Animals
Animals are affected by the operation of nuclear power -- but are the most ignored of all the nuclear industry's victims. Whether sucked into reactor intake systems, or pulverized at the discharge, aquatic animals and their habitats are routinely harmed and destroyed by the routine operation of reactors. In addition, animals are forced to remain in highly radioactive areas after a nuclear disaster, such as around Chernobyl and Fukushima. Some of our latest stories about animals can be found on our newest platform, Beyond Nuclear International. And for more about how routine reactor operations harms marine wildlife, see our Licensed to Kill page
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"Leaks from a damaged nuclear power plant may explain why two whales caught along the northern coast had traces of radiation, AP reported on Wednesday.
'Out of 17 minke whales caught off the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, two showed signs of radioactive cesium-- about one-twentieth of the legal limit, according to fishing officials." Third Age
A baby bunny apparently born without ears (photo at left) in the town of Namie, near the massively leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, has raised concerns about mutagenic effects caused by radioactivity in the environment. Naysayers abound, despite evidence of genetic mutations in animals (such as a two headed calf) and plants (including deformed flowers) in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island meltdown collected and documented by Mary Osborn; numerous scientific studies showing adverse impacts on wildlife populations in Chernobyl contaminated regions, such as on birds by Dr. Tim Mousseau of the University of South Carolina; and, further back in time, an epidemic of ewe deaths in southwest Utah immediately downwind of the Nevada Nuclear Weapons Test Site. An excellent book by John G. Fuller, "The Day We Bombed Utah," published in 1984, recounts how Mormon sheep farmers experienced unprecedented sheep and ewe deaths in the early 1950s, shortly after nuclear weapons blasts upwind in Nevada. The farmers sued the Atomic Energy Commission for damages. AEC research scientists swore, under oath, that they had no evidence that radioactivity could cause such a die off in sheep and ewes. However, over a quarter century later, it was shown by the sheep farmers and their attorney that the AEC had lied -- they had conducted experiments on sheep at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State: they observed die offs very similar to what occurred in Utah. The same judge who had presided over the original trial heard the new evidence as well, and ruled that the AEC had perpetrated a fraud upon the court. Fuller also wrote "We Almost Lost Detroit," published in 1975, about the 1966 partial meltdown at the Fermi 1 experimental plutonium breeder reactor in Monroe, Michigan.
NHK World of Japan reports that officials of Ibaraki Prefecture, south of the catastrophically leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, have begun radiation monitoring on 17 beaches. They hope to quell the fears of swimmers, surfers, and other visitors ahead of the vital summer tourist season. It has long been known that "radioactive stigma effect" -- not only after catastrophes, but even after smaller accidents or even during "routine" nuclear activities -- can harm other economic sectors, especially ones like agriculture and tourism, over entire regions. Clean, safe, and ever more reliable and cost effective wind turbines, on the other hand, have been shown to attract tourists!
June 16, 2011