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Tell President Obama and Secretary of Energy Chu:
"PUT THE BRAKES ON NUCLEAR POWER"

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TELL TENNESSEE GOVERNOR BILL HASLAM:
"Stop incineration of German Radioactive Waste in Tennessee!"

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NEW NUKES for Georgia???

NO THANKS!!!

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WHOLE UGLY STORY

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NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH | HOME

Tell the BRC: "Put Risky Radioactive Fuel into Hardened On-Site Storage"

Your comments needed on the draft report from President Obama's
"Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future"
COMMENT DEADLINE DECEMBER 2, 2011

TAKE ACTION! >>>

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COME ON IN! We're ramping it UP!

Power my future with clean energy, PLEASE!

NEW REPORT
SNAPSHOT OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY DEPLOYMENT
by Matthew Johnson
Environment and Energy Study Institute
January 2011

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION! Help lead the way from dirty coal and unsafe nuclear to a future powered by harvesting the sun and wind. Start by KNOWING ABOUT IT! Here are some good resources to help us figure out how to create a clean energy future for our planet:

HONEY, I SHRUNK THE RENAISSANCE:
Nuclear Revival, Climate Change, and Reality
by Peter Bradford, former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner, October 2010

STATUS AND TRENDS of the World Nuclear Industry
by Mycle Schneider, WISE-Paris, September 2008

SOLAR AND NUCLEAR COSTS:
The Historic Crossover: Solar Energy is Now the Better Buy
by John O. Blackburn and Sam Cunningham, July 2010

CARBON-FREE AND NUCLEAR-FREE: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D., August 2007

OFFSHORE WIND IN THE ATLANTIC: Growing Momentum for Jobs, Energy Independence, Clean Air, and Wildlife Protection
National Wildlife Federation, 2010

A PATH TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY BY 2030
by Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi, November 2009

TAKE ACTION! >>>

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M.U.S.E.
Musicians United for Safe Energy
ROCKS FOR NO NUKES

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEOS OF PRESS CONFERENCE AND PERFORMANCES

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25 years after Chernobyl explosion ~ a call to action!

RUSH HOUR AT GEORGIA POWER

"NO TAX $ $ $ FOR VOGTLE!"

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl reactor exploded and irradiated much of Europe and the northern hemisphere. 25 years later it is estimated that 960,000 people have died as a direct result of Chernobyl and yet Southern Company and Georgia Power maintain their obsessive commitment to build two unneeded and risky nuclear reactors in Georgia WITH TAXPAYERS' AND RATEPAYERS' MONEY.

On April 26, 2011, NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH rallied at Georgia Power headquarters in busy downtown Atlanta to say "NO TAX $$$ FOR VOGTLE!" Even in the face of the ongoing nuclear holocaust at Fukushima in Japan the lies, secrecy and information spin of the nuclear industry continue to grasp at the public treasury and threaten the global commons. We can avoid the risk of nuclear power altogether and have a carbon-free and nuclear-free future!

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> > TELL OBAMA < <
"PUT THE BRAKES ON NUCLEAR POWER"

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Take a 12-Minute Drive w/Radiation Counters
into the Fukushima Exclusion Zone

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (4/6/11) This harrowing car trip through the earthquake, tsunami and reactor-ravaged Japanese coast is a must-see to begin to appreciate the magnitude of the radioactive releases and the actuality of the mass exodus of 300,000 Japanese from their homes, possibly forever.

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We Remember:
THREE MILE ISLAND
CHERNOBYL
FUKUSHIMA
VOGTLE

ATLANTA (3/28/11) The 32nd anniversary of the nuclear meltdown at THREE MILE ISLAND was observed widely and GREENPEACE helped network more than 200 community vigils.

NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH and GA WAND took to the streets in Atlanta to remind people that it CAN HAPPEN HERE. As the nuclear holocaust unfolds at
Fukushima we gathered at
rush hour in front of Georgia Power to demand
"NO TAX $$$ FOR VOGTLE!"

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>> SPECIAL ACTION TO STOP PLUTONIUM << "ELIMINATE MOX FUNDING"

It is time to pull the plug on this tax-funded boondoggle!

The House Subcommittee on Energy & Water begins its federal budget review process June 2, 2011. For five years running, $500 million of our taxes have been squandered to construct the MOX "factory to nowhere" at Savannah River Site. The radioactive pork MOX plutonium program is 10 years behind schedule and costs have ballooned from $1 billion to $5 billion.

TAKE ACTION! >>>

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While the world seeks nuclear disarmament, Savannah River Site desperately seeks new nuclear missions

DOE and SRS are up to worse tricks than usual. With no public involvement or communication and no place to download the document (except right here on nonukesyall.org), the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site has secretly rolled out a draft planning document entitled “Nuclear Knowledge for the Nation: A Future Vision for the Savannah River Site.” The document is aimed at attracting unspecified “customers” to use SRS assets and states that an entity called “Enterprise SRS” has been created “to develop a broad vision for SRS as an enduring national asset.”

This vague document seems to replace the bumbling “energy park” approach and attempts to make a business-oriented case for future nuclear missions at SRS. It outlines who will be listened to and who the “critical audiences” are — notably absent from the list are the public or public interest stakeholders. The plan is aimed at business interests who intend to use the site for such things as a “small modular reactor farm” (more down-home marketing term than a “park”?) and “advanced fuel recycling R&D.”

The document and “Enterprise SRS” concept blatantly attempt to slice the public out of the planning process and provide no channel for input. The narrow nuclear vision is aimed primarily at what we already know the nuclear industry wants — reprocessing of radioactive waste and small, fast reactors to use the dangerous reprocessed MOX plutonium fuel. The document focuses on public relations and how to sell the site to be used for various nuclear schemes but as has been the case in previous misguided "business visions for SRS," no money is on the table for the Enterprise SRS approach. It appears to hinge on Congressional appropriations for so-called public-private partnerships.

DOWNLOAD SECRET DOCUMENT HERE

STAY TUNED FOR MORE REVELATIONS ABOUT SECRET PLANS FOR SRS

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Serious Security Issues at MOX Plutonium Factory Recognized by Regulators

Environmental Groups Win Public Hearing on
Plutonium Inventory Accounting

ATLANTA, GA (4/1/11) Concerns about the adequacy of plutonium control and accounting measures at a nuclear fuel fabrication facility now under construction at a Department of Energy (DOE) site in South Carolina were accepted for hearing today by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB).

The issues were raised by NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) and Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) who have a legal intervention before the NRC opposing a license for a MOX plutonium fuel factory to operate at Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The MOX factory would process up to 50 metric tons of the nation's surplus weapons-grade plutonium into MOX plutonium fuel for nuclear reactors.

Dr. Edwin S. Lyman, a Senior Scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC, assisted in the preparation of legal contentions with Diane Curran, DC-based public attorney and Harmon Curran partner, and filed the sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI) concerns about inadequate measures for control and accounting (MC&A) of weapons-grade plutonium  on behalf of the environmental groups and their members.

READ MORE>>>

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Japanese Radioactive Holocaust Unfolds

Nuclear Industry Unleashes Aggressive Spin Cycle

ATLANTA (update 3/20/11) Low levels of radioactive contamination from Japan reached California Friday according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which downplayed any danger to public health. Power is now restored at the number five and number six reactor fuel pools of ruined Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear energy site. Meltdowns continue in reactors one, two and in three which contains PLUTONIUM MOX FUEL. The spent fuel pool which suffered explosions, drainage and fire contains even more dangerous radioactivity than the reactors. High levels of radiation from the burning fuel pool are keeping reactor crews at a distance and hampering efforts to restore critical electric power to the cooling systems.

Heroic workers are risking their lives to contain the disaster. Power is hoped to be restored to reactors one and two on Monday, but likely damage to plant systems raises doubts about whether cooling can be restored to the super-heated reactor cores containing tons of melting radioactive fuel. Last-ditch efforts may still be made to entomb the melting reactors in concrete. Pilots and workers dumping concrete from the air would face lethal clouds of radioactivity. Operators are contemplating releasing hydrogen gas building to explosive pressures, a move which caused explosions in the one and three reactor buildings last week.

UNFOLDING NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE HEADLINES

World media has done an admirable job of understanding and reporting on the risks and workings of nuclear reactors and the safety infrastructure fundamental to accident-free operation. Anti-nuclear advocates have been in high demand to comment and help the media and public analyze and understand what is happening in crisis-beleaguered Japan. The nuclear lobbyists hit Capital Hill on Monday morning with new propaganda for shaken Congressional aides. President Obama, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Southern Company and the Georgia Public Service Commission avowed their undying support for nuclear energy plans to continue with VOGTLE in Georgia. Citizens have sent hundreds of e-mail letters to Obama and Chu to "Put the Brakes on Nuclear Power."

Bloomberg News ENERGY NOW news feature interviews Tennessee activists Dave Lochbaum, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS and Ann Harris, TVA whistleblower with WE THE PEOPLE. Liz Apfelbaum from SAN LUIS OBISPO MOTHERS FOR PEACE is also interviewed talking about Diablo which is built on a fault-line on the California Pacific Coast. Former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford and Arnie Gundersen, nuclear engineer also speak in addition to AREVA representative and current NRC Commissioner Dale Klein.

Longtime NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH coordinator Glenn Carroll faced off with Georgia Congressional Representative Phil Gingrey on Atlanta's NBC affiliate 11 Alive Saturday morning, March 19, 2011. Popular Atlanta newscaster Karyn Greer moderated the debate about nuclear power and the Japanese nuclear disaster. Gingrey's #11 district in NW Georgia is a little more than 50 miles from TVA's risky ice condenser reactors Sequoyah I & II in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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UPDATE: Japanese Radioactive Holocaust

ATLANTA (update 3/18/11) The situation at Fukushima Dai-ichi has grown worse and worse with every passing day. The spent fuel pool has been on fire for more than 24 hours. The spent fuel pool, which also lost electrical power in the aftermath of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and 33-foot tsunami wave one week ago, contains roughly four times the radioactivity of each of the three reactors which are still assumed to be melting down. Chernobyl spewed 40 percent of its radioactive contents 25 years ago, releasing 400 times as much radiation as the Hiroshima atom bomb. The disaster at Japan's nuclear site in Northeast Japan is far from being over according to experts.

Radiation from the accident reached the West Coast of the U.S. this afternoon. The NEW YORK TIMES has an animated model of the projected plume. Dramatic video footage of futile attempts to drop water on the super-heated and exposed spent reactor fuel pool at Fukushima Dai-ichi Unit 4 and aerial footage of the ruined site are being studied by experts to try to understand what the states of ruin are at the Japanese reactors.

