Anti-nuclear protests began on a small scale in the U.S. as early as 1946 in response to Operation Crossroads.Radio Bikini. DVD. Directed by Stone, Robert. Produced by Robert Stone Productions. 1988; New Video Group, 2003. www.imdb.com/title/tt0093817/ Large scale anti-nuclear protests first emerged in the mid-1950s in Japan in the wake of the March 1954 Lucky Dragon Incident. August 1955 saw the first meeting of the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, which had around 3,000 participants from Japan and other nations.Trumbull, Robert. "Hiroshima Rally Splits on the U. S.: Leftist Meeting Cheers and Jeers as O. K. Armstrong Defends American Way." The New York Times. [New York, N.Y] 07 Aug 1955: 4. Protests began in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s.David Cortright (2008). Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas, Cambridge University Press, pp. 134–135. In the United Kingdom, the first Aldermaston March, organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, took place in 1958. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. In 1964, Peace Marches in several Australian capital cities featured "Ban the Bomb" placards.Women with Ban the Bomb banner during Peace march on Sunday April 5th 1964, Brisbane, Australia. Retrieved 8 February 2010.Girl with placard Ban nuclear tests during Peace march on Sunday April 5th 1964, Brisbane, Australia. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
Nuclear power became an issue of major public protest in the 1970sJim Falk (1982). Global Fission: The Battle Over Nuclear Power, Oxford University Press, pp. 95–96. and demonstrations in France and West Germany began in 1971. In France, between 1975 and 1977, some 175,000 people protested against nuclear power in ten demonstrations.Herbert P. Kitschelt. Political Opportunity and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1986, p. 71. In West Germany, between February 1975 and April 1979, some 280,000 people were involved in seven demonstrations at nuclear sites. Many mass demonstrations took place in the aftermath of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and a New York City protest in September 1979 involved two hundred thousand people. Some 120,000 people demonstrated against nuclear power in Bonn, in October 1979. In May 1986, following the Chernobyl disaster, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people marched in Rome to protest against the Italian nuclear program, and clashes between anti-nuclear protesters and police became common in West Germany.John Greenwald. Energy and Now, the Political Fallout, TIME, June 2, 1986.
In the early 1980s, the revival of the nuclear arms race triggered large protests about nuclear weapons.Lawrence S. Wittner. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 27 July 2009. In October 1981 half a million people took to the streets in several cities in Italy, more than 250,000 people protested in Bonn, 250,000 demonstrated in London, and 100,000 marched in Brussels.David Cortright (2008). Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas, Cambridge University Press, p. 147. The largest anti-nuclear protest was held on June 12, 1982, when one million people demonstrated in New York City against nuclear weapons.Jonathan Schell. The Spirit of June 12 The Nation, July 2, 2007.David Cortright (2008). Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas, Cambridge University Press, p. 145.1982 – a million people march in New York City In October 1983, nearly 3 million people across western Europe protested nuclear missile deployments and demanded an end to the arms race; the largest crowd of almost one million people assembled in the Hague in the Netherlands.David Cortright (2008). Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas, Cambridge University Press, p. 148. In Britain, 400,000 people participated in what was probably the largest demonstration in British history.Lawrence S. Wittner (2009). Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, Stanford University Press, p. 144.
On May 1, 2005, 40,000 anti-nuclear/anti-war protesters marched past the United Nations in New York, 60 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Lance Murdoch. Pictures: New York MayDay anti-nuke/war march IndyMedia, 2 May 2005.Anti-Nuke Protests in New York Fox News, May 2, 2005. This was the largest anti-nuclear rally in the U.S. for several decades. In 2005 in Britain, there were many protests about the government's proposal to replace the aging Trident weapons system with a newer model. The largest protest had 100,000 participants.Lawrence S. Wittner. A rebirth of the anti-nuclear weapons movement? Portents of an anti-nuclear upsurge Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 7 December 2007. In May 2010, some 25,000 people, including members of peace organizations and 1945 atomic bomb survivors, marched from Lower Manhattan to the United Nations headquarters, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents undermined the nuclear power industry's proposed renaissance and revived anti-nuclear passions worldwide, putting governments on the defensive. There were large protests in Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
Australia and the Pacific
In 1964, Peace Marches which featured "Ban the bomb" placards, were held in several Australian capital cities.
