NOT MANY ARE AWARE THAT "FEDERAL REGULATIONS" ALLOW FOR ROUTINE, AS IN EVERY DAY, RELEASES OF RADIOACTIVE WATER AND "VENTING" INTO THE AIR BY OUR AGING NUKE SITES.
ENGINEERS HAVE LONG AGO ADMITTED THAT THEY CANNOT DESIGN A REACTOR THAT NEVER LEAKS.
IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE...THE END.
In his book, Normal Accidents, Charles Perrow says that multiple and unexpected failures are built into society's complex and tightly-coupled nuclear reactor systems.
Such accidents are unavoidable and cannot be designed around.
BUT HERE ARE A FEW FACTS FOR US TO REMEMBER AND PASS ALONG SO WE ARE WELL-ARMED WHEN FACED WITH EVEN A REMOTE POSSIBILITY OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT FROM A NEARBY "LEAKER".
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
It doesn’t take an accident for a nuclear power plant to release radioactivity into our air, water and soil. All it takes is the plant’s everyday routine operation, and federal regulations permit these radioactive releases.
ENGINEERS HAVE LONG AGO ADMITTED THAT THEY CANNOT DESIGN A REACTOR THAT NEVER LEAKS.
IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE...THE END.
In his book, Normal Accidents, Charles Perrow says that multiple and unexpected failures are built into society's complex and tightly-coupled nuclear reactor systems.
Such accidents are unavoidable and cannot be designed around.
BUT HERE ARE A FEW FACTS FOR US TO REMEMBER AND PASS ALONG SO WE ARE WELL-ARMED WHEN FACED WITH EVEN A REMOTE POSSIBILITY OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT FROM A NEARBY "LEAKER".
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
It doesn’t take an accident for a nuclear power plant to release radioactivity into our air, water and soil. All it takes is the plant’s everyday routine operation, and federal regulations permit these radioactive releases.
Radioactivity is measured in "curies."
A large medical center, with as many as 1000 laboratories in which radioactive materials are used, may have a combined inventory of only about two curies.
In contrast, an average operating nuclear power reactor will have approximately 16 billion curies in EACH reactor core.
This is the equivalent long-lived radioactivity of at least 1,000 Hiroshima bombs.
A large medical center, with as many as 1000 laboratories in which radioactive materials are used, may have a combined inventory of only about two curies.
In contrast, an average operating nuclear power reactor will have approximately 16 billion curies in EACH reactor core.
This is the equivalent long-lived radioactivity of at least 1,000 Hiroshima bombs.
A reactor’s fuel rods, pipes, tanks and valves can leak.
Mechanical failure and human error can also cause leaks.
IT SHOULD BE QUITE TELLING WHEN A MISSING TOOL USED TO WORK ON A REACTOR , OR A DROPPED/LOST BOLT USED TO BE IMMEDIATELY REPORTED AND PEOPLE SCRAMBLED TO LOCATE IT.
NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE...THEY "FIXED" THAT:
WHO REPORTS LOST OR STOLEN NUCLEAR ANYTHING?
MAYBE NOBODY HAS TO?
June 15, 2015 "The matter ( of reporting missing nuclear material of any kind) is further clouded by the Memorandum of Understanding between the DOT and NRC dated June 22, 1979. Under the agreement, NRC will require its licensees to make reports if the reportable event "occurs prior to delivery to a carrier for transport or after delivery to a receiver" (Section V.B.).
The DOT will require carriers subject to its jurisdiction to make reports to DOT if the reportable event "occurs in transit" (Section V.A.).
The term "reportable event" is clarified in DOT regulations, Section 49 CFR 171.15 and 171.16.
These events include "fire, breakage, spillage, or suspected radioactive contamination" but do not include lost, stolen, mislaid or waylaid shipments.
Since carriers ( of radioactive material) are exempt from NRC regulations, there is no obligation for regional manpower to be used to assist in locating waylaid shipments, whether lost or stolen, or to put pressure on carriers to locate such shipments. Mechanical failure and human error can also cause leaks.
