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Desperate spinning by nuclear lobby to resuscitate the industry

proponents of reactors have spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress for more subsidies. ….A critical moment is coming soon, when Obama goes to Congress to request an additional $36 billion in loan guarantees for new nukes in his 2012 budget.With them, America’s atomic industry has a chance to build a few more reactors. Without them, a green-powered Earth is within our grasp 
 Will the Nuclear Power Industry Melt Down?,  Washington Spectator, by Harvey Wasserman, 29 April 11,  ”….Japan’s horrifying catastrophe has sent the industry’s spin machine into overdrive. Hell-bent on minimizing the dangers of this unprecedented disaster, we’ve been shown the script of what reactor-backers are willing to say and do to save themselves. Continue reading →

April 30, 2011 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Developing the myths of nuclear power as cheap and safe

The myth of radiation being very interesting but not dangerous was however firmly debunked by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, but not without a last ditch attempt by the occupying Allied Powers to protect it – by arresting and deporting any journalist who talked about radiation deaths.

The Nuclear Power Mercantilist Myth :: The Market Oracle :: By Andrew McKillop, 19 April 11, “…..COSTS DIDNT MATTERThe atom scientists of the 1930s with names we still know today, for example Fermi and Einstein, argued about those subjects but, being scientists, were not specially concerned what it would all cost. Only later, with the founding of the UN’s atomic energy agency in 1956 – a promotional agency for nuclear power – were the key subjects of entrepreneurial effort and the obligatorily linked need for government subsidies brought into the fray. This was sold as creating a future world where atomic arms will be changed to power plant ploughshares. While atomic weapons were expensive, the ploughshares would be cheap if we spent enough investing in them. Continue reading →

April 19, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, history, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Pulling apart George Monbiot’s pro nuclear statements

In all this prolific writing in support of nuclear power, Monbiot never quite answers the most difficult questions regarding cost, liability for accidents, nuclear waste disposal and link with nuclear bomb manufacturing. Instead, he chooses to attack his previous allies in the environmental NGOs and movements, ridiculing their struggles as resulting from delusions of ignorant people. No matter how cool he thinks he might look with his supposedly highly rational approach to environmentalism, I’d like to know what exactly is his stance on this critical issue. Is that asking too much?

Why George Monbiot is STILL wrong on nuclear power | Links, By Ricardo Sequeiros Coelho, 11 April 11, “……...Double standard 1: deaths and injuries. According to Monbiot, anti-nuclear campaigners cry in despair over the deaths and injuries caused by nuclear accidents, yet don’t say a word about the victims of the coal industry. …….The game goes on by playing with statistics from Chernobyl. Monbiot again quotes the highly disputed number of 43 deaths from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, taken from the Chernobyl Forum report. Not only does he uncritically follow the statistics given by an international body that incorporates one of the strongest pro-nuclear lobbies in the world, he is dishonest enough not to quote it correctly, as Joe Giambrone neatly exposes (see Counterpunch). Continue reading →

April 12, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | 1 Comment

How George Monbiot misleads the world on nuclear radiation

by reassuring the public that things aren’t too bad, Monbiot and others at best misinform, and at worst misrepresent or distort, the scientific evidence of the harmful effects of radiation exposure – and they play a predictable shoot-the-messenger game in the process.

How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation George Monbiot and others at best misinform and at worst distort evidence of the dangers of atomic energy Helen Caldicott * guardian.co.uk, 11 April 2011 Soon after the Fukushima accident last month, I stated publicly that a nuclear event of this size and catastrophic potential could present a medical problem of very large dimensions. Events have proven this observation to be true despite the nuclear industry’s campaign about the “minimal” health effects of so-called low-level radiation. Continue reading →

April 12, 2011 Posted by | general, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Fukushima stimulating new burst of nuclear energy “spin”

As nuclear energy markets feel the squeeze, we can expect to see the industry going into PR overdrive to promote the safety of nuclear technology in the coming months, often air-brushing existential threat dimensions from the nuclear equation out of the public’s consciousness…..

Fukushima sets faithful to spin mode James Norman The Australian April 11, 2011 EVEN as the steam was still rising from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan last month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was busy personally signing a $US9 billion ($8.5bn) deal with Belarus for a new nuclear-powered reactor.

That deal was the result of lengthy prior negotiations, but the reality is that the industry now faces a spectacular global image problem. Continue reading →

April 11, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Nuclear establishment’s bogus talk of “safe” radiation

radiation from a meltdown in the reactor core of reactor No. 2 is leaking out into the water and soil, with other reactors continuing to experience problems.  Yet scientists and activists question these government and nuclear industry “safe” limits of radiation exposure….all this talk about what a worker or the public can withstand on a yearly basis is bogus. There is no safe level of radiation exposure. These so-called safe levels are coming from within the nuclear establishment.”

‘No safe levels’ of radiation in Japan,  Al Jazeera 5 April 11, Experts warn that any detectable level of radiation is “too much”. “…..water that is vastly more radioactive continues to gush into the ocean through a large crack in a six-foot deep pit at the nuclear plant. Over the weekend, workers at the plant used sawdust, shredded newspaper and diaper chemicals in a desperate attempt to plug the area, which failed. Water leaking from the pit is about 10,000 times more radioactive than water normally found at a nuclear plant Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

People power can once again stop the nuclear industry

Society’s energy “needs” (“wants” being the more operative word) exist on one side of the scales, and society’s concern for preventing the fouling of the only nest we have is on the other. It is up to us, the people, to educate ourselves and ensure rational protections. If we leave it to the money people, the profiteers — well, we’ve seen what Wall Street’s greed can do to our economy. Short-sighted greed and arrogance will also wreck our living planet, if left to run free……..The energy-consuming public will continue to hear from industry promoters and the scientists and engineers whose work is funded by them that the latest designs are foolproof

Right back on the nuclear fool cycle Stay informed about nuclear dangers because the lessons are always lost on politicians and the industry By Vip Short  The Register-Guard 4 Aprl 11 Ah, lesson learned — until repeated. Here we are again at the next climactic moment of what may someday be called the nuclear fool cycle. While President Obama has recently renewed his call for more nuclear power plants, The Register-Guard wisely points to the many inherent and unsolved dangers in a March 15 editorial, “Nuclear failure in Japan.” Continue reading →

April 4, 2011 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | 1 Comment

Whom to believe about Fukushima – nuclear industry or doctors?

Nuclear’s green cheerleaders forget Chernobyl at our peril Pundits who downplay the risks of radiation are ignoring the casualities of the past. Fukushima’s meltdown may be worse John Vidal guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 April 2011

“……So who can we trust when the estimates swing so wildly? Should we believe the empirical evidence of the doctors; or governments and industrialists backed by their PR companies? So politicised has nuclear energy become, that you can now pick and choose your data, rubbish your opponents, and ignore anything you do not like. The fact is we may never know the truth about Chernobyl because the records are lost, thousands of people from 24 countries who cleaned up the site have dispersed across the vast former Soviet Union, and many people have died.Fukushima is not Chernobyl, but it is potentially worse. It is a multiple reactor catastrophe happening within 150 miles of a metropolis of 30 million people. If it happened at Sellafield, there would be panic in every major city in Britain. We still don’t know the final outcome but to hear experts claiming that nuclear radiation is not that serious, or that this accident proves the need for nuclear power, is nothing short of disgraceful…..
Nuclear’s green cheerleaders forget Chernobyl at our peril | John Vidal | Comment is free | The Guardian

April 2, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

No safe level for ionising radiation as cancer cause

there may be a threshold for some effects of radiation, but not for cancer…….There is unfortunately a continuing tirade of statements by self-interested parties and some official agencies … implying a threshold for radiation exposure below which there are no adverse consequences,”

No ‘safe’ threshold for radiation: experts, Analysis (ABC Science)31 March 2011 Anna Salleh,As Japanese authorities work to contain radiation at Fukushima, concerns have been raised about public communication on radiation risk. The US advocacy group, Physicians for Social Responsiblity, recently criticised press reports implying there is a safe threshold for ionizing radiation exposure. Continue reading →

March 31, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

George Monbiot does not understand the public health effects of nuclear radiation

workers have received high doses and it’s anyone’s guess how many thousands (or millions) of people have received very small doses. Monbiot seems not to understand that the weight of scientific opinion holds that there is no safe dose of radiation.For a tiny, unlucky percentage of the many people who have received small radiation doses as a result of Fukushima, that radiation exposure will prove to be fatal.

