Nuclear lobby’s disinformation campaign neglects “internal” radiation emitters
Their first piece of disinformation is to confuse the effects of external and internal radiation.
Entering the body, these elements – called internal emitters – migrate to specific organs such as the thyroid, liver, bone, and brain, continuously irradiating small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha, beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years often induce cancer.
Fukushima: Nuclear Apologists Play Shoot the Messenger on Radiation Dr Helen Caldicott global research.ca March 15th, 2013 “………Their first piece of disinformation is to confuse the effects of external and internal radiation. The former is what populations were exposed to when atomic bombs were detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Internal radiation, by contrast, emanates from radioactive elements that enter the body by inhalation, ingestion, or by skin absorption. The grave effects of internal emitters are of the most profound concern at Fukushima – as indeed they continue to be at Chernobyl.
It is erroneous and misleading to use the term ”acceptable levels of external radiation” in assessing internal radiation doses. To do so is to propagate inaccuracies and to mislead the public worldwide and journalists who are seeking the truth about radiation’s hazards. Continue reading
European laws on competition may stall UK’s nuclear power plans
Nuclear power plans threatened by European commission investigation Proposed nuclear reactor in Somerset could be delayed by two years if competition directorate launches full-scale investigation, Juliette Jowit and Ian Traynor The Guardian, 14 March 2013 Britain’s planned nuclear reactor programme could be delayed for years, and the nation’s long-term energy policy thrown into turmoil, as European commission officials launch the first stage of a formal investigation into the use of taxpayer subsidies to support the development.
Sources in Brussels have indicated that Britain hopes to win approval for a multibillion-pound deal with French energy giant EDF at the initial stage, which usually takes two months.
But if after a preliminary investigation the EC’s competition directorate decides to launch a full-scale investigation, that would last at least 18 months and probably two years or more. Such an outcome is made more likely by reports that ministers and EDF are discussing a minimum or “strike” price for the nuclear-generated electricity of a little under £100 per megawatt hour – nearly double the current market rate. Continue reading
South Carolina’s nuclear power to get ever more costly
“The cost trends clearly suggest that nuclear reactor construction is not only more costly than the alternatives today, but will be a great deal more costly than many more alternatives in the future,”
Report: Gov’t incentives favor nuclear over renewable energy in SC The State, South Carolina, 15, 2013 By SAMMY FRETWELL — COLUMBIA, SC — As SCE&G and other utilities work to complete atomic power plants, the law that made construction possible gives power companies less incentive to use solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy.
That’s one conclusion in a broad study that criticizes the way South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have helped utilities afford the multi-billion dollar costs of building nuclear power plants.
The report, released Thursday through the Vermont’ Law School, said ratepayers in the three Southern states are being soaked for the high costs of building atomic reactors. It recommends that the nuclear reactor projects be cancelled to save money in the long run because the projects are still years from completion and will cost billions more than originally projected. SCE&G is spending $10 billion on two new reactors at Jenkinsville because of a special financing method allowed by the state Legislature six years ago. Already, the company has incurred more than $280 million in extra costs building the plants, the report said. The plants are expected to become operational in 2017 and 2018.
Historically, utilities have had to show that power plants are up and running properly before they could recover the costs for construction, Vermont researchers said. Now, laws adopted in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have allowed utilities to charge ratepayers for nuclear power plants before the reactors are built. Continue reading
Anti nuclear walk to Oyster Creek nuclear plant
Walk to Promote ‘Nuclear-Free Future’ http://lacey.patch.com/articles/walk-to-promote-nuclear-free-future Local anti-nuclear advocates will be walking from Toms River to Oyster Creek Generating Station in Lacey Township A Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future will take place on Sunday, March 17, starting in Toms River.
The walk begins at 10 a.m. at the Ocean County Library at 101 Washington St. in Toms River. Participants will then walk to Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station on Route 9 in Forked River, arriving at 4 p.m. Walkers will be shuttled back to Toms River.
A potluck will be held at 6 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Ocean County Congregation at 734 Route 37 West in Toms River.Speakers will include Michelle Donato, Esq. and Joseph Mangano, MPH, MBA. Continue reading
World Health Organisation under the thumb of IAEA
On May 28, 1959, at the 12th World Health Assembly, WHO drew up an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. A clause of this agreement says the WHO effectively grants the right of prior approval over any research it might undertake or report on to the IAEA – a group that many people, including journalists, think is a neutral watchdog, but which is, in fact, an advocate for the nuclear power industry. Its founding papers state: ”The agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity through the world.”
