— Drigg: quaint coastal village and the UK’s “low level” nuclear dump

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 admin Cumbria, Drigg, EDF, Environment Agency, nuclear waste, Sellafield, storage, Studsvik, UK

Up until the late 1980s radioactive wastes including plutonium wastes were tumble tipped into trenches. Now the site has gone all hi tech and compacts radioactive waste into rusting shipping containers…

From Radiation Free Lakeland
April 30. 2016

Drigg the quaint coastal village is also home to the UKs ‘Low Level Waste Repository’ (the word ‘Nuclear’ has been dropped from the official title) Although locals know this as the Nuclear Dump. Drigg is located near the Sellafield nuclear site on the shifting sands of the Cumbrian coast. Up until the late 1980s radioactive wastes including plutonium wastes were tumble tipped into trenches. Now the site has gone all hi tech and compacts radioactive waste into rusting shipping containers, any void in the container is filled with concrete.

The site sits above West Cumbria Aquifer from which is drawn the borehole water supply for much of West Cumbria while Sellafield gets most of its water from Wastwater.

The plan is to keep on dumping the high end of “low level” radioactive waste here despite the threat of inundation not just from the Irish Sea but also from the rivers and becks running through and alongside the site.

The planning application to extend the wastes, stacking ever more shipping containers higher, has already been approved by our toothless regulators, the Environment Agency.

Please write to the Development Control and Regulation Committee of Cumbria County Council who will be looking at this application on the 11th May ( if it isn’t postponed again) and ask them to refuse permission for the continued use of Drigg as a nuclear waste dump. Ask them to lobby government to hold a moratorium on “decommissioning” and dumping (breaking up and ‘disposing’ of old nuclear plants) which we now know means dispersal of radioactive wastes to Drigg rather than containment on original sites. Many more Driggs and radioactive landfills will be needed if new nuclear build goes ahead.

The site owners the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority pass day to day running of the site to multinational corporations involved in “decommissioning’ and those corporations largely monitor themselves. SO the same people responsible for producing the waste are also responsible for dumping it. The Environment Agency has told us it sees no conflict of interest in this…but we do! Studsvik, a Swedish company who operate the only radioactive scrap metal plant in Europe here in Cumbria is one of the partners of the Drigg site. On 20th April Studsvik’s waste operations were taken over by EDF. Presumably this means that EDF now have a large hand in running the Drigg site? Will EDF be tempted to ship tonnes of radioactive metals from their 9 nuclear plants being decommissioned now in France, to the Studsvik plant in Workington now that they own it? And will the ever increasing tonnage of radioactive shot metal from that radioactive metal “recycling” end up in Drigg which they will also be operating?

more info here:http://www.theecologist.org/campaigning/2986745/cumbria_flooding_environment_agency_issues_alert_on_drigg_nuclear_waste_site.html

https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2016/04/30/drigg-quaint-coastal-village-and-the-uks-low-level-nuclear-dump/

— Radioactive blues: NRC relicensing hearing of Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station (Mississippi) held 1000 miles away in D.C. May 4

May 2, 2016 admin Entergy, Grand Gulf, hearing, Mississippi, NRC, racism

From Mining Awareness
May 2, 2016

To Obama’s statement after B.B. King’s death, almost a year ago, that “there’s going to be one killer blues session in heaven tonight.” one can but reply that there’s going to be a killer of a nuclear accident in Mississippi or somewhere else soon, and that will be a reason for a killer blues session in heaven alright.https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/05/15/bb-king-blues-has-lost-its-king-and-america-has-lost-legend

“BB King on December 9, 2010 in DC. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)”

Obama apparently intends to evac to his father’s birthplace, Kenya, or he wouldn’t have beem running around the world begging to dump foreign nuclear waste upon America, to be buried there, under the guise of “non-proliferation”. Unless, of course, he’s just blinkered, drugged up and/or insane.

Grand Gulf Nuclear Reactor near Port Gibson, Mississippi

When a man was found hung last year near Port Gibson Mississippi, the news was heard around the world. When B. B. King passed away last year, it made international news, as had the death of Elvis, also a Mississippian. When accusations were made that B.B. King was poisoned, once again it made news. His visitation and funeral in Mississippi made international news, as well. They are both lucky to have died and miss what’s to come.

But, when the US NRC-Entergy are already legally, and illegally, poisoning land, air and water with deadly radionuclides, and courting a major nuclear disaster in B.B. King’s and Elvis’ home state of Mississippi, not a peep is heard.

The fact that the neighboring Jefferson county, just downriver from Grand Gulf, is the fattest county in a fat country has made world headlines.[1] But, there is no discussion of if this may be due to thyroid damage from radioiodine coming out of Grand Gulf – the largest single nuclear reactor in the US.

