NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2017 goes to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) !!

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Prize motivation:
 "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons"
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) - Facts

The Call from Oslo

Listen to when Executive Director of ICAN Beatrice Fihn receives the news that International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

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"This Will Mean the World to Us"

Telephone interview with Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of ICAN, following the announcement of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on 6 October 2017. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Media.

Beatrice Fihn describes the significance for ICAN of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. In the interview, recorded immediately after she had heard the news, she also describes the groundswell of public opinion bringing new momentum to efforts to ban nuclear arms, commenting: "The cold war is over a long time ago, we can no longer accept these weapons."

Transcript of the Interview

Petition update – Hibakusha appeal at the United Nations for a strong treaty to ban nuclear weapons

JUN 29, 2017 — Historic negotiations for “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination” are now taking place at the United Nations in New York. Civil society representatives from around the world are gathered there to urge all nations to work in good faith to achieve the strongest, most effective treaty possible.

Amongst the civil society present in New York include many Hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the only people who have ever experienced the devastation of nuclear war, the voices of the Hibakusha carry a heavier weight than most on the topic of global nuclear proliferation. They are mentioned directly in the preamble of the revised treaty draft released earlier this week, which states that participating countries are “mindful of the unacceptable suffering of and harm caused to the victims of the use of nuclear weapons (Hibakusha) as well as of those affected by the testing of nuclear weapons…”

more: Petition update – Hibakusha appeal at the United Nations for a strong treaty to ban nuclear weapons | Change.org

This animation shows how terrifyingly powerful nuclear weapons have become | Tech Insider (Facebook)

WATCH: This animation shows how terrifyingly powerful nuclear weapons have become | Tech Insider (Facebook)

Never again: Nagasaki must be the last atomic bombing | International Committee of the Red Cross

On 24-26 April, leaders and experts of 35 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, their International Federation, and the ICRC, met in Nagasaki to reaffirm the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's long opposition to nuclear weapons and to commit to intensify efforts to ensure that nuclear weapons are never again used, and that they are prohibited and eliminated. The Nagasaki Conference welcomed the ongoing negotiations at the UN of a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination. In addition to adopting an action plan to guide their efforts and stimulate greater engagement by all National Societies in the months and years ahead, participants in the Nagasaki Conference issued the public Appeal that follows…

READ: Never again: Nagasaki must be the last atomic bombing | International Committee of the Red Cross

11.6 Nuclear #Disarmament and the #SFBayArea: Free Sunday Talk w/ Q & A

How can Bay Area residents support global nuclear disarmament? Is there a local disarmament movement? Tri-Valley CAREs Staff Attorney, Scott Yundt, will speak about the opportunities and challenges for local people who are concerned about the dangers of nuclear weapons in our world. Come and learn about the environmental cost shared by the communities within a 50 mile radius of the lab and how you can get involved where you live.

Nuclear Disarmament and the Bay Area: Free Sunday Talk followed by Q & A Tickets, Sun, Nov 6, 2016 at 1:30 PM | Eventbrite

Preparing the country for nuclear terrorism | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

"The candidates for president of the United States continue to discuss preventing nuclear proliferation and the threat of nuclear terrorism, yet we hear little about how well prepared the nation is to manage the aftermath of terrorist use of an improvised nuclear device. Some may think the notion of such an attack is apocryphal. So allow me to explain just how likely such a possibility is, how devastating the result of such a detonation would be, and—in particular—just how poorly prepared the United States is to respond..."

more: Preparing the country for nuclear terrorism | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

What's wrong with nuclear power? | Wise International

There are many good reasons to oppose the use of nuclear energy. Nuclear power installations are vulnerable for accidents, incidents and attacks. Radioactive material can be disseminated. Radiation is harmfull and can, even in small quantities, be lethal. Contamination with radioactive material can make entire regions uninhabitable for thousands of years. 

Even during 'normal operation' nuclear power stations (and other installations) disseminate radioactive materials. The nuclear fuel chain is complicated and in every step transport is needed. These transports are in itself vulnerable for accidents, incidents and theft. Radioactive material in the 'wrong hands' leads to a horror-scenario. The use of nuclear power leads to the production of large quantities of dangerous radioactive waste. Although the nuclear industry has been seeking for solutions for more than 6 decades now there is still no country in the world that has found a scientific sound way to deal with its radioactive waste. 

