Hiding in the woods of western Finland, over 100 activists were brought together by the joint effort of eight organisations determined not to concede the fight against the fifth Finnish nuclear power station, and spent a day and a night preparing for action.
(615.5637) WISE Amsterdam - Early on Friday 3 September, the protestors divided into several smaller groups and by various means of transport headed for the site where the 1600 Mw experimental European Pressurised water Reactor (EPR) is to be built. The site is already host to two aged 700 Mw BWR reactors that have been in operation since 1978/80.
Although at one point it seemed as if the police had been forewarned - they followed several of the buses taking activist to the site - two different groups on bicycles and a group on foot managed to climb over the fences and spent the entire day on the construction site. Outside the main gate, 20 more activists were supported by 5 people from international anti nuclear organizations from France, Bulgaria, Czech republic, UK and The Netherlands.
The Olkiluoto peninsula was marked as an area infected by the nuclear disease. The activists, dressed in yellow T-shirts and respiratory masks, entered the area on bicycles to erect signposts and cordon off the area warning about the disease. The information centre maintained by the nuclear company TVO (Teollisuuden Voima) was also taken over by climbers equipped with a banner reading "Nuclear madness info centre - www.olkiluoto.info". The banner refers to the newly opened website set up by the anti nuclear movement to provide accurate information on the construction of the fifth nuclear reactor. The site offers information in English, Finnish and Swedish.
"The Finnish nuclear disease has developed into alarming proportions. A big proportion of the population in Finland has already been blinded by it and now it is attacking and destroying the remains of the Finnish climate policy. We isolated one of the infected spots today, but the Ministry of Trade and Industry remains to be secluded", said Tuuli Kaskinen, one of the spokespersons at the action. Before the Finnish parliament decided to allow the construction of the fifth reactor, there had been widespread consensus and joint understanding that climate change was the most pressing environmental threat facing the world today. In May 2002, after parliament had given the go-ahead for the fifth reactor, the pro nuclear lobby suddenly began a campaign to hamper the carbon emissions trade in the EU. Some politicians have since even demanded that Finland withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol.
"When the parliament gave green light for the fifth nuclear reactor, the condition was that the government agrees to invest forcefully in renewable energy. Now two years have passed and the promises to support the renewable energy have been scrapped while tax reductions for burning peat have been given. The government is apparently also suffering from the nuclear disease", Elina Turunen from Luonto-Liitto said.
The Finnish Nuclear Energy Act passed in 1987 requires that if an energy company obtains a political permit for a new nuclear facility, it would still need to apply for a construction permit and later for an operating permit from the government. However, these decisions are considered non-political procedures. The construction work for the fifth nuclear reactor is already underway and the government is prepared to sign the construction permit despite the fact that the EPR does not meet the standards set by the Finnish Nuclear Safety Agency (STUK). In addition to that, the pressure vessel to the Finnish reactor is being produced in Japan, also without any approval from STUK.
All activists on site were arrested, but only after spending many hours freely cycling around the site, being tracked by helicopters and police dog brigades. The TVO-spokesperson was embarrassed several times after making claims to the media that the situation was under control, and that all activists had been found and arrested. Moments later, he was forced to admit that there were more people than thought on the site and that not all had been arrested at that point. The activists were released after a few hours at the police station and said it had been very easy to gain access to the site and walk up to the two existing power stations. Since the groundwork is currently being laid down for the 5th reactor, the site was full of heavy machinery and dynamite. So despite all the endless rhetoric about increased safety measures to cope with the 'global terrorism threat', access to the reactor buildings was scarily straightforward.
The action was successfully concluded with a full day of training and seminars to encourage the young activists to increase their efforts and start organising more direct actions against the third Olkiluoto power station. The organisers are already busy planning more actions, with increased international participation.
The action was a clear sign that the Finnish anti-nuclear movement has been resurrected, and, even more importantly maybe, is prepared to work together. The organisers were the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Luonto-Liitto, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Women for Peace, The Youth Association at the Left Alliance and the Green Youth Association.
For more information email info@olkiluoto.info, or visit olkiluoto.info/en and www.ecology.at/nni/site.php?site=Olkiluoto
Source and contact: WISE Amsterdam
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