International Mayak Action Day 2010


 * international radioactive waste action day on September 29th, 2010
 * the annual Mayak memorial day has been held in Russia since a long time; this year it should become more international on September 29th, 2010
 * more information: http://www.nirs.org

Information provided by Greenpeace UK : It was an accident in the world's largest nuclear complex Mayak in Russia and is today one of the most radioactively contaminated places in the world.

Until Chernobyl, Mayak was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Unlike Chernobyl, it has received very little attention. The Mayak nuclear facility, until recently deleted from all Russian maps, is the size of a small city and has been used to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons and reprocess nuclear reactor fuel for over 50 years.

Since the 1950s, accidental and deliberate releases of radiation have exposed over a quarter of a million people living around the plant to high levels of radiation. Thousands have died and many more live with its debilitating legacy: sickness, sterility and poverty. Now the Russian Government is considering plans to import nuclear waste to Mayak from around the world.


 * https://web.archive.org/web/20141026132758/http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/mayak (unfortunately only reachable any more on the internet archive project https://archive.org)
 * direct link to the report (unfortunately only reachable any more on the internet archive project https://archive.org) PDF
 * https://web.archive.org/web/20120718023800/http://archive.greenpeace.org:80/mayak/index.html (unfortunately only reachable any more at the internet archive project https://archive.org)

INTERNATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE ACTION DAY
SEPTEMBER  29  Radioactive Waste: STOP MAKING IT! DON’T REPROCESS IT! DON’T DUMP IT ON ANYONE! HARDEN ON-SITE-STORAGE TO MAKE IT SAFER AND MORE SECURE WHERE IT IS! STOP TARGETING NATIVE / PERMANENT PEOPLE / ABORIGINAL LAND!!!


 * WHEN: SEPTEMBER 29 2010
 * WHERE? Wherever you are!
 * WHAT? A “Teach-In” or other ACTION raising awareness of your community’s radioactive waste issues in COORDINATION with others nationwide and worldwide! See list of suggestions below.
 * WHY? Worldwide:
 * push-back on new proposals that would expand radioactive waste production in both the civilian and military sectors
 * in the USA to also raise coordinated voices that express the ethic: ALL for ONE, ONE for ALL, or another way to say it - "one nation (one world), indivisible by the nuclear waste generators!" This is vital during new federal policy discussions about the existing radioactive waste burden. (See The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future http://www.brc.gov )

''September 29 is the anniversary date for the worst radioactive waste accident (that we know of). In 1957 a tank of liquid, highly radioactive waste left from reprocessing nuclear fuel, exploded in a region of the Soviet Union called Kyshtym in the Ural Mountains of Siberia. The accident was kept secret for several decades, but we now know that it was at a secret nuclear reprocessing site called Mayak. This accident resulted in a regional disaster and a radioactive cloud that contaminated more than 300 square miles…many people received very high radiation exposures, some suffered acute radiation syndrome. Because of secrecy in the nuclear establishment it is not clear what exactly happened but estimates are at least 200 people died of “excess” cancer and scores of villages and towns were permanently abandoned due to the sever radioactive contamination. NEVER AGAIN!!!

ACTION SUGGESTIONS (and do share other ideas with us!) for YOUR participation on September 29 – INTERNATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE ACTION DAY:
 * There will be a DC Lobby Day for those who want to travel to DC to participate
 * OR your own in-District Lobby Day [to meet with staff of your Congress Member and Senators or better yet, the Members themselves! You make that request in writing to their scheduling secretary in the Washington DC office, addressing the Member with an invite
 * State-level (Governor / legislators) meetings
 * Non-Violent Direct Action as appropriate
 * Street Theater?
 * “Demo” / more? (As appropriate)
 * Special focus: Congressional leaders of legislation loaning billions in tax dollars to building new reactors – with a note that says it is ok not to pay it back
 * Community-based teach-ins / College / University involvement
 * People’s Hearings or “town hall meeting” (generate video testimony to send to BRC from areas they won’t likely visit)
 * Create a “guestimate” inventory of existing / projected radioactive waste burden in a local area / region – make a “visual” that expresses this… or publicly “kick off” this query
 * Do an info table at another event – or in a public place
 * Hold an art event, photo exhibit, poetry reading or concert
 * Hold a vigil
 * Host a speaker or an author
 * Screen a film
 * Screen a BRC meeting all are available on-line in video form
 * Do a letter-writing or call-in party…take cell phones and get “callers on the street” to call Congress on these issues…
 * Sky is the limit!

PLEASE SIGN  UP  IF  YOU  PLAN  TO  PARTICIPATE  so we can have a “master list” of coordinated action – and we can send you any materials we generate…

Contact
Mary Olson, NIRS Southeast Office 828-252-8409 cell  828-242-5621 [mailto:maryoATnirs.org maryo AT nirs.org]

Please offer any ACTION / message ideas you have so we can share them with others!!!

PARTICIPATING GROUPS
please add your group's endorsement by contacting Mary Olson at NIRS


 * Beyond Nuclear
 * GRAMMES
 * Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Complete Contact info
Mary Olson Nuclear Information and Resource Service Southeast Office PO Box 7586 Asheville, North Carolina 28802 828-252-8409 cell 828-242-5621 [mailto:maryoATnirs.org maryo AT nirs.org] http://www.nirs.org OR Kevin Kamps Radioactive Waste Watchdog Beyond Nuclear 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 400 Takoma Park, Maryland 20912 Office: (301) 270-2209 ext. 1 Cell: (240) 462-3216 Fax: (301) 270-4000 [mailto:kevinATbeyondnuclear.org kevin AT beyondnuclear.org] http://www.beyondnuclear.org

Other Materials

 * Photo exhibition on the Mayak disaster 1957 (website offline)