DU INFO BULLETIN NO 53

Book Review
(1) The Truth about Gulf War Syndrome
DU News
(2) Afghanistan – DU Dangers – Radio debate with Dai Williams

Veteran News
(3) More study needed to treat ill veterans
(4) Military board dismisses health complaints by soldiers
(5) Poisoned by Saddams N-bomb
(6) A Toxic Burden Despite mounting scientific evidence,

Nuke News
(7) Chernobyl Suspected in Rise in UK Child Deaths
(8) Secret plan to revive UK nuclear power industry
(9) Nuclear stores 'on verge of exploding'
(10) Harrietsfield upset over new uranium standards for water
(11) Radioactive Recycling
(12) Who is putting Scotland on the global radioactive scrapheap
(13) “Walls Are Not A Barrier to Radiation”
(14) NRC engineers wanted to shut Davis-Besse
(15) High-Tech Uranium Plant to Be Built
(16) Egypt set to build nuclear energy plant near Alexandria

Media
(17) Censoring nuclear truths M V Ramana

Activism
(18) Legions of Police Assigned to Siberian Nuke Protestors



BOOK REVIEW
The Truth About Gulf War Syndrome
By Tony Flint

A great little booklet has been written by Gulf veteran Tony Flint, who has attempted to chronicle the experiences of the many Gulf veterans who are trying seek justice from the British Government over Gulf War Syndrome. In the document, Tony methodoically goes through the many possible sources of the illnesses that have developed in Gulf Veterans and their familes, inlcuding the cocktail of injections and of course Depleted Uranium. What makes this book so damn good, hard to put down and refreshing, is that it is written and seen through the eyes of someone who feels the pain, the isolation and the vast limiatations on their life, and not by those who have just witnessed or studied it. The chapters are passionate, gripping, leaving the reader empty and angry at the way in which we have so easily accepted the lies and defence of the British government over this issue, espeically when you consider the hundreds of veterans who have died because of GWS, following the conflict in 1991. Though understandably upsetting and shocking, the booklet does give a sense of resistance and challenge that many gulf veterans are making in seeking the truth.

Tony is desperately trying to get this booklet published (but is distributing to a limited few through email) so if anyone out there has connections with publishers, or is interested in seeing this manuscript printed and available to the general public, then please contact him.

DU NEWS
(The below was recently broadcast, with the full debate including speakers _ Dai Williams, is available at the website. )
AFGHANISTAN: Concerns over effects of depleted uranium
(ABC Radio debate July)
The United States campaign on terrorism in Afghanistan may have created a terror of its own. Thousands of people, as well as future generations, may have been exposed to high levels of radiation from depleted uranium, believed to be the so called 'mystery heavy metal' used in US guided missiles, bunker busters and other weaponry in Afghanistan. Researchers and scientists believe DU may contribute to, or cause cancer, liver and lung diseases, birth defects and other life-threatening illnesses.
 http://abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/s593117.htm


VETERAN NEWS

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More study needed to treat ill veterans
- June 25, 2002 CNN.com - WASHINGTON (CNN) –
More study recommended to develop treatments
A federal advisory committee studying illnesses in Persian Gulf War veterans has recommended more study to develop treatments for those illnesses and to determine if and how they may have been connected to service in the conflict against Iraq. In a preliminary report released Tuesday, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses said that 25 percent to 30 percent of those who served in the Gulf War are ill and that their illnesses go "beyond that which is explained by stress or psychiatric diagnosis." The committee, reporting to the Department of Veterans Affairs, did not specifically conclude that the illnesses plaguing Gulf veterans were caused by exposure to some toxic agent during the war, but it did note that at least one category of complaint appeared to be neurological in nature. [RIGHT] That category included a higher-than-expected rate of ALS (better known as Lou Gehrig's disease), problems with the autonomic nervous system, an increase in cold sensory threshold and low levels of the enzyme paraoxonase. Low levels of paraoxonase, which is involved in breaking down organic phosphates, suggests a biochemical or genetic explanation, the report said. The committee further concluded that "research on Gulf War illnesses has broad implications to the war on terrorism." The report noted that Gulf veterans were exposed to a variety of risk factors, including low-level nerve agents, depleted uranium, oil fires, mustard gas, stress, medical countermeasures to biowarfare and nerve agents as well as infectious diseases. Veterans of other wars have been exposed to many of the same risk factors, and some suffer from similar illnesses. The report recommended increased funding and better coordination of research efforts. © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

