US EPA suspends enforcement of environmental laws because of coronavirus

See the EPA's official announcement, here.

See news coverage by The Hill, here: "EPA suspends enforcement of environmental laws amid coronavirus."

The environmental movement must respond forcefully to this major attack by the Trump administration on the rule of law. As Beyond Nuclear was quoted in Bloomberg:

“Regulations to ensure safety should be strengthened at a time like this -- not weakened,” said Kevin Kamps of the watchdog group Beyond Nuclear.

EPA's announcement is not only an undermining of regulations, it is an outright attack on hard won, decades-old environmental laws.

Ed Lyman, UCS: Nuclear Power Safety and the COVID-19 Pandemic

See Ed Lyman's UCS "All Things Nuclear" post, here.

Diablo Canyon on-site workforce 'greatly reduced'

As reported by the New Times of San Luis Obispo, CA.

COVID-19 Threatens Outages Scheduled at 97% of U.S. Nuclear Plants in 2020

As reported by Power Magazine.

Nuclear Hotseat #457 – CoVid19/Nuclear Nightmare Begins: NRC’s Inadequate Conference Call – Paul Gunter, Eric Epstein, Kevin Kamps

Eric Epstein, Chairman of TMIA, introduces Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps and Paul Gunter, at the PA State Capital Rotunda in Harrisburg, Oct. 2018.

Listen here to the full episode, brought to you by Libbe HaLevy, host and producer.

This Week’s Covid19/Nuclear Features and Interviews:

• A news roundup of nuclear facilities already being impacted by the novel corona virus pandemic
  
• Paul Gunter of  Beyond Nuclear provides follow-up commentary to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) public conference call of March 20, 2020, that was meant to calm our fears… and most certainly did not.
• Eric Epstein of Three Mile Island Alert, who was on the NRC call and did not have his question answered, talks about how CoVid19 creates new complications in the decommissioning and spent fuel storage problems at TMI.
• Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear was also on the call, and though he asked perceptive questions, the NRC did its best to “foof” him along, including a complete audio blackout after he made a particularly pointed observation.
• And for those of you who want to hear the NRC for yourself, here’s a LINK to the full conference call.

[Beyond Nuclear stood with Three Mile Island Alert in Oct. 2018 at the PA State Capital Rotunda in Harrisburg, on the eve of the 40th annual commemoration of the TMI-2 meltdown. See photo, above left. March 28, 2020 marks the 41st anniversary observation of the TMI-2 meltdown. See Beyond Nuclear's TMI Truth website section.]