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The Nuclear
Endgame
Nuclear
power is dangerous, linked to weapons,
a terrorist target, dirty, expensive,
inefficient, outdated, in decline and
unwanted. The 20 th Century was nuclear;
the 21 st Century will be energy intelligent!
For
Fairly Use
The international nuclear lobby is full of confidence: "Our
industry is not in the defensive mindset
that it was in before. On the contrary,
we must now make the most of the nuclear
revival and go on the offensive." [1]
What nuclear revival? How relevant is nuclear energy? Has the nuclear
sector solved its problems? Are the facilities
safe and a new Chernobyl excluded? Is
nuclear waste safely stored for the millennia
to come? Are all the costs paid for, now
and forever? Is misappropriation of nuclear
material impossible? Does nuclear energy
prevent climate change? Do people want
nuclear power?
In fact, the nuclear industry has never solved its historic problems
and new problems have constantly popped
up.
Nuclear power is, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
There is no nuclear proponent that pretends the facilities are
100% safe. Dozens of accidents in various
countries since the Chernobyl disaster
in 1986 have come very close to a new
major catastrophe, including the following:
- 1993, Russia: an explosion at the
reprocessing plant Tomsk-7 releases significant
amounts of plutonium and other radioisotopes
into the environment;
- 1995, Japan: a sodium leak and
subsequent fire at the plutonium fuelled
fast breeder reactor Monju, which has
remained shut-down since;
- 1998, France: a large 30m3 per
hour primary coolant leak at the most
recent French reactor at Civaux can only
be isolated after 10 hours;
- 1999,
Japan:
two workers are killed and several hundred
people exposed to radiation following
a criticality accident at a fuel fabrication
plant in Tokai, Japan.
- 2002,
USA:
a 130-200cm2 hole is discovered at the
Davis Besse plant that goes right through
the 17cm thick reactor pressure vessel
head down to a thin internal liner of
stainless steel cladding not designed
to withstand operating pressure.
- 2003,
Hungary:
the majority of 30 spent fuel elements
are broken in a cleaning tank leaving
3.6 tons of uranium pellets at the
bottom of the container; the situation
remains unsolved to date;
- 2005,
UK:
a leak of over 80m3 of nitric acid
containing some 22t of uranium and 200kg
of plutonium is discovered, eight month
after its beginning, at the dissolver
of reprocessing plant THORP that has been
shut down since.
Remember Chernobyl? Remember Chernobyl!
Twenty years after the unit number four of the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant exploded people remain surprisingly
unaware of the dramatic consequences of
the disaster:
* The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that the total
radioactivity released from Chernobyl
was 200 times that of the combined releases from the
atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* About 350,000 people were evacuated from particularly
contaminated areas. However, 9,500 people
still live in zones of compulsory evacuation.
* Some 7 million people are entitled to special
allowances, pensions and health care privileges as a result of being categorised
as in some way affected by Chernobyl.
* The cumulated economic damage to Ukraine alone is estimated to
exceed 165 billion euro by 2015.
* Up to 2005, about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer have occurred in Belarus,
Ukraine and Russia in those aged under 18 at the time of the accident.
* Official reports put the number of fatal cancers to be expected
at 9,000. Independent scientists estimate
that between 30,000 and 60,000 people
will die from Chernobyl induced cancer.
* The number of people designated as permanently disabled by the Chernobyl accident (and their children) increased from
200 in 1991 to 64,500 in 1997 and over
91,000 in 2001;
* In the United Kingdom, over 2,500 kilometres from the source of
the disaster, 374 sheep farms with
200,000 sheep are still subject
to restrictions because of contamination from the Ukrainian reactor accident.
The contaminated fields in the UK cover
an area of over 750 km2.
* In certain regions of Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Finland,
Lithuania and Poland wild game (including boar and deer), wild
mushrooms, berries and carnivore fish
from lakes and still reach caesium-137
contamination levels of several thousand
becquerel per kilogram. [2]
* The European Commission does not expect any change soon and concludes
[3] :
“The restrictions on certain foodstuffs from certain Member States
must therefore continue to be maintained
for many years to come.”
* The Chernobyl disaster will continue and nobody will ever know
the true extent of the damage to people
and the environment. But we do know enough
to say that nobody could seriously accept
the slightest risk of this happening again!
Nuclear power is dangerous, , a terrorist target, dirty, expensive,
inefficient, outdated, in decline, unwanted.Siamese
Twins: the Reactor and the Bomb
Nuclear knowledge can be used to produce electricity or nuclear
explosive devices. The separation of civil
and military uses is a myth. Several countries
have developed bomb programs on the basis
of technology provided by other countries
“for civil purposes”. The
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) actually
guarantees “the inalienable right
of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop
research, production and use of nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination”.
As long as the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) under full access does not
come up with proof of non-declared weapons
related activities, all Members to the
NPT, including Iran, have the right to
access nuclear technology, including uranium
enrichment and plutonium separation. The
NPT is actually a “Proliferation
Treaty”, the IAEA a broker
of nuclear technology.
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
Royal Gifts for Terrorists
Nuclear facilities, plutonium and radioactive waste shipments constitute
prime targets for terrorists. The hijacking
of a significant amount of plutonium or
highly enriched uranium and a credible
threat with a crude nuclear explosive
device would challenge any democracy in
a so far unprecedented extent. A massive
attack on a large spent fuel or plutonium
store could dwarf the Chernobyl accident
in short- and long-term fatalities and
environmental contamination.
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
Dirty from Mine to Waste
The nuclear fuel “cycle” is a myth. The nuclear system,
rather a spiral, generates large amounts
of waste at each single step from uranium
mine – hundreds of millions of tons
of waste in the world already –
to plutonium separation, called reprocessing.
The only two large-scale plutonium
plants worldwide at Sellafield (UK) and
La Hague (France) discharge huge amounts
of radioactivity and cause over 80% of
the collective dose to Europeans. There
is no solution to the safe storage of
high-level radioactive waste for thousands
of years.
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
Benefits Privatized, Costs Mutualized
The total cost of a nuclear kWh most likely will never be known.
Costs for waste management, decommissioning
and clean-up are constantly on the rise
and are generally expected to be paid
for by the taxpayer, while in many countries
beneficial power generation has been privatized.
However, according to most international
cost assessments, nuclear power generates
by far the most expensive delivered energy.
For new nuclear power to become competitive
it would need substantial State subsidies
in particular to provide guarantees against
substantial financial and economic risks.
[4]
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
Nuclear Power Destroys Efficient Climate Change Policy
Every Euro invested in nuclear power is wasted because it could
achieve greater greenhouse gas abatement
if invested in energy conservation and
efficiency. Large-scale power plants lead
to overcapacities and therefore consumption
incentives and waste of electricity as
well as large losses in distribution networks.
There is little or no link between oil
and nuclear energy. Nuclear power increases
the dependence on non-sustainable
energy and resource imports. Energy service security is the answer.
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
Decentralised High-Tech Plants Outpace Ancient Technology
Nuclear is old technology. Most of the operating
plants were designed between the 1950s
and 1970s. Today, high-tech, decentralised
cogeneration and renewable energy plants
already outpace nuclear: they surpassed
nuclear power's total installed capacity
in 2002 and its annual output in 2005.
In 2004 they added about 6 times as much
net capacity and almost 3 times as much
annual electricity generation as nuclear
power.
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient, outdated,
in decline, unwanted.
Very Limited Role in Securing Energy Supply
Nuclear power covers only a minor share of energy services
in
the world: 6% of commercial final energy
in the EU and ca. 2% in the world. Even
in France, the most nuclearised country in the world, nuclear power provides
only l7.5% of commercial final energy
while over 70% of the consumption is covered
by fossil fuels. Nuclear power does not
make the EU any more independent of energy
imports, since all the uranium for the fabrication
of nuclear fuel has to be imported.
Insignificant Market Share In New Capacity
In total 26 nuclear units are listed by the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) as “under construction”,
but nine of these have been listed there
for between 18 and 30 years. Only one
reactor is under construction in the EU
(Olkiluoto-3 in Finland). Nuclear power
represents between 1% and 2% of the
world market for new electricity generating capacity.
Ongoing Decline - No Sign of Revival
In March 2006, there are 148 units operating in the EU25, which
is 24 units less than at the historic peak in 1989. For the first time
in 15 years in 2005 a single building
site was started up (Finland), however,
two units were shut down the same year
(Germany, Sweden). The decline continues.
Rapid Aging - Slow Decline
The world's nuclear plants are rapidly aging. Until 2015 about
80 units will reach age 40, by 2025 an
additional 200 reactors will have operated
for four decades. Even if it was possible
to practically double the current operating
age (about 22 years) of all reactors,
their replacement at age 40 would mean
to connect to the grid a unit every month
and a half until 2015 and one every 18
days between 2015 and 2025. Considering
the long lead times of nuclear power plants
of at least ten years, such a scheme is
impossible. Even if China did build 20
additional units and other countries a
few more by 2025, the numbers of nuclear
plants operating will decline. Unless the operating
age would be stretched on average significantly beyond
40 years, which would raise not only the
question how 50 year old reactors could
possibly stand for the term “revival”
but also a new dimension of severe nuclear
safety issues.
Nuclear power is dangerous, linked to weapons, a terrorist target,
dirty, expensive, inefficient,
outdated, in decline, unwanted.
People "Fairly or Totally Opposed" to Nuclear Power
The latest opinion poll published by the European Commission shows
that 55% of the EU25 citizens questioned are fairly or totally opposed
to nuclear energy. Political leaders that call for more nuclear power ignore their
public opinions. People want a sustainable
energy future based on conservation, efficiency
and renewable energy in which nuclear
power has no place.
The 20th Century was nuclear; the 21st Century will be energy
intelligent!
-
Paris, 29 March 2006
For Fairly Use
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[1]
Frank Deconinck, Chairman of the European
Nuclear Society, 13 February 2006
[2]
The EU limit is 600 becquerel of caesium-137
per kilogram of foodstuffs.
[3]
Andris Piebalgs, European Commission,
written answer to Question P-1234/05DE
by MEP Rebecca Harms dated April 4, 2005
[4]
see for example Steve Thomas, The
Economics of Nuclear Power, commissioned by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, December 2005
Special
Thanks to: "antinukleer@yahoogroups.com"
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