Radiation risks to health staff from nuclear medical imaging
What to do when the patient is hot http://www.theheart.org/article/1535927.do 7 May 13, MAY 7, 2013 Shelley Wood Boston, MA - Patients who’ve had a nuclear imaging study with radioactive tracers become, themselves, radiation emitters—something that hospital staff should keep in mind, say researchers in a new analysis trying to quantify that risk. Their research letter is published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology [1]. Read more »
The fallacy of assuming that weapons manufacture creates jobs
America’s War Games How the Obama administration is redefining the US military’s strategic priorities with far-reaching consequences, Aljazeera, 27 April 13 “……. William Hartung, from the Center for International Policy says that Pentagon contractors have “for years used the jobs argument to revive weapons systems that have been cancelled. To push for things that even the Pentagon itself has not wanted.” For months, a study has been circulating in Washington, underwritten by the Aerospace Industries Association, a major defence industry trade group. It claims that a million jobs would be lost as a result of sequestration cuts to defence spending.
Hartung, who has analysed the study, says it exaggerates the potential job loss number by a factor of three, and that many of those jobs will be replaced. He points out that spending on education, health care, and infrastructure “can create 1.5 to 2 times as many jobs. So the economy would be much better off spending on things other than the Pentagon.”
Several recent reports examining ways to cut Pentagon spending call for changes in the US nuclear weapons posture. They claim that it would produce hundreds of billions of dollars of savings in coming decades, and the Obama administration is reportedly considering nuclear weapons cuts. But they will be difficult to achieve.
“People are still mired in Cold War thinking and they feel like the more nuclear weapons we have the better,” Hartung says. “And in addition to that the nuclear weapons industry has some of the biggest strongest companies in the military industrial complex.”
Lockheed Martin builds submarines, launches ballistic missiles, and runs the nuclear weapons laboratories; General Dynamics builds nuclear subs; and Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin are all hoping to build the next nuclear bomber……http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2013/04/2013424113558268754.html
Misleading information masks true level of radiation received by Fukushima workers
63 workers exposed to higher radiation than logged in their records,
March 02, 2013, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN by Toshio Tada and Jun Sato
Dozens of workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
were exposed to radiation levels higher than those registered in their
personal records, according to a health ministry investigation. Read more »
Radiation risk causes doctors to go on strike – Wuhan, China
Wuhan doctors on strike over X-ray radiation Shanghai Daily, February 22, 2013 Some hospital workers in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province reportedly went on strike after three gynecologists developed thyroid cancer, which they believed was caused by their frequent exposure to X-rays.
The three women doctors at the Wuhan Union Hospital were diagnosed with cancer last month, today’s Beijing News reported. They blamed the hospital in a statement made to the public on Monday.
The statement said they performed surgeries on a floor directly underneath two X-ray machines in two bone surgery rooms overhead. The two rooms were not insulated with radiation-proof materials. The hospital did not inform or warn them of the risks…… http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-02/22/content_28035886.htm
Many Fukushima labourers cheated out of correct pay
Ministry: Many Fukushima laborers deprived of danger pay
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201302090067 By
TOSHIO TADA February 09, 2013 The Environment Ministry has admitted
danger pay has not been reaching some laborers entitled to a hefty
bonus for their work on decontamination projects near the Fukushima
No. 1 nuclear plant.
Unscrupulous employers likely pocketed the missing cash, but the
ministry says it will neither penalize them nor name and shame them
because that “would have a big adverse effect,” an official in charge
of the matter said. Read more »
Shortage of workers at Fukushima nuclear plant resulted in high radiation exposure
Worker shortages revealed at nuclear plant after disaster
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T130113003104.htm 14 Jan
A manager’s calls for reinforcements to help contain a series of
crises at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power
plant were ignored, newly released TEPCO teleconference footage has
revealed.
