Sizewell Camp Against Nuclear New Build, 20-22 April, Suffolk

Skill Share, Networking and Protest

Power for the People - Not Profits for the Few

 

A glowing report for Sizewell Camp

Copyright (c) 2011 Stop Nuclear Power Network

Images from Sizewell Camp / Chernobyl 25th anniversary

Sizewell Camp 2011

National Demo - No to Nuclear Power! Power for the People, Not Profits for the Few! - Sat 23 April

 

Fukushima fuels wave of protests against UK’s "nuclear renaissance"

Buried at C? Sizewell nuclear power station blockaded by anti-nuclear campaigners

Anti-nuclear campaigners again walk free from court / case dismissed

Blockade at Sizewell - 22 Feb 2010 (Credit: M. Harrison)

Sizewell blockaders on trial

London nuclear conference demo calls for EDF boycott

Olympics nuclear waste trains are potential terrorist target, warns London MEP

Chernobyl memorial at Sizewell Camp - video

Sizewell Camp - An account

Camp Against New Nuclear Build - 23-26 April 2010, Sizewell, Suffolk

Sizewell Blockade updates

Local Democracy Dumped! - Sizewell nuclear plant blockaded again

Sizewell blockaders acquitted!!

*Breaking news* - Sizewell 5 anti-nuclear blockaders found not guilty

Two days into their four-day trial, the Sizewell five have been found not guilty of aggravated trespass after a blockade in 2008 of the Sizewell nuclear power station in Suffolk. 

News just through from Lowestoft Magistrates' Court in Suffolk, eastern England that the Sizewell Five have been acquitted after the prosecution failed to provide evidence that the defendants were on private land, meaning that they were all acquitted on this legal technicality. 

The trial related to a physical blockade of the sole access road to the Sizewell nuclear power plant last year. The defendants had held up a banner reading "Nuclear Power is Not a Solution to Climate Chaos" as they physically blocked the road with their bodies and arm tubes. 

The defendants had planned to use the defence that they were acting to prevent breaches of health and safety legislation resulting from the continued operation of the nuclear power plant in Suffolk. They had planned to call at least one expert witness, Dr Ian Fairlie, an independent nuclear consultant, but the judge had refused to allow this on the first day of trial, despite earlier pre-trial reviews. 

More details will no doubt follow from the blockaders themselves (once they have sobered up). 

Nuclear People Power network 
e-mail: vd2012-npp [at] yahoo.co.uk 
Homepage: http://stopnuclearpower.blogspot.com

Pre-trial press release

Indymedia report

Additional information from the blockaders:

It was good to get off but it would have been better if we had won the case on the issues about increased cancer deaths, breaches of health and safety... and all the other issues we brought up.

There had been two previous blockades, which surprisingly did not result in arrests:

August 2007: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/379149.html 
December 2007: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/386851.html 

We have had several other protests at the site including (video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti73TfSFSJU

I will not put up our legal defence here but if anyone is on charges and wants to find out more please do not hesitate to contact us.

The judge did not get round to considering the evidence provided by the defendants. This included the KiKK which is a German study that showed that there are large increases of leukaemia and other cancers in the vicinity of nuclear power plants similar to the one at Sizewell B. They also claimed that several breaches of nuclear regulations leading up to and after the leak at Sizewell A in 2007 meant that the plant was not operating legally.

KiKK report

Background to report (in English) and links to report: http://www.bfs.de/en/kerntechnik/kinderkrebs/kikk.html 

Ian Fairlie comments on the KiKK report in the New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826535.300-comment-lets-take-cancer-clusters-seriously-this-time.html

Sizewell Leak

Sizewell A – Cooling Pond Recirculation Pipe Failure Incident Of 7 January 2007. Assessment Of The Nii Decision Making Process, John Large Associates
http://www.largeassociates.com/cz3179/R3179-A3.pdf

Sizewell nuclear disaster averted by dirty laundry, says official report, Guardian June 2009: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/nuclear-waste-nuclearpower

Alarm did not sound for Sizewell leak, Evening Star January 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/yendamt

plunk 

e-mail: theatreofwar [at] hushmail.com

Sizewell blockade - pre-trial press release

Are Sizewell Activities Lawful?

25th September 2009

Five local activists calling themselves the Sizewell Blockaders are appearing in Lowestoft court next week (w/c 28 Sept 09) charged with aggravated trespass at Sizewell Nuclear Power Stations.

The charges relate to a blockade, which took place back in July 2008 when the 5 activists locked themselves together on the end of the only entrance road to the nuclear power stations. The five activists claim that the stations should be shut down for health and safety reasons and therefore the activities on the site are not lawful.

