Ghosts Of Hiroshima Haunt Fuming Landfill Near Ferguson, Missouri via The Seattle Medium

Posted on 2016/04/14 by yukimiyamotodepaul

BRIDGETON, Mo. – Outside Ferguson, Missouri, another issue burns. This time, it’s environmental.

An underground fire smolders toward radioactive waste tied to the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This subterranean inferno threatens to sicken area residents, just 10 miles from the site of the controversial, police-involved death of Michael Brown.

Local citizens worry the slowly advancing fire, which has burned at the Bridgeton Landfill since 2010, will reach the World War II-era nuclear refuse at the neighboring West Lake Landfill.

This menace unfolds in a disproportionately Black area. The African-American population of St. Louis County, home to Bridgeton and Ferguson, was 23.9 percent in 2014, according to Census data. That is nearly double the 13.2 percent Black share of America’s population.

Residents already complain of a strong smell of garbage and rotten eggs, elevated health problems, and slow government and corporate action. The landfills are owned, largely, by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates — the richest man on Earth, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $77.6 billion.

[…]

This toxic waste survived the Manhattan Project’s uranium-enrichment program. A contractor for the Cotter Corporation illegally dumped it at West Lake in 1973. Since then, a full cleanup has remained in bureaucratic and legal limbo while the EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and private companies have wrestled over who will mop up this mess.

Even worse, an underground fire spontaneously combusted at the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill in 2010, inching ever closer to the atomic waste at West Lake. The EPA, last December, ordered Republic Services to pay to build a barrier between the fire and the radioactive refuse.

Finding a solution to the problem is “a top priority for EPA,” said the agency’s Region 7 administrator Mark Hague. The EPA says residents are not at risk, but its new report found the fire was only a couple hundred feet from the toxic material — twice as close as previously thought.

Affected Black residents tend to be “more middle-income folks,” said Adolphus M. Pruitt II, president of the St. Louis City NAACP. “But they’re being impacted the same as anybody else as related to the health concerns and the concerns about their property values, their ability to liquidate their property or sell their property in the future — if for some reason they decide to move.”

“Residents want to be able to move out of the area, hoping the state or the government will buy them out,” said Pruitt. “I don’t hold much faith in that happening.”

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福島いのちの電話　来月１５、２１日　春季公開講座 via福島民報

Posted on 2016/04/13 by

自殺予防などを目的に無料で電話相談に応じる「福島いのちの電話」の春季公開講座「人間関係がラクになる！」は５月１５日に福島市の桜の聖母短大、同２１日に郡山市労働福祉会館でそれぞれ開かれる。時間はともに午後１時半から。入場無料で受講申し込みを受け付けている。
　福島会場は音楽療法士の高田真紀子さんが「音楽による心の癒し」と題して講演した後、二胡奏者・劉含発さんの演奏がある。郡山会場はアンガーマネージメント・シニアファシリテーターの岡田友子さんが「怒りのコントロール」をテーマに講演する。
　定員は福島会場が２８０人、郡山会場が３００人。申し込み・問い合わせは福島いのちの電話事務局　電話０２４（５３６）００３２へ。
[…]

全文を読む。

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UPDATE 1-No deal yet on German nuclear exit costs – sources via Reuters

Posted on 2016/04/13 by

By Markus Wacket

BERLIN, April 13 Utilities in Germany will have to set aside more money to cover the cost of storing nuclear waste, four sources in a government-appointed commission told Reuters, after a meeting on Wednesday failed to reach agreement on how much more.

E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall, Germany’s “big four” power firms, have set aside about 40 billion euros ($45 billion) in provisions to pay for the dismantling of plants and storage of waste, part of the country’s plans to ditch nuclear power generation.

Fearing that utilities could buckle under the weight of the financial burden and fail to come up with the money, Berlin has set up a commission to protect it, most likely through a government-controlled fund to cover storage operations, the most complex element of the nuclear exit.

Uncertainty over how much money the utilities will have to set aside has clouded their prospects and investors and analysts are watching the commission’s actions closely.

The cost of storing the nuclear waste is about 18 billion euros and this money is likely to be transferred into the government-controlled fund to ensure it is available when needed.

Members of the commission said a surcharge (on top of the 18 billion euros) was a fundamental requirement to shake off liability for any future risks. This surcharge has become the main sticking point in the talks.

[…]

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Federal Court Awards Conn. Nuclear Plant Owners via Connecticut Law Tribune

Posted on 2016/04/13 by

Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. et al. v. United States: A federal judge has awarded nearly $77 million to the owners of three decommissioned nuclear power plants in New England, including Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. in Haddam Neck, Connecticut, to reimburse the companies for the costs of storing spent nuclear fuel.
The decision is the third judgment against the U.S. government for failing to dispose of the nuclear waste from the plants.

[…]
Events that triggered the litigation date to 1996 when Connecticut Yankee was shut down because it was too costly to keep operating. Dangerous radiation had leaked from the plant in 1978 and again in 1989, contributing to the decision to close the plant.
But even after the plant closed, the meter kept running. Under a contract tied to the operation of the plant, the federal government was supposed to take possession of the spent nuclear fuel at the site starting in 1998, but never did. As a result, the plant’s owner paid more than $10 million a year to keep the materials secure.
The federal Department of Energy had attempted to build a repository to permanently store the waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, but public opposition scuttled the plans and left the New England plants with no other repository for spent fuel rods and other waste. The three plants, which were all decommissioned at around the same time, together sued the government for breach of contract. In August 2004, there was a seven-week trial on damages in federal court. Various appeals dragged the process out until about three years ago.
[…]

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汚染水流出で検審に申し立て　福島原発告訴団 via 中日新聞

Posted on 2016/04/13 by yukimiyamotodepaul

　東京電力福島第１原発から汚染水を海に流出させたとして、東電役員らを公害罪法（人の健康に係る公害犯罪の処罰に関する法律）違反容疑で告発した福島原発告訴団は１３日、福島地検の不起訴処分を不服として、福島検察審査会に審査を申し立てた。

告訴団約６千人が２０１３年、法人としての東電と新旧役員３２人を告発。福島地検は今年３月、「汚染水の排出は立証困難」などとして、全員を不起訴処分に した。今回、告訴団の武藤類子団長ら３人が、不起訴処分のうち嫌疑不十分とされた法人としての東電と新旧役員７人に対象を絞り、審査を申し立て。

続きは汚染水流出で検審に申し立て　福島原発告訴団

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90Sr in teeth of cattle abandoned in evacuation zone: Record of pollution from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident via Nature

Posted on 2016/04/13 by yukimiyamotodepaul

Abstract

Here we determined the 90Sr concentrations in the teeth of cattle abandoned in the evacuation area of the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident. 90Sr activity concentrations in the teeth varied from 6–831 mBq (g Ca)−1 and exhibited a positive relationship with the degree of radioactive contamination that the cattle experienced. Even within an individual animal, the specific activity of 90Sr (Bq (g Sr)−1) varied depending on the development stage of the teeth during the FNPP accident: teeth that were early in development exhibited high 90Sr specific activities, while teeth that were late in development exhibited low specific activities. These findings demonstrate that 90Sr is incorporated into the teeth during tooth development; thus, tooth 90Sr activity concentrations reflect environmental 90Sr levels during tooth formation. Assessment of 90Sr in teeth could provide useful information about internal exposure to 90Sr radiation and allow for the measurement of time-course changes in the degree of environmental 90Sr pollution.

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Healthcare providers in cath labs may be harmed by radiation via Reuters

Posted on 2016/04/12 by

[…]

Procedures in the “cath lab” – named for the catheters threaded into the heart – are done for all forms of cardiac disease, like congenital heart defects, ischemic heart disease or heart arrhythmias, said lead author Maria Grazia Andreassi of the CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology in Pisa, Italy.

“These procedures, highly effective and often life-saving, require substantial radiation exposure to patients,” Andreassi told Reuters Health by email.

But staff members, too, are exposed to radiation. In particular, for the cardiologists and electrophysiologists who work near the patient and the radiation source, “the cumulative dose in a professional lifetime is not negligible,” Andreassi said.
[…]Doctors had higher risks than nurses or technicians, and risk was higher for those who had been working more than 16 years, as reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Stroke and heart attack risk were similar in the radiation and non-radiation exposure groups.

“Compared to healthcare professionals not exposed to radiation, workers with more than 16 years of occupational work are approximately 10 times more likely to experience cataracts and eight times more likely to have cancer after adjusting for other confounders,” like age and smoking status, Andreassi said.

[…]
Everyone wears lead aprons, and increasingly, lead caps,” Klein told Reuters Health by email. “We are careful about unnecessary exposure.”

But wearing lead creates orthopedic problems and doesn’t completely protect against the effects of radiation, he said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and federal and state agencies probably need to get more involved than they already are, he said.

“Unfortunately, interventional cardiologists are often inadequately trained in radiation safety and radiobiology, and hospitals have few training programs regarding radiation risk and exposure,” Andreassi said.

