IMPORTANT letter from Dr. Busby

by way of:
Cathy Garger

savorsuccesslady3@yahoo.com

If you’ve been following the ongoing saga of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant on New York’s Hudson River, you already know about the long history of underground radioactive leaks seeping out of two spent nuclear fuel pools there. It is also possible you might have heard the buzz - or, read, in this “mission accomplished” article www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081110/NEWS/811100315/-1/rss01 that 500,000 gallons of radioactive water has been dumped by Entergy Corporation into the Hudson River.

The explanation of this dumping process was offered by a July 31, 2008 report called the “Indian Point Independent Safety Evaluation”:

http://nyindianpoint.org/images/Full%20Report.pdf

“When all fuel has been removed, the pools will be drained. Pool drainage is a two‐step process. First the water level will be lowered to 2‐3 feet. The residual water layer will provide radiological protection while the debris and sludge in the bottom of the spent fuel pool is removed, after which the remaining water will be drained by April 2009. The removed debris will be collected and, based on activity level, either shipped off‐site for disposal or stored on‐site in the interim radioactive waste disposal facility.”

If you’re new to the matter of what nuclear power plants do with all of their radioactive materials after making some steam to generate a bit of electrical energy? A spent fuel pool, according to “The Code Killers: An Expose” http://www.acehoffman.com is “where used nuclear reactor cores are placed after use in a reactor…The amount of spent fuel in the pool is usually dozens of times more than is in the reactor itself.”

Indian Point spent fuel pool 1 has been holding all of the nuclear materials from Indian Point 1, a reactor which operated from 1962 to 1974. Thus, the drainage solution offered to prevent the continued underground leaking of unfiltered radioactive fluids from migrating underground into local groundwater and Hudson River was to clean up the radioactive water – or, at least, tidy it up a bit – and then get rid of it… by dumping (yes dumping) it into the Hudson River.

So, with jaw dropped and mouth possibly still hanging wide open (as this writer’s has been since first learning of this)… you might be asking yourself, “Is this really so? Did Entergy Corporation actually just get away with dumping 500,000 gallons of radioactively contaminated water directly into the Hudson River?!”

Well, the simple answer is yes – and no.

According to the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) or, as it is more aptly called, “Nuclear Radiating Committee,” by those aware of what these federal pro-nukers actually do, the entire 500,000 gallons of water from the Indian Point1 spent fuel pool have not been dumped – not all of it, not yet, that is.

According to Neil Sheehan of the NRC in a November 14 statement to this writer, the amount of “dirty” water poured into the Hudson was not 500,000 gallons, but rather… 459,000 gallons. The entire NRC statement is featured below for your edification – and reading amazement.

Well, what became of the remaining contaminated water in the Indian Point Pool 1, you might ask? As Mr. Sheehan relays the story, Entergy is apparently saving the worst for last.

Yes, the worst is yet to come. Reportedly, approximately 50,000 gallons of the very worst radioactive materials – the ones surrounding the “sludge” (near the reactor cores themselves) are going to be filtered – until the radioactivity is lessened to a level that the feds can legally bless it and anoint it with their most *un*-holy water, and allow Entergy get away with dumping the worst of it into the Hudson. Now, mind you, these 50,000 gallons or so still remaining contain the most deadly types of radioactive poison chemicals ever to have been created.

Some solution, eh? Drain the contaminated pool, filter it to get some of the radioactivity out, and then dump the amount of radioactivity you can get away with into the Hudson. I don’t know – maybe it’s just me, but it seems that Entergy’s being allowed to get away with… mur… uh, let’s just say, destruction of life, in legalized form.

Was there any other option than dumping the “dirty” water into the majestic Hudson, you might be wondering? Why, indeed, yes, there was, according to Dr. Chris Busby, Green Audit Co-Founder and Director www.greenaudit.org/about_green_audit.htm and Founder of Low Level Radiation Campaign http://www.llrc.org who stated in private correspondence with this writer on November 17, “They should have moved the water to another tank and stored it there; then dug out the mud and stored that in a different tank.

Forever. “Dr. Busby has even more to say (to follow below) on this dirty “business” of what kind of radioactive poisons are contained within the remaining contmainated water. Could they have filtered all radioactive contaminants out, as Entergy tried to claim in its October 6 statement, http://www.lohud.com/article/20081006/OPINION/810060311/1345/NEWS0202
“The filtration and removal of all contaminants from Unit 1 at Indian Point is a major achievement and milestone for the plant.”

