the creation of the Superfund program, which provides federal funding for the cleanup of the worst environmental disasters.
Some warn that Love Canal isn't ready to be set free.
Lois Gibbs, the leader of the Love Canal Homeowners Association in the 1970s and 1980s, said the legacy of Love Canal will never be over.
``You can't abandon the people who live there now,'' she said. ``Problems are still being identified.''
Ms. Gibbs explained that some basements are leaking and flooding, and because groundwater may be contaminated, ``you can't call a normal repairman.''
Ms. Gibbs also said there must be oversight of construction.
The Love Canal community is now divided by Colvin Boulevard. North of Colvin is habitable and south is where the canal and 20,000 tons of waste are still buried. It is there that commercial properties and some industry could be built.
But Ms. Gibbs points out that it is only a suburban street that separates residents from the dump.
``I haven't found a scientist who would say the landfill won't leak again,'' she said. ``The logical flow of water in that community is from the landfill to the homes.''
The homes, which average about 1,300 square feet, were sold for an average of $53,000.
Michael Basile of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the homes are a good example of how toxic sites can be cleaned.
``Love Canal lives on,'' he said, ``and it can live on in a very positive way by educating people on what a successful cleanup can do.''
Cornell, who joined the agency 11 years ago, said there is one important way he knows the agency is done: ``Driving through Love Canal now, you have to stop your car for flashing lights. The flashing lights of a school bus.''
----------- china
China Denies Building Missile Base Near Taiwan
Reuters Updated 5:21 AM ET December 9, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991209/05/international-china-taiwan
BEIJING (Reuters) - China denied on Thursday a newspaper report that it was building a second short-range missile base near Taiwan and urged the island to do more to improve bilateral ties.
"This report is based entirely on fabricated rumors," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters when asked to comment on a report in the Washington Times newspaper that China was constructing a second short-range missile base at Xianyou, about 135 miles from Taiwan.
The newspaper quoted a November U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report to Pentagon officials as saying the missile site would allow China to target Taiwan's main military bases.
Taiwan's Vice-President Lien Chan, who is running for president in next year's elections, said on Wednesday the island must develop long-range surface-to-surface missiles capable of surviving a mainland attack.
Responding to Lien's remarks, Zhang said: "We hope Taiwan could do things which will benefit the development of cross-straits relations as well as maintain peace and security in Asia."
Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened to invade if the island declares independence.
The Washington Times reported last month that U.S. spy satellites had photographed construction of another Chinese missile base in October. China dismissed that report as having "ulterior motives."
---
Clinton concerned about missile threat to Taiwan
But he stresses one-China policy
Associated Press Washington Times 12/9/99 By Bill Gertz bill.gertz@washtimes.com
http://208.246.212.80/world/news1-19991209.htm
President Clinton voiced "grave concern" yesterday over the growing Chinese missile threat to Taiwan, including construction of two short-range bases near the island.
"China is modernizing its military in a lot of ways, but our policy on China is crystal clear. We believe there is one China," Mr. Clinton said when asked about a report on the missile bases in yesterday's editions of The Washington Times.
The dispute between the mainland and Taiwan "has to be resolved through cross-strait dialogue," the president said. "And we oppose and would view with grave concern any kind of violent action."
Defense officials told The Times this week that the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) revealed that China is building two short-range missile bases near Taiwan. The bases at Yongan and Xianyou are nearly complete and will have about 100 new missiles, the agency said.
When completed, the missile bases will be able to attack all of Taiwan's major military bases with little or no warning, the DIA said.
The missile threat prompted Taiwan's vice president to state yesterday that the island should build long-range missiles to counter the threat.
The Times also disclosed that China is beginning work on a new strategic missile submarine that will have missiles capable of hitting all 50 American states.
Mr. Clinton said "there's been a lot of buildup of tension on both sides that I think is unnecessary and counterproductive."
Taiwan's economic investment in China, and increased ties between families on the island and the mainland have made both countries "too interconnected."
"And the politics of neither place should lead either side into doing something rash," Mr. Clinton said. "And I hope this will not happen."
But on Capitol Hill, several lawmakers said China's missile buildup opposite Taiwan is ominous.
John Czwartacki, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, said the Chinese missile buildup is troubling.
"It's unacceptable and counterproductive," he said.
Rep. Porter J. Goss, Florida Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the missile buildup by China "clearly adds underscoring to my observation that the opportunity for miscalculation in the Taiwan strait is very, very real."
Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, said China's military activities are "a telltale sign of future behavior."
"We ignore them at our own risk and the risk of our friends in Taiwan," Mr. Smith said. "There are ominous clouds on the horizon. [The U.S. needs] every bit of statecraft, trade policy, linkage to human rights. We need a full court press" on Chinese leaders.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Yu Shuning said he had not read The Times report but dismissed reports of the buildup as the work of China critics.
"These things play into the hands of those who have a 'China Threat' theory," said Mr. Yu in an interview.
"This underscored the importance of a missile defense system for the U.S. and Taiwan," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican and leading congressional critic of China.
"We are obviously confronting a belligerent regime in China that is investing in weapons systems that are a grave threat to their neighbors and a grave threat to the U.S.," he said.
"Where . . . is our president on issues of this importance?" he said. "How could he call someone a strategic partner when they are building new weapons of mass destruction and pointing them at democratically elected governments?"
Pentagon spokesman P.J. Crowley said he has no comment on the missile buildup because of a policy of not talking about intelligence matters.
In Taiwan, Vice President Lien Chan said in an address in Taipei that the island should counter the Chinese missile threat by building long-range missiles of its own.
Mr. Lien told a military seminar that Taiwan needs a deterrent capability that can survive a blitz by China and be able to counterattack, Agence France-Presse reported from Taipei.
"In order to deter the enemy from invading Taiwan, we have to develop a reliable deterrent and beef up the second-strike capability," Mr. Lien said.
Toward that goal, "the naval and air force must be strengthened . . . and long-range ground-to-ground missiles developed," he said. "Over the past five decades, the Chinese Communists have emerged as the biggest threat to our national security."
Taiwan was working secretly on Tien Ma - Sky Horse - missiles with a range of up to 620 miles, according to a Pentagon report. But the program was reportedly halted after diplomatic pressure was applied by the United States. A spokesman for President Lee Teng-hui told Agence France-Presse that Mr. Lien's statements highlight the island's defense commitment. "Beijing would have second thoughts before it launches an attack because once Taiwan is armed with a deterrent force, Taiwan would not necessarily be the sole possible battlefield in any military conflict between the two sides," he said.
Exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jinsheng, who testified in the House, warned Congress yesterday that the Chinese pose a real military threat.
"Make no mistake, the current situation in China is very grave," he said in a letter to a House International Relations subcommittee.
"Following America's profuse and repeated apologies for the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade last May, the Communist Party's leadership has only increased its attitude of defiance," he wrote, quoting the Nov. 15 edition of a newspaper called Shijie Ribao.
"Chinese language newspapers have published sources stating that in a recent meeting with Chinese military officials, President Jiang Zemin ordered an increase in the speed of military development and scoffed that a so-called 'strategic partnership' with the United States was 'impossible.' "
Bill Sammon, Sean Scully, Ben Barber and Rowan Scarborough contributed to this report.
--------iraq
World Talks About Policy on Iraq
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 9:33 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-UN-Iraq-Brinkmanship.html
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- It's high-level political brinkmanship. Telephone traffic between world capitals has been heavy. The hot topic again is Iraq.
After months of negotiations, the United States and Britain are pressing the U.N. Security Council to vote by Saturday on a new policy toward Iraq.
But so far, there is no indication of how Russia, a close Iraq ally, will vote on the new resolution.
A Russian veto would sink the plan. Abstention or approval by Russia and its allies on the council -- and Iraqi acceptance -- would restart the stalled process of Iraqi disarmament.
The diplomatic guessing game comes at a time of heightened tension between Moscow and Washington over Russia's military strikes in Chechnya. Iraq also has threatened to punish Russia and France with reconsidering lucrative oil development contracts if they support the resolution.
Iraq, however, has agreed to resume pumping oil if the council approves a six-month extension to the U.N. humanitarian program. A vote on that resolution was expected Friday.
Separately, Washington and London would like all 15 Security Council members to approve the new comprehensive resolution, which would restart U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq after nearly a year.
So would U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday. A unanimous Security Council vote would deliver a strong message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whose government rejected the resolution this week, using adjectives such as vicious, provocative, poisonous, malicious, and venomous.
Some council members, including Malaysia, which has sided with Russia, said unity was critical in getting Iraq's cooperation on the resolution.
``If there is no consensus, what is the point?'' asked Malaysia's U.N. ambassador, Agam Hasmy. ``Another round of bombing or further sanctions which nobody will support?''
U.N. weapons inspectors left Baghdad last December, when the United States and British launched airstrikes against Iraq because of its refusal to cooperate with the inspectors.
Iraq has barred them from returning until the Security Council lifts the economic sanctions it imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The proposed resolution which was being put into final form Thursday night, would create a new agency to oversee disarmament of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programs. The International Atomic Energy Agency would resume monitoring Iraq's nuclear program.
Once inspectors arrive in Iraq, they would have 60 days to draw up a plan to monitor and verify Iraq's weapons programs and determine specific steps Iraq must take to implement key remaining disarmament requirements.
If U.N. disarmament agencies report that Iraq has cooperated fully with inspectors and shown progress towards answering the disarmament questions, the council would move to suspend -- not lift -- sanctions for a renewable 120 day period.
However, Security Council members disagree over how long Iraq should have to wait for sanctions to be suspended. Russia and China say the suspension should come soon after inspectors return to Iraq, while the United States and Britain want to wait longer for Iraqi answers to disarmament questions.
Russia, China and France have said nothing of how they plan to vote.
But Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that the resolution wasn't ready for a vote because ``it's not implementable.''
----------- japan
Japan To Overhaul Rocket Program
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 1:16 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Japan-Rocket.html
TOKYO (AP) -- The Japanese government announced a major overhaul of its rocket development program Thursday, raising questions about whether the technological powerhouse can extend its expertise into outer space.
The decision to halt the development of the troubled H-2 rocket -- a key element of the space program -- followed two failed launches this year.
The problems have dampened Japan's hopes of grabbing a share of the lucrative commercial satellite-launching market, now dominated by Europe and the United States.
Japanese media prominently reported the decision, with the nationally circulated Sankei newspaper calling it a huge setback.
The National Space Development Agency of Japan had almost completed construction of the last H-2 rocket, at a cost of about $155 million, the agency's spokesman, Toru Nakahara, said Thursday.
Last month the domestically made H-2 was deliberately exploded in the air after engine trouble developed and space agency officials feared the rocket might veer out of control.
Another H-2 rocket failed to get its payload into orbit in February, although there had been five successful launches before that.
As result, the government is canceling the H-2 and focusing solely on developing the next generation of rockets -- called the H-2A, Nakahara said.
The government made the decision because of the prohibitive expense of fixing the defects in the last H-2, Nakahara said. Though the H-2 and H-2A engines are similar, the H-2A costs less to manufacture.
The initial launch of the H-2A, originally planned for February 2000, has been postponed to around February 2001. In the new plan, a satellite which was supposed to be sent into orbit by an H-2 rocket next year will be carried into space by an H-2A in fiscal 2002.
-------- korea
N. Korea Reactor Deal Expected
Associated Press December 9, 1999 Filed at 9:30 a.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-NKorea-Nuclear-Reactor.html
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A U.S.-led international consortium will formally sign a $4.6 billion contract next week to build two nuclear power plants in North Korea, South Korean officials said Thursday.
The contract, to be signed Dec. 15 with Seoul's state utility, Korea Electric Power Corp., is the final phase of preparations to build the reactors promised under a 1994 nuclear agreement to supply reactors that cannot be used to make weapons.
South Korean officials said the contract will designate their state power utility as the prime contractor. Ground-leveling and other preparatory work has been under way since 1997 to build the reactors in Kumho, a rural village in the northeastern part of North Korea. The main work has been delayed because of funding and other problems.
The new U.S.-developed light-water reactors are a reward for North Korea's promise to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspect nuclear weapons program. North Korea was also promised an annual shipment of 500,000 tons of fuel oil until the first reactor is built.
The new reactors will replace the communist country's Soviet-developed reactors, which experts say produce greater amounts of weapons-grade plutonium.
An international consortium, called the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, was formed by the United States, Japan and South Korea to fund the project.
