Nuclear waste train meets strong protest in France
Nuclear waste train spurs protests in France, Nov 23 (Reuters) – French anti-nuclear activists scuffled with police in Normandy on Wednesday as they tried to hold up a train transporting radioactive waste processed by nuclear producer Areva to a storage site in Germany.
Several hundred protesters tried to occupy the train tracks near the town of Valognes in northwestern France before being repelled by police in riot gear. Police said they had detained five people. Before the train eventually departed around mid-afternoon, the activists played a cat-and-mouse game with police officers, who launched canisters of tear gas to disperse them before charging the crowd with batons.
“This movement is about the indignation of people who are aware of the dangers of nuclear power and who reject politics geared only toward the profit of certain businesses,” said a 60-year-old activist, who did not want to give his name……
The train carried 11 tubular containers of highly radioactive nuclear waste processed by Areva at its treatment plant at La Hague, northwest France. The treated waste, which originates from German nuclear plants, was en route to the nuclear waste facility of Gorleben in northeastern Germany for storage. Wednesday’s train marked the last of 12 shipments of treated nuclear waste sent in recent years from France to Gorleben. An expired contract between the two countries is not expected to be renewed. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/france-nuclear-protests-idUSL5E7MN30R20111123
French activists try to stop nuclear waste train
The shipment from the French nuclear giant Areva’s reprocessing plant at La Hague is the last planned to Germany. Germany has stopped sending nuclear waste for reprocessing in France, as it winds down its nuclear power plants. Chancellor Angela Merkel said this year that all plants would be shut down by 2022.Wednesday’s train left more than an hour late as a result of the disturbances, which were frequently violent, correspondents report…. The demonstrators managed to remove a rail and destroy electric junction boxes before the train left, according to France’s AFP news agency.
‘Radical opposition’ Further protests are expected when the train enters Germany on its way to the nuclear waste facility at Gorleben. Protesters say the shipment presents an environmental hazard but Areva insists the rail shipment is perfectly safe.”Beyond the danger that this waste poses, we’re demonstrating our radical opposition to a means of production that means we’ll always need more power,” said one Parisian protester, Anna, 24. “We’re against endless growth.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15861761
USA in peril – time to end the warfare state
Our future depends on stopping an attack on Iran, Harvey WassermanWar is the health of the corporate state. The 1% needs its endless cash flow to stay in power.
As the slaughters in Iraq and Afghanistan transform into something less visible, the 1% war machine must have a new profit center. The pretext for this latest war is the spectre of a nuclear-armed Iran. It’s a tawdry re-run of the lies George W. Bush used to sell the 2003 attack on Iraq. It’s no surprise those “Weapons of Mass Destruction” were never found—or that Bush could later joke about it.
The hypocrisy of the 1% railing against bombs allegedly flowing from Iran’s “Peaceful Atom” program comes in unholy tandem with the corporate push for a “nuclear renaissance” peddling these same reactors all over the world. (It helps to remember that the nuclear industry once tried to sell 36 “peaceful” reactors to the Shah).
STOPPING THE ATTACK ON IRAN IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL TO OUR HOPES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY. THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT HOLDS THE KEY. Continue reading
Japan’s anti nuclear Occupy movement determined to make Japan nuclear free
Anti-nuclear protestors sit tight at Japanese ministry, BUSINESS RECORDER NOVEMBER 18, 2011 TAKEHIKO KAMBAYASHA Anti-nuclear activist Tadao Eda says he and other citizens will continue their sit-in at the Industry Ministry for as long as Japan is running nuclear power stations despite the ongoing crisis at a damaged plant in the north-east.“Japan needs drastic changes in energy policy by scrapping all the nuclear reactors,” Eda says from his tent erected in a corner of the ministry’s grounds two months ago. “We won’t allow the government to restart idled reactors” after they are shut down for maintenance, he says.
All of Japan’s 11 reactors still in operation, are scheduled to be shut down for servicing by April, he says. If the government withholds permission for them to restart, Japan would be free of nuclear power. Continue reading
India’s anti nuclear activists are still patriotic Indians
Anti-nuclear stand is not anti-national: activist, Manorama Online, November 17, 2011 Chennai: “Being anti-nuclear power does not mean one is anti-national,” an anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) activist said Thursday referring to police cases slapped on protesters and the allegations of foreign backing for the stir.
India’s Bhopal survivors angry at weakening of Nuclear Liability Law
The liability rules set by the Indian government are aimed at speeding up foreign investment
in new nuclear power stations ..
Ministers had been under pressure to insist on strong liability rules to ensure those affected by any future nuclear accident would be properly compensated and the companies responsible take full responsibility.
Campaigners warned of “another Bhopal”, after the tragedy at the Union Carbide chemical plant where a poisonous gas leak killed several thousand people and injured several hundred thousand. They say full compensation was not paid while contamination of the water supply continues to cause birth defects and disabilities.
Under the Rules of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act, published on Thursday, nuclear suppliers can cut deals to restrict the duration of warranties, after which they would not be liable for accidents. “The lessons learnt from the Bhopal tragedy have clearly not made any difference to the government. For them foreign interest is paramount and much above well being of its people,” said Karuna Raina of Greenpeace
Opposition to uranium mining in India
| Minister opposes uranium mining | |
| Deccan Herald, Bangalore, Nov 16, DHNS: | |
| Yadgir district in-charge minister Raju Gouda on Wednesday said he would appeal to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to cancel the permission granted to the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to take up uranium mining in Gogi village of Yadgir district. | |
| Addressing the media, Gouda said he would take a delegation to meet the chief minister on Thursday, and submit a memo- randum urging the government to drop the project as it would pose serious health hazards to the people of the region.
The minister said the project was not only hazardous to human beings but would also adversely impact the environment and the wildlife, and fertile land in the radius of over 100 km in and around the project would turn barren. The government has agreed to allot about 102 hectares of land to UCIL for taking up mining activities in Gogi, where rich deposits of Uranium have been found. UCIL had already dug up a 273-metre deep tunnel. The effluents generated are being discharged into a nearby water body, which was a water source for the people. Both humans and cattle have been taking ill after consuming this water, he said. .. |
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Open anti nuclear activism in Iran
Iran Activists Join Antinuclear Push, WSJ, 14 Nov 11, By FARNAZ FASSIHI, A group of Iranian dissidents for the first time openly called on their government to suspend uranium enrichment, in an open letter published Monday that adds to the momentum of the international effortto convince Tehran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program.
“The current deadlock over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and empty power play will set the stage for war and the people of Iran will have to pay the price,” said the letter. Continue reading
Blockade by protestors delays Kudankulam nuclear plant
Commissioning of India Kudankulam nuclear plant delayed BBC News, 10 Nov 11 Commissioning of a controversial planned nuclear plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has been delayed by a few months, officials have told the BBC. Kudankulam plant Chief Superintendent MK Balaji said that the delay was due to public protests at the site which had disrupted building work.
He said that the site had been subjected to a total blockade by protesters since 13 October. Protesters say the facility is unsafe and in an earthquake area. They fear a repeat of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima plant…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15684591
Strength and determination of India’s anti nuclear movement
Protests galore expected in Kudankulam IBN Tamil Nadu | Nov 10, 2011 Press Trust of India Chennai: Extending support to locals agitating against Kudankulam Nuclear Power project, about 100 anti-nuclear activists will embark on a yatra from Madurai to the site on Thursday.
The activists, under the aegis of Chennai Solidarity Group for Kudankulam Struggle would start their journey from Madurai on November 10 and stop at towns and villages en route to Kudankulam to explain “the terrible environmental and health effects of nuclear energy.”
At Kudankulam, they would conduct a national seminar titled “National Conference on Safety issues at Nuclear installations in India.” The Yatra will culminate in Chennai on November 13, where a seminar for students would also be held. There are also plans to hold a photo-exhibition, depicting the horrors of nuclear energy, a press release from the group said.
The yatra has been organised by National Alliance of Anti-Nuclear Movements. Some of those attending the yatra are nuclear physicist Suvrat Raju, Prof Banwarilal Sharma, mathematician and former president of the International Congress of Mathematics and Thomas Kochery of National Fishworkers Forum, it said. (Watch CNN-IBN live on your iPad. IBN7 and IBN Lokmat too. Download the IBNLive for iPad app. It’s free. Click here to download now) http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tn-protests-galore-expected-in-kudankulam/200859-62-128.html
Nuclear crisis as Indian villagers reject bribes
N-plant crisis: Villagers reject Kalam’s proposals, Hindustan Times 8 Nov In a major setback to the central government, which is trying to resolve the Kudankulam nuclear plant crisis, villagers protesting against the plant have dismissed former president APJ Abdul Kalam’s endorsement of the project. They have also refused to accept Kalam’s proposals on the development of Kudankulam and neighbouring areas.
