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For Immediate Release
March, 08 2012, 08:03am EDT
Contact:
Linda Gunter, Media Director, 301.270.2209 (o)
Hundreds of Events Globally Will Mark One-Year Commemoration of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Beyond Nuclear spokespeople available for comment
TAKOMA PARK, Md.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the world will be involved in actions around the March 11 commemoration of the Fukushima, Japan nuclear disaster which began on that date a year ago. Events will be going on throughout the month of March and into April.
Beyond Nuclear has put together a Global Calendar of Events, which is frequently updated on it March Against Nuclear Madness Facebook page. Please review the calendar for an event in your market.
"This is an unprecedented response to a catastrophe that is not yet over and may sadly resonate forever," said Linda Gunter, international specialist at Beyond Nuclear. "We are learning more on a daily basis - about the degree of cover-up, the level of radioactive contamination and the dangers still posed by the wrecked reactors and teetering high-level radioactive waste storage pools at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site."
Beyond Nuclear's atomic energy specialists are available to the media and can be contacted via email or phone. Please contact Linda Gunter, or the experts directly.
Paul Gunter, reactor specialist: 301.523.0201 (c) or paul@beyondnuclear.org
Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist: 240.462.3216 (c) or kevin@beyondnuclear.org
Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist, 240.354.4314 (c) or cindy@beyondnuclear.org
Linda Gunter, international specialist, 301.455.5655 or linda@beyondnuclear.org
In April, Beyond Nuclear launched a Freeze our Fukushimas campaign to shut down the 23 GE Mark I Boiling Water reactors currently operating in the US that are the same design as those still in crisis at Fukushima. On March 11, Beyond Nuclear radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps will be in Michigan, home to the country's largest Mark I reactor - Fermi 2. Paul Gunter, Beyond Nuclear's director of reactor oversight, will be in Syracuse, NY, addressing the fact that the nearby FitzPatrick Mark I reactor has never even made the one albeit inadequate safety retrofit required by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission - to install the hardened vent.
"Fukushima could not have provided a more dramatic or chilling example of why nuclear power is a dangerously flawed and aging industry whose time should never have come but which has definitely now passed," Gunter added. "Some world leaders have seen sense and are phasing out their nuclear programs or declining to expand them. This March - and on into April - the people's view will be heard as we see rallies, marches, demonstrations, occupations, concerts and many other events across the globe that remind us why nuclear power has to go."
Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.
(301) 270-2209LATEST NEWS
Analysis Shows Electric Bills Have Spiked 13% in Trump’s First Year—And His Own Policies Are to Blame
"Donald Trump and Republicans are accelerating their self-inflicted energy crisis with continued project cancellations."
Dec 16, 2025
Americans across the country are struggling to pay higher utility bills, and one clean energy advocacy group is pointing the finger squarely at President Donald Trump.
Climate Power last week released a new report that cited data from the US Energy Information Administration showing that Americans' electricity bills have risen by 13% since Trump took office in January, even though he pledged during the 2024 presidential campaign that he would "cut the price of energy and electricity in half" in his first year.
In reality, Climate Power says, the Trump administration's war on renewable energy projects has helped drive the cost of electricity up by blocking new sources of energy for the US electric grid.
"Trump and Republicans are accelerating their self-inflicted energy crisis with continued project cancellations," argues the report, blaming the administration's policies for hurting "projects that would have produced enough electricity to power the equivalent of 13 million homes."
In total, Climate Power estimates that "companies have canceled, delayed, lost grant funding, or laid off staff" at more than 320 clean energy projects during Trump's second term, resulting in the loss or delay of more than 165,000 new US jobs.
Texas, which has seen 26 clean energy projects negatively impacted this year, has been the biggest loser from Trump's war against renewables, according to the report.
The report also finds that "54% of canceled projects, 40% of delayed projects, and 44.9% of grant cancellations are located in congressional districts represented by Republicans," which means that the GOP is hurting its own constituents with its energy policies.