The three countries have recently finalized funding details. Most of the cost will be taken up by South Korea and Japan. The United States will be responsible for fuel oil shipment.
The South Korean state utility will manufacture reactors and other key facilities. It currently operates nine nuclear power plants and is building six more.
Military tension also caused a delay in the reactor project. It was put on hold when a North Korean submarine infiltrated South Korean waters in 1998.
At a normal pace of construction, the first reactor could be built by 2007, five years behind its original schedule, experts say.
Related Information From Hoover's Inc. Korea Electric Power Corp
--------puerto rico
Get Navy Out of Vieques
New York Times December 9, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/letters/l09pue.html
To the Editor:
It is time to look at military abuses right under our noses as well as in other parts of the world. It is time for the United States Navy to stop disrupting the lives and livelihoods of residents with its training exercises at Vieques, Puerto Rico ("Puerto Ricans Gain Ear of Washington but Seek Far More," front page, Dec. 5). The residents deserve the right to live and work in peace. President Clinton needs to listen to the broad coalition of political, civil and religious groups and give the word to pull the Navy out of Vieques immediately.
EDMUNDO QUINONES Brooklyn, Dec. 6, 1999
---
Navy Delays Puerto Rico Talks
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 6:25 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-US-Puerto-Rico.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a new setback for the Pentagon's efforts to regain use of its Vieques bombing range, the Navy is delaying sending an admiral to Puerto Rico to discuss a resolution of the dispute, officials said Thursday.
Last week the Pentagon announced that it would send Rear Adm. Kevin Green, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, to San Juan to discuss President Clinton's plan for resuming Navy training on Vieques next spring using ``inert,'' or dummy, bombs only and ending all Navy operations there within five years.
Green was supposed to be a central figure in the discussions, but the Navy decided not to send him this week because the Puerto Ricans made no one available for him to meet with, according to Cmdr. Brian Cullin, spokesman for Navy Secretary Richard Danzig.
``This was a practical decision,'' Cullin said. ``It didn't make sense to send someone down there if the government feel it doesn't have anyone for him to talk to.''
Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello has rejected Clinton's plan, but the administration said it hoped to resolve the dispute through discussions.
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Green was scheduled to arrive in San Juan on Friday. No new date has been set. He will go when the Navy believes the negotiating climate is ``productive and open,'' Bacon said.
``There are still contacts between the government of Puerto Rico and the administration, largely through the White House, and we're waiting for a propitious time to send Admiral Green down there,'' Bacon added.
Puerto Rico is insisting that the Navy give up the Vieques bombing range now and abandon plans for even limited bombing next spring.
The Navy insists there is no alternative to Vieques as a training ground for the ships and aircraft that deploy abroad from East Coast bases. It also argues that the use of live bombs in some of that Vieques training is indispensable in preparing sailors and pilots for actual combat.
---
Protesters Force Standoff at Puerto Rico Bomb Range
Reuters Updated 6:17 PM ET December 7, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991207/18/news-arms-puertorico
VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - U.S. authorities and angry residents were locked in a tense standoff on Tuesday at a military bombing range on the island of Vieques where Puerto Ricans are demanding the U.S. Navy end war games.
Members of a police riot squad were sent to Vieques on Tuesday as a precautionary measure after up to 500 protesters massed at the front gate of Camp Garcia on Monday night, continuing a vigil that began on Saturday when protesters put locks and chains on the camp's front gates.
They fended off attempts by U.S. authorities to cut the locks, shook the gates and chanted "Navy leave."
"This is meant as another point of pressure," said Robert Rabin, director of the town's museum and a protest leader. "We are at the Navy's front door. We have taken away their keys."
The Vieques range was closed after the April 19 death of civilian security guard David Sanes Rodriguez in a bombing accident.
The Puerto Rico government has called for the U.S. Navy to permanently cease bombing on Vieques and begin a transition plan to turn over its land to Puerto Rico. The Navy owns 22,000 acres of Vieques' 33,000 acres.
The stand-off on the already tense island developed after President Clinton last Friday said the U.S. military would stop live-fire training immediately and end all training in Vieques in five years.
But he said the military could reopen the bombing range next spring using "inert," or dummy, ordnance rather than live-fire munitions.
The U.S. Navy says the base, a military training ground for major conflicts since the Second World War, is irreplaceable and essential to national security.
But Puerto Rican government officials, religious and community leaders soundly rejected Clinton's plan.
The U.S. military and congressional allies have also been critical of Clinton's plan because he opted not to reopen the base in time for maneuvers this month by the Eisenhower battle group, which is to be deployed next year to the Gulf.
Top administration officials have acknowledged the role played by protesters in opting not to reopen the range in time for the Eisenhower practice.
Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo and Justice Secretary Jose Fuentes Agostini visited the camp on Monday evening at the request of U.S. authorities to negotiate with the protesters.
"Obviously, we don't want a confrontation because it hurts the Vieques cause," Toledo said.
In New York on Tuesday, 10 Puerto Rican demonstrators were arrested outside an entrance to U.N. headquarters as they protested the U.S. military exercises on Vieques.
"The protesters caused a few minor delays at the gate and security also briefly stopped the U.N. tours to ensure that none of the demonstrators had joined the tours," spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Police charged the protesters with disorderly conduct.
-------- russia
Yeltsin Angrily Touts Russia's Nuclear Arsenal
New York Times December 9, 1999 By ERIK ECKHOLM
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/10nyt-yeltsin.html
BEIJING -- President Boris Yeltsin responded sharply on Thursday to President Clinton's criticism of Moscow's military assault on Chechnya, reminding the world that Russia remains a nuclear power.
"President Clinton permitted himself to put pressure on Russia," Yeltsin said in front of television cameras here before meeting with the leader of China's legislature. "It seems he has for a minute forgotten that Russia has a full arsenal of nuclear weapons."
Clinton responded in measured tones to Yeltsin's comments, alluding only obliquely to Russia's nuclear power and repeating his insistence that Russia's strategy in Chechnya is counterproductive.
"Their goal, their legitimate goal, is to defeat the Chechen rebels, and to stop their terrorism within Russia, to stop their invasion of neighboring provinces like Dagestan," Clinton said as he was leaving the White House on Thursday morning on a trip to Massachusetts. "And I don't think displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians will achieve that goal.
