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The World Must Stop Making Radioactive Trash

It’s such a simple idea  – so simple that our clever experts, politicians, academics, media can’t grasp it.

With religious fervour, the nuclear lobby tells us there’s nothing to worry about, as with the help of God, our descendants will cope with the toxic radioactive mess that nuclear activities are building up around the world.

Simple people think – “It would be best to bury deeply the toxic wastes that now exist, and to stop making any more”.

And they are right.


It’s like climate change –   do all the smart people think that their own children and grandchildren will thank them for making money, while pretending that they have no responsibility about this?

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August 29, 2018 Posted by | Christina's themes | 6 Comments

Fukushima Radiation causing U.S. Insurance Companies to EXCLUDE all Coverage for Radiation Claims

REPOST from February 2014
February 2, 2014 — (TRN) — Insurance Companies in the United States have begun notifying customers they will no longer have ANY coverage whatsoever for anything relating to nuclear energy claims. Fallout, radiation sickness, property damage from radiation – all EXCLUDED. This begs the question: If the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant in Japan is as harmless to Americans as the government and “scientists” are telling us, why are Insurance companies specifically EXCLUDING coverage for nuclear energy related claims? (Hint: The government is lying about the danger.)
TRN has a PDF of one such notice being sent by Traveler’s Insurance Company. You can read it for yourself below.
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Letters being sent by U.S. Insurance companies are notifying policy holders of an important change to their coverage. Letter sent by one major insurance company read as follows:
 
Dear Policyholder;
Thank you for choosing Travelers. We are providing advance notice of changes affecting your renewal policy or notification of renewal premium. Please consult Travelers Service Center for guidance in reviewing the information contained in this notice.
 
Your renewal policy will provide changes in coverage because of underwriting judgment based on an evaluation of your
individual risk exposures and/or loss history.
 
The following is changed on your renewal:
Coverage Change Details
IL 00 21 09 08 NUCLEAR ENERGY LIABILITY EXCLUSION ENDORSEMENT FORM HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR POLICY
 
 
The accompanying paperwork gets very specific about what they mean. It says, in part:
 
1. The insurance does not apply:
 
A. Under any Liability Coverage, to “bodily injury” or “property damage”:
 
B. Under any Medical Payments coverage, to expenses incurred with respect to “bodily injury” resulting from the “hazardous properties” of “nuclear material” and arising out of the operation of a “nuclear facility” by any person or organization.
 
2. As used in this endorsement:
 
“Hazardous properties” includes radioactive, toxic or explosive properties. “Nuclear material” means “source material”, “special nuclear material” or “by-product material” . . . . Spent fuel . . . . Waste . . . . .
 
The letters further make clear:
 
“Property damage” includes all forms of radioactive contamination of property.”
 
 
That last item, about radioactive contamination of property, THAT’s the “biggie.” THAT is the issue that will shortly become evident to people who live on the west coast of north America. One day, when folks in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego wake up and hear evacuation orders on radio and TV telling them to run for their lives because the radiation levels from the Pacific Ocean have made their homes uninhabitable, THEN all those folks will understand the implications of this nasty little change in Insurance coverage.
 
The Turner Radio Network has been warning people about the coming radiation from Fukushima. For months, we have been issuing radiation alerts when local background radiation levels start “spiking.” For months, we have been closely monitoring developments at the Fukushima disaster site and publishing news stories about those developments and the dangers they pose to North America.
 
Sadly, for months, critics have claimed our coverage was “sensationalism” or “designed to scare people.” That was never the case, but it didn’t stop the critics from claiming such.
 
So here we are, February, 2014, and Insurance Companies are now specifically EXCLUDING coverage for radioactive contamination of property. Let’s be clear about what this means; if you have to move away from your home because the area is contaminated with lethal levels of radiation, don’t bother calling your insurance company. YOU HAVE NO COVERAGE AT ALL for this type of event. Of course, you still have to pay your mortgage for the house you can no longer live in, but that’s your problem, right?
 
Now, stop and think for a moment about other types of disasters. Homes in “Tornado Alley” in the USA routinely suffer horrific destruction from tornadoes. Have any insurance companies stopped covering such damage? No. They may charge a higher premium in those geographic areas, but they don’t flat-out EXCLUDE coverage. How about places that routinely suffer wildfires? California, Arizona, New Mexico come to mind. Have you ever heard of any insurance companies specifically EXCLUDING coverage for wildfires for people who live in those area? Nope!
 
So why, if the government and so-called “experts” are all publicly telling us that the radiation from Fukushima will be diluted by the Pacific Ocean and will not harm us, are Insurance companies beginning to absolutely and specifically EXCLUDE coverage for radiation-related damage, injuries and claims?
 
