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U.S. Senator Ed Markey points out the absurdity of John Bolton’s suggesting the “Libya model” for negotiating with North Korea

The $100 billion dollar man  by beyondnuclearinternational  Senator Ed Markey wants to slash nuclear weapons spending and get the US back to the negotiating table with North Korea By Linda Pentz Gunter

“The Libya model as Kim Jong-un has been interpreting it, is that it’s one where the leader of the country surrenders their nuclear capability only to then be overthrown and killed. Why would you not think that Kim would not interpret that, as it continued to escalate with John Bolton on the Sunday shows, with the Vice President talking about the Gaddafi model? Why would you think that there would be any other interpretation than what happened to Gaddafi at the end of his denuclearization, which is that he wound up dead? Why would you think that would not in fact elicit hostility from a negotiating partner only three weeks from sitting down across the table?”

The man on the receiving end of this May 24th peppering was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The gentle barrage came during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing after the North Korean regime reacted with unsurprising offense to National Security Advisor John Bolton’s reference to the 2003 disarming of Libya as the model for the White House approach to “denuclearizing” North Korea.

As we already know, the North Korean response — along with its accurate assessment of Vice President Mike Pence as a “political dummy” — prompted President Trump to call off the talks and accuse North Korea of “tremendous anger and open hostility.” And then say the talks were back on. Maybe. And then….who knows?

But who was grilling Pompeo? Many might spot his identity from the style of the written transcript alone. It is reasonable, tinged with humor, polite but persistent. To the point. For those unfamiliar with the speaker, the answer is the same as another question: Who is the US anti-nuclear movement’s most enduring and steadfast ally in Congress? That person would be Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts.

Markey has fought alongside us for decades on both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Both he, and The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability recently reminded us of this during the ANA Capitol Hill awards night on May 22. The event was part of ANA’s annual DC Days lobbying effort. Markey was one of two Congressional recipients of an ANA award, along with another stalwart champion, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California……..

During a May 22, 2008 oversight hearing of the House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, of which Markey was chairman, the then Congressman asked Bush Energy Secretary, Samuel Bodman:

“But aren’t you suspicious that the Saudis don’t want a solar agreement? Saudi Arabia is the Saudi Arabia of solar. There it is. It sits there as a desert with sun 12 months a year, blistering hot. Why wouldn’t this administration be suspicious that they are asking for nuclear rather than solar power exchange in order to meet their long-term energy needs?”

How little has changed since then, as the Trump administration prepares to sign a nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia that may not require what Markey referred to at the ANA event as the “gold standard, or a commitment from Saudi Arabia not to enrich or reprocess nuclear materials that can be used in nuclear bombs.”……….

Markey, and his Democratic colleague in the House of Representatives, Ted Lieu of California, have introduced their Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons act. The bill, explained Markey “says no American president, especially President Donald Trump, should be able to unilaterally launch nuclear weapons without provocation, without consultation, without warning and without the United States having been attacked with nuclear weapons.” ……..

“We cannot squander funding on nuclear weapons, on nuclear programs, on nuclear repositories that we do not need and instead steal that money from the mouths of children who need a food stamp program, or elderly who need care in nursing homes,” Markey went on. “We cannot make that choice in good conscience which is why I am so proud to be here with you. Because the least we should be able to say, if a nuclear war does break out in North Korea, is that we tried, we really tried to avoid that catastrophic outcome.” ….https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2018/05/26/ed-markey-on-stopping-nuclear-war/

May 28, 2018 Posted by | politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Workers at Waste Isolation Pilot project evacuated due to a container problem

Container problem spurs evacuation at nuclear waste site http://www.kristv.com/story/38282972/container-problem-spurs-evacuation-at-nuclear-waste-site
May 26, 2018 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Workers had to evacuate the U.S. government’s only underground nuclear waste repository after finding a container of waste misaligned inside its packaging, but officials confirmed Friday that no radiation was released.

    It marked another problem for the New Mexico facility where a drum of radioactive waste leaked in 2014 and shut down operations for nearly three years. The leak highlighted safety concerns and resulted in a costly recovery and sweeping changes in the way low-level nuclear waste destined for the dump is treated and handled.

In the latest incident, the contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant activated its emergency operations center after discovering the misaligned container Thursday night. Officials later determined conditions were stable and deactivated emergency operations.

Donavan Mager, a spokesman with Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, said Friday that officials are investigating how the problem occurred.

In disposing the waste, seven 55-gallon drums are wrapped together in a tight formation to go deep inside the ancient salt formation where the repository is located. The idea is that the shifting salt will eventually entomb the waste.

Workers found one drum wasn’t aligned with the six others that made up the waste package. Work was immediately halted.

Procedures call for officials to develop a plan to re-enter the underground portion of the repository to deal with the pack of drums. It was not immediately known how long that would take.

“The plan is developed with extreme conservatism to ensure workers are protected,” Mager said.

Shipments to the repository resumed in 2017 following the lengthy closure stemming from the container of waste that was improperly treated at Los Alamos National Laboratory, also in New Mexico.

The repository has been receiving several shipments a week of waste that includes gloves, clothing, tools and other debris contaminated by plutonium and other radioactive elements. The Cold War-era waste was generated over years of bomb-making and nuclear weapons research.

The shipments are coming from Los Alamos lab and installations in Idaho, Tennessee, South Carolina and Texas.

May 28, 2018 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

South Carolina suing the USA govt over closure of MOX fuel reprocessing program

South Carolina sues federal government over end of nuclear fuel program  http://www.wrdw.com/content/news/South-Carolina-sues-federal-government-over-end-of-nuclear-fuel-program-483786421.html May 26, 2018 AIKEN, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is suing the federal government after the Energy Department announced it was stopping construction of a plant to turn plutonium used in nuclear weapons into fuel for nuclear reactors.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s lawsuit filed Friday says Energy Secretary Rick Perry didn’t consult Governor Henry McMaster before ending construction at the Savannah River Site near Aiken.

The lawsuit also says the Energy Department didn’t perform an analysis of how to store the plutonium already at SRS.

Instead of creating mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, the National Nuclear Security Administration suggests SRS make new plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.

Wilson called the decision to end MOX another chapter in the long, tortured history of broken promises by the federal government.
The Energy Department didn’t immediately respond.

May 28, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Grand Canyon – too important, too majestic, to be ruined by uranium mining

Renewed uranium mining is an unconscionable threat to the Grand Canyon   Chicago Sun Times, Thomas Frisbie, 05/26/2018,  @thomasfrisbie | email

The spectacular and majestic Grand Canyon, eons in the making, needs our help. Some Republican members of Congress want President Donald Trump to overturn a ban on new uranium mining nearby, along with other conservation measures. We need to urge Congress to protect this national jewel.

Some six million people arrive each year to view the vast, multi-hued and intricate canyon, though most don’t venture far from the rim. For them, it’s an inspiring and breath-taking sight. But hardy trekkers who explore remote trails might see something else: signs warning them they are entering an area of the canyon tainted by radioactivity spewed years ago from uranium mines. National Geographic reports uranium leaching from old mines has rendered 15 springs and five wells inside the canyon unsafe to drink. We don’t need more of that.

Uranium pollution is no way to treat an immense and ancient panorama of stunningly varied rock that has been called one of the seven wonders of the natural world. Recently, I had an opportunity to backpack with intrepid family members from the rim to the bottom and camp along Bright Angel Creek, near where it flows into the Colorado River. The ever-changing vista along the rocky trails was magnificent. Unafraid mule deer browsed just a few feet from us. A rare condor flew overhead. Bold rock squirrels waited for a chance to gnaw and rummage through any backpacks absent-mindedly left on the ground.

….. We now have a president who last year ordered federal agencies to review anything that could interfere with domestic energy production. In response, the Forest Service in November recommended reopening land near the Grand Canyon for uranium mining. In March, groups representing the mining industry asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the ban on new uranium mining on public land bordering the Grand Canyon National Park.

Uranium mining is extremely risky for the environment. Mining releases radioactive dust into the air and contaminates the land and water with radioactive and toxic substances.

“Uranium mining has left a toxic trail across the West — including at the Grand
Canyon itself,” the environmental group Environment America wrote in its April report update, “Grand Canyon at Risk: Uranium Mining Threatens a National Treasure.”

The waste rock and dirt left behind can remain radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years and also contain toxic chemicals such as arsenic that can contaminate the surrounding environment and make the mines themselves permanently hazardous, the report says.

Steve Blackledge, Environment America’s conservation program director, says, “Some places are too majestic, too important to ruin. At a time of energy abundance and the remarkable growth of clean renewables, messing with the Grand Canyon to turn on a few more light bulbs is beyond absurd.”……https://chicago.suntimes.com/working/renewed-uranium-mining-is-an-unconscionable-threat-to-the-grand-canyon/

May 28, 2018 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Drug use among security troops on U.S. Nuclear Missile Base

Security Troops on US Nuclear Missile Base Took LSD Reader Supported News, By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 25 May 18  ne airman said he felt paranoia. Another marveled at the vibrant colors. A third admitted, “I absolutely just loved altering my mind.”

Meet service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles that are among the most powerful in America’s arsenal. Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press show they bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming. After investigators closed in, one airman deserted to Mexico.

“Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn’t,” said Capt. Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor of one of several courts martial.

A slipup on social media by one airman enabled investigators to crack the drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in March 2016, details of which are reported here for the first time. Fourteen airmen were disciplined. Six of them were convicted in courts martial of LSD use or distribution or both.

None of the airmen was accused of using drugs on duty. Yet it’s another blow to the reputation of the Air Force’s nuclear missile corps, which is capable of unleashing hell in the form of Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. The corps has struggled at times with misbehavior, mismanagement and low morale.

Although seen by some as a backwater of the U.S. military, the missile force has returned to the spotlight as President Donald Trump has called for strengthening U.S. nuclear firepower and exchanged threats last year with North Korea. The administration’s nuclear strategy calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending in coming decades.

The service members accused of involvement in the LSD ring were from the 90th Missile Wing, which operates one-third of the 400 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand “on alert” 24/7 in underground silos scattered across the northern Great Plains.

Documents obtained by the AP over the past two years through the Freedom of Information Act tell a sordid tale of off-duty use of LSD, cocaine and other drugs in 2015 and 2016 by airmen who were supposed to be held to strict behavioral standards because of their role in securing the weapons.

“It’s another black eye for the Air Force — for the ICBM force in particular,” says Stephen Schwartz, an independent consultant and nuclear expert.

In response to AP inquiries, an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Uriah L. Orland, said the drug activity took place during off-duty hours. “There are multiple checks to ensure airmen who report for duty are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and are able to execute the mission safely, securely and effectively,” he said.

Airman 1st Class Tommy N. Ashworth was among those who used LSD supplied by colleagues with connections to civilian drug dealers.

“I felt paranoia, panic” for hours after taking a hit of acid, Ashworth said under oath at his court martial. He confessed to using LSD three times while off duty. The first time, in the summer of 2015, shook him up. “I didn’t know if I was going to die that night or not,” he said as a witness at another airman’s drug trial. Recalling another episode with LSD, he said it felt “almost as if I was going to have like a heart attack or a heat stroke.”

Airman Basic Kyle S. Morrison acknowledged at his court martial that under the influence of LSD he could not have responded if recalled to duty in a nuclear security emergency.

In prosecuting the cases at F.E. Warren, the Air Force asserted that LSD users can experience “profound effects” from even small amounts. It said common psychological effects include “paranoia, fear and panic, unwanted and overwhelming feelings, unwanted life-changing spiritual experiences, and flashbacks.”

It’s unclear how long before being on duty any of the airmen had taken LSD, which stands for lysergic acid diethylamide. The drug became popularized as “acid” in the 1960s, and views since then have been widely split on its mental health risks. Although illegal in the U.S., it had been showing up so infrequently in drug tests across the military that in December 2006 the Pentagon eliminated LSD screening from standard drug-testing procedures. An internal Pentagon memo at the time said that over the previous three years only four positive specimens had been identified in 2.1 million specimens screened for LSD.

Yet Air Force investigators found those implicated in the F.E. Warren drug ring used LSD on base and off, at least twice at outdoor gatherings. Some also snorted cocaine and used ecstasy. Civilians joined them in the LSD use, including some who had recently left Air Force service, according to two officials with knowledge of the investigation. The Air Force declined to discuss this.

Airman 1st Class Nickolos A. Harris, said to be the leader of the drug ring, testified that he had no trouble getting LSD and other drugs from civilian sources. He pleaded guilty to using and distributing LSD and using ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana.

He acknowledged using LSD eight times and distributing LSD multiple times to fellow airmen at parties in Denver and other locations from spring 2015 to early 2016.

……. In all, disciplinary action was taken against 14 airmen. In addition, two accused airmen were acquitted at courts martial, and three other suspects were not charged. https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/50275-security-troops-on-us-nuclear-missile-base-took-lsd

May 28, 2018 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Vogtle nuclear power station in Georgia, only half completed, and 7 years behind schedule

Saporta Report 24th May 2018, A new report on the construction status of the Vogtle nuclear plant,
released Wednesday by Moody’s Investors Service, provides greater detail
than a May 10 statement released by Georgia Power and cites a number of
risks that could further delay the plant’s opening date. Moody’s report
addresses a list of frequently asked questions about the Vogtle project as
it relates to MEAG, the Municipal Electric Authority. MEAG is a partner in
the Vogtle project, along with Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corp., and
the City of Dalton Combined Utility. The first sentence of Moody’s report
observes: “Construction is progressing on the Vogtle Nuclear Units 3 and
4 in Georgia, offering additional credit stability to the owners of the
units, though the work is still only around 50 percent completed and is
several years behind the original schedule.”

May 28, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Pennsylvania nuclear lobby hoping for nuclear industry salvation via Tax-payer funding

Nuclear plants hope not to close, The Daily Item, By John Finnerty CNHI Harrisburg reporter, May 26, 2018, HARRISBURG — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law this week a $300 million Zero Emissions Certificate program intended to prop up the state’s nuclear power plants.

Nuclear energy industry lobbyists in Pennsylvania hope to see similar state aid here, to hold off announced closings of the Three Mile Island power plant operated by Exelon in Dauphin County and Beaver Valley Power Station, operated by FirstEnergy in Beaver County.

Exelon will not refuel Three Mile Island, as scheduled, in October 2019, unless something changes, David Fein, Exelon’s vice president for state and government affairs, said Thursday. FirstEnergy has filed noticed with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Beaver Valley will cease operating in 2021……….

Three Mile Island was the site of what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has described as “the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history” when its reactor partially melted down on March 28, 1979. The incident prompted then-Gov. Dick Thornburgh to announce that women and children within five miles of the nuclear power plant should evacuate. An estimated 140,000 people within 20 miles of the power plant fled the area in the days after the incident, according to an NRC summary of the event.

…….Environmentalists interviewed for this story said the shadow of the 1979 incident “still lingers” in the minds of many people skeptical of the industry.

Tom Schuster, who leads the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Pennsylvania, said he’d recently heard Three Mile Island described as “the least popular nuclear power plant in the country.”

Schuster said it would be bad for climate change if the nuclear plants were replaced by plants running on fracked natural gas.

Still, he’s still not particularly sold on the idea that the power companies will follow through and close the plants if the state doesn’t provide subsidies. Any plan to reward nuclear power for producing cleaner energy should also provide incentives for solar and wind energy, he said.

Eric Epstein, the long-time president of TMI Alert, a local watchdog group, said that taxpayers have repeatedly been asked to subsidize the nuclear power plants and he sees no reason it should continue.

“Nuclear power can’t exist without subsidies,” he said. “The market has ruled. There should be no more subsidies.”

He said the industry suggestion that nuclear power is clean, doesn’t tell the whole story.

“When you look at their green benefits, you have to look at their brown impacts too,” he said, pointing to concerns about handling of the radioactive waste produced at the power plants.

No legislation has yet been introduced in Pennsylvania to spell out how the industry might be propped up here………http://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/nuclear-plants-hope-not-to-close/article_1875b9ad-f430-5904-be06-1048b736c352.html

May 28, 2018 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Trump’s incompetence at negotiation, his year of failures, bring the world closer to conflicts

Trump’s nuclear failures from Iran to North Korea

In just over a year, Donald Trump has managed to nudge the world closer to conflict on both ends of the Asian continent. Aljazeera, by Richard Javad Heydarian 25 May 18 

After months of exhilarating anticipation, US President Donald Trump abruptly ditched a scheduled summit with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jung-un.

The American president vaguely cited North Korea’s “open hostility” and “trail of broken promises” as a pretext for calling off the historic meeting. Not short of bluster, he warned the North Korean regime against committing any “foolish or reckless acts”.

Trump has placed the American military on alert, signalling its readiness to engage in another round of brinkmanship with nuclear-capable North Korea.

And just like that, both protagonists are now back to square one. If anything, the American president may have snuffed the life out of an unprecedented opportunity to end the Korean conflict.

Just weeks earlier, the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal – a binding international agreement supported by all major powers, except Trump. To careful observers, both decisions were shocking, yet far from surprising.

The Trump administration simply lacks the basic strategic understanding and diplomatic finesse to cope with perplexing foreign policy challenges. When confronted with difficult geopolitical realities, Trump seems to prefer turning things into reality show episodes.

An unreliable superpower

Trump’s announcement was met by a melange of puzzlement, outrage and profound anxiety across the world. South Korea responded in total confusion, struggling to find a way out of the latest plot twist in the Trump-Kim saga.

South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom admitted, “We are attempting to make sense of what, precisely, President Trump means.”

