NASA Experts: Southeast US hit by “anomalously high” levels of polonium from Fukushima — Never seen before, except during volcanic events — Fallout also detected in Mississippi river — Polonium releases kept secret in past nuclear disasters; Death estimates would skyrocket if included

Published: June 26th, 2015 at 2:21 pm ET
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349 comments


Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, W. Yang and L. Guo, NASA Stennis Space Center and Univ. of Southern Mississippi Dept. of Marine Science, 2012 (emphasis added): Depositional fluxes and residence time of atmospheric radioiodine (131I) from the Fukushima accident

  • The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant explosions… emitted vast quantities of radioactive materials into the environment… radioiodine (131I)… 134Cs and 137Cs are of special concern to people because they could trigger dangerous health effects
  • However, data on time series depositional fluxes are still lacking, preventing… prediction of the scope of dispersion especially in North America
  • Following the Fukushima accident, a high level of 131I was first detected on March 23 in a dry deposition sample at [NASA’s space center]
  • After this initial fallout, the 131I depositional flux increased up to ten- to twenty-fold during the following two weeks, varying from 218 mBq/m^2/day to 463 Bq/m^2/day
  • Concurrent high rainfall and high 131I fluxes were observed at the SSC site… from 97 to 337 mBq/L with an average of 217 mBq/L
  • In addition to precipitation samples, 131I was also detectable in surface waters from the Pearl River in Mississippi, with an activity of 6.7 mBq/L
  • Interestingly, the 210Po/210Pb ratios of the fallout samples during the peak 131I fallout period were anomalously high… Before and after the Fukushima accident, the environmental 210Po/210Pb ratio in precipitation samples varied from 0.02 to 0.09 with an average of 0.06 at the SSC in southern Mississippi… However, the 210Po/210Pb ratio during the Fukushima fallout was up to 1.5 on March 23…
  • To date, excess 210Po in the atmosphere was only reported for high temperature activities such as volcanic eruptions or degassing… Therefore, the anomalously high 210Po/210Pb ratios observed in the southern US were mostly derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant explosions which could have resulted in the fractionation of environmental 210Po and 210Pb and thus the preferential release of volatile 210Po into the atmosphere. Indeed, the anomalous 210Po/210Pb ratios were accompanied by the peak fallout of 131I… indicating that the Fukushima nuclear plant explosions mainly contributed to the anomaly in the 210Po/210Pb ratio…
  • it seemed that regions reachable by 131I transport within two weeks from Fukushima would receive much more fallout…

New Scientist, Mar 1983: 25 years since the nuclear accident at Windscale… Attention has centred [on] radioactive iodine… the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) said the iodine-131 may have killed 13… However, the damage to health may have been much more severe… Indeed, it could represent the worst environmental disaster that Western Europe has known this century… re-examination of the data… reveals that one crucial isotope released in the fire has been ignored… there was one isotope released in the accident that is highly mobile [with] a high take-up by the human body… this was only revealed this week by the NRPB after New Scientist’s inquiries… It is polonium… polonium could give… a total dose to the UK of 5 million man-rems… the death figures may have to be revised significantly upwards… The figures suggest that some 1200 excess cases of leukaemia may have been  caused in Britain by the Windscale accident. Since leukaemia deaths account for some 15 per cent of cancers attributable to nuclear accidents, the total toll of cancer deaths suggested is 8000… Clearly further investigations into the whole of the Windscale accident must be urgently pursued. The British are in effect now the nuclear laboratory of the world.

Woods Hole’s Ken Buesseler and others have cited polonium-210 levels in seafood tested for Fukushima radionuclides, for example: “Doses from eating fish are very low off US, and in fact 500 times greater from a natural radionuclide, polonium-210, but no one worries about 210Po.”

Published: June 26th, 2015 at 2:21 pm ET
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349 comments

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  1. Gov’t Expert: Fallout in California thousands of times higher than we expected for several days after Fukushima explosions — ‘Orders of magnitude’ above estimates at start of crisis, even though estimations based on Chernobyl — Article: Releases at these levels would mean “many hundreds of kilograms” of “many other fission products!” (MAP) September 23, 2014
  2. Sinkhole: Officials concerned gas has entered Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer — New well to be drilled near salt dome September 6, 2012
  3. Two oil barges slam into bridge on Mississippi River, both heavily damaged — Coast Guard trying to fix 24-foot gash — Sheen reported miles away — “Still leaking Sunday evening” (VIDEO) January 27, 2013
  4. Gov’t Report: Plutonium detected in recent California air samples — “Fallout from Fukushima nuclear accident” may be to blame December 28, 2015
  5. Cover Story: Study on Fukushima Fallout in US — Elevated levels of radioactive cadmium and technetium May 3, 2012
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349 comments to NASA Experts: Southeast US hit by “anomalously high” levels of polonium from Fukushima — Never seen before, except during volcanic events — Fallout also detected in Mississippi river — Polonium releases kept secret in past nuclear disasters; Death estimates would skyrocket if included

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  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 1:11 am

    http://enformable.com/2015/06/holtec-president-says-hi-storm-dry-storage-casks-can-last-300-years/

    … Singh asserted that the HI-STORM casks were the best and safest in the world and claimed that each cask would last 300 years — even though the longest a HI-STORM cask has been used in the field is only 15 years. …

  • melting mermaid melting mermaid
    June 28, 2015 at 1:17 am

    http://www.mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150621p2a00m0na010000c.html
    Protecting citizens from radiation with baby wipes. I suppose that's a step up from their usual lie til they die protocol.

