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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

WHY DON'T NATURAL DISASTERS DOCUMENTARIES TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THREATS TO NUCLEAR FACILITIES?

By Tracy W.

Yesterday I watched two environmental apocalypse documentaries back to back on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).  Both fall under the "Not-If-But-When" category.

One was about the eventual eruption of a volcano in the Canary Island of La Palma, which will precipitate a mega tsunami on the North American east coast, Europe, Africa, and other areas. 
 
The other was about the eventual eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano that will destroy populations and land over a large area of the United States, while affecting climate and agriculture world wide.

Both documentaries explained how life and civilization would be affected by both disasters but - being documentaries for not only informational but for entertainment purposes - they only glossed over a major consequence resulting from those disasters. 
 
What the documentaries did not mention: the resulting multiple nuclear meldowns
 
Aside from the immediate loss of life resulting from a tsunami and a volcanic eruption, the most important consequence would be the unleashing of radioactivity over the whole planet as the many nuclear plants in North America and Europe would melt down in a much worse manner than our current nightmare in Fukushima. 

We can't even handle one disaster in Japan - How could we cope with multiple ones?
Today is the anniversary of the Fukushima disaster and so far the news keeps getting worse.  That nuclear power plant is basically out of control - only that Japan does not want to admit it. 
 
In these three years there has been no success in even mitigating the nuclear poisoning of air, land and ocean caused by the disaster precipitated by an earthquake and tsunami.  The situation gets worse by the day.  That was a single NPP.  Imagine if disaster wrecked dozens of NPPs. 
 
A conspiracy of silence
But the CBC documentaries made absolutely no mention of that.  We can't hold the CBC responsible for everything in those films, but at the very least the presenter could have mentioned it.  She did not. 

There is a conspiracy of silence about the negative aspects of the nuclear power industry - while falsifying its possible benefits. 
 
It is not a clean energy - far from it.  Its waste lasts for millions of years and there is no viable way to store it or recycle it.  Governments are scrambling to find a way to hide it out of sight.  So far all storage areas leak or present too high a risk of contaminating the environment. 

In an expression of either cynicism or contempt for humanity, the United States government recently announced the use of taxpayer money to create even more NPPs.  We can't blame the government alone for this insane decision. 
 
We are all responsible
Because of our silence, we are all to blame.  And among the top participants in this conspiracy of silence are green politicians, the media, scientists, and almost the entire ecology movement.  They all divert our attention with the tiring controversy over whether there is global warming or not, or climate change, as they now call it. 

The climate is by definition always changing.  It's part of our Earth history.  It has done so from the beginning in slow and in abrupt ways.  We have had global droughts, a snowball Earth when the whole planet was covered with ice, greenhouse conditions, and everything in between.  So the argument over climate change is ridiculous.  Therefore one has to wonder what's behind it.  And the best answer is that it's all to divert attention away from the expansion of nuclear power all over the planet.

Nuclear power plants offer monetary and military benefits to a few.   The uranium extraction industry benefits, the construction and maintenance of the plants employ workers and fill the pockets of entrepreneurs and top managers.  And there is yet another side to this nightmare:  nuclear power plants can be used to harvest weapons-grade plutonium.  That's why so many countries are interested in getting their own nuclear reactors for "peaceful purposes". 

We don't even need a cataclysmic disaster to worry about  - it's bad enough as it is.
The mere presence of those reactors represents a potential disaster.  We are all only one "Oops" away from the killing of millions.  Even at the best of times nuclear plants contaminate the ecosystem, including humans living nearby, in spite of repeated government and industry reassurances that it's all "within safety limits".  
 
And then there is the problem of nuclear waste.  How can anyone justify the creation of more nuclear power plants when nobody has any idea of how to safely store or dispose of nuclear waste.  Why would we want to leave that waste for future generations is another question that needs to be answered.

Time to confront the conspirators
Why doesn't the CBC tell the audience the truth?  Or other media?  Or scientists and ecologists bleating about CO2, global warming and climate change? 
 
We need to confront them and their deliberate or unwitting participation in this sinister coverup of the horrors of nuclear power plants.  
 
