• ALERT: NRC may rule radiation exposure is healthful; new deadline Nov. 19

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission may decide that exposure to ionizing radiation is beneficial – the radiation from nuclear bombs, nuclear power plants, depleted uranium, x-rays, and Fukushima. It has opened a proceeding to consider adopting this “radiation is good for you” model.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received three petitions for rulemaking (PRM) requesting that the NRC amend its “Standards for Protection Against Radiation” regulations and change the basis of those regulations from the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model of radiation protection to the radiation hormesis model. The radiation hormesis model provides that exposure of the human body to low levels of ionizing radiation is beneficial and protects the human body against deleterious effects of high levels of radiation. Whereas, the LNT model provides that radiation is always considered harmful, there is no safety threshold, and biological damage caused by ionizing radiation (essentially the cancer risk) is directly proportional to the amount of radiation exposure to the human body (response linearity).

Is this a joke? No.This would be the most significant and alarming change to U.S. federal policy on nuclear radiation.

Here is the Federal Register notice —
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/06/23/2015-15441/linear-no-threshold-model-and-standards-for-protection-against-radiation

Comments are due by September 8, 2015  have been extended to November 19, 2015.

If adopted, this would permit all current radioactive releases, leaks, and ongoing emissions from nuclear power plants, and decrease evacuation zones, as well as allow Fukushima, Chernobyl, WIPP (New Mexico nuclear waste disposal site), Hanford, Oak Ridge, Nevada and Alaska test sites, Santa Susanna, Farallons nuclear waste dump, depleted uranium, nuclear weapons, and other international emissions, as long as the government deems them to be “low level”, to impact Americans under the fantasy of a hormesis effect.

No protective measures or public safety warnings would be considered necessary. Clean-up measures could be sharply reduced. Protection for medical and screening personnel working around radiation-emitting equipment could be reduced.

In a sense, this would legalize what the government is already doing – failing to protect the public and promoting nuclear radiation.

From commenters on ENE News:

If a pro-hormesis model is allowed to take hold, it will change things forever…

It could give the nuclear industry an excuse to release more radiation from nuclear power plants; an excuse for gov’t agencies to allow even more radiation in food and water; allow doctors to give you more radiation…

It allows you to be exposed to low-level radiation because “it’s good for you.”

As we all know, zero radiation is good for you.

And who will define what low-level radiation is? The same agencies that keep raising the amounts of allowable radiation?

This is a nightmare for human DNA and human health, imo.

Don’t be shy about commenting, everyone. Just do it.…

Tell the NRC. THIS MATTERS.

The NRC standard needs revised to be more protective. Just like non-ionizing wireless radiation exposure, impact is not necessarily linear. Chronic low dose can be much worse than a one-time high dose.

Public opposition is urgently needed now as well as exposing radiation hazards, including the devastating impact to DNA. Another example:
http://sgtreport.com/2015/06/breast-cancer-rates-skyrocket-near-nuclear-power-plants/

Here is the Federal Register notice —
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/06/23/2015-15441/linear-no-threshold-model-and-standards-for-protection-against-radiation

Comments are due by September 8, 2015 have been extended  until November 19, 2015 .

There is a 5000 character limit in the open comment box. You can put a summary comment in the open comment box, and attach a comment letter.

This proceeding was opened at the request of just three individuals, in stark contrast to the thousands of requests for hearings and action by healthcare professionals, scientists, and regular Americans to the FCC, EPA, FDA, NRC, and Congress which have not resulted in proceedings being opened on public health issues.

 

• Par heure, on a toujours 960 000 Bq de Cs 134/137 et 2,336 millions Bq de gaz rares émis dans l’atmosphère

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Fukushima Diary

Le 25 mai 2015, Tepco a rapporté que pour avril dernier ils estiment que 960 000 Bq/heure de césium 134 et 137 s’échappent toujours des réacteurs 1 à 4 dans l’atmosphère.
C’est 2,7 fois plus que leur estimation préliminaire publiée fin avril.

Tepco affirme que la différence s’explique par leur changement de méthode de calcul. Ça laisse fortement penser que la totalité du volume de Cs 134-137 dispersé depuis le début est sous-estimée depuis le 11-3. Ils n’ont pas publié le re-calcul de ce volume pour avant avril 2014.
Comparé à mai 2014, le volume de Cs 134/137 dispersé a augmenté de 180 % en avril dernier. Tepco affirme cependant que ça reste 10 % en dessous du niveau de “contrôle de dispersion” et ils ne donne aucune explication à cette augmentation.
Pour le réacteur 3 en particulier, le volume dispersé est 78 fois celui de mai 2014. En outre, 95 000 Bq / heure de Cs 134/137 se répand depuis le bâtiment du réacteur 4 bien qu’il ne contienne aucun combustible nucléaire.

