ANA's 25th anniversary "DC Days" a big success

Diane Curran, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Kathleen Sullivan, and Kristen Iversen receive ANA awards during DC Days on April 16, 2013 at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. Behind them is a quilt of anti-nuclear tee shirts from across the U.S. and even overseas, created by ANA's past executive director, Susan Gordon.For several weeks in the lead up to the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's (ANA) annual "DC Days," Beyond Nuclear promoted participation on its website and in its weekly email bulletin. DC Days is one of the most ambitious and effective annual anti-nuclear lobby efforts at the federal level nationwide!

The event, from April 14 to 17, was a big success. ANA is a coalition of three dozen groups, of which Beyond Nuclear is proud to have been a member for the past five years. While many of the groups are grassroots watchdogs living in the shadows of the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear weapons complex facilities, ANA also has an explicit anti-nuclear power policy position. Thus, Beyond Nuclear and ANA are a perfect match!

Scores of participants from across the country took part, from the training day on Sunday, to the lobby days on Capitol Hill and across the Obama Executive Branch agencies, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps was honored to be tapped by ANA to "team lead" several lobby visits in both the U.S. House and Senate.

A highlight of DC Days is the annual awards reception on Capitol Hill. This year's awards went to the following well deserving recipients: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, for his longstanding commitment to the cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear [Weapons Complex] Reservation in Washington State; Diane Curran, Washington D.C.-based attorney at the law firm Harmon, Curran, Spielberg + Eisenberg, LLP, for her tireless legal efforts, on behalf of environmental coalitions, such as her victory against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) bogus Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision, her victory for security upgrades on high-level radioactive waste storage at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in CA, etc.; Kathleen Sullivan, disarmament educator and anti-nuclear activist, for her documentary film "The Ultimate Wish: Ending the Nuclear Age"; Kristen Iversen, for her internationally acclaimed book Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats; and Bobbie Paul, retiring executive director of Georgia Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), and Judith Mohling of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, for the extraordinary activism of not just the past year, but their lifetime achievements.

See ANA's 2013 fact sheets here, which formed the basis for the lobby visits to Capitol Hill and Obama administration agencies such as DOE, NRC, EPA, etc.

Here is another photo of Diane Curran, Sen. Wyden, Kathleen Sullivan, and Kristen Iversen receiving their awards, taken by Tom Clements of FOE in South Carolina. Tom himself won an ANA activist of the year award in 2009, as shown in the DC Days photo from that year posted on ANA's website.

Visit ANA's website to learn more about its critical work on nuclear weapons and nuclear power issues.

Much needed donations to ANA can be made online, or checks can be sent to:

ANA, 

903 W Alameda Street, #505, 

Santa Fe, NM 87501. 

All contributions are tax-deductible.

Environmental resistance continues against federal rollbacks on radiation protection standards

Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and Committee to Bridge the Gap (CBG) have led a coalition of dozens of environmental, public interest, and safe energy groups -- including Beyond Nuclear -- in responding to the NCRP's (National Commission on Radiation Protection) proposed regulatory rollback on radioactivity protections, by its arbitrarily and capriciously short deadline for public comment of April 15th. See the coalition comments here.

The irony of April 15th -- "Tax Day" -- for a public comment deadline, is that NCRP was paid by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS, a taxpayer funded agency) to empanel numerous federal officials from such agencies as DHS, DOE, and EPA, to draft this major rollback on radiation protections. These officials -- whose salaries are paid by American taxpayers -- are supposed to protect the citizens and residents of this country against the risks of radioactivity, but are instead doing the exact opposite.

Both CBG at its website, and NIRS at its website, have posted updates on not only NCRP's proposed regulatory rollback, but also parallel proposals by EPA and even other federal agencies.

Doug Guarino with the National Journal's Global Security Newswire reported on April 11th that President Obama's nominee for EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, refused to answer his question about this radiation protection rollback. McCarthy has led the regulatory rollback effort at EPA, over objections from EPA officials at the agency's Superfund division, from her perch atop EPA's nuclear industry-friendly Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.

Guarino reported that not only did McCarthy refuse to answer questions about the radiation regulatory rollbacks, but a McCarthy EPA assitant also physically shoved a reporter.

Guarino broke the story on NCRP's proposed regulatory rollback, as posted below.

On April 15th, Guarino also reported that EPA has now officially granted 90 days for public comment on its proposed radiation protection regulatory rollbacks. Just one example of the proposed rollbacks is viciously radioactive I-131 (linked to an epidemic of thyroid cancer and other pathologies in the regions surrounding Chernobyl, especially in children exposed to fallout) in drinking water: EPA has proposed a 27,000-fold decrease in protections.

Please contact President Obama, your U.S. Senators, and your U.S. Representative to protest this absolutely outrageous proposal. Urge them in the strongest possible terms to retain current EPA Superfund radioactivity contamination clean-up standards as the norm for dirty bomb, nuclear power plant disaster, radioactive waste shipping accident, etc. recovery efforts. You can be patched through to your Members of Congress via the U.S. Congressional Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121.

President Obama can be contacted by calling the White House at 202-456-1111, writing him online via the White House web form, or writing him at: President Obama; The White House; 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW; Washington, DC 20500.

For the past two weeks, on its website and in its weekly email bulletins, Beyond Nuclear has been posting updates on the Obama administration's proposed regulatory rollbacks on radiation protection standards.

Pilgrim opponents out in force at NRC meeting

NRC file photo of Entergy's Pilgrim atomic reactor, a GE Mark I, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4As reported by the Duxbury Reporter, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) public meeting about Entergy's Pilgrim atomic reactor took place on Tues., April 2nd. It included a discussion of Entergy's recently announced plans to build a dry cask storage facility for Pilgrim's more than 40 years of piled up high-level radioactive waste. Every single irradiated nuclear fuel assembly ever generated at Pilgrim is currently still stored in its indoor, elevated storage pool, outside of any robust radiological containment structure, and at risk of fire and catastrophic radioactivity release.

