Wednesday, November 17, 2010

STSSA Friends & Family International Issues 11/17/2010

from the Eagle Watch #89

Fascism at Work in Ontario
November 13, 2010

Port Hope, Ontario is the toilet for Canadian nuclear waste.  Since the days of the Manhattan Project, radioactive nuclear waste has been piling up there.  (See endnotes for more info) Many residents are literally sick and tired of it.  They want their government to do something about it but the government denies the danger.  

Last year the supposedly independent Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission CNSC gave AECL a license to move some of the nuclear waste to a nearby lagoon.  To concerned and cautious people, this looks like it would just spread the radioactive dust around the area and do little to clean up Port Hope.

Dr. Helen Caldicott was scheduled to speak in Port Hope this coming Tuesday evening.  An article in the Toronto Star last week led to a furor over her visit.  Dr. Caldicott had stated the only solution is for people to move away from the ill fated city on Lake Ontario near Toronto.  Many other residents want to hush up the concerns and are in denial just like Canadian government and nuclear industry big shots.

As a result, the hotel where Caldicott and friends planned to stay, canceled their reservations.  Likewise the St. Mark's church canceled her event in their parrish hall.  Supporters had to scramble to find a new location in Oshawa.

In a joint statement, two local environmental groups (Families Against Radiation Exposure and Friends of the Port Hope Clean-up) said:  “We were pleased when the wardens of St. Mark’s agreed to host the event in their Parrish Hall.  It told us they were champions of free speech and vigorous public debate.  We regret that they have come to this decision.”

This incredible move to suppress and censor criticism of nuclear industry's handling of radioactive wastes reveals two things.  One it shows how the growing opposition to the nuclear industry is having an effect.  First they ignore you, then they laugh at you and then they get real mad at you.  It has reached this final stage.

The other thing is the tactic of censorship used.  It smacks of industry run fascism.  That's nothing new to many of us who already realize we are living in a police state.  Government only represents corporate interests, the epitome of the definition of fascism.

What's next?  Just watch and see. 

Over 100 people have bought tickets to hear Dr. Caldicott speak in Oshawa at Octavien’s Banquet Hall at the Best Western Convention Centre, 559 Bloor St. West, Tuesday November 16 at 7:30 pm.  For more information you can contact:

phone 905-885-1572
Sanford Haskill  sanann@sympatico.ca   905 885 8743
John Miller semiller@sympatico.ca  905 885 5553  905 396 3639 (cell)

Kittoh
<kittoh@storm.ca>

We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, both Indigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and an assortment of English language media.


Excerpt from "A Calamity Threatens Your Happiness" by J. "Kittoh" Stanley

Port Hope
Port Hope is a small city with a deep harbour on Lake Ontario, about an hour west of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and east of Toronto.  According to the Nuclear Map, the following facilities are located at Port Hope: a uranium refinery, fuel fabrication and uranium hexafluoride manufacturing, radioactive waste and extensive soil/water contamination.  It's all owned by Cameco so they can process most of the uranium from northern Saskatchewan. They own 1/3 of Bruce Power Generation.  They claim to supply 20% of the world's demand for uranium. 23

Canada thinks it owns one third of the world's uranium. Since the corporation of Canada doesn't own the land, this is not true.  The Indigenous "own" the land and therefore the uranium.  We are defenders of the land remembering the generations to come. It is our duty to keep the uranium in the ground as part of Mother Earth's body where it belongs.  

Most of the milled ore or yellowcake is transported by trucks from the ore processing facilities near the mines in northern Saskatchewan to Port Hope.  It passes through Saskatoon and then along the TransCanada Hwy through Regina, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay.  Some comes through the Cameco refinery at Blind River, Ontario as UO3. The Port Hope uranium refinery chemically transforms yellowcake into other uranium compounds such as dioxide (UO2) for reactor fuel or hexafluoride (UF6)for enrichment. HEX is the only known uranium compound that turns easily into a gas.  That is why it is needed to enrich the uranium. If they want more, they can get it from the UK.  

