Nuclear power is often touted as a solution to climate change, but Fukushima serves as a warning that far from solving the climate problem, nuclear power may be highly vulnerable to it…nuclear power plants are typically sited near large bodies of water, often seas or estuaries. It is this attachment to water that makes nuclear power vulnerable to climate change (Energy Policy, vol 39, p 318)…Nuclear regulators are already well aware of several safety issues, including flooding, loss of power, loss of communications, blockage of evacuation routes and equipment malfunction. Hurricanes pose the greatest threat….The final problem is droughts, which climate models predict will become longer and larger. Legal battles have already been fought in the US over scarce water resources in regions with nuclear power plants, including the Catawba river basin in the Carolinas and the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint river basin in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. These battles show us that adapting our systems – including nuclear power – to a reduced supply of water will not be easy…The bottom line is that if nuclear power is to be used to mitigate the effects of climate change, it must also be capable of adapting to them. There are serious doubts that it can.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028138.200-the-climate-change-threat-to-nuclear-power.html?full=true

May 23, 2011, now seventy three days since an earthquake and tsunumi ravaged the northeast coast of Japan on March 11th, killing thousands of people, making many more homeless and causing the meltdown of Fukushima Daichi reactors 1, 2 and 3.  Throughout the period of intense focus on Fukushima, the global media showed a determined resistance to considering what must be happening at the plants based on a logical analysis of events. Instead the media focus was on what could be proved to be true. There was not a whole lot of information, partly because the information was controlled by TEPCO, the owner of the plants, and, partly because the damage to the reactors was so severe that it was not possible to confirm that the meltdowns had taken place. Now that the facts are coming out, the media focus has gone elsewhere.

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http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/37595/?mod=chfeatured

“…with nuclear on hold, governments are looking to accelerate renewable-energy development, and the latest cost estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Agency provide support for that position.

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See the Party Flyer!!

5-23 NO NUKES PARTY FLYER – opens as a Word document

5-23 NO NUKES PARTY FLYER – opens as a pdf file

Handouts to Spread the Word!!

5-23 Party invitation to paste in e-mail – invitation to paste in email – opens in Word

5-23 Party flyer-4per – handout with 4 on a page – opens as a pdf

Dear bivalves,
There will be a rally at Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA to oppose the relicensing of the Pilgrim nuclear power station on Saturday May 7 from 10 AM to 12 Noon. Beyond Nuclear is one of the speakers.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/05/05/rally_for_nuclear_safety/
Organized by a new group Pilgrim: Make Us Safe Today (MUST). Maybe I will see you there and No Nukes,
Paul
—
Paul Gunter, Director
Reactor Oversight Project
Beyond Nuclear
6930 Carroll Avenue Suite 400
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Tel. 301 270 2209
www.beyondnuclear.org

Japanese government wants to allow exposures of up to 2 rems/year in schools. Online NYT headline totally plays down resignation.

Japan’s Prime Minister Defends Handling of Nuclear Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/world/asia/01japan.html?_r=1&hp

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The former governor of Fukushima perfecture started out pro-nuclear, turned critic and was then prosecuted for corruption.

From the Independent in the UK via Fukushima.greenaction-japan.org:

Warnings of nuclear disaster not heeded, claims former governor

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/warnings-of-nuclear-disaster-not-heeded-claims-former-governor-2273764.html

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In this video, Dr. Caldicott discusses the health effects of radiation and the consequences of the Fukushima reactors’ meltdowns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXvpWoHzeE

Too good to be true! A straight-forward article in the WaPo by the AP that explains how important the insurance subsidy is to nuclear power:

As Fukushima bill looms, nations weigh dilemma: nuclear plants viable only when uninsured.

Unfortunately, while it is in the WaPo, it is there nearly invisibly: It was not easily found by looking through the WaPo online or by searching the title with Google. This article did not show up in other papers. Searching on nuclear power insurance did not bring it up either. Strange. Kudos to fukushima.greenaction-japan.org for finding this article. Spread this link.

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Entergy filed suit in US District Court on Monday, 4/18/11, against the state of Vermont to prevent the state from closing the Vermont Yankee reactor on its March 2012 closure date. Vermont Yankee is the same make, model and age as one of the Fukushima reactors currently melting down. For more on this story in the Brattleboro Reformer, http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_17877492>http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_17877492–