Asian shares mark time before banks, U.S.

jobs data
(Reuters) - Asian shares were effectively flat in Wednesday morning trade, cautiously marking time before key U.S. jobs data and news from central bank policy meetings in Japan and Europe later in the week.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.1 percent, helped by a 0.3 percent rise in Australian shares .AXJO and as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPXneared its all-time high the previous session.

South Korean shares .KS11 opened 0.2 percent higher. The key monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday will likely confirm market views that the Federal Reserve will wish to maintain its extremely accommodative monetary policy, which underpinned investor sentiment and sharpened risk appetites. Analysts expect 200,000 jobs were added to payrolls last month and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 7.7 percent, far above the Fed's desired 6.5 percent goal that would prompt a change in its current policy stance. Ahead of the payrolls, data on private-sector hiring by payrolls processor ADP is due later this session, followed by Thursday's latest weekly jobless claims. Tuesday's data showed new orders for U.S. factory goods rose sharply in February but a gauge of planned business spending slipped, suggesting factory activity continued to expand at a moderate pace. Earlier this week, the Institute for Supply Management's index of national factory activity fell in March. "We get a sense that the U.S. economy is not running ahead of itself but is growing ... a rather familiar but nonetheless solidly asset-friendly set of figures," Kit Juckes, strategist at Societe Generale, said in a note to clients. "The 'gentle recovery and mad money' combination which has been driving markets is intact, risk is quietly 'on' in credit and stocks ... and it all contrasts dramatically with Euro-shambles." The euro held steady around $1.2819, struggling to move far away from a four-month low of $1.2750 touched last week, as the currency remained pressured by concerns about bailout consequences in Cyprus and weak euro zone economies. Markit's Euro zone Manufacturing PMI fell in March to 46.8 from 47.9 in February, the 20th straight month that the index has come in below the 50 mark that separates growth and contraction, boosting expectations that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi could offer a dovish tone at the ECB's policy meeting on Thursday. Cyprus on Tuesday concluded a 10 billion euro rescue deal with international lenders in which big depositors took massive losses. The Bank of Japan will start its two-day policy meeting later in the day, the first under the new governor Haruhiko Kuroda. Market expectations have been running high for Kuroda to announce at his inaugural policy meeting an increase in bond purchases and a lengthening in the maturities of bonds the BOJ intends to buy. The Nikkei stock average .N225 opened up 0.9 percent after tumbling to a one-month low on Tuesday. .T The dollar was down 0.1 percent against the yen at 93.31, but off a one-month low of 92.57 yen touched on Tuesday. The euro was down 0.1 percent against the yen at 119.63, hovering near its lowest since February 26 of 119.15 yen seen on Tuesday. U.S. crude futures fell 0.4 percent to $96.78 a barrel. <O/R> (Editing by Eric Meijer)

U.N. overwhelmingly approves global arms trade treaty

(Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.
The official U.N. tally showed 154 votes in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions, though diplomats and U.N. officials said the actual vote was 155-3-22 due to Angola being recorded as having abstained and not voting yes. Venezuela, which said it had planned to abstain, Zimbabwe and three other countries were not allowed to vote because they were in arrears on their U.N. dues.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the vote, saying the treaty "will make it more difficult for deadly weapons to be diverted into the illicit market and ... will help to keep warlords, pirates, terrorists, criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms." Iran, Syria and North Korea last week prevented a treaty-drafting conference at U.N. headquarters from reaching the required consensus to adopt the treaty. That left delegations that support it no choice but to turn to a General Assembly vote to adopt it. The Iranian, Syrian and North Korean delegations cast the sole votes against the treaty on Tuesday. Iran, which is under a U.N. arms embargo over its nuclear program, is eager to ensure its arms imports and exports are not curtailed, while Syria's government is embroiled in a two-year civil war and relies on arms from Russia and Iran, envoys said. North Korea is also under a U.N. arms embargo due to its nuclear weapons and missile programs. The treaty will be open for signature on June 3 and will enter into force 90 days after the 50th signatory ratifies it. Mexican U.N. Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba told reporters it normally takes two to three years for a treaty to come into force, but said he hoped it would happen sooner in this case. Major arms producers China and Russia joined Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other countries in abstaining. RUSSIA TAKING A HARD LOOK A number of countries, led by India, which also abstained, complained the treaty favored exporting over importing states. Russia said Moscow would take a hard look at the treaty before deciding whether to sign it. Several delegates told Reuters the treaty's effectiveness would be limited if major arms exporters refuse to sign it. The United States, the world's No. 1 arms exporter, voted in favor of the treaty despite fierce opposition from the National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement the U.N. adopted "a strong, effective and implementable Arms Trade Treaty that can strengthen global security while protecting the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade." "Nothing in this treaty could ever infringe on the rights of American citizens under our domestic law or the Constitution, including the Second Amendment," he added, referring to the U.S. constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to bear arms. The NRA opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification by the U.S. Senate when it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty will undermine domestic gun rights, a view the U.S. government has strongly rejected. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari repeated that his government opposes the arms trade treaty because it does not ban the sale of weapons to non-state actors and "terrorists" like those it says are active in Syria. The civil war there has claimed at least 70,000 lives, according to U.N. estimates. Syria routinely refers to rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists" backed by foreign governments. The treaty does not ban transfers to armed groups, but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first. British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the vote as a "landmark agreement that will save lives and ease the immense human suffering caused by armed conflict around the world." SCRUTINY ON HUMAN RIGHTS Mexico issued a statement on behalf of 98 U.N. member states saying, "an effective implementation of this treaty will make a real difference for the people of the world." U.N. member states began meeting on March 18 in a final push to end years of discussions and hammer out a binding international treaty to end the lack of regulation over cross-border conventional arms sales. Arms control activists and rights groups have said a treaty was needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses. The Arms Trade Treaty aims to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons. It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure that arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law. "The agreement of the Arms Trade Treaty sends a clear message to arms dealers who supply warlords and dictators that their time is up," said Anna Macdonald of the global development group Oxfam. Amnesty International's Frank Jannuzi said the NRA, which claimed credit last year for persuading the United States to block the treaty in July 2012, failed this time. "Iran, Syria and North Korea blocked consensus at the U.N., while the NRA cynically, and ultimately unsuccessfully, tried to erode the U.S. government's support through a campaign of lies about the treaty," Jannuzi said. The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States, the world's biggest arms trader, reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty. (Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao, Stacey Joyce and Todd Eastham)

Insight: In Malaysia's election, a focus on rainforest graft

(Reuters) - The island of Borneo may be all that stands between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and an unprecedented election defeat within weeks for his ruling coalition.
Borneo's two Malaysian states -- Sabah and Sarawak -- have been a bastion of votes for the National Front coalition headed by Najib's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

The two states, among Malaysia's poorest despite vast natural resources, kept the National Front in power in 2008 even as a groundswell of support for the opposition deprived the government of its iron-clad two-thirds parliamentary majority. That could start to change. Allegations of corruption in recent months have dogged the chief ministers of both Sabah and Sarawak, long-time rulers who hold vast sway over some of the world's largest tracts of tropical forests. The National Front is favored to win the election that Najib must call by the end of April, extending its 56-year rule thanks to robust economic growth and its strong electoral machinery. But it could be one of Malaysia's closest elections. Corruption scandals threaten to undermine one of Najib's central messages -- that he is making Southeast Asia's third-largest economy more transparent and competitive. Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, who is also the state's top UMNO official, has been under scrutiny the past year after whistleblower website Sarawak Report published documents from the Hong Kong and Malaysian anti-corruption agencies. The two agencies started investigating Musa in late 2008. The probe was based on a tip-off that the chief minister was extracting money from businessmen seeking timber concessions and funneling it to UBS bank accounts in Hong Kong and Singapore, sources close to the investigations said. They declined to say who gave the tip-off. The Hong Kong anti-graft agency froze a UBS account managed by a lawyer on behalf of Musa, the sources said, and began a joint investigation with its Malaysian counterpart. The agencies closed the case three years later and unfroze the funds after the Malaysian government publicly said the money was donations for UMNO, not bribes. The Malaysian government has not explained why political donations had to be routed through Hong Kong and Singapore. Musa told Reuters in a statement that he has been cleared by both anti-graft agencies. However, an independent panel overseeing the Malaysian graft agency has recently requested the case be reviewed. "These are the same old stories, rehashed over and over again," Musa said. "It is just the usual silly season before the general election, when the opposition gets up to their usual monkeybusiness." The opposition, which argues the fruit of Malaysia's brisk economic growth is largely concentrated in the hands of a well-connected elite, has vowed to keep pouring it on. "How Musa manages Sabah in favor of the government rather than the people will certainly be a prominent part of election rallies on the opposition side," said Lim Kit Siang, a leader in the opposition coalition headed by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

