Masaryk University Brno, October the 28th 2015
Faculty of Social Sciences
Seminar: Environmental NGOd and society (HEN634)
Lecturer: Jan Haverkamp
By: Unai Figueroa, Stephanie Richter, Lukas Pokorny
NGOs Against Nuclear Power
1. Introduction
The birth of the nuclear movement can be set in the action of Bohlen and Stowe matrimonies,
opposed to nuclear testing by the United States, in the National Wildlife Refuge Amchitka (Alaska);
for it Committee founded the Do not Make A Wave, in September 15th, 1971 chartered an
expedition by boat to the nuclear testing area named as Greenpeace I. That was the origin of the
environmental organization Greenpeace. In April 12nd, 1971, a demonstration of several hundred
people against the construction of the new nuclear power station at Fessenheim (Alsace) begins the
French anti-nuclear movement.
440 nuclear power plants1 are spread across our planet – most of them can be found in North
America, Europa and in Asia. One might say that after the most fatal nuclear catastrophe of
Chernobyl in 1986, national anti-nuclear power groups formed rapidly. Since for instance the
nuclear rain also affected Germany and other neighbouring countries, similar concerns about
nuclear power were raised in those countries. Nuclear power is advertised as clean since it emits a
low amount of carbon dioxide, unlike coal powered plants. However, nuclear power plants are of
high risk and small and big accidents happen every year2. Those accidents not only contaminate
soil, water, and air but can also cause health problems and premature deaths. Apart from accidents,
the NPP and the final disposal sites for nuclear waste are potential targets for terrorist attacks3.
Nevertheless, those fatal accidents illustrate the danger of nuclear power plants clearly. For
example after the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011, Germany took eight NPP of the line and the
remaining nine should be of the line until 20224. Still, the way to the nuclear phase-out worldwide
is paved with problems and protests. The reason is “[...] an issue of power: of corporate and elite
power and interests outweighing the power of ordinary citizens and communities”5.Environmental
1 In the following text also referred to as “NPP“
2 Jul/dapd (2011) http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/unfaelle-in-atomkraftwerken-chronologie-des-
schreckens-a-750519.html
3 Time for Change http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability
4 Tagesschau.de (2015) “Neun Meiler am Netz, acht stillgelegt”
https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/atomkraftwerke-101.html
5 Friends of the Earth International “Good Energy, Bad Energy“ http://www.foei.org/wp-
NGOs across the globe are essential players who educate, protest, and advocate for safer and
cleaner energy with renewable energies.
1. Greenpeace
The anti-nuclear
movement is the
organizational response
that brings together
people, organizations, and
political parties that
express an anti-nuclear
and environmental
commitment. The
movement tries to raise
awareness to the danger
of the use, development,
and expansion is a response both civil and military nuclear technology. Greenpeace has always
fought and will continues to fighting vigorously against nuclear power because “it is an
unacceptable risk to the environment and to humanity. The only solution is to halt the expansion of
all nuclear power, and for the shutdown of existing plants.”
Greenpeace is funded entirely by contributions from its members and does not accept
donations from governments, political parties or businesses. The actions taken by Greenpeace at
several nuclear power plants have never endangered those plants, but they have shown they are not
well protected. It has been also known that an aging NPP as Spain presents additional risks that are
unnecessary and that viable alternatives exists. Therefore, Greenpeace believes, it is an ethical
obligation to close the NPPs for eliminating these hazards. Their typical approach to this topic, is
through direct actions and demonstrations which should raise public awareness through powerful
pictures and so called mind-bombs.
What Greenpeace proposes:
To improve security: 1. Transparency and independence of the nuclear regulators to make decisions
away from economic and political pressures that help ensure the safety. 2. Public participation helps
content/uploads/2013/09/Good-Energy-Bad-Energy-Summary.pdf
Grafik 1: Important Stakeholders in the Movement Against Nuclear Power
improving transparency and requires operators to maintain high safety incentive. 3. Change civil
responsibility so that there is no limit damage and extend this to the entire nuclear industry, not only
to operators. Higher costs in responsibility implies increasing investment in security.
To close the NPP: Adopt a 100% renewable energy model, efficient, technically possible,
economically viable, and sustainable.
2. Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
FoEI is an environmental NGO with a network of national organizations in over 70 countries that
has campaigned against nuclear power since it was founded in 1969 and they still, amongst other
issues, pursue this goal. Their methods include awareness building, direct action and education for
sustainable development. Since FoEI is comprised out of many national organizations, their
campaigning against nuclear power plants takes places on a local, national, and international level.
Further, they cooperate closely because of their ties and their organisations in 76 countries which
gives them powerful synergies on an international level. Here, and on the level of lobbying they will
take a direct part at the COP21 in Paris: “Friends of the Earth International, several Friends of the
Earth member groups, and Real World Radio will take part in the Conference of the Parties (COP)
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, France in
December6.”
On a national level their work is more independent and drifts from the international
campaign against nuclear power. An example for this would be FoE America, their “[…] nuclear
campaign works to reduce risks for people and the environment by supporting efforts to close
existing nuclear reactors and fighting proposals to design and build new reactors that use federal
funds to underwrite such initiatives” and their campaign against the Diablo Canyon power plant on
the shore of California. Back then when Diablo Canyon was build the understanding of earthquakes
was not at a level as it nowadays. “Diablo Canyon is surrounded by faults capable of creating
ground motion beyond that for which the reactors and their components were tested and licensed“7.
