Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

UG#671 - The Nuclear Fuel Pool of Damocles (Fukushima, Chernobyl and PBDEs)

Robin Upton | 04.12.2013 01:06 | Anti-Nuclear | Ecology | Health | Sheffield | World

We hear a collection of speakers on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (which Wikipedia reports injured 39 and may result in anywhere from 0 to 1000 cancer deaths). We hear testimony that the real figures are many orders of magnitude higher, and that the crisis is far from over, with radiation leaks increasing and a pool containing over 400 tons of nuclear fuel suspended 100 foot in the air in a badly damaged building highly vulnerable to any further seismic disturbance.

ug671-hour1mix.mp3 - mp3 27M

ug671-hour2mix.mp3 - mp3 27M


A big thanks this week to TUC Radio, who produced most of our material for this episode - selected recordings from a much under-reported event held in New York in March 2013 (the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown). Cosponsored by the Helen Caldicott Foundation and by Physicians for Social Responsibility, the symposium brought together a variety of experts to testify on the health risks presented by the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, as a counter to the systematic downplaying of the situation by the commercially-controlled media, who continue their blackout of the ongoing disaster at Fukushima.

After an initial thought from John F. Kennedy, we begin the show with a report from diplomat Akio Matsumura. Echoing the concerns of episode 558 he asks why the advocates of nuclear power have not faced up to the challenge of spent nuclear fuel which must be stored safely for around 100,000 years. He suggests that over 1,000,000 people have died as a result of the Chernobyl, and that Fukushima radiation emissions are at least comparable, and probably greater. More than 1,300 used fuel rod assemblies packed tightly together need to be removed from a building that is vulnerable to collapse, should another large earthquake hit the area.

Next we hear a presentation from Helen Caldicott on the health dangers of radiation.

We conclude our look at radiation and health with Wladimir Wertelecki. Now retired he is advancing scientific and public understanding of the global impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. He reports on the results of OMNI-Net Ukraine's Congenital Malformations Monitoring Program. Ten years of scientific study of birth defects of children and their possible relation to ionizing radiation found a strong correlation between birth defects and exposure to radiation, and powerful evidence that the existing models of health effects of radiation are naive at best. He was recorded on March 12, 2013 at the New York Academy of Medicine.
We conclude the show with an interview from December 1, 2012 of Ruthann Rudel, senior scientist of environmental toxicology and director of research at the Silent Spring Institute. She reports on the effects of endocrine disruptors in flame retardants. The Chicago Tribune reports that the average American is born with the highest recorded levels of these chemicals worldwide, which are linked to cancer, changes in DNA, hormone disruption, lowered IQ, decreased fertility and hyperactivity. Rudel reports that she detected an imbalance in levels of PBDEs (polybrominated phenyl diethers) in people on the east and west coast of the USA, and tracked this to TB117, a California law mandating stringent testing on furniture flammability. She reports that big tobacco, under pressure to produce 'fire safe cigarettes', partnered with manufacturers of flame retardants to set up "Citizens for Fire Safety", an astroturf group to lobby for tougher fire regulations. After the health impacts of fire retardants have come under closer scrutiny, she reports that the producers of flame retardants have spent millions of dollars to prevent a modification or repeal of TB117.

Robin Upton
- e-mail: unwelcome [At] unwelcome Guests [d0t] net
- Homepage: www.unwelcomeguests.net/671

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech