WorldNetDaily: CDC gets serious about nuke terror

WorldNetDaily: CDC gets serious about nuke terror: "WND Exclusive IN KATRINA'S WAKE
CDC gets serious
about nuke terror
Begins distributing guide on radiological attack for health-care professionals
Posted: September 7, 2005
1:36 a.m. Eastern
By Joseph Farah
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – Saying "the chance that an overt or covert terrorist attack involving radioactive materials will occur is an unfortunate reality in the United States today," the Centers for Disease Control is putting a new emphasis on preparing the public and health-care professionals for nuclear terrorism.
Amid extensive resources published prominently on the CDC website is a new two-page brochure that can be printed titled, "Radiological Terrorism: Emergency Management Pocket Guide for Clinicians." The brochure was posted yesterday.
"CDC would play a key role in protecting the public health during and after an emergency involving radiation or radioactive materials," the agency explains.
The website includes information for the general public, first responders and medical professionals.
"Because of the terrorist events of 2001, people have expressed concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack involving radioactive materials," the agency says in explaining its own role in such an emergency. "During and after such an incident, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would assist state, local, and territorial authorities in protecting people’s health and offer advice on steps that people can take to reduce their exposures to radiation."
The CDC says it would assist and advise state and local health departments on recommendations on how to protect people from radioactive fallout and contamination, how to safely use food and water supplies in an affected area, assess the dangers in areas hit and monitor people for exposure to radiation.
"If necessary, CDC would also deploy the Strategic National Stockpile, a federal store of drugs and medical supplies set aside for emergency situations," says the report.
The report also includes answers to frequently asked questions about nuclear blasts and provides information that will be familiar to those who lived through the Cold War.
The website also includes a description of Prussian Blue, a blue dye that was first developed in 1704 that can remove certain radioactive materials from people's bodies. The CDC cautions it should only be used under a doctor's care.
Click Here.
The CDC also recommends the public purchase KI – or Potassium Iodide tablets – for use in a radiological emergency.
"Local emergency management officials will tell people when to take KI," says the CDC. "If a nuclear incident occurs, officials will have to find out which radioactive substances are present before recommending that people take KI. If radioactive iodine is not present, then taking KI will not protect people. If radioactive iodine is present, then taking KI will help protect a person's thyroid gland from the radioactive iodine. Taking KI will not protect people from other radioactive substances that may be present along with the radioactive iodine."
The CDC points out the Food and Drug Administration recommends taking KI as soon as a radioactive cloud containing iodine from the explosion is close by and says KI may still have some protective effect even if it is taken three to four hours after exposure to radioactive iodine.
The new focus by the CDC on the terrorist nuclear threat comes weeks after WND and G2 Bulletin broke a series of stories on al-Qaida's "American Hiroshima" plan – 10 years in the design stages – to detonate one or more nuclear weapons in major cities in the U.S.
For continuing and complete coverage of the nuclear terrorist threat, subscribe to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online, intelligence newsletter edited by the founder of WND."

Russia, China to develop space nuclear energy cooperation

RIA Novosti - Russia - Russia, China to develop space nuclear energy cooperation: "Russia, China to develop space nuclear energy cooperation

16:47 | 07/ 09/ 2005

MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and China have signed protocol to develop their cooperation in space nuclear energy, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom said Wednesday.

This came on the heels of the 9th session of the Russian-Chinese sub-commission for nuclear issues, held within the framework of the bilateral commission for regular meetings of the heads of governments from both countries.

The document says that space nuclear energy cooperation is envisioned in an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation for the peaceful use of atomic energy, signed in 1996.

The protocol notes that cooperation between Rosatom and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics in arms conversion has been successful and that nuclear and radiation safety in the peaceful use of atomic energy is a priority and vital area of bilateral cooperation.

The Russian-Chinese sub-commission for nuclear issues will hold its tenth session in Beijing sometime in 2006."

Atomic sub collides off Bahrain

Gulf Daily News: "Vol XXVIII NO. 17 Tuesday 6 September 2005

Atomic sub collides off Bahrain

MANAMA: A US nuclear powered submarine which collided with a Turkish cargo ship off Bahrain is now at Mina Salman for repairs.

Nobody was injured and damage was minor, a spokesman for both vessels said yesterday.

The USS Philadelphia was travelling on the surface water when it slammed into the Turkish-flagged bulk carrier M/V Yaso Aysen at about 2am, said a statement from the Fifth Fleet.

The collision happened about 50km northeast of Bahrain, said Fifth Fleet spokesman Commander Jeffrey Breslau.

The Philadelphia was conducting surface operations on its way to Bahrain for a scheduled visit, the Navy said.

In July 2004, the aircraft-carrier USS John F Kennedy collided with a dhow in the Gulf, leaving no survivors on the traditional Arab sailing boat."

Russia cool on Iran nuclear concerns

Russia cool on Iran nuclear concerns: "Russia cool on Iran nuclear concerns
MOSCOW, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Russia is not immediately supporting the U.S. and European desire to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over alleged nuclear infractions.

Related Headlines
Iran rejects EU warning on nuclear program (September 6, 2005) -- Iran plans to continue its nuclear program despite a warning from the European Union that doing so may earn it U.N. Security Council penalties. The ... > full story
Iran nuclear report due in three weeks (August 12, 2005) -- U.N. inspectors have three weeks to prepare a report on Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and Europe want halted. On Thursday, ... > full story
Moscow reaches out to Iran (June 29, 2005) -- Russian officials have reached out to Iran's new leadership, saying that Moscow is keen to build more nuclear reactors in the Islamic ... > full story
Bush defends WTO move (May 31, 2005) -- President Bush defended his decision not to oppose an Iranian bid for World Trade Organization membership despite its suspected pursuit of nuclear ... > full story
U.S. reiterates U.N. option on Iran (May 12, 2005) -- The United States reiterated its position Thursday that Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council if it restarts its nuclear enrichment ... > full story
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not rule out a future referral to the U.N. body, but said he couldn't endorse such a move this month.
Senior Kremlin officials said Iran had not violated the rules of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and its development should continue to be dealt with by the U.N. Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency.
Last month, talks between Tehran and Britain, France and Germany, broke down, leading the three to join the Bush administration on calling for economic sanctions, the Financial Times said Tuesday.
Iran insists its nuclear construction is for domestic electricity supplies only, and would have no ability to manufacture weapons-grade materials.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved "

N. Korea clarifies its nuclear position - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

N. Korea clarifies its nuclear position - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune: "N. Korea clarifies its nuclear position
By Choe Sang-Hun International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
SEOUL North Korea offered a significant clarification on Tuesday of its position in the deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks, insisting that it would not dismantle its nuclear reactor - considered the country's main source of weapons-grade plutonium - unless the United States and its allies built a nuclear power plant to replace it.

The remarks Tuesday were the first time North Korea had publicly articulated its stance since six-party disarmament talks adjourned Aug. 7 without a breakthrough. The demand runs counter to the U.S. insistence that the country must first dismantle all of its nuclear facilities before even considering a civilian nuclear program.

U.S. officials were not available for immediate comment. They have said, however, that building a nuclear power plant for North Korea is a "practical impossibility" not only because no one wants to foot the bill but also because the Communist state has a history of using a nuclear reactor to make fuel for atomic weapons.

The sharp differences between North Korea and the United States presage tough negotiations even if the two countries, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia resume their six-party talks next week in Beijing, as scheduled, to seek an agreement on ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.

After a monthlong hiatus, the North has agreed to return to the talks next week. South Korean news reports, citing anonymous sources, said Tuesday that North Korea had proposed to China that the talks resume next Tuesday.

"We can never give up our right to nuclear activity for peaceful purposes," Rodong Sinmun, the North's main state-run newspaper, said in a commentary carried by the North's official news agency, KCNA.

"We have built our nuclear energy facilities over the past decades by tightening our people's belts. The facilities are built with our people's blood and sweat," Rodong said. "It is unimaginable for us to succumb to outside pressure and give up our independent nuclear power industry without an alternative that will compensate us with nuclear energy."

North Korea said it had built nuclear weapons because the United States planned to invade the country. It said it was willing to give up its weapons program, rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open the country to UN inspectors once the United States gave it security guarantees.

Like Iran, however, the North argues that it is a matter of sovereignty that it should be free to generate nuclear energy for economic needs.

"Every country in the world has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Why does the United States insist that only we should give up that right? This is total nonsense," Rodong said. "Our right for peaceful use of nuclear energy is not something that can be negotiated away," it added, echoing the position Iran has taken in its ongoing discussions with representatives of the European Union over its nuclear development program.

It appears that North Korea is essentially seeking to revisit a 1994 agreement forged with the Clinton administration. Under that deal, Washington promised the North a light-water reactor, which is more difficult to convert to weapons development, in return for a freeze on its five-megawatt graphite-moderated reactor, which the North says it has built to produce electricity but also uses to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The Agreed Framework, as the 1994 pact is known, was troubled from the first - and assailed in the United States, where critics asserted that it allowed North Korea too much latitude for too little in return. It was effectively abandoned when the extent of the North's nuclear program became clear three years ago.

For years, North Korea has called the 1994 deal a diplomatic "victory" over the Americans. It has told its people that all their economic hardship, including the famine that killed millions in the mid-1990s, was caused by economic embargoes by the Americans in retaliation against the North's nuclear weapons programs.

