Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
listen to Voice of Russia radio show discussion: Robert Rini of the Takoma Park Nuclear free zone and Kevin Kamps of Takoma Park based Beyond Nuclear
Robert and Kevin discuss nuclear-free Takoma Park and the future of nuclear power. Follow these links to hear the radio show:
http://snd.sc/mbN3lN Part 1
http://snd.sc/iYyvTY Part 2
http://snd.sc/j7AI4A Part 3
http://snd.sc/mbN3lN Part 1
http://snd.sc/iYyvTY Part 2
http://snd.sc/j7AI4A Part 3
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
One Reason Why We Care
http://www.psr.org/resources/evacuation-zone-nuclear-reactors.html
Follow this link and create a map of the evacuation zone around Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. Note Takoma Park is included. A growing number of Americans do not want such a plant in their neighborhood either. Lets hope the bloom is off the nuclear rose.
Follow this link and create a map of the evacuation zone around Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. Note Takoma Park is included. A growing number of Americans do not want such a plant in their neighborhood either. Lets hope the bloom is off the nuclear rose.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Will nuclear power fffffade away? Who has had enough?
Just been reading that the US Government advises Americans to stay clear of the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant by 50 miles. This accident is now considered one of the worse in history. If Calvert Cliffs is only 90 miles away by car (and 50 miles as the crow flies) from Takoma Park that would put a hypothetical exclusion zone at our border. At the April 5th Spring Film and Discussion series sponsored by the Takoma Park Nuclear Free Zone Committee, Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar at the Nuclear Policy Project, remarked that a similar accident at Calvert Cliffs would contaminate the Chesapeake Bay forever and make Takoma Park uninhabitable. He concluded his remarks by declaring the nuclear renaissance "over'. Maybe so, but Who is responsible for cleaning up this mess? Oh yeah, "...My, My, My Generation, baby."
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Nuclear Free-Zone film series and speakers coming to Takoma Park
PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES - THEN AND NOW
Nuclear Free Takoma Park
Spring Film and Discussion Series
Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang
This path-breaking film chronicles reporter and Mother Jones founder, Paul Jacobs’ exploration of the health hazards of low-level radiation as they affected service men and civilians living downwind from the Nevada
Speaker: Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar, Nuclear Policy Project, Institute for Policy Studies.
Current research focuses on spent fuel storage ponds and the Japanese emergency
Tuesday, April 12 – 7:30 p.m.
Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment
Driven by intensely personal testimony and painstaking research this film exposes a shocking pattern of negligence and misinformation spanning several decades. Nine months after this film won the 1991 Oscar for Best Short Documentary, GE pulled out of its work with the nuclear weapons industry and Corporate Accountability International, (formerly Infact) organizers of the GE boycott declared victory in their grassroots campaign.
Speakers: Leo Slaggie, Deputy Solicitor, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Cindy Folkers, Radiation Health Specialist, Beyond Nuclear
The Return of Navajo Boy
This film’s focus on a family struggling with the effects of Uranium mining on tribal land confronts several issues in the industrial production of nuclear power including environmental racism and the denial of retribution for continued abuses. It was included in the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and aired that same year on the PBS documentary series, Independent Lens won Programmer’s Choice Award of the Planet in Focus Festival. Currently it is being used as an educational tool by the Indian Health Service.
Speaker: Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute of Energy
Linda Gunter, International Specialist, Beyond Nuclear
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Local news of Takoma Park Nuke-free zoners efforts to inform public about Japan nuclear tragedy:
http://bit.ly/hLmxPA
Takoma Park groups renew anti-nuclear push after Japanese crisis
Organizations spread message as Japanese plant's fate remains uncertain
 |  |  |  |  |  |
Takoma Park nuclear-free advocacy groups have redoubled their efforts in their battle against nuclear power in light of fears of a possible meltdown of a power plant in Japan.
Takoma Park has officially been designated nuclear-free for more than 25 years, which requires that no nuclear weapons be built in the city and that no business that works with nuclear weapons manufacturers can move into the city.
Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams said the city of Takoma Park has always been proud of its nuclear-free designation, even when others have thought it was "silly."
"You hate to say there is any joy or satisfaction in this situation [in Japan], but it does turn things around from the way things have been for years," Williams said. "When anyone mentioned nuclear-free Takoma Park, they said, ‘Isn't that crazy? There is no danger of nuclear weapons anymore.' With this, it brings it back to the fore, and it's like, ‘See, this is important.' "
Williams said the nuclear situation in Japan was an opportunity for anti-nuclear groups in the city to prove the messages they have advocated for decades.
