NukeNews No. 12 - ENGLISH

************************************************************ *    NukeNews #12 - Anti-Nuclear Information Service      * ************************************************************ -- 0. Preface -- Although the last issue was released just a month ago due to a great delay in the NukeNews, we already gathered a number of news for this 12th edition of the Nuclear Heritage Network's multilingual newsletter system. However, it is a short one this time... A very interesting report explains why the German anti-nuclear movement decided not to take the chance of delegating two representatives to the German "Final Disposal Commission". There is also criticism on WWF's cooperation with the Russian atomic giant Rosatom as well as information on the search for a final repository for nuclear waste near St. Petersburg and official data on the severe radioactive contamination in the area of the Beloyarsk NPP In two articles, we learn about the plans for a new reactor at the Slovenian Krško NPP and the struggle against these reactor plans. Have a good anti-nuclear winter, and send us your updates for the spring edition until 30th of March! -- Outline of the current NukeNews issue #12 -- 0. Preface 1. Report: Anti-Nuke actions in Berlin and Büchel 2. Fennovoima shrinking 3. Hinkley Point: Commission opens in-depth investigation into UK     measures supporting nuclear energy 4. Walkatjurra Walkabout – Walking for Country 5. Radioactive Grave One Kilometer From The Baltic Sea And 40 km From St. Petersburg 6. Concrete - it depends on what you make of it! 7. Germany: Two empty seats - environmental movement does not take part at repository commission 8. Rosatom practises greenwashing - with the help of "environmental" organisations (RNEI) and WWF Russia 9. Big announcements of new reactor in Slovenia, prolonging of     life-time of old reactor and safety issues 10. The Preparations for Construction of a Second NPP Reactor in    Slovenia in Difficulty 11. Exhibition: The history of harassment of the no nukes movement Part 2 12. Rosatom recognizes high levels of pollution in the Beloyarsk NPP area 13. Film project Nuclear Lies - successful crowd funding 14. Further language versions of the NukeNews newsletter 15. Upcoming events 16. About NukeNews -- 1. Report: Anti-Nuke actions in Berlin and Büchel -- Commemorating the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Some of you might have seen the flyer by "I CAN" or "Atomwaffen frei jetzt", I don't know if you, the reader, even supported the action or even went to Büchel to block a gate at the airport near the Mosel river... I hope many of you took time to think about what happened on the 6th and the 9th of August 1945 and maybe about the danger we still face today. I did, as I went to Berlin on the 2nd of the month already. I planned to fast there among the initiators and participants as I did in Paris 2012. Read the complete story: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Report:_Anti-Nuke_actions_in_Berlin_and_B%C3%BCchel -- 2. Fennovoima shrinking -- The Fennovoima nuclear plant project is in trouble, as 15 more shareholders leave. Some left completely, some partially. But the surprise to all was a few big industrial shareholders. Today, the situation is: only 50,28% of the shares are owned by Finnish owners. The rest is for sale. After E.On's pullout, Fennovoima changed the reactor supplier: Rosatom is offering a 1,200 MW reactor. This is 25% smaller than the original plan (1,600 MW). Rosatom plans to buy the shares originally owned by E.On, this is 34%. Since E.On's departure in 2012, there are now additional 16% shares for sale, but no buyers yet. Read the complete story: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Fennovoima_shrinking -- 3. Hinkley Point: Commission opens in-depth investigation into UK     measures supporting nuclear energy -- The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to examine whether UK plans to subsidise the construction and operation of a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset are in line with EU state aid rules. In particular, the Commission has doubts that the project suffers from a genuine market failure. The opening of an in-depth inquiry gives interested third parties an opportunity to comment on the measure. Read the full media release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1277_en.htm?locale=en -- 4. Walkatjurra Walkabout – Walking for Country -- Walkatjurra Walkabout is a celebration of Wangkatja country, a testament to the strength of the community who have fought to stop uranium mining at Yeelirrie for over forty years, and a chance to come together to continue share our commitment to a sustainable future without nuclear. It is a chance to reconnect with the land, and to revive the tradition of walking for country. The Walkatjurra Walkabout is drug and alcohol free. The Walkatjurra Walkabout is set for the 23rd April to 26th May 2014, and we would love for you to join us. "Walking for country is to reconnect people with land and culture. The Walkatjurra Walkabout is a pilgrimage across Wangkatja country in the spirit of our ancestors so together, we as present custodians, can protect our land and our culture for future generations... We invite all people, from all places, to come together to walk with us, to send a clear message that we want the environment here, and our sacred places left alone." (Kado Muir, Traditional Owner, Yeelirrie) The 2013 Walkatjurra Walkabout was a huge success and continues to grow and strengthen the connections between protecting Country and stopping uranium mining. After 5 years of a pro-uranium State Government, WA remains uranium mining free. Lets keep the pressure on and the uranium untouched - Wanti Uranium! Leave it in the Ground! More information: http://walkingforcountry.