#contaminated — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #contaminated, aggregated by home.social.
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Yakult Europe launches dairy-free Vvtals drink
The Japanese probiotic brand that launched 90 years ago, first brought its fermented Lactobacillus gut-health drink to Europe…
#Europe #EU #accumulated #body #contaminated #dish #harm #hazard #health #nanoplastics #nonstick #pan #particles #polluted #poorhealth #scratch #single #teflon #toxin
https://www.europesays.com/europe/19083/ -
Here's the story! (I guess they were waiting to post it after the 6pm news).
#EPA watchdog finds #BrunswickLanding is among #contaminated sites vulnerable to #SeaLevelRise, #flooding
Russ Reed, March 31, 2026
#BrunswickME - "The internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that about 100 of the nation's most #contaminated toxic waste sites, including one in #Maine, are in areas prone to #NaturalDisasters, posing a potential public health threat.
"The EPA's Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities of the 157 federal #Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3 million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13 million people live within 3 miles.
"Brunswick Landing, the site of the former #BrunswickNavalAirStation, is among the Superfund sites that were found to be at risk from multiple natural-disaster threats. According to the Inspector General, Brunswick Landing is one of 49 sites in coastal areas that are at risk from #SeaLevelRise or #StormSurge from hurricanes. Many of those sites are located near highly populated areas and important ecological locales like #ChesapeakeBay .
"Brunswick Landing is also one of 47 low-lying sites that are specifically prone to inland flooding from heavy rain. The Inspector General's review also found 31 sites in areas at high risk for wildfires."
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/brunswick-landing-concerns-epa-watchdog-report-maine/70899341#WaterIsLife #ForeverChemicals
#Pollution #ClimateChange #Maine
#BrunswickExecutiveAirport #PFAS #PFASContamination -
Here's the story! (I guess they were waiting to post it after the 6pm news).
#EPA watchdog finds #BrunswickLanding is among #contaminated sites vulnerable to #SeaLevelRise, #flooding
Russ Reed, March 31, 2026
#BrunswickME - "The internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that about 100 of the nation's most #contaminated toxic waste sites, including one in #Maine, are in areas prone to #NaturalDisasters, posing a potential public health threat.
"The EPA's Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities of the 157 federal #Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3 million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13 million people live within 3 miles.
"Brunswick Landing, the site of the former #BrunswickNavalAirStation, is among the Superfund sites that were found to be at risk from multiple natural-disaster threats. According to the Inspector General, Brunswick Landing is one of 49 sites in coastal areas that are at risk from #SeaLevelRise or #StormSurge from hurricanes. Many of those sites are located near highly populated areas and important ecological locales like #ChesapeakeBay .
"Brunswick Landing is also one of 47 low-lying sites that are specifically prone to inland flooding from heavy rain. The Inspector General's review also found 31 sites in areas at high risk for wildfires."
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/brunswick-landing-concerns-epa-watchdog-report-maine/70899341#WaterIsLife #ForeverChemicals
#Pollution #ClimateChange #Maine
#BrunswickExecutiveAirport #PFAS #PFASContamination -
Here's the story! (I guess they were waiting to post it after the 6pm news).
#EPA watchdog finds #BrunswickLanding is among #contaminated sites vulnerable to #SeaLevelRise, #flooding
Russ Reed, March 31, 2026
#BrunswickME - "The internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that about 100 of the nation's most #contaminated toxic waste sites, including one in #Maine, are in areas prone to #NaturalDisasters, posing a potential public health threat.
"The EPA's Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities of the 157 federal #Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3 million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13 million people live within 3 miles.
"Brunswick Landing, the site of the former #BrunswickNavalAirStation, is among the Superfund sites that were found to be at risk from multiple natural-disaster threats. According to the Inspector General, Brunswick Landing is one of 49 sites in coastal areas that are at risk from #SeaLevelRise or #StormSurge from hurricanes. Many of those sites are located near highly populated areas and important ecological locales like #ChesapeakeBay .
"Brunswick Landing is also one of 47 low-lying sites that are specifically prone to inland flooding from heavy rain. The Inspector General's review also found 31 sites in areas at high risk for wildfires."
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/brunswick-landing-concerns-epa-watchdog-report-maine/70899341#WaterIsLife #ForeverChemicals
#Pollution #ClimateChange #Maine
#BrunswickExecutiveAirport #PFAS #PFASContamination -
Here's the story! (I guess they were waiting to post it after the 6pm news).
#EPA watchdog finds #BrunswickLanding is among #contaminated sites vulnerable to #SeaLevelRise, #flooding
Russ Reed, March 31, 2026
#BrunswickME - "The internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that about 100 of the nation's most #contaminated toxic waste sites, including one in #Maine, are in areas prone to #NaturalDisasters, posing a potential public health threat.
"The EPA's Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities of the 157 federal #Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3 million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13 million people live within 3 miles.
"Brunswick Landing, the site of the former #BrunswickNavalAirStation, is among the Superfund sites that were found to be at risk from multiple natural-disaster threats. According to the Inspector General, Brunswick Landing is one of 49 sites in coastal areas that are at risk from #SeaLevelRise or #StormSurge from hurricanes. Many of those sites are located near highly populated areas and important ecological locales like #ChesapeakeBay .
"Brunswick Landing is also one of 47 low-lying sites that are specifically prone to inland flooding from heavy rain. The Inspector General's review also found 31 sites in areas at high risk for wildfires."
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/brunswick-landing-concerns-epa-watchdog-report-maine/70899341#WaterIsLife #ForeverChemicals
#Pollution #ClimateChange #Maine
#BrunswickExecutiveAirport #PFAS #PFASContamination -
Here's the story! (I guess they were waiting to post it after the 6pm news).
#EPA watchdog finds #BrunswickLanding is among #contaminated sites vulnerable to #SeaLevelRise, #flooding
Russ Reed, March 31, 2026
#BrunswickME - "The internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that about 100 of the nation's most #contaminated toxic waste sites, including one in #Maine, are in areas prone to #NaturalDisasters, posing a potential public health threat.
