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Compared with other countries, in absolute terms, the US has the most reactors and generates the most electricity from nuclear energy. However, for many years the [[anti-nuclear movement]] succeeded in delaying commitments to build new nuclear plants.<ref>[http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-politics.html Nuclear Politics]</ref> Anti-nuclear campaigns that captured national public attention in the 1970s involved the [[Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant]], [[Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant]], [[Diablo Canyon Power Plant]], [[Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant]], and [[Three Mile Island]].<ref name=protest>[http://books.google.com/books?id=Kn6YhNtyVigC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=shoreham+nuclear+power+plant+protests&source=web&ots=rmz3LVr6tR&sig=sHGK4uiUQ8KKAynuBqZa7NWqYzo Social Protest and Policy Change: Ecology, Antinuclear, and Peace Movements] p. 44.</ref> More recent targeted campaigning has related to the [[Indian Point Energy Center]], [[Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station]],<ref>[http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2007/0628/Front_Page/016.html Oyster Creek's time is up, residents tell board]</ref> [[Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station]],<ref name=pil>[http://www.pilgrimwatch.org/ Pilgrim Watch]</ref> [[Salem Nuclear Power Plant]],<ref name=sal>[http://www.unplugsalem.org/ UNPLUG Salem]</ref> [[Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant]],<ref name=Ver>[http://www.newenglandcoalition.org/issues.html Vermont Yankee License Renewal]</ref> proposed [[Yucca Mountain]] waste repository,<ref name=yucca>[http://www.sierraclub.org/nuclearwaste/yucca_factsheet.asp Deadly Nuclear Waste Transport]</ref> the [[Hanford Site]],<ref name=hanford>[http://www.heartofamericanorthwest.org/index_page.html Hanford History]</ref> and transportation of nuclear waste from the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]].<ref name=LANL>[http://www.nuclearactive.org/CCNS/ccnsindex.html About CCNS]</ref> Many different groups have been involved in various protests and demonstrations over the years.
Compared with other countries, in absolute terms, the US has the most reactors and generates the most electricity from nuclear energy. However, for many years the [[anti-nuclear movement]] succeeded in delaying commitments to build new nuclear plants.<ref>[http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-politics.html Nuclear Politics]</ref> Anti-nuclear campaigns that captured national public attention in the 1970s involved the [[Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant]], [[Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant]], [[Diablo Canyon Power Plant]], [[Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant]], and [[Three Mile Island]].<ref name=protest>[http://books.google.com/books?id=Kn6YhNtyVigC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=shoreham+nuclear+power+plant+protests&source=web&ots=rmz3LVr6tR&sig=sHGK4uiUQ8KKAynuBqZa7NWqYzo Social Protest and Policy Change: Ecology, Antinuclear, and Peace Movements] p. 44.</ref> More recent targeted campaigning has related to the [[Indian Point Energy Center]], [[Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station]],<ref>[http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2007/0628/Front_Page/016.html Oyster Creek's time is up, residents tell board]</ref> [[Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station]],<ref name=pil>[http://www.pilgrimwatch.org/ Pilgrim Watch]</ref> [[Salem Nuclear Power Plant]],<ref name=sal>[http://www.unplugsalem.org/ UNPLUG Salem]</ref> [[Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant]],<ref name=Ver>[http://www.newenglandcoalition.org/issues.html Vermont Yankee License Renewal]</ref> [[Idaho National Laboratory]],<ref name=yellow>[http://www.yellowstonenuclearfree.com/about_us/ Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free]</ref> proposed [[Yucca Mountain]] waste repository,<ref name=yucca>[http://www.sierraclub.org/nuclearwaste/yucca_factsheet.asp Deadly Nuclear Waste Transport]</ref> the [[Hanford Site]],<ref name=hanford>[http://www.heartofamericanorthwest.org/index_page.html Hanford History]</ref> and transportation of nuclear waste from the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]].<ref name=LANL>[http://www.nuclearactive.org/CCNS/ccnsindex.html About CCNS]</ref> Many different groups have been involved in various protests and demonstrations over the years.