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=50a102f587619317ca5451762&id=18853bdc20&e=bcdd27812a -- 5. Radioactive Grave One Kilometer From The Baltic Sea And 40 km From St. Petersburg -- On Friday, December 27 at 3 PM, in the administration building of Sosnovy Bor, public hearings on the preliminary EIA materials on "Point of disposal of radioactive waste" (PDRW) were held. Burial is proposed in clay at a depth of 50 m, between two water horizons. It is approximately 3 km from the residential area (village Rakopezhi ), 1 km from the Baltic Sea and 5 km from the pine forest. A discussion on this project has been on-going for more than two years. Independent experts, nuclear scientists, representatives of public organizations of Sosnovy Bor, as well as the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, representing the Communist Party, Just Russia, Yabloko party, has come out with harsh criticism of the project. Read the complete story: http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Radioactive_Grave_In_One_Kilometer_From_The_Baltic_Sea_And_40_km_From_St._Petersburg -- 6. Concrete - it depends on what you make of it! -- The trial against four people, who blockaded the last castor transport to Gorleben (D) in November 2011 and stopped the transport for 15 hours has been set. Instead of paying a fine of 1,100 EUR each, the court suggested everyone donate 250 EUR to the union "Children of Chernobyl". A hearing did not occur. The four activists fiXed themselves beneath the railways in a construction of chains that connected their arms into a big block of concrete. http://blockcastor.wordpress.com/ -- 7. Germany: Two empty seats - environmental movement does not take part at repository commission -- German environmental organizations and anti-nuclear initiatives have decided not to participate in the commission of experts to search for a repository. The process for the search for a repository is non-transparent and seems set to focus on Gorleben, where already 1.8 billion EUR have been invested and infrastructure has been set up: interim storage, spent fuel, pilot conditioning plant and police barracks in the district town are available. There was no broad social debate on the procedure and the criteria for the task of nuclear waste storage before the adoption of the law. The concentration of the repository search to highly radioactive waste restricts the view to only about five percent of the damage caused by the nuclear power plants waste. Furthermore, the financing of the search process through a public fund, fed by the operators of nuclear power plants, is not guaranteed. The site selection law allows expropriations and minimizes currently existing legal sources of verification. Finally, the federal states would be deprived of power, and with the Federal Office for nuclear waste disposal a new super-agency will have far-reaching powers. http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/918909.zwei-stuehle-bleiben-vorerst-leer.html -- 8. Rosatom practises greenwashing - with the help of "environmental" organisations (RNEI) and WWF Russia -- The nuclear Mafia in Russia is getting support from environmental organisations. This is "Russisch-Deutsches Büro für Umweltinformation" (RNEI), branch of "Deutsch-Russischer Austausch". And this is Russian WWF. Both offered some awards for a competition for best environmental article/report among reporters of radio, TV and newspapers, declared by Rosatom, the federal agency for nuclear energy in Russia. http://www.kerstinrudek.de/rosatom-praktiziert-greenwashing -- 9. Big announcements of new reactor in Slovenia, prolonging of     life-time of old reactor and safety issues -- 2013 ended with a strong statement of the owner of Krško NPP, GEN Energija, that a second block will be constructed in 15 years in Krško. This statement has no legal basis, as the decision to build an additional block in Krško has officially not been made so far. Moreover, Slovenia clearly does not need an additional block, as the energy scenarios prepared for a new energy program in 2011 show that Slovenia can export electricity with no additional nuclear facilities. Apart from that, the planned site for construction in  Krško is seismically risky. In 2013 Slovenia received a report on seismic risks of Krško site from French IRSN, which warns that the site has significant seismic risks. In order to discuss the report with IRSN experts and highlight the need for public participation in  nuclear debates, Focus organised an international conference (links to the presentations are