Protesters mark 30 years of nuclear resistance > Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Protesters mark 30 years of nuclear resistance

published Wednesday, July 07, 2010

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Protesters mark 30 years of nuclear resistance

By John Huotari | john.huotari@oakridger.com
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jul 05, 2010 @ 09:00 AM

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Roughly 200 people turned out at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday as part of a three-day ceremony marking 30 years of nuclear resistance, an organizer said.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which organizes regular anti-nuclear weapons events, including those outside Y-12, was asked to join the celebration by Nuclear Resister in Arizona and Nukewatch in Wisconsin, and the three groups collaborated in setting up the ceremony, OREPA member Mary Dennis Lentsch said.

Events on Saturday and Sunday included speakers and workshops, training in non-violence and a vigil at Y-12, Lentsch said.

Today, organizers have planned a small rally at Y-12 and a commissioning (or blessing). Civil disobedience is possible, Lentsch said. Civil disobedience at Y-12 typically involves protesters blocking a roadway near the plant's main entrance on Scarboro Road in Oak Ridge.

Lentsch said participants in this past weekend's 30th anniversary celebration included people from Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Iowa.

Y-12 enriched the uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime; it was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. The plant remains a key site in the nation's nuclear weapons complex.

John Huotari can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (865) 220-5533 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.