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#nodumping — Public Fediverse posts

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  1. #Japan's #Fukushima #nuclear wastewater 'pose major #environmental, #HumanRights risks' - UN experts

    20 May 2025

    "The United Nations (UN) human rights experts have written to the Japanese government to express their concerns about the release of more than one million metric tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the #PacificOcean.

    "In August 2023, Japan began discharging wastewaster from about 1000 storage tanks of contaminated water collected after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that caused the meltdown of its Fukushima nuclear plant.

    "In the formal communication, available publicly, UN Human Rights Council special rappoteurs addressed the the management of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) by the Japan government and TEPCO (Tokio Electric Power), and the ongoing discharge of such waters into the Pacific Ocean.

    "They said 'we are alarmed that the implementation of contaminated water release operations of into the ocean may pose major environmental and human rights risks, exposing people, especially children, to threats of further contamination in Japan and beyond.'

    " 'We wish to raise our concern about the allegations of the failure to assess the consequences on health of the release of wastewater against the best available scientific evidence,' the special rappoteurs write.

    " 'Against this backdrop, we would like to highlight that the threats to the enjoyment of the right to adequate food do not concern only local people within the borders of Japan.

    " 'Given the migratory nature of fish, their contamination represents a risk also for people living beyond the Japanese borders, including Indigenous Peoples across the Pacific Ocean which, according to their culture and traditions, mainly rely on seafood as their primary livelihood.'

    "The letter follows a complaint submitted by Ocean Vision Legal in August 2023 on behalf of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (#PANG) and endorsed by over 50 civil society groups in the Pacific and beyond.

    "In a statement on Tuesday, PANG hailed it as "a landmark move for #OceanJustice and #HumanRights'.

    "The organisation said that the destructive legacy of nuclear #contamination through #NuclearTesting is still strongly felt across the region.

    "It said this legacy is marked by severe health impacts across generations and the ongoing failure to properly clean up test sites, which continue to contaminate the islands and waterways that Pacific peoples depend on.

    " 'As Pacific groups, we remain disappointed in the Japanese Government and TEPCO's shameless disregard of the calls by numerous Pacific leaders and civil society groups to hold off on any further release,' PANG's coordinator Joey Tau said.

    " 'Their ignorance constitutes a brazen threat to Pacific peoples' livelihoods, safety, health and well-being, and the sovereignty of Pacific nations,' he added.

    "Japan has consistently maintained that the release is safe.

    "The UN human rights experts have asked for further information from Japan, including on the allegations raised, and on how the Radiological Environmental Impact Assessment has been conducted according to the best available scientific evidence.

    "This communication sends a clear message: Ocean issues must be understood as human rights issues, requiring precautionary and informed action aligned with international environmental law to safeguard both people and the marine environment.

    "#OceanVisionLegal founder and CEO Anna von Rebay said while the communication is not legally binding, it is a crucial milestone.

    " 'It informs the interpretation of human rights and environmental law in response to contemporary threats, contributing to the development of customary international law and strengthens accountability for any actor harming the Ocean,' she said.

    " 'Ultimately, it paves the way towards a future where the Ocean's health is fully recognised as fundamental to human dignity, justice, and intergenerational equity.' "

    rnz.co.nz/international/pacifi

    #OceansAreLife #WaterIsLife #Radiation #TEPCOLies #NoFukushimaDumping #FukushimaIsntOver #TEPCOLies #NoDumping #Tritium #PacificOcean #WaterIsLife #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #FukushimaDaiichi #Fukushima #ALPS #RadioactiveContamination #HormesisIsBullShit #Bioaccumulation #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies

  2. More fried equipment? Not surprising! #Japan to resume trial removal of #radioactive #Fukushima nuclear debris amid safety concerns

    10/25/2024

    Fukushima, Japan - "The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant will resume an operation to remove a sample of #HighlyRadioactive material next week, reports said Friday, after having suspended the effort over a technical snag.

    "Extracting the estimated 880 tons of highly radioactive fuel and debris inside the former power station remains the most challenging part of decommissioning the facility, which was hit by a catastrophic tsunami in 2011.

    "Radioactivity levels inside are far too high for humans to enter, and last month engineers began inserting an extendable device to try and remove a small sample.

    "However, operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had to halt the procedure after noticing that remote cameras on the apparatus were not beaming back images to the control center.

    "TEPCO on Friday said it would resume the removal on Monday after replacing the cameras with new ones, the Asahi Shimbun daily and other local media reported.

    "TEPCO officials could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports.

    Safety of Fukushima #wastewater release in question

    "Three of Fukushima's six reactors went into meltdown after a tsunami triggered by Japan's biggest earthquake on record swamped the facility in one of the world's worst atomic accidents.

    "Japan last year began releasing into the #PacificOcean some of the 540 Olympic swimming pools' worth of contaminated reactor cooling water amassed since the catastrophe."

    Read more:
    msn.com/en-us/news/world/japan

    #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping #FukushimaWastewater #TEPCOLies #PacificLivesMatter #WaterIsLife #RethinkNotRestart #TEPCO

  3. Kudos to my friends at the #InternationalUraniumFilmFestival for bringing awareness of #nuclear issues AND being voted one of the "Coolest Film Festivals"!

    "The International Uranium Film Festival (#IUFF) is one of the '25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World 2024'. Thanks to the prestigious MovieMaker Magazine in Hollywood, Los Angeles, which selects the Coolest Film Festivals every year. Founded in #RioDeJaneiro, the unique film festival, also known as #AtomicAgeCinemaFest, is the only film festival in #Brazil to receive this honor this year.

    "'The Uranium Film Festival is certainly one of the most unique festivals we've ever had on our list, but its singular focus shines an important light on problems that unite communities all around the world — and in fact our entire world. In the year that #Oppenheimer dominated at the Oscars, it feels like the messages it has carried for years are gaining much wider interest and attention,' says Tim Molloy, Editor in Chief at MovieMaker Magazine.

