Ranua Rescue Action Day
As the tapped uranium reserves are limited and today's uranium mines can't provide at least half of the fuel requirements nuclear companies like Areva are undertaking a global offense to search for new uranium mines. In Finland the French nuclear company Areva enforces their mining plans in the sparsely populated North after being driven away from southern Finland's countryside (Area 32!).
Local people of the threated region of Ranua in Finnish Lapland joined the international Nuclear Climate Camp in Tervola in summer 2009 and asked for support for their struggle against Areva. After the camp Finnish anti-nuclear activists decided to focus on uranium mining and construction plans of a new NPP in the North. An international action day was announced at short notice only one week before the expected municipality decision about Areva's application to drill in Ranua to examine the uranium ore in the region.
It was the Ranua Rescue Action Day" on August 13th, 2009 to bring the struggle of the uranium mining in Lapland first to international public attention. In two Finnish (Tampere, Helsinki) and two German cities (Magdeburg, Berlin) actions took place to rise the citizens' awareness on this topic:
- Finland:
- Helsinki (rally started at 3 pm from Kolmen Sepän patsas - the statue of 3 blacksmiths near Stockmann's)
- Tampere (rally started at 12 pm from the Central Square)
- Germany:
- Berlin
- Magdeburg (action started at 4 pm in front of the main railway station) Press Release
