Licensed to Kill

In 2001, Beyond Nuclear’s Paul and Linda Gunter, then with NIRS and Safe Energy Communication Council, co-authored a landmark report and accompanying video, describing how animals were harmed and killed by the routine operation of nuclear reactors. Entitled, Licensed to Kill: How the nuclear power industry destroys endangered marine wildlife and ocean habitat to save money, the authors found that marine habitats are being damaged and destroyed by nuclear power plant operations using the “once-through cooling system.” A variety of animal species are routinely drowned, thermally shocked, pulverized, injured and trapped by reactors that can draw in and discharge as much as three billion gallons of water a day to cool the plant. A short film, Licensed To Kill: How Reactors Kill Animals, accompanies the report.