IT SHOULD BE QUITE TELLING WHEN A MISSING TOOL USED TO WORK ON A REACTOR , OR A DROPPED/LOST BOLT USED TO BE IMMEDIATELY REPORTED AND PEOPLE SCRAMBLED TO LOCATE IT.
NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE...THEY "FIXED" THAT:
WHO REPORTS LOST OR STOLEN NUCLEAR ANYTHING?
MAYBE NOBODY HAS TO?
June 15, 2015 "The matter ( of reporting missing nuclear material of any kind) is further clouded by the Memorandum of Understanding between the DOT and NRC dated June 22, 1979. Under the agreement, NRC will require its licensees to make reports if the reportable event "occurs prior to delivery to a carrier for transport or after delivery to a receiver" (Section V.B.).
The DOT will require carriers subject to its jurisdiction to make reports to DOT if the reportable event "occurs in transit" (Section V.A.).
The term "reportable event" is clarified in DOT regulations, Section 49 CFR 171.15 and 171.16.
These events include "fire, breakage, spillage, or suspected radioactive contamination" but do not include lost, stolen, mislaid or waylaid shipments.
However, if it is known that a serious health and safety problem does exist, one or all of representatives from either IE, DOT, States, or licensee-shippers should become involved in the interest of public health and safety. The events of interest would be those set forth in 49 CFR 171.15 and 171.16 as well as high radiation levels.
In addition, while extremely rare, stolen sources should be followed up in the interest of public health and safety.
If a report is received of "lost" radioactive material in transit by common carrier, licensees should be encouraged to place a tracer on the shipment; IE need not become further involved.
Regulatory references: 10 CFR 20.402, 10 CFR 20.2201."
YOU CAN PERHAPS SEE WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST?
BIG NUKE TAKES CARE OF ITS OWN AND OUR "PROTECTIVE AGENCIES" PROTECT BIG NUKE, NOT US.
AFTER DECADES OF "NORMAL DECAY", OUR NUKE FACILITIES ARE LITERALLY CRUMBLING.
MATERIALS USED IN THEIR CONSTRUCTION CANNOT STAND UP TO THE AMOUNT OF RADIATION GENERATED YEARS BEYOND WHAT THEY WERE DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND.
As a nuclear plant ages, so does its equipment - and leaks generally increase.
NOTICE THAT WORD "INCREASE" BECAUSE THE CURSED THINGS LEAK ALL THE TIME, JUST MORE SO AS THEY AGE.
Government regulations ALLOW radioactive water to be released into the environment containing "permissible" levels of contamination.
Permissible does not mean safe, OR HARMLESS.
Detectors at reactors are set to allow contaminated water to be released, UNFILTERED, if below "permissible" legal levels.
WHO IS STANDING BY, LOOKING OVER SHOULDERS TO MAKE CERTAIN THINGS ARE BEING REPORTED FACTUALLY, THAT NO HIGHER LEVELS ARE BEING RELEASED THAN IS "PERMISSIBLE"?
NOBODY!
THE NUKE FACILITIES ARE "SELF-REPORTING"!
IT'S LIKE SENDING A FOX TO CHECK ON YOUR CHICKENS, OR A BURGLAR TO MAKE SURE YOU LOCKED THE DOOR TO YOUR HOME..
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission relies upon self-reporting and computer modeling from reactor operators to track radioactive releases and their projected dispersion. A significant portion of the environmental monitoring data is extrapolated – i.e., virtual, NOT REAL.
Accurate accounting of all radioactive wastes released to the air, water and soil from the entire reactor fuel production system is simply not available.
The system includes uranium mines and mills, chemical conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication plants, nuclear power reactors, and radioactive waste storage pools, casks, and trenches.
THERE IS NO HUMANLY POSSIBLE WAY TO MEASURE ALL THAT.
The system includes uranium mines and mills, chemical conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication plants, nuclear power reactors, and radioactive waste storage pools, casks, and trenches.
THERE IS NO HUMANLY POSSIBLE WAY TO MEASURE ALL THAT.
POWER PLANTS ARE ALLOWED TO "VENT" IF THEY FEEL THEY REALLY NEED TO.
IN, SAY, A SITUATION LIKE THE ONE <HERE> .
IN, SAY, A SITUATION LIKE THE ONE <HERE> .
" A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down Monday after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.
Unit 2 at Byron Generating Station, about 95 miles northwest of Chicago, shut down at 10:18 a.m., after losing power.
The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the lowest of four levels of emergency. Commission officials also said the release of tritium was expected."
PITY THEY DIDN'T TELL US HOW MANY CANCERS THE FOLKS COULD EXPECT FROM THE "EXPECTED" RADIATION RELEASED.
PITY THEY DIDN'T TELL US HOW MANY CANCERS THE FOLKS COULD EXPECT FROM THE "EXPECTED" RADIATION RELEASED.
PROFITS ARE ALWAYS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION, BUT HUMAN HEALTH IS NOT!
Increasing economic pressures to reduce costs, due to the deregulation of the electric power industry, could further reduce the already unreliable monitoring and reporting of radioactive releases.
NUCLEAR FACILITIES ARE ALLOWED TO SOMETIMES "DEFER COSTLY MAINTENANCE".
Deferred maintenance can increase the radioactivity released - and the risks.
NUCLEAR FACILITIES ARE ALLOWED TO SOMETIMES "DEFER COSTLY MAINTENANCE".
Deferred maintenance can increase the radioactivity released - and the risks.
RADIATION, the "forever gift"
Many of the reactor’s radioactive by-products continue giving off radioactive particles and rays for enormously long periods – described in terms of "half-lives."A radioactive material gives off hazardous radiation for at least ten half-lives.
One of the radioactive isotopes of iodine (iodine- 129) has a half-life of 16 million years; technetium-99 = 211,000 years; and plutonium-239 = 24,000 years. Xenon-135, a noble gas, decays into cesium-135, an isotope with a 2.3 million-year half-life.
It is scientifically established [AND ADMITTED BY EVEN MEMBERS OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT, THE OLD ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION, ETC] that low-level radiation damages tissues, cells, DNA and other vital molecules – causing programmed cell death (apoptosis), genetic mutations, cancers, leukemia, birth defects, and reproductive, immune and endocrine system disorders.
BUT THEY'VE INVESTED ALL THAT MONEY AND SHUT-DOWN PLUS CLEANUP WOULD BANKRUPT THE ENTIRE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY.... CONGRESS WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN, EVER.
BUT THEY'VE INVESTED ALL THAT MONEY AND SHUT-DOWN PLUS CLEANUP WOULD BANKRUPT THE ENTIRE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY.... CONGRESS WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN, EVER.
WHO WOULD MONITOR THOSE SITES FOR 10,000 YEARS OR MORE?
WHO COULD AFFORD TO DO THAT?
"The utility industry has already invested $125 billion in nuclear power, with an additional $140 billion to come before the decade is out, and only the blind, or the biased, can now think that the money has been well spent.
It is a defeat for the U.S. consumer and for the competitiveness of U.S. industry, for the utilities that undertook the program and for the private enterprise system that made it possible.”
~“Nuclear Follies,” Forbes, February 14, 1985
A deteriorating and fallible nuclear power industry, driven as much by containing colossal cost as the containment of catastrophic amounts of radiation, threatens present and future generations with timeless contamination.
The routine operation of many atomic power plants unnecessarily kills marine wildlife and ocean habitat.
A deteriorating and fallible nuclear power industry, driven as much by containing colossal cost as the containment of catastrophic amounts of radiation, threatens present and future generations with timeless contamination.
The routine operation of many atomic power plants unnecessarily kills marine wildlife and ocean habitat.
THESE DEATHS ARE "ACCEPTABLE LOSSES", EVEN THOUGH THEY RUN INTO THE MILLIONS OR BILLIONS EACH YEAR.
This is documented in a major report released February 22, 2001 ("Licensed To Kill: How the nuclear power industry destroys endangered marine wildlife and ocean habitat to save money") by Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Safe Energy Communication Council and Standing for Truth About Radiation.
