Chernobyl Day
In April 2010, not long after forming Heysham Anti-Nuclear Alliance, we commemorated the Chernobyl disaster with a stall in Lancaster Market Square in collaboration with Lancaster District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. We talked to local residents about the proposal and handed out our leaflets.
In the evening we organized a public meeting at the Gregson Community and Arts Centre with several expert speakers.
Maurice Pennance founder of the googlegroups page for HANA opened the evening, welcoming the audience and our guests to the meeting.
First up was Dr Stuart Parkinson of "Scientists for Global Responsibility" who discussed the failure of nuclear power to deliver its promised performance. He stressed the excessive cost and time to build nuclear power stations.
Then, Dr Noel Cass of the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University described the consultation process and its failures. In particular the criticised the process of consultations according to the National Policy Statement guidelines.
Finally, Dr John Whitelegg, the Professor of Sustainable Development at the the University of York's Stockholm Environment Institute, visiting Professor of Sustainable Transport at Liverpool John Moore's University, and Green Party Lancaster City Councillor, described his vision for a sustainable "green economy" in the North-West. He advocated renewable energy as a means of creating jobs during the current recession.
The Chernobyl Day commemoration in Lancaster was a great success at raising public awareness about the proposed Heysham development, and we hope to continue this in years to come.