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"Greenpeace said it had obtained partly classified documents which prove that Gorleben should not have been used as a nuclear waste site. The environmental activist group Greenpeace said on Wednesday that it had obtained official documents, which prove that the salt mines in the German town of Gorleben should not have been used as a disposal site for nuclear waste. "There was never a scientific selection procedure that concluded the salt mines in Gorleben would be the best choice," Greenpeace nuclear expert Mathias Edler told reporters at a press conference in Berlin. "Geological criteria for a nuclear disposal site in the salt mines played a minor role." Greenpeace said the more than 12,000 pages of partly classified documents, which date back to the mid-1970's, are from the Lower Saxony state chancellery, environment ministry, and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources. "

"2 Endorsements of Nuclear Power, but Sharp Differences on Details" (Check Point, Oct. 10) quotes Patrick Moore, who is described as "a founder of Greenpeace and the co-chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a pro-nuclear group." Mr. Moore is a paid spokesman for the nuclear industry who frequently uses the Greenpeace name to give his anti-environment lobbying legitimacy. He has not worked for Greenpeace for more than 20 years. Since then, he has found a new career as a spokesman for a variety of polluting industries, including the logging, chemical and mining industries. Greenpeace continues to strongly oppose nuclear energy, because nuclear power plants remain vulnerable to terrorist attack, because there is no way to deal safely with radioactive nuclear waste and because the enormous taxpayer subsidies required to finance nuclear energy distract attention from real solutions to global warming like wind and solar power.

Greenpeace activists blocked access to the Pickering nuclear station today with a flat bed truck topped by a giant billboard reading "Minister: Don't Nuke Green Energy," as part of a campaign to convince the McGuinty government to replace Pickering nuclear reactors with green energy. "Greenpeace is blocking the Pickering reactor station because Nuclear Energy Minister George Smitherman is blocking green energy in Ontario," said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a Greenpeace energy campaigner. "The spin around Smitherman's proposed Green Energy Act is cynical greenwashing to hide the fact that his nuclear plans will rob green energy of the funding needed for development."

With echoes of that fantastic/horrifying nuclear thriller Edge Of Darkness (don't wait for the film, see the original TV series), energy giant EDF has been busted for spying on our colleagues at the Greenpeace in France. Five people have been indicted by the French courts, including two EDF security executives, a computer expert and the head of a private investigation firm. The charge: attempting to hack into Greenpeace computer systems in France.

"As many as 30 Greenpeace activists broke into a Swedish nuclear plant Monday, demanding that parliament this week vote against allowing new nuclear facilities to be built, the group and police said. "There are now Greenpeace activists on the premises" of the Forsmark nuclear power plant near Uppsala, north of Stockholm, police spokesman Christer Nordstroem told AFP. He said it remained unclear how many Greenpeace activists had managed to get into the plant, but the environmental group itself sent out a statement earlier saying around 30 would enter the facility to conduct a peaceful protest against nuclear power use."

Over the last month there have been a catalogue of accidents at the French nuclear site Tricastin-Pierrelatte. We've followed all the breaking stories on our new weblog 'Nuclear Reaction'. Now Greenpeace France has launched two court cases in an effort to find out what's really been going on at the site.

Greenpeace activists in the Netherlands are up in arms. Dutch utility company Delta has applied to build a second nuclear power plant. The Netherlands already has one nuclear power plant and protesters think this is more than enough. [Maike Baretta, Greenpeace Campaigner]: "Greenpeace is here to show that building a second nuclear power plant in the Netherlands is a really bad idea because it will create an enormous amount of nuclear waste and we don't even know [what to] do with the waste of the first nuclear power plant." In the past, the Dutch government phased out nuclear power, leaving one plant in Borssele which is owned by Delta and Dutch company Essent. It's on this site that Delta plans to build its second plant. A draft proposal has been submitted to the Environment Ministry. Delta then hope to put forward a formal request.

