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Ionising radiation a cancer danger in CT scanning

Concerns about exposure to ionising radiation inducing cancer NPS,  15 Jan 13, People are exposed to ionising radiation through medical imaging with X-rays, CT and nuclear medicine scans, including positron-emission tomography (PET).5 While MRI has the advantage of not using ionising radiation4 most of the new MBS items for MRI requested by GPs will require X-ray as a first investigation.2

As there are no completed, large-scale epidemiological studies of cancer risk associated with CT, risk has been approximated using organ doses (or the distribution of dose in the organ) and application of organ-specific cancer incidence and mortality data derived from studies of atomic-bomb survivors on the peripheries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.6 Risk estimates adjusted to take into account the greater use of CT since 2006 indicate that 1.5–2% of all cancers in the US may be due to radiation from CT.6 Estimating cancer risk from CT remains a contentious issue, and large-scale epidemiological studies are needed for a direct assessment of this risk.6

Imaging is justified if the potential benefits outweigh the risks7…….

 http://www.nps.org.au/publications/health-professional/nps-direct/2013/mri-reducing-radiation-exposure

January 17, 2013 Posted by | history, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

NASA explores stratosphere to learn effects of the warming planet Earth

climate-changeNASA Chases Climate Change Clues Into The Stratosphere  NASA, 9 Jan
13, WASHINGTON — Starting this month, NASA will send a remotely
piloted research aircraft as high as 65,000 feet over the tropical
Pacific Ocean to probe unexplored regions of the upper atmosphere for
answers to how a warming climate is changing Earth. Continue reading →

January 10, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change, Reference | Leave a comment

Special dangers of ionising radiation in space

text ionising there are two things those astronauts have shown us. First, there are genetic changes and damage happening even within the relatively safe confines we’ve traveled thus far. Second, there is a hell of a lot we don’t know about how radiation exposure and risk works in outer space.

How space radiation hurts astronauts, Boing Boing,  Maggie Koerth-Baker, Jan 4, 2013    “……We know the rates of cancer for survivors of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but that radiation isn’t really comparable to the stuff in Galactic Cosmic Radiation. In particular, Cucinotta is concerned about particles known as HZE ions.

These particles are very heavy and very fast and we don’t experience them here on the ground. They’re the kind of things that get filtered out and broken down by Earth’s defense systems. But HZE ions can cause more damage, and different kinds of damage, than the radiation scientists are really familiar with. We know this because scientists actually compare samples of astronauts’ blood before and after a spaceflight. Continue reading →

January 8, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health, Reference | Leave a comment

America’s big con job – the Nuclear “Waste Confidence Rule”

The only reasonable and logical solution is to stop making more.  But this “Waste Confidence” decision isn’t based on reason or logic.   It’s based on keeping the reactors OPERATING for the next hundred years.

So why are we burdening our future generations with an ever-growing, unsolvable problem?

Waste Confidence 1

 The Eternal Problem  – Nuclear Waste Confidence, Counter Punch  by RUSSELL D. HOFFMAN, JANUARY 03, 2013“………The pro-nuker preferred to call it “spent fuel confidence.”  I, on the other hand, didn’t like the word “confidence” since there’s nothing that warrants ANY confidence in this discussion, whatsoever.  ”Waste Failure” would be more appropriate.  Or “Waste Impasse” might be even better.  Or better yet:  ”The Intractable, Unsolvable, Filthy, Disgusting Mess We’ve Made” but I guess that would just be too accurate to a group where a “rapid disassembly” is the term for a core explosion that spews radioactive crud for miles around.

But one way or another, it’s obvious that “Waste Confidence” is a misnomer from start to finish…… …… Nuclear waste storage is a huge unsolved problem in every nuclear country.   Continue reading →

January 4, 2013 Posted by | Reference, spinbuster, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Critically dangerous state of Vermont Yankee’s accumulated nuclear waste

wastes-1Vermont, New York regulators urge review of storage of spent nuclear fuel, VT Digger, by Andrew Stein | January 3, 2013  “……Vermont Yankee has 1,507 fuel rod assemblies submerged in a spent fuel pool, which was originally designed to hold about 350. Spent fuel rods must be kept under water in order to prevent the Zirconium cladding (the metal tubes that contain the fuel pellets) from igniting. The rods can remain hot for several years.

nuclear-cooling-pond Vermont Yankee’s spent fuel pool, located in a metal warehouse structure, has more than five full reactor cores worth of radioactive material. In the event of an accident, the impact would be five times greater than a single reactor meltdown.

