Saturday, August 2, 2008

Hiroshima Day

Hiroshima Day

On Wednesday, Aug. 6, beginning at 6 a.m., members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance and other peace activists will hold a remembrance ceremony at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and read the names of those who died in the A-bomb blast over Hiroshima, Japan, in World War II.

The Oak Ridge plant enriched the uranium used in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

OREPA coordinator Ralph Hutchison said the group plans to have a peace lantern event three days later, on the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing.

Hutchison said there are no plans to hold a protest rally, concert or cross-town march to Y-12, although he said some people from Michigan and elsewhere will arrive in town to participate in the remembrance ceremony. (Here's a link to video from last August's protest.)

Sidenote: This year's anniversary falls on the same day (first Wednesday of the month) that the Dept. of Energy tests its sirens at its Oak Ridge facilities, including Y-12. That's means it's going to get mighty loud at the plant's entrance around noon.

DOE spokesman John Shewairy said he didn't realize the confluence of events, but he said it was important to maintain consistency in the emergency-preparedness tests. In other words, the show must go on.

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