Tens of thousands protest most radioactive transport ever

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Saturday, November 6 against a shipment of nuclear waste travelling to a storage site in northern Germany, and some tried to block railway tracks in a protest fueled by a government move to extend the country's use of atomic energy, reports David Rising of the Canadian Press. Demonstrators turned fields outside the town of Dannenberg into a sea of yellow-and-red flags with the slogan "Nuclear Power — No, Thanks." Protesters estimated a final crowd of more than 40,000 peaceful demonstrators. The shipment of highly radioactive waste from the French reprocessing site in Normandy, traveled first by truck and then train across France and into Germany. Al Jazeera English also provides a report.

More photos from Bundestag protest

Courtesy of Campact:

2,000 German activists form human chain around parliament during vote to extend reactor licenses

The German Bundestag (parliament) voted on Thursday to extend the lifespan of the country's 17 nuclear power plants, overturning a decision made 10 years ago by the then ruling Social Democrat-Green Party. The decision has infuriated the opposition as well as hundreds of thousands of activists who have already taken to the streets on several occasions in huge numbers to protest relicensing. As the decision was made, 2,000 protesters formed a human chain around the Bundestag. The Social Democrats and Greens have decried the decision and promise to reverse it should they regain leadership of the country. They also object to the government's apparent by-passing of the lower house, or Bundesrat, where Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats do not enjoy a majority. During the protest against the vote, Greenpeace climbers scaled the roof of the CDU party headquarters and unfurled a banner showing Merkel celebrating with a leader of one of the major nuclear companies.

7 Great Lakes States U.S. Senators object to radioactive waste shipment from Canada to Sweden

Seven U.S. Senators from Great Lakes States -- Russell Feingold (D-WI), Robert Casey Jr. (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Durbin (D-IL, Assistant Senate Majority Leader), and Charles Schumer (D-NY) -- have written to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Canadian federal government, expressing serious concerns about a proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators from Bruce Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario to Sweden for "recycling" into consumer products. The shipment, on board a single ship, would violate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) limits for the quantity of radioactivity aboard a single vessel. The shipment would travel via Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and connecting rivers (St. Clair, Detroit, the Welland canal, and St. Lawrence), and then across the Atlantic Ocean (see route map). Shockingly, Bruce Power's CEO, Duncan Hawthorne, has stated that there is no emergency plan for dealing with the sinking of the ship, stating there would be plenty of time to determine what to do once the ship sank. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as well as the US DOT PHMSA, must approve permits for the shipment before it can commence. PHMSA has recently been the subject of severe criticism for oil pipeline leak and natural gas pipeline explosion disasters, as well as for the close ties between its leadership and companies involved in these disasters. Beyond Nuclear, along with a coalition of environmental groups, has called upon PHMSA to conduct a full environmental analysis on the proposed shipment, in order to fulfill its National Environmental Policy Act federal legal obligations, before permitting the shipment to enter U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes -- 20% of the world's surface fresh water, drinking supply for 40 million in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American/First Nations, and regional engine for one of the biggest economies on the planet.

Germany's Social Democrats pushing for national referendum on nuclear energy

Germany’s opposition Social Democratic party, in an effort to block the Merkel coalition government's nuclear reactor license renewal policy, is pushing for a national referendum on the future of the country's nuclear power program. A referendum cannot occur until the country’s constitution is amended, as referenda are currently illegal. The move follows a massive demonstration on September 18 in Berlin that saw 100,000 people take to the streets protesting the license renewal of the country's 17 nuclear plants which have been granted 12-year license extensions. In contrast, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the U.S., routinely hands out 20-year license extensions for this country's dangerous and aging reactors.