environment

French Government's Deception on Deadly Tricastin Spill

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:54:32 -0700

(San Francisco) July 28, 2008 - The French Government today admitted a series of dangerous radioactive spills near French nuclear giant AREVA plants at Tricastin, in a wine growing region of southeastern France.

Paolo Scampa, a physicist and President of the International Association for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation, condemned the deceptive French response in the strongest possible terms. AIPRI was established in 1964. Workers at the Tricastin plant were evacuated after contamination July 27.

The chain reaction of events is a public relations and radiological disaster for AREVA, owner of the plant. AREVA is partially owned by the French government.

The international reaction was swift. The British are questioning the upcoming sale of the British nuclear industry to France's AREVA and the Americans are uneasy about construction of a huge double new nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs near Washington, DC.

4 Arrested in Civil Disobedience on Zeb Mountain

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:51:25 -0700

MARCH ON ZEB MOUNTAIN Organizers Gather in East Tennessee to Protest Mountaintop Removal CAMPBELL COUNTY, Tenn., July 10 – Over seventy residents of Appalachia took a stand for the mountains this Sunday with an historic March on Zeb Mountain, a strip-mining site owned by National Coal Corporation in East Tennessee. The march included acts of civil disobedience that resulted in four arrests. Participants and organizers came from a spectrum of groups, such as United Mountain Defense, a Tennessee-based nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the state’s land, air, and water, Christians for the Mountains, a religious organization promoting environmental conservation, and the pan-Appalachian environmental coalition known as Mountain Justice. In the tradition of American civil disobedience, the march featured a diversity of lifelong activists and ordinary citizens. The march of over seventy people began with a prayer led by Christians for the Mountains and included political theater, rousing speeches, and proud renditions of the Tennessee state anthem, “Rocky Top.” Four activists were arrested at the march, including three Tennesseeans. “I’m doing this for my future,” Chris Martin, student of journalism at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, said. “We were very impressed with how professional the cops were,” Nick Mann, Knoxville resident, said, referring to the respectful demeanor of the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office. The sponsors of the event are currently accepting donations for the arrestee’s legal defense fund. The march comes as state legislators continue to debate the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill that would effectively ban mountaintop removal in the state of Tennessee, and as National Coal threatens to expand into the Sundquist Wildlife Management Area, a public access game preserve with rivers flowing directly into the water supply of state capitol

Billionaires for Coal celebrate Dirty Industry

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:12:53 -0700

Start: 07/18/2008 - 12:00pm

End: 07/18/2008 - 4:00pm

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact:

Natasha Fast

912.381.8874

fastnn@gmail.com

London to Geneva Peace Walk, May 2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:27:11 -0700

I cannot begin to share all of the stories we have heard - especially about the massive resistance from local people to stop the nuclear industry. Some of the stories we have heard have been of great success, while others have been more challenging and still continue today - 50 years since the beginning of French’s nuclear program.

So far we have visited Cherbourg Nuclear Submarine Manufacturing Facility, La Hague Reprocessing Facility on the Normandy Coast, ANDRA - the storage of waste material from La Hague, Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant where they have 2 reactors and are now building a 3rd reactor which is the new European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), from here we walked along the proposed site of the THT Line (High Tension Line) that will carry 400,000 volts of electricity from Flamanville over 200 kilometres, a site of AREVA that makes the canisters to hold the fuel rods needed for the power plants, Chinon Power Plant that has 4 operational MOX fuel reactors and 3 reactors that are being decommissioned. For further information on these facilities and the local campaigns check our webpage for updates on www.footprintsforpeace.net

France made the decision to go massively for nuclear power in 1973. The opposition to nuclear power was largely overridden with rhetoric of energy independence. But in fact France imports all of its uranium. France is the 3rd highest importer of Australia’s uranium. France’s less than adequate public checks on the massive nuclear expansion was made much easier by the fact that it had just one electric utility - Electricite de France (EdF) - that was 100% government owned. Today EdF is over 80% government owned!! Cogema - the reprocessing company was also 100% government owned. Today EdF is part of the conglomerate AREVA - which is more than 80% French Government owned.

An Ancient Alternative to Oil

Fri, 23 May 2008 14:16:04 -0700

Billion Dollar Crop

The ONLY way our past foreign policy, and present war, can be justified is if we accept the fundamental premise that WE NEED OIL TO SURVIVE. We must believe that oil is our only source of energy and without it civilization as we know it would collapse. In order to justify more "precision bombing" and selling weapons to terrorists, we must believe that protecting our oil-based economy is the same as protecting the people of America.

