[sacw] South Asians Against Nukes Post | 26 July 00

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Tue, 25 Jul 2000 20:55:43 +0200


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South Asians Against Nukes Post
26 July 2000
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#1. Pakistan: Government to regulate export of nuclear materials
#2. India: Hiroshima Day event on August 6th, 2000 in New Delhi
#3. India: Calcutta Rally called on 9th August to oppose Nuclear Power Plant
#4. India: Letters to the Editor on Hazards of Nuclear Power
#5. India: Peddlers of Nuclear Energy invite entries for an essay contest
#6. Turkey Cancels Akkuyu Nuclear Plant
#7. Write to US President & Heads of other Nuclear States: Cancel ballistic
missile defense

--------------------------------------------

#1.

DAWN
24 July 2000

Government regulates export of nuclear materials

ISLAMABAD, July 24: Pakistan announced its procedures for commercial
exports of nuclear materials from the country today.
An advertisement placed by the Ministry of Commerce in newspapers said
prospective exporters would need a "no objection certificate" from the
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in order to export specified nuclear
substances and equipment.
The ad listed nuclear substances as: natural uranium, depleted uranium,
enriched uranium, thorium, plutonium, zirconium, heavy water, tritium,
beryllium, natural or artificial radioactive materials provided the
activity is not less than 0.002 microcuries per gram, and nuclear grade
graphite with a boron equivalent content of less than five parts per
million and density greater than 1.5 gm/cubic centimetres. These
substances could be in the form of metal alloys, chemical compounds or
any other material containing one or more of them.
The list of nuclear equipment "for production, use or application of
nuclear energy and generation of electricity" included nuclear power
reactors; reactor pressure vessels; reactor fuel charging and
discharging machines; primary coolant pumps; reactor control systems;
reactor internals; any other items directly attached to the reactor
vessels that control the level of power in the core and/or that control
the primary coolant inventory of the reactor core; nuclear research
reactors; neutron flux measuring equipment; equipment for the
fabrication of fuel elements, including welding machines for end caps;
equipment for separation of uranium isotopes, including gas centrifuges,
magnets baffles, bearing, etc; UF6 mass spectrometers; frequency
changers; special shut-off and control valves; equipment for the
production of heavy water, including exchange towers, neutron generator
systems and industrial gamma irradiators. According to the
advertisement, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission will have the
authority to verify and inspect all nuclear exports.(DPA)

______

#2.

25 July 2000

Dear Friends,

In memory of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and as a statement of
our opposition to nuclear weapons worldwide we are holding a public meeting
on Hiroshima Day this August 6th, 2000 (Sunday) at 16.00 hours (4.00 pm) at
the Indian Social Institute, 10 Institutional Area, near Lodhi Road, New
Delhi.

1. We will begin with a brief remembrance for the victims of those terrible
bombings.

2. This will be followed by the showing of a brief video film (20-25
minutes) secretly filmed at the Los Alamos Weapons Laboratories of the USA
about "Why Nuclear Weapons are Important to the US: The Los Alamos
Perspective". The film will be followed by a brief discussion on matters
related to the film contents, such as contemporary US plans for a national
Missile Defence, etc.

3. The main item on the agenda will be a report of the July 30 national
preparatory meeting at Nagpur which is preparing for the "National
Convention for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace" which is to be held in New
Delhi between November 11 and 14, 2000. This report will be followed by a
discussion of what the Delhi host committee and supporters will have to do
to ensure that the National Convention takes place and runs smoothly.

4. This will be followed by another short video film (30-35 minutes) on
"Nuclear War Between India and Pakistan" with a brief discussion afterwards.

The duration of the meeting is expected to be not more than 2 hours (a
maximum of two and one-half hours) and will be over by 18.00 hours or 6.00
or 6.30 pm latest.

You are urged to please attend this meeting not only to show solidarity
with the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to register your opposition
to the nuclearisation of South Asia and worldwide, but also to help us
collectively prepare for the forthcoming National Convention. The plans for
holding this Convention have aroused great enthusiasm all over the country
and when held will be a major achievement and boost for building a strong
anti-nuclear disarmament movement in this part of the world. We request
your support to make this coming Convention a great success.

Achin Vanaik
[On Behalf of Movement in India Against Nuclear Disarmament]
______

#3.