The visibly flustered South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who played an instrumental role in facilitating the summit, was confessedly “perplexed“. He described Trump’s decision as deeply “regrettable”.

……. Moon staked his presidency on unlocking the Korean conflict. In an event of actual war, Seoul, which lies within the range of North Korean artilleries, would likely be the first and biggest victim.

…..frustration is running high among allies. In recent days, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the de facto leader of the “free world”, went so far as stating that Europe can no longer rely on the US as a source of protection.

One by one, the US’ most important allies have openly questioned the Trump administration’s capacity for global leadership. For them, Washington is an increasingly unreliable superpower, which is beginning to threaten the existing international order with “Trump-style” leadership.

Edging towards conflict

Interestingly, North Korea responded with uncharacteristic restraint, expressing its continued “willingness to sit at any time, in any way to resolve issues”. All of a sudden, Pyongyang looked like the adult in the room.

Yet, it’s hard to imagine that the regime would maintain its equanimity for long………..

The upshot is that both Iran and North Korea now feel betrayed and increasingly outraged. And they will likely up the ante in response to Trump’s perfunctory decisions.

A year into power, the controversial American president has nudged the world closer to two potential conflicts on the opposite ends of the Asian continent.

More fundamentally, countries around the world, both friends and foes, are wondering whether the US is a country that can be negotiated with at all.  https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trump-nuclear-failures-iran-north-korea-180525102228377.html

May 26, 2018 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Solar and Wind Subsidies  are a Clear Success. The Coal and Nuclear Industries Just Aren’t Ready to Admit it.

https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/05/solar-and-wind-subsidies-are-clear-success-coal-and-nuclear-industries#.Wwh8jTSFPGg By Grant Smith, Senior Energy Policy Advisor  25 May 18 

The coal and nuclear industries criticize subsidies for solar and wind power based on their belief that the subsidies distort the market.

However, a closer look shows the coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear sectors enjoy substantial subsidies, and federal outlays for solar investments are decreasing as the price of solar declines. Wind costs have also dropped significantly over the last decade.

All sources of energy receive subsidies. The question is why continue to throw money at the dying coal and nuclear power industries, whose costs continue to rise despite subsidies.

Meanwhile, the solar and wind industries saw significant growth only in the last decade. It stands to reason that these sectors would receive taxpayer support – they generate well-paying jobs and reduce pollution.

These technologies also continuously become more efficient, while their prices steadily decline. In fact, according to Lazard, unsubsidized utility-scale wind and solar farms are now cheaper than new coal power plants and are competitive with natural gas power plants.

This month, solar developer John Weaver provided an analysis of a recent Energy Information Administration report, which described 2016 federal direct spending, research and development, and tax expenditures on energy technologies.

Solar power is subsidized by the federal government with the 30 percent investment tax credit, or ITC, Weaver explained. Both large and small solar arrays qualify. The credit is based on the costs of a solar project. He notes that the outlays for this credit have dropped by half since 2013.

“This speaks specifically to the falling price of solar power as the tax credit is directly based on project costs, and not system sizes,” Weaver said.

According to EIA, just over $1 billion in subsidies leveraged up to $30 billion in investment. Weaver suggests a higher number for subsidies, but, anyway you look at it, the solar ITC in 2016 leveraged much more investment than it cost.

Data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission show that since 2009, solar power capacity has multiplied by more than 89 times and wind power capacity has increased sixfold.

New coal and nuclear construction hasn’t seen the same success. The recent foray into new nuclear construction is reminiscent of the old days of construction delays and multi-billion-dollar cost overruns. Of new nuclear plants, one has been cancelled – the other is dependent on ratepayer support to get completed. Only one new nuclear unit has come online in the last 20 years. The new coal plants recently under construction or completed were total boondoggles.

But Congress is still dumping money into these technologies. According to EIA, the total combined tax expenditures for coal and nuclear power for years 2010, 2013 and 2016 were well over $4 billion combined. This doesn’t include the pay-as-you-go subsidy dumped on ratepayers at the state level to essentially force construction of these financially risky projects.

In addition, fossil fuels receive significant subsidies for development, extraction, investment and processing. A collaborative effort by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the R Street Institute, known as the Green Scissors campaign, tracks federal tax expenditures for the energy sector. An analysis by the group concluded that fossil fuels received nearly $11 billion in subsidies in 2016.

The only reason nuclear power became a viable option in the first place was because Congress passed the Price Anderson Act in 1957 to shift the bulk of the costs of a major nuclear accident onto the public. These costs could come close to $1 trillion, according to CNN.

