Earth Focus Episode 32 – Nuclear Power: Risks and Consequences
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Uploaded on Oct 28, 2011
(Earth Focus: Episode 32) Nuclear Power: Risks and Consequences, an original Earth Focus investigative report, looks at the untold stories behind three of the world’s largest nuclear disasters: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. According to government and industry officials, no one died as a result of Three Mile Island and only low doses of radiation — equivalent to a single chest XRay were released.
But many local residents disagree and cite medical evidence that radiation released from the Three Mile Island reactor was severe enough to cause disease and death. It’s been 30 years but the controversy continues. Chernobyl was the worse nuclear disaster in history.
A new book, Chernobyl: Consequences of a Catastrophe says that almost a million people died as a result of the nuclear accident — not 4,000 as The World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency claim. A screw up or a coverup? Earth Focus looks at evidence that links radioactive exposure to diminished intelligence, premature aging and a variety of other health conditions.
Given the severity of the accident in Fukushima and the inability of the government to provide action to safeguard large portions of its population, the Japanese government moved the goal posts on what is considered safe radiation exposure for children and nuclear workers.
Japanese organized crime, the Yakuza, is now becoming actively involved in the cleanup of radioactive waste.
Fukushima survivors to file class action lawsuit against Japanese govt, plant operator
A TEPCO spokesman admitted that the utility gave inaccurate information to the parliamentary commission but claims it did not intentionally lie about conditions within the structure.
In July a parliamentary report said Fukushima was a man-made disaster stemming from Japan’s culture of “reflexive obedience.”
Published: 08 February, 2013, 20:10
Edited: 09 February, 2013, 02:51
RT
At least 350 people affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown will file a class action lawsuit against the Japanese government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on the second anniversary of the disaster.
This handout picture, taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on March 18, 2011 and released on February 1, 2013 shows water discharged against unit 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture. (AFP Photo/TEPCO)
Lawyers representing residents whose homes and farms were hit by radiation in the wake of the disaster said it was the largest suit on the issue filed against the government.
The plaintiffs will further seek some US$535 each in compensation from TEPCO for every month they have been displaced as a result of the accident.
They also plan to seek a court injunction that will require both the government and TEPCO to reduce radiation levels in the affected area to pre-disaster levels.
The suit will be filed on March 11, the two-year anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Several other similar class-action suits against both the government and TEPCO will be filed with the Tokyo District Court on the same day.
“The government promoted nuclear power as a national policy and has been closely involved with it,” lawyer Izutaro Managi told AAP news agency.
“Being fully aware of the danger of losing power due to a tsunami, the government neglected its duty to prevent such an event,” he said. “This is a suit to recover a Fukushima with neither radiation nor nuclear power,” he continued.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami crashed into the power station and knocked out its cooling system leading to the meltdown of three reactor cores. Tens of thousands were forced to flee the area and many are still unable to return.
TEPCO ‘lies’ to government
With residents preparing to sue the government and TEPCO for their role in the worst nuclear disaster in a generation, on Thursday the power company found itself in hot water for allegedly misleading a government panel over possible quake damage to its reactor building.
TEPCO said that radiation levels were “dreadfully high” in order to prevent an onsite inspection of its crippled nuclear plant, according to Mitsuhiko Tanaka, a former member of the now-disbanded Diet commission, which had been tasked with uncovering the cause of the nuclear crisis.
The commission had hoped to determine to see if the isolation condensers – key safety components at nuclear plants – had been damaged in the earthquake.
The National Diet is Japan’s bicameral legislature. It consists of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councilors.
TEPCO had denied they were damaged in the quake and falsified actual conditions within the plant to keep inspectors out, Tanaka said in a statement submitted to the chiefs of the two Diet chambers on Thursday.
Toshimitsu Tamai, then chief of TEPCO’s corporate planning department, urged Tanaka not to carry out the probe in light of major safety concerns, saying “If you got lost, you would run into areas with dreadfully high levels of radiation,” The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports.
