WHO predictably downplays Fukushima health impacts; Japanese government even more so

The conflicted World Health Organization (WHO) - which cannot pronounce on things nuclear without ceding to the nuclear-promoting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - predictably downplayed the likely health impacts resulting from the Fukusima nuclear disaster. The Japanese government went even further, suggesting the WHO over-stated the likely impacts. Fundamentally, the WHO found, after a two-year study, that "the risk for certain types of cancers had increased slightly among children exposed to the highest doses of radioactivity, but that there would most likely be no observable increase in cancer rates in the wider Japanese population." However, the agency was at least forced to admit that "their assessment was based on limited scientific knowledge; much of the scientific data on health effects from radiation is based on acute exposures like those that followed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and not chronic, low-level exposure." Almost all the health effects from Fukushima will result from prolonged exposure to so-called "low levels" of radiation. Read more.

(To understand the limitations imposed on the WHO by the IAEA, read here.)

No shame as NRC schedules new nuke review on March 11

Thumbing its nose and what should be a sombre reminder of the perils of nuclear energy, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a "public" meeting on March 11, 2013 to review the seemingly DOA proposal for a third, redundant reactor at Calvert Cliffs, MD. (And note the NRC's laughable slogan encapsulating precisely what it tries so hard NOT to do - at least at the Commission level where NRC staff safety concerns are routinely over-ridden.)

Another strike against Moniz choice - USEC happy

Ernest Moniz, President Obama's disastrous choice to be the next Secretary of Energy, is a former paid advisor to USEC, a uranium enrichment corporation that is developing the American Centrifuge Project in Piketon, OH. So naturally, USEC was one of the first to laud Obama for his pro-nuclear selection. Moniz was praised by the administration as "an important advocate for the advancement of nuclear energy as a method to address carbon emissions and climate change and is familiar with uranium-enrichment technologies." Moniz actually described nuclear energy - AFTER the Fukushima disaster began - as safe, clean and reliable. There is not much likelihood that Moniz's nomination will be opposed but Beyond Nuclear and other groups deplore his selection at a time when the country should be focused on full-scale development and implementation of renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation.

Update on March 5, 2013 by admin

And see this Counterpunch article about Moniz by Karl Grossman.

Nuclear Relapse? Canceled! Nuclear power? Game over!

Peter BradfordAs reported by ScienceDaily in an article entitled "U.S. May Face Inevitable Nuclear Power Exit,"  the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) has concluded its three part "Nuclear Exit" series with a look at the United States. The previous two installments examined the nuclear power phase-out in Germany, and the nuclear power status quo in France.

The BAS U.S. coverage features former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner, Union of Concerned Scientists board member, and Vermont Law School professor Peter Bradford's "How to close the U.S. nuclear industry: Do nothing," which concludes that, without massive taxpayer or ratepayer infusions, almost all proposed new reactors will not happen, and currently operating reactors will permanently shutdown by mid-century, unless the NRC rubber-stamps 80 years of operations (as opposed to the current, already risky 60). More.

New grassroots groups form to permanently shutdown Palisades

Entergy Nuclear's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor, and the inland "sweet water sea" (Lake Michigan) and countryside (southwest Michigan) which it threatens.As reported by the Kalamazoo Gazette, a town hall meeting was held at the Kalamazoo Public Library last night with the goal of revitalizing local efforts to permanently shutdown Entergy Nuclear's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor. There have been over four decades of resistance to Palisades, including during the initial licensing hearings about construction and operations that were held at the Kalamazoo Public Library in the mid to late 1960s.

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps was a featured speaker at last night's meeting. His power point presentation was entitled "The Catastrophe Waiting to Happen at Palisades: What YOU Can Do to Prevent It." A Kalamazoo native, who first got involved in anti-nuclear activism at Palisades more than 20 years ago, Kevin was interviewed by WWMT TV about the upside of shutting down Palisades: no more potentially catastrophic reactor risks; no more "routine" releases, or leaks, of radioactivity into the environment, including air, soil, groundwater, and Lake Michigan; and no more generation of high-level radioactive waste.

WKZO Radio also covered the Kalamazoo meeting.

The second grassroots organizing meeting of 2013 will be held at the South Haven public library this Saturday.