Tag Archives: nuclear

[Event] 2015 ASIAN NO NUKES Conference on Environment, Justice & Peace January 10, 2015 -Nuclear Free Pilipinas

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2015 ASIAN NO NUKES Conference on Environment, Justice & Peace January 10, 2015 Saturday at STI College of Caloocan City, Philippines

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2015 ASIAN NO NUKES CONF

Dear friends:

Warm greetings of peace!

On January 10, 2015, Saturday (9:00am to 5:00pm), we are holding the 2015 Asian No Nukes Conference on Environment, Justice, and Peace at STI College Caloocan City, Philippines. This conference aims to take up nuclear issues related to Environment, Justice and Peace (such as global capitalism, prevention of wars and man-made disasters, advocating justice to victims of nuclear bombings, testing and research, nuclear weapons abolition, updates from Fukushima and other areas impacted by the presence of nuclear power facilities in their communities). It also aims to present the peoples initiatives and movements focused on the issues mentioned above. We expect the participation of at least 300 participants coming from different sectors (students, teachers, parents, activists, workers, urban poor and interest groups, leaders from socio-civic and church organizations) in the Philippines and Japan.

In this regard, we would like to extend invitation for you and your network/members/friends to participate in the conference.

Organizers of the conference are: Abakadang Kayumanggi Development Foundation (AKCDF), MAPALAD KA (Mamamayan ng Pamayanan Laban sa Digmaan, Karahasan, at Kahirapan), Nuclear-Free Pilipinas, Rotary Club of Malabon Highlands, STI College of Caloocan City, STI College Caloocan Student Council and AKAY Japan.

Enclosed is the programme for January 10 conference. We look forward to your positive response to our invitation and your support for the success of this conference.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon,

On behalf of the organizers,

Paul Galang
Abakadang Kayumanggi Development Foundation

Corazon Fabros
Nuclear Free Pilipinas
———————————————————————————–
P R O G R AM M E

08:00- 09:00 Registration of participants; exhibits on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Fukushima, etc.
09:00- 09:30 Film Showing Recap of 2012 to 2014 No Nukes conferences; Welcome Address by STI College of Caloocan City; Invocation (IPP Ian de Felipe/Rotary Club of Malabon Highlands) and Lupang Hinirang; Opening Remarks – AKAY Japan, Rotary Pres. Renato Alariao; NFP (on behalf of other organizers)

09:30-10:00 Keynote Address: Prof. Roland Simbulan, University of the Philippines Manila
10:00-10:15 Q and A

10:15-10:30 Snack Break
10:30- 12:05 Panel Presentors

10:30-11:00 “No to Nuclear Power Plant Movement in Fukui Prefecture and International Solidarity” Dr. Fujio Yamamoto, Fukui University, Japan)

11:00-11:15 Nuclear Free Bataan Movement by Fr. Fernando Loreto – 15 minutes

11:15- 11:35 NoNukes Campaign in Asia: Ms. Yoko Unoda/NoNukes Asia Forum Japan – 20min

11:35- 12:05 Carmencita Karagdag, Peace For Life

12:05- 01:00 Lunch

01:00-01:05 Skit from Youth group of ZOTO (5 minutes)

01:05- 01:25 Report from Fukushima: Dr. Fumihiro Mori (Japan) – 20 min. including translation

01:25- 01:40 Children’s Situation: Ayaka Hagiwara (Japan) – 15 minutes including translation

01:40- 02:00 Plaintiff Compensation Class Action Suit Ms. Hagiwara Yukimi (Japan) – 20 minutes

02:00- 02:10 Music Video – 2015 Japan Peace March International Youth Relay & 2015 World Conference Against A & H Bombs for the 70th Commemoration of Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (MTV/Malaya Fabros)

02:10- 02:30 Towards a Renewable Energy Future for the Phils:. Eng.Roberto Verzola

02:30- 03:00 “Nuclear Power and Climate Justice” Commissioner Naderev Sano, Climate Change Commission

03:00-03:10 *Music Video on 2014 Climate Walk Manila to Tacloban (by DAKILA)

03:10-03:20 Solidarity Messages

03:20-03:25 Message from R.I. District 3800 DG Marilou Co
03:25-03:45 Message/s from Legislator/s and/local govt. official/s

03:45-04:00 Manila Declaration and Symbolic signing

4:00-4:05 SUMMING UP (Video Presentation)

