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Angela Merkel's government decided in September 2010 that nuclear power plants built since 1980 stay in office 14 years than expected, while older plants continue to operate eight years longer than planned. life of existing nuclear power plants took off up to 60 years, amid protests from environmentalists and other sectors political opposition Christian Democrat government of the extreme right. According to a pact of 2000 between the Social Democrat coalition government -green led then by Gerhard Schröder and industry energy, the last of the 17 German nuclear plants should be turned off in 2021. Postponing called "nuclear blackout" revitalized the antinuclear movement clustered around Greens, that in recent months has starred in dramatic actions to block convoys of nuclear waste across Germany .
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Ernesto Carmona. Chilean writer and journalist renowned nationally and internationally. ***
Japan's nuclear crisis affects Chile and ... Germany.
"Care President Piñera can not" play "with
nuclear plants."
*****
Monday March 14, 2011.
Ernesto Carmona (special ARGENPRESS.info)
The nuclear disaster caused by the earthquake in Japan dealt a blow to the aspirations of entering Sebastian Pinera in Chile U.S. nuclear plants, France and / or Russia to mitigate the power shortage, where consumption is rationed. Obama brings in its agenda a "nuclear cooperation agreement," while already launched an agreement with France and received offers from Russia. But the tragedy in two Fukishima plants, 12 km distant from one another, plus emergency declared in Onagawa, closest to the epicenter of the earthquake, and the escape of radioactivity in Tokai up critical voices against Piñera, who began these negotiations silent, without any prior internal debate, according to management style that prevails now in government.
While Germany-open and democratic debate "as soon as possible to end its nuclear reactors, intended to embark authoritatively Piñera Chile an atomic program in decades rebalsaría the 3 years remaining to his administration of 4, as their improvised energy project would begin to operate when highly developed nations, as its model run by Angela Merkel, you probably already have abandoned their nuclear plants replacing them with clean energy, clean and without risk to the life of the inhabitants. An "advantage" that the U.S. would not object as it does with Iran, by contrast, would be safer technology provider, though its nuclear plants are safe not generate frequent accidents and nuclear waste carelessly leave, as in Shearon Harris, North Carolina corporate headquarters Progress Energy.
One of the first alert was launched by leftist senator Alejandro Navarro, of the Comprehensive Social Movement (MAS), who invited the biministro Mining and Energy Laurence Golborne, whom he called "principal promoter of this expensive energy, subsidized and dangerous." He said the minister "must decide on its current position on nuclear power in Chile after the disaster happened in Japan. If failed in Japan, which is a first world country and highly developed, what remains to Chile? ".
Golborne, a former executive from the "retail" Cencosud (Jumbo and Santa Isabel supermarkets, shops Paris, etc.) Headed by Horst Paulmann -10.5 billion dollars and No. 75 world ranking, Forbes, executed in February with its pair of Eric Besson, French Minister of Economy, by Industry, Energy and Networks-a program of cooperation in nuclear energy. The negotiations also included the transnational GDF Suez, represented by its President and CEO Gerard Mestrallet, and Guillermo Luksic, powerful group of Chilean namesake, the third family fortune in Latin America, with 19.2 billion dollars and No. 27 in the Forbes global ranking, and whose main line is now copper.
The large copper mining is the main energy consumer in the country, while GDF Suez is one of the largest energy transnationals operating in Chile for the mining sector, along with AES Gener, which in 2009 was benefited by President Michelle Bachelet to Decree Supremo N ° 68, which changed the environmental standard in establishing the industrial use of land previously designated for green areas and thus allowed the construction of the thermoelectric Campinche in Region V (Valparaiso). Bowing to pressure from the U.S. Embassy, \u200b\u200bin an episode virtually unknown to the public and details are now known in March by Wikileak, Presidential Decree did away with a Supreme Court ruling, which in June 2009 stated: "The illegal disposal of land use for green areas in a town affected by high emissions of pollutants cause visible impairment to the environment they live in the recurrent breach their constitutional right to live in an environment free of pollution. "Interestingly, in August 2010 Piñera declined to citizen pressure and, after a phone call" friendly "to Mestrallet, reversed the environmental regulatory approval granted to the thermoelectric project Barrancones GDF Suez in Region IV (La Serena-Coquimbo). This plant will be installed in another place yet
Debate: Critics and others.
