The THTR Circulars from 2003

***

***

THTR Circular No. 83 July 2003

Ver.di and Ministry of Research on the export of nuclear know-how:

Eh! Everything has already happened, what do you still want?

On a total of four pages, we presented Research Minister Bulmahn, Environment Minister Trittin and Verdi boss Bsirske, who is on the Advisory Board of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Institutes, our criticism of the export of know-how for the construction of a THTR variant to South Africa and asked them to comment. Bsirske and Bulmahn replied, Trittin has not yet.

First we document the answer of Ver.di chairman Bsirske from April 19.04.2003, XNUMX:

We have made inquiries based on your letter. After that, Forschungszentrum Jülich is not allowed to do any research and development work on the THTR, not even with external companies. The center also adheres to these conditions. If scientists really want to continue working in this area, they have to leave the research center.

There remains a contradiction between this information and your statements, which we have not yet been able to resolve with our resources. Ver.di and its predecessor organizations have been advocating the final phase-out of the use of nuclear energy for a long time and support all measures and steps in this direction both in Germany and on an international scale.

As far as research in the HGF Center is concerned, a switch is currently being made from institutional funding to facilities to content-based program funding. The programs developed by the centers as part of the program areas are examined by experts under the responsibility of the HGF Senate and funding recommendations are derived from them. The "Energy" program area is still awaiting assessment. We will take this opportunity to take into account the arguments you have put forward. "

On May 14, 2003 we received the reply from Federal Ministry for education and research:

As you probably know, the research center Jülich's development work on high-temperature reactors has meanwhile been discontinued. The expertise (still) available in Jülich is only used by foreign industry for a few safety aspects. These collaborations are, however, on a purely commercial basis; there is no public funding. Transferring the high German safety standards to third countries is also in the interests of the federal government, as this can make nuclear power plants in third countries safer. However, South Africa is not dependent on the expertise available in Germany for the construction of the PBMR. Cooperations in this area exist e.g. B. with France, Great Britain and / or the USA.

The information you found on the Forschungszentrum Jülich website is out of date. The corresponding pages have since been removed or revised.

According to the information available to me, the ESKOM's PBMR is to be operated with low-enriched uranium - without the addition of thorium. This material is not nuclear weapon grade. In addition, as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, South Africa has submitted to the intended controls and restrictions - in particular non-disclosure. South Africa has also acceded to the Nuclear Safety Agreement.

With regard to your statement on ESKOM, it should be taken into account that there has been a profound change in South Africa after the end of the apartheid regime, which has also led to an exemplary coming to terms with the past. I therefore assume that today's ESKOM can no longer be compared with the original company. This is also supported by the fact that today Black Empowerment has a 10% stake in ESKOM.

Your statement that Forschungszentrum Jülich wants to avoid its "responsibility for its own atomic legacy" is not correct. AVR GmbH is owned by 15 municipal utilities, who are actually responsible for the dismantling of the test reactor. Forschungszentrum Jülich is only affected to the extent that it provides logistical support for shutdown operations.

Finally, I would like to point out that Forschungszentrum Jülich does not provide any support for the construction of new reactors in South Africa. "

Inquiry from BI Environmental Protection Hamm to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Minister Bulmahn, dated June 02.06.2003nd, XNUMX:

Thank you for your answer on PBMR and Jülich, which we received on May 14, 2003.

They write there: 

"As you probably know, the research center Jülich's development work on high-temperature reactors has meanwhile been discontinued."

Exactly this has not become known to us so far and we ask you to explain this fact to us in more detail.

1. Within what period of time was the development work on high-temperature reactors carried out at Forschungszentrum Jülich?

2. What is meant by development work?

3. What is to be understood by an expertise (report?) Which, according to you, is still being used by foreign industry and how long should the use be continued?

4. You write that the FZJ Internet pages we cited are out of date. Does this also apply to the activities dated November 28.11.2002, XNUMX (...)?

Environment Minister Trittin has not yet responded to our letter.

The dispute over Bulmahn's answer will continue in the next issues of the newsletter. In the next issue we will deal in detail with the South African energy company ESKOM and with VEW / HKG's relations with South Africa. And there are some surprises waiting for us ...

Regarding the proliferation risks of the PBMR in South Africa, the possible operators write that uranium would only be enriched to 8% in the reactor.

Klaus Traube, currently BUND's energy policy spokesman, wrote to us on June 21.6. quite general:

"The infrastructure that can be used militarily begins with the basic nuclear know-how and is then completed when either uranium enrichment or reprocessing, i.e. plants in which weapons-grade fissile material can be produced, are added."

- So there is still more research to be done.

The green-based Heinrich Böll Foundation NRW is planning, after the child has already fallen into the fountain, possibly thanks to Rotgrün, an as yet unspecified evening event "Which energy strategy does South Africa choose?" At the end of September in Düsseldorf:

“A delegation of energy experts from southern Africa visited various institutions, companies and associations that deal with energy supply and energy policy in North Rhine-Westphalia in the middle to the end of September 2003. For a number of years now, NRW has maintained friendly contacts with South Africa and, as 'Energy State NR 1', can provide important impetus.