Military board dismisses health complaints by soldiers' on Bosnia duty tour
HALIFAX (CP) –
- A military board of inquiry has dismissed the complaints of nearly three dozen Canadian soldiers who say they are plagued by a series of unexplained health problems related to their tour of Bosnia in the mid-1990s. The soldiers were interviewed as part of an inquiry called after concerns were raised by Warrant Officer Michael Peace, stationed at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, N.B., who died of a brain tumour in October 2000. The health complaints raised by the soldiers ranged from persistent headaches, vision and memory problems to mysterious bleeding. All are symptoms that have also been reported by other returning veterans of the Gulf War. Some soldiers link their illnesses to exposure to chemical agents, or spent depleted uranium munitions. While the military panel agreed the soldiers are sick, the board's final report, completed earlier this year, concluded that troops were not exposed to any "significant levels" of toxic material. The 34 soldiers are members and former members of the Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Gagetown and who served in Visoko, Bosnia, in 1994-95 at the height the ethnic conflict in the area. Just before his death, Peace asked his military superiors to investigate whether dust from special modifications made to armoured vehicles contributed to the development of his tumour. The cutting and pasting of special ceramic tiles to armoured personnel carriers and reconnaissance vehicles was done in the basement of the building where troops were billeted. The board that held the inquiry in the fall of 2000 found the "add-on" armour was not toxic and played no role in his death. The board also looked for other factors, such as depleted uranium weapons and multiple chemical sensitivity, that might have made Peace and the other soldiers sick. It found none. "Depleted uranium is not considered a factor in the reported illnesses," said the report obtained by The Canadian Press. "We have no information whether or not it was used by belligerent factions, but it is clear soldiers did not pick up anything that might have been depleted uranium, nor did they work around any hazard (tank hulks) that might have had depleted uranium dust."
 http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Soldier-Death-Inquiry.html July 4, 2002

