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Freeze Our Fukushimas

"Freeze Our Fukushimas" is a national campaign created by Beyond Nuclear to permanently suspend the operations of the most dangerous class of reactors operating in the United States today; the 23 General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, the same flawed design as those that melted down at Fukushima-Daiichi in Japan.

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Tuesday
Sep042012

Charlotte, NC: Democratic National Convention, and nuclear power center

Charlotte, NC will be in the national spotlight this week, as it hosts the Democratic Party's National Convention. But Charlotte is also a hub for the nuclear power industry. As highlighted by Charlotte's Chamber of Commerce, the city hosts many a big name nuclear corporation, including: nuclear utility Duke Energy, with a dozen atomic reactors in its fleet nationwide; The Shaw Group; AREVA NP; Toshiba; Westinghouse; and Fluor.

Duke's McGuire Units 1 and 2 are just 17 miles north of Charlotte, and its Catawba Units 1 and 2 are just 18 miles south of Charlotte. All four units are ice condensor designs, a pressure-suppression containment, similar in that regard to the Fukushima Daiichi GE Mark I and II boiling waters.

CREDO Action has published an alert calling for action to pressure Duke Energy to stop funding the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its voter suppression and anti-environment efforts.

Charlotte-based Duke's other atomic reactors are: Brunswick 1 & 2 (GE Mark Is), NC; Crystal River, FL; Harris, NC; Oconee 1, 2, and 3, SC; Robinson, SC.

Saturday
Sep012012

Anti-nuclear drum beat continues against Vermont Yankee

Thanks to Debra Stoleroff of Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance for sharing with us news of "three opportunities to keep the fact that Vermont Yankee is still operating in the public eye and to voice your opinion regarding this fact that Entergy continues to undermine Vermont's democratic process for its own profits; gambling away the health of people in VT, MA, and NH as well as our environment.   Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant remains an accident away from devestating the region."

Sat, Sept. 1: We Are Not Going Away Until VT Yankee is Shut Down and Safely Decommissioned With a Greenfield

Sat, Sept. 8: Our River Runs Through It Flotilla Down the Connecticut River to VT Yankee (see event poster, left, and SAGE Alliance website for details)

Sun, Sept. 23: Burlington Friends Meeting at Vermont Yankee followed by NVCD at Vt Yankee

For more info., see Beyond Nuclear's NUCLEAR POWER website section.

The five member NRC Commission unanimously rubberstamped Vermont Yankee's 20 year license extension on 3/10/11, one day before the beginning of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. NRC Staff then finalized the paperwork on the rubberstamp a couple weeks later. Vermont Yankee and Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 are identidically designed: General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors.

Tuesday
Aug212012

Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Associates: "Can Spent Fuel Pools Catch Fire?"

Fairewinds Associates Chief Engineer Arnie GundersenReproduced verbatim from the Fairewinds Associates website: "In this Fairewinds’ feature, Fairewinds Associates Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen [pictured, left] analyzes a US government national laboratory simulation video that shows nuclear spent fuel rods do catch fire when exposed to air. This simulation video proves Fairewinds’ assertions that nuclear fuel rods can catch fire when exposed to air, and Arnie discusses the ramifications of this phenomena if the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent fuel pool were to lose cooling water. 

The Sandia National Laboratories video in its entirety can be seen here."

As Arnie explains in the video, the U.S. has 23 operating (and 1 permanently closed, at Millstone Unit 1) General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, which hold significantly more irradiated nuclear fuel in their storage pools than does Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4. Beyond Nuclear has published a fact sheet on the risks of GE BWR Mark I high-level radioactive waste storage pool risks.

Wednesday
Jul182012

Beyond Nuclear cites NRC and industry for “lessons unlearned” at Fukushima 

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the implications of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear catastrophe for US reactor operations.  In fact, it is the NRC that should be coming under investigation as a “captured regulator” of this increasingly dangerous industry. .

The most important lesson of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear catastrophe is that in the event of a severe accident, once fuel damage in the reactor core occurs there is a very high likelihood that the accident will proceed to catastrophic containment failure with widespread radioactive contamination to the environment.  Yet the NRC and the nuclear industry have explicitly disregarded this critical lesson in post-Fukushima Orders and industry actions.   Read the comments of Beyond Nuclear to the National Academy of Science newly formed study panel that regard dangerous half measures for venting the unreliable Fukushima-designed GE Mark I and Mark II Boiling Water Reactors here in the United States.

Monday
Jul092012

Thom Hartmann interviews Paul Gunter & Kevin Kamps on "Beyond Fukushima: When Will We Learn?"

As part of "The Big Picture: Conversations with Great Minds," Thom Hartmann interviewed Paul and Kevin at length about the situation at Fukushima Daiichi, as the first atomic reactors are restarted in Japan after the nuclear catastrophe began on 3/11/11, and what it means for the United States: Part 1Part 2.