Please President Obama: No New Nukes/Close the Old Nukes: New Reports on Leaks "everywhere"

[Liberation Angel]

Beyond Nuclear report finds tritium leaks from US reactors are ubiquitous

Background: Beyond Nuclear released its report "Leak First, Fix Later: Uncontrolled and Unmonitored Radioactive Leaks from Nuclear Power Plants," at the April 20, 2010, public meeting convened by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that focused on the radioactive contamination of groundwater from a growing number of leaking buried pipes under nuclear power plants across the country. A webcast of the NRC "Groundwater Contamination Workshop" can be viewed from the agencys website.

"Leak First, Fix Later" documents the increasing threat to ground- and surface water primarily from radioactive hydrogen - tritium - leaking from aging and deteriorating nuclear power plants. The report raises further concern that the NRC has turned over its regulatory authority to an industry that now plans to stall corrective actions for this already decades-old radioactive contamination problem for years to come. "Leak First, Fix Later" delves into the tritium contamination problem and several high profile radioactive leaks that have occurred in Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Vermont. The report provides links to extensive background resources and documentation illuminating the nature of the uncontrolled release of tritium and other radioactive isotopes escaping from reactors. The report documents why the nuclear industry cannot be trusted to self-regulate for the protection of public health and the prevention of more serious leaks from occurring.

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Reminder: National Academy cancer study meeting

What you can do: NRC has asked NAS (The National Academy of Sciences) to study cancer risks around nuclear reactors. Please see our April 15 Bulletin for more details. If you are near the Washington, DC area on Monday April 26, please try to attend this meeting. There is NO call-in participation. You can submit written comments before the meeting, or Beyond Nuclear can submit written comments for you during the meeting if you are unable to attend. We strongly recommend you place your name on the NRSB list by contacting: [e-mail] if you wish to speak during the comment period. NRSB also recommends you have a written version of your comments for the record. For location, contact information, and specific times, please see the agenda. Contact [e-mail] if you have additional questions.

Also: The French Nuclear Medusa


More at link :http://www.beyondnuclear.org/

[Kdillard]

1. I agree with you but if he is not going to change his mind about allowing

Offshore drilling in some areas after the explosion of an oil rig. I doubt he is going to change his mind about this.

[Liberation Angel]

8. We will see/ Maybe these accidents will work on his conscience

and he will make smarter decisions. Plus he will have more public support wqith a better rationale to avoid these insane and dangerous technologies for the future and good of humanity.

[stray cat]

2. Maybe we can not only freeze but decrease energy needs

to the point where oil, coal and nuclear power is not needed?

[MadHound]

4. Or perhaps we can meet those energy needs through other methods of generation

Such as solar, wind, biomass, etc. Of course this would require decentralizing our power generation, something that large energy corporations don't want to happen.

But such decentralization would work, so we wouldn't freeze, it just means that corporations would make much less money. Do you find that to be a problem?

[ensho]

3. Obama is smart so someone(s) must be standing on his neck about

things nuclear.

we need to get them off his neck so he can do what is right.

[Liberation Angel]

7. He is playing a very dangerous game supporting nukes and offshore

The dangers of coal and oilrigs offshore to man and the environment came coldly clear in a deadly way this past week.

The same thing could happen with nukes at any time.

Coal, nukes, offshore drilling are all insane and wasteful

yet somehow Obama thinks he needs or actually needs to suck from the teat of those companies for political power.

His legacy will suffer as will Americans and humanity if he stays on these courses.

Like afghanistan Obama makes mistakes.

I love the buy, but he is only mortal and human and we need to pressure him on these things.

Wish i got more support here for that.

Thanks though to those who rec'd

pax

[Overseas]

5. K&R ! //nt

[Liberation Angel]

6. Just found this: Info in case of a dirty bomb or nuke accident: good news!

http://www.ibiblio.org/rcip/nuclear.html

Prussian Blue prevents/diminishes radio-cesium exposure/damage.

