Impacts
NRC dismisses GAO climate warnings for nukes
On September 27, 2027, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Chairman Christopher Hanson publicly provided the federal agency’s response and an attachment that dismisses the April 3, 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report [GAO-24-106326], “Nuclear Power Plants: NRC Should Take Actions to Fully Consider the Potential Effects of Climate Change.” The GAO in its…
Read MoreSeismic Showdown Coming at Diablo Canyon
Environmental groups have successfully petitioned for “enforcement action” by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to conduct a review of the earthquake risks and the potential nuclear accident threat with the continued operation of California’s two-unit Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo. The March 4, 2024 petition was filed to the NRC…
Read MoreExtending reactor licenses under a 385 foot dam?
On June 24, 2024, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) heard Beyond Nuclear and Sierra Club South Carolina Chapter’s (the Petitioners) oral arguments on the admissibility of three contentions that scrutinize the environmental qualification of the Subsequent License Renewal (SLR) of Duke Energy’s three unit Oconee nuclear power station for 60…
Read MoreWhite House nuclear hypocrisy on EJ
In light of the White House’s hypocrisy in both supporting nuclear power while simultaneously claiming to care about Environmental Justice (EJ) in the context of addressing the climate crisis, Beyond Nuclear submitted the following comments to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. June 18, 2024 To: The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC)…
Read MoreLegal clash over dumping ban in NY
An article in The New Lede delineates the legal struggle between the anti-dumping law passed in New York last August, and the lawsuit filed by company Holtec. Holtec payed a 5 million dollar fine to the neighboring state of New Jersey to avoid criminal prosecution, and wants to dump the radioactive isotope tritium into the…
Read MoreStark warnings about reviving nuclear energy
Stephanie Cooke, author of “In Mortal Hands: A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age,” and a former editor of Nuclear Intelligence Weekly, has written an opinion piece (free with email) in the New York Times on how nuclear power will likely continue to fail us as we attempt to address our climate crisis: “World leaders…
Read MoreNuclear industry avoiding accountability for climate crisis impacts
An April 23, 2024 article published by the Yale School of the Environment probes the nuclear industry’s effort to extend the operating licenses of its aging atomic power stations while avoiding accountability to the cost and risks associated with doing business in an accelerating climate crisis. Author James Dinneen asks “Can aging US nuclear power…
Read MoreRussian soldiers who invaded Ukraine in 2022 and occupied Chornobyl’s radioactive zone are dying
April 26, 2024. Thousands of Russian soldiers in the initial invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 who were intent on taking Kyiv by force and occupation, only made it as close as the intensely radioactive zone of the April 26, 1986 Chornobyl nuclear catastrophe. They set up their camps and entrenched into the radioactive…
Read MoreNational security risks grow with new nuclear energy
“Proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear terrorism, sabotage, coercion and military operations – these [national security] risks associated with nuclear energy can all be expected to grow as countries seek to implement their new nuclear energy objectives, according to a new report [“New Nuclear Energy: Assessing the National Security Risks,”] published today by George Washington University’s…
Read MoreSystemic cover-up: New book profiles radiation risks and scientists
The Scientists Who Alerted us to Radiation’s Dangers by Ian Fairlie, PhD and Beyond Nuclear’s Cindy Folkers, MS, has just been published by The Ethics Press. The book profiles 23 radiation scientists over the previous half-century or so, who revealed that radiation risks were higher than thought, but who were victimized by governments and the…
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