Energy Probe

The New Brunswick longshoremen who blockaded the shipment of heavy water to Argentina’s military government thirty years ago were given a celebration at Saint John’s City Hall last week. The blockade, which led to the release of 11 trade unionists being held by the junta, is credited with loosening the military grip on the country’s political system and preventing it from bringing a nuclear reactor on line.

Energy Probe's Norman Rubin made an appearance in a recent report by Global-TV on the delivery this month of 550 metric tons of Iraqi yellowcake uranium to the Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp. The yellowcake, described as the last remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear arms program, was bought by Cameco from the United States for a reported sum in the tens of millions of dollars.

Energy policy isn't just consuming U.S. lawmakers. It's also dominating the Canadian agenda and particularly the province of Ontario.

The current government there recently unveiled its long-term supply roadmap that plans to double the amount of renewable energy by 2025 and refurbish or replace the province's base-load nuclear capacity. But it also expects to phase-out the use of coal-fired generation by 2014 -- a strategy that had to be put off for seven years.

What international player has been sharing nuclear technologies with Iran and North Korea for years, while receiving not punishment but encouragement from the civilized world?

That international player assisted North Korea's monstrous regime with uranium prospecting, uranium ore processing, and radioisotope production. It helped Iran develop uranium mining. It is right now helping Iran to acquire some frightening technology for its Bushehr reactor, and to upgrade a smaller and more flexible "research" reactor.

"Unfortunately, in the nuclear field, 'major international collaboration' [towards permanent disposal of nuclear waste] usually means that Atomic Energy Canada Limited and their 13 international counterparts in most nuclear jurisdictions on the planet have agreed to something. Often, six falsehoods before breakfast, in my view. This is part of how we've spent $1 billion answering the wrong questions – like, 'If you wanted to dispose of this stuff irretrievably, with no monitoring, getting assurances primarily from computer models, how best to do it?'" – Norm Rubin

We have learned that the federal government has quietly begun giving its friends in the nuclear industry new access to the public purse, in order to fund plans for massive nuclear power growth.

Hate to say it,
but we told you so!

On Jan 16, 2003, The Asian Pacific Post in an investigative expose reported that Pakistan’s nuclear hero, Dr. A.Q. Khan and at least five other Pakistani nuclear scientists were linked to an underground network trading in nuclear secrets. The story warned that the scientists and several others who were trained in Canada were selling their expertise to rogue nuclear nations like North Korea, Libya and Iran.

In uncertain times, small things can make all the difference. One December 13, 2001, a wrong turn by a driver in New Delhi may have saved the planet from a nuclear Armageddon. That morning, five heavily armed men driving a car packed with explosives slipped past guards at the Indian Parliament. After mistakenly turning into a lane used only by Vice-President Krishnan Kant, they tried to reverse but rammed into Kant's official vehicle. A scuffle broke out with the vice-president's security detail, and the terrorists started shooting. They killed eight security personnel and a gardener in a 40-minute firefight before being dispatched themselves. One terrorist managed to fire through Kant's office door, narrowly missing him. Another gunman made it within metres of a doorway used by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee before being killed.

Literary Review: Out of the Nuclear Shadow

In the midst of war-like postures emanating out of New Delhi and Islamabad, Out of the Nuclear Shadow is a must-read. It brings some of best writings of the intellectuals and activists of the subcontinent and is a contribution to the anti-nuclear struggle, says KANTI BAJPAI.

The suicide bomb that exploded in New Delhi last week, triggering renewed tensions between India and Pakistan, has once again landed the latter country's nuclear arsenal at the top of international security concerns. Alarm about a possible nuclear meltdown in the subcontinent comes amid fears that rogue extremists in Pakistan could try to seize that country's nuclear arsenal and reports linking former and active Pakistani nuke scientists to al Qaeda.

Ensuring more CANDU sales meant not giving countries a hard time over bothersome issues like safeguards against plutonium diversion, says David Martin, who is a nuclear policy consultant at the Sierra Club of Canada. "That was the leverage the Indians had. 'Don't give us a hard time; if you want to sell us reactors, keep your mouth shut.' That was the game they were playing. . . . The government and the AECL were aware they were dancing with the devil by giving India nuclear technology. They understood the risks and were willing to take them."

A huge spinoff industry depends on reactor sales, officials say. But suppliers diversified long ago, writes Richard Foot.

The Candu was originally developed during the Second World War as a means of producing plutonium -- a key fissile element in atomic bombs -- for the U.S. Manhattan Project. The Candu uses natural uranium fuel and a neutron moderator, (which helps stabilize the chain reaction), called heavy water.

Last week, Chrétien was in China again to conclude the biggest single Canada-China deal ever: a $4-billion contract for the construction of two of Canada's CANDU 6 nuclear reactors to supply electricity to an industrial region south of Shanghai. Federal officials hailed the sale as a major step in building Canada's presence in China. But at home, the sale provoked an explosion of protests.

Canada Is "Exporting Disaster"
New study critical of imminent CANDU export deal to China

Ottawa -- A study released today by the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout (CNP) says CANDU exports have no economic benefits and high moral costs. It is expected that Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) will announce the sale of two CANDU reactors to China sometime this month.

Executive Summary

Canadian CANDU exports have entailed extraordinarily high costs for Canadians, both in financial and in human terms.

• Canada's nuclear program has cost the Canadian treasury over $13 billion to date. Yet domestic sales have dried up, and export sales are scarce. Any sales that occur cannot possibly recoup the value of the nuclear subsidies already received from Canadian taxpayers.

   

Human rights violations in the People's Republic of China (PRC) remain systematic and widespread. The Chinese government continues to suppress dissenting opinions and maintains political control over the legal system, resulting in an arbitrary and sometimes abusive judicial regime. The lack of accountability of the government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) means that abuses by officials often go unchecked.