Published: March 18th, 2012 at 5:21 pm ET
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Title: Comment sought on nuclear waste
Source: AP
Date: Feb 12, 2008
[...] Mike Johnson, president of the [EnergySolutions]‘s Commercial Facilities Group [...] said the Oak Ridge [Tennessee] facility has probably recycled about 1.5 million tons of radioactive metals since 1996 from foreign sources including Germany, Belgium and Canada.
Rep. Bart Gordon, chairman of the U.S. House Science and Technology Committee [...] has called it a “terrible idea,” saying the United States has enough problems disposing its own nuclear waste. [...]
“It sets a very bad precedent which could result in a flood of nuclear waste being dumped in the U.S.,” said Tom Clements, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth in Columbia, S.C. [...]
Read the report here
Title: German waste to Oak Ridge?
Source: AP
Date: Dec 8, 2010
[...] NRC spokesman David McIntyre said [EnergySolutions] has incinerated foreign waste, including shipments from Canada, Mexico and Brazil. [...]
“There’ll be waste from universities, hospitals — medical facilities — that will be shipped over, if we receive a permit from the NRC to burn it in the incinerator and then return the ash to Germany,” [EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker] said.
The company processes relatively low-level nuclear waste, such as workers’ protective clothing, walls, desks and other equipment from old nuclear plants, as opposed to highly contaminated used fuel rods from nuclear reactors. [...]
Democratic U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro [...] said the NRC “lacks the authority to enforce real oversight over this sensitive process.” [...]
Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, said they do not object to the company incinerating foreign waste and returning it to the originating country.
Read the report here
Title: Radioactive waste may be bound for state
Source: Times Free Press
Author: Carey O’Neil
Date: March 18, 2011
[...] “I believe them when they say it [filtration] captures whatever 90 percent they say it captures [...] ” said Don Safer, chairman of the Tennessee Environmental Council. [...]
According to the NRC regulatory guide, breathing is the most common way radioactive material is ingested. When radioactive materials do get ingested, they most often pass through several organs and are excreted within a few days.
Irradiated material passing through a person’s body can permanently change cells, sometimes causing cancer in the host or genetic birth defects in an exposed person’s child. [...]
“It’s rare anymore to burn radioactive waste materials. How rare is indicated by the Germans wanting to ship the stuff over here to burn it,” [Safer] said. “It’s pretty telling that …. it even makes economic sense to do it.” [...]
EnergySolutions officials said they already are treating foreign waste from countries such as Mexico, Canada, the U.K. and Japan, making Germany’s materials a logical expansion of what’s already being done. [...]
Laurence Miller, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- He said the facility is entirely safe and called the idea that the German waste would raise additional health concerns “total nonsense.”
- “From the standpoint of a health issue, it’s no different from what they’ve been doing”
- “If you are worried now, then why were you not worried for the last 10 years?”
Read the report here
Title: Tennessee Accepts Huge Shipment of German Radioactive Waste
Source: AP
Date: Jun 20, 2011
Federal authorities have approved licenses allowing up to 1,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Germany to be brought to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for incineration. [...]
Don Safer, chairman of the Tennessee Environmental Council, told The Chattanooga Times Free Press that the Czech government turned away the waste [...]
“There’s more (radioactive) tritium in the atmosphere from cosmic rays from the sun than what we’d ever emit from there,” EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said last March. [...]
Tennessee is the only state that allows commercial burning of radioactive waste, licensing six incinerators. The state already receives 75 percent of the nation’s low-level radioactive waste — about 41 million pounds per year, according to state records.
With German waste now permitted to enter the U.S. and come to Oak Ridge, Safer expects Tennessee to become “the destination for processing radioactive waste from all over the world.”
Read the report here
Title: Tennessee Awaits Tons Of German Nuclear Waste
Source: NPR
Author: Matt Shafer Powell
Date: July 26, 2011
Oak Ridge was created from scratch in 1942 to help build the atomic bomb. The city is home to a 59,000-acre military area and two giant plants where the bomb was produced.
A post-war newsreel calls Oak Ridge “a city where 75,000 people worked in absolute secrecy on history’s most sensational secret.” [...]
Some of that waste ends up at EnergySolutions’ Bear Creek incinerator plant in Oak Ridge [...] trucks rumble in and out of the plant, leaving behind giant dumpster-sized boxes full of low-level nuclear waste.
“This is definitely typical,” EnergySolutions’ Greg Lawson says. “It’s in and out all day long. I don’t know the average number of shipments in and out, but there’s a lot going on every day.”
Read the report here
h/t Anonymous tip
Published: March 18th, 2012 at 5:21 pm ET
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sending...
My verdict about your waste Germany is a resounding HELL NO YOU CAN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish republicans would act more like this around nuclear proponents rather than kissing ass and selling out their own for a quick buck and a resort home in Florida. Blast you vile people don't burn your waste here!!!!
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We're not all "vile people", you know.
I surely didn't ask my govmt to ship nuclear waste around the globe.
Nor did I ask the US authorities to allow the import, nor did I give permission to a private company in Tennessee to burn it.
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And honestly I find it quite sad that none of the enenewsers who have commented so far on this thread felt disturbed by your comment.
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Every country sells itself out for a price. Apparently Tennessee is a dirt poor backwoods burn pit for anyone who coughs up the dough. The hardcore nuclear lobby is still calling the shots and if they want to burn it on US soil they will burn it without question considering Germany is an allied nation. The sad thing is it will carry in the wind over heavily populated areas of the eastern seaboard. Not a situation I want to happen considering the dosing of radiation California is already getting.
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The really sad thing is that the petition ""Just Say NO" to Importing 1000 Tons of Radioactive Waste from Germany" reading (snip)
"Germany's waste is coming unless the public makes a loud outcry, and it is just the tip of the iceberg.
Italy is standing in line to be next, with its 20,000 tons of waste from their nuclear industry. Before we know it, our country's chief industry will be the processing of the world's nuclear waste. Are these the jobs we want for our citizens? Please act. Sign the petition and write and call your public officials."
only magaged to gather 2.820 out of 5.000 signatures needed.
http://www.change.org/petitions/just-say-no-to-importing-1000-tons-of-radioactive-waste-from-germany
*agreed, pointing the finger is easier than acting
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Agreed the "vile people" thing was way over the top
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Anyone that wants to burn nuclear waste in their back yard is a vile person. A person that sells the rights of their town to burn other people's waste is what we call an agreement between vile people. Individuals who think it's hunky dory to even propose this kind of legislation for the towns and communities they represent are inhumane. If calling them vile is what it takes i'll do it all day long. They are betrayers who bet the future of the people they represent for cheap short term fixes. If they can't see how much damage burning waste in Tokyo is doing I don't see a nuclear free future with humans in it.
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That was my interpretation of your post. I love B&B and know you meant no personal harm. Its funny we(as a community who can REALLY talk out most stuff) seem to lack depth in being able to communicate freely publicly when it comes to speaking Nationalities. I mean, your point is obvious and while a little colorful and passionate, you really should feel like speaking your mind about your own country. I can understand your strong reaction and I can appreciate B&B being offended as a German Citizen. You and B&B are posters I regularly seek to read posts.
We have to think about why TN is a dumping ground. Has the Government advised TN real estate owners so they can move before they lose their shirts? Theres also the tritium releases we heard about last summer too……what the hell is really going on? Why would they send it all the way from Germany anyways? Like is transporting this dangerous toxic crap – across the land and ocean…. really a smart idea?
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Anthony. You made my day
and it's only 7:48 AM!!
*peace
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Wtf!? How is this in the best interest of the people?
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…no different from what they've been doing……………….uh
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People of Tennessee, time to get active. You and your down-wind neighbors shouldn't allow it.
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OK… that's the sound of me throwing the towel in.
What a bunch of short sighted, reckless, irresponsible people.
Idiotic. Obviously.
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we have enough of our own; time to tell Congress and your state legislatures to limit if not stop entirely burning or burying of this low level waste. It only creates nightmares for succeedding generations … not that there will be any to succeed this arrogant generation of war mongering ecologically demented subhumans we call politicians
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Makes ya wonder if they all have IQ's below room temperature. Or that of small kitchen appliances — unplugged!
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It is becoming clear to me that one should live ones life for themselves – whatever that means.
The wheels are stupidly and irrevocably in motion to the negative. It really doesn't matter how I feel or what I know about how terrible the current direction is taking us all…. no one who needs to care gives the same shit little old me does. That is blatantly obvious.
Just the last couple of days is enough shitty reality to make even me just take my eyes off the whole mess.
There are layers and layers and layers and layers of bad decisions and directions in this story-line.
There are countless, nameless clueless people calling the shots which affect our lives profoundly.
Its only the tip of the iceberg.
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I feel the same way, Anthony.
Stay informed,
Live now,
Love now,
Dance now.
These days are the good old days. They always have been.
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Thats why they call it "the present"
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You are right.
Good advice, thanks.
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I disagree. Those who see how dangerously wrong-headed the direction in which the world is moving truly is have an obligation to speak out about it and try to get others to see that as well. It's precisely people turning inward and just focusing on their own private interests/concerns/happiness that has allowed things to get where we are today. People wouldn't accept this stuff if they truly understood it, but most simply have no idea about all of this. The only way things can change is if we can get a critical mass of people aware of–and justifiably outraged by–these kinds of things, and that can only happen if we continue trying to get the message to them.
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Once your eyes are open, you can still live, love and dance. In fact it is more precious than ever before, but……..once your eyes are open you will not stop raging at the "machine". I don't believe it is possible to do otherwise…..once your eyes are open.
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and your eyes ARE open.
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Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/03/04/let-your-life-be-a-friction-to-stop-the-machine/
I feel ..a bit of both…my voice is of no use…my voice along with others…is important and unstoppable…
In the end… the conversation is between…me and my Maker…
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PS.Hey NSA: Intercept THIS!
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/03/18/hey-nsa-intercept-this/
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Heart of the Rose…That was a *ucking Awesome Article!
Thanks!
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Yeah, great! Sort of like the concept of "Googling" the unpopular government policy you detest so EVERYONE knows about it and your "Googled" search term goes viral (i.e. gets found by all those web bot crawlers) & gets assigned some meta tags. Or you can promote a good idea or concept that way.
Goggle ENENEWS
Google ENENEWS
Google ENENEWS
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Interested in following the money? Here's a starter kit.
1. A sample of spin from the company that does the incinerating (see the story above):
“There’s more (radioactive) tritium in the atmosphere from cosmic rays from the sun than what we’d ever emit from there,” EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said last March.
2. A sample from the happy, clean, prosperous company web page:
http://www.energysolutions.com/our-company/what-we-do
3. A glimpse behind the scenes, after a search at muckety.
"Muckety metrics:
Connections: EnergySolutions, Inc. has direct or once-removed relationships with 732 people, organizations or other entities in our database of the most influential people in America. Under a scoring system that gives more weight to direct links, this score is higher than 98% of all entries."
http://www.muckety.com/EnergySolutions-Inc/5034244.muckety
4. One more teaser from muckety. Muckety is a treasure. Hover your mouse over various names there, then click on any links that interest you. There is plenty to explore. I just grabbed one to demonstrate: J. Barnie Beasley Jr., a director at EnergySolutions is apparently a former chairman, president and CEO of Southern Nuclear Operating Co. Inc., from which you can find their lobbying and PAC record, thus:
http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00250407
… and on and on.
Good hunting!
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You've discovered the Matrix.
How do we unplug it?
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I wish I knew. It seems to be destroying itself financially, but I don't know what follows from that. It could morph, collapse, who knows? Rough ride ahead.
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It must be allowed (if not made) to collapse. Like the movie, it's a program–a system–and this program must follow its own rules–to a certain extent. They can, and will, fail.
These "dark, satanic mills" are much like bombs strapped to the chests of the wealthy and powerful. It is so complex, yet so simple.
Keep it up, ai. I love reading your work. Thanks for the incredible information.
My comment to Anthony above applies to you, too. Take the time to recognize the beauty and savor it. Feel your healthy physical self.
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I'M SCREAMING HERE. PLEASE LOOK:
I was wallowing around a bit more in the EnergySolutions website, and on the page for Investors I found that… wait for it…
THEY HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO CLEAN UP FUKUSHIMA
http://ir.energysolutions.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=657144
You couldn't make this stuff up.
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Fuck.
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Hmmm.
Energy Solutions are bringing Germany's rad-scrap here to burn. Energy Solutions have been selected to clean up Fuku. Does it follow that they will bring Fuku rad-scrap here to burn?
Probably.
Great find, by the way, aigeezer.
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Good Catch AIGeezer.
Start now making sure that crap doesnt come here.
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It's Not A Catch. Read What Is Posted Above;
"EnergySolutions officials said they already are treating foreign waste from countries such as Mexico, Canada, the U.K. and Japan…"
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I saw that, InfoPest. No mention of Fukushima though. Did you interpret that sentence as saying they had the Fukushima gig? Doesn't matter either way, I guess. They are saying they've got it – now what?
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Hi InfoPest. Thinking about it a bit more, the sentence you quote came from March 18, 2011 – a year ago today. Surely they weren't laying claim to the Fukushima cleanup back then, gulp, were they?
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I can't help digging a bit farther. The EnergySolutions website brags that they will be using their "Advanced Liquid Processing System" technology for the Fukushima cleanup. I know nothing about that system, so I searched for information and found this article from 2010 which explains some of the technical details.
http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2057291
I am not qualified to give an opinion on the system, but what caught my eye was a list of EnergySolutions projects. They have a strong presence in the UK, including Sellafield, they do work at Hanford, they have a contract in China, they have a deal with Excelon, a contract in the United Arab Emirates involving a Korean consortium, blah blah blah.
