Oak Ridge Today

Demonstrator arrested after annual march to Y-12

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OREPA-Rosdatter-Y-12-ORPD-Aug-6-2016-3

Beth Rosdatter of Lexington, Kentucky, in white T-shirt, was arrested on a state misdemeanor charge of obstructing a highway after she walked up to the federal “blue line” and sat on the pavement in front of it at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex on East Bear Creek Road on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:45 p.m. Aug. 7.

A Kentucky woman was arrested on a state misdemeanor charge after she walked up to the federal “blue line” at the front entrance of the Y-12 National Security Complex on East Bear Creek Road on Saturday afternoon and sat down on the pavement at the main entrance to the nuclear weapons plant.

Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said Rosdatter, a 55-year-old mother who has a doctorate in philosophy, did not cross the blue line. Crossing it can result in federal charges.

In an apparent act of civil disobedience, Rosdatter sat in the roadway, on the hot asphalt near the blue line. She appeared to be questioned by Y-12 security officers and the Oak Ridge Police Department and then detained by the ORPD.

Also Saturday, Michael Walli, one of three protesters who broke into Y-12 on July 28, 2012, and splashed blood and sprayed graffiti on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility as part of an effort to protest nuclear weapons, helped lead a two-mile nuclear disarmament march to Y-12 from Alvin K. Bissell Park in central Oak Ridge. Rosdatter’s arrest followed that march.

Walli was released from prison along with his two fellow protesters, Megan Rice and Greg Boertje-Obed, on May 16, 2015, eight days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned their more serious felony sabotage convictions. [Read more…]

Three groups seek info on plan to bring spent nuke fuel to ORNL

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

Three nuclear watchdog organizations have filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking information about plans to ship high burn-up commercial spent nuclear fuel from the North Anna power reactor in Virginia to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, a press release said. The three organizations are Savannah River Site Watch in Columbia, South Carolina; Snake River Alliance Education Fund in Pocatello, Idaho; and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance in Oak Ridge.

The groups filed the FOIA request after discovering a letter approving a shipping route from North Anna to Oak Ridge, the press release said. It said the letter provides little information about the specifics of the route or the timing of the proposed shipment.

“We asked for a map of the route two weeks ago,” said Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of OREPA. “So far, we’ve received nothing. So we are resorting to the formal—and more expensive for the government—FOIA process to get information.”

Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, filed the FOIA on behalf of the three organizations. The Savannah River Site was initially under consideration for the research project. [Read more…]

OREPA celebrates 16 years of Sunday vigils this week

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OREPA Vigil Announcement Nov. 29, 2015

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance will celebrate 16 years of uninterrupted Sunday vigils at the gates of the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday, November 29, a press release said. The vigil starts at 5 p.m.

The vigils, which began on the first Sunday of Advent in November 1999, are intended to “bear witness to life and peace at the place where workers prepare for the destruction of the planet,” the press release said.

Thousands of people have attended the Sunday vigils; every continent except Antarctica has been represented; two presidental candidates have attended, the press release said.

“We welcome everyone to the vigils,” said OREPA coordinator Ralph Hutchison. “They attest to the persistent desire for peace and the refusal to be silent in the face of the threat Y12 poses to all humanity.”

For more information, contact Hutchison at (865) 776-5050.

Three years after break-in, protesters return to Y-12

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Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed at Y-12

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday. The three protesters—from left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed—object to nuclear weapons and the planned Uranium Processing Facility. Here they are pictured on Scarboro Road across from Y-12. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. August 9.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The march and rally were organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance as part of a series of events that commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, near the end of World War II. Uranium for the first bomb, the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was enriched at Y-12.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—were convicted on two felony charges on May 8, 2013, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. But their conviction on the more serious felony sabotage charge was overturned two years later, on May 8, 2015, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli were released on May 16 and have a re-sentencing hearing on September 15 in Knoxville. [Read more…]

OREPA has events in Oak Ridge, Knoxville on 70th anniversary of WWII bombings

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has a series of events in Oak Ridge and Knoxville this week on the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II.

The events will recall the bombings and address present-day nuclear weapons production, a press release said.

The events kicked off with an evening with Gar Alperovitz, author of “The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb,” at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on Sunday and continued on Monday with faith leaders speaking about the bomb in Market Square in Knoxville.

They continue today (Tuesday, August 4.) Here’s the schedule: [Read more…]

Seattle man arrested during Y-12 protest crossed blue trespass line, police say

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Christopher Ryan Spicer Arrest at Y-12

Christopher Ryan Spicer of Seattle was arrested and charged with criminal trespass at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Ralph Hutchison)

The Seattle man who was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday had repeatedly failed to comply with police commands, and he crossed a blue trespass line at the main entrance to the nuclear weapons plant, authorities said.

Christopher Ryan Spicer, 31, was participating in a weekly protest at Y-12 at about 6 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Bear Creek and Scarboro roads. This protest was significant because it occurred less than two days before the scheduled sentencing of the three protesters who broke into Y-12 in July 2012 and spray-painted slogans and splashed blood on a uranium storage building.

