Dear friends,

In 2006 Sweden was the host of the 6th annual Baltic Sea NGO Forum – which took place in a fancy hotel in Saltsjöbaden outside Stockholm, 5-7th of October.  The Swedish Foreign Ministry sponsored the conference.  As a real breakthrough, we – in this case MILKAS, The Swedish Environmental Movement’s Nuclear Waste Secretariat – were put in charge of coordinating a workshop under the environmental theme, and we chose to give it the title “The Radioactive Contamination of the Baltic Sea.”

Opening plenary, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

Report on the 6th Baltic Sea NGO Forum, 5-7 October 2006, Stockholm, Sweden,
with Focus on the Radioactive Pollution of the Baltic Sea Region
(Revised 2006-12-17)

Please see the attached PDF.

Sven P. Nielsen, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

Please see attached PDF.

The Radioactive Contamination of the Baltic Sea

Written version of a presentation, given by Per Hegelund – MILKAS,
(The Swedish Environmental Movement's Nuclear Waste Secretariat).

Per Hegelund, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

A short pamphlet, “The Baltic Sea is Radioactive,” with the most important hard facts is present here at the workshop, and can be downloaded from MILKAS’ homepage at: www.milkas.se/files/baltic-radioactive200612.pdf (PDF, 692 KB). There you will also find a long report in English on a three-day worldwide legal workshop on the subject of “Updating International Nuclear Law” at: http://www.milkas.se/hooge20051203.html

I will add a little more background and facts in this written presentation.

Includes satellite pictures of the heat pollution to the sea from Swedish and Russian nuclear power plants. Please see the attached PDF.

Philipp Schwartz, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

Please see the attahced PDF.

Saulius Piksrys, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

NGO's cooperation with authorities to ensure social responsibility while shutting down Ignalina.

Please see the attached PDF.

Rashid Alimov, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

Please the attached PDF.

Rashid Alimov, from Bellona in St. Petersburg, Russia spoke about secret decision making, lifetime extensions of old reactors, and import of nuclear electricity to Sweden and Finland from Russia (which equals "export" of nuclear waste).

Presentation SALTSJOBADEN 6th  October 2006

The Finnish Situation Today

- by Gerd Söderholm, gerdsoderholm@yahoo.com

Gerd Söderholm, 6 October 2006. Photo: Gennady Shabarin.

Finland is building the worlds biggest nuclear reactor, 1600 MW, since the parliament by a few votes majority voted for the fifth Finnish nuclear reactor in 2002.

This reactor was ordered by a French company Areva for 3 billion euros fixed. The French nuclear fuel transnational company Cogema, since 2006 named Areva NC, held a closed meeting in Helsinki in september 2004 at the ministry of trade and industry, where Cogema presented the idea of mining uranium in Finland in front of a selected public. The media and the public was not informed.

After this Cogema reserved several areas for possible future prospection and search of uranium ore. One of these areas is situated about 60 km to the north east from Helsinki.

300,000  tonnes of CHEMICAL WEAPONS were dumped in the BALTIC SEA after the Second World War!

Now there are plans to build a gas-pipeline between Russia (Viborg)  and Germany (Greifswald) – which will need to tear up and clear a  500 km long  and  400 meters wide track across the ocean bottom. Is that really wise? Even very small amounts of the stuff we (our western civilisation) dumped there can stil (and does still!) hurt people…

Forum Syd Baltic Sea NGO Forum Website: www.bsngoforum.org

Photos: Per Hegelund

Staff at the Olde Hansa Restaurant, Tallinn, Estonia