Council for Security
Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) The Nuclear Energy Experts Group (NEEG) of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBM) International Working Group met in Las Vegas, Nevada May 7-10,2003. More than 20 representatives from eight member committees and several invited observers attended the meetings. The meeting began with a full day visit to the Yucca Mountain Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF), the proposed site of the United States high level radioactive waste repository. The NEEG would like to thank the U.S. Department of Energy for arranging the visit to the ESF, which featured a five kilometers-long escorted tour some 300 meters underground. The meetings resumed the second day with updates on national nuclear energy policies, beginning with a brief review of highlights from International Energy Outlook 2003, a newly released report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A Korean participant summarized WACID, the Waste Comprehensive Information Database system, which provides information on radioactive waste management through the Internet. A Japanese participant gave a brief explanation of the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia, which includes nine countries and endorsed additional cooperation between the FCNA and the NEEG. Other Japanese participants looked at the problems besetting Japan’s nuclear energy industry. Topping the list was an explanation of the closure of 20 nuclear facilities throughout the country because of data falsification in reports to the government. The fundamental problem centered around the lack of a universal code to effectively identify safety standards. The current system in Japan expects no flaw, whether critical or not, in reactors. This rigidness caused "self policing" by reactor operators. An efficient inspection and verification mechanism for reactor operations is needed, in order to provide some flexibility without undermining safety. A New Zealand participant gave an overview of energy developments in the country and suggested that the country’s anti-nuclear position could soften, although it is unlikely that New Zealand would turn to nuclear power as a source of energy anytime soon. The Australian presentation highlighted the end of cooperation with the United States Enrichment Corp. on laser enrichment technology after five years of work. The selection of a low level waste repository has been affected by political issues, as in the U.S. Meanwhile, construction of a replacement research reactor has been slowed because of problems in the rock foundations, but they have been overcome. In Taiwan, the storage of nearly 100,000 barrels of low level waste on Lan Yu Island (about half of Taiwan’s total low-level waste) is a particular issue. It was originally promised that the waste would only be stored there for 10 years and that period runs out in 2003. Solving the problem – by either moving the waste or leaving it there – has become enmeshed in electoral politics in Taiwan, which holds a highly charged presidential election next year. Indeed, Taiwan’s entire nuclear program has become politicized. The Philippine representative gave a comprehensive overview of that country’s nuclear energy program. The country’s only research reactor is currently out of service. The Philippine Energy Plan does not include the use of nuclear energy, but the option is preserved in the long term plan, to be considered after 2020. The Philippines has a complete radiation protection and waste infrastructure, with a central facility for low level waste management. It also held regional demonstration courses in 1998 and 1999, in cooperation with the IAEA.
Currently a Nuclear Power Steering
Committee is looking for sites for a low level waste facility. There are 41
candidate sites; the list will be trimmed to three or five before extensive
surveys are conducted. The speaker noted that previous important nuclear energy
decisions were made under the martial law regime of former President Marcos and
therefore remain tainted in the eyes of many members of the public. It was
stressed that education and political will are needed to overcome public apathy
and resistance to nuclear energy. The first session closed with the introduction of a new partner on the Nuclear Energy Transparency website: the Desert Research Institute (DRI) Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP). The CEMP is a network of 24 monitoring stations located in communities surrounding the Nevada Test Site that monitor the airborne environment for manmade radiation. The CEMP employs local citizens to maintain the equipment, collect air filters and send them to DRI for analysis. The data can be read at the monitoring stations and on the Internet in real time. All participants thought the DRI experience could be helpful in winning public acceptance of and support for nuclear energy and suggested increased cooperation with the DRI. The afternoon session began with a brief review of Pakistan’s nuclear industry, which focused on its arms control programs. The speaker stressed that the country has national safeguards on its nuclear weapons and emphasized the desire of the government to adopt internationally accepted protections, even if it cannot officially join international arms control regimes. He also argued that the key issue in the region was ensuring stability – command and control – of nuclear weapons. While Pakistan is not a member of the NEEG, an expert was invited to share perspectives from outside the region, while gaining knowledge of CSCAP activities that might serve as a model for South Asia cooperation. That presentation was followed by a review of developments on the Korean Peninsula, which focused on the U.S. and North Korean perspectives. The discussion was lively and informative. A solution to the current crisis does not appear to be either obvious or imminent. Most would agree, however, that no solution is likely that does not entail an effective, intrusive verification regime. In this regard, one U.S. participant outlined a proposal for the establishment of a Korean Peninsula Verification Regime that would establish a multilateral organization including all major stakeholders to verify all nuclear agreements for the Peninsula. It would also include a multilateral security guarantee for both Koreas. NEEG participants applauded the vision and energy behind the proposal while conceding the enormous political obstacles in the way of its realization. The day concluded with discussion of another transparency proposal: environmental monitoring of the stored waste at the Lan Yu site in Taiwan. Taiwanese participants provided suggestions on how to overcome political resistance to the monitoring program and ways to increase its acceptability to the public. The CEMP was cited as a model. While the proposal provided another good example of how technology could be applied to addressing waste storage problems, it was recognized that sensitive domestic political considerations mandated a very cautious approach in dealing with this topic. Our second day began with a review of the CSCAP Asia Pacific Nuclear Transparency Website (www.cscap.nuctrans.org). The website gets about 18,000 hits a month, with queries from all over the world. New partners include the DRI CEMP and Russia’s Bilibino reactors, data from which is provided by the Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom). In addition, there is a video tour of the Yucca Mountain ESF that allows Internet surfers to see many of the same sights that the NEEG saw during its tour of the facility, as well as images from the thermal test tunnel. There are also many of the engineering tools that are used at the site. The video tour and 3D displays used to explain the Yucca Mountain Project on the website are drawn from engineering studies, showing that off-the-shelf materials exist that could inexpensively help nuclear industries communicate more fully with the public. It was also suggested that security issues be added to the website. Participants were reminded that there is always a need for news reports and academic papers relevant to the website and to send any information to the CMC. The transfer of website management to an Asian partner, in cooperation with the Cooperative Monitoring Center, was also discussed. The ROK Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has accepted CSCAP's offer of shared operation of the CSCAP Nuclear Transparency in the Asia Pacific website. Starting with initial discussions at the Misawa, Japan, meeting in May 2001 and after an experts' evaluation in October 2002, MOST has decided to create an international cooperation foundation to pursue nuclear nonproliferation and other peace process ventures. Taking over the CSCAP website operation is seen as a concrete first step for the new foundation, one that offers a ready made basis for further activities. The meeting closed by considering future activities. It was suggested that the next meeting(s) be held in Asia. A visit to a research reactor in the region is one option. (There are reactors in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.) Given that this fall will mark the fifth anniversary of the founding of the NEEG (and 10th anniversary of CSCAP), it was proposed that there be a larger meeting that takes a serious look at NEEG progress, in order to document regional transparency efforts and how the web site could be used to expand upon and further enhance these efforts in the future. To this end, attendees agreed to conduct a major review of whether the CSCAP nuclear transparency project has laid the foundation for a regional nonproliferation institution. If so, the goal will then be to construct a roadmap for building on the current transparency cooperation in order to move toward a more institutionalized and sustainable nonproliferation program. There were also suggestions that nuclear shipments be a topic and there be a meeting with South Pacific representatives (or in the area) to discuss this sensitive subject. The next NEEG meeting will likely occur in Indonesia, perhaps in conjunction with a full CSBM Working Group meeting around the time of the CSCAP General Conference and Steering Committee Meeting. |