New South Korean president vows to end use of nuclear power

South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, appears to have learned the lessons of Fukushima in taking a firmly anti-nuclear stance in the early weeks of his office. Following in the footsteps of Japanese premier, Naoto Kan, who was in power at the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster but is now firmly opposed to nuclear energy, Moon has vowed to scrap plans for new nuclear plants, will not extend the licenses of existing ones and will emphasize a renewable energy economy.

As reported by the Guardian.

Japanese nuclear firms are running for the exits

The collapse and bankruptcy of the Westinghouse electric company has already thrown its Japanese parent company, Toshiba into a financial downward spriral. Now another Japanese company, Hitachi, is looking to escape the extreme financial commitment to build two new nuclear plants in Wales by divesting itself of the local subsidiary that would build and operate them. The aptly name Horizon Nuclear Power consortium intends to build two reactors at the Wylfa B site in Wales, a project that looks to remain indefinitely on the horizon. Hitachi says if it can't offload Horizon by 2019, the theoretical construction start date, then it will suspend the project. Hitachi is seeking to avoid taking on the substantial financial risks that are now an automatic part of new nuclear construction ventures. Toshiba, meanwhile, will fork out $3.68 billion to keep its two AP-1000 reactors under construction in Georgia (pictured) afloat. The company has been trying to offload its lucrative computer chip business to save itself from financial fiasco. The company reported a $8.6 biillion loss for its fiscal year which ended in March. More.

Will Congress use N. Korea fears to escalate missile defense spending?

 As explained in this short video from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, the current so-called missile defense program is ineffective, unnecessary and exorbitantly expensive. But with nuclear sabres rattling in North Korea, some Members of Congress are attempting to expand the already $40 billion national missile defense system at the cost of billions of dollars that could be spent on essential domestic programs. As the Center’s executive Director, John Tierney, pointed out in a June 1 New York Times op-ed, six of the highly scripted ten missile intercept tests since 2004 have failed.

Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters call operations at Pickering nuclear "persistently abysmal"

In a submission to the Ontario Energy Board this week, the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) association states that it is now convinced that “OPG’s plan to extend operations at Pickering is not economically feasible and, far from producing savings for ratepayers, may increase the price of electricity service in Ontario.”

CME also noted that Pickering’s operating performance is “persistently abysmal…by any objective measure”.

In its submissions CME acknowledged “the considerable efforts of Environmental Defence in bringing to light the significant potential for negative impacts on the price of electricity service associated with Ontario Power Generation’s plan for Pickering Extended Operations and the absence of sufficient economic analysis supporting OPG’s planned expenditures taking into account accurate and current production forecasts, fully allocated costs and prices associated with comparable alternative sources of generating capacity.”

According to Environmental Defence’s calculations, keeping the outdated Pickering Nuclear Station operating from 2018 to 2024 would raise electricity costs by $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion.

To read CME’s full submissions to the Ontario Energy Board please click here.

To read Environmental Defence’s submissions please click here.

Please sign the Ontarion Clean Air Alliance petition asking Premier Wynne to close the Pickering Nuclear Station in 2018, when its licence expires, and watch a video by OCAA's Angela Bischoff here.

Compensation for uranium miners should include all who suffered

Beyond Nuclear has joined an initiative of the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE) to campaign for justice and compensation for the uranium miners at the front end of the nuclear fuel chain. Currently, the 1990 Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act (RECA) only offers compensation -- through an arduous process -- to uranium miners who were active between 1941 and 1971. RECA also compensates a few downwind communities who received large doses of radioactive fallout from the above-ground nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site.

MASE is asking groups to sign on to efforts to amend RECA to include all uranium workers and additional downwind communities who suffered atomic test fallout.

An immediate action is to contact your Senators and Representatives to expand RECA.  Go to this link, fill out your 9-digit zip code and use the letter provided to contact your elected officials.

You can find out more about the campaign here.

Read the proposed amended RECA bill here.

Read about RECA here.