A Significant Nuclear Security Event in Gaziemir-Izmir,Türkiye:Open Letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency

In 2006,a large quantity of clandestine sensitive radioactive materials surfaced at an abandoned scrap metal and lead recovery facility in the city Gaziemir,Izmir,Türkiye.In April,2007 the TAEK(Turkish Atomic Energy Agency)official experts surveyed the 70,000 m^(2)site including the storage buildings.They reported that 20-300 microRad/h of radiation was detected throughout the site,especially high readings of more than 300 micRad/h were recorded inside the storage building containing about 1,100 tons of commercially valuable waste.About 15 tons of waste were taken from the storage building and sent to TAEK’s lab in Ankara to be analyzed.In April,2008 TAEK issued a press release(No:04/2012)on its official website confirming that their analysis of samples taken from the Aslan facility showed that,there is a scattered radioactive contamination in the Aslan lead-recovering factory.The radioactive isotopes of Europium-152 and Europium-154 were found in the landfilled area,additionally,these isotopes were more concentrated(higher readings)in the commercially valuable waste(approx.1,100 tons)which was kept in the storage building,a clear indication of the fact that at the Aslan facility,sensitive nuclear reactor parts,including but not limited to nuclear reactors control rods were being melted.

Violation of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution,Bucharest’s Convention of 1992 and the Sofia Protocol of 2018 by Turkish Government’s Sinop Nuclear Power Complex Project

On September 12th,2020,the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning issued a final approved version of an EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment)report for the Sinop(4,800 MWe)nuclear power plant and nuclear fuel fabrication complex project,located on Turkey’s Southern Black Sea coastline,in the Sinop Providence,which will be built on a BOO(Build-Own-Operate)basis by an offshore company known as General Directorate of Electricity Generation Inc.(EUAS)International ICC,along with unknown shadowy partners and investors.This project violates the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution,namely,Bucharest’s Convention of 1992,and the Sofia Protocol of 2018 which are established to preserve the uniqueness of the Black Sea,sustain the fisheries,and protect marine life.The Black Sea is the largest anoxic water basin in the world with oxygen rich surface waters supporting marine life which constitute only about 13% of the Black Sea volume.For the rest of the entire Black Sea at a depth greater than 150-200 m,there is a permanent hydrogen sulphide zone devoid of life,the oxygen is completely absent after this level.This unique bio-hydrological characteristic has been regulating the preconditions of its following distinctive biodiversity for thousands of years.The biologically rich regions are only limited to only oxygen rich shelf zones,with depths of up to 50-100 m in the southern coast line,and in the northern Black Sea shallow-water areas with depths of up to 5-10 m.This water body,bordering the hydrogen sulphide zone,is approximately 200-300 m wide and averages 5-50 m deep,in which high concentrations of fish eggs and larvae strive,and circulate counterclockwise along 4340 km coastline of the Black Sea.

The Environmental and Ethical Issues of Nuclear Power and Ionizing Radiation

As we enter the new millennium, population explosion, increasing worldwide energy demands and rapid global increase in ionizing radiation are all now threatening our fragile environment like no other time in known history. There is an urgent need for research and education to focus on the complex and direct link between ionizing radiation and its irreversible impact on the environment. Hence, nuclear energy and ionizing radiation issues can no longer be viewed in isolation. Historical facts and official reports prove that a code of ethics did not previously exist in nuclear industry： the risks of ionizing radiation are too great and unpredictable. Elimination of existing man-made ionizing radiation sources in this century is untenable and unsustainable. The intent of this paper is to review and demonstrate that ＇Atoms for Peace＇ is a false and unethical enterprise, and offers insights into the social and ethical aspects of ionizing radiation as a result of nuclear power development. The unethical nature of nuclear weapons, along with risk perception and ethical dilemmas of atom for peace, nuclear weapon tests, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the International Court of Justice＇s opinion and the World Economic Forum-Global Risk Landscape will be discussed.

The Environmental Democracy under Political Siege in Turkey

On June 24th, 2018, President Tayyip Erdogan, along with his pro-Islamic party, the Justice and Development Pazty, AKP, won the general election in Turkey, which will enable Mr. Erdogan to be a one-man ruler of the Republic of Turkey in the foreseeable future. Now, invested with infinite executive-presidential power, coupled with having complete control of the military, cabinet, judiciary and legislative branches, enables Mr. Erdogan to pursue his ambition to be a “nuclea3： power leader” in the Sunni Islamic world. The scientific denialism in general and environmental science, in particular, will reach a whole new level of insanity in Turkey where any conceivable environmental democracy will be abolished. The new government will further change the education establishment in every level and implement its anti-science political doctrines in which logic is an enemy and scientific truth is a menace. The last fifteen years of experience show that the AKP＇s politicians have become anti-science zealots who preach a dangerously new political cultism that is devoid of actual facts, if it does not fit their religious aberration narrative, Thus, virtually every aspect of the nuclear power program in Turkey will be a state secret under the control of one religiously motivated and driven ruler and this, should certainly sound alarm bells across the globe.

Ethical Perspective on Turkish Environmental Impact Assessment for Nuclear Energy

In 2013, The Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning issued four thousand pages of a cut and paste Environmental Impact Assessment （EIA） report for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and nuclear fuel fabrication complex project located on Turkey＇s Mediterranean coastline, in the Mersin providence, which will be built on a build-own-operate basis by Russian company Rosatom. Numerous complaints have already been filed against the EIA, challenging the scientific integrity of the report on the following grounds： misrepresentation of failure to specify the radioactive inventory and of projected releases into the environment, omitting tritium and carbon-14; incomplete information about the toxic chemicals which will be injected into the cooling system throughout the nuclear complex; misleading information about the cooling water＇s temporal and chemical effects on marine life; lack of details on an emergency evacuation plan; lack of a comprehensive nuclear waste management plan; unspecified insurance coverage for the nuclear complex, noncompliance with third party liability requirements. Coupled with these complaints are allegations that signatures on some sensitive reports contained or referred to have been falsified.