Welcome to our fifth Stop New Nuclear newsletter. With little more than two weeks to go, we need to make a last effort to mobilise even more people to the blockade of Hinkley Point on 3 October. More than 100 people have pledged to blockade, and 150 to support – can we reach the total of 300 pledgers within the next two weeks? Or even 400? Please help us to spread the information, and ask your friends, family, colleagues, … to pledge.
Since our last newsletter, we were able to welcome CND Cymru as a new member of the Stop New Nuclear alliance, and we also received more organisational pledges, among them Cumbria and Lancashire CND, No Need for Nuclear, Stop Oldbury, and the French Sortir du Nucleaire. This broad support is important, as it shows the strength of our resistance against new nuclear power stations in Britain.
News about Hinkley Point
We have been told that West Somerset Council and Electricite de France (EDF) have now reached an agreement about the money to be paid by EDF (section 106 agreement),and this agreement will probably go through the Council’s planning committee on 29 September. Once that happened, EDF will have a green light to start with the preliminary works for Hinkley Point C, even though it has not even applied to the Infrastructure Planning Commission for the reactors themselves.
However, EDF is already late with the removal of asbestos from the site, which has been left over from the construction of Hinkley Point A. According to the planning conditions, work should have been completed by 31 August, but it is still continuing, and EDF is now applying for an extension until February 2012. Although EDF is in breach of the conditions attached to its planning permission, County Council planners have decided not to take any action. The Council is concerned,however, that if the work continues into the winter months it could disturb migratory birds which fly along the coast past Hinkley Point (see Stop Hinkley press release, 14 September 2011).
The Environment Agency is presently consulting on two environmental permit applications in relation to Hinkley Point C: make disposals and discharges of radioactive wastes operate combustion processes (standby generators).
Objections to both applications need to be in by 6 October 2011.
More information is available on the website of the Environment Agency at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/132474.aspx.
The Marcoule nuclear plant in the south of France on Monday 12 September which killed one worker and injured four others, highlighted again the dangers of nuclear power. The plant, which is partly run by a subsidiary of EDF, stores large quantities of radioactive waste and produces mixed oxide (MOX) reactor fuel containing plutonium. There are also a number of decommissioned reactors from the early years of the French nuclear programme.
Stop Hinkley responded with the following statement:
“The accident in France is a sobering reminder of what can go wrong when a country commits itself so heavily to nuclear power, including all the problems associated with handling radioactive waste. Yet we are now proposing to import French technology to Hinkley Point and store waste there for 100 years or more. After Fukushima in Japan this accident serves as yet another tragic reminder of the dangers of nuclear power and the urgent need for the UK government to follow the lead taken by Germany in phasing it out.” (see http://stophinkley.org/Health/ExplosionSept2011.htm)
Training
Several Stop New Nuclear trainings for the blockade of Hinkley Point took place in recent weeks – in Bristol, Swansea, Glastonbury, Bridgwater, Compton Dundon, and today in London. Two more trainings will take place:
Exeter, Sunday, 25 September
A non-violence training for people from Exeter interested in participating in the Stop New Nuclear blockade of Hinkley Point on 3 October will take place on Sunday, 25 September 2011 from 1pm to 5.00pm.
Place: University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Amory Building, Room 105
Contact: exeter [at] stopnewnuclear.org.uk
Leeds, Sunday, 25 September
A non-violence training for people from Yorkshire interested in
participating in the Stop New Nuclear blockade of Hinkley Point on 3 October will take place on Sunday, 25 September 2011 from 2.00pm to 6.00pm.
