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• Nuclear Plant
Accident Timeline

The Pros and Cons
of Nuclear Energy

Don't let the PROS CON you!

Page Updated:
June. 11, 2020

• Nuclear Power News

• TerraPower: Nuclear Innovation
  (Striving to Improve the World)

  We Need Advanced Nuclear Now
  TeraPower Says It's Rready

  TeraPower-TerraPower’s founders entered the nuclear energy arena to meet growing electricity needs and lift billions out of poverty. Advanced reactors and other isotopic applications are now possible with technology and enhanced computing capabilities that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. TerraPower says that they are ready to build the clean energy of tomorrow - today.

  One of their founders, incidentally, is Bill Gates.

•  The Hanford Nuclear Leak Is Irreparable  

  D.O.E. To Permanently
  Close Damaged Hanford Tank

  Jan. 2, 2018 - The Energy Department says it will permanently close a damaged radioactive waste storage tank on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

  The department says that Tank AY-102 has widespread damage and should not be repaired.

  Click now for more on this earthFix story.

•  The U.S. Backs Off Nukes - But Not Georgia 

  The U.S. Backs Off Nuclear
  Power. Georgia Wants to
  Keep Building Reactors

  Aug. 31, 2017,  The New York Times - Even as the rest of the United States backs away from nuclear power, utilities in Georgia are pressing ahead with plans to build two huge reactors in the next five years — the only nuclear units still under construction nationwide.

  Click now for to learn more.

• Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon?

  Keeping Uranium Mining
  Out of the Grand Canyon

  The Grand Canyon is an irreplaceable natural treasure. Its stunning vistas, ancient geology, and winding Colorado River are world renowned — drawing over 5.5 million visitors to the park each year. Moreover, more than 40 million people and 4 million acres of farmland depend on the Colorado River for clean, safe water.

  Yet, irresponsibly operated uranium mines located on federal public land just miles from the North and South Rims threaten to permanently pollute the Grand Canyon landscape and the greater Colorado River.

• What's the NRC Hiding on Palo Verde?

  Nuclear Leaks: The Back Story
  the NRC Doesn’t Want You to
  Know about Palo Verde

  June 14,2017 - One of two emergency diesel generators (EDGs) for the Unit 3 reactor at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station in Arizona was severely damaged during a test run on December 15, 2016.

  The operating license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) allowed the reactor to continue running for up to 10 days with one EDG out of service. Because the extensive damage required far longer than 10 days to repair, the owner asked the NRC for permission to continue operating Unit 3 for up to 62 days with only one EDG available. The NRC approved that request.

• The USA's 10 Riskiest Nuclear Power Plants 

  Where Are They - And
  What Are the Dangers?

  March 18, 2011 - As we watch the continuing catastrophe in Japan unfold with no clear expectations of the outcome, one thing is for certain: The safety of nuclear power has become a hot topic of conversation. While some countries are shutting down plants, many other are reevaluating the safety of theirs and strategizing over future plans.

  Click now to read the complete article.

• Is The Energy of the Future Finally Here?

  World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion
  Experiment Clears Milestone

  July 24, 2019,(Scientific American) -A multination project to build a fusion reactor cleared a milestone yesterday and is now 6 ½ years away from “First Plasma,” officials announced.

  Yesterday, dignitaries attended a components handover ceremony at the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in southern France. The ITER project is an experiment aimed at reaching the next stage in the evolution of nuclear energy as a means of generating emissions-free electricity.

  Click now for more.

• Old Nuke Plants Are Dragging Down Clean Energy

  Why America’s Old Nuclear
  Plants Could Be Dragging Down
  Clean Energy Development

  Apr. 25, 2017 -New York and Illinois are investing billions to keep old facilities in action, and Connecticut, New Jersey, and Ohio are among states contemplating the same idea. It’s an expensive process, though it does mean that new natural gas plants aren’t required to fill the gaps left by wind and solar.

• Revisiting the Three Mile Island Meltdown 

  Documentary:Meltdown at Three
  Mile Island 40 Years Later

  EnergyCentral Mar. 28, 2019 -The Three Mile Island accident on March 28, 1979 is still considered the worst at a U.S. nuclear plant in history. Due to a series of human and technical errors, the core of the Unit Two reactor at TMI partially melted down.

  Though debated and controversial, research over the past 40 years concluded only a small amount of radiation escaped into the atmosphere and didn’t result in any deaths or injuries.

  This documentary details what happened inside the containment building at TMI on March 28: the chaos, confusion, miscommunication and fear in the area surrounding the plant afterwards and the legacy of TMI after the accident.

• British Nuclear Project Becomes Messy

  Huge British Nuclear
  Project Becomes a
  Diplomatic Flash Point

  Aug. 15, 2016 -Once considered a vital part of Britain’s clean-energy future, the beleaguered Hinkley Point nuclear plant project looked further than ever from becoming reality this week as a row erupted between the three countries developing the massive facility: the U.K., France, and China.

•  Does Fail-safe Nuclear Power Actually Exist?   

  Could We Actually Have
  Fail-safe Nuclear Power?

  Aug. 2, 2016 -The Shanghai Institute’s effort to develop molten-salt reactors, a technology that has sat all but forgotten in the United States for decades, reflects just how daring China’s nuclear ambitions are. Already, the government has invested some two billion Chinese renminbi ($300 million) over the last five years in molten-salt R&D. Building actual plants will require tens of billions more.

•  Florida Power & Light Sued For Radio-Active Leak 

  Florida Nuclear
  Plant Operator Sued for
  Polluting Drinking Water

  July 15, 2016 -Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against Florida Power & Light Co., operator of the Turkey Point nuclear facility, saying that the company violated the Clean Water Act by discharging contaminants from the plant, impacting nearby drinking water.

  Click now to read the story
  (Hint: Bring your Geiger Counter).

• The Protrusion of Confusion Over Fusion

  The Real Problem With
  Fusion Energy

  May 27, 2016 -The longstanding joke about fusion — that it’s the energy source of the future, and always will may not be the field’s biggest problem.

  Click now for what
  might be encouraging news.

• All Things Nuclear

  Fukushima: Taking On the NRC

  Union of Concerned Scientists - If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission balks at implementing new safeguards in a reasonable time frame on the grounds that it does not have enough information about what happened in Japan, then the agency also cannot have enough information to relicense operating reactors or license new ones...

  More by clicking now.

• Russia Criticized For Its Arctic Nuclear Activity

  Nuclear Security: Power
  Plants Are Poorly Protected
  Against Malicious Acts

  Oct. 10, 2017   Greenpeace - The nuclear power plants around us are “The Sword of Damocles” over our heads.

  A new report by independent experts, submitted to authorities in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg, questions security at French and Belgian nuclear facilities and points at their vulnerability to outside attacks. These experts are particularly concerned about a certain type of facility at nuclear plants: the spent fuel storage pools.

  These pools tend to contain the highest volume of radioactive matter in a nuclear plant and are very poorly protected. Rather than wait for the worst to happen, let’s address this issue and take action.

• Dangers of Densely Packed Nuclear Waste Pools

  The Case for Moving U.S.
  Nuclear Fuel to Dry Storage

  Apr. 14, 2011   M.I.T. Technology Review - One of the lesser-noted facts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster—where loss of coolant in spent-fuel pools has resulted in massive radiation releases—is that some fuel at the plant was stored in so-called dry casks, and these casks survived the March 11 earthquake and tsunami intact.

  This fact is likely to result in new calls to move some spent fuel out of water pools at reactor sites in the United States—where it is packed more densely than the fuel in the stricken Japanese pools—and into outdoor dry casks, experts say.

  Worried? Click now to get radio-active.

• Links Between Nuke Power and Weapons

  The Links Between Nuclear
  Power and Nuclear Weapons

  - Nuclear weapons and nuclear power share several common features. The long list of links includes their histories, similar technologies, skills, health and safety aspects, regulatory issues and radiological research and development. For example, the process of enriching uranium to make it into fuel for nuclear power stations is also used to make nuclear weapons. Plutonium is a by-product of the nuclear fuel cycle and is still used by some countries to make nuclear weapons.

  There is a danger that more nuclear power stations in the world could mean more nuclear weapons. Because countries like the UK are promoting the expansion of nuclear power, other countries are beginning to plan for their own nuclear power programs too. But there is always the danger that countries acquiring nuclear power technology may subvert its use to develop a nuclear weapons program.

  Click to read more from
  the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.