IONISING RADIATION and NUCLEAR MEDICINE – theme for March 2012
The nuclear lobby touts Nuclear Medicine as a justification for nuclear reactors – a sort of “fig leaf” on a dirty and dangerous technology, or a “foot in the door” to introduce nuclear reactors. Nuclear medicine uses various isotopes for diagnosis and treatment. These isotopes can be produced in other ways, so there is no necessity for nuclear reactors.
The Future of Nuclear Medicine Scientists are seeking new methods of finding disease without using radioactive substances or nuclear reactors. Nuclear medicine materials do not have to be produced by reactors.
Cyclotrons and linear accelerators are two alternative technologies.
The Canadian government recently decided to move to these nonreactor methods. See: www.triumf.ca/sites/default/files/isotopes-gc-re-eng.pdf
Medical radiation risks must be explained to patients
CT imaging, though, can produce as much as as 500 times the radiation of an X-ray, and experts have estimated that as many as 20% in Canada are ordered needlessly. U.S. studies suggest the risk of cancer from a single CT scan ranges from one in 2,000 to one in 300, depending on the dose and other factors.
Patients must be told of CT-scan dangers: doctors, Tom Blackwell, National Post , Nov. 26, 2010 As CT scans and similar procedures are ordered increasingly often, doctors should be forced to tell patients about the potential radiation-based cancer risk, two Canadian physicians have urged in a major U.S. medical journal. Read more »
Facts on the two types of airport Whole Body Imaging
Rafi Sala, an Israeli airport security expert who helped design security at Ben Gurion International Airport: “I don”t know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747. … That’s why we haven’t put them in our airport.”
Peek-a-Boo, I C U - Living Lake Country, By Al Neuhauser Nov. 25, 2010 “……….There are two types of Whole Body Imaging (WBI) technologies in place. They are backscatter and millimeter-wave. The first uses low-level X-rays to image the body. This passes through clothing and into you, but a portion reflects off of your skin, or “backscatters”, technically called “Compton scattering.” This radiation does penetrate, but a small amount reflects and is detected by a bank of detectors. Read more »
‘Act of mischief’ irradiated 50 nuclear workers in India
No breakthrough yet in Kaiga radiation case, The Times of India, STANLEY G PINTO, TNN, Nov 25, 2010, MANGALORE: The tritium poisoning episode at Kaiga Generating Station (KGS), which exposed around 50 employees to increased levels of radiation a year ago, remains shrouded in mystery, with police investigations apparently hitting a roadblock.
Asserting that investigations are still on, police officials admit it’s a difficult case to crack since it was an act of mischief……No breakthrough yet in Kaiga radiation case – The Times of India
UK used atomic test soldiers as radiation ‘guinea pigs’
The Government of the day had to discover the effects a nuclear bomb would have, not only on the infrastructure but the effects it would have for the human race over a prolonged period of time. It was decided the Armed Forces would be used as ‘Human Guinea Pigs’ in order to discover the effects radiation would have on the Human Body.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BRITISH NUCLEAR TESTS, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, by Dave Whyte One of the ‘Human Guinea Pigs’ 26 Nov 10, After WWII the British Government decided they would develop their own nuclear deterrent and made plans to conduct the tests at remote areas in Australia and the Pacific as they were not fully aware of the devastating power these devices were capable of producing. Read more »
UK’s “independent” research into nuclear veterans far from independent
The reason for this covert examination of body parts is exposed by Redfern ( p.90 ) as “mainly scientific research and potential damage claims .”
Dear Members of Parliament « Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog. 26 Nov 10, “…………The Minister for Veterans has admitted nuclear test veterans were exposed to radiation . Read more »
ETHICS and NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY- theme for December 2010
The unethical nature of nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and the entire nuclear fuel cycle is becoming more obvious, as its history unfolds. On grounds of nuclear weapons spread, unsolved wastes problem, health and environment, effects on indigenous and poor peoples, injustice to today’s and future generations – and even the sheer financial costs for now and the future – it is clear that “atoms for peace” is a false and unethical enterprise.
Given the mounting negative evidence about the nuclear industry, it is concerning that so many world political, scientific and economic leaders continue to promote the industry. Sir Mark Oliphant, (below) one of
the founders of the atomic bomb, was one who had the courage to change his mind, and to speak out against nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
Why is it so rare for ‘important’ people to face up to the evil nature of the whole nuclear fuel cycle? It’s not just money. Is it that so much of their reputation, their work has already been invested in nuclear? just too much effort to change track
Like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who said “For mine own good,
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er”
Rather than pause to think about the whole picture, they concentrate on their own important actions. Again like Macbeth ” Strange things I have in head, that will to hand; Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.”
