(April 27, 1990) In early April 1990, representatives of the Perstorp Environmental Group in Sweden visited the site of the Zarnowiec nuclear power plant In Poland, 50 km from the center of Gdansk and 200 km from Sweden. They report that the campaign to stop construction of the plant is still intensifying. Protests, including the 40-day hunger strike (see WISE News Communique 323/4.3238), have led to a referendum in the Gdansk region to be held on 27 May.
(331.3305) WISE Stockholm/Amsterdam - The Perstorp Group found that it is very difficult to get anti-nuclear information into the Polish mass media and that the local resistance does not have the economic resources to carry out a good information campaign. For this reason the Perstorp Group has taken on the job of printing 100,000 copies of a Polish-language leaflet. It is hoped to have the leaflets in Poland in early May. Money is urgently needed to pay the printing bill of about 10,000 Swedish crowns (about US $1,600). Donations can be sent to the postal account below.
In the meantime, the pro-nuclear lobby certainly isn't holding back on its resources in the struggle for minds and influence in Poland. Examples of this include the news that on 18 January 1990, the Belgian company TRACTEBEL and the managers of the Zarnowiec nuclear power plant in Poland had signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" to continue construction of the plant. The news was received by BUND-jugend Polen AG, an environmental youth group in West Germany, along with a copy of a letter from the Polish Minister for the Environment to German environmentalists, dated 22 February 1990.
The Polish Minister for the Environment says that he is "really happy" that the hunger strikes by people opposing nuclear power and the shipment of reactor parts to Zarnowiec, have ended and that the Polish government has stopped the construction work for one year. "Meanwhile," writes a Polish environmentalist, "the Ministry for Industry started a program for developing the energy economy, in which various sources and systems are considered that may cover the energy requirements. In April 1990 the program will be discussed and evaluated in public and will then be given to the Sejm (a chamber of the parliament) in order to confirm it."
And just what kinds of things is the Ministry for Industry considering? On 28 February, Jacek Merkel, chairperson of the economy committee of Solidarnose, received a fax from TRACTEBEL saying that a certain Mr. K. Adamczyk of the Ministry for Industry has sent a document (probably concerning the further building of Zarnowiec) to Mr. Frans Andriessen, vice president of the European Commission. A quote from the fax reads, "Please know that I am very thankful for everything you did so far in order to encourage the cooperation between Belgium and Poland. BELGATOM and TRACTEBEL will increase their efforts in case of the Zarnowiec project and I can tell you that with respect to the original program no time was lost."
Sources:
- Perstorp Environmental Group
- BUND-jugend Polen AG, Axel Horn, April 12, 1990.
Contact: Perstorp Environmental Group, Birgit Hamfeldt, Oderijunga 4004, S-284 00 Sweden, tel: 46- 435-322 68 (between 07:00-08:00 or 17:00-18:00)
or Sven-Erik Sjostrand, tel: 46-435-350 03, postgiro: 461 44 75 4. For further information about Zarnowiec contact: Jerzy Paczka, ul. Moniuszki 8/16, PL-66-400, Gorzöw Wldp. tel: (0)95/23972 (private) or 324389 (bro)
BUNDjugend Polen AG, Axel Horn, Hans Leipelt-Str. 8/10, 8000 München 40, FRG, tel: (0)89/3232121.