NukeNews No. 20 - ENGLISH

************************************************************ *    NukeNews #20 - Anti-Nuclear Information Service      * ************************************************************ -- 0. Preface -- Sorry for the delay - we are late with this NukeNews edition. However, we again gathered quite some interesting news for you out of the anti-nuclear networks represented with the Nuclear Heritage Network. There are some reports of anti-nuclear activities in Finland and Czech Republic, announcements of campaigns/actions, a summary of action in the UK, and updates on pro-nuclear approaches in selected countries. We hope you find the information valuable. Check the links to background information added to most articles! The "upcoming events" section in the newsletter will be limited to 10 items from now on to keep the newsletter readable. Find hundreds of further events online at http://upcoming.nuclear-heritage.net -- Outline of the current NukeNews issue #20 -- 0. Preface 1. Australian Government opened up uranium sales to India 2. Problematic Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant 3. Anti-Uranium Events in Prague and Brzkov 4. Finland: Reclaim The Cape action week 5. Accident at Leningrad NPP 6. Southeastern European Anti-Nuke Network along Danube River 7. Kakadu Charter marks 15 years of shared values 8. Nuclear waste dump battle begins - again 9. Film about the impossibility of finding the safest place on earth also in Czech now 10. Nuclear power won't save the climate! 11. UK Nuke news 12. Situation with Finnish Fennovoima NPP construction 13. Desert rains should bring Life, not pollution 14. Factsheet: Pediatric thyroid cancer cases in Fukushima Prefecture 15. Upcoming events 16. About NukeNews -- 1. Australian Government opened up uranium sales to India -- The Australian Government has opened up uranium sales to India. This move has ignored senior advice - including from Australian bureaucrats and pro nuclear advocates who warned that this deal is dangerous. This deal has been described as the "biggest non-proliferation issue of our time" as India continues to test weapons capable missiles, and has clear intentions of using international uranium to free up domestic supplies for weapons. India's own Auditor General has been hugely critical of India's safety at nuclear facilities, nuclear is never safe but this is a clear warning! We've not been able to stop the trade deal but we can and must stop any uranium mines from opening and fuelling nuclear threats in India and elsewhere. Meanwhile in the Goldfields of Western Australia: There are now two uranium mine proposals open for public comment - Yeelirrie and the Wiluna extension. http://ccwa.good.do/yeelirrie/standwithyeelirrietraditionalownerssubmissiontotheepa -- 2. Problematic Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant -- Despite the fact that the September report called "Four years after Fukushima: Are Nuclear Power Plants Safer?" by Oda Becker and Patricia Lorenz recommends “shutting down Dukovany NPP immediately” and is certainly against the PLEX (Plant Life Extension), the very opposite is happening in the Czech Republic. Some politicians, the Energetické Třebíčsko (ET) Association and the Governors of South Moravia and Vysočina Region support the efforts of CEZ for an extension of the operation of all existing Dukovany reactors. At the same time, the same politicians are trying to modify the amendment to the Building Act and the Public Procurement Act in order to speed up the construction process of a new fifth unit at Dukovany NPP. As a matter of fact, a new subsidiary Dukovany II is supposed to be created which would make an application for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for not just one, but for two new reactors at Dukovany, this autumn of 2015. Read the complete article: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Problematic_Dukovany_Nuclear_Power_Plant -- 3. Anti-Uranium Events in Prague and Brzkov -- On Wednesday November 4, there were two interesting events taking place that had two things in common: uranium mining and the presence of the mayor of Brzkov, where on 18th December 2014 the Czech government gave permission to the preparation process of uranium mining. Read the complete article: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/The_Anti-Uranium_Events_in_Prague_and_Brzkov -- 4. Finland: Reclaim The Cape action week -- In the end of April 2016 it will be a year since Fennovoima started to prepare areas of Hanhikivi cape for the new nuclear power plant construction in Northern Finland. At the same time the protest camp against Fennovoima celebrates its first anniversary. The camp was able to stay inside the construction area over five months and was able to slow down the construction works. During the summer, dozens of blockades took place and newspapers wrote about various sabotages. In September, after the eviction that lasted eight days, the camp moved outside the construction site to continue its activities with help of local supporters. Blockades and other activity against nuclear power did not stop at any point. In the end of April we are going to return to the construction site. The aim is to paralyze the whole construction site, for a long time. With a big enough group we can reoccupy the area and stay there. We don’t only want to occupy the area back but also fill the surrounding areas with activities against Fennovoima, nuclear power, destruction of nature and capitalism, and by respecting the plurality of tactics. This on-going camp/action is a big deal in Finland where people taking part in civil disobedience (and grass root level political work in general) are not so many. Solidarity and participation is welcome from other parts of Europe and all around the world of course. This camp(aign) and the activities around it have been able stall the nuclear power plant, and they will continue to do so. You don´t wanna miss being a part of it! Read the complete article: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Finland:_Reclaim_The_Cape_action_week -- 5. Accident at Leningrad NPP -- An emergency stop of the second power unit of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant took place on Friday, December 18, 2015 at 13:50. The reason for the stop and cooling of the reactor was a sudden leak of radioactive steam from a faulty pipe in one of the rooms of the turbine shop. Both the turbines that serve the reactor were stopped. During the cooling-down step, the reactor steam was ejected through the pipe into the environment. A south-southeast wind of 5 meters per second (not typical for this area) blew the radioactive steam toward the Gulf of Finland, in the direction of Vyborg - Zelenogorsk. The radiation background in the center of Sosnovy Bor, 5 km from the emergency unit, at 17:00 was measured by Green World and was 20 μR/hr (typical background level). Thus, the city of St. Petersburg, located 40 km east of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was fortunate this time. According to some sources, the radiation level rose a few times higher than the background radiation only in the NPP area. Learn more: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Accident_at_Leningrad_NPP -- 6. Southeastern European Anti-Nuke Network along Danube River -- As a result of an international meeting in Lower Austria's regional capital St. Pölten in 2014 the Vienna based NGO "Wiener Plattform Atomkraftfrei e.V." with Paula Stegmüller, Maria Urban, Johanna Nekowitsch, Margit Quendler and Magdalena Waygand as driving forces were able to initiate an internet-based platform with nuclear-critics from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Rumänia and Bulgaria. They invite you to visit their new multi-lingual website below and appreciate of course your cooperation in further strengthening this network. http://www.donauregion-atomkraftfrei.at -- 7. Kakadu Charter marks 15 years of shared values -- What started as opposition to plans for uranium mining at Jabiluka has grown into a powerful platform for a different and better way of doing business in Kakadu. ERA is now majority owned by Rio Tinto who have publicly vowed not to mine Jabiluka without the consent of the Mirarr. This significant improvement in circumstances was bolstered by the end of threatened uranium mining elsewhere in Kakadu when the former Koongarra Project Area was incorporated into the surrounding Kakadu National Park and permanently protected from mining. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/11/16/comment-kakadu-charter-marks-15-years-shared-values -- 8. Nuclear waste dump battle begins - again -- After failed attempts to impose a national nuclear waste repository in South Australia and the Northern Territory, the federal government has embarked on its latest attempt to find a site. Six sites in four states have been short-listed. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/nuclear-waste-dump-battle-begins--again-20151113-gkypn7.html -- 9. Film about the impossibility of finding the safest place on earth also in Czech now -- The (English/German) documentary "Journey to the safest place on Earth" by Swiss filmmaker Edgar Hagen shows how in different parts of the world it is absurd to think, finding a place for storing nuclear waste was an easy thing. Edgar Hagen visits Germany, Austria, Australia, China, the USA, Japan, Switzerland or England. And what does he find? The safest place on earth? This film seems to be a very good instrument to show people whose communities are in danger of becoming a big nuclear toilet, on which grounds such localities are being chosen. Thanks to the NGOs Calla "Sonne und Freiheit" as well as due to the support of the regional government of Upper Austria this documentary can now be offered also with Czech subtitles and already started to be shown in affected regions in the Czech Republic. The film also was part of the film Ekofilm Festival in Brno in South Moravia on December 3-5, 2015. If you are interested in showing the film or organizing further language versions you are welcome to contact one of the persons mentioned above respectively can you find more information on the situation in the Czech Republic at http://www.nechcemeuloziste.cz -- 10. Nuclear power won't save the climate! -- The French nuclear firm EDF was sponsoring COP21 and tried to promote its nuclear-based electricity mix as climate-friendly. To counter this greenwashing the French antinuclear network "Sortir du nucléaire" launched a campaign and was acting during the COP, together with many organizations from all over the world. Learn more: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Nuclear_power_won%27t_save_the_climate! -- 11. UK Nuke news -- Things have been very busy in the UK over the last few months with the success of two British activists on trial over Trident being acquitted because the Crown Prosecution Service couldn't find a charge they were guilty of! The courts found that the the two weren't comitting aggravated trespass as per the charge as they weren't on land as per the definition of 'land' within the charge. The court case was early September but we didn't manage the deadline of the last nuke news! It will be interesting to see how the MoD manage the next protest at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, and what charges they will conjure... http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2015-09-08/two-anti-nuclear-protesters-appear-in-court/ http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2015-09-08/anti-nuclear-protesters-cleared-of-all-charges/ October saw the feelings against Hinkley finally ignited in the UK, the month started off with a visit to Hinkley by Green Euro MP for the South West Molly Scott-Cato, she was joined by the Vice President of the French National Assembly who came to tell the UK why the French people don't want EPRs. The UK was also visited by the Chinese Dictator Xi Jingping who signed a memorandum of understanding that China would invest in Hinkley in return for being able to build own and operate a prototype reactor of Chinese design at Bradwell. This really created a backlash amongst not just the ordinary people but also senior military and intelligence figures, although it made no difference to the sickening fuss made of the Chinese oppressors who were wined & dined by the Royal family and senior Tories such as George Osborne the Chancellor. In response to this visit Somerset activists occupied EDFs newly built roundabout at Hinkley with a big white elephant with a message in Mandarin asking China not to invest in Nuclear here. The protests sought to discuss British Energy policy using #OsbornesNRGfolly. https://southwestagainstnuclear.