The Bush administration is determined to kill the 1994 agreement when officials from the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union meet next month to decide formally the fate of the light-water reactor project.

Washington has repeatedly called the accord a "failure" and suspended construction of the light-water reactor in early 2003, with one-third of the work completed.

Any deal that would repeat the 1994 arrangement would be a political nonstarter for the Bush administration, analysts believe. It would mean that the United States would end up with the same deal it had a decade ago - after giving the North more time to build more bombs during the confrontation with the Bush White House.

"It will not be an easy problem to resolve, to say the least," said Koh Yu Hwan, a North Korea expert in Dongguk University in Seoul.

James Leach, a Republican Congressman from Iowa who visited Pyongyang last week, said Sunday that the North Koreans had told him that they were building two more graphite-moderated reactors, an apparent move to put pressure on the United States.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon of South Korea said last week that the five countries involved in the nuclear talks want North Korea to dismantle all nuclear weapons and programs in return for economic and security benefits. After his meeting last month with the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, Ban cited the North's five-megawatt reactor as one of the facilities that should be dismantled.

The North's stance threw into doubt South Korea's proposal to send North Korea 2,000 megawatts of electricity in return for terminating the light-water reactor project. The offer raised questions among many analysts here because it would make North Korea reliant upon the South for energy.

With energy demands rising, North Korea has "no option but to meet electricity needs by nuclear power plants in addition to its hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants," Rodong said Tuesday. "We will ceaselessly and actively pursue our nuclear activities for peaceful purposes."


Solana urges nuclear talks

The European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on Tuesday urged North Korea and Iran to return to the negotiating table over their respective drives for nuclear programs that are seen as a threat to world security, Agence France-Presse reported from Shanghai.

"The EU remains willing to resume the negotiations we had with Tehran for a new political and economic relationship," Solana said in Shanghai after finishing the EU-China summit in Beijing. "But it is up to Iran to come back first into compliance," Solana said in remarks delivered at the China Europe International Business School.


SEOUL North Korea offered a significant clarification on Tuesday of its position in the deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks, insisting that it would not dismantle its nuclear reactor - considered the country's main source of weapons-grade plutonium - unless the United States and its allies built a nuclear power plant to replace it.

The remarks Tuesday were the first time North Korea had publicly articulated its stance since six-party disarmament talks adjourned Aug. 7 without a breakthrough. The demand runs counter to the U.S. insistence that the country must first dismantle all of its nuclear facilities before even considering a civilian nuclear program.

U.S. officials were not available for immediate comment. They have said, however, that building a nuclear power plant for North Korea is a "practical impossibility" not only because no one wants to foot the bill but also because the Communist state has a history of using a nuclear reactor to make fuel for atomic weapons.

The sharp differences between North Korea and the United States presage tough negotiations even if the two countries, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia resume their six-party talks next week in Beijing, as scheduled, to seek an agreement on ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.

After a monthlong hiatus, the North has agreed to return to the talks next week. South Korean news reports, citing anonymous sources, said Tuesday that North Korea had proposed to China that the talks resume next Tuesday.

"We can never give up our right to nuclear activity for peaceful purposes," Rodong Sinmun, the North's main state-run newspaper, said in a commentary carried by the North's official news agency, KCNA.

"We have built our nuclear energy facilities over the past decades by tightening our people's belts. The facilities are built with our people's blood and sweat," Rodong said. "It is unimaginable for us to succumb to outside pressure and give up our independent nuclear power industry without an alternative that will compensate us with nuclear energy."

North Korea said it had built nuclear weapons because the United States planned to invade the country. It said it was willing to give up its weapons program, rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open the country to UN inspectors once the United States gave it security guarantees.

Like Iran, however, the North argues that it is a matter of sovereignty that it should be free to generate nuclear energy for economic needs.

"Every country in the world has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Why does the United States insist that only we should give up that right? This is total nonsense," Rodong said. "Our right for peaceful use of nuclear energy is not something that can be negotiated away," it added, echoing the position Iran has taken in its ongoing discussions with representatives of the European Union over its nuclear development program.

It appears that North Korea is essentially seeking to revisit a 1994 agreement forged with the Clinton administration. Under that deal, Washington promised the North a light-water reactor, which is more difficult to convert to weapons development, in return for a freeze on its five-megawatt graphite-moderated reactor, which the North says it has built to produce electricity but also uses to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The Agreed Framework, as the 1994 pact is known, was troubled from the first - and assailed in the United States, where critics asserted that it allowed North Korea too much latitude for too little in return. It was effectively abandoned when the extent of the North's nuclear program became clear three years ago.

For years, North Korea has called the 1994 deal a diplomatic "victory" over the Americans. It has told its people that all their economic hardship, including the famine that killed millions in the mid-1990s, was caused by economic embargoes by the Americans in retaliation against the North's nuclear weapons programs.

The Bush administration is determined to kill the 1994 agreement when officials from the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union meet next month to decide formally the fate of the light-water reactor project.

Washington has repeatedly called the accord a "failure" and suspended construction of the light-water reactor in early 2003, with one-third of the work completed.

Any deal that would repeat the 1994 arrangement would be a political nonstarter for the Bush administration, analysts believe. It would mean that the United States would end up with the same deal it had a decade ago - after giving the North more time to build more bombs during the confrontation with the Bush White House.

"It will not be an easy problem to resolve, to say the least," said Koh Yu Hwan, a North Korea expert in Dongguk University in Seoul.

James Leach, a Republican Congressman from Iowa who visited Pyongyang last week, said Sunday that the North Koreans had told him that they were building two more graphite-moderated reactors, an apparent move to put pressure on the United States.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon of South Korea said last week that the five countries involved in the nuclear talks want North Korea to dismantle all nuclear weapons and programs in return for economic and security benefits. After his meeting last month with the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, Ban cited the North's five-megawatt reactor as one of the facilities that should be dismantled.

The North's stance threw into doubt South Korea's proposal to send North Korea 2,000 megawatts of electricity in return for terminating the light-water reactor project. The offer raised questions among many analysts here because it would make North Korea reliant upon the South for energy.

With energy demands rising, North Korea has "no option but to meet electricity needs by nuclear power plants in addition to its hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants," Rodong said Tuesday. "We will ceaselessly and actively pursue our nuclear activities for peaceful purposes."


Solana urges nuclear talks

The European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on Tuesday urged North Korea and Iran to return to the negotiating table over their respective drives for nuclear programs that are seen as a threat to world security, Agence France-Presse reported from Shanghai.

"The EU remains willing to resume the negotiations we had with Tehran for a new political and economic relationship," Solana said in Shanghai after finishing the EU-China summit in Beijing. "But it is up to Iran to come back first into compliance," Solana said in remarks delivered at the China Europe International Business School.


SEOUL North Korea offered a significant clarification on Tuesday of its position in the deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks, insisting that it would not dismantle its nuclear reactor - considered the country's main source of weapons-grade plutonium - unless the United States and its allies built a nuclear power plant to replace it.

The remarks Tuesday were the first time North Korea had publicly articulated its stance since six-party disarmament talks adjourned Aug. 7 without a breakthrough. The demand runs counter to the U.S. insistence that the country must first dismantle all of its nuclear facilities before even considering a civilian nuclear program.

U.S. officials were not available for immediate comment. They have said, however, that building a nuclear power plant for North Korea is a "practical impossibility" not only because no one wants to foot the bill but also because the Communist state has a history of using a nuclear reactor to make fuel for atomic weapons.

The sharp differences between North Korea and the United States presage tough negotiations even if the two countries, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia resume their six-party talks next week in Beijing, as scheduled, to seek an agreement on ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.

After a monthlong hiatus, the North has agreed to return to the talks next week. South Korean news reports, citing anonymous sources, said Tuesday that North Korea had proposed to China that the talks resume next Tuesday.

"We can never give up our right to nuclear activity for peaceful purposes," Rodong Sinmun, the North's main state-run newspaper, said in a commentary carried by the North's official news agency, KCNA.

"We have built our nuclear energy facilities over the past decades by tightening our people's belts. The facilities are built with our people's blood and sweat," Rodong said. "It is unimaginable for us to succumb to outside pressure and give up our independent nuclear power industry without an alternative that will compensate us with nuclear energy."

North Korea said it had built nuclear weapons because the United States planned to invade the country. It said it was willing to give up its weapons program, rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open the country to UN inspectors once the United States gave it security guarantees.

Like Iran, however, the North argues that it is a matter of sovereignty that it should be free to generate nuclear energy for economic needs.

"Every country in the world has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Why does the United States insist that only we should give up that right? This is total nonsense," Rodong said. "Our right for peaceful use of nuclear energy is not something that can be negotiated away," it added, echoing the position Iran has taken in its ongoing discussions with representatives of the European Union over its nuclear development program.

It appears that North Korea is essentially seeking to revisit a 1994 agreement forged with the Clinton administration. Under that deal, Washington promised the North a light-water reactor, which is more difficult to convert to weapons development, in return for a freeze on its five-megawatt graphite-moderated reactor, which the North says it has built to produce electricity but also uses to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The Agreed Framework, as the 1994 pact is known, was troubled from the first - and assailed in the United States, where critics asserted that it allowed North Korea too much latitude for too little in return. It was effectively abandoned when the extent of the North's nuclear program became clear three years ago.

