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Nuclear Kills Kids – by Tony Webb

Tony Webb,, April 2025, https://www.fabians.org.au/nuclear_kills_kids

One moment from my work in the USA in the early 1980s stands out in my memory. I’d driven from Chicago to Cleveland at the invitation of the Health and Safety Officer of the US Boilermakers Union. The purpose was to speak to the members meeting held on the night ahead of the recruitment of members for work on the annual ‘clean-up’ of the local Nuclear Power plant. The hired workers would be ‘radiation sponges’ – short-term casuals recruited for the ‘dirty jobs’ that would result in significant radiation exposures sometimes up to the permitted annual exposure limit and ‘let go’ if they reached that limit. The practice offered some protection to the company’s full -time employees whose skills would be needed on an ongoing basis and whose exposures needed to be kept below the limit. The meeting was well attended , rowdy, with a lot of questions and discussion which spilled over into the carpark after the meeting closed. I noticed one man hanging back from the circle and invited him to join and share his thoughts. As I recall them the essence was:

“I will be going in to apply for work tomorrow. I understand what you shared about the risks . . . no safe level of exposure and chance of getting cancer perhaps 20 years from now . . . It will put a roof over my family’s heads and food on the table . . . BUT my wife and I have had all the family we want. If we hadn’t, what you shared about the genetic risks, the damage to our children and future generations . . . no I wouldn’t be going . . . “

It is a sad fact that workers, both men and women will choose, often from necessity, to put their health at risk from the work environment. What is however consistent in my experience of working on radiation and other occupational health and safety issues is that they are far more concerned, cautious and likely to prioritise safety when it comes to risks to their children.

We now have solid evidence(1) that workers in nuclear power plants routinely exposed to radiation face significantly increased cancer risks, risks of cardiovascular disease including heart attacks and strokes, dementia and potentially other health effects. There is also an increased risk of genetic damage that can be passed on to their children and future generations. But perhaps most significant of all there is now solid evidence of increased rates of leukaemia in children living close to nuclear power plants.

To put it simply and in language that will resonate with workers and their families in the communities around the seven nuclear power plant sites the federal Liberal-National Coalition proposes to build if elected to government, nuclear kills kids. It matters little whether or not these nuclear plants can be built on time, within budget, make a contribution to climate change, reduce electricity prices, or secure a long-term energy future; these nuclear power plants will likely kill kids who live close by. They cannot operate without routine releases of radioactive material into the environment and our young will be exposed and are particularly susceptible to any exposure that results.

Now add to that if you care that women are more susceptible than men; that workers in these plants face greater exposure and health risks than adults in the community; that nuclear plants have and will continue to have both major accidents and less major ‘incidents’ resulting in radiation releases, community exposures and health damage. Add also that quite apart from the workers and others exposed when these plants need to be decommissioned, the radioactive wastes resulting from perhaps 30-50 years life will need to be safely stored and kept isolated from human contact for many thousands of years longer than our recorded human history. And, again if you care, also add in the concerns around proliferation of nuclear weapons which historically has occurred on the back of, enabled by and sometimes concealed by countries’ developing so called peaceful nuclear power.

All these arguments add weight to the absurdity of Australia starting and the world continuing down this nuclear power path. But if we want a single issue that strikes at the heart of human concerns it is this – and forgive me saying it again, it needs to be repeated many times until the electorate in Australia hears it loud and clear – Nuclear Kills Kids.

Dr Tony Webb is a Fabian and a long-time community and environmental activist. He has worked on housing, unemployment, worker cooperatives, anti-nuclear, radiation and health, food policy, and energy/climate issues in the UK USA Canada and Australia. Along the way he picked up an MSc in Energy Resources Management and a PhD in Humanities.

(1) SOURCES……………………………………………………………….

October 25, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation | Leave a comment

Bridging Geopolitical Divides: International Physiciansfor the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) Revitalizes Dialogue in Russia and China

IPPNW is one of very few professional associations that has not abandoned dialogue with Russian colleagues. Since the summer of 2021, a new, energized cohort of Russian and American medical students and young doctors has hosted informal monthly Zoom calls to build relationships and trust.

Michael Christ, IPPNW Executive Director. September 29, 2026, https://peaceandhealthblog.com/2026/10/14/bridging-geopolitical-divides-ippnw-revitalizes-dialogue-in-russia-and-china/

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, the historic meeting where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev came astonishingly close to completely abolishing the nuclear arsenals of the two superpowers. While the meeting concluded without an official accord due to US insistence on pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”), it nevertheless laid the critical diplomatic foundation for future landmark nuclear disarmament treaties. It also proved that even bitter adversaries can sit at the negotiating table to tackle head-on the greatest immediate threat to human survival.

Tragically, these hard-fought gains have been lost to a steady breakdown in international diplomacy, a dangerous arms race in nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence, and a resort to threats and war to prosecute disputes. This has made the risk of catastrophic miscalculation higher than at any point since the Cold War.

As we did throughout the 1980s, IPPNW is bridging geopolitical divides by engaging our network of physicians and health partners around the world on the growing threat of nuclear war—especially with colleagues in Russia and China—not as an abstract political calculation, but as the final, untreatable global health epidemic.

Monthly Russian-American Exchanges

Participants in these discussions have gone on to publish relevant articles in medical literature, attended key nuclear disarmament meetings at the UN, and become active in local and national campaigns opposing the threat of nuclear war.

Russian Nonproliferation Conference

At the invitation of the Russian Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS), IPPNW’s Chuck Johnson traveled to Moscow to participate in high-level discussions on nuclear weapons. CENESS is a think-tank that fosters dialogue and cooperation on nuclear policy, nonproliferation, and nuclear energy issues. Chuck previously served as the founding director of the IPPNW Geneva Liaison Office before transitioning to his role as policy director.

The 2026 Moscow Nonproliferation Conference took place on March 12–14, 2026, bringing together 289 experts—including diplomats, researchers, academics, and advocates—from 49 countries. Roughly half of the participants were Russian. The event also drew high-level officials from key UN agencies and international organizations, such as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

During closed-door sessions, participants tackled the major global security challenges in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. A special “New Generation Experts Segment” also gathered approximately 40 young professionals from 20 countries to explore the associated risks and opportunities.The effort was the brainchild of Dr. Joe Hodgkin, an attending hospitalist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Olga Trushina, a cardiologist at the Russian Cardiology Research and Production Complex (which was founded by her grandfather, IPPNW co-founder Eugene Chazov). Dr. Hodgkin serves on the Board of Directors of IPPNW’s US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Dr. Trushina is a Co-President of IPPNW. Together, they have renewed and re-imagined IPPNW’s founding mission using modern technologies that are integral to their social and professional lives.

This marked the first time IPPNW was invited to this flagship biennial event. The conference provided a rare, high-value opportunity for IPPNW to engage directly with top Russian and international officials and experts—both during the formal panels and in private meetings on the margins.

Renewed Outreach to China

Chuck Johnson has also been at the leading edge of IPPNW’s efforts to strengthen cooperation and dialogue with health professionals, academics, and professional associations in China.

His consistent outreach to Chinese colleagues during international health partner and UN disarmament meetings in Geneva led to an invitation to lecture at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing in the fall of 2025.

