DAILY SNAP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00792R000600120001-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 26, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 20, 1992
• Content Type: OPEN

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Tuesday
October 20, 1992
DidIy SNAP
Published by
FOREIGN AEROSPACE
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Author: Kovalenko, Yuriy (Paris)
Title: RUSSIAN-FRENCH SPACE FLIGHT CON-
CLUDED; FURTHER COLLABORATION PLANNED
Primary Source: Izvestiya, August 10,
1992, No. 180 (23754), p. 1, cols. 3-4
Extract: The Russian-French orbital flight
ended in complete success, announced proj-
ect director Alain Labart at the French
National Space Research Center (CNES) when
the joint crew had returned to Earth.
In particular, the French remarked
that during the two-week flight, nine of
ten planned research programs and experi-
ments were carried out. Commenting on the
flight, they stressed, not without sur-
prise, the excellent work of the Russian
space technology, including the "Mir" space
station.
As a whole, judging by the amount of
coverage, the flight was followed with much
greater attention in France than in our
Homeland. A special communications session
was set up for President F. Mitterand. He
had a long conversation with Michel Togni-
ni, during which he spoke in favor of fur-
ther cooperation between Paris and Moscow
in this area.
The space odyssey was continuing when
Paris announced that by the year 2000, four
more French cosmonauts were fly aboard Rus-
sian craft. The first is scheduled for
early 1994. For each space ticket, the
French will pay the same amount as for this
flight: 73.2 million. francs.
What goals does France set for partic-
ipating in joint programs and flights?
Primarily, they are learning to live in
weightlessness, indicated Hubert Curien,
Minister of Space Research and Exploita-
tion. Also, exceptionally important scien-
tific experiments will be performed in
flight. Moreover, cosmonauts, according to
the minister, will acquire 'construction'
skills. More in-depth study of the human
body under extreme conditions is underway.
Finally, France and Russia are preparing a
joint program to study the planet Mars.
The minister also expressed his hope that
an astronomical observatory would be creat-
ed on the Moon early in the next century.
The Russians possess unique experience
in the human inhabitation of space, Curien
stresses, but now the cost of space sta-
tions and delivery systems are so great
that Russia, Europe and the United States
simply must join forces. Russia, the min-
ister said, has been invited to participate
in European space programs, and in particu-
lar, in work on the development of the Her-
mes reusable spacecraft. This participa-
tion is of tremendous importance for Europe
from the scientific, technical, economic
and political standpoint.
(SNAP 921020)
Author: Stefashin, Oleg (Karaganda)
Title: PROBLEM OF NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL
IN KAZAKHSTAN
Primary Source: Izvestiya, August 10,
1992, No. 180 (23754), p. 1, cols. 3-6
Extract: In Kazakhstan, for lack of spe-
cial burial grounds, spontaneous radioac-
tive waste dumps have begun to grow.
Here's what V. Slavgorodskiy, Head of
the Ministry of Ecology and Bioresources'
Radiation Ecology Administration, stated at
a scientific-practical seminar on problems
of radioecology and radiation safety:
"Radiation conditions in the republic
are very alarming, and they are continuing
to deteriorate. Whereas before we experi-
enced practically no problems with radio-
active waste disposal -- we trucked it to
Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, or Zagorsk -- now
we don't know what to do with it. Russia
refuses to take hazardous cargo, and we
don't have any of our own so-called burial
grounds."
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Kazakhstan's only radioactive waste
disposal facility is located near Alma-Ata,
and belongs to the Institute of Nuclear
Physics. But it was built in violation of
one of the two main safety conditions --
water impermeability -- and in scientists'
opinion, cannot be actively used. Natural-
ly, enterprises, deprived of the ability to
eliminate contaminated waste on their own,
are dumping it wherever they please, and
special services do not always manage to
detect it.
According to data from the Radiation
Ecology Administration, the republic, where
the largest radioactive materials mining
enterprises are located, has already ac-
cumulated contaminated waste with a total
power of over 200,000 curies. This is
nearly 70 times over the design standard,
and as you can easily guess, could at any
moment cause a disruption of the ecological
equilibrium.
The government of Kazakhstan cannot be
said to have accepted this situation. Ac-
cording to L. Artsev, a chief specialist at
the republic's State Economic Committee,
the Ministry of Ecology and Bioresources
has developed another program to build nu-
clear waste disposal facilities. It has
been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers,
but whether it will be implemented is un-
clear.
