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Up And Atom: Ukraine
Chernobyl is actually in Ukraine - so you’d think they’d
think twice… but, overturning a previous resolution banning
new nuclear development, in 1993 the moratorium was cancelled, and
nuclear projects were renewed.
Despite environmentalists’ protests, the government pressed
on, focusing on the unfinished 2nd reactor unit at Khmelnitsky and
4th unit at Rivne nuclear power plants (K2/R4). Ignoring warnings
about the danger of continuing with outdated technology, as well
as the technical difficulties of ‘crossbreeding’ Soviet
projects with Western ones. The government had only one concern;
where to get the cash. Thus Chernobyl became a tool of shameless
political bargaining. Western governments and international bodies,
which insisted on the closure of Chernobyl, were told it would only
be possible after receiving the funds needed for K2/R4. Initially
the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) promised
to cough up but then changed its mind, perhaps realising that nuclear
energy is not the best option - especially in a country where a
similar amount of energy could be saved by energy conservation programmes,
which are practically non-existent. But the government were determined
to complete the works, especially once the head of the state nuclear
energy company “Energoatom”, Serhiy Tulub, was appointed
energy minister!
In spite of public opposition and international concern, K2 was
launched in August, and R4 in October 2004. In July 2004 EBRD and
Euroatom made an unprecedented decision - to provide Ukraine a loan
of $125m on the security of K2/R4. The loan is over 18 years, with
the payments coming ultimately from people’s taxes. Unhappily,
Ukrainian citizens have already paid for the new units due to a
special governmental decree in which energy prices were raised to
pay for the construction.
Regardless of the proclaimed ‘independence’ from Russian
oil provided by nuclear power, Ukraine still imports nuclear fuel
... from Russia, and until recently sent back the nuclear waste.
To reduce this dependency, two liquid nuclear waste storages were
created. In Jan 2005 “Energoatom” announced that work
on a new solid waste storage plant will be carried out by US company
Holtec International.
The new Ukrainian government thinks seeking US cooperation in the
construction of its own nuclear fuel-cell capabilities will finally
eliminate the dependence from Russia and allow Ukraine to produce
even more energy. Thing is, at present Ukraine has no need to produce
more - already much of it’s energy is exported to Central and
Eastern-European neighbours (last year’s rise was almost 17%).
Nice cosy deal: Europe gets cheap energy, the Ukrainian government
some cash, Western companies get contracts. The Ukrainian people
have the loans and debts to repay, 15 nuclear power stations, three
nuclear waste storages and the prospect of a fully complete nuclear
industry in their disaster-ravaged country.
Russia
Some of Russia’s old reactors are of the same type as Chernobyl
- RBMK - as well as outdated versions of Soviet-constructed VVER.
But the disaster never seriously affected the powerful Russian nuclear
lobby. Last December the lives of the oldest reactors were extended
and the Russian nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, enthusiastically
talks of building new nuclear power stations.
Meanwhile in 2001, the Russian parliament, under pressure from
the Kremlin and in the face of public opposition, adopted a law
allowing the importation of nuclear waste from other countries.
Officials painted a picture of huge amounts of cash pouring into
Russia’s coffers but this didn’t happen: frightened by
the appalling environmental conditions and prospects of technological
disaster, no major Western governmen has dealt with them. The only
countries that export waste to Russia are Bulgaria and Ukraine.
The former tries to use the cheapest option before getting EU membership
with its stricter rules, and the latter is busy trying to build
its own storage facilities.
Experts ironically point out that there is actually a shortage
of storage for the waste produced by Russia’s own nuke industry
– let alone imports. However, Rosatom carries on with plans
to import more. The waste from Bulgaria and Ukraine arrives by long-distance
railway but, as revealed this year, the security and disaster prevention
measures are either unknown to the local authorities, or labelled
“top-secret”.
Belarus
Chernobyl is situated 7 km from the Ukrainian-Belarus border and
so Belarus was hit hard by the disaster. About 23% of the whole
territory has been officially recognised as radioactively contaminated.
In 1996 MPs adopted a 10-year moratorium on nuclear power. While
the moratorium expires next year, it’s unlikely it will be
renewed. Belarus’ authoritarian president Aleksandr Lukashenka,
started to talk about the prospect of a “Belarus nuclear power
plant” a couple of years ago, and now this proposal is talked
about openly. In early March, Minsk was visited by French company
AREVA, to begin talks on modernising the existing industry; but
they’re also nuclear specialists.
While building nuclear is still met with mixed feelings by officials
and citizens alike, politics moves on. This year it has been announced
that many of the contaminated areas will be proclaimed ‘clean’.
At the same time, compensation will only be given to selected people
- those designated “really harmed” by the disaster. While
the impact of radioactivity on human health is still unclear, a
government paper claims that the only indicator of harm is cancer
of the thyroid gland.The strategy includes the idea that these ‘clean’
territories should now become economically ‘self-sufficient’,
develop private business and compete on the global market. Such
a change has been met enthusiastically not only by Belarus officials,
but also international institutions: the World Bank agreed to provide
money to the isolated regime to help implement the project.
