Bulgaria Considers Nuclear Plant

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

Index:



Bulgaria Considers Nuclear Plant

5,000 march against Finnish nuclear power plan

OECD chief calls for new look at nuclear energy

Ukrainians Haunted by Chernobyl Past

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



Bulgaria Considers Nuclear Plant



SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Two Canadian companies have expressed interest

in building a second nuclear plant in Bulgaria, the country's foreign

minister said Sunday.



Solomon Pasi identified the firms as Canada's state nuclear energy

company, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., and SNC-Lavalin Inc., an

engineering and construction company.



Bulgaria and Canada soon will start negotiations on an agreement

dealing with nuclear energy cooperation, Pasi said in remarks to

reporters after returning from a visit to Canada.



But Bulgaria hasn't decided yet whether it will choose the Canadian

companies to build the plant, Pasi said.



The government recently announced it would resume the construction of 

a second nuclear power plant near the Danube port of Belene, 155 

miles northeast of Sofia. Bulgaria has already invested $1.2 billion 

in the project.  



Bulgaria must close two of six units at its only nuclear plant in 

Kozlodui, 125 miles north of Sofia, by the end of this year under an 

agreement with the European Union. The EU considers the Soviet- 

designed reactors unsafe.  



Under the same agreement, Bulgaria has to negotiate a deadline by the

end of 2004 for closing two more Kozlodui units.



The four units to be closed are 440-megawatt pressurized water 

reactors. Two newer 1,000-megawatt units aren't affected by the 

agreement.

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



5,000 march against Finnish nuclear power plan



HELSINKI, April 26 (Reuters) - Five thousand people marched through

Helsinki on Friday to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster

and protest against plans to build a new nuclear power plant in

Finland.



Protestors waving anti-nuclear banners and chanting "nuclear energy,

no thanks" marched to parliament to urge politicians to vote against 

a

government proposal which would make Finland the only country in

Western Europe building a new nuclear plant.



"We are here to protest because of the danger that Finland will build

more nuclear power," said Sirpa Paakkonen. "It is dangerous,

shortsighted and completely unnecessary."



The peaceful demonstration, which police said was significantly 

larger than the 3,000 people initially expected, was believed to the

country's largest since the early 1990s when Finns protested against

unemployment and EU membership.



"Everyone has been nice and calm and the great weather has increased

attendance," said senior police officer Pekka Hook.



It was on April 26, 1986 that a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear

complex in Ukraine exploded and caught fire, spreading a radioactive

cloud across Europe in the world's worst nuclear disaster.



The protestors said they hoped the demonstration would help convince

members of parliament to vote in late May against the government

proposal to construct a fifth reactor.



According to a poll conducted earlier this month 94 MPs of the 200-

member house support the plan while 88 are against and the rest

undecided.



The five-party coalition government, which includes the Green party, 

says the best way to satisfy increasing energy demand while ensuring 

Finland meets its greenhouse gas emissions obligations under the 

Kyoto protocol is to build the country's first new nuclear reactor 

for more than two decades.  



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

other energy sources should be favoured. In 1993 a similar proposal

was rejected in parliament.



The European Union's Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said 

recently that Finland could meet the emission targets without 

building more nuclear power by relying more on natural gas and 

renewable energy.  



Finland has four nuclear reactors at two installations, supplying

about 30 percent of total electricity needs. 

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



OECD chief calls for new look at nuclear energy



PAMPLONA, Spain, April 28 (Reuters) - Industrial countries seeking to 

reduce dependence on imported oil and cut greenhouse gases should 

look again at nuclear energy, the head of the OECD said on Sunday.  



A high-level European Union seminar on the future of energy heard 

there were no easy solutions for a Europe seeking ways to meet 

growing energy demand while cutting pollution.  



European concerns over oil price volatility rose again last week when 

Middle East tensions sent oil prices up to $27 a barrel, raising 

fears an energy price spike could nip worldwide economic recovery in 

the bud.  



The 15-nation EU imports 50 percent of its energy and that could grow 

to 70 percent in 20 or 30 years. It is attempting to increase output 

of renewable energy, such as wind or solar power, but these make up 

only a tiny percentage of energy use.  



At the same time, the EU is committed, under the Kyoto treaty against

global warming, to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases produced by

burning fossil fuels.



A possible alternative, nuclear power, is regarded with suspicion by

many Europeans because of the problem of dealing with radioactive

waste and disasters such as the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine.



The Belgian government recently proposed shutting down the nation's

nuclear reactors by 2025, following similar moves by Sweden and

Germany.



But the EU forum in Pamplona, northern Spain, heard surprise support

for nuclear energy.



"I think we have to take another look at nuclear -- a very sober look 

at nuclear," said Donald Johnston, secretary-general of the 

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), saying 

this was his personal view.  



ADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY



"We cannot see a future ahead and intend to meet the Kyoto targets if

we don't re-examine nuclear in a very serious way."



"Nuclear has many advantages. Nuclear energy is plentiful. It 

produces only negligible amounts of greenhouse gases... it is also

very attractive from a security of supply perspective," he added.