We have noted with grave concern that the government of West Bengal
has begun an effort to set up a nuclear power plant in the Sunderbans. The
experience of the last half-a-century shows that nuclear power is
extremely dangerous for health, for the environment, and it is also
extremely expensive. Even the economically developed countries who had gone
in for this form of power have either reduced its use or have stopped it
altogether. In this situation we oppose the construction of a nuclear power
plant anywhere in India, including in West Bengal. We appeal to all to
participate in the rally called on 9th August to protest this. Time: 2:00
P.M. Venue: Sealdah Station Meeting after the demonstration: Oppositie
Metro Cinema from 4-30 -- 6-30 This is the text of the appeal adopted at
a meeting on the 24th of July by a large number of organisations --
political parties, human rights organisations, science movement
organisations, women's rights organisations, etc.Those from outside West
bengal who receive it on the internet are requested to write protest
letters, e-mails or faxes to Shri Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister, West Bengal,
and to send a copy with all the signatures they put to the initiators by
e-mail to: soma1kunal@c...
_______

#4.

The Statesman (India)
19 July 2000

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

SERIOUS NUCLEAR HAZARDS SIR, - Apropos of Radhika Ranjan Pramanik's
article "Chernobyl best forgotten" (15-16 July) I would like to know
why, in his opinion, Germany has decided to phase out 19 nuclear power
plants, which supply about one-third of the country's power?
Mr Pramanik thinks that "if we can install a nuclear power station in
West Bengal, the spent fuels will be transported to fuel reprocessing
plants in Tarapur or Kalpakkam for final burial". But are these fuels so
easy to bury? What solution does he prescribe for the problem of
managing liquid waste, which is increasing day by day not only through
the reprocessing of spent fuels, but also as a result of the
decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear power plants?
This problem is haunting countries like the US, Russia, France and
Germany. A recent agreement reached between the German Chancellor
Ger-hard Schroeder and the major power companies of Germany is mostly
due to a series of mass protests sparked by concern over the safety of
nuclear waste transport and storage of radioactive materials in Lower
Saxony in the late nineties.
Mr Pramanik was himself present at a seminar on "Nuclear energy and
environment" where Dr A Gopala-krishnan, former chairman of the Atomic
Energy Research Board, said that the workmen employed in India's nuclear
reactor projects are exposed to extremely high levels of tritium, a
radioactive isotope of hydrogen that causes many serious illnesses
including cancer. Mr Pramanik had not then contested Dr Gopalakrishnan's
claim. - Yours, etc., JITEN NANDY.
Calcutta, 18 July.

______

#5.

[Write to India's Peddlers of Atomic Energy and speak your mind on the
dangers of of Nuclear Power]

The Times of India,
18 July 2000

Entries invited for essay contest by Department of Atomic Energy

BANGALORE: The Department of Atomic Energy has invited essays from college
and university students on the `Role of nuclear power in India's long term
energy needs' or `Non-power applications of nuclear energy.' ...
______

#6.

NUCLEAR AWARENESS PROJECT
Media Release: Tuesday July 25, 2000

TURKEY CANCELS AKKUYU NUCLEAR PLANT

Toronto =97 Following a cabinet meeting in Ankara today, Turkish Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit announced the cancellation of the controversial
nuclear power plant that was proposed to be built at Akkuyu Bay on Turkey's
Mediterranean coast north of Cyprus.

In a stunning front page interview yesterday (July 24th) in the Turkish
daily newspaper Milliyet, Ecevit observed that "The world is abandoning
nuclear power." In a public statement following a cabinet meeting today,
Ecevit stated "It is unnecessary for us, for the time being, to invest in
nuclear energy." Ecevit emphasized that Turkey would focus on energy
conservation and invest in natural gas, hydro-electricity, as well as solar
and wind generation.

Ecevit's statement reflected the fact that most of the world has stopped
building new nuclear plants, and has opted for cheaper, cleaner, and safer
means of generating electricity. Nuclear power has been plagued by high
cost, erratic performance, endemic technical problems, the risk of
catastrophic accidents, and environmental problems such as routine
radiation releases and radioactive waste management. World nuclear power
use is expected to peak in 2002, and then begin a period of sustained and
permanent decline. Reliable independent cost studies show that nuclear
power plants are about twice as expensive to build and operate as
high-efficiency natural gas generating plants. Canada has been forced to
temporarily shut down one-third of its own nuclear power reactors because
of poor performance, bad management and safety problems.

The decision is a serious blow to the three nuclear vendors bidding to
build the nuclear plant, and a major setback for the international nuclear
industry. Canada's state-owned nuclear company, Atomic Energy of Canada
Limited (AECL) was competing against Nuclear Power International (NPI -- a
consortium of the German company Siemens and the French company Framatome),
and a third bidder, a partnership of Westinghouse (USA/UK) and Mitsubishi
(Japan).

