The Nuclear page 2005 - news archive

Since these soldiers were exposed to vaccines and depleted uranium (DU) only, this is strong evidence for researchers and scientists working on this issue, that DU is the definitive cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Vaccines are not known to cause cancer. One of the first published researchers on Gulf War Syndrome, who also served in 1991 in Iraq, Dr. Andras Korényi-Both, is in agreement with Barbara Goodno from the Department of Defense's Deployment Health Support Directorate, that in this war soldiers were not exposed to chemicals, pesticides, bioagents or other suspect causes this time to confuse the issue.

In addition to the combat casualties suffered during a tour of duty in Iraq last year, an N.C. National Guard brigade also had to medevac 13 men back to a U.S. hospital after volleyball games left them vulnerable to one of the Iraq war's most exotic hazards – an outbreak of skin ulcers that can grow for years.

The victims, all men from the same small unit, contracted cutaneous leishmaniasis, characterized by weeping sores that refuse to heal, said Lt. Col Tim Mauldin, the brigade's top medical officer.

The illness is nicknamed "Baghdad Boil." At the time the guardsmen contracted it last year, the only way to treat it was to fly them back to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for up to three weeks of intravenous treatments with a drug called Pentostam.

On 5th May this year the Block the Builders campaign staged it’s first action against the new developments at AWE Aldermaston, Britain’s atomic bomb factory. Last Friday, 9th December, two of those arrested, Matthew Bury and Martin Newell, appeared before District Judge English at Newbury Magistrates Court.

Today 10 anti-Trident activists were each fined a total of £300 for being the crew of a large model nuclear weapon submarine which blocked the street outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on March 10th.

Nuclear is the not the way ahead. Sir David King is wrong to state that it is a CO2 free source. While the reactors don't emit carbon dioxide, you need to look at the whole nuclear fuel cycle to assess its contribution to greenhouse gases, and in this it is responsible for large emissions.

A convoy of nuclear weapons passed between Botley and Oxford on the A34 at I.15 on Wednesday 9th November. Some of the convoy vehicles were photographed as they travelled North past the ‘Botley Interchange’ road sign by Irene Gill, a member of Oxford CND, the local Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament group. This follows a 23:1 vote of the full Oxford City Council on 3rd October in favour of writing a letter to the Ministry of Defence protesting that a nuclear convoy passed close to Oxford (on exactly the same route) on the morning of 20th July.

Today three people from the intentional international Vine and Fig Tree Planters Community were pleased to attend Newbury Magistrates Courts ‘convenience hearings of the Vine and Fig Tree Plantings’.

THE Prime Minister is insulting the electorate by repeating the usual misleading propaganda from the nuclear industry. Nuclear power is not safe and it is not carbon-neutral. The fuel, uranium, has to be mined abroad, shipped for thousands of miles, converted and enriched. When exhausted, it must be reprocessed and transported to a long-term storage facility.

Over 200 people attended a rally held on Broad St, Oxford this afternoon, against Trident replacement. Speakers addressing those gathered included Amanda Crawford (chair, Oxford Youth & Student CND), Rev. David Platt (co-chair Christian CND), Tony Richardson (president Oxford Trades Council), Nigel Day (Oxford CND) and Gawain Little (national CND council).

Just when you thought it could get no worse, Neo Labour goes nuclear. The whispering campaign around the push for nuclear power has been gaining momentum since last year. Until then Britain’s nuclear programme seemed to have been largely written off as the costly and dangerous failure it was. Nobody even knows how to safely decommission the power stations already built or store the radioactive waste already produced. Britain’s nuclear power programme was historically dogged with safety issues, radioactive contamination and, of course, massive overspend. And yet now we’re supposed to sit back and swallow the construction of a few more of these toxic dumps. How’re they going sell this to the British public?

Weir Group PLC is under fire again today, at the same time as it manoeuvres to avoid prosecution for paying £4.2 million in bribes to Saddam Hussein’s regime. This time the criticism comes from an unlikely place – defendants in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff’s Court. The five are charged with breach of the peace following a peaceful protest at Weir Group’s Headquarters in July, during the G8 Summit.

