Antinuclear

TODAY. The “modern” nuclear industry manages its radioactive sewage in a medieval way

The nuclear industry prides itself on being such a “modern” “civilised” industry. However, it is quite happy to deal with its garbage in a medieval way. Just as, centuries ago, in “civilised” Europe it was just fine to pour your sewage into the street – to flow on to public waterways and oceans.

This mendacious industry cons us all into believing that the Fukushima nuclear waste-water is the same as water released from active nuclear power plants. It is not.

Normally, water that is used in cooling a nuclear plant in routine operation and then discharged to the environment has no direct contact with the nuclear reactor fuel cores. In contrast, the contaminated water generated by the Fukushima disaster has come into direct contact with contamination from the melted down cores of three reactors and as such is severely contaminated with many radionuclides. It has  greater variety of radioactive materials but also the overall much higher radioactivity.

But that’s not the only deception. With its customary false logic, the nuclear industry claims that because several countries already pour nuclear-irradiated wastewater into the sea, that proves that it is OK to do so. That’s like a medieval person explaining that pouring sewage into the street is fine, because the neighbours do it.

The global ban on ocean dumping of radioactive waste adopted in 1993 applies only to barrels. It has allowed Britain and France to pump billions of gallons of radioactive wastewater into the Irish Sea and the North Sea respectively, for decades. The mind boggles at the thought of what the Russians do with theirs.

It took the Black Plague in 1350 to make people realise that sewage, garbage, and dead bodies in the streets were really a bad idea.

What is it going to take for the world to stop this wonderful “modern” nuclear industry pour its radioactive sewage into the public oceans?

And for that matter, since nuclear power and nuclear weapons are not essential – why allow their toxic sewage to be produced at all?

August 13, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized