Unexpected impact of Fukushima

July 23, 2012

Egypt's atomic ambitions derailed by Fukushima crisis

Jiji

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120723a4.html#.UA0wTaBIwpU

DABAA, Egypt — The long-term plan for building Egypt's first nuclear power plant has become bogged down by protests as residents were awakened to the dangers of nuclear power mismanagement by the Fukushima crisis.

"After the Fukushima explosion, all the people became scared of the nuclear plant," said Mehana Abdel Hamid, the mayor of Dabaa, where the plant is scheduled to be built.

Local protests gained momentum after the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 plant, which lost its cooling systems and all power after it was hit by the magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March last year.

The Arab Spring movement that led to the collapse of former President Hosni Mubarak's regime last year also helped raise awareness.

The plan to build the nuclear power station in Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast in northern Egypt was launched in 1981 under former President Anwar Sadat.

Continuing Sadat's authoritarian rule, Mubarak pushed the plan amid rapidly growing demand for electricity. In 2003, about 350 houses were bulldozed to make way for the plant.

But in January, residents blew up key work buildings and razed the walls around the site.

Mhanna Rahoma, the leader of the protesters, said their actions were initially prompted by the confiscation of land they inherited from their ancestors. The residents had undertaken hazardous work to clear mine fields in the area, which was part of the site of the famous battle of El-Alamein between the Axis and Allied powers during World War II.

The protesters were encouraged by the inauguration earlier this year of the new president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic fundamentalist group. Morsi hinted the project might be reviewed, although he lacks effective power because Egypt is still under military control.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy is poised to forge ahead. It said it has submitted a document to the president emphasizing the project's importance and safety.

At the project site, residents have started cultivating farmland and putting up new buildings. Mastour Boushkara, 38, who has restarted farming, said he believes that there is a 90 percent chance the project will be scrapped and that he is determined to block it if it goes ahead.