For years, North Korea has called the 1994 deal a diplomatic "victory" over the Americans. It has told its people that all their economic hardship, including the famine that killed millions in the mid-1990s, was caused by economic embargoes by the Americans in retaliation against the North's nuclear weapons programs.

The Bush administration is determined to kill the 1994 agreement when officials from the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union meet next month to decide formally the fate of the light-water reactor project.

Washington has repeatedly called the accord a "failure" and suspended construction of the light-water reactor in early 2003, with one-third of the work completed.

Any deal that would repeat the 1994 arrangement would be a political nonstarter for the Bush administration, analysts believe. It would mean that the United States would end up with the same deal it had a decade ago - after giving the North more time to build more bombs during the confrontation with the Bush White House.

"It will not be an easy problem to resolve, to say the least," said Koh Yu Hwan, a North Korea expert in Dongguk University in Seoul.

James Leach, a Republican Congressman from Iowa who visited Pyongyang last week, said Sunday that the North Koreans had told him that they were building two more graphite-moderated reactors, an apparent move to put pressure on the United States.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon of South Korea said last week that the five countries involved in the nuclear talks want North Korea to dismantle all nuclear weapons and programs in return for economic and security benefits. After his meeting last month with the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, Ban cited the North's five-megawatt reactor as one of the facilities that should be dismantled.

The North's stance threw into doubt South Korea's proposal to send North Korea 2,000 megawatts of electricity in return for terminating the light-water reactor project. The offer raised questions among many analysts here because it would make North Korea reliant upon the South for energy.

With energy demands rising, North Korea has "no option but to meet electricity needs by nuclear power plants in addition to its hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants," Rodong said Tuesday. "We will ceaselessly and actively pursue our nuclear activities for peaceful purposes."


Solana urges nuclear talks

The European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on Tuesday urged North Korea and Iran to return to the negotiating table over their respective drives for nuclear programs that are seen as a threat to world security, Agence France-Presse reported from Shanghai.

"The EU remains willing to resume the negotiations we had with Tehran for a new political and economic relationship," Solana said in Shanghai after finishing the EU-China summit in Beijing. "But it is up to Iran to come back first into compliance," Solana said in remarks delivered at the China Europe International Business School.


SEOUL North Korea offered a significant clarification on Tuesday of its position in the deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks, insisting that it would not dismantle its nuclear reactor - considered the country's main source of weapons-grade plutonium - unless the United States and its allies built a nuclear power plant to replace it.

The remarks Tuesday were the first time North Korea had publicly articulated its stance since six-party disarmament talks adjourned Aug. 7 without a breakthrough. The demand runs counter to the U.S. insistence that the country must first dismantle all of its nuclear facilities before even considering a civilian nuclear program.

U.S. officials were not available for immediate comment. They have said, however, that building a nuclear power plant for North Korea is a "practical impossibility" not only because no one wants to foot the bill but also because the Communist state has a history of using a nuclear reactor to make fuel for atomic weapons.

The sharp differences between North Korea and the United States presage tough negotiations even if the two countries, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia resume their six-party talks next week in Beijing, as scheduled, to seek an agreement on ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.

After a monthlong hiatus, the North has agreed to return to the talks next week. South Korean news reports, citing anonymous sources, said Tuesday that North Korea had proposed to China that the talks resume next Tuesday.

"We can never give up our right to nuclear activity for peaceful purposes," Rodong Sinmun, the North's main state-run newspaper, said in a commentary carried by the North's official news agency, KCNA.

"We have built our nuclear energy facilities over the past decades by tightening our people's belts. The facilities are built with our people's blood and sweat," Rodong said. "It is unimaginable for us to succumb to outside pressure and give up our independent nuclear power industry without an alternative that will compensate us with nuclear energy."

North Korea said it had built nuclear weapons because the United States planned to invade the country. It said it was willing to give up its weapons program, rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open the country to UN inspectors once the United States gave it security guarantees.

Like Iran, however, the North argues that it is a matter of sovereignty that it should be free to generate nuclear energy for economic needs.

"Every country in the world has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Why does the United States insist that only we should give up that right? This is total nonsense," Rodong said. "Our right for peaceful use of nuclear energy is not something that can be negotiated away," it added, echoing the position Iran has taken in its ongoing discussions with representatives of the European Union over its nuclear development program.

It appears that North Korea is essentially seeking to revisit a 1994 agreement forged with the Clinton administration. Under that deal, Washington promised the North a light-water reactor, which is more difficult to convert to weapons development, in return for a freeze on its five-megawatt graphite-moderated reactor, which the North says it has built to produce electricity but also uses to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The Agreed Framework, as the 1994 pact is known, was troubled from the first - and assailed in the United States, where critics asserted that it allowed North Korea too much latitude for too little in return. It was effectively abandoned when the extent of the North's nuclear program became clear three years ago.

For years, North Korea has called the 1994 deal a diplomatic "victory" over the Americans. It has told its people that all their economic hardship, including the famine that killed millions in the mid-1990s, was caused by economic embargoes by the Americans in retaliation against the North's nuclear weapons programs.

The Bush administration is determined to kill the 1994 agreement when officials from the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union meet next month to decide formally the fate of the light-water reactor project.

Washington has repeatedly called the accord a "failure" and suspended construction of the light-water reactor in early 2003, with one-third of the work completed.

Any deal that would repeat the 1994 arrangement would be a political nonstarter for the Bush administration, analysts believe. It would mean that the United States would end up with the same deal it had a decade ago - after giving the North more time to build more bombs during the confrontation with the Bush White House.

"It will not be an easy problem to resolve, to say the least," said Koh Yu Hwan, a North Korea expert in Dongguk University in Seoul.

James Leach, a Republican Congressman from Iowa who visited Pyongyang last week, said Sunday that the North Koreans had told him that they were building two more graphite-moderated reactors, an apparent move to put pressure on the United States.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon of South Korea said last week that the five countries involved in the nuclear talks want North Korea to dismantle all nuclear weapons and programs in return for economic and security benefits. After his meeting last month with the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, Ban cited the North's five-megawatt reactor as one of the facilities that should be dismantled.

The North's stance threw into doubt South Korea's proposal to send North Korea 2,000 megawatts of electricity in return for terminating the light-water reactor project. The offer raised questions among many analysts here because it would make North Korea reliant upon the South for energy.

With energy demands rising, North Korea has "no option but to meet electricity needs by nuclear power plants in addition to its hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants," Rodong said Tuesday. "We will ceaselessly and actively pursue our nuclear activities for peaceful purposes."


Solana urges nuclear talks

The European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on Tuesday urged North Korea and Iran to return to the negotiating table over their respective drives for nuclear programs that are seen as a threat to world security, Agence France-Presse reported from Shanghai.

"The EU remains willing to resume the negotiations we had with Tehran for a new political and economic relationship," Solana said in Shanghai after finishing the EU-China summit in Beijing. "But it is up to Iran to come back first into compliance," Solana said in remarks delivered at the China Europe International Business School.
"

Entergy Prepares to Restart Nuclear Plant

Entergy Prepares to Restart Nuclear Plant: "Entergy Prepares to Restart Nuclear Plant
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; 4:46 PM
CHICAGO -- Entergy Corp. is preparing its 1,100-megawatt Waterford nuclear plant near New Orleans for restart after it shut before Hurricane Katrina hit last week, a company executive said Tuesday.
Leo Denault, Entergy's chief financial officer, didn't say when the plant is expected online but said it will be ready when needed. Entergy is steadily reducing the number of post-storm outages in its territory, which means the need for power is increasing.

As of Tuesday morning, Entergy had restored power to about 631,000 of 1.1 million customers who lost service after Katrina, and was seeing its power load at 77 percent of normal, Denault said on a conference call with analysts.
Entergy usually has a 3,000-megawatt power supply shortfall, but a monthslong loss of customers in and around New Orleans will shrink that gap.
Both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency have to authorize a Waterford restart after ensuring certain functions are in working order.
The NRC said late Friday that the agencies were likely to visit early this week. A spokesman wasn't available for immediate comment Tuesday.
Entergy said it's seeking "new and creative" ways to handle the financial impact of Katrina, one of the worst storms in the United States in more than a century.
Entergy sustained four times the number of outages it had ever recorded before _ at its worst, 1.1 million customers lost service.
Among the near-term solutions being explored are securing low-cost financing, extending the depreciable life of assets and redirecting power contracts from New Orleans.
C. Dale Sittig, one of five commissioners on the Louisiana Public Service Commission, said regulators will work with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco to help find some federal government relief.
Entergy hasn't released any estimates of what it will cost to restore power.
Complicating the recovery of restoration and repair costs and the collection of lost revenue is the displacement for what may be several months of 350,000 customers Entergy serves in and around New Orleans.
Sittig has estimated Entergy could lose 100,000 customers due to Katrina.
Entergy's financial reserves for storm damage have been depleted by previous storms and are currently at a deficit of $80 million, Denault said.
Owing to the hurricane, Entergy said it's unable to reaffirm previously issued 2005 earnings estimates.
Entergy shares rose 11 cents to close at $75.66 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange."

