NucNews - November 3, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- accidents and safety Connecticut Plant Leaked Radioactive Water November 3, 2005 Associated Press http://www.wnbc.com/news/5243394/detail.html HADDAM, Conn. -- Several gallons of radioactive water per day leaked for a time from the former Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported Wednesday. The leak was discovered by workers digging near the building housing the spent fuel pool, and the contaminated water never made it beyond the plant's property line, Connecticut Yankee officials told the NRC. The company and the NRC said the leak did not pose a danger to health or safety. It has not been determined when or for how long the leak occurred. Connecticut Yankee stated that a review of data indicates the it was "on the order of a few gallons per day." NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci said groundwater monitoring revealed that no hazardous material left the property. She said the NRC would inspect the site before signing off on the plant's decommissioning. The contamination "is confined to a very small area onsite," said Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith. "We are still investigating." The water apparently seeped through seams in pool building's concrete into a small area of soil, the company reported. The spent fuel pool housed the nuclear plant's uranium pellets. The rods and radioactive metals have been removed from the pool as part of the plant's decommissioning. Connecticut Yankee opened in 1968 and operated for 28 years. It was closed in 1996 and decommissioning is expected to be completed next year. Haddam First Selectman Tony Bondi said neither Connecticut Yankee nor the NRC had informed him of the leak. "My God, it really surprises me something this egregious can happen," Bondi told The Hartford Courant. "We need to determine the extent of the leakage and the consequences of it." ---- European panel slates Russia for not raising Chernobyl worker's pension STRASBOURG (AFP) Nov 03, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051103171229.bfxw1oml.html The European Court of Human Rights Thursday ordered Russia to pay 3,000 euros (3,600 dollars) compensation to a rescue worker at the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster after it failed to pay a pension increase for two years. The Strabourg court said it was not open to a state authority to "cite lack of funds as an excuse for not honouring a judgment." Mikhail Kukalo, 64, had successfully contested the amount of his monthly pension payment in 1999 but had received no increase for the following two years and two months, the court said. Kukalo, whose health was damaged after taking part in emergency operations at the Chernobyl disaster, is a Russian who was working in Ukraine where the catastrophe occurred. He now lives in Russia, which has responsibility for his pension. The court noted that the judgments in question were not enforced for long periods of time, a situation for which the Russian government had not provided any plausible justification. A number of Russian judgments had been delivered in his favour which in one case, took over two years and two months to enforce. The court awarded Kukalo 3,000 euros in damages for non-execution of the earlier Russian court orders which the Strasbourg court said violated articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to a fair hearing. The explosion on April 26, 1986, of the number four reactor at the Chernobyl power plant in what was then the Soviet republic of Ukraine sent a radioactive cloud across Europe in the worst nuclear accident in history. ---- NRC says gallons of radioactive water leaked from CT plant Associated Press Published November 3 2005 http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-03074437.apds.m0440.bc-ct--radinov03,0,1154298.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire HADDAM, Conn. -- Several gallons of radioactive water per day leaked for a time from the former Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported Wednesday. The leak was discovered by workers digging near the building housing the spent fuel pool, and the contaminated water never made it beyond the plant's property line, Connecticut Yankee officials told the NRC. The company and the NRC said the leak did not pose a danger to health or safety. It has not been determined when or for how long the leak occurred. Connecticut Yankee stated that a review of data indicates the it was "on the order of a few gallons per day." The contamination "is confined to a very small area onsite," said Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith. "We are still investigating." The water apparently seeped through seams in pool building's concrete into a small area of soil, the company reported. The spent fuel pool housed the nuclear plant's uranium pellets. The rods and radioactive metals have been removed from the pool as part of the plant's decommissioning. Connecticut Yankee opened in 1968 operated for 28 years. It was closed in 1996 and decommissioning is expected to be completed next year. Haddam First Selectman Tony Bondi said neither Connecticut Yankee nor the NRC had informed him of the leak. "My God, it really surprises me something this egregious can happen," Bondi told The Hartford Courant. "We need to determine the extent of the leakage and the consequences of it." Information from: The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com -------- australia Traditional owners urge rejection of nuclear dump law Thursday, November 3, 2005 Australian Broadcasting http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1497076.htm Traditional owners from two central Australian regions earmarked for a nuclear waste dump have voiced their disgust about having the facility forced on them. Seven senior men and women from the Harts Range and Mount Everard areas near Alice Springs fronted the media this morning to make their opposition to a dump known. Legislation has passed the House of Representatives, allowing the Federal Government to force the facility on the Territory. Two of the proposed sites are in central Australia. The traditional owners at today's press conference called on the Territory's CLP Senator Nigel Scullion to cross the floor and vote against the dump legislation in the Senate. -------- canada Looking for a waste land Ottawa urged to bury spent nuclear fuel bundles 1 kilometre deep at central site Extending criteria includes more of Ontario as option PETER CALAMAI SCIENCE REPORTER Nov. 3, 2005 TORONTO STAR http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1130979310049&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467 OTTAWA—Wanted: A community in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick or Saskatchewan willing to store millions of bundles of highly radioactive waste fuel from the country's 22 nuclear reactors. Forever. The nuclear waste would be buried at this central site in mausoleum caverns up to a kilometre underground in hard rock, concludes a three-year study by experts submitted today to the federal government. The study was carried out by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, an industry-led group specially created by federal law. The proposed mausoleum would not actually be built for roughly 60 years, according to the study's master plan. It also could remain unsealed for centuries while scientists search for a better way to deal with radioactive waste, says the report. A decision on a site is unlikely for at least a couple of years, according to officials here. The final waste management plan contains no significant changes from draft proposals reported exclusively by the Star in May. The federal government has been anticipating the recommendations as a way to help defuse public opposition to new nuclear power plants being considered to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas formed by burning coal and oil to make electricity. Anti-nuclear campaigner David Martin of Greenpeace said polls suggest many Canadians instead want nuclear power phased out, a move that would stop the steady rise in nuclear waste that must be managed. "I think the federal government is setting the scene for a huge social confrontation on nuclear waste disposal," Martin said in an interview. Two earlier federal waste disposal studies rated the granite-bound Canadian Shield as the only geological formation stable enough for millennia of storage. But the organization report says other parts of the country could host a nuclear mausoleum because they are located on sedimentary Ordovician rock that is also low-risk for fractures and underground water seepage. Extending the geological criteria brings in non-Shield areas in Ontario including London, Hamilton-Niagara, Windsor-Sarnia and a swath from Kitchener-Waterloo up to Barrie. Almost 90 per cent of Canada's nearly two million bundles of waste nuclear fuel is currently stored at Ontario's Pickering, Darlington and Bruce power stations, mostly in concrete and metal casks inside ordinary sheds. The master plan says the waste will remain at these sites for at least the next 30 years. Depending on public opinion, the bundles then might be moved to temporary storage in a centralized shallow facility for the following 30 years. Spent fuel, expected to double over the 40-year reactor lifetimes, is dangerously radioactive for dozens of centuries. Federal law forces Ontario Power Generation, Quebec Hydro and other producers of waste fuel to make annual contributions to a fund to cover the costs of long-term radioactive waste management, estimated at $24 billion in the study. The fund now contains $770 million. The federal government must respond to the master plan for a drawn-out approach the organization calls Adaptive Waste Management. Ottawa can still opt for other ideas the report rejects, including leaving the waste dispersed at reactor sites, or building a central repository on the surface. Once the federal government makes its choice, the organization will search for an eventual site or sites. "In the interests of fairness, we intend to focus within the provinces that are directly involved in the nuclear fuel cycle — Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and Saskatchewan (where uranium is mined)," the report says. Organization president Elizabeth Dowdeswell, former head of the United Nations environment program, said yesterday, "The issue that really gets people excited is where it's going to happen." She said it is reasonable to expect to find a community willing to host a central mausoleum because that's happened in Finland and Sweden. In the mausoleum that's proposed, steel-and-copper capsules would each hold 324 bundles of waste fuel. The containers would be designed to last at least 100,000 years and be sealed in underground caverns behind water-resistant clay barriers. ---- No decision yet from Quebec on nuke refurbishment Reuters Thursday, November 03, 2005 