Biggest uranium enricher's rush to keep dumping uranium waste in Russia

international | environment | news report Tuesday October 09, 2007 08:42 by SOFA Münster, translated by Diet Simon

A German anti-nuclear group says the world’s biggest supplier of enriched uranium, URENCO, is frantically seeking German and Dutch transport licenses to send waste to an open-air dump in Russia before Russia stops the dumping at the latest in 2009.

Among its worldwide activities, the Anglo-Dutch-German corporation runs enrichment plants at Gronau, near Münster, in Germany and not far away across the border in Holland at Almelo.

The SOFA Münster group writes at http://de.indymedia.org/2007/10/196488.shtml that they have information that the Gronau plant, owned largely by German power companies, and the Dutch plant at Almelo currently have no new permits for further nuclear waste transports to Russia.

“That is why URENCO is frantically trying to get new licences from the German finance and environment ministries and the Dutch government.

“The uranium waste transport that left Gronau and Almelo under protest last Thursday is now off the east coast of Sweden and is expected in St. Petersburg (Russia) on Thursday.

“A protest assembly is planned for the city centre there on Friday.”

This year alone URENCO sent five consignments from Gronau and Almelo to Russia, which amounts to almost 10,000 tonnes of depleted uranium hexafluoride (c. 7,000 t of depleted uranium) which is created as waste in uranium enrichment.

“URENCO is putting on a lot of pressure because of the increasing public anger in Russia, The Netherlands and Germany the Russian atomic energy authority Rosatom has announced an end to the uranium waste transports by 2009 at the latest.

“Until then URENCO wants to tip as much uranium waste as possible at the Ural and in Siberia on open air paddocks for ‘final storage’,” SOFA writes.

In Germany the permits are issued by agencies of the finance ministry subject to approval by the environment ministry. Both ministries are also responsible for the superordinate general export permit.

“That means the two ‘end nuclear’ ministers, Archangel [Sigmar] Gabriel [environment] and Moneybags [Peer] Steinbrück (finance) have been responsible for the transports to Russia since 2005.

“Spicy note in the margin: in February 2005 the state government of North-Rhine Westphalia approved expansion plans for the Gronau enrichment plant – when Peer Steinbrück was premier of the state.

“The then atomic energy minister [Axel] Horstmann is now lobbyist in North-Rhine Westphalia for EnBW [the third-largest utilities company in Germany].

“Just as ‘cute’ is that the original export permit was issued under the then federal minister for the environment, Angela Merkel [now chancellor of Germany].

“In other words, the federal government is stacked with loyal URENCO fans.”

SOFA calls for pressure to be put on the Berlin government to prevent a new permit being issued to URENCO.

“Export of uranium waste is a purely political decision, because if the waste stayed in Germany the government itself would have to see to final storage – and that is known to be impossible anywhere, least of all in [the German dump sites] Ahaus, Gorleben, Schacht Konrad, Asse, Morsleben, Greifswald etc.

“So it makes a lot of sense for the federal government to allow URENCO to export to Russia.”

But international resistance is growing constantly, writes SOFA. “The international uranium conference (see http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/nuclear-opponents-...rmany) at the end of September and constant publication of protests against secret transports show that URENCO is slowly but surely going on the defensive.
“In a cyber action 700 mails from Russia arrived in the Dutch environment ministry a few days ago demanding an immediate stop to the uranium waste transports. Only public pressure will achieve anything!”

More at www.urantransport.de in German and English.

“We call for attendance at the nationwide final repository demonstration in Salzgitter this Saturday, 13 October. Nuclear waste can’t be stored safely – not in Siberia, not in Schacht Konrad, not in Gorleben - nowhere!

“Therefore: Immediate closure of all atomic facilities worldwide!”
http://www.sofa-ms.de