Nuclear lobby likes the spread of confusing messages about Fukushima and nuclear radiation
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
Confusion is the word. The nuclear lobby is surely very pleased with extremist statements about Fukushima radiation, and supposed explosions, that have been publicised on some alternative media sites.
While governments, corporations and mainstream media praise nuclear power, and omit the bad news, the alternative media tries, and at times fails, to supply the truth. Those of us who run news websites have to be vigilant in doing our best to check stories. In this, the mainstream media has the advantage of employing “fact checkers”.
Let’s not forget. Fukushima nuclear radiation is still dangerous, is still being emitted, and the wrecked reactors are still perilous. And, let’s not forget the very real problems of safety and radioactive wastes.
The American Corporate State and the Death of Democracy
The Last Gasp of American Democracy Common Dreams, by Chris Hedges, 8 Jan 14
This is our last gasp as a democracy. The state’s wholesale intrusion into our lives and obliteration of privacy are now facts. And the challenge to us—one of the final ones, I suspect—is to rise up in outrage and halt this seizure of our rights to liberty and free expression. If we do not do so we will see ourselves become a nation of captives.
The public debates about the government’s measures to prevent terrorism, the character assassination of Edward Snowden and his supporters, the assurances by the powerful that no one is abusing the massive collection and and storage of our electronic communications miss the point. Any state that has the capacity to monitor all its citizenry, any state that has the ability to snuff out factual public debate through control of information, any state that has the tools to instantly shut down all dissent is totalitarian. Our corporate state may not use this power today. But it will use it if it feels threatened by a population made restive by its corruption, ineptitude and mounting repression. The moment a popular movement arises—and one will arise—that truly confronts our corporate masters, our venal system of total surveillance will be thrust into overdrive…….
The object of efficient totalitarian states, as George Orwell understood, is to create a climate in which people do not think of rebelling, a climate in which government killing and torture are used against only a handful of unmanageable renegades. The totalitarian state achieves this control, Arendt wrote, by systematically crushing human spontaneity, and by extension human freedom. It ceaselessly peddles fear to keep a population traumatized and immobilized. It turns the courts, along with legislative bodies, into mechanisms to legalize the crimes of state.
The corporate state, in our case, has used the law to quietly abolish the Fourth and Fifth amendments of the Constitution, which were established to protect us from unwarranted intrusion by the government into our private lives.
The loss of judicial and political representation and protection, part of the corporate coup d’état, means that we have no voice and no legal protection from the abuses of power. The recent ruling supporting the National Security Agency’s spying, handed down by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III, is part of a very long and shameful list of judicial decisions that have repeatedly sacrificed our most cherished constitutional rights on the altar of national security since the attacks of 9/11. The courts and legislative bodies of the corporate state now routinely invert our most basic rights to justify corporate pillage and repression. They declare that massive and secret campaign donations—a form of legalized bribery—are protected speech under the First Amendment.
They define corporate lobbying—under which corporations lavish funds on elected officials and write our legislation—as the people’s right to petition the government. And we can, according to new laws and legislation, be tortured or assassinated or locked up indefinitely by the military, be denied due process and be spied upon without warrants
Obsequious courtiers posing as journalists dutifully sanctify state power and amplify its falsehoods—MSNBC does this as slavishly as Fox News—while also filling our heads with the inanity of celebrity gossip and trivia. Our culture wars, which allow politicians and pundits to hyperventilate over nonsubstantive issues, mask a political system that has ceased to function……..http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/06-1
Sins of omission in mainstream media’s praise of nuclear power
Major Media Sing Nuclear Praises Washington Spectator, January 7, 2014 | by Joe Mangano The nuclear power industry is having its roughest time since reactors were first conceived in the 1950s. Health risks are at the core of the problem……Closer to home, things are not going well. U.S. reactors are aging and leaking more often as they reach the end of their operating lives…..Chief executives of utilities, faced with high costs of maintaining old reactors and skidding stock prices, say they’re considering more closings.
