Nuclear Orwellian Doublespeak
New Protection Action Guidelines Will Leave You Chilled to the Bone, Nuclear World, Marti LeRoux 26 Dec 15, In Dr. Bertell’s 1986 speech, she candidly describes the two tactics that she used to report radiological incidents and the release of radionuclides into the environment.
“It’s become even worse of late because in order to impress the public with how insignificant the exposures are, there seem to be two tactics. One tactic is to make the numbers small. So if you’ve been in the business of reporting radiation exposure or accidents for awhile, you’ll remember that it used to be in terms of maybe eighty millirem at Three Mile Island, or a hundred millirem as background radiation, or 5,000 millirem permitted to workers per year. It’s now changed so that instead of eighty millirem it would be eight-tenths of a millisievert. Eight-tenths is a littler number. Instead of workers getting 5,000 millirems per year they now get fifty millisieverts. So they changed the unit to make it a hundred times bigger which makes the numbers a hundred times smaller. So that’s one tactic.
The other tactic is to give everything in percent so that you’re told `well, there’s a little bit of iodine 131 in your milk, but it’s O.K., it’s only a small percentage of the permissible level.’ Now you’re not really told where that permissible level came from, or who said you could have radioactive material in your milk and it was O.K. But to even express it as a small percentage of a permissible level is very deceptive because those permissible levels are extraordinarily high.”
Since this speech was given, there have been many more radiation disasters in the US and abroad, most notably, Fukushima. Recently, the White House dramatically raised “permissible” levels of radiation in our drinking water and soil. This was done without any input or discussion from you or me. By raising permissible levels the administration seeks to create a “new normal” for our radiation exposure.
It’s a huge win for the nuclear industry because it allows them to legally say that everything is within “permissible levels.” However, the permissible levels “allowed” by the White House is equivalent to Orwellian doublespeak.
Doublespeak deliberately cloaks words in order to distort, disguise or reverse the true meaning of words. It’s a very insidious form of manipulation and a subtle form of brainwashing that is unrelentingly used on the American public in many different ways, but especially so by mass media. Doublespeak is employed in order to make nuclear’s version of the “truth” sound palatable. It’s intentionally designed to create ambiguity and confusion.
What politicians and nuclear lobbyists have determined to be “permissible” is in fact unacceptable, but has the US mainstream media bothered to report it? Of course not.
It turns out that major mainstream media outlets in the US are owned by the very same corporations that own nuclear power plants. Talk about conflict of interest!
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established new radiation guidelines called Protective Action Guides or PAGs. Tragically, these newly established PAGs are extremely negligent and that’s putting it mildly. PAGs have provisions that cover evacuation, shelter, food restrictions and a host of other actions that governmental agencies are permitted to use following a wide range of “radiological emergencies.”
New Protective Guidelines Only Protect the Nuclear Industry
Orwellian doublespeak abounds when dealing with the nuclear agenda. Take the name Protective Action Guidelines (PAG) for example, these new PAGS have very little to do with actually protecting us. They have more to do with protecting the established nuclear industry. Additionally, very little action is involved, if any. I believe it is safe to say that next to no action is involved when it comes to cleaning up nuclear contamination.
Cancer rates, infertility and genetic mutations will be the order of the day, as very little action will be required for governmental agencies to step in and clean up nuclear contamination because these “protective” guidelines are so lax as to be almost useless. I would even go so far as to say they are laughable, but that would not be showing respect to the generations that will suffer as a direct result of the White House’s refusal to take their responsibility seriously.
Is it any wonder that we hear nary a word spoken against nuclear in the US mainstream media? That’s no coincidence because GE, the company that brought you Fukushima also owns, NBC, CNBS, USA Network, A&E, The History Channel, Bravo, SYFY, Lifetime, and The Biography Channel (just to name a few). ……….http://www.nuclearworld.net/pag/
The dangerous deception of ‘nuclear safety’ – Limerick Nuclear Plant
Nuclear safety a ‘dangerous deception’ http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/MP/20151226/NEWS/151229801— Dr. Lewis Cuthbert ACE President 12/26/15,
It is dangerous deception to suggest safety is first for Limerick Nuclear Plant (Mercury, Nov. 18). No emergency plan or drill can make Limerick safe.
