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CONTENTS: NUCLEAR
Despite wide opposition, including a Sept. 7 European Parliament
resolution claiming
that the Temelin nuclear plant in the Czech
Republic has undergone insufficient
environmental impact studies,
the recently completed facility is
scheduled to be open by late
September or early October,
according to reports. The European Parliament's
resolution calls on Prague to provide detailed
information to international
experts, so that they can assess
Temelin's safety, and to ratify as
soon as possible an international
convention on "cross-border
environmental impact," which grants
neighboring countries the right to
participate in the assessment of that
impact, according to Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty. Anti-Temelin activists block Czech-Austrian border crossings
While their government was expressing opposition, Austrian anti-nuclear
activists completely blocked six
Czech border crossings for one hour on Sept.
8 in protest of the planned launch of the Temelin nuclear plant in Czech utility in libel case with Greenpeace over nuke plantCzech state-controlled utility CEZ a.s, which is in charge of constructing the Temelin nuclear power plant, has filed a lawsuit charging the Czech branch of the environmental organisation Greenpeace with libel, according to a Sept. 1 report by Radio Prague. The company is suing Greenpeace for CZK 5 million, based on claims that the environmental organisation has been spreading false information about CEZ and the Temelin plant, the report said. The director of the Czech branch of Greenpeace welcomed the lawsuit, saying that there is plenty of proof to back Greenpeace's claims so he has no fear that CEZ will win the case, according to Radio Prague. Contact: Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety, tel: (420-2) 2422-3139; fax: (420-2) 2162-704; e-mail: karel.bohm@sujb.cz; or Greenpeace Czech Republic, tel: (420-2) 2431-9667; e-mail: greenpeace@ecn.cz; web: http://www.greenpeace.cz/. Bulgarian atomic official admits Kozloduy safety slipping
"One or two workers" at Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power
plant were irradiated, and radiation was "recorded dozens of metres
outside the reactor room, in an administrative building," Georgy
Kaschiev, chairman of Bulgaria 's State Committee for the Peaceful Use of
Nuclear Power, was quoted as saying by Agence France Presse. Kaschiev gave
no further details about the extent of the injury to the workers,
but he did say the safety of the plan t, on the Danube river on Bulgaria's
northern border with Romania, is "diminishing at an alarming
rate," according to a report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). Romania to continue work on second nuclear reactorRomania's government decided on Aug. 31 to continue work on the country's second nuclear reactor on the Danube River at Cernavoda and to resume talks with foreign lenders in an effort to fund the project, according to Reuters. The reactor is 40 percent built and, according to estimates, USD 750 million is needed to complete its construction, Reuters reported. Contact: Romanian Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environmental Protection, tel: (40-1) 410-6394; fax: (40-1) 312-2599. AROUND THE REGION Toyota funds environmental education in CEE
A EUR 238,000 grant from the Toyota Foundation in 2000 will fund the
development and distribution of an "Environmental Green Pack"
designed to help teachers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) inform their
students about the environment. The grant will be given to the Regional
Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) and represents
the first phase in a three-year project. The aim of the project is to
raise awareness of t he environment among secondary school pupils in
targeted CEE countries through a CD-ROM/diskette, teachers' notes, posters
and fact-sheets, distributed in the "Green Pack." Drought, fire damage in Croatia put at more than USD 300MForest fires that destroyed thousands of hectares of forests, crops and vineyards in Croatia have subsided, but the fires, and the continuing five-month-long drought that apparently caused them, have cost Croatia an estimated HRK 2.74 billion (USD 300 million), according to a report from Reuters. Fruit, wine-grape and grain crops could be reduced to just 30-50 percent of initial forecasts, Agriculture Minister Bozidar Pankretic told a cabinet meeting, the report said. Scattered fires, which raged throughout much of southern Croatia in the last week of August, claimed many precious natural areas, including half the Arboretum in Trsteno, according to report s. Contact: Jasminka Radovic, Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning, tel: (385-1) 610-1551; e-mail: jasminka.radovic@duzo.tel.hr Report: Drought causes USD 546M damage to Yugoslav cropsThe vice-president of the Commercial Committee of Yugoslavia, Milutin
Cerovic, said on Sept. 6 that this year's five-month drought had caused
losses estimated at USD 546 million in the country's five most important
agricultural crops: wheat, maize, sunflowers, soy beans and sugar beets,
according to a Sep. 6 report from FreeB92 News. Aurul investors seek deal with Hungary; facility to get upgradeA group of investors in Esmeralda, the Australian partner in the Romanian
gold mining company blamed for the January cyanide spill that decimated the
Tisza River, visited Budapest on Aug. 30 to discuss an out-of-court damages
settlement with the Hungarian government, according to Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). Government Commissioner Janos Gonczy said
Hungary is interested in "all decent offers" but continues to
claim compensation totaling HUF 29.3 billion (USD 100 million), RFE said.
