A. Marching on in Michigan

On February 29th, activists in Michigan reactivated their legal efforts to stop shipments of MOX test assemblies to the Chalk River reactors in Ontario, Canada. The current suit is aimed at shipments due from Russia this spring. The shipments are part of Project Parallex, a plan for joint US-Russian testing of MOX fuel in CANDU reactors.

Last December, activists in Michigan and Canada succeeded in securing a 10-day temporary restraining order against the MOX shipments coming from the US, but a federal judge later lifted the order. The shipments were finally carried out in secret in the early morning hours of January 14.

The current suit argues that the US role in Project Parallex violates the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which requires a halt to the spread of nuclear weapons and immediate negotiations toward nuclear disarmament. By using CANDU reactors to burn weapons plutonium fuel, the plaintiffs argue, countries owning such reactors will see the feasibility of MOX fuel use as an excuse not to disarm. (Argentina, China, India, Pakistan, Romania, and South Korea have CANDU reactors - Turkey is ordering one.) The suit also calls for a closer examination of environmental and proliferation consequences of the Parallex test.

In addition to Michigan and Canadian plaintiffs, on March 22nd, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Nuclear Information and Resource Service announced that they are joining this lawsuit. More information on the NIRS website: www.nirs.org. A hearing to seek a preliminary injunction to halt the Russian MOX shipment is set for April 7th in Federal Court in Kalamazoo, MI.

Excerpt from a note from Michigan plaintiff Alice Hirt:

Dear Friends and Co-Plaintiffs (MOX BUSTERS!!) in this Campaign to NIX MOX,

"Our next hurdle is looming before us!!! We are well prepared but need immediate help with funds to cover costs involved with arguing our case in Court which includes the expense of bringing in expert witnesses.

"Thankfully and miraculously, our two attorneys, Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio and Kary Love of Holland, Michigan, are doing all the legal work absolutely pro bono….Nevertheless, we need financial help immediately with such expenses as travel cost for expert witnesses, accommodations, long distance phone bills, copying and transcript costs, etc.

"We are not talking about huge amounts of money, but everyone needs to chip in right now to help cover these immediate up-coming costs. We need to raise, at the very least, $4000-$5000. The DOE is powerful but nothing compared to the combined strength of those of us who know in our hearts and minds that MOX is deadly for the environment and all future generations!!!"

Sincerely,

Michigan Plaintiffs- Alice Hirt, Anabel Dwyer, Terry Miller, Robert Anderson, Kathryn Cumbow, Doris Vernon Schaller, and Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination

Checks/Money Orders to: (memo on check should note "NIX MOX")

The Peace Center is a 501c3 tax-deductible organization.

More information:

• Copy of current and previous legal documents: www.nirs.org/moxtritium/moxtrit.htm
• Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout (information on plutonium, CANDU): www.cnp.ca/issues/
• CNP March 2000 Action Alert: www.cnp.ca/cnp-pu-alert.html
• Summary Legal Opinion Regarding the Legality of a Decision of the Department of Transport Canada: www.cnp.ca/issues/cela-opinion-mox.html (Discusses legality of January MOX shipments from US.)

(Thanks to Kay Cumbow of Citizens for a Healthy Planet, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Terry Lodge, and Alice Hirt for this information.)

B. Stirring it up in Savannah

On March 25th, Citizens for Environmental Justice in Savannah, GA will hold a bi-state conference on MOX that will cover issues surrounding the Savannah River Site (SRS), decisions on plutonium disposition, and basic MOX information as well as concerns about health and safety aspects of the MOX program. The conference is a follow-up to a series of MOX information workshops held in January and February in directly-impacted African American communities downwind and downstream of SRS.

In addition to presentations, videos, and information sharing, participants will work together to draft conference recommendations and core elements of a Community Position Paper on Mixed Oxide Fuel to be released this spring.

WHEN: Saturday, March 25; 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Second Arnold Baptist Church; 1424 East 37th St., Savannah GA
MORE INFO: Imo Jawara or Dr. Mildred McClain: 912-233-0907

Please join us!

