The reactor bankruptcy - THTR 300 The THTR Circular
Studies on THTR and much more. The THTR breakdown list
The HTR research The THTR incident in the 'Spiegel'

The THTR Circulars from 2004

***


    2023 2022 2021 2020
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

***

THTR Circular No. 93 Sept. 2004


Ministry responds to problems with THTR containers in Ahaus

When we asked about an incident in the fuel element interim storage facility (BEZ) on July 30.07.2004, 13.08.2004, we received the following response from the Ministry of Transport, Energy and State Planning of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia on August XNUMX, XNUMX:

"On 15.07.2004/XNUMX/XNUMX the storage container monitoring system (LBÜS) of the transport container warehouse responded due to a malfunction of a component. Investigations were initiated in accordance with operational regulations, the defective component was identified, replaced and the container affected by the fault was reconnected to the system The cause of the defect is currently being checked with the participation of experts and subjected to an assessment.

The LBÜS is used to monitor the specified tightness of the CASTOR casks during the interim storage of fuel elements in Ahaus. The LBÜS is designed to be self-monitoring and reported the error that occurred in a safety-related and intended manner. There is no failure of a seal on the affected container, ie there has been no influence or danger to the environment from escaping radioactivity.

Regarding your question about the traceability and the possibility of repairing loaded transport and storage casks of the type CASTOR THTR / AVR in Hamm I confirm that an alternative to the so-called repair concept in the event of a failure of the primary cover seal of a container of this type is the container to be re-processed in the loading cell of the thorium high-temperature reactor. The specified tight state of the container is restored by replacing the metal seal. The loading cell of the THTR is kept in functional condition for this purpose. "Signed Gerd Burow

As we know this ministry, it will not send us the result of the experts' assessment of its own accord, but we will of course have to ask again. Although the WA kept silent about our request even in the summer slump, the national media coverage was good. 

Am August 6th and 7th appeared in the "Young World" and in the "New Germany" longer articles in which the extensive accident history of the THTR, today's costs and the renaissance efforts were once again recapitulated in detail.

Nuclear waste transport via Hamm / Kamen!

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

Immediately after the municipal elections on September 26.09.2004, 14, three nuclear waste road transports from Rossendorf in Saxony to the Ahaus interim storage facility are to be expected. It will probably lead via Hamm or the Kamener Kreuz. The resistance preparations are in full swing. On the Sunday of the local elections, there will be a long Sunday walk at the BZA in Ahaus at 12 p.m. an X-tra Open Air already at 25.09 o'clock. One day before on XNUMX. a rally takes place in Kamen.

HTR conference in Beijing in September 2004

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

After the HTR-10 reached full load for the first time in January 2003 on the grounds of the Tsinghua University in Beijing, from October 22.09nd to October 24.09.2004th, XNUMX a second international conference on HTR technology will take place. The organizer is the "Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology" (INET). The atw 7/2004 announced the following program: "National and International HTR Program: Fuel and fuel cycle, nuclear and thermo-hydraulic analysis, engineering, design and applications, material and components, safety and licensing, economics, new experimental studies and operation . "

Al Qaeda in Cape Town and nuclear smuggling in Germany / South Africa exposed!

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

The fear cited in the last THTR newsletter that militant Islamists are active in South Africa and that they could also pose a threat to the existing and planned (HTR) reactor blocks in Koeberg near Cape Town have been nourished.

The "New Germany" reported on 07.08.2004: "The approximately 200.000 Muslims in South Africa have fallen into disrepute. Two of them are said to have planned attacks. The Mbeki government is keeping a low profile, but the media are turning over themselves. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, a well-known shopping mile and a sports stadium are in huge headlines as attack targets in the business metropolis as well as the Cape Town Parliament and the US Embassy and the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria.

Detailed plans were found in the case of two South Africans who were trapped on July 25 in Pakistan together with Al-Qaeda man Ahmed Khalfan Ghalani, who was number 22 on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. In the stormed house in the central Pakistani city of Gujart, the South Africans Feroze Ganchi, a doctor from Fordsburg near Johannesburg, and Zubair Ismael, a student from Pretoria, also fell into the hands of the police. The stolen plans, maps and documents that led to the major alarm in the USA also affected targets in South Africa. "

 

Am 06.09.2004 reported the ND: "After the arrests of nuclear smugglers in South Africa, Germany and the USA, representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency have now traveled to Pretoria to put an end to a worldwide syndicate. The syndicate is supposed to supply uranium and components that are necessary to build up a nuclear weapon production, as it were upon request. Hundreds of companies in more than 20 countries are said to have been involved in the business and made billions in profits. The main nodes of this syndicate have been suspected to be in South Africa for some time. (...) About a week ago another serious gentleman, whose name has so far only been given as Gerhard W., was in Germany gone into the network of the secret service. The 65-year-old South African was arrested along with another European during the surrender of one million euros. "Investigators believed that he acted as a mediator.

