The US high-level nuclear waste repository has been delayed again.
(January 19, 1990) The US government now foresees the opening of the Yucca Mountain (Nevada) high-level nuclear waste repository in the year 2010 - a setback, this time, of 7 years. This new plan assumes that there will be no unexpected setbacks in the progress of the program and that science proves that the proposed site is suitable; but this assumption becomes more and more improbable. Opponents argue that Yucca Mountain is an unsuitable site based on groundwater travel time, tectonics and the presence of natural resources in this area that could produce future mining intrusion. So officials have already revived plans to construct a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility as a short-term solution. Some US officials now even propose above ground storage instead of burial of the waste in an underground repository. Nuclear Fuel (US), 11 Dec. 1989; The New York Times, 5 Dec. 1989
During a rally of 2000 people against the proposed high-level waste repository at Bourg-d'Ire (Maineet-Loire) on 16 December 1989 four persons were injured. On 21 December another rally with 200 people took place at the same site, this time with police shooting off tear gas shells. On 30 December 250 protestors blocked the Nantes Paris TGV (high speed) railway line near the site. Demonstrations also took place at other proposed sites for high-level nuclear waste repositories in France, e.g with 500 participants on 21 December at Saint-Jean-sur-Reyssoze (Ain), and in Trayes (Deux-Sevres) farmers continued to prevent investigations of the underground. Journal du Centre (France), 18 Dec. 1989; Ouest France, 21 & 22 Dec. 1989, 2 Jan. 1990
Rumania's secret uranium mines: Rumania's political prisoners were often sent to work in the harshest conditions down uranium mines in Transylvania. That's one secret recently revealed by the country's new Interior Ministry to the London Evening Standardœ (London, 2 Jan. 1990). Colonel Florica Dobre, permanent secretary to the Interior Ministry told the London newspaper: "The mines were kept very secret. We do not know if Ceausescu was planning a nuclear capability. Our new government is trying to find out." The prisoners sent to the mines were "...held in isolation in cold, unfurnished cells, and allowed no visitors unless they cooperated with Ceausescu's regime." According to Dobre, all these prisoners have now been set free. "Top secret" research was also carried out at the country's Institute of Atomic Physics at Magurule, but the Colonel could give no detailed information about this. MineWatch (UK), Jan. 1990
Residents of Rongelap, a Pacific atoll and part of the Marshall Islands, contend that their island remains unsafe due to the effects of a nuclear bomb tested by the US in their area. The test, codenamed "Bravo", occurred in 1954, yet there has still been no comprehensive radiological survey of the atoll done. The US Department of Energy has now promised a 6-month review of Rongelap's safety as part of "a new culture and the Department that places greater emphasis on the importance of environmental, safety, and health-related issues". This was announced by a top DOE official at a special US Congressional hearing. The Reagan and Bush administrations claimed that Rongelap is safe for habitation. Roughly 350 Rongelapese, concerned about incidents of leukemia and thyroid cancer, evacuated the island in 1985 to live on another island, Mejato. Senator Jeton Anjain, a representative of the Rongelapese in the Marshall Islands government, said the DOE believes the Rongelapese should return to their home island "despite the fact that the Rongelap environment today is highly contaminated with radiation." It is not that the Rongelapese people do not wish to return home, but, as Anjain stated, "we will only return home if Rongelap Atoll is determined to be safe." Meanwhile, Anjain has asked the Congress for emergency humanitarian aid in the form of a temporary resettlement from Mejato while the people await the outcome of the studies. Pacific News Bulletin, Dec. 1989
President Ngiratkel Etpison of Belau has set 6 February as the date for the seventh plebiscite in which the government will seek the approval of Belau's voters on a compact of free association with the US. Fearful that 75% of Belau's voters might not share their enthusiasm for the Compact, those left over from the Ta Belau Party established in 1987, with former President Sali, to push pro-US policies - have formed a "Movement for Free Association" to amend the constitution. The new group has opened an office and is beginning to collect petitions for a referendum to amend the constitution, to eleminate the 75% requirement (see WISE News Communique 323/4.3246). According to Bonifacio Basiluis, Chief of Staff to Pres. Etpison, the group hopes to get 4,000 signatures (only 2,500 are needed) for the petition. If the petition drive is successful, the group would then go to Belau's Congress, OEK, to ask for legislation that would allow a referendum on the 75% clause in the constitution, which would be held before the February plebiscite for the Compact. Pacific News Bulletin, Dec.1989
On 29 November 1989, the Cook Island News, a daily newspaper in Rarotonga, the Pacific, reported that France has set off its largest underground blast of the year at Fangataufa. The 90 kilotonne explosion was the fourth in the second series set off by France in 1989. Moruroa is used for smaller tests, but fears of damage to that atoll prompted France to move larger blasts to Fangataufa as of last year. The test is the 111th to date since French tests went underground. The newspaper ended its short article with the comment, "there are fears they will cause the atolls to break up, spilling nuclear waste into rich fishing grounds and onto populated islands". Pacific News Bulletin, Dec. 1989.
