From: Greenpeace (via Jym Dyer) <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,sci.energy,talk.environment
Subject: NEWS: "Bomb Center Vienna" -- IAEA Reform Demanded
Followup-To: sci.energy,talk.environment
Date: 29 Sep 1992 06:33:24 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu

[Greenpeace Press Release from Greenbase -- Redistribute Freely]
  
                       "BOMB CENTER VIENNA" 
                                  
             Dozens of "Manned" Nuclear Bombs Warn of 
                 Danger of Plutonium Stockpiles 
  
VIENNA September 21, 1992 (GP) With dozens of 'manned' atomic
bombs, Greenpeace warned today of the growing threat of nuclear
proliferation from an out-of-control plutonium industry. The
protest came on the opening day of the General Conference of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
  
The IAEA continues to promote plutonium production and trade,
instead of providing effective controls on proliferation. The
Agency thus contributes irresponsibly to global destabilisation,
Greenpeace said.
  
With banners on the roof of the conference centre in which
delegates to the IAEA were gathering, Greenpeace renamed the
site "Bomb Center Vienna" to symbolise the impact of nuclear
promotion on world security. Dozens of Greenpeace activists
dressed as 'walking atomic bombs' made the point that there
are already 47,000 nuclear warheads threatening the future
of humanity and the situation is getting worse. Greenpeace
spokespeople said that inadequate control of plutonium in
nuclear states was the starting-point for a dangerous escalation
in the proliferation of nuclear materials.
  
Greenpeace greeted the arriving delegates with chocolate nuclear
bombs and demanded that "far-reaching radical reform" of the
IAEA be instituted immediately.
  
At present there are over 100 tonnes of weapons-usable plutonium
sitting in stockpiles in Russia, France, Britain, Germany,
Belgium and Japan. Only 8 kgs of plutonium are needed to build
a nuclear weapon, and a millionth of a gram is enough to cause
cancer. Even IAEA Deputy Director-General William J. Dirks has
repeatedly admitted that the stockpile of plutonium in member
states is a pressing political problem.
  
Dirks has said that the IAEA must revise its position on the
separation and use of plutonium in light of the failure of
fast-breeder reactor programmes and the consequent fact that
there is no longer a civilian purpose for all the plutonium
now available.
  
Apparently the IAEA doesn't take the plutonium crisis very
seriously, though.  Director-General Hans Blix told a news
conference in Vienna on September 18th that the Agency has
"more pressing problems than plutonium". However, news reports
indicate that a special one-day session on plutonium at the
General Conference this week was cancelled due to intensive
political pressure from some member states.
  
"This hair-raising decision isn't surprising given that the
Agency's primary function is to promote the interests of the
nuclear industry, irrespective of the threat it now poses to
global security and the public interest", said John Willis of
Greenpeace. "The IAEA has to accept part of the responsibility
for the present crisis because it promotes reprocessing, the
very technology that produces separated plutonium."
  
Greenpeace says that the quashing of the plutonium session is
probably also a result of Japanese and American sensitivity
caused by the upcoming voyage of the plutonium-ship, Akatsuki-
Maru.  The imminent transport from France to Japan of a tonne of
plutonium has caused worldwide controversy, both because of the
extreme environmental hazard and fears in Asia about Japan's
ultimate strategic intentions. Indonesia, for example, has
banned the transit of the ship through the Straits of Malacca.
The transport is so risky that the vessel must be accompanied
by an armed escort and tracked continuously by US military
satellites.  The plutonium on board is sufficient to produce
over 100 nuclear weapons. By the year 2000, there will be enough
plutonium stockpiled to produce over 20,000 bombs. The IAEA
admits that its safeguard system cannot guarantee that this
material will not be diverted to military purposes.
  
     GREENPEACE DEMANDS RADICAL REFORM OF THE IAEA 
  
Recent diplomatic proposals by some member states to hold a full
review of the IAEA's contradictory functions were blocked by
very strong opposition from the UK, Belgium, and France. This
experience shows clearly the outlines of the power-structure
within the IAEA: the very small number of member states who are
fully committed to nuclear technology wield a disproportionate
say in key decisions.
  
As the final review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty approaches
in 1995, it is imperative that full-scale reform of the IAEA
be undertaken. The IAEA is a critical NPT agency, responsible
for the functioning of safeguards.  Greenpeace demands that
this dangerously anachronistic agency by transformed.
  
"A UN body to promote nuclear power has no right to exist on
this earth", Mr. Willis said. "The IAEA must be reformed into an
agency for the control and phase-out of nuclear technology and
the threat of proliferation", he said.
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive