Hundreds arrested in protest against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
Kudankulam nuclear plant protests: Vaiko among 500 held Times of India, Mar 23, 2012, TIRUNELVELI, TN: Leaders of various parties and outfits, including MDMK leader Vaiko, were on Friday arrested here when they attempted to proceed to Idinthakarai, the epicentre of protests against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, to express their solidarity with the locals demanding the scrapping of the Indo-Russian project.
Leaders and volunteers of MDMK, PMK, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Nam Tamizhar Iyakkam and Popular Front of India and Anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant People’s Movement co-ordinator ‘Kolathur’ Mani were arrested at Palayamkottai here, police said.
They were arrested in view of the ban orders in force in the entire Radhapuram taluk under which Kudunakulam and Idinthakarai falls. Earlier, they participated in a rally organised here to condemn the central and state governments for their ‘atrocious’ attitude in going ahead with the project and the crackdown on People’s Movement Against Nuclear Engery (PMANE), spearheading the protest…… http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kudankulam-nuclear-plant-protests-Vaiko-among-500-held/articleshow/12380791.cms
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister losing popularity, with the crackdown on anti nuclear ptotestors
The plant is a curse not only for us but also our children,” … “We don’t fear the police. We will go to jail. But we will not allow the plant to function in our soil.”
“I have always voted for Amma. But now I regret it. She has ditched us. I will never vote
for her again,”
The tide rises against Amma J Jayalalithaa , Tekelka, 23 March 12, After Jayalalithaa’s green signal for the Koodankulam nuclear plant, the protesters and police are on a collision course, says Jeemon Jacob TENSION IS rising in the coastal village of Idinthakarai, the hub of the anti-nuclear protests in Tamil Nadu.
Around 5,000 men, women and children are camping at the St Lourdes Church grounds to express their solidarity with the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE),
spearheaded by P Udayakumar. They have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike since Monday.
The protesters are in an angry mood after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa made a U-turn in favour of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant and deployed more than 4,000 police personnel to counter the agitation.. Continue reading
Vermont Governor backs anti nuclear protestors, as dozens arrested
Dozens arrested in Vt. nuclear plant protest, Google News, By WILSON RING, Associated Press –24 March 12, BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — A 93-year-old anti-nuclear activist was among more than 130 protesters arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on the first day of the plant’s operation after the expiration of its 40-year license.
Frances Crowe, of Northampton, Mass., said she wants Vermont Yankee to cease operations because she feels it’s a threat to the people who live nearby.
“As I was walking down, all I could think of was Fukushima and the suffering of all the people, and I don’t want that to happen to New England,” Crowe said, referring to the Japanese nuclear reactor damaged last year after an earthquake and tsunami.
When asked how many times she’d been arrested, she answered: “Not enough.”…..
A crowd estimated at more than 1,000 gathered in a downtown Brattleboro park before they marched the 3 1/2 miles to the headquarters. Some marched on stilts. Others with painted faces carried signs that read “hell no, we won’t glow.” Many chanted: “Shut
it down.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin was sympathetic to the protesters. “I am very supportive of the peaceful protesters gathered today in Brattleboro to express their — and my — frustration that this aging plant remains open after its agreed-upon license has expired,” he
said….
The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the plant a 20-year license extension, but the state of Vermont wants the plant to close and the two sides are fighting a legal battle. In January, a federal judge issued an order that allows the plant to continue
operating while the legal case continues in court….. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5id0Xp4AtvKoXSXRWciy2ukdioKyg?docId=594ef1f733024b8f964ef1bcea14c163
200 arrested as India tries to crush anti nuclear movement
Thousands of Anti-Nuclear Protesters Face Police in India, 200 Arrested Green signal for nuclear power ‘is a red signal for our lives’ Common Dreams , 21 March 12,
After thousands gathered in Idinthikarai, Tamil Nadu, India on Monday to protest the vastly contested Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant there, police forces came out en masse to repress demonstrations. Over 200 protesters have been arrested including key anti-nuclear organizers.
Thousands of Koodankulam protesters have gathered in front of St Lourdes church (Photo: TEHELKA)Police initiated “operation Koodankulam” arresting protesters and blocking all entry points to the coastal villages surrounding the nuclear power plant….
Since the arrests, thousands have gathered on the grounds of St Lourdes Church in the area as several have begun a hunger strike. “We will continue our protest till we die,” said one protestor. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/20-4
As Tamil Nadu govt turns against them, Koodankulam anti nuclear protestors plan fast till death
PMANE leaders start fast Tamil Nadu IBN Live Mar 20, 2012 M Abdul Rabi TIRUNELVELI: Seeking release of the nine arrested anti-Koodankulam plant protesters and revocation of the Cabinet resolution favouring the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), PMANE (People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy) leaders S P Udayakumar and M Pushparayan began a fast-unto-death at Idinthakarai on Monday.