POISONED BY SADDAM'S DIRTY N-BOMB Steve Mckenzie Exclusive
TWO former soldiers have been told they were poisoned by nuclear 'dirty > bombs' during the Gulf War, the Sunday Mail can reveal. Shaun Foulds and Michael Burrows are the first to be identified as victims of > enriched uranium - the agent for making nuclear bombs. Saddam Hussein is believe to have packed radioactive material around high > explosive, possibly in Scud missiles. It does not have the destructive power > of a 'real' nuclear bomb, but scatters thousands of deadly fragments which > can be inhaled. Foulds and Burrows suffer bleeding gums, bowel problems memory loss and > chronic fatigue - classic symptoms of radiation poisoning. Eight former soldiers took part in the tests by The Natural Environment > Research Council (NERC) Isotope Geosciences Laboratory in Nottingham carried out urine tests. NERC is part of the British Geological Society and has been used by the Government to study radio-active pollution from power plants. > > Six soldiers tested positive for depleted uranium, used in armour tipped > shells. But scientists were stunned to find Fold and Burrows had traces of > enriched uranium. > > Shaun Foulds, 41, served with the catering corps and worked as a chef > attached to the Royal Scots. > > He said: "I am devastated. What has it done to my body after all this time? > I'm frightened about what the future holds for me. This has put a huge strain > on my family. > > "The only way to find out how many others are affected is if the Government > launches a sweeping test programme." Shaun, who is now unable to work, added: "I feel disappointed and bitter that > the Government or MoD haven't helped us. If the poisoning was discovered > earlier, maybe something could have been done." With his wife Kay, 35, they have two children - four-year-old Kirsty and > Michael, seven, who was born brain-damaged. > > Shaun said: "Doctors haven't been able to find a link between Michael and my > ill-health, but I can't help thinking that it does have something to do with > it." Father-of-four Michael Burrows, 46, was with the army medical corps, attached > to 205 General Hospital in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. He suspects a Scud missile > blown up over his camp by a US missile contained uranium. The former North Sea offshore rig medic said: "I couldn't believe it when I > saw enriched uranium in my test results. "This element is used for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. I have never > been near either. "But I remember one night in January 1991 a Scud missile exploded 200ft over > our camp. "Debris lay in the compound for a while and later vanished. We were told it > had not contained biological or chemical hazards, but nothing about whether > it had radiological material." Michael, who lives with his wife and family in Hull, now suffers from chronic fatigue irritable bowel syndrome and aches and pains in his joints. In a report seen by the Sunday Mail, lab head Professor Randall Parrish said the two men showed "clear evidence of exposure to enriched uranium". He wrote: "My understanding is that enriched uranium is not used in > conventional warheads and tipped projectiles. "Instead, enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear reactors and in the manufacture of atomic explosives." The other six soldiers tested all showed traces of depleted uranium, a waste > radioactive material used in British and US armour-piercing weapons. > > Professor Parrish yesterday refused to speculate on how the men were exposed. The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association commissioned NERC to do the tests. Spokesman Shaun Rusling said: "Evidence of enriched uranium is frightening. Our hope is that these tests put pressure on the MoD to test the thousands who served in the Gulf." > The MoD confirmed the NERC lab was taking part in the pilot study, but called for more tests. > A spokesman said: "Further information may be obtained by looking at the natural uranium levels in the normal population."

Connected News (this was sent in, and I think the similarities are disturbing!!)
A Toxic Burden Despite mounting scientific evidence, Washington refuses to accept the deadly legacy of its chemical warfare in Vietnam.
by George Sanchez June 24, 2002
US planes sprayed an estimated 72 million liters of toxic defoliant over southern Vietnam between 1962 and 1971. A team of scientists is providing new evidence confirming the devastating legacy of America's chemical weapons program in Vietnam -- a legacy which officials in Washington continue to question. During a four-day conference in Hanoi this March, a group of Canadian and Vietnamese consulting firms unveiled research data showing how deadly chemical byproducts of the powerful defoliant Agent Orange continue to contaminate the soil, food and water in an isolated Vietnamese valley. The researchers further found that areas where large amounts of Agent Orange were spilled -- particularly US special forces bases and dump sites -- act as poisonous chemical 'reservoirs,' posing a long-term threat as the contaminants gradually seep into the surrounding lands. American and Vietnamese officials signed an agreement during the March conference directing the two governments to cooperate on future research of Agent Orange. Still, while Washington is providing Vietnamese scientists with technical advice and some equipment to aid in the research, the agreement does not commit the US to provide any direct aid to help clean up the contamination -- something Vietnamese officials say they will continue to pursue.
 http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/up_agentorange.html


NUKE NEWS
Chernobyl Suspected in Rise in UK Child Deaths
(Reuters) - Deaths and deformities caused by the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the worlds worst civil nuclear accident, may have extended beyond the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, British scientists suspect. They said the cloud of radioactivity it sent over Europe could have increased infant deaths and birth defects in England and Wales in the three years afterwards. John Urquhart, a researcher based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in north eastern England, estimated that at least 200 more children than normal died during those three years. "We've probably been too complacent about the health effects from Chernobyl in western Europe," he told New Scientist magazine Wednesday. Urquhart calculated that in England and Wales the fallout may have caused more than 600 extra cases of Down's Syndrome, spina bifida, cleft palate and other abnormalities in these years. After studying deaths and birth defects in children born in 15 health regions of England and Wales between 1983 and 1992, he found that most of the increased deaths and deformities occurred in just five regions, spread throughout the two countries. "Death rates fell every year except for 1986, with the extra deaths mostly occurring in four of the five same regions. The odds that the overlap occurred by chance are 1 in 200," according to the magazine. Urquhart presented his findings to a conference on low-level radiation in Dublin.
 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020626/sc_nm/health_britain_chernobyl_dc_1

