Mini Nukes For Home and Office

Not endorsing anything nuclear here on Green Nuclear Butterfly until the industry can prove the product is A) safe, B) the waste can be adequately and safely disposed of, and C) the health risks are properly dealt with. IE-where is the compensation to those whose cancer was likely caused by their close proximity to, or employment at a plant, and where is our ability as home owners to have nuclear accident insurance?

That being said, for those so HOT to embrace nuclear, let it be a PERSONAL choice, rather than a choice forced on us by our Federal Government and the NRC. Seems that Toshiba is going to start marketing MINI Nukes, and they should be available here in the USA starting in 2009. We have to admit, the idea of getting off the grid, and even positioning oneself to sell electricity back to the grid does have a certain appeal to it. The projected kilowatt costs is five cents, so a few neighbors banding together could easily eliminate that monthly Con Edison or Entergy bill in their mailboxes...sure that one fact alone will see the NRC figure out a way to ban us from owning our own nuclear reactors, and instead insist our tax dollars be given to the industry giants.

Toshiba Builds 100x Smaller Micro Nuclear Reactor

Toshiba has developed a new class of micro size Nuclear Reactors that is designed to power individual apartment buildings or city blocks. The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet, could change everything for small remote communities, small businesses or even a group of neighbors who are fed up with the power companies and want more control over their energy needs.

The 200 kilowatt Toshiba designed reactor is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction. The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor core. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy.

Toshiba expects to install the first reactor in Japan in 2008 and to begin marketing the new system in Europe and America in 2009.

Nuclear Power Causes Leukemia

In a recent German study, there was a causal link shown between a child's distance to a nuclear reactor, and leukemia. We have all for years suspected, and the government is finally admitting that the production of nuclear energy causes cancer deaths in the local community. The NRC plays down this fact by claiming the risk is within ACCEPTABLE LIMITS. Tell that to the families who pay the price of losing a loved one.

I bring this up, as there was an article published in Connecticut wherein the parents of a young woman who died of bone cancer decried the claim on http://www.mothballmillstone.org that the local nuclear plant might have played a contributory part in the death of their daughter. There is a chance that such a claim is true, just as there is a chance that Millstone is a contributory factor in many of the stillborn deaths that occur in the area.

Margaret and David Beacham's daughter, Erin, died at 23 of bone cancer, and through their attorney, they have issued a statement denying any correlation between their daughter's Leukemia and the aging, dangerous Millstone Reactor. It seems doubtful that the parents could absolutely know this for fact, as the nuclear industry routinely takes advantage of the fact that often times, there can be more than one potential causal source for a person's cancer. As example, former DOE employees with cancer, have to show there is a greater than 50 percent chance that their employment in the nuclear industry caused/contributed to same. There is anecdotal evidence that a woman's proximity to a nuclear reactor can increase her risk of giving birth to a stillborn child by as much as 25 percent. Other anecdotal evidence shows that cancer rates drop significantly in areas surrounding nuclear reactors when said facilities are shut down and decommissioned. Seems to us, that the time has come for our government, for the NRC to spend whatever it takes to create a Nuclear Cancers National Registry, and to perform extensive Health Studies in every reactor community in America. As example, we here in the community surrounding Indian Point find it odd that Entergy is spending considerable sums on off site Environmental Monitoring, but will not make the results public.

Mothball Milestone from what GNB can gather did not state that Erin's cancer was caused by Millstone, but did point out that her Leukemia could be linked to the radiological contaminants from the site. It seems, that such a statement is probably true, and that there is a good chance that close proximity to said nuclear facility may have contributed to, or increased the risk that the Beacham's child could contract such a deadly cancer. WE would suggest, that without proper health studies, and a National Registry, we just don't have enough information available to rule out Millstone as a contributing factor in many still born deaths, and many cancers, including Leukemia in our children, and breast cancer in women.

Families Decry Anti-Nuke Web Site
Kin of deceased listed on Internet say deaths not radiation-related

By Patricia Daddona , Published on 12/23/2007

Lisa and Leonardo Blanco's 7-month-old son, Collin, died last year when his walker rolled down a driveway into a trailer towed by a pickup truck.

Margaret and David Beacham's daughter, Erin, died at 23 of bone cancer.

