Nuclear Hotseat

Covid/Nuclear Dangers - More industry lies, problems revealed:
Arnie Gundersen and Maggie Gundersen,
interviewed by Nuclear Hotseat producer/host Libbe HaLevy

Covid/Nuclear Dangers and Lies:  As the Covid pandemic continues to ravage its way through society, the nuclear industry is placed in serious jeopardy of being able to maintain safety at its 98 U.S. operating nuclear reactors.  How bad are the problems?  How much should we believe the industry's claims of being "safe" while asking for enormous bailouts from the Covid stimulous package?  We turned to two experts to find out. 

Arnie Gundersen has more than 45-years of nuclear power engineering experience. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he earned his Bachelor Degree cum laude while also becoming the recipient of a prestigious Atomic Energy Commission Fellowship for his Master Degree in nuclear engineering. Arnie holds a nuclear safety patent, was a licensed reactor operator, and is a former nuclear industry senior vice president. During his nuclear power industry career, Arnie also managed and coordinated projects at 70 nuclear power plants in the US.

• Maggie Gundersen founded Fairewinds Energy Education, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, in 2008. Its mission has remained to educate the public about nuclear power production, engineering, reliability, and safety issues. Maggie also founded Fairewinds Associates, Inc, a paralegal and expert witness services firm in 2003. She has a history as well expertise within the nuclear power industry.

THAT WOULD BE ME - George Takei, the Sulu from the original Star Trek, posted of his being honored to be the final torch bearer at the 2021 Olympics, the one to light the eternal flame.  I caught the story at the last minute and made it Numnutz of the Week, with all due rage.  I even included it in my social media posts.  Only now, after posting, have I learned that it was his April Fools joke -- so tone deaf that it seemed believable to those of us who understand exactly how venal Abe, the IOC and their PR minion Dentsu can be.  My apologies to all who fell for it. 

This is the picture George Takei posted on his Facebook page, holding an Olympic torch, along with his story about having been chosen to be the final torch bearer at the 2021 Olympics.  Actually, it's just the kind of thing that Abe, the IOC and PR firm Dentsu would choose to do. My apologies for helping to perpetuate a hoax.  

• LINK to the Boston University Zoom teleconference on the 2020 Olympics (information still very important!), featuring Dr. Norma Field and Dr, Marco Kaltofen. 
• COVID/NUCLEAR - Request for you to call your Member of Congress to demand funding for nuclear weapons be shifted to support health needs of impacted and vulnerable communities. Find your Member of Congress’s number CLICK HERE
  Use the following script to make your call:
  “My name is ____ and I live in _____. I am concerned, at a time when thousands are dying aroudn the world from the COVID-19 Crisis that Trump intends to spend 46 billion more dollars on nuclear weapons. Will you commit to cuting the nuclear weapons budget to spend this money on lifesaving ventilators, surgical masks, and healthcare benefits for millions of Americans who deserve access to healthcare during the COVID19 pandemic?”
• THREE MILE ISLAND - Respond to Nuclear Regulatory Commission on transfer of Three Mile Island's stricken Unit 2 to a decommissioning firm. You can submit a comment by using any of the following methods:
• Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0082. Address questions about NRC docket IDs in regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; telephone 301-287-9127; email [email protected].
• Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact the Office of the Secretary at 301-415-1677.
• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301-415-1101.
• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.

How can a dose of radiation that's deemed safe for a man have the same impact on a smaller, younger Little Girl
with much less body mass?  Mary Olson of Gender and Radiation Impact Project on the disproportionate impact of radioactivity on women and especially little girls. PICTURED: Body mass comparison of the adult male "safety" model and 5-year-old girl.
(Graphic used courtesy Mary Olson.)

• A CoVid19 UPDATE - How is the growing pandemic impacting the nuclear and anti-nuclear world?
• A FINAL THOUGHT on on how the impact of CoVid19 may feel familiar to those who have been following nuclear issues, especially after Fukushima... and why we might be uniquely qualified to not freak out in the face of yet another existential threat. 
• Mary Olson of the Gender and Radiation Impact Project on how radiation disproportionately impacts women and especially little girls, and why that information has been hidden from us.  This was conducted for a specially-produced program broadcast on KPFA-FM in San Francisco in commemoration of International Women's Day. 
  

Mary Olson (L) of Gender and Radiation Project, with Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host  Libbe HaLevy

AN EXISTENTIAL DOUBLE WHAMMY!  The Greeks, who invented the Olympics, cancelled the torch relay through their country because of Coronovirus concerns... but Japan?!?!?  Are you REALLY STILL PLANNING on having torchbearers run through not only CoVid19 crowds but THROUGH HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE AREAS IN FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE FOR THREE DAYS?????  It's not just the runners, but the media assigned to cover it; the workers who have to set it up, anyone foolish enough to want to view it and damn the risk of not just CoVid19... BUT RADIATION AS WELL??? 

CONTACTS:  
Tokyo Shimbun Nuclear Power Reporting Team: (THIS IS CLICKABLE)
Website原発取材班サイト- https://genpatsu.tokyo-np.co.jp/
原発取材班 Twitter - https://twitter.com/ kochigen2017

Takeshi Yamakawa of Tokyo Shimbun stands next to a sign on Route 253 near Namie that says, "Exclusion zone: do not enter."  A mega-solar farm built on abandoned farms is on the other side of the highway fence.  (Photo courtesy of U.G. Kaneko)

Takeshi Yamakawa of Tokyo Shimbun shows that the air dose level inside a greenhouse in Iitate Village is 0.433 μSv/hour, nearly twice as high as the government standard for outdoors of 0.23 μSv/hour. 
(Photo courtesy of U. G. Kaneko)

Takeshi Yamakawa of Tokyo Shimbun (black hair) and Iitate Village resident Nobuyoshi Ito (grey hair). Outdoor radiation air dose at this location in Iitate is 0.631 μSv/hour, almost 3x higher than the government limit of 0.23 μSv/hour. (Photo courtesy of U. G. Kaneko)

Takeshi Yamakawa of Tokyo Shimbun (black hair) and Iitate Village resident Nobuyoshi Ito (grey hair) conduct experiments on the uptake of cesium in farm products in Iitate Village.  
(Photo courtesy of U. G. Kaneko)

     "Radioactive Hotspots along Olympic Torch Relay Route"  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1216&v=LUbWVGnNAlc&feature=emb_logo&fbclid=IwAR0Esqb4vawdtvV8fWePRE3opX7iX0JrcWno5NoXAyiBEGPyqklI80VRK68

• Results of radioactive contamination survey around Tokyo 2020 Olympics Torch Relay Route - CLICK for pdf.
• Detailed course relay maps  with survey sites and results. Page is in Japanese, but the list of links is for municipalities in the following order: Tomioka Town, Okuma Town, Naraha Town, Kawauchi Village, Minamisoma City, Namie Town, Katsurao Village, Iitate Village, Kawamata Town/Yamakiya. 
• Website for Chikurin (Radioactivity Monitoring Center for Citizen). There are limited introduction pages in English and French with contact information. Click on the "Foreign Lang" link.