It does not take much to build a nuclear weapon ones you have access to the material, knowledge and infrastructure provided by the 'civil nuclear fuel chain'. 

Nuclear power plants are extremely expensive and hard to finance. Only when supported by public money a nuclear power station is build. In almost all countries risks and non-direct costs are passed on to the government (the public, the taxpayers); longterm management of the waste, security of the nuclear power plant, costs of transport for instance. It is impossible to insure your nuclear facility on the private market. So in all cases it is the government again who guarantees the compensation for accident-related costs -  which is in itself again impossible. The Fukushima disaster in Japan is estimated to costs at least $143 billion. The nuclear disaster in Japan has tragically demonstrated how unsafe nuclear power can be. The chance that a major accident happens is maybe slim but the consequences are devastating. 

A nuclear power station itself does not emit greenhouse gasses like CO2. Yet nuclear power contributes to climate change; with every step in the whole fuel chain, needed to in the end generate electricity, many energy is used. For instance, the extraction of uranium and the enrichment of uranium are extreme energy-intensive processes. Life-cycle analysis of the whole fuel chain clearly shows the contribution of nuclear power to climate change. 

What's wrong with nuclear power? | Wise International


whats up: #BustTheMyth – nukes are NOT carbon-free, clean, safe, green, or affordable!

August 9, 2016 Action at Livermore Lab 8 AM

On Tuesday, August 9, 2016, participants will gather at the northwest corner of the Livermore Lab (Vasco Road and Patterson Pass Road in Livermore). The program will begin at 8:00 AM.  

A Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) speaker has been invited. Expect great speakers, music, drummers, art and hundreds of peace advocates. Together, we will commemorate the past and change the future. More than 16,000 nuclear weapons in the world today continue to pose an unacceptable threat to life on Earth, and we will call for their abolition.  

At 8:15 AM, there will be a solemn moment of silence to honor radiation victims worldwide. The U.S. dropped the first nuclear bomb used in war on Hiroshima at 8:15 AM local time, August 6, 1945. 

Immediately following the program will be a "call to action," in which participants will be invited to march a short distance to the Livermore Lab West Gate. Those who choose will nonviolently risk arrest. Others will conduct a legal witness and support. 

This event is co-sponsored by the Livermore Conversion Project, Tri-Valley CAREs, Ecumenical Peace Institute, Western States Legal Foundation, No Nukes Action, Asian Americans for Peace and Justice, American Friends Service Committee, Jane Addams Peace Association, Peace Action West, Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center, and others. For more information, contact Tri-Valley CAREs at 925-443-7148.

http://www.trivalleycares.org/new/SaveDate.html

August 9, 2016 Action at Livermore Lab 8 AM (Facebook page)

Noam Chomsky: Climate Change & Nuclear Proliferation Pose the Worst Threat Ever Faced by Humans | Democracy Now!

Noam Chomsky: Climate Change & Nuclear Proliferation Pose the Worst Threat Ever Faced by Humans | Democracy Now!

City of Cambridge agrees to divest US $1 Billion | No Nukes Netherlands

Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA) Mayor Denise Simmons announced today that the Cambridge City Council has unanimously decided to divest their city pension fund from nuclear weapons production. This effectively removes US$ 1 billion from possible investment in the companies most heavily involved in producing and upgrading nuclear weapons.

Mayor Simmons said “It’s my hope that this will inspire other municipalities, companies and individuals to look at their investments and make similar moves”.  Engaging local officials to oppose nuclear weapons has always been an effective tool to raise awareness of nuclear dangers, and build widespread support to ban and eliminate them.

