published by WISE News Communique on January 26, 2001
Protests - and punishments
The Dutch public prosecutor's demands were accepted in various court cases against anti-nuclear activists. Of the 93 activists that had been arrested at a peaceful but illegal anti-nuclear rally during the UN Climate Conference in The Hague in November last year, 62 were sentenced to a 250 guilder (approx. US$100) fine for not obeying to a police order. The other 31 arrested at the same occasion appeared in court on 25 January. Their cases were dealt with by a different judge, who decided to acquit the activists as they had not been able to hear the police order to stop the demonstration. WISE Amsterdam
Protestors against transports of spent fuel rods from Dutch closed down NPP Dodewaard to Sellafield, on 14 December, were convicted for not obeying to a police order. The activists tried to blockade the road to be used by the transport. They were sentenced to a 500 guilder fine. Press release Onkruit Vergaat Niet! 16 January 2001
On 17 January, a spent fuel transport from NPP Borssele to Cogéma in France was delayed by blockades as activists from Greenpeace and WISE Amsterdam locked themselves to the railway tracks. They have been issued a summons for not obeying a police order. (Since then, the mayor of Borsele has issued an emergency by-law prohibiting future blockades of nuclear transports. The by-law is supposed to remain in force for an exceptionally long period: until April 2002.) Earlier that morning, Greenpeace alpinists succeeded in climbing upon the NPP's dome, unfolding a banner saying "Stop reprocessing". An application for a temporary injunction against the Belgian part of the transport license by Greenpeace Belgium was declared inadmissible due to a technicality. Upon arrival in Valognes, France, the nuclear convoy was awaited by more Greenpeace activists who tried to prevent the train from entering the Cogéma terminal. They have been accused of damaging public property and endangering the life of others, and have to appear in court in February. WISE Amsterdam; AFP, 18 January and 25 January 2001; Borsele town hall
In brief
BNFL "internal conspiracy" against Japanese reprocessing plant. According to internal documents, obtained by the UK group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), BNFL conspired to dissuade their counterparts at the Japanese Rokkasho reprocessing plant from fitting Krypton gas retention technology. Discharges of Krypton gas from the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield was a central issue in the early 1990s as BNFL sought government approval for an operating license for the plant. At that time, BNFL claimed that no commercial scale retention technology for Krypton existed. Favoring the policy of "disperse and dilute", they always claimed that the huge costs of fitting such technology far outweighed the health damage caused by discharges. An internal document of 1996 from a senior PR spokesman to a Thorp manager says: "what we sell or give to [Japan] on Krypton 85 is a commercial decision. However, what we must do is to use every effort to persuade them not to fit Krypton 85 removal equipment as this is damaging to our own position". Research by CORE and The Guardian revealed that Krypton retention technology was included in the original blueprint of the Rokkasho plant but scrapped at an unspecified date after 1996. CORE Briefing, 22 January 2001
BNFL abandons Magrox plans. BNFL announced on 25 January 2001 that
they are abandoning plans to develop a new fuel to extend the life of the Wylfa and Oldbury NPPs.
The planned new fuel, called "Magrox", was intended to prolong the life of the reactors. Use of the
current Magnox fuel at the plants is constrained by the planned closure in 2012 of the Magnox
reprocessing plant at Sellafield, which currently accounts for most of Sellafield's sea discharges
of radioactivity. Also, erosion of the graphite moderators in the reactors (see WISE News
Communique 539.5224, "Wylfa - BNFL deny plan to use 'glowboys'") is causing a progressive reduction
of the reactors' power. BNFL originally hoped to solve both problems by replacing the Magnox fuel,
containing natural uranium in metallic form, with "Magrox", an enriched uranium oxide fuel.
However, the "Magrox" plan did not address the danger of possible collapse of the eroded graphite
moderators, which have been reduced by up to 45% in volume in the worst affected areas of the
reactors.
A UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities spokesman welcomed BNFL's announcement, saying: "Early Magnox
closure would be good for public safety and good for the environment". Nuclear Free Local
Authorities press release, 25 January 2001
Russian protests against waste import continue. Russian environmental groups organized on 15 January a day of actions against the proposal to import nuclear waste into Russia. Actions took place in 20 cities across western and central Russia. In most of the actions, members of local branches of different political parties from Democrats to Communists joined the protests. The law on waste import had its first reading in the Duma (parliament) but still need second and third hearings and approval from President Putin and the Federation Council. ENS, 16 January 2001
Chelyabinsk court to examine Mayak plant. On 4 January, the arbitration court of the Ural county agreed with the appeal of the local environmentalists to examine the legality of radioactive waste discharges from the Mayak reprocessing plant in Chelyabinsk. Local environmental groups filed a suit against Mayak to the Chelyabinsk regional court of arbitration in October 2000. An arbitration court deals with cases related to economical disputes. The claim is that discharges from the plant into the Lake Karachai and other reservoirs are illegal. The main argument of the environmentalists is the lack of an appropriate license for discharges. Initially, the Chelyabinsk court turned down the suit, arguing that the claims are not of economic character. Recently however the Ural county court of arbitration in Ekaterinburg agreed with the appeal of the environmentalists and obliged the Chelyabinsk regional court to examine the case anyway. Bellona website, 15 January 2001
La Hague (1): Plutonium near-criticality incident. The failure of a pneumatic manipulator resulted in the presence of three containers of plutonium oxide powder in the same glove box at La Hague on 5 January 2001. The operating rules designed to prevent nuclear criticality specify that a glove box must contain only one such container at a time. A criticality specialist analyzed the situation and found that the total amount was less than the critical mass. The operators removed the extra containers safely. Nevertheless, the incident was classed as level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) because the operating rules had been broken. Magnuc, 19 January 2001
La Hague (2): One reprocessing plant to be mothballed? The throughput of Cogema's two
reprocessing plants at La Hague, France in 2000 was 24% lower than in 1999. The combined production
at UP2-800 and UP3 plants declined from 1562 metric ton (MT) spent fuel in 1999 to 1197 MT in 2000.
This was mainly due to less foreign spent fuel being reprocessed in the UP3 plant, down from 713 MT
in 1999 to 400 MT in 2000, because the baseload reprocessing contracts with foreign clients ended
on 23 August 2000. The UP2-800 plant is dedicated to French spent fuel. In 2000, 800 MT spent fuel
from EDF was reprocessed, 50 tons less than in 1999. EDF's current policy is to reprocess about 850
MT spent fuel/year and to recycle the separated plutonium in MOX fuel. This might change in future
under market pressure, when the French electricity market is fully liberalized. EDF and Cogema are
still negotiating new reprocessing contracts.
The volume of foreign spent fuel is expected to decrease further in future to about 250-350
MT/year. French and foreign spent fuel together amount to about 1100-1200 MT/year, based on
contracts now being negotiated. Cogema is said to be close to concluding a post-baseload
reprocessing agreement with Japanese utilities. An additional 600 MT of Japanese spent fuel should
be shipped to France from 2001. Reprocessing would take place through 2005.
Currently Cogema is awaiting a new government license to expand the capacity of one of their two
plants to 1000 MT/year. The current license sets a limit of about 800 MT/year for each plant.
Observers suggested that an expanded capacity of one plant would allow Cogema to mothball the other
plant. Cogema is not expected to attract enough foreign contracts to justify operating of both
plants. NuclearFuel, 2 October 2000 and 8 January 2001
Temelin down because of turbine imbalance. The Czech Temelin-1 reactor has been taken off
the grid until at least 5 February 2001 because of continuing vibration problems with the turbine.
The decision to shut the plant down for repair was taken after a fire broke out following an oil
leak on 14 January. The manufacturers said that the turbine was supplied to Temelin 8 years ago and
is now outside its guarantee period.
At the same time, many NGOs are worried that the international Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) for Temelin will be a farce. Jan Beranek from Hnuti DUHA said: "We call upon the European
Commission to facilitate a real EIA and not assist the Czech nuclear lobby in covering up the
safety deficits at Temelin." Friends of the Earth Europe press release, 15 January 2001;
Ceskokrumlovské listy, 19 January 2001
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