Apart from the usual risks that a NPP poses, here is an additional seismic risk present. Last year in
August, FoE publicized a document by the former senior inspector at Diablo Canyon, Dr. Michael
Peck:
“This document reveals that three of the nearby faults (Shoreline, Los Osos and San Luis
Bay) are capable of generating earthquakes stronger than the reactors were designed to
withstand. Dr. Peck’s dissent argues that Diablo Canyon is operating outside the
6 Friends of the Earth International http://www.foei.org/what-we-do/paris
7 Friends of the Earth http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/nuclear-reactors
conditions of its license and should be shut down until PG&E can prove that the reactors
can withstand potential earthquakes on these faults”8.
3. Czech Republic and its nuclear-focused NGOs
Nowadays, we have in the Czech Republic two nuclear power plants (6 reactors together); older
one, running from 1985, Dukovany, and Temelin which has been producing energy since 2000.
Those two Czech power plants generate around 29TWh of electric energy annually. This stands for
36% of all energy produced in Czech Republic.9 According to the operator of both the plants, the
largest Czech energy company ČEZ, around 60% of Czech inhabitants are those who said yes, or
more likely yes, to nuclear energy. This makes Czech people the biggest supporters of nuclear
energy in the EU.10
When it comes to environmental non-governmental organizations operating in Czech Republic, all
of them say no to nuclear energy. For example Hnuti Duha and the Czech branch of Greenpeace are
both pushing up renewable energy systems over nuclear energy. They both joined together in the
past for direct actions: trying to block the erection of new reactors.11 Both also use strong
argumentation against nuclear power in their own research work.
The strongest voice against nuclear energy in Czech Republic is the organization „Jihočeské matky“
(Mothers from the south of Bohemia). This organization was founded in 1992, while before it was
only an informal group of people from south of Bohemia where the Temelin power plant is located.
An impulse to form this group was the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. In the young times of the
organization, in 1992, their work was mainly organizing and calling for demonstrations. Firstly, it
were gathering-demonstrations and mementos for Chernobyl disaster. Secondly, big demonstrations
against the construction of the Temelin power plant. During this era of fresh democracy, a lot of
people were persuaded by them and thought that it is possible to shut down the Temelin
construction. After 1993, when it was decided that Temelin will go online, many anti-nuclear voices
were shut down and also Jihočeské matky begun more focusing on the educational work. Since then
the organization has been presenting anti-nuclear scientific researches and tries to bring up this
education to the people through seminars, workshops, etc.12
8 Ebd.
9 „Jaderná energetika“, Energostat, http://energostat.cz/jaderna-energetika.html
10 „Postoj veřejnosti k jaderné energetice“, ČEZ (2014) http://www.cez.cz/cs/vyroba-elektriny/zvazovana-dostavba-
elektrarny-temelin/postoj-ceske-verejnosti-k-jaderne-energetice.html
11 „Hnutí DUHA a Greenpeace budou blokovat Temelín“, Deník Referendum (2011)
http://denikreferendum.cz/clanek/9854-hnuti-duha-a-greenpeace-budou-blokovat-temelin
12 „Jihočeské Matky – O nás“, Jihočeské Matky , http://www.jihoceskematky.cz/cz/o-nas
Conclusion
In our research we did not come across many niches that each mentioned above NGO is taking.
There are many similarities in their approaches as they are advertised on their web pages. However,
we believe that in the public’s eyes, each NGO takes different stance. For example, Friends of the
Earth is in generally known for their educational work and is not known for provocative direct
actions, unlike Greenpeace. We did not find any information if the work of NGOs in this matter is
interfering with other NGOs work. Because of the lack of information on this matter it can be
assumed that this is not the case.
Resources:
ČEZ (2014) “Postoj veřejnosti k jaderné energetice“, http://www.cez.cz/cs/vyroba-
elektriny/zvazovana-dostavba-elektrarny-temelin/postoj-ceske-verejnosti-k-jaderne-
energetice.html
Energostat “Jaderná energetika“, http://energostat.cz/jaderna-energetika.html
Friends of the Earth International “Good Energy, Bad Energy“ http://www.foei.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/Good-Energy-Bad-Energy-Summary.pdf
Friends of the Earth International http://www.foei.org/what-we-do/paris
Friends of the Earth http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/nuclear-reactors
Greenpeace, “What we do. Nuclear, Campaigns”
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/nuclear/
Jihočeské Matky “Jihočeské Matky – O nás“ http://www.jihoceskematky.cz/cz/o-nas
Jul/dapd (2011) http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/unfaelle-in-atomkraftwerken-
chronologie-des-schreckens-a-750519.html
red (2011) “Hnutí DUHA a Greenpeace budou blokovat Temelín“
http://denikreferendum.cz/clanek/9854-hnuti-duha-a-greenpeace-budou-blokovat-temelin
Tagesschau.de (2015) “Neun Meiler am Netz, acht stillgelegt”
https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/atomkraftwerke-101.html
Time for Change http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability