Cambridge MA Votes to Move MIT Nuclear Reactor Out of Residential Neighborhood: MIT Plans to Double Reactor Capacity
By a vote of 5791 to 2889, a ratio of more than 2 to 1, Cambridge voted to move the MIT Nuclear Reactor out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ignoring the referendum vote, MIT plans to double the capacity of its Cambridge Nuclear Reactor, and keep it in a residential Cambridge neighborhood.
Initiative Question 5, on the November 3, 1998 Ballot for Massachusetts' Cambridge 28th Middlesex District states:
"Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation requiring that the nuclear reactor presently operating in Cambridge on Albany Street near Massachusetts Ave. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology be removed immediately out of Cambridge to a safer and less densely populated area?"

You can help move this Nuclear Reactor out of a thickly-settled residential neighborhood.

Nuclear Reactor in Residential Neighborhood

"Most Cambridge residents are unaware there is a Nuclear Reactor in Cambridge, on Albany Street near Mass. Ave, in the middle of Greater Boston," says attorney David A. Hoicka. "There was no public discussion or locationing decision open to residents of Cambridge, when the Nuclear Reactor was built."
"We put the Nuclear Reactor on the ballot so the public policy of having such a facility in residential Cambridge may be publicly reviewed," says Attorney Hoicka. "The first chance Cambridge Voters got to review the Nuclear Reactor, they firmly rejected it."
"Cambridge Voters have decided that a Nuclear Reactor does not belong among homes, schools, small businesses, playing fields, parks with features for small children, basketball and tennis courts," says Hoicka. "This is a decision that should have been made in the first place by Cambridge residents and voters, not by technocrats or bureaucrats who live elsewhere."
"Of course, Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims its Nuclear Reactor is perfectly safe," says Hoicka. "MIT has not in the past disclosed the details of classified research. The public policy question, regardless of MIT’s claim of complete nuclear safety, is whether a Nuclear Reactor properly belongs in a residential neighborhood, or should be moved to a safer and less densely populated area."

No Public Safety Evacuation Plan

Cambridge nuclear risks are not solely at the reactor itself, but include risks of transporting nuclear materials through Cambridge, and nuclear storage and waste. Cambridge is at the heart of Metropolitan Boston, which has a population of about 2.8 million. Half a million people live within 2 miles of MIT's Cambridge Nuclear Reactor.
MIT claims its Cambridge nuclear reactor is so safe, it has no evacuation plan for Cambridge residents, and relies on its own Campus Police to notify the Cambridge police in the event of a nuclear-related accident.
MIT’s Cambridge Nuclear Reactor is rated at 5 megawatts (5 million watts). MIT claims that 5 megawatts isn’t very large. But by comparison, the whole city of Cambridge uses about 18 megawatts for residential electric usage. If generating electric power, the nuclear reactor would generate almost 1/3 of Cambridge’s residential power usage.
According to published reports, MIT now plans to double the capacity of its Cambridge Nuclear Reactor to 10 megawatts. This means that, if generating electric power, the Cambridge Nuclear Reactor would generate well over half of Cambridge’s residential power usage.

Only Nuclear Referendum Vote in U.S.: 66% Want Reactor Moved

The Move the Nuke Ballot Initiative is the only referendum question regarding Nuclear Reactors this year in Massachusetts – or anywhere in the United States. Through this Ballot Initiative, 5,791 Cambridge residents directly voted to show the State House that moving the Nuclear Reactor out of Cambridge is critical to health and well-being.
By contrast, if a Harris poll of a few hundred people is statistically significant, a vote of 5,800 Cambridge Voters, should carry weight in the state legislature and have national impact.

Help Move this Reactor Out of the Neighborhood

Express your concerns to the President of MIT, who can make it happen:
Charles M. Vest, President
MIT
77 Mass. Ave, Room 3-208
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA
Tel. (617) 253-0148,
email.
Please copy your email or letter to President Vest, to Attorney David A. Hoicka at the Committee for Social Justice by email
socialjustice1@geocities.com or
(Fax) (617) 547-4585.

We welcome suggestions, ideas and experiences for making this happen. Attorney David A. Hoicka’s law practice concentrates on small business workouts and consumer rights.

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