But recent major media stories make one think that all is rosy………
But in addition to what big media is reporting, an equally disturbing trend is what it is omitting—especially at Fukushima, including:
-The ongoing story about the perilous attempt to move rods at containing high-level nuclear waste
-Last week’s study by Fukushima Medical University which documented 26 actual and 33 suspected thyroid cancer cases in local children since 2011 (one or two is normal), and that a staggering 56 percent of the children have pre-cancerous thyroid nodules or cysts
-A November 2 story by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announcing University of Alaska-Fairbanks scientists’ discovery of rising radiation levels in Alaskan waters from Japanese fallout—which they estimated will match the high levels at the apex of above-ground atomic bomb testing in the 1960s
Major media coverage has ignored or made deceptive claims on nuclear health and safety issues………..
The fault lies with a media that fall short of standards of good journalism so integral to a free society. Along with Fukushima and other meltdowns, a growing number of scientific studies link routine emissions from aging, leaking reactors to high local cancer rates. This “dirty laundry” terrifies leaders of the powerful nuclear industry. Fearing this information will speed the demise of their product, they encourage the all-too-obliging media to say anything to stop the current slide.http://washingtonspectator.org/index.php/Media/major-media-sing-nuclear-praises.html#.Us2hYdJDt9U
US Republican politician suggests blowing up Iran’s nuclear sites
Gohmert: Let’s Blow All Iran Nuclear Sites Up BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff January 7, 2014 Rep. Louie Gohmert (R.,Texas) suggested that the United States should destroy all Iranian nuclear sites if it refuses to open its nuclear facilities to the IAEA and U.S. inspectors.
Gohmert, speaking in an interview with FoxNews.com, said, “[Iran has] to open [nuclear facilities] up to the IAEA and to U.S. inspectors and we’ve got to make sure you’ve gotten rid of everything. Otherwise, let’s blow them all up, all the sites up, until we’re satisfied we’ve eliminated them as a threat.”…..http://freebeacon.com/gohmert-lets-blow-all-iran-nuclear-sites-up/
Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station shutdown – due to extremely cold weather?
Cold possible cause of Pa. nuke reactor shutdown, Seattle.Pi , January 7, 2014 PITTSBURGH (AP) — A frigid arctic air mass that brought record low temperatures to Pennsylvania, closing schools, courts and even some ski slopes is also being investigated as the possible cause of a nuclear reactor shutdown.
The dense mass of ultra-cold air began moving into the state on Monday afternoon, which is when one of two reactors shut down at FirstEnergy Corp.‘s Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Shippingport, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh……http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Sub-zero-temps-close-schools-offices-in-W-Pa-5119683.php
Uranium the real issue behind the Lockerbie bombing in 1988?
Bernt Carlsson lays down the lawThe man responsible for Namibia under international law, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, spoke about these prosecutions.
It was on his way to the signing of the agreement at UN headquarters in New York, that UN Commissioner for Namibia Bernt Carlsson became the highest profile victim of the Pan Am Flight 103 crash at Lockerbie on 21st December 1988.
Following Bernt Carlsson’s untimely death in the Lockerbie bombing, the case against URENCO was inexplicably dropped and no further prosecutions took place of the companies and countries that were in breach of the United Nations Council for Namibia Decree No. 1.
The Downing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie: It was the Uranium, The Ecologist, Mystery continues to surround the 1988 downing of Panam Flight 103 at Lockerbie. Who did it, how, and why? UN Assistant Secretary-General and Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson Died in the Crash By Patrick Haseldine, 7 Jan 14 Patrick Haseldine is a former British diplomat who was dismissed by the then foreign secretary, John Major, in August 1989. He is often referred to as the “Emeritus Professor of Lockerbie Studies”.
After 25 years study of the topic Patrick Haseldine reveals the shocking truth…….
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, was Lockerbie’s highest profile victim, yet the authorities and the media never mention him. Why?
As comedian Kenneth Williams used to say: “I think the answer lies in the soil.”