When the US NRC-Entergy are playing statistical games which may, at any moment, lead to reactor pressure vessel failure and major nuclear disaster in Mississippi, it doesn’t make news at all, even though it will probably impact much of North America, depending on the luck of the wind direction and rain (or lack thereof). There is no room for the 20 to 40% error allowed by the NRC, when it comes to a potential major nuclear disaster.
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/us-nrc-sneak-through-alert-comment-deadline-today-at-11-59-et-request-hearing-by-1-june/
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/us-nrc-safety-abuses-alert-comment-deadline-april-30-at-11-59-eastern-time-request-hearing-by-1-june/
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/dangerous-maximum-extended-load-line-limit-plus-for-largest-us-nuclear-reactor-urgent-comment-demand-hearing-now/

The US NRC is having a hearing where people could speak in Washington DC, almost 1,000 miles away from the Mississippi nuclear reactor on May 4th.http://meetings.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg To speak, one is supposed to give five days notice. And, yet the official announcement only came out on April 19th, and we didn’t find that people could do presentations until May 1st. We found out about the meeting ca April 26th, but not that people could speak. The “Safety Evaluation Report, Related to the License Renewal of Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1, Docket No. 50-416, Entergy Operations, Inc.“, United States Nuclear Regulatory CommissionOffice of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, April 2016 is a daunting 777 pages which makes even less sense than most NRC documents. http://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1609/ML16090A252.pdf As it’s a technical document, one may estimate 4 or more hours per day which might be spent reviewing it over the course of April 4th to May 4th, if it were well-written and comprehensible. But, it’s not. The parts that we read basically say that Entergy failed to do this and that and the US NRC asked them to do this or that and that the US NRC is ok with their follow-up.

But, should we be ok with the follow-up? An educated guess is most likely not. And yet, each topic has related documents, meaning that one would probably need to examine 1000s of pages, meaning more like a dozen hours per day for one month. And, that allows no preparation of a presentation, nor the travel time. If a Ph.D. who is pretty good at reading bureaucratic crap, and who has been reading US NRC crap for two or three years finds it too daunting to deal with, what about other people? Even if one were motivated to work night and day and beg for an audience, the US NRC is lap-dog to the nuclear industry.

The Japanese are neat, orderly, and think of everything. If you think that Fukushima is bad, a nuclear disaster in the US is going to be a never-ending radioactive Katrina, where people are just left to die, as they were in New Orleans. A nuclear disaster in the UK will be worse than their massive flu epidemic, around 16 or 17 years ago, where they had no room for the bodies. History tells us that after a nuclear accident in Europe, the French will probably try to pretend it never happened. Of course, the US will probably try this as well, but the truth will come out – too late for people to take shelter, as with the plutonium flying out from WIPP. Mississippi may actually fare better than most due to low population density, many people still having a farm work ethic and the heavy military-retired military presence in the state. But, you can be certain that the Feds will treat it like New Orleans.

[…]

[1] Claiborne County, home to the Grand Gulf nuclear reactor is 84% African American. Just down river is Jefferson County, the county with “the highest percentage of African Americans of any county in the United States, as well as being the most obese in the nation statistically.” Both are among the poorest counties in the United States.” Jefferson is 85.7% African American. The county seat of Fayette is 97.37% African American. At 37% the State of Mississippi still has the highest percentage of African Americans in the USA.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claiborne_County,_Mississippi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_County,_Mississippi

“Siting Nukes in a Poor Black Town — If A Black President Does It, Is It Still Environmental Racism?” 07/04/2010 05:12 am ET, Updated May 25, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-dixon/siting-nukes-in-a-poor-bl_b_559103.html

Related from 2004 pointing out that the county failed to get promised and needed infrastructure due to the cost overruns during construction of Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station. The NIRS found that one evacuation road near the nuclear power station had ben washed out.https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/616/us-nrc-adopts-jim-crow-policy-nuclear-licensing

Report about tritium at incomplete Grand Gulf Nuclear Reactor next to the operating reactor. It was flushed to the Mississippi River, where people still fish and many communities, including New Orleans, get their drinking water. No one has clarified where this tritium came from and why they believe there won’t be more! The 106,400 picocuries flushed is 3,936.8 becquerels per liter. This is over 5 times the amount of tritium allowed in drinking water in the US and over 50 times the California Public Health goal. How the tritium was in the incomplete building apparently remains a mystery.http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1215/ML12157A182.pdf (Note that in another context we finally found that there is apparently a long-standing pipe problem, which probably led to the tritium discharge and which we need to post about.)