By contrast, subsidizing wind and solar investment has yielded very positive results. Any complaints from the fossil fuel and nuclear industries about those subsidies are hypocritical at best.

May 25, 2018 Posted by | politics, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Fraudulent radioactive data management at San Francisco’s Hunters Point

San Francisco’s Hunters Point Radiation Problems Worsen https://yubanet.com/california/san-franciscos-hunters-point-radiation-problems-worsen/ By Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility  Washington, DC, May 25, 2018 — The U.S. Navy has found “data manipulation and/or falsification” afflicting years of radiation surveys on the buildings at San Francisco’s Hunters Point shipyard, invalidating its contractor’s claims the buildings are safe for “unrestricted release,” according to a Navy report posted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  This finding compounds the growing scandal over fraudulent soil samples by the contractor Tetra Tech and pushes the costs and schedule for the nearly 30-year cleanup of this Superfund site deeper into limbo.

The Navy’s March 2018 “Building Radiation Data Initial Evaluation Report” confirms data manipulation allegations by former Tetra Tech employees. It reexamines Tetra Tech radiation surveys submitted from 2008 through 2016 for 28 buildings on six parcels covering most of the 500-acre site and concludes that “the surveys have been falsified and cannot be used.” Among other flaws, the report points to –

  • Improper radiation scan speeds “in nearly all survey units” thus rendering its recorded data useless. Moving the scan too rapidly above its design rate prevents accurate detection of radiation levels;
  • Evidence of “duplicated data strings” for more than half the buildings, meaning that the exact same printout appears to have been cut and pasted for use on multiple structures; and
  • The potential for even more data shortcomings: “This report cannot verify that additional portions of the database have not been manipulated.”

“Contrary to the old saying, the figures apparently do lie at Hunters Point,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, who revealed last month that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined nearly all the Tetra Tech soil samples on a large portion of the site were “neither reliable nor defensible.” “Now we know there was falsification not just of soil contamination measures, but also of the buildings.”

Buildings inappropriately declared clean can be leased out for reuse or torn down and their debris shipped to disposal or recycling sites not designed or licensed for radioactive waste.

Significantly, the report did not review any building in Parcel A, the 75-acre portion of the site already turned over to the city and redeveloped, claiming there were “no data” available to reevaluate. This gap does little to dispel growing concern about the true level of contamination on the small portion of the site already declared clean.

While the Navy is responsible for decontaminating the site, EPA is supposed to make sure the work is complete and correct.  Neither agency, however, has indicated what steps will be taken to right this reeling remediation.  Much of the key information, such as this latest Navy report, is not made publicly available.

“Instead of moving forward, the Hunters Point cleanup is careening in reverse,” added Ruch, noting that every charge the Tetra Tech whistleblowers have made is being verified, one after another.  “To get to the bottom of this mess, perhaps the Tetra Tech whistleblowers should be put in charge.”

Read key excerpts

View the entire report

Look at fraudulent Hunters Point soil sampling

May 25, 2018 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

SCE and G misled lawmakers about critical nuclear report

SCE&G misled lawmakers about critical nuclear report, state agency says, Greenville News, Sammy Fretwell and Avery G. Wilks, The Stat  May 24, 2018 

SCE&G executives misled S.C. legislators about why a report was commissioned to investigate troubles at the failing V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project, state regulators say.

In sworn testimony to lawmakers last fall, Kevin Marsh, then chief executive of SCE&G and its parent company SCANA, told legislators the Bechtel Corp. was hired to complete a study on problems at the ill-fated project to help prepare for a possible lawsuit against Westinghouse, the project’s lead contractor.

Because the report — kept secret until after the V.C. Summer project collapsed — was part of an anticipated lawsuit, it could remain confidential from regulators, legislators and the public, utility officials told legislators last fall.

However, in filings late Wednesday with the S.C. Public Service Commission, regulators at the state Office of Regulatory Staff said the Bechtel report was put together to assess what was going wrong with the construction of two new nuclear reactors northwest of Columbia, not to support a lawsuit………..

Documents released Wednesday by Regulatory Staff indicate the Bechtel report was kept confidential at the insistence of Westinghouse. Westinghouse wanted protection from legal liability at another nuclear construction project that it was in charge of, the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion effort in Georgia, records show.

………Last fall, McMaster obtained the final Bechtel report from state-owned Santee Cooper and released it to the public.

