Nuclear Hotseat

This from simplyinfo.com, forwarded from Dr. Helen Caldicott's Facebook page:

http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=5235

Journalism standards hit a new low as the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine's blog and Scientific American all picked up the story without fact checking.  So much for mainstream media's credibility on the nuclear issue.

Here's the latest from Arnie Gunderson and Fairewinds, done in conjunction with Greenpeace. Fairewinds was retained by Greenpeace to write a chapter of their newly released report entitled "The Echo Chamber: Regulatory Capture and the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster".

Fairewinds concludes that Fukushima Daiichi was not just a nuclear accident; rather, for decades it was a nuclear accident waiting to happen. Flaws in the GE Mark 1 containment design were well known for four decades. The likelihood of seismic/tsunami events far worse than the Fukushima Units were designed to withstand were well understood for more than 20 years.

Against this prophetic backdrop, Tokyo Electric, Japanese regulators, and international nuclear organizations turned a blind eye toward these obvious warnings and continued to operate the reactors. Indeed, Japanese regulators relicensed Fukushima Unit 1 to operate beyond its initial 40 year design life one month before the accident while ignoring seismic/tsunami warnings.

Fukushima Daiichi is not unique. These same nuclear regulatory institutions oversee other reactors in Japan, and indeed worldwide. Fairewinds concludes that truly independent worldwide nuclear reactor regulatory institutions do not exist, setting the stage for similar accidents somewhere else in the world.

Read the report here:
http://fairewinds.com/content/echo-chamber-regulatory-capture-and-fukushima-daiichi-disaster

• Japanese government shown to have been in chaos after Fukushima, w/possible Tokyo evacuation;
• only 2 nuke reactors left online in Japan... and no rolling blackouts;
• stillborn calves at Fukushima-area farm;
• NRC cites Palisades Power Plant in Michigan for safety violations, plus Perry near Cleveland and Susquhanna near Harrisburg, PA;
• North Anna tritium double federal standard, but plant operators Dominion claim no knowledge of where it's coming from or how it happened;
• Iowa taxpayers to shell out for nuke construction costs whether the plant gets built or not;
• Indian Prime Minister blames US for local Kudankulam anti-nuke protests;
• DISINFORMATION ALERT: Germany NOT restarting nukes, but using alternatives to send electricity to France;
• Czech Republic and Kuwait decide to go nuclear-free;
• How to get radiation out of your water supply.

• Kick-ass interview w/Hattie Nestle, 73-year-old anti-nuke activist arrested on Feb. 13 at Vermont Yankee nuclear facility;
• Fukushima 2 in recriticality;
• NRC licenses two new nuclear reactors for Georgia;
• Two quakes - 6.2 and 5.5 - at Fukushima within the past 24 hours;
• 1/3 of kids from Fukushima who were tested have "lumps" on their thyroids only 10 months after the accident;
• Thousands march in Tokyo against nuclear energy;
• The healing power of green foods;
• The power of valentines to combat nukes

A summary of the current status of San Onofre nuclear reactors in San Diego after last week's leaks, the discovery of over 800 damaged pipes, and an employee falling into the radioactive refueling pool.  Featuring an interview with James Chambers, a licensed nuclear reactor operator and whistleblower from San Onofre, who offers his unique perspective on what these alarming developments might mean.