Nuclear Information and Resource Service

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is an anti-nuclear group founded in 1978 to be the information and networking center for citizens and organizations concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy issues. The organization advocates the implementation of safe, sustainable solutions such as energy efficiency, solar power, wind power and plug-in hybrids.

As of 2007, NIRS claims to initiate "large-scale organizing and public education campaigns on specific issues," such as to "bring technical expertise and strategic sense to grassroots environmental groups."

In 2000, NIRS' affiliation with World Information Service on Energy (WISE) turned it into an international organization (NIRS/WISE).

The magazine Nuclear Engineering International has said that it runs easily the best website on uranium mining throughout the world.

Issue stances
Some of the policies endorsed by NIRS include strict controls on nuclear waste disposal, bans on nuclear weapons and new power plants. NIRS is opposed to ineffective nuclear waste reprocessing, unsafe transportation of nuclear waste, and the implementation of large-scale nuclear waste repositories like Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. NIRS also does not view nuclear energy as a remedy for climate change.

International offices
NIRS and WISE have merged their operations and WISE has relay offices in Amsterdam, Argentina, Austria, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, and the Ukraine. The bi-weekly WISE News Communique merged with the NIRS Nuclear Monitor and covers the resistance movements working against nuclear power world wide as well as chronicling the failings of the industry. Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian versions of this newsletter are also printed.

Press
On 15 May 2007, NIRS issued a report claiming that radioactive scrap, concrete, equipment, asphalt, plastic, wood, chemicals, and soil from U.S. nuclear weapons facilities are being released to regular landfills and could get into commercial recycling streams."

On 3 August 2004, NIRS issued a report stating that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission may allow the illegal practice of manually shutting down nuclear power plants in the event of fire.

On 17 July 2007, regarding the leakage of water from the spent fuel pool of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant after the 2007 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."

In October 2010, Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, predicted that the U.S. nuclear industry will not experience a nuclear 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, making nuclear economics very difficult.

Famous supporters
NIRS counts the following celebrities among its supporters:


 * Ani DiFranco
 * Bob Weir
 * Bonnie Raitt
 * Bruce Cockburn
 * Dean Stockwell
 * Indigo Girls
 * Jackson Browne
 * Mary Chapin Carpenter
 * Midnight Oil
 * Whoopi Goldberg