Nuclear Meltdown Watch

[WakeUpAndLive]

I'm with you. Grassroots LA style!!

Love to the Angelenos, but there's a little bit of irony going on here. Good luck powering all those air conditioners in the Valley and pumpin' all that water to the desert.

I'm not a pro-nuke by any stretch, but something's gotta change and it won't happen overnight.

Eh, I know what you mean....i'm no fan of it honestly. I constantly gripe over it daily with myself....the security of what I've grown to know vs the knowledge of what I can do to stop this insanity and my lack of action in regards to the later. Part of the reason I even stated that in the first place. All of us have a different starting point in ending this insanity, who knows what will spur us Los Angelenos into action.


I seriously wouldn't be so opposed to pitching a tent and constructing a mirror based heating element (http://www.solarfire.org/Vesta). And I am preparing myself for if it comes down to that.

[justdrew]

What a tragic and difficult situation. If you happen to have lived within a certain proximity to the reactor, you may be denied emergency services. Very sad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... lters.html
Japan nuclear crisis: evacuees turned away from shelters
Hundreds of people evacuated from towns and villages close to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being turned away by medical institutions and emergency shelters as fears of radioactive contagion catch on.

(excerpted)

Hospitals and temporary refuges are demanding that evacuees provide them with certificates confirming that they have not been exposed to radiation before they are admitted.

(excerpted)

The eight-year-old daughter of Takayuki Okamura was refused treatment for a skin rash by a clinic in Fukushima City, where the family is living in a shelter after abandoning their home in Minamisoma, 18 miles from the crippled nuclear plant.

"Just being forced to live in a shelter causes us anxiety," Mr Okamura, 49, said. "The institution's refusal to treat my daughter came as a great shock to us."

Medical experts have condemned those that are meant to be assisting the evacuees for turning them away. "This is a knee-jerk reaction based on the fear that these people are going to harm you," said Dr. Robert Gale, a haematologist at Imperial College, London, who is advising the Japanese government on health issues.

"If someone has been contaminated externally, such as on their shoes or clothes, then precautions can be taken, such as by removing those garments to stop the contamination from getting into a hospital," he told The Daily Telegraph. "That is very easy to do, but unfortunately I'm not surprised this sort of thing is happening."

Prejudice against people who used to live near the plant is reminiscent of the ostracism that survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 experienced. Many suffered discrimination when they tried to rent housing, find employment or marriage partners.

More than 65 years ago, Dr. Gale points out, far less was known about the effects of radiation on the human body and that it is "completely irrational" to turn evacuees away today.

At first when I read you had to show papers with your radiation readings I thought they were only serving those with radiation, then I read more and was thinking how completely ass backwards it is....they must know something, such as their chance of survival, to make such a bold decision.

Everyone seen Grave of The Fireflies? If you can take the saddest movie of all time, see it.

[The Consul]

This may be appropriate in the fuck Obama thread

U.S. to learn lessons from Japan disaster in building new nuke plants

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/82130.html


WASHINGTON, March 30, Kyodo

President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States will ensure the safety of its nuclear plants at home and learn lessons from the disaster in Japan in building new plants in the future.

Noting that he has called for a comprehensive safety review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make sure all nuclear facilities in the country are safe, Obama said in a speech in Washington, ''We'll incorporate those conclusions and lessons from Japan in designing and building the next generation of plants.''

Obama also suggested that his policy of boosting the use of ''clean energy,'' which includes nuclear power, will remain unchanged.

''America gets one-fifth of our electricity from nuclear energy,'' he said in the speech delivered at Georgetown University. ''It has important potential for increasing our electricity without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.''

The ongoing nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has prompted policymakers around the world to review or defend their energy policy of pursuing nuclear power as a key component.

Obama said Washington will take the lead in global discussions toward a new international framework in which all countries operate their nuclear plants without spreading dangerous nuclear materials and technology.

...snip...

We'll see if he can still say this crap in 6 months...maybe it will all be swept under the rug like dark GOD (Gulf Oil Disaster). Maybe we'll all be shitting tumors in a year.