Concernant les gaz rares (comme le Kr 85), le système de contrôle des gaz de la PCV (Primary Containment Vessel = enceinte de confinement primaire) a relevé 2 336 000 000 Bq de gaz dispersés à l’heure depuis avril à partir des réacteurs 1 à 3. Tepco affirment que les gaz rares s’échappent en nuages radioactifs qui ne provoquent que des expositions externes, donc que la dose d’exposition due à ces gaz rares libérés devrait être vraiment faible.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/additional_amount_150525-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/life/custom/faq/images/d150430_08-j.pdf

http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/06/still-960000bq-of-cs-134137-and-2336000000bq-of-noble-gas-discharged-from-reactors-to-the-air-every-single-hour/

• 960,000 Bq Cs-134/137 and 2,336,000,000 Bq noble gas discharged from reactors to the air every single hour

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From Fukushima Diary

Still 960,000Bq Cs-134/137 and 2,336,000,000Bq noble gas discharged from reactors to the air every single hour

, June 6, 2015

On 5/25/2015, Tepco reported still 960,000 Bq / hour of Cesium-134 and 137 is assumed to be discharged from Reactor 1 -4 to the air this April.

This is 2.7 times much as their provisional figure published in the end of April.

Tepco states the difference is caused by the change of calculation method. It strongly suggests the entire historical discharged volume of Cs-134/137 has been underestimated since 311 however they did not disclose the recalculated discharged volume before April of 2014.

Comparing to May of 2014, the discharged volume of Cs-134/137 increased to 180% this April. Tepco however states this is lower than 10% of the set point of “discharge control”, and they haven’t made any explanation on this increase.

Especially in Reactor 3, the discharged volume increased 78 times much as May. 2014. Also, 95,000 Bq / hour of Cs-134/137 is discharged from Reactor 4 building though it does not contain nuclear fuel.

Regarding noble gas (such as Kr-85), PCV (Primary Containment Vessel)  gas control system detected 2,336,000,000 Bq of gas discharged from Reactor 1-3 every hour this April. Tepco states noble gas passes by as radioactive cloud to cause only external exposure so the exposure dose caused by the discharged noble gas should be significantly small.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/additional_amount_150525-j.pdf

http://www.tepco.co.jp/life/custom/faq/images/d150430_08-j.pdf

http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/06/still-960000bq-of-cs-134137-and-2336000000bq-of-noble-gas-discharged-from-reactors-to-the-air-every-single-hour/

• Diablo Canyon Power Plant renewal — Reopening of scoping process, public comments and hearings — comment deadline August 31

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Excerpts from the Federal Register, July 1, 2015

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/07/01/2015-15921/diablo-canyon-power-plant-units-1-and-2

Summary

On January 27, 2010, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified the public of its opportunity to participate in the scoping process associated with the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) related to the review of the license renewal application submitted by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for the renewal of Facility Operating Licenses DPR-80 and DPR-82 for an additional 20 years of operation at Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP), Units 1 and 2. The current operating licenses for DCPP, Units 1 and 2 expire on November 2, 2024, and August 26, 2025, respectively. The scoping period closed on April 12, 2010. The NRC has decided to reopen the scoping process and allow members of the public an additional opportunity to participate.

DATES:

The comment period for the environmental scoping process published on January 27, 2010 (75 FR 4427) has been reopened. Comments should be filed no later than August 31, 2015.

II. Discussion

…

On December 22, 2014 (ADAMS Package No. ML14364A259), and February 25, 2015 (ADAMS Package No. ML15057A102), PG&E amended its ER to provide additional information identified by NRC staff as necessary to complete the review of the DCPP license renewal application. By letter dated April 28, 2015 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15104A509), the NRC staff issued a schedule for the remainder of the DCPP license renewal review. The purpose of this notice is to (1) inform the public that the NRC has decided to reopen the scoping process, as defined in 10 CFR 51.29, “Scoping-environmental impact statement and supplement to environmental impact statement,” and (2) allow members of the public an additional opportunity to participate. The comments already received by the NRC will be considered; reopening of the scoping process provides additional opportunity for the public to comment on issues that may have emerged since completion of the last scoping period.

