New England2
Since November '05, people have committed to a series of actions at Vermont Yankee's corporate headquarters and at the reactor site itself. Some have acted once; others have acted many times and still others have formed affinity groups that have escalated their non violent actions to attempt to force the state to not just arrest them but to prosecute them.The state has choosen to silence them by refusing to allow them their day in court. CAN joined with other groups like Vemont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance to organize a fall parade through downtown Brattleboro with Bread and Puppet and an action at the corporate headquarters. In February'07 made and dropped a banner off the roof of VY's corporate headquarters. In March '07 the Shut It Down Affinity group took their action to the gates of Vermont Yankee. This was the first protest at any reactor in America post 9/11. Women left effigies of themselves, spray painted danger signs on the tarmark leading to the gates, and chained themselves across the driveway on three seperate occasions. 3
People leafletted and walked in Brattleboro, Bennington, Rutland, Middlebury, Montpelier, Burlington. There was also a walk held in Greenfield, Massachusetts which is 10 miles from Vermont Yankee and a teach-in a Greenfield Community College. 4
Nuclear power is a dirty technology and the industry that developed it practices environmental racism. Reactors routinely release rad waste into the surrounding community. What’s not released is held on site, for shipment to another community- predominately poor, rural, and people of color communities. 5
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”.
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 RALLYEach 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
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. |
Since November 2005 CAN organized and supported monthly actions to protest Vermont Yankee's continued operation. After NRC approved a 20% uprate for the aged reactor, a group of women organized an action to express their outrage over NRC's decision to support Entergy's drive for profits over the health and safety of the community. These women's courage and dedication galvanized others to act.
CAN supported a series of walks in Vermont and western Massachusetts to educate people to the connection between nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The first in August '06- Walk For A Nuclear Free Future - started with a ceremony on Hiroshima day in Rutland, VT and ended in Burlington, VT on Nagasaki day. A second and third tour occured in March '07 and August 07. Walkers were housed in the community and each evening there was a pot luck dinner and a discussion. The discussions focused on how we can replace Vermont Yankee and how each of us can help close it.