Although Masao Yoshida, then manager of the plant damaged by the March
11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, repeatedly asked TEPCO headquarters
in Tokyo to send more workers, the request was not met in a timely
manner. As a result, the plant’s workers suffered extreme fatigue and
heightened radiation exposure, the footage showed. Read more »
Japan workers organise for a nuclear free society
It’s Labor’s Turn! – Workers’ Committee to Aim for Nuclear Free Society Established http://labornetjp.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/its-labors-turn-workers-committee-to.html “Civil society is active in no nukes movement, but it’s our turn now to mobilize workers and unions,” HASEGAWA Takehisa, president of Japan Construction and Transport Industry Workers Solidarity Union, said on Nov. 20 in Tokyo. “We have long made effort to protect our jobs and livelihoods, but as we are threatened even for our existence by nuclear plants, we must protect our lives and safety. No life, no job. We would build solidarity with those who are deprived of decent work and living due to dangerous work in radioactive environment.” The committee formed by seven unions plans to hold a simultaneous actions in March and movie screening of a documentary on people of Futaba. Some 60 attended the meeting held for establishment of the committee and listened to KAIDO Yuichi, lawyer, who spoke of the basic law on nuclear free society. (By M)
Exploitation of workers at Fukushima nuclear plant
Asahi: Fukushima workers report exploitation — Told to be like kamikaze — Large numbers leaving — “I wonder if we can raise children” http://enenews.com/asahi-fukushima-workers-report-exploitation-told-to-be-like-kamikaze-large-numbers-leaving-i-wonder-if-we-can-raise-children
December 9th, 2012
Title: Worker wants new government to secure safety at Fukushima plant
Source: AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
Author: Miki Aoki and Toshio Tada
Date: December 09, 2012
A man in his 50s hopes that a new government to be formed after the Dec. 16 Lower House election will protect the health of workers like himself at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant [...]
The man said workers at the Fukushima No. 1 plant are being exploited. [...]
“Many people work without seeing a doctor because they fear they might be told not to come anymore from the next day,” he said. “It is a distortion caused by the layers of subcontractors involved. I want the government to protect us.” [...] Read more »
Data on Fukushima workers’ radiation exposure
TEPCO releases worker radiation exposure data to WHO, Enformable.com. 6 Dec 12 TEPCO released data related to the radiation exposure doses documented for Fukushima Daiichi emergency workers which it had submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The data showed the youngest workers were in their teens, while the oldest was 84 years old. One of the teenagers was exposed to 56.89 mSv. Most of the workers are in their 40s. 26 workers are over the age of 70.
TEPCO Worker Ages……
The highest radiation dose recorded was 678.8 mSv. The highest dose recorded by a worker in their 20s was 477.01 mSv…..
Distribution of Thyroid Doses based on measured value of I-131 (Thyroid equivalent dose from Cs not included in data)……
There are still over 600 workers unaccounted for in the most recent data, TEPCO did not release any details as to why they were unable to track down the missing workers……..
Source: TEPCO
Source: JiJi Press
Read more at http://enformable.com/2012/12/tepco-releases-worker-radiation-exposure-data-to-who/#les31YbP4ZC0Kk2S.99
Renewable Energy – a job provider for millions of Indians
Indian Renewable Energy Sector to Create 2.4 Million Jobs by 2020 http://theenergycollective.com/energyjobline/147291/indian-renewable-energy-sector-create-24-million-jobs-2020 by C. Dominguez November 24, 2012 India’s renewable energy sector is to create up to 2.4 million jobs by 2020, according to a report jointly commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace, the Global Wind Energy Council and the European Renewable Energy Council.
To date, the sector employs 200,000 people, but this could jump 14 times by 2030 with the right policies and investments in place, stated India Energy [R]evolution report.
By 2050, about 92 percent of India’s energy infrastructure will be based on renewable energy sources. Renewables such as wind, solar thermal energy and photovoltaic, will comprise 74 percent of electricity generation. Read more »
Low level radiation increased leukaemia risk for nuclear cleanup workers
Chernobyl study shows need for caution in Fukushima
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121114f2.html# UKO27Xhzxqg.twitter Kyodo A study released Thursday by a U.S. research team links protracted exposure to low-level radiation to a higher risk of leukemia among workers engaged in the cleanup of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and points to the need to protect those involved in dealing with the Fukushima crisis.
Read more »
Worsening working conditions at Fukushima – Video
NHK Documentary: Recently deteriorating working conditions at Fukushima plant causing workers to quit — Company hasn’t been able to recruit a single employee (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/nhk-documentary-working-conditions-deteriorating-fukushima-plant-many-workers-leaving-company-hasnt-able-recruit-single-worker-video
November 13th, 2012
Title: WANTED: Workers for Fukushima Decommission
Source: NHK
Uploaded by: MissingSky101
Date: Nov 12, 2012
NHK Narrator: This company that manages and maintains nuclear plant
instruments hasn’t been able to recruit a single worker for the plant
since the accident.
Yukiteru Naka, Chairman: If nothing changes there will be no young
workers at the plant in future. I think that’s very clear.
[...]
NHK Reporter: Many workers in areas with high radiation levels are
quitting. They have to leave in around 3 months when their level of
exposure is at the safety limit.
Recently deteriorating working conditions are also making others leave.
Low dose radiation increases risk of leukaemia, new research shows
LEUKEMIA RISK INCREASED BY LOW DOSE RADIATION: CHERNOBYL STUDY
http://www.omglobe.com/2012/11/08/leukemia-risk-increased-
by-low-dose-radiation-chernobyl-study/ Lydia Zablotska, MD, PhD 11/8/2012 A 20-year study following 110,645 workers who helped clean up after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the former Soviet territory of Ukraine shows that the workers share a significant increased risk of developing leukemia.
The results may help scientists better define cancer risk associated with low doses of radiation from medical diagnostic radiation procedures such as computed tomography scans and other sources.
In the journal Environmental Health Perspectives this week, an international team led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Chernobyl Research Unit at the Radiation Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute describes the increased risks of leukemia among these workers between 1986 and 2006.
The risk included a greater-than-expected number of cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which many experts did not consider to be associated with radiation exposure in the past.
The new work is the largest and longest study to date involving Chernobyl cleanup workers who worked at or near the nuclear complex in the aftermath of the accident. Read more »
Shortage of workers at Fukushima – TEPCO fudges the numbers
NHK – TEPCO over-reports number of Fukushima workers http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Voqq-DYQ48k
NHK: Concerns rising at Fukushima plant — 16,000 workers have quit, ‘severe working conditions’ blamed (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/nhk-concerns-rising-at-fukushima-plant-16000-workers-have-quit-severe-working-conditions-blamed-video
November 5th, 2012
Title: TEPCO over-reports number of Fukushima workers
Source: NHK
Date: Nov. 5, 2012
“Concerns are rising over whether Tepco has secured enough workers to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant”
[...] NHK found through an interview with TEPCO officials that only 8,000 workers are registered for the job, as of last month.
Earlier, the utility said there would be no manpower shortage as it had secured about 24,000 workers.
But this figure represents the total number of people who have worked at the crippled plant since the accident on March 11 last year.
16,000 workers have already quit the job. Many of them left due to severe working conditions. [...]
Poorly paid, dangerous, work of nuclear sub-contracted workers
Desirability of nuclear power is the real question, THE HINDU, 28 Sept 12
MADHUMITA DUTTA“……In France, over 20,000-30,000 workers dubbed as “nuclear nomads” are subcontracted annually in the 58 nuclear reactors operated by Électricité de France S.A. (EDF) located in 20 sites which contribute 78 per cent of the electricity produced in the country.
EDF subcontracts over 1,000 companies, who employ the “nuclear nomads,” sometimes of foreign origin, to do the dangerous maintenance, repair and clean-up work in these plants, exposing them to ionising radiations. In her book “Nuclear Servitude: Subcontracting and Health in the French Civil Nuclear Industry,” French social scientist Annie Thébaud-Mony has highlighted this division of labour and “risk” by subcontracting dangerous work in the French nuclear power industry.