Could it be that the radiation from Fukushima, which has been spewing into the Pacific Ocean since March 11, 2011, is not nearly as “diluted” as the government and “experts” would have us believe? Could it be that the Insurance companies know (maybe from their pals in government) that entire STATES on the west coast of North America may have to be evacuated because of the incoming radioactive water in the Pacific? Does this start to make more sense to you now? Such events would utterly wipe out Insurance companies. You know it, the government knows it and the insurance companies darn sure know it. THAT is why insurance companies are excluding coverage; they KNOW what’s coming and they don’t want to be wiped out by it. Can’t blame them, but where does that leave you?
 
Some advice: If you live on the west coast of north America, sell your house fast and cheap to some illegal aliens. Get whatever you can for the house, take the money, and run like hell.
 
Whatever you get for the house will be more than you’ll get from your insurance company once the radiation arrives. Oh, about the illegal aliens to whom you sell . . . . well . . . . who cares what happens to them, they shouldn’t be here anyway!
Click HERE to read a PDF of the actual notice being sent to policy holders by Traveler’s Insurance Company

September 24, 2018 Posted by | Fukushima 2018 | , , | 1 Comment

Japan Has Enough Nuclear Material to Build an Arsenal. Its Plan: Recycle.

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After decades of delays, a plant in Rokkasho, Japan, is almost ready to start turning nuclear waste into nuclear fuel, its builders say. But Japan doesn’t use much nuclear power any more.
 
Sept. 22, 2018
ROKKASHO, Japan — More than 30 years ago, when its economy seemed invincible and the Sony Walkman was ubiquitous, Japan decided to build a recycling plant to turn nuclear waste into nuclear fuel. It was supposed to open in 1997, a feat of advanced engineering that would burnish its reputation for high-tech excellence and make the nation even less dependent on others for energy.
Then came a series of blown deadlines as the project hit technical snags and struggled with a Sisyphean list of government-mandated safety upgrades. Seventeen prime ministers came and went, the Japanese economy slipped into a funk and the initial $6.8 billion budget ballooned into $27 billion of spending.
Now, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., the private consortium building the recycling plant, says it really is almost done. But there is a problem: Japan does not use much nuclear power any more. The country turned away from nuclear energy after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and only nine of its 35 reactors are operational.
It is a predicament with global ramifications. While waiting for the plant to be built, Japan has amassed a stockpile of 47 metric tons of plutonium, raising concerns about nuclear proliferation and Tokyo’s commitment to refrain from building nuclear arms even as it joins the United States in pressing North Korea to give up its arsenal.

September 24, 2018 Posted by | Japan | , , | 1 Comment

Dairy farmer resumes operations 7 1/2 years after Fukushima disaster

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Tetsuji Sakuma, right, unloads a cow from a truck in the Fukushima Prefecture village of Katsurao on Sept. 13, 2018, as he resumes operations at his dairy farm for the first time since the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
 
September 19, 2018
KATSURAO, Fukushima — A 42-year-old man resumed operations at his dairy farm on Sept. 13 with the arrival of eight cows at his barn, after an evacuation order for the 2011 nuclear crisis was lifted in most parts of the village here.
 
Tetsuji Sakuma, who is aiming to ship milk for public sale from the beginning of next year, restarted his business for the first time in 7 1/2 years after the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster. He did not give up hope of resuming his work even after being forced to evacuate and losing all his cattle as a result. “I hope to restore my finances and to lead this area (to recovery),” said the farmer, taking one step toward the reconstruction of his hometown.
Sakuma unloaded the cows from a truck into his barn with the help of his 68-year-old father Shinji. Sakuma laughed bitterly as he suddenly felt old, realizing he had “lost strength after not doing such work for 7 1/2 years,” but flashed a smile as he watched the cattle graze.
Sakuma took over running the ranch when he was just 20 years old. He successfully increased the number of cows and barns, and was raising a total of 129 dairy cattle before the nuclear crisis struck. He grew corn and grass to feed the cows, which he raised from when they were calves, and brought them up in a stress-less environment to produce large quantities of high quality milk. The cows were like members of the family and he used to ship the largest amount of raw milk among farmers in Fukushima Prefecture.
After the deadly quake struck on March 11, 2011, a tanker did not come to collect his milk the next day, forcing him to discard it. Dairy cattle can die if they are not milked and Sakuma thought that “cows sacrifice themselves to produce milk, and throwing it away is like wasting their lives.”
Everyone in the village was advised to evacuate on the night of March 14, 2011. Sakuma let his wife and child evacuate to Gunma Prefecture while he took shelter in the city of Fukushima with his parents. Ten of his cows were found dead when he returned on May 18.
Some 25 of his young cows were sent to a ranch in Hokkaido in June that year and the rest were shipped off to be culled for their meat following inspections. “People can evacuate, but cows have nowhere to escape,” the distressed farmer thought as he apologized to the cows.
Sakuma moved into a temporary housing complex in the town of Miharu in Fukushima Prefecture with his wife and child. He helped his friend’s civil engineering work while serving as a village assembly member, and waited for a chance to start farming again. Restrictions on shipments of milk were lifted in December 2016, half a year after the easing of the nuclear evacuation order. Sakuma rushed to prepare for the reopening of his dairy farm, such as repairing milking machines.
The excited farmer bought eight dairy cattle at an auction in Hokkaido on Sept. 11, exactly 7 1/2 years after the Fukushima disaster. Sakuma will check the level of radiation in the cows’ milk once a week, to accomplish his goal to ship milk for public sale from the beginning of next year. His future dream is to have 300 cows graze on his farm.
His wife gave birth to three more children while they lived as evacuees and this spring, the family moved into a new home he built in the place where their old home used to stand in the town of Katsurao. The father of four feels proud every time his eldest son Ryoji, 13, says he wants to “become a dairy farmer.”
Sakuma never once thought of shutting down his dairy farm. “I don’t want to be perceived as someone who quit in exchange for compensation. If I stop farming, I would feel like I have lost to these circumstances,” he stated. Sakuma has to repay a 100 million yen loan he took out to resume operations at his dairy farm and to work to eliminate damage caused by harmful rumors, as well as face many other challenges. “This is the point of no return,” said Sakuma, as he rolled up his sleeves to start his difficult journey.
(Japanese original by Rikka Teramachi, Fukushima Bureau)

