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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: Cuba Halts Nuclear Plant Construction
- Message-ID: <1992Sep6.214246.18054@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: PACH
- Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 21:42:46 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 77
-
- /** reg.cuba: 171.0 **/
- ** Topic: Cuba Halts Nuclear Plant Construct **
- ** Written 10:46 pm Sep 5, 1992 by awhitworth in cdp:reg.cuba **
- Cuba Halts Nuclear Plant Construction
- -------------------------------------
- by Karen Lee Wald, Havana
-
- The Cuban government has decided to halt construction of the
- multi-million dollar nuclear energy plant it has been building, with
- Soviet aid, since the 1970s. Although the decision was based
- entirely on economic realities, environmentalists are looking at
- this as just one more way in which, ironically, economic scarcity is
- turning Cuba into a model of ecological development.
-
- Cuban President Fidel Castro announced the indefinite halt in
- construction at a major speech belatedly commemorating the July 26,
- 1953 initiation of revolutionary struggle in Cuba. The traditional
- July 26 celebration was postponed because President Castro was out
- of the country attending the Ibero-American summit meeting in Spain
- at the time. It was re-scheduled to be held in the south-central
- city of Cienfuegos, where a popular uprising in support of the
- rebels led by Fidel took place on September 5, 1957.
-
- Cienfuegos was chosen because of the "extraordinary work carried out
- by the population" there and the concrete advances they carried out
- despite the economic crisis the country is facing. But Cienfuegos is
- also the site of Cuba's first attempt to overcome its fuel shortage
- by developing what they hoped would be safe and clean nuclear energy.
-
- Although many friends outside of Cuba warned of the dangers inherent
- in nuclear development (even for peaceful use), Cubans -- pushed by
- the necessity of maintaining their economy with no oil of their own
- or rivers to provide hydroelectric power --tended to turn a blind
- eye to the potential risks. They long argued that the architectural
- design of their plant was patterned after ones in other countries
- that have run for years with no mishaps, and is completely
- dissimilar to that of plants which have had major accidents such as
- Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
-
- Regarding the problem of nuclear waste disposal, the attitude was:
- "By the time the medium-range solutions have worn out, science will
- have discovered the long-term solution."
-
- So it was economics, rather than environmental enlightenment, that
- led to the decision to halt construction, after years of work,
- thousands of workers trained in this field, and millions of Cuban
- pesos and Russian rubles had been invested in it. The explanation
- that Fidel Castro gave -- first to the workers involved, who will
- all be relocated, then to the crowd gathered for the July 26/Sept.5
- speech -- was that it would be years before the nuclear plant would
- provide energy to light even one lightbulb, and the Cuban people
- have pressing needs here and now. The construction workers -- the
- majority of the workforce of the plant -- will be reassigned to
- build hotels and other tourists facilities in Varadero Beach and
- surrounding cays and islets. Tourism has the attraction of bringing
- in immediate hard currency Cuba can use to meet its many other needs
- -- including paying for the oil it needs to provide electricity as
- well as transportation.
-
- But the result is the same, in ecological terms: there will be no
- nuclear plant in Cuba in the foreseeable future. This is added to
- the fact that the Cuban government decided to meet the oil shortage
- in part by providing bikes to the whole population, to reduce the
- need for combustion burning cars and trucks; that biological methods
- have been substituted for chemical pesticides; that herbal medicine,
- acupuncture and other non-chemical health procedures have greatly
- proliferated over the past two years; and that the entire population
- has become enormously energy-conscious. No one would wish an
- economic crisis on any country, and much less when it comes as the
- result of 30 years of US economic blockade and the disintegration of
- most of the world's socialist countries (which are currently in
- chaos). But if economic crisis occurs, most ecologists agree that
- Cuba has chosen the ideal way to confront it.
-
- (ref.: kwald%tinored@web.apc.org Sat Sep 5 21:43:40 1992)
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.cuba **
-
-