BREDL hosted
French Delegation for a citizen's roundtable on
Plutonium fuel.
BREDL/French
MOx experts Press Conference - Oct. 15, 1999
Charlotte, NC.
Sponsored By:
Southeastern Environmental Education Resources
(704) 545-9918
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (336)
982-2691
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
(301) 270-5500
The roundtable featured two French experts on
plutonium fuel. France is a leading
proponent of plutonium fuel and the French firm
COGEMA is part of the industrial consortium for
plutonium-fueled reactors with Duke Power.
If this ill-advised project proceeds, COGEMA
would fabricate plutonium into fuel rods for
Duke's McGuire and Catawba reactors near
Charlotte and Rock Hill.
Honored Guests included:
Didier Anger was elected French representative to
the European Parliament from 1989 to 1992 and
Regional Counsel of Basse-Normandie from 1992 to
1998. During that time he filed the
complaint which resulted in the governments
investigation of COGEMA for "endangering the
lives of others."
Jean-Luc Thierry was involved in many Greenpeace
campaigns against plutonium reprocessing at La
Hague. He is a journalist.
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The Blue Ridge Environmental
Defense League and the Charlotte-based
Southeastern Environmental Education Resources
(SEER) oppose the use of plutonium fuel in
commercial nuclear power reactors for
environmental, public health, and national
security reasons. The reversal of a two
decade policy prohibiting the use of plutonium in
reactors would put a strategically valuable and
dangerous material, which is now in the hands of
the armed forces, under the control of electric
utilities. Ironically, this would not
reduce the nation's stockpile because it would
create new plutonium at a rate similar to its
destruction in a power reactor, yielding new
plutonium for old. When you add to this the
environmental consequences of plutonium
reprocessing and the additional risks of
new breeder reactors, you end up with an
environmental nightmare.
The US Department of Energy's surplus plutonium
disposition program would reprocess 33 tons of
plutonium at the Savannah River Site for use as
fuel at Duke Power's Catawba and McGuire nuclear
reactors. The use of plutonium fuel in
nuclear powered domestic utility reactors would
employ one of the most toxic substances on earth
to generate electricity. This will shorten
the expected lifespan of utility reactors and
increase the risk and the severity of
accidents.
Southeastern Environmental Education Resources is
a chapter of the
BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE
PO Box 88 ~ Glendale Springs, North
Carolina 28629
Phone (336) 982-2691 ~ Fax (336) 982-2954
Email: BREDL@skybest.com
website: http://www.bredl.org
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