See the bottom of the page linked above, and just start following links… and links… and more links. These guys are everywhere.
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@aigeezer, had to reply, digging a little further…Treated RADIOACTIVE liquids WILL be DUMPED into WATERWAYS
Quote:
2012-03-16
Fortum helping out at Fukushima
Fortum will be the key ion exchange media supplier to EnergySolutions, the technology provider responsible for coordinating a project to decontaminate water at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant hit by last year’s tsunami. Large volumes of radioactive liquids were generated during efforts to stabilise the damaged reactors there.
Fortum will supply thousands of kilos of its ion exchange materials for the radioactive liquid purification process under the new contract, which follows deliveries of smaller commercial deliveries and test batches to the site since spring 2011.
EnergySolutions will utilise a range of technology, including its Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS™), as part of the project, which is being managed by Toshiba on behalf of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s owner. EnergySolutions will also provide treatment and packaging for secondary waste resulting from the water decontamination process.
Fortum has over 20 years of experience in treating waste containing radioactive contaminants. Developed and registered by Fortum, CsTreat®, SrTreat®, and CoTreat® are highly selective ion exchange media and are included in NURES®, a solution designed to remove caesium, strontium, and cobalt from large volumes of difficult-to-treat liquids.
….*Very small amounts of these media are needed compared to the volume of liquid to be purified, and result in output free of any harmful substances that can be **RELEASED INTO WATERWAYS** – significantly reducing the need for intermediate and final disposal repository space for radioactive liquids.
http://www.hightech.fi/direct.aspx?area=news&prm1=173
We all know that a company that also runs Nuclear Plants is sure to be certain that there will be no dangers to our water RIGHT? /sarc
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Fortum has been producing nuclear energy since 1977. The company owns the nuclear plant in Loviisa, Finland, which covers around 10% of the country's energy production. Its nuclear assets also cover Sweden with share ownership in the nuclear plants in Forsmark and Oskarshamn. In addition, Fortum is shareholder in Teollisuuden Voima Oyj, which currently operates two nuclear units in Olkiluoto, Finland, and is constructing a third unit in co-operation with Areva-Siemens consortium. In Finland, the two nuclear power plants of Loviisa are wholly owned by Fortum.
Furthermore, Fortum owns a 26.6% stake in the Teollisuuden Voima, which operates two nuclear power plants at Olkiluoto and is currently building a third one.
Fortum owns 45.5% of Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant and 22% of Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden. In year 2004 Fortum produced 17.9 % of Swedish nuclear electricity (13.4 TWh / 75 TWh).[4]
Fortum owns 25.7% of Russian nuclear power company Polyarnye Zori as partner of TGK-1.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortum
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Great digging, MaidenHeaven. We can at least drag them out into the light a bit.
The deeper we go, the deeper it gets (line borrowed from Jamie Andreas).
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Gotta scream a bit more.
This thread started off with a story about bad things about to go down in Tennessee. People expressed concern. Some blamed Germany – talk about missing the point!
A little probing showed that the company that routinely burns radioactive waste in Tennessee has connections "higher than 98% of all entries" in the list of most influential people in America.
The Internet provides a superb tool for exploring such connections. MaidenHeaven did some of that, and found zingers such as "treated radioactive liquids will be dumped into waterways."
By sheer luck, I looked at the Investor Relations page of the EnergySolutions website (the company doing the work in Tennessee), and found a "market wire" press release dated March 14, 2012 with the headline "EnergySolutions Selected for Fukushima Clean-Up". Somebody said that's not news, and pointed to a statement from a year earlier to the effect that EnergySolutions routinely handles radioactive waste all over the world.
SCREAMING AGAIN:
1. A recurring theme here has been "where is the cavalry who will ride in to clean up Fukushima?" Some have suggested various governments, or the UN, or whatever. Now we know, the cavalry is to be EnergySolutions, and they see this as an investor opportunity.
2. Questions leap out for me now. For example, how did this well-connected company get this assignment? Who else bid on the contract? How and why did this cleanup turn into an investment opportunity? Is this company competent to handle the task? Who will pay them? Who will do the work on the ground? What will happen to the residue after they do their processing? Why are we learning about this contract in this way? Where is msm coverage of the story?…
Investment opportunity. Sheesh!
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Rich.
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re: "The material … would be processed, burned and RECYCLED … He said the Oak Ridge facility has probably RECYCLED about 1.5 million tons of radioactive metals since 1996 …"
Recycled?
Where did this recycled radioactive metal end up? In somebody's kitchen pots? In some cola cans? In the chair you sit in all day at work, or the filing cabinet you sit beside? In your child's first bike, or perhaps in the braces they got when they reached adolescence?
This sort of thing has to be better publicized. American consumers must demand an end to the recycling of radioactive metal.
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It say's, recycle through burning then remaining ash returns to Germany.
"There’ll be waste from universities, hospitals — medical facilities — that will be shipped over, if we receive a permit from the NRC to burn it in the incinerator and then return the ash to Germany"
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It says: "The material — some 1 million cubic feet of paper, plastic, wood, metal and ion-exchange resins from shuttered nuclear plants — would be processed, burned and recycled at an EnergySolutions' plant in Oak Ridge, about 25 miles west of Knoxville."
Some of those materials burn (paper, wood). Some of they simply melt. You can't incinerate metal, you can merely melt it down. You can't reduce metal to ash.
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Some of they = some of them
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Esialb (couldn't resist) you and lam335 are both right, but you're looking at different bits of the story, I think.
lam335 draws attention to the stuff processed already (since 1996) and wonders where it wound up. We've seen stories elsewhere that it does indeed wind up in commercial and/or household products – their thinking being that it is "safe" if sufficiently diluted.
Lacsap draws attention to the promise that the future German material will be reduced to ash which will be sent back to Germany, leaving only (what?) behind.
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Yes, only what? And WHERE?
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Seems EnergySolutions, and others under their umbrella, could be scrutinized from now on.
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Thanks, TheBigPicture. Your post made me go back to reread some of the EnergySolutions stuff to see what I had missed the first time through. I had the impression that they worked only in the cleanup side of the business.
Not so, apparently – It had never occurred to me that someone might want to outsource running their nuke plant, but:
"EnergySolutions offers customers a full range of integrated services and solutions, including nuclear operations, characterization, decommissioning, decontamination, site closure, transportation, nuclear materials management, processing, recycling, and disposition of nuclear waste, and research and engineering services across the nuclear fuel cycle."
http://ir.energysolutions.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=657144
(near the bottom of the linked page)
I also went back in the Enenews vaults a bit and found that lam335 had alerted us to the “German nuclear waste headed to Tennessee” story way back on August 15, 2011 at 9:15 pm.
http://enenews.com/radioactive-clouds-rainout-hot-particles-continue-another-year-pacific-northwest-gundersen-audio/comment-page-1#comment-119189
Somehow the story got overlooked then.