http://www.dose.ca/vancouver/news/story.html?s_id=RJ0wbK7v9tYYbGHq0pHr6jOlegpkFQVSUUuffOIF6ppF5iZJ8IEOgw%3d%3d NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Quebec government still has not decided whether to allow Hydro-Quebec to refurbish the province's only nuclear power reactor, Gentilly 2, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks said Thursday. The spokeswoman could not say when Premier Jean Charest and his ministers would take up Hydro-Quebec's proposal to refurbish the 675-megawatt reactor, noting Thomas Mulcair, the Minister of Sustainable Development, was analyzing the project. The Gentilly station is located near Trois-Rivieres about 90 miles northeast of Montreal. Earlier this year, the province decided to allow Hydro-Quebec to expand the radioactive waste storage facility at the station, which the company had said would be full in 2007. The proposed expansion of the storage facility, estimated to cost about C$130 million, is only the first phase of the proposed C$1 billion refurbishment, which should keep the reactor operating until 2035. Without the refurbishment, the company would have to close the station by 2013. Gentilly 2 entered service in 1983. By 2001-3, Hydro-Quebec and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the federal nuclear engineering firm that designed the plant, started to look at refurbishing the facility due in part to the deformation of the fuel channels. If the province approves of the project, Hydro-Quebec could start enlarging the waste facility in 2006-7 before shutting the station for about 18 months for the main refurbishment in 2009-10. The company has noted the timetables were estimates, which depend in part, on whether the government wants to refurbish or shut the reactor. Hydro-Quebec subsidiaries own and operate more than 39,000 MW of generating capacity, market energy commodities in Canada and the United States, and transmit and distribute electricity to 3.6 million customers in Quebec. -------- depleted uranium Gulf vets should be screened Syracuse VA Medical Center hosts open house Saturday Thursday, November 03, 2005 By James T. Mulder Staff writer, Syracuse NY Post Standard http://www.syracuse.com/business/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/business-1/1131010887180841.xml&coll=1 Women veterans never used to get the red carpet treatment at the Syracuse VA Medical Center. Makeshift gynecology clinics would be held occasionally wherever space was available. But for other medical services, women had to take a seat next to the men in the waiting room. That era ended 10 years ago when the VA opened the Women's Health Care Center, dedicated space where comprehensive services are provided to women only. The VA is trying to get the word out to women veterans, whether they just returned from Iraq or served during World War II, that they are no longer an afterthought. The VA is putting on a health-care open house for women veterans 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Women who attend can get free flu shots. ---- $13.2M for New M1A2 Abrams Electronics Posted 03-Nov-2005 08:00 Defense Industry Daily http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2005/11/132m-for-new-m1a2-abrams-electronics/index.php General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, MI received a $13.2 million firm-fixed-price contract for spare parts for the continuous electronics evolution program for the M1A2 Abrams tank. The M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package (SEP) platform is the latest, most technologically advanced Abrams tank. It has the latest command and control system, second-generation thermal FLIR sights that enhances detection ranges, a Thermal Management System (TMS) to reduce infrared signature, and an improved armor package that includes third generation steel-encased depleted uranium armor. This contract aligns with the overall M1A2 SEP tank upgrade program to integrate new information technologies, improving the force with enhanced command and control features like color maps and displays, high-density computer memory, increased microprocessing speed and networked communications. Note that these improvements are not the same as the TUSK (Tank Urban Survival Kit) which optimizes the M1A2 for urban warfare, but the upgrades are compatible. Work will be performed in Tallahassee, FL (95%), Eynon, PA (4%), and Sterling Heights, MI (1%), and is expected to be complete by July 31, 2007. This was a sole source contract initiated on May 1, 2004 by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command in Rock Island, IL (DAAE20-02-G-0009). -------- india U.S., India Share Key Strategic Interests, State Official Says US State Department, 03 November 2005 http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=November&x=20051103113446adynned0.7416193&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html State's Burns says engaging India on nuclear power is better than isolating it Washington -- The United States has decided to cooperate with India in developing civilian nuclear power because it was seen as the only way to bring India into compliance with the international nuclear nonproliferation regime and because isolating India has not worked, according to the State Department. State Department under secretaries Nicholas Burns (political affairs) and Robert Joseph (arms control and international security) testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the security and nonproliferation implications of U.S.-Indian nuclear energy cooperation on November 2. In September, they testified before the House International Relations Committee on a similar topic. (See related article.) "We decided that it was in the American interest to bring India into compliance with the standards and practices of the international nonproliferation regime," Burns told the committee in his opening remarks. "And, we decided that the only way to reach that goal was to end India's isolation and begin to engage it." He added that keeping India isolated from the nuclear security system "did not appear to be strategically wise and that isolation has not been effective." India has never been a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It exploded its first nuclear device in 1974. In his opening remarks, Senator Joseph Biden noted that there were risks involved in opening up relations on nuclear power development with India, and said he wondered "how good the July 18 deal really is," in reference to a U.S.-India agreement signed by President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (See related fact sheet.) Under Secretary Joseph, in his opening remarks, urged congressional and international partners to avoid the temptation to renegotiate the deal. In this instance, he said, "The perfect is the enemy of the good." Joseph added that it would be better to lock in Indian commitments under the July 18 agreement, and seek further agreements afterward. Burns said that, as a democratic government with a legislature that must approve government decisions, India might not be able to move as rapidly to implement its commitments as some might hope. He noted that it is going to take some time to have the kind of relationship with India that the United States has, for example, with Australia. But Burns said he sees key similarities between the United States and India: • Both tend to think alike on strategic questions, • Both are Asia-Pacific powers, and • Both are democratic governments. The under secretary for political affairs said a strategic relationship with India is fundamental to advancing U.S. interests in South Asia. "I don't want to oversell it," but it is possible, within the next five years or so, for India to be one of the United States' most important strategic partners,” he said. A State Department fact sheet on U.S.-India civilian nuclear cooperation and a transcript of Burns' July 19 press briefing on the U.S.-India agreement are available on the State Department Web site. The November 2 testimony of Burns and Joseph before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is also available on the State Department Web site. For additional information, see U.S.-India: Strengthening a Global Partnership. (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) ---- India can be trusted with US nuclear technology: State Dept WASHINGTON (AFP) Nov 03, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051102233352.jkqls0rv.html The United States on Wednesday defended its landmark nuclear deal with India, saying it would be far easier to monitor New Delhi's atomic energy activities within the fold of the international regime than outside of it. To make his pitch for congressional approval, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and urged lawmakers to throw their support behind the agreement, which must be approved by both houses of the US Congress. "We decided that it was in the American interest to bring India into compliance with the standards and practices of the international non-proliferation regime," Burns said, explaining the rationale for the July 18 agreement reached between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush. "To consign it (India) to a place outside that system did not appear to be strategically wise, and has not proven effective," Burns said. Burns added that the agreement underscores "democratic India's arrival as a force in the world," and said "the time is right" for such an accord. "It is time to shift our US-India relationship to a new strategic partnership for the decades ahead," he said. Under the terms of the deal, Washington would give India access to civil nuclear energy related technology once India separates civilian and military nuclear programs and place its nuclear reactors under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. India is a nuclear-armed nation but not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and acquired its nuclear weapons technology by violating bilateral pledges it made to Washington not to use US-supplied nuclear materials for weapons purposes. Nevertheless, Burns assured lawmakers that New Delhi could be trusted in the future with sensitive nuclear technology. "While not formally part of the NPT regime, India has demonstrated a strong commitment to protect fissile materials and nuclear technology," Burns told the Senate committee. "India has resisted proposal for nuclear cooperation with nuclear aspirants that could have had adverse implications for international security." Still, some lawmakers suggested that they are not fully convinced. "This is not a slam dunk," warned Senator Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel, adding that there remain "a lot of questions" that will need to be addressed before Congress can give its blessing to the arrangement -- including assuring it "doesn't lead to more proliferation" by rewarding India for having broken the rules. "That would be a terrible legacy to have," Biden said. Other US legislators have warned that the nuclear cooperation deal could be jeopardized if India