Dangerous inspections informer GDR.
(February 12, 1993) According to a television documentary broadcast in Germany late last year, people, instead of instruments and robot cameras, were used for dangerous repairs and inspections in the first East German nuclear reactor at Rheinsberg (70 km northwest of Berlin). Even into the eighties, it was common to send people into the conduit pipes of the primary coolant system to check for welding cracks and possible leaks. During the inspections, the water in the pipes was released and the interiors of the pipes were cleaned by a chemical substance to remove radioactive particles. The workers, some of whom came from a Yugoslav firm, climbed into the pipes, which are 500 mm wide. A rope was attached to their feet so they could be pulled out. No figures are known (or at least none made public) for how much radiation these workers were exposed to, nor is it known how many were forced to do this sort of work. During that time, robot cameras were not available in the GDR. But because the emergency cooling system at Rheinsberg wasn't sufficient, a failure of the primary cooling system would have been fatal. Thus inspections were obviously very necessary and important...The Rheinsberg reactor (a 70 MW reactor of Soviet design) began operation in 1966 and was shut down in June 1990. It is being prepared for decommissioning, which is expected to be finished in 2009 and cost an estimated 800 million German marks. Die Tageszeitung (FRG), 17 Dec. 1992
G-7 Fund for rebuilding reactors in the CEE. Representatives of the seven biggest industrialized countries (G-7) and some other European countries agreed on 28 Feb. to plans to set up a US$700 million fund to improve safety at the most dangerous nuclear plants in East and Central Europe. The fund, which is to be administered by the European Bank for Recon-struction and Development (EBRD), is set up to be used on a short term basis, especially to cover costs of alarm equipment and fire fighting apparatus. Approval of the plan by G-7 governments is expected to be swift. At the G-7 meeting in Munich last June, a total of $16 billion was agreed to for setting up a plan for backfitting CEE plants over the long term. Trouw (NL), 30 Jan. 1993; International Herald Tribune (NL), 29 Jan. 1993
French firms and Russian Institute developing underwater reactors. Three French firms, Electricité de France, Technique Atom and SGN, are working with the Krylov Institute in St. Petersburg to develop 12 small scale underwater reactor-based power stations. The work is being funded by the city of St. Petersburg. Greenpeace-Moscow
China developing 600 MW reactor for third world. The deputy director for the Chinese Ministry of Energy says China is planning a 600 MW "poor man's reactor" for so-called developing countries. According to the official, the reactor (an advanced PWR), would be cheap and easy to operate. "You simply push a button, as in the case of the poor man's camera which can be operated even by a foolish person." Nucleonics Week (US), 17 Dec. 1992
Smuggling/FRG. In Munich, Germany 16 people were arrested when they tried to sell 1.2 grams plutonium-239 and an unknown amount of cesium. They asked 100 million German marks for the material, although experts say it's worth only about DM 10,000. The origin of the material is almost certainly the former Soviet Union. Taz (FRG), 9 Dec. 1992
Smuggling/CIS. In Dec. 1992 the Russian security service arrested 13 people in the autonomous republic of Udmurtia (1,000 km east of Moscow) for trying to smuggle 80 kg of uranium-235 into Poland. This amount is enough for the production of four nuclear bombs. According to other reports it is not the first time nuclear material has been stolen from a factory in Udmurtia. Trouw (NL), 24 Dec. 1992
Smuggling/Latvia. The Latvian police are searching for two bars of uranium which were thrown into a river during a police raid. A businessman had bought the uranium to try to sell it in the West for two million Dutch guilders (US$36 million). However, when he heard that other uranium smugglers had been arrested, he became scared and tried to dispose of the uranium by throwing it into the river. The uranium (10 kg) came from the above mentioned factory in Udmurtia. Trouw (NL), 14 Jan. 1993
Russia to sell n-expertise? Russia, according to Viktor Gluchich, chairman of the Russian parliamentary commission on the weapons industry, is hoping to earn US$4 billion through weapons sales. The largest part of the money is expected to come from China and India. The sales would include, amongst other things, 20 MIG-27 planes and an unknown amount of S-300 rockets ("the Russian Patriots") for China, and submarines, tanks and rocket motors for India. US experts are afraid that such deals may in-clude assistance to China and India in uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons production. They also suspect an ideological "turn" in Moscow from Europe and the West toward Asia. The reason given by Moscow for its change in foreign policy is that the deals will provide hard currency as well as needed jobs for some hundred thousand highly qualified workers.Trouw (NL), 30 Jan. 1993
