Death of peace activist and atomic veteran Acie Byrd
Peace Activist, Broadcaster Acie Byrd Dies at 77 OpEd News, By Democracy Now! 20 May 14 Peace activist and radio commentator Acie Byrd has died at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer. Byrd was among an estimated quarter of a million U.S. military personnel exposed to radiation from U.S. nuclear tests that took place from 1945 to 1962.
He was exposed to hydrogen bomb testing in the mid-1950s in the Pacific. He became a leading advocate for fellow atomic veterans, calling for healthcare compensation and a comprehensive test ban treaty. In 1977, Byrd was one of the founding members of Pacifica station #WPFW in Washington DC, where he served as a local and national commentator and board member for many years……..http://www.opednews.com/articles/Peace-Activist-Broadcaste-by-Press-Release-Acie-Byrd_Military_Peace-Advocacy-Activism_Radiation-140520-67.html
White House an Republicans at odds over Nuclear Security Provisions
GOP, White House Clash over Nuclear Security Provisions in Defense Bill National Jurnal, By Douglas P. Guarino 20 May 14, As annual defense authorization legislation nears the House floor, the Obama administration and House Republicans continue to clash over key nuclear weapons and nonproliferation issues.
In a statement of administration policy released Monday evening, the White House says it “strongly objects” to bill language that would prevent the Energy Department from continuing to conduct nuclear security work in Russia until the Ukraine crisis — and concerns about potential Russian violations of various arms control treaties — are resolved.
The work includes efforts to secure buildings in Russia where sensitive nuclear materials are stored, among other projects. “Cooperation with Russia remains an essential element to the global effort to address the threat posed by nuclear terrorism,” the statement says, echoing sentiments of U.S. Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller. The State Department official said earlier this month that stopping such collaboration would be tantamount to shooting “ourselves in the foot.”
According to the White House, “Critical bilateral nuclear nonproliferation activities are continuing in a number of key areas, and nuclear security is of paramount importance.”
Similarly, the administration “strongly objects to the significant reduction of funds” the House bill seeks to make to the Energy Department’s Second Line of Defense program, which aims to prevent the smuggling of dangerous nuclear materials across borders.
Congressional Democrats and nuclear watchdog groups, meanwhile, have complained that the Obama administration has not been requesting enough funds for the program in recent years………http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/gop-white-house-clash-over-nuclear-security-provisions-in-defense-bill-20140520
Fukushima nuclear reactor No.4 and the current state of cleanup
The status of Fukushima – robinwesternra blogspot Here is a good summing up of the status of Fukushima from Mike Ruppert –
……. There are just too many conflicting stories and a lot of fresh propaganda and lies trying to convince the imprisoned, slow campers that everything is under control. There’s obviously fraudulent and misleading video and reportage that turns the stomach. The intensity of the propaganda push signals that something big is happening soon.
On the other hand we have clear, compelling, redundant, well-sourced information and documentation that the following is true:
— GE and the US government are withholding any tech support or physical assistance for Japan until Japan agrees to hold GE harmless for all liability, and that all liability rests with TEPCO. GE designed the reactors and the site, including removal of more than 100 feet of cliff height which would have prevented the meltdowns. GE built the reactors with horrendous design flaws and reportedly still owns them. TEPCO is only the operator.
— ….— As of this moment my understanding is that Japan, TEPCO, and the Yakuza are completely on their own. It has been abundantly documented on many occasions over the last 2.5 years that these guys do not even remotely possess the skill sets necessary to even attempt to deal with this crisis.
My gut still says that if there is the slightest bit of sanity anywhere, the attempt will not be made. Yet the fact remains that this leaves all life awaiting the next earthquake, tsunami, typhoon, butterfly effect… or the absolute certainty that at some point the saturated ground under the plant will give way and bring the tottering Bldg 4 to the ground, the fuel assemblies with it. Perhaps one of the cooling towers that have broken loose from it moorings will fall into Bldg 4. Perhaps many of the tanks will rupture, multiplying the already astronomical amounts of radiation being released daily…
But most certainly the genocide of the Pacific Ocean will continue apace — as it has for 2.5 years — as both atmospheric and water-borne radiation levels continue to soar and set records.
