25
April 2008 - It is now the 22 anniversary
of Chernobyl explosion, the largest civil
nuclear disaster ever. Serious contamination
spread over 150 000 square kilometres in
Byelorussia, Ukraine and Russia. Radioactive
clouds deposited radiation thousands of
kilometres away. Hundreds of thousands people
had to be evacuated, and millions more were
left to live in areas that were dangerous
to their health and lives.
Scientific studies have
shown that the full consequences of the
Chernobyl disaster could top a quarter of
a million cancer cases and nearly 100,000
fatal cancers. However the nuclear industry
is now attempting to exploit fading memories
of the disaster. It's attempting to revive
its dangerous business. But, even 22 years
after Chernobyl the very same mixture of
incompetence, political and economic pressure,
cover-ups and arrogance that lead to Chernobyl
continues.
Dangerous situations
such as uncontrolled nuclear reactions,
near reactor melt down or failure of crucial
safety systems, have happened in the last
ten years in Japan, US, UK, Sweden, Bulgaria
and elsewhere.
Spanish nuclear leak
The recent scandal we
exposed in the Spanish Ascó nuclear
plant, again confirms this deadly pattern.
Numerous errors and safety system failures
resulted in radioactivity being released.
Initially, the management did not report
the accident to the nuclear safety authority
nor did they warn the public. In fact, several
groups of school children were visiting
the plant while the leak was ongoing. When
radioactive particles were found on public
land, the plant's operators were forced
to admit the accident, but with the cooperation
of the state safety authority the scale
of the accident was downplayed for several
days. The radioactive leak was in fact several
hundred times bigger than was initially
announced, more than a thousand people needed
to be screened. Dangerous radioactive particles
were found as far as 60 kilometres away.
Greenpeace Spain has called for criminal
charges against operator and called upon
the European Commission for an independent
investigation.
The French nuclear industry
is pushing for more global business, but
behind the PR the same failings remain.
It's new "European Pressurized Reactor"
(EPR) project is promoted as being safer,
cheaper and more reliable. However, this
new flagship of the nuclear industry is
already a fiasco in Finland. After less
then three years of construction, it is
two years behind schedule, 1.5 billion Euro
over budget and plagued by serious safety
issues in its concrete base, reactor vessel,
piping and protective containment.
A second EPR construction
started last December in France with assurances
it would be a model project. But, the list
of problems inspectors have discovered after
just three months of construction is damming:
the reactor's concrete base has been poured
incorrectly, the concrete base slab for
the reactor has developed cracks, steel
reinforcing bars have been wrongly arranged,
in the containment liner one-quarter of
the welds are deficient. Hardly a record
to inspire confidence in any building project,
let alone a nuclear plant.
The nuclear industry
remains mired in accidents, lies, cover-ups
and incompetence. Today's 'renaissance'
reactors are threatening to become tomorrow's
Chernobyls.
Big banks say no to nuclear
Fortunately the nuclear
industry's charm offensive is being rebuffed.
Two days before this year's anniversary
of Chernobyl, several banks announced that
they would not put their money into a construction
of risky reactors at the Mochovce plant
in Slovakia. This withdrawal follows an
international campaign by us and other environmental
groups across Europe and in Japan.
Nuclear power is more
than fifty years old and has always been
expensive, dirty and dangerous. What we
really need in the 21st Centuary is an energy
revolution that focuses on energy efficiency,
cleaner use of fossil fuels, renewables
and state-of-the-art decentralised power
stations. Our report: 'Energy [R]evolution',
details how to halve global CO2 emissions
by 2050, using existing technology and still
providing affordable energy and economic
growth. A revolution in energy policy and
evolution in how we use energy.
There is no place
for dangerous expensive nuclear power in
meeting future energy demand or in helping
to avert catastrophic climate change. Chernobyl
should never be forgotten, but nuclear power
belongs in the past.
