— Continued Radioactive Emissions from Closed Nuclear Reactors

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By Dr. Ian Fairlie
April 29. 2025

In April 2025, the headline of a BBC report stated “Hunterston B power station declared ‘nuclear free’” following the removal of nuclear fuel. https://www.bbc%5Bdot%5Dco.uk/news/articles/cyvq17enle8o

Unfortunately, this is wishful thinking.  No doubt the BBC reporter was seeking a ‘feelgood’ headline but he was ill-informed. The fact is that nuclear reactors remain dangerous for decades after they have been closed, even with their fuels removed.

This is because closed reactors continue to emit radioactive tritiated water vapour and discharge tritiated liquid water for decades. (Tritium is the radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of 12.3 years.) Some also emit radioactive gaseous carbon-14 as well.  (Carbon 14 is the radioactive isotope of carbon with a half-life of 5,760 years.)

In more detail, official UK emissions data reveal, for example, that the Trawsfynydd nuclear reactor which was closed in 1991 still emitted 13.6  billion Bq of tritium in 2023 more than 32 years later. And the same goes for  long-closed reactors at all closed Magnox and AGR stations. Another example is the Canadian NPD reactor at Rolphton, Ontario which was closed in 1988. Five years later, high residual concentrations of tritium up to 82,000 Bq/g were found in its concrete bioshields.  The tritium concentration was much higher than the  ~300 Bq/g for C-14  – the next highest nuclide (Krasznai, 1993).

Here is a table showing UK emission/discharge data for 2023 (the latest available year) from DEFRA’s annual RIFE report.

https://www.gov%5Bdot%5Duk/government/publications/radioactivity-in-food-and-the-environment-rife-reports.

(One becquerel (Bq) = one nuclear disintegration per second)

Annual HTO Releases (Bq)  from nuclear reactors in 2023 from tables A.1.1 and A1.2 of Appendix 1 of RIFE 29 (2023). GBq/a (billion Bq/a)

Nuclear StationYear closedtritiated water vapourtritiated watertotal tritium Total C-14  gaseous
Winfrith19954.560.36 + 0.074.990.13
Winfrith (waste treatment)294N/A294–
Berkeley19895.570.075.61.52
Bradwell20026.101.27.30.42
Chapelcross20041,700nil1,700NA
Dungeness  A200654.91.8756.80.39
*Dungeness  B201895.41.7197.19.32
Hinkley A200017.23.4720.70.53
*Hinkley B202290.92413320.21
Hunterston A19890.37–0.370.06
*Hunterston B202295.32.8598.221.5
Oldbury201213.50.0913.60.65
Sizewell A200618.90.2619.2340
Trawsfynydd199113.63.8317.41.44
Wylfa201552.00.0652.10.86

*some fuel still being removed in 2023

Why is tritium (and some C-14) still being emitted from these old reactors?

The short answer is that much tritium (and some C-14) is created in the concrete and metal structures of nuclear reactors during their operating years, which later slowly oozes out for decades.

The longer answer (not widely acknowledged by nuclear utilities) is complicated.  During their operating years  tritium (H-3) is produced in all nuclear reactors as it is both an activation product and a tertiary fission product.  This happens in both water-cooled and gas-cooled reactors. In PWRs and BWRs, tritium from the cooling circuits (in the form of water and water vapour) enters the porous concrete matrices of the reactor shells and their containment structures during the ~30 year lifetimes of the reactors. In Magnox and AGRs, the hydrogen atoms in the hydration water of the chemical constituents of their concrete structures become activated. When all types of reactors are closed, tritium slowly oozes out of their concrete structures and containment shields for decades.

In more detail, the tritium concentrations in closed reactors are due to neutron activation of hydrogen, deuterium and Li-6 impurities in fuels, concrete structures, and metal structures . It also arises from tertiary fission (fission yield 0.01%) and diffusion from high levels of tritium in the cooling water and moderator in HWRs and LWRs (Kim et al, 2008). As stated by Kim ( 2009)

“During the lifetime of nuclear sites tritium becomes incorporated into the fabric of the buildings. When nuclear decommissioning works and environmental assessments are undertaken it is necessary to accurately evaluate tritium activities in a wide range of materials prior to any waste sentencing.”

Conventional computer models unfortunately give unreliable predictions of tritium concentrations in closed reactors. Older neutron codes alone (eg, ORIGEN-1 from Oak Ridge) incorrectly predict tritium levels. As stated by Kim et al (2008)

“Without an appreciation that two forms of tritium exist in concrete reactor bioshields, the H-3 content of samples may be severely underestimated using conventional analytical approaches”.