Fred and Dorothy Weaver are pursuing a medical malpractice claim over the death of their infant son, Damarius, who died the day he was born.

Lisa Blanco of Gales Ferry, Margaret Beacham of North Stonington and the lawyer representing the Weavers, who live in New London, said this past week that those deaths had nothing to do with radiation exposure from Millstone Power Station.

The Web site of an anti-nuclear group, http://www.mothballmillstone.org, had suggested these and three other deaths “may be linked” to such emissions. That segment of the Web site was taken down two weeks ago.

Back in 2006...

Nancy Burton, Green Party candidate for Connecticut Attorney General discusses imminent danger two local nuclear power plants pose to all Connecticut residents, Millstone nuclear power plant, Waterford, CT, and Indian Point, Buchanan, NY. She describes how three pet goats on this Connecticut tour contracted Strontium 90 from local nuclear power plants.

Huge WIN For Mothball Millstone

CONNECTICUT COALITION AGAINST MILLSTONE
www.MothballMillstone.org

CONNECTICUT SUPREME COURT
TAKES ON MILLSTONE NUKE WASTE APPEAL

For Immediate Release October 16, 2007

Contact:
Nancy Burton
203-938-3952

Whether the Siting Council acted illegally in allowing Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. to build an above-ground onsite storage facility for Millstone high-level nuclear waste will be decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court, the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone announced today.

An appeal of the decision, taken by Coalition director Nancy Burton and her husband, William H. Honan, who owns property in Mystic 10 miles downwind of Millstone, was filed with the Appellate Court earlier this year.

However, in a notice issued on October 10, 2007, the Supreme Court announced it had transferred the appeal to itself for argument later this fall, Burton said.

“The Supreme Court acted on its own motion,” said Burton.

“We are pleased that the Supreme Court has apparently determined that the issues raised in this appeal are important and are of statewide significance,” Burton said.

Among the issues on appeal are whether the Siting Council acted properly in refusing to consider the environmental consequences of a terrorist attack on the facility, which is designed to contain millions of curies of radiation.

Other issues are whether Superior Court Judge George Levine correctly excluded evidence that Dominion deliberately disabled its perimeter security system as a cost-saving measure, while it represented to the Siting Council that the site was protected by a state-of-the-art security system.

Another issue is whether Edward C. Wilds, radiation director for the Department of Environmental Protection, who served as a designee on the Siting Council, should have disclosed that he was taken on a Dominion junket to a Virginia nuclear installation where above-ground nuclear waste storage had already occurred.

“The Siting Council rubber-stamped Dominion’s application,” Burton said. “The public interest was not served.”

The Shoreham Saga Recap by Wiki

Photo Courtesy of Doug Kuntz

The Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant (also known as the Wading River Nuclear Power Plant) was a General Electric boiling water reactor located in Wading River, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, 60 miles east of Manhattan. The plant was designed to produce 540 megawatts, later changed to 820.

The plant was conceived by the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) and was built between 1973 and 1984. Originally set in an area dominated by potato fields, by the time the plant was ready to operate the urban area had grown out to encroach on the site.[citation needed] Since the Emergency Planning Zones crossed both of the highways leading off the island, the populace was concerned that in the event of an accident evacuation would be impossible. After the 1979 Three Mile Island and the 1986 Chernobyl accidents, public opposition to the plant rose significantly.

A virtual twin, the 660 MWe Millstone 1, was ordered the same year across the sound in Connecticut. The Millstone 1 was completed for $101 million and fully operational within 5 years of receiving a construction permit. It produced power until July 21, 1998. The Long Island equivalent, however, was hampered by protests from anti-nuclear activists, causing delays and increasing the cost to over $5 billion, which was eventually paid by New York state residents and resulted in Long Island having some of the highest electricity prices in the country.[1]

Even as it became increasingly obvious the plant would never open, LILCO performed low power testing, thereby making decommissioning a necessity, but never produced any commercial electric power, due to the fact that New York Governor Mario Cuomo's representatives did not sign the Emergency Evacuation Plan. This meant that it could not receive a full power license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), though it did receive a low power license.

On May 19, 1989, LILCO agreed not to operate the plant in a deal with the state under which most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed on to the consumers. The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), headed by Richard Kessel, was created in 1986 specifically to buy the plant from LILCO (which it did in 1992). The plant was fully decommissioned in 1994.

