Vision

Sound/v/o

TC

Austrian countryside

FX:  Cow moos

1.00.00.00

Wilesmith:  In Austria's high country, life for many is as it was.

00.07

Up here, people have made clear conscious decisions not to change the rhythms of their lives.

Family at home

Upsetting farming families is a sense of threat, that a new nuclear power station in neighbouring Slovakia is dangerous. And that Austria's natural splendour could be covered by another radioactive cloud. Gertie Kohler remembers Chernobyl vividly.

00.22

Gertie and family

Gertie:  We experience Chernobyl when I was pregnant with her. When they suddenly told us we should not eat the salad from the garden - and the children should not play in the sandbox. Now we're afraid it'll happen again with Mochovce.

00.39

Reactor in Mochovce

Several hundred kilometres away in Slovakia, Mochovce is big and ugly and certainly not as safe as it should be. It is not the same design as Chernobyl in the Ukraine, the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident 12 years ago.

01.00

But if the core of Mochovce's nuclear reactor were even partially to melt, as happened at Chernobyl, then the scale of death would be enormous. The toll from Chernobyl is still uncertain, because many cancers from the radiation may not emerge for another five to fifteen years.

01.15

Map Central Europe

Vienna

The Austrian capital, Vienna is just 180 kilometres from the new Slovak nuclear power station. The distance, though, is irrelevant in terms of Mochovce and the other older, more dilapidated station  being a significant threat to Austria's people. And to the country's national security.

01.39

Helga with Wilesmith

Helga:  And the rain came, together with the radioactive cloud...

02.02

Meteorologist, Helga Kolb, has been assessing what would happen if a radioactive cloud was released in Slovakia.

02.07

Super:

HELGA KOLB

Meteorologist

Helga:  If the wind was directed more to Vienna it could also hit Vienna, which would mean that...

02.15

Wilesmith:  It could be catastrophic.

Helga:  That it would be catastrophic, yes.

I cannot conceive of a situation like that without panic in Vienna. And panic is what will make people try to flee the town, and this will mean that they will be in the roads, in their cars, which offer practically no protection.

02.28

Vienna

Austria is one of the few western European nations which has forsaken nuclear power as a means of generating electricity.

Swentedorf nuclear station

Music

It has the means.

03.08

The Swetendorf nuclear station was built in the 1970s, but never operated after a national vote.

Anti-nuclear sentiment is strong. Austrian farmers are among the most hard line, and Bert Wabra says, with good reason.

03.20

Wilesmith and Bert

Bert:  If you consider the Swetendorf was one of the most modern plants that was built - then there was a referendum, and Swetendorf was not opened - if they now build in countries like Slovakia where they already know that something is seriously wrong,  then you have to be afraid.

03.29

Alpine country

In fact, all these years after Chernobyl, there are still regular checks on levels of radioactivity in milk and in mushrooms and in strawberries, as well as on the deer that roam high in the mountains. Austria's agricultural industry is vital to the economy, as well as providing an essential element to the fabric of the nation.

03.52

Music

04.12

Symbols of the Austro-Hungarian empire

Back when the Austro-Hungarian empire ruled much of Europe, the Viennese were used to giving the orders. It was in this city in 1815, after all, that Europe's princes divided the continent.

04.17

Music

Vienna streets

Austria's much shrunken in size and power since then, though post the Cold War, it's emerged as the commercial centre, linking western Europe with former Warsaw Pact countries.

04.35

Now, having gone determinedly non-nuclear, the Austrians are angered that others haven't seen the light.

04.47

Music

Bratislava

 A short paddle down the Danube from Vienna is the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

04.57

The old town reflects the grandeur of colonial occupiers. But it's deceptive.

Slovakia is desperately poor, even if it's a little better off than the police state that it used to be during forty years of communist rule. Even so, it's still mired in the economic mistakes of the old regime, particularly a reliance on nuclear power to produce some of the cheapest electricity in Europe.

05.19

Outside Mochovce power plant with Holy

We'd been promised a comprehensive tour, and our guide was Robert Holy.

