For only the second time in history a license has been denied for construction of a new reactor!
“A three judge Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) today denied a license for the proposed Calvert Cliffs-3 nuclear reactor on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.”
Full article:
http://ecowatch.org/2012/nuclear-reactor-license-denied/
Our lives still hang by a Devil’s thread at Fukushima.
The molten cores at Units 1, 2 & 3 have threatened all life on Earth. The flood of liquid radiation has poisoned the Pacific. Fukushima’s cesium and other airborne emissions have already dwarfed Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and all nuclear explosions including Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Children throughout Japan carry radioactive burdens in their thyroids and throughout their bodies. Hot spots in Tokyo demand evacuation. Radioactive tuna has been caught off San Diego. Fallout carried across the Pacific may have caused spikes in cancer and infant mortality rates here in the United States.
And yet, 16 months later, the worst may be yet to come. No matter where we are on this planet, our lives are still threatened every day by a Unit 4 fuel pool left hanging 100 feet in the air. At any moment, an earthquake we all know is coming could send that pool crashing to the ground.
If that happens—and it could as you read this—the radiation spewed into the atmosphere could impact every living being on Earth. And that certainly includes you.
Cecile Pineda lays it all out in her brilliant new “Devil’s Tango: How I learned the Fukushima Step by Step” (Wings Press: San Antonio; www.ipgbook.com). With poetic fury, Cecile rages in satanic detail about how Fukushima was built despite volumes of whistleblower testimony underscoring its fatal flaws. But after agreeing with proof that the GE designs were patently insane, NRC Chair Joseph Hendrie approved them anyway because doing otherwise would have killed the nuclear industry.
There are 23 of these Mark I monsters in the US alone, far more worldwide. Pineda’s passionate prose runs the gamut from detailed technical critiques to heart-wrenching dirges about the birth defects and malformations imposed on countless downwind victims.
One reads with horror Cecile’s descriptions of hundreds of horribly deformed children of Chernobyl. In three towns near Fukushima, nearly half the youngsters already suffer from low-level thyroid exposure.
In Iraq and Bosnia, Pineda writes, vaporized depleted uranium shells have carpeted the countryside with radioactive powder. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, children born at Falluja were eleven times as likely to suffer from “neural tube defects affecting the brain or lower extremities, with cardiac or skeletal abnormalities, or with cancers.” As elsewhere in Iraq, and in Bosnia, premature births, spontaneous abortions and birth defects have become a plague.
Some uranium by-products can kill for 4.5 billion years—a common estimate for the lifespan of the Earth itself. Pineda takes us on a tragic tour of other facilities with radioactive burdens, including nuclear waste dumps, weapons factories and power reactors.
But nothing quite matches Fukushima and how it threatens us today. Astonishing as it may seem, the GE Mark I design includes waste storage pools perched 100 feet in the air. Around the world, thousands of tons of the most radioactive substances ever created are swung out of reactor cores and into these “swimming pools” to sit for months or years, suspended in air.
The presumption has been that they would somehow be removed and shipped to a central repository. But nowhere has one been approved. Nor has anyone devised a safe way to get the rods there if one is.
Experts like Robert Alvarez are begging that Fukushima’s rods be removed to dry casks where they might be out of immediate harm’s way.
But at Unit 4, more than 1500 rods remain suspended in air. Called “a bathtub on the roof” by CNN anchor Jon King, the damaged pool teeters atop a building decimated by seismic shocks and at least one hydrogen explosion. The question is not if, but when it will come crashing down.
Thus far, TEPCO has removed just two rods, and says it won’t get the rest until late next year.
Meanwhile, we are all hostage. “Devil’s Tango” provides ample evidence that the Fukushima disaster was caused primarily by the earthquake of March 11, 2011. The tsunami that followed made things worse. But the atomic reactors there and around the world remain far more vulnerable to seismic shocks than their builders want us to know.
This means Indian Point, New York; Diablo Canyon and San Onofre, California; in Virginia, Ohio, South Carolina and virtually everywhere else these reactors sit.
All these reactors—including virtually every one in Japan—could be destroyed by shock waves like those that took down Fukushima.
