Discussion → Nuclear Waste Activism Day

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    Gloria Garfunkel
    Apr 15, 10:28pm

    6930 Carroll Avenue, #340, Takoma Park, MD 20912; 301-270-6477; nirsnet@nirs.org; www.nirs.org

    National Radioactive Waste Call-In Day

    This Wednesday: April 17, 2013

    Dear Friends,

    Activists from across the country are in Washington, DC this week talking with Congressmembers about radioactive waste, nuclear weapons site clean-up and more, as part of our friends at Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's annual DC Days.

    We are asking you to support these intrepid activists, who are working on all of our behalf, by making sure they can hear the phones ringing off the hook as they visit Congressional offices on National Radioactive Waste Call-In Day this Wednesday, April 17.

    The Congressional Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. But on Wednesday morning, watch for our Alert with a new e-mail action--when you take that action your Congressmembers' direct phone numbers will show on your screen.

    Let's stuff their inboxes, let's keep their phones ringing all day long.

    The Issues
    We will be calling to Stop a Mobile Chernobyl and prevent Fukushima Freeways by opposing establishment of "consolidated interim storage" sites. That's nukespeak for setting up "temporary" parking lots for nuclear waste storage casks and clogging our roads, rails and waterways with tens of thousands of waste casks--regardless of the real concern that "temporary" sites have a way of becoming permanent, that such sites are unsuitable for long-term storage, and that, if indeed temporary, then the waste would have to be shipped again.

    That's the nuclear industry's major goal of radioactive waste legislation this year--as it has been since the 1990s, when the public outcry over such a waste transport campaign first stopped them in their tracks. It's a self-serving goal, since until reactors stop generating waste, it would not reduce the number of waste sites. But the utilities want the waste off their property--not for proper disposal, but so they can forget about it and generate more. It's a concept that is both dangerous and unnecessary.

    The environmental movement has a better idea: HOSS, or Hardened On-Site Storage. Instead of moving waste casks--which is always more dangerous then leaving them stationary--protect them from attack and natural disaster until a permanent solution for the waste is in place. And stop generating the waste in the first place! You can read the full HOSS statement here.

    You can also read a new briefing sheet from NIRS here. And find a lot more information on our main Mobile Chernobyl page here.

    Although the Washington rumor mill has been predicting that a major radwaste bill would be introduced in the Senate by now, that still hasn't happened. That means our calls and e-mails this week will be even more effective: it's always better to press the issues before a bill is introduced rather than afterwards. So there is no bill number to refer to yet; you will want to simply voice your opposition to the concept of "consolidated interim storage" (which some nuclear boosters have shortened simply to "storage") and urge your Congressmembers to vocally oppose any bill that includes such a provision.

    In the 1990s, when "interim" storage was proposed for Yucca Mountain, Nevada, transportation maps released by the State of Nevada indicated that some 100 million Americans live within a mile of the transport routes and could be directly affected by the movement of thousands of waste casks--which even without an accident would release dangerous gamma rays. Well, although Yucca Mountain won't be one of the "interim" sites today, the road and rail network hasn't really changed--no matter where storage sites are located, the casks will have to travel on that same network, and about the same number of people would be affected.

    The idea of a mass radioactive waste transport campaign and the accompanying risk of a catastrophic Mobile Chernobyl accident is no more acceptable now than it was in the 1990s.

    If you haven't signed our petition to Stop A Mobile Chernobyl yet, please do so! You can sign here on our site and/or here at SignOn.org. But no matter where, please sign!

    And watch for our National Radioactive Waste Call-in Day Alert on Wednesday morning. Alert your networks now. Get some friends ready and meet at a public location--a cafe, a food co-op, student union, local bar, or wherever you like to congregate--with your cell phones to call in, and encourage others to call too.

    Let's stuff their inboxes, let's keep their phones ringing all day long.

    Thanks for all you do,

    Michael Mariotte
    Executive Director
    Nuclear Information and Resource Service
    www.nirs.org
    nirsnet@nirs.org

    P.S. We're in the final two weeks of our 35th anniversary matching grant challenge. We're more than 80% of the way to meeting it, but please help get us over the top before the challenge ends April 30. Get an income tax refund this year? Share some of it with NIRS, and your donation will be doubled while you get an early tax-deduction for next year. You can donate online here, or by sending a check to NIRS, 6930 Carroll Avenue, #340, Takoma Park, MD 20912. Thank you!

    Stay Informed:

    NIRS on the web (stay up-to-date with the Nuclear Newsreel section on the front page, featuring the day's most interesting news on nuclear power and other energy issues): http://www.nirs.org

    NIRS on Facebook:

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nuclear-Information-and-Resource-Service/26490791479?sk=wall&filter=12

    http://www.facebook.com/nonukesnirs

    http://www.causes.com/causes/49098-no-nukes-nuclear-information-and-resource-service

    NIRS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/nirsnet

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