The Nuclear-Free Future Award by Craig Reishus

Announcing the 2008
Nuclear-Free Future
Award Recipients:

Jillian Marsh of the Adnyamathanha Clan, Austrailia

Manuel Pino of the Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, USA

Press Release
Press Photos
2008 Award Brochure

The Nuclear Age
was begun by humankind.
By humankind it must be ended.

Yes, we can do something about the toxic mess radiating from the Nuclear Age –

mega-complex technologies inviting human error, natural calamity, or terrorist madness;
the patent science fiction of a final radioactive waste repository;
the cultural ethnocide perpetrated on indigenous peoples by contaminating their homelands wih radiation;
nuclear arsenals packing ad absurdum overkill

– we can join together and celebrate the achievements of the architects of the Nuclear-Free Age, visionaries who have committed their lives to consigning the 'peaceful' and military uses of the atom to the junk heap of history.

Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award has annually honored individuals and initiatives working to make the world livable for the coming generations. We help facilitate the on-going work of:

indigenous activists struggling to end the destruction of their traditional lands;
scientists and journalists investigating the toxic consequences of radiation;
jurists who defend victims of the nuclear industry;
initiatives and communities working to solve our energy problems through the enlightened use of sustainable fuels;
politicians advocating nuclear disarmament and/or the end of nuclear power.

To bring these pioneering spirits into the public spotlight is to help them engineer our rescue. The Tibetans say that it is better to light a candle in the gloom than to complain about the darkness. That's a way of seeing things we share. And you? Help us help those who are striving to find a peaceful, sustainable way to keep the lights from going out. Invest in a future with the plug pulled on old-fashioned nuclear power and nuclear weapons pounded into plowshares. Invest in the Nuclear-Free Age.

Our column for Craig and guests From Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog:

30JAN'10–The Obama administration's proposal to more than double the size of the Energy Department's nuclear power loan guarantee program, from $20.5 billion to $54.5 billion, is objectionable. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that more than half of new reactor projects will default on their loan repayments, meaning federal loan guarantees will leave taxpayers holding the bag for many billions of dollars per failed project. This expansion of the nuclear loan guarantee program, benefitting an industry that has already been heavily subsidized for over fifty years, will come at the expense of the real solutions to the climate crisis, such as efficiency and renewable sources like wind and solar power.

Energy Secretary Chu's choice of leadership and membership of his radioactive waste blue ribbon commission raises some hopes, as well as some red flags.

Very hopefully, Co-chair Lee Hamilton, who helped lead the 9/11 Commission, will already be familiar with the vulnerability of high-level radioactive wastes to catastrophic terrorist attack. After all, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original Al Qaeda plan called for ten hijacked aircraft, with two targeted at nuclear facilities, very likely including the Entergy Nuclear Indian Point atomic reactors near New York City. Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was quoted by a reporter in 2002 before his capture that such a radiological attack had been decided against in 2001 so that "things would not get out of hand," but that such attacks had not been ruled out in the future. More from Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps...