Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Updated Thu, February 29, 2024 at 8:24 AM
#ClimateChange is fueling disasters, increasing concerns
"Experts say the #TexasWildfires highlighted the dangers natural disasters could pose to America's widespread #NuclearWeapons and energy networks. Eleven states are home to nuclear weapons, 28 to #NuclearPowerPlants and spent #NuclearFuel storage.
"In Texas, the fire's flames were spread by strong winds, dry conditions and unseasonably high temperatures, which broke records across the country — just the kind of conditions that experts have long warned are more likely as Earth warms.
"'We need more attention on the nexus of climate and nuclear,' said Kwong.
"Climate change effects have already caused nuclear concerns around the world: 'Places like #NorthKorea and #Pakistan are already facing these threats,' said Kwong.
"North Korea has experienced increases in #typhoons, #droughts and #flooding, according to the Royal United Services Institute, a United Kingdom-based defense think tank.
"In 2022, massive flooding covered more than one-third of the nation of Pakistan, affecting more than 33 million people."
So, with all that's being revealed about what #ExxonKnew in the 1950's, I thought it might be relevant to post what #WalterRussell, artist, visionary and scientist in the 1950's posted about #AtomicEnergy and #ClimateChange...
LOSS OF OXYGEN GLOBALLY
"Walter Russell, a visionary artist and scientist, predicted in his book Atomic Suicide? published in 1957 that due to man-made radioactivity we would experience a loss of oxygen in the air that we breathe. In a similar way to the predictions of Andrei Sakharov in the 1950's, Walter Russell's foresight is now coming true. Our current oxygen resources are low. The percentage of oxygen in the air is down to about 19 percent. (BioTech News 1997) The expected amount is 21 percent oxygen. Some experts say that we may have originally evolved in an atmosphere of 38 percent oxygen. But now, due to the loss of forests and ocean plankton, our two sources of oxygen production, measurements of oxygen as low as 12 percent and 15 percent have been made in heavily industrialized areas. This oxygen-depleted condition is a contributing cause of the generalized lack of well-being that many are experiencing. And it does not look good for the future. We need oxygen to live!
"Trees and green plants provide about half, and plankton provide the other half of our oxygen. Phytoplankton, which are the base of the marine food chain, is declining. Various studies confirm this: plankton in parts of the Antarctic Ocean is declining up to 12 percent. (S. Weiler. Testimony to Senate Commerce Committee, November 15, 1991)
Trees absorb radioactive carbon-14 in place of stable forms of carbon and in this way they are gradually killed. The book, The Petkau Effect, by Ralph Graeub tells how radioactivity has harmed trees and forests: "It is assumed that the decisive physiological damage resulting in current forest death must have begun during the 1950's. This is depicted in a reduction in density and width of tree rings, and in reduced growth, which is true in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Himalayas.... Neither aging, location, nor climate can be considered as the possible sole cause of damage.... The growth ring of a tree shows exactly what effects the tree has experienced, both in terms of time and seriousness.... During the 1950's and 1960's, there must have been a global wave of air pollution which caused the initial damage."
"The author speculates that it could not be just the usual chemicals which are so damaging the trees. And he explains that these trees are mainly within the 30th to 60th parallels of northern latitude.
"This zone contains the most nuclear power plants -- over 300 -- and almost all nuclear reprocessing centers. Also, the vast majority of nuclear weapons tests occurred in this area."
"The #PetkauEffect, by #RalphGraeub tells how 👉#radioactivity has harmed trees and forests: "It is assumed that the decisive physiological damage resulting in current forest death must have begun during the 1950's.👈 This is depicted in a reduction in density and width of tree rings, and in reduced growth, which is true in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Himalayas.... Neither aging,...
...location, nor climate can be considered as the possible sole cause of damage..."
"👉This zone contains the most nuclear power plants -- over 300 -- and almost all nuclear reprocessing centers. Also, the vast majority of nuclear weapons tests occurred in this area.👈"
WHAV News Staff By WHAV News Staff | January 8, 2024
"#Massachusetts and #NewHampshire have both released updated brochures to guide residents in the event of an emergency at the Seabrook nuclear power plant.