More information on Grand Gulf, which hasn’t made it into the mainstream news either
http://www.stuarthsmith.com/nuclear-plant-workers-dump-large-amount-of-radioactive-tritium-directly-into-mississippi-river/
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/us-nrc-impact-of-environmental-conditions-on-nuclear-waste-dry-storage-comment-deadline-may-4-2015/
https://robertsingleton.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/event-reports-fire-at-mississippi-nuke-a-supervisor-on-drugs-at-florida-facility-and-a-mistaken-alert-and-an-arkansas-tv-station-issues-an-inaccurate-emergency-alert/
https://robertsingleton.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/event-reports-fires-in-south-carolina-and-florida-a-lightning-strike-in-mississippi-and-a-reactor-shutdown-in-illinois/
https://robertsingleton.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/event-report-grand-gulf-worker-fired-for-drug-use/
https://robertsingleton.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/drunk-supervisor-at-mississippi-nuke/
A tritium report from Grand Gulf:http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1407/ML14071A249.pdf

Obama was happy to have B.B. King at the White House, but does nothing to protect Mississippians or other Americans from imminent danger – probably because of the funding which he’s gotten from nuclear utility Exelon. Obama’s “push for more nuclear energy came after the nation’s biggest nuclear power company strongly backed his candidacy. Illinois-based Exelon was one of the biggest corporate backers of then-Sen. Obama’s 2008 presidential run. The company’s director, John W. Rogers, served on Obama’s finance committee and bundled $193,598 to the Illinois senator’s campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Rogers also sat on the president’s Inaugural Committee and donated $50,000 to the 2009 Inauguration. ComEd CEO Frank Clark bundled $75,100 in contributions to the Obama presidential campaign. (ComEd is a subsidiary of Exelon.) Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made millions when he joined an investment bank in Chicago and shepherded through the merger deal between PECO Energy and Unicom that created Exelon.”https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/03/23/nuclear-industry-lobbyists-battle-fallout-from-japan-reactor-crisis

He does nothing to stop the poisoning of Tennessee either, probably so Exelon can decommission its nuclear reactors on the cheap by sending the waste to landfills. https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/what-makes-tennessee-so-popular-as-a-nuclear-waste-dump-not-its-great-singers/

Obama had a white mother and an African father from Kenya. He was raised by white grandparents. Thus, he is not African American. African Americans arrived during a 200 year period starting ca 1614 and mostly from west Africa. He does not share the history or culture, except through marriage. But, his wife apparently doesn’t care either.

https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/radioactive-blues-grand-gulf-nuclear-power-station-relicensing-hearing-a-1000-miles-away-in-dc-on-may-4th/

US govt won’t compensate Santa Susanna Field Laboratory workers exposed to radiation

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 admin Boeing, compensation program, Department of Energy, disaster, DOE, meltdown, nuclear, Rocketdyne, Santa Susanna, sodium reactors

Some experts say SSFL was the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history.

BY FRANK MATT
fmatt@mcclatchydc.com
April 18,2016

Highlights:

Department of Energy says only Santa Susana workers in Area IV could be exposed to radiation

But former nuclear workers say the system wasn’t so tidy and that they deserve medical compensation

Tales of sodium reactor waste dump, radioactive mist

WASHINGTON

Lorraine Kurowski never knew many details about her husband Dan’s job at a secretive, sprawling facility on a hilltop far north of Los Angeles. “We need the money and we’ll have a good retirement,” she remembers him saying, “but when I die, turn the lights off and watch me glow.”

That line – “watch me glow” – became a running joke about his job, but today Lorraine wishes she had taken it as a warning.

Dan, known by his coworkers as “Big Dan,” worked from 1964 until 1997 as a radioactive waste packer at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a sprawling facility where some of the nation’s top

scientists contracted by NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission once worked together to advance the fields of space exploration, weaponry and nuclear power at the height of the cold war.

And when he found himself dying years later of pancreatic cancer, Dan sought compensation from a government program meant to help former workers who had been exposed to radiation and toxic substances at nuclear technology sites.

Dan Kurowski was denied, becoming one of hundreds of Santa Susana workers refused compensation for a variety of illnesses potentially associated with radiation and toxic chemical exposure. That’s because those workers – many of them NASA contractors – were unable to prove that they were ever in the small sliver of the site known as Area IV.

The Department of Energy, the Department of Labor and the Boeing company – the site’s current corporate owner – all say Area IV is the only portion of the site where the Department of Energy operated.

Yet for all its denied claims, Santa Susana is one of the reasons the compensation program for former nuclear workers exists in the first place. In 1999, an independent study of illnesses in the communities surrounding the site were one of several presented to the White House and Congress as evidence of the need for a compensation program.

Irradiated

And therefore, the Labor Department insists, it can compensate only a subset of sick former Santa Susana workers.Members of the Santa Susana workforce were among those in a McClatchy report in December who tracked how the federal government has treated its nuclear workers. More than 107,000 nuclear workers nationally have applied for benefits through a Department of Labor compensation program since 2001. The payments go to workers, or their surviving family members, who might have been exposed to radiation or other toxic hazards from their jobs at Department of Energy nuclear facilities.