The dry cask storage containers on the site are hundreds of times safer than the spent fuel pool, Shadis said.

At this point, the site has 13 loaded casks, four of which were filled last year, according to Neil Sheehan, NRC public affairs officer for Region 1.

Each cask, which can hold 72 assemblies, costs $1 million. It would cost roughly $11 million to move all of the assemblies into dry cask storage……. http://vtdigger.org/2013/01/03/vermont-new-york-regulators-urge-review-of-spent-nuclear-fuel-storage/

January 4, 2013 Posted by | Reference, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

After Chernobyl nuclear disaster- “background” radiation estimated at double previous amount

radiation-warningGeneticist Valery N. Soyfer, founder of the former Soviet Union’s first molecular biology laboratory, analyzed the 1986 report to the IAEA, which has since been condemned as a cover-up. Dr. Soyfer says that if only 100 million curies were vented, then world “background radiation doubled at once.”[10] This claim was unsupported by accompanying evidence, butif “background” was doubled by 100 million curies, then it was multiplied 180 times by the release of Chernobyl’s “full inventory.”

Nineteen months after the disaster, in Nov. 1987, the U.S. government officially doubled its estimate of the “background” radiation to which we are exposed every year

Chernobyl at Ten:  Half-lives and Half Truths, Chernobyl, by John M. LaForge “…… In the first part of this article (Spring 1996 Pathfinder) I compared the recent trivialization of Chernobyl’s consequences to news accounts that appeared soon after the explosions and fire. For example, while the commercial press now tell us that the disaster “spread radiation across parts of Europe,” the fact is that the federal EPA announced in mid-May 1986 that, “Airborne radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear accident is now so widespread that it is likely to fall to the ground wherever it rains in the United States.”[4]

In this part I look at how much radiation Chernobyl evidently added to the “background,” at official skewing of the inevitable long-term effects, and at recent reports of its human health consequences. Continue reading →

December 31, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, environment, health, Reference | 1 Comment

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) misled the world about Chernobyls’ cancer threat

Thyroid Cancers: More, Sooner, Untreatable   Chernobyl at Ten:  Half-lives and Half Truths, Chernobyl, by John M. LaForge 

“……Dr. Soyfer further discovered that the Soviets focused on and publicized the fallout’s radioactive iodine content, but understated the amounts of other far more dangerous isotopes. While 10 to 15 percent of the fallout was iodine-131, the long-lived radionuclides strontium-90 and cesium-137 made up more than two thirds of the total contamination.[12]

Furthermore, the Soviet’s 1986 estimate of future cancer deaths was based only on the impact of iodine-131, and then only on external doses. As a result, the IAEA misled the world about Chernobyl’s cancer threat. Continue reading →

December 31, 2012 Posted by | health, Reference | Leave a comment

$2 billion to shut down Quebec’s nuclear plant, but $4 billion to keep it open

The Parti Quebecois  also announced it will set aside another $200 million in a
“diversification fund” to help the surrounding communities retrain
their workforces and spur alternative development opportunities.

Shutdown of Que. nuclear plant to cost $2B, Ifp
QMI Agency
December 28, 2012 MONTREAL – The licence for Quebec’s only
operational nuclear power plant expired Friday, and the provincial
government said it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the
next 50 years to dismantle the reactor.

The Parti Quebecois campaigned against refurbishing the plant,
claiming that the $4-billion price tag was financially unjustifiable, Continue reading →

December 29, 2012 Posted by | Canada, decommission reactor, Reference | Leave a comment

The exploitation of indigenous peoples by uranium mining companies

nuke-indigenousNuclear dangers real and widespread
BY HELEN CALDICOTT, THE STARPHOENIX NOVEMBER 9, 2012
Caldicott is founding president of Physicians for Social
Responsibility and was featured in the Oscar winning film, If You Love
This Planet.

I write to reply to the allegations made about me in John Gormley’s
column, More private liquor stores, less Caldicott (SP, Nov. 2).

First, it is important for me to stress that the aboriginal people in
Northern Saskatchewan are being exploited by the uranium and nuclear
power industry, as they have routinely been in the United States and
Australia.

People who have lived benignly with nature for tens of thousands of
years have been forced to allow mining companies to extract uranium
from beneath their feet and to work in the mines.

