#397 - September 3, 1993

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Full issue

Accident at CIS weapons facility

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) On July 17 an accident took place in the Chelyabinsk area: an explosion occurred in a plutonium processing plant, radiation was released - and the public was told nothing for two days.

(397.3873) WISE Amsterdam - Only on the third day did officials of the Atomic Energy Ministry and the State Inspectorate of Nuclear and Radiation Safety respond to a chorus of demands from the mass media and issue brief and uninformative statements. By this time, however, journalists had already received many details of the accident from unofficial sources through the environmental organization Greenpeace Russia.

 

The Mayak facility is no stranger to nuclear accidents. Even before the latest events the estimated cost of cleaning up the site from past accidents was enormous. The clean-up program recently put forward by Russian president Boris Yeltsin and discussed in the Supreme Soviet was expected to cost 7.5 billion roubles - at 1991 prices equivalent to around 7,500 billion roubles today (somewhere between 7,500 trillion and 11,250 trillion in US dollars!).

This site was where the USSR developed its atomic weapons. Today it reprocesses spent fuel from Russia's VVER-440 nuclear reactors. It has been described as the most radioactive site in the world as a result of several serious accidents and the uncontrolled dumping of nuclear wastes in the 1940s and 1950s. The worst accident was in 1957 when a radioactive waste container exploded, contaminating thousands of square kilometres of land.

Between 1953 and 1956, some 7,500 local residents were moved from 22 settlements, but not before approximately 124,000 people had been subjected to radiation. In the 40 years of its existence the Mayak plant has contaminated some 800 square miles of land and is still a source of radiation, says Yuri Chaturov, deputy chairman of the state committee for Chemobyl. Almost half a million of the region's inhabitants have been exposed to radiation - 40,000 to high doses.

As the territory there is already highly contaminated by decades of pollution, the seriousness of the latest accidents will be very difficult to assess.
Source: Inter Press Service (NL) (GreenNet, "IPS: Another Russian Accident', gn:nuc.fadilities, 24 July 1993).

The accident occurred in Plant 45 of the Mayak Production Combine in the closed city of Chelyabinsk-65 in the southern Urals. Until recently the city was so secret that it was not even marked on maps. It is still off limits to foreigners. The Mayak combine recycles used reactor fuel rods, extracting plutonium and using it to prepare fresh nuclear fuel. Early in 1993 Mayak concluded a contract to supply plutonium for use in the US space industry; Plant 45 is believed to be involved in filling this contract.

According to statements by the authorities, the accident resulted from an "irregular situation" in a 20-liter absorption column used for the separation of plutonium. A mixture of hydrogen and oxygen accumulated and ignited, and the explosion partially destroyed the vessel. Mayak's deputy director reported "local contamination of a small area surrounding the installation". No personnel were exposed to radiation. Officials stated that a total of 02 millicuries of radiation in the form of alpha particles was released into the atmosphere via the plant's ventilation system. This was 'only 3% of the maximum permissible daily release of radiation'.

Even after finally admitting that an accident had occurred, officials would say only that "a commission has begun work" and that "we will report in full on the findings of the investigation".

Three days after the release of radio-activity, journalists for the Moscow daily Izvestia were still complaining that they "could not obtain detailed, clear, exhaustive information from the Russian nuclear authorities" on what had happened. A journalist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta complained that it had taken him "three hours to get hail a page of minimal information from the State Inspectorate of Nuclear and Radiation Safety".

Then, according to the official statement of Minatom, on August 2 at 11:55 A.M. (Chelyabinsk time), another accident took place at Mayak, this time in plant N22. As a result of a puncture in the pulp purification works' pulp feed-line, about two cubic meters of pulp with a total activity of 300 millicuries escaped into the environment. This is 1,500 times as much as what was released on July 17. An area of 100 square meters on the grounds of the facility was contaminated. it is supposed that the puncture was a result of corrosion of the pipe line's metal. It was announced that the accident did not lead to the exposure of facility personnel and that the decontamination work is already completed.

Meanwhile, the folly of continuing to process plutonium was summed up after the July 17 accident by Greenpeace Russia Coordinator Dmitri Litvinov: "There is absolutely no need for this production to be occurring at all. Russia is overloaded with plutonium. We are talking about accidents m the production of material the world doesn't need."

Sources:

  • GreenNet, "New accident in Chelyabinsk", gn:nuc.facilities, 3 Aug 1993.
  • Die Tageszeitung (ERG), 4 Aug. 1993.

Contact: Greenpeace Russia, P0 Box 60, 121002, Moscow, CIS; tel: + 7-044- 293-3261.

 

Alert: Campaign to stop dump on native American land

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) The Spokane, Washington branch of the Sierra Club, a US environmental group, is organizing a letter and telephone campaign to stop a plan to use the Spokane Indian Reservation as a repository for out-of-state low-level nuclear waste.

(397.3869) WISE Amsterdam - So far, the campaign has been local, but organizers are working to make it a national issue and gain as much publicity as possible, by asking people to write or make a phone call to Washington State's governor, Mike Lowry.

In a letter being circulated across the US, Owen Berio, a spokesperson for the Spokane group, says, "We find it reprehensible that while the practice of industrial nations using third world countries as dumps for toxics and nuclear waste is universally condemned, the state of Washington is advocating the use of a Indian Reservation for the same purpose."

 

INFORMATION ON NUCLEAR COMPANY WANTED

Dutch groups are looking for more information on the US company Interstate Nuclear Services (INS) or its European daughter company European Nuclear Services (ENS). The company is planning to build a laundry for radioactive contaminated clothes in the Netherlands. INS has 14 plants in the US and a market share of 80%. Information on the company, the plants, scandals, etc. is welcomed by:
LAKA Foundation, Ketelhuisplein 43, 1054 RM Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The site in question is the Midnite Uranium Mine owned by Dawn Mining Company, which in turn is a 51% owned subsidiary of the Newmont Mining Corp. It is located on the Spokane Indian Reservation, approximately 56 km northwest of Spokane, Washington. It consists of some 300 acres containing waste dumps, buildings, stockpiles and tens of acres of open pit mines. Though mining and milling operations were closed down in the early 1980s, it remains a major hazard, especially as it has never been cleaned up (see also WISE NC 378.3711).

