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Subject: Turkish nuclear reactor threatens region
(was: Re: Was it intelligence failure or did India fake it ?)
From: "Agamemnon" < argyros.argyrou@nospam.ukonline.co.uk>
Date: 1998/05/21
Message-ID: < 6k1sdf$e6m$1@morse.news.easynet.net>
by Menelaos Hadjicostis
The study released yesterday by Greenpeace predicts how contamination
would ravage Turkey and impact Cyprus as well as the entire Middle East
region if there were an accident at the proposed nuclear power plant in
Akkuyu.
"The sitting of nuclear power reactors (in Turkey) is a potential
hazard for the entire region, not just Turkey,"
the report says.
"It should be noted that at all times during the year, a release of
radioactive gas (due to an accident) is highly likely to impact
countries other than Turkey."
Turkey plans to build 10 nuclear reactors by the year 2020. The Turkish
government is due to announce later this year which consortium has won
the tender to build two nuclear reactors at Akkuyu Bay, on the southeast
Mediterranean coast.
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and Siemens of Germany are two
leading companies involved in consortia bidding for the project.
The study goes on to say that year round, prevailing winds coming
from Turkey travel to countries as far away as the Persian Gulf and noted
that "countries of the Middle East are nearly always at substantial risk
whereas Western Europe always has a much lower risk".
Cyprus is situated just 80 kilometres south of the Turkish coast
where Akkuyu Bay lies.
Melda Keskin, energy campaigner of Greenpeace Mediterranean in
Turkey, said that Turkey should learn from the Chernobyl disaster, which killed
thousands and devastated huge swaths of
the Ukranian countryside.
"The proposed nuclear reactor at Akkuyu would mean living with the
threat that the next 'Chernobyl' could happen within Turkey's borders.
Theproposed site for the plant is located between the tourist resort of
Antalya and Mersin.
Agriculture, fishing and the most popular of Turkey's Mediterranean
tourist spots would all be severely affected by an accident.
The report also says: "Regional environmental securityconsiderations
need to be taken into account when siting nuclear power reactors in
Turkey and the Middle East."
Greenpeace called on the Turkish government to abandon its nuclear
programme and rather invest in cleaner, safer and cheaper alternatives,
such as energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
Opposition to the construction has been growing within Turkey and abroad.
Turkish environmentalists in conjunction with Greenpeace, as well as
Akkuyu Bay area residents have been vociferous in their opposition.
The study was commissioned by Greenpeace and written by the Centre for
Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) at the Australian National
University in Canberra.
The modeling was done using the university's supercomputer and
metrological data compiled by the European Centre for Medium Range
Weather Forecasting in Reading, England.
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