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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

CHERNOBYL SURVIVORS TODAY :ABANDONED BY THEIR GOVERNMENTS

[THE ABOVE IMAGE IS A TIME-LAPSE GIF, SO GIVE IT TIME TO RUN]


MORE THAN FIVE MILLION SURVIVORS OF CHERNOBYL ARE NOW SUDDENLY LEFT WITHOUT ANY GOVERNMENT MEDICAL, FOOD, OR OTHER HELP.

NO MORE SOCIAL SERVICES, NO MORE MEDICAL SERVICES, AND NOW THEY'RE EVEN LOSING THEIR ELECTRIC POWER..  

 
BY CLAIMING THAT THE CONTAMINATED AREAS ARE "OFFICIALLY HABITABLE", ALL THREE NATIONS HAVE LEGAL RECOURSE TO STOP HELPING THOSE WHO KNOW THE RADIATION LEVELS REMAIN TOO HIGH.

THE PROBLEM IS, THERE IS MUCH MORE TO DETERMINING DOSE RATE LEVELS THAN WE ARE GENERALLY TOLD, AND ALL GOVERNMENTS PLAY-DOWN THE RISKS OF "NORMAL BACKGROUND RADIATION", FAILING TO MENTION THAT HAS GROWN AND GROWN OVER THE YEARS SINCE THE WORLD FIRST DETONATED AN ATOMIC BOMB. 


AFTER DECADES OF MINING FOR THE NECESSARY RADIOACTIVE METALS THAT ARE USED IN BOMBS, WARHEADS, NUCLEAR REACTORS AND IN MEDICINE, AFTER DECADES OF ATMOSPHERIC AND UNDERGROUND AND EVEN SPACE "TEST" DETONATIONS, AFTER HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SOURCES OF DAILY RADIATION HAVE BEEN INSTALLED IN HOSPITALS, CLINICS, LABORATORIES AND DENTAL OFFICES, AFTER DETECTION DEVICES IN AIRPORTS, SEAPORTS AND BORDER CROSSINGS HAVE BECOME COMMONPLACE, AND AFTER RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL HAS BEEN USED IN MANY TYPES OF MANUFACTURING, OUR "NORMAL BACKGROUND RADIATION" IS QUITE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN IT WAS EVEN 50 YEARS AGO.


ADD OUR LEAKING, AGING POWER PLANTS ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE AND ALL THE "ACCIDENTS" THEY'VE HAD....GET THE POINT?
The meter reads 839 , taken recently at a site near Chernobyl.
NOT AT ALL SAFE AND NOT AT ALL "NORMAL"!


And yet, the Belarus government opted to build a NEW nuclear reactor just 80 kilometers (49 miles) away from here, even though
the suffering caused by Chernobyl shows why we need to get rid of nuclear power for good.


The EPA's Radiation Network website uses a threshold warning level of 100 CPM.  

CONVERSION FROM CPM TO MICROSIEVERTS PER HOUR IS AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY.
WHY?
 


There is no direct equation because beta CPM (counts per minute) is an electron count and (micro and milli) sieverts is an account of bodily damage.
BODILY DAMAGE, REMEMBER THAT.  


WHILE THE GOVERNMENTS OF UKRAINE, BELARUS AND RUSSIA SPEND BILLIONS TO TRY TO DEVELOP NUCLEAR POWER, MANY VICTIMS OF THE CHERNOBYL MELTDOWN CONTINUE TO LIVE ON RADIOACTIVE LANDS, ARE TOO POOR TO MOVE, MUST EAT CONTAMINATED FOODS, DRINK CONTAMINATED WATER AND MILK, STILL SEE TERRIBLE BIRTH DEFECTS IN THEIR NEWBORNS, AND SEE RADIATION CAUSE THEIR CHILDREN, ELDERLY, ALL CITIZENS ILLNESSES NOT SEEN IN AREAS UNAFFECTED BY THE CHERNOBYL FALLOUT.

WHILE THESE GOVERNMENTS CITE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, FINANCIAL PROBLEMS, THEIR INABILITY TO KEEP FUNDING CLEANUP PROGRAMS OR EVEN HEALTH SERVICES, AND CLAIM THEY CAN NO LONGER EVEN PROVIDE ONE MEAL A DAY TO SCHOOLCHILDREN OF THE CONTAMINATED AREAS, THEY CAN BLOODY WELL AFFORD TO KEEP PUMPING MONEY INTO THE VERY THING THAT CAUSED SO MUCH SUFFERING FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS THERE...NUCLEAR POWER.



Today, more than five million people in the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus live in areas contaminated by Chernobyl's radioactive fallout.
In the contaminated areas, Chernobyl touches every aspect of people's lives. 

Chernobyl's radiation is in the food they eat, the milk and water they drink, in the schools, parks and playgrounds their children play in, and in the wood they burn to keep warm.



