Nukewatch – Page 231

July 15, 2015 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

65-Day Protest at Germany’s Nuclear-Armed Büchel Air Base

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2015

A 65-day-long series of protests at the Büchel Air Force Base in west-central Germany—home to 20 US nuclear bombs—culminated on May 29. Thirty-five different organizations began their string of blockades on March 26, commemorating the Bundestag’s (Parliament’s) 2010 call to the German government to advocate for removal of US nuclear weapons in Germany. The occupations ended May 29, marking the conclusion of the UN’s 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. (See “Nuclear Weapons Proliferation,” Page 1.)

The actions against Germany’s Nuclear-Armed Büchel Air Base included a die-in staged to dramatize Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream by the French group Stop Nuclear Weapons. Photo by Büchel Atomwaffenfrei.

Over the course of the 65 days, over 400 people participated in 31 blockades through a wide variety of demonstrations. Local, national and international organizations came to present lively opposition to nuclear weapons and the base’s role in the US–German “nuclear sharing” agreement. The actions ranged from an orchestra concert to tripod blockades, a red carpet roll-out of peace flags, a die-in staged to dramatize Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream, and a Maypole dance. Banners galore punctuated the actions and constantly decorated the peace encampment. Birthdays and a Good Friday service were observed at the gates, contributing to what became disruption of traffic three to four days a week, preventing personnel from accessing the base, and often closing it. On the last day alone, 35 people were taken into custody as they blocked seven gates to the base. A total of 60 protestors arrived armed with toothbrushes to symbolize their willingness to remain at the blockade until there is a commitment to withdraw the weapons. The US removed its nuclear weapons from England and Greece prior to 2010. The US B61s at Büchel include 20 of the 180 bombs remaining in five European allied states. The stationing and potential use of the weapons violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which prohibits signatories like the United States from transferring nuclear

weapons to non-nuclear states like Germany; Büchel is charged with the nuclear missions of NATO and the B61 bombs would be delivered by German Tornado aircraft. Contrary to a move toward fulfilling international obligations under the NPT, there are plans to upgrade the B61s to “smart” bombs, giving them the embarrassing distinction of being the only such nuclear weapons on European soil. In a move that some have called a “new arms race,” the upgrade plan will further endanger Russia’s trust in disarmament talks with NATO.

—Atomwaffenfrei, May 30; Büchel Atomwaffenfrei, May 26; Rheinische Post, Mar. 24, 2015 —KL

July 15, 2015 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

45,000 Rally Against Nuclear Power in Taiwan

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2015

By Kelly Lundeen

On March 14, around 45,000 activists gathered across major cities in Taiwan to oppose nuclear power, marking the fourth anniversary of the Fukushima-Daiichi triple reactor disaster. The island-wide mobilization marked the third year in a row that tens of thousands of anti-nuclear activists have taken to the streets in a movement that has been galvanized by the Fukushima meltdown. Like Japan, Taiwan is located near the tectonically-active “Ring of Fire.” Concerned about a similar disaster, environmental, human rights, aboriginal, student, labor, workers’ and farmers’ organizations are demanding green energy and a Taiwan free of nuclear reactors. Pieces of this dream could become reality if the government follows through on its pledge to phase-out nuclear power by letting licenses expire on the three operating reactor complexes and abandoning construction on a fourth.

Anti-nuclear protesters rally in Taipei, Taiwan on March 14. Their signs include the message “stop the nuclear power and start the green power.” Photo by Sam Yeh, AFP.

Of the existing reactors, the oldest are scheduled for decommissioning by 2019 and 2023. The fourth reactor has been in planning stages since the 1980s, but its construction has run into continual setbacks. Last year, it was brought to a complete standstill and the reactor was sealed off as the government was forced to respond to strong public opposition. The reactor’s completion now depends on a public referendum expected within the next few years.

A 2014 World Nuclear Association report found that 55 percent of Taiwan’s population supported terminating construction and closing the reactor permanently. Taiwan’s government appears to be taking public opinion into account in view of its claims to have plans to put an end to nuclear power.