"The EPA's Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities of the 157 federal #Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3 million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13 million people live within 3 miles.
"Brunswick Landing, the site of the former #BrunswickNavalAirStation, is among the Superfund sites that were found to be at risk from multiple natural-disaster threats. According to the Inspector General, Brunswick Landing is one of 49 sites in coastal areas that are at risk from #SeaLevelRise or #StormSurge from hurricanes. Many of those sites are located near highly populated areas and important ecological locales like #ChesapeakeBay .
"Brunswick Landing is also one of 47 low-lying sites that are specifically prone to inland flooding from heavy rain. The Inspector General's review also found 31 sites in areas at high risk for wildfires."
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/brunswick-landing-concerns-epa-watchdog-report-maine/70899341#WaterIsLife #ForeverChemicals
#Pollution #ClimateChange #Maine
#BrunswickExecutiveAirport #PFAS #PFASContamination -
https://www.europesays.com/africa/89569/ Customers warned not to use potentially contaminated kerosene from Cairo service station #330NBroadStreet #cairo #contaminated #Drew’sSelfServiceStation #Egypt #February10 #GeorgiaAgricultureCommissionerTylerHarper #heaters #kerosene #lamps #possibly #ServiceStation #SouthGeorgia
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Latest cheese recalls gets FDA’s most serious warning https://www.diningandcooking.com/2447614/latest-cheese-recalls-gets-fdas-most-serious-warning/ #AmbriolaCompany #Boar'sHead #Cheese #contaminated #DeliMeats #fda #FoodRecalls #Italia #Italian #ItalianCheese #italiano #italy #ListeriaContamination #PecorinoRomanoCheese #RomanoCheese
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From my friend in Japan...
Two years after the release of treated water at the #FukushimaDaiichi #nuclear power plant began, more than a hundred thousand tons were washed into the sea, but new #contaminated water is occurring every day
August 24, 2025 at 06:00
"It has been two years since the ocean release of treated water accumulated at the #TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began. The radioactive substance #tritium remains in the water even after the purification process. In June, China, which completely stopped importing Japanese seafood, resumed production in 37 prefectures, but Fukushima and other ten prefectures are still not eligible. There is no end to the ocean release, and the impact of the nuclear accident on the fishing industry continues.
"Tank treated water and contaminated water have been reduced by only fifty-six thousand tons.
"The ocean release was first released on August 24th, and the 14th time was launched on August 7th this month. Up to the 13th time, a total of one hundred and eighty-seven tons of treated water were released.
"The treated water and contaminated water stored in a tank on the site of the nuclear power plant before it was released into the ocean. So far, it has decreased to about fifty-six thousand tons, and it has not decreased by much the amount of release. The reason is that the contaminated water is generated about seventy tons every day, and the number of groundwater and rainwater increases due to the contact of molten nuclear fuel (debris) in the reactor building. Without the absence of contaminated water, we cannot stop releasing it into the ocean.
"As of July 30th, TEPCO paid about JPY790 billion in compensation in response to the slump in fish prices associated with ocean release. There is a possibility that some of China's resumption of imports will also change the price of fish, but Fukushima Prefecture continues to be stopped.
"37 Export application procedures for fishery products produced in Hokkaido Prefecture have begun. A person in charge of the processing and distribution section of the Fisheries Agency said, 'There are many applications, and the desire to resume is strong. We will continue to work with China to reopen the ten prefectures.' Riki Arai)
"The place where the 'sludge' due to the treatment of contaminated water is about to be full.
"Two years have passed since the release of treated water into the ocean due to the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The treated water stored in the nuclear power plant is gradually reduced by ocean release, while the storage and disposal of sludge contaminated with high concentrations that continue to occur in the process of treatment of contaminated water is becoming an issue.
"In the process of removing radioactive substances from contaminated water, sludge is produced by precipitating impurities with chemicals. Liquids and solids are mixed... " [Unfortunately, the rest is behind paywall]
Source:
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/430612#FukushimaIsntOver #TEPCOLied #TEPCOLies #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #WaterContamination #Radiation #Bioaccumulation #NoRadioactiveDumping #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoMoreFukushimas #NuclearWasteIsForever
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Zionist regime warns about water pollution on Tel Aviv beaches Northern waters of occupied Palestine are contaminated
Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): …
#Israel #News #abnormal #about #after #against #are #area #Aviv #beaches #contaminated #discovery #health #in #israeli #issued #ministry #Nordo #northern #occupied #of #ON #Palestine #pollution #regime #results #samples #swimming #Tel #telaviv #testing #the #this #warned #warning #warns #was #water #waters #Zionist
https://www.europesays.com/2335566/ -
*I've spoken up about this issue multiple times here, since joining in 2022. My family members were & still are affected by the massive damages caused by #USMilitary invasion. The US government used us as guinea pigs to test out their newer #WeaponsOfMassDestruction.
This doesn't even touch upon the countless USA war munitions still left all across Vietnam. *The term #ecocide had been coined in the late 1960s to describe the U.S. military’s use of #herbicides like #AgentOrange and incendiary weapons like #napalm to battle #guerrilla forces that used jungles and marshes for cover.
Fifty years later, #Vietnam ’s degraded #ecosystems and #dioxin #contaminated soils and waters still reflect the long-term #ecological consequences of the #war. Efforts to restore these damaged landscapes and even to assess the long-term harm have been limited.
#VietnamWarSurvivors #AsianMastodon #USOwesReparations #PostWar #Biowarfare #TootSEA #GlobalSouth #Vietnamese #environmental
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High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational -
High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational -
High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational -
High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational -
High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational -
Good ol' #KerrMcGee. You remember them, right? #KarenSilkwood's employer!
Karen #Silkwood's sudden death unpacked in ABC documentary
The four-part podcast unearths never-before-heard audio tapes.
