Sino-American rivalry: Energy consumption, nuclear energy and deadly nukes Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent scholar residing in İstanbul, with a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans and the Greater Middle East. He tweets at @theerimtanangle July 10, 2014“……….. not content with just matching Chinese commitment to fossil fuel imports and consumption by means of production, the Obama administration also “incentivizes oil, gas, and coal production overseas by providing billions of dollars in favorable financing each year to fossil fuel projects through its participation in multilateral development bank lending as well as bilateral financing through the US Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation … Since President Obama was elected, US financing of fossil fuel projects overseas through these international financial institutions has increased by 14 percent from $4.1 billion in 2009 to $4.7 billion in 2013, having declined from a peak of $6.3 billion in 2012.
Both global powerhouses thus appear to persist in gambling with the Earth’s future. In fact, American and Chinese willingness to continue playing with fire is also demonstrated by their actions in the field of nuclear energy and weapons. Some time ago, the award-winning journalist Ken Silverstein wrote in the Christian Science Monitor that the “Obama administration wants to seed the United States with pint-size nuclear reactors … The US Department of Energy said it would provide $217 million in matching funds over five years to [the private company] NuScale, which builds small, ready-made reactors that can be strung together”. These pint-size nuclear reactors would be added to the already existing “100 commercial nuclear power reactors [that] are licensed to operate at 62 sites in 31 States.”
Meanwhile, in China 20 nuclear power reactors are in operation, with a further 28 under construction, and even more about to start construction. The recent Fukushima disaster in Japan (11 March 2011) and the now-legendary Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine (26 April 1986) provide ample evidence that the mere principle of nuclear energy seems patently absurd: in order to boil water to operate some turbines, nuclear material is fused to produce high levels of energy (or heat) that is then put to use to boil water basically, or to put it in more formal words, as can be found on the website Three Mile Island (named after another famous nuclear mishap on 28 March 1979): the “only purpose of a nuclear power plant is to produce electricity. To produce electricity, a power plant needs a source of heat to boil water which becomes steam. The steam then turns a turbine, the turbine turns an electrical generator, and the generator produces electricity”. And the dangers of nuclear radiation are manifold, as explained by Dr. Helen Caldicott, the well-known Australian anti-nuclear advocate: “[n] dose of radiation is safe. Each dose received by the body is cumulative and adds to the risk of developing malignancy or genetic disease … Children are ten to twenty times more vulnerable to the carcinogenic effects of radiation than adults. Females tend to be more sensitive compared to males, whilst fetuses and immuno-compromised patients are also extremely sensitive … High doses of radiation received from a nuclear meltdown or from a nuclear weapon explosion can cause acute radiation sickness, with alopecia, severe nausea, diarrhea and thrombocytopenia”.
All in all, the US and China seem well-matched in their dedication to endangering the continued existence of humanity on this earth: either by their use and propagation of fossil fuels leading to disastrous climate change. Or by sticking to nuclear energy as an alternative, which is a dangerous proposition to begin with, while the issue of the resultant nuclear waste material has not even been touched upon.
The military perspective
Even more ominous is the continued presence of nuclear arsenals in the US as well as in China. During the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union superpowers adhered to the principle of mutually assured destruction, which meant that the whole world was basically kept hostage to a game of chicken. Now that the Cold War is over, one would think that these nuclear warheads would finally be confined to the dustbin of history. Alas, nothing seems further from the truth, as the US still deploys about 2,000 strategic warheads, with even more in reserve.
Tehran Times 13 july 14, TEHRAN – In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran sees no benefit in developing nuclear weapons.
David Gregory’s extended conversation with Zarif was scheduled to air on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Zarif said, “Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons” because he believes “nuclear weapons reduce countries’ influence in our region.”
Following is a transcript of the interview: ……….
……. I do not believe that you need to inculcate this mentality that nuclear weapons make anybody safe. Have they made Pakistan safe? Have they made Israel safe? Have they made the United States safe? Have they made Russia safe? All these countries are susceptible. Now you have proof that nuclear weapons or no amount of military power makes you safe. So we need to live in a different paradigm. And that’s what we are calling for.http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/117007-iran-sees-no-benefit-in-developing-nuclear-weapons-zarif-
Career in renewable energy? 6.5m jobs for grabs, Emirates 24/7 July 12, 2014 There may now be as many as 6.5 million direct and indirect jobs in renewable energy, according to updated data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).
Earlier assessments had put the global estimate at 2.3 million jobs in 2008 (United Nations Environment Programme) and at 5 million jobs in 2012 (International Labour Organisation).
Although these estimates suggest a strong expansion in employment in renewable energy, the figures also represent successive efforts to broaden data collection across countries and sectors, reads the Worldwatch Institute’s latest Vital Signs Online trend.
The overall upward trend in renewable energy jobs has been accompanied by considerable turmoil in some industries.
Nowhere are the upheavals more noticeable than in the solar photovoltaic (PV) sector, where intensified competition, massive overcapacities, and tumbling prices have caused a high degree of turbulence in the last two to three years, but they have also triggered a boom in installations.
Global PV employment is thought to have expanded from 1.4 million jobs in 2012 to as many as 2.3 million in 2013……….
All in all, available information suggests that renewable energy has grown to become a significant source of jobs. Rising labour productivity notwithstanding, the job numbers are likely to grow in coming decades as the world’s energy system shifts toward low-carbon sources.
The Asian AgeJul 14, 2014 – Kaniza Garari“……..Sunglasses must be used only outdoors. People who work for long hours outdoors need sunglasses as the UV damage to the eyes is slow and cumulates over a person’s lifetime. Those who are close to the equator, at higher elevations or constantly exposed to the mid-day sun have a higher risk of developing sun-related eye diseases. The damage to the eye is not visible in the first decade of life. So protection from the sun’s UV rays must be practiced right from childhood.
Dr Rachna Vinaya Kumar, consultant, pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus, at Apollo Hospitals, explains, “Sunglasses are required during summer while outdoors as the level of UV radiation is three times higher than during winter. Similarly they are required at the beach and also for those indulging in winter sports at high altitudes. They must not be worn indoors as the dark glass lenses adapt the vision by increasing photo sensitivity of the eyes and the darker the glasses the more light-sensitive your eyes get. Indoor use thus causes eye strain.”……” http://www.asianage.com/science-health/protect-your-eyes-ultra-violet-radiation-108
Customs Media Spokesperson Leslie Gamini said that the radioactive chemical Caesium 137 was detected in the consignment at the Colombo port.
He said that equipment installed at the port to detect radiation materiel had detected the chemical emanating from the consignment.
The Customs spokesman said that residue of the chemical had been found from the spare parts and so the consignment was detained at the port and sent back.
He said the consignment had originated from a company operating from close proximity to the Fukushima nuclear power plant which was damaged in a massive earth quake in 2011.
The Customs Department said that while only a small amount of residue was found in the consignment, a major disaster was averted by ensuring the items did not enter the local market.
Sino-American rivalry: Energy consumption, nuclear energy and deadly nukes Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent scholar residing in İstanbul, with a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans and the Greater Middle East. He tweets at @theerimtanangleJuly 10, 2014
“………Just the other day, the Associated Press (AP) released a timely report on America’s still-existing nuclear arsenal, in which Robert Burns insightfully explained that the “nuclear missiles hidden in plain view across the prairies of northwest North Dakota reveal one reason why trouble keeps finding the nuclear Air Force. The ‘Big Sticks’, as some call the 60-foot-tall Minuteman 3 missiles, are just plain old. The Air Force asserts with pride that the missile system, more than 40 years old and designed during the Cold War to counter the now-defunct Soviet Union, is safe and secure. None has ever been used in combat or launched accidentally. But it also admits to fraying at the edges: time-worn command posts, corroded launch silos, failing support equipment and an emergency-response helicopter fleet so antiquated that a replacement was deemed ‘critical’ years ago. The Minuteman is no ordinary weapon. The business end of the missile can deliver mass destruction across the globe as quickly as you could have a pizza delivered to your doorstep.”Even as the Minuteman has been updated over the years and remains ready for launch on short notice, the items that support it have grown old, Burns also writes.