Fukushima: Nuclear Apologists Play Shoot the Messenger on Radiation Dr Helen Calidicott global research.ca March 15th, 2013 “….there is widespread confusion about the roles of the World Health Organisation and the International Atomic Energy Commission. Monbiot expresses surprise that a UN-affiliated body such as WHO might be under the influence of the nuclear power industry, causing its reporting on nuclear power matters to be biased. And yet that is precisely the case.
In the early days of nuclear power, WHO issued forthright statements on radiation risks, such as its 1956 warning: ”Genetic heritage is the most precious property for human beings. It determines the lives of our progeny, health and harmonious development of future generations. As experts, we affirm that the health of future generations is threatened by increasing development of the atomic industry and sources of radiation.”
After 1959, the organisation made no more statements on health and radioactivity.
What happened? Continue reading
New documentary on uranium mining – “Hot Water”
Kuciniches: Nuclear in ‘Hot Water http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/kuciniches-nuclear-in-hot-water-88771.html#ixzz2Nlz3QvQ0 By PATRICK GAVIN | 3/12/13
“Hot Water” is a new documentary about uranium mining and the nuclear industry, which has its world premiere tonight at Washington D.C.’s Environmental Film Festival.
The film follows filmmaker Liz Rogers’s journey around the United States as she explores the environmental impact of nuclear waste and mining. Elizabeth Kucinich is an executive producer of the documentary and her husband, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, has lent his support to the film as well. “‘Hot Water’ is an important film because it takes people through what is really the initial stage of that fuel cycle, the mining of uranium and the poisoning of water supplies,” Dennis Kucinich told POLITICO. “This industry has too much influence. The industry is all about profits. They’re not about public safety. And, so, I think this film is important to get people thinking about the broader issues of nuclear power.”
Viva the Belarus Free Theater
Uploaded on 22 Jan 2011
January 19, 2011 | Le Poisson Rouge | New York City
With Billy Crudup, Margaret Colin, E.L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo, Tom Stoppard, Iva Bittova, and the Belarus Free Theater
In December 2010, the members of the Belarus Free Theater were either in jail or in hiding. In January, miraculously, they performed their play Being Harold Pinter as part of the Under the Radar Festival in New York. Upon their return in Belarus, they will continue to risk the wrath of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, the man known as “Europe’s last dictator.”
On the eve of their return to Minsk, the Belarus Free Theater joins internationally-acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard, PEN American Center, and a stellar supporting cast for an evening celebrating artistic freedom and the courage of hundreds of writers, artists, journalists, and intellectuals targeted in Lukashenko’s latest crackdown following the nation’s flawed December elections. Billy Crudup, Don DeLillo, E.L Doctorow, Tom Stoppard, Iva Bittova, and other surprise guests come together for a farewell gathering featuring literature, music, and cocktail conversation about the power of art and the future of Belarus.
Women at centre of anti-nuclear battle, from Bhopal to Fukushima
…Lalita Ramdas, environmental activist and former Board Chair of Greenpeace International, speaking to the gathering via Skype added that “Whether it’s in India or Japan, we need to stop romanticizing nuclear power as a symbol of national pride and strength.”….…They spoke of the arrogance of the modern man who dared believe that he could control nature by bringing uranium out of the soil, when it should have been left there, never to be touched…..
When I went to Bhopal in 2009 as a part of a student group, to visit the Union Carbide factory site and meet victims of the 1984 gas tragedy, I was struck by the strong presence of women in the protest initiatives. In fact, they were the ones who seemed to be leading the movement against Dow Chemicals. Whether on the streets, shouting slogans against nuclear power, or at home taking care of children who suffer from mental and physical deformities, it was always the women negotiating with the consequences of nuclear power at every point. Exposure to the gas left many young girls and women barren or caused terrible developmental problems in their children.
In the space of their homes too, the legacy of the tragedy surfaced each day when they’d be forced to drink contaminated water — a result of nuclear waste having been left at the factory site due to which toxins over the years seeped into the groundwater. In a moment of moving delicacy, a mother in one house served us tea prepared with this water while talking about water contamination, only to find terror stricken students refuse her generous offer. It became clear to us that though the gas had not spared anyone, in the wake of this tragedy, it was the women who were left with the most gruelling battles to fight.
