Previous Nuclear News 2015-2020

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2020

Energy Companies Have Spent Billions on Projects That Go Nowhere 08-07-20

Ohio’s high-profile bailout of nuclear plants is just one of several questionable schemes between lawmakers and energy companies. Read more at The Intercept

New Trump Nuclear Plan Favors Uranium Mining Bordering the Grand Canyon 04-26-20

The administration, seeking to restore America’s “competitive nuclear advantage,” also wants to create a $150 million uranium reserve in the coming decade. Read more at Inside Climate News

Nuclear power and harm to animals 02-09-20

New Beyond Nuclear booklet shows suffering of animals all along the nuclear fuel chain. Read more at Beyond Nuclear

Nuclear Power ‘Cannot Rival Renewable Energy’ 01-14-20

It is not enough to conserve species and ecosystems. We have an ethical duty to care for each individual animal on earth. Read more at EcoWatch

Japan: Environmentalists say Fukushima water too radioactive to release 11-20-19

Officials in Japan have claimed that water exposed to radiation in the Fukushima nuclear disaster is now safe to dump into the Pacific. Environmentalists say the water is too contaminated. Julian Ryall reports. Read more at Deutsche Welle

460,000 Premature Deaths: The Horror That Was Nuclear Weapons Testing 07-27-19

As we mark the seventy-fourth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in a handful of days, we will rightly remember the horrors of nuclear war. Read more at The National Interest

The Quake to Make Los Angeles a Radioactive Dead Zone 07-12-19

Had last Friday’s 7.1 earthquake and other ongoing seismic shocks hit less than 200 miles northwest of Ridgecrest/China Lake, ten million people in Los Angeles would now be under an apocalyptic cloud. Read more at EcoWatch

Does Nuclear Belong in Serious Climate Plans? 06-25-19

Nuclear power poses great risks to both public and environmental health, yet it continues to be cited as a leading “clean” energy solution in the federal conversation on climate change. Read more at RCC

I oversaw the U.S. nuclear power industry. Now I think it should be banned. 05-17-19

The danger from climate change no longer outweighs the risks of nuclear accidents. Read more at The Washington Post

States Are Using Taxpayer Money to Greenwash Dirty Nuclear Power 04-25-19

New Jersey is the latest state to subsidize aging reactors with credits designated for clean energy. Read more at The New Republic

s 1.5 Million Flee Hurricane Florence, Worries Grow Over Half Dozen Nuclear Power Plants in Storm’s Path 09-12-18

With 1.5 million residents now under orders to evacuate their homes in preparation for Hurricane Florence’s landfall in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, the region faces the possibility of catastrophe should the storm damage one or more of the nuclear power plants which lie in its potential path. Read more at EcoWatch

Radioactive fracking chemicals dumped in the Allegheny River a decade ago are still showing up in mussels: Study 09-06-18

“This means it’s entering the food chain.”

Chemicals from fracking wastewater dumped into Pennsylvania’s Allegheny River before 2011 are still accumulating in the bodies of freshwater mussels downstream, according to a new study. Read more at The Daily Climate

Exelon Official: No New Nuclear Plants To Be Built in the U.S. 04-16-18

A senior official with America’s largest nuclear plant operating company is predicting a dim future for nuclear power in the U.S, according to S&P Global Platts. Read more at U.S. News & World Report

Nukes of Hazard 04-11-18

There’s something wrong with every source of energy. How do our nuclear nightmares compare?

Is it any wonder that nuclear power scares people? The word nuclear alone conjures up a parade of terrors: the sinister radiation, the whiff of apocalypse, and the tendency to go boom. Read more at Grist

Rachel Carson and the silent environmentalists 03-31-18

Rachel Carson spoke out against nuclear war. Why is the environmental movement so silent?

Rachel Carson, perhaps the greatest, and certainly the best known, environmentalist of the twentieth century, was deeply opposed to nuclear testing and nuclear war from at least 1946. Read more at Beyond Nuclear International

The Cold War’s Toxic Legacy: Costly, Dangerous Cleanups at Atomic Bomb Production Sites 03-05-18

Seventy-five years ago, in March 1943, a mysterious construction project began at a remote location in eastern Washington state. Over the next two years some 50,000 workers built an industrial site occupying half the area of Rhode Island, costing more than $230 million—equivalent to $3.1 billion today. Read more at EcoWatch

Betraying Ratepayers and Clean Energy Future, Georgia Panel Approves Vogtle Nuclear Reactors 12-22-17

Georgia’s public utility commission voted 5-0 on Thursday to continue construction on two half-finished nuclear reactors that will cost an estimated $25 billion, even though the project is now “more than $10 billion over budget and five years late.” Read more at EcoWatch

Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears National Monument 12-8-17

A uranium company launched a concerted lobbying campaign to scale back Bears Ears National Monument, saying such action would give it easier access to the area’s uranium deposits and help it operate a nearby processing mill, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Read more at The Washington Post

The Pro-Nuclear Lobby in Bonn is So Desperate, They’ve Gone Bananas! 11-16-17

We’ve heard this nonsense before, of course — that bananas are a teensy bit too radioactive for comfort. So if you eat a banana a day, (or live in Denver, or fly in an airplane, or salt your food with Morton’s), then you are a high-risk taker who would be far safer just living contentedly next door to a nuclear power plant. Read more at Counterpunch

Trump’s Nuclear Arsenal 10-26-17

The United States nuclear arsenal consists of 4,000 warheads, plus more than 2,000 warheads awaiting dismantlement. This number came into focus recently after a report that President Trump said in July that he wanted a huge increase in the country’s nuclear capability.

Read more at The New York Times

Billions lost in nuclear power projects, with more bills due 08-05-17

Expanding nuclear energy capacity was a sure bet, they said: Natural gas prices were rising, energy needs skyrocketing, and the federal government was poised to cripple carbon-emitting fossil fuel plants. With a dozen or more nuclear power projects being developed around the nation, cost savings could be found through simultaneous construction. Read more at AP News

Troops Who Cleaned Up Radioactive Islands Can’t Get Medical Care 01-28-17

Tim Snider arrived on Enewetak Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to clean up the fallout from dozens of nuclear tests on the ring of coral islands. Today Mr. Snider has tumors on his ribs, spine and skull — which he thinks resulted from his work on the crew, in the largest nuclear cleanup ever undertaken by the United States military. Read more on The New York Times

Shut ’em Down 01-10-17

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Monday that the state will close the facility, a short drive north of New York City, by April 2021. Read more on Grist

Trump’s Call for a New Nuclear Arms Race: ‘Absolutely Frightening’ 12-24-16

President-elect Donald Trump raised the prospect of a new global arms race on Thursday, after he suggested on Twitter he would increase the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Read more on EcoWatch

A Massive Sinkhole Just Dumped Radioactive Waste Into Florida Water 9-21-16

The cause? A fertilizer company deep in the heart of phosphate country.

About 30 minutes east of Tampa Bay, a 45-foot-wide sinkhole opened in late August, depositing at least 215 million gallons of polluted, slightly radioactive water into a vast underground aquifer. Read more on Mother Jones

New Study Casts Doubt on the Future of Nuclear Power 8-23-16

While it’s been touted by some energy experts as a so-called “bridge” to help slash carbon emissions, a new study suggests that a commitment to nuclear power may in fact be a path towards climate failure. Read more on EcoWatch

Rocky Flats: A Wildlife Refuge Confronts Its Radioactive Past 8-16-16

The Rocky Flats Plant outside Denver was a key U.S. nuclear facility during the Cold War. Now, following a $7 billion cleanup, the government is preparing to open a wildlife refuge on the site to the public, amid warnings from some scientists that residual plutonium may still pose serious health risks. Read more on Yale Environment 360

$7.6 billion ‘clean energy’ bailout for New York nuclear plants 8-3-16

New York has approved a massive $7.6 billion subsidy to keep four aging upstate plants open on the false promise that they provide ‘clean and renewable energy’, writes Karl Grossman. Campaigners for genuine clean energy fear that other pro-nuclear states may follow NY Governor Cuomo’s dubious lead. Read more on Ecologist

New film about Indian Point nuclear power plant provides insights about regulating the nuclear industry 7-17-16

“Indian Point” is a film about the long problem-plagued Indian Point nuclear power plants that are “so, so risky—so close to New York City,” notes its director and producer Ivy Meeropol. “Times Square is 35 miles away.” Read more on Enformable

Hanford union blackballed for insisting on safety 7-7-16

At the most contaminated worksite in America – the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland – observers could assume workers don every necessary protective device, including breathing masks similar to what firefighters use. Read more on NBC King 5 Western Washington

5 More U.S. Nukes to Close, Will Diablo Canyon Be Next? 6-17-16

A rising tsunami of U.S. nuke shut-downs may soon include California’s infamous Diablo Canyon double reactors. But it depends on citizen action, including a statewide petition. Read more on EcoWatch

Exiled by Nuclear Tests, Now Threatened by Climate Change, Bikini Islanders Seek Refuge in U.S. 10-28-15

This U.S. Navy handout shows Baker, the second of the two atomic bomb tests, in which a 63-kiloton warhead was exploded 90 feet under water as part of Operation Crossroads, conducted at Bikini Atoll in July 1946 to measure nuclear weapon effects on warships. (U.S. Nave/Handout via Reuters) …Full article

