The move comes as Vilnius remains at loggerheads with the European Union about closing its Soviet-built plant in order to continue with its application to join the 15-member European Union.

"The closure of Ignalina is, of course, inevitable, but also an opportunity for your country now to maintain nuclear expertise," said David Sycamore, director of institutional affairs of the European Atomic Forum FORATOM.

"You have a large body of well-educated, well-trained people who know how to operate a nuclear plant," he added.

Brussels has demanded Lithuania pledge to completely shut down the Ignalina plant by 2009 in order to close membership talks later this year and join the EU in 2004.

Lithuania has so far refused to make such a pledge without a commitment from the European Union to help foot the estimated bill of three billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) to close and clean up the reactor.

Ignalina's management has promoted the idea of building a modern replacement reactor, but the government has yet to endorse such a project.

"The purpose of our visit is really to encourage you to do that," Sycamore said after meeting Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.

"We encouraged your government and president to approach the European Commission and the governments of the members states" for support on building a replacement to Ignalina, he told journalists.

The EU considers the design of Ignalina's Soviet-built RBMK reactors unsafe despite some 250 million euros having been spent on improvements during the past decade.

Ignalina produces about 70 percent of Lithuania's energy.

Russian Supreme Court Bans Burial Of Hungarian Nuclear Waste
Moscow (AFP) May 21, 2002 - The Russian Supreme Court Tuesday banned the burial of Hungarian nuclear waste on Russian territory, finding in favor of several environmental groups and residents in the Ural mountains, Interfax reported.

The court in a final appeal let stand a decision from a lower chamber on February 26, which had overturned a 1998 government order authorizing the burial of nuclear waste from a Hungarian power plant which had been reprocessed in Russia.

The plaintiffs, which included residents in the Chelyabinsk region in far eastern Russia and the environmental organisation Greenpeace, had argued that under Russian law, nuclear waste had to be shipped back to its country of origin.

They also said that the Mayak reprocessing facility dumped large amounts of nuclear waste with radiation into the Karachay lake every year, using the lake as an open reservoir for nuclear waste.

Some 13,000 residents contract cancer every year, and 8,000 die from the illness, the plaintiffs said.

They also warned a decision by the Russian parliament authorising stepped-up treatment -- that could according to authorities create up to 150,000 jobs -- risked turning Russia into global trash can for nuclear waste.

Hungary and Russia have signed an agreement which foresees reprocessing up to 400 tonnes of Hungarian nuclear waste in centers in the industrial region of Chelyabinsk. The court ruling does not affect the treatment of that waste.

Philippines May Tap Nuclear Energy As Demand Increases
Manila (AFP) May 21, 2002 - The Philippine government may use nuclear energy to meet increasing demand for electricity, a state scientist said Tuesday.

"Government has not closed the window of opportunity for nuclear power and I suppose that ... if there is an energy crisis, the government will consider every option available," Alumanda de la Rosa, chief of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, said.

The country's primary energy use is seen rising by an average of 6.3 percent annually in the next eight years, the energy department said. Energy self-sufficiency, however, is not expected to grow as fast.

The Philippines was gripped by severe power shortages in the early 1990s, but Manila solved the problem by giving concessions to independent power producers that helped generate more electricity.

De la Rosa said it would take Manila several years to "beef up and upgrade its capability" in nuclear energy, 16 years after the government abandoned a nuclear power plant in Bataan province, west of Manila, on safety concerns.

Taipower May Not Store Nuclear Waste Off China As Opposition Mounts
Taipei (AFP) May 21, 2002 - Taiwan should not ditch its low-radiation nuclear waste on an islet off the mainland, despite the difficulties in finding a permanent storage ground, a top nuclear affairs official said Tuesday.

Surprising the state-owned Taiwan Power Company, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said safety considerations should bar the storage of low-radiation nuclear waste on Wuchiu, located some 14 nautical miles (30 kms) off China's southeastern Fujian coast.

"Wuchiu is way too close to the mainland, and we need to consider present ties with (Beijing)," AEC vice chairman Chiou Syh-tsong, told AFP.

"At the moment there is not any country in the world which has stored its nuclear waste on a site bordering another country."

Wuchiu was favored by the state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) for the construction of a permanent storage ground for low-radiation nuclear waste.

Beijing has opposed the Taipower proposal.

Chiou's remarks were a surprise to Taipower, which has submitted an environmental protection impact report to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for approval.

Taipower has also filed a feasibility report to the economic ministry for a go-ahead nod.

According to Taiwan regulations, Taipower is required to get approval from the EPA, the economic ministry and AEC before it's licensed to build any permanent nuclear waste storage ground.

