Anti-nuclear activists claim double record at Hinkley Point demo

11 March 2012

On the first anniver­sary of the Fukushi­ma dis­as­ter, anti-nuclear cam­paign­ers claimed two records in two days. The mass protest at Hink­ley Point nuclear pow­er sta­tion on Sat­ur­day attract­ed more than 1,000 peo­ple from all over the UK – the largest protests against a the con­struc­tion of a nuclear pow­er sta­tion in four decades.

11 March 2012

On the first anniver­sary of the Fukushi­ma dis­as­ter, anti-nuclear cam­paign­ers claimed two records in two days. The mass protest at Hink­ley Point nuclear pow­er sta­tion on Sat­ur­day attract­ed more than 1,000 peo­ple from all over the UK – the largest protests against a the con­struc­tion of a nuclear pow­er sta­tion in four decades.

And today (Sun­day) the Stop New Nuclear alliance suc­cess­ful­ly con­clud­ed the first ever 24-hour block­ade of a UK nuclear pow­er sta­tion. Nan­cy Birch, spokesper­son for the alliance said: “This is a major vic­to­ry for the anti-nuclear move­ment and a sign that the tide is turn­ing against the government’s nuclear renais­sance.”

On Sat­ur­day, lead­ing envi­ron­men­tal­ists Jonathon Por­ritt and Car­o­line Lucas MP joined over 1000 demon­stra­tors at Hink­ley Point to mark the first anniver­sary of Fukushi­ma and to call for a halt to the government’s bid to build eight new nuclear pow­er sta­tions. Pro­test­ers came from as far away as Ire­land, France and Tai­wan.

A mini tent city then emerged as over 100 peo­ple remained out­side the main gate at Hink­ley overnight — camp­ing on the tar­mac in makeshift tents. The block­ade for­mal­ly end­ed at 2pm today when Japan­ese bhud­dist monks per­formed a prayer for the vic­tims of the Tsuna­mi that pre­cip­i­tat­ed the Fukushi­ma dis­as­ter and to urge the UK gov­ern­ment to take a more enlight­ened view on ener­gy pro­vi­sion.

Nan­cy Birch added: “It is clear that the pub­lic is wak­ing up to the fact that we don’t need nuclear pow­er to keep the lights on. Ger­many is lead­ing the way in cre­at­ing a blue­print for a sus­tain­able ener­gy future that is nuclear-free, afford­able and doesn’t leave its cit­i­zens with the shad­ow of anoth­er Fukushi­ma hang­ing over their heads. The burn­ing ques­tion is, if Ger­many can do it, why can’t we?”

Mar­tyn Lowe, a vert­er­an anti-nuclear cam­paign­er said he had not seen such a large turnout since the mass protest against the con­struc­tion of the Tor­ness nuclear pow­er sta­tion in 1979.

He added, “The sim­ple fact it that that ‘new nuclear’ is dan­ger­ous, expen­sive and com­plete­ly unnec­es­sary.”

ENDS

For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Nan­cy Birch on: 07980 509986

Notes to the edi­tor:
Jonathon Por­ritt is launch­ing a new book which pro­vides a warts and all overview of nuclear giant EDF Energy’s influ­ence on White­hall and West­min­ster.