Germany approves nuclear waste shipments to UK

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Germany approves nuclear waste shipments to UK

US Energy Policy Must Develop Sources, Cut Demand, Study Says

Looming Electricity Crisis Across Nordic Countries

Forum on nuclear war prevention set for Pyongyang in fall

=====================================



Germany approves nuclear waste shipments to UK

  

HANOVER, Germany, April 12 (Reuters) - German authorities said on 

Thursday they had approved the shipment of six cargoes of nuclear 

waste from a power plant in the western state of Hesse to a 

reprocessing plant at Sellafield in northwest England. 



The announcement came days after German anti-nuclear activists 

clashed with police as they tried to hold up the first transport in 

three years of nuclear waste from Germany to a French reprocessing 

centre at La Hague. 



Thousands of demonstrators also protested two weeks ago when Germany 

took back the first cargo of reprocessed waste from France since the 

German government banned the shipments in 1998 over concerns about 

radioactive leaks. 



Although several of Germany's 19 nuclear power plants said their 

temporary storage facilities were nearly exhausted, France had 

refused to take in any more German waste until the country started 

accepting back what had already been reprocessed. 



The Federal Office for Radiation Protection in the northern town of 

Salzgitter said its permission for the six cargoes from the Biblis 

plant in Hesse was valid until July 31. 



The office said it had so far granted permission for 49 cargoes this 

year of nuclear waste to both Sellafield and La Hague. 



The office said it had not yet been determined when exactly the 

shipments from Biblis would take place, saying that was up to the 

plant's managers and the transport firm. 

--------------



US Energy Policy Must Develop Sources, Cut Demand, Study Says

  

Washington, April 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. energy policy should include 

immediate actions to safeguard supply and longer-term strategies to 

develop energy sources and reduce demand if the country is to ward 

off energy crises, a new study said. 



The report, from a task force co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign 

Relations and Rice University's Baker Institute, was released a few 

weeks before President George W. Bush is expected to propose his 

national energy policy. 



``We are out of capacity in virtually every energy sector in this 

country,'' Matthew Simmons, president of energy investment bank 

Simmons & Co., told reporters. ``There are no easy fixes. This will 

be a long-time issue.'' 



Simmons and another task force member, Daniel Yergin, chairman of 

Cambridge Energy Research Associates, are on the advisory committee 

led by Vice President Dick Cheney that is devising the Bush 

administration's energy strategy. 



``Members of the panel have talked to the White House, and the Cheney 

report will not look very different from this report except maybe for 

some emphasis,'' said Ed Morse, chairman of the task force and 

adviser to Hess Energy Trading Co. 



In addition to recurring blackouts in California, the past year has 

witnessed record natural gas prices above $10 per million British 

thermal units and oil prices over $37 a barrel -- a level last seen 

during the 1990 Gulf War. Oil is now about $28.50 a barrel in New 

York. 



Immediate Actions 



``Virtually all actions'' to quickly safeguard supplies ``involve 

tradeoffs with other policy objectives, including environmental, 

national security and foreign policy,'' the report acknowledges. 



Recommendations for immediate actions include maintaining close 

relations with friendly members of the Organization of Petroleum 

Exporting Countries, to safeguard supplies in the event of unforeseen 

disruptions from nations such as Iraq, because the U.S. imports half 

of the oil it consumes. 



Of particular importance to the U.S. are Saudi Arabia, the United 

Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which hold most of the spare oil production 

capacity. 



The task force criticized the Clinton administration for engaging in 

``public exchanges'' with OPEC over high oil prices, which it said 

``fueled anti-American sentiment'' in parts of the Middle East. 

Instead, it said the U.S. should emphasize common benefits of 

protecting global economic growth, and mention price goals only in 

private. 



For greater access to oil supplies, the U.S. should push for the 

reopening of countries now closed to foreign oil investment and for a 

review of policies on sanctions against such countries as Iran, the 

report said. 



