PR:Bristol joins international protest on anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster 2015

Bristol joins international protest on anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster 2015
On the 4th anniversary of the Fukushima Nuclear disaster (Wednesday the 11.March.2015) anti nuclear campaigners will gather on Pero's bridge over the lunch time period 12- 2pm. They will be dressed in white suits and masks, with umbrellas bearing slogans. Campaigners in Bristol warn it could happen here.

Under typical weather conditions Bristol is 1 hour downwind from Hinkley Point Nuclear power station. Bristol has no evacuation plan or warning system should there be an accident. Past nuclear accidents have taught us that radioactive contamination travels with the wind and falls with the rain, spreading the radiation in unpredictable patterns, evacuation would have to take into account where the wind blows and where the rain falls. “In the absence of council initiative we need to develop our own citizen's warning system” says Ros Beauhill (Nuclear Free Bristol). Campaigners are busy making wind socks to put on top of roofs as a step towards creating a citizen's warning system. At this very moment one of Hinkley's reactors is closed for repair, thousands of workers have been brought in at a cost of £40 million to EDF consumers.

South West Against Nuclear say “This is throwing good money after bad on a worn out and dangerous reactor well past its retirement date. We say the safest thing is to shut it down. No more Chernobyls, no more Fukushimas.” Last year EDF who operate the gas cooled nuclear reactors in the UK moved the safety limits to loss of graphite in the core from 6 to 8%. Critics slammed this as “blatant shifting of the safety goal post”.

Nuclear accidents are irreversible and uninsurable, causing devastation for generations and, to land and sea. On average there is a major nuclear accident every 10 or 20 years. All UK reactors are ageing and any mechanic would know that machines have a limited life. The risks of nuclear power are not necessary when we can produce electricity sustainably. Nuclear power provides less than 15% of the UK's electricity, easily replaceable by renewables.