While in Beijing, he also met with members of the Chinese Medical Association at their headquarters, securing a commitment from them to invite IPPNW doctors to present to medical professionals in China in the coming year. As a result, an IPPNW delegation attending the annual meeting of the Chinese Medical Association’s Medical Ethics Branch in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, in July 2026. Chuck was joined by Dr. Joe Hodgkin (PSR-USA) and Dr. Tilman Ruff (MAPW-IPPNW Australia).

This visit was our most significant engagement with China since the 2004 IPPNW World Congress in Beijing. The delegation delivered three plenary lectures at the national medical conference, highlighting the critical role of medical and public health professionals in addressing the growing threat of nuclear war.

Following the conference, the team held multiple high-level meetings with dozens of senior academics, health officials, and organizational leaders in both Hefei and Beijing. These discussions were aided significantly by Dr. Hodgkin’s deep cultural knowledge and fluency in Mandarin, as well as Dr. Ruff’s extensive history and leadership within IPPNW.

The delegation discussed several concrete follow-on activities, including planning additional meetings and co-authoring joint publications in prominent Chinese health and science journals focused on the prevention of nuclear war.

By reviving these critical channels of communication, IPPNW ensures that even in times of intense global friction, the medical community remains a vital bridge toward peace. The US, Russia, and China would do well to revive the “spirit of Reykjavík”, returning to the negotiating table to complete what Reagan and Gorbachev came so close to achieving—saving humankind from the growing threat of nuclear war.

October 20, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, health, politics international, Russia, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear war and malicious use of AI threaten end of humanity by 2100, says Lancet assessment

Newly established commission identifies 17 catastrophic threats to human health but says ‘realistic route to act’ on each exists

Guardian, Kat Lay, Sun 11 Oct 2026 , https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/oct/11/nuclear-war-and-malicious-use-of-ai-threaten-end-of-humanity-by-2100-says-lancet-assessment

Humans could become extinct by the year 2100 due to malicious use of AI or nuclear conflict, according to a new global risk assessment.

They top a list of 17 major threats to human health over the next 75 years, which also includes cuts to aid spending by wealthy countries, the climate crisis and childhood malnutrition.

The experts behind The Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Threats to Health said all the threats interact, meaning they must be addressed together – but stressed that there was “a realistic route to act” on each.

“Decisions made by leaders today will shape the health and wellbeing of the next generation,” said Prof Christopher Murray, commission co-chair and the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington.

To create its list, the commission modelled how many years in good health might be lost due to sickness, disability or early deaths due to each threat, based on current trajectories – a measure known as disability-adjusted life years (Dalys).

“Malicious use of AI, including bioweapons, and nuclear conflict with nuclear famine carry risks of extinction in the next 75 years,” the report said, adding that while their likelihood remained low, they had the potential to end humanity in the case of nuclear conflict by injecting enough particles into the upper atmosphere to block sunlight and cause famine, or via AI-created biological weapons. An accompanying Lancet editorial, published alongside the report, warned: “The scale of harm, should they be realised, would inflict an apocalypse on humanity.”

Other risks that could cause more than 1bn cumulative Dalys, and therefore deemed “major catastrophic threats”, included air pollution, antimicrobial resistance, childhood malnutrition and climate breakdown, as well as conventional conflict, declining overseas aid, high alcohol use, high blood pressure, income inequality, low educational attainment, naturally occurring pandemics, obesity, poor mental health, smoking and unhealthy ageing.

To be included on the list, threats not only had to potentially cause a high number of lost healthy years, but also to have potential solutions.

Ibrahim Abubakar, commission member and professor of infectious disease epidemiology at UCL, said: “We are not starting from a point of view of ‘oh look, we want to scare you – we’ve got X many threats facing humanity’. We’re starting from the premise that if you are a policymaker today, whether at the global multilateral level or at the national level, these are the potential threats that you could face, and this is the magnitude by which, if you act, you can actually make a difference.”

Action to limit global heating to about 1.8C (3.2F) rather than letting it reach 4.4C could prevent 1.89bn years of healthy life being lost, according to the report, which modelled best and worst case scenarios for each threat.

In higher income regions, non-communicable diseases such as obesity and poor mental health were the dominant threats, while in lower income regions health loss was driven by issues such as low educational attainment.

Many major donor nations, including the US and UK, have announced large cuts to aid spending over the past year. The potential collapse of, or steep reduction in, international health aid could cause up to 1.5bn Dalys before 2100, the commission found, nearly 70% of which would be in sub-Saharan Africa. The region also bears the brunt of child malnutrition.

The commission was made up of 35 experts, and its findings will be shared on Sunday at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany. Their assessment will be updated annually to re-evaluate the 17 threats identified, incorporating new data and any emerging hazards.

The authors urged leaders to address the risks before they escalated into crises, including via investment in technological innovations and by strengthening health systems.

“We started this process three years ago, thinking that there were three big threats: conflict, climate, and pandemics,” said Murray. “There’s a much larger number of threats that we need to worry about, and governments really need to dedicate some money and staff to the task of anticipation, prevention and preparation for this more diverse set of threats.”

October 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health | Leave a comment

Chernobyl particles reveal unexpectedly stable nuclear fuel after 40 years

by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Robert Egan October 6, 2026
https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chernobyl-particles-reveal-unexpectedly-stable.html

Four decades after the 1986 nuclear disaster, researchers at Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) examined six tiny, highly radioactive fragments that were released from the destroyed reactor in Ukraine in the wake of the incident. Analyses show that these “hot particles” are far more stable than had previously been assumed. The findings could allow for more precise assessments of the health risks posed by such radioactive particles. The paper is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

The explosions hurled massive amounts of debris from the nuclear reactor, radioactive dust particles still contaminate the soil around the disaster area, known today as Chernobyl. Measuring only 8 to 50 micrometers, they remain highly radioactive even after 40 years. Even today, people may enter the affected areas only while wearing protective suits.

“There are three classes of these particles,” explains Tobias Weissenborn, a physicist and doctoral candidate at Leibniz University Hannover. “First, there are particles that are chemically and physically still very similar to the nuclear fuel uranium dioxide. Then, there are particles that are partially or fully encased in, or completely fused with, their zirconium layer.”

The latter type of particle formed when temperatures in the reactor spiked dramatically, melting the fuel and bonding it to its surrounding protective layer of the highly resistant metal zirconium. “The third type of particle was created when the graphite moderator caught fire,” Weissenborn adds.

The moderator’s purpose is to slow down fast neutrons and maintain the chain reaction. However, during the accident, the graphite caught fire and burned for 10 days. “In the process, the fuel oxidized into various uranium oxides”—such as U₃O₈. This mechanically unstable compound rapidly forms microscopic particles that are easily borne away by wind. Inhaling such dust particles poses severe health risks.

First-ever phase analysis of highly radioactive fragments of this kind

It remains largely unclear why these particles weather at different rates in their environment. In any case, they generate a range of different uranium oxides as they decay. Analyzing them requires highly complex synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments. HZDR researcher and crystallographer Dr. Christoph Hennig has now carried out the first successful structural investigation of this kind at the Rossendorf Beamline in Grenoble. In collaboration with Weissenborn, he conducted a phase analysis on six of the Chernobyl particles. Among other things, this allows researchers to estimate the rate at which the particles release radioactive substances.