(SNAP 921020)
NPP did not appear on its own, but belongs
to specific authors -- Yu. Shcherbak, di-
rector of the Ministry of Chernobyl and V.
Shcherbin, director of the "Covered Facili-
ty." Their alarming statements were the
cause of the new agitation over the Cher-
nobyl matter.
In the opinion of Academician Spartak
Belyayev, deputy director of the Institute
of Atomic Energy imeni Kurchatov, the
Ukrainian specialists' alarming statements
were most probably provoked by political
factors and are conjectural in nature.
Their aim was less to draw attention to the
"Cover" problem than to their own persons.
As for the actual situation at the
plant, the group of research specialists
from the Institute imeni Kurchatov, who
have worked at the "Covered Facility" prac-
tically all these years, assert that no
serious changes that would give cause for
such threatening statements have occurred.
I also succeeded in contacting the
Chairman of the Ukrainian State Committee
for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, Nikolay
Shteynberg, who also confirmed that nothing
unexpected had occurred or was occurring at
ChAES. The problem of the Sarcophagus, of
course, requires attention; there are plen-
ty of problems that remain unsolved, but as
of today, there is no special cause for
extraordinary alarms.
(SNAP 921020)
Author: Yakov, Valeriy
Title: RUMORS OF POSSIBLE FAILURE OF
CHERNOBYL "SARCOPHAGUS" CALLED BASELESS
Primary Source: Izvestiya, August 10,
1992, No. 180 (23754), p. 2, cols. 1-3
Entire Text: In recent days, television
and information agencies have stirred up
public opinion with a report that a cata-
strophic situation is developing at the
Chernobyl NPP (ChAES): the "Covered Facil-
ity" (popularly called the "Sarcophagus")
is actively failing and threatens a power-
ful radioactive emission. We asked knowl-
edgeable experts with firsthand information
about Chernobyl to comment on this informa-
tion.
We should begin by saying that the in-
formation on the explosive situation at the
Author: Kovalenko, Yuriy (Paris)
Title: "RED MERCURY" HOAX SOUNDS OUT
WESTERN NUCLEAR MARKET
Primary Source: Izvestiya, August 10,
1992, No. 180 (23754), p. 3, cols. 6-8
Extract: Recently, reports of a new sub-
stance, "red mercury," which has supposedly
enabled a breakthrough in nuclear technol-
ogy, have been appearing more and more fre-
quently in the pages of the Western press.
Some assert that it was prepared by
scientists of the former Soviet Union.
Other scientists are convinced that it is a
mirage. Still others think the discussion
concerns merely an isotope of mercury that
is used to enrich uranium. Whatever it is,
both journalists and special services of
Western nations are trying to guess the
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riddle of "red mercury."
The searches of reporters in France
have been more productive. Paul Januchev-
ski (obviously, the former Pavel Yanushev-
skiy), a native of the Soviet Union, a
chemist by trade, and director of the
"Cofrachimie" company, located in a Paris
suburb, asserts that he is the French rep-
resentative of two Ukrainian centers where
"red mercury" is produced. According to
him, this is an "extremely strategic sub-
stance, 98 percent of which is used for
military purposes." It acts as a catalyst
in a nuclear reaction, and can also be used
for military purposes, including missile
guidance systems. Paul Januchevski is of-
fering clients a kilogram of "red mercury"
for half a million dollars.
"Red mercury" does not exist. It is
only a hoax, guesses the Director of the
National Defense Resources Council in Wash-
ington, Thomas Cochrain. Its purpose is to
sound out the nuclear market, find neces-
sary substances and preparations, and is a
cover for various operations. Every time
the subject of "red mercury" has come up, a
deal has been concluded to purchase and
sell uranium or heavy water in Italy, Swit-
zerland, Germany, Norway, and other coun-
tries.
(SNAP 921020)
Author: Alekseyeva, E. (Krasnodar)
Title: PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION IN KRASNO-
DAR KRAY BLAMED FOR HEALTH CRISIS
Primary Source: Me itsins aya gazeta, Au-
gust 7, 1992, No. 62 (5287), p. 11, cols.
1-3
Extract: The pesticide Chernobyl -- that's
what scientists call Kuban among them-
selves. The chemical burden per hectare of
arable land in Krasnodar Kray averages five
times higher than values for Russia as a
whole. As a result, the kray exceeds Rus-
sian statistics for oncological diseases.
The question of preserving the gene pool is
acute. Scientists claim that in 10 or 15
years there will no longer be a concept of
a 'healthy child' or 'healthy person' here,
and the native population is degenerating.
