A publication of Nuclear Information and Resource Service MAYJUNE 2006 Volume II: issue 4 ISSN 1556-8822 Iran Irony Linda’s Log non-proliferation groups are rightly working hard to persuade the The U.S. government not to use military might to end Iran’s uranium Meaning Nenrichment program. Meanwhile, those of us concerned with the of proposed proliferation of new nuclear reactors - as well as plans to build Green? a new uranium enrichment facility of our own in New Mexico - can’t help but smile at the irony. No better example of the inextricable bond between nuclear power and nuclear weapons could have emerged than the situation Th e fi ve-minute environmentalist, in Iran. For decades the International Atomic Energy Agency has upheld Patrick Moore, also dubbed the disingenous philosophy that splitting the atom to turn the lights on is “plastic surgeon to the polluters,” allright as long as countries promise not to make an atomic bomb as well. Th e has had to come clean about his panic over Iran has emerged not only because it is impossible to be sure Iran status. He is a paid fl ak for the has only commercial intentions but precisely because it could use the same nuclear industry (oh and yes the technology for nuclear weapons. It’s time the U.S. led by example and, as a logging industry and possibly the fi rst step, at least abandoned new uranium enrichment projects on home soil. chemical industry and proponents of genetically modifi ed foods and....) Does this sound like an environmentalist to you? Of RetroActivist course not. But this didn’t stop the Washington Post headlining Licensed To Kill: How the nuclear Moore as “a Green” when running power industry destroys marine his Outlook section apology for wildlife and ocean habitat to all things nuclear in April. Th en save money, a joint publication the New York Times, perhaps of NIRS and the now defunct also beguiled by Moore’s myths, Safe Energy Communication pronounced nuclear power a good Council, was published 5 years idea in a recent editorial. Moore ago. This landmark report, takes his sound bites as well as containing new research, found his paycheck from the Nuclear that endangered sea turtles - Energy Institute, the industry among many species of marine lobbying behemoth. He rests his life - were harmed and killed by the routine operation of nuclear reactors. At reputation on being a Greenpeace the time, the report revealed that the agency responsible for monitoring and die-hard who underwent a regulating sea turtle captures at reactor intakes - National Marine Fisheries wondrous epiphany when he Service - chose to accommodate the industry’s fi nancial concerns over the suddenly discovered, among other welfare of animals by simply raising the permitted “take” numbers at plants things, that the Th ree Mile Island already capturing sea turtles. This practice continues. Recently, we have accident was “a success story.” witnessed allowed increased “takes” of endangered Kemps Ridley turtles at the Now with Moore’s loyalties out Oyster Creek reactor, for example. This disregard for impacts to non-human in the open, the media’s habitual species cannot go unfettered. Be sure to check the wildlife impacts when description of him as some sort of contesting license extensions at your local plant or proposals for new reactors. environmentalist needs to stop. tritium leaks into drinking water, has declined. Read the NIRS press THUMBS DOWN as it has near a reactor in Ilinois, release on this at www.nirs.org. and tritiated water is ingested, it Yucca Mountain Doozy can cross the placenta and aff ect Going Bananas, or was that Nuts? unborn children, a fact supported As if the Yucca Mountain project NRC Commissioners are supposed by the medical profession. But weren’t a big enough joke already, to retain an impartial view toward an unrelenting McGaffi gan then along comes the Department of nuclear power and protect the demanded to know “is NIRS Energy’s latest creation, “Yucca public’s health and safety. But as position that we give up bananas?” Mountain Johnny.” In an obvious we all know, the NRC agenda is in when he alleged that pregnant attempt to make their fl awed site reality rather diff erent. Th is was women who ate Brazil nuts and sound like a fun place to store never more apparent at a recent bananas would get a “factors of high-level radioactive waste, public meeting on emergency 100 higher” dose of radiation from the DOE has created the Yucca planning when Commissioner potassium 