| NucNews - November 7, 2005 NUCLEAR australia Pressure mounts to oppose nuke dump November 07, 2005 The Australian http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17168461%255E1702,00.html TRADITIONAL owners are stepping up pressure on Northern Territory senator Nigel Scullion to cross the floor over Federal Government plans to build a nuclear waste dump on their land. A group of eight representatives from Harts Range and Mount Everard, near Alice Springs, took their message to Parliament House today. They were joined by non-government politicians in presenting Senator Scullion, a member of the Country Liberal Party, with a petition of 9000 signatures opposing the proposed dump. Their protest came as Senator Scullion confirmed the federal government would allow a two-day Senate inquiry into the nuclear dump on November 21 and 22. Opposition parties want a month-long inquiry. NT Deputy Chief Minister Syd Stirling held last-ditch talks with Senator Scullion today in an attempt to get him to vote against the government's plans. Senator Scullion said although he had expressed concerns about the dump previously, information revealed during the Senate inquiry was unlikely to make him cross the floor and vote against the government's plans. "If at the end of the day people think my vote is going to change anyway, it won't," he said. Science Minister Brendan Nelson has compiled a short-list of three possible sites for the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Facility. These are defence department properties at Mount Everard, Harts Range and Fishers Ridge, near Katherine. The delegation of traditional owners said they held grave fears for the safety of up to 5000 Aboriginal people living in small communities and out stations should the building of the low-level waste dump go ahead. The group protested outside the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney yesterday, as NT Chief Minister Clare Martin conceded there were no grounds on which a legal challenge to the dump would be successful. Traditional owner William Tilmouth, from the Alcoota Aboriginal Corporation which ran cattle on two stations with a combined area of about 4000 square kilometres, today said his likelihood was at stake. "We're very concerned because of the rivers and the creeks - we pride ourselves on selling our cattle in regards to clean and green," Mr Tilmouth told reporters. "The traditional owners have said no and we'd like Senator Scullion to cross the floor and say no as well." Benedict Stephens, from Mount Everard, aid urgent action was needed from Senator Scullion. "We don't want a nuclear dump in our backyard," he said. "My elders back home there, they don't want this - we've got heaps of sacred sites around that area plus our hunting ground." Traditional owner Audrey McCormack said her land may be poisoned either by an accident on site or during the transport of materials. "This land, which has been ours for many thousands of years, may be poisoned," she said. "This is my kids' land and my grandkids' land where they learn about law, about hunting and about bush tucker." The Central Land Council (CLC), whose area covers Mount Everard and Harts Range, is bitterly opposed the waste dump proposal. But the Northern Land Council (NLC), whose region includes Fishers Ridge, offered to negotiate with the government about other possible sites on indigenous land. Mr Stirling, who accompanied the CLC's traditional owners, said the nuclear dump was designed to store low-level waste, but he feared it could be upgraded to handle highly radioactive material. Dr Nelson said he would consider the NLC's proposal to put forward other possible sites, provided traditional owners agreed and cultural issues were addressed. Legislation to allow the Federal Government to site a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory was introduced to the Senate today. The bills passed the House of Representatives last week. Nation 'best site for N-waste dump' Dan Box, Tom Richardson November 07, 2005 The Australian http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17161171%255E2702,00.html AUSTRALIA is the best country to build an international nuclear waste dump, says the former head of Pangea, the British-backed company that tried to build a nuclear facility in outback South Australia. As pressure grows on Australia to build a desert dump, Charles McCombie, now executive director of the Association for Regional and International Underground Storage, a lobby group campaigning for an international nuclear waste site, plans to visit Sydney next year "and deliberately try to stir the pot". "You could put a map of Australia on the wall, throw a dart at it and have a 99 per cent chance of finding a site," he said. Mr McCombie's trip is part of a renewed campaign to re-establish Australia as an international nuclear waste site. The Northern Territory Government yesterday dropped a proposal to launch a High Court challenge against plans to build a dump in the territory. "It