Updates, Actions, and a New Grassroots Program for Nuclear Safety and Security

March 27, 2011,

Dear Friends,

It has been more than two weeks since the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, triggering an unparalleled nuclear crisis that shows no signs of abating.

While a few days ago, utility officials claimed the situation at Fukushima had at least been stabilized, what we are seeing in reality are continued extraordinarily high levels of radation at the plant site and continued high levels even outside the expanded evacuation zone. We are continuing to post updates on our website: www.nirs.org.

Our response to this disaster has been on many fronts:

*We have expanded our efforts to end taxpayer subsidies for new reactors in the U.S. If we can cut off their gouging of U.S. taxpayers to pay for their failed nuclear dream, we can ensure that no new reactors will be built. We have ads running (thanks to your donations!) on Mother Jones and Alternet leading to our action page. Yet not everyone even on this list has taken action. If you haven't, please do so now. And if you have, please take a moment to share the action page via e-mail, Facebook and other networking sites. 74% of the American people now want an end to taxpayer loans for new reactors. But Congress isn't going to do that unless they hear from all of us. We can end this funding if we all act.

*We have begun a new campaign to permanently close the 23 General Electric Mark I reactors that are carbon copies of those at Fukushima. Top safety officials have warned for 40 years that these reactors would fail under accident conditions. Unfortunately, those officials have been proven right. If you haven't taken action on this campaign yet, please do so now. And, again, please help spread the word.

*We are supporting Greenpeace in their call for vigils tomorrow, Monday, March 28--the anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident, across the country. We hope everyone will attend one of these. You can find the vigil closest to you here.

*We are calling for new actions in April across the country, joining with our colleagues across the world to commemorate the Chernobyl catastrophe (April 26) and to say to the world: No More Fukushimas. Rallies and other actions are being planned: if your group is planning one, please let us know. We will set up a master list on our website to help in organizing. We want to especially note today an April 16 rally at Diablo Canyon, being sponsored by Mothers for Peace and endorsed by NIRS. We hope everyone in California will be there. More details soon.

*We have sent five radiation monitors to Japan for independent monitoring and software to allow monitoring data to be posted on the internet; we hope to send more.

*We, along with Friends of the Earth and Physicians for Social Reponsibility, have filed a Freedom of Information Act demand for speedy release of radiation data at Fukushima taken by the U.S. government.

*We have done press conferences, multitudes of media interviews and appearances, and much, much more.

And we have sponsored three national grassroots conference calls to think about and talk about our next steps. From those calls and conversations, we have developed a new Post-Fukushima Program for Increased Nuclear Security and Safety in the U.S. We have posted it and a petition here.

We now seek your support for this program. If you are an individual, you may sign the petition in support here. If you can sign on for an organization, we ask that you e-mail your name, organization, city and state (and country if outside the U.S.) to us at nirsnet@nirs.org. We are contemplating taking out a large ad in a progressive publication to state this program and list supporters as a means of furthering debate and action. It is our intent that grassroots groups can use this program in your local and regional work--and point to a large and growing support for its principles.

This is no time to be timid. NIRS has worked for more than 30 years to prevent nuclear disasters--the kind the nuclear industry and governments have told us happen only once every 10,000 years. They lied. Instead, they average about once every ten years. We couldn't prevent Three Mile Island; we couldn't prevent Chernobyl; we couldn't prevent Fukushima. We must prevent the next one. It could happen next decade, next year, next month, tomorrow. So we must act now.

Your contributions remain critical. We are working non-stop to expand our efforts on all fronts. We need more staff to meet the vastly increased demand and hope to be hiring soon. We thank all of you who have contributed so generously this month; if you haven't contributed yet, we hope you will now. If you don't want to give online, please send your donation to NIRS, 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340, Takoma Park, MD 20912.

It truly is time to end the nuclear age, and bring in a safe, clean and affordable nuclear-free, carbon-free energy future.

Thanks for all you do,

Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
www.nirs.org