What You Need to Know About Nuclear Energy
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Nukepills.com
Information on preparedness and purchasing potassium iodide. |
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Common Dreams.org
CommonDreams.org is a national nonprofit, progressive, nonpartisan citizens' organization founded in 1997 by political activists Craig Brown and his late wife, Lina Newhouser. |
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Incident at Three Mile Island - I finally was able to reach Kendall late in the evening at the home of his mother, who was seriously ill. He filled me in on what he had been able to learn. Apparently twenty-two previous cases of defects in the valves and pumps of this type of reactor had been reported to the NRC in recent years, but nothing had been done to correct the problem. As a result of the loss of cooling water, much more fuel damage had apparently occurred than had been expected. |
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Nuclear Technology:
The Inappropriate Exercise of Human Intelligence and Given This, What Is Appropriate?
by dave ratcliffe
For over half a century the false assumptions about nuclear technology have been as deceitfully treacherous as they are lethal to all life exploring itself on Earth. In order to exercise our own best innate powers of response ability, we must see through these pernicious fallacies and acknowledge the true nature of nuclear technology. By so doing, we can then deal with its poisonous legacy created over the past fifty-plus years which will now be with us for millenia to come. This crisis has been created by humans and can be successfully addressed if we are willing to see the facts and respond with our infinitely creative abilities. |
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By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Dr. John W. Gofman, the medical physicist whose fight for what he considered scientific honesty in understanding the health effects of ionizing radiation made him a pariah to the nuclear power industry and the U.S. government, died of heart failure Aug. 15 at his home in San Francisco. He was 88. |
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The Biological Effects of Nuclear Radiation
In order to understand nuclear technology and its impact on human health, three atomic-level events must be understood: fissioning, activation and ionisation. Fissioning, i.e. the splitting of the uranium or plutonium atom, is responsible for producing radioactive fission fragments and activation products. These in turn cause the ionisation of normal atoms, leading to a chain of microscopic events we may eventually observe as a cancer death or a deformed child. |
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Before the election of Barack Obama, both
US presidental candidates stated that they support
the eventual abandonment of nuclear weapons! We congradulate
both candidates for their wise sentinment on this
issue! |
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Although most protesters were from the region, people travelled from all over Germany to the demo, called by trade unions, churches, advocacy groups, local governments, neighbourhood associations, firms, farmers with their tractors, to protest against irresponsible handling of nuclear waste. |
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World Map of Nuclear Power Plants |
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countries building their first reactors |
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countries building new reactors |
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countries planning/considering their first reactors |
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countries planning/considering new reactors |
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countries with reactors, but no plans for expansion or phase-out |
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countries with reactors considering phase-out |
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countries which formerly had commercial reactors, but have all been phased out |
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countries without commercial reactors |
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countries that have declared themselves free of nuclear power and weapons |
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US Map |
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There is a very real concern about what nuclear is doing to our planet and the ecosystem. Nuclear is not green and it stands with the potential of destroying life on this planet. There is a project called Nuclear Power 2010 Program. Several companies including General Electric, Hitachi America, Bechtel Corporation, NuStart Energy LLC-(Constellation Generation Group, Duke Energy, EDF International North America, Entergy Nuclear, Exelon Generation, Florida Power and Light Company, Progress Energy, Southern Company, GE Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority, Westinghouse), TVA ( General Electric, Toshiba, USEC Inc., Global Fuel-Americas, and Bechtel Power Corp), intend on building many more nuclear power plants in the USA. This careless decision was approved without the consecent of the American people and is another example of powerhouse corporations making the decisions.
Recently, Eskom stopped their plans for a nuclear plant in South Africa citing financial torubles over the $12 billion dollar project. (Read more here) According to Portia Molefe, who works for the Department of Public Enterprise, "The South African government remains committed to introducing nuclear because we have to deal with our carbon footprint and we have to diversify our energy mix." While the plants are capable of producing large amounts of energy, they are very expensive, produce deadly radioactive waste, and sit as a ticking time bomb for meltdowns or other disasters. Uranium that is used in some of the production of nuclear power can take millions of years to break down. Perhaps, Eskom has done the people of Africa a big favor. Chernobyl is still on the minds of many in the energy community and those that it affected. No one can deny that this disaster was avoidable and that it could happen again. Nuclear cannot be the solution to the carbon footprint. It creates a much deadlier and tragic footprint. This footprint that is left behind is radiation. The radiation is significant. According to Wasserman, a writer for Common Dreams.org:
People died--and are still dying--at Three Mile Island. As the thirtieth anniversary of America's most infamous industrial accident approaches, we mourn the deaths that accompanied the biggest string of lies ever told in US industrial history. As news of the accident poured into the global media, the public was assured there were no radiation releases. That quickly proved to be false. The public was then told the releases were controlled and done purposely to alleviate pressure on the core. Both those assertions were false. The public was told the releases were "insignificant." But stack monitors were saturated and unusable, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission later told Congress it did not know---and STILL does not know---how much radiation was released at Three Mile Island, or where it went.