    "'You’ve never seen two people get more done than the life and project- partner duo #MárciaGomesDeOliveira and #NorbertGSuchanek, who run the International Uranium Film Festival in deep collaboration with #activists around the world. The festival has its grand event in Rio, but also does an extensive U.S. tour in regions impacted by #uranium-related industry. Inevitably, folks wonder whether there are enough films on the subject to warrant a festival. The answer is yes. This, of course, is because the issue is expansive, impacting all 50 U.S. states and many more corners of the world than most folks realize. From the #NavajoNation to #LasVegas to #Chicago and many places between, this spirited #DIYArt, #advocacy, and #activism project brings folks together in a space of support, education, #SharedOutrage, and a good time. The International Uranium Film Festival is a refreshing example of what activism and advocacy can be: inclusive, expansive, and celebratory,' writes filmmaker Hadley Austin for MovieMaker Magazine.

    '“The International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) is honored by this acknowledgement as one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals of 2024! Produced by Norbert Suchanek and Marcia Gomes de Oliviera and based in Rio de Janeiro, since 2011 the IUFF has provided a platform for more than 300 films in more than 50 cities in nine countries around the world: Germany, Brazil, India, Canada, United States, Portugal, Jordan, Denmark and Norway.' #LibbeHaLevy, Producer/Host, #NuclearHotseat and Ambassador to the USA for the International Uranium Film Festival."

    Source:
    uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/coo

    #WaterIsLife #FukushimaIsntOver #NoUraniumMining #NoDumping #NoNukes #NoWar #RethinkNotRestart

  4. So, many years ago, I created a meme with the late #CorbinHarney, spiritual leader of the #WesternShoshone, and #IndigenousActivist against #YuccaMountain and #NuclearDisarmament. The only copies of the meme are very low resolution, so I decided to re-do the meme with a new image and type at a higher resolution.

    “It’s in our backyard… It’s in our front yard. This #nuclear contamination is shortening all life. We’re going to have to unite as a people and say no more! We, the people, are going to have to put our thoughts together to save our planet here. We only have One Water… One Air… One #MotherEarth.”

    - Corbin Harney (1920 - 2007), 
 Western Shoshone Spiritual Leader.

    #ShundahaiNetwork #NuclearColonialism #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #Shoshone #NuclearWaste #Pauite #NoNukes #NoWar #NoDumping #EnvironmentalRacism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NoDumpingWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred

  5. Public comment extended to September 1st!

    Environmental groups criticize #Hanford #nuclear waste cleanup plan

    by Eric Tegethoff
    Wednesday, July 24, 2024

    "A new agreement on plans for cleaning up nuclear waste at the Hanford site in #WashingtonState is receiving pushback from #environmental groups.

    "Public comment was originally scheduled to close at the beginning of August but has been extended to Sept. 1 for the Tri-Party Agreement between the U-S Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency and Washington Department of Ecology.

    "Simone Anter, staff attorney and Hanford program director for the nonprofit #ColumbiaRiverkeeper, said the new agreement means changes to the cleanup efforts including how and where the Hanford #NuclearWaste is stored.

    "'If new proposals are coming out to ship either grouted or liquid nuclear waste across the region, communities deserve to know that and deserve to have a voice and deserve to be engaged,' Anter contended.

    "The agreement for dealing with 177 underground storage tanks at Hanford took four years of closed door negotiations. Columbia #Riverkeeper and other environmental groups worry the new agreement opens the door for a storage method other than #vitrification, which is used to turn high-level waste into glass.

    "Anter noted #TribalNations in the region were not consulted about the proposal. She stressed even if they could not be part of the agreement, the agencies should have been considered before it was presented to the public.

    "'#Tribal nations are not members of the public. They are government entities and should have been treated as such,' Anter pointed out.

    "Anter added members of the public can play a big role in how the 56 million gallons of nuclear waste at Hanford are handled.

    "'It's really important that all these cleanup decisions put human health, the #ColumbiaRiver and the environment first,' Anter asserted. 'I think public comments play an enormous role in reminding the #TPA agencies about this."

    Source:
    publicnewsservice.org/2024-07-

    #WaterIsLife #NoDumping
    #FutureGenerations
    #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons
    #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #HanfordNuclearSite

  6. I see how it goes. When #China or #SouthKorea or other countries are concerned about #FukushimaDaiichi "treated" #RadioactiveWater #dumping and call into question #TEPCO's data, it's #propaganda against #Japan -- forgetting the FACT that #TEPCOLies -- and has been LYING for YEARS! Not sure why either #IAEA is believing TEPCO or maybe is complicit in hiding the data? Something's fishy (pun intended)!

    #NoDumping #FukushimaWater
    #PacificOcean #WaterIsLife
    #Corporatism #Corruption
    #JapanGovernment
    #OceansAreLife #IAEAHides ? #DataFalsification

  7. [PDF] National Association of Marine Laboratories
    Position Paper

    Scientific 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

    naml.org/policy/documents/2022

    #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife
    #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlants #RadioactiveWater #RethinkNotRestart #PacificOcean #DataFalsification #ALPSSystem

  8. August 2023:

    Explainer | Why do many scientists oppose #Fukushima #radioactive waste discharge?

    The release of treated waste water from the #NuclearPlant has begun, despite concerns from major scientific organisations

    IAEA is monitoring the operation but many experts are questioning the amount of data being collected

    by Victoria Bela
    Published: 2:05pm, 30 Aug 2023

    "Japan’s decision to start releasing around 30 years’ worth of treated radioactive waste into the #PacificOcean on #August24 has drawn criticism from some countries, including China, as well as some of the world’s leading scientific organisations.

