News
Coal co. laughs off nukes: chooses renewables instead
The head of Australia’s biggest coal power company, AGL Energy, laughed off suggestions that AGL should convert its closing coal plants to nuclear power plants. Instead, AGL will be building solar and wind power. Specifically, the company was asked to delay closure of its last coal plants, (including Liddell, pictured by Webaware/Wikimedia Commons), to accommodate…
Read MorePartial uranium mine ban in Grand Canyon area
President Biden will today create a national monument of nearly 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon. This designation will protect lands important to nearby Native Americans from new uranium mining — a major reason they want the designation. New mining claims will not be allowed, but “valid existing rights” will be maintained, which could…
Read MoreADVANCE Act on nuclear sends us backwards
The US Senate has passed the ADVANCE Act as a component of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), sending America backwards on climate mitigation by wasting needless funds and precious time chasing after elusive nuclear fantasies. The ADVANCE acronym stands for everything that nuclear power is not — Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for…
Read More“Milestone” reactor is likely US’s last
The AP 1000 Vogtle Unit 3 reactor in Georgia, 16 years in the making, became officially operational this week after several technical setbacks earlier this year had caused it to start up and power down again. The moment of commercial operation has been heralded in headlines and by the nuclear industry as a “milestone” but…
Read More65 groups resist DOE’s HALEU availability program
65 organizations, including Beyond Nuclear, commented on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) program. They expressed deep concerns about: environmental contamination of already heavily-contaminated low-income communities, as in and around Portsmouth, Ohio; nuclear weapons proliferation risks; etc. See the coalition comment letter, here. The letter was spearheaded by attorney Terry Lodge,…
Read MoreMassachusetts says ‘no’ to tritium discharge into bay
From the Associated Press: Massachusetts environmental regulators have denied a request by the company dismantling a shuttered nuclear power plant to release more than 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of radioactive wastewater into Cape Cod Bay. The state Department of Environmental Protection’s draft decision issued Monday said it denied Holtec’s request for a permit…
Read MoreSetting the record straight on tritium
In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Hazard Specialist of Beyond Nuclear, points out that tritium is not as safe as industry proponents claim it is, highlighting a recent paper by Mousseau and Todd, which found that tritium can have significant impacts when taken into the body, making…
Read MoreNew Mexico: Radioactive catastrophe commemorations
Beyond Nuclear was honored to participate in both the Church Rock uranium spill (July 16, 1979) and Trinity atomic bomb blast (July 16, 1945) commemorations last weekend in New Mexico. At the Red Water Pond Road Community on the Church Rock Chapter of the Navajo/Diné Nation, Beyond Nuclear joined many other groups in co-sponsoring, and…
Read MoreQuestions linger as EU lifts curbs on Japanese food imports
In a quid-pro-quo, the EU agreed to lift Japanese food restrictions, initially instituted in the wake of the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster. The EU is hoping Japan reciprocates by easing controls of its own on EU farm goods. The timing is suspicious, given Japan’s threat to release radioactively contaminated water from the ruined Fukushima nuclear…
Read MoreThe baloney about bananas
We often hear those in the business of pro-nuclear propaganda claiming that living around a nuclear power plant is less harmful than eating bananas — which contain a version of radioactive potassium (K-40). At the same time, nuclear advocates assert that releasing tritium (radioactive hydrogen) into the environment is harmless to human health. But this…
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