WORLD URANIUM SYMPOSIUM - Quebec City - April 13 - 16, 2015

[Oscar]

WORLD URANIUM SYMPOSIUM - Quebec City - April 13 - 16, 2015

[ www.uranium2015.com ]

September 1, 2014

Physicians for Global Survival, along with its local and regional partners, are honoured to invite you to attend and participate in the World Uranium Symposium on April 13 to 16, 2015, in Quebec City, Canada.

The Symposium will be examining all phases of the nuclear fuel chain, from uranium mining to enrichment and use as nuclear fuel for reactors or military weapons (see below and attached for more details).

We invite submissions, posters, research papers or workshop proposals on health, environmental, social, economics, human rights and First Nations rights issues (200-300 words for initial submissions). For those that are accepted, we will provide free attendance and one night’s accommodation.

Travel support may be available for those in need. We also invite you to support and sponsor the event.

Deadline for submissions for the Symposium: October 10th, 2014 (please send to uranium2015@naturequebec.org and mdmd@sasktel.net ).

A preliminary program and registration for the Symposium will be available by December 15th 2014.

Please distribute widely and mark the dates in your calendar.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Dale Dewar & Dr. Eric Notebaert Co-Chairs,
Program Committee World Uranium Symposium | Quebec City 2015
www.uranium2015.com | uranium2015@naturequebec.org

PS. The Symposium parallels a public inquiry on the Quebec government’s temporary moratorium on uranium mining.

Briefs addressed to the Quebec government’s Commission on Uranium Mining Issues are MOST welcomed by October 30th, 2014. (send to uranium@bape.gouv.qc.ca and c.c. to uranium2015@naturequebec.org

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WORLD URANIUM SYMPOSIUM - Quebec City Canada | April 14-15-16 2015

Science | Health | Environment | Human rights | Economy | Society

Seventy years after

Uranium is the key element behind all nuclear technology, whether civilian or military. Seventy years ago, atomic bombs devastated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear meltdowns at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl occurred a generation ago, in 1979 and 1986. In 2011, the world witnessed the triple meltdowns at Fukushima. These major disasters, all linked to uranium, have affected the livelihood, health, environment, and economy of millions. They have also called into question the future of nuclear weapons, the nuclear reactors, and the uranium industry itself.

Is humanity at a crossroads?

What are the main issues affecting uranium? Should we be phasing out of nuclear power worldwide? Can we rid the world of nuclear weapons? What are the main social, political, health, security, and environmental issues of the nuclear fuel chain? How effective are existing regulations and safeguards? How do we deal with radioactive waste from mining and power generation in the short and long term – over 100,000 years? How are human rights generally, and aboriginal rights in particular, impacted by the nuclear fuel chain? How can we influence our governments to make responsible decisions for the future?

The Symposium: uranium mining and the nuclear fuel chain

The World Uranium Symposium will address broad issues and implications related to the nuclear fuel chain, with a particular emphasis on uranium mining impacts, health and environmental effects, low-level and high-level radioactive waste management, economics and nuclear energy policy, nuclear weapon proliferation, human rights and aboriginal rights, and issues related to ethics and governance. The Symposium will be held at the Centre des Congrès de Québec, from April 14 to 16, 2015, and include a Pre-symposium day on April 13:
• Pre-symposium (April 13)
• Day 1 (April 14) | Uranium life cycle: Impacts on health and the environment
• Day 2 (April 15) | Issues related to ethics, economics, and energy policy
• Day 3 (April 16) | Human rights, aboriginal rights, governmental responsibilities: the vision forward

Participants

The Symposium will be open to the public and feature a series of presentations and workshops held by local and international participants, health care professionals, scientists, researchers, non-governmental organizations, policy makers, citizens groups, and First Nations representatives with first-hand knowledge and/or experiences related to uranium mining and other aspects of the nuclear fuel chain. Among the participants will also be representatives of various levels of government and the media.

Outcomes

The Symposium is an opportunity for public education, networking, and to shape local, national, and international government policies regarding the future of uranium and the nuclear fuel chain. Live and recorded video streamings of the presentations will be made available online during, and after the Symposium, in both French and English.

The Canadian contexts

Canada is one of the largest producers and exporters of uranium worldwide, yet its nuclear energy output is in decline and no new reactors have been activated since the late 1970s. Only two Canadian provinces have active nuclear reactors, many of which will require costly refurbishment within the next few years. Two other Canadian provinces, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, have officially banned uranium mining on their territory. Quebec has recently shut down its only nuclear reactor but is now weighing the possibility of giving a green light to uranium mining – which is currently subject to a temporary moratorium.

Host organizations and sponsors

The Symposium is sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival (PGS), in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), Coalition pour que le Quebec ait meilleur mine, and Nature Quebec. The Symposium is also supported by local, national, and international organizations, including First Nation organizations.

