(521.5108) WISE Amsterdam - Two main topics for action were the planned transports of fuel rods from the research reactor at Petten to the interim storage in the south of the country, the COVRA facility in a building not meant for high-level waste, and the last four tons of spent fuel from the closed Dodewaard nuclear reactor, heading for the reprocessing facility in Sellafield, UK.
Due to all kinds of political turmoil, licensing problems and the threats of actions both transports have been postponed several times.
Now the Petten reactor has announced the conversion of its High Flux Reactor to the use of low-enriched uranium (see WISE News Communique 513, June 18, 1999) they can send their spent fuel back to the country of origine, the US. Although WISE wants the reactor to be closed down and is not satisfied with this "solution" it will be much harder to organize actions. On the Dodewaard case, the situation is different; the plant can receive its final license for transports any day now and will then start transporting the waste to Sellafield as soon as possible. WISE again made clear that actions were being prepared--reprocessing is the worst choice and we think the spent fuel has to be kept on site until a suitable solution has been found.
In late October, BNFL and GKN (the owner of the Dodewaard nuclear reactor) summoned WISE to renounce its plans, if not we would be taken to court in an attempt to have the actions forbidden even before they take place. The same happened with Greenpeace Netherlands which also announced protests against the shipments. Both organizations denied the demand and expect a summons by the court at any moment.
WISE international will defend its case along three lines:
- reprocessing is the most polluting part of the nuclear chain and has to be stopped immediately,
- the right to undertake (direct) actions against an environmental-killing transport,
- the nonsense of forbidding WISE to conduct actions with a court decision, as there would be lots of other groups and individuals willing to take over the actions if BNFL/GKN succeeds.
Contact: WISE Amsterdam
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