Lessons of Nuclear Power & the Media, S.F. University, 12/3/2011

At the request of Japanese anti-nuclear colleagues, Beyond Nuclear is proud to endorse "The Lessons Of Nuclear Power And The Media", to be held December 3, 2011, from 10 AM to 4PM at Burk Hall 28 at San Francisco University (1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco) in California.

After 7 months, Japan keeps failing to stop the radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Why do we risk similar catastrophes in the US? Why did Japan build 54 reactors, and why do we have 104 operating in the US? Where do we dump radioactive wastes? What do we know about this nuke-industrial complex, and how are people fighting against it in Fukushima, Pan-Asia, California and New York? This educational conference will examine the Fukushima nuclear melt-downs, the role of the media in its coverage of this catastrophe, how this crisis has affected the development of nuclear power, and the education of the public about the industry.

Guest speakers will include Anthony J. Hall (Globalization Studies, University of Lethbridge), Barbara George (Marine Clean Energy), Seungkoo Choi (Christian Network for Nuke-Free Earth), Steve Zeltzer (Labor Video Project), and Yuko Tonohira (Todos Somos Japon).

The event is organized by the No Nukes Action Committee, and supported by the California Nuclear Free Coalition. Endorsers also include Beyond Nuclear, Japan Multicultural Relief Fund, San Francisco Peace and Freedom Party, Shut Down Indian Point Now!, TalkNukes, Todos Somos Japon, and Tri-Valley CARES.

For information, call (415)867-0628 or Email 311bayarea@gmail.com or lvpsf@igc.org

Please spread the word about the event! Print out the flyer now! 

Support Fukushima mothers! Stop the spread of contamination

Please visit this link to support all mothers in Japan who are fighting everyday to protect their children from radiation. Help answer this call for help from Tomoi Zeimer (pictured with her husband) and from our Japanese colleagues.

FACT1 : The Japanese government's radiation policy is to　"spread it out and thin it out". Contaminated Rubble will come to be burned and dumped into Tokyo Bay at the end of OCT, 2011. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110929p2a00m0na010000c.html FACT 2 : Japanese people have not been informed about the risk they are forced to take, rather they have been told it is safe. We need the whole WORLD to stand up! This letter will go to the Japanese government and media outlets in Japan. We will keep sending letters until we get major media coverage in Japan. October 27th, 2011 is the first close date for this online petition! Updates about this petition will be made available at www.oneworldnonukes.org. Thank you for supporting mothers and children and people in Japan! Sincerely yours, Tomoi Zeimer.

Tomoi Zeimer was born and raised in OSAKA Japan, lives in NY with her husband and one year old daughter. Her two sisters in Japan are fighting everyday to protect their children from radiation with other many mothers. www.oneworldnonukes.org - created by NY based Japanese artists who are despairing and feel strongly about doing something for their country and beyond.

German Federal Environment Agency head says Vermont's time to go beyond nuclear is now

Jochen Flasbarth, president of the German Federal Environment Agency, met with government officials, the public and the media, and spoke at the Renewable Energy Vermont conference, on a visit this week to Vermont arranged by Beyond Nuclear and the Heinich Böll Foundation. Events in Brattleboro, Montpelier and Burlington were organized by local groups – Safe and Green Campaign, Citizen’s Awareness Network, Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance and VPIRG. Flasbarth ,encouraged citizens and state government leaders to keep up their effort to permanently shut down the dangerous Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in March 2012. Germany is phasing out nuclear power by 2022, cutting carbon emissions and creating more renewable energy jobs in the process. 

Flasbarth urged Vermonters to strengthen their feed-in tariff (Germany’s is open to all, large and small), but was encouraged by the Vermont plan to achieve 90% renewable energy by 2050, similar to Germany’s goal.  Because of Germany's feed-in tariff program, 50% of all renewable energy supplied to the grid comes from farmers, home-owners and local cooperatives, Flasbarth said, with the remaining 50% from bigger commercial projects.

Flasbarth also affirmed that Germany has suffered no power shortages since shuttering the eight oldest of its 17 nuclear reactors after the Fukushima accident (the rest will be phased out by 2022) and supported efforts in the state to close Vermont Yankee on time in March 2012. He pointed out that renewable energy has created 370,000 jobs already in Germany (compared to 30,000 in the nuclear sector), including during the economic crisis. Nor have Germany’s carbon emissions increased since shutting its reactors because of the European carbon cap in the power sector. In fact, Germany continues to be a net exporter of electricity. An economist by training, Flasbarth also described how his agency’s analysis demonstrated that manufacture and implementation of renewable energy supply will be a boon to the Germany economy and that all political parties in Germany, including the most conservative, agree that there is no going back to nuclear if Germany wishes to remain a “modern” state with a vibrant economy. (Photo: VTD/Josh Larkin).

"Freeze Our Fukushimas!" Today is National Call In Day to NRC

More than 6,000 of you co-signed Beyond Nuclear's petition to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  The petition calls on the NRC to halt operations on the deteriorating  General Electric Mark I boiling water reactors here in the US similar in design to the  Fukushima Dai-ichi units.

Call Toll Free

Friday, October 7, 2011   

10 AM to 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time

Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Public Hearing with Beyond Nuclear

1-877-553-7601 (passcode 5087356)

1-866-741-7099 (passcode 3340595)

1-866-732-2413 (passcode 8181837)

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Webcast at http://video.nrc.gov

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Following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine, the US government permanently closed a US reactor, the graphite-moderated Hanford N-reactor near Richland, Washington. Why? The antiquated reactor too closely resembled the design of the exploded Chernobyl reactor that blanketed much of the northern hemisphere in long-lived radioactive fallout.

Now following Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, more than 6,000 of you have co-petitioned with us to call upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to "Freeze Our Fukushimas" and shutter dangerously old and deteriorating General Electric Mark I boiling water reactors here in the US similar in design to the  Fukushima Dai-ichi units. There, nuclear accidents have closed 24 miles of Japan's coastline to human habitation and forced hundreds of thousands more Japanese to live in sickening radioactive contamination.

The NRC has scheduled a public hearing to take public comment on requested emergency enforcement actions to suspend operations at these increasingly dangerous Fukushima-style nuclear reactors. Speakers will include Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps (Beyond Nuclear), Dale Bridenbaugh (former GE engineer), Arnie Gunderson (Fairewinds Associates), Debi Katz (Citizens Awareness Network), Lou Zeller (Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League), Randy Kehler (Safe & Green Campaign), Michael Mariotte (Nuclear Information and Resource Service), Bobbie Paul (Georgia WAND) and more... 

You can participate in this public meeting via the toll free telephone bridge lines or watch the live webcast from NRC headquarters.

Please mark your calendars and help us mobilize a national campaign to hasten the closure of the most dangerous atomic reactors in America. Invite your friends, colleagues and post on listserves.

Update on October 11, 2011 by admin

The archived webcast of Beyond Nuclear's NRC Petition Review Board meeting on its emergency enforcement petition is now available. [ 1hr. 30 mins.]