FUKUSHIMA 2021, International Uranium Film Festival
March 11, 2021. Ten Years Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Rio de Janeiro International Uranium Film Festival Free Online Screening and Debate.
The first International Uranium Film Festival event 2021 is scheduled for Thursday, March 11, to remember the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster. A free seven day online screening in cooperation with the Cinematheque of Rio de Janeiro’s Modern Art Museum (MAM Rio)(link is external). We will show two awarded documentary movies about the Fukushima nuclear accident: a poetic short film by photographer Alessandro Tesei and a feature documentary by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. The films can be watched online from March 11 to March 17.
After the screening the audience can chat with Fukushima expert, Professor Dr. Alphonse Kelecom from the Laboratory of Radiobiology and Radiometry of the Institute of Biology at Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro. Since March 2011, Kelecom visited several times Fukushima. Of course non portuguese speakers are also invited. Prof. Alphonse Kelecom speaks Portuguese, English and French as well. Moderator is Márcia Gomes de Oliveira, director of the International Uranium Film Festival who visited Fukushima in 2015 by invitation of Peace Boat Foundation.
The National 16th Jan 2021, HELENSBURGH CND’s Beyond Nuclear conference was postponed twice last year due to the pandemic. But the event will now be taking place virtually on January 31, from 11am to 4.30pm. To be staged by virtual event group
Cameron, Beyond Nuclear is designed to answer the question: “Why would we in Scotland want or need to have nuclear power stations when we have almost
unlimited potential for clean, renewable energy production?” The
conference will be in two parts; the first an examination of the negatives
involved in nuclear power production, contrasting with the positives of
clean renewable energy in the second.
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday 22 January. Continue reading →
January 10, 2021 by Source of the Spring Staff, The City of Takoma Park is commemorating its status as a Nuclear-Free Zone by hosting a virtual screening of the documentary film ‘The Nuns, The Priests, and The Bombs’ on January 25th.
The documentary “follows a community of peace activists, including two Catholic nuns and a Jesuit priest in their eighties, who are willing to go to prison, and even risk death, because of their deeply held conviction that nuclear weapons are immoral and violate international humanitarian law,” according to the film’s website:
Since 1980 activists in lay and religious life have undertaken dramatic Plowshares protests in an effort to raise public consciousness on the growing threat posed by the world’s nuclear weapons. Through their actions the activists seeks to invoke the biblical injunction, “They Shall Beat Their Swords into Plowshares”. This film follows two federal criminal cases against the activists for their protests: the July 2012 break-in at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home of the largest U.S. stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and the 2009 break-in at the Kitsap Bangor U.S. naval base near Seattle. The film follows the activists’ legal efforts to justify their actions under international law and documents efforts at the United Nations to enforce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and negotiate the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The City of Takoma Park passed its Nuclear-Free Zone legislation in December of 1983, and later established the Nuclear-Free Takoma Park Committee: “The Act prohibits work on nuclear weapons, including transportation and storage of such weapons within the City, and prohibits the City from doing business with companies that produce nuclear weapons or their components, with very narrow exceptions.”
According to The Washington Post, in 2012 Takoma Park City Council unanimously voted to grant a waiver to purchase computers from Hewlett-Packard, the first time that a waiver was opposed by the Nuclear-Free Takoma Park Committee. “Updated research indicates that Hewlett-Packard (HP) continues to conduct business with the Department of Defense and other federal agencies for cloud services capable of the development, deployment, security, and utilization of nuclear weapons,” the committee stated in its meeting minutes.
A Q&A with filmmaker Helen Young will follow the film screening, which will start at 7 p.m. on January 25th.
Tomorrow, December 16th, at 5:00 PM, the East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) board will vote on whether or not to accept nuclear energy from PG&E, with the aim of re-selling it to a third party.
EBCE, Alameda County’s public power agency, exists to provide more renewable energy to its customers and reinvest its earnings back into the community to create local green energy jobs, local programs, and clean power projects.
Nuclear energy is not safe or clean. The Sierra Club remains unequivocally opposed to nuclear energy and encourages the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. We oppose even the buying and selling of nuclear power.
