Activists plan 'retirement party' as nukes turn 65

[bananas]

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2010/07/retirement_party_on_nukes_65th.html

Activists plan 'retirement party' as nukes turn 65

Nuclear weapons turn 65 this year, and peace activists are planning a "retirement party" as part of the events surrounding "Hiroshima Day" -- the annniversary of the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (Aug. 6, 1945).

"They've been around for 65 years, and they need to be put out to pasture," said Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. "But we're not giving them any gold watch of appreciation."

Hutchison said the activist group will hold its traditional "Names in Remembrance" ceremony on Aug. 6, with a reading of the names of people who died from the atomic bombing, following by the ringing of a bell. That will be interspersed with the reading of accounts from bomb survivors. The ceremony will take place from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., he said.

On Sunday, Aug. 8, instead of the usual weekly vigil that's held at the entrance to the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant (which produced the enriched uranium used in "Little Boy," the bomb dropped on Hiroshima), there will be a retirement party for nuclear weapons, Hutchison said.

The OREPA coordinator said he plans to visit Kansas City in mid-August to conduct non-viiolence training for peace activists there.

Posted by Frank Munger on July 30, 2010

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance website is http://www.stopthebombs.org/