Protest against restart of Cook-2 reactor. On June 19, anti-nuclear activists protested at the main entrance of the US Donald C. Cook nuclear plant when Reactor 2 was at that moment in a startup procedure to gain full power some weeks later. The two Cook reactors were shut down in September 1997 due to safety concerns raised during an inspection program. The plant owner, American Electric Power, was fined US$500,000 by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for several design-related violations. The restart of the reactors is estimated to cost US$574 million. Unit 1 is expected to be connected to the grid in the fall. South Bend Tribune.com, 14 June 2000; Associated Press, 20 June 2000
Adamos ordered to pay damages to Nikitin. Rus-sian Nuclear Minister Yevgeny Adamov has been ordered to pay 10,000 rubles (an equivalent of US$350) to pay Aleksandr Nikitin in damages for calling the latter a spy. A district court in St. Petersburg ruled on June 16 that Adamov damaged Nikitin's reputation by publicly calling him a spy. The court said that Adamov has to compensate Nikitin for 10,000 rubles in damages. Newspapers and agencies that publicized the falsehood were obliged to publish a correction. In a 1998 radio interview, Adamov said that "These (questions raised in a Bellona report) were normal, professionally set up intelligence questions." In another interview, he again accused Nikitin of espionage. Nikitin was accused of high treason and of divulging state secrets while co-authoring the Bellona report on radiation hazards in the Russian Northern Fleet. His case was ended by St. Peters-burg City Court with full acquittal in December 1999 (see also WISE News Communique 523.5128: "Russia: Nikitin acquitted of all charges, but case not over"). It is certain that the damages that Adamov is required to pay will not come from the minister's own pocket. Bellona Foundation, 16 June 2000
BNFL takes shares in South Africa PBMR project. British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) will invest about BP10 million (US$15 million) in the South Africa's plan to build a High Temperature Reactor (HTR), also called the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). BNFL expects that the PMBR development will result in a number of worldwide sales opportunities. BNFL press release, 8 June 2000; N-Base Briefings, 10 June 2000
US Department of Labor backs whistleblower; US Nuclear Regulatory Commission finally orders investigation. After a year's investigation, the US Department of Labor found that the president of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Gordon Smith, personally targeted nuclear shift foreman Neil Aiken for termination. Aiken's "crime" was that he revealed to shareholders and federal regulators safety hazards at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (see also WISE News Communique 504: "In Brief"). The Department of Labor also criticized PG&E senior managers forced Aiken to undergo repeated psychiatric examinations against his will. Labor rights group Project LAW (Liberty and the Workplace) accuses the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of having done nothing on the case. For months, the NRC had stonewalled requests by Aiken's attorneys to investigate his case. Only when evidence mounted did a regional office of the NRC schedule a series of public and private meetings and interrogations to justify its own inaction, but later cancelled all but one. Now, after colleagues and other groups had demanded an investigation, NRC's Chairman Meserve ordered Inspector General Bell to do so. Project LAW fears that the inactions by the NRC's behaviour and of "looking the other way" might have encouraged other utilities to take retaliatory action against employees who identify safety hazards. Project LAW press release, 6 June 2000
Mallinckrodt requires plant manager to go on leave. On June 7, US Mallinckrodt Inc. forced the manager of its Maryland Heights isotope production plant to go on "indefinite leave" after an investigation showed that at least 15 workers were exposed to radiation. The investigation by the company and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is raising concerns about the workers' safety. In March, a worker's finger and thumb were exposed to 40 times the limit of radiation exposure for an entire year. After having notified the NRC, the commission started an investigation and found earlier violations by the company, including a US$55,000 fine for a 1997 incident in which a worker was overexposed to radiation and for shipping contaminated products. According to Mallinckrodt, the exposures resulted when the workers hads to do the labelin by hand when the labeling machine became defective. Exposures due to hand labeling go back at least to 1955 and when 10 employes received doses that range from 53 to 591 rems a year. Other exposures were caused by a lack of remote handling tools and shielding materials. Postnet.com, 8 June 2000
Radioactive letter sent to Japanese prime minister. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and the heads of eight government bodies received a mildly radioactive letter, sent on June 6, with an anonymous tip-off that radioactive material was being smuggled from Japan to North Korea. The material concerned was monazite, a mineral phosphate mined and processed to recover uranium and also containing thorium. Each envelop mailed included three grams of the material. The handwritten note warned that "uranium is being sent to North Korea and police should investigate because it is dangerous". The accused seller is the president of an education foundation. The police found a 15 ton of monazite stockpile near Tokyo and in central Japan. The suspect said he imported 50 tons of it from Thailand some 20 years ago and wanted to sell it to a hot springs operators, who wanted unique mixes of minerals in bath waters. Most of the stock was said to been sold and that the remainder was securely stored. Police investigated whether the suspect broke nuclear laws. According to the suspect, no material was exported to North Korea when he refused to sell the material upon learning that the potential buyer has ties with North Korea. The Guardian, 14 June 2000
Jet fighter crashes near Dukovany NPP. A Czech Su-22 jet fighter crashed on June 16 at just 10 kilometers from the Dukovany nuclear power plant. The landing of the plane at the military airport of Namest and Oslavou failed after which the plane crashed in a forest, killing the pilot. The cause of the accident is not yet known. Centrum ENERGIE, 19 June 2000
Uranium transport truck damaged in accident. A truck carrying two 10-ton uranium containers was involved in an accident in Ohio, United States, on June 9. A car driver coming in the opposite direction crossed the traffic line and ran into the truck. The uranium containers were empty, except for residual amounts of natural uranium. The containers had been in used to transport uranium from Canada to Piketon, Ohio, where uranium is being enriched for use in nuclear fuel. The truck was on its way back to Ontario, Canada. The Columbus Dispatch, 10 June 2000
Chernobyl would have been shut down even without Western funding. Ukraine president Loenid Kuchma in a government meeting said that the Chernobyl plant would have been closed this year anyhow, also without financial help from Western countries. On June 5, he announced officially to close the plant by December 2000 and that the US pledged US$80 million for the Chernobyl Shelter Fund, a safety program and economic help (see also WISE News Communique 531.5178: "Chernobyl will finally be closed permanently"). In the last six years, Ukraine has been locked in difficult talks with the West aimed at winning hundreds of millions of dollars in return for the closure of the troubled station. But the remaining operating reactor would have been closed anyway this year said Kuchma: "We would have been forced to halt (nuclear) energy block number three for capital repairs, and this would have required US$158 million and a year and a half of work". And that money simply lacked. Reuters News Service, 12 June 2000
Argentinian company to build new Australian reactor. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) selected an alliance of Argentinian INVAP SE, John Holland Constructions and Engineering and Evans Deaking Industries to construct a 20 MWth research reactor. The reactor that would be commissioned in 2005 replaces the existing Lucas Heights research reactor. The deal was criticized by environmental groups as being a "secret deal", and lacking details on costs, waste management and contractual obligations. The Australian Conservation Foundation pointed also at INVAP's relations with Iran and Lybia and its domestic connections with Argentina's previous military regime.
First block Temelin to be fueled? Temelin operator CEZ wants to fuel the first reactor of the Temelin complex as soon as possible, before its general meeting on July 4. Only some governmental approvals have yet to be given. In an attempt to stop the Temelin project, 90,000 signatures have been gathered until now to force the government to hold a referendum. Centrum ENERGIE, 23 June 2000; Hnuti Duha, 23 June 2000
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