On The Bright Side

June 21, 2022 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

2022 Summer of Anti-Nuclear Revival

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2022

By Kelly Lundeen

As you are reading your Nukewatch Quarterly, Joe Biden may be reading his daily Delaware News Journal noticing the ad with the statement (below), “The Existential Threat of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” (TPNW). The Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative, of which Nukewatch is a member, placed the ad and is working to raise awareness of the nuclear ban treaty by calling on U.S. media to recognize the existence of the Treaty and to include it in news coverage regarding the nuclear threat and solutions. If your organization hasn’t signed onto this statement, visit <nuclearbantreaty.org> to do so.

This summer is set to be one of anti-nuclear actions with the commemoration of the 1982 million-person nuclear-abolition march, the first Meeting of States Parties (MSP) about the TPNW, both in June, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference in August. The latter two meetings have been postponed due to coronavirus restrictions but are now scheduled within two months of each other. In the lead-up to these events, the Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative has coordinated a nationwide media event to release the statement on June 7, as groups around the country call on news outlets to boost coverage of the TPNW. June 12 marks the 40th anniversary of the largest peace demonstration in U.S. history in 1982, the nuclear disarmament protest that contributed to the end of the cold war — when more than a million people gathered in New York City. A New York-based live-stream by RootsAction.org will serve as a catalyst for grassroots organizing to remember our history and re-imagine our future.

You can get involved by organizing a local event to align with the MSP to the TPNW, which takes place in Vienna, Austria June 21-23 with 60 nations meeting to discuss universalizing the Treaty, assistance to survivors of nuclear weapons use and testing, and environmental remediation of contaminated areas — issues that have never before been addressed by an international treaty.

Nukewatch’s John LaForge will attend the MSP and report “live-stream” from Vienna. Look for the date and time to be determined, sign your organization onto the statement, and watch for action alerts to commemorate the Trinity bomb test, and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at nuclearbantreaty.org.

The Existential Threat of Nuclear Weapons & the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Please join hundreds of other groups, and sign on to this Statement here: <nuclearbantreaty.org>

The power to initiate a global apocalypse lies in the hands of the leaders of nine nations.

As 122 nations of the world indicated when they adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in July, 2017, this is unacceptable.

As concerns about the threat of nuclear weapons re-enter the public consciousness, it is important to know that humankind is not without an answer to the nuclear threat. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force on January 22, 2021, provides a clear pathway to the elimination of the nuclear threat.

We call on all nuclear-armed states to take immediate steps to:

• Engage the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons;
• Attend the First Meeting of States Parties;
• Sign, ratify, and implement the Treaty.

We also call on the U.S. media to recognize the existence of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to include the Treaty in discussions, articles, and editorials regarding the nuclear threat and methods available to address it.

June 21, 2022 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

New Office in Justice Dept. to Fight Environmental Racism

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2022

Julia Kane, Grist

The Biden administration on May 5th unveiled a new government office for communities that have been targeted and plagued by polluters for decades.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching its first-ever Office of Environmental Justice, which, along with other federal agencies, will bring cases against polluters, prioritizing the communities most affected by environmental harm.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference, “Communities of color, Indigenous communities, and low-income communities often bear the brunt of the harm caused by environmental crime, pollution, and climate change.”

The new environmental justice office commits the DOJ to fighting these problems by “vigorously and transparently working to secure environmental justice … in communication with the communities most affected by the underlying violations of federal law,” Garland said.

The Office of Environmental Justice will be led by Cynthia Ferguson, an attorney in the department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan noted the return of “supplemental environmental projects” as a law enforcement mechanism the Trump administration had banned. The projects allow convicted polluters to fund local anti-pollution initiatives as part of penalties for breaking environmental laws. Regan said the projects were “a tool to secure tangible public health benefits for communities harmed” by illegal pollution.

Jane English, the NAACP’s environmental and climate justice program manager, welcomed the news writing: “As climate change worsens, it is imperative that our leaders produce real, tangible solutions to protect Black and frontline communities and correct existing and past harms, all while initiating direct law enforcement corrective responses to egregious harms and environmental injustices.”

