Anti-nuclear organizations explained

See main article: Anti-nuclear movement. Anti-nuclear organizations may oppose uranium mining, nuclear power, and/or nuclear weapons. Anti-nuclear groups have undertaken public protests and acts of civil disobedience which have included occupations of nuclear plant sites. Some of the most influential groups in the anti-nuclear movement have had members who were elite scientists, including several Nobel Laureates and many nuclear physicists.

Types of organizations

Various types of organizations have identified themselves with the anti-nuclear movement:^[1]

direct action groups, such as the Clamshell Alliance and Shad Alliance;
environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace;
consumer protection groups, such as Ralph Nader's Critical Mass;
professional organizations,^[2] such as International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; and
political parties such as European Free Alliance.

Some of the most influential groups in the anti-nuclear movement have had members who were elite scientists, including several Nobel Laureates and many nuclear physicists. In the United States, these scientists have belonged primarily to three groups: the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Federation of American Scientists, and the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility.^[3]

Activities

Anti-nuclear groups have undertaken public protests and acts of civil disobedience which have included occupations of nuclear plant sites. Other salient strategies have included lobbying, petitioning government authorities, influencing public policy through referendum campaigns and involvement in elections. Anti-nuclear groups have also tried to influence policy implementation through litigation and by participating in licensing proceedings.^[4]

International organizations

The ATOM Project, international nonprofit organization seeking entry into force of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the limitation of all nuclear arsenals.^[5]
Beyond Nuclear, international advocacy organization working for the abolition of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
European Nuclear Disarmament, held annual conventions in the 1980s involving thousands of anti-nuclear weapons activists mostly from Western Europe but also from Eastern Europe, the United States, and Australia.
Friends of the Earth International, a network of environmental organizations in 77 countries.^[6]
Global Zero, international non-partisan group of 300 world leaders dedicated to achieving the elimination of nuclear weapons.^[7]
Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, international partnership of 83 nations.
Greenpeace International, non-governmental environmental organization^[8] with offices in over 41 countries and headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[9]
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, had affiliates in 41 nations in 1985, representing 135,000 physicians; IPPNW was awarded the UNESCO Peace Education Prize in 1984 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.^[10]
Nuclear Free World Policy
- Nuclear Information and Resource Service OPANAL
Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, global network of over 700 parliamentarians from more than 75 countries working to prevent nuclear proliferation.^[11]
Pax Christi International, Catholic group which took a "sharply anti-nuclear stand".^[12]
Ploughshares Fund
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Socialist International, world body of social democratic parties.
Sōka Gakkai, a peace-orientated Buddhist organisation, which held anti-nuclear exhibitions in Japanese cities during the late 1970s, and gathered 10 million signatures on petitions calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.^[13] ^[14]
The Ribbon International, United Nations Non-Governmental Organization promoting nuclear disarmament.
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
World Constitution and Parliament Association
World Constitution Coordinating Committee
World Disarmament Campaign^[13]
World Information Service on Energy, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
World Union for Protection of Life
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), calls for a complete phase-out of nuclear energy.^[15]

List of other organizations

Many of these groups are listed at "Protest movements against nuclear energy" in Wolfgang Rudig (1990). Anti-nuclear Movements: A World Survey of Opposition to Nuclear Energy, Longman, pp. 381–403.

Notes and References

William A. Gamson and Andre Modigliani. Media Coverage and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 95, No. 1, July 1989, p. 7.
Fox Butterfield. Professional Groups Flocking to Antinuclear Drive, The New York Times, March 27, 1982.
Jerome Price (1982). The Anti-nuclear Movement, Twayne Publishers, p. 65.
Herbert P. Kitschelt. Political Opportunity and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1986, p. 67.
Web site: The ATOM Project . Friends of the Earth International . 2015-06-09 .
Web site: About Friends of the Earth International . Friends of the Earth International . 2009-06-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090504190008/http://www.foei.org/en/who-we-are/about . 2009-05-04 .
Web site: Join the Movement | Global Zero . 2019-05-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180208064244/https://www.globalzero.org/?name=2.htm&id=2 . 2018-02-08 . dead .
https://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/dpingo-directory.asp?RegID=--&CnID=all&AcID=0&kw=greenpeace&NGOID=550 United Nations, Department of Public Information, Non-Governmental Organizations
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/worldwide Greenpeace International: Greenpeace worldwide
http://www.ippnw.org/About/NobelHelix.html Profile from Helix Magazine
Web site: Coltart elected anti-nuclear organisation president . Henry Mhara . Oct 17, 2011 . News Day .
Lawrence S. Wittner (2009). Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, Stanford University Press, pp. 164-165.
Lawrence S. Wittner (2009). Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, Stanford University Press, p. 128.
Lawrence S. Wittner (2009). Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, Stanford University Press, p. 125.
Web site: Position Paper - Nuclear Power. May 1, 2003.