Johnston won support from Loyola de Palacio, the EU energy 

commissioner. She said the EU must foster renewable energies and make 

more efficient use of energy, but added: "We would commit a very 

grave error if the EU renounced the use of nuclear energy as, 

regrettably, is being proposed in some cases.  



"In my opinion, we will have to choose: Either we fulfil Kyoto and 

keep nuclear (energy) or we renounce Kyoto and abolish nuclear 

energy," she said.  



BP <BP.L> Chief Executive John Browne said there was no shortage of 

oil or gas. Proven reserves now were 70 percent greater than they 

were 30 years ago, he said.  



The best way to achieve energy security was to establish a wide range 

of secure sources of supply for oil and gas. These sources existed, 

he said, saying that as well as the Middle East, the oil Europe 

needed in the next decade would come from West Africa and the Caspian 

Sea.  



Worldwide renewable energy would provide no more than two percent of 

total energy needs by 2010 and perhaps three percent by 2020, he 

said. "That means that in a growing energy market oil and gas will be 

the key sources of supply for the foreseeable future," he said.  



David Garman, assistant U.S. secretary for energy efficiency, said 

the United States was focusing its efforts on researching new energy 

technologies in the laboratory to try to drive down their cost.  



Under a project launched this year, the U.S. government is funding

research into fuel cells, which use hydrogen to produce electricity

without creating pollution as petrol engines do.



In 10 or 15 years, Garman said, the United States would know whether 

it had the technical capability to put a fuel cell vehicle on the 

market. But he said he could not envision the conversion of the whole 

car fleet to fuel cells before 2060 or 2080, "perhaps even later".  



Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of Russia's largest electricity 

company, Unified Energy System <EESR.RTS>, renewed his call for the 

linking of Western and Eastern electricity grids, saying there was 

currently a "Berlin wall" dividing the two systems. 

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



Ukrainians Haunted by Chernobyl Past



SLAVUTYCH, Ukraine (AP) - Clutching flickering candles and bunches of 

spring flowers, survivors of the world's worst nuclear disaster held 

a solemn memorial in the pre-dawn darkness Friday in the town built 

to house Chernobyl workers displaced by the accident 16 years ago.  



Crowds also gathered at churches, cemeteries and public squares 

across the former Soviet Union for ceremonies that began at 1:23 a.m. 

- the time on the clocks at the Chernobyl plant when its No. 4 

reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation across Europe 

and contaminating swaths of then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. 



While painful memories of the past were foremost in people's minds 

Friday, many Ukrainians who live in the contaminated areas around the 

now-shuttered Chernobyl plant are focusing more on their poverty than 

on their fragile health.  



``People talk about Chernobyl less and less every year. Economic 

problems are much more pressing,'' said Igor Pashinsky, chief 

psychologist at the Center for Social and Psychological 

Rehabilitation in Korosten, a city 60 miles west of Chernobyl whose 

65,000 residents were all affected by the accident.  



The Ukrainian government says more than 4,000 people involved in the 

hastily and poorly organized Soviet cleanup effort after the accident 

have died and that more than 70,000 Ukrainians were disabled by the 

disaster.  



Officials acknowledge that survival often takes priority over health

concerns for the estimated 3.3 million Ukrainians, including 1.5

million children, affected by the accident.



``Parents try however they can to make money to survive,'' said 

Valeriy Bekh, head sociologist at the Korosten center. ``Often kids 

with two parents live like orphans because their parents are gone all 

the time'' trying to eke out a living.  



The birth rate in Ukraine has dropped by 50 percent since 1986, while

the death rate has doubled.



Aleksandr Tiplitsky, chief doctor at the Norodychi hospital, 35 miles 

west of Chernobyl, said that of the illnesses he treats, ``It's very 

hard to say how many cases are directly related to Chernobyl because 

inadequate nutrition weakens the immune system.  



``I might see a sick child and say, 'It's radiation,' but then I go 

to his house and see it's starvation.''  



However, doctors and public health officials are unequivocal in 

linking the sharp rise in thyroid cancer - especially among children -

to Chernobyl. More than 2,100 Ukrainians who were under 18 at 

the time of the accident have undergone thyroid treatment since 1986, 

and doctors say that number could spike to 10,000 in the 

next two years. 



Tens of thousands of people disabled by Chernobyl-related illnesses 

receive inadequate health care and 25,000 evacuated families 

are still waiting for housing, said Emergency Situations Minister 

Vasyl Durdynets.  



Of the 160,000 people who were resettled from the area around 

Chernobyl, many have returned to evacuated lands because economic

conditions were as bad or worse in their new homes.



Hana Yavchenko, 67, was evacuated from Parishchiv, a village near the

plant, but later returned. She and her husband grow their own

vegetables and fruits because semiweekly government deliveries of

radiation-free food are not enough.



``Is the food clean? Who knows?,'' she said. ``What else do we 

have?''



U.N. officials say some 450 to 600 people live in the ``exclusion 

zone'' - the area within 18 miles of the plant that was evacuated and 

closed off after the accident - and as many as 200,000 live in 

``severely contaminated areas'' further away. 



***************************************************************

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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