Dear Readers,
I agree with the enclosed letter, which was written yesterday by Lorna Salzman. All nuclear power plants are extremely hazardous, replaceable technology. Our voice should be united: SHUT 'EM DOWN!
I for one am tired of having my own voice weakened by those who continuously call for "stricter safety standards" and "more public openness" and worst of all, more studies. When they haven't even been to a hearing in years, and don't know where the spent fuel is stored (they think it's INSIDE the containment domes -- IT ISN'T!), and never read a single previous study, anyway!
I'm tired of hearing from friends who tell me they know someone at the plant who told them the spent fuel is "treated" eighteen different ways before it's "released" so there's nothing to worry about. And everything's 12 feet thick there.
"What chemicals or physical processes did he say are used in this 'treatment' of the spent fuel?" I ask.
"I don't know."
"When did you talk to the guy?"
"Years ago."
"Well, here are the facts: It doesn't happen! Those used reactor cores just sit there, risking destroying all of Southern California! There's no safe place to put them and there's no safe way to reprocess, recycle, or reuse them in any way! Some spent fuel is in pool, and some is in dry casks, which are arguably even more dangerous."
"Well, I heard that it was being treated. Gotta go. Business call coming in. Nice chatting with you. Don't worry, everything's going to be okay, you'll see."
Convincing know-it-all acquaintances that have friends that work at nuclear power plants that nukes are dangerous isn't easy.
Convincing the workers themselves might even be easier, since they usually have a better understanding of what's actually going on. If I say there's lies and cover-ups, they know it's true. They just haven't been questioning the basic principles. Principles such as that perfection can be achieved, and that a little bit of radiation is harmless. They SHOULD question these basic beliefs, and maybe now many of them will.
Meanwhile, activists should recognize that there isn't one safe nuclear power plant in the world, and even the safest one should be shut down permanently today. In America, there is enough excess electrical generating capacity that no one even needs to notice a full across-the-board shutdown! Your lights would still go on. Any "blackouts" that might occur would be artificially-induced to make us want to turn the nukes back on. And it would work: After a few days without electricity, the general public would certainly clamor for the nukes to be turned back on, even after seeing what can happen at Fukushima Dai-ichi.
Relying on nuclear power was a "Faustian Bargain" as Michio Kaku has been saying, and the next payment has come due.
Nuclear power is too expensive, too dangerous, and too unreliable.
Shut 'em down. Shut 'em all down.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman Carlsbad, CA
At 08:13 AM 3/23/2011 -0700, Darla Reynolds-Sparks <drsok1937@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I certainly agree that this is an important message. We must support any organization that opposes all Nuclear Reactors, regardless of their locations within our country. >Darla Reynolds-Sparks > > >--- On Wed, 3/23/11, BG <thinkcivic@gmail.com> wrote: > >From: BG <thinkcivic@gmail.com> >Subject: NO NUKES ANYWHERE some suggestions and comments Lorna Salzman >Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 4:54 AM > >I think this is an important message. >bg > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >From: Jean MCMAHON <jean_mac222@yahoo.com> >Date: Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 11:50 AM >Subject: Fw: some suggestions and comments Lorna Salzman > >--- On Tue, 3/22/11, Lorna Salzman <lsalzman1@verizon.net> wrote: > >From: Lorna Salzman <lsalzman1@verizon.net> >Subject: some suggestions and comments >To: "Mary Olson" <maryo@nirs.org> >Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 11:40 AM > > >Respectful suggestion: > >All groups facing relicensing proceedings or new ones should be contacting each other to exchange information and coordinate responses. Some groups may have technical information that other groups night need but dont yet have. I would even suggest that a national strategy meeting be held, or at least one or two, one in the east or at least northeast (Vermont Yankee, Millstone, Indian Point, Oyster Creek), and the others in California. There are also two nukes in upstate NY (Ginna, near Rochester). Oyster Creek is the oldest in the country, and Vermont Yankee...just relicensed. Are we up for a blockade? > >The Ecology Party in Florida is CO=intervenor in the Florida Light and Power application to build a new reactor (whatever happened to hurricanes and sea level rise?).NIRS and Mary Olson are the lead intervenors. > >I would like to get Nader to reconvene his Critical Mass conferences. Does someone have access to him? He could get someone from Japan..from the Citizens Nuclear Information Center there, and of course Michio Kaku is in NYC. We need to restart the national movement quickly so we work together, with mutual support and a consistent No Nukes message. Half the American population lives within 50 miles of a reactor, and a third of our reactors are boiling water reactors, all relying on the same unreliable Emergency Core Cooling System. The ECCS is prone to many potential failures, not just loss of electric power. But the AEC in the 1972 rulemaking hearings on the ECCS refusing to allow testimony by its own staff as to the full range of possible causes of a Loss of Coolant Accident. > >Note today's NY Times ad by Entergy, owner of Indian Point, which says the plant is designed to cope with an earthquake ten times stronger than the plant's design. MISLEADING. Each magnitude of measurement represents a FACTOR OF TEN GREATER than the previous one. A 7 on Richter scale is ten times worse than a 6. An 8 is 100 times worse. If IP was designed to withstand a 6, then anything greater than an 8 would destroy it. This is the kind of information we need to challenge when we see it from the utility or the government. > >It is extremely urgent that each group not do or say anything that would undermine the case of another group elsewhere. The NIMBY syndrome has already emerged regarding Indian Point because there are people who are not (yet) anti nuclear but agree on the IP closure due to the proximity to NYC. The Hudson Riverkeeper is not anti nuclear and is focusing only on shutting IP. Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposes its license extension. If for some reason we win on IP, I sincerely hope people will not close shop and go home but will work on the other threats along with groups in Vermont and Connecticut. >There are also two nukes up near Rochester, the Ginna plants; has everyone forgotten about them? > >IMPORTANT: I am not suggesting we divert attention or effort away from Indian Point. I AM suggesting that each group adopt an internal policy opposing all nuclear power so if and when the time comes, we have a unified position of solidarity with all the other groups fighting to shut reactors near them. Without this consistent anti nuclear policy, we run the risk of being divided by our adversaries, to their advantage. I cant stress this enough...after thirty years of anti nuclear activism and organizing. Yes, by all means focus on IP. But have your back up position; eventually I can promise that you will be asked by the media or government officials where you stand. If you do not clearly oppose all nukes, you will be weakening your own group and the rest of us. Please consider this carefully. > >Of course Millstone, Vermont Yankee and Oyster Creek are at least as threatening to tens of millions of people. And keep going south along the coast. We are all at risk. If there is a demonstration, it should be not just at local plants but in front of either the NRC or the White House, or both. Obama needs to hear from us. NOW. > >Building a staunch uncompromising No Nukes Anywhere network should be our main goal. Anything that one group achieves will help other groups as well as the cause. I cannot stress this enough. We must have a national network/coalition that supports full abandonment of nuclear power. We have excess electric capacity equal to what all the nukes provide. We can shut them down immediately and provide surplus power through wind and conservation. > >I hope that all groups agree with me on this. Those that won't come out of the closet are doing the rest of us a disservice and maybe even weakening our case and our credibility with the press. Imagine the damage that could be done if, at a press conference, a group opposing Indian Point was asked by the press: do you support the closure of all nuclear plants? And they stammered and hedged or answered NO. THIS WOULD DESTROY US. We cannot allow anyone to speak for or with us who does not oppose all nukes. Please heed my advice. I have been involved in this issue since 1972. > >We must speak with ONE VOICE: No Nukes Anywhere. > >PS: NIRS is really important helpful but in dire need of money. Please donate to them if you can. > >Lorna Salzman ------------------------------------
Ace Hoffman
Author, The Code Killers: An Expose
Carlsbad, CA
www.acehoffman.org
Email: ace@acehoffman.org
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