Hot News and Actions
February 3, 2010: Experts: no good candidates exist for current nuclear reactor loan guarantee bailout funds, much less tripled amount under Obama budget plan.  Press release in conjunction with telepressconference.
January 30, 2010: Safe, Clean Energy Advocates Reject Obama's Call for More Nuclear Power; More Than 3,000 Write Obama in Less Than 48 Hours. NIRS Press Release.
January 30, 2010: Chu Panel Composition Squanders Opportunity to Develop Consensus Radioactive Waste Policy. Politics and Money Trump Science and Reason on Nuclear Waste Panel; Doomed to Fail. NIRS Press Release
January 29, 2010: Obama Budget Said to Triple Nuclear Loan Guaramtee Program. ACT NOW: Tell Obama and Chu: No Taxpayer Bailout for Dirty Reactors. NIRS Alert.
January 28, 2010: Tell President Obama: Nuclear Power is Neither Safe Nor Clean. Then, Bring the Issue to the Public: Send a Letter to the Editor. NIRS Alert.
January 27, 2010: Urgent: Take Action Now to Stop Dirty Energy Bank. NIRS Alert.
January 15, 2010: Reps. Markey, Hall and Adler request GAO investigation of leaky pipes at nuclear reactors.
IEER/PSR factsheet: Thorium Fuel: No Panacea for Nuclear Power.
January 12, 2010: Comments of Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility and seven other groups (including NIRS) on NRC’s proposed Generic Environmental Impact Statement on reactor license renewal.
January 6, 2010: NIRS, WISE, CNIC (Japan) urge Vietnam to re-examine suspiciously low nuclear reactor cost estimates. Press Release. Letter to Vietnamese officials.
January 2010: Greenpeace fact sheet on Vermont Yankee relicensing. The Vermont
legislature will be determining the fate of this reactor soon. Act now!
December 31, 2009: National and grassroots clean energy groups call NRC to ensure independent study of cancers and other health effects around nuclear reactors. Letter to NRC Chair Greg Jaczko.
Amory Lovins describes the myriad of drawbacks to three reactor designs frequently touted by nuclear advocates and others hoping for some type of nuclear holy grail—i.e. a safe, affordable, reduced-waste atomic reactor. Lovins looks at Integrated Fast Reactors, Thorium reactors, and “small” modular reactors. Nope, the search for the grail is still on…..Reprinted from June 26, 2009 Nuclear Monitor.
December 16, 2009: Experts: Three latest industry setbacks further dim nuclear “renaissance;” issues can’t be solved with nuclear socialism. Read the statement and listen to a streaming audio of the press conference embedded in the release.
December 11, 2009: Environmental Groups Oppose Taxpayers Being "Scrooged" by Nuclear Loan Guarantees for New Reactors. Press Release.
December 11, 2009: Taxpayer-Backed Loan Guarantees for New Reactors to Companies in MD, SC, GA and TX are a Risky Venture Lacking Accountability, Must be Halted; environmental group statement.
December 2, 2009: 22 Environmental Groups Urge Energy Secretary Chu to Suspend Loan Guarantee Process for Areva EPR Reactors. Press Release.
December 2, 2009: Letter from 22 environmental groups urging Energy Secretary Steven Chu to suspend loan guarantees for EPR reactors due to unresolved safety and economic concerns.
November 2009: The Renaissance That Wasn’t. New factsheet from Physicians for Social Responsibility detailing the various delays, cost overruns, credit downgrades and design problems that have plagued the nuclear power industry since January 2008.
October 13, 2009: NRC Commissioners order hearing on foreign ownership/domination issues in Calvert Cliffs-3 case and uphold rights of people within 50 miles of any reactor to participate in licensing decisions. NRC rejects all arguments from nuclear utility UniStar Nuclear in appeals case.
September 22, 2009: Comments By Texans For A Safe Energy Policy, Beyond Nuclear, Friends Of The Earth, Nuclear Information And Resource Service, Public Citizen Texas, Physicians For Social Responsibility, and Union Of Concerned Scientists on proposed changes to DOE nuclear loan guarantee program.