available at   http://focus.si/index.php?node=25&id=1373). Greenpeace Slovenia and Focus also sent several open letters to the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Authority in relation to the damaged fuel rods in the existing reactor in Krško and raised attention of the Slovenian and Croatian media for the issue. While fixing the problems with the reactor, the operator is in a process of obtaining a permit to prolong the life-time of the reactor by 50% (by 2043, instead of 2023). So far, no open public debate has been held on the issue in Slovenia. -- 10. The Preparations for Construction of a Second NPP Reactor in    Slovenia in Difficulty -- Though the majority of the Slovenian population have for many years rejected the idea of construction of a second NPP reactor in Krško, a previous national government founded a semi-private electric company in public ownership GEN to promote and organize such a project and to extend the life time of the first reactor for an additional twenty years. Without a decision of the parliament the GEN started research and administrative preparations and authorized the French institute IRSN to conduct seismic studies about the reactor site. But the IRSN's opinion on this matter is not favorable as expected by the GEN. Acknowledging the fact that the feasibility of designing a reactor against fault surface displacement is questionable, and consistent with IAEA and NRC recommendations, IRSN believes that GEN should consider revising its strategy for the Krško II project and further examine the possibility of searching for an alternative site. It is unlikely that a new NPP could be built anywhere else in Slovenia in light of past public opinion pools. Now the GEN has excluded the IRSN from further participation on the research of the site, trying to find another institute that would be willing to confirm that the existing site is appropriate. Leo Šešerko -- 11. Exhibition: The history of harassment of the no nukes movement Part 2 -- This is the second exhibition about the history of harassment of the no-nukes movement. There were 1,200 visitors for the first exhibition held in August 2013. The purpose of this exhibition is to study the history of harassment to avoid repeating them again. Lately, there have been cyber-attacks against no-nukes movement websites. This exhibition in Sinjuku public gallery in Tokyo will include a session about how to deal with new technologies. 18.1.2014 13:00-18:00 19.1.2014 10:00-16:00 http://www.cnic.jp/5527 -- 12. Rosatom recognizes high levels of pollution in the Beloyarsk NPP area -- In context of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process for the construction of a 5th reactor at Beloyarsk NPP close to Yekaterinburg, a BN-1200 Fast Breeder reactor, files disclosed Rosatom's knowledge of high radioactive contamination in the area: annual 90,000-100,000 tons of radioactive discharges into water, including cesium-137, enter the biological cycle in the river, fish, soil and water. The report states that the cesium-137 concentration in certain well water is more than ten times higher than the so-called "level of intervention" by the Russian "Radiation Safety Standards" (NRB-99), and the activities of cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60 in other wells are close to the levels of intervention. Learn more: http://www.bellona.ru/articles_ru/articles_2013/plutonium-v-bolote -- 13. Film project Nuclear Lies - successful crowd funding -- The young film maker Praved Krishnapilla from the South of India, a region which is directly affected by the NPP in Koodankulam, is working on a 60-minutes film to portray the shameful methods and lies of the nuclear lobby in his country and around the world. Within only a few weeks and a lot of committed work by different - mainly Austrian - activists (Praved has been living in Vienna since 1999), it seems clear that the necessary money (more than 20.000 €) for this project has been successfully collected. Very helpful in that process was the internet platform http://www.startnext.de/en/nuclear-lies. Initial support for this project came also from the grand dame of the Austrian Green Movement Feda Meissner-Blau. More about the film: http://vimeo.com/75948886 -- 14. Further language versions of the NukeNews newsletter -- As in newsletter #11 already mentioned, the Czech-Austrian NGO "Sonne+Freiheit" plans a mini camp probably in the second half of August 2014 in the South of the Czech Republic with the aim of further improving the work with and around the NukeNews newsletter. Anybody interested in joining, please contact by the end of March 2014: "b.riepl at eduhi.at" It is probable that with the help of the Upper Austrian regional government - beginning with 2014 - there will also be versions of the NukeNews in Slovene, Croat and Polish. -- 15. Upcoming events -- (just an extract, tell us your events for the next newsletter) more events: http://upcoming.nuclear-heritage.net Please feel free to send us your local and international events for this website and the NukeNews! 24/10/13-23/03/14: exhibition "Langzeit und Endlager" at Museum zu                   Allerheiligen, Klosterstr. 