[WakeUpAndLive]

Everyone seen Grave of The Fireflies? If you can take the saddest movie of all time, see it.

Not one for such sorrow....the plot summary is enough for me...It is beyond enough that I think about how we are literally doing this to humans daily in countless foreign territories. It brings me such sorrow that we haven't progressed beyond this insanity in the human race.

[undead]

so obama is saying "fuck you, fuck your kids" and is explicitly stating that he intends to endanger each and every one of us.

what are we supposed to do with that information?

fuck me? no, fuck you.

this isn't about politics any more. this is about self defense.

i think its time we showed these pricks who really has the ultimate power.

[JackRiddler]

There's a disconnect here.

It's easy to point out that LA is an energy sinkhole that relies on the current conventional forms of energy to make life there possible and bearable.

It's true to say that what we require is for our entire civilization to undergo a minimum 30-year effort on the scale so far only ever devoted to world war, to effect a conversion necessary to our survival, away from hydrocarbons and nuclear and toward a solar-hydrogen-wind infrastructure, from the illusion of a permanent growth economy to an absolute dedication to humanely and equitably minimize energy use in every key sector: buildings, transport, agriculture and consumer goods production. This means trillions in investment, long-range vision and comprehensive, inclusive, flexible planning; a gradual designing and building of new grid systems, light rail, mass transport, high-speed rail, local agriculture and production, organic agriculture, new-design cities, regionalized production and consumption, and possibly exotic-seeming alternatives like air ships. Not to mention massive cleanups of all the toxic sites we've created, disarmament and an end to war production and the arms trade, an end to the drug war and hemp prohibition, a true economic security net with education and pensions and health care living wages for all. Not to mention perhaps the hardest task of all, an end to the national false-security state and a draining of the deep and para political swamps with all their hidden violence and mayhem.

It all fits together and it's enormously complex and it requires patience through many false starts and there's little that's truly easy in it.

But it's all too easy to note how complex and long-range all that is, how there are no simple solutions, and to ignore the truly simple reality that the first day of this massive undertaking has not yet arrived -- that the reigning power structures in the society are opposing it and moving in an opposite direction, and that the political leaders are frauds. That's where the calls for people power and making trouble make sense after all. Our problem is not a utopian understanding of how fast the transformation can happen, but the apathy and unwillingness in taking the first step on the journey, our voluntary consent in continuing to allow the worst and most ruthless and most short-sighted and most unimaginatively ideological to remain as the bullies in command of all.

Now I've said it in a post on an Internet board! The possible futility of that, and the silliness of simple revolutionary slogans, these do not elude me.

.

[justdrew]

There's a disconnect here.

It's easy to point out that LA is an energy sinkhole that relies on the current conventional forms of energy to make life there possible and bearable.

It's true to say that what we require is for our entire civilization to undergo a minimum 30-year effort on the scale so far only ever devoted to world war, to effect a conversion necessary to our survival, away from hydrocarbons and nuclear and toward a solar-hydrogen-wind infrastructure, from the illusion of a permanent growth economy to an absolute dedication to humanely and equitably minimize energy use in every key sector: buildings, transport, agriculture and consumer goods production. This means trillions in investment, long-range vision and planning, a gradual designing and building of new grid systems, light rail, mass transport, high-speed rail, local agriculture and production, organic agriculture, new-design cities, regionalized production and consumption, and possibly exotic-seeming alternatives like air ships. Not to mention massive cleanups of all the toxic sites we've created, disarmament and an end to war production and the arms trade, an end to the drug war and hemp prohibition, a true economic security net with education and pensions and health care living wages for all. Not to mention perhaps the hardest task of all, an end to the national false-security state and a draining of the deep and para political swamps with all their hidden violence and mayhem.

It all fits together and it's enormously complex and it requires patience through many false starts and there's little that's truly easy in it.