Twice since 1980 Washington State has gone through legal processes for the purpose of decontaminating the site. In both processes the options given by Dawn Mining for cleaning the site were to either us local clean earth and rock, or allow Newmont Mining to bring in more toxic or radioactive wastes. In 1991, under a previous governor, the Washington Department of Health made a clear decision that only clean earth and rock was to be used. This decision reflected public opinion which unanimously opposed importing out of state waste. Unfortunately, the present state administration has decided to throw out that decision and ignore the voice of the people. For this reason, says Berio, "We are appealing for your support as humanitarians as well as environmentalists. Washington State's role advocating the use of a small Indian Reservation as a dump site is morally repugnant...So please join with us and ask others as well. Call or write Gov. Lowry and let him know you condemn the use of the Spokane Indian Reservation as a nu-clear waste repository."

[Note: It seems to us that International pressure is important here as well. Newmont Mining Corp. is, among other things, one of the world's largest corporate producers of gold outside South Africa. Its vast interests extend far beyond Washington State and the US. Recently company even began ex-ploratory work in Vietnam and China. Other Newmont projects are due to begin operating in Peru with further development work in Indonesia and Thailand.]

Write or Call: Gov. Mike Lowry,
Legislative Bldg., Olympia WA 98504, USA. Tel: + 1 (206) 753-6780 (Olympia); (509) 4564417 (Spokane); 1-800-562-6000 (message).

Sources:

  • EcoNet (GreenNet, gn:en. alerts, 12 Aug. 1993).
  • Higher Values, Minewatch Bulletin, Aug. 1993, p.17.

Contact: Owen Berio, Spokane Group, Sierra Club, tel: + 1-509- 456-3834 (or write c/o Sierra Club, 408 C St. NE, Wash. DC 20002, USA).
For more information on Dawn Mining and Newmont Mining Corp., write: Minewatch, 218 Liverpool Rd., London Ni 1LE, UK; tel: + 44-71-609-1852; fax: 700-6189.

 

Boiloff threats at spent fuel pools

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) Two engineers, Donald Prevatte and David Lochbaum, have unsettled the whole nuclear industry with a devastating analysis of the lack of emergency cooling available for the spent fuel pool at a nuclear power plant in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, USA.

(397.3871) WISE Amsterdam - In brief, Lochbaum and Prevatte say secondary cooling systems would have to be set manually to get cooling water to the pool in the event of a serious reactor accident, but 1000-rem-per-hour radiation fields would kill anyone near the pipes and valves of the Residual Heat Removal (RHR) system in a matter of seconds. Further, in less than 25 hours, an immense load of radioactive water and steam from the pool would overwhelm the plant's ventilating system, heat exchangers, pumps, and wastewater tanks. Ventilating ducts have never been designed to carry heavy condensation from the steam loads into the plant, the engineers say.

Like most nuclear controversies, this one has been brewing for quite some time. Prevatte and Lochbaum made their main case in a 12-page report to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on 31 March. Since then they have been continuously involved in meetings with agency and plant officials. But at least, in a recent 5-page analysis, the NRC admitted in effect that although pools are licensed as secondary adjuncts to the main reactor, the pool and the reactor are in fact two codependent systems that could overwhelm each other rapidly and unpredictably in an emergency.

Managers at Susquehanna have minimized the importance of the Loch-baum-Prevatte analysis by claiming that the events the engineers describe as possibilities could occur only as a result of a full Design Basis Accident caused by a major earthquake. The NRC report rejects this claim, saying loss of cooling and offsite power accompanied by a pool boioff could be triggered by sabotage, human error, or a tornado. The report notes, for example, that offsite power was lost for several days at the Turkey Point nuclear plant in Florida during Hurricane Andrew last summer, and during a truck accident in the switchyard at the Vogtle plant in Georgia.

In a telephone interview with the Washington-based Atoms & Waste, Lochbaum agreed that defense against accidents in spent fuel pools is due for a major overhaul. Many of the issues he and Prevatte have raised are generically applicable at least to all Boiling Water Reactors, and already the pool boioff scenario has been confirmed as a credible threat by engineers at the Pilgrim BWR in Massachusetts and the WPPSS PWR in Washington state. Lochbaum points out also that moving older fuel into dry storage at many reactors will leave the newest and hottest fuel in the pool, thereby elevating the overall pool inventory of heat and radiation. Increased fuel-handling activity involving 20-ton (non-metric) storage canisters moving through the pools is adding further accident potential, as in the case of the Palisades plant in Michigan, which has experienced several fuel-handling malfunctions this summer.

The overall case is three dangerous systems - the reactor, the pool, and the dry storage facility - which, instead of backing each other up, are becoming increasing threats to each other as increasing tons of fuel and billions of curies accumulate at plant sites.

Source and contact: Atoms & Waste, 310 Domer Avenue #1, Takoma Park MD 20912, USA.

In brief

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

US group announces surprise plans to build new reactor.

(September 3, 1993) Since mid-June, nuclear industry backers and critics alike have been watching and waiting for more information about alleged plans to build a new nuclear unit in the US, in Arizona's White Mountain area. The story broke when an Arizona newspaper quoted a regional development official as saying an unnamed company planned to build a nuclear plant, bringing upwards of 2,000 jobs to the economically depressed White Mountain region. The official, Phillip Downing, executive director of the White Mountain Regional Development Corp., hasn't said much since, declaring the agreement was confidential. The announcement stunned utility regulators and officials. Not only has no one proposed building a nuclear power plant in the US since 1978, but there is a severe glut of power in the area for which this one is supposedly planned. One local official said they are having trouble selling their power surplus. Humorists in the nuclear industry are calling the secret plant "Elvis-i" because it has been "sited" more often than long-deceased Rock 'n Roll king Elvis Presley. (Elvis "sightings" regularly appear in US tabloid newspapers sold at super-market check-out counters.) US groups are monitoring the situation and, if it appears this may be a real attempt to order and build a reactor, they will put out a call for nationwide action. Nucleonics Week (US), 15 July 1993; Arizona Daily Star (US), 29 June 1993; The Nuclear Monitor (US), 19 July 1993.

