Decommissioning nuclear reactors – costing $billions
a new decommissioning industry is growing very rapidly.
The attraction for the industry is the enormous amount of taxpayers’ money that will have to be found to deal with the problem. Already the British Government is spending £3 billion (about AUD $5.57 billion) a year across 19 sites, just to begin a process that is expected to cost £100 billion. That is the Government’s own estimated cost of dismantling the old power plants, with the added cost of disposing of the waste.
Nuclear waste gets expensive Independent Australia,14 Feb 14 When countries embrace nuclear power to combat climate change the problem of disposing of the radioactive waste seems far away, but the costs will be enormous.Paul Brown from Climate News Network reports…….All governments who have nuclear power stations have to deal with practicalities and have a problem that so far is unresolved: how to get rid of all the radioactive waste their existing nuclear plants have produced.It is a contentious issue even in countries that are phasing out nuclear power, like Germany, because no communities want to be blighted by being a nation’s nuclear waste dump. But it is worse for countries that share this unresolved nuclear waste problem yet want to add to it by building a new generation of power stations.
An example is Britain, where the Government stated four years ago it was unacceptable to build a new generation of atomic power stations while having no depository to get rid of the existing waste.
It was confident its Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) would solve the problem of old power stations and increasing quantities of badly stored radioactive waste. The NDA has failed to do so. The stumbling block has been that, so far, no community in the United Kingdom has been prepared to accept a waste depository.
With 20 nuclear reactors already closed down because they are no longer economic or have safety problems, the issue is becoming urgent — but there is still no solution in sight……. Continue reading
Hypocrisy – Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal
Gwynne Dyer: Israel’s hypocrisy on nuclear weapons ,straight.com, DAVID SHANKBONE 13 FEB 14 WHEN MORDECHAI VANUNU, a humble Israeli technician who worked for years at Israel’s secret nuclear site at Dimona, spilled the beans about Israel’s nuclear weapons in 1986, very bad things happened to him.
Governor opposed uranium mining
Thank Terry McAuliffe for Opposing Uranium Mining Over the last few months, Governor-Elect Terry McAuliffe has come out in strong opposition to lifting Virginia’s current moratorium on uranium mining. At a Veteran’s Day event in Norfolk, he stated, “I don’t support uranium mining. First and foremost as governor, my job is to make sure that our communities and our citizenry are safe. I’m not comfortable with the science to the point that I can say that with uranium mining, we would be safe. I’m afraid it would get into the drinking water.”
His concerns are validated by the studies that have cost us 3 million dollars over the last few years and have found that mining would be a significant threat to drinking water, public health, and local economies. Left behind would be huge volumes of radioactive and toxic waste, which has been linked to leukemia, kidney disease, and health problems for centuries in Virginia.,,,,,,, uranium mining. First and foremost as governor, my job is to make sure that our communities and our citizenry are safe. I’m not comfortable with the science to the point that I can say that with uranium mining, we would be safe. I’m afraid it would s concerns are validated by the studies that have cost us 3 million dollars over the last few years and have found that mining would be a significant threat to drinking water, public health, and local economies. Left behind would be huge volumes of radioactive and toxic waste, which has been linked to leukemia, kidney disease, and health problems for centuries in Virginia.get into the drinking water.”….ierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=12339&autologin=true&s_src=313Z5000A1
£2m funding from nuclear weapons industry to Cambridge University
Revealed – Cambridge University’s £2m funding from nuclear weapons industry
by CHRIS HAVERG Scientists at Cambridge University received £2 million in funding from Britain’s nuclear weapons research organisation in the space of just two-and-a-half years.
Disarmament campaigners have criticised the grants, received by the Cavendish Laboratory in its status as one of five UK institutions boasting a ‘strategic alliance’ with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)…..
Simon Sedgwick-Jell, of Cambridge Green Party, called on the university to end the link.