05.49

Robert:  If you see the shape of the cooling tower, it resembles jets. So this is normal...

Wilesmith:  The cooling towers, 120 metres high, were uncontroversial enough, but then I ventured a question about the seismic stability of the area.

05.58

Robert:  The last earthquake, which was somewhere around here, was some time in 1763 if I'm right.

06.06

Wilesmith:  I don't want to be difficult about this, but what happens if you get an earthquake and it's six on the Richter scale, and you're only built for 5.8.

06.16

Robert:  It was calculated that -- well everything is possible, but you have certain probability.

Mochovce employees

v/o:  Well, that's comforting news for Mochovce's 2,200 employees. The power company, Slovenske Elektrarne, rolled out a corporate spokesperson, Ratislav Petrech, to deal with the vital question - Is Mochovce unsafe?

06.29

Ratislav

Super: 

RATISLAV PETRECH

Slovenske Elektrarne

Ratislav:  Oh, it's - I don't think so. Mochovce is the safest power station in WWER field.

06.44

Wilesmith:  Can you imagine a nuclear accident here?

06.57

Ratislav:  No. No, I think it's safety. There was no accident in this kind of power stations.

07.00

Mochovce

v/o:  If Mochovce was a western nuclear station of recent design, safety wouldn't be a critical question. But this is an old Soviet design. The WWER 440/213. They started building it back in 1984, when this was the poorer half of Czechoslovakia. And although big German and French nuclear power companies have been brought in to upgrade it, the basic flaws remain.

07.13

Kromp at institute

Before we left Austria, we'd been briefed by Wolfgang Kromp, of the Vienna University Institute for Risk Research. Kromp heads an international panel of 32 nuclear experts appointed by the Austrian government to assess Mochovce.

07.40

Kromp

Super:

WOLFGANG KROMP

Vienna University

Kromp:  Up to today, they did not allow us to see the safety documentation. On the other hand they claim the reactor is safe, it is even the best which was ever produced for the WWER. If it's so, why should they not give us access to the documentation.

07.56

Inside reactor

v/o:  The pressure vessel, the heart of the Mochovce nuclear reactor, is Kromp's biggest worry. Are the welded sections strong enough?

08.12

Kromp:  There is a special weld -- it's called the beltline weld -- which is exposed to neutron radiation and subjected to embrittlement during years of operation. This weld exhibits a strength value, a measure strength value, which is below the standard. And it's supposed to be above the standard.

08.22

Rastislav and Wilesmith

v/o:  But Slovakia's Rastislav Petrech is scornful.

08.51

Rastislav: The lifespan of this vessel is about 40 years.

08.55

Pressure vessel

v/o:  The international commission though, has collected evidence which some interpret as meaning that the pressure vessel will become so brittle that it might last only six years.

09.00

Kromp IV

Kromp:  If you have to cool down the vessel, and this is in emergency cases, done by the core-cooling system. Especially the high pressure core cooling injection system. A lot of cold water will be brought into the vessel and it's in contact with the hot vessel wall and if it comes into the embrittled region of the weld it might suddenly break, and then we have a big disaster, volatile contaminants would go in the atmosphere and we have a big, big Chernobyl type of accident.

09.09

Pan of IAEA building

v/o: Back in Vienna the International Atomic Energy Agency has been trying to help diffuse the row between Austria and Slovakia. Ostensibliy the IAEA is a nuclear watchdog. In fact its' chief interest is in promoting nuclear energy as the safe ecological option even in Slovakia.

09.45

Walking down IAEA corridors

Hans Myer is a 20 year veteran of the UN agency.

10.04

Hans Myer IV in front of flags

Hans Myer: I think in general the expert's opinion on the safety level of those plants in Mochovce is quite good. Everything can be improved it's true. And here we also have to try to convince the Austrians that they have to look to their neighbours with a friendly eye.