Preussen Elektra and Bayernwerk, two of West Germany's big electricity companies, are meeting with East German authorities in order to get permission to extend the capacity of the East German electricity net. The aim of the talks is to cut down environmental pollution of the ineffective brown coal-fired power plants and decrease East Germany's dependence on brown coal as well as increase the effectiveness of East Germany's power plants and supply a certain continuity of electric energy. But what's behind them is the desire of Preussen Elektra and Bayernwerk to build two nuclear power plants (1300 MW each) in East Germany. The construction material (steel and concrete) would be provided by East Germany itself (that would cover approximately half of the construction costs), while West German companies such as Siemens would provide the nuclear technical materials. Half of the electricity production of these plants would go back to West Germany in order to pay back investment costs by the West German companies. Die Welt (FRG), 19 Dec. 1989
In West Germany's incinerating plants, not only are highly toxic chemicals burnt (which release toxics like dioxin and heavy metals), but so are radioactive materials which - depending on the isotope release up to 370,000 Bq/kg. The West German company Schering AG, for example, burns not only chemical waste in its extremely old incinerator (built right next to residential areas in Bergkamen, FRG), but also radioactive waste from hospitals and the Schering research center in Berlin. These facts came to light in connection with the official investigation into the Transnuclear scandal as Schering was one of Transnuclear's business partners and had received orders from Transnuclear to eliminate nuclear materials such as Tritium and Carbon14 in 1982 and 1983. In another incinerator in the neighborhood, highly radioactive waste from hospitals had been denied and had to be transported to special nuclear plants for storage. Burning, of course, cannot eliminate radiation. After burning these kind of materials, radioactivity can be found in the air, water and slag that leaves the incinerating plant. Radioactivity will only be spread and contaminated slag will most likely be stored on domestic waste dumps... Contact: Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz (BBU), Prinz-Albert-Str. 43, D5300 Bon, FRG. BBU, Oct. 1989
The Norwegian Food control Authority recently sent out a letter to health officials stating radiation levels from Chernobyl fallout are still so high that consumption limits on some fish and meat must remain in effect. Per Strand of the State Institute for Radiation Hygiene said that the biological half-lives of cesium-134 and -137 may be 10 to 20 years, not the one or two previously hoped. In fact, radiation levels in some Norwegian meat and fish is now higher than it was soon after the fallout arrived in the spring of 1986. In some areas, cesium has concentrated in livestock feed, resulting in up to 30% of Norway's livestock being contaminated. Many animals are fed special tablet and feed before slaughter to remove enough radioactivity so that the meat can be sold for human consumption. Michael Brenna, an official of the Food Control Authority, said meat sold to the public must pass strict tests, so the main effect of the limits is on Sami reindeer herders, farmers who slaughter their own livestock, and people who eat mutant fish caught in mountain lakes. Associated Press (via GreenNet, gp.press, topic 40, 10 Jan 1990); Miles Goldstick (Sweden)
The lack of cooling water and the technical problems in France's 1300 MW nuclear power plants have forced the French EdF electricity company to buy West German coal for burning in conventional power plants. So, apprehensions reported in WISE News Communique 320 have become a reality in spite of an up to now very mild winter. Badische Zeitung (FRG), 12 Dec. 1989
In a concession to environmentalists, the US Department of Energy (DOE) will not restart its Savannah River defense nuclear reactors until an environmental impact study is completed, according to a DOE letter obtained 18 December. It was not immediately clear whether the decision would mean a further delay in restarting the three reactors, which were shut down last year to undergo massive safety upgrades, worker retraining and management restructuring. The first of the reactors, the country's only source of tritium needed to make nuclear warheads, is tentatively scheduled to resume production next fall. The decision came after three US environmental groups - Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Energy Research Foundation - sued the DOE in December 1988 seeking to force completion of the study before the restart. Associated Press (via Greennet, gp.press, topic 5, 19 Dec. 1989)
On 9 January it was announced in Sweden that West German companies have paid the Swedish government about 3 billion Swedish crowns (SKR) (about US $500 million) to take over the reprocessing contract Sweden had with France for 57 tonnes of spent reactor fuel. Although the trade deal was made several years ago (and prior to West Germany's decision to abandon construction of the reprocessing plant at Wackersdorf in favor of reprocessing in France and the UK), this is the first time that the financial arrangements have been made public. The original agreement between Sweden and France included a Swedish investment of about 4 billion SKR (about US $613 million) in the French UP3 reprocessing plant at La Hague. Already Sweden has paid about 1.5 SKR (about US $2.5 million). Sweden broke the agreement with France after widespread protests in Sweden against reprocessing because of its military connections. Now, Sweden does not allow reprocessing of spent fuel. However, West Germany has a policy of trying to reprocess spent fuel as much as possible... Swedish National TV evening news 9 Jan. 1990 WISE News Communique 314.2139
The Hungarian Electricity Board confirmed that it was to begin negotiations with Electricite de France (EdF) 22 December on collaboration in the construction of nuclear power plants. According to the Board, Hungarian intent is to build jointly two 1,000-MW units at Paks. Prior to this announcement, the Hungarian government had just suspended plans for two Soviet 1,000-MW units there. What Nucleonics Week describes as EdF's "rather discreet" entry into the eastern European market began about 18 months ago. EdF says the type and scope of the collaboration with Hungary is still "wide open" and could range from design of instrumentation and control systems to "a complete product of the China type" - in reference to EdF's project management role in the Daya Bay PWR construction. (Considering the mess made at Daya Bay, that certainly isn't reassuring...) Nucleonics Week, 14 Dec. 1989