He said: “As a world class institution that ought to be taking a lead in many areas, it would be better if the university did not have connections with the military side of the nuclear establishment. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Education/Universities/Revealed-Cambridge-Universitys-2m-funding-from-nuclear-weapons-industry-20140212173350.htm#ixzz2tDkbfbU#
Japan’s election leaves the country still divided over nuclear power
Nuclear Issue in Limbo as Indecision Grips Japan NYT, TOKYO — Several industrialized countries have turned their backs on nuclear power as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, including one that has already begun permanently shutting functioning plants. That country is not Japan.
“Germany chose to get rid of nuclear power because of Fukushima, while the United States is still in favor, but what about Japan, where the accident took place?” said Jun Tateno, who has written several books on nuclear power. “We still have not had a proper public debate about the most fundamental question: Do we want nuclear power’s low-cost electricity for growth, or do we want a safer, nuclear-free society?”
“The no-nukes candidates lost, but that doesn’t mean there is suddenly a consensus in favor of nuclear power,” said Shiro Asano, a retired professor of politics at Keio University.
Voters have chosen Mr. Abe’s pro-nuclear governing party in national elections, but then oppose an immediate restart of the plants in opinion polls.
That fuzzy message has left this consensus-driven country without a way forward, …..
Renewabe energy technologies, faster, safer. cleaner than proposed thorium nuclear reactors
Will Thorium Save Us From Climate Change? EcoWAtch,Dr. David Suzuki | February 11, 2014 “…….What are “safer nuclear power systems?” And are they the answer? Proposed technologies include smaller modular reactors, reactors that shut down automatically after an accident and molten salt reactors. …….One idea is to use thorium instead of uranium for reactor fuel. Thorium is more abundant than uranium. Unlike uranium, it’s not fissile; that is, it can’t be split to create a nuclear chain reaction, so it must be bred through nuclear reactors to produce fissile uranium……..
Although they may be better than today’s reactors, LFTRs still produce radioactive and corrosive materials, they can be used to produce weapons and we don’t know enough about the impacts of using fluoride salts. Fluoride will contain a nuclear reaction, but it can be highly toxic, and deadly as fluorine gas. And though the technology’s been around since the 1950s, it hasn’t been proven on a commercial scale. Countries including the U.S., China, France and Russia are pursuing it, but in 2010 the U.K.’s National Nuclear Laboratory reported that thorium claims are “overstated.”
It will also take a lot of time and money to get a large number of reactors on-stream—some say from 30 to 50 years. Given the urgent challenge of global warming, we don’t have that much time. Many argue that if renewables received the same level of government subsidies as the nuclear industry, we’d be ahead at lower costs. Thorium essentially just adds another fuel option to the nuclear mix and isn’t a significant departure from conventional nuclear. All nuclear power remains expensive, unwieldy and difficult to integrate with intermittent renewables—and carries risks for weapons proliferation……
investing in renewable energy and smart-grid technologies is a faster, more cost-effective and safer option than building new nuclear facilities, regardless of type. ……we must also build on the momentum of renewable energy development, which has been spurred by its safety, declining costs and proven effectiveness.http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/11/will-thorium-save-us-from-climate-change/
Fukushima prefecture and Germa state to co-operate on renewable energy
Fukushima signs renewable energy pact with German state Global Post 12 Feb 14 Fukushima Prefecture has signed an agreement with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia to work together to promote the use of renewable energy.
The prefecture, which hosts Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled by the 2011 quake and tsunami, aims to introduce renewable energy technologies from Germany, a leader in the field, to realize a society not dependent on nuclear power……..
State environment minister Johannes Remmel said at the ceremony that Germany and Japan are technologically competent to accomplish worldwide success in the field of renewable energy.
Fukushima and North Rhine-Westphalia will host alternately trade fairs featuring renewable energy businesses and promote joint research among businesses in the next three years…….http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140210/fukushima-signs-renewable-energy-pact-german-state
New book shows problems inherent in all nuclear power plants
the problems that led to the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi exist wherever reactors operate.
Fukushima: The Story Of A Nuclear Disaster’ Reveals New Insight Into Japanese Catastrophe International Business Times, By Roxanne Palmeron February 11 2014 The story of the 2011 catastrophe at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant unfolds in a new book-length account from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit advocacy group.
“Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster” (The New Press) was penned by David Lochbaum, head of the UCS’s Nuclear Safety Project (and a nuclear engineer for 17 years); Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist in UCS’s Global Security Program; and journalist Susan Stranahan, who led the Philadelphia Inquirer’s coverage of the Three Mile Island Accident in Dauphin, Pennsylvania (which earned the paper the 1980 Pulitzer Prize in local general reporting).
Lochbaum and his coauthors weave a fast-paced, detailed narrative that moves like a thriller — but with the consequences painfully real, and the potential for a sequel hanging on the horizon.
“Fukushima Daiichi unmasked the weaknesses of nuclear power plant design and the long-standing flaws in operations and regulatory oversight,” the authors write. “Although Japan must share the blame, this was not a Japanese nuclear accident; it was a nuclear accident that just happened to have occurred in Japan. The problems that led to the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi exist wherever reactors operate.”…….http://www.ibtimes.com/fukushima-story-nuclear-disaster-reveals-new-insight-japanese-catastrophe-1554714
Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People
By Chris Mooney
n the past few years, the science of Internet trollology has made some strides. Last year, for instance, we learned that by hurling insults and inciting discord in online comment sections, so-called Internet trolls (who are frequently anonymous) have a polarizing effect on audiences, leading to politicization, rather than deeper understanding of scientific topics.
That’s bad, but it’s nothing compared with what a new psychology paper has to say about the personalities of trolls themselves. The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).
It is hard to underplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet.
In the study, trolls were identified in a variety of ways. One was by simply asking survey participants what they “enjoyed doing most” when on online comment sites, offering five options: “debating issues that are important to you,” “chatting with others,” “making new friends,” “trolling others,” and “other.” Here’s how different responses about these Internet commenting preferences matched up with responses to questions designed to identify Dark Tetrad traits:
E.E. Buckels et al, “Trolls just want to have fun,” Personality and Individual Differences, 2014.
To be sure, only 5.6 percent of survey respondents actually specified that they enjoyed “trolling.” By contrast, 41.3 percent of Internet users were “non-commenters,” meaning they didn’t like engaging online at all. So trolls are, as has often been suspected, a minority of online commenters, and an even smaller minority of overall Internet users.
Japan’s nuclear re-start bogged down in safety checks and paperwork
“There’s a growing consensus from a purely economic perspective that Japan needs to re-start as many reactors as it can in order to build out the diversification of its power sources and reduce fuel prices,” said Tom O’Sullivan, founder of independent energy consultancy Mathyos Japan.
Forecasts that the first nuclear reactor would be back in operation by the middle of this year are misplaced, said Tetsuo Yuhara, a director at The Canon Institute of Global Studies, who previously spent 30 years at Mitsubishi Heavy.
“I have no forecast for re-starts. It’s the same situation as a year ago, as two years ago. Nothing has changed.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101401535
Published: Sunday, 9 Feb 2014
Hundreds of technicians and engineers are camped out in Tokyo hotels trying to revive Japan’s nuclear industry, shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster almost three years ago.
It’s proving a hard slog. A new, more independent regulator is in place, asking difficult questions and seeking to impose tougher safety rules on powerful utilities that were largely their own masters for the past 50 years.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) was created in 2012 and set new safety guidelines in July last year. It now has four teams vetting reactors at nine nuclear power stations on a list of those seeking to re-start. A deadline to complete the checks has been missed as the NRA is still asking for reams of information. No one is able to predict when the first of 48 reactors will be turned back on.
The delays are biting the utilities which are having to spend billions of dollars to import fossil fuels to keep the power on, pushing Japan into a record trade deficit and risking undermining Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s polices to end years of stagnant growth.
“All the utilities are in a similar situation and, unless outstanding issues are resolved, we can’t judge that they are in compliance with the standards,” Tomoya Ichimura, an NRA director, told Reuters.
SLOW PROGRESS
The regulator and staff from the utilities and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, a leading supplier of nuclear plant equipment, are ploughing through mountains of paperwork on the technical specifications of reactors and their vulnerability to natural disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami that knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi station in March 2011.
All lack experience in carrying out such detailed safety checks because of the lax regime that existed before Fukushima.