A weekend of activity against Rolls Royce in Derby started on Saturday, with a stall and protesters handing out leaflets to the general public with a surprisingly good reception from the Derby public. A lot were shocked to find that Rolls Royce’s Marine Division, on the Rainsway is actually illegal under international and British law as nuclear weapons can not distinguish between civilians and military populations due to the radiation being released, as it cannot be contained in space or time. Further the use of or the threat of use with weapons of mass destruction is a war crime under the Geneva Convention as well as other international laws

You will see from these pictures that the size of the operation was again, well out of proportion to the numbers in attendance. There were many police on duty to enforce the order, at the main gate, together with a number of company security officers. Just down the road, there were a further 20-30 serials, and a few cars. Back at 'D' Division HQ in Derby City, there was yet another car park full on standby. All this in case the 30 or so present at the gate, 'Kicked-off'. Those present where confined in a small 'cattle pen'. on the grass verge, near the main gate. For thier own safety you understand, there being the A5111 ring road nearby. Well, that's what Inspector King was explaining on Radio Derby. Yea right!

It would appear that Derbyshire police is going to use the usual tactic of over policing a peaceful event and hamper anyone who tries to have a lawful protest, despite the organisers liaising with the local police authority over the anti trident work being carried out at Rolls Royce. Derbyshire Police have applied and got a Section 14 order from the local council (who in my opinion could do with a protest against them) and in the latest news blast it would appear that they are limiting the protest to no more than 50 people which if my estimate is correct means there will be 500 police there on the day

Yorkshire CND hosted a Conference on Saturday October 1st to launch Keep Space for Peace Week 2005. Speakers included Bruce Gagnon, founder of The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Stacey Fritz, coordinator of No Nukes North Alaska.

The peace march and picnic at USAF/ ‘RAF’ Croughton, which now seems to have become an annual event, took place on Saturday 24 September. As anticipated, the number of participants was lower than before, only around 40-50, as so many had decided to take part in the London march called for the same day.

However, it was a highly enjoyable occasion with perfect early autumn weather, warm and sunny, though one or two people nearly lost their shoes while walking through the muddier sections of the bridleway round the base. We had a variety of music to accompany the proceedings including guitars, a saxophone, and the Sea Green Singers. There was excellent vegetarian food including homemade soup and cakes.

By 4.0am Kate Holcombe and Ludd McCloud had taken took over a 150ft tower at Padworth Berkshire. This is the communications tower for this distribution hub which supplies all the military airforce bases in the UK including US bases at Lakenheath where they keep nulcear weapons and Fairford US base flying to Iraq.
By 7am when they were first sighted they had established a base on a platform and had dropped one of their massive banners from the top of the tower. This read NUKES OUT. MOD police arrived with dogs, did they think dogs can fly ? Later a 35 ft banner was dropped reading US BASES OUT OF UK.

Two insurgents have scaled a communications mast at a military fuel storage and distribution hub at Padworth Common in Berkshire and are intending to disable the mast in an effort to disrupt and prevent fuel distribution to the UK’s nuclear weapons factory at Aldermaston and all United States military bases in the UK.

Today four peace activists were found not guilty of a breach of the peace at Faslane naval base.
...
On 22nd December last year the main gate of the nuclear weapons base was blockaded for two hours when the protesters lay down in the gateway and attached themselves to each other, using tubes and climbing clips.

This morning peace activists blockaded the nuclear weapon depot at Coulport on Loch Long, hampering day-shift worker traffic entering the base to a trickle and stopping it completely for almost an hour.

This morning peace activists blockaded the nuclear weapon depot at Coulport on Loch Long, hampering day-shift worker traffic entering the base to a trickle and stopping it completely for almost an hour.

At noon today three peace activists were arrested after the main entrance to the nuclear weapon base at Faslane was covered in anti-Trident messages.

Gerard Matthew thought he was lucky. He returned from his Iraq tour a year and a half ago alive and in one piece. But after the New York State National Guardsman got home, he learned that a bunkmate, Sgt. Ray Ramos, and a group of N.Y. Guard members from another unit had accepted an offer by the New York Daily News and reporter Juan Gonzalez to be tested for depleted uranium (DU) contamination, and had tested positive.

