Beyond Nuclear is heading back to Columbus, Ohio, to resist FirstEnergy's attempted ratepayer robbery, to the tune of $3 billion, to prop up its dirty, dangerous, and uncompetitive Davis-Besse atomic reactor, and Sammis coal burner.
(Joining with grassroots Ohio environmental, public interest, and ratepayer rights activists, as well as the Sierra Club's national Beyond Coal campaign and Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Committee, Beyond Nuclear was there for a rally of 100 against FirstEnergy's money grab, at a protest at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio HQ in Columbus on June 15th. There'll be another rally on August 31st, as called for by the Ohio Sierra Club's Nuclear-Free Committee, which has also provided PUCO's email address, and the bailout docket number, for taking action!)
Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps will present on a panel at one in a series of People, Peace, and the Planet sponsored by the Community Organizing Center. The events mark 70 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
At the August 8th Peace Activist Conference at First Unitarian Universalist Church, Kevin will focus on the various debacles at Davis-Besse, from the current attempted ratepayer robbery, to more close calls with catastrophe than any other atomic reactor in the U.S. The safety risks are compounded significantly by Davis-Besse's cracked concrete containment Shield Building, which cracks worse every time it freezes.
Kevin will also discuss the inextricable links between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and what we can do to abolish both.
Beyond Nuclear, along with Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Ohio Green Party, have intervened against Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension since Dec. 27, 2010. Davis-Besse's current 40-year license expires on Earth Day (April 22), 2017. The coalition is represented by Toledo attorney Terry Lodge.
In 2013, the Sierra club joined the coalition to resist Davis-Besse's risky experimental steam generator replacements. Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc. in Burlington, VT served as the coalition's expert witness.