C. Stock Answers to MOX Questions

There's still time to help pass an anti-MOX resolution before Duke Energy shareholders at a vote coming up April 20th. Duke Energy owns four of six reactors slated to use MOX fuel. A resolution opposing the use of plutonium fuel in Duke reactors gained over 7% of shareholder votes last year (a very high number as such votes go) and an even greater number is expected this year.

EVEN IF YOU DON'T OWN DUKE STOCK, you can help!

How?

1. Many mutual funds and retirement funds include stock in energy utilities. The top holders of Duke stock might surprise you -- your retirement fund may well be among them. You can write to your investment manager to urge them to vote YES on the MOX resolution April 20th. To find address, names, sample letter, list of top funders and more, see: www.wand.org/issuesact/moxaction.html.

2. If you own no stock at all, you can still write to an investment research firm, upon whom many fund managers rely for advice on such votes, and urge them to recommend a YES vote on the MOX resolution.

Send a letter today to:

Social Investment Research Service
ATTN: Suzanne Harvey
1455 Research Blvd
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 301-545-4555

or:

Council of Institutional Investors
ATTN: Sophia Lynn
1730 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Suite 512
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-822-0800

For talking points on why Duke should not pursue MOX fuel, see Nuclear Control Institute's great factsheet, "Duke Power's Plan to Use Bomb-Plutonium Fuel Conceals Hidden Dangers and Costs," on the web at: www.nci.org/duke-mox-fs.htm.

Feeling really ambitious?

Addresses are available (in label-ready format) for the top thirty Duke shareholders. Several anti-MOX groups and individuals are sending letters to each of them urging a YES vote on the resolution. Join us in flooding these shareholders with letters opposing MOX! To get the list, write to rmills4@bcpl.net.

PLEASE ACT NOW - the Duke shareholders meeting is April 20th, but proxies have already been mailed out. We have a chance to make a big difference in this year's vote - please do "your share!"

(Thanks to Robin Mills of Maryland Safe Energy Coalition and Nuclear Control Institute for this information.)

D. From Duke to Dominion

If Duke owns four of the six reactors slated for MOX, who owns the other two?

The answer is VEPCo, a division of Dominion Resources and owner of the two North Anna reactors located near Mineral VA that plan on using MOX from weapons plutonium.

An anti-MOX proposal is not yet before Dominion shareholders, but the process is beginning. Robin Mills, of Maryland Safe Energy Coalition and main filer of the Duke proposal, is in the initial stages of finding supporters and co-filers to help him submit a similar anti-MOX resolution to Dominion. He will speak at Dominion's April 25th shareholder meeting in opposition to MOX and to ask if other shareholders will join him in fighting the use of MOX in the company. IF YOU OWN STOCK IN DOMINION RESOURCES, contact Robin Mills, or 410-662-8483.

A. BNFL: Scandal Unlimited

British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd. (BNFL), the Cumbria, UK-based nuclear corporation that has produced MOX for reactors in Europe and Japan, continues to wallow in new scandals, even as it attempts to undo the harm from its safety data falsification fiasco from several months ago. Germany and Japan have both banned imports of MOX fuel as a result of the scandals. (Germany is also threatening to cancel reprocessing contracts.)

Updates since February:

• In late February BNFL CEO John Taylor resigned following the release of highly critical safety reports pointing to "systematic management failures" at BNFL. Five workers were also fired over the incident - 35 are under orders to stay home until called back for training. In early March, Norman Askew, former executive in the US nuclear power industry, was hired as CEO.

• On Feb. 26, Halldor Asgrimsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland called for the closure of Sellafield, BNFL's reprocessing plant, as it poses a threat to the fishing industry which is central to Iceland's economy.

• On Feb. 29, Sweden announced that it would no longer send spent fuel to Sellafield for reprocessing.

• Switzerland, BNFL's only remaining MOX customer, discovered irregularities in safety data on MOX pellets in an inspection at BNFL in early March.