NO SAFE LEVEL OF RADIATION

Every U.S. agency that regulates radiation exposure agrees that there is no safe dose no matter how small. There are only "allowable" doses or "legally permitted doses." Today radiobiologists all agree that “one can no longer speak of a ‘safe’ dose level.” (Ian Fairlie & Marvin Resnikoff, “No dose too low,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nov/Dec 1997, p. 54)

Following are the official U.S. government assessments:

National Council on Radiation Protection
Every increment of radiation exposure produces an incremental increase in the risk of cancer.
National Council on Radiation Protection, “Evaluation of the Linear-Non-threshold Dose-Response Model for Ionizing Radiation,” NCRP report 136, Bethesda, MD, June 4, 2001, cited in Science for Democratic Action, IEER, June 2005

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Current evidence suggests that any exposure to radiation poses some risk, i.e. there is no level below which we can say an exposure poses no risk.
U.S. EPA, “Radiation: Risks & Realities,” Air & Radiation, 6602J, EPA 402-K-92-004, Aug. 1993

U.S. Department of Energy
The effects of low levels of radiation are more difficult to determine because the major effect is a very slight increase in cancer risk. However, U.S. Government regulations assume that the effects of all radiation exposures are cumulative and should be limited as much as reasonably possible.
DOE/NE-0074, “Understanding Radiation,” p. 8 & 9.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The radiation protection community conservatively assumes that any amount of radiation may pose some risk for causing cancer and hereditary effect, and that the risk is higher for higher radiation exposures. A linear no-threshold dose-response relationship is used to describe the relationship between radiation dose and the occurrence of cancer. … any increase in dose, no matter how small, results in an incremental increase in risk.
U.S. NRC, “How Does Radiation Affect the Public?” www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/radiation/affect.html

National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Science’s ... committee further judges it unlikely that a threshold exists for the induction of cancers.
National Academy of Sciences, “Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation: BEIR VII, Phase 2,” Committee to Assess Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation, National Research Council, June 29, 2005

STATEMENT OF DR. EDWIN LYMAN TO
SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE

MARCH 16, 2011 ~ On behalf of the UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS, I would like to thank Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Inhofe, and the other members of the Environment and Public Works Committee for the opportunity to provide our views on the unfolding accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant and its implications for nuclear power in this country.

The Union of Concerned Scientists would like to extend its deepest sympathies to the people of Japan during this crisis.

While the ongoing situation in Japan should be a main focus of U.S attention, we should not hesitate to ask ourselves whether we are doing all that we can do to prevent a Fukushima-like nuclear disaster from happening here.

Before proceeding, I would like to say that the Union of Concerned Scientists is neither pro nor anti-nuclear power, but has served as a nuclear power safety and security watchdog for over 40 years.

In the aftermath of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, the NRC undertook a major overhaul of its rules to correct many of the regulatory weaknesses that the accident revealed. In contrast, seven years later, the Commission and the industry avoided learning any lessons from the far more severe Chernobyl accident because of the misleading claim that such an extreme release of radioactivity could never happen at a plant of Western design.

However, the NRC and the industry cannot hide this time behind the "it can't happen here" excuse. We have 23 plants of the same design. We have plants that are just as old. We have had station blackouts.

We have a regulatory system that is not clearly superior to that of the Japanese. We have had extreme weather events that exceeded our expectations and defeated our emergency planning measures (Katrina).

We have had close calls (e.g. Davis-Besse) that were only one additional failure away from becoming disasters. We have had full-blown disasters in other industries (e.g. BP). We have suffered a devastating terrorist air attack against our infrastructure for which we were completely unprepared.

I would ask the Committee to imagine for a moment that the crisis unfolding at Fukushima is taking place in their home states, and to consider whether this is something that Americans should ever have to endure under any circumstances.

If the answer is"no" — the right answer, in our opinion — then it is incumbent on you to thoroughly investigate whether the risk of an American Fukushima is really as low as the NRC and the industry claim.

But even though it will be a long time before we learn all the lessons from the still-evolving disaster in Japan, it is not premature to immediately take steps to reduce vulnerabilities that have long been known by regulators but have not been addressed. I will offer a few examples.

1. At least two spent fuel pools at the Fukushima plant have caught fire and are releasing radiation into the atmosphere. These pools are on the upper floor of these Mark I boiling-water reactors and are now open to the air following explosions that breached the buildings around them. The U.S. has 31 boiling-water reactors with similarly situated spent fuel pools that are far more densely packed than those at Fukushima and hence could pose far higher risks if damaged. The U.S. should act quickly to remove spent fuel from these pools and place them in dry storage casks to reduce the heat load and radioactive inventories of the pools.

2. The Fukushima accident was precipitated by an earthquake and tsunami, but the direct cause appears to have been a loss of both off-site and on-site power supplies, a situation known as a station blackout. There are many other types of initiating events that could cause such a situation, including terrorist attacks. The NRC requires U.S. plants to have the capability to cope with a station blackout for no more than four to eight hours. We need to re-evaluate the adequacy of these requirements and the effectiveness of their implementation.

3. Although the Japanese are engaged in truly heroic efforts to mitigate the worst effects of this accident and reduce radioactive releases that could harm the public, these efforts have only been partially effective, are already resulting in life-threatening conditions for the workers on site, and are likely to ultimately fail. U.S. nuclear plants have severe accident management plans, but these plans are not required by regulations and do not have to be evaluated by the NRC and tested for their effectiveness. In the case of aircraft attack on a nuclear plant, the NRC does require plants to have plans to cope with the loss of large areas of the plant due to explosion and fire. These plans will have to be re-evaluated in light of Fukushima to judge whether they can be realistically carried out. In the meantime, the NRC should place a far greater emphasis on preventing accidents and terrorist attacks rather than trying to control them afterward.

4. Elevated levels of radiation have already been detected more than one hundred miles from the release site. While these levels remain low, if the accident continues to worsen then they could increase dramatically. If there was a reactor accident in the United States, the emergency preparedness measures that would directly protect the public, including evacuation planning and potassium iodide distribution, are limited to a 10-mile radius. Whether this distance should be increased will need to be reevaluated, as will the workability of emergency plans in the context of natural disasters or terrorist attacks. There are many other areas where we believe the NRC has allowed safety margins to decrease too far. Now, not after an accident, is the time to reconsider whether the NRC’s position on “how safe is safe” is truly adequate to protect public health and safety.