In 1972, the anti-nuclear weapons movement maintained a presence in the Pacific, largely in response to French nuclear testing there. Activists, including David McTaggart from Greenpeace, defied the French government by sailing small vessels into the test zone and interrupting the testing program.Paul Lewis. David McTaggart, a Builder of Greenpeace, Dies at 69 The New York Times, March 24, 2001.Lawrence S. Wittner. Nuclear Disarmament Activism in Asia and the Pacific, 1971–1996 The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 25–5–09, June 22, 2009. In Australia, thousands joined protest marches in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. Scientists issued statements demanding an end to the tests; unions refused to load French ships, service French planes, or carry French mail; and consumers boycotted French products. In Fiji, activists formed an Against Testing on Mururoa organization.
In November and December 1976, 7,000 people marched through the streets of Australian cities, protesting against uranium mining. The Uranium Moratorium group was formed and it called for a five-year moratorium on uranium mining. In April 1977 the first national demonstration co-ordinated by the Uranium Moratorium brought around 15,000 demonstrators into the streets of Melbourne, 5,000 in Sydney, and smaller numbers elsewhere.Falk, Jim (1982). Global Fission:The Battle Over Nuclear Power, pp. 264–5. A National signature campaign attracted over 250,000 signatures calling for a five-year moratorium. In August, another demonstration brought 50,000 people out nationally and the opposition to uranium mining looked like a potential political force.Cawte, Alice (1992). Atomic Australia 1944–1990, New South Wales University Press, p. 156. Smaller protests in the late 1970s included blockades of wharves where yellowcake was being loaded onto ships.
On Palm Sunday 1982, an estimated 100,000 Australians participated in anti-nuclear rallies in the nation's largest cities. Growing year by year, the rallies drew 350,000 participants in 1985. The movement focused on halting Australia's uranium mining and exports, abolishing nuclear weapons, removing foreign military bases from Australia's soil, and creating a nuclear-free Pacific. During the early to mid 1980s a number of visits by potentially nuclear armed and powered US warships were made subject to protests and on board occupations.
In 1998 an eight month blockade disrupted construction work on the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine. As part of a campaign led by the Mirrar people, this helped lead to the project being canceled.
On Dec 17th 2001, 46 Greenpeace activists occupied the Lucas Heights facility to protest the construction of a second research reactor. Protestors gained access to the grounds, the HIFAR reactor, the high-level radioactive waste store and the radio tower. Their protest highlighted the security and environmental risks of the production of nuclear materials and the shipment of radioactive waste from the facility.
In March 2012, hundreds of anti-nuclear demonstrators converged on the Australian headquarters of global mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to mark one year since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The 500-strong march through southern Melbourne called for an end to uranium mining in Australia. There were also events in Sydney, and in Melbourne the protest included speeches and performances by representatives of the expatriate Japanese community as well as Australia's Indigenous communities, who are worried about the effects of uranium mining near tribal lands.
Czech Republic As early as 1993 there were local and international protests against the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant's construction. Large grassroots civil disobedience actions took place in 1996 and 1997. These were organized by the so-called Clean Energy Brigades. In September and October 2000, Austrian anti-nuclear protesters demonstrated against the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant and at one stage temporarily blocked all 26 border crossings between Austria and the Czech Republic. The first reactor was finally commissioned in 2000 and the second in 2002.
France
In 1971, 15,000 people demonstrated against French plans to locate the first light-water reactor power plant in Bugey. This was the first of a series of mass protests organized at nearly every planned nuclear site in France until the massive demonstration at the Superphénix breeder reactor in Creys-Malvillein in 1977 culminated in violence.Dorothy Nelkin and Michael Pollak (1982). The Atom Besieged: Antinuclear Movements in France and Germany , ASIN: B0011LXE0A, p. 3.
In France, between 1975 and 1977, some 175,000 people protested against nuclear power in ten demonstrations.
In January 2004, up to 15,000 anti-nuclear protesters marched in Paris against a new generation of nuclear reactors, the European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPWR). ABC News, January 18, 2004.
On March 17, 2007, simultaneous protests, organised by Sortir du nucléaire, were staged in five French towns to protest construction of EPR plants; Rennes, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, and Strasbourg.
Following the 2011 Fukushima I nuclear accidents, around 1,000 people took part in a protest against nuclear power in Paris on March 20.Près d'un millier de manifestants à Paris demandent la sortie du nucléaire Le Point, published 2011-03-20, accessed 2011-04-14 Most of the protests, however, are focused on the closure of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant, where some 3,800 French and Germans demonstrated on April 8 and April 25.Des milliers de manifestants demandent l'arrêt de la centrale de Fessenheim Le Monde, published 2011-04-11, accessed 2011-04-12
Thousands staged anti-nuclear protests around France, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl and after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, demanding reactors be closed. Protesters' demands were focused on getting France to shut its oldest nuclear power station at Fessenheim, which lies in a densely populated part of France, less than two kilometres from Germany and around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Switzerland.