CONTENTS: Floating lab for Danube Serbia and Montenegro seek nuke dump Radiation leaks from Hungarian reactor Reactor keeps going EC criticised for backtracking on farming reform Gas-fuelled bus wins award Heavy protest over aluminium plant Academics blast Romanian mine Bulgaria equips mad cow labs   Floating lab for Danube Photo: MINISTRY FOR PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT OF REPUBLIC OF SERBIA BELGRADE - The research ship "Argus, " which will research water quality, flora, fauna and sediments in the Sava and Danube rivers, was recently welcomed to Belgrade, which will serve as the vessel's home port. The boat was a gift of the German state of Hessen to Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who visited Germany before his assassination in March. It is the single argest donation ever made to Serbia and Montenegro. The Argus is equipped with a modern laboratory and automatic navigation system. Valued at EUR 400,000, it will enable on-board processing and immediate analyses of samples that might otherwise deteriorate as a result of storage. - REPC.net/EkoForumS FOCUS ON NUCLEAR ENERGY Serbia and Montenegro seek nuke dump Serbia and Montenegro has decided to reorganise its nuclear programme, part of a long-term plan to find permanent storage for the remnants of a recently shuttered research reactor. The most serious remaining safety problem at the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences involves its large research reactor, which ceased operation in 1984. Filled with spent fuel, it still needs to be dismantled. Also on the institute's grounds are 30-year-old hangars filled with radioactive waste from the use of radio-nuclides in scientific research, medical institutions, industry, agricultural plants and certain publicly funded projects. Last August, 50 kg of highly enriched uranium - sufficient to make two atomic bombs - was transported from the Vinca Institute to Dmitrovgrad, Russia, as part of the "Green Vinca" programme. The programme aims to safeguard the institute, Belgrade and surrounding areas by moving the waste to a new, secure storage site for low and medium-grade radioactive material. The removal of the highly enriched uranium from Vinca was part of an agreement between the governments of Serbia and the United States and the Vinca Institute and supported by the then state of Yugoslavia. Under this agreement, the US government granted the institute USD 720,000. - EkoForum Radiation leaks from Hungarian reactor An April leak of radioactive gas from Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant posed no hazard to the population, according to state news agency MTI. An examination of an underwater tank containing radioactive uranium capsules in heating pipes revealed that most of the bundles of heating elements had been damaged, the Associated Press reported. However, plant officials said that no radioactive gas from the plant had drifted off the grounds of the facility, and that there had been no need for any disaster management measures. Power plant spokesman Balazs Kovats said the management had informed the mayors of the localities within 30 kilometres of the plant through a special SMS system established for this purpose. Dobson said the rules of law pertaining to disaster management oblige the power plant to inform the neighbouring localities if there is any malfunction in the plant. Reactor keeps going Bulgaria's Supreme Court ruled against a government plan to shut down an aging nuclear reactor. The ruling cannot be appealed. At the beginning of January, a three-member panel of the same court revoked the Cabinet's decision to adopt portions of EU rules about energy. In line with these EU policies, Bulgaria's government elected to close units 3 and 4of the Kozloduy nuclear plant in 2006. In exchange they asked for a technical expert inspection or peer review of the two reactors' safety. The court acted upon a request by leftist MPs after the government vainly argued that the matter was beyond the court's jurisdiction. The government had hoped the closure would curry favor with the EU, but protestors argued that the country had no inexpensive energy alternative. Next page »

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