[[Image:Nuclear power is not healthy poster.jpg|300px|right|Anti-nuclear poster from the 1970s American movement.]]
[[Image:Nuclear power is not healthy poster.jpg|300px|right|Anti-nuclear poster from the 1970s American movement.]]
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===Institute for Energy and Environmental Research===
===Institute for Energy and Environmental Research===
The [[Institute for Energy and Environmental Research]] (IEER) is a [[Washington, D.C.]]-area [[United States|American]] policy organization ("[[think tank]]") located in [[Takoma Park, Maryland|Takoma Park]], [[Maryland]]. It provides [[activist]]s, [[policy]]-makers, [[journalist]]s, and the [[public]] with [[Science|scientific]] and [[Technology|technical]] information on [[Energy conservation|energy]] and [[Environmentalism|environmental]] issues.<ref>[http://www.ieer.org/pubs/index.html IEER Publications]</ref><ref>[http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/14-2.pdf Science for Democratic Action]</ref>
The [[Institute for Energy and Environmental Research]] (IEER) is a [[Washington, D.C.]]-area [[United States|American]] policy organization ("[[think tank]]") located in [[Takoma Park, Maryland|Takoma Park]], [[Maryland]]. It provides [[activist]]s, [[policy]]-makers, [[journalist]]s, and the [[public]] with [[Science|scientific]] and [[Technology|technical]] information on [[Energy conservation|energy]] and [[Environmentalism|environmental]] issues.<ref>[http://www.ieer.org/pubs/index.html IEER Publications]</ref><ref>[http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/14-2.pdf Science for Democratic Action]</ref>

===Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free===
The stated mission of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free is to protect the citizens, environment, and wildlife of the greater Yellowstone and Grand Teton ecosystems and the Jackson Hole valley from radioactive and hazardous emissions from the [[U.S. Department of Energy]]'s [[Idaho National Laboratory]], and to elevate public awareness of concerns about the facilities operating at INL.<ref name=yellow/>


===Long Island Safe Energy Coalition===
===Long Island Safe Energy Coalition===

Revision as of 23:58, 19 January 2008

Compared with other countries, in absolute terms, the US has the most reactors and generates the most electricity from nuclear energy. However, for many years the anti-nuclear movement succeeded in delaying commitments to build new nuclear plants.[1] Anti-nuclear campaigns that captured national public attention in the 1970s involved the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, and Three Mile Island.[2] More recent targeted campaigning has related to the Indian Point Energy Center, Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station,[3] Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station,[4] Salem Nuclear Power Plant,[5] Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant,[6] Idaho National Laboratory,[7] proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository,[8] the Hanford Site,[9] and transportation of nuclear waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.[10] Many different groups have been involved in various protests and demonstrations over the years.

Anti-nuclear poster from the 1970s American movement.
Anti-nuclear poster from the 1970s American movement.

Specific Groups

Abalone Alliance

The Abalone Alliance (1977–1985) was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo (on the central California coast). They modeled their affinity group-based organizational structure after the Clamshell Alliance which was then protesting the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in coastal New Hampshire. The group of activists took the name Abalone Alliance referring to the tens of thousands of wild California Red Abalone that were killed in 1974 in Diablo Cove when the unit's plumbing had its first hot flush.

Beyond Nuclear

Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the need to abandon both nuclear power and nuclear weapons to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear campaigns for an energy future that is democratic, sustainable, and benign.[11]

Calvert Cliffs Coordinating Committee

The Calvert Cliffs Coordinating Committee, through its 1971 court case with the Atomic Energy Commission, was instrumental in bringing about a reorganization of nuclear policy in the USA. Calvert Cliffs has an important place in the history of nuclear power in the USA because it represents an early success for the anti-nuclear movement, which resulted in delayed licensing and construction of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.[2]

Citizens for Safe Power

Citizens for Safe Power led the initial opposition (from 1967 through 1972) to constructing the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. The group failed to stop construction but succeeded in persuading the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to impose stricter environmental standards and monitoring. During the 1980s, when nuclear opposition was provoked by the Three Mile Island accident, two attempts by referendum (1980 and 1982) at closing the plant were defeated. A third referendum in 1987 was triggered by the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine. The referendums all failed despite gaining more than 40% of the vote. Ultimately the questions raised in the referendums by the Maine Nuclear Referendum Committee, and its allied citizen groups, proved persuasive to policy makers who made the ultimate decision for early closure of the plant in 1997.

