|
Beyond
Nuclear Bulletin
October
2, 2025
|
|
|
FREE
PU-239
Trump
gifts nuclear industry
According
to previously
unreleased government
documents obtained by
Politico
and addressed in a letter
from three Democrat
members of Congress to
President Donald
Trump, The White House
is preparing to
literally give away 20
metric tons of Cold
War-era weapons-usable
plutonium to new
nuclear start
companies. The Trump
deal calls for the
equivalent of 2,000
nuclear bombs from the
nation’s plutonium
stockpile previously
slated for permanent
disposal as nuclear
waste now to be freed
up to help jump start
privately-owned U.S.
commercial nuclear
startup companies. The
fledgling nuclear
companies are instead
planning to use the
plutonium as fuel in a
still unproven and
unlicensed new
generation of nuclear
power plants for both
domestic power
production and
international export.
|
|
|
SPEAK UP ON URANIUM
Scientists meet on enhancing production
The National Academies
(NAS) Board on Earth
Sciences and Resources
is having its Fall
meeting October 8,
2025 from 1:00-5:00 PM
ET.
The meeting will
explore Enhancing
Uranium Production as a
Domestic Source for
Nuclear Energy. Register
today. There is opportunity
to comment or ask
questions through Slido,
an interactive audience
platform.
From the NAS
announcement: “Speakers
and panel discussions
will consider the
availability and
economic viability of
uranium… and
opportunities to enhance
U.S. uranium production
and consider knowledge
and technology gaps and
the social or regulatory
concerns that may
inhibit uranium
production…”
|
|
|
DIRE
RISK
Zaporizhzhia again
without power
For the 10th time since Russian forces
occupied the
Zaporizhzhia nuclear
power plant on March
4, 2022, the site has
lost offsite power.
Workers are
using backup diesel
generators to pump
vital cooling water
into the six reactors.
Although all are in
cold shutdown the fuel
in the reactors
remains hot and
vulnerable to fires,
explosions and
meltdowns if not
cooled. The spent fuel
storage pools also
require constant
cooling to avoid a
fire. Workers have
been drilling wells
onsite to access
groundwater after the
destruction of the
Kakhovka Dam depleted
the Kakhovka
Reservoir. A new
report reveals alarming human rights violations
against plant workers,
including internment
and torture, leading
to a greatly reduced
workforce that raises
serious safety
concerns.
|
|
|
ZOMBIE NUKES?!
Duane Arnold restart risks
On September 29,
Iowa's Sierra Club
Chapter hosted a press
conference to address
NextEra’s proposal to
restart Duane Arnold,
which has been in
decommissioning status
since August 2020, when
a derecho led to a
close call with
catastrophe at
this Fukushima
Daiichi twin-design
atomic reactor. Speakers
included Dr. Mark
Jacobson of Stanford,
Joe Mangano of the
Radiation and Public
Health Project, Don
Safer of Sierra Club's
Grassroots Network
Nuclear Free Team, and
Wally Taylor (pictured),
Conservation and Legal
Chair of Sierra Club's
Iowa Chapter. Taylor is
also co-counsel of our
environmental
coalition's legal
resistance to Holtec's
Palisades zombie
reactor restart in
Michigan, the precedent
NextEra is following. He
won our 2024 "Dr.
Judith H. Johnsrud
Unsung Hero Award."
|
|
|
|
|