The final Bechtel report noted flawed construction plans, faulty designs, inadequate management of contractors, low worker morale and high turnover at the failing nuclear project site. An earlier draft of the Bechtel report provided even more detail, records show………. https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2018/05/24/sce-g-misled-lawmakers-critical-nuclear-report-state-agency-says/640263002/

May 25, 2018 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Donald Trump cancels North Korea nuclear summit

Donald Trump cancels North Korea nuclear summit, In letter to Kim Jong-un, Trump says talks are ‘inappropriate … based on the open hostility displayed in your recent statement’, Guardian, Julian Borger in Washington and Benjamin Haas in Seoul,  25 May 2018 

Donald Trump has cancelled his planned summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, blaming his decision on a threatening statement from the Pyongyang regime, and warning that the US military is “ready if necessary”.

n a formal letter to Kim released by the White House, Trump said he had been “very much looking forward” to meeting the North Korean leader.

But he wrote: “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.”

Trump declared that the meeting would not take place “for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world”.

In remarks to the press after the letter was released, Trump said it was still possible the summit could go ahead, albeit at a later date, but warned Pyongyang that the US and its allies would respond if it carried out “foolish or reckless acts”.

Asked if cancellation of the summit increased the risk of war, he replied: “We’ll see what happens.”

Meanwhile, the president said his campaign of “maximum pressure” would continue, involving the “strongest sanctions ever imposed”. However, in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal from this summit, soon after abrogating a nuclear deal with Iran that had global support, there are now serious doubts over his ability to galvanise international support for increased sanctions, or even enforce the existing sanctions regime.

Trump’s letter to Kim mixed regretful and conciliatory passages with a reminder of the size of the US nuclear arsenal.

“You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive that I pray to God they will never have to be used,” Trump wrote.

The cancellation came two days after a visit to the White House by the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, who had sounded hopeful about a historic summit that he portrayed as vital to peace on the Korean peninsula.

Moon held an emergency meeting with top officials just before midnight local time on Thursday night. His office appeared surprised by the announcement, with spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom saying: “We are trying to figure out what President Trump’s intention is and the exact meaning of it.”

Pyongyang also appeared to be taken entirely by surprise.

“There was a real sense of shock amongst the people I was sitting with, the North Korean officials,” Will Ripley, a CNN reporter, said shortly after he read Trump’s letter to them………..https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/24/trump-cancels-north-korea-nuclear-summit

May 25, 2018 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

USA Pentagon speeds up weapons sales to Saudi Arabia

US speeding up arms exports to Saudi Arabia  http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/economy/2018/05/24/US-speeding-up-arms-exports-to-Saudi-Arabia-Reports.html  Al Arabiya English, Dubai , 24 May 2018 

The Pentagon is speeding up US weapons deliveries to allied militaries such as Saudi Arabia, Romania, Japan, and South Korea through new “pilot authorities that change how it can design and execute contracts” according to news reports.

Defense One, quoted Ellen Lord, US defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, as saying, Wednesday “we have a whole variety of specific programs where we are focused on applying these authorities: Patriot Missiles for Romania; Global Hawk for Japan, THAAD [high-altitude air defense missiles] for Saudi Arabia, and TOW [vehicle-launched missiles] for multiple foreign military sales partners.”

These new authorities will allow the Pentagon to shave “years” off the time it takes to deliver weapons to friendly militaries, Lord said at the annual SOFIC event here.

The report added that Saudi Arabia is a frequent target of missile strikes by Houthi rebels. Regional authorities routinely fret about Iran’s growing missile capabilities.


The Trump administration, working to increase exports of US-made weapons, has started the process to execute the sale 120,000 precision-guided munitions to allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Reuters said Tuesday that the White House asked the US Congress to review the deal.

Last year, the Trump administration approved the sale of about $7 billion of the precision-guided weapons to Saudi Arabia.

Raytheon Co is the largest maker of the PGMs in the United States.

Administration and congressional sources confirmed that the informal 40-day review period to sell the munitions to the two countries was under way.

 

May 25, 2018 Posted by | politics international, Saudi Arabia, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

USA and others start a new desperate push to promote nuclear power

U.S. and partners form international alliance to push nuclear power https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nuclear/u-s-and-partners-form-international-alliance-to-push-nuclear-power-idUSKCN1IP1PO, Reuters Staff, 24 May 18, COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The United States is leading an initiative with several other governments to promote nuclear power and encourage investment in new nuclear technologies.

The initiative, launched on Thursday by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette with international partners, aims to “highlight the value of nuclear energy as a clean reliable energy source”.

The partners are Japan, Canada, Russia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Argentina and Romania.

