Saturday, March 31, 2012

Humans are Control Freaks

What is the opposite of nuke? Cute doggies.


Solar Power at Night

Solar

Hey If you have to have molten salts to provide 24/7 electricity, wouldn't you rather have them at a solar power plant rather than a Nuke power plant?  

Solar power at night




Pro Nuke Trolls keep harping on the "baseload" as if baseload is a catch phrase that will knock renewable out of competition, and make make Nuke the only thing that can save the world.   BULLSHIT.    With a little bit of steady power from solar plants like this, and with diversity by interconnected grid so that various areas producing solar  and wind energy share with those that are currently short on wind and PV energy.

Click here for a wind map of the whole US

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LUCDmWTVlGo

Friday, March 30, 2012

Some links found on ENENEWS

Plutonium info
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/topic,188.0.html
Current Jet Stream, EQ, Weather, Fuku Debris Tracking Links
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/topic,67.msg263.html#msg263
Low/High Internal/External Effects on Children and All Living Things
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/topic,9.0.html
How bad is it? Fukushima vs. Chernobyl
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/topic,67.msg332.html#msg332
What you and your loved ones can do .. remediating rads from the body
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/topic,9.0.html
Aloha All … please tell everybody
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php/topic,132.0.html

Troll Jousting

Thanks for your definition of Troll Jousting!

Editors reviewed your entry and have decided to publish it on urbandictionary.com.

It should appear on this page in the next few days:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Troll%20Jousting

Urban Dictionary

-----

Troll Jousting

Troll Jousting is the act of retorting comments on blogs that have been placed by trolls, or paid commentators who place comments to support a particular vested interest. The

Troll Jouster places comments that show the falseness of the Troll

Wow nice Troll Jousting dude, you really bitch slapped that Troll.

Yeah, thanks eh brah! I couldn't believe that Pro Nuke Troll was actually saying that radiation can be beneficial to your health. I had to slap 'em back in case some innocent

bystander saw that Troll comment and believed it.

Well, good work dude, keep up the Troll jousting on that blog, and remember, there are NO innocent bystanders.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Nuke Makes No Economic Sense

Nuke makes no sense from an economic viewpoint.

It costs around $15B to build a modern nuke plant, and takes about 10 years.

Investors want a 10% or even 20% annual rate of return in general, maybe on something super safe and reliable they would be willing to receive 7%.

But with nuke, picture that at year 5 you have the heavy infrastructure in place, much of the big money spent, say $10B,   

At that point investors would want at least $1B minimum a year, and yet you have to wait 5 more years to get anything.

Typical nuke plants generate around $250M per year in profits.

At completion----if they are not shut down by protests and shoddy workmanship-----the investors money has been tied up for ten years and with $15B invested

So now they can make $250M per year if all goes well.

$250M / 15B = 1.66% Annual Rate of Return ---which is a total joke, no investor would want this deal, so why are nuke plants being built?

The military /industrial nuke cartel doesn't go down easily, they keep chasing after their cheese in the same old places they always found it, even though it makes no sense.

 









I can easily get 25% annual rate of return on a solar electric investment.    That means that solar is a 15 times better investment, and no evacuation zone and no eternal vigilance over the waste products.

Shut Them All Down!

San Onofre to be Shutdown---Massive Community Support to shut down

Even the original architect came out stating the enormous dangers.

http://www.sanclementegreen.org/files/Agrans%20Speech.pdf


We first listened to Councilman Larry Agran give his opening remarks which turned out to be the best description ever, giving a total overview of nuclear power right down to why we need to shutdown San Onofre in a thoughtful and responsible manner as soon as we can. After a heartfelt standing ovation the meeting was opened to public comments. The first speaker was Dr. Nelson Mar, PhD., one of the original designers of the power plant who cited many reasons to be concerned. Doctors and experts in the fields of radiation spoke convincingly, mothers spoke compassionately, activists spoke informatively. Edison was left speechless and they declined to make any comments until they had a chance to figure out how to spin this one.

HT CaptD

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Phone numbers for Cali senators, its a bad SONGs

07:35 PM on 03/27/2012
Who are California's Senators and what are they doing about this?
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
CaptD
Nuclear Ninja: Nuclear News Is Never Just Accepted
24 hours ago ( 8:03 PM)
Senator Boxer, who happens to head the NRC Oversight Comm.
(202) 224-3553

Senator Dianne Feinstein
(202) 224-3841
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
oahutrading
1 second ago ( 7:59 PM)
+1000000, they HATE phone calls!!!!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Solar Estimate for anti-radiation Fan

Tumrgrwer
Luck bucket, our three tier system here is horrible. I live in the geothermal capital of the US and we pay 1.12 to 3.17 per kilowatt hr. Once you go over your baseline they literally rape us. I've got to go solar.


