Month: October 2017

Hey, remember when we mentioned the mass amounts of low-level nuclear waste post-Fukushima and how that was a mess and what the heck they were gonna do about it? Well, conveniently the day after: Sprawling radioactive waste storage facility opens for business in Fukushima
The Japan Times has some good Fukushima articles if you go through the tag (filed under “Keywords”).
A predictable article:
Government, Tepco ordered to pay ¥500 million in damages for Fukushima disaster
And an interesting read:
Battling nuclear demons: Mental health issues haunt those who were the first line of defense after 3/11

Not about Fukushima but it came up:
Greenpeace activists enter French nuclear plant and set off fireworks near spent-fuel pool to show vulnerabilities

uh i found out the hard way that JapanTimes only gives you 5 free articles 🙁 for reference
-Sachi

Drawing from the philosophy of the Finland facilities toured in Into Eternity and what we’ve discussed in class about the opposite approach -monumental signs used to indicate nuclear waste as “hazard!-pay-attention-yet-don’t”-… I’m starting to write about these semiotic endeavors and critiquing their suppositions for my VCS sci-fi class! I’ve been researching the documents produced by the Futures Panel of the 1990’s, a team of archeologists, linguists, semioticians, etc. hired for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant development project. The team had to probability theorize various societies that would likely lead to “human interference”. Some of the scenarios are super fascinating and sci-fi literature in their own right. Various news outlets recently picked up this history I’ve seen via google search…but, in the PDF from the DOE, Page c-40 of a summary I will attach here outlines a really amusing scenario called A Feminist World, 2091 for 100 years out. It killed me… basically speculates on a female dommed popuation and mass ideology that devalues aggressive male science and therefore ignores the signs at WIPP. Here’s the document
-Elise 🙂

Hi all,

If you want to track down the state Senator and state House representative that represent you, go to this website: http://www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/addressfinder.aspx

Enter your address, let the system find that address, confirm it, and then you’ll get a list with contact information.  If you write to one of these individuals using your Illinois address, your address will be used to confirm that you are a resident of that person’s district, and your letter will be received and counted.

Google “find my representatives” to get similar websites to find who represents your district (either using your Illinois address or another home address in the U.S.) at the federal level.

1.  The risks associated with storing nuclear waste in overcrowded temporary storage pools or in so-called “interim” consolidated storage facilities.  The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is an excellent starting point for researching these issues (try the articles here, and here).

2.  Should Illinois continue providing subsidies to support Exelon and our nuclear power plants?  Right now, this is the one thing that is keeping nuclear as a cost-competitive energy source in our state.  Search terms to use to find recent news articles on this:  “Illinois nuclear subsidies” and “Future Energy Jobs Act”.  Here and here are a couple of articles that might be an entry point to this topic.  And here is another.

Interestingly, the subsidies question has two distinctly different directions it can go, politically speaking.  On the one hand, nuclear power plants can be grouped with aging coal plants and given subsidies primarily intended to maintain jobs and support industry.  On the other hand, nuclear can be grouped with renewables, and subsidies can be use to achieve Paris Climate Accord goals or to forge legal precedent for carbon-based energy policy.

If you are a U.S. Citizen, this is an excellent topic to weigh in on right now, as it is being debated in our federal government.  A bill is in the House of Representatives that, if passed, would re-open the licensing process for Yucca Mountain.  The bill is being spearheaded by a Republican representative from a district in Southern Illinois. Here and here are two opinion pieces from some years ago in which he argues that Yucca should be re-opened.

The bill he has introduced is called H.R. 3053, or the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments act of 2017.  It is not yet up for discussion and vote in the House of Representatives as a whole, as it is moving through the committees that must review it.  This may take some time.  You can get updates, as well as the full text of the bill, here.

Use either name for the bill and do a ‘news’ search online and you can find some news stories from the point of view of Nevada residents and from other points of view.  Here is a post and video from the House committee proposing the bill.

Here are some calls for action from the Illinois-based anti-nuclear group NEIS.