Place: Leeds Metropolitan University – City Campus, LS1 3HE, Caleverley Building, Room CL 309
Contact: Yorkshire CND, phone 01274 730 795, Email dominic [at] yorkshirecnd.org.uk
We will not able to organise more trainings in the two weeks before the blockade, but for everyone who still wants to participate in a training, there will be several training sessions in the camp on the weekend before the blockade:
Saturday, 1 October, 7.30-10.30pm
Sunday, 2 October, 8.00-11.00am and 2.00-5.00pm
Legal observer/legal support workshop Sunday 3.00-5.00pm
Please register if you want to take part in any of these workshops at training [at]stopnewnuclear.org.uk, especially if you do not want to stay in the camp. You can also register by calling our info number 0845-2872381.
Register for the Stop New Nuclear camp!
We already have more than 45 people registered for the Stop New Nuclear camp, which is about 4 miles from Hinkley Point. The camp will be a space to prepare for the action (non-violence training and legal observer training workshops will take place in the camp on Saturday evening and Sunday during the day), but also a place to meet other activists, to share experience, and to make plans for the future.
Please note that the camp will be alcohol and drug free, and that dogs are not allowed, as there are sheep nearby.
It is important that you register for the camp, so that we can plan food, but also so that we can send you the exact location and directions how to get to the camp. Your can register on our website at http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/register.
Demonstration in Bridgwater, 1 October
Our weekend of actions will kick off with a demonstration in Bridgwater on 1 October. We will have several speakers, music, and possibly other performances.
Assembly is from 1pm on at Kings Square in Bridgwater, next to the EDF offices. From there we will walk about 20-30 minutes through Bridgwater and end the demonstration with a rally at Cornhill.
After the demonstration, a shuttle service will be organised to the Stop New Nuclear camp. There is also a local bus, and we will end in time for people to catch the local bus.
A map marking the assembly point and the location of the rally is
available at http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/node/48.
Transport and parking
On 3 October, we will organise transport from the camp to the blockade, and back to the camp. But we will need your help! Let us know if you have spare seats in your car, or if you are willing to drive a car/minibus. We still need drivers! Please contact us urgently on campaign [at] stopnewnuclear.org.uk.
Transport is also being organised from Glastonbury (a coach will be leaving at 9am,to arrive at 10am), Bristol, and possibly from other places. Please check out our transport section at http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/transport, and use our travel forum to ask for and offer transport.
Parking will be available about 200-300m from the main gate on Wicks Moor Drove, the main and only access road to Hinkley Point. However, this parking is not suitable for coaches. Coaches will need to drop off their passengers and park elsewhere.
We need your help
We need a lot of help to make the campaign a success. We need:
Drivers (30 September – 4 October, transport to and from the camp, to and from the blockade, and from police stations).
1st aiders (for the camp and the blockade)
marquees of any size – from 10-100 persons
Please contact us at campaign [at] stopnewnuclear.org.uk if you can help, or have any questions.
Mobilise!
Two weeks to go. Two weeks to make this campaign and the blockade a success. Please help us mobilise for the campaign. If you need fliers (see http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/node/10), please let us know, and we will send you some as long as stock lasts. And talk to your friends, neighbours, colleagues and anyone you can think of to join you at the blockade. We need to send a strong message to EDF and government that we will resist nuclear new built in Britain, not only at Hinkley, but everywhere.
Donate
Stop New Nuclear is being organised on a shoe string budget, and we need your donations to make the blockade a success. We need to hire minibuses and other transport for the blockade, we need to set up infrastructure for trainings and workshops in the camp, we need to print more fliers, and and and. Unfortunately, all this costs money.
According to our present calculations, we will be about £1,300 short! Please help us to close this funding shortfall urgently.
Please give generously. You can donate online at
http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/donate, or you can send a cheque made payable to StopNew Nuclear to:
Stop New Nuclear
c/o 5 Caledonian Road
London N1 9DX
Thank you!
Stop New Nuclear
Stop New Nuclear is a campaign to stop new nuclear power stations and is an alliance of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop Nuclear Power Network UK, Kick Nuclear, South West Against Nuclear, Shutdown Sizewell, Sizewell Blockaders, Trident Ploughshares, and Stop Hinkley
Email: campaign@stopnewnuclear.org.uk
Web: http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk