Help resist the nuclear madness in the District of Corruption

Nuclear industry lobbyists' mega-bucks have blinded Members of Congress and government regulators to the the dangers of nuclear power and radioactive waste, as depicted in this UN IAEA warning symbol.Considering the nuclear establishment's stranglehold on Washington, the "D.C." could stand for District of Corruption. Some days the nuclear madness reaches a fever pitch. Thursday, June 7, 2012 is a good example.

First, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is "Inviting Atomic Catastrophe," as Beyond Nuclear board member and investigative journalist Karl Grossman warns, by considering extending reactor operating licenses for up to 80 years. NRC has already rubberstamped approvals for 73 reactors' operations out to 60 years, as well as scores of risky "power uprates" to run "break down phase" nuclear plants harder and hotter than originally designed, so utilities can "maximize profits."

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, powerful U.S. Senators are promoting the risky agenda of President Obama's and Energy Secretary Chu's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (BRC). U.S. Sen. Carper (D-DE), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, is holding a hearing on advancing the BRC's proposal to expedite the search for a new national dumpsite, as well as parking lot dumps, for high-level radioactive waste. Either scheme would launch a radioactive waste shell game on our roads, rails, and waterways (including Delaware's), involving unprecedented thousands of shipments through major metropolitan areas, vulerable to accidents or attacks. Ironically, as revealed by the 1982 CRAC-2 (Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences) report, which NRC unsuccessfully tried to cover up, Sen. Carper's home state would suffer some of the worst casualties in the country (up to 100,000 "peak early fatalities," 75,000 "peak early injuries," and 40,000 "peak cancer deaths," not to mention $300 billion or more [2010 dollar figures] in property damage), if a catastrophic radioactivity release were to occur at a single of the three reactors at the Salem 1 & 2/Hope Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey, just 18 miles from Delaware's state capital, Wilmington. 

Simultaneously, U.S. Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is leading a bipartisan effort to authorize and fund BRC's bad ideas, wholesale. In mid-March, 2011, just days into the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, Bingaman sponsored a hastily arranged, high profile Nuclear Energy Institute lobbyists' briefing on Capitol Hill, which erroneously claimed the disaster was not that big a deal, and besides, nothing like it could never happen here.

Please help resist the nuclear-fueled corruption in the nation's Capitol by contacting the White House, your U.S. Senators and Representative. Urge that the generation of radioactive waste be stopped by blocking subsidies for new reactors, and shutting down dangerous old reactors, before they melt down. Urge that, for radioactive waste that already exists, hardened on-site storage be required.

"Atomic States of America" documentary screening at film festivals

9.14 Picture's "The Atomic States of America," a documentary film about nuclear power in the U.S. and beyond, is touring film festivals, such as the Montclair Film Festival in New Jersey, "home" of Oyster Creek, the oldest operating atomic reactor in the country, and only 50 miles from Entergy Nuclear's Indian Point twin reactors near New York City.

Earlier this year, it was featured at Sundance, leading to a Democracy Now! interview by host Amy Goodman of filmmaker Sheena Joyce, as well as writer Kelly McMasters. McMasters' book, Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town, originally inspired the filmmakers. The Democracy Now! interview shows excerpts featuring the work of Eric Epstein of Three Mile Island Alert. Here is the description posted at the "Atomic States of America's" Facebook page:

"In 2010, the United States announced the first new nuclear power plant construction in over 32 years. The “Nuclear Renaissance” was born, and America's long-stalled expansion of nuclear energy was infused with new life. 

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan and caused chaos at the Fukushima Dai'ichi Power Plant. The accident in Japan sent ripples all the way to the US, and suddenly the fierce debate over the safety and viability of nuclear power was back in the public consciousness. 

The new documentary from Sheena Joyce and Don Argott, THE ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA, takes the viewer on a journey to reactor communities around the country, and seeks to explore the truths and myths of nuclear power. From the gates of Three Mile Island, to the cooling ponds of Braidwood, IL, this film introduces the viewer to people who have been on the front lines of this issue for decades. Begun more than a year before the disaster in Japan, the deeply investigated documentary gains a unique before and after perspective, and includes interviews with: Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors, community advocates, investigative journalists, renowned physicists, nuclear engineers, and former government leaders. As the nation stands at the crossroads of the Nuclear Renaissance, The Atomic States of America seeks to inspire an honest dialog about whether or not man can responsibly split the atom."