In any event, the outcome looks the same from all directions.
That’s where we are……..http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/the-status-of-fukushima-11072013.html
World is waking up to the decline of the nuclear industr, despite the pro nuclear mainstream media
junk version of Darwinism to sell the same products. Tainted strongly by Lysenkoism – not Darwinism, the new Darwinist Theory of Nuclear Power is that a bit of radiation does you good because your tail feathers will be high in antioxydants after 28 years – or you will die. Yes, you do have a choice!
The Economist reveals its true pro-nuclear colours with recent articles under gloating titles like “Anti-nuclear Protest in Japan is Fizzling Out”. It gives outright support to Shinzo Abe’s attempts to restart Japan’s nuclear reactor fleet with titles like “Nuclear Power in Japan: Start ‘em Up”.
But objective reporting on nuclear power sometimes nudges its way, even into The Economist’s tainted fare, with rare articles where it tells us the world’s NPP fleet is still using “nasty old technology”.
Exactly that.
In reality, the “Nuclear Renaissance”, as the Nuclear Lobby calls it, is doing very badly. For starters, the economics of nuclear power are terrible. Further increases in the cost of nuclear power are certain, simply due to attempts by the industry to replace “nasty old technology” with Darwin-style, “evolved and perfected technology”.
The advanced European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) is a good example, in technological terms – and a somber example in economic terms……..
The nuclear enlightenment has also challenged the Nuclear Lobby’s assumption that the world energy system and its need for electricity is always growing. Here’s a fact: in some EU28 countries, electricity demand has been stagnant since the 1990s – long before the 2008 crisis. Since then, demand has decreased in most major EU28 countries – including Germany and UK. Long term power demand growth in the US is now forecast by the EIA at no more than 1% a year, if that.
Only the emerging and developing countries show “belle epoque” power demand growth trends – and even here the rates have seriously declined since 2010. To be sure, China and India are still the “last best hope” for the Nuclear Lobby, but the costs of nuclear power are eating into and pushing down nuclear program goals in both countries.
Mainstream media dismisses the menace of nuclear energy
Our Nuclear Menace – Just as Darwin Would Have Predicted Andrew McKillop MAY 6, 2014 BY 21WIRE Fukushima. It is perhaps the most under-reported cataclysmic event in human history. Maybe things would have been different had it happened in either Russia, Iran or North Korea.
A Major Glitch in ‘Evolution’ Theory
When it comes to devising new and creative ways to snuff out his own species, you really have to hand it to mankind. Not surprisingly, Darwinian nihilists must be quietly chuckling in the corner.
Incredibly, many politicians, economists and even hard-core environmental priests, still love nuclear power. It’s a strange kind of love, or a Strangelove to be precise.
The real lessons of Chernobyl and Fukushima
Debating the Merits of Nuclear Power CATHERINE THOMASSON NYT MAY 8, 2014 Re “The Right Lessons From Chernobyl” (editorial, May 2):
The danger posed by nuclear power goes far beyond the catastrophic accidents that have occurred at Chernobyl and Fukushima. As the nuclear weapon programs of North Korea, Pakistan, Israel, India and perhaps Iran have shown, civilian nuclear power programs are inextricably linked with the technology needed to develop nuclear weapons.
We cannot promote nuclear power as a source of electricity and also expect to prevent nuclear weapon proliferation, a development that poses as great a threat to humanity as global warming.Furthermore, nuclear power is not an inexpensive bridge to an energy system based on renewable sources.
It competes for resources with renewables, diverting money from the very technologies we need to promote. Numerous studies provide blueprints for replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources more cheaply and quickly than nuclear power can.
It is time to abandon the myth of the peaceful atom and focus on building a renewable energy system that meets the needs of all people.
USA’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Farbrication (MOX) boondoggle stopped
Outsmarting the MOX POGO, By: Lydia Dennett 9 May 14 The Project On Government Oversight is pleased to note that in the President’s FY 2015 budget, released this week, a Department of Energy billion-dollar boondoggle has been put on “cold-standby.” This particular boondoggle would be the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication (MOX) Facility at the Savannah River Nuclear Site in South Carolina…
…A confidential study recently conducted by the Energy Department reports that yet another cost increase may have been the final nail in the coffin for MOX. The construction costs alone could be as high at $10 billion over the next five years, while operations costs could be an additional $34 billion over the next 15 years.