September 17, 2009: WISE-Paris evaluation of the French nuclear programme: "Lessons to be learnt from the French nuclear program - From dreams to promises... of disillusions", presentation by Yves Marignac, Executive Director of WISE-Paris, in Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY.
September 15, 2009: European Expert: U.S. Policymakers Are "As Wrong As They Can Be" About the French Experience With Nuclear Power. Press Release. Listen to Audio From 09.15.09 News Event
September 4, 2009: If this is a nuclear resurgence, what would a retreat look like? New blog posting on DailyKos by Michael Mariotte, examining new report from California Energy Commission that renewables of all kinds will be cheaper than nuclear power by 2018—when new reactors could first come online in U.S.
August 27, 2009: Another Major Setback for "Nuclear Renaissance": Industry Goes 0-6 in 2009 Efforts to Overturn State Bans on New Nuclear Reactors. NIRS press release. Streaming audio recording of the news event is here.
August 18, 2009: Top 10 Reasons Nukes Won’t Save Climate. Article from Michael Mariotte, first posted on DailyKos.
July 2009: Nuclear subsidies in the House climate and Senate energy bills. A fact sheet from Physicians for Social Responsibility.
July 2009: List of existing subsidies and incentives for constructing new reactors (from R&D to waste management and everything in-between).
July 9, 2009: Comparison by PSR of current Clean Energy Development Administration (or “Clean Energy Bank”) provisions in House climate bill as passed and Senate energy bill still awaiting action.
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Reports, Papers and Info You Can Use
Powering a Green Planet. Interactive website put together by Scientific American that amplifies on the November 2009 cover story: A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030, in which two California professors lay out a clear plan for the U.S. to become 100% renewable-powered by 2030.
November 2009: All Risk, No Reward. New study from Marc Cooper of Univ. of Vermont on why Wall Street refuses to take the risk of investing in new reactors, and why Congress and States shouldn’t expose taxpayers to those risks.
October 2009: New study reveals French nuclear construction costs tripled per kilowatt/installed from 1970-2000. So much for a learning curve.
October 13, 2009: “Four Nuclear Myths: A commentary on Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Discipline and on similar writings.” New piece by Rocky Mountain Institute’s Amory Lovins debunks four key myths often propounded by nuclear power supporters.
September 2009: World Nuclear Status Report 2009, with special emphasis on economics. Study released by German Department of the Environment. Study shows nuclear power is on a downward trend worldwide.
July 2009: Brief Virginia Tech paper showing nuclear power by far the most water-intensive means of producing electricity (page 8). This has enormous implications because, as the report notes, 36 states face water shortages in the next 10 years.
July 2009: Important article on studies of childhood leukemia and cancers near German reactors. Childhood Leukemia and Cancers Near German Nuclear Reactors: Significance, Context, and Ramifications of Recent Studies, Rudi Nussbaum, Journal of Occupational Environmental Health. July-September, 2009.
May 2009: Nuclear France Abroad: History, Status and Prospects of French Nuclear Activities in Foreign Countries. A new report from Mycle Schneider Consulting on the expansion of the French nuclear power industry across the world.
EPR: The French Reactor. A Costly and Hazardous Obstacle to Climate Protection. November 2008 report from Greenpeace International on the problems with the French Evolutionary Power Reactor, proposed for Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania and New York in the U.S.
France’s Nuclear Failures: The Great Illusion of Nuclear Energy, November 2008 report from Greenpeace International on the failures of the French nuclear program.
March 2009: The High Cost of Nuclear Power: Why America Should Choose a Clean Energy Future over New Nuclear Reactors, a new report by Maryland PIRG Foundation.
March 2009: Can we go carbon-free, nuclear-free? A resounding Yes! says a new report prepared for Greenpeace by German Aerospace Center (German counterpart to NASA). Energy [r]evolution: A sustainable USA concludes that a virtually carbon-free, nuclear-free energy future for the U.S. is possible by mid-century, at an acceptable economic cost. Download here.
March 2009: Nuclear Loan Guarantees: Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead? New report from Union of Concerned Scientists warns that the risk to taxpayers of loan guarantees for new reactors could total $360 Billion to $1.6 Trillion.
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