Italy wants to export 20,000 tons of its radioactive wastes to the USA.
But
– there is no safe way to store radioactive waste
– it has to go to Tennessee, crossing the Atlantic ocean by boat
– dangers of ambush, spills, leaks, contamination
– medical effects: cancer, mutation, aborted damaged fetuses
– five landfills licensed to receive re-classified waste
in the state of Tennessee – most citizens unaware of this
– nuclear is not green
– over 500 radionuclides produced in each nuclear plant every day
– each can damage cells in the event of leaks or worse catastrophes
– minimal amounts of plutonium can cause lung cancer, as one example of a radionuclide
– one millionth of one gram – is lung cancer-causing dose
– 454 grams in one pound
– thus, one pound, doing the math, could cause 454 million
cases of lung cancer
– each of USA’s 104 nuclear plant produces between
400-1000 pounds of plutonium every year
– 20 pounds of plutonium theoretically could cause
cancer in every human being on Earth
– plutonium has to be in a 2-4 micron size to enter
and remain in the lung
– half life of plutonium-239 is 24,000 years
hazardous life then is 240,000 – 480,000 yrs
– 18% of USA electricity produced by nuclear power
– 3% of USA electricity produced by oil
– approx. 80% of uranium to power USA nuclear plants is imported
– Denmark produces 20% of its electricity from windpower
– Germany is phasing out nuclear power (most Americans unaware)
— why? Germany leads world in windpower
with >20,000 megawatts of windpower
adding > 1000 megawatts every year
— average nuclear plant generates 1000 megawatts electricity
– USA is ‘Persian Gulf Of Wind’
— Dept of Energy states winds of N. and S. Dakota can produce
2/3 rds of USA electricity
— Texas’ winds can produce other third
– T. Boone Pickens investing $10 billion in biggest windfarm in world
in Texas.
– nuclear utilities claim they cannot build any new nuclear plants
without government welfare. $20.5 billion in fed’l loan
guarantees provided for nuclear industry few months ago.
– The Union Of Concerned Scientists (UCS) states that an area
in Nevada 100 X 120 miles can produce all the electricity
the USA needs via solar power
– Bush administration wants to build more nuclear plants
– no nuclear plants ordered since 1970’s
– over 300,000 people have died prematurely so far from the 1986 Chernobyl
nuclear accident, according to Dr. Alexey Yablokov, president
of the Center for Russian Environmental Policy and “millions
of people in the Northern Hemisphere have suffered and will
suffer from the Chernobyl catastrophe”
– According to Dr. Vladimir Chernousenko, nuclear physicist responsible
for Chernobyl clean-up (who died from cancer thereafter) “Dr. Rosalie
Bertell, who participated in the investigation of the [1979] accident
at Three Mile Island, [in Pennsylvania,] can tell you, if a miracle
hadn’t occurred, and the hydrogen bubble within that containment
hadn’t dissipated, the accident within the United States would be
comparable to the accident at Chernobyl. And the containment
wouldn’t have been able to protect from these dangers.”
– “We have conducted studies of the regions around 20 different nuclear
plants in my country. In all of these territories we noticed an
increase in the breast cancer rate—sometimes an increase of 15% over
the normal level. We noticed a growth of anemia amongst children
who lived in those areas, cardiovascular diseases, and cataracts.
So from this you can conclude that even without the explosion of
nuclear weapons there is quite a bit of danger to human lives.”
– – Dr. Vladimir Chernousenko
– Original nuclear reactor came from plant used to make plutonium for
atomic bombs. Then someone thought why not boil water in it
and use the steam to turn a turbine to make electricity? It will
be too cheap to meter. Turned out not to be true. Nuclear power
unsustainable economically without federal subsidies.

– ‘Inherently safe’ nuclear reactors??
Again from Dr. Vladimir Chernousenko:
“To construct a safe reactor is practically impossible either
here (in the USA) or in Russia …we simply cannot get energy
from such enterprises. Because we are dealing with nuclear
processes, with uncontrolled reactions, which occur within
millionths of a second, and no matter what kind of protection
mechanism you design, sooner or later the object must explode
and they will. Why were they created at all? When they were
created, constructed, it was understood that they were extremely
dangerous, but at that point the physicists were told that they
must save the world from Hitler at any cost and as soon as
possible. And unfortunately the physicists accomplished this,
which they regret to this day.”

