Please submit public comments opposing the ISP/WCS CISF in TX by Nov. 3!

WCS/ISP DEIS: Ideas for comments you can use to write your own for submission to NRC

<http://www.beyondnuclear.org/centralized-storage/2020/5/27/wcsisp-deis-ideas-for-comments-you-can-use-to-write-your-own.html>

Action alert from the SEED (Sustainable Energy and Economic Development) Coalition in Austin, TX re: NRC's ISP/WCS CISF DEIS:

Comments still needed:

 

Please help out by letting people know about the letters that can be personalized and sent to the NRC at www.NoNuclearWaste.org 

For those who can, please send an action alert out through your network as well. 

We have a Nov. 3 deadline for comments on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Waste Control Specialists' high-level radioactive waste storage plan, the Interim Storage Partners irradiated nuclear fuel consolidated interim storage facility in Andrews County, west Texas. This is our last opportunity for public comment on the license application.

Update on September 23, 2020 by admin

Speak out against Mobile Chernobyls in your community! Sample script for contacting your Members of Congress to urge they demand public comment meetings in your state/district re: NRC Draft EIS on WCS/ISP, TX nuke waste Consolidated Interim Storage Facility

<http://www.beyondnuclear.org/centralized-storage/2020/5/27/speak-out-against-mobile-chernobyls-in-your-community-sample.html>

Interim Storage Partners: Draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment meetings -- October 1, 6, 8, and 15

As announced by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: WCS_CISFEIS Resource <WCS_CISFEIS.Resource@nrc.gov>
Date: Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 2:54 PM
Subject: Interim Storage Partners: Draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment meetings

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is notifying you of upcoming public comment meetings for the NRC staff’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP’s) proposed Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) located in Andrews County, Texas.

The NRC staff will be holding four virtual meetings in early October 2020.  These meetings will be held on October 1, 6, 8, and 15, 2020, during which the NRC staff will present the results of its environmental analysis and then accept comments on the draft EIS.  Persons interested in attending these meetings should check the NRC’s Public Meeting Schedule Web page at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg for additional information, agendas for the meetings, and access information for the webinar and telephone line. The NRC had planned to conduct public meetings in person near the project site; however, the staff is not able to hold the in person meetings due to the current COVID-19 public health emergency.

The draft EIS is available, along with an overview of the report in English and Spanish, from the NRC’s project website for its review of the ISP license application: https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/waste-control-specialist.html.

The NRC is accepting public comments on the draft EIS through November 3, 2020.  Comments can be submitted several ways:

• Mail to the Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
• E-mail at WCS_CISF_EIS@nrc.gov; and
• Posting online at the federal government’s rulemaking website, using Docket ID NRC-2016-0231

Update on September 23, 2020 by admin

Here is the link to the NRC press release, which gives the exact times, and other information, re: each of the call-in sessions: <https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2020/20-046.pdf>

Here is that paragraph:

Information for the webinars will be posted on the NRC’s Public Meetings webpage. They will be held at different times of the day to maximize opportunities for the public to participate. The webinars are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1 from 6-9 p.m.; Oct. 6 from 2-5 p.m.; Oct. 8 from 6-9 p.m.; and Oct. 15 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. All times are Eastern.

Nuclear-Free Earth -- Karl Grossman presents

Every day is Earth Day, or it should be. The planet, as Karl Grossman says in this talk he gave on September 21 as part of the Long Island Earth Day 2020 program, faces "two gargantuan threats -- the climate crisis and nuclear weapons/nuclear power."

Here is Karl's talk on how to achieve a truly nuclear-free Earth.

International Peace Day. Watch UN Live

The UN General Assembly is holding a one-day high-level meeting today from 9am Eastern Time USA (3pm CET) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN. You can watch it on UNTV. The theme of the event is  ‘The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism’. The meeting will adopt a declaration that was agreed in July 2020. 

5 ratifications from a UN ban on nuclear weapons!

Malta has become the 45th state party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It deposited its instrument of ratification on 21 September 2020 as world leaders met to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The move also coincided with Malta’s Independence Day, which marks the date on which the country declared its independence from the United Kingdom, a nuclear-armed state, in 1964.

Just five more ratifications are now needed to bring the treaty into force.

Malta’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, signed the treaty on 25 August, less than a month before the country ratified it. The foreign ministry stated that its decision to become a party to the treaty underscored “Malta’s unwavering commitment towards nuclear non-proliferation, and highlights its commitment towards achieving prosperity through peace”.

Malta participated in the negotiation of the nuclear weapon ban treaty in 2017 and was among 122 nations that voted to adopt the final text. The treaty comprehensively and categorically outlaws nuclear weapons and establishes a legal framework for the elimination of existing stockpiles. It also mandates assistance to victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons.

In 2016, Malta was a co-sponsor of the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence the negotiations in 2017 on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. A year earlier, it was among 127 states that endorsed a “humanitarian pledge” to cooperate “in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit, and eliminate nuclear weapons”.