    "The plan to deal with the 1.3 million tonnes of contaminated water accumulated since the #FukushimaDaiichi #NuclearPowerPlant meltdown in 2011 includes removing most of the radioactive chemicals before it is discharged into the ocean.

    [...]

    "However, the ALPS has been shown to be unsuccessful in filtering out the other 62 radioactive chemicals present in the waste water, according to data from the Japanese ministry for economy, trade and industry (#METI).

    "According to METI, around 70 per cent of ALPS-treated water still contained #radioactive substances other than #tritium by the end of 2020, and needed to be #repurified.

    "The US-based National Association of Marine Laboratories (#NAML), which represents more than 100 labs, released a position paper in December 2022 [link in comments] that firmly opposed Japan’s plan over 'a lack of adequate and accurate scientific data' about its safety.

    "NAML members include some of the world’s most influential marine research institutes, including the #ScrippsInstitution of #Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego."

    scmp.com/news/china/science/ar

    #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife
    #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #FukushimaIsntOver
    #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlants #RadioactiveWater #RethinkNotRestart #PacificOcean #DataFalsification #ALPSSystem

  9. From Detailedpedia: Discharge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

    Last updated at 2024-08-21

    "Discharge to ocean, treated water

    Advanced Liquid Processing System (2013–)

    "To prevent the reactor meltdowns from worsening, a continuous supply of new water is necessary to cool the melted fuel debris. As of 2013, 400 metric tonnes of water was becoming radioactively contaminated each day. The contaminated water is pumped out and combined into the reactor-cooling loop, which includes strontium–cesium removal (KURION, SURRY) and reverse osmosis desalination processes.

    "In October 2012, TEPCO introduced the "Advanced Liquid Processing System" (ALPS, Japanese: 多核種除去設備), which is designed to remove radionuclides other than tritium and carbon-14. ALPS works by first pre-processing the water by iron coprecipitation (removes alpha nuclides and organics) and carbonate coprecipitation (removes alkali earth metals including strontium elements). The water is then passed through 16 absorbent columns to remove nuclides.

    "Wastewater is pumped to ALPS along with the concentrated saltwater from desalination. As some tritium still remains, even treated water would require dilution to meet drinkable standards. Although carbon-14 is not removed, the content in pre-treatment water is low enough to meet drinkable standards without dilution.

    "Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) approved the design of ALPS in March 2013. ALPS is to be run in three independent units and will be able to purify 250 tons of water per day. Unit "A" started operation in April. In June, unit A was found to be leaking water and shut down. In July, the cause was narrowed down to chloride and hypochlorite corrosion of water tanks; TEPCO responded by adding a rubber layer into the tanks. By August, all systems were shut down awaiting repair. One unit was expected to come online by September, with full recovery planned by the end of 2013.

    "By September 2018, TEPCO reports that 20% of the water had been treated to the required level.

    "By 2020, the daily buildup of contaminated water was reduced to 170 metric tonnes thanks to groundwater isolation installations. TEPCO reports that 72% of the water in its tanks, some from early trials of ALPS, needed to be #repurified. The portion of ready-to-discharge water raised to 34% by 2021, and to 35% by 2023.

    "Some scientists expressed reservations due to potential #bioaccumulation of #ruthenium, #cobalt, #strontium, and #plutonium, which sometimes slip through the ALPS process and were present in 71% of the tanks.

    [...]

    "Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, a scientist-in-residence at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said regarding dilution that bringing in living creatures makes the situation more complex. Robert Richmond, a biologist from the University of Hawaiʻi, told the BBC that the inadequate #radiological and #ecological assessment raises the concern that #Japan would be unable to detect what enters the environment and 'get the genie back in the bottle'. Dalnoki-Veress, Richmond, and three other panelists consulting for the #PacificIslandsForum wrote that #dilution may fail to account for #bioaccumulation and exposure pathways that involve organically-bound tritium (#OBT)."

    Read more [includes references]:
    detailedpedia.com/wiki-Dischar

    #NoNukes #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #TEPCOLies #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlants #PacificOcean #MarineLife

  10. From 2007:

    "Not Again": Yet Another #TEPCO Scandal

    Citizens' Nuclear Information Center

    "Over the years there have been all sorts of cases of data fabrication and falsification at #nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric power plants. Each time the power companies and plant makers apologize and say that they will lance the wound, but then they go and repeat the same behavior over and over again. When Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported yet another case of data falsification to the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (#METI) the headline in the Fukushima local newspaper the following day (1 February 2007) was 'Not Again!', sigh the local people and the Prefectural government '.

    "The latest scandal began when Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on 31 October 2006 that #Chugoku Electric Power Company had falsified data for #DoyoDam on the #MatanoRiver. People might assume that the reason for #ChugokuElectric's admission was simply that it had made a judgment that the problem could no longer be concealed once it was leaked to the newspaper. However, there was more behind the admission than meets the eye. Even before this, anti-dam activists had been pursuing TEPCO over suspicious data related to its dams. For example, it had recorded flow measurements that could not possibly have been taken, because the locations were inaccessible due to heavy snow falls. Chugoku Electric's admission should be seen against this background.

    "METI and the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport responded by demanding that all electric power companies check their records. The upshot was that it was discovered that Chugoku Electric was not alone. In fact, it became apparent that all power companies had falsified and fabricated data in relation to such things as subsidence of dam embankments, and alterations to facilities without prior approval.

    "The next major development came on November 15th, when it was revealed that Chugoku Electric had falsified data in relation to releases of hot wastewater at its #Shimonoseki thermal power plant. This led to similar revelations for nuclear power plants owned by TEPCO, #Kansai Electric Power Company (#KEPCO), Tohoku Electric Power Company and Japan Atomic Power Company (#JAPCO). On 10 January 2007 TEPCO submitted a report to METI entitled 'Causes of and measures to prevent a repetition of falsification of sea temperature data at the condenser outlets of #KashiwazakiKariwa Nuclear Power Plant, Reactors 1 and 4'.