Nationwide, almost half of claimants who apply to the program receive benefits. At Santa Susana, less than a third of the over 1,400 claims filed have resulted in compensation, according to data reviewed by McClatchy.

Continue reading →

US-Ukraine “partnership” threatens new Chernobyl-style disaster

April 30, 2016April 30, 2016 admin agreements, Chernobyl, Holtec, nuclear fuel, nuclear waste, San Onofre, Ukraine, Westinghouse

The company Holtec mentioned here is the company making the San Onofre nuclear waste storage system that the California Coastal Commission approved in 2015 to be installed at the ocean adjacent to millions of people in Southern California. The canisters are not inspectable and may be prone to cracking.

But what could go wrong?

From Fort Russ

April 27, 2015 –
Leonid Savin, Katehon –

April 26, 2016 will mark the 30th anniversary of the catastrophic explosion of the 4th reactor at the Chernobyl power plant, the effects of which are felt to this very day. This comes at a time when alarming news has arrived which evokes concern over the future of Ukraine’s nuclear industry.

The problems started along with the “Maidan” coup backed by the US and EU, because Washington immediately started to lobby for a large deal in its own interests, including nuclear industry projects.

The Ukrainian state enterprise Energoatom and the Westinghouse Company (US), agreed in 2014 to extend the contract to supply Ukrainian nuclear power plants with US nuclear fuel, until 2020.

But the use of US produced fuel for Soviet reactors is not compatible with their design, and violates security requirements, and could lead to disasters comparable with what happened in Chernobyl. The International Union of Veterans of Nuclear Energy and Industry (IUVNEI) issued the following statement on April 25th, that “Nuclear fuel produced by the US firm Westinghouse does not meet the technical requirements of Soviet-era reactors, and using it could cause an accident on the scale of the Chernobyl disaster, which took place on the 26th April 1986.” The IUVNEI brings together more than 15,000 nuclear industry veterans from Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. It was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Moscow.

Four years ago, there was a near-miss in the Ukraine, when a TVS-W unit with damaged distancing armatures, nearly experienced a significant uncontrolled release of dangerous radiation. Only by a miracle was there no disaster at the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant. But it did not prevent the signing of the agreement. A Czech nuclear power plant experienced a depressurization of fuel elements produced by Westinghouse several years ago, followed by the Czech government’s abandoning the company as a fuel supplier. According to Yuri Nedashkovsky, the president of the country’s state-owned nuclear utility Energoatom, on April 23th, 2014 Ukraine’s interim government ordered an allocation of 45.2 hectares of land for the construction of a nuclear waste storage site within the depopulated exclusion area around the plant of Chernobyl, between the villages of Staraya Krasnitsa, Buryakovka, Chistogalovka and Stechanka in the Kiev Region (the Central Spent Fuel Storage Project for Ukraine’s VVER reactors). The fuel is to come from Khmelnitsky, Rovno and South Ukraine nuclear power plants.

At present, used fuel is mostly transported to a new dry-storage facility at the Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical Factory in the Krasnoyarsk region, and storage and reprocessing plant Mayak in the Chelyabinsk region; the both facilities are situated in the Russian Federation.

In 2003, Ukraine started to look for alternatives to the Russian storage units. In December 2005, Energoatom signed a 127.8 million euro agreement with the US-based Holtec International to implement the Central Spent Fuel Storage Project for Ukraine’s VVER reactors. Holtec’s work involved design, licensing, construction, commissioning of the facility, and the supply of transport and vertical ventilated dry storage systems for used VVER nuclear fuel. By the end of 2011 Holtec International had to close its office in Kiev as it had come under harsh criticism worldwide. It is widely believed that the company has lost licenses in some countries because of the poor quality of its containers resulting in radiation leaks. Westinghouse and Holtec are members of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC). Morgan Williams, President/CEO of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, has worked in Ukraine since the 1990’s.

“Today is one of the most important days since Ukraine’s independence as the efforts of these two internationally known companies will go a long way to assuring that Ukraine has greater energy independence,” he said at the ceremony devoted to Westinghouse Electric Company and Holtec International signing contracts with Ukraine. The President of USUBC added, “This is made more important by the fact that for Ukraine, energy and political independence are closely interdependent. I join all of the USUBC members in toasting the success of these two great member companies, as we all work to assist Ukraine on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration and a strong democratic, private market driven nationhood.”

Morgan Williams is known as a lobbyist representing the interests of Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil in Ukraine. He has direct links with Freedom House which is involved in staging “color revolutions” in Eurasia, North Africa and Latin America.