But it's all too easy to note how complex and long-range all that is, how there are no simple solutions, and to ignore the truly simple reality that the first day of this massive undertaking has not yet arrived -- that the reigning power structures in the society are opposing it and moving in an opposite direction, and that the political leaders are frauds. That's where the calls for people power and making trouble make sense after all. Our problem is not a utopian understanding of how fast the transformation can happen, but the apathy and unwillingness in taking the first step on the journey, our voluntary consent in continuing to allow the worst and most ruthless and most short-sighted to remain as the bullies in command.

Now I've said it in a post on an Internet board! The possible futility of that, and the silliness of simple revolutionary slogans, these do not elude me.

.

well, I think some groups need formed and a plan written out.
1. bestseller book that lays it all out, step by step.
2. movies, comic books, novels, etc. set in the post-plan future and showing the way to get there.

without a specific action agenda, it's only harder to get people on board.

[ninakat]

[Iamwhomiam]

Jack wrote:
Now I've said it in a post on an Internet board! The possible futility of that, and the silliness of simple revolutionary slogans, these do not elude me.

I wouldn't be so dismissive, Jack, as it's neither an effort in futility nor silly.

The written word has great power and a longevity unmatched by the spoken word.

[WakeUpAndLive]

There's a disconnect here.

It's easy to point out that LA is an energy sinkhole that relies on the current conventional forms of energy to make life there possible and bearable.

It's true to say that what we require is for our entire civilization to undergo a minimum 30-year effort on the scale so far only ever devoted to world war, to effect a conversion necessary to our survival, away from hydrocarbons and nuclear and toward a solar-hydrogen-wind infrastructure, from the illusion of a permanent growth economy to an absolute dedication to humanely and equitably minimize energy use in every key sector: buildings, transport, agriculture and consumer goods production. This means trillions in investment, long-range vision and planning, a gradual designing and building of new grid systems, light rail, mass transport, high-speed rail, local agriculture and production, organic agriculture, new-design cities, regionalized production and consumption, and possibly exotic-seeming alternatives like air ships. Not to mention massive cleanups of all the toxic sites we've created, disarmament and an end to war production and the arms trade, an end to the drug war and hemp prohibition, a true economic security net with education and pensions and health care living wages for all. Not to mention perhaps the hardest task of all, an end to the national false-security state and a draining of the deep and para political swamps with all their hidden violence and mayhem.

It all fits together and it's enormously complex and it requires patience through many false starts and there's little that's truly easy in it.

But it's all too easy to note how complex and long-range all that is, how there are no simple solutions, and to ignore the truly simple reality that the first day of this massive undertaking has not yet arrived -- that the reigning power structures in the society are opposing it and moving in an opposite direction, and that the political leaders are frauds. That's where the calls for people power and making trouble make sense after all. Our problem is not a utopian understanding of how fast the transformation can happen, but the apathy and unwillingness in taking the first step on the journey, our voluntary consent in continuing to allow the worst and most ruthless and most short-sighted to remain as the bullies in command.

Now I've said it in a post on an Internet board! The possible futility of that, and the silliness of simple revolutionary slogans, these do not elude me.

.

well, I think some groups need formed and a plan written out.
1. bestseller book that lays it all out, step by step.
2. movies, comic books, novels, etc. set in the post-plan future and showing the way to get there.

without a specific action agenda, it's only harder to get people on board.

The level of brilliance contained on these boards never ceases to amaze me, I appreciate the wisdom gained by visiting here. More than once has a member of this board taken my ideas and expressed in greater clarity than I ever could how I feel and what needs to be done.

JR, thank you for expanding upon what I was stating early and laying it out in such an understandable manner.

JD, with the minds on this board I would say this is possible, if dedication is applied. I know I'm new here and probably don't have much clout (and sometimes it feels trust) with some of the more regulars, but I would be more than willing to participate in any way possible if a project like this got started.

[Nordic]

Well let's think back to when they started wiring up cities with electricity in the first place. How long did that take? How long did it take to set everybody with natural gas? It wasn't that Big A Deal!

All those rooftops in So Cal, and the entire Southwest of the United States, could, and should, have solar panels on them, and you could do it in a year.

That right there would negate any need for any nuke plants, just for starters.

And it's so damn silly anyway to burn anything to make a house cooler! All air conditioners should work with the sun. The sun comes up, it turns on the a.c., sun goes down, the a.c. goes off.

It's really NOT that hard.

We've done much bigger things in the past. It's just that our government, rather than facilitating such things now, actively inhibits them, because our government is owned by Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Nuke, and all the other criminal Mr. Bigs.

[The Consul]

The only way we survive is if we learn to live with less and go local and outgrow our brainwashed need to fill leisure time with entertainment and more crap. Living with less is a cancerous idea to capitalist interests because the corporate paradigm is grow, grow, grow and coporations have neither a brain nor a soul and lack all manner conscience. Corporations create split personalities of people who are heartless sociopaths by day and loving moms and dads by night.
Without a broad populist uprising against the corporate stranglehold on every facet of society we are doomed . It can't happen here will happen here, one way or the other oh my brothers and sisters.

Shareholder value is destroying the world as America, this ignorant puss gushing pig, looks in the mirror and sees Brad Pitt.

[Jeff]

March 30, 2011 at 3:32 PM

Low levels of radiation found in US milk

Very low levels of radiation turned up in a sample of milk from Washington state, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, but federal officials assured consumers not to worry.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

Very low levels of radiation turned up in a sample of milk from Washington state, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, but federal officials assured consumers not to worry.

The FDA said such findings were to be expected in the coming days because of the nuclear crisis in Japan, and that the levels were expected to drop relatively quickly.

Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex began leaking radiation after it was damaged by a devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.

Results from a March 25 milk sample taken from Spokane, Wash., showed levels of radioactive Iodine-131 that were still 5,000 times below levels of concern set by the FDA, including levels set for infants and children.

...

Group warns EPA ready to increase radioactive release guidelines

The EPA is preparing to dramatically increase permissible radioactive releases in drinking water, food and soil after “radiological incidents,” according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

What is termed a guidance that EPA is considering - as opposed to a regulation - does not require public airing before it’s decided upon.

EPA officials contacted today in the Atlanta and D.C. offices had no response on the issue as of 6 p.m.

The radiation guides called Protective Action Guides or PAGs are protocols for responding to radiological events ranging from nuclear power-plant accidents to dirty bombs.

Drinking water, for example, would have a huge increase in allowable public exposure to radioactivity, the group says, that would include:

A nearly 1000-fold increase in strontium-90

A 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for iodine-131

An almost 25,000 rise for nickel-63

...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110 ... dyssey=nav

[justdrew]

I think it's just a matter of time 'til the US has a copy-cat meltdown.
check out this shit...

Published: March 30, 2011 | Updated: 2:37 p.m.
Update: San Onofre manager sues over his firing
By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ AND BRITTANY LEVINE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station manager claims he was fired after reporting safety concerns at the power plant, according to a suit filed Wednesday.

The suit claims the manager of business accounting and project services was fired in retaliation for reporting violations. He claims emotional distress and defamation as a result.

At a press conference held Wednesday afternoon in front of the plant, the ex-manager said his safety concerns centered on labor issues not physical safety conditions at SONGS.

"I've been with this company over 10 years," Diaz said. "I didn't expect it to escalate to this level."

Southern California Edison, which runs the nuclear plant, said it does not comment on pending litigation. However, Gil Alexander, SCE spokesman, said SCE does not tolerate retaliation against employees who raise safety concerns. Employees who retaliate against others for expressing concerns are terminated--a move SCE has taken in the past.

Diaz said when he told his boss, Pamela Panek, about labor concerns brought to his attention by six to 10 other employees, he was told not to address the complaints.

"They told me not to be (the employees') superhero," Diaz said, adding that when plant officials didn't take him seriously, he complained to the National Regulatory Commission, which oversees power plants.

According to the suit, management also told the employees they should not have talked to Diaz about the problems. When Diaz returned from vacation in October 2010 – and hours after discussing safety concerns with another manager – he was fired, the suit claims. Diaz claims he was also treated differently at the plant because he is Latino.

