147 ARRESTED IN ANTI-NUCLEAR PROTESTS

COP6 TALKS COLLAPSE--BUT MOST COUNTRIES REJECT NUCLEAR POWER AS SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

The Hague, Netherlands. An international conference intended to provide implementation mechanisms for the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change collapsed here November 25, when negotiators from the European Union and the United States could not reach final agreement on the use of carbon "sinks" in combating greenhouse gases.

The failure of the talks means that the Kyoto Protocol, which was framed to require the world’s industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 1990 levels, is unlikely to be ratified by those countries in the near future.

The good news from The Hague, however, was a near-unanimous rejection by industrialized and developing countries alike of nuclear power as an appropriate means of addressing climate change.

That position was a sea change from just six weeks earlier, when at a pre-conference in Lyon, France, the United States announced that it would only accept an agreement that included nuclear power in the Kyoto Protocol’s "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM), an emissions trading scheme that allows industrialized nations to sell "clean" technologies to developing nations and receive greenhouse gas "credits" for such sales. The U.S. position was supported by several other countries.

But that was before NIRS/WISE-Amsterdam, and other organizations including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth International, stepped up their campaigns to stop atomic reactors, with all of their environmental and proliferation issues, from being used as a means for developed countries to avoid reducing their greenhouse gas emissions while basically forcing this obsolete, polluting technology on developing nations ill-equipped to operate or maintain reactors.

In the U.S., NIRS/WISE and Ozone Action (since merged with Greenpeace) held a telephone press conference with Germany’s second-ranking Environmental minister, a top Green official in the European Union, and a spokesman for Children of Chornobyl—to remind listeners of the stakes involved. That was followed up with hundreds of grassroots phone calls, faxes, and e-mails to the White House—enough that the White House asked us to "stop."

We then led a delegation of U.S. environmental groups to the White House Task Force on Global Climate Change, where it was made clear that if nuclear power were included in the Kyoto Protocol, a number of organizations would find it impossible to support the Protocol—meaning that it would be impossible to ratify the Protocol in the U.S. Senate. Without environmental support, the Protocol would go nowhere.

Then, late in the night on November 3^rd, Vice-President Al Gore faxed a letter to NIRS, arranged by NIRS’ Senior Advisor Harvey Wasserman, stating Gore’s unequivocal opposition to including nuclear power in climate change mechanisms.

NIRS passed the letter to a few key individuals working on the issue, and then, on November 12, NIRS’ executive director found himself on the same plane to The Hague as much of the U.S. delegation. He handed the letter to one member of the delegation at Dulles Airport.

By the next evening, the first day of the conference, U.S. delegate David Sandalow announced to a surprised press corps that the U.S. recognized that nuclear power has problems of safety, radioactive waste, proliferation, public acceptance and costs. He said the U.S. was now willing to discuss the nuclear issue.

Meanwhile, NIRS/WISE-Amsterdam had also planned a variety of other activities to bring attention to an issue some thought might be overlooked at the conference.

On the night before the conference, 25 activists went out across The Hague putting up posters that said "Don’t Nuke the Climate!" 17 of them were arrested for putting up posters without permits. The next morning, an affinity group from Germany attempted to put up a mock nuclear reactor in front of the convention center where the delegates were meeting; they were all quickly arrested—but not before unfurling a "Don’t Nuke the Climate!" banner before the international press corps (which included vast amount of media from every country except the U.S.).

The rest of the week, NIRS/WISE, Greenpeace, FoE, and others met daily to strategize how to move the nuclear power issue. Working with Climate Action Network and others, this small group briefed delegates from the U.S. and elsewhere, issued press releases, sent messages back home via e-mail, and generally worked non-stop.

By the end of the week, the results were disappointing. The U.S. delegation reported little movement on the nuclear issue; other countries weren’t seizing upon the issue. The big confrontations were yet to come.

On Saturday, FoE brought 6,000 people to the front of the convention center to build a giant dike around the facility, symbolizing the danger to the Netherlands if global warming continues unabated. Anti-nuclear speeches brought the loudest applause, and NIRS/WISE distributed thousands of stickers—many of which made their way onto the dike—to the participants. The demonstration took on the flavor of an anti-nuclear rally.

NIRS/WISE also presented to the President of the conference, Dutch Environmental Minister Jan Pronk, a petition signed by more then 700 organizations worldwide calling for no nuclear power in the CDM. Pronk, who came outside to meet with us after we were ejected from the conference hall—despite being assured of entry—said that while he could not in his present position take a stand on the issue, reminded us that as Environment Minister, he had long opposed nuclear power. And then he congratulated NIRS/WISE for causing movement on the issue among the delegations—at that point, it was one of the few issues being discussed.

Beginning on Sunday, the big shots came to town: U.S. Senators and Representatives—most there to try to sink the treaty; Foreign and Environmental Ministers from various countries--following them were 250 U.S. student representatives brought to the conference by Greenpeace.

Frustrated by the conference’s failure to quickly exclude nuclear from the Protocol, the nuclear caucus quickly planned a Walk of Shame to the various embassies of those governments still not outright opposed to nuclear power in the treaty: the U.S., Japan, Canada, China and India. The Walk would take place on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, NIRS/WISE also released a letter to the U.S. delegation, signed by more than 70 organizations from across the country, warning that a Kyoto Protocol that included nuclear power could not be supported by environmental groups.

On Wednesday morning, several hundred people gathered at the Malieveldt, a park about two miles from the convention center, to begin the Walk of Shame to the various embassies. They were met by helmeted riot police who made it clear that no one would be walking anywhere. 121 people decided to march anyway, and were immediately arrested. All were released within 24 hours; most face court dates in January.

Inside the center, though, there was finally movement. At a plenary session, delegations from industrialized countries were asked to raise their hands if they were opposed to eliminating nuclear power from the CDM. Only Japan, Canada and Australia responded. The U.S. delegation was essentially supporting removing nuclear power from the Kyoto Protocol.

Said one White House official later, environmentalists "were winning in a romp" on the nuclear power issue.

But as negotiations continued on a myriad of complicated issues, and especially whether the U.S. would be allowed to receive greenhouse gas emissions credits for carbon "sinks," basically forests and farmland, things got stickier.

The European Union was adamantly opposed to the "sinks" concept; the U.S. was just as adamantly insisting upon sinks credits. Japan, Australia and Canada, in particular, were still promoting nuclear power.

Realizing that negotiations were about to fail, Conference President Pronk put forth a new alternative; among its provisions was one that explicitly excluded nuclear power from the CDM.

Marathon sessions followed, as the various nations tried to reach an agreement. It didn’t happen, although by the end, only Japan and Canada, among the industrialized nations, and China and India, which might receive money to build nuclear reactors under the CDM, were still supporting the nuclear option.

It was certainly at least a partial victory. We had successfully stopped nuclear power from achieving its cherished goal as an appropriate means of addressing greenhouse gases.

But with the collapse of the talks, we may have to start over. COP7 will be held next year, but there are rumors that the talks will begin much sooner, and perhaps start from where they left off…

Photos, videos, and stories about the COP6 conference and the activity outside the conference center can be found at www.climateconference.org.