Radioactive waste cargo to travel the Great Lakes is mostly plutonium

Beyond Nuclear has joined with the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR, Quebec), Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (Michigan), and Radioactive Waste Management Associates (Vermont) to issue a press release warning that Bruce [Nuclear] Power's and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's description of 16 steam generators targeted to transit the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River as "low-level radioactive waste" is misleading. The cargo is actually mostly ultra-hazardous plutonium, as explained in a concise one-page backgrounder prepared by Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of CCNR.

Kevin Kamps and Susan Corbett testified Nov. 16 at Blue Ribbon Commission

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps (near left), along with Susan Corbett (far left) of the South Carolina Sierra Club presented before the Department of Energy's Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America's Nuclear Future on radioacative waste management issues on November 16th. The meeting was webcast live. Representing a community of 167 national and grassroots environmental and public interest groups, as well as over 3,300 individual petition signers, Kevin and Susan highlighted the coalition's sign on statement. This statement reflects four key principles: no reprocessing; isolation of the waste from the biosphere for as long as it is a hazard; “stop making it”; and “hardened on-site storage” (HOSS), as well as better monitoring, where waste is stored now, as the first, temporary step to meet these goals. You can also read the coalition press release, the core groups' (which helped lead the effort, by 30 drafters, to write the community statement) cover letter to BRC, Kevin's statement, Susan's statement, as well as the Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors (Hardened On-Site Storage). BRC has indicated it may close its public comment opportunity in the near future and retreat behind closed doors to hammer out a draft recommendation report by mid-2011 -- to be finalized by early 2012 -- on what to do to manage irradiated nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste now that the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada dumpsite has been cancelled. Send your comments to BRC as soon as possible via BRC@nuclear.energy.gov. For background information on radioactive waste issues, see the Radioactive Waste Section of Beyond Nuclear's website, the Radioactive Waste Project section of NIRS website,  the Radioactive Waste section of IEER's website, as well as the Reprocessing section of ANA's website.

Check out our new video on Vermont Yankee!

Please watch and circulate our newest video, found on YouTube and also in the video box at the top of the page and here below. Vermont Yankee! It catches fire! It falls down! What a bargain!

50,000 German activists protest radioactive waste transport

Inspiring stories continue to flood in from Germany where 50,000 protesters turned out on Saturday in opposition to the highly radioactive waste transport that arrived from France's La Hague reprocessing facility. Germany has already been the scene of 100,000 in the streets of Berlin to oppose reactor license extension along with the 75-mile-long human chain last April.  Although 20,000 police were deployed during the waste transport protest, National Public Radio reports that the police were largely sympathetic to the protesters' point of view. Said the NPR report: "Police trade unions complained in unusually hard terms that they have been "scapegoated" by politicians, who "made a fatal mistake" when they extended nuclear plants life spans, and that citizens are right to protest." (Photo: Copyright Martin Leers).

Update on November 9, 2010 by admin

And a video report from the Associated Press.

Trouble-plagued nuclear industry shuts down two reactors on same day

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, up for sale and scheduled to close in 2012, was shut down Sunday evening after radioactive water escaped from a pipe leading to the reactor. Meanwhile, half an hour earlier, at Unit 2 of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, NY, a transformer exploded causing the shutdown of that reactor. Both plants are owned by Entergy and have been plagued by leaks, mainly of tritium. Vermont Yankee has also endured a fire and the collapse of its cooling towers (pictured). Newly-elected Vermont Governor, Peter Shumlin, a former State Senator, led the charge to get the plant closed on schedule in March 2012, a move the State Senate approved last February. The State of Vermont's Public Oversight Panel on Vermont Yankee warned of Entergy Nuclear's neglect of maintenance last July. View more coverage from TIME; Wall Street Journal; Bloomberg; Los Angeles Times; Mid Hudson News; Reuters UK; AP Google; Brattleboro Reformer; Maine Public Broadcasting Network; Vermont Public Radio (1); Vermont Public Radio (2); Vermont Public Radio (3). The Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio will air a live nationwide call-in show on the subject of nuclear power's future in light of these two Entergy shutdowns on Tuesday morning, Nov. 9th at 10 am Eastern; you can call into the Diane Rehm Show at (800) 433-8850, or email a question or comment to drshow@wamu.org.