Senator Navarro said that "nuclear plants in earthquake country in the world that is ours to be rejected after the disaster we have witnessed" . The legislator who is part of the Environment Committee of the Senate, said that opening up the government on nuclear energy due to external pressures: "It is the product of a state policy is the product of nuclear business lobby, both French and Russians, who have been in Chile trying to sell nuclear power plants that are disarming in their respective countries, "he said. "The minister is wrong to raise Golborne in a timely manner the development of nuclear energy, we must have a national energy policy," he said. "Chile has no such policy, and therefore, are flying blind. Nuclear power, raised in isolation, is a good deal for someone. I do not know where to block and what triggers the need for nuclear policy. " Invite the Minister announced that the committee to explain the reasons for his trip to France and why not traveled to countries like Japan and Israel, which have geothermal and solar plants, respectively, they represent the global trend.
Congressman Enrique Accorsi, the Party for Democracy (PPD), criticized the lack of participation of citizens in this debate, and claimed that the energy matrix is \u200b\u200bbeing defined by private corporations and not by government. The Green Party also asked the government and Golborne to discard the possibility of building a nuclear reactor in the country. His spokesman Israel Campusano, expressed concern about the serious consequences that could leave the core collapse of Japan (Radio Bío Bío, 12/03/2011)
Physicist Walter Orellana, Andrés Bello University, recalled that Chile holds the record of the earthquake of 9.6 degrees of Valdivia on 22 May 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded in history of seismology. "I think we have great technology gap with Japan as well as considering the nature of our geology, and we must assess whether it is the most convenient option for our country" (Terra, 03/13/2011). Preceded by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred the day Previous -21 May 1960 - Concepción, distant 448 km north of Valdivia, the largest earthquake caused two million people were affected, Valdivia 4m sank under the sea level caused by the eruption of Puyehue. The quake, felt in much of the southern cone, caused a tsunami that swept across the Pacific, caused 800 deaths in Japan two days later (5/24/1960) and severe flooding in Hawaii. This catastrophe shows that the replicas on the same plate can overshadow the first event of earthquake.
For the executive director of the Terram Foundation, Flavia Liberona, the Japanese experience shows the risks of nuclear energy: "If you move it to the scene of Chile obviously a disaster of such features would be worse in our country because we all know that the conditions to be built in Japan, preparation for citizenship or security measures are vastly superior "(Terra, 13/03/2011). Liberona added that" beyond the discussion of whether good or bad, Chile is not prepared to have nuclear energy and risks that it entails. "He said that the future lies in renewable energy and do not represent an alternative to radioactive emissions risks can remain for years in the environment.
Paul Venturino, a citizen who wrote to The Third (07/03/2011) said: "The truth, and having nothing against these companies, Golborne should begin by reviewing what representative institutions are doing today in Chile in this regard, as the College of Engineering, the Chilean Association of Renewable Energy, Utilities AG, Fundación Chile and other entities "high level" with technical and economic studies on energy scenarios, energy policy long-term support systems for renewable energy and proposals to integrate sustainable energies such as nuclear. Chile must integrate a diverse portfolio of energy sources and not fall into the error-checked several times that there is a power-saving, whether coal, natural gas, water or nuclear power. "
Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno, who before joining the government he worked as a lawyer and Falabella Luksic group, announced that "we will make an agreement [with Obama], I do not know if we will sign now or later "(La Tercera, 03/09/2011). "... We must recover the time and be able to when you can make this decision, we have the people, institutions and to take it, the U.S. also may be assistance "(La Segunda, 08/03/2011).
