European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday july 13, 1990the stars and stripes a a a Page 7doe admits nuke plot ant was deadly leaker Washington apr More than 40 years after the fact the department of Energy is acknowledging that a nuclear weapons Plant in Washington state leaked radiation and poisonous radioactive wastes at Levels that endangered the health of nearby residents. The department on thursday released a study of emissions in the mid-1940s at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Richland Wash. A a the implications of the report Are serious a Energy Secretary James d. Watkins said in an Advance briefing wednesday. It was the governments first admission that the leaks were at Levels sufficient to cause cancer and other illnesses in people living Neaf the facility. Watkins told reporters that the report would a contain estimates of potentially Large doses of radiation from the Hanford Plant from 1944 to 1947. A when i say High i mean significantly High a a 3,000 rads thousands of rads he said. A Rad is a measure of radiation expo sure to human tissue. The nuclear regulatory commission requires that facilities it licenses limit yearly radiation exposure from airborne emissions to 15 thousandths of a Rad. Watkins said Between 350,000 and 400,000 curies of radioactive material were released in one incident in 1945. A Curie is the amount of radiation emitted in one second by 1,400 pounds of enriched uranium. The study is the first part of a five year $ 15 million project that is the first major research into accidental and Watkins intentional release of massive amounts of radiation that drifted from Hanford into 10 nearby Washington and Oregon counties. The report covers emissions but not a \. The health effects of the radiation said Angela Beers spokeswoman for the panel of 18 non government scientists and experts that directed the review. But a parallel study under Way at the Federal centers for disease control will use the exposure estimates to try to document eases of thyroid disease among Hanford area residents she said. Watkins said at his Washington news conference that the main source of worrisome exposure. Was radio iodine. The same isotope caused radiation sickness in some residents who lived near  unions nuclear Power Plant at chernobyl when radiation was released in a 1986 reactor meltdown there. Several people who lived across the Columbia River from Hanford claimed the emissions caused cancer and thyroid related illnesses. A i done to want you to think we do this today a Watkins said. A we Are not casual about this today. But we do have to go Back and look at what happened to peo pie. We done to know who was at the right says Bush on spot at the wrong time. We have to learn lessons out of this and be sensitive to the human beings who were  the Hanford environmental dose reconstruction project uses computer models to estimate How much radiation escaped when plutonium was produced at the Plant. Scientists will use the first phase Asti mates to test and refine computer models Over the next two years during the second phase said John till a South Carolina nuclear scientist who is the panels chairman. Radioactive iodine was produced when spent reactor fuel rods were chemically dissolved to produce weapons Grade plutonium and uranium. When it concentrates in the thyroid gland iodine-131 can cause cancer and other diseases. Judith Jurji president of the Hanford Down Winders coalition said she and five members of her family have hypothyroidism which causes sluggishness and puffiness. Her father and two uncles worked at Hanford from 1949 to 1956. A the Rev. Jesse Jackson makes his Appeal for a Summit on Domestic problems at a act convention in los Angeles. Los Angeles apr the Rev. Jesse Jackson on wednesday called on president Bush to hold a Domestic Summit to discuss social and economic Justice in the United states. Jackson made his Call at the 81st annual convention of the National association for the advancement of coloured people As Bush was winding up an economic Summit with world leaders in Houston. A if indeed or. Bush can have a Summit meeting with world leaders. He can have a Domestic Summit with civil rights leaders a Jackson said. A we need and deserve a Summit to discuss Urban development and a Rural Renaissance a he told several thousand a act delegates. A we need a Call for perestroika for restructuring our Economy for  the Federal government should offer developers of Small businesses and Low income housing the same kinds of Long term Low interest Loans it gives other nations and set aside the same kind of Money it is spending to bail out failed savings and Loans said Jackson. A Money must be found to bail out Urban and Rural America a he said. Jackson said the difference Between Bush a foreign and Domestic policies and those of former president Reagan was a onion skin  a there has been a false perception that there has been a fundamental change in the while House a he said. A both used quotas As scare tactics. Bush Cut the housing budget Reagan Cut the housing budget. Neither supports the equal rights amendment for  Jackson also reiterated his support for statehood for Washington d.c., and his plans to run for a Shadow Quot senator of the District in november. A we pay More taxes per capita than 49 states Quot Jackson said. A every other National capital in the Western world has representation but us. We be been robbed of  Jackson who has made two unsuccessful bids for the presidency would not say if he would try again. A a in be not made that decision yet Quot he said. Earlier a act delegates ratified numerous resolutions including one that supports dropping the pm Ployer sanctions in the immigration Reform and control act of 1986, under which employers can be fined if they knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Those who proposed the Resolution said dropping the sanctions provision would decrease discrimination against immigrants. Others voiced concern that immigrants take jobs from Low income Black teen agers. A act executive director Benjamin Hooks said delegates should worry about creating jobs for ail people who want and need them not whether one group is a taking Quot jobs from another. Quot the real problem in America is creating More jobs Quot Hooks  group cites Rise in torture executions by the Washington Post governments challenged by ethnic and nationalist tensions killed imprisoned and tortured tens of thousands of their citizens in 1989, the human rights group amnesty International says in its annual report. A around the world particularly where the tensions erupted into violence tens of thousands of people became victims of Security operations resulting in disappearances and executions a the London based group said wednesday. Many actions were triggered by conflicts Over the rights of ethnic groups and demands for autonomy or secession it added. The report said prisoners were tortured in close to 100 countries. People disappeared or were held in secret detention in More than 20 countries while government linked death squads operated in More than 35, it said. The group listed China the soviet Union the israeli occupied West Bank and Gaza strip Sudan Iraq and Guatemala As among the places where Elv Nic and nationalist conflict led to human rights abuses. The organization also described a a a dramatic increase in attacks by Security forces on human rights activists lawyers and judges in several latin american nations. At the same time the report noted the release of thousands of so called prisoners of conscience and greater Freedom of expression movement and association in Eastern Europe in the Wake of momentous political changes there. In the United states 16 prisoners were executed in 1989, the report said noting two Quot disturbing supreme court decisions that people As Young As 16 and mentally retarded criminals could be executed. In the soviet Union More than 2,000 people seeking to exercise their human rights were put briefly in prison or psychiatric hospitals and 20 people were killed when armed Security troops broke up peaceful Public meetings the report said. At the end of the year 60 people prosecuted under criminal Law were still imprisoned or forcibly confined in psychiatric hospitals. In China an estimated 1,000 people were killed and thousands More injured in Beijing in june when troops fired into crowds of unarmed pro democracy protesters. Thousands were arrested some were severely beaten or tortured and secret executions followed the report said. In the Mideast Quot Over 260 unarmed palestinian civilians including children were shot dead by israeli forces often in circumstances suggesting excessive use of Force or deliberate killings a the Survey said. A others died in incidents where tear Gas was possibly deliberately misused Quot it said. About 25,000 palestinians were arrested in the israeli occupied West Bank and Gaza strip in connection with the palestinian uprising and thousands of palestinians were beaten while in the hands of israeli forces or were tortured or ill treated in detention centers it added. In Iraq amnesty International said thousands of political prisoners were detained without charge or trial and torture remained widespread. The Baghdad government also failed to clarify the Fate of thousands who disappeared in previous years the report said. In Africa amnesty International reported mass arrests of political prisoners. A coup in Sudan was followed by what could have been the years largest number of political arrests in sub saharan Africa. In Guatemala Security forces and death squads were reported implicated in hundreds of extrajudicial executions and disappearances