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EU-geld voor "nieuwe Tsjernobyl"
WISE Amsterdam - 23.01.2003 14:16
De Europese Commissie heeft geld aan Rusland aangeboden om Kursk-5, een gedeeltelijk gebouwd reactor van hetzelfde ontwerp als Tsjernobyl, te voltooien.
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUROPE
PRESS RELEASE
23 January 2003
EUROPEAN UNION OFFERS HELP TO BUILD ANOTHER CHERNOBYL
The European Commission is in discussions with Russia to provide
financial help for the completion of a nuclear reactor of the
same type that caused the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, according to a
document obtained this week by Friends of the Earth. (1) The
unfinished Kursk-5 reactor, situated 300km south of Moscow, has
been listed for possible funding under the Euratom Loans scheme,
which the European Commission is proposing to significantly
expand.
Kursk-5 is a 1000-megawatt ‘RMBK’ type reactor, one of the first
generation of Soviet-designed stations. Construction began in
December 1985 - just five months before the world’s worst nuclear
accident at Chernobyl in neighbouring Ukraine - but work was
later suspended due to a lack of funds. Kursk-5 is the only
‘RMBK’ plant anywhere in the world still to be completed.
The Euratom Loans scheme, introduced in 1977 to further promote
nuclear power in line with the Euratom Treaty, allows the
European Commission to facilitate loans for the development of
nuclear projects, subject to Member States agreeing an overall
limit. In November last year, the Commission proposed increasing
this ‘ceiling’ for Euratom loans from €4000M to €6000M, although
they did not specify publicly what projects the additional funds
would be spent on.
Friends of the Earth Europe’s Nuclear Campaigner, Mark Johnston
said:
“EU support for building dangerous reactors is wrong and should
stop. It is crazy to increase the risk of another disaster by
aiding a new power plant that is the same type as Chernobyl.
“This scandal casts grave doubt over the credibility of the
Commission’s claim to be acting in the interests of atomic
safety. It is becoming clear that the real motive is more
sinister, to save a dying nuclear industry at any cost. The
Commission cannot be trusted with nuclear safety when it also
retains a duty to promote nuclear.
“Euratom loans and the Euratom Treaty itself are out of date,
biased and undemocratic. They should both be scrapped. Friends of
the Earth is calling the European Convention to support abolition
of Euratom under the new EU constitution.”
ENDS
Contact: Mark Johnston, FoE Europe Nuclear Campaigner:
+4479 7331 9249 (London)
Further information is available from:
 http://www.foeeurope.org/activities/Nuclear/nuclear.htm
(1) The document is a so-called “Non-paper” that was distributed
by the Commission to Member States following questioning at a
meeting on the 10 December 2002 regarding the proposal to
increase the Euratom ceiling from €4000M to €6000M. The document
is available on request. The decision on increasing the loans
ceiling is due to be considered by the Council of Ministers
(ECOFIN) in the near future.
 Website: http://www.antenna.nl/wise
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