Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 16:53:04 -0700 From: Aaron Koleszar <•••@••.•••> Subject: The radioactive dinner table >Environment News Service: Healing Our World Weekly Comment: >The Radioactive Dinner Table >URL: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-16g.html > > > >Healing Our World: Weekly Comment > By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. > >{Jackie Giuliano, a writer and a Professor of Environmental Studies, can >be found in Venice, California, searching the Internet for a Geiger >counter to test his knives and forks and wondering what kind of world his >baby on the way will be entering next March. Please send your thoughts, >comments, and visions to him at •••@••.••• and visit his >web site at www.healingourworld.com} > > > > The Radioactive Dinner Table - An Industry Gone Mad > > We wait in the darkness! > Come, all ye who listen, > Help in our night journey: > Now no sun is shining; > Now no star is glowing; > Come show is the pathway: > The night is not friendly; > The moon has forgot us, > We wait in the darkness! > -- Iroquois prayer > > When most of us think of radioactive waste, we usually think of sealed >containers, carefully buried in deep pits in the ground in some remotely >located storage facility. Yet because of government callousness and >corporate greed, millions of pounds of radioactive metal are already being >sold to make all kinds of consumer goods including knives, forks, belt >buckles, zippers, eyeglasses, dental fillings and intrauterine devices. > > >The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Energy (DOE) >and metal industry representatives would like to see relaxed standards >that would allow companies to recycle millions more pounds of low-level >radioactive material by raising the current acceptable levels of radiation >exposure for individuals. > >The U.S. Department of Energy, as well as many private businesses across >the nation and around the world, have tens of thousands of tons of metal >from decommissioned nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons programs, the oil >and gas industries, and metals including carbon steel, stainless steel, >nickel, copper and aluminum. Some of this material is contaminated from >being in contact with radioactive isotopes while some is made up of old >machinery that has radioactive residue on its parts. Thousands of tons of >steel girders from buildings that housed radioactive substances are also >part of the "hot metal" inventory. > >The destination for this waste has traditionally been radioactive waste >storage facilities, but in a clever move to reduce costs and turn deadly >waste into a commodity, the NRC and the DOE began efforts in the 1970s to >turn the radioactive waste into a commodity for industry. In 1997, the two >agencies established the National Center of Excellence for Metal >Recycling. > >An industry group of metal recycling companies that want to profit from >the bonanza of radioactive metal was formed in 1995. The Association of >Radioactive Metal Recyclers (ARMR) is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, home >of the DOE Oak Ridge Operations, a nuclear research facility since the >development of the first atomic bomb. Their member companies wish to >change the public's perception of the hazards of low level nuclear waste >and even to encourage the EPA to lower standards for human exposure to >radiation from this waste. > >Yet many studies show that exposure to even low levels of radiation can, >over time, result in an even greater hazard than high level, short term >exposure. A study done by University of California, Los Angeles >researchers in 1997 showed that workers at a Rocketdyne facility at Santa >Susana, near Los Angeles, who were exposed to radiation below the national >standards had a six to eight times greater cancer risk than previous >studies had shown. UCLA researchers examined the medical and personnel >records for 4,563 employees that were monitored for radiation between 1950 >and 1993. Nearly a third of them had died of cancer. > <snip> >Sadly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rather than banning the >use of radioactive waste products for consumer goods, seems to have >abdicated its role by creating the Clean Metals Program, seemingly to help >industry gain access to this dangerous material. The EPA says that the >goal of the program is to "devise a self-supporting system to ensure a >national supply of clean metal for general use." > >The amount of radioactive metal already in the homes, offices and >buildings is astounding, both in the U.S. and abroad. From 1993 to 1996, >5.5 million pounds of radioactive steel scrap has been shipped to mainland >China and Taiwan from Louisiana and Texas. This metal is not the byproduct >of any nuclear industry. When oil is extracted from the Earth, the >radioactive material radium is often carried to the surface and becomes >encrusted on oil drilling equipment. Rather than paying for expensive >storage, cleaning and disposal at nuclear waste sites in the U.S., the oil >companies would sell the material to other countries without such >standards. Some companies have stopped the practice, but keep the option >open for the future. > <snip> >If