Matthew, 31, decided that since he’d spent much of his time in Iraq lugging around DU-damaged equipment, he’d better get tested too. It turned out he was the most contaminated of them all.

Matthew immediately urged his wife to get an ultrasound check of their unborn baby. They discovered the fetus had a condition common to those with radioactive exposure: atypical syndactyly. The right hand had only two digits.

MORE THAN 800 lanterns floated across the lake at Coate Water during the annual Lanterns on the Lake event. The event, organised by Swindon Ranger Services, was to commemorate World Peace Day, and those who died in the Hiroshima bomb.

Last weekend was the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - and what better way for the world to commemorate than by ignoring global treaties and building more weapons of mass destruction.

(Cambridge) As well as the Open Boat Day, also on the evening of Sunday August 7th, a lantern vigil to mark the 60th anniversary of the atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima took place. Between thirty and forty people turned up for the vigil, from all ages and backgrounds to place on the river their handmade candle lanterns. Some people also made paper Crane birds, which they either hung from the trees by the river, or floated downstream along with the lanterns. As always, this was a very elegantly poignant reminder of all those who perished in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, numbering in the hundreds of thousands - those also affected by the fallout notwithstanding.

On the 4th and 5th August 2005, the evenings before the 60th anniversary of the bombings of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we came, to plant vines and fig trees. We sought to enflesh the prophecy of Micah and are beginning to transform this place of research and testing of nuclear weapons, the ultimate tools of mass destruction, into an orchard where beauty and life flourish, providing shelter and nourishment for all.

"And they shall beat their swords in ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Instead, everyone shall sit underneath her vine and fig tree and none shall make them afraid." Micah 4:3 (Old Testament).

Outcome 9 arrests bailed to return to Newbury Court on 21 September with multiple charges of criminal damage. We maintain the fence was enhanced - you decide for yourselves, think fig dream vine.

As part of Saturday's event commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima, entitled Hiroshima: Never Again Birmingham Food Not Bombs decided to provide free food and facilitate a gathering of homeless people at the event. About 20 homeless people were served with free food along with other people attending the event. Two banners were displayed, the Food Not Bombs banner and one prepared the previous night which read 'Hiroshima 2 Fallujah: 60 years of U.S. state terror'.

On the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb, Oxford peace groups marked the day with a minute's silence followed by a number of speeches from, amongst others, Irene Brennan, Zaid Marhan and Katy Beinart. There is also a small exhibition of posters in the Westgate Library that will continue for a week or so.

The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, on August 6th, 1945, at a time when Japan was already suing for peace, was a massive leap in the horrors which human beings can inflict upon each other. Never before had so much damage been done to so many in so short a time. Never before had weapons continued to kill for many years after their use. Never before had weapons been used which would kill and maim future generations.

It is only by sheer good luck that a full-scale nuclear attack has never been launched since. The nearest we have come to nuclear war was the Cuban crisis in 1963, but that is not the only time that nuclear weapons have nearly been released.

The good fortune does not extend to the populations living near the several nuclear test sites in the world - the Pacific Islands, used by the French, the US Nevada desert, used by both the US and the UK, Lop Nor in China and the Russian test site in Kazakhstan. The radiation from the many nuclear tests has caused cancers and terrible birth defects. Nuclear weapons do not have to be used in war to have awful effects.

In the early hours of Friday 5th August, nine peace gardeners from Europe and Australia planted vines and fig trees at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, UK. After five minutes Ministry of Defence police arrived and arrested all nine of the planters within the base on suspicion of criminal damage.

Sixty years ago, on 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing 150,000 by the end of the year. Three days later, an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 people. The total number of the
Hibakusha (A-bomb victims) who had died by the end of 1995 was about 340,000. The devastation caused by these bombs was unprecedented in terms of the death, destruction and long-term radiation sickness. We believe that the use, or threat to use, such weapons of indiscriminate destruction
can never be justified.

