Chernobyl 25 evokes, mourns Hiroshima/Nagasaki to Fukushima

Never-safe always deadly plutonium-powered, radioactive — Unnecessary for fulfilling world energy needs

Compiled and edited by Carolyn Bennett

One million people died because of Chernobyl

One millionth of a gram of plutonium will cause cancer

Each reactor in Fukushima has 250 kilos of plutonium

Nuclear cooling pools contain 12-foot rods that can
kill with a dose of minutes

Reactor core contains 1000 times the material in the Hiroshima bomb

Turkish food is highly radioactive

Forty percent of Europe is radioactive

European food is highly radioactive

Bioaccumulation is occurring

Cancer could take 5-60 years to manifest

Dr Helen Caldicott

Nuclear power and its deadly dangers are unnecessary. … The issue of switching to safe, clean energy is not technological but political.

The problem is vested interests —

·       Government agencies that push nuclear power, notably, in the United States, the national nuclear laboratories and the entity that owns them

·       Department of Energy (headed currently by a former national nuclear laboratory director)

·       Nuclear industry as it seeks to profit from selling nuclear technology, despite the cost in people’s lives

These same entities are pushing nuclear power worldwide as evidenced by General Electric’s involvement in the construction of Japanese reactors and the U.S.-India Nuclear deal. 

China and other emerging nations also are expanding plans for nuclear power despite the horrific memories of Chernobyl, now Fukushima.

Disgracefully demanding nuclear power on earth and in space has been U. S. President Barack Obama.

Since taking office as president, he has reversed the position he espoused as candidate for the presidency. Even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the U.S. president seeks to ‘revive’ the nuclear industry using billions of taxpayer dollars to build new nuclear plants. This administration has been pushing also to ‘revive’ the use of nuclear power in space by restarting U.S. production of Plutonium-238 for use on space devices.

The Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space is calling for —

End of nuclear power on earth

·       Although the nuclear establishment claims this is impractical, it is not

·       In the U.S. where nuclear power provides 20 percent of the electricity, there is a 20 percent reserve capacity in the electrical system. All 104 U.S. nuclear plants could — and must — be immediately shut down

·       The reserve capacity can deal with their absence

·       A concentrated effort could — and must — be made to swiftly bring the safe, clean energy technologies on line

·       Instead of promoting nuclear power expansion globally, the nuclear power industry should be dismantled or converted to a green technology industry

 

End of nuclear power in space

·       Accidents such as the 1964 SNAP-9A disaster in which a plutonium-powered satellite fell from orbit, disintegrating and spreading plutonium widely have demonstrated the folly of using nuclear power overhead

·       This plutonium release has been seen to cause an increase in lung cancer on earth   

Closure of all national nuclear laboratories

·       Nuclear laboratories have been breeding grounds for developing lethal atomic energy — on earth and in space

·       An effort is under way in Washington to cut back federal government spending

·       Closure of all national nuclear laboratories is a federal government activity that must be cut back —among them a string of national nuclear laboratories including Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore, Idaho, Sandia, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Argonne that spend  billions upon billions in taxpayer money annually while developing deadly nuclear technology

We all live in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima — unless the nuclear juggernaut is stopped.

During the World War II Manhattan Project, scientists working at laboratories secretly set up across the United States built atomic weapons, journalist Karl Grossman writes. “By 1945, [the Project] employed 600,000 people and spent billions of dollars. Two bombs were dropped on Japan. With the war’s end, the Manhattan Project became the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and more nuclear weapons were built. … Many of the scientists and government officials did not want to see their jobs end. Corporations that were Manhattan Project contractors — notably General Electric and Westinghouse — did not want to see their contracts ended.…”

The reality is “nuclear power can never be made safe.… The problem is radioactivity—unleashed with the splitting of the atom. All nuclear power plants produce radiation as well as radioactive poisons like the Cesium-137, Iodine-131 and Strontium-90 that have been, and continue to be, spewed from the Fukushima plants.  Upon contact with life, these toxins destroy life.

Nuclear power plants—all 443 on the earth today—should be closed and no new ones built, Grossman writes.

Major studies have concluded that safe, clean, renewable energy technologies like solar, wind (now the fastest growing energy source and cheaper than nuclear) and geothermal can provide all the energy the world needs—energy without lethal radioactivity, energy we can live with.