Cecile Pineda makes it passionately clear that our species has no more pressing priority than to get those fuel rods out of the Fukushima 4 pool and onto the ground before another earthquake does it for us.
The only way out is a switch to Solartopia, to a world based on technologies that will end forever this death dance that is atomic energy.
Meanwhile, as those rods still sway above Fukushima, the Devil’s Tango has us right at the brink of a hellish world of radioactive hurt.
—
Harvey Wasserman’s “History of the US” is at www.harveywasserman.com, along with “SOLARTOPIA! Our Green Powered Earth.” He edits www.nukefree.org.
Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout …A Mother’s Response is an engaging book that explores the nuclear industry’s impact on human health, the environment, and how citizens will change the world.
“Governments underestimate the effect of official silence on anxious mothers! Kimberly is not alone, even though she is more knowledgeable than many others, in becoming increasingly concerned about the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan and its effect on California milk, water, spinach, mushrooms and other foods. Platitudes about “permissible doses” cannot take away parental responsibility and non-monitoring of fallout by the government does not make the problem go away! Thank God for mothers like Kimberly! I encourage everyone to read this small book with reliable information written in ordinary lay language. You will learn how passive most Americans were during this major disaster. You will learn how negligent were the government agencies we depend on for meaningful and timely warnings and advice for self–protection and caring for one’s family.” ~ Endorsement of “Silence Deafening…” Rosalie Bertell, PhD, GNSH, Founder of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH) and former consultant to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environment Protection Agency, and Health Canada; more endorsements at www.silencedeafening.com
July, 2012
Hello Everyone!
I’ve been woefully remiss in keeping in touch with my family and friends not only due to the demands of motherhood, but the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan and its affect on the United States. What a long strange year it’s been! Now I need to let you know about an online awareness and fundraising campaign on an issue that affects all of us and especially kids. My new book on food, human health, and the nuclear industry, “Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout…A Mother’s Response”, was published by Visiontalk with cover art by Gail Payne and has received excellent reviews from readers on Amazon. It is truly a labor of love and published digitally with money my own mother left when she passed away. It is now available on all digital platforms and in print edition on Amazon and Createspace. The silence referred to in the title is from media and government who are not addressing the issue of radiation in our food supply due to the triple nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. Just a few more paragraphs will take you directly to the linked campaign with a quick two minute video. Please read on.
The fundraiser and awareness campaign is being hosted by Indiegogo.com and is aimed at producing a print version of the book, placement in stores throughout the US, an educational outreach and advertising campaign, and seed money to research a companion book on radiation and health awareness. I’ve recruited some amazing women as team members for this project including an author (who evacuated Japan with her family shortly after 311) named Gwendolyn Womack, artist Rachel Gertrude Johnson, Natural Chef Jean Merrigan, musician Sandi Sellars and investigative journalist Karen Charman. All of these wonderful, compassionate women are gifted artists and activists in their own right who care deeply about children and our world. They have all been very supportive over the last year and I’m excited that they’ve agreed to help raise funds and awareness around this extremely important issue. All along the purpose of my book has been to serve as a platform for education on the radioactive fallout and food safety issue and with this wonderful team support the skies the limit.
It was heartening to learn that the Indiegogo campaign received approval for fiscal sponsorship from Fractured Atlas, an organization funded in part by the National Endowment of the Arts. They support artistic projects and lend financial and legal advice throughout the fundraising process. A relatively small percentage of fundraisers on Indiegogo are approved by for sponsorship by Fractured Atlas. For contributors this means that all money donations will be tax deductible, and the gifts given as “perks” will be partially tax deductible. More good news is that Fractured Atlas decided to feature the fundraiser on the main page of their website! This was an unexpected, very cool surprise that will only further enhance the success of the project. With Fractured Atlas on our side, this campaign will definitely succeed. To go directly to the 2 minute video at Indiegogo please click here http://igg.me/p/84388?a=514338
One of the most gratifying aspects of this project is that it’s becoming increasingly clear that just reading and sharing this email, Facebook Events Invite, and Indigogo campaign links will bring much needed awareness on the issue of Fukushima’s impact on our food supply. This good type of exposure will grow exponentially when you forward the messages to your networks too (hey we all gotta eat, so we hope to enlist not only your financial support, but your help in spreading the news). We are also asking that people donate $5 or more if possible and ask others to do the same. We have a unique window in time to stop the so-called “Nuclear Renaissance”. Strontium-90 in milk led to stopping the US above ground bomb blasts of the 50’s and 60’s, so there is a strong possibility history will repeat itself now.
