The American election: nuclear and climate issues -theme for October 2020

The coronavirus epidemic is right now the central human and ecological issue. I am leaving that one, for other sites to cover.

The nuclear industry has always been the focus of this website. For this coming election, it’s a sorry tale of woe. The Democrats managed to reject their most popular candidates – Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, who opposed the nuclear industry . The Democrats now orchestrated themselves now into some sort of weaker Republican-type party. So, no surprise that Joe Biden is pretty much the same as Donald Trump on nuclear power.

We do see significant differences on foreign policy and nuclear weapons control, with Biden showing understanding of these issues, while Trump reveals his typical ignorance and marketing slogan nonsense.

If only the media would probe them on matters nuclear, instead of highlighting trivialities like their latest gaffes.

On global heating, there is a difference. Donald Trump manages to ignore climate change, and use the horrific bushfires to attack the States on “forest management” (never mind that federal forests are largely involved). Importantly, he has pulled America out of the Paris international climate accord.

In his first term, Trump has blocked, weakened, or rolled back 100 environmental, public health, and worker safety regulations. Among them are virtually all the steps Obama took to address climate change, from the Clean Power Plan for the electricity sector to tighter fuel economy standards for transportation, emissions standards on methane for oil and gas operations, efforts to integrate a “social cost of carbon” for agency decision-making, reform of fossil fuel leasing on public land, and energy efficiency standards on light bulbs. – David Roberts, writing in VOX .

Joe Biden plans to recommit to the Paris Accord and ensure that the US achieves a 100% clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions by 2050. Biden has also promised a halt to fossil fuel subsidies. Recently Biden has made a lot of noise about climate change, mainly in attacking Trump. Methinks that Biden’s enthusiasm is rather recent, but he will be pushed towards action by the party. Cartoon below by JINGJIE LI

September 24, 2020 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's themes

2 Comments »

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/current-chernobyl-level-radiation-harmful-to-bees-study/

there are the internel radionuclides too

Current Chernobyl-level radiation harmful to bees: study
Published 4 hours ago on October 21, 2020By Agence France-Presse

Bumblebees exposed to levels of radiation found within the Chernobyl exclusion zone suffered a “significant” drop in reproduction, in new research published Wednesday that scientists say should prompt a rethink of international calculations of nuclear environmental risk.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, set out to discover how ionising radiation affects insects, which are often thought to be more resilient than other species.

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Researchers in Scotland and Germany exposed bee colonies in a laboratory setting to a range of radiation levels found in areas of the exclusion zone around the ruined Chernobyl site, where a reactor exploded in 1986 in the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

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They found that colony reproduction reduced by 30 to 45 percent at doses previously considered too low to impact insects.

“We found that at radiation levels detectable in Chernobyl, the number of new queen bees produced from the colony was significantly reduced and colony growth was delayed — meaning colonies reached their peak weight at a week later,” said the paper’s lead author Katherine Raines.

The lecturer in environmental pollution at the University of Stirling told AFP by email that researchers “anticipate that this may have an effect on pollination/ecosystem services in contaminated areas”.

The authors said they chose bumblebees both because of a lack of lab-based research into bees and because of their crucial role in pollination.

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Ionising radiation can occur either from nuclear sites or medical procedures, although the levels tested were higher than those that would likely be found in the environment from normal releases, Raines said.

But she added that the researchers were “very surprised that we could detect effects as low as we did”.

“Our research suggests insects living in the most contaminated areas at Chernobyl may suffer adverse effects, with subsequent consequences for ecosystem services such as pollination,” she added.

The authors said if their findings could be generalised “they suggest insects suffer significant negative consequences at dose rates previously thought safe” and called revisions to the international framework for radiological protection of the environment.

People are not allowed to live near the Chernobyl power station and the abandoned settlements within the exclusion zone are surrounded by forests hosting birds, wolves, elks and lynxes.

A giant protective dome was put in place over the destroyed fourth reactor in 2016.

© 2020 AFP

Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.

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https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/current-chernobyl-level-radiation-harmful-to-bees-study/

Comment by Caerten | October 21, 2020 | Reply
- Thanks Caerten for this very valuable reference
  
  Comment by Christina MacPherson | October 22, 2020 | Reply