One more interesting fact to be mentioned here. In Spring 2014 it was reported that according to covert agreements reached between Ukraine’s interim government and its European partners, the nuclear waste coming from EU member states would be stored in Ukraine. Being in violation of the law, the deal is kept secret. Some high standing officials in Kiev were remunerated. It is said that Alexander Musychko (Sashko Biliy), a prominent nationalist from Rovno, tried to blackmail the Kiev rulers threatening to make the conspiracy public. That’s why he was killed, on the orders of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov.

US is the main manager of the self-isolation of the Ukrainian regime from Russia, which has greatly impacted cooperation between two countries, as well as in the area of nuclear security. The administration of the Chernobyl nuclear plant has stated clearly that the process is going in wrong way.

http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/us-ukraine-partnership-threatens-new.html

— Our planet is at grave risk of hemisphere wide blackout and 50 nuclear plants melting down

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016 admin Carrington event, CME, EMP, magnetic field

It isn’t just that an EMP will shut down the grid that puts nuclear plants at risk., because power outages expose the lack of maintenance of backup generators.

But EMPs also fry electronics. Even if backup generators could function, the electronics to tell them, “go, turn on, operate” could be completely fried by an EMP.

That, in addition to all the other reasons, is why nuclear plants must be shut down now, immediately, and funding poured into groups like Planetary Association for Clean Energy http://pacenet.homestead.com/ in collaborations of international scientists in cleanup and de-toxification of nuclear waste., as well as the development of real clean energy sources.

An excellent video with this post explains the situation with CMEs and the weakening magnetic field of the Earth.

How much of the weakened magnetic field is because of what humans have done and how much humans have not just forgotten but also, have abandoned? The connection to Earth, the active spiritual connection and relationship with Earth as living entity — this has been eliminated in favor of “science” — dissection, mathematics, chemical properties, smashing atoms. Until and unless that changes, until humans re-embrace the Earth, I suspect that the magnetic field, the heart beat of the Earth, will continue to weaken until even a weak CME causes irreparable harm.

It’s our choice, on so many levels, if we let that happen.

————————————————

From Nuke Professional
April 26, 2016

Let me start with this. I am an expert in theory and practice of protecting electrical and electronics from EMF destruction. I have designed and built protective systems for the most crucial of US government command/control/communication systems. Systems so critical that in tying in the new systems, it required months of planning for a temporary shutdown, and literally an approval from the US Congress.
————————————————————————
Our Planet Is At Grave Risk of Hemisphere Wide Blackout and 50 Nuclear Plants Melting Down

This does pose an interesting theory. The sun may be “judge” in which hemisphere becomes the ruler/survivor after a Carrington type Event. One hemisphere, plus a bit more since the earth is spinning, and the CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) takes place over time, will be blacked out, and society will implode upon itself leaving few living, as 98% of the sheeple realize that they can’t eat the rumors of how the Kardashians keep their skin so glowing.

Speaking of glowing, do you know what happens when power grids go down? Nuclear plants ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE the presence of an outside power grid in order to keep operating. When the grid fails, they go into an emergency shutdown mode. Now imagine what would happen if its not just the grid down, but all the electronics are fried also, all the computers are broke? Do you think the emergency shutdown systems of the nuclear plants will actually function correctly?

Would you think that the nuke plant workers and supervisors, who usually live quite close to the plant, will stay on duty, trying to control the risk, or will they leave to gather their family and try to escape the area. Most will just leave. The 2nd and 3rd shift will not report for duty, and in fact there will be no way to contact them.

There are 440 operating nuclear plants in the world, so perhaps 250 of them will be affected by the upcoming Carrington Event. I say upcoming, because it is just a matter of time. Watch the video below, there are 2 big things at play:
1) The earths magnetic field is a shield that protects us from Sun CME, and it is weakening
2) The sun is in a multi century type of “funk” of low sunspots, which actually put us at far greater risk of a large CME.

So WHEN the next Carrington event occurs, one half of the earth, will be wiped out, and the other half will be “victors”. Except for this most inconvenient truth…..the nuclear plants melting down will release so much radiation and heavy metals and ionized particles, that the earth and almost all life forms will be toast. Even if only 20% of the 250 nuke plant affected do actually melt down, that will be an extinction level event.

We know a Carrington type event will occur eventually, and we know that if 50 nuke plants melt down uncontrollably that all life will be extinguished. So mankind with its 3 pound insane monkey brain decides to extend the life of clunker nuclear plants, and engage on a nuclear renaissance.

