Looking at the overlap of U.S. nuclear reactors (both power and research facilities) and earthquake zones is pretty alarming.In a press release entitled “NRC Prioritizes Detailed Earthquake Risk Analysis For Central and Eastern U.S. Reactors,” the U.S…
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NRC file photo of Entergy’s Palisades atomic reactor, as well as the Great Lake and surrounding countryside it puts at riskDespite the industry’s claim that nuclear power is “clean energy,” Entergy’s Palisades atomic reactor has just spilled “approxima…
Continue readingA novel by Darragh McKeon, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, has been published in the U.S. by Harper Collins and will be featured at a Beyond Nuclear special book event on Monday, May 19th at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC.
A theater…
John LaForge of Nukewatch in Luck, WIJohn LaForge of Nukewatch Wisconsin has published an article at CounterPunch entitled “A Rhetorical Outburst: Canadian ‘Experts’ Comfy with Radioactive Pollution of Great Lakes.”
It is John’s response t…
As reported by KNDO, a whistleblower at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has revealed that a pipe explosion occurred at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) two weeks ago, but was not publicly reported. The PFP played a role in fabricating the weapons-gr…
Continue readingU.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairwoman, Environment and Public Works CommitteeFive Democratic U.S. Senators have written U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane, uring that NRC’s rubberstamp of exemptions from emergency p…
Continue readingThe Brothers Reuther. From left to right, Roy, Walter, Victor. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.It is fitting, on International Workers’ Day, to pay tribute to Walter Reuther.
Reuther’s biographer, Nelson Lichtenstein (The…
The UN IAEA’s official radioactivity hazard warning signNIRS has published a press release entitled “NRC Fails to Document Claim Made in Denial of NIRS’ Emergency Planning Petition that ‘Majority’ of Nuclear Emergency Drills Include Natural Disaster…
Continue readingDavid Kraft, Director, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of ILThe Chicago Tribune reports that Exelon CEO Chris Crane denies the largest nuclear utility in the U.S. is seeking a bailout from the State of Illinois in order to stabilize its flagg…
Continue readingStatement of Tyson Slocum, Director, Public Citizen’s Energy ProgramApril 30, 2014Contact: Tyson Slocum (202) 454-5191Karilyn Gower (202) 588-7779″Today’s announcement of a debt-laden acquisition of D.C.-based Potomac Electric Power Co (PEP…
Continue readingKen Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign, published a press release on April 29th entitled “EIA PROJECTS RENEWABLES TO BE 16-27% OF U.S. ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BY 2040: LOW END DOES NOT PASS THE LAUGH TEST; UPPER BOUND PROBABLY STILL TOO …
Continue readingThe infamous 2007 age-related degradation cooling tower collapse at Vermont YankeeReuters reports:
“Lower natural gas prices and stagnant growth in electric demand will lead to the loss of 10,800 megawatts of U.S. nuclear generation, or around 10 per…
The New York Times Retro Report has published a 13 minute video about the Three Mile Island disaster. Unfortunately, it repeats the myth that “no one died at TMI.” Beyond Nuclear debunked that falsehood in its recent Thunderbird newsletter, Three Mile …
Continue readingPhotograph by William DanielsThe New York Times has published an extended article, returning to the scene of the “Huge Dirty Bomb” that exploded 28 years ago this week, resulting in 1,000 square miles of radioactively contaminated “Dead Zone” in Ukrain…
Continue readingThe insignia of the U.S. nuclear missileers Stahl interviewed in this reportCBS 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl reports on the status of U.S. nuclear-tipped missiles at silos located across five states on the Great Plains. This includes antiquated communicati…
Continue readingAs reported by Martin Fackler of the New York Times, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese national government under Prime Minister Abe’s pro-nuclear Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) administration are pressuring nuclear evacuees from aro…