I won’t paraphrase what the internationally renown radiation scientist and researcher, Dr. Chris Busby says. Dr. Busby’s letter in full on this matter (and the NRC statement below it) is quoted here so you can read Dr. Busby’s comment and – think about its implications for yourself.

As time is of the essence, I’ll cut right to the chase. In short, the residents in the tri-state area now have an important decision to make. There are still roughly 50,000 gallons of the most contaminated water known to human kind being readied for dumping into the Hudson River.

May all those concerned – including residents from Connecticut, New York, and all down the Jersey coast – consider telling Entergy Corporation to stop relieving itself and using the Hudson River as its personal nuclear toilet in which to excrete its nuclear dumps.

Dear Cathy

I have had a look at what you sent. I note that there are no numbers, no data. Perhaps this is on purpose. The idea is straightforward: the stuff is leaking into the groundwater due to hydrostatic pressure in the pond, so take away the water and no pressure. But here are a few comments.

First, you are right that tritium cannot be filtered as it is essentially water. Second, filtration can only remove particles larger than the filter pore size, and below about 2 microns it gets very hard to push anything through a filter. So particles less than 1 micron will get through. I think there will be a lot of particles that get through. Then, anything that is soluble will get through, because it is molecules. You can’t filter salt water and get out the salt.

Caesium-137 is soluble and probably the major radioactive component of the mixed fission products in the pool. Strontium-90 is also soluble although less so, so are the dangerous alpha emitters uranium U-235, U-238 and U-234 and plutonium-239 and Pu-238 and Am-241 and the beta emitter Pu-241. There is also Co-60, also soluble to an extent, all depending on the acidity of the water in the pond. I would need to know the concentrations of these things in the final effluent, I note they haven’t given those. The question to ask is for a table of activities in the final discharge water of these substances above.

These substances attach to silt in the river and wash around the shores. They then get blown ashore as inhalable (respirable) particles by a well described effect called sea to land transfer and the cancer rate on the coastal strip goes up. I have data that shows that in Connecticut, it is the coastal counties close to the Millstone plant that have significantly higher child leukemia than the counties away from the coast, a paper I will write up when I get a moment: Joe Mangano gave me the numbers. It's the effect I found in the Irish Sea due to discharges from Sellafield. People who live near fine mud are most at risk.

They should have moved the water to another tank and stored it there; then dug out the mud and stored that in a different tank. Forever.

Best regards
Chris
Dr Chris Busby

Castle Cottage

Sea View Place A

berystwyth SY231DZ UK

tel +44-1970-630215

November 14, 2008 statement from Neil Sheehan, NRC regarding Indian Point1 Spent Pool Drain-down

They flooded up the pool last 5/20 and the idea was that they would start the drain down on 9/15. They completed the drain-down on 10/1, and on 10/31 they announced that they had removed the sludge at the bottom of the pool.

So, as far as the liquid that was in the pool, the water that was in the pool, it involved about 459,000 gallons. What they did was filter that water through a series of 7 filters to make sure that there was no contamination that would have been above federal limits for release to the River. They also had sampled it before they even put it through the filters so they knew that they had water that had very low levels, very low concentrations of radioactivity. In any case, they ran it through this series of 7 filters, and then released it to the River.

There was also some water, once they drained it, down near the bottom, there was some sludge at the bottom, from all the years of use, there was some water that was in and around that sludge that, as an extra precaution, they not only ran it through those filters, but they also then ran it thru the radioactive water clean up system for the IP unit 2 and put it in a tank. They will sample that and they may run it through again, but they will not release that until they are fully satisfied that that water, again, is within allowable levels for release to the River. They don’t have an exact estimate on how much water is involved that was associated with the sludge. But it fit within a 75,000 gallon tank. They think it may only be somewhere in the order of 50,000 gallons or less, but they don’t have a firm estimate right now.

*****Cathy Garger is an anti-radiation freelance writer, public speaker, and activist who has recently joined the Green Nuclear Butterfly Blogger writing staff.

Breaking News... Nuke worker caught with bomb!!!

CNN

Nuclear plant employee stopped with explosive device

VIDEO

(CNN) -- A contract employee at the largest nuclear plant in the nation was stopped at a plant entrance Friday with a "relatively small" explosive device in his truck, officials said.

The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is the largest nuclear plant in the nation.

The employee was on his way to work at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Wintersburg, Arizona, at about 6 a.m. when a routine security sweep at a checkpoint found the item, according to Jim McDonald, spokesman for Arizona Public Service Company, which owns the plant.

He described the device as a "pipe bomb."

A capped pipe was found in the truck bed, said Victor Dricks, regional spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The pipe had suspicious residue, but APS said initial checks failed to show any explosive material on the pipe.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office took the pipe and tested it.

