Several experts on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (which took place 25 years ago on April 26) are in the U.S. and currently available for a limited number of interviews.

ALEXEY V. YABLOKOV, JANETTE D. SHERMAN, MD
Yablokov is senior co-author and Sherman is consulting editor of Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, published by the New York Academy of Sciences in 2009. The book is the most in-depth study of the Chernobyl disaster. They said today: “It is possible for the Fukushima nuclear problem to be much worse then Chernobyl for the following reasons: There was about 30 tons of nuclear fuel at Chernobyl, while there is close to 60 tons at Fukushima. There is the additional [factor] of MOX fuel at Fukushima. There are many more people at Fukushima and a much more dense population in that part of Japan. We still don’t know the final outcome.” They warn that the risks of contamination to much of the northern hemisphere is still real.

Yablokov is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Sherman, a specialist in internal medicine and toxicology who is based in the U.S., wrote the piece “Chernobyl, 25 Years Later” a week before the recent disaster in Japan. Her other books include Life’s Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer.

NATALIYA MANZUROVA
Manzurova is one of the few survivors involved directly in the liquidation process at Chernobyl. In a recent interview, she said her advice to people in Japan was “Run away as quickly as possible. Don’t wait. Save yourself and don’t rely on the government because the government lies. They don’t want you to know the truth because the nuclear industry is so powerful.” http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/22/chernobyl-cleanup-survivors-message-for-japan-run-away-as-qui

NATALIA MIRONOVA
Mironova is founder of the Movement for Nuclear Safety and was one of the first organizers to press for government openness on pre-Chernobyl nuclear catastrophes. Through her work in the regional parliament, she made public information on the 500,000 victims affected by the activities of the first plutonium production in Russia and on the catastrophes in the Mayak plutonium production plant.

TATIANA MUCHAMEDYAROVA
Muchamedyarova has a member of the Movement for Nuclear Safety since 1992, she has worked with Russian and foreign journalists to cover the fate of the victims of radiation exposure. She took part in U.S.-Russia negotiations on nuclear issues and participated in international conferences against atomic bombs in Japan to draw attention to the victims of nuclear production.

Manzurova, Mironova  and Muchamedyarova are featured in a recent segment on New England Cable News, as they just visited Vermont, where the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently backed a license extension of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, which, like the Fukushima facility, is a GE Mark 1 reactor.

Interviews with the above experts and analysts can be arranged via the group Beyond Nuclear, which is organizing a speaking tour: Cindy Folkers, Linda Gunter

Full Beyond Nuclear news release

The Russian analysts will be speaking at a press conference at the The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Friday at 9:30 a.m.; contact: Friends of the Earth, Kelly Trout

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Bloomberg reports today: “The Obama administration will press ahead with efforts to expand loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors while investigating the failure of Japan’s power plants after an earthquake, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.”

NORMAN SOLOMON
Available for a limited number of interviews, Solomon is president of the Institute for Public Accuracy and a senior fellow at the new group RootsAction. He recently wrote the piece “Nuclear Power Madness,” which states: “Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever.” Solomon’s books include Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience With Atomic Radiation (co-authored with Harvey Wasserman). He is also former director of the landmark National Citizens Hearings for Radiation Victims held in Washington, D.C. in 1980.

LLOYD DUMAS
Dumas is professor of political economy, economics and public policy at the University of Texas at Dallas. Formerly a professor of engineering at Columbia University, he is an expert on technological disaster. His most recent book is The Technology Trap. Dumas just wrote the piece “Shadow Elite: ‘Safe’ Nuclear Power? No Such Thing.”

TYSON SLOCUM
Slocum is director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, which recently issued a statement: “Despite the assurances of our elected officials and the industry, there is no way to guarantee the public’s safety when a natural disaster or terrorism strikes commercial reactors. The Japanese are arguably the best prepared to deal with earthquakes, yet they failed to adequately plan for the impact of a tsunami. This demonstrates the difficulty in planning for both the ‘known unknowns’ and ‘unknown unknowns’ that impact nuclear reactors from natural disaster and terrorism. There are alternatives. Had Japan invested in rooftop solar and wind turbines to the degree it spent maintaining and building nuclear reactors, the country wouldn’t be grappling with the potential of a full-scale nuclear meltdown.

“U.S. policymakers should watch events in Japan closely and understand the implications to public safety of committing U.S. taxpayer resources to building new nuclear plants. We call on the federal government to do the following:

1) Immediately stop activity relating to re-licensing aging U.S. reactors;
2) Halt all activity geared toward building new reactors; and
3) End federal subsidies — such as loan guarantees — for commercial nuclear power, which total $500 billion to date.

“Instead, the U.S. should focus on developing wind power and assisting families in the installation of rooftop solar systems.”

CHRIS WILLIAMS
Williams just wrote the piece “The Risks of Nuclear Roulette,” which states: “Sentiment in this country remains solidly anti-nuclear. A recent poll in the Wall Street Journal showed that three-quarters of Americans back the elimination of tax credit for oil and gas companies to reduce the federal deficit, and 57 percent deem it ‘mostly’ or ‘totally’ acceptable to ‘significantly cut’ subsidies to new nuclear power plants. This is in direct contrast to President Barack Obama’s offer of new loan guarantees to the nuclear industry.”

Williams is author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis and is a professor of physics and chemistry at Pace University.

More resources: commondreams.org/japan-earthquake

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

AP is reporting: “Japan ordered thousands of residents near a northeastern nuclear power plant to evacuate today following a massive earthquake that caused a problem in the plant’s cooling system.”

KEVIN KAMPS
Kamps is a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear. Last year he was in Japan assessing the state of nuclear facilities there. He said today: “The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.

“In addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the pool’s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.”

ROBERT ALVAREZ
Alvarez is a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Energy and now a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies.

HARVEY WASSERMAN, nukefree.org
Wasserman is author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth, AD 2030 (which includes an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.).

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167