According to this Nation article, we almost had a meltdown of a Nebraska reactor earlier this month. The article cites the Russian nuclear power agency as having citing an International Atomic Energy Agency report of a “near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant.”
The article wanders off into a tirade about what the author calls “Obama’s war on the coal industry,” but I really could care less about that issue at the moment. I want to know if the administration really ordered a “total and complete news blackout” on a level 4 “near catastrophic” nuclear emergency. And I want to know why most of the rest of the media is silent on the subject. Is the report BS?
I just googled the name of the plant, and there are lots of reports about the flooding, and the Nation article pops up here and there. But so far they are the only media addressing this. And the story is a few days old.
Addendum: Ooops. As pointed out in the thread, the article isn’t from The Nation we are familiar with. It’s an English version of a magazine in Pakistan. The story is getting some play online, but I have yet to see it appear anywhere I recognize as a medium of stature.
This Salem site insists that it’s not a hoax, citing Wikipedia as a source.
And here’s a denial.
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June 21, 2011 at 10:16 pm
tra
No mention of it on the Union of Concerned Scientists’ website or on their All Things Nuclear blog:
http://allthingsnuclear.org/
June 21, 2011 at 11:08 pm
skippy
No new news here, either. Yours truly ran down the same cattle trail yesterday and hit a dead end as well.
June 21, 2011 at 11:08 pm
bob
Does this add anything to the discourse? Your link to The Nation takes us not to the US based lefty magazine The Nation, but rather to a newspaper in Pakistan. Here’s the URL you send us to:
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/18-Jun-2011/US-orders-news-blackout-over-crippled-Nebraska-Nuclear-Plant-report
Anyone know anything about this newspaper in Pakistan? This just in from Wikipedia …
“The Nation is Lahore-based English-language newspaper in Pakistan.[1] It is published by Majid Nizami and edited by Saleem Bukhari. Arif Nizami who was the first editor and founder of the newspaper was fired by his uncle and the Waqt Media Group editor-in-chief and publisher Majid Nizami. Shireen Mazari has also been the editor of the daily. [2]
The roots of The Nation trace back to 1940 when Nawa-i-Waqt was formed. However, The English paper itself was launched towards the end of 1986 by Arif Nizami. The Nation is internationally the most quoted Pakistani newspaper.[3] The Nation rivals two Karachi-based dailies, Dawn and The News International.
It also provides a special daily feature section, The Nation Plus, which covers the world of glamour, showbiz, entertainment, the performing arts, and literature, as well as a special Young Nation section for the younger reader, and a special Log On section for those interested in information technology.[3]“
June 21, 2011 at 11:49 pm
tra
Well how d’ya like that!
I wonder how often the folks at the U.S.-based Nation magazine find themselves having to respond to readers who think something that was featured in the Pakistan-based Nation newspaper actually came from the U.S. magazine? I bet it happens more often than they’d like!
June 22, 2011 at 6:45 am
tra
Meanwhile, radioactive tritium has been leaking into the groundwater from corroded pipes beneath at least three quarters of America’s “safe, clean, emission-free” nuke plants.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/ap_us_nuke_sites_leaking_radioactive_form_of_hydro.php?ref=fpc
June 22, 2011 at 7:33 am
Erasmus
Yesterday’s N.Y. Times (p. A19) had a lengthy story on this — and only a propagandist or an alarmist would make a huge deal out of it.
June 22, 2011 at 7:34 am
highboldtage
Here is a link to the original article that is the basis for this yarn:
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1493.htm
Although the article is full of hyperlinks I can’t seem to find a link to the actual “report” from the Russian ministry. You be the judge.
Not to say that there aren’t problems in Nebraska but this aspect of it seems to me to be sketchy at best. It’s probably not best.
June 22, 2011 at 7:34 am
R Scott LaMorte
Yes, Tra. And if you read the article, it says not a single one of those leaks has had the radioactivity of a single chest x-ray.
