Environment/Energy
Vermont Senate votes to shut state's only nuclear plant
Submitted by staff on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 4:49pm
By an overwhelming 26 to 4 vote, the Vermont Senate voted to deny a request by Entergy Corp., the operator of Vermont's sole nuclear plant, to extend its forty-year lifespan by an additional twenty years, forcing a shutdown of the aging reactor by 2012. The vote marks the first time a state has moved to shut down an operating reactor, and deals a severe blow to the troubled nuclear industry, which had hoped for a revival after President Obama made massive federal loan guarantees to promote construction of new nuclear plants a centerpiece of his proposed energy policy. Pictured: Collapsed cooling tower, 2007
2010/02/20: The Progressive: No new nukes in Wisconsin
Submitted by staff on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 12:27pm
Elizabeth DiNovella of The Progressive writes about WNPJ's work against opening the door to more nuclear power in Wisconsin as part of the Clean Energy Jobs Act now before the legislature, and quotes Diane Farsetta, coordinator of WNPJ's Carbon Free Nuclear Free campaign.
Nuclear 'tweaks' in energy bill could be a deal-breaker
Submitted by staff on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 9:19pmWhen is a "tweak" in a legislative bill a deal breaker?
Maybe, just maybe, when the change is to an already controversial section on nuclear power that's part of the proposed Clean Energy Jobs Bill for Wisconsin.
Pro-nuclear changes being pushed by utilities could derail the whole thing.
WNPJ board member Bill Christofferson explains on WNPJ blog.
2010/02/05: Capital Times: John LaForge: Think nuke power is safe? Think again
Submitted by staff on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 12:23pm
John LaForge, co-director of Nukewatch, a WNPJ member group, in an opinion column in the Capital Times: Wisconsin’s reactors at Point Beach and Kewaunee spew radiation like all the others. In fact Wisconsin’s reactors have a particularly unsafe record of operations, when compared to the other 101 reactors operating across the country.
Latest problem undermines 'safe, clean' nuke sales job
Submitted by staff on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 3:28pm
In the midst of a big PR and lobbying campaign to try to sell nuclear power as a clean, safe solution to climate change, another problem pops up -- radioactive tritium leaking from plants, including (as the map shows) some incidents in Wisconsin. WNPJ Board member Bill Christofferson has more on the WNPJ Blog.
At 'public' hearing, the view from the back of the bus
Submitted by staff on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 6:16pm
Most of the activists from WNPJ's Carbon Free Nuclear Free campaign, who attended a public hearing Jan. 27 to oppose the nuclear section of the Clean Energy Jobs Bill, waited more than eight hours to testify for four minutes in a nearly-empty room with almost all of the committee members gone.
2010/01/25: WisPolitics.com: Anti-nuke activist says changes to standards for new nuclear plants not needed
Submitted by staff on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 5:08pm
Jennifer Nordstrom, coordinator of the Carbon Free Nuclear Free campaign for the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, who's working closely with WNPJ, was interviewed by WisPolitics.com, the online political website and newsletter. Topic: Wisconsin's proposed Clean Energy Jobs Act and why it should not ease state laws on new nuclear reactors.
2009/01/24: Capital Times: Diane Farsetta: Dump nuke provisions in Clean Energy Jobs Act
Submitted by staff on Sun, 01/24/2010 - 1:55pmDiane Farsetta, coordinator of WNPJ's Carbon Free Nuclear Free campaign, asks in a Capital Times column:
Would a truly “clean energy” source produce “one of the nation’s most hazardous substances”? Of course not.
So why include provisions on nuclear reactors in the state’s Clean Energy Jobs Act, recently introduced in the Legislature? The bill will have a public hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
