A delegation of Australian nuclear free campaigners has travelled to Canada to present at the World Uranium Symposium being held in Quebec City, April 14-16. The group includes representatives from Aboriginal communities impacted by nuclear projects and national environment groups.
Canadian company Cameco is behind plans for two controversial uranium mines in Western Australia – Kintyre in the Pilbara and Yeelirrie in the Northern Goldfields, which will be at the forefront of issues raised by the Australian delegation alongside the emerging issues with the South Australian Royal Commission into the nuclear industry.
The Symposium will examine the human and environmental impacts of the industry, with the Australian delegation presenting sessions on the nuclear fuel chain legacy in Australia, Indigenous Rights and the nuclear fuel chain and the intergenerational health impacts of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
The Symposium will be followed by the 5th International Uranium Film Festival, which will feature the Australian film “Protecting Manuwangku”, documenting the successful struggle of Warlmanpa Traditional Owners to stop a national radioactive dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory.
Follow the tour via the ANFA website and via twitter on #uranium2015.
The Australian delegation includes:
• Barb Shaw, Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair (Alice Springs) “Nationally we meet once a year with common issues on common ground, we’re now taking that internationally where people are fighting and struggling with the same things we’re facing back at home. My expectations for the next few days is networking and sharing solutions”
• Peter Watts, Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair (Arabunna Nation) “What we’re digging up at home has consequences for every corner of the globe. I’m devastated that the uranium dug up from our country has such far reaching consequences globally, not just locally”
• Debbie Carmody, Tjuma Pulka Radio Station Kalgoorlie (Anangu/Spinifex) “People don’t always connect the mining with the end result, for example, what has happened at Fukushima”
• Dave Sweeney, Australian Conservation Foundation “People from all around the world are in Canada sharing stories about the dangers and the environmental impacts of all aspects of the nuclear trade. From the land of the maple leaf to the land of the gum leaf, there is no place for the nuclear trade. It is not sustainable and it is not welcome.”
• Gem Romuld, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
• Marcus Atkinson, Footprints for Peace, Anti-nuclear Alliance of Western Australia
Contact the delegation: Gem Romuld: (+1) 865 919 4562 gemromuld@gmail.com
Australian Contacts: Sue Coleman-Haseldine – ANFA : 0458 544 593 Natalie Wasley- Beyond Nuclear Initiative: 0429 900 774 Mia Pepper- Conservation Council WA: 0415 380 808