“The colleagues from Hanover and I used various methods to isolate the particles from Ukrainian soil samples and attach them to tungsten electrodes,” Weissenborn explains. Secured by several confinement layers, the samples were then shipped to Grenoble, where a team led by Hennig examined them using diffraction analysis—studying how X-rays are diffracted from the material’s internal structure.

“First, we had to figure out how to examine the particle structure,” Hennig explains. “Ultimately, we fully rotated the particles in an X-ray beam focused down to 100 micrometers—about the thickness of a human hair. We measured each particle from 2,000 different angles to seamlessly capture all the reflections.”

The examined particles retain radionuclides within them

Using this approach, the researchers were able to experimentally detect different oxide phases within the samples. To their surprise, they found that the crystal structure of the nuclear fuel in the examined particles has remained largely intact to this day—which means that the remnants of the accident are chemically more stable than originally assumed. The particles retain fission products within themselves—which might be good news for the soil and water around Chernobyl.

“However, every single particle has a different structure,” warns Weissenborn, “and our experiment only studied six such particles from two different locations.” Drawing more general conclusions about the stability of Chernobyl particles would require gathering samples from far more locations and examining many more particles.

“And even if we obtained some averages at some point, we still wouldn’t be able to make universal statements about health risks in the region,” Weissenborn cautions. “Because even if the particles decay in a largely uniform pattern, there will always be outliers, more persistent particles, that will release radionuclides at a later point in time.”

So, it won’t be possible to lift restrictions in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone anytime soon. However, this does not impede further research: Weissenborn and Hennig are already conducting follow-up experiments on the highly radioactive transuranic phases in the remnants of this epochal disaster.

Publication details

Tobias Weissenborn et al, X-ray diffraction phase analysis of single hot particles from Chornobyl, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.141533

Journal information: Journal of Hazardous Materials

Key concepts

toxic radionuclide contaminationuranium

Provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centre

October 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation | Leave a comment

Marshall Islands still waiting for justice 80 years after US nuclear tests, UN told

Tamil Guardian 6th Oct 2026, https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/marshall-islands-still-waiting-justice-80-years-after-us-nuclear-tests-un-told

The UN human rights office has told the Human Rights Council that Marshallese communities are still waiting for justice for the 67 nuclear tests carried out by the United States, calling for the release of classified records, reparations and acknowledgement from the UN body that allowed the tests to continue.

Presenting its report to the Council’s 63rd session on 1 October, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the US conducted the tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, while the islands were under UN trusteeship, with a combined explosive power equivalent to more than 7,000 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to the UN Web TV transcript of the dialogue.

“For the Marshallese, this history is not past,” the deputy high commissioner for human rights told the Council. “It lives on in bodies and families, in poisoned lands and communities that have been displaced.”

OHCHR said virtually every Marshallese family had been affected by the health consequences of the testing, including elevated rates of cancer, and that many displaced communities have been unable to return to their ancestral atolls.

Claims unpaid

The office said the Nuclear Claims Tribunal in the Marshall Islands had assessed more than US$2.3 billion in personal injury and property damage claims, but no claimant has received full compensation because of insufficient funds. The Compact of Free Association and the Section 177 claims settlement with the US did not cover harm to future generations, moral damage or environmental degradation, it said.

It recommended that the US declassify information on the nuclear legacy, including radiation exposure data and testing records, and said the international community, through the UN Trusteeship Council, should consider steps to acknowledge and apologise for the human rights impact of the tests.

The Marshall Islands has identified transitional justice as a way of advancing victims’ rights to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.

“The continued denial of an effective remedy is itself an ongoing human rights violation,” the UN Human Rights regional representative for the Pacific, Heike Alefsen, said at a side event during the session, the Pacific Islands News Association reported.

‘Told the matter is settled’

“How can we have justice when we are told by those responsible that the matter is settled and that is final?” the Marshall Islands delegation asked the Council.

It said the people of Bikini and Rongelap remain displaced, while on Enewetak people are living beside a nuclear waste dump sealed under a concrete dome. Marshallese people were “experimented on under Project 4.1 without their consent”, it said, and when they petitioned the UN for the tests to stop, the Trusteeship Council issued resolutions that allowed them to continue.

“Without truth, there can be no justice,” the delegation said, calling for “accountability for the human rights, environmental, health consequences of the nuclear legacy”.

The United States, which withdrew from the Human Rights Council last year, did not take part in the dialogue.

October 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, OCEANIA | Leave a comment

‘Cut ties with Palantir’, say UK’s health workers

Protesters at more than 40 locations across England demanded an end to spy-tech firm Palantir’s role in the National Health Service.

Ana Vračar, October 2 2026, https://breakthroughnews.org/2026/10/02/cut-ties-with-palantir-say-uks-health-workers/

On Thursday, October 1, health workers, patients, and activists protested Palantir’s role in the National Health Service (NHS) at more than 40 locations across England. Their demonstrations were part of a global week of action demanding that governments cut ties with the spy-tech firm over human rights and privacy concerns.

Rallies took place in front of Palantir’s London headquarters, as well as in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and many more cities.

“Palantir’s tools are used by the Israeli military in Gaza and by ICE to track and surveil migrants in the US,” campaign groups – including Just Treatment, Health Workers for a Free Palestine, Medact, and Global Justice Now – stated. “A company profiting from human rights violations has no place in the NHS or in any of our public services.”

Palantir’s track record opposes core health values

Palantir currently holds a £330 million (approximately USD 436 million) NHS contract and has rolled out the service’s Federated Data Platform (FDP), managing sensitive patient data. The project has drawn criticism from virtually every group involved in the NHS: data workers say it lags behind local systems; patients share privacy and data ownership fears; and health workers insist Palantir’s record opposes the very values their profession embodies.

“I cannot stay true to that [Hippocratic] oath and tolerate Palantir continuing to profit from, and grow its malign business model through an NHS contract,” said physician Rhiannon Osborne from Medact at Thursday’s rally. “Every pound we give them helps to legitimize and sustain human rights abuses and erosion of democratic rule of law across the world.”

A central concern is the company’s support for Israel throughout the genocide in Gaza. “When we strive to save every possible life, they champion their ability to kill and celebrate their role in the repeated war crimes committed by Israel – including unprecedented deliberate attacks on the doctors, nurses, and paramedics I worked with,” pediatric neurologist Omar Abdel-Mannan stated. “No moral government should tolerate their involvement in our NHS or indeed any of our public services.”

Campaigners repeated calls for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to end the contract as soon as possible. Under an exit clause in the original agreement, that moment could arrive as early as February 2027. Campaigners and several commissions are pressing the government to notify Palantir of its intention to withdraw ahead of this date.

“The government only has two months to say no to Palantir and the momentum is all with us,” Good Law Project activists said at the rally in London. “All the energy is to say no to Palantir, say no to their global human rights abuses, say no to their crap technology that doesn’t work and get Palantir out of the NHS.”

