Reactor Reax: the Latest Articles on Nuclear Power

The human race is playing with fire.

Greenpeace Protest at Old Spanish Nuclear Plant courtesy: okapi.berkeley.edu

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - Those vested in nuclear power may never agree, but the world went through a strong bout of awareness after the nuclear tragedy in Fukushima, Japan, It was a wake up call over how dangerous deadly radioactivity can imperil an entire community. In this case, an entire island nation is affected and will be for longer than any of our lifespans.

The danger goes far beyond the blast, and Americans are keenly aware of that with traces of radioactivity now showing up in milk.

The lessons are multifold; we learned that the desire to maximize profits and cut costs led to the reactors at Fukushima being place far too close together.

As the human race, we're playing with fire. We're living off that apple we were never supposed to pluck from the tree. Greed drives man, never believe the arguments about nuclear necessity, they are not true, just propaganda to extend and reassure the life of this wicked dangerous industry.

- forward by News Editor Tim King

U.S. Should Halt Approvals for Nuclear Reactors, Groups Say, Bloomberg, April 14, 2011. "The U.S. should suspend licensing decisions for new and existing nuclear plants while it investigates Japan's reactor crisis, environmental groups said. The groups seek a 'credible Three Mile Island-style review' of Japan's failed reactors and implications for U.S. safety, lawyer Diane Curran said today on a conference call."

NRC Regulators: Safety Is Job #2 (Profit is #1), Nyack News & Views, April 15, 2011. "In the fall of 2001, inspectors with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were so concerned about possible corrosion at Ohio's Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station that they prepared an emergency order to shut it down for inspection. But, according to a report from the NRC inspector general, senior officials at the agency held off – in part because they did not want to hurt the plant's bottom line. When workers finally checked the reactor in February of 2002, they made an astonishing finding: Corrosive fluid from overhead pipes had eaten a football-sized hole in the reactor vessel's steel side. The only thing preventing a leak of radioactive coolant was a pencil-thin layer of stainless steel."

Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, MSNBC, April 14, 2011. "A new map of data from the 2010 U.S. Census shows that the number of people living within the 10-mile emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants rose by 17 percent in the past decade, compared with an overall increase of less than 10 percent in the U.S. population."

Japan's nuclear crisis comes home as fuel risks get fresh look, McClatchy, April 12, 2011. "Yet the problems at Fukushima in the wake of last month's tsunami have reopened questions about the risks of U.S. nuclear reactors, and especially the pools that store spent fuel. Nuclear-safety and environmental groups have called for an independent investigation and a moratorium on relicensing and approvals of new designs."

Radioactive leaks increasing at U.S. nuclear plants, MyCentralJersey.com, April 9, 2011. "Millions of gallons of radioactive water have leaked from nuclear power plants throughout the U.S. since the 1970s, threatening water supplies in New Jersey and other states, an Asbury Park Press investigation found."

Nuclear worries heating up, Chattanooga Times Free Press, April 11, 2011. "Looking at lessons learned from Japan's continuing nuclear crisis, the nuclear industry is taking fresh interest in spent fuel pools across the country that hold tons of radioactive materials."

Japan's battle for Fukushima is far from over, one month on, The Guardian, April 12, 2011. "Radiation, aftershocks, fire, a tsunami evacuation, and hours and hours of difficult, dangerous labour trying to do what nobody in history has done before: prevent four doomed nuclear reactors from a catastrophic meltdown. Today was a typically extraordinary day at work for the several hundred engineers, contract employees and emergency personnel at Tokyo Electric's Daiichi power plant, where standards of normality have shifted along with tectonic plates since a magnitude nine earthquake struck offshore just over a month ago."

Vt. attorney general says state ready to fight effort to keep nuke plant open past 2012, Washington Post, April 9, 2011. "Vermont is preparing for a legal battle if the owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant tries to keep it running after its license expires, state Attorney General William Sorrell said. Sorrell said he and his staff are preparing their legal strategy if plant owner Entergy Nuclear ignores the state's refusal to authorize it to operate after 2012 when its current license expires, even though the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner has extended the plant's license for 20 years."

French-owned UniStar not eligible to build nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, Baltimore Sun, April 8, 2011. "Federal officials said Friday that UniStar Nuclear Energy is not eligible to build a third reactor at Calvert Cliffs because it is not a U.S.-owned company, but also said they would continue to process its application."

"Reactor Reax" is featured on www.NuclearBailout.org, a Web site maintained by Physicians for Social Responsibility.