|
BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE
PO Box 88 ~
Glendale Springs, North Carolina 28629 ~ Phone
(336) 982-2691 ~ Fax (336) 982-2954 ~ Email:
BREDL@skybest.com
PRESS
RELEASE
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 3, 2003
CONTACTS:
Louis Zeller (704) 756-7550 (cell phone)
Charles Utley (706) 772-5558
Janet Zeller (336) 982-2691
G-8
FAILS TO FUND PLUTONIUM FUEL
INTERNATIONAL ANTI-PLUTONIUM CAMPAIGNERS ARRESTED
IN RUSSIA
Today at a press conference in
Augusta, Georgia, the Blue Ridge Environmental
Defense League announced that the international
campaign to stop plutonium fuel has succeeded in
delaying funding but at the cost of an erosion of
civil rights.
The Rev. Charles Utley, BREDL's Central Savannah
River Area campaign director, said,
"We are pleased by the failure of the G-8
nations to come to agreement on funding for
plutonium fuel. But we are saddened by the arrest of 12 activists who were
staging a peaceful demonstration outside the
Ministry of atomic power in Russia.
Police action against peaceful protest is an
attempt to stop people from expressing their
opinion. Today, we join our Russian
brothers and sisters and say: Stop
Plutonium!"
BREDL released the letter which it sent to the
heads of state of all the G-8 nations.
The letter was signed by 19 non-governmental
organizations in Great Britain, Russia, and the
United States. The letter said,
"On behalf of the people of all nations who
want a future free of nuclear dangers, we urge
you to prevent the funding of nuclear programs
which use plutonium for reactor fuel. At
the 2003 meeting of the Group of Eight (G-8)
nations in Evian, France, you have an opportunity
to prohibit financial support for this dangerous
plan."
BREDL's Lou Zeller said that, although the
meeting of G-8 nations had previously pledged
$800 million for the Russian plutonium
project-half of that coming from the United
States, the total bill for new facilities in
Russia would be $2 billion. Both the
Clinton and Bush administrations have supported
proposals for funding the Russian plutonium fuel
program. Under an agreement signed by
Russia and the US, plutonium fuel facility
construction and operation in both
countries must proceed in parallel.
BREDL's letter was signed by the leaders of six
Russian organizations including Vladimir Slivyak,
Co-chairman of the Russian citizens' group
Ecodefense. Mr. Slivyak said,
"Using plutonium as a fuel for nuclear power
plants may lead to nuclear accidents and
plutonium pollution of the Russian territories.
It also gives the possibility of nuclear material
theft and proliferation." He added,
"Plutonium must be immobilized and never
used again." Mr. Sliviak was one of
the 12 activists arrested at the protest in
Moscow.
Last year the U.S. Department of Energy cancelled
the proposed plutonium immobilization project at
SRS. BREDL maintains that this change
creates a large quantity of contaminated
plutonium waste that would be processed at
proposed plutonium fuel factory at SRS which
requires DOE to submit a supplemental
environmental impact statement. The DOE has
failed to comply with this
requirement. Mr. Zeller said that BREDL's
campaign would continue.
BREDL is a 19 year old grassroots environmental
organization with chapters in South Carolina,
North Carolina and Virginia. Since
1998 BREDL's Southern Anti-plutonium Campaign has
raised public health and safety concerns about
the US Department of Energy's plutonium fuel
program at the Savannah River Site in South
Carolina and Duke Energy reactors near Charlotte,
North Carolina.
-END-
More Info:
May 30, 2003: Letter to Heads of State of the Group of
Eight Nations from Non-governmental Organizations
opposing Plutonium Fuel
PEACEFUL
PROTESTERS ARRESTED FOR OPPOSING PLUTONIUM FUEL
PROGRAM
On May 27, 2003, twelve Russian
activists were arrested near the Ministry of
atomic power in Moscow for speaking out in
opposition to plutonium fuel (MOX).
Vladimir Slivyak, Co-chairman for Ecodefense in
Moscow, was one of those arrested. He said,
“There were no breakings of law during this
demonstration. It starts to look like police
action against protesters on principal level, an
attempt to make people believe it's better not to
express opinions publicly. We also know that
police were acting with advise from Ministry of
atomic power which asked them to put as hard as
possible charges on activists.”
photos and video can be seen
at www.antiatom.ru/eng.html.
Contact:
Vladimir Slivyak, co-chairman
for Ecodefense
phone/fax +7(095)2784642, 7766281
e-mail: ecodefense@online.ru
http://www.antiatom.ru
Nizhegorodskaya 70-2-5
109052 Moscow, Russia
|