“Only the framework of the safety criteria was decided, not the details, so the dialogue between the NRA and power companies to work out the specifics is taking time,” said Seiichi Nakata, Project Leader, Department of Policy, Communication and International Affairs at the Japan Atomic Industry Forum.
And once the checks are done, reactors must undergo planned inspections, which took as long as two months under the previous regime, as well as get the go-ahead from local authorities before they can be turned back on. The plants are being treated as if they have just been built and are seeking certification to start operating for the first time.
Interviews with utility and nuclear industry staff, regulators and government officials reveal a climate of uncertainty, frustration and long hours.
University of Bristol received £1.3m from secretive British organisation The Atomic Weapons Establishment
….Dr David McCoy, chairman of Medact, said: “Many aspects of scientific research work funded by the Atomic Weapons Establishment are conducted in sensitive and controversial areas, raising complex ethical and legal issues.”
AWE funds six professorships, named after its first director, Sir William Penney, at five universities. Two are at Cranfield, one at Cambridge, one at Bristol, one at Heriot-Watt and one at the University of Edinburgh…..
Researchers at the University of Bristol have received been paid £1.3 million from a secretive British nuclear weapons organisation.
A Freedom of Information Act request has revealed The Atomic Weapons Establishment has forked out £8 million to 50 universities in the UK but just five, with one of them including Bristol, have been the main beneficiaries.
The “Technical Outreach” programme between AWE and universities mainly supports scientific research in the physics, materials science, high performance computing, modelling, and manufacturing disciplines.
Although much of this work qualifies as “blue skies” research, which is not aimed at any particular application, some of it is considered to have “dual use” potential – the capability to be used for both benign, peaceful purposes and military purposes contributing to the development of weapons of mass destruction.
A Bristol University spokesperson said: “The university is one of five universities with which the AWE has strategic alliances. The relationship has been in place since 2009. Alongside the research projects (some of which are PhD studentships), the relationship seeks to encourage a range of activities which includes AWE involvement in giving seminars, contributing to teaching and joint workshops.
“Research we undertake with AWE is work the university proposes to AWE, work we are keen to pursue, which contributes towards areas such as safe operations, risk and cost reduction in storage of nuclear materials, and decommissioning of nuclear facilities.”
The report exposing the links has been published by two groups campaigning for nuclear disarmament, Nuclear Information Service and Medact, an NGO made up of health professionals.
Pete Wilkinson, director of Nuclear Information Service, said: “Many scientists frown on research which contributes to the development of weapons of mass destruction, however indirectly, and our study found that AWE values its academic outreach programme as much for the acceptance it buys for AWE’s own scientists in reputable academic circles as for its scientific findings. Universities and individual researchers are responsible for ensuring that their work meets accepted ethical standards, and our report aims to warn them of the risks from being seduced into murky waters by the lure of AWE’s cash.”
Dr David McCoy, chairman of Medact, said: “Many aspects of scientific research work funded by the Atomic Weapons Establishment are conducted in sensitive and controversial areas, raising complex ethical and legal issues.”
AWE funds six professorships, named after its first director, Sir William Penney, at five universities. Two are at Cranfield, one at Cambridge, one at Bristol, one at Heriot-Watt and one at the University of Edinburgh.
Japan Physician: Parents should evacuate children from Tokyo; Danger from Fukushima radiation — “The threat has seemed to be spreading” — “I’ve seen a lot of patients badly affected”
Published: February 14th, 2014 at 6:33 pm ET
By ENENews
Excerpts from an interview with Tokyo-based physician Shigeru Mita, Nelson Groom for Vice.com, Feb. 14, 2014 (h/t anonymous tip):
The Threat
- I’ve done examinations on more than 1,500 patients. […] I run blood work and conduct thyroid ultrasound examinations. […] I’ve mostly tested patients living in Tokyo, and I’ve found a lot of harmful symptoms in children, especially in kindergarten students or elementary school […] serious effects in the elderly. There have been abnormalities in their differential white-blood-cell count […] decline in the neutrophil […] I conducted the first tests in December 2011 […] the threat has seemed to be spreading into Tokyo since then.
