Nukewatch

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Nuclear Bomb Profiteers Create Their Market

By John LaForge

According to a recent news release from “ResearchandMarkets.com,” worldwide sales of nuclear bombs and missiles is a growth market expanding by leaps and bounds. The report, “Nuclear Bombs and Missiles Market,” claims the field was worth $72.64 billion in 2020, and will reach $126.34 billion by 2030, “growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.4%.” While the United States “dominated the global nuclear bombs and missiles market share in 2020,” this year the Asia-Pacific dominates, followed by Europe, North America and Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The report reads like the profiteers’ version of recent research by Don’t Bank on the Bomb, a project of PAX in The Netherlands that tracks nuclear weapons funding.
Sounding upbeat, the report says donations to “think tanks” from the weapons industry result in white papers about the urgent need for new weapons. It describes the corruption without irony: “Think tanks are research and analytical bodies that demonstrate future needs and reasons to have nuclear arsenals. … Twelve think tanks across the globe have disclosed funding of [$]5.5 million to [$]10.2 million in 2020 from corporate giants who are manufacturing nuclear weapons.” The cynicism extends to the current war in Ukraine, as the report shamelessly says: “Factors such as the rise in geopolitical conflicts … are expected to support the nuclear bombs and missiles market growth.” “Key market players” named in the document are familiar: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, Airbus, and BAE. — PR Newswire, News from Research and Markets, Sept. 20, 2022

Lockheed Martin stock plunged by 5.5 percent, and its capitalization decreased by more than $7 billion, after a fake Twitter account posted this faux announcement.

Economic Times, Sept. 12, 2022

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“Fallout”: Investigative Series on Cancer Connection to Nuclear Weapons Production

By Lindsay Potter

Over two years in the making, Cincinnati, Ohio’s TV station WKRC Local 12 has produced a 12-part investigative series on radioactive contamination from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) near Piketon, Ohio. The giant complex processed uranium for nuclear weapons for decades. The hard-hitting news reports are available online and come with startling headlines including, “Was [Mr.] Farmer’s cancer death connected to PORTS?” “Kids dying and middle school closed,” “Pike county tops state with ‘alarming’ cancer rates,” “Is radiation on our doorstep?,” “Scientists concerned with radioactive fallout from America’s nuclear plants,” “The cancer connection to Cold War plants,” and “Researcher connects radioactive contamination to PORTS.”
WKRC pitches the series online noting: “Our Local 12 Investigation has revealed children dying from rare cancers, air monitors around PORTS capturing dangerous radioactive particles, and confirmation from scientists that PORTS is causing the contamination…” — To see all 12 segments in the series “Fallout,” go to: https://local12.com/news/investigates/congressman-demands-answers-to-questions-raised-in-local-12s-fallout-investigation-cincinnati-duane-pohlman-pike-county-radiation-investigate-radiactive-dangers-contamination# 

PhotoCredit:https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/06/30/lawsuit-residents-near-portsmouth-plant-have-been-sacrificial-lambs/1611619001/

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Olson Brings Radiation Risk to Mainstream News

PhotoCredit:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310326102_Gender_Summit_EU_Nov_2016_Atomic_Radiation_is_More_Harmful_to_Girls_and_Women
By Lindsay Potter

Newsweek recently featured biologist Mary Olson’s work on the disproportionate impact of radiation on young girls, citing, “young girls could be up to 10 times more vulnerable, with girls [under] five twice as likely to develop cancer as boys of the same age.” Olson, who recently retired from a long career with the nonprofit Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Maryland, told Newsweek that rapid cell division in infants and children makes “their DNA more vulnerable to tumor-inducing damage.” This is particularly true in young girls because, Olson explains, stem cells are sensitive to harm from radiation and young females have higher concentrations of stem cells than males or pubescent females.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s archaic and grossly biased standard called “Reference Man” estimates health risks from ionizing radiation based on a male who is “20 to 30 years old, weighs 154 pounds, is 5-foot and 6 inches tall, and is Caucasian with a Western European or North American lifestyle” — a reference nothing like the profile of the most vulnerable — girls under five. Olson’s work demonstrates that “Reference Man” exposes girls and young women to dangerously high radiation, “not just from nuclear warfare but also from more routine radiation exposures like CT scans, air travel, and medical x-rays.” — Sources: Newsweek, October 10, 2022; and the Gender and Radiation Project at genderandradiation.org.

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Minnesota’s Monticello Reactor is Leaking Radioactive Tritium — Like Most in US

By John LaForge

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was notified of a “nonemergency” at the 51-year-old Monticello reactor on the Mississippi River in Minnesota — one of the oldest in the United States and a General Electric unit identical to the three meltdown-destroyed reactors at Fukushima. On Nov. 22, owner Xcel Energy informed the NRC of “an on-site monitoring well that indicated tritium activity above the [Offsite Dose Calculation Manual] … reporting levels.” Translation: Groundwater from a well on company grounds is poisoned with radioactive tritium above permitted levels. The short NRC notice then says “The source of the tritium is under investigation,” although no mention is made of the extent of groundwater contamination, or whether off-site wells have been tested. Without data from groundwater beyond the site’s boundaries, the NRC notice then reaches the unsubstantiated, upbeat conclusion that “there was no impact on the health and safety of the public or plant personnel.” Xcel’s claim recalls the great undersea explorer Jacque Cousteau who said: “A common denominator, in every single nuclear accident — a nuclear [reactor] or on a nuclear submarine — is that before the specialists even know what has happened, they rush to the media saying, ‘There’s no danger to the public.’ They do this before they themselves know what has happened because they are terrified that the public might react violently, either by panic or by revolt.”

Photo Credit: NRC.gov

— Notification of Environmental Report, NRC Region 3, Nov. 22, 2022

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Nevada Moves to Permanently Cancel Yucca Mt

By Lindsay Potter

Nevada’s Agency for Nuclear Projects and Governor Steve Sisolak have filed a legal motion to put a final nail in the coffin of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump scheme. Though Yucca Mt. was selected in 1987, decades of resistance, damning scientific studies, and vocal bi-partisan opposition have kept it unfinished. The new motion seeks to lift a stay on a court order (State of Nevada v. US NRC) with the hope of moving forward a request by the state Attorney General’s office to reject the license application “once and for all.” The motion cites several blunders by the US Department of Energy (DOE) including: “failure to obtain necessary control over the land surrounding the proposed repository; inability to obtain necessary restrictions on military aircraft over the area; and failure to address human-caused climate change in its licensing application.” DOE and NRC staff have admitted that these failures render the license application “out of compliance” with safety requirements. The AG’s office lists further failures, geographic flaws, fights against the proposal, and the site’s engineering weaknesses on a new website launched as a companion to the motion. Nevada has illustrated the site’s short-comings over the last thirty-five years and demonstrated staunch lack of consent, proving continued pursuit of the Yucca Mt. project would only waste millions of additional tax-payer dollars. If the NRC does not grant the request, Nevada can resort to evidentiary litigation.

— Press release, “Nevada Files Motion Regarding Yucca Mt. Nuclear Waste Project” from NV.gov; and KTVN 2News television report, Sept. 20, 2022

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