ByDoc Louallen
November 14, 2024"Fifty years ago, the death of a 28-year-old #plutonium plant worker and whistleblower in Oklahoma -- a death many found mysterious and sparked decades of speculation -- shocked the nation.
"The official story was that Karen Silkwood died in a one-car crash on Nov. 13, 1974. She was on her way to meet a New York Times journalist, reportedly to hand over documents she'd secretly been collecting at her job at a #NuclearFacility. The Oklahoma State Highway Patrol concluded that Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel -- possibly under the influence of prescribed drugs --- drove off the highway, crashed into a ditch, and died.
"'We’ve never believed it,' Mike Boettcher said of the official narrative. Boettcher and his reporting partner Bob Sands, both veteran Oklahoma journalists, say many in Oklahoma speculate that Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew.
"Silkwood's story has become widely known, inspiring several books, articles, and a major motion picture.
Silkwood worked at a nuclear fuel production plant that manufactured #plutonium fuel rods to power a new type of nuclear reactor, which was part of a multi-million dollar experiment to enhance #nuclear energy. When she noticed what she felt were #unsafe working conditions -- such as leaks, spills and co-workers frequently getting #contaminated with #RadioactiveMaterial -- she spoke up and tried to make improvements."'Karen became nuclear energy's first #whistleblower, though the term whistleblower was just starting to be used,' Boettcher said. 'This was at a time when the idea of someone inside of a big corporation exposing alleged misdeeds was shocking.'
"Silkwood's allegations, contamination, and untimely death sparked an investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an FBI inquiry, a civil lawsuit, several appeals, a congressional hearing and two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Read more:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/karen-silkwoods-sudden-death-unpacked-abc-documentary/story?id=115778837
#CoverUp #NoNukes #NuclearIndustry #BigOilAndGas #WhoKilledKarenSilkwood #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies -
Good ol' #KerrMcGee. You remember them, right? #KarenSilkwood's employer!
Karen #Silkwood's sudden death unpacked in ABC documentary
The four-part podcast unearths never-before-heard audio tapes.
ByDoc Louallen
November 14, 2024"Fifty years ago, the death of a 28-year-old #plutonium plant worker and whistleblower in Oklahoma -- a death many found mysterious and sparked decades of speculation -- shocked the nation.
"The official story was that Karen Silkwood died in a one-car crash on Nov. 13, 1974. She was on her way to meet a New York Times journalist, reportedly to hand over documents she'd secretly been collecting at her job at a #NuclearFacility. The Oklahoma State Highway Patrol concluded that Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel -- possibly under the influence of prescribed drugs --- drove off the highway, crashed into a ditch, and died.
"'We’ve never believed it,' Mike Boettcher said of the official narrative. Boettcher and his reporting partner Bob Sands, both veteran Oklahoma journalists, say many in Oklahoma speculate that Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew.
"Silkwood's story has become widely known, inspiring several books, articles, and a major motion picture.
Silkwood worked at a nuclear fuel production plant that manufactured #plutonium fuel rods to power a new type of nuclear reactor, which was part of a multi-million dollar experiment to enhance #nuclear energy. When she noticed what she felt were #unsafe working conditions -- such as leaks, spills and co-workers frequently getting #contaminated with #RadioactiveMaterial -- she spoke up and tried to make improvements."'Karen became nuclear energy's first #whistleblower, though the term whistleblower was just starting to be used,' Boettcher said. 'This was at a time when the idea of someone inside of a big corporation exposing alleged misdeeds was shocking.'
"Silkwood's allegations, contamination, and untimely death sparked an investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an FBI inquiry, a civil lawsuit, several appeals, a congressional hearing and two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Read more:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/karen-silkwoods-sudden-death-unpacked-abc-documentary/story?id=115778837
#CoverUp #NoNukes #NuclearIndustry #BigOilAndGas #WhoKilledKarenSilkwood #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies -
Good ol' #KerrMcGee. You remember them, right? #KarenSilkwood's employer!
Karen #Silkwood's sudden death unpacked in ABC documentary
The four-part podcast unearths never-before-heard audio tapes.
ByDoc Louallen
November 14, 2024"Fifty years ago, the death of a 28-year-old #plutonium plant worker and whistleblower in Oklahoma -- a death many found mysterious and sparked decades of speculation -- shocked the nation.
"The official story was that Karen Silkwood died in a one-car crash on Nov. 13, 1974. She was on her way to meet a New York Times journalist, reportedly to hand over documents she'd secretly been collecting at her job at a #NuclearFacility. The Oklahoma State Highway Patrol concluded that Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel -- possibly under the influence of prescribed drugs --- drove off the highway, crashed into a ditch, and died.
"'We’ve never believed it,' Mike Boettcher said of the official narrative. Boettcher and his reporting partner Bob Sands, both veteran Oklahoma journalists, say many in Oklahoma speculate that Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew.
"Silkwood's story has become widely known, inspiring several books, articles, and a major motion picture.
Silkwood worked at a nuclear fuel production plant that manufactured #plutonium fuel rods to power a new type of nuclear reactor, which was part of a multi-million dollar experiment to enhance #nuclear energy. When she noticed what she felt were #unsafe working conditions -- such as leaks, spills and co-workers frequently getting #contaminated with #RadioactiveMaterial -- she spoke up and tried to make improvements."'Karen became nuclear energy's first #whistleblower, though the term whistleblower was just starting to be used,' Boettcher said. 'This was at a time when the idea of someone inside of a big corporation exposing alleged misdeeds was shocking.'
"Silkwood's allegations, contamination, and untimely death sparked an investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an FBI inquiry, a civil lawsuit, several appeals, a congressional hearing and two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Read more:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/karen-silkwoods-sudden-death-unpacked-abc-documentary/story?id=115778837
#CoverUp #NoNukes #NuclearIndustry #BigOilAndGas #WhoKilledKarenSilkwood #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies -
Good ol' #KerrMcGee. You remember them, right? #KarenSilkwood's employer!
Karen #Silkwood's sudden death unpacked in ABC documentary
The four-part podcast unearths never-before-heard audio tapes.
ByDoc Louallen
November 14, 2024"Fifty years ago, the death of a 28-year-old #plutonium plant worker and whistleblower in Oklahoma -- a death many found mysterious and sparked decades of speculation -- shocked the nation.
"The official story was that Karen Silkwood died in a one-car crash on Nov. 13, 1974. She was on her way to meet a New York Times journalist, reportedly to hand over documents she'd secretly been collecting at her job at a #NuclearFacility. The Oklahoma State Highway Patrol concluded that Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel -- possibly under the influence of prescribed drugs --- drove off the highway, crashed into a ditch, and died.
"'We’ve never believed it,' Mike Boettcher said of the official narrative. Boettcher and his reporting partner Bob Sands, both veteran Oklahoma journalists, say many in Oklahoma speculate that Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew.
"Silkwood's story has become widely known, inspiring several books, articles, and a major motion picture.
Silkwood worked at a nuclear fuel production plant that manufactured #plutonium fuel rods to power a new type of nuclear reactor, which was part of a multi-million dollar experiment to enhance #nuclear energy. When she noticed what she felt were #unsafe working conditions -- such as leaks, spills and co-workers frequently getting #contaminated with #RadioactiveMaterial -- she spoke up and tried to make improvements."'Karen became nuclear energy's first #whistleblower, though the term whistleblower was just starting to be used,' Boettcher said. 'This was at a time when the idea of someone inside of a big corporation exposing alleged misdeeds was shocking.'
"Silkwood's allegations, contamination, and untimely death sparked an investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an FBI inquiry, a civil lawsuit, several appeals, a congressional hearing and two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Read more:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/karen-silkwoods-sudden-death-unpacked-abc-documentary/story?id=115778837
#CoverUp #NoNukes #NuclearIndustry #BigOilAndGas #WhoKilledKarenSilkwood #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies -
Good ol' #KerrMcGee. You remember them, right? #KarenSilkwood's employer!
Karen #Silkwood's sudden death unpacked in ABC documentary
The four-part podcast unearths never-before-heard audio tapes.
ByDoc Louallen
November 14, 2024"Fifty years ago, the death of a 28-year-old #plutonium plant worker and whistleblower in Oklahoma -- a death many found mysterious and sparked decades of speculation -- shocked the nation.
"The official story was that Karen Silkwood died in a one-car crash on Nov. 13, 1974. She was on her way to meet a New York Times journalist, reportedly to hand over documents she'd secretly been collecting at her job at a #NuclearFacility. The Oklahoma State Highway Patrol concluded that Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel -- possibly under the influence of prescribed drugs --- drove off the highway, crashed into a ditch, and died.
"'We’ve never believed it,' Mike Boettcher said of the official narrative. Boettcher and his reporting partner Bob Sands, both veteran Oklahoma journalists, say many in Oklahoma speculate that Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew.
"Silkwood's story has become widely known, inspiring several books, articles, and a major motion picture.
Silkwood worked at a nuclear fuel production plant that manufactured #plutonium fuel rods to power a new type of nuclear reactor, which was part of a multi-million dollar experiment to enhance #nuclear energy. When she noticed what she felt were #unsafe working conditions -- such as leaks, spills and co-workers frequently getting #contaminated with #RadioactiveMaterial -- she spoke up and tried to make improvements."'Karen became nuclear energy's first #whistleblower, though the term whistleblower was just starting to be used,' Boettcher said. 'This was at a time when the idea of someone inside of a big corporation exposing alleged misdeeds was shocking.'
"Silkwood's allegations, contamination, and untimely death sparked an investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an FBI inquiry, a civil lawsuit, several appeals, a congressional hearing and two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Read more:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/karen-silkwoods-sudden-death-unpacked-abc-documentary/story?id=115778837
#CoverUp #NoNukes #NuclearIndustry #BigOilAndGas #WhoKilledKarenSilkwood #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies -
Of course, now we know who was behind #Stuxnet -- #Israel and the #CIA -- thanks!
Why the #StuxnetWorm is like nothing seen before
By Paul Marks
27 September 2010"Stuxnet is the first worm of its type capable of attacking #CriticalInfrastructure like #PowerStations and #ElectricityGrids: those in the know have been expecting it for years. On 26 September, #Iran’s state news agency reported that computers at its #Bushehr #NuclearPowerPlant had been infected.
Why the fuss over Stuxnet?
"#ComputerViruses, worms and #trojans have until now mainly infected PCs or the servers that keep e-businesses running. They may delete key system files or documents, or perhaps prevent website access, but they do not threaten life and limb.
"The Stuxnet worm is different. It is the first piece of #malware so far able to break into the types of computer that control machinery at the heart of industry, allowing an attacker to assume control of critical systems like #pumps, #motors, #alarms and #valves in an industrial plant.
"In the worst case scenarios, safety systems could be switched off at a nuclear power plant; fresh water #contaminated with effluent at a #SewageTreatmentPlant, or the valves in an #OilPipeline opened, contaminating the land or sea.
“'Giving an attacker control of industrial systems like a #dam, a sewage plant or a power station is extremely unusual and makes this a serious threat with huge real world implications,' says Patrick Fitzgerald, senior threat intelligence officer with Symantec. 'It has changed everything.'
Why is a different type of worm needed to attack an industrial plant?
"Industrial machinery is not controlled directly by the kind of computers we all use. Instead, the equipment used in an industrial process is controlled by a separate, dedicated system called a programmable logic controller (#PLC) which runs supervisory control and data acquisition software (#SCADA).
"Running the SCADA software, the PLC controls the process at hand within strict safety limits, switching motors on and off, say, and emptying vessels, and feeding back data which may safely modify the process without the need for human intervention – the whole point of industrial automation.
So how does a worm get into the system?