The cancellation of clean energy products also comes at a time when artificial intelligence data centers are devouring energy, thus putting more upward pressure on electricity prices.
David Spence, a professor of energy law and regulation at the University of Texas, told ABC News on Monday that demand for power is now exceeding supply "by a lot," and he cited factors including data centers, cryptocurrency mining, and electric cars as key factors.
"We're just not able to bring new supply on as quickly as demand is growing, and that's driving prices up," Spence explained.
The Climate Power report builds on findings released by Democratic US senators in October estimating that US electric bills had gone up by 11% since Trump's return to office.
Like Climate Power, the Democratic senators cited Trump's attacks on clean energy as a key factor driving up costs.
"Your administration has no explanations for its failures and no answers for American families that are hit hard by high energy costs, and it continues to actively pursue policies to make this cost crisis worse," wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at the time.
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‘Extraordinary Abuse of Power’: Mark Kelly Rebukes Hegseth Probe Over Illegal Orders Video
"It should send a shiver down the spine of every patriotic American that this president and secretary of defense would so corruptly abuse their power to come after me or anyone this way," said the senator.
Dec 16, 2025
US Sen. Mark Kelly on Monday emphasized that comments he made in a video last month referred to principles that "every service member is taught" in the US military, when he responded to the news that the Pentagon was ramping up its investigation into the video and could take legal action against him.
The video in question was recorded with Kelly (D-Ariz.) and five other Democratic lawmakers who formerly served in the military and in national security, and the message was straightforward: As stated in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, active-duty service members must refuse to follow illegal orders.
But after eliciting threats of violence directly from President Donald Trump, that statement on Monday led the Pentagon to announce that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was "escalating" a review he previously opened into Kelly's conduct.
The probe was previously classified as a "review," but on Monday Hegseth launched an "official Command Investigation" involving the Pentagon general counsel's office.
The Washington Post called the investigation an "unprecedented use of the military justice system to investigate a political adversary."
In a video posted on social media, Kelly condemned the latest threat from the Department of Defense (DOD) as a "sham investigation."
"Now they are threatening everything I fought for and served for over 25 years in the US Navy, all because I repeated something every service member is taught," said Kelly. "It should send a shiver down the spine of every patriotic American that this president and secretary of defense would so corruptly abuse their power to come after me or anyone this way."
All six Democrats who took part in the video last month—who also included Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Reps. Chris Deluzio (Penn.), Maggie Goodlander (NH), Chrissy Houlahan (Md.), and Jason Crow (Colo.)—have been threatened by the White House since it was released. The president accused them of "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" and the FBI contacted the lawmakers for interviews.
But as the only retired military officer among them, Kelly is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and can be recalled to active duty, making him a particular target of Hegseth and Trump.
The lawmakers said they were driven to record the video after service members asked them about the legality of some of Trump's recent actions.
It was released several weeks into a military operation that legal experts have called a campaign of "extrajudicial killings," with Hegseth directing strikes on at least 25 boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and killing at least 95 people as of Tuesday. The White House has not publicly released evidence of its central claim that the boats are involved in drug trafficking.
Days after the video was posted online, NBC News reported that in August, a senior judge advocate general had raised concerns about the impending boat bombings, warning they could open service members up to legal liability.
Legal experts have warned that bombing boats suspected of ferrying drugs—rather than intercepting them and taking the passengers to court over this alleged crime—is illegal even if the vessels are involved in drug trafficking. Shortly after the video was released, alarm was further raised over the operation when it was reported that the military had killed survivors of an initial blast in the first boat strike on September 2.
Concerns over service members carrying out illegal orders were also raised at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, when Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) asked, "If Trump is using [terrorist designations] to use military force on any individuals he chooses—without verified evidence or legal authorization—what’s stopping him from designating anyone within our own borders in a similar fashion and conducting lethal, militarized attacks against them?”
General Gregory M. Guillot, commander of the US Northern Command, also told Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) at the hearing that he would execute an order to carry out an attack on a group the president has declared a domestic terror organization is the order was deemed "lawful."