something is not done, this problem could reach crisis proportions in >the U.S. The Oak Ridge facility alone has released 2,610 tons of >radioactive metals to companies in the past decade. Other DOE sites >released a total of over 11,000 tons during that time. > >A new contract between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the U.S. >subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. that would release over 100,000 >tons of radioactive metal to be processed and released into the >marketplace is supported by the DOE. Vice President Al Gore may also >suppport the contract. Last year, Gore spoke positively about the >reindustrialization and clean up of the nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge, >of which this contract is a part. <snip> >The greed and short-sightedness of our political and corporate leaders is >astonishing. How much is a dollar worth? Is it worth the risk of cancer, >birth defects and a diminished quality of life for us all? We must demand >that this waste be buried at sites that should be made into monuments to >human greed, stupidity and to an industry gone mad. > >RESOURCES > >1. Press Release from the Critical Mass Energy Project discussing the >recycling of hot metals into consumer goods can be found at >http://www.citizen.org/CMEP/radmetal/goreltr.htm > >2. Read a detailed account of these issues from the Progressive Magazine >article "Nuclear Spoons" by Anne-Marie Cusac at >http://www.progressive.org/cusac9810.htm > >3. Visit the EPA's Clean Metals Program website at >http://www.epa.gov/radiation/cleanmetals/index.html > >4. For current action alerts on this issue with information on how to get >involved, go to http://www.ratical.org/radiation/radMetalRecyc.html and >http://www.nirs.org/DANGER.htm > >5. Read the story of a young boy whose death is being attributed to >radioactive building materials in Taiwan at >http://www.teputc.org.tw/issue/rad/rad1-eng.htm > >6. Send email to Carol Brower, EPA Administrator at >•••@••.••• expressing your concern. Demand that they >have a zero tolerance for radioactive metals. Also send email to: John >Karhnak, EPA Cleanup and Reuse Center at •••@••.••• > >7. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. >Demand federal intervention to stop the flood of radioactive metals into >the marketplace. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at >http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state >at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html. You can also >find your representatives at http://congress.nw.dc.us/innovate/index.html > >8. Read about the protest of the plan to make 100,000 tons of radioactive >metal available for consumer goods at >http://www.citizen.org/CMEP/radmetal/goreltr.htm > >9. Visit the website of the Association of Radioactive Metal Recyclers at >http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~armr/default.html > >10. Some steel mill operators do not want radioactive scrap. Read about >them at http://www.steelnet.org/sma/radscrap.html > >11. Visit the web site of a company that processes radioactive metals at >http://www.mfgsci.com/metproc.html > >12. Gulf War Syndrome may be caused by exposure to radioactive waste in >the form of depleted uranium shells. Read about it at >http://www.thenation.com/issue/970714/0714mesl.htm > > > ) Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved. >>================================= > > >*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material >is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest >in receiving the included information for research and educational >purposes. *** > >******************************************************** Judyth Mermelstein "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..." Montreal, QC, Canada <•••@••.•••> ******************************************************** ********************************************************** Aaron Koleszar <•••@••.•••> ___________________________________________________ "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." - Paulo Freire, Brazillian educator Prince Edward Island PROPAGANDA JOURNAL look at http://www3.pei.sympatico.ca/brad/ ************************************************************** From: Paul Swann <•••@••.•••> Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 12:40:37 -0700 To: •••@••.••• From: Carol Brouillet <•••@••.•••> Subject: [y2k-nuclear] Diet For The Atomic Age Definitely an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but Sara Shannon's book- Diet for the Atomic Age; How to Protect Yourself from Low-Level Radiation, (Avery Publishing Group. Wayne New Jersey, 1987 -provides excellent information on the effects of low level radiation and how a healthy diet can protect and prolong life. This is very useful in an increasingly polluted world where radiation is bound to increase throughout our environment and the food chain. In a nutshell, brown rice and miso soup was a winning diet to help survivors of Hiroshima. Meats, sugar, dairy products have a negative effect. The healthier one is initially when exposed, the better one's chances... There is an intro by Ernest J. Sternglass, Ph.D., and a blurb by Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D.