"It is not easy because they do not run regular PC, Mac or Linux software. Instead, the firms who sell PLCs each have their own programming language – and that has made it tricky for hackers to break it.
"However there is a way in via the Windows PC that oversees the PLC’s operations. Stuxnet exploited four vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows to give a remote hacker the ability to inject malicious code into a market-leading PLC made by German electronics conglomerate Siemens.
"That’s possible because PLCs are not well-defended devices. They operate for many years in situ and electronic access to them is granted via well-known passwords that are rarely changed. Even when Stuxnet was identified, Siemens opposed password changes on the grounds that it could cause chaos as older systems tried to communicate using old passwords.
Where did the initial Stuxnet infection come from?
"It appears to have first arrived in Iran on a simple #USBMemoryStick, says Fitzgerald. His team in Dublin, Ireland has been analysing Stuxnet since it was first identified by a security team in Belarus in June.
"The first of the four Windows vulnerabilities allowed executable code on a USB stick to spread to a PC. The USB may have been given to an Iranian plant operative – or simply left somewhere for an inquisitive person to insert into their terminal.
"Says Fitzgerald: 'It then spreads from machine to machine on the network, exploiting a second vulnerability to do so, and reports back to the attacker on the internet when it finds a PC that’s running Siemens SCADA software. The attacker can then download a diagram of the industrial system set-up the SCADA controls.'
"The next two Windows vulnerabilities lets the worm escalate its privilege levels to allow the attacker to inject Siemens PLC format computer code – written in a language called STL – into the PLC. It’s that code which is capable of performing the skulduggery: perhaps turning off alarms, or resetting safe temperature levels.
How do we know where Stuxnet is active?
"Symantec monitored communications with the two internet domains that the worm swaps data with. By geotagging the IP addresses of Stuxnet-infected computers in communication with the attacker, Fitzgerald’s team found that 58.8 per cent of infections were in Iran, 18.2 per cent in #Indonesia, 8.3 per cent in #India, 2.6 per cent in #Azerbaijan and 1.6 per cent in the US.
Who is behind the worm?
"No one knows. It is however very professionally written, requiring what Fitzgerald calls 'a broad spectrum of skills' to exploit four new vulnerabilities and develop their own SCADA/PLC set-up to test it on.
"This has some commentators suggesting that a #NationState with plenty of technical resources may have been behind Stuxnet. But computer crime is a billion dollar business so such an effort is not beyond extortionists.
"Stuxnet comprises a 600-kilobyte file and it has not yet been fully analysed."
Read more:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19504-why-the-stuxnet-worm-is-like-nothing-seen-before/ -
[PDF] National Association of Marine Laboratories
Position PaperScientific opposition to Japan’s planned release of over 1.3 million tons of radioactively contaminated water from the #FukushimaDaiIchi #NuclearPowerPlant
disaster into the #PacificOcean.December 2022
“The National Association of Marine Laboratories (#NAML), an organization of more than
100 member laboratories, opposes Japan’s plans to begin releasing over 1.3 million tons of radioactively contaminated water from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean commencing in 2023. This opposition is based on the fact that there is a lack of adequate and accurate scientific data supporting Japan’s assertion of safety."Furthermore, there is an abundance of data demonstrating serious concerns about releasing radioactively contaminated water.
“The Pacific Ocean is the largest continuous body of water on our planet, containing the greatest biomass of organisms of ecological, economic, and cultural value, including 70 percent of the world’s #fisheries. The health of all the world’s #OceanEcosystems is in documented decline due
to a variety of stressors, including climate change, over-exploitation of resources, and pollution.
"The proposed release of this #contaminated water is a #transboundary and #transgenerational issue of concern for the health of marine ecosystems and those whose lives and livelihoods depend on them. We are concerned about the absence of critical data on the radionuclide content of each tank, the Advanced Liquid Processing System, which is used to remove radionuclides, and the assumption that upon the release of the contaminated wastewater,
‘dilution is the solution to pollution.’“The underlying rationale of #dilution ignores the reality of biological processes of #OrganicBinding,
#bioaccumulation, and #bioconcentration, as well as accumulation in local seafloor sediments. Many of the radionuclides contained in the accumulated waste cooling water have half-lives ranging from decades to centuries, and their deleterious effects range from #DNADamage and
#cellular stress to elevated #cancer risks in people who eat affected marine organisms, such as clams, oysters, crabs, lobster, shrimp, and fish."Additionally, the effectiveness of the Advanced Liquid Processing System in almost completely removing the over 60 different #radionuclides present in the affected wastewater—some of which have an affinity to target specific tissues, glands, organs, and metabolic pathways in #LivingOrganisms, including people—remains a
serious concern due to the absence of critical data."The supporting data provided by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and the #JapaneseGovernment are insufficient and, in some cases, incorrect, with flaws in sampling protocols, statistical design, sample analyses, and assumptions, which in turn lead to flaws in the
conclusion of safety and prevent a more thorough evaluation of better alternative approaches to disposal. A full range of approaches to addressing the problem of safely containing, storing, and disposing of the radioactive waste have not been adequately explored, and alternatives to ocean dumping should be examined in greater detail and with extensive scientific rigor.“NAML calls on the Government of #Japan and International Atomic Energy Agency (#IAEA) scientists to more fully and adequately consider the options recommended by the #PacificIslandsForum’s Expert Panel. We believe public policy decisions, regulations, and actions must keep pace with and make use of relevant advancements in our scientific understanding of the #environment and human health. In this case, we believe policy makers have not fully availed themselves of the available science and should do so before making any final decisions on releasing this contaminated water into the Pacific. NAML members are unified in our concern about use of the oceans as a dumping ground for radioactively contaminated water and other #pollutants because such actions can negatively affect the long-term health and sustainability of
our planet.“We urge the Government of Japan to stop pursuing their planned and precedent-setting release of the radioactively contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and to work with the broader scientific community to pursue other approaches [like #ClosedLoop systems or binding radionuclides in concerete] that protect #OceanLife; human health; and
those communities who depend on ecologically, economically, and culturally valuable marine
resources. “Adopted by the NAML Board of Directors, December 12, 2022
#WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife
#IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
#FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlants #RadioactiveWater #RethinkNotRestart #PacificOcean #DataFalsification #ALPSSystem -
'This is our best option:' #Maine farmers turn to #SolarEnergy due to #contaminated fields
Story by Brad Rogers
7/25/2024ARUNDEL (WGME) – "#PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, have been nothing short of disastrous for hundreds of #Mainefarmers.