• On March 1st, Joe Jacob, Irish Minister of State at the Dept. of Public Enterprise, said the recent damning reports on BNFL could give Ireland the legal basis it would need to call for the closure of Sellafield. A Sinn Fein delegation is in Cumbria this week on a campaign to close Sellafield.

• On March 5th, the Nuclear Inspections Inspectorate (NII) impounded four batches of uranium fuel at BNFL's Springfields manufacturing site because cracks in the welding of the fuel assemblies made it unsafe for use in reactors. NII will begin a new investigation of uranium fuel production at Springfields. One inspector commented, "They don't seem to do anything right."

• On March 6th an Irish doctor, Dr. Mary Grehan, announced she is on the verge of proving a link between Sellafield discharges of radioactive cobalt and fatal illnesses in her patients. She noted cancer rates in her area are second only to those in Belarus, which was affected by Chernobyl.

• On March 7th, the London-based Independent newspaper revealed findings of an investigation showing that BNFL "moved the goalposts" on safety to save time and money on MOX pellet inspections.

• On March 8th, The Guardian newspaper reported that BNFL pays £500,000 a year to have its own employee in the British embassy in Japan. The embassy official negotiates on behalf of the British government on nuclear trade.

• In mid March House of Commons MD David Chaytor submitted an "Early Day Motion" calling on BNFL to focus on nuclear clean-up and forgo reprocessing in light of recent scandals. An similar motion, filed earlier, has 99 signatures.

• On March 17th, Friends of the Earth obtained a confidential strategy document entitled "Reputation Recovery" prepared for BNFL by a London lobby firm. The paper acknowledges a "crisis of confidence" in BNFL, and suggests media and public relations tactics to restore its reputation.

• On March 20st the British Ministry of Defence announced that in light of management concerns, it would review its contract with BNFL worth £2.2 billion to operate Britain's nuclear weapon facility located at Aldermaston. The contract was to begin April 1st.

• Also on March 20th, Germany's environmental minister announced that "there is no long-term prospect for reprocessing" German spent fuel and that on-site storage could be used instead. Germany accounts for 10-15 percent of BNFL's future reprocessing contracts.

• UK electricity company British Energy announced on March 21st that it will not use BNFL manufactured MOX fuel in the foreseeable future and questioned existing plans to reprocess spent fuel from its power plants.

• On March 21st a respected Sussex University economist told the House of Commons that there is "no commercial logic" behind MOX and BNFL should get out of the reprocessing and nuclear waste business altogether.

• The scandals have begun to affect BNFL's operations in the United States, where it holds billions of dollars of pending and existing contracts at Dept. of Energy nuclear sites. A coalition of groups is calling on DOE to bar BNFL from future US contracts; US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson declared that "business as usual is over with BNFL," and BNFL's competence is being called into question on pending contracts in Idaho and Washington states. USA Today reported on March 20th that a former DOE official who urged no action be taken on implementing pending safety regulations (citing the burden they would place on contractors) took a job with BNFL only two weeks after making this recommendation.

What next?

Stay tuned…. A press conference to announce the petition to debar BNFL in the US is scheduled for Thursday March 23rd in Washington DC. For a copy of the press release or for more information, contact Bob Schaeffer, bobschaeffer@earthlink.net.

More information:

• World Survey on Seallfield - compiled by Pete Roche of Greenpeace UK. Global commentary on problems with Sellafield and BNFL: www.greenpeace.org.uk/turnitoff.htm

• March 22nd New York Times article on BNFL's woes: http://www.wand.org/issuesact/moxbbdart1_3-22.html

• New Scientist article on the dismal fate of reprocessing: www.wand.org/issuesact/moxbbdart2_3-22.html

(Thanks to David Lowrey, Pete Roche of Greenpeace UK, Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, and Bob Schaeffer of Public Policy Communications for background stories and information.)

