#NuclearIsDirty

By all rights, nuclear power is on its way out. And that is thanks to the actions of thousands of activists like you, all across the country. Last week’s fifth anniversary of the ongoing Fukushima Dai-Ichi disaster was the warning; this week’s kick-off of NIRS’ #NuclearIsDIrty! campaign is the answer.

The only way to guarantee another such disaster never happens again is simple: we need to get rid of nuclear power, and stop making radioactive waste.

But powerful nuclear corporations are not willing to accept that fate. They are waging a war against renewable energy, in a last-ditch effort to crowd out solar and wind and steal every last penny that could be invested in a clean energy future.

We’ve won a lot of battles to stop them, but we’re in danger of losing the war. Nuclear corporations know a basic truth of public relations: repeat a lie often enough and long enough, and people will start to believe it. And the lie they are telling over and over and over again is … Nuclear Energy Is Clean.

That is why we are launching a new campaign today: #NuclearIsDirty.

And we need your help to get it off the ground. To take on the nuclear industry’s high-priced public relations firms, we are starting a #NuclearIsDirty crowdfunding campaign. And to encourage all NIRS supporters to put our money where our mouths are, a few generous souls have committed to matching every dollar donated with one of their own.

This is our plan: Over the next twelve weeks, we are going to expose the industry’s lies, arm people with the truth about nuclear power, and make sure when anyone hears the word “nuclear,” they know it is one of the most poisonous, dangerous, and polluting technologies on the planet.

And more than anything, we need you to invite your friends. We will be holding events every week: telebriefings, webinars, conference calls, movie nights, and more. You can attend, participate and invite your friends. There will be recordings, videos, and interactive webpages you can share. Even crazy old-school things, like fact sheets and infographics. To start things off, here is our 2014 briefing paper: Nuclear Energy is Dirty Energy.

For the next twelve weeks, we are going to tell the true story of nuclear power. From the very start through to virtually eternity, and at every step along its poison path, nuclear energy poisons communities, endangers our health, and devastates the environment.

This week, we start where nuclear power starts: mining uranium from the ground:

Church Rock, 1979: The story of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history
Thursday, March 17 @ 3pm Eastern (12pm Pacific)
Click here for the details to call in.

On this national telebriefing, you will hear from activists and experts from communities in New Mexico affected by the spill of 1,000 tons of radioactive waste, just a few months after Three Mile Island accident.

The tragedy at Church Rock is something everyone needs to know about, but it also brings to light the enormous environmental costs of the very beginning of the nuclear fuel chain. Before a single fuel rod goes into a nuclear reactor, before a single gram of plutonium is created, before a single pound of nuclear waste has to be stored … There is already a mountain of radioactive waste behind it. And guess who bears the brunt of this mess: Native American communities in the U.S., and indigenous peoples around the world.

And of course, there will be actions. Because that is what we do. Translate education into action. Information into mobilization. Awareness into change.

Join the campaign. Invite your friends. Pay it forward. Widen the circle. Change the world. Make #NuclearIsDirty go viral.

March 14, 2016

Tim Judson
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service