The 137-page full report and accompanying 29 minute video focus on the industry’s evasive tactics used to avoid responsibility for the destruction of ocean habitat and marine species, with particular emphasis on endangered sea turtles, through the intake and discharge of as much as one million gallons of reactor coolant water per minute at 59 of the United States’ 103 operating reactors.
Watch the Video: How reactors Kill Animals
There are currently 103 nuclear reactors in the United States.
A future severe nuclear accident at a U.S. nuclear power plant is a real possibility.
Watch the Video: How reactors Kill Animals
There are currently 103 nuclear reactors in the United States.
A future severe nuclear accident at a U.S. nuclear power plant is a real possibility.
In 2011 five nuclear power plants in the United States lost primary power due to earthquake or extreme weather events, including tornadoes, hurricanes, and flooding.
Fortunately backup power systems kicked in at these plants and a disaster was averted.
But weather is not the only risk factor.
If one of them lost both primary and backup power for even a matter of hours, it could lead to a meltdown and an airborne radioactive plume.
Red flags for heightened risk factors of a severe nuclear accident abound in the United States.
Currently 23 U.S. nuclear reactors are the same type of reactor, a boiling water reactor (BWRs), which was involved in the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Some BWRs are operating near major American cities like Philadelphia.
Nearly all of the nuclear reactors operating in the United States were designed and built three to four decades ago.
Despite being originally engineered for a 40-year lifespan, the NRC has approved 71 reactors at 32 nuclear power plants to operate for 60 years.
And 90 percent of U.S. nuclear reactors have had their operating power increased beyond the original design engineered for them.
NOT ONE CHANGE SINCE FUKUSHIMA!
The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) hasn't yet made a single U.S. nuclear power plant any safer than it was since the Fukushima accident.
After the Fukushima disaster, a task force assembled by the commission's chairman identified a list of safety improvements including top tier items to be "started without unnecessary delay."
But these important safety upgrades are still years away from being implemented, if ever.
In fact, some of these safety improvements have been on the commission's to-do list since the 1990s.
The nuclear industry really is allowed to "get away with murder".
GO TO THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE TO SEE AN INTERACTIVE MAP THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AT EACH OF THOSE SITES IF WE HAD A REACTOR MELTDOWN LIKE JAPAN HAD.
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/
I PICKED ONE AND HERE'S THE INFO RECEIVED:
50-mile Potential Contamination Zone
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (Athens, Alabama)
3 Operating Nuclear Reactors
Boiling Water Reactor (same type as Fukushima)
Within 10-mile Evacuation Zone:
69,000 People (2010 Total Population)
13 Public Schools
0 Hospitals
Within 50-mile Potential Contamination Zone:
NRDC's nuclear fallout calculations were made using the weather reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the specific days of March 11, 2011 and March 12, 2011.
Some of the fallout patterns extend far from the nuclear plant, carried by strong winds blowing on those days. At other plants where the air was still in mid-March 2011, the fallout hovered over and settled on the vicinity of the plant.
In our computer model of these severe nuclear accidents, the accident takes place over the course of two days with multiple releases of radiation, similar to what happened at Fukushima.
As the wind changed direction over that period of time the fallout may be carried in different directions from the plant.
Also shown in NRDC's map are the U.S.-government defined 10-mile evacuation zone, and 50-mile zones where the potential for land contamination would still be high in a severe nuclear accident.
BE AWARE: The NRC has approved many utility operators to increase the operating power of their nuclear reactors, including for Fukushima-type reactors, and in some cases multiple times and to significantly higher power levels.
These so-called "power uprates" push reactors beyond what they were originally engineered to do, and could increase the radiation hazard if a nuclear accident occurred.
On the map, NRDC experts assigned a red flag if the NRC has granted a reactor a power uprate.
I WON'T ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF SAFELY STORING NUCLEAR WASTE IN THIS ENTRY.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAFELY STORE IT.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY TO FIND WILLING SITES TO BURY THE CRAP IN, NOR IS IT POSSIBLE TO ABSOLUTELY SAFEGUARD THOSE WASTE DUMPS FROM "TERRORISTS".