I don't know what else to say."
Yeltsin, who battled pneumonia last week and reportedly traveled to China against his doctor's advice, arrived here Thursday morning for day and a half of meetings with top Chinese leaders, as part of a series of summits intended to promote Chinese-Russian partnership.
He was rewarded with strong Chinese support for Moscow's bombardment and invasion of Chechnya, which many other countries, especially Western ones, have criticized as too brutal and destructive of civilian lives.
Earlier this week, President Clinton said that while he joined Russia in opposing rebellions and terrorism, he warned that Russia will pay "a heavy price" if it continues killing civilians in the Chechnya campaign. He hinted that future loans to Russia from the International Monetary Fund could be jeopardized.
Asked about Yeltsin's comments in China, Clinton on Thursday said, "You know, I didn't think he'd forgotten that America was a great power when he disagreed with what I did in Kosovo," a reference to Russia's opposition to the American bombing campaign in the Spring. "Let's not talk about what the leaders are saying and all these words of criticism," the President concluded. "Let's focus on what the country is doing. Is it right or wrong? Will it work or not? What are the consequences? I don't agree with what's going on there.
And I think I have an obligation to say so."
In Moscow, Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, tried to downplay Yeltsin's remarks.
"I want to draw your attention to the fact that we have very good relations with the United States," he told reporters. "I would consider it absolutely incorrect to produce the impression that some kind of period of cooling off of relations between Russia and the United States has begun."
Both Russia and China fear American domination, and the statements the two nations released on Thursday stressed their mutual support for a "multipolar world" with no single preeminent power.
The countries signed two new border agreements and re-affirmed the "strategic partnership" they have extolled in summits over the last several years.
Cash-hungry Russia has been an important seller of weapons to China, but trade between the countries remains modest and a serious military alliance between the historical rivals is unlikely, Western diplomats said. Both countries also badly want American economic cooperation.
But China and Russia found common cause in opposing NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. They vehemently condemned it as illegal interference in a sovereign country's internal affairs.
The two countries also emphasized their shared opposition to American plans for an anti-missile defense system, which they saidwould trigger a global arms race.
After Yeltsin met Thursday morning with President Jiang Zemin, the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, told reporters that "President Jiang said he completely understood and fully supported Russia's actions in combating terrorism and extremism in Chechnya."
A spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry repeated the Chinese view that "the Chechnya issue is purely an internal affair of Russia."
"China understands and supports the efforts made by Russia in safeguarding national unity and territorial integrity," said the spokeswoman, Zhang Qiyue. "We have also taken note of the fact that in the Chechnya action, the Russia side has tried to avoid civilian losses as much as it can," said Ms. Zhang
Yeltsin was described this morning as looking pale and unsteady as he emerged from his aircraft after an overnight flight from Moscow. But later in the day, he was animated as he turned to the cameras to make his remarks about Clinton.
Yeltsin was clearly primed to launch a broadside against President Clinton. As he and Li Peng, the leader of China's legislature, posed for photographs before their meeting, Yeltsin warned Clinton "not to forget what kind of a world he lives in," according to a translation by Reuters from Moscow, where Yeltsin's remarks were shown repeatedly on television.
"It has never been and never will be the case that he will dictate to the whole world how to live," Yeltsin said of Clinton. "A multipolar world -- that is the basis for everything. We will dictate to the world, not him, not him alone."
---
Cold Still Felt Between U.S.-Russia
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 4:35 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-New-Cold-War.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Spats over spies. Harsh words over wars. Predictions of an arms race. The Cold War is long over, but in both style and substance relations between Washington and Moscow are growing chillier.
The administration's announcement Thursday that a Russian diplomat had been caught eavesdropping at the State Department is the latest in a string of episodes that recall the dark days of Cold War confrontation.
Few expect a return to the frightful prospect of nuclear threats, but the rhetoric is moving in that direction.
President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday chastised President Clinton for criticizing Russian military moves in Chechnya
``It seems Mr. Clinton has forgotten Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal,'' Yeltsin told reporters during a visit to Beijing. ``We aren't afraid at all of Clinton's anti-Russian position.''
Clinton says he is not against Russia. But in an increasing number of cases his policies conflict with Russia's -- not just on Chechnya but also the war over Kosovo, the building of anti-missile defenses, the expansion of NATO and the U.S. role in developing energy resources in the Caspian Sea near Russia's doorstep.
With the collapse of their economy and erosion of their once-feared military power, the Russians are concerned by what they see as a growing American dominance on the world stage, both militarily and politically. As a counterweight, Moscow is trying to remind Washington that it still must be reckoned with.
In recent weeks, for example, the Russians have sent a submarine to lurk off the U.S. West Coast, including in the waters off San Diego and Washington state, where U.S. Trident nuclear submarines are based. Earlier this year they took the unusual step of staging bomber exercises near Alaska and NATO member Iceland.
Clinton has gone out of his way to praise Russia's contribution to peacekeeping in both Bosnia and Kosovo. But one of his top military commanders had some tough words Thursday for Russian actions in Chechnya.
``They're doing in Chechnya what Milosevic tried to do in Kosovo,'' Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the top NATO commander, told reporters at the Pentagon. Asked if he was referring to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's campaign against ethnic Albanians, Clark said he was alluding to the Russians' ``unrestricted use of firepower and the apparent actions against civilian targets.''
Tensions between the United States and Russia flared on numerous fronts in 1999, including:
-- NATO expansion. Moscow argued that adding Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to the U.S.-led alliance in March posed a potential security threat to Russia. In the end Moscow found it had no leverage to stop NATO.
-- Just days after the NATO expansion, the alliance launched its air war over Kosovo. Moscow heatedly objected.
-- The minute the war in Kosovo was over, Russia pre-empted a NATO-led peacekeeping force by sending combat troops to the Pristina airport in the Kosovo capital and disrupting NATO's postwar plans. Clark reportedly favored confronting the Russians at the airport but in the end the standoff was worked out diplomatically. A Russian contingent now serves in the 30,000-strong peacekeeping team in Kosovo.
-- Throughout the year the Russians have resisted U.S. arguments for changing the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to enable the Pentagon to build a missile defense of the United States. Moscow says that if the Pentagon goes ahead, it will provoke an arms race and lead to less, not more, U.S. security.