fails to show sufficient cooperation in US efforts to restrict the nuclear ambitions of Iran, a country with which New Delhi has valuable energy ties. The United States has accused Iran of hiding secret nuclear weapons work, allegations denied by Tehran which insists it has a right to pursue a peaceful civilian nuclear program. Washington had placed sanctions on India after its second round of nuclear tests in May 1998, but agreed after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to waive those and other sanctions in return for support in the war against terrorism. ---- India to increase nuclear power production Nov. 3, 2005 (UPI) http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051103-092229-5078r NEW DELHI -- India's Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar is calling for reduced reliance on imported nuclear fuel while expanding India's nuclear program. UNI news agency reported that Kadkokar believes India will need to increase its number of nuclear power stations to meet surging demands for electricity. Kokodkar said for the nation to implement an expanded nuclear energy policy it would have to develop a number of advanced technologies in a coordinated pattern of research and development. Kakodkar comments carry some weight, as he is also India's Secretary of Department of Atomic Energy. "We must remain on this path despite the possible additionalities that might come in through opening up of civilian nuclear cooperation with other countries as our objective is to maximize the contribution of nuclear power both in short as well as in the long run," he said. Kokodkar was speaking earlier this week at ceremonies marking anniversary of the start of India's nuclear programs. Kakodkar, who participated in the signing of the July 18 Indian-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement, added, "While we are ready to benefit from the international civilian nuclear cooperation, the domestic program continues to be important as we should have a larger share from domestic sources than from import." -------- iran Tehran allows UN nuclear inspectors Published: Thursday, 3 November, 2005, Gulf Times http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=59375&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56 TEHRAN: Iran’s hardline government has opened up a sensitive military site to UN nuclear inspectors and yesterday announced a shake-up of its diplomatic corps, sending out mixed signals to the West. “We are pleased that we can confirm that IAEA inspectors got access to buildings at the Parchin site as we had requested,” a spokesman for the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said at its Vienna base. Washington claims Iran may be testing high-explosive charges with an inert core of depleted uranium at Parchin, 30km (20 miles) southeast of Tehran, as a dry test for how a bomb with fissile material would work. Iran faces the risk of referral to the UN Security Council over its atomic programme, after the IAEA in September found it to be in “non-compliance” with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Tehran appears to be showing more co-operation in order to avoid a referral, as the Security Council could impose trade sanctions, diplomats in the Austrian capital said. - AFP -------- israel Israel’s nuclear program threatens global security 11/3/2005 7:15:00 PM GMT Aljazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_id=9973 Israel's nuclear Arsenal threats the stability and security of the ME region and the entire world Shortly after George W. Bush was elected for a second term as the President of the United States of America, Vice President Dick Cheney made the most shocking remarks, implying that Iran was "right at the top of the list" of the rogue enemies of America, and that Israel would " be doing the bombing for us", without the need for U.S. military involvement- Without even asking them to “do it”; the GlobalResearch website stated. "One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked... Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards." Earlier this week, Tehran Times warned against the expansion of Israel’s nuclear arsenal, saying it might cause a global crisis. The paper criticised the "hasty" reaction to the recent remarks by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying that "Iran feels duty-bound to warn the world of the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal." Last week, President Ahmadinejad called on the International community to take a swift action to protect the world against Israel’s dangerous policy. The Iranian President’s remarks were met "with hasty reactions by some pro-Israeli countries," the paper added. "Although the Iranian nation has shouted slogans against the Zionist regime since 1979, these slogans have never meant a physical confrontation with Israel but rather referred to the need to wipe out all Zionist ways of thought, which never recognize anyone else's right to live freely," it said. "When one talks about the annihilation of Israel, it does not mean the genocide of the Jewish people, but rather a non-violent confrontation with Zionist schools of thought, which are endangering the Middle East and the entire world." Israel’s nuclear arsenal is threatening the world peace and security, Tehran Times stressed, underlining the fact that Israel possesses nine facilities for production of fission nuclear weapons as well as hydrogen and neutron bombs, which "is a real threat to the world and particularly the critical Middle East region." "Indeed, it is odd that the world has remained silent about Israel's refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but opposes Iran's civilian nuclear activities," the paper noted. Israeli officials have "constantly threatened to attack Iran's nuclear installations, goaded on by international organizations and Western countries". "Although the Islamic Republic is extremely reluctant to raise political tension in the pressure cooker of the Middle East, it feels duty-bound to warn the world of the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal," it added. The paper urged the world powers to take those warnings "seriously," stressing that if Israel went ahead with its current policy, which includes “mass production of prohibited weapons by the Zionist regime”, this will trigger an arms race in the Middle East and eventually result in a global crisis. "The United States and other Western countries are actually trying to raise brouhaha over a single statement by an Iranian official so they can divert attention from the ever-increasing crimes the Zionists are committing against the innocent Palestinians," the daily concluded. Although Israel, widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them, it neither confirms nor denies it has a nuclear weapons program. It only says that it won’t be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East". Israel insists on refusing to to sign the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty(NPT), signed and observed by the Islamic republic of Iran which Israel claims is close to having a nuclear bomb. -------- japan Gyeongju to be Awarded S. Korea's 1ST Nuclear Waste Repository SEOUL, Nov 3, 2005 Asia Pulse http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/051102/16/3w5s7.html Gyeongju has effectively been awarded the right to host South Korea's first nuclear repository by winning the largest percentage of yes votes in Wednesday's regional plebiscite. The National Election Commission said Thursday that residents of the city in North Gyeongsang Province turned out in force to support the local government's bid to build the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste repository within its boundaries. The official announcement of Gyeongju winning the repository is expected to be made after a meeting of ministers on Thursday, the government said. The vote is the first time in South Korean history that a major government policy directive has been decided by a direct referendum. Final voter turnout for the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 937) reached 70.8 per cent of 208,607 eligible voters, with an overwhelming 89.5 per cent of participants casting their ballots in favor of the waste repository. This is higher than the 84.4 per cent earned by Gunsan where all votes were counted shortly after midnight, and more than the 79.3 per cent of yes votes tallied for Yeongdeok, where vote counting ended early because the region has only 37,536 registered voters. The official turnout for Gunsan, in North Jeolla Province, stood at 70.1 per cent, while that for Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang Province reached 80.2 per cent. Pohang, an industrial city that is home to POSCO, South Korea's largest steel mill, reported a turnout of 47.2 per cent, with 67.5 per cent supporting the bid to host the repository. Under the ground rules set by the central government, the region that receives the most votes in favor will be deemed the winner. It must, however, first receive participation from a minimum one-third of all eligible voters, and more than half of those to vote yes to the referendum proposal. The local governments of Gyeongju, Pohang and Yeongdeok, all on the east coast, and Gunsan on the west coast, had applied to host the repository, despite protests from environmental groups. They were attracted by the numerous rewards offered to the region that accepts the site. Gyeongju now looks likely to also receive a special state subsidy of 300 billion won (US$288 million), a multi-billion won sub-atomic particle accelerator and also to be host to the headquarters of the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. The central government support means hundreds, possibly thousands, of new jobs for the city. Energy resource-scarce South Korea has 20 nuclear power plants in operation, with 10 more to be built by 2015, but it has no facility to store radioactive waste from the plants. The election management body said that the average turnout for the referendum reached 60.3 per cent of the total 817,820 eligible voters. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom said that residents that took part in the referendums must respect the turnout, because the plebiscite is part of the democratic process. "Everyone did their best and all must accept the outcome of the vote," the policymaker said. He said that the government had learned from its past mistakes when it had been unable to convince communities to accept the repository. Lee said that this time around, the government incorporated a system that is fair and transparent. The minister speculated that the proposal received the strongest vote of support in Gyeongju because environmental groups were not as strong there as they were in the other regions. The central government maintains that the permanent storage facility is needed by 2008 at the latest, since existing temporary facilities will be full by then. It had tried since 1986 to find a willing host for the waste dump, only to be foiled by resistance from local residents of candidate sites. The waste dump was last proposed for an islet off Buan, a town on the nation's central east coast, two years ago, only to be cancelled after violent protests by villagers. The central government's approach this time was to first secure majority support from local residents for the facility via the plebiscite before moving ahead with the plan. The proposed repository will store low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants, material such as gloves and clothing as well as radioactive filters and hospital X-ray byproducts, waste the government claims is relatively safe. High-level nuclear waste such as spent nuclear fuel will not be stored there. The four local governments had all aggressively lobbied their communities to host the facility. Environmental groups had also stepped up their campaigns against it, but there were no reports of violence. ---- 5th round of six-party talks to be held on Nov. 9 in Beijing (Xinhuanet) 2005-11-03 02:27:29 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-11/03/content_3727903.htm BEIJING, Nov. 3 -- The fifth-round of the six-party talks will begin on Nov. 9 in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan announced at a regular press conference here Thursday. Kong did not say how long the negotiation would last, but said that "holding the talks by phases in the new round could have a better result" as the chief negotiators of the six parties might also attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit slated for mid November in Pusan of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The experience in the last round of the talks has proved that it is a "good idea" to hold the talks in phases, the spokesman added. "We hope the participants in the new round of negotiations could have an in-depth exchange of views on the consensus reached in the last round," said Kong. The six-party talks, aiming at resolving the nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula, include China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the ROK, Russia and Japan. The first round was held in August 2003 in Beijing. "If all parties could take commitment to commitment and action to action based on the joint statement reached during the fourth round of the talks, and earnestly push forward the discussion and agree to take further steps, there would be positive result," Kongsaid. The fourth-round of six-party talks ended on Sept. 19 with the adoption of the first joint statement. The DPRK pledged in the statement to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and return, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The United States affirms that it has no nuclear weapons in the Korean Peninsula and has no intention of attacking or invading the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons, says the statement. The nuclear weapons abandonment and security guarantee, economic aid, as well as nuclear weapons inspection are three focal points of the new round, according to some Chinese experts. "All parties have accomplished a 'word-to-word' goal, and the new round will enter the stage of 'action-to-action', there will be the more substantial and audacious discussion," said Shen Jiru,expert from Chinese Academy of Social Science. As the DPRK has agreed to abandon all its nuclear weapons and plans, the inspection of nuclear facilities will be on the agenda of the new round. The inspection is complicated and sensitive, thus it's still hard to estimate how much the DPRK will accept thein spection. "No matter whether the inspection will be carried out by the U.S. or the International Atomic Energy Agency, the process will be complicated and long-lasting, and this issue would be a confrontation between the U.S. and DPRK," said Ruan Zongze, Ruan Zongze, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies. China has all along contributed to the peaceful settlement of the Korean nuclear issue. It has advocated holding the the six-party talks, which has been proved to be an effective way to solve the complicated issue. Chinese President Hu Jintao Wednesday concluded an official and goodwill visit to the DPRK. DPRK leader Kim Jong Il promised the DPRK will attend the fifth round of six-party talks "as scheduled". Chinese senior officials including Vice Premier Wu Yi and StateCouncilor Tang Jiaxuan also visited the DPRK after the fourth round of six-party talks, and the negotiation was on the agenda oftheir visits. Multilateral and bilateral contacts have been frequent since the end of the fourth round. Although the fifth round will be difficult, all parties still hope it will achieve progress and aretrying to create a good atmosphere for the upcoming talks. ---- South Korea picks first nuclear waste dumpsite SEOUL (AFP) Nov 03, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051103042034.8w2iawkk.html South Korea on Thursday picked its first nuclear waste dump 370 kilometers (230 miles) southeast of Seoul after local residents agreed to accept the site in return for government incentives. Four areas were in contention but residents of Gyeongju were 90 percent in favour in a decisive ballot, higher than the other candidate sites, officials said. "The residents themselves have made a final choice for the site. The majority's desire should not be denied or undermined," Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-Beom told a press conference. The government has been hunting for a nuclear waste site since 1986 but has fallen foul of protests from environmentalists. Gyeongju will receive economic incentives including a 300 billion wonmillion dollar) one-off state subsidy. The government also promised to relocate the headquarters and other research facilities of the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power to the Gyoengju area. South Korea runs 20 nuclear power plants, meeting 40 percent of the country's total electricity need. It plans to build eight more by 2015, the commerce, industry and energy says. Until now it had no permanent radioactive waste treatment facility and has been using a temporary storage site that will be full by 2008. The Gyeongju site will store low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, such as gloves and clothing from nuclear power plants as well as X-ray byproducts from hospitals, it said. -------- u.s. nuc facilities 'Recycling' Project Could Reduce Inventory of Spent Nuclear Fuel Thursday, November 3, 2005 http://www.pnnonline.org/article.php?sid=6312&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 Hoping to reduce the nation's growing inventory of stored spent nuclear fuel, a group of nuclear engineering faculty, scientists and students from Big Ten universities, the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory will develop innovative nuclear fuel cycles that will recycle and dispose of this high-level radioactive material. The group will base its studies in the Center for Advanced Nuclear Fuel-Cycles (CANF), a new initiative housed at Argonne. Co-directors at Argonne and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will lead the center. The project also will provide valuable educational experience for the next generation of scientists and engineers. Nuclear fuel used in current reactors has enormous available energy. As the fuel is used to produce electricity, only a fraction of this available energy is consumed, generating a small quantity of high-level radioactive waste within the solid fuel. Currently, most spent nuclear fuel is stored temporarily in secure, specially designed pools at commercial reactors around the country, or in leak-tight steel casks housed in above-ground concrete vaults. When space is full, the fuel could end up at a commercial temporary-storage facility in Utah, or perhaps at the proposed Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository. But these storage options are short-term approaches to dealing with the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, says Michael Corradini, a UW-Madison professor of engineering physics and the center's co-director. "We hope to develop a 'sustainable' fuel cycle - that is, an efficient, cost-effective way to reuse current spent nuclear fuel and minimize its byproducts," he says. "Advanced nuclear fuel cycles can be recycled as a source of available energy as demand for uranium increases." Some countries, including Japan and France, currently reprocess their spent nuclear fuel using a process known as PUREX (plutonium and uranium recovery by extraction). The CANF team will seek to improve upon these separation and recycling processes. "The major difference is that we are looking for ways to successfully extract specific radioactive species for separate uses and separate disposal," says Corradini. The researchers will tackle the problem in a number of ways. One initiative will use sophisticated computer models to perform comprehensive simulations to predict key physics processes. The group will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science to apply those tools to the nuclear fuel cycle. In addition, scientists will develop flexible fuel forms, unique materials and advanced chemical separation processes, enabling them to establish a fuel supply system that minimizes waste and the risk of proliferation. A reduced proliferation risk is just one of the benefits of advanced nuclear fuel cycles, says Phillip Finck, deputy associate laboratory director at Argonne and the center's co-director. "They can significantly shorten the needed isolation time and reduce the amount of high-level waste housed in any repository," he says. "Ultimately, this should reduce the cost of the Yucca Mountain repository and may preclude the need for additional waste repositories." ---- Weapons-Grade Nukes Moved From Los Alamos Nov 3 2005 By MATT MYGATT Associated Press Writer http://www.townhall.com/news/ap/online/headlines/D8DL6V480.html ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The federal government has finished moving its most sensitive weapons-grade nuclear material from a Los Alamos National Laboratory technical area to more secure sites, a lab spokesman said Thursday. The weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium are no longer within the lab's Technical Area 18, a site at the bottom of a steep canyon that critics said was vulnerable to a terrorist attack. The first shipment was moved a little over a year ago. The transfers were driven by changing threats following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and cost-saving efforts, lab spokesman Kevin Roark said. Officials at Los Alamos, which has been rocked by fiscal and security lapses, have said they could keep nuclear material secure at Technical Area 18, but at a high cost. The material was moved to the Nevada Test Site, the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the lab's Technical Area 55, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The Project on Government Oversight _ a nonprofit, nonpartisan government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. _ praised the material transfer but said it should have been completed sooner. The T-18 area dates back to World War II efforts to develop the atomic bomb and originally was used to conduct criticality experiments _ figuring out how much nuclear material was needed to produce a nuclear explosion, Roark said. The NNSA plans to move all nuclear materials out of T-18 by 2008. On the Net: Los Alamos National Laboratory: http://www.lanl.gov National Nuclear Security Administration: http://www.nnsa.doe.gov Project on Government Oversight: http://www.pogo.org ---- Enriched uranium removed from vulnerable site By JAMES W. BROSNAN Scripps Howard News Service 03-NOV-05 http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=NUKEMOVE-11-03-05 WASHINGTON -- The government said Thursday all weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium is now out of an area of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that was vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The National Nuclear Security Administration announced that the last of the special nuclear material that could be used for nuclear bombs has been removed from the lab's Technical Area 18 five years after the move was ordered by then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "I'm glad it finally happened, as I directed," said Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico. Mock terrorist attacks in 1997 and 2000 showed the vulnerability of TA-18, according to Energy Department documents obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a watchdog group. In the first mock assault, Army Special Forces used an ordinary garden cart to steal more than 200 pounds of nuclear materials, according to POGO. In October 2000, mock terrorists again gained access to nuclear weapons-grade material, the group said. "The Department of Energy should be congratulated for finally getting the job done at TA-18, five years after it was first ordered," said POGO spokeswoman Beth Daley. She added the department should now move quickly to consolidate all the weapons-grade material at one site, as several reports have recommended. More than half the material went to the department's Nevada Test Site. Some also went to the Y-12 complex at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the more secure TA-55 facility at Los Alamos, but eventually the TA-55 material will go to Nevada too, according to the government. The first nuclear material was shipped out of the lab in September 2004. National Nuclear Security Administrator Linton Brooks said the relocation was completed less than a month after the original completion date despite a seven-month stand-down at Los Alamos over security and safety problems. (Contact James W. Brosnan at BrosnanJ(at)shns.com) -------- florida Halls River development close nuclear reactor By JIM NICOLL Published November 3, 2005 St. Petersburg Times http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/03/Citrus/No_wonder_Halls_River.shtml ... (T)he land sits within 5 miles of the Progress Energy complex in Crystal River, which contains a nuclear reactor. Any property within this radius cannot be developed at a density greater than one house per 5 acres, regardless of its land use designation.... (F)ar and away the biggest problem with this settlement is the unspeakable silence from the county development staff, as one piece of wrong information after another was presented. When Caruth attorney Clark Stillwell said he personally measured the property (using an aerial photo) and found it to be 5.1 miles from the nuclear plant, where was the challenge from Development Services Director Gary Maidhof, who knows this assertion to be wildly incorrect? The nuclear plant's safety information guide shows the entire parcel to be well inside 5 miles, as do precisely accurate U.S. Geological Survey maps.... Allowing a law-defying 50-home subdivision in the coastal lakes area is a win for the developer only. More like a triple win. Permitting 300 percent more density than was ever permitted inside the 5-mile nuclear radius is not a settlement; it is an extravagant, thoroughly unnecessary gift. Is it any wonder speculators from all over the state are lifting their heads from the chewed remains of counties like Pasco and fixing their gaze on Citrus County with a fresh new appetite? -------- new jersey AmerGen vows to address concerns Refiling with DEP on coastal impact Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/3/05 BY TODD B. BATES ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051103/NEWS/511030453 AmerGen Energy Co. is getting another chance to convince the state that its proposal to run the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey until 2029 is consistent with New Jersey's coastal management policies and rules. AmerGen agreed to withdraw its coastal "consistency certification" and the state Department of Environmental Protection agreed to withdraw its objection to the document, according to a memo signed by DEP and AmerGen officials on Sept. 19. Cynthia A. Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, a Sandy Hook-based coalition, called the certification "pathetic" and said Exelon, which owns AmerGen, "should be ashamed of themselves." Rachelle Benson, an Oyster Creek plant spokeswoman, said "we're working with the state . . . to provide an acceptable certification. We're going to continue to work with them . . . until we (have an) application that is complete and addresses all of their concerns." The DEP rejected AmerGen's coastal certification in August, saying the company failed to furnish information backing up statements that the impacts of Oyster Creek plant operations are small, among other issues. The impacts include the use of about 1.3 billion gallons of Forked River water a day for cooling and dilution of heated discharges, killing an estimated millions of fish, shrimp and other aquatic life annually, according to DEP documents. The company is seeking to renew its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission operating license for 20 years beyond April 2009, when its current license is due to expire. The plant began operating in 1969. Under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, "federal license or permit activities that affect any land or water use or natural resource of the coastal zone must be fully consistent with the enforceable policies" of a state's coastal zone management plan, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web site. AmerGen submitted its coastal consistency certification six months before filing its July 22 license renewal application with the NRC, according to the September memo. But the certification process applies only to active applications, the memo says. AmerGen will resubmit its certification to the DEP and "necessary data and information . . . at an appropriate time during the NRC's review process," the memo says. After that, the DEP's six-month review period will begin. If the DEP again objects to AmerGen's certification, the company may appeal to the federal commerce secretary, the memo says. From July 1983 to August 10, 2005, the secretary overrode only 13 of the 40 state objections nationally, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web site. Todd B. Bates: (732) 643-4237 or tbates@app.com. This story includes material from previous Press stories. -------- new york Federal Regulators To Increase Inspections Of Indian Point 11/3/2005 10:45 PM (Buchanan-RNS) WROC-8 http://www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=20570&r=l The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will step up inspections at Indian Point to address a recent leak of radioactive water and to monitor improvements to the nuclear plant's emergency alert sirens. The NRC's regional administrator Samuel Collins says, "In the case of Indian Point, the staff considers it prudent to apply additional inspection focus to specific areas even though licensee performance in these areas has not crossed any specific thresholds mandating additional regulatory oversight." The NRC chairman last week promised Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton he would boost oversight at the nuclear facility in Westchester County. The promise came after the discovery of a spent fuel-pool leak in September and repeated failures in the sirens used to alert local residents of an emergency. -------- MILITARY -------- prisoners of war White House uneasy on 'secret' prisons From correspondents in Washington 03 nov 05 Australia Herald Sun http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17125216%255E1702,00.html THE White House has refused to confirm or deny reports that the CIA operates secret prisons, known as "black sites," for Al-Qaeda suspects in Eastern Europe and other places around the world. President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the United States will do what is necessary to fight and win the war on terrorism. "The president has been very clear we're doing that in a way that is consistent with our values and that is why he's been very clear that the United States will not torture," Mr Hadley said. "The United States will conduct its activities in compliance with law, (and) international obligations," he said. The Washington Post reported that the prisons are, or have been, located in eight countries including Thailand, Afghanistan and "several democracies in Eastern Europe" since the system was set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The names of the eastern European countries were withheld by the Post "at the request of senior US officials," who argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts. Thailand denied there was a prison there. Mr Hadley and White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to confirm or deny the Post report. "I would say that the president's most important responsibility is to protect the American people," McClellan said. The refusal to discuss the matter was echoed by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Central Intelligence Agency. But former president Jimmy Carter denounced what he said was "a profound and radical change in the basic policies or moral values of our country" in reaction to the report. "This is just one indication of what has been done under this administration to change the policies that have persisted all the way through our history," said Mr Carter, who championed human rights during his 1977-81 presidency. The existence of secret CIA detention centres has long been claimed. Amnesty International denounced an "archipelago" of prisons in June as a "gulag of our times." But the report that eastern European countries were among the locations is new. Czech Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan was quoted by the on-line news outlet Aktualne.cz as saying that the Czech Republic recently turned down a US request to set up a detention centre on its territory. "The negotiations