DoomsdaysCW<p>High tide for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Holtec" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Holtec</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Tritium" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Tritium</span></a> dumped into <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CapeCodBay" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CapeCodBay</span></a> will wash back onto community shores, says a new report</p><p>"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RadioactiveWastewater" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RadioactiveWastewater</span></a> into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/tritium" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>tritium</span></a> into the air."</p><p>by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024 </p><p>"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>nuclear</span></a> reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/dilution" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>dilution</span></a> is the solution to pollution' plans.</p><p>"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PilgrimNuclearPlant" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PilgrimNuclearPlant</span></a> in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wastewater" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>wastewater</span></a> stored at the site. </p><p>"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.</p><p>"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting. </p><p>"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MassDEP" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>MassDEP</span></a>] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.</p><p>"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WHOI" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>WHOI</span></a>], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.</p><p>"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.</p><p>“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.</p><p>"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Manganese54" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Manganese54</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Cobalt60" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Cobalt60</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Zinc65" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Zinc65</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Cesium137" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Cesium137</span></a> along with <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Tritium" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Tritium</span></a>, a beta radiation emitter'. </p><p>"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/radioisotopes" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>radioisotopes</span></a> on human health, especially women and children.</p><p>"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that, <br />'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'</p><p>But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'</p><p>"Long-time <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PilgrimWatch" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PilgrimWatch</span></a> activist, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MaryLampert" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>MaryLampert</span></a>, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/contaminated" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>contaminated</span></a> wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.' </p><p>"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PlymouthBay" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PlymouthBay</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DuxburyBay" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>DuxburyBay</span></a>, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KingstonBay" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>KingstonBay</span></a> are all protected <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OceanSanctuaries" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>OceanSanctuaries</span></a>. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/radioactive" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>radioactive</span></a> and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'</p><p>"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.</p><p>"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.</p><p>"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway. </p><p>"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.</p><p>"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.</p><p>"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater. </p><p>"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'</p><p>"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.</p><p>"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.</p><p>"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AirbornePollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>AirbornePollution</span></a>,' Diane Turco of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CapeDownwinders" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CapeDownwinders</span></a> told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.</p><p>"So far the governor has not taken action."<br /> <br /><a href="https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">beyondnuclearinternational.org</span><span class="invisible">/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/</span></a><br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HoltecLies" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HoltecLies</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PilgrimNuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PilgrimNuclear</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RethinkNotRestart" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RethinkNotRestart</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoRadioactiveDumping" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoRadioactiveDumping</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AirIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>AirIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RadioactiveWaterDumping" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RadioactiveWaterDumping</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NewEngland" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NewEngland</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BeyondNuclearInternational" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BeyondNuclearInternational</span></a></p>
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#BeyondNuclearInternational
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DoomsdaysCW<p>Listening to Indigenous views</p><p>“We believe that the Earth is our Mother, and that she has been violated, she has been hurt, she has been raped, she has been damaged for far, far too long,” - Chief Ron Tremblay, Wolastoq Grand Council.</p><p>Posted on December 1, 2024 by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BeyondNuclearInternational" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BeyondNuclearInternational</span></a></p><p>"The study found that overall, Indigenous nations and communities do not support the production of more nuclear waste or the transport and storage of nuclear waste on their homelands. They have made their opposition known through dozens of public statements and more than 100 submissions to the regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.</p><p>"At the same time, the federal government positions nuclear energy as a strategic asset to Canada now and into the future. The government recently launched a policy to get nuclear projects approved more quickly, with fewer regulations. The government’s position has created an obvious conflict with Indigenous rights-holders.</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Radioactivity" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Radioactivity</span></a> cannot be turned off – that’s what makes <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearWaste" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearWaste</span></a> so dangerous. Indigenous opposition to nuclear waste is rooted in values that respect the Earth and the need to keep life safe for generations into the future. The radioactivity from high-level waste can take millennia to decay and if exposed, can damage living tissue in a range of ways and alter gene structure."</p><p>Read more:<br /><a href="https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/01/listening-to-indigenous-views/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">beyondnuclearinternational.org</span><span class="invisible">/2024/12/01/listening-to-indigenous-views/</span></a><br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearWasteStorage" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearWasteStorage</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearColonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearPowerPlants" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearPowerPlants</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PeskotomuhkatiNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PeskotomuhkatiNation</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PassamaquoddyNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PassamaquoddyNation</span></a> <br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousNationsResistNuclearColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>IndigenousNationsResistNuclearColonialism</span></a></p>