Ample evidence abounds in the scientific literature that one-fifth to
one-half of uranium miners in North America have suffered from lung
cancer. Furthermore, uranium miners are also exposed to carcinogenic
whole body gamma radiation as well as the ingestion of radium – the
element that induced leukemia in Madame Marie Curie.

Many indigenous people who live near uranium mines are also exposed to
radioactive elements, and newly elevated rates of cancer are now
reported in these populations. We don’t know exact numbers because the
Saskatchewan government has not performed a baseline health study on
the populations affected.

As if this ecological danger were not enough, the nuclear industry is
proposing to bury 37,000 tonnes of extremely toxic, high level
long-lasting radioactive waste from Canadian nuclear reactors among
this vulnerable group of people, which, it is claimed will give them
jobs.

As the isotopes inevitably leak, they will contaminate the food chain
for evermore inducing more malignancies and genetic disease over
future generations…..http://limitlesslife.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/nuclear-dangers-real-and-widespread/

December 29, 2012 Posted by | indigenous issues, Reference, Uranium | 1 Comment

Navy men’s lawsuit against Japan alleges cover-up of radiation harm

justiceNavy rescue workers sue Japan over Fukushima cover-up — “Irreparable harm to life expectancy” — Gov’t and Tepco conspired http://enenews.com/navy-rescue-workers-sue-japan-over-fukushima-cover-up-irreparable-harm-to-their-life-expectancy-govt-and-tepco-conspired
 Title: U.S. Sailors Sue Japan Over Fukushima
Source: Courthouse News Service
Author: By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM
Date: Dec 26, 2012

flag-japan[…] Eight crew members of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, whose home port is San Diego, sued the Tokyo Electric Power Co. in Federal Court. […]

Flag-USALead plaintiff Lindsay R. Cooper claims Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) intentionally concealed the dangerous levels of radiation in the environment from U.S. Navy rescue crews working off the coast of Japan […]

The complaint states: “Defendant TEPCO and the government of Japan, conspired and acted in concert, among other things, to create an illusory impression that the extent of the radiation that had leaked from the site of the FNPP was at levels that would not pose a threat to the plaintiffs, in order to promote its interests and those of the government of Japan, knowing that the information it disseminated was defective, incomplete and untrue, while omitting to disclose the extraordinary risks posed to the plaintiffs who were carrying out their assigned duties aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan.” […]

And, they say: “Defendants had actual and/or constructive knowledge of the properties of radiation that would ensure that, once released into the environment, radiation would spread further and in concentrations that would cause injury to the plaintiffs.” […]

The sailors say they “face additional and irreparable harm to their life expectancy, which has been shortened and cannot be restored to its prior condition.”

December 28, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Legal, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Radiation exposure to residents of Treasure Island, USA

Alarming Radiation Levels Found on Treasure Island (includes Video –
see-this.wayon cancers in former residents) ) 
The Navy’s own data suggests that island residents were at risk of
radiation exposure.
East Bay Express, By Ashley Bates, 27 Dec 12, Navy officials have repeatedly downplayed the risks of
radiation exposure to current and former residents on Treasure Island.
But data from the US Navy shows that measurements taken in former
residential areas of the island revealed pockets of alarmingly high
radiation levels. The data, which the Express obtained as a result of
a public records request, also raises questions as to whether former
residents were, in fact, exposed to high amounts of radiation and
whether soil on the island can be sufficiently cleaned up for the
massive “eco-friendly” housing and commercial development planned for
the former Navy base…..
Despite the newly released data, much is still unknown about the
radiation levels on Treasure Island. Continue reading →

December 28, 2012 Posted by | environment, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

An overview of the Fukushima nuclear plant situation

Fukushima--Sayaka-Ogata,-SaTwo high school girls that were affected by the disaster are launching a peace discussion forum devoted to expanding the dialogue about nuclear power and weapons. One of the young women said, “My parents’ and grandparents’ generations may be to blame for allowing the nuclear power plants, but both adults and children are responsible for thinking together about the problem.”

highly-recommendedJapan Continues Struggle with Aftermath from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2012/12/26/japan-continues-fukushima-struggle/
 December 26th, 2012 › As 2012 draws to a close, evaluating the ongoing effects of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on the people of Japan is a difficult and depressing task. After having fled their homes due to the tsunami and resulting triple nuclear meltdown, 21 months later an estimated160,000 citizens still have not returned home.

