March 5, 2007
Europe: Majority against nuclear power.
According to a Eurobarometer opinion survey published on 5 March 2007, 61% of the overall EU population said that they thought the share of nuclear energy should be decreased due to concerns about nuclear waste and the danger of accidents. Only 30 percent would like to see its share to increase.
83% of citizens agree that the EU should set a minimum percentage for the share of renewable energy in overall EU energy consumption.
The eurobarometer Europeans and nuclear safety can be found here.February 12, 2007
Over 100 new books are added to the Laka library. Click here for a list of those books, or browse through the subjects here and find the books you needJanuary 25, 2007
The long awaited report by the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programm) about the environmental consequences of the Libanon-war is published. The investigation has not found any evidence that (depleted, natural or enriched) uranium weaponry by the Israeli Defense Forces have been used. The attention was especially focussed on soil samples from a crater in the neighborhood of Khiam in southeast Lebanon. Reports and rumours went the rounds in the international media during and after the 2006 war regarding the use of depleted uranium and/or uranium weapons at this specific site at Khiam. [read more...]January 11, 2007
Storing high-level nuclear waste without any leakage over thousands of years may be harder than experts have thought, research published in Nature shows. The problem is that the radioactive waste damages the matrix that contains it.
Many of the waste substances, including plutonium-239, emit alpha radiation, which travels for only very short distances (barely a few hundredths of a millimetre) in the ceramic, but creates havoc along the way. A fast-moving alpha particle knocks into hundreds of atoms in its path, scattering them like skittles. Worse still, the radioactive atom from which the particle comes is sent hurtling in the other direction by the recoil. Even though its path is even shorter than that of an alpha particle, the atom is much heavier, and can knock thousands of atoms out of place in the ceramic. All this disrupts the crystalline structure of the ceramic matrix, jumbling it up and turning it into a glass. That can make the material swell and become a less secure trap.
The researcher says that some zircons that have been heavily damaged in this way by radiation have been found to dissolve hundreds of times faster than undamaged ones.January 10, 2007
According to the IAEA PRIS database, on January 1, there were:
* 435 nuclear power reactors in operation with a total net installed capacity of 367.793 GW(e);
* 6 nuclear power plants in long term shutdown;
* 29 nuclear power plants under construction.
In 2006
* 3 reactors started operation: in India Tarapur 3, Tianwan 1 in China and Shika 2 in Japan.
* 8 reactors were shutdown permanently: Jose Cabrera 1 (Zorita) in Spain, Bohunice 1 (Slovakia), Kozloduy 3 & 4 (Bulgaria) and 4 in England: Dungeness A 1 & 2 and Sizewell A 1 & 2.
* The total installed capacity grew not only because the capacity of the 3 reactors connected to the grid was larger then that of the 7 reactors closed (by 500 MWe), by also due to upgrading of existing reactors.
* in 12 countries 29 reactors are under construction. However, 14 of them are located in Russia, Ukraine and India; three countries which have enormous difficulties funding their nuclear programme.
* most of the 435 reactors in operation are between 20-30 years in operation. Only 35 reactors went into operation in the last 10 years and 100 nuclear reactors are over 30 years in operation
December 15, 2006
At the end of October The Independent (UK) reported on the possible find of enriched uranium in a bomb crater at Khiam (Lebanon). In the frontpage article Dr Chris Busby from the European Committee on Radiation Risks (ECRR) speculates on the use of an experimental uranium bomb by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Is this the smoking gun of what the 'believers' in the anti-uranium weapons movement have always believed, namely that uranium is used in large guided munitions; or do we have to deal here with constructed proof caused by a state of mind, called tunnel vision?
Read more: (html) [pdf]November 14, 2006
A large new section on the Laka site: a series of 4 anti-nuclear posters from 17(!) different countries. A treasure from three decades anti-nuclear struggle!
Check it out, here! or go to the virtual exhibition of posters from the protests against the Dutch Dodewaard reactor. Watch and get insprired!November 9, 2006
UNEP: no evidence of uranium weapons used in Lebanon
UNEP reports that there investigation teams have not measured radiation levels higher than the background level in Lebanon. In addition, based on laboratory analyses of samples, UNEP excludes the military use of DU or use of uranium with another composition of isotopes in Lebanon. The investigation came after press-reports end of October about "a secret new uranium-based weapons". On the publication-page you'll find a link to the Laka press releaseOctober 12, 2006
No depleted uranium weapons used in Lebanon.
After a fact-finding mission to Lebanon, the Laka Foundation concludes: there is no reason to believe that DU weaponry has been used by Israel during the July/August 2006 war. On the publication-page you'll find a link to the press releaseSeptember 15, 2006
From Sept 15 on, a totally renewed Laka website is online with lots of extra features. Especially the English pages are much easier to navigate and have increased quite substantial: more factual information on and especially more on the (history of the) international struggle against nuclear power.
In this way, the contents of this new site reflects more the actual organisation: a documentation and center but also one that sees itself as the keeper of the fruits of the antinuclear struggle, and at the same time is still part of that struggle.
Although there is a lot more to find and see in Dutch on this site (after all, our main focus, traditionally, is The Netherlands), we will work on pages with specific material in other languages.
In that sense (and maybe that is the case with every website), this site will be permanently under construction, so it is important to come back every once in a while.