Strong media support came from Suffolk Life newspapers and several local weekly papers. Early and significant political backing from several town boards of eastern Suffolk Country. The Suffolk County Legislature was a prime battleground, and finally emerged in the 1980s as the most active and effective organization within the movement. (Newsday's online archives offer some historical background.)

When opposition began to form, the disdainful treatment that LILCO gave to the opposition only increased their resolve. The delays gave them plenty of time to organize and inform the public. It also highlighted the company's incompetence, which did not reassure the public of their ability to safely operate the plant.[4]

Governor Cuomo and LILCO came to an agreement on February 28, 1989 that closed the plant and made ratepayers responsible for most of Shoreham's $6 billion price tag, more than 85 times higher than the original estimate.[4]

Read More...

Nuclear Renaissance, step backwards into the Dark Ages

by Harold J. One Feather

My point here in my blog is not denigrate the global warming theory, but to show you that it is being used to further concentrate political power in the hands of certain nuclear energy companies. I firmly believe that this is illegal and contrary to the US Constitution. The names of the key players in this lawless game are: Exelon, Entergy, Dominion, Constellation, Uranez, Uranium Resources, Hydro Resources, Cameco, Strathmore, Westinghouse, Fluor and several other lesser known nuclear-related companies.

The Propaganda

As the nuclear renaissance in allegiance with the global warming buffs continues its onward march through the history as one of the most controversial and concentrated political movements, using outright media fabrication of a decade's old problem, formerly known as pollution, now as global warming to foster a society-wide delusion that we need more nuclear power plants, that we need more sources of uranium, that we need more nuclear waste repositories and that nuclear energy is inherently safe. Being associated with global warming must indicate to the unknowing earning their well-meant support.

Supporting the nuclear renaissance is the mass media, owned by only a few individuals and corporations, who are, in turn, responsible to others with just as nefarious ties to unlawful and illegal trusts, syndicates, front companies, and outright Mafioso mobs.

This propaganda, at first, confused all the environmental groups and anti-nuclear groups but as certain contradictions within it are becoming more apparent, this propaganda is being attacked by all sides as a gross lie. Although the dividing lines in the sand have been drawn with several fence sitters being knocked off their fence into the wrong pasture, this propaganda serves only to illustrate the level and number of front groups that covertly sponsor nuclear energy as an alternative to coal and other power generation industries. On the other hand, this dividing line is providing intelligent decision making possibilities for investment to those groups that are truly for protecting and preserving the environment.

Advanced Burner Reactors (ABR) is most often used in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as its poster child of hope. Advanced Burner Reactors are still in the design stages expecting to come on line in nearly 20 years as stated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This type of reactor recycles spent uranium, converting it to plutonium to be used again in the fuel cycle. Instead of decreasing the safety risks, these types of reactors actually increase the danger. But again nothing says that they can't spend research funds studying the ABR technologies. Also after reading the GNEP, I can't help but feel a sense of irony since it reminds me of a pipe dream and doesn't consider any potential accidents or disasters.

The Conspiracy

As our society's economy is based on the exploitation of our earth's natural resources, then adding value to this through taxation and tariffs, stocks, bonds and dividends, corporations and political parties. Given this, we were told that the name of this diffuse organization is the military industrial complex, named as such during the Viet Nam War. Owned by forces unseen, our economy is being driven in directions that are environmentally dangerous; all in the name of profit. Yet what can one individual do to resist this control; you can't stop purchasing their products especially food, gas, medicine and others, that would be suicide. And as they know that we can't stop using electricity, so again the conspiracy emerges, are they promoting this nuclear renaissance to promote coal-fired power plants although these contribute significantly to the problem?

A very illustrative example of the conspiratorial nature of this issue is the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) and its Megatons to Megawatts program. This program buys from Russia uranium that was formerly in nuclear warheads. As of April 2007, more than 12,000 nuclear warhead material has been sold to the US. This uranium is then converted to fuel for the 103 reactors spread across this country. The implications herein cause me great consternation in terms of world peace and stability.

