Armed guards’ allegations of security problems at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant near Raleigh have sparked federal investigations into wrongdoing not only by plant owner Progress Energy and its security contractor but also into misconduct by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NRC inspectors will visit the plant in southwestern Wake County this week looking into […]
Sue Sturgis
Bio: Sue Sturgis is the editorial director and co-editor of Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute of Southern Studies.Twitter: http://twitter.com/sue_sturgis
Posted inNews
Nuke plant guards under investigation
When a guard at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant blew the whistle on security problems at the Progress Energy facility near Raleigh, he hoped regulators would step in and force the company to fix the problems, such as malfunctioning doors to vital parts of the operation. Instead, guards say, the company has focused its […]
Posted inNews
Guards sound alarm over security at Shearon Harris nuclear plant
Armed guards at Progress Energy’s Shearon Harris nuclear power plant near Raleigh have blown the whistle on what they describe as lax security resulting from a corporate culture focused on containing costs. National and local nuclear watchdog groups filed a complaint Tuesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of […]
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Nuclear power’s dirty secret
We the people of North Carolina and other states across the nation face a decision that will affect not only our own well-being and that of our children, but the well-being of countless future generations. Our choice is whether to allow utilities to meet our energy needs by building new nuclear power plants that routinely […]
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Atomic alternatives
Utility companies justify their push for more polluting nuclear and coal-fired plants by arguing that such operations are necessary to meet anticipated future demand from customers. For example, Progress Energy says its forecasts show it will need an additional 2,500 megawatts of generation by 2016. The company hopes to satisfy some of that demand by […]
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Dismantling the nuclear power option
Four energy policy experts–among them physicist Amory Lovins, founder of the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute–atomized Progress and Duke Energy’s case for building more nuclear and coal-burning plants to meet the state’s power demands at a forum that drew 600 people to UNC’s Friday Center in Chapel Hill last week. The Durham-based N.C. Waste Awareness and […]
Posted inGuides
Poisoning our pets
My dog Lucy nearly died last month when she was accidentally poisoned by a common pesticide our neighbors used on their vegetable garden. Sevin–an insecticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience in Research Triangle Park–is widely believed to be safe. There are 68 formulations approved for use in North Carolina on everything from lawns to pets, and […]
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Building a sustainable state
Confronting a problem as vast and as serious as climate change can seem overwhelming, especially for an individual acting alone. Fortunately, there are many organizations in North Carolina that are bringing people together to create a more environmentally sustainable energy future. Here are a few: Two groups that have played a key role in working […]
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Turning the warming tide
If you visit a North Carolina beach this summer, chances are you’ll witness firsthand the effects of global climate change brought on by greenhouse gas pollution. Nowhere is planetary warming more obvious than the coast. As the average global temperature has climbed about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century, sea level has risen nearly […]
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Rx: Clean Needles
The use of dirty needles to shoot drugs presents a serious public-health threat for North Carolina. In fact, the practice is directly responsible for some 1,900 of the state’s more than 8,100 AIDS cases and may have played a role in hundreds of others, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. […]