The deputy of the far-right Independent Democratic Union (UDI) John Wolf said that "Chile is making important strides in this area, and secure the cooperation of the United States would think of a more rapid development of our capabilities in this area." stressed Lobos "The issue is urgent for the country and that the power supply can not rely solely on dams and fossil fuel because it jeopardizes our development. "USA, said," has not only experience but also knowledge and technology of advanced nuclear energy, so that we can train our professionals in this country would be a great leap forward "( The Third 03/14/2011).
Gastón Agüero Scholar, University Federico Santa Maria, believes the nuclear option would be a great help to diversify energy sources: "My position is favorable for an economic issue, production and energy costs. I think the profitability of a nuclear plant Obviously, I think that air pollution is a serious issue, hydroelectricity can also be severe from the environmental point of view, then where is the balance? "(Terra, 03/13/2011)." From the point of nuclear light installation in Chile should be as similar to Japanese, or better, and you have to maybe a new design that is resistant to earthquakes grade 9 or 9.5. Now that may be the end of the project in the sense that the cost of making a power to resist an earthquake measuring 10 is infinite, and technically impossible to do, "he added.
The Golborne biministro "tweeted": "Calm down. Do not exaggerate or talk without valid information. I suggest learning from the experiences and then draw conclusions." As Minister of Mining, civil engineer Golborne became global character when he was in charge of the rescue of 33 trapped miners, whose ordeal caused by the irresponsibility of the mining company that hired them was harvested as propaganda by Pinera and his government help of the media. But still dying in other mining tasks and still not paid settlement to the 330 workers who were not trapped in the mine San Jose. Golborne gained great credibility, he became Minister Piñera star and was used by the government to quell social protest in Punta Arenas to a plan to boost domestic gas, which was modified.
The risk of nuclear energy
The paradox is that capitalism in Japan has chosen the nuclear power after the country suffered the only atomic attack, as was the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The third part of its energy comes from Japan Fukushima nuclear plant, whose No. 1 reactor became operational on March 26, 1971 and its 40 years has become an ancient time bomb, as dangerous as Chernobyl. The earthquake of 9.1 degrees is at risk of Onagawa plant, Fukushima 1, 2 and Tokai Fukushima 2, as the government hides reliable information about the accident, probably to reduce the nuclear panic. According to a report from German television DW, Fukushima earthquake infrastructure 1 was designed to withstand earthquakes up to 7.2 on the Richter scale at most, because the power companies argue that infrastructure is not profitable for a greater destructive force. However, almost all earthquakes in deaths and injuries in Japan since 1968 been registered more than 7.2 degrees Richter scale. For example:
May 16, 1968: Earthquake of 7.8 Richter scale (analogous to the 1923 Kanto, 7.9 degrees), 50 dead and 500 wounded.
June 12, 1978: Earthquake of 7.5 degrees, 21 dead.
May 25, 1983: Northern Japan, magnitude 7.7 earthquake, 104 deaths.
July 12, 1993: Hokkaido, 7.8-magnitude earthquake, 230 deaths.
October 4, 1994: 7.9 magnitude earthquake, Russian Kuril Islands, hit northern Japan.
January 17, 1995: Kobe, western Japan, 7.2 magnitude earthquake, 6,400 dead.
September 26, 2003: Hokkaido, two earthquakes, magnitude 8 and 7 degrees, 2 dead and 300 wounded
October 23, 2004: A series of earthquakes in northwestern Japan, one of 6.8 degrees, 23 dead and 500 wounded. For the first time a bullet train derailed.
March 20, 2005: Kyushu, earthquake of 7 degrees, one dead and 735 wounded.
July 16, 2007: Niigata (northwest), earthquake of 6.8 degrees, 11 dead and thousands injured, with aftershocks up to 5.6 degrees. It closed the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant following a leak of radioactive water.
