(December 7, 1990) The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), Safe Energy Communication Council (SECC), and Greenpeace (with assistance from Public Citizen) -- all Washington DC, US based groups -- are hosting a major conference on nuclear power issues to be held in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Organizers want to emphasize people's common vulnerability to future Chernobyls, internationally.
(343.3431) WISE Amsterdam - The conference is being set up in large part to respond to grassroots demand for such a meeting. The other reasons why this conference is needed are many. The threat of a war in the Gulf and the ensuing oil crisis has made the adoption of a coherent US energy strategy extremely critical. The US Department of Energy is scheduled to announce its chosen energy strategy around 1 December, 1990. The nuclear industry, with the full cooperation of the NRC and the Bush administration, is pushing for a second generation of "advanced" reactors using "standardized designs (see Nuclear Notes this issue), despite the strong opposition to plans for siting "high-level" and "low-level" radio-active waste dumps. There are concerns over safety problems of US aging reactors. "Internationally", say organizers, "the industrialized world is looking to the US to help determine its future for nuclear power."
Therefore, say the organizers, activists need to "forcefully advocate a valid alternative; one that emphasizes renewable sources of energy and increased energy efficiency and that effectively obviates any need for nuclear power." The challenge for the environmental movement is to make environmental awareness and new supporters mix "with veteran activists and a very decentralized movement into a potent political force."
The conference will aim to:
- have a major media and public impact -- the let the world know that the US anti-nuclear power movement is alive, well, and will make a serious contribution to the environmental and energy debates of the 1990s;
- consider workable strategies to promote renewable, sustainable resources and to end the generation of radioactive waste;
- provide local activists with skills and knowledge necessary to be effective advocates for change;
- commemorate Chernobyl and re-double efforts to ensure such an event never recurs.
The last anti-nuclear conference of this size in the US was in 1983. Organizers are asking for support in their efforts. They have drawn up a proposal and are asking for endorsements which they can present to potential funders. Organizers expect a minimum of several hundred, and probably more than a thousand participants and intend for the conference to be widely representative of the US safe energy/environmental movement of the 1990s. Already, NIRS has sent a questionnaire to more than 4,000 activists asking for their ideas on practical matters and conference content. They welcome suggestions for specific conference themes, workshop topics, qualified workshop leaders, and speakers.
Tentative workshops will cover: reactor safety and advanced reactors; radioactive waste; sustainable, or "eco-energy"; and other nuclear issues, such as enrichment plants, weapons facilities, incinerators, how to coordinate with toxics activists, etc. In addition, activists responding to the questionnaire have expressed the need for work-shops on skills development (i.e. lobbying, media work, etc.) and specified times set aside for networking. A major public awareness/ fundraising concert in conjunction with the conference is in the exploratory stages.
There is the possibility that a major conference on nuclear issues will be held at the same time in the Soviet Union. If that takes place, organizers plan a satellite hook-up to exchange greetings and identify points of agreement. The organizers are also encouraging similar conferences to occur on every continent, and say they will set up satellite hook-ups with all of them. Greenpeace International in the Netherlands has already responded to this call. An international highlight may be the premiere of a Greenpeace-produced documentary on Chernobyl, selected from 22 hours of previously unreleased footage.
If you have any questions, need further information, would like a copy of the summary of responses from the grassroots, see contact below. Please send your endorsement letters to NIRS.
Sources and Contact: Michael Mariotte, NIRS, 1616 P St. NW, Suite 160, Washington, DC 20009, US, tel: (202) 328-0002
Eric Fersht, Greenpeace, 1436 U St. NW, Washington, DC 20009, US, tel: (202) 462-1177
Scott Denman, SECC, 1609 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009, US, tel: (202) 438-8491
John Richards, Public Citizen, 215 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003, US, tel: (202) 387-8030.