    "The report said, 'An investigation of power plants was instigated, because the Shimonoseki thermal power plant case reminded a worker that corrections had been made to sea temperature data.' As a result, falsification (referred to by TEPCO as "corrections") was discovered at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors 1 & 4 and #Fukushima I reactors 1, 4 & 5.

    "The hot wastewater referred to here is seawater, which has been used to cool and condense the steam used to drive the turbines of thermal and nuclear power plants. When the steam from the turbine condenses, its heat is transferred to the coolant, which in this case is seawater. The temperature of the seawater is raised in the process. If the seawater released is too hot, it can affect the ecosystem. Therefore, the temperature at both the intake and outlet points is measured and monitored to ensure that the temperature difference is not too great. At some power plants computers were programmed to record a higher than actual intake temperature, while at others they were programmed to record a lower outlet temperature. The readings were thus falsified to show a lower temperature difference than was really the case.

    "On 31 January 2007 TEPCO released details of data falsification at its nuclear power plants. It admitted to a total of about 200 irregularities. A few examples are discussed below.

    1. During a periodic inspection in May 1992 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactor number 1 (K-K-1), the day before it was to be tested it was discovered that, due to a fault with the electric motor, the residual heat removal pump (part of the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS)) was not working. TEPCO staff made some adjustments to make it appear from the central control room that the pump was working. In this way, they were able to trick the METI inspector into awarding a pass for the inspection.

    2. Again at K-K (the reactors are not specified), from around 1995 to 1997, measurements of the concentration of radioactive iodine released from the exhaust stack were made to appear lower than they really were by taking the measurements on the reverse side of the filter. In May 1995 the concentration of radioactivity from rare gases emitted from the exhaust stack of reactor 4 was also falsified.

    3. From 1979 to 1998, in order to pass inspections, internal pressure readings for steam pipes connecting the reactor to the turbines at Fukushima I reactor 1 were falsified to match the specifications in the inspection guidelines. It was said that the specifications were inappropriate and that they were later amended so that falsification ceased to be necessary.

    "There were many instances of malpractice besides these, in relation to periodic inspections and also in other areas. Fabrication and falsification had indeed become standard practice. Investigations are still proceeding and one cannot help feeling that the most serious and dangerous cases are still to come."

    [And indeed it would come, 4 years later!]

    cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit

    #CitizensNuclearInformatioNcenter #NoNukes #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlants #RadioactiveWater #RethinkNotRestart #PacificOcean #DataFalsification

  11. via #NIRS

    [PDF] Revelation of Endless N-damage Cover-ups: the “TEPCO scandal” and the adverse trend of easing inspection standards

    Nov./Dec. 2002
    Citizens' Nuclear Information Center

    "There has been a series of significant nuclear accidents over the past few years. To name a few, there was the #Monju sodium leakage acci-
    dent in December 1995, the #Tokai #reprocessing plant asphalt drum explosion accident in March 1997, and the JCO criticality accident in
    September 1999. On each occasion, the electric companies claimed that the nuclear power plants are operated with strict safety management. Since August 2002, however, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the largest electric utility in the nation and several other electric companies have plunged into a chain of scandals."

    nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/re

    #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlants #RadioactiveWater #RethinkNotRestart #PacificOcean #DataFalsification

  12. This from someone very familiar with TEPCO's falsification. From 2011:

    #TEPCO’s shady history

    LA Times: "As many people here are well aware (TEPCO) has a history of not being forthcoming about nuclear safety issues, particularly those surrounding earthquake-related dangers. In 2003, all 17 of its nuclear plants were shut down temporarily after a scandal over falsified safety-inspection reports. It ran into trouble again in 2006, when it emerged that coolant-water data at two plants had been falsified in the 1980s."

    by Tim Shorrock
    March 14, 2011

    "In 2002, Tokyo Electric Co. admitted to #falsifying its records of #nuclear inspections and hiding the facts for more than a decade. Ironically, the information came from a #whistleblower at #GE, which helped build the plants and has contracted with TEPCO on operational matters for decades.

    "The problems at the tsunami-stricken #NuclearPowerPlant at #Fukushima continue to mount. On Monday in #Japan, another hydrogen explosion shook the plant as the utility and the government tried furiously to stop a meltdown at two reactors.

    "This morning the New York Times is reporting that 'experts in Japan and the United States say the country is now facing a cascade of accumulating problems that suggest that radioactive releases of steam from the crippled plants could go on for weeks or even months.'

    "If we’ve learned anything from the crisis so far, it’s that the Japan government and its nuclear industry don’t have the smoothest PR in the world. Ever since the tsunami knocked out the plant’s cooling system on Friday and the reactor cores began over-heating, the official word has been confusing, contradictory and downright mysterious.

    "The problem was underscored in a most ludicrous way on Saturday afternoon in Washington, when the Japanese Ambassador appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzter and sought almost desperately to reassure the world that everything was fine. 'No meltdown,' he snapped to Wolf. But, within minutes, the ambassador was contradicted by the head of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety agency, which told CNN that a meltdown actually 'might be under way.' Hard to reconcile those two points (see this chart on what happens in a meltdown.)

    "By now, of course, it’s clear that there’s been a partial #meltdown, and we’re all hoping that the situation can be brought under control and the radiation contained. Yet the impression lingers of, let us say, a failure to communicate. And it’s much worse for people in Japan, who are trying to sort through the conflicting information and monitoring a news media that doesn’t seem to be demanding answers. As my friend Alan Gleason, a translator, editor and jazz musician living in Tokyo, wrote on this site yesterday,

    "So far the most sobering and disturbing thing is the inability or unwillingness of government and power company spokesmen to give straight answers about what’s going on, as well as the TV stations’ unwillingness to press them on this…[It seems that] when a man-made disaster, or one exacerbated by human error, occurs, self-censorship kicks in to protect #PowerfulInterests."

