Finnish govt seen backing new nuclear plant

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

Index:



Finnish govt seen backing new nuclear plant

Australian Democrats encourage blood tests for nuclear veterans

California ex-nuclear worker arrested for threats

Sharp to boost solar cell production capacity by 60%

Officials US nuclear review recommends a reserve

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Finnish govt seen backing new nuclear plant

  

HELSINKI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Finland's coalition government is sharply divided over a 

plan to build a new nuclear power plant, but is likely to tilt in favour of it by as early as 

next week, officials said on Wednesday. 



Parliament could vote on the controversial issue by summer. 



Finland is the only country in western Europe considering to increase nuclear energy 

capacity at a time when public support has shifted to other energy sources. 



"The cabinet will handle this issue next week at the earliest," said Timo Koivisto, 

adviser to Trade and Industry Minister Sinikka Monkare, who is expected to bring a 

plant proposal by power group Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) to the cabinet. 



"If no one takes issue (with the application), it could be voted on already next week 

as most ministers have already taken a stance," Koivisto told Reuters. 



Finland now has four nuclear reactors at two installations on the south and west 

coasts. Nuclear power accounts for about 30 percent of the country's total electricity 

consumption. 



But the country is grappling with how to satisfy increasing energy demand while 

ensuring it meets its greenhouse gas emissions obligations under the Kyoto protocol. 



Backers say boosting nuclear capacity is the only way to meet those goals and keep 

Finland, which has no oil or gas of its own, from becoming dependent on imported 

electricity. Opponents say the health and environmental risks are too great, and 

other energy forms should be favoured. 



TVO made its proposal in November 2000, but a public complaint kept authorities 

from moving ahead with it last year. 



An informal Reuters survey found that nine of Finland's 18 cabinet members would 

support the proposal, while five would oppose it, and four ministers were still 

undecided. 



Majority cabinet support is needed for the application to go to parliament. But in case 

of a tie, Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen -- who is said to favour the plan -- will 

decide. 



The Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish Party, all junior partners of the five-

party coalition, have said they oppose the plant bid, but parties have generally given 

their representatives free rein to vote according to their conscience. 



A similar proposal by TVO and Imatran Voima, now part of energy group Fortum 

(FUM1V.HE), was rejected by parliament in September 1993 after nine months of 

heated debate. 

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



Australian Democrats encourage blood tests for nuclear veterans



Australian Broadcasting Company - Jan 9 - The Australian Democrats have called on 

the Federal Government to follow  New Zealand's lead and conduct blood tests on 

nuclear test veterans, to  find out if illnesses they contracted, such as cancer, were 

caused by  radiation fallout. 



The call was made by the Democrats' spokeswoman on nuclear affairs, Lyn  Allison, 

who is in Europe, ahead of a speaking engagement in Paris next  week at a 

conference on the health effects of worldwide nuclear testing. 



She said if a link is proven, the British Government should pay  compensation to 

thousands of Australian servicemen and their families,  affected by the nuclear tests 

that Britain carried out in the 1950s in  South Australia, the Monte Bello islands off 

Western Australia, and  Christmas Island. 



So far, the Australian and British governments have avoided pay-outs  because 

epidemiological studies have failed to prove a conclusive link  between the tests and 

illnesses which subsequently killed many veterans.  



METI to hear residents' views on Tsuruga nuclear plants plan

  

FUKUI, Japan, Jan. 9 (Kyodo) - The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) 

will hold Feb. 22 an open session to hear opinions from local residents in Tsuruga, 

Fukui Prefecture, on a plan to build two more nuclear power plants in the city on the 

Sea of Japan coast, local government sources said Wednesday. 



The session is aimed at assuaging residents' concerns over the environmental 

effects and other aspects of Japan Atomic Power Co.'s plan to build the world's 

largest nuclear reactors, the sources said. 



Public concern in Japan over nuclear power has mounted recently as seen in the 

overwhelming rejection by Miyama, a small town in Mie Prefecture, in a November 

plebiscite of a plan to build a nuclear power plant in the region. 



Japan Atomic Power plans to build No. 3 and No. 4 Tsuruga plants with 1.53-million-

kilowatt pressurized water reactors to start operations in fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010, 

respectively. 



The open session will be the first organized by METI since October 2000, when it 

heard opinions over a plan by Chugoku Electric Power Co. to build a nuclear plant in 

Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which the ministry adopted last year as a state 

policy. 



After the session, the ministry will convene by as early as March a session of an 

advisory panel at which Fukui Gov. Yukio Kurita will be invited to say whether he 

accepts the plan. 