Mankind could harden the electrical grids, for billions of dollars. This won’t for the most part protect our “precious” electronics, but an operable grid will certainly aid recovery, under a different ruling country of course.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-planet-is-at-grave-risk-of.html

Salon reports from Monterey, California — sea lion and bird deaths; more animal deaths than last year

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016 admin dead, Monterey, sea birds, sea lions

From Salon
April 21, 2016

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/21/dead_animals_litter_california_beaches/

— Third year of unusual mortality event for sea lions declared in California “Dead animals litter California beaches… Alarming phenomenon” — “Graveyard of washed-up sea life” — “Influx of malnourished sea creatures” — Experts: We’re really starting to worry… The animals are starving to death… Covered in sores… Stunted growth… Weak immune systems (VIDEOS)

April 26, 2016 admin California, dead, immune system, Laguna Beach, Malibu, Monterey, sea lions, sick, sores, starvation, stunted

From ENE News

April 25, 2016

NBC L.A., Apr 19, 2016 (emphasis added): Officials are investigating why sick sea lions are washing up onshore… The Laguna Beach Pacific Marine Mammal Center has an overflow of sea lions… The reason for the influx of sea lions remains a disappearing cold water food source… Another unusual phenomenon they are seeing: Elephant and harbor seals are coming into the centers in addition to California sea lions, and that is not typical.

NBC L.A. transcript, Apr 19, 2016: “Now, an alarming number of sea lions are washing upalong our local beaches… it is taking longer to rehabilitate these sick sea lions… Experts say [they are] taking longer to become healthier.”

Laguna Beach Independent, Apr 23, 2016: Most are malnourished and many are infected with parasites, [said Keith Matassa, Pacific Marine Mammal Center]… “The rehabbing process is slower this year becausethe sea lions are coming in older and sicker.”

Salon, Apr 21, 2016: Dead animals litter California beaches — California is in its third straight year of “unusual mortality” rates for sea lions. The dismal state was first declared in January of 2013 and death rates have increased each year since… It looks like 2016 will be worse… They are starving to death. The same goes for birds… California beaches are littered with dead sea lions and birds. Watch our video for more on this alarming phenomenon. [Video transcript: (Stephen Scheiblauer, Monterey Harbormaster:) “We’re seeing a greater mortality of sea lions… also some kinds of birds… We bury [sea lions]… dig a big trench and bury it.”]

Pepperdine University’s student newspaper (‘The Graphic‘), Mar 28, 2016: A walk on Point Dume’s beach [Malibu, California] recently resembles a graveyard of washed-up sea life. On the stretch of the Pacific Coast… dead sea lions, tuna crabs and crows littered on the sand, a defunctive and rotten smell permeating the sea air… [S]tranded sea lions have become a regular sight for those who frequent Point Dume, as beach-goers stretch their towels yards away from the rotting corpses. “This has been a coast-wide problem for the past four years,” Seasonal Assistant Marine Coordinator Colleen Weiler said.

KRON, Apr 11, 2016: Marine Mammal Center dealing with influx of malnourished sea creatures… Hundreds of elephant seals, harbor seals, and sea lions are [at the center]… Rescue crews are bringing them in daily because they simply don’t have enough to eat… Dr. Shawn Johnson is the lead veterinarian at the center and said the animals are starving…

The Channels Newspaper, Apr 22, 2016: Rescued seals are brought [in] with seabornediseases… causing bumps and blisters on the face, neck and flippers…

Marin Independent Journal, Apr 10, 2016: Marine Mammal Center coping with relentness influx of ailing sea lions… “They are skin and bones, they are malnourished, they have secondary infections like pneumonia because their immune systems are suppressed,” said [Dr. Shawn Johnson]… the sea lions appear to be experiencing stunted growth… “These are the smallest pups we have seen in 41 years of study,” [NOAA’s Sharon Melin] said.

The Marine Mammal Center, Mar 29, 2016: This is the fourth year in a row that we’ve seen California sea lions in crisis… [This year] these animals are also unusually small… essentiallyfur-covered skeletons—they seem to be experiencing stunted growth… pup weights are thelowest ever documented… [T]he spike in sea lion strandings began before the current El Niño pattern took hold and even before the warm water “blob” began to form… “After four years of sea lions in crisis, the initial shock of seeing so many starving sea lions is over andnow we’re really starting to worry about long-term impacts on the population as a whole,” says Dr. Shawn Johnson, Director of Veterinary Science at the Center.

Watch videos here: NBC LA | Salon | KRON

http://enenews.com/alarming-phenomenon-dead-animals-litter-california-beaches-graveyard-washed-sea-life-influx-malnourished-sea-creatures-experts-really-starting-worry-theyre-skin-bones-immune-systems-weak-cove/comment-page-1#comment-766209

As Pacific sardine collapse worsens, scientists worry about ecosystem ripple

April 26, 2016May 13, 2016 admin brown pelicans, collapse, food, murres, Oregon, plankton, reproductive, salmon, sardine, sea birds, sea lions

Researchers can’t tell exactly what’s driving the die-off…”Those ocean life patterns are just not working the way they have in the past,” said Michael Milstein, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

From the Oregonian

By Kelly House | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
March 10, 2016

Charts on website

Nearly a year into a West Coast sardine fishing ban enacted to protect the collapsing population, the fish formerly worth more than $8 million to Oregon’s economy have shown no signs of a comeback.

