NukeNews No. 2 - ENGLISH

************************************************************ *     NukeNews #2 - Anti-Nuclear Information Service      * ************************************************************ - 0. Preface - We are happy to send out the second edition of the NukeNews! The community of readers of our newsletter system has been doubled since the last release three months ago. Anyway, we would like to extend our audience to reach more people with our anti-nuclear information and updates. Please spread the word to help us to get more subscribers! You can easily refer to the webpage of the NukeNews - there everyone can subscribe the language version they wish to read: http://NukeNews.Nuclear-Heritage.NET And we want to ask the activists and organizers between you to help us creating the next issue of the NukeNews. We are looking for more contributions from our anti-nuclear community as we wish to provide an impression of your activities, topics and struggles. At the end of the newsletter you find more information about it. We also ask you for help with the translation of the NukeNews as the group of volunteers is pretty small and would like to share tasks with more people. And now - welcome to the latest edition of the NukeNews! - Outline of the current NukeNews issue #2 - 0. Preface 1. Gorleben 365 - block the alleged final disposal solution 2. No new NPP in the southern Urals 3. Czech Republic at the energetics crossroad 4. Next international Network and Strategy Gathering 5. Blockade of the Grohnde NPP on October 2 6. Olkiluoto Blockade: review and outlook 7. Castor protests in Germany in November 8. Anti-Nuclear Post-Fukushima Summit in California (USA) 9. Consequences of Fukushima: Eight German reactors finally closed 10. Resistance against Russian nuclear power plans in Kudankulam, India 11. Hassle concerning rightist impacts on the Upper Austrian anti-nuclear policy 12. Upcoming events 13. About NukeNews - 1. Gorleben 365 - block the alleged final disposal solution - Adopting the former British anti-nuclear weapons campaign "Faslane 365", a project called "Gorleben 365" is intending to organize a framework of actions to blockade the supposed final disposal site Gorleben for one year on as many days as possible. The basic concept is to find action groups taking over responsibility for one day each to organize a blockade of the atomic waste site. The campaign started on August 14th. Since that day the Gorleben mine site had been blockaded several times, but the schedule for the next months still shows many gaps to be filled by anti-nuclear action groups. More information: http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Gorleben_365 - 2. No new NPP in the southern Urals - In Russia, there are eventually good news regarding the proposed "Southern Ural NPP". On 17th of August, 2011, in the Chelyabinsk region (Russia) it was announced that the constructing of a new nuclear power plant will be postponed indefinitely. This conclusion was made by the Legislative Assembly deputy after reports of representatives of regional ministries and massive local protests. The Chelyabinsk region is badly affected by the "Mayak" accident, and most residents opposed the construction of the NPP. In spite of this, "Rosatom" and the local authorities were constantly trying to lobby for the construction of this plant. Also, the Southern Ural NPP was included to the "Road Map of Nuclear Power Plants", approved by the Russian government in early 2008. - 3. Czech Republic at the energetics crossroad - Czech politicians are pushing the Czech Republic to become an European energetics outdoor museum. In August the Czech government approved the conclusions of an energetics policy released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The Czech Republic may then become the only EU member state with a complex nuclear energy program including uranium mining, production of nuclear fuel, and expansion of the existing nuclear power capacity. In order to reach this goal, the lifespan of the existing reactor blocks needs to be extended, and the construction of two new reactors in Temelín and one in Dukovany should not be further delayed. In addition, the ministry plans to build the Czech Republic's third nuclear power plant - Blahutovice, in the Ostrava region, was considered since the 1980s as a possible site for a new plant. The Czech Republic is already the last European country engaged in uranium mining - in Rožná in the Vysočina region. According to Industry Minister Martin Kocourek, the state will have to open a new uranium mine in the future if it wants to sustain its resource independence, as the deposits in Rožnov are getting scarce. Therefore it is very important to use the very rich sources of uranium in North Bohemia. Finally, the ministry is also giving serious thoughts to building a factory that produces fuel for nuclear reactors. Czech environmental antinuclear organizations consider the ministry's