BRATTLEBORO — Citizens Awareness Network is organizing a High-level Nuclear Waste Tour in New England to address “the abdication by the federal government and the nuclear industry to deal with waste stranded at nuclear sites throughout the country,” according to a news release.
The group has a “mock” high-level nuclear waste cask that the anti-nuclear group is taking on the road to show people what an estimated 1,000 shipments through New England could look like.
The tour will be stopping in Brattleboro on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 6 p.m., at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. It will bring speakers from across the country to discuss the issues of nuclear waste, federal policy, environmental justice, and direct action. Speakers include:
• Kerstin Rudek from Peoples Initiative Bürgerintiative Umweltschutz LüchowDannenberg (Germany), organizer of the successful opposition to nuclear waste transport to Gorleben, Germany.
• Leona Morgan from the Navajo Nation. Morgan will address the industry's plan to dispose of New England's waste at centralized interim storage sites in Andrews County, Texas, and Hobbs, New Mexico.
• CAN's Chris Williams and Deb Katz, who will address the issues of NorthStar's decommissioning goals, including sending high-level nuclear waste from Vermont Yankee to Texas.
The tour will focus on the industry's attempt to create the storage sites in Texas and New Mexico. Recently, legislation passed the U.S. House that would support this controversial approach and fund it.
Speakers are expected to address the need to create a permanent solution for the toxic waste and how it will impact vulnerable communities.