10.08

Victor Klima

v/o:  Austrian politics has been dominated by Mochovce. The Chancellor, Victor Klima, knows that getting tough with the Slovakian Prime Minister, Vladimir Mecian, plays well with the anti-nuclear lobby.

10.30

Greenpeace demonstration

FX:  Demonstration

10.43

v/o:  There have been government meetings and numerous public protests. But Slovakia has resisted great pressure to stall the startup of Mochovce.

10.48

FX:  Band

10.47

Woman getting fairyfloss

v/o:  In Slovakia too, Mochovce is a political issue. Slovak national elections are due in September and campaigning has begun.

Chilli and beer - an unfortunate combination for the opposition leader, Mikulas Dzurinda.

11.14

FX:  Band

Dzurinda walking through fair

v/o:  A summer street fair in Vrable, the town closest to Mochovce, offers Mr Dzurinda the opportunity to pick up a free pair of socks. He's a politician after all. And to wave the flag for his corruption fighting Democratic coalition.

11.24

Democratic is about the last adjective to describe his opponent, Prime Minister Meciar. But on Mochovce, there seems to be little to separate them.

11.39

Dzurinda

Super:

MIKULAS DZURINDA

Opposition Leader

Dzurinda:  I'm sure that nuclear power station Mochovce is a good investment for Slovakia, and everybody in Slovakia knows that the government spent a lot of money for this power station.

11.49

Wilesmith:  Mr Dzurinda dismisses safety concerns, and on that at least he seems to be on the voters' wavelength.

12.04

Woman on street

Woman:  I think it's okay. There's nothing to be afraid of.

12.11

Man on street

Man:  We live 50 kilometres from Mochovce. We think it's a good electric power plant and ecologically clean.

Anti-nuclear campaigners

v/o:  Anti-nuclear campaigners in Slovakia follow the classic international Greenpeace model - create a confrontation and then get arrested.

12.28

v/o:  Lubica Trubinova - that's her being lifted up by her arms - directed the Mochovce event.

12.49

Lubica:  It was not so bad.

Lubica with Wilesmith watching video

When they were taking me by the hands and feet it was okay. The problem was when they were pulling us by the chains. That was not so nice.

Lubica interview

Super:

LUBICA TRUBINOVA

Anti-Nuclear Campaigner

The biggest problems  of our activities here in Slovakia is the situation with media, especially with Slovak TV, which is the only state owned TV, which completely embargoes our outputs, media outputs, and they simply don't do anything of our work.

13.13

Demonstration and security forces

Wilesmith:  In Slovakia this is not surprising. Even the commercial broadcast and print media are cowed by the heavy handed tactics of the government party.

13.33

The thugs of the security forces are deployed with much more vigour when television cameras are not around.

13.41

Bratislava

A consequence, even in Bratislava, far from Mochovce, is the absence of any debate about the nuclear power station. On economic fundamentals, let alone questions of safety.

The Austrians have one more forum at which to raise their fears about the Slovakian nuclear industry. For the next six months, the Austrian Chancellor, Victor Klima, has the presidency of the European Union, which theoretically gives him considerable power.

14.05

Klima

Klima:  We must work together with the Commission to form a partnership for the benefit of Europe.

14.19

v/o:  He could use it to highlight Wolfgang Kromp's worst case scenario for a Slovakian nuclear accident.

Kromp

Kromp:  For Austria, Hungary and these small countries, we would lose half of the country maybe. So for us this would be then end of the world.

14.39

Vienna

v/o:  Until December, Vienna will be at the centre of European affairs. There'll be conferences and summits and celebratory balls. Up in the mountains though, the farming families aren't expecting any breakthrough in the brawl with Slovakia.

14.50

Austrian countryside

Young woman:  The people of Austria can't do anything against it, because the people in Slovakia think it's our problem. But I think we can't do anything against it in Austria.

15.10

Mochovce

v/o:  There are no winners in this nuclear brinkmanship. Austria can threaten, Slovakia can defy. What's left is hostility and a void - no one can agree how unsafe, how big a threat, Mochovce really is.

15.28

Ends 15'46''