The announcement was made at an MIT conference on reducing the dangers of nuclear war, where the Future of Life Institute (FLI) launched a divestment campaign against upgrading nuclear arsenals. “If you want to slow the nuclear arms race, then put your money where your mouth is and don’t bank on the bomb!”, said physicist Stephen Hawking, a FLI scientific advisory board member...

more: City of Cambridge agrees to divest US $1 Billion - No Nukes Netherlands

Nuclear Power Plants: Pre-Deployed WMDs

Karl Grossman's new piece in COUNTERPUNCH –

"Pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction. That’s what nuclear power plants are. And that’s another very big reason—demonstrated again in recent days with the disclosure
that two of the Brussels terrorists were planning attacks on Belgian nuclear plants—why they must be eliminated."

read: Nuclear Power Plants: Pre-Deployed WMDs

Calls for Reopening Investigation of Corruption at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab and of Suspicious Suicide of Ex-Deputy Director Richard Burick | Mining Awareness

At the beginning of February, 2016, three “whistleblowers sent a certified letter to Mr. Damon Martinez, the US Attorney for the District of New Mexico, asking him to reopen an investigation into fraud and corruption at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the questionable suicide in 2002 of the then-recently retired Lab Deputy Director“, Richard Burick

read: Calls for Reopening Investigation of Corruption at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab and of Suspicious Suicide of Ex-Deputy Director Richard Burick | Mining Awareness

My speech for my father, to all the victems of War and a wake-up call for the World.

...A bright white light, brighter than the sun, was followed by a big blast.

Before he knew it, he was thrown back into the tunnel where he fell unconscious. 

When he woke up, the sky was dark and red and he saw that all of Nagasaki was destroyed...

read: My speech for my father, to all the victems of War and a wake-up call for the World.

West Lake story: An underground fire, radioactive waste, and governmental failure | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

On July 16, 1973, 28 years to the day after the first nuclear weapon was exploded at Alamogordo, New Mexico, a line of dump trucks containing the detritus from the uranium used to make plutonium for the test bomb showed up at the West Lake landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri. Assuming the trucks were loaded with clean fill, the landfill superintendent waved them through without charging a dumping fee. A truck driver said later that he and others used the black stuff in their home gardens. By October several thousand shipments were illegally dumped at the landfill in north St. Louis County, in violation of federal standards; they contained an estimated 43,000 tons of radioactive uranium processing wastes and contaminated soil. 

Now under the national news media spotlight, a landfill adjoined to the West Lake dump has experienced a growing underground fire for the past five years. The fire is estimated to be about 1,000 feet from the radioactive material. Consultants for Missouri Attorney General Kris Koster indicated in November 2015 that, in the worst case, the fire could reach the radioactive material in a matter of a few months. An official for the Republic Corporation, which owns the landfill, contends the fire is moving away from the wastes.

If the fire reaches the radioactive wastes, the St. Louis County emergency plan warns, there is the “potential for radioactive fallout to be released in the smoke plume and spread throughout the region...” 

more: West Lake story: An underground fire, radioactive waste, and governmental failure | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Feb. 27 Stop Trident March & Rally; LONDON | CNDUK, Medact, ICAN, ICRC

Help us mobilise thousands to Stop Trident

> Stop Trident national demo

Medact, emphasising the health impact and humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, is one of the supporting organisations for the CND-led Stop Trident March and Rally being held in London on Saturday 27th February at 12 noon.

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive and most indiscriminate instruments of war ever created. Their use—and even their possession—goes against every principle of international humanitarian law. Indeed, it is likely that humanity could not survive a nuclear war using even a fraction of the arsenals in existence today...

MORE: Stop Trident March & Rally - Medact

Wagging the Plutonium Dog: Japanese Domestic Politics and Its International Security Implications - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Japan has pledged not to produce more plutonium than it can consume. Serious questions are emerging, however, about whether it can uphold this commitment.

READ: Wagging the Plutonium Dog: Japanese Domestic Politics and Its International Security Implications - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

ABOUT THE NUCLEAR POLICY PROGRAM

The Carnegie Nuclear Policy Program is an internationally acclaimed source of expertise and policy thinking on nuclear industry, nonproliferation, security, and disarmament. Its multinational staff stays at the forefront of nuclear policy issues in the United States, Russia, China, Northeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East.

carnegieendowment.org

Dutch parliament: Negotiate a ban! - No Nukes Netherlands | ican

On Thursday, 23 April the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) adopted a motion saying the government must join, in a substantive manner, international negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons, without preventively judging an end result.