Most people don't know just how affordable solar is.   So I had a pretty darn accurate cost and savings estimate done for him.   

Here is an insolation map



Cali Insolation Data

There is a real easy way to calculate energy production by just knowing the isolation either in sun-hours or kWH/m2/day.   It is not tricky at all, you can do all kind of calcs by day of year, time of day, tilt of panels, compass angle of panels,   BUT all that is unnecessary in order to analyze solar as an investment and to get a good annual average.

Sunhours * # of PV Panels * Panel Rated DC Watts *.824 = kWH per day

VERY VERY simple

Fed has tax credit of 30%, very simple

Different areas and states have various incentives
Expected Performance-Based Buydowns for systems under 30 kW began in 2007 at $2.50/W AC for residential and commercial systems (adjusted based on expected performance) and $3.25/W AC for government entities and nonprofits (adjusted based on expected performance). The incentive levels decline as the aggregate capacity of PV installations increases. Incentives will be awarded as a one-time, up-front payment based on expected performance, which is calculated using equipment ratings and installation factors such as geographic location, tilt, orientation and shading. Click here for current incentive levels for each utility. Systems under 30 kW also have the option of opting for a performance-based incentive rather than the incentive based on expected performance.

At around 3.8kWAC for my proposed system, they could receive State incentive of
3800*2.5 = $9,680

See proposal, net cost around $7000
Annual Production around 7350 kWH
At his really high rates, that is a savings of $8,230 per year
Total Lifetime system production 
205230  kwh total produced    

$7000 system cost / 205230 = 3.4 cents per kWH

Annual rate of return on investment around 124% (compared that to 3% on a 10 year T bill)

And its an inflation hedge, against oil and nuke cost riders.

What part of no brainer does this take to understand?   No evacuation zone.



EIEA Project Decreasing Demand for Electricity

Even More of a Reason to Start Shutting Down the Nukes

Here is a link to their website, easy to make reports

http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/tablebrowser/#release=APA2010&subject=6-APA2010&table=10-APA2010&region=0-0&cases=kgl_reference-d062910a


Veterans Today

Veterans Today has some very independent articles, even radical if I may say so.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/03/19/the-nine-stages-of-civilization-were-in-the-seventh-apathy/

 

The United States is just over 230 years old and is now firmly entrenched in the seventh stage of all civilizations (Apathy) with only Dependence and eventually Bondage ahead of it. Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its eager hand


The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through a nine stage sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacence to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage.

Toxicity of Plutonium, Chelation

I never did believe that "one speck of plutonium" will kill you

But it sure looks like bad stuff, real bad, read up.


http://www.ccnr.org/plute_tox.html
 

Even the EPA (credible or not) says it is serious:
Once in the bloodstream, plutonium moves throughout the body and into the bones, liver, or other body organs. Plutonium that reaches body organs generally stays in the body for decades and continues to expose the surrounding tissue to radiation.
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/plutonium.html

I did a few hours of research on Chelation via EDTA and others.    Looks very effective if the Pu and Ur are just in your blood, way less effective once they bury into your bones and organs, but still somewhat effective.

There are oral intakes and supposedly stomach acid destroys much of the EDTA right away, and suppository, and IV.    If I felt that I was severely contaminated, and I had no medical backup, I would self adminster this   IF I also has access to all the replacement vitamins.    

So what I am saying is that this is a serious thing, and there is only one scenario under which I would self-administer without medical backup.

We got dosed, no doubt, how badly, very hard to say.   Don't expect much help---this problem is too big to solve.
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/03/plutonium-admission-by-epa.html

Nuke is High Cost of Departure

In response to a pro-nuker feigning support for solar at first, and then bringing out his real party line

 “Splendid....kudos for your conservation but how realistic is solar? Last I checked the technology was still well behind making it a cost effective, "viable" alternative for the average user. Granted the technology has been in place to do conversions for decades, but not for what the average user could consider a reasonable cost.


____________________________________________________

Its extremely realistic, there has been a sea change in the last 2 years.