Unions back appeal to bar Palantir from public sector contracts

Calls to break Palantir’s grip on public services resonate beyond Britain. On September 28, more than 120 groups and unions called upon European governments and the European Commission to “scrap all existing public sector contracts with the US tech company Palantir.” As reported by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), the appeal seeks to end current agreements and bar the firm from future public contracts. It also urges governments to develop “alternative data solutions compatible with public service,” echoing NHS data workers’ recommendations.

“Palantir’s ramping up of ‘war-related’ support for Israel during the genocide in Gaza and the apparent disdain of its leadership for democracy are just two clear signs that this company serves the interests of the rich and powerful, not the general public,” said Tim Bierley of Global Justice Now. “Yet it has been allowed to embed dubious technologies across our public services, giving it access to sensitive data and creating worrying new technical dependencies.”

“The UK must work with other countries to end dependence on companies involved in human rights abuses, and end the outsourcing of the public sphere to a dangerous class of big tech oligarchs.”

October 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, UK | Leave a comment

Hypothesis to explain child leukemias near NPPs – Rebuttal rebutted

Dr Ian Fairlie, September 30, 2026, https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/hypothesis-to-explain-child-leukemias-near-npps-rebuttal-rebutted/

Official Rebuttal of Tritium Hypothesis

It has recently come to my attention that in 2016 a rebuttal was published in an official report of my hypothesis to explain increased incidences of cancers among children residing near nuclear power plants (NPPs). The rebuttal is contained UNSCEAR (2016) Annex C: Biological Effect of Selected Internal Emitters -Tritium. Although this rebuttal was published 10 years ago, it’s the only official response to my hypothesis so it’s worth examining the matter. I shall show here that the UNSCEAR riposte has several shortcomings which render its argument unreliable. The main conclusion is that the absence of increased leukemias could be due to several naturally-occurring processes factors and does not necessarily invalidate the NPP hypothesis.

Exposures near NPPs

The estimation of radiation exposures from NPP emissions has rarely been examined in the scientific literature. One exception is Hill (1986). The difficulty is that such estimations are complex. Briefly, they require several computer models to estimate nuclide emission rates, the transport of radionuclides through the environment to man, human uptake and retention Bq models. Lastly, they require estimated dose coefficients to convert Bq to Sv. Further complexities occur with chronic rather than single exposures, and with organic binding in the case of tritium releases. The above models all require several assumptions to be made which may or may not have been validated by environmental or clinical data. Uncertainties abound in each model, which need to be multiplied and/or added together. The main conclusion of the UK Government’s CERRIE report (Cerrie, 2004) was that the resulting uncertainties could be very large.

The upshot is that official dose estimates from NPP emissions are not necessarily reliable and could be significant underestimates.

In 2010, Fairlie (2010) first published a hypothesis to explain the observed increases in childhood leukemia near NPPs. This suggested that large releases of tritium from NPPs during ~annual refuelling episodes (when reactors were depressurised) resulted in tritium plumes downwind from NPPs. Pregnant women living within ~5 km of these locations could have inhaled high concentrations of tritiated water vapour. It was further suggested that the haematopoietic tissues (including nascent bone marrow) in the developing fetuses/embryos were labelled with this tritium. These tissues are highly radiosensitive. This resulted in babies being born with pre-leukemic cells which, after birth, developed into full-blown leukemias. The product of large increases in estimated radiation dose times the estimated large increase in radiation risk explained the discrepancy between official estimates and the actual cancer increases.

This hypothesis was more fully developed and explained by the author in a longer published article (Fairlie, 2014) not cited by UNSCEAR. Many studies since then have indicated increased incidences of childhood cancers, including leukemias, among children near NPPs (Fairlie, 2024).

REBUTTAL

It appears that no dissenting or corrective articles on this hypothesis were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals in 2010, 2014 or in subsequent years. However in 2016 an UNSCEAR report was published with a scientific addendum (Annex C) on tritium (UNSCEAR, 2016). This contained a rebuttal of the author’s hypothesis. In brief, the UNSCEAR Annex stated that, if the NPP hypothesis were correct, then the large releases of tritium from the atmospheric bomb tests in the 1950s and 1960s (see Figure 3.1) should have resulted in increases in leukemia deaths world-wide which were not observed (Wakeford et al, 2010). Therefore, in the view of the authors of the UNSCEAR 2016 Annex C report, the NPP hypothesis was not supported.

However the UNSCEAR explanation has several shortcomings which render its argument unreliable. One of the most obvious shortcomings is that the UNSCEAR scheme conflicts with the scientific axiom “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” (Sagan and Druyan (1995); Altman and Bland, 1995). In other words, the mere fact that we lack evidence here for the NPP hypothesis does not warrant us to infer that the hypothesis is false.

But even if we look at the UNSCEAR argument in more detail, it does not withstand much scrutiny. The Annex C authors argue that an examination of childhood leukaemia incidence in cancer registries in three continents found no evidence of a wave of excess cases corresponding to the peak of radioactive fallout from atmospheric weapons testing (Wakeford et al, 2010). The authors then state that the absence of a “discernible” leukaemia increase following the main peak of testing (1962-63) is evidence against the NPP hypothesis. Let us examine the UNSCEAR argument in more detail.

Bomb Tests

The UNSCEAR argument juxtaposes tritium exposures from NPPs and the peak period (1961-1962) of the bomb tests – but these are substantially different in nature, size, and duration. Most important for health outcomes, their resulting tritium concentrations are likely to have been quite different. To wit, bomb test tritium was ejected high into the Earth’s troposphere and stratosphere and was thus distributed world-wide – mostly in the northern hemisphere, mainly in 1961-1962. See Fig 3.1 below, from IAEA (2025).

Bomb Tests

The first is via atmospheric mixing. According to Jenkins (2001) “the detonations generally injected the tritium into the stratosphere, where it was quickly oxidized to form water vapour. Over a period of a few years, the tritiated water vapour was transferred to the troposphere, where it was rapidly ‘rained out’ to the earth’s surface. The delivery of bomb tritium to the earth’s surface was monitored by a number of World Meteorological Organization /International Atomic Energy Authority precipitation sampling stations. The pattern and timing of this delivery have been shown to consist of two primary components: a dominant northern, spike-like component, and a weaker southern component.”

The second natural process occurs by isotopic exchange between ³H and ¹H. At the molecular level, atomic exchange between the two H isotopes is near instantaneous. The main point here is that the quantity of naturally-occurring hydrogen (¹H) in the form of water (H₂O) on Earth is very large. About 61% of the northern hemisphere is covered by oceans and seas and a further ~1% by Greenland’s ice sheet. During winter, seasonal snow and ice-covered land (including arctic tundra and boreal regions) across the northern hemisphere expand to cover about 16% to 18% of the surface area of the northern hemisphere. Therefore ~80% of the northern hemisphere is covered by forms of water – at least during winter.

Due to atmospheric mixing and isotopic exchange between ³H and the very large volumes of ¹H in the oceans, seas, lakes, ice sheets, and Arctic tundra and boreal regions in the northern hemisphere, atmospheric concentrations of HTO vapour will have been reduced. This would have occurred relatively quickly.

Indeed, direct evidence of the relatively quick incorporation of atmospheric tritium into surface waters is given in figure 1 of the UNSCEAR Annex itself. This shows environmental tritium levels in surface water in the United States in 1951–1975 and is reproduced below.