The Akkuyu nuclear plant had sparked an unprecedented groundswell of
opposition within Turkey, as well as in the eastern Mediterranean region
and around the world. Turkey's latest attempt to build a nuclear plant at
Akkuyu began with a request for preliminary proposals in 1992, although
revised bid specifications were not released until December 1996. Following
the final bid deadline of October 15, 1997, Turkey delayed the selection of
a vendor no less than eight times between June 1998 and April 2000.

The extraordinarily high cost of nuclear power has been the indirect cause
of Turkey's decision. This spring, the Turkish Treasury department refused
to provide a sovereign (state) financial guarantee (at least initially) for
the loans being made by vendor country governments for the nuclear plant,
which was costing about $3.6 billlion (CDN) (about $2.5 billion US). In a
surprise development, Westinghouse reportedly offered to proceed without a
sovereign guarantee. AECL also confirmed last week that it was willing to
proceed without a sovereign guarantee, and was searching for private sector
"bridge" financing of $100 million.

The loss of the Akkuyu contract is a blow to AECL, a publicly funded
federal Canadian crown corporation. AECL has seen its reactor export plans
collapse over the last 5 years. As part of a federal government program
review in 1995, AECL identified a plan to sell "ten reactors in ten years".
On the basis of this plan, the Chretien government committed to provide a
$100 million-per-year subsidy indefinitely to AECL. However, the only sale
since that time has been two reactors to China in 1996. Since its founding
in 1952, AECL has received subsidies of over $15 billion from the federal
government.

In 1997 a leaked cabinet document revealed that the Chr=E9tien government ha=
d
agreed to provide $1.5 billion of government funds in financing for the
Akkuyu plant. AECL's bid was for $2.572 billion (US) (about $3.6 billion
Canadian) for two 700 MW CANDU reactors. AECL's bid was targeted by an
effective international campaign. Nuclear Awareness Project worked closely
with activists opposing Akkuyu in Canada, Europe, Turkey and the eastern
Mediterranean for the last four years. The campaign included speaking tours
throughout Canada, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. The international campaign
flooded the office of Prime Minister Chretien and other cabinet ministers
with over 100,000 cards, letters and e-mails.

Dave Martin, Research Director for Nuclear Awareness Project, stated,

"The cancellation of Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear plant is a death knell for the
international nuclear industry. Renewable energy is the way of the future."

"It's time to pull the plug on 48 years of senseless Canadian government
subsidies to AECL. More nuclear subsidies are just throwing good money
after bad."

"Turkey has made a wise decision to forego nuclear power and focus its
electricity program on conservation, renewable energy, and high efficiency
natural gas. There will be huge environmental, economic and security
benefits from this decision."

"A nuclear program would only have interfered with Turkey's hard road ahead
in building a sustainable energy future, healing its economy, democratizing
its political system, and improving its human rights record."

The Akkuyu nuclear plant was opposed for a variety of reasons, including
earthquake risk at the site, the possibility that it would contribute to
nuclear weapons development, and ongoing human rights abuses in Turkey.

Some of Turkey's most prominent earthquake experts have demanded a halt to
the nuclear plant until further research is conducted on the Akkuyu area.
The death of over 18,000 people in the Izmit earthquake is a tragic
testimony to the human cost of poor planning and inadequate regulation. The
Turkish government and the nuclear vendors conspired to cover up the real
earthquake risk at the Akkuyu site. An earthquake would have been the most
likely cause of a catastrophic nuclear accident at Akkuyu. Such an accident
could have had devastating consequences for the 165 million people in the
eastern Mediterranean region.

The dark underside of nuclear power has always been its potential for
nuclear weapons proliferation, either through the production of plutonium
-- an inevitable byproduct of reactor operation -- or through the transfer
of sensitive nuclear information, technology and materials. Turkey's
nuclear program would have fanned the flames of the nuclear arms race in
the Middle East. Turkey has already been implicated in nuclear arms aid to
Pakistan. An earlier attempt to build an Argentinean-designed reactor was
likely aimed at plutonium production for nuclear weapons. Evidence of
nuclear smuggling based in Turkey, and Turkey's push for its own nuclear
fuel capability and indigenous reactor design, all pointed to possible
nuclear weapons development. The support of prominent Turkish citizens for
nuclear weapons development has leant credence to this evidence.