"MCSO bomb squad tests later determined that the capped pipe was a credible explosive device," APS said in a written statement.

The man was detained and is in the custody of the sheriff's office.

The device is not something the employee would have used in his work, which deals with computers and software, sheriff's spokesman Paul Chagolla said.

He is a middle-aged out-of-state subcontractor working at the plant who resides at a Phoenix apartment complex, Chagolla said, describing the employee as cooperative.

The plant is on lockdown until a security sweep is completed, McDonald said.

"We have a large and well-trained security force that followed the procedures exactly the way they're supposed to," he said.

Dricks said officials declared an "unusual event" at the plant -- the lowest of four emergency classifications.

The device was "relatively small" and its volatility had not been determined, APS spokesman Mark Fallon said.

The pipe was "in plain view of the security officers" and the employee apparently was not attempting to hide it, he said.

Even if someone were to smuggle a pipe bomb into a nuclear plant, the damage would not be catastrophic, said David Heyman, director of the Homeland Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The Department of Homeland Security has put in place buffer programs," Heyman said.

"They've spent tens of millions [of dollars] across the country in critical infrastructure, making sure if you get through one layer, you have to get through another and another. Before you get to that reactor, you have to get through a whole lot of security," he said.

Palo Verde is the largest electrical producer of any power plant in the country -- the equivalent of nine Hoover Dams.

Another Nuke Whistleblower Fired

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, York County, Pennsylvania

Whistleblower Fired
Reported by: Ewa Roman
ewaroman@clearchannel.com

A local man's family is threatened after he took video tape of his coworkers, security guards at a nuclear plant, sleeping. Now he and his coworkers have been layed off.

He says he has no idea why he was layed off. The only things Kerry Beal can think to blame are his actions that blew the whistle on sleeping security guards at Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant.

“For one, I knew those people weren't going to be able to protect my back, if everyone is sleeping around you,” says Beal.

And that's why Kerry Beal says he took the video. He also blew the whistle after he told some supervisors and alerted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but got nowhere.

“I really just did it to prove the fact to where it wasn't my word against their word, type of thing. There was an absolute proof.”

First, he started receiving some threats.

“It's been stressful considering we've already had one phone conversation with one officer there that was threatening in nature. We've had a vehicle drive-by and stop in wee hours of the morning.”

Then, he was fired, but so were the rest of the security guards he worked with.

“Frustrated is one way of putting it. Obviously, I’d like to have my job back.”

Kerry worked security with a company called Wackenhut, which provided security for Exelon in Peach Bottom. Now Exelon says they're done with that company and are hiring new people to patrol.

When Kerry tried to reapply for one of the positions he says they told him he didn't fit their strict criteria.

“If I was on the outside looking in, I would look at someone like myself and say, ‘Well-this is definitely a person that should be there, because they're willing to go the distance in bringing the truth out.’”

And that's all Kerry was trying to do before someone got hurt.

Kerry Beal's lawyer says Exelon’s decision appears to be retaliation and there may be a lawsuit coming.

Copyright 2007 Clear Channel Broadcasting.

(Thanks to Phillip Musegaas of Riverkeeper for this article)

Indian Point Scoping Meeting September 19

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to explain the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) portion of the relicensing process and to accept comments from the public, both oral and written, on what should be included in EIS that the NRC must prepare for Indian Point.

This will be done at a scoping meeting to be held Wednesday, September 19 at The Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt Manor.

There will be two identical sessions from 1:30-4:30pm and from 7-10pm.

Each will be preceded by an informal open house one hour prior to the session. The public will have the opportunity to tell the NRC what they’re concerned about in terms of Indian Point’s impacts on the environment such as the spent fuel leaks, once-through cooling impacts on fish populations, public health impacts, etc.

The NRC must consider these comments and formally respond to them in the draft EIS, due to come out in approximately one year.

People may register to attend the meeting or present oral comments at the meetings by contacting NRC’s Senior Project Manager Mr. Bo Pham at (800) 368-5642 x 8450 or by emailing indianpointeis@nrc.gov no later than September 10.

Members of the public can also register to speak at the meetings within 15 minutes before each session. The Colonial Terrace is located at 119 Oregon Road in Cortlandt Manor, NY. (914) 737-0400

NRC finds 'sleeping' Indian Point guard

NRC finds 'sleeping' Indian Point guard
By MICHAEL RISINIT

THE JOURNAL NEWS

August 27, 2007

BUCHANAN - A federal nuclear inspector found an apparently sleeping security guard yesterday afternoon at one of the Indian Point nuclear power plants' interior monitoring points.

