nuclear-news

Nuclear disgrace for Egypt – not a “national pride”!

Thousands of residents of Dabaa and neighboring towns have protested against the planned site of the power plant. Since August 2011, locals have held sit-ins, gone on marches and blocked highways in protest, finally clashing with security forces after negotiations with local
officials broke down

Egypt’s nuclear dream, or nuclear nightmare? http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/egypt-s-nuclear-dream-or-nuclear-nightmare Egypt Independent Jano Charbel  15/07/2012 A grassroots campaign is underway to end Egypt’s embryonic nuclear ambitions in the town of Dabaa — or at least to relocate them. Meanwhile the Ministry of Electricity, and its subordinate the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, are sticking to their guns regarding their nuclear aspirations, which have been dubbed “a national project” and an “issue of national pride.”

Dabaa is the planned site for a massive energy station that would
measure around 55 square km, a dream of the Egyptian government since
1981.

The ministry insists on going ahead with the construction in Dabaa,
claiming that it would be too expensive to relocate the planned
nuclear power plant away from this small, northwestern town by the
Mediterranean Sea.

The campaign’s first press conference — which included participants
from environmental and human rights NGOs along with residents of Dabaa
— took place at the Journalists’ Syndicate on Sunday. Several other
conferences, protests and awareness-raising programs are scheduled to
be organized over the next few months to shed light on the plight of
local residents, and provide information about potential alternatives
to nuclear energy.

“The state insists on pushing ahead with its nuclear project on our
lands — but the only way they will be able to continue with this
project is over our dead bodies,” said Mehanna Abdel Hamid, Dabaa’s
mayor, during the press conference.

Residents and activists have denounced the destruction of homes, wells
and trees along with the confiscation of lands used for agriculture,
grazing, fishing and fowl-hunting as a result of construction work on
the plant.
“Decades ago, the authorities promised us improved infrastructure,
public utilities, irrigation networks and employment opportunities,”
said Abdel Hamid.

“What we got instead was the destruction of some 350 of our homes, and
the confiscation of our lands on which we grow figs, olives, and
grain. They also took away our stone quarries along with our fishing
and quail-hunting grounds in order to build the nuclear power plant,”
the mayor continued.

According to Ahmed Mansour, a member of an NGO-based fact-finding
mission to Dabaa, “The media focuses on Egypt’s nuclear ambitions and
development issues, yet neglects to mention the basic rights of
Dabaa’s residents.”
While screening a slideshow of photos from his fact-finding mission
for the press, Mansour pointed to a photo of a large ditch in the
desert with pipes strewn around the sand, stating, “As you can see
here, this is what our nuclear power plant in Dabaa looks like after
31 years of work.”

“This is not a nuclear reactor, as the media portrays it to be. Yet
the media calls local residents thugs, traitors and terrorists for
allegedly infringing upon this site,” claimed Mansour……
Thousands of residents of Dabaa and neighboring towns have protested against the planned site of the power plant. Since August 2011, locals have held sit-ins, gone on marches and blocked highways in protest, finally clashing with security forces after negotiations with local
officials broke down……
“Nuclear energy is costly and hazardous. Egypt can tap into clean,
safe and free energy, which is abundantly available. Egypt is very
well situated to tap into these energies,” Mansour said, explaining
that the installation of simple solar and wind power technologies
could securely meet Egypt’s future energy needs, while bio-fuels
generated from domestic waste could also be a viable energy
source…..
Gasser Abdel Razeq, a human rights activist at the Egyptian Initiative
for Personal Rights (EIPR) said that the campaign would present a
study of these alternative options to President Mohamed Morsy in the
hopes that he would be convinced to scrap the power plant altogether,
or at least move it away from the North Coast.

According to Abdel Razeq, two further conferences are planned over the
next few months which will focus on Egypt’s renewable energies and
alternatives to nuclear energy. Further protests in Cairo and Dabaa
against this nuclear project are also being planned.

Three independent NGOs, including the Network of Housing and Land
Rights, EIPR and the Egyptian Center for Civil and Legislative Reforms
participated in fact finding missions to Dabaa and have issued their
first report, a 29-page booklet detailing the violations of housing
and land rights in the name of constructing the power plant.

Organizers against the plant have also set up a Facebook page entitled
“The campaign to stop the nuclear reactor project in Dabaa,” while
EIPR frequently issues statements and updates about conditions in the
town.

July 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Egypt, opposition to nuclear