More specifically, I believe the answer lies in the processed uranium ore (Yellowcake) that was illegally extracted from Namibia in the period 1976 to 1989. A TV documentary film in March 1980 described succinctly what was going on: Continue reading
Need to scrutinise fearful stories about Fukushima
Fukushima Radiation Scare Stories Are Going Viral On the Internet. Are They Real Or Fake? http://www.policymic.com/articles/78287/fukushima-radiation-scare-stories-are-going-viral-on-the-internet-are-they-real-or-fakeBy Benjamin Cosman 8 Jan 14 The news: A few suspect news stories have been making the rounds on the internet in recent days, suggesting that radiation from the Fukushima power plant disaster has hit the West Coast of the United States and is causing major harm to the Pacific Ocean off California. Most pernicious is the report from NaturalNews.com that a scientific study found a significant drop off in sea life in the Pacific Ocean near the U.S. coast.
The fine folks at Deep Sea News — which features writers with academic degrees, actual professional credentials, and expert knowledge — are doing their best to debunk the rumors spreading about Fukushima radiation and its impact on the U.S.
Take the dangers of radiation hitting California. Will it kill you? Are we all going to die? DSNhas your answer: “No it will not be dangerous … It’s not even dangerous to swim off the coast of Fukushima.”
If you went swimming in the waters right next to the actual power plant, you would only experience “0.03% of the daily radiation an average Japanese resident receives.”
So I’m thinking everybody in the U.S. will be OK. But back to that story about sea life dying in droves off the California coast: what’s going on? The Natural News article cites an actual study with scientific evidence published in a real academic journal. There has to be some truth to the fact that “the number of dead sea creatures blanketing the floor of the Pacific is higher than it has ever been in the 24 years that monitoring has taken place, a phenomenon that the data suggests is a direct consequence of nuclear fallout from Fukushima.”
If true, that’s pretty freaking scary. That means radiation from Fukushima is killing off mass amounts of sea creatures right off the U.S. coast. The only problem is that the study the article cites contains no actual mention of Fukushima. In fact, the study offers a perfectly logical explanation for the mass die-offs: a natural cycle of increasing and decreasing levels of algae and other sea life depending on climate and the seasons.
The study’s findings even cite trends that began five years before the Fukushima disaster occurred. Indeed, the study’s authors have gone out of their way to be very clear: “There is no indication that any of the events in this study were associated with the Fukushima nuclear accident.”
Cause of steam from Fukushima reactor 3 – corium burning through containment?
Nuclear Chemistry Expert: Steam at Fukushima reactor could be from corium burning through containment into groundwater http://enenews.com/nuclear-chemistry-expert-steam-at-unit-3-could-be-from-corium-burning-throug-containment-into-underlying-groundwater
| Judy Haar, former nuclear industry worker with a master’s degree in nuclear chemistry, Jan. 6, 2014: […]the story continues to linger, and the speculations have not stopped. […] With a high potential of fear-mongering, just the facts, please. […] First noticed in July, 2013, the plant, [Fukushima Daiichi] Reactor 3, suddenly started releasing steam. […] TEPCO […] hypothesized it was caused by rain waters seeping into the reactors damaged containment vessel which hit thermal hot spots […] On December 19, 24, 25, and 27, Reactor 3 started releasing steam, again. […] this is a strong indicator of the fragile state the site is in […] Reactor 3 ran on a mix of uranium and uranium/plutonium mixed fuel […] which experienced a complete meltdown. We don’t know for sure at this time, but the corium could have burned its way through the reactor vessel due to extreme heat, thus reaching the underlying ground water and producing steam. […] |
In the months after 3/11, Haar concluded, “The Answer is Clear: Nuclear Power is Safe — The three major reactor accidents have shown the industry that even among the worst accidents, few and far between, there is little loss of life, as compared to other fuels.”
And it appears Tepco won’t be the only company in the area emitting plumes related to hot radioactive material — NHK WORLD, Jan. 6, 2014: Nuclear waste incinerator to be built in Ibaraki […] The personnel of JCO, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining, began constructing an incinerator to dispose of low-level radioactive substances at its plant in Tokai Village, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday. The firm lost its business license for such processing after 2 workers died of radiation poisoning during the disposal process in September, 1999. More than 660 others in and around the plant, including residents, were exposed to radiation. […] The firm is hoping to begin using the incinerator in November […] Used work clothes and documents are among the item to be treated. […] The firm’s officials say the facility’s air-filtering system will prevent any radioactive substances from leaking outside. […]
Japan Nuclear Fuel trying to get Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant into production
Safety screening sought for nuclear fuel plant The Japan News, 7 Jan 14, Nuclear Fuel Ltd. on Tuesday filed for regulatory safety screening of its spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.
The company aims to complete the plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, in October, expecting that tests by the Nuclear Regulation Authority will be concluded in about six months. The company is determined to do whatever it can to ensure the screening goes smoothly, Senior Executive Vice President Kazuhiro Matsumura said.
The NRA last month drew up new safety standards for key facilities used in the country’s nuclear fuel cycle, such as fuel reprocessing plants.
Under the new rules, operators of these facilities must take steps to ensure they can deal with severe accidents caused by earthquakes, tsunami and terrorist attacks.
The operators are also required to take a stricter approach in research to determine whether faults running near or directly under their facilities are active or not.
Japan Nuclear Fuel previously planned to finish construction of the plant in October 2013. But the firm put off the planned completion by about one year to meet the new standards………
The ¥2.2 trillion plant has seen its scheduled completion date moved back as many as 20 times due to a series of problems. Initially, the plant was slated to be completed in 1997, four years after the start of construction.
It is uncertain whether the NRA can complete its safety screening of the plant in six months as expected……
Japan Nuclear Fuel also filed for safety screening tests of other facilities, such as a low-level radioactive waste management center and a plant to make mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel from extracted uranium and plutonium.http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000921892
Cesium and plutonium in upper atmosphere, from atomic bomb testing
Nuclear weapon test debris ‘persists’ in atmosphere By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC World Service, 7 Jan 14, Radioactive particles from nuclear tests that took place decades ago persist in the upper atmosphere, a study suggests.
Previously, scientists believed that nuclear debris found high above the Earth would now be negligible.
However this research shows that plutonium and caesium isotopes are still present at surprisingly high concentrations…The work is published in the journal Nature Communications……..http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25641310
Petition to investigate deaths of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and UN Assistant Secretary-General Bernt Carlsson”
The Downing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie: It was the Uranium, The Ecologist, Mystery continues to surround the 1988 downing of Panam Flight 103 at Lockerbie. Who did it, how, and why? UN Assistant Secretary-General and Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson Died in the Crash By Patrick Haseldine, 7 Jan 14“………..United Nations Inquiry In November 2013, I created this e-petition calling upon HM Government (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) to:
“Support a United Nations Inquiry into the deaths of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and UN Assistant Secretary-General Bernt Carlsson”
Dag Hammarskjöld was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 to 1961. On the night of 17-18 September 1961, in the course of a UN mission to try to bring peace to the former Belgian Congo, Hammarskjöld’s Swedish-owned and crewed plane crashed near Ndola airport in the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). All the passengers and crew died.
It now appears that his plane was shot down in order to protect western mining interests in Belgian Congo’s mineral rich Katanga province, to this day a major source of cobalt, copper, tin and diamonds – not to mention radium and uranium.
On 9 September 2013, the London-based Hammarskjöld Commission reported that there was“significant new evidence“ about the plane crash that killed United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and recommended that the adjourned 1962 UN Inquiry should now be reopened.
UN Assistant Secretary-General Bernt Carlsson was the highest profile victim on Pan Am Flight 103 which was sabotaged over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
Since Bernt Carlsson’s death has never been investigated, the British Government should propose extending the remit of the new UN Inquiry to cover the deaths of both senior diplomats: Dag Hammarskjöld and Bernt Carlsson.
His e-petition is open for signature by UK citizens and residents from 13 November 2013 to 13 May 2014, and can be signed here. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-downing-of-flight-103-over-lockerbie-it-was-the-uranium/5364222
Water level drop causes shutdown of Indian Point Nuclear Reactor
Indian Point nuke reactor shuts down due to water level drop DAILY FREEMAN NEWS, 7 Jan 14, BUCHANAN A drop in the water level in a steam generator has automatically shut down one of the Indian Point nuclear reactors in Westchester County. Plant owner Entergy Nuclear said there was no release of radioactivity.
