For any of you that are wanting to keep up on Vermont Yankee check out VY Evacuation Plans and More @ http://www.evacuationplans.org/ they do a great job posting all the related articles as they come out. For other Nuclear news check out Fairewinds Associates @ http://www.fairewinds.com/. For Fukushima news check Fukushima Update @ http://fukushimaupdate.com/.
update
Cleaning-up Fukushima – “There is no good solution”
This week, Dr. Caldicott brings on nuclear engineer Arnold Gundersen to update readers on the unfolding effects of the Fukushima meltdowns and what is happening with nuclear power in other parts of the world. Longer show description to follow. As background, listen to earlier conversations with Gundersen (starting with April 1, 2011), which can be found on the Archives page.
Read the August 2012 news articles Study: Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Caused Mutant Butterflies and Grassroots Power Pushing Japan Towards Nuclear-Free Future .
visit Fairewinds.org, the website of Gundersen’s organization, for more information.
link – http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=6397
PDF from Fairewinds – Fukushima Timeline
Nuclear Oversight Lacking Worldwide
Fairewinds disagrees with a recent New York Times Opinion that claims that Fukushima was caused because Japanese regulators did not properly oversee Tokyo Electric. Fairewinds shows that in the United States, the same cozy relationship exists between the NRC and the nuclear industry. Proper regulation of nuclear power has been coopted worldwide by industry refusal to implement the cost to assure nuclear safety.
The NRC – justifying continued operation of reactors without safety modifications
Gundersen expresses concerns that the nuclear industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are not addressing major safety issues that have become evident since Fukushima. These issues include serious design flaws in the BWR Mark 1 containment, fundamental flaws in the Boiling Water Reactor vessel design, and problems with detonation shockwaves. The NRC and the nuclear industry are using a flawed cost benefit computer code that underestimates the value of human life and minimize property damages after an accident, which has the effect of justifying continued operation of reactors without safety modifications.
Also, Fairewinds announces the launch of the Japanese language version of its site, Fairewinds.jp.
Rural Vermont – 09/08 Alert & Update
Excerpt from – Rural Vermont – 09/08 Alert & Update
Rural Vermont is pleased to announce that the Vermont Community Fund Farm Disaster Relief Grants are ready for distribution. If you are a farmer who has been impacted by the flooding, please do not delay in applying, the deadlines are September 19th and September 30th. Please click HERE for the application form.
If you were not impacted by the flood, please consider making a contribution to the VT Community Foundation Farm Disaster Relief Fund to help Vermont farmers who have suffered damages. Make your donation by clicking HERE, and scroll down to “VT Farm Disaster Relief.”
This week, Rural Vermont volunteers will be at the Intervale helping Arethusa Farm recoup after the flood. Please email robb(at)ruralvermont.org to sign up for Rural Vermont’s Rapid Farm Response Brigades for Wednesday, September 14th at 9:30 am at Arethusa Farm in the Intervale in Burlington. If you’d like to join the Intervale Farm Brigade, you MUST sign up in advance. It’s very important, and therefore worth repeating, that volunteers must be registered in advance
Check site for more information on donating and volunteering – http://www.ruralvermont.org/alerts/2267/
EVENT -** this weekend !!! ** The 4th Annual Tour de Farms
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
Shoreham Green, Addison County, VT
RAIN OR SHINE
day-of reg: $50 adults/$20 kids 12 & under kids in trailers and bikeseats free!To register online or print registration materials, click here.
more info – http://www.ruralvermont.org/alerts/2267/
New Data Supports Previous Fairewinds Analysis, as Contamination Spreads in Japan and Worldwide – Fairewinds Update
Newly released neutron data from three University of California San Diego scientists confirms Fairewinds’ April analysis that the nuclear core at Fukushima Daiichi turned on and off after TEPCO claimed its reactors had been shutdown. This periodic nuclear chain reaction (inadvertent criticality) continued to contaminate the surrounding environment and upper atmosphere with large doses of radioactivity.