Anti thorium protest to join in Paris’ anti nuclear demo, 9th March
Rna Rete Nazionale Antinucleare THIS IS A CALLING – We are planning a presence from Italy at the international demo of Paris 9 March with a giant banner against Thorium – just to start a new international meaning against nuke after the winning of statal referendum anti-nuke in Italy.A disastrous precedent – Obama’s executions by drones
The violations of national sovereignty in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and now Mali are bound to spark resentment. And, indeed, evidence is that the strikes are breeding anti-American sentiment and are used as a recruiting devise for al Qaeda.
it will probably be years, even decades, before we see the most negative effects of these policies. The precedent that the Obama administration is setting should concern everyone.
The United States is leading the world in a terrible direction by the use of these drones. “The drones sound cheap and easy and save our soldiers live.” “They are our eyes in the skies.” “We have beheaded some of our worst foes.” All this may or may not be true, but ..the future is grim and diabolical
Drones Debate: The Worst Is Yet to Come. HUFFINGTON POST, Jack Healey, 8 Feb 13, ”……Broadly, the drone issue is whether the death penalty should be delivered from the sky, without trial; often in countries were the U.S. is not legally at war. Continue reading
North Korea: bellicose statements and actions to get foreign aid?
Why North Korea Is Testing Nuclear Weapons Now US News, By ANDREW NATSIOS February 8, 2013 The first test of the Obama administration’s second term foreign policy team is shaping up to be North Korea’s upcoming nuclear explosion. Korean President Kim Jong Un last week declared martial law in anticipation of the country’s third nuclear test that Un has reportedly ordered be conducted before the middle of February, which will coincidentally occur on his late father’s (and former leader of North Korea) birthday.
This week a bellicose and belligerent North Korean government put on its official website a bizarre and provocative video of the bombing of what appears to be New York City with the caption: “Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing… It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze with the fire started by itself.” The video includes the launch of a North Korean missile, implying that if the United States puts too much pressure on them the consequence will be a nuclear response. The Chinese foreign minister on Wednesday issued a stern public warning to North Korea against the test, and the Chinese Communist Party official party newspaper published an unprecedented editorial saying, “If North Korea insists on a third nuclear test despite attempts to dissuade it, it must pay a heavy price.” North Korea is in no position to anger its only remaining patron and ally, and yet it may go ahead with the nuclear test anyway……
VIDEO: The situation of San Onofre nuclear power plant
VIDEO Fukushima USA? Inside San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant by grtv
http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2013/02/fukushima-usa-inside-san-onofre-nuclear-power-plant
8 Feb 13
Nuclear energy is responsible for powering nearly 20 percent of the
US, and in Southern California the San Onofre nuclear power plant has
created much debate in the surrounding community.
The station has been closed for about a year due to a leak that was
detected in the steam generator tubes, but despite the wishes of the
people living the area to keep the plant closed, the utility company
is pushing to bring the reactor back online.
Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer for Fairewinds Energy Education,
analyzes the situation.
VIDEO: Brennan probable new CIA head – questioned on policies of torture and drone killings
Video Drone attacks ‘save lives’, says Brennan, http://www.theage.com.au/world/drone-attacks-save-lives-says-brennan-20130208-2e255.html The Age, 9 Feb 13 Nicole Gaouette “….. Obama bows to pressure
Mr Brennan’s confirmation hearing placed a rare public spotlight on Obama’s drone campaign and associated missile strikes, involving hundreds of bombing raids by unmanned, robotic aircraft in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere.
Earlier, as Mr Brennan entered a crowded Senate hearing room, protesters began shouting “torture is always wrong” and “you are a traitor to democracy.” One man yelled that “assassination is against the Constitution” as Capitol Hill police removed protesters and Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, ordered the room cleared for a time.
Others in the crowd silently held up their palms, which had been painted pink. A protest sign read: “Brennan killing civilians with drones.”
