Lingering death for fast reactor as Monju suspended

"Japan’s nuclear watchdog will indefinitely suspend the use of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor over the operator’s disregard for safety that continued even after the Fukushima nuclear crisis raised concerns across the nation," writes Hideki Muroya in the Asahi Shimbun. "The Nuclear Regulation Authority's order will deal a further blow to Japan’s nuclear fuel recycling program, which has long been plagued by technical problems and scandals.

"In the latest case, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, operator of Monju, was found to have skipped inspections of nearly 10,000 pieces of equipment since 2010, including crucial devices in the safety and emergency systems at the plant, based in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.

"The company also violated its own safety regulations, according to the NRA.

"'Even when the reactor is offline, things stand in such a state,' an NRA official said after an on-site inspection of the reactor in February. “We cannot possibly approve a restart.” Read more. (Picture shows a still from video footage inside Monju during the 1995 sodium fire).

Write letters of support to nuclear resisters

The Nuclear Resisters are encouraging the anti-nuclear and anti-war community to write letters of support to imprisoned activists around the world, including Greg Boertje-Obed, Sister Megan Rice and Michael Walli, currently imprisoned and awaiting sentencing for their breach of security at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN. Please visit the Nuclear Resisters special webpage to write to imprisoned activists. Boertje-Obed, Rice and Walli will not be sentenced until mid-September. Even the Bush-appointed judge opined that "It is preposterous that Congress would pass a law that would not distinguish between peace protestors and terrorists." However, because the three were convicted of sabotage, which is considered under law as "an act of violence" against the United States, some thought the judge faced no other legal choice but to remand them in custody for now. Activists maintained a vigil outside the courthouse during the trial (Pictured. Photo by Felice Cohen-Joppa).

NEW! Busting the pro-nuclear propaganda

In response to some of the myths about nuclear energy advanced in the documentary, Pandora's Promise - but in larger part in response to the pro-nuclear propaganda in circulation generally - Beyond Nuclear is today releasing: 

Pandora's False Promises: Busting the pro-nuclear propaganda.

This report, in the form of handy bullet points but fully referenced throughout, is designed to serve as a central source for many of the facts about nuclear power that are either ignored, obscured or mis-represented by the nuclear deniers.

The different sections cover, among many topics: climate change; the health impacts of Chernobyl and Fukushima; Germany's nuclear exit and France's dependence on it; the flaws and impracticabilities of the "new" reactor designs; and various misleading arguments made by the pro-nuclear propagandists, from base load energy to bananas.

In addition, we have published a two-page summary and a press release.

Please feel free to download, print and circulate these documents widely. Please also consider using these materials when the film is screened in your area.

If you would prefer us to send printed copies, we are happy to do so at cost. Simply send a request by email to: info@beyondnuclear. org. Or call: 301.270.2209.

Landfill fire near buried nuclear waste raises alarm in Missouri

A North St. Louis County landfill is smouldering, and close by sits at least 8,700 tons of nuclear weapons wastes. West Lake Landfill is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site that's home to some of the oldest radioactive wastes in the world.  Rolling Stone Magazine has just published an in-depth look at this disaster waiting to happen. Beyond Nuclear board member, Kay Drey, (pictured) has been advocating for more than three decades to get the radioactive wastes removed from the floodplain of the Missouri River.

Writes Steven Hsieh: "Today, West Lake's radioactive waste – all 143,000 cubic yards of it – sits on the outskirts of a former quarry with practically none of the standard safety features found in most municipal landfills. No clay liner blocks toxic leachate – or "garbage juice" – from seeping into area groundwater. No cap keeps toxic gas from dispersing into the air. This unprotected waste sits on a floodplain 1.5 miles away from the Missouri River. Eight miles downstream is a drinking water reservoir that serves 300,000 St. Louisans. Worst of all: The materials dumped in this populous metropolitan area will continue to pose a hazard for hundreds of thousands of years." Read the full article. And watch an interview with Kay Drey by the Missouri Coalition for the Environement.

UCS Issue Brief: "Palisades' Leaking SIRWT"

David Lochbaum (photo left), Director of the Nuclear Safety Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) -- who presented in west MI about the problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor at April 11th events sponsored by Beyond Nuclear -- has penned an Issue Brief on Entergy's latest leak: "Palisades' Leaking SIRWT."

In June 2012, U.S. Representative Ed Markey, based on revelations provided by courageous Palisades whistleblowers and their attorney Billie Pirner Garde, made public the "crisis in the control room" at Palisades: the leakage of water from the Safety Injection Refueling Water Tank (SIRWT), down the walls and through the ceiling of the control room, precariously near safety-critical electrical circuitry and equipment.

Both Entergy, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) itself, had kept the leak quiet for over a year at that point. Entergy and NRC staff had even kept NRC's Chairman, Greg Jaczko, in the dark about the leak, when he toured Palisades on May 25, 2012, before holding a press conference and meeting with two dozen concerned local residents and environmental group representatives, including Beyond Nuclear.

Once the crisis in the control room came to light, NRC Chairman Jaczko ordered an investigation as to why he had been kept in the dark, even by his own agency staff. NRC Commissioner William Ostendorff strongly opposed the investigation, even to the point of yelling at the chief NRC investigator, who happened to be a woman. (In 2011, Ostendorff, along with three other NRC Commissioners, had urged the White House to fire Jaczko, supposedly for allegedly yelling at female staffpersons -- an allegation with little to no substantiation). Ostendorff is still under investigation himself, for that outburst.

In late March and early April, 2013, Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, along with grassroots environmental allies, learned from NRC admissions that the SIRWT into and around the control room continued, at a rate of 0.5 to 1 gallon per day -- two years after the SIRWT leaks had begun. But last weekend, the leakage rate shot up to 90 gallons in a single day. 79 gallons of radioactive water spilled into Lake Michigan.