Diaz said he is concerned about the safety and health of the employees that still work at the plant. He is currently working as a consultant for a small heating company.

"This case arises at a time of unprecedented concerns about nuclear power plants along our shores," reads the suit, which was filed by Diaz. The suit alludes to ongoing concerns regarding Japanese power plants and officials' concerns with nuclear power in the U.S.

Maria Severson, Diaz's attorney, said: "There has to be an environment where people feel free to speak up."

According to the suit, a nuclear power watchdog group received in February 2010 calls and emails from workers in the plant regarding shortcuts on testing new generators, safety violations, and a "culture of cover-up."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission then sent a letter to SCE regarding the "chilling effect" of the work environment at the plant, the suit claims. The letter was to make sure the company encouraged workers to speak up about safety concerns.

Alexander said the plant is taking steps to address the NRC's letter.

"Like any business, we believe there's room for improvement," he said, adding that the plant has added new ways for employees to describe concerns, including computer and paper-based anonymous reporting tools.

Diaz said he had worked for another utility company in the past, but did not have the same experience there.

Alexander would not specify why Diaz was fired, but said plant officials believe they made the right decision when he was terminated.

[WakeUpAndLive]

I think it's just a matter of time 'til the US has a copy-cat meltdown.
check out this shit...

Published: March 30, 2011 | Updated: 2:37 p.m.
Update: San Onofre manager sues over his firing
By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ AND BRITTANY LEVINE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station manager claims he was fired after reporting safety concerns at the power plant, according to a suit filed Wednesday.

The suit claims the manager of business accounting and project services was fired in retaliation for reporting violations. He claims emotional distress and defamation as a result.

At a press conference held Wednesday afternoon in front of the plant, the ex-manager said his safety concerns centered on labor issues not physical safety conditions at SONGS.

"I've been with this company over 10 years," Diaz said. "I didn't expect it to escalate to this level."

Southern California Edison, which runs the nuclear plant, said it does not comment on pending litigation. However, Gil Alexander, SCE spokesman, said SCE does not tolerate retaliation against employees who raise safety concerns. Employees who retaliate against others for expressing concerns are terminated--a move SCE has taken in the past.

Diaz said when he told his boss, Pamela Panek, about labor concerns brought to his attention by six to 10 other employees, he was told not to address the complaints.

"They told me not to be (the employees') superhero," Diaz said, adding that when plant officials didn't take him seriously, he complained to the National Regulatory Commission, which oversees power plants.

According to the suit, management also told the employees they should not have talked to Diaz about the problems. When Diaz returned from vacation in October 2010 – and hours after discussing safety concerns with another manager – he was fired, the suit claims. Diaz claims he was also treated differently at the plant because he is Latino.

Diaz said he is concerned about the safety and health of the employees that still work at the plant. He is currently working as a consultant for a small heating company.

"This case arises at a time of unprecedented concerns about nuclear power plants along our shores," reads the suit, which was filed by Diaz. The suit alludes to ongoing concerns regarding Japanese power plants and officials' concerns with nuclear power in the U.S.

Maria Severson, Diaz's attorney, said: "There has to be an environment where people feel free to speak up."

According to the suit, a nuclear power watchdog group received in February 2010 calls and emails from workers in the plant regarding shortcuts on testing new generators, safety violations, and a "culture of cover-up."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission then sent a letter to SCE regarding the "chilling effect" of the work environment at the plant, the suit claims. The letter was to make sure the company encouraged workers to speak up about safety concerns.

Alexander said the plant is taking steps to address the NRC's letter.

"Like any business, we believe there's room for improvement," he said, adding that the plant has added new ways for employees to describe concerns, including computer and paper-based anonymous reporting tools.

Diaz said he had worked for another utility company in the past, but did not have the same experience there.

Alexander would not specify why Diaz was fired, but said plant officials believe they made the right decision when he was terminated.

Look like its time for a southern hemi-sphere relocation :-\