(Image from MACBETH IS A BAD, BAD MAN design by Dave Shanker&Danilo Groppa, Charles W. Flanagan High School, Macbeth – Webquest)
Radiation danger and illicit nuclear tracking fears in Ghana
Government to provide protection of nuclear and radioactive materials, Accra, Nov. 23, Ghana News Agency, GNA - Government has expressed its commitment to provide the physical protection of nuclear and other radioactive materials and associated facilities, Mr Alex Segbefia, Deputy Chief of Staff said on Tuesday. He said government would in addition; work to combat illicit trafficking and inadvertent movement of radioactive materials…………Government to provide protection of nuclear and radioactive materials
Millions spent on lobbying gets results for Body Scanner Radiation company
spent $271,500 on lobbying so far this year too. In return it has received $41.2 million in government contracts for their scanners this year.
Body Scanner Radiation Machine Makers Spent Millions On Lobbying, Wall Street Window, – Mike Swanson (11/22/10) The truth comes out. USA Today reports that L-3 Communications, which makes the TSA radiation scanning machines at the center of controversy spent millions on lobbying government officials over the past few years to get government contracts to build the machines. Read more »
One partial round to British govt, but the nuclear veterans’ legal fight continues
the fact that Mrs Sinfield’s case concerning her late husband Bert can take place in a full court hearing where all the scientific evidence held on ionising radiation damage to health will be revealed is good news .
THE IRON FIST OF JUSTICE Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog from Dennis Hayden 23 Nov 10, A partial victory in the appeals verdict is all we need This message has been sent to Members of Parliament . That is , the legal team is fully supportedby all nuclear veterans and widows in efforts to get the nine test cases excluded to be allowed to go to full high court trial . Read more »
Sexism in airport radiation scanning: pilots exempt, flight attendants not
Unions representing both groups are advising their members not to go through the scanners because of concerns about radiation exposure. The dose per scan is trivial, but radiation exposure is cumulative.
(USA) TSA Sexism: Pilots’ Junk Off-Limits; Flight Attendants’ Fair Game, Big Think, Lindsay Beyerstein on November 22, 2010, Pilots who shun full body scans are exempt from the TSA’s new “enhanced” body searches. Flight attendants are not. Their respective unions complained about the searches, but only pilots got an exemption. Read more »
Australian soldiers, Aborigines, civilians exposed to depleted uranium in ’50s nuclear tests
The government is preparing a study of those who may have been affected, including soldiers, and Aboriginal and civilian populations in the area at the time of testing.
Depleted uranium used at Maralinga Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 23 Nov 10, Australian Government Confirms Depleted Uranium Used in 1950s The Australian Federal Government announced that it will conduct a health study of Australian volunteers who worked at Maralinga, a British nuclear test site. Read more »
Stuxnet computer worm might target North Korea’s nukes
- the North Korean control system “is dual use, also used by the petrochemical industry, but was the same as those acquired by Iran to run its centrifuges.”
Could Stuxnet Mess With North Korea’s New Uranium Plant? Wired.com. By Kim Zetter and Spencer Ackerman November 22, 2010 The Stuxnet worm may have a new target. While security analysts try to figure out whether the now-infamous malware was built to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, North Korea has unveiled a new uranium enrichment plant that appears to share components with Iran’s facilities. Could Pyongyang’s centrifuges be vulnerable to Stuxnet? Read more »
British nuclear veterans set back, for now, by court ruling
The High Court in London ruled Monday that just one out of 10 test cases, representing more than 1,000 claimants, was entitled to proceed to a full trial. The remaining nine cases had been launched outside a legal time limit, it said….However, lawyers for the claimants indicated that they would take the case to the Supreme Court in Britain.
British government wins partial victory in nuclear test claim case, Monsters and Critics, Nov 22, 2010, London – The British government Monday claimed a partial victory in a long-running legal battle over compensation for ex- servicemen involved in 1950′s nuclear tests in Australia. Read more »
Possibly, a partial solution to unsolved problem of dead nuclear reactors
EnergySolutions cannot dispose of all the waste. Clive is licensed only for the least contaminated material. And the spent nuclear fuel is in the same situation as used reactor fuel all over the country: the Energy Department is under contract to take it, but has no place to dispose of it. Until a permanent repository is built at the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada or another location, the waste will stay at the Zion site in steel and concrete casks designed to last for decades.
Nuclear Plant Finds Novel Way to Decommission, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD: November 22, 2010 ZION, Ill. — Twelve years ago, Commonwealth Edison found itself in a bind. The Zion Station, its twin-unit nuclear reactor here, was no longer profitable. But the company could not afford to tear it down: the cost of dismantling the vast steel and concrete building, with multiple areas of radioactive contamination, would exceed $1 billion, double what it had cost to build the reactors in the 1970s. Nor could Commonwealth Edison walk away from the plant, because of the contamination. Read more »
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