News

Global Nuclear Legacy Project Takes First Step Towards International Hearings

Publish date: July 10, 2009

Written by: Elena Kobets

Nearly forty representatives from different organizations in Hungary, the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Great Britain and Russia gathered in Budapest from May 29th to May 31st for a three day intensive planning meeting to discuss the future strategy of the anti-nuclear movement against the aggressive global expansion of the nuclear industry.

Participants established a collaborative process for organizing regional anti-nuclear hearings in Europe, the US and Russia to lay the groundwork for a larger anti-nuclear movement. 

An international steering committee with representatives from Russia, Germany, the US and the Netherlands was formed as well as three regional committees (US, Russia, and Europe), to coordinate the international hearings and continue the Global Nuclear Legacy Project.

Some of the organizers came from regions affected by nuclear complexes and nuclear power plants such as Hanford, La Hague, Sellafield, Chernobyl and Mayak who have seen first hand the environmental damage and human health effects of the nuclear legacy.

After the end of the Cold War national nuclear industries began to increase their wealth and influence in the global market, resulting in international corporations controlling both civil and military nuclear production from uranium mining to waste disposal.