This figure [on original] shows that atmospheric tritium is quickly taken up by surface waters, as their tritium concentrations mainly follow the temporal pattern of the tests shown in figure 3.1.

It is important to note that it’s tritium in atmospheric water vapour and not tritium in drinking water that would have been the main problem health-wise. This is for two reasons. First, the main uptake routes would have been via inhalation and skin absorption; and second, the main tritium sink would have been water in seas and oceans …which is not consumed as drinking water.

Source: Bennett (1973)

Another mechanism – escape of H from the stratosphere

A third natural mechanism is that some molecular³H, being much lighter than air, will have escaped from the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of hydrogen gas, shortly after the explosions.

It is not possible at this point to estimate the magnitudes of the reductions in tritium’s air concentrations due to these three natural processes. But they could be significant – leading to a paucity of observations of increased health effects.

The main conclusion is that the absence of increased leukemias could be due to several factors and does not necessarily invalidate the NPP hypothesis.

(Postscript: The above discussion of dilution mechanisms is not intended to defend tritium releases from the bomb tests. On the contrary, it shows that the atmospheric bomb tests in the 1950s and 1960s radioactively contaminated the totality of the northern hemisphere’s oceans, seas, lakes, ice sheets, and snow-covered lands with low levels of tritium. In the author’s view, this legacy of the bomb tests is regrettable and should not be repeated.)

_________________________________________

Appendix: comparison of estimated tritium concentrations…………………………………………………………………….

October 2, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation, Reference | Leave a comment

Radiation-related cancer deaths more common in aircrew than other occupations, study finds

By science reporter Jacinta Bowler, https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2026-09-30/pilots-flight-attendants-radiation-cancer-death/107175724

In short:

Almost 7 per cent of all deaths among US flight attendants and pilots from 2020 to 2024 were due to radiation-related cancer, the highest rate among the 500 occupations studied.

The researchers suggested increased mortality could be caused by cosmic radiation, which aircrews are exposed to at higher levels.

What’s next?

The Transport Workers’ Union and experts have called for better protections for workers but the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency says the results are not clear-cut.

A large US study has found that of 500 occupations, flight attendants and pilots have the highest proportion of radiation-related cancer deaths.

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at almost 13 million US death records from 2020–2024.

The researchers found that radiation-related cancers (such as leukaemia, breast, thyroid and skin cancers) were listed on 6.9 per cent of deaths among flight attendants and 6.7 per cent of deaths among pilots.

This was the highest and second-highest proportions of radiation-related cancer deaths across all occupation groups in the US.

In comparison, ground crews, who work in a similar environment to aircrew but without the air travel, do not have the same elevated proportion of radiation-related cancer deaths as the pilots and flight attendants.

“These findings support consideration of occupational radiation protections for aircrew members commensurate with their exposure level,” the researchers concluded.

While the research was based on US data, it might be applicable to air crews around the world, said Catherine Olsen, an epidemiologist and melanoma researcher at QIMR Berghofer who was not involved with the study.

Exposure to cosmic rays

Flight crews spend much longer in the air than the average frequent flyer and are more exposed to cosmic radiation — high-energy particles from the Sun and other cosmic sources.

Exposure to too much cosmic radiation can damage our DNA, cause radiation sickness and increase the risk of some cancers.

On the ground, we are well protected from cosmic radiation.

Australians on average receive 3.4 millisieverts a year from all types of ionising radiation.

But the thinner atmosphere at higher elevations where airplanes fly lets more radiation sneak through.

Aircrews are among the most exposed groups of workers to ionising radiation, according to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).

It limits aircrew exposure to 20 millisieverts (mSv) per year averaged over five years — about the same as three chest CT scans.

The organisation also has a lower “reference level” of 6 mSv per year, that they recommend aircrew and airlines try to maintain.

While it is well known that aircrews are exposed to increased cosmic radiation, linking that to increased cancer mortality is complicated.

Dr Olsen said that comparing air crews with other occupations like ground crews and nuclear workers provided more evidence that the cosmic radiation could be causing the increase in radiation-related cancer deaths.

“I’m confident that it’s a very-well-conducted study,” she said

“A limitation is that there’s a possibility that there might be misclassification on death certificates if that occupation is not recorded properly.”

But an ARPANSA spokesperson said the study did not account for lifestyle factors like alcohol consumption, circadian rhythm disruption and lack of sun protection, which can also increase the risk of radiation-related cancers.

Dr Olsen said if there was an increased risk of death in these occupations, airlines and healthcare professionals needed to be more aware.

“When those flight crew and pilots are having their medical checks, there should be a heightened kind of degree of concern of any symptoms that might be related to cancer.”

Cancer risk ‘not discussed’

Ebanie Fletcher, who has worked as an Australian flight attendant for more than 20 years, said radiation risk was not something that was discussed by the airlines.

“None of it is really talked about, especially not by our safety regulators or the industry as a whole,” she said.

Dr Olsen said there were various approaches to managing exposure for flight crews around the world.

“In the US, even though they classify pilots and flight crew as being occupationally exposed to this ionising radiation, there’s no monitoring of the dose that people are exposed to,” she said.

“In Europe, it’s a little bit more regulated.”

In Europe, airlines are required to assess crew exposure, plan schedules to factor in cumulative risk, and provide protection for pregnant workers.

ARPANSA maintains the Australian National Radiation Dose Register (ANRDR), which records occupational exposure to radiation in industries from uranium mining and some medical facilities.

Airline companies can sign up to this registry, but it is voluntary.

“Airlines monitor and manage rostering arrangements to ensure aircrew do not exceed the reference level,” a spokesperson said.

“Our advice is that there is no evidence of an increased health risk from naturally occurring cosmic radiation during flying when exposure is maintained below the 6 mSv per year reference level.”

Ms Fletcher said she did not believe that individual doses were monitored in the Australian industry, although she noted that airlines did limit flight hours when someone was pregnant.

“Apparently it’s important to them when we’re pregnant not to be exposed to radiation but not for any other purpose,” she said.

Virgin, one of the Australian airlines the ABC contacted, said that it monitored radiation to the standards in line with ARPANSA guidelines.

Transport Workers’ Union national secretary Michael Kaine said more needed to be done.

If we’re learning that the job of keeping Australians safe in the skies may come with serious health risks, we can’t leave workers to deal with those risks as a scatter-gun approach, airline by airline,” he said in a statement.

“We need an approach that puts workers and passengers at the centre.”

October 2, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation | Leave a comment

The Agentic State: Why We Obey Without Question

Encyclopedia of psychology, By Mohammed looti/August 21, 2026

Defining the Agentic State

The Agentic State refers to a fundamental psychological condition where an individual perceives themselves not as acting on their own volition, but rather as an instrument for carrying out the instructions of an authority figure. This state is characterized by a profound shift in responsibility; the individual transfers the moral accountability for their actions to the perceived authority, thereby mitigating the internal conflict that might otherwise arise when asked to perform morally questionable or harmful tasks. In essence, the person operating within the Agentic State views their behavior as dictated, rather than chosen, functioning merely as an agent in a hierarchical structure. This mechanism is crucial in understanding how people comply with demands within large organizations, militaries, or bureaucratic systems based upon status, as the original emotional or mental condition is designed to facilitate adherence to the commands their superiors deliver unto them, often overriding personal conscience.