Sources and notes

Dr Helen Caldicott

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXvpWoHzeE&feature=player_embedded

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread693448/pg1

“Global Network Statement on Japanese Nuclear Disaster,” April 8, 2011,

http://www.space4peace.org/articles/statement_on_japanese_nuclear_disaster.htm

Helen Caldicott, MD, physician, author, speaker

Medical and Nuclear Education/Public Advocacy United States

Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR): Founder and President, 1978-1983; President Emeritus, 1983-Present

Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND): Founder, 1980

Nuclear Freeze Voter Initiative Campaign: Co-Leader, 1980

STAR (Standing For Truth About Radiation) Foundation: Co-Founder, 1997; President, 1999-2000

Nuclear Policy Research Institute: President, 2001- Current

Australia and New Zealand: Initiated movement against French atmospheric tests, 1971-72

Led education campaign among Australian labor unions about medical and military dangers or uranium mining, 1975-1976

Led public New Zealand education campaign, with Dr. William Caldicott, resulting in the official New Zealand nuclear-free policy, 1982

Founded Green Labor, a new section within Australian Labor Party, 1988

Ran as Independent Candidate for Australian Federal Parliament, 1990

Founding Patron, Parents Protecting Our Children Against Radiation, Lucas Heights, NSW, 1998

Founder, Our Common Future Party (OCF), Australia 2000

http://www.helencaldicott.com/about/cv/

“Nuclear Power Can Never Be Made Safe,” April 25, 2011, http://karlgrossman.blogspot.com/

On Flashpoints — Karl Grossman, “Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know about Nuclear Power” and Chernobyl: A Million Casualties; Bruce Gagnon—Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space — Tuesday April 26, 2011, Pacifica/KPFA Flashpoints program, http://www.flashpoints.net/

Karl Grossman is journalism professor in the American Studies department at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury.  For more than 15 years he hosted the television program Enviro Close-Up and has written and narrated television documentaries for EnviroVideo www.envirovideo.com including “Nukes In Space….”  Grossman is Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power; Power Crazy; and The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program’s Nuclear Threat to Our Planet, http://www.karlgrossman.com/

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his reflections on organizing and the state of the United States’ declining empire in “Organizing Notes,” http://space4peace.blogspot.com/; http://www.blogger.com/profile/10845856861232395427

Bruce Gagnon (Maine) serves as Secretary/Coordinator of the Global Network  and has been working on space issues for the past 25 years. He helped create the Global Network in 1992. Gagnon is author of Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire. For 15 years, he coordinated the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and was trained as an organizer by the United Farmworkers Union. He is a member of Veterans for Peace — globalnet@mindspring.com; http://www.space4peace.org/board.htm

Board of Directors and Advisors of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space:

Bob Anderson (Stop the War Machine, New Mexico)

Dr. Helen Caldicott (Pediatrician/Anti-nuclear activist, Australia)

Sung-Hee Choi (Artist/teacher/activist, South Korea)

MacGregor Eddy (Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, California)

Stacey Fritz (No Nukes North, Alaska)

Atsushi Fujioka (Professor of Economics Ritsumeikan University, Japan)

Bruce Gagnon (Global Network Coordinator, Maine)

Holly Gwinn Graham (Singer/songwriter/activist, Washington)

Karl Grossman (Professor of Journalism SUNY/College of Old Westbury, New York)

Regina Hagen (Darmstadter Friedensform, Germany)

Matthew Hoey (Military Space Transparency Project, Massachusetts)

Filip Ilkowski (Lecturer Political Science/History Warsaw University, Poland)

Helen John (Peace activist, England)

Dr. Michio Kaku (Professor Theoretical Physics CUNY, New York)

Tamara Lorincz (Halifax Peace Coalition, Canada)

Dr. Hannah Middleton (Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Australia)

Agneta Norberg (Swedish Peace Council, Sweden)

Lindis Percy (Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, England)

J. Sri Raman (Movement Against Nuclear Weapons, India)

J. Narayana Rao (All India Peace & Solidarity Organization, India)

Tim Rinne (Nebraskans for Peace, Nebraska)

Makiko Sato (Anti-nuclear activist, Japan)

Wolfgang Schlupp-Hauck (Friedenswerkstatt Mutlangen, Germany)

Alice Slater (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York)

Koji Sugihara (No to Nukes & Missile Defense Campaign, Japan)

Bill Sulzman (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado)

Jan Tamas (Humanist Party, Czech Republic)

Dr. Dave Webb (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, United Kingdom)

Carol Urner (Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, Oregon)

Loring Wirbel (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado)

Lynda Williams (Physics teacher/activist, California)

Wooksik Cheong (Peace Network, South Korea)

Hibiki Yamaguchi (People’s Plan Study Group, Japan) 

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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No to Nuclear

Excerpt by Carolyn Bennett 
from Beyond Nuclear

TEN REASONS TO SAY NO TO NUCLEAR POWER

1.     New reactors are too expensive, costing at least $12-25 billion each of taxpayers’ and ratepayers’ money and likely more. The industry has a notorious history of huge cost overruns.

