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German parliament approves nuclear phase-out law
Index:
German parliament approves nuclear phase-out law
Russia, Ukraine hail new ties, agree on reactors
NY Nuclear Power Complex Said Safe
Geraldton again considers nuclear ban
Meeting to discuss Lucas Heights issues
Advisory committee endorses ESSO radioactive treatment
=================================
German parliament approves nuclear phase-out law
FRANKFURT, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Germany's parliament on Friday decided to
decommission the country's nuclear reactors over the next two decades, approving a
hard-fought-for landmark deal between the government and the nuclear industry.
According to the law, the country's 19 nuclear plants, which supply one third of its
electricity requirements, will be switched off gradually by the year 2021.
Environment Minister Juergen Trittin of the Green Party, the junior partner in a Social
Democrat-led (SPD) cabinet said, "This is a great day. Nuclear energy is a thing of
the past."
A majority of Green and SPD members of parliament voted in favour of the law, the
so-called nuclear consensus, agreed in the summer of 2000.
The present government came to power in 1998, emphasising its intention to pull out
of atomic energy for safety reasons.
Members of the opposing Christian Democrat faction, which had rejected the nuclear
exit, on Friday pledged they would abolish the law if they win national elections next
autumn.
The law states that shipments of nuclear waste for reprocessing in France and
Britain should end at the latest by July 1, 2005.
After that date, waste will be restricted to temporary on-site facilities until a central
end storage facility has been built.
Operators have already drawn up preliminary schedules for planned individual plant
shut-downs beginning in 2002 and ending in 2020.
-------------------
Russia, Ukraine hail new ties, agree on reactors
KHARKIV, Ukraine, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Ukrainian and Russian presidents Leonid
Kuchma and Vladimir Putin hailed on Friday a new era of bilateral cooperation and
agreed to work together to develop Ukraine's ailing nuclear power sector.
Putin's visit to Ukraine, his sixth in two years, is being seen as a show of Moscow's
renewed support for Kiev, its largest trading partner, after years of bitter political rows
over gas debts ended with a deal in October.
"We are speaking about changes in the quality of our relations. We have become
closer as partners. We now talk more thoroughly about our joint economic and
foreign policy," Putin told reporters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Kuchma said Ukrainian-Russian ties were at their strongest point in a long time.
The statements mark a dramatic turnaround in relations, which soured after the
collapse of the Soviet Union as Moscow and Kiev squabbled over the fate of the
Black Sea fleet and gas debts.
Ukraine's initial drive to the West and Europe ruffled feathers in Moscow but its latest
overtures to the European Union and NATO appear to have Putin's tacit approval.
In a measure of the thaw, Putin showed remarkable restraint this year when
Ukrainian forces accidentally shot down a Russian airliner and denied involvement
for a week. Russian officials went out of their way to say it should not mar relations.
On Friday, Moscow promised more funds for Ukraine to complete work on two new
nuclear reactors intended to replace the closed Chernobyl plant, site of the world's
worst civil nuclear disaster in 1986.
The governments plan to sign a financing deal by April but it was not immediately
clear how much money Russia was planning to lend. Russian experts estimate $400-
500 million are needed.
EBRD DISPUTE
Ukraine is in a dispute with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
over funding for the reactors.
The EBRD has approved in principle a $215 million loan but Kuchma last month
dismissed the terms offered and accused Ukraine's previous government of
betraying national interests by agreeing the deal.
On Friday Kuchma, standing side by side with Putin, said Ukraine would nonetheless
continue its talks with the EBRD.
"Ukraine is not throwing away the possibility of working with the EBRD," he told
reporters. "But we are just saying: do not push Ukraine into debt-slavery."
Analysts say the loan from Russia would further increase Ukraine's heavy
dependence on Moscow for energy. Ukraine relies on Russia for more than 60
percent of its energy needs.
Putin also said the countries should coordinate their efforts to integrate into the
global economy, including membership of the World Trade Organisation.
"We have many joint tasks and one of them is to achieve the conditions to enter the
WTO, which will correspond to the national interests of Russia and Ukraine," Putin
told several hundred business leaders at a forum in Kharkiv.
Ukraine and Russia are negotiating admission to the WTO but the countries have to
go a long way to reach a final agreement.
In Kharkiv, a traditional centre of support in Ukraine for closer cooperation with its
eastern neighbour, hundreds of townspeople braved freezing temperatures to line
the streets and cheer Putin and Kuchma during their trip to an aircraft factory.
