-Caveat Lector- http://www.mtn.org/pic/cnrreport.html Confronting Nuclear Racism Prairie Island Coalition Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 4-Introduction and Definition of "Nuclear Racism" Page 5-Background and Summary Page 6-Confronting Nuclear Racism Perspectives from Communities Page 7-Dorothy Purley Paguate, Pueblo of Laguna - Uranium Mining Page 9-Willie Brooks Homer, Louisiana - Proposed Fuel Fabrication Page 11-Joseph B. Campbell Prairie Island - Reactors, Dry Cask Waste Storage Page 13-Earth Day 1994 Protest at Prairie Island - A Photo Essay Page 16-Ian Zabarte Western Shoshone - Proposed Storage, Nuclear Weapons "Testing" Page 18-Rufina Marie Laws - Mescalero - Proposed Private Interim Storage Page 21-The Canadian Connection Page 22-Malvina Iron Meadow Lake First Nations - Proposed Permanent Storage, Uranium Mining Page 24-Chief Jerry Fontaine Sagkeeng First Nation - Nuclear Research Page 27-Effects of Nuclear Power: Expert Perspectives Page 28-Dr. Ernest Sternglass - Nuclear Power's Fingerprint on Human Health Page 36-Dr. Judith Johnsrud - The Geography of Nuclear Power Page 41-Mary Olson Nuclear Info & Resource Service - Perspectives from Washington DC Page 44-Judy Triechel Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force -Department of Energy Responsibility Page 47-Conclusions Page 51-Attendees September 1995 Organizers Retreat -List of PIC member organizations, special guests, and affiliates This is a text only version for this web site. Hard copy contains pictures and diagrams. Note:Since this report was published, Homer residents defeated the uranium fuel plant, NSP's negotiations with the Mescalero Tribal Council have stalled and they are now trying to work out a deal with the Skull Valley Goshute Tribal Council, and NSP's merger with Wisconsin Electric was defeated. Introduction Back to Index The following quotes are from a coded phone conversation about the first nuclear fission chain reaction, held between Enrico Fermi's lab in Chicago and Harvard University on December 2, 1942 (from the cover of Earth Island Institute's "Race Poverty and Environment Journal," Spring/Summer 1995). Lab-- "The Italian navigator has landed in The New World." University-- "How did he find the natives?" Lab-- "Very friendly!" Even the very start of the nuclear industry was disrespectful to people of color. Now, at every link in the nuclear chain, communities of color bear a disproportionate share of the destruction and risks associated with radiation exposures from nuclear waste and failing nuclear technology. Minnesota based Northern States Power Co. (NSP), a telling example, operates 2 reactors on Prairie Island next to the Mdewakanton Dakota Reservation, near Red Wing Minnesota. During construction of the Prairie Island reactors, NSP sponsored bone digs of burial mounds at the reactor site. The continued operation of NSP's reactors, means the continued accommodation of the entire nuclear chain, from uranium mining to reactor operation to nuclear dumps, and all of its crises and failures. Without Nuclear Racism, NSP and nuclear industry profiteering could not continue. Meanwhile, communities of color receive a disproportionately low share of the profits and wealth associated with the nuclear industry. Nuclear utilities around North America, such as NSP, are running out of space to store nuclear waste on-site in the reactor buildings or in dry casks. The crisis is escalated by the moral and public relations dimensions, and technology failures. In this mounting crisis, NSP is playing a leadership role to accommodate the further profiteering off of the production of more nuclear waste by targeting communities of color for storage of its nuclear waste. With pressures to accept nuclear facilities, community members are often pitted against each other and other communities. On September 11 and 12, 1995, the Prairie Island Coalition (PIC) brought together representatives of communities of color affected by NSP's nuclear chain at its 2nd annual organizers retreat at Wilder Forest in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota. The purpose of the retreat was to educate the public about the realities of Nuclear Racism. The reality of Nuclear Racism was clarified for all those who attended the retreat. But a sense of community was also strengthened between all who are working toward an energy transition that includes fair and responsible management of the existing nuclear waste without accommodating production of more. This report examines how communities deal with the nuclear problems forced upon them. Representatives of the affected communities will tell their stories. Experts on hand at the September retreat also testify to the health, economic, and political effects of the nuclear chain. In the following pages of this report, Nuclear Racism, as practiced by NSP, is defined, identified and specified, and exposed. Definition of Nuclear Racism Nuclear Racism (nu-kli-er ra-siz-em), proper noun. I . . . . to practice Nuclear Racism, also Nuclear Classism, Nuclear Colonialism, Nuclear Fascism. 1. Nuclear Racism: The operation, siting or the attempt to site a nuclear facility within or near a community of color; to choose a community of color over communities that are primarily affluent and white. 2. Nuclear Classism: The operation, siting or the attempt to site a nuclear facility within or near a poor, rural, conservative voting community; to target a community with little political and economic power. 3. Nuclear Colonialism: To use and/or employ members of communities of color and/or poor, rural communities as a means of generating profits from a nuclear facility or program. 4. Nuclear Fascism: To use nuclear reactors, nuclear materials, nuclear waste, and/or use or threaten to use nuclear weapons as a means of political, economic, and/or cultural dominance; the use of nuclear technology or the nuclear waste crisis to pit one community against another. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background and Summary Back to Index The Prairie Island Coalition (PIC), consisting of about 30 member groups, has served public interests in the nuclear waste and technology crisis since 1990. PIC initially formed to oppose Northern States Power's (NSP) attempts to expand its storage of nuclear waste in Minnesota. PIC works to: Stop profiteering from nuclear racism, change society's bad energy habits, promote the efficient use of renewable energy resources, and demonstrate that the best nuclear waste management method is to first stop producing nuclear waste. We discovered in the course of these events that NSP is leading the nuclear industry's attempt, through private deals and Congress, to site nuclear dumps around North America. It is now the case that all the communities affected by NSP are coming together to share the responsibility and solutions to Nuclear Racism in a democratic fashion against the pretend democracy that links the nuclear chain. Nuclear racism is a fundamental link in the global nuclear chain. Without nuclear racism, the whole nuclear industry could not continue or exist. Uranium is mined and milled on Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo, and Cree Lands in North America, and on aboriginal homelands in Australia and South Africa. NSP owns a part of a uranium fuel fabrication plant proposed next to an African-American community in Homer, Louisiana. NSP burns nuclear fuel and stores the waste in casks next to the Mdewakanton Dakota Community at Prairie Island on the Mississippi River. NSP is proposing to merge with Wisconsin Energy Corporation which operates 2 failing reactors at Point Beach on Menomonee Territory. NSP also leads, through Congress and private deals, nuclear industry attempts to dump the United States' radioactive waste on tribal lands throughout North America. Communities affected include: Western Shoshone at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, Skull Valley Goshutes in Utah, Mescalero Apache in New Mexico, Meadow Lake First Nations in northern Saskatchewan, and Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BACK to PIC Reports Page Copyright � Prairie Island Coalition - 1997 ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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