Thank you for your attention, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Dr. Edwin Lyman is Senior Scientist, Global Security Program for Union of Concerned Scientists

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Nuclear Power Collapses in Quake-Ravaged Japan

Reactor fuel at Fukushima Daiichi thought to be partially melted as risk of full meltdown heightens

ATLANTA (update 3/14/11) A second reactor building has now exploded in Japan. Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 in Fukushima Prefecture 150 miles north of Tokyo exploded at 7:00 p.m. on Monday local time. The Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor contains MOX PLUTONIUM FUEL which is even more dangerous and deadly than uranium fuel. We have just learned through Japanese collagues that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 has lost all cooling and reactor core meltdown is imminent. Paul Gunter from Beyond Nuclear commented, "The vessel and containment are going to get the maximum test."

Japanese officials still assert that the fuel in Units 1 and 3 is only partially melted. Fuel in the super-hot reactor core is only half-covered with water though it is hard to tell because gauges are malfunctioning. Workers have been unable to reintroduce coolant to the reactor cores saying it is like trying to pour water into an inflated balloon. U.S. troops began pulling out from their position 100 miles offshore earlier today because of elevated radiation readings. The situation of having several reactor accidents simultaneously is absolutely unprecedented.

The world watches with bated breath as thousands of Japanese survivors of the monster earthquake and tsunami which rocked northern Japan Friday afternoon are forced to flee out-of-control reactors which were also damaged by the 8.9 magnitude quake. The affected area is near Sendai, population 1,000,000 in Miyagi prefecture.

The human miseries and tragic death toll caused by the horrific natural disaster are greatly worsened by the threat from multiple nuclear reactors which have been in an emergency state since the quake began. It is good that the reactors were shut down immediately and Japanese officials began evacuating people from near the troubled reactors right away. The evacuation zone has been expanded several times, currently up to 12 miles, as the situation grows more serious by the hour. More than 200,000 people are being force to leave at this time. The number of military responders has jumped from 51,000 troops to 100,000. The latest reports say that Tokai Unit 2 reactor only 75 miles from Tokyo is now in danger from loss of coolant in addition to the reactors that have been under watch since early Friday morning. Onagawa nuclear reactors in northeast Japan have been shut because of high radiation readings, presumably from the troubles at Fukushima. IAEA has stated that radiation levels are back to normal at Onagawa though IAEA's mission is to promote nuclear energy making their optimistic statements suspect to Nuclear Watch South.

THE DANGERS OF NUCLEAR REACTORS

Nuclear power reactors do not explode like nuclear weapons, though they can explode violently from a variety of causes. The most serious threat posed by operating nuclear reactors is the fantastic amount of radioactivity and heat that is generated and must be contained within the reactor structure. According to IAEA's website, for instance, the radioactivity released by the catastrophic explosion at CHERNOBYL was 400 times the radioactivity from the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The extreme heat produced by nuclear fission is used to boil water which in turn drives steam generators to produce electricity. The principle is the same as burning coal and oil to make electricity, although the use of uranium, and in the case of one of the problem Japanese reactors, plutonium, for fuel greatly increases the risk that nuclear energy poses to public health and places nuclear reactors in a singular industrial class, heavily regulated and intensely controversial since its inception in President Eisenhower's 1953 "Atoms for Peace" program.

The great concern to public health and the environment from nuclear reactors is the phenomenal amount of radiation generated by tons of fissionable uranium, or less commonly used, plutonium (MOX) reactor fuel, in reactor cores. Indeed, life on Earth did not begin until radiation on the surface of our newly formed planet had died down sufficiently. The Earth is bombarded by cosmic radiation and its surface inhabitants are shielded by Earth's atmosphere. Radioactive elements exist in rock and soil, but they are widely dispersed, and again, the inhabitants, are shielded from them by the Earth itself.

Human activities have concentrated radioactivity on the surface of the Earth, creating an environmental risk that, before Chernobyl, has not been experienced on our planet. Radioactive poison works on a cellular level to cause not only illness but genetic damage. The harm to creation itself is at the very core of Nuclear Watch South's opposition to nuclear energy. The most important point to appreciate is that the radiation released from Russia's Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 spewed an unprecedented amount of radiation into the surface environment of our planet. This is why the news of the nuclear reactors in Japan is receiving so much attention.

JAPANESE REACTORS SHUT BY MONSTER QUAKE

At present, six GE boiling water reactors at Fukushima Daiichi (I) built in the 1970s and four GE boiling water reactors at Fukushima Daini (II) built in the 1980s are all shut. General Electric is the American company who collaborated with Hitachi and Toshiba to build nuclear reactors in Japan. Five of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors that are posing the immediate threat are the same type as Nuclear Plant Hatch on the Altamaha River in Georgia.

The problems with the three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi are that the earthquake knocked out all electric power, including the power systems that keep water pumps circulating millions of gallons of water to cool the fiercely hot reactors. It is so important to keep coolant, water, flowing around the reactors that there are back-up generators. Unfortunately, these were flooded by the tsunami, and it was this total loss of power that prompted officials to begin evacuating people. In 1991, a meltdown was narrowly averted at Georgia's then-new VOGTLE reactors when a truck backed into a power pole in the switchyard knocking out all emergency power to both reactors. That accident prompted a U.S.-wide regulatory change on emergency back-up power. Reactors at Fukushima Daini are also experiencing cooling problems and operators are venting radioactive steam to reduce pressure in the reactor buildings. The latest reports say that another reactor, Unit 1 at the Tokai site near Tokyo is experiencing cooling pump failure. A state of emergency has been declared at Onagawa reactor near the Fukushima sites because of high radiation readings. Officials still claim the reactors are all under control.

The reactor building of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 exploded on Saturday. Reports that there was a meltdown in progress began to circulate and it is still suspected that a meltdown, or meltdowns, are in progress. The explosion was from the build-up of hydrogen, an accident which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said cannot occur and a scenario for which none of 104 licensed reactors operating in the U.S. are prepared. One death has been reported, a crane operator, who may have been killed either in the explosion or by radiation. The dramatic explosion of Unit 1 was captured by video and begins at :47 seconds.