4:00-4:05 Closing Remarks: Mapalad Ka/AKCDF

4:05-5:00: “No to Nukes” Fellowship and Cultural Presentations (with Afternoon snacks)

Register @www.facebook.com

[Statement] Our Future is NON NEGOTIABLE: Stand and Fight for a Nuclear free, Sustainable and Habitable World -Akmk Peace

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Our Future is NON NEGOTIABLE: Stand and Fight for a Nuclear free, Sustainable and Habitable World

“Every dollar spent on nuclear is one less dollars pent on clean renewable energy and one more dollar spent on making the world a comparatively dirtier and a more dangerous place, because nuclear power and nuclear weapons go hand in hand.”
—Mark Z. Jacobson

The plight for non-carbon emitting source of energy has been going on for years for the sake of preventing the deterioration of the environment. It is under this premise that the solution in the form of nuclear energy was born and high hopes for it were made public. However, real people, real events and real stories tell us that the safety of this “safe” source of energy is but a myth.

Akmk Peace copy

Recently, the Philippines’ Department of Energy have aired their interest in reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant using the energy crisis as an excuse during a public forum last July 25. They keep on telling the people that it is a way of saving the environment as if its radioactive wastes do not exist. In reality, options for renewable energy exist, it is just that it has less business potential for the private sector and it does not carry any hidden symbol. The creation of nuclear power plants is not just an environmental issue; it is also an issue on the maintenance of peace. It is true that the United States is the only country that actually used nuclear energy as a weapon but the point is that it was still used as a weapon and a highly dangerous one at that. It is a symbol of potential military power that, when time comes, will not discriminate and can destroy the affected area for half an eternity.

One more option amidst being declared as the dirtiest source of energy has been promoted by the Philippine government –Coal. Not less than five coal-fired plants are to operate in the Philippines to solve electric supply shortages. Coal industry is one of the big emitter of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) that contributed to global warming and Philippine government knew this, but are still promoting amidst the impact of Climate Crisis to the Philippines.

Nuclear energy and all other non renewable (fossil fuels) energy sources are not something that we can gamble our future with. The AKMK being an alliance sworn to promote peace and environmental sustainability in Mindanao and the rest of the world stands firm to the call that a safe world is a nuclear free, sustainable and habitable world.

Reina Marie Gahum
Secretary General
Alliance of Mindanao Youth for Peace (Alyansa ng Kabataang Mindanao para sa Kapayapaan)
Mindanao, Philippines
Email: akmk_peace@yahoo.com
FB: Akmk Peace
4 August 2014

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[Statement] Power Crisis Solution Should Exclude Nukes, Coal – NFBM

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Power Crisis Solution Should Exclude Nukes, Coal – NFBM

For some years, we used to be second to the US in producing geothermal energy, globally. But our combined renewable energy potential (wind, solar, hydro, biomass and geothermal) around 200,000 MW, is set aside in favor of carbon-intensive energy plants like coal and even the worrisome revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

NFBM

The Department of Energy and former Rep. Mark Cojuangco are at it again.

Using the issue of the imminent power crisis as an excuse, they are once again trying to influence and shape a pro-nuke stance from among the people of Morong and Bagac during its public forum held last July 25, 2014 in Bagac, Bataan.

President Aquino’s recent State of the Nation Address last Monday alluded to his administration’s determination to address the power crisis.

As members of Nuclear Free Bataan Movement (NFBM), we want to tell him that the solutions should veer away from the coal dependency exhibited by his Philippine Energy Plan (PEP), especially in the light of real climate change implications.

The World Bank and the International Energy Agency, in March 2012, warned that at least 80 per cent of known reserves of fossil fuels must be left untapped if the world is to avoid a catastrophic temperature rise.

Yet, here we are constructing 24 new coal power  plants contributing 52.8 million tonnes/year more of carbon dioxide emissions and an additional 20 more proposed in the next  2-5 years , not to mention entertaining the idea of rehabilitating the BNPP as if the continuing tragedy in Fukushima has not shown how devastating a nuclear disaster could be.

These plants will not be for the 2.7 M Filipino who are without electricity; rather these plants are geared for business, mining operations and economic enclaves like in our case here in Bataan.

Indeed, the Philippines is ‘ more open for business’ but on the other hand, it will leave our people in the dark as electricity supply remains private and expensive,  as high as in Japan.