Now follows the latest Alert! from http://www.nirs.org

ALERT! March 27, 2008

For more info, contact: Michael Mariotte, NIRS 301-270-6477 Ext 12

Stop the Import of Radioactive Waste! Support HR 5632—Call Your Representative NowOn March 2, we told you about EnergySolutions’ scheme to import some 20,000 tons of radioactive waste from Italy to the U.S. EnergySolutions wants to bring this waste in through the ports of Charleston, SC and New Orleans, LA; ship it to Tennessee for various types of “processing”—including incineration and possible “recycling” into consumer and industrial goods—and then send what’s left for burial in the company’s shallow landfill in Utah.This is a fight we have to win! EnergySolutions’ scheme would open the door to making the U.S. the dumping ground for the world’s radioactive waste. Help stop this dangerous precedent with your contribution here on our secure online server. There have been two important developments: Legislative: Reps. Gordon (TN), Whitfield (KY) and Matheson (UT) have introduced HR 5632, a bill to ban the import of such radioactive waste. The text of the bill is below. However, the bill isn’t going anywhere unless we all back it loudly and clearly. Please call your Representative today and demand that he/she cosponsor HR 5632, and work to get this bill to the House floor and on to the Senate. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121. *A big thank-you to those of you who have contributed toward our obtaining the technology necessary to enable you to send e-mails to your Congressmembers directly from our Alerts. However, we still have a ways to go before we can afford this. You can help with your contribution here. We want to make this available to you, but we need dedicated funding to do so. Your help is essential. Regulatory: Thanks to all your efforts, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the comment period on this proposal until June 10, 2008. Those of you on our mailing list will soon be receiving a comment postcard you can mail directly to the NRC, or to NIRS and we’ll send it on to the NRC. The postcard states simply: Don’t let the United States become the world’s radioactive waste dumping ground! I urge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny license applications IW023 and XW013. These applications would allow EnergySolutions to import some 20,000 tons – a million cubic feet – of radioactive waste from Italy into the United States. Energy-Solutions proposes to ship this waste into SC and LA, “process” it in Tennessee, where it could be incinerated, dumped in regular trash landfills, or “recycled” into consumer and industrial goods, and then ship the remainder to Utah for shallow land burial. This scheme is fraught with unnecessary danger, could increase radiation exposures to the public, and would set a terrible precedent. The United States must not become the dumping ground for the world’s radioactive waste. These applications must be rejected. If you don’t want to wait, or aren’t on our mailing list, you can e-mail these comments, or your own thoughts, directly to the NRC at secy@nrc.gov and reference license applications IW023 and XW013. And if you want more postcards to pass out in your community, let us know and we’ll send them to you. We can stop this scheme and prevent the U.S. from becoming an international radioactive waste dumping ground. Your actions will make the difference!

***************************************************

This is the earlier Alert! with some slightly different information:

ALERT! March 2, 2008

For more info, contact: Diane D’Arrigo, NIRS 301-270-6477 16

Oppose License Applications to Import Massive Amounts of Nuclear Power Waste from Europe to Burn, Melt, Transport and Dump in the US! EnergySolutions (often called EnergyPollutions) runs 2 commercial nuclear waste dumps in the US (in South Carolina and Utah) and incinerators, a metal melter and other “processing” facilities in Memphis and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. EnergySolutions is applying for a federal license to import 20,000 tons, one million cubic feet and over 600,000,000,000,000 becquerels (radioactive emissions per second) of radioactive waste (mainly from Italian nuclear power and related industries) into the US for processing including incineration, transport and disposal. The “Low” and Intermediate Level Nuclear Waste from ITALY would ~ Enter the US via Ports of Charleston and New Orleans (possibly others) ~ Travel to and throughout Tennessee — ~ Be Burned, Smelted, Chopped, and otherwise “Processed,” in Memphis and Oak Ridge giving off routine radioactive emissions and creating more waste. Some could be “cleared” and Dumped in Solid Waste Dumps in TN or “Released” and “Recycled” for use as if not radioactive. Some would be Transported to Utah to be Buried. This opens the doors (or the borders) to foreign radioactive waste coming in from around the world. This gives a huge financial boost to processors that routinely release radioactivity and use Tennessee (TDEC) state authority to release the waste from regulatory controls normally required for nuclear power waste. It facilitates dispersing nuclear waste in this country via Tennessee. This will fill up existing (already-controversial) disposal capacity for the massive amounts of nuclear waste already generated by the nuclear power and weapons in the US. ACTION NEEDED: Comment to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to say NO to License Applications Nos. IW023 and XW013 (Federal Register Volume 73, Number 28, 2/11/08) Send copies of your comments to your Congressmembers and Senators and to your State legislators especially if you are in TN, UT, LA, SC and states between and downwind. Comment to NRC (secy@nrc.gov) by June 10 , 2008 [now]; Contact NIRS (dianed@nirs.org) to join requests for hearing(s) and to intervene. From NIRS website: http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/llw/llwhome.htm In the US “low-level” radioactive waste includes all the commercial nuclear waste except irradiated fuel from nuclear reactors, the liquid and sludge from reprocessing and the solid into which that is converted. In most of Europe this same range of waste is considered “low” and “intermediate” level. Regardless, it includes the same long-lasting, deadly radionuclides as in high level radioactive waste and sometimes in even greater concentrations. Despite no place or technology to isolate the waste as long as it is radioactively hazardous, the nuclear industry creates more and more. UPDATE February 2008. A major US nuclear waste company, EnergySolutions, with a near monopoly on commercial nuclear waste treatment and disposal in the US, proposes large scale importation nuclear waste from Italy for processing and disposal in the US. This import license application is open for public comment until March 12, 2008. On February 28, 2008. over 50 national, state and local groups and individuals Congressmembers ( and ), , and newspapers have expressed concern and opposition. A million cubic feet, 20,000 tons, and large amounts of radioactivity from the Italian nuclear industry facilities – what appears to be most of Italy’s “low” and intermediate level radioactive waste – could be brought around the globe to the US through the ports of Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana. It would then go to Memphis and Oak Ridge Tennessee for “processing” and the remains transported to Utah for burial. Comments submitted so far and the docket can be viewed on the NRC website www.nrc.gov and searching in the electronic library ADAMS under the docket # 11005711. Comment to NRC (secy@nrc.gov) re: Application No. IW023 by March 12, 2008; Contact NIRS (dianed@nirs.org) to join requests for hearing(s) and to intervene.

http://www.nirs.org/alerts/03-02-2008/1

Call your US Senators and Congresspeople at 202-224-3121

and alert them to the problem. Tell them what you think.

Tell them you vote. You can get each Senator and House person

by telling the operator what state you live in; for the Representative

they will ask you for your zip code. A telephone call carries more

weight than an email.