In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, over 18,000 workers were hired to clean-up the power plant, who were all subcontracted to do dangerous radioactive clean-up work. These men, hailed as “national heroes” by many, were actually local residents rendered unemployed by the disaster or were daily wagers from city slums.
Since the 1970s, Japan has had a dubious track record of subcontracting maintenance
work of reactors to outside companies which hire workers on a short-term basis who remain employed till they reach their radiation exposure limit (Nuclear Nomads: A look at the Sub-contracted Heroes by Gabrielle Hecht in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 9, 2012)…. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/desirability-of-nuclear-power-is-the-real-question/article3939373.ece
SEARCH for particular names or topics at the SEARCH BOX at very bottom of this sidebar
- AUDIO About San Onofre Nuclear plant. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – NRC: Lapdog or Watchdog? http://www.fairewinds.org/content/nrc-lapdog-or-watchdog
- and this Japan’s nuclear safety record criticised by regulator http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/japans-nuclear-safety-record-criticised-by-regulator/1132464
- VIDEO: Great Haste Made Great Waste at Hanford http://fairewinds.org/podcast/great-haste-made-great-waste-at-hanford
- and this VIDEO Printing Australia’s Largest Solar Cells
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/19/printing-australias-largest-solar-cells/#I2hPrL1dDL6WTXwD.99 - and this VIDEO: Japan to open nuclear plant http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3761126.ht
From Fukushima to New York: Continuing Dangers of Nuclear PowerEVENTS
San Onofre at the No Nukes Brink: It’s Time to Take Action & WIN!!!
http://www.nukefree.org/stop-san-onofre-re-start-call-petition-now
Women and nuclear radiation – Mary Olson speaks
Mary Olson, from Nuclear Information and Resource Service, spoke at the New York symposium on Fukushima’s effects, March 2013.
Here are some highlights:
Mary Olson discussed the findings of the latest National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation ( BEIR VII) , illustrated by this graph:
This lifespan graph shows increased cancer risk by exposure to a given amount of radiation, The pink line shows the risk for girls, the blue line for boys. Look at left hand part of the graph. It covers from zero to 5 years, and includes pre birth. We see a striking difference between the blue line and the pink line. The nuclear regulators assume that the risk shown here at age 40 – in the blue line- is the same for every individual regardless of age or gender. Yet, even at ages 40 – 60 the cancer risk from radiation is significantly more for women, than for men.
The cancer danger from ionising radiation depends on the type of radiation, the amount, and the duration of the exposure. But it also depends on who is exposed. Radiation exposure endangers some individuals more than others. In order, the most vulnerable are:
Primary germ cells/ Embryo
Foetus
Children
Elders
Some genotypes
Females – both juvenile and adult
All of the world’s scientific authorities agree that there is no safe dose of radiation. That includes the WHO, EPA, NRC, and national Academy of Science.
The standards for permissable levels of ionising radiation were originally written to cover doctors using radiation, then were intended for the purpose of sending military into radiological areas. Yet these standads, based on a 30 year old man, are applied to everyone.
Over 100 years, man’s activities have increased the background radiation by 25%
The ratio of cancer risks from radiation for males and females is 3 to 2. That is for every 2 males who get cancer from ionising radiation, there are 3 females. In reports from BEIR and the Lifespan study of Hiroshima survivors only external radiation is considered, not internal radiation. The risk for females is being underestimated in reports and in regulations about radiation
The World Health Organisation is the first big agency to acknowledge this difference in radiation risk between males and females, in its latest report. WHO is also saying that there is 70% higher risk of thyroid cancer for little girls exposed to radiation.
Studies are continuing, and animal studies, too, are showing this gender difference. We must move towards prevention and precaution as the basis of policy. Sadly, it is too late for a lot of prevention. We need to cahnge the priorities – to protect first, study second
And we need to get a whole lot more women motivated to get involved.
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