VIDEO: continuing damage at Hanford radioactive waste facility
VIDEO: Great Haste Made Great Waste at Hanford http://fairewinds.org/podcast/great-haste-made-great-waste-at-hanford The Hanford nuclear site, located on the Columbia River in Washington state, was built as part of the Manhattan Project to process plutonium for nuclear weapons. Operated until the end of the Cold War, the decades of weapons production has left Hanford as the most contaminated nuclear site in the US, with a long history of cover-ups about the leaking high-level radioactive waste. In a project that is currently 10-years behind schedule, the DOE is attempting to build a vitrification plant at Hanford to process and neutralize the massive amounts of radioactive waste left behind by the creation of nuclear bombs. Today, nuclear policy expert Robert Alvarez joins Kevin and Arnie to discuss the ongoing environmental damage to the Hanford site.
Japan’s Monju nuclear reprocessing plant not safe to restart
AUDIO 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 17 May 2013, Japan’s nuclear watchdog has refused to give the go-ahead to commission an experimental fast-breeder reactor due to safety concerns. The Monju reactor in the Fukui prefecture has been closed for almost two decades after a leak and a fire in 1995.
The head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority has blasted Monju’s operator for its lack of a safety culture, saying it deserved severe action.
The decision comes as dealing with Japan’s stockpile of nuclear waste becomes more urgent. Reporter: Karon Snowdon Speakers: Professor Andrew O’Neil, Director of the Griffith University Asia Institute; Hajime Matsukubo, International relations director of Tokyo’s Citizens Nuclear Information Centre
YOUTUBE: 14,000 USA people may have died as result of Fukushima radiation
Peer reviewed study shows 14000 US deaths http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdow_6pN6jY Dr. Janette Sherman, M.D., Internist and Toxicologist. There’s more trouble at Fukushima. Nuclear safety experts are accusing the Japanese government of lying after 230 tons of radioactive waste was found in a tunnel underneath the crippled nuclear plant – just a few days after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko said the crisis is over.
There’s also news that Unit 4 at the plant is on the verge of collapsing – something that nuclear power expert Paul Gunter talked about on my radio show yesterday. This new information suggests that the Japanese government is still misleading the world on just how severe the Fukushima crisis still is.
But even more troubling is the impact this nuclear crisis on the other side of the world has had right here in the United States. There’s shocking new evidence out that the Fukushima disaster may have led to the deaths of as many as 14,000 people…in America! For more on this – I’m joined by Dr. Janette Sherman – Internist and Toxicologist – and co-author of a new report on the link between an increase in deaths here in America and the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Video: Japan’s $30 billion, 20 year Rokkasho project
the biggest shareholder this project is TEPCO, the operator of the shattered Fukushima nuclear complex.
VIDEO: Japan to open nuclear plant http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3761126.htm Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 16/05/2013 Reporter: Mark WillacyJapan is about to open a 30 billion dollar state-of- the art nuclear fuel re-processing plant.
Transcript
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: It took more than 20 years to build and cost nearly $30 billion. Now Japan’s state-of-the-art nuclear fuel reprocessing plant is about to open. The plant in the far north of the country will be capable of turning spent nuclear fuel into eight tonnes of plutonium each year. The Japanese say the weapons grade plutonium will only be used for power generation, but that hasn’t soothed American concerns about the security of the stockpile and the possible effect on a regional arms race. North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy was given an exclusive look inside the Rokkasho nuclear complex. Read more »
San Onofre nuclear plant – restarting it would be an experiment on the public!
NRC: Lapdog or Watchdog? http://www.fairewinds.org/content/nrc-lapdog-or-watchdog
:Title: NRC: Lapdog or Watchdog?
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Date: May 15, 2013
Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer: It really is breaking news. [...]
[The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is] saying that to operate the [San Onofre nuclear power] plant going forward would be an experiment.
That’s their words; they said it was an experiment. [...]
Now that word experiment is critical because what the law says is that if you do an experiment in a nuclear reactor, you have to get the public’s input through a public hearing process before you do the experiment.
So we’ve got an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board who unanimously agreed with Friends of The Earth that [plant operator Southern California] Edison was going to do an experiment on the people of Southern California, and before they’re allowed to do that experiment, they have to seek a public license.
Listen to the report here
Japanese media’s taboo on the issue of radiation exposure
Issues of radioactive exposure are considered taboo on Japanese media http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHtbi1Q4aZ8 On December 20, 2012, a multi-professional symposium was held in Tokyo. The specialty of the speakers ranged from freelance journalist, politician to comedian. The symposium was organised by Free Press Association of Japan, a non-profit organisation.
VIDEO: Hanford nuclear facility caught unprepared for radiation leak
http://www.krem.com/news/northwest-news/207043831.html No plan in place when leak alarm sounded at HanfordTitle: No plan in place when leak alarm sounded at Hanford
Source: KING 5
Author: SUSANNAH FRAME
Date: May 11, 2013
[...] Quick action to address a leak in AY-102 was important given the nature of the high-level waste the tank contains, according to Bob Alvarez, a former nuclear policy adviser to President Clinton. Tank AY-102 contains massive amounts of the nuclear by-product Strontium-90 –- more than any other tank at Hanford. Strontium-90 sinks to the bottom of waste tanks and generates heat so hot it boils the material around it.
“It’s been known for over 50 years at Hanford that high heat loads at the bottom of tanks cause them to leak and crack. This is not unknown,” said Alvarez.
The contents of AY-102 will eat through the secondary tank liner -– the final barrier between the toxic sludge and the environment — faster than any other material at the site. [...]
Watch the video here
Anti nuclear Sister Megan Rice, in handcuffs and leg irons – not allowed out before sentencing
(scroll down for video) http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/09/83-year-old-nun-gets-20-year-sentence-for-symbolic-nuclear-facility-break-in/ VIDEO 83-year-old nun gets 20 year sentence for ‘symbolic’ nuclear facility break-in Raw Story By Stephen C. Webster, May 9, 2013 “…….Sister Rice has been arrested between 40 or 50 times committing acts of civil disobedience, according to The New York Times, including once in Nevada after she physically blocked a truck at a nuclear test site.
Depleted uranium munitions like the kind stored at the facility Sister Rice targeted are blamed for some of the worst birth defects and soaring cancer rates seen in post-war Iraq, particularly in the city of Fallujah following the siege of 2004, in which U.S. soldiers killed thousands of civilians.
The city has never recovered, particularly from the use of depleted uranium munitions, and to this day residents suffer from health effects “worse” than those seen following the nuclear detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to a study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
“I believe we are all equally responsible to stop a known crime,” Sister Rice said from the witness stand, according to quotes published by her group. She called herself a “citizen of the world” and reportedly smiled as the verdict was read.
Convicted nuclear protesters must stay in jail MIAMI HERALD, BY ERIK SCHELZIG 9 MAY 13, ASSOCIATED PRESS “….The trio appeared in court Thursday in handcuffs and leg irons seeking their release until their Sept. 23 sentencing…” .http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/09/3389262/nuclear-protesters-seek-release.html
See these videos about San Onofre nuclear plant’s jerry-rigged “fix”
2 VIDEOS San Onofre Nuclear Plant’s Leaky Pipe Apparently ‘Fixed’ With Tape, Plastic Bags http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/san-onofre-leaky-pipe-fixed-tape-plastic-bag_n_3203289.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green By Meredith Bennett-Smith, 2 May 13, Well, this doesn’t look good. Read more »
VIDEO: Iran’s rights to peaceful use of nuclear energy
VIDEO: West unwilling to recognize Iran’s nuclear rights: Analyst http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/03/301638/west-ignores-iran-nuclear-energy-right/ A political analyst says the Western governments are not willing to recognize Iran’s right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Press TV reports.