A body of evidence shows why “safety first” is not Exelon’s policy for Limerick Nuclear Plant.
Examples:
1. Without continuous high-intensity flashing lights (day and night), Limerick’s cooling towers are considered a height safety hazard by FAA.
• Any structure over 200 feet is a safety hazard. Limerick’s cooling towers are 507 feet high, • A structure less than three miles from a public-access airport must be marked. Limerick’s Heritage Airport is about one mile from Limerick’s cooling towers.
Exelon, an electric company, should have no difficulty immediately restoring lights on Limerick’s cooling towers, yet Exelon failed to do that.
Safety first? Hardly! The fact is, lights onoth cooling towers remained out for at least 24 days, despite increased air traffic over the holidays and occasional dense fog (reported Dec. 2). Even worse:
• Unit 2 cooling tower lights were left out for over six months. May 2015 residents informed NRC, yet it was December before Exelon restored Unit 2 lights.
• November 9 Exelon reported that Unit 1 cooling tower lights went out too. Unit 1 lights will remain out until spring 2016 (Mercury Dec. 10).
The only reason Limerick’s cooling tower height safety hazard designation was waived in the first place during construction was the promise that Limerick’s cooling towers would have continuous flashing lights. Now, they remain out for as long as six months at a time because Exelon, an electric company, won’t fix them immediately. This is reckless negligence!
2. Four Years after Fukushima, Limerick’s Fukushima-like reactors are no safer.
• Exelon is making a mockery of NRCs 2012 Post-Fukushima Safety Recommendations to minimize meltdowns risks at Limerick Nuclear Plant. Exelon is using dangerous delay tactics to avoid costs for minimizing catastrophic meltdowns risks. NRC negligently lets them get away with it.
• Despite requesting compliance without delay in 2012, NRC’s 2015 reports show that Exelon’s “PLANS” for compliance aren’t even complete.
Some important Limerick safety compliance issues have been delayed until 2019, despite dramatically increasing meltdown risks at Limerick. Examples of dangerous delays to avoid and/or eliminate Exelon’s costs:
• Vent installations – to avoid hydrogen explosions. In 2015, Exelon still has no workable plan.
• No filters for vents – to minimize radiation releases after meltdowns. Exelon refused to install filters, despite NRC staff stating, “Vents without filters become radioactive hoses into the sky. Vents are vital, regardless of costs to the industry.”
• Spent fuel pool instrumentation – still not installed, despite risk of fuel pool meltdowns.
• Emergency equipment still not guaranteed to be deployable – during earthquakes and tornadoes. Despite stronger and more frequent threats at Limerick, Exelon’s timeline to finalize procedures and designs remains open. Despite earthquake fault fractures under Limerick’s reactors, fuel pools, control room, turbine building, and rad-waste building, Exelon is planning to delay its self-serving seismic “study” for Limerick until 2019.
3. Exelon makes no effort to reduce public exposure to limerick’s routine and accidental radiation releases or cooling tower pollution.
Despite documented cancer rates far higher than the national and state average, especially in children, Exelon failed to:
• Filter routine radioactive discharges into the Schuylkill River, a vital drinking water resource.
• Notify the public until 23 days after the March 19, 2012 radioactive spill into the river.
• Stop using high-burn fuel (up to 30 percent more radioactive gas releases).
• Filter massive, toxic cooling tower pollution.
• Clean up water and soil from Limerick’s radioactive spills.
It’s far too dangerous for Exelon to avoid costs for Limerick’s safety. That further jeopardizes our health, safety, and financial interests. If safety was actually first, Limerick would close now. Agree? E-mail aceactivists@comcast.net.
Fukushima fallout radiation to USA coast
CSS Health Report: Fukushima Radiation Will Prematurely Kill Millions of Americans, Investment Watch, December 23rd, 2015 by Dave Hodges http://www.naturalnews.com/052291_Fukushima_California_radiation.htm l(NaturalNews) Government data shows that the U.S. is being bombarded with Fukushima radiation 1,000 times higher than normal.
In the months following the 2011 meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, residents of Los Angeles were being exposed to levels of dangerous alpha radiation nearly 1,000 times above normal levels, a government study found.
The data came from a July 2012 presentation at the National Conference on Radiation Control. The presentation was given by Joji Ortego, Principal Radiation Protection Specialist for Los Angeles County Radiation Management.
Following the Fukushima meltdowns, Los Angeles county heard many concerns from residents about the potential health impacts of radiation crossing the Pacific Ocean from the disaster. So they commissioned a study of radiation levels in the area. The report notes that federal agencies delayed in providing information to the county, and that the state Radiologic Health Branch was unable to provide inspectors due to budget constraints…….
Radiation levels exceed federal thresholds
Samples were taken between April 29 and May 2, 2011, approximately seven weeks after the radioactive releases from Fukushima. The county found that gross alpha radiation levels at a location in Los Angeles were 300 femtocuries per cubic meter (fCi/m3), and levels at a Hacienda Heights location were 200 fCi/m3.
For context, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reports the average (annual median) level of gross alpha activity for the state of California as just 0.38 fCi/m3 – that is, 790 times lower.
The levels detected in Los Angeles County were a full 100 times higher than the level that requires an investigation at a U.S. nuclear laboratory, according to the Environmental Monitoring Plan at Brookhaven National Laboratory: “If the gross alpha activity in the [air] filters is greater than 3 fCi/m3, then collect more samples in the vicinity, and project manager will review all detections above the limits … All values greater than the above-stated gross alpha/beta concentration shall trigger an investigation.”
Finally, the Los Angeles County levels were almost 15 times higher than the federal regulatory limit for alpha radiation, which is 21 fCi/m3, according to a 2010 document from Idaho National Laboratory.
Even worse than it sounds
What do all these numbers mean for human and environmental health?
Alpha radiation is one of four major types of radiation emitted by radioactive atoms. It is also referred to as “alpha particles,” or a “Helium nucleus.” Other types of radiation are beta radiation, gamma radiation and neutrons.
Of alpha, beta and gamma radiation, alpha radiation is by far the most dangerous if found inside the human body. That’s because unlike beta or gamma radiation, alpha radiation is easily absorbed by cells, where it can cause serious damage, including to DNA. Alpha particles can enter the body if they contaminate food or water, or if they are breathed in – hence the concern among both nuclear laboratories and Los Angeles county about airborne levels of alpha radiation.
The alpha radiation detected from the Fukushima disaster most likely comes from plutonium 239, which is produced as a byproduct in many nuclear reactors. No alpha radiation, however, is emitted by cesium-137, which is probably the most prolific isotope emitted by Fukushima that is still circulating in the environment (iodine-131, also emitted in large quantities, has a very short half life and has probably mostly vanished from the environment by now).
But whereas the beta and gamma radiation emitted by radioactive cesium may not be as dangerous from within the body, it is actually far more dangerous if found outside the body – for example, in the contaminated water and soil around the Fukushima plant, or the contaminated water being dumped into the Pacific Ocean. That’s because beta and gamma radiation is far more able to penetrate the body’s external defenses, and tear apart cells and DNA as it passes through.
More links to cancer from Fukushima fallout.
Obscure law entitles Prince Charles to legally set off a nuclear bomb,
The title of Duke of Cornwall excludes the prince from punishment from a number of laws, including the Nuclear Explosions Act, the Data Protection Act and the Wildlife and Countryside Act……..http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/obscure-law-lets-prince-charles-set-off-nuclear-bomb-a6787626.html Shehab Khan @shehabkhan
December 27 Energy News
Opinion:
¶ Climate talks, climate action • It is no secret that in a rural state like Vermont, transportation is the biggest contributor of global warming pollution. Vermont joined eleven other countries, states and provinces to announce new efforts to put more zero-emission vehicles on the road. [BurlingtonFreePress.com]
Activists in white bear costumes during the COP21 Conference. (Photo: Matt Dunham/AP)
¶ Why the freakishly warm December? • In Central Park, the daytime high on Christmas Eve was 71 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s 8 degrees over the previous record for the day. The big El Niño currently in place is very likely one significant factor. Human-induced climate change is most likely another. [CNN]
¶ US uses more energy on Christmas lights than some nations do all year • Overall, the amount of electricity used to power Christmas lights in the US each year is pretty minimal, just 6.6…
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The Ongoing Saga 65: News, Updates, Tidbits & Trivia
Most recent updates are on top, after images-intro commentary, so that routine readers will not have to scroll-down far. Time is UTC-GMT. Updates as frequently as possible. This is a continuation of: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/the-ongoing-saga-64-news-updates-tidbits-trivia/
Less Than One Week Left! Past Time to Shut it Down! 70 Years is Enough Already! 
We live on borrowed time. Let’s shut the nuclear industry down now! Hurry Up! There is less than one week left to do it this year. 70 years is enough! It’s already too much! If we extend to traditional Japanese, current Chinese, New Year then there is until Feb 8th…still not much time!
Just As Above Ground Nuclear Testing was Stopped, So Too Must Leaking of Radionuclides from the Nuclear Fuel Chain Be Stopped.
1963 JFK signs Atmospheric Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
“The number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood, or with…
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MOX (Plutonium) Fuel Facility Construction Fraud Indictment: $4 million in Undelivered Goods
From the US DOJ:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Two Men Charged With Wire Fraud
Contact Person: Beth Drake (803) 929-3000
Columbia, South Carolina—- United States Attorney Bill Nettles announced the indictment of Aaron Vennefron of Hamilton, Ohio and Phillip Thompson of Augusta, Georgia for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and theft of government funds. The indictment alleges that the two conspired to defraud the government by creating fraudulent invoices for payment of what appeared to be goods needed for work at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savanah River Sight. The indictment further alleges that no goods were ever received and that Vennefron and Thompson received over $4,000,000.00 in payments based on the fraudulent invoices.
The case was investigated by Special Agents with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John Potterfield is…
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December 26 Energy News
Opinion:
¶ Fossil fuels are all but finished: Renewable energies are the future, whether the GOP acknowledges it or not • 2015 can be viewed as the year in which an epochal transition in energy took off. With renewables making significant strides, the beginning of the end of the Fossil Fuel Era has come into sight. [Salon]
All but finished. Shutterstock
¶ Bigger than Keystone – Lawmakers need to take up the cause of the Grain Belt transmission project • Build the Grain Belt Express! That should be the new rallying cry for members of Congress from Kansas and the message from Kansas lawmakers to their counterparts in neighboring Missouri. [Hutchinson News]
Book Review:
¶ Book Review by Ralph Nader • In January of 2016, David Freeman and Leah Y Parks will publish an important book about energy and climate change: All-Electric America: A Climate Solution…
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Water Shortages-Earthquakes Pose Risks to Bangladesh’s First Nuclear Power Station
From TheThirdPole.net:
“Water shortages pose risks to Bangladesh’s first nuclear plant
Water shortages could jeopardize the operation and safety of Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant being built on the Padma River
By Rafiqul Islam, June 5, 2015
Bangladesh hopes the 2,000 MW Rooppur nuclear power plant on the Padma River will satisfy the country’s growing electricity demand and cut its heavy dependence on waning reserves of natural gas.
But there are growing concerns the dwindling flow of water in Padma River – a distributary of the Ganga which flows from India – will post huge risks to the operation of the nuclear plant which will require huge amounts of water for cooling.
The Bangladesh government signed an agreement with Russia in 2011 to build a nuclear power plant on the banks of Padma River in Pabna district.