That radiation surrounds them, in the forests, along every dusty road, and every rain that falls washes the contamination all through their environment.
 

Every wildfire, every cookstove, every fireplace sends plumes of fresh radiation into their air, into their lungs, and it then resettles everywhere.

Every day these survivors must make decisions on how to reduce or limit their exposure to radiation.
It's almost impossible to do so.

The simplest things like going shopping, cooking, eating, working outside or heating their homes are daily choices that put their families at risk. 
They have little choice but to take those risks since they aren't offered a way to move out of the area anymore.
The government ceased funding such moves, and this is a very poor region where most families don't have the resources to pack up and move away.

They are being abandoned by their governments who are not taking adequate care of their citizens, governments that scramble to cut protection programs that ensured needed monitoring, health treatments and uncontaminated food. 
This is so they can save money... NOT LIVES.

Worse still, these same governments want to spend billions on extremely risky nuclear energy while ignoring their responsibility to support those who still live in the shadow of Chernobyl's radioactive legacy?
THAT'S CRIMINAL!
The amount of radiation released at Chernobyl is approximately 200 times higher than the combined radiation releases of the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Radioactive rain fell as far away as Ireland. 

The Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were the most affected countries. They received 63% of the contamination from Chernobyl.

 While the governments cite the high numbers of large mammals now living in the 30 kilometer exclusion zone, they fail to mention that those animals all have higher mortality rates, increased genetic mutations and decreased birth rates. 

The same is true of the human beings living there.   


Sweden was the first country to inform the world about the Chernobyl meltdown as the Soviet government had decided to keep Chernobyl's explosion a secret, much as Tepco officials at the Fukushima disaster site in 2011 tried to do.

But even after reactor 4 melted down, the three other Chernobyl reactors at the site were restarted and operated for another 13 years!


 

The EPA recommends that our exposure to background radiation should not exceed 100 millirem a year, which is 1 millisievert, although we ordinarily are exposed to about 300 to 600 millirems in the US from background radiation (3 TO 6 millisieverts).  

Considerable background radiation derives from nuclear power plants, past nuclear weapons testing,lax mining practices and radon gas.
Even certain fertilizers contribute to radiation levels.
  

A PEER-REVIEWED STUDY OF EFFECTS OF FERTILIZERS ON POPULATION CONCLUDED:


"The use of fertilizers in large extent have affected radionuclides concentration, especially phosphorus and potassium containing fertilizers are the one of the cause of presence of high activity of 226Ra and 40K in soil.


 The application of these fertilizers has the effect of an accumulation of radioactivity in soils that can be harmful for the health of farmers, workers and consumers of the products."


HALF-TRUTHS AND OMISSIONS REGARDING SUCH AS THE ABOVE ARE COMMONPLACE.
[We are told that] there is no "immediate" health risk from 18 days of exposure of 700 CPM in the sense that people not will develop radiation sickness at this level.

[REMEMBER, THAT METER READING IN THE PHOTO UP ABOVE.]


However, cancer rates and other diseases have been PROVEN to increase at every 3 millisievert increments.

A MORE RECENT APPRAISAL OF "NORMAL BACKGROUND RADIATION" PUTS IT AT AN AVERAGE 
ANNUAL HUMAN EXPOSURE OF 6.2 milliSieverts (mSv).
(There are 1000 microsieverts in 1 millisievert)

THAT FIGURE, BTW, IS 600% ABOVE WHAT LEVELS WERE IN THE 1930s.

Being exposed to the levels seen near Chernobyl every day, all day, FOR MONTHS ON END guarantees one will NOT live to a "ripe old age", and guarantees a high risk of cancers and genetic damage that will not be reversed and will be handed down to future generations through human DNA , 
The readout for alpha and beta radiation is normally in counts , while that for gamma and X-ray is normally in a reading of radiation dose. The SI unit (International System) for this latter is the sievert. 
There is no simple universal conversion from count rate to dose rate, as it depends on the particle type, its energy, and the characteristic of the sensor.  
Count rate therefore tends to be used as a value which has been calculated for a particular application for use as a comparator or against an absolute alarm threshold. A dose instrument may be subsequently used if a dose reading is required. To help with this some instruments have both dose and count rate displays.
Background radiation varies with location and time.
For example, "normal background radiation" for Winnipeg, Canada is
4.1
mSv/y, while for Vancouver it is 1.3 mSv/y.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF THAT RADIATION IS INHALED, SO THOSE LIVING IN EACH AREA ARE INHALING DIFFERENT AMOUNTS EACH DAY.
SUCH FACTS ARE ALMOST NEVER DISCUSSED IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA, WHICH IS CONTROLLED BY SOME OF THE SAME CORPORATIONS THAT INVEST HEAVILY IN NUCLEAR ENERGY.
YOU SEE, NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS COST SO MUCH TO BUILD AND START UP, SO MUCH TO MAINTAIN, AND CREATE SO MUCH RADIOACTIVE WASTE THAT IS COSTLY TO LEGALLY DISPOSE OF THAT NO COMPANY OR GOVERNMENT INVOLVED IN BUILDING THEM WILL SHUT THEM DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT...SHUT-DOWN MEANS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST.

