Indian Point Reveals Plans To Help Boost Horrid Public Image

What in the world has happened to Riverkeeper? In a recent article, "Indian Point reveals plan for changes, " Entergy promises $100 Million for PR work with local municipalities, tours to increase "buy in" with wary locals, increased emergency facilities to allay resident fears (and better cover their own bee-hinds in the event of a nuclear "incident"), education to replace skiddish nuke workers who, as a rule, don't actually care much for working in leaky, un-safe plants, and making the power plant's elevation and shrubbery look oh-so-purdy!

My word! Riverkeeper's commentary on the way this $100 Mill is being spent simply defies belief! Reportedly, according to the stated quote of Riverkeeper's program director for the Hudson River, "If Entergy wants to pay for this study and wants to spend more money to make improvements on the plant, it's hard to argue with that."

As I see it, even from 170 miles away? It's as easy as pie to argue with the self-serving types of so-called "improvements" Entergy plans on making! Just for starters? It would certainly be a nice gesture if Entergy would use that money instead to make reparations to the millions adversely affected by deadly radioactive contamination of the air, groundwater, Hudson River, and Atlantic Coast for more than four and one-half decades.

Next, while they're at it? Perhaps Entergy could consider putting a few more bucks into trying to stop the leaks under the second radioactive waste fuel pool that have been contaminating both the area's groundwater and the Hudson for an unknown number of years. Now mind you, I'm not saying there's an easy "fix" for this catastrophic enviro-disaster. I'm simply saying that some more money thrown in this direction might be better appreciated in the scheme of our grandchildren's futures than merely spending "improvement" monies on schooling new nuke workers, conducting nuclear plant tours (with accompanying "dosing" for kids on class and scout troop trips), beefing up community emergency response services, slapping on a coat of fresh paint for the building facade, and planting some viburnum and holly bushes to spruce up the grounds!

You see, when a corporation is permitted by the federal government to nuke a community? There are, out of necessity, some quite hefty costs the nukers must be made to pay. So when we're talking about "improvements?" We need instead to be talking about substantial remediation and reparations of such a magnitude that, in the blink of any eye... we've already blown the entire $100 Mill already!

Case in point is the high cost to human health by virtue of living near a nuclear power plant.

Environmental restoration aside, medical bills alone incurred via radioactive poisoning caused by venting and leaking of 3 reactors (and nuclear fuel pools) into the environment over 46 years within the NY-NJ-CT tri-state area are of a truly incalculable magnitude.

I mean, in as far as a nuked-out Hudson and greater NYC metropolitan area, with regard to our precious children who come down with asthma and leukemia, and our friends and family with their autoimmune and neuro-muscular system disorders, breast and pancreatic cancers? Can someone tell me how you even put a dollar amount on such "costs?"

No two ways around it. $100 Million ain't gonna even begun to cut it in terms of the types of "improvements" Entergy's going to have to come up with in order to made good on the damage to public health and environmental degradation and devastation Indian Point owners and operators have been steadily perpetrating since 1962.

Permission to forward to everyone in the greater NYC tri-state area. Certainly, if the local supposed watchdog group for the Hudson is going to applaud this horrid use of $100 Million? This fact needs to be broadcast far and wide as nothing more than the Public Relations boosting stunt it is... a purely CYA effort on the part of Entergy's public image efforts, undoubtedly in need of a pretty major overhaul!

And as far as so-called enviro groups implying these types of "improvements" are a positive thing in terms of the Hudson? Why, this is nothing more than a whitewashing of real "improvements" that are sorely, critically needed with regard to the devastation being caused every day by toxic, radioactive and life-destroying Indian Point routine operations.

Cathy Garge

Location of Projected New Nuclear Power Reactors

Enlarge the map:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/new-reactor-map.html

Expanding The Search Circle

One has to be vigilant when dealing with scum sucking nuclear monsters such as Entergy and their twin nuclear abortion machines that are visiting still births and untold THOUSANDS of cancers at the duped citizens of the Hudson River Valley. To that end, FUSE USA has been working behind the scenes in searching for the hidden Radiological data that Entergy has egregiously hidden and or twisted with the help of the NRC to make it appear that Indian Point is safe now, and for years into the future...

The first issue I would suggest citizens of Westechester County, as well as all those living in the five bouroughs of New York consider is the License Renewal Application, and WHAT WE ARE NOT BEING TOLD...I myself, Green Nuclear Butterfly, as well as FUSE USA have alleged all along that:

A) The license renewal application is RIGGED, that the NRC has been and will continue to RUBBER STAMP License Renewal Applications, including the application for Indian Point.

B) Entergy CHEATED on it's reactor core stress tests at Indian Point and other reactors it owns, controls or manages, and shared with the other industry reactor owners how they too could CHEAT on this critical test...in fact and deed, a reactor cannot be relicensed if it DOES NOT PASS THIS TEST. Entergy and other nuclear licensees CHEATED as they know their reactor cores are far more porous now than is safe for the general public, and that the risk of a instant implosion of a core from THERMAL SHOCK is not only a risk, but something that will happen to at least one reactor community in the next 20 years as a result of wrongful license extensions in the name of a Nuclear Renaissance. Am I the only one that finds it odd that the NRC claims they cannot find the same file on the EPRI Internet site that simple old me was able to locate? FACT...NRC is in colusion with the NEI and nuclear reactor owners to SAVE THE NUCLEAR industry under the guise of National Defense even if it means sacrificing and entire community such as New York City.

C) The License Renewal Application IS NOT JUST FOR 20 YEARS! NEI, NRC and Entergy are perpetuating a FRAUD upon our community. WE have alleged all along that the NRC intends to extend the 20 year license extension granted in this process to one of at least 40 years through a NON HEARING, NON PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT administrative order. You can find at this link, tacit admission on the part of Entergy that this is true. In fighting the same fight in a different arena that is FAR LESS PUBLIC Entergy uses as one of their arguements that the decommissioning funds for Indian Point will not be needed FOR AT LEAST SIXTY YEARS INTO THE FUTURE...hmmmm....2013 to 2033 plus another 20 years beyond that to 2053 comes out to 45 years! WAKE UP PUBLIC...if you do not get outraged, you are going to get stuck with Indian Point killing your babies, spreading breast cancer amount your wives, daughters and mothers for at least another FORTY FIVE YEARS!

