UNDTE!!!!! May 2, 2012 - Rocky Mountain Collegian - Reviewing the Fukushima disaster and journalism - I read with great interest the opinion column by S. Jacob Stern on April 30, 2012 on the Fukushima accident. Unfortunately, he appears to be a victim of the "Google search" research method. It is also unfortunate that he did not check here at CSU for information on radiation effects, where we have some of the premier radiobiologists in the world. CSU has an amazing group of researchers who are members of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (Drs. Thomas Borak and F. Ward Whicker) and the National Academy of Science’s Board on Radiation Effects (Dr. Joel Bedford), among others. Furthermore, Drs. Whicker and Borak are also world-renowned researchers for their work on the effects of Chernobyl. We do not have sufficient room in this short note to delineate all of the outstanding work in radiation science and radiation protection that is ongoing at CSU, but a quick search of our University web pages should suffice. Finally, at least three of the graduate students in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences were involved in the immediate Fukushima response.
May 2, 2012 - Virtual Strategy Magazine - Vital Choice Pacific Seafood Passes Radiation Tests - The results are in! Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics, the leading source for fast home delivery of the world’s finest wild seafood from Alaska and the North Pacific, today announced that tests conducted at their request by an independent laboratory show that none of their seafood is contaminated by radiation released from the compromised nuclear plants at Fukushima, Japan. After the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima last March, the team at Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics wanted to ensure that they were taking every safety precaution possible for their customers. Addressing a growing concern for potential radiation affecting the nation’s seafood, Vital Choice contracted Eurofins, the world leader in food testing, to test their wild Alaskan salmon and North Pacific seafood for radioactive elements. Vital Choice is proud to announce that the test results proved that all of their seafood products are completely safe for human consumption. The harmful radioactive isotopes that were released in significant amounts from the Fukushima plant, primarily Cesium-134, Cesium-137 and Iodine-131, were not present in almost every case. The trace amounts that may have been present in rare cases fell below the extremely low, very safe levels detectable with current technology. It is important to note that all food emits some radiation, because a small percentage of the elements in them naturally occur in the unstable forms called radioactive isotopes. Normally, the amounts of radioactive isotopes in foods are harmless. Following an accidental release of radiation, plants and animals can absorb radioactive isotopes, which may reach unsafe levels in affected foods. This is why Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics wanted to make absolutely sure that their products were not affected, and could not jeopardize the safety of any of their customers.
May 2, 2012 - The People's Voice - Fukushima primed for world wide disaster - The radioactive Fukushima Genie is out of the bottle and is primed to accomplish a worldwide disaster. If the roof of Reactor building #4 collapses, a building that is now seismically rated at zero, a pool of 1563 spent fuel rods perched 100 feet above the ground would also collapse ~ resulting in a gusher of global radiation that would put most of the world’s human and biological populations at severe risk. The greatest and most dangerous on going cover up in the world today is not the official 9/11 cover up (now into its 11th year); it is not the supposed assassination of Bin Laden by Navy Seals last year (an operation with no confirmed body, no video and completely staged as a re-election gimmick as we are now witnessing); but instead, it is the unspoken on going conspiracy of silence regarding the spreading worldwide nuclear radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011. This backgrounder RT interview with Robert Jacobs ( Hiroshima Peace Institute) regarding Fukushima was on May 11, 2011 so you can imagine how much more radiation has leaked into the atmosphere in the past 11 months ~ as well as the on going conspiracy of silence to reduce rightful world wide concern if not panic. Jacobs also confirms the extreme danger of a collapsed Reactor #4.
May 2, 2012 - North County Times - Quake study for nuke plant moving forward - The state utilities commission is set to approve $64 million for new seismic studies at San Onofre, though it does not appear that the project will receive the same level of outside scrutiny being applied at the state's other nuclear plant. A proposed decision issued March 16 by Administrative Law Judge Robert Barnett concluded that an Independent Peer Review Panel for San Onofre will be different from the one in play at Diablo Canyon in central California. The California Public Utilities Commission is set to finalize the ruling May 10. "The (review panel) for Diablo Canyon has proved too cumbersome for prompt and efficient action. A modified panel is needed," Barnett stated in his proposed decision. A state law passed in 2006 requires both of California's nuclear plants to do a series of new two- and three-dimensional earthquake studies to help the public better understand their seismic vulnerability. Public concern over potential earthquakes at San Onofre has only increased since a severe shaker damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan on March 11, 2011. Barnett's proposed decision calls for a division within the utilities commission to seek input from other California agencies ---- including the California Geologic Survey, the California Coastal Commission and The California Seismic Safety Commission ---- on whether Edison's seismic plans are sufficient.
May 2, 2012 - Associated Press - Navy nears power deal to help avoid Cal blackouts - The U.S. Navy is nearing a first-time agreement to curb electricity use at its sprawling San Diego-area bases if power runs short in Southern California this summer, a deal intended to diminish the threat of blackouts while the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant remains offline. The Navy is San Diego Gas & Electric's largest customer, and the utility has been working on an agreement under which the Navy would temporarily reduce its energy consumption if regional supplies get scarce. In exchange, the Navy would receive a break on electricity rates. The company has similar agreements with large industrial customers, which can slash the demand for power at critical times and keep the lights burning. State energy officials say Southern California could be hit by rotating blackouts this summer if a heat wave hits while San Onofre's twin reactors remain dark, though some activists insist adequate reserves are on hand. The plant, which can crank out enough electricity for 1.4 million homes, has been shut down for nearly three months while investigators try to determine the cause of excessive wear on hundreds of alloy tubes that carries radioactive water in its massive steam generators. The loss of the nuclear plant also makes it harder to import power into the San Diego area, where reliable energy transmission has long been a thorny issue.
May 2, 2012 - Denki Shimbun - US firm EnergySolutions ready to advance into reactor decommissioning business in Japan - Recently, executives of EnergySolutions, the global leader in the field of treatment and disposal of radioactive waste, accepted an interview with The Denki Shimbun and expressed their intention to expand their cooperative relationships with Japanese companies in the reactor decommissioning business in Japan. Having already established a business alliance with Toshiba for multi-nuclide removal equipment at the Fukushima I nuclear power station, they will similarly issue further proposals for other electric utilities and heavy electric machinery manufacturers. In addition, they are willing to handle the tasks of planning and costing the reactor decommissioning of Fukushima I units 1 to 4, and execute orders in connection with multiple projects, such as radioactive waste treatment and fuel extraction. Mark Morant, President for Global Commercial Group, Colin Boardman, President for Asia Region and Colin Austin , Sr Vice President for Asia Region (in charge of Japan) at EnergySolutions accepted our interview request.
May 2, 2012 - BBC News - Radioactive beach risk from wartime dump 'was ignored' - The risk of radioactive contamination at a Scottish beach, which is only now being fully assessed, was reported to the government more than 50 years ago. A confidential report from 1958, seen by the BBC, warned of the potential risks at sites where wartime aircraft had been dumped. Radiation at the site at Dalgety Bay in Fife is believed to be from radium paint used on aircraft instruments. Radiation was discovered at the beach by accident 20 years ago. The Ministry of Defence is currently investigating how the radioactive pollution might be cleaned up, but has yet to accept liability. It has been warned