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/osbornesnrgfolly/ http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/oct/21/steve-bell-britain-china-trade-deals-cartoon?CMP=twt_gu EDF backed down from evicting them and stopping their protest realising it wouldn't look good in the shadow of China's human rights record. https://bambuser.com/v/5866075 Greater Manchester police were less concerned and carried out the orders of the red army with Zeal in Manchester where they arrested anti-nuclear protesters just for being there & before they could protest at Mr Xi's presence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvOCMS1CPls -- 12. Situation with Finnish Fennovoima NPP construction -- Here is some information from a local activist of the Pyhäjoki area where Fennovoima is intending to construct a nuclear power plant, a company originally founded by German nuclear giant EON, these days dominated by the Russian corporation Rosatom: Since last summer interesting developments happened in Finland. After very messy episodes, Fennovoima managed to leave it's application for a construction license to the Ministery of Economics, and is proceeding. The company has no construction licence yet, the application is in process in the ministry and STUK, it takes until 2017-2018, before they can make a decision. In any case, Fennovoima is making vast destruction in "green field" area of Hanhikivi, Pyhäjoki in northern Finland. There is not much we can do at the moment, the project goes on and hopefully will end up to economical problems, but unlike to anything else. Sorry to say this. -- 13. Desert rains should bring Life, not pollution -- Toro Energy want to turn the East Murchison (Australia) into a uranium mining and radioactive waste precinct with up to 7 uranium mines spread over a 200 km area and 2 lake systems. The company plans to truck uranium ore from the mine pits to a central processing facility with radioactive waste tailings dams located on the edge of Lake Way. Send a submission to the EPA in response to Toro's Wiluna uranium mine plans: https://ccwa.good.do/wiluna/stopthenuclearindustrialisationoftheeastmurchison/ -- 14. Factsheet: Pediatric thyroid cancer cases in Fukushima Prefecture -- Out of the 137 cases of suspected or diagnosed with malignant thyroid cancers, 23 out of the 25 people who were retested had been told that they were clear of thyroid cancer in the first round screening. Already late summer 2015, reports on pediatric thyroid cancer cases in Fukushima have been made public at the 20th Oversight Committee for the Fukushima Health Management Survey. According to those reports, the number of children who were suspected of having thyroid cancer or were diagnosed with malignant cases of thyroid cancer totaled 137. Out of the 137 children, 25 of them were either suspected to have or diagnosed with thyroid cancer in the second round of checkups, which started in 2014. More information: http://www.foejapan.org/en/news/150904.html -- 15. Upcoming events -- Feel free to send us your local and international events for the large upcoming events collection on Nuclear Heritage Network website, and for this extract in the NukeNews! http://upcoming.nuclear-heritage.net March & April 2016:5 years Fukushima disaster & 30 years Chernobyl disaster remembrance 2016 27/02/16 12 PM:   "Stop Trident" national demonstration at Hyde Park Corner, in London (UK) 19/03/16:         Conference on health effects of nuclear disasters - and the way to renewables with speakers from various countries at Mechanics Institute in                   Manchester (UK) 30/03/16:         Conference on the (non)-nuclearisation of the Middle-East in Clermont-Ferrand (F) 15/04/16-16/04/16: international scientific conference "Chernobyl                   accident and society: 30 years after catastrophe" in Minsk (BY) 05/04/16:         international anti-nuclear conference in Prague (CZ) 22/04/16-01/05/16: Reclaim The Cape action week in Pyhäjoki (FIN) 10/05/16-12/05/16: annual meeting of the German nuclear lobby: "Jahrestagung Kerntechnik 2016" at CCH - Congress Center Hamburg in Hamburg (D) 17/05/16-19/05/16: Health Effects of Chernobyl: Prediction and Actual Data 30 Years after the Accident in Obninsk (RUS) August 2016:      Walkatjurra Walkabout (AUS) http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/5_years_Fukushima_disaster_%26_30_years_Chernobyl_disaster_remembrance_2016 https://www.facebook.com/events/160801110932716/ http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Finland:_Reclaim_The_Cape_action_week http://radiation-and-risk.com/index.php/en/info-letter -- 16. About NukeNews -- NukeNews is a multilingual newsletter system of the Nuclear Heritage Network. It reflects the activities, topics and struggles of anti-nuclear activists connected through this international community. The messages are written and translated by activists, additionally to their usual anti-nuclear activities. The newsletter aims to inform and update as well activists as the interested audience. Your contributions to the NukeNews are welcome! Send them via email to "news AT NukeNews DOT nuclear-heritage DOT net". The text should be very brief and in English. Please don't make it longer than one paragraph. We need a concise headline for your article, and you can add a link to a webpage providing more information. Deadline for the 21st issue of the NukeNews is 24th of April, 2016. Spread the word and learn more about the NukeNews: http://NukeNews.Nuclear-Heritage.NET