nuclear-news

Anti nuclear rallies around the world

Protesters link arms around the world to decry nuclear power, Google News, France 24, 11 March 12,   AFP – Tens of thousands of anti-nuclear protesters across the globe called for an end to nuclear power as they marked the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami at Japan’s Fukushima power plant.

In Japan, tens of thousands rallied near the crippled plant, demanding
an end to nuclear power as the nation held memorial ceremonies for a
disaaster that claimed almost 20,000 lives…. Around 16,000 people
gathered at a baseball stadium in Koriyama, some 60 kilometres (40
miles) from the plant.

Participants called for an end to nuclear energy in Japan and
compensation for victims from operator Tokyo Electric Power.

“Our town has turned out to be another Chernobyl,” Masami Yoshizawa,
who ran a cattle farm in Namie, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the
plant, shouted through a loudspeaker. “We are in despair now, but I
will get back my hometown even if it takes me the rest of my life.”

Demonstrators in France’s Rhone valley formed a human chain that
organisers said stretched for 230 kilometres (140 miles) and consisted
of about 60,000 people. The region has Europe’s highest concentration
of nuclear reactors, demonstrators said.

France’s 58 nuclear reactors generate about 75 percent of the
country’s electricity, making it the world’s most nuclear-dependent
nation.

Activists across Germany carried out similar protests, with organisers
claiming as many as 50,000 people turned out across the country….
Following the Fukushima disaster, Berlin said it would immediately
switch off Germany’s eight oldest reactors and close nine others by
2022.

Demonstrators, who formed a chain around the nuclear power station in
Brokdorf in northern Germany, want the government to quicken that
timeline.

Hundreds of anti-nuclear demonstrators converged on the Australian
headquarters of global mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto,
calling for an end to uranium mining in Australia.

Organiser Kazuyo Preston said Rio and BHP had both supplied uranium to
Fukushima from their Australian mines…..
In the Taiwanese capital Taipei, a crowd of thousands observed a
one-minute silence and called on the government to shut down the
island’s three nuclear plants that generate about 20 percent of its
power.

Spanish demonstrators demanded the closure of a nuclear plant in
Garona. The reactor in northern Spain is similar in design to
Fukushima and has been running since 1971, making it the oldest of
Spain’s eight reactors.

Around 5,000 anti-nuclear demonstrators in Switzerland called for the
immediate closure of two of the country’s power stations. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2A3r4xeVi3tGK1bRQPPiwcqIiCA?docId=CNG.31f8de9a58d069f4c137be66715677b6.641

March 12, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, opposition to nuclear