Growng chorus of area residents for the closure of Pilgrim Nuclear power Plant
Islanders Join Chorus Against Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Vineyard Gazette Olivia Hall, 26 June 14 A movement to close the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is gaining ground on Martha’s Vineyard, where some Islanders have begun to voice concerns about their safety in the event of an emergency. The Island, like much of the commonwealth, stands in the shadow of the state’s only nuclear plant. – A public forum is planned for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven; the event is titled Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station: Could Fukushima Happen Here? Pilgrim provides 15 per cent of the electricity for southeastern Massachusetts, according to a 2014 report by ISO New England, the region’s electric grid operator. This past spring, Island voters expressed overwhelming support for the decommissioning of the plant at their annual town meetings and at the ballot box. Nonbinding resolutions urging Gov. Deval Patrick to press for closure of the Plymouth plant were supported by most towns. In addition, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the Dukes County Commission signed letters to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking for the decommissioning of Pilgrim. “Public safety, particularly that of Cape and Islands residents, cannot be assured,” the resolutions read in part. –
False alarm at Californian nuclear power plant
Erroneous Alerts, Sirens, Calls, Alarm Californians, Firehouse MATT HAMILTON ASSOCIATED PRESS JUNE 28, 2014 Repairs to a nuclear power plant’s siren system in San Luis Obispo County sent residents into a panic as they were accompanied by cellphone messages telling them to ‘prepare for action.’ LOS ANGELES (AP) — People in San Luis Obispo County received a series of unsettling, erroneous emergency alerts Friday as repairs were being made to a nuclear power plant’s siren system, including a vague cellphone message that told them to “prepare for action.”
The chain of mistaken alerts began arousing confusion and fear when a siren that’s part of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s warning system began wailing Friday afternoon for no apparent reason, county emergency services manager Ron Alsop said………http://www.firehouse.com/news/11539311/erroneous-alerts-sirens-calls-alarm-californians
USA’s EPA carbon plan makes coal the loser, but nuclear power loses out, too
The EPA carbon plan: Coal loses, but nuclear doesn’t win, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Mark Cooper. 19 June 14 MARK COOPER The claims and counterclaims about EPA’s proposed carbon pollution standards have filled the air: It will boost nuclear. It will expand renewables. It promotes energy efficiency. It will kill coal. It changes everything. It accomplishes almost nothing.
Evaluating the impact of the so-called Clean Power Plan requires a clear view of how the new rule will work. The plan centers on performance standards, which have yielded effective outcomes in other energy areas—such as appliance efficiency standards and fuel economy standards for light-duty vehicles. It sets a moderate, mid-term target for carbon reductions, but allows for flexibility because it does not dictate the use of specific technologies or products. States are allowed to design programs in response to local conditions.
The EPA plan picks a loser: coal. It does not, however, pick winners among the low-carbon options available. It does not offer much in the way of sweeteners for any specific technology. Assuming that states generally adhere to the prime directive of public utility resource acquisition—choosing the lowest-cost approach—the proposed rule will not alter the dismal prospects of nuclear power, which will therefore play no role in the reduction of carbon emissions from power plants.
EPA’s analysis of the proposed carbon pollution guidelines reflects this reality. EPA forecasts for nuclear power are flat-lined, which means that other resources—including energy efficiency, natural gas, wind, and solar—will carry the full weight of carbon reductions.
It is unlikely that the states will act irrationally enough to make the EPA analysis miss the mark by a wide margin. The marketplace and 48 of the 50 states have declined to embrace nuclear energy during the past decade, despite the incentives included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005……….http://thebulletin.org/epa-carbon-plan-coal-loses-nuclear-doesnt-win7253
USA coastal communiities monitoring sea-borne Fukushima radiation plume
Fukushima radiation concerns coastal communities Tracy Loew, Statesman Journal 25 June 14, Talk in the Oregon coast town of Bandon often turns to the approaching plume of sea-borne radiation from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
“We’ve been worried about it and worried about it,” said Zac Adams, owner of Bandon Designsconstruction company. “We’re really concerned about it affecting the fisheries, the wildlife, the tourism, and most importantly our health.”…….
The radiation is expected to hit the U.S. this year at very low levels that wouldn’t harm humans or the environment. But no federal agency is monitoring it.
So Adams joined a citizen-science project, crowd-sourcing funds in his community to test a sample of seawater that he will soon collect.
Four hours north, the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership has funded two collection sites, in Tillamook and Pacific City.
