comment on Media Release about Nuclear Shipments risks

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

....in case anyone might be interested, I recently sent this brief comment
on the April 20 Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) Media Release on
Nuclear Shipments (appended below) :

> To: 	'PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT letters'
> Subject: 	RE: PCRC Media Release on Nuclear Shipments (20/04/00)
> 
> 
> Regarding the April 20 Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) Media
> Release on Nuclear Shipments, published by PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT at URL
> < http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/2000/April/04-21-15.htm > :
> 
> I think its absolutely amazing that the PCRC and local media (PIR) find it
> necessary to issue such rediculous Media Releases.
> 
> PCRC's wild claims that "our environment is under threat" from "highly
> radioactive MOX fuel" is hardly substantiated by their reference to the
> September 1999 Tokaimura accident, which killed one worker.
> 
> PCRC demands a total ban on the shipment of nuclear materials through the
> South Pacific, but they would be far more justified if instead they
> demanded a total ban on schools for children. Last month's horrific fire,
> which claimed 19 lives at Vaitupu High Schoolon in Tuvalu, is just the
> latest reminder that life is full of risks. Or how about a total ban on
> rock concerts ?  In May of last year, 50 teenagers and three police
> officers were trampled to death as a crowd tried to leave an outdoor
> concert in the city of Minsk, Belarus, while about 150 others were injured
> in the stampede and 78 were hospitalized (see story posted at
> http://www.newsworld.cbc.ca/news/cp/world/990531/w053155.html ). Thousands
> more are killed every year in accidents involving cars, busses, trains,
> passenger ships, airliners, natural gas explosions, coal mine blasts, etc.
> etc., while millions of youngsters are becoming smokers and increasing
> their risk of getting lung cancer.
> 
> Of course such total ban demands would be rediculous. Its obvious that the
> PCRC is pursuing its own political agenda and will not let reality stand
> in the way.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Jaro Franta, P. Eng.
> Canada
> 
> 
http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/2000/April/04-21-15.htm
Media Release
April 20, 2000
PCRC CALLS ON PACIFIC LEADERS TO DEMAND A TOTAL BAN 
ON NUCLEAR SHIPMENTS
This week's Japan-South Pacific Summit is an important opportunity for
Pacific leaders to demand a total ban on the shipment of high-level
radioactive wastes through the South Pacific, according to the Pacific
Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC).
Pacific Island leaders will attend the PALM 2000 summit at Miyazaki in Japan
on 22 April, to discuss trade, climate change, fisheries and other issues.
But action is also needed to halt the transport of plutonium and MOX fuel
through Pacific waters.
"In September 1999, two shipments of plutonium MOX fuel passed through the
Tasman Sea and the Exclusive Economic Zones of Pacific island nations, en
route to Japan from Europe. Today, Japan wants to return these same
shiploads of nuclear fuel back to England, because the British reprocessing
corporation falsified crucial safety data," states Motarilavoa Hilda Lini,
Director of the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre in Suva, Fiji. "Our
environment is under threat as the nuclear industry ships these wastes back
and forward through the Pacific islands."
Japan sends spent nuclear fuel to England and France for reprocessing, which
is then shipped back to Japan as plutonium, mixed plutonium/uranium oxide
(MOX) fuel or high level radioactive waste. But quality control data for the
highly radioactive MOX fuel was falsified by British Nuclear Fuels Limited
(BNFL), the government-owned company that reprocesses Japanese nuclear
wastes. Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) now refuses to load the fuel
assemblies into its nuclear plants. The Japanese nuclear industry is calling
for the MOX shipments to be returned to England.
Lini added: "Last August, a delegation of Japanese, British and French
officials toured the South Pacific, assuring Pacific governments that there
are no dangers from these nuclear shipments through the region. But recent
scandals and accidents in England and Japan have shown there is little
effective government regulation of nuclear safety."
Five BNFL workers have been sacked for falsifying safety data for the MOX
shipments. BNFL's chief executive resigned in February after criticism from
nuclear regulators. Police are also investigating cases of sabotage at the
Sellafield reprocessing plant. Now Japan, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland
have suspended or cancelled contracts for plutonium MOX fuel because of
safety concerns. In Japan, public opinion is swinging against nuclear power
after the September 1999 Tokaimura accident, which killed one worker and
exposed more than 400 people to radiation.
British newspapers have revealed that BNFL pays 500,000 pounds a year to the
British government so that one of their former employees can work as a
diplomat in the British Embassy in Tokyo, to promote the British nuclear
industry. This UK diplomat was a member of the delegation that toured the
South Pacific last August, assuring Pacific officials of the safety of
nuclear shipments. Australia and Britain also included nuclear experts in
their delegations to the 1999 South Pacific Forum in Palau, to lobby against
any restrictions on the transport of plutonium and nuclear wastes.
"The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre believes that the Japan-South Pacific
Summit provides an important opportunity for Pacific Island leaders to call
for an end to the trade in nuclear wastes. Japan, Britain and France have
refused to agree to previous calls from Forum leaders for liability and
compensation agreements in the case of an accident in Pacific waters. Now is
the time for action to halt shipments through the region," states
Motarilavoa Hilda Lini.
The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, in Suva, Fiji, is the secretariat of
the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement. PCRC has
consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC).
For further information, contact Losena Salabula (Assistant Director,
Demilitarisation) or Nic Maclellan (Educational Resource Developer) at PCRC
on (679) 304649
Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC)
83 Amy Street, Toorak
Private Mail Bag, Suva
FIJI
Phone: (679) 304649
Fax: (679) 304755
Email: pcrc@is.com.fj 
Web: www.pcrc.org.fj 