So, the governments of all three affected states have managed to
effectively silence or ignore anti-nuclear opposition and plan openly
to revive the industry. Talking about political reasons and economic
benefits, none of the interested parties managed to explain what
they will ultimately do with the waste, how to avoid repeat disasters
or cope if the railway is attacked? Eastern and Western nuclear
lobbies, politicians and power companies are all looking to gain
from the new dawn of nuclear energy in former USSR, but for the
citizens it’s a no-win situation
Check: www.bankwatch.org
& www.antiatom.ru
 
Crap Arrest of the Week
For having a tantrum...
US cops handcuffed an unruly 5-year-old girl after she played up
in class. After being placed in the back of a police car, she was
released when her mother turned up and they said they wouldn’t
bring charges against the child - which was very decent of them,
dontcha think?
BP Money Tree
As dawn broke over the financial hub of London on Tuesday morning,
8 Rising Tide activists took to the trees in St James’ Square,
opposite BP Headquarters. A huge banner declaring “BP FUELS
CLIMATE CHAOS” was strung up facing into BP’s offices,
something to ponder on for daydreaming employees.One activist remains,
having spent over 50 hours and counting in a tree.Rising Tide are
calling for loud support between 4 and 6, bring pots and pans to
give the workers a headache as they leave.
BP’s lack of social responsibility is reflected in the massive
profits they make and the bloody hands they grease. The company
announced profits of £5.5 billion for three months work earlier
this year. Investing less than 1% of its capital in renewable energy,
BP prefer to prop up thug rule whenever required. Most recently,
BPColumbia financed the Columbian military to “protect”
its investments, with all the predicable gory consequences.
Like vultures, they insisted on getting at Iraq’s oil once
the troops had done their bit. They now control data on one of the
country’s biggest oilfields.
Sam Sutherland, one of the tree-bound protesters, commented, “We’re
taking this action to draw attention to what is missing from these
profit margins: spiralling climate chaos, systematic human rights
abuses and untold ecological carnage. With profits of well over
$2 million every HOUR, BP is not making a living – it’s
making a killing”.
As Schnews goes to print (Thursday afternoon), we hear the lone
Tree Sitter intends to remain tree-bound at least another night,
and would just love some surface-to-air proverbial hurrah-ing .
Phone Rising Tide on 07708 794 665 beforehand. Bring Banners n’
Biscuits. www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
Hand's Up For Saving the Rainforest
The world’s rainforests don’t only suffer by the chainsaws
of big logging companies (although they do of course) – a huge
amount of damage is done by poor local farmers struggling to feed
their families, who, in desperation (and sometimes encouraged by
their governments) clear areas of forest and attempt to farm them.
They set light to the vegetation in an attempt to stimulate the
not particularly fertile soil to sustain crops – a method known
as “slash and burn” farming. This often seems to work
for a year of two but the soil becomes less and less productive
until crops will no longer grow – the farmers are forced to
move on, further and further away from home, clearing more and more
of the forests and leaving a trail of barren land behind them. Shame,
but what are ya gonna do? Well, one British man, Mike Hands, has
been on a mission to do something about it.
Having worked in Honduras in the early 80s and seen the problems
at first hand, he came home determined to find out why the burnt
land seemed to lose all its fertility over time. After 2 years buried
in books and lectures at Cambridge Uni, not getting anywhere fast
he went to Costa Rica to talk directly with farmers and finally
came up with some ideas. Guessing that the problem was the inability
of ‘burnt’ land to hold on to its nutrients, he spent
months testing soil samples before homing in on one factor in particular
– phosphorus levels. It seems that this crucial plant-supporting
substance was being used up far quicker than the amount planted
crops would absorb. In 1988 he incredibly managed to secure some
EU funding and began trialling a new system with Honduran farmers,
adapted from a technique previously tried in Nigeria, called “alley
cropping”. Rows of fast growing Inga trees are cultivated and
the crops are planted between the rows. The trees offer shade and
protection and, as they drop their leaves, this forms a protective
layer of foliage which smothers weed growth and (here comes the
highly technical science-y bit) provides the organic material for
the renewal of phosphorus levels by littlae soil microbes. The method
is cheap and sustainable, with only a minimal amount of phosphates
needed to be added to the land to replace what the crops take –
an $8 sack will support a farm for a whole year.
