Environmental Groups to Protest Against Oyster Creek

Locals will be gathering at the Waretown Plaza on Saturday for a vigil against the Oyster Creek Generating Station.

Greenpeace New Jersey organized the protest, which calls to shut down the nuclear plant.

“As a long time resident of Ocean County, I have been concerned about Oyster Creek, its safety, and impact on the environment for many years,” said Mike Morton, Greenpeace NJ senior activist.

Following the tragedy at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan, many environmental groups came out in opposition to the nuclear plant.

“The Oyster Creek facility, which shares the same antiquated, unsafe, and vulnerable design of the Fukushima facility, is an ecological and environmental risk that is unnecessary and should be immediately closed and decommissioned,” Morton said in a press release.

Because Oyster Creek is the oldest operating nuclear plant in the country, the plant has shown signs of degradation including a corroding liner in the containment unit and leaks that are allowing tritium to seep into the water table, Morton said.

The protest calls for a decrease in the density of fuel pools and to secure the spent fuel in hardened onsite storage.

“What we hope to accomplish (Saturday) is to continue to spread awareness of these issues to the public, while at the same time show strong support for the continued development of renewable energy technologies,” Morton said.

Morton hopes the federal government will move away from the nuclear, oil, coat, and natural gas industries and begin to support renewable energy such as sola and wind power.

The vigil is co-sponsored by NJ Progressive Democrats of America, Ocean County Peace Flicks, Food and Water Watch, GRAMMES, and Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch.

“I feel it is time to get together with a number of similar minded local organizations to show unity behind our call to shut down the operations of the plant immediately, not in 2019,” Morton said.

The event runs from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Waretown Plaza on Route 9 South, just south of Oyster Creek.