After a day of widespread speculation U.S. experts have agreed with Japanese pronouncements that the containment of the wrecked Unit 1 is still intact. Recent updates by UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS speculate that the extremely dangerous cesium 137 being detected offsite is not from a full-blown meltdown but from damaged fuel. The Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor building would normally contain the radiation that is released from the reactor so now radioactivity is indeed escaping to the environment. Sea water is being used to cool the reactor and is seen as a sign of desperation by reactor operators — nuclear expert ROBERT ALVAREZ called it a "Hail Mary pass" since corrosive sea water will ruin the reactor and prevent its ever being used again.

Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 which loaded PLUTONIUM MOX REACTOR FUEL in September 2010 exploded Monday at 7:00 p.m. local time. Operators are flooding both reactor containments with sea water and boron which captures neutrons, but have been unable thus far to figure out a way to actually introduce coolant into the reactor core. Experts agree that restoring electricity to the water pumps is crucial. Questions also remain unanswered about the condition of the chilling pools containing highly radioactive "spent" fuel rods. A press release from TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) Sunday acknowledges that they are trying to figure out how to cool the fuel pools. Fuel pool fires or loss of coolant are extremely risky scenarios at reactors and in the GE boiling water reactors are located on top of the reactor building, a design weakness that was corrected in later reactor designs. The highly radioactive spent fuel rods are the class of waste for which deep geologic disposal is required, and as multiple cores are presumed to be stored in each pool, a crisis with the fuel pools could rival or surpass the crisis in the reactors.

The crippled reactors are smaller than the Chernobyl reactor which polluted much of Europe with cesium 137 in 1986. There are other crucial differences as well. The Chernobyl reactor was running at full power when it exploded with violence that spewed radiation high into the stratosphere where winds carried the radioactive fallout around the globe. The Japanese reactors have been shut for many hours now and the radiation and heat from the internal fission in the core will have dropped off sharply. However, as Japanese operators are venting radioactive steam into the environment in an effort to reduce pressure in the reactor vessels, if there is a meltdown it will likely spread radiation more locally, impacting the Japanese people potentially more than the Russian people suffered from Chernobyl.

Saturday, in Germany, famous for its mass anti-nuclear protests, 60,000 people formed a human chain from the town to the local nuclear reactor. The nuclear industry is spinning its PR machine into hyper-drive in attempt to reinflate it's pale, so-called "Nuclear Renaissance." Meanwhile, anti-nuclear advocates around the globe are watching the situation and praying that it will be resolved safely. Anti-nuclear advocates well understand the dangers of nuclear energy and the unacceptable risk of meltdown. Determination to stop a new generation of reactors and to shut the dangerous reactors is higher than ever. We don't need to rely on the old poisonous forms of power — coal, oil and nuclear — because solar and wind are abundant and ready to be harvested. see CARBON-FREE AND NUCLEAR-FREE

There is still great work to be done to finish nuclear technology, to develop ways to deal with radioactive used reactor buildings and to grapple with the lingering problem of what to do with mountains of radioactive waste and tons of poisonous fissile material for nuclear weapons. It has been 65 years since the Atomic Age exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. History and heroes will be made as we enter the frontier to safely bring down the monster unleashed in creation when humans played with poison atomic fire.

TAKE ACTION>>>

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Secret Plan Exposed to Use Surplus Weapons Plutonium in Washington State Nuclear Reactor

Energy Northwest Covers-up Plans for Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Experiments

COLUMBIA, SC (2/3/11) FRIENDS OF THE EARTH has obtained official documents which reveal that Energy Northwest plans to bring experimental radioactive plutonium fuel into Washington State for risky tests in a nuclear reactor not originally designed for that purpose. The documents also reveal that the utility sought to keep information about the controversial surplus weapons plutonium nuclear reactor fuel secret. “It’s no surprise that the utility tried to keep its controversial plans to use reactor fuel containing weapons-quality plutonium secret. It’s hard to see how the public could accept bringing plutonium back to Hanford after most of it has been shipped off the site,” says Tom Clements, SE Nuclear Campaign Coordinator for Friends of the Earth.

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“RADIOACTIVE RIP-OFF”
Tax-Funded Nuclear Bailout for Southern Company

OBAMA SAYS $8.3 BILLION IN NUCLEAR LOAN GUARANTEES

ATLANTA (2/16/10)
The “Nuclear Renaissance” has reached a controversial milestone with President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu’s announcement that $8.3 billion in tax-funded loan guarantees is being offered to Southern Company to construct two new reactors in Georgia.

Glenn Carroll, coordinator of Nuclear Watch South called the tax giveaways “a giant radioactive rip-off" adding that "radioactive risk and radioactive waste are the only promises that nukes can be counted on to keep.”

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Siting Nukes in a Poor Black Town ~ If A Black President Does It, Is It Still Environmental Racism?

BLACK AGENDA REPORT (5/4/10) In the weeks since President Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to build new nuclear reactors next to an existing pair of nukes in mostly black Burke County, GA, the inconvenient questions, unanswered and mostly unasked, continue to pile up.

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Tennessee Groups Demand Public Hearings on German Radioactive Waste Import Scheme

NASHVILLE, TN (2/14/11) The Tennessee Environmental Council, Citizens to End Nuclear Dumping in Tennessee, and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance are demanding that the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Division of Radiological Health hold a public review of the impacts on public health and environmental well-being of the proposed expansion of the Energy Solutions" Duratek Bear Creek incinerator in Oak Ridge. EnergySolutions has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to import 1000 tons of radioactive waste from Germany to be incinerated in Tennessee.

READ MORE>>>

TAKE ACTION>>>

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Best argument against new reactors: old reactors!