The CANDU reactor fuel is made from pellets of uranium dioxide which are put into thin metallic rods welded together to form fuel bundles.  The new bundles are only slightly radioactive while the spent bundles coming out of the reactor are highly radioactive.  All these processes create radioactive waste which is stored nearby.  The tailings stored at Port Hope are sand-like residues left over from uranium milling.  They constitute a perpetual radioactive hazard.  

"Approximately 3.5 million cubic metres of radioactive and heavy metal waste remain within the boundaries of the Municipality of Port Hope at numerous sites, awaiting proper long-term storage...To date, however, there has been no funding available to the community of Port Hope for comprehensive independent health studies despite the $260,000,000 to be spent by the Federal Government to manage this low level waste and develop long term storage options." 24

Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee (PHCHCC) stated in a press release, 
"At a November 19, 2007 town council meeting in Port Hope, Ontario, Dr. Jack Cornett, Director of Radiation Protection, Health Canada, suppressed findings of an independent study revealing human uranium contamination in the town. Dr. Cornett, according to local press, is Canada's "top radiation scientist". He told the town they had nothing to worry about as the study's findings showing contamination are "typical of ... Canadians". 25

"Faye More, Chair of the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee, a volunteer local organization, said, "The position of Health Canada stated by Dr Cornett is inaccurate and irresponsible. Instead of investigating Port Hope's contamination, Health Canada is trying to dismiss the important findings by saying everyone in Canada has these radioactive materials in their bodies. Once again, we see Health Canada's unwillingness to deal with our realities and fully investigate possible health impacts of 75 years of exposure to nuclear contaminants in Port Hope," More says.

"A week earlier, the Health Concerns Committee announced the outcomes of Uranium Medical Research Centre's (UMRC) Port Hope study showing nuclear contamination in the bodies of former Port Hope nuclear industry workers and residents. UMRC is a Toronto and Washington DC based independent clinical research group headed by Dr. Asaf Durakovic MD, PhD, FACP.

"The study of 11 samples included two controls and 9 representative samples of residents and former workers, showed radioactive contaminants and anomalies in 100% of the Port Hope samples, including a child under age 14. The findings identified nuclear reactor waste, depleted uranium, and enriched uranium 234. It found former workers eliminating radioactive industrial heavy metal toxins in their urine as late as 23 years after retirement. 

"In a surprising response to the study, Dr. Jack Cornett, Health Canada, told the Port Hope town council and local press the findings are not significant. He said that if all residents in Port Hope were tested or if all Canadians were tested they would have the same radioactive materials in their bodies.

"Tedd Weyman, Deputy Director, UMRC said Health Canada's staff have misunderstood the basic physics in the findings made public two weeks ago. "Health Canada attempts to attribute the contamination to current daily intake of naturally occurring uranium in water. The lab data shows a very different picture," says Weyman. "They show chronic internal contamination from inhaling airborne radioactive toxins. What we found is not naturally occurring; the contaminants are manmade, commercial nuclear materials, referred to as "dirty uranium"." 26

In October, 2009, the CNSC approved and licensed the removal and long-term managed storage of approximately 1.2-million cubic metres of  low level radioactive waste from Port Hope. Much of the waste is currently stored at a number of locations around Port Hope, many of which are leaking into nearby homes and schools. 

CNSC claims with the cleanup, all the waste will be consolidated in an engineered mound west of Baulch Rd. and south of Hwy. 401, to then be managed for hundreds of years. 27 More likely, it will get blown around during trucking and spread around even more than it is now.

Further west along the lakeshore, the Darlington and Pickering CANDU nuclear reactors provide a significant part of Ontario's electricity.  They store over 11million tons of radioactive waste. They also emit huge quantities of the deadly tritium into Lake Ontario.  There too, residents experience health problems such as birth defects, environmental sensitivities and high rates of cancer.  Their complaints are similarly denied and hushed up.  While Ontario is actually using less electricity, OPG Ontario Power Generation wants to build 2 new reactors at Darlington and refurbish the ones at Pickering.  Moody's of Wall St. estimated the two new reactors at Darlington would cost $26 billion. 27a There are 7 or 8 CANDU reactors operating at the Bruce Power Plant in the Bruce Peninsula.  They want to build two more there though they still don't know what to do with all the waste they are producing.  They never seem to learn.

