Many hundreds of thousands of people -- athletes and spectators -- will flood into Japan for the 2020 Olympics. But exposure dangers from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe have not ended since the meltdowns and explosions spread radioactive material over large areas reaching down to Tokyo and beyond. Soon after the start of the meltdowns, experts began warning of exposure to radioactive microparticles (hot particles) -- a type of particle that poses a danger unaccounted for by regulatory agencies. What are the implications for people coming to the Olympics, and for those who have been there and will remain, once the games have concluded? More
H.R. 2699, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019, was passed by the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee on Wed., Nov. 20, by voice vote. That is, there is no roll call record as to how each U.S. Representative voted. Voice votes are usually applied only to non-controversial matters, such as naming a post office.
This dangerously bad high-level radioactive waste legislation should be among the most controversial bills Congress addresses. H.R. 2699 aims to open one or more dumps in the Southwest -- so-called consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs), targeted at New Mexico and/or Texas, as well as a permanent burial dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, on Western Shoshone Indian land. If any one of these dumps open, large-scale shipments of high-risk irradiated nuclear fuel, by road, rail, and/or waterway, would travel through most states, past the homes of millions of Americans.
Considering their targeting for the nuke waste dumps, this bill could be called the Screw Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas bill. (The 1987 amendments to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which singled out Nevada for the country's nuke waste dump, was most commonly dubbed the Screw Nevada bill.) But when it comes to the high-risk transportation impacts, we all live in Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas! More, including what you can do.
The Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands is effectively a radioactive "tomb." As the Los Angeles Times writes, it "holds more than 3.1 million cubic feet — or 35 Olympic-sized swimming pools — of U.S.-produced radioactive soil and debris, including lethal amounts of plutonium. Nowhere else has the United States saddled another country with so much of its nuclear waste, a product of its Cold War atomic testing program."
The radioactive waste is there because, reports the Times, "Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs on, in and above the Marshall Islands — vaporizing whole islands, carving craters into its shallow lagoons and exiling hundreds of people from their homes."
The Marshallese have been clamoring for years about the risk posed by the "Tomb", given it is poorly fortified to begin with. Now climate change is adding to the peril. Continues the Times:
"Now the concrete coffin, which locals call 'the Tomb,' is at risk of collapsing from rising seas and other effects of climate change. Tides are creeping up its sides, advancing higher every year as distant glaciers melt and ocean waters rise."
There have been flurries of news stories in recent months about the Runit Dome. On our magazine website, Beyond Nuclear International, we have been posting stories about the scandal in the Marshall Islands, where the US has effectively abandoned those afflicted by the atomic tests to a life of poverty, over-crowding and squalor. See Vlad Sokhin's powerful photo essay, and Darlene Keju's courageous story. Read about the US veterans who were treated as guinea pigs and then also neglected, and John Pilger's searing article. And watch Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner's powerful video poem about the Tomb. (Photo above of Runit Dome, Wikimedia Commons).
A new report looks at the increasing risks faced by nuclear power plants around the world as the manifestations of the climate crisis worsen. Here is the abstract:
Nuclear power—a source of low-carbon electricity—is exposed to increasing risks from climate change. Intensifying storms, droughts, extreme precipitation, wildfires, higher temperatures, and sea-level rise threaten supply disruptions and facility damage. Approximately 64 percent of installed capacity commenced operation between thirty and forty-eight years ago, before climate change was considered in plant design or construction. Globally, 516 million people reside within a fifty mile (80 km) radius of at least one operating nuclear power plant, and 20 million reside within a ten mile (16 km) radius, and could face health and safety risks resulting from an extreme event induced by climate change. Roughly 41 percent of nuclear power plants operate near seacoasts, making them vulnerable to increasing storm intensity and sea-level rise. Inland plants face exposure to other climate risks, such as increasingly severe wildfires and warmer water temperatures. No entity has responsibility for conducting risk assessments that adequately evaluate the climate vulnerabilities of nuclear power and the subsequent threats to international energy security, the environment, and human health. A comprehensive risk assessment by international agencies and the development of national and international standards is necessary to mitigate risks for new and existing plants. More
A landmark new report on radioactive waste was released on November 11 in Berlin. The World Nuclear Waste Report, with multiple authors, was commissioned primarily by the Heinrich Böll Foundation which relased it on Monday. The report is the brain-child of former German Green Party/ Alliance 90 MEP, Rebecca Harms – a forty year campaigner against nuclear power – and independent Paris-based international energy consultant, Mycle Schneider, the team behind the now internationally respected and encyclopedically comprehensive annualWorld Nuclear Industry Status Report.
The WNWR concludes “The final disposal of high-level radioactive waste presents governments worldwide with major challenges that have not yet been addressed, and entails incalculable technical, logistical, and financial risks.”
Ellen Ueberschär, President of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, stated:
"The numerous unsolved problems in dealing with nuclear waste show that nuclear power has no future. At the same time, the report makes clear that phasing out nuclear power is not enough. Insufficient financial provisions for disposing of nuclear waste must not undermine the care and safety of decisions for interim storage and final disposal."
Many hundreds of thousands of people -- athletes and spectators -- will flood into Japan for the 2020 Olympics. But exposure dangers from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe have not ended since the meltdowns and explosions spread radioactive material over large areas reaching down to Tokyo and beyond. Soon after the start of the meltdowns, experts began warning of exposure to radioactive microparticles (hot particles) -- a type of particle that poses a danger unaccounted for by regulatory agencies. What are the implications for people coming to the Olympics, and for those who have been there and will remain, once the games have concluded? More 
November 22, 2019
