Nuclear power and radiation – theme for October 2011 – the medical aspect
Back in the early 1940s, Dr Charles Pecher pioneered radiation as a treatment for cancer – ( until his work was taken over by the military to use radiation as a weapon.). Still, medical radiation has an honourable history and valuable role in treating cancer.
But medical radiation is a two-edged sword. We need to remember the risks it can carry to radiation technologists, nurses, doctors, other patients in hospital, and family members. Children can be at particular risk.
This is illustrated in a recent news item: Radiation treatment meant mother could not touch son Hartlepool Mail, 30 September 2011 A MUM was forced to stay away from her baby son after being given potentially dangerous treatment when she found she had a rare form of cancer. New mum Jill Teasdale could not get close to little son Max just months after he was born after contracting thyroid cancer.
The 30-year-old found a lump in her neck and following hospital tests, was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. Within weeks, she had undergone an operation to remove her thyroid gland and was prescribed a course of radioactive iodine treatment.
“The treatment lasted about a week, but because of the radiation I wasn’t allowed to get close to my little boy,” she said. “I had to have minimum contact.”
Although diagnosed in June 2009, it was not until the following April that Jill was given the all clear….. http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/radiation_treatment_meant_mother_could_not_touch_son_1_3822684
Radioactive birds may arrive in Tasmania in seasonal migration
Mutton bird radiation warning, ABC News, September 30, 2011 Tasmanians are being warned not to collect dead mutton birds for research. A recent Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association newsletter describes research into mutton bird exposure to radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. It says the birds will soon be migrating back to Australia after many spent winter in the Sea of Japan.
The article says people can help researchers by collecting freshly dead mutton birds, freezing them and handing them over to their local Parks and Wildlife office or museum. But the department says it is not seeking samples and discourages people unfamiliar with wildlife from collecting them. A spokeswoman says suggestions of radiation exposure in birds is being further investigated. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-30/20110930-muttonbird-radiation-warning/3193736?section=tas
Safe low level radiation? It’s a lie
We are in the middle of a terrifying scientific experiment in which we and our children are the subjects. Let’s face the facts that mixing the profit motive with the most dangerous technology is a very bad idea, and that natural forces and human error are reason enough to admit nuclear power is a mistake. It’s time to move on.
The Myth of Low-Level Radiation, Why safe levels are a myth , Radiation Truth All radiation is dangerous, whether it is natural or man-made. There is no “safe” amount of radioactive material or radiation. “The U.S. Department of Energy has testified that there is no level of radiation that is so low that it is without health risks”, reports Jacqueline Cabasso, the Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation. (full article) Continue reading
High levels of radiation in sea near Fukushima may threaten marine food chain
the Fukushima disaster appeared to be by far the largest accidental release of radioactive material into the sea…..
The working hypothesis is that contaminated sediments and groundwater near the coast are continuing to contaminate the seas, …
fuller understanding of the effect on fish that are commercially harvested will probably take several years of data following several feeding cycles,
Fukushima’s Contamination Produces Some Surprises at Sea, NYT, By DAVID JOLLY, September 28, 2011, Six months after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the news flow from the stricken nuclear power plant has slowed, but scientific studies of radioactive material in the ocean are just beginning to bear fruit.
The word from the land is bad enough. …. Continue reading
How Australia’s Liberal Party plans to help corporations overcome environmental regulations
Under this Liberal National Party plan, a nuclear obsessed government such as South Australia’s, could make environmental decisions that really affect the whole country – C.M.
Coalition’s Greg Hunt to create one-stop approval, BY:SID MAHER , THE AUSTRALIAN, October 01, 2011 GOVERNMENT environmental approval processes will be streamlined and consent will be deemed to have been granted if deadlines are not met under a Coalition policy aimed at lifting productivity and attracting investment.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt plans changes, to be unveiled this weekend, to simplify federal environment laws and regulations to allow a “one-stop shop” approach to major environmental approvals.
“We absolutely want to radically decrease costs, delays and uncertainties in the approvals process,” Mr Hunt said….
Under the plan, states and territories will be able to act as a one-stop shop for all environmental approvals. In the case of major projects, such as offshore assessments, the states could hand their approvals to the commonwealth as the sole designated assessor….
Mr Hunt said the incentive for participation by individual states would be “competitive federalism”, with states that choose to participate having a “significant advantage”.
USA’s secret plan to dump nuclear waste in Mongolia
the idea has become a political lightning rod, with the opposition Green Party charging that a waste facility could become an environmental and safety nightmare….
the draft agreement, which has not been released but reportedly included a passage referring to Mongolia as a future destination for spent fuel……
“Mongolia is not an awfully democratic state,”
Senior U.S. Official Denies Talk of Foreign Nuclear Waste Site in Mongolia, NTI Global Security Newswire, Sept. 30, 2011, By Elaine M. Grossman WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. Energy Department official on Wednesday disputed reports that the Obama administration has sought Mongolian support for construction of a storage site for international spent nuclear fuel in the Central Asian nation (see GSN, March 30).
The assertion — made by a high-ranking official who asked not to be named in addressing a diplomatically sensitive issue — directly countered remarks offered last spring by a veteran State Department official who leads U.S. nuclear trade pact negotiations. Continue reading
IAE predicts solar energy boom – will Australia miss out?
….. the IEA will produce a study that predicts more than half the world’s energy needs, and most of its electricity needs, will come from solar energy sources by 2060. The question that Australia needs to ask itself, as it signs yet another multibillion-dollar contract to develop LNG resources, is how it is placed to benefit from a solar future that will dominate future energy sources in the same way as coal and oil has in the past….
Ferguson, like the IEA, has mostly been interested in protecting the supply of fossil fuels for export or use at home, …
Will Australia miss the global solar boom? Crikey.com, 29 Sept 11, by Giles Parkinson of Climate Spectator “……In the past couple of years, however, the IEA has focused more on different scenarios for the world’s future energy needs — both in terms of energy security and in reducing emissions. In doing so, it has emerged as one of the world’s most bullish proponents of renewable energy, in particular solar.Federal
Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson next month will have the honour of chairing the biennial meeting of 36 energy ministers hosted by the International Energy Agency. The topic will be the world’s energy future, and the contents are likely to be surprising — so much so that Ferguson may have cause to consider if Australia is well prepared for the energy revolution ahead.Since its establishment in the 1970s, after the oil price shock, the IEA’s principal mandate has been around the protection of oil supplies, and its forecasts for the world’s long-term energy mix were viewed — particularly by those pushing renewables — with some suspicion. Continue reading
Around Australia by electric car
George’s electrifying mission, GLEN George is a man on a mission. Daily Mercury, Jessica Grant, 27th September 2011 The former solar power manufacturer aims to be the first person to circumnavigate Australia in an electric car in an effort to raise awareness of renewable energy. (picture at left, of a solar car – is not accurate regarding George’s car)
Mr George, who was in Mackay yesterday, set off from Perth on August 21, and if everything goes according to plan he should make it back on November 13. With the Guinness World Book of Records keeping a close eye on George’s progress, he is trying to keep his carbon count as low as possible……
SPECS
The car’s name is ‘Lectric’
It cost $25,000 to rebuild
Runs on 45 Lithium ion batteries
It takes nine hours to fully recharge
An approximate range of 110km
Costs about 2 cents per km
http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2011/09/27/electric-car-drives-into-the-record-books/
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 