What Can We Learn From the Birth of the #NuclearEra?

By Eric Ross, #CommonDreams
August 3, 2025

"In recent months, nuclear weapons have reemerged in global headlines. Nuclear-armed rivals #India and #Pakistan approached the brink of a full-scale war, a confrontation that could have become an extinction-level event, with the potential to claim up to 2 billion lives worldwide.

"The instability of a global order structured on nuclear apartheid has also come into sharp relief in the context of the recent attacks on #Iran by #Israel and the #UnitedStates. That system has entrenched a dangerous double standard, creating perverse incentives for the #proliferation of world-destroying weaponry, already possessed by nine countries. Many of those nations use their arsenals to exercise imperial impunity, while non-nuclear states increasingly feel compelled to pursue nuclear weapons in the name of national security and survival.

"Meanwhile, the largest nuclear powers show not the slightest signs of responsibility or restraint. The United States, #Russia, and #China are investing heavily in the 'modernization' and expansion of their arsenals, fueling a renewed arms race. And that escalation comes amid growing global instability contributing to a Manichean world of antagonistic armed blocs, reminiscent of the #ColdWar at its worst.

"The nuclear threat endangers not only global peace and security but the very continuity of the human species, not to speak of the simple survival of life on Earth. How, you might wonder, could we ever have arrived at such a precarious situation?

"The current crisis coincides with the 80th anniversary of the #TrinityTest, the first detonation of an atomic weapon that would soon obliterate the Japanese cities of #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki and so inaugurate the #AtomicAge. So many years later, it’s worth critically reassessing the decisions that conferred on humanity such a power of self-annihilation. After all, we continue to live with the fallout of the choices made (and not made), including those of the scientists who created the bomb. That history also serves as a reminder that alternative paths were available then and that another world remains possible today."

Read more:
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/08/03/hiroshimas-history-lesson/

#NoNukes #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #NoNuclearWar #AnotherWorldIsPossible #BeyondNuclear

NUKE WASTE DUMP: #Ojibwe Country once again targeted

May 1, 2025

"#BeyondNuclear’s radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps, presented '#WaterIsLife, #NuclearWasteIsToxic' at the annual meeting of #EnvironmentNorth, in #ThunderBay, #Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of #LakeSuperior, April 23, 2025.

"Environment North is the lead local grassroots organization resisting the Canadian federal #NuclearWaste Management Organization’s (#NWMO, dominated by the nuclear industry, such as #OntarioPowerGeneration - #OPG) designation of the #IgnaceWabigoonLake #OjibwayFirstNation area as the national #RadioactiveWaste dump.

"A number of Ojibway #FirstNation Bands have also passed resolutions opposing the scheme, which would require long-distance, high-risk transportation of highly radioactive waste, from some two-dozen reactors to the east in #Canada, on the Great Lakes, Saint Lawrence, and Atlantic."

Source [includes more info and links]:
https://beyondnuclear.org/nuke-waste-dump-ojibwe-country-once-again-targeted/

#EnvironmentRacism #NoDumpingWithoutConsent #NuclearWasteIsForever #DGR #NuclearPowerPlants #NuclearPowerNoThanks #IndigenousLand

We’re having a #heatwave...

And #NuclearPower can’t cope. Worse still, it’s actually a liability under ever more extreme climate conditions, write Karl Grossman and Harvey Wasserman

Posted on July 27, 2025, by #BeyondNuclear

"At the core of the latest attempted 'renaissance' of nuclear power is the big lie that #AtomicReactors are an answer to #GlobalWarming. In fact, they are significant sources of heat.

"There are more than 400 nuclear power plants in the world today that fission atoms at 300 degrees Centigrade, (572 degrees Fahrenheit). More are under construction or proposed. As the International Atomic Energy Agency states, 'water-cooled reactors offer heat up to 300 degrees Celsius. These types of reactors include pressurized water reactors (PWRs), boiling-water reactors (BWRs), pressurized heavy-water reactors, and light-water-cooled graphite-moderated reactors (LWGRs).'

"Some heat is absorbed in the water—drawn from water bodies—used to cool these nuclear power plants and then returned, still with considerable heat, to #rivers or #seas.

"The heatwave going on in recent weeks in Europe, in combination with this discharge of heated water from nuclear plants, has caused #NuclearPlants there to shut down.

