Nuclear Regulatory Commission: failure and cover-up
The NRC’s ghastly failure
It and the Veterans Affairs Department papered over cancer treatment errors.
Philadelphia Inquier, 12 August 09 By Peter Crane
When news broke of the bungled radiation treatments given to prostate cancer patients at the Philadelphia VA hospital, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was quick to deflect responsibility. The agency said it learned of the problems only in May 2008 and then moved “aggressively and decisively” to correct them.
The Department of Veterans Affairs took a similar line. Testifying before a Senate committee in June, acting VA Undersecretary for Health Gerald Cross expressed regret that “this problem went undetected for nearly six years.”
But the NRC’s own records tell a different story. Documents readily accessible on its Web site show it knew of Dr. Gary Kao’s pattern of errors in 2003, saw it recur in 2005, and did nothing about it until 2008. Far from “undetected,” this problem was papered over by the two agencies……………………
the doctors and hospitals licensed by the NRC are a powerful lobby, relentless and all too successful in demanding less regulation. In recent years, the agency has dismantled much of the system of regulations that used to protect patients and the public.
For example, the NRC used to have a rule requiring safety checks that might have prevented the Philadelphia disaster. But, yielding to the industry, the NRC abolished that rule in 2002………..
…..decisions affecting the medical care of Philadelphia’s veterans or anyone else should not be entrusted to an agency of nuclear engineers – certainly not one with the NRC’s record of failure. This would require a change in the law, which Congress should make after thoroughly investigating the NRC’s medical program.In the meantime, President Obama has two vacancies to fill on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Recent reports say he is preparing to name two more reactor experts, to the jubilation of the nuclear-power industry. This would only make a bad situation worse.
Obama should instead nominate someone – perhaps a current or former state regulator – with the expertise and will to end the NRC’s long neglect of its medical responsibilities.
Decisions affecting the medical care of Philadelphia’s veterans or anyone else should not be entrusted to an agency of nuclear engineers – certainly not one with the NRC’s record of failure. This would require a change in the law, which Congress should make after thoroughly investigating the NRC’s medical program.
In the meantime, President Obama has two vacancies to fill on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Recent reports say he is preparing to name two more reactor experts, to the jubilation of the nuclear-power industry. This would only make a bad situation worse.
Obama should instead nominate someone – perhaps a current or former state regulator – with the expertise and will to end the NRC’s long neglect of its medical responsibilities.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090812_The_NRC_s_ghastly_failure.html
China probes top nuclear chief for wrongdoing
China probes top nuclear chief for wrongdoing: report
(AFP) –6 August 09 BEIJING
— A top official in charge of China’s civilian and military nuclear programmes has been placed under investigation, state media said Wednesday, in what appeared to be another case of high-level graft.Kang Rixin, party secretary and general manager of state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, is being probed for possible involvement in “grave violations of discipline”, the Xinhua news agency said.The term “discipline violations” often means acts of corruption in the language of Chinese officialdom………………………
The China National Nuclear Corporation is responsible for both civilian and military nuclear activities, such as nuclear weapons production, power generation and waste disposal.
Extreme secrecy on U.S. Nuclear Weapons impedes democracy
The Costs of U.S. Nuclear Weapons
mil.news.sohu.com 29 July 09
“……………………The extreme secrecy surrounding almost everything concerning nuclear weapons impeded effective democratic debate for decades. During the earliest years of the program, the AEC simply presented a budget to Congress with little or no detailed justification for how the money would be spent and why. The fundamental issue of how U.S. nuclear weapons would be used and how the requirements for deterrence were developed was never adequately explored during the early years when the basic framework for the program was being established. One result of this is that U.S. officials systematically failed to anticipate how the Soviet Union would perceive the U.S. buildup and how it would drive the Soviets to respond with its own provocative programs. Finally, pork barrel politics (the use of government programs by elected representatives to enrich their constituents) was an important underlying factor as well…………………………..Funding something connected to the defense of the nation required less justification and was more immune to careful scrutiny than a non-military program. Nuclear weapons programs became an important means of support for the otherwise poor and mostly rural communities where production facilities were located. In time, these communities became dependent, to varying degrees, on their local nuclear facilities, to the extent that local officials (and many workers) often downplayed the health and environmental risks they posed……………..
………..As a result of the Cold War and the imperatives of the nuclear standoff, this aspect of the American economy resembled the economy of the Soviet Union, in which decisions were made on a planned basis by a remote government, without reference to market forces, behind closed doors, for reasons that would not be made public
Fears for safety as nuclear watchdog hires staff from firms pitching to build reactors
Fears for safety as nuclear watchdog hires staff from firms pitching to build reactors The Guardian Tim Webb 26 June 2009
The Nuclear Installations Inspec
torate is recruiting more than a dozen project managers to speed up its review of new reactor designs – even though they work for the companies hoping to build them.
The Guardian has learnt that the government has approached companies including the US groups Bechtel and CH2M Hill, as well as the UK’s Amec, to fill the senior posts. The companies involved are eager to secure lucrative contracts to help build the UK’s first new reactors for decades.
Government and industry sources admitted the secondments posed potential conflict of interest problems.
It is also understood that the inspectorate has recruited technical staff from Areva,…………………………There are concerns that the potential conflicts of interest could compromise the safety of the new nuclear reactors if the companies helping the inspectorate have a vested interest in approving their design.
The high price of nuclear fuel
The high price of nuclear fuel: Censorbugbear 25 June 2009 story sourced from World Nuclear News, Itar-Tass news agency, LARRI Namibian miners inhale alpha radiation:During a May 2009 visit to the Netherlands, Mrs Hilma Shindondola-Mote, director of the Namibian research institute LArrI, warned that many uranium workers in Namibia ‘ fear for their health and lifestyle due to the environmental impact of uranium mining while concessions for mine companies continue to be granted by the government.”
She presented the institute’s findings in its latest report: ‘Uranium mining in Namibia – the mystery behind low-level radiation’, with research conducted among fifty workers of Namibia’s largest uranium mine: Rössing Uranium (Rio Tinto Group). *
“Mine workers and others in the surrounding communities inhale dust and radon gas. The radon gas exposes the body to alpha radiation, which is destructive. Exposure to radiation is most often associated with cancer, but it can also have other harmful effects. Low level radiation can contribute to birth defects, high infant mortality and chronic lung, eye, skin and reproductive illnesses.”
They are only informed about health problems after leaving their jobs…Uranium mine workers are not aware of the true nature of their health status: “During the time we conducted the study, employees claimed that Rössing does not explain what health problems can arise from exposure to uranium”. Also, workers of the company raised concern that although they are tested annually, the results are never revealed until such a time when they leave the company. *
“The workers feel that there is a conspiracy between the doctors and Rössing. They are only informed about health problems like cancer after leaving their jobs. The doctors tell them that the deterioration in their health is because of their genes, family history or lifestyle.”
Censorbugbear reports…: Russia gets fuel deals with Nigeria,Egypt,Namibia
INDIA: Opposition to ‘Nuclearism’ Builds Up
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Jun 24 (IPS) – As India follows up on the historic civilian nuclear agreement it signed last year with the United States by drawing up hard commercial deals, opposition to ‘nuclearism’ is building up among activist groups.
The ‘India-U.S. Economic Relations: The Next Decade’ report released this week by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) says that the nuclear deal marks the beginning of a new era……………………… “India intends to import 24 reactors in the next 11-15 years, and could create as many as 20,000 new jobs directly and indirectly in the U.S. from nuclear trade,” the CII report says.
But although it was the U.S. that pushed India’s case past the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), other countries – notably France and Russia – are eager players in India’s expanding nuclear commerce………………………………….. Anti-nuclear activists believe that India – following the completion of the Indo-US deal – is on the threshold of a new era of ‘nuclearisation’ which will have far-reaching effects on the way the country is run.
“With the India-U.S. nuclear deal, and the deals with Russia and France and likely private participation in nuclear energy generation, the situation is going to get out of hand in our country,” says S.P. Udayakumar, convenor of the newly launched National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM).
NAAM, launched at a three-day convention held in Kanyakumari in southern Tamil Nadu, during the first week of June, plans to mobilise ordinary Indians against the ‘nuclearisation’ of the country and protect people against nuclear threats and destruction of the environment from nuclear waste and radiation.
NAAM warns Indian citizens that they are up against a “combination of profiteering companies, secretive state apparatuses and a repressive nuclear department which will be ruthless.”
