Take action to block teetering nuclear loan guarantees!

The latest essay by Harvey Wasserman (pictured, left) of Nukefree.org, "America's Two New Nukes are on the Brink of Death," describes how President Obama's Office of Management and Budget has some newly revealed, serious concerns about the financial viability of an $8.33 billion taxpayer-backed nuclear loan guarantee for the two new proposed reactors, Toshiba-Westinghouse AP1000s, at Vogtle 3 & 4 in Georgia. Harvey also reports how ratepayers in North Carolina could block new reactors targeted at South Carolina, Summer Units 2 & 3 (also proposed AP1000s). He shows how grassroots anti-nuclear activism from Japan to Germany, Vermont to California, India and beyond represents a global nuclear power retreat, and renewable ("Solartopian") renaissance. EcoWatch and the Waterkeeper Alliance have provided a petition where you can take action against the teetering Vogtle 3 & 4 federal loan guarantee, before it gets finalized!

Update! VT Gov. Pete Shumlin to speak at April 14 rally

Come to Vermont if you can, April 14, 12 noon to 2pm in Brattleboro, VT. It's time to thank Vermont legislators for: taking a stand in support of the safety of its people and animals; the preservation of its environment; and for a committment to a green energy policy. Don't let the courts over-ride the will of Vermonters! More.

April action in Oak Ridge: The Folly of Icarus (Nuclear Weapons and the Pursuit of Security)

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has put out the following call to action:

"Join us on April 21 in Oak Ridge [Tennessee] as we explore the folly of using nuclear weapons to pursue security. The day will feature a march from Alvin K Bissell Park in Oak Ridge to the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex where we will have a rally, a drama, music and action.

We will gather at 12:30pm at Bissell Park and, after a stop by the Friendship Bell, we will walk to Y12. There we will be joined by the Emancipators for music, and the OREPA puppetistas for a dramatic adaptation of the Daedalus/Icarus myth with an action for disarmament to follow.

OREPA actions are nonviolent in tone as well as action. Everyone is welcome. No drugs or alcohol."

See the OREPA website for more information.

The "face of Fukushima," Japan minister Edano says nukes must go

Reuters reports that Japanese trade and energy minister, Yukio Edano, who was seen constantly on Japanese newscasts during the Fukushima nuclear crisis, thinks nuclear power should be phased out in Japan. Edano said:"The government's policy is now to reduce reliance on nuclear power as low as possible," Edano said. "I'd like to see the reliance on nuclear cut to zero. I'd like to have a society work without nuclear as early as possible. 

"New [reactors] don't make any sense right now." John Rowe

The reitred CEO of Exelon Nuclear Corporation, John Rowe, is publicly on the record opposing new reactor construction. "Let me also state unequivocably that new [reactors] don’t make any sense right now,” he said in Chicago this week where Exelon is headquartered. "It just isn’t economic, and it’s not economic within a foreseeable time frame," he said.The question remains whether Rowe's remarks will influence the Obama White House policy of supporting new reactor projects. One of the original creators of Exelon was Obama's influential former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago. Rowe made several trips to the White House during Emanuel's tenure. David Axelrod, Obama's political advisor, has been a lobbyist for Exelon.