[Oscar]

For the first time in Quebec, Canada: World Uranium Symposium

[ http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1489785 ... -symposium ]

QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 19 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - The World Uranium Symposium will be held for the first time in Quebec City, Canada, from April 14 to 16, at the Centre des congrès de Québec. [ http://uranium2015.com/en ]

Organized by medical associations and civil society partners, the symposium will welcome more than 100 national and international specialists who will examine major questions associated with the nuclear fuel chain, including issues related to economic trends in the industry, safety and governance, social and environmental aspects, health, ethics, human rights, and indigenous peoples' rights

REGISTER ONLINE: [ http://www.uranium2015.com/en ]

"We're very pleased to be able to present the World Uranium Symposium in Quebec this year. This is an important event and a unique opportunity for specialists and the public alike to explore the key issues pertaining to the nuclear fuel chain," says Dr. Juan Carlos Chirgwin, Faculty lecturer at McGill University and president of Physicians for Global Survival (1985 Nobel Peace Prize).

MORE:

[ http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1489785 ... -symposium ]

[Oscar]

World Uranium Symposium at the Quebec City Convention Centre on April, 14-16, 2015.

Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan at the time of the Fukushima catastrophe, will deliver an exclusive message

[ http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1513113 ... atastrophe ]

April 6, 2015

Québec, 6 April 2015 — Mr. Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan during the Fukushima catastrophe, will deliver an exclusive message at the opening of the World Uranium Symposium at the Quebec City Convention Centre on April 14-16 2015. Both scientific and community-based, the Symposium will address issues arising from the nuclear fuel chain, from mining uranium to its end-uses and byproducts for civilian or military purposes.

Open to the public, the Symposium will host nearly 300 national and international participants from twenty countries from all continents. It is still possible to register for the symposium online: [ http://www.uranium2015.com/en ].

2015: a key year for debating the future of uranium and its nuclear uses

While nuclear energy is increasingly expensive and poses environmental and security problems, it continues to be the subject of intense debates before the UN treaty conference on climate change in Paris, December 2015.

Dr. Eric Notebaert, board member at the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Co-chair of the Symposium, described the questions that would be addressed at the symposium: "Should we increase or rather get away from nuclear power? How to stop the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons? How to manage over thousands of years thousands of tons of radioactive waste? Who will pay the bill? What about the rights of indigenous peoples affected by this industry?”

President of Physicians for Global Survival, Dr. Juan Carlos Chrigwin said, ‘’The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the beginning of the lead-up to talks on the UN treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in New York in May. Led by Red Cross/Red Crescent International, more than 160 countries have met over the last three years to support complete abolition of nuclear weapons on humanitarian grounds."

In Quebec, the government has tasked the Bureau of public hearings on the environment (BAPE) to investigate issues related to uranium mining. The BAPE will table its final report in May 2015, after which the government will decide whether or not to maintain the current moratorium on the industry. "There has been significant opposition to uranium mining in recent years in Quebec. The problem of radioactive mining waste and long-term contamination risks are at the heart of the debate," explains Ugo Lapointe of the Quebec Coalition for Better Mining, a partner organization of the Symposium.

Guest speakers [ http://uranium2015.com/files/SymposiumU ... s-En-4.pdf ]

Speakers at the Symposium include: Mary Helen Caldicott, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; Mycle Schneider, international expert and independent consultant on energy policies, lead author of the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Reports; Arnie Gundersen, engineer and expert in nuclear safety, former senior industry executive in the USA, and author of a bestseller on the Fukushima accident; Sara Olsvig, Head of the Ataqatigiit party and elected member of the Greenland Parliament; Doug Brugge, of the Public Health Department at Tufts University in the USA, expert in health risks related to uranium mining; Bruno Chareyron, engineer in nuclear physics, laboratory director for the Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity in France; Ian Fairlie, former advisor to the UK government on the radiation risks of the nuclear industry; Brigitte Guérin, Department of nuclear medicine and radiobiology at the University of Sherbrooke, specializing in the production of medical isotopes from new technologies; Peter Prebble, former cabinet Minister of Saskatchewan and current policy director for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society; Sylvia McAdam, law expert in Saskatchewan and co-founder of the international movement Idle No More; Mariette Liefferink (South Africa), CEO, Federation for a Sustainable Environment; Arielle Denis, director of the International campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons (Europe, Middle East, Africa); and many others.

We are honoured to have Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of James Bay (Eeyou Istchee) to open and close the Symposium. We are also pleased to have Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, join us.

Gilles Vigneault, Quebec author, composer and singer, will perform his song "Uranium" on April 16 at 13h30pm.

Jean-Pierre Rogel, independant scientific journalist and Carole Graveline, former Radio-Canada journalist and current director of media relation at McGill University, will act as facilitators during the Symposium.

See also the program for the International Uranium Film Festival, which will be held from 15 to 25 April in Quebec City, Montreal, and Mistissini [ http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/1512903 ... to-25-2015 ]. - 30 -

For information:

Heloise Fernandez, media relation at Nature Québec,
Secretariat for the World Symposium on Uranium,
Ccell phone: 418-931-1131, office: 418 648-2104, extension 2074,
communications@naturequebec.org

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The World Uranium Symposium is jointly organized by Physicians for Global Survival (1985 Nobel Peace Prize), the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Nature Quebec, and Quebec Coalition for Better Mining. The Symposium also has support from the Institute for Sustainable Development of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Swiss Chapter), Helen Caldicott Foundation, MiningWatch Canada, the Cree Nation of Mistissini, and a number of other local, national and international partners.