Fusushima Today: A First-person Account From the Field and the Conference Table 8-26-15

It has been more than four years since the east coast of Japan was hit wtih a Magnitude 9 earthquake, followed by a massive tsunami and then the meltdown of 3 nuclear reactors. Design mistakes, a poor safety culture, and human error exacerbated the situation …Full article

“Cactus Dome” – Global Warming Causing Radioactive Material to Leak into Pacific Ocean from Marshall Islands 7-6-15

5 years after the Fukishima disaster, yet another radioactive threat is raising its ugly head in the Pacific. It is the result of a dozen years of nucelar tests following WWII, now intersecting with rising sea levels due to global climate change …Full article

Fukushima Radiation Found in Sample of Green Tea from Japan 3-16-15

According to The New York Times, a sample of powdered tea imported from the Japanese prefecture of Chiba, just southeast of Tokyo, contained traces of radioactive cesium 137. 300 tons of radioactive water have been pouring into the Pacific every day. According to scientific sources, more than 30 times as much radioactive Cesium was released at Fukushima as was created at the bombing of Hiroshima …Full article

Fukushima’s 4th Anniversary Brings Hope Amidst Radioactive Ruins as Renewable Energy Revolution Soars 3-11-15

The catastrophe that began at Fukushima four years ago today is worse than ever. But the good news can ultimately transcend the bad-if we make it so. An angry grassroots movement has kept shut all 54 reactors that once operated in Japan. It’s the largest on-going nuke closure in history. Big industrial windmills installed off the Fukushima coast are now thriving …Full article

Fresh Nuclear Leak Detected at Fukushima Plant in Japan Tokyo 2-22-15

Sensors at the Fukushima nuclear plant have detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water to the sea, the plant’s operator announced on Sunday, highlighting difficulties in decommissioning the crippled plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the sensors, which were rigged to a gutter that pours rain and ground water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a nearby bay, detected contamination levels up to 70 times greater than the already-high radioactive status seen at the plant campus. TEPCO said its emergency inspections of tanks storing nuclear waste water did not find any additional abnormalities, but the firm said it shut the gutter to prevent radioactive water from going into the Pacific Ocean. Full article

Selling Nuclear Power to a Wary Public (Essay: the sixty-year pitch) 2-13-15

From a dancing housewife to Homer Simpson and beyond, here are some memorable moments in the long grind to sell nuclear power to a wary public …more

‘Uncertain Radiological Threat’: US Navy Sailors Search for Justice after Fukushima Mission 2-5-15

In March of 2011, the aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan rushed to Japan to help after the disastrous tsunami. Since then, many sailors from that ship have fallen ill, possibly as a result of exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown …Full article

U.S. Senators Udall and Heinrish Lead Bipartisan Coalition to Expand Relief for Americans Sickened by Radiation Exposure 2-5-15

Rachel Carson opposed open air nuclear testing from her earliest days as a biologist when she studied and opposed the first United States atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946. She warned repeatedly, as in her Scripps College Commencement Address in June,1962, that, “The once beneficent rains are now an instrument to bring down from the atmosphere the deadly products of nuclear explosions.”…more

http://www.heinrich.senate.gov/press-releases/udall-heinrich-lead-bipartisan-coalition-to-expand-relief-for-americans-sickened-by-radiation-exposure

Fukushima 4 Years On 2-1-15

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Japan. Twenty minutes later, the first in a series of tsunami waves inundated a 1,200 mile swath of Japan’s northeastern coast, creating a humanitarian and material disaster. At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site, the initial earthquake toppled the offsite electrical grid system knocking out the supply of offsite AC power to the reactor. This set in motion what we now know as “Fukushima;” like Chernobyl, no longer a place name but synonymous with disaster …Full article

Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste Still Has No Solution 1-25-15

It is the latest setback for the nuclear industry that claims nuclear power is the low-carbon answer to climate change, but has not yet found a safe resting place for radioactive rubbish it creates when nuclear fuel and machinery reaches the end of its life.

This extraordinary legacy of dangerous radioactive waste is present in every country that has adopted nuclear power as a form of electricity production, as well as those with nuclear weapons. No country has yet solve the problem of how to deal with the waste that remains dangerous for thousands of years …full article

Terror Attack on Charlie Hebdo Ignites Fear of Global Nuclear Disaster 1-13-15

It’s a horrible thing when an organ of free speech is assaulted and journalists die. It will be an apocalyptic thing when it happens to an atomic reactor and whole continents are irradiated, with children first to suffer, a death toll in the millions and eco-economic impacts beyond calculation …Full article