The two forms are strongly-bound and loosely-bound tritium. The former mainly originates from neutron capture on trace (1 part per 20,000) lithium (Li-6) within mineral phases, and requires temperatures in excess of 700 °C to achieve quantitative recovery. The weakly bound form of tritium can be liberated at significantly lower temperatures (100 °C) as HTO and is associated with dehydration of hydrous mineral components. ”

Kim et al (2008) added

“These findings exemplify the need to develop robust radioactive waste characterization procedures in support of nuclear decommissioning programs”. 

These high tritium concentrations diffuse out of concrete only very slowly with diffusion rates through concrete of ~2 cm2 per year (Krasznai, 1993). This is confirmed by the evidence of continued high emissions of tritium from decommissioned reactors decades after their cessation.

Metals

In metals, tritium is retained by absorption of free water in the hydrated surface oxidation layer, by H ingress into bulk metal and also as lattice-bound tritium produced by neutron activation (Nishikawa M et al, 2006).

Croudace et al (2014) also found that significant tritium was incorporated in non-irradiated metals (eg stainless steel and copper), following prolonged exposure to tritiated water vapour (HTO) or tritium/hydrogen gas (HT) in nuclear facilities. In irradiated metals, an additional type of tritium was formed internally through neutron capture reactions. The amount formed depended on the concentration and distribution of trace lithium and boron in the metal. For example, steel containment vessels used for >20 years “exhibit tritium burdens greatly exceeding those predicted by simple gas solution in the parent metal” (Corcoran et al, 2017).

Investigation into the location of, and activity release from,  vessel materials indicate the existence of two major tritium sources:- (i) bulk metal where in-depth contamination arises from diffusion/solution; and (ii) a highly active surface layer, responsible for holding the main tritium inventory (Corcoran et al, 2017) .

Conclusions

The conclusions are that closed reactors are not just ugly, redundant, hulks on the landscape: they are dangerous ones too. The public should be alerted to the radioactive emissions from disused reactors. Also nuclear power utilities should re-examine the computer models used to predict nuclide emission rates from disused reactors.

References

Corcoran VJ, Campbell CA and Bothwell PB (2017) Decontamination and Decommissioning of UK Tritium Facilities. Fusion Technology Published online: 10 Aug 2017 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.13182/FST92-A29834

Croudace IW, Warwick PE, and Kim DJ (2014) Using Thermal Evolution Profiles to Infer Tritium Speciation in Nuclear Site Metals: An Aid to Decommissioning Anal. Chem., 2014, 86 (18), pp 9177–9185.

Kim DJ, Warwick PE and Croudace IW (2008) Tritium Speciation in Nuclear Reactor Bioshield Concrete and its Impact on Accurate Analysis. Anal. Chem., 2008, 80 (14), pp 5476–5480. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac8002787

Kim DJ (2009) PhD Thesis https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72145/1/Kim_DJ_Thesis_2009.pdf

Krasznai JP (1993) The radiochemical characterization of regular- and high-density concrete from a decommissioned reactor. Waste Management.  Volume 13, Issue 2 1993, Pages 131-141 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0956053X9390005H

Nishikawa M et al (2006)  Study on permeation behavior of gaseous tritium through concrete walls.  Fusion Science and Technology 50(4):521-527 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286942566_Study_on_permeation_behavior_of_gaseous_tritium_through_concrete_walls

About Ian Fairlie

I’m an independent consultant on radioactivity in the environment living in London UK. I’ve studied radiation and radioactivity at least since the Chernobyl accident in 1986. I’ve a degree in radiation biology from Bart’s Hospital in London and my doctoral studies at Imperial College in London and (briefly) Princeton University in the US concerned the radiological hazards of nuclear fuel reprocessing. I formerly worked as a civil servant on the regulation of radiation risks from nuclear power stations. From 2000 to 2004, I was head of the Secretariat of the UK Government’s CERRIE Committee on internal radiation risks. Since retiring from Government service, I have been a consultant on radiation matters to the European Parliament, local and regional governments, environmental NGOs, and private individuals. My areas of interest are the radiation doses and risks arising from the radioactive releases at nuclear facilities.

https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/continued-radioactive-emissions-from-closed-nuclear-reactors/

— In Memoriam: Daniel Hirsch of Committee to Bridge the Gap

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From Committee to Bridge the Gap
News Release
July 27, 2025

With deep sadness but also with heartfelt gratitude for a life well lived, the Committee to Bridge the Gap announces the death of its founder, Daniel O. Hirsch, on July 19th 2025 at his home in Ben Lomond, California. CBG board chair Jack Miles had earlier accepted Hirsch’s resignation as president of Bridge the Gap on the grounds of grievously worsening health. Anthony Zepeda, CBG secretary, had agreed to succeed Hirsch as president and had begun transitional meetings with CBG staff.