Turkey has a long history of gross human rights abuses, which include
systematic widespread torture and murder of prisoners in custody; death
squad murders; disappearances; restrictions on freedom of speech; and
incommunicado detention without legal representation. Despite the capture
of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, and his ceasefire call, human
rights improvements have been minimal. Incidence of torture actually
worsened in 1999 as compared to the previous two years. Restrictions on
free speech and overt political repression have continued despite pressure
on Turkey to meet western standards in order to join the European Union.

Turkish political history over the last 40 years has been characterized by
a series of unstable governments, interrupted at intervals by four military
coups -- in 1960, 1971, 1980, and most recently in June 1997, when the
government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, was forced out of office.
Allegations of corruption at the highest levels have added to this
political instability, which has been accompanied by economic instability.
Inflation has averaged more than 80% per year over the last ten years, and
the national debt is over $100 billion (US). It remains to be seen if the
current $4 billion (US), three- year anti-inflation program sponsored by
the International Monetary Fund will succeed. Five similar programs in the
1990s failed, and many Turks believe that the cure may be worse than the
disease.

*************************************
NEW REPORT ON AKKUYU AVAILABLE
*************************************

NUCLEAR THREAT IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN:
THE CASE AGAINST TURKEY'S AKKUYU NUCLEAR PLANT
By David H. Martin, Research Director, Nuclear Awareness Project
June 2000

View or download the full report here (106 pages, Acrobat PDF format, 1071K)
http://www.cnp.ca/issues/nuclear-threat.html

A bound hard copy of the report can be obtained by sending $25 (US) or $35
(CDN) to Nuclear Awareness Project, PO Box 104, Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada
L9P 1M6.

*************************************
=46or more information, please contact:
Dave Martin, Research Director, Nuclear Awareness Project
tel/fax: +905-852-0571
E-mail: nucaware@w...

______

#6.

=46rom: Global Demilitarisation, 25 July 2000

Please send the following or similar email, post, fax or phone
messages to the President of the United States each month. Also
please send copies to the Heads of State of the other nuclear
weapons nations as shown below (some via their UN missions).

If you want a list of the post addresses, fax and phone numbers of
the Heads of nuclear states, please request them from us.

If you are an officer of a peace, environmental or religious
organization: In your next correspondence with your members, please
urge them also to send these messages each month.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
To: president@w...

Subject: Cancel ballistic missile defense

Cc:
Vladimir Putin, President, Russia <rusun@u...>,
Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Britain <gbrun@u...>,
Jacques Chirac, President, France <fraun@u...>,
Jiang Zemin, President, China <chnun@u...>,
Ehud Barak, Prime Minister, Israel <pm@p...>,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister, India <indun@u...>,
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan <pakistan@u...>

Dear Mr. President,

Nuclear weapons pose a great threat to human survival, but
ballistic missile defense is not the answer. During the Cold War,
a key argument in favor of star wars was that if the Soviet Union
got such a system first, it would pose a grave threat to the United
States, because they could launch their missiles without fear of
retaliation.

Even if such a system did in fact not work, a leader who
falsely believed it would work could be tempted to strike first.
Thus it is understandable that Russia and China are fearful if the
United States were to build unilaterally a ballistic missile
defense, and that they vow to have no other choice but to increase
their arsenals to prove they could penetrate such a system.

Ballistic missile defense, even if it worked perfectly, could
not protect anyone from the threat of a nuclear bomb in a suitcase,
on a truck or on a sailboat.

The main beneficiaries of a decision to build a ballistic
missile defense are U.S. defense contractors, who stand to make an
estimated $60 billion and are therefore lobbying to build it.

We urge you to cancel the proposed ballistic missile defense
system, which would violate the anti-ballistic missile treaty and
could unravel the whole process of arms control.

The only effective protection against nuclear destruction is
complete nuclear disarmament with thorough verification. We urge
you to take the lead and call a conference of the heads of all
nuclear weapons states to set an early fixed date for the
elimination of all nuclear weapons with international verification.

You can leave the greatest legacy of any President by helping
free future generations from the Damocles sword of nuclear weapons
hanging constantly over all of our heads.

Sincerely yours,

[Your name, post address & country]

Best regards,
Sue & Marvin Clark
Co-directors, Global Demilitarization
42 Maple Avenue, Troy, NY, 12180 USA

Administrative Board Members:
Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Laureate, honorary member
Jonathan Schell, Author
Mary Evelyn Jegen, SND, Pax Christi International
Dietrich Fischer, Author, Professor, Pace University
Bill Price, Director, World Peacemakers
Bill Hartung, Author
Organizations are for identification only