Solar at 3 cents per kWH, fixed price for 30 years.   You could imagine paying $1.50 for a utility kWH in 30 years?  Sheesh, its 35 cents per kWH in Hawaii now.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/p/renewable-and-energy-efficiency.html

Nukers are stuck in a rut, they have a very high cost of departure, so instead they keep running the clunker plants and they refuse to get new occupations

You heard of high cost to entry in a business model?    Nuke is HIGH COST OF DEPARTURE.

Radnet Custom Search

The EPA Radnet Website is very confusing

Once you find something, it can be nearly impossible to back track and find it again

So here is a link to the custom search page, it is powerful

http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/radnet_adhoc_where.retrieval_list?table_1=dummy&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.ANALYTE_ID&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.ANA_NUM&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.RESULT_AMOUNT&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.CSU&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.MDC&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.RESULT_UNIT&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.RESULT_DATE&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.ANA_TYPE&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.HALF_LIFE&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.HALF_LIFE_TIME_UNIT&table_1=V_ERAMS_RESULTS_ANALYTE.ANALYTE_NAME

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Plutonium the biggest problem, and Chelation

http://voices.yahoo.com/is-plutonium-release-real-danger-8071658.html

Here is a link to a site documenting other EPA data that does show significant Plutonium contamination in Guam, Hawaii, California
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/27/plutonium-levels-california-43-times-hawaii-11-times-highest-levels-20-years-20549/

Chelation must be done quickly
http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q4952.html

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16305471

WHAT!   Nuke researchers lying?
http://books.google.com/books?id=kHHYOtogBEgC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=chelation+for+plutonium&source=bl&ots=wAJ0Lws_0j&sig=L7BDI6iMmdJg5Ws9_KQa_8ZdAVE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pdZuT97xJqSWiQLg0O3CAg&ved=0CG0Q6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=chelation%20for%20plutonium&f=false 

Chelation of Uranium
http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/1/88.short

Insanity of Nuke

nohobear
Forget for a moment, the insanity of:
1) a technology that creates hazardous wastes that last many times longer than the span of human history, for which no permanent solution has been invented. To boil water.
2)the location of said technology in one of the most seismically active zones and densely populated areas on the planet
3) the design decision to clump multiple reactors and fuel storage pools in close physical proximity to one another, so that a single catastrophic failure of one is a guarantee of a chain reaction failure domino effect.
Japan is dying a slow nuclear death now from Fukushima, and these psychopaths in the government want to charge full speed ahead with reactivation of 40 year old reactors that were only designed to run for 30 years.
As a species, how is it that we allow these madmen to "be our leaders"? More and more I'm convinced that humanity is a failed evolutionary experiment, and it's time is almost up.

Dracula and Nuke

from a comment at ENENEWS

Has anyone read Bram Stoker's Dracula? In the novel, a ship floats into an English port without a crew, captained by a corpse whose hands are tied to the helm with a crucifix.
It is one of the first truly creepy images in the British setting, but you know what the people do? They get distracted by a discussion of British property law, completely missing the point, thereby helping the vampire to escape and further endanger the British people.
Today, it will likely be the same. This ship is important as a visible symbol of all of the invisible contamination, the deadly amounts of plutonium, uranium, strontium, cesium, etc. that Tepco has sent gushing into the Pacific for over a year, radiation likely crashing on the shores of the entire Pacific Rim and beyond.
The sea spray of the Pacific is now likely a vehicle of radiation itself, including Alpha radiation.
http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10131
http://www.enviroreporter.com/2012/02/beta-watch/

Another Clunker Pilgrim, same design as Fukushima and ready to blow

http://www.pilgrimwatch.org/

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Blood Testing Chelation What Can We Really Do

I am going to use this post to plop down bit and pieces of information. This is probably 10 to 20 hours to get to where I am going.

Simple stuff....since we were exposed to massive amounts (well 2600% over normal) baseline of Uranium and more than proportional Plutonium, well the answer is to remove those from our body.

The process is called Chelation, I have been familiar with this since undergrad, its nothing new. However, the problem with Chelation of heavy metals is that as far as I know the process is not selective, it will remove all heavy metals and you really need some of them in your body or you could be very messed up/dead.

Because of that complication, I have neglected the analysis of Chelation. But it is now obvious, that regardless of how hard it is, the effort is required, essential.