took place around a month ago," he was quoted as saying. The Americans "made an effort to install something of the sort here, but they did not succeed." Separately, Hungary's intelligence chief, Andras Toth, said Budapest had not been approached, telling AFP, "The mere suggestion of this is absurd." The Central Intelligence Agency has sent more than 100 suspects to the hidden global internment network, the Post said, indicating that the number was a rough estimate and did not include prisoners picked up from Iraq. About 30 of the detainees, considered major terrorism suspects, have been held at "black sites" organised by the CIA in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, it said. Locations in Thailand and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba were closed in 2003 and 2004, the daily said. Another in Afghanistan known as the "Salt Pit" was moved inside Bagram Air Base. Over 70 other detainees, with less direct involvement in alleged terrorism and having limited intelligence value, have been delivered to intelligence services in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan and other countries, the daily added. The Post said virtually nothing is known about who is kept in the secret facilities, what interrogation methods are employed with them, or how decisions are made about whether they should be detained or for how long. The covert prison system is "known only to a handful of officials in the United States and, usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country," it said. The system has been increasingly debated within the CIA where some consider it unsustainable and a diversion from its main espionage mission, the report said. The idea of holding suspects outside the United States, where it is illegal to hold people in isolation and in secret prisons, was not under consideration before September 11, former government officials told the daily. "The issue of detaining and interrogating people was never, ever discussed," said one former senior CIA intelligence officer. "It was against the culture and they believed information was best gleaned by other means." ---- Europe to investigate reports of secret CIA jails 11/3/2005 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-03-cia-europe_x.htm BRUSSELS — European Union officials said Thursday they would investigate a report that the CIA set up secret jails in Eastern Europe to interrogate top al-Qaeda suspects. The international Red Cross also said it asked the United States to let a representative visit detainees if such a facility exists. At least 10 nations denied Thursday that the prisons were in their territory. "I repeat: We do not have CIA bases in Romania," the country's prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said. In Poland, an aide to President Aleksander Kwasniewski said authorities there had "no information" of such facilities existing there. Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Georgia and Armenia also issued denials. The governments of the EU's 25 members nations will be questioned informally about the allegations, EU spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said. He said officials from the European Commission's justice and interior affairs departments would contact their counterparts across the EU to assess the truth of the report in Wednesday's editions of The Washington Post. "We have to find out what is exactly happening," Roscam Abbing said. "We have all heard about this." He said such prisons could violate EU human rights laws and other European human rights conventions. The commission is responsible for ensuring that EU rules are followed. "As far as the treatment of prisoners is concerned ... it is clear that all 25 member states having signed up to European Convention on Human Rights, and to the International Convention Against Torture, are due to respect and fully implement the obligations deriving from those treaties," Roscam Abbing told reporters. He cautioned, however, that the EU head office could not take action against member states if they violated human rights codes. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it asked the United States about the report and to let a representative visit any prisoners if the facility exists. "We have asked the U.S. authorities to inform us about the detention of these persons, and to give access to ICRC delegates to persons held in undisclosed places of detention," said Antonella Notari, the ICRC's chief spokeswoman. "We think this would be a coherent continuation of our current detention work in U.S. places of detention." The ICRC, which has had exclusive rights to visit terror suspects detained at a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere, has long been concerned about reports that U.S. officials were hiding some detainees from ICRC delegates. Separately, Europe's top human rights organization, the Council of Europe, said it too would investigate whether the claims were true. On Wednesday, U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley would not confirm or deny the existence of a secret, Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe as described by the Post. The story said the facility was part of a covert prison system set up nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, some of them EU member states. But Hadley said President Bush's directive banning the torture of terror suspects applies to all prisoners — even if held in a secret prison. The story quoted current and former intelligence officials and diplomats. Matjaz Gruden, spokesman for Council of Europe chairman Terry Davis, said secret detentions are a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The treaty is binding on the council's 46 members, many of which belong to the EU. In September, the council sent a representative to the United States to urge the American government to cease the practice. "If this was indeed happening on our territory, it would be a violation of Europe's human rights treaty," Gruden said. The U.N. special investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, said he had "not received any direct allegation or indirect information concerning any CIA place of detention in Eastern Europe — in other parts of the world, but not in Eastern Europe." Speaking by telephone from Austria, Nowak said he was "not investigating this now." He added, however, that U.N. investigators still were seeking "access to all places of detention of suspected terrorists held by the U.S. authorities outside its territory." -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- drug war Denver votes to legalize marijuana possession By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY 11/3/2005 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-03-pot_x.htm DENVER — Voters here approved making Denver the first major city to legalize small amounts of marijuana, but the mayor warned that state law still makes possession of the drug illegal. "OK of pot issue gives new meaning to Mile High City," said Wednesday's headline in the Rocky Mountain News. The measure, which passed Tuesday with 54% of the vote, says adults 21 and older may possess up to an ounce of marijuana without penalty in the city. A few other cities, including Seattle and Oakland, have laws that make marijuana possession a low priority for police. A dozen states, including Colorado, have decriminalized possession of small amounts but still issue fines. Unlike Denver, the Colorado ski town of Telluride, population 2,300, narrowly defeated a measure Tuesday that would have made possession of marijuana the lowest police priority. It might be already: Just 17 citations were issued there last year for pot possession. Don't expect clouds of marijuana smoke to fill Denver's thin air. Mayor John Hickenlooper said police will continue to arrest and charge people for marijuana because state law still makes possession illegal. Hickenlooper said the city can adopt an ordinance that is stricter than state law on marijuana but not one that is weaker. Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., said Denver's vote will spur initiatives in other cities to legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco. "It's certainly likely to energize people. This is the wind in the sails of reform," Mirken said Wednesday. "Rethinking marijuana prohibition is mainstream. This is the heart of America saying, 'Hold on, maybe our current marijuana laws don't make a lot of sense.' And the fact is, they're right." Mason Tvert, who led the Denver campaign for legalized pot, said he will encourage people who are charged under state law to fight their arrests in court. In Colorado, having an ounce of marijuana or less is punishable by a $100 fine but no jail time. "It's like a speeding ticket, and only a fraction of people end up going to court over it," said Tvert, founder of SAFER, or Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation. Tvert said his group also will seek a state initiative to license and regulate the sale of marijuana. His campaign argued that legalized pot is a safer alternative, considering the problems that arise from alcohol abuse such as violent crime and health risks. The mayor said he opposed the measure because he considers marijuana a "gateway" drug that can lead to harder substances and "much more self-destructive behaviors." Hickenlooper acknowledged, however, that Denver's vote "does reflect a genuine shift in people's attitudes." Although Denver's marijuana vote caught attention, the main issue Coloradans approved Tuesday will let the state government keep $3.7 billion in tax revenue over the next five years. The money otherwise would have been refunded to taxpayers under a 1992 constitutional amendment, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which has strict caps on state spending. The statewide referendum passed with 52% of the vote. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy Sea-Based Windmills could Blunt Eyesore Criticisms Story by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent REUTERS NORWAY: November 3, 2005 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33290/story.htm OSLO - A novel windmill floating on the high seas is likely to generate electricity from 2007 in a shift from land-based turbines often denounced as eyesores, Norwegian energy group Norsk Hydro said on Wednesday. Out of sight over the horizon, parks of non-polluting windmills could eventually supply power to coastal cities or to offshore oil and gas platforms anywhere from the North Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. Hydro said it aimed to go ahead with a project to build a prototype -- an upright steel and concrete tube about 200 metres (660 feet) high with 80 metres jutting above the water and rotor blades 60 metres long -- after successful laboratory tests. Some nations have parks of windmills that stand in shallow waters offshore but none have windmills far from land. Hydro said that it had been measuring wind conditions over 30 years of North Sea drilling. "The results are promising," Alexandra Bech Gjoerv, head of New Energy at Hydro, told Reuters of a three-year research programme. "We're very hopeful that we can be first in the world to set up a floating windmill at sea." She said rivals in nations from Japan to the United States were also working on designing similar windmills. Hydro, Norway's number two oil producer behind Statoil, aims to deploy a prototype at sea in 2007, likely to cost about 150 million Norwegian crowns ($23.12 million). Norway is the world's third largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia. The floating windmills would be tethered at three points to the seabed to keep them stable. Bech Gjoerv said that there were likely to be fewer objections to windmills offshore. "On land there are objections partly to visual pollution, partly problems with birds and other environmental issues like laying cables through the countryside," she said. Birds are sometimes killed by flying into windmill blades. Bech Gjoerv said electricity from offshore windmills was likely to cost more than electricity from fossil fuels, nuclear or big hydropower plants. Maintenance costs could be higher. WINDIER AT SEA "Initially we want to compete with windmills on land. It's a lot more windy out at sea -- installation costs will be higher but the production will be higher," she said. Each 5-megawatt windmill would be capable of generating about 22 gigawatt hours a year. That would be enough to supply electricity to about 1,000 typical Norwegian homes. If the concept works, Hydro envisages parks of perhaps 200 windmills, in waters 200-700 metres deep that could supply power to 200,000 households in a nation of 4.5 million people. "We're using a tested platform concept, windmill technology that's well known and an anchoring system that is known. It's a radical adaptation of the technology," Bech Gjoerv said. Many countries are trying to shift to cleaner energies like wind or solar power to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide from fossil fuels burnt in power stations, cars and factories. The scientific panel that advises the United Nations says that rising temperatures could trigger more floods, storms, spread deserts and drive thousands of species to extinction. -------- OTHER -------- environment New Orleans' Toxic Soup Is Served Up All Over America -- A Guest Commentary November 03, 2005 — By Dr. James Martin, The Martin Clinic http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9169 News of the "toxic soup" contained in the floodwaters of New Orleans has been making headlines around the world, but this recipe is served up daily in practically every city throughout the United States. While the recipes differ from state to state, the "backbone" ingredients -- pesticides, heavy metals, petroleum products and other industrial chemicals -- are virtually everywhere. Americans watched in horror and shame as our government -- on every level -- did not live up to our expectations and as a result so many suffered in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast following hurricane Katrina. Yet this same travesty continues with the toxic assault on our environment that affects everyone within our borders. So many have put their trust, along with the health and well being of our country, in government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institute of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the proverbial levee won't hold here either. To date the EPA has approved over 80,000 synthetic chemicals that continue to be released into the environment. We are told that these toxins are at "acceptable" levels but common sense tells us otherwise. Toxic chemicals are in our air, our water, our fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and poultry. They're in everyday products like household cleaners, nail polish and remover, make-up, lotions and cigarettes. And now they're showing up in newborn babies. A study released this summer by the Environmental Work Group (EWG) tested umbilical cord blood of infants born in the U.S. and found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants. In total, tests identified 287 chemicals of which 180 cause cancer, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 208 are linked to birth defects or abnormal development. These findings refute the assertion by some that the placenta shields cord blood (and the fetus) from most chemicals and other toxins in the environment. But we don't need a researcher's study to tell us what we already know -- carrying around these toxins in our systems is not acceptable. For those who need a little more convincing, consider this: A Washington State University study reported in the June 3 issue of Science Magazine indicates that exposure to environmental toxins impacts health far greater than anyone ever imagined. Researchers found that the effects are passed along to offspring for as many as four generations. It's time for the national spotlight to shine on the actions we must take to reduce our exposures to these toxins in our homes, schools and businesses. First and foremost -- ignore the chemical industry's assault on our lives. Don't buy into the current "better living through chemistry" mind set. We need to be conscious of our actions. The days are gone when we can spray chemicals without a thought of where these chemicals end up because they end up in our air, our water, our soil and in our children. There are plenty of all-natural alternatives to keep any surface clean and germ free. The same is true for pesticides. Buying organic fruits, vegetables and meats may be a bit more costly, but what price do you put on the hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other chemicals in non-organic foods we consume? We don't have to wait for Congressional confirmation to recognize that our children are facing problems like asthma, leukemia, autism spectrum disorders, ADD/ADHD and diabetes in alarmingly high numbers. And the rates keep rising. There are safe, accessible and effective methods available to eliminate these toxins from the body. This information must be mainstreamed into our national healthcare system and national media. It's time for America to take a long hard look at our actions -- and inaction -- over the past centuries. Some view our toxic environment as an unavoidable byproduct of our industrialized world; others claim it is callous greed -- the need for power and money at any cost. No matter where we ultimately choose to lay blame, we owe it to our children and to the planet they must inherit to do all we can to clean up our act. Dr. James H. Martin is a clinical nutritionist, certified naturopathic physician and doctor of chiropractic with an expertise in toxicity. For the past 30 years he has served as clinical director of the Martin Clinic in Sarasota, Florida, which provides complementary/alternative health services to patients from all over the world. Dr. Martin is also the editor and publisher of the Well News Newsletter, a cutting-edge resource of nutritional information. ---- Baltic leaders warn of environmental risks of Russian-German pipeline TALLINN (AFP) Nov 03, 2005 http://www.terradaily.com/2005/051103174035.phg8ea5s.html The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Thursday pointed out the environmental risks posed by an underwater gas pipeline that Germany and Russia plan to build in the Baltic Sea. "The laying of an underwater gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea is a very complicated undertaking and requires utmost public attention," Estonian President Arnold Ruutel told journalists. "All the countries around the Baltic Sea should be involved, as the project entails big environmental hazards," Ruutel said after meeting with his Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts near Tallinn. "The Baltic states as members of the EU are justified in raising the issue on a wider scale," Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said. The Soviets dumped tonnes of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea following World War II that which could be disturbed by the construction of the underwater pipeline. The dumping sites of the chemical weapons are known, but loads were often dumped into the sea in a haphazard way in the post-war period, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told a separate press briefing. "About 300,000 tonnes of chemical weapons have been dumped in the Baltic Sea, including 50,000 tonnes of poisonous chemicals," Ansip said. "To dissolve these would sweep life out of the Baltic Sea," he said, adding: "It seems to me Germany has not realized the environmental risks the ... pipeline poses." The planned pipeline will be 1,200 kilometres (740 miles) long. -------- ACTIVISTS World Can't Wait Protests Held Across the Country Thursday, November 3rd, 2005 Headlines Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/03/1545217 And thousands of people took part in the World Can't Wait protests against President Bush yesterday. Rallies took place in major cities across the country on the anniversary of Bush's re-election a year ago. In New York, students walked out of schools to join a march that drew thousands of people to Times Square. In San Francisco, over 2,000 people demonstrated. Ten people were arrested, including nine for blocking traffic. Police used force to disrupt a "die-in" at a downtown intersection. ---- Columnist misrepresents aim of anti-”die-in” protest Letter November 03, 2005 Cornell U. Daily Sun (NY) http://www.cornellsun.