"It was only after repeated attempts to get the guard's attention that the officer opened his eyes," Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said today.

The senior resident NRC inspector, who was entering the plant as part of his regular duties, discovered the inattentive guard at 2:05 p.m. The guard was then removed from his post and is now on administrative leave, said a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the plants' owner.

"It's obviously unacceptable that you would have a security officer falling asleep at his post, and he'll be dealt with sternly," said Entergy spokesman Jim Steets.

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, who heard about the incident this morning from the NRC congressional liaison, said the incident showed the need for a detailed investigation of Entergy's security practices.

"This does not reflect responsible leadership at Indian Point," Lowey said.

Both the NRC and Entergy said the incident did not affect Indian Point's security.

Staff writer Glenn Blain contributed to this report.

Chill Out at the Indian Point Corral

I don't often break promises... In fact hardly ever... Some people resent me for it, because no matter what, if I have promised something, I will keep trying to deliver on that promise till my dying day, I never go back on a promise... I keep coming like the Terminator, with elephant memory... a nightmare to some who have moved on, can't understand why I have to take my word is my bond to such extremes!!!

But in this case I will make an exception. I made a promise to these United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America members, that I wouldn't publish their photo rejoicing in our Radioactive Energy drink, proudly holding these glow-in-the-dark cans, because after I snapped the picture, the head of their local chapter, and members of the NRC, approached them and explained that we were an anti-nuclear table, that the owners of the company making the drink were Rock The Reactors and Green Nuclear Butterfly sponsors, that they could lose their jobs if this picture was published.

So the men in the photograph, came back to me and asked, gently, however hinting, that they would rather we not meet again, that if I were to put this photo online, we would indeed find each other again. Now, first, I liked these guys, think they liked me... or they wouldn't have allowed I snap the photo in the first place. You know, despite what people think, I have more in common with them than 90% of the wealthy folks on the board of directors at IPSEC, Riverkeeper or Clearwater! This environmental mission has been my life. I've never gathered moss, worked in clubs selling drinks rather than don suit and tie, play their silly parlor games. To me it's not a case of Not In My Back Yard... it's a case of Not On My Planet!!! And given half a chance, we can make our case, just sit down with John Schaeffer at Real Goods for five minutes, or Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd... They'll tell you the score, how you're being manipulated by your Union... party to a scheme threatening millions of lives on the Hudson!

But I also don't take kindly to being threatened, however gently... the ruckus these Union guys caused on the steps outside that day, intimidating our supporters, when in fact less than 10% of these Union men ever set foot inside the Indian Point nuclear power plant, never questioned the operations there... came for the t-shirt, the cap, the over time pay, and yes the free can of Radioactive Energy drink... then the harassing phone calls started, the anonymous attack blogs intensified. Yesterday, Sherwood gets a death threat. That's how the nuclear power industry operates... Sherwood and I knew this going in, that if this is to heat up, if we are going to successfully attract attention to the issue, we are going to face the consequences tugging the tiger's tail! Sadly that's how the media reacts today, unless Paris Hilton screams or cries "Indian Point" ~ nobody is going to pay this any heed.

Let me quote the Clearwater program (page 6) this weekend: "...following conditions be met prior to accepting Entergy's application to relicense Indian Point for another 20 years." We don't want the following conditions be met... The folks we represent and work with want Indian Point closed! Period! No quarter... like in Goldfinger... "We don't want you to talk Mr. Bond, we want you to die!" Unlike Clearwater, we are not telling our volunteers to not voice their own opinion, to water down the message, round off the corners, dilute the solution, to tell the public this is a petition to make Indian Point safer, not shut it down, that we tried that and it didn't work, like that young woman I interviewed in my Vlog on Sunday!

Unlike Clearwater, we don't have contributors with cushy jobs or connections to Entergy, who want to play good neighbor... Like that man walking around the festival with a Paramount Theater t-shirt expressing what a good citizen Entergy is for contributing so much money to the community, to local arts... When will Peekskill and its neighboring towns come to realize, that you can't have Indian Point stay open while at the same time greet Entergy as a good neighbor. Did you know not even 10% of those who work at the plant live within a 20 mile radius of Indian Point? What do Entergy workers know that we don't I wonder?

So don't threaten me, my family, my friends, my colleagues, don't call me in the middle of the night calling me a loser, you will never live half my life... Don't send me threatening emails or weird packages... get in my face at public meetings, muscling me around... I might be a stringy 54 year old... tired and beat and weatherworn... but I have more intel and commando training experience than you will ever earn, I can put you down with a kill in three moves, you won't even know what hit you... I could do that to an adult by age 12... and a sharp shooter too... my dad was nuts, OK? I became so fearful of this power, this training, I swore never to raise my hand or my fist in anger again... so don't push me... because in this fight, probably the last environmental fight in my life... you will never know how many battles I've won running the show from behind the scenes.

