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Gandalf Grey
Guest
The earthquake that screamed "NO NUKES!!!"
By Harvey Wasserman
Created Jul 19 2007 - 8:32am
The massive earthquake that shook Japan this week nearly killed millions in
a nuclear apocalypse.
It also produced one of the most terrifying sentences ever buried in a
newspaper. As reported deep in the New York Times, the Tokyo Electric
Company has admitted that "the force of the shaking caused by the earthquake
had exceeded the design limits of the reactors, suggesting that the plant's
builders had underestimated the strength of possible earthquakes in the
region."
There are 55 reactors in Japan. Virtually all of them are on or near major
earthquake faults. Kashiwazaki alone hosts seven, four of which were forced
into the dangerous SCRAM mode to narrowly avoid meltdowns. At least 50
separate serious problems have been so far identified, including fire and
the spillage of barrels filled with radioactive wastes.
There are four active reactors in California on or near major earthquake
faults, as are the two at Indian Point north of New York City. On January
31, 1986, an earthquake struck the Perry reactor east of Cleveland, knocking
out roads and bridges, as well as pipes within the plant, which (thankfully)
was not operating at the time. The governor of Ohio, then Richard Celeste,
sued to keep Perry shut, but lost in federal court.
The fault that hit Perry is an off-shoot of the powerful New Madrid line
that runs through the Mississippi River Valley, threatening numerous
reactors. The Beyond Nuclear Project reports that in August, 2004, a quake
hit the Dresden reactor in Illinois, resulting in a leak of radioactive
tritium. Nevada's Yucca Mountain, slated as the nation's high-level
radioactive waste dump, has a visible fault line running through it.
More than 400 atomic reactors are on-line worldwide. How many are vulnerable
to seismic shocks we can only shudder to guess. But one-eighth of them sit
in one of the world's richest, most technologically advanced, most densely
populated industrial nations, which has now admitted its reactor designs
cannot match the power an earthquake that has just happened.
In whatever language it's said, that translates into the unmistakable
warning that the world's atomic reactors constitute a multiple, ticking
seismic time bomb. Talk of building more can only be classified as suicidal
irresponsibility.
Tokyo Electric's behavior since the quake defines the industry's
credibility. For three consecutive days (with more undoubtedly to come) the
utility has been forced to issue public apologies for erroneous statements
about the severity of the damage done to the reactors, the size and
lethality of radioactive spills into the air and water, the on-going danger
to the public, and much more.
Once again, the only thing reactor owners can be trusted to do is to lie.
Prior to the March 28, 1979 disaster at Three Mile Island, the industry for
years assured the public that the kind of accident that did happen was
"impossible."
Then the utility repeatedly assured the public there had been no melt-down
of fuel and no danger of further catastrophe. Nine years later a robotic
camera showed that nearly all the fuel had melted, and that avoiding a
full-blown catastrophe was little short of a miracle.
The industry continues to say no one was killed at TMI. But it does not know
how much radiation was released, where it went or who it might have harmed.
Since 1979 its allies in the courts have denied 2400 central Pennsylvania
families the right to test their belief that they and their loved ones have
been killed and maimed en masse.
Prior to its April 26, 1986, explosion, Soviet Life Magazine ran a major
feature extolling the virtually "accident-proof design" of Chernobyl Unit
Four.
Then the former Soviet Union of Mikhail Gorbachev kept secret the gargantuan
radiation releases that have killed thousands and yielded a horrific plague
of cancers, leukemia, birth defects and more throughout the region, and
among the more than 800,000 drafted "jumpers" who were forced to run through
the plant to clean it up.
Since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the industry has claimed its
reactors can withstand the effects of a jet crash, and are immune to
sabotage. The claims are as patently absurd as the lies about TMI and
Chernobyl.
So, too, the endless, dogged assurances from Japan that no earthquake could
do to Kashiwazaki what has just happened.
Yet today and into the future, expensive ads will flood the US and global
airwaves, full of nonsense about the "need" for new nukes.
There is only one thing we know for certain about this advertising: it is a
lie.
Atomic reactors contribute to global warming rather than abating it. In
construction, in the mining, milling and enriching of the fuel, in on-going
"normal" releases of heat and radioactivity, in dismantling and
decommissioning, in managing radioactive wastes, in future terror attacks,
in proliferation of nuke weapons, and much much more, atomic energy is an
unmitigated eco-disaster.
To this list we must now add additional tangible evidence that reactors
allegedly built to withstand "worst case" earthquakes in fact cannot. And
when they go down, the investment is lost, and power shortages arise (as is
now happening in Japan) that are filled by the burning of fossil fuels.
It costs up to ten times as much to produce energy from a nuke as to save it
with efficiency. Advances in wind, solar and other green "Solartopian"
technologies mean atomic energy simply cannot compete without massive
subsidies, loan guarantees and government insurance to protect it from
catastrophes to come.
This latest "impossible" earthquake has not merely shattered the alleged
safeguards of Japan's reactor fleet. It has blown apart---yet again---any
possible argument for building more reactors anywhere on this beleaguered
Earth.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Harvey Wasserman
Created Jul 19 2007 - 8:32am
The massive earthquake that shook Japan this week nearly killed millions in
a nuclear apocalypse.
It also produced one of the most terrifying sentences ever buried in a
newspaper. As reported deep in the New York Times, the Tokyo Electric
Company has admitted that "the force of the shaking caused by the earthquake
had exceeded the design limits of the reactors, suggesting that the plant's
builders had underestimated the strength of possible earthquakes in the
region."
There are 55 reactors in Japan. Virtually all of them are on or near major
earthquake faults. Kashiwazaki alone hosts seven, four of which were forced
into the dangerous SCRAM mode to narrowly avoid meltdowns. At least 50
separate serious problems have been so far identified, including fire and
the spillage of barrels filled with radioactive wastes.
There are four active reactors in California on or near major earthquake
faults, as are the two at Indian Point north of New York City. On January
31, 1986, an earthquake struck the Perry reactor east of Cleveland, knocking
out roads and bridges, as well as pipes within the plant, which (thankfully)
was not operating at the time. The governor of Ohio, then Richard Celeste,
sued to keep Perry shut, but lost in federal court.
The fault that hit Perry is an off-shoot of the powerful New Madrid line
that runs through the Mississippi River Valley, threatening numerous
reactors. The Beyond Nuclear Project reports that in August, 2004, a quake
hit the Dresden reactor in Illinois, resulting in a leak of radioactive
tritium. Nevada's Yucca Mountain, slated as the nation's high-level
radioactive waste dump, has a visible fault line running through it.
More than 400 atomic reactors are on-line worldwide. How many are vulnerable
to seismic shocks we can only shudder to guess. But one-eighth of them sit
in one of the world's richest, most technologically advanced, most densely
populated industrial nations, which has now admitted its reactor designs
cannot match the power an earthquake that has just happened.
In whatever language it's said, that translates into the unmistakable
warning that the world's atomic reactors constitute a multiple, ticking
seismic time bomb. Talk of building more can only be classified as suicidal
irresponsibility.
Tokyo Electric's behavior since the quake defines the industry's
credibility. For three consecutive days (with more undoubtedly to come) the
utility has been forced to issue public apologies for erroneous statements
about the severity of the damage done to the reactors, the size and
lethality of radioactive spills into the air and water, the on-going danger
to the public, and much more.
Once again, the only thing reactor owners can be trusted to do is to lie.
Prior to the March 28, 1979 disaster at Three Mile Island, the industry for
years assured the public that the kind of accident that did happen was
"impossible."
Then the utility repeatedly assured the public there had been no melt-down
of fuel and no danger of further catastrophe. Nine years later a robotic
camera showed that nearly all the fuel had melted, and that avoiding a
full-blown catastrophe was little short of a miracle.
The industry continues to say no one was killed at TMI. But it does not know
how much radiation was released, where it went or who it might have harmed.
Since 1979 its allies in the courts have denied 2400 central Pennsylvania
families the right to test their belief that they and their loved ones have
been killed and maimed en masse.
Prior to its April 26, 1986, explosion, Soviet Life Magazine ran a major
feature extolling the virtually "accident-proof design" of Chernobyl Unit
Four.
Then the former Soviet Union of Mikhail Gorbachev kept secret the gargantuan
radiation releases that have killed thousands and yielded a horrific plague
of cancers, leukemia, birth defects and more throughout the region, and
among the more than 800,000 drafted "jumpers" who were forced to run through
the plant to clean it up.
Since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the industry has claimed its
reactors can withstand the effects of a jet crash, and are immune to
sabotage. The claims are as patently absurd as the lies about TMI and
Chernobyl.
So, too, the endless, dogged assurances from Japan that no earthquake could
do to Kashiwazaki what has just happened.
Yet today and into the future, expensive ads will flood the US and global
airwaves, full of nonsense about the "need" for new nukes.
There is only one thing we know for certain about this advertising: it is a
lie.
Atomic reactors contribute to global warming rather than abating it. In
construction, in the mining, milling and enriching of the fuel, in on-going
"normal" releases of heat and radioactivity, in dismantling and
decommissioning, in managing radioactive wastes, in future terror attacks,
in proliferation of nuke weapons, and much much more, atomic energy is an
unmitigated eco-disaster.
To this list we must now add additional tangible evidence that reactors
allegedly built to withstand "worst case" earthquakes in fact cannot. And
when they go down, the investment is lost, and power shortages arise (as is
now happening in Japan) that are filled by the burning of fossil fuels.
It costs up to ten times as much to produce energy from a nuke as to save it
with efficiency. Advances in wind, solar and other green "Solartopian"
technologies mean atomic energy simply cannot compete without massive
subsidies, loan guarantees and government insurance to protect it from
catastrophes to come.
This latest "impossible" earthquake has not merely shattered the alleged
safeguards of Japan's reactor fleet. It has blown apart---yet again---any
possible argument for building more reactors anywhere on this beleaguered
Earth.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson