Seven nations represented at anti-uranium conference in Germany

By SOFA Münster

Two hundred anti-nuclear activists from Niger, Russia, France, Poland, Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany attended a one-day uranium conference in the German city Münster on 4 February.

The main focus of the gathering was the demand to shut down the international uranium industry and to stop the worldwide uranium mining, enrichment and processing into nuclear fuel.

Supported by 35 anti-nuclear and environmental organisations this was the biggest conference of its kind in Germany for years.

There was intense discussion of the dangers of global uranium mining. One focus was the situation in central Africa where in Niger and Cameroon uranium is mined under inhumane and environment-destroying conditions. Intensive prospecting for the mineral is also underway in Chad.

Uranium generates most of Niger’s income, the biggest customer being nuclear-powered former colonial occupier, France.

Conference participants called for solidarity with the Africans affected.

Prospecting is also going on in several European countries. Polish attendees reported plans to mine the ore there. But resistance is stirring in many places.

There was discussion in workshops of uranium processing, enrichment and manufacture of nuclear fuel, focusing on the health hazards and the many international transports of uranium and the military dimension of enrichment.

The conference called for uranium ammunition and all nuclear weapons to be outlawed. It supported the call for a nuclear-free world made three weeks ago by an anti-nuclear conference in Yokohama, Japan.

The conference condemned the fact that there is not and can never be any safe storage for the uranium waste and all other nuclear waste generated worldwide. Already in the mining countries vast amounts of waste are generated for the operation of power stations in Europe and elsewhere.

Just from Germany’s only enrichment plant in Gronau, 27,000 tonnes of waste have been dumped in Russia. International resistance stopped that traffic in 2009.

The concrete demands for Germany are to close down Gronau and a fuel factory in Lingen. Both plants can continue to produce at will. This not acceptable. If Germany wants to give up nuclear energy it cannot export the uranium fuel to the entire world.

Following resolutions were made:

• International cooperation against the uranium industry is be increased. It’s to be attempted to prevent ever more countries starting to mine. International uranium transports are to be targeted more to make them transparent and stop them.
• A speaking tour of Germany is to be planned for nuclear opponents from Niger to inform Germans about the scandalous mining conditions.
• An international action day is planned for 29 September to protest against the leading uranium companies in Europe. Targets are to include Areva in France, Rosatom in Russia and Urenco, EON and RWE in Germany and the Netherlands.
• The conference called for participation in the large Fukushima demonstration on 11 March in Gronau. It will be one of six across Germany. The conference also supports the 11 March 300-km human chain in the French Rhone Valley.
• At the annual meetings of the power companies RWE and EON on 19 April and 3 May in Essen nuclear opponents will demand the immediate closure of the Gronau enrichment plant at the cost of the operators. The two corporations are co-owners of the Gronau operator, Urenco.

The conference ended on 5 February with a rally outside the Gronau plant. On Friday there was a spectacular abseil action at Münster main railway station, a central hub for uranium transports to and from Gronau. And on Saturday 50 people demonstrated outside the plant for its closure.

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