CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 10/17/14 through 10/24/14

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

* Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Lawsuits Gain Momentous Support

Over 70 leaders from 22 countries delivered a letter to the people and government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in support of their courageous action in April when they filed nine unprecedented lawsuits in the International Court of Justice to hold the nine nuclear-armed states accountable for flagrant violations of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law.  http://www.wagingpeace.org/nuclearzero/

In a strong show of unity and encouragement, the leaders included Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire; letter coordinator John Hallam, of People for Nuclear Disarmament/Human Survival Project, in Australia; and many other peace and social justice leaders, such as Kathy Wanpovi Sanchez, of Tewa Women United, based in Española, New Mexico.

The letter says, “In taking this action, you, and any governments that choose to join you, are acting on behalf of all the seven billion people who now live on Earth and on behalf of the generations yet unborn who could never be born if nuclear weapons are ever used in large numbers. You are also acting on behalf of all our ancestors throughout tens of millennia who will have their intellectual, cultural and scientific achievements cancelled should humanity terminate itself through the inadvertent or deliberate use of nuclear weapons.”

Further, the leaders wrote, “Win or lose in the coming legal arguments, what you, and any who join you, will do has the deepest moral significance, going far beyond the specific interests of any country or government and beyond the usual calculations of national self-interest.”

The island nation, located in the northern Pacific Ocean, has a population of about 70,000 people who live on 24 low-lying coral atolls. From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. government used the islands for above-ground testing of 67 nuclear weapons.

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a consultant to the Marshall Islands on the legal and moral issues of the case, commented, “The Marshall Islanders are unselfishly acting for the good of all humanity. This small island nation is the true David standing up to the nine nuclear Goliaths. The Marshallese people have suffered irreparable damage from the U.S. nuclear testing program. Yet this lawsuit does not seek monetary reparations. Rather, it seeks the fulfillment of promises made for negotiations for the total elimination of nuclear weapons so that no other nation will suffer as they have. The courage of this small island nation is remarkable.”

The Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum, presented the letter to Parliament on the last day of their 2014 session.

To read the letter in its entirety, go to wagingpeace.org. To learn more about the unprecedented litigation, visit nuclearzero.org.

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 10/10/14 through 10/17/14

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• South Carolina Court of Appeals Upholds Sierra Club Challenge to Barnwell Nuclear Waste Operations

At the end of the month, the owners of the Barnwell nuclear waste disposal site and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control must present their remedial plan to the South Carolina Court of Appeals for preventing radioactive tritium from seeping into groundwater and migrating away from the dump site.

The tritium levels in some of the monitoring wells located over one-half mile from the site are well above the Safe Drinking Water Act limits of 20,000 picocuries per liter. Despite the overwhelming evidence of migrating pollutants, Barnwell and the Department allowed rainwater to travel through unlined waste disposal trenches, some since operations began 43-years ago.

The Sierra Club challenged that practice first in 2004 when the operating license for Barnwell was up for renewal. The group challenged the inadequate design and operating practices of dumping nuclear waste in shallow unlined pits left open to rainfall. ChemNuclear and the Department promised that the dump would remain secure for hundreds of years. Despite the promises, it took a mere 20 years for the radioactive plume to reach the nearby Mary’s Branch Creek, which flows into the Savannah River.

The Club’s lawyers, Jimmy Chandler of the South Carolina Law Project, Amy Armstrong, of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, Midlands lawyer, Bob Guild, and the Club’s nuclear expert “exposed the lax practices and cover-ups by industry as well as the complacency of [the Department] in failing to correct the glaring deficiencies which allowed the contamination to continue.” The Club appealed the 2005 Administrative Law Court’s decision to re-license the site and urged covering the open burial sites.

Susan Corbett, the Club’s chapter chair, said, “Every nuclear waste site in this country has leaked and most are still leaking. It’s very difficult, using the shallow land burial method, to keep nuclear waste from getting into the groundwater. This is not benign or short-lived material. It includes highly radioactive nuclear power plant component wastes that include uranium and plutonium which may well follow the tritium into the groundwater in years to come.”