-- In November, Yeltsin delivered a tough statement at a European security conference in Istanbul, Turkey, where he declared, ``You have no right to criticize Russia for Chechnya.'' Just moments later, speaking in the same room, Clinton warned Yeltsin against feeding an ``endless cycle of violence'' in Chechnya.
-- At that same Istanbul gathering, the leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a historic agreement to build a U.S.-backed pipeline that would send the oil riches of the Caspian Sea to international markets without going through Russia. Russia sees the plan as Washington encroaching on a Russian sphere of influence.
Thursday's announcement that a Russian diplomat had been caught eavesdropping on the State Department marked the third espionage incident in recent weeks. Russia expelled a U.S. diplomat last week after accusing her of spying in Moscow. Also last week, the Navy disclosed that it had charged a petty officer with espionage for allegedly providing Russia with highly classified information about U.S. eavesdropping.
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U.S. Orders Russian Diplomat to Leave After Spying Arrest
New York Times December 9, 1999 By DAVID JOHNSTON and JAMES RISEN
http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/bin/fastweb?getdoc+site+site+96845+0+wAAA+U.S.%7EOrders%7ERussian%7EDiplomat%7Eto%7ELeave%7EAfter%7ESpying%7EArrest
Related Article
Russians Detain U.S. Diplomat, Calling Her a Spy (Dec. 1, 1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/120199russia-us-spy.html
WASHINGTON -- The federal authorities on Wednesday night arrested a Russian diplomat believed to be an intelligence officer who had sought classified information from the State Department, government officials said.
The officials said that the case involved a listening device found in a conference room at the State Department and was linked to a substantial Russian espionage effort aimed at pilfering sensitive information about American activities abroad.
[The diplomat, who was arrested on a bench outside the department headquarters, was declared unwelcome in the United States and ordered to leave within 10 days, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
[The State Department identified the diplomat as Stanislav Borisovich Gusev and said he was detained for a period by the F.B.I. He was first identified as a second secretary, but the department on Thursday said he was simply an embassy employee with diplomatic immunity.
[Officials said he subsequently was turned over to the Russian Embassy after invoking diplomatic immunity.]
The officials said that the arrest followed a counterintelligence investigation.
The timing of the arrest seemed to link it to an incident in Moscow on Nov. 30, when the Russian authorities detained an American diplomat who they said was a spy preparing to meet a Russian contact.
The American officials said that the arrest Wednesday night was not intended as retaliation for that detention, but rather was the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies that had begun before the Moscow incident.
Former American intelligence officials familiar with counterespionage cases said that the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. have tended not to engage in such retaliatory measures, at least in recent years.
There was no indication that any Americans were detained Wednesday night, suggesting that F.B.I. counterintelligence agents may have lured the Russian to a clandestine meeting.
The State Department made no comment Wednesday night on the arrest.
The arrest of a Russian official is highly unusual. While the practice was common at the height of the cold war, diplomatic expulsions have declined in recent years. The last Russian diplomat expelled from the United States was ordered out of the country in 1994, a week after the arrest of Aldrich H. Ames, the Central Intelligence Agency officer who was later convicted of spying for Moscow. Before that, the last time a Soviet or Russian diplomat had been expelled was in 1986.
The arrest appeared certain to further strain the uneasy relationship between the two countries, already at odds over Russia's offensive against its rebellious province of Chechnya and the United States' plan to erect a limited antimissile defense system.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the significance of espionage between the United States and Russia has declined along with Moscow's reduced global importance. Yet each country still actively collects intelligence about its former adversary and pursues investigations of alleged penetrations.
The C.I.A. continues to operate an intelligence station at the American Embassy in Moscow, and the Russians have long conducted a similar operation from their embassy in Washington.
F.B.I. and C.I.A. officials have frequently complained that the S.V.R., the Russian foreign intelligence service that is the successor to the Soviet K.G.B., has maintained a significant presence in Washington throughout the 1990's. This year, Clinton administration officials complained to Moscow that there were too many spies in the Russian Embassy here and demanded a reduction.
The C.I.A. has also exploited the disintegration of the Soviet Union to expand beyond Moscow, opening stations in many of the newly independent states that were once Soviet republics. In some of those countries, the agency has established strong liaison relationships with the local intelligence services as well.
In recent years, the American authorities have investigated various cases of Russian espionage, but most have stemmed from instances in which Americans, often motivated by money, had volunteered to spy for the Russians.
The most serious case to emerge in the post-cold-war era was that of Ames, the C.I.A. officer who was arrested in February 1994 and eventually sentenced to life in prison.
Ames, a career counterintelligence officer, turned over to his Russian handlers the identities of a number of Russian and East European agents who were secretly supplying information to the United States. Ames was paid nearly $2 million for his information. More than a dozen of the agents identified by Ames were executed.
In the case of the arrest in Moscow last week, the Russians identified the American espionage suspect as Cheri Leberknight and said she was a C.I.A. officer who had been working under cover as a second secretary at the American Embassy. The Russian authorities accused her of trying to obtain secret Russian military documents when she was detained. They said she carried a map and devices to detect whether she was under surveillance.
After being detained, she was released to American Embassy officials because she had diplomatic immunity. The arrest Wednesday night is the latest in a series of recent spy incidents confirming that espionage did not die with the end of the cold war. Earlier this year, Germany's internal security service reportedly forced the C.I.A. to withdraw three of its officers from Germany, in a sign that German authorities want the agency to scale back its operations there.
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Luck Exposes Russian Spy Operation
By The Associated Press New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 8:01 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-US-Russia-Spy.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. agents found it ``a little bit odd'' when they encountered Russian diplomat Stanislav Gusev near the State Department last summer. The chance sighting, officials said Thursday, led to the discovery of a Russian operation that included an ``extremely sophisticated'' spying device inside America's diplomatic headquarters.
It also triggered an expulsion order for Gusev and an intense in-house investigation to determine who was responsible for planting the device. Officials said hundreds of State Department employees were being interviewed.
``We don't have a suspect,'' said a government official, who requested anonymity. ``We're looking at and haven't eliminated any possibility.''
Investigators are interviewing all participants in 50 to 100 meetings that occurred in the bugged conference room since Gusev began showing up outside the building early last summer, according to a government official, who requested anonymity. Their goal is to determine exactly what he might have heard.