Betadine/povodone iodine (overs the counter iodine) can be swabbed on in the absence of potassium iodine tablets (which may require a prescription or government disburesement) and may be just as effective.

Medical studie/sourcess can be found at the link.

Excerpt:



Medications to use in the event of possible radiation exposure from a dirty bomb or nuclear power plant radiation release]




DTPA
Prussian Blue
Neupogen
Potassium Iodide

How Prussian Blue works: "PRUSSIAN BLUE Cesium likes to attack blood cells. Don't let it. This iron compound binds to the radioactive particles and escorts them out of the body through urine. (The urine turns blue, which would be cool under different circumstances.) Take 1 to 2 mg twice a day for up to 3 weeks after exposure, says Karam." (Schipper, D., 2005)



How Potassium Iodide works (in layman's terms)

"Experts agree that radioactive iodine and cesium, commonly used in cancer therapy and industrial radiography, are the most likely ingredients of a dirty bomb. How to minimize the damage? Start by wearing a mask--the thicker, the better. Then pop these chemical cures.

POTASSIUM IODIDE The thyroid is the only organ that collects iodine, so strike first. "Each thyroid cell is a parking lot with a specific number of spaces," explains Andrew Karam, Ph.D., a founding member of the Health Physics Society's Homeland Security Committee who, while in the navy's nuclear-power program, was contaminated 30 times. "If you put stable iodine in there first, you block the radioactive stuff." Potassium iodide is available online at KI4U.com. Take up to 130 milligrams (mg) as soon as you can after the blast." (Schipper, D., 2005)

Vitamins and homeopathic treatments:

Curry has been known to reduce the effects of radiation in chemotherapy patients. "The study showed that curcumin, the substance in turmeric that gives it and the dishes it flavors a characteristic yellow color, is a natural anti-inflammatory compound." WebMD

Swab the skin with a tincture of iodine...the effective dose in rats suggests human skin swabbing need only cover an area the size of a hand or scraped knee" (Science News, 1985) link to article WARNING: "It is poisonous to ingest (drink/swallow) elemental iodine, iodine tablets (widely sold for water purification), tincture of iodine, or Povidone-iodine solutions (like the Betadine® brand solution). They are all both ineffective for thyroid-blocking and very dangerous, perhaps even fatal to have a child drink any of them. ki4u This method has not been proven, and it is better to take potassium iodide pills from a government approved provider. Antioxidant vitamins can also be helpful

The link has the studies which says the iodine swab is just as effective in delivering iodine to the thyroid to protect it. I would suggest that these strategies would protect us, along with calcium in milk or other products (which protect against absorption of Strontium 90), if we are downwind or downstream of operating commercial reactors.

More at link.

[BreweryYardRat]

9. Actually, nuclear power in America is very safe.

What's the statistic -- 2,000 dead coal miners each YEAR in America?

During the Three-Mile Island meltdown -- the only significant accident in the history of American nuclear -- nobody died, and the massive containment systems and lead/concrete shielding absorbed almost all of the radiation. The little that did make it outside was nowhere near enough to do any long-term harm. The only costs of Three-Mile Island were financial -- an unusable plant and another that had to be left offline for several years.

And before you scream "Chernobyl!", that was a combination of a shoddily-designed Russian reactor with piss-poor shielding/containment, and the fact that they'd been running an experiment that required them to shut down most of the few safety systems they did have.

If safety's such a concern, do yourself a favor. Go Google "thorium" and "molten salt reactors." Even safer than a standard American plant, but the design was quashed by the military-industrial complex during the Cold War. Standard nuclear plants produce warhead-suitable plutonium as a byproduct, which is ideal for a bunch of Pentagon hawks following a MAD strategy. (And before you jump a mile, a single standard nuclear plant -- or even two operating in close proximity -- CANNOT produce enough plutonium for an accident to cause a fission explosion.)

Here, let me throw you a couple links to start off with:

Three-Mile, explained in detail: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf36.html

Chernobyl, likewise: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html

Wired Magazine on Thorium: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/all/1