---
title: "Anti-nuclear movement"
chunk: 7/15
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:22:20.182369+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

In 1971, the town of Wyhl, on the Rhine in Southern Germany, was proposed as the site of the Wyhl Nuclear Power Plant. In the years that followed, public opposition steadily mounted, and large protests occurred. Television coverage of police dragging away farmers and their wives helped to turn nuclear power into a major issue. In 1975, an administrative court withdrew the construction licence for the plant. The Wyhl experience encouraged the formation of citizen action groups near other planned nuclear sites.
In 1972, the nuclear disarmament movement maintained a presence in the Pacific, largely in response to French nuclear testing there. New Zealand activists sailed boats into the test zone, interrupting the testing program. In Australia, thousands of people joined protest marches in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. Scientists issued statements demanding an end to the nuclear tests. In Fiji, anti-nuclear activists formed an Against Testing on Mururoa organization.
In the Basque Country (Spain and France), a strong anti-nuclear movement emerged in 1973, ultimately leading to the abandonment of most planned nuclear power projects. On 14 July 1977, in Bilbao, between 150,000 and 200,000 people protested against the Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant. This has been called the "biggest ever anti-nuclear demonstration".
In France, there were mass protests in the early 1970s, organized at nearly every planned nuclear site. Between 1975 and 1977, some 175,000 people protested against nuclear power in ten demonstrations. In 1977 there was a massive demonstration at the Superphénix breeder reactor in Creys-Malvillein which culminated in violence.
In West Germany, between February 1975 and April 1979, some 280,000 people were involved in seven demonstrations at nuclear sites. Several site occupations were also attempted. Following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, some 120,000 people attended a demonstration against nuclear power in Bonn.
In the Philippines, there were many protests in the late 1970s and 1980s against the proposed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was built but never operated due to safety concerns and issues regarding corruption.
In 1981, Germany's largest anti-nuclear power demonstration protested against the construction of the Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant west of Hamburg. Some 100,000 people came face-to-face with 10,000 police officers.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the revival of the nuclear arms race triggered a new wave of protests about nuclear weapons. Older organizations such as the Federation of Atomic Scientists revived; newer organizations appeared, including the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and Physicians for Social Responsibility. In the UK, on 1 April 1983, about 70,000 people linked arms to form a 14-mile-long human chain between three nuclear weapons centres in Berkshire.
On Palm Sunday 1982, 100,000 Australians participated in anti-nuclear rallies in the nation's largest cities. Year by year, the rallies grew, drawing 350,000 participants in 1985. On 29 October 1983, the Committee Cruise Missiles No organised a demonstration in The Hague, Netherlands, which was attended by 550,000 people, and was the largest demonstration in the history of the Netherlands.
In May 1986, following the Chernobyl disaster, clashes between anti-nuclear protesters and West German police were common. More than 400 people were injured in mid-May at demonstrations against the Wackersdorf reprocessing plant being built near Wackersdorf. Also in May 1986, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people marched in Rome to protest against the Italian nuclear program, and 50,000 marched in Milan. Hundreds of people walked from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1986 in what is referred to as the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament. The march took nine months to traverse 3,700 miles (6,000 km), advancing approximately fifteen miles per day.
The anti-nuclear organisation "Nevada Semipalatinsk" was formed in 1989 and was one of the first major anti-nuclear groups in the former Soviet Union. It attracted thousands of people to its protests and campaigns, which eventually led to the closure of the nuclear test site in north-east Kazakhstan in 1991.
The World Uranium Hearing was held in Salzburg, Austria in September 1992. Anti-nuclear speakers from all continents, including indigenous speakers and scientists, testified to the health and environmental problems of uranium mining and processing, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear tests, and radioactive waste disposal. People who spoke at the 1992 Hearing included Thomas Banyacya, Katsumi Furitsu, Manuel Pino and Floyd Red Crow Westerman.

=== Protests in the United States ===