If the governor gives the green light, the plan will be incorporated into the central 

government's power development program and the nuclear power company will 

apply for official approval to build the plants. 

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



California ex-nuclear worker arrested for threats

  

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif., Jan 9 (Reuters) - A former nuclear plant worker 

with an arsenal of assault rifles and other weapons was arrested for allegedly 

threatening to shoot former co-workers at the San Onofre nuclear plant in southern 

California, sheriff's department officials said on Wednesday. 



The 43-year-old male plant worker, who was not named, was taken into custody on 

Tuesday, and deputies later found a cache of more than 200 weapons and 

thousands of rounds of ammunition at his home in Laguna Niguel and a storage 

facility in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Colin Murphy said. 



"The employee was recently terminated. At the same time, he had made some 

threats to the company and to fellow employees at the power plant," Murphy said. 



Orange County sheriff spokesman Jim Amormino told MSNBC said the man made 

repeated threatening phone calls. The director at the plant in turn notified the sheriff's 

department. 



"Apparently, he called several times to the plant. He made threats to employees and 

supervisors that he had a lot of guns and he would come back and shoot them," 

Amormino said. 



Murphy said the man would be charged under a California law that bans people from 

making "terrorist threats." 



Sheriff's deputies found 54 weapons at the man's home during a search on Tuesday. 

They raided the storage shed on Wednesday and found 150 weapons, including 

assault rifles, small arms and several ammunition cans, Murphy said. Some of the 

assault rifles were illegal to own in California. 



Three sheriff's deputies searching the storage unit at about 1 a.m. PDT (0800 GMT) 

were treated and released from a nearby hospital after inhaling an unidentified yellow 

vapor that came out of an ammunition can opened in the search, he said. 



"The deputies described the effect of the vapor as almost like a tear gas," he said. 



The vapor was tested by the fire department, and was not tear gas. But tests were 

pending to determine exactly what the vapor was. 



The San Onofre plant, located near Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base about 55 

miles (90 km) south of Los Angeles, is jointly owned by Southern California Edison, 

San Diego Gas and Electric and the cities of Riverside and Anaheim, California. 

Southern California Edison is a unit of Edison International

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



Sharp to boost solar cell production capacity by 60%

  

OSAKA, Jan. 9 (Kyodo) - Sharp Corp. President Katsuhiko Machida said Wednesday 

his company will boost its annual solar cell production capacity by 60% to 148,000 

kilowatts by July in anticipation of increased overseas demand this year. 



The world's top maker of the key component of solar-power generation systems 

plans to spend 6 billion yen to boost the capacity of its factory in Nara Prefecture, 

Machida said at a New Year press conference in Osaka. 



The Osaka-based electric firm also plans to raise the ratio of solar cells to be 

shipped to overseas markets from 30% to 50%. 



Sharp will reinforce sales and service networks to achieve the target in expectation 

of growing demand for the solar-power generation systems in Europe, helped by 

Germany's decision to scrap all domestic nuclear power plants. 



Machida said the company hopes to raise the production capacity to as high as 

200,000 kw by the year-end. 



Sharp also projected sales of television sets equipped with liquid crystal displays, 

one of the company's top sellers, to total 500,000 units in both domestic and 

overseas markets by the end of the current business year to March 31. 



Global market demand for the TV sets in the 2002 business year is estimated to top 

1.5 million units, and the company is drafting a strategy to capture two-thirds of this 

market share, Machida said. 

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



Officials US nuclear review recommends a reserve

  

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A Pentagon proposal to overhaul U.S. nuclear 

policy advocates a sharp reduction in dependence on nuclear arms, but does not call 

for destruction of all warheads removed from America's arsenal, U.S. officials said on 

Wednesday. 



Officials familiar with the secret Nuclear Posture Review said the proposal to 

Congress seeks a defense shift from Cold War nuclear dependency to more reliance 

on precision-guided conventional arms and a proposed U.S. missile defense system. 



The officials, who asked not to be identified, confirmed reports in the New York 

Times and Washington Post that some nuclear forces removed from active duty 

could be kept in reserve instead of destroyed under the proposal. 



The Times also quoted congressional officials who were briefed on the review sent to 

Congress on Tuesday as saying the plan proposed a 10-year schedule for slashing 

the U.S. nuclear arsenal from a current 6,000-plus warheads to between 1,700 and 

2,000 as proposed by President George W. Bush. 



There was no immediate indication how many U.S. warheads taken out of circulation 

might be simply stored and saved for possible redeployment. 



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

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://sandy-travels.com

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





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