The ‘Cure’
- There was a baby with a serious illness. […] she had no neutrophils. […] Thankfully, she recovered after moving to the Kyushu area. […] there aren’t any medicines to help […] I’ve seen a lot of patients from Tokyo who are badly affected, but when they move […] they get better. After they come back to Tokyo, it gets worse again.
The Cover-up
- I believe [TEPCO’s reporting on the radiation] must be false. That said, discussing this is a waste of time. We need to use this time to help patients rather than discussing the validity of these statements. That’s the most pressing concern.
The Food
- In Japan, commercial distribution is prosperous, so some of the contaminated food is definitely coming to Tokyo. […] we should be testing everything thoroughly, and that at least children should be spared […]
The Media
- They are definitely not focusing on this particular concern. I believe the Japanese media have taken side with a small number of powerful people.
The Public
- People living in eastern Japan […] are trying to look away from the dangers of radioactivity. Hence they avoid taking the matter seriously.
The Future
- I worry about the children, their parents, and the children who will be born in the future. I want the patients to move to the safer place [and] strongly recommend that anyone living in the area head to a safer place one or two months out of the year. I encourage everyone living in Tokyo to take blood tests as frequently as possible. […]
More from Dr. Mita here: I hope adults will leave Tokyo, not just children — Strange things happening — Medications don’t seem to work — Rare diseases increasing dramatically
EU-funded Study: Over 20,000 square miles of Japan potentially contaminated from Fukushima releases — Home to 43 million people
Published: February 13th, 2014 at 9:28 am ET
By ENENews
European Commission, Science for Environment Policy News Alert (pdf) (emphasis added): […] The EU-funded study modelled the global spread of radionuclides of caesium and iodine from Fukushima […] between March and May 2011 […] It focused on radionuclides that were emitted as gases […] The International Atomic Energy Agency defines ’contamination’ as the presence of a radioactive substance in quantities more than 40 kilobecquerels per m². […] land area affected by radioactivity from both types of radionuclides above this threshold is approximately 34,000 km² of Japan, inhabited by around 9.4 million people. However, the estimate used for the iodine radionuclide emissions from the incident is considered to be an underestimate. A separate calculation which assumed source emissions that were five times greater, suggested that a relatively large and densely populated part of Japan – 56,000 km² [21,622 square miles] – would be classified as contaminated. […] It should be emphasised that this refers to two radionuclides only, whereas additional ones are unaccounted for due to a lack of measurements. […]
Modelling the global atmospheric transport and deposition of radionuclides from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident (pdf), 2013 (emphasis added): Chino et al. (2011) estimate a total [131I] release of 150 PBq […] results are considered by [the] authors to be lower estimates and to have an error of at least a factor of five. Winiarek et al. (2012) estimate the lower bound of the total activity of 131I released into the atmosphere […] between 190 and 700 PBq […] We estimate that the land area affected by the deposition of radioactivity in excess of 40 kBqm² is approximately 34,000 km². […] this part of Japan is inhabited by 9.4 million people. The surface area that received a total deposition greater than 10 kBqm² encompasses parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area, and approximately covers 60,000 km2, being inhabited by 46 million people. We emphasize that this is based on the emission of 150 PBq 131I estimated by Chino et al. (2011), which might actually be a factor of five too low.
Chubu Electric seeks to restart Hamaoka nuclear plant
TOKYO, Feb. 14 — (Kyodo) _ Chubu Electric Power Co. applied Friday for a state safety assessment of one of its reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in central Japan that was forced to shut down in 2011 as the previous government viewed operation of the complex as too risky.
With the move, the total number of reactors for which applications for safety checks have been submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority rose to 17.
The NRA is expected to employ the same procedure to check the Hamaoka No. 4 unit as for the other reactors, effectively ignoring the unusual government request issued in May 2011 for operation of the plant to be suspended because of doubts about its preparedness for tsunami.
Located on the Pacific coast, about 190 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, the Hamaoka complex is known to be located on an assumed epicentral area for a massive earthquake. Two of the five reactors at the plant were retired in 2009.
Chubu Electric has been working to install huge seawalls and implement other measures to protect the plant, which are expected to be completed by September 2015.
Japan has revamped its regulatory setup by launching the NRA and also introduced a set of new safety requirements that reflect the lessons learned from the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, sparked by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The country’s 48 commercial reactors have to satisfy the new nuclear regulations before they can be restarted.
The NRA has not finished any of the safety checks so far, and Japan is currently without nuclear power generation.
(c) 2014 Kyodo News International, Inc.
First Edward Snowden interview & analysis
Published on 8 Feb 2014
Tony Gosling with former Amnesty, NEF, & CAFOD’s ‘Old Labour’ Oxford economist Martin Summers
Analysis starts here http://youtu.be/7pgNEsSz54I?t=29m49s
IBMs Nazi database of the German population, then of occupied Europe, made the Holocaust possible…
Only after Jews were identified — a massive and complex task that Hitler wanted done immediately — could they be targeted for efficient asset confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, enslaved labour, and, ultimately, annihilation. It was a cross-tabulation and organizational challenge so monumental, it called for a computer. Of course, in the 1930s no computer existed. But IBM’s Hollerith punch card technology did exist.
http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com
German Television does first Edward Snowden Interview (ENGLISH)
German Television Channel NDR does an exclusive interview with Edward Snowden.
Uploaded on LiveLeak cause German Television thinks the rest of the world isn’t intereseted in Edward Snowden.
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_13…
Whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked the documents about US mass surveillance. He spoke about his disclosures and his life to NDR journalist Hubert Seipel in Moscow.
“The Five Eyes alliance is sort of an artifact of the post World War II era where the Anglophone countries are the major powers banded together to sort of co-operate and share the costs of intelligence gathering infrastructure.
So we have the UK’s GCHQ, we have the US NSA, we have Canada’s C-Sec, we have the Australian Signals Intelligence Directorate and we have New Zealand’s DSD. What the result of this was over decades and decades what sort of a supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn’t answer to the laws of its own countries.”
“If you ask the governments about this directly they would deny it and point to policy agreements between the members of the Five Eyes saying that they won’t spy on each other’s citizens but there are a couple of key points there. One is that the way they define spying is not the collection of data. The GCHQ is collecting an incredible amount of data on British Citizens just as the National Security Agency is gathering enormous amounts of data on US citizens. What they are saying is that they will not then target people within that data. They won’t look for UK citizens or British citizens. In addition the policy agreements between them that say British won’t target US citizens, US won’t target British citizens are not legally binding. The actual memorandums of agreement state specifically on that that they are not intended to put legal restriction on any government. They are policy agreements that can be deviated from or broken at any time. So if they want to on a British citizen they can spy on a British citizen and then they can even share that data with the British government that is itself forbidden from spying on UK citizens. So there is a sort of a trading dynamic there but it’s not, it’s not open, it’s more of a nudge and wink and beyond that the key is to remember the surveillance and the abuse doesn’t occur when people look at the data it occurs when people gather the data in the first place.”
“That’s a very difficult question to answer. In general, I would say it highlights the dangers of privatising government functions. I worked previously as an actual staff officer, a government employee for the Central Intelligence Agency but I’ve also served much more frequently as a contractor in a private capacity. What that means is you have private for profit companies doing inherently governmental work like targeted espionage, surveillance, compromising foreign systems and anyone who has the skills who can convince a private company that they have the qualifications to do so will be empowered by the government to do that and there’s very little oversight, there’s very little review.”
“The contracting culture of the national security community in the United States is a complex topic. It’s driven by a number of interests between primarily limiting the number of direct government employees at the same time as keeping lobbying groups in Congress typically from very well funded businesses such as Booze Allen Hamilton. The problem there is you end up in a situation where government policies are being influenced by private corporations who have interests that are completely divorced from the public good in mind. The result of that is what we saw at Booze Allen Hamilton where you have private individuals who have access to what the government alleges were millions and millions of records that they could walk out the door with at any time with no accountability, no oversight, no auditing, the government didn’t even know they were gone.”
http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/s…
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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