Atomic mythology.
(September 12, 1997) A book entitled Atomic mythology. The ecologist's notes about atomic industry was published by Moscow's publishing house "Science". Its author, Aleksey Yablokov, is the well-known Russian ecologist and associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author analyzes the negative economic, environmental and medical consequences of the atomic industry development using the examples of such developments in the United States, Russia and other countries. The information for this analysis (270 pages) has been compiled from 300 different sources. This book will be interesting for those who are working in the field of nuclear power and/or those interested in environmental issues. For more detailed information, contact: Center of Ecological Policy of Russia, Vavilova St., 26, 117808 Moscow. Tel; +7-95-952 24 23; Fax: +7-95-952 30 07; E-mail: anzuz@glas.apc.org
Nuclear News for the Northwest of Russia, 16 August 1997
Dutch N-workers: reverse early closure of reactor. Workers at the Netherlands' sole remaining nuclear power station in Borssele are applying pressure to reverse the decision to close the station in 2004. The employees collected 4,000 signatures in favor of expanding the reactor's lifetime to 2007 or 2013, or even beyond. It is not very likely that this will have an effect (those 4,000 people are among the few remaining advocates of nuclear energy left in the Netherlands!). But two political parties (the Christian Democrats and the Liberals) which have always been in favor of nukes but were silent for the last 10 years, are raising their voices again and are joining Borssele's doubts of early closure. Their main argument is climate change and CO2 emissions, but its very unlikely this would result in changing the closing date.
PZC, 17 July 1997 / Trouw, 4 September 1997
Hungary: contaminated lakes due to Chernobyl. On September 3, Hungarian authorities barred fishing at nine lakes near the capital of Budapest after they found the mud to be radioactive. Officials of the central Radiation Biology Institute said the Caesium-137 isotope concentration of the mud in the artificial lakes at Godollo, some 30 kilometers north of Budapest, was 20 times the normal level. According to the experts, the Caesium-137 isotopes in the lake could originate from nowhere else than the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine. Experts started to examine the lakes after fish were reported to dying en masse since 1995.
AFP, 3 September 1997
France: Simulation test program dead? Chirac's government had planned the construction of a laboratory for the simulation of nuclear weapons tests at Barp (south of Bordeaux) (see NC 446.4421: French simulation program). In a May 1997 letter to Stop Essais (Stop the Tests), Prime Minister Lionel Jospin wrote: "Today, our dissuasion force is assured, we believe it is unnecessary to launch an expensive simulation program, likely to re-launch the weapons proliferation." The official answer of Mr. Jospin will come with the announcement of the 1998 budget, but it seems the French simulation program is dead. Good news!
Silence, September 1997
US: gunman worked in three nuclear plants. A man who killed four people and wounded four others in a wild rampage in New Hampshire on August 19, turned out to have worked in three nuclear reactors in the previous five years. After he was shot dead by police, they found 'a virtual bomb factory' at his compound. Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it plans to send special inspection teams to all three facilities to check their security precautions, and discover how closely they monitor the work of outside employees at the plants. A NRC statement did not identify the nature of his work at the plants but implied that officials want to ensure he did not try or intend to sabotage any of the three plants. He worked in Pilgrim, Vermont Yankee and Indian Point.
UPI, 22 August 1997
Paks: failure of control rod. Hungary: The failure of a control rod to insert correctly during an automatic scram in August resulted in the temporary shutdown of Paks-3. It appears to have been caused by a loose washer. The incident was rated at IAEA INES Level 2, because the same control rod had jammed earlier in the same month as the reactor was restarting following its annual outage.
Nucleonics Week, 28 August / Reuters, 28 August 1997
Indonesia: nuke program deferred! Indonesian State Minister for Industry and Technology B.J. Habibi has confirmed that the country's nuclear power program has been indefinitely deferred and that Java's growing need for electricity will be fuelled by natural gas.
Power in Asia, 11 August 1997, cited in UINews Briefing 32
Alternative Kyoto conference. Citizens' Nuclear Information Center and Friends of the Earth Japan will co-host the "Citizens' International Conference for Sustainable and Peaceful Energy Future" at Kyoto International Community Center in Kyoto on December 2, 1997. The conference is to take advantage of the opportunity of the Third Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) from December 1 to 10 where an unprecedented number of government officials, journalists and non-governmental organization (NGO) activists are expected to gather from around the world. The Citizens' Conference focuses on Japanese and Asian alternatives in the context of economic development, security and the environment in the region. It will also focus on governmental initiatives and campaigns. The main issues to be addressed at the Citizens' Conference will be: 1. Climate change and nuclear energy; 2. Prospects of energy efficiency and a sustainable world; and 3. Renewable energy and the citizens' role.