Time and time again we’ve fought to keep nuclear out of EBCE’s power content. Simply promoting nuclear in another form does not make it acceptable — even for slight financial gains.
We urge you to join us in asking the Board to reject this latest proposal. Let’s make sure EBCE stays cleaner and greener than the incumbent utility.
The meeting agenda, speaker sign up, and Zoom link will be posted and updated here. Sometimes these meetings can be long. If you would like us to text you when the agenda item is being discussed, please message Melissa Yu at melissa.yu@sierraclub.org.
Nuclear weapons and nuclear power share several common features. In fact, the UK’s first nuclear power stations were built primarily to provide fissile material for nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
The development of both the nuclear weapons and nuclear power industries is mutually beneficial. And now it appears that the government is using the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to subsidise Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system.
As part of a Parliamentary investigation into the Hinkley project, it emerged that without the billions of pounds earmarked for building this new power station in Somerset, Trident would be ‘unsupportable’. Professor Andy Stirling and Dr Phil Johnstone argued that the nuclear power station will ‘maintain a large-scale national base of nuclear-specific skills’ essential for maintaining Britain’s military nuclear capability.
Join CND for an online discussion with Professor Stirling and Dr Johnstone about these connections.
DONALD TRUMP: Please Guarantee the November, 2020 Election Will Proceed
Campaign created by
Harvey Wasserman
We want Mr. Trump to guarantee that he will not attempt to cancel the November, 2020 election, and that he will guarantee that even if we are still in a pandemic, the necessary steps will be taken to make sure the nation can exercise its right to vote.
Why is this important?
Nothing is more sacred to American democracy that our right to free and fair elections. A major dialogue is under way as to how to conduct this fall’s election even if the Pandemic still rages (see http://www.solartopia.org. Please join us. Thank you.
Coronavirus Halts Street Protests, but Climate Activists Have a Plan, NYT, 20 Mar 20, Greta Thunberg, protesting in Brussels this month, is now calling for digital strikes. The coronavirus outbreak has prompted climate activists to abandon public demonstrations, one of their most powerful tools for raising public awareness, and shift to online protests.
This week, for example, organizers of the Fridays for Future protests are advising people to stay off the streets and post photos and messages on social media in a wave of digital strikes.
“We are people who listen to the scientists and it would be hypocritical of us to not treat this as a crisis,” said Saoi O’Connor, a 17-year-old Fridays for Future organizer from Cork, Ireland.
Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish activist who inspired the Friday youth protest group, last week stayed at home and tweeted a photo of herself and her two dogs, with a message calling on protesters to “take it online.”
Similarly, a coalition of climate movements had planned huge protests around commemorations for the 50th annual Earth Day in April. Those have now been canceled or moved online. One group, Earth Initiative and March for Science New York City, plans to live-stream speakers and performers at an online event.
Dominique Palmer, 20, a Fridays for Future organizer in Britain, acknowledged the challenges of protesting online. Hashtags and snappy videos are good, she said, but really making an impact will require more work. Twitter protests in which activists send out messages aimed directly at selected officials, and phone-banking, in which they telephone them en masse, are two of the ideas under consideration.
It also comes at a crucial time. With a presidential election in the United States this year, activists had hoped to raise the profile of climate change on the public agenda. And, just days after the election, world leaders are scheduled to gather in Glasgow for United Nations-led climate talks where presidents and prime ministers will face pressure to get more ambitious about reining in greenhouse gas emissions. ….. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/climate/coronavirus-online-climate-protests.html
Four New Mexico Count the Nuclear Weapons Money Events, http://nuclearactive.org/October 17th, 2019 In less than seven days, CCNS will join with other peace, disarmament, climate and social justice activists across New Mexico to count out one trillion dollars in one million dollar bills at four planned events in Taos, Santa Fe, Socorro, and Los Alamos as part of the global Count the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign. One trillion dollars is the amount proposed for the U.S. nuclear weapons budget over ten years.
The campaign’s goal is to demonstrate the scale of a one trillion dollar investment and how it could be devoted to peace and humanitarian needs, rather than the threat of nuclear annihilation. The scale will be profound in terms of time, the number of bills, the number of people counting the money by hand, and the impact of seeing people around the world counting the money. The events will be live-streamed so people can learn what benefits this money could bring if re-directed to climate protection, just transitions, and sustainable development goals.
The campaign will begin on Thursday, October 24th and continue through Wednesday October 30th, during the United Nations’ Disarmament Week. Volunteers are needed! To sign up, contact CCNS at ccns@nuclearactive.org or by phone at 505 986-1973.
On Thursday, October 24th, New Mexico’s Opening Ceremony will take place in Taos from 3 to 5 pm. It will coincide with the Opening Ceremony in New York City. For more information and to volunteer, please contact Suzie at (575) 770-2629.
On Friday, October 25th, we will gather at the State Capitol to bring attention to two existential threats – the climate crisis and nuclear weapons. There will be a counting event and an opportunity to present a letter to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
On Saturday, October 26th, we will gather in the Socorro Plaza Gazebo from 2 to 4 pm to count 2.4 billion dollars – the amount provided to Downwinders and Uranium Workers under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act since 2000. Despite being overexposed to radiation from the first atomic test at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945, the Trinity Downwinders have never been included in the compensation program. https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/home
On Monday, October 28th, we will gather in Los Alamos from 2:30 to 4:30 pm to count 13 billion dollars, the amount proposed to modernize the nuclear weapons complex at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The event will coincide with colleagues counting outside of major banking institutions invested in nuclear weapons work. Participants will urge divestment.
For more information and to volunteer to count the money, please contact CCNS at (505) 986-1973.
One of the world’s oldest uranium mining regions becomes venue of the International Uranium Film Festival 2019 in Portugal. From 13 to 15 September 2019, the International Uranium Film Festival will take place for the second time in Portugal. But this time, the festival did not choose Lisbon as the venue, but one of the oldest uranium mining regions in the world: Urgeiriça (Nelas) in the center of Portugal.
If you hear or read about „uranium mining“ most people think on the huge open pit mines in Australia, Canada, USA or in Namibia. However one of the oldest uranium mines on earth is in fact located on the „old continent“ in central Portugal, about 300 km north of Lisbon in the district of Viseu. Mining started here in Urgeiriça more than a hundred years ago in 1913 to export the radioactive minerals radium and uranium to nuclear scientist Marie Curie in Paris.
A few decades later, uranium from Urgeiriça was exported to England and USA to fuel the Manhattan project and to make Britain’s first nuclear Bomb, that exploded 1952 in the Monte Bello Islands off Western Australia.
Finally, in 2001, uranium (yellow cake) production in Portugal ceased altogether, but it had left behind a deadly legacy of hazardous ore tailings and a contaminated environment. In 2005 started the Clean-up process (also called decommissioning or remediation) financed by the European Union.
Much of the rehabilitation work in Urgeiriça has been completed, and the region is preparing for a new economic future: sustainable tourism and the establishment of a museum center for uranium mining.
This is one of the reasons why the International Uranium Film Festival takes place here in the historic uranium mining region for the first time now in September 2019. Uranium Film Festival partner and local organizer is the association of former uranium miners of Portugal (ATMU), who fought for years for compensation of the victims and remediation of the more than 60 abandoned portuguese uranium mines and its tailings.
From 13 to 15 September, the world’s most unique film festival will feature a dozen films on uranium mining, nuclear power and radioactive risks in Urgeiriça and the neighboring mining towns of Viseu and Mangualde. All screenings are free, and panel discussions with filmmakers, uranium experts, scientists, former uranium miners and activists complete the program.
Beside of that participants are invited to visit the closed uranium mine and the clean-up process. “You Won’t Leave Here Like You Came.” „The Uranium Film Festival in Portugal this year will not yet be a huge film festival like we use to organize it annually in Rio de Janeiro or Berlin“, says festival director and founder Norbert G. Suchanek, “but it’s the beginning of a hopefully long partnership with Portugal.”