ChemNuclear is owned by Energy Solutions, a Utah-based nuclear waste disposal corporation. Energy Solutions is also the contractor who proposed to add organic kitty litter to the Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear waste as a form of waste treatment. At least one of the treated waste drums exploded at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in February, resulting in its closure.

Corbett added, “We can’t trust corporations or even our own government agencies to protect us. We as citizens have to be vigilant and make sure the rules are actually being followed and the best practices are being practiced.”

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 10/3/14 through 10/10/14

 (THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• DOE Inspector General Releases Report about Failure of Waste Procedures Resulting in Indefinite WIPP Shut Down

In a hard-hitting special inquiry report, the Inspector General of the Department of Energy (DOE) cites major flaws in the procedures used by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to develop, approve and change its waste characterization requirements that led to the indefinite shut down of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) on February 14^th, following the explosion of at least one waste drum from LANL. http://energy.gov/ig/downloads/management-alert-doeig-0922  It contained plutonium and other radionuclides, which were detected one-half mile from the facility.

Written procedures are the foundation for operating nuclear facilities. There are procedures about how to develop them, about how they are approved, and how they may be changed. Failure of DOE and its LANL and WIPP contractors to follow the fundamental procedures can result in accidents that shut down key facilities, such as WIPP. The Inspector General also cites the failure of management to properly oversee the written procedural process.

The report says, “Of particular concern, not all waste management procedures at LANL were properly vetted through the established procedure revision process nor did they conform to established environmental requirements.” The environmental requirements include compliance with the hazardous waste permits issued by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) for LANL and WIPP. The permits contain extensive requirements for understanding the characteristics of the waste through documentation and testing before it may be shipped off-site. If the waste will not meet the shipment requirements, LANL is allowed to treat the waste, if it follows permit requirements. The critical requirement is that all the treatment must be compatible with the waste in order to avoid resulting chemical reactions, such as the explosion at WIPP.

The report examines how LANL and its contractors changed the waste characterization procedures to allow for the use of organic, or carbon-based, kitty litter and liquid acid neutralizers, which were not compatible with the nitrate wastes. The nitrate wastes are created by on-going LANL plutonium operations.

In a related report released this week, DOE says that it plans to reopen WIPP in March 2016.  http://www.wipp.energy.gov/wipprecovery/recovery.html  But there is uncertainty about whether this is a realistic timeline, especially since the cause of the release is not known, which is necessary to prevent further accidents. The WIPP underground is now contaminated with plutonium, but the new DOE plan says it will not be decontaminated. A new air ventilation system is required.

Joni Arends, of CCNS, says, “Now is the time to call for suspension of plutonium operations at LANL. Everyday new waste is created that is destined for WIPP. It remains unknown whether WIPP could ever re-open. Contact your congressional members and let them know your concerns.”

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 9/26/14 through 10/3/14

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• National Cancer Institute in New Mexico to Interview People Living at the Time of the 1945 Trinity Test

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) scientists are in New Mexico this week to interview a small group of Elders who were living at the time of the July 16^th, 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test. These interviews are part of the Pilot Study, Phase One, of the NCI Trinity Study. http://dceg.cancer.gov/research/how-we-study/exposure-assessment/trinity The investigators will ask the Elders about the diet and life ways of the time, which could reveal ways that people were exposed to the fallout plume. The second phase will include the NCI scientists talking with focus groups, composed of those living under the fallout plume. A map of the plume is available at sacredtrustnm.org.

NCI is a division within the federal Health and Human Services Department. http://www.cancer.gov/ It is conducting the study to determine the cancer risks to the entire population living in New Mexico at the time. Because there is a lack of documentation about diets and ways of life of land-based Peoples in the 1940s, estimates of the radiation exposure cannot yet be made.

In 2007, then-Senator Jeff Bingaman wrote the Health and Human Services Department asking it for a range of the number of cancers that would be expected as a result of exposure to the radioactive fallout. He also asked for an estimate of the cancers that would occur naturally in the local New Mexico communities. Bingaman DHHS 10-30-07 HHS response Feb 21 2008 The interviews and focus group responses will assist in answering those questions.

