A statewide physicians’ association, the publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine, says further decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station should be put on hold to wait for research into the public health consequences.

“U.S. leads coalition to triple nuclear power by 2050 in effort to address climate change,” was the headline of a December 4th CNBC article on activity at the UN conference called COP28 being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on the climate crisis.

The non-nuclear majority met in New York between 27 November and 1 December for the Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This coming together was not simply ‘non-nuclear’ but decidedly anti-nuclear in outlook and approach.

Major pledges on cutting new oil and gas production or the demand for fossil fuels have been thin on the ground at the COP28 summit in Dubai, as the nuclear lobby hovers on the sidelines and world leaders make big promises to use nuclear power as a future energy source.

Climate campaigners scoffed Saturday at a 22-nation pledge to triple nuclear power capacity by mid-century as a way to ward off the increasing damage of warming temperatures, with opponents calling it a costly and "dangerous" distraction from the urgent need for a fossil fuel phaseout alongside a rapid increase in more affordable and scaleable renewable sources such as wind and solar.

The Los Angeles Times reported today on the status of the San Onofre Nuclear facility. Demolition of the shuttered Nuke plant started in 2020 and to date about 60% of the radioactive materials have been removed. According to the Times “The vast majority of the plant’s material is labeled Class A waste, the lowest level of radioactive material. Most of the rubble goes by rail to a disposal facility in Clive, Utah. Class B and C low-level waste get sent to a site near the town of Andrews in West Texas. Non-radioactive material goes to Las Vegas for recycling or a landfill in Arizona.

While it may be difficult to see as drivers zoom past the two distinctive domes on the west side of Interstate 5, the dismantlement of the San Onofre nuclear power plant is more than 60 percent complete.