Nuclear marketing film ‘Pandora’s Promise’ gets some poor reviews
Some thoughts on “Pandora’s Promise” and the nuclear debate By David Roberts, Grist 14 June 13“……Pandora’s Promise is directed by Robert Stone, who brings all the zealotry of a convert to the proceedings. The results are … well, take it away, reviewers.
You need to make an argument. A parade of like-minded nuclear-power advocates who assure us that everything will be all right just doesn’t cut it.
Where Stone errs, even on behalf of his own argument, is in not including a single voice in opposition to nukes, even just for contrast, and in treating those who opposed nuclear power in the past as a bunch of brain-dead hippies. The juxtapositions created between his current-day subjects and people marching and singing against nukes in 1979, make the latter look like idiots, when all they were doing was acting in good conscience. It’s not the best way to make a persuasive argument. Regarding the science of the pro-nuclear debate, no one on screen is less than convincing, and nothing in the end seems more benign than a twin-stacked breeder reactor; the viewer might almost come away thinking that what he or she needs in the morning is a healthy dose of nuclear radiation. But this is a zealotry issue, and Stone is a convert.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
To be sure, there is nothing wrong with changing your mind. In fact, there is much to admire in those who recognize altered circumstances, integrate fresh information, and come to a new judgment. What is disingenuous about Pandora’s Promise is the way the new judgment is conveyed. The film mocks groups that continue to protest nuclear power, treating one-time colleagues as extremists and zealots. An audience discussion after a preview at the University of Chicago made it clear I was not the only one who sensed the self-righteous tone of the newly converted in the film’s narrative. In the end, by dismissing the protestors and failing to engage them in significant debate about the pros and cons of nuclear energy, the film undermined its own message.
But the doc’s bigger flaw is that no one is allowed to make a reasoned anti-nuclear argument. To the well-made film’s many statistics, graphics, and common-sense assertions, the lack of a rebuttal is deafening.
Alas, [the movie’s] argument against fear-driven orthodoxy is undercut by the fact that, as with so many of this subgenre’s entrants, there are no substantial competing voices included in the mix …
http://grist.org/climate-energy/some-thoughts-on-pandoras-promise-and-the-nuclear-debate/
World must stand together for zero nuclear weapons
The World Must Stand Together 10 Jun 2013 Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Naomi Watts and Christoph Waltz think this matters to people everywhere: http://goo.gl/oYfrk
On June 17-18 , Presidents Obama and Putin will meet on the side of the G8 Summit, with cutting nukes on the agenda. We must stand together for a world without nuclear weapons. Join the Global Zero movement and demand zero!
Youtube: Fallujah birth defects and US depleted uranium weapons
Inside Story Americas – Did the US cause Fallujah’s birth defects? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9YQ1GimBDc 1 Aug 2012
New research is under way on the alarming increase in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, showing elevated levels of radioactivity in the city and across the country. Iraqi doctors have long reported a spike of cases involving severe birth defects in Fallujah since 2004 which are shocking in their severity. So is the US being honest about the weapons it used in the 2004 battle for the city, and in its other theatres of war? Guests: Ross Caputi, Dai Williams, Raed Jarrar.
VIDEO: Global effect of Fukushima radiation
Title: Fighting a dragon I cannot see
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Date: June 5, 2013
Nathaniel White-Joyal, Host: It’s clear that the west coast of the United States will be affected by the radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Akio Matsumura, Diplomat: Let me clarify. We are facing global disaster — catastrophe — occurring. From that perspective, over 40 years, 50 years, or maybe 100 years. We cannot escape from this fact. For that we have to keep in mind. […] This radioactive material, or contaminated water, any cases, reach out to your west coast as well. If you are counting on Japan, I can assure you now they do not take serious action.
Watch the video here
VIDEO: public backlash against nuclear power in Taiwan
VIDEO Taiwan sees public backlash over nuclear power http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22710028 30 May 2013 It has been more than two years since the accident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Japan. But the safety of nuclear energy remains extremely controversial, not just in Japan but around the world.
Taiwan has been building a new plant 30km from its capital Taipei.But opposition has been intensifying and the public may be asked to decide in a referendum later this year whether the construction should continue at all.The BBC’s Cindy Sui reports.