Further, FUSE USA have reason to believe that Entergy, NEI and/or the NRC might have used Redstone to do some Tritium monitoring and/or modeling...to that end, we have filed a FOIA with this segment of the United States Army...more tidbits to follow. We would ENCOURAGE all REACTOR COMMUNITIES in AMERICA to file a FIOA with Redstone to find out if any Tritium testing/monitoring has been or is occuring in your community. You can email Redstone at redstone-USATAReg1@conus.army.mil

Dear Redstone:

It appears from your web site that Redstone provides some kind of tritium inventory/tracking/measurement services to both government and members of private industry. As a stakeholder living within 3 miles of the failing nuclear reactor facility known as Indian Point which is owned by the Entergy corporation, as a stakeholder aware that said site is leaking both Strontium 90 and Tritium into my environment, as a husband who attributes his wife's cancer to radioactive contaminants released from the Indian Point facility, I am always tracking down pathways for these and other carcinogens which Entergy goes to great extremes to keep out of the public domain.

Seeing the services that you offer, coupled with the fact that Redstone appears to be a segment of/department of our Federal Government, I am formally filing this FOIA request in which I seek the following release of information:

1. Any and all files, reports, papers, memos related to tritium. tritium releases, tritium dumps, tritium monitoring done by, or that Redstone is aware of within a 25 mile radius of Peekskill, New York.

2. Any letters, correspondence, files, reports, studies, papers, memos, notes and other underlying documents that establish mention or deal with Strontium 90, Tritium, Celsium 137, other nuclear industry contaminant streams and pathways, or that seek/suggest a relationship with, or an inquiry from NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute), EPRI, NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission), and the commercial nuclear industry, including specifically Exelon, Entergy, Areva and TVA.

3. Any letters, correspondence, files, reports, studies, papers, memos, notes and other underlying documents that establish, mention. suggest or tie the Commercial Nuclear Industry to the use of, or defense of Directed Energy in carrying out their security requirements as more fully defined under the DBT for nuclear power plants.

Respectfully Submitted via electronic transmission (Email)

Sherwood Martinelli
FUSE USA

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.

Greece rules out nuclear power

By George Lekakis
The Daily Telegraph

April 03, 2007

GREECE yesterday ruled out the prospect of becoming a buyer of Australian uranium despite international pressure to adopt new sources of power generation.

Members of the European Union, including Greece, are now investing in alternatives to coal-fired power after last month committing to aggressive targets for lowering greenhouse emissions.

But the country's finance minister, George Alogoskoufis, yesterday told BusinessDaily that nuclear power was not part of the Greek Government's plans for future electricity generation.

"We are investing heavily in natural gas (and) we're looking at biofuels, solar energy and wind energy," he said. "Now, nuclear is a 'no-go' in Greece, although we realise other European countries have derived many benefits from nuclear energy.

"But given that Greece is a relatively small area and given we are also prone to earthquakes there is a lot of aversion to nuclear energy."

The reluctance to embrace nuclear power means that Greece will find it difficult to meet EU emissions targets.

Greece relies heavily on brown coal to produce electricity and 40 per cent of national greenhouse emissions are generated by PPC, a state-owned power company.

Under the EU targets, Greece has to stem emissions by 25 per cent over the next five years.

Mr Alogoskoufis, who is leading a Greek trade delegation in Melbourne this week, has been a key player in the recent rejuvenation of the Greek economy which has seen foreign investment increase by more than 200 per cent since 2003.

He is also driving the privatisation of state assets and is considering a proposal to offload the government's 55 per cent stake in Athens Airport.

The Greek Government is evaluating options for executing the sale, including a stock market float or a trade sale.

A sale of the airport will have implications for local investors in the Australian Infrastructure Fund.

The AIF owns 5.3 per cent of the Athens facility through a strategic interest in German investment fund -- Hochtief AirPort Capital.

It is understood that AIF and Hochtief are keen to move to full ownership of the airport by negotiating a trade sale on the government holding. The sale of the majority stake in the airport has been complicated by the uncertainty surrounding the future of the national air carrier, Olympic Airlines.

A float of the Olympic business was thrown into turmoil two years ago when the European Union found that the airline had received illegal subsidies from the national government.

"We're in negotiations with the European Union to determine whether Olympic has to return to the state any funds," Mr Alogoskoufis said.

A spokesman for the minister later said that a sale of the airline was preferable before the airport stake was sold, but was "not necessarily a prerequisite".

Mr Alogoskoufis is scheduled to meet Federal Treasurer Peter Costello in Melbourne tomorrow, before taking the trade roadshow to Sydney.

Shares in Australian Infrastructure Fund closed down 2 to $2.74.

Greece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_energy_policy#Greece

Although Greece has established Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), a decision has been made not to implement a nuclear power program to generate nuclear electricity. There is one operational nuclear research reactor and one sub-critical assembly.[73] The country believes due to its small size and earthquakes in the region, nuclear power would not provide many benefits.[74] Greece did receive electricity produced by nuclear power from Bulgaria in the past. However, with the shutdown of two Bulgarian reactors in 2006, these imports are almost non-existent.[75]

Van Jones

via: http://www.summerrayneoakes.com/index.php/2008/10/11/the-green-solution-to-our-economic-woes

THE CODE KILLERS: An Expose by Ace Hoffman

From:
Ace Hoffman
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com

THE CODE KILLERS: An Expose by Ace Hoffman (free download!)
November 10th, 2008

Available for download now!

THE CODE KILLERS: AN EXPOSE

Alternate title: Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Corrupt Government, Corporate Greed, Mass Hysteria, General Ignorance, and Your DNA: A Dangerous Mix? A look at the Databy Ace Hoffman

First published: 2008

35+ years in the making -- thousands of interviews conducted to research this book!

Hundreds of books read -- thousands of magazines scoured!Hundreds of drawings, photos, diagrams, and vital historic documents presented in one place!A unique compendium! Great for the beginner OR the expert!