 

Contaminated milk-powder imported to Bangladesh. In the beginning of August one hundred tonnes of radio-active contaminated milkpowder was found in Bangladesh. Authorities confiscated the milkpowder after measurements showed the level of contamination was five times more than the permitted level. First reports claimed that the milkpowder came from the Netherlands, but all Dutch manufacturers denied it. Later it was said that the load was shipped through the Rotterdam harbor, but had come originally from Lithuania. Although no official declaration on the source of the radioactive contamination has been given, it is believed to be Chernobyl. Trouw (NL); 9, 10& 11 Aug. 1993

 

Hot news!!! On 17 August, de Para's Federal Police (North of Brazil) confiscated 1.3 tons of thorium that a physician and two businessman tried to smuggle to Irak. The thorium is valued at US$100,000. The newspaper doesn't mention the thorium's origin, what it was doing in Para, or for what it was intended. Diario do Para (Brazil) 19 Aug. 1993

 

Power play by Westinghouse in Lithuania. This summer the Westinghouse Electric Co. invited representatives from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland to a meeting at the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Warsaw, Poland. There the US com-pany presented an offer to jointly build a nuclear power plant in Ignalina, Lithuania, 60 km from Vilnius. The site chosen already has two operating RMBK reactors of the type that exploded in Chernobyl. Philip Ellison, Westinghouse's deputy director for Eastern Europe, says the company proposes to replace these with two AP 600s. Westinghouse claims the reactors of this type are 30% less expensive than conventional power plants of the same output and 25% cheaper to operate. The plant's construction is estimated to cost about US$1.5 billion dollars. The AP 600 has not been tested in regular operation, but Westinghouse is ready to negotiate with the European Bank f or Reconstruction and Development and the OECD countries in hopes of securing credit at very favorable terms. The proposed plant would be managed by the four countries invited to the Warsaw meeting. The board of directors would also include representatives of the US government and Westinghouse. If a decision is made by the end of this year, Ellison says the plant could become operational in the year 2002. The Baltic States' representatives were said to be generally in favor of the project, as it would eliminate the reliance on Russian coal and natural gas. Poland had no official statement on the matter, but it's representative said he was there only as an observer. Warsaw Voice (Poland), 1 August 1993

 

Cancer from Radon in homes. High concentrations of radon in homes cause the same lung cancer risks as is known for Bohemian uranium miners. That is the result of a study performed in an Austrian high radon area published in Lancet (Vol.342, p47). Residents of the village Umhausen in Western Tirol living in homes with an average radon level of 1887 Becquerel per cubic meter suffer a sixfold increased lung cancer incidence compared to national average. On the other hand, residents of homes with radon levels of 182 becquerel per cubic meter apparently show no increased lung cancer incidence. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (ERG), 18 Aug. 1993

 

Wismut: Lung cancer risk doubled. The average former uranium miner at the Wismut company (former GDR) faces a doubled lung cancer risk compared to the general population. this figure was presented by Theodor Bulthoff, managing director of the Bergbauberufsgenossenschaft (mining employers' liability insurance association) at Gera. While uranium mining in East Germany ended in 1990, 200 to 300 new cases of lung cancer are still being reported annually. The total number of miners that worked at Wismut at one time or another amounts to around 500,000. Until 1990, a total of 5273 cases of lung cancer had been acknowledged by GDR authorities as occupationally caused. Since the unification of Germany in 1990, the association has dealt with 1400 demands for compensation. In addition, 1735 cases have been resumed, since the former radiation levels necessary to justify compensation were twice those actually in use. Frankfurter Rundschau (ERG), 6 Aug. 1993

 

Bomb threat against Krümmel Npp/FRG.Authorities responsible for the nuclear reactor KrUmmel in northern Germany received, in July, a bomb and extortion threat. The threat, received in the writing, came on 27 July, when a group calling itself "Commando August 5" demanded 1.5 million DM (US$900,000). The would-be extortioners said that if the money was not paid by 5 August, they threatened an attack on the plant with a blasting agent. According to the "Hamburgischen Elektrizitätswerke" (Hamburg Electricity Works), which operates the plant, the Ministry of Energy and the criminal investigation department didn't regard the bomb threat as serious because the extortioners didn't mention when and where the required money was to be given over. Nevertheless, security measures at the plant were intensified. die tageszeitung, 9 Aug. 1993

 

Radioactive gold from CIS. Last July almost five kilos radioactive gold were confiscated by Polish customs officers from a citizen of the Commonwealth Independent States (CIS). The traveller carrying the gold didn't know that his treasure was radioactive, and took no preventative measures to avoid damage from the radiation. The Police are trying to find our if the gold comes from the Chernobyl region or from a research laboratory. Kurier Polski, 28 July 1993, reprinted m: Diari de Tarragona (Spain), 29/7/93.

 

Welsh reactor is dead: Victory to protesters! In July, attempts to reopen Trawsfynydd nuclear power station were finally abandoned, 2 1/2 years after its operations were suspended because of safety fears. Britain's Nuclear Electric gave up after two years of trying to convince the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate that the embrittlement of the steel reactor vessel was not serious enough to prevent reopening the station. The company now faces a £220 million bill to decommission the station in Gwynedd, North Wales. The fuel and equipment will be removed over the next two years and a mini-mum staff will be maintained for 100 years as the rest of the radioactivity begins to decay. Nuclear Electric is already technically bankrupt because its liabilities for decommissioning exceed its assets. To become priva-tized, as it wishes, taxpayers will have to foot the bill for its historic liabilities, including the bill for Trawsfynydd. The Guardian (UK), 21 July 1993, as reprinted in Shut Down Sizewell Campaign (UK), Aug. 1993

 

Budget slashed for expansion of Orchid Island Dumpsite. In a major triumph for the Yami people and Taiwan' s anti-nuclear movement, another victory was won when Taiwan's National Legislature cut Taipower's entire budget of NT$200 million (US$8 million) for the expansion of the Orchid Island radioactive waste site. The cut was decided on 1 July. In further budget discussions, opposition legislator Chen Wanchen pointed out that Taipower's numerous advertisements carried on television and in print claiming nuclear power to be clean and inexpensive were completely misleading. Ms. Chen requested that Taipower's NT$ 100 million-plus advertising budget be eliminated. Nuclear Report from Taiwan, July/Aug 1993, p.6

 

Radioactive waste imports to Central America. According to a Greenpeace report, Central American countries have so far received 51 requests to accept imported radio-active waste. Forty-three were rejected, while others are either in the process of being studied or, in some cases, no one knows whether a decision has been taken by the governments involved. The same report says that Nicaragua is studying three proposals from US to import its nuclear waste. Greenpeace inter-viewed Panama's President, Guillermo Endara, to ask his support in a campaign to reject a project which would facilitate the international radioactive and toxic transports. Contact: Greenpeace International, Keizersgracht 176, 1016 DW Amsterdam, Netherlands. La Epoca (Chile), 20 May 1993

 

