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Britain must invest in nuclear power -govt adviser
Index:
Britain must invest in nuclear power -govt adviser
Irish Sellafield protesters in postal blitz on UK
Troopers Practice Plutonium Blockade
No comment on Japan nuclear fuel return date-BNFL
Official: Nuke Security Underfunded
Commissioner backs EU-wide nuclear safety policy
Plaintiffs ask for shutdown of Monju reactor
Australian Guide outlines nuclear emergency procedures
====================================
itain must invest in nuclear power -govt adviser
LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Britain must invest in its nuclear power
industry or it will fail to meet its goal of cutting emissions of
greenhouse gases blamed for causing climate change, a government
adviser said on Tuesday.
"If we don't reinvest in nuclear power, we'll increase our dependence
on fossil fuels," David King, chief scientific adviser at the Office
of Science and Technology at the Department of Trade and Industry
told a conference on renewable energy.
He said Britain would fail to meet goals to cut the use of fossil
fuels such as coal and oil which produce greenhouse gases when
burned, if nuclear power and renewable energy was not increased. Some
analysts doubt that renewables on their own will be able fill the
gap.
"We need an informed debate on the need of having nuclear power
running parallel with an increased use of renewable energy," he said.
While nuclear plants do not produce any greenhouse gases,
environmentalists oppose building new nuclear power stations, mainly
because of the poisonous waste they produce.
Britain generates 27 percent of its electricity from nuclear power
but this will fall to about seven percent by 2020 if current reactors
are not replaced when they come to the end of their working lives,
said King.
Some of the older power stations have already been closed while the
newest, British Energy's (BGY.L) Sizewell B, was commissioned in
1995.
Britain's two nuclear power companies, British Energy and British
Nuclear Fuels, agreed in February to study a new generation of
reactors but said building new plants would be too expensive at
current wholesale power prices.
A recent report to the government on Britain's energy needs left the
door open for building replacement nuclear plants but said this was
the responsibility of the private sector.
Britain aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, blamed by many
scientists for causing global warming, by 23 percent from 1990 levels
by 2010.
The UK government has set a target of generating 10 percent of its
electricity from renewable sources by the end of the decade, up from
just under three percent at present.
----------------
Irish Sellafield protesters in postal blitz on UK
DUBLIN, April 23 (Reuters) - A celebrity-backed Irish campaign
against Britain's Sellafield nuclear plant culminates on Friday when
thousands of protest postcards are due to be delivered to Prince
Charles and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The campaign has been spearheaded by Ali Hewson, wife of U2 frontman
Bono, supported by a string of well-known figures including pop group
The Corrs, singers Ronan Keating and Samantha Mumba and Manchester
United soccer captain Roy Keane.
Norman Askew, chairman of Sellafield's owner British Nuclear Fuels,
is also being targeted by the postcard campaign, which is backed by
the Irish government.
Sellafield, 110 miles (180 km) across the Irish Sea on England's
northwest coast, has been a long-running source of friction between
the two governments, and Irish fears have been heightened since the
September 11 attacks on the United States.
"If an accident happens at the plant, or if there is a terrorist
attack, depending on which way the wind blows... vast parts of
Ireland would be uninhabitable, for ever," said Hewson.
Postcards have been delivered to homes throughout Ireland, urging
people to sign and return them. The cards have also been on sale in
shops and post offices.
A spokesman for Ireland's postal service, An Post, said 700,000 cards
had been received by Monday evening. An Post is collecting all the
cards and will send them to Britain on Thursday for delivery Friday,
the 16th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
The postcard addressed to Blair shows a close up of a human eye, with
the message: "Tony, look me in the eye and tell me I'm safe."
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne and known for his interest
in environmental issues, will receive a card depicting Ireland
ravaged by nuclear fallout with the messages: "Greetings from
Ireland" and "Charles -- wish you were here?"
The postcard addressed to Askew shows a pair of lips and the slogan:
"Tell us the truth."
Irish opponents of Sellafield say it pollutes the Irish Sea and
presents a serious risk from accidents or terrorist attack.
Last year Ireland unsuccessfully applied to the Hamburg based
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for an injunction to
block the start-up of a 472-million pound mixed oxide (MOX) fuel
manufacturing plant at Sellafield.
Britain first established nuclear facilities at Sellafield --
formerly called Windscale -- in the 1940s, and the world's first
commercial nuclear power station opened there in 1956.
----------------
Troopers Practice Plutonium Blockade
NEW ELLENTON, S.C. (AP) - State troopers got a taste of what might be
in store next month during a mock exercise in which they practiced
blocking a shipment of plutonium from Colorado.
Gov. Jim Hodges, who is locked in a dispute with the Department of
Energy over the shipments, ordered the practice drill Monday for
about three dozen state troopers and transport police officers.