Secret plan to revive UK nuclear power industry
19:00 03 July 02 Exclusive from New Scientist
Deep within the British government, officials are laying secret plans to push through a major programme of new nuclear power stations. According to internal policy briefings leaked to New Scientist, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) wants to speed up safety checks of new reactors and is discussing ways to soften up public opposition to nuclear power.



The plan is for Britain to follow the US lead and end the slump suffered by the West's nuclear power industry since the accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine 16 years ago. In February, the US Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, announced plans to build a new nuclear power plant by 2010, aided by a "more efficient, effective and predictable" system of safety licensing.
The revelation that the DTI is preparing to do something similar comes just months after the British government's Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) published a comprehensive review of energy policy. This recommended that nuclear power should be retained only if expanding renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency don't work.
But it's now clear from the leaked documents that the DTI has always been determined to pave the way for nuclear development. It is working hard behind the scenes to make sure that a White Paper on energy policy due out next year will reflect its ambitions.
 http://www.newscientist.com/exc/enews.jsp?id=ns99992499

Nuclear stores 'on verge of exploding'
Mark Townsend Sunday June 30, 2002 The Observer
Almost 90 per cent of Britain's hazardous nuclear waste stockpile is so badly stored it could explode or leak with devastating results at any time. An alarming government report into Britain's beleaguered nuclear industry - obtained by The Observer - reveals that medium-level radioactive waste with the equivalent mass to 725 double-decker buses is being stored in a dangerous state. The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee found that 88 per cent of Britain's intermediate-level nuclear waste had not been treated for safe storage at up to 24 UK locations. Experts last night warned the potentially volatile waste represented a toxic time-bomb and warned of a 'disaster waiting to happen'. A source at Nirex, the firm in charge of disposing of Britain's nuclear waste, admitted the situation was 'outrageous'. Peter Roche of Greenpeace said much of the material remained acutely unstable until it was properly treated. Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money will be required to tackle the growing mountain of unstable nuclear waste. The report, received by Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon last week, reveals that volatile material can spontaneously combust in air, explode on contact with water or leak in liquid form can be found at nuclear sites across Britain. It expressed concern that most of the UK's medium-level nuclear material was kept in 'ageing' facilities.'The nuclear industry likes to give the impression that all its waste is safely stored, but the truth of the matter is these findings prove there are disasters waiting to happen at nuclear sites across the country,' added Roche. The findings increase fears that nuclear sites are tempting terrorist targets .




Harrietsfield upset over new uranium standards for water
By Stephanie Roberts
Residents of a community considered at high risk for uranium in well water are furious that the safe detection level was lowered more than a year ago, but they weren't told. Health Canada lowered the drinking water guideline for uranium, which applies to all provinces, from 0.1 milligrams per litre to 0.02 milligrams per litre in March 2001. But most Harrietsfield residents just found out last week. About 50 people attended a meeting Wednesday evening to voice their concerns to representatives from the provincial Departments of Environment and Health. "We weren't notified the uranium levels went up. It's a year and a half and we were just notified last week," said Newman MacNeil. "Everyone's upset here today," he said. The province has identified Harrietsfield as being at high risk for uranium contamination. "It's one of those things where if you live in this area, you're in an area where there is a potential for higher levels of uranium than other areas in the province," said David Briggins, manager of water and wastewater for the Environment and Labour Department. He said the guideline was lowered as part of an ongoing review process as new information became available. Some information came from animal studies. Also factored in were the results of studies of people living in other high-uranium areas.  http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaystory?2002/06/27+272.raw+Metro+2002/06/27

