 | |
| Formation | 1978; 48 years ago (1978) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Takoma Park,MD, United States |
Exec. Dir. | Tim Judson |
| Website | Official website |
TheNuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profitanti-nuclear group founded in 1978. Its mission is to be an information and networking center for citizens and organizations concerned aboutnuclear power,radioactive waste,radiation andsustainable energy issues. The organization advocates forenergy efficiency,solar power,wind power andplug-in hybrids.[citation needed]
In 2000, NIRS' affiliation withWorld Information Service on Energy (WISE) turned it into an international organization (NIRS/WISE).[1]
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NIRS and WISE have merged their operations and WISE has relay offices inAmsterdam,Argentina,Austria,the Czech Republic,India,Japan,Russia,Slovakia,South Africa,Sweden, andUkraine.[2]
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 ofnuclear power and organizedanti-nuclear activities in Europe after the 1986Chernobyl disaster. Mariotte was a keen supporter ofrenewable energy andefficient energy use. He believed that nuclear power would become obsolete, to be replaced by renewable energy sources.[3]
On 3 August 2004, NIRS issued a report stating that theU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission may allow the illegal practice of manually shutting down nuclear power plants in the event of fire.[4]
On 15 May 2007, NIRS issued a report claiming thatradioactive scrap, concrete, equipment, asphalt, plastic, wood, chemicals, and soil fromU.S. nuclear weapons facilities are being released to regularlandfills and could get into commercial recycling streams."[5]
On 17 July 2007, regarding the leakage of water from the spent fuel pool of theKashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant after the2007 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."[6]
The magazineNuclear Engineering International has said that NIRS runs the best website onuranium mining throughout the world.[7]
In October 2010, Michael Mariotte, then the executive director of NIRS, predicted that theU.S. nuclear industry will not experience anuclear 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, makingnuclear economics very difficult.[8]
Critics accuse NIRS of fearmongering and question the qualifications of NIRS staff to adequately assess the safety of nuclear energy. No NIRS staff member is credited with formal training innuclear physics orengineering.[9]
In a 2008 response to NIRS claims appearing on the website palmbeachpost.com,[10] David Bradish of theNuclear Energy Institute challenged a contention of NIRS Southeast Office Director Mary Olson that "A nuclear power plant takes so much water and energy to build, it has to run for 15 years to offset itscarbon footprint." Citing data from theWorld Nuclear Association, Bradish argues "it is reasonable to say a nuclear plant takes about one year to offset its energy consumption from its other stages." At a 2006 talk before theUnited Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Olson claimed that when full-lifecycle emissions are included "the release ofcarbon dioxide (CO2) as the result of making electricity from uranium is comparable toburning natural gas to make electric power."[11]