June 22, 2011 at 7:40 am
R Scott LaMorte
Highboldt, you beat me to it by seconds!
Yes, the whatdoesitmean link appears to be the original. It’s written by someone who goes by Sorcha Faal, which apparently the title given to her when she became the 73rd high priestess to an ancient religious order founded in 600 BC. The entire site is an amazing collection of paranoia and wingnuttery.
Also check out this apparent exposé of who “Sorcha Faal” is: http://educate-yourself.org/cn/sorchafaaldisinfo15mar08.shtml
Now what really gets me is this: a number of my friends are taking this incredible seriously. Despite the press releases by the power company, despite the coverage on all the mainstream media, despite a visit by the Nebraska governor… they still insist there must be a “news blackout” in place. And all because they read something by some anonymous nut on the internet.
June 22, 2011 at 8:01 am
R Scott LaMorte
More info on “Sorcha Faal.”
Sorcha’s website registration lists the phone number, email, and street address of this guy David Booth on a farm in the backwood of New Hampshire. I did a Google Street view on the address, it looks a lot like rural Humboldt actually.
Domain name: WHATDOESITMEAN.COM
Administrative Contact:
Booth, David dbooth37@tds.net
22 Mattheson Road
Antrim, NH 03440
US
6035882573 Fax: 6035886347
June 22, 2011 at 8:15 am
R Scott LaMorte
More of David Booth, including his bio which lists his ownership of the whatdoesitmean website.
“David Booth is an internationally known psychic, researcher, and author who has appeared on numerous television (BBC, In Search Of, 20/20, etc.) and radio programs and whose unique life story has been featured in numerous magazine articles, books, and websites throughout the world.”
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/booth-david/6298
He’s a proponent of the “Planet X” theory, that there is a secret ghost planet in the solar system that’s going to impact the Earth in 2012.
June 22, 2011 at 8:28 am
R Scott LaMorte
David Booth wrote a book called “Code Red: the Coming Destruction of America,” which apparently is mostly made up of articles he stole off the internet and is posting as his own. Even the wingnut community has turned on him:
http://www.rense.com/general51/plagiar.htm
June 22, 2011 at 8:48 am
Ernie's Place
What would happen if these nuke plants were covered by an ash cloud from the Yellowstone super-volcano?
June 22, 2011 at 9:12 am
highboldtage
Ernie,
If the Yellowstone super caldera explodes a few nuke plants on the Missouri River will rank relatively low on the scale of urgency..
have a peaceful day,
Bill
June 22, 2011 at 9:47 pm
tra
Yes, Tra. And if you read the article, it says not a single one of those leaks has had the radioactivity of a single chest x-ray.
Yes, it did say that. But perhaps you missed the part of the AP article, and the post at TPM, where some other things were said that are also worth considering, such as:
Any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how slight, boosts cancer risk, according to the National Academy of Sciences. …it’s hard to know how far some leaks have traveled into groundwater. Tritium moves through soil quickly, and when it is detected it often indicates the presence of more powerful radioactive isotopes that are often spilled at the same time…Nearly two-thirds of the leaks were reported over the last five years, but the leaks sometimes go undiscovered for years. Safety experts worry that the leaks betray a bigger problem about the piping buried under reactors…”Any leak is a problem because you have the leak itself — but it also says something about the piping,” Mario V. Bonaca, a former member of the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, told the AP….
And you just gotta love this little gem…
“the NRC and industry consider the leaks a public relations problem, not a public health or accident threat.”
…which (unintentionally, of course) more or less sums up the overall problem with the nuclear industry’s condescending and dismissive attitude toward all kinds of environmental and safety concerns, an attitude of hubris that will no doubt continue right up to the day that a Fukushima or Chernobyl type event (or worse) occurs in North America. Then they’ll say “well obviously nobody could have forseen (fill in the blank)”
June 22, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Ben Schill
Interesting to note that in the “Nation” article the writer repeatedly excoriates Obama and goes on to talk about the Obama war against the coal industry… could this have been cooked up by the Koch brothers?