is disappointing that our legal advice has ruled out the option of a challenge against federal government legislation which tramples on the rights of Territorians," Chief Minister Clare Martin said. Traditional owners from central Australia will head to Canberra today in a bid to stop the proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in their region. William Tilmouth of the Alcoota Aboriginal Corporation, said: "That land is not vacant. There are over 5000 people living within that area, and the people don't want it poisoned." business Dutch businessman defends nuclear exports to Pakistan THE HAGUE (AFP) Nov 07, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051107121011.p7wzhoa0.html A Dutch businessman and friend of the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb has admitted he shipped equipment used for uranium enrichment to Pakistan, according to Dutch public television. But Henk Slebos, who befriended Abdul Qadeer Khan when they were students at Delft in western Holland in the 1960s, denied the exports were illegal, said the producers of a documentary to be broadcast Monday night. Slebos, charged with an employee over the illegal export between 1999 and 2002 of parts for a nuclear centrifuge, faces an 18-month jail sentence and a 100,000-euro fine (120,000 dollars). Dutch prosecutors on Friday also requested Slebos's two companies be fined 250,000 euros (295,000 dollars). Slebos denies the shipments were illegal. The court verdict is due on November 18. "Who defines this illegality? The countries that have nuclear arms, therefore the United States," Slebos is quoted telling the television program. The businessman said he used a network comprising "hundreds of European enterprises" for the shipments and also discussed his friendship with Khan. In 1983, Khan was convicted in absentia to four years' jail for stealing secrets relating to uranium enrichment while working at Urenco, a Dutch enrichment facility. The verdict was overturned two years later on a technicality and the Dutch government declined to pursue the matter. Dutch and American intelligence services were aware of Khan's activities, Slebos told the programme. In January 2004, Khan admitted passing on nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, and was quickly pardoned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. In August, former Dutch prime minister Ruud Lubbers admitted the Netherlands twice allowed the Pakistani scientist to leave the country, in 1975 and 1986. The decision to drop the court case was made on the basis of advice from the United States CIA spy agency, he said. A former CIA agent, Richard Barlow, told the programme the US did little to prevent Pakistan, a key US ally after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, establishing a nuclear programme. Re-Energized Passed over for privatization, French firm Areva could still win big as global warming concerns and high oil prices put fission back in fashion BY PETER GUMBEL / PARIS November 7, 2005 Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,901051114-1126693,00.html If Anne Lauvergeon had been given the choice, the French nuclear-energy company she heads would have been the next state-owned firm slated for partial privatization. Earlier this year, she and her colleagues at Paris-based Areva jumped the gun by preparing all the official paperwork for a public offering, and lobbied the government hard to be next in line. Her insistence ruffled some feathers, especially in the Finance Ministry, according to people familiar with the behind-the-scenes maneuvering. And late last month, she officially lost her battle when Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Finance Minister Thierry Breton announced that Electricité de France (edf), the huge state electricity supplier, would be next. Lauvergeon will no doubt get over her disappointment soon, since Areva emerges as a big winner even if its privatization is pushed back. That's because, as the price of selling 15% of its equity to the public, edf has agreed to invest as much as 40 billion over the next five years, mostly in France. Since nuclear power accounts for more than 75% of French electricity, a good chunk of that money is likely to go toward upgrading existing plants or building new ones. edf's dominant supplier: Areva, which has already picked up an order for a new-generation pressurized-water reactor to be built in the Normandy town of Flamanville from 2007. Lauvergeon and Areva are on a roll these days. Nuclear power, written off as dead throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world over the past two decades, is suddenly back in fashion. The public still shudders when recalling the accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant in 1979 and the disaster at Chernobyl seven years later, but these days, with worldwide demand for energy rising sharply, oil prices spiking at over $60 per bbl., and fears growing among the public at large about the lasting impact of greenhouse gases, the outlook for nuclear today is, well, quite radiant. This September, some 300 executives from the world of energy and politics clambered into a huge hole in the Finnish town of Olkiluoto to watch a laser light show as the climax to the ground breaking for the first nuclear plant to be built in Europe in 14 years. The winner of the 3 billion plant contract was Areva, in a joint subsidiary with Germany's Siemens. China currently has nine nuclear reactors in operation and says it will increase its nuclear capacity fivefold by 2020. The Chinese are expected to select a Western contractor for two new plants this year. The race is between Areva, Westinghouse and Russia's AtomStroyExport. Areva is well placed in the U.S., too. In September, it announced a joint venture with Baltimore, Maryland-based Constellation Energy to promote its new generation of nuclear plant, and expects orders for four reactors once the technology is approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Even in nuclear-resistant Europe, official attitudes are shifting. Bulgaria is currently holding a tender for two new reactors; British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who last week hosted an international conference on climate change, has called for a debate about the future of nuclear power amid signs that the government may order several new plants; and in both Germany and Sweden, public debates are raging as to whether to reverse a previous commitment to shut down existing reactors. It's no surprise that Lauvergeon talks about a "nuclear renaissance." Big obstacles remain, primarily the still-hostile public opinion in some countries and the unresolved problem of how to dispose of nuclear waste. Lars G. Josefsson, chief executive of the big Swedish utility Vattenfall, believes nuclear is on its way back, but cautions: "It will continue to be a very difficult question, especially in Europe, as many governments have taken very strong decisions in the past against nuclear." Areva is well placed to capitalize on any comeback because it is a one-stop shop for nuclear energy, with revenues last year of $13.5 billion and almost a one-third share of the market. Unlike its key competitors, Westinghouse and General Electric, Areva spans all aspects of the business. It mines and enriches uranium ore to make nuclear fuel; it designs and constructs reactors and helps operate them; and it recycles the spent fuel and packages the remaining waste. An engineer by training, Lauvergeon worked as an aide to the late French President François Mitterrand before joining the Lazard investment bank. In the late 1990s, the government asked her to take over Cogema, a state-owned nuclear reprocessing company. Convinced that nuclear had a big future, she orchestrated a merger with the other state-owned nuclear company, Framatome, which built plants and mined uranium, to create the French colossus. She has sought to create a positive image for the firm, and for nuclear energy in general, by sponsoring the French yacht in the America's Cup race and by launching a worldwide corporate-branding campaign that uses animated figures set to the 1980 disco hit Funkytown. The intended message, company officials say: nukes are cool. Claude Mandil, executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, says that public-opinion considerations were never as high in France as elsewhere. And after 30 years of living with nuclear energy, the French have grown used to the idea and enjoy stable electricity prices, especially at a time when oil and gas prices are shooting up. "The French are fond of their nukes," Mandil says. But even in France, nuclear is not free from controversy. Still, two other towns besides Flamanville actively lobbied to be the site of the new French reactor. Opinion surveys commissioned by Areva for internal use show that nuclear's reputation has been improving. As recently as 2002, more people stressed the drawbacks of nuclear power rather than its advantages, according to the surveys. But that trend has reversed, and a clear majority now cites the pros rather than the cons. Critically, the surveys show that most respondents say concern about greenhouse gases and climate change are the key reasons for their views. Just how big could nukes become? Jean-Jacques Gautrot, who heads Areva's international division, does a quick calculation. Taking into account the world's growing energy needs, and the fact that many existing plants will be coming to the end of their lives, he reckons at least 800 new reactors will be built over the next 25 to 35 years. If nukes were to double their share of the world's electricity generation, to 30% of the total, the number of new nukes would be somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500. That may be wishful thinking, but for now Areva is convinced it's in the right place at the right time regardless of whether Lauvergeon wins her battle to privatize the firm. | |
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