Nuclear Hotseat

Mary Olson of NIRS on what it means when nuclear reactors are in hot water - literally. 

• How To Be a Homebound Activist (hint: Yes You CAN - in time for the Coalition Against Nukes Congressional Briefing on Sept. 20 in DC);
• Hanford site leaking;
• NRC just might decide to maybe study health risks for those who live near nuclear reactors - ya think?;
• SCE letting 730 San Onofre workers go "because Unit 3 is unlikely to produce power any time soon!" (Anyone want to offer the workers job retraining for solar?);
• Kucinich demands NRC Inspector General investigate the agency's handling of Davis Besse restart;
• Mutated worms in Japan;
• Radioactive fish 258 times higher than Japanese government deems safe caught 12.5 miles off Fukushima;
• Pennsylvania gives free potassium iodide tablets to anyone living near Limerick NPP - the big question being: WHY???

Five conjoined eggplant harvested in Fukushima Prefecture

 
Interview:  Mary Olson, Director of Southeast Office of NIRS.org, on what the June 8 DC court ruling means to the battle against nuclear waste production (meaning reactors and their radioactive legacy).  This woman is a clear, concise powerhouse!

News:

• 82-year-old "terrorist" nun breaks into Oak Ridge nuclear facility armed w/a Bible, candles and spray paint.  Her biggest crime?  Embarrassing the National Nuclear Security Administration over their ridiculous lack of security for 100 tons of highly enriched uranium (Jellyfish*, meet Numnutz**);
• On a scale of 1-7 for nuclear disasters, Fukushima now ranks at an 8 (The level was invented just for them!);
• Iodine 131 showing up in Japan again - indicative of fresh radiation release;
• Mutated butterflies in Japan auger what's coming up for humans;
• Suspicion of cracks in Belgian reactor;
• Republican VP nominee's wife lobbied for Vermont Yankee ;
• New NRC Chair Macfarlane wonders how quake-proof all those nuclear reactors really are;
• NASA's recommended foods to protect against radiation;
• And a challenge to reporters from one of their own.

*Jellyfish - Nuclear heroes.  Named after the jellyfish and their cousins, the salp, who have swarmed the intake channels of nuclear reactors around the world and forced them to shut down.  If a spineless jellyfish can shut down a nuclear reactor, why can't the rest of us?

** Nuclear Numnutz - Just what it sounds like.  The inmates who are in charge of the asylum and aiming to kill us all.

Further resources:

• Learn the quake-risk rating of the nuclear reactor nearest you:  http://msnbc.msn.com/id/42103936/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/t/what-are-odds-us-nuke-plants-ranked-quake-risk/#.UCp__0S5Ozs
• Full story on Indian Point challenge by Clearwater: http://www.clearwater.org/as-nrc-acknowledges-spent-fuel-dangers-defers-relicensing-decisions-clearwater-files-contention-on-unsafe-on-site-storage-of-indian-point-spent-fuel/