B. Russian Reprocessing

Proposals continue to be made for Russia to begin to accept tens of thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel from reactors around the world so that it can be stored and reprocessed, generating billions in foreign contracts. One proposal from the Russian Atomic Ministry calls for the import of 20,000 tons of spent fuel for storage and reprocessing in Siberia. The plan would require a change in Russia law which prohibits the import of nuclear waste.

Russian activists are working to oppose any such proposal and request your support. To see a sign-on letter strongly opposing these plans (just translated into English), see www.wand.org/issuesact/moxbbdart3_3-22.html. To sign on, send an email to: yablokov@glasnet.ru.

An excerpt:

"We categorically come out against the import and export of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. We are against earning "dirty" money in the morally unacceptable "waste business," which carries numerous misfortunes for current and future generations, we are against double standards.

"We hold that reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, which inevitably leads to the management of a large quantity of radioactive waste and to extraction of new quantities of plutonium, should be stopped in all countries.

"We are in favor of every future generation living in a less dangerous world."

C. Cogema Quality Control Questioned

Cogema, the French nuclear corporation that is the lead contractor in the US MOX program, is facing questions from the Belgian government about quality control on nuclear waste products generated at its La Hauge reprocessing facility. Belgium is slated to receive fifteen containers comprised of 28 vitrified waste canisters over a 7-year period, but notes that out of several thousand canisters produced, only one sample has ever been analyzed. The Belgian government cited recent quality control problems at BNFL and the extreme longevity of the waste as reasons for concern.

In a separate event, lawmakers and activists delivered a petition with 5,000 names to the French nuclear inquiry expressing concerns over radioactive releases from Cogema's La Hague facility. The public inquiry is to rule on a planned expansion of the plant. The petitioners were from Guernsey, British-dependent islands in the English Channel.

(Thanks to Pete Roche for this information.)

A. NNSA - New Home for Pu Disposition

March 1st marked the first day of operations of the newly created National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA). The Fissile Materials Disposition program falls under this new agency.

The creation of NNSA raises serious concerns about government secrecy, public access to information, and regulatory oversight. One specific concern is a provision that weakens process for bringing health and safety violation claims against the department. Prior to NNSA, the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environment, Safety, and Health could directly impose fines under the Price-Anderson Act for violations of nuclear safety rules at nuclear facilities. Now, the Assistant Secretary must develop a recommendation to submit to the Administrator of the NNSA, who then decides upon imposing fines. Essentially, NNSA would be asked to fine itself.

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability has submitted testimony outlining concerns about external regulation of DOE and the NNSA in particular. For more information contact ANA at 202-833-4668.

(Thanks to Maureen Eldredge of ANA for this information.)

B. Still Time to Comment on the SRP

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced an extension of the deadline for comments on its draft licensing plan for construction of a MOX fabrication facility at SRS. Public comment will now be taken until March 27th (more information on how to comment below).

Submitting comments on NUREG-1718 ("Standard Review Plan for the Review of an Application for a Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility") is important if you think you will want to pursue legal action against the MOX program in the future. To do so, you need to begin to establish legal standing now.

Environmentalists Inc., of Columbia, SC, is pursuing efforts to initiate an administrative proceeding to evaluate NUREG 1718 in light of inadequacies in the document. Through this effort EI wants to increase public access to and understanding of the provisions discussed in this thoroughly daunting regulatory tome. As it establishes criteria by which safety provisions for a MOX plant will be judged, public understanding of NUREG 1718 is vital. For information on this effort, contact Ruth Thomas, 803-782-3000.

A free single copy of NUREG-1718 can be obtained by faxing or sending a written request to NRC Distribution Services, fax # 301-415-2289; phone 301-415-2070, email distribution@nrc.gov. To talk to a real live person contact Andrew Persinko, Office of Nuclear Material and Safeguards, US NRC, Washington DC 20555; 301-415-6522.

Mail written comments to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555- 0001.

C. Racial Discrimination Lawsuit at SRS

In October, 1997, 10 black employees at SRS filed a suit alleging site contractors Westinghouse, Babcock and Wilcox, Bechtel, and British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. discriminated against black employees by denying them pay raises and promotions and assigned them more often to high-risk jobs at the facility. The contractors deny the allegations.