HOW MANY READERS WOULD VOLUNTARILY AND KNOWINGLY LIVE NEXT DOOR, OR WITHIN 10 MILES OF A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP, OR EVEN A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT?
NEITHER WILL EVEN ONE CONGRESSMAN, NOT ONE STATE OR FEDERAL OFFICIAL, NOT ONE PERSON EMPLOYED AT THE TOP OF THE NRC THAT I COULD FIND.
BUT THEY LITERALLY CRAM THESE DUMP SITES DOWN THE THROATS OF THOSE LEAST FINANCIALLY ABLE TO FIGHT THEM OR TO MOVE AWAY FROM THEM... AMERICAN INDIAN RESERVATIONS, RURAL AREAS, "ECONOMICALLY INSECURE" AREAS.
IT'S JUST HOW IT'S DONE IN AMERICA.
THE GUY WITH THE MOST MARBLES WINS, RIGHT?
WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!
WE, THE PEOPLE, COLLECTIVELY, HAVE A HELLUVA LOT OF MARBLES!
__________________________________
FURTHER READING
~ THE TEA ROOM HAS LITTLE USE FOR WIKIPEDIA, BUT SOMEONE DID A GOOD JOB ON AN ARTICLE THERE ABOUT NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS, WELL WORTH THE READ, WELL DOCUMENTED.
SEE THAT <HERE>.
~ "READY DOT GOV" WANTS YOU TO BE PREPARED FOR A NUCLEAR DISASTER.
THE WEBSITE IS A JOKE, BUT HAVE A LOOK IF YOU CARE TO.
THE BOY SCOUTS TEACH A BETTER WAY TO DEAL WITH A NUCLEAR DISASTER....
http://www.ready.gov/nuclear-power-plants
IF YOU SEE THIS...
Expand All SectionsCLICK ON IT SO YOU CAN SEE THE "HELP" SECTIONS ON HOW TO "DUCK AND COVER".
THE BEST OF THAT SITE?
THEY GIVE US AN "INTERPRETATION OF EMERGENCY TERMS"...
THEY LOVE THE WORD "SMALL"...
Notification of Unusual Event - A small problem has occurred at the plant. No radiation leak is expected. No action on your part will be necessary.
Alert - A small problem has occurred, and small amounts of radiation could leak inside the plant. This will not affect you and no action is required.
Site Area Emergency - Area sirens may be sounded. Listen to your radio or television for safety information.
General Emergency - Radiation could leak outside the plant and off the plant site. The sirens will sound. Tune to your local radio or television station for reports. Be prepared to follow instructions promptly.
SAD, LACKING.
~ CALLED "MAJOR NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS", THE 33 REPORTS OF THOSE CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.atomicarchive.com/Reports/Japan/Accidents.shtml .
~ WANT TO READ A LOT OF "DISINFORMATION"?
THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEC) HAS BENT OVER BACKWARD TO LULL YOU INTO QUIET SURRENDER TO NUCLEAR ENERGY.
READ THE 'SIREN'S SONG" AT...
https://www.iaea.org/
READ HOW SAFE AND WONDERFUL IT IS, BUT IF YOU WANT TO SEE A LIST OF RECENT ACCIDENTS OR REPORTS OF PROBLEMS IN THE INDUSTRY, YOU MUST "REGISTER" AND THEN SIGN IN.
FOR A BETTER LOOK AT HOW LITTLE INFO IS READILY AVAILABLE TO A CASUAL READER THERE, https://www.iaea.org/pris/.
"PRIS
is available to both the general public and registered users as follows:
o The PRIS public web
site (http://www.iaea.org/pris) provides information
on PRIS and global nuclear power reactor statistics to the general public.
o Web-Enabled Data
Acquisition System (WEDAS): used by PRIS data
providers for inputting data on their nuclear power reactors to the database.
The data provided is verified and approved by PRIS administrators before being
used in PRIS reports.
o PRIS Statistics
(PRISTA): A web-based reporting
tool used by registered users to produce reports and statistics from PRIS. "
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