  • melting mermaid melting mermaid
    June 28, 2015 at 1:31 am

    http://www.gizmodo.com/the-secret-1949-radiation-experiment-that-contaminated-1707748721
    And, just in case your not pissed off enough already, the green run…

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 2:34 am

    http://louisianarecord.com/news/269971-former-pipe-yard-worker-sues-47-companies-over-cancer-allegedly-exposing-him-to-radioactive-materials

    Former pipe yard worker sues 47 companies over cancer, allegedly exposing him to radioactive materials
    June 25, 2015
    By KYLE BARNETT
    GRETNA – A man who contracted two forms of cancer years after working in drilling pipe cleaning yards where he alleges he was exposed to radioactive materials is suing.

    Jimmy Emerson filed suit against Exxon Mobil Corporation, Humble Oil Refining Company, Humble Oil Refining Corporation, Exxon Company USA, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, Mobil Oil Company, Shell Oil Company, Swepi LP, Shell Offshore Inc., BP Products North America Inc., Amoco Oil Company, American Oil Company, Chevron USA Inc., Gulf Oil Corporation, Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company, Texaco Inc., Texas Company, ConocoPhillips Company, Phillips Petroleum Company, Conoco Inc., Marathon Oil Company, USS Holdings Company, BP America Production Company, Amoco Production Company, Pan American Petroleum Corporation, Standolind Oil and Gas Company, Vastar Resources Inc., Devon Energy Production Company, Devon Energy Corporation, Pennzenergy Exploration and Production LLC, Devon Energy Operating Company, Devon Energy Gas Marketing Company, Pennzoil Gas Marketing Company, Pennzoil Producing Company, Union Producing Company, Pennzoil Oil and Gas Inc., Pennzoil Company, Pennzoil Producing Company, Pennzoil United Inc., …

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 2:35 am

      United Gas Corporation, Pennzoil Petroleum Company, Atlantic Richfield Company, Intracoastal Tubular Company, Intracoastal Truck Line Inc., Intracoastal Terminal Inc., Intracoastal Pipe Repair and Supply Inc. and OFS Inc.in the 24th Judicial District Court on May 8.

      Emerson asserts that from 1979 to 1983 he was employed in several pipe cleaning yards by Louisiana Texas Oilfield Inspection Services where drilling pipe containing oilfield generated radioactivity was being cleaned. The plaintiff claims the pulverization of the contents of the pipes caused the radioactive materials to become an airborne fine dust that he breathed in. Emerson alleges his years long exposure to radioactive materials produced by the defendants resulted in his contraction of skin cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

      The defendant is accused of failing to warn of danger, causing harmful exposure to radioactivity, failing to inform the plaintiff of the exposure to radioactive materials, failing to properly test for radioactivity, failing to properly dispose of radioactive waste, failing to identify contaminated pipes, failing to mark areas contaminated by radioactivity, acting in a careless and negligent manner and using defective equipment. …

      • rogerthat
        June 28, 2015 at 2:36 am

        An unspecified amount in damages is sought for cancer diagnoses, increased risk of cancer, fear of cancer, physical health problems, mental pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of income, loss of wage earning capacity, medical monitoring and medical expenses.

        Emerson is represented by Jeremiah A. Sprague of Marrero-based Falcon Law Firm.

        The case has been assigned to Division N Judge Stephen D. Enright Jr.

        Case no. 749-484.

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 2:42 am

    http://knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/2015/06/25/mystery-irritant-surfaces-again-at-y-12/

    A mysterious airborne “irritant,” previously reported inside the oldest building at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, has surfaced again — this time outside the building.

    Plant spokeswoman Ellen Boatner confirmed that employees walking past Building 9731 have recently reported experiencing symptoms, such as coughing and throat discomfort.

    “Two reports of minor throat irritation and coughing symptoms after walking nearby the building have occurred,” Boatner said in an email response to questions.

    All of those afflicted by airborne irritants have been evaluated, and it’s been determined there are no health problems, she said.

    The issue apparently was first recognized in February when a security police officer entered Building 9731, which was built in 1943 as the original pilot facility for uranium-enrichment operations at the Manhattan Project site.

    Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at Y-12, previously acknowledged that five employees had reported symptoms after being inside the buildding.

    Staff members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reported in February that the cause of the irritation was believed to be “vapors or dust from an activity to process lithium hydroxide.” The work inside Building 9731 was being conducted by the Development Division, which is Y-12’s research organization. …

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 2:43 am

      Wyatt confirmed that Development work was taking place, but he would not discuss the lithium.

      Boatner said Y-12’s industrial hygiene group has been monitoring the situation.

      As a precautionary measure, the sidewalk has been “cordoned off” near Building 9731, she said. “Efforts will continue to identify and eliminate any airborne irritants.”

      • Bungalow Phil Bungalow Phil
        June 28, 2015 at 2:34 pm

        Lithium is used to manufacture tritium. Deuterium and tritium are used as boosting gases for nuclear weapons. Fusion-fission devices and fission-fusion-fission devices.
        Nothing of value going on there.

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 2:49 am

    interesting stuff:

    http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150626p2a00m0na013000c.html

    The master copies of analytical data that determined the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 was an "atomic bomb" have been discovered from among personal effects of a late university professor, it has been learned. …

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 3:03 am

      … The researchers estimated that the uranium used in the bomb for nuclear fission weighed around one kilogram — matching the actual amount of uranium used in the bombing. …

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 2:57 am

    http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/06/24/nuclear-nuisance-case-finally-nears-conclusion.htm

    Nuclear Nuisance Case Finally Nears Conclusion
    By EMMA GANNON

    DENVER (CN) – A 25-year-old challenge to pollution from a nuclear-weapons plant has boiled down to a nuisance claim that must be resolved, the 10th Circuit ruled Tuesday.