New US policy on HEU. The US has announced a new policy that is undermining the future of the UK's Dounreay reprocessing plant. On 13 July the US announced that it will restart imports of spent Highly-Enriched-Uranium (HEU) fuel from research reactors throughout the world. It is proposed that the spent HEU fuel be sent to the Savannah River plant in South Carolina for storage. It will not be reprocessed. Just how it is to be eventually disposed of, however, is not known. The policy change is part of the Clinton Administration's proposals to prevent the proliferation of weapons-grade material such as HEU fuel. It came after years of pressure from the US State Department and the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency, as well as European research reactor operators. The proposed reversal of the ban on importing spent HEU fuel, which has been in effect since 1988, will be a severe blow to Dounreay as it is the only facility in the world presently willing to store and reprocess spent HEU or manufacture fresh HEU fuel. Contact: NENIG, Bain's Beach, Commercial St., Lerwick, Shetland, UK; tel: Lerwick (0595) 4099; fax: Lerwick (0595) 4082.NENIG Briefing (Shetland), Aug.1993

Letter from Istanbul: Call to performance artists for support

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) The following letter was sent on behalf of the Anti-Nuclear Platform of Turkey, an umbrella organization made up of 33 groups with different backgrounds and various sizes. The groups came together to form the first such platform in Turkey. Now they want to make it international.

(397.3868) WISE Amsterdam -

Dear Friends,

They tried 15 years ago. Now they are trying again! This time it is really alarming. The Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Turkish Electric Utility (inK), both infamous for their extremely inefficient and polluting coal thermal plants, have invited representatives of the world's nuclear industry to choose 'the best one' for Turkey. They plan to have seven plants by 2010 and the first will be built on a beautiful site right by the Mediterranean (Silifke-Akkutu)!

We are worried. We are collecting signatures and getting ready for a Colorful Week of Protest (Oct. 11-17, 1993) against their Nuclear Congress in Ankara. We have very little money and we are trying to get musicians, artists, dancers who would perform free of charge to support our campaign. Please join our Anti-Nuclear Week in Turkey. Show us (and them) how you manage yourstruggle. We will be stronger if you share your experience with us.

Turkey is a land of sun, of strong winds, of biomass ... of renewables which are not even touched. Yet. Energy efficiency is not mentioned at all. We have to stop this nuclear nonsense and save ourselves from the radioactive heritage!

We hope to hear from you soon. Our fax number is: + 90 (4) 380 8979 (Ankara).

Melda Keskin "NO to the Nuclear Plant" Group of

Istanbul

Contact: Melda Keskin, Hüsren Gerede Cad., 77/7 80200, Tesvikiye-Istanbul, Turkey.

MOX production at Hanau doubtful - Industry at dead end

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) On 26 July Greenpeace filed an official objection in a German court to stop the planned transport of spent fuel rods from the Bavarian nuclear power station Gundremmingen to the reprocessing plant at Sellafield in England.

(397.3865) WISE Amsterdam - The reason for the action, says Greenpeace's Roland Hipp, is "that the basis for the German nuclear industry's dirty business reprocessing collapsed when the Administrative Court in Hesse withdrew three partial licenses for the plutonium plant in Hanau."

 

LOSS OF OPERATING LICENSE FOR GERMAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS DUE TO THORP DISCUSSIONS IN UK? With the possibility that Sellafield's THORP reprocessing plant may never open, German utilities face more problems under the German Atomic Law. In a leaked letter to UK Secretary of State for the Environment John Gummer, the operators of the German Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant (2 units) express their concern about the public discussions of the operation of THORP presently taking place. (The decision on whether to start operation has been postponed again until at least November while these discussion are taking place.) The operators especially fear that regulators will no longer accept the contracts with the THORP facility as proof of appropriate burnt fuel management. In this case, the operation of the Neckarwestheim plant, like that of the MOX fabrication plant, would be illegal and would have to be halted immediately. -Peter Diehl (FRG), 25 Aug. 1993

After a ruling by a court in Kassel, regarding the Siemens plutonium factory in Hanau, reprocessing abroad has lost its legal basis. The court ruled on 21 July that three out of the first four partial construction licenses for the MOX factory were void. The court statement said that the Hesse Environmental Ministry had violated the German Atomic Energy Law by granting the first, third and fourth licenses in the years 1987 to 1990. This completely paralyses MOX fabrication in Hanau. It is now doubtful whether the new 130 tonne/year plant will ever go into operation and when the old plant (30t/year, and out of operation since June 1991) will start up again. The Hesse Court has allowed Siemens to appeal to the Federal Administrative Court, but it could be up to two years before the case is heard. In the meantime, construction work on the new plant has ground to a halt.

"The [court decision] puts the whole of German MOX fabrication in question." says Hipp. "And if no MOX is produced, reprocessing looses its legal basis. And if that is the case, no further transports should go to the reprocessing plants in Sellafield and La Hague."

The legal situation in Germany concerning reprocessing and MOX is the following: In their "Principles of Waste Management" the federal and the Lander governments specified in 1979 that all nuclear power plant operators must arrange for six years in advance where to put their spent nuclear fuel (they must provide a so-called "waste management proof"). Sending the fuel for reprocessing is regarded as an adequate waste management proof.

As stated by the Society for Reactor Safety (GRS) in November 1991, it is a must" for the operators to re-use the plutonium after reprocessing by putting it into MOX fuel and "re-use it for the generation of electricity". Just storing the plutonium would not make sense. In January 1992, German Minister for the Environment Klaus Töpfer also stated that the reprocessed plutonium had to be re-used according to the waste management principles. Otherwise the nuclear power plants could face a shutdown because they lacked waste management proof.

If German operators cannot send their spent fuel abroad for reprocessing anymore, they will have to store it in Germany. But storage capacities are limited and building new stores will be difficult because of political opposition against such projects. And if storage capacities are exhausted, the nuclear power plants will have to be shut down. That is what the German Atomic Law requires.

Sources:

  • Greenpeace (GreenNet, "German Nuke Industry", gn:gp.press, 27 July 1993)
  • Power In Europe (UK), 13 Aug. 1993

Contact: Roland Hipp, Greenpeace, Vorsetzen 53, D-20450 Hamburg 11, FRG; tel: + 49-40-31-1860.

 

No Nukes Asia Forum

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) The following is a report on this summer's No Nukes Asia Forum re-printed from the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center's newsletter, "Nuke Info Tokyo".

