• Russian Icebreaker to Help U.S. Polar Star in Antarctica
  
• U.S. Contractor Will Replace Russian Plutonium Power with Coal
  
• Tropical Islands to Get Hurricane Forecast-Warning System
  
• Army, EPA Sign Watershed Management Agreement
  
• Radioactive Abandoned Nevada Copper Mine Handed to Feds
  
• Turtles Die in New Fishing Gear Designed to Protect Them
  
• Lake Tahoe Warming Twice as Fast as Oceans
  
• EPA Issues Draft Metals Risk Assessment Framework
  

Russian Icebreaker to Help U.S. Polar Star in Antarctica

U.S. Contractor Will Replace Russian Plutonium Power with Coal

The project is part of an effort to permanently shut down the last three weapons-grade plutonium production reactors in Russia.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has signed a $285 million contract with the Washington Group International, Inc. (WGI) to refurbish an existing coal fired heat and electricity plant. The two reactors in Seversk, a nuclear weapons site near Tomsk, Russia, produce enough plutonium to make a few bombs per week.

"I am pleased we have reached the point where a contract is now in place for the refurbishment of electric power generating facilities which will allow us to shut down the plutonium production plants in Seversk, Russia, said NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks.

"The continued operation of these plutonium production plants causes both nonproliferation and nuclear safety concerns, and when shut down will be two less sources of nuclear weapons grade plutonium. I look forward to the continued cooperation with our Russian partners on worldwide nonproliferation issues."

NNSA and its Russian counterpart, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), will work cooperatively with WGI, a U.S. contractor, and Rosatomstroi, the Russian integrating contractor, to procure equipment and manage construction.

The project at Seversk will involve refurbishing or replacing existing coal-fired boilers, providing one new high pressure coal-fired boiler, replacing turbine generators, completing construction of the fuel supply system, and refurbishing the industrial heating unit and ancillary systems. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2008.

Another equally important part of the mission is to shut down the third plutonium production reactor near Zheleznogorsk, another nuclear weapons site in Russia. Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow has approved the cost and schedule range for this project, which will help facilitate the permanent shutdown of the remaining plutonium production reactor.

Tropical Islands to Get Hurricane Forecast-Warning System

"Hurricanes Mitch and Georges and other tropical storms caused widespread destruction and loss of life in the Caribbean, U.S. Gulf Coast, and four Central American nations because of flooding and landslides," said Joseph Golden, a senior meteorologist at NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

"We wanted to devise a flood/landslide warning system to help save lives and protect property in these vulnerable areas," he said.

The system would include satellite and surface based observations to track and broadcast dangerous levels of precipitation.

There will be atmospheric and hydrological models to predict short term runoff and streamflow changes, geologic models to warn when and where landslides and debris flows are imminent, and the capability to communicate this information to the appropriate government offices.

"This is a collaboration between NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and NASA over the past few years," Golden said. A workshop was held in August in San Juan, Puerto Rico to develop a science plan.

The three agencies will develop a prototype for floods and landslides and test it over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico was chosen as a test site because there is a National Weather Service office, NEXRAD (Next Generation Radar) that can measure both precipitation and wind, and an extensive rain gauge network operated by the USGS.

The Dominican Republic has had two devastating landslide events so far this year.

"There was a great loss of life during these storms, primarily because of flash flooding and landslides of overly saturated earth," Golden said. "Much of the population affected was in the rural areas where information is difficult to obtain and to disseminate. We think this system will help alleviate those problems."

At the AGU meeting Golden presented a preliminary proof-of-concept study for the May 21-24, 2004 floods and debris-flows over the island of Hispanola to demonstrate how the combination of data, models, and color graphics create guidance products that can be given to local weather offices and emergency managers to be used in issuing fast response warnings.

Golden said the next step is to publish a science plan from the workshop and use it to secure funding from international funding agencies.

Army, EPA Sign Watershed Management Agreement

The agreement was signed on November 19 but only made public on Monday.

Representatives of the two agencies said they intend to work together to try to resolve conflicts and seek consensus on watershed issues "in a public, inclusive and collaborative manner."

The EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Ben Grumbles, who signed the partnership agreement, said the new relationship will "foster innovative approaches to finding effective answers to the many challenges and demands facing the nation’s watersheds today and in the future."

The EPA seeks to ensure drinking water is safe, and to restore and maintain the nation’s aquatic resources for human health, to support economic and recreational activities, and to provide healthy habitat for fish, plants and wildlife.

“Managing water resources on a holistic watershed basis makes good sense – environmentally, financially and socially," Grumbles said.