On the eve of the hearing, Mr Obama bowed to pressure from lawmakers and handed over a classified memo that outlines the legal justification for killing Americans abroad if they are suspected of plotting with al-Qaeda. Continue reading
TEPCO tried to cover up evidence that earthquake, not tsunami, caused nuclear disaster
“(TEPCO’s explanation) was absolutely false and seriously obstructed the investigation,” Mitsuhiko Tanaka, a former member of the now-disbanded Diet commission, said in a statement submitted to the chiefs of the two Diet chambers on Feb. 7.
TEPCO suspected of false account to Diet panel http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20130207_19.html
Title: TEPCO ‘blocked’ nuclear accident investigation: panel member
Source: Kyodo
Date: February 07, 2013
[Tepco] blocked an attempt by a Diet-appointed panel to enter the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi complex for an accident investigation last year, saying the unit was “in complete darkness,” which was not true, a member of the panel said Thursday.
The panel members were seeking to determine whether important equipment of the No. 1 reactor had suffered damage as a result of the earthquake on March 11, 2011, before ensuing tsunami ravaged the plant […] Continue reading
Youtube: interview with Japanese mayor, who was forced to resign
The interview of Idogawa Mayor of Futaba Town after his resignation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4RKKjhO5rA
Title: The interview of Idogawa Mayor of Futaba Town after his resignation
Filmed by: OurPlanet-TV
Edited by: The Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial Team
Translated by: World Network for Saving Children from Radiation
Date Published: Feb 7, 2013
Date Filmed: Jan. 24 2013
Katsutaka Idogawa, recently resigned as mayor of Futaba: I wrote the message with the concern that if we returned to Fukushima, believing everything would be alright, we would have no jobs but decontaminating operations.
We would end up dying, polluted to radiation all over.
watch the interview here
Audio: Fukushima nuclear disaster set off by earthquake, not tsunami
as to the mystery of the reactor one building and the possibility
that it was damaged before the tsunami hit, in its report the
parliamentary panel found that there was a possibility that pipes had
burst during the earthquake causing a cooling problem.
AUDIO;Tepco lied to Fukushima meltdown investigators
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/tepco-lied-to-fukushima-meltdown-investigators/1085944
8 February 2013, In a further blow to its already battered
credibility, the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant
has been caught out misleading investigators appointed by the Japanese
parliament to probe the meltdowns. An audio recording reveals that a
TEPCO official gave false testimony in an apparent bid to stop an
investigation being carried out inside the shattered Reactor One
building. Continue reading
Exelon nuclear company seen as idiotic
Exelon issues dumbest threat in the history of dumb threats http://grist.org/news/exelon-issues-dumbest-threat-in-the-history-of-dumb-threats/?utm_content=mill&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=tweet By Philip Bump Here’s the stupidest threat ever. From The Hill:
Exelon Corp. CEO Christopher Crane told the Chicago Tribune in comments published Friday that his company might eventually have to close nuclear facilities “if we continue to build an excessive amount of wind and subsidize wind.” …
Crane explained the subsidy reduces the rate Exelon receives from nuclear generation by encouraging wind turbines to rotate when power demand is low. That means the utility sometimes pays customers to take its nuclear power in wind-heavy regions.
Ha ha. Oh no! You’ll have to close nuclear plants if we keep building wind turbines? Oh man what will we do? Everyone, we clearly need to rethink this wind energy thing if it means fewer nuclear facilities like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and Fukushima. [BIG FUCKIN’ FROWN EMOTICON]
Exelon was last in the news after being kicked off the board of the American Wind Energy Association, presumably for being idiots.
Exelon nuclear company blaming wind energy for decline in electricity prices
Exelon is merely “looking for a scapegoat” after power prices plummeted following the utility’s “bet on the electricity spot market” with nuclear.
Exelon chief: Wind subsidies could shut down nuclear plants,THE HILL By Zack Colman – 02/08/13
A major utility that was ousted from a wind energy trade group last fall said continued government support of wind power could shutter nuclear plants.
Exelon Corp. CEO Christopher Crane told the Chicago Tribune in comments published Friday that his company might eventually have to close nuclear facilities “if we continue to build an excessive amount of wind and subsidize wind.”