The company said a controller device failed Monday night in one of four steam generators attached to Indian Point 3. Spokesman Jerry Nappi said the cause was not clear and the device will be replaced. He said he does not know when the reactor will be returned to the grid…..http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20140107/indian-point-nuke-reactor-shuts-down-due-to-water-level-drop
He said he does not know when the reactor will be returned to the grid…..http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20140107/indian-point-nuke-reactor-shuts-down-due-to-water-level-drop
AREVA ‘s uranium project stalled, as Niger seeks fairness
Niger and France reach impasse on uranium talks EurActiv 7 Jan 14 Negotiations between Niger and the French nuclear energy conglomerate Areva have hardened as the two sides seek to reach an agreement on uranium extraction in the Western African country. EurActiv.fr reports.
The talks are still ongoing despite a 31 December deadline, with fiscal matters seen as the most sensitive issue.
Discussions centre on the implementation of Niger’s 2006 mining law that allows Niamey to increase taxes on uranium extraction. Areva refuses to comply with the taxation rules and wants to conserve the fiscal exonerations foreseen by the previous extraction agreement.
Although uranium represents 70% of Niger’s exports, it only contributes 5.8% to its GDP, according to Oxfam, the development NGO. …….
“The mines are under maintenance until mid-January,” Areva says, refusing to link the progress in the negotiations with the current maintenance operations.
For Oxfam, this is no less than blackmail. “This is typical for this kind of trade negotiations: laying-off employees temporarily, thereby raising the spectre of unemployment,” claims Anne-Sophie Simpere, an advisor at Oxfam.
Areva is also using another lever in the negotiation, warning about the drop in global demand for uranium since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. According to the French multinational, the Japanese nuclear disaster has put the profitability of the two mines in Niger at risk…..http://www.euractiv.com/development-policy/negotiations-niger-france-areva-news-532604
Why Britain privatised URENCO
The Downing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie: It was the Uranium, The Ecologist, Mystery continues to surround the 1988 downing of Panam Flight 103 at Lockerbie. Who did it, how, and why? UN Assistant Secretary-General and Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson Died in the Crash By Patrick Haseldine, 7 Jan 14 “…….URENCO privatisation On 22 April 2013, David Cameron’s coalition government announced plans to sell its share in URENCO – the uranium enrichment company owned by Britain, Germany and the Netherlands – unleashing a new wave of privatisations in an attempt to cut the public debt.
The UK government’s one-third share in URENCO could fetch up to £3bn, making it one of the biggest privatisations in the UK in years.
Headquartered in the semi-rural Buckinghamshire village of Stoke Poges – where, appropriately enough given its atomic plot the James Bond film “Goldfinger” was partly shot – URENCO has a 31% share of the world’s uranium enrichment market.
This provides the fuel for nuclear power utilities and URENCO has enrichment plants in the US and the three investor countries, including one in Capenhurst, Cheshire.
“It’s a ridiculous idea”, says the GMB union’s national secretary for energy Gary Smith, who earlier this week complained to The Independent of the prospect of the Chinese investing in the nuclear new-build programme. “We’re flogging off precious nuclear assets instead of developing a strategy around nuclear. It’s absolute madness.”
But there is a logic to the move: by privatising URENCO, the British government hopes to bring closure to the Lockerbie affair, and put a distance between itself and the Thatcher administration’s criminal behaviour in processing Namibian Yellowcake contrary to United Nations Council for Namibia Decree No. 1….http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-downing-of-flight-103-over-lockerbie-it-was-the-uranium/5364222
India’s nuclear capable missiles and submarines program
India test-fires nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missileRajat Pandit,TNN | Jan 7, 2014, NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday morning test-fired its nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile, which has a strike range of 350-km, from the integrated test range at Chandipur off the Odisha coast as part of “a scenario-based live launch training exercise”. ……
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