In 2012, Michelle Spencer, Aadina Ludin and Heather Nelson compiled a troubling report for the USAF Counterproliferation Center. The report’s title illustrates just how dangerous these remnants from the Cold War on US soil today are: The Unauthorized Movement of Nuclear Weapons and Mistaken Shipment of Classified Missile Components. The authors present a narrative of frolic and detour that is unsettling to say the least: “[o]n August 31, 2007, a US Air Force B-52 plane with the call sign ―Doom 99‖ took off from Minot Air Force Base (AFB), North Dakota, inadvertently loaded with six Advanced Cruise Missiles loaded with nuclear warheads and flew to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. After landing, Doom 99‖ sat on the tarmac at Barksdale unguarded for nine hours before the nuclear weapons were discovered… While the Air Force was reeling from the investigations of the unauthorized movement of nuclear weapons, it was revealed that Taiwan had received classified forward sections of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile rather than the helicopter batteries it had ordered from the US, bringing to light a second nuclear-related incident”. Particularly, the phrase “inadvertently loaded with six Advanced Cruise Missiles loaded with nuclear warheads” should make everyone’s blood boil.
In contrast, the up-and-coming superpower of the 21st century China does not seem to dispose of such a wide array of technical and/or other difficulties besetting its nuclear arsenal. In 2011, the Washington Post ran a story indicating that the Chinese (or rather the CCP) constructed “a vast network of tunnels designed to hide their country’s increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear arsenal”, called the“Underground Great Wall”. An associate professor of strategy at the US Naval War College, James Holmes, then, writes that in “March 2008, China’s state-run CCTV network broke the news about a 5,000 kilometer network of hardened tunnels built to house the Chinese Second Artillery Corps’s increasingly modern force of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. Tunneling evidently commenced in 1995. Located in, or rather under, mountainous districts of Hebei Province, in northern China, the facility is reportedly hundreds of meters deep”
In the end, the US as the only nation to have ever exploded a nuclear device during wartime appears to be experiencing difficulties managing its now-aging stockpile of nuclear warheads. While China, on the other hand, seems to have devised a novel way of controlling its own nuclear arsenal. In a way, these two different stories of nuclear arms’ storage could be understood as a metaphor for the waning and the rising of fortunes … Does the dragon ascend to ever-loftier heights as the eagle is slowly touching down? Will the ongoing yet somewhat unseen rivalry between Obama’s America and Xi Jinping’s China determine the course of humanity in the coming year or will the large-scale food shortages expected by 2050 combined with the ill-effects of climate change make the continuation of such competitions utterly futile and pointless? http://rt.com/op-edge/171824-sino-american-rivalry-energy/
Many of the thousands of nuclear reactors in the world today were built on fault lines and ocean shores at risk for tsunamis, like Fukushima in Japan for example. More than 90% of the reactors are also leaking but industry groups do not seem to care, even though too much radiation and the wrong types of radiation can lead to accelerated aging of our bodies or even our deaths.
The radioactivity in the Futaba city, at its most radioactive spot , according to my friends, former residents of Futaba City, with who I was (beside the plant site and outside the forest) :
24.12 mSv / h (microsieverts / hour) on this photo, but in reality it even went up to 25. 25μSv / h.
It is 219 millisieverts / year,
or 219 times the dose considered acceptable for the civilian population
(1 mSv / year, 1 millisievert / year).
I did not find any change in the ambient radioaction from my previous radiation measure in November 2013, through the once inhabited area.
Janick Magne is a French citizen residing 35 years in Japan, she has been entering repeatedly the forbidden zone thanks to the help of a Japanese family who are going there regularly to visit their evacuated house.
Janick Magne’s purpose in going there is to take continuous radiation measures and pictures in order to testify about the real gravity of the situation. Gravity which the Japanese Goverment and the world mainstream media are mimimizing if not totally omitting to report, covering it up with their well-oiled propaganda and their plain outright lies..
Thank you Janick Magne for your outstanding dedication and your unwavering courage to expose the truth.
Futaba City (where the reactors 5 and 6 are located)
Janick Magne pointing to the slogan “Nuclear energy, energy of a bright future.”
“Journalists cannot enter into the Fukushima forbidden zone, it is strictly prohibited.
Nuclear analyst John Large, July 9, 2014: The cores remain active for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, so there’s a commitment to keep either the ice wall technology in place or to replace it with an alternate technology by some future generation. […] Water is coming off the escarpment above the three reactors, it’s then percolating through the ground — there’s hydrostatic pressures pushing the water up toward the sea level — it’s then collecting the fission products and radioactive products from the melted-down cores and taken out to sea. […] What I think they should now have a plan to tackle the root cause… How do you control, manage and eventually remove the reactor cores? […] If the reactor cores remain in there, it’s going to be a constant leachate (water that percolates through a solid and leaches out some of the constituents) of radioactivity.