    Read more:
    timshorrock.com/2011/03/14/tep

    #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping
    #NuclearPowerPlant
    #RadioactiveWater
    #RethinkNotRestart #KashiwazakiKariwa #PacificOcean #Censorship #FalsifyingData #JapanSecrecyAct #CIA

  13. From #NEI, the PRO #Nuclear lobby! TEPCO has a long history of "Dishonest Acts"?!! And why are we trusting them to test #FukushimaDaiichi #wastewater?!!

    Tepco admits leaktightness test falsification

    Staff Writer November 3, 2002

    "Tokyo Electric Power (#Tepco) staff manipulated main steam valves to reduce leak rates during containment testing in 1991 and 1992, the company has admitted.

    "Tepco admitted the '#DishonestActs' in a press release on 25 October. The company said that during the two annual inspections at #Fukushima Daiichi 1 (Fukushima I-1), plant staff knew that the containment leak rate was too high. When government inspectors carried out the leak tightness test the staff injected air via the main steam isolation valves to reduce the leak rate. It is reporteed elsewhere that the real rate was 2% per day compared to the allowed maximum of 0.45% per day. By manipulating the valve, the rate was reduced to 0.12% per day.

    "Tepco said the plant had been shut down for additional leak rate inspections, and an external commission comprising five specialist lawyers had been assigned to oversee the investigation. The company could not say whether 'dishonest acts were conducted in the leakage inspections at all Tepco’s nuclear power stations other than the above-mentioned two inspections'; nor could it say whether other tests at that plant had been #falsified. All the company’s leak tests are now being examined.

    "Once again, the power company found itself saying: 'Tepco sincerely regrets and apologises that such dishonest acts were conducted.' Tsunehisa Katsumata has taken over as head of Tepco following the resignation of Nobuya Minami. At a press conference Katsumata said the data falsification was 'the gravest crisis since the company was established', and that the company had lost so much 'it should start again from zero'. Shigemi Tamura is to be promoted to chairman, replacing Hiroshi Araki.

    "Meanwhile, additional cases of covered up crack findings were also reported by Tepco. According to data Tepco provided to #METI, these cases involve flaws found in recirculation pumps and piping connecting the pumps to the primary circuit at Fukushima I-1 to I-5, at Fukushima II-3, and at #KashiwazakiKariwa 1 and 2. Unlike previously disclosed cases of concealed inspection results, the inspections at these reactors were carried out by Hitachi and Toshiba, rather than by GE.

    "In one case, Hitachi has acknowledged that, while under contract for BWR inspection work for Tepco in 1992, it found cracks in neutron-measuring equipment at a BWR at Fukushima. Tepco officials then asked Hitachi personnel to delete the crack finds from reports that they wrote.

    "According to a Hitachi spokesman, a senior official in Hitachi’s nuclear plant design division agreed to Tepco’s request because Tepco was a Hitachi client.

    "As a consequence of these revelations, plans to build six new reactors totalling 9000MWe at three sites have been indefinitely frozen. This will halt over half the new nuclear capacity that Japan had intended to have in place soon after 2010, including Japan’s first two APWRs."

    Read more:
    neimagazine.com/news/tepco-adm

    #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping
    #NuclearPowerPlant
    #RadioactiveWater
    #RethinkNotRestart #PacificOcean

  14. This came out right after #FukushimaNuclearAccident.

    Is Tokyo Electric Power becoming #Japan's BP?

    16 March 2011

    "[It] has to be said that #Tepco has a chequered history in divulging information about its #nuclear operations.

    "In 2002, the Japanese government accused Tepco of false reporting in routine inspections of nuclear facilities and of concealing information about safety lapses over many years.

    "The company had to close all its boiling water nuclear reactors - the sort caught up in the current crisis - until further inspections had taken place.

    "Tepco eventually admitted to 200 occasions in which information had been falsified between 1977 and 2002. Further revelations of past concealment emerged five years later.

    "As the company struggles to contain a crisis seen on a par with the Three Mile Island reactor meltdown in the US in 1979, it is easy to see why some Japan observers suspect Tepco is less than enthusiastic about revealing the full extent of what it knows.

    "A Tepco spokesman said on Wednesday that 20 government officials had moved into the company's Tokyo offices.

    "#BP suffered a huge loss to its prestige, lost its chief executive and put $40.9bn set aside for charges relating to the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

    "What will be the outcome for Tepco?"

    bbc.com/news/business-12764458

    #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #FukushimaIsntOver #NoDumping
    #NuclearPowerPlant
    #RadioactiveWater

  15. ICYMI

    #Fukushima power plant: as Japan discharges treated #WasteWater, nuclear #radiation readings don’t add up

    Story by Victoria Bela
    9/20/2023

    - Discharge data logs indicate a reoccurring difference in incoming seawater and outgoing diluted waste water

    - An environmental science professor says they would be expected to be about the same

    "[...]On a rainy September 4, live data from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) indicated that the seawater being pumped in had a reading of 11 counts per second (cps) - a measure of radioactive disintegration by a detector - while the treated water and the diluted mixture heading for discharge both had a radiation level of 5.3 cps.

    "Jim Smith, a professor of environmental science at the University of Portsmouth, said the background gamma radiation level in natural seawater was expected to be at about 10 cps.

    "For the seawater pumped in and diluted water discharged, 'you would expect the two readings to be about the same - the gamma radiation added from gamma emitting radionuclides discharged with the waste water is unlikely to change the seawater radiation levels', he said.

    "This discrepancy persisted throughout the first round of release that ended last week. The radiation level of the diluted mixture was always lower than the radiation level of the seawater being pumped in, according to Tepco data logs and their tracker on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) website.

