Environmentalists today (Thursday 26 April) marked the 21st anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the former Soviet state of Ukraine by exposing the links between the civil and military nuclear industries. [1,2]

TodayFriends of the Earth Scotland and WWF Scotland joined a host of otherenvironmental groups outside the Faslane nuclear submarine base on theClyde, to highlight the fact that both the Trident replacement and newnuclear power stations are unsafe, unwanted and unnecessary.

The peaceful rally and protest ran from 8am until midday at the North gate.

The event was organised as part of the "Faslane365" year-long protest at the Faslane naval base.

Friends of the Earth Scotland's Chief Executive, Duncan McLaren, said:

"InScotland debate on nuclear weapons amongst the public, politicians andtrade unions has been largely separate from that over nuclear power.But globally the two are joined at the hip. The lesson to be learnedfrom the Chernobyl disaster is that the world needs fewer nuclearfacilities, not more.

"Weare proud to add our voice to the opposition to nuclear weapons inScotland, and to continue to campaign against replacement nuclear powerplants. We encourage all candidates for election to Holyrood to beclear about their stance on these issues. Our future security andsustainability will be put at risk by any failure to clearly rule outboth nuclear power and nuclear weapons."

Dr Richard Dixon, Director of WWF Scotland said:

"Veryfew things are a bigger threat than climate change but a major exchangeof nuclear weapons is certainly one of them. Given the inextricablehistorical link between nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors itis very appropriate that we are at Faslane to remember the event of 21years ago at Chernobyl.

"Scotlandhas the best renewable energy resources of any country in Europe, ifanyone should be getting rid of all things nuclear and going for clean,green energy it is us."

Mandy Meikle from the Edinburgh Active Supporters Group of Greenpeace said:

"Morethan 40 years after the UK government signed an international treaty toeliminate nuclear weapons, Tony Blair is planning to reverse all that,and rush through plans to build new weapons - a replacement forTrident. These plans aren't going down well in Scotland with mostpeople opposed to wasting some £76 billion on Trident. This moneyshould be invested in tackling climate change and building newinfrastructure for our low-carbon future."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Thursday 26 April 2007, marks the 21st anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident. Find out the facts:
http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/about/chernobyl_21_years.html

[2] BRIEFING: The links between nuclear power and nuclear weapons
http://www.cnduk.org/pages/links.pdf