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works John Paul Woodley, Jr., who signed the agreement for the Army, called it, "a great example of the benefits that can be created when federal agencies come together to work toward a common goal and share a common vision."

The Corps attempts to balance competing demands on the nation’s critical water resources through flood control, navigation, recreation, and infrastructure and environmental stewardship.

The two agencies say they will attempt to facilitate communication among all stakeholders and interested parties, enhance data exchange, and promote the development of innovative approaches to water resource and watershed management.

For a copy of the partnership agreement and more information on wetlands management, visit the Corps' Regulatory Branch website at: http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/cecwo/reg/, EPA’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/, or the wetlands mitigation website at: http://www.mitigationactionplan.gov

Radioactive Abandoned Nevada Copper Mine Handed to Feds

Earlier this month, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) asked the federal agency to take on the responsibility as lead agency to assure the adequate cleanup of the mine.

The Yerington mine site, about 55 miles southeast of Reno, is located on six square miles, half of it federal land.

The site produced copper for the Anaconda Company for about 30 years until 1978. The new owner, the Arimetco Company, abandoned the site in 2000 after going bankrupt.

Since 2000, the NDEP, EPA and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), have been addressing pollution at the site. The soil and groundwater at the site are contaminated with several different metals - including copper, lead, arsenic, and mercury - and radioactive materials, including uranium and thorium.

"Our goal is to build on the progress which has already been made by the agencies," said Keith Takata, director of the EPA's Superfund program for the Pacific Southwest region. "As lead agency, we will be able to use the Superfund law to address the complex technical issues at the site."

Lyon County, the city of Yerington and the Yerington Paiute Tribe all support the NDEP's request.

The NDEP's request stemmed from recent information showing that the site is "significantly more complex than previous data indicated," the state agency said.

Samples analyzed last summer indicated levels of radiation in soil samples as high as 30 times above the EPA's standard. Earlier this year, groundwater testing of drinking water wells revealed uranium concentrations ranging from four times above the EPA's standard in some wells to as much as 200 times above the standard.

The EPA will be the lead agency responsible for the site cleanup, in accordance with the Superfund law. Under the Superfund law, EPA generally requires the parties responsible for the pollution to implement the cleanup. The EPA anticipates working with the Atlantic Richfield Company, a prior owner of the site, to implement the clean up.

Turtles Die in New Fishing Gear Designed to Protect Them

In the first three quarters of 2004, the longline tuna fishery killed all 10 olive ridley sea turtles snagged on longlines.

Because the fishery has exceeded its annual legal allowable catch and kill limits of threatened olive ridley sea turtles, environmentalists are urging the closure of the fishery and a more comprehensive solution to protect marine life which includes a United Nations Pacific-wide moratorium on industrial longline fishing.

Earlier this year, NOAA Fisheries adopted rules requiring the use of new circular fishing hooks and bait based on preliminary results that environmentalists contend are flawed, and have not been peer reviewed or published. Government and industry claimed that these new rules would protect sea turtles.

However, this experiment with new circle hooks and bait has backfired, resulting in the killing of every olive ridley sea turtle that was caught.

“These turtles aren’t even given a fighting chance. Not only has the fishery exceeded its legal take limit but it killed every turtle it caught. This is further evidence that this incredibly destructive fishery, even with new bycatch mitigation gear, is a continuing threat to endangered ocean wildlife,” said Robert Ovetz, PhD, Save the Leatherback Campaign Coordinator with the Sea Turtle Restoration Project.

The legal take limit for 2004 for olive ridleys is set at 37 caught of which only 35 can be killed. However, because only 25.3 percent of the vessels had observers onboard at the time the data was collected, it can be estimated that the take for olive ridleys is about 40 caught and all 40 killed in just the first three quarters of 2004.

“Even if the techno fixes to reduce the number of leatherbacks caught works as is claimed, longlines will continue to catch and kill large numbers of other threatened and endangered marine species such the olive ridley,” explained Todd Steiner, executive director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project.

“So far, it looks like the gear is backfiring and increasing the killing of other non-target species such as olive ridleys," Steiner said "We need a comprehensive solution, like international marine protected areas, that will protect all species, not just shift the burden.”

Last month, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project released a report showing that, based on NOAA Fisheries own data, an estimated 4.4 million sea turtles, sharks, billfish, seabirds and marine mammals are caught and killed by longlines each year in the Pacific.

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project is calling upon the United Nations to implement a moratorium on high seas longline fishing.

