March 11, 2017 marks the sixth anniversary of the Great Earthquake and the disaster at Fukushima. The night before, March 10th, Dr. Gordon Edwards will do a presentation at the Goddard Riverside Community Center in NYC, 593 Columbus Avenue.
Dr. Edwards is renowned for his knowledge on the nuclear fuel cycle. He will be talking with us about Rolling Stewardship – how to best store high level radioactive waste. This topic is particularly timely since the closing of Indian Point in four years moves us quickly towards decommissioning and what to do with the tons of high level waste stored there. There is more high level radioactive waste stored at Indian Point than there was in all the spent fuel pools at Fukushima. Please mark your calendar for this important event. For a flyer that you can print out and share, click the link below:
https://closeindianpoint.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/flyer-for-nyc.pdf
Enjoy the interview of Dr. Edwards on the “Nuclear Hotseat.”
http://nuclearhotseat.com/2016/07/06/nuclear-hotseat-263-oh-canada-pt-2-dr-gordon-edwards-on-intl-uranium-mining-ban/
http:Podcast: Download
Dr. Gordon Edwards is president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and one of Canada‘s best known independent experts on nuclear technology. Part 1 of our monumental interview posted on Nuclear Hotseat #259 on June 7, 2016. Today, in Part 2, Dr. Edwards continues the saga of how Canada has provided mined uranium to the world, how it figured prominently if not predominantly in the development of India’s nuclear bomb, and the steps being taken to institute an international ban on uranium mining.
LINKS to Dr. Edwards’ materials mentioned on the show:
-
Speech in Greenland: http://ccnr.org/Narsaq_Edwards_2016.pdf
-
Powerpoint used in Greenland: http://ccnr.org/Narsaq_Edwards_2016_show.pdf
-
Danish interview on medical aspects of uranium mining
-
Danish interview on remediation of a uranium mining site in Saskatchewan
//nuclearhotseat.com/2016/07/06/nuclear-hotseat-263-oh-canada-pt-2-dr-gordon-edwards-on-intl-uranium-mining-ban/
For immediate release:
MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT: Mari at August5mp@gmail.com
Fukushima and NYC: Challenges of Nuclear Waste
March 10, 2017, Friday, 7PM-9PM
Goddard Riverside Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY
(NE corner of 88th and Columbus Avenue, Subway: B, C or 1 to 86th Street)
WHAT:
Almost 6 years have passed since TEPCO’s nuclear power plant disaster at Fukushima Daiichi in March 2011, which resulted in a massive and ongoing radioactive contamination of the environment. Today, TEPCO still does not know how to control or stop the continuing radioactive contamination from its facilities. Many people, including children and pregnant women, still live in areas highly contaminated by the nuclear accident, because the Japanese government set the boundary of the evacuation zones based on an exposure level of 20 mSv per year, a threshold 20 times higher than that of the international protection standard and the pre-catastrophe national standard. Those who chose to evacuate from Fukushima Prefecture continue to live with many challenges even 6 years after the nuclear disaster. Evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture continue to live with many challenges even 6 years after the nuclear disaster. Fukushima evacuees from towns outside the ‘official’ evacuation zones are called “voluntary evacuees” in order to legally distinguish them from evacuees whose towns were designated within the evacuation zones. Official evacuees are entitled to various public assistance and financial compensations from the government.
In the United States, there are 99 nuclear power reactors still in operation. Two of them operate at the Indian Point Energy Center, 25 miles north of New York City. Nearly 20 million people reside, work or play within a 50 miles radius of these nuclear reactors and the high level nuclear waste stored on site. In January 2017, New York State and Entergy (owner of the Indian Point) reached an agreement that Indian Point Unit 2 will shut down by April 30, 2020 and Unit 3 by April 30, 2021, unless emergency circumstances merit an additional four years of operation.
How do you safely store 2,000 tons of radioactive material that is lethal for 240,000 years? Can a radioactive site be decontaminated so it can be used for commerce and recreation? How do you monitor and protect material so it doesn’t erupt in a radioactive disaster and contaminate the region? What are the challenges and complications associated with nuclear waste management after the closing of the Indian Point reactors? How does the Spectra Energy AIM pipeline expansion, which will run near the Indian Point nuclear facility complicate the decommissioning process at Indian Point? Why do we have to take the Fukushima nuclear disaster seriously?
