Beyond Nuclear statement regarding NRC Chairman Macfarlane's announced resignation

NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane just announced her resignationBeyond Nuclear has issued the following statement regarding NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane's announced resignation, just a year and a half into her current five-year term:

"Chairman Macfarlane took some principled and important steps toward restoring the NRC’s integrity and upholding its public safety mission statement, but failed to fulfill them.

Unfortunately, the 'go along to get along' strategy is inherently hamstrung, particularly given the many ferocious industry policy fights raging throughout the agency...

Sometimes there is no successful righting of any ship of state after its credibility has sunk just so low..." More.

Return of the Yucca dump zombie?!

Despite hoots and hollers from nuclear industry lobbyists and their friends in Congress, the publication of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump  Safety Evaluation Report volume, entitled "Repository Safety After Permanent Closure," does not herald the dump's resurrection. To the contrary, the State of Nevada, its congressional delegation, and their powerful allies in the U.S. Senate -- backed by a thousand or so environmental groups across the country -- remain adamantly, and tirelessly, committed to preventing the still-cancelled, unfunded, scientifically unsuitable dump-site from ever opening. More.

Coalition presses case against containment cracking at Davis-Besse

An environmental coalition, challenging the proposed 20-year license extension at FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's (FENOC) Davis-Besse atomic reactor in Oak Harbor, OH on the Lake Erie shore, has filed a defense of its September 3rd and September 8th, 2014 contentions regarding worsening containment cracking.

This comes in response to October 3rd motions, by both FENOC and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff, calling for the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel overseeing the nearly four-year-old License Renewal Application (LRA) proceeding, to dismiss the contentions.

The coalition consists of Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio. It is represented by Toledo-based attorney, Terry Lodge.

The coalition's filing on October 10th marks the third anniversary, to the day, of when severe cracking was first discovered and publicly announced at Davis-Besse, on Oct. 10, 2011 (see photo, above). The environmental coalition filed its first cracking contention in the proceeding a few months later, and has filed many more -- throughout 2012, and on Earth Day this year. However, all have been dismissed by the ASLB, despite many of the coalition's assertions later being acknowledged as correct by FENOC.

Davis-Besse's original 40-year license will expire on Earth Day (April 22nd), 2017. FENOC is seeking a 20-year extension, till 2037. NRC has rubber-stamped 73 such extensions such the year 2000.

REGISTER NOW for the Nuclear-Free Future Summit in D.C., Nov. 14-16 + Lobby Day, Nov. 17

This announcement was circulated by Mary Olson of NIRS:

Please come to our Second Nuclear Free Campaign Summit and Strategy Session

This event is for activists working for a Nuclear-Free Future! Here are the event details:

WHO: Sierra Club Nuclear Free Campaign and Allied Organizations / Activists
WHAT: National Summit for a Nuclear Free Future 
WHEN: Nov. 14-17, 2014 
WHERE: National 4-H Youth Conference Center, 7100 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20815

http://tinyurl.com/NuclearFreeRegistration

If you stay at the venue (see options on the registration page, starting Thursday Nov 14) there is no additional conference fee. For those who find other housing, $25 is the registration fee for Friday night – Sunday. No fee for Friday, Nov 14 daytime sessions on nuclear waste.

If you are interested in the Nuclear Waste Day (see below), Friday Nov 14 convened by NIRS and SRIC please do reply to me (on email)…even if you have previously been in touch with me or Don. There is no additional fee for Friday – and we will provide lunch to all who participate.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!

~~YOU ARE INVITED~~SAVE THE DATE~~SHARE WITH YOUR ALLIES~~

To a Day (Friday Nov 14) or a Long Weekend (Nov 14 – 16) With Friends, Colleagues, Fellow Radioactivists Dedicated to a Nuclear Free Carbon Free Future

In the Washington DC Area (4 H Center in Chevy Chase MD)

Friday, November 14^th NUCLEAR WASTE DAY

For folks from communities around closed or closing nuclear power reactors (indefinite waste storage) and those targeted with “consolidated storage” of nuclear power waste

coordinated by Nuclear Information and Resource Service & Southwest Research and Information Center

Purpose: To connect with each other & those on the other end of the same hot rods…Registration coming soon at www.nirs.org. Lodging and food available on site at cost, no additional registration fee.

Saturday, Nov. 15th to Sunday, Nov. 16th*: SUMMIT FOR A NUCLEAR FREE FUTURE

with Lobby Day Monday, Nov. 17th, coordinated by Sierra Club Nuclear Free Campaign

Purpose: Plans and strategies for 2015 to further our work closing old nukes, stopping new nukes, uranium fuel chain front and back end dangers and wastes, environmental justice, stopping the nuclear power attack on renewable energy and efficiency.

[Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, has been invited to co-present on the Nuclear Waste panel during the summit]

[*Also, see Update, immediately below, regarding a "Uranium? Leave It In the Ground!" event Beyond Nuclear is honored to co-sponsor!]

Lodging and food available on site at cost, no registration fee for those who stay at the site; nominal program fee for day-participation only. Registration for the Summit will be via Sierra Club – page coming soon!

Diane D’Arrigo, dianed@nirs.org   /  301-270-6477

Mary Olson, maryo@nirs.org  / 828-252-8409

Tim Judson, timj@nirs.org  /  301-270-6477

WWW.NIRS.ORG

Update on October 25, 2014 by admin

Sticker designed by Yuko Tonohira of S.A.N.S., as is the Nov. 16th event flier

Beyond Nuclear is honored to co-sponsor:

URANIUM? LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND!
-A Film Screening & Discussion About Uranium Mining-

Sunday November 16
7:00PM-9:00PM
@ Busboys & Poets (5th & K)
1025 5th St. NW Washington, DC 20001
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown

Join the discussion with experts and activists fighting the Nuclear Fuel Chain from Cradle to Grave. What can we learn from the history and what is at stake with uranium at this moment?

Film: The River That Harms
(Dir. Colleen Keane, 45 mins, 1987, United States)
This film documents the largest radioactive waste spill in U.S. history - a national tragedy that occurred on Diné (Navajo) lands that received little attention. With the sound of a thunderclap, 94 million gallons of radioactive waste broke through a United Nuclear Corporation storage dam in 1979 and poured into New Mexico’s Puerco River, the main water supply for the Diné people and a tributary of the major source of water for Los Angeles, California. To the Diné people, this event impacted their lands, their health and their economy and sends a prophetic warning for all humanity.

Co-sponsored by: Beyond Nuclear, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Diné No Nukes, S.A.N.S., and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Link to PDF of Nov. 16th event flier, designed by Yuko Tonohira of S.A.N.S.

Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe

Dr. Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear's Founding PresidentTeaching for Change Bookstore at Busboys and Poets welcomes Helen Caldicott, editor of the new book,

Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe

 introduced by Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 

6:30 to 8:00 PM

Busboys and Poets - 14th & V, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Sponsors: 

Physicians for Social Responsibility 

Beyond Nuclear 

Teaching for Change 

Busboys and Poets

Beyond Nuclear's Cindy Folkers and Kevin Kamps presented at the 2013 symposium which led to this new book. Summaries of their presentations are included.

Update on October 9, 2014 by admin

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Helen's book talk event went very well last night. We had a good turn out. Here is a link to Kevin's introduction of Helen. Helen gave a great talk, followed by a dynamic Q&A/discussion afterwards. Thanks to everyone who came, and all those who helped spread the word!