Peace activists rally on Hiroshima anniversary

The Oak Ridge plant enriched uranium for the “Little Boy” bomb dropped on Hiroshima — the first nuclear weapon used in wartime — and continues to make components for every warhead in this country’s nuclear arsenal.

“I know it will be the largest peace demonstration in East Tennessee history,” said organizer Ralph Hutchison, possibly attracting more than 1,000 people from throughout the Southeast and Midwest.

Other major peace demonstrations were planned Saturday at the nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California, and the Nevada Test Site.

The Hiroshima bomb killed an estimated 70,000 people instantly, and perhaps 70,000 more died later from its effects. But the bomb also is credited with helping end World War II and saving lives of troops. A plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, and Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945.

The victims will be recalled Saturday with a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m. — the moment the bomb exploded over Hiroshima. A march from a city park to the gates of Y-12 and a rally will follow.

Hutchison’s Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has been staging Hiroshima anniversary rallies outside the weapons plant since the mid-1980s, frequently leading to arrests for acts of civil disobedience. He expects the same Saturday.

A dozen people were arrested last year on misdemeanor state charges of blocking the plant entrance. Eight were jailed for 10 days as repeat offenders.

“We are ready and prepared to respond if need be,” said Steven Wyatt, spokesman for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration at Y-12. “We are hoping it is a peaceful event and safe for all involved.”

In a rare visit to Oak Ridge last year, President Bush praised the weapons work and bomb-grade uranium storage conducted at the facility.

“The nation counts on your great expertise and your professionalism in producing, protecting and maintaining material that is critical to our security,” the president told workers. “America is safer because of your service at Oak Ridge.”

But Hutchison, a Presbyterian minister, said, “We believe we stand on the brink of a nuclear crisis and that the proliferation of nuclear weapons has accelerated dramatically … primarily in response to the policies of our government.

“And Oak Ridge is a place where nuclear proliferation is happening like nowhere else in the world,” he said.

———

Oak Ridge protesters: http://www.stopthebombs.org

Y-12: http://www.oro.doe.gov/nnsa