[Source: Associated Press, "Nuclear agency reports low, but unusual, radiation across Europe", November 11, 2011]

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November 11, 2011

Unknown source: continuing I-131 release detected around Europe

Very low levels of radiation, which are higher than normal but don't seem to pose a health hazard, are being registered in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday. The agency said the cause was not known but was not the result of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which spread radiation across the globe in March... An official familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the release appeared to be continuing. The agency said that it was investigating.

In Austria, the environment ministry said "miniscule" levels of iodine-131 had been detected in the east and north of the country, posing no risk whatsoever to human health.

Sources: Agence France Presse, "Radioactivity in Europe, no public risk: IAEA", November 12, 2011; and Associated Press, "Nuclear agency reports low, but unusual, radiation across Europe", November 11, 2011

March 26, 2007

Nuclear 'not the solution' for global warming

"[W]e voice serious concern that nuclear energy is being presented as a solution to climate change... [T]he current debate seeks to downplay the environmental, waste, proliferation, nuclear liability and safety issues and seeks to portray nuclear energy as a clean, safe and problem free response to climate change." This is from a joint statement by the environment ministers from Austria, Iceland, Ireland and Norway, following a meeting in Dublin. The "inherent risks" and problems associated with the nuclear energy option remain, they said and it "can not therefore claim to be a clean alternative to fossil fuel use."

[Source: RTE.ie (Ireland), " Nuclear 'not the solution' for global warming", March 26, 2007]

December 6, 2001

Jiri Nemecek writes in Prague newspaper, Hospodarske noviny, of Austria's demonization of Czech Republic over the Temelin nuclear plant. Austria relies on imported electricity to meet demand when its hydro plants can't keep up, such as in winter, and Nemecek notes that while the Austrian boycott of Czech electricity -- even from the coal plants there -- puts Austria in the rather anti-environmental position of buying Albanian coal plant production (with no controls on sulfur emissions) instead of buying the relatively clean output from Czech coal plants.

1986