``OPEC really looms large in this report,'' Morse said. ``OPEC has 

been subsidizing the world economy by keeping such large capacities 

of oil. We need to encourage countries like Saudi Arabia and Mexico 

to join the world economy and open their markets to encourage outside 

investment.'' 



Closer to home, the task force recommended legislation to allow the 

federal government to overrule local authorities when rules for fuel 

specifications or pipeline rights threaten to create supply 

shortages. Gasoline retail prices rose as high as $2.75 a gallon in 

some Midwest cities last summer, partly because of fuel specification 

rules. 



The U.S. needs more uniform standards for gasoline, said task force 

member Patrick Clawson, director of research at the Washington 

Institute for Near East Policy. 



``The industry complaints are on the inconsistent standards from 

state to state,'' Clawson said. ``The industry wants predictable and 

uniform standards. They care about that much more than the level of 

standards.'' 



Developing energy supplies over the next five to 10 years will 

require new exploration; more infrastructure to transmit supplies; 

use of a greater variety of energy sources, including renewable 

sources and nuclear power; and more imports from Mexico and Canada, 

as well as an effort to promote energy conservation, the report said. 





Alaska Refuge 



Regarding Bush's campaign promise to develop oil and gas reserves in 

Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the task force cautioned 

that support could erode unless the administration takes into account 

other land uses, environmental policy and ways to manage demand. 



``We don't know how much ANWR drilling would produce and we won't 

really know until we get in there and start drilling,'' Simmons told 

reporters. ``It could produce 1 million barrels a day. The problem 

is, it's going to take seven years to bring ANWR on line.'' 



The U.S. now produces about 5.9 million barrels and imports more than 

8 million barrels of crude oil per day. 



The task force added that developing the estimated 300 trillion cubic 

feet of natural gas in the Rocky Mountain Overthrust, which stretches 

from New Mexico to Canada, ``could well turn out (to) be a more 

appropriate and cost-effective target for industry exploitation than 

the distant resources of the ANWR.'' 



Mexico's oil and gas fields are closer to most U.S. states, and may 

also be more economical to develop than Alaska's, it said. 



Natural Gas 



With demand for natural gas soaring as power generators seek cleaner 

fossil fuels, the Bush administration should endorse the construction 

of more gas pipelines from Alaska and Canada as well as encouraging 

deep-water exploration, the task force said. It added that liquefied 

natural gas could become an important source of supply. 



Among other fuels, the task force recommended the government should 

extend the lifespan of nuclear power plants where possible and 

resolve problems about disposing of spent nuclear waste, to encourage 

investment in new plants. 



Coal plants should be encouraged if they include so-called clean coal 

technologies that mitigate pollution, it said. 



The report was vague about how the U.S. should combine energy and 

environmental polices that seek to reduce the use of fuels that may 

contribute to global warming. Economic measures should ``tackle 

pollution at the point where it occurs'' and ``be based on sound 

science and not constitute a general tax on economic activity,'' it 

said. 

---------------



ICF Consulting Sees Looming Electricity Crisis Across Nordic 

Countries

  

LONDON, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- ICF Consulting's comprehensive study 

of 17 wholesale electricity markets in Europe, Wholesale Power Market 

Outlook 2001/2002, concludes that several Nordic countries will face 

a severe capacity shortage next winter if hydro levels return to 

normal conditions.  Using an integrated, model-based approach that 

has enabled it to predict all major turning points in the United 

States, including the California energy crisis, ICF Consulting 

predicts that these shortages will lead to extremely high spot prices 

on the Nord Pool, and may even lead to blackouts across the region. 



"Hydro has saved the Nordic countries so far," says Neil Cornelius, 

managing consultant at ICF Consulting in London.  "A mild winter 

combined with heavy rainfall led to abundant hydro conditions 

throughout the region. Favorable hydro conditions enabled Sweden and 

Norway to be net exporters of electricity in 1999 and 2000," he says, 

"while normal hydro conditions may have led them to face shortages 

and rolling blackouts." 