"The South African secret service, which has been investigating South African connections to the international nuclear smuggling network for over a year, seems to have found his contacts to the Pakistani syndicate of Abdul Quader Kahn, the" father of the Pakistani bomb "- in the USA embassy in Pretoria! (...)

With the help of the USA, Israel, France and probably also Germany, South Africa had set up its own atomic bomb production, which was carried out before the regime was handed over to the first black government in 1994. But because the West did not trust the "blacks", neither the full knowledge of the destruction of these nuclear weapons nor of the company potential involved in the nuclear weapons program was passed on to the new South African government. Uranium is mined in South Africa and it is obvious that those who have worked in this field for many years cannot resist the lure of big bucks. "

 

The ND from 11.09.2004 reported under the heading "German trace in the nuclear scandal":

 

"One fact is certain: Gerhard Wisser (66) and Daniel Geiges (65) worked on the nuclear weapons program of the former apartheid government in South Africa. Now they are accused of being involved in the South African nuclear smuggling scandal with Pakistan. The two of them Those arrested have German passports and a permanent residence permit in South Africa.

Wisser had already been arrested in Germany at the beginning of September, but was released on bail and was allowed to return to the Cape. In Germany, he went online with the secret service together with a German businessman named Gotthard Lerch who lived in Switzerland. Apparently after a tip from Malaysia. All three had been involved in the production of nuclear weapons as suppliers in the apartheid days, when South Africa, with the knowledge of the western world, had nine atomic bombs. (...) While there is as yet no concrete information about the violations of violin, Wisser has already been examined. He came to South Africa from Germany in the late 70s and was working with Meyer on the nuclear weapons program. According to reports, he carried out subcontracting for about 100 million rand (33 million marks at the time). Gotthard Lerch, who is still being questioned according to newspaper reports from Switzerland, is said to be involved in Wisser's nuclear trade Pakistan have been involved. The revelations are progressing. "

While Foreign Minister Fischer is currently making a name for himself in the media about Iran's breach of the nuclear agreement, he says nothing about the nuclear links between Germany and South Africa. No wonder: During his visits to South Africa, he helped to thread the current atomic cooperation on the PBMR. For them, too, it is about South Africa exporting HTR technology all over the world with unforeseeable consequences. What a hypocrisy! -

The EU will set the course for the HTR line shortly:

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

Watch out!

The request we co-initiated on April 22.04.2004nd, 20.07.2004 to the EU Commission regarding the HTR funding million was, like many others, initially put on hold due to the reconstitution of the Commission. However, Hiltrud Breyer submitted new questions for the Greens on the first day of the re-admission of new questions on July 2007, 2013. In the next few months in particular, the greatest possible vigilance is called for. After the summer break, the decisive decisions for EU budget planning for the years XNUMX to XNUMX will take place.

This is about gigantic sums: "The EU Commission had proposed from 2007 to 2013 as a whole 336 billion eurosto provide around a third of the EU budget for structural policy. Research, education and the environment, but also business start-ups, should then have priority. Half of the sum should go to the current and half to the new member states. If one takes the current conditions as a basis, NRW (here is the FZJ; HB) would receive around 18% of the total amount (60,5 billion euros). That corresponds to 8,6 billion euros per year "(VDI-Nachrichten of 05.03.2004).

 

Of course, the nuclear industry and its representatives have long been on the respective committees and are trying to get a result that is favorable to them. In its May 2004 issue, the "atw" wrote impatiently on page 307: "How serious Europe is with nuclear safety research, however, will only be determined in the run-up to the consultation on this 7th Research Framework Program of the EU demonstrate. Will the funds for nuclear research be increased or, on the contrary, even reduced? And will Europe play an active part in the development of reactor concepts that we commonly refer to as the 4th generation? "

According to the "atw" (5/2004), im 6th Research Framework Program of the EU 1.230 million euros have been spent on nuclear research, not including "hidden" funds.

The HTR friends receive propagandistic support through the CDU / CSU parliamentary groupwhich put a major inquiry (2004/15) to the federal government in April 2528:

 

"How does the Federal Government assess the statement by the Leopoldina (German Academy of Natural Scientists; HB) that the further development of disaster-free reactors, such as the high-temperature reactor, has been neglected in recent years?

 

What efforts are there worldwide to use high-temperature technology, which is essentially of German origin and was largely funded by the then Federal Ministry for Research and Technology?

 

With regard to Germany as a location for innovation, how does the Federal Government assess the fact that reactor technology developed in Germany is used abroad? "

 

We can look forward to the answer. So far, the EU has taken a very clear position on nuclear power.