“Over the last year-and-a-half, it’s been an issue that’s been raising in prominence along the coastline,” said Lisa Phipps, executive director of the partnership. “In our area, there have been groups that have been coming together to talk about what is happening in the ocean.”
And fund-raising is underway for two more sites, in Newport and Winchester Bay.
Altogether about 30 sites, from Alaska to Baja, Calif., have been funded, said Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who put together the project, called “How Radioactive is Our Ocean?”
It uses crowd-sourced money and volunteers to collect water samples along the Pacific Coast, then ship them to Buesseler in Massachusetts to be analyzed on an $80,000 instrument………
Buesseler is looking for increased levels of Cesium-137, which already is in all oceans from previous nuclear testing and accidents; and for Cesium-134, a “fingerprint” of Fukushima.
Because of its short, two-year half-life, any Cesium-134 could only have come from the plant, he said.
So far, Buesseler said, no samples have indicated that the plume has reached the West Coast.
Buesseler posts results on the project’s website. They show Cesium-134 and increased levels of Cesium-137 off the coast of Japan and across the ocean.
“We know it’s out there,” Buesseler said. “We’ve seen it more than halfway across the Pacific.”
Northwest of Hawaii, for example, Buesseler has found Cesium-134 at concentrations as high as 3.8 becquerels per cubic meter.
But to put that in context, he said, the U.S. drinking water limit is 7,400 of those units.
“Every additional radiation exposure causes additional risks for cancer,” he said. “But when the numbers are in the one to 10 range, that’s a very small additional risk.”
That’s the range that is expected to hit our shores, with lower levels coming first.
“As the contamination arrives, we expect the concentrations to go up over the next two years,” Buesseler said……..http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2014/06/25/fukushima-radiation-concerns-coastal-communities/11377463/
Hanford nuclear workers scared to speak out on safety issues
Survey finds employees at contaminated nuclear site wary of challenging managers Times Colonist, Nicholas K. Geranios / The Associated Press June 24, 2014 SPOKANE, Wash. – Few of the U.S. Department of Energy workers who are helping build a plant to treat the most dangerous radioactive wastes at a nuclear site in Washington state feel they can openly challenge decisions made by management, according to a report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The survey conducted by the department shows only 30 per cent of its employees at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation feel they can question their bosses……..
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said the study shows recent allegations of retaliation against Hanford workers who raised safety concerns made other employees less likely to come forward.
Hanford, near Richland in south central Washington, is engaged in a multi-decade cleanup of the nation’s largest collection of nuclear waste.
Two people who recently raised concerns about the design and safety of the unfinished Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford lost their jobs. Donna Busche was fired earlier this year, while Walter Tamosaitis, a 40-year Hanford employee, was laid off last year.
The U.S. Department of Energy has asked its Office of Inspector General to investigate Busche’s firing.
USA bipartisan climate report predicts economic costs of climate change
These and other risks from climate change are spelled out in a new bipartisan report that attempts to tally the potential toll on the economy and to push what has been a highly politicised issue into corporate boardrooms for serious consideration.
The report, titled “Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change to the United States,” comes from a coalition of high-powered business and political figures, including three former Treasury secretaries.
Hampton Bays, NY state, during and after Sandy.Photo: Reuters
The money men who backed the project are Risky Business Project co-chairs Henry M. Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush; former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; and Thomas F. Steyer, a hedge fund manager and big Democratic donor. The trio commissioned the Rhodium Group, an economic research firm, to study the economic impact of global warming.
A key conclusion of the report is that the risks vary, sometimes widely, by region and industry sector. By 2050, it warns, Americans could face double or triple the number of extremely hot days (temperatures exceeding 35 degrees celsius) compared with the annual average in the past 30 years.
The study estimates that communities in the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast could see storm-related property damage jump by as much as $US3.5 billion ($3.74 billion) a year by 2030 and possibly more than double that given likely hurricane conditions.
Near nuclear sites a high rate of babies born without brains
TV: 8 times more babies than usual born without brain near U.S. nuclear site; Much higher rate than anywhere else in country — “It’s scary the cause is such a mystery” — CNN: Experts speak out over failure of officials to conduct proper investigation — “The lamest excuse I’ve ever heard” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-8-times-more-babies-than-usual-born-without-brain-near-u-s-nuclear-site-much-highest-rate-than-anywhere-else-in-country-cnn-experts-speak-out-over-failure-of-govt-to-conduct-proper-investi
KEPR, May 14, 2014 (Emphasis Added): Serious and sometimes fatal birth defects are much more prevalent right here than anywhere else in the country. Benton, Franklin and Yakima Counties are being hit the hardest by neural tube defects, from spina bifida to anencephaly [fatal defect where large part of brain/skull is missing]. “it’s scary that the cause of this is such a mystery,” said Candelaria Murillo. […] Rate of babies being born without a brainin our part of the state is eight times the national average.