    "Tepco's radiation detectors monitor the seawater intake pump, the transfer line the treated water passes through, and a vertical shaft the diluted water passes through called point VI on the tracker.

    "'Looks to me like the detector at point VI is reading a bit low,' Smith said.

    [...]

    "The Post asked more than a dozen professors and researchers, some of whom had publicly spoken both for and against the release, to comment on the readings. Of the three who responded, two said that a lack of data surrounding the radiation numbers meant they would not comment.

    "The Post also called the IAEA regional office in Japan about the data, but were directed to the headquarters instead.

    "The Post was not able to connect to any of the technical experts stationed in the office that IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said was set up in Japan to specifically monitor the Fukushima water release.

    "Calls and emails to the IAEA headquarters and its media office went unanswered."

    msn.com/en-xl/news/other/fukus

    #IAEAHides #TEPCOLies
    #WaterIsLife #FukushimaIsntOver
    #FukushimaDaiichi
    #NoDumping #NuclearPowerPlant
    #RadioactiveWater

  16. Historic #Hanford #Contamination is Worse Than Expected: #Oregon Experts Weigh In

    July 7, 2023

    "In late June, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that radioactive contamination beneath a building at the #HanfordNuclearSite is worse than originally thought.

    "The Hanford 324 Building is located on the south end of Hanford – in what’s known as the 300 Area – just 1,000 feet from the #ColumbiaRiver. The US DOE has known about one spill under the building for over a decade, and has been working on a plan for cleanup of the area while also making progress in other areas of Hanford since production turned to cleanup at the site in the 1980s.

    "The agency knew the contamination in the soil was serious, but sampling this spring found unexpected contamination deeper in the soil and outside the previously known spill area. So what does that mean? Oregon Department of Energy Assistant Director for Nuclear Safety and Emergency Preparedness Maxwell Woods and Hanford Hydrogeologist Tom Sicilia weigh in.

    "Q: Is the #groundwater or the Columbia River at risk of exposure to the contaminated soil?

    "A: Based on data from monitoring wells, the US DOE reports that the spill has not migrated to groundwater, so at this time the groundwater that flows to the river poses a minimal risk. But it will be important moving forward that the area remain covered and protected and for monitoring to continue while a cleanup plan is identified.

    "We hear US DOE may also be considering adding additional groundwater monitoring in the area to capture more data, which we support.

    [...]

    "Q: What are the risks with the new plan?

    "A: If US DOE decides to construct the big metal shell, a next question will be whether work should continue with robots or remotely operated equipment to resume the digging, or if the agency should wait a few more decades to allow the #radioactive materials in the soil to decay further.

    "Depending on how “hot” the soil really is – it could be hundreds of years before it would be safe enough for humans to manually excavate it. Remotely operated equipment is used across the Hanford site for safe cleanup activities.

    "While the risk to groundwater and the river are low, there is a balance between the inevitable migration of #contaminants over time and the ability to safely complete the cleanup. In the near-term, US DOE seems to be doing the right thing, and is 'measuring twice' to avoid having to go back out and re-dig this complicated and dangerous soil. This pause will allow a more efficient and protective remedy to be developed for review by stakeholders, Tribal nations, the public, and site regulators."

    energyinfo.oregon.gov/blog/202

    #WaterIsLife #Oregon #WashingtonState #HanfordNuclearFacility #NoNukes #NoDumping
    #FutureGenerations
    #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #NuclearWeaponsDump

  17. What’s being done now about #RadioactiveWater that threatens the #ColumbiaRiver in #WashingtonState?

    by Annette Cary
    Tue, July 9, 2024

    "A major #radioactive contamination threat to the Columbia River should be removed at the #Hanford #nuclear site before the end of summer.

    "Hanford workers have started to pump contaminated water from the final basin of the nuclear reservation’s nine reactors along the Columbia River.

    "'This effort will eliminate the risk of a leak of contaminated water to the groundwater about a quarter-mile from the Columbia River,' said Andy Wiborg, the Department of Energy acting deputy assistant manager for river and plateau cleanup."

    [...]

    "The K West and K East Reactor basins were the last to be used, after storing irradiated fuel from N Reactor that was not processed following the end of the Cold War. Before the fuel was removed in 2004, it #corroded underwater, contributing to a highly #RadioactiveSludge.

    "In 2019 the last of the sludge was removed, leaving draining the water the next major task to reduce risk from the basins.

    "The nearby K East Reactor basin was emptied first.

    "Then in June, the first tanker truck with basin water pulled away from the K West Reactor.
    About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with filtered water to remove radioactive contamination from the K West Reactor basin as it is being drained. The work will protect the nearby Columbia River.
    About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with filtered water to remove radioactive contamination from the K West Reactor basin as it is being drained. The work will protect the nearby Columbia River.

    "About 400,000 gallons have been pumped out of the basin so far, which is the equivalent of six residential swimming pools, said Heather Dale, DOE Hanford assistant manager for the river and plateau. About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with basin water.

    [...]

    "They also installed a system to pump out and then filter the contaminated water before it it loaded into tanker trucks.

    "The filtering system removes particles and also uses an ion exchange system to remove radioactive #cesium and #strontium from the water. The initial resin used in the ion exchange system DID NOT WORK WELL, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in January.

    [...]

    "Some of the contents of the vertical pipe units in the K West Reactor basin may be required to be sent to the nation’s repository for transuranic radioactive waste in New Mexico for disposal [#WIPP].