Source and Contact: Mika Ohbayashi, Energy issues and Asian Issues Officer at: Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, Kotobukti Bldg. 3F, 1-58-15 Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku Tokyo 164, Japan. Tel: +81-3-5330-9520; Fax: +81-3-5330-9530 E-mail: cnic-jp@po.iijnet.or.jp
New publication. Nukewatch is a new quarterly publication of the Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition (NFPC). It seeks to give regular update on developments in the Asia-Pacific region and especially the Philippines. Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition is a campaign- oriented coalition of 128 national and sectoral organizations of teachers, youth and students, peasants, women, health, churches, labor, urban poor, science and technology, and human rights advocates nationwide. The NFPC spearheaded the successful campaign against the construction and the operation of the first and only nuclear power plant in the Philippines (Bataan). Likewise, the Coalition also helped lead the campaign for the removal of US Military bases in the Philippines in 1991. Nukewatch will at the same time serve as the Official Publication of the No Nukes Asia Forum 1997
Source and Contact: Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition Rm. 511 J & T Bldg., 3894 R, Magsaysay Blvd., Sta. Mesa, Manila. Tel & Fax: +63-2-7161084 Email: NFPC@phil.gn.apc.org
Possible contamination of Russian soldiers. Soldiers who in recent years served at a military base in Sokol village near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island (Russia) will all have to undergo medical examinations, after being exposed to radiation from a highly radioactive vial that was buried near their base. The vial has now been disposed of by emergency workers.
AFP, 4 September 1997
France: pro and contra Superphenix. The announcement of the decision to shut down the Superphenix fast breeder reactor on June 19 did not prevent anti-nuclear activists from organizing the annual action "les fleurs de la vie" (flowers for life). On July 31-August 1, around 60 people made a two-day fast in front of the plant. At the same time, the communist labor union CGT, in favor of restarting Superphenix, broadcast repeatedly, endlessly and very loudly the message that the nuclear plant should be restarted to save a number of jobs. On July 2, about 1000 anti-nuclear activists made a huge "Nuclear power, no thanks" logo with flowers, in front of the plant. Then a march commemorated the death of Vital Michalon, killed in a demonstration against Superphenix in 1977. A Green party-member read a letter of support from Dominique Voynet, the newly appointed minister of environment.
Silence, September 1997
Privatization of US Enrichment Corp. On July 25, US President Bill Clinton approved a plan to privatize the US Enrichment Corp. (USEC), a five-year-old government-owned entity that produces enriched uranium for use as commercial nuclear reactor fuel. The USEC has utility customers in 14 countries. It also serves as the lead agency involved in the implementation of the US-Russian agreement to convert highly enriched uranium from Russian nuclear weapons into civilian reactor fuel. The USEC manages gaseous diffusion enrichment plants in Kentucky and Ohio and is developing an advanced laser enrichment technology at facilities in California. The USEC has introduced a web site -- www.usec.com
UPI, 25 July 1997/PR News wire, 28 July 1997
US: second subcritical test end of September. 'Holog', the second in a series of underground subcritical nuclear tests, is being readied by Livermore Lab in California. Its likely "shot date" at the Nevada Test Site will be in late September. 'Holog' will involve two simultaneous blasts, each using about 50 grams of plutonium and high explosives. It will not produce a sustained nuclear chain reaction, hence the term "subcritical". (for more information on subcritical tests, see WISE NC 476.4724) Last spring, the Department of Energy said Holog's purpose is to measure ejecta, the molten shards of plutonium that spew out in a nuclear explosion. Holog will be "important for understanding [a weapon's] performance," said a deputy secretary in the DOE's Defense Programs. Actions are prepared. In any case call Bill Clinton (at +1-202-456-1111) and ask that the tests be cancelled. For more information contact: Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs. 5720 East Ave. #116, Livermore CA 94550 USA. Tel: +1-510- 443-7148; Fax: +1-510-443-0177
South Africa's leaking radwaste dump. The nation's main radioactive waste dump, the Atomic Energy Corporation's Vaalputs, licensed only in 1990, has been leaking for years, according to recent press reports. The dump handles "low level" and "intermediate-level" waste, although apparently some higher-level waste has been placed there as well because, according to a dump official, "we have no other place to dump it". Twenty-two metal drums as well as soeme concrete drums were found to be leaking as well. To make matters worse, although the dump site was chosen partially because it is supposed to be in a low-rainfall area, recent flooding may have sent some of the contamination to a nearby town.
Nuclear Monitor, July 1997
Magic flute and protest against Siemens Probably due to the Siemens boycott campaign, Siemens became a major sponsor of cultural events such as the world-known Salzburg Festival. On August 7th, Mozart's opera ,The Magic Flute" was performed at the Salzburg Festival and transmitted from the opera house to a giant video screen at the Cathedral Square, to a crowd of 3000. In a real stunt, activists of the Salzburg Anti-Nuclear Platform and Global 2000 managed to interfere with the Siemens transmission equipment. Just after the opening speech of the Director General of Siemens Austria the message "Siemens constructs NPPs" appeared on the screen. There was spontaneous applause from the crowd. Siemens engineers and the police were too surprised to react.
AAI, August 1997
Kazakstan plans to install N-reactors. The Kazakh government has approved a plan to install six nuclear reactors at its first nuclear power plant by the year 2030, according to a 5 August ITAR-TASS report. The new Russian-made VVER reactors will be installed at a power plant on the southern shore of Lake Balkhash. Kazakhstan is heavily dependent on Russian and Uzbek supplies of energy and is deep in debt to both countries as a result. The project is estimated to cost about US$5 billion.
ITAR TASS, 5 August 1997