Reports of illness in humans and livestock continue to underscore the far reaching and difficult to predict impacts that a nuclear accident can cause. In July, 36% of Japanese children screened were found to have abnormal thyroid growths. This fall, an illness dubbed the “Fukushima syndrome” was reported to be killing cattle near the Fukushima prefecture. Mutations are already observed inbutterflies and other insects, whose shorter life cycles allow genetic disruptions to display more quickly than in mammals or humans.

IAEA-and-WHO

The World Health Organization downplayed radiation and exposure risks in a report they released last summer, which is being discredited as biased by members of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Dr. Alex Rosen, from Germany said, “It is unclear why a report written mainly by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and collaborating nuclear institutions would need to be published in the name of the WHO, if not to provide an unsuspicious cover” for the true radiation levels Fukushima residents were exposed to. Continue reading →

December 27, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, Reference, safety | Leave a comment

Official data now estimates Chernobyl death toll at 1.5 million

Death toll estimate from Chernobyl now around 1.5 Million -Expert (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/expert-death-toll-estimate-chernobyl-around-15-million-people-video
December 22nd, 2012 
 Title: Pr A.Yablokov and Pr C.Busby on Fukushima victim estimations 
Uploaded by: radioactivebsr
Date: April 6-8, 2011
Description: Interview by an unidentified Austrian radio reporter
h/t Nuclear_Problem

Prof. Alexey Yablokow, PhD, Centre for Russian Environmental Policy, N. K. Koltzoff Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences:

9,000 additional deaths from cancer, nothing more – This is official data from so called Chernobyl Forum, by International Atomic Energy Agency and World Health Organization. […]

And when I calculate this, of course it’s not precise. But level of death toll was more than 1 million. If you not only for 15 years, but for 25 years, maybe to close one and a half million – than 9,000 deaths which I mentioned before.

December 24, 2012 Posted by | health, Reference, Ukraine | 2 Comments

Lynas radioactive waste plans: unsafe?

text ionisingLynas’ waste plans a toxic pipe dream  Aliran,   19 December 2012 by Wendy Bacon ”    ……While Lynas says it is confident in the current by-product plans, they are yet to be tested. Dr Peter Karamoskas, who has been a nuclear radiologist for 13 years and represents the Australian public on the Radiation Safety Committee of Australia’s nuclear safety agency, shares none of that confidence.

Speaking on his own behalf, Karamoskas said that to be safe more than a million tons of WLP residue with a radioactive reading of 6Bq have to be mixed with five times the amount of aggregate to reduce its reading to 1Bq. While he said that a similar process had been used in the Netherlands, the waste was far less radioactive, sitting near 1Bq, which is the threshold for safety.

Karamoskas said it has never been used with material with the Lamp WLP reading of 6Bq. He says that it is extremely unlikely to be a long term solution from a safety or economic point of view: “If this was all ready to go they would be trumpeting it in the public arena … already it looks slippery. If this was possible wouldn’t most countries around the world be doing it?” He thinks it is extremely unlikely that the road mix could be imported, other than to a country with “lax standards” because it would breach international best practice standards. Continue reading →

December 22, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, RARE EARTHS, Reference, Uranium | Leave a comment

National Christian Council finds nuclear power incompatible with life and peace

church-&-radThe science in play is not fiction. Children are growing up forbidden to play outdoors, young women worry that no one will want to marry them, a mother tests her rice harvest to see if she can share it with her children, families are paying off loans on radioactive homes they will never use. These are the kind of stories heard every day at a parish radiation information centre in Aizu Wakamatsu, Japan.

The conference concluded that “there is no safe use of nuclear power, no safe level of exposure to radiation, and no compatibility between nuclear power, life and peace.”

flag-japanNuclear tragedy finds  a human face in Fukushima,  Insights, ON 19 DEC 2012 BY STEPHENW
The everyday effects of radiation borne by survivors of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan add up today to an involuntary experiment with public health, community life and environmental affairs.
An ecumenical conference, called to listen to local residents, found that last year’s chain reaction of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear calamity has generated a “live” human tragedy, across a province, with no end in sight.
The Geiger counters that priests and parishioners pull out of their pockets like cell phones made the local anxieties and fears real for their visitors.
“I cannot tell my children that there will be something good if they live,” one mother told a Buddhist priest. Continue reading →

December 22, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, Reference, social effects | Leave a comment

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