40 than “they’d ever get Mountain Youth Zone, complete Edward McGaffi gan launched from drinking tritiated water.” After with hard-hatted Johnny. Th e into a tirade, at fi rst directed at Gunter cited one of his sources most ironic item on the site is NIRS with whom he said the NRC - leading phycist and nuclear fuel entitled “Using Science to Solve the has to “compete on a daily basis.” cycle expert, Dr. Arjun Makhijani Problem” the one thing the DOE (Th is seemed odd since NIRS is - McGaffi gan railed: “He’s another apparently neglected to do. After also about protecting public health person who doesn’t know anything identifying two key challenges to and safety.) McGaffi gan accused about radiation.” NIRS has since the choice of site - the longlasting NIRS invited speaker Paul Gunter fi led a motion for Commissioner half-lives of isotopes in the waste of going to Illinois to “use factoids McGaffi gan to recuse himself from and the potential for water contact or made-up facts or irrelevant licensing proceeding decisions - the DOE asks: How would you facts in order to . spur fear in involving NIRS and Dr. Makhijani solve these problems? Perhaps the public. You yourself have - NIRS’ expert - in the LES uranium waiting for children to provide done that. I mean, you yourself enrichment case because of the the solution is their best hope for go and do this placenta thing.” Commissioner’s obvious bias a better plan than Yucca? Yucca Th e “placenta thing” was Gunter’s and prejudice against NIRS and Mountain Johnny is at: www. earlier observation that when Makhijani. McGaffi gan, predictably, ocrwm.doe.gov/youth/index.shtml. 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By joining NIRS, you are supporting the work of an energetic team at our national and regional offi ces as well as the many grassroots activists around the country for whom the NIRS information, access and The Atomic Watchdog was designed by specialists, are invaluable. Depending on your level of membership, you will Mary Schrider. It is edited by Linda Gunter, be eligible to receive copies of our in-depth publications and special reports, NIRS Director of Development and Media including the Nuclear Monitor and the Atomic Watchdog. Signing up to our Relations, with contributions by NIRS staff Alert List means you will hear from us when there are actions you can take to and others. Suggestions welcome. help promote a world free from nuclear power. See contact information at left. * NIRS in the Mary Olson News By Kitty Boniske * Mary Olson was heard on NPR’s “All NIRS staff er Mary Olson Th ings Considered” addressing the is on a roll. In recent nuclear power relapse. months she’s given presentations on nuclear * A nuclear power piece ran on issues at the United Nations and has been AlterNet quoting Paul Gunter about heard on NPR’s “All Th ings the bonanza AmerGen stands to reap - Considered” and “Living over $400 million in decommissioning on Earth. She will shortly trust funds - after paying just $10 appear in MS Magazine. million for the Oyster Creek plant. In all these venues, she has displayed her unique talent for dealing with * Pulse of the Twin Cities ran Public complex issues in a way Citizen nuclear expert Michele Boyd’s that is understandable opinion-editorial about climate to the average listener. change that references NIRS. Mary joined the NIRS staff in 1991 and began making a major contribution to our work when she led our eff ort to prevent high-level nuclear waste from * Mary was quoted in an being dumped on Indian reservations. We were able to stop 26 of the proposed 28 sites. In 1994 she initiated the Mobile Chernobyl Campaign to oppose a Environmental News Service story change in the law which would have permitted a temporary “parking lot dump” about the relicensing of the Browns at Yucca Mountain. 1996 found her working on what came to be known as Ferry Nuclear Plant. the Nix MOX Campaign, an eff ort to head off the DOE’s plans to use weapons grade plutonium in the fuel mix in civilian nuclear power reactors. Mary and * Las Vegas City Life ran an article her husband Pete live near Asheville, NC - where the NIRS southeast offi ce is about Peggy Maze Johnson’s trip based - a beautiful little mountain town she has dubbed a “Nuclear Crossroads.” She is helping grassroots groups to organize around the dangers of escalating to the C-20 conference in which she shipments of radioactive materials through the region between Savannah River mentions NIRS.