131I in Blood Samples: A Danger for Professionals? A Problem for Immunoassays?

Gmail - Google Alert - radioactive"131I in Blood Samples: A Danger for Professionals? A Problem for Immunoassays?
Vialard-Miguel et al. J Nucl Med Technol.2005; 33: 172-174.

Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital of Bordeaux and ...
Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
Objective: Our objective was to investigate the safety of radioactive blood samples from patients receiving 131 I and whether the radioactivity affects the ..."

Conscripts to get $1.7 extra for handling radioactive waste

Conscripts to get $1.7 extra for handling radioactive waste: "Conscripts to get $1.7 extra for handling radioactive waste

The Russian defence minister signed an order concerning salary raise for any Russian military serviceman handling nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.

2005-09-06 18:36

The size of the bonus differs significantly for the conscripts and the professional contract soldiers, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported with reference to the defence minister. Ten percent of the Russian military servicemen are engaged in loading nuclear fuel and handling radioactive waste. According to the order the contract soldiers will get 35% increase to their current salary, while the raise for the conscripts will be just $1.7 per month. "

Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident

Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident: "News-Medical.Net News-Medical.Net
Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident
Miscellaneous News
Published: Monday, 5-Sep-2005
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A total of up to four thousand people could eventually die of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) accident nearly 20 years ago, an international team of more than 100 scientists has concluded.
As of mid-2005, however, fewer than 50 deaths had been directly attributed to radiation from the disaster, almost all being highly exposed rescue workers, many who died within months of the accident but others who died as late as 2004.
The new numbers are presented in a landmark digest report, "Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts," just released by the Chernobyl Forum. The digest, based on a three-volume, 600-page report and incorporating the work of hundreds of scientists, economists and health experts, assesses the 20-year impact of the largest nuclear accident in history. The Forum is made up of 8 UN specialized agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), and the World Bank, as well as the governments of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
"This compilation of the latest research can help to settle the outstanding questions about how much death, disease and economic fallout really resulted from the Chernobyl accident," explains Dr. Burton Bennett, chairman of the Chernobyl Forum and an authority on radiation effects. "The governments of the three most-affected countries have realized that they need to find a clear way forward, and that progress must be based on a sound consensus about environmental, health and economic consequences and some good advice and support from the international community."
Bennett continued: "This was a very serious accident with major health consequences, especially for thousands of workers exposed in the early days who received very high radiation doses, and for the thousands more stricken with thyroid cancer. By and large, however, we have not found profound negative health impacts to the rest of the population in surrounding areas, nor have we found widespread contamination that would continue to pose a substantial threat to human health, with a few exceptional, restricted areas."
The Forum's report aims to help the affected countries understand the true scale of the accident consequences and also suggest ways the governments of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia might address major economic and social problems stemming from the accident. Members of the Forum, including representatives of the three governments, will meet September 6 and 7 in Vienna at an unprecedented gathering of the world's experts on Chernobyl, radiation effects and protection, to consider these findings and recommendations.
Major Study Findings
Dozens of important findings are included in the massive report:
--Approximately 1,000 on-site reactor staff and emergency workers were heavily exposed to high-level radiation on the first day of the accident; among the more than 200,0001 emergency and recovery operation workers exposed during the period from 1986-1987, an estimated 2,200 radiation-caused deaths can be expected during their lifetime. --An estimated five million people currently live in areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine that are contaminated with radionuclides due to the accident; about 100,000 of them live in areas classified in the past by government authorities as areas of "strict control". The existing "zoning" definitions need to be revisited and relaxed in light of the new findings. -- About 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer, mainly in children and adolescents at the time of the accident, have resulted from the accident's contamination and at least nine children died of thyroid cancer; however the survival rate among such cancer victims, judging from experience in Belarus, has been almost 99%. --Most emergency workers and people living in contaminated areas received relatively low whole body radiation doses, comparable to natural background levels. As a consequence, no evidence or likelihood of decreased fertility among the affected population has been found, nor has there been any evidence of increases in congenital malformations that can be attributed to radiation exposure. --Poverty, "lifestyle" diseases now rampant in the former Soviet Union and mental health problems pose a far greater threat to local communities than does radiation exposure. --Relocation proved a "deeply traumatic experience" for some 350,000 people moved out of the affected areas. Although 116,000 were moved from the most heavily impacted area immediately after the accident, later relocations did little to reduce radiation exposure. --Persistent myths and misperceptions about the threat of radiation have resulted in "paralyzing fatalism" among residents of affected areas. --Ambitious rehabilitation and social benefit programs started by the former Soviet Union, and continued by Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, need reformulation due to changes in radiation conditions, poor targeting and funding shortages. --Structural elements of the sarcophagus built to contain the damaged reactor have degraded, posing a risk of collapse and the release of radioactive dust; -- A comprehensive plan to dispose of tons of high-level radioactive waste at and around the Chernobyl NPP site, in accordance with current safety standards, has yet to be defined.
Alongside radiation-induced deaths and diseases, the report labels the mental health impact of Chernobyl as "the largest public health problem created by the accident" and partially attributes this damaging psychological impact to a lack of accurate information. These problems manifest as negative self-assessments of health, belief in a shortened life expectancy, lack of initiative, and dependency on assistance from the state.
"Two decades after the Chernobyl accident, residents in the affected areas still lack the information they need to lead the healthy and productive lives that are possible," explains Louisa Vinton, Chernobyl focal point at the UNDP. "We are advising our partner governments that they must reach people with accurate information, not only about how to live safely in regions of low-level contamination, but also about leading healthy lifestyles and creating new livelihoods." But, says Dr Michael Repacholi, Manager of WHO's Radiation Program, "the sum total of the Chernobyl Forum is a reassuring message."
He explains that there have been 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer, mainly in children, but that except for nine deaths, all of them have recovered. "Otherwise, the team of international experts found no evidence for any increases in the incidence of leukemia and cancer among affected residents."
The international experts have estimated that radiation could cause up to about 4,000 eventual deaths among the higher-exposed Chernobyl populations, i.e., emergency workers from 1986-1987, evacuees and residents of the most contaminated areas. This number contains both the known radiation-induced cancer and leukaemia deaths and a statistical prediction, based on estimates of the radiation doses received by these populations. As about quarter of people die from spontaneous cancer not caused by Chernobyl radiation, the radiation-induced increase of only about 3% will be difficult to observe. However, in the most exposed cohorts of emergency and recovery operation workers some increase of particular cancer forms (e.g., leukemia) in particular time periods has already been observed. The predictions use six decades of scientific experience with the effects of such doses, explained Repacholi.
Repacholi concludes that "the health effects of the accident were potentially horrific, but when you add them up using validated conclusions from good science, the public health effects were not nearly as substantial as had at first been feared."
The report's estimate for the eventual number of deaths is far lower than earlier, wellpublicized speculations that radiation exposure would claim tens of thousands of lives. But the 4,000 figure is not far different from estimates made in 1986 by Soviet scientists, according to Dr Mikhail Balonov, a radiation expert with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, who was a scientist in the former Soviet Union at the time of the accident.
As for environmental impact, the reports are also reassuring, for the scientific assessments show that, except for the still closed, highly contaminated 30 kilometer area surrounding the reactor, and some closed lakes and restricted forests, radiation levels have mostly returned to acceptable levels. "In most areas the problems are economic and psychological, not health or environmental," reports Balonov, the scientific secretary of the Chernobyl Forum effort who has been involved with Chernobyl recovery since the disaster occurred.
Recommendations
Recommendations call for focusing assistance efforts on highly contaminated areas and redesigning government programs to help those genuinely in need. Suggested changes would shift programs away from those that foster "dependency" and a "victim" mentality, and replacing them with initiatives that encourage opportunity, support local development, and give people confidence in their futures.
In the health area, the Forum report calls for continued close monitoring of workers who recovered from Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) and other highly exposed emergency personnel. The Report also calls for focused screening of children exposed to radioiodine for thyroid cancer and highly exposed clean-up workers for non-thyroid cancers. However, existing screening programs should be evaluated for cost-effectiveness, since the incidence of spontaneous thyroid cancers is increasing significantly as the target population ages. Moreover, high quality cancer registries need continuing government support.
In the environmental realm, the Report calls for long term monitoring of caesium and strontium radionuclides to assess human exposure and food contamination and to analyse the impacts of remedial actions and radiation-reduction countermeasures. Better information needs to be provided to the public about the persistence of radioactive contamination in certain food products and about food preparation methods that reduce radionuclide intake. Restrictions on harvesting of some wild food products are still needed in some areas.
Also in the realm of protecting the environment, the Report calls for an "integrated waste management program for the Shelter, the Chernobyl NPP site and the Exclusion Zone" to ensure application of consistent management and capacity for all types of radioactive waste. Waste storage and disposal must be dealt with in a comprehensive manner across the entire Exclusion Zone, according to the Report.
In areas where human exposure is not high, no remediation needs to be done, points out Balonov. "If we do not expect health or environmental effects, we should not waste resources and effort on low priority, low contamination areas," he explains. "We need to focus our efforts and resources on real problems."
One key recommendation addresses the fact that large parts of the population, especially in rural areas, still lack accurate information and emphasizes the need to find better ways both to inform the public and to overcome the lack of credibility that hampered previous efforts. Even though accurate information has been available for years, either it has not reached those who need it or people do not trust and accept the information and do not act upon it, according to the Report.
This recommendation calls for targeting information to specific audiences, including community leaders and health care workers, along with a broader strategy that promotes healthy lifestyles as well as information about how to reduce internal and external radiation exposures and address the main causes of disease and mortality.
In the socioeconomic sphere, the Report recommends a new development approach that helps individuals to "take control of their own lives and communities to take control of their own futures." The Governments, the Report states, must streamline and refocus Chernobyl programs through more targeted benefits, elimination of unnecessary benefits to people in less contaminated areas, improving primary health care, support for safe food production techniques, and encouragement for investment and private sector development, including small and medium-size enterprises.
Notes Vinton, "The most important need is for accurate information on healthy lifestyles, together with better regulations to promote small, rural businesses. Poverty is the real danger. We need to take steps to empower people."
Answers to Longstanding Questions
How much radiation were people exposed to as a result of the accident?
With the exception of on-site reactor staff and emergency workers exposed on April 26, most recovery operation workers and those living in contaminated territories received relatively low whole body radiation doses, comparable to background radiation levels and lower than the average doses received by residents in some parts of the world having high natural background radiation levels.
For the majority of the five million people living in the contaminated areas, exposures are within the recommended dose limit for the general public, though about 100,000 residents still receive more. Remediation of those areas and application of some agricultural countermeasures continues. Further reduction of exposure levels will be slow, but most exposure from the accident has already occurred.
How many people died and how many more are likely to die in the future?
