The THTR Circulars from 2013

***

***

THTR Circular No. 142, Dec. 2013

Content:

The film "High Power" about the effects of nuclear power in India

Kudankulam: Nonviolent resistance against nuclear power plants in South India

Criticism undesirable: Government turns the tap on civil society Nuclear Lies: Indian film needs donations

THTR fuel elements are first class atomic bomb material!

THTR: The cost of decommissioning

Incidents in the Hamm coal-fired power station

SPD coal power makes energy companies happy

Dear Readers!

Effects of nuclear power in India:

Cheated, evicted, sick and impoverished

In the film documentary "High Power", interviews with residents illustrate the effects of nuclear power

How devastating the Tarapur nuclear power plant on the Indian west coast, which has been running since 1967/68, is affecting people and the environment is described by haunting interviews of a visitor with angry residents and oppressive recordings in Pradeep Indulkar's documentary "High Power".

Since 1999 the inhabitants of the villages around Tarapur have been protesting against the nuclear power plant. The government promised them work and the expansion of the infrastructure, but lied and deceived them because they have no electricity, even though they live in the immediate vicinity of the power station. When they protested, the police forcefully evicted them from their villages and bulldozed their homes. The hot cooling water destroyed all the fish in the coastal waters, so that the fishermen have to go far out in motor boats to catch only a few tiny fish that no one wants to buy.

Most of the villagers became unemployed and impoverished. Many suffer from previously unknown diseases such as cancer, heart, respiratory and kidney ailments, infertility, miscarriages, high infant mortality rates, brain damage and disabilities. Trees and fruits grow much more slowly and are only half as big, so that the harvest was halved. Where power lines run, there is a 25 meter wide strip of danger to life. The approximately 30 viewers in the communal cinema are initially silent, then they ask the director various questions, whose answers anti-nuclear activist Peter Hauck translates and supplements.

Was radioactivity measured in Tarapur?

"The Indian government controls and checks the power plants, but does not publish any results," was the answer. Foreign scientists are not allowed to (re) enter, like a US geologist who examined the earthquake area around Jaitapur, where the world's largest nuclear power plant is to be built. The increased radioactivity measured by a doctor and activist is not recognized. That is why European anti-atom activists are planning measurements by a team of experts in order to build up public pressure, Hauck announced.

What do the Indians think of atomic energy?

Despite the Fukushima disaster, public opinion in India is still predominantly in favor of nuclear energy because of government propaganda, and the media are mostly pro-government, reports Indulkar. "That's why I made the film to clarify the truth to my compatriots."
In the meantime he was able to show “High Power” in Mumbai: “The audience reacted as they had hoped, became thoughtful and used electricity more consciously.” Since the electricity is supplied by the state via a centralized network, Indians cannot change electricity providers, but they protest non-violently Thousands held vigils, hunger strikes and deliberately violated prohibitions to provoke their arrest and thus overwhelm the authorities.

How is Germany involved?

The international nuclear industry is closely intertwined, which is why Germany is involved in new nuclear power plant projects for which companies from Europe, the USA and Russia supply components. Although the German government's application for Hermes guarantees to support the Jaitapur project has not yet been decided, according to Hauck, the IG Metall union argues in favor of it, because it will secure German jobs. What technology do Indian nuclear power plants use? The Indian nuclear program consists of three phases: currently heavy water reactors work with natural uranium, in the future fast breeders, “a technology that does not work worldwide”, will generate energy with the help of natural thorium deposits, according to Hauck. Nuclear waste is considered a fuel, which is why a central reprocessing plant under international control is planned.

Does India also use renewable energies?

At the moment coal, gas, oil and large-scale hydropower are India's main sources of energy, the share of renewable energies with solar and wind power plants is around 12 percent, and nuclear power only accounts for around 3,5 percent. Since nuclear power is expensive, but the prices for generating renewable energies are falling, Hauck hopes that India will change its energy policy for economic reasons and will generate electricity from sun and wind in the future. Finally, some visitors to the evening send a sign of solidarity with the Indian anti-nuclear movement and sign a banner with the message “Stop Jaitapur”.