September 24, 2018 Posted by | Fukushima 2018 | , , | Leave a comment

In spite of Donald Trump, Iran is keeping its nuclear commitments

Iran is keeping its nuclear commitments — despite Trump, MEHR, President Rouhani   24 Sept 18:

‘It has now become crystal clear that most countries in the world oppose US unilateralism and abhor being bullied. Even if in the short term we face difficulties in our economic relations, we, along with our partners, will try to resolve those problems, and these days will pass,’ Washington Post quoted Hassan Rouhani as saying on Friday.

The full text of Rouhani’s article that originally appeared in Washingtonpost.com is as follows:

I faced two options on May 8, when President Trump announced the United States’ official withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). I could have reciprocated and announced Iran’s withdrawal, which was certain to throw the region into further insecurity and instability. Or I could have considered a short grace period for the remaining parties to compensate for the adverse effects of the United States’ decision on the valuable accord that had been achieved after 12 years of tough, intensive negotiations. In keeping with our tradition of respect for the rule of law and norms of international law, and to safeguard peace and security in the region, I opted for the latter………

Current US foreign policy toward Iran is out of step with the realities on the ground — in Iran, in the region and around the world. I would argue that it is not even in line with US national interests. Fed by disinformation and fake analysis from terrorist groups and Israel, the US administration is under the illusion that resorting to sanctions will lead to concessions from Iran. Iranians, though, are known to close ranks and put up stiff resistance in the face of external pressure. The United States, through its pervasive sanctions regime, failed to force Iranians to yield during the pre-JCPOA period. It was the United States that changed tack and opted for negotiations. ………

We are committed to talks and dialogue — that’s why we entered the negotiations on the nuclear issue in the first place, and ultimately arrived at a solid and mutually beneficial deal. The proof of good intentions on the part of all parties to the deal, particularly the United States, lies in the honest and full compliance with its provisions. It is on the record that during the negotiations on the nuclear dossier, our supreme leader said that the other side’s honesty would pave the way for further talks on issues of mutual interest. Washington’s insincere approach toward the implementation of the deal, from day one all the way through its ultimate illegal exit, is indicative of the lack of honesty in the implementation of its international obligations.

Modern history attests to the fact that Iran has not engaged in any external aggression during the past 250 years. It has, however, fiercely resisted foreign aggression and intervention. Peace is our arsenal, and we are committed to reciprocate each and every genuine and honest peaceful gesture and measure. On this we are resolute and steadfast.

This article was originally published by The Washington Post.  http://en.mehrnews.com/news/137942/Iran-is-keeping-its-nuclear-commitments-despite-Trump

September 24, 2018 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Japan’s Environment Ministry forced to change its forecast in order to make the nuclear industry look better

September 24, 2018 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

America’s last nuclear power project at risk of cancellation

Last U.S. Nuclear Project Faces `Jeopardy’ as Owners Mull Exit, Bloomberg, By Mark Chediak, Margaret Newkirk, and Ari Natter, September 24, 2018, 

  • Costs of Southern’s Vogtle project have doubled to $28 billion
  •  
    orida utility seeking to cancel contract to buy Vogtle power
    The only nuclear power plant under construction in the U.S. is facing stiff headwinds, as two minority owners are mulling whether to pull out of the $28 billion project led by Southern Co.

    Vogtle’s primary municipal co-owners, Oglethorpe Power Corp. and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, are scheduled to vote Monday whether to move forward with construction on the Vogtle plant in Georgia after Southern’s Georgia Power utility disclosed in August that costs had increased by $2.3 billion.

    As the vote looms, a Florida utility is suing to get out of a contract to buy electricity from the plant. Georgia lawmakers, meanwhile, called this week for a price cap on the project.

    If one of the major parties decides not to continue, that could put the project in serious jeopardy,” said Kit Konolige, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.