Nonetheless, the Festival Director is confident that the Urgeiriça Uranium Film Festival will be an important and interesting event for both the local population, which has been suffering from uranium mining for decades, as well as for uranium mining and nuclear experts, filmmakers and environmental activists. And even without the Uranium Film Festival, a visit to Urgeiriça would certainly be interesting and valuable for anyone involved in nuclear energy, uranium mining and its consequences. . Suchanek: “In Urgeiriça you can experience the history of uranium mining, its consequences and the attempt to rehabilitate the environment damaged by uranium mining and the clean-up of the radioactive tailings first hand. I am pretty sure: You won’t leave here like you came.”
In addition, just a two hours drive from Urgeiriça you find the medieval town Nisa, another important, but very different example of uranium history and anti-uranium movement in Portugal. Just outside the ancient walls of Nisa build by the crusaders lies one of the largest, yet unexploited uranium deposits in Portugal in the ground. But instead of exploring it, the people of Nisa and its local politicians decided a few years ago, in 2008, just the opposite and banned any uranium mining in their region! The people of Nisa opted for a sustainable income from local natural resources such as extensive sheep and goat farming and the production of cheese and meat instead of the production of yellow cake (uranium oxide). For that, Nisa and his movement against uranium mining MUNN (Movimento Urânio Em Nisa Não) has received in 2012 the Nuclear-Free Future Award.“ Hope to see you in Portugal next September! uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/uranium-fil…
Jun 3, 2019 at 3:51 DURHAM — A citizens’ initiative group is trying to raise money to improve the capabilities to monitor radiation emanating from the Seabrook Power plant.
Citizens Fundraising Effort for Monitoring in New Hampshire is a group of New Hampshire residents who have launched an effort to raise funds to expand the C-10 system into New Hampshire. A meeting at the Durham home of Dudley Dudley, well known political activist, drew about 20 people, mostly current and past legislators and local politicians.
The group was formed by Natalie Hildt-Treat, executive director of C-10, State Representative Peter Somssich, D-Portsmouth, and Portsmouth resident Damon Thomas. The purpose for the meeting was twofold, to explain the need for additional monitoring of the Seabrook Power plant, and to ask for help in funding the initiative privately.
“I have been concerned about Seabrook from the beginning,” said Dudley. “I was arrested there and I am still waiting for my speedy trial. I am giving money to this and I ask that you all consider giving generously, too.”
Natalie Hildt-Treat, executive director of C-10 Research and Education Foundation, a pro-safety group based in Newburyport, Mass., said their organization has been conducting 24-hour monitoring in the communities within the 10-mile radius of the Seabrook Power plant since 1991 when the plant went online.
“The Citizens Radiological Monitoring Network detects and records beta and gamma radiation,” said Treat. “There are two types of radiation releases. Gamma is the most penetrating and damaging to tissue. Beta is more of an indicator, to let you know something is going on.”………
Treat said the monitoring done in New Hampshire currently, per the requirements of the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) is cumulative, using passive radiological monitoring film strips on poles, collected over a three-month period in the towns. Only Portsmouth, Concord and the plant itself have a form of real-time testing.
“I am told the reports from the three locations are sent to Concord,” said Somssich. “I have asked to see the data. What has ever been detected? My suspicion is nothing unless it’s a big releases because the data is cumulative. I would still like to see the historic data, but knowing I was irradiated three months ago does me no good. This system we are proposing would monitor in real time.”
Treat said there are 23 communities within the 10-mile radius, six in Massachusetts and 17 in New Hampshire.
“New Hampshire has never had public finding for monitoring,” said Treat. “Seabrook monitors at the plan, per requirement of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). There have been past legislative attempts to address this, and there was a bill this year that has been put off to the next session. Since the Seabrook Power Plant was just re-licensed to 2050, a decision was made to try and fund the installation of monitoring systems in the New Hampshire town through private funding.”………
We are looking for funding to expand the monitoring from individuals, organizations and municipalities,” Thomas said. “I am happy to say that we have raised about $34,000 so far this year. We are trying to secure pledges for the rest of the funding. So, we are holding meetings to familiarize people with what we are doing and the reasons why.”