"Methuen is also not within the zone, but Methuen High School would accept Amesbury students in the event of an emergency.
"Brochures tell parents, for example, where their children in schools or day care centers will be taken in an emergency and where 'reception centers' are located in the event of an emergency. For example, West Newbury parents are directed to Tewksbury High School, while if evacuation is required, the Masconomet Reception Center, 20 Endicott Road, Boxford, will open to receive, register, monitor and decontaminate (if necessary) evacuees and their vehicles. Evacuation routes for each community are also listed.
"According to a Friday press release from the New Hampshire Department of Safety, the updated brochure details the four emergency classification levels and instructions to be followed in the event one is declared. It lists the ways in which residents, business and visitors may be notified of a potential event at Seabrook Station and what to do during a shelter-in-place or evacuation."
Fixed the headline! Hottest year ever, what can be done? MORE renewables, solar, tidal, wind, geothermal. LESS AI data warehouses, methane leaks and nuclear (why kick the can down the road)!
"#Japan is one of the most seismically active nations on Earth, owing to its location on the so-called #Pacific#RingOfFire, where many tectonic plates meet. The constant threat of #earthquakes has led Japan to develop one of the world's most sophisticated tsunami warning systems.
"There are several #NuclearPowerPlants in the affected areas, however Japan's nuclear authority said there was 'no risk of radioactivity leaking' from the facilities."
"In 1999, during a routine inspection of the #ShigaNuclearPowerPlant, three control rods pulled out and caused a criticality accident, but this was #CoveredUp, and it was discovered and made public eight years later by Hokuriku Electric Power's [#HEPCO] internal investigation. At that time, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) began investigating the #Shiga Nuclear Power Plant. Covering up even criticality accidents is a big problem.
"Politics and the nuclear village haven't changed. They may also cover up It was covered up at the time of 311."
"There are at least two systems that receive electricity from the outside, and one of the 500,000 volts that cannot be used, and the power required by another 275,000 volts is系統."
"The content of the article has changed. January 1, 2024 21:35
"When an earthquake occurs, the system that receives electricity from the outside of the second unit is lost because of the explosion sound and the smell, and the system that receives electricity using this変圧器 is not available.
In addition, it is a situation in which the other one system is not available because of the oil leakage of the。 even in the first machine. "
Japan lifts operational ban on world's biggest #NuclearPlant
"Japan's nuclear power regulator on Wednesday lifted an operational ban imposed on Tokyo Electric Power's (9501.T) #KashiwazakiKariwa nuclear power plant two years ago, allowing it to work towards gaining local permission to restart.
"#Tepco has been eager to bring the world's largest atomic power plant back online to slash operating costs, but a resumption still needs consent from the local governments of #Niigata prefecture, #Kashiwazaki city and #Kariwa village, where it is located.
"In 2021, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) barred Tepco from operating Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, its only operable atomic power station, due to safety breaches including the failure to protect nuclear materials and missteps that saw an unauthorised staff member accessing sensitive areas of the plant."
"THERE is an abundance of reasons why it is folly to continue with building nuclear reactors.
"There is the cost which is huge compared with investing in more genuine sustainable energy. There is the problem with #RadioactiveWaste, for which there is no solution yet for the legacy waste, let alone producing more.
"There is the potential for attack: if wind turbines were attacked it would make for a difficult situation, but if a #NuclearReactor were to be sabotaged it would be the equivalent of a #NuclearBomb going off.
"And the latter also goes for a breakdown at a plant. We need to remember the effects of Chernobyl and Fukushima which continue to this day.
"Looking at #Britain, many of the nuclear reactors are sited on the coast and the proposed #SizewellC on the east coast. With #GlobalWarming, the sea level will rise and there is the chance of tidal surges with a threat to these reactors.
"But there is another factor which is never mentioned by the proponents of nuclear energy — the fuel used is uranium, and it will be in the future.
