Yankee Atomic, owner of the Yankee Rowe reactor, intends to ship the
most irradiated component, the reactor vessel in April, 1997 to
Barnwell, SC. Court actions can't stop the shipment.
Citizens
Awareness Network is organizing a radioactive waste caravan. On April
21, it will travel the transportation route of the reactor vessel from
the Yankee Atomic reactor in western Massachusetts to Barnwell, SC,
where it will be buried. The caravan will educate our community,
transport communities and the waste site community of the dangers of
this and other shipments. We believe that the contamination of
communities by corporations raises ethical concerns.
CAN,
organized in 1991 during the struggle to prevent the continued
operation and relicensing of the Yankee Rowe reactor, succeeded in
drawing the attention of the public and the NRC to the dangerously
embrittled reactor vessel and forced the reactor to shut down in 1992.
The shut down of Yankee Rowe began our struggle to create a pollution
prevention and reduction process for the decommissioning of atomic
power stations. Yankee began an experimental and controversial
dismantlement of the reactor in 1993. We took the NRC to court over the
illegal decommissioning.
The NRC was found to be "arbitrary,
capricious and utterly irrational..." in allowing Yankee Atomic to
strip the reactor. Yankee removed 95% of the radionuclide inventory
without an approved decommissioning plan. In the fall of 1993 they
received permission to remove large, highly irradiated components (4
steam generators and the pressurizer) from the reactor and transport
them to Barnwell, SC for burial. Since we objected to the contamination
of our own community and the increases in disease that may have
resulted, it was unacceptable that another community be contaminated to
"clean Rowe up". It raised serious issues of environmental justice,
that the least able to protect themselves, the poor, the rural and
often people of color assume a greater burden of contamination than
other communities.
CAN, in association with Greenpeace and MASS
ALERT organized the "PAUL REVERE ALERT" which transported a dozen local
organizers through communities along the transportation route. Their
job was to warn citizens of the impending shipments of radioactive
waste from Yankee Rowe through their neighborhoods. A funeral
procession marched ahead of the steam generator in our local community.
Citizens carded coffins 6 miles to acknowledge those
citizens in
our valley who had given their lives for "safe clean, nuclear power"
and express our sorrow for the contarnination of Barnwell, SC with our
waste.
A caravan consisting of a school bus and an automobile
traveled along the transport route holding press conferences in MA, NY,
PA, Washington DC, NC, and SC. An east coast network of grassroots
groups organized to facilitate press conferences, publicity and
lodging. Food and other supplies were donated by citizens along the
transport route. The caravan engaged in street theater which included
music, skits and speeches informing and educating citizens of the
dangerous shipment coming through their communities. Media coverage
helped raise awareness about nuclear transportation, safety and health
issues. The public response was outrage, indignation and action. The
caravan brought national attention to this critical issue. Reporters
investigated Chem Nuclear and their dumping practices. (A radioactive
leak on the property contaminated the ground water and is currently
continuing to migrate off-site into the community's aquifer.) Citizens
turned to their local governments to stop the shipments. To their
amazement few local governmental authorities, including police and
firefighters had been notified. Local governments responded with angry
protests.
In 1995-1996, CAN again created an educational
radioactive waste tour. We did this with a mock high-level waste cask
in MA, NH, VT and CT to create awareness in communities and the media
concerning bills in Congress to site a temporary storage facility for
high-level waste at the Nevada Test Site. This cask was built by
Citizens Alert in Nevada and loaned to us for the New England tour. We
wanted to draw attention to the transportation of rad waste through
ill-prepared communities. The mock high level waste cask is 22 feet
long and 9 feet high and sits on a trailer. CAN took it along the
transport routes.
CARAVAN OF CONSCIENCE TOUR
CAN
is now organizing a caravan using the elements of the bus and the cask
tour to publicize the shipments of radioactive waste. Citizens Alert
loaned us the cask. We will again work in coalition with groups along
the transport route including Blueridge Environmental Defense League,
Citizens Environmental Coalition, and Grow. We will hold press
conferences and engage in street theater to publicize the transport of
this dangerous cargo.
We will travel through the eastern states (New York, Pennsylvania,
Washington DC, North Carolina, South Carolina) to inform, the public of
the serious waste issues that have received inadequate attention from
the press. With the decommissioning of reactors (24 reactors face
premature shut down and decommissioning in the next 7 years) coupled
with the nuclear industry's pressure to create a burial ground for
their high-level waste, the floodgates of waste are opening in America.
The movement of high-level radioactive waste will endanger thousands of
communities in fourty-three states to create "a temporary solution" to
the high-level waste issue. Our roadways and rail lines will become rad
waste corridors. This initiative is dangerous and premature. Nuclear
waste should remain on-site until an adequate, permanent solution is
developed that meets the needs of the American people.
Citizens in the contamination pathway of reactors and waste sites
need to educate themselves and empower their communities to protect
themselves and the environment from exposure to these toxins. We
believe that a rad waste caravan will raise consciousness about the
shipment of radioactive materials through communities. It will
stimulate the awareness needed to increase public participation in
pollution prevention, reduction and protection of the environment.