http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/2000/April/04-18-18.htm
PACIFIC CONCERNS RESOURCE CENTER: RESOURCEFUL MOTARILAVOA HILDA LINI
By Sheryl Nadan
SUVA, Fiji Islands (April 17, 2000 - Pasifik Nius/Fiji's Daily
Post/Niuswire)---Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, the new director of the  in Suva,
brings a wealth of experience to the job, including politics and journalism.
She is from Vanuatu. Her home island is Raga (Pentecost) and she speaks a
variety of languages.
Motarilavoa can speak languages such as Raga, Bislama, English, French,
Solomon Islands Pidgin, and Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin.
She is married with two children: Eloi Ure-Tamata, 14, and Harper
Waga-Tamata, 12.
"Harper is with me in Fiji, while Eloi is with my husband, Jean-Marie
Vaagahu, in Vanuatu," Motarilavoa said.
"This is because Eloi is attending a French school in Vanuatu and Fiji does
not have French schools, and my husband has his work in Vanuatu."
She is a graduate of the University of Papua New Guinea and gained a Diploma
in Journalism in 1979.
She was Minister for Health from 1991 to 1993 in the Vanuatu government, and
the Minister of Justice, Culture and Women in 1996.
She was a member of the Vanuatu National Parliament from 1987 to 1998, and
the only woman legislator.
Her journalism background involves being the editor of Pacific Island
Profile magazine in 1990, the editor and publisher of Nasiko news magazine
in 1980, and the editor of New Hebridean/Vanuaaku Viewpoints from 1976 to
1977.
She was the Women's Programme Officer of the South Pacific Commission, now
the Pacific Community, from 1982 to 1986.
Motarilavoa has had a long association with the Nuclear Free and Independent
Pacific (NFIP) Movement, having actively participated in the development and
implementation of the People's Charter. She was a member of NFIP Steering
Committee from 1980 to 1982.
While working as director of PCRC, she became involved in two other
organizations. She is still the Vice President of the International Peace
Bureau and has been the Public Relations Officer, Project Officer, and
International Spokesperson of Turaga since 1993 as well.
"Turaga is an indigenous concept and mainly deals with the political and
economic levels in Vanuatu," she said.
"Turaga's project in 1997 was the Melanesian Institute of Philosophy and
Technology, which is a school set up by indigenous people to teach the
indigenous values that are missing in people," she added.
PCRC is an organization that aims to educate the people of the Pacific
regarding their environment, political and economic equity, and justice and
peace in the region.
PCRC serves as the secretariat for the regional NFIP movement, which has
over 100 affiliated members.

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