Am 29.11.2001 became the "Green Paper" resolution "Towards a European

The "atw" commented in retrospect in March 2004: "The EU Commission's Green Paper on energy security recognizes the need to continue to use nuclear energy in the future if security of supply and climate-friendly energy use are to be guaranteed in Europe."

Am 26.06.2002 the EU Commission has accepted the final report on the Green Paper, which explicitly emphasizes the nuclear energy option.

Im January 2003 the EU Commission has finally decided on the "nuclear package" and the award criteria for Euratom loans. The EU Parliament could not have a say in this, but only issued an opinion one year later. The green EU parliamentarian Hiltrud Breyer, rapporteur on the Euratom loans, stated in her "EU-Öko-News" 1/2004: "The increase in Euratom loans from 4 to 6 billion euros is outrageous and shameless support for the nuclear industry. No other energy source receives such competition-distorting support in a far-reaching liberalized internal energy market. "

 

Already at 25.01.2003 the TAZ shed light on the background to this issue: "The fact that in a union in which seven members have no nuclear power plants and five others have already decided to phase out, a contrary funding policy can be pursued is due to the Euratom Treaty The Commission has its own nuclear research center with more than 1.000 scientists. The research budget of 246 million euros per year is not controlled by Parliament within the research program, but administered by the Commission - largely free of public scrutiny. It is also more than twice as much as the funds spent on developing renewable energies. "

 

Am 13.05.2003 the European Atomic Forum reports: "EU study supports nuclear energy". The homepage of "Association - Bund Deutscher Techniker" (ABDT) wrote: "The report, compiled by the EU Commission Directorate General for Research, is the result of a study by a consortium of scientists from France, Belgium and Spain. (...) Foratoms Secretary General , Dr. Peter Haug, commented on the results: 'The results of the study must be alarming. They underline the need for energy policy to increasingly turn to' clean air 'energy options such as nuclear energy and renewable energies. "

 

The European Economic and Social Committee adopted positive opinions on the "Green Paper" and the "Nuclear Package" and reiterated them at its plenary session on 25.02.2004 with a very large majority: "There are problems with nuclear energy, but it has clear advantages. Member States decide on the use of nuclear energy Electricity production can guarantee the energy supply and an acceptable price as well as meet the challenges of climate change. "

 

Am 25.06.2004 report the VDI-Nachrichten: "The EU Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio wants to stick to nuclear energy with a view to the EU's energy dependency and climate protection. (...) In renewable energies, de Palacio does not see a satisfactory alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear power. "

 

In view of the many dropouts from nuclear power and declared non-users of nuclear energy within the EU, it is very surprising that there is very little resistance in Brussels to the clear preference given to nuclear energy in the EU. Where are the resolute initiatives of the German federal government for an EU nuclear phase-out? Where is the diverse criticism of undemocratic decision-making structures in the EU? Who has so far shown the courage to persevere and rejected the undemocratic EU constitution, which will make this situation even worse?

Energy policy decisions of major political importance will be made in the EU over the next few months. It is time that those who are determined to resist come together and take action.

HTR technology and fuel cells: Whining to new shores

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

On July 22nd, 2004 "Die Zeit" joined the now polyphonic choir of those who want to loudly herald the renaissance of nuclear power on its front page. Gero von Randow, the author of this article, complained in the same paper on July 06.07.2000th, XNUMX about the "decline in core competence" in Germany and described the HTR as particularly safe. As a thank you, his lines can be found on the homepage of the strange association "International Working Group for Responsibility in Society" (IAUG).

In the renowned weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" it is noticeable that on 11.04.2002/22.07.2004/XNUMX Bartholomäus Grill was able to write a critical article ("The project is dubious") about the planned PBMR in South Africa and also a long dossier on Cape Town on XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX could publish. However, his opinion on the subject of energy policy no longer seems to be in great demand within the weekly newspaper. Times change. For this Randow wrote the following hymn of praise for nuclear power:

"The fuel of the HTR on the other hand, it is designed in such a way that it can withstand the heat in any case, with no core meltdown. What's more, the coolant can be heated up to such an extent that the reactor is suitable as a source of process heat - for example for the production of hydrogen. The best friend of the environmentally friendly fuel cell that runs on hydrogen is the HTR: the ideal energy technology to convert the traffic from oil to the fuel of the future. Such reactors are being built in South Africa, Japan, China and the United States. Your design mainly follows an idea from Germany. "

 

What is remarkable about these statements is the rewarming of the age-old thesis that the HTR could be considered as a user of process heat. The Jülich Research Center (FZJ) has been researching in a fuel cell laboratory since 1966.