Toronto's 3 1/2 million people are not far away but mostly quite oblivious to all this danger.  There's a nuclear research reactor at the University of Toronto, one at McMaster University in Hamilton as well as several other universities across Canada.   Nuclear weapons parts have been made at Northrop Grumman, formerly Litton in Mississauga.  Food irradiation takes place in a plant in Markham.

There are massive quantities of radioactive tailings at Bancroft (6.2million tons), Blind River and Elliot Lake (145.3million tons), all in Ontario.  There is over 11 million kilograms of high level radioactive waste at Bruce Nuclear Complex, north of Toronto and it's growing.
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from the Eagle Watch #90

Hu Was in Paris while Protesters in France and Germany Oppose Nuclear Waste Transportation

November 14, 2010

On November 5, 2010 a highly radioactive shipment left Valogne, France by rail traveling to Gorleben, Germany for storage.  Areva had processed the German nuke waste into special containers called CASTOR.  Tens of thousands of protesters in France and Germany were out all along the route, demonstrating against the transportation of radioactive nuclear waste through their communities.  In France, some people chained themselves to the railtracks to stop the trains while others in Germany blocked roads with tractors and large crowds.

Meanwhile, Chinese president Hu Jintao was in Paris.  The Chinese are signing deals with French government-run Areva as well as Total, Airbus and Alcatel-Lucent worth billions of dollars or euros as well as a number of state to state agreements.

While the protests unfold with ample coverage in the French media, Jintao can watch "democracy" in action as he did in Toronto last June during the G20 Summit.  French president Nicolas Sarkozy can point out how the French authorities have the French people under control.  Plenty of "security forces" are on hand just in case.  The delivery of the nuke waste is perfectly timed with nuclear issues being a big part of the French-Sino talks.

According to a report posted online, 
"...seven militants from GANVA (Group of Anti-nuclear Non-Violent Actions) were attached in arm tubes under the rails to stop the "train from hell" in Caen(Normandy). 

"... the train remained stationary for 3 and a half hours. The philosophy of this action was peaceful and non-violent and not having to physically confront the police.  It was the responsibility of the "gendarmes" and police to remove everyone safely!

"Instead, facing pressure from their superiors, the police lost their cool and injured three people by cutting the tubes. Even after the first person was injured, they continued in the same brutal manner.  One of them had two severed tendons in his hand and had to undergo surgery, the other two were burned and must undergo a skin graft. Both directly burned were placed in custody and could not consult a doctor again until much later the next day. The militant who had two severed tendons was directly led into custody under police escort when leaving the hospital. In the end, six activists were kept in custody for 24 hours and seven are subject to bail before the case with 16 500 € to pay before November 15.

"If they don't pay they will be incarcerated until their trial, to be held on 8 December 2pm at the Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI) in Caen.  Network "Sortir du nucléaire" , calls for financial solidarity and massive support for the GANVA activists in Caen on 8 December."

During the Chinese visit, Nick and Jintao had a cozy dinner together with their wives. Nick served Jintao some Rothschild wine vintage 1942, the year of Jintao's birth and 1949, the year that the People’s Republic of China was formed during Mao Zetung's bloody purges of tens of millions of Chinese people.  Mao made Stalin and Hitler look like schoolyard bullies.  Nick and Jintao smiled and talked about a global currency and French military trade with China.

Areva signed an industrial agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to co-operate in used fuel treatment and recycling.  China and France plan to build a plant that would convert weapon-usable nuclear material into mixed-oxide fuel to power atomic energy facilities.

Areva and CNNC launched a 50/50 joint venture named CAST -- CNNC Areva Shanghai Tubing -- that will produce and market zirconium tubes for the fabrication of fuel assemblies. Located in Shanghai, the plant will start operations at the end of 2012.