It’s hard to believe that three years have gone by since the devastating earthquake, tsunami and subsequent destruction and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As we have come to learn, most of what was told of this catastrophe was not true and people are now beginning to suffer the consequences, especially the children.
I read this heartbreaking story about the daily lives of the children of Koriyama, not very far from the now destroyed nuclear plant. At the onset of trouble these families should have been evacuated from the area and told the truth about the radiation releases. Instead, the “Exclusion Zone” was limited to 20 Kilometers and those just outside of that were asked to stay inside for an undetermined amount of time. A few weeks later that zone was expanded to 50 Kilometers, how would you feel? In fact, they should have left the that entire side of the island, if not the country itself.
Now the Japanese government is telling Fukushima families, three years later, that it’s O.K. to move back in to their homes and restart their lives. There was even a report several months ago of offers made to pregnant women and young mothers, by the local Fukushima government, for free housing if they moved in to “newer” homes previously evacuated.
Over the past week, two more revelations were made about Fukushima radiation and it’s effects. First, Arnie Gunderson, former nuclear engineer and co-founder of Fairewinds Energy Education, came out with another article about the devastating effects of radiation upon children and how quickly they can occur. Secondly, In a public meeting at the UK House of Commons on the 10th of this month, Fukushima evacuee Gavin Allwright, testified to the disasters and their effects on his family. Included in his statement, was the fact that there was a very fine black dust in Miyagi, the prefecture just north of Fukushima, and that it had not been analyzed for a very long time. It has since been disclosed that it is highly radioactive and that the paper masks worn by the children will not protect them from these deadly particles.
As we continue to learn of the deception people of Fukushima, one has to wonder how far that deception reaches.
I suppose I should be feeling flattered, finding myself the subject of abuse from the nuclear lobby, in the same way as the well known and highly regarded Dr Helen Caldicott and Dr Chris Busby.
Nevertheless, I find their constant abuse rather tiresome.
I note that @thjr19 was the Twitter address of a John Randall. When I reported John Randall to Twitter for abuse – his tweets then stopped. Now there’s a Thomas Huxley tweeting abuse about me on that same Twitter address.
I use the name Christina Macpherson (and ChristinaMac1 as Twitter address) I am particularly worried about the big con going on in favour of Thorium nuclear reactors. To tweet specifically on that pont, I use the Twitter name Clare Egan @NoThorium
Like this website – none of my efforts get any funding from anybody. But that doesn’t stop the the Thorium Twitter Trolls from repeatedly accusing me of being paid by the coal, gas, oil lobbies.
Here are just a few of today’s samples of their efforts – they make these in response to my tweets about the costs, safety, and waste problems of thorium nuclear reactors. Note the sexism and ageism :
11 July Thomas Huxley@thjr19
Noel Wauchope cannot read let alone understand Science. Her IGNORANT BIGOTRY is all she has. STOP the #GrannyFUD!
All Noel Wauchope can come up with is lies, misdirection. strawmen and IGNORANT BIGOTRY. Stop the #GrannyFUD
Japanese cows develop skin spots, mysterious disease; farmers fear radiation affecting humans, toohttp://www.naturalnews.com/045890_fukushima_cows_radiation_poisoning.html#ixzz37JFiFmJfMonday, July 07, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer (NaturalNews) Livestock with strange white spots covering their skin were put on display at a recent protest in front of Tokyo’s agriculture ministry, according to the Associated Press (AP). Two Japanese farmers, disturbed by the unusual markings, are calling on government officials to conduct a real investigation into what they believe is radiation poisoning from the shuttered Fukushima nuclear plant.
The damage is affecting hundreds of animals on farms near the plant, barring the sale of milk and meat due to safety concerns. And the Japanese government, say the farmers, has glossed over the problem by failing to properly investigate it and come up with an explanation, all the while pretending as though nothing is wrong.
“Our cows cannot be shipped as meat,” lamented Masami Yoshizawa, one of the farm’s organizers, before media and the public in Tokyo. “They are evidence of lives affected by radiation.”
Yoshizawa and fellow farmer Naoto Matsumara trucked it down to Tokyo together, bringing with them a black bull bearing the white spots. When they arrived in front of the ministry office, local police attempted to block the duo from bringing it onto the street so everyone could see it, claiming that the animal might be dangerous. But the farmers were ultimately successful in gaining the public’s attention, expressing vocal outrage over the loss of their farms, produce, and ultimately their livelihoods. In the aftermath of Fukushima, the Japanese government has taken a largely hands-off approach, siding with the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in minimizing the damage caused by a large earthquake and tsunami that struck the facility back in 2011.