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Here's a bit more scrutiny of EnergySolutions (the company burning radioactive waste in Tennessee; the company that now has a contract to clean up Fukushima). This is real life, folks, not a horror movie. Scrutinize the biographies of EnergySolutions' key players here:
http://www.energysolutions.com/our-company/leadership
Study the names and the connections. Use Muckety or other online tools to track the flow of money and influence.
Teasers:
"Mark has more than 20 years of experience in the nuclear industry with expertise in leading large operating contracts."
"Mr. Christian was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy serving on nuclear submarines, and responsible for various areas of reactor operations, reactor refueling and overhaul, and submarine tactical operations."
"Mr. Parker served in several executive positions within CH2M Hill, a global company engaged in engineering, consulting and construction."
So, for example, you might seek information about CH2M Hill, and you would find:
"Why Use Our GSA Contracts?
What you should tell your federal, state and local government customers when they ask why they should utilize our GSA contract vehicles, instead of conventional full and open competition or other procurement methods.
Orders placed against GSA contracts are considered to be issued using full and open competition. Ordering activities do not need to seek competition outside of GSA Schedules or synopsize the requirement. In addition, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing…"
http://www.ch2m.com/corporate/about_us/contracts/gsa.asp
…and on and on. Pay attention – bit by bit they tell you exactly how the games work.
Truth is not the friend of nuke. Find the truth. Share it.
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Hi aigeezer, see my last post on the end of the thread: the German govmt speaks of Duratek Services Inc. in Oak Ridge as the recipient of the waste! What's that all about??
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Hi B&B. Wikipedia yields this:
"EnergySolutions is one of the world’s largest processors of low level waste (LLW), and is the largest nuclear waste company in the United States[citation needed]. EnergySolutions is a publicly traded company NYSE: ES) based in Salt Lake City, Utah, although it has operations in 40 states. Steve Creamer is the founder and former CEO of the company, which formed from the merger of four waste disposal companies: Envirocare, Scientech D&D, BNG America, and Duratek. The company took over several Magnox atomic plants from British Nuclear Fuels plc in United Kingdom on June 7, 2007."
Looks like EnergySolutions bought out Duratek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EnergySolutions
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Whoopie, are you around? When I posted stuff about EnergySolutions yesterday I kept thinking "Whoopie will explode when she sees this", but I think you missed a day or so. Hope you're ok. Hope you didn't explode, come to think of it!
Anyway, I asked my "test readers" to check out the GSA Contract item from my March 19 post. They didn't "get it", the numbing bureaucratic jargon obscured the meaning.
In case that happened when you read it, I'll offer an analogy (sometimes attributed to Abraham Lincoln).
Q: How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
A: Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
The GSA contract appears to be an insiders' mechanism for bypassing requirements that a government contract be issued using full and open competition. Read the mind-numbing jargon again, and see what you make of it.
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This has to be the most outrageous decision I've ever heard of. Good people of Tennessee, it is time to dismantle Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
They were created to produce the bomb. They completed that mission. Now it is time for them to fold their tents and go.
No reprocessing of nuclear waste from other countries. And, by the way, wasn't there recently a news article on enenews regarding a problem of a reprocessing plant in France managed by Areva? I believe at least one person was killed. Ban all nuclear. We are better off without it.
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Somewhere I read Tennessee is the asthma capital of the U.S. Could this be the reason?
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Oak Ridge is just west of Knoxville. The plumes go into the mountains (TN, NC and VA).
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With a name like Don SAFER. One would think he'd play it a bit safer, so to speak. Instead he states.
[...] “I believe them when they say it [filtration] captures whatever 90 percent they say it captures [...] ” said Don Safer, chairman of the Tennessee Environmental Council.
These types of people should NOT be in charge of anything. He should be dealing with facts. Voters of Tennessee you need to stand up and fire this guy.
..or "whatever".
I guess he can use the excuse, as many others will, of "Well, they told me so and I believed them." (duh)
"Tennessee is the ONLY state that allows commercial burning of radioactive waste…" What an honor. (sarcasm)
I, for one, do not believe THEM and 90 percent capture is NOT enough.
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Yes, and 90% of what? Easy to make a generalized statement like that, and pretty meaningless, IMHO.
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"Voters of Tennessee you need to stand up and fire this guy." Um… how would that work? He is not a public official. He heads a non-profit organization, according to this:
http://www.tectn.org/about.php
His bio says he is opposed to generating nuclear wastes in Tennessee.
http://www.tectn.org/about.php
All the more puzzling that he seems so passive in the quoted item. Rather than dumping on him (yet), I'd be more inclined to see how that little out of context quote got to be in the article, and I'd be inclined to pursue the track record of the source of the article. I haven't done that, and I'm not making an accusation – just suggesting a line of investigation. Things may or may not be what they seem on the surface.
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Why do people think that radioactive waste can be incinerated? You burn something that's highly radioactive, and poof! You gat some non-radioactive ash and harmless smoke. Right? WRONG! What happens is that the material changes, into carbon and other elements, but the radioactive elements stay radioactive. Jeesh!
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Yes, philipupnorth, the plan always seems to be "disperse and forget about it". They're even right in a short-sighted way, but as we're all discovering the long-term cumulative effects are disastrous, and they have only just begun.
The ancient Greeks would not have fallen for this approach. Why does "modern civilization" do it? We (collectively) have no excuse.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sorites-paradox/
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Not to mention all the chemical reactions that could take place, and the scarey mnew things that could be created by intense heat and in the absence of oxygen.
Hmmn, does anyone with chemistry background have an idea on that?
It sounds like they're talking about some sort of alchemy.
Just heat, and it all disappears.
Just heat, and eat!
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Scarey mnew (mutated new?) things. Uh, that was supposed to be "new" things but I kind of like the Freudian slip version.
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Energy Solutions advertise that "we have access to our parent Company's Tennessee facilities, which boast the world's only commercial Depleted Uranium recycling plant".
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Good find, Sue. Got a link for that, for the sake of leaving a complete trail?
I wonder what that euphemism actually means. They seem to be using the word "recycle" in a way that the general public does not use it.
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How can you "boast" about something like that? These folks are really twisted.
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Just looked at Energy Solutions UK, Site Map then Depleted Uranium. Lots to look at but haven't had a chance yet. All very out in the open, seems they have nothing to hide. In fact, they are even advertising a 2 day expo in London later in the year. NO SHAME.
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Just an FYI. DU is being burned at the Honey Lake site in Eastern California, too. It's a military facility, and they are VERY secretive.