The total number of deaths already attributable to Chernobyl or expected in the future over the lifetime of emergency workers and local residents in the most contaminated areas is estimated to be about 4,000. This includes some 50 emergency workers who died of acute radiation syndrome and nine children who died of thyroid cancer, and an estimated total of 3,940 deaths from radiation-induced cancer and leukemia among the 200,000 emergency workers from 1986-1987, 116,000 evacuees and 270,000 residents of the most contaminated areas (total about 600,000). These three major cohorts were subjected to higher doses of radiation amongst all the people exposed to Chernobyl radiation.
The estimated 4000 casualties may occur during the lifetime of about 600,000 people under consideration. As about quarter of them will eventually die from spontaneous cancer not caused by Chernobyl radiation, the radiation-induced increase of about 3% will be difficult to observe. However, in the most highly exposed cohorts of emergency and recovery operation workers, some increase in particular cancers (e.g., leukemia) has already been observed.
Confusion about the impact has arisen owing to the fact that thousands of people in the affected areas have died of natural causes. Also, widespread expectations of ill health and a tendency to attribute all health problems to radiation exposure have led local residents to assume that Chernobyl related fatalities were much higher than they actually were.
What diseases have already occurred or might occur in the future?
Residents who ate food contaminated with radioactive iodine in the days immediately after the accident received relatively high doses to the thyroid gland. This was especially true of children who drank milk from cows who had eaten contaminated grass. Since iodine concentrates in the thyroid gland, this was a major cause of the high incidence of thyroid cancer in children.
Several recent studies suggest a slight increase in the incidence of leukemia among emergency workers, but not in children or adult residents of contaminated areas. A slight increase in solid cancers and possibly circulatory system diseases was noted, but needs to be evaluated further because of the possible indirect influence of such factors as smoking, alcohol, stress and unhealthy lifestyle.
Have there been or will there be any inherited or reproductive effects?
Because of the relatively low doses to residents of contaminated territories, no evidence or likelihood of decreased fertility has been seen among males or females. Also, because the doses were so low, there was no evidence of any effect on the number of stillbirths, adverse pregnancy outcomes, delivery complications or overall health of children. A modest but steady increase in reported congenital malformations in both contaminated and uncontaminated areas of Belarus appears related to better reporting, not radiation.
Did the trauma of rapid relocation cause persistent psychological or mental health problems?
Stress symptoms, depression, anxiety and medically unexplained physical symptoms have been reported, including self-perceived poor health. The designation of the affected population as "victims" rather than "survivors" has led them to perceive themselves as helpless, weak and lacking control over their future. This, in turn, has led either to over cautious behavior and exaggerated health concerns, or to reckless conduct, such as consumption of mushrooms, berries and game from areas still designated as highly contaminated, overuse of alcohol and tobacco, and unprotected promiscuous sexual activity.
What was the environmental impact?
Ecosystems affected by Chernobyl have been studied and monitored extensively for the past two decades. Major releases of radionuclides continued for ten days and contaminated more than 200,000 square kilometers of Europe. The extent of deposition varied depending on whether it was raining when contaminated air masses passed.
Most of the strontium and plutonium isotopes were deposited within 100 kilometers of the damaged reactor. Radioactive iodine, of great concern after the accident, has a short half-life, and has now decayed away. Strontium and caesium, with a longer half life of 30 years, persist and will remain a concern for decades to come. Although plutonium isotopes and americium 241 will persist perhaps for thousands of years, their contribution to human exposure is low.
What is the scope of urban contamination?
Open surfaces, such as roads, lawns and roofs, were most heavily contaminated. Residents of Pripyat, the city nearest to Chernobyl, were quickly evacuated, reducing their potential exposure to radioactive materials. Wind, rain and human activity has reduced surface contamination, but led to secondary contamination of sewage and sludge systems. Radiation in air above settled areas returned to background levels, though levels remain higher where soils have remained undisturbed.
How contaminated are agricultural areas?
Weathering, physical decay, migration of radionuclides down the soil and reductions in bioavailability have led to a significant reduction in the transfer of radionuclides to plants and animals. Radioactive iodine, rapidly absorbed from grasses and animal feed into milk, was an early concern and elevated levels were seen in some parts of the former Soviet Union and Southern Europe, but, given the nuclide's short half life, this concern abated quickly. Currently and for the long term, radiocaesium, present in milk, meat and some plant foods, remains the most significant concern for internal human exposure, but, with the exception of a few areas, concentrations fall within safe levels.
What is the extent of forest contamination?
Following the accident, animals and vegetation in forest and mountain areas had high absorption of radiocaesium, with persistent high levels in mushrooms, berries and game. Because exposure from agricultural products has declined, the relative importance of exposure from forest products has increased and will only decline as radioactive materials migrate downward into the soil and slowly decay. The high transfer of radiocaesium from lichen to reindeer meat to humans was seen in the Artic and sub-Arctic areas, with high contamination of reindeer meat in Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. The concerned governments imposed some restrictions on hunting, including scheduling hunting season when animals have lower meat contamination.
How contaminated are the aquatic systems?
Contamination of surface waters throughout much of Europe declined quickly through dilution, physical decay, and absorption of radionuclides in bed sediments and catchment soils. Because of bioaccumulation in the aquatic food chain, though, elevated concentrations of radiocaesium were found in fish from lakes as far away as Germany and Scandinavia. Comparable levels of radiostrontium, which concentrates in fish bone, not in muscle, were not significant for humans. Levels in fish and waters are currently low, except in areas with "closed" lakes with no outflowing streams. In those lakes, levels of radiocaesium in fish will remain high for decades and, therefore, restrictions on fishing there should be maintained.
What environmental countermeasures and remediation have been taken?
The most effective early agricultural countermeasure was removing contaminated pasture grasses from animal diets and monitoring milk for radiation levels. Treatment of land for fodder crops, clean feeding and use of Cs-binders (that prevented the transfer of radiocaesium from fodder to milk) led to large reductions in contamination and permitted agriculture to continue, though some increase in radionuclide content of plant and animal products has been measured since the mid-1990s when economic problems forced a cutback in treatments. Some agricultural lands in the three countries have been taken out of use until remediation is undertaken.
A number of measures applied to forests in affected countries and in Scandinavia have reduced human exposure, including restrictions on access to forest areas, on harvesting of food products such as game, berries and mushrooms, and on the public collection of firewood, along with changes in hunting to avoid consumption of game meat where seasonal levels of radiocaesium may be high. Low income levels in some areas cause local residents to disregard these rules.
What were radiation-induced effects on plants and animals?
Increased mortality of coniferous plants, soil invertebrates and mammals and reproductive losses in plants and animals were seen in high exposure areas up to a distance of 20-30 kilometers. Outside that zone, no acute radiation-induced effects have been reported. With reductions of exposure levels, biological populations have been recovering, though the genetic effects of radiation were seen in both somatic and germ cells of plants and animals. Prohibiting agricultural and industrial activities in the exclusion zone permitted many plant and animal populations to expand and created, paradoxically, "a unique sanctuary for biodiversity."
Does dismantlement of the Shelter and management of radioactive waste pose further environmental problems?
The protective shelter was erected quickly, which led to some imperfections in the shelter itself and did not permit gathering complete data on the stability of the damaged unit. Also, some structural parts of the shelter have corroded in the past two decades. The main potential hazard posed by the shelter is the possible collapse of its top structures and the release of radioactive dust.
Strengthening those unstable structures has been performed recently, and construction of a New Safe Confinement covering the existing shelter that should serve for more than 100 years, starts in near future. The new cover will allow dismantlement of the current shelter, removal of the radioactive fuel mass from the damaged unit and, eventually, decommissioning of the damaged reactor.
A comprehensive strategy still has to be developed for dealing with the high level and long-lived radioactive waste from past remediation activities. Much of this waste was placed in temporary storage in trenches and landfills that do not meet current waste safety requirements.
What was the economic cost?
Because of policies in place at the time of the explosion and the inflation and economic disruptions that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union, precise costs have been impossible to calculate. A variety of estimates from the 1990s placed the costs over two decades at hundreds of billions of dollars. These costs included direct damage, expenditures related to recovery and mitigation, resettlement of people, social protection and health care for the affected population, research on environment, health and the production of clean food, radiation monitoring, as well as indirect losses due to removing agricultural lands and forests from use and the closing of agriculture and industrial facilities, and such additional costs as cancellation of the nuclear power program in Belarus and the additional costs of energy from the loss of power from Chernobyl. The costs have created a huge drain on the budgets of the three countries involved.
What were the main consequences for the local economy?
Agriculture was hardest hit, with 784,320 hectares taken from production. Timber production was halted in 694,200 hectares of forest. Remediation made "clean food" production possible in many areas but led to higher costs in the form of fertilizers, additives and special cultivation processes. Even where farming is safe, the stigma associated with Chernobyl caused marketing problems and led to falling revenues, declining production and the closure of some facilities. Combined with disruptions due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, recession, and new market mechanisms, the region's economy suffered, resulting in lower living standards, unemployment and increased poverty. All agricultural areas, whether affected by radiation or not, proved vulnerable.
Poverty is especially acute in affected areas. Wages for agricultural workers tend to be low and employment outside of agriculture is limited. Many skilled and educated workers, especially younger workers, left the region. Also, the business environment discourages entrepreneurial ventures and private investment is low.
What impact did Chernobyl and the aftermath have on local communities?
More than 350,000 people have been relocated away from the most severely contaminated areas, 116,000 of them immediately after the accident. Even when people were compensated for losses, given free houses and a choice of resettlement location, the experience was traumatic and left many with no employment and a belief that they have no place in society. Surveys show that those who remained or returned to their homes coped better with the aftermath than those who were resettled. Tensions between new and old residents of resettlement villages also contributed to the ostracism felt by the newcomers. The demographic structure of the affected areas became skewed since many skilled, educated and entrepreneurial workers, often younger, left the areas leaving behind an older population with few of the skills needed for economic recovery.
The older population has meant that deaths exceed births, which reinforces the perception that these areas are dangerous places to live. Even when pay is high, schools, hospitals and other essential public services are short of qualified specialists.
What has been the impact on individuals?
According to the Forum's report on health, "the mental health impact of Chernobyl is the largest public health problem unleashed by the accident to date." People in the affected areas report negative assessments of their health and well-being, coupled with an exaggerated sense of the danger to their health from radiation exposure and a belief in a shorter life expectancy. Anxiety over the health effects of radiation shows no signs of diminishing and may even be spreading. Life expectancy has been declining across the former Soviet Union, due to cardiovascular disease, injuries and poisoning, and not radiation-related illness.
How have governments responded?
The resettlement and rehabilitation programs launched in Soviet conditions proved unsustainable after 1991 and funding for projects declined, leaving many projects unfinished and abandoned and many of the promised benefits under funded. Also, benefits were offered to broad categories of "Chernobyl victims" that expanded to seven million now receiving or eligible for pensions, special allowances and health benefits, including free holidays and guaranteed allowances. Chernobyl benefits deprive other areas of public spending of resources, but scaling down benefits or targeting only highrisk groups is unpopular and presents political problems.
Given significant reduction of radiation levels during past twenty years, governments need to revisit the classification of contaminated zones. Many areas previously considered to be at risk are in fact safe for habitation and cultivation. Current delineations are far more restrictive than demonstrated radiation levels can justify.
The report identifies the need to sharpen priorities and streamline the programs to target the most needy, noting that reallocating resources is likely to face "strong resistance from vested interests". One suggestion calls for a "buy out" of the entitlement to benefits in return for lump sum start-up financing for small businesses.
Full Summary [http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/Chernobyl/pdfs/05-28601_Chernobyl.pdf]
http://www.iaea.org/"

US poised to make plutonium for rockets. 02/09/2005. ABC News Online

US poised to make plutonium for rockets. 02/09/2005. ABC News Online: "US poised to make plutonium for rockets
The United States is poised to produce plutonium-238 for the first time since the end of the Cold War but it will be used for space missions, not weapons, officials said this week.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) will soon decide whether to move forward with its proposal to produce the radioactive metal at a federal nuclear facility in south-east Idaho, a department spokesman said.
Under the $A393.4 million plan, the Idaho National Laboratory would produce five kilograms of plutonium-238 a year for 30 years starting in 2011.
The non-weapons-grade plutonium is used to power everything from satellites to deep space probes, leading industry insiders to call the finished product "space batteries".
The proposal calls for half the batteries to be earmarked for NASA projects and the rest for undisclosed national security purposes.
The United States needs to produce plutonium because its stockpiles are low and because an agreement with Russia prevents it from using plutonium-238 produced there for security or defence applications, according to DOE analyses.
Idaho officials are endorsing the proposal but are in a dispute with the DOE over disposal of radioactive waste.
They want written assurances that the estimated 20,800 litres of contaminated waste generated each year by producing plutonium-238 would be hauled out of state.
"In my opinion, this would lay the foundation for Idaho to become a leader in our nation's space program," US Senator Mike Crapo, a Republican, said in an interview.
"This could make Idaho a significant part of NASA."
Most Idaho residents who attended public hearings this summer disapproved of the proposal, said Kathleen Trever, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne's lab oversight coordinator.
"The negatives outweighed the positives but it was unclear to what extent that reflected the opinion of the general population," Ms Trever said.
Idaho and the Department of Energy have been locked for years over the clean-up of nuclear waste materials at the laboratory's sprawling complex near Idaho Falls.
The complex overlies the Eastern Snake River Aquifer, one of the state's primary sources of drinking and irrigation water.
"We want to make sure we don't repeat problems of the past that led us to have waste with no clear disposal path," Ms Trevor said.
- Reuters"

Franklin County Citizen - Paradise Point's community well found to contain radium and uranium.

Franklin County Citizen: "Pardise lost?: Solution to radioactive well on way to Franklin community
By Kandice Smith
BRENDA MOON stands in front of Paradise Point's community well which has been found to contain radium and uranium.

The homeowners of Paradise Point received a letter in October 2004 informing them their well water contained unacceptable levels of the radioactive substances radium and uranium. The letter, written by homeowners association president Jerry Lehner, was sent after the water was tested twice by the Environmental Protection Division. It explained the water was suitable for household chores, but not for drinking.

If water containing radium and uranium is ingested, it increases the risk of cancer and kidney toxicity. The highest levels allowed in drinking water is 5 picocuries per liter of radium and 30 pCi/L of uranium. The Paradise Point water contained 6.6 pCi/L of radium and 158 pCi/L of uranium. These substances get into drinking water through erosion of natural deposits.

Lehner's letter sparked immense concern and confusion in Paradise Point residents David and Brenda Moon. Because David is on dialysis, a water analysis of the water from their sink and his machine is done periodically to ensure the water's purity. The water analysis has always come back fine. David acknowledges it is not checking for radioactivity, but he feels something should have shown up.

They were still confused when early this year they received another letter from Lehner asking the residents to volunteer between $1500 to $2000 per household to connect the subdivision to the city's water line.

Lehner sent the second letter after he contacted the city about the situation.

In December 2004, he wrote a letter to Mayor Ralph Owens asking for help in connecting Paradise Point to the city's water line.

City Manager Gary Fesperman determined the city's closest line is at Harbor Light Marina, a little over 1 1/2 miles from the subdivision.

It wo"

