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Announcement :: Environment : Nukes : Protest Activity |
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March 22nd to 28th "Three Mile Island 25th Anniversary Anti-Nuclear Days of Action" |
Current rating: 0 |
by NIRS
(No verified email address) |
17 Feb 2004
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The owner of the Clinton Nuclear Power Plant, just west and UPWIND of Champaign County, has announced plans to eventually build at least one more reactor at that site. |
Local and national actions will be taking place to prevent nuclear hazards and stop the nuclear power relapse (see below for a list of actions already scheduled).
March 28, 2004 marks the 25th anniversary of the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania, USA. As part of the BE SAFE precautionary campaign (spearheaded by the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, www.chej.org), NIRS/WISE is calling for an International Week of Action from March 22nd to 28th to commemorate the disaster and to oppose the "Nuclear Power Relapse." A broad and diverse coalition of groups plans events for the week leading up to the anniversary addressing such issues as:
1) Prohibit new nuclear power plants and license extensions; four U.S. sites are targeted for new reactors (Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi and Virginia), as are countries like Finland; and dozens of older reactors are applying for 20 year license extensions, including TMI 1.
2) Require radioactive cleanups to be protective of children's health and drinking water, with no exemptions for military or commercial sites.
3) Halt the deregulation of nuclear waste that would allow toys, toasters and other consumer products to be made of nuclear waste and contaminate landfills and drinking water supplies.
4) Stop the Yucca Mountain and Skull Valley high-level waste dumps and the national unprecedented dangerous radioactive waste transport schemes.
5) Halt the nuclear power industry's "cradle to grave" assault on Native Americans and people of color from uranium mining and milling to waste dumping.
Events are already coming together:
--In Washington, D.C. NIRS/WISE will lead a press conference together with the CHEJ's Environmental Health Alliance.
--Near TMI, Three Mile Island Alert, Pennsylvania Environmental Network, and other groups will show a Smithsonian Institution timeline of the disaster; exhibit Robert del Tredichi's 1979 photos entitled "The People of Three Mile Island;" hold a press conference featuring health and nuclear experts; tape oral histories from those who lived through the disaster; and promote potassium iodide distribution downwind from the still-operating TMI Unit 1. There will also be a candlelight vigil at 4 a.m. on March 28th at TMI's front gates, commemorating the very moment the disaster began.
--Unplug Salem and Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch plan protest rallies at the Salem/Hope Creek and Oyster Creek reactors in New Jersey.
--Additional events are coming together around the U.S. and, hopefully, internationally.
NIRS/WISE encourages groups in the U.S. and around the world to commemorate TMI's 25th anniversary by holding an event in their locale. Ideas for events range from setting up information tables at community centers, to holding press conferences or protests against new reactors or other nuclear facilities targeted at your area, to other creative ideas.
Another idea would be to host a movie night/letter writing party to watch "China Syndrome" (which, ironically, had just started playing in cinemas in 1979 when the TMI accident happened) and take action on current nuclear issues affecting your community.
NIRS/WISE and BE SAFE can assemble info packets to be used at your movie night/letter writing party or other events, including stickers, post cards/petitions on current campaigns, nuclear fact sheets, and other materials. NIRS/WISE will be publishing a special issue of The Nuclear Monitor on the 25th anniversary and lessons learned in mid-March. Please let us know, by March 4, what actions your group is planning so we can include them in this edition. Bulk copies of this special issue will be available for you to use at your events, please contact NIRS in Washington for information and prices--basically just whatever it costs us to print the extra copies (nirsnet (at) nirs.org, 202.328.0002).
Check out the BE SAFE website at www.besafenet.com and sign on to the precautionary statement of principles to be used as part of a large campaign to redirect the U.S. government to protect people first.
Contact Kevin Kamps (kevin (at) nirs.org) or Diane D'Arrigo (dianed (at) nirs.org) at NIRS (202.328.0002) or Anne Rabe, BE SAFE, 518.732.4538, annerabe (at) msn.com for additional ideas or information. And please let us know about your event so we can keep a complete list of what's happening where! |
See also:
http://www.nirs.org/
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This work is in the public domain |