AP and other media outlets put the figure at “at least four times the national rate”. However, theYakima Herald reports: “[Officials] issued a news release Jan. 30 announcing that eight cases of anencephaly had occurred in Yakima County in 2012. Typically [they] expect only one all year.”
NBC News, June 17, 2014: Health officials, scientists and other experts gathered to discuss the cause of an alarming local spike in the disorder […] [Local residents] wanted to know exactly how long the problem had been going on, whether it could be linked to diet, occupation, geography — or the Hanford nuclear plant in nearby Richland. State officials reiterated their previous answers — no, no, no and no […] “The next step is to interview the mothers and fathers of these babies,” [Allison Ashley-Koch, an anencephaly expert at the Duke University Medical Center for Human Genetics] said. “The challenge at this point is that many of these conceptions happened four years ago. So for parents to try and remember particular eating habits, environmental exposures and such is challenging.” […] “I believe it is an ongoing problem and I believe that the environment might have something to do with it,” Don Dufault said.
Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 16, 2014: Health officials have discounted several possible causes including: pesticide exposure, nitrates in water wells, and radiation from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Obstetrician Anita Showalter: “First thing I ask […] what environmental thing might have happened […] that we don’t know or understand yet?” […] She wonders if there might be chemicals present […]
CNN, June 1, 2014: Nearly two years after the state of Washington was alerted to a possible cluster of babies born with severe birth defects, experts are speaking out, criticizing the state health department for not doing enough to save babies’ lives. […] TheWashington Department of Health has steadfastly refused to interview the parents of these babies and has failed to accept offers of help from world-renowned anencephaly experts. “It really looks like they’re dragging their feet,” said Richard Finnell, a pediatric geneticist and birth defect expert at the University of Texas. He said that to find the cause of the cluster, state investigators need to speak with the parents of children with birth defects […] Butthe state has not contacted these parents. […] A team of experts […] offered help to Washington investigators back in February but hasn’t received a response. “We’re frustrated that they’re not moving more quickly to find the cause,” said Janee Gelineau-van Waes […] an associate professor of pharmacology at the Creighton University School of Medicine […] “It’s very intrusive to start knocking on doors of people who’ve had a pretty major trauma in their lives,” [state epidemiologist, Juliet VanEenwyk] said. “That’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard,” said Billy Petersen, reflecting the viewpoint of several families interviewed by CNN whose children have neural tube defects. “We want to talk to them,” he said. “We’d do anything to help find out why our baby died and help other families. We don’t want anyone else to go through what we’ve been through.”
Netherlands reveal facts on US use of depleted uranium weapons in civilian areas
US fired depleted uranium rounds in civilian areas during 2003 Iraq campaign – report http://rt.com/news/167220-depleted-uranium-us-iraq/ June 20, 2014 US-led forces in Iraq used depleted uranium weapons in civilian-populated areas during the 2003 military campaign, according to a new Dutch NGO study that also exposes a lack of adequate cleanup efforts by the invading troops.
Depleted uranium used by US forces blamed for birth defects and cancer in Iraq
For the first time the location of several sites where the invaders fired some 10,000 depleted uranium rounds were released by the Dutch Defense Ministry, and published in a study by Dutch peace group PAX.
Most of the DU rounds fired by the US-led coalition were in heavily populated areas, the group says. Samawah, Nasiriyah and Basrah are just some urban areas where ammunition was deployed – with around 1,500 anti-armor rounds fired directly at Saddam Hussein’s infantry forces. The GPS coordinates of DU rounds were initially handed over to the Dutch Defense Ministry because the Netherlands was worried about the potential contamination of its own troops in the country. The ministry later shared the information with PAX under a freedom of information law.
Most of the firing locations remain unknown, as more than 300,000 DU rounds are believed to have been fired by US-led coalition.
NGO says that the health risks of more than 440,000 kg of DU fired by Western forces remains unclear, as “neither coalition forces nor the Iraqi government have supported health research into civilian DU exposure.”
“Coalition forces were aware of the potential health and environmental impact of DU munitions, yet refrained from undertaking the necessary clean-up of DU outside their own bases,” a summary of the report reads.