–Grist, May 6, 2022; U.S. Department of Justice original document

June 21, 2022 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

U.S. Renewable Energy Output Surges Ahead of Nuclear

Nuclear-Free Future, photocredit: Sierra Club

Nukewatch Quarterly

Summer 2022

By Lindsay Potter

In 2021 domestic renewable energy — wind, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, and geothermal — outproduced nuclear power for the second year running, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) found. Clean sources were responsible for 795 million megawatt-hours (MWh), 21% of energy production, while nuclear totaled 778 million MWh, or 20%. Solar Industry Mag reported April 26, 2022, that wind, the largest producer of renewable energy in the U.S., increased outputs by 12% in 2021 (14% in 2020), and utility-scale solar produced 28% more in 2021 (26% in 2020). The EIA predicts an additional 10% hike in renewable production for 2022. Globally, hydro-electric together with solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal produce more than twice as much energy (24.2%) as nuclear (10.3%), according to world-nuclear.org.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2021 (WNISR) found that nuclear power production fell by more than 100 terawatt-hours (TWh), the greatest drop aside from the standstill following the Fukushima disaster. Although hydro-electric steadily outproduced nuclear over the last 30 years, other renewable sources such as wind, solar, and biomass have now globally surpassed nuclear. Proof possible: for the first time this year, hydro, wind, and solar together generated more than all fossil fuels in the European Union — though France still relies on nuclear for 71% of its energy.

Competitive clean energy casts shade on the need for nuclear, as the industry flounders to innovate expedient and economic technology. Given the minimum of 10-15 years needed to bring new Small Modular Reactors online, trials in Argentina, China, and Russia have been unimpressive. Furthermore, WNISR announced “net capacity addition” fell for nuclear to 0.4 gigawatts (GW) and rose by more than 250 GW in the renewable sector last year, leading the report to conclude “nuclear is irrelevant in today’s electricity capacity newbuild market.” The WNISR also cites cost, health effects, climate change effects, the global impact of COVID-19, and “bribery, corruption, and counterfeiting” in the nuclear industry as additional evidence that nuclear power is dying.

By 2050, the EIA predicts that wind and solar technologies will become as affordable as natural gas, as nuclear and coal continue to fall out of use. To make way for clean energy Congress must severe ties with dying industries, promote carbon fees and sunset credits, shut down pipelines and drilling leases, and halt initiatives to develop new poisoned nuclear theories or bailouts that keep dangerous reactors running past their licensed closure dates.

Solar Industry Mag, Apr 26, 2022; World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2021; Deutsche Welle, Sept 28, 2021; EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2022

May 12, 2022 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Nukewatch Celebrates Nuclear Ban Treaty’s First Anniversary

Sick with coronavirus, Nukewatch still managed to hold up the banner on January 22, 2022.

To join ongoing actions to support the nuclear weapons ban treaty, start HERE.

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2022

By Kelly Lundeen

For people struggling to achieve peace, the war in Ukraine reinforces feelings of grief and despair, yet the anti-nuclear global majority continues to move slowly toward nuclear abolition. The year 2021 saw eight more nations ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), bringing the total to 60 ratifications and 86 signatories. Even though the nuclear weapons states have not caught onto the nuclear weapons ban trend, the U.S. government was reminded on January 22 when, despite ongoing Covid restrictions, nearly 60 events took place to celebrate the first anniversary of the entry into force of the TPNW, all with the same message — join the Treaty!

The Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative (NBTC), of which Nukewatch is a founding member, coordinated a day of action, creating resources and hosting zoom calls to bring the nationwide movement together again this year. Around the country, groups marked the occasion by dancing, bannering, singing, bell ringing, moments of silence, flower delivery, letter delivery, Treaty delivery, and sharing cupcakes. Ralph Hutchison of Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance created an inspiring video compilation of many of these actions.

Nukewatch participated in this year’s day of action through our webinar production with the Affected Communities & Allies Working Group, one of four working groups in the NBTC. Two hundred ninety people registered for the zoom webinar we called “Nuclear Colonialism in the Age of the Ban Treaty.” Both videos can be found at: nukewatchinfo.org/videos.

The seminar highlighted the lived experience of speakers and artists from affected communities to activate our collective work toward disarmament. They wove together the history of nuclear colonialism from uranium mining, nuclear testing, production, and use. One of the speakers and a member of the Affected Communities & Allies Working Group, Benetick Kabua Maddison of the Marshallese Educational Initiative, quoted his uncle David Kabua, president of the Marshall Islands: “Before the nuclear testing program the Marshallese people had no allies. But 76 years later we have allies all over the world, simply because of us using our voices to raise awareness about these issues that are impacting us.”

Please join the Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative to promote the TPNW and open more spaces where impacted voices can be elevated. Sign the statement on the nuclear weapons threat and find out how to get involved in a working group at:

nuclearbantreaty.org

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Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2022

By Kelly Lundeen

The Existential Threat of Nuclear Weapons & the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2022

Julia Kane, Grist

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2022

By John LaForge

Nukewatch Quarterly

Summer 2022

By Lindsay Potter

To join ongoing actions to support the nuclear weapons ban treaty, start HERE.

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2022

By Kelly Lundeen

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