On 11 March, the two year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant disaster, a group of concerned students and academics got together at the Jawaharlal Nehru University to talk about the politics of nuclear power and how women were at the centre of anti-nuclear protests. Making her stand absolutely clear at the outset, Nivedita Menon, Professor, JNU said that “Nuclear energy is neither clean nor cheap, nor is it safe. Let’s not kid ourselves into believing that nation states develop nuclear power peacefully and nuclear bombs are byproducts. Rather, a nexus between states and the weapons industry makes the production of nuclear bombs the primary objective. Peaceful harnessing of nuclear power is nothing but a garb.”
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A nexus between states and the weapons industry makes the production of nuclear bombs the primary objective.  — Nivedita Menon |
Many of us here in India are not too familiar with what actually followed after the disaster in Japan and the screening of the film Women of Fukushima helped put things into perspective. The film essentially traces the journey of six Japanese women who were in one way or another affected by the nuclear disaster. They offer brutally honest views on the state of the clean-up, the cover-ups and untruths since the nuclear accident in Fukushima.
All women in one way or another became a part of the protest against the proliferation of nuclear power. “It’s important for us to realise that such protests are a big deal for Japanese people. This is a population that actually believed that nuclear was the way to go. No questions asked. Fukushima has suddenly shattered their faith in both the kind of developmental politics Japan follows as well as the country’s government”, said Caitlin Stronell, the moderator of the discussion who has also spent a long time in Japan.
Lalita Ramdas, environmental activist and former Board Chair of Greenpeace International, speaking to the gathering via Skype added that “Whether it’s in India or Japan, we need to stop romanticizing nuclear power as a symbol of national pride and strength.”
The discussion wasn’t wholly one sided and many students wondered whether it was possible to turn back time and ignore nuclear technology which to many is the technology of the future. Menon responded by making it clear that “the technology of the future is actually renewable energy. By opposing nukes we are rejecting seventeenth century ideas of progress and development which are in fact regressive.”
The second film titled Voices from The Daughters of the Sea looked at the Koodankulam anti nuclear protests. In the songs and slogans, whether Indian or Japanese, women always spoke about how nuclear energy was a reproductive issue, a health concern and an end to a certain way of life. They spoke of the arrogance of the modern man who dared believe that he could control nature by bringing uranium out of the soil, when it should have been left there, never to be touched.
Voices from the daughters of the Sea – Koodamkulam Part 1/2.mp4
Published on 21 Aug 2012
The women and children fighting against the koodamkulam nuclear project are raising several questions to you Mr. Prime minister and your colleague Narayana Swami and Ms. jayalalitha, on their unanswered questions for the past 25 years. Answer them before it gets out off your hands– There is a limit to the patient struggle and do not pave the way with your undemocratic ways for which you and the whole nation will regret.Yes we will fight to save the remnants of whatever is left off democracy….mind U…
Part 2
Health and Environment – post Fukushima – theme for March 2013
In New York, international doctors and scientists met to apply a searching light into the medical and environmental consequences of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. This symposium has been many months in the making, in the organisation of gathering experts on every aspect of this important issue.
Some of these scientists are experienced nuclear physicists and engineers. But many are from other disciplines – genetics, biology, ecology, marine biology, climatology and even some from from other areas, like economics, social science areas, such as gender studies.
These are the disciplines that are ignored by nuclear lobbyists who would have us believe that these are “soft” studies, not “hard” science, like nuclear physics. “Soft” science doesn’t matter , (except for climate studies, which suddenly matters because they can con us that nuclear power is the solution). Nuclear lobbyists ignore “soft” science like genetics and ecology:
A. because if these issues were taken seriously – that would spell the end of nuclear power, the end of their industry.
B. because they don’t know anything about these sciences, anyway.
The New York symposium had the task of exploring and explaining to the world, the meaning of the Fukushima disaster – in its effects on human, other species, and the land, air, water and plants, on which we all depend for our health. They also explained the importance of these effects for our children, grand-children, and future generations.
Soft stuff? Trivial? ”Fukushima is over” – the global nuclear lobby would have us believe. as though the Fukushima event is now over and done with.
The informative lectures from the New York symposium are already reverberating , – in video, print and film, to counter the lying propaganda of the nuclear lobby
Black Water: Extension of CIA | Big Brother Watch-RT
Reflecting on the prosecution and the scrutiny of the company he founded, Prince said the charges against Blackwater executives left him “perplexed and angry.” “Blackwater carried out countless life-threatening missions for the CIA,” he said. “And, in return, the government chose to prosecute my people for doing exactly what was asked of them.”….
Published on 15 Mar 2013
Abby Martin takes a look at how executives at Academi, the military contractor formally known as Blackwater, have been able to commit countless crimes with utter impunity.
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Exclusive: Court Docs Reveal Blackwater’s Secret CIA Past
In News on March 14, 2013 at 11:31 AM
03/14/2013
Last month a three-year-long federal prosecution of Blackwater collapsed. The government’s 15-felony indictment—on such charges as conspiring to hide purchases of automatic rifles and other weapons from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives—could have led to years of jail time for Blackwater personnel. In the end, however, the government got only misdemeanor guilty pleas by two former executives, each of whom were sentenced to four months of house arrest, three years’ probation, and a fine of $5,000. Prosecutors dropped charges against three other executives named in the suit and abandoned the felony charges altogether.
But the most noteworthy thing about the largely failed prosecution wasn’t the outcome. It was the tens of thousands of pages of documents—some declassified—that the litigation left in its wake. These documents illuminate Blackwater’s defense strategy—and it’s a fascinating one: to defeat the charges it was facing, Blackwater built a case not only that it worked with the CIA—which was already widely known—but that it was in many ways an extension of the agency itself.
Report reveals shocking level of chemicals – New Zealand
5:37 PM Saturday Mar 16, 2013
New Zealand Herald
The Green Party says a Customs Service report reveals a shocking level of dangerous chemicals present in our shipping containers, endangering port workers and nearby communities.
Biosecurity and customs spokesperson Steffan Browning says the report – released under the Official Information Act – shows 90 per cent of shipping containers sampled had dangerous chemicals, including methyl bromide in the air at 18 per cent above safe levels.
He says it’s difficult to accept the Customs Services claim that they have fixed this problem, given that they kept this damning report from the public.
Mr Browning says its very poor on Customs’ part not to let those affected know.
He says it’s another example where trade imperatives are placed above the health and safety of New Zealand workers and communities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10871669
And from the Greenpeace site this…
Saturday, 16 Mar 2013 | Press Release
“….. “The dangerous levels of methyl bromide identified at ports in containers and from log fumigations, is a particular concern. A neurotoxin, methyl bromide gas, has been linked with motor neurone disease and cancers, and is colourless, tasteless, and odourless, making it impossible for people to know if they are in contact with it. It also depletes the ozone layer.
“Port workers and nearby communities do not deserve exposure to toxic fumigant gases. We need to urgently put in place procedures to recapture methyl bromide from shipping containers and log fumigations, rather than just releasing it into the air we breathe.
“Recapture of methyl bromide fumigant is used at Port Nelson, following an Environment Court air quality case following the deaths of several port workers there from motor neurone disease.
“It is difficult to accept the Customs Service’s claim that they have fixed this issue, given that they kept this damning report from the public. I call on the Customs Service to release all data on the levels of toxic fumigants in shipping containers and to ensure that methyl bromide recapture is available at our ports,” said Mr Browning……”
Nuclear Submarine Fires: Man Gets 17 Years
..But his lawyer said Fury’s actions were influenced by his depression and anxiety, and that he never intended to harm anyone…..
..Fury admitted setting fire to a pile of oily rags aboard the USS Miami on May 23 last year……
Seven people were injured in the smoky blaze, which took more than 100 firefighters a dozen hours to put out.
By Sky News US Team
Friday 15 March 2013
http://news.sky.com/story/1065242/nuclear-submarine-fires-man-gets-17-years
A shipyard worker who set two fires on and near a nuclear submarine because he wanted to get off work has been sentenced to just over 17 years in federal prison.
Casey James Fury, 25, was sentenced under a deal in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of arson.
He has also been ordered to pay $400m (£264m) in restitution.
Image source ; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/15/uss-miami-military-submarine-fire-sentence
Fury admitted setting fire to a pile of oily rags aboard the USS Miami on May 23 last year while it was in dry dock for an overhaul at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.
The ensuing blaze transformed the vessel into a fiery furnace, injuring seven people and causing $450m (£297m) in damage.