Now is NOT the time to gamble with the risk of nuclear technology which has been proven fundamentally dangerous and unsafe.   Instead, it’s time to shut down the (nuclear) program permanently.  Thus, we reiterate our call that a safe world is a nuclear-free world.

PRESS STATEMENT
July 30, 2014

References:
Rev. Msgr. Antonio Dumaual, NFBM Chairperson – 09178679242
Francisco Honra –  Secretary General – 09188974643

[In the news] Almendras: No more nuclear future for Bataan plant – PhilStar.com

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Almendras: No more nuclear future for Bataan plant
By Ding Cervantes, The Philippine Star
January 19, 2012

 CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – The idle Bataan nuclear power plant (BNPP) definitely no longer has any nuclear future and might have to be totally abandoned for other purposes, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said here.

“A coal-fired power plant is being considered, but the conversion cost seems too high so it might be better to consider a new plant,” Almendras said at a press conference during an “energy forum” held here Tuesday by the Department of Energy.

Almendras, however, said the government has not closed its doors to new nuclear technology developments that would take into consideration the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan as a result of the devastating tsunani triggered by a powerful quake in northeast Japan in March last year.

“Maybe in five to seven years from now, that new technology would be available and these are plants that can withstand risks,” he said, citing proposals to construct smaller nuclear plants producing lesser power.

Almendras also noted previous studies showing that the BNPP is not on an ideal site.”

He was referring to findings that the plant, whose construction started in 1976 during the Marcos administration, was located on an earthquake fault zone and too near Mt. Pinatubo whose eruption in 1991 was said to be one of the most powerful in recent history.

Read full article @ www.philstar.com

[People] Nuclear and Coal Plants Are Environmental Disasters by Fr. Shay Cullen

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by Fr. Shay Cullen

Governments continue to create fear with warnings of possible terrorist attacks by bombs and shootings and the possibility of terrorists using stolen nuclear waste material as a Dirty Bomb.

They have promoted nuclear power plants and have played-down the real menace and threat to our survival poised by melt downs of rectors, nuclear weapons and radioactive waste. The world did not learn much after Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island disasters. This is changing after Japans earthquake and tsunami. The German Government has finally faced the deadly truth and last week made a historical irreversible decision to phase out all nuclear power plants in Germany in the next ten years. Austria made a similar decision a few days ago.

A nuclear blow out like that of Chernobyl has just been averted at the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Yet grave danger remains. A partial melt down of the nuclear rods in three reactors has occurred but the reactor did not explode.

The Philippines is 3,300 kilometers away and the prevailing winds do not blow directly from Japan to the Philippines. Nuclear power generation is cheap electricity but accidents are common we just don’t know about them. The safe permanent storage of deadly radioactive waste still eludes the scientists. There is just no way to make it safe. The waste from spent fuel rods and reprocessed military wastes will last for hundreds of thousands of years and every generation will have to guard the radioactive waste from being stolen by terrorists or released into the atmosphere by natural disasters, human error or faulty safety systems.

There are dozens of nuclear accidents at nuclear power plants and military nuclear installations around the world that are never reported. In the UK the Guardian newspaper tells of three accidents last February alone. Two consist of nuclear radioactive waste spillage, one at Sellafield in Cumbria, and another near Edinburgh and a scary breakdown of the emergency cooling system at Hartlepool, North-East England nuclear power plant. The report says these incidents indicate a design fault at the plant system. This is the greatest fear of all and an additional spillage at Sellafield is under investigation. New nuclear plant construction in the UK is on hold since the disaster in Japan. Yet the power and influence of the business tycoons in global nuclear power industry in government is massive. The dangers are so real that a few weeks ago Switzerland decided to phase outs its five aging nuclear power plants in favor of renewable energy such as solar and wind.

Meanwhile in the Philippines a bill in congress seeks to ban nuclear power generation forever. But the present danger to Filipinos and the environment is cheap dirty polluting asthma causing coal fired power plants. Instead we need clean renewable energy from solar and wind power. However more coal plants are to be built.

The new construction of a coal fired plant has started (illegally some say) on the Redondo Peninsula, Subic Bay under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). It is to be built and operated by RP Energy Inc. an Aboitiz company in partnership with Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation (TCC). The SBMA has not developed the Environmental Regulations and Emission Standards needed to give a permit. But anyway a Permit to Operate has been given, despite the absence of the essential preliminary requirements such as Permit to Site Develop, Permit to Build, Permit to Occupy. These have been ignored so far.

