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EPA's Secret Plan to Raise Public Radiation Exposure Levels Challenged
Public employees have filed a lawsuit demanding documents related to the U.S. EPA's plans made "in secrecy" to allow public exposure to increased levels of radioactivity following nuclear accidents or attacks.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility under the Freedom of Information Act claims that the agency "wrongfully withheld" comments submitted by EPA and other federal and state agency officials and by representatives of private corporations or trade associations to the EPA Office of Radiation and Indoor Air as it prepared its updated Protective Action Guides.
The radiation guides are protocols for responding to incidents ranging from nuclear power plant accidents to transportation spills to dirty bombs.
Calls to reveal top-secret nuclear dump - News - Roundup - Articles - Helensburgh Advertiser
A PLEA has been made for the Government to reveal a top-secret nuclear dumping ground situated in Argyll and Bute.
MP Alan Reid has called on the defence secretary, Bob Ainsworth, to come forward and name the site where the waste - radioactive waste from decommissioned nuclear submarines - is being disposed of.
It comes after revelations that at least one site on the confidential list is situated in Argyll and Bute.
It was also revealed that Coulport was previously named as a possible site, but was later rejected.
Mr Reid said: "Every community in Argyll and Bute is now worried that a site near them is on the secret list of sites being considered as a nuclear dump.
"The Government must publish the list of sites. Publishing the list would set some people's minds at rest.
The Associated Press: Cheney FBI interview: 72 instances of can't recall
Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.
On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.
Cheney remarks in leak probe released - Washington Post Investigations
Former Vice President Dick Cheney told a special prosecutor in 2004 that he could not remember playing any role in leaking the identity of Valerie Plame as a clandestine CIA officer, according to FBI records released under court order (PDF) today.
After years of legal maneuvering to keep the documents secret, they were made public late today under a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. That organization provided the FBI notes to The Washington Post. Portions of the three documents, totaling 67 pages, were redacted on grounds of national security, privacy or privileged presidential communications.
Outline and Notes from the Cheney Interview (PDF)
Second document from Cheney interview (PDF)
Third document from Cheney interview (PDF)
Associated Press: Cheney told FBI he had no idea who leaked Plame ID
Vice President Dick Cheney told the FBI he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA.
An FBI summary of Cheney's interview from 2004 reflects that the vice president had deep concern about Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador in Africa who said the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the probe of who leaked Plame's identity to the news media. At the end of Libby's trial, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that "there is a cloud over the vice president" in the leaking of Plame's identity.
Stimulus dollars going to accused contractors - washingtonpost.com
More than $1.2 billion awarded to firms on watchdog's list
President Obama and members of Congress told federal agencies earlier this year to avoid awarding funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to contractors with troubled histories of work for the federal government.
But that isn't happening at numerous agencies, a Washington Post analysis shows. So far, 33 federal departments and agencies have awarded more than $1.2 billion in stimulus contracts to at least 30 companies that are ranked by one watchdog group as among the most egregious offenders of state and federal laws.
Nuclear regulator broke rules, says inspector general - washingtonpost.com
Ex-official said to have sought jobs from firms while on panel
A former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated government ethics rules by directly contacting potential employers with business before the NRC before the end of his term in mid-2007, according to a report by the commission's inspector general.
Jeffrey S. Merrifield twice cast votes on matters involving companies he had contacted about job prospects, the report says. The firms -- the Shaw Group, Toshiba's Westinghouse Electric and General Electric -- "could potentially have benefited financially from his votes . . . during the specific timeframes in which Merrifield was negotiating with the three companies," the report concludes.
iafrica.com | science Toxic waste protested
Around 1000 people joined a protest march on Saturday to demand government action on toxic waste sunk by the mafia in boats off the southern Italian coast, media reports said.
"The state must consider this task a priority by allocating funding and supporting the magistrates' inquiry, and monitoring polluted sites and cleaning them up," said the president of the environmental organisation Legambiente, Vittorio Cogliati Dezza, quoted by Italian media.
The demonstrators marched through the town of Amantea holding banners reading "No to the Calabria dustbin."
Energy fears over nuclear waste dumps | Environment | The Observer
Former senior advisers say ministers 'cherry-picked' reports to bolster case for new power plants
Former senior government advisers on nuclear power have accused ministers of being "cavalier" and "cherry-picking" their advice to bolster the case for a new generation of nuclear power stations.
They and other industry experts say the government should not embark on building any new atomic facilities without properly tackling the unsolved problem of how to deal with radioactive waste from existing power plants.
In 2006 the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management published recommendations on how the UK should dispose of nuclear waste. A key idea was that long-term disposal would be best carried out by identifying suitable sites at which the waste could be buried, a process called deep geological disposal.
SRS subcontractor indicted for fraud | Aiken Standard | Aiken, SC
A former Aiken resident who worked at the Savannah River Site as a subcontractor on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility has been indicted for fraud.
Joseph Ralph Lohre Jr., 46, was charged in a three-count indictment with theft of government funds and two counts of making false statements.
The indictment alleges that between March 2006 and May 2008, Lohre falsely claimed eligibility for housing benefits through a program administered by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency overseeing the MOX project, and that as part of his fraud, he submitted falsified documentation to support a claim that he owned a permanent residence in Fort Mitchell, Ky.
At the time, Lohre was working as an engineer contractor at SRS.
Radioactive Waste: German Company Sent Nuclear Material for Open-Air Storage in Siberia - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future.
The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.
BBC NEWS | 'Toxic waste' report gag lifted
Lawyers for the oil trading company Trafigura have ended attempts to keep secret a scientific report about toxic waste dumping in the Ivory Coast.
The legal firm Carter-Ruck has written to the Guardian saying the paper should regard itself as "released forthwith" from any reporting restrictions.
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger welcomed the move.
Trafigura said neither they nor Carter-Ruck had "improperly sought to stifle or restrict" debate and reporting.
An MP revealed the report's existence to parliament earlier this week after the Guardian was served with a "super-injunction" banning all mention of it.
FT.com / UK - Nuclear dust rains on France's atomic parade
It should have been a day of celebration, a moment to showcase France's expertise in nuclear power built over decades of research and development.
Instead government ministers and local state representatives yesterday scurried for cover, cancelling their visits to the planned 50th anniversary celebrations of the Cadarache nuclear site in picturesque Provencal France.
Could the reason have been the embarrassing discovery of kilos of unrecorded plutonium that has for years been lying in the nooks and crannies of fuel manufacturing facilities at Cadarache - sparking worries over nuclear safety standards and questions for the public prosecutor?
UK secrets at risk over sex romps of nuke chief’s secy? - UK - World - The Times of India
A personal assistant to Britain’s nuclear weapons chief has been told that she has put the national security at risk by being a part of a sex scandal.
Julia Sinclair, 48, is secretary to Rear Admiral Stephen Lloyd, who is in charge of procurement and delivery of nuclear submarines. According to experts, married mum-of-two Sinclair is at risk of being blackmailed by indulging in sordid orgies.
Her sleazy hobby was revealed when pictures of her at two orgies were circulated among fellow swingers.
Sinclair has high-level security clearance, and access to strategic documents at Abbey Wood ministry of defence base near Bristol.
“It’s a huge security risk. This is what the Soviets always tried to do to — catch someone in a sensitive post, get them in a sexual situation and take pictures to blackmail them into being a spy,” The Sun quoted security expert Chris Dobson, as saying.
Anti-nuclear group criticizes German waste shipments to Russia | Environment & Development | Deutsche Welle | 15.10.2009
In the wake of a French investigation into reports that nuclear waste is sent from French plants to Siberia, news has emerged that Germany has a long tradition of shipping toxic waste to Russia.
The German anti-nuclear group "Ausgestrahlt" said that since 1996, Germany's only uranium enrichment plant in Gronau has shipped about 22,000 tons of uranium hexafluoride, which is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process, to Russia.
"Ausgestrahlt" reported on Wednesday that only 10 percent of that was returned to Germany as enriched uranium. The anti-nuclear activists said the remaining 90 percent was stored in Siberia, outdoors and in rusting containers. Uranium hexafluoride is highly toxic and corrosive to most metals.
UK wastes billions on defence projects-govt report | Currencies | Reuters
* Equipment programme unsuited to meet likely threats
* Report may put future spending plans at risk
By Adrian Croft
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Britain wastes up to 2.2 billion pounds ($3.57 billion) a year because of over-ambitious defence projects getting out of control, a government-commissioned report said on Thursday.
The scathing report, by former Ministry of Defence adviser Bernard Gray, found the average defence equipment programme takes five years longer and costs 40 percent more than originally planned.
Now, nuclear power corp in land acquisition row- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times
MUMBAI: Another mega power project has got embroiled in land acquisition row. Local villagers have decided to oppose the acquisition of 938
hectares of land for the proposed 9,600-MW Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district. The government started the process of acquiring land on Thursday.
The project involves setting up of six European pressurised water reactors (EPRs), each with 1,600 MW capacity, and is expected to be completed by 2020, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) CMD SK Jain said. The NPCIL has tied up with French state-owned nuclear energy giant Areva for the project.
TVA overbilled $1 million plus to restart nuclear reactor: IG says | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor the subject of audit
TVA was overbilled more than $1 million on work done to restart its Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 reactor, according to TVA’s Office of Inspector General.
Advertisement
About $2.8 million in subcontractor costs billed to TVA by a contractor was audited and the preliminary review “caused us to have concerns that certain costs that were billed may have also been billed to TVA under other contracts,” according to an emailed statement from the office.
“In summary, we found TVA had been overbilled $1,075,020 including
(1) $174,912 of unsupported and ineligible labor and per diem costs
(2) $621,428 of unsupported and ineligible equipment costs
(3) $199,180 of unsupported material costs. and
(4) $79,500 of overstated task costs.”
AFP: US documents point to secret Japan nuclear pact
Despite decades of denials by Washington and Tokyo, US officials believe they enjoyed a secret pact to transport nuclear weapons through Japan, newly declassified documents showed.
The disclosure came after Japan's left-leaning government ended more than half a century of conservative rule and launched a probe into thousands of files to settle longstanding suspicions of a hush-hush pact.
Any evidence of an agreement would trigger charges of hypocricy as Japan is the only nation to have suffered nuclear attack and has campaigned for the worldwide abolition of the ultra-destructive weapons.
The National Security Archive at George Washington University released documents Tuesday showing US officials believed they had an understanding with Japan when the allies signed a new security treaty in 1960.
Metro - French nuclear safety authorities suspend work at fuel plant after excess plutonium found
France's nuclear safety authority has suspended work at a nuclear fuel plant after discovering it had underestimated plutonium levels.
The ASN safety agency says the plant in Cadarache failed to notice and then waited months to report several extra kilograms of plutonium in closed spaces used to manipulate radioactive material.
The ASN said in a statement Wednesday "the incident had no consequences." But it issued a warning to plant operators and suspended work on dismantling the plant.
The plant, which manufactured fuel for nuclear plants for 40 years, is being decommissioned.
It was operated by French nuclear manufacturer Areva and belongs to the state Atomic Energy Commission, which reported the excess plutonium on Oct. 6.
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