Some of the defendants are calling Ian Fairlie, a Consultant on Radioactivity in the Environment who will be giving evidence about recent German studies (the KiKK study) which found that all types of cancer as well as leukaemia occurred significantly more frequently in the vicinity of nuclear power plants (within a radius of 5 km) than in further distant areas

Mell Harrison, 38, from Geldeston, a Campaigns officer for Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament said ‘when we took the action the government was pressing ahead with Nuclear power despite accidents such as the leak at Sizewell in 2007 and the worrying results of the German study. There are many cleaner and quicker ways of meeting our energy needs and cutting carbon emissions.”

The ‘Sizewell Blockaders’ are appearing at Lowestoft magistrates court for the four day trial from 28th Sept – 1st October.

Three of the defendants are represented by Bindmans Solicitors of London and two are representing themselves at the trial.

ENDS

Further Information

KiKK report

Background to report and links to report: http://www.bfs.de/en/kerntechnik/kinderkrebs/kikk.html

Ian Fairlie comments on the KiKK report in the New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826535.300-comment-lets-take-cancer-clusters-seriously-this-time.html

Sizewell Leak

Sizewell nuclear disaster averted by dirty laundry, says official report, Guardian June 2009: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/nuclear-waste-nuclearpower

Alarm did not sound for Sizewell leak, Evening Star January 2007: http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=IPED09%20Jan%202007%2014%3A08%3A23%3A043

The defendants details

Rebecca Dale an accountant , 34, from Bungay

 Mell Harrison who works for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 38 from Geldeston

Nicola Stikles is a environmental education teacher, 39 from Saxmundham

Irene Willis, retired teacher, 61 from Essex 

Pete Lux, an office manager, 47 from Beccles

For more info, including during the trial, contact

Mellcndeast [at] cnduk.org

07760 161755
 

No to New Nuclear Power - Yes to Decentralised Energy!

Saturday 25th April over 70 people attended a demonstration at the Sizewell nuclear power plants in Suffolk. It has recently been announced that Sizewell will be the possible site for two new reactors. Many of the protestors camped overnight and held a memorial service for the victims of the Chernobyl which occured exactly 23 years before.

Speakers included - Pete Wilkinson Co-founder of Greenpeace UK, CORWM, Peter Lanyon and Charles Barnet, Shut Down Sizewell Group, Mell Harrison, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Sizewell Blockaders, Rupert Read Green Party European candidate

Yet another letter was handed to the site challenging British Energy to have an open public debate with the protesters about nuclear power.

There was then a tour along the coast next to the site to show the various parts of the site and the proposed new site.

Many of the protesters camped overnight.

There was also street theatre from Theatre of War


The protest was not just against nuclear power but also urged that cheaper, cleaner and safer alternatives be used. A good example of which has been carried out in Woking (see www.ideascentre.co.uk/download/file?ref=68 - for a more general discussion of the alternatives to nuclear to tackle climate change see Nuclear power: economics and climate-protection potential by AMORY B. LOVINS of the Rocky Mountain Institute.)

Further Information

• Flood map for the Sizewell area from the site nomination proposal
• Sizewell Blockaders: Previous Blockade of Sizewell A and B
• TORCH Report: Affects of the Chernobyl Accident
• The True Battle of Chernobyl Google video
• More images
• Flash video of the fallout cloud (can be slow loading)

From: http://www.easterncnduk.org/index.php

“Radioactive Royals” Welcome Nuclear Greenwash Brigade to the Palace

Anti-nuclear power campaigners dressed as “Radioactive Royals and nuclear guards” protested in front of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, 5 February as nuclear industry bigwigs were wined and dined by the Duke of York, Prince Andrew.

Hundreds of tourists, visiting the Palace for the Changing of the Guard, were amused to see “nuclear guards” taking their place at the gates. They held up a large banner reading “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Climate Chaos!” and a placard reading “Royal Nuclear Family? No Thanks!”, drawing attention to the fact that Prince Andrew, the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, was hosting a gala lunch at the Palace for the nuclear industry, presumably to plot how best to promote their toxic greenwash agenda at home and abroad. [see note 1]

The action was called by a new UK-based network, Nuclear People Power, which aims to promote nonviolent direct action and visible campaigning to prevent the construction of a new generation of nuclear reactors in the UK and globally. Joining the protest were representatives from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop Hinkley / Shut Oldbury, Shut Down Sizewell and a woman from the Bradwell area. Among the sites earmarked for new nuclear build are Hinkley Point in Somerset, Oldbury in Gloucestershire, Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex, as well as Sellafield in Cumbria, Wylfa in north Wales and Dungeness in Kent.