In a contract worth around $3.5 billion, Areva promised China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) uranium for the new reactors they are building in Taishan, China.  Where will Areva get the 20,000 tons of uranium over 10 years?  

The Big Backdrop to French Nuclear Promises 
That would be all of the uranium in Niger where resistance to the mining pillage and plunder carried on by Areva is active.  The French military is involved.  Details are scant especially right now while little is heard about the 7 Areva employees taken hostage in mid September.  

Less than 24 hours after we sent an inquiry to Bloomberg on November 11, an article appeared on google.  Apparently the hostages are still being held.  Medication was given to one of them who has cancer.  The hostage takers remain intransigent and unspecific in their demands.  At least that is all we know from the media at present.

Maybe the French will just hand the mine over to the Chinese and say, "here's a deal you can't refuse.  You do the security for the mine and we'll provide the guns".  The Chinese are very shrewd and always drive a hard bargain.

According to UPI,
"The French became involved in the shooting war with al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb AQIM in July when it deployed Special Forces troops with Mauritania's military in an attack on a jihadist camp in the Sahara Desert in a botched attempt to rescue a 78-year-old French hostage seized in April."

The man was beheaded.

"The French are seeking to contact the kidnappers through local go-betweens, probably Tuareg tribesmen who have worked with the jihadists in the past.

"Paris has also sent a military detachment to Niamey, Niger's capital, more troops to nearby Burkina Faso and at least two aircraft to hunt for the captives, who are believed to be held in neighboring Mali...

"If the French, for all their war talk, end up buying the Areva captives' freedom, Algeria, and possibly other regional states, will be incensed.

"That could reverberate heavily against Sarkozy's administration, which is seeking to reverse years of neglect by Paris of its former African colonies to ensure access to their mineral wealth, such as Niger's uranium, vital to France's growing nuclear industry."

With so much trouble in Niger, where will the French colonialists get all the uranium they promise to their customers?  While Niger is about the 3rd largest global producer,  Kazakhstan is #1.  Canada is #2.  Areva "owns" mines in northern Saskatchewan and wants to dig a new uranium mine in Nunavut.   Other big producers are Australia, Congo and Mongolia.  There is also uranium in the USA and in Afghanistan.

Sarkozy wants every opportunity to show Jintao how much France has this nuclear business under control.  China along with India are actually going ahead with plans to build dozens of new nuclear reactors.  It's big business for Areva but also big headaches.  Especially with growing awareness about nuclear waste, the costs are huge.  Add to that, endless delays in reactor construction such as in Finland with cost over runs into the billions.  Somehow, nuclear activity always courts disaster but these guys just never seem to get it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has her Dirty Hands Full
When the nuke trains got into Germany, they were met by serious protesters who blocked the tracks.  Riot police then moved in with batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd and allow the trains to go ahead.  When the trains got to Dannenberg, their toxic load was transferred to trucks.  They were met by more protesters.  The final destination was Gorleben which many consider not a suitable place for the highly radioactive waste which will be dangerous for thousands of years to come.

The protests and police violence led to a short clip in Canadian network TV evening news Sunday but little explanation as to what it was about.  Canadians who are dismayed there isn't much action here may be interested to know that in Germany and France these shipments have been going on for some time.  The anxiety of people is getting worse.  Only recently the Merkel regime legislated a 12-year extension for the nuke reactors running in Germany.  This may have provoked mass reaction.  Most Germans oppose nuclear energy.

The German police were strapped to their limits with over 16,000 on duty for the protests all along the route of the 123 tons of highly toxic radioactive materials.  Some media report the police costs at over $70million US.

In an article from Orange Uganda, 
"A police spokesman said officers had clashed with around 150 protesters trying to remove the ballast from under the track near Dannenberg.

“Some of them threw stones and firecrackers at officers, who had to respond with batons and pepperspray,” but the situation was now calm, the spokesman added.