report a return to the energy policy of the 1970s. The groups criticize above all the decision to preserve the fossil and nuclear energy. Also, they argue the Czech Republic should try to reach a bigger economic output using less energy, while the ministry plans to go the opposite direction which means that the Czech Republic will be the dirty energetics outdoor museum in the middle of Europe. - 4. Next international Network and Strategy Gathering - After the last gathering of the Nuclear Heritage Network gave us great possibilities to learn about the atomic situation in the Czech Republic, players, struggles and challenges, we are planning the next meetings. While we are still looking for a group to invite activists to their place for the winter gathering, it turned out that the summer gathering 2012 will be arranged in Saxony, Germany. It will probably take place in the first week of August 2012. You can already send us your ideas for the programme and contribute to the organizing process. Email to contact@nuclear-heritage.net. Photos and information about the summer gathering 2011 can be found on our website: http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/International_Anti-nuclear_Network_Meeting_in_Czech_Republic - 5. Blockade of the Grohnde NPP on October 2 - Grohnde is one of the remaining 9 atomic power plants in Germany being supposed to be kept in operation despite the Fukushima disaster and although German studies show that the same accidents are possible to happen here, too. To stress the demand for an immediate closure of all nuclear power plants, and that anti-nuclear activists don't believe in politicians' promises of phase-out in ten or more years, the blockade of the Grohnde NPP in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany, has been announced to start on October 2, 2011, to "sit out" the operation of the atomic power station. http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Blockade_of_the_Grohnde_NPP - 6. Olkiluoto Blockade: review and outlook - The blockade of the Finnish Olkiluoto NPP on August 20 was supported by about 100 activists from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Germany, France, Belarus and the UK. The main access road to the atomic facility could be blockaded twice for several minutes, and another access road was closed by a tripod with an activist on the top for some two hours. However, police learned their lessons last year and had now - in opposite to 2010 - the strategy to clear roads immediately after they had been occupied. Thus, for future actions, our strategies need to be improved. Photos, reports and media coverage are available on our website: http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Olkiluoto_Blockade_2011 The evaluation of the 2011 blockade and a first planning meeting for the action next year will take place in Tampere on September 11. It is supposed to be a bigger circle with new people and groups being interested to join the direct action in Olkiluoto 2012. More information should be available on short notice on the Olkiluoto Blockade Blog: http://olkiluotoblockade2011.wordpress.com/ - 7. Castor protests in Germany in November - During the first two weeks of November the 13th so-called Castor transport is expected to take place coming from the reprocessing unit La Hague in France to Gorleben in Lower Saxony, Germany. The 11 containers with high level radioactive waste will probably be accompanied by about 20,000 police, while at the same time protests of several tenthousands of people are expected. There will be the possibility to join and experience the big variety of direct actions and the very specific anti-nuclear atmosphere in the region around the Gorleben site for international activists, too. If you are interested to join us, send an email to contact@nuclear-heritage.net. http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Gorleben_Castor_Resistance_in_Germany_2011 - 8. Anti-Nuclear Post-Fukushima Summit in California (USA) - On August 8th, the day after the MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) anti-nuclear concert, more than 60 California groups and individuals met south of San Francisco for the first statewide Anti-Nuclear post-Fukushima Summit. Participants committed to continuing work towards the shut-down of the Diablo Canyon and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, both of which are immediately adjacent to major earthquake faults. In addition, summit members focused on energy conservation and clean, safe, renewable solutions to establish a nuclear-free California. A 2nd statewide meeting was planned for Sept. 27th around an Nuclear Regulatory Commission Hearing, which has since become controversial as experts from the public have frightened the NRC into not wanting to participate. The network of groups are considering a variety of actions to stop the state's reactors between now and next year. http://decommission.sanonofre.com/ - 9. Consequences