Committee to Bridge the Gap came formally into being as an organization in a meeting at UCLA after Hirsch had returned home to Los Angeles, and in its early years the organization addressed a variety of ongoing social and political issues, notably including the cause of peace and reconciliation in Israel/Palestine. Gradually, however, and particularly after Hirsch’s appointment as director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, nuclear safety became CBG’s central public-interest mission. Just two days before his death, Hirsch delivered a powerful public comment at a virtual hearing contesting Executive Order 14300 radically reducing radiation safety standards. In that spirit, the work of CBG will continue.

Privately, Hirsch, who never married, lived a life of monastic simplicity and frugality. Though an atheist, he maintained a close spiritual relationship with the sisters of Redwoods Monastery, in rural Humboldt County. By the terms of his will, the wealth he had accumulated through a lifetime of willed poverty will go to the poor. As the crippling effects of chronic Q-fever progressively incapacitated him, Dan Hirsch chose not to prolong a life whose continuation would only squander the wealth he had destined for others. May his memory be a blessing, most especially for all who sacrifice private comfort for the public good and all who when they speak truth to power, do so modestly and with meticulous attention to all the facts.

CBG will announce memorial services for Hirsch when plans are complete. Mourners may make donations in his honor to Doctors Without Borders doctorswithoutborders.org or Give Directly givedirectly.org

https://www.committeetobridgethegap.org/2025/07/27/dan-hirsch-has-passed-away/

From Smart Meter Science Substack
by Patricia Burke
July 31, 2025

Dan was the Founder of CBG, as well as Director, Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy, at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

See interviews with Dan Hirsch, posted at the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.

As reflected on CBG’s homepage, if it was about Santa Susana Field Lab, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, or San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, Dan was on it.

Dan just testified at educational sessions intended to push back against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s attempt to do away with the Linear, No Threshold theory of ionizing radiation’s hazards to human health. (See the link to Dan’s slideshow he presented as public comment to NRC on July 16, 2025, posted at NIRS’s website, here.) He had worked at the cutting edge of protecting human health against the nuclear industry’s artificial radioactive pollution, for many decades, including at the National Academy of Science.

As documented in the MSNBC documentary film In the Shadow of the Valley, which also features interviews with Dan, at Santa Susana, his graduate students unearthed the 1959 meltdown, which had been covered up for 20 years.

He testified repeatedly about the seismic, and other risks, at Diablo Canyon, including before U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s (Democrat-California) Environment and Public Works Committee, more than a decade ago, as well as at grassroots sessions, such as those of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, a few years ago.

Around two decades ago, Dan stopped a nuclear power industry spokesman dead in his tracks — not for the first time. On an NPR interview about energy and environment, focused on nuclear power, the industry spokesman kept bringing up climate protection. At one point, Dan said “I actually care about the climate,” which stopped the industry spokesman from disingenuously bringing it up again.

See articles authored or co-authored by Dan, posted at The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

CBG’s website also posts many of Dan’s Publications, as well as those of its colleagues.

As anti-nuclear attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio shared with the Ohio Nuclear-Free Network about the devastating news:

Dan was the ultra serious, savagely sarcastic, brilliant mentor to many a generation of antinuclear activists. A loss of great moment.

“Rest in peace and know that your impact on this world will never be forgotten.”

Condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues…

https://smartmeterscience.substack.com/p/in-memoriam-daniel-hirsch-of-committee

— Mothers for Peace demands PG&E test Diablo Canyon Unit 1 for embrittlement

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Update from Mothers for Peace, May 25, 2025:
PG&E has now pulled the capsule, but it will take 12-18 months to test the capsule for embrittlement.

From Mothers for Peace
March 18, 2025

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Unit 1’s reactor vessel was built with faulty material, so it’s vulnerable to embrittlement. An embrittled reactor vessel can shatter like glass and cause a catastrophic meltdown. Despite this, PG&E has not tested for embrittlement for over 20 years.

PG&E has now committed to removing Capsule B from Unit 1 to test for embrittlement during the upcoming April outage. Previous attempts to remove this capsule have been unsuccessful.

On March 18, 2025, Mothers for Peace sent a letter to the CEO of PG&E, Patti Poppe, setting forth its expectation that Capsule B will finally be removed during this upcoming April outage and subsequently tested for embrittlement so we will learn if it’s safe to operate.

