Paul Gunter Wins Prestigious Jane Bagley Lehman Award

1/25/08

Paul Gunter Wins Prestigious Jane Bagley Lehman Award

Photo: ©Lionel Delevingne / TVS 1976 Paul G. center track ...

For Immediate Release: January 25, 2008
Contact: Linda Gunter, 301.455.5655

Paul Gunter Wins Prestigious Jane Bagley Lehman Award
Gunter, Makhijani and Carroll recognized by Tides Foundation for anti-nuclear work

Takoma Park, MD – Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear, whose service to the cause of anti-nuclear activism spans three decades, has been named a recipient of the prestigious Jane Bagley Lehman (JBL) Award. Ms. Bagley Lehman was a founder of the Tides Foundation which will present the award in March.

Gunter joins fellow award winners – physicist Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, and Georgia activist, Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South.

The JBL awards seek to recognize individuals who have exhibited a deep commitment to the public interest and whose work demonstrates innovative approaches to social change. The 2007 awards specifically sought individuals whose anti-nuclear work reaches wide audiences and successfully bridges the gap between grassroots activists and decision-makers.

“It’s an honor to be recognized and I truly appreciate the support I received from my fellow activists, all of whom deserve to share this award,” Gunter said. “I especially appreciate the decision of the Tides Foundation to recognize the importance of this issue today. We face a tsunami of well-funded propaganda from the nuclear power industry, all of it misleading and counter-productive to addressing climate change. The Tides Foundation has done enormous service in shining a spotlight not only on the contribution of three individuals but on all the incredible work that this movement, collectively, has contributed over the decades.”

Gunter began his anti-nuclear activism in the 1970s as co-founder of the country’s first opposition movement to nuclear power – the Clamshell Alliance – which fought construction of the Seabrook reactor in New Hampshire. Since then he has developed expertise as a meticulous watchdog over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, exposing the agency’s persistent prioritizing of industry profit margins over public safety.

Jane Bagley Lehman co-founded the Tides Foundation in 1976 and was the Chair of the Board until her death in 1988.

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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. Beyond Nuclear staff can be reached at: 301.270.2209. Or view our Web site at: www.beyondnuclear.org

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Ten Reasons To Say No To Nuclear Power

1. Climate change is underway. Renewable energy can be brought online faster, more cheaply and more safely than nuclear power. 2. Reactors are sitting-duck targets and are not even defended to the ferocity of the 9/11 attacks. 3. Nuclear power is not emissions-free. Reactors routinely release radioactivity and use fossil fuels at every step from uranium mining to waste storage. 4. Building more reactors in the U.S. sends the wrong message abroad. Commercial nuclear technology inevitably leads to nuclear weapons capability. 5. The Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive dump is unsound and even if opened could not accommodate all wastes if generation continues. 6. Evacuation plans are unrealistic. Hurricane Katrina taught us that a mass evacuation during a serious radiological release would be a chaotic catastrophe. 7. A typical 1000 megawatt nuclear reactor produces enough plutonium each year to make 40 atomic bombs, an unacceptable risk. 8. New and old reactors are most prone to break down. U.S. reactors are old. New ones increase the risk of accident. 9. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission—mandated to watchdog the nuclear industry – chooses to protect industry profit over public health and safety. 10. The most defenseless are at the greatest risk—children, the elderly, minorities, the poor and animals—at every phase of the nuclear fuel chain. Ten Brighter Ideas 1. If every U.S. household installed one compact fluorescent light bulb, the power savings would equal the power produced by one nuclear reactor. 1=1! 2. Twenty compact fluorescents in every U.S. home could displace at least 25% of U.S. nuclear reactors. 3. Updated lighting, appliances, heating, cooling and other electrical systems can save more energy than all 103 U.S. reactors produce annually. 4. Cost-effective energy efficiency measures for homes and businesses can save at least 20% of electricity use. 5. Turning off and unplugging electrical equipment not in use and line-drying clothes seem like small measures but can make a big difference. 6. Homeowners and renters alike can choose to buy green power instead of nuclear generated electricity. 7. Properly sealing and insulating your home can save 25%-40% of building heat loss. 8. Renewable energy sources can meet 25% of U.S. energy needs by 2025. 9. Shifting to locally-generated electricity avoids waste, reduces brownouts and blackouts, increases efficiency of service and creates jobs. 10. Every dollar spent on nuclear power instead of fossil fuels results in releasing six times more carbon than if the same dollar is spent on efficiency. www.nirs.org 301.270.6477

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1/25/08