Coalition Against Nukes Occupies, Rallies & Briefs

CAN Organizes Biggest AntiNuclear Activities In Years

The Coalition Against Nuclear Power (CAN) wants to immediately decommission the nation’s 23 Mark 1 reactors, which are the same variety that melted down at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011. It wants to then work on a complete phaseout of nuclear energy. CAN sponsored a series of events in the Washington, D.C., area, September 20-22, including the Capitol Hill rally, the Congressional briefing, a fundraiser at Busboys and Poets, a ceremony at the Museum of the American Indian, a rally at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a film screening, and a strategy session.

Group members met with legislators on Thursday and held a rally at the Capitol.  Congressman Dennis Kucinich hosted a Congressional briefing, Thursday, September 20, 2012, on medical effects of radiation exposure, and health threats presented by United States nuclear power plants, nuclear fleet, and the on-going tragedy in Fukushima, Japan. The briefing is part of a series of anti-nuclear events including an Occupy the Nuclear Regulatory Commission demonstration and Fukushima evacuees' presentations.

Mutliple activities were held on Friday: An "Occupy the NRC" rally was held outside the NRC headquarters; a sacred Native American ceremony in front of the Museum of the American Indian for the desecration of Native lands by radiation contamination; C.A.N. fundraiser with music and speakers at Busboys and Poets; and a night of films and discussion at the Letelier Theatre in Georgetown.

On Saturday, there was a meeting of concerned citizens with the new NRC Chair, Allison Macfarlane and NRC Commissioner Bill Magwood.

Speakers slated for the three-day event include: Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein, Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds.com, Friends of the Earth President Emeritus Brent Blackwelder, Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear, Dr. Margaret Flowers - Congressional Fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program, Greenpeace’s Nuclear Policy Analyst Jim Riccio, Harvey Wasserman of NukeFree.org, Fukushima natives and evacuees from Japan.

The event this weekend is endorsed by over 70 anti-nuclear, environmental and citizen’s organizations, including the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and Occupy Wall Street, Rally for a Nuclear-Free Future and the Congressional briefing by experts on nuclear energy sponsored by Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s office. (The Hill, 9/21/2012, The Examiner, 9/17/2012)