DoomsdaysCW<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Fukushima" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Fukushima</span></a> Up Close, 13 Years Later</p><p>by Robert Hunziker<br />October 13, 2023</p><p>"The world is turning to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearPower" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearPower</span></a> as a solution to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GlobalWarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>GlobalWarming</span></a>, but it is postulated herein that it is a huge mistake that endangers society. One <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>nuclear</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/meltdown" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>meltdown</span></a> causes as much damage over the long-term as a major <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/war" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>war</span></a>. Moreover, according to Dr. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PaulDorfman" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PaulDorfman</span></a>, chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, former secretary to the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Internal Radiation: 'It’s important to understand that nuclear is very likely to be a significant climate casualty.'</p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BeyondNuclearInternational" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BeyondNuclearInternational</span></a> recently published an article about the status of Fukushima as well as an exposé of how the nuclear industry gets away with responsibility for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/radiation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>radiation</span></a>-caused (1) deaths (2) chronic conditions like <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/cancer" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>cancer</span></a> (3) <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/genetic" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>genetic</span></a> deformities: A Strategy of Concealment, September 24, 2023, by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KolinKobayashi" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>KolinKobayashi</span></a>, who is a Tokyo-born France-based anti-nuclear <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/activist" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>activist</span></a> journalist also serving as president of Echo-Exchange. Kobayashi’s work was posted by CounterPunch under the title: How Agencies That Promote Nuclear Power Are Quietly Managing Its Disaster Narrative.</p><p>"The following synopsis, including editorial license that adds important death details which defy the nuclear industry’s bogus claims about nuclear safety, opens closed pathways to what’s really going on.</p><p>"After thirteen years, the declaration of a State of Emergency for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FukushimaDaiichi" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>FukushimaDaiichi</span></a> Nuclear Power Plant still cannot be lifted because of many unknowns, as well as ubiquitous deadly radiation levels. The destroyed reactors are tinderboxes of highly radioactive spent fuel rods that contain more cesium-137 than eighty-five (85) <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Chernobyls" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Chernobyls</span></a>. Cesium-137 in or near a human body erupts into a series of maladies, one after another in short order, depending upon level of exposure: (1) nausea (2) vomiting (3) diarrhea (4) bleeding (5) coma leading to death.</p><p>"The spent fuel rods at the Fukushima nuclear reactor site are stored in pools of water on the top floor of compromised reactor buildings 100 feet above ground level, except for Unit 3 which completed removal of its spent fuel rods in 2019, an extremely slow, laborious process that’s highly dangerous.</p><p>"Stored spent fuel rods in open pools of water are the epitome of high-risk. 'If the 440 tonne vessel collapses, it could hit the storage pool next to it. If this pool is damaged, even partially, another major disaster could occur.' (Kobayashi) In that regard, there’s significant risk of collapse in the event of a strong <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/earthquake" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>earthquake</span></a>. And <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Japan" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Japan</span></a> is one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world. 'The city (Tokyo) government’s experts reckon there is a 70% chance of a magnitude 7, or higher, quake hitting the capital within the next 30 years.' (Source: Japan is Preparing for a Massive Earthquake, The Economist, August 31, 2023)</p><p>"If exposed to open air, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SpentFuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SpentFuel</span></a> rods erupt into a sizzling zirconium fire followed by massive radiation bursts of the most toxic material on the planet. It can upend an entire countryside and force evacuation of major cities. According to the widely recognized nuclear expert Paul Blanch: 'Continual storage in spent fuel pools is the most unsafe thing you could do.' Paul Blanch, registered professional engineer, US Navy Reactor Operator & Instructor with 55 years of experience with nuclear engineering and regulatory agencies, is widely recognized as one of America’s leading experts on nuclear power.</p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FukushimaDaichi" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>FukushimaDaichi</span></a> Nuclear Power Plant will remain a high-risk explosive scenario for decades ahead. After all, a program for future decommissioning is unclear and overall radiation guesstimates are formidable. All the structures where decommissioning will take place are highly radioactive and as such nearly impossible for the dangers to worker exposure."</p><p>Read more:<br /><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/13/fukushima-up-close-13-years-later/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">counterpunch.org/2023/10/13/fu</span><span class="invisible">kushima-up-close-13-years-later/</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FukushimaWater" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>FukushimaWater</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TEPCOLies" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>TEPCOLies</span></a><br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearPlants" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NuclearPlants</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNewNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoNewNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PacificOcean" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PacificOcean</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Pollution</span></a><br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Bioaccumulation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Bioaccumulation</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RethinkNotRestart" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RethinkNotRestart</span></a></p>
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