Anti-Nuke Walkers to Arrive in Point Beach on Sunday

Anti-nuke walkers are scheduled to walk in Point Beach on Sunday and Monday as part of a walk from Oyster Creek to Vermont.

As part of the 15 walkers are scheduled to walk from Oyster Creek in Lacey Township to Toms River today and continue to Trenton and Bay avenues in Point Beach on Sunday, according to Edith Gbur of Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch.

On Monday, the group will start from the corner of Trenton and Bay avenues and walk to the main gate of Monmouth University at Cedar & Norwood avenues in West Long Branch.

The walkers include two residents of northern Japan, who live near the area impacted by the recent nuclear disaster.

“Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant, the oldest nuclear plant in the country, has the same design as the Fukushima Nuclear Plant whose disaster caused the permanent displacement of 160,000 Japanese people,” Gbur said.

The walk, which will call attention to the implications of the Fukushima accident for nuclear power safety in the U.S., will continue to the Indian Point power plant in Buchanan, N.Y. and finish at Vermont Yankee in Vernon, Vt.

“The walkers are Buddhist nuns, monks, and others from all faith traditions,” she said.

The Buddhist walkers are from Grafton Peace Pagoda east of Buffalo, N.Y. Last year, the group was led by nun Jun San Yasuda walking 206 miles from the Indian Point nuclear plant to Vermont Yankee.

“It's a wonderful opportunity for us to connect with local activists and concerned individuals along the way and hopefully bring renewed energy and determination to their work for a sustainable and peaceful nuclear free future,” said Christian Collins, a walk organizer.

One year after the nuclear disaster in Japan, the situation is far from over, a press release for the event read. Dangerous levels of radioactivity are still being found hundreds of miles from Fukushima. About 160,000 people have been displaced and decontamination will cost as much as $250 billion.

Nearly all of Japan’s 54 nuclear plans have been shut down due to pressure by the public, Gbur said.

“Our walk is a prayer for the suffering of the Japanese people as a result of their government’s reckless nuclear policies,” the release says. “It is also a plea for the people of New Jersey, New York, and New England to recognize the grave dangers that nuclear energy poses to our lives, our property, and all life on our Mother Earth. Nuclear energy is neither safe nor clean.”

The findings of the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force identified serious concerns but asserted that “business as usual” should continue while the New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection’s task force found that the state’s nuclear plants operate safely, Gbur said.

The threat of a nuclear accident in the U.S. is “all too real” and would be “unimaginably catastrophic,” the press release said. “We walk together in love and solidarity for a nuclear free future."

Throughout the first portion of the walk, through March 8, Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch will be hosting potluck dinners and discussions with local area experts about the dangers of nuclear power.

People are encouraged to join the walk for an hour or a day, Gbur said. Volunteers are also welcomed to help. For more information and to volunteer, contact Gbur at 732-240-5107.

Schedule for Public Discussions:

Saturday, March 3, 6 p.m.
Location: Potluck at the Sky Walk Cafeteria, 2nd Floor, 129 Hooper Ave, Toms River, NJ (Connected to parking garage)
Speakers: Sky Sims, Sustainable energy specialist; Joseph Mangano, Executive Director of Radiation and Public Health Project; Filmakers Ed M. Koziarski and Junko Kajino
For information contact Burt Gbur, 732-240-5107

Sunday, March 4, 6 p.m.
Location: Potluck at Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center, Church Lane and US Highway 9, Lanoka Harbor, NJ
Speakers: Willie DeCamp, Save Barnegat Bay; Greg Auriemma, Esq., Chair, Ocean County Sierra Club Peter Weeks, Environmentalist
For information contact Matt Reid, 609-312-6798

Monday, March 5, 6 p.m.
Location: Potluck at Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, 1475 West Front Street, Lincroft, NJ
Speakers: Larry Furman, environmentalist, “Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant is Expensive, Dangerous and Dirty”; Japanese walkers share their post-Fukushima experiences in Japan
For Information: Elaine Held (732-774-3492).

Wednesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Vegetarian Potluck at Sri Swaminarayan Mandir, 4 Louisa Place, Weehawken, NJ 07087
Speaker: Dominique French, Anti-nuclear activist & expert from NIRS
(Nuclear Information and Resource Service)
For Information: Christian Collins 413-320- 2856

Thursday, March 8, 6 p.m.
Location: Puffin Foundation, 20 Puffin Way, Teaneck, N.J.
Speakers: Saburo Kitajima, Union Organizer and sub-contract worker at the Fukushima Daichi and Daini Nuclear Plants; Sidney Goodman, Author 'Asleep At the Geiger Counter: Nuclear Destruction of the Planet and How to Stop It’
For information: Jules Orkin, 201-566-8403

For a general schedule of the walk from Waretown to Vernon, Vermont,