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Articles by Edwin Lyman
Atom-Wettlauf im All: USA, Russland und China wollen Reaktoren auf den Mond
Der Wettlauf um den Mond bekommt eine nukleare Dimension: Die USA auf der einen, Russland und China auf der anderen Seite wollen auf dem Erdtrabanten Atomreaktoren errichten. Das berichtet die „New York Times“, die dafür unter anderem in Wien recherchiert hat, wo das UN-Büro für Weltraumfragen seinen Sitz hat. Führende Wissenschaftler warnen vor erheblichen Risiken.
What Are the Alternatives to Diesel Backup Generators at Data Centers?
The loud drone of a backup generator is a familiar sound to most people. The power goes out and within seconds you can hear generators—usually diesel—in the neighborhood kicking on. Backup generators support critical services in the case of power outages. Hospitals, fire stations, folks with medical needs, and others rely on backup generation to keep the power running for important and lifesaving purposes. Another entity that also heavily relies on backup generation is data centers.
The NRC is Regulating Nuclear Security like it’s September 10, 2001—And We Should All Be Concerned
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was preparing to leave my Washington, DC apartment for an appointment when the phone rang. It was just after 9 AM. On the line was my boss at the time, Paul Leventhal, president of the Nuclear Control Institute, a tiny DC nonprofit focused on preventing nuclear and radiological terrorism. “Turn on the TV,” he said. Video of United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center—the second tower to be attacked—filled the screen.
New Records Set in the Renewable Energy Marathon
Last weekend at the London Marathon, Sebastian Sawe delivered the world’s first-ever official sub-two hour time. I’m a clean energy nerd and a wannabe runner; his performance was truly stunning and awe-inspiring. It also got me thinking about another marathon: the race to clean and renewable energy, which has also broken record after record recently. At a time when good news is harder to find, all of these milestones are well worth celebrating.
Op-Ed: Reprocessing San Onofre’s nuclear waste is a risky bet
In December, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to explore sending the nuclear waste from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a Department of Energy facility — currently nonexistent — for “reprocessing,” an industrial process that dissolves the waste and separates it into different components. This waste — immensely radioactive spent uranium fuel rods — is now stored at the site of the former nuclear reactor, a mere 100 feet from the ocean and 18 inches above groundwater.
Opinion: Reprocessing San Onofre’s nuclear waste a risky bet
A decades-old conversation about what to do with the nuclear waste at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is now getting the attention it deserves. Last December, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to explore sending spent fuel from San Onofre to a national laboratory for reprocessing. Our organization raised concerns at the time. Now, the county’s own staff has reached the same conclusion.
Opinion: Why reprocessing San Onofre’s nuclear waste is a bad idea
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... In December, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to explore sending the nuclear waste from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a Department of Energy facility — currently nonexistent — for “reprocessing,” an industrial process that dissolves the waste and separates it into different components.
Declassified cable reinforces proliferation concerns about high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel (HALEU)
Declassified cable reinforces proliferation concerns about high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel (HALEU) in 1977, the US government recommended to the IAEA that, contrary to its previous position, the agency should consider enriched uranium in the HALEU range to be a material “of direct utility in an … explosive device.” That is, the United States advised that HALEU should be treated similarly to HEU and be subject to stricter safeguards Bulletin, By Edwin Lyman | November 7, 2025 A recently...
Trump attacks on NRC independence pose health, safety risks
Edwin Lyman is director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The NRC’s new Mission Impossible: Making Atoms Great Again
The NRC’s new Mission Impossible: Making Atoms Great Again If the NRC complies with them and reduces itself to a rubber-stamp, the public will be increasingly at risk. Perhaps recognizing that this NRC “reform” will likely render the agency non-functional for the foreseeable future, the administration hedged its bets by issuing two other orders that would bypass NRC licensing altogether.