 

According to the VDI-Nachrichten of 05.03.2004 stand within the framework of the European Union for the next few years 2 billion euros in research and funding for the fuel cell available, as it "hopes that it will make a positive contribution to both the heating market and the transport sector". Jülich and Aachen have been awarded the contract for two of the six key European projects. At a hearing of the Green parliamentary group, this development was classified and criticized as follows: "At the hearing, Stefan Schurig from Greenpeace pointed to a new strategy for camouflaging nuclear energy. At the EU level, for example, there was constant talk of 'new energy' - mostly in connection with the use of Hydrogen in fuel cells. Hydrogen is a secondary energy carrier that you can't tell how it was generated - for example with electricity from nuclear power plants. For Schurig, only generation with the help of renewable energies would make ecological sense. Claude Turmes added that under the label hydrogen mainly the nuclear and coal lobby gather to give their technology a positive image and to return funding from the field of renewable energies " (ND from 12.07.2004/XNUMX/XNUMX)

 

Meanwhile, in NRW a competence network formed with the participation of the NRW ministries for energy and science. 48 million euros in NRW state funds for 47 projects are already flowing. No wonder, that China when an interested country with an HTR reactor paid his respects to NRW Minister Horstmann this year and sent his minister Wag Chuzheng over to sound out the current development.

 

But all of this still does not make Gero von Randow optimistic; rather, he sees the downfall not of the West, but of the German nuclear industry, when he writes: "But German nuclear technicians are predominantly older men who struggle to crawl around the reactor building ( !). The youngsters stay away. The Germans are no longer represented in the Generation IV innovation network ".

 

The latter is definitely not true. In June 2004, the "atw" (nuclear industry) wrote on page 403: "In the meantime, German participation in Generation IV has also taken place through membership of GIF (Generation IV International Forum) and third-party funding for German contributions to Generation IV by the EU and The industry has been made possible. Executives from the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK) and FZJ are represented in the steering committees for the Supercritical-Water-Cooled Reactor System (SCWR) and the Very-High-Temperature Reactor System (VHTR) with EU funding and prepare ambitious contributions to the projects with industrial support within the framework of the 6th Research Framework Program of the EU. "

HTR research:

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

"For twenty years we have only been concerned about possible accidents"

This is what Kurt Kugler, head of the Institute for Safety Research and Reactor Technology at Forschungszentrum Jülich, said about HTR research at his institute in the "FAZ Sunday newspaper" on September 05.09.2004th, XNUMX.

For a reactor line that has allegedly been given up by the state and federal government long ago, a little bit of scientific and financial support. But it's good that this is said so clearly by the HTR supporters. Now the FAZ has its renaissance of nuclear power article, like other newspapers. The different reactor types were presented on two pages and of course the HTR could not be missing.

But with all the inherent security that was also invoked here, the editor Jens Uehlecke listed a not inconsiderable number of incidents as well as technical and financial problems. After all, he comes to the following conclusion: "Hamm-Uentrop has shown, however, that 'inherently safe' is not the same as 'absolutely safe'". And quotes critic Gerhard Schmidt from the Öko-Institut: "" At the moment, nobody is producing the necessary graphite balls any more. ' In addition, there is a particular risk of air ingress into the helium cycle - which could burn the graphite balls at high temperatures like charcoal. "The editor also refers to efforts in the USA to increasingly promote the HTR as a" Very High Temperature Reactor " in order to also "produce hydrogen and thus enable entry into the environmentally friendly hydrogen economy."

Being determines consciousness

TopUp to the top of the page - www.reaktorpleite.de -

The FDP is no longer the “party of the higher earners.” According to the findings of the election researcher Jürgen Falter, it has to give the once self-chosen title to the green resign. The voters of the Greens are far better off financially for a long time. (...) According to this, the average income for the Greens in 2002 was between 1750 and 2000 euros per month, for the Free Democrats only between 1500 and 1750 euros. Even among the top earners, the Greens have overtaken the FDP, according to Falter: Every fourth voter has a monthly net household income of at least 3000 euros "(FAZ-Sonntag, August 15.08.2004, XNUMX) This year the Greens succeeded for the first time, more to receive more than half a million euros in donations from Commerzbank, DaimlerCrysler, BMW, the employers' association Südwestmetall and Allianz. SZ quoted the proud Greens: "The companies find our program interesting".

***


TopUp Arrow - Up to the top of the page

***

Donation appeal

- The THTR-Rundbrief is published by 'BI Umwelt Hamm e. V. ' issued and financed by donations.

- The THTR circular has meanwhile become a much-noticed information medium. However, there are ongoing costs due to the expansion of the website and the printing of additional information sheets.

- The THTR circular researches and reports in detail. In order for us to be able to do that, we depend on donations. We are happy about every donation!

Donations account:

BI Umweltschutz Hamm
Purpose: THTR circular
IBAN: DE31 4105 0095 0000 0394 79
BIC: WELADED1HAM

***


TopUp Arrow - Up to the top of the page

***