The electronic bug was a radio transmitter that could broadcast the conversations in the room, but it had to be activated by Gusev from outside the building, this official said, who added that its installation date is not known.
The device was disguised so it would not be easily recognized, this official said. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility the Russians had inside help installing it, and they are checking on whether the room was ever renovated, because ``this was not a one-time installation,'' this official said.
``Someone would have had to come into the room to survey it, take measurements and probably photos, and come back for the installation,'' he said.
The administration said the seriousness of the episode should not be understated.
``There are nations all around the world that are, for a variety of reasons, trying to gain access to information from us, and we just can't let our guard down,'' said Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder.
Neil Gallagher, assistant director of the FBI's National Security Division, said, ``I think this incident, by itself, sends a strong message that there is a very aggressive Russian intelligence presence operation inside the United States.''
The Cold War ended almost 10 years ago but strains in Washington's relationship with Moscow are sometimes reminiscent of that bleak era.
Last week, Russia ordered the expulsion of a U.S. diplomat in Moscow, Cheri Leberknight, after accusing her of attempting to obtain secret military information from a Russian citizen.
U.S. officials said there was no connection between the two expulsions. But Vladimir Lukin, a former Russian ambassador to Washington, said in Moscow the administration ``cooked up'' the charges against Gusev to retaliate.
Also last week, the Navy disclosed it had charged a petty officer with espionage for allegedly providing Russia with highly classified information about U.S. eavesdropping.
Among the divisive diplomatic and security issues between the two nations is the Clinton administration's proposal to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to permit development of a U.S. missile defense system. The United States says it needs the system to protect against potential nuclear threats from Iraq and North Korea, but Russian military officials believe the real target is Russia.
As for Gusev, after his initial sighting, the FBI and State Department security agents discovered that he would turn up outside the department on roughly a weekly basis, leading to suspicions that he was receiving transmissions from a device planted inside the building, using equipment installed in his car.
Finding such a device was no small task, considering that the building, located a short distance from the Lincoln Memorial, is eight stories high and covers two square blocks. Thousands work there. Gallagher said a painstaking search exposed ``an extremely sophisticated device'' that had been ``professionally introduced'' into the 38-year old structure.
Repeated observation of Gusev convinced investigators he was using a technical surveillance device, but it took weeks to actually find the device, one government official said. They could only search when Gusev was outside with the bug's transmitter turned on, and the first detection equipment they got was not precise enough.
For weeks, agents covertly prowled the corridors of the State Department holding a detection device the size of a geiger counter trying to locate the radio signal that Gusev was outside picking up, this official said. ``No one noticed them.''
After the device was found, word was passed to department officials not to discuss sensitive information in the room. The device was left in place so that the FBI and the department's security personnel could firmly establish a Russian link
Officials offered no hint as to what information may have been transmitted to Gusev's car before the discovery. Gallagher said there was no suggestion the Russian timed his arrivals to coincide with important meetings.
But his habits suggested to agents that he was no ordinary sightseer. As an example, Gallagher said Gusev would move his car several times during his visits, apparently in an attempt to find an ideal location to pick up conversations inside the building.
On Wednesday, Gusev showed up outside the department in late morning, about three hours before President Clinton was to hold a news conference in the building's main auditorium. Gusev was detained by agents shortly after 11:30 while sitting on a bench, and he quickly claimed diplomatic immunity. He was later informed that he would be given 10 days to leave the country.
Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering summoned the Russian ambassador to the State Department to protest the eavesdropping. There was no comment Thursday from the Russian Foreign Ministry or the Russian Embassy here.
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Timeline of Arrest of Suspected Spy
Associated Press December 9, 1999 Filed at 12:05 p.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-US-Russia-Spy-Timeline.html
The timeline surrounding the arrest Wednesday of Russian diplomat Stanislav Borisovich Gusev, as related by FBI Assistant Director Neil Gallagher.
11:34 a.m. Wednesday: FBI, diplomatic security agents detain Gusev.
11:50 a.m.: Gusev is taken to the FBI's Washington field office.
1:30 p.m.: The Russian Embassy is contacted, told Gusev has identified himself as a Russian and a diplomat and claimed immunity.
1:56 p.m.: Embassy called to make arrangements for pickup of suspect.
2:30 p.m.: Two Russian Embassy officials arrive at FBI field office, where suspect is being held.
2:39 p.m.: Gusev is turned over to Russian Embassy officials.
5:10 p.m. Russian Embassy confirms that suspect is a Russian diplomat.
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Russian Minister: New Weapons Needed
December 9, 1999 Filed at 10:18 a.m. EDT By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Russia-US-ABM.html
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia must develop new weapons capable of neutralizing any missile defense system the United States might build in the future, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said in an article published Thursday.
Sergeyev said missile defenses under development in the United States could make Russia's aging arsenals increasingly useless.
He called for the development of ``weapons based on new physical principles'' to offset what he described as a growing U.S. military edge.
``We have the necessary scientific and technological potential ... to unveil experimental new types of deterrent weapons within the next few years,'' Sergeyev said in a front-page article in the military daily Krasnaya Zvezda.
He did not elaborate on the kinds of weapons Russia wants to develop.
The United States wants to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to build missile defenses that would defend the country from possible missile attacks by rogue states such as North Korea.
Washington says an anti-missile system would not be able to counter the kind of massive nuclear attack Russia is capable of launching. But the Russians argue that a U.S. retreat from the ABM treaty would trigger a new arms race.
Sergeyev pointed at NATO's eastward expansion and the alliance's air campaign against Yugoslavia this spring as signs of a growing western threat to Russia.
``Any further postponement of a full-scale modernization of Russian weapons systems may led to a rapid lag behind the West in the military-technical field,'' he said.
Russian military commanders have long complained about the desperate cash shortage that has thwarted their efforts to modernize weapons. But Russia's Strategic Missile Forces chief, Col.-Gen. Vladimir Yakovlev, said that his troops remained fully combat-ready.
``I want to underline that the missile forces have the same degree of combat-readiness they had five, 10 or 15 years ago,'' he said.
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Yeltsin Lashes Out At Clinton
New York Times December 9, 1999 Filed at 4:03 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-China-Yeltsin.html
BEIJING (AP) -- Boris Yeltsin lashed out at President Clinton on Thursday for criticizing Russia's war in Chechnya, bluntly reminding Clinton that Russia remains a nuclear power.
