Kay Drey: 50+ Years of Anti-Nuke Activism
[Kay Drey. Photo credit: Leo A. Drey Family Advisory Council/L-A-D Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri]
November 13 marked the 50th anniversary of Kay Drey’s first public speech against nuclear power.
Coincidentally, it was the very same day that Karen Silkwood died.
Drey, 91-years young, lifelong resident of University City, Missouri, jokes that anti-nuclear activism has been a detour, from preceding decades of civil rights work, including advocating for desegregation of housing and public schools in her beloved hometown.
Kay’s claims to fame include decades on the board of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, followed by 17 years, and counting, on the board of Beyond Nuclear, where she is president emerita.
Kay helped block new reactors in Missouri, as by helping lead the effort against Construction Work in Progress (CWIP). Kay helped lead a state-wide ballot referendum that blocked CWIP from charging Missouri ratepayers on their electric bills for the construction of Callaway nuclear power plant Unit 2, which would have made them unwitting and unwilling “investors,” but would not allow them to share in the profits.
She has watch-dogged radioactive waste dumps around St. Louis, the Callaway Unit 1 reactor near Columbia, and radioactive waste transportation through her area, for decades.
Kay has also worked for decades to educate and warn about the risks of tritium (radioactive hydrogen), including getting custom license plates (TRITIUM) on her car, bearing the hazardous isotope’s name, a gift from her husband, Leo.
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, honored Kay’s work on tritium by dedicating his 2023 book — Exploring Tritium Dangers — to her.
She is a big fan of American revolutionary Thomas Paine, and has penned many “common sense” anti-nuke pamphlets in her day!
She is a force of nature.
Kay, and Leo Drey (the “Lorax of the Ozarks,” who passed on in 2015, at the age of 98), preserved the largest white oak forest in North America, in the Ozarks of Missouri. The Pioneer Forest is home to many threatened and endangered species, including Ozark Hellbenders, two-foot long salamanders that need pure, pristine, unpolluted water, in which to survive. The Pioneer Forest along the Current River extends through six counties, and comprises 146,000 acres. For their preservation efforts, Kay and Leo were awarded a special recognition by the National Wildlife Federation in 2005.
Just some of the large number of links to Beyond Nuclear and NIRS web posts about Kay’s work follow below:
Routine Radioactive Releases from U.S. Nuclear Power Plants. An update to our comprehensive list and map of all operating U.S. reactors and where they release radioactivity into the air and water. Every nuclear power reactor dumps radioactive water, scatters radioactive particles, and disperses radioactive gases as part of its routine, everyday operation. It doesn’t take an accident. Federal regulations permit these radioactive releases. Any exposure to radiation increases the risk of damage to tissues, cells, DNA, and other vital molecules, potentially causing genetic mutations, cancers, leukemias, birth defects, and reproductive, cardiovascular, endocribe, and immune system disorders.
The pamphlet lists all reactors operating at the October 2015 press time. For an up to date track of reactors as they close, please visit our Reactors Are Closing page.
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The Safety of St. Louis drinking water depends on you.
A Palm Card directed at elected officials to protect St. Louis drinking water from the radioactive wastes buried at the West Lake Landfill in the floodplain of the Missouri River. January 2017.
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The Lethal Legacy of the Atomic Age, 1942 – 2012 – infinity. A Mountain of Waste 70 Years High. This pamphlet covers every aspect of the radioactive waste problem since scientists created the world’s first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction at the Fermi reactor in Chicago on December 2, 1942. On that day, the Atomic Age was born — and so was radioactive waste. Pamphlets can be downloaded here or ordered from Beyond Nuclear.
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Dirty, Dangerous and Expensive: The Verdict is in on Nuclear Power
Ralph Nader says “Just recently, a well-desinged and documented pamphlet by Beyond Nuclear summarizes the case against nuclear power as ‘Expensive, Dangerous and Dirty.’ The clear, precise detail and documentation makes for expeditious education of your friends, neighbors and co-workers.”
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Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing equals Weapons Proliferation
“During my eight years in the White House, every nuclear weapons issue we dealt with was connected to a nuclear reactor program.” Al Gore. This pamphlet reviews the dangers of nuclear fuel reprocessing including the health dangers, waste issues and the inevitable link to nuclear weapons. To print pamphlet, choose letter or legal size.
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All nuclear reactors emit radiation on a routine basis, endangering the health of people and the environment. The pamphlets below, in printable pdf format, describe these releases and include maps of specific regions of the country:
- National (
, 2.64 Mb) - Chesapeake Bay (, 162 Kb)
- Northeast (,163 Kb)
- Great Lakes (, 173 Kb)
- Mississippi River (, 194 Kb)
- Southeast (, 174 Kb)
- Western (, 161 Kb)
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Kay Drey: How “Routine Emissions” from Nuclear Power Plants Slowly Poison Neighboring Communities
Kay Drey (photo by Jo Mannies, St. Louis Beacon)
On May 25th, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear’s Founding President, interviewed Kay Drey, a Beyond Nuclear board member, on her weekly radio program If You Love This Planet. Kay is also a board member of the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center. For nearly 40 years, Kay has researched the dangers of nuclear energy and nuclear waste, and advocated for the closure of nuclear plants and other uranium facilities. She was quite active in civil rights work before focusing on nuclear power. Kay and Dr. Caldicott discuss the widespread public health implications of so-called routine radioactive releases from nuclear power stations, in which many hazardous gases and fission byproducts are emitted during daily operations. Kay refers to a Beyond Nuclear pamphlet, Dirty, Dangerous, and Expensive: The Verdict Is In About Nuclear Power. Another Beyond Nuclear pamphlet, Routine Radioactive Releases from Nuclear Power Plants in the United States: What Are the Dangers?, provides more information on the main subject of Helen and Kay’s conversation, as well as a listing of surface waters into which radioactively contaminated liquid wastes are being discharged. For more information, read Dr. Caldicott’s book Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer, which includes information from Kay’s studies.
June 4, 2012, 306 Kb)- It Doesn’t Take An Accident: Routine Radiation Releases.
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Report back from “Nuclear Fool’s Day” in St. Louis — final event on MO, KS, and NE Mobile Chernobyl speaking tour
See Beyond Nuclear radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps’ power point presentation (as well as links to three short videos — posted under UPDATE — and an article, authored by Beyond Nuclear board president, Kay Drey, entitled “Mobile Meltdown: Three Mile Island Train Troubles”), from an event, held at the Schlafly Taproom in St. Louis, MO, on April 1st, 2019. The event was co-sponsored by Kay Drey, Beyond Nuclear, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, and Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
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