What follows is the back-story, please take a few minutes to read on if you don’t already know it and thanks for your time. Some of you may not have the funds or inclination to become involved but you may know someone who does and will. Thanks in advance for reading!
Life took a shocking and unexpected turn March 11, 2011. The Great Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunamis caught the world’s attention, however Fukushima Daiichi’s unprecedented three nuclear meltdowns went largely ignored in the media and still do to this day. The impact on our food supply is troubling and demands attention. The west coast of the US is directly in the path of the powerful jet stream, as you know. University of California Berkeley School of Nuclear Engineers (UCBSNE) has been reporting findings of cesium 137 and more radioisotopes known to cause cancer, heart disease and other illnesses in California topsoil, water, milk and produce sampled from the Bay Area since late March of 2011. Recently a pair of researchers at Cal State Long Beach found radiation in kelp sampled off the coast and they are currently seeking funding of their own to detect more types of longer-lived radioactive isotopes. Headlines of their findings read “Radiation from Fukushima Now in the US Food Chain”. And just a few weeks ago news broke of radioactive cesium in Bluefin tuna caught off the coast of California. What mainstream media wasn’t mentioned about this story is that the tuna tested was actually caught in August of 2011.
The media has been ignoring the issue with only rare exception. Recently Forbes magazine ran an online story written by Jeff McMahon, one of the few reporters writing on Fukushima’s impact on health. He grappled with reasons why colleagues in his profession are refusing to cover such an important story, surmising that radiation perceived as a complex issue that intimidates reporters. His message points directly to the need for transparency and for projects such as “Silence Deafening…”
To put matters into clear perspective, California produces over 450 varieties of produce, dairy and wine and is the number one producer of dairy in the US, the fifth largest producer of food in the world. Children in our families and communities rely on us to protect them, yet our government is not addressing mounting concerns regarding food safety. Consequently we are not doing enough to protect those we love. The silence is indeed deafening. The fact that I have a history working on radiation issues at Greenpeace and then in the nutrition field meant that Fukushima allowed no room for denial or excuses.
On April 1, 2011, I was sitting at home, feeling shocked and isolated. It appeared that no one was talking about Fukushima. It now seems like a lifetime ago: I went online and created a petition calling for food monitoring due to Fukushima’s ongoing radioactive fallout. It was luck to find that Food and Water Watch (the food safety arm of Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen) had started a letter writing campaign on the issue, so I used some of their language to write a food safety petition. The petition eventually led to the formation of Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN), a group of dedicated, talented, and passionate individuals who have spent decades working to make the world a safer place. FFAN includes Mary Beth Brangan, Rachel Johnson and Jim Heddle of Ecological Options Network; Diane D’Arrigo of Nuclear Information and Resource Service; Cindy Folkers of Beyond Nuclear; Mali Lightfoot who is Executive Director of the Helen Caldicott Foundation and Nuclear Free Planet; Jim Turner who is Chairman of Citizens for Health; concerned aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents.
FFAN has met five times with Senator Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein’s staff here in San Francisco and also in Washington, DC demanding congressional hearings on the food issue. Once we met with Senator Feinstein and told her of our findings, which we delivered at her request in print to her personal fax number. She has not responded, but we are not giving up. Some of us in FFAN met two weeks ago in Washington, DC with key legislators as part of Sierra Club Lobby Day. A packet of information was organized at the request of Nuclear Information and Resource Service for distribution at a national Sierra Club conference that coincided with their lobby day and was given to 85 safe energy lobbyists. Book promo cards and a media release about “Silence Deafening…” were placed in each of the 85 lobby packets. It is amazing to see how much more attention an issue attracts when you write a book about it! Considering how mighty the nuclear lobby has been for so many years, it was extremely gratifying that congress members heard our concerns and some are now aware of the book and it’s very important message.
