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November 21
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November 14
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November 7
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Whenever Czech and Austrian officials meet the one sour note is the
construction of the nuclear power plant in southern Bohemia - far too
close to the common border for Austria's peace of mind. But the plant
which regularly spoils dessert at state banquets is coming along a lot
slower than envisaged and nobody knows when it might actually be
operational. The mega project which the communist regime hoped to make
operational in the early 90's, and which the Klaus administration
hoped to bring to life in September of this year is consuming vast
amounts of time and money.
As Respekt says, announcements that the
construction is lagging behind schedule appear with a predictable
regularity every three months or so and are usually hidden somewhere
on page three. Now even the wildest optimists are admitting that
getting the power-plant underway before the year 2000 is wishful
thinking. Others say the plant's future is so hazy they are not ruling
out anything. Recently appointed minister Karel Kuhnl, who inherited
this unhappy legacy with his portfolio, toured the "construction of
the century" last Friday and emerged to tell newsmen the plant must
and would be finished because the country needed the power it would
generate. There is no alternative, he stressed as his predecessor had
so many times before him. The weekly notes that it is revealing that
the minister himself put off the visit until the very last day of his
three months period of grace. Temelin is a headache - for the minister
as well as for construction workers who are undertaking the
unprecedented task of modernizing a Soviet-designed plant. Much of it
is done by trial and error. For instance working out a way of laying
down cables American-style into Russian tracks. Western norms require
a lot of extra space around the cables for safety reasons-space which
the Russian design simply does not provide. Czech construction workers
finally hit on how the whole thing could be resolved - but it took them
two years to lay down just one fourth of the 1000km long cable system.
And that's how it is with everything, they say. But the rewards will
be sweet, the director of construction told Respekt - for this is
actually priceless know-how.
Once we master this we will have the key
to modernizing Soviet-designed plants -and we all know how many of
those Eastern Europe has, not to mention the former Soviet republics
and Russia itself. Given the fact that safety is involved the
construction cannot be hurried along - but, Respekt points out -time
is not on Temelin's side. For assuming that construction will continue
into the next century -as it almost certainly will, the Czech Republic
will by then be engaged in serious accession talks with the EU. And
the EU may have a great deal to say about it. Without doubt EU
scrutiny will be a lot sharper than that of the Czech public, Respekt
notes. One need look no further than neighbouring Germany -where the
construction of a nuclear power plant on former East German territory
was scrapped in 1991. Asked once again, whether it would not make more
sense to scrap the project before it consumes further millions of
crowns and steps into an uncertain future , Ivan Novak, the ministry's
representative at CEZ, the Czech Energy Company, gave the weekly an
unprecedented answer. " That question seems less nonsensical than it
did a year ago" he told Respekt's reporter.
Moving on, the Prague Post features a front page report on child crime
in the Czech republic which the weekly says is growing at an alarming
rate. "The reported rape of a 5 year old girl by two boys aged 7 and
9 - may have shocked the public but youth crime specialists are far
from being surprised over the case" - Michelle Legge of that weekly
notes -" they say such acts are a sign of the times". Specialists link
the alarming trend to violent movies, videos and television shows all
readily available to today's youth. Pornography is also much more
accessible these days - porn magazines can be bought freely at most
Prague stands. Between 1992 and 1996 child crime rose by a staggering
70%, and child criminals aged 6 through 14 committed 43% percent more
crimes than before. According to police spokeswoman Ivana Moosova the
methods young offenders are using nowadays are more aggressive and
organized than ever before. The effects of violent media images are
also evident in the nation's classrooms.
According to principals
today's students are involved in more petty theft, entangled in more
playground fights and also behave more aggressively towards teachers.
Jaroslav Prosek, the principal of an elementary Prague school insists
TV and life style in general are to blame. " TV influences these kids
100 % " he told the weekly " also a lack of care from parents due to
the faster pace of life - parents are busier and don't know what their
kids are doing." Moosova agrees that parents are not fulfilling their
function as positive role models -leaving children to find their role
models on television. And therapists say many of these delinquents
have no sense of having done something wrong. Therapists may know
where the trouble stems from - but, the Prague Post notes, change is
a hard thing to effect in this respect. A petition bearing more than
100,000 signatures that called for a tougher stance on the
broadcasting of violence failed to move legislators when it was
presented to Parliament last year. At the time Vladimir Zelezny
director of the American style commercial station TV NOVA argued that
people want to watch violent television programmes. Which is reason
enough to serve them up in large portions. After all it's finally "a
free world". Some Czech children have their own interpretation of that
phrase and live accordingly.....
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