Influential scientists, ecologists and political leaders make statements or write articles mentioning the dangers or nuclear power plants. But all that is mere lip service to assuage their conscience.  So far - even with Fukushima's daily reminder - there has been no effective, organized effort to raise awareness among the population and to advocate an end to nuclear power plants.  None.  Zilch.  Even the US president, who is thought to have been elected by a majority of forward-looking voters, is a leading advocate for the construction of more nuclear power plants, while - with his Iran policies - enabling the unleashing of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
 

REFERENCES

Documentary Mega-Tsunami
Mega-Tsunami is the story of the scientific model of a volcanic collapse of La Palma, projected into the near future. Scientists predict that the giant tsunami could spread throughout the Atlantic Basin, devastating the coastlines of West Africa and Europe. They would then head north to Britain and then across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. In one scenario, in which North Americans would have just three to four hours warning, scientists predict that such a wave could result in roughly four and a half million casualties.
http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/episodes/mega-tsunami

Documentary Supervolcano - Yellowstone Fury
Supervolcano: Yellowstone's Fury examines the effect a cataclysmic eruption would have on the world and what could possibly be done to prepare for such a disaster.  An eruption on this scale would be the largest natural disaster in recorded history.  It could trigger a volcanic winter, kill millions of people and make most of North America uninhabitable.  New York University Earth Scientist Michael Rampino warns that, "An eruption like Yellowstone could trigger the end of civilization as we know it."
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/supervolcano-yellowstones-fury

 
Natural disasters and threats to nuclear sites
 
 
Earth Magazine - Nuclear power plants and natural disasters,  the Fukushima fallout.
http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-nuclear-plants-and-natural-disasters-fukushimas-fallout
 
Greenpeace - Natural disasters, the silent nuclear threat
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/natural-disasters-the-silent-nuclear-threat/blog/37594/
 
Science Daily - 23 nuclear power plants are in tsunami-risk areas
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120921083202.htm
 
NRDC - Map of nuclear power plants in the USA
There are 104 nuclear reactors in the United States. If one of them lost both primary and backup power for even a matter of hours, it could lead to a meltdown and an airborne radioactive plume.
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/

NRC coverup of US facilities vulnerabilities in the aftermath of Fukushima - Leaked documents
http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/10/leaked-emails-nrcs-fukushima/

 
Other issues
 
Nuclear plants used for the harvesting of weapons-grade plutonium
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/japans-nuclear-power-plants-were-used.html

 
Nuclear power - shortcut for human and animal extinctions - Interview with scientist
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/03/nuclear-power-shortcut-for-human-and.html
 
U.S. deal with Iran helps them accelerate their program of uranium enrichment
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/us-deal-with-iran-helps-them-accelerate.html
 
Nuclear Saudi Arabia - the result of U.S. White House appeasing Iran
The United States is helping unleash a Middle East nuclear arms race
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/11/nuclear-saudi-arabia-result-of.html
 
U.S. government announces $6.5 billion loan for the building of more nuclear power plants
http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/19/energy-moniz-loan-nuclear-plants/
 
Cluster of birth defects near Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington state
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/03/cluster-of-terrible-birth-defects-in.html
 
Expert:  Half of US nuclear reactors are loosely regulated and in danger of meltdown
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/03/american-nuclear-power-plants-are.html
 
BBC - Carlsbad, New Mexico - The radiation-leaking site wants more nuclear waste
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26441154
 
Hanford, Washington state, the most radiation contaminated site in America - Commentary
http://digitaljournal.com/news/environment/op-ed-hanford-the-most-contaminated-nuclear-waste-site-in-america/article/373845
 
2013 - Our year of apathy and cowardice, while the Fukushima ecocide goes on  - Commentary
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/01/2013-our-year-of-apathy-and-cowardice.html
 
More nuclear-related articles on this blog
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Nuclear

FUKUSHIMA AND NUCLEAR INFO

Nucnews - Nuclear news headlines
Fukuleaks - Simply Info
Radiation Network map - Monitoring US radiation readings

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