Radioactive Recycling
If the Department of Energy has its way, the nation's nuclear garbage could end up in everyday items like bicycles, frying pans, and baby strollers.
by Susan Q. Stranahan July/August 2002 >
From the air, the East Tennessee Technology Park looks like clusters of enormous Wal-Marts, sprawling across 4,700 acres in the rural countryside west of Knoxville. But for decades the Oak Ridge complex had a more ominous name -- the K-25 site. Its mission: to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Today, the facility contains tons of contaminated junk -- machinery, metal, concrete, and tools -- some of which will remain radioactive for generations. Faced with a massive cleanup, the Department of Energy has come up with an ingenious plan to get rid of the slightly radioactive scrap: "recycle" the metal and sell it for reuse. Both the DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are quietly revising rules that would allow millions of tons of radioactive garbage at the nationÕs weapons facilities and nuclear reactors to be converted into consumer products and building materials. Under the plan, the leftover metal could end up in baby strollers, bikes, frying pans, engine blocks, and I-beams. "This scrap is an asset," says Val Loiselle, former director of the Association of Radioactive Metal Recyclers. "Until now, we've literally been burying our assets." Most low-level radioactive materials are currently disposed of in secure, government-licensed landfills. But as former weapons plants are cleaned up and aging reactors are decommissioned, the volume of nuclear junk is expected to soar. The DOE already has 1.6 million tons of slightly radioactive metals at weapons installations across the country, and the NRC expects to have 8.9 million tons of contaminated steel and concrete to dispose of by 2030. In the past, both the DOE and NRC have recycled such materials on a case-by-case basis. At K-25, for example, approximately 6.6 million pounds of slightly radioactive material left Oak Ridge's gates before sales were halted in 2000. The material was treated no differently than any other scrap, and nobody made any effort to keep track of where it ended up. But with the nuclear scrap heap mounting, federal agencies and industry officials want a formalized recycling program in place to speed up the disposal. The plan calls for setting an exposure standard below which irradiated metals would be deemed "safe" and suitable for release. Because radiation levels would be low, the reasoning goes, there would be no need for labels identifying that the materials came from nuclear reactors or weapons facilities -- even if they end up in homes, offices, and schools.
 http://www.motherjones.com/magazine/JA02/radioactive_recycling.html


Who is putting Scotland on the global radioactive scrapheap? Scotland on Sunday - Top Stories -  http://www.scotlandonsunday.com Sunday, 23rd June 2002 Who is putting Scotland on the global radioactive scrapheap? JEREMY WATSON
TONNES of dangerous radioactive scrap metal is being imported into Scotland every year by dealers who have been duped by international fraudsters. Investigators fear some of the contaminated metal could have found its way into consumer goods or building materials, threatening human health. According to official figures, as many as 10 consignments of radioactive scrap are being intercepted in the UK every year. Two 20-tonne loads from Singapore and Egypt are currently impounded in a secure warehouse in Scotland. But with no radiation monitors at British ports, it is feared that dozens more loads could be passing into the country unnoticed. Chris Englefield, a senior official from the Environment Agency who chairs the UK/Interpol group on environmental crimes involving radioactive substances, believes the number of known cases is just the tip of the iceberg. "The scale of the trade is likely to be much greater than detections indicate and it is a concern," he said. He said he was in "no doubt" that radioactive scrap metal could have "got through the net". It is believed the illegal trade is being organised by East European gangs who take radioactive metals from the former Soviet Union to a third country. The metals are given new customs papers that make no mention of the metal’s radioactive content. They are then sold to British and other European scrap metal dealers. The two shipments known to have reached Scotland arrived by cargo vessel. Last year, a Geiger counter at Ireland Alloys, in Blantyre, which imports high-grade scrap for recycling into aircraft parts, was triggered by the arrival of a 20-tonne load from Singapore. The company immediately notified the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which impounded the load in a secure warehouse at the Eurofreight terminal at Coatbridge. The load of aerospace scrap had arrived at the port of Felixstowe after being shipped from Donald McCarthy Trading Ltd, a specialist metals dealer in Singapore.