Clamshell Alliance

The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization co-founded by Paul Gunter in 1976, which conducted non-violent demonstrations against nuclear power in New England in the late 1970s and 1980s. In April, 1977 over 2,000 Clamshell protestors occupied the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant construction site. 1,414 of these activists were arrested and held in jails and National Guard armories for up to two weeks after refusing bail.[12] In 2007, veterans of the Clamshell Alliance marked the 30th anniversary of its founding with the creation of a website called, "To the Village Square: Nukes, Clams and Democracy", which relates the story of the Clamshell Alliance and why it matters today.[13] The Clamshell Alliance opposes all nuclear power in New England.

Committee for Nuclear Responsibility

Chaired until recently by Dr. John Gofman, CNR is a non-profit, educational group which provides independent analyses of the health effects and sources of ionizing radiation.[14]

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety is a non-profit, non-government organization founded in 1988 due to community concerns about nuclear waste transportation from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nation's oldest nuclear weapons production facility, to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nation's first permanent nuclear weapons waste repository. CCNS has since evolved and grown into a nationally recognized organization known for research, litigation, public education, community outreach and organizing on a range of nuclear issues.[10]

Greenpeace USA

The Greenpeace USA website states that:

Few of us want a nuclear plant in our community - we've heard about Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and know that accidents can happen anywhere. So it's completely unacceptable that the U.S. government is pushing for more nukes when most of the rest of the world is saying "so long."[15]

Heart of America Northwest

Heart of America Northwest has concerns about the Hanford site, located in southeastern Washington, which is said to be the most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere. As much as 450 billion gallons of contaminated wastes have been dumped into unlined soil trenches at Hanford. According to the 2004 Hanford Solid Waste Environmental Impact Statement, the US Department of Energy intends to ship several thousand truckloads of radioactive waste from nuclear facilities around the country to be stored at Hanford.[9]

Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition

The Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC), formed shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, is an alliance of 70 environmental, health, and public policy organizations concerned with the vulnerability of, and radioactive waste from, the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, NY. IPSEC has called for the orderly decommissioning, securing of the irradiated fuel pools, and closure of the Indian Point Energy Center.[16]

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) is a Washington, D.C.-area American policy organization ("think tank") located in Takoma Park, Maryland. It provides activists, policy-makers, journalists, and the public with scientific and technical information on energy and environmental issues.[17][18]

Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free

The stated mission of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free is to protect the citizens, environment, and wildlife of the greater Yellowstone and Grand Teton ecosystems and the Jackson Hole valley from radioactive and hazardous emissions from the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, and to elevate public awareness of concerns about the facilities operating at INL.[7]

Long Island Safe Energy Coalition

The Long Island Safe Energy Coalition was among many groups which protested against the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant located in Long Island, New York. Other groups which were involved included the Lloyd Harbor Study Group, the Farm Bureau, Safe'n Sound (with its Sound Times newspaper), the S.H.A.D. Alliance (modeled on New Hampshire's Clamshell Alliance), and the Shoreham Opponents Coalition. The plant was completed at a cost of $6 billion but closed in 1989 without generating any commercial electricity.[19]

Musicians United for Safe Energy

Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) was an activist group founded by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The group advocated against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island accident in March 1979.[20] MUSE organized a series of five No Nukes (film) concerts held at Madison Square Garden in New York in September 1979. They also staged a large rally in downtown Battery Park.

Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council questions the future potential of nuclear power and advocates more sustainable alternatives:

New nuclear power plants are unlikely to provide a significant fraction of future U.S. needs for low-carbon energy. NRDC favors more practical, economical and environmentally sustainable approaches to reducing both U.S. and global carbon emissions, focusing on the widest possible implementation of end-use energy-efficiency improvements, and on policies to accelerate commercialization of clean, flexible, renewable energy technologies.[21]

New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution

The New England Coalition (NEC) is a membership-supported non-profit educational organization based in Brattleboro, Vermont, which serves the New England region of the United States. The NEC doesn’t protest as a group, but instead takes legal action. The group "fights every step that the nuclear power industry attempts to take which might increase the risk of harm to the people, animals and land of Vermont and the greater New England region".[22] The NEC is particularly concerned about the possible extension of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant's operating license for an additional 20 years beyond the 2012 expiration.[6][23]

No Nukes group

Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne are part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power in the USA. In 2007 they recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song For What It's Worth.[24][25]

Nuclear Control Institute

The Nuclear Control Institute, founded in 1981, is an independent research and advocacy center for preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. Non-profit and non-partisan, the organization is supported by philanthropic foundations and individuals.[26]

Nuclear Free Great Lakes Campaign

The Nuclear Free Great Lakes Campaign consists of eight safe-energy organizations from the United States and Canada dedicated to the cessation of radioactive contamination of the Great Lakes Basin, and the removal of nuclear power from the area.[27]

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service is a non-profit group founded in 1978 to be the information and networking center for citizens and organizations concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy issues. The organization advocates the implementation of safe, sustainable solutions such as efficient energy use and renewable energy.[28]

Pilgrim Watch

Pilgrim Watch is a grassroots organization that aims to serve the public interest in issues regarding the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Plymouth, MA. Pilgrim Nuclear Station's license to operate is due to expire in 2012.[4] Over 100,000 people live within the plant's ten-mile Emergency Planning Zone radius.[29]

Public Citizen Energy Program

The Public Citizen Energy Program aims to protect citizens and the environment from "the dangers posed by nuclear power and seeks policies that will lead to safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy".[30] In 2006, Public Citizen released an information brochure entitled The Fatal Flaws of Nuclear Power.[31]

Redwood Alliance

The Redwood Alliance does not support construction of new nuclear reactors as a means of addressing global warming. It believes that available renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies are faster, cheaper, safer, and cleaner strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions than nuclear power.[32]

Riverkeeper

On January 3rd, 2008, Riverkeeper joined some other nuclear watchdog groups in petitioning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend current license renewal proceedings for the Indian Point, Oyster Creek, Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear power plants. Riverkeeper has suggested that the NRC is "rubberstamping applications", and the group has called for "an objective and independent investigation" into the current license renewal process.[33]

Shad Alliance

The Shad Alliance was an active and influential anti-nuclear group which used non-violent, direct action methods in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Shad Alliance linked anti-nuclear activists on Long Island, in New York City, and throughout the Hudson River area, and targeted the Indian Point and Shoreham nuclear power plants.[34]

On June 3, 1979, a large demonstration at Shoreham was organized by the Shad Alliance. About 18,000 people marched on Shoreham nuclear plant and 500 climbed the perimeter fence to occupy the plant in an act of civil disobedience. Police made 571 arrests.[34][35]

Sierra Club

The Sierra Club opposes building new nuclear reactors, both fission and fusion, until specific inherent safety risks are mitigated by government policies, and regulatory agencies are in place to enforce those policies.[36]

The Sierra Club is particularly concerned about the transportation of nuclear waste to the proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada. According to the Sierra Club, planned nuclear waste transportation would involve truck or rail shipments through 43 states (many of which have chosen not to have nuclear facilities), within half a mile of millions of homes, and through over 100 of America's largest cities. Barge shipments would move through 17 port cities on the Atlantic seaboard and through the drinking water of the Great Lakes via Lake Michigan. The Department of Energy (DOE) is predicting that 108,500 waste shipments will be required over 38 years.[8]

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that promotes responsible energy choices that solve global warming problems and promote clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast of the United States.[37] SACE opposes several nuclear and plutonium expansion proposals which "threaten the development of a safe, healthy future in the Southeast". SACE states that these proposals, coupled with an effort by some lawmakers to revitalize nuclear power through controversial energy legislation, will further degrade the Southeast region.[38]

Three Mile Island Alert

Three Mile Island Alert is a non-profit citizens' organization which is critical of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and is dedicated to the promotion of safe-energy alternatives to nuclear power. Formed in 1977 (two years before the Three Mile Island accident) TMIA is the largest and oldest nuclear watchdog group in central Pennsylvania. The group has provided testimony to the US Senate, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and has received certificates of commendation from several governmental bodies.[39]