Elisabeth Klaper on September 27, 9 in the "Murrhardter Zeitung" about one of the 2013 events in Germany and France with Pradeep Indulkar. More information about Jaitapur in "Le Monde diplomatique":

http://www.monde-diplomatique.de/pm/2011/04/08/a0046.text.name,askPOarE9.n,0

http://indien.antiatom.net/

http://indien.antiatom.net/high-power-doku-film-uber-indische-atomanlage-regisseur-auf-rundreise-in-deutschland/#more-202

Unit 1 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu reached a critical state for the first time on July 13, 2013. The reactor output is to be increased step by step to 1000 megawatts. The second reactor is scheduled to start up next year.
The two pressurized water reactors of the type VVER-1000 were supplied by the Russian nuclear company Rosatom. Negotiations are currently under way on a third and fourth block. A total of six nuclear facilities are planned for Kudankulam.
The people in the region consciously offer non-violent resistance to the nuclear facility. For two years now, they have been conducting a chain hunger strike in the fishing village of Idinthakarai, repeatedly supplemented by open-ended hunger strikes and other non-violent measures in the tradition of Gandhi.
With road blockades they reached a construction freeze in autumn 2011. This was ended in March 2012 by a huge police presence. Idinthakarai, the center of the resistance movement with more than 10.000 residents, was completely cut off from the outside world for a few days. Free access is still not possible today. Almost everyone in the coastal area lives under the simplest of conditions: clean drinking water is not easy and electricity is only available to individuals.

A peace researcher has to go underground

Despite the cordoning off of the area around Idinthakarai, we were able to email Dr. Ask SP Udayakumar about the current situation. He was born in 1959 in Nagercoil near Idinthakarai and finished his first studies at the University of Kerala in 1981. He later taught English for years in Ethiopia and completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Hawaii with a Ph.D. political science. In several countries he lectured on non-violent conflict resolution, peace research and sustainable development. Udayakumar has been campaigning against nuclear power since the late 1996s and is spokesman for PMANE (People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy).

In 2002 he founded the “SACCER Matriculation School” in his place of birth, in which underprivileged students are prepared for higher education according to ecological and pacifist principles. This school has been vandalized by strangers several times since 2011. He has received specific threats against him as a “foreign agent” and his partner for a long time. Udayakumar has not been able to leave the town of Idinthakarai for more than a year and a half, as he faces immediate arrest and possibly decades of imprisonment outside of the town.

The PMANE spokesman informed us that Idinthakarai can still not be reached by public buses, but that the place will be supplied with food and essentials by shared taxis and private cars. Children often walk miles to their schools. We couldn't find out anything about health care.

On July 1, an ARD television team is said to have tried to report on the resisting population, but was not allowed to continue. The activist confirms that a German journalist was chased out of the area when she reported to the police station in Kudankulam. She was "badly harassed" by members of the intelligence service and the local police.

Repression against anti-nuclear activists

So far tens of thousands of activists in and around Idinthakarai have been hit with a total of 325 legal proceedings. Accusations such as "war against the state", "rebellion", "serious breach of the peace" etc. were brought against 227.000 people. The high number is also explained by reports in the form of "Ms. A., Mr. B. and two thousand more ... are accused ...". As a rule, there are several proceedings against the individual. Mr Ganesan has been in prison for almost six months. He is a member of the local organizing committee for nonviolent resistance, the "Struggle Committee". In its pro-nuclear ruling in May 2013, India's supreme court called for an amnesty for those who oppose nuclear power. However, the responsible government of Tamil Nadu state refused to close the proceedings on the grounds that an amnesty would not be opportune as long as the protest continued and hunger strikes and work stoppages did not end. The activists do not expect the proceedings to be terminated in the foreseeable future.