“They [Western governments] are not willing to admit or recognize the rights of the Iranian people to obtain nuclear energy for civilians … purposes and to produce a clean energy to use in the future…,” political analyst Redwan Rizk said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili agreed on Friday to meet with the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton — who represents the P5+1 group of world powers in comprehensive negotiations with Iran — later this month in Turkey’s port city of Istanbul.
Commenting on the planned meeting, the analyst said if the West wants the talks to be fruitful, they have to recognize the rights of the Iranian people and stop “imbalanced judgments towards Iran and towards the Islamic world.”
“So Iran has proposed so many times to fulfill the questions or to answer the questions of the West and the West turned its blind eye most of the time. All they want is to get the Iranians to stop their program and to stop all nuclear reactors on the Iranian land,” he added.Rizk also pointed to the fatwa (religious decree) issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the prohibition of nuclear weapons saying it is against the Islamic ideology to obtain any nuclear weapon.
Iran and the P5+1 — the US, France, Britain, Russia, and China plus Germany — have held several rounds of talks mainly over Iran’s nuclear energy program. Their latest rounds of talks were held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 26-27 and April 5-6.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Tehran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Fukushima’s accumulating radioactive water: hear this radio broadcast
Hear this radio broadcast. Fukushima nuclear plant struggles to contain contaminated water http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3750728.htm Mark Willacy reported this story on Friday, May 3, 2013 TONY EASTLEY: More than two years after the meltdowns at Fukushima, the plant’s operator is dealing with a new crisis – millions of litres of contaminated water inside the complex.
TEPCO has confirmed to AM that groundwater is flooding into the plant’s reactor buildings at the astonishing rate of 285 litres a minute.
Once inside, the water quickly becomes highly contaminated and has to be stored in tanks which cover 17 hectares of the plant’s grounds.
But with those tanks close to capacity now, TEPCO has started to clear an adjoining forest to make more space to store the contaminated run-off.
North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy reports from Tokyo. Read more »
Fukushima nuclear power plant is very unstable
Nuclear Safety Expert: “Many experts are extremely concerned we could have additional releases” at Fukushima plant — “Very, very unstable facility” (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/nuclear-safety-expert-many-experts-are-extremely-concerned-we-could-have-additional-releases-at-fukushima-plant-very-very-unstable-facility-audio
Title: Workers at Fukushima nuclear plant struggle to contain rush of contaminated water
Source: FSRN
Date: May 1, 2013
Dan Hirsch, a nuclear safety expert, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, and lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz: Many experts are extremely concerned that we could have additional releases.
This is a very, very unstable facility.
Very, very damaged with people working in extraordinary high radiation fields trying to repair it.
Full broadcast here
AUDIO Workers at Fukushima nuclear plant struggle to contain rush of contaminated water, 30 April 13 http://fsrn.org/audio/workers-fukushima-nuclear-plant-struggle-contain-rush-contaminated-water/11929
At the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, workers are struggling to contain a rush of highly radioactive wastewater. It’s flowing at the rate of 75 gallons per minute, according to the New York Times. Officials with the Tokyo Electric Power Company say they are considering clearing a nearby forest site in order to make more room for storage tanks. It’s the latest in a series of ongoing issues at the site. Earlier this month operators had to shut down the cooling of a spent fuel pool after rodents damaged an electrical line.