By the mid-90s it was clear that the tests had worked tremendously
well and the farmers were chuffed – it was now possible to
continuously grow better quality crops such as maize without the
land turning into a desert. News spread and Brian became aware of
thousands of other farmers wanting to join in. With each farmer
averagely destroying a hectare of land a year, the potential for
cutting deforestisation was obviously huge. Typically, at this crucial
positive moment the EU withdrew their support and funding dried
up. Mike has continued to try and promote the scheme and obtain
funding but unfortunately with little success. The scheme has now
faltered because there is a lack of seed supplies for the needed
Inga trees. Some locals have attempted to set up seed farms from
private donations but there is still a chronic shortage – which
seems crazy considering the potential benefits which could be reaped
from such insignificant levels of investment. Support Mike ‘Green’
Hands – an average joe not content to sit by and shrug his
shoulders as the world fucks itself up - and remember this story
next time Tony Bliar and the G8 are waffling on about climate change
and sustainable development. e-mail mikehands@uk2.net
For a full version of this story check out the February edition
of the Ecologist
Inside SchNEWS
What do you get for standing up for truth and justice in Amercia?
Well, you get put in jail obviously - especially if you’re
black. In the late 80s, whilst we in the UK were laughing at the
antics of “The Blues Brothers”, a youngster from Chicago
named Aaron Patterson was hauled in by “representatives of
the law enforcement community of Chicago” not bothered about
things such as “evidence”. A “confession” to
a recent murder was extracted under torture and he was swiftly sent
to death row by an all-white jury. During 17 years inside, he organised
other prisoners to lead a mass campaign to challenge police - and
political - corruption which had seen a regime of torture and regular
cases of “confessions” being obtained after, some friendly
Chinese water torture, suffocation or electrification of testicles.
The “Illinois 10” as they were known finally made their
point and Aaron was pardoned by the Governor himself in 2003 on
the grounds that, er, he was totally innocent. All well and good
you might say, give or take the best years of Aaron’s life,
but this is not where the story ends. Given his experiences, Patterson
unsurprisingly threw himself into more campaigning and activism
upon his release. This obviously upset some of the remaining bent
and powerful as in 2004 the cops and FBI re-framed / arrested Patterson,
on the flimsiest of evidence, for “gun running, smuggling explosives,
and dealing drugs” (surprising they didn’t blame him for
9-11 too). He now faces life in jail without the possibility of
parole – whilst the fine officer responsible for his original
interrogation, Lt. John Burge, who tortured Patterson and many other
Black civilians, has been living it up down in sunny Florida - that
is until Patterson’s attorneys summoned him to court in a mass
civil rights lawsuit brought by his victims. Friends, family and
supporters are trying to raise international awareness of this case
and continue to fight for Aaron’s freedom, and justice for
all in “ill”inois. For current info e-mail JoNina Abron
at jonina1.1@juno.com and
for more background see www.fightbacknews.org/2004/04/aaronpatterson.htm
or search http://chicago.indymedia.org
SchNEWS in Brief
- Check out various events happening on MayDay on the SchNEWS
party and protest page
- Early Monday morning Glasgow Anti-War Action and Faslane Peace
Camp shut the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency based at
Beith in Ayrshire. Two gates were locked shut and blockaded and
some members of the group entered the site as part of a citizens
weapons inspection. They managed to stay locked on till midday
when four people were nicked. gawa_glawa@yahoo.co.uk
- Following Mondays High Court hearing of the proposed Edo Injunction
(see SchNEWS 492), the Judge will make his decision today , Friday
, at the Royal Courts of Justice. Support welcome. Beat the injunction
by coming to a demo Wednesday (4 May) 4pm entrance to wild park,
Brighton. www.smashedo.org.uk
- ‘Donate against the G8: Ten Pound Appeal’ The Dissent!
Network has begun organising convergence spaces in which resistance
can flourish. These will be self-managed zones available in the
run up to, and during the Summit, aiming to house and feed many
thousands, whist providing inspiring examples of free, ecological
communities. Any funds raised will go directly to financing these
spaces, as well as to legal and medical support teams, transport
and publicity. So donate £10 - you can even do it online
www.tenpounds.org (and
don’t forget the SchNEWS any-money-please appeal cos we are
bloody skint!)
HAVE I GOT SCHNEWS FOR YOU TOUR DATES
MAY:
- NEWCASTLE (1) Green Fair, Tyneside Social Centre Tent 6pm
- GLASGOW (4) 7pm@The Carnival Arts Centre
- EDINBURGH (6) venue T.B.C
- COVENTRY (9) 7pm Earlston Cottage Pub
- READING (13) 7pm International Solidarity Centre, London St.
- LEEDS (14)@ The Common Place (TBC)
- SHEFFIELD (15) Venue. TBC
...and finally...
A Canadian judge has ruled that it’s ok to break
an election promise. Ontario Superior Court Judge Paul Rouleau has
absolved Ontario premier Dalton McGinty of breaking an elaborately
signed contract that promised not to raise or create new taxes.
The judge said that anyone who believes a campaign promise is naive
about the democratic system, and that it is up to voters, not the
courts, to punish governments who fib and fabricate.
Disclaimer
SchNEWS warns all readers...we’ve gone fission Honest!
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