Using unsubstantiated estimates of how much radiation was released, the government issued average doses allegedly received by people in the region, which it assured the public were safe. But the estimates were utterly meaningless, among other things ignoring the likelihood that high doses of concentrated fallout could come down heavily on specific areas.
Official estimates said a uniform dose to all persons in the region was equivalent to a single chest x-ray. But pregnant women are no longer x-rayed because it has long been known a single dose can do catastrophic damage to an embryo or fetus in utero. The public was told there was no melting of fuel inside the core. But robotic cameras later showed a very substantial portion of the fuel did melt. The public was told there was no danger of an explosion. But there was, as there had been at Michigan's Fermi reactor in 1966. In 1986, Chernobyl Unit Four did explode. The public was told there was no need to evacuate anyone from the area.
But Pennsylvania Governor Richard Thornburgh then evacuated pregnant women and small children. Unfortunately, many were sent to nearby Hershey, which was showered with fallout. In fact, the entire region should have been immediately evacuated. It is standard wisdom in the health physics community that---due in part to the extreme vulnerability of human embryos, fetuses and small children, as well as the weaknesses of old age---there is no safe dose of radiation, and none will ever be found.
Still, strange deformities can be seen in plants and animals near the 3 Mile area. The leukemia rates soared and most of them died before they could fight the energy powerhouse that was responsible. In effect, they are not held accountable, there is no justice for those harmed, and the damage to the watershed, ecosystem, and animal and human life is irreversible. It is time for the human race to do better than this. Communities can become energy indepenedent. Homes can use wind, solar, and magnetic energy and be independent of the need for power mogels. You can make your voice heard on this issue.
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| "The No Nuker" - where No Nukes is good news !
CHINA'S EMERGING ANTINUCLEAR MOVEMENT
On August 18, 2007, China officially started the construction of the Hongheyan nuclear power plant, 110 km north of Dalian city in Liaoning province, kicking off a new round of nuclear power building in China. Using China's own CPR 1000 nuclear technology, the Hongheyan nuclear power plant will have six reactors, each with a capacity of 1,000 MW. Though Chinese media reported an assurance from governmental officials on the safety of nuclear reactors, in a rare stance China Daily publicized concerns over nuclear safety from residents in nearby Changxing Island. |
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"The fission reactor produces both energy and radioactive waste; we want to use the energy now and leave the radioactive waste for our children and grandchildren to take care of. This is against the ecological imperative: Thou shalt not leave a polluted and poisoned world to future generations." ---Hannes Alfven of Sweden, a 1970 Nobel Laureate in Physics |
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"The best minds in nuclear science have been hard at work for over sixty years trying to find a solution to the radioactive waste problem, and they've finally find one: haul it down a dirt road and dump it on an Indian reservation." ---Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth |
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"Electricity is but the fleeting byproduct from atomic reactors. The actual product is forever deadly radioactive waste." ---Michael Keegan, Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes |
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| If you live near a nuclear reactor then you children are at risk for cancer. Know the facts. Read More Here. |
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| Utility blasted over Pennsylvania reactor; Davis-Besse operator criticized over fake data, lax oversight |
TOLEDO -- "FirstEnergy Corp. is in hot water with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission again over falsified inspection records, this time with its Beaver Valley nuclear complex near Shippingport, Pa... 'FirstEnergy should never have the falsified records issue again. They should have the squeakiest clean process by now,' said David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer in Washington for the Union of Concerned Scientists. 'The lessons of Davis-Besse didn't get to Beaver Valley as broadly as they needed to be," he said," Tom Henry, Toledo Blade. |
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| Reactors prone to long closings, study finds |
WASHINGTON, DC -- "An analysis of nuclear reactors by a safety group has found that they are prone to costly, lengthy shutdowns for safety problems regardless of their age or the experience of their managers. The finding could have implications for companies considering building new reactors. The analysis, by David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, counted 51 times that a reactor had been closed for a year or more... The shutdown of more than a year that ended most recently was at Davis-Besse, near Toledo, Ohio, where workers found that an acid used in the plant, boron, had corroded a 70-pound chunk of steel in the reactor’s vessel head, leaving only a half-inch stainless steel liner," Matthew Wald, New York Times. |
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| FirstEnergy shuts Ohio Davis-Besse reactor for work |
NEW YORK, NY -- "FirstEnergy Corp. shut the 873-megawatt Davis-Besse nuclear power station in Ohio early Wednesday due to a problem with the condenser, a spokesman for the Akron, Ohio-based company said. He said operators manually shut the reactor early this morning after the condenser started to lose vacuum. The spokesman said a team was investigating the problem but he could not say how long it would take to fix the condenser and return the unit to service," Reuters. |