“Walls Are Not A Barrier to Radiation”

Sergei and Elena Pashenko, Siberian Scientists for Global Responsibility
Evgeniy Knizhnik, END of Our Age
Vina Colley, Portmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security

May 21, 2002 independent environmentalists from the city of Novosibirsk were continuing their work, this time in connection with the international exchange program “Women For Nuclear Safety.” They explored an area near the drainage pond at the Novosibirsk Chemical Plant. This place is located about 1500 meters from the wall constructed by the plant 2 years ago and there they discovered some very unsettling new information, at least it was new to them.

There, where these same environmentalists measured radiation levels two years ago of 500-600 microroentgens/hour (remember that the natural radiation background is about 10-15 microroentgens/hour), they found levels of 2500-2800 and higher. However, the measuring equipment they brought with them, the SRP-68, can only measure up to 3000 and so they stopped their investigations, taking with them some samples of soil and planned to return to the place with other equipment.

The second upsetting discovery was the finding of three dozen larger than normal guppies swimming near pipe openings. From these openings, nearly 100 litres of water were flowing into the swamp each minute (From where? How many days had we already been without rain?). The radioactive background levels measured deep within the holes were close to 300 microroentgens/hour, only slightly disturbing the highly active black and brown fatty leeches.

The environmentalists captured several leeches and guppies and took tufts of dry weeds (which could catch fire at any moment from the scorching sun, turning into a radioactive cloud of dust). They returned to the laboratory to carry out a more indepth study of the samples.

P.S.: One element that made the investigation difficult was the fact that the environmentalists from the Siberian Scientists for Global Responsibility were unable to use modern GPS technology to mark exactly where they made these discoveries. Two months ago, their GPS equipment was confiscated by the courts (in Akademgorodok—at the Scientific Center of Siberia!!) in accordance with the represention of those who are protecting us. We should note that this equipment is available to the public at any outdoors store, however when it was used last fall by an NGO in the the course of determining the location of the scandalous and financially shady project by the Siberian Trade Show called “Crematory on the Grounds of an Old Pig Farm,” it was confiscated.

Details (in Russian) can be found at  http://nep.h1.ru/gps/


NRC engineers wanted to shut Davis-Besse
07/06/02
John Funk, John Mangels and Stephen Koff
Plain Dealer Reporters
Staff engineers at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last fall wanted their bosses to order the shutdown of the Davis-Besse nuclear power station by year's end.
They feared there might be dangerous cracks in nozzles in the reactor's lid. They were concerned about the lack of inspection information they were getting from the plant, according to NRC documents. And they realized FirstEnergy Corp. intended to operate the reactor without a new inspection beyond the time the NRC considered prudent.
But top NRC managers ultimately decided not to issue the order.
They reasoned it was "very unlikely" that cracks would cause the lid to rupture. They also judged that even if such an accident happened, the public's risk was acceptably low. They went along with Davis-Besse's request to operate six weeks beyond the Dec. 31 date the agency set for inspecting other nuclear plants.
What neither the NRC nor FirstEnergy, Davis-Besse's operator, knew was that the reactor not only already had cracks, but also that acid in the reactor's coolant had leaked through them and bored a 5- by 7-inch hole all the way through the heavy steel lid.
Only the lid's thin stainless steel liner, bulging into the hole, kept the radioactive coolant from spewing into the reactor building in an unprecedented accident.
NRC Chairman Richard Meserve revealed the internal debate in a letter this week responding to questions about the close call at Davis-Besse.