"It makes those groups who are still around and still working the issue much more important, because they have the background on what the issues have always been," Williams said.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan was damaged during the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami and hit the country March 11 that has killed more than 9,000 people as of Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
As the status of the plant's reactors continues to evolve, nuclear-free advocacy groups based in Takoma Park have used the crisis to educate the public about the deadly dangers that can be caused by nuclear energy.
"[The situation in Japan] is a great tragedy, and we are all concerned," said Robert Rini of the Nuclear-Free Takoma Park Committee, which formed to enforce the city's nuclear-free designation and has moved into advocating against nuclear energy in recent years. "We hope they can contain it. We hope it won't grow into a global humanitarian and financial disaster."
In the past few years, the five-member committee has been researching the possibility of nuclear waste being transported through the city on the CSX railroad. Since the crisis in Japan, members of the committee have also been keeping up a steady stream of information to the public about the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Rini said. They are constantly updating the committee blog and member Jacob Rini, Robert's son, has been tweeting breaking news about the crisis under the Twitter handle @NuclearFreeBoy.
"We have stepped up our efforts to reach out to the community and engage them in a dialogue about how it impacts us," Robert said. "This has never happened before. We are in uncharted territory."
Beyond Nuclear, a separate anti-nuke activist group based in Takoma Park, sent a press release the morning that news of the natural and potential nuclear disasters broke. Members of Beyond Nuclear have also been posting constant updates about the Japanese power plant's status on their website, said Linda Gunter, international specialist at Beyond Nuclear.
They are also continuously updating their Facebook and Twitter feed with news of developments in Japan.
"It takes a crisis, unfortunately, for people to pay attention to something like this," Gunter said.
They have been answering their phones and talking on news shows about their views on nuclear energy, as well, Gunter said.
"None of us [have] slept," Gunter said. "We are very much on the phone. I think we have all gone mad."
The group has been advocating against nuclear energy since 2007. Beyond Nuclear is made up of four staff members and six board members, who had all been pushing the nuclear-free cause at other organizations before forming Beyond Nuclear, Gunter said.
"What this tragedy has given us is a platform to start educating people about this, which was much harder to do before," Gunter added. "It is the issue of the day obviously."
The group advocates shutting down existing nuclear energy plants in the United States as well as preventing new ones from opening. They have advocated against the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland, which is just 90 miles from Washington, D.C. In the wake of the Japanese crisis, they have been encouraging people to write and call their local congressmen about closing this site and others like it.
"If something happened at Calvert Cliffs, something would happen in D.C." Gunter said.
Robert said the group is possibly planning to hold an event in the future focusing on current nuclear events and how they affect the Takoma Park community.
"If people are informed, they make better decisions and this is an issue that people are woefully uninformed about," Gunter said. "This is a chance now to get information out there."
ktousignant@gazette.net
Takoma Park has officially been designated nuclear-free for more than 25 years, which requires that no nuclear weapons be built in the city and that no business that works with nuclear weapons manufacturers can move into the city.
Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams said the city of Takoma Park has always been proud of its nuclear-free designation, even when others have thought it was "silly."
"You hate to say there is any joy or satisfaction in this situation [in Japan], but it does turn things around from the way things have been for years," Williams said. "When anyone mentioned nuclear-free Takoma Park, they said, ‘Isn't that crazy? There is no danger of nuclear weapons anymore.' With this, it brings it back to the fore, and it's like, ‘See, this is important.' "
Williams said the nuclear situation in Japan was an opportunity for anti-nuclear groups in the city to prove the messages they have advocated for decades.
"It makes those groups who are still around and still working the issue much more important, because they have the background on what the issues have always been," Williams said.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan was damaged during the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami and hit the country March 11 that has killed more than 9,000 people as of Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
As the status of the plant's reactors continues to evolve, nuclear-free advocacy groups based in Takoma Park have used the crisis to educate the public about the deadly dangers that can be caused by nuclear energy.
"[The situation in Japan] is a great tragedy, and we are all concerned," said Robert Rini of the Nuclear-Free Takoma Park Committee, which formed to enforce the city's nuclear-free designation and has moved into advocating against nuclear energy in recent years. "We hope they can contain it. We hope it won't grow into a global humanitarian and financial disaster."
In the past few years, the five-member committee has been researching the possibility of nuclear waste being transported through the city on the CSX railroad. Since the crisis in Japan, members of the committee have also been keeping up a steady stream of information to the public about the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Rini said. They are constantly updating the committee blog and member Jacob Rini, Robert's son, has been tweeting breaking news about the crisis under the Twitter handle @NuclearFreeBoy.
"We have stepped up our efforts to reach out to the community and engage them in a dialogue about how it impacts us," Robert said. "This has never happened before. We are in uncharted territory."
Beyond Nuclear, a separate anti-nuke activist group based in Takoma Park, sent a press release the morning that news of the natural and potential nuclear disasters broke. Members of Beyond Nuclear have also been posting constant updates about the Japanese power plant's status on their website, said Linda Gunter, international specialist at Beyond Nuclear.
They are also continuously updating their Facebook and Twitter feed with news of developments in Japan.
"It takes a crisis, unfortunately, for people to pay attention to something like this," Gunter said.
They have been answering their phones and talking on news shows about their views on nuclear energy, as well, Gunter said.
"None of us [have] slept," Gunter said. "We are very much on the phone. I think we have all gone mad."
The group has been advocating against nuclear energy since 2007. Beyond Nuclear is made up of four staff members and six board members, who had all been pushing the nuclear-free cause at other organizations before forming Beyond Nuclear, Gunter said.
"What this tragedy has given us is a platform to start educating people about this, which was much harder to do before," Gunter added. "It is the issue of the day obviously."
The group advocates shutting down existing nuclear energy plants in the United States as well as preventing new ones from opening. They have advocated against the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland, which is just 90 miles from Washington, D.C. In the wake of the Japanese crisis, they have been encouraging people to write and call their local congressmen about closing this site and others like it.
"If something happened at Calvert Cliffs, something would happen in D.C." Gunter said.
Robert said the group is possibly planning to hold an event in the future focusing on current nuclear events and how they affect the Takoma Park community.
"If people are informed, they make better decisions and this is an issue that people are woefully uninformed about," Gunter said. "This is a chance now to get information out there."
ktousignant@gazette.net
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
From AOL Today Comes This Report About Manzurova beginning a one-week informational tour of the U.S. organized by the Takoma Park based Beyond Nuclear watchdog
Chernobyl Cleanup Survivor's Message for Japan: 'Run Away as Quickly as Possible'
Mar 22, 2011 – 1:23 PM
Natalia Manzurova, one of the few survivors among those directly involved in the long cleanup of Chernobyl, was a 35-year-old engineer at a nuclear plant in Ozersk, Russia, in April 1986 when she and 13 other scientists were told to report to the wrecked, burning plant in the northern Ukraine.
It was just four days after the world's biggest nuclear disaster spewed enormous amounts of radiation into the atmosphere and forced the evacuation of 100,000 people.
Manzurova and her colleagues were among the roughly 800,000 "cleaners" or "liquidators" in charge of the removal and burial of all the contamination in what's still called the dead zone.
She spent 4 1/2 years helping clean the abandoned town of Pripyat, which was less than two miles from the Chernobyl reactors. The plant workers lived there before they were abruptly evacuated.
Manzurova, now 59 and an advocate for radiation victims worldwide, has the "Chernobyl necklace" -- a scar on her throat from the removal of her thyroid -- and myriad health problems. But unlike the rest of her team members, who she said have all died from the results of radiation poisoning, and many other liquidators, she's alive.
AOL News spoke with Manzurova about the nuclear disaster in Japan with the help of a translator on the telephone Monday from Vermont. Manzurova, who still lives in Ozersk, was beginning a one-week informational tour of the U.S. organized by the Beyond Nuclear watchdog group.
AOL News: What was your first reaction when you heard about Fukushima?
Manzurova: It felt like déjà vu. I felt so worried for the people of Japan and the children especially. I know the experience that awaits them.
But experts say Fukushima is not as bad as Chernobyl.
Every nuclear accident is different, and the impact cannot be truly measured for years. The government does not always tell the truth. Many will never return to their homes. Their lives will be divided into two parts: before and after Fukushima. They'll worry about their health and their children's health. The government will probably say there was not that much radiation and that it didn't harm them. And the government will probably not compensate them for all that they've lost. What they lost can't be calculated.
What message do you have for Japan?
Run away as quickly as possible. Don't wait. Save yourself and don't rely on the government because the government lies. They don't want you to know the truth because the nuclear industry is so powerful.
When you were called to go to Chernobyl, did you know how bad it was there?
