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email the perth indmedia mob...
Nuclear Files - Life in the land without children |
| by Benjamin Seeder |
2006-04-24 12:06 PM +0800 |
Shilan lives in Parishev, a village of a dozen people 15 minutes' drive from the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in one of the most contaminated places on the planet.
Benjamin Seeder
....
It's is 20 years on since this Nuclear accident. Scientifically we are still learning from this event, politically we strive forward with eyes closed and our ears filled with a message of certainty that Nuclear Power is the solution to all our problems.
Legaly admitting fault is not a possibility because the law suits that will follow,the support for this industry is largely govenment supported so they willhave to provide help at a greater cost.
The infrastructures monsterous costs and once they have been invested, the 10 years building time will just continue so the power staion will ont be in vane.
(4-6 billion per plant - http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/bushehr.htm)
Not one power plant in the wqorld has ever run at profit and 7 out of 11 countries that have adopted nuclear power have decided to develop nuclear weapons. 20 countries are now using the Depleted uranium weaponary to secure a stronger impression of power in global politics. Nuclear Weapons carry the same sense of power that America boasts, everybody wants to join the nuclear club !!!
The Politics and complexity runs very, very deep in this issue. Let us let scientific (Medical, Physics Experts that are frequently critisised and Environmentalists) and economical facts speak the truth.
Chris Moore
Anti Nuclear Acitvist |
April 22, 2006
SHILAN Grigovna hobbles about her vegetable patch, leaning heavily on a brown walking stick. She is 76 years old, short, and breathes with difficulty as she proudly points stubby, gnarled fingers at her potatoes, garlic, onions and tomatoes.
She smiles toothlessly, her face wizened, and speaks with a barely comprehensible mixture of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian.
"We grow these - tomatoes, potatoes, onions, everything we need. The soil is good, like it always has been, and we fish in the river," she says. "We have some chickens, but we used to have more animals before the disaster, geese, and goats. All the animals died then."
Like thousands of other Ukrainian-Belarussian peasants, Ms Grigovna and her cousin Salitona spend the spring and summer days cultivating their plots, and the long winter in hibernation in their dilapidated cottage, fasting on pickled fruits and vegetables. But the similarities end there. At 76, she has outlived her sons, both of whom died less than two years ago, six months apart. Both were in their early 40s, and both died of cancer.
Shilan lives in Parishev, a village of a dozen people 15 minutes' drive from the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in one of the most contaminated places on the planet.
Twenty years ago - on April 26 - the core of No. 4 reactor exploded, spewing radioactive gas all over Northern Ukraine and Southern Belarus, in the worst nuclear accident in history. It was an event that ruined the lives of thousands in the former Soviet Union, and changed the lives of millions, including Ms Grigovna's.
I went into Chernobyl's 30- kilometre exclusion zone to find out about life there 20 years on, and was amazed to find people not only working there, but leading near-normal lives.
About 16,000 people live in Chernobyl, a town on the edge of the 10-kilometre danger zone. Most are involved in dismantling the other four nuclear reactors that were shut down in 2000. Some work at the site of the stricken No. 4 reactor, where radiation is dangerously high.
The accident that led to two steam explosions and a larger hydrogen explosion in the core of the No. 4 reactor was caused by a combination of human error and major design flaws.
Under the old Soviet system, career advancement was usually achieved through loyalty to the Communist Party or through personal connections. Personal merit and achievement was secondary, and it was this practice that made the appointment of Chernobyl's then plant manager and chief engineer possible - both only had experience with coal-fired power stations.
The operators carried out a risky experiment to see if the reactor could be shut down without electrical power (which also powers the emergency shutdown systems). A design flaw in the reactor triggered a steam explosion in the reactor core, and the operators worsened the situation through their lack of nuclear knowledge.
My guide, Denis, whizzes us through Chernobyl in a purple Shiguli Russian-built car. He stops the car and springs out, Geiger counter in hand: "Stay there, it's too dangerous out here," he says as I try to follow.
"Here is the village of Kopachi. It was so contaminated by the fallout after the accident that they decided to disassemble the village and bury it. This is where it lies," he says, waving the meter around near the ground. It reads about 500 microcuries, about 33 times normal level.
We drive into Pripyat. Once a model Soviet city full of educated, happy workers, Pripyat is now a ghost town, slowly falling into ruin.
We roll down a bumpy sealed road that was once the town's main street. I gaze out at the Soviet-style apartment buildings barely visible through the jungle of vines and trees that have sprung up in the 20 years without human habitation.
We stop in the main square, opposite the palace of culture. Its windows lie smashed and scattered on the ground, its contents and furniture looted. We see the same thing in every building we look into.
We return to the car and drive to a children's playground dominated by a huge, rusty ferris wheel. The dodgem car rink is decrepit, its cars overturned.
"A lot of radiation fell here," Denis says, lowering his meter to the ground near the rink. It shoots up to 1500 microcuries, the highest reading of the day, and about 120 times the normal level of radiation. "And even three days after the accident, when radiation was here, there were still children playing on this ride," he says.
