URGENT PETITION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

We, women of Europe and of the World, deeply worried by

• the experts' contradictory declarations regarding fast-breeder nuclear reactors,
• the consequences of a possible accident,
• the faulty functioning of the Superphenix reactor at Creys-Malville, France, the only fast-breeder of industrial size in the world, which has been put into operation despite an appeal launched in 1976 by 1326 scientists, including 400 physicists from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN),

request the European Parliament:

1. TO DEMAND THAT SUPERPHENIX BE CLOSED DOWN
   Superphenix is a PROTOTYPE 1 250 MW FAST-BREEDER. It is the most powerful in the world (5 times more powerful than its predecessor Phenix).

   In conventional Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWR) the neutrons are slowed down by the water, which acts as a moderator, to speeds of a few kilometers per second. In a fast breeder the slowing down process is avoided by cooling the reactor with liquid sodium instead of water. The neutrons reach speeds of some 50000 kilometers per second. This is necessary in order to create more fissionable material (i.e. plutonium) than is consumed in energy production.

   Superphenix contains FIVE TONS OF PLUTONIUM. A traditional plant contains only a few hundred kilos. A FEW MICROGRAMS OF INHALED PLUTONIUM are enough to cause lung CANCER. The half-life of plutonium is 24,000 YEARS.

   Superphenix needs 5,000 TONS OF SODIUM as a cooling agent. A traditional reactor uses water. Sodium CATCHES FIRE when it comes into contact with air and EXPLODES when it comes into contact with water. At present, only fires involving a few hundred kilos can be brought under control.

   Promoting a nuclear plant of this type tends to create a centralised technosphere in disharmony with the survival of the biosphere. It challenges democratic values, denying citizens the basic rights to choose their way of life and to be informed;
    

2. TO MAKE THE GRANTING OF AUTHORITY TO OPERATE this reputedly dangerous plant subject to the conclusion of appropiate international agreements and conventions between the countries owning the plant and neighbouring states directly concerned in view of their geographic proximity;
    
3. TO ORGANISE AN INFORMATION CAMPAIGN AT EUROPEAN LEVEL ON ENERGY SAVING, aimed at reducing present consumption by 20 to 30%;
    
4. TO BRING ALL CONCERNED PARTIES TOGETHER FOR PUBLIC DEBATE on the implications of nuclear technology, particularly with regard to Superphenix; At such a debate, the following questions should be examined:
   1. What factors prompted most nations possessing small experimental prototypes of such reactors to stop developing and using them?
   2. Is the fast-breeder technology compatible with democratic rights to information, liberty of expression and decision?
   3. Is it acceptable, when the safety of millions is at stake, that only short-term economic criteria, questions of prestige and military applications should be taken into consideration ?
   4. What account should be taken of declarations and warnings emanating from numerous scientists, physicists (particularly at CERN) and Nobel prize-winners who have stated their oposition to fast-breeder technology?

The dangers surrounding this technology surpass any yet faced by our planet. They threaten an important part of Europe which, as Jack Steinberger, 1 988 Nobel prize-winner, recently stated, << could be transformed into a desert for an unlimited period of time>>.

THE FUTURE IS OUR BUSINESS - IT IS ALSO YOURS!