High-Tech Uranium Plant to Be Built
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) –
The Bush administration says a deal reached with the nation's only uranium enrichment company should help ensure the United States does not become dependent on foreign sources for nuclear fuel. The Energy Department announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement with USEC Inc., of Bethesda, Md., for the company to build a new high-tech uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky or Ohio within a decade. In return, the Energy Department will make government research and employees available to USEC. The plant would replace a 50-year-old facility in Paducah, Ky. USEC will continue producing 30 percent of the nation's nuclear fuel at the old plant until the new, more efficient one is able to do that. If USEC fails to live up to the deal, the Energy Department could take over the Paducah facility's enrichment operations. The Energy Department used to run that plant, but the government sold off its enrichment activities in 1998. That led to the formation of USEC Inc. in a $1.9 billion stock deal. The agreement also requires USEC to continue buying uranium fuel from Russia that is recycled from old Soviet bombs. Under the program, USEC buys the fuel and sells it to U.S. utilities. ``With this agreement America accomplishes two very important goals, ensuring our domestic capacity to produce fuel for commercial reactors and meeting important nuclear nonproliferation goals by accepting enriched uranium from Russia,'' Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. The Energy Department could recommend that USEC lose its status as the government's sole purchaser of the uranium fuel from Russia if the company doesn't live up to its agreement with the agency. USEC signed an agreement with its Russian counterpart earlier this year allowing the company to buy the Russian fuel at a lower price than it previously paid. The State Department is expected to officially approve that contract Wednesday. The Russian fuel accounts for roughly half the enriched uranium used by U.S. nuclear plants. Nuclear power supplies about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. Critics question the wisdom of placing the future of a key U.S.-Russian agreement with a company that has had a troubled financial record..:  http://www.usec.com/


Egypt set to build nuclear energy plant near Alexandria
By Daniel Sobelman, Ha'aretz Correspondent
Electricity and Energy Minister Dr. Hassan Ahmed Yunes has announced that Egypt will build a nuclear energy plant, the first such electricity generating facility in the country. It will be on the coast northwest of Alexandria.
Yunes announced the plant during a visit to the city on Saturday and said funds will also be allocated to repair and modernize the local electricity network. The minister's statement on the nuclear plant came a few days after a report in the German daily Die Welt said Egypt wants nuclear weapons.
The German report on June 22, quoting well-placed intelligence sources, said Egypt intended to manufacture enriched uranium with Chinese help.
Cairo has not confirmed or denied the Die Welt report, but its official news agency said China had no intention of helping Egypt to produce enriched uranium. The news agency interviewed China's ambassador in Cairo, who said his country has signed the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), and operates according to it. The agency report alluded to the Die Welt article, without denying its contents.
 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=182041&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0


MEDIA

Censoring nuclear truths M V Ramana
The Daily Times (Pakistan) June 27, 2002 Op-ed:
Censoring Patwardhan's film would be unfortunate. South Asia has not been exposed to images of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, of the accident at Chernobyl or the plight of uranium miners around the world, that throw light on the dark underbelly of the nuclear age Truth, they say, is the first casualty of war. But even without war, nuclear states fear the truth about what costs their nuclear paraphernalia actually extract from their own people. Or what it could do to people, both in their country and elsewhere. The trend started with the United States, which developed its nuclear weapons in secret, and did not disclose for decades the extent of damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the impact on people who were involved in the nuclear fuel cycle in the US and elsewhere - from miners who extracted uranium all the way to soldiers who participated in military exercises while deliberately being exposed to radioactive fallout from nuclear tests. Well after the end of the cold war, in 1995, historians at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington were not permitted to mount an exhibit that described the casualties due to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Other nuclear weapon states have also followed suit in their own ways. The latest victim of this tendency has been Jang aur Aman (War and Peace), an epic documentary by Anand Patwardhan, one of India's most accomplished filmmakers. Patwardhan has made several prize-winning documentaries on a variety of issues ranging from the struggle in the Narmada valley to the plight of mill workers in Bombay to the activities of the Hindu rightwing groups. As with his other films, Jang aur Aman also won awards at this year's Mumbai International Film Festival and the Earth Vision Global Environment Festival in Tokyo.


