It took more than 100 firefighters 12 hours to save the submarine.
Fury, a civilian painter and sand blaster, told police he needed to go home because he was suffering from an anxiety attack and had used up his holiday or sick leave.
He said he did not intend to cause such extensive damage.
Kurion partners with Perma-Fix to deploy GeoMelt ICV technology
“Together, we look forward to addressing some of the most challenging nuclear waste streams around the world. Perma-Fix’s permitted facilities, including its Perma-Fix Northwest facility in Hanford, Washington, are ideally suited for processing a variety of domestic nuclear waste streams.”….
16 March 2013
Image source www.kurion.com
According to the company, Kurion’s GeoMelt ICV turns certain components of waste into glass through a process known as vitrification (a volume reduction and stabilization process that immobilizes waste in a leach-resistant glass matrix so that the resulting waste form provides the ultimate assurance of long-term environmental isolation).
Image source www.kurion.com
The ICV is a modular and easily deployable in-container and low-cost application of vitrification. Targeted waste streams for processing and demonstration of capabilities include Class B or C nuclear power plant primary or radwaste resins, filters, sludges; sealed sources; and those waste streams required by customers to be vitrified, such as certain Hanford Low Activity Wastes (LAW).
“Perma-Fix, a pioneer and technology leader in treating a variety of nuclear waste streams, is the ideal partner to help further our own advanced technologies,” said Ralph DiSibio, Kurion Chairman and CEO. “Together, we look forward to addressing some of the most challenging nuclear waste streams around the world. Perma-Fix’s permitted facilities, including its Perma-Fix Northwest facility in Hanford, Washington, are ideally suited for processing a variety of domestic nuclear waste streams.”
“We believe that this collaboration will allow us to treat a variety of highly complex nuclear waste streams that currently have no other commercially available treatment and disposal options,” said Louis Centofanti, Perma-Fix Chairman. “We are excited to work exclusively with Kurion in advancing this discriminating technology in the US and other strategic markets.”
Source: MarketLine
Trappers pass unanimous resolutions on logging, nuclear waste – Saskatchewan
- “What the 300 million tons of nuclear tailings from the mining aspect has done is … the toxins have been blown in the wind as radons, and it’s landed on our plants,” Morin said.“The animals eat the plants and they’re getting sick. As a new study revealed from the University of Saskatchewan, people eat moose and people eat most of the animals — deer, they eat beavers, the muskrats — and the further down the food chain the toxins from nuclear (go), they get stronger.”…….Published on March 15, 2013
- Matt Gardner
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Committee for Future Generations chairperson Max Morin (left) and Fish Lake Métis Nation Local 108 president Bryan Lee hold the two resolutions on, respectively, nuclear waste storage and logging that were passed unanimously on Friday at the 2013 Northern Saskatchewan Trappers Association convention.
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Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission project officer Sarah Eaton gives a presentation on regulating uranium mines and mills in Canada on Friday at the 2013 Northern Saskatchewan Trappers Association Convention.
photo by Herald photo by Matt GardnerLocal activists were elated on Friday as members of the Northern Saskatchewan Trappers Association (NSTA) unanimously passed resolutions opposing nuclear waste storage and logging without the permission of local trappers.
The resolutions were among several that were debated and discussed at the 2013 NSTA convention, which was held at the Senator Allan Bird Memorial Centre and attracted hundreds of trappers.
However, the environmental ramifications of clearcutting and the proposed nuclear waste storage had made the two resolutions a priority for trappers and activists concerned about the environment.
“We’re very, very pleased, because these (trappers) are the people who are out on the land.” Fish Lake Métis Local 108 president Bryan Lee said.
Sufficient information needed on nuclear power issue: president
Ma, who doubles as chairman of the ruling Kuomintang, said at a forum that the government is striving to achieve the goal of “ensuring nuclear safety, steadily reducing nuclear power generation, building a green, low-carbon environment and moving toward a nuclear-free homeland.”…..
By Kelven Huang and Y.L.Kao)
Focus Taiwan
2013/03/16 16:30:53
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1 This Month.
Let’s keep radioactive waste away from our river!
Nuclear Power? -Never again
(Switzerland –https://www.greenpeace.ch/de/handeln/atomkraft-nie-wieder/+)
PETITION – Close Down the Monticello Nuclear Reactor on the Mississippi River!
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
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