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Show 2 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, THE SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE 2002 3 MMNNk fltMiri f gW- l)(n) 3 ;') if CAUPU This is the first time that I have done any-- 2 like this, and it will definitely be the last. ECONOMICS PROFESSOR ANNE YEACIE CHRONICLE NEWS EDITOR SHEENA MCFARLAND SMCf ARLAtOJ CHRONICLE.UTAH EDU CHRONICLE WISE EDITOR M1KEL GAJK0KSKI C ON OFFERING EXTRA CREDIT FOR CHARITY DONATIONS EVENT: J JUNE 20 "j V'.. v - ' - WASHINGTON The Bush administration a deal reached the nation's only uraniwith says um enrichment company should help ensure the United States does not become dependent on foreign sources for nuclear fuel. The Energy Department announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement with USF.C Inc., of Bcthcsda, Md., for the company to build a new high-tec- h uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky within a decade. In return, the Energy Department will make government research and employees available to USEC. The plant would replace a facility in Paducah, Ky. USEC will continue producing 30 percent of the nation's nuclear fuel at the old plant until the new, more efficient one is able to do that. If USEC fails to live up to the deal, the Energy or-Oh- io Department could take over the Paducah facility's enrichment operations. The Energy Department used to run that plant, but the government sold off its enrichment activities in 1998. That led to the formation of USEC Inc. in a $1.9 ' - billion stock deal. The agreement also requires USEC to continue buying uranium fuel from Russia that is recycled from old Soviet bombs. Under the program, Red Butte Garden presents a lecture on "Gardening in Shade" at noon In the gar- J ' den's visitor's' center. - USEC buys the fuel and sells it to U.S. utilities. "With this agreement America accomplishes two very important goals, ensuring o,ur domestic capacity to produce fuel for commercial reactors and meeting important nuclear nonproliferation goals by accepting enriched uranium from Russia," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. The Energy Department could recommend that USEC lose its status as the government's sole purchaser of the uranium fuel from Russia if the company doesn't live up to its agreement with the agency. USEC signed an agreement with its Russian counterpart earlier this year allowing the company to buy the Russian fuel at a lower price than it previously paid. The State Department is expected to officially approve that contract Wednesday. The Russian fuel accounts for roughly half the enriched uranium used by U.S. nuclear plants. Nuclear power supplies about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. Critics question the wisdom of placing the future of a key agreement with a company that has had a troubled financial record. Since USEC was created in 1998, it has seen its d level and its stock credit rating slide to U.S.-Russi- an junk-bon- UTAH price decline. USEC also faced criticism last year when it ceased enrichment activities at its Pike-toOhio, plant, eliminating around 500 jobs. The new agreement will create some jobs at the Piketon facility. The deal calls on USEC to set up an operation there to clean up part of its uranium inventory that is believed to be contam- n, inated. Still, the representative from that district said he is not satisfied. Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland said he is afraid USEC won't have the resources to build the new enrichment plant. USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said the company hoped to set up a demonstration project within three years and use it to attract partners. An international consortium has said it would like to build a new enrichment plant somewhere in the United States, and Strickland called it unfair for the government to back USEC. He said the Energy Department was "choosing to align and affiliate and support one private sec- tor entity over another with no expected benefit for southern Ohio," Strickland said. Two Republican lawmakers Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, and Rep. Ed Whitfield, whose district includes Paducah, Ky. disagreed. Both praised the agreement with USEC. UNITED STATE JUNE 21 Surnmtr tuition payment cbt . Red Butte Garden will present "An Evening In tha G&r-n celebrating the Summer Solstice. dt " JUIIE 24 cf V.'cnc.n Vetera host an update cn Circle The Lcsgua will 4 Hog Farms In the Hinckley Institute Conference Room, OSH Room 255, at noon, JUNE 20 Second session cfcsscs bg!n. JUNE 20 list day to' withdraw from-''- ". clssses. term-lengt- h JULY 1 meteorology seminar dis- cussing "Sensitivity of a Simulation of a Mesosca'e Convective System to Horizontal Heterogeneity of Soil Moisture Initialization" will take place in INSCC at 2 p.rrh A Wasatch Front Sees Smart Sister Story Astronauts9 Return Earthquake Hits Inflation Increase Found Inaccurate Delayed by Storm Parts of Midwest SALT LAKE CITY-Hig- hcr utility bills helped increase inflation along the Wasatch Front by 0.9 percent during May, Wells Fargo Bank reported Tuesday. Last month's increase comes after a 0.1 percent decline in April. The higher residential utility bills is the first increase in that category in four months, said economist Kelly K. Matthews. During the Dcccmber-to-Ma- y period, Wells Fargo reported, the overall cost of living in the region rose 1.6 percent from the same period a year ago. The monthly report uses more than 1,200 price measurements to calculate inflation. The national inflation rate was unchanged during May, the federal government said Tuesday. SALT LAKE investi- CITY-Po-lice gating the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart said Tuesday that contrary to what they reported earlier, the kidnapper did not threaten the girl's little sister. Two weeks ago, Elizabeth was reported taken by gunpoint from the bed shared by the two girls. Police said initially that the kidnapper warned Mary Katherine Smart to remain quiet, and that the little sister waited two hours before alerting her parents. But police who interviewed the youngster three times now say the man did not speak to the child. "The threat was not made to Mary Katherine," Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said. UNIVERSITY HEATHER 7554 WEDNESDAY: Q PARTLY CLOUDY 84S9 9260 9062 IXiilSDIY: MOSTLY SUNNY FRIDAY: MOSTLY SUNNY UTOIOtT: PARTLY CLOUDY SUNDAY: MOSTLY SUNNY 9461 Courtesy Christine McCue, Did You Know... Want to avoid paying tuition all at once? Try setting up an account with Academic Management Services through the U's Student Services department which allows you to pay in installments. For more information, visit www.tuitionpay.com. www.mct.utah.edujimsteenams chronicle 189c" is an independent student newspaper published daily Monday through Friday during Fall and Spring semesters (excluding test weeks and holidays) and weekly during Summer Term. Chronicle editors and statt are University ol Utah students and are solely responsible (or the newspaper's content. Funding comes (rom advertising revenues and a dedicated student tee administered by the Publications Council Subscriptions must be prepaid. Forward all subscription correspondence, including change ol address, to the Business Manager, To respond with your questions, comments or complaints call (801) or visit dailyutahchromcle.com on the World Wide Web. Editor in Chief News Editor Sports Editor Feature Editor Opinion Editor RED Magazine Editor Photo Editor LAURA B. WEISS lweisschronicle utahedu SHEENA MCFARLAND smclarlandchronicle RORY BRUNNER rbrunnrchronid utahdu utah.edu WYNNE PARRY wparrychronicle Utah edu JOHN MORLEY jmorleychronicleutahedu JEREMY MATHEWS eremyrtd MATT HATFIELD mag com mhatlif ldchromcle utah edu Production Manager JEREMY WOJCIECHOWSKI woio9chroructe.utah.edu Graphic Artist STEPHANIE CEERLINCS sgeerlingschronicle utahedu Online Editor MARK OCDEN mogdenPchromdc utahedu Business Manager ADAM WARD awardtchromcle utahedu Accountant KAY ANDERSEN kaychromcl( utahedu Advertising Manager JASON COOMBS coombschronicle utahedu EVANSVILLE, Ind. A moderate earthquake rattled nerves Tuesday in portions of the Midwest and South, but authorities had no immediate reports of serious damage. The quake, which struck at 12:37 p.m. CDT, registered a magnitude of 5.0, said John Bellini of the U.S. Geo- weather prevented the returning crewmen of the international space station from being reunited with their families after a separation of six and one-ha- lf months. Mission Control told space shuttle Endeavor commander Kenneth Cock-re- ll that drier weather was expected logical Survey in Golden, Colo. The epicenter was 10 miles northwest of Evansville, Ind., near the small town of Darmstadt. The quake shook buildings in downtown Evansville and was felt in Indiana as far north as South Bend, about 250 miles away. It also was felt in Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. The only damage immediately reported was cracked chimneys and broken glass in the Evansville area, said Alden Taylor, spokesman for the Indiana state emergency manage- today. Endeavor has enough fuel and supplies to stay in orbit until Thursday, though NASA plans to bring the shuttle down today at either Cape Canaveral or the backup landing site in California's Mojave Desert The three space station crewmen who are coming home aboard EndeavorNASA astronauts Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Onufrienko logged their 195th day in orbit Tuesday, the longest spaceflight ever by Americans. The seven astronauts had just one complaint they were running short on ment agency. Officials were inundated with calls from people asking about the coffee. tremor. Rockets Fired in Afghan Capital Two rockets were fired late Tuesday into the center of Kabul, exploding about one block from the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy compound, Afghan soldiers said. There was no report of casualties but one house was slightly damaged when one rocket hit The house is usually occupied by Japanese Embassy officials but they had left the day before and the dwelling was empty. German peacekeepers from the International Security Assistance Force said the rockets were fired from the Qalai Zaman Khan neighborhood in the hills on the northern end of the capital The blasts were the first such incident since the start of the grand council, or loya jirga, which opened June n to choose a new government International peacekeepers had warned of violence during the loya jirga meeting, perhaps from Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives or others seeking to destabilize the situation. h turn Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 20 JERUSALEM- -A Palestinian detoexplosives on a Jerusalem bus crowded with high school students and office workers Tuesday, killing himself and 19 passengers in the city's deadliest suicide attack in six years. Fifty-fiv- e people were wounded. The extremist Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack the 70th Palestinian suicide bombing in 21 months. The bomber, a university student, wrote in a farewell note he had tried twice before to carry out an attack. It was not clear whether the bombing would delay plans by President Bush to issue a major Mideast policy statement, which had been expected by Wednesday. Bush condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. US. officials said Bush might send Secretary of State Powell to the Middle East next week, but has not made a decision. nated ng 4 JULY Independent Day Holiday, no school. JULY 0 lest cy to scj-- - szccr.i p d-c- slon ctesmwfth no tuition penalties. JULY 0 zy to Last ciJ t : xr.i z 2$-s!c- -fi d:.t:ts. JULY The 11 I'ssts - lhaf:n Sd:-- c Uf-trsft- r;';htwi:i festur- "Deep impact.. Ires' of charge for faculty, st:ff end students In the Eceles Institute cf Human Genetics Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. it w KABUL, Afghanistan DWijXJtah. THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.-- For the second day in a row Tuesday, stormy Cloud-Resolvi- nail-studd- ed JULY 13 Cars Prosponsor a F:.rtr.f$ The ASUJ Child gram will f;';ht Out with free child care from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at 1601 East Village. JULY 14 The League of Women Voters will host a Jihrr.rsrg Intsrr.itbn:.! Trrr'j f 'ullrg In the Hinckley Institute Conference Room, OSH Room 255, at noon. JULY 10 Ths Harriett Llr?.ry Arts Progrt-r.v- .:t the -lecture V-- y Zzz'z An 'n C; :iD' 'i:';' : rt ;.?rcfrJ py I J event Msrric-t-t . ;:i tc!-- - ? L'trcry'sC-.u'- i Aud.'torium f : ; tun h Tv tw ? "it7p.n. ADOITIOKAL LYLNTS CM WWW.DAHYUTAKCKJtOK:ClEC5l j |