Conferences Event ·
Date
Tue Oct 8, 2013 9:00am EDT — Tue Oct 8, 2013 1:00pm EDT
About
A panel of speakers that includes the former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Dr. Gregory Jaczko; former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford; and nuclear engineer, Arnie Gundersen, is scheduled to share their perspectives on nuclear safety and the future of nuclear power. The panel will specifically address concerns regarding Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant now operating with an expired license in Buchanan, New York. The seminar will be held in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 8. More speakers will be announced.
Links
Boston - The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Acc...
Conferences Event ·
Date
Wed Oct 9, 2013 10:00am EDT — Wed Oct 9, 2013 2:00pm EDT
Former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission joins panel to discuss the risks of nuclear power at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Big-success-with-NYC-panel-on-lessons-from-Japan.html?soid=1109660143359&aid=Hv5t4pXyN4I
Greetings!
The first of two symposiums on the East Coast was concluded earlier today (tomorrow is Boston, 7:00am our time). It lived up to expectations, and then some. Here is a brief synopsis for you but I hope you'll listen to the entire proceeding when you have time and share it with others.
Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan brought the reality of a nuclear disaster to life as he went through the timeline of events. Ten reactor cores and 11 spent fuel pools were at risk. They contained 100 times more radiation than Chernobyl. No threat compares to such a loss, other than from war. Kan extolled the virtues of renewable power and before leaving office initiated the Feed In Tariff program to encourage investment. Besides producing more energy than he uses at home now, his country has added enough solar panels to replace three nuclear power plants. He wants Japan to follow Germany's example but the current Prime Minister still listens to the economic woes of the nuclear industry more than to the people who have suffered such hardships. In conclusion he said, "There is only one way to eliminate nuclear accidents and that is to get rid of all nuclear power plants, and that has to be done by the will of the people"! (Kan was pro nuclear prior to the accident in Japan).
Dr. Gregory Jaczko, former NRC Chairman, has been a strong voice for safety, costing him his job, ironically. He was in charge during the Fukushima accident. His own experience of trying to help in Japan dramatized for him the less tangible costs and personal suffering from losing a community to a nuclear disaster, besides the decades of cleanup and other economic impacts ($500 billion and counting). His goal was to dispel myths about nuclear power, such as 1) accidents won't happen, 2) if so, it would be small and contained, 3) we fully understand all natural hazards. All of these myths exploded with the hydrogen gas at Fukushima. He is gravely disappointed that the NRC leadership continues to believe these myths rather than quickly implementing the 12 highest recommendations made by the NRC's own staff. As nuclear power becomes less and less profitable, the challenge will be to make sure the industry holds itself to even greater safety standards, not less.
Nuclear expert, Arnie Gundersen, said that the NRC's Probable Risk Assessment (PRA, or "PRAy" as Arnie says) estimates that we have a one-in-a-million chance of having a major nuclear accident. Life's lessons disagree with the PRA. It is playing out to be more like one every seven years. He said that it doesn't take a major earthquake to create a nuclear disaster. He's been warning us that just two people willing to sacrifice their lives could make it happen just by destroying the power lines coming in to the plant and setting off an explosion at the intake pipe supplying water to cool the reactors. In as few as 4 hours we could have a nuclear disaster on our hands. In conclusion he says, "you can have 40 years without a problem and then it is all gone with one bad day".
New Yorkers in particular should be shocked when they learn about the risks they face according to theses experts. Making the point even more salient, Filmmaker, Adam Salkin, presented a quick edit of his film to show just how bad security is at Indian Point. He simulated a potential attack route from a boat or a plane with film crews in place just to see what the response time might be. It took longer than 5 hours before the authorities came to investigate.
Peter Bradford, a former NRC Commissioner, during the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979, discussed the so-called Nuclear Renaissance. Economic factors were already in place that discouraged investments in nuclear power even back then. The blame placed on the NRC for overreacting to safety concerns was wrong then and it is wrong now. He also explained why nuclear power will not help to control climate change, even though some environmentalists would like to think it could.
Ralph Nader pointed out how successful the antinuclear movement has been, noting that California alone was to have one hundred nuclear power plants on our coast by now. I was reminded how indebted we are to those individuals and groups that have kept this issue alive for so many years. When asked about the absence of the youth in this movement Ralph says, "Now is the time to put our arms around the shoulders of the youth" to explain the risks and enlist their support. They simply need to be made more aware, and we need to hear their concerns too, like having a government endorsed business that puts all the risk on taxpayers. His advice was that New Yorkers should demand an evacuation rehearsal. Just by posing the question, the public will understand the futility of trying to move 18 million people. That fact alone should end the discussion.
There is so much more that I didn't share here with you. It will be available to listen to for 30 days. Please take a listen and catch the Boston presentation too. Share it with people you may know living in NYC or Boston. Today we had the added bonus of hearing a video message from Jean-Michel Cousteau, President of Ocean Futures Society and son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Tune in at 7:00 am PDT and find out!
DONATIONS
Rather than ask for your support for SCG this time,
please consider donating to the Samuel Lawrence Foundation
who funded these two symposiums.
(If nothing else, just send them a nice thank you note.
Ask them to spread your appreciation far and wide to all those who helped
to put on such a huge undertaking)
Another person that deserves heaps of gratitude is our own Torgen Johnson. He used every contact, resource and skill he's acquired to bring these dignitaries to
San Diego, NYC and Boston. He has put his professional and personal life on hold, endured financial hardship, given up countless hours of precious family time with his wife and three youngsters. You can send me any messages
(with Torgen in the subject line), that you may wish to share with him
since I don't want to publish his email address here.
Thank you!
福島県の放射能情報一覧
http://new.atmc.jp/pref.cgi?p=07
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