Radioactive areas found outside Flats cleanup area

LongmontFYI - Radioactive areas found outside Flats cleanup area: "pubblish Date: 9/1/2005
Radioactive areas found outside Flats cleanup area
By Brad Turner
The Daily Times-Call
Contractors charged with cleaning the most contaminated site at Rocky Flats found five radioactive “hot spots” outside the established cleanup perimeter in recent months, according to U.S. Department of Energy officials.
The discovery led Kaiser-Hill, the company managing the site’s $4 billion cleanup, to conduct additional remediation on soil around the site known as the 903 Pad, the most contaminated site on the 6,500-acre property, DOE Rocky Flats spokesman John Rampe.
As a rule, Kaiser-Hill cleaned any spot found to contain more than 50 picocuries per gram of soil, he said. A gram of soil with that level of radioactivity is estimated to increase a person’s risk of cancer by one chance in a million, he said.
That criteria is “way below the necessary cleanup level” of one chance in 10,000, as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency at other federally funded cleanup sites, Rampe said.
The plutonium- and americium-tainted hot spots around the 903 Pad contained 60 to 70 picocuries per gram of soil, he said.
Workers quickly removed about 75 cubic yards of soil from the hot spots, which were discovered in the past three months, he said.
But on Wednesday, Rampe denied a Daily Times-Call request for soil sample data collected outside the 903 Pad perimeter, saying contractors were still collecting and analyzing the information.
DOE officials will discuss the findings at a Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board meeting at 6 p.m. today at College Hill Library, 3705 W. 112th Ave. in Westminster.
Operators at Rocky Flats, which manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs during the Cold War, stored more than 4,000 barrels of plutonium-contaminated oil on bare ground at the 903 Pad site in the 1950s and 1960s. The barrels leaked, contaminating soil and groundwater.
Officials disposed of the barrels in 1967 and 1968 and laid an asphalt pad over the contaminated dirt in 1969 to stanch the spread of tainted topsoil by intense wind gusts in the area, according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.
Since Kaiser-Hill began cleaning Rocky Flats in 1995, workers have hauled away thousands of cubic yards of topsoil tainted by plutonium and americium from the 30-acre 903 Pad site, Rampe said. Americium is a radioactive element produced by decaying plutonium and is more potent than plutonium.
The discovery of the hot spots, which contain radioactive material that was blown outside of the 903 Pad cleanup perimeter by wind, should not alarm the public, Rampe said. Kaiser-Hill’s cleanup project is still set to wrap in October.
“These are very small areas that slipped through the cracks,” Rampe said.
It’s difficult to compare plutonium and americium traces at Rocky Flats to everyday sources of radiation, such as microwaves or potassium in bananas, said Niels Schonbeck, a biochemistry professor at Metropolitan State College in Denver who has researched Rocky Flats.
But the DOE and Kaiser-Hill invariably downplay the danger of contamination at Rocky Flats, he said.
“The people who are cleaning up want to do it for the lowest amount of money and be credited with cleaning up the site,” he said. “They're going to understate those effects.”
The 903 Pad is not included in the part of Rocky Flats slated to become a federal wildlife preserve. But the discovery of the hot spots is proof that the area should not be opened to the public after Kaiser-Hill declares the project finished, Schonbeck said.
“If you look hard enough, you’ll find them in other places,” Schonbeck said.
A Kaiser-Hill spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rampe said the DOE will make sure any hot spots discovered in the future are cleaned up, whether Kaiser-Hill is still involved in the project or not.
Brad Turner can be reached at 720-494-5420, or by e-mail at bturner@times-call.com.

Japan halts transport of radioactive soil

Japan halts transport of radioactive soil: "Japan halts transport of radioactive soil
Aug 30, 2005, 2:55 GMT


TOTTORI, Japan (UPI) -- Transport of radioactive soil from Japan to the United States for disposal was halted after a bag of the soil fell while being loaded onto a truck.

The bag did not break, but a worker was slightly injured, reported Kyodo News.

Officials say the work has been put on hold until steps are taken to ensure the safety of shipments.

The original schedule called for 33 bags to be shipped Monday, the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute said.

The shipment of contaminated soil is aimed at solving a long-standing legal row between the local community and the institute that erupted after the existence of the contaminated soil came to light in 1988.

According to the institute`s plan, the soil will be transported to Kobe port by truck. After clearing customs, it will be shipped to the United States on a container vessel in early October.

A U.S. contractor will dispose of the soil and use the extracted uranium for power generation.

"

Experts warn of loose radioactive material

Experts warn of loose radioactive material: "
Experts warn of loose radioactive material
SYDNEY, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Significant stockpiles of radioactive material that could be used to make a "dirty bomb" have been found at unsecured sites in Southeast Asia, experts warn.

Scientists at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, or ANSTO, said efforts were being made to transfer the material to secure sites, the BBC reported Monday.
The government organization, which warns that militants may try to steal radioactive supplies, is working with Southeast Asian nations to ensure that materials used in medicine and industry do not fall into the wrong hands.
Ron Cameron, chief of operations at ANSTO, said it was "unlikely" that militants would have knowledge of where radioactive material is stored and also know how to process it into a bomb.
Reports suggested that ANSTO had discovered a piece of cobalt, commonly used in radiotherapy treatment, at a disused medical center.
Incorporating radioactive material into a conventional bomb would contaminate large areas of a city, causing panic and increasing cancer rates.
"A dirty bomb is not a weapon of mass destruction, it is a weapon of mass disruption," Cameron said. "The major consequence of a dirty bomb would be panic, and that is of course what the terrorists are after."
Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved."

Proposed Yucca Mountain Rail Line

Proposed Yucca Mountain Rail Line: "Proposed Yucca Mountain Rail Line
Aug 30, 2005, 04:37 PM
The Department of Energy wants to hear from you on a proposed rail line to carry radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain. The rail line, known as the Caliente Corridor, would be 319 miles long and go from Caliente, Nevada to Yucca Mountain.
The DOE wants to set aside a one mile path for the rail line. The set aside prevents any new mining claims and prevents any other federal agencies from using the land. It's also nearby habitat for the desert tortoise. The DOE is not obligated to hold meetings on this issue, but they've scheduled three.
Public meetings:
Monday, September 12
Longstreet Inn & Casino
Amargosa Valley
Tuesday, September, 13
Goldfield School Gym
Goldfield
Thursday, September, 15
Caliente Youth Center
Caliente"

Paul Williams details 'American Hiroshima'