To date, 744 international scientists from 84 countries, including marine explorer and scientist Dr. Sylvia Earle and Harvard zoologist E.O. Wilson, and representatives of 269 nongovernment organizations from 43 countries have signed a petition supporting the moratorium.

These changes in hooks - from J style to circle hooks - and bait - from squid to mackerel have been adopted by NOAA Fisheries in the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico longline fisheries.

Ovetz warns that because the new gear actually increases the catch of blue sharks and swordfish, it further displaces the problem to other species already being overfished, increasing the pressure on depleted fish stocks. Finally, the research does not address the extensive bycatch of sharks, seabirds, and marine mammals by longlines.

For a copy of the report on the new hook and bait gear click here.

For a copy of the bycatch report click here.

Lake Tahoe Warming Twice as Fast as Oceans

The higher warming rate, reported for the first time in the new study, could have major implications for public plans to keep the lake clear. The findings also have broader significance as evidence of climate change in the northern Sierra Nevada region.

Other researchers have previously reported that winter air temperatures in the Sierra are rising, and spring snowmelt and runoff are occurring earlier.

"These are worrisome findings," said lakes expert Geoffrey Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. "Weather pattern changes in the northern Sierra are likely to affect water supplies for cities and agriculture in much of California. They have the potential to impact the entire operation of the state's system of reservoirs and rivers, and the ecological systems they support."

"It's not immediately obvious what the potential effects of climate change will be to the lake's clarity," said Schladow. "UC Davis and other research teams in the Tahoe Basin have been figuring out how this lake works for 40 plus years. We've had to factor in the emerging impacts of growth and development in the basin.

"Now we will factor in a warming climate, with all the changes that could bring to the dynamics of the lake's water system, including changes in rainfall and snowfall amounts, the amount and seasonal timing of rainwater and snowmelt runoff, and lake mixing."

For the new study, UC Davis research ecologist Robert Coats analyzed a 33 year data set of more than 7,300 measurements of lake water temperature collected by UC Davis scientists. Coats is a consulting hydrologist and owner of the firm Hydroikos Ltd. in San Rafael, California.

Coats found that from 1969 to 2002, Lake Tahoe's water temperature increased, on average, 0.027 degrees Fahrenheit (0.015 degrees Celsius) per year.

Over the 33 year period, the temperature increased about 0.88 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius). This is similar to warming reported in other big lakes around the world, including the Great Lakes of North America; Lake Zurich, Switzerland; and Lake Tanganyika, Africa.

It is about twice the warming reported, on average, for the world's oceans, according to reports by scientists measuring indications of global climate change - such as shifts in air and water temperatures, precipitation amounts and patterns, cloud coverage, ice coverage and plant distribution.

Coats also compared the Tahoe water temperature records to Tahoe air temperature records. He found that nighttime air temperatures rose 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) in the past 90 years - enough to account for most of the water temperature increase.

"Also, in looking at the precipitation data for Tahoe City over the same period, we found a significant shift from snowfall to rain," he said.

Coats presented the new findings in a poster at last week's meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Now many academic institutions and public agencies are working together to restore and preserve the Tahoe Basin ecosystem.

Some of the most active research programs are at UC Davis; the University of Nevada, Reno; the Desert Research Institute; NASA; the Lahontan Region of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board - which helped fund this new water-temperature study; the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection; the California Air Resources Board; the U.S. Forest Service; and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

All those groups are engaged in producing an unprecedented set of environmental management plans for the basin, called Pathway 2007. UC Davis research scientist John Reuter heads one of the cornerstone research projects for Pathway 2007, the development of a system to quantify and limit pollutants entering the lake.

To further efforts to understand and protect the lake, UC Davis is building the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, a modern $13 million research and public education center, to be located near the lake, on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada. It will be the largest research laboratory in the Tahoe Basin when it opens in 2007.

EPA Issues Draft Metals Risk Assessment Framework

Many EPA programs make decisions on whether and how to regulate metals, particularly controlling releases to the environment and establishing acceptable levels in air and water, and on land.

The framework presents recommendations for conducting metals risk assessment - including tools, methods and data for conducting human exposure and health assessments. In developing the framework, the EPA consulted extensively with the scientific community and stakeholders.

A series of scientific papers was prepared by outside experts working in cooperation with EPA scientists to provide information on key metals issues such as environmental chemistry, exposure, human health and ecological effects, and bioavailability and bioaccumulation.

The draft framework is available on EPA’s website here. The draft framework is available for public comment through January 18, 2005.

To ensure the framework reflects sound science, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board will conduct a review of the draft framework in early February 2005.