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Energy Solutions + Fortum + link Via Lacsap http://www.wentz.net/radiate/lake/index.htm
"In order to pay for burying Lake Karachai completely, Mayak needs to reprocess more fuel than Russia can provide. That's why it is important that Russia accepts foreign spent nuclear fuel, he says.
"As soon as we get more spent nuclear fuel to reprocess, we will thrive," Ryzhkov promises.
Last month, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, passed in second reading a bill that would allow Russia to accept spent nuclear fuel from at least 14 countries in Europe and Asia, including *JAPAN*, South Korea, Germany, and Switzerland. The third and last reading of the bill is scheduled for June."
"In 1991, U.S. experts measured a dose rate of 300 to 600 millirems per hour near the shores of the lake, which is three to six times maximum U.S. safety levels. It was estimated that just one minute standing on its shore without full protection would mean certain death."
"No place in Russia symbolizes the country's inability to manage the reprocessing of its spent nuclear fuel better than Chelyabinsk region in the Urals with its fields, rivers, and lakes contaminated with deadly radio nuclides. And as Russia speeds toward accepting spent nuclear fuel and waste from abroad for reprocessing and long-term storage in exchange for billions of dollars, environmentalists warn that this lucrative plan will turn Russia into the world's nuclear dump."
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"According to a recent report compiled by Russian and Norwegian scientists, the quantity of radioactive materials the Mayak plant has released since it first opened in 1948 is five times greater than every other major accident or nuclear test on earth since then: the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986, the 1957 leak at the British Sellafield nuclear plant, and all the nuclear tests ever conducted."
"The current dose of radiation absorbed by Muslyumovo residents is 10 times higher than internationally acceptable levels, according to a study put out by Kostina's department. Only 18 percent of the village children aged 6 to 14 can be called healthy, while the rest of the children suffer from acute memory loss, attention deficit disorders, and exhaustion."
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Did you notice that both of our last posts seem to have gone away MaidenHeaven? Just wondering…………..
Tom
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Never mind, they are in a different forum, geez I'm loosing it, must be time for bed………………
Tom
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An Independent Cancer Cluster Survey, Downwind Of The Oak Ridge Incinerators, Would Probably Be A Good Idea.
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Some groups of people look at the growing numbers as bonuses..I'm sure. Hospital administrators, phamacutical companies, machines that offer theraphy, and the like will profit. Radiation exposure and it's consequences is big industry. There are some in TN who would look at the risks of burning radioactive material as a potential boast to the economy.
They know that the people of the region will not do anything to stop this….For years TVA has been doing horrible things to the people of the area and they accept it willingly…better put…you can burn germany's nuclear trash in TN but don't try that in NY.
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Unless I am reading this wrong the last report was dated July 26, 2011. Is there current reports on this, was this already done?
Maybe this is where they got the idea to burn Fukushima's waste?
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According to a 2004 Greenpeace article the Japanese shut down many incinerators by 1998:
"Many industrialised countries cited by incinerator salespersons as proponents of incineration technology, are rapidly shutting down their incinerators. By the end of 1998, over 2000 industrial waste incinerators were closed in Japan, either permanently or temporarily.
This was a direct result of tougher limits on the emission of cancer causing dioxins introduced by the Japanese Government."
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/incineration/the-problem/
This was all part of the push to lower dioxin emissions:
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/026151.html
But looking at this quirky Osaka incinerator I do see the fascination the Japanese people have with burning things:
http://martinjapan.blogspot.com/2010/07/osaka-austrian-artist-hundertwasser-in.html
And reading this article describing the Hiroshima incinerator gives a whole new understanding on how the government has achieved the big rebirth of incinerators:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111702968.html
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Interesting, Sickputer, and consistent with various recent stories here about Fukushima radiation found in building materials. Remember the headline story about a new (radioactive) apartment building for people who had been displaced by the tsunami?
From your wapo link: "Ash from the incinerator (in Japan) is melted into a sandy slag used in asphalt, bricks and concrete."
As a related issue, I wonder what usually happens to ash from the incinerators in Tennessee – does it normally wind up in building materials as it does in Japan?
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“From the standpoint of a health issue, it’s no different from what they’ve been doing”
“If you are worried now, then why were you not worried for the last 10 years?”
Is this guy for real?
You have to wonder how long he's had this mental impairment.
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Weren't worried because most of us DIDN'T KNOW!
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Hi HoTaters,
It wasn't wide known, was it.. Geee I wonder why??!!!!
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This just makes me want to BARF!
And to think at one time I seriously considered moving to Tennessee.
Sad. It's a beautiful state.
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HoTaters, you may have to cross some other states off your list if you're trying to stay clear of EnergySolutions nuke disposal sites.
"EnergySolutions owns and operates a licensed landfill to dispose of radioactive waste approximately 60 miles west of Salt Lake City, UT in Tooele County, Utah and operates another in Barnwell County, South Carolina. The company also possesses technology to convert waste into alternative material such as durable glass, and is contracted by the United States Department of Energy to assist in waste conversion efforts."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EnergySolutions
The glass is half empty, but it's durable.
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Apparently Utah prevented EnergySolutions from importing radioactive waste from Italy into that state.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700048082/EnergySolutions-abandons-plan-to-import-Italian-nuclear-waste-to-Utah.html
Note how the politicians posture in this article from Utah, compared to their posture in Tennessee. Allow for spin, of course.
My takeaway is that they managed to spin the concept that "foreign radioactive waste" is bad, while "local radioactive waste" is fine. I don't think physics works like that.
Find the truth. Share it.
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Cash for Clunker Plants
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/03/cash-for-clunker-plants.html
These are plants that are old, breaking down. Some of these plants sell for as little as $100M although new plants cost over $14B to build, 140 times higher than the price of a Clunker!
Let's put that in perspective, lets say you can buy a decent new car for $20,000 but a clunker would sell for 140 times less, or $142. What kind of car do you think you would be getting for a whopping $142—-a seriously bad clunker.
That is what these plants are. It costs ALOT of money to shut them down, so even though it doesn't make sense to keep them operating, it makes even less sense to shut them down….at least to a greedy Corporation. And that is all that Corporation are — greed machines.
So what is the answer? Well we have to be practical. Greed will not do the right thing. We have to throw some tax dollars at this. We need a Gov sponsored Cash for Clunkers program were operators get a subsidy for doing the right thing, for shutting down the Clunker.
Plenty of Clunkers out there–
http://enformable.com/2012/03/vermont-yankee-future-in-question-again-as-nrc-asked-to-investigate-recent-pattern-of-failures-at-vermont-yankee/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/san-onofre-power-plant-safety_n_1353546.html
Both units were shut down Friday as officials conducted inspections. Manfre said it was too soon to know when the units would be working again or how much of the tubing needs to be replaced or repaired.
On Friday, a local newspaper reported a third incident involving a veteran worker at the plant who lost his balance while trying to retrieve a flashlight and tumbled into a reactor pool. The man reportedly did not suffer significant radiation exposure. Edison may review its procedures for working around the reactor pool, officials said.
Some critics saw the incidents as a sign…
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This is how Japanese government fools uninformed people, especially greedy politicians into accepting the disaster debris. Here is a proof (see the photo in the middle of the page).
http://onodekita.sblo.jp/article/54423340.html
This is what this site owner explains:
"In measuring radiation of the debris, if it were last year, this photo alone would have been successful in fooling everyone. But unfortunately, Minister Hosono (Environmental Ministry), with our current knowledge level, it is now a common sense that this scintigraphy (you hold) is not capable of detecting 500 Bk/kg of contamination. How dare you all seem to think you can fool everyone just because such inferior instrument could not detect radiation.."
The site owner's name is Shunichi Ono, now a doctor of internal medicine, but formerly an engineer at TEPCO who spent 5 yrs at Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant and 2 yrs in the corporate office of nuclear technology safety. So, I have to assume he knows what he is talking about the instrument in the photo. Anyone?
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Also, see this page, the photos of deformed fetus born or delivered in 1950s from Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb victims.
http://onodekita.sblo.jp/
The video shows animal experiments showing how a simple damage in one chromosome from radiation can result in deformed offsprings and how that gene is carried into future generations.
This web site is by the Japanese internal medicine doctor who used to be a nuclear safety engineer.
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I'm dumbfounded how Japanese are ignoring their own radiation data from Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Clearly these photos and video were made in the years following the atomic bombs, to train medical professions and to warn the future generaiton…
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Hi Myme, the Japanese have been intentionally led to believe the "Atoms for Peace" BS by the international institutions after WW2. Until recently, the vast majority of Japanese simply weren't educated to see the connection between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. I read somewhere that they have totally different words (kanji) for the two.
Also, the data after Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been manipulated to a large extent. Those manipulated data is used until today by pro-nukers worldwide to claim that a certain rad level poses no health risk.
This issue has been discussed on enenews, though I can't provide a link to the discussion right now. Someone else, maybe?
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Reflecting on Room101's great user name made me focus on one of the spin items from the Tennessee story:
"“There’s more (radioactive) tritium in the atmosphere from cosmic rays from the sun than what we’d ever emit from there,” EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said last March. [...]"
Does the following hypothetical, but structurally identical analogy help illustrate the problem with Walker's statement?…
"There's more water in the ocean than we ever use in our waterboarding rooms in the Ministry of Love", said the commandant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_101
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I'm sure all amount are Low, Low, Low levels…
especially as conpared to an unknown amount
as in "like the Sun"…
The implications of these testing programs and their effects on our "own" service personnel dramatically changed not only their lives but the lives of their families is shameful; especially since for the most part. Most of this information has remained classified and or buried in yet additional studies that are them selves covered up!
Now we have an entire Nuclear Industry that promoting just how "safe" it is, when in fact the opposite is actually true! These studies raise many questions concerning just how safe "Low, Low Levels" of exposure actually are.
Now that the nuclear industry is so large that it is itself powerful, its connections to both Government and the Military makes any disclosures about the safety of "Low, Low Levels" of exposure a threat to them all!
This is exactly the situation we are in today, since that same Industry has now funded its own test studies which they are trying to use to somehow discount the validity of the data from these "secret" tests because it threatens the publics perception of just how safe nuclear power really is especially in the aftermath of a nuclear leak, an accident and or a triple melt down like Fukushima, which is not only causing a Trillion Dollar Eco-Disaster but has endangered the health of the entire population of northern Japan and possibly the World thanks to the dispersal of the radionuclides by the Global Jet Stream.
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This is the new business (Nuclear Crematorium Sweepers) thats cleaning up for the other business (Nuclear Technology) that has been for 60 years creating new cancer death and misery worldwide.
You can't recycle this stuff (Nuclear Waste) no matter how you process it.
We are all living a myth!
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A whole new meaning of the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
More like – Smoky Radiation Mountains of Tennessee
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I think it is important to point out that the burning of German radioactive waste being done in Tennesse is being done in a HOPEFULLY controlled evirnomentally safe manner, where hte burning of radioactive debris in Japan is NOT!
I think future generations will look at what is happening in Japan as a perfect example of a Government using Science to condem its citizens to an unhealthy future in order to make money for those that control the Government!
TEPCO is now engaged in a Health War not only against the Japanese People but all those living on Earth, downwind from Fukushima!
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Hi CaptD
Sorry, but I don't see how burning radioactive waste is safe, even if it's done in special incinerators.
I'm sure that Germany can also built these special type of incinerators. We have enough of our own waste to deal with.
This is being done for profit, not the publics well being.
I agree that burning of radioactive debris in Japan is NOT safe.
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Low Dose Chernobyl and Fukushima Radiation Dangers To Children; Via A Green Road Blog – http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/low-dose-chernobyl-and-fukushima.html
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Like I stated. If I lived inside the state of Tennessee, I think I would move out quickly, now that the cancer causing "Veil of Secrecy" has been lifted.
http://www.tnpcaeducation.org/resourcelibrary/clinical/Report%20for%20Senate%20Health%20Committee%202010.pdf
We all are living inside "Multiple Designed Myths" that know no boundaries within the human mind.
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Hi obewanspeaks
I agree, I would not move there, and I will think twice in eating a Tennessee Smoked Ham, ever again.
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Hold on! These are the United states of America you are talking about right?
So….we should be United and not just consider yourself lucky you don't live in…..Alabama-where tornados are knocking plants of grid
or have live in MO where nuclear plants are waste deep in water or
New Mexico-los alamos or CA with 100's of miles of nuclear tainted stuff about to hit their shores, or Wyoming with their nuclear snow and high level accumulation in the mountains, or Chicago with that plant that just out gassed a heel of a lot of radioactive stuff, or…I guess I could go on and on…has there been a state without nuclear problems?
You get the picture…we all need to protest these events all the time! Altogether!
We can't pick up and move if or state starts having problems…! The problems are all of ours!
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Umm… it's global, right?
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Hi Aigeezer, I hope my point was clear that being…
radiation across the USA is a significant problem and so
we need to start organizing and developing ideas for minimizing radioactive pollution.
I try to get people involved but it is really difficult, however I think we should all put our heads together to develop a method to attack these problems.
I'll be in TN next week…maybe there is somethin I can do.