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/03/436982d9e9c48 To the Editor: Re: “Rethinking the Sheehans” Opinion, October 31 As the unnamed counter-protester who carried a sign listing casualty totals for World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq at Thursday’s “die-in,” I would like to respond to Jeff Purcell’s statements in Monday’s paper. In his allegation that I regard American troops as “expendable” and their sacrifice as “meaningless,” Mr. Purcell deliberately misrepresents what I said to him on Thursday. I explained to him that I was merely demonstrating my belief that the comparison of Iraq to Vietnam is baseless. Mr. Purcell made no effort to listen to what I said, and was most certainly not abiding by Cornell's “open hearts, open minds” policy. In the interest of setting the record straight with regard to my stance, and that of many like-minded students, I want to take this opportunity to explain my thoughts concerning the war in Iraq. I believe that there is an inherent quality in humanity that even the most rabid idealism cannot alter. This characteristic, called human nature, causes some people to act in destructive and often downright evil ways — take Hitler, Stalin, or Saddam Hussein, for instance. As long as such people exist, those who care about doing what is right will be forced to make difficult decisions and sacrifices. Unfortunately, we as a people are forced to make some very tough judgment calls. The most pressing recent example of this phenomenon is the decision to oust Saddam. Is the loss of 2,000 heroic Americans worth it? Well, let’s take a brief look at Saddam’s track record. Among his long list of crimes against humanity is the use of VX, Sarin, and Mustard Gas on his own population. His regime systematically tortured and murdered political dissidents and their families, and is responsible for the kidnapping, rape and beheading of Iraqi women. From mass graves that have been discovered, conservative estimates of the number of deaths for which he is responsible start at 300,000; this total does not include the 400,000 children who died of malnutrition while the regime prevented distribution of humanitarian aid, or deaths resulting from the Iran-Iraq War. So, was it worth the loss of 2,000 American lives to save hundreds of thousands of people from meeting the same fate in the future? Yes. I also wish to refute Mr. Purcell’s slanderous allegations that I place no value on the lives of our troops. I am acutely and personally aware of the unparalleled bravery and selflessness displayed by these heroic individuals, and I am in no way discounting the incredible sacrifices they make on a daily basis to preserve our freedom — yes, even yours, Mr. Purcell — and do what is right. Lastly, I would like to answer a claim that Mr. Purcell made to me on Thursday: that all American troops who have served in Iraq will have deformed children and die of cancer due to exposure to depleted uranium. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states in its Toxicological Profile for Uranium that: “No human cancer of any type has ever been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium.” Furthermore, a 1999 RAND Corporation study found that, “there are no peer-reviewed published reports of detectable increases of cancer or other negative health effects from radiation exposure to inhaled or ingested natural uranium at levels far exceeding those likely in the Gulf.” I hope that Mr. Purcell will consider what I have said and think more carefully before making ill-informed and personally offensive assertions in the future. Christiane Youngstrom ’08 ---- Protests await Bush at Americas summit visit 03 November 2005 NZ Stuff http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3466208a12,00.html MAR DEL PLATA: The sparring United States and Venezuelan presidents, George W Bush and Hugo Chavez, are sure to steal the show in this week's summit of 34 leaders from the Americas with a fight to steer the region's course. The November 4-5 meeting in an Argentine beach resort is a rare chance to see the foes in the same forum, as Washington struggles with an increasing number of Latin Americans angry over the Iraq war and years of US-encouraged market reforms. "The main issue to watch is who is likely to emerge stronger and prevail in terms of overall influence and leadership in the region, be it Chavez or be it Bush," said Patrick Esteruelas, analyst at the New York-based political consultants Eurasia Group. Protesters have organised an anti-summit outside the security ring around Mar del Plata's top hotels. Bush will be the focus of their ire. Chavez is set to speak on Friday in an event including Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona and families of US soldiers killed in Iraq. Bush, facing low domestic approval ratings, has fewer allies in a region that largely opposes the Iraq war and perceives a lack of interest from Washington in its "backyard". The left-leaning and populist Chavez has extended his influence, using oil revenues to aid neighbours in need, like Ecuador, Argentina and Uruguay. He has supplied cheap oil, bought debt and invested in regional companies and television. US officials have increasingly portrayed Chavez as an authoritarian bully cracking down on foes at home and using his petroleum clout to influence regional politics. "Of course, we're concerned about ... the status of democracy within his country," Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said in Washington. The US has also expressed scepticism about his plans to develop nuclear energy. "People recognise that it would be problematic for Chavez to be in the nuclear business," Hadley added. Chavez, meanwhile, has accused Washington of working to undermine his democratically elected government. The region's growing ranks of left-leaning leaders, like Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina's Nestor Kirchner, may not always agree with Chavez's anti-US antics and heavy state intervention in the economy. But, like him, they want Latin America to look at alternate roads to development after following Washington's free-market economic model in the 1990s, which many blame for more poverty and unsustainable debts. Annual per capita income in Latin America is just over $US3,000, ($NZ4380.20) compared to $US40,000 in the US and $US32,000 in Canada. In summit host Argentina, whose economy collapsed in 2001 under $US100 billion in debt, a recent poll showed six out of 10 Argentines oppose Bush. "Public opinion will be focused on the protests against Bush," Chilean political analyst Ricardo Israel said. Cuban President Fidel Castro, a staunch Chavez ally, was not invited by the summit organiser, the Organisation of American States. Israel calls the summit "a forum where two topics are always discussed in a deaf dialogue" - the US pushes security issues and Latin America talks about development. Washington is also pushing hard for the summit declaration to include a commitment to restart the moribund talks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, in 2006. Many countries, led by Brazil and Venezuela, believe the FTAA terms dictated by the US are harmful to Latin America's agro-heavy economies and stopped the deal from going into effect earlier this year. "The FTAA is dead, it should be buried, it will be buried by the people of this continent and another model of integration will emerge," Chavez said last weekend on his weekly television programme Alo Presidente. Chavez said "the debate will be very good there (in Mar del Plata), especially in the streets." ---- Venezuela's Chavez to speak to Bush protesters 11/3/2005 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-11-03-chavezbush_x.htm MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — Venezuela's president, an outspoken critic of a U.S.-sponsored free trade arrangement for Latin America, prepared to address thousands of like-minded protesters Friday at a rally coinciding with the start of a regional summit. President Bush has hoped to promote the Free Trade Area of the Americas at the 34-nation Summit of the Americas beginning Friday. The deal proposed by Washington would break down trade barriers from Alaska to the tip of South America. (Related story: Bush pushes free trade in Americas) Leaders attending the two-day summit had agreed ahead of time to focus on creating jobs and reducing poverty. In recent days, however, their attention has shifted to the free trade issue and the sparring between the U.S. and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a leftist whose government has used his country's vast oil wealth on social programs for the poor. Washington maintains the proposed accord, which has stalled amid opposition by several Latin American countries, is vital to creating jobs and increasing wealth in the region. "What we're looking to do is find ways to unlock some of these economies so they get the kind of investment they need, they get the kind of trade they need and they have the flexibility within their labor markets to generate employment," Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, said Thursday. Chavez has said free trade is being forced on Latin American countries and the deal would only help the rich. Instead, he has pushed for an anti-FTAA deal based on socialist ideals. Chavez has strained relations with Washington and regularly claims the United States is trying to overthrow his government, an accusation U.S. officials dismiss. He has used Venezuela's oil wealth to push for regional solidarity, offering fuel with preferential financing to various Caribbean and Latin American countries. Venezuela is a member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the world's fifth largest oil exporter as well as a major supplier to the U.S. market. Bush and Chavez both arrived in Argentina for the summit on Thursday, the same day Venezuela staged a mock U.S. invasion of its own territory. The event is the latest exercise intended to prepare soldiers and civilian volunteers for what Chavez says is a possible attack by American troops. Though U.S. officials deny any such plan, Chavez says it is best to be ready. With tensions rising between the two nations, Chavez and Bush will likely see each other Friday at the summit's inauguration — after Chavez addresses the rally of mostly anti-Bush protesters. The two leaders are not scheduled to meet one-on-one, but they will both be at the same sessions. Chavez has joked about whether Bush is afraid of him, saying he might sneak up and scare the U.S. president at the summit. Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States which organized the summit, said he was disappointed by attention to the free trade deal. "This is not a summit about the FTAA," a frustrated Insulza told reporters. But Bush seems to be winning over supporters. A high-ranking Brazilian official, who said he was not authorized to give his name, told reporters 28 of the 34 countries participating in the summit had agreed to relaunch trade talks as early as April. Meanwhile, some 10,000 demonstrators were planning to march 30 blocks Friday to the stadium where Chavez was scheduled to speak. "We're going to say 'No to Bush' and 'No to FTAA,'" said the Argentine labor leader Juan Gonzalez. "We don't have any confidence in anything he might propose here. Whatever it is will only prolong hunger, poverty and death in Latin America." More than 8,000 security forces were dispatched to maintain order ahead of the summit. Navy ships sailed along the coastline and helicopters clattered overhead. Most summit hotels were in a section of the city that has been cleared of pedestrians and traffic and surrounded by guards. Cuban President Fidel Castro was snubbed by the summit's organizers, but though their country was not invited, the communist island's Parliamentary speaker Ricardo Alarcon showed up in Mar del Plata anyway. "They are going to take a good photo with Bush, have lunch, eat dinner, and gab some more. What is happening over there is a plan that does no good for the people of the Americas," he said. Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco and his Mexican counterpart Vicente Fox said Thursday they would focus bilaterally on the search for regional solutions to high oil prices. Fox also complained of resistance to accept what he called "the freedom" of workers to migrate across borders, and said Mexico would bring up the immigration issue at the Americas Summit this week.