Dr. Hannes Alfven was against nuclear power. He wrote that the only way it could work is if the following conditions were always in place:
IN 1972 Dr. Hannes Alfven wrote theses things in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Read entire article in Karl Grossman’s latest blog post
Check out The Week for details of each near miss.
The reactors locations and owners follow:
How did the Japanese fear of all things nuclear (after Hiroshima) evolve into acceptance?
Huge amounts of money have been spent to promote the idea that nuclear power is safe and necessary in Japan. From government mandated school textbooks to building with Disneyworld-like attractions the Japanese were conditioned to believe that Japan’s plants were totally safe. NYT
It happened at Chernobyl, and it is happening here. The consequences of the multiple melt-downs are starting to appear. One of the first effects of “low-level” radiation is a rise in infant mortality. Statistics on infant mortality in the Pacific Northwest were analyzed and showed a significant upturn in the first weeks of the Fukushima crisis. (Janette D. Sherman, ND and Joseph Mangano) The original essay looked at eight cities: San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Portland, Seattle, and Boise. The time frame of the report was the four weeks preceding and the ten weeks after the disaster.
Scientific American claims to debunk this analysis, criticizing its choice of cities and time period as “cherry picking”. However, Counterpunch’s statistician investigated further and his analysis strengthened the results. (Scroll down to headline “Post-Fukushima Infant Deaths in the Pacific Northwest”)
Counterpunch’s staff statistician analyzed all the northernmost Pacific cities, extended the period to ten weeks before and after, and compared deaths in 2011 with the same period a year before (to avoid any seasonal bias). They found a greater increase in infant mortality than the original essay.
Three quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites are leaking radioactive tritium. Although most leaks appeared to have stayed within plant boundaries, drinking wells have been contaminated near two plants in Illinois and near one plant in Minnesota. So far the levels do not exceed federal standards, however many scientists and organizations, including The National Academy of Sciences are convinced that any amount of additional radiation increases ones risk of cancer. See AP report.
Members of Congress that sit on the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Environment and Public Works committees receive an average of $9,024 per year from the nuclear industry. This is almost 3 times what other Congressmen receive from the industry.
MAPLight.org has analyzed contributions to lawmakers sitting on the above committees . See details.
Every day there is news from Japan. The following are a few of the most newsworthy:
• Switzerland voted recently to phase out nuclear power. This came on the heels of a 20,000 person march against nuclear power. NPR.
• An area 17 times the size of Manhattan is off limits for habitation. Let’s demand US newspapers and TV stations report this staggering news. Natural News
• Children 32 miles from Fukushima are falling sick. Many Japanese children have “inexplicable” symptoms reported Tokyo’s Shinburn newspaper.
What are the conditions that are likely to lead to the next nuclear disaster?
Rueters expolores this question.
Japan admits melt-throughs (more serious than melt-downs) likely at 3 Fukushima reactors.Bloomburg News