To answer your question about a link…
There is really too many articles about radioactivity in Wyoming so I took one of the earliest studies and copied it below
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 4, NO. 1, PP. 159-162, 1968
doi:10.1029/WR004i001p00159
Gross alpha and beta radiation in waters at a Wyoming mountain bog
David L. Sturges
Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, Colorado
Robert E. Sundin
Wyoming Department of Public Health, Cheyenne
Waters collected between July and October 1965 from four locations at a mountain bog were analyzed for radiologic content. The gross alpha and beta content of waters was less than 5 and 10 pc/liter, respectively. Gross beta activity of filterable solids in ground water collected above the bog reached 400 pc/gram when the water table was at a seasonal minimum, but on other dates and at bog and stream locations, the gross beta activity of filterable solids was less than 100 pc/gram. Radiation levels in waters from snow, overland flow, and stream sources were measured in May, June, or October 1965. Snow water activity was less than 25 pc/liter, but filterable solids had a maximum gross alpha and beta activity of 243 and 1348 pc/gram, respectively. Standing vegetation, litter, and moss on the bog surface screened radionuclides from snowmelt water. Radionuclide filtration on watersheds is significant from a public health standpoint.
Received 20 June 1967; .
Citation: Sturges, D. L., and R. E. Sundin (1968), Gross alpha and…
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Gotcha, many moons. I'm in Canada, so I'm sensitized to the global thing. A look at the global radiation map is really scary – reactors are just about everywhere on the planet and we're all downwind of each other. I just noticed one in Puerto Rico (who knew?) with the unfortunate name "Bonus".
That said, I know everyone needs to act locally also, and I know you're doing your bit. Not least, I know if your country shuts yours down, the rest of the world might follow suit without a whimper.
Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks!
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Hi many moons. You happen to have a link for rad wyoming snow?
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Hi..Chemfood..the offer to let me store my notes from the NRC FOIA docs…at RC still open?
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Please see above post
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More details about the German waste: I found this document from Sept. 2011, published by the Bundestag in which the govmt answers a request from the Green Party about the transport of nuke waste to the US.
The waste comes from the company Eckert & Ziegler Nuclitec in Braunschweig (which has recently been fined for not respecting rad limits on their premises, btw.).
On page 2 it says the waste has a net weight of 431 208 Kilogramm and an activity of 642,2 GBq.
(which…errrrmmm, results in 671,45 Bq/kg, if Excel didn't let me down)
Recipient in the US is the company Duratek Services, Inc. in Oak Ridge. The transport in the US will be done in more than 20 road transports.
http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/071/1707138.pdf
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Good find B&B. Duratek was bought out by EnergySolutions, it seems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EnergySolutions
I had been wondering about road transport issues, but your comment really highlights that side of things. I think you are saying this radioactive waste – "Safer expects Tennessee to become “the destination for processing radioactive waste from all over the world.”" – that stuff – travels on public roads.
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It does indeed – over here as well….
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Hi B&B. I'm speculating a bit about the details you post, just thinking about human nature.
671 Bq/kg doesn't sound too bad, as these things go. I'm guessing there is some designated limit to qualify for some bureaucratic category such as "low level radiation". I'm guessing also that the material is not homogeneous – that it contains relative hotspots and cool zones. Finally, I'm guessing that if a company had material that didn't fit within the bureaucratic category, then it would be very tempting to mix the "too hot" material with something inert, so that the average kept the bureaucrats happy. If so, this could result in a shipment containing some nasty hot spots.
Do you know of any details that could confirm or deny these speculations?
Of course, what got me thinking along these lines was your observation that the company "has recently been fined for not respecting rad limits on their premises".
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Aigeezer – I will answer after dinner
One has to eat
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Aigeezer, according to the Bundestag paper the transport is solid waste from medicine and science. I don't know if mixing is allowed…
E&Z in Braunschweig are allowed to release a certain rad amount to the air /year. As we have loads of concerned folks with Geiger counters around here, they sued the company for topping their annual limit before years' end. E&Z had to close for a while.
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Thanks, B&B. I guess the devil is in the details, as always – I wish someone from the msm would take a look at what is in the "medicine" and "science" containers. A company or government could easily put them on a webcam to help satisfy the public's concern. People just get more wary when everything is covered up.
When I speculate about "mixing", I'm imagining something like old contaminated lead aprons from dental X-rays, very heavy but mildly contaminated, together with one small blob of red-hot-who-knows-what, such that the average is within limits. Sheer speculation on my part.
I think your "loads of concerned folks with Geiger counters" will become very popular everywhere. Long way to go though.
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Only a country run be idiots would burn someone else's radioactive waste.
We can't even handle our own radioactive waste properly.
Yes, we have had idiots in charge for a very very long time.
But hey just think about all the money all these nuclear boys and girls have made hand over fist and all those massive taxes paid in the past 60 years!
Any clue on how many trillions of dollars secretly disappeared from the US coffers concerning Nuclear research and technology and weapons?
Now we have to spend trillions of more dollars protecting it, disposing of it, storing it, and then cleaning it up. Not to mention that we are chasing this Nuclear crap all over the globe now.
Only someone that cared less for their nation's population would have created such a devastating negative economic nuclear industry downward spiral.
Atoms for Peace..what a joke!
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Hi obewan, the Russian govmt happily accepts burnt nuclear fuel from France for "reprocessing" – sadly, 90% of the waste stay in Russia and are stored open-air in containers….while Areva and EDF fantasize about nuclear as "renewable energy".
Brilliant documentary on the issue "nightmare atomic waste / couchemar nucléaire" (in French):
http://www.arte.tv/fr/2766888.html
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Great Post.
Thanks
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Glad you liked it, Captain!
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Russia's population is shrinking for a reason and Chernobyl was one of the major causes.
Now why would Russia accept such Nuclear waste?
They are broke and would sell their souls to the Devil to make a buck.
Does this sound any different from what is happening right here inside the US?
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Russia is relatively prosperous these days, although it was in deep financial trouble in the past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_public_debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia
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Atoms for Peace.
It was like giving candy to a baby. At the time it probably sounded good. It was an easy 'sell' to an unknowing public and greedy politicians that thought the answer to everything in the future would be high tech.
"A time comes when silence is betrayal…" – MLK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlM87dwYPjg&list=PL07775E1273F87613&index=7&feature=plpp_video
That time has arrived!!!
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Of course that is correct!
Look around right now, Florida tax payers are now paying for a reactor that probably will not ever get built, yet their Leaders will not discuss the matter.
VT does not want their reactor to be extended and the Utility does not care…
CA's San Onofre reactors have bad leaking condenser tubes after only a few years; the Feds are on site now as they also have the worst safety record of any US reactors.
The list goes on and on; yet the Industry touts themselves as SAFE…
Sounds just like TEPCO doesn't it?
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The American taxpayers will bare the burden of such "Nuclear Technology" folly.
16 trillion in debt and no solutions currently in sight as these wars rage on and just think poor little Iran only wants what we handed out to the rest of the world long ago in the name of Peace?
Iran must want "Cancer and Disease Deaths" for its populations and then a huge medical practice GDP taking up about 20% of their nation's income and wealth.
