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Press Release - 2 July 1998 ITU-Taskisla / Istanbul - Greenpeace
Sent by Isil Esendir
Istanbul -- Akkuyu Bay, the proposed site of Turkey's first nuclear power reactor, would be next to an active fault line in an area of seismic activity. This was the finding of a 1991 report by a team of Turkish marine geophysicists and a British geologist, who concluded that the Ecemis fault runs 20-25 km southeast of Akkuyu Bay and is active (1).
The warning was issued today at a Press Conference held in Istanbul by Greenpeace and Prof. Dr. Atilla Ulug, Head of Geophysics Department of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology at the Dokuz Eylul University, who is one of the authors of the 1991 report.
Greenpeace warning came after a devastating earthquake hit the
south-eastern Turkish provinces above
the active Anatolian fault last Saturday (June 27). More than 100 people
were killed in villages and cities
like Ceyhan and Adana. The epicentre of the quake was about 170 kilometres
northeast of Akkuyu Bay.
The 1991 data dismiss claims by the Turkish electricity utility (TEAS) as
well as the Turkish Atomic
Energy Authority (TAEK) that the Ecemis fault is inactive. TEAS' conclusion
is based on a 1989 study
done by engineers, and not geophysicists or seismologists. Despite the most
recent evidence, the utility
has not even considered conducting further investigations, but is planning
to announce this month who
has won the contract to build Turkey's first nuclear reactor, and allow the
construction to start next year.
"At the very least, the Turkish Government must conduct further
investigations of the Akkuyu Bay area
to determine the threat posed by the Ecemis fault," demanded Prof. Dr.
Ulug. "To go ahead and build a
reactor at Akkuyu Bay without further study would be a totally
irresponsible, if not a criminal, decision".
Greenpeace has been campaigning against Turkey's nuclear programme for the
last five years.
Last month experts at the Ecemis Fault Line Workshop I (Nigde University)
concluded that the northern
parts of the Fault was active, classifying this region as an area most
seriously prone to earthquakes, and
recommended that building codes for the region be changed by the General
Directorate of Disaster Affairs
to prevent future disasters. The group of experts also warned that the
southern parts of the Fault (on land
and in the Mediterranean) need extensive seismological, geophysical and
geological re search.
Potential dangers posed by earthquakes to nuclear installations were
recently highlighted by a Court
decision in Germany, where the Muelheim-Kaerlich reactor was closed because
the risk had not been
properly investigated and had been possibly underestimated (2). Yet the
German Government is now
providing financial backing for Siemens in its bid to build the nuclear
reactor at Akkuyu Bay.
"How can it be unacceptable to build a nuclear reactor without the
necessary investigation in an
earthquake-prone area in Germany, but acceptable to do so in Turkey?" asked
Keskin. "The German,
Canadian and US Governments are being extremely hypocritical. They are
funding the construction of
this reactor when they know that it would never be allowed to be built in
their own countries under the
same conditions (3). They are putting the profits of their multinationals
ahead of the health of the Turkish
people," Keskin added.
Greenpeace is calling on the Turkish Government to immediately suspend its
nuclear plans and on the
western governments, who are financing the deal, and to immediately
withdraw from the bid process.
Last May, Greenpeace released a computer modelling study showing that a
major accident at the
proposed Turkish reactor site would be catastrophic not only for Turkey,
but also for Cyprus and the
entire Middle East. The study predicts how, in case of accident,
contamination would spread.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
- Melda Keskin, Greenpeace in Istanbul, +90 212 2364238 or mobile
+90 532 3243204
- Prof. Attila Ulug, mobile, +90-532-2463887
- Ben Pearson, Greenpeace International, in Amsterdam, +31-20-5249563
NOTES:
(1) Gokcen, S.L, Kelling, G., Ulug, A., Gokcen, N. & Ozel, E.,"Neotectonic
Structural Features in the Alanya - Mersin Shelf Area Southern Turkey)",
1991.
(2) The licence for the Mulheim Kaerlich nuclear power plant was revoked on
13 January this year after a ten-year legal battle. The plant will remain an
industrial ruin. It was 22 years old and it could only operate
less than one year (11 months).
(3) The Canadian Council of Ministers last year had a secret decision
leaked to the media, to give their own company AECL 1.5 billion
dollars credit and to exclude the nuclear project from the Canadian
Environmental Impact Assessment requirements to improve its chance in the
tender.
For further information please read the Greenpeace briefing paper :
"The Ecemis Fault Line and the Potential for a Nuclear Catastrophe
at Akkuyu Bay"
http://www.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/reactor/turkey/
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