The U.S. nuclear industry is battling competition particularly from natural gas, while many national governments want to reduce their dependency on the energy source after the nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima plant in 2011.

The group of nations aims to promote areas such as improved power system integration and the development of technologies like hybrid nuclear-renewable systems.

“Nuclear-renewable systems could link emission-free nuclear power plants with variable renewables like solar or wind farms and could allow nuclear power to backstop intermittent generation,” Brouillette said during the launch at the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in Copenhagen.

CEM is a global forum of 24 countries and the European Union which together account for 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Brouillette said the initiative would also focus on the development of small modular reactors (SMR), which use existing or new nuclear technology scaled down to a fraction of the size of larger plants and would be able to produce around a tenth of the electricity created by large-scale projects.

Critics say SMR economies of scale will be limited because each reactor will need its own control and safety systems. They also point to the danger of spreading radioactive material more widely, increasing radiation and security risks.

The administration of President Donald Trump also launched an alliance with Norway and Saudi Arabia to boost public and private partnerships on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).

Earlier this month, Japan released a draft of an updated basic energy policy, leaving its ideal mix of power sources for 2030 in line with targets set three years ago, despite criticism that it placed too much emphasis on unpopular nuclear power.

To view a graphic on Nuclear power plants in the world , click: tmsnrt.rs/2sKlV1X

Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Stamp

May 25, 2018 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

USA Department of Veterans Affairs conveniently lost hundreds of claims for children, grandchildren of contaminated veterans

VA lost or misplaced hundreds of claims for children, grandchildren of contaminated veterans http://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/investigations/va-lost-or-misplaced-hundreds-of-claims-for-children-grandchildren-of-contaminated-veterans/1194448265, By: Steve Andrews  May 23, 2018

TIERRA VERDE, Fla. (WFLA) – The lack of accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs seems to reaching a level of absurdity.

Thousands of claims filed on behalf of the children and grandchildren of veterans who were exposed to toxins are unaccounted for.

The Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) says the VA can’t and won’t say what happened to the claims.

Whether its from depleted uranium ammunition used in Iraq or a toxic herbicide called Agent Orange that was sprayed in Vietnam during war, members of America’s military are learning they not only put their lives on the line, but possibly the lives of their children and grandchildren.

“If you’re going to send them there, make sure you take care of them when they come home. That means take care of them and their offspring,” said Marc McCabe, Vietnam Veterans of America Bureau Chief.

McCabe is a battle hardened Marine who fought in Vietnam.

Now in his position as Vietnam Veterans of America Bureau Chief in Florida, he fights with the VA.

The military exposed veterans like Lonnie Kilpatrick and Leroy Foster to Agent Orange. The weed killer wrecked Kilpatrick’s heart.

Foster suffers from terminal cancer.

Kilpatrick’s children and grandchildren were born with multiple health problems.

Foster’s granddaughter was born with 24 fingers and toes.

McCabe filed hundreds of claims with the VA on behalf of children and grandchildren of veterans exposed to toxins.

“And they got lost. The VA cannot account for them. They can’t tell us where they collected it, where they stored it, what they did with it,” explained McCabe.

In fact, according to a letter the VVA received, the VA refuses to disclose information about how it keeps track of such claims.

Rick Weidman, Executive Director for Policy for Vietnam Veterans of America, compared the VA’s refusal to disclose how it handled the claims to a line from the comedy “Animal House.”

“This is the most ridiculous damned thing we’ve heard from the VA since Dean Wormer’s double secret probation,” said Weidman. “If you file a claim and the VA rejects it, they still have to preserve it electronically.”

Weidman believes that until February of this year, the VA rejected the claims and threw them out.

“Once again, the VA is doing everything it can to not do the research, which will show one way or the other if children and grandchildren are affected,” added Weidman. “Their overall strategy is delay, deny, until they all die.”

McCabe points out that the VVA will assist veterans along with their children and grandchildren through the maze of the VA’s claims filing process.

“Collect all your medical records on your children and your grandchildren,” said McCabe. “But most importantly, we tell them, ‘get your military records. Get your military personnel records. Give them to your children. Put them in a safe place because you’ll need that to produce evidence that your dad was in the service.'”

If you need assistance filing a claim for yourself, your child or grandchild, contact Vietnam Veterans of America at 301-585-4000.

The St. Petersburg office number is 727-319-5921.

If you know of something that should be investigated, contact our Target 8 Helpline at 1-800-338-0808.
Contact Steve Andrews at sandrews@wfla.com.

May 25, 2018 Posted by | health, legal, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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