"It's ruined their land, made their cattle, milk and eggs unsafe to eat and left many farmers with serious health problems.
"'This farm has been in our family since 1914,' #FredStone, whose #Arundel farm was contaminated with PFAS, said.
"Stone was a third-generation dairy farmer in Arundel until forever chemicals were discovered in his fields, #WellWater, cows and milk.
"The pollution came from spreading #wastewater #sludge on his farm after the state told him it was safe.
"#MaineDEP has identified more than 500 sites where sludge was applied to farmland as #fertilizer.
"In 2017, Stone was the first farmer in the state to have his dairy farm and his pasture shut down due to #PFAScontamination.
"To make up for it, the state offered to buy his farm, but he refused to walk away.
"'We’re not in the farm selling or land selling business,' Stone said. 'Given what options we had left, that brought us to the solar thing.'
"He's been working with #WaldenRenewables to build a solar array on 100 acres of his contaminated farm.
"'It's their best alternative, but for some of these landowners, it's hard to kind of accept the change that they're facing,' Dale Knapp of Walden Renewables said. 'This is an injection of revenue that they desperately need.'
"This week, the Maine Public Utilities Commission [#MainePUC] approved new rules, paving the way for solar development on PFAS-polluted farms.
"'The Act provides that the commission must give a primary preference to projects that are located on contaminated lands,' Carrie Gilbert of the Maine PUC Commission said.
"'This is our best option,' Stone said. 'So reluctantly, very reluctantly I guess, that’s what we ended up having to do.'
"Stone plans to sign a 30-year lease for the solar array.
"After that, his farm may still be contaminated with forever chemicals, but 30 years is a long time for someone to come up with a solution.
"'That might mean that generational farm just goes on pause,' Knapp said. 'And the next generation may have the opportunity to return it to being a family farm someday.'
"'I’m very bitter,' Stone said. 'This is not the way we wanted to see this go. Yeah, I would love to see it continue on as a farm of some kind but damn the state of Maine for putting me in this position.'"
#MaineFarms #SolarFarms #ContaminatedFarmland #Reuse #SolarFarm #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #PFOA #WaterIsLife #PFOS #PFASContamination #WaterPollution #PFASPollution #PTFE #Wildlife #Cancer #Contamination #Chemicals #Environment #GenXChemicals
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Sites with #radioactive material more vulnerable as #ClimateChange increases #wildfire, #flood risks
By TAMMY WEBBER
Updated 1:04 AM EDT, May 22, 2024"As #Texas #wildfires burned toward the nation’s primary #NuclearWeapons facility, workers hurried to ensure nothing flammable was around buildings and storage areas.
"When the fires showed no sign of slowing, #Pantex Plant officials urgently called on local contractors, who arrived within minutes with bulldozers to dig trenches and enlarge fire breaks for the sprawling complex where nuclear weapons are assembled and disassembled and dangerous #plutonium pits — hollow spheres that trigger nuclear warheads and bombs — are stored."
[...]
"Dozens of active and idle laboratories and manufacturing and #military facilities across the nation that use, store or are contaminated with radioactive material are increasingly vulnerable to #ExtremeWeather. Many also perform critical energy and defense research and manufacturing that could be disrupted or crippled by fires, floods and other disasters.
"There’s the 40-square-mile #LosAlamos National Laboratory in #NewMexico, where a 2000 wildfire burned to within a half mile (0.8 kilometers) of a #RadioactiveWaste site. The heavily polluted #SantaSusana Field Laboratory [#SSFL] in Southern #California, where a 2018 wildfire burned 80% of the site, narrowly missing an area #contaminated by a 1959 partial #NuclearMeltdown. And the #plutonium-contaminated #Hanford nuclear site in #Washington, where the U.S. manufactured #AtomicBombs.
"'I think we’re still early in recognizing climate change and ... how to deal with these extreme weather events,' said Paul Walker, program director at the environmental organization Green Cross International and a former staff member of the House Armed Services Committee. 'I think it’s too early to assume that we’ve got all the worst-case scenarios resolved ... (because) what might have been safe 25 years ago probably is no longer safe.”
#WaterIsLife #NoNukes #NoDumping #FutureGenerations #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste
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How Soaring E-Waste Pollution Is Putting Lives at Risk
by April Miller
Mar 3rd 2022The Growing Amount of E Waste Pollution
"The proper disposal of electronics is a heated topic in the minds of those looking to live more sustainably and reduce their carbon footprint. As more devices come out each year, it only adds to the amount of e-waste generated. Consider how #Apple, #Huawei, #Samsung, #Google and other companies release several new phone models annually. Older models then become #obsolete and must be disposed of properly.
"Statista reports that the amount of e-waste generated worldwide was around 54 million metric tons in 2019. Due to increased spending power and the wide availability of electronics, e-waste is becoming the fastest-growing waste stream worldwide. It’s estimated that generation will increase by 30% by 2030.
"These figures make sense, considering how common it is for people to throw away small electronic devices along with their other trash. However, most are not aware of opportunities to recycle electronics, what environmental impact they’re making by throwing away e-waste or how much cash they can earn by selling it.
How E Waste Harms the #Environment and Our #Health
"Why is e-waste becoming a more prevalent issue worldwide? #ElectronicWaste poses unique ecological concerns. Most e-waste contains #HazardousChemicals, and the manufacturing processes may also harm the #environment.
