Iraq’s Wrecked Environment THE INDYDEPENDENT By Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Fran 15 March 08 – “The ecological effects of war, like its horrific toll on human life, are exponential. When the Bush administration (parts one and two) and its congressional allies sent troops to Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, they not only ordered these men and women to commit crimes against humanity, they also commanded them to perpetrate crimes against nature. Former Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said the environmental consequences of the Iraq war could be more ominous than the issue of war and peace itself. Blix was right.
Months of bombing during the first Gulf War by the United States and Great Britain left a deadly and insidious legacy: tons of shell casings, bullets and bomb fragments laced with depleted uranium. In all, the United States hit Iraqi targets with more than 970 radioactive bombs and missiles.
Depleted uranium (DU) is a rather benignsounding name for uranium-238, the trace element left behind when fissionable material is extracted from uranium-235 for nuclear reactors and weapons
For decades, this waste was a nuisance; by the late 1980s there were nearly a billion tons of the radioactive material piled at plutonium processing plants across the country. Then Pentagon weapons designers discovered a use for the tailings: they could be molded into bullets and bombs. Uranium is denser than lead, making it perfect for armorpenetrating weapons designed to destroy tanks, armored personnel carriers and bunkers. When tank-busting bombs explode, depleted uranium oxidizes into microscopic fragments that float through the air, carried on the desert winds for decades. Inhaled, the lethal bits of carcinogenic dust stick to the lungs, eventually wreaking havoc in the form of tumors, hemorrhages, ravaged immune systems, and leukemia.
More than 15 years later, the dire health consequences of our first radioactive bombing campaign in this region are coming into focus. Since 1990, the incidence rate of leukemia in Iraq has increased over 600 percent………………………………….”
South Africa: Paying the Price for Mining allafrica.com 15 February 2008 - “………….another more troubling legacy is emerging as an increasingly urgent problem: environmental contamination from over 100 years of mining that could severely pollute the country’s water, affecting the food chain and citizens’ health.
the urgency is real. As more mines close and more tests reveal hazardous contamination levels in sediment and local food samples, there is growing concern………
………………..The epicentre of the problem lies southwest of Johannesburg in a valley ringed by mines – both active and closed – where a small river called the Wonderfonteinspruit runs southwest from the mining town of Randfontein to Carletonville and Khutsong, and into the Mooi River, which provides water for Potchefstroom, a large university town.
Over 10 years of scientific studies have established that the sediment in the Wonderfonteinspruit is contaminated with radioactive uranium and high levels of other heavy metals in wastewater discharged from local mines…………
……….environmental activists charge that while laws are now in place, enforcement is not. …………
…………….A second source of pollution is runoff and wind-eroded particles from slime dams – soil residue from within the mines that often contains radioactive elements and heavy metals.
Wind-blown radioactive dust particles from the slime dams could also pose “significant radiation exposure” through inhalation or by contaminating agricultural crops,
Pancevo named Europe’s most polluted town 7 February 2008 | 16:07 | Source: B92 BELGRADE – Pancevo, on the outskirts of Belgrade, is Europe’s most polluted town. - “……………………..Waste, whether it’s chemical or nuclear, is one of the most serious pollutants and is a problem that requires an urgent solution, thinks Miodrag Pantelic, a professor at the Technology Faculty in Cacak.
‘I think we devote very little attention to this, we leave it to the next generation. They should solve the problem of nuclear waste, we’ve not done anything there. That sort of waste is harmful in terms of both bacteria and viruses, pollutes our land and water, and enters our bodies via the food chain, so that our bodies are polluted,’ Pantelic said.
Slobodan Neškovic from the Center for National Security Strategic Investigations says it is necessary to adopt a national interests strategy, with a new national security concept to tackle the problem of pollution. ‘This new concept would put at its forefront individual security, as well as concepts for sustainable development and ecological security’…………………………………………… “
We are seeing the death of nuclear power’s precious myth ZNet Harry Fuller and Heather Clancy 24 Jan 08 – “………………………………..’Good old dependable nuclear power, Always there chruning out the clean electricity. Just as saturdy as a train load of coal, but none of that CO2. Well, forget the problems with indisposable nuclear waste.
Think about the water. ……..how precious water is becoming. Especially critical will be the problems of water as climate change makes the weather more extreme and less dependable.
Take right now, right here in the U.S. where 24 nuclear plants may face shutdown because they are too thirsty in the parched southweastern states. And we can’t just open a giant spigot and give ‘em more water. The arid western states already use huge amounts of energy just to move water from where it is to where it’ll be used. Like Vegas and Phoenix sitting serenely in the desert using water pumped from afar, or below the earth
Oh, and those dependable nuclear plants can’t use abundant salt water. They need stuff that’s at least as clean as what you’d use to do your laundry or water the garden. So the drought is a big “oops” for nuclear just they’d hoped we’d gotten over Chernobyl in our flurry or worry about how we’ll power our air conditioners next summer…………………………” Disastrous history of nuclear fuels
RUTLAND HERALD ROBERT LINCOLNJanuary 24, 2008 – “…………………………………As for the ludicrous claims on the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, reprocessing spent nuclear fuel was supposed to be one alternative to lots and lots of mining forever and forever. The biggest experiment in reprocessing was at Sellafield in Britain. In 2005, after decades of contamination and leaks and general spewing of horrible matter into the ocean, air, and land around the reprocessing plant, Sellafield was shut down because a bigger-than-usual leak of fuel dissolved in nitric acid – some tens of thousands of gallons – was discovered. It contained enough plutonium to make about 20 nuclear bombs.
A nuclear dump site just six miles from the famous Champagne vineyards in France is leaking radioactive waste into the groundwater. According to the French nuclear safety authority, the ‘wall of a storage cell fissured’ while concrete was being added to a recent layer of nuclear waste. It showed levels of radioactivity leaking from another dump site run by the same company in Normandy – at up to 90 times above European safety limits. That waste has seeped into underground water used by farmers, with contamination spreading into the countryside and threatening dairy production. The Champagne site will receive a total of 4 thousand terabequerels of tritium — more than three times the amount of tritium waste as the dump site in Normandy………………………………………….”.
THE HEALING ISLAND OR THE RADIOACTIVE DIE-LAND?
Indybay.org North Coast by Marya Mann, Ph. D. ( DrMaryaM [at] aol.com )
20 Oct 2007 - “…………………..(Hawaii) Nobody wants to think about the deadly invisible uranium particles spreading death and mutilation around the world, but the U. S. and other military forces are illegally using nuclear weapons that do just that. They threaten to spread “death by breath” everywhere – unless we tell the U.S. Army to stop! Now! In Hawaii! ………………Hawaiian residents started thinking about the toxic wastes of war 60 years ago when the U. S. Military dumped 2000 fifty-five gallon drums of radioactive toxins off the coast of Oahu at Pearl Harbor. A mixed crew of Hawaiians – hula dancers as well as housewives, retired Marines as well as nurses — are still thinking about the effects of war as they fight the U. S. Military in a David-and-Goliath confrontation they hope will change the fate of the world.The group is Protect Hawaii (http://www.protecthawaii.ws) and the immediate threat is the U. S. Army, which plans to station about 320 19-ton vehicles and 4,000 soldiers in Hawaii. The Stryker Brigade Combat Team tanks carry Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons, which are Radioactive Uranium (RU). When these radioactive uranium munitions are fired, they spread aerosols into the nearby atmosphere, surface water, flora, fauna, and the entire food chain. Two to five years after exposure, local animals and humans often develop nerve disorders, bleeding, cancers, and tumors. Then deadly uranium particles flow farther into the air, lifting higher into the troposphere, eventually spreading around the globe, resulting in multiple cancers, leukemia, and birth defects all over the planet.
Current medical problems found in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia where the U. S. uses weapons of mass destruction — neurological disorders, cancers, birth defects, tumors, and bleeding gums — are now showing up in Hawaii. On the islands of Oahu and the Big Island, known by native Hawaiians and tourists as the ‘Healing Island,’ animal tumors, nerve spasms, and other markers for radiation poisoning have alarmed residents……………………………………………………………………”
What’s wrong with nuclear power? Well, a lot, actually...VUE WEEKLY 7 Sept 07 LEILA DARWISH and HELEN LA - “…………………………………………some people have proposed using nuclear energy to fuel unfettered tar sands expansion.