During the debate on the NPT, Minister of Foreign Affairs Koenders made it clear that he was not willing to join negotiations- because he believes banning nuclear weapons is the last step, following their elimination.  A  majority of the parliament disagreed and said the government should not judge a process before it has started and urged the government to join future negotiations...

more:
Dutch parliament: Negotiate a ban! - No Nukes Netherlands

No Nukes is Pax's campaign for a world free of nuclear weapons. No Nukes seeks opportunities to strengthen the global non-proliferation regime and to accelerate global nuclear disarmament by stigmatizing, outlawing and eliminating nuclear weapons. 

PAX means peace. PAX brings together people who have the courage to stand for peace. Together with people in conflict areas and concerned citizens worldwide, PAX works to build just and peaceful societies across the globe.

ican: icanw.org

Global Wave | Tri-Valley CAREs

Tri-Valley CAREs organized a Global Wave event at the gate of Livermore Lab on Sunday, April 26th as part of the international gathering beginning today in New York later for the 5-year Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Our picture will be included in a slide show shown to the full UN on Friday with dozens of other events from around the world. Thanks to all who took part.

Tri-Valley CAREs

The 2015 Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act - Needs Support! | Tri-Valley CAREs

At Tri-Valley CAREs we appreciate all you do to help achieve a more peaceful, just and nuclear weapons free world. Today, we offer you a concrete opportunity to move the government in that direction by cutting the budget for nuclear weapons. Here's how...

As you know from our e-alerts, President Obama's recent budget request contains a double-digit increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and squanders billions on new nuclear weapons programs.

Right now, Congress is beginning the legislative process to decide what the actual budget for nuclear weapons will be. This is where you and your Senators and Representative enter the picture...

This month, companion bills will be introduced in the House and Senate that would save $100 billion over the next ten years by making targeted reductions to U.S nuclear weapons and the NNSA nuclear weapons complex. Both bills are called the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act.

Are your Senators cosponsors yet? How about your Representative?

Current Senate SANE Act cosponsors are: Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders.

Current House SANE Act cosponsors are: Earl Blumenauer, John Conyers, Donna Edwards, Sam Farr, Raul Grijalva, Barbara Lee, Jim McGovern, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jared Polis, Louise Slaughter, Jackie Speier.

If your members of Congress are on the list, call and tell them "thank you". If not, call your representatives and ask them to cosponsor the SANE Act. In the Senate, ask them to contact Sen. Ed Markey to sign up. In the House, ask them to contact Rep. Earl Blumenauer to sign up as a cosponsor.

The Capitol Switchboard is: (202) 224-3121. Call as soon as possible.

more: Tri-Valley CAREs

Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight As California's Last Active Nuke Plant Puts Millions at Risk | EcoWatch

...Global climate change and the nuclear weapons industry were listed as the primary threats, but the Bulletin’s analysis also cited “the leadership failure on nuclear power.” The Bulletin noted that “the international community has not developed coordinated plans to meet the challenges that nuclear power faces in terms of cost, safety, radioactive waste management, and proliferation risk.” The triple meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in 2011 brought the issue to global attention after an unpredictable earthquake stronger than the plant was built to withstand overwhelmed the reactors in conjunction with a massive tsunami. This unprecedented disaster even led the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to establish a Fukushima Lessons Learned Division. But the situation at California’s last remaining active nuclear plant has generated widespread concern about whether the NRC has learned anything at all from Fukushima.

Diablo Canyon—An American nuclear plant with troubling similarities to Fukushima

The Diablo Canyon Power Plant near scenic San Luis Obispo on the Golden State’s central coast sits in an area where several new fault lines have been discovered over the decades. Controversy flared in 2014 due to revelations about regulatory safety questions from the plant’s former senior resident inspector Michael Peck, who served in that role from 2007-12. Peck became concerned that new seismic data suggested the plant was operating outside the safety margins of its license. He issued a non-concurrence in 2012, a Dissenting Professional Opinion in 2013 and a DPO Appeal in 2014. Debate between Peck and his bosses at the NRC has centered around what methodology should be used to determine whether the plant could survive a massive quake it might not be built to withstand...

complete article: Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight As California's Last Active Nuke Plant Puts Millions at Risk | EcoWatch