A. Parallex Protests

Activists in Michigan and Canada continue their heated opposition to the Department of Energy's (DOE) plan to ship mixed oxide plutonium fuel (MOX) from Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico to the Chalk River research reactor at in Ontario, Canada as part of its surplus plutonium disposition program. The proposed shipment is part of Project Parallex, (for "parallel experiment" with Russia) which would test the use of weapons plutonium MOX fuel in heavy-water Canadian Deuterium-Uranium (CANDU) reactors. The proposed route for US shipments would enter Canada at Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Russian plutonium fuel would be shipped along the St. Lawrence Seaway to Cornwall, Ontario.

Under intense pressure from local residents, business leaders, tribes, law enforcement and emergency personnel, elected officials, members of Congress and others, DOE delayed the shipment and held public hearings on the issue in late October at which the plan drew overwhelming opposition. DOE's announcement last week that the shipments will be made without notification to local emergency responders was met with a new round of protests. In addition to crossing six other states, DOE's preferred route would cross the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan, the world's longest single span suspension bridge, known for icy conditions and unsafe travel in winter.

Though Energy Secretary Bill Richardson plans to go forward with the shipment (which would take place after December 2nd), a coalition of groups has requested Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm to file an injunction to stop it. In addition, Canadian environmental groups and Indian tribes have protested (a demonstration is planned for Nov. 25, see announcements below), and have plans to shut down the highway east of Sault Ste. Marie or stop the shipment "anywhere along the route" if it is made.

These dedicated activists show no signs of stopping! To get involved or to find out more, contact Kay Cumbow of Citizens for a Healthy Planet in Michigan jcumbow@greatlakes.net, 810-346-4513, or Kristen Ostling of Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout in Canada, cnp@web.net, 613-789-3634. Also see announcements below.

(Thanks to Kay Cumbow, Kristen Ostling, and Tom Clements for this information.)

B. Southeast Anti-MOX Happenings

French Tour / Editorials and Letters

In late October, Didier Anger (French Green Party) and Jean-Luc Thierry (Greenpeace France) visited the US on a tour sponsored by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research to shed light on the safety and health records of Cogema (the French nuclear corporation contracted by DOE to lead its MOX program). The delegation visited Washington DC and three southeast states, North Carolina (Asheville and Charlotte), South Carolina (Rock Hill and Columbia) and Georgia (Augusta and Atlanta), where they spoke to editorial boards and activists, gave public presentations and testimony, and met with elected officials.

In addition to numerous articles and editorials resulting from the tour (for a list write to port@bigsky.net articles can be faxed), the trip also prompted SC State Senator Phil Leventis to write to the SC Congressional delegation about his concerns related to the MOX program and Cogema's operations in his state. The November 4 letter was reported in Energy Daily, a nuclear industry trade publication that called it "notable" as "the first objection raised by a senior South Carolina policymaker to DOE's MOX program."

In the letter Senator Leventis points out the serious concerns with Cogema's record, asking, "Do we want a company operating in our state whose culture includes defying the law?" He also raises safety, transportation, and nuclear proliferation concerns, noting that MOX would "create a new infrastructure that will make our economy and government partly dependent on plutonium as a fuel source." Senator Leventis has been a leader on MOX issues in South Carolina over the last year, pushing for a more inclusive public process and better answers from DOE on its plutonium disposition program. For a copy of the letter write to port@bigsky.net.

Georgia Governor Roy Barnes has also been keeping track of MOX developments, particularly in light of past radioactive contamination in Georgia caused by SRS operations. A September 30 letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson calls DOE's response to the contamination "minimal, inconsistent and even condescending," and notes that nevertheless DOE has lobbied for his support of plutonium disposition programs at SRS. The letter demands that DOE resume studies of the source of tritium contamination in Georgia's groundwater, establish an environmental radiation monitoring system, and provide funds for outreach and education related to plutonium transportation across Georgia, threatening "all political and legal alternatives" if DOE fails to respond.

For a faxed copy of the letter write to port@bigsky.net. For more on tritium contamination from SRS, see "Institute for Energy and Environmental Research: Statement on Tritium before the House Committee on Intergovernmental Coordination," October 19, 1999, www.ieer.org/comments/tritstmt.html.

(Thanks to Linda Gunter, Patty Pierce, Nan Grogan Orrock, and Lisa Ledwidge for this information.)

C. Shareholder Activism

Shareholders in Duke Energy and Virginia Power have a unique chance to prevent MOX from being used in US reactors. An resolution put before Duke shareholders in early 1999 calling for the company to forego the use of MOX in its reactors fuel gained 7.7% of the vote, a very strong showing given that a vote above 3% is considered significant enough to guarantee the issue can be voted on again the following year.

Robin Mills of the Maryland Safe Energy Coalition has taken the lead in shareholder activism against MOX and has once again submitted an anti-MOX resolution for consideration by Duke shareholders in 2000. **IF YOU OWN STOCK IN DUKE, BE SURE TO VOTE!** Proxies will be mailed out in late February or March. (A resolution will likely go before Virginia Power shareholders in 2001.)

A REMINDER: Many mutual funds and retirement funds include investments in utilities. For example, TIAA-CREF, who provides retirement packages for many educational institutions and nonprofits, is one of the top 20 shareholders in Duke. If your retirement or mutual funds include Duke holdings, you can write to your fund manager telling them to vote for the anti-MOX resolution. It's quick, it's easy, and it puts your money to work against MOX!

For the text of this year's resolution see: www.wand.org/issuesact/mox-res.html. For more information contact Robin Mills at rmills4@bcpl.net, 410-662-8483. Additional contacts: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, bredl@skybest.com, 336-982-2691; Women's Action for New Directions, joank@alltel.net or port@bigsky.net, 406-327-0785.

(Thanks to Robin Mills for this information.)

A. Japan: MOX Program Delayed

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced that it will delay plans to use MOX in its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in the Niigata prefecture until 2001 in response to demands from local officials to postpone the program in the wake of the September 30 criticality accident at Tokai Mura. The MOX program was already under fire after it was learned in September that British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., who fabricated MOX fuel for use in several Japanese reactors, had falsified quality control data on fuel pellets in some of the MOX assemblies. It has been reported that subsequent MOX shipments will not take place until mid-2000 and that the recent series of accidents (going back to the 1995 accident that shut down the Monju breeder reactor) could seriously undermine Japan's plutonium program.

Paul Leventhal and Ed Lyman of the Nuclear Control Institute visited Japan in late October to speak against MOX fuel use in light water reactors in Japan. For NCI's report on this issue, see: www.nci.org/japanmox.htm.

(Thanks to Tom Clements and Pete Roche for this information.)

B. NOCANDU?

In its Final Environmental Impact Statement on Plutonium Disposition released on November 12 (see below), DOE announced that it has determined there is "adequate reactor capacity" for MOX in the US and therefore it will no longer actively pursue the option of using some weapons plutonium MOX in Canadian CANDU reactors (Final EIS Summary, p. S-2). DOE still reserves the option of doing so, however, and will continue to pursue Project Parallex in part to help Russia identify additional reactor capacity for its MOX program. Laura Holgate, Director of the Office of Fissile Materials Disposition, believes failure to conduct the tests "could significantly complicate disposition efforts with Russia." However, the Russian program will need considerable financial support before it can proceed. Stay tuned…

(Thanks to Kimberly Roberts of PSR and Pete Roche of Greenpeace UK for this information.)

C. A Kinder, Gentler Cogema

Cogema's new chairwoman, Anne Lauvergeon told the French newspaper Le Monde that public fears about Cogema "have been so great we cannot ignore them," and that the company is beginning a new era of openness and environmental awareness. Several measures were announced for the company's reprocessing facility at La Hague, including installation of surveillance cameras linked to the internet ("webcams," to be operated only periodically), reductions in emissions, more frequent and improved publication of emissions data, installation of new filters, and free phone lines to take questions from the public.

To see what's playing on the in-plant webcam, check out Cogema's fancy La Hague website at: www.cogemalahague.fr/. (Knowledge of French recommended for optimal experience.) Be sure to check out the Question/Response page (part of which is in English), which includes answers to such queries as "Why so many flowers at La Hague?" and "What exactly comes out of the "La Hague pipe?" (The answer is rainwater and "radioactive effluents," and assurance that effluents are quickly diluted by "powerful" sea currents.)

(Thanks to Kay Cumbow for this information.)