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Greenpeace protesters storm Australian nuclear reactor site
Index:
Greenpeace protesters storm Australian nuclear reactor site
EU leaders commit to nuclear power monitoring
N. Korea Rejects Nuke Inspection
EdF heads list of bidders in Czech selloff wave
===========================================
Greenpeace protesters storm Australian nuclear reactor site
17 December - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Greenpeace protesters have
taken security staff by surprise after storming Sydney's nuclear reactor site.
The action began without warning just after 7.15am AEDT today.
Two rental trucks drove up to the entrance and 30 protesters dressed as nuclear
barrels got out and ran through the front gate.
They climbed the radio tower and revealed an antinuclear banner. They have climbed
the reactor building itself and a paraglider is buzzing overhead.
Stephen Campbell is Greenpeace's nuclear campaign coordinator says the facility is
unsafe.
"This particular facility is unsafe, it will produce radioactive waste which is a threat to
the environment for thousands of years and since September 11, it is the wrong
location, the wrong technology at the wrong time," he said.
The campaign is continuing and police have arrived at the scene.
-------------------
EU leaders commit to nuclear power monitoring
BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (Reuters) - European Union leaders committed themselves on
Saturday to swapping information on nuclear safety in a move which could smooth EU
enlargement to eastern European states operating ageing Russian reactors.
"The European Council is committed to a high level of nuclear safety throughout the
Union. It stresses the need to monitor safety and security of nuclear power stations,"
leaders said in conclusions to a two-day summit meeting.
"It asks for regular reports from member states' atomic energy experts who will maintain
close contact with the European Commission," the statement added. Austrian
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel described the declaration as an important first and a
triumph for Vienna, which has attacked a decision by the neighbouring Czech Republic
to start a reactor at Temelin near the two countries' border.
Bulgaria and Lithuania also operate reactors similar to one which exploded in
Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, in the world's worst ever civil nuclear accident.
Ireland, which is in dispute with the United Kingdom over a reprocessing plant at
Sellafield in north western England, also welcomed the conclusions, Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern said.
Schuessel noted the decision was taken in the shadow of the Brussels Atomium -- an
atom shaped monument to the nuclear age built in 1958 for the city's world fair.
Diplomats said France, Europe's biggest user of nuclear power, fought to tone down
earlier drafts of the conclusions which called on the EU executive European
Commission to propose common nuclear safety standards.
-----------------
N. Korea Rejects Nuke Inspection
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Sunday rejected U.S. demands for an
inspection of its alleged nuclear weapons program and refused to participate in talks on
its missile development.
``There is neither condition nor need for the Democratic People's Republic of (North)
Korea to accept the 'nuclear inspection,''' said Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of
the North's ruling Workers' Party.
``The same is the case with the 'missile issue,''' it added.
North Korea has increased anti-U.S. rhetoric since President Bush warned this month
that it and Iraq would be ``held accountable'' if they developed weapons of mass
destruction to carry out terrorism.
Bush has demanded that the North allow U.N. experts to inspect its nuclear program.
The North is believed to have stockpiled enough plutonium to make one or two atomic
bombs.
The U.S. president has also expressed frustration over the North's silence to his
proposal in June to resume dialogue and discuss the communist country's missile
program and conventional arms.
``The U.S. is going to use the dialogue with the DPRK as a lever to pressure and an
opportunity to find a pretext for military provocation,'' said Rodong. The report was
carried by the North's official news agency, KCNA, which was monitored in Seoul.
The North has accused the United States of preparing to make it the next target after
Afghanistan in the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign.
North Korea is on a U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism. It maintains a 1.1 million-
member military, the world's fifth largest.
The United States keeps 37,000 troops in South Korea to deter North Korea, a legacy of
the 1950-53 Korean War. That war ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
----------------
EdF heads list of bidders in Czech selloff wave
PRAGUE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Electricite de France heads a list of bidders looking to
gain one of three major Czech utilities being sold off in a major push toward completing
post-Communist economic transformation and EU integration.
The state National Property Fund (NPF) said on Sunday Electricite de France
<EDF.UL,> a consortium of Italy's Enel <ENEI.MI> and Spain's Iberdrola <IBE.MC>, and
Britain's International Power<IPR.L> all bid for a majority stake in the main Czech power
utility CEZ <CEZPsp.PR>.
It added in a separate statement that three groups placed final bids in a tender for
monopoly gas importer Transgas and stakes in eight regional gas transporting
companies.
Bids were received from U.S.-based Duke Energy <DUK.N> and Germany's E.ON
<EONG.DE>, a group including Gaz de France <GDFPp.PA> and Germany's Ruhrgas
and an individual bid from another German group, RWE Gas <RWEG.DE>.
A third tender for a majority stake in oil group Unipetrol <UNPEsp.PR> received bids
from a tandem of Hungary's MOL <MOLB.BU> and TVK <TVKD.BU> together with
Austria's OMV <OMVV.VI>, British firm Rotch Energy and closely-held Czech fertiliser
maker Agrofert with the support of Conoco <COCa.N>.
"No information ... can be issued until the government discusses the results of (these)
tenders," NPF spokeswoman Jana Viskova said in a statement. The government has
scheduled a special session on Monday to discuss the selloffs.
The sales of the energy sector assets are the culmination of a decade of economic
reforms aimed at transforming the country into a market economy as it speeds down the
final stretch toward European Union membership, seen in 2004.
It also puts the Czechs ahead of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in opening their
economies.
The deals -- expected to pull in around 250 billion to 300 billion crowns ($6.8 billion-$8.1
billion) -- will give the government a foreign currency windfall, part of which it has
already been earmarked for infrastructure and for plugging gaping budget holes.
The prospect of billions of dollars coming into the market next year has propelled the
Czech crown to record highs despite central bank efforts to rein it back to retain export
competitiveness as export demand slides.
The highest profile of the three is CEZ, where a 68 percent state stake is being coupled
with stakes in six regional distributors. EdF has long been seen as the favorite to win the
tender given its experience in nuclear energy.
CEZ is the owner of the controversial Soviet-designed Temelin power plant, currently in
the testing phase.
Once completed the sales will leave former fixed-line monopoly Cesky Telecom
<SPTTsp.PR> as the only other privatization ahead of EU accession.
Banking privatization was completed earlier this year and only three other firms will be
left on the table for possible privatization: National air carrier CSA, troubled railways
Ceske Drahy and the postal service Ceska Posta.
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