PROFIT TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER HUMAN LIVES AND SAFETY.



Very deadly radioactive material still remains in a crumbling cement sarcophagus built over the destroyed Chernobyl reactor following the accident. 

A new massive shell is being built over the current leaking sarcophagus, but this new shell will only last for 100 years.

AND YET, RIGHT BESIDE THIS NIGHTMARE, THIS DESTROYED REACTOR, THE GOVERNMENT THERE CONTINUED TO OPERATE CHERNOBYL'S 3 OTHER REACTORS, FOR 13 YEARS!


The nuclear industry and supporting governments in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus want to spend billions on OTHER nuclear projects while ignoring their responsibility to support Chernobyl's survivors. 

They minimize the impacts of the disaster and hide the day-to-day reality of Chernobyl. 

 Chernobyl’s contamination will continue to put citizens at risk for generations to come.


The village of Pripyat is most highly contaminated and will remain abandoned as plutonium needs more than 24,000 years to reduce just half of its radioactive intensity.

However, tourist agencies organize day tours into Pripyat...for a price. 

EVERYTHING, ANYTHING FOR PROFITS, NOTHING FOR HUMAN LIVES AND SAFETY.
 
CALCULATING REAL RADIATION EXPOSURE, AN INTERACTIVE WEBSITE FOUND <HERE> SHOULD SHOW YOU A MORE HONEST ASSESSMENT OF HOW MUCH RADIATION WE ARE EXPOSED TO.

MY SCORE WAS
4033.12 mrem


"NORMAL" IS 620 mrems per year. 

International Standards allow exposure to as much as 5,000 mrems a year for those who work with and around radioactive material.


A typical dose for those CHERNOBYL workers who died within one month of the disasters was recorded as 6 sieverts.

BECAUSE OF MY MULTIPLE X-RAYS, CT AND PET SCANS THIS YEAR, AS WELL AS LOCATION FACTORS, I EXCEED THE ALLOWED DOSE FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WORKERS.

HOW MANY OTHERS ARE WELL PAST "ALLOWED LIMITS"?

HOW MANY IN CHERNOBYL ARE?
 


ABOUT THAT "NATURALLY OCCURRING" RADIATION...
AROUND THREE-FOURTHS OF WHAT WE HUMANS ARE EXPOSED TO IS NOT FROM "TERRESTRIAL" OR COSMIC RADIATION, AS THIS CHART FROM THE CANADIAN NUCLEAR AGENCY SHOWS...



 

THERE WERE NO MAN-MADE, HEAVY METAL, RADIOACTIVE, DNA-DESTROYING, GENETIC DEFECT-CAUSING POISONS SCATTERED ALL OVER THE EARTH PRIOR TO THE ATOMIC AGE.

FACE IT...WE MUST FACE FACTS.

WE'RE ALL VICTIMS OF A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT GONE TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY WRONG. 

WHEN GOVERNMENTS ABANDON THEIR OWN CITIZENS TO THEIR FATES AFTER BEING COMPLICIT IN THE VERY "DISASTERS" THAT HAPPEN AT NUCLEAR PLANTS, THEN SPEND BILLIONS TO CREATE NEW FACILITIES THAT ENDANGER OTHER MILLIONS OF HUMANS, THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!

ALL WHO WANT TO BUILD A NUCLEAR REACTOR SHOULD PAY FOREVER IF THAT REACTOR CAUSES HARM...
PERIOD.THE END.





___________________

ETC....
~ Governments Cut Services to Chernobyl Survivors while Spending Billions on Nuclear Power Stations




~ SIGN A PETITION TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL <HERE>.

I HAVE LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN "PETITIONS", BUT IT CAN'T HURT TO TRY. 

FOR A "GALLERY" OF READINGS AT CHERNOBYL TODAY, SEE  "THE CHERNOBYL GALLERY".


 THAT PARTICULAR ARTICLE SEEMS TO DOWNPLAY THE CURRENT SITUATION THERE, BUT IT STILL HAS A FEW "GEMS" OF TRUTH.



Date:April 19, 2016  


~Survey meters, Geiger counters, How bad is bad?
<here>]



~ IN 1988, THE NEW YOK TIMES DID A PIECE ON LOW-LEVEL IONIZING RADIATION, TRYING TO CALM FEARS, OR TRYING TO COVERUP....
READ THAT <HERE> TO SEE WHAT TOP SCIENTISTS WERE SAYING THEN, JUST AFTER CHERNOBYL BLEW.

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