VIDEO: Finland’s nuclear waste tunnels
VIDEO Finland to bury nuclear waste underground http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/05/201352154030372976.html Country plans to solve problem of disposing radioactive waste permanently by using tunnels. 21 May 2013 Finland has struggled with disposal of radioactive waste for decades, with temporary storage sites requiring constant monitoring.
The country now plans to bury its nuclear waste in tunnels underground.
But in the United States and elsewhere such tunnels have been prevented because of safety fears.
Al Jazeera’s Tim Friend reports from a facility in Olkiluoto island.
Images of potential radioactive fallout, if San Onofre nuclear plant had an accident
Imaging Potential San Onofre Fallout What might the radioactive fallout cloud look like at San Onofre from a Chernobyl-like or Fukushima-scale nuclear accident? http://eon3emfblog.net/?p=6317
Recently two concerned men, each in his own way, have set out to answer that question. Torgen Johnson mapped a scaled overlay of the Fukushima fallout cloud over the San Onofre region. Paul Frey mapped a scaled overlay of the Chernobyl radioactive plume. Their findings are presented
VIDEO: Finland’s nuclear waste tunnels
VIDEO Finland to bury nuclear waste underground http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/05/201352154030372976.html Country plans to solve problem of disposing radioactive waste permanently by using tunnels. 21 May 2013 Finland has struggled with disposal of radioactive waste for decades, with temporary storage sites requiring constant monitoring.
The country now plans to bury its nuclear waste in tunnels underground.
But in the United States and elsewhere such tunnels have been prevented because of safety fears.
Al Jazeera’s Tim Friend reports from a facility in Olkiluoto island.
PODCAST: the danger of Hanford’s old, leaking, radioactive waste tanks
Great Haste Made Great Waste at Hanford
Expert: “Incipient collapse” of radioactive waste tanks possible at U.S. nuclear site (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/expert-incipient-collapse-radioactive-waste-tanks-possible-nuclear-site-audioTitle: Great Haste Made Great Waste at Hanford
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Date: May 22, 2013
Nuclear policy expert Robert Alvarez: Not much attention is paid to the fact that these tanks [at Hanford] that are holding these wastes, they’re decades old.
Most of them were constructed from the 40s-60s, over a third of them have leaked, and their structural integrity really leaves much to be desired.
By the time we get around to removing the contents of these wastes and ultimately stabilizing them, these tanks could go in to a state of incipient collapse.
Full report here
Hanford officials lied to authorities about radioactive leak
VIDEO Hanford officials hid leak evidence from advisory panel http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Hanford-officials-hid-leak-evidence-from-advisory-panel-208417861.html
‘Amazing’: Plutonium leak at U.S. nuclear site hidden from public — Official: “A very deliberate cover up… I will use the word that we were lied to” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/amazing-plutonium-leak-at-u-s-nuclear-site-hidden-from-public-official-a-very-deliberate-cover-up-i-will-use-the-word-that-we-were-lied-to-video
Title: Hanford officials hid leak evidence from advisory panel
Source: KING 5
Author: SUSANNAH FRAME
Date: May 21, 2013
A government-chartered advisory panel was told last September that materials spotted outside the inner wall of a tank holding radioactive waste at the Hanford Site were possibly the result of a “carbonate buildup,” “cross-contamination” or “rainwater leakage.” […]
On Aug. 13, the results were sent to multiple [Washington River Protection Solutions] officials showing measurable amounts of Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, two highly radioactive elements that are a byproduct of nuclear fission. Trace amounts of Plutonium 239/240 and Americium-241 were also detected.
A reference to the results in a Leak Assessment Report made public on Nov. 7 says the materials were registering 800,000 dpm (disintegrations per minute), a high level of radioactivity that had never been found in that portion of the tank before. […]
“This was a very deliberate cover up and I will use the word that we were lied to. There’s no two ways about it, we were lied to,” said state Rep. [Gerry] Pollet. […]
Anchor: “Susannah, amazing stuff, thank you.”