Exelon vocally opposed the extension of the wind production tax credit last year. That led the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) to kick the Chicago-based utility out of the organization.
Exelon will likely try to quash AWEA’s push this year for a phase-out of the 2.2 cent per kilowatt-hour credit for wind power production. Exelon has ties to the White House, as one of its directors is a top fundraiser for and friend of President Obama. Former strategist David Axelrod also consulted for the utility, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as Obama’s first chief of staff, helped create the firm through a merger in 2000 while working as an investment banker. Continue reading
Uranium industry in Australia – not looking good
recent steps by BHP to cuts of its uranium program — from the delay of the uranium production expansion plan at the Olympic Dam project to the selling of a large Yeelirrie deposit located in Western Australia.
Recent Ranger and Olympic Dam issues along with various problems related to notable Australian uranium projects like Angela/Pamela, Kintyre, Oban, Wiluna and Koongarra, amongst others, have also caused concerns about the future development dynamics of the local uranium industry.
Australia’s uranium industry hits turbulence Mining.com, Vladimir Basov | February 8, 2013 Recent news from Australia raises serious concerns about the future development of its domestic uranium industry. While established players are exiting the market, others are lining up to explore new areas and have made some positive moves.
Open-pit mining operations at Ranger mine were terminated at the end of November 2012. Continue reading
Lawmakers of Southside Virginia urge Governor to resist pressure from uranium lobby
Southside anti-uranium legislators write to McDonnell By Julian Walker The Virginian-Pilot February 8, 2013 A sextet of Southside Virginia legislators have written Gov. Bob McDonnell asking him to resist uranium supporters who want him to move ahead with the development of new mining regulations despite the recent demise of legislation for that purpose.
“We strongly urge you not to follow that course,” reads the Feb. 6 letter to the governor, which notes “the General Assembly has concluded the risks are too great to approve lifting the moratorium on mining.”
The letter is signed by six Republicans: Sens. Frank Ruff of Mecklenburg County and Bill Stanley of Franklin County; and Dels. James Edmunds of Halifax County, Danny Marshall of Danville, Don Merricks of Pittsylvania County, and Tommy Wright of Lunenburg County.
“To ignore the overwhelming opposition to uranium mining that has been expressed by citizens and organizations across the Commonwealth does not fit with representative government” they wrote. “An issue as divisive as this should be dealt with by the legislative process.”
Last week, Sen. John Watkins withdrew his uranium legislation when it became clear he lacked the votes to get the bill past the Senate committee where it had been sent…..
Fighting the pro-uranium effort is a broad coalition of interested parties who want Virginia to maintain its 31-year mining moratorium.
They fear possible environmental fallout and public health hazards from the accidental release of mining waste, known as tailings, leftover from the milling process when uranium ore is separated from rock…… South Hampton Roads localities are among the groups that oppose mining out of concern that the accidental of tailings into waterways that feed local drinking water supplies could cause contamination. http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/southside-antiuranium-legislators-write-mcdonnell
North Korea’s a worry – but regime may collapse from within
ALARM AT NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREAT – BUT THE REGIME MAY FALL FROM WITHIN, The Independent, 8 Feb 13, “… there’s no need to head for the bunker just yet, if the Economist’s analysts have it right. They see one big green reason for hope – “Capitalism is seeping through the bamboo curtain”.
A new class of traders and merchants has the power to destabilise Mr Kim’s regime. But they’ll need help; and the West should don its saboteur goggles and start burrowing.
Here’s what the Economist advise: “taking every opportunity to undermine the regime…So outsiders should pay for North Koreans to travel and to acquire skills abroad, support the radio stations that broadcast into the country, back the church networks that supply documentaries and films and turn a blind eye to the smuggling networks and the traders.” http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/alarm-at-north-koreas-nuclear-threat–but-the-regime-may-fall-from-within-8486436.html
1 This Month.
5 January -Webinar-What is Trump’s Golden Dome?
REGISTER AT Massachusetts Peace Action Education
New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
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