GP Urges Turkey to Scrap it's Nuclear Plans

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE URGES TURKEY TO SCRAP ITS NUCLEAR PLANS 
Turkey still plans nuclear power plants as Sweden to 
close its plants 
  
Istanbul, 13 February 1997 - The Greenpeace 
Mediterranean Office today called on Turkey to learn 
from the recent phase-out decision of Sweden and 
cancel its plans to construct nuclear power plants. 
  
Sweden decided to close down all its 12 nuclear 
power plants by the year 2010. These plants supply 
about half of the country's electricity. The phase-out 
would begin with the closure of the "Barsebaeck 1" 
reactor in September 1998. 
 
The recent Inter-Party Agreement signed on 6 
February between three Swedish parties, the Social 
Democrats, the Center and the Left, stated that 
"Barsebaeck 1" will be replaced among other things 
by renewable energies and only to a minimum by 
extent natural gas fired Combined Heat and Power 
(CHP) units. 
  
"Turkey must not repeat the mistakes done in 
Sweden and elsewhere when playing with the nuclear 
fire," said in Istanbul Melda Keskin, energy 
campaigner of the Greenpeace Mediterranean Office. 
  
"Turkish decision-makers must turn their faces away 
from companies trying to sell them an obsolete 
technology. German, Canadian and US companies 
are desperately trying to sell nuclear reactors to 
Turkey, although they could not place a single order 
in their own countries since at least 15 to 20 years," 
she said. 
  
More than 40 years after starting the first commercial 
nuclear power plant, the nuclear industry still has no 
answers on how to safely and cost-effectively dispose 
of radioactive waste. It is the Turkish authorities' 
responsibility to refuse to adopt the short-sighted 
nuclear policies that created more than four decades 

of immense ecological destruction, economic failure 
and a deadly legacy of a few hundred thousand years 
for the world. (1) 

  
Greenpeace opposes nuclear energy in all countries 
for safety, health and economic reasons, but mainly 
because there is no environmental safe way of 
managing nuclear wastes. 

Greenpeace demands that spent nuclear fuel remain 
in cooling ponds at the nuclear power plant site. 
When the storage place is full the plant must be shut 
down to stop further production of waste. This is the 
first step to a sustainable energy future. 
  
The global nuclear waste crisis is evident in recent 
events during the past three weeks: 
 
* A ship transporting plutonium and radioactive 
waste between Japan and France violated a South 
African ban to sail in its waters. 
*  A train full of radioactive waste derailed between 
Germany and Britain. 
* The US is facing growing problems with its nuclear 
waste repository plans in Yucca Mountain 
*  The Irish government protested at Britain's 
radioactive waste storage plans in Sellafield. 
* Taiwan has dumped radioactive waste to the 
impoverished North Korea. 
  
"Greenpeace demands that the Turkish ministries of 
energy and environment along with the decision 
makers bypass the nuclear step before its is too late. 
Turkey must take the safe and environmentally sound 
path of energy efficiency and renewable energies like 
wind and solar," said Keskin. 
 
For more information please contact in Istanbul 
Melda  Keskin, energy campaigner of the Greenpeace 
Mediterranean Office ++90-212-2607073; or Dr. 
Mario Damato, Executive Director of Greenpeace 
Mediterranean in Malta, ++356-667167; or press 
officer Fouad Hamdan in Beirut, ++961-1-785665. 
emails: 
melda.keskin@green2.greenpeace.org 
greenpeace.mediterranean@green2.greenpeace.org 
gp.med@cyberia.net.lb 
NOTES: 
  
(1) This irresponsible conduct of the nuclear industry 
is best reflected in the wording used by the nuclear-
friendly International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 
in a 1992 report: "However, over the long term, it 
must be left to future generations to recognize their 
responsibility for protecting themselves."