"When e-waste ends up in a #landfill, the surrounding #soil can become #contaminated with #toxic substances such as #mercury, #cadmium, #beryllium and #lead. These chemicals enter the soil, waterways and air, leading to polluted environments and negatively impacting human and #marine life.
"Consider people who use natural wells or the animals who rely on bodies of water. They could be exposed to toxic chemicals that can impact their health.
"It’s also important to note that when high volumes of e-waste enter landfills, device manufacturers must mine more materials to build new devices. #Phones and other #electronics contain small amounts of valuable metals like #gold, #silver and #palladium, among other critical components. These materials are becoming harder to mine, especially with the increased demand for more electronic devices.
How E Waste Contributes to #Air Pollution
One journal from Environmental Research Letters reported that researchers took air samples from a large e-waste disposal site in #China and found that the products in these landfills harmed human #lung cells.
"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these are some adverse health effects caused by exposure to e-waste:
- Negative birth outcomes for expecting mothers, such as #stillbirth or #premature birth
- Increased rates of #ADHD in young children
- Changes in lung function
- #DNA damage
- Respiratory issues
- Impaired thyroid function
- Increased risk of chronic diseases like #cancer and #cardiovascular disease"Additionally, the WHO reports that appropriate collection and #recycling of e-waste can help protect the environment and human health.
"Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP) found that 17.4% of e-waste that was collected appropriately prevented as much as 15 million tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere. High levels of carbon dioxide entering the environment and therefore contributing to global warming make it clear that e-waste is a much larger issue than some believe it to be. It may seem easy to toss away old electronics in the trash, but doing so negatively affects the environment and can harm human health.
Recycling Electronics to Benefit Humans and the Environment
"More state and federal action is needed to reduce the negative impact e-waste has on humans and the environment. So far, around 25 US states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation to establish an e-waste recycling programme. Additionally, several manufacturers offer some type of electronic return initiative, with some hosting or sponsoring recycling events for consumers.
"Many manufacturers have adopted more #sustainable business practices to prevent outdated devices from entering landfills. However, this can be challenging, considering how often users want to upgrade to the latest technology due to new features and designs.
Republicans and Democrats are pursuing laws that would make it easier for consumers to repair their devices, from vehicles to refrigerators to smartphones. This movement is being coined as the Right to Repair movement. Manufacturers often make it difficult for consumers to fix a wide range of products by limiting the availability of parts or limiting who can perform repairs.
The goal of the movement is to prohibit manufacturers from taking these measures. This can directly reduce the amount of e-waste entering landfills in the first place. Consumers would then be able to repair devices themselves, save money and avoid tossing obsolete products in the trash.
E-waste is a growing problem worldwide, and more emphasis should be put on the importance of recycling electronics. The benefits of recycling far outweigh the drawbacks. Governments, consumers and manufacturers need to find viable solutions to this prevalent issue. Whether it’s contaminated soil entering waterways or toxic chemicals released into the atmosphere, more work needs to be done to mitigate the negative effects e-waste causes."
https://earth.org/e-waste-pollution/
#ElectronicWaste #SupportLegacyProducts #Windows11 #Consumerism #Capitalism #Crapitalism
#PlannedObsolescence
#Landfills #RightToRepair #EnvironmentalRacism #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #RightToRepair
#RepairReuseRecycle
#Consumerism
#Anticonsumerism #EnvironmentalPollution -
#Fukushima #Nuclear Power Plant starts 3rd round of #wastewater release, potentially impacting #seafood quality in U.S.
By Belle Lewis - November 14, 2023
"The #FukushimaDachii nuclear plant started its third release of nuclear wastewater on Nov. 2 as scientists warn that seafood products from the #PacificOcean could be #contaminated
"Although the International Atomic Energy Agency approved the 30-year water release plan, scientists and civilians in nations bordering the Pacific Ocean have questioned the safety of the plan, especially as it relates to seafood.
"In a press release approving of the plan, the IAEA stated, 'the discharges of the treated water would have a negligible radiological impact to people and the environment.'
"#PaulDorfman, member of the Irish Government Environmental Protection Agency Radiation Protection Advisory Committee and chair of Nuclear Consulting Group, explained that some scientists have questioned IAEA’s approval of the water release.
"'I and others are concerned by IAEA’s attitude,' Dorfman said. 'Normally even low levels of radioactive pollution will find its way into local seafood, one way or another.'
"In 2020, #Japan exported 332,926 kilograms of frozen scallops to the U.S. Japan exports many fish products to the U.S.
"Samantha Valeriano, a psychology student from Hawaii, said she eats seafood about once a week. She does not often think about where her food comes from but wants to be more cautious following the nuclear water release.
"'I think I would be a little more cautious of what I ate, checking labels a little bit more,' Valeriano said. 'I would be conscious of what I ate and where it came from.'
"As the People’s Republic of #China has imposed bans of Japanese fish exports, the #USA has supported the Japanese market by increasing fish purchases.
"In a press release, the #UnitedStates Embassy and Consulate in Japan explained that military bases in Japan will carry Japanese seafood as a way to buoy up seafood markets and undermine the PRC’s ban.
"'United States elected representatives and senior government officials have stood in solidarity with Japan during this baseless ban,' the statement said. 'Another step to help provide additional sales to counter the ban was to start selling Japanese seafood at the U.S. military facilities in Japan, both through the commissaries and mess halls.'
"According to the statement, government officials like former speaker #KevinMcCarthy ate seafood from Japan as a testament to Japan’s safety standards.
However, other U.S. agencies, like the National Association of #MarineLaboratories question whether accurate research was conducted by the IAEA and Japanese Government to determine safety of seafood products."They explain that the lack of data on potential health impacts is a cause for serious concern.
"'Many of the #radionuclides contained in the #accumulated waste cooling water have half-lives ranging from #decades to #centuries, and their deleterious effects range from #DNADamage and #cellular stress to elevated #cancer risks in people who eat affected marine organisms, such as #clams, #oysters, #crabs, #lobster, #shrimp and fish,' the statement reads. [Not to mention all the critters that feed off them! Bioaccumulation works up the food chain!]
"Eve Nagareda, medical laboratory science major from Hawaii, shared she wants to avoid seafood from dumping grounds even if levels are considered safe.
"'I think I would try to go as far as possible from it,' Nagareda said.
"Kylee Wasano, pre-communications disorders student from Oahu, agreed. She explained she feels that she might already be consuming contaminated seafood.
"'I feel like I already am eating that, and I just don’t know,' Wasano said. 'Anything that could expose you to (radiation) you should be considerate about.'
"As organizations weigh safety concerns, scientists turn to the water release process to determine potential effects."
#WaterIsLife #NoDumping #Hormesis #TEPCOLies #Corruption #Bioaccumulation #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNewNukes
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People took to the streets in Japan to voice their anger following their government’s decision to start the release of treated radioactive water from the Fuk...
Japan to start release of nuclear-contaminated Fukushima water | Al Jazeera Newsfeed -
2022: #Maine bans use of sewage sludge on #farms to reduce risk of #PFAS poisoning
Sludge used as crop #fertilizer has #contaminated #soil, #water, #crops and #cattle, forcing #farmers to quit
by Tom Perkins, Thu 12 May 2022 11.00 EDT
"Maine last month became the first state to ban the practice of spreading PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge as fertilizer.
"But it’s largely on its own in the US, despite a recent report estimating about 20m acres of cropland across the country may be contaminated.
"Most states are only beginning to look at the problem and some are increasing the amount of sludge they spread on farm fields despite the substance being universally contaminated with PFAS and destroying livelihoods in Maine.
"'Maine is at the forefront of this because we’ve seen first-hand the damage that sludge causes to farms,' said Patrick MacRoy, deputy director of the non-profit Defend Our Health Maine. The new law also prohibits sludge from being composted with other organic material.
"PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of chemicals used across dozens of industries to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. Though the compounds are highly effective, they are also linked to #cancer, #KidneyDisease, #BirthDefects, decreased #immunity, #liver problems and a range of other serious diseases.
"Sewage sludge is a semi-solid mix of human excrement and industrial #waste that water treatment plants pull from the nation’s sewer system. It’s expensive to dispose of, and about 60% of it is now lightly treated and sold or given away as 'biosolid' fertilizer because it is high in plant nutrients.
"Maine and #Michigan are the only two states that are routinely checking sludge and farms for PFAS, and both are finding contamination on farms to be widespread.
"Maine’s legislature banned the practice of spreading sludge as fertilizer in April [2022] after environmental officials discovered astronomical levels of PFAS in water, crops, cattle and soil on farms where sludge had been spread, and high PFAS levels have been detected in farmers’ blood.
"#Contamination from PFAS-tainted sludge has already poisoned well water on around a dozen farms, and has forced several Maine farms to shutter. The state is investigating about 700 more fields where PFAS-contaminated sludge was spread in recent years. Farmers have told the Guardian that many of their peers with contaminated land won’t alert the state because they fear financial ruin.
"Maine also approved the creation of a $60m fund that will be used to help farmers cover medical monitoring, for buyouts and for other forms of financial assistance.
"'Folks have been left out to dry without any real help so we’re grateful to see that,' MacRoy said. The sludge legislation comes after Maine last year enacted the nation’s first ban on non-essential uses of PFAS in products. It goes into effect in 2030.
"In Michigan, environmental officials have downplayed the detection of PFAS in sludge and on farms, and although the state prohibits highly contaminated sludge from being spread, it allows higher levels of the chemicals in sludge than Maine. State regulators have also identified PFAS polluters and required them to stop discharging the chemicals into the sewers.
"Questions remain about whether that’s enough to keep PFAS out of Michigan’s food supply. Instead of implementing a wide-scale program to test livestock, crops and dairy, the state identified 13 farms it considered most at risk and has claimed contamination on other farms isn’t a risk.
"Michigan is ahead of most other states. In #Virginia, environmental regulators are considering permitting an additional 6,000 acres worth of sludge to be spread and have so far resisted public health advocates’ calls to test for PFAS and reject new sludge permits.
"In #Alabama, the state’s department of environmental management said in 2019 that 'the best use of biosolids is as a [fertilizer].'
"Even as the crisis unfolds in Maine, officials in Alabama are increasing the amount of out-of-state sludge that’s imported and spread on fields or landfilled, and the state in 2020 updated its biosolids rule to 'encourage' the use of #biosolids as fertilizer. Alabama does not test sludge for PFAS."
#EPA #EPAFail #InformedConsent #PFOS #WaterIsLife #ToxicWaste #FoodProduction
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‘Forever chemicals’ may have polluted 20 million acres of US #cropland, study says
#PFAS-tainted sewage sludge is used as fertilizer in fields and report finds that about 20m acres of cropland could be #contaminated
Tom Perkins, 8 May 2022
"PFAS, or per- and #polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products heat-, water- or stain-resistant. Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t naturally break down, they have been linked to #cancer, thyroid disruption, liver problems, birth defects, immunosuppression and more.
"Dozens of industries use PFAS in thousands of consumer products, and often discharge the chemicals into the nation’s sewer system.
"The analysis, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is an attempt to understand the scope of cropland contamination stemming from sewage sludge, or biosolids. Regulators don’t require #sludge to be tested for PFAS or closely track where its spread, and public health advocates warn the practice is poisoning the nation’s #food supply.
"'We don’t know the full scope of the contamination problem created by PFAS in sludge, and we may never know, because #EPA has not made it a priority for states and local governments to track, test and report on,' said Scott Faber, EWG’s legislative policy director.
"All sewage sludge is thought to contain the dangerous chemicals, and the compounds have recently been found to be contaminating crops, cattle, water and humans on farms where #biosolids were spread."