Nuclear – the Radioactive Fly in the Sustainable Energy Ointment

Reference http://wakeup-world.com/2014/09/27/nuclear-the-radioactive-fly-in-the-sustainable-energy-ointment/

27th September 2014

By Ethan Indigo Smith

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t even know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country, and other free countries, it is the latter category – the unknown unknowns – that tend to be the difficult ones.

One example, and probably the most pressing, is the nuclear debate. At the crux of this issue in the public discussion are the unknowns; the known unknowns, such as what to do with the ever-mounting radioactive waste produced by the world’s nuclear energy and arms industries, which can neither be destroyed nor disposed of; but more importantly, unknown unknowns, such as the nuclear industry’s culture of secrecy. Still tight-lipped about the ongoing disaster at Fukushima, and the impending disaster in Miami, the industry continues to show its unwillingness to admit, much less manage, the real dangers inherent in nuclear experimentation.

The nuclear experiment

Let’s start with some information you might want to ignore; California was nuked in the fifties.

The first (known) meltdown of a nuclear power generator in the U.S.A. occurred in July of 1959 at the Santa Susana Field Laboratories in Simi Valley, CA. Since this accident pre-dated any regulation of the nuclear industry, no one will ever know how much radioactivity was strewn around as a result. Reasonable people guess the released amount was comparable to what happened at Three Mile Island or Chernobyl.

The Simi Valley reactor was an experimental “fast-breeder” type, bizarrely cooled by liquefied metallic Sodium, a substance which will explode when doused with water, and burst into flame when exposed to air. Thousands of pounds of this laboratory curiosity remain unaccounted for. Obviously it has all long since oxidized, and remains somewhere in the biosphere as Sodium ions. Not the familiar table salt kind of Sodium course, but Sodium that has absorbed a fast-moving neutron from the fast-breeder reactor, turning it into radioactive Sodium 24, which in view of a half-life measured in hours, has long since decayed to the radio stable Magnesium 24.

This was an experiment so deadly that only a calculating government institution could justify it – and not surprisingly, it had disastrous results, experiencing partial meltdowns in 1959 and again in 1964. This failure was compounded by evidence of dangerous practices within the industry, exemplified by the “atomic cowboy” culture of the Santa Susana Laboratories that saw flammable materials routinely disposed of by placing them in barrels and dropping them into a pit, then igniting them by shooting them with rifles – a practice that continued, at least sporadically, into the 1990′s.

Whether it is nuclear power generation or nuclear detonation, all nuclear industry is experimental. All we know for sure is that radiation is dangerous and destructive to all biological beings on this planet. We know there is no diluting radioactive waste, there is only dispersal. We know that nuclear waste is virtually indestructible for millions of years. We know that no amount of energy is worth risking our existence. And we know that, scientifically speaking, the risk cycle of nuclear power generation cannot be validated as “safe” until waste can be permanently removed, stored and degraded, and potential impacts to human and environmental health entirely mitigated. And we know that, today, that is simply not the case – despite the industry rhetoric.

How can utility companies, industry regulators and nuclear zeolots claim that an appropriate level of control is exercised on wastes that will be dangerously radioactive for tens of thousands of years? In reality, the storage cycle for weaponry and fuel related nuclear waste is only beginning. We have reached year 69 of a million year long process. Our nuclear waste is a problem today, and is a mounting problem for countless generations yet to come.

I sure hope they can solve it. Today’s nuclear advocates won’t even admit the problem…

Industry spin

For these reasons and myriad others, nuclear can only be thought of by as an experiment. Every time a new discovery is made concerning nuclear experimentation, it is found to be a more dangerous practice than before, and far more insidious than ever portrayed by media and industry regulators.

The nuclear industry is based on lies; lies about how inexpensive it is, economically, environmentally, and for that matter, ethically. With hindsight, it is also undeniable that the industry obfuscates the truth. The works at Santa Susana laboratories didn’t advise those living downwind that there might be something problematic in the air. Major fires went unreported, as did the 1959 meltdown. Only after a similar meltdown at Three Mile Island was the extent of the Santa Susana experiment finally revealed. (Source)

This culture of cover up is not isolated; it has been adopted as “standard practice” by the nuclear industry for decades. Breaking rank following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, Dr. Peter Karamoskos, a nuclear radiologist and a public representative on the radiation health committee of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency observed the following:

The nuclear industry has always kept a whole crew of “scientists” around, manipulating facts to help them maneuvre it into social acceptance. One of the most dangerous pieces of propaganda that was seeded in the early days of the nuclear experiment was the idea of hormesis; the twisted notion that low level radiation exposure is in fact good for our health.

A good lie is always embedded in some truth.

The fact is that exposure to “low level” radiation does stimulates the immune system. Because your body is so deeply disturbed by radiation exposure, a physiological self-preservation response is triggered and the body works overtime to reinforce itself. But like any flight/fight mechanism, the “beneficial” result of the body’s survival response is short lived. The body cannot maintain the full-tilt immune function required to deal with regular or ongoing exposure. That’s when disease and death occurs. To suggest the human body benefits from nuclear radiation exposure is absurd. History and science both tell us different.

Despite the nuclear industry spin, “safe” and “clean” nuclear experimentation has already resulted in the destruction of a significant portions of Japan and Europe, The latest inevitable disaster, the ongoing  Fukushima meltdown, continues to permanently and drastically alter our planet. Many other sites are operating above capacity, below standard, or with no viable means of even storing, much less disposing of, their waste. There have been over two thousand deliberate nuclear detonations, above and below ground, in the air and in the water. And while some areas have been devastated more than others, nowhere on the planet is untainted. (Source)

Meanwhile, our government leaders use the threat of nuclear warfare to increase their power over other nations, with no precedent and no real idea the extent of the global damage that ‘nuclear alternative’ would actually cause. Just another unknown and uncontrolled factor in the so-called “scientific” nuclear experiment.

The scholars of the status quo insist that the nuclear armament of the opposing forces in the cold war, pitted against each other, prevented those nuclear nations from going to war. The theory was that our mutually assured destruction would prevent us from using weapons of such devastation. And yet today we are faced with a widening number of nuclear nations, and an increasing numbers of nations as foes.

This all begs the question – do you trust these idiots with their finger on ‘the button’?

You are in an experiment

continued in the original article linked here.