In a second area of concern, Fairewinds disagrees the NRC’s latest report claiming that all Fukushima spent fuel pools had no problems following the earthquake. In a new revelation, the NRC claims that the plutonium found more than 1 mile offsite actually came from inside the nuclear reactors. If such a statement were true, it indicates that the nuclear power plant containments failed and were breached with debris landing far from the power plants themselves. Such a failure of the containment system certainly necessitates a complete review of all US reactor containment design and industry assurances that containments will hold in radioactivity in the event of a nuclear accident. The evidence Fairewinds reviewed to date continues to support its April analysis that the detonation in the Unit 3 Spent Fuel pool was the cause of plutonium found off site.
link (full text) – http://www.fairewinds.com/content/new-data-supports-previous-fairewinds-analysis-contamination-spreads-japan-and-worldwide
Dial “M” for Meltdown
This artistic film illustrates the process of Nuclear Energy production, and highlights its grim History. This obsolete technology NEEDS to banned from the face of the Earth. The volatile nature of Hot-Fusion energy production, its dependence on outside energy for keeping its cooling pumps operational and its radioactive waste are reason enough to quickly transition out of this dangerous dependancy.
Fukushima update: Radiation danger continues
(NaturalNews) Five months ago today, the nuclear crisis began in Fukushima, and the government began lying about the threat and the dangers to its people. Now they are beginning to build a gigantic tent over reactor number one. We do not have any information from Japan about people dying but the plants are dying in the middle of central Tokyo and it could be because of the increase in radiation. One irony of the radioactive fallout from Fukushima is that people in Japan are starting to pay more attention to nature.
full article with images of plants – http://www.NaturalNews.com/033310_Fukushima_radiation.html#ixzz1UuaIG9CF
Fairewinds & Greenpeace Fukushima Updates
TEPCO has discovered locations on the Fukushima plant site with lethal levels of external gamma radiation. Fairewinds takes a close look at how this radiation might have been deposited and how similar radioactive material would have been released offsite.
Contaminated seafood and government cover-up at Fukushima (Greenpeace)
Blogpost by Justin McKeating – August 9, 2011
Our team of radiation experts has found high levels of radiation in seafood caught by Japanese fishermen off the coast of Japan. This, along with the news that the Japanese government covered up the true extent of radiation releases from Fukushima and so put people in danger, shows it is long past time that urgent, transparent action was taken by officials.At a press conference in Japan earlier today (video here and here), we explained how our radiation experts had visited ports in Iwaki prefecture between 22nd and 24th of July and conducted sampling of seafood with the help from local fishermen. The French laboratories ACRO and CRIIRAD analysed the radioactive contamination and detected high levels of radioactivity in a number of samples. This means that the contamination of the Fukushima coast is still very serious.Greenpeace has therefore requested the Japanese government to make the labelling of seafood products mandatory and to indicate the radiation levels and fishing area, as supermarkets are not providing enough information to their customers. Radiation monitoring procedures should also be strengthened and food distribution regulations tightened.
Rural Vermont Update July 22
As many of us know, consumer interest in healthy, natural or organic foods is growing. As a result, many food companies are selling “All Natural” products which are priced higher than similar products despite the fact that they may be filled with SYNTHETIC and GENETICALLY ENGINEERED (GE) ingredients.
Relevant studies and data indicate that consumers are more likely to purchase products that prominently display the words “All Natural” on the front of food packages, despite the fact that the “All Natural” claim may be misleading at best, and fraudulent at worst.
Pinnacle Foods Group, LLC, which is selling its Log Cabin brand “All Natural” syrup in Vermont, is one such company using an “All Natural” labeling claim to win over consumers. Log Cabin brand “All Natural” syrup contains synthetic ingredients.
While Vermont farmers spend hundreds of hours boiling sap to make truly “All Natural” Vermont Maple Syrup, they are loosing out to brands like Log Cabin who package and label syrup “All Natural” so as to appear like real Vermont Maple Syrup despite synthetic ingredients.
Rural Vermont and Law for Food are looking for individuals who have purchased Log Cabin brand “All Natural” syrup in the last few years. If you have purchased this product believing it to be “All Natural” and not to contain genetically engineered or synthetic ingredients, please contact us at jared@ruralvermont.org or kenneth@lawforfood.com right away as we may be able to address this failure on the part of large corporations like Pinnacle Foods to properly label their products.