Wim Zwijnenburg, the author of the report, said the US Air Force knew of the consequences of using DU ammunition.
“The use of DU against these targets questions the adherence of coalition forces to their own principles and guidelines. They should be held accountable for the consequences,” Zwijnenburg said, citing a 1975 memo from the Air Force Office of the Judge Advocate that restricted the use of such ammunition.
“Use of this munition solely against personnel is prohibited if alternative weapons are available,” the memo said, because of “unnecessary suffering and poison.”
According to an earlier PAX report, more than 300 sites in Iraq are currently contaminated with depleted uranium and it would cost at least $30 million to clean up.
Hanford nuclear facility hiding health effects of radiation
Hanford nuclear site employees not allowed to speak out about chemical exposure, brain damage, Monday, June 23, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, (NaturalNews) Workers at a large nuclear waste storage facility in south-central Washington are falling gravely ill from exposure to radiation, according to new reports. But a former company insider says they are too afraid to come out about it for fear of losing their jobs.
NBC Right Now in the Tri-Cities reports that Lonnie Poteet, a former truck driver at the federal government’s Hanford Site, suffered major injuries after encountering leaked radiation earlier in the spring. Poteet says site managers failed to notify him that there had been a spill upon arriving to deliver fuel.
“I was already burning from my glove line to my t-shirt line and the side of my face and I was already starting to lose a little bit of vision in my right eye,” recalled Poteet about arriving at the site just hours following the spill.
Rather than post a notice or warn workers directly that a spill had occurred, Poteet says Hanford officials did nothing. Consequently, he and others continued to access the site, even though some crews had been notified to stay home that day while the spill was addressed…….
Meanwhile, other former workers harmed by nuclear exposure at Hanford are having trouble getting compensation for their injuries. According to KING5 News in Seattle, a government audit found that claims for compensation sometimes take up to seven years to get processed, and many valid applications are being denied.
http://www.naturalnews.com/045684_Hanford_Site_chemical_exposure_brain_damage.html##ixzz35by5vlm6
Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Fatally compromised” William Magwood IV
“Fatally compromised” NRC Commissioner Magwood urged to resign immediately , Beyond Nuclear, 21 June 14 34 groups, including Beyond Nuclear, represented by attorneys Diane Curran and Mindy Goldstein, have urged NRC Commissioner William Magwood IV to resign immediately, as well as to retroactively recuse himself from numerous votes over the past many months, due to his apparent and actual conflict of interest.
He has agreed to become the Director-General of the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency, an institution explicitly mandated to promote nuclear energy — at odds with Magwood’s current job to protect people and the environment as a nuclear safety regulator. In 2009 and 2010, Beyond Nuclear helped lead a coalition effort opposing Magwood’s nomination and confirmation as an NRC Commissioner, due to his previous, long career of promoting nuclear power at DOE and in industry…..http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2014/6/18/fatally-compromised-nrc-commissioner-magwood-urged-to-resign.html
In legal case against TEPCO, one young sailor already dead
Navy sailor suing over Fukushima exposure dies from rare cancer near heart — TV: Navy lieutenant retires, says he’s unable to use leg muscles due to Fukushima radiation and confined to wheelchair — Both in mid-30s (VIDEOS) http://enenews.com/navy-sailor-suing-for-exposure-to-fukushima-contamination-dies-of-rare-form-of-cancer-near-heart-tv-navy-lieutenant-with-no-use-of-his-leg-muscles-forced-to-retire-blames-fukushima-radiation?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Tweets from Dr. Yuri Hiranuma, June 11, 2014: First death of a USS Ronald Reagan sailor hit by radiation from Fukushima Daiichi while on Operation Tomodachi. Theodore Holcomb, a former USS Ronald Reagan aviation mechanic during Operation Tomodachi, died of synovial sarcomaon April 26, 2014. Holcomb was a plaintiff in the lawsuit against TEPCO. He began experiencing “breathing difficulty, pain in right shoulder, and excessive heart rate while still in service. He was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma next to his heart, causing lung and heart issues, in late 2011. Holcomb was 38 years old and a father of a five-year-old girl.