"Protest group Castor Schottern said two demonstrators were seriously injured in clashes with police on Sunday. Twenty-nine had head cuts, three people had concussion and there were 16 broken fingers, it said.

"The group said its supporters had suffered around 1,000 injuries in all, mainly to the eyes as police deployed pepper spray and tear gas.
"

Whatever happened to the "clean, green nuclear renaissance"?  It's gotten very complicated with even the UN Development Program involved.  Nukers must now feel under attack on all sides.  OOPS!!  They might also be making some nuclear weapons to drop on somebody somewhere.  This is utter insanity!

Kittoh
<kittoh@storm.ca>

We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, both Indigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and an assortment of English language media.

Notes and Sources:
The Network "Sortir du nucléaire" calls supporters and all citizens to support the Ganva. Financial assistance is urgent. The trial will take place on 8 December in Caen.
Information, online donation:
http://groupes.sortirdunucleaire.org/blogs/train-d-enfer-transport-la-hague/article/action-de-blocage-du-ganva-a-caen
Our resistance knows no boundaries!
Notre résistance ne connait pas de frontière !
Unser Widerstand kennt keine Staatsgrenzen!
contact@sortirdunucleaire.frganva@riseup.net

China-France Deals
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-11/06/c_13594218.htm
http://www.china-defense-mashup.com/?p=8240
http://financial-magazine.net/international-buisiness/16-billion-agreements-france-china-airbus-areva-total-alcatel-lucent/
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20101105_4143.php
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-04/airbus-areva-total-gain-in-22-7-billion-china-contract-haul.html
http://us.arevablog.com/2010/11/04/china-expands-partnership-with-areva-for-nuclear-infrastructure/

News of Anti Nuke Protests Around the World
http://www.orange.ug/news/?p=128344
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Activists-Halt-Progress-of-Train-Carrying-Nuclear-Waste-106847513.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6198103,00.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6194531,00.html
http://nuclear-news.net/2010/11/06/areva-illegally-storing-radioactive-nuclear-waste/
http://irishenergynews.com/home/index.php/2010/11/09/anti-nuclear-protests-in-germany/ 
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/chernobyl-on-wheels-grinds-to-halt-in-france-20101106-17i6t.html

Niger Hostages
http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/international/5178.html
http://uranium-news.com/2010/11/11/arevas-poor-environmental-record-in-niger-uranium-mines/
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-16/no-demands-for-french-workers-kidnapped-in-niger-ministry-says.html
http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/niger-ex-rebels-handled-french-expats--security-ex-minister_97253.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/09/201091692347959876.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/10/05/Algeria-upset-by-French-push-on-al-Qaida/UPI-65291286300338/
Special Reports
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/15/niger-mining1

Other 
Congo and Areva in uranium exploration talks
http://af.reuters.com/article/drcNews/idAFLDE68M20J20100923

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf110.html
According to the World Nuclear Association WNA, "Canada produced 10,617 tonnes of U3O8 in 2008, and in 2009 production was 11,997 tonnes U3O8 (10,173 tU) – 20% of world total" while Niger's production in 2009 was 3243 tU or about 7.5%.
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Missing ALERT - CA - Bay Arab Mare, in Truckee (Nevada County), California, July 23, 20
http://www.facebook.com/l/326c1UTPllle3LD9wHbddPreseg;NetPosse.com Missing ALERT - CA - Bay Arab Mare, in Truckee (Nevada County), California, July 23, 2010
Horse and Rider had trail accident. Owner found by Search & Rescue 18 hours later. NO SIGN OF MIMOSA ... later owner was told mare was found, but to date, she has no other information on Mimosa's whereabouts!
equine name: Mimosa, breed: Arabian, Gender: Mare, color: Bay, weight: 850 lbs, height: 14.2 Hands , age: 20 years, markings: star, 4 socks, skills: trail, english and western pleasure
Brand of Cloverleaf on Right Hip
YOU CAN HELP: Circulate this alert and info to your friends and ask them to do the same, post on twitter, facebook, craigslist.
ALWAYS INCLUDE THE LINK back to the NetPosse page so people can have details and read updates later.
Go to the link to read full details and to print the flyer to post in your area for the owner.
http://www.facebook.com/l/326c1BvxB2Nl-hnzlwh1bWdG-7A;www.netposse.com/stolenmissing/MimosaCAmissingJul2010.html
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NetPosse.com Missing Horse in CA: Bay Arab Mare, Mimosa, in Truckee (Nevada County), California, July 23, 2010
 