Unfortunately, many of Alberta’s government and industry leaders are currently supporting the latter option. That is, instead of choosing innovation and conservation as a means to ensure a safe, healthy and clean energy future for all Albertans, these representatives have chosen to pursue one of Canada’s most dangerous, polluting and inefficient energy options. Even more alarming is how quickly nuclear proponents have been mobilizing in an effort to build multiple reactors and have them online as soon as possible. Having been rejected already by tar sands companies that recognized the liability and unfeasibility of nuclear power in Alberta, nuclear proponents are currently campaigning to gain support and clientele in communities across the province…………………………………….Nuclear energy was not recognized as a clean energy source in the Kyoto protocol but it continues to be touted as a global solution to climate change. With the threat of nuclear energy looming in Alberta it is important that all the facts around this dangerous and dirty energy source are known.Beyond the environmentally destructive mining of uranium, nuclear energy produces (both in extraction and production) large quantities of radioactive waste-spent fuel from CANDU reactors contains over 200 deadly radioactive elements. Plutonium, for example, remains radioactive for over 24 400 years. These highly toxic byproducts make long-term storage a serious political and environmental catastrophe. There is not one safe and secure disposal option for the highly radioactive waste produced by nuclear power stations. And the history of Canadian (CANDU) reactors is plagued with problems, with many of them breaking down early or being decommissioned, as the costs of repairs are far greater than initial startup costs. It is also critical to note that accidents do happen, with 22 accidents occurring since the catastrophic incident at Chernobyl.
Plutonium can be released into the environment as a result of nuclear energy development. Concern over the harmful effects of plutonium is growing because of discoveries about the subtle effects of low-level radiation. Plutonium may be many times more dangerous than previously thought.
Besides, at every step of nuclear power generation greenhouse gases are emitted. Approximately 240 000 to 366 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced every year from plant construction, uranium mining, milling uranium ore, road transportation, fuel fabrication, conversion and refining activities. Beyond these direct emissions, low-grade uranium mined from Saskatchewan is upgraded, largely in the United States, using coal fired power-the most carbon intensive energy producer………..
………….Too often local governments and community members are only presented with the slick advertising and false promises of people who stand to gain substantially from fostering a nuclear power industry in Alberta…………………………….”Radiation Degrades Nuclear Waste-Containing Materials Faster Than Expected - All American Patriots: Technology 11/1/2007 “………………………….a team from the University of Cambridge and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reported in the Jan. 11 issue of Nature. ………………………..The new study used nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, to show that the effects of radiation from plutonium incorporated into the mineral zircon rapidly degrades the mineral’s crystal structure………………This could lead to swelling, loss of physical strength and possible cracking of the mineral as soon as 210 years, well before the radioactivity had decayed to safe levels, said lead author and Cambridge earth scientist Ian Farnan.”
Radionuclides spreading around the world - THE NAVHIND TIMES 6/1/2007 .”……….The IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, reports that it does not control turnover of radionuclides because they are outside its sphere of monitoring…………………The public was shocked to find out that the IAEA only controls nuclear materials, that is, those, which are used in the production of a classic nuclear bomb. A dirty bomb, the terrorists’ dream, is outside their control………….Meanwhile, radionuclides and other radioactive materials have spread so much that it will not be easy to establish rigid control over them. Moreover, it is civilian radioactive sources used in medicine, metallurgy, agriculture, mining, and machine building that are becoming more dangerous than strictly controlled nuclear facilities.”TIMELINE – 27 June 07 Uranium dust found to travel 6 km, last 25 years
7 June 07 radioactive element tritium, found in underground waters near French dump site 6 Sept 06 High l;evels of plutonium found in Los Alamos water
21 Feb 07 High uranium levels found in wells at Phelps Dodge uranium mine11 Jan 07 Report: Radiation Degrades Nuclear Waste-Containing Materials Faster Than Expected6 Jan 07 UN reports Radionuclides spreading around the world
Tags: nuclear, radiation, environment
