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South Coast Based Anti Nuclear Weapons Group Part Of 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

A 1953 nuclear test in Nevada

This a huge year for a Santa Barbara based peace group.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is part of a coalition of groups which created an international nuclear disarmament treaty, and won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won this year’s peace prize. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is one of the groups that makes up the campaign, and is heavily involved in its international efforts.

The foundation has been working on issues like nuclear disarmament for since 1982, well before ICAN was even created.

The Nobel Prize comes just months after the U.N. passed a groundbreaking nuclear disarmament treaty championed by ICAN and the Santa Barbara based foundation. The treaty is now going through the ratification process by countries around the world, although it’s expected nuclear powers like the U.S. will boycott it. But, while it’s been a huge year for those involved with disarmament efforts, between the treaty and Nobel Prize, there are also new worries.

The foundation’s David Krieger says U.S. relations with North Korea and Iran have certainly gotten worse, and that’s cause for concern.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is celebrating its efforts this week, with its 34th annual Evening for Peace. Sunday night’s event at the Biltmore in Montecito will honor peace activist Dr. Ira Helfand, and the group he is President of, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.