JAMES MADISON QUOTE - 1822

"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

SCOTTSBORO WEATHER - SUN & MOON RISE

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fukushima Chronicles - 1 Year After

One year after the Fukushima disaster there are distinct, demonstrated shortcomings in the nuclear industry. Nuclear power has great risks which the nuclear industry fails to convey to the public. The nuclear industry and government regulators within the United States express an attitude which is deadly and dangerous. Attitude failures-vanity, invincibility, neglect and a failed value system relating to money before human life and health with no regard and respect for the realities of our natural world is a dangerous combination which resulted in the Japanese Fukushima disaster.


Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.
"Fairewinds analyzes cancer rates for young children near Fukushima using the National Academy of Science's BEIR (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation) VII Report. Based on BEIR VII, Fairewinds determines that at least one in every 100 young girls will develop cancer for every year they are exposed to 20 millisieverts [millisievert (1 mSv = 0.001 Sv)] of radiation. The 20-millisievert/ year figure is what the Japanese government is currently calculating as the legal limit of radiological exposure to allow habitation of contaminated areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In this video, Fairewinds introduces additional analysis by Ian Goddard showing that the BEIR VII report underestimates the true cancer rates to young children living near Fukushima Daiichi. Looking at the scientific data presented by Mr. Goddard, Fairewinds has determined that at least one out of every 20 young girls (5%) living in an area where the radiological exposure is 20 millisieverts for five years will develop cancer in their lifetime."

"Fukushima Nuclear plant released  far more radiation than reported...Caesium-137 fallout, however, is a much greater concern because it will linger in the environment for decades. The new model shows that Fukushima released 3.5 × 1016  Bq caesium-137, roughly twice the official government figure..."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fukushima-nuclear-planet-released-more-radiation-government-said

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) Blog, Fukushima-One Year After: http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2012/03/08/remembering-fukushima-one-year-later/

Perhaps the greatest error of Fukushima is based on an attitude of invincibility and a non-scientific approach to risk and problem solving as expressed in the Carnigie Report on the Fukushima disaster introduction. The last sentence sums up the dangerous attitude- "... perhaps most importantly, many believed that a severe accident was simply impossible."

The Carnigie Endowment for International Peace Report: "Why Fukushima Was Preventable"-
"Though there is no single reason for TEPCO and NISA’s failure to follow international best practices and standards, a number of potential underlying causes can be identified. NISA lacked independence from both the government agencies responsible for promoting nuclear power and also from industry. In the Japanese nuclear industry, there has been a focus on seismic safety to the exclusion of other possible risks. Bureaucratic and professional stovepiping made nuclear officials unwilling to take advice from experts outside of the field. Those nuclear professionals also may have failed to effectively utilize local knowledge. And, perhaps most importantly, many believed that a severe accident was simply impossible." http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/06/why-fukushima-was-preventable/a0i7
From Fairewinds engineer Arnie Gunderson: "This Carnegie Study is similar to the Greenpeace study but Carnegie is more supportive of nuclear and portrays these problems as solvable. Greenpeace said the accidents were due to regulatory capture and the echo chamber effect and suggests international nuclear pressures are systemic." 
The Fukushima Report from Greenpeace leads off in one segment with this quote: " For a successful technology, reality must take precedent over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Quote by Richard Feynman. The Greenpeace study is at http://www.fairewinds.com/content/echo-chamber-regulatory-capture-and-fukushima-daiichi-disaster

"Fairewinds shows that the nuclear industry's plan to vent the containment at Fukushima Daiichi could not have prevented a containment failure and the ensuing explosions. Look at the graphics from the containment stress tests conducted more than 40 years ago at a US nuclear reactor identical to Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1. This video and its graphics provide important clues about why Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 exploded."

FOIA disclosures reveal deceit on the part of the NRC: "USS Ronald Reagan measured 0.6 mR/hr direct gamma shine from clouds 130 miles from Fukushima Daiichi" - 
http://enformable.com/2012/03/uss-ronald-reagan-measured-0-6-mrhr-direct-gamma-shine-from-clouds-130-miles-from-fukushima-daiichi/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Enformable+%28Enformable%29

Indications of intentional cover-up by Nuclear Regulatory Commission - nuclear industry concerns placed before human safety health & welfare.

“Really troubling” wind shift said NRC: 1,000 microSv thyroid dose south of Tokyo over ten hour period on Mar. 14 reported US Navy — 300km from Fukushima — “This reminds me of the drill” http://enenews.com/really-troubling-1000-microsievert-thyroid-dose-south-of-tokyo-over-ten-hour-period-on-march-14-reported-us-navy-nrc-over-300km-from-fukushima/comment-page-1

Intentional cover-up by the NRC: http://enenews.com/nrc-weve-stop-labs-testing-fukushima-radiation-directors-knock-doe-cool-worried-about-talking-press-about-consequences

FOIA disclosure, NRC report from Japan: "There is spent fuel and pellets and whatever all over the place around the plant." http://enenews.com/nrcs-top-man-japan-spent-fuel-pellets-all-place-around-plant-trying-clean-dose-going-be-incredible
Top US nuke official in Japan: "Take it slow “without just running the military in there to kill people” for us to feel better..." http://enenews.com/top-us-nuke-official-in-japan-take-it-slow-without-just-running-the-military-in-there-to-kill-people-wait-so-its-without-a-lot-of-loss-of-life-300-millisieverts-per-hour-outside-react

As we examine the after action reports and news stories it should become obvious where the actual failure lies. Unfortunately, it seems the problem in the United States, as it was in Japan, we do not learn the lessons of history, nor consider that human error and the attitudes and failed values associated with the failures, which lead to the disaster, is occuring in the United States today. The real questions: How much pain, suffering and costs will it take? Will it take making a United States city a ghost town before our political leadership and the nuclear industry's supportive bureaucrats of the NRC learn the lessons of Chernobyl and Fukushima Japan? 

Human reliability failure is the "clear and present danger" with any nuclear program. Deception is being practiced at the highest levels today concerning the risks of nuclear electrical power generation. Deception, the lack of scientific process and the ignoring of natural events will eventually lead to a disaster. The failure of values, placing money before life and health, will multiply the effect of a nuclear disaster. It is not possible to engineer your way out of a failed value system and a deceitful bureaucracy. 



The other Fukushima Chronicles: http://arklite.blogspot.com/search/label/Fukushima%20Japan
For more information concerning the dangers of nuclear power: http://www.matrr.org

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