New Clear Vision

Arizonans Stand Together for a Nuclear-Free Future

by Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa

The sun shone brightly and the wind showed its power in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday, April 26, the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.  Their prominent presence underlined the abundance of alternative energy resources in the Solar State.

To mark the anniversary, fifty people from Bisbee, Prescott, Tucson, and throughout the Phoenix area joined the Stand Together for a Nuclear Free Future demonstration to condemn the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) recent decision to grant a 20-year license extension for the Palo Verde nuclear power plant, and to call for an end to uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

Holding colorful signs with a smiling sun proclaiming “Nuclear Power, No Thanks!” we gathered downtown in front of Arizona Public Service (APS) headquarters, owner/operator of the three-reactor Palo Verde nuclear power complex 50 miles west of Phoenix, the country’s largest.  Accompanied by a large puppet, Auntie Nuke, whose sign read “Nuclear Power is Dirty, Dangerous and Expensive!” we listened to speakers and songs.

Phoenix activist Barbara Taft spoke about her meeting in 1995 with doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel in Kiev, Ukraine, where she learned about the issues they encountered in treating the significant and unusual health problems of Chernobyl victims.  Her report was a sobering reminder of the serious and detrimental human health effects of radiation exposure.

Gil Venable, a former environmental law professor at Arizona State University who is a member of the Sierra Club (Palo Verde Group) spoke in support of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s proposal for withdrawal of one million acres of land around the Grand Canyon from uranium and other mining.  Long involved in the uranium mining issue, Venable had worked with Stewart Udall to get compensation for Navajo uranium miners.

Phoenix environmentalist Steve Brittle, of Don’t Waste Arizona, recently submitted comments during the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Palo Verde license renewal process.  Brittle, who for ten years served on the Maricopa County Local Emergency Planning Committee, condemned the NRC license extension, telling the demonstrators that an independent nuclear watchdog is needed because the NRC is clearly in the pocket of the nuclear industry.

Tucson no-nukes troubadour Ted Warmbrand sang songs about the folly and danger of nuclear power, including these 2 verses from lyrics written by David Bernz to the tune of This Land is Your Land:

This land is your land, this land is my land

From Fukushima, to Three Mile Island

From the great Chernobyl, where the plume went global

This land was made for you and me.

Oh this pollution, it knows no borders

We share the air, we share the water

So don’t you think that, it’s time we oughta

Tell ’em this land was made for you and me.

Remembering the legacy of the nuclear age, protesters took turns reciting the names of sites around the world contaminated by nuclear radiation.  The group responded in unison — “We Remember” — as each site was named:  Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Rio Puerco, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini Atoll, Nevada Test Site, Windscale, Lop Nor … and the list goes on.

Arizona has its share of this sad legacy. Hundreds of Navajo uranium miners suffered ill health and died after providing the raw material for the Nuclear Age. “Downwinders” residing in northern Arizona are among the documented casualties of American nuclear weapons testing in Nevada. In 2007, the NRC declared Palo Verde’s nuclear power reactors to be the least safe in the U.S.

Fast forward to April 2011, when in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the NRC granted APS a license extension to operate the three Palo Verde reactors for another 20 years. Leaky reactors and more and more radioactive waste piling up onsite until 2047?  Uranium mining near the spectacularly beautiful Grand Canyon?  Enough! It’s time to demand a different direction for Arizona and the U.S.  Join us as we continue to speak out, to protest, to insist upon and create a nuclear-free future for our state, our country, our planet, and future generations.

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE

1. No Nuclear, More Renewables for Arizona: The Arizona Corporation Commission is the regulatory agency for energy suppliers in Arizona. Visit their website at www.azcc.gov and send the elected Commissioners the message that you support more renewables and no nuclear power for our state.
2. Stop Uranium Mining: Support Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s proposal for withdrawal of one million acres of land around the Grand Canyon from uranium and other mining. To enter a public comment, visit www.tinyurl.com/BLM-uranium-comment
3. Demand Independent Regulation: Ask your U.S. Representative and Senator to replace the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with an independent agency that puts public safety ahead of shameless promotion for the industry.
4. No New Nuclear Reactors: Sign the Friends of the Earth petition to Congress at www.tinyurl.com/NoNewNukes
5. Abolish Nuclear Weapons: Sign the new international Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons from Gensuikyo, the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs at www.antiatom.org/sig-press/

Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa are longtime peace and justice activists. Since 1980 they have been co-coordinators of the Nuclear Resister and co-editors of its newsletter by the same name. The Nuclear Resister networks the anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance movements while acting as a clearinghouse for information about contemporary nonviolent resistance to war and the nuclear threat. To learn more about these efforts, please visit the Nuclear Resister website at: www.nukeresister.org.