"French Greenpeace activists blocked a train carrying some 650 metric tons of radioactive waste in protest against the export of nuclear waste to Russia, the Greenpeace Russia website said. A shipment of depleted uranium hexafluoride was due to be loaded onto the Captain Kuroptev in the port of Le Havre and sent to St. Petersburg. However, the ship weighed anchor and headed towards the port of Montoir-de-Bretagne pursued by the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. The Greenpeace statement said the activists chained themselves to railway tracks, delaying rail traffic towards Montoir-de-Bretagne for more than four hours."

"A vessel belonging to the environmental organization Greenpeace will arrive in St. Petersburg on Wednesday as part of an anti-nuclear tour in protest against the import of French spent nuclear fuel to Russia, Greenpeace Russia's press service said. The Esperanza will open its doors to the people of St Petersburg from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (1300-1700 GMT). Visitors can go on free excursions leading them to the deck, the captain's bridge and the cargo hold. They will also learn all about the vessel's history, expeditions and campaigns. On Thursday at 11:00 a news conference will be held on the boat about the import of depleted uranium to Russia. Environmental activists gathered on the docks in St. Petersburg on Tuesday in protest against the arrival of Russian cargo ship Kapitan Kuroptev, carrying 650 tons of depleted uranium from the French company AREVA."

"Greenpeace activists crashed Entergy's annual shareholder meeting Friday in Jackson, Miss., demanding the company halt its efforts to seek the continued operations of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Entergy, who owns and operates the Vernon-based nuclear facility, has rejected the Vermont Senate's Feb. 24 vote to deny the extension of a public good certificate allowing the plant to operate past its license expiration date in March 2012. Greenpeace party-crashers delivered a letter from Vermonters demanding the company retire the plant as scheduled in 2012 as Entergy executives delivered statements about company profits. "Entergy's effort to overturn the Senate's denial of a certificate of public good are in vain," said Vermont's Greenpeace organizer Jarred Cobb. "Vermont Yankee is an aging and dangerous nuclear reactor that will not be a part of this state's energy future." "

Environmental group Greenpeace won a court case in Romania on Monday that could force the authorities there to make public a list of potential locations for the construction of a nuclear power plant. The economy ministry must "communicate the requested information to the claimant," a ruling published on the Bucharest court's website said. The ministry is to pay penalties if it does not obey the ruling but can appeal against the court's decision. Greenpeace had applied to the court after asking the ministry in vain for a list of the 100 locations under review for the construction of Romania's second nuclear plant, which is expected to start after 2020.

Environmental group Greenpeace won a court case in Romania on Monday that could force the authorities there to make public a list of potential locations for the construction of a nuclear power plant. The economy ministry must "communicate the requested information to the claimant," a ruling published on the Bucharest court's website said. The ministry is to pay penalties if it does not obey the ruling but can appeal against the court's decision. Greenpeace had applied to the court after asking the ministry in vain for a list of the 100 locations under review for the construction of Romania's second nuclear plant, which is expected to start after 2020.

Six Greenpeace activists Monday boarded a ship carrying French-made steam turbines bound for a new nuclear power station in Finland, the environmental group said. The protestors climbed on board the Happy Ranger as it made its way through the Fehmarn Belt strait between Denmark and Germany and unfurled banners including one which read "Nuclear madness, made in France". Greenpeace wants construction halted on a third-generation nuclear reactor currently being built at Olkiluoto, in southwest Finland, by the French company Areva.

Six Greenpeace activists Monday boarded a ship carrying French-made steam turbines bound for a new nuclear power station in Finland, the environmental group said. The protestors climbed on board the Happy Ranger as it made its way through the Fehmarn Belt strait between Denmark and Germany and unfurled banners including one which read "Nuclear madness, made in France". Greenpeace wants construction halted on a third-generation nuclear reactor currently being built at Olkiluoto, in southwest Finland, by the French company Areva.