These and related questions will be the focus of a special program looking into the future of Indian Point after it ceases operations and looking back at lessons learned from the ongoing catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The historic agreement to close the Indian Point reactors in 2020 and 2021 marks a whole new chapter in how Indian Point affects our community and the connection to the radioactive waste storage problems at Fukushima.
WHERE: Goddard Riverside Community Center, 593 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY
WHEN: Friday, March 10, 2017, 7-9PM
WHO: Dr. Gordon Edwards, Co-founder, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Ms. Naoko Suzuki, former resident of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture
Ms. Yasuyo Tanaka, multidisciplinary artist and educator active in US and Japan
Dr. Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition of Nuclear Responsibility will talk about challenges and risks associated with management of nuclear wastes from nuclear facilities. We will also hear from an evacuee from Fukushima who will share the challenges that many evacuees face 6 years after the disaster, including housing issues and rising number of thyroid cancer among children from Fukushima. Wcee will also hear a report from a local activist on her recent trip to Fukushima and about her hometown in Japan that is considered to be one of the final disposable sites of radioactive wastes from the Fukushima Daiichi. A Q&A session will follow the presentations.
Please pre-register by sending your name and affiliation to: August5mp@gmail.com.
Open to the public. Admission is free.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Gordon Edwards co-founded Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility in 1975 and rose to prominence as one of Canada’s best known independent experts on nuclear technology, uranium, and weapons proliferation. Dr. Edwards first became involved in the issues of reactor safety, radioactive wastes and plutonium recycling for the Ontario Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning in 1977-78, where he cross-examined industry and government witnesses on a daily basis for three months. He also played a role in public debates that resulted in permanent bans on uranium exploration in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and Eeyou-Istchee (Northern Quebec). He has been a consultant to governmental and non-governmental bodies, such as the Auditor General of Canada and United Steelworkers of America. He has worked with aboriginal groups: Assembly of First Nations, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Mohawks of Kanesetake, Inuit Tapiriit Kanitami, Cree Nation of James Bay, and Chippewas of Nawash.
Ms. Naoko Suzuki is a mother of 8-year-old and 13-year-old daughters who used to live in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, a city which is only 31 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Her family became so-called “voluntary evacuees” when they fled from their home in Iwaki and relocated to Saitama Prefecture in the wake of the March 2011 nuclear disaster. In order to financially support her family, her husband remained in Iwaki until 2013. Ms. Suzuki is Director of Koko Cafe@Kawagoe, a support group for people who were affected by the nuclear disaster. She is also a co-founder of “Pororon”, a support group for mothers who “voluntarily” evacuated from Fukushima. She is also an active member of Mothers Against War Saitama.
Ms. Yasuyo Tanaka
Ms. Yasuyo Tanaka is a multidisciplinary artist and educator who has been influenced by the history and geography of the U.S. and Japan. Her motivation and subject matter include international disputes, environmental issues, borders, discrimination, identity, media literacy, and self-transformation. After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, nuclear issues became important in her work, partly because her family in Japan was directly affected by the disaster, and her hometown became a candidate to be a final disposal site of nuclear wastes from Fukushima. In her artistic practice, she has been researching, documenting, and creating artworks on nuclear issues in order to fill the gap between art and journalism. She is a co-founding member of Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World. www.yasuyoart.blogspot.com
CO-SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS:
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World
Founded in Manhattan, NY in March 2012, the Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World is a group of concerned citizens, educators, health advocates, artists and lawyers with a mission to raise awareness of the costs, risks, and humanitarian consequences of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. We grew out of discussions with representatives of diverse civil society and grassroots groups who gathered in Manhattan to plan hosting events to commemorate the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster with evacuees from Fukushima. We chose the name to remind ourselves, that not only had we first met in Manhattan, but our mission is to undo the unconscionable labors of the original Manhattan Project that unleashed nuclear weapons and nuclear power upon the world. We believe that our name is a teachable moment to younger generations who do not know the original Manhattan Project. To achieve our goals, we organize educational events, publish informative material, and support campaigns and projects aimed toward eliminating all nuclear power and nuclear weapons through education and arts. We also reach out to policy makers to advocate the importance of implementing carbon-free, nuclear-free policies in order to protect the most vulnerable group in our society.
The Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition
The Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC), a coalition of over 70 environmental, health and public policy organizations, was founded in 2001 to address the vulnerability of the nuclear reactors at the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Over 20 million people live within 50 miles of the plant. Our concerns include both existing radiation releases and potential additional releases from human error, aging infrastructure or terrorism, and the flawed, unfixable evacuation plan. Our grassroots efforts have enlisted the support of hundreds of local, state and federal officials.
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
CCNR is a not-for-profit organization, federally incorporated in 1978 in Canada. It is dedicated to education and research on all issues related to nuclear energy, whether civilian or military — including non-nuclear alternatives — especially those pertaining to Canada.
Peace Action Fund of New York State
Peace Action grew out of the SANE and Nuclear Freeze movements of the 1980’s and is the nation’s largest and oldest grassroots peace organization, with over 100,000 members. Peace Action New York State has 18 chapters throughout NY, from Buffalo to Staten Island, with over 3,000 total members. PANYS works to change U.S. policy – foreign and domestic – through education and grassroots lobbying and activism. We support a U.S. foreign policy that promotes human rights, international cooperation and arms control. PANYS actively works to abolish nuclear weapons, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan & bring the troops home, close foreign military bases, and continue a strategy of diplomacy – not war – with Iran. On domestic policy, PANYS participates in the New Priorities Network (www.newprioritiesnetwork.org) that is working to shift federal budget priorities to fund our communities over the military. PANYS also seeks to end the culture of militarism in the U.S., and end recruitment of junior high and high school students by the military.
NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY
The purpose of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development is to monitor and influence the implementation of the commitments and agreements adopted by the United Nations that pertain to sustainable development as defined by the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the Earth Summit, the MDGs, the SDGs, Rio+20 and the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. We focus attention and promote the programs of the United Nations on Sustainable Development for the Post-2015 Agenda, working closely with relevant UN commissions and agencies such as the United Nations Environment Programme and the Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat), UNDP, UNDESA, UN Women, UNPFA, and UNODA and promote and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and the dissemination of information on sustainable development issues within the NGO community and to the general public to raise awareness toward an action agenda. We work with Ambassadors and Permanent Missions to the United Nations, members of civil society, academia, women, youth, indigenous leaders, members of the private sector and sustainable development experts in energy, water, climate change, and infrastructure to bring about collaborations that foster innovative solutions for sustainable development, social impact initiatives and gender equality issues.
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation educates and advocates for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons, and works to empower peace leaders.
The NYC Chapter of Veterans for Peace
Veterans For Peace (VFP) is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars. VFP holds a permanent Non-Governmental Organization seat at the United Nations. It is also the first military veterans’ organization invited to be a member of the International Peace Bureau based in Geneva, Switzerland.
PEACE BOAT US
Peace Boat US is a civil society, non-profit organization working to promote peace, human rights, equitable and sustainable development, and respect for the environment throughout the United States and the world. These goals are pursued through peace education programs, including onboard conferences, workshops, face-to-face encounters and field studies. Peace Boat US upholds The Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century, including the promotion of the non-violent prevention and resolution of conflict among nations and peoples, and the development of a culture of peace.
Live Peace
NYC War Resisters League
NYC WRL is the New York City local chapter of the national pacifist organization War Resisters League. NYC WRL formed right after 911 and focuses on active nonviolence, anti-war, anti-militarism, war tax resistance, and counter-recruitment issues. We’ve organized civil disobedience actions against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on Wall Street, at the 2004 Republican National Convention, at IRS Headquarters in DC, at recruiting centers in NYC, and participate in national actions against the wars. NYC WRL also organizes April tax day actions and events in August marking the commemoration of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
