Crowd of approximately 90 people gathered outside of Lab for event organized by Tri-Valley CAREs
Peaceful protesters rallied outside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last week calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Approximately 90 people gathered Aug. 6 for “80 Years of Nuclear Devastation: Remember Our History, Reshape Our Future” — organized by Tri-Valley CAREs — to echo the call of atomic bomb survivors “hibakusha,” who urge world governments to rid themselves of nuclear weapons, according to Livermore resident and Tri-Valley CAREs executive director Scott Yundt.
“We as a nation are at a pivot point,” Yundt said in a statement. “We must step back from the abyss while we still can. The August 6 commemoration at Livermore Lab is one such step.”
Attendees of the annual event gathered outside of LLNL at 9 a.m. on a lawn located on the north side of Westgate Boulevard, Yundt said.
Speakers discussed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, LLNL’s history and ongoing role in the development of nuclear weapons, the environmental and fiscal cost of nuclear weapons development as well as the goal of global nuclear disarmament, Yundt said.
The lab has an annual budget of nearly $3.3 billion, according to an LLNL fact sheet. It has also contaminated the site and nearby environment, Yundt noted.
Among the calls to action was an urge to contact congressional representatives to cosponsor House Resolution 317 — proposing the U.S. leads the world’s retreat from the brink of nuclear war as well as halt and reverse the nuclear arms race, Yundt said.
“I feel keenly the responsibility to ‘pick up the torch’ being passed to us by the Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Tri-Valley CAREs senior advisor Marylia Kelley said in a statement. “Being at Livermore Lab with other peace advocates on August 6 is part of my commitment to ensure the world never forgets the human devastation of nuclear weapons and the imperative for their abolition.”
Following the rally, about 60 attendees participated in a “die-in” wherein a mock siren announced the faux dropping of an atomic bomb and participants laid on the street in front of the lab entrance. Their bodies were outlined in chalk, which Yundt said recalls how some people in Hiroshima were vaporized to ash by the atomic bomb.
Participants then rose for a traditional Japanese Bon Dance to commemorate ancestors who died as a result of the bombings.
By noon, everyone had left the site and the lab entrance was reopened, according to Yundt. LLNL spokesperson Michael Padilla said the demonstration did not impact employees’ daily work.