We are compelled to send this letter because of previous failures by PG&E to test the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant for embrittlement. We agree with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals when they state:

We share Petitioners’ concerns about the public health and safety implications of repeatedly postponing Capsule B’s withdrawal. It has been about two decades since PG&E withdrew and tested a surveillance capsule from the Unit 1 reactor vessel—and even longer since a surveillance capsule withdrawn from Unit 1 generated credible data. Although Unit 1’s operating license has now officially expired, the reactor continues to operate under the NRC’s “timely 10 renewal” rule because PG&E has submitted a license renewal application. San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, 100 F.4th at 1056–58 (citing 10 C.F.R. § 2.109(b)). Capsule B remains a key source of data for the license renewal period. Under the current schedule, PG&E is slated to remove Capsule B in the spring of 2025 and use it to inform the company’s pending license renewal application for Unit 1. Any further delay in Capsule B’s withdrawal will mean that PG&E lacks a critical data source about the future integrity of the reactor vessel, without which a future license renewal may be subject to legal challenge.

San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace v. NRC, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1104 at *10 (9th Cir.) January 17, 2025

Background: Read about the Mothers for Peace brief filed in March 2024.

https://mothersforpeace.org/march-18-2025-mothers-for-peace-demands-that-pge-comply-with-its-commitment-to-test-unit-1-for-embrittlement/

— May 15, 2025: Top seismologist urges immediate shutdown of Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors citing “unacceptable risk” of an earthquake-triggered meltdown   

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From Mothers for Peace

Award-Winning UCLA Earthquake Scientist Files Declaration to the NRC Requesting Shutdown of Diablo Canyon.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA – MAY 15, 2025 – A leading earthquake expert has called for the immediate shutdown of California’s last operating nuclear power plant, warning that a proposed decision by the NRC dismissing seismic risks at Diablo Canyon is incomplete and illogical and fails to address significant evidence that seismic risks are too high to meet federal safety standards. 

In a formal declaration submitted today to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Petition Review Board (PRB),  Dr. Peter Bird, Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences at UCLA, states that continued operation of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) presents “an unacceptable risk of a serious earthquake-caused accident,” and that the NRC is obligated to shut it down under its own safety guidelines.

Dr. Bird’s declaration criticized the NRC for refusing to open an enforcement proceeding sought a year ago by environmental organizations. Instead, the NRC parroted unsupported and illogical claims by PG&E that the reactors are safe to operate and ignored Dr. Bird’s strong evidence and analysis demonstrating that the risk of an earthquake-caused core damage accident at DCPP is high enough to warrant immediate shutdown under the NRC’s own guidance.  

 “I continue to hold the view that the risk of a serious earthquake-caused accident at DCPP is unacceptable, and that immediate shutdown is warranted under NRC’s existing guidelines,” wrote Dr. Bird, a globally recognized authority in earthquake modeling with nearly five decades of experience.

Submitted on behalf of petitioners San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP), Friends of the Earth (FoE) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), Dr. Bird’s declaration criticized the NRC for failing to conduct a competent and independent review of “grave concerns regarding the severe risk of an earthquake-induced accident during continued operation of Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors.” 

Dr. Peter Bird now serves as Professor of Geophysics and Geology, Emeritus at UCLA with 49 years of experience in seismic activity and earthquake modeling. Holding a doctorate in Geophysics from MIT, Dr. Bird is the founding architect of the Global Earthquake Activity Model (2015). 

The Bird declaration to the NRC warns that PG&E’s modeling for seismic activity “assumes that a majority of large earthquakes affecting Diablo Canyon are strike-slip and disregards the significant contribution of thrust faulting earthquake sources under the Diablo Canyon site.”

The nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon, owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), were slated to close in 2024 and 2025 when its operating licenses were set to retire because the plants would eventually become “too expensive to operate” compared to available renewable energy resources. The “Joint Proposal” to shut Diablo Canyon, signed by environmental groups, unions, and PG&E was certified by the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in 2018. It did not address the unacceptably high risk for a seismic-induced reactor meltdown. However, the reactors’ licenses were extended after California Governor Gavin Newsom brokered a deal with PG&E, offering a $1.4 billion taxpayer-funded subsidy to keep the DCPP operational. 

Hallie Templeton, an attorney for FoE, said: “Allowing Diablo Canyon to operate without a competent and independent review of the seismic risks addressed in the petition puts millions of California residents in danger and risks a major radioactive disaster, akin to Fukushima, along the California coast. PG&E can’t say they haven’t been warned.”  

