Last weekend IPPNW Germany held an international congress in Berlin to commemorate the nuclear disasters in Fukushima and Chernobyl, attended by about 350 participants. Scientists and activists from Japan, Belarus, Ukraine and other parts of the world came together in the "Urania" congress hall to exchange information and views on research and to network. Our main aim was to link these anniversaries - five for Fukushima and thirty for Chernobyl - with the demand for a phase-out of nuclear power and promotion of an energy revolution.
Shortly before the congress we published the new report from IPPNW Germany of the same title as the congress that updates our previous Chernobyl report and adds a whole new section on Fukushima. The Fukushima part of the report will be published with PSR in English next week for the 5th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The English version of the whole report should be finished by the 30th anniversary of Chernobyl on April 26th, as we received a generous donation from the Electricity Company of Schönau (the first ever renewable electricity company in Germany) for the translation.
Media attention for the report and the congress was very good with German and Japanese TV cameras filming many of the congress sessions. We expect to get good coverage next week for the anniversary itself.
You can find the congress documents, presentations and audio recordings on our homepage here: chernobylcongress.org. As the presentations are still being collated and authorisation requested from all the speakers, we will be updating this page over the next week or so.
You can see photos of the congress here: www.flickr.com/photos/ippnw/sets/72157665225264425
A highlight of the congress was the action "Radiation kills" at the end of the congress, organised by the students. A short video of that can be seen here:
www.youtube.com/watch
We also received greetings from around the world, from the Co-Presidents and also this lovely video: www.youtube.com/watch
We wish to thank all the speakers, the participants, the helpers and everyone who contributed to this congress, who made it such a success!
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