    Read more:
    news.yahoo.com/news/being-done

    #WaterIsLife
    #NoNukes
    #NoDumping
    #FutureGenerations
    #NoWar
    #NoNuclearWeapons
    #RethinkNotRestart
    #NuclearWaste
    #HanfordNuclearSite

  18. February 2024: #Texas #wildfires forces shutdown at #NuclearWeapons facility. Here is what we know

    by Michael Casey

    "#Pantex is one of six production facilities in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Security Enterprise. The plant has been the main U.S. site for assembling and disassembling #AtomicBombs since 1975. It produced its last new bomb in 1991, and has dismantled thousands of weapons retired from #military stockpiles. Pantex says on its website that it places 'the resulting plutonium pits in interim storage,' but it does not explain what that means. The company did not respond to questions about nuclear storage at the site."

    [...]

    "The fire definitely had an impact. The company said Tuesday night that plant operations had 'paused until further notice,' but that 'all weapons and special materials are safe and unaffected.' Asked about the potential danger of the wildfire, a spokesperson would only say that Pantex 'has robust facilities designed to prevent fire from damaging site facilities.'"

    apnews.com/article/texas-wildf

    #Wildfires #ClimateChange #NoNukes #NoDumping
    #FutureGenerations
    #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #NuclearWeaponsDump

  19. 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.”

    apnews.com/article/wildfire-fl

    #WaterIsLife #NoNukes #NoDumping #FutureGenerations #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste

  20. #YuccaMountain Is Possibly More Seismically Active Than Once Believed, Geologists Discover

    March 26, 1998

    PASADENA—"Recent geodetic measurements using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites show that the Yucca Mountain area in southern Nevada is straining roughly 10 to 100 times faster than expected on the basis of the geologic history of the area. And for the moment at least, geologists are at a loss to explain the anomaly.

    "In the March 28 issue of the journal Science, Brian Wernicke of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and his colleagues at the [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory] in Cambridge, Massachusetts, report on Global Positioning System surveys they conducted from 1991 to 1997. Those surveys show that the Yucca Mountain area is stretching apart at about one millimeter per year east-southeastward.

    "'The question is, why are the predicted geological rates of stretching so much lower than what we are measuring?' asks Wernicke. 'That's something we need to think through and understand."

    "The answer is likely to be of interest to quite a few people, because Yucca Mountain has been proposed as a site for the permanent disposal of high-level #radioactive waste. Experts believe that the waste-disposal site can accommodate a certain amount of seismic activity, but they nonetheless would like for any site to have a certain amount of stability over the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.

    "Yucca Mountain was already known to have both seismic and #volcanic activity, Wernicke says. An example of the former is the 5.4-magnitude '#LittleSkullMountain' earthquake that occurred in 1992. And an example of the latter is the 80,000-year-old volcano to the south of the mountain. The volcano is inactive, but still must be studied according to Department of Energy regulations.

    "The problem the new study poses is that the strain is building up in the crust at a rate about one-fourth that of the most rapidly straining areas of the earth's crust, such as near the San Andreas fault, Wernicke says. But there could be other factors at work."

    Read more:
    caltech.edu/about/news/yucca-m

    #nuclear #NuclearWaste
    #WaterIsLife #NoNukes
    #NoDumping #RethinkNotRestart

  21. So, I found this article that talks about other possible #NuclearWaste repositories (Pantex in Texas, and Hanford in Washington state). There have been problems with #Pantex and #Hanford because of #ClimateChange, and #YuccaMountain is more seismically active than previously thought! Where to bury the waste is a HUGE problem that I brought up when touring the #SeabrookNuclearPlant before it was operational. Back then I was told, "Oh, we'll figure out that problem when we get to it. Don't worry about it!" Ummmm...

    Western Shoshone Nation Opposes Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository

    "From our perspective the processes employed by the DOE is environmental racism designed to systematically dismantle the living lifeways of the #WesternShoshone people in relation to our land . . . It’s not about the amount of radioactivity that would permeate the #groundwater . . . The #EnvironmentalRacism lies in the very notion that it would be okay to put any radioactive material there at all."

    Commodities, Conflict, and Cooperation

    Fall 2016 & Winter 2017

    "In 1986, the list was narrowed to three sites in the Western U.S. – Hanford in eastern Washington State, a site in the Texas panhandle [#Pantex] southwest of Amarillo, and Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada about 80 miles north of Las Vegas (see photo below)."

    Source:
    sites.evergreen.edu/ccc/warnuc

    #Pauite #PauiteShoshone
    #CulturalGenocide #NativeAmericans #nuclear #WaterIsLife #RespectTheTreaties #NoNukes #NoDumping
    #InformedConsent #FutureGenerations

  22. #YuccaMountain

    via #SacredLandFilmProject

    Report By Amy Corbin
    Posted October 1, 2004
    Updated April 1, 2010

    "For more than two decades, the #Shoshone and #Paiute peoples, scientists, #environmentalists, the federal government, Nevada citizens and politicians have wrestled over the fate of Yucca Mountain. The federal government had selected the mountain to become the nation’s primary dumping ground for deadly, high-level #NuclearWaste, but the long-contested project is at last on its way to being closed. Meanwhile, the #WesternShoshone fight off federal efforts to sell their land in order to give multinational #corporations access to its #mineral resources. But the Western Shoshone stand firm. Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council, said, 'Western Shoshone title is still intact… We’ve never accepted their money and never will — our land, the earth mother is not for sale and we will protect her and continue our responsibilities as caretakers under the Creator’s law.'

    The Land and Its People

    "Yucca Mountain is located within the Western Shoshone Nation and has long been a place of powerful spiritual energy for the Shoshone and the Paiute. To the Western Shoshone it is #SnakeMountain, a place with rock rings that transmit prayers to the Great Spirit and messages back to the people. The late Shoshone spiritual leader Corbin Harney told a traditional story that Snake Mountain will one day be awakened and split open, spewing out poison. This prophecy may predict the potential disaster of #volcanic activity and nuclear waste leakage. Shoshone ancestors are buried in the mountain and the water in the area is sacred, as it is with many desert peoples.