SP Udayakumar is often portrayed by the Indian media as a “sect leader” or “head of the agitators”. He would be called ringleader in this country. He emphasizes, however, that the organizational structures of the resistance movement are very democratic and that all those involved have an equal share. The "Struggle Committee" includes delegates from the surrounding towns, representatives of the PMANE action alliance and Catholic priests. The "Struggle Committee" organized numerous strikes, demonstrations and blockades in the countryside and, because of the police presence, more and more often on the water.

Fishing families are losing their livelihood

Regarding the risks and consequences of the nuclear power plant, it must be mentioned that the Russian company Zio Podolsk supplied inferior components. Zio Podolsk's chief buyer was arrested for buying inferior steel and taking the price difference compared to the expensive steel required for the construction of the nuclear power plant. Udayakumar adds that inferior cables were also used in the construction and that there may be problems with the reactor pressure vessel due to weld seams in areas where they are not allowed.

During the operation of the nuclear power plant, thousands of tons of heated and low-radiation cooling water are pumped into the sea. That alone will have a massive impact on the growth and nutrition of the fish, the most important livelihood for the people in the region. Because the fishing grounds begin right next to the nuclear power plant. SP Udayakumar points out that in the near future the desalination plants will dump their waste and chemicals into the sea - certain death for most marine life on site.

Nowhere in the region do opponents of nuclear power have access to radiation measuring devices. The activist even fears that independent radiation measurements will be prohibited.

Almost no one believes that the first block of the nuclear power plant will go online in a few weeks, as announced. Serious problems would persist even if the state operating company pulled out all the stops. Numerous components of the second reactor were used as spare parts for the one for the first unit. These now have to be produced and delivered again. Therefore, it could be years, not months, before the second reactor can supply electricity for the first time - to the cities and for distant industry.

The mood in the movement is still good. There is optimism that the additional four reactors will not be built at all and that further commissioning of the two existing ones can be prevented. The resistance to nuclear power in India continues to spread, and new groups are forming in many regions. At the planned nuclear power plant in Jaitapur, on the west coast in the state of Maharashtra, more and more people are campaigning against the facility of the French nuclear multinational AREVA.

A movement against the Indian atomic bombs has existed for almost 40 years. But now there is finally a strong movement against nuclear energy, says Udayakumar happily. The active people in India pass on a lot of what they can learn about the anti-nuclear movement in Germany. The nuclear phase-out of industrially and scientifically highly developed Germany and the decision in favor of renewable energy sources have a role model function for other countries, says the PMANE activist.

Little is known in India that nuclear power plants and fuel assemblies are still being exported from Germany. The international nuclear deals of the FRG are still receiving too little attention in this country.

Igor and Peter Moritz (from: "Graswurzelrevolution", No. 381, September 2013)

I already reported extensively on Kundankulam in THTR circular No. 140

The largest democracy in the world - this is how official India likes to see itself. But the government in New Delhi is taking increasingly drastic action against organizations that it believes are against the "public interest". This includes everything that has to do with economic growth.

A washroom, a toilet and two rooms of 30 square meters each with more than a dozen desks, where activists against nuclear power, human rights activists, genetic engineering critics and opponents of large industrial projects and special economic zones work. This is the office of INSAF, the Indian Social Action Forum in New Delhi. The acronym means “justice” in Urdu. More than 700 organizations and movements have come together under the umbrella of INSAF, a partner organization of “Bread for the World”. But INSAF has not been able to withdraw money since June because the Ministry of the Interior frozen the association's account; the basis for this is the Law on Registration of Foreign Funds.

“In 2010 they changed the law; Accounts can now also be blocked for 'political activities', ”explains Wilfried D'Costa, a spokesman for INSAF. His organization is one of 22.000 civil society organizations in India that has received funding from abroad. All must register with the Ministry of the Interior. INSAF has sued the new version of the law in the Supreme Court - but the Ministry of the Interior creates facts. The official letter does not say much about the reasons for the account suspension: INSAF's activities would "be detrimental to the public interest".