Our next stop is ground zero - reactor No. 4. I jump out of the car and watch as a crane moves over the metal-encased reactor. We are about 200 metres away, and I can just see figures on top of the crane.
"They are working to ensure the structure is stable. It is a requirement before we construct a new shelter, (a project planned by the Ukrainian Government for 2007)," says Yulia Marusich, an official with the Management Agency of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
"They are only allowed to work in there in 20 minute shifts per day," she says.
When the Soviet authorities stabilised the fire at the reactor, they decided to isolate the plant by building a reinforced metal structure around the building. But after 20 years, this structure is wearing out. "There is a small chance that this could collapse," says Ms Marusich.
The new shelter and the project to remove the nuclear fuel from No. 4 is expected to cost the Ukrainian Government billions of dollars. Combined with annual payments of more than $1 billion in compensation benefits and pensions, Chernobyl is a huge burden on Government finances.
"Then there is the cost of lost agricultural land, resettlement costs, and you can see that the economic impact on Ukraine and Belarus has been enormous," says Alexander Kuzma, executive director of the Children of Chernobyl Development Fund.
He says the full social costs are yet to be felt, too.
"I don't think we have seen all of the illnesses, sicknesses come out yet. A lot of cancers and other illnesses have very long latency periods, up to 20 years. So we may only now start to see a rise in certain types of illnesses related to Chernobyl."
That goes against a finding of a report from the Chernobyl Forum, a consensus group comprising experts from the World Health Organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations, and other organisations. That report predicted only 4000 additional deaths resulting from radiation exposure.
"It was a ludicrous suggestion, and combined with the suggestion that many Chernobyl invalids' problems were psychologically based," Mr Kuzma says. "There is enough evidence out there already to suggest otherwise."
As the debate continues, Ms Grigovna and her cousin continue the quiet life, a kilometre from the plant that almost certainly claimed the lives of both her sons. For both of them, the accident has blighted their lives, but it has touched them in other ways too.
"Before there were children here, many. They played in the fields and fished. Now they have all gone away. Before, we had goats, some cows, and geese, but now we only have a few chickens. They all died after the accident. Life is more boring. It goes more slowly for us without children."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/life-in-the-land-without-children/2006/04/21/1145344280315.html
By Benjamin Seeder |
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Add multimedia to story
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Rushed |
| by Chris |
2006-04-24 3:36 PM +0800 |
Sorry about the lack of checking this text !
Really should write it outside of this browser to keep my writing in line.
Thanks
Link here
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Was it ? |
| by net.paw |
2006-04-26 12:25 AM +0800 |
Chernobyl nuclear power plant ?
The question has to be asked was Chernobl ever really designed as a commercial power plant ? I don't believe it was. Not disputing the outcomes or the damage caused and yet to be caused but I don't believe it was originally designed for the what it was being used for.
Not saying nuclear is good but hey there is a lot of misinformation spread and saying it was a "power plant" paints the picture that all commercial reactors have the same design faults or have the capability of causing the same damage?
I've just noticed that Bush is temporarily aboloshed the environmental lwas in regards to gasoline refining. "Peak Oil" is only a few speaches away for the Bush regime. Iraq, Iran and before you can say "terrorism" saudi arabia.
Funny how Russia is now the largest exporter of oil...
Link here
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Hilarious |
| by dave |
2006-04-26 12:44 AM +0800 |
Link here
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Chernobyl ? A Power Plant ? |
| by Chris |
2006-04-26 4:50 PM +0800 |
Hey net.paw,
Thats rather amusing....By looks, operation and intention im fairly convinved that it was for power.
I guess im wondering what else could it have possibley been designed for considering the multi million dollar price tag.
It takes a bit of conviction to go down that path.
If you have any info or ideas, id love to here them
Do you think that maybe it was supposed to be a Uranium enrichment facility ?
Can't find right now....
It happened after the Three Mile Island accident in the US.
I've been told that Hersey's Chocolates gets their milk from dairy farms about 9 miles from 3 Mile Island where Cesium 137 is likely to be found. (potasium analogue - your body can't tell the difference between cesium and K)
Bio Concentration means that things at the top of the food chain recieve chems from the food we eat.
ie: Grass picks up small amounts of cesium, cows eat loads of grass, cesium acumulates and has a tendency to be used in muscle (affecting hearts mostly because if it doesn't work well then you will notice this and so will statistics)
We eat the cows and drink their milk (used to make baby cows therefore high in nutrients and essential minerals)
We drink loads of milk and eats lots of chocolate....and we as humans can't deal with this because we have not eveolved to !!!!!!
250 new elements have been produced since nuclear testing and power plants have begun, mostly after 1945.
Strontium 90 is a calcium analogue (every human on planet has that in there teeth now !!!)
Here is a copy of somebody else's material found here:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/RevCon05/NGOpres/medical11.pdf
"The incubation time for cancer is five to 50 years following exposure to radiation.