New Book: A Short History of Nuclear Folly
A Short History of Nuclear Folly [Hardcover] http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nuclear-Folly/dp/1612191738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369261455&sr=8-1&keywords=short+history+of+nuclear+folly Release date: April 30, 2013
In an unprecedented people’s history, Herzog digs deep into archives, interviews nuclear scientists, and collects dozens of rare photos. He explores the “accidental” drop of a Nagasaki-type bomb on a train conductor’s home, the implanting of plutonium into patients’ hearts, and the invention of wild tactical nukes, including weapons designed to kill enemy astronauts.
Told in a riveting narrative voice, Herzog—the son of filmmaker Werner Herzog—also draws on childhood memories of the final period of the Cold War in Germany, the country once seen as the nuclear battleground for NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries, and discusses evidence that Nazi scientists knew how to make atomic weaponry . . . and chose not to.
VIDEO: continuing damage at Hanford radioactive waste facility
VIDEO: Great Haste Made Great Waste at Hanford http://fairewinds.org/podcast/great-haste-made-great-waste-at-hanford The Hanford nuclear site, located on the Columbia River in Washington state, was built as part of the Manhattan Project to process plutonium for nuclear weapons. Operated until the end of the Cold War, the decades of weapons production has left Hanford as the most contaminated nuclear site in the US, with a long history of cover-ups about the leaking high-level radioactive waste. In a project that is currently 10-years behind schedule, the DOE is attempting to build a vitrification plant at Hanford to process and neutralize the massive amounts of radioactive waste left behind by the creation of nuclear bombs. Today, nuclear policy expert Robert Alvarez joins Kevin and Arnie to discuss the ongoing environmental damage to the Hanford site.
Japan’s Monju nuclear reprocessing plant not safe to restart
AUDIO Japan’s nuclear safety record criticised by regulator http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/japans-nuclear-safety-record-criticised-by-regulator/1132464 17 May 2013, Japan’s nuclear watchdog has refused to give the go-ahead to commission an experimental fast-breeder reactor due to safety concerns. The Monju reactor in the Fukui prefecture has been closed for almost two decades after a leak and a fire in 1995.
The head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority has blasted Monju’s operator for its lack of a safety culture, saying it deserved severe action.
The decision comes as dealing with Japan’s stockpile of nuclear waste becomes more urgent. Reporter: Karon Snowdon Speakers: Professor Andrew O’Neil, Director of the Griffith University Asia Institute; Hajime Matsukubo, International relations director of Tokyo’s Citizens Nuclear Information Centre
YOUTUBE: 14,000 USA people may have died as result of Fukushima radiation
Peer reviewed study shows 14000 US deaths http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdow_6pN6jY Dr. Janette Sherman, M.D., Internist and Toxicologist. There’s more trouble at Fukushima. Nuclear safety experts are accusing the Japanese government of lying after 230 tons of radioactive waste was found in a tunnel underneath the crippled nuclear plant – just a few days after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko said the crisis is over.
There’s also news that Unit 4 at the plant is on the verge of collapsing – something that nuclear power expert Paul Gunter talked about on my radio show yesterday. This new information suggests that the Japanese government is still misleading the world on just how severe the Fukushima crisis still is.
But even more troubling is the impact this nuclear crisis on the other side of the world has had right here in the United States. There’s shocking new evidence out that the Fukushima disaster may have led to the deaths of as many as 14,000 people…in America! For more on this – I’m joined by Dr. Janette Sherman – Internist and Toxicologist – and co-author of a new report on the link between an increase in deaths here in America and the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Video: Japan’s $30 billion, 20 year Rokkasho project
the biggest shareholder this project is TEPCO, the operator of the shattered Fukushima nuclear complex.
VIDEO: Japan to open nuclear plant http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3761126.htm Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 16/05/2013 Reporter: Mark WillacyJapan is about to open a 30 billion dollar state-of- the art nuclear fuel re-processing plant.
Transcript
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: It took more than 20 years to build and cost nearly $30 billion. Now Japan’s state-of-the-art nuclear fuel reprocessing plant is about to open. The plant in the far north of the country will be capable of turning spent nuclear fuel into eight tonnes of plutonium each year. The Japanese say the weapons grade plutonium will only be used for power generation, but that hasn’t soothed American concerns about the security of the stockpile and the possible effect on a regional arms race. North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy was given an exclusive look inside the Rokkasho nuclear complex. Continue reading
1 This Month
26 September – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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