Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Formation	1978
Headquarters	Takoma Park, MD, United States
Exec. Dir.	Michael Mariotte
Website	http://www.nirs.org

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is an anti-nuclear group founded in 1978 to be the information and networking center for citizens and organizations concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy issues. The organization advocates the implementation of safe, sustainable solutions such as energy efficiency, solar power, wind power and plug-in hybrids.

As of 2007, NIRS claims to initiate "large-scale organizing and public education campaigns on specific issues,"^[1] such as to "bring technical expertise and strategic sense to grassroots environmental groups."

In 2000, NIRS' affiliation with World Information Service on Energy (WISE) turned it into an international organization (NIRS/WISE).^[1]

The magazine Nuclear Engineering International has said that it runs easily the best website on uranium mining throughout the world.^[2]

Anti-nuclear movement

By country
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Lists
Anti-nuclear advocates Anti-nuclear groups Protests by country

Issue stances

Some of the policies endorsed by NIRS include strict controls on nuclear waste disposal, bans on nuclear weapons and new power plants. NIRS is opposed to ineffective nuclear waste reprocessing, unsafe transportation of nuclear waste, and the implementation of large-scale nuclear waste repositories like Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. NIRS also does not view nuclear energy as a remedy for climate change.

International offices

NIRS and WISE have merged their operations and WISE has relay offices in Amsterdam, Argentina, Austria, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, and the Ukraine.^[3] The bi-weekly WISE News Communique merged with the NIRS Nuclear Monitor and covers the resistance movements working against nuclear power worldwide as well as chronicling the failings of the industry. Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian versions of this newsletter are also printed.

Michael Mariotte (1952-2016) was president and executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service for 30 years. He was a well-known opponent of nuclear power and organised anti-nuclear activities in Europe after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Mariotte was a keen supporter of renewable energy and efficient energy use. He believed that nuclear power would become obsolete, to be replaced by clean energy sources.^[4]

Press

On 15 May 2007, NIRS issued a report claiming that radioactive scrap, concrete, equipment, asphalt, plastic, wood, chemicals, and soil from U.S. nuclear weapons facilities are being released to regular landfills and could get into commercial recycling streams."^[5]

On 3 August 2004, NIRS issued a report stating that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission may allow the illegal practice of manually shutting down nuclear power plants in the event of fire.^[6]

On 17 July 2007, regarding the leakage of water from the spent fuel pool of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant after the 2007 Niigata earthquake, Michael Mariotte, spoke on behalf of the NIRS and commented "The leak itself doesn't sound significant as of yet, but the fact that it went unreported is a concern, when a company begins by denying a problem, it makes you wonder if there's another shoe to drop."^[7]

In October 2010, Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, predicted that the U.S. nuclear industry will not experience a nuclear renaissance, for the simple reason that “nuclear reactors make no economic sense”. The economic slump has driven down electricity demand and the price of competing energy sources, and Congress has failed to pass climate change legislation, making nuclear economics very difficult.^[8]

Famous supporters

NIRS counts the following celebrities among its supporters:^[1]

References

1 2 3 About NIRS
↑ Nuclear Engineering International. Public opinion: how do we get it on our side?. 21 January 2008.
↑
↑ Sam Roberts, Michael Mariotte, a Leading anti-nuclear activist, dies at 63 New York Times, May 23, 2016.
↑ U.S. Allows Radioactive Materials in Ordinary Landfills
↑ Manual Shutdown of U.S. Reactors on Fire May Be Allowed
↑ Japan Quake Kills At Least 9; Nuclear Plant Damaged
↑ Matthew L. Wald. Sluggish Economy Curtails Prospects for Building Nuclear Reactors, The New York Times, October 10, 2010.

External links

Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)
World Information Service on Energy (WISE)
Beyond Nuclear
"The world's worst nuclear power disasters". Power Technology. 7 October 2013.

Anti-nuclear movement in the United States

General	Anti-nuclear groups in the US California movement Great Peace March Nuclear history of the United States Nuclear power in the US Canceled nuclear plants in the US Nuclear weapons and the US Protests in the US Anti-nuclear advocates in the US

Organizations and groups	Abalone Alliance Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility Clamshell Alliance Committee for Nuclear Responsibility Corporate Accountability International Critical Mass Energy Project Friends of the Earth Greenpeace USA Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Mothers for Peace Musicians United for Safe Energy Nevada Desert Experience Nuclear Control Institute Nuclear Information and Resource Service Physicians for Social Responsibility Plowshares Movement Public Citizen Shad Alliance Sierra Club Three Mile Island Alert Women Strike for Peace

People	Daniel Berrigan William J. Bichsel Larry Bogart Pierce Brosnan Helen Caldicott Barry Commoner Frances Crowe Carrie Barefoot Dickerson Paul M. Doty Jane Fonda Randall Forsberg John Gofman Paul Gunter John Hall Jackie Hudson Sam Lovejoy Amory Lovins Gregory Minor Hermann Joseph Muller Ralph Nader Graham Nash Linus Pauling Eugene Rabinowitch Phil Radford Bonnie Raitt Martin Sheen Karen Silkwood Thomas Louis Vitale Harvey Wasserman Victor Weisskopf

Main protest sites	Black Fox Bodega Bay Diablo Canyon Indian Point Lawrence Livermore Montague Naval Base Kitsap Nevada Test Site Rancho Seco Rocky Flats San Onofre Seabrook Shoreham Three Mile Island Trojan Vermont Yankee White House Peace Vigil Y-12 Weapons Plant Yankee Rowe

Books	Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978 The Cult of the Atom The Doomsday Machine (book) Fallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy Killing Our Own Licensed to Kill? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Shoreham Power Plant Making a Real Killing: Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West Nuclear Implosions: The Rise and Fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System Nuclear Politics in America We Almost Lost Detroit

Films	Atomic Ed and the Black Hole The China Syndrome Countdown to Zero Dark Circle Nuclear Tipping Point Silkwood

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