What is really happening at Fukushima?
With Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority admitting that the stricken Fukushima Daiichi reactors have been leaking radioactive water into the sea since the disaster began on March 11, 2011, the crisis now appears orders of magnitude worse. Why? With monitoring sporadic and reporting dishonest, it is open to speculation, but water leaking from the stricken plant is said to be at least 40 times more radioactive than before. As much as 300 tons per day of this radioactive water is flowing into the sea. The water has breached, circumnavigated and flowed over the top of the frozen ground dam wall constructed to stop the leaking. Should the leaking water reach the surface, this could lead to radioactivity levels too dangerous to allow workers on the site. Beyond Nuclear’s Kevin Kamps and Paul Gunter have both been vocal in the media on this new crisis and the potential health impacts it could provoke. Gunter stated that “the only thing that is clear is that Fukushima is forever.” MoreResistance mounts to Canadian Great Lakes radioactive waste dump
On both sides of the border, concerned citizens, environmental groups, and political leaders are redoubling their efforts to nip in the bud an insane proposal: Ontario Power Generation wants to bury the so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes from 20 reactors across the province a half-mile from Lake Huron, source of drinking water for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations. MI State Sen. Hopgood and Rep. Roberts have invited Beyond Nuclear to take part in a town hall meeting in Detroit, and are urging folks to sign onto, and spread the word about, the "Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Waste Dump" petition. MoreNuclear injustice served: 3 objectionable rulings in 3 days
On Aug. 12, NRC's licensing board rejected Beyond Nuclear and allies' challenge against risky short cuts on safety with steam generator replacements at Davis-Besse, OH, despite the lessons that should have been learned at San Onofre, CA. On Aug. 13, a split federal appeals court panel ordered "the doing of a useless act," ruling that NRC must resume the licensing proceeding for the proposed Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump, even though the needed funding does not exist. And on Aug. 14, another federal appeals court panel issued an Orwellian ruling in favor of Entergy, that Vermont state legislators' attempts to regulate energy economics, the need for (or lack thereof) Vermont Yankee going forward, and the atomic reactor's impacts on the Connecticut River from thermal water discharges, impacts on tourism and recreation, etc. were merely "code words" for radiological safety, the sole jurisdiction of the (albeit asleep at the Geiger counter) federal NRC. The good news is the resistance to the nuclear juggernaut in all three cases has vowed to fight on, despite the absurd, Kafkaesque rulings. More
August 15, 2013
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