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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Radioactive material from reactors is 2 billion times more toxic than industrial poisons

radiation-warningUS Gov’t: Radioactive material from reactors is 2 billion times more toxic than industrial poisons — Harm caused by nuclear disaster “greater than for any work of man” other than atomic bomb — Top Expert: Radiation “like explosions going off in cell… blows hole in DNA” (VIDEO)http://enenews.com/govt-document-radioactive-materials-reactors-2-billion-times-toxic-common-industrial-poison-harm-nuclear-disaster-greater-work-man-other-atomic-bomb-top-expert-radiation-like-explosions-going-ce?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

Dr. Bill McBride, UCLA School of Medicine Vice Chair for Research in Radiation, Principle Investigator of UCLA’s Center for Medical Countermeasures Against Radiation — National Institutes of Health, Jan 27, 2014 (emphasis added):

  • 19:45 – There are some unique things about ionizing radiation when it comes to the interaction with biological systems… Energy is deposited ubiquitously in cells and in tissues… in little packets of energy… These [are] like many explosions going off in the cell… If you can think of these little explosions going off all over a cell, if it happens to take place in DNA, there’s really quite a high chance this will blow a hole in the DNA. Ionizing radiation is a very powerful cytotoxic agent… You get these lesions which are formed within DNA which are really quite complex lesions… We’re talking 0.0000000000000001 seconds for the ionization to take place… Cell cycle arrest, cell death by apoptosis or mitotic catastrophe… take place very rapidly after exposure.
  • 37:30 – What’s happening following ionizing radiation? You get these little explosions going off very rapidly… But mitochondria get hit as well… With time, you actually get these mitochondria leaking more free radicals than [the] ionizing radiation, by orders of magnitude… This concept is one which is growing very strongly in radiation biology now. The effects are not all over in 24 hours… you initiate a cascade of biological responses which can go on for a long period of time, even years.
  • 46:00 – You get long-term immune dysfunction… If you inject flu virus into mice [it] will eventually kill the [irradiated] animals… in normal animals this isn’t the case. So the immune system is compromised for long periods of time after radiation exposure.
  • 51:00 – The concept is that we’re generating damage which is cascading forward to mitochondria and other cellular structures, in addition to DNA… Radiation is not just a powerful cytotoxin, it initiates signaling cascades that are taking place against a radiation damage background… Radiation damage is often remembered within the cells. We’ve shown, at least in brain and lung and other tissues, you get these kind of pro-inflammatory responses… This is underlying a lot of effects in radiation exposure.
  • 52:00 (appears to be on verge of crying) – At UCLA we have over 100 people who are in our center… They’re interested in radiation now — they never were before. I think that we’re kind of moving animal models slowly forward to things which are really kind of very precise and very accurate and I think do reflect a lot of things that we will see in humans… who’ve been exposed to radiation.

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (pdf), 1968: The total amount of debris released during routine atomic processes and conceived as possible from accidents is minuscule when compared with the amount of pollutants produced throughout the world by combustion. The extraordinarily poisonous nature of the radioactive materialsinvolved, however, dictates that even small quantities be treated with respect. For instance, it has been estimated that some of the radioactive materials found in a reactor are 3 million to 2 billion times as toxic as chlorine, the most common poison used by industry... if it were possible for all the many controls and safety features in a large power reactor to fail so as to produce a disastrous release of radioactivity, this release could conceivably kill thousands… Although, in actual practice, such an accident is made to have a vanishingly small probability of occurring, the theoretical potential for such an accident is probably greater than for any work of man other than the explosion of a fission or fusion weapon.

Watch McBride’s presentation here

March 1, 2015 Posted by | radiation | Leave a comment

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks up for the nuclear negotiations between the Westand Iran

diplomacy-not-bombsflag-IranU.S. deserves ‘benefit of the doubt’ on getting Iran nuclear deal, Kerry says BY WILL DUNHAM AND DIANE BARTZ WASHINGTON Sun Mar 1, 2015 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed the case on Sunday for completing nuclear diplomacy with Iran despite Israeli opposition, saying the United States deserves the benefit of the doubt on getting a deal that would prevent any need for military action to curb Tehran’s atomic ambitions.

Two days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to address the U.S. Congress to warn against an Iran deal, Kerry delivered a stout defense of talks that are entering a critical phase with a key March 31 deadline looming.

Kerry said he hoped Netanyahu’s speech does not turn into “some great political football” but said the Israeli leader is “welcome to speak in the United States, obviously.”

Six powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – are negotiating with Iran toward an agreement to restrain Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing economic sanctions. Netanyahu has spoken scathingly about a possible deal and says a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to the Jewish state.

Netanyahu was invited to speak by Republican congressional leaders, but they did not inform President Barack Obama’s administration about the speech in advance. Signs are growing that the speech could damage Israel’s country’s broad alliance with the United States.

In an interview with the ABC program “This Week,” Kerry said of the Iran negotiations: “It is better to do this by diplomacy than to have to do a strategy militarily which you would have to repeat over and over again and which everybody believes ought to be after you have exhausted all the diplomatic remedies.”

Kerry said he could not promise that a deal can be reached, but said that “we are going to test whether or not diplomacy can prevent this weapon from being created.”…..http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/01/us-usa-israel-kerry-idUSKBN0LX1HJ20150301

March 1, 2015 Posted by | Iran, Israel, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

March 14 in Taiwan – anti nuclear marches in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan

Protest-No!flag-TaiwanAnti-nuclear protest march scheduled for March 14 Central News Agency By Zoe Wei and Evelyn Kao
2015-03-01 Taipei,  A national anti-nuclear alliance calling for energy reforms is set to hold a protest march around Taiwan on March 14 to mark the fourth anniversary of Japan‘s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Stop Nukes Now , formed by 126 anti-nuclear organizations, announced that the march will take place simultaneously in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan to convey people’s hope for the government to abolish nuclear power and reform Taiwan’s energy network.
The protest is aimed at expressing opposition to extend the life of Taiwan’s existing nuclear power plants — which are scheduled to be decommissioned between 2018 and 2025 — and call for the start of an energy revolution.
The march in Taipei will start from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, proceed along Zhongshan South Road, Gongyuan Road, Zhongxiao West Road and Chongqing South Road before returning to the boulevard where an evening gathering will be held. Taiwan currently generates nearly 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power at three plants around Taiwan, but opposition to nuclear energy grew sharply after reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant melted down following a massive earthquake and tsunami.
That opposition was galvanized as the government prepared to put a fourth nuclear power plant in northeastern Taiwan into service, and tens of thousands of people protested against the plant in a rally organized by the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and 150 civilian groups in March 2013. A nationwide nuclear abolition march was again held on March 8, 2014. Lin Yi-hsiung (???), former chairman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, also began a hunger strike at around that time calling for the fourth nuclear power plant project to be terminated. The government was eventually forced to stop work on the plant and its two reactors, which was close to completion.

March 1, 2015 Posted by | ACTION, opposition to nuclear, Taiwan | Leave a comment

Energy efficiency, LED light bulbs -all help to replace Japan’s nuclear electricity

energy-efficiency-manflag-japanHumble light bulb helps Japan fill nuclear gap New Zealand Herald, 27 Feb 15  Japan’s push to keep power flowing after it shuttered its nuclear program may best be illustrated by 73 million light bulbs.

That’s the number of LED bulbs sold in Japan since the start of 2012, representing about 30 per cent of all bulbs sold there. The LEDs, which consume a fifth of the energy used by standard lights, are key to the country’s strategy to make energy use more efficient, even as it pursues alternative sources such as solar power.

Four years after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown spurred the closure of Japan’s many reactors, knocking out 30 per cent of Japan’s power supply, the drive to reduce energy consumption has sparked a national campaign that includes everything from improved insulation for homes to train stations powered by the braking of subway cars and vending machines that recycle waste heat and generate power with solar panels on top.

“There’s no doubt Japan has some of the most advanced technologies in energy saving,” said Takumi Fujinami, a senior researcher at the Japan Research Institute. “And there is still room for saving energy dramatically.”……

Hiroshi Amano, who shared last year’s Nobel Prize for physics, sees LEDs playing an even bigger role. Japan could cut annual electric spending by as much as 1 trillion yen (US$8.4 billion) within five years by using more LEDs, according to Amano, one of three Japan-born scientists who were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2014 for their work developing LEDs…..

Energy alternatives

Japan is pursuing a variety of alternatives after shuttering its nuclear plants for safety checks, pulling 47 gigawatts of capacity from the grid. Subsidies for solar power, which are triple what Germany offers, have made Japan the biggest market for the technology in the world behind China. The country may install as much as 12 gigawatts of solar panels this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The options run from old standbys such as making sure homes are insulated to ideas that offer a unique take on how to keep consumption under control.

The government has set a goal for all new public buildings and homes to be net zero energy by 2030, meaning they use only as much energy as they can produce from renewable sources and other generation systems on site. Currently, about 40 per cent of existing homes have no insulation, according to a December task force report.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Electric said in September that a system installed at a Tokyo subway station to harvest energy generated by braking subway cars saved enough to run 60 homes. The power is being used for station lighting, air conditioning and elevators, the company said…..