Who is putting Scotland on the global radioactive scrapheap? Scotland on Sunday - Top Stories -  http://www.scotlandonsunday.com Sunday, 23rd June 2002 Who is putting Scotland on the global radioactive scrapheap? JEREMY WATSON
TONNES of dangerous radioactive scrap metal is being imported into Scotland every year by dealers who have been duped by international fraudsters. Investigators fear some of the contaminated metal could have found its way into consumer goods or building materials, threatening human health. According to official figures, as many as 10 consignments of radioactive scrap are being intercepted in the UK every year. Two 20-tonne loads from Singapore and Egypt are currently impounded in a secure warehouse in Scotland. But with no radiation monitors at British ports, it is feared that dozens more loads could be passing into the country unnoticed. Chris Englefield, a senior official from the Environment Agency who chairs the UK/Interpol group on environmental crimes involving radioactive substances, believes the number of known cases is just the tip of the iceberg. "The scale of the trade is likely to be much greater than detections indicate and it is a concern," he said. He said he was in "no doubt" that radioactive scrap metal could have "got through the net". It is believed the illegal trade is being organised by East European gangs who take radioactive metals from the former Soviet Union to a third country. The metals are given new customs papers that make no mention of the metal’s radioactive content. They are then sold to British and other European scrap metal dealers. The two shipments known to have reached Scotland arrived by cargo vessel. Last year, a Geiger counter at Ireland Alloys, in Blantyre, which imports high-grade scrap for recycling into aircraft parts, was triggered by the arrival of a 20-tonne load from Singapore. The company immediately notified the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which impounded the load in a secure warehouse at the Eurofreight terminal at Coatbridge. The load of aerospace scrap had arrived at the port of Felixstowe after being shipped from Donald McCarthy Trading Ltd, a specialist metals dealer in Singapore.

ACTIVISM
Legions of Police Assigned to Siberian Nuke Protestors NEAR BERYOZOVKO, CENTRAL SIBERIA –
Under the surveillance of some 50 uniformed and plainclothes police, an equal number of environmentalists pitched a camp to protest ever more likely radioactive imports to Russia, whose final destination would be the RT-2 plant, 36 kilometres from this village. Protestors gather in a tent city outside the village of Beryozovka in the Kransnoyarsk Region near a road leading to Zheleznogorsk. photo by the author Charles Digges, 2002-06-30 22:06 The pitching of the environmental protest camp falls on the eve of a hearing during which the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court will her appeals from environmental groups on whether to honour the approximately 40,000 signatures collected by Krasnoyarsk Region residents last winter to force a referendum whether they wanted to accept the import of some 20 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) to this region. In the Krasnoyarsk region, 35,000 signatures are required for a referendum. Last February, the Krasnoyarsk electoral commission disqualified 31,700 the signatures on a number of technicalities and threw the referendum out - similar to the referendum that was scuttled a year ago when environmentalists collected 2.5 million, 500,000 more than needed for a national referendum, for million signatures to force the radioactive waste import laws into to a vote, only to have 800,000 of them shot down for such things as incorrect street addresses written down by the signatories. The camp is scheduled to stand for a week, during which organizers say its size should grow to as many as 150 tent-dwelling protestors. This Saturday, shortly after the protestors began putting up the first of the tents and hanging a banner that said "A new Chernobyl? No Thanks," the camp - which is in a glade some 400 meters from the road to the closed nuclear city of Zheleznogorsk - was visited by Colonel Alexander Bychkunov of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Police. Flanked by three lieutenants, Bychkunov asked to meet with protest leaders and spoke for some minutes with Ecodefence! co-chairman Vladimir Slivyak. Colonel Alexander Bychkunov, in white, speaks with protestors.


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