The Mining

The nuclear renaissance has also increased the demand for the uranium, causing a boom in the in situ leach uranium mining industry. But sadly it has not caused increase attention to the abandoned uranium mines located in and around Native American communities. (read this post for more details)

In the Midwest in states such as Wyoming, ISL uranium mining is growing rapidly with former uranium strip mines being reopened for extraction. Nunn County in Colorado is one of the few places that the ISL operation where the community is actively opposing the mining operation over concerns about the effects on drinking water. In Goliad, TX community residents are wondering why they fell for the lies that the ISL uranium mining could return water quality to pre-mining levels. In South Dakota, abandoned uranium mines and current attempts by an ISL uranium mining operation are very major concerns in terms of water quality and current health crises in the downstream reservation communities.

These concerns are not heeded, only the desire for profit stands tall.

The fact is that most mining companies that are now producing uranium are capitalized by banks and financial investment corporations which I presume are owned by foreign countries who have long realized that control of the interest rates is more important than owing physical assets such as manufacturing industries, mineral extraction industries and energy corporations. Controlling interest rates does major significance in the common day lives of our society. Financing the nuclear renaissance is debt or government subsidies. And without the source materials for enrichment, the nuclear renaissance is supposedly going to be held to a standstill but not necessarily, there are other mining locations in this world other than in the US.

The Hypothesis

Therefore herein I state my new hypothesis; the nuclear renaissance is meant mainly for the Asian countries as they are in the construction phases of many new reactors using US technology and companies. The uranium demand is needed for these Asian reactors, not US reactors.

I agree with global warming but I know for a fact that nuclear energy will not be the solution to it. Only conserving what we have now is the only way to preventing future climate disasters, educating ourselves about the nature of the nuclear renaissance helps in this regard.

(Read more from Harold J. One Feather on his blog Environmental Nightmares)

So, The Threat Of A Nuclear Incident Is Small-Documents You Should Browse/Read

The NRC wants to rubber stamp the license renewal application of Entergy's failing twin reactors known as Indian Point 2 and 3. To accomplish this, they are trying to take security concerns off the table in direct violation of NEPA regulations. To force their hand is going to take a monumental legal battle, and that is going to take financing...that financing is going too require the public getting involved in this fight, and donating to the cause, helping to fund a fight that is likely to end up at the Supreme Court. To refute Entergy and the NRC's assertions that we are safe, and that the likelihood of a terrorist attack on a reactor is slim, I've taken time today to collect a series of links to government documents found on other than NRC agency web pages that paint a very different picture. It is my sincere hope that providing this list will help in awakening the public in and around Indian Point up to the true risks we are faced with, wake people up to the fact that we cannot allow the NRC to grant Entergy a 20 year license renewal for this aging brittled reactors.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/2006/CF176.pdf

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/2006/RAND_RB200.pdf

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2006/RAND_MG441.pdf

http://radhealth.usuhs.mil/triageproceedings.pdf

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/population-monitoring-roundtable.pdf

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/shelter.pdf

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/radiation-evacuation.pdf

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/clinicianpocketguide.pdf

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/MassCasualtiesGuidelines.pdf
Major event at or near a nuclear facility (such as an airplane crash into a nuclear power plant or spent nuclear fuel pool) – Significant amounts of radioactive material have been released. There
are dozens of injured people at the facility, many experiencing symptoms related to acute radiation syndrome, and thousands of contaminated or exposed people in the surrounding area who have an increased probability of long-term health effects.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/hospitalroundtablereport.pdf

http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/radiation/about-radiation.html Page is NOT THERE.

http://www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/pdf/pcktcard.pdf

http://www1.va.gov/emshg/docs/Radiologic_Medical_Countermeasures_051403.pdf

http://www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/pdf/radiologicalhandbooksp99-2.pdf

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1224#toc
"This is the Bible that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and others use." --Thomas Cochran, Natural Resource Defense Council, New York Times, December 20, 1989

http://www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/pdf/2edmmrchandbook.pdf

http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness.html
Emergency Preparedness and Response Good planning leads to good response. Our emergency preparedness programs enable emergency personnel to rapidly identify, evaluate, and react to a wide spectrum of emergencies, including those arising from terrorism or natural events such as hurricanes. Our incident response program integrates the overall NRC capabilities for the response and recovery of radiological incidents and emergencies involving facilities and materials regulated by the NRC or an Agreement State. Under the National Response Plan, the NRC will coordinate with other Federal, State, and local emergency organizations in response to various types of domestic events. The NRC emphasizes the integration of safety, security, and emergency preparedness as the basis for the NRC’s primary mission of protecting public health and safety. Our review of the emergency preparedness programs reaffirmed that our emergency planning bases remain valid under the current threat environment. The NRC's Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) has the primary responsibility for these essential agency functions. For more information Contact Us.

http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness/respond-to-emerg/response-terrorism.html

http://www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/pdf/pcktcard.pdf

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/firsthours/pdf/creativebrief_radioactive_materials.pdf

http://www.hhs.gov/emergency/mediaguide/PDF/HHSMedisReferenceGuideFinal.pdf

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ATTACK This is a radiological threat that does not involve a nuclear blast. Terrorists could attack a nuclear power plant by using explosives, hacking into the computer system, or crashing a plane into the reactor or other structures on site. Security measures are in place so that such attempts are likely to be detected early.

http://www.hhs.gov/emergency/mediaguide/field/HHSMediaFieldGuideFinal.pdf

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/NRP_JFO_FOG.pdf

http://www.orau.gov/hsc/RadMassCasualties/content/videos/2_Planning_Handout.pdf

http://www.orau.gov/hsc/RadMassCasualties/content/videos/3_Decon_Handout.pdf

http://www.orau.gov/hsc/RadMassCasualties/content/videos/4_Triage_Handout.pdf

http://www.orau.gov/hsc/RadMassCasualties/content/videos/5_Treatment_Handout.pdf

http://www.orau.gov/hsc/RadMassCasualties/content/videos/6_Pharmacotherapy_Handout.pdf

Preparing For Battle-Indian Point's License Renewal

We cannot allow an American Host Community to Become the next Chernobyl

Last week, some important information came out of the Annual Assessment meeting, including a statement, that Entergy needs to submit their license renewal application by the end of the month. If the source (Sam Collins of the NRC) is correct, then the clock starts ticking on Wednesday, May 1st, 2007. NRC gives a 24-30 month time line for license renewals, but have accomplished the task with another Entergy reactor in as little as 17 months. There are hundreds of reasons to deny Indian Point's license renewal application, but if other reactors serve as example, the NRC is unwilling to consider any of them, which means we as a community need to make hard decisions, and depending on what they are, draw the proverbial line in the sand as we prepare our battle strategy.

With this reality before us, there was a second very important fact that came out in the NRC's Annual Assessment meeting. After Mark Jacobs delivered his impassioned condemnation of both Entergy's Indian Point facility, and NRC for their lack of any meaningful regulatory control, Sam Collins again spoke on behalf of his agency. Some may have missed two crucial admissions as he spoke. In case of a FAST MOVING EVENT, evacuation will not work, the NRC, Entergy and FEMA will have no choice but to rely on sheltering in place.

First, we have a key employee of the NRC admitting publicly in and open meeting that the evacuation plan will not work, cannot be implemented in the case of a fast moving event or terrorist attack at the Indian Point facility...within that admission is the cold tacit truth that none of the evacuation plans for every reactor in America are workable in the case of a fast moving incident or terrorist attack. If you look at the action plan, the only kind of event that would elevate to a level that the sirens and evacuation plan would come into play, is a fast moving event.

Secondly, Sam admitted that the Emergency Response teams would rely on sheltering in place in the case of a fast moving event. Being blunt, sheltering in our homes in the case of a fast breaking significant event will sentence many of us to death. The State Department's website envisions a scenario wherein citizens could be sheltered in place for a period of up to two weeks, perhaps longer. Without an adequately supplied and equipped shelter, we as citizens are vulnerable to the ravages of the radioactive fallout from a significant radiological event. The NRC attempts to mitigate this reality, by mitigating the odds of such an event occurring.

I've alienated some with my blunt assessments, with my in your face approach to this battle as it looms ever closer. Apologize for that, but we do not have time on our side, do not have the luxury of hammering out and reaching consensus between the various groups and factions in this fight...the leaders have to step up with a battle plan, or plans, and the foot soldiers need to be ready for deployment where and when needed, or we are doomed to failure, in this case failure being saddled with Indian Point for a period of forty more years.

So, what is a workable strategy? Sadly, I do not have a crystal ball, no soothsayer with whom to consult. However, do have some hunches, do feel we can greatly weaken the entire license renewal process by attaching the NRC's flanks, using their own bureaucracy to slow them down, if not stop it in its tracks. For the strategy to have a chance, we need volunteers, not just here in our own community, but in every reactor community in America.

The NRC's 10 CFR Rules and Regulations provide numerous avenues for citizen stakeholders to get involved in the process. There is the NRC's Office of The Inspector General, there is the ability to file for intervenor status, and there is the ability to file a petition for rule change. With these access tools, we have the ability to swamp if not collapse the NRC's regulatory process. Yes, we use their own rules and regulations to strangle them, we barage the agency with hundreds of thousands of pages of paperwork they have to deal with and address.

Magaret Mead stated, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, devoted citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that has" , and my idea takes that truth and multiplys it across America as Aging Reactor host communities join together as one to take on the entire nuclear industry. 104 reactors in 67 American communities, and almost every community hosting a reactor wants them shut down...it can happen if we use our grassroots organizations, and numbers to our favor and advantage.

In our own area of Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess counties how many individual citizens want Indian Point shut down? How many members can Riverkeeper, IPSEC and Clearwater rally to our cause? Multiply that times 67 reactor communities, and how many others around other dangerous sites such as Barnwell would join in the fight? Nationwide, we could have a veritable Army of activists waiting on their marching orders. So, what do we do?

We use the regulatory process to our advantage by having this citizen army file individual separate petitions for rule making. We have these citizens write up and mail in allegations to the NRC's Office of The Inspector General. We have this citizen army of activists all across the nation mailing in letters demanding intervener status for their own reactor sites. Imagine for a moment even 67,000 citizens (1000 from each reactor community) each mailing in one petition for rule making, one letter of allegation, and one letter demanding intervener status. That's 201,000 documents that the NRC has to deal with! With three simple letters from each activist, we have a great chance of bogging down the NRC, forcing them to come to the negotiation table, forcing them to end a re licensing process that is corrupt to its core.

NRC does NOT consider:

Fatally Flawed Emergency Evacuation Plan

Population changes/density of surrounding area,

Ongoing leaks of strontium 90 and tritium

Terrorism, or Plant security

The hour grows late, and our communities are running out of time. The call for and ISA is non-workable, and is not going to occur. Desperate times call for bold and decisive actions. If others have ideas, lets hear them now, and map out our plan. One thing is certain...we need a miracle, and most miracles come from a lot of hard work, and the willingness to take risks.

Soundkeeper Terry Backer to Join Call for Millstone Closed Cooling

SOUNDKEEPER TERRY BACKER & ACTIVIST NANCY BURTON CALL FOR MILLSTONE MODIFICATION TO SPARE FISH, PROTECT LONG ISLAND SOUND

Contact Nancy Burton:
203-938-3952
NancyBurtonCT@aol.com

Contact Terry Backer:
203-943-2764
Soundkeeper@gmail.com

Long Island Soundkeeper Terry Backer will join environmental activist Nancy Burton at a press conference on March 19, 2007 at 9 AM in front of the Hartford Superior Court (95 Washington Street) to call for converting the Millstone Nuclear Power Station to a fish-friendly cooling system.

A court hearing is scheduled for 9:30 AM on March 19, 2007 on Burton’s application for a temporary injunction to put Millstone in cold shutdown during the impending annual fish larvae migration. The microscopic larvae are swept by the billions into the Millstone cooling water intakes and destroyed.

As Long Island Soundkeeper, Backer has spearheaded federal litigation to convert power plants to closed cooling systems.

“Once-through cooling - what is used at Millstone - is equivalent to a fish-killing machine and it needs to stop,” said Backer.

Radioactive Farming? by Hattie Nestel

How are farmers to know if their fields are radioactive? Radioactivity is not discernible through our usual senses of taste, hearing, sight, smell, or touch. The Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, five miles from Massachusetts and New Hampshire borders in southern Vermont, emits radiation that impacts the health and safety of all three states.

“Each day, a nuclear reactor releases more than 100 chemicals into the air,” states Joseph Mangano, national coordinator of the Radiation and Public Health Project. “These chemicals, which are created only in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, are radioactive and cause cancer by damaging cells. After entering the body through breathing and food, each chemical affects the body in a different way. Iodine 131 attacks the thyroid gland, strontium 90 seeks out bone and cesium 137 disperses throughout soft tissues. The fetus and infant with undeveloped immune systems and rapidly diving cells are most affected.”

