TURKISH REACTOR TO BE BUILT NEXT TO ACTIVE FAULT LINE

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

TURKISH REACTOR TO BE BUILT NEXT TO ACTIVE FAULT LINE
Greenpeace reveals scientific report opposing a nuclear reactor in Akkuyu
Bay

Istanbul, 2 July 1998 - 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.

These 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. But despite the most recent evidence,
the utility has not even considered conducting further investigations.

The Greenpeace warning came after a devastating earthquake hit the
southeastern Turkish provinces above the active Anatolian fault last
Saturday (June 27). More than 130 people were killed in villages and cities
like Ceyhan and Adana. The epicentre of the quake was about 170 kilometres
northeast of Akkuyu Bay.

TEAS 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. Greenpeace has been campaigning against Turkey's nuclear programme for
the last five years.

"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".

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
research.

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.

Melda Keskin, Turkish campaigner of the Greenpeace Mediterranean Office,
said: "Turkey does not need nuclear power but energy saving and development
of clean energy technologies. Nuclear energy has failed the world over on
both safety and financial grounds, why should we be fooled by the nuclear
industry which has its own interests at heart and not those of Turkey and
the Turkish people."

"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," she said.

Greenpeace is calling on the Turkish Government to immediately suspend its
nuclear plans and on the western governments, who are financing the deal, to
immediately withdraw from the bid process. To do otherwise would be a
complete double standard and an act of gross hypocrisy.

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 more information  - Greenpeace on the Internet: www.greenpeace.org

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 license 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.

END