NetPosse.com - Mimosa - Missing in CA - July 2010Horse and Rider had trail accident. Owner found by Search & Rescue 18 hours later. NO SIGN OF MIMOSA ... later owner was told mare was found, but to date, she has no other information on Mimosa's whereabouts!

equine name: Mimosa
breed: Arabian
Gender: Mare
color: Bay
weight: 850 lbs
height: 14.2 Hands 
age: 20 years
markings: star, 4 socks
skills: trail, english and western pleasure


Brand of Cloverleaf on Right Hip

YOU CAN HELP: Circulate this alert and info to your friends and ask them to do the same, post on twitter, facebook, craigslist.

ALWAYS INCLUDE THE LINK back to the NetPosse page so people can have details and read updates later.

Go to the link below to read full details and to print the flyer to post in your area for the owner.

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from the Eagle Watch #91

This media release provides important and disturbing information regarding the radioactivity in the steam generators that Bruce Power wants to ship to Sweden for recycling of the metal.

We know that the contact people named below work very hard to oppose nuclear carelessness and to provide the People with information.  However, we know also that "something is ALREADY TERRIBLY wrong with the system".

Less than 100 people/groups took the time to send submissions to CNSC for the hearing held in September.  According to CNSC documentation, only 3 Indigenous groups responded with 2 of them "satisfied the shipment is safe".

There needs to be a much louder outcry against this madness which could end in disaster.  Nuclear materials should not be transported all over the place.  No more nuclear reactors should be built.  The entire nuclear industry should shut down, decommission and dismantle its components.  Plain and simple.

Kittoh
<kittoh@storm.ca>

Media Release
November 15 2010 For Immediate Release

Steam Generators:  Radioactive Cargo is Mostly Plutonium

Several prominent non-governmental organizations are accusing Bruce
Power (BP) of misleading the public, the media and decision-makers about
the kind of contamination inside the cargo of 16 radioactive steam generators
it plans to ship to Sweden, by neglecting to state that it is mainly plutonium.
BP has applied to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a
licence to transport the radioactive cargo through the Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence Seaway en route to Sweden. CNSC staff has acknowledged that the
proposed shipment exceeds by at least 6 times the maximum amount of
radioactivity normally allowed on a single vessel.

BP has trivialized the danger of this proposed shipment by referring to the
cargo as “low level radioactivity.” But according to BP’s own figures, about
90 percent of the mass of radioactive material inside the steam generators is
plutonium -- a highly toxic, long-lived radioactive poison. On its web site,
Studsvik  the Swedish company that plans to melt down most of the
radioactive metal and sell it as scrap for use in any number of commercial
products  calls the innards of the steam generators “highy radioactive”

“Each steam generator contains five plutonium isotopes with an admixture of
at least eighteen other man-made radioactive materials. To imply that this
radiotoxic cocktail poses only a low-level of risk is misleading” said Dr.
Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. “It is
extraordinarily dangerous stuff, and will remain toxic for thousands of years.”

The plutonium inside the steam generators gives off very little highly
penetrating radiation, and therefore cannot be detected from the outside. But
it gives off alpha radiation, which is 20 times more biologically damaging than
beta or gamma radiation per unit of energy when deposited in living tissue.
Any accidental spill will pose a serious long-lived contamination problem.

“Simple arithmetic shows that the amount of plutonium-239 inside the 16 steam
generators is enough, in principle, to give more than 52 million atomic workers
their maximum permissible ‘body burden’ of 0.7 micrograms,” said Dr. Marvin
Resnikoff of Radioactive Waste Management Associates in Vermont.