The world needs to know much more about the situation in Japan and its vast impact for the sake of future generations. The petition mentioned previously is linked below, please take a moment to read it over, sign and share. One person commented online the other day, “Where are the leaders on this issue!!??” Well, as it turns out, on this one “WE are the leaders”. And our time is now. We are all inundated with online issues and those of our own. Please find a few more minutes to help this important project.
Thanks for reading, you will find the campaign here so please remember to cut and paste it to share on email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and websites. Just the action of clicking on the link under the video on the Indiegogo page will help to increase our visibility on the website. Whenever we share the link under the video, it helps increase our presence online. While the issue may be inconvenient and unpleasant, taking action is just the opposite: it’s empowering and feels pretty good, actually!
Take care,
Kimberly
The US government told all US citizens within 50 miles of Fukushima to evacuate. However, in the US only a 10 mile evacuation zone and plan is required. Not only has population doubled in many cases since plans were made over 30 years ago, but the risks we face are much greater due to our aging reactors, increases in geological and weather events and chances of long-term power outages due to the upcoming solar storms. We must demand safety comes first!
Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) has petitioned the NRC to suspend the license of FitzPatrick until there is a thorough review of their woefully inadequate venting system and until there is one or more public hearings. Today, staffer of AGREE (Jessica Azulay) and Paul Gunter (Beyond Nuclear, a national organization) spoke in person before the NRC Petition Review Board near Washington, D.C. while three others spoke by phone. Chapter member Linda DeStefano’s statement to the NRC is below. Nice work, Linda – Jessica Helm, Sierra Club
I’m the representative from the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club to the Alliance for a Green Economy. The Atlantic Chapter covers NYS and has 37,500 members. The Chapter is part of the national Sierra Club. The national Sierra Club has a long history of speaking out about the problems with nuclear energy. These problems include the intractable problem of nuclear waste, the record of serious accidents both in the U.S. and other countries, the possibility of a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility, the prohibitive cost of nuclear energy that is subsidized with our taxes while renewable forms of energy receive relatively little governmental assistance.
The nuclear power plant in question before us today, FitzPatrick, has all these problems plus additional ones. It is a G.E. Mark 1 boiling water reactor, the same as those which failed at Fukushima – with disastrous consequences. There are several other such facilities in the U.S. but FitzPatrick has the additional drawback of being the only one which has not followed the long-standing advice of the NRC to install a hardened vent. The existing venting system is woefully inadequate. In an accident, it’s so-called solution is to release radioactivity at ground level into the environment. FitzPatrick should NOT be put into the same category as the other Mark 1 reactors in terms of license renewal until 2016 as it is the only one without the hardene vent.
More than 900,000 people live within 50 miles of FitzPatrick.
Syracuse is only 36 miles away from FitzPatrick. As someone who lives just outside Syracuse, I feel personally threatened. And I worry for all living things that would be faced with dangerous doses of radioactivity. Our area has farmland and beautiful natural areas. We have Lake Ontario – one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the U.S. I don’t understand how Entergy’s interest in saving a relatively small amount of money by refusing to install a hardened vent can be weighed against the economic, health and environmental disaster that a serious accident or terrorist attack would entail. The Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club asks that the NRC regard our safety as more important than Entergy’s bottom line.
Linda A. DeStefano
member of the Energy Committee
Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club
New York State
The Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services will distribute potassium chloride pills this month to residents of Philipstown, Putnam Valley and Carmel who live within a 10-mile radius of the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
Pills will be distributed April 4 from 2 to 7 p.m. in the lobby of Putnam Valley Town Hall; April 12 from 2 to 7 p.m. at Carmel Town Hall; and April 17 from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Philipstown VFW Hall. Also, pills are available at the Bureau of Emergency Services, 112 Old Route 6, Carmel, or by calling 845-808-4000.