I had no idea and never knew the true scope until much later. It was all covered in secrecy. I went there as a professional because I was told to -- but if I was asked to liquidate such an accident today, I'd never agree. The sacrifices the Fukushima workers are making are too high because the nuclear industry was developed in such a way that the executives don't hold themselves accountable to the human beings who have to clean up a disaster. It's like nuclear slavery.
What was your first impression of Chernobyl?
It was like a war zone where a neutron bomb had gone off. I always felt I was in the middle of a war where the enemy was invisible. All the houses and buildings were intact with all the furniture, but there wasn't a single person left. Just deep silence everywhere. Sometimes I felt I was the only person alive on a strange planet. There are really no words to describe it.
What did your work as a liquidator entail?
First, we measured radiation levels and got vegetation samples to see how high the contamination was. Then bulldozers dug holes in the ground and we buried everything -- houses, animals, everything. There were some wild animals that were still alive, and we had to kill them and put them in the holes.
Were any pets left in the houses?
The people had only a few hours to leave, and they weren't allowed to take their dogs or cats with them. The radiation stays in animals' fur and they can't be cleaned, so they had to be abandoned. That's why people were crying when they left. All the animals left behind in the houses were like dried-out mummies. But we found one dog that was still alive.
Where did you find the dog and how did he survive?
We moved into a former kindergarten to use as a laboratory and we found her lying in one of the children's cots there. Her legs were all burned from the radiation and she was half blind. Her eyes were all clouded from the radiation. She was slowly dying.
Were you able to rescue her?
No. Right after we moved in, she disappeared. And this is the amazing part. A month later we found her in the children's ward of the (abandoned) hospital. She was dead. She was lying in a child's bed, the same size bed we found her in the kindergarten. Later we found out that she loved children very much and was always around them.
How did working in the dead zone begin to affect your health?
I started to feel as if I had the flu. I would get a high temperature and start to shiver. What happens during first contact with radiation is that your good flora is depleted and the bad flora starts to flourish. I suddenly wanted to sleep all the time and eat a lot. It was the organism getting all the energy out.
How much radiation were you subjected to?
We were never told. We wore dosimeters which measured radiation and we submitted them to the bosses, but they never gave us the results.
But didn't you realize the danger and want to leave?
Yes, I knew the danger. All sorts of things happened. One colleague stepped into a rainwater pool and the soles of his feet burned off inside his boots. But I felt it was my duty to stay. I was like a firefighter. Imagine if your house was burning and the firemen came and then left because they thought it was too dangerous.
When did you discover the thyroid tumor?
They found it during a routine medical inspection after I had worked there several years. It turned out to be benign. I don't know when it started to develop. I had an operation to remove half the thyroid gland. The tumor grew back, and last year I had the other half removed. I live on (thyroid) hormones now.
Why did you go back to Chernobyl after getting a thyroid tumor?
Right around the time of my operation, the government passed a law saying the liquidators had to work for exactly 4 1/2 years to get our pension and retire. If you left even one day early, you would not get any benefits.
Really? That seems beyond cruel.
It's why the nuclear industry is dangerous. They want to deny the dangers. They kept changing the law about what benefits we'd get because if they admitted how much we were affected, it would look bad for the industry. Now we hardly get any benefits.
Did your health worsen after you finally finished work at Chernobyl?
I was basically disabled at 43. I was having fits similar to epileptic fits. My blood pressure was sky high. It was hard to work for more than six months a year. The doctors didn't know what to do with me. They wanted to put me in a psychiatric ward and call me crazy. Finally they admitted it was because of the radiation.
It was just four days after the world's biggest nuclear disaster spewed enormous amounts of radiation into the atmosphere and forced the evacuation of 100,000 people.
Manzurova and her colleagues were among the roughly 800,000 "cleaners" or "liquidators" in charge of the removal and burial of all the contamination in what's still called the dead zone.
Courtesy of Natalia Manzurova
Natalia Manzurova, shown here in 1988 in the "dead zone" of the Pripyat, is one of the relatively few survivors among those directly involved in the cleanup of Chernobyl.
Manzurova, now 59 and an advocate for radiation victims worldwide, has the "Chernobyl necklace" -- a scar on her throat from the removal of her thyroid -- and myriad health problems. But unlike the rest of her team members, who she said have all died from the results of radiation poisoning, and many other liquidators, she's alive.
AOL News spoke with Manzurova about the nuclear disaster in Japan with the help of a translator on the telephone Monday from Vermont. Manzurova, who still lives in Ozersk, was beginning a one-week informational tour of the U.S. organized by the Beyond Nuclear watchdog group.
