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Beyond
Nuclear Bulletin
June
20, 2024
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SURGE
Nuclear weapons
spending soars
A new report from ICAN shows that there was a $10.7 billion
increase in spending
on nuclear weapons
worldwide in 2023 over
2022 figures with the
United States
accounting for 80% of
the increase. The
report — Surge:
2023 Global Nuclear
Weapons Spending — shows that the world’s nine nuclear
nations spent a total
of $91.4 billion, or
$2,898 per second on
nuclear weapons. The
United States spent
more than all of the
other nuclear-armed
states combined, at
$51.5 billion. China
surpassed Russia as
the second-highest
spender at $11.9
billion, with Russia
third, spending $8.3
billion. Nuclear
weapons companies
dedicate millions each
year to lobbying to
influence political
decision-making,
lavishing $118 million
last year on the US
and France alone.
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"ADVANCE ACT"
Dark day for anti-nuke cause
By 88 to 2, the
ADVANCE Act passed the
U.S. Senate June 18.
Sens. Markey (D-MA) and
Sanders (I-VT) were the
two NO votes. On May 8,
the U.S. House likewise
passed this bill, by a
393 to 13 vote. Rep.
Doggett of Texas was the
only Dem to vote NO.
President Biden will
likely sign the bill
into law.
It will change NRC's
mandate from safety
regulation to industry
promotion, a
half-century step
backward. It will also
promote so-called
"advanced" reactor new
builds, as well as
high-assay, low-enriched
uranium (HALEU) fuel,
further risking safety,
security, health, the
environment,
non-proliferation, and
taxpayer pocketbooks.
Such collusion
risks radioactive
catastrophe, as at
Fukushima.
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EXPOSE OR EXPLODE?
Victims again of a nuclear conundrum
In a conundrum of
their own making, Los
Alamos National
Laboratory (LANL) wants
to vent radioactive
tritium gas to
surrounding communities
— under-resourced
communities that have
already suffered from
past exposures and are
burdened by legacy
contamination, some of
it remaining hidden
until recently.
Currently, the tritium
waste is stored in
long-neglected
containers, subject to
explosion. Searchlight New Mexico’s article
on the issue, quotes
from Exploring
Tritium Dangers by
Arjun Makhijani:
“[tritium] makes water,
the stuff of life, most
of the mass of living
beings, radioactive.”
Cindy Folkers of Beyond
Nuclear emphasized the
danger to the human life
cycle, particularly
female fetuses that
carry generational
futures. Exposure to
them can result in
cumulative biological
damage: “the kind that
cuts across
generations.”
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HOLTEC'S WOES
Troubles mount, state/fed levels
On June 14, Beyond
Nuclear circulated an action
alert for Michiganders,
and backgrounder,
focused on blocking
another $150 million
state bailout for the
unprecedented, extremely
high risk, insanely
expensive Palisades
zombie reactor restart.
(Please share with those
you know in the Great
Lakes State!) On June
17, long-serving Holtec
board member George
Norcross was indicted
by the New Jersey
Attorney General on 13
felony racketeering
counts. And Holtec has
until June 27 to appeal
to the U.S. Supreme
Court against the 5th
Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals ruling vacating
the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission
license for its
consolidated interim
storage facility in New
Mexico (Interim Storage
Partners in Texas, as
well as NRC, have
already appealed).
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