Children, old people and immuno-compromised individuals are many times more
sensitive to the malignant effects of radiation than other people.
Following are four of the most dangerous elements made in nuclear power plants.
Iodine 131, which was released at nuclear accidents at Sellafield in Britain, Chernobyl in
Ukraine and Three Mile Island in the US, is radioactive for twenty three weeks and it
bio-concentrates in leafy vegetables and milk. When it enters the human body via the
gut and the lung, it migrates to the thyroid gland in the neck, where it can later induce
thyroid cancer. In Belarus more than 2000 children have had their thyroids removed for
thyroid cancer, a situation never before recorded in pediatric literature.
Strontium 90 lasts for 600 years. As a calcium analogue, it concentrates in cow and goat
milk. It accumulates in the human breast during lactation, and in bone, where it can later
induce breast cancer, bone cancer and leukemia.
Cesium 137, which also lasts for 600 years, concentrates in the food chain, particularly
meat. On entering the human body, it locates in muscle, where it can induce a malignant
muscle cancer called a sarcoma.
Plutonium 239, one of the most dangerous elements known to humans, is so toxic that
one-millionth of a gram is carcinogenic. More than 200kg is made annually in each 1000-
megawatt nuclear power plant. Plutonium is handled like iron in the body, and is
therefore stored in the liver, where it causes liver cancer, and in the bone, where it can
induce bone cancer and blood malignancies. On inhalation it causes lung cancer. It also
crosses the placenta, where, like the drug thalidomide, it can cause severe congenital
deformities. Plutonium has a predisposition for the testicle, where it can cause testicular
cancer and induce genetic diseases in future generations. Plutonium lasts for 500,000
years, living on to induce cancer and genetic diseases in future generations of plants,
animals and humans.
Plutonium is also the fuel for nuclear weapons -- only 5kg is necessary to make a bomb
and each reactor makes more than 200kg per year. Therefore any country with a nuclear
power plant can theoretically manufacture 40 bombs a year"
Not Cool cousie bro
Also if you are into your physics then check out this for a 4 page reading. It is a Phd by a Professor explaining why the calculation of dose of radiation is meaningless.
The nuclear power Industry calculates harm to exposure.
Well my engineering background tells me that there is something wrong with these calculations.
The dose is averaged over the entire body, but giving certain organs more priority than others because of the different sensativities. Instead of looking at what a tiny nano partical would do to your body, and knowing that a nano partical will irradiate all the cells in a certain radius but go no further, assumption of averaging does not account for this concentrated area of irradiated cells that will account for damage to genetics !!!!!
Its very simple if you take the time to find the sources
Nuclear Power's got no place in this world. Including Lucas heights !!!
Xris
Link here
|
This Source |
| by Chris |
2006-04-26 4:52 PM +0800 |
Chris Busbys PHD Summary
http://www.traprockpeace.org/busby_depleted_uranium.pdf
Link here
|
Chris. |
| by net.paw |
2006-04-27 5:53 PM +0800 |
From what I have heard Chernobyl was originally used to convert uranium plutonium for nuclear weapons. Energy production was a byproduct it was specifically designed to do just that. Produce nuclear fuel for weapons.
That's why you don't find nuclear power stations built that way. It was never originally designed as a "power station" as you see reported everywhere but as a bomb making plant. Go figure.
Do you think that maybe it was supposed to be a Uranium enrichment facility ?
"The plant was testing new ways of making a much more potent nuclear fuel. They were dissolving uranium in the form of a gas in a bath of nitric acid. They had been using just over two kilos at a time; on Thursday, they put in 16 kilos. That was enough to cause a nuclear reaction: The mixture went critical. It gave off a beam of deadly neutrons, and a cloud of gas was blown through the roof radiating throughout and its surroundings."
Hmm yeh they weren't producing electricity but testing new ways of making more potent nuclear fuel. I can't see your local power plant doing that. But what would I know.
I am glad you took the time to post all that info... was a good read because there's some stuff In there that I didn't know.
I agree nuclear IS NOT the way to go but hey you get radiation from your PC and TV screens. How many of you still sit at a CRT screen at home or at work ? Or what about drinking tap water in Perth, or even showering or bathing in the shit ? The ONLY reason Fluoride is in our water is because of the nuclear weapons industry. It Kills and I'd say it has caused more deaths than Chernobyl EVER will but we still allow the Water Corp to throw toxic waste from Alcoa ( it's also a waste product of aluminium and fertaliser production ) but hey nuclear is bad, but it's the poisons that we consume or are exposed to every day that worry me more.
Link here
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?? |
| by ella |
2009-02-13 8:30 PM +0900 |
So what can we do to help?
What volunteer work is available for able bodied, willing people to do to perhaps make an iota of difference.
From an able bodied, willing female from Australia.
Link here
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Re: anti-nuclear activism |
| by Ray |
2009-02-14 4:55 PM +0900 |
Check out www.anawa.org.au
AND join this list:
http://lists.perthimc.asn.au/mailman/listinfo/anti-nuke-action
Link here
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