Nuclear Hotseat

URGENT - THE EPA PLANS TO RAISE "ALLOWABLE" RADIATION LIMITS BY AS MUCH AS A FACTOR OF 350!  ACCEPTING COMMENTS UNTIL AUGUST 3, 2014 - WRITE TO THEM NOW!
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0689-0001

INTERVIEWS:

• WIPP ACCIDENT - Don Hancock, Director of Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, NM, brings us up to date again about the February 14 underground explosion and radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site in Carlsbad, NM.LINK TO WIPP TOWN HALL MEETING LIVESTREAM:  http://new.livestream.com/rrv/Thursday, July 24 from 5:30 to 6:30 Mountain Time
  First and third Thursdays of the month.
  WIPP TOWN HALL MEETING ARCHIVES:
  http://www.wipp.energy.gov/wipprecovery/photo_video.html 
   
• VOICES FROM JAPAN - Filmmaker Yumiko Hayakawa on TEPCO's subtle censorship of her film about Fukushima refugee and anti-nuclear activist Setsuko Kida, "A Woman from Fukushima."  The film was recently a selection at the Uranium Film Festival in Rio De Janiero.
• SOARCA - State of the Art Reactor Consequence Analyses - the NRC's flawed computer program for calculating the risks of nuclear accidents, explained by Scott Portzline of Three Mile Island Alert.
  LINK:  http://www.efmr.org/files/2012/SOARCA-2-22-2012.pdf 

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:

Party, anyone?  The pro-nuclear International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) plighted the troth of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 50 years ago and they want everyone to know!  They work together on issues of food safety, animal production and insect pest control.  If you can't see what's wrong with this picture, check out Fukushima's radioactive rice, the Pacific's marine animals in species collapse, and, oh well, what's wrong with nuking mosquitos?  And we wonder why the world's in such a mess...

Plants sprout in bags of deconaminated soil at Fukushima. So much for containment!

LINKS:

• AGAIN - EPA'S LINK TO COMMENT ON THEIR PLANS TO RAISE "ALLOWABLE" RADIATION LIMITS BY AS MUCH AS A FACTOR OF 350!  ACCEPTING COMMENTS UNTIL AUGUST 3, 2014 - WRITE TO THEM NOW!  http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0689-0001
• Harvey Wasserman's excellent "50 Reasons We Should Fear the Worst from Fukushima" - http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/02/50-reasons-fear-fukushima/

USS Reagan sailor Steve Simmons and his wife, Summer

INTERVIEW:

Steve Simmons, a 17-year Navy veteran who served on the USS Ronald Reagan when it was called to do humanitarian aid work in Japan following the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, which began the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He is one of 112 sailors currently suing Fukushima Daiichi power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company – TEPCO – to create a $1 billion fund to cover medical expenses for all the armed forces personnel whose health has been devastated by their exposure to radiation.

For other USS Reagan/Fukushima radiation victims to contact the attorneys for the TEPCO lawsuit:   www.victims.net
To contact lead attorney Paul Garner:  PCG@Garner law.com

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:

Surf's up!  Anyone want to go swimming at a cesium-laden beach in northeast Japan?  Of course not!  So just don't test for cesium - et voila! - problem goes away... er, not!

Children swim in the sea at the Nakoso beach in Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture, 65km south of the crippled TEPCO nuclear power plant, on July 16, 2013.

NEWS:

• More suspect nuclear waste containers identified at WIPP repository in Carlsbad, NM; radiation spike believed linked to removal of filters.
• TEPCO breaks vow, refuses more compensation for Fukushima nuclear victims.
• Tokyo supermarket sells Fukushima tomatoes for half price; sells out fast!
• Earthquakes Without Faultlines in New Mexico near WIPP and New York near Indian Point;
• Hurricane Arthur and Japanese Super-Typhoon Neoguri menace nuclear plants in their path; emergency prep measures taken.

LINKS:

• Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Helen Caldicott, who was founding President of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Founder of Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, debunks thorium reactors: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/helen-caldicott/thorium_b_5546137.html
• EPA wants to raise radiation limits by a factor of 350!  Tell EPA head Gina McCarthy (who was responsible for the EPA's RadNet monitors  not working in the immediate aftermath of Fukushima) what they can do with the proposed new standards; public input requested:http://www.epa.gov/radiation/laws/190/#publicinput

Image by 281_Antinuke

BREAKING NEWS:
Scott Portzline of TMI Alert, the Three Mile Island group based in Harrisburg, PA, on a new level of cyber-vulnerability in nuclear reactors and other energy generators, with a current attack that originates in Russia.  This is a story that has not yet made it into mainstream media.  Hear it here first!