The decision as to the replacement of Britain’s nuclear arsenal, Trident, is due to be taken this parliament. Trident consists of four submarines, each carrying 48 nuclear warheads. Each warhead has an explosive power of up
to 100 kilotons, 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

We call upon our elected representatives to take the lead in working towards a peaceful world, to fulfil British commitments under the Non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and to put the case against a new British nuclear weapons
system to parliament.

Oxford Youth & Student CND
Oxford CND
Abingdon Peace Group
Network of Oxford Women for Peace and Justice

The justification for both Polaris and Trident was that we faced in the Soviet Union a great, hostile bear bristling with nuclear claws. The missiles were put on submarines precisely because the ocean bed was the only place they could hide from Russian firepower. But those are calculations from a long-vanished era. The Soviet Union has disintegrated, its satellites are our allies in the European Union, and the west is now sinking large funds into helping Russia to defuse and dismantle the warheads that we once feared.

No other credible nuclear threat has stepped forward to replace the Soviet Union as a rationale for the British nuclear weapons system. To be sure, two or three other nations have emerged with a crude nuclear capability, but none of them has developed the capacity or the motivation to attack Britain.

More pictures finally retrieved from IMC Faslane laptop about the Big Blockade on 4th of July 2005 at Nuclear Base in Helensburgh. This set is from someone who participated in the g8bikeride.

Plus links to more photos from the blockade.

On Monday 4th of July, Scottish CND, Trident Ploughshares, the Faslane Peace Camp and friends celebrated one of their biggest success in the struggle against the Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction in Britain yet:
They closed down the Faslane Submarine Base near Helensburgh, north of Glasgow for a day - with hardly any arrests and a holiday for the workers.
On a sunny day, the victory of Non Violent Direct Action came at last for the campaigners.

On Monday, 4th of July, during the Big Blockade at Faslane Nuclear Submarine Base, the weather was quite hot, so some people spontaneoulsy decided to add some water based actions to the road blockades. The 2 kajaks invaded the waters of the base and were then dragged back to the beach by the water police (as far as I understood it, but I just inherited the pictures and was really tired that day!)

Highlights of the blockade of Faslane on the 4th July. A Highly talented Dutch news team bring reportage from an action in the build up to the G8 summit at Gleneagles. With a sambatista soundtrack.

In the most successful blockade of Faslane naval base to date, 2000 activists shut down the base by blockading all of the gates into the base from 7am to 5pm.

In a change of police tactics from recent mass blockades at the base, there was a policy not to arrest those who sat, laid or locked-on in the road. Base gates were shut all day and even the main A814 road running alongside the base was closed to traffic, giving an eerie quietness at times.

The blockade was planned to coincide with the G8 summit this week to highlight the links between poverty and war, militarism and destructive globalisation. The UK openly states that its nuclear weapons can be used to defend its economic interests.

Faslane, a Royal Navy submarine base on the Clyde, is the largest and deadliest military base in Scotland and home port for all four British Trident nuclear armed submarines. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate expression of militarism - only about 60 miles (90 km) away from Gleneagles.

Among those blockading Faslane is a broad spectrum of protestors, from Parliamentarians and Church leaders to anti-capitalists involved with the Dissent! network.

Updates :
12.55pm : All gates remain blockaded - people in high spirits. Clowns army has a presence there as well as many other groups. 10.30am : All gates remain blockaded
09.30am : Faslane is fully blocked - all entrance gates are blockaded with people locking-on. Numbers estimated at up to 2000. One person scaled the perimiter fence gaining entry to the base, and has been arrested.
09.00am : See Early report

People have been arriving all night. some problems with people travelling there on sunday due to bad public transport, and some reported problems with mainstream media buses using the car park where the activist shuttle buses where supposed to meet.

A lot of mainstream media attention: at least 10 satelite trucks, nearly all mainstream media focussing on one of the gates North Gate. Estimated: 30 buses of protestors.

Who's there: a division of the Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, Pink & Silver Samba Band, Geishas for Peace, politicians: Thommy Sheridan (MSP and former leader of the SSP; currently interviewed by a lot of main stream media) and MSP Mark Ballard.