The International Atomic Energy Agency now estimates it will take more than 40 years to clean up the site. For more, we’re joined by Dan Hirsch, a nuclear safety expert and president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a nuclear policy group. He’s also a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
VIDEO- the struggle by Hanford workers to contain radioactive sludge
http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Hanford-worker-pushed-WRPS-to-action-204789701.html Hanford worker’s struggle to ‘do the right thing
TV: Most hazardous material on planet leaking at U.S. nuclear site — Would contaminate our food chain for hundreds of years to come if it reaches Columbia River (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-hazardous-material-planet-leaking-nuclear-site-contaminate-food-chain-hundreds-years-reaches-columbia-river-videoSource: KING 5
Author: SUSANNAH FRAME
Date: April 25, 2013
Reporter: We’ve heard about other leaking tanks, so why is this one so important? This tank is holding waste that is so toxic that if it were to eat through its outer shell and reach the nearby the Columbia River it would contaminate irrigation water, crops, salmon, our food chain — not for months, but for hundreds of years to come. […]
Underfoot, the most hazardous material on earth is brewing inside a million gallon double shell tank.
Title: Hanford worker’s struggle to ‘do the right thing’Hanford Worker: This tank is holding the nastiest of nastiest stuff at Hanford.
Watch the broadcast here
Video: Fukushima doctor calls for help for children sick from radiation
Fukushima Doctor: We need outside help, Japanese people not listening — We are now in very bad condition, especially for children — Please help (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/alert-fukushima-pediatrician-we-need-outside-help-japanese-people-not-listening-we-are-now-in-very-bad-condition-especially-for-children-please-give-us-help-video
Japan Doctor: So enraged by response of gov’t — Fukushima children’s rashes, nosebleeds, diarrhea, fatigue blamed on radiation-phobia mothers http://enenews.com/japan-doctor-so-enraged-by-response-of-govt-fukushima-childrens-rashes-nosebleeds-diarrhea-fatigue-blamed-on-radiation-phobia-mothers
Source: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Date: April 30, 2013Katsuno Onozawa, a doctor of psychosomatic medicine, who has taken part in children’s health consultations in Fukushima PrefectureWhat shocked me the first time I participated in January of last year was the gap between what the newspapers and TV news were reporting and the reality in Fukushima as attested to by the mothers [...]
Wanting to protect their children from radiation, they pleaded with the prefectural and city governments and local doctors, but none would take their side.
They just said things like, “It’s safe. You don’t have to take any special action. There are lots of radiation-phobia mothers, and we can’t deal with them all.”
[...] I was at a loss for words because of these mothers’ situation, and I could not sleep at night because I was so enraged at the government’s heartless response. [...]
Yet the children were exhibiting a range of symptoms including sore throats, nosebleeds, diarrhea, fatigue, headaches and rashes. The most dangerous thing is to write off causes of illness as psychosocial factors with statements like, “Your child’s stress comes from not being able to go outdoors” and that a “mother worrying will make her child sick.” [...]
See also: Fukushima Doctor: We need outside help, Japanese people not listening — We are now in very bad condition, especially for children — Please help (VIDEO)
Youtube: exposing the pro nuke lies about uranium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZotGdcV1Kik&feature=youtu.be Dr. Jim Deutsch Corrects GE’s Uranium Secrets James Deutsch, MD, PhD, FRCP(C) Assistant Professor Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto
“I think it is important to take apart what the GE spokesperson quoted, which is that uranium is a natural entity and that the problem is not uranium but the general public’s so to speak fear of the unknown.
So there is a problem with that.
It is true that uranium is a naturally occurring element , but we evolved as biological creatures above ground with virtually all of the uranium below the ground safely away from our DNA.
Now we are bringing all of this stuff above ground in different forms
and it goes into the body.
And uranium is an emitter that will release particles with energy that can damage the DNA and various tissues and organs in the body close up.
When the GE people talk about that living next to the reactor is about equivalent to one flight from Toronto to Vancouver
they are talking about gamma radiation which is a high energy radiation that can penetrate tissues and pass right through.
What is happening with uranium and the reactors which produce 200 isotopes that never existed before humankind created them.
What those various isotopes do is they go to specific organs in the body and reside there emitting lower energy particles that will damage the molecules within the cells in the tissues in those organs.
Children are especially susceptible, especially newborns and pregnant mothers.”
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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