(397.3864) WISE Amsterdam - Although the Japanese government is confident that Japan's plutonium policy does not pose any threat, our Asian neighbors think otherwise. Along with Japanese involvement in PKO in Cambodia, they perceive it as a revival of Japanese militarism in Asia. Delegates from eight countries from the Asian region (Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Japan) gathered in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka from the end of June to the beginning of July for a "No Nukes Asia Forum" to discuss the issue.

The Korean delegates maintained that, while the threat to Korea of nuclear weapons had declined with the end of the Cold War, the threat of the "peaceful use of nuclear energy" was, ironically, on the increase. They stressed the threat of Japanese imperialism carried out during World War II and pointed out that the same thing is going on today in Cambodia, this time under the UN flag.

Taiwan has six nuclear reactors gene-rating 40% of the country's electricity output. At present the anti-nuclear movement is engaged in a major struggle against the government's plan for a fourth plant. People have been vigorously opposing nuclear power plants ever since the Chernobyl disaster, with mass demonstrations of 6,000 to 20,000 people. The Yami people of Orchid Island, where a waste dumping site was set up 11 years ago, have also put up a tough and relentless fight against the facility.

The Philippines' sole nuclear power plant in Bataan was almost completed in 1985, but has been mothballed by the Aquino government, and the present Ramos government has pro-posed to convert it into a non-nuclear power plant [see cover articlel. On the other hand, however, he has proposed building new nuclear power plants elsewhere.

The people of the Philippines, having learned from their experience of stopping operation of the Bataan plant for 20 years, remain committed to keeping the Philippines nuclear free.

The Indonesian government is currently planning to build a nuclear plant at the foot of Muria Mountain in Central Java, and has already begun to carry out infrastructure projects to accommodate it. Feasibility studies are being carried out by New Japan Engineering Consultant Inc. (NEWJEC), a subsidiary of [Japan's] Kansai Electric Company, suggesting the possibility that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will be nominated contractor for the plant. Indonesian anti-nuclear groups are calling for international solidarity in their efforts to stop the government's nuclear program.

Thailand has no nuclear power plants as yet, but the government has announced its hope of having six nuclear reactors on line between the years 2006 and 2014. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) claims there will be a great increase in electricity demand, and it needs to build nuclear plants in order to prevent the environmental destruction caused by large dam projects. But it is mainly industry, business, and the urban elite who will benefit from the increased generating capacity, whereas the costs of generating electricity, especially nuclear electricity, will be paid by local and native people. This is a case of the people and their natural environment subsidizing the private profits of industry and the political dominance of the State.

There was a rumor that a nuclear power plant would be built in Malaysia, but the government has denied that there are any concrete plans at the moment. However, the significant nuclear issue in Malaysia today is that of radioactive waste at Bukit Marah. Asian Rare Earth, a joint venture company with Mitsubishi [both of Japan], extracts rare earth metals from monazite for export to Japan. The process is considered too hazardous to be based in Japan, hence it has been transferred to Malaysia. Radiation is emitted in the production process, and radioactive waste has been dumped indiscriminately. This has caused serious health problems including some cases of leukemia and other radiation induced diseases. A supreme court ruling is soon to be handed down.

India's nuclear power program began one year after independence, and the country exploded its first atomic bomb, developed through the 'peaceful' use of nuclear energy, in 1974. There are currently nine nuclear power plants in operation. The Indian government spends nearly half its research and development budget on nuclear and allied research, thus starving other crucial areas like health care and renewable energy. There have been a number of major anti-nuclear movements and in several cases they have forced the government to abandon plans. Resistance today is still minimal, but the movement has registered significant growth during the past decade.

The second day was spent discussing how to formulate a network through-out Asia to exchange information. Many people expressed their hopes of using a computer network, establishing a headquarters somewhere, and conducting all-Asia campaigns against the Japanese plutonium program, etc. The discussion is to be continued, with the second Forum likely to be held either in Korea or Taiwan.

The Forum ended with the adoption of a Statement, which was delivered to the Japanese Science& Technology Agency the following day. The Statement includes the following paragraphs:

* We are alarmed that the policy to promote the utilization of plutonium by Japan runs against the world trend, contributes to nuclear proliferation, and heightens existing tensions among Asian countries. It is a great threat to the people of Asia as well as the whole world.

* To remove the threat of nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula, we demand that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treat be indiscriminately applied to all nations including nuclear weapons states, and that North and South Korea be allowed to mutually inspect their nuclear capabilities. (In this regard, Japan's plutonium policy will heighten military tensions in the Korean Peninsula.)

* We strongly oppose the nuclear development policy of the governments and nuclear industries of Asia, especially Japan, and in particular the proposals to export nuclear power plants to Indonesia, Taiwan, China, and Thailand. We demand that these policies be changed.

* We strongly protest the actions of the Japanese company (Mitsubishi Kasei/Asian Rare Earth) which has carelessly disposed of radioactive waste in Malaysia, causing health damage to the local residents. We demand that ARE and Mitsubishi Kasei admit their culpability, provide compensation to the victims, restore the local environment, and withdraw their court appeal.

* At this No Nukes Asia Forum we resolve to further strengthen grassroots citizens' solidarity to prevent nuclear weapons development, radioactive materials mining, and other nuclear related activities in the Asian region, and to cooperate to phase out all nuclear power generation as soon as possible.

June 27, 1993, Tokyo, Japan

Contact: Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, 302 Daini Take Bldg., 1-59-14 Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164 Japan; tel: + 8 1-3-5330- 9520; fax: 5330-9530.

Physicians group calls for Siemens boycott

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) The "International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear war" (IPPNW) is calling for a worldwide boycott of medical instruments supplied by the German company Siemens. IPPNW, a federation of national physicians' groups in 80 countries, is demanding that Siemens leave the nuclear business.

(397.3866) WISE Amsterdam - The announcement came at a press conference in Munich on 9 August when Michael Roelen, Secretary of the German section of the organization, said that from September on physicians belonging to the organization, including the 10,000 members of the German section, are being urged not to buy Siemens' products any more.

A spokesperson for Siemens AG, Norbert Böcker, has said he wanted to begin a dialogue with the IPPNW, but that a call to boycott Siemens equipment might not be favorable for such a conversation. He said it is still too early to take legal steps, implying that his company might take the physicians' organization to court over the boycott.

The boycott is part of an international campaign by the IPPNW, which aims to ban plutonium production by the year 2000. From what Till Bastian, former secretary of the physicians' organization, said, the action should be seen as "a support to get out of the nuclear business" for the company. Its share of nuclear-related work has already fallen from 20% to two per cent, according to IPPNW estimates. The organization also wants an end to the production of MOX-fuel rods in Siemens' Hanau plant.