Four people have been arrested during a blockade at the home of the UK's Trident nuclear submarine fleet on the west coast of Scotland. Organisers said 2,000 people were involved in the demonstration at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde. Police put the number at between 600 and 700.
...
CND vice-president Bruce Kent, who was at the protest, explained the reasoning behind the blockade. "What we're saying is that to spend money on these illegal and useless instruments is really ridiculous when you talk about poverty in the world," he said. "I'm sure that there are many people who would agree with what we're doing here today."
...
SSP MSP Tommy Sheridan was one of the first to sit down outside the north gate. He said "... These weapons are the most expensive scrap metal in the world because they won't be used. If they were used, the planet itself would be destroyed."

Hundreds of peaceful protesters have this morning blocked all the vehicle entrances to the British nuclear weapons base at Faslane on the Clyde. The activists are sitting or lying in the gateways and some are “locked-on” to each other with arms linked through plastic or metal tubes. Among those blockading are a group of parliamentarians, including Green MEP Caroline Lucas and Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan.

A group of people in kayaks managed to get close to the base before being stopped by some of the numerous police and army boats present in the fjord. This was one of the last actions of a day which saw a great diversity of protestors, few arrests and a carnival atmosphere.

With the G8 mass blockade of Faslane only days away, a protester who claimed that his arrest at a previous protest at the base was discriminatory has today won his appeal to the Scottish High Court, raising further questions about the policy of Strathclyde Police in responding to peaceful protest.

Anne Snelgrove (South Swindon) (Lab): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the nuclear option and timetable cannot be pursued unless a permanent intermediate-level waste store site has been found in his country? It is a pity that Opposition Members who are pursuing the nuclear option did not take the opportunity to sign off the papers for one before the 1997 general election.

Alan Johnson (Secretary of State for Trade and Industry): My hon. Friend makes an important point. The work that is going on and the time scale within which it is due to be completed are good reasons why we should not rush a decision. I agree that we need to find the answer to the problem not just for this generation, but for future generations. We cannot make a positive, final decision until those problems have been resolved.

A cross-party group of Parliamentarians have joined church groups in expressing their backing for the planned blockade of Faslane nuclear naval base, which is scheduled to take place two days before the start of the G8 Summit, on July 4th. The blockade is expected to be one of the biggest direct actions against militarism ever in the UK.

Some politicians, including MEP Caroline Lucas, have declared their intention to join with thousands of others to risk arrest to draw attention to the links between militarism and the G8’s destructive economic policies, and the connections between war and poverty.

A number of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) including Mark Ballard and Chris Balance (Green) and Tommy Sheridan, Carolyn Leckie, Rosie Kane and Colin Fox (SSP) will help blockade the base, and more are expected to add their names.

Five anti-nuclear activists will next week go on trial at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates Court accused of Criminal Damage to Northwood Military HQ. However, they have received personal messages of support from actress Susannah York and Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. The activists’ case will raise questions about the legality of Trident replacement, hot on the heels of statements from both former Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook and former Defence Secretary, Michael Portillo, in opposition to any new nuclear weapons system, raising the pressure on Tony Blair.

Since the attack on the twin towers, in which many innocent Americans were killed, we have been told that we are engaged in a war against terrorism that threatens our way of life and our liberties. From that moment on we have been asked to adopt a whole range of measures that pose what many believe could be a greater threat to those very liberties and to our way of life.
...
For example, under the arrangements that Britain has with the US that allow us access to their nuclear technology in the Trident programme, America has long insisted that it should have access to all our intelligence material. That means the ID database will be automatically available to it. Given the number of leaks that occur and the value of the database, the possibility that it could fall into the hands of others for their private commercial purposes cannot be ruled out - with all the opportunities for abuse that would make possible.

At lunchtime Thursday 16th June, People's Nuclear Weapons Inspectors entered the UK headquarters of Lockheed Martin, the largest arms manufacturer in the world.

While in the offices, located in 22 Carlisle Place close to London’s Victoria Station, the 6 Trident Ploughshares activists disrupted a meeting held in Lockheed Martin’s board room, chanting “You stop your trade in death”. The 7 male managers meeting there initially tried to secure the board room with the belt of one of them. They then decided to vacate the room leaving the Inspectors to occupy the room.