The site has resumed operation, but will undergo extensive upgrading before
becoming fully operational, a Romanian official said on Aug. 28, according
to Reuters. Natural gas well fire in Hungary burns for weeksU.S.-based Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc. confirmed Sept. 6 that it has been called in to assist in controlling a Hungarian natural gas well fire, which has been called the country's worst gas fire ever, according to Reuters. About 200 firefighters had battled the more than 50 metre high inferno in Pusztaszolos in southeastern Hungary for close to three weeks, and they had apparently achieved success on Sept. 3, but the flame had to be restarted again because more gas from a broken pipe had come up through the ground and was threatening to explode if it wasn't burned away, Reuters reported. The fire, at a gas well run by the Hungarian fuel firm MOL, could take weeks to completely control and is expected to cause HUF 3.6 billion (USD 12.8 million) in losses Reuters said. Contact: Maria Erdes, Environmental Affairs Manager, MOL Rt., tel: (36-1) 464-1601. Plitvice lakes draw crowds at record pace
Despite forest fires in many wild areas, Croatia's Plitvice National
Park was host to approximately 370,000 visitors, 90 percent of whom were
foreign tourists, during the first eight months of the year, the Foreign
Press Bureau of Croatia reported on Sept. 7. If the good weather holds up,
Plitvice could very well surpass last year's planned annual visits of
400,000 nature lovers, the bureau reported. EC, EU ACCESSION Czechs warned of potential loss of EU funds
An EC official warned on Sept. 5 that, if the Czech Republic does not
adopt a law to incorporate EU environmental impact assessment procedures
into their own legislation, they will be refused access to EU aid next
year, Poland to spend EUR 30.5B to meet EU environment standards
Poland's environment ministry announced Sept. 4 that it will spend EUR
30.5 billion on the environment over the next 12 years, in order to comply
with European Union standards, according to a report from Agence France
Presse. About EUR 13 billion will be spent on water purification plants
and drainage systems; EUR 12.1 billion is to be spent on curbing
industrial pollution and EUR 4 billion have been earmarked to improve
waste management, said the report, which also said that Poland will
receive EU assistance for the spending. Resolution: Double environmental aid to candidate countriesA draft resolution presented to the European Parliament's environment committee on Aug. 29 says that environmental aid for countries seeking EU accession should be doubled by 2006, according to a report from Environment News Service. The resolution, prepared after a public hearing on European Union enlargement and the environment in June and drafted by two Dutch Members of the European Parliament, also calls on the European Commission to negotiate an "environmental code of conduct" with EU based firms operating or investing in accession countries, the report said. Although the EU has no plans to increase funding to accession states for environmental improvement, an EC official said that it had already doubled from 1999 to 2000, and that, under three different programmes -- ISPA, SAPARD and PHARE -- the amount available now comes to more than EUR 500 million annually, the report noted. Contact: European Parliament, tel: (32-2) 284-2111; web: http://www.europarl.eu.int. NEWS FOR JOURNALISTS New CEE government and environment database is online
A new online database created by the Regional Environmental Center for
Central and Eastern Europe (REC) allows web users to quickly look up
environmental officials in 15 countries in the region. The up-to-date
database of all ministries and governmental organisations with significant
environmental responsibilities contains information about over 500
institutions in the region, and reflects recent changes in Central and
Eastern European governments. Online survey to determine needs of environment journalists
International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) has
announced a worldwide, online survey to determine the education and
information needs of journalists and media professionals who want to cover
the environment. The survey will help the IFEJ, and other organisations,
tailor their services to meet the needs of environmental journalists, the
organisation said. The results of the survey will be compiled in a report
and a preliminary analysis will be presented at the International
Environment Journalists Congress, set for Nov. 13-19 in Cairo, Egypt, IFEJ
said. Macedonian entry takes second place in Reuters contest
The second prize in the Reuters-IUCN Awards 2000 contest for
environmental journalism in Europe went to Macedonian Marijana Ivanova for
her coverage about the deterioration of Lake Ohrid, which ran in the daily
"Denes," according to an announcement. The first prize in the
contest went to Johanna Romberg of GEO Magazine in Germany for his report
on the study of nature in Germany, the announcement said. The Awards are
part of a global initiative to promote excellence in environmental
journalism, organised jointly by the Reuters Foundation and IUCN, the
World Conservation Union, according to the announcement. WHO WE ARE About Green Horizon"Green Horizon" is a free newsletter
designed to help journalists stay ahead of environmental news
in Central and Eastern Europe. We offer tips on upcoming stories
to watch for, as well as information and ideas to help you develop
in-depth pieces about the region's environment. "Green Horizon"
is produced by the Regional Environmental Center for Central
and Eastern Europe. To join the mailing list: Send e-mail to:
GreenHorizon@rec.org. Funded by the European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. |
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