Cadarache, France
(March 18, 1994) Nearly three months after the simulation of a worst case accident, a real accident took place in the nuclear research center Cadarache based in the south of France. The operators announced the accident on February 22 with a delay of five days. According to them about one hundred liter of low radioactive liquid has leaked out of a sewage pipe and has irradiated an area of four square meter inside the plant. The liquid that has escaped reached an alpha radiation of 500.000 becquerel per cubic meter and a beta radiation of 100 million becquerel. Die Tageszeitung (FRG), 23 Febr. 1994
KWU in crisis. Kraftwerk Union, the energy production sector of the Ger-man electronic multinational Siemens increased its sales in 1993 by 32% to DM 8.7 billion (about US$5 billion). Nuclear technology is responsible for 30% of the total. For the coming financial year KWU reckons with mas-sive decrease of their sales. The incoming orders in the nuclear sector will decrease by a further 10% to US$1.5 billion, orders for conventional power plants will increase by US$500 million to US$3 billion. In Germany a cutback of 1.400 jobs should be carried out in 1994. In 1993 KWU had already discharged 1.000 jobs. Die Tageszeitung (FRG), 9 Febr. 1994
Rad exposure law-suit update. A mistrial was declared February 9 in the case of Rung Tang, a former NRC inspector who sued Southern California Edison (see WISE NC 407.4029). Tang alleged that her leukemia was caused by exposure to radiation at the San Onofre nuclear complex, especially due to fuel "fleas" released by faulty fuel rods in the mid-1980s.
According to a report on CNN television, the jury was deadlocked at 7-2 in favor of Tang. A retrial has been set for March, although CNN reported that Southern California Edison may now offer an out-of-court settlement.
Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Gale, the doctor who earned a world-wide reputation treating Chernobyl victims, testified for the utility in the case. The Nuclear Monitor (US), 14 Febr. 1994
Oops: In 1974 president Richard Nixon promised a 1000 commercial nuclear reactors in the United States by the year 2000. At that time there where 233 already online, under construction or on order. With a licensed reactor count of 107 the US cumulative count is now at the 1969 level.
US: Beef Irradiation likely to get Gov't Funding. The Agriculture Department will support a petition for federal approval of beef irradiation as a way to, as Secretary Mike Espy put it on 24 February improve food safety. He also said researchers appear close to finding a rapid test for meat contaminants. Both steps were part of broad-ranging plan for improving the meat inspection system written by the Department nearly a year ago following an outbreak of food-borne illness that killed three people in the US Pacific Northwest. "We are favourably disposed to communicating with (the Food and Drug Administration) to begin the process for approving irradiation" for beef, Espy told reporters.
A consumer group, the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, faulted Espy for choosing "a quick fix" when "the real solution is sanitation, not irradiation."
FDA has approved irradiation (in the US) on a limited number of foods, including pork, chicken, grains, herbs and spices, fresh fruits and vegetables. Food irradiation uses gamma rays to destroy some common types of bacteria. Greenbase, 24 Febr. 1994
The German Federal Intelligence Service 'BND' warns of nuclear criminality. In an eighteen pages long report directed to the German Federal Chancellery the intelligence service describes a "trend to an aggravation of the situation". In the past two years his specialists got on the track of 300 to 350 criminal cases involving (assumed) nuclear material.
As the German magazine "Der Spiegel" reported, in connection with stolen uranium material the "threshold to high enriched uranium has been taken" for the first time. A "close allied intelligence service" has received a material test with a "degree of enrichment just under 40%". According to Der Spiegel "two extreme islamitic-fundamentalist organization" are trying to get excess to special nuclear knowledge. The German BND pretends to "have credible indications from other intelligence services" that in Eastern-Europe influential persons are involved in the smuggling of uranium. They discovered that Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania are the main centers of nuclear smuggle. The German Federal Criminal Investigation Agency (BKA: Bundeskriminalamt) doesn't exclude that western groups can get hold of nuclear or/and biological weapons. Die Tageszeitung (FRG), 7 Febr. 1994
Shopping for Wind Energy in Spain. A new enterprise for clean energy is born. TREN (Transforming Rationally the Energy from Nature S.A.), a corporation geared to promote the use of renewable energy sources, will soon offer the possibility to Spanish consumers for switching to the use of wind energy through the regular electricity distribution system, requiring only an additional individual investment of around 540 ECU's (about US$ 600).
According to the Spanish Energy Conservation Law, utilities must draw the electricity generated by independent producers such as TREN, which will start to invest in windturbines to generate electricity in a windy area of spain. Prices of supply are regulated by the government and are currently stipulated at 10.66 pesetas/KW.H, plus the cost of production. The current household rate amounts 14,37 pesetas/ KWH (8,2 ECU cents - 10 dollar cents).
Energy studies have shown that 10% of the total electricity consumption in the European community could be produced by wind energy and it is estimated that by the year 2030 around 100.000 MW could be supplied from this source. This would require a total area the size of the island of Crete whereas only 1% would actually be occupied, leaving the rest open for other purposes such as agriculture.
In Spain the 1989 PER (Plan de Energias Renovables, Plan for Renewable Energies) called for about 70 MW in wind turbines by the year 1995, with a total investment of 100 million ECU's. The expected national investment in solar energy amounted about 85 million ECU's (US$ 105 million) and it is estimated that each KWH produced from either resource represents avoiding the emission of one kilogram of carbon dioxide.
TREN has a policy to invest in installations for the transformation of natural energy resources such as the wind and the sun, along with other groups of environmentally sensible investors and firms in Europe that support the generation of the energy that they or their members consume form renewable sources. Examples are the wind cooperatives in Denmark, the German Ökobank (financing alternative and ecological projects) and the Body Shop in the United Kingdom, which operates a windfarm to generate the electricity they consume.