Daniel Viesnik, from Nuclear People Power said, “Nuclear power is a huge and dangerous distraction from the genuine solutions needed to prevent a global climate catastrophe whilst providing for the future energy requirements of the UK and the world in a safe, sustainable and affordable way. Instead of wasting billions of pounds building new nuclear white elephants, generating ever increasing quantities of extremely hazardous radioactive waste that we can’t safely deal with and increasing the risk of global proliferation of nuclear weapons; energy companies and governments alike, the British Government included, should massively invest in genuine green alternatives, such as wind, solar and wave, decentralised energy and energy efficiency and conservation.”

He added, “The royal family would do well to distance itself from the nuclear industry, with its long history of cover-ups, cronyism and self-interest, and lack of regard for health, safety, indigenous rights and the environment.”

Mell Harrison, from CND Eastern Region, Shut Down Sizewell and Nuclear People Power said, "What's needed is not lunch at the palace with a prince but accountability, transparency and the truth about nuclear power and the nuclear industry. Why, for example, isn’t the public being told that waste from new [EPR] reactors will be up to seven times more hazardous than that produced by existing ones? [see notes 2 & 3]. We still don't know how to deal with the current nuclear waste, let alone even more hazardous material."

She went on, “I live near the Sizewell nuclear power plant in Suffolk, where two new reactors are being considered. With significant costal erosion on this stretch of the coastline and already over ten years’ worth of spent nuclear fuel rods in storage at the site, any new nuclear reactors here would be nothing less than a health and safety nightmare. Nuclear power is not the answer to climate chaos: it is the pathway to a radioactive future."

She added, “Given Prince Charles’s concern for environmental issues, it would be interesting to hear the conversations between him and his younger brother [Prince Andrew] on this.”

The Observer newspaper reported that Prince Charles has recently appointed Benet Northcote as his deputy personal secretary. Northcote was previously employed by Greenpeace, where he directed campaigns against nuclear power. [see note 1]

EDF Energy, the 85% French state-owned energy giant which employs Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s younger brother Andrew Brown as its UK media chief, plans to build at least four controversial new French-designed EPR nuclear reactors in the UK, starting with two at Hinkley Point in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk. The EPR, or European Pressurised Reactor / Evolutionary Power Reactor is a collaboration between 90% French state-owned multi-national Areva and German firm Siemens. It has been plagued by safety problems, multi-billion pound / euro cost overruns and delays running into years during the construction of the first two prototypes, at Olkiluoto in Finland and Flamanville in Normandy, France. To date, not a single EPR has been completed anywhere on the planet, yet the technology is being aggressively peddled by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to Britain and the rest of the world.

Jim Duffy, Stop Hinkley co-ordinator said, "People living near nuclear power stations have a nagging concern that they run a higher health risk from radioactive discharges or from a major accident. It's galling to see the royal family promoting this dirty industry which will blight West Somerset and leave a toxic legacy for many thousands of years."

"Prince Andrew has made a misjudgement in promoting nuclear power, now linking the Royal family with a controversial industry. Local communities are divided on the issue with many concerned about the long-term environmental and health consequences of reviving this previously moribund technology. It's poor judgement for the Royals to side with the industry in this debate."

Dozens of police officers, including a Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) unit were on hand to greet the small group of protesters as they arrived at Green Park tube station, despite the fact that the demonstration had only been advertised by e-mail. Four out of the six demonstrators had their person and belongings searched under the pretext that they might be intending to commit criminal damage, in scenes reminiscent of last summer’s Climate Camp, near Kingsnorth coal power station in Kent. Nothing of suspicion was found, other than a small pair of scissors which had been used to prepare flyers for the demonstration.

Duffy commented, "We were closely shepherded by obviously nervous police, led by a Chief Inspector, who were waiting for us in numbers. Their searches of several campaigners evidently showed that their fear of terrorism is very much alive. But then building terrorist targets in the shape of nuclear power stations must surely be a much bigger fear."

Nuclear People Power

Notes:

1. Andrew courts nuclear meltdown at the Palace – Oliver Marre, The Observer, Sunday, 11 January 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2009/jan/11/3

2. Planned nuclear reactors will produce seven times more hazardous waste - Greenpeace UK Press Release - Monday, 2 February 2009
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press-releases/planned-nuclear-reactors-will-produce-seven-times-more-hazardous-waste-20090202

3. New nuclear plants will produce far more radiation – Geoffrey Lean, Independent on Sunday, 8 February 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/new-nuclear-plants-will-produce-far-more-radiation-1604051.html