Trump’s “wins” on nuclear power are losses for taxpayers and public safety
Trump’s “wins” on nuclear power are losses for taxpayers and public safety Many in the industry expected President Trump to be an even bigger booster of nuclear power than his predecessor. They must now be confused by the mixed signals coming out of the new administration. To really “unleash” nuclear power, far greater subsidies would be required. But this is not looking too likely in the current frenetic cost-cutting environment.
Opinion: Be wary of new 'smaller' kinds of nuclear power plants Original
Many Midwest states have ambitious clean energy goals that can bring significant economic investment to the region, as well as important public health and environmental benefits. Yet as President Donald Trump seeks to undermine public health and pollution protections and claw back federal funding for clean energy for the benefit of fossil fuel companies, states and utilities pursuing clean energy solutions are increasingly facing an uneven playing field.
Opinion: Conflicts of interest surrounding nuclear laws could undermine US safety
The House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on nuclear regulatory legislation that once again would put the proverbial fox in charge of the henhouse. Nearly 50 years ago, Congress passed the Energy Reorganization Act and took an axe to the Atomic Energy Commission, the secretive federal agency created after the World War II-era Manhattan Project to develop and control military and civilian nuclear technology. The AEC was formerly led by Lewis Strauss, the antagonist to J.
Conflicts of interest surrounding nuclear laws could undermine US safety
The House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on nuclear regulatory legislation that once again would put the proverbial fox in charge of the henhouse. Nearly 50 years ago, Congress passed the Energy Reorganization Act and took an axe to the Atomic Energy Commission, the secretive federal agency created after the World War II-era Manhattan Project to develop and control military and civilian nuclear technology. The AEC was formerly led by Lewis Strauss, the antagonist to J.
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Risky Rule Change Ignores History. More Nuclear Emergency Planning Needed, Not Less. - Global Research
All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name. To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here. Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
The misguided push to weaken nuclear safety standards is gaining steam Original
Imagine a future where experimental nuclear reactors are scattered across the U.S. landscape like so many Starbucks, in densely populated and rural areas alike.
One year later, new dangers threaten Ukraine’s embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant sits on the bank of the Kakhovka reservoir in the Dnipro river. Nearly a year after Russia’s March 4, 2022 seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, the facility remains in a precarious state. The site has endured fire, structural damage, and five temporary losses of all offsite power as the result of shelling, and the grid connection remains fragile.
Fukushima Nightmare in the US! Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant: assessing the Seismic Risks of Extended Operation
On the cover image the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in Central California. Photo credit: marya from San Luis Obispo, USA via Wikimedia Commons by Edwin Lyman Originally published on Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Edwin Lyman is the Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He earned a PhD in physics from Cornell University in 1992. He is a co-author (with David Lochbaum and Susan Q.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant: assessing the seismic risks of extended operation
In 2016, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced a historic agreement with labor and environmental groups to shut down the two-unit Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California by 2025 and replace its roughly 2,200 megawatts of electricity with low- and zero-carbon renewable energy, energy efficiency, and storage.
Opinion | Russian Invasion Threatens All Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plants
Opinion | Russian Invasion Threatens All Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plants | Edwin Lyman
It's time to cancel the Versatile Test Reactor
In February 2019, at the direction of Congress, then-Energy Secretary Rick PerryRick PerryFormer Texas Supreme Court justice jumps into state's AG Republican primary race Texas governor signs 'fetal heartbeat' abortion bill Tomorrow's special election in Texas is the Democrats' best House hope in 2021 MORE launched a project to build a nuclear test reactor to enable researchers to “conduct crucial advanced [nuclear power] technology and materials testing within the United States in a safe,...
Fukushima 10 years later: It still could happen here
IAEA Experts at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Credit: IAEA Imagebank via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0. On March 11, 2011, 10 years ago this week, a massive earthquake and tsunami flooding triggered a power blackout at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, causing three reactors to melt down and release massive amounts of radioactive material. Last summer, an aging nuclear reactor several miles outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa came uncomfortably close to experiencing a similar fate.
