Conf? u Topic 42 headlines Response 19 of 21 PORTZLINES88 energy.nuclear 5:21 PM Jul 12, 1995 (at delphi.com) (From News system) Apparently-to: perline From: PORTZLINES88@delphi.com Subject: headlines NUKE-NET HEADLINE ALERT '95 (July 4) Reuter is reporting that France is rejecting a call from French Polynesia for a referendum vote on the resumption of nuclear testing. (July 5) Reuter is reporting that the President of Ukraine says his country's nuclear safety record is much improved at all five operating nuclear plants. He also said the sarcophagus at Chernobyl is potentially dangerous. (July 5) Reuter is reporting that President Chirac says the planned nuclear tests will cause no pollution. When asked by a reporter from India why the test won't be conducted in France, Chirac responded, "Excuse me, but they are taking place in France." (July 5) Reuter is reporting that the concrete tomb at Chernobyl needs repairs and eventually will need to be replaced by a second sarcophagus. A French team will present designs for a the new tomb next week. A spokesman for Chernobyl said that steel support pillars could collapse and an earthquake could flatten the structure along with the tons of nuclear fuel still trapped inside. (July 5) Reuter is reporting that South America's Permanent Commission on the South Pacific says testing in the South Pacific constitutes a potential health and safety risk for the waterfront populations, their livelihood and their environment. (July 5) Reuter is reporting that Russia's Nuclear Energy Minister says that they will not be sending nuclear warheads to Russia for reprocessing because strategic secrets would be revealed. Environmental groups in Germany protested against the prospect of transporting the highly radioactive material through populated areas. The Siemens plant, where reprocessing would have occurred, is in the process of closing because of stricter regulations which are now in place. (July 5) Reuter is reporting that the French consulate in Vienna was evacuated after a bomb threat. The embassy has received many phone calls protesting France's decision to resume nuclear testing. (July 5) Reuter is reporting that Greenpeace welcomed former French President Mitterand's condemnation of Chirac's decision to resume testing. Mitterand says the time had come to put an end to the nuclear armaments race. The crew of the Rainbow warrior say they will take peaceful direct action to prevent or delay the tests. (July 5) UPI is reporting that Iraq has refused a United Nations order to destroy equipment associated with rocket motors capable of delivering nuclear weapons. (July 5) UPI is reporting that Chile's foreign minister says France should conduct nuclear tests in France if there is no threat to public health and safety. (July 5) UPI is reporting that a Danish ship which is a replica of a Viking vessel will accompany the Rainbow warrior in attempts to disrupt the nuclear tests. A Greenpeace spokesman said it would be futile for the French Navy to use force against the Rainbow Warrior. (July 6) Reuter is reporting that the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (comprised of South Korea, US and Japan) will soon set up offices in New York to implement the reactor deal with North Korea. (July 6) Reuter is reporting that Hong Kong restaurants are boycotting French products because of the planned nuclear tests. (July 6) Reuter is reporting that many Indian villagers want to be relocated because they fear their water is contaminated with radioactivity from the Tarapur plant near Bombay. A black film covers the water and people are complaining of headaches and joint pains. Many cattle and livestock have perished. (July 6) Reuter is reporting that the Rainbow Warrior II is being trailed by a ghost ship. Greenpeacers believe it is a French naval ship that stays exactly 12 miles behind their path. A Greenpeace spokeswoman asks why the health records from previous testing have been kept secret if tests are indeed safe. (July 6) UPI is reporting that the Governor of Guam told France to stop the nuclear tests and reconsider the fact that millions of people that will be in harm's way. (July 7) Reuter is reporting that the Rainbow Warrior sent two Kodiak style boats bearing a gift of Tee-shirts towards the French ship which has been shadowing their trip to Mururoa. When they came within six miles of the ship, it sped away. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that Greenpeace is planning candlelight vigils at all Australian capitals to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the bombing if the Rainbow Warrior. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that a New Zealand television report says two Greenpeace activists planned to tunnel themselves into radioactive sand in an attempt to stop French nuclear testing on Mururoa Atoll. The report says they plan to hide from the French as long as they can even if it kills them. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that Greenpeace activist David McTaggart has revealed a plan to "tunnel themselves into radioactive sand" in an attempt to stop French nuclear testing at the atoll. McTaggart told New Zealand television that he and a colleague, Chris Robinson, planned to go ashore in an inflatable dinghy while the Rainbow Warrior acted as an offshore decoy. McTaggart nearly lost an eye in a beating by French commandos at Mururoa in 1973. He is now aboard the yacht Vega, which is accompanying the mother ship after a rendezvous earlier on Sunday. They have been joined by the Danish ship Bifrost. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that the French Navy says two ships have been spotted heading for the Mururoa Atoll. One is the Greenpeace Rainbow yacht Vega and the other is the Danish Bifrost. France has instructed Greenpeace not to enter the 12- mile boundary around the atoll, but the navy expects the Rainbow warrior will enter the area on Monday, the tenth anniversary of the bombing of the original Rainbow Warrior. A French admiral says the surveillance ship Vendemiaire is tracking the vessels. He said the navy would wait until the Rainbow Warrior was well inside the exclusion zone and then divert it without force. Unconfirmed reports say that France has decreed the exclusion boundary is now 20 miles. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that the Rainbow Warrior was rammed and boarded by the French navy. French commandos used tear-gas to commandeer the ship. Communications were severed, but a video of masked navy personnel trying to enter the radio room was later aired on French television. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that New Zealand has summoned the French ambassador to seek an explanation after French commandos used tear gas to storm the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior II. (July 9) Reuter is reporting that the International Atomic Energy Agency now has three experts based in Iraq monitoring some 150 sites to prevent Baghdad reviving nuclear plans. (July 9) UPI is reporting that mutant mice are surviving at Chernobyl. Researcher from the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory said mutations which occurred would have taken 10 million years to occur naturally. Usually genetic damage signals a cell to die or enlists repair enzymes to restore the genetic code. Problems arise when genetic mistakes aren't fixed and persist as mutations. Such genetic errors lead to birth defects or cancer. While Chernobyl mice don't look like mutants they have many breaks in their DNA. The scientists captured five field mice from the Chernobyl area and compared their DNA with the DNA of five field mice from outside the area. The scientists then examined a gene called cytochrome B that, because it is passed directly from mother to offspring and changes slowly, is considered a genetic clock. The field mice from outside the irradiated area had essentially the same cytochrome B gene. But in the Chernobyl mice the gene sequences as well as their proteins were all different. In fact, the difu ference in the genes between normal mice and the Chernobyl mice was greater than that found between mice and rats, species that diverged some 15 million years ago. end --- GIGO unreg at globenet vsn 0.99.950303