Keep in mind that KI radiation pills protect only the thyroid gland, so they are a partial fix at best.
The National Energy Institute (NEI) is launching a massive pro-nuke campaign. The false claims that nuclear energy is clean, safe and green will be made yet again.
Please contact your local public radio station and ask them to run this PSA. If they are unaware of the problems with nuclear power direct them to http://RadiationTruth.org, or to your other favorite sites.
By Heidi Hutner; posted by the Planet Sphere http://www.terraspheres.com/blogs/11654-indian-point-now-a-post-fukushima-plea.html
…And it was from what the mothers told us of these children that it became recognized that the children who died of cancer-let’s say an early death from cancer, before the age of ten as it happened—had been twice as often x-rayed before they were born as the live children…. If single, non-repeated exposure to a small dose of ionizing radiation before you were born is sufficient to increase the risk of early cancer death, and that the sooner this event happens after conception…the more dangerous it is …[then], [p]robably every childhood cancer, except man-made ones from x-rays, could be due to background radiation. Are you going to play with a ball of fire and say it’s safe?… Are you going to be happier by adding to the population loads of defective genes for future generations? –Dr. Alice Stewart.
[R]adiation is now the unnatural creation of man’s tampering with the atom. It’s the genetic damage, the possibility of sowing bad seeds in the gene pool from which future generations are drawn. There will be a build up of defective genes into the population. It won’t be noticed until it is too late. Then, we’ll never root it out, never get ride of it. It will be totally irrevocable. –Rachel Carson.
Why We Must Shut Down Indian Point Now: A Post-Fukushima Plea
Rachel Carson and Alice Stewart sent out red flags of warning a half-century ago. Why did their words go unheeded?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and now – Fukushima.
When will we ever learn? I say, now.
If we weren’t focused on it before, if we had any doubts about the perils of nuclear power plants and the grave threats they pose, if we hadn’t taken the time to read the studies about the thousands and, possibly, one million people sickened and killed by Chernobyl, then Fukushima, melting down before our eyes, should now bring it all into clear and alarming focus. Indian Point is right in our own backyard, looming with potential catastrophe for the entire Greater New York region. Yet we have a Governor who sees the wisdom of shutting it down. We must support him. Now. Now is the time for us all to rally and join the effort to shut it down.
I dreamt we were trying to get out—quickly. Sirens. I packed the car, quickly—bottled water, cans of food, a few dishes. A few last things. Would we ever come back? My daughter opened the birdcage in the back yard and set our parrots free. Their unclipped wings allowed them to fly high, but where would they go?
Right before Fukushima blew on 3/11/11, I was at work on a cultural memoir about my mother’s anti-nuclear activism and U.S. nuclear history. The more I read and learned about the dangers of nuclear power and weapons, the more I scratched my head and agreed with Daniel Ellsberg: “we are asleep at the wheel.”
The disaster at Fukushima came as no surprise to me.
America likes reality shows, supposedly, but what reality are they watching? Hysterical mothers and wives competing with each other for something or other, dancing and singing contests, nannies teaching parents how to love.
Perhaps it is easy to remain asleep for some, but I believe that if we don’t protect ourselves, who will protect us?
Night after night, day after day, over the past year since 3/11, I have scoured the internet for information about Japan. I made online friendships with folks in Japan and anti-nuclear activists worldwide. I joined in marches in New York, delivered a petition to stop burning radioactive rubble and to shut down nuclear power plants permanently in Japan to the Japanese Consulate in New York, attended lectures, watched films on nuclear issues, and read endlessly on the subject.
Meeting with Fukushima activists in person was the most powerful wake up call of all. Last September, I listened to the green activist Aileen Myoko Smith, and the organic farmer Sachiko Sako and her children at the Ethical Culture Society. They and other activists spoke about the situation in Fukushima and their concerns about the dangers of nuclear power at large and at Indian Point, in particular.
Their words were chilling.
At this event, speakers such as Harvey Wasserman, Karl Grossman, Greg Palast, Vandana Shiva, and Kevin Kamps explained that for the people in New York City and its environs, Indian Point is an accident waiting to happen.
