Author: Michael Steinberg

Nuclear Shutdown News October 2022

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

At this writing in early October, much of Florida is still devastated by Hurricane Ian. Little reporting mentions the role of global warming in this disaster. Less refers to the threat of the state’s nuclear power plants.

The Turkey Point’s two reactors started up in the early 1970s, making them a half century old now. Located in the greater Miami area, they represent another catastrophic threat to Floridians. Nuclear reactors are designed to run only 40 years. But as many US nuke plants approach or surpass that age, their owners have been applying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend their operating lives for 20 years or more.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News  September 2022

In downtown New Orleans, Entergy Corporation’s highrise headquarters looms ominously  over mere mortals in the French Quarter and on Bourbon Street.

On August 2 the Baton Rouge Louisiana Advocate reported, “Louisiana Public Service Commission Suing Federal Energy Commission.”  (FERC). The Advocate explained that the lawsuit alleged that FERC ” is slow walking a decision regarding Entergy’s Grand Gulf nuclear plant.”

Will the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Ever Shut Down?

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

We thought it was a done deal. The Diablo Canyon nuke plant, the last operating one in the state, located on the central coast near San Luis Obispo, was due to permanently close, one nuclear reactor in 2024, the second the following year.

In 2016, even owner Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to the deal.

But, as the Doors predicted Back in the Daze, “The future’s uncertain and the. end is always near.”

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

On May 20 Michigan newspaper The Holland Sentinel reported,”Pallisades Nuclear Plant Shuts Down 10 Days Early.”

The plant was scheduled to close for good on May 31, but, The Sentinel reported, plant owners “made a conservative decision” to pull the plug 10 days early due to “control rod seal” problem.

By Michael Steinberg
The names and faces and political parties in power may change, but the shill game remains the same: waste incredible fortunes on dangerous discredited boondoggles.

Nuclear power came into being as a reaction to the public’s horror after the US’s use of nuclear bombs to devastate Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In reaction to this the government instituted the “Atoms for Peace program, most notably encouraging electric companies to build large nuclear power plants with huge subsidies that would produce electricity promised to be “too cheap to meter.”

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those who are working for a nuclear free world.

Russian Attacks on Ukraine Nuclear Plants Continue

As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters a second month, so too has its game of chicken against Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. One of the first actions of the February action was the Russian Army’s takeover of the devastated Chernobyl nuclear power station, as detailed in last month’s edition.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry, in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

On February 26 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that “Russian forces have taken control of” the Chernobyl nuclear plant site of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe, when the now former Soviet Union owned and operated the facility.

Nuclear Shutdown News for December 2021

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear industry in the US and beyond, and supports the efforts of those working for a nuclear free future.

On November 2 the Associated Press reported, “Millstone nuclear plant failed to prevent flooding during Ida.”

Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans in August with 150 mile per hour winds,

Nuclear Shutdown News

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

Concrete Cancer Spreading in New England Nuclear Plant

On October 5 Boston TV station WBZ reported “Concrete Cracking at Seabrook Nuclear Plant” in New Hampshire. The 36 year old nuke plant has been developing fissures in its structures for some time.

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those who are working to bring about a nuclear free world.

The fear of nuclear annihilation after WWII spread around the world along with radioactive fallout from nuclear bomb tests. Scientists began to document the presence of this radioactivity in humans.

One particular radioactive chemical, Strontium 90 (Sr- 90), received particular attention. As with other fallout, it does not exist in nature. Like its non- radioactive cousin calcium, if it enters our bodies, it concentrates in our bones and teeth, and can emit radiation there for about 200 years, potentially causing cancer and other dread diseases.

Nuclear Shutdown News August 2021

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear industry, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

On August 29, 2021, 16 years to the day when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and environs, Hurricane Ida made landfall twice as a Category 4 storm. Its 150 mph winds raced through the Crescent City, and up cancer alley, by Baton Rouge, an area replete with petrochemical facilities whose surrounding African American populations have high rates of serious health care problems in the best of times.

Nuclear Shutdown News

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry, in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

Japan Goes Nuclear During Olympics

As Covid cases in Tokyo hit a record daily high of 4000+ (and rising) on July 31 , another perspective on the Covid Olympics appeared in a July 26 Reuters article, “Japan goes nuclear in bid to stay cool during Olympics.”

The article reported, “Japan has rebooted extra power plants, including a long dormant nuclear plant, and has taken other steps to avoid a power crisis as temperatures rise” as does the need for cooling, especially Tokyo,” where the games began on July 23.