"Consider these headlines from recent days:

" '#France and #Switzerland shut down nuclear power plants amid scorching heatwave,' was the July 3rd headline on Euronews. As the piece explained: “To cool down, nuclear power plants pump water from local rivers or the sea, which they then release back into water bodies at a high temperature. However, Europe’s ongoing heatwave means that the water pumped by nuclear sites is already very hot, impacting the ability of nuclear plants to use it to cool down. On top of this, nuclear sites run the risk of posing a dangerous threat to local #biodiversity, by releasing water which is too hot into rivers and seas.'

"A New York Times article, also dated July 3rd, related how in Europe, 'operators shut down one of the two reactors at the #Golfech nuclear power plant in southern #France after forecasts that the #GaronneRiver, from which it draws water and then discharges it after it is used in the plant as coolant, 'could top…82 degrees Fahrenheit.' The Times continued: 'The #Beznau Nuclear Power Plant in #Switzerland, built along the #AareRiver followed suit, shutting down one of its reactors on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday.' "

Source:
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/blog/

#ExtremeHeat #ClimateChange #NuclearPowerPlants #NuclearPowerNoThanks #RenewablesNow! #WaterIsLife #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI

#RadioactiveWaste leakage would be threat to area: critic

By Doug Diaczuk The Chronicle-Journal Apr 22, 2025

"A radioactive waste specialist from the United States says #NuclearWaste disposal sites place a giant bullseye on an area, as well as all communities along the transportation route, and residents of Northern #Ontario should take notice.

"#KevinKamps, a radioactive waste specialist with #BeyondNuclear, a non-profit advocacy group in the United States, will be speaking in Thunder Bay at Environment North's annual meeting on Wednesday [April 23].

"Kamps has opposed several nuclear waste sites across North America, including a site in the #YuccaMountains in #Nevada and a site at #Kincardine in #Ontario at the #BruceNuclear Generating Station.

" 'That was a 20-year campaign all told, but we prevailed in the end,' Kamps said of the Kincardine site in an interview with The Chronicle-Journal.

"The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [#NWM] identified a site between #Ignace and #Wabigoon Lake as the location for a proposed deep geological repository [#DGR] for #SpentFuel from #Canadian #NuclearPower plants.

"Last summer, the #TownshipOfIgnace expressed a willingness to be the host community for the repository following a survey showing the majority of residents supported the site.

"But several #FirstNation communities have spoken out in opposition to the site, citing #environmental concerns and the safety of transporting spent fuel through the region.

"Kamps said if anything was to go wrong at the deep geological repository site it would be catastrophic: 'for all points #downstream, #downwind, up the #FoodChain, down the generations.'

" 'In your neck of the woods, what I find ironic is the current target in your area is just outside of the #GreatLakes basin and I think it is a raw political calculation to try to silence what has been more than a decade of U.S. congressional opposition to the #LakeHuronDump,' he said.

" 'Now magically a site has been chosen outside of the Great Lakes basin.'

"There are many safety concerns to take into consideration when it comes to nuclear waste, Kamps said, beginning with the transportation of nuclear material to the site itself.

" 'One of the most controversial aspects is the transportation component, because it makes it everyone's problem along those routes,' he said. 'So that is another part of our challenge, to educate communities that would be along the most likely transportation route, be it road, rail, or waterway.'

"Then there is the site itself, which Kamps said could be vulnerable to #ExtremeWeather, #NaturalDisasters, or even potential attacks.

" 'You had better know your geology really well because if and when this starts leaking from its containers into the geology, then it's a question of how long will it take to mix with underground waterflows and perhaps even surface waterflows,' he said. 'And then the risk flows with the water, and with the air.'

"For those opposed to such sites, Kamps said the best way to fight back is through the democratic process and engaging with government representatives at all levels.

"He cited the opposition to the #Kincardine site that was a 20-year fight and the role First Nations communities played.

" 'An important part of that was the #SaugeenOjibwayNation who asked good questions and in the end voted 86 per cent no to that dump coming into their community,' he said.

"In terms of what to do with nuclear waste from generating stations, Kamps said it should stay at the site of origin."

Source:
https://www.chroniclejournal.com/news/local/radioactive-waste-leakage-would-be-threat-to-area-critic/article_f0dd8d6f-f8db-404e-ac4c-3e91b5330af2.html

#EnvironmentalRacism #GreatLakesBasin #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NuclearDumping #ClimateChange #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoDumpingWithoutConsent

#Carbon14: Another underestimated danger from #nuclear reactors

"There are a number of radionuclides released from nuclear energy facilities. This paper highlights carbon-14 for a number of reasons:

- Carbon-14 is radioactive and is released into air as #methane and #CO2

- Before 2010, carbon-14 releases from nuclear reactors were virtually ignored in the United States. Today only estimates are required and only under certain restrictive circumstances.