Diane Curran, legal counsel for SLOMFP, said: “We are very disappointed with the NRC’s proposed decision to allow DCPP to keep operating without a full review of the significant seismic risk to the reactors. It would be irrational and irresponsible for the NRC to permit PG&E to operate DCPP, especially with an aging and deteriorating Unit 1 reactor vessel, without addressing the concerns brought forward by one of the world’s top seismic experts. Listen to the science!”

Bernadette Del Chiaro, Senior Vice President, California at EWG, said: “The potential environmental and human health consequences of a major radioactive disaster along the California coast, similar to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi incident, are simply unacceptable. It is imperative that all possible precautions are taken to ensure the structural integrity and operational safety of a nuclear facility located in an area with ‘unacceptable risk of earthquakes. The risks highlighted in the petition warrant an unbiased and expert evaluation to determine the true extent of the potential dangers to Californians. To keep Diablo open without this crucial review would place countless lives in jeopardy.”

https://mothersforpeace.org/may-15-2025-top-seismologist-urges-immediate-shutdown-of-diablo-canyon-nuclear-reactor-citing-unacceptable-risk-of-an-earthquake-triggered-meltdown/

— Webinar on how to comment on plutonium pit production, Thursday May 22

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From Nuclear Watch New Mexico
https://nukewatch.org/

Virtual Workshop
On the nationwide programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement
on the expanded production of
plutonium “pit” bomb cores

Learn How to Make Effective Comments
at the Upcoming Public Hearings…
Speak your mind at an upcoming hearing on the government’s plan
to produce up to 120 new plutonium pits per year
for nuclear weapons for the next 50 years!

When: Thursday, May 22 at 6 – 7:30 EST / 3 – 4:30 PM PST
Zoom Link: https://tinyurl.com/3tta9vey

The workshop will feature:
Talking points and suggested scoping comments 
Explanation of procedural process
Question & answers with subject matter experts

Background: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Savannah River Site Watch and Tri-Valley CAREs successfully sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) over its failure to complete a required nationwide “programmatic environmental impact statement” (PEIS) for its most costly program ever, the expanded production of plutonium “pit” bomb cores. No future production is to maintain the safety and reliability of the existing nuclear weapons stockpile. Instead, all pit production will be for new design nuclear weapons.

To meet its enforced legal obligation, the NNSA is holding two virtual “scoping” hearings:

Tuesday, May 27, 2025:
5:00-7:30 pm EST, 4:00-6:30 pm CST, 3:00-5:30 pm MST and 2:00-4:30 pm PST
Meeting Link: https://bit.ly/PuPEISMtg1

Dial in by Phone: (571) 429-4592 Phone ID: 808 821 801#

AND

Wednesday, May 28, 2025:
7:00 pm-9:30 pm EST, 6:00 pm-8:30 pm CST, 5:00 pm-7:30 pm MST, and 4:00 pm-6:30 pm PST
Meeting Link: https://bit.ly/PuPEISMtg2

Dial in by Phone: (571) 429-4592 Phone ID: 989 289 432#

Please comment and let’s PACK these hearings!

This is a unique opportunity to comment on core nuclear weapons issues NATIONWIDE!

Click here for a 60-second explainer video!

Sponsored by

— Radioactive contamination of U.S. food and water and what Congress can do about it, Congressional briefing 7/15/24 (video, transcript)

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From Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN)

Transcript
https://nislappdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Final-Transcript-FFAN-Congressional-Briefing-7.15.24.pdf

Information on congressional briefing and follow-up: https://nislappdc.org/ffan-congressional-briefing/

FFAN initiatives: https://nislappdc.org/fukushima-fallout/


— PG&E asks the public to pay for keeping Diablo Canyon open — A.25-03-015

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In March, Pacific Gas and Electric Company filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission to recover costs for extended operations at Diablo Canyon — A.25-03-015.

PG&E’s application can be found here with the documents and protests filed thus far, as well as public comments https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:56::::RP,57,RIR:P5_PROCEEDING_SELECT:A2503015

A prehearing conference with all the parties thus far has been scheduled for May 30 which is open to the public. Information is in the judge’s ruling https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M566/K326/566326075.PDF

— Action alert on AB 305: Nuclear moratoriums under attack in California and nationwide

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Send letters of opposition by Tuesday, April 15!

From Planetarian Perspectives
By Mary Beth Brangan, James Heddle – EON
April 10, 2025

Key: Purple = Statewide Bans Green = Bans Repealed Orange = Partial Bans Map source : US Department of Energy.

Attempt to Reverse 1976 Moratorium

[Background: California’s 1976 Nuclear Safeguards Act prohibits new nuclear power plants in California unless there is technology to permanently deal with the lethal and extremely long-lived radioactive waste produced by nuclear reactors.]

