Utility owner Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced in June 2016 that it would shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant with its two atomic reactors by 2025 due to a joint proposal made by PG&E and several environmental and labor organizations. This action is neither the beginning nor the end to the decades long story of Diablo Canyon’s design, construction, and operation. PG&E’s promise to replace the nuclear power generated by Diablo Canyon’s two reactors with renewable energy and to no longer seek a 20-year license renewal for these atomic reactors still comes with significant costs. 

The shutdown of Diablo Canyon and its two atomic reactors by 2025 is the result of a joint proposal among Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), environmental, and labor groups. This action is neither the beginning nor the end to the decades long story of Diablo Canyon’s design, construction, and operation. PG&E’s promise to replace the nuclear power generated by Diablo Canyon’s two reactors with renewable energy and to no longer seek a 20-year license renewal for these atomic reactors comes with a cost. The two reactors located on multiple California fault lines will continue to operate for nearly a decade more.

How does the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown disaster show the enormous risk potential for the continued operation of the Diablo Canyon atomic reactor? Filmed by Ecological Options Network (EON) at Point Reyes Station in California, Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen presents A World in Danger. This presentation from the 2015 California speaking tour precedes a panel discussion “Tell All” between chief engineer Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds founder and president Maggie Gundersen, and EON co-directors Jim Heddle and Mary Beth Brangan.

Do children worldwide suffer from atomic power? Absolutely. Join CCTV host Margaret Harrington, and from Fairewinds Energy Education: President Maggie Gundersen, Program Administrator Caroline Phillips, and Board Director Chiho Kaneko, for Part 2 of their discussion on the health risks to children around the world from operating atomic power reactors and their burgeoning waste.

In December 2015 and during the heat of the controversy in California over whether to shut down or re-license the state’s last operating nuclear plant at Diablo Canyon, Fairewinds President Maggie Gundersen and Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen were in California presenting to various colleges and universities. 

Fairewinds Science Advisor Dr. Leslie Kanat returns as a guest on Fairewinds podcast to dig deeper into seismic issues and nuclear power. Can humans cause earthquakes? Join the Fairewinds Crew and Dr. Kanat to find out! 

Missing bolts and “nuclear reactor” are words one generally does not want in the same sentence. However, when more than one quarter of the bolts inside an atomic reactor core go missing, the risk and concern multiply.

Before its triple meltdown, the nuclear power industry claimed that the Fukushima Daiichi atomic reactors were earthquake proof – what the nuke proponents call ‘seismically qualified’. Fukushima Daiichi owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), conducted what atomic utility owners call a “Maximum Credible Assessment (MCA)” (or what the Fairewinds Crew calls the “Maximum Cost Affordable”). According to the nuclear industry, the MCA assesses the maximum magnitude of an earthquake or natural disaster based on industry best guesses in relation to anticipated costs for repair construction budgets.

CCTV host Margaret Harrington anchored a panel with Maggie Gundersen, Caroline Phillips, and Chiho Kaneko from Fairewinds Energy Education to discuss the health risks to children around the world from operating nuclear power reactors and their burgeoning waste.

Thirty years after the atomic meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, government agencies worldwide are no closer to understanding how to handle a radiation release of this magnitude or how to protect the people they serve than they were seventy years ago during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We are reminded of this fact almost daily with the dark comedy that is Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) futile attempts prescribed by the Japanese government to contain the current ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.

Supporters of atomic power, who are not scientists, have been able to broadcast their opinions to the public with hellacious titles such as Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Putting Indian Point Hysteria in Perspective by attorney and lobbyist Jerry Kremer for the Huffington Post. In an effort to combat misinformation and keep you informed, Fairewinds reached out to international radiation expert Dr. Ian Fairlie to clear up the false assurances and scientific denial spread by the nuclear industry and its chums.

What are the parallels between the ongoing clean up at Fukushima Daiichi and the current decommissioning process at Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant? Listen as CCTV’s host Margaret Harrington interviews Fairewinds’ Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen to discuss these parallels. 

Several weeks ago, the Crew at Fairewinds Energy Education told you about The NRC’s Magnificent Seven – electrical engineers employed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) who are putting their careers on the line to protect all of us. The courageous employees found a critical flaw in atomic power plants, which the NRC chose to ignore.  These people took the only action open to them, as private citizens they legally filed a 2.206 petition seeking action from the NRC to either enforce existing regulations for atomic power plants or shut them down.

We at Fairewinds think it’s time to further reframe the conversation around nuclear energy and the myths and misconceptions it perpetuates. For far too long, spin doctors within the nuclear energy industry have successfully obscured bad news about their product by carefully controlling the language chosen for public consumption. It is called “Nukespeak”. 

During the past two years, FIVE nuclear reactors have shut down. During the next three years, THREE more atomic power plants will close. This is just the TIP of the iceberg. Most plants in the USA are 30-40 years old and face numerous aging issues such as: reactor embrittlement, leaking pipes, containment degradation, wiring degradation, and fire protection.

In the final installment of Fairewinds’ Japan Speaking Tour Series, Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen reflects on his trip to Japan and, with the Fairewinds Crew, discusses how Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s atomic agenda is in direct conflict with the nuclear safety concerns of the Japanese people. 

Modern ghost towns, abandoned houses, and far stretching roads lined with plastic bags of radioactive garbage have replaced the once bustling neighborhoods and cities of the Fukushima Prefecture. Formerly home to thousands, the massive release of radiation has forced residents to evacuate their beautiful homeland, leaving the land they love behind without knowing whether or not they may ever return without putting their lives at risk.

Fairewinds Crew about the current lives of Japanese people affected by the meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi. Stories shared include women stigmatized as ‘traitors’ for removing their children from the Fukushima Prefecture, doctors put out of business for diagnosing radiation sickness, and the conflicting pressure by the government for evacuees to reunite with family within the Fukushima Prefecture and make Fukushima a home again. 

In the third installment of Fairewinds’ Japan Speaking Tour Series, Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen recounts his visit to a resettlement community of displaced refugees from the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi. Meeting with 22 women, ages 17 to 60, Arnie is the first person who has met with them to talk about the effects of radiation during the 5-years that they have been evacuees. Nuclear industry reports from TEPCO and the local newspaper have been the only information available to the isolated groups of victims from the atomic disaster.

In our second installation of the Japan Speaking Tour Series, Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen visits Fukushima Prefecture (Japan state) and shares his sobering observations with the Fairewinds Crew. Currently in Japan presenting to groups and organizations throughout the country, Arnie visited the modern ghost towns, abandoned houses, and far stretching roads lined with plastic bags of radioactive garbage that have replaced the once bustling neighborhoods and cities of Fukushima.