-------------------
NY Nuclear Power Complex Said Safe
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) - The state's security chief said Thursday that the Indian
Point nuclear power complex is so secure it could withstand a hijacked jet slamming
into a reactor's containment dome.
The remarks from James Kallstrom, director of the Office of Public Security, came
during a news conference to announce the FBI has wrapped up an assessment of
the plant in Buchanan, about 35 miles north of Manhattan.
``Everybody should relax,'' he said. ``There are a lot of other issues that are of more
concern.''
Kallstrom would not release the FBI security report but said he was confident Indian
Point was well-protected in a number of scenarios - including a weapons launched
from across the Hudson River and a hijacked jet slamming into a containment dome.
Kallstrom said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has studied whether nuclear
plants could withstand an impact like the one inflicted Sept. 11 on the World Trade
Center.
While emphasizing that he was not a physicist or a structural engineer, he said, ``I
don't believe a direct hit from a major commercial airplane could penetrate the
containment dome here. The good news is this is one of the strongest constructed,
designed containment facilities in the United States, if not the world.''
But activists at an anti-Indian Point rally Thursday argued that a jetliner crashing into
a reactor could contaminate much of the metropolitan area with radiation. They
complained the evacuation plan is not sufficient.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky plans to hold state legislative hearings next week to
evaluate the evacuation plan.
Jim Steets, spokesman for the plant's owner Entergy Corp., called the FBI report ``a
ringing endorsement'' of its security. The company has agreed to put $3 million
toward implementing its recommendations to upgrade security.
------------------
Geraldton again considers nuclear ban
14 December, 2001 - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - The city of Geraldton is
again considering a town planning scheme amendment to ban nuclear activity.
The issue was first raised in October 1999, but was rejected by then Minister
Graham Kierath on the grounds it was unauthorised and invalid.
The amendment has resurfaced after a letter by the current Planning and
Infrastructure Minister, Alannah McTiernan, to a nearby shire which is progressing
with a similar scheme change, saying it may be possible.
The manager of development services at the city of Geraldton, Phil Melling, says the
town planning and development committee has recommended the city progress with
the amendment and seek legal advice.
He said Ms McTiernan's letter stated the amendment would have to exclude some
activities from the ban.
The previous scheme amendment also had those kind of exemptions in them so it
did allow for hospital-type uses and also acknowledged the low level activities that
can occur through the current mining product that is exported through Geraldton.
-----------------
Meeting to discuss Lucas Heights issues
14 December, 2001 - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - The Australian Radiation
Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) will hold a two-day forum
starting today to explore issues regarding the proposed new nuclear reactor for
Sydney's Lucas Heights.
ARPANSA will take all submissions at the forum into account when deciding
whether to grant the construction licence.
Groups invited to take part in today's meeting include the Australian Conservation
Foundation (ACF), Sutherland Shire Council, and Sydney People Against a New
Nuclear Reactor.
The ACF's Dave Sweeney says while they are pleased to have a say, a two-day
forum is not enough to canvass all the issues.
"This is a national issue," Mr Sweeney said.
"It is Australia's largest ever expenditure on science and technology equipment and
there are key issues that have never been publicly addressed, there's key
documents that have never been tabled, commercial and Cabinet confidentiality
provisions have been used to circumvent the community's right to know, and we say
that there needs to be a full judicial inquiry."
----------------
Advisory committee endorses ESSO radioactive treatment
14 December, 2001 - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - An advisory committee
on Dutson Downs has given a qualified endorsement to the treatment of radioactive
material from ESSO's Bass Strait operations.
The naturally occurring radioactive material has raised concerns among residents in
communities around Gippsland Water's Dutson Downs site.
Committee chair Toni Meek, from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), says
a resolution last Monday means it is willing to endorse Gippsland Water's proposals
for dealing with the waste.
"Based on the variety of reports and of experts that have been coming along to the
meetings, the community representatives there were generally satisfied with the
proposal.
"But in saying that, one particular group, that's WRATH, [Wellington Residents
Against Toxic Hazards] did not support the proposal."
WRATH was the only group on the committee that refused to endorse toxic waste
treatment at Dutson Downs.
The group's Dr Jo McCubbin says WRATH represents 4,000 people who oppose the
plan.
She says she is concerned the advisory committee is accepting the project so early
in the piece.
"This is the wrong place to dump radioactive waste," she said.
"There are insufficient safeguards in the plan that they have, if they do go ahead
with it, and there doesn't appear to have been any attempt to find a more suitable
site."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Director, Technical Extension 2306
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service Fax:(714) 668-3149
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
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