    "The 60 million acres of Western Shoshone territory in Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California, which includes Yucca Mountain, was never deeded to the U.S. government. According to the 1863 #RubyValleyTreaty that the Shoshone signed with the government, most of the area now used by the U.S. military for #NuclearWeapons testing and the proposed waste storage site was explicitly recognized as Shoshone land. However, the U.S. government now claims 80 to 90 percent of it, meaning that the Shoshone are unable to control what happens on their ancestral land. Legislators continue to try to persuade the Shoshone to accept financial compensation for this land, which most view as a way to extinguish aboriginal title and preclude future land claims, easing the way for renewed nuclear weapons testing and waste storage, as well as resource #extraction.

    "In the late 1970s government scientists began to study Yucca Mountain as a possible repository for nuclear waste, and since 1987 it has been the only site considered for 77,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. While the Yucca Mountain Project has been debated, the amount of nuclear waste needing burial has already surpassed what the repository was designed to hold. In the meantime, nuclear waste continues to sit in steel-lined pools or casks near power plants throughout the country that produce 2,000 tons of high-level waste per year. The waste is lethal for 10,000 years and dangerous for 250,000 years."

    [...]

    "The Yucca Mountain Project calls for the highly radioactive nuclear waste to be encased in steel containers and buried deep in the mountain. Since the canisters will last for 1,000 years at most, the dryness of the mountain will have to guarantee against leakage and migration — an assumption that environmentalists and many scientists say is flawed and dangerous. Surface water percolating into the mountain will carry radioactive particles into the water table and render it toxic. This water table currently supplies water to local communities and farming regions that produce food products for the entire country.

    "In 2005, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman confirmed that internal department e-mails allude to the #falsification of data on how quickly water flows through Yucca Mountain. This revelation caused a federal investigation, and condemnation from Congress triggered the Department of Energy to completely reorganize the project and lay off 500 employees. Robert Hager, attorney for the Western Shoshone, said that the Yucca site would have been disqualified years ago if the true nature of the subterranean water flow was known.

    "With several local #FaultLines and a #volcano nearby, earthquakes make it likely that the mountain will fracture the repository and send even more water to the waste. There are also grave concerns about the safety of transporting nuclear waste over long distances through several U.S. states, particularly in an era of terrorist threats. During the later Bush years, as environmental concerns mounted and citizens from other states grew more leery, the project began to look more and more unlikely."

    Read more:
    sacredland.org/yucca-mountain-

    #EnvironmentalRacism #Pauite #PauiteShoshone #CulturalGenocide #NativeAmericans #nuclear #nuclearwaste #WaterIsLife #RespectTheTreaties #NoNukes #NoDumping

  23. @aka_quant_noir

    The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in Plant Response to #Radiation

    From Works cite:
    Ultraviolet-B radiation stress triggers reactive oxygen species and regulates the antioxidant defense and photosynthesis systems of intertidal red algae Neoporphyra haitanensis. Front. Mar. Sci. 2022, 9, 1043462. [Google Scholar]

    mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/4/3346

    #Radiation #NoDumping #FukushimaDaiichi #ROS #ToxicAlgae #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #RethinkNotRestart

  24. #TEPCO discharges more #Fukushima #nuclear-contaminated water despite criticisms

    By JIANG XUEQING in Tokyo | 2024-05-07

    "Despite #protests and criticisms, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on May 7 that it has completed the fifth round of discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the crippled #FukushimaDaiichi #NuclearPowerPlant into the [#PacificOcean].

    "TEPCO said approximately 7,800 metric tons of nuclear-contaminated water was dumped in this round, which marked the first round of ocean discharge in fiscal 2024.

    "Disregarding complaints, TEPCO, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, plans to discharge a total of 54,600 tons of 'treate'" #radioactive #wastewater over seven rounds in the fiscal year ending #March2025 despite opposition from local residents, #fishermen and the international community.

    "Mami Moriya, an educator specializing in mentally challenged children, emphasized the irreversibility of discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.

    "'Once nuclear-contaminated water is released into the sea, it cannot be retrieved, and it would be difficult to determine if various future global health issues are actually caused by such discharges,' Moriya said.

    "She also voiced skepticism about the Japanese government's forthcomingness, anticipating potential cover-ups and evasion of proper compensation without genuine apologies.

    "Tutumi Fumitaka, a railway security guard, criticized the government for failing to take adequate responsibility and acknowledge the ongoing repercussions of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

    "'Government officials want to give the impression that the Fukushima nuclear accident has come to an end and they are eager to restart #NuclearPowerPlants. However, considering the nuclear accident is not yet resolved, moving forward with such plans could lead to secondary damages,' Fumitaka said."

    Read more:

    chinadaily.com.cn/a/202405/07/

    #RethinkNotRestart #WaterIsLife #NoDumping #TEPCOLies #NoDumpingFukushimaWater

  25. Many #CoralReefs are dying. This one is exploding with life.

    Scientists recently observed a rare phenomenon on a reef in #Cambodia that left them in awe — and filled them with hope.

    By Benji Jones@BenjiSJones Mar 14, 2024

    "Globally, coral reefs, which underpin commercial fisheries and protect coastlines from storms, have declined by half since the 1950s, largely due to #ClimateChange. Spells of extreme #MarineHeat break down the relationship between #coral and a type of symbiotic #algae that gives it both food and its vibrant colors. The coral turns white — a process referred to as #bleaching — and can then easily starve to death.

    "The reefs in Cambodia and in the broader #EastAsian region, however, appear to be bucking this trend. Surveys indicate that they haven’t declined in recent decades, perhaps because they’re more resilient to warming. Their secret to survival may ultimately help safeguard ailing reefs elsewhere."

    Read more:
    vox.com/down-to-earth/24098428

    #Environment #WaterIsLife
    #PacificOcean #DeepSeaEcosystems #NoDumping #CoralReef