``It seems Mr. Clinton has forgotten Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal. We aren't afraid at all of Clinton's anti-Russian position,'' Yeltsin said at a meeting with Chinese legislative chairman Li Peng.
``I want to tell President Clinton that he alone cannot dictate how the world should live, work and play. It is us who will dictate.''
Yeltsin's outburst, delivered in front of reporters, came after he secured Chinese backing for Russia's campaign to crush separatists in Chechnya.
Clinton, meanwhile, did not back off his criticism of the Russian offensive, which has produced large numbers of civilian casualties and driven more than 240,000 civilians out of Chechnya.
``I don't agree with what's going on there, and I think I have an obligation to say so,'' Clinton told reporters in Washington. He sought, however, to avoid a war of words with Yeltsin, saying, ``I mean, we can't get too serious about -- let's not talk about what the leaders are saying and all these words of criticism.''
Both Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Li, No. 2 in the ruling Communist Party, welcomed Yeltsin to Beijing with bear hugs. Jiang, who studied car production in Moscow 44 years ago, greeted Yeltsin in Russian, calling him ``old friend.''
``Jiang Zemin completely understands and fully supports Russia's actions in combatting terrorism and extremism in Chechnya,'' Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told reporters after the first of three presidential meetings scheduled during Yeltsin's 30-hour visit.
Chinese backing for its war in Chechnya was a crucial goal of Yeltsin's trip. The Chechen campaign has drawn heavy criticism from the United States, and European nations, but appears to be pushing China and Russia closer together.
With restive minorities of its own in Tibet and the Muslim northwest, China says Russia should deal with Chechnya as it sees fit. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue repeated Thursday that Chechnya is Russia's internal affair.
``The Chinese side understands and supports the efforts made by Russia in safeguarding national unity and territorial integrity,'' she told reporters.
Russia ``has tried to avoid civilian losses,'' she added.
Yeltsin came to Beijing just three days after leaving a hospital where he was treated for pneumonia. He looked pale on arrival in Beijing, leaning heavily on the rails of the stairs while leaving his plane, and stiff when meeting Jiang.
Perhaps out of concern for his health, Yeltsin's meetings with Jiang, Li and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji took place within the secluded grounds of a state guest house.
After their meeting, Jiang and Yeltsin watched as their foreign ministers signed three accords defining the countries' 2,630-mile border and joint use of disputed islands.
Yeltsin and Jiang initiated annual summit meetings in 1996 to draw the fierce Cold War rivals closer and build a strategic partnership. Both leaders have found their relationship a useful counter to Washington's predominance in world affairs, although Russia and China both need U.S. support for their economies.
Yeltsin and Jiang both agreed that there should not be ``one country dominating the world,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang said. ``World affairs should be determined by all countries in the world.''
Aside from their common perception that the United States plays too dominant a role in the world, Russia and China are also joined in opposition to U.S. research into systems to shoot down incoming missiles.
After Yeltsin's meeting with Li, Ivanov said the two sides agreed that non-proliferation treaties and the global strategic balance must be safeguarded.
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Russian PM Plays Down Yeltsin, Clinton Clash
Reuters Updated 6:26 AM ET December 9, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991209/06/news-russia-putin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sought to play down a war of words between Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin on Thursday, saying their recent angry remarks did not signal a worsening of U.S.-Russian ties.
"I would consider it absolutely incorrect to produce the impression that there has been a cooling of Russian-American relations," Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying. His remarks followed comments by Yeltsin that Clinton should take note of Russia's nuclear arsenal before criticizing Moscow.
"Clinton allowed himself to put pressure on Russia yesterday," Yeltsin said during a visit to Beijing. "He must have forgotten for a moment what Russia is. It has a full arsenal of nuclear weapons."
Yeltsin's remarks followed an outraged U.S. and European reaction this week after Russia's military dropped leaflets over the Chechen capital Grozny, saying it would kill anyone left in the city after Saturday. Western leaders are generally sympathetic to Russian security concerns, but accuse Moscow of using disproportionate and indiscriminate force in Chechnya.
Clinton has said the United States will continue to supply aid for Russian disarmament programs but may consider blocking International Monetary Fund loans.
Addressing Yeltsin's reference to Russia's nuclear arsenal, Putin said: "As for being a nuclear power, (Russia) is and always will be."
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U.S. Wants Good Ties With Russia Despite Spy Flap
Reuters Updated 12:09 PM ET December 9, 1999 By Steve Holland
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/991209/12/news-russia-spy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it still wants a constructive relationship with Russia despite the expulsion of a Russian diplomat on spying charges and evidence of widespread Russian intelligence activity.
"Our policy of engagement with Russia has not changed," said Mike Hammer, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. "We have a broad range of shared interests in the U.S.-Russia relationship and we intend to continue to pursue them."
A Russian diplomat was arrested and ordered expelled within 10 days on Wednesday because of a listening device planted in a sensitive area inside the State Department.
The listening device was detected in a room where high-level conferences take place at the State Department, but it was unclear what sensitive discussions might have been monitored, officials said.
"This incident demonstrates how seriously we take counterintelligence and our technical countermeasures program. We must remain vigilant of threats posed by foreign intelligence services, regardless of the state of bilateral relations with a particular country," Hammer said.
"This incident, by itself, sends a strong message that there is a very aggressive Russian intelligence presence operation inside the United States, said Neil Gallagher, assistant director of the FBI's national security division.
U.S. officials denied the diplomat's arrest was in retaliation for Russia's expulsion order a week ago against a U.S. diplomat who Moscow said was caught spying.
"No," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This investigation has been going on for a number of months. In a way it's coincidental... There's no connection between the two. In essence it just came to a head when he was caught red-handed."
Gallagher said U.S. counterintelligence agents noticed the Russian diplomat, attach Stanislav Gusev, walking the street around the State Department during the summer of 1999.
"Over a period of some time they identified that on a rather frequent basis, each week, Mr. Gusev would show up in the vicinity of State Department, literally just walking around the surrounding street," he told a briefing.
By the way he moved and parked his car, they concluded he was conducting a "technical operation." They swept the building for transmitting devices and found one some months ago.
FBI agents arrested Gusev near the State Department on Wednesday as he was adjusting the reception equipment, Gallagher said. The device, described as extremely sophisticated and planted professionally, was transmitting at the time of his arrest, he added.
