Hot News and Actions
August 19, 2009: Mark Your
Calendars! Public Hearings on MD
Energy Deal. Alert.
August 19, 2009: Please visit
GrassRootsNucleus: YOUR new web
site for nuclear-free/sustainable energy advocacy. Alert.
August 18, 2009: Top 10
Reasons Nukes Won’t Save Climate.
Article from Michael Mariotte, first posted on DailyKos.
July 31, 2009: 100 organizations sign letter
to President Obama opposing possible nomination of former DOE nuclear chief William Magwood to Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
July 22, 2009: Act now to
stop new reactors in Senate Climate
Bill. NIRS Action Alert.
July 2009: Nuclear subsidies in the House
climate and Senate energy bills.
A fact sheet from Physicians for Social
Responsibility.
July 2009: List of existing subsidies and
incentives for constructing new reactors (from R&D to waste management and everything in-between).
July 9, 2009: Comparison
by PSR of current Clean Energy Development Administration (or “Clean Energy Bank”) provisions in
House climate bill as passed and Senate energy bill still awaiting action.
July 8, 2009: NRC licensing board admits three
contentions in NIRS, Green Party, Ecology Party challenge to Progress Energy’s proposed Levy County
(FL) reactors.
July 7, 2009: 80+
organizations send letter to President Obama in support of appointment of independent commissioners to
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
June 30, 2009: Tell President
Obama: Don't Let the Senate
Climate Bill Get Hijacked by the Nuclear Power Industry! NIRS Alert.
June 22, 2009. 47 organizations,
including NIRS, send letter calling for major improvements in House climate change legislation.
June 19, 2009: 10 groups urge NRC to deny
permit for import of Italian radioactive waste to U.S., following court decision.
June 18, 2009: New study finds that it would cost
taxpayers and ratepayers $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the life of 100 new nuclear reactors than
it would to generate the same electricity from a combination of more energy efficiency and renewables.
May 4, 2009: Letter to President Obama from hundreds of
organizations and 5,000+ individuals, commending him for his actions on Yucca Mountain and suggesting
appropriate directions for a re-evaluation of radioactive waste policy.
April 19, 2009: Presentation from Michael
Mariotte's talk on nukes and climate at SUNY Stonybrook.
March 2009: Who is Constellation Energy
Consorting With? Get to know Electricite de France (EDF) and AREVA
March 26, 2009: Former
utility executive Arnie
Gundersen’s presentation in Harrisburg, PA on explaining how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission greatly
underestimated the radiation releases from the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident.
March 26, 2009: Powerpoint by former
utility executive Arnie Gunderson concludes that far more radiation was released by the 1979 Three Mile
Island accident than acknowledged by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
March 24, 2009: ASLB accepts 3 contentions, orders hearing in Calvert Cliffs-3 licensing proceeding. ASLB Order ; NIRS
Press Release.
March 24, 2009: Peter Bradford was an NRC Commissioner at the time of the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
He was asked to testify before a Senate subcommittee about the accident and lessons learned. Here is a copy of his prepared testimony; we
think you’ll find it useful.
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Reports, Papers and Info You Can Use
July 2009: Important article on studies of childhood leukemia and cancers near German reactors. Childhood Leukemia and Cancers Near German Nuclear
Reactors: Significance, Context, and Ramifications of Recent Studies, Rudi Nussbaum, Journal of Occupational Environmental
Health. July-September, 2009.
May 2009: Nuclear France Abroad: History,
Status and Prospects of French Nuclear Activities in Foreign Countries. A new report from Mycle Schneider
Consulting on the expansion of the French nuclear power industry across the world.
EPR: The French Reactor. A
Costly and Hazardous Obstacle to Climate Protection. November 2008 report from Greenpeace International on the problems with the French
Evolutionary Power Reactor, proposed for Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania and New York in the U.S.
France’s Nuclear Failures: The
Great Illusion of Nuclear Energy, November 2008 report from Greenpeace International on the failures of the French nuclear
program.
March 2009: The High Cost of Nuclear
Power: Why America Should Choose a Clean Energy Future over New Nuclear Reactors, a new report by Maryland PIRG Foundation.
March 2009: Can we go carbon-free, nuclear-free? A resounding Yes! says a new report prepared for Greenpeace
by German Aerospace Center (German counterpart to NASA). Energy [r]evolution: A sustainable USA concludes
that a virtually carbon-free, nuclear-free energy future for the U.S. is possible by mid-century, at an
acceptable economic cost. Download here.
March 2009: Nuclear Loan Guarantees:
Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead? New report from Union of Concerned Scientists warns that the risk to
taxpayers of loan guarantees for new reactors could total $360 Billion to $1.6 Trillion.
January 2009: Business Risks and Costs of New
Nuclear Power, a new study by CPA Craig Severance, finds that escalating reactor construction and operating
costs could lead to electricity from new nukes as high as 25-30 cents per kw/h—significantly higher
than industry estimates.
December 2008: New study from Stanford researcher ranks solutions to climate crisis; concludes nuclear and
“clean” coal are least effective, least desirable means of addressing climate change. Press release from Stanford
University. Article in Energy and
Environmental Science.
December 2008: Nuclear Power in
France: Beyond the Myth, a new report
by Mycle Schneider Consulting for Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, offers a thorough examination of the
French nuclear power industry, noting both its strengths and some surprising weaknesses.... Another major new
report on the French nuclear industry, from WISE-Paris, titled Nuclear Power, the Great
Illusion - Promises, Setbacks and
Threats , is
available here. Both reports will be very useful for everyone countering the argument that the French
nuclear power program is somehow a great success.
July 2008: Study (which reviews 103 previous studies
and finds nearly all lacking) concludes that nuclear power is not carbon-free, and its carbon emissions,
while far lower than all fossil fuels, are higher than renewable sources of energy. Published in Energy
Policy, by Benjamin Sovacool, University of Singapore & Virginia Tech.
May 27, 2008: An
important new article from Rocky Mountain Institute: The Nuclear Illusion by Amory Lovins and Imran Sheikh. "Nuclear power is continuing its
decades-long collapse in the global marketplace because it's grossly uncompetitive, unneeded, and
obsolete - so hopelessly uneconomic that one needn't debate whether it's clean and safe; it weakens electric
reliability and national security; and it worsens climate change compared with devoting the same money and
time to more effective options." Read this to understand the reality of energy in the 21st century, and
make sure your elected representatives at every level of government read it too.
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