UNPLUG Salem

The UNPLUG Salem Campaign began in 1995 and focuses on closing the Salem Nuclear Power Plant as soon as possible, and also tries to stop the killing of fish and marine life by the plants. In addition, the Campaign promotes alternatives to electricity produced by nuclear power and coal.[5]

Political parties

The Platform adopted by the delegates of the membership of the Greens/Green Party USA (G/GPUSA) at their annual Green Congress, meeting in Chicago, May 26-28, 2000, reflecting the majority views of the G/GPUSA membership, includes the creation of self-reproducing, renewable energy systems and use of federal investments, purchasing, mandates, and incentives to shut down nuclear power plants, and phase out fossil fuels.[40]

People

Notable individuals who have been associated with the anti-nuclear movement in the US include:[41][42][43]

See also

References

  1. ^ Nuclear Politics
  2. ^ a b Social Protest and Policy Change: Ecology, Antinuclear, and Peace Movements p. 44.
  3. ^ Oyster Creek's time is up, residents tell board
  4. ^ a b Pilgrim Watch
  5. ^ a b UNPLUG Salem
  6. ^ a b Vermont Yankee License Renewal
  7. ^ a b Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free
  8. ^ a b Deadly Nuclear Waste Transport
  9. ^ a b Hanford History
  10. ^ a b About CCNS
  11. ^ Beyond Nuclear
  12. ^ The Siege of Seabrook
  13. ^ To the Village Square
  14. ^ The Committee for Nuclear Responsibility
  15. ^ Nuclear Issues
  16. ^ What is IPSEC?
  17. ^ IEER Publications
  18. ^ Science for Democratic Action
  19. ^ The Politics of Nuclear Power: A History of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
  20. ^ Commentary: Stealth nuke effort should be stopped
  21. ^ New Nuclear Power Plants Are Not a Solution for America's Energy Needs
  22. ^ New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
  23. ^ Vermont Yankee's woes top list of year's big stories
  24. ^ “For What It’s Worth,” No Nukes Reunite After Thirty Years
  25. ^ Musicians Act to Stop New Atomic Reactors
  26. ^ About us
  27. ^ Comments of the Nuclear Free Great Lakes Campaign
  28. ^ About NIRS
  29. ^ Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
  30. ^ About the Energy Program
  31. ^ The Fatal Flaws of Nuclear Power
  32. ^ Redwood Alliance
  33. ^ Environmental group protests nuclear plant license renewal
  34. ^ a b Brown, Jerry and Brutoco, Rinaldo (1997). Profiles in power: The antinuclear movement and the dawn of the solar age, Prentice Hall, pp. 63-64.
  35. ^ Lights Out at Shoreham: Anti-nuclear activism spurs the closing of a new $6 billion plant
  36. ^ Why Not Nukes? Reconsidering the nuclear option
  37. ^ Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
  38. ^ Nuclear Expansion
  39. ^ Three Mile Island Alert
  40. ^ http://www.greenparty.org/Platform.php
  41. ^ The Rise of the Anti-nuclear Power Movement
  42. ^ Ancient Rockers Try to Recharge Anti-Nuclear Movement
  43. ^ Beyond Nuclear: A Welcome from Ed Asner, Honorary Chairman

Further reading

  • Cragin, Susan (2007). Nuclear Nebraska: The Remarkable Story of the Little County That Couldn’t Be Bought.
  • Giugni, Marco (2004). Social Protest and Policy Change.
  • McCafferty, David P. (1991). The Politics of nuclear power: A history of the Shoreham power plant.
  • Miller, Byron A. (2000). Geography and social movements: Comparing anti-nuclear activism in the Boston area.
  • Natti, Susanna and Acker, Bonnie (1979). No nukes: Everyone's guide to nuclear power.
  • Ondaatje, Elizabeth H. (c1988). Trends in antinuclear protests in the United States, 1984-1987.
  • Peterson, Christian (2003). Ronald Reagan and Antinuclear Movements in the United States and Western Europe, 1981-1987.
  • Smith, Jennifer (Editor), (2002). The Antinuclear Movement.
  • Wellock, Thomas R. (1998). Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978.
  • Wills, John (2006). Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon.
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