The original agreement with the SBMA was for a joint venture and set special electric rates for the SBMA and Olongapo City and Subic municipality. These have been tossed out it seems and instead the power plant will just pay a measly miniscule Php 0.17 centavos a square meter a month for the huge site under existing land values it should be Php 0.25 per square meter at least per month. The value of the land is actually Php 500.00 a square meter.

The project has no social acceptance and has been rejected outright by the counsel resolutions of Olongapo City and Subic municipality. The resort operators around Subic Bay oppose it fearing destruction of the rain forest, the waters of the bay and the atmosphere. It will kill family tourism. The residents will be subjected to the dangerous particles and smoke belching 24/7 from the stacks. We have to stop this madness and go for renewal solar and wind power.

(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)
http://www.preda.org/main/archives/2011/r11060101.html

[In the news] Police urged to search for missing journalist – INQUIRER.net

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Police urged to search for missing journalist.

By Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon

LUCENA CITY—The National Union of Journalists (NUJP)-Quezon chapter has called on the Philippine National Police and other government agencies to immediately locate journalist-broadcaster Marlyn de Mesa, and her niece who have been missing since Sunday.

“For the peace of mind of their families, the authorities should exert all efforts to find Marlyn and her niece, and leave no stone unturned,” said Ronilo Dagos, NUJP-Quezon chapter chair, in a statement on Thursday.

De Mesa, 39, and her niece Vanesa Tabale, 23, were last seen aboard a white Isuzu D-Max pickup (PFO-290) which De Mesa owned. They were supposedly on their way to Max’s Restaurant in San Pablo City, according to Dagos, quoting Gemi Formaran, head of a group of reporters covering the military in Camp Nakar.

De Mesa, publisher of Quezon-based weekly Southern Tagalog Tribune and a block timer of 95.1 Kiss FM here, is a member of the Camp Nakar Press Corps.

Their families have been trying to reach the two through their mobile phones but both could not be contacted, the NUJP head said, quoting Formaran.

De Mesa is known among her colleagues as a ‘hard-hitting’ broadcaster-journalist.

De Mesa resides in Pabilao, Quezon, and also has a home in Calamba City, the NUJP said.

SPO4 Edwin de Mesa, of the San Pablo City police, confirmed that the broadcaster has been missing for the past five days, or since her disappearance was reported to the city police on Sunday.

He said, however, that police have no leads on the broadcaster’s whereabouts, nor any theories about her disappearance.

[In the web] FDC asks Aquino to drop nuclear plans, calls for Nuclear power-free MTPDP- www.fdc.ph

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Source: http://fdc.ph

MANILA, Philippines – The Freedom from Debt Coalition today asked President Benigno S. Aquino III to drop all options of tapping nuclear power as a solution to the country’s power generation problems.

The group issued the statement following two massive explosions that rocked Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which was damaged in Friday’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and its consequent devastating tsunami. Japanese officials, according to reports, are struggling to contain radioactive contamination.

FDC also issued the statement after Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Conjuangco voluntarily shelved her proposed bill to revive the controversial $2.3-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

Ric Reyes, FDC President, said that with Japan’s terrifying experience with their nuclear energy systems, “all attempts at reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant must be quashed and the nuclear option indicated in the government’s economic blueprint junked.”

“We should learn from Japan,” Reyes said, adding that the Philippines and Japan are situated on the edges of the Pacific Ring of Fire. “In fact, a tectonic plate between the Philippines and Japan is named after our country – The Philippine Sea Plate or simply, the Filipino Plate.”

According to FDC, the Aquino administration is still considering nuclear energy as reflected in the draft Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), the government’s economic blueprint which identifies growth sectors for the next six years.

Under Chapter 4 (2.2) of the draft MTPDP 2011-2017, the government will pursue the strategy of alternative technologies in power generation such as nuclear power.

“The Aquino administration must remove this section of the blueprint,” Reyes stressed.

Aside from this, one other evidence that the government is seriously pursuing nuclear energy prospects is the presentation last year of Mauro Marcelo of the National Power Corporation who even identified eleven possible sites for a new nuclear power plant.

“What made this government think that a nuclear plant is safe from tremors in Cavite, Negros or Zamboanga?” asked Reyes. “We should consider the fact that even Japanese technology, one of the most advanced in the world, failed to prevent the breaking down of its cooling plants and to avoid possible nuclear meltdown. Indeed, no amount of modern technology can withstand extreme natural disasters,” he added.

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