This astronomical cost increase, in addition to the $4 billion that has already been spent on construction of the facility, is all for a project that doesn’t have a single customer…..http://www.pogo.org/blog/2014/03/20140307-outsmarting-the-mox.html
‘Useful’ nuclear meeting at UN between Iran and 6 world powers
EU: 6-party nuclear talks with Iran were ‘useful’, PhilStar By Edith M. Lederer (Associated Press) |May 9, 2014 UNITED NATIONS — Nuclear experts from Iran and six world powers had “a useful meeting” in New York ahead of political talks next week aimed at reaching an agreement to limit Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons, the European Union said late Wednesday.
An EU spokesperson said the talks were aimed at “further deepening” knowledge on the issues, and contributed to preparations for the high-level political negotiations on a comprehensive agreement in Vienna starting May 13. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the talks.
Iran’s U.N. Mission said the two-day experts meeting ended Wednesday. Hamid Baeidinejad, the Foreign Ministry’s director for political and international security affairs who led the Iranian delegation, did not comment on the talks.
While hopes are rising that an agreement can be reached, the toughest issues must still be negotiated, and any deal could still fall apart.
Russia, the U.N. nuclear agency, and outside experts tracking negotiations agree that the Iranians are cooperating, answering questions that they previously avoided, and appear to want an agreement that ends crippling sanctions.
In another positive sign, Iran said Sunday that international nuclear inspectors plan to visit a uranium mine and a uranium-thickening facility in Iran in the coming days, which would fulfill demands made by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog…….. The two sides are working toward a permanent agreement by July 20 that would cap Iran’s enrichment program, reduce its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium and turn some of it into a solid form which is less usable in bomb-making, and curb other atomic activities in exchange for lifting all sanctions. http://www.philstar.com/world/2014/05/09/1321134/eu-6-party-nuclear-talks-iran-were-useful
Hacking into US navy details by former US Navy sysadmin
Nuclear reactor sysadmin accused of hacking 220,000 US Navy sailors’ details We did it ‘out of boredom’ says alleged perp The Register, By Jasper Hamill, 7 May 2014
A former US Navy sysadmin who worked in an aircraft carrier’s nuclear reactor department has been charged with hacking into government networks using the USN’s own computers.
Prosecutors have alleged that Nicholas Paul Knight, 27, of Chantilly, Virginia, and his co-accused, 20-year-old Daniel Trenton of Salem, Illinois, were leading members of a blackhat group called Team Digi7al.
Court papers seen by The Register describe Team Digi7al as a “criminal association organised to hack protected computers, steal sensitive and private information, make unauthorised public disclosures of that stolen… information and commit various other crimes related to its hacking activities”…….According to the Wall Street Journal, the charges were contained in a document known as a criminal information, which usually indicates the defendants are going to plead guilty.
A trial date has not been set.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/07/us_navy_sysadmin_accused_of_hacking_220k_sailors_details/
Wacky ideas dept – Flying 3D Printers to deal with nuclear waste
Flying 3D Printers Could Help Seal Off Nuclear Waste,Gizmodo
GEOFF MANAUGH 8 May 14 A quadcopter outfitted with an on-board 3D printer could be used to seal off and transport nuclear waste, or even to build structures in the middle of nowhere, according to its inventor, Mirko Kovac of University College, London. “In effect, it’s the world’s first flying 3D printer,” New Scientist writes. “One day such drones might work together to help remove waste from nuclear sites or help patch up damaged buildings.”…….http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/05/flying-3d-printers-could-help-seal-off-nuclear-waste/
The ever rising cost of nuclear weapons and their plutonium wastes
Destroying and building nuclear weapons have something in common: high 
overruns By Walter Pincus, WP
May 5 There is a budget crisis, but the truth is we’re still planning to spend tens of billions of dollars to eliminate plutonium from thousands of dismantled, surplus nuclear weapons built during the Cold War.
Not to worry. We also are spending hundreds of billions on building newer nuclear warheads and bombs, and 21st-century submarines, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles to keep more than 1,000 nuclear weapons at the ready.
