photo by Paul Rifkin
from Cape Cod Today
by Paul Rifkin
Plymouth Nuclear is picketed again by Cape Downwinders
Cape Downwinders co-founder Diane Turco and nine others (Arlene Williamson of Mashpee, Sarah Thacher of East Dennis, Janet Azarovitz of Falmouth, Debbie McCullough of Truro, Joyce Johnson of Falmouth, Bill Maurer of Falmouth, Femke Rosenbaum of Wellfleet, Doug Long of Orleans and Margaret Rice Moir of Brewster) were arrested on the afternoon of May 19 while attempting to deliver a letter to the owner of the Entergy nuclear facility in South Plymouth.
All were released on their own recognizance.
Plymouth Police Capt. John Rogers said Sunday’s arrests were the first outside the plant since March when over 100 people protested.
At some point the owner might see the wisdom of accepting the letter and avoiding the bad publicity.
This is the third time local protestors have been arrested trying to hand the facility’s owners a letter.
A 360 degree Rainbow filled the sky Sunday afternoon as more than 100 demonstrators gathered at the Elliot Lane/Route 3-A entrance to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth to protest that facility which is on Cape Cod Bay five miles north of the Sagamore Bridge.
The event was organized by Cape Downwinders.
State Senator Dan Wolf spoke eloquently about the dangers we face as Cape Codders and the need for all concerned citizens to join the activists and pressure our elected officials to shut down this accident waiting to happen.
Poet, novelist and social activist, Wellfleet resident Marge Piercy read a poem she wrote about the Pilgrim monstrosity and Fukushima Native Chikako Nishiyama and her translator Chiho Kaneko told of the horrendous days surrounding the Fukushima meltdown two years ago.
Bard Insurgent Tom Neilson and Lynn Waldron entertained the gathering with many wonderful songs.
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Press Release from Cape Downwinders
PLYMOUTH, MA – A “Rally at the Reactor” took place at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station last Sunday with featured speakers Senator Dan Wolf, poet Marge Piercy and Fukushima native, Chikako Nishiyama, who shared stories of the nuclear tragedy that devastated her home town in Japan. The large crowd was entertained with music provided by bard insurgent Tom Neilson and Lynn Waldron.
Cape Downwinders, who organized the rally, delivered a strong message to Entergy (the corporate owner of the Pilgrim facility) which stated they will no longer tolerate Pilgrim’s negligence in endangering the health and safety of the surrounding communities.
The 41 year old nuclear facility has exceeded its life span and the risk of a nuclear accident increases every day Pilgrim’s GE Mark l Boiling Water Reactor continues to operate. The reactor at Pilgrim is the exact same design as the three reactors that exploded in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011. The relicensing of the Pilgrim Facility took place last year to extend its life for an additional 20 years even though it was strongly opposed by Governor Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley, Congressmen Bill Keating and Ed Markey, State Senator Dan Wolf as well as the National Park Service of Cape Cod. Gregory Jaczko the NRC chairman at the time of the relicensing voted not to relicense this flawed reactor because of what he learned from the Fukushima catastrophe. He later resigned from the NRC and today has gone on record stating “Continuing to put Band-Aid on Band-Aid is not going to fix the problem.”
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is showing its age by having one problem after another in recent months. They have included various valve leaks, equipment malfunctions, underground pipes leaking tritium and in the early hours yesterday the turbine auxiliary oil pumps failed resulting in a fire.
Senator Dan Wolf spoke to the crowd and stated ” When this plant was licensed in the early 70’s what it was licensed as was an energy station—it was licensed as an energy station for forty years. The legacy that we’re going to be leaving our children is a 60-year-old nuclear waste dump. The deal was never that we would keep all the spent fuel here.”
The rally ended with 10 activists being arrested for trespassing while they attempted to deliver their message to an Entergy representative. Joyce Johnson of Falmouth, William Maurer of Falmouth, Janet Azarovitz of Falmouth, Arlene Williamson of Mashpee, Sarah Thacher of Dennis, Margaret Rice-Moir of Brewster, Diane Turco of Harwich, Doug Long of Orleans, Femke Rosenbaum of Wellfleet and Debbie McCullough of Truro, were arraigned in Plymouth District Court today. They will appear in the Plymouth District Court for a pretrial hearing on July 19, 2013.