A mountain of waste 70 years high, and no solution in sight

Check out the new Beyond Nuclear pamphlet - The Lethal Legacy of the Atomic Age, 1942 - 2012 - infinity. A Mountain of Waste 70 Years High. (Feel free to download it or email us at info@beyondnuclear.org to request printed copies.) Ever since the first self-sustaining chain reaction occurred on December 2, 1942, no solution has been found to deal with even the first cupful of radioactive waste generated in the US. Shortly, the Department of Energy's Blue Ribbon Commission will be releasing its report which will likely recommend so-called "Centralized Interim Storage" - effectively a parking lot dumpsite whose deadly cargo may never be moved to a "final" destination. Historically, Indian reservations or communities of color are the most likely targets to host such "storage." In addition, the DOE will likely begin a search for a new repository site to replace the wisely canceled and scientifically unsound proposed Yucca Mountain dump. The granite states appear to lead the list of possibilities although all of the 48 contiguous states are in the mix.

Catastrophic Risks of GE BWR Mark 1 High-Level Radioactive Waste Storage Pools

Beyond Nuclear has published a new backgrounder, "Catastrophic Risks of GE BWR Mark 1 High-Level Radioactive Waste Storage Pools."

Is President Obama's cancellation of the Yucca dump the real reason behind the "witch hunt" against NRC Chairman Jaczko?

U.S. NRC Chairman Gregory JaczkoRyan Grim of Huffington Post, in an in-depth investigative report, documents that U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner (NRC) William Magwood IV and top Nuclear Energy Institute lobbyist Alex Flint have worked together before to "take down" Democratic political appointees in the nuclear energy field. Andrew Cockburn had also previously reported on this story at Counterpunch, quoting Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps:

“[NRC Chairman Jaczko's] not ‘our guy’ by any means, he has voted to re-license plants that should probably be shut down” says Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear.  “But he does care about safety, in ways that the [other NRC Commissioners] do not.”

One of Jaczko's (pictured, left) greatest "transgressions" against the nuclear power industry and its right wing political supporters -- earning their eternal wrath -- seems to be his carrying out of President Obama's policy decision to phase out the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump. Before becoming an NRC Commissioner, Magwood had advocated for opening the Yucca dump.

Media coverage of this "mutiny" at the highest levels of the NRC began on Friday, December 9th with U.S. Representative Darrell Issa's (Republican-California) public release of a letter from NRC Commissioners Magwood, Svinicki, Ostendorff, and Apostolakis to President Obama that was clearly marked "Not for Public Disclosure," and has continued up to the present, as documented, with links to the articles, at the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Project's What's News page.

The webcast of the 3 hour, 30 minute long hearing on these matters, conducted on Dec. 15, 2011 by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), featuring the five NRC Commissioners as the sole witnesses, is archived online.

First Nations of Lake Huron's North Shore say no to radioactive waste dump in their territory

Photo by Robert Del Tredichi of a wall of uranium tailings at Elliot Lake, and the devastating impact their radioactivity and toxic chemicals have on the surrounding environmentAs announced in a media release, the North Shore Tribal Council of Lake Huron, representing 7 First Nations communities, has expressed its strong opposition to a bid by the City of Elliot Lake in Ontario to serve as a Canada-wide dumpsite for high-level radioactive waste. Elliot Lake remains severely contaminated after decades of a dozen uranium mines in its immediate area. The nuclear utility run Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been put in charge of searching for a "volunteer host" for irradiated nuclear fuel, hazardous for millions of years. The North Shore Tribal Council said "Our statement to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is: Do not waste your financial resources if you plan to conduct a study in this area because a nuclear waste dump is not going to happen here."

A 1998 book, republished in 2003, entitled "This Is Our Homeland," edited by Serpent River First Nation Members Lorraine Rekmans and Keith Lewis, as well as Anabel Dwyer, contains testimonials by First Nation and other survivors of decades of uranium mining at Elliot Lake.

"Fukushima's U.S. Nuclear Nightmare"

An article by John Raymond posted at his ZSpace Page features Beyond Nuclear's "Freeze Our Fukushimas" campaign to shut down the 23 Fukushima Daiichi twins in the U.S. -- General Electric Boiling Water Reactors of the Mark 1 design. Paul Gunter is quoted extensively on reactor risks, and Kevin Kamps on high-level radioactive waste storage pool risks.