I am also going to be adding other commentary on things that normal people can do. For instance, Justme from ENE has been using a microscope for blood analysis. I have a lab microscope, the real deal....why in the hell can't if even do something as simple as look at my own blood, when we KNOW the medical industry fails us on multiple levels with their own regulatory and pharmaceutical capture.



_____________________________________________________
Commentary by Justme, on ENE

Justme
March 21, 2012 at 5:13 am · Reply

I have a bad case of Rouleaux and after some research discovered leukemic cells, but have still not been able to have this verified by an expert. The Rouleaux is out of control. I was very worried last night because I had been propping my head up with my hand and the area or pressure point(palm print) was not a normal red that you would expect to see. Instead it was a deep purple area and I'm assuming this is because of the Rouleaux. I've been researching this condition and there are many causes including cancer and radiation.
After my wife begged me, I went to the local emergeny room today. I started talking to a nurse and asked her if they were seeing a lot of GI issues. She told me there has been a big increase in GI cases. This information exchange was very low-key.
About 15 minutes goes by and the doctor comes in. I told him my symptoms and he asked why I thought I had what I claimed. Told him I had exposure. After going back and forth with the typical x-ray airplane bullshit, I told him to bring me a fetal doppler and I would show him exactly what I was talking about. He started to stumble on his words and then told me they didn't have one in ER and they were on the second floor (labor and deliver). Refused to get me one so I could show him the cause of my symptoms. He also told me Rouleaux doesn't happen in white people. To make this story short….they took my blood and did the labs while I waited. An hour later were my results. Healthy blood with no signs of illness.
Flash forward 30 minutes.. prepped another blood film and this time it didn't look so much like Rouleaux, they have started to gather into larger clusters many times greater than the stacked rows and still plenty of leukemic cells. I can tell you with 100& certainty the results they told me were not what they viewed in my blood.

I am more than pissed… and I'm dieing….

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have you checked your blood? What are your symptoms? Any unusual feelings inside your body? Take Bismuth Subsalicylate (It's the pink stuff). They will help remove this junk from your intestines. Search Youtube "human fecal radiaiton test"

----------------------------------------------------

moonlight
Hi everyone. Usually I just read what all you great people are writing….so glad I found this site.
stock@hawaii…Zeolite is a great mineral to use for chelation therapy. It traps heavy metals and is also great for removing radioactive isotopes. It was used after Chernobyl. Make sure you get a 'high grade' micronized zeolite. Most health food stores have it. The lower grades are used for filtering air and water. Make sure to drink lots of water while taking it – 8 glasses a day.
I have been taking it since last March and I bought a water filter that has a layer of zeolite in it right after Fukushima happened.

-----------------------------------------------------------

This Alpha we have over here must be some kind of mutation. You could have a house full and not even know it was there. I'll explain. First your detector must be able to detect Alpha radiation. Normally we would expect the emitter to emit a burst of particles in all directions. Like pins in a pin cushion or spikes on a sea urchin, but the stuff we have here appears to emit the particles in one single line as if the pin cushion had only one pin sticking out. These Alpha emitters (dust from Fukushima) are throwing large amounts of particles in a very directional line and these particles have to hit the anode, which is a small wire inside the tube. You have to hold your Geiger counter very still, almost like you would hold a magnifying glass while trying to burn something, but on a microscopic level. You'll need to rest your wrists on the surface you are checking. It's nearly impossible to keep a particle focused on the anode. Once you learn how to do this…you will be shocked.
Check the manual and see if your Geiger counter detects Alpha. Also, go to your local library to learn about Alpha radiation. Finding reliable information on this topic, is becoming increasingly difficult, online.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stacked blood cells are easy to see. Learn how to prepare a blood film (it's easy). You do not need stain to view the stacked cells. My wife's blood also has problems,but so far no stacked cells. I have been using a degausser and it's helping. I wasn't quite ready to start using it, still had some more reading to do, but with the way I was feeling and the deep purple marks, felt I really didn't have a choice. It was an instant relief.
The clumping that I am now seeing is called "cellular aggregation". I just found this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Rad exposure and protection manuals. Chelation around somewhere
http://realitycheck.no-ip.info/forum/index.php?topic=9.0