George Monbiot’s nuclear mistakes | Green Left Weekly, Jim Green, 26 March 11, Prominent British columnist George Monbiot announced in the British Guardian on March 21 that he now supports nuclear power………….Monbiot is understating the radiological impacts of Fukushima and ignoring the other impacts. Continue reading →

March 28, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | 1 Comment

Mayor of London says don’t worry: nuclear power is safe, clean and green

Disaster as divine retribution The Age Boris Johnson March 15, 2011 To take Japan’s quake and tsunami as a sign we should abandon nuclear power would be a further catastrophe……

First off the blocks, I see, is the anti-nuke lobby. These are the atomkraft-nein-danke brigade, ……….They will now do everything they can to exploit the Fukushima explosions and the difficulties being experienced in bringing a couple of nuclear plants under control……
. I just doubt that there is any real read-across between the difficulties of nuclear reactors in a well-known earthquake zone, and the proposed nuclear programs elsewhere…..WE don’t have to make amends by sacrificing a hetacomb to Poseidon. We don’t hAZve to lead a hundred garlanded men and maidens to the top of the pyramid and then cut out their beating hearts. ….. we don’t have to sacrifice our efforts to provide safe clean and green nuclear power....http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/

March 15, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation being touted to children as safe?

(What are “health physicists” anyway ?   Doesn’t sound like they’re doctors)

Students learn about radiation Mar 05, 2011 RICHLAND, Wash.- Second graders at Christ the King School in Richland got a hands-on physics demonstration Friday.

Two health physicists taught the children about personal protective equipment, radiation detection, and examples of everyday items containing radiation.

Some of those everyday items include: bananas, some rocks, and even human beings. Students learn about radiation – KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

March 5, 2011 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | 10 Comments

Robert Green’s inspirational call for scrapping nuclear weapons

A surprisingly small network of individuals drove the campaign to abolish slavery. As with nuclear deterrence, slavery’s leading apologists were the power elites of the United States, Britain and France. They argued that slavery was a “necessary evil,” for which there was “no alternative.” They were discredited as charlatans after a few courageous, committed ordinary British, American and French citizens mobilized unstoppable public and political support for their campaign to replace slavery with more humane, lawful and effective ways to create wealth. The analogy holds for nuclear deterrence, which can and must be discarded for more humane, lawful and safer security strategies if civilization and the Earth’s ecosystems are to survive.

Breaking Free From the Nuclear Deterrence Scam, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Green, 28 Feb 2011,“………Now the nuclear weapon states, admitting that extremists with weapons of mass destruction cannot be deterred, plan pre-emptive nuclear attacks in “anticipatory self-defense” of their “vital interests” — not last-ditch defense of their homeland. Thereby, their unprovable claim that nuclear deterrence averts war is cynically stood on its head. Continue reading →

March 1, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Well funded pressure against Australia’s new carbon tax

The nastiest end of the anti-tax campaign will come from a right-wing extremist grouping that includes Fox News’s Glenn Beck and is backed by the notorious Koch brothers.

Another step towards renewable energy – Unleashed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 25 Feb 2011, “…..The “can’t do” campaign will be meeting in PR war rooms across Australia this morning, deciding how much to spend on lobbying, advertising and astro-turfing. As always, America leads the way for Australia’s politics and we should note the news on Bloomberg overnight that the American Petroleum Institute will start backing political candidates this year, in order to prevent climate action by president Barack Obama. Continue reading →

February 27, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Natural Resources Council challenges NRC’s WASTE CONFIDENCE RULE

In absurdist fashion, the new Waste Confidence Rule contains a “predictive” safety “finding” that simply stipulates spent reactor fuel can be disposed of safely at some unspecified time in the future, whenever it becomes “necessary” to dispose of it. The Rule also concludes that for at least sixty years after the cessation of reactor operations, spent fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites or in “special” facilities.

Sixty Thousand Tons of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Stored at U.S. Reactors for 60 Years? Natural Resources Defence Council, Matthew McKinzie  February 23, 2011 Why NRDC has Challenged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Waste Confidence Rule Last week my colleague and NRDC Senior Attorney Geoffrey Fettus filed a legal challenge to two final rulemakings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: the “Waste Confidence Decision Update” and the “Consideration of Environmental Impacts of Temporary Storage of Spent Fuel After Cessation of Reactor Operation.” What does the Federal Government want to do with these new Rules, and why is NRDC opposing them?…….. Continue reading →

February 24, 2011 Posted by | Legal, spinbuster, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

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