of Fukushima: Eight German reactors finally closed - August 31, the German Federal Network Agency - responsible for the electricity supply in Germany - made its final decision not to keep a nuclear reactor connected to the grid as a backup for possible extreme energy needs. Thus, now eight atomic reactors have been finally closed in Germany due to the Fukushima catastrophe. Before, it was in the debates to keep the very old Biblis NPP as a reserve for the case of an electricity demand even higher than the historic demands in Germany ever. In a 85 pages document the Federal Network Agency concludes that a reserve NPP is not necessary to ensure the electricity supply in Germany. Besides that, the so-called "nuclear phase-out" in Germany remains rubbish. The plans for closing the last 9 atomic reactors will not finish before 2022 - 10 years after Fukushima. And the experience with German nuclear phase-out laws shows that the risk of new attempts to extend the lifetimes of NPPs after appeasing the protests is high. Only finally closed reactors guarantee that they really are shut down. - 10. Resistance against Russian nuclear power plans in Kudankulam, India - In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian "People's movement against nuclear energy" plans a mass rally on September 5th against the commissioning of a first reactor in Kudankulam. The organizers expect more people than in the previous action on August 17th, which was attended by about 10,000 residents. This reactor is a project of the corporation "Rosatom" (Russia). They already lost another potential site after a mass protest campaign of local farmers, fishers and NGOs in the Indian state of West Bengal. There, the local government refused the offer of "Rosatom" to build the nuclear power plant Haripur. - 11. Hassle concerning rightist impacts on the Upper Austrian anti-nuclear policy - Several Austrian anti-nuclear groups are criticizing the cooperation with rightist organizations within the Upper Austrian movement. Particularly mentioned are the rightist party FPÖ and the Austrian section of the WSL, the well known think-tank and agitator of the early ecofascist discourse. Günther Schwab, an early member of NSDAP and SA, was the founder of the WSL. Reams of other nazi figures were officials of the organization all along. The Upper Austrian anti-nuclear policy recently introduced a rule for recipients of funding of the federal state requiring the cooperation with all anti-nuclear organizations including those from the rightist field. http://jungle-world.com/artikel/2011/34/43840.html - 12. Upcoming events - (just an extract, tell us your events for the next newsletter) 14/08/11-13/08/12: Gorleben 365 blockade campaign (D) 20/08/11-30/10/11: Walk away from Uranium Mining (AU) 11/09/11: Olkiluoto Blockade reflection and planning meeting in          Tampere (FIN) 17/09/11: International Action Weekend Against Nuclear Insanity 19/09/11: Goodbye to Nuclear Power Plants - rally 6 months after Fukushima in Tokyo (J) 30/09/11-02/10/11: Autumn conference of the German anti-nuclear movement in Göttingen (D) 02/10/11: Blockade of the Grohnde NPP (D) 03/10/11: Blockade of the Hinkley Point NPP (UK) November: Protests against the CASTOR transport from La Hague (F) to          Gorleben (D) November: Nuclear Waste and Pollution Conference in Vilnius (LT) 07/11/11: Anniversary of the death of Sébastien Briat, killed by the CASTOR train on November 7, 2004 near Avricourt (F) http://www.gorleben365.de/ http://footprints.footprintsforpeace.net/nffcampaign/NFF2011.htm http://olkiluotoblockade2011.wordpress.com/ http://www.cattenom-non-merci.de/ http://sayonara-nukes.org/english/ http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Blockade_of_the_Grohnde_NPP http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/ http://www.gorleben-castor-2011.de/ http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Nuclear_Waste_and_Pollution_Conference_in_Vilnius_2011 - 13. About NukeNews - The NukeNews are a multilingual newsletter system of the Nuclear Heritage Network and are supposed to reflect the activities, topics and struggles of anti-nuclear activists connected through this international community. The messages are written and translated by activists, additionally to their usual anti-nuclear activities. No one is paid for that work, as we want to provide resources like this information system to the anti-nuclear struggle as independent as possible. The newsletter aims to inform and update as well activists as the interested audience. Your contributions to the next issue of the NukeNews are welcome. Send them via email to news@NukeNews.nuclear-heritage.net. It should be brief information in English of not more than one paragraph, including a concise headline and an optional link to a webpage providing more information. Deadline for the 3rd issue of the NukeNews will be 20th of November, 2011. 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