Here are ten important reasons why we must shut down Indian Point:
1) Indian Point sits on two active seismic zones and is the most vulnerable plant in the U.S. to earthquakes.
2) Columbia University believes the location is vulnerable to a 7.0 earthquake on the Richter scale–which the plant is not designed to withstand.
3) Over 17 million people live within a 50-mile radius of the plant.
4) There is no evacuation plan except for those living within a ten-mile radius. In Fukushima, the Nuclear Regulatory Committee recommended an evacuation radius of 50 miles.
5) The New York Assembly Committee of 2012 determined that New York does not need Indian Point to provide its energy needs and, further, price rates would not increase as a result of a shut down. There are plenty of safe renewable energy alternatives.
6) Indian Point’s highly radioactive storage pools are full and there is nowhere to store the materials.
7) Indian Point’s spent fuel currently leaks into the ground and the Hudson River.
8) The negative effects of a core meltdown at Indian Point could far exceed that of the Fukushima disaster.
9) Indian Point threatens the safety of the drinking water of nine million people (nearby reservoir).
10) Nuclear radiation—much of it—remains poisonous for tens of thousands of years. Plutonium ingested even in the tiniest of particles can be lethal. Strontium and Cesium cause cancer and genetic mutations in present and future generations.
The most startling thing I took away from this list: NO EVACUATION PLAN.
When I spoke to Aileen Myoko Smith directly after the lecture, I told her my family lives in Long Island, less than 40 miles from Indian Point. Aileen and her cohorts exchanged looks of pity. She took a breath of air and ch/eerily urged me to save a three-week supply of bottled water in my basement, along with a three- week supply of canned food. As Aileen explained, “The roads, bridges and tunnels will be un-drivable for a few weeks—too many cars and people. Wait in your basement until things calm down. Then, pack your car and leave. Just remember, probably you will never go back. You should plan your financial life accordingly now. If you lose your home and job, will you be able to survive?”
Aileen’s words might sound alarmist or something out of a science fiction novel, but for the people of Fukushima, nuclear disaster is reality. That reality could be mine, and yours, too.
Yet many people I speak with have never heard of Fukushima. My neighbors and locals in Long Island don’t know much or anything about Indian Point. I can’t tell you how many times people stare at me blankly when I mention the words “Fukushima” or “Indian Point”.
Here are some more startling facts about nuclear power most people don’t know:
There are 104 old and leaking nuclear power plants in the U.S. They are due for relicensing soon. These old plants were meant to run for only 40 years, yet the nuclear industry wants to keep them operative for twenty years or more. Why? Profit. The nuclear industry will tell you ‘nuclear is clean, nuclear is safe, nuclear is cheap, and necessary to our energy needs.’ They won’t tell you about earthquakes, spent radioactive fuel and the lack of safe means of storage, or cancer clusters. They will tell you low-level radiation is safe, and it is not.
Some other startling news: 23 of the 104 reactors in the U.S. are the same design as those in Fukushima–GE Mark 1. In the 1980s, GE engineer Dale Bridenbaugh, et al, blew the whistle on the design flaws of the GE Mark 1. Two GE Mark I nuclear plants operate in New York State. Vermont Yankee is a GE Mark I.
My question is, what happened to anti-nuclear awareness and activism? Where is the movement today? When, in addition to the dangers of nuclear power plants, there are still thousands of ready-to-deploy nuclear warheads aimed at and by the U.S.?
How do we wake people up, make them aware and get them involved?
Many environmentalists I know go silent on nuclear issues, or they say we “need” nuclear power to stave off climate change. Yet important leaders like Bill McKibben, Erin Brockavitch, Vandana Shiva, and Sandra Steingraber strongly oppose nuclear power. More need to speak out. There is no time to spare.
The environmental movement at large needs to rally behind this important cause.
How can we breathe life back into the anti-nuclear movement before it’s too late?
For New Yorkers, the time is now. Indian Point is up for relicensing in 2012. We must stand up and tell our Governor and President to shut down Indian Point for once and for all.