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Fukushima Five Years After: Health Researchers Turn Blind Eye to Casualties via CounterPunch

Posted on 2016/04/12 by

By Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman

[…]
Public health leaders have addressed the topic with ignorance and deception. A search of the medical literature shows only two studies in Japan that review actual changes in disease and death rates. One showed that 127 Fukushima-area children have developed thyroid cancer since the meltdown; a typical number of cases for a similar sized population of children would be about 5-10. The other study showed a number of ectopic intrathyroidal problems in local children – a disorder that is extremely rare. No other studies looking at changes in infant deaths, premature births, child cancers, or other radiation-sensitive diseases are available.

But the literature also shows that researchers have been pouring out articles on mental health and psychological impacts on local residents. Journals from Japan and other nations have printed research on stress, behavioral changes, fears, and even changes in average blood pressure (blaming it on concerns about the meltdown). At least 51 of these articles are listed on the National Library of Medicine web site.

The same pattern occurred after prior meltdowns. The 1979 meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania was followed by a total denial that anyone had been harmed. The first journal article on changes in cancer cases didn’t appear until nearly 12 years after the meltdown; it showed a 64% rise in cancer cases within 10 miles of the plant during the first five years after the accident. The authors, from Columbia University, blamed this increase on stress and psychological reactions to the disaster.

After Chernobyl, the same corruption of scientific investigation occurred. The 31 emergency workers who helped bury the red-hot reactor and died from high exposures became almost a mantra (“Chernobyl caused only 31 deaths”) despite the massive amount of fallout it dispersed across the globe. A 2009 compendium of 5,000 articles, published by the New York Academy of Sciences, estimated about 1 million deaths from the meltdown occurred in the following 20 years. Unfortunately, nuclear supporters have made the assumption that nobody died from Fukushima, while churning out study after study on how a meltdown affects mental status – and no other part of the body.

But the truth is that Fukushima radiation, a mix of over 100 chemicals found only in atomic reactors and bombs, has caused considerable harm. University of South Carolina biology professor Timothy Mousseau has made multiple trips to Japan, collecting specimens of plants and animals. He and colleagues have published numerous journal articles showing DNA damage and actual disease near the plant. So if plants and animals are affected, it is logical that humans are as well.

[…]

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「原爆症」認定、高裁初判断　現行基準の見直し急務 via 毎日新聞

Posted on 2016/04/12 by

新基準でも原爆症と認められなかった被爆者を原爆症と認定した１１日の福岡高裁判決は「疑わしきは救済する」という一連の集団訴訟での司法判断の流れに沿ったもので、高裁として初判断をした意義は大きい。国は判決を謙虚に受け止め、認定基準の見直しを検討すべきだ。

　原爆症認定を巡る集団訴訟で敗訴を重ねた国は２０１４年１月に新たな認定基準を導入した。しかし、認定に際して原爆炸裂（さくれつ）時に放出された初期放射線を重視する一方で、放射性降下物などによる残留放射線を軽視する傾向は変わらず、国による却下が相次いだ。

　これに対し、今回の判決は「被ばく線量の評価には、被爆状況や被爆後の行動、症状などに照らし、さまざまな形態での外部、内部被ばくの可能性がないかを十分に検討する必要がある」として、残留放射線を含め、より広く影響を考慮すべきだとの考えを示した。[…]

もっと読む。

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White House confirms Obama is weighing visit to Hiroshima during G-7 trip via The Japan Times

Posted on 2016/04/12 by yukimiyamotodepaul

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama is considering a visit to Hiroshima when he travels to Japan in May for the Group of Seven summit, the White House said Tuesday.

It was the first confirmation of reports that the U.S. government is exploring a first visit by a sitting American president to Hiroshima, where U.S. forces dropped an atomic bomb in 1945.

“This is a question about whether or not the president will visit Hiroshima that comes up regularly whenever the president makes plans to travel to Japan,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “The president will, and his team will obviously consider our options here.”

[…]

The pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons continues to be “a long-term goal” for Obama, Earnest said.

“There’s no more powerful illustration of that commitment than the city that contained the victims of the first use of that weapon,” the spokesman said.

A visit by an incumbent president to Hiroshima or Nagasaki, which was also atomic-bombed by U.S. forces in 1945, is expected to stir controversy in the United States, where it could be interpreted as tantamount to an apology for the attacks, which many veterans and others see as having been necessary to get Japan to surrender in World War II.

But Earnest said such concerns would not be a factor in the final decision about Obama’s possible visit to Hiroshima.

Whatever decision Obama makes “will be consistent with the president’s strong view about the bravery, courage and heroism of those Americans who fought and won World War II,” the spokesman said.

“The symbol of Hiroshima is the significant and even, in some ways, tragic ability that mankind has to wreak terrible destruction,” Earnest said.

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