Other transports: At the La Hague, France reprocessing plant, a transport of six castors containing highly radioactive waste is now being packed for return shipment to Germany. The shipment will be ready by the end of January, but may be postponed until after the Lower Saxony state elections next March

LEAKAGES AT THE KRUEMMEL REACTOR—Four years ago, inspections of the cooling water system Kruernmel revealed leakages of cooling water at the rate of 30 liters per hour. These were supposed to have been fixed. But a recent survey found leaks to be ten times greater. The plant operators of course deny that any contaminated water is getting into the environment. But the public is suspicious because of an unexplained outbreak of child leukemia in the vicinity. Within the last seven years, 11 cases have been reported.

LEGAL OBJECTIONS TO THE DISCHARGE OF RADWASTE INTO THE ELBE RIVER— The battle for permission to operate the PKA (Experimental Conditioning Plant) at Gorleben, described in previous newsletters, has now reached a new phase. Environmental experts have now discovered that much of the information contained in the operator s waste water application is incomplete or faulty and that necessary "Environmental Impact" studies haven t been carried out. Some of the affected communities along the river have passed resolutions asking the state s Environment Ministry, who must issue the final permit, to ensure that all laws are obeyed.

NATIONWIDE ANTI-SIEMENS DEMOS—A big festival celebrating Siemens 150th anniversary was held in Berlin on October 12. Simultaneously, anti-Siemens demos throughout Germany were well publicized Those readers who may not be familiar with our history and economy might wonder why Siemens has such a poor reputation here. A few facts: 1.) Siemens was one of the earliest backers of Adolf Hitler. 2.) The company set up production plants near most of the big concentration camps and made huge profits from the use of slave labor. 3.) Siemens completed Germany s first atomic plant in 1968, and since became the biggest supplier of atomic plants, building a total of 20. 4.) Under the motto, "what's good for Siemens is good for the country, " the firm encourages its employees to go into politics, guaranteeing their salaries while they re away. Over 400 Siemens paid employees now sit on German legislatures, including three in the national Parliament. 5.) Siemens also has a long historv of briberv. beginning in Japan in 1914. Last year, Singapore banned Siemens from public contracts for 5 years because of a bribery scandal. 6.) Siemens has gotten big by taking over other companies. A standard Siemens practice is to buy out firms producing alternative energy equipment, stealing their ideas, and then driving them bankrupt. 7.) Finally, Siemens has been selling substandard reactors to Germany's Eastern neighbors. It s no wonder then, that this most prominent member of our "atomic Mafia" is in bad repute here, and why we therefore warn our foreign readers to WATCH OUT FOR SIEMENS! Since 1993, a nationwide boycott of Siemens products has been underway. The boycott organization is presently supported by 120 citizens groups. They have a 43-page spread in Internet:

http://ourworld. compuserve. com/homepages/Critical_Shareholders/Siemens. htm

AUTUMN ANTI-ATOM CONFERENCE: AT GOETTINGEN, 26-26 OCTOBER Over 300 participants from various countries got together to discuss the state of the anti-atomic movement. Various working groups discussed the history of the movement, goals and methods of resistance, strategy, uranium refining, new reactor developments, Siemens and the Siemens boycott, and especially international support and cooperation of all groups. A conference report (in German) can be obtained from Martin Nesernann:

E-mail: aaa-Redaktion@AMAZONAS.comlink.aps.org

INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY CONFERENCE PLANNED - The delegates decided to hold a follow-up conference devoted entirely to international cooperation, since it's important for the groups in each country to plan joint strategies. For example, during radwaste shipments crossing borders from England to France to Germany, groups all along the route should gather at the railroad tracks and work as a team. Another field of cooperation would be to join forces to assist local groups in problem areas where the population is so small that it's hard to organize resistance, such as at the proposed EPR (European High Pressure Reactor) or at some of the radwaste dumps and holding sites. Also, groups in Eastem Europe often need assistance, for instance at Temilin in the Czech Republic or Mohovice in Slovakia, where Siemens is building substandard reactors. Finally our German Siemens boycott needs to be internationalized, because Siemens activities affect the whole globe. Our organization will host this conference, which will take place sometime next January in the Wendland region. Well publish the details as soon as our plans are firm.