    The Vogtle decision comes at a critical time for the U.S. nuclear industry. Existing reactors are struggling to compete with cheap natural gas and renewables, and efforts to build new ones have all but dried up. Cost overruns forced Scana Corp. to abandon a half-built project in South Carolina last year, leaving Southern and its partners as the only companies left building reactors in the U.S……….https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-21/last-u-s-nuclear-project-faces-jeopardy-as-owners-mull-exit

September 24, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

North, South Korean Leaders in Fact Proclaimed End of State of War – Seoul

North Korea and South Korea signed an agreement in defence sector as well as a joint statement following the results of the summit in Pyongyang.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have in fact proclaimed the end of the state of war, the South Korean presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“Leaders of the South and the North have in fact announced the end of the war on the Korean Peninsula by their agreements,” the spokesperson said.

Leaders of North Korea and South Korea have signed a joint agreement following the summit in Pyongyang. Also, the agreement in military sphere was signed by South Korean Defense Minister, Song Young-moo, and North Korean Defense Minister of People’s Armed Forces, No Kwang Chol in the presence of the two states’ leaders.

According to the joint statement by the leaders, North Korea decided to fully dismantle its rocket testing field in Tonchkhan-ni and will let international observers visit the field.

The statement also said that North Korea was going to dismantle its nuclear reactor in Yonbyon within the framework of agreements with the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Friday, April 27, 2018.
© AP Photo/ uncredited
US Must ‘Show Commitment’ to Peace Talks with North Korea – Scholar

After the meeting, North Korean leader promised to visit Seoul in near future. He also said that both nations agreed to make efforts to denuclearize the peninsula. Meanwhile, South Korean president said that Seoul an Pyongyang agreed to remove threat of war on Korean Peninsula.The joint statement also said that the works on connection of roads and railways between the two nations would start before the year’s end.

Seoul and Pyongyang also agreed to send joint team to 2020 Olympic games as well as to submit joint bid to host 2032 games.

The meeting of the nations’ leaders took place on Wednesday in the “one-on-one” format in the official residence for the honorable guests. The persons accompanying the leaders were waiting for the end of their conversation in the corridor.

The two nations agreed to cease large-scale artillery exercises and military flights near demarcation line. They also agreed to withdraw servicemen from the demilitarised zone and disarm personnel in Panmunjom truce village. Two Koreas agreed to create 80-kilometre zone free from military exercises in Yellow sea, sea of Japan.

Earlier, a spokesperson for Seoul administration confirmed that DPRK and South Korea would sign a military agreement and a joint statement after the summit.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is on a three-day visit in Pyongyang, which the first visit by a president of South Korea to Pyongyang in nearly 11 years, as former president Roh Moo-hyun travelled to North Korea back in October 2007.

READ MORE: Seoul, Pyongyang Open Joint Liaison Office in North Korea — Reports

During South Korean President’s visit it was planned that the leader would twice hold talks with Kim Jong-un and discuss further improvement of relations, denuclearization and development of dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201809191068152005-north-south-korea-will-sign-agreement/

September 23, 2018 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

39th HRC Session: Oral Statement on the Hazardous Working Conditions Faced by Fukushima Cleanup Workers

September 20, 2018

On 12 September 2018, Human Rights Now gave an oral statement on the Hazardous Working Conditions Faced by Fukushima Cleanup Workers at the 39th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Fukushima cleanup workers have been subjected to hazardous working conditions and misled about the negative health impacts involved. In the statement we called on the Japanese government to expand its verification system to ensure contractors are following relevant duties and to verify the effectiveness of existing inspections by a credible independent party or by publicly releasing for evaluation their criteria and procedures. We also asked the government to accept the Special Rapporteur on toxic waste’s request to visit Japan in 2019.

The video and the full text of the statement can be accessed below.Screenshot from 2018-09-23 09:04:30

Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Human Rights Now is concerned about the negative health impacts and labour exploitation of cleanup workers at the decommissioned Fukushima nuclear power plant, where 76,951 workers were reported doing cleanup and related work up to 2016. The Japanese government recently acknowledged the death of a cleanup worker by cancer due to radiation exposure, as well as three others who developed leukemia and thyroid cancer.

The August 16 communication by three special rapporteurs also voiced concern with reports of deception of cleanup workers about health risks and other issues by recruitment brokers and insufficient training and protective
measures by contractors and subcontractors. Such practices threaten workers’ rights to health, a safe working environment, and relevant labour rights.

The Japanese government’s response mentioned several measures; obligating contractors to provide special training and medical checks, providing them group guidance on workers’ rights, surveys to identify deception and other employment violations, urging improvements of malicious companies, and inspections by various agencies to identify violations in labour standards, working conditions, and payments. These measures have common shortcomings: Reciting obligations and providing guidance and instruction does not ensure they are respected, and the effectiveness of surveys and inspections is at best merely assumptive.