 

This is a set of links you may find helpful for assignments, including your first “paper” for this class.

Good general resources to use for arguments AGAINST or critical of nuclear energy:

Union of Concerned Scientists:  This is a nonprofit, science focused group that, among many other things, collects and publishes materials on nuclear safety violations and public risk.

NEIS:  This is an Illinois-based citizen “watchdog” group that takes an anti-nuclear stance.  Their website is an excellent place to go for current, insider information on what is happening in Illinois energy policy, with the anti-nuclear view.

Good general resources to use SUPPORTING nuclear energy: 

Nuclear Energy Institute:  a U.S. based industry group.  Has general pro-nuclear materials as well as many statistics and facts about the U.S. nuclear energy program (look at the links on the bottom of the page).

World Nuclear Association:  a global nuclear industry group, with comprehensive sets of statistics on nuclear energy usage in every nuclear country.

 

Good Resources for Facts on Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Waste, and Safety Standards (U.S.): 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission  (U.S. government agency responsible for maintaining safe nuclear facilities).

E.P.A.  (U.S. government agency responsible for environmental and public health protection. Sets radiation exposure standards).  This website is difficult to navigate.  Try here for radiation protection information, and here for some useful Yucca Mountain stuff).

D.O.E. (U.S. government agency responsible for governmentally-sponsored research and technology development related to nuclear energy and weapons).  Their nuclear-specific page is here.

A Few Global Resources (I am picking ones that I can find with English web pages):

IAEA:  the United Nations watchdog agency responsible for monitoring global nuclear activities and treaty compliance.  Their nuclear energy page is here. 

NEA:  an international nuclear energy industry group

Japanese Atomic Energy Agency

South Korean Nuclear Energy Agency

 

 

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/no-nuclear-weapon-is-safe-from-cyberattacks

The risk is forever there, and it evolves.

Zoey Wan

Hey, y’all! This isn’t a news thing, this is a thing about a thing I read. It’s a graphic memoir called Stitches by an author and cartoonist called David Small. I originally read it for my mental health/comics class, but it was unexpectedly relevant to this class as well. Not scientifically, but– uh– let me just tell you what it’s about.

The book (which is a comic/graphic novel) goes back to David’s young life. He was born in 1945 and had a lot of sinus and respiratory problems. His father was a radiologist who believed that radiation could cure his ailments, so he did a lot of radiological stuff to David, which leads to him getting cancer at 14. His parents don’t tell him he has cancer– they lead him to believe it’s just a cyst, and he ends up having two surgeries in which they remove the cyst, but also his thyroid and one of his vocal cords, leaving him mostly mute. There’s more stuff that happens, but that’s the relevant bit… it’s an amazing book with fantastic illustration. I own it if anyone’s interested in reading it, and it’s $5 on Amazon– it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

Anyway, have a good week and stay safe.

— Essie

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 was awarded to ICAN, an anti-nuclear organization pushing for an international ban on nuclear weapons.  The Nobel committee has a history of awarding Peace Prizes to anti-nuclear advocates, including President Obama in 2009.

Reading about this, I was reminded of a very interesting counter-argument published in Time magazine in 2009 after Obama’s win.  The article argues that nuclear weapons themselves deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.  It is worth a read:  http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1929553,00.html

I was gonna send in this article about the “radioactive puppies of Chernobyl”, but I saw that someone has it in the drafts? Here it is anyway since I’ve been holding onto it for like a week like an idiot: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9k3kqz/please-do-not-pet-the-radioactive-puppies-of-chernobyl

I don’t know how credible it is or anything, just thought it was interesting.

On another note, some Canadians are petitioning for more research on cell phone radiation. We’ve talked about it in class, so I thought it was funny that Canadians are also… very concerned about this, apparently. The article says they have 16 different petitions about it!: http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/more-canadians-petitioning-the-government-about-fear-of-cellphone-radiation

(Edit: 7 petitions about cell phone radiation, 16 total.)

Anyway– here y’all go! Have fun with these worried Canadians and puppies that are bad to touch!

— Essie