As part of the drill, patrol cars blocked a four-lane road near the
Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility about 10 miles from the
Georgia state line.
Officers declared the exercise a success after managing to convince
the driver of an 18-wheel tractor-trailer - in reality, a vehicle
borrowed from the state Department of Correction - to turn around.
Officials said they didn't know whether it would be that easy when
trucks carrying plutonium and escorted by armed federal officers make
the same attempted entrance. Energy officials have said shipments
could begin by May 15.
``I think they'll turn around,'' Hodges said. But, he added, ``We'll
take whatever steps are necessary to keep the plutonium out of
here.''
The Energy Department plans to reprocess the plutonium into fuel to
be used in commercial nuclear reactors. Hodges worries that the
material might be stored in South Carolina permanently.
``The department is extremely disappointed with Governor Hodges
roadblock exercise,'' according to a prepared statement faxed by the
agency. ``Fortunately other South Carolina leaders are spending their
time today working with the department toward finalizing our
plutonium disposition program.''
A law professor said the state is likely to lose a standoff with the
Energy Department.
The actions of the federal government almost always take priority
unless a court gets involved, said Eldon Wedlock, a constitutional
law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
``The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution establishes that the
Constitution and the laws of the United States are the supreme law of
the land,'' said Wedlock.
Hodges, a Democrat who is up for re-election this year, has
threatened to lie down in the road if necessary to block the
shipments unless the Energy Department signs an agreement for the
treatment and removal of the radioactive materials.
The governor said state officials will have a good idea of when the
plutonium will leave the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado and what
route it will take.
That will make it a little easier to guess which one of the 69 roads
will be used to enter South Carolina, Public Safety Department
spokesman Boykin Rose said. He refused to say Monday whether Georgia
officials are offering any assistance to keep the material out of the
state.
--------------------
No comment on Japan nuclear fuel return date-BNFL
TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - The head of British Nuclear Fuels Plc
(BNFL) said on Tuesday he could not yet comment on the schedule for a
planned return of tainted nuclear fuel from Japan to Britain, though
details would be released nearer the date.
Environmental group Greenpeace last week warned the fuel was due to
be returned in June, coinciding with the soccer World Cup. It said
the shipment could become a terrorist target, posing a security
threat to the event being held in Japan and South Korea.
BNFL's chief executive Norman Askew, speaking at a news conference in
Tokyo, said he could not say when the shipment would be returned
because of security reasons.
"Nearer the time...people will be informed, but we do not
declare...too far ahead of time," Askew said.
Kansai Electric Power Co Inc <9503.T>, Japan's second-largest power
utility, is due to ship back MOX fuel, a blend of uranium and
plutonium oxides, to Britain this year.
The fuel was the centre of controversy in late 1999 when Kansai
Electric discovered that BNFL had deliberately falsified data on a
consignment of MOX fuel that it had received.
State-owned BNFL in July 2000 agreed to take back the shipment and
pay 40 million pounds ($58 million) in compensation.
Askew said there were no issues that still needed to be resolved over
the return of the fuel.
"There are no open issues...everything has been decided," he said.
He said BNFL's ties with Kansai Electric, which had become strained
after the data falsification, had improved but were not at the level
seen before 1999.
"We've come a long way in two years...but we still have work to do,"
Askew said.
"I don't want to give any impression that we believe we're now back
where we were two-and-a-half years ago, because we are not," he
added.
He said no new contract had been concluded with any Japanese power
firm since then, although BNFL still sees Japan as a major market
despite the delay in the Japanese industry's plan to use MOX fuel.
Askew said he did not think there was a credible alternative to
nuclear energy from the viewpoint of security of supply and the need
to achieve environmental targets to cut carbon dioxide.
------------------
Official: Nuke Security Underfunded
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department complained to the White House
in recent weeks that it was not getting the money to protect against
terrorists at its nuclear facilities, according to a letter made
public Monday.
In the letter, Bruce Carnes, a senior DOE budget director, complained
that his department did not have enough money ``to implement the
security ... requirements'' needed in response to last September's
terrorist attacks.
The letter, dated March 28, was sent to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) at a time when administration officials, including
senior DOE officials, were saying security at the nuclear facilities
was at a high level and adequate to meet the terrorist threat.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who released the letter Monday, said it
shows ``the White House refuses to deal with the consequences of
September 11. ... That is very scary.''
A frequent critic of security at federal and commercial nuclear
facilities, Markey said the White House and DOE have not ``put
security at the top of their list. Clearly they've decided that even
security has to be compromised.''
Lisa Cutler, a spokeswoman for the DOE's National Nuclear Security
Administration, said there is adequate money to meet security needs
at weapons facilities and nuclear research labs.
While declining to speak to Carnes' letter specifically, she said
``there are always discussions within the administration on the best
way to meet the security challenges.''
But Cutler said, ``If we find that we have any funding shortfalls we
will take steps. We will work with OMB or redirect funds from other
programs to make sure security needs are met.''
In his letter, Carnes complained that the OMB had ``refused our
security supplemental (budget) request'' because the government had
not yet completed its revamping of a general security document that
outlines what kinds of threats the government must be prepared to
defend against.
Carnes wrote to OMB that until the new so-called ``design basis
threat'' document is completed the department must work under interim
security guidelines reflecting conditions since Sept. 11 ``and you
have not provided resources to enable us to do so.''
When Markey was critical of security at the federal research labs and
other nuclear facilities in January, John Gordon, director of the
DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, strongly disputed
suggestions that security was inadequate.
Markey said that contrasts sharply from the tone of Carnes' letter.
He said he wants to know why OMB ``rejected (the) request for
additional funds'' to implement new security guidelines.
---------------------
Commissioner backs EU-wide nuclear safety policy
BRUSSELS, April 23 (Reuters) - European Commissioner for Energy and
Transport Loyola de Palacio said on Tuesday that the 15-
nation European Union needed to adopt a common standard on safety at
nuclear power plants.
EU nuclear energy policy has largely been a matter for member states'
governments and disagreements between neighbours on
nuclear installations have caused a series of rifts.
Forming an EU-wide policy would bring pressure to bear to have one
standard set of rules.
"It is now high time to go further and propose a community dimension
for nuclear safety in Europe which will contain common
standards and control mechanisms which will guarantee throughout
Europe the application of the same standards," de Palacio told a
European Parliament committee.
The issue of standard safety rules has also cropped up as the EU is
set to expand to take in former communist countries which still
run nuclear plants designed and built in Soviet days and which are
considered well below Western standards.
-----------------
Plaintiffs ask for shutdown of Monju reactor
KANAZAWA, Japan, April 24 (Kyodo) - Plaintiffs made their closing
argument Wednesday in an appeal at the Kanazawa branch of
the Nagoya High Court seeking the permanent shutdown of the fast-
breeder nuclear reactor Monju, which leaked a massive amount
of coolant in December 1995.
The plaintiffs, residents of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture, are asking
the court to overturn a Fukui District Court decision in March 2000
that rejected their suit seeking annulment of the government's
permission to build the plant, and a court order to scrap the
project.
Construction of the plant began in October 1985 in the town on the
Sea of Japan coast some 370 kilometers west of Tokyo. The
reactor was operating at 40% capacity when the leak of sodium coolant
occurred, sparking a fire. The governmental operator of the
plant tried to cover up the accident and submitted a falsified
report.
The high court is expected to examine whether a risk assessment
conducted by the governmental Nuclear Safety Commission
before the construction was adequate, and will assess the risks of
future sodium coolant leaks and heat-exchanger ruptures.
The lower court said the reactor does not pose ''any visible danger
to...the lives or health of the plaintiffs'' despite the accident.
The
suit was initially filed with the district court in September 1985.
In the appeal, the plaintiffs said the lower court declared the
reactor safe based on the basic design of conventional light-water
reactors powered by uranium. They said the light-water type is
completely different from fast-breeder reactors, which use plutonium-
uranium mixed-oxide fuel.
They claimed almost no safety assessments were done based on fast-
breeder reactors, and alleged the ruling wrongly concluded
that the reactor would be safe based on testimony by the defendants.
Monju is classed by the government as a prototype reactor for its
plan to have a series of such reactors in the future.
Fast-breeder reactors produce more plutonium than they consume.
Plutonium is an extremely toxic substance that can be used to
make nuclear weapons.
A number of countries, including Britain, Germany, France and the
United States, have scrapped projects for fast-breeder reactors.
--------------
Australian Guide outlines nuclear emergency procedures
Australian Broadcasting Company - April 24 - Southern Sydney
residents are about to get their first official guide on what to do
in a
nuclear emergency.
The residents surround the Lucas Heights facility, which contains a
1950s research reactor, scheduled to be shutdown and
replaced by a new one during the next few years.
The brochure recommends people and animals be taken indoors, and that
windows be shut and air conditioning closed down to
stop radiation entering buildings or cars.
It outlines the responsibilities of emergency services and gives
contact numbers.
It says the health authorities will issue iodine tablets if radiation
doses are high enough that thyroid glands have to be protected.
Although the Australian Radiation Protection Authority has awarded a
building licence for the new reactor, it says there still has to be
an independent review of emergency arrangements for accidents or
attacks before the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation can apply to operate the new reactor.
-------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Director, Technical
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax:(714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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