[ RadSafe ] Dozens of Greenpeace activists detained near Romanian nuclear plant

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Dozens of Greenpeace activists detained near Romanian nuclear plant
Stewart Brand to Argue in Favor of Nuclear Power at Annual Conference
Iran says it will never stop uranium enrichment conversion
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Dozens of Greenpeace activists detained near Romanian nuclear plant

CERNAVODA, Romania (AP) - Dozens of Greenpeace activists were given 
small fines Monday after they staged a river protest near a nuclear 
power plant in southeast Romania.

The group, traveling on five inflatable boats and a yacht, were 
trying to approach the plant on a channel of the Danube when they 
were intercepted by a border police patrol, which escorted them to 
the nearby port of Cernavoda.

Port authorities fined the 35 Romanian and Western activists a total 
of about euro70 (US$56) for violating river traffic rules, said 
Marian Saragea, a spokesman for the local police.

"We wanted to come with our inflatable boats near the shore ... in 
front of the power plant to display our banner reading 'Cernavoda - 
100,000 years of nuclear waste,"' said Anamaria Bogdan, a Greenpeace 
activist.

The protesters called for halting the building of a second nuclear 
plant in Cernavoda, urging Romania to focus on saving energy and 
using renewable sources.

"Romania uses about 50 percent more energy and five times more carbon 
dioxide than the European average," said Jurrien Westerhof, a 
Greenpeace energy campaigner. "It is cheaper to invest instead in 
saving energy."

The protest is part of Greenpeace's Energy Revolution Tour 2005, 
which includes protest actions in eight countries on the river 
Danube.
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Stewart Brand to Argue in Favor of Nuclear Power at Annual Technology 
Review Conference

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)---- Technology Review Magazine 
Confirms Top Speakers for Its 5th Annual Emerging Technologies 
Conference Including Bill Joy, Jeff Hawkins, Ed Zander, Dean Kamen, 
Michael Moritz, Nicolas Negroponte, and Nolan Bushnell

In what will likely be the most heated, and timely discussion this 
year's Technology Review conference at MIT, Stewart Brand will debate 
the merits of a resurgence in nuclear power. Brand's essay, 
"Environmental Heresies" in the May 2005 issue of Technology Review 
created a stir, as the environmentalist and founder of the Whole 
Earth Catalog argued that the only way to stave off global warming 
and power the global economy is with new, more efficient nuclear 
reactors.

The discussion will also include Ed Wallace, from Pebble Bed Modular 
Reactor, Ltd, which nuclear proponents consider critical technology 
for nuclear energy's future, Tom Cochrane, Nuclear Program Director 
from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Dan R. Keuter, VP from 
Entergy Nuclear, and Allison MacFarlane from MIT, an expert on 
nuclear waste security and the Yucca Mountain waste repository. The 
panel will be moderated by David Talbot, Chief Correspondent for 
Technology Review.

Techology Review magazine also announces the confirmation of some of 
the top innovators in technology to speak at the conference. The 
gathering of over one thousand leaders from around the world will 
convene on September 28th and 29th in MIT's Kresge Auditorium.

Registration details and a full program can be found at www.tretc.com
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Iran calls for talks with EU on uranium enrichment, says it will 
never stop conversion

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A top Iranian nuclear official called Sunday for 
negotiations with Europe on its uranium enrichment plans, adding that 
Iran would never again suspend its conversion of uranium ore into 
gas.

Last week Iran rejected a U.N. nuclear agency resolution that urged 
it to stop converting uranium at its facility in Isfahan, central 
Iran. Conversion is a step before enrichment, for which Iran has 
built facilities in Natanz.

Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear-powered generators 
and, when enriched to a high degree, as material for atomic bombs.

"The Isfahan issue is over. What is left on the table for discussion 
is Natanz," the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of 
Iran, Mohammad Saeedi, told state television.

"We definitely have plans for Natanz in the near future," Saeedi 
said. He did not give any time frame.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday that Iran 
would not stop operations at its Isfahan conversion plant.

"Work in Isfahan will not be suspended again for confidence-
building," he said, referring to the suspension of nuclear activities 
that Iran imposed last year to allow the negotiations with the 
Europeans to proceed in a good atmosphere.

Asefi told a news conference that Iran had not decided to resume 
uranium enrichment in Natanz, adding: "Europe's behavior will heavily 
influence the decision."

The Europeans have been trying to persuade Iran to abandon its 
uranium enrichment program to avoid being referred to the U.N. 
Security Council, as the United States has been pushing. Washington 
alleges that Iran has a secret plan to build nuclear bombs - a charge 
Tehran denies.

Adding their voices to the debate on Sunday, hundreds of Iranian 
students pelted the British embassy with eggs, tomatoes and stones, 
urging Iran to pull out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, 
resume nuclear activity and cut negotiations with Europe.

The students chanted "Death to England," and "Nuclear energy is our 
obvious right."

Earlier this month, Iran rejected a package of aid measures, 
including imports of nuclear fuel, that Britain, France and Germany 
offered in exchange for abandoning uranium enrichment.

Iran insists its nuclear program is only for generating electricity 
and that, as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it 
is entitled to enrich uranium for fuel for its atomic reactor.

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Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
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