South West Against Nuclear & Stop Hinkley film night

Last Night saw the first film screening in a series of films being shown about nuclear power & community resistance as finally the long anticipated West Somerset District council planning committee hearing for EDFs proposed Preliminary works draws closer.


The first film night kicked off with Heavy Water - A Film for Chernobyl, a collection of visual images songs poetry and spoken word that combined the experiences of a wide range of experiences from liquidators to fireman, through to evacuees and the children  of Chernobyl, this film was chosen as part of the commemorations of this being the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl.

The film was a stark reminder of exactly what many people in Japan are going through right now, (over 70,000 people made homeless by the nuclear crisis already). I felt constantly reminded of the Japanese moms & children being forced to live work and attend school in areas that are experiencing higher levels of radioactive contamination than triggered evacuation in Chernobyl.
Already the permissable levels of exposure to radiation for children are equivalent to the maximum yearly dose for a German Nuclear Industry worker.




This film reminded me that the only lessons that the nuclear industry & the governments of nuclear states really learnt from Chernobyl were not lessons in humanitarreanism, or environmentalism i,e how best to manage such an incident to reduce these impacts but instead were lessons in spin, political manouvering and P.R. 


This is why since the worlds worst nuclear disaster began over three months ago, there is barely a word about it on our TVs & radios and why the japanese and other governments have legislated to increase 'permissable' legal limits in order that they can limit the economic cost of dealing with such an event & in order that they can play down the consequences....




There was a lively discussion following the screening that included discussion of the consequences of nuclear new build for communities in the south west of England.


The next film that we will be showing will be Into Eternity, a film that explores the issues around the long term management (or dumping) of radioactive waste, this film explores Finland's experiences of deciding to begin the construction of a deep geological disposal facility and all of the issues they've engaged with as the undertake a construciton project that will span generations with construction not set to be finshed for over a 100yrs, the scale  of which hasnt been seen since the Pyramids (although the pyramids didnt need to isolate radwaste from the environement for hundreds of thousands of years!).

This film is particularly important given that new fuel from a potential Hinkley C would be so hot & radiotoxic that it would be impossible to move for at least 100 years. Given that there are over 20 cores that have been exposed as well as 3 that have undergone full meltdown in Japan, it's about time that we really engaged with the issue of radioactive waste & it's storage. We mustn't build a Hinkley C that could become the Fukushima of the Future...


The next film night will be Wednesday August 10th at 7pm at the:
Friends Meeting House,  

10 Friarn Street

BRIDGWATER

TA6 3LH