Doctors have begun to address the problem
with the most vulnerable point, the mother-
fetus-child system. By dint of enormous
efforts, a Kray Clinical Scientific Metho-
dological Mother and Child Center has been
established in Krasnodar.
Kuban has long been considered a gra-
nary and health resort for all Russia.
Meanwhile, in private documents and at con-
ferences and symposia on environmental pro-
tection it has long been placed in a zone
of ecological disaster, and scientists call
Krasnodar Kray the 'pesticide Chernobyl.'
In view of the toxic and marked cumu-
lative effect of pesticides using Spear-
man's rank correlation, researchers have
established that the correlation coeffi-
cient between hemorrhage and the level of
pesticide burden is 0.5, between anemia and
the pesticide burden 0.8, and between ges-
toses and the burden 0.9. All this indi-
cates a definite relationship between the
level of pesticide burden and gynecological
morbidity.
"In the past ten years, over 15,000
children under the age of one have died in
Krasnodar Kray," explains Docent L. Niku-
lin, deputy director of the Pediatrics Cen-
ter. "The city of Krasnodar accounts for a
fifth of them. But the worst thing is that
at least 70 percent of the children could
have been saved. What are the reasons for
this low work efficiency? There's the pov-
erty of our health care, there are physi-
cian errors, and there are artificially
broken ties between practical health care
and researchers. The Mother and Child Cen-
ter is a real step to combine the forces of
researchers and practitioners in solving
the kray's biggest problem. It will devel-
op and introduce new diagnostic, therapeu-
tic, and rehabilitation technologies. And
this is quite realistic."
A program of ecological protection of
pregnant women and children under the age
of one has been developed in the kray. Its
essence lies in preserving the gene pool
from ecological debauchery, or at least
protecting the children. Workers here pro-
pose to create an industry of ecologically
clean nutrition for children, with rigid
control of product quality, and to furnish
it to pregnant women and children under the
age of one. Such a program must be adopted
at the governmental level; all proposals
are supported by doctors in the ecological
disaster areas. Otherwise, well, the doc-
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wtors have their impartial prognosis. And
to avoid accusing them of prejudice, we'll
cite some figures.
The natural population growth rate in
1990 was 0.1 per thousand. In 1991, it was
off the bottom of the scale. It was found
that instead of a natural growth rate,
there was a natural loss of -0.12. This is
one of the lowest growth figures for all of
Russia.
(SNAP 921020)
Title: NUCLEAR AND PUBLIC HEALTH SITUATION
OF CHELYABINSK-65
Primary Source: Meditsinskaya gazeta, Au-
gust 7, 1992, No. 62 (5287), p. 15, col. 1
Extract: For forty years, plutonium for
nuclear weapons has been produced [in Chel-
yabinsk-26] in the South Urals. Three nu-
clear disasters have turned this site into
an ecological disaster area, one of the
most radioactively contaminated places on
Earth. In the "Hliroshima-Nagasaki-Cherno-
byl" world classification of nuclear dis-
asters, this area has been fodder for jour-
nalists and 'greens.' The radiation back-
ground within the city limits does not ex-
ceed the norm. Nevertheless, if it is com-
pared to other closed cities with similar
plants, the overall morbidity is fifty per-
cent higher, with oncological diseases 150
percent higher, diabetes mellitus 100 per-
cent higher, and congenital anomalies en-
countered 80 percent more often. The past
leaves its mark. The village of Muslyukovo
is still one of the region's sore points.
At the river, a dosimeter reads 823 micro-
roentgens per hour, about 40 times higher
than the norm. According to all current
radiation safety regulations, the people
should have been immediately evacuated.
(SNAP 921020)
Author: Leskov, Sergey
Title: ACCELERATOR COMPLEX IN PROTVINO
LANGUISHES UNDER INADEQUATE FUNDING
Primary Source: Izvestiya, August 11,
1992, No. 181 (23755), p. 2, cols. 3-7
Extract: In the city of Protvino, a new
accelerator and storage complex (UNK) is
under construction. Its technological fea-
tures permit unique experiments that are
impossible in principle on any other in-
stallation in the world. According to
plans, the Protvino UNK should become oper-
ational in 1993. But in 1992, financing
was cut back to one-fourth of the previous
year's level. Work at the site has nearly
stopped. And it's even more vexing since
the tunnel is practically complete -- 22
kilometers have been dug, and only finish-
ing and surface work remain. If the pres-
ent level of financing is continues, esti-
mates are that the facility is not likely
to be completed this century.
