8 arrested occupying Entergy's New Orleans HQ

In a day of solidarity with Vermont, eight New England activists were arrested occupying the New Orleans HQ of Entergy which owns Vermont Yankee. The State of Vermont had authorized an on-schedule shutdown of the 40-year old plant when its original operating license expired on March 21, 2012. Entergy was given a license extenstion by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue operating the plant and also took the State of Vermont to federal court, winning the right to continue running the plant. The eight members of the Safe and Green Energy Alliance posted crime scene tape and held banners after entering the Louisiana-based corporation's headquarters. They were all arrested. Watch for updates, but it appears likely they will face 24 hours of jail time before arraignment. Read the press release with full details here. The Commons reported on this story. The New England Natural Guard affinity group (including Beyond Nuclear's Reactor Oversight Project Director Paul Gunter, and intern Kendra Ulrich) has posted a flyer, and managed to snap a group photo deep in the heart of Entergy Nuclear corporate headquarters as they awaited their arrest, followed by mug shots such as this one of Kendra Ulrich.

Over 1,000 march on Entergy offices in Brattleboro, VT; more than 136 arrested in non-violent civil disobedience

 Associated Press story, which ran regionally and beyond.

The Recorder story, reporting nearly 30 affinity groups crossed the line at Entergy Vermont Yankee HQ, with over 130 arrests for non-violent civil disobedience -- including Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, part of the Citizens Awareness Network affinity group (see a photo of a cuffed Kevin, bringing up the rear of the CAN affinity group, preceded by Chris Williams and Jeanette Bair, about to be loaded into the Paddy wagon by Windham County Sheriff's deputies for the ride to the Brattleboro City Police Station, where they would spend the next 7 hours before being released). Beyond Nuclear board member Judith Kaufman was also at the day-long rally.

The Commons did a good, detailed write up, describing the waves of affinity groups crossing the line, and the cooperation between police forces and protest organizers and arrested non-violent civil disobedience activists that kept the day -- "One of the largest anti-nuclear protests in the area since the 1980s" -- orderly and incident-free.

Photos from today's march against nuclear madness in Vermont

Frances Crowe, 93 and long-time anti-nuclear protester was arrested today in Vermont along with at least 136 others. More than 1,000 marched against nuclear madness, from the Brattleboro Commons, three miles to Entergy Vermont Yankee HQ. The reactor is located the opposite direction, about 6.5 miles south of Brattleboro. The line of marchers stretched the better part of a mile long. More pictures here. Photos posted at Shutdown Vermont Yankee -- As Scheduled Facebook Page here. James Ennis has posted hundreds of photos from the rally, march, and nonviolent civil disobedience action at Flickr.

Events still going throughout March and April

The latest and updated March Against Nuclear Madness calendar.

Coaltion petitions NRC to close New York's dangerous FitzPatrick nuke

On March, 9, 2012, Beyond Nuclear and the Syracuse, New York-based Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) filed an emergency enforcement petition with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission calling for the closure of the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant. FitzPatrick is a Fukushima-design GE Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor located on the shores of Lake Ontario in Scriba, New York. Listen to WBAI (New York) commemorative coverage and FitzPatrick story here.

The coalition is calling for the suspension of FitzPatrick operations based on the discovery that the operator refused to voluntarily install a "hardened vent system" on their unreliable Mark I containment as recommended by the NRC in 1989.  The NRC took no action to enforce the installation and instead approved FitzPatrick's pre-existing vent system orginally used to purge containment at low pressure so that workers could enter to perform maintence and inspections. FitzPatrick is uniquely the only Mark I unit of 23 in the US that did not install the "Direct Torus Vent System" or hardened vent. In the event of a severe accident at FitzPatrick today, the operator (Entergy) will vent extremely high pressure, radioactivity and explosive hydrogen gas into a building adjacent to the reactor building and expects that catastrophe will be avoided by blowing open the room's double doors to the outside environment.

Entergy's plan to vent a severe accident to save containment relies upon an assumption that there are "no likely ignition points" along the vent path that would detonate the hydrogen explosion seen over and over again at Fukushima.  The groups are calling for a hearing to challenge such assumptions in the Post-Fukushima reality.