Over the past year, Las Mujeres Hablan, a network of women led community organizations in New Mexico, has provided their time and expertise on a pro bono basis to inform and educate the NCI Trinity Study Team about community history, culture and experience in relationship to the Trinity test.

Las Mujeres Hablan members actively participated in the work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the ten-year Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment Project (LAHDRA). lahdra.org  Because the Trinity atomic weapon was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the final LAHDRA report included an entire chapter about it. The report emphasized that approximately 4.8 kilograms, or over 10.5 pounds, of plutonium-239 did not fission. Because the detonation took place on a 50-foot tower, and not in the atmosphere, the plutonium more directly contacted the environment.  Las Mujeres Hablan has a special interest to make sure the unfissioned plutonium is addressed because the internal exposure to plutonium may be significant, especially for individuals exposed to heavy fallout and re-suspended dust particles.

To learn more about the study, please contact Silvia Salazar, the NCI Audience Research and Informatics Laboratory Manager at the Analytics and Audience Research Branch, at (240) 276-6631.

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 9/19/14 through 9/26/14

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• LANL Plutonium Facility Is Priority Concern for DNFSB

Citing its priority concerns across the nuclear weapons complex in a recent letter to the Department of Energy (DOE), the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board once again raised the vulnerability of the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to a collapse and fire resulting from an earthquake.  In November 2012, LANL estimated that such an event could release radioactive materials to the public located off-site at a level of approximately 940 rems.  http://www.dnfsb.gov/sites/default/files/Board%20Activities/Reports/Site%20Rep%20Weekly%20Reports/Los%20Alamos%20National%20Laboratory/2013/wr_20130201_65.pdf  One rem is a large dose of radiation and exposure to 100 rems or more over a short amount of time can cause acute radiation syndrome and death.

DOE then proposed plans to mitigate the impacts of a possible catastrophic release, but has run into some yet-to-be-resolved problems. The mitigation measures could reduce the off-site exposures by 30 to 60 percent, but that would still mean a release of between 376 rems and 658 rems, which are still above DOE’s own 25 rem limit. Plutonium operations at the facility have been halted and portions restarted.

Kevin Roark, a LANL spokesperson, said, “Progress has been made over the summer toward resuming activities in [the Plutonium Facility] and we continue to work on resuming the remaining activities as quickly and safely as possible.”

In addition, the Board recently released a report about emergency preparedness and response of the DOE’s nuclear weapons complex.  http://www.dnfsb.gov/sites/default/files/Board%20Activities/Recommendations/rec_2014-1_25051_0.pdf   They state that emergency preparedness and response “is the last line of defense to prevent public and worker exposure to hazardous materials.”

And the DOE Inspector General recently released a report entitled, “The Readiness of the Department’s Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center,” about emergency preparedness.  http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/08/f18/S13IS012%20FRMAC%20Final%20Report%2008282014_1.pdf

The Board cites problems that are similar to those experienced during the May 2000 Cerro Grande fire at LANL when DOE emergency response personnel left about half of the portable air monitors on the tarmac in Nevada. They never went back to get them, and as a result, many areas under the enormous smoke plume were not monitored. Further, DOE did not monitor the smoke plume even though it was one of its emergency response requirements to send radiation monitors up in planes. These are a few examples of the types of systematic problems encountered in February at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) when two events occurred involving a fire and radiation release.

Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, “There are so deficiencies in the DOE’s emergency response capabilities, equipment maintenance and replacement, and training that must be addressed now. In order to operate facilities handling plutonium, all emergency response capabilities must be in tiptop condition. Congress must provide priority emergency preparedness funding to DOE before funding any expansion of nuclear weapons production. What is national security if we can’t protect ourselves from potential catastrophic events at facilities designed to protect national security?”

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at http:// www.nuclearactive.org.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 9/12/14 through 9/19/14

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

* WIPP Recovery Information to be Released Next Week

Information about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recovery plans will be released next week at a New Mexico Legislative Committee Meeting on Tuesday, September 16^th and at the WIPP Town Hall on Thursday, September 18^th, both of which will be held in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It is anticipated recovery would take at least two years following the February 14^th release of plutonium and americium from at least one waste container shipped by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) that exploded in the underground dump for nuclear bomb waste.

On Tuesday, September 16^th, the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee of the New Mexico Legislature will meet at the Western Commerce Bank Community Room, located at 3010 National Parks Highway in Carlsbad, from 10 am to 5 pm.  http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/committee_detail.aspx?CommitteeCode=RHMC  In the morning, presentations will be made by Dana Bryson, the Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office Deputy Manager, about the status of WIPP, and by Terry Wallace, the LANL Principal Associate Director for Global Security, about the status of LANL.

In the afternoon, presentations will be made by Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, about the environmental response; by Russell Hardy, Director of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, New Mexico State University, about the WIPP monitoring; and by Ryan Flynn, Secretary of the state Environment Department, and their consultant, Dr. Ines Triay, about the Environment Department response. Dr. Triay is the former manager of WIPP.

In recent weeks Environment Department Secretary Flynn has expressed frustration with DOE because they have not provided all of the requested information. As a regulator of WIPP and LANL, the Environment Department can impose fines and penalties on both sites. Flynn said that DOE has been muzzling scientists who possess critical information.

On Thursday, September 18^th at 5:30 pm MST, the DOE will discuss its WIPP recovery activities, but not release the Recovery Plan, during the bimonthly town hall meeting at the Carlsbad City Hall. It will be webcast at http://new.livestream.com/rrv

The Recovery Plan has been under review by DOE Headquarters for months. Some recovery activities have already taken place, including radiological surveys of the mine floor and putting the waste hoist back into service. Recently, workers began preparations to resume maintenance work on the rock bolts used to hold the ceiling in place, but first they are doing maintenance on the equipment needed to do the work.

Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, said, “The WIPP underground cannot be completely decontaminated. The Recovery Plan should describe what DOE deems acceptable levels of cleanup and worker exposure. It should also provide realistic costs and schedules for the proposed activities and be subject to public review.”  http://www.sric.org

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org.

2014 Gathering for Mother Earth flyer

CCNS NEWS UPDATE
Runs 9/5/14 through 9/12/14

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

*   Eighteenth Annual Gathering for Mother Earth to be Held September 27th and September 28th in Pojoaque

The eighteenth annual Gathering for Mother Earth, sponsored by Tewa Women United, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 27th and 28th, in Pojoaque. The event, which is open to the public of all cultures of all ages, seeks to honor Mother Earth for her lifegivingness.  The Gathering is a time for community unity to protect the most vulnerable people, including pregnant women, infants and farmers, especially those living around production sites for nuclear weapons.  http://tewawomenunited.org/

Both days will begin with a sunrise service at 6:30 am.  Saturday’s scheduled program will begin around 9 am and include mini-gathering circles and workshops, ending around 5 p.m.  Local Native dancer groups and others will perform, including Jon Naranjo’s Family Dancers, The Danza Mexika Dancers, Indigie Femme and others, Beverly Doxtator of Native Lifeways, Inc., and Katia Delgado and others from Peru who will grace attendees with their spiritual wisdom.

A delicious communal meal will be provided, followed by entertainment by local poets from 100,000 Poets for Change.

The Sunday sunrise service will include a blessing for the relay runners participating in the Sacred Relay Run.  At 7:30 am, the runners will begin the run at Tsankawi, the ancestral Pueblo homelands near Los Alamos, and end at the Gathering site.

At 10 am there will be Memorials for Beloved Elders and Youth Leader.  Tributes will be given for the Late Beloved Vincent Harding and Late Elder Johnson Bluehorse.  A Tribute for Youthful Loss will be given for Victor Villalpando, the 16-year old El Rito youth shot and killed by an Espanola police officer in June.

The Gathering will close around 1 pm when there will be a traditional distribution of gifts.