16, in Schaffhausen (CH) 2014:             Nuclear Waste Transport to Ahaus - current status: "postponed" (D) 01/02/14 at 11 AM: regional conference "AKW Grohnde abschalten" at                   Gemeindehaus in Salzgitter-Bleckenstedt (D) 06/02/14-07/02/14: Long-term Performance of Engineered Barrier Systems (PEBS) at BGR in Hannover (D) 08/02/14 at 11 AM: nuclear waste conference at Volkshochschule, Wilhelmshöher Allee 19-21, in Kassel (D) 09/02/14 at 11 AM: federal anti-nuclear conference for global networking at Volkshochschule, Wilhelmshöher Allee 19-21, in Kassel (D) 10/02/14-12/02/14: International Uranium Film Festival in Washington DC (USA) 03/03/14 at 10 AM: Waste Management (WM) 2014 Conference in Phoenix (USA) 08/03/14:         Fukushima related actions in the Dreyeckland region (CH, D, F) 08/03/14:         Fukushima rally in Jülich (D) 09/03/14 at 2 PM: human chain Fessenheim at vallée du Rhône (F) 09/03/14 at 2 PM: Fukushima disaster remembrance: international brigde actions in the Upper Rhine area (D) 18/03/2014:       Easter march to the uranium enrichment facility in                    Gronau (D) 08/04/14-10/04/14: Symposium on Recycling of metals arising from operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities at the Studsvik site outside Nyköping (S) 23/04/14-26/05/14: Walkatjurra Walkabout - Walking for Country 2014; pilgrimage across Wangkatja country (AUS) 26/04/14:         ecological festival "Für eine Zukunft nach                    Tschernobyl und Fukushima" (D) 29/04/14:         European Anti Nuclear Forum in Prague (CZ) 03/05/14-08/05/14: Atomforum of the German nuclear industry in                   Frankfurt/Main (D) 11/05/14-15/05/14: European Nuclear Conference in Marseille (F) summer 2014:      Walk For A Nuclear Free Future from Miami, FL to                    the Y-12 Nuclear Facility Oakridge, TN 2014 (USA) 04/08/14-08/08/14: Nuclear Heritage Network gathering near Kiel (D) 09/08/14-16/08/14: International Anti-nuclear Camp near Kiel (D) 20/08/14-24/08/14: Anti-nuclear mini camp near Kaplice (CZ) 22/08/14-24/08/14: solar festival in Peckwitz (D) 21/09/14-25/09/14: Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology 2014 International Conference in Freiberg (D) 2014:             Probably Castor transport of high level radioactive waste from Sellafield (UK) and of intermediate level radioactive waste from La Hague (F) to                   Gorleben (D) and protests 01/09/15-30/11/15: (estimated) main hearing on the Environmental Court on SKB's application to build KBS3 final nuclear waste repository at District Court in Nacka (S) http://www.allerheiligen.ch/images/PDF/Langzeit%20und%20Endlager_Flyer.pdf http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Nuclear_Waste_Transport_to_Ahaus http://ag-schacht-konrad.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=769&Itemid=189 http://www.pebs-eu.de/PEBS/EN/Pebs-Final-Conference/PEBS_final_conference_node_en.html;jsessionid=EF1A95844F8E4E013BCB14F2A5E66F59.1_cid284#link4 http://ag-schacht-konrad.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=66&Itemid=278 http://www.kerstinrudek.de/bundesweite-anti-atom-konferenz-f%C3%BCr-globale-vernetzung/ http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/ http://www.nonuclear.se/en/kalender/phoenix20140302-06 http://wp.chainehumaine.eu/ http://www.nonuclear.se/en/kalender/20140408-10studsvik http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Walkatjurra_Walkabout_%E2%80%93_Walking_for_Country_2014 http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/European_Anti_Nuclear_Forum_2014 http://www.euronuclear.org/events/enc/enc2014/index.htm http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Walk_For_A_Nuclear_Free_Future_2011-2015/Miami-Y12_Nuclear_Facility_Oakridge http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Nuclear_Heritage_Network_gathering_2014 http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/International_Anti-nuclear_Camp_near_Kiel http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Anti-nuclear_mini_camp_in_the_Czech_Republic http://ag-schacht-konrad.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=769&Itemid=189 http://tu-freiberg.de/umh-vii-2014 http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Gorleben_Castor_Resistance_in_Germany_2014 http://www.nonuclear.se/en/kalender/kbshuvudforhandling2012 -- 16. About NukeNews -- The NukeNews are a multilingual newsletter system of the Nuclear Heritage Network and are supposed to reflect 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. No one is paid for that work, as we want to provide resources like this information system to the anti-nuclear struggle as independent as possible. The newsletter aims to inform and update as well activists as the interested audience. Your contributions to the next issue of the NukeNews are welcome. Send them via email to "news AT NukeNews.nuclear-heritage.net". It should be brief information in English of not more than one paragraph, including a concise headline and an optional link to a webpage providing more information. Deadline for the 13th issue of the NukeNews will be 30th of March, 2014. Spread the word and learn more about the NukeNews: http://NukeNews.Nuclear-Heritage.NET