In an IPPNW study (Plutonium: Deadly Gold of the Nuder Age) published at the end of 1992, the organisation warns of the "quiet and deadly" dangers of the approximately 520 tonnes of Plutonium which -according to IPPNW's findings -exists worldwide. If a prohibition of plutonium is not integrated into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the number of nuclear weapons states will rise from eight countries (officially known) to 20 to 25 countries by the year 2000, said Bastian.

A worldwide ban on Plutonium is a necessity, says Bastian. "Plutonium should not be treated any more as a raw material, but as what it really is, a deadly poison". Around 700,000 people have been killed by A-bombs or atomic tests.

Source: die tageszeitung (FRG), 10 Aug. 1993

Contact: IPPNW Germany, Körtestrasse 10, D-10967 Berlin; tel: + 49-30/693 02 44; fax: 30/693 81 66.

Shutdown Campaign - Spain

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) The Federacion de Ecologistas del Pais Valenciano (FEPAV - Valencia's Ecologist Federation), Coordinadora Antinuclear de Cofrentes (Cofrentes's Antinuclear Coordinator) and various social, labor and political organizations started a campaign last June to demand the shutdown of Spain's Cofrentes nuclear plant.

(397.3867) WISE Amsterdam - They are convinced that the plant has enough anomalies both in its construction and in its operating functions, to produce a dangerous accident.

The campaign began on 15 June with a conference. A report was presented which made explicit the tactics of disinformation used by Cofrentes management to cover up incidents that might cause alarm about the plant's operation. The report, by Francesc Hernandez, referred to such incidents as one in 1988 which involved radio-active contamination. The plant's director, according to Hernandez, uses ambiguous statements and vocabulary which is confusing to people without knowledge of highly technical terms, thus making it hard to see the danger in what he is describing. The report included a list of all the accidents of the last several years at the plant.

On 20 June, the Federation held a march to the plant. Among other things, the marchers demanded that the plant be shut down and that the government revoke fines imposed on some of the participants in a similar march (also a peaceful one) held one year earlier, but without a legal permit.

The campaign closed on 26 June with a bicycle tour through neighboring villages to show support for the campaign. This was followed by a rock festival. Organizers were pleased that all the events were attended not only by many local people, but also by people from across Spain.

Last year Cofrentes produced 77.44% of Valencia's energy. Its fuel was replaced in April of this year, an operation that added more nuclear waste, bringing the current total to 16,000 containers - 213 tonnes of highly radioactive spent fuel. The local population is afraid of the increasing dangerous material near their homes.

Their fears have increased even more now that the press is giving much attention to a scandal involving equipment manufactured by General Electric (GE). This is the company responsible for manufacturing the fuel rods used at Cofrentes, and which have caused problems in three separate incidents at the plant. This US company is also responsible for medical equipment used in radiotherapy for cancer treatment at the Zaragosa Hospital. There an unknown number of patients received higher doses of radiation because the machine was wrongly calibrated. it is not easy to determine the consequences because these people were already extremely ill before being exposed, but the State admits that at least 12 people died as a result of the excess radiation.

A civil suit is claiming that 25 people died. Before this summer, the Court absolved the inspector of Consejo Nacional de Seguridad (CNS - the National Security Council) of responsibility in this case and found a technician from GE guilty. The case is being appealed because the families of the people who died are convinced that the State, in this case the CNS inspector, is also responsible for the security of the hospital equipment.

Sources:

  • Levante (Spain) 20 Apr. 1993, 18 May 1993, 21 & 22 June 1993
  • Mediterraneo (Spain) 19 June 1993
  • El Pais 21 June 1993.

Contacts:La Carrasca, Apartat 252, 03800 Alcoi, Spain. FEPAV, c/o Baix, 8-la, 46003 Valencia, Spain; tel: 392 1751 (8-10 pm). Coordinadora Anti-nuclear de Cofrentes: Apartado 276, 02640 Almansa, Spain, Tel: + 34-67- 3431 96. AEDENAT, Campomanes 213, 28018 Madrid Spain. WISE -Tarragona.

Solar-electric village in China

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) On 6 May 1993, in Tongwei County, Gansu Province, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) of Washington, DC, along with local officials, inaugurated China's first all solar-electric village powered by 20 Wp solar electric lighting systems.

(397.3874) WISE Amsterdam - Fifty-six farming families have retired their kerosene lanterns in favor of three, wall-switched 8-watt fluorescent lights. Thirteen families have already purchased 17-inch black and white TVs.

Sixty-four more families are scheduled to receive systems by September 1993 as part of a pilot project funded by SELF with support of the Rockefeller Foundation. The farmers, although living in one of the poorest districts in the second poorest province in China, are paying for the systems themselves. They have made a 25% down payment matched by a 25% subsidy from the government. This is the first phase of a seven-county 1000-house rural solar project. This area of Western China is only 40% electrified.

Source and contact: SELF, 1739 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC 20009, USA; tel/fax: + 1-202-234-7265.


"Solar Rural Electrification in the Developing World, Four Case Studies: Dominican Republic, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe", by Mark Hankins, published by SELF.

The richly illustrated book is 106 pages and includes 34 photographs and dozens of charts and graphs. The price is US$25 including airmail postage for international and US orders. The introduction gives an overview of the need for solar electricity. In addition to the case studies, a summary is given of experience with solar electricity in the Americas, Asia, the Pacific and Africa. Also included is a discussion of what can be learned from the case studies. An excellent companion to Hankins previous book, "Small Solar Electric Lighting Systems for Africa" (1992).
Contact: SELF, 1739 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC 20009, USA; tel/fax: 1-202-234-7265.

Swiss site for waste repository chosen

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) On June 29 1993 NAGRA, the Swiss national nuclear waste cooperative, designated Wellenberg as the most favorable site for building a repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste. Wellenberg is a marl site mountain formation in the canton of Nidwalden.

(397.3870) WISE Amsterdam - Actual construction of the repository is not likely to start before the year 2000. The scenario is as follows: Fall 1993, a full scientific study and safe-ty investigation of Wellenberg must be submitted to the federal Energy Department. The next step (probably mid 1994) will be a formal application to the federal executive for general permission to proceed. Because of the many anticipated objections, a decision by the Federal Council cannot be expected before 1996. After that, the parliament has to decide. Meanwhile the low and intermediate level radwaste is stored at a Zwischenlager (interim storage) at the Paul Scherrer nuclear research center at Würenlingen.