The core definition posits that the Agentic State is not necessarily a permanent personality trait but rather a situational psychological adaptation that occurs when an individual acknowledges a legitimate authority figure within a defined social setting. When this acknowledgement occurs, the person adopts an “agentic” frame of mind, which radically alters their perception of self and action. Instead of feeling responsible for the consequences of their actions, the agent feels responsible to the authority figure for performing the tasks competently. This psychological distance from the outcome is what allows individuals to perform actions that they would never contemplate when acting in their own capacity, often leading to behaviors that defy normal ethical boundaries, provided the command originates from the recognized higher power.

The Transition from Autonomy to Agency

Psychologists distinguish the Agentic State from the Autonomous State, which is the default condition where individuals perceive themselves as responsible for their own actions and consequences, acting according to their own conscience and free will. The transition between these two states is known as the “agentic shift.” This shift is triggered when the individual enters a social situation where the hierarchy is clearly defined and accepts the legitimacy of the authority figure’s power……………..

Historical Foundations: Stanley Milgram’s Research………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Psychological Significance and Ethical Implications……………………………………………………………………………………………….

The practical application of understanding the Agentic State extends across various domains,………………………………………………………………….. the Agentic State is often implicitly cultivated to ensure rapid, unquestioning obedience to authority in high-stress situations. In these contexts, the transfer of responsibility is considered necessary for efficiency and coordination………………………. https://encyclopedia.arabpsychology.com/agentic-state/

September 22, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

US Million Person Study on low dose rate exposures to radiation: Preliminary Findings

What is significant is that the study runs directly contrary to the views of the US President and can be viewed as a direct riposte to them. So far, no collective quantitative risk estimates from this study have been published in the US.

September 16, 2026, https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/us-million-person-study-on-low-dose-rate-exposures-to-radiation-preliminary-findings/

This article requires an extensive introduction, so bear with me .

Current risk estimates for radiation are based by the ICRP principally on the Japanese survivors of the US bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This is the Life Span Study (LSS). However it has several shortcomings including that it is based on instantaneous exposures (lasting less than a second) to high blasts of gamma radiation and neutrons. Other shortcomings were that the studies did not commence until 5 years after the explosions and many unrecorded deaths occurred during the interval. Also the translation of the estimated risks in the acutely-exposed Japanese population to people in different countries exposed to lower doses over lengthier time periods introduces large uncertainties in the LSS risk estimates.

Finally the LSS only covered ~80,000 people. A better, larger study covering ~300,000 workers – was the INWORKS study of nuclear industry workers in the US, UK and France which found radiation risks higher than the risks observed by the Life Span Study but broadly similar to it. (It is explained that the phrase “broadly similar to” means that the uncertainty ranges of the two studies overlapped.) The INWORKS study has been examined and discussed by me previously -see https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/important-new-bmj-article-increases-our-perception-of-radiation-risks/

A third, even larger, study – the US Million Person Study- has been underway in the US for several years. For its history, see – Boice Jr JD., André Bouville, Lawrence T. Dauer, Ashley P. Golden, Richard Wakeford (2022) Introduction to the special issue on the US Million Person Study of health effects from low-level exposure to radiation. International Journal of Radiation Biology, Volume 98, 2022 – Issue 4.

The quantitative results of this US study have not yet been published formally, it seems, in any academic scientific article. However, rather strangely, an article containing its preliminary findings has been just published in the UK magazine of the UK Society for Radiological Protection. See https://srp-uk.org/professional-resources/radiation-protection-today

I say “rather strangely”, but perhaps it’s unsurprising for a US study to first release in the UK controversial findings on radiation risks, given the US President’s recent attacks on internationally-accepted cornerstones of radiation protection, such as the linear no threshold model of radiation risks and ALARA.

The US Million Person Study of Low-Dose-Rate Health Effects (https://www.millionpersonstudy.org/) is the largest radiation occupational epidemiologic study that I’m aware of. It eventually will cover about a million US nuclear workers and military veterans etc. It is examining cancer and non-cancer morbidity (cases) and mortality (deaths) after exposures to low rates of radiation. It includes nuclear industry workers who predominately received about 300 mGy over their working lives. In other words, it is not a low level study but a low rate study. It includes workers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Mound Nuclear Facility, Rocky Flats plant, civilian nuclear utilities, industrial radiographers, medical radiation radiographers, and workers at military nuclear weapons test sites.

Early findings based on ~ 600,000 US workers and US military veterans include the following

an association between occupational radiation exposures and Parkinson’s disease
a low risk of lung cancer
a risk of leukemia (excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia)
some evidence of increases in all solid cancers and
evidence that chromosomal damage could be detected 65 years after veteran exposure to fallout from nuclear weapons testing.

These findings are unsurprising and fit in with evidence elsewhere , especially the INWORKS studies. What is significant is that the study runs directly contrary to the views of the US President and can be viewed as a direct riposte to them. So far, no collective quantitative risk estimates from this study have been published in the US.

The Million Person Study continues at large US DoE facilities including Hanford and Oak Ridge, and US Navy personnel, including nuclear submarine sailors and naval shipyard workers. interestingly, is also re-examining the US radium dial workers from the 1920s and 1930s. The ongoing Million Person Study also covers

safe and secure cleanup of historically contaminated US nuclear sites
protection from radiation exposures during space travel
the development of new forms of nuclear power designs and
resilience preparation for response to emergency radiological incidents.

The SRPS article was written by two US academics, Dr Nicole Martinez and Dr Laurence Dauer. They conclude– somewhat courageously given the US President’s outspoken views –

“A better understanding of potential impacts of radiological exposure enables more informed decisions which in turn can support a more sustainable and prosperous future. See http://www.millionpersonstudy.org”

September 21, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation | Leave a comment

Radiation harm isn’t gender-neutral. And no one is talking about it.

Let’s explore…together.

Meet Atoms & Eve: Science-driven radiation education

Beyond Nuclear 11 Sept 26, https://www.atomsandeve.org/

ATOMS & EVE™ is a joint educational campaign founded by Beyond Nuclear and Generational Radiation Impact Project.

The ATOMS & EVE project is a new science-driven, educational resource that explores how radiation harms female bodies more than male bodies, children more than adults, and pregnancy most of all.

“We are constantly being told about ‘a permissible amount of radiation.’ Who permitted it? Who has any right to permit it?” – Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Biology matters.
Science confirms that female bodies suffer more harm from ionizing radiation than male bodies.

We must move beyond seeing biological sex as a “confounding factor” and instead treat it as a primary health indicator.

This is not abstract math. It is physical, measurable, and permanent damage to our DNA.

A Failure of Policy.
It is time to stop ignoring the evidence.

Radiation policy is informed by the “average” worker. Women and girls face unique disproportionate dangers that are invisible to decision makers.

Our opportunity:
A path to better protection.

We have the scientific data to make radiation standards more protective right now. By centering policy on the documented biological impacts—the damage to chromosomes, cells, and organs—we can create a safer future for ourselves and our children.