Bring THE CODE KILLERS to public hearings (and submit it electronically) so you always have the facts handy and THEY DO TOO!

Available free from: http://www.acehoffman.org

Direct URL (300 dpi printable version):
http://www.acehoffman.com/books/TheCodeKillers.pdf
(File is about 111 megabytes. Warning: If printed, it takes a lot of ink!)

Lowest-resolution version for quick review (about 17 megabytes)
(please don't print this version!)

Printed copies are available directly from the author: 600 dpi; 28-lb acid-free paper (67-lb covers): Only $12.00 + $3.00 S&H.Copies of The Code Killers were sent to about 75 Congresspeople today (then I upgraded page 9 (again)).

I hope you enjoy The Code Killers and will want to recommend it to your friends and colleagues!

Printed copies are available immediately, on acid-free, 28-lb paper with a binding that should last for many decades (it's called "unibind").

The cost per copy is $12.00 + $3.00 S&H, but for the price of two copies including S&H, which would be $30.00, I'll send three copies (technically, for $25.00 plus $5.00 S&H).

10 copies are $75.00 plus $10.00 S&H. 25 copies are $175 plus $15.00 S&H.

50 copies (which one person already ordered, though she ordered it a few weeks ago, at a slightly lower price) are $325.00 plus $30.00 S&H.

Payments can be made through paypal to: msales@acehoffman.org or, for Visa and M/C payments, people can call my 800 number: (800) 551-2726 or my other number: (760) 720-7261.

** Ace Hoffman, Owner & Chief Programmer, The Animated Software Co.
** POB 1936, Carlsbad CA 92018
** U.S. & Canada (800) 551-2726; elsewhere: (760) 720-7261
** home page: http://www.animatedsoftware.com
** email: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com

SPREAD THE NIGHTMARE LIKE JAM ON TOAST!

WAVE OF FUTURE: MININUKE PLANTS
By ERIC LENKOWITZ
November 10, 2008

Nuclear reactors smaller than garden sheds but capable of powering 20,000 homes will be available within five years from the company that gave us the atom bomb, it was reported yesterday.

What's more, the miniplants will be perfectly safe, Hyperion CEO John Deal told The Guardian.

The New Mexico-based firm claims it already has 100 orders and a six-year waiting list.

(From today's NYPost. Hyperion was an exhibitor at the Democratic convention.)

One Fifth of Those On Board DEAD or INJURED...Nuclear Sub Accident UPDATE!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Nuclear Submarine Accident...UPDATE....Read Between Lines

Rest EASY Comrades, we have Russian News sources telling us that everything is A OK on a as yet unidentified nuclear submarine, even though 1/5 of those on board were either KILLED or INJURED when the fire-extinguishing system of this antiquated nuclear submarine accidently LAUNCHED ITSELF...I am sure you believe every word DEAR COMRADES! Shaking head...folks, we need to READ BETWEEN THE LINES HERE. All is well, but:

1. The sea trials were HALTED.

2. Anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs and the rescue vessel Sayany are accompaning the submarine TO AN UNDISCLOSED TEMPORARY BASE.

3. First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Kolmakov and Navy commander-in-chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky ARE RACING TO SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT for a first hand assessment of the unfolding situation.

Again, the Russian Navy spokesperson is INSISTING that the onboard reactor is SAFE! Then tell us where the accident is, let independent investigator onboard the submarine!

In Worst Nuclear Accident Since Chernobyl At Least 20 Russian Sailors DIE HORRIBLE NUCLEAR DEATH

During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, John McCain routinely LIED about the safety of the Nuclear Navy, deliberately mislead Americans regarding the safety of nuclear energy...well, as we all sit safely in our homes tonight, Russia is hiding the location and name of a naval vessel where 20 sailors have died a horrible nuclear death, with at least 20 others severely injured, perhaps suffering from severe nuclear burns or sure to be FATAL over exposure to radioactive particulates...which raises the question, is the world in the middle of a Naval China Syndrome as a Russian sea going vessel spews its ruptured onboard reactor's nuclear particulates into the world's oceans? Is this the first example of what is to come as America's own aged and brittle reactors give up the ghost and explode when exposed to Thermal Shock? WE NEED DETAILS RUSSIA, NOT COVER UPS!

At least 20 die in accident on Russian nuclear sub

MOSCOW, Nov. 8, 2008 (Reuters) — At least 20 people died and 21 were injured in an accident on board a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, Russian news agencies said on Saturday. ... > full story
http://www.nukestrat.com/russia/subpatrols.htm

Soviet/Russian Nuclear Submarine Patrols 1981-2006

The annual number of patrols performed by Russian nuclear-powered submarines has plummeted from 235 in 1984 to less than 10 today. In 2002, the strategic submarine force did not manage to send a single boat on deterrent patrol. (click on graph to download PDF version)

Patrol Areas

During the Cold War, the patrol areas for Soviet ballistic missile submarines gradually changed as new capabilities were introduced. Most important was the range of the missile, which permitted the submarines to pull back into patrol areas ("bastions") closer to the Soviet Union.

Delta IV Class Ballistic Missile Submarine

Russian nuclear submarines are spending most of their life at pier side.

What Does Obama Mean For Indian Point?

Two days ago the press reported that Obama was considering Robert Kennedy Jr. as Environmental Protection Agency director. This despite Robert Kennedy Jr. backing Hillary Clinton for President, while Ted Kennedy backed Obama.

Today we read that Obama is considering John W. Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation, as Energy secretary! What's wrong with this picture?

Once everyone gets over the elation of our first black president in the White House, not having Sarah Palin to worry about, we need to start looking more carefully at how Obama got elected.

John W. Rowe is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear power industry’s lobbying group, based in Washington. In addition, Mr. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, has worked as a consultant to Exelon.

The Obama campaign, as of late May 2007, had accepted $161,000 from executives and employees of Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power plant operator. Exelon at the time, was Obama’s fourth largest patron.

I'd like to be in the room when Robert Kennedy Jr. and John W. Rowe have to reach a compromise. Let's hope that compromise is Indian Point!

