No Nukes Protesters Take on Rogue Corporation

Hundreds arrested at Entergy offices in VT, LA, NY

One difference between a person and a corporation is that a corporate person can be in many places at once.  To occupy space in, say, three states, it takes at least three natural persons.  There were many times that protesting today outside the offices of Entergy Corporation, the rogue corporation that operates the Vermont Yankee nuclear station in Vernon, Vermont.

Had the plant’s operators been obeying state law, the plant would have ceased operation today.

Upwards of 1000 people took that message to the company’s Brattleboro office this afternoon.  More than 100 of them were arrested and charged with unlawful trespass for attempting to deliver their message directly to the company.

Meanwhile, seven activists with roots in the New England anti-nuclear movement were arrested for criminal trespass inside Entergy’s corporate headquarters in New Orleans.  They were Renny Cushing, Lynn Chong, Ben Chichester, Kendra Ulrich, Jeff Brummer, Nelia Sargent, and Paul Gunter.  They were released after six hours.

Five others were arrested at Energy’s office in White Plains, NY, near the aging Indian Point reactor.

The demonstration outside the Entergy Brattleboro office, organized by the SAGE Alliance, followed a rally on the Brattleboro Common and a 3.5 mile march up Putney Road and Old Ferry Road .  Organizers made a deliberate decision to demonstrate there, rather than at the reactor, to keep the attention on the Entergy Corporation.

“We come peacefully to Entergy Headquarters today with this message: your time is up,” began the SAGE Alliance’s statement about the demonstration. 

Those who participated in civil disobedience were organized into affinity groups.  SAGE also asked everyone to abide by a “nonviolent code of conduct” that articulated the discipline they intended for the action, for example, “we will not harm anyone, and we will not retaliate in reaction to violence.”

Spirits were high throughout the Brattleboro action, and the potential of solar energy was much in evidence.  

New Phase of Resistance

Entergy’s 40-year license expired yesterday.  Although it received a 20-year extension (the day after the Fukushima meltdown began) from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the State of Vermont insists the New Orleans corporation also needs a Certificate of Public Good from the state and permission of the legislature in order to keep operating.  The dispute is ongoing in federal court.

No Nukes activists, who call attention to VT Yankee’s history of radiation leaks and t echnical failures, aren’t waiting for the court.  Frances Crowe, a 93-year old activist who was among the first arrested (and the first to be released) told a reporter, “As I was walking down, all I could think of was Fukushima and the suffering of all the people, and I don’t want that to happen to New England.”

Vermont’s Governor, Peter Shumlin, was quoted saying, “I am very supportive of the peaceful protesters gathered today in Brattleboro to express their — and my — frustration that this aging plant remains open after its agreed-upon license has expired.”

The day’s actions represent the beginning of a new phase of resistance to VT Yankee and defense of democracy.  Visit the SAGE Alliance web page for information about upcoming actions.

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Fukushima Surroundings Now Uninhabitable

Speaking of Vermont Yankee and Seabrook, where disaster is always a few unforeseen events away, the Japanese government is about to declare a permanent evacuation of the area near the melted Fukushima reactors.

Today’s New York Times reports,

“Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.”

As the sign says, better active today than radioactive tomorrow.

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Clams Getting Ready for Action to Shut Down Vernon Nuke

The announced plans by Entergy, the owner of the decrepit Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, to reload the reactor this fall with $60 million worth of fresh nuclear fuel is sure to set off a showdown with local activists determined that the plant’s life should end when its license expires next March.

The company has already received a 20-year license extension from federal regulators, but the state of Vermont insists continued operation cannot go forward without state authority.  And given the radiation and lies that have spewed from the reactor for years, the state is determined to see the plant shut down. 

The New Orleans-based company’s announcement comes a week after a federal judge turned down its bid for an injunction to push aside the state’s objections, meaning a trial will go forward in mid-September to test the company’s claim that federal law pre-empts any state authority.  The case is likely to end up in the US Supreme Court.

Given a history of court and regulatory deference to nuclear plant operators going back decades, activists are not putting their faith in federal judges.   That’s why the annual Clamshell Alliance Reunion last weekend spent most of its time discussing education and action to make sure the will of the people is respected and the plant shuts down on schedule.

The Clamshell Alliance is known for leadership of small and massive nonviolent demonstrations against construction of the Seabrook nuclear plant and for creative grassroots public education throughout New England.  In its heyday in the late ‘70s, dozens of Clamshell affiliated groups were active throughout the northeast.  With the 35th anniversary of the first Clamshell civil disobedience coming up Aug. 1, the Alliance continues its life through lifetime friendships and social networking that crosses over from No Nukes activism into feminist, labor, peace, anti-death penalty, and other movements.

With background from leaders of groups such as Beyond Nuclear, Safe & Green, and the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, and more than a thousand person-years of anti-nuclear experience among them, the Clams didn’t waste time arguing about the dangers of radioactive poisons or the extent to which “corporate subversion of democracy” has poisoned our political system as well.  Nor did they need to argue about the power of active nonviolence, especially given the uprisings taking place around the world. 

Instead, time was spent discussing how to use “Into Eternity,” a film about nuclear waste, to arouse public opinion; plans for a tour of German environmentalists to spread the word about how that country plans to shut down its nukes and generate enough electricity from safe alternative sources; and how to make sure old and new activist networks are taking advantage of social media to communicate with each other.

Discussion turned of course to plans for nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience, though no specific scenarios have yet been developed.  But it’s reasonable to assume that if Entergy insists of flouting the will of the people of Vermont, nonviolence training programs and formation of affinity groups will start up soon.  

Here are some photos from Clamshell Reunion

 

 

  

 

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Radiation and Propaganda are “Normal Occurrences” for Nuke Industry

The Associated Press “ignored abundant evidence of the [nuclear power] industry’s strong safety record and outstanding operating performance,” writes Tony Pietrangelo of the Nuclear Energy Institute in a letter to the editor sent to the Concord Monitor and presumably other papers that ran the AP’s two stories, June 20 and 21. 

Over the past decade, he says, federal safety reports on “abnormal occurrences” and “accident sequence precursors” show that the nation’s 104 nukes have had only one “significant event,” and “even that did not result in the release of radiation.” 

Mr. Petrangelo is only doing his job, as a P/R guy for the nuclear industry, but did he even read the two articles?

The first reported that the reason the nation’s aging reactors have good-looking safety records is that officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have a pattern of weakening their standards when the power plants fall below regulatory thresholds. 

The second revealed that three-quarters of the reactors have leaked radioactive tritium into the environment.   “Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard – sometimes at hundreds of times the limit,” the report said. 

The only conclusion I can draw is that the release of radiation is a normal occurrence, not an abnormal one.  And if the nuclear regulators don’t see that as “significant,” that only demonstrates that their standards are inadequate.

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