“What if this started happening to people?” asked Matsumara, expressing concerns about the human impacts of Fukushima radiation. “We have to examine the cause of this and let people know what happened to these animals.”
Japanese government needs to take Fukushima radiation more seriously
According to the AP, Matsumara and Yoshizawa want the government to be more proactive in determining the cause of the white spots. They are also calling for an end to the culling of abandoned livestock, as well as the burning of radiation-contaminated vegetation that farmers need in order to keep feeding the suffering animals.
“The ministry told us they don’t know what is causing the spots,” added Yoshizawa. “Well, they need to do more research and figure it out. They can’t just run away, saying they don’t know.”
Despite making calls through a megaphone for Yoshimasa Hayashi, Tokyo’s farm minister, to come down in person to see the animal, Yoshizawa was unsuccessful in convincing anyone from the agency to make an appearance. The two farmers were, however, given access to the ministry’s reception desk, where they presented a written appeal for action.
In the interim, feral animals continue to run wild in the evacuation zone surrounding Fukushima. And the more than 100,000 “nuclear evacuees” who escaped the area after the disaster have largely resettled elsewhere, leaving nearby towns virtually abandoned.
“Discarded towns, discarded evacuees,” rattled an unsettled Yoshizawa. “The cattle and people are still living. We cannot remain silent.”
Hamas Commits Act Of Nuclear Terrorism, According To U.N Definition The Daily Caller 10 July 14, In the latest step in a war of attrition with Israel, Hamas targeted one of the country’s nuclear reactors with rockets — an act which escalates the recent outburst of violence in the area to the level of nuclear combat.
An act of terrorism against a nuclear reactor in any form is defined as terrorism, as set out by the United Nation’s 2005 International Convention for the Suspicion of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.
According to the United Nations, “any nuclear reactor, including reactors installed on vessels, vehicles, aircraft or space objects for use as an energy source in order to propel such vessels, vehicles, aircraft or space objects or for any other purpose,” or “any plant or conveyance being used for the production, storage, processing or transport of radioactive material.”
The Asahi Shimbun has recently obtained a copy of the transcripts of testimony given before a government investigation panel by Masao Yoshida, who served as general manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant when it succumbed to a Level 7 disaster, the highest on the International Nuclear Events Scale, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011.
The document remains the only available official transcript of the testimony by Yoshida, the on-site commander of efforts to bring the situation under control, who died in July 2013 without having disclosed much to media organizations about the accident at the plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The transcript, not to be released publicly at Yoshida’s request, was gathering dust in government offices.
28 hours, 400 pages
The Yoshida testimony report comprises seven parts and contains about 500,000 characters in total. It is printed on more than 400 pages of A4-size paper.
Eleven of the 13 interview sessions with Yoshida were conducted at a Japan Football Association Academy meeting room at the J-Village soccer training facility, 20 kilometers south of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The remaining two sessions took place in a quake-proof control center building, Yoshida’s workplace, at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
The government’s Investigation Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations of Tokyo Electric Power Co. interviewed 772 individuals over a total of 1,479 hours. The Yoshida testimony was compiled during that process.
While an interviewee was only questioned for slightly less than two hours on average, Yoshida was interviewed for more than 28 hours, and was asked to respond on how he acted and what he thought at decisive moments. Yotaro Hatamura, chairman of the investigation panel, called the Yoshida testimony “invaluable historic material” because it is Yoshida’s only available official transcript.
Anger, Angst, Sense
In the Yoshida testimony, he is not only telling his side of the story………..
Multiple disaster of unprecedented scale
The Fukushima nuclear disaster, which involved more than one reactor stricken simultaneously, was a multiple disaster that humankind had never experienced……..
Were lessons learned?
Unfortunately, the government investigation panel’s final report failed to discuss and review the actions and judgments made by individuals who were leading concerned organizations at the time–the prime minister, industry minister, director-general of the now-defunct Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, chairman of the NSC, president of TEPCO and general manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, although it is up to people to stop nuclear plants from running amok and up to people to save residents from nuclear damage.
Although the panel interviewed as many as 772 individuals involved, it failed to dig deep into essential aspects of the disaster because it made it a stated policy that it would not pursue the responsibility of individuals.
It is not too much to say that the government and power utilities are eagerly working toward preparing for restarts of nuclear reactors by adding height to seawalls, installing filter vents and reinforcing other facility components because the government investigation panel limited its analysis and reviews only to phenomenal aspects of the tragedy.
Voices of those who fought the unprecedented nuclear disaster should be engraved in history. History is humankind’s common property.
“I would like you to attend our hearing in the understanding that what you are going to tell us could be published almost in their original form,” a member of the government investigation panel told Yoshida during the first interview session. The Asahi Shimbun notes that Yoshida replied promptly, “That is OK.”
This is an English translation of serial feature stories on the Yoshida testimony report that began running online on The Asahi Shimbun Digital on May 20.
The series focuses on the part of human action and judgments, which the government investigation panel questioned Yoshida about but seldom mentioned in its report, and addresses three issues: who is there to halt nuclear reactors; if residents can be evacuated; and if humans can stop a crisis.
In analyzing and reviewing the Yoshida testimony report, The Asahi Shimbun perused TEPCO’s teleconference records, a time-series table of events and TEPCO’s other in-house documents obtained from sources. The newspaper’s reporters also interviewed concerned parties.
California Newspaper: Health effects in U.S. from Fukushima radiation? Stanford Professor: “Am I concerned? Yes I am, that’s because I know radiation … there’s increased risk … avoid radiation as much as you can” — UC Berkeley Nuclear Prof: “Everyone is really scared of it … that’s what the big problem is” http://enenews.com/california-paper-fukushima-plume-health-effects-stanford-expert-concerned-because-radiation-pretty-increased-risk-uc-berkeley-nuclear-prof-everyone-really-scared
La Jolla Light (Calif. Newspaper), July 9, 2014: Scientists weigh-in on status of radioactive waters from Fukushima reaching California coast […] the potential health effects cut to the heart of the contemporary scientific debate on the biological consequences of low-level radiation. […] Experts project the radioactivity will be […] two-to-20 times greater than the residual radiation already in the Pacific from the nuclear weapons tests […] Bottom line? So what is the risk of swimming, surfing and splashing about in the low-level radioactive waters?
Dr. Herbert Abrams, Harvard and Stanford University professor of radiology & principal researcher for the National Research Council’s study ‘Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation’ who testified before Congress about its conclusions: “The underlying premise that has to be considered as you talk about radioactivity, the water and people being exposed to it, is that the effects of radiation are cumulative […] what is the turning point? […] common sense is to avoid radiation as much as you can.” […] With the radiation from Fukushima predicted to [linger here for years] Abrams said the potential dose should not be dismissed as negligible. “Am I concerned? Yes I am. And that’s because I know radiation pretty well […] It shakes up the cell and it goes after the genetic material … The bottom line is that (radiation) is a carcinogenic agent […] there is increased risk. But how do you translate that into an understandable discussion of what’s going to happen to guys on their surfboards? I don’t know.” […] Abrams issues his own warning about those scientists declaring the low-level radiation to be absolutely “safe” […] “Physicists, or at least some of them, are the people in the nuclear industry itself. They play down (the risks) at such low doses, but they never talk about it as being cumulative.”
Prof. Kai Vetter, UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering Dept.: “People don’t understand nuclear radiation and the impact […] Everyone is really scared of it […] It should not pose any health risk on swimmers, divers, people on the beach. […] The psychological stress and psychological impact which might actually cause health effects, we should never underestimate that […] that’s really what the big problem is, because there’s a lot of fear. There are a lot claims out there to increase the fear. From my perspective, it is completely unjustified and irresponsible to claim all the effects because that will just cause more and more fear in the public, which is probably the biggest impact. […] In a way, we feel as a journalist. We see ourselves really as [doing a] service to the community.”
Dr. Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: “A lot of people are dismissive of it because it’s so low, and that’s not a good thing to do because radiation can kill […] t doesn’t necessarily mean it’s at harmful levels […] We know it’s out there and we know it’s moving slowly across […] Any additional radioactivity can cause an increase in risk. […] when no one makes measurements, then people will get more worried […] We’re looking for agencies to step up […] we’re not getting any success with places like NOAA or the Department of Energy and that’s too bad. I think they have some responsibility.”
nuclear-news 