Despite multiple earthquake faults surrounding the three California nuclear reactor coastal sites harboring huge amounts of radioactive waste in tsunami zones, with no plan to deal with the tons of waste, a bill has been introduced in the state Assembly to increase nuclear use in our state. This also despite the devastating fires that occur regularly in California increasing the already staggering risks of nuclear reactors and the lethal long lived waste they produce.

Assemblymember Dr. Juaquin Arambula (D – Fresno) with main co-sponsors Assemblymember Diane Dixon (R – Orange) and Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R- Sacramento) introduced AB 305 . It would overturn California’s longstanding nuclear moratorium to allow for the construction of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

Nuclear Recidivism – Not Only In California

This is part of a national and international pattern. Recidivist nuclear revival forces have mounted coordinated national rollback efforts on state’s prohibitions on building new nuclear plants. Push for new nuclear build outs is happening through the Governor’s Association, as if it were ALEC. Pro-nuclear consortia are being formed with clusters of 10 states as a group.

On the international level, plans to decommission 7 nuclear plants in Spain, for instance, are also being rolled back. There activists are using our documentary SOS, The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power’s Legacy, in their efforts to ensure they are shut down and not given extended licenses, such as happened here in California with Diablo Canyon….

As of December 11, 2024, 9 states still had nuclear moratoriums. Four states have already repealed moratoriums that had previously been in place:

  1. Wisconsin (2016)
  2. Kentucky (2017)
  3. Montana (2021)
  4. West Virginia (2022)

Activists in Oregon are mounting a huge fight to protect their moratorium.

We in California must join together to stop the insanity of producing more lethal radioactive waste lasting hundreds of thousands to many millions of years without any idea of how to keep it from ruining all life on earth.

Please Join Others in Taking Action!

Send letters of opposition by Tuesday, April 15!

The bill has just been scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on April 21; letters are due to the committee by close of business next Tuesday, April 15.

Please send letters to oppose AB 305!

Here is a Sample letter with links on how to submit to the California legislators:

The Honorable Isaac G. Bryan, Chair

Assembly Committee on Natural Resources

1020 N Street, Room 164

Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: AB 305 (Arambula) Oppose

Dear Chair Bryan,

I oppose AB 305 by Assemblymember Arambula. This bill would override California’s wise 1976 Nuclear Safeguards Act, which prohibits new nuclear power plants in California unless there is technology to permanently deal with the lethal and extremely long-lived radioactive waste produced by nuclear reactors.

However, over 80 years after beginning to accumulate this extraordinarily dangerous waste, there exists no technology to adequately deal with it and no permanent repository.

The bill would allow construction and operation of so-called ‘small’ modular nuclear reactors. These reactors, however, are not small and according to research from Stanford University, would produce even more waste per energy unit as current reactors and would be even harder to handle.1

Transporting this lethal waste is exceedingly dangerous and storing it onsite in communities is a huge risk, though this is necessary to eliminate the transportation risk. The waste is highly corrosive and irradiates everything it contacts. Currently used canisters are thin and last only a matter of a few decades before cracking while within them, the irradiated fuel continues to degrade and become more fragile and prone to accidents. Many of the fission products remain lethal for thousands and millions of years, yet must be sequestered from the environment.

Producing more of these radioactive substances, with no technology to protect the environment and population from it, is totally irresponsible. There are other ways to generate electricity far less harmful.

Please vote no on AB 305. Maintain our sensible Nuclear Safeguards Act.

Sincerely,

(your name)

1) “Our results show that most small modular reactor designs will actually increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30 for the reactors in our case study,” said study lead author Lindsay Krall, a former MacArthur Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC)

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2111833119

These links will direct you to how to submit your letter:
https://acom.assembly.ca.gov/letter-support-or-opposition-rules
https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/faces/index.xhtml

Authors:
Mary Beth Brangan and James Heddle co-direct EON, the Ecological Options Network.

The multi-award winning EON feature documentary SOS – The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power’s Legacy, was chosen as the opening film in the 13th annual Global Nonviolent Film Festival, where it also received the Organizers’ Award for ‘BEST ACTUALITY SUBJECT – Feature Documentary’.

SOS has won awards in several other international festivals, and is available for viewing worldwide. The film was produced by Mary Beth Brangan and directed by Brangan, Heddle, and Morgan Peterson, who also served as editor. SOS is a trans-generational family co-creation of two senior filmmakers and a millennial mom with two young daughters.

For information, please visit the SOS website.

https://planetarianperspectives.substack.com/p/alert-help-push-back-against-attack

– Scott Ritter: Nuclear disarmament in a time of chaos

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Disarmament in a Time of Chaos
By Scott Ritter
February 14, 2025

President Trump says he wants to work with China and Russia on the issue of “slowing down, stopping and reducing nuclear weapons.” Trump went on to declare that “there’s no reason for us to be building brand-new nuclear weapons…We already have so many you can destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over.” He also said he would urge Russia and China to join him in cutting their respective military budgets by half.

This is the most important statement made by an American president in decades, because from this can come a movement to save the world from the threat of nuclear annihilation. But such a dramatic departure from past practice threatens the Military Industrial Congressional Complex (MICC), that massive monolithic edifice to greed and war which President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned his fellow Americans about in his farewell address delivered in January 1961.

To overcome the considerable obstacles that the MICC will put in the way of Trump making any progress on this bold world-saving initiative, the president will need to turn to the same allies he relied upon to win the White House back from the deep state that blocked his reelection in 2020—the American voter. From a domestic point of view, Trump faces a two-front war. The first is against a deeply entrenched nuclear war establishment whose budget and underlying justification thereof have gone unquestioned and unchallenged for decades. The second is a fight over public opinion which has been shaped by decades of domestic propaganda that make nuclear weapons, and their underpinning mission of global annihilation, appear to a normal part of the American national fabric.

To win on the first front, President Trump will need to combine the tried and true lessons drawn from the experiences gained by implementing previous arms control treaties, especially in the field of compliance verification, with a bold new approach which alters the scope and scale of disarmament so that the world breaks free of dogma which makes nuclear-based deterrence the norm, and instead puts the US and the world on a path of implementing the vision set forth in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty of a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons.

To prevail on the second front, President Trump will have to take his case to the American people, holding a series of massive outdoor rallies in states where the nuclear weapons enterprise has fortified itself politically. Such rallies, when combined with town hall meetings and targeted media appearances, can build a foundation of popular support for arms control that can overwhelm the prejudices that have been ingrained in the political DNA of most Americans by the propaganda machine of the MICC.

These campaigns should be conducted in concert, so that each feeds off the success of the other, creating the kind of political synergy that will be needed to achieve the kind of sweeping changes necessary to walk America away from a nuclear weapons enterprise that could only be sustained by making America an enemy of peace and stability, a nation constantly in search of enemies to justify the enormous expenditures nuclear weapons capability incurs.

China appears to have poured cold water on Trump’s disarmament ambitions, with Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, declaring that the United States should take the lead in the reduction of nuclear weapons and military spending, noting that China’s nuclear arsenal was but a fraction the size of either those of US or Russia.

But rather than shy away from engaging further, Trump should call the Chinese bluff by working with Russia to extend the New Start treaty—the last remaining arms control agreement between Russia and the US—for another five-year period (the New START treaty expires in February 0f 2026). By extending New Start (implementation of which has ceased in the aftermath of the deterioration of US-Russian relations during the Biden administration), Trump would prevent a new arms race between the US and Russia, creating the kind of stability necessary to achieve his broader disarmament objectives.

Once Trump re-engages with Russia on New Start, he can begin crafting a new paradigm for the kind of global reduction/elimination of nuclear weapons he seeks. One of the problems with Trump’s trilateral approach toward global disarmament is that it ignores the role played by the remaining nuclear armed nations of the world (declared or, as in the case of Israel, undeclared), as well as nations like Iran which are believed to be on the cusp of attaining nuclear weapons capability. Any trilateral approach toward nuclear disarmament involving the US, Russia, and China that does not factor in the impact of the nuclear arsenals of India and Pakistan, North Korea and Israel, or France and Great Britain, cannot achieve its maximum potential for nuclear arms reduction because the impetus for retaining a nuclear stockpile sufficient to deter these outside threats remains.

One approach Trump could take is to use his suggested trilateral format not only as a basis for three-way reductions in nuclear arms, but also as a framework for a broader global approach toward disarmament where the “big three” nuclear powers work in concert to support regional nuclear disarmament initiatives. For instance, the United States could take the lead in linking the nuclear arsenals of France and the UK into a global nuclear disarmament agreement. Russia could take the lead regarding the nuclear arsenals of North Korea and Israel, while China could head up the India-Pakistan problem set.

Balancing the demands for trilateral nuclear disarmament involving the US, Russia, and China with those that will emerge regarding the remaining nuclear powers is conceptually too much for the existing arms control establishment to handle. Indeed, one of the main impediments to meaningful arms control is the US arms control community, which has stopped working to eliminate nuclear weapons and instead seeks to justify their continued existence in the name of arms control.