Radioactive elements from a nuclear reactor enter water of adjoining rivers or lakes or are released into the air. Airborne releases can land in agricultural fields hundreds or even thousands of miles away from their source. Unwitting organic farmers or their customers have little knowledge that foods certified “organic” are actually grown on contaminated soil. Ingesting contaminated crops or animal products can cause leukemia, thyroid diseases, cancers, heart disease, infertility, Down Syndrome, spontaneous abortions, immune deficiency diseases, and congenital birth defects which will be passed on to succeeding generations.

Rosalie Bertell, a cancer research scientist, has spent much of her life studying low-level radiation including ten years writing a comprehensive book entitled, No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth. She states that there is a general nuclear illiteracy in the U.S. and “. . . only scientists are fully aware of the subtle cumulative nature of damage from low-level radiation.”

In the 2005 Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation report, the National Academy of Sciences state that there is no safe level of exposure to radiation. However, the public is kept in the dark about ongoing radioactive emissions, the dangers they pose, and the health consequences suffered by exposed populations. Federal and local governing agencies tend to protect corporate interests rather than public health. There are little accountability and few avenues for public input.

At stake are another twenty to forty years of relicensing for every reactor in the country. Forty-seven have already applied and received this extension from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A broad-based coalition needs to unite and say a resounding NO to nuclear power and a hearty YES to sustainable, safe, locally controlled energy options that will allow farmers to have truly organic crops.

Resources: Nuclear Power is Not the Answer by Helen Caldicott, 2006 Insurmountable Risks: The Dangers of Using Nuclear Power to Combat Global Climate Change by Brice Smith, 2006 (publ. IEER)

Deadly Deceit: Low level Radiation, High Level Cover-up by Gould and Goldman, 1990.

Author Hattie Nestel lives in Athol, Ma. 25 miles from Vermont Yankee. She works with Citizens Awareness Network, CAN@NUKEBUSTERS.ORG to shut down Vermont Yankee.

Hattieshalom@verizon.net
978-249-6224

MILLSTONE 3 SHUT DOWN THIS WEEKEND WITH RADIOACTIVE LEAK

NRC ADMITS LYING TO THE PUBLIC

Millstone Unit 3 was shut down on Sunday January 28 and remained shut down on Monday with a radioactive leak allowing radiated coolant to escape from the reactor.

Workers assigned to investigate and repair the leaking valve were exposed to high levels of radiation. Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc., Millstone's Virginia-based owner, denied that any radiation leaked into the environment.

On April 17, 2005, steam cascaded from Millstone for a 10-hour period during a Dominion-declared Class II emergency involving valve failures, operator error, defective instrumentation and a "tin whisker."

Throughout the incident, Dominion denied radiation leakage to the environment. Subsequently, officials of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under questioning by the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, admitted the steam contained unusual levels of radioactive krypton, which quickly decays to strontium-90, a deadly radioisotope which causes bone cancer and leukemia.

The NRC ADMITTED IT LIED to the public about radiation releases which occurred during the emergency to avoid a public panic.

The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone will investigate this incident.

(Text courtesy Nancy Burton)

Radiation Alert: Beware You Who Live and Breathe Near Millstone!

Judi Friedman, who is well known and highly respected as the founder and director of PACE (People's Action for Clean Energy), carried out a science experiment on Thursday, January 18, 2007, with her RadAlert50, which measure alpha, gamma, beta and X-ray radiation. First she stood near Liberty Park and Main Street in Niantic (across Niantic Bay from Millstone) and turned on two RadAlerts simultaneously for 10 minutes. They gave readings of 12 and 13. These numbers are not unusual.

Judi then went over to Pleasure Beach in Waterford. This public beach is directly across Jordan Cove and directly downwind from Millstone. Judi held the two radiation monitors for 10 minutes simultaneously on the sandy beach. The readings? 20 and 23. These numbers equate with what Judi has recorded at the Nevada test Site, Kiev, Ukraine south of Chernobyl, and Kazakhistan, notorious for rogue nuclear activities.

What conclusion did Judi draw from her experiment? "Radiation levels were measurably higher downwind of Millstone at Pleasure Beach as compared with Niantic at the time the levels were measured," Judi said. The radiation routinely released by Millstone is deadly. It correlates with cancer clusters near Pleasure Beach and many other locations in Millstone's shadow.

Register your outrage with key committees of the state legislature that can do something about Millstone's routine poisoning of the community:

Energy & Technology: Steve.Fontana@cga.ct.gov
Environment: Finch@senatedems.ct.gov
Public Health: mailto:mHandley@senatedems.ct.gov

(Post text contribute by Nancy Burton.)

Millstone Is More Of a Threat Than Ever

CONNECTICUT COALITION AGAINST MILLSTONE
www.mothballmillstone.org

January 26, 2007

September 11 Five Years Later: Millstone Is More Of a Threat Than Ever Five years after terrorists flew over the Indian Point nuclear reactors on the Hudson River bound for the World Trade Center...

Dear Members of the Energy & Technology Committee:

We note that Rep. Elizabeth Ritter recently extended an invitation to fellow members of the Energy & Technology Committee to visit Millstone’s dry cask storage installation in Waterford. Please refer to the minutes of your January 4, 2007 and January 11, 2007 meetings.

While we appreciate earnest efforts to inform your Committee about all aspects of Millstone operations, we write to be sure you are aware of the following:

1. Dominion’s application to the Siting Council to site a de facto permanent high-level nuclear waste storage installation is the subject of a legal challenge initiated by the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone; an appeal is now pending before the Appellate Court.

2. The approval defied the Waterford Conservation Commission’s decision and is contrary to Waterford’s zoning regulations, which prohibit permanent nuclear waste storage within the town.

3. The storage units are federally licensed for only 20 years; it is generally acknowledged that there will be no federal repository to take the waste before the licenses expire.

4. The federal regulator, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, did not evaluate the vulnerability of the above-ground, highly visible (see accompanying photograph) nuclear waste storage facility to acts of terrorism. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit recently ruled with regard to a dry cask storage application in California that the NRC erred in failing to take into consideration such vulnerability; the U.S. Supreme Court denied the utility’s pedtition to appeal.

5. Millstone’s above-ground storage installation is highly vulnerable to an airborne terrorist attack. (See photo.)

6. Dominion flagrantly misled the Siting Council when it represented the site is protected by state-of-the art perimeter security. When Dominion, through its lobbyist, Daniel Weekley, made such claim, it was deliberately disabling its perimeter security system because it was generating hundreds of false alarms. Dominion’s security was and is a travesty. These facts have become known through whistleblower disclosures.

7. High-level nuclear waste dry-cask installations in the U.S. have been plagued with defects. Components made in Japan do not meet U.S. quality control standards.

8. The NRC’s approval of Millstone’s high-level nuclear waste storage disallowed any public hearing or other public input.

9. The facility is designed to continuously release high levels of radiation requiring limited worker exposure. Direct unshielded exposure results in a lethal dose of radiation.

10. Millstone’s above-ground and highly visible dry-cask storage facility is located but yards away from Jordan Cove, an active recreational area and estuary of the Long Island Sound, which affords waterborne access.

11. Ex-Governor John G. Rowland’s office facilitated Siting Council approval of the facility, according to DEP records made available under the Freedom of Information Act. Mr. Weekley arranged for Dominion to fly the chairman of the Siting Council, its executive director and a voting member of the Siting Council to out-of-state nuclear facilities to acquaint them with dry-cask storage installations, a fact withheld from the public during the Siting Council’s proceedings. The then-Ethics Commission gave a green light to this arrangement, calling it a “gift to the state.” Current standards of ethics would disallow such an arrangement today.

12. Dominion represented that the dry cask storage facility was needed in order to keep Millstone Unit 2 operating. Unit 2 had filled its wet storage pool to capacity. Unit 2 - which began operations 31 years ago - has been troubled-plagued. Most recently, it was put under special scrutiny by the NRC because of the high number of defective equipment-related unplanned shutdowns. Its operational history was so bleak that the DPUC declared Millstone Unit 2 “no longer used and useful” and removed it from the rate base c. 1998. Millstone Unit 2 is an accident waiting to happen.

Sincerely,

Nancy Burton
147 Cross Highway
Redding Ridge CT 06876
Tel. 203-938-3952