I think Iran should "stop" any Nuclear ambitions immediately and not because we tell them to.
But because its the intelligent thing to do.
Why would any nation want to kill and sicken their own people with Nuclear Radiation Contamination.
Gee I hope Iranians can read English.
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They can, actually.
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Salute for taking the high road and thinking positive…
All Countries, should be learning from Japan's Fukushima tht they cannot afford a Trillion Dollar Eco-Disaster like Japan now has; the problem is that the Nuclear Fascists* are pushing their own agenda for whatever reason (Pick one or more: Greed, Power, Agenda, Control or ???) and they are powerful enough to sway those in Gov't. that make the decisions…
*Nuclear Fascism
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nuclear+fascism
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No, it was stupid and anyone with half a brain would have realized it immediately.
Under no circumstance did any of this have to happen. None of it.
We had a military general as our President.
The Nuclear bombs did not need to be dropped on anyone to win the war.
This program guaranteed massive amounts of money for the military machine and related industries expenditures.
We have spent trillions of dollars on our military at the expense of our entire nation and we are now reaping what we have sown.
The health of our entire nation and the entire world's health and our entire ecosystem in general is now at risk!
Einstein was fully aware of what he and his cohorts had done.
I am sure he cried many nights over the proposed new direction that his formula and his great discovery was eventually taken.
If you can't trust your neighbor to do what's right, then how could any President trust another nation to do what's right regarding Nuclear Technology?
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on a company's request to import about 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy for processing in Tennessee and disposal in Utah.
The first article above..refers to Italy…
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695252445/Comment-sought-on-nuclear-waste.html
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Hi Heart. That one (the Italian caper from 2008 in your post) got squashed. See my post up-thread at 2:55.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700048082/EnergySolutions-abandons-plan-to-import-Italian-nuclear-waste-to-Utah.html
I don't think the NRC is asking for public input for the waste from Germany though. It has been presented so far as a "done deal".
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Thank you for the clarification.
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The Fukushima..Sellafield… deal fell through….
There had to be a reshuffling of the deck…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/governments-doomed-6bn-plan-to-dispose-of-nuclear-waste-2266047.html
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Hi Heart. The Sellafield situation is really complicated, but one of the subthemes is the role of EnergySolutions there.
Here's a glimpse:
"Magnox Ltd manages ten Magnox nuclear power stations and was previously two separate Site Licence Companies. It comprises Chapelcross, Hunterston A, Trawsfynydd, Wylfa and Oldbury (previously Magnox North Ltd) and Berkeley, Bradwell, Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A and Sizewell A (previously Magnox South Ltd). Its Parent Body Organisation is Reactor Sites Management Company Ltd, owned by EnergySolutions."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Decommissioning_Authority
For those who joined late, EnergySolutions is the company that will burn the radioactive waste from Germany in Tennessee – the main topic of this thread – and is the company selected to clean up Fukushima, a new theme evolving in this thread.
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Heart of the Rose,
Independant scientists say there is no alternative to a new MOX plant?
I'm beginning to think that "scientist" now means "heartless, world-destroying, evil liar."
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Complicated is an understatement…
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Recycle or store it…
These are our choices.
Even if all the nuke plants in the world were shut down today…
The waste would have to be stored..
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… Into Eternity
http://nofunclub.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/youtube-into-eternity-full-version-nuclear-waste-2/
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Returned back underground from where it came.
Like a bad science experiment kit.
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I can't believe folks aren't working these bad babies harder….
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@Chemfood ..the above is out of place…
If I don't put the notes somewhere proper..I'm inclined to go about writing them on bathroom walls…
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Hard work you do, Heart. Would hate to see any research disappear. Of course Reality Check is happy to host and help organize any of your info
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/board,24.0.html
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Thanks ..Chem…
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…click……buzzzzz….lol
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Here is my “low cost” solution; forget the Industry CYA line
Please consider this idea as a low cost solution to America's "long term" radioactive waste storage problem:
Make use of our Military Testing Bases and or our MOA’s (Military Operation Area’s) out west, which are really huge tracts of land (think tens of thousands of acres) used ONLY by the military and already secured by them 24/7!
Placing these very large (heavy) concrete casks in a poke-a-dot pattern will allow for at least 50 to 100 years of storage, safe from everything except a War, (in which case every reactor is just as vulnerable) and then revisit the storage problem then; at which time, probably a future solution will allow for an even better lower cost “final solution”…
Because these casks would be very large and all look alike nobody would know what was in any one of them, which would be yet another level of security for the casks with higher levels of nuclear waste! An ideal outside coating for these casks would be similar to the spray-on "bed liner" used for pickup trucks that not only prevents rusting and or damage for the life of the vehicle but would also seal the casks to prevent leakage of any kind!
Hopefully these casts would be similar in size to a large shipping container so that existing material handling equipment could be used to load, unload and or move them about without "inventing" a mega hauler vehicle. By keeping the "footprint" of these casks similar to a large 40 foot container, the stacking and or placement of them might also be semi or fully automated which would not only save money but again keep the exact location of any specific cast secret! The monitoring of these casks 24/7/365 could even be done via satellite since these casks are similar in size to rocket launchers which are easily seen from space.
In another 50 to 100 years, storage technology will be such that, yet another lower cost solution for all this waste will found, and then…
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"Managing the Nation's Commercial High-Level Radioactive Waste"
PDF file that says nothing about burning waste.
http://www.fas.org/ota/reports/8514.pdf
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I agree, you can be sure that it will not have "Downwind" maps either!
You know where the "tainted" radioactive exhaust is going…
That is not for public consumption (pun intended)…
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CaptD,
Your thinking now.
The shame is that most of those that got really wealthy off this Nuclear Industry startup are now all dead and gone and here we are cleaning up their previous mess.
Some of these young ones coming on line want to create even more of a Nuclear Radiation mess to clean up.
All this Radiation Contamination even damaged most of our young one's brains in the process.
What was Einstein's definition of insanity?
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Nuclear "Make Work"…
Radioactivity, the "gift" that keep giving Profits to the Industry…
But heck, that is a national security secret, right?
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Press release~Spread the news!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgPaLfmC16o&feature=youtu.be
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See Radionuclides from the Fukushima accident in the air over Lithuania
http://is.gd/fzc4Wu
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"In a residential area of the City of Niagara Falls called Deveaux, that is home to a church, a recently closed synagogue and a public elementary school, approximately two miles of roadway have been found to contain levels of radioactive materials that are the equivalent to one of the Chernobyl, Ukraine exclusion zones"
http://iicph.org/not-enough-water
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That looks like a major find, redred. The story in your link scapegoats a single engineer, but I assume it is possible to trace the radioactive material back to a source, such as a trucking or construction company. Do you have any followup material on this particular story? Do you know the current status of the project?
Hey everyone – be sure to check redred's link, particularly in the context of this thread.
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