Kathy Sanchez, of Tewa Women United and organizer of the Gathering, said, “Let us all celebrate cultural ways of sharing love and gratitude for our Earth Mother — to show love for her will heal our hearts of grief and overwhelming sense of loss we feel as violence pressures us to be numb and do violence to ourselves and others.  It is time to unite for eco-systemic revival.”

She added, “The emphasis of the Gathering is on healing Mother Earth to bring sacredness back into our homes of earth-based living.  We need to encourage all cultures, all ages, schools, communities and families to bring intergenerational thinking to holistic ways of active healing.”

The Gathering will be held at Pojoaque Ben’s Gathering Grounds on Highway 502, 1.8 miles west of the interchange with Highways 285 and 84, near the Pojoaque High School.  Please bring your own dishes and water bottle.  To volunteer, please call (505) 747-3259.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  To learn more, please visit our website at www.nuclearactive.org.

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

*  Join the Nuclear-Free, Carbon-Free Contingent at the September 21st People’s Climate March in New York City

On September 21, 2014, the Nuclear-Free, Carbon-Free Contingent will join the historic People’s Climate March in New York City to demand immediate action from all of the governments of the world to slash climate-changing emissions in all sectors of society.  They say that nuclear power cannot solve the climate crisis and that its continued use exacerbates the problem by preventing the deployment of clean energy systems.  Their slogan is “No Nukes, No Coal, No Kidding!  Don’t Nuke the Climate!”

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service, based in Takoma Park, Maryland, is taking the lead for the Contingent.  They say that a nuclear-free, carbon-free energy system is a necessity and define it as a “system that relies not on antiquated energy models of the 20th century and their polluting nuclear power and fossil fuel technologies, but on a safe, clean, affordable and sustainable renewable energy, energy efficiency, and modern grid technologies of the 21st century.”

They argue that nuclear power is too dangerous, too dirty, too expensive and too slow.  It is too dangerous because expanded use would inevitably lead to more Fukushimas and Chernobyls.  New designs for nuclear reactors exist only on paper and cannot be brought to the commercial marketplace in time to have a meaningful impact on climate change.  Further, the technology and materials needed to generate nuclear energy can be diverted to nuclear weapons programs.

Nuclear power is too dirty because the nuclear fuel chain produces vast amounts of lethal radioactive and toxic waste.  The nuclear fuel chain is responsible for far more carbon emissions than renewable energy generation and improved energy efficiency.

Nuclear power is the most expensive means possible for reducing carbon and methane emissions.  Its use crowds out investment in clean energy sources.

Construction of nuclear power plants would require an unprecedented nuclear construction program, which would be beyond the capability of the world’s manufacturers within an acceptable time frame.

The Contingent argues that “clean energy, including solar, wind, appropriately-sited geothermal, increased energy efficiency, distributed generation, electricity storage and other advanced technologies, can meet the world’s electricity needs without radiation releases, carbon and methane emissions and other pollutants.  All that is lacking is the political will to rapidly deploy these clean technologies.”

You are cordially invited to be part of the largest, most visible outpouring of public support ever for immediate action on the climate crisis and against nuclear power as a counterproductive climate solution.  Michael Marriott, of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, wrote that the March “can be the largest anti-nuclear power outpouring in decades-but that depends on you.”  For more information, please visit nirs.org.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information, please visit nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

* WIPP Worker Harmed by Vehicle Fire Sues Operators for Negligence

William Utter, a waste handler at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), and his family filed a personal injury lawsuit in the New Mexico District Court in Santa Fe against the current and former contractors for injuries sustained when the salt hauling truck caught fire on February 5, 2014.   Utter continues to suffer from smoke inhalation and other injuries.  The family is suing Southwest Safety Specialists, Inc., a company charged with maintaining the fire suppression system; Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, the current operating contractor; Washington TRU Solutions, LLC, the previous operating contractor; and URS Energy and Construction, the lead partner operating contractor; for personal injury, negligence, premises liability, intentional and willful conduct, loss of consortium, damages, and punitive damages.  The Utters are asking for a six-person jury trial.  Utter v. Southwest Safety Specialists, Inc., Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, Washington TRU Solutions, LLC, URS Energy & Construction, Inc.