RETIRE VERMONT YANKEE NOW

BEYOND NUCLEAR: Vermont Yankee has suffered a fire, a cooling tower collapse, and numerous radioactive leaks. In February 2010, the Vermont State Senate, led by then Senator, now Governor, Peter Shumlin, voted not to allow the Entergy-owned reactor a license extension beyond its March 2012 expiration date. Now Entergy is trying to sell the doomed reactor. SHUT IT DOWN!

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"To the village square
we must carry the facts
of atomic energy.
From there must come America's voice."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

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HOT NEWS!

Worldwatch Institute report finds renewables output surpasses nuclear in 2010

NUCLEAR POWER IN A POST-FUKUSHIMA WORLD
25 Years After the Chernobyl Accident

draft
World Nuclear Industry
Status Report 2010–2011
by
Mycle Schneider,
Antony Froggatt,
Steve Thomas

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MOX PLUTONIUM FACTORY CONSTRUCTION CHANGES
Federal Register
April 22, 2011

MOX CONTRACTOR "SHAMS"
CHANGE REQUEST
LETTER TO NRC
February 8, 2011

DOE INTERIM ACTION DETERMINATION ON MOX PLUTONIUM FACTORY
March 18, 2011

It's Time to Pull the
Plug on the MOX "Factory to Nowhere"
by Ed Lyman

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WORKERS FLEE JAPAN NUCLEAR PLANT AS SMOKE RISES
boston.com

THE MANHATTAN MELTDOWN SCENARIO
Helen Caldicott

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE RAIN?
Carl Pope

NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE
Ralph Nader

WORLD MAP OF
NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS
Guardian, U.K.

nukepills.com

NUREG 1150
SEVERE ACCIDENT RISKS:
An Assessment for
Five U.S. Nuclear
Power Plants
Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NUCLEAR POWER:
A DANGEROUS
WASTE OF TIME
GREENPEACE report

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SPECIAL REPORT

DIET MORE IMPORTANT THAN IODINE

JOAN WARD
Nutrition Advisor

For those of you considering potassium-iodine, the pharmacological / prophylaxis dosages given in the vicinity of an accident are over 3000 times the RDA.

The RDA for iodine is 150 mcg. (1 mg = 1000 mcg) Ingestion of up to 20 times the RDA (3 mg) has no known side effects. Side effects of 30 times the RDA (4.5 mg) may include mouth sores, metallic taste, swollen salivary glands, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, rash, and breathing difficulties. Readers should not use this information for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, but should always consult a medical professional regarding any medical problems and before undertaking any major dietary changes. This information is not meant to be substituted for medical advice.

Potassium iodide administered in pharmacologic doses* (50-100 mg for adults) within 48 hours before or eight hours after radiation exposure from a nuclear reactor accident can significantly reduce thyroid uptake of 131I and decrease the risk of radiation-induced thyroid cancer. The prompt and widespread use of potassium iodide prophylaxis in Poland after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident may explain the lack of a significant increase in childhood thyroid cancer in Poland compared to fallout areas where potassium iodide prophylaxis was not widely used.

In the U.S., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires that consideration be given to potassium iodide as a protective measure for the general public in the case of a major release of radioactivity from a nuclear power plant.

~ the dose or intake level of a nutrient many times the level associated with the prevention of deficiency or the maintenance of health. A pharmacologic dose is generally associated with the treatment of a disease state and considered to be a dose at least 10 times greater than that needed to prevent deficiency.

At the time of the atomic bombing, Tatsuichiro Akizuki, M.D. was Director of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Francis's Hospital in Nagasaki and he fed his staff and patients a strict diet of brown rice, miso and tamari soy soup, wakame, kombu and other seaweed, Hokkaido pumpkin, and sea salt. He also prohibited the consumption of sugar and sweets since they suppress the immune system.

By imposing this diet on his staff and patients, no one succumbed to radiation poisoning whereas the occupants of hospitals located much further away from the blast incident suffered severe radiation fatalities.

Much of this positive result has to do with the fact that the sea vegetables contain substances that bind radioactive particles and escort them out of the body. This is why seaweed sales usually skyrocket after radiation disasters, and why various seaweeds and algae are typically used to treat radiation victims.

In Chernobyl spirulina was used to help save many children from radiation poisoning. By taking 5 grams of spirulina a day for 45 days, the Institute of Radiation Medicine in Minsk even proved that children on this protocol experienced enhanced immune systems, T-cell counts and reduced radioactivity. Israeli scientists have since treated Chernobyl children with doses of natural beta carotene from Dunaliella algae and proved that it helped normalize their blood chemistry. Chlorella algae, a known immune system builder and heavy metal detoxifier, has also shown radioprotective effects. Because they bind heavy metals, algae should therefore be consumed after exposure to any type of radioactive contamination.

In 1968 a group of Canadian researchers at McGill University of Montreal, headed by Dr. Stanley Skoryna, actually set out to devise a method to counteract the effects of nuclear fallout. The key finding from their studies was that sea vegetables contained a polysaccharide substance, called sodium alginate, which selectively bound radioactive strontium and eliminated it from the body.

Sodium alginate is found in many seaweeds, especially kelp, and since that time the Russians have been seriously researching the use of their own kelps from Vladivlostok, from which they have isolated the polysaccharide U-Fucoidan, which is another radioactive detoxifier. Because miso soup was so effective in helping prevent radiation sickness, the Japanese have also done research identifying the presence of an active ingredient called zybicolin, discovered in 1972, which acts as a binding agent to also detoxify and eliminate radioactive elements (such as strontium) and other pollutants from the body.

The kelps and algaes aren't the only natural foods with radio-detoxifying effects. In terms of fluids to drink, black and green tea have shown "radioprotective effects" whether consumed either before or after exposure to radiation. This anti-radiation effect was observed in several Japanese studies, and studies from China also suggest that the ingredients in tea are radioactive antagonists.

