Activists in the Bay Area are marking the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with rallies, speakers, street theater, and educational events. Calling the Ukraine catastrophe "the most significant nuclear reactor failure in the history of nuclear power", anti-nuke enthusiasts say they want the world to remember that April 26, 1986 was the day when one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, killing plant employees instantly and leading to a projected increase in cancer deaths in the hundreds of thousands.

Tri-Valley CARES, Plutonium-Free Future and other groups concerned about the proliferation of nuclear power sponsored a panel discussion on April 10 in Oakland called "A Quarter Century of Chernobyl". The panel featured Russian women activists with first-hand experience in that nuclear reactor disaster.

In Menlo Park, a community demonstration at the busy downtown intersection spilled over to a nearby outdoor cafe where lunchtime patrons became the audience for street theater with an anti-nuke message.

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In San Francisco, the AA Clearinghouse and allied organizations held a speak-out and open mic at the Federal Building on April 26th. The origins of AA Clearinghouse lie in the Abalone Alliance that was formed in 1977 as a nonviolent civil disobedience group to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. That nuclear power plant is seeking recertification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today. Some of the participants in Tuesday's demonstration took part in the blockades and occupations at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant site during the years between 1977 and 1982.

The Abalone Alliance itself was closed in 1985 with the Clearinghouse taking on the responsibility of holding onto the history and resources of the Alliance in the Bay Area.

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On May 4th, the Fellowship of Humanity will screen the movie Battle for Chernobyl in Oakland. This documentary reveals that a narrowly prevented second explosion at the time would have wiped out more than half of Europe, a secret kept for twenty years by the Soviets and the West alike.

AA Clearinghouse | Tri-Valley CARES | Plutonium Free Future