HONG KONG TIMBER ACCOUNTS The Hong Kong anti-graft agency told Reuters it investigated a number of Malaysian nationals, including a government official, for breaching the prevention of bribery ordinance in connection with the UBS accounts. It neither confirmed nor denied that Musa was the focus of the investigation. Malaysia's anti-corruption agency said it provided assistance to its Hong Kong counterparts but declined to give details. Malaysian anti-corruption officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the leaked documents obtained by Sarawak Report were genuine and Musa was, indeed, the focus of the investigation. Sarawak Report said the Hong Kong and Malaysian anti-graft agency documents it acquired showed that $90 million in illegal logging proceeds from Sabah were channeled to the UBS accounts. That prompted Swiss prosecutors to open a criminal money laundering probe into UBS last August. The investigations into UBS and its relationship with Musa are continuing, a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said. UBS said it was fully cooperating with the authorities but declined to give more details. As chief minister, Musa is in charge of the Sabah Foundation, which manages a state forest reserve covering 3,861 square miles, nearly half the size of New Jersey. The foundation allows timber companies to annually log a tiny fraction of that area. The logging proceeds are supposed to fund education and welfare projects in the state. As chief minister, Musa signs off on all the logging permits that its board of directors agree to award to timber firms, or at least in one case, to a family member. One of the Malaysian anti-corruption agency documents listed companies that won permits from the foundation. It shows the foundation awarded 2,000 hectares (7.7 sq miles) of primary forest to Musa's younger brother, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, at a special board of directors' meeting on May 7, 2004. The same Malaysian anti-graft document shows Musa consistently signed off on concessions that exceeded, or even doubled, the allowable timber cut. While not illegal, it shows the state was exceeding its own guidelines on deforestation. Some of the companies on that list made payments into a UBS corporate account belonging to a former Musa associate, bank statements on the account obtained by Reuters shows. From the same account, withdrawals were made by the associate to fund Musa's sons who were studying inAustralia, the statements show. Two timber firms in Sabah transferred two payments totaling $4.04 million on August 16, 2006 into the corporate UBS account belonging to the former Musa associate. Six days later on August 22, the exact same amount was transferred into a personal UBS account belonging to Musa's lawyer. The Hong Kong antigraft agency described that account as "held in trust" for Musa, according to the bank statements and investigation documents. That same day, the firms won a 32,000 hectare (124 sq miles) timber concession and a contract to maintain a road to a logging camp, according to the Malaysian anti-graft agency document. The owners of those two timber firms confirmed to Reuters that the $4.04 million transactions were "donations" to Musa and UMNO to secure the contracts. They requested their names and the names of their firms not be identified. Malaysia's government has said all the funds in that UBS account were ultimately sent to UMNO as political donations. Other firms on the list of companies that received timber concessions could not be reached or declined to comment. LESS LOGGING REVENUES While there is no published data on how much forest has been cleared within the Sabah Foundation forest reserve, official data shows significant deforestation throughout the state. In 1992, the state's total forest cover stood at 17,000 square miles, about half the size of Ireland. By 2011, it had shrunk to 13,900 square miles, based on the latest available data from the forestry department. Primary or virgin forests have been particularly hard-hit, declining from 1,595 square miles in 1992 to just 348 square miles in 2011. With diminishing forests left to cut, logging revenues fell by half over five years to less than 250 million ringgit in 2011 ($80.6 million). Musa has made a push for Sabah to diversify into agriculture and oil and gas, which helped state budget revenues hit a record 4.1 billion ringgit last year. But the state's unemployment rate remains at 5.4 percent, the highest of any state in Malaysia, where the national average is 3.0 percent. Musa's popularity ratings have declined as well, to 45 percent in 2012 from 60 percent in 2009, according to a survey by the Merdeka Centre, Malaysia's most respected pollster. CORRUPTION CHARGES Law Minister Mohamad Nazri Aziz told parliament last October the funds in the UBS bank account held on behalf of Musa were political donations, without giving details about the source of the money or explaining why such funds had to be routed through foreign countries. Based on evidence submitted by the Malaysian anti-graft agency, Malaysia's attorney-general found no indication of corruption or linkages with the Swiss government's investigation into UBS, Nazri said. But an independent panel overseeing the Malaysian anti-graft agency has since written to the attorney-general requesting a review of his decision to close the case on Musa, a high ranking anti-graft official said at a public forum held by the Bar Council. The official did not disclose why the review was requested and declined to respond to Reuters requests for comment. The attorney general did not respond to requests for comment. As UMNO's party leader in Sabah, Musa is expected to find ways of raising money for the party - and to get out the vote. "For UMNO, Musa is almost indispensable in Sabah. You lose him, you may lose your whole regime," said Oh Ei Sun, senior visiting fellow with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and a former political secretary to Prime Minister Najib. NAJIB AT RISK The opposition, campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, is banking on winning 20 seats in Sabah and Sarawak in the election, which could put it within sight of a 112-seat simple majority in parliament. Sarawak has also been under the spotlight over allegations of timber corruption. The Malaysian anti-corruption agency said it has been investigating Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud since 2011 in response to environmental activists' complaints about corruption in the forestry industry. That investigation continues and any new evidence will be taken into account, the agency spokesman said. He was referring to environmental activist group Global Witness, which posted a video in March that went viral. It showed Taib's cousins and associates apparently offering thousands of hectares of forest land to the group's undercover investigators and formulating plans to book the land sales in Singapore to avoid Malaysian taxes. The cousins could not be reached for comment. (For the video, see: here) Taib publicly denied the allegations raised as a result of the video. "I saw the so-called proof. It has nothing to do with me," he told local media. "Everything has to be done with government procedure." In an interview with Reuters last Tuesday, Prime Minister Najib declined to discuss details of the investigations into the Sabah and Sarawak chief ministers, and said he was against corruption in "any form."

Asked about the Global Witness video, Najib said: "It's ok, everything will be investigated, and due process will take its course." (Additional reporting by David Fogarty, Angie Teo and Stuart Grudgings in KUALA LUMPUR and James Pomfret in HONG KONG; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Just Explain It: Students & Stress

For some students, just going to school can be very stressful. Add standardized tests to the mix, and even a gifted student can be unnerved. Performing well on high school competency exams opens the door to a students academic future like never before. In some cases, the pressure has even filtered down to elementary schoolwhere competition for collegiate scholarships has found a surprising new starting place. In this Just Explain It, well break down the science behind why some students perform well under pressure, while others don t. Well also look into what can be done to help students perform better instressful situations. Researchers have found that the success of some students can be linked to how fast dopamine is cleared from their brain. Dopamine is a chemical messenger that helps transmit signals between nerve cells of the brain. The chemical has many functions, playing important roles in behavior and cognition, attention, working memory and learning. Our brains work best when theres not too much or too little dopamine. Thats where whats known as the COMT gene comes into play - and it comes in the form of two variants. The fast variant removes dopamine quickly and the slow variant removes the chemical gradually. Studies of people in two environments were conductedone under normal conditions, the other under stressful conditions. It was found that under normal conditions, people with the slow-acting COMT gene excelled when performing mental tasks. Under those conditions, people with the fast-acting gene didnt perform as well. The outcome was reversed when people were subjected to a great deal of stress. Thats because dopamine overloads the brains of people with the slow -acting gene hampering their ability. You see, dopamine rises in stressful situations. So in this circumstance, the fast-acting gene keeps the brains dopamine at normal levels. The COMT gene variants have also been shown to actually predict the activity of regions of the brain involved in cognition and emotional responses, said David Goldman, a National Institutes of Health scientist and author of Our Genes Our Choices. This gene is an example of the genetic reasons why peoples brains work a little differently, and how the expression of these differences is altered by the contexts in which people find themselves, and choose. How this all works has been studied in real life situations. Researchers in Taiwan followed 779 students who took the national competency exam. Under more stress than usual, students with the slow-acting enzymes scored eight percent lower on average than those with the fast-acting ones. Theres no need to worry though, its not either/or for most people. About 50 percent of all people inherit one of each gene variation from their parents. So that means most people have medium acting enzymes. The other half is split between fast and slow acting genes. Researchers also found that experience leveled the playing field. The more practice someone had at performing tasks, the less likely they were to melt under pressure. We know that practice makes perfect, but here are some other things that can help students reduce stress. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Eat healthy. Meals should include fruits and vegetables. Exercise regularly. Do things you enjoy often like, hobbies, sports and reading. Make sure you get enough sleep. Learn relaxation techniques like, meditation and deep breathing.