Speaking to Express, Udayakumar said: “It is very unfortunate that the
state government has changed its decision….. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kpalnt-pmane-leaders-start-fast/240828-60-118.html
Democracy and nuclear power just don’t go together
The end of the nuclear illusion, The Daily Star, Praful Bidwai, 20 March 12, “…….Nuclear power is now on the run globally. The number of reactors operating worldwide has fallen from the historic peak of 444 (2002) to 429. Their share in global electricity supply has shrunk from 17% to 13%. And it’s likely to fall further as some 180-plus 30 years-old or older reactors are retired. Just about 60 new ones are planned.
Post-Fukushima, nobody will build reactors without big subsidies or high state-guaranteed returns –or unless they are China or India. China’s rulers don’t have to bother about democracy, public opinion or safety standards.
Nor are India’s rulers moved by these. They are desperate to award the reactor contracts promised to the US, France and Russia for lobbying for the US-India nuclear deal in the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Dr. Manmohan Singh has even stooped to maligning Indian anti-nuclear protesters as foreign-funded, as if they had no minds of their own, and as if the government’s priority wasn’t to import reactors.
Nuclear power is bound up with secrecy, deception and opacity, which clash with democracy. It evokes fear and loathing and can only be promoted by force while violating civil liberties.
A recent BBC-GlobeScan poll shows that 69% of people in 23 countries oppose building new reactors, including 90% in Germany, 84% in Japan, 80% in Russia and 83% in France. This proportion has sharply risen since 2005. Only 22% of people in the 12 countries which operate nuclear plants favour building new ones.
The world has witnessed five core meltdowns in 15,000 reactor-years. At this rate, we can expect one core meltdown every eight years in the world’s 400-odd reactors. This is simply unacceptable. Yet, the nuclear industry behaves as if this couldn’t happen. It has a collusive relationship with regulators, Continue reading
Anti nuclear movement encouraged by Swiss court ruling to close Mühleberg nuclear power station
Mühleberg decision heartens foreign activists by Peter Siegenthaler and Samuel Jaberg, swissinfo.ch Mar 19, 2012 A ruling by the Swiss Administrative Court ordering the closure of the Mühleberg nuclear power station has galvanised anti-nuclear campaigners elsewhere in Europe too. If the plant, just outside Bern, really is closed down, this would step up pressure on old nuclear stations at home and abroad. Continue reading
Malaysians not impressed by Australian rare earths company Lynas
Four government ministries have been roped in to help Lynas find a suitable storage site in the country is not only amusing but downright deploring. The statement by the international trade and industry minister that the radio active wastes will be disposed of overseas, even though it may break international laws is really not very assuring.
Lynas cannot continue to hide behind the Malaysian government’s skirt in its operations
Lynas Corp’s absurd publicity stunts — The Malaysian Insider, Iskandar Dzulkarnain March 14, 2012 ”….what can the Penang CM do to alleviate the current controversy surrounding the Lynas rare earth plant? Would his personal opinion or intervention buy over the thousands of critics who are against the existence of the Rare Earth Plant in Pahang State?
Isn’t it more appropriate to meet with Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Pakatan Rakyat who is against the controversial project based on allegations that the Australian miner has not given enough assurances on how it will handle the low-level radioactive waste that will be produced at the refinery? Continue reading
Nuclear industry frantically lobbying, as world turns against it
rejection of nuclear energy is growing among people the world over — and building new reactors makes no sense in economic terms…..
Nuclear lobby’s frantic attempts to downplay the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, with
the aim of nipping the debate about nuclear safety in the bud
Undeterred by Fukushima, Nuclear Lobby Pushes Ahead with New Reactors, Spiegel Online, 13 March 12, One year after the reactor accident in Fukushima, resistance to nuclear energy is growing around the world.
But the atomic industry continues to push for the construction of new reactors, primarily in
emerging economies…… Continue reading
Across Japan thousands protest against nuclear power
Antinuclear protests held across Japan on anniversary of disaster, Mainichi Daily News, http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120312p2g00m0dm069000c.html 12 March 12, TOKYO (Kyodo) — Antinuclear protesters took to the streets in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan on Sunday, the one-year anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami which triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Near the head office of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled Fukushima complex, demonstrators called for the country to abandon nuclear power generation and restore Fukushima Prefecture, where more than 100,000 residents were forced to relocate.
Some 16,000 people attended an antinuclear gathering in the city of Koriyama in Fukushima and rallied in the city, calling for scrapping all nuclear reactors in Japan. The country has 54 commercial nuclear reactors, which provided a third of Japan’s electric power prior to the Fukushima plant disaster.
In Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan, about 1,100 people gathered to call for scrapping Chubu Electric Power Co.’s nuclear reactors at its Hamaoka power plant. Those reactors were halted last May after then prime minister Naoto Kan asked the utility to suspend their operation due to concern about a powerful quake in that area of Shizuoka Prefecture.