NAGRA has already spent some 20 years of planning and research and US$400 million to choose a final repository. The costs of the facility at Wellenberg are estimated at some 400 to 500 million Swiss francs (US$ 226 to 333 million). Although building the facility at Wellenberg is believed to be more expensive than at the other sites examined, the site was chosen because of a greater volume of compact marl (clay-limestone rock). This, says NAGRA's president, offers more flexibility for optimal arrangements of the repository caverns, and relatively easy rail and highway access. There weren't any relevant safety reasons which excluded the three other possible sites, so "they will be hold as reserves until the repository is realized".

Meanwhile, the Zwischenlager at the Paul Scherrer Institute at Würenlingen has been given the green light by the Federal Executive Council for interim storage of all categories of radwaste. (It already had a permit for low and intermediate.) The Council recommended that the legislature grant the general permit for the project. More than 10,000 objections were filed against it.

The complex will include a new type waste incinerator for toxic waste disposal. It is now estimated to cost about 500 million Swiss francs (US$ 333 million). Officials hope to obtain the general permit to proceed and specific construction permission by 1995. Construction of the facility will then take two years. The project fills the gap until Switzerland comes up with a final radwaste storage solution.

Sources:

  • Nucleonics Weekly (US), 8 July 1993
  • NAGRA Report, May! June 1993.

Contact: ContrAtom, Case Postale 65, 1211 Genève 8, Switzerland; tel: + 41-22-781 48 44; fax: 320 45 67.

The Bataan plant - The sequel

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) For a while it looked like the never ending story but it finally seems that the Philippine nuclear power plant in Morong, Bataan will never see the atomic light.

(397.3863) WISE Amsterdam - It all started in July 1973 when the Marcos regime decided to build six nuclear power plants. The first one was planned for the Bataan peninsula with a loan from the US Eximbank. In 1974 General Electric was deep into negotiations with Philippine's National Power to get the order. But Westinghouse hired a lobbyist who was close to Marcos: Herminio Disini, the very well connected chairman of Herdis Management & Investment. He regularly played golf with Marcos.

Disiini had a high batting average, getting 80% of his recommendations carried out by Marcos. And so, Westing-house made a direct offer to Marcos and his cabinet to supply a plant with two 620 Mw reactors at a base price of US$500 million. Other charges like fuel and transmission lines raised the estimated total price to around US$ 650 million.

Westinghouse won the deal and GE was out. By the time of the formal contract, the deal was for a plant with just one 620 Mw reactor because the Philippines couldn't afford a second one. And so, instead of getting a twin-reactor plant for US$650 million, the Philippines had to pay US$722 million for a single reactor plant with half the power output. Adding US$387 million for interest and escalation costs, the contract price then rose to US$ 1.1 billion.

Disregarding the fact that the site chosen was dangerous (five miles from a volcano and within 25 miles of three geologic faults, not to mention the open sea), the construction was started in 1976 and completed nine years later in 1985. However, it was never commissioned. But its uranium fuel, worth US$80 million, sits in storage at the facility.

In 1986 the Aquino administration mothballed the plant for safety reasons. But this decision had a pure political motive. The plant was too much associated with the Mareos regime and tainted by the allegations that Westinghouse had bribed that regime in order to win the project. In June 1986, the government ordered a study to determine whether it was feasible to convert the plant into a coal-fired generator. At the same time, the Philippines started a suit against Westinghouse; the government was hoping to get a restitution from Westinghouse for the full escalated costs which by then had reached US$2.2 billion.

A few days after Fidel Ramos succeeded Corazon Aquino as president in May 1992, a US court cleared Westinghouse of the bribing allegations, but several people in the Philippines who were involved in the government in earlier days said the court was biased in favor of the firm. There is not much hope left for recovering any of the money and Manila is appealing that decision. In the meantime, annual maintenance costs are US$3.3 million.

Since July 1992 the Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition (NFPC), a group of activists opposing the Bataan nuclear power plant, have been lobbying the Ramos government to convert the plant into a non-nuclear plant. In April 1993 Ramos organized a nine-man committee to determine whether to go nuclear or not. Deadline for the panel was 1 July. But suddenly, on the 30th of May 1993, Fidel Ramos announced that the plant will be converted for use as a non-nuclear facility. According to a US engineering firm's proposal, the conversion will cost US$600 million.

According to the Far Eastern Economic Review, a committee member said that the term 'conversion' was a 'misnomer'. "Part of the steam generated in the diesel-fired facility would be recycled to fuel the nuclear facility's turbines. Technical constraints for such a setup would reduce the nuclear turbine's to only 450 Mw". Whatever will happen to the Bataan plant, it won't go nuclear.

Sources:

  • Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 June 1993
  • PWT (NL), 17 Dec. 1992
  • WISE NCs 379 and 370
  • Fortune International, September 1986; "Monster of Morong" 1991 (FDC)

Contacts: Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition, P0 Box 1105, 1099 Manila, The Philippines; tel: + 63-73248-39.

The Phebus meltdown

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) "In France we borrow the English expression 'Never say Never' when talking about nuclear accidents."
-Maurice Haessler, head, research laboratory Phebus-PF

(397.3872) WISE Amsterdam - At the end of this year - or so it is planned - unirradiated fuel will be deliberately heated in a reactor core and the water coolant will fail, resulting in a meltdown of 20 fuel rods and a release of radioactivity. This is to be part of a project of planned meltdowns to be carried out at the Phebus nuclear research reactor at the Cadarache Nuclear Research Center in France. According to the center, a fully controlled release of radioactivity in the reactor building will occur without any danger to the surroundings. But final permission has not yet been given. The French Nuclear Installations Safety Directorate (DSIN) agreed in principal to allow the experiment to start the week of the 20th of September (9 months after the original planned date), but still has doubts about the plan and is waiting for a report with full details.