“And if the other plutonium isotopes inside the steam generator (plutonium-
238, plutonium-240, plutonium-241 and plutonium-242) are factored in, the
number of workers that could be overdosed is doubled,” added Dr. Edwards.
BP’s planned shipment of 1600 tonnes of radioactive waste through the Great
Lakes and St. Lawrence has been met with concerted opposition from over
100 municipalities and aboriginal communities along the route, as well as from
more than 70 NGOs. In response to this public outcry, CNSC held a public
hearing in September with 79 intervenors. The outpouring of concern at that
hearing led CNSC to extend the comment period for intervenors to give added
input until November 22 -- an unexpected and unprecedented development.

Most of the intervenors want Bruce Power to cancel the shipment and return
to the original plan as laid down in a 2006 Environmental Assessment : to
store the steam generators on site indefinitely as radioactive waste along with
all the other radioactive waste materials produced by the Bruce reactors.

“Radioactive waste should be isolated from the human environment, not
transported halfway around the world, and certainly not dispersed into
consumer products,” said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear.

But if BP insists on pushing forward with its proposal, intervenors feel
strongly that there must be an environmental assessment of the entire project,
including not only the initial transport to Sweden but the recycling of the
radioactive metal and the return back to Canada of up to 90 percent of the
original waste.

“The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River constitute a priceless natural
resource, providing drinking water for 40 million people, and supporting a
multibillion dollar fishery. If that does not trigger an environ-mental
assessment, then something is wrong with the system,” said Kay Cumbow of
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination in Michigan.

Contacts:
Dr. Gordon Edwards, (514) 489 2665 [home] (514) 839 7214 [cell] ccnr@web.ca
President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Montreal.
Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, (802) 732 8008 [work]radwaste@rwma.com
Radioactive Waste Management Associates (Bellows Falls, Vermont),
Kevin Kamps, (240) 462-3216 [cell] kevin@beyondnuclear.org
Beyond Nuclear (Takoma Park, Maryland)
Kay Cumbow, (810) 346 4513 kcumbow@greatlakes.net
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (Michigan),
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Please join with thousands of people from around the country and the world this week-end, Nov. 20-21, protesting the "School of the Assassins" housed at Ft. Benning, Georgia. For decades, the US has trained military forces from Central and South American nations in counter-insurgency tactics which include methods of torture, denial of human rights and civilian repression.

Members of the International Action Center have participated in these demonstrations at Ft. Benning from the beginning of the struggle to close the school down. The IAC will have a table (#30) with progressive books and other materials during Saturday and Sunday's events. Please stop by tables 29-31 to greet other Atlanta peace and justice organizations.

In addition, there is a very important protest on Friday, Nov. 19, 10am to demand the closure of the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., about 45 minutes from Columbus. This privately-owned and operated prison houses close to 2000 immigrant detainees in deplorable conditions.

See the calendar for more details.

A reminder that the Task Force for the Homeless is in need of cash donations to pay a large Georgia Power bill and blankets, sleeping bags and bottled water to provide basic necessities for the hundreds of homeless people who visit the shelter daily. Items can be dropped off at 477 Peachtree St (at Pine).

Calendar:

Thursday, Nov. 18 (multiple events)

7-10pm, Open Mic, Task Force for the Homeless, 477 Peachtree St (at Pine). Students from the Atlanta University Center perform spoken word, dance and musical pieces in the art gallery space. All are invited. FREE but donations will be collected to benefit the Task Force.

7pm, film, "Plunder: The Crime of Our Time," documentary examines the criminal practices that precipitated the financial crisis, Unitarian-Universalist Congregation, 1911 Cliff Valley Way NE. To access church parking lot, take access road off I-85N between N. Druid Hills and Clairmont. $3 donation. Refreshments available. Discussion to follow. Sponsored by Peace Network.

7-11:55pm, benefit concert for SOAWatch, Eyedrum Gallery, 290 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Suite 8. Dr. (corner of MLK and Hill St.). Donation requested. 7pm - concert; 9pm - dance party. For list of performers, go to http://www.facebook.com/l/e9f96COVeGj1Od18_a3ZWs61T6A;www.eyedrum.org This annual event features the musicians and singers who make the SOA protest a cultural treasure for the movement.

Friday, Nov. 19 (multiple events)

10am, protest at Stewart Detention Center, Lumpkin, Ga. Assemble in Town Square; march to the Detention Center, operated by a private, for-profit company, holding close to 2000 men waiting for deportation. Sponsored by Georgia Detention Watch, Alterna, School of the Americas Watch, International Action Center and others.

7pm, film, "Gentleman's Agreement," classic 1947 film that depicts anti-semitism in US society, 1st Existentialist Church, 470 Candler Park Dr (off McLendon). Sliding scale donation of $1-10. Film begins at 7:30pm. Discussion to follow.

Saturday, Nov. 20-Sunday, Nov.21

Annual protest, Ft. Benning, Columbus, Ga. to close the School of the Americas(WHINSEC) which trains Latin American troops in counter-insurgency tactics and other measures used against the civilian populations. For a full schedule of workshops and detailed information, go to http://www.facebook.com/l/e9f960DpW0vnJkg0_PO0yB6lMlA;www.soaw.org Sponsored by SOAWatch.

Saturday, 11:30am-4pm; rally at the gates of Ft. Benning with speakers from a broad range of organizations including unions, faith-based, student, community and immigrant. Victims of torture and imprisonment and relatives of those massacred by SOA-traiined soldiers are featured. Music of all genres, literature tables, food and beverages. Performance by puppet parade

The International Action Center will have a table at space #30 with progressive books for sale. Please come by and check it out.

Sunday, 8am-2pm. The solemn procession to the gates of Ft. Benning as the names of those killed by SOA-trained troops are intoned. Civil disobediance actions take place.

Saturday, Nov. 20 (multiple events)

1-3pm, "She's So Dope," roundtable discussion celebrating the lives of Black women, New Schools at Carver, University and Hank Aaron Dr. Sponsored by the New Afrikan Women's Caucus of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

6pm, benefit, "Sovereignity Is Our Relief," Silver's Delight Caribbean Restaurant, 2879 East Point St, Atlanta 30344. Food, music, poetry to raise consciousness and funds for Haiti's grassroots organizations.

6:30-9:30pm, vigil, International Transgender Day of Remembrance "Justice and Equality for All," Georgia State Capitol, Washington St. side. All those victimized by bigotry and intolerance will be commemorated and the call for action will be renewed.

8pm, program, "Sistahs Supporting Sistahs," Cloud XI, 177 Peters St. 30313. An evening of art, culture and activism featuring an all-women's line-up of artists. Show begins at 8:30pm. $10 or $7 with pass from "She's So Dope" roundtable. Sponsored by New Afrikan Women's Caucus of Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

Sunday, Nov. 21 (multiple events)

3-5pm, film, "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North," uncovers the role of a prominent Northern family in the slave trade, Atlanta-Fulton Downtown Library, 1 Margaret Mitchell Square. FREE. Sponsored by Sankofaspirit.

7:30pm, film, "A Union Man," recounts the life of Julius Margolies, a legendary labor activist in NYC for almost 70 years who in 1998 began singing with George Mann on picket lines and concert halls. PushPush Theater, 121 New St., Decatur 30030. Geeorge Mann will lead a discussion of the film and sing. Suggested donation from $5-10. Sponsored by Georgia for Democracy Film Club.

8pm, benefit, "Our Dreams Cannot Be Recruited: Performances Inspired by Resistance," WonderRoot Community Art Center, 982 Memorial Dr. $5 donation to benefit Student Career Alternatives Program (SCAP) offering high school youth non-military options.
-- 
"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane. 
When evil people call you evil, you know that you are a good person. 
When lairs call you a liar, you know that you are truthful. 
Know who you are and don't let others tell you who you are." - Dave Kitchen

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