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In brief

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#323-324
22/12/1989
Article

Extremely high radiation levels (270 times above "normal") were found in Eastern Siberia and the Belgrade area of Yugoslavia, in July and August of this year.

(December 22, 1989) There is speculation that radioactive waste material, possibly from French and German Breeder reactors, were secretly burned in the smelter of the Bor Copper Mining Basin in Eastern Siberia. There is also speculation that this has been going on for more than ten years. Local authorities and the mining company have denied any rise in radiation and refused all speculations. Nuclear Fuel, (US), 13 Nov. 1989

 

Citizen protests have stopped plans for the establishment of the proposed high-level radioactive waste disposal technology research facility at a copper mine in Kamaishi, a city about 500 kilometers north of Tokyo, Japan. The Power Reactor & Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. (PNC) had planned to spend US$ 107 million during the next 20 years for its research in the underground mine... Nuclear Fuel, 27 Nov. 1989

 

Argentinean President Carlos Menem "ruled out" the installation of a proposed medium- and high-level nuclear waste repository in Chubut. The repository, to have been built 875 miles southwest of Buenos Aires, was proposed by the Comision Nacional de Energia Atomic (CNEA). Menem is said to have rejected arguments that a repository would enable cash-starved Argentina to "temporarily" store nuclear waste from other countries for hard cash. Foreign Minister Domingo Cavallo denied local reports that Argentina had offered to store US nuclear waste in the next century, in exchange for concessions aimed at reducing its US$ 62 billion foreign debt. A anti-nuclear poster campaign in opposition to the dump has been going on for some time (see WISE News Communique 313.2130 and 314.2142). Contact: Red Nacional de Accion Ecologista, Tierralerta, Tucuman 1711 3/C, 1050 Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Consejo Porvicial de Organizaciones Ambientalistas No Gubernamentales, Secretaria Grupo Natura, Casa de la Cultura, Villa Elisa/5850 Rio Tercero, Coroba, Argentina. Nuclear Fuel, 27 Nov. 1989

 

The regional government (koninun) of Tierp in Sweden, near the Forsmark nuclear power station, has voted against the storage of high-level radioactive waste within the region's borders. The decision was made because of a high-level waste test drilling site inside the region, a project that has been active for several years. At present, kommuns in Sweden have the right of veto against projects such as a nuclear waste storage site. However, a federal government committee has proposed that the veto right be removed. Tierp's kommun has also requested that the federal government pay for local cesium analysis required after the Chernboyl accident. Contact: Tierps Kommun, S-81500 Tierp, Sweden.

 

A total of 153 spills have been reported at three uranium mines in Saskatchewan, Canada since mid 1981. According to Larry Lechner, an official with the Canadian Environment Department, it is fair to assume that three-quarters of those spills involved radioactive substances. Diesel fuel and miningrelated chemicals were involved in the other accidents, he said. During that 8-year period, Lechner said, Amok Mining Co. had 62 spills, Cameco reported 48 spills, and Key Lake 43. The spill totals were requested after Cameco's Rabbit Lake mine reported a spill of two million liters of water contaminated with radium and arsenic into a creek that feeds into Wollaston Lake which occurred on 7 November (see WISE News Communique 322.3230). Following that spill, the Inter-Church Uranium Committee called for a moratorium on all uranium and nuclear developments in the province. Mediascan (Canada), 10 Nov. 1989

 

The Scottish Energy Office has admitted that the two advanced gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactors at the Torness nuclear power station, which was officially opened in May by UK Prime Minister Thatcher, was a 2,500 million pound mistake and should never have been built. Among other problems, Reactor 1 has been operating at half power and will be shut down for at least four weeks this winter. Reactor 2 is expected to follow its lead. The reason seems to be problems with refuelling. The machine which is supposed to allow online refuelling, thus making Torness more economic to run than earlier AGRs, has yet to pass the industry's standard tests. The cost of replacing the lost output of each of the reactors has been estimated to be 30,000 pounds per day. SCRAM (Scotland), Dec 1989/Jan 1990

 

In the UK, radioactive contamination discovered at Fairlie station, where spent fuel flasks from Hunterston are transferred to flat bed railway trucks which take them to Sellafield, has led to calls for the removal of the contaminated ballast and mere frequent and extensive monitoring. Cesium-137 levels were 30 times greater than the highest post Chernobyl concentrations and 100 times the average level found in Strathclyde, where the station is located. Strathclyde's Regional Chemist's Department, which discovered the radioactive ballast, claims "Levels of activity by conventional standards do not appear to pose a serious hazard to members of the public." However, Ayrshire Radiation Monitoring Group (ARM) says the levels are "unacceptably high in an area which is relatively insecure as regards access by children and animals." SCRAM (Scotland), Dec 1989/Jan 1990