The Reporter has also reported that, in advance of the meeting, environmental advocates EcoLaw demanded access to documents about the proposed dry cask storage installation, but the Town of Plymouth has denied access, citing safety and security concerns.

The Patriot Ledger reported that the reception for the NRC in Plymouth was angry and even scathing. Plymouth Selectmen questioned NRC, expressing dramatically increased concern after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe at identically designed reactors in Japan -- General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors. Mary Lampert of Pilgrim Watch, who fought against Pilgrim's 20-year license extension rubber-stamp by NRC for over six years (a record nationwide), called for safety upgrades at the reactor, including real-time, fully transparent monitoring of the proposed new dry cask storage facility. Cape Cod Downwinders called for Pilgrim's immediate, permanent shutdown.

As reported by the Cape Codder, decades old anti-nuclear sentiment in Chatham, near Pilgrim, has revved up yet again. A local drive is on to officially request Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to urge NRC to reconsider its 20-year license extension rubber-stamp at Pilgrim. It should be remembered that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1, the oldest reactor at the site and the first to melt down there, would not have even been operating on March 11, 2011 except that it had been granted a license extension not long before the fateful earthquake and tsunami.

The Old Colony Memorial posted a 5 minute video showing how the meeting got off to a "rough start," as members of Cape Downwinders protested the NRC's "casual...open house" format, demanding instead a formal town hall meeting type format. Cape Downwinders conducted an Occupy Wall Street style "Mike Check," refusing to become "radiation refugees" and calling for Pilgrim's permanent shutdown.

Local residents, environmentalists continue to call for problem-plagued Palisades' shutdown

Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor in Covert, MI, showing the S.W. MI countryside, as well as Lake Michigan, all of which it puts at potentially catastrophic radioactive risk. Van Buren County is one of MI's agricultural leaders, especially in fruit production. Lake Michigan is a headwaters of the Great Lakes, 20% of the world's surface fresh water, and drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First NationsOver 100 people attended, and more than a dozen concerned local residents and environmental group representatives -- including Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, as well as members of Don't Waste MI, MI Land Trustees, MI Safe Energy Future, and Nuclear Energy Information Service -- took to the microphone and testified about safety, health, and environmental risks at Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor during a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) annual performance review on April 2nd. Several Palisades workers also testified in support of their employer. The exchange took place at the Beach Haven Event Center in South Haven, MI, less than five miles from the atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

WOOD (NBC TV 8, Grand Rapids), the Saint Joe-Benton Harbor Herald Palladium, the Kalamazoo Gazette, and Michigan Radio reported on the public meeting.

Local grassroots groups, including recently formed Michigan Safe Energy Future chapters in Kalamazoo and on the shoreline, continue to meet on a regular basis, including on Sat., April 6th at 1 PM at the South Haven Memorial Library.

David Lochbaum, the Nuclear Safety Project Director at Union of Concerned Scientists, will speak in Kalamazoo and South Haven on Thursday, April 11th. Beyond Nuclear is a co-sponsor of the events. Lochbaum has documented three near-misses at Palisades in the past few years alone, making it one of the most risky atomic reactors in the entire country.

Entergy Watch: ANO, Palisades, Pilgrim, Vermont Yankee

Entergy's dirty dozen atomic reactorsArkansas Nuclear One (ANO)

One worker, 24-year old Wade Walters, was killed, and eight more were injured, when a 600-ton generator stator plunged through the floor at the twin reactor ANO station. A fire fighting water system was damaged, and the flood waters short circuited electrical systems causing loss of offsite power to the plant. Emergency diesel generators were needed to supply electricity to cooling, emergency, safety, and other systems for days on end. Federal investigations into the fatal accident are underway.

Palisades

Local residents and environmental representatives -- from groups such as Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste MI, MI Land Trustees, MI Safe Energy Future, Nuclear Energy Information Service -- yet again called for the shutdown of the problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor, before it melts down. The calls came during the public comment session following the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's annual performance review of Entergy at Palisades, at a public meeting in South Haven, less than five miles from the atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Local grassroots groups, including recently formed Michigan Safe Energy Future chapters in Kalamazoo and on the shoreline, continue to meet on a regular basis, including on Sat., April 6th at 1 PM at the South Haven Memorial Library.

David Lochbaum, the Nuclear Safety Project Director at Union of Concerned Scientists, will speak in Kalamazoo and South Haven on Thursday, April 11th. Beyond Nuclear is a co-sponsor of the events. Lochbaum has documented three near-misses at Palisades in the past few years alone, making it one of the most risky atomic reactors in the entire country.

Pilgrim

Opponents came out in force for NRC's annual performance review in Plymouth, MA on Tuesday. EcoLaw has demanded full transparency about Pilgrim's proposed new dry cask storage facility for high-level radioactive waste, but the Town of Plymouth has invoked secrecy for safety and security reasons, it says. Pilgrim Watch has called for reactor and radioactive waste storage safety upgrades, and real-time, fully transparent monitoring on the dry cask storage. Cape Downwinders protested the "casual...open house" format for the NRC meeting, demanding instead a formal, town mall meeting format. They conducted an Occupy Wall Street style "Mike Check," refusing to become "radiation refugees," and calling for Pilgrim's permanent shutdown.

Vermont Yankee

More than 500 people paraded and rallied in Brattleboro on March 30th, protesting another year of "Leaks, Lies, and Lawyers," and calling for Vermont state law to be obeyed and enforced, and for Vermont Yankee to be permanently shutdown