At an evening event, the visitors from South Africa discussed with representatives of various energy policy institutions and environmental associations from North Rhine-Westphalia. Together, opportunities and ways for a successful introduction of renewable energies are explored. New bilateral projects in development cooperation and the private sector will be presented. "

www.boell-nrw.de

Predictably, the Iraq war dominated media coverage. Although all possible press organs were provided with the latest news on THTR and South Africa, the press coverage was zero. I either had to write the articles that were printed myself or initiate them immediately. The high-circulation "alternative" newspapers in Cologne and Aachen, which I mentioned directly near Jülich, have not reacted either. As always, the smallest independent daily newspaper "Junge Welt", with a circulation of 18.000 copies, was the positive exception and reacted on my call immediately. A full page was provided on April 28th with a complete overview of the current state of affairs - a summary of the last five issues of this newsletter. The Internet pages are hereby recommended to all readers:

www.jungewelt.de

From May 1st to 4th, 2003, the nationwide anti-nuclear conference took place in Münster. There I distributed a two-page extra sheet of the THTR circular to the participants and was able to address all possible nationwide initiatives. One result was that the national newspaper "anti atom aktuell" printed a two-page summary of the most important passages from the last edition of the newsletter in its May issue.

In June the magazine "FUgE-News" with a circulation of 2.500 copies in Hamm published my article "Awesome nuclear power for South Africa and the whole world ?!" away. In the end it says: “It should not be forgotten that the history of this type of reactor began in Hamm. Even in the 80s hundreds of critical articles appeared in the newspapers about his technical problems, the numerous incidents and uncontrolled radioactivity emissions - knowledge that hardly anyone passes on today. The fatal consequence: On the websites of Jülich, ESKOM and nuclear-friendly scientists, 'successful and promising' test runs of the THTR in Hamm-Uentrop can be swaggered without anyone contradicting them. "- Not for long, though, because now there is: thtr-a .de

A few weeks ago, Werner Neubauer, a hammer activist in the 80s, got in touch from Berlin and was very annoyed by the downplaying internet reports on the THTR and when he was told by a subscriber to the THTR circular (it is passed on, how nice!) found out about the planned construction in South Africa, it was clear to him that he had to do something. So he produced and designed the aforementioned website on his own initiative. There he recalls the major accident in 1986 and the resistance of farmers and consumers to the restart of the THTR. In addition to some pictures, the collapsing cooling tower can also be seen. Several sub-windows invite you to deal with various more specific topics. The last THTR circulars and the various correspondence can also be found here. A few more documents and articles will be added over the next few months. It is really very gratifying that there are always people who, in one way or another, get involved in the resistance against nuclear power plants .. 

Thank you Werner!

You're welcome. 

But while we're on the subject of 'putting honey around your beard':

(do you still have a beard?); 

Thanks to you Horst Blume.

After Chernobyl, many were active, you were before and still are. Even in such bad times for activists like these, 

2003 times 'Money, Money, Money - always funny - it's a rich mans world',

Are you still working, unselfishly in Hamm, and even then did not stop laying your finger on the radiant wounds of this republic and its sleepyheads when everyone else (including me) got tired, passed the baton on to the next generation, privatized, on came the coal trip or, frustrated, only Bündniss90 / The Greens voted ;-) yes yes, I know what I'm talking about ... so 

Three times high Horst

"Stay as you are and ..."

The newspaper "anti atom aktuell" reported in its editions 82/132 and 3 on three and seven pages respectively about the PAC spheres, which are also found in the THTR fuel elements (see RB No .: 136) .

Reimar Paul also carried out extensive research work in "Junge Welt" on May 31.5.2003, 50. He describes the expert dispute about radioactivity and leukemia in the Elbmarsch, which has been going on for ten years, as "an expert theater that is hard to understand for outsiders". In the last third of his article he goes into the history of the GKSS (Society for Nuclear Energy Utilization in Shipbuilding and Shipping) and shows that here, too, former scientific management staff from the Nazi era were employed in this research facility in the XNUMXs. He also points out links between the GKSS and companies involved in the spread of nuclear weapons research to Pakistan and India.

So far I have not been able to investigate in more detail what significance the PAC beads found in Geesthacht and Hanau have for the area around the THTR. Interested employees are always welcome!

Ten days ago, Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin complained at the marine protection conference in Bremen that radioactive wastewater was discharged into the Atlantic by reprocessing plants in France and England. But last week, German nuclear waste was again delivered to the LaHague and Sellafield factories.

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BFS), which is subordinate to Trittin, had approved the transport of a total of 14 castor casks with spent fuel elements - the largest load of radioactive scrap this year. The nuclear waste came from the nuclear power plants in Stade and Esenshamm (Lower Saxony), Neckarwestheim and Philipsburg (Baden-Württemberg) and Ohu (Bavaria). With various protest actions, nuclear opponents in Germany and France were able to stop the transport several times. On Tuesday evening, demonstrators stopped the train coming from Stade shortly before the Maschen marshalling yard. Another short-term blockade of the northern German part of the transport was achieved by Castor opponents during the night near Munster by a false light signal. According to BGS information, the train had to stop for 25 minutes. Four men and two women allegedly involved in the action were provisionally arrested. (A small addition by the THTR-RB: Two Castor trains were coupled together at about 2.30 a.m. in the Hammer freight yard!)