AOL News: What was your first reaction when you heard about Fukushima?
Manzurova: It felt like déjà vu. I felt so worried for the people of Japan and the children especially. I know the experience that awaits them.
But experts say Fukushima is not as bad as Chernobyl.
Every nuclear accident is different, and the impact cannot be truly measured for years. The government does not always tell the truth. Many will never return to their homes. Their lives will be divided into two parts: before and after Fukushima. They'll worry about their health and their children's health. The government will probably say there was not that much radiation and that it didn't harm them. And the government will probably not compensate them for all that they've lost. What they lost can't be calculated.
What message do you have for Japan?
Run away as quickly as possible. Don't wait. Save yourself and don't rely on the government because the government lies. They don't want you to know the truth because the nuclear industry is so powerful.
Courtesy of Natalia Manzurova
Natalia Manzurova, now 59, has suffered a variety of ailments since she worked at Chernobyl, but she says she is the only member of her team still alive.
I had no idea and never knew the true scope until much later. It was all covered in secrecy. I went there as a professional because I was told to -- but if I was asked to liquidate such an accident today, I'd never agree. The sacrifices the Fukushima workers are making are too high because the nuclear industry was developed in such a way that the executives don't hold themselves accountable to the human beings who have to clean up a disaster. It's like nuclear slavery.
What was your first impression of Chernobyl?
It was like a war zone where a neutron bomb had gone off. I always felt I was in the middle of a war where the enemy was invisible. All the houses and buildings were intact with all the furniture, but there wasn't a single person left. Just deep silence everywhere. Sometimes I felt I was the only person alive on a strange planet. There are really no words to describe it.
What did your work as a liquidator entail?
First, we measured radiation levels and got vegetation samples to see how high the contamination was. Then bulldozers dug holes in the ground and we buried everything -- houses, animals, everything. There were some wild animals that were still alive, and we had to kill them and put them in the holes.
Were any pets left in the houses?
The people had only a few hours to leave, and they weren't allowed to take their dogs or cats with them. The radiation stays in animals' fur and they can't be cleaned, so they had to be abandoned. That's why people were crying when they left. All the animals left behind in the houses were like dried-out mummies. But we found one dog that was still alive.
Where did you find the dog and how did he survive?
We moved into a former kindergarten to use as a laboratory and we found her lying in one of the children's cots there. Her legs were all burned from the radiation and she was half blind. Her eyes were all clouded from the radiation. She was slowly dying.
Were you able to rescue her?
No. Right after we moved in, she disappeared. And this is the amazing part. A month later we found her in the children's ward of the (abandoned) hospital. She was dead. She was lying in a child's bed, the same size bed we found her in the kindergarten. Later we found out that she loved children very much and was always around them.
How did working in the dead zone begin to affect your health?
I started to feel as if I had the flu. I would get a high temperature and start to shiver. What happens during first contact with radiation is that your good flora is depleted and the bad flora starts to flourish. I suddenly wanted to sleep all the time and eat a lot. It was the organism getting all the energy out.
How much radiation were you subjected to?
We were never told. We wore dosimeters which measured radiation and we submitted them to the bosses, but they never gave us the results.
But didn't you realize the danger and want to leave?
Yes, I knew the danger. All sorts of things happened. One colleague stepped into a rainwater pool and the soles of his feet burned off inside his boots. But I felt it was my duty to stay. I was like a firefighter. Imagine if your house was burning and the firemen came and then left because they thought it was too dangerous.
When did you discover the thyroid tumor?
They found it during a routine medical inspection after I had worked there several years. It turned out to be benign. I don't know when it started to develop. I had an operation to remove half the thyroid gland. The tumor grew back, and last year I had the other half removed. I live on (thyroid) hormones now.
Why did you go back to Chernobyl after getting a thyroid tumor?
Right around the time of my operation, the government passed a law saying the liquidators had to work for exactly 4 1/2 years to get our pension and retire. If you left even one day early, you would not get any benefits.
Really? That seems beyond cruel.
It's why the nuclear industry is dangerous. They want to deny the dangers. They kept changing the law about what benefits we'd get because if they admitted how much we were affected, it would look bad for the industry. Now we hardly get any benefits.
Did your health worsen after you finally finished work at Chernobyl?
I was basically disabled at 43. I was having fits similar to epileptic fits. My blood pressure was sky high. It was hard to work for more than six months a year. The doctors didn't know what to do with me. They wanted to put me in a psychiatric ward and call me crazy. Finally they admitted it was because of the radiation.
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