"Like" the Facebook page, and spread the word!

Former Japanese PM Kan: "the best way to make nuclear plants safe is not to rely on them, but rather to get rid of them”

Former Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, testifies against nuclear power before parliamentary panel investigating the Fukushima Daiichi catastropheIn an article entitled "Japan's Former Leader Condemns Nuclear Power," the New York Times reported on May 28th about the three-hour testimony of Japan's former Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, before a Japanese parliamentary investigation into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe. Kan was serving during the first five months of the catastrophe, from 3/11/11 to August, when he resigned. Kan warned that the politically and economically powerful "nuclear village" in industry, government, and academia has shown "no remorse" for the catastrophe, as it pushes to re-start Japan's 50 remaining atomic reactors despite widespread grassroots opposition. Kan pointed out that “Gorbachev said in his memoirs that the Chernobyl accident exposed the sicknesses of the Soviet system. The Fukushima accident did the same for Japan.” Kan shared that he feared a worst case scenario cascade (or in the words of Kan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, now Minister of Trade, Industry, and Economy, Edano, "demonic chain reaction") of reactor meltdowns and high-level radioactive waste pool fires, which could have caused the “release into the air and sea many times, no, many dozens of times, many hundreds of times the radiation released by Chernobyl,” which would have forced the evacuation of 30 million people from Tokyo, leading to “a collapse of the nation’s ability to function.” Kan concluded “It is impossible to ensure safety sufficiently to prevent the risk of a national collapse. Experiencing the accident convinced me that the best way to make nuclear plants safe is not to rely on them, but rather to get rid of them.”

An AFP article, carried by Japan Today, reports that Kan compared the "nuclear village" in Japan to the imperial militarism that plunged Japan into World War II. Kan is quoted as saying “The nuclear accident was caused by a nuclear plant which operated as national policy...I believe the biggest portion of blame lies with the state...Before the war, the military came to have a grip on actual political power… Similarly, plant operator TEPCO and FEPC (Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan) held sway over the nation’s nuclear administration over the past 40 years...They ousted experts, politicians and bureaucrats critical of nuclear energy from the mainstream. Many others they sidelined so that they could maintain the status quo.”

Inviting atomic catastrophe as NRC looks to run reactors for 80 years

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be holding a meeting this week to consider having nuclear power plants run 80 years - although they were never seen as running for more than 40 years because of radioactivity embrittling metal parts and otherwise causing safety problems. But, as Beyond Nuclear board member, Karl Grossman writes, on the Huffington Post and elsewhere this week, "By extending the operating licenses of nuclear plants, the NRC is inviting catastrophe. It's asking for it. The gargantuan problem is that the "it" is atomic catastrophe which, as the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster and last year's Fukushima catastrophe have demonstrated, impacts on huge numbers of people and other forms of life."

Kay Drey: How "Routine Emissions" from Nuclear Power Plants Slowly Poison Neighboring Communities

Kay Drey (photo by Jo Mannies, St. Louis Beacon)On May 25th, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear's Founding President, interviewed Kay Drey, a Beyond Nuclear board member, on her weekly radio program If You Love This Planet. Kay is also a board member of the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center. For nearly 40 years, Kay has researched the dangers of nuclear energy and nuclear waste, and advocated for the closure of nuclear plants and other uranium facilities. She was quite active in civil rights work before focusing on nuclear power. Kay and Dr. Caldicott discuss the widespread public health implications of so-called routine radioactive releases from nuclear power stations, in which many hazardous gases and fission byproducts are emitted during daily operations. Kay refers to a Beyond Nuclear pamphlet, Dirty, Dangerous, and Expensive: The Verdict Is In About Nuclear Power. Another Beyond Nuclear pamphlet, Routine Radioactive Releases from Nuclear Power Plants in the United States: What Are the Dangers?, provides more information on the main subject of Helen and Kay's conversation, as well as a listing of surface waters into which radioactively contaminated liquid wastes are being discharged. For more information, read Dr. Caldicott’s book Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer, which includes information from Kay’s studies.