Allegedly “All Natural” products often mislead consumers about healthy food choices and cause them to purchase products they wouldn’t otherwise buy. In addition, these often misleading tactics harm Vermont farmers who produce truly “All Natural” and non-GE products because they are forced to compete with multi-national corporations and their industrial scale marketing tactics.
Vermont Farmers and Vermont Consumers deserve better. Please act now and let us know if you or anyone you know has purchased “All Natural” Log Cabin Syrup.
Best, Jared
P.S. Check out our website at www.ruralvermont.org for info, on our great fall internship opportunities! As well as a the calendar of events.
Fairewinds Update July 19
While many radioactive cattle have been discovered large distances from Fukushima, what is more important is where their feed is coming from. “It’s not only about the radioactive cattle in Fukushima Prefecture; its also about the radioactive straw the cattle eat that was grown elsewhere”. Straw found 45 miles from Fukushima is highly contaminated with radioactive cesium, which is an indication that radiation has contaminated large portions of Northern Japan.
More than half a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of straw are comparable to Chernobyl levels. This proves that the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission was correct when it told Americans to evacuate beyond 50 miles and that the Japanese should have done the same. An Ex-Secretariat of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission blames this contamination on “Black Rain”. Rather than minimize the information the Japanese people receive, Gundersen suggests minimizing their radiation exposure.”
Why Fukushima Can Happen Here: What the NRC and Nuclear Industry Dont Want You to Know
The well-known safety flaws of Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors have gained significant attention in the wake of the four reactor accidents at Fukushima, but a more insidious danger lurks. In this video nuclear engineers Arnie Gundersen and David Lochbaum discuss how the US regulators and regulatory process have left Americans unprotected. They walk, step-by-step, through the events of the Japanese meltdowns and consider how the knowledge gained from Fukushima applies to the nuclear industry worldwide. They discuss “points of vulnerability” in American plants, some of which have been unaddressed by the NRC for three decades. Finally, they concluded that an accident with the consequences of Fukushima could happen in the US.
With more radioactive Cesium in the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant’s spent fuel pool than was released by Fukushima, Chernobyl, and all nuclear bomb testing combined, Gundersen and Lockbaum ask why there is not a single procedure in place to deal with a crisis in the fuel pool? These and more safety questions are discussed in this forum presented by the C-10 Foundation at the Boston Public Library. Special thanks to Herb Moyer for the excellent video and Geoff Sutton for the frame-by-frame graphics of the Unit 3 explosion.
Fairewinds – Fukushima Update July 1
New Analysis of Unit 3 Fuel Pool Video Reveals Top of Fuel Bundle
A video first released by TEPCO in April has been re-analyzed by Ian Goddard and appears to reveal a handle found atop a single nuclear fuel bundle. This raises more questions about the condition of any fuel still remaining in the Unit 3 fuel pool.
Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed
Update from Fairwinds – June 12th
Original estimates of xenon and krypton releases remain the same, but a TEPCO recalculation shows dramatic increases in the release of hot particles. This confirms the results of air filter monitoring by independent scientists. Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen explains how hot particles may react in mammals while escaping traditional detection. Reports of a metallic taste in the mouth, such as those now being reported in Japan and on the west coast, are a telltale sign of radiation exposure.
Fairewinds Update June 5th
Fairewinds’ chief engineer Arnie Gundersen emphasizes the need to enlarge evacuation zones around US nuclear plants to 50 miles. Reducing US evacuation zones to only 10 miles during a nuclear power accident compromises public safety.
Fairewinds Update: 5/22/11
The Implications of the Fukushima Accident on the World’s Operating Reactors
Gundersen says Fukushima’s gaseous and liquid releases continue unabated. With a meltdown at Unit 1, Unit 4 leaning and facing possible collapse, several units contaminating ground water, and area school children outside the exclusion zone receiving adult occupational radiation doses, the situation continues to worsen. TEPCO needs a cohesive plan and international support to protect against world-wide contamination.
VT 4 Evolution 