Mr. Vice President,

We call on the Japanese government to expand its verification system to ensure contractors are following relevant duties and verify the effectiveness of existing inspections by a credible independent party or by publicly releasing for evaluation their criteria and procedures. We also ask the government to accept the Special Rapporteur on toxic waste’s request to visit Japan in 2019.

Thank you.

http://hrn.or.jp/eng/news/2018/09/20/hrc39-fukushima-oral-statement/

Further reading here;

https://nuclear-news.net/2018/09/18/fukushima-united-nations-ohcr-report-update-18th-september-2018-idp/

September 23, 2018 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The week in nuclear news

Huge clean-up tasks face areas affected by Super Typhoon Mangkhut and Hurricane Florence. In the many reports of these extreme weather events, climate change is rarely mentioned. Also played down is the effect on the nuclear industry. Thankfully, there seems to have been no big nuclear disaster. But there is little or no coverage of the effects on hazardous radioactive waste dumps.

Investigative journalism: Authorities deceive the public on radiation from Fukushima Daiichi

Sea levels could rise by up to 30 feet, due to Antarctic melting.

U.N. looks forward to more countries signing and ratifying nuclear ban treaty.

Civil and military nuclear industries locked in dependence on each other.

Heavy radiation effect on astronauts to Mars – now can be measured.

The big lie of ionising radiation hormesis.

NORTH and SOUTH  KOREA . Peaceful agreement between North and South Korea – but little of substance on denuclearization.  North Korea is willing to allow outside inspectors to check its closed nuclear weapons test site.

IRAN and ISRAEL. UN is being pressed by Iran and Israel – each wanting action against the other.

JAPAN. Tepco to build finally extra sea wall to reinforce Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Fukushima United Nations OHCR report update 18th September 2018 IDP. Japan tries to dilute tritium danger. Massive flow of money into Japanese coal and nuclear power.

CANADA. The second nuclear industry stillbirth – Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs). Canada’s Brookfield in talks with Toshiba, about buying British new nuclear init NuGen.

EUROPE. Big companies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft not supporting EU’s plan for more ambitious climate change goals.

USA.

FRANCE. French nuclear industry in turmoil, – inadequate welds at Flamanville nuclear reactor. The EPR, France and EDF’s nuclear nightmare.

French court orders EDF to release risk analysis about Hinkley nuclear project. It’s not too late to stop it. Financiers desert France’s EPR nuclear power plan for UK’s Hinkley Point C project.

UK.

INDIA. Community in Madhya Pradesh protest against proposed nuclear plant .

BELGIUM. Engie warns on profit following Belgian nuclear outages. Five Out of 7 Nuclear Reactors in Belgium Halted – National Regulator.

MALAYSIA. A good move – Malaysia rejecting nuclear energy.    Theft of radioactive materials.

CHINA. Typhoon Mangkhut headed straight for 2 Chinese nuclear power stations.

SLOVAKIA. Several nuclear reactors in Slovakia are out of operation.

September 22, 2018 Posted by | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

Authorities deceive the public on radiation from Fukushima Daiichi

Dr Yamashita is only one among a host of politicians, bureaucrats, experts and advertising and media consultants who support the post-3.11 safety mantra of anshin (secure 安心), anzen (safe 安全), fukkō (recovery 復 興). Through public meetings, media channels, education manuals and workshops,54 local citizens in Fukushima Prefecture were inundated with optimistic and reassuring messages.
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At the same time, to reduce ‘radiophobia’ and anxiety, while focusing on the psychological impact from stress, health risks from radiation exposures have been trivialised and/or normalised for the general public.
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This approach is backed up by international nuclear-related agencies. As stipulated on 28 May 1959 in the ‘WHA12-40’ agreement, the WHO is mandated to report all data on health effects from radiation exposures to the IAEA, which controls publication.
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Nevertheless, it is no longer possible to ignore a significant body of research, including 20 years of scientific studies compiled in Belarus and Ukraine that show serious depopulation, ongoing illnesses and state decline.

Informal Labour, Local Citizens and the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Crisis: Responses to Neoliberal Disaster Management Adam Broinowski {extensive footnotes and references on original]  September 2018, “……… (Official Medicine: The (Il)logic of Radiation Dosimetry On what basis have these policies on radiation from Fukushima Daiichi been made? Instead of containing contamination, the authorities have mounted a concerted campaign to convince the public that it is safe to live with radiation in areas that should be considered uninhabitable and unusable according to internationally accepted standards. To do so, they have concealed from public knowledge the material conditions of radiation contamination so as to facilitate the return of the evacuee population to ‘normalcy’, or life as it was before 3.11. This position has been further supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which stated annual doses of up to 20 mSv/y are safe for the total population including women and children.43 The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Scientific Commission on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) also asserted that there were no ‘immediate’ radiation related illnesses or deaths (genpatsu kanren shi 原発 関連死) and declared the major health impact to be psychological.