"This is mined mainly on the lands of indigenous people across the world. Countries and regions where uranium is mined include the land of the #FirstNations in Canada, the lands of the Navajo (Dine) in the southern United States, the land of the indigenous people of #Australia, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the DRC), Niger, Greenland and #Kazakhstan.
"The miners and their families have suffered over the years from mining this dangerous radioactive mineral in poor conditions, with illness and early death.
"In a recent statement printed in the Morning Star, the people of Niger (note this is not Nigeria but Niger, a former French colony) said that they were fed up, 'because for over 50 years, #France has relied on uranium from #Niger for its energy security. We know that French farmers were generously compensated when their land was requisitioned in the 1970s to build nuclear reactors. But for our people the mines have only meant dangerous working conditions, ill health, and historically poor remuneration.'
"From the #DRC, a former Belgian colony, Joe-Yves Salankang Sa Ngol, of the Congolese Civil society in South Africa, said: “Before the uranium would destroy life in #Japan referring to the nuclear bombs the US dropped on [#Hiroshima and #Nagasaki] it first started by destroying life in Shinkolobwe.'
"The #Shinkolobwe mine in the DRC was owned by a Belgian company which sold its first 4,200 metric tons of uranium to the US for the #ManhattanProject.
"Here is what #JoshuaFrank said in his book, #AtomicDays, about the conditions. “Paid very little, at times less than the minimum wage, these miners would enter deep uranium shafts and chip away at the walls, often 1,500 feet below the earth’s crust.
“They filled their wheelbarrows with the uranium ore, all the while choking on soot and dust particles. It was dark. There was no ventilation. It was tremendously difficult, perilous work. They ate in the mines and drank water that dripped from the walls. The water contained high quantities of radon — a radioactive gas emanating from the ore.”
"He continued: '#Radon exposure causes lung diseases, the dangers of which were well known to scientists and the medical community prior to World War II. But the Dine the [#Navajo] were deemed expendable.'
"And Frank also said: 'In addition to the impact on #Dine health, their land too was ravaged. Upwards of three billion metric tons of waste was created as a result of extraction on Dine lands, a dizzying amount to poison native communities throughout the south-west [of the US] to this day.'
"These, and many more stories of the same situation across the globe, show how supporters of nuclear power have turned a blind eye to the suffering of the miners and their families, not to mention the devastation done to their land.
"However, in different regions the local people are fighting back. For example, in #Greenland, in 2021, a ban on uranium came into force after the Inuit government’s successful election campaign.
"There had been a ban earlier, but this was then overturned in 2013. But with the indigenous #Inuit now in control of the government, the ban will probably hold.
"If we turn to Britain, there is no significant amount of uranium to be found and there is no commercial mining. So, Britain must import uranium from #Canada and #Namibia.
"No thought seems to have been given by the two main political parties which support new nuclear build, or the trade unions, or the media proponents of nuclear power, to the shameful history of uranium mining which will continue if new reactors are built. It has been called nuclear colonialism.
"Several recent reports show that there is no need for nuclear; 100 per cent genuine #renewables can provide Britain with enough energy.
"Supporters of nuclear power should think hard about their positions. Surely, for example, workers in Britain would want to act in solidarity with their mining comrades across the world?"
"#Nuclear operators are not liable for the entire costs of their own nuclear accidents, and the financial burden for this risk is inappropriately transferred to #taxpayers. Since corporations under Price-Anderson are only responsible for around two percent of the estimated cost of a serious accident, nuclear power corporations can largely ignore (from a financial perspective) the dangers that reactors impose on American communities.
"The total effect of Price-Anderson is large opportunity to evade responsibility if there is an accident and victims require payment of damages. Thus, the Act has no fault liability for reactor operators, and injured victims s are precluded from directly suing vendors or manufacturers responsible for the accident.
"Price-Anderson Act indemnifies Department of Energy nuclear contractors even in cases of gross negligence and willful misconduct, which seems to discourage contractor accountability and a safety culture. No other government agency provides this level of taxpayer indemnification to non-government personnel."