Since the advance of neoliberalism in India, public interest has been synonymous with economic growth. The government interprets protests that hinder large-scale economic projects or trade agreements as acts of state hostility. "Those who fight for economic, social and cultural rights have become the target of repression," says a study by the ACT Alliance, an association of 130 Christian people Aid organizations from all over the world.

In 2012, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh criticized nuclear power opponents and genetic engineering critics in an interview with the US American science magazine "Science", who often support the struggles of farmers, fishermen and local residents against such projects. “There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and Scandinavia, that do not understand our country's development challenges,” said Singh. And a sentence later he tried to take the wind out of the sails of potential criticism of his understanding of democracy: "But we are a democracy, we are not like China."

But maybe like Russia? Shortly after the interview, the Ministry of the Interior revoked account licenses from more than 4000 non-governmental organizations, allegedly for formal reasons. Many of the organizations affected had protested against what is currently the largest Indian nuclear power plant in Koodankulam in southern India, which was built with the help of the Russian company Rosatom. The activities of the Indian government are working. Many NGOs now fear for their existence. This is also confirmed by SP Udayakumar, the spokesman for the movement against the nuclear power plant in Koodankulam: NGOs are now afraid to take part in the protests.

Actions of civil disobedience are part of the common practice of social protest movements in India. "Even simple demonstrations and struggles by peasants and indigenous peoples are now defining them as prohibited political activity," says INSAF spokesman D'Costa. "But we say that political activity is a fundamental right of every Indian citizen - as it is in our constitution." (...)

This is an article by Dominik Müller from the magazine "Welt-Sichten" No. 8, 2013

Praved Krisnapilla is making a documentary about the struggle of the local population against the Indian nuclear program. With the support of the Austrian eco-movement, he collects donations to finance the film.

“The 60-minute film“ Nuclear Lies ”shows the terrible grievances, lies and police violence surrounding nuclear facilities like the one in Koodankulam. The victims and their plight for which the Indian government is responsible. He leads us through the villages that are close to the existing problem reactors. And shows the highly contaminated mines, processing plants and the planned mega-nuclear plants. The film records the voices of those affected and their struggle for survival. " Call for donations + information:

http://www.startnext.de/nuclear-lies

http://indien.antiatom.net/category/kudankulam/

After the THTR Hamm was shut down in 1989, its 600.000 radioactive spherical fuel elements were brought to the interim storage facility in Ahaus. Only now is it clear from the whistleblower and former employee at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) Rainer Moormann and co-author Jürgen Streich how incredibly dangerous this transport was:

The fuel elements, which are around six centimeters in diameter, are highly radioactive, almost perfectly suitable for nuclear weapons and represent a ticking time bomb for centuries!

Those responsible in Jülich, who are well supported with state money, have not only failed to develop a coherent “disposal concept” in the past, but are making vehement efforts to talk other countries about their failed reactor concept. Instead of trying to limit the immense damage they have caused, state aid in Jülich is working flat out to multiply the problems that have arisen. An unbelievable scandal!

The population was deceived about highly dangerous transports!

By 1995 there had been 59 rail transports with over 600.000 highly radioactive spheres from Hamm to Ahaus. Since it was a small train route in the Hamm area, the neglected, risky freight of a total of 305 castors passed dozens of unrestricted level crossings and is now stored in the fuel element interim storage facility (BEZ) in Ahaus. According to the permit, the balls can be stored there until 2036. According to a new communication from the federal government, it assumes that this "interim storage" will continue until 2055. All previous commitments are thus wasted.

Operator and government: instead of a concept, only confusion

A few weeks ago, Rainer Moormann and his co-author Jürgen Streich spoke up in a 14-page paper and relentlessly disclosed the current situation in terms of storage and handling of the THTR fuel elements.