I remember Congressman John Hall's swearing in ceremony two years ago inside the meeting hall where Entergy plays host to the community. Many of the speakers congratulating his victory introduced him as the man who would shut down Indian Point, yet when John took the stage, he didn't make any mention of it.

A couple of months later, at Pace University, Hall talked about a meeting he had with a representative of the NRC at his office in Washington DC. He expressed concern that unless the NRC denied the relicensing application of at least one nuclear power plant, the NRC would lose all credibility in the eyes of the public. The NRC official asked him, which one should that be, and John answered Indian Point, which got a rise from the crowd.

Since then what has any of the local public officials really done to further along the opposition to the relicensing? When it came time to give thanks and support to the grassroots organizations that contributed to the filing of hundreds of contentions opposing the new license, at a press conference in White Plains, all the credit went to Riverkeeper, when everyone knew, the owner of this blog, Green Nuclear Butterfly, was in fact the individual most responsible for the research and writing of all documents filed.

Those involved in the fight to shut down Indian Point, know the story, inside and out. The grassroots efforts to stop the relicensing of Indian Point were derailed by the stupidity and greed of a certain lawyer in Rockland County, with the assistance of a few co-conspirators, who feared full blown revolution on the shores of the Hudson, not realizing this was probably our only hope to create a strong winning coalition!

Riverkeeper did succeed in forcing Entergy to install a new cooling system to the tune of $1.7 billion dollars, to make Indian Point safer, which Entergy is now fighting on appeal. It will not stop the plant from getting a new license or operating for another 20 to 40 years.

Recently Entergy announced, boasting with renewed confidence that nothing the public could do would derail their new license, that they were going to start dumping 500.000 gallons of contaminated waste water into the Hudson river. By now anti-nuclear organizers along the Hudson are so beaten, they'd let Entergy get away with anything.

Which is why we need a national anti-nuclear movement to take over the fight to shut down Indian Point. Local organizers have failed. It's been a constant stream of divide and conquer, petty quarrels, missappropriation of money, resources, and research materials, undermining from within.

I'm told there are only two ways to shut down a nuclear power plant. The NRC has to want to, or a sitting U.S. president has to write a decree. Obama could shut down Indian Point!

Will Robert Kennedy Jr. who has been deafeningly silent concerning Indian Point in the last two years, side with the nuclear is clean and green and the solution to global warming gang, or remember his past allegiance to the anti-nuclear movement, especially now that so much data is reaching the maintream about the links between radiation and breast cancer?

Obama is sending mixed messages. You can't support Van Jones's Green Collar Jobs initiative, while at the same time, support the relicensing of old, dangerous nuclear power plants. The two are mutually self-exclusive. Obama's presidency may not resolve the ideological riff between the anti-nuke and pro-nuke camps, but at least, it would seem, a genuine dialog may become possible.

Once again, the GE EdgeLab at UConn in Stamford, Connecticut, has extended a standing offer to provide their think tank facility for a meeting of the minds between the two camps, pro-nuclear engineers, and anti-nuclear scientists. If President Obama, long time Riverkeeper member Robert Kennedy Jr. and John Rowe are ready to put all the data on the table, General Electric has offered the conference center for that closed session.

Aging nuclear power plants are a great risk to our endocrine system. They will all need to be shut down within the next 20 years, over 400 of them worldwide. There is no active strategy in place to handle such a Gargantuan task. We're robbing Peter to pay Paul, threatening the future of the human race. We should not be building new reactors until we have solutions to the old ones. This will require international collaboration.

Let me remind everyone of what John Hall said to the NRC official, shutting down Indian Point would be a great way to start a positive dialog between all parties involved, and once again, the CT Technology Council is offering all Union members currently working at Indian Point new jobs in the green economy. Let's replace nuclear radiation with solar radiation. Future generations will thank us for it.

~ RemyC
Director, Rock The Reactors

From Someone Who Served On The Same Nuclear Aircraft Carrier As McCain

As someone who served on the same nuclear aircraft carrier as McCain once did (although at different times) I may have some light to throw on this subject, although my nuclear carrier experience was little more enlightening on these questions than McCain's was.

First, naval nuclear power has some advantages over civilian nuclear power. First is size. the naval reactors are much smaller than civilian reactors, and are of a different design, so they are moire self-contained than civilian reactors, and they are in a much more restricted environment, which tends to make them a bit safer--clearly the Navy doesn't want it reactors to be blowing up all the time, so they take great pains to build in heavy safety safeguards, and profit is not an issue, so if they need an extra safety valve, radiation monitor or better fire protection, they put it in. reactor personnel are very thoroughly trained, since they cannot call on the manufacturers for help when they are at sea, and, of all the departments that make up the ship's company, only the reactor department is always fully staffed and never subject to being moved to other duties, either temporarily or permanently.

That said, one must always remember that the function of naval ships is, when necessary, to sail in harm's way. We have never had one of our nuclear ships engaged in a battle at sea where shots, bombs or missiles were exchanged, so we have never had to face the prospect of the contamination that might result from a breached reactor in battle. I suspect that it would not be insignificant. However, we have had two nuclear submarines lost at sea, and the Russians more than two.

Neither of our lost subs were carrying nuclear missiles. Both the Thresher and the Scorpion were lost in deep sea accidents. They were both "attack" subs, rather than ballistic missile subs. Scorpion was returning tot he US from an operational deployment when it's accident occurred (circumstances not known for sure and all suggested causes have been rather controversial) so it was carrying nuclear weapons, but not missiles, probably just torpedoes). Thresher was on a test voyage after a major overhaul and so was carrying no weapons at all. Whether either reactor was destroyed in the accidents, I do not know, but it is known that neither reactor was involved in the cause of what happened.

Since naval reactors must have the capability of rapidly varying their power output, and we do not want to have to refuel them any more often than absolutely necessary, they are fuel with weapons-grade uranium, that is, 90% or higher U-235 enriched. The USS Enterprise, the nuclear carrier that both McCain and I served on carries 8 reactors, it has been refueled at least three times, maybe four. The way they do that is to cut holes in the flight deck and all the decks down to the reactor compartment, and pull the whole reactor out with a crane, and replace it with a new reactor, presumably improved and with a longer lifetime (presumably another reason why naval reactors tend to be safer--they do not have old components that have been around longer than the fuel they are using). The newer nuclear carriers have much improved designs and use only two larger reactors.

