200,000 barrels of radioactive waste

[Rahim Ghanooni <rahimg@earthlink.net>]

TAIPEI, Sept 7 (AFP) - A small group of Greenpeace activists protested in
downtown Taipei Sunday against the island's plans to ship 200,000 barrels
of radioactive waste to famine-stricken North Korea.

The protestors, dressed as barrels of radioactive waste, unfurled two
banners, one in English and the other in Chinese, which read "no nuclear
waste export." They also distributed leaflets to passers-by.

"This is an irresponsible and immoral exploitation of the desperate poverty
in North Korea. It is contemptible that Taipower would use monetary
incentive to entice a destitute country to accept this dangerous cargo,"
said Ho WaiChi, Greenpeace spokesman in Taiwan.

The environment watchdog Greenpeace also threatened here in April to take
every possible measure to stop Taiwan from shipping the nuclear waste to
North Korea for permanent storage.

The state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) signed an agreement with
Pyongyang early this year to dispose of 60,000 drums of low-radiation
nuclear waste in two years, with a provision to increase the volume to
200,000 drums.

Reports said Pyongyang would receive 1,300 US dollars from Taipower for
each barrel of nuclear waste to be stored at an abandoned coal mine 90
kilometers north of Seoul.

But the deal has met fierce protests from Seoul and environmental
organizations, particularly Greenpeace, who say that North Korea lacks the
ability to handle the nuclear waste.

Taipower, the sole power supplier on the island, and the Taiwanese
government have dismissed the protests, saying the agreement was merely a
commercial act and the low-radioactive waste would not pose a threat to the
ecology of the Korean Peninsula.

Taiwan has three nuclear power plants which have generated 180,000 barrels
of low-radiation waste since the first one went into commercial operation
in 1987.

The nationalist island is also negotiating with Russia, the Marshall
Islands and China for the disposal of its nuclear waste.
==============================
Rahim Ghanooni
HPCI Consulting
Sr. Health Physicist 
Certified Hazardous Material Manager (CHMM)	
Tel 319-393-2610
rahimg@earthlink.net