Every year since the Fukushima disaster, the size of nationwide protests has grown from thousands to tens of thousands, reaching 68,000 in March 2013. Activists have employed hunger strikes, sit-ins on high-traffic boulevards and railway stations, marches and other tactics. In the 2012 presidential elections, the popular opposition candidate made ending reliance on nuclear power a central issue. Even though the president—whose party had previously backed nuclear power—was re-elected, he recently backed away from his support of the nuclear industry. The halt to construction on the fourth reactor has been largely due to public pressure, exemplified again by the enormous outcry heard on March 14—although regionally this has not been the case.

Asia is considered to be the emerging market for investment in new nuclear power, and 11 countries in the region have or are developing plans to build new power reactors. Nuclear power promoters like the World Nuclear Association forecast that by 2030, 266 new reactors could be built across Asia. Of the projected $1.2 trillion to be invested in nuclear power worldwide, almost $800 billion of that could be in Asia.

Amidst multi-national corporate momentum toward more nuclear power in Asia, Taiwan is one of the few countries in which politicians have been responsive to the movements against it. And if millions of Taiwanese get their way, the country will join the ranks of Switzerland, Belgium and Germany and make a good-faith commitment to truly rid their home of nuclear power.

—Agence France Presse, Mar. 14, 2015 & Mar. 20, 2011; World Nuclear Association, Mar. 2015; World Nuclear News, Jan. 8, 2015; Green Citizen’s Action Alliance, 2015; Straits Times, Jul. 31, 2014; Reuters, Apr. 27, 2014; Bloomberg Business, Mar. 3, 2013; New York Times, Jan. 12, 2012; Taipei Times, May 1, 2011

July 15, 2015 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Whistleblower: It’s “harder to get into most nightclubs” than Britain’s nuclear subs

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2015

A submariner in the British Navy, Able Seaman William McNeilly, 25, has embarrassed the Royal Navy by publishing a 19-page statement ridiculing lax security habits at Britain’s giant Faslane submarine base and onboard the giant subs. The base that maintains nuclear-armed Trident submarines is on the Firth of Clyde located in Scotland about 25 miles west of Glasgow.

McNeilly’s allegations include details of 30 safety breaches—he alleges that it’s “harder to get into most nightclubs” than getting unchecked bags on to a ballistic missile submarine with nuclear warheads—involving broken security code systems, failure to follow standard security requirement, and guards routinely failing to check ID badges. McNeilly claims he was repeatedly waved passed guard posts flashing nothing but a motel door key card.

McNeilly claimed in his report, “In a Base security brief, we were told that thousands of Royal Navy IDs go missing every year.” The lapses regularly opened the UK’s nuclear weapons program to attacks by enemy infiltrators.

The seaman claims he spent a year preparing his report, went Absent Without Leave in order to release it publicly, which he did May 17 via WikiLeaks, and told the Guardian that he was willing to risk imprisonment in order to bring his warning to the British people.

“All it takes is someone to bring a bomb onboard to commit the worst terrorist attack the UK and the world has every [sic] seen,” he wrote on WikiLeaks.

McNeilly turned himself in to police May 20 and is reportedly being held by the Navy in Scotland.

Among McNeilly’s revelations is his recounting of the underwater collision on the night of Feb. 3, 2009 between two submarines carrying nuclear nuclear-armed missiles. Somewhere in the Atlantic, the French sub Le Triomphant struck the British sub Vanguard, while both were presumably carrying 16 ballistic missiles with multiple warheads.

The British and French governments minimized the collision in a jointly prepared, narrowly worded statement that mentioned only inconsequential “scrapes” to the Vanguard and damage to the sonar dome on the French sub.

However, McNeilly, who served on the Trident sub Victorious, reports that he was told by a Navy chief who was on the Vanguard that, “We thought, ‘This is it. We’re all going to die.” The chief told McNeilly that Le Triomphant “took a massive chunk out of the front of HMS Vanguard.”