INTERVIEW:
Donna Gilmore, one of the activists deeply involved in the actions that helped shut down the San Onofre nuclear reactors in southern California, now brings us up to speed on the latest set of dangerous possibilities at the site.  She focuses on the problems of storing high burn-up fuel in substandard dry casks -- and minces no words about the problems created by the California Public Utilities Commission.  You thought all you had to do was shut them down?  Hah!

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
When is an "Unusual Event" (aka Level One Warning of malfunction or potential accident) at a nuclear facility NOT an Unusual Event?  When it only happens for a really short time... and nobody notices!

PLUS:

• WIPP radiation release numbers up for the first time since the Valentine's Day Plutonium and Americium releases at the Carlsbad, NM facility;
• International Fish Oil Standards Program now testing fish oil samples for radiation;
• More than 50 Canadian and US communities oppose nuke waste dump half a mile from Lake Huron that Canada's government is poised to approve:
• Government-funded study in Japan shows Fukushima radiation release  into the Pacific Ocean exceeds Chernobyl's total releases for land and water;
• And if you're flying to or from Japan, avoid hard candies and ice cream en route because both JAL and Thai Airways found to be serving sweets made in Fukushima from local ingredients.

JAL serves Fukushima candy for free on board flights to "support by eating."

Image by 281_Anti nuke

INTERVIEWS:
Nuclear engineer Ernie Goitein offers clear explanations of engineering problems w/aging nuclear plants and provides a new insight as to how nukes directly impact global warming.

Tim Judson, Executive Director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) on this September's People's Climate March and why anti-nuclear activists must rally and participate in large numbers.

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe-baby wants an integrated research center for "more rapid decommissioning" of Fukushima.  So when will it begin?  Not until April, 2015, at the latest!  Uh, a little behind the ball, Abe-baby?  And he wants to wait until then to allow "experts" to teach classes.  Never heard of Free Conference lines or Skype or Google Hang-outs for sharing information?  And who are the "leading researchers and engineers" from around the world you're asking?  Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education?  Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, senior advisor at Radioactive Waste Management Associates?  This week's guest, nuclear engineer Ernie Goitein?  Not holding my breath...

Ft. Calhoun nuclear reactors surrounded by Missouri River floodwaters, June-July, 2011

PLUS:

• Fort Calhoun NPP faces flooding from the Missouri River... again;
• National call for NRC Commissioner William Magwood to resign in conflict of interest case;
• Cow showing possible radiation-created white "dots" brought to Tokyo in protest by Fukushima Prefecture farmers;
  

Fukushima cow showing white spots - no bull!

• Aboriginal people in Australia force proposed Muckaty nuke dump out of business before it can be built;
• Russia cracks down on anti-nuke activists, calling them "foreign agents."

LINKS:

• WIPP Workers' Uh-Oh Plutonium Valentine! - a video by Myla Reson
• "Closure of WIPP Casts Long Shadow" by Lauren Villagran, Albuquerque Journal:  http://www.abqjournal.com/415944/news/closure-of-wipp-casts-long-shadow.html
• "An Indian Point Supporter has Second Thoughts" by Paul Gallay:www.riverkeeper.org/blog/watchdog/an-indian-point-supporter-has-second-thoughts/
  
• Fukushima Children to play on uncontaminated soil for 2 weeks in France:  www.ulule.com/fukushima

FEATURED:

Don Hancock, Executive Director of the Southwest Information and Research Center, brings us up to date with another insightful update on what's happening at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site following the February 14, 2014 plutonium leak that shut the facility down.

AND - For Nuclear Hotseat's third anniversary, Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy shares the fun of remembering how Nuclear Hotseat got started as a live conference call with only two callers, along with a mere smattering of her favorite outtakes.

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:

The prime minister of Singapore, who met with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe-baby and summarily lifted the ban on Fukushima fruits and veggies.  No science, just a meeting.  What did Abe-baby promise you, good seats to the opening ceremony of the 2020 Radioactive Tokyo Olympics?

IN THE NEWS:

• The number of Fukushima children's thyroid cancer cases keeps increasing, with some having cancer metastisizing;
• TEPCO admits that the ice wall around Fukushima's reactors refuses to freeze;
• Pacific Ocean continues ecological catastrophe as more species collapse;
• Greenpeace releases study saying French renewables cheaper than nukes by 2019;
• And Pakistan has more nuclear sense than the US when it comes to protecting its citizens from radiation.

LINKS:

• Harvey Wasserman's excellent article, "Fukushima's Children are Dying."  http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/14/fukushima-children-dying/ 
• 2011 AP article on "Radioactive Leaks found at 75% of US Nuke Sites" --http://www.cbsnews.com/news/radioactive-leaks-found-at-75-of-us-nuke-sites/
• LA Times article, "Santa Susana Toxic Cleanup Effort is a Mess" by Michael Hiltzik:  http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20140613-column.html#page=1