While the majority of electricity transactions have been in the form 

of bilateral contracts, there has been an increasing reliance on the 

Nord Pool spot market.  Thus, while the spot price for electricity 

has been at its lowest levels since the inception of Nord Pool, 

Cornelius expects increased volatility and higher prices in the spot 

market in the near future.  He explains, "The Nord Pool spot market 

will see significant price spikes if a cold spell combined with 

normal or below average hydro conditions occur. Incidental price 

spikes already occurred earlier this year under favorable hydro 

conditions, as cold weather drove up demand and a sub-marine cable 

linking Scandinavia with continental Europe tripped.  However, ICF 

Consulting expects to see price spikes in the hundreds or thousands 

of Euro/MWh.  We've seen this in the United States and there is no 

reason to believe that it can't happen here.  My advice to consumers 

in the Nordic countries is to lock up your retail electricity rates 

now, before it's too late." 



The underlying problem in the coming electricity crisis is that 

excess capacity has eroded over the years; in addition, the Nordic 

countries are relatively isolated from the rest of Europe.  Norway 

has not built any new large plants since the late 1980s because there 

is strong public opposition to the use of natural gas, while Sweden 

has retired existing nuclear and other plants.  "A system needs a 

planning reserve margin of 15 and 25 percent, depending on factors," 

says Gerhard Mulder, ICF Consulting senior consultant. 



Regulators have allowed this situation to reach crisis proportions 

because they, like many public regulatory authorities in the United 

States and Europe, do not have access to sufficient information on 

market conditions outside their political jurisdiction.  "Thus, 

regulators relying on the Nord Pool are implicitly assuming or hoping 

that others will solve their problems," said Judah Rose, ICF 

Consulting's director for the wholesale power practice. 



The only Nordic country that is not in a capacity deficit situation 

is Denmark.  However, as Denmark is becoming increasingly integrated 

with the broader Nordic electricity market, the spillover effect of 

the coming electricity crisis will have a strong upward pressure on 

electricity prices. In addition, Denmark has a strong commitment to 

the environment and aims to reduce emissions from its fossil-fired 

power plants.  The pressure for Denmark to increase exports to Norway 

and Sweden will be controversial. 



While both Norway and Sweden have taken steps to sign up large 

industrial customers who are willing to be interrupted in return for 

a discount on regular electricity rates, there are limits to this 

approach.  "Interruptible contracts typically have a maximum number 

of interruptions, and companies may not extend their contracts next 

year," says Mulder. 



The coming supply shortage creates opportunities for developers in 

Nordic electricity markets.  ICF Consulting predicts that 10,000 MW 

of new capacity is needed across Scandinavia by 2005. 

--------------



Forum on nuclear war prevention set for Pyongyang in fall



HIROSHIMA, April 12 (Kyodo) - A regional conference on the prevention 

of nuclear war is scheduled to be held in Pyongyang in the fall, a 

Japanese member of an international physicians' group said Thursday. 



Kenjiro Yokoro, a board member of the International Physicians for 

the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and professor emeritus at 

Hiroshima University, said more than 100 people are expected to join 

the organization's meeting in Northeast Asia. 



Yokoro told reporters at the Hiroshima city hall that he and IPPNW Co-

President Mary-Wynne Ashford will visit North Korea in late May to 

fix a detailed schedule for the conference. 



The official members of the regional conference are North and South 

Korea, China and Japan. The meeting will be third of its kind, 

following conferences in Nagasaki in 1997 and Beijing in 1999, he 

said. 



''We hope to hold discussions to build confidence among participating 

countries and also hope to discuss efforts to make North Asia a 

nuclear-free zone,'' Yokoro said. 



The IPPNW, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was established by 

Soviet and U.S. doctors in 1980 for education on the medical 

consequences of nuclear war. In 1985, it received the Nobel Peace 

Prize for its awareness-raising activities. 



It currently consists of more than 100,000 doctors and nurses from 66 

countries. 



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	

Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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