Submarines are never refueled. They are designed so that the reactor fuel will last for the design lifetime of the boat, and when they would need to be refueled, they are retired from service and broken up. That turns out to be cheaper than refueling them.

The reactors are, I believe, shipped to the Naval Nuclear Reactor Facility in Idaho, where they are dismantled and the spent fuel recovered. What happens to the waste from there, I do not know, but there is clearly plenty of it. I'm pretty sure that the spent fuel in not reprocessed, since, being mostly U-235 to start with, there won't be much plutonium to recover. But the reactor parts are all pretty radioactive by this time so they have to be handled as radioactive waste, and I'm not sure what that process is.

I'm not sure what is done with the Russian Naval reactors. What is pretty certain is that they were not built to anywhere near the standards that our boats were, nor has their waste material been as well handled (such as it is) as ours. They have lost at least three nuclear subs (and several other non-nuclear, but nuclear armed subs) and I think that the reactors in those subs may be leaking radioactive materials into the sea. At least one of them was lost in shallow water, and I don't recall if that boat was recovered. If not, it is almost certainly leaking into the Arctic Ocean at depths that can result in threats to humans.

All reactors, land-based or sea-based, discharge more or less small amounts of radioactive water, mostly containing tritium. Ships are supposed to catch the water to be released and bring it back to port with them, but it doesn't always happen, as recent admissions about radioactivity releases in Japanese waters reveals. It is worthy of note that at one point, the Navy had in its inventory, a submarine detector that worked by looking for the gamma radiation emitted by all reactors, which ended up in discharged water into the boat's wake.

The airborne detector looked for a slight increase in gamma radiation in the water, and then attempted to follow the track of that radiation to the sub. I don't know if it ever worked as advertised, but I recall that they Navy claimed that it had detected at least one Russian submarine with the device. I doubt that it was ever sensitive enough to be a reliable detector, and, of course, it only worked on nuclear-powered subs, which were never a majority of the Soviet submarine fleet.

A long response to a short question, but I hope it clarifies things a bit.

So how long does one submarine last for?

Not being a submariner, I don't know the answer to that question, but it's at least 15 years, maybe more. I think you can figure out the answer by looking at the commissioning and decommissioning dates for nuclear submarines in "Jane's Fighting Ships," which includes that kind of data. It might also be found in Wikipedia.

I left Enterprise in 1969, as it was entering the shipyard for its second refueling, which was scheduled to put reactors in that had a 15-year lifetime. So it has been refueled at least once since then, probably around 1985 (I retired from the Navy in 1976, so didn't follow those details much after that). Whether the reactors installed in 1985 had a 20-year lifetime or a longer one will determine if it has been refueled a fourth time. In any event, that one is likely to be its last, since it has now been in service for over 50 years, a very long time for a warship. It will be refueled a fourth time (if it hasn't already), and it is scheduled for decommissioning sometime around 2030, by which time it will have been in service for 75 years.

But submarines have a much shorter lifetime, especially modern ones with maximum depths well in excess of 1500 feet. Cycling to and from those extreme pressures accelerates the metal fatigue of the hull, and that is mainly what limits their useful lifetime. Nuclear reactor lifetime can be adjusted to pretty much whatever limits are imposed by hull life.

Hugh Haskell

United States
USS Thresher (SSN-593) (sank, 129 killed)
USS Scorpion (SSN-589) (sank, 99 killed)
Both sank for reasons unrelated to their reactor plants and still lie on the Atlantic sea floor.

[edit] Russian or Soviet

Komsomolets K-278 (sank, 42 killed)
Kursk K-141 (sank recently, 118 killed)
K-8 (loss of coolant) (sank, 42 killed)
K-11 (refueling criticality)
K-19 (loss of coolant)
K-27 (scuttled)
K-116 (reactor accident)
K-122 (reactor accident)
K-123 (loss of coolant)
K-140 (power excursion)
K-159 (radioactive discharge) (sank recently, 9 killed)
K-192 (loss of coolant)
K-219 (sank after collision, 4 killed)
K-222 (uncontrolled startup)
K-314 (refueling criticality, 10 killed)
K-320 (uncontrolled startup)
K-429 (sank twice, 16 killed)
K-431 (reactor accident)

The Soviet icebreaker Lenin is also rumored to have had a nuclear accident.

While not all of these were reactor accidents, since they happened to nuclear vessels, they have a major impact on nuclear marine propulsion and the global politics. Many of these accidents resulted in the sinking of the boat containing nuclear weapons on board, which remain there to this day.[3]

See also: List of military nuclear accidents

Congressman John Hall Re-Elected!

MUSE co-founder Congressman John Hall has been re-elected, which means Rock The Reactors lives on!!!

I received 18% of the votes in the State House District 135 of Connecticut

3 of 4 precincts reporting (75%)
against John Stripp, GOP (i) 5,237 81%
Remy Chevalier, Green 1,215 19%

as a "placeholder" candidate without doing any campaigning at all... (?)

Instead I assisted in Green Congressional Candidate Richard Duffee's campaign by designing his website. Sadly Richard (with 60% of the votes in) received less than 1% of the votes in the 4th District of Connecticut (Fairfield County) which saw Congressman Chris Shays, who supports an Independent Safety Assessment at Indian Point, lose to Democrat Jim Himes in a landslide.

In the past, Jim has supported Nancy Burton of the Mother's Milk Project in efforts against the Millstone nuclear power plant, but has never gone on record about his position towards Indian Point.

Rockland Farm Alliance Event November 19th

Come join members of Rock The Reactors during the Rockland Farm Alliance event November 19th at the Rockland County Fire Training Center, 35 Fireman's Memorial Drive, in Pomona, NY at 7:30 PM.

