Date: Mon X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v2.52) X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.0 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN Status: R HEADLINES 17 - 29 DECEMBER 1997 NEW DELHI Dec 17 (AFP) - Two 1000 megawatt Russian reactors are bought by India to be installed in Tamil Nadu a southern India state. ZION Ill. USA Dec. 18 1997 (UPI) - The Zion and LaSalle nuclear power plants possibly will not be reopened again according the Chicago Tribune of today. VIENNA Dec 19 1997 (AFP) - The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) outlawing nuclear blasts is ratified by eight states and signed by 149 states according the IAEA. 44 states possessing nuclear installations must ratify the pact before it becomes binding. WASHINGTON (Reuters 19 Dec 1997) - A nuclear bomb can be built by Taiwan within a year. All kinds of secret programmes have been tried by Taiwan for developing nuclear weapons in the past according the Institute for Science and International Security which privately investigates the spreading of nuclear weapons. MOSCOW Dec 19 1997 (AFP) - Alexander Nikitin an environmental activist said Friday that his activities have helped to improve the bad nuclear safety level in Russia. Nikitin a former Navy captain faces charges for spying for the Norwegian ecological group Bellona and can be convicted to a sentence up to 20 years. Alexander denies the charges and continues his work for Bellona. LONDON Dec 19 1997 (Reuters) - Reported by Nucnet the U.S. nuclear power generation will drop by 2020 significantly. Gas and coal will be more economical so no new nuclear reactors will enter service until 2020. WASHINGTON Dec 20 1997 (AFP) - Chang Hsien-yi a Taiwanese colonel has stolen secret atomic bomb plans from the Taiwanese government and handed it to the US in 1987. MEXICO CITY Dec. 20 1997 (UPI) - A metal box containing iridium-192 is supposed to have been fallen off a truck and disappeared on the road from Mexico-City and Pueblo. Ir 192 isotopes are highy toxic have a short half-life and are strong gamma-beta-emitters. MOLINE Ill USA Dec. 20 1997 (UPI) - The Quad Cities nuclear plant from Commonwealth Edison is temporarely shut down for safety reasons. TAIPEI Dec 22 (Reuters) - Taiwan denies it has plans for developing nuclear weapons. "It is also against the national policy of the Republic of China". WASHINGTON Dec. 22 1997 (UPI) - 15 films are released by the U.S. Department of Energy about the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert '50-'60. Also 270 000 pages of documents are declassified and published on the DOE 'open net' internetsite. CMS 23 Dec 1997 - Russia and the USA have 7900 nuclear warheads each. During 16 years of the cold war the US government was convinced a nuclear conflict was winnable. The Clinton administration recently has admitted this was a wrong standpoint. BUENOS AIRES Dec 23 1997 (Reuters) - Embalse and Atucha I two nuclear reactors will be sold to a private company. Atucha II is still under construction. The reactors generate 11 percent of Argentina's electricity. The Yagyreta hydoelectric dam will also be privatised. Dec. 23 1997 /PRNewswire/ - To make the Russian nuclear stockpile more secure Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) will privide enhanced safety at 30 sites across the former USSR according a $7.2 million contract. MOSCOW December 24 1997 (Reuters) - Topol-M rockets will replace the old nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles in Russia. MOSCOW Dec 25 1997 (AFP) - Chernobyl's reactor no. 1 which is shut down on November 30 1996 will be dismantled. A plan will be made by the Ukrainian energy ministry within 3 months according the G7 contract signed at the end of 1995. Reactor number 3 is still operating. The whole unit will be closed down in the year 2000. MOSCOW Dec 25 1997 (AFP) - In Lianyungang some 400 kilometres (370 miles) north of Shanghai two 1000 megaWatts VVER nuclear power plants will be built by Russia. The contract will be signed December 28 to 30. VIENNA Dec. 26 1997 (UPI) - Not any progress is made according the IAEA with controlling the Iraq nuclear weapons program. The five-man-team has returned. BEIJING Dec 26 1997 (AFP) - Boris Nemtsov the Russian Deputy Prime Minister pays a 'working visit' to China to sign the contract for the joint construction of two 1000 megawatt nuclear power plants in Lianyungang. BEIJING Dec 29 1997 (AFP) - The nuclear contract has been signed to build two reactors in Lianyungang. Overview of the Chinese nuclear power plants + year on-line: -Qinshan I: The first nuclear power plant 300 mW 1993 -Daya Bay: Built by a French-British consortium 2x900mW 1994 -Qinshan II: To be built solely by the Chinese 2x600mW 2003 -Qinshan III: Sino-Canadian joint venture 2x700mW 2003 -Ling'Ao: Built by a French-British consortium 2x985mW 2003 -Lianyungang: Joint project with Russia 2x1000mW 2005 ====================================================================== World Information Service on Energy - WISE PO Box 59636 Tel: +31-20-6126368 1040 LC Amsterdam Fax: +31-20-6892179 The Netherlands Email: wiseamster@antenna.nl (Visitors: Ketelhuisplein 43) http://antenna.nl/~wise ======================================================================