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Research to help atomic downwinders now perverted into pro nuclear spin

They [Pam Sykes, Bobby Scott etc] are the “radiation sceptics”, very much comparable to “climate change sceptics”.  Their belief in “radiation hormesis” is comparable to “intelligent design” — as opposed to evolution.

Their common funding sources are nuclear energy agencies — in particular the USA Department of Energy (DOE)…..

After Fukushima: the rise of nuclear radiation denialists Independent Australia 22 Aug 11, After the Fukushima disaster, the nuclear industry has urgently redoubled its efforts to convince the world that nuclear radiation is safe. Now it seems they are trying to say that radiation is actually good for us. Noel Wauchope reports.

— In 2001, President Bill Clinton authorised funds to research the effects of radiation on the “downwinders” from the Nevada and Utah atomic bomb tests. The funds went to the Department of Energy, who designed the research project. They then allocated the project to Flinders University in South Australia, under the leadership of Professor Pam Sykes.

But the original intention of the research has taken a strangely perverted course.  Pam Sykes has joined the proponents of “adaptive radiation” and “radiation hormesis” –  the theory that “low level ionising radiation is good for you” It’s quite an old theory, but now, after Fukushima, it has suddenly become very useful to the nuclear and uranium lobbies…….. Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, AUSTRALIA, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Only independent media gives information on Fukushima radiation fallout

due to the media blackout of Fukushima and its fallout in the United States,  ”We’re really dependent on indymedia these days.”
St. Louis raining Fukushima hot particles: Radiation 178 times normal(video)Examiner,21 Aug 11  

Heeding nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen’s call to monitor and share radiation data, a St. Louis citizen reporter has demonstrated with a Geiger counter on Saturday that background radiation in St. Louis Missouri was 178 times normal after the rainout according to ENEWS. Gundersen predicted that as Japan burns contaminated materials, radiation levels in the United States and Canada would escalate in rainouts for another year.

“St. Louis rain sample shows radiation dose on August 20 almost triple previous high reading,” ENEWS reported Sunday.  Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by | media, USA | Leave a comment

Japan’s intractable problem of virtually permanently irradiated areas

Fukushima zone likely off-limits for ‘decades’, ABC Radio 774 ,Mark Willacy, August 22, 2011 The Japanese government says highly radioactive areas around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will remain no-go zones for decades after the damaged complex is stabilised.

Authorities say they plan to bring the stricken nuclear plant to a state of cold shutdown early next year. But with some areas near the complex continuing to show high levels of radioactive contamination, the government says it is unavoidable that some places will remain no-go zones.

Japanese newspaper The Daily Yomiuri reports government sources have said it could be “several decades” before the area is considered safe to enter. For the first time, the government has released figures revealing that many communities within 20 kilometres of the complex have contamination levels up to 500 times higher than safety limits.

The radiation readings were taken in 50 locations within a 20-kilometre radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant.Based on that data, the government has released estimates of the annual dose of radiation residents would be exposed to.

It found that in one town, Okuma, people would receive a dose of 508 milisieverts per year – more than 500 times the acceptable limit.At more than half the locations it was more than 20 times the limit.Tokyo Institute of Technology’s associate professor of radiobiology, Yoshihisa Matsumoto, says efforts to decontaminate the area will likely prove difficult…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-22/fukushima-radiation-500-times-safe-limit/2849394/?site=melbourne

August 22, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Japan’s lawmakers committed to nuclear power?

Japan’s redemption ‘emancipation from mental slavery’ Business report, IOL 22 Aug 11William Pesek On a hot Friday evening in Osaka, Japan, street musician Jun Fukuda is channelling Bob Marley on a downtown bridge. Not the feel-good, party-hearty Marley, but the mortality questioning ballad Redemption Song.

As the 20-year-old belts out the lyrics, “emancipate yourself from mental slavery”, he scans the gathering of 20 or so Japanese hipsters to be sure they’re getting the point. “There is no future in Japan for people like me,” Fukuda says. “Our leaders are useless, our economy is bad, there’s nuclear stuff in my food. There is nothing out there for my generation.”……

There’s still hope the events of the past five months will catalyse Japan to reinvent itself. Yet I haven’t found a smidgen of evidence that real change is afoot.

Rather than taking steps to enliven growth, politicians are, as usual, relying on the Bank of Japan to take the lead.

Instead of encouraging fresh alternative-energy research, lawmakers are digging in to protect the primacy of nuclear power…….http://www.iol.co.za/business/opinion/columnists/japan-s-redemption-emancipation-from-mental-slavery-1.1121907

August 22, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Silex laser uranium enrichment opening opportunities for nuclear terrorism

Dr. Slakey of the American Physical Society noted that the State Department a dozen years ago warned that the success of Silex could “renew interest” in laser enrichment for good or ill — to light cities or destroy them.

Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear, NYT, By ,August 20, 2011 Twenty miles southwest of Sydney, in a wooded region, Horst Struve and Michael Goldsworthy kept tinkering with the idea at a government institute. Finally, around 1994, the two men judged that they had a major advance.

The inventors called their idea Silex, for separation of isotopes by laser excitation. “Our approach is completely different,” Dr. Goldsworthy, a physicist, told a Parliamentary hearing… Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by | safety, technology, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

A new route to more nuclear bombs – Silex laser enrichment

Laser advance may increase spread of nuclear bomb, SMH, William Broad, August 22, 2011 In a little-known effort, General Electric has successfully tested laser enrichment for two years and is seeking permission from the US government to build a $US1 billion ($960 million) plant that would make reactor fuel by the tonne.

That might be good news for the nuclear industry, but critics fear that if the work succeeds and the secret gets out, rogue states and terrorists could make bomb fuel in much smaller plants that are difficult to detect……. critics want a detailed risk assessment. Recently, they petitioned Washington for a formal evaluation of whether the laser initiative could backfire and speed the global spread of nuclear arms.

”We’re on the verge of a new route to the bomb,” said Frank von Hippel, a nuclear physicist who teaches at Princeton University. ”We should have learnt enough by now to do an assessment before we let this kind of thing out.”  New varieties of enrichment are considered dangerous because they simplify obtaining the fuel……http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/laser-advance-may-increase-spread-of-nuclear-bomb-20110821-1j4mm.html

August 22, 2011 Posted by | technology, Uranium, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Australian anti uranium protestors walking 1250 km

WA uranium protest to cover 1250km, Narelle Towie , PerthNow , August 21, 2011 ANTI-URANIUM protesters will begin their 1250km march from Wiluna to Perth today in their fight to have mining of the ore banned.Walk Away From Uranium Mining protesters will travel through two proposed uranium mining sites – in Wiluna and Yeelirrie – before arriving in Perth nearly a month later on October 27….

WA Senator Scott Ludlam, who will take part in the march, said WA should joining a growing list of countries around the world, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Greece and Ireland, who were walking away from nuclear power.

“This is an extraordinary moment for our state and for the future. The nuclear industry is in decline around the world and public awareness of the dangers of uranium mining and nuclear power is growing,: Mr Ludlam said.

“This march is a powerful statement from Western Australians who do not want uranium mining in WA and who do not want their state to support the nuclear industry in any way.” http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/special-features/wa-uranium-protest-to-cover-1250km/story-e6frg19l-1226118950758

August 22, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Japan – prejudice against residents of Fukushima Prefecture

Teachers lack knowledge It is important to teach children the meaning of “becquerel,” which indicates how much radiation a radioactive substance emits, and “sievert,” the unit for calculating the effect radiation has on the human body. This will help children better understand daily news reports about radiation….

Better radiation education needed to end prejudice, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 20 Aug 11 Ever since the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, many evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture have been subjected to discrimination and prejudice.

A student who transferred from the prefecture to a primary school in the Kanto region was shunned by classmates and eventually stopped going to class. Some gas stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area have refused to serve cars bearing Fukushima license plates. Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, Religion and ethics | Leave a comment

Radiation testing of sockeye salmon a wise precaution


“If it’s sockeye (salmon), then it’s a wise precaution,” said fisheries oceanographer Tony Pitcher from the University of British Columbia. Sockeye salmon migrate quite far north and west in the Pacific Ocean into waters that are also crossed by currents coming from Japan, Pitcher said, so there is a chance the salmon will come into contact with organisms carrying some radiation.

Salmon, caribou to be tested for radiation from Japanese reactor, Montreal Gazette By Beatrice Fantoni, Postmedia News August 19, 2011  Salmon caught off the coast of British Columbia will be tested for traces of radiation from the nuclear disaster in Japan, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has announced. Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by | general | 1 Comment