Puerto Rico’s Climate-Resilient Energy Infrastructure Should Be Focused on Renewables, Not Unproven and Risky Nuclear Technologies
By Juan Declet-Barreto, Edwin Lyman, and Paula García, Union of Concerned Scientists In the aftermath of Hurricane María, Puerto Rico is considering many alternatives to fossil fuels to rebuild its climate- and disaster-resilient electricity infrastructure, including renewable wind and solar energy and small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
Aging nuclear plants, industry cost-cutting, and reduced safety oversight: a dangerous mix
NRC Commissioner Annie Caputo visits Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, June 2019. Credit: NRC After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) set up a task force to assess whether there were deficiencies in its oversight of nuclear reactor safety. The task force came back with twelve major areas for improvement.
The Pentagon wants to boldly go where no nuclear reactor has gone before. It won’t work. - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Two experimental mobile nuclear reactor designs, a half-century apart: Los Alamos National Laboratory’s “Megapower” new mobile nuclear reactor concept and the 1960s ML-1 army reactor. In January, the Defense Department issued a call for information in support of the aptly titled Project Dilithium.
The current US negotiating strategy with North Korea is doomed
US negotiations with North Korea over the latter’s nuclear weapons program appear to have hit a major roadblock. While North Korea has temporarily suspended nuclear and missile testing and partially destroyed its nuclear test site, both steps are reversible, and North Korea has largely balked at US President Donald Trump’s demand for “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.” Consequently, negotiations with Pyongyang may be on the verge of breakdown.
Character is Destiny Pictures
The Singapore summit was a kind of claustrophobic simulacrum of an international summit. Shuffling between rooms and crowding around little garden paths and balconies, neither Donald Trump nor Kim Jong-un appeared to really know what they were doing there (for real or not—at one point, both delegations genuinely looked like they were locked out of the building).
Sen. Graham, ditch South Carolina's failed nuclear waste project
As Halloween approaches, Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamDurbin: I had 'nothing to do' with Curbelo snub Republicans jockey for position on immigration Overnight Health Care: House passes 20-week abortion ban | GOP gives ground over ObamaCare fix | Price exit sets off speculation over replacement MORE (R-S.C.) appears to be running for the title of Senate chief necromancer. Last month, he failed to resurrect a zombie Obamacare repeal bill.
Our reactors still vulnerable, a year after Fukushima
A year after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is at a crossroads. Many of the agency's proposals to ensure such a calamity doesn't happen here are good in principle, but their effectiveness will depend on how well they are executed and how quickly.
Nuclear safety regulation in the post-Fukushima era
The March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident prompted regulators around the world to take a hard look at their requirements for protecting nuclear plants against severe accidents. In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ordered a “top-to-bottom” review of its regulations, and ultimately approved a number of safety upgrades.
Hanford mishap should be wake-up call
The near-disaster last week at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, where the U.S. once produced much of the plutonium for its nuclear weapons, should be a wake-up call for Energy Secretary Rick Perry. DOE declared a site-wide emergency May 9 when workers discovered a 400-square-foot sinkhole over a 1960s tunnel crammed with railcars of nuclear waste, ordering thousands of workers to shelter in place.
Indian Point nuclear plant may be poorly managed
It does not appear that the tritium leak at Indian Point poses a significant offsite health hazard. But there’s no excuse for complacency around the reoccurrence of extremely high levels of tritium in monitoring wells at the site. Reports that the tritium leak was caused by human error after an overflowing drain and a broken pump may indicate more serious management problems at the nuclear plant.
Scientist: Film hypes the promise of advanced nuclear technology
01:10 - Source: CNN Is nuclear power really that bad? Story highlights Scientist: "Pandora's Promise" offers "half-truths" promoting integral fast reactors Government: IFRs cut "barriers to theft, misuse" of plutonium, which is used for weapons Film falsely says IFRs can't melt down, says Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists Editor’s Note: Edwin Lyman, a physicist, is a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.
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