Research from the University of Missouri shows that being involved in school activities like, chess, spelling bees or science fairs gives students a chance to perform. Some of these moments might be very stressful, but theres a chance they could payoff in the end. Did you learn something? Do you have a topic youd like explained? Give us your feedback in the comments below or on Twitter using #JustExplainIt.

SC's ex-Gov. Sanford clears hurdle in comeback bid

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) Former South Carolina Gov.Mark Sanford on Tuesday cleared another hurdle in his bid for political redemption, defeating a former Charleston County council member to win the GOP nomination for the U.S. House seat he held for three terms. "It's been a very long journey. And in that journey I am humbled to find ourselves where we find ourselves tonight," said Sanford, whose political career was derailed four years ago when, as sitting governor, he disappeared from the state only to return to acknowledge an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman. That woman, Maria Belen Chapur, and Sanford are now engaged. She appeared at Sanford's side during his victory speech, smiling and applauding the former governor, who thanked her for being long-suffering while he was campaigning. She did not address the crowd. "I want to thank my God," Sanford said. "I used to cringe when somebody would say I want to thank my God because at that point I would think this is getting uncomfortable. But once you really receive God's grace and (have) seen it reflected in others you stop and acknowledge that grace and the difference He has made in my life and in so many lives across this state and across this nation." With all of the precincts reporting Sanford had about 57 percent of the vote in the 1st District to 43 percent for Curtis Bostic, the former county council member. The candidates were vying in the GOP runoff after they finished as the top two vote-getters in a 16-way GOP primary last month. Sanford will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt in a May special election.

Colbert Busch released a statement late Tuesday saying "I look forward to a vigorous campaign that focuses on creating jobs, balancing our country's budget and choosing an independent-minded leader who shares the values of the great people of South Carolina." Sanford, a former three-term congressman and two-term governor, said earlier Tuesday that the runoff would give a good indication whether voters have moved past his personal indiscretions. "I'm both humbled and grateful for the response of the voters here tonight," he said later. Sanford was a rising Republican political star before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009. Reporters were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but the then-married governor later tearfully acknowledged he was visiting Maria Belen Chapur, which he told everyone at a news conference announcing his affair. He later called her his soul mate and the two were engaged earlier last year. After the revelation of the affair, Sanford's wife Jenny divorced him and wrote a book. Before leaving office as governor, Mark Sanford avoided impeachment but was censured by the Legislature over state travel expenses he used for the affair. He also had to pay more than $70,000 in ethics fines still the largest in state history after Associated Press investigations raised questions about his use of state, private and commercial aircraft. The opening for Sanford came after U.S. Rep. Tim Scott was appointed to fill the remaining two years of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint's seat. DeMint resigned to head The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Mark Sanford knows the 1st District well. Elected to the seat in 1994 Jenny Sanford managed his first campaign and was a close adviser for most of his career he served three terms before voters elected him governor in 2002. Jenny Sanford briefly looked at mounting a race in the Republican-leaning congressional district along the state's southern coast, but she decided against it, saying her job as a mother to the couple's four sons was more important. In last month's GOP primary, Bostic collected only about 13 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating state Sen. Larry Grooms for second place. But he had less than two weeks to overcome Sanford's high name recognition. During a televised debate, he took a jab at Sanford, saying "a compromised candidate is not what we need" in the race against Colbert Busch. Sanford acknowledged he "failed very publically" but said he had done a lot of soul searching since then. He added, "Not since Jesus Christ was here has there been a perfect man or woman." He said that after Scott was appointed, people kept encouraging him to run. Sanford said they told him "here is your chance for you to learn, not only from your experience in Congress and the governorship, but more significantly what you learned both on the way up and the way down and apply it to what is arguably one of the great conundrums of our civilization, which is how do we get our financial house in order." One of those in attendance at the debate was Barbara Boilston, a 49-year-old paralegal from Charleston. She talked about Sanford's indiscretions. "I believe he has come full circle," she said. "I believe he has found peace with God. If God forgives, I forgive, and we should go forward and put this man back in office." Bostic said earlier Tuesday that he liked his chances as he visited with voters in a suburban Charleston precinct. "People dismiss us," the attorney and retired Marine said. "But we believe strongly the best way to win elections is through relationships and we have worked really hard to do that." Bostic himself did not vote in the GOP runoff on Tuesday because he can't. His residence near Ravenel, S.C., is in the 6th Congressional District, represented by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, about 1,500 yards from the 1st District line. Bostic's law office, other property, church and children's schools are in the district. Under federal law, to run for the U.S. House, one only need to be a resident of the state in which the district is located, not the district itself.

Nuclear Board Warns of Hanford Tank Explosion Risk

Underground tanks that hold a stew of toxic, radioactive waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site pose a possible risk of explosion, a nuclear safety board said in advance of confirmation hearings for the next leader of the Energy Department. State and federal officials have long known that hydrogen gas could build up inside the tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, leading to an explosion that would release radioactive material. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended additional monitoring and ventilation of the tanks last fall, and federal officials were working to develop a plan to implement the recommendation. The board expressed those concerns again Monday to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and had sought the board's perspective about cleanup at Hanford. The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. It spends billions of dollars to clean up the 586-square-mile site neighboring the Columbia River, the southern border between Washington and Oregon and the Pacific Northwest's largest waterway.

Federal officials have said six underground tanks at the site are leaking into the soil, threatening the groundwater, and technical problems have delayed construction of a plant to treat the waste for long-term safe disposal. Those issues are likely to come up during confirmation hearings next week for Energy Secretary-nominee Ernest J. Moniz. The fears of explosion and contamination could give Washington and Oregon officials more clout as they push for cleanup of the World War II-era site. Central to the cleanup is the removal of 56 million gallons of highly radioactive, toxic waste left from plutonium production from underground tanks. Many of the site's single-shell tanks, which have just one wall, have leaked in the past, and state and federal officials announced in February that six such tanks are leaking anew. "The next Secretary of Energy - Dr. Moniz - needs to understand that a major part of his job is going to be to get the Hanford cleanup back on track, and I plan to stress that at his confirmation hearing next week," Wyden said in a statement Tuesday. The nuclear safety board warned about the risk of explosion to Wyden, who wanted comment on the safety and operation of Hanford's tanks, technical issues that have been raised about the design of a plant to treat the waste in those tanks, and Hanford's overall safety culture. In addition to the leaks, the board noted concerns about the potential for hydrogen gas buildup within a tank, in particular those with a double wall, which contain deadly waste that was previously pumped out of the leaking single-shell tanks. "All the double-shell tanks contain waste that continuously generates some flammable gas," the board said. "This gas will eventually reach flammable conditions if adequate ventilation is not provided." All of the tanks are actively ventilated, which means they have blowers and fans to prevent a buildup of hydrogen gas, and those systems are monitored to ensure they are operating as intended, Energy Department spokeswoman Carrie Meyer said. For even greater safety, she said, the agency implemented an improved monitoring system in February. "DOE is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety of Hanford's underground tanks," Meyer said. The board also noted technical challenges with the waste treatment plant, which is being built to encase the waste in glasslike logs for long-term disposal. Those challenges must be resolved before parts of the plant can be completed, the board said. The federal government spends about $2 billion annually on Hanford cleanup roughly one-third of its entire budget for nuclear cleanup nationally. About $690 million of that goes toward design and construction of the plant. Design of the plant, last estimated at more than $12.3 billion, is 85 percent complete, while construction is more than 50 percent complete. The problems identified by the board show that the plant schedule will be delayed further and the cost will keep rising, Wyden said, adding: "There is a real question as to whether the plant, as currently designed, will work at all."