Asked if he'd carry out an attack on a presidentially declared domestic terror org on US soil (e.g. Antifa), NORTHCOM Commander Gen. Guillot says he would - as long as it was lawful.
SENATOR REED: if the president declared an organization, a terrorist organization, or a DTO,… pic.twitter.com/vpxwq0SolK
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) December 13, 2025
Legal experts have denied that Kelly and the other lawmakers who warned service members against carrying out illegal orders.
On Monday, Kelly's attorney, Paul Fishman, told the Pentagon in a letter that any legal action against the senator taken by the DOD would be "unconstitutional and an extraordinary abuse of power.”
“If the executive branch were to move forward in any forum—criminal, disciplinary, or administrative—we will take all appropriate legal action on Sen. Kelly’s behalf," said Fishman, "to halt the administration’s unprecedented and dangerous overreach."
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'Horrible Scenes' in Gaza as Winter Storm Compounds Vicious Impacts of Israel's Genocidal Blockade
"This suffering is being manufactured by policy, not weather," said a humanitarian aid coordinator for Oxfam.
Dec 16, 2025
Makeshift tents billowing furiously in the wind. Children wading through ankle-high water. A young boy futilely beating back an oncoming wave with nothing but a broom.
These are just a few of the scenes that came out of Gaza in recent days as its population of nearly 2 million people was beset by heavy rainfall and punishing winds from Storm Byron, which hit late last week.
According to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Jerusalem, more than 1.3 million Palestinians in the territory are without proper shelter following more than two years of relentless Israeli bombing, which destroyed or damaged over 90% of housing units.
"The conditions are catastrophic, I must say," Jonathan Crickx, the chief of communication for the UN Children's Fund, told PBS News. "I've been in many, many tents in the past two days, and the tents are completely flooded. I met with tens of children. Their clothes are wet, the mattresses in the tents are completely soaked. And those children, they are cold."
At least three children, including two infants and a 9-year-old, died from hypothermia or cold exposure within a 24-hour period. Another five were crushed after a house sheltering displaced civilians collapsed due to the storm. As of Friday, at least 14 people were reported dead from the storm, and several more are injured, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security.
"Civilians are now wading through sewage, mud, and debris, with no proper shelter," said Bushra Khalidi, the policy lead for Oxfam in the occupied Palestinian territories. "This is not a failure of preparedness or capacity; it's the direct result of the systematic obstruction of aid."
"The Israeli authorities continue to block the entry of basic shelter materials, fuel, and water infrastructure, leaving people exposed to entirely preventable harm," Khalidi continued. "When access is denied, storms become deadly. This suffering is being manufactured by policy, not weather."
Under the terms of the "ceasefire" agreement signed between Israel and Hamas in October, Israel was required to allow more than 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza each day. But according to UN data published earlier this month, just 113 trucks per day on average have been allowed to enter the strip, less than a fifth of the agreed-upon amount.
The Rafah crossing, the largest entry point for aid, still remains almost totally closed after being opened briefly during the first week of the ceasefire. Israel said earlier this month that it may soon reopen the crossing, but only to allow for the exit of Palestinians.
"Without question, the Israelis and their persistent bureaucracy have prevented us from bringing in the necessary shelter that would provide adequate dwellings for the people living in Gaza," said Chris McIntosh, Oxfam's humanitarian response adviser in the territory.
In the crowded coastal area of al-Mawasi, he said, some residents have been left with little to protect themselves from the elements but blankets and flimsy tarpaulin.
"Obviously, a blanket is not going to do much against torrential downpours and winds that are at nearly gale force," he said. "The Israelis have not permitted these tents to enter the Gaza Strip, not for many months... The population is bracing for a very, very tragic situation right now."
Official estimates put the death toll in Gaza at more than 70,600 since October 7, 2023, including more than 300 who have been killed during the ceasefire period across hundreds of attacks by Israel in violation of the agreement. But other independent studies, which take indirect effects of the genocide, like malnutrition and disease, into account, place the death toll much higher.
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