The former president had visited the project site in Tirunelveli district on Sunday. Kalam had also come up with a 10-point development plan, which includes building of four-lane highways, houses, schools, hospitals as well as cold storages, in Kudankulam and surrounding areas.
“If anyone thinks that he or she can bribe the villagers like this, they are sadly mistaken,” said anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar on Monday.
Villagers who had been on a relay hunger strike for weeks at Idinthakkari village, continued their protest on Monday.
They said Kalam was speaking for the government. “Is Kalam a president, PM or a minister to come out with a plan? Whose sanction has he got to make such recommendations?” questioned a protester.”The plan does sound great. But why a 500 bed hospital? Do they think that so many people will fall ill,” asked a villager. http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/TamilNadu/N-plant-crisis-Villagers-reject-Kalam-s-proposals/Article1-765800.aspx
Anti nuclear fasting continues in Koodankulam
Tamil Nadu Koodankulam relay fast continues IBN Live, 1 Nov 11, CHENNAI: The protest fast against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) continued for the 14th day Monday in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, an activist said.
“Around 400 people from Thomaiarpuram, Idinthakarai and Kudankulam participated in the fast,” S. Sivasubramanian, coordinator of the People’s Rights Movement, an organisation fighting for the plant’s closure, told IANS.
India’s nuclear power plant operator NPCIL is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Koodankulam, around 650 km from here. The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project is estimated to cost around Rs.13,000 crore…. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tn-koodankulam-relay-fast-continues/197977-60-118.html
70 organisations and localities want to keep Virginia’s ban on uranium mining
“They want good quality jobs and they see a uranium mine as a deterrent to economic development,”
The Sierra Club said the NAACP is among 70 organizations and localities that want the ban to remain in place.
NAACP: Keep Va. ban on uranium mining, Canadian Business, By Steve Szkotak October 31, 2011 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The state chapter of the NAACP wants Virginia to keep intact a 30-year ban on uranium mining, stating that opening one of the world’s largest known deposits of the radioactive ore is not worth the environmental risk.
The civil rights organization said the resolution is rooted in fears that poor and minority communities would be disproportionately affected if an accident occurred in mining the Southside Virginia deposit.
“This is a human right. The NAACP is about human rights and environmental justice,” said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP and sponsor of the resolution. Continue reading
“Occupy” and anti nuclear- declaration for the future
”The future of the human race requires the co-operation of its members.”
our planet can no longer withstand the assaults of an increasingly destructive industrial civilisation.
Learning To Shine Through The Ruins, By Vincent Di Stefano, 30 October,2011, Countercurrents.org “…….The cultural awakening of the 1960s had made many aware of the presence of deepening flaws within industrial civilisation: Of the rampant militarism that had unleashed two unspeakably destructive World Wars; of the atomic slaying of the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; of the slash and burn methods of US imperialism that disgorged blistering gifts of napalm and poisonous defoliants into the wasted landscapes of Indo-China;
……..this abundance and the freedoms it has bestowed appear to have benumbed rather than sharpened our capacity to perceive and to interpret the divided reality that underlies our illusions of comfort and prosperity.
Despite the fact that the Chernobyl melt-down 25 years ago has already cost nearly a million lives , and despite the fact that hot Strontium from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant has been detected on the rooftops of houses in Yokohama 250 kilometers away, the nuclear industry, together with its marketing arm, the International Atomic Energy Commission continues to aggressively pursue their deadly interests….. Continue reading
Japan – protest by Fukushima women
VIDEO http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/women-from-fukushima-gather-to-find-hope-in-t/blog/37555/ Women from Fukushima gather to ‘find hope in the despair’ of nuclear disaster by Laura Kenyon, Greenpeace International – October 28, 2011 Yesterday close to two hundred women from Fukushima began a three-day sit-in outside the Tokyo office of Japan’s Ministry of Economy calling for the evacuation of children from areas with high radiation levels and the permanent shut down of nuclear reactors in Japan currently switched off. Their peaceful protest is a powerful – almost radical – act in a country where standing up for something can often mean ostracism from one’s community. These are not women who regularly participate in civil protest. These are mothers who fear for their children’s safety and future. These are grandmothers separated from their families. The fact that they have put their own lives and families on hold for these three days reflects the harrowing situation these women and their families have found themselves in since the nuclear disaster. Continue reading
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