2.     From licensing through construction to operation, reactors take too long to come on line – at least 6-10 years each with more delays likely – to address climate change in time

3.     A meltdown could cause tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and spread radioactive contamination across vast areas for centuries.

4.     Security at reactors is inadequate, due to cost cutting by an industry otherwise unable to compete in the electricity market. Most reactors still remain vulnerable to aircraft and other attacks, making them potential dirty bombs in our backyards.

5.     Civilian nuclear programs provide the materials, knowledge and technology to transition to nuclear weapons production as happened in India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. Nuclear expansion impedes the goals of nonproliferation and disarmament.

6.     No country has an operating repository for radioactive waste. Instead, waste is stored in unsecured fuel pools and casks at reactor sites. There is no solution to the seven-decade old radioactive waste problem.

7.     Reactors require enormous quantities of water to operate. If water sources diminish significantly or become too hot – due to droughts that will increase under global warming – reactors cannot operate safely or efficiently.

8.     Nuclear power is not emissions-free. Reactors routinely release radioactivity and toxic chemicals, harmful to health. From uranium mining to waste storage, nuclear power emits greenhouse gases.

9.     Exposure to radiation alters DNA, which can cause cancer, genetic mutations and shorten lives. Wildlife near the Chernobyl reactor explosion have demonstrated decreased longevity.

10.  Nuclear corporations violate human rights and environmental justice for indigenous peoples, minority populations and affected communities. 

TEN BRIGHTER IDEAS

1.     Conservation is key and simply achieved. Start by turning off lights and unplugging electrical equipment when not in use. Consider installing movement-sensitive switching.

2.     If every U.S. household installed just one compact fluorescent light bulb, it would displace the electricity provided by one nuclear reactor. 1=1! Twenty compact fluorescents in every household would displace the need for at least 25% of all U.S. reactors.

3.     Updating heating, lighting, cooling and other electrical appliances with energy-efficient models can save more energy than all operating U.S. reactors produce annually and can reduce home electricity use by at least 20%.

4.     Energy efficiency is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce carbon emissions and is at least seven times more cost-effective at displacing carbon than nuclear power.

5.     Homeowners and renters alike can choose to buy green power instead of nuclear-generated electricity. Check with your electric utility to find out how.

6.     Wind power in 12 U.S. states could generate 2.5 times the current U.S. electricity production. Each of six states, individually, could produce more wind energy than the electricity produced by all operating U.S. reactors.

7.     Solar resources on just 1% of the U.S. landmass are three times as large as all U.S. wind energy potential.

8.     Conversion of just 15% of U.S. parking lot acreage to photovoltaic rooftops would produce more electricity than the U.S. generates today.

9.     Support for green collar jobs provides more opportunity for more people by building sustainable communities and a robust economy.

10.  The U.S. can become both nuclear-free and carbon-free.

Sources and notes

Go to www.ieer.org/carbonfree/ to learn more: www.beyondnuclear.org, #1109; info@beyondnuclear.org www.beyondnuclear.org

http://beyondnuclear.squarespace.com/storage/documents/PalmCard_TenReasons_Nov09.pdf

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/fact-sheets/

BEYOND NUCLEAR

Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic. The Beyond Nuclear team works with diverse partners and allies to provide the public, government officials, and the media with the critical information necessary to move humanity toward a world beyond nuclear.

FOUNDING PRESIDENT of BEYOND NUCLEAR
DR. HELEN CALDICOTT

Dr Helen Caldicott has devoted the last 35 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. In the U.S., she co-founded the Physicians for Social Responsibility. The international umbrella group (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. She also founded the Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND and now known as Women’s Action for New Direction) in the U.S. in 1980. She has authored numerous books and currently hosts a radio show in the United States
“If You Love This Planet.” 
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/about/

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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