While the central and prefectural governments have repeatedly reassured the public since the beginning of the disaster that there is no immediate health risk, in May 2011 access to official statistics for cancer-related illnesses (including leukaemia) in Fukushima and southern Miyagi prefectures was shut down. On 6 December 2013, the Special Secrets Protection Law (Tokutei Himitsu Hogo Hō 特定秘密保護法) aimed at restricting government employees and experts from giving journalists access to information deemed sensitive to national security was passed (effective December 2014). Passed at the same time was the Cancer Registration Law (Gan Tōroku Hō 癌登録法), which made it illegal to share medical data or information on radiation-related issues including evaluation of medical data obtained through screenings, and denied public access to certain medical records, with violations punishable with a 2 million yen fine or 5–10 years’ imprisonment. In January 2014, the IAEA, UNSCEAR and Fukushima Prefecture and Fukushima Medical University (FMU) signed a confidentiality agreement to control medical data on radiation. All medical personnel (hospitals) must submit data (mortality, morbidity, general illnesses from radiation exposures) to a central repository run by the FMU and IAEA.44 It is likely this data has been collected in the large Fukushima Centre for Environmental Creation, which opened in Minami-Sōma in late 2015 to communicate ‘accurate information on radiation to the public and dispel anxiety’. This official position contrasts with the results of the first round of the Fukushima Health Management Survey (October 2011 – April 2015) of 370,000 young people (under 18 at the time of the disaster) in Fukushima prefecture since 3.11, as mandated in the Children and Disaster Victims Support Act (June 2012).45 The survey report admitted that paediatric thyroid cancers were ‘several tens of times larger’ (suitei sareru yūbyōsū ni kurabete sūjūbai no ōdā de ōi 推定される有病数に比べて数十倍の オーダーで多い) than the amount estimated.46 By 30 September 2015, as part of the second-round screening (April 2014–March 2016) to be conducted once every two years until the age of 20 and once every five years after 20, there were 15 additional confirmed thyroid cancers coming to a total of 152 malignant or suspected paediatric thyroid cancer cases with 115 surgically confirmed and 37 awaiting surgical confirmation. Almost all have been papillary thyroid cancer with only three as poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (these are no less dangerous). By June 2016, this had increased to 173 confirmed (131) or suspected (42) paediatric thyroid cancer cases.47

The National Cancer Research Center also estimated an increase of childhood thyroid cancer by 61 times, from the 2010 national average of 1–3 per million to 1 in 3,000 children. Continue reading →

September 22, 2018 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, radiation, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties, spinbuster | 4 Comments

Peaceful agreement between North and South Korea – but little of substance on denuclearization

North Korea agrees to dismantle nuclear site if U.S. takes steps too

At inter-Korean summit, little of substance on denuclearization https://thebulletin.org/2018/09/at-inter-korean-summit-little-of-substance-on-denuclearization/?utm_source=Bulletin%20Newsletter&utm_medium=iContact%20Email&utm_campaign=September21

By Elisabeth Eaves, September 19, 2018 The leaders of North and South Korea met again this week, ostensibly with a goal of moving the peninsula they share towards denuclearization. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have done so, says Bulletin columnist Duyeon Kim, who followed the summit from Seoul. She shared her analysis with CNN.

“I hate to pour cold water on the situation, but … we have to wait and see what details come out of Moon’s meeting with Trump,” she told CNN anchor Kristie Lu Stout. Moon and US President Donald Trump are expected to speak next week.

The joint statement the Korean leaders issued on Wednesday was short on specifics and new information, Duyeon Kim says—which was as expected. North Korea said it would dismantle a missile engine-test facility and launch pad, a promise it had already made in June. It also said it was willing to dismantle the country’s Yongbyon nuclear complex—if the United States took unspecified “corresponding” measures first.

“Based on the joint statements and the press conference—what is known to us publicly—it does not move the ball forward at all,” Duyeon Kim told CNN. “We’re still in the same place.”

This is the third summit between the North’s hereditary dictator, Kim Jong-un, and the South’s elected President Moon Jae-in. Moon has become a sort of peace broker between the North and the United States, whose leaders were threatening each other with destruction just last year, and many observers still hope he will be able to bring them together.

Earlier, Duyeon Kim shared her expectations for this week’s summit with the BBC, available on this Twitter video thread. As she notes, North Korea and the United States have yet to agree on a definition of “denuclearization.”

September 22, 2018 Posted by | North Korea, politics international, South Korea | Leave a comment

UN is being pressed by Iran and Israel – each wanting action against the other

Iran and Israel call each other nuclear threats, ask U.N. to take action, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Dan WilliamsLONDON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) 21 Sept 18,  – Iran asked the United Nations to condemn what it described as Israeli nuclear threats against it on Thursday, while Israel said it was stepping up security around its atomic sites as a precaution against threats from Tehran and its regional allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a visit to a secretive Israeli atomic reactor in August to warn the country’s enemies that it has the means to destroy them, in what appeared to be a reference to its assumed nuclear arsenal.

“The United Nations’ members should not turn a blind eye to these threats and must take firms actions to eliminate all Israeli nuclear weapons,” Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gholamali Khoshrou said in letters to the U.N. secretary general and the security council, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency. Khoshrou asked the United Nations to force Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and bring its nuclear program under supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a U.N. atomic watchdog.

The director general of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission said on Tuesday that Iran and Syria posed significant proliferation threats to the region and called for U.N. action at the 62nd General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency now taking place in Vienna.

………Israel, which is outside the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having a nuclear arsenal, a decades-old “ambiguity” policy. It is trying to lobby world powers to follow the United States in withdrawing from the 2015 deal with Iran that capped the Islamic Republic’s nuclear capabilities in return for lifting of sanctions. The Israelis say the agreement does not do enough to denying their arch-foe the means to eventually build a bomb. Tehran, which is a signatory to the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), denies wanting to so…….. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-israel/iran-and-israel-call-each-other-nuclear-threats-ask-u-n-to-take-action-idUSKCN1M00ML

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September 22, 2018 Posted by | Iran, Israel, politics international | Leave a comment

Electricity being restored to Brunswick nuclear power station in North Carolina flooded area

Utility begins restoring power to only nuclear plant to shut down during Hurricane Florence https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/utility-begins-restoring-power-to-only-nuclear-plant-to-shut-down-during-hurricane-florence, by Josh Siegel September 20, 2018 Utility company Duke Energy is restoring power at Brunswick nuclear plant in North Carolina after the site closed because of Hurricane Florence, with one reactor in service and the other set to restart soon.

Shannon Brushe, a Duke spokeswoman, confirmed to the Washington Examiner that it returned power Thursday to one of two units at the 1,978-megawatt Brunswick nuclear plant near Wilmington.

Duke had shut down the two reactors as a precaution before Florence hit. It was the only nuclear plant to close in either North or South Carolina because of the storm.

 Over the weekend, Duke workers had limited access to the Brunswick plant because of flooding.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that the plant was completely surrounded by water, with no way in or out of the facility.

Duke issued an emergency alert to the nuclear watchdog commission on Saturday, called an “unusual event” notice, which is the lowest emergency alert that the power plant is required to issue.

Roads in and out of the power plant’s 1,200-acre campus were impassable, making it impossible to relieve the Duke Energy and federal NRC staff stationed at the plant to ride out Hurricane Florence.

But a NRC spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that there is now “adequate access to the plant and no other concerns related to flooding at the Brunsw

As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, 114,000 Duke customers — most of them in North Carolina — remained without power.

September 22, 2018 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

The big lie of ionising radiation hormesis

Ken Raskin, 22 Sept 18, Hormesis Crapola

Radionuclide hormesis assertions, are fraudulent. They are fraudulent, mainly because exposure to poisons do not in the future, decrease vulnerability to more poison. Quite the contrary, exposure to radionuclide particles and boluses, cause bioccumulation. They cause damage. They  makes chronic illness  and early death much more likely.. Hormesis is the same nonsense used for cigarrette smoking.

One word is common, to the tactics of the professional corporate poisoners, from a long time ago. One word, runs through their vocabulary of legalese and fraudulent science. Hormesis. It is an old con. Perhaps as old as the worlds oldest profession, prostitution. Quite appropo in light of the corporate lawyers and public relation firms, that work for the nuclear industries, pesticide industries, tobacco industries, asbestos industry, and corporate America. Now it is a thousand times as bad, with Chuko-the-clown in power.

Radionuclide Hormesis is just bogus .  Genetic engineers cannot even make CRISPR work,  when they try to repair dna in people with genetic illness. That is because of the errors, made by cells and enzymes in living cells. Errors made  trying to repair DNA, with CRISPR. The cells themselves are damaged . They cannot do dna repair, with enzyme cleavings and insertions properly because of multiple flaws in enzyme induction and appropriation.. Dna polymerases in these cells cannot repair damaged dna and chromosones.

There are many mechanisms, of damage from radionuclides to the body. Radionucides do, to the body and tissue, more than  acting as mutagens, causing dna cleavages and chromosone breaks. Their global damage is ravaging across all systems and cell types in the human body.

Radionuclides are cytotoxic. They can act as heavy metal poisons, to breakdown the machinery of enzymes and metabolism in cells. They fry nerve cells and heart tissue, important for transmission of electrical signals in the heart and nerves. They destroy important endogenous process like insulin secretion in the pancreas and thyroid secretion.

Dr Busby talked about a study at Los Alamos, where dogs were exposed to small amounts of plutonium, in their lungs. They all got lung cancer, in a couple of weeks. They all died. The dogs at Los Alamos died of lung cancer because, a microscopic dose above, threshold- acute caused damage.  Just a small amount, of the plutonium caused irreversible damage to the dogs lungs leading to cancer, very quickly!

Does that sound like hormesis to you? 30 billionths of a gram of iodine 131 in a cocktail , will destroy a thyroid gland. Look it up in a pharmacology book. That is what pharmaceutical iodine 131 is used for .

Corporate lawyers, that have pushed the fraudulent scientists, that have pushed the fraudulent and murderous lies of nuclear hormesis, tobacco-smoking hormesis, coal hormesis, pesticide hormesis, mercury hormesis.   They say poison did not kill your brother. They say poison will make you stronger and better. They will say it to your face, as you lay on your death-bed!

Radionuclides are The most Deadly Poisons on Earth! Do Not Simply Obsess About The Radiation They Emit

Dr. Busby is concerned with radiation modeling, because of his work with the European Commision.  Dr Busby understands that radionuclide toxicology and bioccumulation, are far more important than external radiation exposure. External radiation diminishes to the square of distance. Ingested radionuclides are inside you, irradiating and poisoning you.  Prof Busby talks about how they did not even have instruments, during the test era to measure what radionuclides were in fallout. They do now.

Pr Chris Busby on Fukushima kids nose bleeds

We know how teratogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, cytotoxic, radionuclides are.

We know they cause heritable defects. Environmental toxicologists and professionals like Marco Kaltofen and physicians like Dr. Conrad Miller know the doses of cesium 137 in the environment, that lead to specific heart damage. MILLER AND Bandechevsky studied cesium137 in chernobyl victims, in Ukraine and Belarus.

Aside from being a superalpha emitter, that induces lung cancer quite easily Plutonium has other txicity
Plutonium is quite toxic to the liver, and brain. It is because of the way, it mimics iron. Strontium has strong affinity and toxicity, to the bone tissue. Californium ruins the bodies ability to make redblood cells. RADIOACTIVE iodine RUINS the thyroid.

There are many more radionuclides with examples of specialized toxic effects. They all cause cancer because of their mutagenic nature to dna and chromosomes!

September 22, 2018 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The danger in transporting nuclear wastes to just a “temporary” nuclear morgue

Activists rally against nuclear waste transport,  By JOSHUA SOLOMON
Staff Writer,Greenfield Recorder  September 21, 2018 GREENFIELD — In a lot of ways it was like a party, celebrating the accomplishments of the past few years: The closures of the Vermont and Rowe nuclear plants. ……..The theme of the night? The high-level nuclear power plant waste being stored in Rowe and Vernon, Vt., must go — but only once the right and final safe place for it is decided.

“I haven’t bothered you for three or four years at this point,” leader of CAN and Rowe resident Deb Katz said. “But we’ve come back to our community to say: We need to be involved again. And I wish it wasn’t so.”

Katz and CAN just begun a tour of New England, and after spending their first two nights in Vermont, they came to Greenfield Thursday. On Friday, they will take the tour to the Statehouse on Beacon Hill.

Currently, the anti-nuclear activists are rallying against a bill that could allow for the high-level nuclear waste in Rowe and Vernon, Vt., to be shipped in canisters across the country to Texas or New Mexico. It would place the waste in what CAN is calling “parking lots” that are seen as more temporary holdings than anything else, but could be pitched as helping tthe economy in these regions in the Southwest of the country.

“Why shouldn’t we just say ‘yes, wow. Thank you so much’? The trouble is this is a really bad idea,” Katz said. “We all want the waste off the site, but we want it done right. And we want it done once.” ………

At the moment there isn’t a distinct solution on where to move the high-level nuclear waste, but Katz and fellow lead organizer Chris Williams of Vermont advovated for more science to figure out the best solution to storing waste that remains toxic for thousands of years.

“It took a lot of hard science to create this mess,” Williams said. “To get rid of this stuff properly, we’re going to have to apply real science and not just political expediency.”

The goal is to look to scientists to find the place for “deep geological storage,” Williams said.

Preaching to find a better, scientific solution was organizer and activist Kerstin Rudek from the Peoples Initiative, based out of Germany, where her neighbors have faced similar issues.

“It’s an international thing,” Rudek said, pointing to the lack of answers of what to do with the nuclear waste and the need for answers. “It’s not just a local thing.”

The meeting, which Williams described as a “little more lively than your usual nuclear waste meeting,” also included the speaker Leona Morgan, from the Navajo Nation and an Albuquerque, N.M. resident.

“It’s great news when we hear a nuclear power plant has been shut down, but it makes me nervous because it makes the push for these false solutions even harder,” Morgan said.

She described the political climate in New Mexico as pitching to residents that moving the nuclear waste there would be good for their economy, creating jobs, but ignoring the will of the residents who might be affected by it most.

“I’m here tonight to tell you we don’t want it,” Morgan said. “We don’t want this waste.”………

You can reach Joshua Solomon at:  jsolomon@recorder.com  413-772-0261, ext. 264     https://www.recorder.com/Anti-nuclear-group-CAN-advocated-for-one-final-location-for-waste-at-tour-event-at-Hawks—Reed-20333471

September 21, 2018 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, safety, USA, wastes | 2 Comments

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