 

The West German government has responded to a challenge by the Greens in Parliament for a formal explanation into the question of West German uranium mining by denying any responsibility. The government declines to accept responsibility for the consequences of uranium mining by German companies in foreign countries or for uranium mining for the fuelling of West German nuclear power plants. (West Germany imports 98% of its uranium needs from Australia, Africa and Canada). The government even denies that problems exist at mining sites abroad - problems such as: increased risk of cancer for miners and nearby residents; pollution of the environment from mining and milling of uranium ore; the perpetual hazards of uranium mill tailing piles, and; violation of land rights of indigenous people living on the sites. Contact: Die Grünen im Bundestag, Lilo Woilny, Rindeshaus, D-5300 Bonn 1, tel: (49) 228 16 9237 Peter Diehl (FRG)

 

The US Department of Energy (DOE) was surprised by the strong public opposition shown at public hearings held in seven states last May, June and July on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, US. WIPP, an underground facility designed to test disposal methods for transuranic and defence mixed waste, is considered by the DOE to be essential for national security. More than 1,000 people gave evidence at the hearings on the draft supplemental environmental impact statement. Most stressed the need for WIPP to meet standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, to comply with other environmental laws, and to ensure safe transportation of wastes through more than 20 states. The opposition has forced a delay in the plant opening at least until July 1990. SCRAM (Scotland), Dec 1989/Jan 1990

 

According to a new policy statement in the manual of the US Internal Revenue Service's (IRS), the agency responsible for collecting taxes in the US, the IRS should expect to resume assessing and collecting taxes within thirty days of the nuclear holocaust. The manual states, "on the premise that the collection of delinquent accounts would be most adversely affected, and in many cases, would be impossible in a disaster area, the service will concentrate on the collection of current taxes." It adds, "However, in areas where the taxpaying potential is substantially unimpaired, enforced collection of delinquent accounts will be continued." LandLeaf Resources (US), Nov/Dec 1989

 

To "seek to change the course of history" seems a pretty tall order for a magazine, but in the words on the opening page of World Watch, a glossy new bi-monthly magazine from the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, "This one does." The opening page also defines the uses/roles of the magazine as: a source of information for concerned citizens and policymakers; providing a global framework for the organizations throughout the world that work on energy, environmental, food, population and peace issues; and providing fresh insights and identifying new issues for editors and reporters. The July/August 1989 issue includes an article entitled "Breaking Up is Hard to Do", which describes the difficulties in decommissioning spent nuclear power plants in the US (see WISE News Communique 319, Resources). Other topics covered include: China scaling back the size of its armed forces, redirecting the money and industrial capacity to its civilian sector; neglected and abused oceans, which are used as plastic, chemical, sewage, oil waste dumps; China's shrinking cropland; the rising number of street children, and; an assessment of urban air quality. Contact: Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036, USA. Subscriptions are US$20 a year/domestic and international surface mail orders and US$35 for international airmail subscriptions.

 

Earth Day Update: In our last WISE News Communique we included some information about Earth Day 1990, which will be celebrated on 22 April. Since then we have received some further information through Green Tree News, the journal of EYFA (the European Youth Forest Action), including the names of some European groups people can contact if they would like to get involved in some way.
We have yet to receive any information on events taking place outside of the US and Europe, so if any of you know of any, please let us know. In the meantime, here are some examples of what will be taking place in Europe.

  • In the UK Friends of the Earth have plans to highlight the "real" environmental problems in Britain and also intend to promote 21 April as Rainforest Issues Day. Contact: FoE, 26-28 Underwood St., London Ni 7QJ, UK.
  • In Czechoslovakia the flontosaurus movement is planning to organize concerts, festivals and exhibitions as well as lectures for youth "decision makers" and the general public.
  • The Estonian Green movement has plans to hold their annual spring environmental day on Earth Day. Contact: Estonian Green Movement, Box 3207, 200090 Tallinn, Estonia, USSR.
  • Save Peace and Nature in the Soviet Union is planning events including voluntary ecological labor, photo exhibitions, rallies and concerts.
  • In the Netherlands a small earth group will organize an Earth Day event on the subject of organic gardening and ecological food.

As EYFA says, you don't need to be involved with some large organization to involve yourself in the celebration. This event is all about your own local initiative "think globally act locally".