Dozens of people came to Knoxville from across the country for the Tuesday sentencing of the three: Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli. However, it was postponed to Feb. 18 because of snow.

Christopher Ryan Spicer

Christopher Ryan Spicer

Oak Ridge Police Department Officer James Elkins said Spicer was among the protesters on Sunday evening before he crossed a street and walked toward the Y-12 guard shack. Spicer repeatedly failed to comply with orders given by him and ORPD Sgt. Roy Heinz, Elkins said in a warrant filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. The officers told Spicer to stop as he approached the blue trespass line at the federal site, Elkins said. [Read more…]

Guest column: U.S. Marshals place ‘Cone of Silence’ over Sr. Megan Rice

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

By Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance

The U.S. Marshals have placed a “cone of silence” over Sister Megan Rice, the 83-year-old defendant in the Transform Now Plowshares action who is being held in jail in Knoxville awaiting her sentencing on Tuesday, Jan. 28, in federal court in Knoxville on charges of sabotage and depredation of federal property. Her actual crime was embarrassing the federal government, along with Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli, by sneaking into the nation’s ultra-secure Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge and painting peace slogans and pouring blood on the side of a warehouse that stores hundreds of tons of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium.

She has been in jail since a jury delivered a guilty verdict on the trumped-up charges in May 2013.

On Sunday, Jan. 26, Megan called local supporters to report that a phone interview that had been arranged with BBC-London had suddeny been denied. “They were so helpful here at the jail yesterday with making arrangements for the call,” she said, “and then tonight the woman was loud and rude and told me there would be no call. The U.S. Marshals were not allowing it.” [Read more…]

Activists ask federal officials to build UPF underground at Y-12

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

The proposed multi-billion-dollar building that would process uranium at the Y-12 National Security Complex should be buried below ground, an Oak Ridge nonprofit organization and a Washington, D.C.-based group told federal safety officials in a Monday letter.

The groups planned to make their request during an all-day meeting and public hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Knoxville on Tuesday. The board is meeting in two sessions from 8 a.m. to noon and 2 to 6 p.m. today (Tuesday) at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The Monday letter was from the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in Washington, D.C. Among the dozen signatories is Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, a group that has long been critical of the nuclear weapons work at Y-12. OREPA said the letter’s signatories represent thousands of members at sites across the country. [Read more…]

OREPA commemorates Nagasaki bombing with peace lantern ceremony

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance will commemorate the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945, with a peace lantern ceremony this evening at Sequoyah Hills Park in Knoxville.

The ceremony begins at 8 p.m. and will include Buddhist drumming and chanting, traditional Japanese folk dancing, music, shadow puppets, and, at 8:45pm, the launching of peace lanterns, a press release said. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters work to change nuclear policy, prevent another Hiroshima

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OREPA Peace Cranes at Y-12

Sharon O’Hara-Bruce of Lake Orion, Mich., ties a peace crane to a fence set up in front of the Y-12 National Security during a Tuesday morning ceremony recalling the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II.

A few dozen demonstrators from across the eastern United States gathered near the Y-12 National Security Complex on Tuesday morning to remember the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II 68 years ago.

Some traveled hundreds of miles by bicycle and car to get to Oak Ridge, where they questioned the nation’s current energy policy and preparations for nuclear war. Four riders arrived after a 458-mile, nine-day “Bikes Not Bombs” trip from Cincinnati to Oak Ridge.

“It’s consciousness-raising and concern for the priorities of our society,” said Tim Kraus of Cincinnati, part of the support group for the “Bikes Not Bombs” trip, which was organized by Footprints for Peace. “What we’re doing is not sustainable.” [Read more…]

Tuesday morning ceremony near Y-12 recalls Hiroshima bombing

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OREPA Protest at Y-12 National Security Complex

A Tuesday morning ceremony in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex will recall the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. Y-12 enriched uranium for the bomb. Pictured above are protesters at last year’s annual event.

A Tuesday morning ceremony near the Y-12 National Security Complex will recall the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, organizers said.

The annual event at the front of Y-12 includes a Names and Remembrance Ceremony. It’s sponsored by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance.

Organizers say they will “raise voices in solidarity with survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima who say, ‘Never Again!’” [Read more…]

Y-12 protester temporarily released for funeral; officials don’t comment on whether she returned to prison

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Megan Rice and Michele Naar-Obed

Megan Rice, left, was convicted on two federal charges in May after breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalizing a uranium storage building with two other protesters. She was temporarily released last week to attend her brother-in-law’s funeral. Rice is pictured above outside U.S. District Court in Knoxville with Michele Naar-Obed, wife of one of the other protesters, Greg Boertje-Obed.

U.S. and Georgia officials did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday and Wednesday on whether peace protester Megan Rice, who has been convicted of destroying government property at the Y-12 National Security Complex, returned to prison in the Peach State this week after a five-day release to attend the funeral of her brother-in-law in New York.

But on Tuesday, Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said he assumed Rice had returned to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga.

“I assume she reported, or we’d have heard from someone trying to locate her,” Hutchison said in a Tuesday evening e-mail. “I know she was returning to Atlanta last night en route to Ocilla. That’s the last I heard.” [Read more…]