Nineteen Russian academicians have
sent a letter on the accelerator's fate to
the Russian government. A group of Nobel
laureates and leaders of the European Cen-
ter for Nuclear Research (CERN) tried to
draw the attention of the country's leaders
to UNK's importance. In March, a hitherto
unprecedented high commission came to Prot-
vino: Nechayev, Shorin, Mikhaylov, Salty-
kov. And they also delivered an opinion on
UNK's importance. But as before, no re-
sult, no concrete financing can be won.
Observing our budgetary impoverish-
ment, Western researchers are trying to
somehow save the project, which is impor-
tant for all the world's science. A group
of American specialists headed b world-
renowned Professor P. Schlein [fl recently
came to Protvino. He made a paradoxical
suggestion: modify the UNK project to give
it the parameters of a supercollider. The
project could be completed by 1997, and
would take $400 million, mostly from the
Americans. The idea is very enticing. But
it's best to be realistic: all Professor
Schlein's prestige probably won't be enough
to convince the U.S. government to abandon
a series of national projects to transfer
funds to Protvino.
Funds are being allocated to support
science in the country, and they're not
small. But they are being distributed by
the principle of putative fairness: so as
not to offend anyone. But world experience
tells us it would be worthwhile to set pri-
orities. Today, all the world's authori-
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sties agree that not finding the funds for a
unique proton accelerator is tantamount to
abandoning space flight or halting cancer
research. Meanwhile, rich industrialists
from Taiwan are coming to Protvino on Au-
gust 12 to found a joint venture with our
tunnelers. While we look for funding, the
workers are already being forced against
their wills to convert to filling foreign
orders.
(SNAP 921020)
Author: Manucharova, Yevgeniya
Title: MACHINE FOR BIOFIELD TREATMENT OF
MEDICAL DISORDERS INVENTED
Primary Source: IzvestT, August 11,
1992, No. 181 (23755), p. 2, cols. 3-7
Extract: We have received a TASS report
that at a certain Moscow research institute
(until recently strictly secret) has in-
vented a "super machine equal in effective-
ness to a thousand faith healers." It
treats headaches, and even diseases that
were considered difficult or impossible to
treat until now, such as epilepsy.
The effect its based on replacing the
body's information field: positive infor-
mation storage devices transfer it to the
person, changing his emotions, behavior,
and character for the better. Timid and
shy people can become self-assured, and
those inclined to depression receive tough-
ness.
The Ostankino evening channel showed
part of the machine and its antenna, as
well as a woman whose headache passed as
soon as the machine was turned on. The re-
search institute that developed the super
healer prefers to retain its secrecy for
now. Even so, we will hope that the de-
signers give us a more detailed report on
their new medical experiment.
Behind the development of the appa-
ratus is long work by many scientists in
the most varied fields. It's nothing new
for physicists, psychologists, chemists,
physiologists, and sociologists to study
the environment's effect on man. This has
been especially important for people forced
to work in extreme, stressful conditions.
And such professions are legion: polar ex-
plorers, test pilots, cosmonauts, mountain
climbers, geologists (especially those who
prospect for magnetic ores). Scientists
had to understand just what is harmful in
the hostile outdoor environment. They mea-
sured the body's reactions to various types
of waves (acoustic, light, thermal), simu-
lated them in laboratories, and created new
ones: those that neutralize the environ-
ment's perniciousness.
Physicists and physiologists also per-
formed measurements of biological currents
while hypnotherapists and faith healers
were at work. For example, Dzhuna [Davi-
tashvili] applies her healing hands in mas-
sage, and the instruments record her bio-
currents, the change in their state and the
condition of the patient, and so on. The
measurements made it possible to reproduce
the currents. And (what's important!) to
amplify them.
In principle, the machine can surpass
Dzhuna in some ways (precisely recorded
ones), and can reproduce some of her ac-
tions. But when they tell of the possibil-
ities of duplicating her effects, physiolo-
gists express doubt that the mechanism will
surpass the living person, especially since
the body is not fully understood.
(SNAP 921020)
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FASTC/DXLT
Attn: Roger Crozier
WPAFB, OH 45433-6508
Additions or deletions to the distribution
list should be addressed to:
FASTC/DXLP
Attn: Mary Washington.
WPAFB, OH 45433-6508
Recipients of the Daily SNAP are advised
that SNAP is intended solely for U.S. gov-
ernment agencies and their designated con-
tractors.
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