We want no Chernobyl: Earthlife

PLANS by the Russian government to build a series of “small nuclear power plants” in Namibia, as disclosed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov last week while on a blitz visit to Windhoek, has given rise to strong opposition from environmentalists.

The group Earthlife Namibia says it strongly opposes nuclear power generation in Namibia. “It would be far too dangerous and would put coming generations into serious jeopardy,” says Bertchen Kohrs, Chairperson of Earthlife Namibia.”Although South Africa will reduce power supply to Namibia very soon, the production of nuclear power is not an acceptable solution for energy supply.Namibia has got much better, safer and sustainable options like solar and wind power,” Kohrs says.Since nuclear power generation requires extremely high technological capacity and skills, it is extremely doubtful if Namibia would be in a position to mobilise manpower to operate and maintain a nuclear power plant, Kohrs said in a statement this week.”Namibia can deal with the technology of renewable energy and a good example is the generation of solar power at the Training and Research Centre at Gobabeb in the Namib Desert.But technology for a nuclear power plant is a completely different story,” according to Earthlife.”How would Namibia deal with a nuclear accident? The past shows that nuclear accidents are a combination of human error and technological breakdown.The most horrific nuclear catastrophe happened 20 years ago at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Ukraine,” Kohrs added.Innocent babies born today, 20 years after the accident, still paid tribute to the nuclear disaster, born with terrible deformities and having little chance of survival.It was difficult to understand why Namibia should be the recipient of questionable nuclear technology from Russia and even from China, Earthlife Namibia argued.”Both countries, Russia and China, are known for sloppy maintenance and both have a long history of bad environmental and social behaviour.It is doubtful this has changed or if Russia learnt from the Chernobyl disaster,” the organisation stated.”Can today’s decision makers in Namibia guarantee that this will not happen to our daughters and sons?” Kohrs asked.”We urge you to think beyond short-term benefit and be true leaders bringing sustainable development to this region.”Namibia, with its great capacity of almost 350 days of sunshine a year, could be a world leader in renewable energy.Earthlife Namibia urged Government to consider all opportunities and weigh the positive and negative consequences of each option.According to Russian media, that country wants to build 42 nuclear plants at home and 60 more in other countries over the next few years – offering the technology, but wanting secure uranium supplies in return, like from Namibia, one of the top five uranium producers.Unbeknownst to local media or the Namibian public, a meeting of a hitherto unknown organisation, the Russian-Namibian Intergovernmental Commission (IC) took place in Windhoek last July.The holding company of Bank Windhoek, Capricorn Investments, quietly signed a shareholders agreement with the Russian Vneshtorgbank (VTB) to establish a joint venture called VTB Capital Namibia.Under the agreement, Vneshtorgbank’s capital share in the new company is 50 per cent plus 2 shares – thus the majority.None other than Yuri Trutnev, Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, and Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba attended the signing ceremony, The Namibian has reliably learnt.Oleg Muradyan, Senior Vice President of VTB, signed on behalf of the Russian bank and Koos Brandt for Capricorn.The main purpose of the new company supposedly is to invite Russian business and investment to Namibian markets and sub-Saharan Africa in order to implement “interesting and promising projects in the region”, including international financing of the projects, VTB says on its website.”Russian companies are interested in business development in southern Africa, extraction and processing of natural resources, energy, telecommunications, fishing, construction and trade,” the website states.Prices for uranium oxide, also known as yellow cake, have nearly doubled over the last seven months.It has risen to US$91 for one pound of uranium oxide, compared to US$50 in September last year.”It would be far too dangerous and would put coming generations into serious jeopardy,” says Bertchen Kohrs, Chairperson of Earthlife Namibia.”Although South Africa will reduce power supply to Namibia very soon, the production of nuclear power is not an acceptable solution for energy supply.Namibia has got much better, safer and sustainable options like solar and wind power,” Kohrs says.Since nuclear power generation requires extremely high technological capacity and skills, it is extremely doubtful if Namibia would be in a position to mobilise manpower to operate and maintain a nuclear power plant, Kohrs said in a statement this week.”Namibia can deal with the technology of renewable energy and a good example is the generation of solar power at the Training and Research Centre at Gobabeb in the Namib Desert.But technology for a nuclear power plant is a completely different story,” according to Earthlife.”How would Namibia deal with a nuclear accident? The past shows that nuclear accidents are a combination of human error and technological breakdown.The most horrific nuclear catastrophe happened 20 years ago at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Ukraine,” Kohrs added.Innocent babies born today, 20 years after the accident, still paid tribute to the nuclear disaster, born with terrible deformities and having little chance of survival.It was difficult to understand why Namibia should be the recipient of questionable nuclear technology from Russia and even from China, Earthlife Namibia argued.”Both countries, Russia and China, are known for sloppy maintenance and both have a long history of bad environmental and social behaviour.It is doubtful this has changed or if Russia learnt from the Chernobyl disaster,” the organisation stated.”Can today’s decision makers in Namibia guarantee that this will not happen to our daughters and sons?” Kohrs asked.”We urge you to think beyond short-term benefit and be true leaders bringing sustainable development to this region.”Namibia, with its great capacity of almost 350 days of sunshine a year, could be a world leader in renewable energy.Earthlife Namibia urged Government to consider all opportunities and weigh the positive and negative consequences of each option.According to Russian media, that country wants to build 42 nuclear plants at home and 60 more in other countries over the next few years – offering the technology, but wanting secure uranium supplies in return, like from Namibia, one of the top five uranium producers.Unbeknownst to local media or the Namibian public, a meeting of a hitherto unknown organisation, the Russian-Namibian Intergovernmental Commission (IC) took place in Windhoek last July.The holding company of Bank Windhoek, Capricorn Investments, quietly signed a shareholders agreement with the Russian Vneshtorgbank (VTB) to establish a joint venture called VTB Capital Namibia.Under the agreement, Vneshtorgbank’s capital share in the new company is 50 per cent plus 2 shares – thus the majority.None other than Yuri Trutnev, Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, and Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba attended the signing ceremony, The Namibian has reliably learnt.Oleg Muradyan, Senior Vice President of VTB, signed on behalf of the Russian bank and Koos Brandt for Capricorn.The main purpose of the new company supposedly is to invite Russian business and investment to Namibian markets and sub-Saharan Africa in order to implement “interesting and promising projects in the region”, including international financing of the projects, VTB says on its website.”Russian companies are interested in business development in southern Africa, extraction and processing of natural resources, energy, telecommunications, fishing, construction and trade,” the website states.Prices for
uranium oxide, also known as yellow cake, have nearly doubled over the last seven months.It has risen to US$91 for one pound of uranium oxide, compared to US$50 in September last year.