Event sponsors for the night included Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth; former State Rep Mindi Messmer, D-Rye; and State Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton.
Beyond Nuclear 2nd June 2019 , At 7pm, on the 6thof June, at the Village East Cinema, in Lower Manhattan,
Pressenza International Press Agency, of which I am a co-director, will
host the World Premiere of our new documentary on the Treaty to Prohibit
Nuclear Weapons.
The title, The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons, is
a reference to the speech made by Setsuko Thurlow to the assembled throng
of dignitaries and International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN)
campaigners, during her Nobel Laureate Speech in December 2017 when the
Peace Prize was awarded to ICAN. The film charts the story of the
development of the atomic bomb through to the negotiations to prohibit
nuclear weapons, and is told through the interventions of 14 people whose
roles have been key in the fields of activism and diplomacy.
Science historian Kate Brown’s painstakingly researched book Manual for Survival. A Chernobyl Guide to the Future reveals a conscious decision by the then Soviet government to downplay and suppress the true extent of harm caused by the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion. Come and hear her talk about this and more.
What forces can empower survival and the art of living on a damaged planet? Her research has taken her to Europe’s largest wetlands—the Pripyat Marshes at the border of the Ukraine and Belarus—a site of multi-generational experiences of suffering from revolution, wars, genocide, and chemical and nuclear catastrophe.
Daily Mirror 30th April 2019 . Anti-nuclear protesters plan a “die-in” outside Westminster Abbey this week as a service marking the 50th anniversary of Britain’s
submarine-based missile system is held. Prince William, Government
ministers, military top brass and Royal Navy veterans will pack the London
landmark for a ceremony heralding a half century since Operation Relentless
was launched. But some 180 Church leaders have signed a demand calling on
the Dean of Westminster Abbey to “urgently reconsider” the tribute.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson said:
“Surely Westminster Abbey must now realise it has made a very serious
error of judgement.
APRIL 8 & 9 – TAKE ACTION TO GET KEN AND TARAK HOME! Nuclear Resister,
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Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff, two American members of Veterans for Peace, were arrested at Ireland’s Shannon Airport on March 17 after entering the airfield to inspect and investigate an OMNI Air International plane on contract to the U.S. military. The pair were refused bail in Ennis District Court the following day. They were granted bail at a later court hearing, and released from Limerick Prison on March 29 pending trial. Their passports were taken and they were ordered to stay away from airports. The men are currently not able to leave Ireland before their trial. An April 4 court hearing was postponed until May 8, and they were not able to raise the issue of being allowed to return to the U.S.
SUPPORT ACTIONS NEEDED
People are asked to make calls, letters and visits to Irish Embassies and Consulates, the State Department, and elected officials on April 8 and 9 so that these institutions experience a flood of support for Tarak and Ken and protest against U.S. military flights through Shannon Airport. Letters to the editor of your local paper are also important.
Ask that Tarak and Ken be allowed to return home to the U.S. until their trial, which is months if not years away. Being forced to stay in Ireland amounts to punishment before being convicted, and not being allowed to return home is damaging to their health, their finances and their families. The two U.S. veterans were arrested trying to get the Irish government to enforce the law and end illegal U.S. military flights (including rendition flights) through Shannon Airport, and stop Ireland’s complicity in the illegal U.S. wars in the Middle East.
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** SIGN A PETITION CALLING FOR ALL CHARGES AGAINST THE KINGS BAY PLOWSHARES TO BE DISMISSED
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One year ago, on April 4, 2018, seven Catholic nuclear disarmament activists entered Georgia’s Kings Bay Trident nuclear submarine base with banners, crime scene tape, hammers and an indictment charging the U.S. government for crimes against peace. Three of the seven Kings Bay Plowshares (Elizabeth McAlister, Fr. Steve Kelly and Mark Colville) remain in jail in Brunswick, Georgia; four are out on bond with ankle monitors (Patrick O’Neill, Carmen Trotta, Clare Grady and Martha Hennessy). They are waiting for the court’s decision on motions for dismissal of their charges based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
