Center for Safe Energy
Creating Partnerships with the Former Soviet Union
The Center for Safe Energy (CSE) addresses the most urgent needs of citizen-based organizations in the former Soviet Union (FSU). Since 1989, the Center has actively formed partnerships with environmental citizen groups around energy issues across Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. CSE supports its partners by sending experts to provide technical assistance in the FSU and organizing professional delegations to the US.
In the Field 2012
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Reactor
Enid Schreibman
On October 1, CSE Director, Enid Schreibman and Former Member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Peter Bradford participated in the U.S.-Russian Nuclear Roundtable Discussion “Nuclear Power and World Tendencies” in St. Petersburg, Russia.
As Russia deals with the questions of decommissioning nuclear reactors, Professor Bradford shared his experience with our battle here in the U.S. to close the Vermont Yankee reactor. CSE Russian partner and recipient of the Nuclear Free Future award, Oleg Bodrov organized a roundtable at the St. Petersburg department of Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training of Rosatom employees to discuss public participation and the decommissioning of nuclear reactors in both the U.S. and Russia. Oleg participated in a previous delegation to Vermont, facilitated by CSE, where he noted that the Vermont Yankee reactor bears the same environmental risks as Russia’s Sosnovy Bor Chernobyl-like reactor and that we must protect the future generations from these risks.
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Oleg Bodrov |
Peter Bradford |
Here is a link to the Voice of America article in Russian about the roundtable discussion: http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/content/russia-us-nuclear-power-roundtable/1518415.html.
In the Field 2012 - Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, Professor Bradford, CSE partner Kaisha Atakhanova, and CSE Director Enid Schreibman were part of a video conference “Year after Fukushima: Current Challenges and Future Energy for Kazakhstan” with nuclear experts from Japan, Russia, and Germany. Our Kazakh partners then used the information to inform the press and public in Kazakhstan of the real dangers of nuclear throughout the world. As a result of the roundtable, our Kazakh partners wrote their demand for a moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan! Read more on our news page.
Also this year in Kazakhstan, we helped our partners to address air pollution in Temirtau, one of Kazakhstan’s most polluted regions. A young woman from the local government’s environmental department participated in a CSE delegation in Berkeley in 2011. As a follow up this year, we brought to Temirtau a U.S. expert on air pollution monitoring who helped develop a partnership between the local government and NGOs in Temirtau to combine efforts for ongoing air pollution monitoring. The scientific data from pollution monitoring will be a powerful tool for our partners’ advocacy campaigns, allowing them to document the impacts of pollution in their regions in Kazakhstan and present a compelling case for reducing pollution.
A Tribute to Fran Macy
A Remarkable Life 1927-2009
Francis Macy was a dedicated environmentalist, energy activist and citizen diplomat, whose ground-breaking work inspired fresh collaborative ventures with the former Soviet Union.
The Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Earth Island Institute’s Center for Safe Energy since 1995, he trained hundreds of activists in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan to address the environmental legacy of the nuclear arms race and the Chernobyl disaster. Initiating scores of professional delegations and exchanges between Americans and their counterparts in the former Soviet Union, in the areas of psychology, environment, and citizen organizing since 1983, Macy’s work empowered the rise of non-governmental organizations--a strong contribution to the health of post-Soviet life. In 2005, he was awarded the Nuclear Free Future Lifetime Achievement Award. More…
Please visit Fran’s memorial site at www.francismacy.com.
Continuing Fran’s Legacy
His legacy is being carried on as CSE continues to organize delegations from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