- There is no good accounting of releases to date, so its impact on our health, our children’s health, and that of our
#environment remains unknown, yet environmental measurement is possible, but can be challenging under certain
conditions.

- Carbon-14 has a half-life of over 5700 years and the element carbon is a basic building block for life on earth. Therefore, “it constitutes a potential health hazard, whose additional production by #anthropogenic sources of today will result in an increased #radiation exposure to many future generations.”

- Like #tritium, it can collect in the tissues of the fetus at twice the concentration of the tissues in the mother, pointing to its
disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable human lifecycle: the developing child.

The element carbon is found in all organic substances. Carbon is also a primary constituent of #GreenhouseGases that are responsible for #ClimateChange, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (#CH4). Carbon-14 (c-14) is a radioactive form of
carbon that occurs in nature and is also newly formed in nuclear power processes.

"Carbon-14 is a health concern because it is released from #NuclearPower facilities as radioactive carbon dioxide and methane, traveling readily in the local and global environment.

"Over time, carbon-14 becomes part of organic material including food, and has a half-life of approximately 5,730 years, decaying by a type of radioactive particle called a beta. Its hazardous life is 10-20 times its half-life, meaning that harmful exposure to man-made carbon-14 can last for hundreds of generations. The radioactive carbon forms as a byproduct of fissioning of uranium fuel, through a process called activation. The final step is a chemical reaction between carbon-14 and oxygen or hydrogen, which forms methane or carbon dioxide. The radioactive carbon-14 formed by this process is brand new and would not exist without nuclear fission.

"During its long hazardous life, carbon-14 could be responsible for gross physical or
mental defects, stillbirths and childhood deaths, embryonic and neonatal deaths into the many millions over the life of the isotope.

"These millions could be underestimated five times or more. Carbon-14 could also be responsible for #leukemia, bone and other #cancers."

https://beyondnuclear.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/carbon14FINAL.pdf

#NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #RenewablesNow! #BeyondNuclear #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree

HT and congratulations to the @uraniumfestival! Thanks for doing all that you do!

2025 #NuclearFreeFuture Award laureates announced

January 14, 2025

"The 2025 Nuclear-Free Future Awards will this year honor individuals from #Brazil, #India, #Navajo country, the United States and #Zimbabwe for their achievements in working for a #NuclearFree world.

"The Award laureates are chosen by an international jury of their peers and are offered in three categories: #Resistance, Education and Solution. The 2025 laureates are: #SPUdayakumar (India) for Resistance; #MárciaGomesDeOliveira and #NorbertSuchanek (Brazil) for Education; and #EdwickMadzimure (Zimbabwe) for Solution.

"Honorary Lifetime Achievement awards will be given to teacher, author and #AntiNuclear activist, #JoannaMacy, and posthumously to #NativeAmericanActivist and musician, #KleeBenally.

"The Nuclear-Free Future Awards will be held on Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at The Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City (7 E 7th St. NY NY.) A reception at 6pm will be followed by the awards ceremony starting at 7pm. Both events are free admission and open to the public. Media are welcome.

"The Nuclear-Free Future Awards were founded by German journalist, filmmaker and activist, Claus Biegert, in 1998 and were first held in Salzburg, Austria. Since then, the Awards have traveled the world, honoring the largely unsung heroes of the Nuclear Age who work to end uranium mining and rid the world of nuclear weapons, nuclear power and uranium munitions.

"The event is a co-presentation of #BeyondNuclear and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Germany, an affiliate of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization #IPPNW.

"The 2025 Awards event takes place during the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of #NuclearWeapons March 3-7 at the United Nations."

https://beyondnuclear.org/2025-nuclear-free-future-award-laureates-announced/
#NoUraniumMining #UraniumFilmFestival #NoNukes #NoWar #RadioactivePollutionKills #ItsTimeToCleanUpTheMines #NuclearFreeFuture #NuclearWeapons

#KleeBenally Honored as #NuclearFree Futures Awardee 2025

via #CensoredNews: "Klee was a passionate campaigner and filmmaker exposing the #colonialist legacy of #UraniumMines and working for the cleanup of the more than 500 abandoned uranium mines that continue to contaminate the #NavajoNation. A month before his death on December 30, 2023, Klee published his book, 'No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred.'" [Order Klee's book at the link at the end of the post.]