- "A book devoted to sensible nutritional habits for a polluted earth has long been overdue. I hope this one will become a foundation for learning, dialogue and successfully coping with a hitherto intractable problem." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Paul Swann <•••@••.•••> From: •••@••.••• Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 20:06:54 EDT To: •••@••.••• Subject: [y2k-nuclear] Re: Diet For The Atomic Age To all, thank you whoever made that good summary of my book. It is important to know that if the body has a sufficient amount of the stable elements, such as potassium or calcium or iodine, it will not absorb their radioactive counterparts; being cesium-137, or strontium or radioactive iodine. This fact is in the literature and known for years but noone tells us this. This whole concept is brought down to just the fact that stable iodine will preclude the uptake of radioactive iodine. Well, this same principle applies to all. So once we understand this, then we can happily make more of an effort to supply on a daily basis the nutrients we need. And to do this by selecting primarily organic vegetables, and grains and sea vegetables. With very little fruit, or dairy or meat. And sugar is to be avoided. This is the eating plan we already know is good. So it is not difficult at all. The book does have recipes which feature the key foods. The l993 hard cover version of the book has revised resources and a second introduction by Dr Ernest Sternglass. It is available on www. amazon.com. I invite anyone to email me any question you may have, and I am happy to reply as best I can. with best wishes to all, Sara, •••@••.••• www.geocities.com/mothersalert Please read and share this site! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/y2k-nuclear http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications ******************************************************************** Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 16:54:22 +0000 From: Paul Swann <•••@••.•••> Subject: Nuclear Talking Point <snip> I'm a campaigner for an international NGO called Y2K WASH (World Atomic Safety Holiday) that was initiated by concerned citizens in Japan last July. Firstly, Y2K is more complex and hence more serious than governments are letting on, although the US State Department Inspector General has said: "Y2K-related failures are inevitable, both here in the USA and abroad". The only question is: How serious will the consequences of Y2K be? The only answer is: We won't know until it happens. Because of the uncertainities and heightened risks associated with Y2K, it makes sense for individuals and communities to make appropriate preparations. <snip> During the discussion, David Kidd of the IAEA was admirably forthright in stating that "There is a potential risk if the electricity grid becomes unstable...we're certainly taking it seriously." I would have liked to have asked Mr Kidd why the IAEA presentation at the recent G8 special conference on Y2K contingency planning in Berlin was alloted just 5 minutes in the conference agenda? To me this suggests that either there's huge complacency about the issue, both at the IAEA and in the G8, or that all Y2K remediation programmes in the worldwide nuclear industry have been completed, and all systems - including external systems that nuclear power plants depend on - have been succesfully tested. I know for a fact that the latter is not the case. Mr Kidd spoke himself about the dangers of a "complacent mindset" in the nuclear industry. Why did the IAEA not press for a reasonable period of time in the conference agenda to enable them to address the issue with the seriousness that he claims they are giving to it? Had it not been for the actions of a dozen self-financed activists from the G8 countries who gained access to the conference and distributed a "Belin Declaration" (URL below) to the delegates, the issue would have been brushed under the carpet. This hardly inspires confidence in the nuclear industry's ability to cope with Y2K responsibly and effectively. Y2K WASH (World Atomic Safety Holiday) Berlin Declaration: http://www.zeitbombe-jahr2000.de/zebo.y2k/inh./y2k.cont./Berlin_Declaration.html Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) webpage: http://www.nirs.org/y2k/y2kandnuclearpowerwebpage.htm Three Mile Island Alert Y2K webpage: http://www.tmia.com/y2k.htm BASIC report "The Bug in the Bomb": http://www.basicint.org/y2krept.htm CND report "Millennium Bug & Nuclear Weapons": http://www.cnduk.org/briefing/year2K.htm Greenpeace report "Y2K: It's Potential Threat to Nuclear Facilities": Email version available from: <•••@••.•••> Trend Monitor report "The Millennium Reckoning: Implications of the Year 2000 Computer Timebomb": http://www.trendmonitor.com/y2ka.htm "Red Alert!" A New Internationalist special report on Nuclear weapons and the millennium bug. Email version available from <•••@••.•••> "Midnight Crossing" by James A. Kitfield, Air Force Magazine, July, 1999 http://www.afa.org/magazine/0799midnight.html y2k-nuclear email list - to subscribe send a blank email to: •••@••.••• Paul Swann, Y2K WASH, 14 Beacon Hill, London N7 9LY tel/fax: 0171-609 7764 email: •••@••.••• ____________________________________________
