[Occupymendocino] FW: Nuke industry lobbying to stop Fukushima fixes; make YOUR voice heard

[Ann Rennacker]

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 13:44:25 -0500
From: nirsnet at nirs.org
To: annxpress at live.com
Subject: Nuke industry lobbying to stop Fukushima fixes; make YOUR voice heard




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



NUCLEAR INDUSTRY LOBBYING SHAMELESSLY TO PREVENT POST-FUKUSHIMA SAFETY CHANGES;

RAISE YOUR VOICE TO CLOSE/STRENGTHEN DANGEROUS GE REACTORS


March 4, 2013

Dear Friends,

Shortly before Christmas, we alerted you that the NRC Commissioners were expected to vote on an NRC staff recommendation to require filtered containment vents on General Electric reactors. And, despite the busy Holiday season, more than 2500 of you did so. Well, more than two months later, the NRC Commissioners still haven't acted. And, in the meantime, the nuclear industry has vastly stepped up its lobbying effort to convince the Commissioners to reject the recommendation--and save some utilities millions of dollars.

It's time to raise more of our voices, and raise them louder. Tell the NRC--and your members of Congress--to a) permanently close these dangerous reactors and b) send a message that public safety matters by approving these filtered vents.

The nuclear reactors that exploded at Fukushima in March 2011 and released toxic radiation across our planet were designed and manufactured by General Electric. There are still 23 nearly-identical GE Mark I reactors operating in the U.S. and 8 more very similar GE Mark II reactors. All suffer from fundamental design flaws. All are dangerous to all living beings.

The NRC staff, through its Fukushima Task Force, has recommended installation of filtered containment vents that could reduce the amount of radiation released from these reactors in the event of an accident. The NRC Commissioners are expected to vote soon on whether they will implement that common-sense recommendation. But the nuclear industry has been lobbying hard against that. For example, see this March 1 article from Bloomberg News. Why? Because they just don't want to spend the money to protect public safety. Their self-serving greed must be defeated.

Our position is that all of these reactors should be closed permanently. But we also believe the Commissioners need to make a statement in favor of public protection by voting to require these filtered containment vents.

We encourage you to send a letter to the NRC in support of requiring filtered containment vents. Letters will go to your elected officials at the same time urging them to contact the NRC in support. Some legislators already have weighed in. 11 Senate Democrats and Independent Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the NRC urging them to adopt this recommendation now; so did five top House Democrats. Meanwhile, a number of Republicans, for example Sen. Vitter of Louisiana and Rep. Shimkus of Illinois, have urged the Commissioners to do the bidding of the nuclear industry. It's time to raise our voices into the mix.

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