Sunday August 15, it was lunchtime!
As a symbol, the Caen Nuclear Association in Questions arose at the gates of the Paluel nuclear power plant for a picnic.
Only, not easy, because immediately the entries and exits were prohibited thus blocking the relief of the personnel.
When the national gendarmerie arrived, the marchers therefore went to lunch a few hundred meters away.
This action was planned in the program of the 2nd edition of the Grande Marche.
Leaving Cherbourg on July 24, she will join the National Assembly on August 25 after 32 stops across four departments (Calvados, Eure, Manche and Seine-Maritime) and as many conferences.
For the organizers, it is above all an opportunity to meet Normans and tourists.
"We want to be another source of information"
In total, more than a hundred walkers will have joined the Great March "with the aim of informing about nuclear power and the energy transition as we go through towns, villages, on the roads. or on the beaches. Distinguish and disentangle the true from the false around the question of the energy future. Dialogue in an intelligent and serious way without veiling our face, especially since we are at a pivotal moment when the State is in the process of deciding to resume 80 years of nuclear power through a major publicity stunt. We want to be another source of information, ”explains Béatrice Hovnanian, an organizer.
On foot or by bicycle, they approach, they argue, “but we are not there to convert.
Not everyone agrees.
Even if I am in favor of phasing out nuclear power, the question here is not to be for or against.
It's complex and we agree to tackle all subjects, ”adds the activist.
This is why every evening, several dozen people come to discuss with specialists.
"An impact over millions of years"
The Great March is therefore open to discussion, “because 60% of the people we meet are interested in the subject, but ask themselves the question of
how to do it?
It is not for us to choose.
Everyone admits that it is essential to enter into an energy transition otherwise we are going straight into the wall.
But, even though no energy is 100% clean, nuclear has impacted our world for millions of years.
There are solutions, but not all of them ready.
It's not a simple plan, ”concedes Béatrice Hovnanian.
Read alsoNuclear: some French power plants could finally operate for more than 40 years
And this can be heard from holidaymakers like Bertrand de Rouen for whom “the images of buried wind turbine blades” scare him. A few meters away, on her bath towel, Émilie de Tourcoing admits that she has little interest in these questions, “because we have been living with nuclear power for so long that it seems certain. And then, if we don't have any more, how much will we pay for electricity? ".
Béatrice Hovnanian hears all these arguments. However, she remains firm: “Nuclear power is invisible. EDF is working on this green envelope, protecting nature and wildlife, as well as a source of jobs. But nuclear is dirty, expensive and dangerous. Only 10% of the people we met are narrow-minded, a vulgar limit against us with simplistic positions:
we cannot do otherwise. You are nuts. Either way, you want to go back to coal
. It's short and silly! ".