Austrians can use mobiles to monitor Czech, Slovak radiation

The Austrian environmental group Global 2000 today presented its new service where short messages (SMS) containing information about radiation from the Czech nuclear power plants in Temelin and Dukovany and Slovak plants in Jaslovske Bohunice and Mochovce are sent to mobile phones. The information is gathered from sensors Global placed near Temelin, south Bohemia, Dukovany, south Moravia, Jaslovske Bohunice, and Mochovce, both west Slovakia. "The sensor ring around Temelin will ensure independent control of the unreliable reactor in Temelin," anti-nuclear initiative spokesman Thorben Becker said today. Becker also complained about the inactivity of Environment Minister Josef Proell in dealing with the beginning of trial operation of the second block in the "dangerous" nuclear power plant and added that independent measurements are also necessary because of the recent break-down in Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant. The Radiation Monitoring System (RAMOS) has been providing reports from Dukovany, Jaslovske Bohunice and Mochovce for five years now. Temelin has now been added to the system as well as a module for sending warnings by SMS. Subscribers to the service, which costs 20 euros until the end of the year, will receive a warning SMS anytime the amount of radioactivity rises around the power plants. Saturday's 17th anniversary of the accident at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been an impetus for further action among Austrian anti-nuclear groups. The Austrian chapter of Greepeace today launched a campaign for a referendum forcing Austria to fight against nuclear power within the European Union. The referendum is to take place between June 10 and 17. Mathilde Halla from the Upper Austrian Platform Against the Atomic Danger concentrated on Temelin. She said the "empty reassuring policy" during Wednesday's visit of Czech President Vaclav Klaus to Vienna proves that the process of increasing safety at the power plant according to the Melk agreement, where the Czech Republic promised to increase safety standards, has failed. Opposition Green Party deputy chairwoman Eva Glawischnig also supported the Greenpeace initiative today and called on the three other parliamentary parties to confirm Austria's rejection of support for EURATOM and continuing efforts to have Temelin shut down.