WorldNetDaily: Paul Williams details 'American Hiroshima': "Paul Williams details 'American Hiroshima'
Al-Qaida plotting nuclear attack with weapons already in U.S.
Posted: September 3, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Paul L. Williams is a former consultant to the FBI on organized crime and terrorism. Since then, he has become an award-winning investigative journalist and written several books. In his new book, "The Al Qaeda Connection," he claims Osama bin Laden has obtained nuclear weapons and smuggled them into the U.S. through Mexico for use in a plot known as "American Hiroshima."
By Ryan Mauro
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Ryan Mauro: Much has been written about the "American Hiroshima" report. How did you first learn about the plot?
Paul Williams: I have a unique background. I hold a Ph.D. in philosophy from Drew University and I am a seasoned and award-winning journalist. I came upon the story of bin Laden's acquisition of tactical nuclear weapons while working as the editor/publisher of The Metro and a consultant on organized crime for the FBI. Several members of the Chechen Mafia, who had emigrated to Little Odessa, muscled into the operations of the Bufalino Crime Family in Northeast Pennsylvania by selling choice No. Four heroin, guns of every description, and stolen high-end cars from New York and New Jersey .
I learned that they came to the U.S. after Makhmud and his associates sold tactical nukes and nuclear materials to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. I began to search for evidence of this sale and came upon stories in The Jerusalem Report and The London Times and Arab stories in Muslim magazines, Al-Watan al-Arabi and al-Majallah This led me to other sources and reports of further sales of nukes from the former Soviet Union to al-Qaida not only by the Chechens but also the Russian Mafia and black-marker arms-dealers, including Semion Mogilevic from the Ukraine . Such information can be obtained by any journalist with a telephone, a computer, and a library card.
I further learned that the sales to al-Qaida have been verified by a host of intelligence officials and weapons inspectors, including Hans Blix, former director general of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. The sales were even verified by bin Laden and al-Zawahiri in their pronouncements that they have obtained a small arsenal of nuclear weapons from black-market sources. My research took me farther into dealings between bin Laden and Dr. A. Q. Khan and the fact that over 20 nuclear scientists and technicians from Khan's research laboratories in Pakistan worked with al-Qaida on a regular basis to maintain and modify the weapons that had been purchased and to develop other weapons from the highly enriched uranium and plutonium that bin Laden hade purchased from Uzbekistan and other countries.
Dr. Mahmood and Dr. Majeed, two of the leading officials at the Khan facility, confessed to CIA and ISI interrogators that they participated in al-Qaida's nuclear projects. The fact that the Chechens possessed the nukes should be no surprise to any reporter or investigator. In 1995, the Chechens under Com. Shamail Basayev planted a radiological bomb in Izmailovsky Park near Moscow . The bomb was made of cesium-137, and, if detonated, would have killed thousands of Russians. This incident represented the first case of a nuke to be deployed as a weapon of terror. Later that same year, Dzokhar Dudayev, the leader of the Chechen Mafia, offered to sell his collection of nuclear weapons to the United States in exchange for U. S. recognition of Chechnya 's independence. The Clinton Administration declined and so the weapons were sold to al-Qaida.
More importantly, there is empirical proof that al-Qaida possesses nukes. In 2000, British agents posed as recruits from a London mosque to infiltrate al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan . In Herat , they saw nuclear weapons being manufactured. Similarly, an al-Qaeda operative was arrested at the checkpoint at Ramallah with a weapon strapped to his back. At first, Israeli intelligence thought that the weapon was a radiological bomb but later confirmed, as reported by Richard Sales of UPI and other reputable journalists, that it was a tactical nuke. There are more examples, including the canister of uranium 238 that U.S. military officials discovered in a lead canister in Kandahar at the outset of Operation Enduring Freedom.
RM: How come other terrorism experts, Steven Emerson for example, haven't warned us about the plot? In other words, why does it seem so out of the mainstream?
PW: Few military and intelligence officials question bin Laden's ability to launch his plan for the American Hiroshima. Gen. Eugene Habiger, former Executive Chief of Strategic Weapons at the Pentagon, said that an event of nuclear mega-terrorism on U. S. soil is "not a matter of if, but when." During the 2004 presidential debates, President Bush and Sen. Kerry said that nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists represent the greatest danger facing the American people, while Vice President Cheney, on the campaign trail, warned that a nuclear attack by al-Qaida appears imminent. Before leaving office, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge both voiced that belief that al-Qaida's plan to nuke cities throughout the country soon might come to fruition.
From the private sector, Warren Buffet, who establishes odds against cataclysmic events for major insurance companies, concluded that an imminent nuclear nightmare within the United States is "virtually a certainty." From the academic community, Dr. Graham Allison, director of Harvard University 's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said: "Is nuclear mega-terrorism inevitable? Harvard professors are known for being subtle or ambiguous, but I'll try to the clear. 'Is the worst yet to come?' My answer: Bet on it. Yes." Finally, from the mainstream media, Bill Keller, editor of The New York Times, concluded that the only reason for thinking a nuclear attack won't happen is because "it hasn't happened yet," adding that such reasoning represents "terrible logic." And so, Ryan, the message has been delivered but few are listening.
Emerson's importance as an analyst pales in comparison to that of Michael Scheuer, of the CIA and author of "Imperial Hubris," who was in charge on "the Alec file," the CIA's file on bin Laden. On Nov. 14, 2004 , Scheuer appeared on "60 Minutes" to alert the American people that a nuclear attack by al-Qaida "is pretty close to being inevitable."
RM: In your upcoming book, "The Al-Qaeda Connection," you write that former Russian KGB and Spetsnaz operatives maintain bin Laden's nuclear arsenal. When were they hired and how do we know they are capable of such a monumental task?
PW: Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri began recruiting former Spetsnaz technicians circa 1997. By 1999, a host of such technicians (along with nuclear scientists from China ) were working at al-Qaida laboratories in Afghanistan and Pakistan . By 2000, al-Qaida also secured the help of scientists and technicians from the A. Q. Khan Research Facility in Pakistan , including the assistance of Khan himself.
On Sept. 11, 2001 , when the attack was taking place in America , bin Laden and company were meeting with Dr. Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, former Chairman of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission, and Dr. Chaudry Abdul Majid, chief technician for the A. Q. Khan Facility, to discuss the maintenance and deployment of al-Qaida's nuclear arsenal. When the CIA confiscated records from Ummah Tameer E-Nau ("Islamic Reconstruction"), Dr. Mahmood's bogus charity in Kabul , they discovered evidence from Mahmood's computer that at least one al-Qaida nuke had been forward deployed to the U.S. from Karachi in a cargo container. After interrogating Mahood and Majid, CIA officials discovered that more than a score of scientists and technicians from the A. Q. Khan Facility worked on a daily basis to develop, upgrade, and maintain the al-Qaida nuclear arsenal. Almost all of these scientists have escaped from Pakistan to avoid arrest.
U.S. officials have been denied permission to interrogate Dr. Khan, even though we know that he provided nuclear technology and designs for atomic bombs not only to Libya , Iran and North Korea, but also Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, Nigeria, Brazil, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, Algeria, Abu Dhabi and Myanmar. In Myanmar , for example, Dr. Sulieman Asad and Dr. Mohammad Ali Mukhtar are building a 10-megawatt nuclear reactor while still providing help and expertise to the al-Qaida network. It's a hellava situation and the press is not reporting it.
RM: Do you have any information on what the U.S. and its friends are doing to try to stop the plot?
PW: On Oct. 11, 2001 , George Tenet, former CIA director, met with President Bush to inform him that at least two tactical nukes have reached al-Qaida operatives in the U.S. This news was substantiated by Pakistan 's ISI, the CIA and the FBI.
In accordance with this discovery, the Bush administration deployed hundreds of new and sophisticated Gamma Ray Neutron Flux Detector sensors to U.S. borders, overseas facilities and "choke points" around Washington, D.C. The administration further assigned Delta Force, the elite special operations detachment unit of the U.S. Army, the task of killing or disabling any or all suspects. Such measures have proved to be ineffective. Richard L. Wagner, senior staff member at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, testified before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack that the currently installed radiation detection systems are highly limited in their capabilities and, in general, insufficient to the task. To add to the problem of insecurity, the borders remain almost completely porous and less than 10 percent of the freight that arrives at major ports (including New York/New Jersey) is inspected.
RM: Where is the WMD arsenal now that Afghanistan is occupied?
PW: The nuclear weapons were not contained solely in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida laboratories were established in the Balkans, Sudan, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and even places like Myanmar. A number of these weapons have been forward deployed to Mexico and the U.S.
My educated guess would be that arsenals have been established in several of the following countries: Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Abu Dubai, Iran, Syria and Lebanon . The last three in light of the al-Qaida truce and bonding with Hezbollah. Myanmar looms large since very sinister events are taking place there. These events, including the construction of large reactors, have been made possible by fugitive scientists and technicians from the Khan Research Facility .But don't lose sight of the fact that nukes have been forward deployed to al-Qaida cells in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
RM: Why haven't the weapons been used already? One can't help but think that the best time to use the weapons would have been during the invasions of Afghanistan or Iraq .
PW: The worst time for al-Qaida to use its nuclear weapons would have been during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq when the U.S. remained on high alert. A defining characteristic of bin Laden is patience. His favorite Islamic verse is as follows: "I will be patient until Patience is outworn by patience." He started plotting the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania when he was in the Sudan in 1993; the attack of the USS Cole was more than two years in the making and eight years passed between the first attack on the World Trade Center and the second. The planned American Hiroshima is enormous in scope. It requires not only development and (in some cases) rebuilding of the weapons along with codification for detonation but also forward deployment, site preparation and precise strategic coordination with scattered cells.
Bin Laden will not allow the attack to take place unless there is certainty of success. His entire resources (including the gains from the poppy fields) have been spent on this operation. After scrutinizing the situation and analyzing the data, Bill Keller, editor of The New York Times , said that the "best reason" for thinking that the nuclear attack by al-Qaida will NOT happen is because "it hasn't happened yet," adding this conclusion represents "terrible logic." I agree with him.
RM: Is there any indication of when Bin Laden intends to use the arsenal?
PW: Bin Laden can't sit on these weapons for years. They require constant maintenance. At any given time, a tactical nuke exudes a temperature in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that they are prone to oxidation and rust. Moreover, the triggers that emit large quantities of neutrons at high speeds decay rapidly and have short half-lives – most would become useless without maintenance in less than four months. The nuclear cores also are subject to decay and over the course of several years would fall below the critical mass threshold. Though the shells that encase the cores are the most durable parts of the weapons, they, too, are subject to contamination. The tritium used to compensate for the required amount of conventional explosives to compress the fissile core within the compact devices is less of an issue since it has a half-life of 12.3 years. Taking all things into consideration, the attack should occur within the very near future. The bombs which bin Laden began building in 1992 are for the American Hiroshima.
RM: Given the heat and radiation given off by the nuke, couldn't it be detected?
PW: Richard L. Wagner, senior staff member at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and one of the founders of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Emergency Search Team, recently told Congress that major breakthroughs in the ability of the U.S. government to locate rogue nukes may be five years away. Wagner, a Ph.D. whose specialty is radiation detection, testified that better technology and more radiation detention devices are needed to stop the nuclear terrorist threat. "Currently installed radiation detection systems, or systems which could be procured in quantity in the next year or two, are quite limited in their capabilities and, in general, are insufficient for the task," he testified. "Substantial research and development is needed to improve detection capabilities."
A nuclear gun bomb that could be fired from a 155 millimeter recoilless rifle could be packed in the small container, stuffed into the truck of a car or van and transported into any major metropolitan city within the U.S. without detection.
That's the fact of the matter. Other weapons could be transported by private plane to any major airport. Less than 25 percent of the freight on private planes is inspected let alone subjected to radiation detection. To complicate matters, the ports of entry (such as the airports) are now controlled by the Albanian Mafia. The Albanians have taken over the operations of the Italian-American crime families and have become, according to the FBI, the leading criminal organization in the U.S. The Albanians, as you know, are Muslims with ties to radical Islam and, through the KLO, al-Qaida.
RM: I have trouble believing that teams required to maintain a nuclear weapon wouldn't be detected here in the U.S.
PW: There isn't just one team but, at least, seven. They are working within mosques and Islamic centers. In the U.S., a federal judge will not provide any FBI or law enforcement agent with a warrant to search a mosque of an Islam center for any reason since such places are listed as "houses of worship."
RM: Seven teams?
PW: At least seven teams, according to information obtained from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al-Qaida operatives, in at least seven metropolitan areas. These areas have been identified as New York, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The attack will occur simultaneously at the seven sites.
RM: How do you know you can trust what Khalid Sheikh Mohammad said? In the past, he's given us bogus information, some of which led to orange alerts. Some say he and other al-Qaida operatives are waging a disinformation campaign meant to dull our senses.
PW: No, you can't trust Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, but you can trust the information that was obtained from his laptop when he was arrested on March 1, 2003 .
RM: Will Bin Laden use them on the American homeland or also forces overseas and countries that have joined the war on terrorism?
PW: They are not for use in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Iraq or Afghanistan . The declaration of war was issued against the United States and al-Qaida insists that over 4 million Americans must die for the sake of parity. They are intent upon realizing this objective and the doomsday clock by all reckoning is very near midnight .
Ryan Mauro is the author of the upcoming book "Death to America: The Unreported Battle of Iraq" and owner of WorldThreats.com.
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