The Breast Cancer Story On Alternet

I've been thinking about it a lot lately... it was posted a few days ago, written by Lucinda Marshall:
http://www.alternet.org/story/104014

There's now 95 comments below it... and for good cause, the author came right out and said it!
And I quote:

"... radiation is the only known cause of breast cancer in mice."

"... breast cancer map from Centers for Disease Control data identifies that within a 100-mile radius of nuclear reactors is where two-thirds of all U.S. breast cancer deaths occurred between 1985 and 1989."

"... pharmaceutical companies that manufacture breast cancer drugs fund the breast cancer NGOs, so they control the focus in the popular media on finding "the cure." They would be acting against their own best interests if they identified the cause."

"... mammograms are known to create five new cases of breast cancer for every case they identify."

Cosmetics companies associating themselves with Breast Cancer fund raising drives, should also concern themselves with the fact that many ingredients in cosmetics are known cancer agents, which are already being removed by law in certain countries.

California is the first state in the Union making the listing of ingredients mandatory for cosmetics. The governator passed that law, because as an actor, he understands its importance.

Interesting that radiation and cosmetics may turn out to be the number one cause of soft tissue cancers in the world, and that the anti-nuclear movement and the fashion industry would find common cause on this issue.

Pro Life Sarah Palin Embraces Nuclear Abortion Machines

Living within 50 miles of a Nuclear Reactor INCREASES YOUR CHANCES OF GIVING BIRTH TO A STILLBORN CHILD...so please Sarah Palin, explain how you, a Pro Life Christian woman can embrace and endorse the building of 45 new NUCLEAR ABORTION MACHINES?

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sarah Palin Is Energy Nut Case-Calls For Socialized Energy

CNN just carried Sarah Palin's speech from Toledo Ohio on Energy...the lady is a religious nut case with no firm grasp on the topic of Energy. She touts experience that is not there, and with every word out of her mouth, it becomes obvious that she is without a clue. First, her drill baby drill is offensive, and shows zero respect for the environment. This should not be a surprise as she has filed two law suits objecting to the Federal Government's placement of animals onto the endangered species list...why you might ask...because having. as example. Polar Bears on the list interferes with some of her own pet projects. Putting whales on the endangered species list in Alaska endangers her own SECOND BRIDGE TO NOWHERE, a $600 Million dollar bridge to serve the 7,000 residents of Wasilla, Alaska.

Her beloved pipeline might not even be built, and even if it makes it from the drawing board into reality, it represents a drop in the bucket, not a solution. When you put it into perspective, when you realize we would not see a cubic foot of gas from said pipeline before 2025, she is blowing smoke up our collective asses.

She goes on to say that she and John McCain will see to it that America will build 45 New nuclear reactors by 2030...sorry, but it cannot be done, and even if the obstacles could be overcome, are we prepared for Socialized Energy that rapes the American Taxpayer, and the American energy consumer, while ruining our environment, bringing cancers and birth defects to our doorsteps?

1. There is a horrific manpower shortage in the nuclear industry, and it will take at least one decade to address that shortage. The reality is simple...there are not enough qualified and trained employees to build, manage and operate 45 new reactors by 2030.

2. Even if the manpower issues were resolved, there is not enough manufacturing base to get the necessary parts to meet Sarah Palin's timeline for 45 new reactors. Further, the NEI, the NRC and our government is wrongfully assuming that American Communities will welcome these new reactors with open arms, assumes they can simply force communities already hosting old, outdated and problematic reactors into accepting FURTHER RISKS.

3. Wall Street will not fund 45 new reactors, which is why the nuclear industry wants our tax dollars to build those nuclear reactors, even though they will be owned and operated by private for profit companies. What is wrong with this picture? With our taxes, we build the reactors, but our government gives them over to private companies that will then BILL US FOR OUR ENERGY, energy being supplied because we built the facility...talk about a redistribution of wealth. Additionally, if Nuclear Energy is so SAFE, VITAL and SECURE, end the Price Anderson Act that keeps every American from getting nuclear accident insurance to protect their own assets, their own homes, their own health!

Further, nuclear cannot exist as a viable industry unless it remains always a socialized industry subsidized with our taxes in a never ending bailout. GNEP (the Global Nuclear Energy Program) asks the American Taxpayer to underwrite a $1.5 -$5 Trillion dollar nuclear reprocessing plant that might not even work. Further, and very important...the fuel that would be created if the process does work cannot be used in the 45 AP1000 Nuclear Reactors that John McCain wants to build! Even more deplorable, GNEP makes America the nuclear waste dump for the entire world's nuclear energy programs and reactors. Are you as a citizen prepared to have China, Russia, North Korea and other rogue nations wastes being shipped across the world's oceans to the doorsteps of America? Are you willing to risk your child, your wife, your husband, your mother having CANCER in the name of reprocessing fuel for a country that abuses human rights, oppresses the people of Tibet, imprisons their populations, putting them into forced labor camps, using them in the name of Capitalizing China?

Are you, your children and their children's children prepared to pay the costs that this international socialized Energy Program will bring about? With every new reactor comes more breast cancer, more childhood leukemia, more birth defects, more stillborn children. Nuclear Energy is AN ABORTION MACHINE that every Pro-Life American should be up in arms about. Sarah Palin is a hypocrite to claim she is Pro Life will endorsing a Energy Program that puts the unborn child at a far greater risk than abortion ever has or will. GNEP will make America the world's Nuclear Waste Dump, and with that new global responsibility, we are inviting a Holocaust into America of proportions that will far outstrip those visited upon the Jews with Germany's NAZI Death Camps.

Rock The Reactors Plays Big in Hollywood!

Actor/Green Home Renovator Darren Moore, co-star of Alter Eco on the Planet Green channel, at the Coco Eco magazine launch party in Hollywood, wearing our favorite girl on his Rock The Reactors t-shirt.

For more pictures!

North Anna Needs New "Visitors" to Highlight Problems!


With kudos to the 15 at North Anna who exercised their right to protest, it appears now that, due to troubling new "developments" at the North Anna site, perhaps other like-minded souls who take a dim view of using nuclear reactors over sunshine and wind to generate electricity will, likewise, soon be prompted to make a purposefully symbolic "visit" to the North Anna Nuclear Power Visitor's Center.