We are in precarious times—we cannot allow the lust for a “nuclear renaissance” to take hold. The licensing by the NRC in February, 2012, of the first two nuclear plants since 1973 is shameful. How can they do this less than 12 months after the Fukushima disaster? Even the Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko of the NRC opposed this decision, saying the disaster of Fukushima needed to be studied first.
Will we allow the nuclear industry to relicense these old plants, invest billions of taxpayer dollars in building new ones, or will we stand up to corporate interests and demand the safety of our children and the future generations?
Environmentalists and Human Rights Activists need to rally behind this cause to shut down Indian Point and all nuclear power plants worldwide. More than 17 million lives are at stake in the New York area alone. Governor Cuomo wants to shut the plant down. Let’s stand by him, make our voices heard and stop the nuclear madness.
Get involved. Talk to your friends. Spread the word. A number of marches, protests and talks are talking place throughout the NYC area to commemorate the Fukushima disaster and to Shut Down Indian Point. Join in. Learn what’s happening and take action. The time is now.
See the Riverkeeper website for excellent resources, actions and events:http://www.riverkeeper.org/campaigns/stop-polluters/indian-point/
Call and write to:
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
(518) 474-8390
Tell the Governor to shut down Indian Point now.
Also, join Helen Caldicott in Washington DC on March 30th, 2012 for a massive anti-nuclear protest!
We must protect our children and the future generations.
Are [we] going to play with a ball of fire and say it’s safe?… Are you going to be happier by adding to the population loads of defective genes for future generations?
This is how David Brenner, PhD, of the The Center for Radiological Research at Columbia, answered my question on at a talk on “The Many Ways Radiation Affects our Lives”. The talk was held at Hofstra College on Dec. 1st, 2011.
I formulated my question after Dr. Brenner quizzed the audience on if we knew what our lifetime chances of getting cancer was. After a few guesses that were on the low side, he informed us we all had a 40% chance of getting cancer during our lifetime. I asked “In the 1950s, chemicals in our environment, food, and personal products became widespread, at the same time US nuclear testing released the equivalent in radiation of 18,000- 29,000 Hiroshimas. Within 10 years cancer rates began escalating towards the epidemic rates they are at today.
Do you disagree?”
The Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) is a nonprofit educational and scientific organization, started by scientists and physicians. It is dedicated to understanding the relationships between low-level, nuclear radiation and public health. From their website:
“During the first half century of the Nuclear Age a growing body of medical and scientific evidence has emerged to demonstrate a probable causal link between low-level internal radiation from the ingestion of man-made fission products and world-wide increases in immune deficiency diseases, especially cancer and those affecting the newborn. RPHP has assembled much of the epidemiological evidence documenting these links.”
“Five books published by RPHP research associates summarize hundreds of articles in peer-reviewed journals dealing with these impacts of ingested, low-level fission products–products which did not exist in nature prior to the Nuclear Age. In addition to the effects upon the immune response of all age groups, the very young have been especially affected. RPHP has repeatedly pointed out the radiation-induced damage apparent in official vital statistics, tracing changes in infant mortality rates and underweight live births in the postwar period, especially during the above ground nuclear test years of the 1950s and the 1960s.”
“RPHP has also been able to track the radiation-induced damage done to the hormonal and immune systems of the 80 million baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965 in each of the post war decades, revealing the various epidemiological anomalies: In the 1950s, children born after the enormous initial exposure to nuclear fission products began to experience epidemic increases in childhood cancer in the ages 5 to 9.“
Even the National Cancer Institute (NCI) states that although cancer incidence has declined somewhat since the year 2000 (smoking declined during the last decade as well) childhood cancer has been on the rise for the last decade. I would have liked to ask Dr. Brenner what could possibly have caused that if not contact with toxic substances the environment either before or after birth.
I assume he was ignorant of the fact that even the National Cancer Institute has declared that diet and lifestyle changes can reduce one’s risk by 75%. He might have pointed this out rather than scare us all with the 40% statistic.
He completely ignored the subject of internal exposure through contaminated water or food. When questioned, he did admit they have no data on this, so he did not address it.