NH #638: SPECIAL – Oppose Nuclear? Good News! Downwinder Compensation, No New Nukes in Illinois, Texas RadWaste De-Licensed, Indian Point Radwater Dump Dumped!

SPECIAL – Nuclear Good News!!! RECA Expanded, Illinois Moratorium Retained, Texas Radioactive Waste Non-Storage, Indian Point Radwater Dump Dumped!

This Week’s Special Features:

It’s not often that those who oppose nuclear get good news, but in recent weeks there’s been a deluge of positive legal decisions and legislation that are enough to make a hardened nuclear campaigner giddy. We look at just four of the good news stories that have dropped since the beginning of August, seen through the eyes of veteran campaigners who have worked for years to obtain these positive results:

• WEST TEXAS “INTERIM” HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
  Karen Hadden is the Executive Director for the Sustainable Energy & Economic Development or (SEED) Coalition in Texas. The group works for clean air and clean energy, supporting affordable energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions to meet our energy needs. Karen has been involved with numerous nuclear issues in Texas and the southwest – and here we catch her the day after a momentous decision was made on one of them. We spoke on August 28, 2023.
  
  
• RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ACT
  Mary Dickson is an award-winning writer, playwright, downwinder, and thyroid cancer survivor who is internationally recognized for her advocacy for survivors of nuclear weapons testing. She has spoken and written widely about the human cost of the arms race, including twice at the World Forum on Nuclear Survivors in Hiroshima. For the past three years she has been part of a consortium of downwind communities across the West as well as national allies working to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA. Here, she reads her op-ed piece on the issues that she wrote for the Salt Lake Tribune and was published on August 3, 2023.
  
  
• LAW TO REPEAL ILLINOIS’ MORATORIUM ON NEW NUCLEAR REACTOR BUILDS
  Dave Kraft is a safe-energy/anti-nuclear advocate and co-founder of Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS), where he has served as its director since its inception in 1981.  Kraft’s work is to provide the public with credible information about the hazards and effects of nuclear power and waste, and the viable means to replace them. He has testified in hearings related to nuclear power at the state and federal levels; and is a co-founder of the Radiation Monitoring Project, designed to provide training and field monitors to communities contaminated by radioactive substances. 
  
  I spoke with Dave Kraft on June 25, 2023.
  
  
• Dave suggested that people watch the film ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE; the sizzle reel is available on Youtube.

• HOLTEC PLAN TO DUMP RADIOACTIVE SPENT FUEL POOL WATER INTO HUDSON RIVER – Manna Jo Green spent 23 years as the Environmental Action Director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a post from which she only recently retired. The group seeks to protect the Hudson River and surrounding wetlands and waterways through advocacy and public education. It was founded by folk singer Pete Seeger with his wife Toshi Seeger in 1966. The group has worked long and hard to first shut down the Indian Point nuclear reactors – located only 35 miles from Broadway in New York. Since achieving shutdown in 2021, the group has moved to mandate the proper handling of radioactive waste, most especially the water. Here, Manna Jo Green lets us know what the situation with the radioactive spent fuel pool water was and what has just happened. We spoke on September 1, 2023.

NOTE: If you’re seeing this page before Tuesday, September 12, that’s because it’s being posted while I’m away off grid, detoxing from all things nuclear.