New federal research indicates numbers of the small, silvery, schooling fish have plummeted further than before the fishing moratorium, dashing any hope of lifting it in 2016.

With the current sardine population hovering at 7 percent of its 2007 peak, fishermen now say they expect to wait a decade or more to revive the fishery.

“I don’t want to take a pessimistic view, but I would think we’ll be shut down until 2030,” said Ryan Kapp, a Bellingham fisherman who advises the Pacific Fishery Management Council on sardines and other fish.

Sardines aren’t struggling in isolation. Other fish near the bottom of the marine food web, such as anchovies and herring, are also down. The shortage of sustenance is rippling upward to create crises for predator species from seals to seabirds.

Researchers can’t tell exactly what’s driving the die-off, nor how long it will last. Some say the crash can be attributed to cyclical boom-and-bust population dynamics sardines have always exhibited.

Others argue overfishing played a role, driving sardine populations down too far and too fast to blame it on a natural population flux.

Then there’s the unavoidable presence of the “warm blob,” a lingering mass of overheated water that for more than two years has wreaked havoc on sea life off the Pacific coast.

“Those ocean life patterns are just not working the way they have in the past,” said Michael Milstein, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency that tracks sardine numbers. “There’s a feeling that a lot of this is environmentally-driven.”

RIPPLES IN THE FOOD CHAIN

The Pacific fishery council’s rules call for a fishery shutdown if the total weight of adult sardines falls below 150,000 metric tons. When the population fell below that threshold last spring, council members scrambled to enact a midseason shutdown.

Federal scientists last month estimated sardine biomass has dropped below 65,000 tons this year.

Even with fishing pressures lifted, sardines could struggle to bounce back in an ocean devoid of their main food source. The lipid-rich coldwater plankton that sardines like to eat have become scarcer in West Coast waters, replaced by tropical species with less appeal to the region’s predators. Scientists suspect the warm blob is causing the plankton shift.

Without that food source, “the whole system can suffer,” said Kerry Griffin, who manages sardines for the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The end result is ominous for more than just fishermen. Oily sardines are a key food source for larger ocean-going animals. As that option becomes scarce, predators switch to less-nutritious food options and can end up starving.

Scientists believe that chain reaction is already playing out in a big way. A group of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers last week released a study linking the sardine collapse to the surge in starving sea lion pups washing ashore along the California coast. The scientists who authored the study say they expect the mass starvation that stranded 3,000 pups last year to continue as long as forage fish numbers remain low.

Similar phenomena have been observed among other species that target small schooling fish for food. Brown pelicans are failing to breed, dead Guadalupe fur seals are washing ashore in California, undersize salmon are returning to Canadian spawning grounds and seabirds are washing ashore weakened or dead on the Oregon coast.

OVERFISHING?

Environmentalists for years warned that a sardine collapse was imminent. Now they have begun lobbying to get more conservative harvest policies in place before the fishery reopens.

Research shows that overfishing intensifies the cyclical downturns of sardines and other small fish, and ocean conservation groups argue current West Coast standards are too permissive to prevent overfishing.

Ben Enticknap, a Portland-based campaign manager for the international conservation group Oceana, said the group is pushing the council to adopt new standards that would trigger a fishing ban once the sardine stock drops below 640,000 metric tons. That trigger point is more than four times higher than the current level.

The group is also lobbying for a rule to prohibit fishermen from hauling in more than 15 percent of the adult population in a given season. In the final years of harvest before last year’s shutdown, fishermen caught as much as 28 percent of the adult sardines in the water.

“Fundamental flaws in management have to be fixed, or this crash will be repeated in the future,” Enticknap said.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Although the overall results of this year’s sardine count were discouraging, scientists say there’s a glimmer of hope.

Several years of poor reproduction helped drive down the sardine population. In their latest trawl, scientists saw evidence that 2015 was a good spawning year.

It’s too soon to tell whether the reproductive success signals a turning point.

“There are some potentially positive signs there,” Milstein said, but in order to boost population counts, “the young need to survive long enough to make it into the mature population.”

–Kelly House

khouse@oregonian.com
503-221-8178
@Kelly_M_House

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2016/03/as_pacific_sardine_collapse_wo.html

Posted under Fair Use Rules.

Dead whales washing up in Southern California

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016 admin Orange County, San Onofre, whales

Two dead whales and “it was Mother Nature taking its course.” Really? Just like all the dead marine mammals washing up along the coast?

And there will be a lot more than dead whales when those nuclear waste containers crack open that are being buried on the beach at San Onofre.