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| Groups lambaste nuke official for alleged regulatory laxness |
ROCKVILLE, MD -- "Jim Dyer, a former Midwest region chief for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, apparently has "learned nothing from the Davis-Besse debacle" by letting the nuclear industry continue to voluntarily report leaks of radioactive water at nuclear plants, according to a statement issued yesterday by more than two dozen groups and individuals. The NRC should immediately demand technical information that could lead to a national assessment of the problem, they said. The groups said they want to know if recent leaks reported in Illinois, New York, Missouri, Connecticut, Massachussetts, and Arizona were a fluke or a symptom of a bigger problem," Tom Henry, Toledo Blade. |
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| U.S. report cites problems with NRC's 'safety culture' |
TOLEDO -- "The report predicts new steps will be implemented in July The Nuclear Regulatory Commission still needs to change a problematic 'safety culture' at the nation's power plants, highlighted by a near-disaster in 2002 at the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor near Oak Harbor, according to the federal Government Accountability Office's preliminary findings in a recent report," Eric Lund, Toledo Blade. |
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Waste storage dilemma crimps nuclear future
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AVILA BEACH, CA-- "the industry and its supporters in Washington still have not resolved one of the biggest issues that derailed nuclear power in the 1970s and 1980s -- what to do with the waste, which remains radioactive for thousands of years. Yucca Mountain remains bottled up by Nevada politicians. One alternative would be to recycle spent fuel rods, extracting radioactive material for reuse and reducing the amount of waste that would need to be stored. But the idea has long been blocked by fears that plutonium removed from old rods could fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue countries trying to build nuclear weapons. So Diablo and other nuclear plants must keep their waste on-site -- indefinitely," David R. Baker, San Fransisco Chronicle.
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http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic. |
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http://www.helencaldicott.com/
The single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises, Dr Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 35 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. |
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Kevin Kamps covers all aspects of the nuclear fuel chain with particular expertise on government and industry efforts to dump nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as well as on the risks of radioactive waste generation and storage at reactor sites, and transportation through communities across the country. Prior to joining Beyond Nuclear he was for eight years the Radioactive Waste Specialist at Nuclear Information and Resource Service. He has traveled widely across the U.S. and overseas, speaking at many community and governmental forums and on television, radio and at press conferences and has testified before numerous federal, state, and local government agencies. Tel: 301.270.2209 / Email: kevin@beyondnuclear.org. |
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http://www.clamshell-tvs.org/index.html
The U.S. nuclear industry is back — bigger, richer and more slippery than ever. After 30 years of no new nuclear power plants in the United States, the industry has taken the first steps for construction of at least 20 new nukes. It's secured fat new federal subsidies, regulations that cut out the public, and a PR campaign to convince people that nukes are the only viable answer to global warming. |
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Linda Gunter is the media and development specialist for Beyond Nuclear. Prior to creating Beyond Nuclear she worked as a journalist, in public relations and led the media and development efforts at three national environmental nonprofit organizations. She is the co-author, with Paul Gunter, of Licensed to Kill, a landmark report on the impact to marine animals from the routine operation of coastal nuclear reactors.
Tel: 301.270.2209 / Email: linda@beyondnuclear.org. |
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Cindy Folkers specializes in radiation impacts on health and manages the administrative operations of Beyond Nuclear. Prior to joining Beyond Nuclear, she specialized in radiation impacts on health at Nuclear Information and Resource Service where she held a number of responsibilities during her 12-year tenure. She communicates with members of the public, U.S. Congress, the press, and national and international agencies on radiation and health regulation and science, climate change, U.S. energy legislation and activities on Capitol Hill. She has traveled and spoken at public meetings, conferences and academic symposia.
Tel: 301.270.2209 / Email: cindy@beyondnuclear.org. |
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Van Jones
While Van Jones, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and author of The Green Collar Economy, initially asked his audience to give President-elect Obama an opportunity “to do right,” he was quick to share his critique of Obama’s environmental positions, referring to Obama’s willingness to compromise on offshore oil drilling, “clean coal” and “safe nuclear” energy options. Visit his website here.
Van Jones is founding president of Green For All and a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress. He is also a TIME Magazine 2008 Environmental Hero, one of Fast Company’s 12 Most Creative Minds of 2008, and the the New York Times Bestselling author of The Green Collar Economy (Harper One 2008) |
| http://www.beyondnuclear.org/nuclear-reactors/ - why we should NOT use Nuclear |
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