The "face of Fukushima," Japan minister Edano says nukes must go

Reuters reports that Japanese trade and energy minister, Yukio Edano, who was seen constantly on Japanese newscasts during the Fukushima nuclear crisis, thinks nuclear power should be phased out in Japan. Edano said:"The government's policy is now to reduce reliance on nuclear power as low as possible," Edano said. "I'd like to see the reliance on nuclear cut to zero. I'd like to have a society work without nuclear as early as possible. 

"New [reactors] don't make any sense right now." John Rowe

The reitred CEO of Exelon Nuclear Corporation, John Rowe, is publicly on the record opposing new reactor construction. "Let me also state unequivocably that new [reactors] don’t make any sense right now,” he said in Chicago this week where Exelon is headquartered. "It just isn’t economic, and it’s not economic within a foreseeable time frame," he said.The question remains whether Rowe's remarks will influence the Obama White House policy of supporting new reactor projects. One of the original creators of Exelon was Obama's influential former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago. Rowe made several trips to the White House during Emanuel's tenure. David Axelrod, Obama's political advisor, has been a lobbyist for Exelon.

New! The Activist(s)! A "silent film" about Occupy Entergy in New Orleans

Watch Shut it Down affinity group including 93-year old Frances Crowe

Rally to "CLOSE VERMONT YANKEE NOW," Sat., April 14, Brattleboro, VT!

Beyond Nuclear is a proud co-sponsor of another rally in solidarity with the State of Vermont and its people to shutdown Entergy Nuclear's Vermont Yankee GE BWR Mark I reactor, despite the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) rubberstamp of a 20 year license extension, finalized in March 2011, just days after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe had begun at identically designed reactors in Japan. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont), the outspoken voice for nuclear safety on the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, will be the featured speaker. Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) has posted a media release, while the Safe and Green Campaign is posting updates.

This rally will take place just three weeks after a rally and march by more than 1,000 protestors in Brattleboro, followed by around 150 arrests at Entergy's VT HQ, on the first day of the NRC-approved license extension. Non-violent civil disobedience arrests also occurred simultaneously at Entergy's Northeast regional offices in White Plains, NY, as well as at its national HQ in New Orleans, as captured in Beyond Nuclear's humorous "we will not be silent" film, The Activist(s).