Nuclear Hotseat, June 11, 2014 (at 1:30 in): First death of a USS Ronald Reagan sailor hit by radiation from Fukushima Daiichi while on the humanitarian aid Operation Tomodachi. Information just released today by the legal team representing the USS Reagan sailors in their billion dollar lawsuit against TEPCO. >> Listen to the full Nuclear Hotseat program here
WUSA, June 9, 2014: [Navy Lt. Steve] Simmons served on the USS Ronald Reagan during the March 2011 meltdown […] eight months later, he started feeling sick. Now, Simmons is confined to a wheelchair, with no use of his leg muscles. The 36-year-old blames radiation, but says no one will agree. Today marked his bittersweet retirement from the Navy. […] months after he returned from the humanitarian effort at Fukushima, he blacked out one day while driving. Then, he started experiencing high fevers. His health deteriorated to the point that he his now confined to a wheelchair. He blames radiation exposure at Fukushima. […] The Department of Defense says radiation levels were safe, and were the equivalent to less than a month’s exposure to the same natural radiation you pick up from being near rocks, soil and the sun. Steve does not buy that, “How do you take a ship and place it into a nuclear plume for five plus hours, how do you suck up nuclear contaminated waste into the water filtration system and think for one minute that there’s no health risk to anybody on board.” […] more than 70 sailors from the Reagan […] are now experiencing medical issues >> Watch the WUSA broadcast here
Plutonium release from WIPP probably caused by hydrogen explosion – more to come?
Nuclear Expert: Hydrogen explosion suspected as cause of WIPP plutonium release — Meeting: Are more lids going to blow? Seeing how top of drum blew off has me concerned it isn’t ‘low level’ — Former DOE Expert: US will inevitably shift to storing radioactive waste on surface after this (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/nuclear-expert-wipp-hydrogen-explosion-organic-kitty-litter-involved-meeting-waiting-lids-blow-drums-lid-blown-concerned-isnt-really-low-level-former-doe-coordinator-will-inevitably-shift-above
Gerard Martinez, Waste Management Committee, Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board, May 21, 2014 (at 31:30 in): Are we waiting for more lids to blow? I know that we were told before it’s ‘low level’… But seeing the blow on that lid has me concerned that this isn’t really a type of ‘low level’ […] we really, really need to know. And then we’re going to have to go back into that inventory, of course and find out what else is in there, what’s caused this, what other materials are in those drums that’s caused this? If it’s unknown, we have another set of problems on our hands. Then we start to lose the public trust as to why we’ve done this to begin with. […] It seems like it’s getting bigger. >> Watch the Advisory Board meeting here
Robert Alvarez, coordinated Dept. of Energy’s nuclear material strategic planning in 1990s, June 16, 2014: “When you think about Los Alamos as being the pre-eminent institution in terms of knowledge of explosives, that something like this would slip through their fingers really indicates several levels of breakdown, from the federal government to the contractors managing the labs […] I think that we’re really looking at an inexorable reality of having to shift toward safe surface storage containment. Probably (the waste at sites around the country) is going to have to stay where it is in containers that can hold up for a long period of time while we sort this out. I’m afraid that’s the reality.”
Chris Harris, former licensed Senior Reactor Operator and engineer, June 12, 2014 (at 20:00 in): This report says there was a potential for a plutonium flash – which is a criticality event. I haven’t done the analysis on that myself […] I was just talking it over today with one of my colleagues, who’s very esteemed in waste handling and waste processing — we’ll call him Barney for now. He said, “Is that what they did? They put organic material [in the drums with plutonium salts] — that’s a hydrogen explosion.”
Michigan Senate unanimously rejects nuclear waste dumping near lake huron
Michigan Senate unanimously passes legislation opposing Canadian nuclear waste dump June 13, 2014 By Jim Bloch Voice Reporter The Michigan Senate has unanimously passed a bill and a series of resolutions that effectively call for a halt to the nuclear waste dump proposed for Kincardine, Ontario, less than a mile from Lake Huron, about 100 miles north-northwest of Port Huron.
USA planning a nuclear attack on Russia?
Indications that the U.S. Is Planning a Nuclear Attack Against Russia By Eric Zuesse (about the author) OpEdNews Op Eds 6/14/2014 On Wednesday, June 11th, CNN headlined “U.S. Sends B-2 Stealth Bombers to Europe,” and reported that “they arrived in Europe this week for training.” Wikipedia notes that B-2s were “originally designed primarily as a nuclear bomber,” and that “The B-2 is the only aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration.”