Since the license for the storage of the 290.000 AVR fuel elements in the 152 castors in Jülich is about to expire, there is a fierce scramble behind the scenes as to what should happen to them. In addition to the option of storage at the site or shipment to Ahaus, transport across the pond to the USA is also under discussion, as the highly enriched uranium (HEU) for the THTR fuel elements (up to 1977) came from there. The USA has an interest in collecting the HEU, which was once so freely distributed, so that atom bombs cannot be built with it. "Up to 1977, a total of approx. 1250 kg HEU for pebble bed reactors were delivered from the USA to Germany."

THTR fuel elements are an invitation for terrorists!

In this situation, the two scientists step in with their new investigation and prove that there is a huge difference between the fuel element balls from the AVR Jülich on the one hand and the THTR Hamm on the other!

The AVR atomic spheres from Jülich have burned down to a very large extent due to years of operation. Because of this, they cannot be used to make nuclear weapons so easily.

The situation is completely different with the THTR balls from Hamm: “The highly enriched fuel was only burned incompletely, as the THTR-300 in Hamm was already afterwards due to massive technical and safety problems that brought the operating company to the brink of bankruptcy in 1989 14 months of full load operation had to be abandoned. The burn-up of its fuel elements is just as low as in research reactors. ”- If, according to Moormann, less than half of the high-weapons uranium is used up in the spheres, then there is still enough fissile material left to build five Hiroshima atomic bombs. Or even 10 to 12 atomic bombs with a particularly favorable reflector arrangement.

Easier handling of atomic bombs

The danger of military or terrorist use of the THTR bullets will not decrease in the future, but will increase significantly: Because the penetrating (!) Radiation emanating from the bullets decreases significantly over time (and will largely have disappeared from the years 2250-2300 ), people can handle them much more easily and extract fissile substances from them that are necessary for atomic bombs.

An atom bomb can be built relatively easily with highly enriched uranium. It would be mechanically easy to construct and only little specific knowledge is required for this.

Moormann and Streich state that the storage of fuel elements from pebble-bed reactors, those from THTR Hamm, will represent by far the greatest problem in the next few centuries. So far, the operators and the governments have not worked out any solutions, even though they had the time to do so for decades.

The resume by Moormann und Streich has to be fully agreed:

“In order to bring structure to the confusing discussion on atomic pebble and pebble bed reactor disposal, we demand that Jülich / Aachen be brought to finally stop the easily dispensable, seemingly anachronistic work for future pebble bed reactors and other dispensable nuclear research and the freed up people to work on disposal / Dismantling of pebble bed reactors. We suspect that the neglect of this work in Jülich / Aachen for more than 20 years in favor of development work for future reactors has already caused considerable damage to the difficult pebble bed reactor - dismantling / disposal. "

The last: FZ Jülich helped apartheid state South Africa to acquire nuclear know-how!

Moormann and Streich write: “By the way, Jülich / Aachen were involved in the nuclear weapons program of the South African apartheid government as follows: The South Africans needed know-how to build small nuclear power plants to drive nuclear submarines that were supposed to pick up the A bombs. Because of the international embargo, they could not receive such know-how until the Jülich / Aachen reactor development team jumped into the breach under the guise of scientific cooperation and from 1988 supplied the know-how for pebble bed reactors. After the end of apartheid, this resulted in the civilian South African PBMR project, which failed in 2010. "

The PDF file "Comments on the weapon capability of the atomic spheres from AVR Jülich and THTR (Hamm) and on an atomic bullet delivery to the USA" von Moormann / Streich can be viewed here.

