How can the nuclear industry profit from nuclear disasters?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Hisayo Takada

Activists from Greenpeace Turkey protest in front of the Hagia Sofia.

At 2:46pm, 11 March 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit north east Japan, triggering three meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Since then, an unthinkable amount of radioactive contamination has been discharged to our sea, our air, our land, and onto ourselves. It has changed the lives of millions of people, destroyed local farmlands and fisheries that were carefully protected for generations.

The most contaminated areas of Fukushima nuclear disaster remain inhabitable, and will for decades. This leaves the 160,000 ordered to evacuate stuck in limbo, unable to go home, and unable to build new lives elsewhere because they lack proper compensation and support. Continue reading →

And what of nuclear reactors after a superstorm?

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Jim Riccio

Salem Nuclear Generating Station, New Jersey

Several nuclear reactors in New Jersey and New York shutdown as Hurricane Sandy slams into East Coast.

The morning after Hurricane Sandy struck the eastern seaboard several nuclear reactors in New Jersey and New York are now shutdown and information on their status is sparse if available at all. Continue reading →

Happy whales have sanctuaries

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Phil Kline

My Greenpeace colleagues aboard our new flagship the Rainbow Warrior in the Indian Ocean shared a heartwarming experience when a frolicking group of humpback and minke whales put on quite a show. The excitement of their encounter just reverberated through their email and I can see from these photos why they were so pumped. It’s not a stretch to say these whales were happy and playful. Why wouldn’t they be as the entire Indian Ocean is a whale sanctuary where they can live in peace? What a contrast this is to other parts of the world where whales not only don’t have protections but face a myriad of direct threats from humans. One huge emerging threat to whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife is happening now in the coastal waters of California. Continue reading →

Students: The World Needs You – Apply for the Greenpeace Semester

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Connor Gibson

APPLY FOR THE GREENPEACE SEMESTER!

Me, on a decommissioned Duke/Progress Energy smokestack (see picture below). Arden, NC. Feb, 2012.

As humans, we sometimes find ourselves in positions that change the way we view the world, or how we fit into it. This week, as we focus on recruiting students for the Greenpeace Semester, I want to share some examples of how my own time in Washington, DC three years ago led me to many of the most profound and exciting experiences I have lived through.

Let me start backwards: I do research for Greenpeace’s PolluterWatch project exposing the lies of the bad guys. Think Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Duke Energy, and other coal, oil, chemical and industrial interests. In order to protect their relentless pursuit of wealth, power and prestige, the people who lead these companies bankroll a network of propagandists to hijack our perceptions and our politics. I was introduced to this network as the climate denial machine, although their corporate agenda includes everything from cracking workers unions to suppressing voters to privatizing education.

The Greenpeace Semester led me into a climate denier conference in New York City organized by the Heartland Institute. I looked into the eyes of men who hate what I do. I shook their hands. I listened to them gripe about Greenpeace’s work to hold them accountable. I made small talk…and mischief. Continue reading →

Phasing out, cracking up and shutting down – a bad week for nuclear power

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Justin McKeating

Historic news that Japan will phase out nuclear power has rounded off yet another terrible week for the global nuclear industry.

Japan’s decision to end its reliance on nuclear power by the 2030s means it will join countries such as Germany and Switzerland in turning away from nuclear power after last year’s Fukushima disaster. Continue reading →

An ashy nightmare

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Cassady Sharp

Greenpeace flies over the Duke Energy Marshall coal plant outside Charlotte.

Where fluffy, white clouds once drifted over the soft, mossy peaks of the Blue Ridge mountains, black smoke curled around the mutilated mountainsides I explored as a girl growing up in Western North Carolina. I found the trailhead of a hike my brother and I had often enjoyed together with our dogs running ahead of us, looking back with tongues wagging before taking off like furry bullets. That familiar path was now hidden under ash, the creek that once trickled alongside now suffocated by dense sludge. Continue reading →

Phase Out Nuclear Power

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jim Riccio

The Washington Post chose Earth day to pose the question: Can the world fight global warming without nuclear power? In fact, we can do just that, as Greenpeace’s Energy Revolution scenario has shown. Let’s keep the nuclear reactors on the drawing board; they don’t meltdown there, like they do in real life. Continue reading →

The next Fukushima nuclear disaster is waiting to happen

Posted on March 5, 2012 by admin

Blogpost by Jan Beránek

Fukushima. Greenpeace activists during the Global Day of action to commemorate the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. 03/05/2012

Greenpeace activists in 19 countries took action today to remind their governments that the next Fukushima disaster will be their fault.

The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has shown us once again that nuclear reactors are fundamentally unsafe. That’s why Greenpeace activists are staging flash mobs, hanging banners on prominent buildings, holding events in public squares and at busy intersections and delivering messages to governments. Continue reading →

Lessons from Fukushima: New Greenpeace Report A Warning On Nuclear Risks

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Jim Riccio

I will never forget the sleepless nights that began for me on March 11, 2011, endless hours organizing the Greenpeace response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

While looking for any piece of information that could give better clues to what was really happening at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, my mind was in Japan. I worried about everyone in the country but of course most of all those immediately affected by the tsunami. And I could not stop thinking about the heroic efforts of plant work-ers who risked their lives and fought against time to avoid the worst-case situation under which we knew even Tokyo would have to evacuate. Continue reading →

Security breaches, radiation leaks, disasters; Nothing worries the nuclear industry

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Justin McKeating

By: Justin McKeating

One of the many odd qualities of the nuclear industry is its seemingly boundless optimism: “everything’s going to be just fine, folks.”

Apparently, there’s no need to worry about terrorists attacking nuclear reactors. Which is why Greenpeace activists could peacefully walk into two French nuclear power plants – Nogent-sur-Seine and Cruas – this morning without being challenged by any security measures whatsoever should be absolutely no cause for alarm, according to the authorities. The two activists who entered the Cruas plant were able to avoid detection for 14 hours. Our team that entered the Nogent-sur-Seine power plant, just 95 kilometres from Paris, were even able to scale the dome of one of the reactors and paint a pretty picture on it.

Continue reading →