Karl Grossman (photo, left), investigative journalist, author, Beyond Nuclear board member, and longtime watchdog on the nuclear industry, has published a piece entitled "San Onofre shutdown latest setback in nuclear power's downward spiral," at Enformable Nuclear News.
Image by J. DeStefano, 2012On May 20th, an environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, petitioned to intervene against the steam generator replacement proposed at FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse atomic reactor in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The coalition's intervention petition, expert witness Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates, Inc's expert testimony, Gundersen's Curriculum Vitae, and a coalition press release are posted at this link.
Today, the coalition issued a media release, pointing out the similarities between their intervention at Davis-Besse, and the Friends of the Earth (FOE) intervention at San Onofre, CA. Earlier today, Southern California Edison threw in the towel, and announced the permanent shutdown of San Onofre Units 2 & 3, due to the fatal degradation of their replacement steam generators. Gundersen serves as FOE's expert witness at San Onofre.
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Bloomberg News has cited NRC as admitting that the four atomic reactor permanent closures thus far in 2013 (Crystal River, FL; Kewaunee, WI; San Onofre Units 2 & 3) are the most ever in a single year.
Southern California Edison (SCE) has decided to permanently shutter its Units 2 and 3 San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) reactors in Southern Cal! Congratulations to all who fought so hard for this great victory! Read the Edison press release.
"This is very good news for the people of Southern California," said [a] statement from Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica. "We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate and now Edison has agreed. The people of California now have the opportunity to move away from the failed promise of dirty and dangerous nuclear power and replace it with the safe and clean energy provided by the sun and wind." More.
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), released a press statement and a video on May 31, 2012, recognizing children are more vulnerable to radiation exposure. They also announced the release of a long-needed report examining in detail the ways children are more sensitive. Unfortunately, in the context of Fukushima contamination, UNSCEAR still clings to the currently untestable notion that radiation releases from Fukushima were not large enough to produce any observable health impact over the long-term; and that mental anguish will probably be the largest fallout. Beyond Nuclear examines why these and other assumptions like these pose a danger to people in areas already contaminated by nuclear catastrophes, and to those who may someday have to face unexpected, large radiation releases.