From Orange County Register

Dead whale washed up at popular surf spot

by Laylan Connelly

April 24, 2016

A dead whale washed up Sunday on the cobblestone beach at Lower Trestles, a popular surf spot just south of San Clemente.

Todd Mansur, a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, said he has seen two dead whales off Orange County’s shoreline in recent days.

He said he saw the one that washed up at Trestles as it neared the water line, and the other one is expected to wash up at San Clemente State Beach in the next few days.

Both whales were estimated to be larger than 40 feet.

Mansur said that from what he saw, it was Mother Nature taking its course.

“It looked like nature. There were no marks from ships, no propeller marks, no abrasions, no entanglements,” he said.

Mansur was heading a whale watching charter and asked passengers how they felt about stopping to see the carcass.

“They were actually interested, kind of scientifically, about it. I really wanted to check it out to see if there was a reason of death,” he said.

He inspected it for about 15 minutes.

“It didn’t even look like it was a day dead,” he said.

Mansur said he has seen great white sharks eating whale carcasses.

And with the number of great whites sticking around Orange County’s coastline because of the warm El Niño waters, it might be a good idea for surfers to stay clear of the area for a while, he said.

The presence of other predators rises when dead animals are near, he said.

“You should always be worried when an animal of that magnitude is on the coastline,” Mansur said. “That element of the unknown can be there.”

Surfers were taking to social media to warn others about the whale. State lifeguards were not available to comment, so it was unclear what would be done with the whale carcass.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/whale-713433-dead-carcass.html

— Upcoming Dept. of Energy hearings on national nuclear waste dumps will be held in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota

April 24, 2016 admin consent-based, DOE, dumping, John Kotek, nuclear energy, nuclear waste, public hearings

DOE wants to dump their nuclear waste in your state. They are looking for “stakeholders” who will “consent.”

These are the remaining meetings, starting with Tuesday, April 26, in Sacramento, California.

Sacramento, California on April 26, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza – Sacramento

Denver, Colorado on May 24, 2016 at the Embassy Suites Denver – Stapleton.
Boston, Massachusetts on June 2, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Boston.
Tempe, AZ n June 23, 2016 at the Marriott Phoenix Tempe at the Buttes.
Boise, ID on July 14, 2016 at Boise Centre.
Minneapolis, MN on July 21, 2016 at the Hilton Minneapolis.

DOE is controlling the commenting, only allowing a 45-minute Q&A following the panel, and a 30 minute public comment period after a break. Even the California Public Utilities Commission allows a longer comment period during its local public hearings for matters of relatively minor import. This is a matter of great public and national importance. DOE plans to break up the audience and spend 1 hour, 45 minutes in small groups. This is a divide and conquer approach, where opposition can be fragmented. Demand that all industry leaders make comments in open meeting, and that all comments and questions from the audience be made in the open meeting to be heard by everyone. No small groups.

The meetings are listed here, together with links to register and to view the meetings online. They are requesting registration, but it is unknown whether this is a requirement.

Please copy and paste these links into your browser rather than going directly from the links.

http://www.energy.gov/ne/consent-based-siting

California April 26 meeting information: http://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/04/f30/Pages%20from%20CBS%20Public%20Meeting-Sacramento-%20Updated%20Agenda.pdf — agenda

http://www.energy.gov/ne/downloads/meeting-materials-consent-based-siting-public-meeting-sacramento-april-26-2016

MEETING MATERIALS: CONSENT-BASED SITING PUBLIC MEETING IN SACRAMENTO (APRIL 26, 2016)

The Department will host a public meeting on consent-based siting on April 26th in Sacramento at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza. The purpose of the consent-based siting public meeting is to hear from the public and interested stakeholders on what matters to you as the Department of Energy moves forward in developing a consent-based process for siting the facilities needed to manage spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The agenda includes a presentation from the Department of Energy’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, John Kotek. Mr. Kotek will discuss the nuclear energy activities that have brought us to this point, as well as describe the Department’s vision for an integrated waste management system and the need for a consent-based approach to siting. This presentation will be followed by a panel session with several experts providing diverse perspectives on the primary issues that need to be resolved in the design and implementation of a consent-based process. Participants will then have the opportunity to comment or ask questions to the Department and the panelists.

Following this session, there will be facilitated small group discussions on a variety of topics related to consent-based siting and integrated waste management. These small group discussions will provide the opportunity for participants to engage more closely on topics of interest to them. The Department intends for these small group discussions to be frank and open sessions on key topics that will inform the design of a consent-based process. The consent-based process will in turn serve as a framework for working with potential host communities in the future.

The agenda also includes a public comment period and two open houses with poster sessions before and after the formal meeting. The open house sessions provide participants with an opportunity to engage in less formal discussions with the Department and other meeting attendees.

The consent-based siting public meeting will also be webcast. We look forward to your participation!