In short, after any sort of radioactive exposure you want to be eating seaweeds and algaes along with almost any type of commercial heavy metal chelating formula to bind radioactive particles and help escort them out of the body. Whether you're worried about depleted uranium, plutonium or other isotopes, this is the wise thing to do which can possibly help, and certainly won't hurt. Many nutritional supplements have been developed for the purpose of detoxifying heavy metals, most of which contain the algaes and plant fibers and other binding substances.

Basically, an anti-radiation diet should focus on the following foods:

~ Miso soup
~ Spirulina, chlorella and the algaes (kelp, etc.)
~ Brassica vegetables and high beta carotene vegetables
~ Beans and lentils
~ Potassium, calcium and mineral rich foods
~ High nucleotide content foods to assist in cellular repair including spirulina, chlorella, algae, yeast, sardines, liver, anchovies and mackerel
~ Cod liver oil and olive oil
~ Avoid sugars and sweets and wheat
~ A good multivitamin/
multimineral supplement

Yet another benefit of the sea vegetables rarely discussed is their high mineral content, which is a bonus in the case of radioactive exposure. Consuming natural iodine, such as in the seaweeds, helps prevent the uptake of iodine-131 while iron inhibits the absorption of plutonium-238 and plutonium-239. Vitamin B-12 inhibits cobalt-60 uptake (used in nuclear medicine), zinc inhibits zinc-65 uptake and sulfur is preventative for sulfur-35 (a product of nuclear reactors) incorporation by the body.

Since nuclear workers are potentially exposed to radioactive sulfur, this means that workers in the atomic power industry need a higher content of sulfur in their diet. MSM supplements provide a source of dietary sulfur, but thiol supplements such as cysteine, lipoic acid and glutathione serve double-duty in this area because they help detoxify the body and attack all sorts of other health problems as well.

The immune system is usually hit hard after radiation exposure, and a number of steps can be taken to help prevent opportunistic infections after a radioactive incident. Though the full dimensions of the protective mechanism is still unknown, Siberian ginseng is one form of ginseng that exerts a definite radioprotective effect and has been demonstrated to lessen the side effects of radiation. It was widely distributed by the Soviet Union to those exposed Chernobyl radiation and is commonly used to help cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.

Consuming Reishi mushrooms is another proven way to bolster your immune system after radiation exposure and helps reduce the damage from radiation. It's been used to decrease radiation sickness in animals and help them recover faster after potentially deadly exposure.

Panax ginseng has prevented hemorrhaging after radiation exposure, prevents bone marrow death and stimulates blood cell formation, so it's another supplement to add to one's protocol. In short, yeasts, beta glucans, bee pollen and various forms of ginseng have all been shown to bolster the immune system after radiation incidents. In terms of radiation burns, aloe vera has a proven ability to treat serious radiation burns and offers other radioprotective effects, and can easily be grown in your house.

The amino acid L-Glutamine can be used to help repair the intestine in case of the gastrointestinal syndrome usually suffered due to radiation exposure, and a variety of substances can help rebuild blood cells to prevent hematopoietic syndrome. Those particular foods include beet juice, liver extract, spleen extract, and shark alkyglycerols. Most oncologists don't know that shark liver oil, with alkyglycerols, can help platelet counts rebound in days.

We've discussed just a few of the many supplements and protocols you can use to help detox the body of the lingering results of radioactive contamination.

One last thing that might be of interest is a plant that is a natural geiger counter. The spiderwort plant is so sensitive to changes in radiation levels (its petals change color upon exposure) that it's often used as a natural radiation detector (dosimeter), just as they use canaries in mines as detectors of poisonous gas. Some people like knowing that they have an ongoing monitoring system for radiation in the environment, and this is just another tip available in "How to Neutralize the Harmful Effects of Radiation or Radioactive Exposure."

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Plutonium Fuel (MOX)
in Fukushima Unit 3,
US Reactors Poses Additional Safety and Radiation Risks

TOM CLEMENTS
Friends of the Earth
SE Nuclear Campaign

One of the Japanese reactors under risk of continued fuel melting or explosion is now operating for the first time with part of the core being plutonium fuel. This plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel , shipped from Europe and inserted in Fukushima Unit 3 in September 2010, poses greater risks than traditional uranium fuel. MOX, made from plutonium which is capable of being used in nuclear weapons, is harder to control during reactor operation and results in a more serious radiation release in case of an accident, which is the grave threat we are now seeing in Japan. The plutonium in the MOX is a result of the reprocessing of Japanese spent fuel and that program and MOX have long been opposed by public interest groups due to safety, cost and non-proliferation concerns.

In the US, the Department of Energy is considering use of MOX fuel in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Browns Ferry reactors, of the same aging Mark I boiling water reactor (BWR) design as Fukushima Unit 3. Analysis by TVA of use of unsafe MOX fuel made from surplus weapons plutonium must be halted and the $850 million request in President Obama’s FY2012 must be rejected. Cost of the MOX plant now under construction at DOE’s Savannah River Site has skyrocketed from $1.4 billion in FY 2004 to $4.9 billion in FY 2009 and has become a program driven by special interests which profit from it.

