Nuclear Awareness Project
March 10, 2000
TURKISH NUCLEAR SCANDALS BREAKÖ
AKKUYU VENDOR SELECTION DELAYED AGAIN UNTIL APRIL
7TH
Late on the evening of March 1st, the Turkish government said the long awaited selection of a nuclear vendor to build the Akkuyu nuclear plant would be made at the end of a ten day period. However, on March 10th, Turkey announced that the selection of a vendor for construction of the Akkuyu nuclear plant would be delayed yet again, this time until April 7th. The decision has been delayed for almost two years in an embarrassing series of postponements. The three nuclear vendors from Canada, the United States and Europe will tell the state utility TEAS by March 21stif they are willing to let their bid prices stand. The bids were originally made in 1997.
Meanwhile, two major scandals have broken recently in Turkey, making the proposed nuclear plant even more controversial. One of Turkeyís most prominent earthquake experts and author of an earlier study for the government on earthquake safety at the site, has said that the nuclear plant should not proceed without much more research. His submission to the government late last year was suppressed. The second scandal relates to the possibility that Turkeyís acquisition of nuclear power technology could lead to a nuclear weapons program. A member of the government cabinet has defended nuclear weapons development, stating that it would provide security and deterrence.
ìWe now have a smoking gun. The Akkuyu area has not been proven safe from earthquakes and a government minister is defending the development of nuclear weapons. It is time for AECL and the other nuclear vendors to withdraw their bids.î said David Martin, Research Director of Nuclear Awareness Project, a Canadian environmental group that has fought the Akkuyu nuclear plant since 1996.
There are three contenders bidding to build Akkuyu. Canadaís state-owned nuclear company, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is competing against Nuclear Power International (NPI ó a consortium of the German company Siemens and the French company Framatome), and a third bidder, a partnership of Westinghouse (USA) and Mitsubishi (Japan). Akkuyu, on Turkeyís Mediterranean coast directly north of Cyprus, would be the first nuclear plant to be built directly on the Mediterranean Sea, using sea water for cooling.
Earthquake Scandal
Prof. Mustafa Erdik sent a report to the state utility in November 1999, saying that a 1990 report that he had prepared on earthquake safety at Akkuyu is outdated, ìDue to rapid developments in the discipline of seismic engineering, the methodology used in the 1990 report has become outdated.î An active fault line known as the Ecemis Fault runs near to the nuclear site.
Prof. Erdikís letter to TEAS, stating the need for further earthquake research, was suppressed and was not made available to the government prior to or during its March 1st announcement on Akkuyu. Prof. Erdik is the head of Seismic Engineering at Turkeyís most prominent earthquake research centre, the Kandilli Observatory, and at the Seismic Research Institute of Bogazici University.
Nuclear Weapons Scandal
As reported on March 9th, Turkish Minister of Transport, Enis Oksuz has attacked environmental opponents of nuclear power in Turkey and defended nuclear power as a first step in developing a nuclear weapons program. Oksuz stated in a major daily newspaper, ìWhen you mention the atomic bomb, they are scared that it kills people. It has not been used since the second world war. Having such a bomb in Turkeyís hand is security. It provides deterrence.î
Oksuz is a member of the extreme right wing nationalist party Milliyetci Hareket Partisi (MHP ó National Movement Party), which is the number two party in the country, and a partner in the three-party government coalition.
The proposed Akkuyu nuclear plant has heightened tensions in the eastern Mediterranean region. On March 2nd, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Ioannis Cassoulides, protested the Akkuyu plant, stressing the risk of accident from earthquake damage. On March 7th, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou urged Turkey to reconsider its plans for the Akkuyu nuclear plant, stressing the potential impacts on the environment and on tourism in the region.
For more information please contact:
David H. Martin Research Director,
Nuclear Awareness Project (Canada)
tel/fax: +905-852-0571
e-mail: nucaware@web.net
The following articles are reprinted below or linked to their original web site:
Tolga Akiner, ìNuclear Scandalî, Radikal, March 3, 2000 (in English)
ìOksuz challenges the environmentalistsî,
Sabah, March 9, 2000 (in English)
ìCyprus to fight Turkish N-plantî, BBC News Online, March 3, 2000
ìGreece concerned over Turkish nuclear plantî, BBC World Service, March 8, 2000
Radikal
March 3, 2000
Nuclear Scandal
By Tolga Akiner
Ankara ó The message in which an official of the Kandilli Observatory warned Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit about earthquake risk at the Akkuyu site has been withheld from Ecevit. And the nuclear station received a ìvisaî at the parliamentary council on March 1st, because that message was kept off the agenda.
Prof. Mustafa Erdik, head of the branch of Seismic Engineering at the Kandilli Observatory and Seismic Research Institute of Bogazici University had informed TEAS that the 1990 report on the proposed site was outdated. In the message sent to Lutfi Sarici, the head of TEAS Office of Nuclear Power Stations, Prof. Erdik referred to the 1990 report he had prepared and said ìDue to rapid developments in the discipline of seismic engineering, the methodology used in the 1990 report has become outdated.î Erdik also mentioned that the 1990 study was based on the Ecemis fault line (25 kms from Akkuyu).
New seismic studies
ìDue to the very limited nature of off-shore geophysical research undertaken for the 1990 report, and to avoid mis-interpretations based on inadequate data, it is essential to undertake new off-shore studies in the area south of the Akkuyu Nuclear Station site.î he said.
Radikal has learnt that in their briefing to government members, TEAS officials had said ìSeismic investigations have been done and hypothetical scenarios on earthquakes have been completed.î A high-level official has informed Radikal that government members were not aware of the note that Prof. Erdik had sent to TEAS in November, 1999.
Prof. Erdik gave Radikal the following information: ìIn the design of Akkuyu Nuclear Station, we had based our estimates on a potential earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale. At that time, we had much less data. Today there is a lot more data on earthquakes. New research has to be done and a new report prepared with that new data. In the former report, there were some vague areas because of the lack of data. If you build a structure to withstand an earthquake, it will withstand an earthquake. In the Akkuyu region, there has already been an earthquake measuring 6.2 at Ceyhan, and there was damage. So we have to at least reduce the anxieties over this issue.î
Aytekin convinced
Meanwhile, Fevzi Aytekin, the Minister of the Environment said yesterday that the Akkuyu site was free of earthquake risk. ìThis is the safest region,î he said. Aytekin said he was now convinced and agreed with the parliamentary council decision to go ahead with the nuclear power station.
Sabah
March 9, 2000
Oksuz challenges the environmentalists
Minister of Transport Enis Oksuz has challenged the environmentalists opposing nuclear power and said, ìMost of them are people deceived by the oil and coal cartels. If they get on my nerves too much, I will say who has received how much money from where.î
He said that those who oppose nuclear power were opposing the development of Turkey. He wore an ëenvironmentalist badgeí because he was ëpro-nuclearí. ìI will build a summer house when I am retired in the shade of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant by the (Mediterranean) sea. I invite other politicians to build houses over there too. Letís build a neighbourhood there.î
He said France and the US has many nuclear power plants. ìDid god create nuclear energy just to harm the Turkish people? Doesnít anything happen to the French and the German when it only harms the Turkish people?î
The atomic bomb
Oksuz stated, ìWhen you mention the atomic bomb, they are scared that it kills people. It has not been used since the second world war. Having such a bomb in Turkeyís hand is security. It provides deterrence.î