Radioactivity in Russian snake venom. A large part of the CIS is so contaminated with radioactivity that it is turning up in snake venom, according to a letter published in the British scientific journal Nature. The authors of the letter, Andrey Nedospasov of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Alexandr Cherkasov of the Kurchatov Institute, both in Moscow, say the contamination is from planned relea-ses of radioactive waste from nuclear fuel plants, accidents at power stations and surface and underground nuclear explosions. Some of the venom is being exported West to be used in medicines. Russian researchers are hoping that by finding out where and when the venom samples were col-lected, they can map the extent of radioactive contamination. Nedospasov said in a telephone interview that a two kg consignment of snake venom was recently impounded by customs officials in Russia because of its high radioactivity. Western buyers pay up to US$40 for 10 milligrams of the venom. "With the advent of a market economy this is a big business opportunity," he said. The researchers said the only venomous snake wide-spread in the main part of the European zone of the former Soviet Union, the Urals and Siberia, is the Vipera berus. Since this snake's migration is limited, overall contamination of an area can, in principal, be estimated with high sensitivity by measuring the radioactivity of snake venom. Reuter, 4 Feb. 1993 and AP, 3 Feb. 1993 (GreenNet, gn:nuc.facilities)
Fish found dead near Japan Nukes. A large number of fish were found dead in the sea near Japan's Ikata nuclear power station this past summer. Deaths of large numbers of fish started in 1981 and the latest incident is the seventh occurrence since that year. Earlier in the summer a similar event happened at the Onagawa power station when large numbers of silver salmon were found dead. The Waste Paper (UK), Jan. '92
Radioactive newspaper/US. A group called Londoners Against Media Pollution has uncovered a new sort of media pollution. Cesium-137, cobalt-60, potassium-40, strontium-90, radium and even plutonium have been detected in the effluent of newspaper printers in the US, according to the group. The source is believed to be paper made from trees contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. The group can be contacted at: 92 Nightingale House, Thomas More Street, London E1 9UB, UK; tel: 44-71-481 0766. Freedom (UK), 23 Jan. 1993
US plant shut. Leaking fuel forced Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. (CEI) to shut down its Perry reactor on 9 Jan. The unit will be down for about 40 days while CEI inspects all of Perry's 748 fuel bundles to try to identify which one is leaking and replace it. CEI decided to take the plant off line, even though radioactive releases to the environment and within the plant from the leaking fuel were below regulatory limits. This is the fourth time since 1988 that Perry has suffered a leak in its GE-supplied fuel. Assuming that just one fuel rod is leaking this time, a total of six have failed: two in 1988, one in 1990, two more last year, and this one. Perry went into commercial operation Nov. 1987, so fuel problems have plagued the unit in each fuel cycle. Earlier fuel rod failures were blamed on a manufacturing problem, but the failed rods removed last spring and this new one are from later fuel batches. Nucleonics Week, 14 Jan. 1993, p.4
GE & Westinghouse win money. Two advanced light water reactor designs have won the financial support of a 16-utility consortium with control over US$150 million in design engineering funds. The General Electric Advanced BWR (ABWR) and the Westinghouse AP-600 designs were selected by the Advanced Reactor Corp. (ARC) for developmental engineering work that would make the designs "essentially complete" by 1996. The program aims to let future buyers know in advance the costs and schedules involved in building an advanced reactor before financial commitments are made. In dollar terms, Westinghouse was the big winner in the ARC competition and is expected to get the bulk of the $150 million because its 600-MW passive safety design is a newer technology and less developed then the ABWR. Nucleonics Week, 14 Jan. 1993, p.4
Egypt consider nukes. Egypt is again considering the construction of a nuclear power plant and has included such a proposal in the country's latest 5-year plan. The country has tried three times before to build a plant, but original plans were frustrated by lack of money, then by non-proliferation concerns among western suppliers and finally by growing public concern following the Chernobyl accident. The Waste Paper (UK), Winter '92.
March 3-4: Toward a Sustainable Energy Policy in Europe, Berlin, FRG.
Organized by The Green Group in the European Parliament. The conference will be divided into three parts. Part I: The Internal Energy Market: a major challenge for the European Energy Policy. Part II: A new cooperation between East and West. Part III: Strategies for a sustainable energy development in Europe. Speakers will include, among others: Abel Matutes, European Energy Commissioner; Michel Miller, European Trade Unions Confederation; Uwe Fritsche and Michael Sailer, Öko-Institut-Darmstadt; Alexeï Yablokov, Russian Federation Ecology and Health Department; François Demarcq, European Bank for Recon-struction and Development; Gérard Magnin, ADEME Franche-Comté; Hiltrud Breyer and Virginio Bettini, European Greens. Simultaneous translation for European languages provided. For further information, contact: Rosi Schwarting, tel: +32(0)2 2845287 or 2847284, fax: 32(0)2 2849196. The Green Group in the European Parliament, 97-113 rue Belliard, 1047 B-Bruxelles, Belgium.
April 26 and 27: 7th Catalonian Conference for a Future without Nuclear Power, Barcelona, Spain.
A yearly conference held in Barcelona on nuclear issues and safe alternatives. This year's focus: The Reality of Renewables. Organized by the Grup de Cientifics i Tecnics per un Futur No Nuclear (GCTPFNN - Scientists & Technicians Group for a Non Nuclear Future). Contact: Dr. Josep Puig i Boix and Dr. Joaquim Corominas i Viñas, GCTPFNN, Apartat de Correus 1095, E-08080 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); tel: +34 3 581 1577.
May 10-14: Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference Preparatory Committee Meeting, United Nations, N.Y., N.Y, USA.