In addition to Klee, those honored by #BeyondNuclear include the @uraniumfestival founders #MárciaGomesDeOliveira and #NorbertSuchanek, #SPUdayakumar, #EdwickMadzimure, and #JoannaMacy. Klee's award will be accepted by his mother Berta Benally.

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/01/klee-benally-honored-as-nuclear-free.html

Order Klee's book here:
https://detritusbooks.com/products/no-spiritual-surrender-indigenous-anarchy-in-defense-of-the-sacred
#NuclearFreeFuture #UraniumFilmFestival #NoNukes #NoUraniumMining #NoSpiritualSurrender

A tale of two #NuclearPowerPlants along #LakeMichigan: Extended life and a revival?

WUWM 89.7 FM | By Chuck Quirmbach
Published January 10, 2025

"This year could be a big year for the status of two nuclear power plants around Lake Michigan.

"That includes a shutdown plant just 120 miles east of Kenosha that is seeking a first-of-its-kind restart.

"The year could also be significant for extending the life of #Wisconsin's only working commercial plant, located 95 miles north of #Milwaukee.

"On the west shore of Lake Michigan, #NextEraEnergy says it still wants a 20-year extension for the two reactors at the #PointBeachNuclearPowerPlant, located north of #TwoRivers, which would keep the site operating until the early 2050s.

"If that plan sounds familiar, it’s because #WUWM has been reporting on the proposal for about four years. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (#NRC) approval is still pending.

"In a written statement this month, Florida-based #NextEra said it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Point Beach, 'ensuring it’s ready to produce energy for decades to come.' The company says the plant powers nearly 1 million homes and businesses and provides about 14% of Wisconsin’s electricity.

"But nuclear power critics, like #KevinKamps of #BeyondNuclear, say there are concerns that key parts of the power production units are too #brittle to last another 20-plus years. He says there’s an alternative.

"'Point Beach’s electricity could easily be replaced through the expansion of #RenewableEnergy in Wisconsin. It’s ready to go. It would be more effective for the people of Wisconsin. It would certainly be much safer,' Kamps says.

"On the east shore of the lake, the #PalisadesNuclearPlant in #CovertTownship, Michigan, shut down nearly three years ago. But at the urging of some federal, state, and local officials, the Biden administration has provided a $1.5 billion loan to Holtec International, which bought the mothballed plant from the utility Entergy, so Holtec can try to restart Palisades.

[...]

"A key concern appears to be the damaged steam generator tubes at Palisades, which are likely to need repair or replacement. On Jan. 14, Holtec and the NRC are scheduled to discuss the matter.

"The NRC says Holtec will have to prove the plant is safe.

"Incoming President Donald Trump has made conflicting statements about nuclear power, so it’s unclear if he will try to get the NRC to favor either of the Lake Michigan plants."

https://www.wuwm.com/environment/2025-01-10/a-tale-of-two-nuclear-power-plants-along-lake-michigan-extended-life-and-a-revival
#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #RethinkNotRestart #HoltecLies #RenewablesNow #WaterIsLife #AgingNuclearPlants #NuclearSafety #NuclearWaste #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree

☢️ «Los bancos rechazan la financiación #nuclear, las acciones caen en picado y la industria dice que debería, lo crea o no, ralentizarse.»

Mientras tanto, las energías renovables nos vamos abaratando y extendiendo con rapidez 💪

Via @ElSaltoDiario
#BeyondNuclear #Energía #Renovables #FinanzasEticas #BancaEtica
https://www.elsaltodiario.com/desconexion-nuclear/nuclear-es-lo-ultimo

Article includes map of #Flood vulnerable #USNuclearPlants

Can Aging U.S. #NuclearPowerPlants Withstand More #ExtremeWeather?

There is no consensus on how #ClimateChange has already affected nuclear power plants globally, but one researcher found an increasing rate of reactor outages linked to climate-related disruptions since 1990.

By James Dinneen
April 24, 2024

"This debate is now playing out again in fights over the future of nuclear power plants as they reach the end of their design lives. Paul Gunter at #BeyondNuclear, an anti-nuclear advocacy group, argues continued vulnerability to climate hazards is a reason the NRC should deny relicensing applications at some plants, such as the #NorthAnnaNuclearGeneratingStation in #Virginia, where Gunter plans to specifically cite the GAO report’s findings on flooding. According to the report, around two-thirds of U.S. #NuclearPlants are in areas with high #flood hazard."

https://e360.yale.edu/digest/u.s.-nuclear-power-climate-change

#NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #ClimateCrisis #SeaLevelRise #ClimateCatastrophe