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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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Entries by admin (106)

Tuesday
Dec062011

Pets to be rescued from Fukushima zone but only if owner requests it

Animal welfare groups will be allowed into the 12-mile exclusion zone around the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi reactors to rescue pets, but only if the owners requested it. Under frustratingly restrictive conditions, groups cannot pull any animal they see in need but only if permission has been granted by the owners, challenging rescuers to identify these animals many of whom are now semi-feral. Rescuers will be limited to 5-hour stints or less in the zone to avoid harmful health effects.

Thursday
Sep292011

Fukushima radiation contamination in ocean greater than Chernobyl, still leaking

Some exerpts:

"The leakage very likely isn’t over, either. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the plant, said Sept. 20 that it believed that something on the order of 200 to 500 tons a day of groundwater might still be pouring into the damaged reactor and turbine buildings.

Chernobyl-induced radiation in the Black Sea peaked in 1986 at about 1,000 becquerels per cubic meter, he said in an interview at his office in Woods Hole, Mass. By contrast, the radiation level off the coast near the Fukushima Daiichi plant peaked at more than 100,000 becquerels per cubic meter in early April.

Mr. Buesseler said there were grounds for concern about bioaccumulation of radioactive isotopes in the food chain, particularly in seaweed and some shellfish close to the plants. A fuller understanding of the effect on fish that are commercially harvested will probably take several years of data following several feeding cycles, he said.

But there was also an unpleasant surprise. 'Rather than leveling off toward zero, it remained elevated in late July,' he said, up to about 10,000 becquerel per cubic meter. ‘That suggests the release problem has not been solved yet.'

The working hypothesis is that contaminated sediments and groundwater near the coast are continuing to contaminate the seas, he said." New York Times

Saturday
Aug272011

Ex Japanese nuclear regulator blames contaminated animal feed on "black rain"

In a video dated July 19th and entitled "Ex Japanese Nuclear Regulator Blames Radioactive Animal Feed on 'Black Rain'," Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates describes widespread radioactive contamination caused by fallout from Fukushima Daiichi. Radioactive hay fed to cows contaminated beef long distances from the melted reactors. Mushrooms grown indoors far from Fukushima Daiichi exhibited severe contamination. The data points for severe radioactive contamination over a broad region of Japan are very troubling. ("Black Rain" was first observed by the survivors of the atomic bombings of Japan by the U.S. in August 1945, and refers to radioactivity precipitated down to the ground by rain.)

Friday
Aug262011

"Influx of jellyfish" shuts down St. Lucie

This just in:

A daily event report filed by St. Lucie nuclear power plant in Florida to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reveals:

"MANUAL REACTOR TRIP DUE TO RISING CONDENSER BACKPRESSURE"

"On August 22, 2011 at 1513 [hrs. EDT], Unit 1 was manually tripped due to rising condenser backpressure. All CEAs fully inserted into the core. Decay heat removal was initially from main feedwater and steam bypass to the main condenser. The cause of the rising back pressure was an influx of jellyfish into the intake structure, degrading the circulating water system performance...

Unit 2 is in Mode 1, currently at 70 % power. Unit 2 power is being reduced from 100% in response to the influx of jellyfish."

Thursday
Jul282011

Chernobyl: A field trip to no man's land

"...an international team of a dozen researchers...are here to study the ecosystem that was left behind after the 1986 accident.

"They come here to find out what the impacts are of a nuclear accident on the life that is left behind.

"The team's latest studies on birds suggest that the contamination is linked to some unusual genetic effects.

"One member of the team, biologist Gier Rudolfsen from the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, has been focusing on how the male birds' reproductive organs might be affected.

"The constant unzipping and replication of DNA required to produce millions of sperm cells each day means there are many opportunities for the biological assembly line to be broken." See BBC Nature for more detail and videos.