Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), the government owned enterprise that
operates Taiwan's six nuclear reactors, secretly negotiated a contract with
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to dump nuclear waste in
an abandoned mine in North Korea. The first shipment is scheduled to leave
Taiwan by the end of February.
The trans-boundary export of nuclear waste is one of the most irresponsible
acts of the global nuclear industry. Because of ill-considered plans to
build and operate nuclear reactors, governments and industry are confronted
with the problem of nuclear waste. There is no environmentally safe method
of managing these wastes, and yet the nuclear industry continues to produce
them. This is just one reason why Greenpeace is opposed to nuclear energy
in all countries.
The decision of Taipower to conclude a nuclear waste dumping deal with the
DPRK is exploitation, plain and simple. North Korea is in an economic
crisis, and in the short term desperately needs funds to buy food and other
essentials for her people. But in the longer term North Korea could face
environmental disaster and the much greater costs of dealing with poisoned,
contaminated land and water supplies, increased rates of cancer and other
health problems.
Please add your voice to the global protest, and call on Taiwan to cancel
this contract. You can either fax or mail your letter to the Chairman of
the Taiwan Power Company and send a copy to the Taiwan Representative
Office nearest to you.
Print out a draft letter: to the Chairman of the Taiwan Power Company
Send a copy to the Taiwan representative office near you
Andrew Hund
http://cwolf.uaa.alaska.edu/~asajh/AKD/
http://cwolf.uaa.alaska.edu/~asajh/Soc/