Continue readingWhile President Obama played soccer with a remarkable Japanese humanoid robot yesterday, robotic probes sent into the wrecked reactors at Fukushima Daiichi have quickly ceased functioning due to the high gamma radiation doses destroying their electroni…
Continue readingAs tensions mount in eastern and southern Ukraine after the Russian takeover in Crimea, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant sits in the potential firing line. Zaphorizhia, with six full size nuclear reactors, is located north of Crimea. Another …
Continue readingAerial image of Plant Vogtle Nuclear Generating Station – photo credit to High Flyer. The photo shows the operating Units 1 and 2, as well as the construction site for proposed new Units 3 and 4.Southern Alliance for Clean Energy reports in a …
Continue readingCharmaine White Face, Coordinator, Defenders of the Black Hills, and Clean Up the Mines! volunteersCharmaine White Face, Coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills, based in Rapid City, SD has shared the following message:
“Finally, a national campaig…
Toledo attorney Terry Lodge speaks out against a 20-year license extension at the cracked Davis-Besse atomic reactor at Oak Harbor High School, OH in August 2012.On Earth Day, 2014, opponents to 20 more years at Davis-Besse called for the problem-plagu…
Continue readingThe Huffington Post has published a cultural history, by Kevin Lankes, of Godzilla’s atomic origins. The original Japanese film came out in 1954, shortly after the U.S. military’s “Operation Castle Bravo” H-bomb “test” at Bikini blanketed a Japanese …
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A newly published study has uncovered alarming indications of biological loss and ecological collapse in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in Ukraine on April 26, 1986.
Nuclear boosters have long claimed that the superficial appearance of teeming wildlife in the approximately 1,000 square mile Chernobyl exclusion zone indicates an Eden-like outcome. But the study observed a frightening halt to organic decay and the disappearance of important microbes that indicate the steady advance of a potential “silent spring.”
“The illusion that the absence of humanity can only benefit wildlife is trumped when humanity has inflicted man-made poisons on a fragile ecosystem whose inhabitants are now biologically compromised by radiation exposures that will continue indefinitely,” observed Linda Gunter, international specialist at Beyond Nuclear, of the study’s findings.
Highly reduced mass loss rates and increased litter layer in radioactively contaminated areas, published in Oecologia, March 4, 2014, by Mousseau (Dr. Tim Mousseau pictured), Milinevsky, Kenney‑Hunt and Møller, found that the natural cycle of decay of organic materials around Chernobyl is largely dependent on microbial communities which have been significantly reduced in these radioactively contaminated zones.
“We already know about plant and insect mutations and the shortened lifespans of birds in the zone, but this news is even more alarming,” said Paul Gunter, Director of Reactor Oversight at Beyond Nuclear. “The long-term consequences of the loss of this essential microbial community could be unprecedented ecologically, while the most immediate consequence is the build-up of undecayed leaf matter. This creates an increased risk of forest fires which could spread radioactivity to uncontaminated areas,” Gunter said.
A photo showing a part of the ALPS system at Fukushima Daiichi, posted at Enformable.comAs reported by Reuters, although Japanese Prime Minister Abe said to International Olympic Committee dignitaries in Buenos Aires last September “Let me assu…
Continue readingCharles Komanoff, is an article posted at the Carbon Tax Center (which he directs), has set the record straight with the “paper of record.”
The Carbon Tax Center is a clearinghouse for information, research and advocacy on behalf of revenue-neutral c…
Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action, Japan, discusses what would happen during an evacuation caused by a nuclear emergency in Japan. But the plans are deeply flawed and inadequate.
Continue readingThe UN IAEA’s official radioactivity hazard warning signDave Kraft, Director of Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) based in Chicago, wrote the following introduction as he forwarded the NIRS press release entitled “NRC Fails the American People:…
Continue readingNRC file photo of Nine Mile PointNRC file photo of FitzPatrickAs documented in the Federal Register, the French Areva EPR (“Evolutionary Power Reactor”) targeted at the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant site in Upstate New York, on the Lake Ontario s…
Continue readingThis radiation warning sign is posted on the perimeter fence of the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Mo. Photo credit: Sarah Skiold-Hanlin, St. Louis Public Radio)As reported by St. Louis Public Radio, “[a] new analysis by scientists at the U.S. Enviro…
Continue readingKimiko Koyama, 69, who evacuated from the Miyakoji area of Tamura three years ago, dusts off her house after she returned to her home with her husband Toshio, 76, in Tamura, Fukushima prefecture April 1, 2014. Although reported by Reuters on April 1st,…
Continue readingSample image from an ESRI nuclear power plant proximity calculationThis online mapping program by ESRI can tell you your proximity to the nearest atomic reactors. Just allow the program to utilize your current location, or type in any address in the Lo…
Continue readingVermont Yankee is a GE BWR Mark I, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1-4.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement by The Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance regarding the PSB’s decision to grant a Certificate of Public Good to Vermont Yankee…
It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of author, Jonathan Schell, on March 25th. Most noted for authoring “The Fate of the Earth,” a study of the devastation that the use of nuclear weapons would cause, Schell was also a …
Continue readingKarl GrossmanThe March 25, 2014 issue of The Independent, Antioch College’s alumni publication, features Beyond Nuclear board member Karl Grossman (Antioch class of 1964). The interview gives a good overview of Karl’s distinguished career of investigat…
Continue readingOn March 27, 2014 — the eve of the 35-year mark on TMI’s meltdown — NRC issued “G20130229 – 2206 Petition Closure Letter Re Revoke Operating License for General Electric Mark I and Mark II Boiling Water Reactors.” The closure letter is stored on NR…
Continue readingThe Nuclear Genie, as depicted in Walt Disney’s 1950s pro-nuclear propaganda book “Our Friend the Atom”The New York Times editorial board has cited “Measured Progress on Nuclear Security,” given Japan’s pledge to turn over a small fraction of its poten…
Continue readingEnvironmental coalition attorney Terry Lodge of ToledoThe environmental coalition opposing the 20-year license extension sought by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) at its problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor on the Lake Erie shore ea…
Continue readingRussia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine has reignited bellicose threats of nuclear war and the shocking global consequences that could arise out of regional conflicts. It has further underscored the inherent threat and vulnerability from atomi…
Continue readingMarch 28 will mark 35 years since the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, PA. Beyond Nuclear has prepared a special edition of our newsletter, The Thunderbird, focused entirely on examining th…
Continue readingDr. Judith Johnsrud, a geographer who dedicated more than 50 years of her life to the opposition of nuclear power in all its phases and forms, has died. Judy passed away peacefully after a long illness and surrounded by family in the early hours of Mar…
Continue readingIn a hugely hypocritical move, Fukushima Medical University (FMU), allowed its staff and students to take potassium iodide tablets in the initial days after the Fukushima nuclear disaster began, but refused to hand them out to members of the public…
Continue readingDr. Judith Johnsrud, a geographer who dedicated more than 50 years of her life to the opposition of nuclear power in all its phases and forms, has died. Judy passed away peacefully after a long illness and surrounded by family in the early hours o…
Continue readingAbby Martin of RT’s “Breaking the Set” news program takes a look at the state of the Fukushima nuclear power plant three years after the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that led to the meltdown; discussing the long term impacts of continued…
Continue readingAileen Mioko Smith, Green Action JapanGreen Action Japan, directed by Aileen Mioko Smith (photo, left), has published a press release on the third anniversary of the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake. The press release also emphasizes that the Japanese …
Continue readingNoam ChomskyAs reported by Democracy Now! on the Pacifica Radio Network:
World-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and MIT Professor Noam Chomsky traveled to Japan last week ahead of the three-year anniversary of the Fukushima crisis. Choms…
Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto KanAmy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! on the Pacifica Radio Network, has conducted an exclusive interview with former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in his Tokyo offices. The nearly hour-long interview was aired…
Continue readingDavid Lochbaum, Edwin Lyman, Susan Q. Stranahan, and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) have published a book in time for the third anniversary of the beginning of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. The book details the blow by blow unfolding of t…
Continue readingU.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE
Contact: Giselle Barry (Markey) 202-224-2742
In 2011 in the House of Reps., lawmaker introduced nuclear safety legislation to ensure U.S. nuclear power plants could withstand earthquakes, tsunamis, long p…