About 1,200 people including members of antinuclear citizens’ groups marched in the city of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which hosts the prototype fast-breeder reactor Monju and Kansai Electric Power Co.’s nuclear reactors.
They voiced objection to restarting two of the reactors at Kansai Electric’s Oi power plant in the prefecture after the country’s nuclear safety agency approved results of safety tests conducted on the reactors idled for a regular checkup and left a final decision on whether to restart them to the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
“What we need to do, after witnessing how tragic Tokyo Electric’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident is, is to build a society which does not rely on nuclear plants,” said Fujio Yamamoto, who leads a group which organized the protest.
Similar protests were also held in other prefectures which host nuclear power plants or related facilities, including Saga and Aomori.
In the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atomic bomb survivors took part in antinuclear protests and urged the country to stop relying on nuclear power.
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. Continue reading
Big turnout of protestors blockading UK’s Hinkley nuclear site
Activists blockade nuclear plant, Google News, (UKPA) 12 Mar 12, Anti-nuclear protesters have completed a 24-hour blockade of the entrance to Hinkley Point nuclear power station, marking the first anniversary of the disaster at the Fukushima power station in Japan. The Stop New Nuclear alliance hailed the rally as the “largest anti-nuclear protest in three decades” with up to 1,000 demonstrators surrounding the site on Saturday.
Protesters were also demonstrating over plans to build the first new nuclear reactors in Britain on the site. A number of protesters stayed overnight with over 100 people blocking the main entrance, stopping all traffic from entering or leaving the site, which is about 10 miles from Bridgwater, in Somerset…..
Hinkley Point is seen by protesters as the new “front line” in the fight against the use of nuclear power. Nancy Birch, spokeswoman for the alliance said: “We’ve successfully concluded the first ever 24-hour blockade of a UK nuclear power station.
“This is a major victory for the anti-nuclear movement and a sign that the tide is turning against the government’s nuclear renaissance. “A mini tent city emerged as over 100 people remained outside the main gate at Hinkley overnight – camping on the tarmac in makeshift tents.”
The blockade formally ended when Japanese Buddhist monks performed a prayer for the victims of the tsunami that precipitated the Fukushima disaster. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jjnCvxI8QTlU3mTeTo-q0bR3PaFw?docId=N1027381331401975467A
Protest rally for a nuclear free Taiwan
About 2,000 Taiwanese stage anti-nuclear protest, Mainichi Daily News, TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) 12 March 12, — About 2,000 people have staged an anti-nuclear protest in Taiwan’s capital as they observed a moment of silence to mourn the victims of the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan one year ago.
The protesters paraded in Taipei on Sunday to renew calls for a nuclear-free island by taking lessons from Japan’s disaster on March 11, 2011, which triggered meltdowns at three nuclear reactors.
They want the government to scrap a plan to operate a newly constructed nuclear power plant — the fourth in densely populated Taiwan.
Scores of aboriginal protesters demanded the removal of 100,000 barrels of nuclear waste stored on their Orchid Island, off southeastern Taiwan. Authorities have failed to find a substitute storage site amid increased awareness of nuclear danger over the past decade. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/news/20120311p2g00m0in035000c.html
Nobel Laureate urges India to abandon harmful nuclear energy
Nobel laureate says nuclear energy can harm Times of India, TNN | Mar 10, 2012, “… a specialist in the field, Hans-Peter Durr, director emeritus at the Max-Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, says nuclear energy poses serious threat to public health and encourages a major financial drain on national economies. Durr won the Nobel peace prize in 1995.
He delivered the TAG-VHS diabetes research speech on ‘nuclear power and energy hunger’ in the city on Friday in the presence of Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany Stefan Weckbach and an auditorium filled with scientists, doctors, businessmen and retired government officials. … Durr said we would be able to produce adequate energy from soft sources like the sun. “No one in the world knows what they should be doing with the waste generated from the nuclear waste, except for bombs. Even hiding the waste under the sea won’t help as its half life is several hundred years,” he said.
Earlier at a press conference on Thursday, Durr said government of India and Tamil Nadu should look at alternative sources to tap energy instead of opening a nuclear power plant inKudankulam. …. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Nobel-laureate-says-nuclear-energy-can-harm/articleshow/12203134.cms
Patrick Moore praises nuclear power, but the world does not believe him!
Dramatic fall in new nuclear power stations after Fukushima, Fiona Harvey in Brussels, John Vidal and Damian Carrington. guardian.co.uk, 8 March 2012 The drop in construction work on new reactors may reflect waning interest in nuclear after the shutdown of the Japan reactor a year ago
The number of new nuclear power stations entering the construction phase fell dramatically last year compared with previous years, in the aftermath of the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan last March.
From 2008 to 2010, construction work began on 38 reactors around the world, but in 2011-12, there were only two construction starts, according to Steve Thomas, professor of energy studies at the University of Greenwich. Continue reading
1 This Month
26 September – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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