June 23, 2011 at 7:38 am
R Scott LaMorte
Tra, I did read the entire article. And as far as dangers go, the leaks are incredibly trivial. Are you concerned about your local hospitals and dental offices? Because all of those are releasing radiation from x-rays far in excess of any of these tritium leaks.
Yes, it’s true that x-rays machines don’t cause particles to enter the water table. Yet the final result of this intense AP investigation didn’t turn up a single case of exposure or contamination at any significant level of concern. That’s why it’s a PR problem and not a health problem.
“Any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how slight, boosts cancer risk, according to the National Academy of Sciences.” Yes, that’s true. And yet we are exposed to ionizing radiation literally all the time. Bananas and many nuts give off radiation. So do natural hot springs. People give off a slight amount — sleeping next to someone will give you a dose of radiation. There are levels of exposure that are so incredibly slight that it’s just not possible to worry about them.
That said the risks of nuclear energy is in catastrophic failure from human error and lack of foresight. That risk, combined with the long term waste storage issues, is enough to rule out nuclear energy as a safe source. Nuclear is probably safer than coal, but both nuclear and coal need to be phased out and the sooner the better.
June 23, 2011 at 8:43 am
tra
That said the risks of nuclear energy is in catastrophic failure from human error and lack of foresight. That risk, combined with the long term waste storage issues, is enough to rule out nuclear energy as a safe source.
Well we certainly agree on that. And I agree that the tritium itself appears to be a minor issue in terms of human health effects — but as the article notes,
it often indicates the presence of more powerful radioactive isotopes that are often spilled at the same time…
and
Safety experts worry that the leaks betray a bigger problem about the piping buried under reactors
The point being, the very large amount of radioactive tritium leaking from these underground pipes, and the fact that this is occuring at the vast majority of U.S. plants, does legitimately raise concerns about the general level of disrepair of these operations.
Which, in my opinion, is a problem that goes well beyond “public relations” — and if that is the way it is viewed within the industry, then I think that’s a real problem, too.
June 23, 2011 at 6:19 pm
anonymous
The worst industrial accident in history is still happening, Fukushima continues to irradiate the planet, and MSMudia hasn’t exactly been an accurate source of information. It is easy to believe that there would be false or no reporting if/when further nuclear power accidents do occur, particularly in America.
But discernment with sources is a must, to state the obvious.
June 24, 2011 at 7:23 am
R Scott LaMorte
Tra, the reason I’m not worried about the tritium spills is that the phrases “often indicates” and “experts worry” really mean “after our long investigation we didn’t find any actual evidence of it being worse so we threw out a couple of scary quotes to raise the drama level of our article.” Like Jon Stewart recently noted on Fox News, the mainstream media thrives on controversy and drama. If the investigators had found any actual heavy elements I’m sure it would be publicized. Lacking drama, they had to create it.
In reality there’s more human-caused radiation in communities surrounding coal-fired plants than in communities surrounding nuclear-powered plants. I think nuclear plants are by far cleanest form of mainstream power we have — until the plants explode, burn to the ground, and release billions of curies of radioactive material, rending large swaths of the countries uninhabitable for millennia.
But if after 50 years of nuke power the scariest thing this report can come up with is “often indicates” and “experts worry,” well, I guess I am not an expert and I’m not worried. At least not about the contents of that particular report.
June 24, 2011 at 8:11 am
Mitch
It’s such an odd world. My own personal brand of paranoia includes a belief that the left is regularly seeded with wingnuts by government agencies in order to ensure that it is not taken seriously.
This particular paranoid fantasy goes up against my commitment to the cliche “never blame on malice what can be explained by incompetence.”
What you folks haven’t heard, and this will blow the top off things, is that the Nebraska nuclear plants are where they filmed the Apollo so-called moon landings. The news blackout isn’t really about a nuclear meltdown — it’s that a janitor found the lunar module sets.