In other words, the primary advantage of the newer, “Stealth,” version of B-2, is its first-strike (or surprise-attack) nuclear capability. That’s the upgrade: the weapon’s ability to sneak upon the target-country and destroy it before it has a chance to fire off any of its own nuclear weapons in response to that “first-strike” attack. The advantage of Stealth is creating and stationing a nuclear arsenal for the purpose of winning a nuclear war, instead of for the goal of having continued peace via “Mutually Assured Destruction,” or MAD.………
That old system — “Mutually Assured Destruction” or MAD, but actually very rational from the public’s perspective on both sides — is gone. The U.S. increasingly is getting nuclear primacy. Russia, surrounded by NATO nations and U.S. nuclear weapons, would be able to be wiped out before its rusty and comparatively puny military force could be mustered to respond. Whereas we are not surrounded by their weapons, they are surrounded by ours. Whereas they don’t have the ability to wipe us out before we can respond, we have the ability to wipe them out before they’ll be able to respond. This is the reason why America’s aristocracy argue that MAD is dead. An article, “Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War” was published in the December 2008 Physics Today, and it concluded that, “the indirect effects [‘nuclear winter’] would likely eliminate the majority of the human population.” (It would be even worse, and far faster, than the expected harms from global warming.) However, aristocrats separate themselves from the public, and so their perspective is not necessarily the same as the public’s. The perspective that J.P. Morgan and Co. had in 1915 wasn’t the perspective that the U.S. public had back then, and it also wasn’t the perspective that our President, Woodrow Wilson, did back then, when we were a democracy. But it’s even less clear today that we are a democracy than it was in 1915. In that regard, things have only gotten worse in America……..
Obama isn’t only beefing up our first-strike nuclear capability, but is also building something new, called “Prompt Global Strike,” to supplement that nuclear force, by means of “a precision conventional weapon strike” that, if launched against Russia from next-door Ukraine, could wipe out Russia’s nuclear weapons within just a minute or so……..
Certainly, Obama means business here, but the big question is whether he’ll be able to get the leaders of other “democratic” nations to go along with his first-strike plan.
The two likeliest things that can stop him, at this stage, would be either NATO’s breaking up, or else Putin’s deciding to take a political beating among his own public for simply not responding to our increasing provocations. Perhaps Putin will decide that a temporary embarrassment for him at home (for being “wimpy”) will be better, even for just himself, than the annihilation of his entire country would be. And maybe, if Obama pushes his indubitable Superpower card too hard, he’ll be even more embarrassed by this conflict than Putin will be. After all, things like this and this aren’t going to burnish Obama’s reputation in the history books, if he cares about that. But maybe he’s satisfied to be considered to have been George W. Bush II, just a far better-spoken version: a more charming liar than the original. However, if things come to a nuclear invasion, even a U.S. “victory” won’t do much more for Obama’s reputation than Bush’s “victory” in Iraq did for his. In fact, perhaps Americans will then come to feel that George W. Bush wasn’t America’s worst President, after all. Maybe the second half of the Bush-Obama Presidency will be even worse than the first. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Indications-that-the-U-S–by-Eric-Zuesse-Nuclear-Weapons_Obama-Administration_PNAC-Neocon-Project-For-A-New-American-C_President-Barack-Obama-POTUS-140614-352.html?show=votes
CT scans as a cause of cancer
Before agreeing to a CT scan, they should ask:
■ Will it lead to a better treatment and outcome?
■ Would they get that therapy without the test?
■ Are there alternatives that don’t involve radiation, like ultrasound or MRI?
■ When a CT scan is necessary, how can radiation exposure be minimized?
Neither doctors nor patients want to return to the days before CT scans.
But we need to find ways to use them without killing people in the process.
Are we giving ourselves cancer with CT scans? PENINSULA POLL BACKGROUNDER: By Rita F. Redberg and Rebecca Smith-Bindman 14 June 14, DESPITE great strides in prevention and treatment, cancer rates remain stubbornly high and may soon surpass heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States.Increasingly, we and many other experts believe that an important culprit may be our own medical practices: We are silently irradiating ourselves to death.
The use of medical imaging with high-dose radiation — CT scans in particular — has soared in the past 20 years.
Our resulting exposure to medical radiation has increased more than sixfold between the 1980s and 2006, according to the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements.
The radiation doses of CT scans (a series of X-ray images from multiple angles) are 100 to 1,000 times higher than conventional X-rays.
Of course, early diagnosis thanks to medical imaging can be lifesaving. But there is distressingly little evidence of better health outcomes associated with the current high rate of scans.
There is, however, evidence of its harms.
The relationship between radiation and the development of cancer is well-understood:
A single CT scan exposes a patient to the amount of radiation that epidemiologic evidence shows can be cancer-causing. The risks have been demonstrated directly in two large clinical studies in Britain and Australia.
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Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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