One thing that building and destroying the weapons have in common: Their cost overruns are way beyond original estimates…….With all these complaints about wasted spending in domestic programs that help the less fortunate, why aren’t the excessive costs of nuclear weapons activities being debated in Congress? http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/destroying-and-building-nuclear-weapons-have-something-in-common-high-overruns/2014/05/05/75b2bb40-d22e-11e3-9e25-188ebe1fa93b_story.html
No questions allowed at San Onofre nuclear waste storage meting
San Onofre: No questions allowed at next public workshop on nuclear waste storage http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/05/06/43954/public-workshop-on-san-onofre-nuclear-waste-storag/Ed Joyce | May 6th, 2014, Members of the public won’t get a chance to comment or question experts on nuclear waste storage at the next public workshop on the decommissioning of the San Onofre nuclear plant, which takes place Tuesday night.
And that’s not sitting well with some anti-nuclear activists.
“It’s disappointing we won’t be allowed time for public comments on the storage issue,” said Gary Headrick with San Clemente Green. “But this will be a really good eye-opener for the people on the panel to get educated on the uncertainty on how we store nuclear waste.”
The second meeting of the Southern California Edison Community Engagement Panel is set for 6-9 p.m. Tuesday at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center in San Juan Capistrano.
The panel was created to give the public input into the ongoing decommissioning process for the closed nuclear plant.
Headrick said he’d like to see a “broader variety” of experts at the storage workshop.
The panel chairman, David G. Victor, a UC San Diego professor and expert on energy markets, told Headrick in a letter that the technical workshop is designed to maximize the panel’s time with the waste storage experts, allowing the panel to ask questions and for the experts to offer their views.
“It’s going to be really important for the public to be there [at the storage workshop] even if they won’t have a chance to speak. There’s a lot to be learned,” said Headrick, who added that spent fuel wasn’t intended to be stored permanently at closed nuclear plants.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and other senators sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on May 2, calling on the agency to stop the “unwise policy” of issuing exemptions for emergency response requirements to decommissioning nuclear reactors that house spent nuclear fuel, such as San Onofre.
The decommissioning of the San Onofre nuclear plant is expected to take decades. The highly radioactive nuclear waste will be stored at the seaside location indefinitely, since there is no national nuclear waste repository. (High-level nuclear waste from operating and decommissioned plants is stored at the plant locations).
On its website, the NRC states that its current storage options — steel and concrete casks and spent fuel pools — “provide adequate protection of the public health and safety and the environment. Therefore there is no pressing safety or security reason to mandate earlier transfer of fuel from pool to cask.
Nuclear power is no answer to climate change
We shouldn’t warm to nuclear power Western Daily Press May 02, 2014 Allan Jeffery is the assistant co-ordinator of the Stop Hinkley campaign. Here he outlines why he believes nuclear is not the answer to our energy needs
Climate change is widely acknowledged as being one of the most pressing issues for the global community – affecting many aspects of the environment and society, including, human health, ecosystems, agriculture, water supplies, local and global economies, sea levels and extreme weather events.
However, the nuclear industry tries to depict nuclear energy as the most effective way to solve the climate problem. This claim has no basis in fact. Nuclear energy is neither effective nor viable. It is not a sustainable source and it causes devastating problems that humanity is not able to handle.
Looking at the whole nuclear energy cycle, nuclear energy does indirectly generate greenhouse gases. Much less than coal and oil, though not a lot less than gas, but significantly more than sustainable renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro and tidal.
Increasing nuclear generation on a large scale would mean exploiting much lower grade uranium ores. Therefore much more energy from fossil fuels would be needed to mine, enrich and fabricate the uranium fuel, greatly increasing the amounts of greenhouse gases emitted. Using low grade ores to produce the nuclear fuel will produce similar levels of greenhouse gases as burning gas in the power station in the first place.
Nuclear power only produces electricity. Globally nuclear produces about 16 per cent of the world’s electricity production and this is declining. Even if we switched all fossil fuel generation to nuclear by building hundreds of new nuclear reactors we would not solve the problem. Global electricity production is only one of many human activities producing greenhouse gases, and only produces nine per cent of global greenhouse gases. The rest of the emissions are produced by transport, heating, agriculture, cement production and deforestation. To have any significant effect on global warming, global emissions will need to be reduced 50 per cent by 2050. To do this many hundreds of new nuclear reactors will need to be built rapidly. The average reactor construction time for all builds up to 2013, was eight years and many much longer. Worldwide growth in building new nuclear reactors has slowed drastically as investors refuse to buy into the dubious economics of nuclear power………
The potential for renewable energy is vast. Each day the energy that falls on the earth is more than the earth’s global population would use in 27 years.
Solar generated power could provide the current world energy 10,000 times over, cleanly. http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/shouldn-t-warm-nuclear-power/story-21045803-detail/story.html?email-tobe-verified=true#ixzz314D9lCVz
Marshall Islands takes on Nuclear Establishment in legal case
Nuclear WMD states sued – by the Marshall Islands http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2383793/nuclear_wmd_states_sued_by_the_marshall_islands.html Robert Dodge 4th May 2014
The US threatens to attack Iran if it tries to build a nuclear bomb, yet the US and other nuclear WMD states have ignored their treaty obligation to work toward nuclear disarmament, writes Rober Dodge. Now the Marshall Islands has gone to court to enforce compliance.
Historic lawsuits have been field by the tiny Republic of the Marshall Islands against the US and the eight other Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) to meet their treaty obligations to disarm.
Since 1970, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has obligated nations to negotiate in good faith for complete disarmament – a world without nuclear weapons.
Forty-four years later, with no negotiations in sight, the world has become a more dangerous place with stockpiles of more than 17,000 nuclear weapons.
$1 trillion to spent on nuclear WMD over the next decade Four more nations now have nuclear weapons, and the original five continue to invest in and modernize their nuclear forces with expenditures expected to be in excess of $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
But one small nation has stood up to say “enough is enough”. The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has taken action in the International Court of Justice and in the US Federal District Court to compel the nine nuclear weapons nations to comply with their obligations, under the NPT and customary international law, and begin negotiations for nuclear zero.They suffered a 12-year blitz of nuclear bomb tests
The Marshallese people know first-hand about the destructive consequences of living in a world with nuclear weapons. From 1946-1958, the US conducted 67 nuclear weapon tests in the Marshall Islands, the equivalent explosive power of one-and-a-half Hiroshima bombs detonated daily for 12 years.
They seek no compensation through these legal actions. Rather they act for the seven billion of us who live on this planet, to end the nuclear weapon threat hanging over all humanity.
For the past year, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) has served as a consultant to the RMI in support of this courageous initiative to fulfill the world’s nuclear disarmament obligation.
They understand, as do the people of the Marshall Islands, that the only way to keep our loved ones safe is to relentlessly strive for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The issue is human survival
This is not a partisan issue, it is a survival issue. As a variety of world leaders have made clear, including former US Secretary of State George Shultz:
“The nuclear club should be abolished and anybody who has a nuclear weapon is the enemy of mankind.”
And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate:
“The failure of these countries to uphold important commitments and respect the law makes a more dangerous place. This is one of the most fundamental moral and legal questions of our time.”
As a physician, I recognize nuclear weapons pose the greatest existential and public health threat to our world. There is no adequate response to nuclear war. Prevention is essential and abolition of these weapons is the only way to accomplish that goal.
US Senators wait for an answer from NRC on nuclear emergency plans
Senators fight to keep nuclear protection zones in place http://www.wptz.com/news/vermont-new-york/plattsburgh/sentors-fight-to-keep-nuclear-protection-zones-in-place/25802730#ixzz30stpJkOWFor decomissioning power plants BRATTLEBORO, Vt. —U.S. senators from Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and California are calling on the federal regulators to stop reducing or eliminating emergency preparedness zones around decommissioning nuclear power plants.
Sen. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders of Vermont have signed a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission along with Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
The Brattleboro Reformer reports that the senators are concerned that lessons learned from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan show that offsite emergency planning should continue while nuclear waste is stored in a spent fuel pool.
Vermont Yankee in Vernon is scheduled to be closed at the end of the year.
The NRC says it will review the letter and provide a timely response.
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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