Rachel Maddow calls out all the U.S. nuclear near-misses

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NPR says "environmentalists are split" on whether nuke plants are safe

Rubbish! NPR finally hauled out Patrick Moore, yet again referring to his distant Greenpeace credentials, to show that environmentalists are split on nuclear power safety. The story ran on March 28th, the same day the Three Mile Island accident happened. Does NPR really think that Patrick Moore is the definition of an environmentalist? A paid spokesperson for the nuclear industry and polluters like the chemicals and plastics industries and others like GM crops and clear-cut logging? Yet again, we urge you to lodge your complaints with N(uclear) P(owered) R(adio). One nuclear industry shill does not a movement-split make. Contact NPR using this form: http://help.npr.org/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx. Or you can call the Office of the NPR Ombudsman at 202-513-3245. 

NRC says "comprehensive safety review" will be "quick look" and reactor fuel pools are "safe"

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko stunningly told a House Appropriations subcommittee that there were no discernable safety differences between spent fuel pools and dry casks at U.S. reactors, reports Greenwire. Using a decidedly poor choice of metaphor, he added: "The likelihood of anything happening is so small, it's hard to say that one is safer than the other. It's like [the odds of] winning the Powerball versus winning another lottery."

Far from a win-win situation, casks and fuel pools at reactors are more likely equally dangerous than equally safe. Beyond Nuclear and scores of other groups have called instead for hardened on-site storage as the least worst option for securing radioactive waste at reactor sites.

Additionally, Greenwire reported: "NRC is currently conducting a two-pronged safety review as a result of the crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi reactor, Jaczko said. There is a 90-day review that he termed a "quick look" to see if there are any immediate changes suggested for the United States as a result of the overheating reactor."



Despite Fukushima and nuclear pushbacks abroad, Obama touts more nukes

Here's the excerpt from Obama's speech today: "Now, in light of the ongoing events in Japan, I want to just take a minute to talk about nuclear power.  Right now, America gets about one-fifth of our electricity from nuclear energy.  And it’s important to recognize that nuclear energy doesn’t emit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  So those of us who are concerned about climate change, we’ve got to recognize that nuclear power, if it’s safe, can make a significant contribution to the climate change question. 

And I’m determined to ensure that it’s safe.  So in light of what’s happened in Japan, I’ve requested a comprehensive safety review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make sure that all of our existing nuclear energy facilities are safe.  And we’re going incorporate those conclusions and lessons from Japan in design and the building of the next generation of plants.  But we can’t simply take it off the table."

Er, yes we can! And does the idea of the NRC conducting a "comprehensive safety review" fill you with confidence? Isn't that their everyday job?

Radiation hot spots in Japan 25 miles from Fukushima now 2X higher than internationally recommended for evacuation

Radiation levels in some areas around the severely damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are now twice the recommended level for evacuation according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, the United Nation's international atomic energy regulator and promoter is not suggesting that Japanese authorities take any action to protect the exposed populations in the Japanese town of Iitate which is 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor complex.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace International now on the ground with radiation monitoring teams has found high radiation readings that should be prompting evacuation in several locations well beyond the current 20 to 30 kilometer radius where people are still under a shelter-in-place order to stay indoors.

Beyond Nuclear has urged the wider evacuation of pregnant women, lactating mothers and children from around the increasingly radioactive nuclear power plant site.