A forced break was also reported from Oberhausen, where straw dolls were lying on the rails. The train that started in Neckarwestheim also had to briefly interrupt its journey due to an action on the rails.

Around 100 anti-nuclear activists from France and Germany gathered in Metz, France, on Wednesday evening, and members of the Lüchow-Dannenberg environmental protection group had also traveled. While a group demonstrated with banners at the train station, others drove to a vigil at the level crossing in the suburb of Peitre. French police officers, including several officers from the special force equipped for civil wars, initially prevented nuclear opponents from getting onto the tracks. A few hundred meters away, however, some demonstrators managed to light flares on the rails and stop the train.

French opponents of nuclear power reported another successful blockade. Around 30 activists stopped the transport at Hazebrouck for half an hour. The protests caused a sensation, especially in France, with television and several radio stations reporting on the demonstrations in Metz, among other things. At the weekend, German and French initiatives announced that they would intensify their joint resistance against nuclear transports. "(From:" Junge Welt ", July 7, 2003)

On page one of the WA, the Hammer Social Democrats criticized the course of the Berlin special party conference on the "Agenda 2010": "" Every finesse had been worked on to get those entitled to vote to approve, added Juso-Landeschef Herter.

Those who did not accept the proposals were criticized for endangering the red-green federal government, said Herter of the massive pressure that had been exerted on the delegates Hammer MPs of the Special Party Congress openly admit these hair-raising incidents.

In the 1999 local election program from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen in Hamm there was a lot of nice ringing under the heading "Social": "Solidarity is an important basis for the future of our society. Politics must help create a climate in which there is no limitless Competition counts, but mutual recognition and help are the focus. "

What exactly is meant by this, they made clear in an article in the WA of April 4, 2003, when it came to the deliberation of the city's draft resolution for the establishment of a job center for young people in the social and health committee. The SPD was very critical here: "We cannot simply withdraw part of it from people who are entitled to social assistance," Wobedo made his opinion clear. "

And now comes the huge insolence: “Uwe Atorf (Greens) saw this matter differently. "We discussed the proposal in the elected representatives' conference and found it to be good," said Atorf. We cannot accept the fact that people are resting in the social hammock , read logically and sensationally: "Atorf versus, social hammock"! No one from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen allowed itself to be carried away by public distancing, corrections and critical comments on these scandalous statements.

Why also. This party of the majority well-heeled middle class thinks first of all of its own interests. Poor and unemployed should kindly pay the cost of the economic crisis, while the large fortunes remain as good as untaxed!

In the last local election, the full-time "union secretary" Inge Menze, who worked in a leading position, ran for first place on the council list of Bündnis 1 / DieGrünen In the middle of this legislative period, she gave up her local political office. If an employee and unemployment-friendly policy is promised only through program statements and candidate lists, and which are then blatantly contradicted, it borders on electoral fraud !

It is almost superfluous to mention that this district association voted for the main proposal of the federal executive committee at the special party conference of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, which explicitly supports the largest attack on workers' rights since the Federal Republic of Germany came into existence.

The THTR-Rundbrief dealt extensively with the social deforestation in issues 73, 76 and 77 on a total of 7 pages, which is rather unusual for a designated anti-nuclear newspaper. In view of the enormous scope of the neoliberal attack on the rights of workers, it is probably necessary at this point to discuss how it can be countered at the local level and what this means for the next local election.

Horst Blume

In June of this year, Horst Blume, editor of this newsletter, as an agricultural engineer, presented a 56-page "forest development concept", for which he has been working in the environmental agency of the city of Hamm since the beginning of 2002.

This report was originally requested in 2001 by the CDU parliamentary group. The starting point was the fact that the forest in Hamm is only 8% and that future plans for expanding the proportion of forest should be bundled and optimized. In the thesis, exclusion areas for forest development are defined in detail, areas with conditionally possible forest development are named and a total of 70 specific individual areas are proposed for first afforestation. In addition, the opportunities and problems of eco-sponsoring for these measures were assessed and an overview of the possibilities for promoting forest reproduction was given. Even if forest development is a long-term task, the first steps can be taken now. If there is discussion in the parliamentary bodies after the summer break, attention should be paid to the concrete conclusions that the council and administration draw from this work for the next few years!

Dear readers!

In the November 1998 issue of "Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik", Reinhard Loske, a Green Member of the Bundestag from Geseke (!), Reported on the efforts in this country, a THTR variant, in the article "South Africa, rich poor country" to build. He never had the idea of ​​informing us as the "responsible" citizens' initiative. Therefore my request: Send us newspaper clippings on the subject!

***

Top

***

***

Top

***