Efforts paying off

All of these efforts are apparently paying off, according to a task force on power demand for the trade ministry.

Power used by the nation’s nine regional utilities fell by 10 terawatt-hours in July and August thanks to conservation measures, compared with the same period before the Fukushima disaster, the task force found. Overall for the fiscal year ending March 31, consumption fell in eight of the first nine months, with declines ranging from 1 per cent to 8 per cent.

Results from the consumption campaign are also being felt within the industrial community……..http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11408970

March 1, 2015 Posted by | ENERGY | Leave a comment

Nuclear lobby hype shows that the industry is desperate

The nuclear industry’s sense of desperation is palpable. Activists need to understand what the industry obviously knows: it’s in serious trouble. This is our time to really join together, ramp  up our efforts, and kick more of these reactors over the edge; they’re already teetering. They’re dangerous, they can’t provide cost-effective electricity, they don’t have a solution to their radioactive waste and they exist now only because they were built decades ago and the utilities want to milk them for everything they can before they surrender to the inevitable and have to begin spending huge sums of money again–but this time it won’t be to build new reactors, it will be to decommission their dinosaurs. 

news-nukeYou know the nuclear industry is desperate when… Michael Mariotte Greenworld  April 1, 2014 You know the nuclear power industry is getting desperate when it solicits its CEOs to start piling on ghost-written op-eds in publications chosen for their reach to key audiences. And you know the industry is really desperate when it brings out big guns like a couple of paid-for former U.S. Senators to support nuclear power in The Hill newspaper, which, as its name implies, is aimed at current legislators. And you know the industry is super desperate when it pulls out none other than Rudy Giuliani, who continues stuffing his wallet with nuclear-powered green. Continue reading →

March 1, 2015 Posted by | media, USA | 1 Comment

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trying to undermine Iran nuclear talks?

Iran’s Zarif says Netanyahu trying to undermine nuclear talks DUBAI Sun Mar 1, 2015  (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign minister has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to undermine Iran’s negotiations towards a nuclear deal with world powers in order to distract from the Palestinian question.

Netanyahu is due to speak against a potential nuclear deal between Iran and the United States before U.S. Congress on Tuesday. His planned appearance, on invitation from the Republicans, has angered U.S. officials for its partisan nature and is likely to worsen his already frosty relations with President Barack Obama as well as undermine the wider U.S.-Israel alliance…….http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/01/us-iran-nuclear-zarif-idUSKBN0LX1IJ20150301

March 1, 2015 Posted by | Iran, Israel, politics international | Leave a comment

European Union’s post-Fukushima Nuclear Safety Framework

safety-symbol-Smflag-EUThe Nuclear Safety Framework in the European Union after Fukushima, EU Bulletin 
Written by European Values | Friday, February 27th, 2015 Franklin Dehousse and Didier Verhoeven (EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations) “…….Even though the nuclear energy has already been in decline in many EU countries before 2011, it was the Fukushima accident that substantially contributed to Germany’s and Belgium’s decisions to abandon nuclear energy entirely, Italy’s decision to cancel the restart of its own nuclear energy program, and France’s decision to gradually decrease the share of nuclear energy in its overall electricity production. The trend to reduce the nuclear plants’ share of electricity supply will probably continue within the Union in the following years. This will happen not only because of the very fact that most of the nuclear reactors are 20 years and older and with only four new ones currently being built, but also because of the boom of renewable sources and the EU’s effort to reduce its energy dependency on Russia…..

The Fukushima accident has…. raised doubts about the hitherto widely recognized assumption that the states’ efforts to ensure their own nuclear security are stronger than any form of international control.

Nevertheless, the EU directive of 2009, which enforced important restrictions, caused wide resentment and thus was replaced by a new directive in 2014, which dropped some of the substantial restrictions. The initial directive introduced common security standards and provided a legal framework for the foundation of a common security body which would associate inspectors with the right to control the implementation of these standards. The new directive, on the other hand, strengthens the security principles without implementing common standards, while seeking to ensure the increasing independence of national regulators and improve the control mechanisms.

(The study can be downloaded here) http://eubulletin.com/4144-the-nuclear-safety-framework-in-the-european-union-after-fukushima.html

March 1, 2015 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear deal could work well for both Iran and the West

flag-IranFlag-USAWin-win nuclear deal for Rowhani and Obama, Al Arabiya News Friday, 27 February 2015 Iran and the six world powers (known as the P5+1: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China) are planning to meet next Monday to finalize the outline for the final accord. The prolonged nuclear negotiations between the two sides resumed last week in Geneva in order to limit Iran’s nuclear program.

The Islamic Republic has added Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and former foreign minister under the hardline government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Respectively, the United States has brought Ernest J. Moniz, the U.S. energy secretary, to the nuclear negotiations.

The addition of Moniz and Salehi, and the high-level official meetings, reflect the critical stage of the nuclear talks as well as the efforts of both the American and Iranian government to reach a general outline that would preserve their geopolitical, national, and strategic interests……..http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2015/02/27/Win-win-nuclear-deal-for-Rowhani-and-Obama.html

March 1, 2015 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Petition: ABOLISH ALL NUCLEAR FISSIONING APPLICATIONS ASAP!

sign-thisReasons Why We Should Abolish All Nuclear Fissioning Applications  https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Reasons_Why_We_Should_Abolish_All_Nuclear_Fissioning_Applications/?agidTib

Why this is important

“Uranium is the raw material of a power-elite who has taken Mother Earth’s every living creature hostage.”
The Late Petra Kelly, Founder of the Green Party

We should not be building or refurbishing any more nuclear reactors for the following reasons:

Nuclear waste is the only product of all nuclear reactors.

Nuclear waste is destructive of all living things.

The Nuclear industry does not know how to undo the nuclear waste they produce.

Nuclear waste lasts virtually forever and will also require management for as long as it lasts.

Nuclear waste cannot be buried and forgotten. It will destroy any material containment. It will require perpetual management.
The Nuclear waste stored at Fukushima has gone critical and defies all efforts to contain and manage it. It continues to be released into our biosphere now and is poisoning every living thing it encounters.
Nuclear warheads are fashioned from the nuclear waste produced in nuclear reactors.
Greed for profit is the main motive that drives the nuclear industry.

March 1, 2015 Posted by | ACTION | 1 Comment

Greenpeace targeted for surveillance

Spy Cables: Greenpeace Among Intelligence Targets” http://www.sej.org/headlines/spy-cables-greenpeace-among-intelligence-targets

“Secret documents leaked to Al Jazeera reveal a routine practice among intelligence agencies to seek the cooperation of their peers in other countries to curb political dissent.

The Spy Cables reveal a torrent of politicised requests to South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA) for information on “rogue NGOs”, politicians and exiled groups from intelligence agencies around the world – many of them declined as inappropriate by the South Africans. They include … an application from South Korea for a “specific security assessment” of Greenpeace Director Kumi Naidoo, a South African citizen.”

Rahul Radhakrishnan and Will Jordan report for Aljazeera February 24, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

“Spy Cables: Greenpeace’s Kumi Naidoo Targeted by Intelligence Agencies as ‘Security’ Threat” (Democracy Now!)

March 1, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Hype about Fukushima nuclear disaster “recovery” is wearing thin

Veneer Peels Off Fukushima Disaster, Simply Info February 26th, 2015 The carefully crafted veneer of recovery from the Fukushima nuclear disaster by the government is peeling in many ways. Protesters who have been camped out in front of the METI agency office since 2011 were told by a court to pay about $240,000 for their protest. The encampment has been a thorn in the side of the agency who was without a way to disperse the group of protesters and no interest in hearing their grievances……..

Little mentioned in the Japanese press as  UK’s Prince William is touring select parts of Japan, is the protest of nuclear evacuees. Many accuse the tour as a stunt by PM Abe to try to create PR to help his effort to restart nuclear reactors in Japan. The tour appears to be a series of carefully crafted photo ops for the government while ignoring the reality for many in the region……….http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=14507

March 1, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

A Canadian plea for ethical government, media integrity and true science

see-no-evilflag-canadaNot In Our Name, Kickstarter 1 March 15  by Chris Hill A film telling how a nation went to war against its own veterans and scientists, and kept its head in the tar sands on climate change.

About this project How many wrong decisions can one nation endure? Every
week there’s a new story that shows a shocking lack in judgment or ethics on the part of the government. It’s open season on the environment, on science, on the rights of veterans, and it shames us all.

Media in disarray  Cuts to investigative journalism by most media outlets (including Canada’s CBC, which has been decimated by recent government funding cuts) are allowing many stories to remain under-covered, or untold altogether.

Media consolidation has meant there are fewer voices reporting, with ever-tightening restrictions on what they can say. This is a critical threat to democracy, and it’s the principal motivation for this film. Independent voices must pick up the slack.

