Action Camps

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Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) and Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), organized a series of “ Action Camps” on nukebusting in Dummerston VT in August’ 99, 2001 and 2002 . The camp, part of our Nuclear Free New England Campaign, was launched with the organized support of grassroots environmental groups throughout the region. The campaign’s goal -bring public pressure on New England's failing atomic reactors and close them as soon as possible- to create a nuclear-free region. The Campaign focused on Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in Vernon, VT.

In the 1990's reactors throughout the country were closing. Yankee Rowe (MA) prematurely shut down due to embrittlement of its reactor vessel and other components. Trojan in Washington State closed; CAN and NIRS forced the shut down of CT Yankee in 1996 (In addition to Yankee Rowe in 1991). Big Rock in Michigan, the first boiling water reactor closed in 1997. Maine Yankee shut down in 1997. Millstone Unit 1 (CT) shut permanently. All closed because of systemic mismanagement, aging and embrittled reactor components, bad economics, and most importantly the opposition of local ordinary people- Opposition to the continued sacrifice of their communities to nuclear corporations.

However, closure of reactors opened the floodgates for rad-waste throughout the country. Clean-up of reactors meant contamination of other poor, rural, people of color communities as nuclear corporations rushed to bury their deadly legacy. To create ”clean sites” nuclear coporations pit reactor and waste communities against each other. All reactor communities must address this problem. We call it the “ Ethics of Waste”.

We must decide how we want to generate energy in the 21st Century. If the nuclear corporations control the debate on relicensing and new nukes, our ability to alter the future will be crippled. We must make it clear that nuclear power production is dangerous and unethical-especially when people consider the monstrous rad waste problem generated by nuclear corporations. We want a sustainable energy future not a legacy of toxic nuclear waste. This is a time in which participation of all citizens is essential.

NUCLEAR FREE NORTHEAST CAMPAIGN

The Nuclear Free Northeast Campaign, directed at the remaining nukes (Vermont Yankee, Seabrook, Pilgrim, Nine Mile Point (and other NY nukes) was based on the same issues of aging and embrittlement, systemic mismanagement, bad economics, routine rad waste releases into reactor communities, and environmental racism. The Campaign addressed the “ Ethics of Waste”- poor, rural, and people of color communities are disproportionately chosen for nuclear sacrifice. We supported waste community representation at the camp to open a dialogue among reactor, transport, and waste communities to stop the cycle of sacrifice and contamination.

SUNSHINE RALLY

Each years camp included a mass rally for a Nuclear Free New England on the Brattleboro Commons. Speakers included Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield from Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream; long-time nonviolence activist and Chicago 7 alumnus David Dellinger; noted author Grace Paley; former Chairman of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Ed Smeloff; Maria Mendes and Bill Addington of the Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, and other well-known figures in the environmental movement, along with musicians, clowns, and surprises. The solar-powered rally was a celebration of sustainable energy and environmental protection.

SCHOOL FOR NUKEBUSTERS

The camp, ran to educate, organize, mobilize, and empower people. There was no “staff”, and people volunteered to help maintain the camp. Over 1,000 people participated which brought together activists and organizers from New England, New York, and as far away as Indiana, Michigan, Penn, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Lousiana and Europe. Bread and Puppet taught a workshop and orchestrated a street Parade through Brattleboro. Events were held in the community to encourage participation.

The camp, in nearby Dummerston, Vermont, included over 50 educational and training workshops featuring many of the most knowledgeable members of the environmental/anti-nuclear movements. The camp included training in civil disobedience tactics/strategies and the philosophy of nonviolence. Workshops attempted to address the intimidation and fear that people experience in dealing with scientific jargon used by NRC and nuclear corporations to thwart public participation. Information fed to citizens by nuclear corporations is frequently deceptive and simplistic; ordinary citizens must understand the issues of the nuclear fuel cycle and demand a substantive role to protect themselves and their community's interests.

The camp was inspired by activities in Europe including active opposition to nuclear waste transport in Germany, nuclear power station blockades in the Czech Republic, and similar activities in Russia against nuclear reactors.

The Camp convened to provide participants with a "nuclear toolbox” to use when they returned home to organize their friends, neighbors, and communities to shut their local nuke and deal ethically with the monstrous waste problem created by nuclear corporations.The Tool Box included workshops (such as Nukes 101, Radiation 101, Health Studies and Community Participation, Nukes in Space, Energy Alternatives, etc), hands on experience by participating in running the camp, rally, the parade, leaf-letting, and demonstration at the gates of Vermont Yankee. Food and other supplies were donated by local New England businesses. Professional cooks who donated their time ran the kitchen. Childcare was provided by a cooperative daycare system organized by CAN and NIRS and developed by participants.

NUCLEAR FREE ARRESTS

Each year camp participants and local residents gathered at Vermont Yankee in Vernon, VT, six miles south of Brattleboro, for a disciplined, nonviolent direct action intended to publicly indict corporate crimes.

Before the first year's Demonstration, a boat with a 20-foot sail stating SHUT IT DOWN (referring to VT Yankee) No More Nuclear Dumping/ Nuclear Free New England Campaign- sailed by the reactor on the Connecticut River. That demonstration included a “citizens arrest” of the corporation for crimes against humanity and a marking of the site with yellow crime scene tape. Three warrants were placed on the gate. Forty-five white baby coffins were placed at the gates by a procession of demonstrators to acknowledge those in our community who had been sacrificed.

In subsequent years, Camp participants held a funeral for Vermont Yankee and carried a coffin through Vernon to the reactor site by 8 skeletons. A Declaration of Nuclear Independence was created and carried as a banner. In the third year a delegation from the Camp attempted to meet with Vermont Yankee's president at corporate headquarters in Brattleboro. Although Vermont Yankee thought they barred the door, the delegation plus reporters waited in the lobby for a meeting. When Vermont Yankee sent its public relations person to talk with the group, the group left and held a press conference outside on the lawn. The lawn was covered in tombstones with the names of local residents who had died. A representative from the Camp stood behind each coffin and read a testimonal to their lives.