As reported by the Washington Post.
"The clock is now set at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to symbolic doom and the first time the hands have been within the two-minute mark," reported NBC News.
See the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists statement, read the press release, and watch the news conference recording, here.
As reported by MLive, a bipartisan, bicameral resolution opposing high-level radioactive waste dumping near the shoreline of the Great Lakes has been introduced in Congress. The initial sponsors include U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats from Michigan, as well as U.S. Representatives Dan Kildee (Democrat-Flint Twp., MI) and (John Moolenar, Republican-Midland, MI).
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, comprised of Canada's three nuclear power utilities, has narrowed the list to three remaining candidate sites for the national high-level radioactive waste dump: two neighboring communities, Huron-Kinloss and South Bruce, near the Lake Huron shore, not far (20-some miles) from Kincardine, Ontario, "home" of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station's nine reactors, the biggest nuclear power plant on Earth.
Similarly, a growing bicameral, bipartisan "caucus" of congressional Great Lakes protectors -- also led by Stabenow and Kildee, mentioned above -- has for several long years, opposed a Canadian nuclear power industry proposal to bury so-called "low" and highly radioactive "intermediate" level radioactive wastes on the Lake Huron shoreline, at the BNGS itself. More.
"Arizonans know that water is life; it is vital to us all and sustains our livelihoods. We cannot afford to let powerful industry interests sacrifice our water to pollution or depletion. We also cannot let those same interests destroy a landscape that supports an unparalleled regional economy and the livelihood of citizens who depend on it. But our water and our Grand Canyon is under attack by these very interests that see profit in the ground and downplay the risk of negative health impacts for generations to come."
These warnings form the opening of a powerful article by Patricia J. Kelly and Robert Arnberger. It reminds us that the Trump administration is eager to hand out uranium mining permits that would desecrate the Grand Canyon, "a dangerous practice that risks destruction of groundwater, seeps and springs, and could impact the Colorado River — the drinking water supply for nearly 40 million people." Read the full article.
Beyond Nuclear board of directors member Karl Grossman is the host of Enviro Close-Up, a television show produced by EnviroVideo for decades. The latest episode, "The Threat of Nuclear Waste," is an interview between Karl and Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps. The interview focuses on the resistance to proposed high-level radioactive waste dumps targeted at New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, and Ontario's Great Lakes shoreline. Watch the 30 minute program, here.
(Please note a couple of needed corrections. At the 9 minute 58 second mark, Kevin misspoke -- the Ontario Power Generation radioactive waste dumps are targeted at the Lake Huron shoreline, not the Lake Michigan shoreline. And the full name of the Democratic New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands is Stephanie Garcia Richard. Also, the interview was recorded in September 2019, hence the discussion of Trump's Energy Secretary, Rick Perry. Perry resigned December 1st.)
The Bushehr nuclear power plant, on the coast of the Persian Gulf in southwestern Iran, was under construction from 1975 to 2011. During the 1980s, the pre-operational construction site was repeatedly attacked by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Commercial electricity (and high-level radioactive waste) generation at Unit 1 began in 2011.
It is the first operational commercial atomic reactor in the Middle East (although there have long been several operational research reactors for a long time: two in Iraq, two in Israel, one in Syria and three in Iran).
The Russian government and nuclear industry was in charge of construction of the first unit beginning in 1995. It is now undertaking construction of two more full-scale commercial reactors at the site, and up to six more elsewhere in Iran.
January 23, 2020