LINKS

U.S. plutonium disposition program: Uncertainties of the MOX route – March 10

Secret Plan Exposed to Use Surplus Weapons Plutonium in Washington State Nuclear Reactor

Dr. Edwin Lyman ~ Impact of MOX Fuel on Potential for Severe Nuclear Plant Accidents in Japan

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JAPAN'S
NUCLEAR DISASTER
RESOURCES

JAPANESE ATOMIC INDUSTRY UPDATE SITE

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS FACT SHEET

Post-Tsunami Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan: Facts, Analysis, and Some Potential Outcomes
Dr. Arjun Makhijani
IEER

ALL THINGS NUCLEAR
Union of Concerned Scientists

NUCLEAR EXPERTS PRESS CONFERENCE
3/13/11
Friends of the Earth
Streaming Audio

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

NIRS
Nuclear Information Resource Service

BEYOND NUCLEAR

SACE
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

IEER
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

nuclearbailout.org

MELTDOWNS GROW MORE LIKELY AT THE FUKUSHIMA REACTORS
Robert Alvarez

RISK OF NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE ESCALATES IN JAPAN
Kevin Kamps

HOW A REACTOR
SHUTS DOWN AND WHAT HAPPENS
IN A MELTDOWN
NY Times
Interactive Display

TEPCO
Press Release
3/13/11

HOW BLACK IS THE JAPANESE NUCLEAR SWAN?
Nicole Stoneleigh Foss

JAPAN'S DEADLY GAME OF NUCLEAR ROULETTE
Leuren Moret

NUCLEAR POWER AND EARTHQUAKE ZONES OVERLAP IN THE U.S.
Andrew Schenkel

NUKEPILLS.COM
(U.S. Earthquakes and Reactors Map)

"PUT THE BRAKES" ON NEW NUKE PLANTS
Sen. Joe Lieberman

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JAPANESE ANTI-NUCLEAR GROUPS

CNIC ~ Citizens Nuclear Information Center

GREEN ACTION

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KNOW ABOUT IT

Breakthrough study by IEER proves we can get off coal, oil and nuclear by 2040

FREE DOWNLOAD

READ THE SUMMARY

VISIT THE WEBSITE

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DR. DON RICHARDSON
TO THE BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION

Our relentless efforts to end all forms of nuclear energy have thus far fallen on deaf ears — that is, until 3-11-11, when events in Japan may finally have made our point: nuclear energy is incompatible both with democracy and with life on planet Earth. A narrowly-focused, tunnel-visioned nuclear priesthood is being exposed for what it is: a perpetrator of crimes against humanity and nature for personal enrichment without regard to consequences.

Surely now it is time for the brilliant minds capable of splitting atoms to make the transition to renewable technologies that pose no threat, military or political, to our species and the millions of other species we depend upon for our continued existence.

In my view nuclear power is already a corpse, repeatedly being zapped with the paddles and given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in hopes of keeping what is a cash cow alive.

DNR! It's dead. RIP!

Let's get on with the transition to cheaper, benign technologies we can live with. Some in the nuclear industry must have children and grandchildren they care about, but maybe not.

Lester Brown has shown that we can improve life for everyone on Earth to a comfortable and sustainable level with just 12% of our global military budget. Meanwhile, there is no world problem with a military solution. This is a no-brainer. We will continue our efforts to shut down all 432 plants ASAP. Fukushima should help. Those of us with Geiger Counters have them turned on. We await the clicks of death.

DON RICHARDSON, M.D.
3-13-11
Western NC
Physicians for Social Responsibility
and
board certified in nuclear medicine 1974
gaia@citcom.net

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CHERNOBYL LEGACY
photo exhibit by
Paul Fusco
WARNING:GRAPHIC

CLICK HERE

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MORE ON
LOAN GUARANTEES

FOREIGN COMPANIES TO BENEFIT FROM NUCLEAR LOAN GUARANTEES
Robert Alvarez

NUCLEAR NOT THE ANSWER
Dr. Arjun Makhijani

"Obama Trying to
Fast Track Nuke Plants, Critics Say"
ABC News

"Obama's Nuclear Boondoggle"
Mother Jones

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT LOAN GUARANTEES:
An Unacceptable Risk
Mary Byrd Davis, PhD

FIVE REASONS
NOT TO INVEST IN NUCLEAR POWER
Robert Alvarez

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SUN DAY CAMPAIGN

IT’S LONG PAST THE TIME TO END RELIANCE ON NUCLEAR POWER

WASHINGTON, DC (3/13/11) — The SUN DAY Campaign and many other safe energy advocates have been speaking out about the risks and dangers posed by nuclear power for decades – since before the 1986 Chornobyl accident, since before the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, and since before the hundreds of other radioactive releases, unplanned shut-downs, and other mishaps that have continuously plagued both the U.S. and the international nuclear industry since its founding.

While nuclear power’s unacceptable safety, environmental, public health, economic, and national security risks should have been self-evident long before now, the latest unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan once again underscores the following:

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all potential “acts of God.”

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all instances of “human error.”

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all types of “mechanical malfunction.”

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all forms of “terrorist attack.”

There is no such thing as “safe” nuclear power.

There is no such thing as “clean” nuclear power.

There is no such thing as “cheap” nuclear power.

Consequently, all governmental financial and regulatory incentives for new nuclear plant construction should be ended and no new reactors should be built.

Existing nuclear reactors should be phased out as rapidly as possible and no now-licensed reactors should have their operating lives extended.

Safety standards for existing reactors should be substantially tightened while they continue to operate and federal nuclear funding should be redirected to the orderly phase-out of those reactors as well as the safe decommissioning of closed reactors and disposal of radioactive waste.

National energy policy should be refocused on greatly improved energy efficiency and the rapid deployment of renewable energy sources which are far cleaner, safer, and cheaper than nuclear power.

Ken Bossong
SUN DAY CAMPAIGN
sun-day-campaign@hotmail.com

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RADIOACTIVE
TEA PARTY!

ALICE is none other than Nuclear Watch South's Leslie Minerd who is joined by White Rabbit Tom Clements (Friends of the Earth), Red Queen and SC Sierra Club Chair Susan Corbett, and Tea Party Host Extraordinaire, the Mad Hatter, Tim Liszewski of Carolina Peace Resource Center. Alice and Crew crashed the 2008 Tea Party rally in Columbia, SC, and put tax-funded nuclear loan guarantees in front of the Tea Partiers and the local media.