So you three guys in the picture, I respect you, I honor you, I understand the position this is putting you in, I empathize, but we have a battle to fight, a war to win... tell your bosses to leave you the f*** alone, and to leave us the f*** alone, or this is going to escalate into a drag out, kicking and screaming mess... I don't think either side wants this, least of all Clearwater and Riverkeeper, who have been so desperately trying to keep this oh so amicable, I'm throwing up from the overdose of estrogen!

Instead why don't you ask us about all the amazing opportunities the wind and solar industry can bring you... how a friend of mine, a colleague of yours, who worked as an underwater welder at Indian Point, is now making a killing drilling wells for the geothermal industry! Instead of coming looking for me to break my legs, burn my house down, ask yourselves, are these nuclear jobs really worth all they're cracked up to be? Or are they just harping an old tired and worn technology, nobody wants, nobody wanted in the first place... everyone knows the truth except those who still buy into the messages of deception pumped out by DoE and DoD! The French, in the 60's, allowed then president Pompidou to sell out their country to Westinghouse! Look at them now, faced with horrendous nuclear waste problem... no solution, no end in site... the health and well being of their entire nation at risk.

I don't want to witness the Clearwater festival downward spiral into a green Wal-Mart... this year I noticed a sad turn... blue backstage wrist bands... creating a divide between audience and performers... it didn't used to be that way... the Blue Meanies are creeping into Clearwater's organization... is Pete Seeger aware of this? Does he know who the people are in his midst? Does he see the devil infiltrating, corrupting, as he sings NoNukes songs with his Raging Grannies friends... does he know the wolf is not only at the door, it's already in the herd?

Bring it on guys, we're taking Indian Point down... Nobody wants a revolution, but you're going to get one anyway... just for the hell of it... because we need a good summer of get even. Frankly, if this upsets a few cocktail party goers, spills drinks as they gasp at the news a couple of agent provocateurs have snuck in through the back door, like Gary Cooper in Vera Cruz, look at me, do I look like I care? Clearwater was created to clean and protect the Hudson river... Entergy and Indian Point are killing it... killing us, producing energy we don't need, at horrendous risk and cost, no matter what they tell you, they lie... through their teeth... because their corporate culture of death doesn't know any different, it's what they do for a living, they cash the check, they feed their spawn.

The solar energy and the wind industry know that if Indian Point shuts down, it will be a boom to their business... it will be a boom to tourism in Peekskill... which is such a lovely, beautiful town, crippled by this plant nobody in their right mind would want to live next door to if they really had a choice in the matter, why the community is so depressed, half the stores boarded up... You can't pay people to live there.

Since we started using MySpace to reconnect the anti-nuclear community, revive the anti-nuclear movement, the nuclear industry is now blanketing it with ads to recruit nuclear workers... The industry can't find enough qualified young people, yet we need a new generation who loves Toxic Waste Zombies, who grew up with Garbage Pail Kids, to clean up this radioactive mess... If the focus of the industry was to close down the old plants, stop the madness, sit down with anti-nuclear scientists, work out the kinks... maybe the industry would have a future, cause right now, with the upheaval that's building up, against the tyranny of this one world nuclear order... we're not going to have a moment of peace. You want love, you gotta earn it, you gotta give a little... give us Indian Point as a token of your good will. The plant's done. Like an old dog, it had its day... nobody is going to support anything the nuclear power industry tries to do if ~ again ~ you give America martyrs like Karen Silkwood!

Peace... join the party, the party is about closing Indian Point, now, not by 2015... now, this year, as soon as possible, put this country back on the right track. Until that happens, you'll need a runaway train to stop me from organizing a revival of the anti-nuclear spirit in this country. And there's one thing I'm really good at, that's organizing. We are going to win this one, so just to save us all the long drawn out process, the waste of time, energy and resources, already 8 times more than any other nuke in the country, or so we've been told... why not just let it go... call it quits... let's create roundtables, reassess the whole of the nuclear industry... leave the good folks of the Hudson Valley out of this, give them back their river... so the state doesn't have to bring in the National Guards, soften the edges, cushion the blow, try to play nice... This is not touch football... this is rugby... it's going to escalate into a calamity if you don't use this opportunity to do the right thing, give the people of New York what they elected both Eliot Spitzer and John Hall into office for!