"Now it seems the odds are getting small," a Taipower official said when asked to comment on the remarks.

"But still we'll have to wait until the results are done. It would be strange to withdraw the reports to the EPA and the economic ministry at this moment because they were already halfway done."

Chiou recommended that Taipower concentrate its efforts on finding a place on Taiwan.

"The AEC's position is that the Taiwan island itself should be given top priority when Taipower weighs its varied options," Chiou said. "After all the domestically produced nuclear waste should be processed here."

He also opposed shipping the low-radiation nuclear waste to other countries for permament storage.

Taiwpower had agreed in 1997 with North Korea that the communist state would store waste, but the plan was dropped after pressure from South Korea and international conservationists.

It has also negotiated with Russia and the Marshall Islands for the establishment of an overseas nuclear waste disposal ground.

Some 180,000 drums of low-radiation waste have been generated since Taiwan's first nuclear power plant started operating in 1987. Of the amount, 97,000 barrels are being stored on the Lanyu (Orchid) Island off Taiwan, with the rest of the waste stored underground at the three power plants.

Putin, Bush May Discuss Nuclear Waste Deal: Deputy
Moscow (AFP) May 20, 2002 - US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may discuss later this week a plan to allow Moscow to earn revenue by importing spent US nuclear fuel, a lawmaker said Monday.

"Bush and Putin could discuss this issue" when they meet in the Kremlin on Friday, a deputy from the Yabloko pro-reform party, Sergei Mitrokhin, told reporters.

Russian and US nuclear industrialists held talks regarding a possible Russian import of US wastes earlier this month when Russian Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev met his US counterpart Spencer Abraham in Detroit, Mitrokhin said.

Russia and the United States are currently negotiating a civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement that could see them launch joint programs.

But that deal could also see Russia importing "spent nuclear fuel from Taiwan and South Korea," two countries that use US fuel for their nuclear power plants, Mitrokhin said.

Russia last year passed a nuclear waste law paving the way for the import of up to 20,000 tonnes of spent fuel to Russia, despite protests from environmentalists.

The Russian energy ministry supported that law, saying it could bring cash-strapped Russia some 21 billion dollars (24.4 billion euros) over the next 10 years.

The United States -- the maker of nuclear power plants that account for most of the world's atomic waste -- warned last year it would not allow spent fuel to be transferred to Russia from third countries without assurances from Moscow on its safety and security.

Under US law, Russia must sign a so-called "Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreement" to import waste produced by US-made nuclear power plants, something which Moscow has not yet done.

Mitrokhin said he opposed the possible import of nuclear waste by Moscow.

Russia was "technically not ready" to recycle spent fuel, he said.

The proposed US-Russian project is a "threat to national security," Mitrokhin added.

Nuclear Waste Leaves Germany For Treatment In France, Britain
Essenbach (AFP) May 16, 2002 - Two rail convoys loaded with highly radioactive nuclear waste left German power plants Thursday for treatment centers in France and Britain, police said.

Fourteen anti-nuclear activists chained themselves to tracks near the Brokdorf and Kruemmel nuclear power plants in the north, attempting to block the shipment to the Sellafield reprocessing center in Britain, but authorities cleared them from the route.

A second convoy of spent nuclear fuel from the Isar 2 plant near Essenbach in the southern state of Bavaria departed early Thursday for the La Hague treatment center in France.

Police reported no incidents.

Germany, which has no waste treatment facilities of its own, resumed international shipments of spent fuel rods last year. They had been suspended in May 1998 due to a scandal over radiation leaks from shipment containers.

Due to efforts by the Greens, junior partners in the ruling coalition, Germany has agreed to phase out nuclear power over the next two decades.

Russia To Help Myanmar Build A Nuclear Reactor
Moscow (AFP) May 16, 2002 - Russia has signed an agreement with Myanmar for the construction of a nuclear study centre that will include a low-powered reactor for research purposes and a waste facility, the Russian government said Thursday in a statement.

The two countries are to cooperate on building "a nuclear centre, a 10-megawatt research reactor, two laboratories along with the required infrastructure, including a nuclear waste site," the statement said.

Russia has agreed to "supervise the building of the centre, provide technical and material assistance and provide nuclear fuel," it added.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is run by a military regime which has been widely condemned for human rights abuses.

The Myanmar opposition has said it is against the reactor project, warning it could lead to nuclear arms proliferation in the region.

The United States, which has criticized Russia for providing nuclear technology to Iran, has not explicitly condemned the proposed Myanmar deal, but has called for safeguards to ensure that the country cannot use the research reactor for military purposes.

The Russian statement did not say when the project would be carried out, or how much it would cost.

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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