    The well-written decision notes that the 1990 filing of the case marks only a segment of a dispute that stretches back to the Cold War when Dow Chemical began operating out of the Rocky Flats plant, just 16 miles from downtown Denver, in 1952.

    Rockwell International had taken over operations by the time the plant down shut down in 1989 when an FBI raid revealed that plant workers had mishandled radioactive waste for years.

    In the wake of the government's criminal action, the plant's neighbors brought their civil complaint, led by plaintiff Merilyn Cook, seeking damages for their exposure to carcinogens and obliterating their property values.

    It took 15 years for the case to finally go to trial, but a jury's $926 million verdict did not remain in place long.

    In 2010, the 10th Circuit concluded that the damages could not stand because they relied on violations of the Price-Anderson Act, which allows plant owners to be held liable for a "nuclear incident."

    The plaintiffs have since conceded that a nuclear incident did not occur, "but that does not mean the defendants are insulated from any…

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 2:59 am

      liability," Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote for a three-panel of the federal appeals court Tuesday.

      Gorsuch and his colleagues had to revisit the case because the plaintiffs seek now to hold the plant operators liable under state nuisance law.

      Though the trial court sided with the companies, the 10th Circuit vacated that judgment Tuesday, saying the "defendants have identified no lawful impediment to the entry of a state law nuisance judgment on the existing verdict."

      "They have shown no preemption by federal law, no error in the state law nuisance instructions, no mandate language specifically precluding this course," Gorsuch wrote. "No other error of any kind is even now alleged.

      Denouncing the "injustice" of now proceeding to a new trial after all this time, the appellate panel called for the lower court to reach a "judgment on the existing nuisance verdict promptly, consistent with resolving the outstanding class action question, wary of arguments that have already been rejected or forfeited."

      "This long lingering litigation deserves to find resolution soon," Gorsuch added.
      Judge Nancy Moritz concurred in the judgment to remand but split from the panel on various details. …

      • rogerthat
        June 28, 2015 at 3:06 am

        this version is subscriber only:

        Surprising Reversal in Rocky Flats Case

        Scott Flaherty, The Litigation Daily
        June 24, 2015

        The Tenth Circuit rules for Colorado property owners in the quarter-century-old Rocky Flats litigation, dealing a blow to Dow and Rockwell and their lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis.

        Read more: http://www.litigationdaily.com/id=1202730423270/Surprising-Reversal-in-Rocky-Flats-Case#ixzz3eL1a4Si2

        • rogerthat
          June 28, 2015 at 3:15 am

          the reuters version:

          http://blogs.reuters.com/alison-frankel/2015/06/24/10th-circuit-in-rocky-flats-case-after-25-years-give-plaintiffs-justice/

          10th Circuit in Rocky Flats case: After 25 years, give plaintiffs justice

          By Alison Frankel June 24, 2015

          (Reuters) – More than 25 years ago, eight Coloradoans agreed to serve as the representatives for a class of about 13,000 property owners who believed the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant had contaminated their land with radioactive plutonium.

          In late 2005, after 15 years of pre-trial motions practice against the federal contractors Dow Chemical and Rockwell International, the case finally went to a four-month trial.

          Jurors deliberated for 17 days, answering a 30-page jury form, before returning a verdict of $177 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive. With pre-trial interest, the compensatory damages alone topped $700 million.

          In 2011, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wiped out the jury verdict, holding that the trial judge was too expansive in instructing the jury about what constitutes a nuclear incident.

          On Tuesday, a different 10th Circuit panel gave back what the appeals court took away in 2011.

          The 38-page majority opinion by Judge Neil Gorsuch is worth reading for a couple of reasons.

          First, it’s a surprisingly gripping story of legal strategy. The judge, who clerked for two different U.S. Supreme Court justices and is often mentioned as a possible …

          • rogerthat
            June 28, 2015 at 3:17 am

            Republican Supreme Court nominee, shows how lawyers’ decisions can reverberate in unexpected ways.

            Here, a big risk by plaintiffs’ lawyers at Berger & Montague paid off, but the argument that worked so well for Dow and Rockwell in their first trip to the 10th Circuit ended up backfiring badly.

            Gorsuch also steps back to address the consequence of the gamesmanship that has kept this case unresolved for so many years – through the deaths, though the judge doesn’t mention this, of four of the original class representatives.

            Splitting with Judge Nancy Moritz, who called for a retrial of the class claims, Judges Gorsuch and Gregory Phillips instructed the trial court to enter judgment for the plaintiffs.

            “We can imagine only injustice flowing from any effort to gin up the machinery of trial for a second pass over terrain it took fifteen years for the first trial to mow through,” Judge Gorsuch wrote.

            “Injustice not only in the needless financial expense and the waste of judicial resources, but injustice in the human costs associated with trying to piece together faded memories and long since filed away evidence, the emotional ordeal parties and witnesses must endure in any retrial, the waste of the work already performed by a diligent and properly instructed jury, and the waiting – the waiting everyone would have to endure for a final result in a case where everyone’s already waited too long.”

            That’s pretty stirring stuff, especially for …

            • rogerthat
              June 28, 2015 at 3:19 am

              lead plaintiffs’ lawyer Merrill Davidoff of Berger & Montague, who has been with the case since the beginning. (His wife was six months’ pregnant with his youngest son when the class action was filed; that son is now 25, he said.)

              “It’s been a real ordeal,” Davidoff said. “We’ve got a lot of people in the class who are, thank God, still alive and looking forward to a judgment.”

              Judge Gorsuch’s opinion credited plaintiffs’ lawyers with performing “a little judicial jiu-jitsu” by turning the defendants’ 2011 appellate win against them. That win was based on what the judge called “a curious tactical decision” by defense lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis.

              As the opinion explained, a federal statute called the Price-Anderson Act governs tort suits involving claims against nuclear facilities.

              The law limits defendants’ liability for “nuclear incidents” (and requires the federal government to pay damages not covered by insurance), so, Gorsuch wrote, “defendants often have as much incentive as plaintiffs to accept that any harm they caused stemmed from a nuclear incident.”

              But Kirkland & Ellis told the 10th Circuit in the 2011 appeal that the jury misunderstood the definition of a nuclear incident – effectively denying such an incident occurred. That argument persuaded the first 10th Circuit panel to vacate the jury verdict and remand the case.

              It also, however, left an opening for the plaintiffs – who elected to renounce any attempt to approve a nuclear incident under…

              • rogerthat
                June 28, 2015 at 3:22 am

                Price-Anderson Act and proceed only with their state-law nuisance allegations.

                Plaintiffs’ lawyers furthermore told the trial judge that they didn’t need to retry the nuisance claims because the jury had already reached a nuisance verdict with instructions the 10th Circuit deemed proper.

                It was a gamble for the class, but, according to Davidoff, it would have been nearly impossible to try the case a second time, decades after the suit was filed and more than 50 years since some of the events at issue.

                The trial judge, U.S. District Judge John Kane, sided with Dow, Rockwell and Kirkland, finding both that Price-Anderson preempted the state-law claim and that the 2011 panel’s mandate precluded recovery on it.

                The 2015 10th Circuit panel, however, said the federal law does not bar a nuisance claim when a nuclear incident is alleged but unproven.

                Essentially, the Gorsuch opinion said, the defendants were stuck with the results of their own tactics.

                “In the end, Dow and Rockwell appear to have persuaded even the plaintiffs that this case does not involve a nuclear incident with the meaning of the Price Anderson Act – at least in the light of the statutory construction the defendants urged and this court adopted in the first appeal,” the opinion said.

                “In this light, we can well understand why the plaintiffs on remand renounced a new trial and sought entry of a judgment based on the existing nuisance verdict.'' …

                • rogerthat
                  June 28, 2015 at 3:23 am

                  A Dow representative told Reuters Tuesday that the company is considering an en banc petition to the entire 10th Circuit or a petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court.

                  The company also said it is indemnified by the Department of Energy for Rocky Flats liability.

                  Lead defense counsel Christopher Landau of Kirkland didn’t respond to a phone message.

      • DUDe DisasterInterpretationDissorder
        June 28, 2015 at 3:19 am

        We are eaten alive..

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 3:38 am

    http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2921833/radiation_in_court_landmark_success_for_australias_nuclear_veterans.html

    Radiation in court: landmark success for Australia's nuclear veterans
    Chris Busby

    24th June 2015

    A legal judgment in Australia has fatally damaged the 'official' ICRP model of health damage by nuclear radiation, writes Chris Busby – reflecting the fact that cancer originates through the mutation of individual cells, not whole organs or organisms. The ruling is good news for Britain's bomb test veterans whose day in court is coming up; and for all who suffer radiation induced cancers.

    The problem with the ICRP approach is that cancer does not start in the 'whole organ', but in one cell, or perhaps in a small group of cells, so the dose necessary to cause the genetic damage leading to cancer has only to be large enough in one place.

    At the end of last month the Veterans Appeals Tribunal Decision on the Case Jean Mahoney vs. Australian Repatriation Commission was published.

    The result was a win for the appellant, setting aside of the earlier Australian government decision not to grant a pension to the widow of a veteran who worked among the ruins of Hiroshima and later died from metastatic colon cancer.

    I was the expert witness in this case and persuaded the Australian Tribunal (in an expert report and with oral cross examination by telephone, Brisbane to Riga) that the radiation risk model …

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 3:40 am

      of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) was not applicable to the kind of internal exposure to radioactive particles which her late husband, George Mahoney will have received.

      I was bought into this case by Dr David Douglas who had been also retained as an expert by the widow, and with whom I have worked on another successful appeal in the past. Dr Douglas also gave evidence, and largely supported the arguments relating to internal exposures.

      The particular argument I advanced is an extremely important one in internal radiological protection, one at the core of the arguments of the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR), and it was opposed by an expert from the Australian National Radiological Protection Board (ARPANSA) who argued the model of the ICRP.

      A trial of two risk models

      So this case was, in effect, a trial of the two risk models, that of the ECRR and that of the ICRP. It was decided by the judgement in favour of the ECRR.

      The appellant's late husband, George Mahoney, was stationed in Japan between 5th March 1946 and 23rd April 1955 as a member of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces (BCOF). He died on 7th July 1990 from metastatic colon cancer.

      Mrs Mahoney applied for (and was refused) a pension on the grounds that the death was caused by her husband's exposure to residual radiation at Hiroshima, where he worked. The original refusal basis was (like all the British Test Veteran refusals) that his dose was too…

      • rogerthat
        June 28, 2015 at 3:45 am

        low to cause cancer.

        This statement was based on the ICRP radiation risk model which holds that a 'dose' to the organ concerned of upwards of 1000mSv is necessary to cause a 50% increased risk of colon cancer. The ICRP analysis is based on the cancer yield of the External Acute gamma radiation 'dose' to individuals in the famous 'Life Span Study' the LSS.

        So (if the LSS is a true reflection of the cancer yield) the whole colon, every cell in the colon, and every cell in the body of the exposed individual will have had to receive 1,000mSv for the person the develop colon cancer.

        But the problem with this approach is that cancer does not start in the 'whole organ'. It starts in one cell, or perhaps in a small group of cells, so the dose necessary to cause the genetic damage leading to cancer has only to be large enough in one small part of the colon.

        Such a dose could be easily delivered from a Uranium particle for example, inhaled and ingested from the contaminated dust in the ruins of Hiroshima. We know that there were such particles because my colleague (and ECRR scientist) Prof. Shoji Sawada measured anomalous Uranium residues from the famous 'black rain' in Hiroshima in 1983. This is the key point.

        The approach of the Australian Commission in deciding these issues is to see if they fit within a 'statement of principles' (SoP). …

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 8:22 am

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/28/national/container-lid-bolts-low-level-nuclear-waste-might-failing/

    …The Land, Transport, Infrastructure and Tourism Ministry has ordered the firm to halt all transport operations until safety measures can be confirmed.

    The problem was first discovered in February, but Nuclear Fuel Transport failed to report it to the ministry for more than four months after judging it to be a “peculiar case,” the ministry said Saturday.

    The first case involved the discovery of one broken bolt among four used to secure the lid of a single container. It was found during a check of empty containers at the company’s storage facility in Rokkasho, it said.

    Last Monday, it found another broken bolt while preparing to transport waste from Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, the company said.

    When another broken bolt was found Thursday at the Rokkasho facility, the company conducted further checks and found two more there, it said.

    There are 3,300 such containers, made between 2011 and 2014, around the country. It will take a while to check them all and for transport operations to resume, domestic media reports said. …

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 8:34 am

    http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/story/opinion/readers/2015/06/26/letter-nuclear-regulatory-commissions-rules-weak/29337745/

    Letter | Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s rules too weak
    Kevin Kamps June 26, 2015

    FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) spokeswoman Jennifer Young was quoted as saying “All the big investments that are needed to extend Davis-Besse’s life have been completed already.”

    But this is only because the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) safety standards are so dangerously weak, despite lessons that should have been learned from the ongoing Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.

    Take Davis-Besse’s severely cracked, and ever worsening, concrete Shield Building. Every time a freeze-thaw-freeze cycle takes place, the cracks grow around a half-inch. The structural integrity of this essential radiological containment structure is questionable, especially in the event of a core meltdown, with its high temperatures and pressures.

    And FENOC’s problem-plagued reactor has already had more close calls with catastrophe than any other in the U.S. over the past four decades.

    Come to think of it, the objectionable $3 billion ratepayer bailout FENOC has requested from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, at ratepayer expense, would just about pay for a replacement Shield Building. Only FENOC has no such plans, nor does NRC require it, despite the risks. …

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 8:38 am

      What about Davis-Besse’s experimental steam generator replacements? A botched job at San Onofre, California led to a near-miss accident in 2012, the permanent shutdown of the two atomic reactors in 2013, and a multi-billion dollar boondoggle.

      Unsuspecting ratepayers could be left holding the bag. We’ll have to wait and see how this roll of the dice goes on the Lake Erie shore.

      How long will Davis-Besse’s current reactor lid last? The first one lasted from 1977 to 2002, when the Hole-in-the-Head fiasco became the worst nuclear accident since the Three Mile Island meltdown of 1979. The second lid lasted only seven years, from 2004 to 2011.

      Davis-Besse has also had radioactivity leaks from its high-level waste storage pool, as well as corrosion of its Inner Steel Containment Vessel, the first line of defense against the catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity in a meltdown.

      Jennifer Young’s prediction that major investments till 2037 “are completed already,” may be a bit premature.

      The Japanese Parliament concluded that collusion between regulator, nuclear industry, and government officials was the root cause of Fukushima.

      Such high-risk complicity runs rampant between NRC and FENOC. …

      • rogerthat
        June 28, 2015 at 8:38 am

        Another 20 years of radioactive Russian roulette at Davis-Besse puts those downwind and downstream, up the food chain, and down the generations in great peril.

        Davis-Besse should be retired, as planned, at the end of its original 40-year license, on April 22, 2017. What an appropriate way to celebrate Earth Day.

        Kevin Kamps

        Radioactive Waste Watchdog

      • razzz razzz
        June 28, 2015 at 5:22 pm

        rogerthat>>> "…A botched job at San Onofre, California led to a near-miss accident in 2012, the permanent shutdown of the two atomic reactors in 2013, and a multi-billion dollar boondoggle…"

        San Onofre did leak when those tubes wore through and before sensors shut the reactor down. NRC admits to it leaking but will not say how much or what the readings were. The locals got dosed.

        Rate payers are still being billed as if the now closed down site is still running plus they want to charge more for decommissioning the plant site. Then, what do you do with all the stored spent fuel on site? They wanted to ship some of the stored fuel inland away from the coast but any selected location turned the offer for being a storage site down.

        Nuke power generating companies, past, present and future, will blame the federal government for not providing a long term spent nuke fuel storage site i.e. Yucca Mountain and will try to dump blame and costs of their long term nuke fuel storage onto the (federal) taxpayers as companies shirk their cleanup responsibilities of nuke plant site decommissioning by walking away from it after pocketing profits from when the plants were operating.

  • melting mermaid melting mermaid
    June 28, 2015 at 8:48 am

    http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/06/22/spy-agencys-secret-plans-foster-online-conformity-and-obedience-exposed
    Government trolls and why we love to hate them…I wonder what kind of psychological profile they are looking for when they hire these guys.

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 8:57 am

    http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/22/indian-point-aging-nuclear-plant/

    Aging Nuclear Power Plant Must Close Before It Closes Us

    Paul Gallay | June 22, 2015

    We must face facts regarding the Indian Point nuclear plant. It’s infrastructure is aging, its safety is dubious and most everyone knows it. What many people don’t know is that it can be replaced at little cost to ratepayers—and energy technologies taking its place would create new economic opportunities for New York.

    Indian Point—just 38 miles north of New York City—is vulnerable to terrorism, has 2,000 tons of radioactive waste packed into leaking pools and relies on an unworkable evacuation plan.

    While some argue that transformer accidents—such as the one that occurred last month—can happen at any power facility, they happen with astonishing frequency at Indian Point. Its age is problematic: You wouldn’t rely on a 40-year-old appliance, why extend this trust to a nuclear plant?

    Moreover, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says Indian Point 3 has the highest risk of earthquake damage of all the nation’s reactors.

    About 20 million people live within 50 miles of Indian Point. If a catastrophic accident occurred, the consequences would be unimaginable. …

  • obewanspeaks obewanspeaks
    June 28, 2015 at 9:05 am

    Absolutely as I am being blocked from certain websites right now and I think it is google behind the dirty deeds.

    WE seriously live in a very demented world controlled by psychopaths and I am sure we all deep down realize that this current Zeitgeist Matrix is very powerful and will do anything to protect it's current control over each of us and how their money flows. All while destroying the world we live in. 🙁
    http://thecrowhouse.com/calling.html

    • SadieDog
      June 28, 2015 at 10:52 am

      Obe, it's not paranoia anymore. I've had comments and entire discussions on member pages removed from you-tube, that that didn't violate any rules and contained no threats or profanity. Some instantly.

      • obewanspeaks obewanspeaks
        June 28, 2015 at 11:25 am

        I have had years of complete boards of my comments "only" removed and simply disappear into thin air. Do I care, not really, since I am a realist and I always speak my mind and many of those comments that vanished I can now see playing out nationally, since they obviously liked the advice I gave to them.

        Now, if I could get these morons to understand and end the dire Nuclear Black Plaque they unleashed globally..there may be hope! 🙂

        I need no credit or money for my efforts, since Money has no value in my world..my world only exists in this world because I have to follow the laws imposed on me by others or by our often insane collective.

        We can make the changes, and we can do this and we will lose billions in the process, but one must not ever give up the effort in bringing truths to the light in order to improve the world that we all live and/or some say we are trapped in.

        We must all stay the course and all our contributors efforts on these boards will help correct that which should never have been broken in the first place. 🙂

    • Dr. Goodheart Dr. Goodheart
      June 28, 2015 at 11:17 am

      Certain websites come up in Windows 8 -10 as being 'unsafe', and basically blocking all access.

      One has to click advanced tab and then click on proceed anyway.. not many people will do that.

      Welcome to the new world and method of censorship…

    • hadia hadia
      June 29, 2015 at 7:37 am

      @obewan these videos are really one of the best and compressed I have watched lately. thnx for the link crowhouse.

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 9:06 am

    http://www.rfa.org/about/releases/nuclear-risks-06232015103922.html

    Radio Free Asia Series on China Nuclear Risks Wins at New York Festivals
    2015-06-23

    WASHINGTON – Radio Free Asia (RFA) last night won a bronze medal at the New York Festivals’ 2015 International Radio Program Awards for its Cantonese Service’s investigative series on China’s nuclear energy risks.
    Titled, “A Citizenry Left in the Dark: China’s Nuclear Power Industry,” the series follows on RFA’s revelations in June 2010 when a nuclear power plant in close proximity to Hong Kong leaked radioactive material. It won in the juried contest’s category of Best Investigative Reporting.

    “This award helps to underscore an important issue of safety for the millions in China who live and work near nuclear plants,” said Libby Liu, President of RFA. “The tireless work of Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese Service brings this story to the people who would otherwise be left in the dark by Chinese state-controlled media and officials.

    “The continued recognition of this story also inspires us at RFA to continue bringing news to people in Asia who would otherwise not be able to access uncensored, accurate journalism.”

    In June 2010, radioactive substances were detected in cooling water at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in southern Guangdong, China’s most populous province. After RFA Cantonese broke the story, local authorities …

    • rogerthat
      June 28, 2015 at 9:08 am

      claimed that the danger to the public was “negligible.”

      Four years after the incident, an RFA undercover film crew traveled to the site to investigate safety conditions in the area. RFA’s team learned that local residents remain woefully ignorant of the danger of nuclear waste, even though waste from the power plant is dumped at a site that is five kilometers from where they live.

      RFA found also that, in order to prevent the rise of popular discontent in the aftermath of the 2010 radioactive leak, local authorities have been providing generous monthly living subsidies to those living within the immediate vicinity of the plant to quell discontent and concerns among locals.

      RFA’s four-part multimedia series, which aired in four parts in December 2014, also explores safety issues surrounding Guangdong’s Huizhou Nuclear Power Plant, one of 26 nuclear power plants under construction in China.

      The majority of local residents interviewed by RFA were only vaguely aware, if at all, of the existence of the nuclear plant, much less the health risks of living close by.

      China is in the midst of a serious push to expand its nuclear power industry to lessen reliance on fossil fuels. What is troubling, especially in the post-Fukushima era, is that there does not exist in the country a comprehensive national program to provide citizens with information on possible public health hazards in their communities; nor have the authorities established emergency plans …

      • rogerthat
        June 28, 2015 at 9:09 am

        and response mechanisms in the event of a nuclear accident.

        The award was presented at a ceremony in New York City. Earlier this year, the series also won a Sigma Delta Chi award, presented by the Society of Professional Journalists, in April.

        Other winners at New York Festivals included RFA sister broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Radio 4, RTE, and WNYC, among many other esteemed broadcasters from around the world.

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 9:35 am

    http://www.mtexpress.com/news/environment/activists-call-inl-study-inadequate/article_d0459ae2-1a02-11e5-a4e2-d741c65484d1.html

    … They contend that the DOE’s proposal is just the first step toward eventually sending much larger loads of commercial nuclear fuel to the state, perhaps for indefinite storage. …

    … activists contend that the two proposed shipments of 25 fuel rods, weighing about 100 pounds per shipment, from two separate commercial nuclear power plants are part of a plan to open the door for shipment of about 20 metric tons of spent commercial nuclear fuel into the state.

    One shipment, originally proposed for early 2016, is for 25 fuel rods from the North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia. The fuel rods from North Anna are “high burnup” fuel, meaning they were left in the reactor longer to limit refueling outages.

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the practice of higher burnup across the industry, even though the cladding of the spent fuel produced may be more brittle and therefore more likely to crack.

    In a presentation to Otter’s 14-member Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission during a meeting on Sept. 26, 2013, DOE representatives proposed a two-stage program to research high-burnup fuel rods, with the second stage involving up to 20 metric tons of spent fuel. …

  • cosmic charlie cosmic charlie
    June 28, 2015 at 10:32 am

    Just an interesting tidbit. NOAA was birthed at Oak Ridge Tennessee. Probably to increase the effectiveness of the bomb using weather patterns. The military has long known how deadly low dose radiation is. Using all that depleted uranium in Iraq against earthen masonry buildings and light vehicles when it is supposedly designed for penetration of heavy armor was no accident.

  • rogerthat
    June 28, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/house-passes-bill-calling-for-study-of-shipping-liquid-uranium-across-peace-bridge-20150624

    The House has passed legislation including an amendment sponsored by Rep. Brian Higgins that requires the Department of Homeland Security to study the risks of shipping highly enriched liquid uranium across the Peace Bridge.

    The amendment was included in the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2015, which passed by voice vote late Tuesday.

    In addition to requiring the study to be done, Higgins’ amendment requires the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis to share any information it develops regarding the risks related to the nuclear shipments.

    Higgins introduced the amendment in response to a Department of Energy plan to transport liquid nuclear waste from Ontario’s Chalk River Research reactor over the Peace Bridge, on its way toward the department’s Savannah River nuclear waste site beginning next year.

    “The route was approved nearly 20 years ago, and it reflects a pre-9/11 mindset with respect to the threat and consequences of terrorism,” said Higgins, D-Buffalo. “This legislation, as amended, would ensure that the Department of Energy has the information it needs to reconsider the wisdom of transporting dangerous nuclear material through high risk areas like Buffalo.”

  • stock stock
    June 28, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Sociopaths are drawn to the nuclear cartel. They love telling lies, having power over people, and doing damage to others elevates themselves in their sick no conscience mindset.

  • DeadAhead
    June 28, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    Well here is another blessing from fuk farms coming to your local market tooo soon http://investmentwatchblog.com/fukushima-godzilla-strawberry/ yummy just add a little glow cream enjoy!

  • DeadAhead
    June 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    After further review look at the video on the bottom of the page when the proud grower of the world record straberry takes a bite out of the magical berry. "Heads are empty and I don't care"-GD http://investmentwatchblog.com/fukushima-godzilla-strawberry/

  • RobG RobG
    June 28, 2015 at 5:53 pm

    Everything about polonium that you ever wanted to know but was afraid to ask. I give you, the Polonium Song…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg1fouUD44U

    (this song was made 1 year before Fuki blew-up)

  • melting mermaid melting mermaid
    June 28, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    https://wwww.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgBhyU4IvQ
    "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there"
    Bob Dylan

    • SadieDog
      June 28, 2015 at 6:25 pm

      Great song and lyrics, makes you wonder where all those songs came from… Does Mr. Zimmerman tell us here? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IqvvOD4bdRs

    • RobG RobG
      June 28, 2015 at 6:50 pm

      Melting Mermaid, do you type URLs from memory? I have to ask because you put 'wwww' instead of 'www'. It took me a while to figure out why your link didn't work for me. Anyhows, great song, and here's your URL with just three 'www':

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgBhyU4IvQ

      Being an old git I still prefer Dylan in his younger days. YouTube/Sony Music still block most of the early Dylan stuff. So curtesy of Vimeo here's Buckets of Rain…

      https://vimeo.com/86346303

      No inference here; it just happens to be one of my Dylan favs; and going back even further in time, a hard rain's a gonna fall and masters of war, et al, I think are just as powerful now as they were all those decades ago.

      I know, brush the cobwebs off me…

      • melting mermaid melting mermaid
        June 28, 2015 at 7:03 pm

        Oops, all night drive. I'm a bit loopy.

        • RobG RobG
          June 28, 2015 at 7:31 pm

          MM, I think we're all a bit loopy at this moment in history.

          Forcelessness…

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN6pJ6Mrjyg

          • Gasser Gasser
            June 28, 2015 at 9:47 pm

            For you Bob Dylan fans

            The Times they are a changin'

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWdCKPtnYE&feature=player_detailpage

            ~~~~~~~~~

            Come gather 'round people

            Wherever you roam


            And admit that radioactive waters

            Around you have grown


            And accept it that soon

            You'll be Cesium drenched to the bone.


            Folks your time for you

            Is no longer worth savin'

            
Then you better not start Swimmin'

            Or you'll sink like a Plutonium stone


            For the times they are a-changin'.

            Come enenews writers and critics

            Who prophesies with your pen


            And keep your eyes wide

            This ELE catastrophe won't come again

            
And start speaking soon

            For the wheel's still in meltdown spin

            
And there's tellin' who

            That it's TEPCO were naming'.

            
For the whistle blowers now

            Will be later to win


            For the times they are a-changin'.

            Cont

            • Gasser Gasser
              June 28, 2015 at 9:50 pm

              Cont

              Come lying Senators and Congressmen
              
Please heed man's call

              
Don't stand in the doorway

              Don't block up the hall


              For he that gets hurt
              
Will be he who has stalled


              There's a Nuclear battle outside

              And it is Atomically raging'.

              
It'll soon shake your windows

              And rattle your walls


              For the times they are a-changin'.

              Come mothers and fathers

              Throughout the land


              And do criticize

              What you can understand


              Your sons and your daughters

              Are beyond their command


              Your contaminated roads are 

              Rapidly degrading.

              
Please get off enenews

              If you can't lend your hand


              For the times they are a-changin'.

              The line it is drawn

              The curse it is cast


              The slow one now

              Will later die fast


              As the present now

              Will later be ELE past


              The order is

              Rapidly fadin'.

              
And the first one now

              Later will die last


              For the ELE times they did a-changin'.

              ~Gasser Classic~

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 7:35 am

    http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2015/Greenpeace-warns-Europe-is-failing-to-learn-lessons-from-Fukushima/

    Greenpeace warns Europe is failing to learn lessons from Fukushima
    Nuclear regulators and the Commission must strengthen stress tests
    June 29, 2015
    Brussels – A new report published today by Greenpeace [1] found that Europe's nuclear regulators have failed to act on vital lessons from the Fukushima catastrophe, exposing Europeans to the risk of a nuclear accident. The release coincides with the bi-annual conference of the European Nuclear Safety Regulator Group (ENSREG) held in Brussels.

    Greenpeace nuclear energy expert Jan Haverkamp said: “Europe has failed to learn some of the vital lessons from Fukushima and remains woefully unprepared for similar accidents. We call on the Commission and regulators to act now to ensure that European nuclear operators address these serious safety concerns.” …

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 7:38 am

    http://www.bbc.com/news/business-23429421

    New worries for Fukushima workers
    24 July 2013
    Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan say they have seen steam rising from one of the damaged reactor buildings, for the second time in less than a week. …

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 7:47 am

    https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/

    Tepco touts Fukushima Daiichi cleanup, but long road ahead via Asia.nikkei.com

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 7:56 am

    http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2015/06/29/2015062901579.html

    WTO to Rule on Ban of Japanese Fisheries Imports

    Bilateral talks on Korea's ban on fisheries imports from Japan following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster have collapsed, and the matter will now go before a dispute panel at the World Trade Organization.

    Seoul banned the import of 50 fisheries products from Fukushima Prefecture after the disaster, and the ban was expanded to cover all fishery products from Fukushima and seven adjacent prefectures in September 2013 following reports that massive amounts of radioactive materials and contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant were being dumped in the sea.

    Tokyo claims Korea's import ban has no scientific basis and demanded that Seoul lift it as soon as possible.

    A government official here said, "We said the import ban was in line with WTO regulations and asked Tokyo to explain its nuclear risk and the state of nuclear reactors."

    Tokyo initially requested bilateral consultations with Seoul under a WTO dispute settlement framework.

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 8:21 am

    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/idaho-aquifer-decline-could-hinder-radioactive-monitoring

    Idaho aquifer decline could hinder radioactive monitoring

    By KEITH RIDLER | June 29, 2015

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 8:22 am

    http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=35238734

    Utah testimony on depleted uranium heard by federal regulators
    By Amy Joi O'Donoghue June 28th, 2015

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 8:25 am

    http://nf2045.blogspot.com.au

    Nuclear Free by 2045?

    Over 200 articles and commentaries that try to convince readers that the answer to this question must be yes. Dismantle all bombs and reactors before the centennial of the Trinity Nuclear Bomb Test on July 16, 1945. Sooner would be better, but since the human race loves centennials, this is one to put in your calendar.

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 8:28 am

    https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/27949-stop-the-nuke-dump?locale=da

    Stop The Nuke Dump
    by Elena Dove
    “Sign the petition to stop the proposed nuke dump less than 1 mile from the Great Lakes: water for 40 million people! http://thndr.it/1LhpRJL”

  • rogerthat
    June 29, 2015 at 8:38 am

    PDF]NO NUKES pdf download online free
    http://www.leanebook.org/2dqzb7_ebooks-no-nukes.pdf
    19 hours ago – Send us your POSTERS now for a POST-NUCLEAR future and for those working to … Collection of articles and material on nuclear waste issues and guides for …

  • demise demise
    June 29, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    Just saw an environment professor on TV. He says and I agree, that we have gone over the edge. He had hope, but now he knows, we're done.

    The environment is too far gone and will never get better, we are socially, financially and culturally bankrupt. All we need is one more 'shoe' to drop and it will all come tumbling down. Greece default might be the beginning?

    End result will be NWO and misery because lack of hope and collapsed civility. One or two generation until total extinction or small pockets of barbaric mutated tribes.

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