Impacts
White 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…
Read MoreGAO excoriates NRC for abandonment of climate crisis licensing and oversight at US reactors
On April 2, 2024, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released an extensive report, “NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS: NRC Should Take Actions to Fully Consider the Potential Effects of Climate Change” (GAO-24-106326). U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-Del) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), both devout supporters of nuclear power expansion, asked GAO to review US energy infrastructure…
Read MoreContamiNATION: New report examines the unevenness of U.S. radiation compensation regime
Dave Lochbaum, former Director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), and a nuclear engineer by training, has published a new paper ContamiNATION: How the US Nuclear Weapons Program Harmed Thousands of Americans and Why Those Americans Had to Fight for Decades to Receive Compensation for that Undue Harm, examining…
Read MoreBiden approves extension of Price-Anderson Act
Congress demonstrates no confidence in new reactor design claims of “inherent safety” with PAA 40-year expansion to 2065 According to the nuclear industry and it champions, atomic power has suddenly changed its spots, at least on paper, to become “inherently safe.” We recognize it as part of a larger orchestrated illusion to rebrand a new,…
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