“This nexus of capitalism, statism and nuclearism does not augur well for the country. These forces are gaining an upper hand in our national polity which will sound the death knell for the country’s democracy, openness, and prospects for sustainable development,” Udayakumar told IPS.
Swiss order more evidence destroyed in nuke probe
The Gaea News 25 June 09 GENEVA — The Swiss government on Wednesday ordered the quick destruction of about 100 pages of evidence linked to an investigation of three Swiss engineers suspected of smuggling nuclear weapons technology.
The Cabinet said the documents were “the most explosive” material in a file of more than 1,000 pages related to the case against the Tinner family, which is suspected of links to the nuclear smuggling network of Abdul Qadeer Khan — the creator of Pakistan’s atomic bomb.
The documents are copies of files destroyed in 2007 under a previous order that led to protests from lawmakers and legal experts, who said the government undermined the prosecution in the smuggling case. The copies were found in prosecutors’ archives last December. http://blog.taragana.com/n/swiss-government-orders-more-evidence-destroyed-in-nuclear-smuggling-probe-90994/
Revealed: catalogue of atomic leaks
Revealed: catalogue of atomic leaks The Fuardian Terry Macalister and Rob Edwards 21 June 09
The scale of safety problems inside Britain’s nuclear power stations has been revealed for the first time in a secret report obtained by the Observer that shows more than 1,750 leaks, breakdowns or other “events” over the past seven years.
The damning document, written by the government’s chief nuclear inspector, Mike Weightman, and released under the Freedom of Information Act, raises serious questions about the dangers of expanding the industry with a new generation of atomic plants. And it came as the managers of the UK’s biggest plant, Sellafield, admitted they had finally halted a radioactive leak many believe has been going on for 50 years.
The report discloses that between 2001-08 there were 1,767 safety incidents across Britain’s nuclear plants. About half were subsequently judged by inspectors as serious enough “to have had the potential to challenge a nuclear safety system”. They were “across all areas of existing nuclear plant”, including Sellafield in Cumbria and Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, says Weightman, chief inspector of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII).
Revealed: catalogue of atomic leaks | Environment | The Observer
Big Nuke’s Radioactive Hoax in Impoverished Ohio
Signs of Desperation?
Big Nuke’s Radioactive Hoax in Impoverished Ohio counterpunch 20 June 09 By HARVEY WASSERMANJob-starved southern Ohioans are being promised a shiny new nuclear plant. But the announcement has come with a cruel reminder, and the scent of a desperate hoax.Using the gargantuan corpse of the shuttered Portsmouth-Piketon uranium enrichment plant as his backdrop, U.S. Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) punctuated his enthusiastic endorsement the new nuke by proclaiming that, with his support, the US government has paid thousands of Ohio workers hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for the health damage they suffered from being irradiated while working there…………………………….
Now the heaviest of nuclear hitters want to use this same site for a 1600-megawatt French-designed plant that would anchor a “Clean Energy Park.” In a region devastated by the enrichment plant’s shutdown, and by the decimation of the American industrial economy, it would be a flagship for the “nuclear power renaissance.”
It is a cruel hoax
……………………………….the most critical spot was occupied by Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of AREVA, the French government’s nuclear front group. She ended her brief speech with a heavily inflected “Go Buckeyes!”
Lauvergeon is a top A-List industry hitter, the flamboyant, hard-nosed chief of the world’s number one reactor pusher. But AREVA’s finances have been hard-hit by an outdated technology teetering at the brink of collapse, even as its supporters push ahead with high-profile—but hollow—events like this one…………………………Other bothersome details remain to be solved, most importantly: who will actually pay for all this?……………….Nor has the insurance industry come forward to provide liability coverage in case of a major accident.
Harvey Wasserman: Big Nuke’s Radioactive Hoax in Impoverished Ohio
Poor countries could be paid to go nuclear
THE prospect of paying poor countries to build nuclear power stations is back in view.
Draft text under negotiation at climate-change talks in Bonn, Germany, includes an option to make nuclear facilities eligible for funding under two schemes meant to help poorer countries develop low-carbon technologies: the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation.
Nuclear power was excluded from these schemes in the Kyoto protocol in 2001, after opposition from both European and some developing countries.