30 years after the first attempts to put the THTR into operation in Hamm, the political committees and the media are increasingly discussing and speculating about past and future costs of the bankruptcy reactor. And about how to deal with the failed relic from the nuclear stone age over the next few decades.
Residual processing, dismantling and "disposal" of the radioactive waste are named as options for the future. With these considerations, however, only the period up to approx. 2080 would be covered. But even with this manageable time frame, the operators of the high-temperature nuclear power plant GmbH (HKG) and the federal and state government of North Rhine-Westphalia are having a hard time.
The political parties and operators take it for granted that the dismantling of the THTR should begin in 2023. The fact that this project is opposed to several serious problems is omitted here.

Dismantling is a great danger!

On the one hand, there are still around 1,6 kilograms of nuclear fuel in the reactor. It will be very difficult to recover. On the other hand, Rainer Moormann, who has dealt with the safety of pebble bed reactors for 26 years, pointed out that the inside of the nuclear power plant is covered with a layer of radioactive dust due to the breakage of the pebble (1). In addition, after the closure of the THTR in 1989, no nuclidad las was created that had been called for by the citizens' initiatives. In this one could see at which points of the reactor which radioactive particles are located.

Future dismantlers are therefore in the dark when they retrieve the 6.000 cubic meters of radioactive waste (2) estimated by the operators from the THTR. You have to be prepared for unpleasant surprises and the demolition work may endanger the lives of the population! - So far, however, these dangers have by no means been the subject of public discussions!
It would definitely be an option worth discussing not to open the reactor for the next few decades, but to ensure that it is contained as safely as possible so that the radiation can subside even more. Perhaps this variant will find even more supporters among political decision-makers if the immense actual costs of the dismantling were openly named.

Who pays for the decade-long "shutdown operation"?

In Bundestag printed paper 17/14588, the federal government responded to a small request from the Greens on August 20, 8, on the dismantling and financing problems.
The central point is the statement that HKG, as a THTR operator, has only 41,5 million euros of its own funds and is therefore unable to pay the many hundreds of million euros for dismantling and "disposal". That in itself is a scandal. Because of the existence of the "bankruptcy company" HKG as operator, the large energy company RWE largely falls out of liability for the bankruptcy reactor and can impose almost all of the costs on the taxpayer and continue to make profits.
In any case, the HKG defines its task on its homepage as follows: "Establishing and maintaining the safe enclosure of the THTR 300". There is no mention of the dismantling and responsible "disposal" of nuclear waste!

Secret negotiations about assumption of costs

The earlier agreements on the annual operating costs of around 5 million euros for the decommissioned (!) THTR, in which the federal government, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the HKG shared the costs in thirds, expired in 2009. For four years the re-allocation of the reimbursement of costs for the following years was negotiated behind closed doors without any knowledge of the secret consultations. The public was deliberately left out of the embarrassing tussle for millions because the governments involved had no interest in their own decades-long involvement in the THTR mismanagement becoming too obvious.
The so-called final storage advance payments due annually in the Bundestag printed paper are named as a separate expense item. From 2010 to 2012, 4,5 million euros had to be paid for this annually. In the third supplementary agreement now agreed between 3 and 2010, the federal and state governments must raise two thirds of the amount. The Bundesdrucksache continues: "This also relieves the burden on HKG's own resources, which can be used to finance the operation of the safe enclosure and the interim storage of the spent fuel elements for a longer period of time. This agreement does not regulate the financing of dismantling ". In other words: the state has to bear most of the costs, RWE is fine.

The costs in detail

In the HKG business plan, the future total costs are given as a total of 735 million euros. These would be in detail:
+ 404 million euros for the dismantling from 2023 to 2044
+ 41 million euros for safe enclosure from 2013 to 2030
+ 78 million euros for the interim storage of radioactive waste from 2013 to 2055
+ 210 million euros for advance repository payments from 2013 to 2080

It is still unclear who will finance all of this and what will come after 2080! The figure of 404 million euros for the dismantling is also very controversial and is likely to be several times the specified amount higher:

The above-mentioned dismantling costs of 400 million euros are 'dream dancing', says chemist Rainer Moormann (...). As early as 1989, the dismantling costs were estimated by independent experts at up to 2 billion marks. Moormann therefore considers an order of magnitude of at least one billion euros to be “not unrealistic” (...). He refers to experiences with the Jülich AVR research reactor as a forerunner of the THTR: 'In 1990 the AVR dismantling costs were put at 39 million marks. Today we are at 700 million euros - and that will not be enough, 'he says. "(Taz, August 27, 8)
However, what can be quantified fairly precisely, says the above-mentioned Bundestag printed paper: "According to the HKG, the annual electricity consumption of the safely enclosed THTR 300 system amounts to an average of 670.000 jWh." This corresponds roughly to the annual consumption of 150 four-person households (3).

Our demand is: State and federal governments must not allow themselves to be made the paymaster for the grandiose failed dreams of the nuclear industry, but must pass on the bills to be paid to the polluters! Whether a demolition of the THTR nuclear ruin will be sensible and justifiable in 20 years' time has to be researched, informed and discussed comprehensively!

One thing remains certain: The THTR will not get out of the negative headlines for the next few decades either.

Notes:

1.Taz of August 27, 8
2nd WA of May 3, 5
3nd WA of May 28, 8

When Chancellor Angela Merkel and a lot of prominent people came to the laying of the foundation stone for the two huge coal-fired power plants in Hamm-Uentrop in 2008, only three members of our citizens' initiative protested against this stone (coal) temporal technology.
Two held the banner, one handed out the leaflet (see picture); later a small Greenpeace group came from abroad. The Westfälische Anzeiger reported in detail. All those who now verbally criticize coal power were noticeably reluctant to commit themselves in the years before 2008, when the energy policy decisions were made, because parties to which they belonged were jointly responsible: the full-bodied slogan “Full throttle on Die Coal ”(WA review of January 23, 1) did not encounter any noteworthy resistance from established politics in 2006.

Today, RWE and the 23 municipal utilities (including Hamm), which are combined in the GEKKO (joint coal power plant), are faced with a shambles of their failed energy policy. As early as December 2010, the media reported that the construction of the two coal-fired power plants, which cost two billion euros, would become another 200 million euros more expensive. One cause was defective welds in the boiler of the coal-fired power plant. Commissioning was delayed.
In the past year it became increasingly clear that after the rapid increase in the production of alternative energy, the energy from the huge 1.600 MW coal block would not be needed at all. The 23 municipal utilities, which had high dividends but no ecologically oriented energy policy as a goal, are now allowed to share in the foreseeable losses. - What a parallel to the THTR, in which municipal utilities were also involved and which had to “pay extra” for their irresponsible actions!
“The Uentrop Millions Grave” (Stadtanzeiger dated November 25, 11) made headlines again on September 2012, 7, when a mere visual inspection (!) Revealed leaks in the steam generation pipe system. The damage runs into the millions, further delays are to be expected. The story of the failed neighboring THTR continues in the two coal blocks.
75 percent of the FRG coal-fired power plants are already operated with imported coal from Colombia, South Africa, China and Russia, etc. The "eternal costs" of mining due to the destruction of the landscape in these countries are of no interest here, as are the hair-raising, miserable safety precautions of the greedy coal companies. The desperation of the people working in the mines under unworthy conditions is faded out. The many deaths in accidents in distant countries only make for brief reports in the news and are quickly forgotten. Hardly anyone here is interested in the murders of trade unionists who want to change something in the terrible situation.

And who sits on the supervisory boards of the coal power market leader RWE in North Rhine-Westphalia? Almost half of the DGB trade unionists! A quarter of RWE's shares are held by municipalities that are largely governed by the SPD. They are interested in the dividend of their RWE shares and not in (climate) justice. For decades, the local and state politicians in North Rhine-Westphalia were fattened up with prestigious and money-making positions, benefits and benefits. The warm money rain for them offers the security during the grand coalition talks that nothing will be decided against the interests of the energy companies.

Further information: "Energy (un) location Hamm":

http://www.machtvonunten.de/lokales-hamm/160-energie-unver-standort-hamm.html

The impending systematic obstruction of alternative energy by the new grand coalition is hardly surprising for those who have consciously witnessed the politics of the reactionary concrete SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia over the past few decades.
This party has been the champion of the bankruptcy reactor THTR since the 50s and, even after the accident in 1986, defended its continued operation with teeth and claws for as long as possible, because this reactor could allegedly one day be coupled with coal gasification.
This policy was much worse than that of the CDU. First, because the SPD itself was the undisputed government in NRW for decades and implemented this policy and not the CDU. And secondly, because the DGB “unions” associated with it, as beneficiaries of this pro coal and nuclear power policy, almost completely failed to support a resistance. Because working in other energy sectors than in environmentally harmful coal or nuclear power plants was beyond their intellectual horizon. They did not benefit badly from what the energy companies had given them. - If the death penalty had been introduced, for example, people from their ranks would have been more likely to have founded a DGB branch union for executioners than to have taken to the streets against the death penalty.
Between 1986 and 1990 I wrote a dozen articles about the SPD energy policy in the quarterly magazine of the Westphalia Association of Friends of Nature, which sometimes caused a stir. To refresh the memory of the significant events from then and to show parallels to today, I have put four articles from "Culture and Environmental Protection" online:

1987, No. 3: The high-temperature reactor: credibility test for the SPD
http://www.machtvonunten.de/atomkraft-und-oekologie/193-der-hochtemperaturreaktor-glaubwuerdigkeitstest-fuer-die-spd.html

1988, No. 2: THTR at the end?
SPD members of the Bundestag and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia are trying with all their tricks to save the THTR and are subsidizing HTR research with millions under a false name.
http://www.machtvonunten.de/atomkraft-und-oekologie/198-thtr-am-ende.html

1988, No. 3: Embarrassing: A lot of nuclear advertising at a large "Friends of Nature" national meeting!
SPD government in NRW fully on nuclear course even after Chernobyl.
http://www.machtvonunten.de/atomkraft-und-oekologie/200-peinlich-atomwerbung.html

1989, No. 1: "Democratic community" gives radiant "energy impulses"!
After Chernobyl: SPD magazine as an advertising medium for nuclear power.
http://www.machtvonunten.de/medienkritik/164-demokratische-gemeinde-gibt-strahlende-energieimpulse.html

In the summer of the last edition of the newsletter I reported on the start of construction of the THTR in China and on the very destructive efforts to produce the fuel elements there. Shortly afterwards, longer articles about this were published in Tagesspiegel (July 11th), Neues Deutschland (July 12th) and Junge Welt (July 25th). A very controversial discussion arose in the “Hauptstadtzeitung” Tagesspiegel with 15 articles on the Internet (1). So the little THTR circular does have a certain effect. The RB article "Reichen 667 million euros" also marked the beginning of a now immense amount of media reports about the decommissioning costs of the THTR.

The focus on India in this issue results not only from the insight that a Eurocentric view and reporting would be selfish and would hide most of reality. The world's largest thorium deposits are located in India and the government there is planning to build thorium reactors. So it is high time to deal with and prepare for the agile anti-nuclear movement there. What worked so “well” with the PBMR in South Africa should also be possible in India: preventing the construction of HTRs.
For this reason, too, we operate our much-visited website “Reaktkorpleite.de” and will be issuing two to three issues of the THTR circular next year. In addition, together with the IPPNW, we are financially participating in a new laboratory investigation of the tiny spheres found near the THTR. If you want to stay up to date and support us, you are welcome to do so. The account number is in the imprint. And finally, I wish you a few more happy holidays at the end of the year!

Horst Blume

(1) http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/atomkraft-in-deutschland-gescheitert-in-china-neu-gebaut/8478502.html

***

Top

***

***

Top

***