At an FBI field office, when Gusev identified himself as a Russian diplomat, the FBI called in Russian embassy officials and handed him over. He spent about three hours in custody.
U.S. officials said they were not surprised that Russia was seeking intelligence from the United States despite the warming trend in relations in the past decade.
"We have no illusions about other countries' intentions or efforts to try to secure U.S. national security information and secrets. We have an aggressive counterespionage program," one official said.
It was the third case of alleged espionage between Russia and the United States in a month and came at a time of tension in relations between the United States and Russia over a host of issues, including Western criticism of Moscow's campaign in Chechnya and Washington's desire to amend a key arms treaty.
The diplomat was identified by Russian news reports as Cheri Leberknight, and television stations broadcast pictures of her being detained in a park in eastern Moscow.
The State Department did not identify the woman, but confirmed a U.S. diplomat was asked to leave Russia and would depart within the allotted 10 days.
On Nov. 29 the U.S. Navy said it had charged an enlisted man who had access to highly classified data with passing secrets to Russia in 1994.
Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel King, 40, was taken into military custody on Nov. 5 and confessed to disclosing classified information to Russia, the officials said.
As the spy drama unfolded, Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin traded criticism on Thursday about Russia's Chechnya offensive.
Asked to react to Yeltsin's blunt reminder that Russia "has a full arsenal of nuclear weapons," Clinton said, "I haven't forgotten that. You know, I didn't think he'd forgotten America was a great power when he disagreed with what I did in Kosovo."
Yeltsin's outburst came on a visit to Beijing. He was coming under increasing criticism from the West over Russia's Chechen assault because of civilian casualties and a refugee population of 200,000.
Clinton's point, made repeatedly this week, was that Russia will pay a heavy price with its Chechen offensive through a loss of international prestige and by alienating investors.
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World Silent As Russia Hits Chechnya
Associated Press DECEMBER 09, 01:32 EST By LOUIS MEIXLER
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_package.html?FRONTID=WORLD&PACKAGEID=russia&STORYID=APIS717KPNO0&SLUG=CHECHNYA%2dGLOBAL%2dSILENCE
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Major world powers and several Islamic states have condemned Russia's campaign against Chechnya, but none are threatening sanctions or other measures against Moscow.
Russia, which is threatening to unleash a massive bombardment on the Chechen capital, still has a huge army of concern to its immediate neighbors. Few countries are willing to anger Moscow's government or add to its fragility, especially at a time many are seeking better economic ties with Russia.
In addition, many nations fear reinforcing the idea that the world should intervene over minority issues inside another country - something that could be used against Turkey, with its restive Kurdish minority, or China with Tibet. Russia, with a veto in the U.N. Security Council, could have a strong influence over where the world body might intervene in the future.
To be sure, NATO's involvement in Kosovo, an internal ethnic issue in Yugoslavia, drew diplomatic and military support from many nations. But it came only after months of diplomatic efforts and repeated discussions with Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
The West has a strong interest in preserving Russia in one piece, according to Hakan Kirimli of Ankara's Bilkent University.
``You can crush Serbia, and that was costly, but crushing or cracking Russia is inconceivable,'' he added.
The issue of Chechnya has been raised informally in the U.N. Security Council by individual members, but Russia has never allowed the matter to go further.
And some countries fear that if Russia were weakened, President Boris Yeltsin could fall and Russia could emerge with a radical leader.
Western countries have been warning Russia that its bombardment of Chechnya is a mistake.
``Russia will pay a heavy price for those actions, with each passing day, sinking more deeply into a morass that will intensify extremism and diminish its own standing in the world,'' President Clinton said.
However, Clinton added Wednesday in a news conference in Washington that it would be a mistake for the United States to cut off aid to Russia because of its military campaign in Chechnya. He said most U.S. assistance finances peaceful efforts such as advancing democracy, creating an independent media, and fostering student exchanges.
``I don't think our interests would be furthered by terminating that,'' Clinton said.
But Clinton also said he has ``no sympathy'' for Chechen rebels, even though he has criticized as too heavy-handed Russia's efforts to stamp out the rebellion.
In Muslim countries, emotions are the highest but so is the reluctance to act.
Turkey, where 10 percent of the population traces its ancestry to Caucasus republics like Chechnya, exemplifies the competing tensions over Chechnya.
Omer Duran, a representative of the Istanbul-based Caucasus Foundation, says his pro-Chechen group receives hundreds of calls every day from people who want to help the Chechens.
``We want Turkey to become more active regarding Chechnya and take our feelings into consideration,'' said Duran.
That is not likely.
Turkey is battling Kurdish guerrillas in its southeast and, just like Russia, bristles whenever foreign countries criticize its military action.
Many Chechen rebels favor establishing an Islamic government, a cause that has landed a few Turkish politicians in jail.
And as the bitter winter cold hits Istanbul, Turkish politicians are well aware that much of the country's heating gas comes from Russia.
``Although there is a strong feeling here for Chechnya ... Turkey is treading carefully,'' said Gulnur Aybet, a professor at Ankara's Bilkent University.
Iran is in a similar position.
Although it dispatched aid to the Chechens last week, Tehran asked Moscow for permission before sending in the supplies. Russia is building a nuclear reactor in southern Iran, and the two countries have close defense ties. Iran also has its own restive ethnic minorities.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is fighting several separatist movements and has said it will not get involved in the Chechnya crisis.
``Even though they are Muslims, we will never get involved,'' foreign affairs spokesman Sulaiman Abdulmanan said. ``It's Russia's internal problem.''
Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric last month called on Muslims to donate whatever they could to the Muslims of Kosovo and Chechnya.
``Everyone knows the aggression and injustice facing our brothers in Chechnya, who have been murdered and evicted from their homes by the Russian aggressors, and they are in dire need of help from their Muslim brothers,'' Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al El-Sheik said.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef, however, denied Russian accusations that his country was financing the rebels.
``Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with whatever is going on in Chechnya,'' Prince Nayef said.
Many countries are keenly aware that there is little they can do.
After some nine years of U.N. sanctions, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remains defiant and after 78 days of NATO bombardment, Milosevic is still in power in Yugoslavia.
``You haven't cracked Milosevic or Saddam totally,'' said Kirimli, ``and Russia is a much bigger fish.''