JENKINSVILLE, S.C. (AP) — "Federal officials have issued a warning about a substantial safety violation at a South Carolina nuclear plant after cracks were discovered again in a backup emergency fuel line.
"Small cracks have been found a half-dozen times in the past 20 years in pipes that carry fuel to emergency generators that provide cooling water for a reactor if electricity fails at the #VCSummer plant near Columbia, according to the U.S. #NRC.
"The agency issued what it calls a preliminary 'yellow' warning to plant owner #DominionEnergy last week.
"It is the second most serious category and only seven similar warnings have been issued across the country since 2009, nuclear power expert David Lochbaum told The State newspaper after reviewing records from federal regulators.
A crack first appeared on a diesel fuel pipe in 2003, and similar pipes have had other cracks since then.
During a 24-hour test of the system in November, a small diesel fuel leak grew larger, according to NRC records.
"The agency issued the preliminary yellow warning because of the repeated problems.
"The commission’s ruling is not final and Dominion will have a chance to explain what happened, utility spokesperson Darryl Huger wrote in an email
"Dominion has already started to put in place a plan to improve the reliability of the backup system and like all nuclear reactors there are multiple backup systems in case any component fails, Huger said.
“With a commitment to continued safe operations, we are inspecting and maintaining our generator and related components. We will continue to keep the NRC updated on our future strategy to further enhance our diesel generators,” Huger wrote.
"Virginia-based Dominion hasn't been the only owner of the plant. SCANA built and started the plant in 1984. The South Carolina company had plans to build two more reactors, but billions of dollars of cost overruns forced it to abandon the project in 2017 and sell to Dominion.
"Dominion has recently requested to renew the license for the nuclear plant for an additional 40 years.
"Longtime nuclear safety advocate Tom Clements told the newspaper the pipe problems should mean a lot more scrutiny by regulators.
"'This incident serves as a wake-up call to fully analyze all such systems prior to a license-renewal determination,' Clements said in an email."
Slovenian #nuclear plant shut due to leak in containment building
Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Mark Potter
October 6, 20239:03 AM EDT
"SARAJEVO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Slovenia's only nuclear power plant Krsko (NEK), jointly owned by Slovenia and Croatia, was shut down early on Friday due to a leak in its containment building, the company said on its website.
"'The nuclear power plant Krsko was shut down today, at 05:30 (0330 GMT), and has been placed under safe state of so-called hot-standby,' the company said.
"Expert teams have begun work to locate the site of the leak, the company said, adding it would be able to estimate the time for repairs and a restart of the plant after the source of the leak had been found.
"On Thursday, NEK flagged it would close the plant after finding about the leak in the primary system within the containment building, even though the leak was below technical specification limits.
"NEK, in eastern Slovenia close to the border with Croatia, produces more than six billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually which covers about 20% of the electrical energy demand in Slovenia and 16% in Croatia.
NEK was built in cooperation with U.S. company Westinghouse Electric Corporation and started operating in 1982. In 2016 Slovenia and Croatia agreed to prolong its lifespan by 20 years until 2043."
"'Our findings suggest an increased risk of diabetes among nuclear emergency workers from low levels of radiation. While the potential mechanisms remain somewhat unclear, reports suggest that radiation can adversely affect pancreatic cells responsible for insulin production, potentially contributing to diabetes. Additionally, there is an association between radiation exposure and heightened inflammation, a well-known factor in insulin resistance and the development of diabetes,' explains lead author Dr. Hu."
Failure to harden electrical structures and spent nuclear fuel storage leaves US, global population vulnerable to solar or terrorist induced apocalypse
by Michael Collins, October 14, 2014
"Should a serpentine #CME hit Earth head-on, the consequences would be catastrophic."
Nuclear plants on seismically active islands prone to tsunami and flooding (from #ClimateChange) is NOT logical! Especially when TIDAL and THERMAL energy is in abundance there! #RethinkNotRestart#NoNukes