This quickly leads to the concept of "overpopulation" and the idea that our planet cannot support this many people, so some have to die. The people of the First World take all the oil we need, while the people of the Third World have to fight for clean food and water, because it is better for them to die than for us to die. Better for Arabs to die than Christians. Better black people die than white people. Better for my neighbor to die than me.

At every level, we allow the fundamental fear of starvation to justify our ignorance and hatred toward anybody who seems different and is therefore perceived as a threat to our family and friends. When self-preservation is our only goal, we can safely justify any actions that seem to protect our lives, no matter how violent, because it is "self-defense."

Unfortunately, this desperation and fear of death is based on a century of lies.

WE DON’T NEED OIL AND NEVER HAVE.

Our forced dependence on the limited supply of petroleum is due entirely to greedy politicians protecting their own business interests instead of the American people.

Everything now done by fossil fuels can be done cheaper and better with renewable natural resources grown on American soil by American farmers. For more than 12,000 years before it was banned in 1937, the world’s number one natural resource for food, fiber, fuel and natural oil was hemp.

Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes Invite & Progress Report

Mon, 19 May 2008 18:22:21 -0700

SECOND GLOBAL RAINBOW GATHERING OF THE TRIBES Nov.
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Southern Nuclear Company Seeks Early Site Permit for Georgia Power's Two New Nuclear Reactors at Plant Vogtle

diannevalentin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:45:26 -0700

The first step Georgia utilities are taking to try to get federal approval to build new nuclear reactors along the Savannah River is to apply for an “early site permit.” If the permit is issued, concerns such as water, land, public health, and safety cannot be brought up again even if we learn new information. For example, the new reactors will require tens of millions of gallons of water above and beyond the tens of millions Vogtle is already pulling from the Savannah River—this issue cannot be revisited again if the “early site permit” is granted. If approved, this permit essentially allows the Southern Company and its utility partners in Georgia to use the permit at any time for up to 20 years in any future applications with the NRC. Together, Atlanta WAND, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Center for a Sustainable Coast, Savannah Riverkeeper, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy legally challenged the permit.

The Savannah River basin and nearby communities are already suffering; building more nuclear reactors will only make this situation worse. Since the Early Site Permit (ESP) process allows a company to potentially ‘bank’ a site for up to 20 years, the NRC should have to look not only at Georgia ‘today,’ but the Georgia we are likely to live in several decades from now.

Water Use & Supply:

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Public Comment on Plant Vogtle's Two New Nuclear Reactor Early Site Permit Application

diannevalentin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:11:06 -0700

Start: 04/28/2008 - 7:00pm

End: 04/28/2008 - 9:00pm

Atlanta Women’s Action for New Directions

Community Action is Needed

This is a Request for Your Support

!A Call-Out to the Community!

Tell the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that you have concerns about the proposed expansion of Plant Vogtle from two nuclear reactors to four. Tell the Board that you are concerned about water use, accident risks, security, nuclear waste, and health impacts.

The Action: Email, fax, or postal mail the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by noon, April 25^th to register* to speak at the public hearing being held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Augusta on Sunday, April 27^th or Monday, April 28^th.

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Comments Plant Vogtle's Two New Nuclear Reactor Early Site Permit Applications

diannevalentin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:05:39 -0700

Start: 04/27/2008 - 4:00pm

End: 04/27/2008 - 6:00pm

Atlanta Women’s Action for New Directions

Community Action is Needed

This is a Request for Your Support

!A Call-Out to the Community!

Tell the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that you have concerns about the proposed expansion of Plant Vogtle from two nuclear reactors to four. Tell the Board that you are concerned about water use, accident risks, security, nuclear waste, and health impacts.

The Action: Email, fax, or mail the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by noon, April 25^th to register* to speak at the public hearing being held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Augusta on Sunday, April 27^th or Monday, April 28^th.

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Hold the Bush administration accountable - no more nukes!

peacehq — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:04:00 -0700

We need to act now. We need to demand our government stand by its treaty obligations. We need our country to lead the way to end the nuclear arms threat. It's this simple folks. Write them, email them, fax them! Tell them to stop it. You can do it and it can work. And get your family and friends to do the same. The following is a letter that has been sent.

Dear Mr. Wyka,

I attended the public hearing on the Draft SPEIS in Oak Ridge the other day, but had to leave before my name was called to give my comment, so I am submitting it at this time. I am opposed to the three options laid out in the Draft SPEIS and support the No Production Alternative presented by OREPA. I would much rather live in a world where the U. S. joins with the desires of most of the rest of the world that we dismantle our stockpile of nuclear weapons and begin to implement the directives of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty than to continue the Bush Doctrine of refurbishing our nuclear arsenal to support plans for wars of aggression around the world.

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