Under the agreement between the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and Russian state-owned…
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December 25 Energy News
Opinion:
¶ Africa’s Cities of Tomorrow Won’t Need Power Stations • Despite renewable energy reducing power cuts by half in South Africa, the government is adamant about its nuclear power program. But successful businessmen are talking about cities that generate their own power. [CNBCAfrica.com]
Every three days a wind turbine is being installed in South Africa. Photo: Wikipedia
¶ Our Energy Transformation in 2015 • Like 1973, the year 2015 marked a decisive shift in the world’s energy economy. 2015 saw what may be profound shifts, even turning points, in the energy sector. The price of oil tanked. Fossil fuels are barely growing, while renewables expand. [MIT Technology Review]
¶ WOW! UK power stations slash CO2 emissions 23% in just two years • There have been lots of interesting energy-related headlines coming out of Britain recently: Renewables beat coal for an entire quarter, Britain pledged to…
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Did Russia Nuke Santa and his Reindeer? The Arctic Still Endangered by Lethal Radionuclides
“The Arctic Circle cuts right through Santa Claus Village. A white line denoting the Arctic Circle (at its position in 1865) is painted across the park. Visitors officially enter the Arctic area when they cross the line.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Village
Tsar Bomba and Santa Claus Village Locations Exported from Wikipedia. Tsar Bomba site is on Novaya Zemlya. The third location is the site of Russia’s new radioactive waste processing facility.
Around 18 above ground nuclear weapons were tested in Novaya Zemlya from September 1st 1961, when Russia first broke the moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, until Tsar Bomba was exploded on October 30, 1961. Many others were tested in Kazakhstan: “Over its history as a nuclear test site, Novaya Zemlya hosted 224 nuclear detonations with a total explosive energy equivalent to 265 megatons of TNT. For comparison, all explosives used in World War II, including the detonations of two…
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NORAD Tracks Santa & His Radioactive Reindeer for 60 Years, Incoming Air and Maritime Attacks to North America, but Not Radiation Plumes?
DoD/NORAD 151202-D-ZZ999-100.JPG
A 2015 graphic commemorates the 60th anniversary of the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s work tracking Santa’s Yuletide journey. NORAD graphichttp://www.defense.gov/Media/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2001321906
What is NORAD? While it is North American Aerospace Defense Command the name appears chosen to emphasize its role in protecting against nuclear weapons attack during the Cold War:
“The North American Aerospace Defense Command conducts aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning in the defense of North America.” http://www.norad.mil/AboutNORAD.aspx
Nordic Reindeer remain highly contaminated from above ground nuclear weapons testing, especially Soviet weapons testing, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident.
If Santa weren’t given a free pass into airspace could the radioactive reindeer set off false alarms? Is this why the US FDA raised the US radiation in food limit to be 15 times higher than that allowed for the Japanese? Will Santa fly into Japanese airspace? Reindeer are particularly at risk from nuclear…
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Insanity Rules: Japan Court Overturns Safety Injunction-Allows KEPCO Takahama Nuclear Restart
Not only the Japanese, but Americans and other members of the nuclear suicide pact called “Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage” or CSC, should be alarmed at about this imminent nuclear restart, especially since they will have to pay for future Japanese Nuclear disasters, as taxpayers and/or ratepayers. The CSC by making a corporate liability pool, paid only after an accident, encourages the selling of defective nuclear equipment, by its design. It apparently allows the selling of defective components by non-member countries, such as France and Russia, with no liability at all. Since it is based on installed nuclear capacity, the US and Japan will pay most of the CSC cost, including for any French and Russian defects leading to disaster in member countries. France and Russia’s State owned companies (Areva, EDF, Rosatom) will gleefully count their money, all while their State owned media blame the woes…
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Japan Nuclear Plant Accidents-Falsifications: TEPCO-KEPCO Before Fukushima
From Greenpeace.org:
“Accident at Japan nuclear plant
Feature story – 9 August, 2004
A fatal accident has killed at least four people at the Mihama nuclear power plant in Japan. There was no leak of radioactivity but it is the deadliest accident in a catalogue of nuclear scandals in Japan.
Fishermen in front of the Mihama nuclear plant after the 1991 accident at the plant. Now a second accident has claimed the live of at least four workers. Alternative energy sources like wind and solar would have avoided this pollution and death.
Seven workers were also injured due to the steam leak, possibly caused by a lack of cooling water in the reactor. This latest accident follows the explosion at Tokaimura plant in 1999, where workers mixed radioactive material in a bucket, causing a reaction that killed two workers, injured several more and irradiated hundreds of civilians. In 1997…
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New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
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