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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 Poland, which has no nuclear power plants, a spokesman for the atomic energy agency told AFP: "We detected trace levels of radioactive iodine-131 over Poland during measurements taken October 17-24. It was a very low level. "Readings were 100 times higher in late March in the wake of Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident," spokesman Stanislaw Latek said, adding that Ukraine had also detected "trace levels" between October 10-20.

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

September 26, 2008

EU's CO2 plans would hit Poland especially hard

Several hundred Polish coal miners, employees of the energy sector and shipyard industry rallied in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Thursday protesting  against the EU directives introducing the so-called climate package. The 'climate package' imposes an obligation on EU countries to cut CO2 emissions by one fifth. Polish industry workers protest against the restrictions imposed on Poland, which may threaten the Polish economy and job market, as well as cause the rise of energy prices. 90% of Polish energy industry is based on coal. Energy takes up 12% of the budget of an average Polish family - 8% for heating and 4% for electricity, Poland's environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said in Brussels on Wednesday.

If Poland was to accept the new EU requirements, Polish power plants would have to limit their activity and most of the coal mining industry would just disappear, the protesters argued. On top of that, prices of energy would go up radically: 'The cost of that will fall on the poorest. The rich will get by somehow, but what about the poor?' What the protesters called for at the rally was some milder conditions for Poland, such as more time to catch up with the Union regulations. For example, when it comes to trading the CO2 emissions quota - Polish companies are now granted the quota for free. The Union wants to sell the quota at auctions in 4 years. Poland would like to introduce this rule in several stages.

[Source: Joanna Najfeld, "Polish gov't, trade unionists, MEPs against 'climate package'", Polish Radio, September 26, 2008]

* 2005-03-21: Poland's nuclear age?
Michal Pakulniewicz, Warsaw Business Journal

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