Commemorating the Fermi 1 meltdown, 50 years later

John G. Fuller's iconic 1975 book "We Almost Lost Detroit" helped open many eyes to the dangers of nuclear powerNext Wednesday, Beyond Nuclear is joining with grassroots environmental allies in southeast Michigan to mark the 50th anniversary of the Oct. 5, 1966 partial meltdown of the infamous Fermi Unit 1 plutonium breeder reactor located on the shore of Lake Erie. In the form of our "Freeze Our Fukushimas" and "Got KI?" campaigns, the lessons that should have been learned from this close call with catastrophe, that endangered the Great Lakes, and countless numbers of people downwind and downstream, will be applied to resisting ongoing operations at Fermi 2 (a Fukushima Daiichi twin design), as well as seeking to block the proposed new Fermi 3 reactor.

Shockingly, Fermi 1 was originally under serious consideration, by both private corporations (such as Dow Chemical, which went on to found and manage the Rocky Flats, CO plutonium trigger factory), as well as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, as a source for fissionable materials for nuclear weapons, and even fission products for radiological weaponry (a.k.a. dirty bombs).  More

Congressman Lieu & Senator Markey Introduce The Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act

As posted on the website of U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA):

Washington (September 27, 2016) – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA-33) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the “Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2016”.  This legislation would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.  The crucial issue of nuclear first use – discussed in last evening’s Presidential Debate – is all the more urgent given the fact that a majority of Americans do not trust Republican Nominee Donald Trump with our nation’s nuclear arsenal.

“Nuclear war poses the gravest risk to human survival. Unfortunately, by maintaining the option of using nuclear weapons first in a conflict, U.S. policy increases the risk of unintended nuclear escalation,” said Senator Markey, co-founder of the Congressional Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation. “The President should not use nuclear weapons except in response to a nuclear attack. This legislation enshrines this simple principle into law. I thank Rep. Lieu for his partnership on this common-sense bill during this critical time in our nation’s history.”

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