Utter was in the underground mine when the salt hauling vehicle caught on fire.  He was among the 86 workers who were evacuated, some who had difficulty seeing the markers indicating the way to the elevator hoist to exit the mine located 2,150 feet below the surface.  Utter was one of the 13 workers who were treated for smoke inhalation.  He continues to be treated by respiratory specialists in Albuquerque and Denver.

The complaint relies upon the facts uncovered during the internal Department of Energy (DOE) investigation by the Accident Investigation Board.  http://energy.gov/em/articles/doe-finalizes-wipp-fire-investigation-report  It found that the underground mine fire was entirely preventable and that the DOE and its WIPP contractors created dangerous conditions for the workers.

The salt hauling truck is nearly 30 years old.  In 2003, Southwest Safety Specialists removed the automatic fire suppression system from the truck and installed a manual fire suppression system, which failed to perform properly.  In 2005, there was another fire involving this vehicle, caused by an electrical short.  Nevertheless, the contractors did not reinstall the automatic fire suppression system.

On February 5th, the truck operator tried to use the manual fire suppression system and a portable fire extinguisher, which both failed.  As a result, the fire created and spread extensive smoke, soot, toxins, and other dangerous airborne particulates and chemicals in the underground.  Further, the evacuation alarm was not adequate, the public address system did not work properly, and the contractors switched the air system from ventilation to filtration, contrary to standard mine safety requirements.  DOE and its contractors did not adequately train the workers for underground fires and some workers struggled with using the self-rescue respiratory masks.

Nuclear Waste Partnership became the operating contractor in October 2012 for a five-year contract term, with a five-year extension option through September 30, 2022.  The possible value of the 10-year contract exceeds $1.3 billion.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information, please visit http://www.nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook. 

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

*  New Mexicans Attend the Compliance Review of the United States by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva

This week delegations from around the world and New Mexico presented to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination on Racial Discrimination (CERD) during their review of treaty compliance by the United States.  The CERD is an 18-member UN Treaty body that monitors compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.  Over 175 State Parties ratified the Treaty.  The U.S. ratified it in 1994 and is bound by all provisions of the Treaty.  The Committee received alternative information from New Mexicans, including representatives from the South West Organizing Project (SWOP), http://www.swop.net/, and the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE), http://masecoalition.org/, which directly challenged the U.S. assessment of its compliance.

In June 2013, the U.S. submitted a compliance report to the CERD.  In June of this year, Albuquerque-based SWOP, and MASE, a network of organizations based in the Grants uranium belt, submitted alternative or shadow reports to the Committee.

The MASE shadow report addressed uranium mining and milling wastes that, after more than 30 years, still have not been remediated in Milan, Church Rock, and throughout northwestern New Mexico.  The unremediated wastes keep contaminating the air, land and water, while at the same time the U.S. government and state governments continue to permit new uranium mines.  The impacts from both historic waste and new mining fall primarily on Indigenous communities.

The SWOP report outlines the unequal implementation and enforcement of air pollution laws in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County by local regulatory agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Local laws effectively segregate low-income and minority populations into neighborhoods that face high pollution and high health risks.  For example, community efforts to sample the air in the San Jose neighborhood revealed that concentrations of the volatile organic compound chlorobenzene are 10 times higher than concentrations typically found in urban ambient air and are above the reference concentrations of the EPA.  Chlorobenzene is a solvent and long-term exposure of humans affects the central nervous system.  In the Mountain View neighborhood, there are more cases of lung, bladder, and brain cancer and leukemia than statistically expected.  These neighborhoods do not have adequate means to seek redress from their unequal treatment under the current interpretation of federal environmental and civil rights laws.

After the review process, CERD will publish its Concluding Observations, which include recommendations for actions the U.S. should take to fulfill its commitment under the treaty to eliminate racial discrimination in its policies and practices.  The CERD Concluding Observations along with the Alternative Reports are available online: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information, please visit http://www.nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.