New report reveals the very real -- and frightening -- risks of nuclear transports

Nukes of Hazard. The Nuclear Bomb Convoys on our Roads, is a new investigate report by journalist, Rob Edwards, looking at the risks and realities of nuclear weapons transports in the UK.  However, the lessons and warnings are universal.  One finding: "The convoy has crashed, broken down and got lost. Its brakes have failed, it has leaked fuel and suffered a range of other mechanical failures. Bad luck, poor weather, human error and computer software glitches have all been to blame." Read the full report.

Beyond Nuclear board member, Karl Grossman on The Age of Fission

Beyond Nuclear challenges DOE's targeting of First Nations for radwaste dumps

Beyond Nuclear staffers attended the Sep. 15 DOE public meeting on "Consent-Based Siting" of high-level radioactive waste parking lot dumps. Paul Gunter spoke out against DOE's dubious attempt to rebuild public trust, pointing out that DOE is an agency explicitly promoting nuclear power, while never having sought consent for the generation of radioactive waste in the first place. 

 

Kevin Kamps challenged the environmental injustice of DOE's longtime, and continuing, targeting of Native American reservations for radioactive waste dumps. This flies in the face of President Obama's own proclamation honoring Native American activist Grace Thorpe's remarkable work to protect her own reservation, and many others, against just such DOE parking lot dumps in the past. DOE's targeting of Native American reservations for radioactive waste dumps comes despite other Obama administration agencies (Interior, Army Corps of Engineers, and Justice) having acknowledged the need for a long overdue reset on relations with tribal nations, in light of the historic Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opposition to the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline, now supported by 280 other tribes, and many thousands of Native American land and water protectors on the front lines.

Learn more, and see what you can do to help the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline, at Beyond Nuclear's Human Rights website section.

 

Beyond Nuclear strongly opposes these high-risk parking lot dumps (so-called centralized interim storage sites), which the DOE will continue to push for with the new Congress and President next January.  Proposed dumps include one targeted at Waste Control Specialists, LLC in Andrews County, west Texas (above the Ogallala Aquifer).

Still time to tell DOE "No!" on parking lot radioactive waste dumps!

Representatives from multiple environmental groups "just say no" to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "Nuke Waste Con Game" at the agency's HQ in Rockville, MD in late 2013In an outrageous and flagrant disregard for the public input process, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the summary of public comments regarding DOE's so-called "Consent-Based Siting" plan a mere 19 hours before its September 15 DC meeting. Only then, was Beyond Nuclear was able to get a look at the agency's newly published draft report summary of public comments along with links to the 10,000 full public comments. 

 

Comments were mostly generated by the members of groups including Beyond Nuclear, NIRS, Public Citizen, Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Campaign, and more. Thank you to all who submitted comments!

 

There will be another round of public comments, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 30, on the current draft report. DOE has indicated it will incorporate this last round of public comments into its final draft report, to be published by the end of 2016. Watch for sample talking points to use for your own submissions, coming soon from Beyond Nuclear, along with instructions on how to submit comments once we receive the DOE guidelines.

 

DOE clearly plans to push - and even fast-track - these senseless high-risk parking lot dumps.

 

We must continue to let DOE know that we DO NOT CONSENT! (Use Beyond Nuclear's sample talking points to write your own comments for submission to DOE. See how to submit them, below.)

Update on September 22, 2016 by admin

DOE has instructed that public comments should be sent, between now and October 30th, to the following email address: consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov. See the "Next Steps" section, at the bottom of DOE's Consent-Based Siting website page.

We almost lost Detroit but we've still got Fermi 1

On October 5 it will be 50 years since the Fermi 1 prototype liquid metal fast breeder reactor, located near Monroe, MI, suffered a loss of coolant accident and partial meltdown that narrowly missed turning into a major catastrophe, as recounted in John Fuller's landlmark book, We Almost Lost Detroit.

But as a warning to those who think a shut down reactor then vanishes, the Fermi 1 reactor (pictured) still sits on site, essentially mothballed.

Beyond Nuclear will be participating in events next month in Detroit to mark the anniversary and expose the fact that emergency planning, while no longer virtually non-existent as it was 50 years ago, remains woefully inadequate and deeply flawed. People living and working within the Emergency Planning Zones of all reactors -- including the still operating Fermi 2 reactor at the same site and the same design as those that melted down at Fukushima Daiichi -- remain dangerously under-protected. Subscribe to the Beyond Nuclear Bulletin to hear more about the Detroit conference -- hosted by the Alliance to Halt Fermi 3 -- and the on-going challenge to close Fermi 2 and block licensing for the proposed Fermi 3 reactor.