All I can say is that with all of the creaky ol' reactors up for re-licensing, 34 applications already submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and dozens of new cooling towers on the Capital elite's Christmas Wish List? We're going to need to do more than sign and deliver petitions to millionaire investors in order to stop the "Nukuler Insurgency" being pushed brutally down Americans' throats with all the gusto of a runaway train!

Asking nicely has never before shut a power plant down - nor stopped a new one from being built either, for that matter.

Within about 50 miles from the Baltimore-DC-No VA Metro area (population circa 7 million) we've got the Calvert Cliffs nuke plant about to be doubled in size... that is, if we, as a nation, don't rally together to stop it - and the other 33 nuclear reactors that are predicted to similarly be slid on through.

Some say that with the current national financial crisis, nukes won't get the funding. Yet this is such a "pet project" of those in power that they will, in all certainty, simply find more of their cronies and connections - the Warren Buffet Sugar Daddy-types - to keep the nuclear fire-ball rolling.

The only things that can possibly stop this Nukuler Insurgency are either: a lack of funding (and rest assured, money will always be made available for what those in power wish to accomplish) or... the massive power of the outraged American public.

In order to stop what is nothing short of a "Nukuler Insurgency" being waged upon America? Sorry, but new age, altruistic talk about climate change and economics alone just ain't gonna cut it.

We must instead each think about the North Anna Fifteen and examine within ourselves... Just how far are we each willing to go in order to stop this dangerous push for more nuclear power - and further radioactive contamination - upon the American people?

The bold, courageous actions of the North Anna Fifteen are just the beginning of what becoming an anti-nuclear nation is going to mean for all of us who object to being radioactively poisoned in exchange for being able to turn on the porch light.

Stopping the "Nuclear Renaissance" is not going to come at the end of a pen. Rather, it is going to be waged by the blood, sweat, and tears of those who dare risk far more than running out of ink by signing worthless petitions addressed to filthy rich investors who do not even open their own mail.

Cathy Garger

Is This A True Story...I'll Let My Readers Decide

For those who think Indian Point's Security is adequate to repell a terrorist attack, think you should read this...100 Pirates could just as easily be 100 terrorists.

Dirty Bomb? Iranian Dirty Bomb Attack Against Israel Thwarted by Somali pirates?

Cross posted from Radarsite

Hijacked Iranian Ship: Dirty Bomb meant for Israel on Yom Kippur?

Follow up on an original posting by Snooper of Take Our Country Back
Cross posted from Director Blue

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Shirat Devorah researched the various articles surrounding the recent Somali hijacking of an Iranian vessel and came to an ominous conclusion.

On August 21st, 2008, the MV Iran Deyant, 44,458 dead weight bulk carrier was heading towards the Suez Canal. As it was passing the Horn of Africa, about 80 miles southeast of al-Makalla in Yemen, the ship was surrounded by speedboats filled with members of a gang of Somalian pirates who grab suitable commercial ships and hold them and their cargos and crews for ransom. The captain was defenseless against the 40 pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades blocking his passage. He had little choice other than to turn his ship over to them. What the pirates were not banking on, however, was that this was no ordinary ship.

The MV Iran Deyanat is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) - a state-owned company [that] regularly falsifies shipping documents in order to hide the identity of end users, uses generic terms to describe shipments to avoid the attention of shipping authorities, and employs the use of cover entities to circumvent [UN] weapons proliferation [regulations].

[The hijacked ship] was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates - 50 onboard and 50 onshore. The Somali pirates attempted to inspect the ship's seven cargo containers but the containers were locked. The crew claimed that they did not have the "access codes" and could not open them. Pirates have stated they were unable to open the hold without causing extensive damage to the ship, and threatened to blow it up.... the pirates broke open one of the containers and discovered it to be filled with packets of what they said was “a powdery fine sandy soil” ....

Within a period of three days, those pirates who had boarded the ship and opened the cargo container with its gritty sand-like contents, all developed strange health complications, to include serious skin burns and loss of hair. And within two weeks, sixteen of the pirates subsequently died, either on the ship or on shore...




...At this writing, the MV Iran Deyanat is at anchor, watched closely by American, French and Russian naval units.

[Russian sources claim she] was an enormous floating dirty bomb, intended to detonate after exiting the Suez Canal at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in proximity to the coastal cities of Israel. The entire cargo of radioactive sand, obtained by Iran from China (the latter buys desperately needed oil from the former) and sealed in containers which, when the charges on the ship are set off after the crew took to the boats, will be blasted high into the air where prevailing winds will push the highly dangerous and radioactive cloud ashore.

Given the large number of deaths from the questing Somali pirates, it should be obvious that when the contents of the ship’s locked cargo containers finally descended onto the land, the death toll would be enormous. This ship was nothing more nor less than the long-anticipated Iranian attack on Israel.
Fox News interviewed an expert whose analysis would seem to confirm these conclusions:

Chemical experts say the reports sound inconsistent with chemical poisoning, but may reflect the effects of exposure to radiation.

"It's baffling," said Jonathan Tucker, a senior fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "I'm not aware of any chemical agent that produces loss of hair within a few days. That's more suggestive of high levels of radioactive waste."

Wall Street CRASH Puts Every Decommissioning Fund In Danger!

HOLD THE PHONES, and STOP THE LICENSE RENEWAL PROCEEDINGS! Every Decommissioning Fund in America is now UNDER FUNDED SIGNIFICANTLY as said funds take a hit as a result of the Great Stock Market Crash of 2008. As example, Entergies failing Vermont Yankee's Decommissioing Fund has plummetted with losses of over $40 Millon dollars, and it is expected that Entergies Indian Point nuclear reactor site could now be short on adequate funding by tens of millions of dollars! Without ADEQUATE DECOMMISSIONING FUNDS, they are not entitled to License Renewal! FUCK YOU PRO NUCLEAR, SCUM SUCKING PIGS, we will win even with a bunch of piss ant pro-nuclear pricks on the licensing board! You have been CAUGHT WITH YOUR PANTS DOWN, now PAY UP! If you run short on funds to cover your debt loads, to fucking bad! Don't see you stepping forward to pay the medical bills for my wife's breast cancer that was, from my perspective, caused by your ailing failing reactors in Buchanon NY. Don't worry, I'll have a 2.206 Petition going out on this in the morning, and I would suggest every Anti-Nuclear activist in every reactor community follow suit...10 CFR Rules and Regulations are CLEAR on this...you MUST HAVE ADEQUATE FUNDS for decommissioning!

