WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
JOIN  IN  AN INTERNATIONAL  DAY  OF  ACTION  TOWARDS 
ENDING  THE PRODUCTION  OF  MORE  RADIOACTIVE  WASTE!

Dear Friends,
Truly, the only solution to the "nuclear waste problem" is to stop making more of it!

Nuclear energy production is the number one producer of new radioactivity on Earth, followed by nuclear weapons production.  Join us in sending a message: NO MORE!

That's the message of International Radioactive Waste Action Day. In some places, there will be protests and other events. In Canada, for example, dozens of activists will be participating in key public hearings on the proposed transport of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes to Sweden for "recycling" into consumer goods. In Australia, an effort will even be made in Parliament to officially declare the day!

We've come up with two easy and fun ways for everyone to participate, whether there's an action in your town or not.

First, send a message to the US Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future here.

Second, here's an easy way to take a stand and show you care: just go here to download and print any of five signs we've made (or make a sign of your own!). Have a friend take a photo of you holding the sign. Then, take a pic of your friend holding the sign. Send the photos of you and as many friends as you can back to us at nirsnet@nirs.org.

We're going to post all the photos online, and begin making a photo petition to be presented to the Blue Ribbon Commission in the new year.

The Blue Ribbon Commission will be able to not only read our words, but to see our faces too--it's a great way of showing that this is about real people with real concerns.

WHY DO THESE SMALL ACTIONS MATTER?
Grassroots activists working together have changed the course of nuclear history:

*We organized campaigns that resulted in state laws and ultimately a federal law that repealed a re-use and "recycle" policy for radioactive waste known then as "Below Regulatory Concern;"

*We have won important lawsuits, including on the radiation standards for repositories, on environmental impact statements for new nuclear weapons factories and countless others;

*We have stopped legislation repeatedly--including changes to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act that would have started Mobile Chernobyl (the name we coined for the large scale shipment of irradiated nuclear fuel)--as well as helped to stop the centralization of this waste on Native Lands;

*We have helped stop the construction of nuclear power reactors, the closure of nuclear weapons production sites, reprocessing sites and helped to shut down operating reactors.

When we stand together we do a lot. Truth is, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future is mandated by the Department of Energy to help the continued production of more radioactive waste. It was formed when President Obama decided to end the scientifically-indefensible Yucca Mountain site. And the report that this body issues in the next year is likely to lead to new legislative action on nuclear waste policy.

But Yucca is not completely dead yet: House Minority Leader John Boehner has promised it will rise again if the Republicans gain control of Congress this November.

And the Blue Ribbon Commission itself is dominated by nuclear advocates interested primarily in keeping the nuclear industry viable--not in finding real solutions for the radioactive waste problem.

So the Commission needs to hear from all of us.

Send your message to the Blue Ribbon Commission today. Ask your friends to send a message too!

Then, download and print a poster and take a picture of yourself and your friends. Send the photos back to us at nirsnet@nirs.org for posting online and begin creating a giant photo petition!

And, if you're employed (and we know too many of you are not!), please consider joining our paperless Fall fundraiser with a secure, tax-deductible contribution of any size here. Or send your check to NIRS, 6930 Carroll Avenue, #340, Takoma Park, MD 20912 and help us continue and expand our outreach efforts on behalf of all citizens of this planet.

Thanks for all you do,

Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
www.nirs.org

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