On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster – and six weeks after the devastating nuclear disaster in Japan – nine Nobel Peace Laureates are calling upon world leaders to invest in safer forms of renewable energy. The six women Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, and Jose Ramos Horta   have sent an open letter to 31 heads of state whose countries are currently heavily invested in nuclear power production, or are considering investing in nuclear power. http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/media-room/article/no-to-nuclear-power

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Vermont legislators from Windham County will hold a press conference on Tuesday April 26 at 1pm in the Cedar Creek Room of the Statehouse in Montpelier. Details will be released of a bill drafted by Rep. Dick Marek of Newfane. in response to Louisiana Entergy’s obvious intention to keep VY running past the expiration rate of it’s licenses- and absent a Certificate of Public Good and approval from the Vermont legislature. The gist of the bill will assert that VY is acting illegally to continue operations. As with all illegal activity,revenue derived from illegal activity is subject to capture by the state. Any business supporting illegal operations,such as supplies, are also subject to such financial sanctions.

NIRS posted links to Chernobyl Memorial vigils, events and demonstrations occuring around April 26th in Phoenix AZ, Menlo Park, Concord & Santa Monica CA, Denver CO, Chicago IL, Boise ID, Homestead FL, Atlanta GA, Newport KY, Monroe MI, St. Louis MO, New York NY, Hanover NH, Tomsriver NJ, Albuquerque NM, Brattleboro & Vernon VT, Las Vegas to Nevada National Security Site NV, Perth & Northbridge Australia, Toronto Canada, Paris France. http://www.nirs.org/action.htm#nh
Chernobyl Day.org posted links to 503 international actions in France, South Africa, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovnia, Canada, S.Korea, Spain, U.S., Finland, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Rep., Romania, UK, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine http://www.chernobyl-day.org/spip.php?page=affichage-actions&lang=fr

On Friday afternoon April 22 2011 Eleven women from Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire chained and locked the main gate of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power reactor before police led by local Chief Mary Beth Hebert arrested the women and charged them with trespass. The demonstrators carried two banners reading “No More Leaks / No More Lies / Shut It Down Now” and “No More Accidents / Shut it Down Now.” They also stretched yellow caution tape across the Entergy driveway. Read the rest of this entry »

Chernobyl and Fukushima Memorial Vigil

Tuesday, April 26th, 4:30 – 5:30 PM

Market Square in Portsmouth, NH.

Please bring an appropriate sign, though some will also be available.  Sponsored by Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, NH Sierra Club and Seacoast Peace Response.

Tuesday April 26th Chernobyl Memorial Vigil in Brattleboro Vermont, 9am-1pm
Wells Fountain on Main St.in downtown Brattleboro, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster, which sent plumes of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere, led to nearly a million.deaths and left a 25 kilometer area uninhabitable. Details at: http://www.safeandgreencampaign.org/content/nuclear-free-walk-chernobyl-memorial-vigil

Sunday April 24th: Final Day-Indian Point to Vermont Yankee Walk:W.Brattleboro to Vernon
Please join us for this walk, which began on April 10th at the Indian Point,NY, nuclear reactors (also owned by Entergy) and was initiated by Japanese Buddhist nun, sister Jun Yasuda of the Grafton (NY) Peace Pagoda. Those interested in joining the walk  (either for the last 9 miles – West Brattleboro to Vermont Yankee, or for the last 6 miles from the Marlboro Graduate Center to Vermont Yankee, should register at  safeandgreencampaign@gmail.com The complete details are at: http://www.safeandgreencampaign.org/content/nuclear-free-walk-chernobyl-memorial-vigil

Friday, April 22: Earth Day:Facing our Present and Future with Poetry and Song
Unitarian Universalist Society 220 Main St Northampton MA 7-10pm

Participating poets/writers/musicians: Molly Scott, John Berkowitz, Lori Desrosiers, Stan Pollack, Alyssa Lovell, Annie Hassett, Erica Wheeler, Jonathan Stevens, DM Gordon, Don Ogden, Jim Culleny,and Paul Richmond,

Amherst officials are calling for the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and decontaminating the Vernon, Vt., site by next March. Acting on a citizens resolution submitted by Thomas Lindeman of Spencer Drive and Richard Stein of Berkshire Terrace, the Select Board Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of joining 51 other communities that are formally opposing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 20-year license extension of the plant.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_theme=dhgb&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_docid=136C0AAE1A9461E0&p_text_direct-0=document_id=%28%20136C0AAE1A9461E0%20%29&p_product=DHGB

Germany’s utility companies want “swift and complete” abolishment of nuclear power in the wake of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima reactors, says their umbrella organization. The technology should be phased out by 2020 or at the latest by 2023, the German Association of Energy and Water Industries, BDEW, said on April 8th following a board meeting. Up until today the organization had been fully behind nuclear energy, but the events in Japan caused the dramatic U-turn.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42498245/ns/world_news-europe/

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