Science Abandoned The Canadian tradition of being at the forefront of scientific research and innovation, critical to the nation’s prosperity, has been all but abandoned. The Harper government has pulled the plug on any science that doesn’t conform to its specific oil and gas agenda, and it has effectively muzzled scientists by forbidding them from speaking out to the press.

Critical programs that monitored the melting arctic, smoke stack emissions, food inspections, water quality, oil spills and climate change have been systematically dismantled.

Hundreds of the world’s scientists have written an open letter to the Harper government, voicing concerns over the inability to conduct basic research environmental and health issues, and other areas of science that should contribute to the public good.

It is a frivolous waste of taxpayers’ dollars to fund research only to have it repressed, causing decisions to be made without adequate data and information. This puts our citizens at risk, as it leaves us flying blind amid the dangers of increasing pollution and climate change.and other environmental hazards.

Our tradition of scientific prowess and innovation has been flushed down the toilet because of what scientific research is revealing — the effects of our own country’s destructive policies……..

“Not in Our Name”: the film

“Not in Our Name” (NION) will explore the axis of Industry, Media, and Government, which prioritizes corporate interests over the people’s. The film will show how similar tactics are being employed in the US, Britain, Australia…leaders administering the instructions of the multinational corporations who bought them. They count the profits while we, society and the environment count the cost.

If we don’t vigorously confront their stranglehold on our governments, we will have forever crossed the Rubicon, and there will be no turning back. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1916096034/not-in-our-name

March 1, 2015 Posted by | Canada, media | Leave a comment

Podcast: Nuclear Radiation and Geo-engineering: Two Threats to Life on Earth

Podcast:  Nuclear Radiation and Geo-engineering: Two Threats to Life on Earth http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/nuclear-radiation-and-geo-engineering-two-threats-to-life-on-earth/

January 18, 2015 We have the risk of another Fukushima at any given nuclear power plant that’s past its prime, which is all of them in the United States.” —Mimi German

“I believe mathematically it’s inarguable that the greatest single all-out assault on the biosphere is global climate engineering.” —Dane Wigington

LISTEN TO THE SHOW :

Clear and Present Danger 

We’ve heard about Anthropogenic (human-generated) Climate Change, and less frequently the threat of a nuclear war between rival super powers as the biggest threats facing humanity and life on this planet.

There are however less talked about dangers which are just as pressing and demanding of attention. Seldom are these perils confronted in any serious way.

The first of these, that will be explored in this week’s Global Research News Hour radio programme, is the threat posed by nuclear radiation from the nuclear industry…….

March 1, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Temporary shutdown of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant

Iran shuts down Bushehr nuclear plant Iran says it has shut down its Bushehr nuclear power plant based on a previously arranged schedule., 1 Mar 15 

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has been quoted by IRNA state news agency as announcing that Bushehr plant will remain shut down for two months.

AEOI has announced that this is meant to refuel the 1,000-megawatts power plant and prepare it to satisfy Iran’s electricity consumption for the peak period of next summer. …..http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/03/01/399735/Iran-shuts-down-Bushehr-nuclear-plant

March 1, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

The present state of play of the Nuclear Free Movement

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

Nuclear weapons. The focus has been on this issue throughout February. This weekend, experts in studying nuclear weapons and war have been gathering in New York at the Symposium: The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction. It’s streaming live – and podcasts, transcripts and a book will later be available.

This week – Lots of (not very good) news on nuclear weaponry and war risks, e.g USA law-makers wanting to spend $577 billion on defense, China, Russia, India ramping up their nuclear weaponry.  North Korea, too.

This month, the focus on http://www.nuclear-news.net, (and on http://www.antinuclear.net) will be on the growing movement for a clean nuclear-free planet.  At the same time, a global revolution is happening at extraordinary speed – the change from “top-down”  “vertically integrated” systems to “small scale or “horizontal” systems.  Some business examples – Airbnb, Taskrabbit, Uber,  They work through the “digital ecosystem” . Political examples – extreme religious activist groups. So it’s not all good. But most of it is good– based on trust between individuals, building “reputational capital” between strangers with a common vision.

The nuclear lobby has no grasp of this 21st Century transition.

Even the current nuclear PR for Small Modular Reactors is based on huge  centrally organised, government funded, mass purchase and mass distribution – imposed from above.  Compare that with the millions of homes and small businesses and institutions where individuals made the choice for solar energy – it was not imposed by government.

The clean planet movement is happening at the local level, most often led by indigenous people   – and they are linking up globally.  The new digital ecosytem has opened  the way for millions of people to work together for a healthy nuclear-free planet.

March 1, 2015 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment