[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] EU Survey Shows 61% Of Citizens Want Less Nuclear Power

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

EU Survey Shows 61% Of Citizens Want Less Nuclear Power 
Aussies embrace nuclear power: poll
Switkowski appointment shows Govt's nuclear plans: Greenpeace
'Dirty bomb' danger very real
Report: Nuclear workers radiation claims panel beset by conflicts
China signs agreement on nuclear island purchase Shanghai
NTPC board approves foray into nuclear power 
Vilnius signs nuclear plant agreement with Warsaw
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EU Survey Shows 61% Of Citizens Want Less Nuclear Power 

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones) Mar 5 - Concerns about possible accidents and 
radioactive waste have pushed 61% of European Union citizens to say 
they want the bloc to use less nuclear power, an E.U. survey showed 
Monday.

At the same time, a majority of survey respondents said they were 
concerned about climate change, which they attribute to the 
consumption of fossil fuels. 

Nuclear power is a contentious issue in Europe. While E.U. officials 
acknowledge it is one of the cheapest sources of low carbon energy, 
they are unwilling to push for more reactors.

Finland and France are unabashedly pro-nuclear and building new 
reactors. Other countries, such as Austria and Germany, oppose 
nuclear energy.

Instead of turning to nuclear power, E.U. officials are pushing fuel 
sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. Clean coal technology 
is also slated to be installed in the E.U. by 2020. 
----------------

Aussies embrace nuclear power: poll

(Daily Telegraph) Mar 6 - CONCERNS about climate change have swung 
Australian opinion in favour of nuclear power for the first time, a 
poll shows.

A Newspoll published in today's The Australian newspaper reveals 
support for nuclear power has surged 10 percentage points to 45 per 
cent in four months, outstripping opposition, which has plummeted 10 
points to 40 per cent.

But a vast majority - 66 per cent - are against having a nuclear 
power station in their local area.

The key to the shift appears to have been Prime Minister John 
Howard's repeatedly linking nuclear power to strategies for the 
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the newspaper reports.

The survey asked whether respondents supported the development of 
nuclear power industry in Australia as one of a range of energy 
solutions to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and whether they 
would personally be in favour or against a nuclear power station 
being built in your local area. 
----------------

Switkowski appointment shows Govt's nuclear plans: Greenpeace
 
Greenpeace says the appointment of Ziggy Switkowski as the chairman 
of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) 
confirms that the Federal Government plans to introduce nuclear 
power. 

Dr Switkowski was appointed to the board of ANSTO last year, but 
stood aside after he became the head of the Prime Minister's inquiry 
into the viability of nuclear energy.

Dr Switkowski told ABC radio today ANSTO is well advanced in research 
into all aspects of the nuclear cycle.

Greenpeace's energy adviser Paul Cleary says that backs up his 
assessment.

"It's essentially the only place of nuclear expertise in Australia," 
he said. 

"It claims that it is only there to produce medical isotopes, but in 
fact ANSTO is actually doing a lot more than that. 

"It's already producing the silex technology which can basically be 
used for making backyard weapons if it falls into the wrong hands."

Dr Switkowski says the introduction of nuclear power will be not be 
integral to his role at ANSTO.

"There's no doubt that coming out of the nuclear review that one does 
form opinions about the applicability of nuclear power in Australia's 
strategic thinking," he said.

"Particularly in a future where greenhouse gas abatement is going to 
be a bit of a priority.

"But that doesn't translate into an agenda, and my personal goal will 
be to facilitate informed debate."
----------------

'Dirty bomb' danger very real

(South Bend Tribune) OUR OPINION Mar 5 - Radioactive "dirty bombs" 
are nightmares that haven't come true. But they could.  

The raw material to make dirty bombs is abundant. The price is right. 
And, disturbingly, not nearly enough is being done to keep potential 
bomb components out of the hands of terrorists. We hope that with 
increased awareness that will change.

A story in the Feb. 15 Chicago Tribune by foreign correspondent Alex 
Rodriguez explained the threat in chilling detail. Dirty bombs use 
conventional explosives, such as dynamite, to spread radioactive 
material over a small area, perhaps several city blocks.

  
Where would the radioactive material come from? It exists throughout 
the former Soviet Union republics in abundance, most often in forms 
not intended for use in weapons. Obtaining it can be as easy as 
picking it up and walking away with it. Radioactive substances often 
are kept in unsecured places.

Much has been accomplished in the continuing effort to dismantle 
nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics. Credit is due Sen. 
Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., for the 
Cooperative Threat Reduction Act. It has led to the elimination of 
more than 6,000 nuclear warheads. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan are 
nuclear weapon-free because of the effort. 

The dirty bomb threat is a different problem -- but one that needs to 
be approached with the same determination.

According to the Chicago Tribune report, from 1993 to 2004 there were 
662 confirmed cases of radioactive materials smuggling worldwide, 
more than 400 of them involving materials suitable for use in dirty 
bombs. And those are just the ones officials know about.

The materials of concern usually are plutonium and uranium waste, 
strontium-90 and cesium-137. Where are they found? In Russia alone, 
according to the report, strontium-90 powers more than 600 
radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs. There are RTGs in 
dozens of lighthouses situated along the Barent Sea -- many of them 
not protected by so much as a chainlink fence. Each RTG contains 
enough strontium-90 to make about 40 dirty bombs.

The nation of Kazakhstan has used more than $20 million provided by 
the United States to seal up tunnels in which Soviet nuclear weapons 
tests once were conducted. The concrete seals haven't kept out scrap 
metal hunters who use homemade explosives to enter the tunnels. 
Inside, along with iron, are huge quantities of cesium, plutonium, 
uranium and strontium waste from 458 Cold War-era nuclear tests.

Then, the Chicago Tribune report continues, there are the canisters 
of cesium-137 that frequently are found at abandoned former Soviet 
military bases in Georgia. 

And let's not forget the physics institute in Abkhazia, with its 
storehouse of plutonium, uranium and other radioactive substances. It 
fell into the hands of Abkhaz separatists when they drove the 
Georgian military out during a 1992 civil war. Georgian authorities 
don't know what has become of the deadly substances.

So far, the United States has spent $178 million to provide radiation 
detection equipment to other countries -- many of them the former 
Soviet republics. The aim is to prevent smuggling. The republics' 
governments, by and large, are cooperative with efforts to remove, 
secure or intercept dangerous materials. But in environments of 
poverty and corruption, the problem is far from solved.

Meanwhile, here at home, the Government Accountability Office 
predicts that the Department of Homeland Security will miss by about 
five years its 2009 deadline to install 3,000 radiation detection 
units at key U.S. entry points.

The dirty bomb threat ought to be a very high priority for the United 
States and our allies. The goals -- to help other countries clean up 
radioactive materials, and to keep them out of this country -- are 
clear.

Dirty bombs are a real, low-tech, highly dangerous threat. Detection 
equipment at entry points, and a trained, well-equipped reaction 
force, should be a high priority. We urge our congressional 
delegation to support legislation to make it so. 
----------------

Report: Nuclear workers radiation claims panel beset by conflicts

Feb 26 - A government watchdog says a panel set up to review payments 
to ailing nuclear weapons workers lacks credibility and is beset by 
conflicts of interest. 

That's what the head of the Nuclear Oversight Program for the 
Government Accountability Project is telling the Las Vegas Review-
Journal. 

He says panelists on the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 
Health have too many ties to past employers and associates at the 
Energy Department. 

A proposal by Democratic Senator Harry Reid could correct some 
problems by giving claimants so-called "Special Cohort Status" and 
lowering their burden of proof to collect payments. 

Reid introduced a bill this month to expand coverage to everyone who 
worked at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1993 -- regardless of 
how many days or hours they were there.
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China signs agreement on nuclear island purchase Shanghai

March  5.  INTERFAX-CHINA  -  China's  State  Nuclear  Power 
Technology  Corporation  signed  an  agreement  with Westinghouse on 
the purchase  of  nuclear island technology, the official Xinhua news 
agency reported. The two  parties reached consensus on the 
construction period, equipment to be supplied  and  price.  As a 
result, Westinghouse's AP1000 reactors will likely  be  applied  in  
two  new nuclear power plants in Sanmen of Zhejiang Province and 
Haiyang of Shandong Province. China started   bidding   for  the  
third-generation  of  nuclear  power technology  since 2003, and 
China and the US signed an MOU last December on the transfer of 
pressure water reactor technology. The two  companies  estimate  that 
an official contract will be signed before the end of this May.  
---------------

NTPC board approves foray into nuclear power 

MUMBAI: (Hindu Business) Mar 5 NTPC Ltd, the country's largest power 
utility, on Monday said its board of directors has approved a 
proposal to enable the company to foray into the nuclear power 
generation business. 

The board has given its clearance to the amendment of the object 
clause of the memorandum of association, NTPC informed the Bombay 
Stock Exchange. The company's shareholders would consider the 
proposal at a later date, it said. 

NTPC envisages generating 2,000 MW from atomic power by the end of 
2017. At present, state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd is 
the only company in the sector. 

The state-owned company has also appointed former Atomic Energy 
Commission secretary Mr S Rajgopal and former executive director of 
NPCIL Mr V K Kaushik as consultants to prepare a strategy for its 
proposed foray. 

India has an installed nuclear power capacity of about 3,200 MW, less 
than three per cent of the total generation capacity. The Government 
plans to add fresh capacity of 3,100 MW nuclear energy by the end of 
the 11th plan (2011-12), which will be further increased during the 
12th plan. - PTI 
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Vilnius signs nuclear plant agreement with Warsaw

(Baltic Times) Mar 5 - The prime ministers of Lithuania and Poland 
have signed a political agreement on the building of new nuclear 
reactors in Lithuania.

The government leaders, Gediminas Kirkilas and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, 
also agreed to explore the possibilities of connecting their gas 
transportation grids, and urged Germany to develop a uniform European 
Union energy policy.

The agreement highlights the significance of cooperation between 
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to build a new nuclear plant, which 
will now also involve the Polish power company Polskie Sieci 
Elektroenergetyczne (PSE).

Lithuania and Poland also confirmed their intentions to speed up the 
building of bilateral power bridge and invited Estonia's and Latvia's 
energy companies to join the project.

Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
Fax:(949) 296-1144

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