Poor countries could be paid to go nuclear – 10 June 2009 – New Scientist
10 heroes who nailed Ministry of Defence lies over atomic blasts
10 heroes who nailed Ministry of Defence lies over atomic blasts Mirror.co.uk 7/06/2009 These are the 10 heroes whose evidence finally nailed the lies of the Ministry of Defence. Their cases were selected as examples that could be tested to see if a full trial of the facts was possible. All were sent to the Pacific to watch the atomic blasts in the 1950s. Four have died of cancer and another of a combination of illnesses. The survivors are all crippled by horrific medical conditions……………………
10 heroes who nailes Ministry of Defence lies over atomic blasts – mirror.co.uk
Rogue Radiation
Rogue Radiation abc2news.com 6 June 09 ABC2News investigates how with a lack of federal oversight, there is no way to know the scope of the problem.
Giant piles of scrap metal get melted down to form the types of products you buy everyday, but a lengthy Scripps Howard News Service investigation found that not all those products come out shiny and new. ………………….Neal Shapiro is the owner of Cambridge Iron and Metal in Baltimore.
The concern in the scrap metal business is the recycling of metals with low level radiation.Our investigation found that in some cases, contaminated metals like medical equipment and old industrial or aeronautical gauges make their way through some scrap yards and smelters without detection.
The end results are new products; radioactive products.
Our investigation found recycled radioactive metal was used to make cheese graters, parts of lazy boy chairs and years ago, the poles of some fast food tables. …………………………..And the equipment to detect is no bargain either, truck scales costs upwards of 50 thousand dollars. It is a financial burden yards like Shaprio’s responsibly take on, but we found that there is no federal oversight or standard requiring scrap yards to test their metals.
Rogue Radiation – Baltimore News, Weather, Breaking News | WMAR-TV
Nuclear power consultation process blasted by Northern Alberta residents
Nuclear power consultation process blasted by Northern Alberta residents By Hanneke Brooymans, edmontonjournal.com une 5, 2009 EDMONTON — Citizens who gathered in Edmonton Friday to participate in a provincial government consultation on nuclear power blasted the process for being secretive and rushed………………………….
Citizens who don’t want nuclear power plants in Alberta say the entire consultation process on the issue has been biased, beginning with the expert report released earlier this year.
They also found the five weeks given to the public to fill out a survey workbook was too short.
Albertans were given 75 days to offer their thoughts on new licence plates and 60 days on parks consultations, said Mark Sandilands, a member of a southern Alberta environmental group called Greensence.
The group is pushing for the provincial government to also run a public consultation process on renewable energy options.
Nuclear power consultation process blasted by Northern Alberta residents
DOE Nuclear Clean-Up Program “High-Risk Area For Fraud, Waste, Abuse, And Mismanagement”
DOE Nuclear Cleanup Program “High Risk Area for Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Mismanagement”The Huffington Post | Cara Parks 06- 2-09
The Department of Energy is not adequately reporting the environmental impact of its billion-dollar program to clean up nuclear waste, according to a government audit.
The Government Accountability Office released a report today noting that the DOE’s nuclear clean-up program has been labeled as “a high-risk area for fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement” since 1990, which the GOA says is the result of “inadequate management and oversight of its projects.”
As recently as March of 2009, the report stated, the GOA testified that cost increases at some major nuclear clean up projects were estimated to require an additional $25 to $42 billion to complete. Despite the consistent problems with the projects and ballooning budgets, the DOE did not adequately report its progress or the actual environmental impact of its work, the audit states.
The rising costs on major projects are now being funded partially by the stimulus package, which, according to The Washington Post, has earmarked over $6 billion for cleaning up nuclear sites. The article goes on to report that some of the private contractors receiving stimulus money were previously cited by the GAO for serious flaws in their performance.
DOE Nuclear Clean-Up Program “High-Risk Area For Fraud, Waste, Abuse, And Mismanagement”
Uranium intrigue
Uranium intrigue
Market Blog May 28, 2009 The Globe and Mail Uranium One Inc. (UUU-T2.20-0.21-8.71%) was whacked on Wednesday after the head of Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium mining company was reportedly arrested and accused of illegally selling uranium concessions to foreign companies – a potentially big problem, given that Uranium One operates in Kazakhstan.
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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