Coalition Against Nukes national rally in New York City, October 1st

Beyond Nuclear is honored to co-sponsor and field speakers to the national rally of Coalition Against Nukes in New York City on Saturday, October 1st. Beyond Nuclear's founding president, Helen Caldicott, will be the keynote presenter. Beyond Nuclear board member Karl Grossman, and Beyond Nuclear Radioactive Waste Watchdog Kevin Kamps, will also be featured speakers. Beyond Nuclear will also have an information table at the event.

Additional speakers include: Brent Blackwelder, President Emeritus, Friends of the Earth, and the most senior environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C.; former US Congressman John Hall, who represented NY's 19th District, including Indian Point, singer, songwriter and co-founder of Musicians United for Safe Energy--MUSE; Harvey Wasserman, anti-nuclear activist, author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030; and Alice Slater, Founder of Abolition 2000, NY Director of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and its UN representative.

Rally co-sponsors include: Friends of the Earth, NYC Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Ralph Nader, New York Physicians for Social Responsibility, NYPIRG, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Helen Caldicott Foundation, IPSEC, Beyond Nuclear, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Westchester Citizens Awareness Network, Shut Down Indian Point Now, Time’s Up, ECOFEST, Rock the Reactors, and more.

Rally info and updates are at http://www.coalitionagainstnukes.org/. To contribute, volunteer or get more info, email NYCRally@CoalitionAgainstNukes.org, call 631-377-1560, or write CAN, 51 Startop Dr., Montauk NY, 11954. Coalition Against Nukes has put out a press advisory about the event.

U.S. Navy and other highly radioactive wastes threatened by wildfires at INL

INL photo of fire crews battling July 2010 blaze that grew to 170 square miles in size in a single dayJust a few months ago, wildfires threatened a large inventory of plutonium-contaminated radioactive wastes at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexcio. Now, reports Reuters, high-level radioactive waste storage, handling, and even experimentation facilities at Idaho National Lab (INL) are in harm's way, amidst fast-spreading wildfires. INL is a catch-all "interim storage site" for irradiated nuclear fuel, including from U.S. Navy nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers; "Atoms for Peace" high-enriched uranium (HEU) foreign research reactor fuel, originally supplied by to the U.S. to 41 countries overseas, but returned here as a nuclear weapons non-proliferation precaution; and even melted down nuclear fuel from the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry, including from the 1966 "We Almost Lost Detroit" Fermi 1 partial meltdown, and the 1979 Three Mile Island 50% meltdown. INL has published a map and emergency updates on the wildfire; the map contains links with more detailed information about what risky activities take place where on the INL site. As MSNBC reported, a July 2010 wildfire at INL (photo, left) burned power lines, forcing radioactive waste facilities to rely on emergency diesel generators.

1,400 pounds of copper stolen from Y-12 nuclear weapons plant at Oak Ridge, TN

The Knoxville News has reported that multiple cases of copper being stolen from the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee have taken place in recent years, including a single heist of 1,400 pounds worth. The thefts not only raise questions about security at what is supposed to be one of the most secure sites in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex -- storing large amounts of weapons-usable highly enriched uranium -- but also about radiological safety. Y-12 officials tracked down the missing 1,400 pounds of copper, in part to make sure it did not represent a radioactive hazard to the unsuspecting purchasers of the "hot" (but fortunately, not radioactive) copper.

1,773 cases of illicit nuclear materials trafficking documented by IAEA

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 1,773 confirmed incidents of illegal possession, movement or attempts to illegally trade in or use nuclear material or radioactive sources occurred between January 1993 and December 2009. This figure comes from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Illicit Trafficking Database,

http://www-ns.iaea.org/security/itdb.asp. The nuclear weapons and dirty bomb proliferation potential of such smuggling is immense.

Yet another Iranian scientist linked to country's atomic program assassinated

BBC has reported that for the second time in less than two years, another Iranian scientist purportedly linked to the country's nuclear program has been assassinated. The Iranian regime blamed the Israeli Mossad for the 2010 assassination. The Iranian regime claims its uranium enrichment program is for electricity production. Iran, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), does have the legal right to develop atomic power. However, the U.S., Israeli, French, and certain other governments accuse the Iranian regime of instead pursuing expanded and accelerated uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons production purposes. Of course, the U.S., Israel, and France already have nuclear weapons arsenals of their own.