This is a chance to move from outdated assumptions to evidence-based health protection… to safeguard the next generation by demanding better radiation standards.

Meet Eve

She is an embryo, a toddler, a teenager, a mother and a grandmother.
She is every female throughout the female lifespan.

Why Eve, why now?

The ATOMS & EVE project is a new science-driven educational resource that explores how radiation harms female bodies more than male bodies and children more than adults, and pregnancy most of all.

Eve is our vehicle for sharing what we know with you and your communities!

Eve knows:

There is no safe level of exposure
Pregnancy is uniquely vulnerable to radiation damage
Everyone is already being exposed to a legacy of radioactive pollution left by our uses of nuclear technologies

FACTS

Exposure to ionizing radiation can cause or contribute to:

Infertility
Endocrine (hormones) disruption
Disruption of pregnancy including spontaneous abortion and miscarriage
Stress of the immune system
Cancer and Leukemia—both adult and childhood
Cardiovascular diseases including heart attack and stroke

DID YOU KNOW?

“Little girls exposed between birth and 5 years old were twice as likely to get cancer at some point in the next 60 years than were boys.” —Amanda Nichols
A landmark 2025 report released by Norwegian People’s Aid warns that past atmospheric nuclear tests are on course to cause at least two million additional cancer deaths worldwide — a stark reminder that the consequences of nuclear testing are far from historical. [1]
Radiation’s disproportionate impacts should now be the research and policy focus, as society is poised to make crucial and long-lasting decisions regarding climate change mitigation and future energy sources. [2]

September 13, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation, women | Leave a comment

Ministry of Defence withheld information about nuclear test veterans’ records, ex-minister claims

He said the information was “deliberately withheld” by the MoD and claimed there was an effort to delay its release until surviving veterans had passed away.

2 Sept 26, Tabby Wilson, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d787k9kpyo

Former veterans minister Tobias Ellwood has accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of deliberately withholding the medical records of Cold War veterans who oversaw nuclear tests, calling it “an absolute cover-up”.

Ellwood told BBC Newsnight he now believes some information he gave to Parliament about the UK’s nuclear programme, based on MoD briefings, was “a complete lie”.

Veterans have campaigned for the release of their medical histories, arguing blood and urine test results could help them prove that nuclear exposure damaged their health.

An MoD spokesperson said the government had conducted an “extensive records discovery exercise” to address questions about the programme, with its findings published in full.

As many as 25,000 members of the UK armed services, scientists and civilians took part in the nuclear testing programme between 1952 and 1967 at sites including Australia and several islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Veterans have claimed the tests caused severe lifelong health problems, alleging they have suffered cancers of the liver, bone, bowel, skin and brain, as well as leukaemia, heart disease, stillbirths and generational birth defects as a result of their exposure.

Ellwood, who served as a junior defence minister between June 2017 and July 2019, said he believed ministers over the years had been briefed to say they had no evidence to help nuclear test veterans, despite thousands of documents about the programme being held.

He said the information was “deliberately withheld” by the MoD and claimed there was an effort to delay its release until surviving veterans had passed away.

“The more you unpick this story, the more murky, the more shady, the concerning it becomes,” Ellwood told Newsnight, calling it bigger than the infected blood, Windrush and Post Office scandals “because of the longevity… and the number of people that have been involved”.

“This is a scandal. It’s absolutely tarnished the reputation of the MoD.”

Calling for an independent tribunal into the matter, Ellwood asked: “Why it is that the MoD – rather than help veterans, provide the information – closed ranks and said ‘nothing to see here’, and then told ministers such as me ‘actually we haven’t got that information and we’re not willing to help the veterans’?”

The ministry in 2024 promised to embark on a comprehensive examination of any information the department held on the issue, and has since released five reports.

In those, it said there were a number of factors affecting the way medical records were kept, including the lack of a centralised approach and high levels of Cold War “secrecy”.

Ellwood conceded that some documents were to be handed to the National Archives, but said they would still be heavily redacted: “They have to be declassified. This isn’t enough to help the veterans, who understandably remain deeply angry.”

An MoD spokesperson said the government had examined “tens of thousands of documents to address long-standing questions from veterans about blood and urine testing policies during the nuclear testing programme”.

They said it had been published in its entirety “following regular engagement between Ministers, nuclear test veterans and community groups throughout the process.”

“We owe an enduring debt of gratitude to the more than 22,000 Service personnel, scientists and civilians who contributed to the UK’s nuclear testing programme and helped safeguard our national security,” the spokesperson said.

September 7, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear regulator prepares to abandon a decades-old radiation safety rule

August 27, 2026, Geoff Brumfiel, NPR

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing to change a foundational rule designed to minimize radiation exposure. The update is part of President Trump’s expansive changes to nuclear oversight, as his administration seeks to revive nuclear energy to power data centers for artificial intelligence.

Under a new proposed rule, the agency is eliminating a 50-year-old standard known as “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA), which requires the nuclear industry to drive radiation exposure for workers and the public below the stated limits where possible. The new rule also creates a carveout for some workers to get higher exposures to radiation in special circumstances.

For some, the elimination of ALARA is overdue. “Keeping doses as low as reasonably achievable was a fair idea,” said Emily Caffrey, a radiation health physicist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But in practice, the standard forced companies to take increasingly stringent radiation protection measures. It also created ambiguity, Caffrey said, “because what’s ‘reasonable’ to one person isn’t reasonable to another person.”

But others warn that the change could lay the groundwork for higher radiation exposures.

Since shortly after the dawn of the nuclear age, scientists have been aware of the risks of radiation exposure, and decades of data makes it clear.

“At high radiation doses, nobody’s really arguing: radiation causes cancer,” said David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University. High doses of radiation damage DNA and can cause mutations that lead to cancer. But when the dose is low, it’s much harder to determine risk because about 40% of the U.S. population develops cancer at some point in their lifetime.

“As you go down in dose, what you’re looking for is a very small increase in cancer risk over a very large background,” Brenner said. “That’s what makes it really, really hard.”

For the past 50 years or so, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dealt with this uncertainty by requiring that the nuclear industry adhere to ALARA and keep radiation exposure as low as possible.

Then last May, President Trump signed an executive order calling for a wholesale overhaul of nuclear regulations. The order specifically called out ALARA, claiming the principle was a “flawed” understanding of radiation risks.

The NRC decided not to change its scientific model of radiation risk, known as the Linear No Threshold model, but it has proposed eliminating ALARA.

Speaking this week on the Federal News Network, NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said that ALARA is no longer working…………………………………………………

“Loosey-goosey” rules

The NRC will instead use the existing current threshold of 5 rem for a worker and 0.1 rem for the public as the upper limit for radiation exposure. A whole body CT scan is about 1 rem, according to the EPA…………………………………

The proposed NRC rule doesn’t change its other regulatory limits, but it does create some carve-outs. In particular, the industry would now be able to ask for a “planned occupational dose limit extension,” which would allow workers to receive 10 rem instead of 5 in any given year, providing their overall exposure doesn’t pass 25 rem in a five-year period………………………………

But Lyman, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, thinks that ALARA should stay. He said while it may be imperfect, its net effect has been to reduce radiation exposure to very low levels. The harms of low-dose radiation exposure are difficult to see, but Lyman says NRC’s own models suggest those harms exist.