June 14, 2008: Sendai (NE), an earthquake of 7.2 degrees, 13 dead, 10 missing and 150 injured.
2011, March 11, 2011: Sendai (port city), 9.1 degrees.
March 12, according to a bulletin of the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of Chilean Navy (SHOA), the National Earthquake Information Center U.S. Geological Survey revised the magnitude of the earthquake in Japan of 8.9 on the Richter scale to 9, 1 degrees. That same day, the Japan Meteorological Agency also revised its assessment of magnitude and amounted to 9.
Richter As each level represents a logarithmic exponential growth of 33 times the energy released by an earthquake, in the case of an earthquake in Japan every tenth of a difference equivalent to 3.3-strength earthquake of 9.1 on the Richter scale. And if today's mega power industry rule out building nuclear power plants capable of withstanding many consider the Richter scale by wasteful and impossible, then it makes the strongest alternative energy sources (wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, tidal, etc.) Always discarded as too expensive.
Before and after
.
To Juan Lopez de Uralde, former director of Greenpeace in Spain and Equo Project Manager, the escape of radioactivity in Japanese reactors will mark "a before and after" for the future of this energy. He noted that "it is time" to reflect on the need to change the energy model to other sources. "We're seeing that nuclear power is very dangerous and the world hold their breath again, pending what happens in a nuclear plant." For nearly 25 years of Chernobyl (26/06/1986) Ukraine says it still needs 400 million euros to ensure the safety of nuclear plant remains collapsed.
Angela Merkel's government decided in September 2010 that nuclear power plants built since 1980 remain in office 14 years longer than expected, while older plants continue to work more than eight years planned. The life of existing nuclear power plants took off up to 60 years, amid protests from environmentalists and other political groups opposed to the government right-wing Christian Democrat. According to a 2000 pact between the ruling coalition Social Democrat-Green then led by Gerhard Schröder and the energy industry, the last of the 17 German nuclear plants should be turned off in 2021. The postponement of the "nuclear blackout" revitalized the antinuclear movement clustered around The Greens, who in recent months has starred in dramatic actions to block convoys of nuclear waste across Germany.
And the news about Japan's nuclear crisis strengthened a demonstration scheduled for 11 March in which 60 000 antinuclear protesters formed a human chain of 45 kilometers from Stuttgart (south Germany) and atomic power Neckarwestheim to require abandonment of this source of energy. Among the protesters were the two co-chairs of the Green Party, Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir, who urged a return to the calendar for the abandonment of nuclear power approved in 2000 by the Schröder government. To be announced Monday demonstrations against the closure of nuclear plants in 130 German cities.
And Merkel, at least, announced inspections in the 17 nuclear power plants in Germany. He said "what happened in Japan is a warning to the world" for being a country highly developed, with high safety standards, as terrifying nuclear crisis requires "draw conclusions" and "Germany can not simply ignore the issue." Under pressure, the government is considering temporarily suspending the law adopted to prolong the life of nuclear power plants up to 14 years pending further studies in view of what happened in Japan. "We need a new risk analysis," said federal vicanciller and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle liberal. And in view of the results of the new study did not rule out a move to the early closure of some plants in Germany, the third country in the world's oldest plants whose intended to prolong life utilities. Environment Minister, Norbert Roettger, requested a reassessment of risks in nuclear plants and said that his party is also Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - should reopen the debate on nuclear power, which was installed across the country two weeks before regional elections.
The right-wing government of Nicolas Sarkozy adopted, however, a very different position from that of Merkel. French Industry Minister Eric Besson safety defended nuclear plants and said that all the plants "have been designed considering the seismic hazard and flood risk." He met with representatives of nuclear corporations galas and was accompanied by ... Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. France has 58 nuclear reactors account for 80% of energy demand.
Ernesto Carmona, Chilean writer and journalist.
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