"Environmental campaigners have accused the Government of preparing to allow a multi-million pound "handout" to firms building nuclear reactors. Greenpeace said the move went against assurances given by ministers that the nuclear industry would not receive handouts to help build new nuclear power stations. A study commissioned by the group claimed that firms would not be liable for dealing with the waste from new reactors, leaving the taxpayer with bills running into billions. The report, written by Ian Jackson, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said dealing with waste from each new reactor will cost around £1.5bn, but under current plans being considered by the Government, energy companies would "walk away", having contributed as little as £500 million. Ben Ayliffe, senior energy campaigner for Greenpeace, said: "The Government has said there will be no public money for new nuclear power, but the unique financial model developed for this report shows that billions of pounds of public money could be spent to subsidise the nuclear industry, even though the Government is warning of painful cuts ahead for the country in key areas like education and health."

The environmental organisation Greenpeace is accusing Boyygues, the company which is building the reactor building of the new nuclear facility in Olkiluoto, of serious security breaches in welding work. The reactor that is being built in the west coast community of Olkiluoto is the third to be built on the site, and the fifth in all of Finland.

Greenpeace is threatening to take legal action against E.ON and other nuclear power companies for rushing ahead with plans to build new reactors before they have got the proper consents. The move has been triggered by reports that preparatory bore holes for new reactors will start to be drilled for E.ON on 3 August at Oldbury in Gloucestershire. EDF is said to be considering similar work. A Greenpeace spokesman said its lawyers were reviewing a situation which made a mockery of a whole raft of hurdles that were meant to be overcome before the government starts official licensing in 2013.

Greenpeace sounded an alert Wednesday over possible hazards that a large ship transporting reprocessed nuclear waste may pose when it passes through Philippine waters next month. The environmental activist group urged the Philippine government to proactively prevent the passage of the waste in the vicinity of the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in early May. It said about 1.8 tons of radiotoxic plutonium in Mixed-Oxide (MOX) fuel intended for nuclear power plants is traveling to Japan via the Cape of Good Hope and the southwest Pacific Ocean. Greenpeace said the shipment left France for Japan last March 5 and is expected to pass by the waters between the Philippines and Palau before it reaches Japan by mid-May.

"Greenpeace activists said Monday they were blocking a train transporting nuclear waste to the French port of Cherbourg from where it was to be shipped to Russia. Four activists who had chained themselves to the railway line near the harbour were removed early Monday morning by police but more activists were blocking the line at a different location, they said. "We were dislodged in Cherbourg, but we are continuing our action some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city, where we are physically blocking the passage of the train transporting nuclear waste," Greenpeace representative Yannick Rousselet told AFP. Two Greenpeace activists were chained to the rails just metres from the train, which had stopped, he said."

"In the most "Woody Allen esque" protest I've seen in a while, 50 activists dressed as renewable energy sources (sun, wind, water) used a fire truck to get into one of the dodgiest nuclear plants in Sweden. I'm going in! They want their govenment to follow through on a decades old national referendum to phase out nuclear power. The Swedish parliment will vote this week on whether to stick to the nuclear power phase out, or backslide and open the door to new reactors. Our man in Sweden says: "The Swedish parliament is risking the country's reputation and position as a progressive leader in clean and safe energy development. All the evidence shows that nuclear power is a dangerous, expensive and dead-end distraction from the real solutions to climate protection and energy security. Reactors are standing in the way of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs." -- Ludvig Tillman, energy campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic."

Environmental group Greenpeace on Monday accused Congress of using "myths" and "abusing scientific data" to support their bid to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Von Hernandez, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director, and geologist Kelvin Rodolfo, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, disproved claims by Representatives Mark Cojuangco and Juan Miguel Arroyo that the 30-year-old facility would yield clean, safe and inexpensive energy. "Nuclear energy is not clean, not safe and not cheap," said Hernandez, adding that it is "probably the most dangerous and expensive power source there is."

Greenpeace says Turkish police have detained 37 activists during a peaceful protest against the bidding process for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant. Korol Diker of Greenpeace says the police broke up the unauthorized protest in front of Turkey's energy ministry and detained the protesters.