In his opinion, the revised rule ignores that risk and is designed to desensitize the public to the dangers of radiation. “It’s trying to devalue and deemphasize the harm of ionizing radiation exposure,” he warned. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/27/nx-s1-5920368/nrc-nuclear-radiation-safety-rules-alara-update

September 2, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, radiation | Leave a comment

US Military Morale In The Middle East In The Overflowing Toilet

By Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, Popular Resistance., August 13, 2026

Military Families Speak Out For Their Loved Ones….Again and Again and Again.

Rotten food, no room in the incoming missile shelters, confiscation of alert notification devices for incoming missiles (cellphones), infrequent mail, jumping off aircraft carriers, overflowing toilets.

Rotten food, overflowing toilets into bunking areas, no room in the incoming missile shelters, confiscated cellphones that are the notification devices for incoming missiles, infrequent mail, social media closed down, were some of the issues that military families identified at the national conference of Veterans For Peace.

Spouses and parents of Air Force, Army, Marine and Navy, members of Military Families Speak Out, told of plummeting morale, lack of basic supplies and attacks on U.S. military bases that are not reported in the U.S. media.

The frustration of the military families at the VFP conference echoed the descriptions of life on U.S. military bases in the Middle East under attack by the Iranian response to the brutal U.S.-Israeli 5-month attack on Iran made by military families who met with the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy and the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in San Diego on August 6, 2026.

Big Problems on Long Deployments for U.S. Naval vessels, Ships’ Infrastructure and Sailor’s Physical and Mental Health

On August 6, 2026, the Navy’s senior leadership held listening sessions with the families of aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln’s sailors – one in-person session in San Diego, and a second online session later the same evening. Family members leaked recordings of those sessions that described conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln: showers plagued with stubborn mildew, flagging morale, heavy fatigue, shortages of supplies and food, contaminated water supplies and lost mail.

Since departing from departing Naval Base San Diego on November 21, 2025, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its crew of 5,000 sailors and Marines has been deployed more than 250 days, with only a stop in Guam in December and a brief visit in Oman in June after 208 days at sea.

A second aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford had similar problems when it sailed from the Caribbean to the Middle East after being off Venezuela in the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in January 2026. During that deployment, the ship’s toilets kept failing, with sewage often overflowing and spilling onto the floor. Additionally, a fire broke out in the laundry room, causing enough damage that the Ford went into a port on the Greek island of Crete for repairs.

More than 200 sailors were treated for smoke inhalation, with one sailor medically evacuated from the carrier, after being injured in the damage control effort. Two others were treated for lacerations.

The smoke damage from the laundry room fire extended to the berthing. More than 100 bunks and personal gear were destroyed in the fire.

Articles in Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times detail at least six attempts by crew members to jump overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln, with interviews conducted with sailors and families of those on board who described the impacts of the lengthy deployment.

USS Abraham Lincoln Sailor’s Father Proposes ‘Parent Swap’ To Replace His Son……………………..

Army and Marine Ground Forces Under Missile Attacks

Families of U.S. ground forces on the U.S. military bases scattered all over the Middle East describe overcrowding to no room in shelters against incoming missile and commands’ confiscating cellphones that are the notification devices for incoming missiles.

The U.S. military says that Iran watches social media postings of attacks and to prevent such postings, cellphones may be taken away, but families respond that notification of incoming missile attacks is by cellphone.

According to the news outlet War Horse, the only public source for injuries during the U.S. attack on Iran is the Defense Casualty Analysis System, which provides monthly totals for the War on Iran with limited demographic data…………………………….

Hundreds of Troops Suffering From Head Trauma

A large portion of the wounded suffering from head trauma has led some military health experts to worry that traumatic brain injuries—caused by damage to the brain that can impact thinking, movement, and emotion—could become the signature injury of this war, as in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

18 US troops have been killed and 624 wounded Since February 28

The Pentagon has attempted to reduce the accounting on the number of US military killed in wounded in the war on Iran by separating those killed/wounded before the May 1 ceasefire and after. The total killed and wounded before and after the ceasefire are 18 US troops have been killed and 624 wounded since the US began its war against Iran on 28 February……………………

Senate Armed Services Committee Finally Getting Involved

The U.S. Congress is finally getting involved. On August 12, 2026, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Armed Services Committee, wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Acting Secretary of the Navy to express “serious concern” about the increasing length of deployments and demand answers about living conditions aboard the carrier…………………………………..https://popularresistance.org/us-military-morale-in-the-middle-east-in-the-overflowing-toilet/

Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was also a U.S. diplomat for 16 years. She resigned from the U.S. Department of State in March 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She is a member of Veterans For Peace, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, World Beyond War and many other organizations. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.” She lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.

August 17, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | Leave a comment

One in three North Korean refugees from nuclear test area have mutations

By PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER, 7 August 2026, https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16036297/One-three-North-Korean-refugees-nuclear-test-area-mutations.html

One in three North Korean refugees hailing from a nuclear test area have chromosomal mutations, a new study has found.

According to research conducted by South Korea‘s unification ministry, the genes of 64 out of 214 North Korean defectors tested showed genetic changes potentially tied to radiation.

An official at the National Radiation Emergency Medical Centre, which conducted the five-year study, said it was scientifically reasonable to suspect the tests at the Punggye-ri site in the North Hamgyong province were the cause of these mutations.

The latest series of the medical tests were conducted last year, and showed that 26 out of 59 North Koreans who lived in eight cities and counties near Punggye-ri had chromosomal abnormalities – roughly 40%.

The ministry shared the new report with South Korea’s National Assembly – the country’s parliament – but cautioned that there may be environmental factors at play.

Researchers called for more tests to be run to establish a clearer link with the nuclear tests.

They are aiming to recruit 50 new participants, as well as 10 returning subjects for follow-ups, in this year’s tests.

So far, around 800 North Koreans from the eight cities and counties around Punggye-ri have resettled in South Korea.

Punggye-ri was reportedly closed down in 2018 by the North Korean government, in what it said was a measure to ‘ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear tests.’

It was there that North Korea performed its first nuclear test in 2006. Researchers still aren’t sure whether a successful test on a particularly small nuclear device, or a ‘fizzle’ of an ordinary one, was carried out.

Several more were carried out over the years, with two tests taking place in 2016.

In 2017, there was a collapse at the site that was estimated to have left 200 workers dead.

South Korean officials warned after the collapse that further nuclear tests at Punggye-ri could cause a nearby mountain to crumple, releasing radioactive material into the environment.

And Chinese officials warned that the nuclear fallout could spread across ‘an entire hemisphere’ if the mountain caved in.

The dismantling of the nuclear test ground ‘completely closed the tunnel entrances’, the government’s mouthpiece KCNA reported, adding that two tunnels there had been ready for use in ‘powerful underground nuclear tests.’

And analysts observed in 2022 that the site was being rehabilitated for potential nuclear cruise missile warhead tests.

The US, South Korea and Japan said at the time that North Korea would receive an ‘overwhelming, decisive… and unparalleled’ response if testing was resumed.

August 12, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, North Korea | Leave a comment

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