President Trump will need a new foundation of intellectual development regarding a new paradigm of arms control to embrace if his vision is to be realized. Here he has no greater ally and champion than Tulsi Gabbard, his new Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Under the umbrella of the DNI, Trump should create a new arms control support staff which seeks to combine arms control specialists capable of engaging in non-traditional approaches to arms control with intelligence analysts who monitor the various geographic-oriented problem sets a global nuclear disarmament agenda would encompass. A national intelligence officer for global nuclear disarmament could be appointed to head this staff, which would take the lead of identifying potential obstacles to achieving Trump’s global nuclear disarmament goals and provide analytical support to identified policy leads within the Trump administration so that they could resolve actual and potential issues using the tools of diplomacy.

Back in September 2024 I initiated Operation DAWN, a project which sought to mobilize citizen support for preventing nuclear war and leveraging this constituency into producing genuine policy changes. Operation DAWN was successful in putting the prevention of nuclear war on the election issue map and promoting serious policy changes that helped forestall a potential nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia.


I am announcing today that I am kicking off Operation DAWN 2.0, the focus of which will be to mobilize public support for President Trump’s global nuclear disarmament initiative. This will be done by engaging in educational programs designed to inform the public at large about the danger of nuclear war, the need for nuclear disarmament, and the necessity of effective arms control.

In support of this effort, I am pleased to announce that I will be publishing a book on the dangers of nuclear war, Highway to Hell: The Armageddon Chronicles, in partnership with my long-time publisher, Clarity Press.

Highway to Hell is the third book in what will become a three-book series on nuclear war and disarmament published by Clarity Press (the first two being Scorpion King, published in 2020, and Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika, published in 2022.)

I will also be working on organizing a traveling panel of experts who will take the message of nuclear war prevention and the need for nuclear arms control on the road to communities around the country to promote a broader discussion on the issue.

And I will continue to take the lead in trying to provide the antidote to the poison of Russophobia that the nuclear weapons establishment relies upon to infect the minds of American citizens with fear that is then exploited to justify the continued investment in nuclear weapons that threaten our very existence, and which President Trump is looking to eliminate.

Projects like these do not happen on their own. I am humbly requesting that those of you who so graciously supported the anti-Russophobia work I have engaged in previously, and who helped make Operation DAWN the success it was, continue to provide support so that we can eliminate the scourge of Russophobia and bring to fruition the nuclear disarmament vision of President Trump. And for those of you who have not financially supported my past endeavors, for whatever reason, I would ask that you take the time to reflect on what it is I am trying to accomplish here, and how your support could help push me across the finish line.

Or, better said, push us across the finish line.

Because preventing a nuclear war and promoting nuclear disarmament is a team sport.

Join the team!

https://scottritter.substack.com/p/disarmament-in-a-time-of-chaos

— Israel preparing to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, according to military officials

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From RT

Israel preparing to strike Iranian nuclear sites – media
Events in Syria have created a window of opportunity, sources have told Times of Israel
December 12, 2024

The Israeli Air Force is carrying out preparations for “potential strikes” on Iranian nuclear facilities, military officials have told Times of Israel.

West Jerusalem believes that the surprise takeover of Syria by jihadist rebels has weakened Tehran’s position in the region, which could prompt Iran to speed up its atomic program, the outlet said.

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes have taken out most of Syrian air defenses, clearing the way for an operation against Iran.

Tehran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful and civilian in nature, contrary to allegations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran has sought an atomic bomb. In 2015, the world’s top five nuclear powers struck a deal with Iran to monitor its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, but the US unilaterally withdrew from this agreement in 2018.

Israel reportedly considered strikes on Iranian nuclear sites after Tehran’s October 1 missile barrage, but did not follow through on those plans.

Netanyahu’s government has used the recent events in Syria to destroy its neighbor’s military capabilities, launching “one of the largest attack operations in the history” of its air force. Earlier this week, Israeli jets struck over 250 targets around Syria, including airports and seaports, air defense and missile sites, military industry facilities and warehouses. Israeli troops also moved beyond the buffer zone on the Golan Heights, claiming Mount Hermon.

Bashar Assad’s government in Syria was overthrown by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants last week. The jihadist group has not yet consolidated power.

Israel reportedly believes that Iran is “isolated” after the ousting of Assad and that its other main ally in the region, Lebanon-based Hezbollah, has been significantly weakened by the recent IDF offensive there. This could push Iran to speed up its nuclear program and could also create a window of opportunity for an Israeli pre-emptive strike, according to Times of Israel.

https://www.rt.com/news/609279-israel-iran-strikes-report/