…

The NRC will first conduct a scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft supplement to the GEIS for public comment. Participation in the scoping process by members of the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal government agencies is encouraged. The scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS will be used to accomplish the following:

a. Define the proposed action, which is to be the subject of the supplement to the GEIS;

b. Determine the scope of the supplement to the GEIS and identify the significant issues to be analyzed in depth;

c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are peripheral or that are not significant;

d. Identify any environmental assessments and other ElSs that are being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the scope of the supplement to the GEIS being considered;

e. Identify other environmental review and consultation requirements related to the proposed action;

f. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation of the environmental analyses and the Commission’s tentative planning and decision-making schedule;

g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the supplement to the GEIS to the NRC and any cooperating agencies; andShow citation box

h. Describe how the supplement to the GEIS will be prepared and include any contractor assistance to be used.

III. Public Scoping Meeting

…

The NRC has decided to hold public meetings for the DCPP license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping meetings will be held on August 5, 2015, and there will be two sessions to accommodate interested persons. The first session will convene at 1:30 p.m. and will continue until 4:30 p.m., as necessary. The second session will convene at 7:00 p.m. with a repeat of the overview portions of the meeting and will continue until 10:00 p.m., as necessary. Both sessions will be held at the Courtyard by Marriott San Luis Obispo, 1605 Calle Joaquin Road, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. Both meetings will be transcribed and will include: (1) An overview by the NRC staff of the NEPA environmental review process, the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS, and the proposed review schedule; and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and individuals to submit comments or suggestions on the environmental issues or the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS. Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to the start of each session at the same location. Written comments on the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS will be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meetings or in writing, as discussed above.

Persons may register to attend or present oral comments at the meetings on the scope of the NEPA review by contacting the NRC Project Manager, Michael Wentzel, by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 6459, or by email at Michael.Wentzel@nrc.gov, no later than July 31, 2015. Members of the public may also register to speak at the meeting within 15 minutes of the start of each session. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. Members of the public who have not registered may also have an opportunity to speak if time permits. Public comments will be considered in the scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS. Michael Wentzel will need to be contacted no later than July 22, 2015, if special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting so that the NRC staff can determine whether the request can be accommodated.

More information and links to documents at
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/07/01/2015-15921/diablo-canyon-power-plant-units-1-and-2

• Knocking on the Devil’s Door: Our Deadly Nuclear Legacy (VIDEO)

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Directed by Gary Null

Excerpt:

Greg Palast (57:40 in video)

Hillary Clinton’s “big client was Entergy which now owns the Indian Point nuclear plant in New York, where Senator Clinton was very reluctant to call for the closure of this obvious danger right near New York City.”

“They [Entergy] basically own the Clinton family, and I saw this when I was working an investigation in Britain where Entergy, this little company from Little Rock, Arkansas, bought the entire London electric system because of the connection between Entergy and the Clintons and their influence with the Blair government in Britain. And then Entergy turned around and flipped the London electric company for a billion dollar profit in just a few months.

What does Entergy do for the President and for the first lady at the time? Remember that there was an investigation of her billing records? I never heard anyone say who she was supposedly billing where the billing records were faked. The company was Entergy! Entergy knows if they were deliberately overcharged. And maybe they wanted to be overcharged because it’s a way to pay the Governor [Bill Clinton] by hiring his wife for doing nothing.”

“They knew it, and they could do what they want, and today Entergy is at the forefront of the nuclear industry in the U.S., and at the forefront of buying up plants cheap and then getting extensions on the life of these plants, plants that are almost ready to be shut down, and should be; they use their political power to get an extension on the plant and then they get free money, billions of dollars for extra decades. It’s quite a game.”

 

• Deformed, mutated plants in Japan gain internet fame; US gov’t expert: Plant abnormalities can be induced after only 24 hours of exposure to radioactive fallout (photos)

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From ENE News

Yahoo News, Jul 13, 2015: Deformed daisies from Fukushima disaster site gain Internet fame… one Japanese amateur photographer has captured something a bit more unique than a beautiful bloom. Twitter user @san_kaido posted a photo of mutated yellow daisies last month, found in Nasushiobara City, around 70 miles from Fukushima… The photos show daisies with fused yellow centres and with the petals growing out the side of the flower…

Tweet from @san_kaido, translated by Fukushima Diary: “The right one grew up, split into 2 stems to have 2 flowers connected each other, having 4 stems of flower tied beltlike. The left one has 4 stems grew up to be tied to each other and it had the ring-shaped flower. The atmospheric dose is 0.5 μSv/h at 1 m”…

Taka Katsumi, former aide to Member of Japan’s Parliament, Jun 21, 2015:  Deformed Margaret flowers found 130 km from Fukushima Daiichi plant at Nasu Shiobara on May 26, 2015.

Video from Nasushiobara City: Sep 2012, I measured radiation in front of SEKIYA elementary school of Nasushiobara… The monitor indicates… 6.94 on mud in the road side garter, 8.10 micro Sievert per hour on dusts of the school road.

More on Plant Fasciations (emphasis added)

> Univ. of Chicago w/ grant from Rockefeller Foundation (pdf), 1933: All vegetative parts are subject to injury by x-rays. Root tips may become bulbous and swollen, with tumor-like enlargements in which giant cells may occur. Stems become fasciated… flowers of plants rayed in seed or seedling stages may show fasciation…

> Japan’s National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, 2009: The proportion of plants showing stem fasciation increased with gamma-irradiation… Each single mutant also showed stem fasciation at a low frequency without gamma-irradiation, while gamma-irradiation induced stem fasciation. Importantly, in wild-type plants, the frequency of stem fasciation was very low (<0.1%) [but] were induced by gamma-irradiation.

> Affidavit of James Gunckel, Brookhaven National Lab (pdf), 1984: I have carefully examined… plants, collected shortly after the [1979] accident at TMI and compared them with specimens collected more recently. The current abnormalities [5 years post-accident] are probably carried forward by induced chromosomal aberrations. There were a number of anomalies entirely comparable to those induced by ionizing radiation — stem fasciations [etc.]… Most of the stem abnormalities… are induced by relatively high doses of X or gamma rays extending over a period of usually 2-3 months. Notable exceptions, however, are similar responses to beta ray exposure from radioisotopes… for only 24 hours. In other words, it would have been possible for the types of plant abnormalities observed to have been induced by radioactive fallout on March 29, 1979…  I am the world authority on modifications of plant growth and development induced by ionizing radiations…

Watch the video from Nasushiobara City here

http://enenews.com/yahoo-news-mutated-plants-fukushima-gain-internet-fame-pics-show-centers-fused-together-petals-growing-sides-flowers-govt-expert-abnormalities-be-induced-after-only-24-hours-exposure-radioactive

• Letter to Vermont: “We also have a nuclear waste dump at San Onofre”

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Regarding the problems with decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site05/story.php?articleno=12446&page=1)
a reader from California wrote this letter:

The good folks in Vermont should be studying what we have been going through for several years after the decommissioning of San Onofre. Check out SanOnofreSafety.org.

We did a poll, and 92 percent favored naming it the Darrell Issa Nuclear Waste Dump.

We are supposed to be one of the six nuclear power plants in the country that the National Academy of Sciences wants to study for cancer streaks.

But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has held up the funding for the study.

Apparently, they are afraid of what it might reveal for residents who live within 31 miles.

What are you doing now that you have also become a nuclear waste dump?

Roger Johnson, San Clemente, Calif.

http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site05/story.php?articleno=12456&page=1#.VafAikJB-S1

Japan pressures Philippines’ government to accept Fukushima farm produce

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From Manila Times
July 15, 2015
by James Konstantin Galvez

Tokyo is pressing Manila to relax its import restrictions on farm products from the Fukushima prefecture in exchange for more trade concessions under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), the Department of Agriculture (DA) revealed on Wednesday.

Agriculture Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano said that Japanese negotiators want to resume exports of Fukushima-grown produce —including dairy, rice and fresh vegetables—to the Philippines after these were suspended amid concerns about radiation contamination following the nuclear crisis in March 2011.

“They want us to lower our food safety requirements based on the fact that Canada and other countries have already accepted their farm products. But I don’t see any reason why [we should],” Serrano told reporters.

The DA official said that if exports from Fukushima were to resume, all products coming from the prefecture should first undergo tests at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) to ensure that they are radiation-free.

“Even if Mars already accepted their produce, it still has to undergo study by our own experts. We have to be careful since it’s their own technical report, which may differ from our own study,” Serrano said.

It can be recalled that by January 24, New Zealand, Australia and Canada had lifted import restrictions on products from Fukushima Prefecture based on measurements of radioactive material. Britain allows imports as long as a government-issued radioactive material inspection certificate is submitted.

However, agricultural products from Fukushima prefecture are still widely shunned in other overseas markets, putting more pressure on the Japanese government revive its export market.

“It’s not a matter of volume. Even if [the shipment] is just one gram, if it has radioactive content, it will not pass the requirements under the Food Safety Act,” Serrano added.

“It’s very political for them to show that they have already addressed the problem. It’s what they want to project. There’s pressure. But I don’t see any reason to give in to their demand,” Serrano stressed.

…

http://www.manilatimes.net/tokyo-urges-manila-to-accept-fukushima-farm-produce/200631/

Posted under Fair Use Rules.