In one incidence cited by the plaintiffs, a black SRS employee received his lifetime allowable dose of radiation after exposure to plutonium, but was not told of this until ten years after the fact. His efforts to move to a less high-risk position were thwarted by SRS management, though they did request he donate his body to science. Due to health reasons, this employee has had to stop working and must take an arsenal of medications each day to manage his illnesses.

The suit now has nearly 100 plaintiffs and was the subject of a story on CBS TV's 60 Minutes in January (it included an interview by Mike Wallace with the employee mentioned above). A preliminary hearing on the case will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 26th at the Federal Court building in Aiken, SC. The Employees United Legal Defense Fund (EULDF), the organization fighting this case, is requesting that as many people as possible attend this hearing to show their support. Attendees are asked to wear all black attire.

For background articles on this lawsuit, see the EULDF website, www.euldfinc.org. EULDF is seeking financial assistance to help fight this case. Checks can be made out to EULDF and mailed to: Janice D. Johnson, Rt. 1, Box 490, Collins, GA, 30421. (Ms. Johnson is an employee of SRS and core member of EULDF and welcomes inquiries and assistance with this case. Her number is: 706-733-6665.)

D. MOX News Straight from the DOE's Mouth

Kevin Kamps of Nuclear Information and Resource Service has generously provided us with an unofficial transcript (laboriously typed by Kevin himself) of a March 13th presentation by Laura Holgate, Director of DOE's Office Fissile Material Disposition, to the Advisory Board to the Secretary of Energy on Plutonium Disposition in Russia. It can be found at: www.wand.org/issuesact/moxbbdart4_3-22.html.

Her comments include updates on US-Russian negotiations (just one hurdle remaining?), international strategies for funding the Russian disposition program, discussion of which Russian or Ukrainian reactors could be used for MOX, and strategies for increasing the rate of plutonium burn-up. Possible safety red flag for reactor buffs: Holgate mentions the possibility of using more than a 1/3 MOX core in VVER-1000 reactors.

E. More on Plutonium Exposure at SRS

A report on the Sept. 1 1999 incident at SRS in which seven workers inhaled plutonium was released in February. Among the findings:

• "At least" seven workers were exposed, additional workers are being evaluated. This is the first indication that additional workers may have been exposed.

• Quality assurance was determined to be inadequate to identify a weld defect in a bagless transfer system canister which contained plutonium.

• Implementation of integrated safety management for plutonium vault operations was deemed "inadequate to provide worker protection."

The report, "Type B Accident Investigation Board Report of the September 1, 1999, Plutonium Intakes at the Savannah River Site FB-Line" is on the web at: www.srs.gov/general/people/doe-sr/doe-oea/fb_line.pdf but is very difficult to read. A hard copy can be obtained from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board by writing to Connie Hundemer at CONNIEH@DNFSB.GOV.

A. BNFL Inc. Website of BNFL Inc., (the US subsidiary of BNFL Ltd.) which shows locations of BNFL contracts in the US:
http://www.bnflinc.com/where.html.

B. SRS Information

• SRS Citizen's Advisory Board (minutes, recommendations, upcoming meetings)
  www.srs.gov/general/people/srs-cab/info.html

• SRS "Happening Now" page (emergency announcements and new web postings)
  www.srs.gov/general/srhapnow/hapnow.htm

• Health Protection at SRS: (records of incidents, monitoring, and more)
  http://tis-nt.eh.doe.gov/ohre/new/findingaids/epidemiologic/savannah/index.html

C. Plutonium Newsletter

Plutonium Investigation Special issue on the USA from WISE Paris
(great resource):
www.pu-investigation.org/gb/17-18/intro.html

D. CANDU and More

Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout webpage on MOX, CANDU and more:
www.cnp.ca/issues/

E. DOE Budget Information

www.cfo.doe.gov/budget/01budget