The Inspectors had received reliable information that not only was the Company making the missiles for the Trident missile system but is the lead partner in developing an upgrade or replacement of these weapons of mass destruction. The new development contract will cost UK taxpayers at least £5.3 billion. Both activities are contrary to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The possession of nuclear weapons with intention to use them has been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice.

Trident missiles are so devastating and indiscriminate in their effects that the likely political effects to the US and UK act as some restraint in their use. A new more accurate and less destructive system would still kill and maim millions – but would have a greater likelihood of use.

Secret plans to postpone solving Britain's nuclear waste crisis for up to 1,000 years are being drawn up by the nuclear industry, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

The government-owned British Nuclear Fuels is developing a scheme for indefinitely storing the intensely dangerous material in giant "millennium domes" around Britain, leaving it for generations far into the future to work out what to do with it.

Protest organisers have learned that Strathclyde police may close a number of public roads near to Scotland’s largest military base, in response to the anti-G8 demonstration at Faslane on July 4th. Police believe that the sheer weight of numbers may “necessitate” the closure of the roads immediately surrounding the nuclear submarine base.

Thousands of protesters are expected to converge on Faslane to physically blockade all of the gates to the high security base, home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon system. The blockade has been called in order to prevent work in the base, and simultaneously highlight the links between militarism and destructive globalisation, and the connections between poverty and war.

Thirteen activists entered Faslane naval base in Scotland last night where the UK's WMD's are held. Two scaled an additional fence inside the base to reach the high security area where Trident submarines berth.

The activists were arrested by Ministry of Defence Police and most have now been released, but two activists climbed trees where they held a banner that read "Faslane Peace Camp - 23 years of resistance", and were still there at past 7am this morning.

The activists from Faslane Peace Camp called for an end to the UK retaining Trident, and to the UK's part in international instability with its constant threat to use WMD's.

Tens of thousands of litres of highly radioactive liquid leaked unnoticed for up to nine months from a ruptured pipe in the controversial Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield in what the IoS can reveal was Britain's worst nuclear accident for 13 years.

The leak, detected last month, was the result of a catalogue of human and engineering errors which resulted in a pool of nuclear liquor, half the volume of an Olympic swimming pool, being accidentally discharged. The magnitude of the incident throws the future of the troubled reprocessing plant into doubt this weekend as copies of an internal investigation circulate among senior ministers and officials.

On Friday 20 May, anti-nuclear weapons campaigners successfully blockaded Albert Gate leading in to Devonport Dockyard. The blockade, organised by the Plymouth-based Trident Ploughshares, lasted for three hours. The action follows a week of high-visibility peace protest presence on Drake’s Island which concluded with a move to Devil’s Point on the Plymouth mainland, where a larger camp was established earlier in the week.

On Friday 13th May in a force 7 wind, a group of 12; including Trident Ploughshares pledgers with the invaluable assistance of Greenpeace sailors; landed on the jetty of Drake's Island and claimed squatters rights to this rocky territory which is directly opposite Plymouth Hoe.

Very quickly, despite the strong wind, walls were scaled and huge banners hung up from the top of the buildings which read Scrap Trident and Ban the Bomb. The Sound between the Island and the Hoe is the route for all the Naval Ships and Brittany Ferries let alone the little boats including the tourist trip to the Devonport docks. Therefore our banners were able to be read very easily. They have remained in place despite the serious wind and rain. Soon TV crews arrived trough the choppy seas, and we made it to the headlines in the evening news. Next day we found ourselves being front page stuff in the Western Morning News and the Plymouth Evening Herald.

This report of a weapons inspection was posted in English to the Direct Action Against War group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/directactionagainstw... and the original report in Spanish, with lots of photos, can be seen at http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/17...

On 13 May 12 anti-nuclear weapons protestors from the Plymouth Trident Ploughshares (Tamarians) along with supporters, squatted Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound. A peace camp has been set up and the island declared a nuclear free state. The protest highlights the UK’s breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is now being reviewed at an important at the UN in New York. The refit of the UK’s nuclear armed and nuclear powered Trident submarines in Devonport Dockyard plays a large part in Britan’s violation of this international treaty.

Today 12 anti-nuclear weapons protestors from the Plymouth Trident Ploughshares (Tamarians) along with supporters, occupied Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound.

A peace camp has been set up and the island declared a nuclear free state. The protest highlights the UK’s breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is now being reviewed at an important nuclear disarmament conference at the UN in New York. The refit of the UK’s nuclear armed and nuclear powered Trident submarines in Devonport Dockyard plays a large part in Britain’s violation of this international treaty.

Historic Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound was declared a nuclear free state by anti nuclear protesters today. The dozen members of the Trident Ploughshares group invaded the unoccupied 6.5 acre privately owned island – just a few hundred yards off the mainland – in two boats. The organisation is dedicated to non violent direct action for the disarming of the Trident nuclear weapons system. Plymouth’s Devonport Dockyard, further up the river Tamar, is the base for Trident submarine refits.

Twelve members of an anti-nuclear campaign group have set up a peace camp on a small island off Plymouth. The group, from Plymouth Trident Ploughshares, has declared Drake's Island a nuclear-free state.
...
One of the squatters, a woman named only as Al, speaking from the island on Friday said: "We have declared the island a nuclear free state in order to highlight Britain's hypocrisy over the non proliferation treaty talks being held in New York." She said the campaigners aimed to stay on the island as long as they could until someone evicted them. "We have squatters rights," she said, adding that a court would have to grant an order to remove them.

While the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference continues in New York, a peaceful blockade closed the main entrance of the AWE, blocking all access to the West Gate complex.
Only three lorries have got into the AWE this morning, and work for new weapons developments has been stopped by the blockade.

NOTE: updates and photos can be found at http://www.aldermaston.net/camp_news/

"We believe that these new developments will equip the UK to test, design and build new weapons which will violate the UK's commitments under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)", Block the Builders stated.

The main construction entrance into the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston has been blocked by members of the of the "Block the Builders" campaign this morning. While the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference continues in New York, a peaceful blockade has closed the main entrance of the AWE, blocking all access to the West Gate complex. Only three lorries have got into the AWE so far, and work for new weapons developments has been stopped by the blockade.

A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool, has forced the closure of Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant.

The highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, has leaked through a fractured pipe into a huge stainless steel chamber which is so radioactive that it is impossible to enter.

Recovering the liquids and fixing the pipes will take months and may require special robots to be built and sophisticated engineering techniques devised to repair the £2.1bn plant.

The leak is not a danger to the public but is likely to be a financial disaster for the taxpayer since income from the Thorp plant, calculated to be more than £1m a day, is supposed to pay for the cleanup of redundant nuclear facilities.

Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. 'Depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production. However, uranium is one of earth's heaviest elements and DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing through tanks, buildings and bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as it does so, and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US servicemen call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger encountered children killed at a greater distance he wrote: "The children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited." (Daily Mirror)

500 international activists were arrested by police today after a thousand gathered in Belgium to carry out a citizens nuclear weapons inspection.

A massive police presence greeted inspectors at NATO HQ in Brussels, SHAPE (NATO military HQ) in Mons and Kleine Brogel airbase where 20 US nuclear weapons are stored. There was also an unannounced inspection of a NATO satellite base in Gooik, which is involved in communication between these bases. Activists were present from the six NATO countries currently hosting the 480 nuclear weapons based in Europe: Italy, Germany, Belgium, UK, Turkey and the Netherlands. They were joined by activists from Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Spain, Portugal, Nigeria and France.

Brussels, Belgium — We all know that weapons of mass destruction are bad. Especially when "evil" people have them. But what about when they're right in your own back yard - does that make Belgium "evil"? Or Italy? Or the UK? Sick of this hypocrisy, armies of Bombspotters have descended on Belgium to conduct their own "citizen inspections". At least these weapons of mass destruction can easily be found, in no less than six European countries.

A few days before the general election, an international conference will confront one of the most pressing issues facing the planet. Its outcome will help determine the future security of states around the world, including Britain. It is a safe bet it won't get a mention during the election campaign.

The issue is nuclear weapons. On May 2, representatives of 189 countries will gather in New York to discuss how to stop them spreading further. The nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference comes at time when Iran is widely suspected of trying to acquire nuclear weapons, North Korea says it has nuclear weapons, western governments are warning about the threat of nuclear terrorism and the US administration is toying with the idea of building a new generation of "usable" mini-nukes.

"An Israeli court has charged Mordechai Vanunu with violating the terms of his release from jail last year. The charges relate to the former nuclear technician's interviews with foreign media and defying a travel ban. But he told Reuters news agency he would continue speaking to the press, despite the charges."

"Socialist MSP Rosie Kane was among 10 protesters arrested during an anti-nuclear demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament. She was one of 30 campaigners who set up camp inside a mock submarine at the foot of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh."

Early on Friday morning officers of Lothian and Borders Police dismantled a large model Trident nuclear weapon submarine which had blocked the street outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh for 14 hours as a challenge to the Parliament to take a stand against Britain’s weapons of mass destruction.

A spokesperson for the group said: "It was a very special moment when the police took the Trident submarine apart bit by bit. This was what we hoped would happen, that they would symbolically achieve what people all over the world are crying out for, the honest and open disarmament of Britain’s hideous arsenal of death."

"There are 17 people (including Member of Scottish Parliament Rosie Kane) locked-on inside a 25-foot model submarine blocking the road to the Holyrood Parliament in Edinburgh. They've been there since the morning and intend to stay there for a while yet. The cops have been standing by making no attempt to remove. SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie was earlier kicked out of First Minister's Questions for holding a sign in support of the demo."

"Yesterday evening campaigners opposing the development of new facilities at AWE Aldermaston were celebrating what they consider a small but significant victory. After representatives of Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp and the Nuclear Information Service presented their objections to two Notices of Proposed Development (NoPDs) [1] (which had been submitted to a West Berkshire District Council by the Ministry of Defence in December 2004), the Eastern Area Planning Committee appeared to concur with their request for the production of environmental impact information for the whole of AWE’s Site Development Strategy Plan (of which these two NoPDs are a small part)."

"Ministry of Defence officials are drawing up plans which will be presented to ministers in the next two years. A range of options is being considered but ministers are believed to favour developing new, smaller, more advanced submarines, possibly equipped with long-range cruise missiles to succeed the Trident missile system, chosen by the Thatcher government in 1980.
...
Analysts say Britain, along with the other four declared nuclear powers of America, France, China and Russia, is not abiding by 'the spirit or the letter' of the 35-year-old nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is up for review in May. 'The treaty depends on everyone moving towards nuclear disarmament. If you haven't got weapons you don't try and get them. If you have, you work towards giving them up,' said Nigel Chamberlain, of the British American Security Information Council. 'Upgrading nuclear weapons is not helpful. It sends all the wrong messages.' "

"This afternoon two CND activists from Helensburgh checked on the camp because they were not answering phone calls. Five people are currently resident there. None of the ten caravans, the fort, the communal lodge, the sheds, the kitchen shelter or the two buses that are permantly at the site have been removed, 'taken down' or scrapped in any way. Earlier messages stating the camp has been closed are totally false."

"On Tuesday the 1st February, around sixty people filled the hall of the Moravian church in central Swindon, to listen to veteran anti-nuclear campaigner Bruce Kent on the latest stop of his tour of the UK promoting the concept of alternatives to war.

Lord Stoddart, formerly the Labour MP for Swindon until 1983, chaired the meeting, and passed on apologies from Kate Hudson of CND, who had also been scheduled to speak about the situation in Iraq, but unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute due to circumstances beyond her control. As it happened, he stepped into the breach and delivered a fine summary of the current situation in Iraq, and the recent history leading up to where we are now. "

GREEN Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas is to join Mayor of Hiroshima Akiba Tadatoshi in Brussels this week to support his "2020 vision" of a nuclear-weapon free world by 2020.

Mayor Akiba, who chairs the 650-strong 'Mayors for Peace' campaign, will meet Dr Lucas, Co-President of the European Parliament's Peace Intergroup, at a reception hosted by the cross-party peace group during his Brussels stop on a tour of world capitals to promote his hopes for nuclear disarmament ahead of May's UN nuclear disarmament conference in New York.