In his report, which he titled “The Secret Nuclear Threat,” McNeilly wrote, “I brought things of all shapes through and none of it was checked. Before sailing I brought my own stuff onboard in a huge grip bag; it wasn’t checked. There were 31 BSQ’s [sailors with Basic Submarine Qualification] and ship’s staff and civilians—over 180 people bringing huge unchecked bags onboard.”

Calling the nuclear submarine program “a disaster waiting to happen,” McNeilly wrote that he hoped for a pardon from the Prime Minister “for alerting the people and the government to a major threat.”

—Mint Press, May 20; Guardian, May 18, 2015; New York Times, Feb. 17; Daily Telegraph, Feb. 16, 2009 —JL

July 15, 2015 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Sanctions Halt Offshore Drilling Near Radioactive Dumps —for Now

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2015

By Kelly Lundeen

US and European Union sanctions on Russia have forced our own ExxonMobil out of an offshore Arctic drilling deal with Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft. The company’s macabre plans would result in drilling next to an area used as a Soviet nuclear waste dump site for decades. The Kara Sea has so far been the loser in a battle between those who want to exploit its underwater gas and oil, and those who want radioactive waste materials removed and the ecologically delicate waters protected from the perils of drilling. However, the sanctions—resulting from Russia’s incursions in Ukraine—have left the world’s top oil-producing nation alone in the Arctic without its corporate partner, ExxonMobil, upon whom it depended for necessary extraction infrastructure.

In 2014, prior to enactment of sanctions, ExxonMobil and Rosneft began drilling the first well in the Kara Sea, but Exxon had to abandon its plans for partnering with the Russian firm when sanctions took effect. In January, without Western technology and capital, Rosneft announced that drilling would come to a halt for the 2015 season due to lack of a platform. It is currently seeking one from alternate contractors. Rosneft expects to resume drilling next year and hopes that consumer production will begin as early as 2020.

So, how is it possible that nuclear submarines, reactors, and waste containers were secretly dumped in the sea through the 1990s? This was common for dozens of countries until the 1972 London Convention banned marine disposal of radioactive and other wastes. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union did not become party to the Convention until the late ‘80s, and did not stop dumping until the early ‘90s.

Is offshore drilling next to a radioactive waste dump really all that dangerous? Not according to Exxon and Rosneft, especially when the reserves are estimated to contain the equivalent of nearly five years of global oil consumption. Following a study on the radioactive waste site, Rosneft and ExxonMobil stated they “are confident that we can safely drill in the Kara Sea and avoid hazards from radioactive materials on the seabed.” The nuclear waste disposed of is known to include 14 reactors, 19 ships carrying solid waste, high-level radioactive waste fuel and 17,000 containers whose radioactive contents is unknown.

To help sink the containers carrying radioactive waste, the Soviets followed another norm of the era by shooting holes in them, and there is evidence of leakage from the some of the containers. But the most potentially disastrous object left at the bottom of the Kara Sea is the K-27 nuclear submarine, scuttled in 1981. In 1968, nine sailors were killed in the ship by a leak in the reactor. This nuclear submarine was carrying highly enriched uranium when it was dumped. The corrosion of the propulsion reactor, which occurs naturally under water, could reportedly lead to an atomic chain reaction that would affect an area beyond just the Arctic.

Norway, along with Germany and other Western governments driven to protect its neighboring Barents Sea, has been trying to help Russia clean up the radioactive wastes in the area for a decade. The Russian government however has no definite plans to completely remove the nuclear-powered submarines or other wastes. This is no easy feat, as shown by the CIA’s 1974 Project Azorian, in which an attempt to recover a submarine from a seabed resulted in two thirds of the sub breaking off.

At least temporarily, the dump site will be left to its own natural deterioration without the assistance of offshore drilling in the nearby waters. While economic sanctions provide temporary relief from drilling, the long-term problem of cleaning up remains an unresolved issue. And it is not a matter of whether or not there will be large-scale radioactive leak, but of when.

—Reuters, Apr. 9, 2015; Moscow Times, Nov. 13, 2014; New York Times, Oct. 29, 2014; BBC, Jan. 25, 2013; Bloomberg, Sept. 25, 2012

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Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2015

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By Kelly Lundeen

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By Kelly Lundeen

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2015

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