Advocates view nuclear power as the promise for a better tomorrow, critics view it as a massive investment in a mutant-zombie filled apocalypse, and there’s little chance of the two finding common ground.

It’s true, nuclear power touts many purported advantages – minimal CO2 emissions being the most mentioned – however, behind the spit-shined statistics is a grimy truth.

Mining and enriching uranium is not a ‘green’ process. The construction of massive nuclear power plants is definitely not a ‘green’ process.

Not only that, the average nuclear power plant annually generates 20 tonnes of used nuclear fuel, classified as high-level radioactive waste. All of this waste emits radiation and heat, meaning it will eventually corrode any container and contaminate the ecosystem.

About half of the nuclear plants in the U.S. have a cooling system that sprays water into the steam that emits from the cooling towers, this water keeps contaminants from reaching the air, but is often dumped into nearby waterways at elevated temperatures, and wreaking havoc on marine life.

These are the reasons that Attorney.org has chosen to profile some of the most prominent names in the anti-nuclear movement. Although they range from organizations that are strictly about the anti-nuclear cause, others are larger organizations that have taken up the cause as one of its many programs.

Here is the list:

1. Greenpeace
Greenpeace has always fought – and will continue to fight – vigorously against nuclear power because it is an unacceptable risk to the environment and to humanity.

2. Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth is fighting the resurgence of interest in new nuclear reactors.  They are working in states as well as nationally to stop the push for this dangerous and expensive form of energy.

3. The Sierra Club – NIRS SE

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service Southeast (NIRS SE) has recognized the South as the epicenter of the attempt by the nuclear industry to revive nuclear power. It is an arm of the NIRS that was created to help found a number of new causes in an area that is at high risk of being littered with the byproducts of the nuclear industry.

4. The Clamshell Alliance

The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization co-founded by Paul Gunter, Howie Hawkins and other activists in 1976. The Clamshell Alliance opposes all nuclear power in New England.

5. The Nuclear Control Institute

The Nuclear Control Institute is a research and advocacy center for preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. The non-profit organization was founded by Paul Leventhal in 1981.

6. Shad Alliance

The Shad Alliance was an active and influential anti-nuclear group which used non-violent, direct action methods in the late 1970s and 1980s. It grew out of the “alliance movement” started in New Hampshire by the Clamshell Alliance.

7. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER)

The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) is a Washington, D.C.-area American policy organization located in Takoma Park, Maryland, with a focus on anti-nuclear campaigning, education and activism. It provides activists, policy-makers, journalists, and the public with scientific and technical information on energy and environmental issues.

8. The Nevada Desert Experience

The Nevada Desert Experience is a name for the movement to stop U.S. nuclear weapons testing that came into use in the middle 1980s. It is also the name of a particular organization which continues to create public events to question the morality and intelligence of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, with a main focus on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site.

9. Public Citizen

Public Citizen advocates for the public interest. Its six divisions include: Auto Safety; Congress Watch; Energy; Global Trade Watch; the Health Research Group; and Public Citizen Litigation Group, a nationally prominent public interest law firm founded by Alan Morrison and known for its Supreme Court and appellate practice. It’s Energy Division focuses on the anti-nuclear movement.

10. The Green Party

The political party has long pushed for incentives to shut down nuclear power plants and phase out fossil fuels.