Research on meltdown risks did not begin until after the accident at the Three Miles Island reactor in Harris-burg, USA, in 1979. Until then, nuclear industry experts had not considered the possibility of a meltdown because of assumed physical reactions in case of a loss of reactor water coolant. The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (US) carried out a seven-year project called LOFT (Loss of Fluid Test) in a test reactor, a study on damage to reactor fuel after loss of coolant. This project ended in July 1985 because of financial problems. The European Community Joint Research Center (ECJRC) at Ispra (Italy) started in 1980 with the Super SARA experiment to study the damage to fuel in western pressurized water reactors. This was planned for seven years but the original calculated cost doubled to £176 million ('83 prices) in 1983. This project also ended with a financial crisis. In addition to these experiments in which the fuel was damaged (not melted), several smaller laboratory scale experiments were carried out with nuclear fuel. In 1988 two unirradiated fuel damage experiments took place in the Phebus-CSD (Coeur Sévêrement Degrade) project, as a pre-test for the currently planned Phebus-PF (Produits de Fission) test in which irradiated fuel should be melted. Phebus-PF is the first project with an experimental fuel meltdown.

The Phebus-PF is a project of the Institute de Protection et de Sureté Nucléaire (IPSN) in cooperation with ECJRC Ispra, NRC (US), AECL (Canada), NUPEC (Japan) and AERI (South Korea). It will be carried out in the 14-year-old Phebus 40 MW re-search reactor at the Cadarache center, about 50 kilometers northeast of Marseilles.

The experiment will take place over a period of more than six years. During that time, six meltdown experiments will take place which will cost 900 million French francs for the whole project. Twenty-five percent will be contributed by Electricité de France, which owns and operates French nuclear power plants, 30% comes from the EC and 35-40% from foreign partners.

In the first of these planned melt-downs, once the radioactivity is released, it will be led into a 1:5000 scale model of a 900 MW pressurized water reactor with a steam generator, pressurizer, containment and a model-environment tank to study source-term, transport and effects of radio-activity. The next tests will be conducted with irradiated fuel elements from the BR-3 nuclear power plant that was closed in 1987. In the worst scenario, enough Bq to contaminate 3 billion tonnes of food to the European limit of 370 Bq/kg will escape into the scale model. The high radioactive fission products contain cesium, strontium, iodine, plutonium, uranium, etc.

There are many doubts about this risky experiment, both technical and otherwise. Safety appears to be the biggest problem. When the fuel heats to about 1200 degrees (Celsius), the fuel cladding will react with the cooling water which results in the production of hydrogen gas. According to one DSIN adviser, if any oxygen is present in the scale model, there is a risk of an explosion which will destroy the building. According to reactor safety expert Professor Helinut Karwat of the Technical University of Munchen (FRG), the risk of hydrogen explosions in nuclear power plants is bigger than assumed. There is still a lack of experience with hydrogen. The DSLN adviser also has worries about the possibility of a vapor explosion when the water reacts with melted fuel. In March 1992, the BETA installation for melted fuel experiments at the Karlsruhe nuclear research center (FRG) was destroyed when hot melted metal (not radioactive) came into contact with water and the installation exploded.

The safety analyses for the Phebus-PF are based only on technical aspects of the experiment like pipe cracks, containment, earthquakes, etc. The problem with risk analysis in nuclear energy is that it is impossible to introduce human factors into it. Factors like wrong decisions in emergency situations and inattention cannot be expressed in data and are thus not a part of risk analysis. But in history, human factors have played an important role in nuclear accidents.

The Chernobyl., Harrisburg and many other accidents were caused by human errors. So when Cadarache staff say the chance of an accident is very small, they mean they don't take into account human errors that increase the risks. According to Peter von der Hardt (ECJRC Ispra, Italy), though, the risk analyses for nuclear power plants are based on maximum hypotheses. He believes that the results of Phebus-PF experiment will lead to lower estimates of accident chances. The results could be used for new nuclear power plants but also for the existing East European plants, according to him.

Meanwhile, the people in the Cadarache area increasingly concerned about the experiment and a possible disaster. Their fears are reinforced by the fact that the French nuclear industry is not very open and there is a lack of information on the Phebus experiment. Nor is the Phebus-PF their only worry. Another problem with the Cadarache center that concerns them is that it is more and more being used as a dumpsite for French nuclear waste. At the end of June, radioactivity disappeared in the Durance river when a tank with waste was overfilled.

Sources:

  • On Phebus:
  • Nucleonics Week (US), 27 Aug. 1992
  • New Scientist (UK), 12 Dec. 1992
  • Volkskrant (NL), 10 Apr. 1993
  • die Tageszeitung (FRG), 18 March 1993
  • CEA (Fr),. Annual Reports 1986-1990.

  • On LOFT:
  • New Scientist, 24 March 1983.

  • On SARA:
  • New Scientist, 27 Jan. 1983.

  • On BETA:
  • die Tageszeitung (FRG), 24 March 1992.

  • On Hydrogen:
  • Frankfurter Rundschau (ERG), 11 July 1991.

Contact: Robert Jan van den Berg, LAKA Foundation, Ketelhuisplein 43, 1054 RM Amsterdam, Netherlands; tel: + 31-20-616-8294

World Uranium Hearing Documentation Available

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#397
03/09/1993
Article

(September 3, 1993) The complete documentation of the World Uranium Hearing which took place in Salzburg, Austria from September 13 to 18, 1992, is now available.

(397.3875) WISE Amsterdam - This unique documentation - a comprehensive 314-page report entitled "Poison Fire-Sacred Earth" - contains all presentations given by the Indigenous witnesses from five continents about the daily deadly impact of uranium mining, atomic weapons testing and radioactive waste storage.

The full report, overwhelming evidence of the damage caused to Indigenous peoples and their lands as a result of nuclear development, has been submitted to the United Nations. It ends with the declaration that "uranium and other radioactive minerals must remain in their natural environment". It demands rehabilitation of damaged lands and compensation for people affected by " the mining of radio-active materials, the use of nuclear weapons, or the storage or dumping of nuclear waste".

The evidence, given by eminent scientists and over 100 witnesses, was originally presented to the 700 people from 27 countries and 25 Indigenous nations who attended the week-long meeting at Salzburg.

Sources: Inter Press Service (Green- Net, gn:nuc.faciities, 26 Aug. 1993); Peter Diehl (ERG).

Contact: "Poison Fire - Sacred Earth: Testimonies - Lectures -Conclusions", The World Uranium Hearing Salzburg 1992. 314 pages, Munchen 1993 (in English), ISBN 3-928505-00-9 is available from:
The World Uranium Hearing e.V., Schwanthaler Str. 88, D-80336 Munchen, Germany; Phone: + 49-89- 532687, Fax: + 49-89-5328855. Price: US$ 80 (DM 125) plus shipping.

The documentation is also available on disk (DOS, WORD 5.0). An abridged edition in German titled "Der Tod, der aus der Erde kommt" will be published in September by Pustet-Verlag.