Nuclear decommissioning fund drops 10 percent

October 9, 2008

MONTPELIER, Vt.—The decommissioning trust fund for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant has taken a hit on Wall Street, dropping by 10 percent or more than $40 million in the past several months, officials said.

Because of the drop the state has asked plant owner Entergy Nuclear to provide monthly rather than biannual reports on the fund, said Stephen Wark, spokesman for the Department of Public Service.

"The performance of the fund is disturbing, and will likely be a large issue in the various cases concerning Vermont Yankee," Wark said. "Entergy will have to explain how they plan to meet their decommissioning obligations to Vermonters, given their reliance on market growth."

Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said the plant's decommissioning fund did lose about 10 percent, but over the same period the stock market lost about 19 percent.

He wasn't minimizing the drop.

"We're as concerned as any one else is. We're in this for the long haul," Smith said.

This is strictly and closely monitored and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Smith said. "If there is a shortfall the NRC can take action to make Entergy make up the shortfall."

Experimental reactor buried on the Niagara Falls storage site?

The Hortonsphere is the ball at center. The silo in the foreground was used to store radium waste.

Report by Geoff Kelly & Louis Ricciuti

This is going to seem complicated and take a long way to get where it’s going. So here’s the gist, right upfront: Possibly, in Lewiston, are buried the remnants of an experimental nuclear reactor dating from the 1940s. This reactor would have been part of a secret program to weaponize poisonous materials—a program with roots in the study of poison gases in the First World War and whose culmination is found today in the use of depleted uranium munitions around the world.

Read the article:
http://artvoice.com/issues/v7n39/the_sphere

(Thanks to Cathy Garger of No New Nukes Yall for the head's up)

Breaking News...Another Writer Joining Green Nuclear Butterfly

We are pleased to announce that Green Nuclear Butterfly will be annoucing the addition to our fine writing team of another heavy Anti Nuclear Hitter in the next few days...stay tuned for more details. Folks, we are GROWING!

On a more serious note...I am working on a few new articles here, and I would ask EVERY AMERICAN, every WORLD CITIZEN to give some serious thought to the Wall Street financial tragedy we have all watched over the past few weeks. Fact is, if we do not rein in the Nuclear Industry, if we do not say NO TO THEIR LOAN GUARANTEES, if we do not get the NRC and the IAEA to restrengthen the regulations they have WEAKENED year after year in their quest to keep this industry on LIFE SUPPORT, Wall Streets near collapse will look like a beautiful drive through the fall folliage as the leaves change.

Simply stated, we as a nation, and as a world are at GRAVE RISK as a result the IAEA and the NRC's lack oversight, and WEAKENED REGULATORY CONTROL. The IAEA is all but bankrupt, the NRC has admitted to a SEVERE shortage of qualified workers for this dying industry, and many regulations meant to protect Human Health and the Environment have been weakened to a point where America's 104 Nuclear Reactors are being run in an extremely unsafe manner, begging a cataclysmic accident that America and the World will never fully recover from.

The industry seeks literally TRILLIONS in the form of a bailout, labeling the taxpayer funded gifts as NECESSARY, claiming every penny will be returned to us...remember the promise of the nuclear industry...ENERGY SO CHEAP IT WILL NOT BE WORTH METERING. 50 years later, the industry cannot stand on its own, the industry has not disposed safely on one singular ounce of their waste streams. Because of the DOE and NRC's inability to figure out the science and technology necessary to build a long term storage facility, 104 nuclear reactor sites in America have become DEFACTO radioactive waste DUMP SITES, yet our government refuses to take action, refuses to be accountable to America's MAIN STREET citizens being forced to live on the edge of impending doom.

Both Presidential candidates (Obama and McCain) have delivered campaign trail rhetoric of new clean, green energy...problem is, nuclear is neither CLEAN, OR GREEN. We have a choice, but only if we make our voices heard. Imagine the giant forward strides that would occur if we took those TRILLIONS of dollars the nuclear industry wanted, and invested them in solar, wind, geo thermal and clean coal technolgies, research and implementation. If you are truly green, if you truly want to reverse global warming, if you want to leave this world a better place for your children and grand children, then the time has come to TAKE A STAND...say no to Nuclear Energy, say no to Nuclear Industry Bailouts, and say no too the Rubber Stamping of the NRC's License Renewal Application Process...fact is, by relicensing these aging, delapidated reactors, the NRC is playing Russian Roulette with our health, safety and financial well being.

Changes Coming To Green Nuclear Butterfly

As the screen shot below shows, the Green Nuclear Butterfly may be one of the most internationally read Anti Nuclear Blogs in the world with 99 Nations tuning in to see what the latest news is. Not bad for a small blog started back on December 26th, 2006. Yes, we have had our ups and downs, we have had a few times when we were AWOL for a couple months at a time, but we keep plugging away. As much as they hate to admit, the POWER BROKERS of the nuclear industry keep their eye on us, their ISP addresses routinely snagged, letting us know that the NRC, DOE, NEI and even the IAEA tracking what Royce Penstinger and Remy have to say. With summer over, with a true chance to deliver a CRIPPLING BLOW to the nuclear industry, I will be writing more frequently again. Further, we are looking for guest articles from any and all Anti Nuclear groups or individuals. If you would like to have one of your articles published on Green Nuclear Butterfly, if you would like to write a guest column on a regular basis please contact Sherwood Martinelli at smartinellighs@aol.com and we'll either post your article for you, or add you as a author of the blog.

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	EL SALVADOR
	BOLIVIA
	MYANMAR
	UGANDA
	ARMENIA
	DOMINICA
	MONACO
	ANDORRA