PS--some natural food stuff, but no key word chelation found --stock

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Chelation Protocol Report
one year post 311
Every four months I have the family take a hair analysis to monitor internal heavy metal contamination. As Enenews readers all know, that radioactive isotopes are mostly comprised of radioactive heavy metals in various states and concentrations. The bodies total heavy metal load can include radionuclides such as Strontium, Plutonium, Uranium and Cesium 134 and C 137 etc. High Heavy metal levels within the body can indicate possible accumulations of radioactive metals within the human body.
Daily oral and dietary chelation gradually reduces heavy metal levels and by inference reduces radioactive heavy metals as well.
Mrs. Noah had high levels of Uranium (from suspected cosmetic and dietary sources) in her body. Through oral chelation protocols that I have published here on this site, those U levels have been reduced, along with mercury, to very low levels indeed! Achieving satisfaction level of 95% reduction. U levels is one radioactive heavy metal that hair analysis tracks quite will. Her follow up hair analysis continue to reflect downward trends as chelation continues through time.
On very effective protocol that I developed myself (published first here at ENENEWS) is my Apple Pectin Protocol. Below is the protocol modified for travel.
Apple Pectin Protocol for adult use at Restaurant while traveling.
1. Prior to eating take 5-8 caps of powdered apple pectin with a generous cup of purified water.
2. Begin eating.
3. Mid-meal take another dose of 5-8 caps of powdered apple pectin.
4. Continue eating to end of meal, including dessert (no dairy)
5. Take another dose of 5-8 caps of powdered apple pectin.
6. Add 3-5 caps of modidifed citrus pectin to chelate heavy metals entering the blood stream with your restaurant post 3-11 meal.
Needless to add, travel with a large supply of apple and citrus pectin, along with your favorite chelators and anti oxidants.
Very nice, simple travel…

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Nuke Is SAD

Nuke is SAD,

Remember how Eisenhower invented the "Peaceful Atom" approach as the start of Gov speak.

Then we had bombs with MAD  Mutual Assured Destruction

Now we have SAD ---Species Assured Destruction.     Nuke is the only way we can self exterminate our species.   That is SAD.

Some technology is cool, not nuke

Princeton Biological Effects

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/osradtraining/biologicaleffects/page.htm

Uranium and Plutonium Launched into Atmosphere

Conclusion – Fukushima really blew up, launching TONS of Uranium and Plutonium into the atmosphere.

HERE is all the supporting information, in the yellow highlight right below, click on to download all of the data and calculations, which prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that  at least Tens of Tons of Poisonous Heavy Metals were launched into the atmosphere, aerosolized well enough to travel all the way to Europe.


See the video of Unit 3 exploding over 1000 feet in the air.   Very dramatic.   There is no Reactor 3 left, only a few scattered pieces of yellow metal in the rubble.


Video Analysis of Unit 3 Explosion here




My maximum estimate is 195 TONS of Uranium based on an affected column of air 8 miles high, and the reality is that the actual TONNAGE LAUNCHED may certainly be less based on assumptions made, but the bottom line is that a huge amount of Uranium and Plutonium was exploded and aerosolized.


The quantity of tons aerosolized can be estimated by using official Government data, in particular Exhibit F-1 which is a 4/6/2011 publication of the EPA Radnet.   Keep in mind Uranium and Plutonium are heavy metals.   The air densities are higher in Guam and Saipan which are closer, still quite high in Hawaii, and they fall off quite a bit in California and Washington.   But this is April 6th, so these heavy metals have been floating for quite some time anyway.

UPDATE: I found the RADNET link direct, the proof of all that uranium in the air.
http://www.epa.gov/japan011/docs/rert/radnet-cart-filter-final.pdf


Exh F-1 Shows 130 aCi/M3 of URANIUM in air, in Honolulu, with similar amount in Kauai, and even more in Guam.


The “Background” amount of Uranium in Air in Honolulu is around 5 aCi/M3,  thus making the measured Uranium 2600% higher than Background  .See Table 9 from the EPA for this proof of background data.


Using a dispersion simulator, printout attached as Exh G-1, and with help of Google Earth (Exhibit G2 and G3) I calculate an affected area, which is about 2800 miles by 4900 miles.
Here is the simulator.


Now to make an estimate of affected volume of air, we need to select a height, I selected 8 miles.
The meat of the calculations are on Exhibit C-1, which is the next page


195 Tons Of Uranium!
Lets do a sensitivity analysis on the assumptions.   What if the affected area is 50% of the size the simulator shows, then use a multiplier of 0.5.


What if the height of the affected air is only more like 2 miles instead of 8, uses a multiplier of 0.25
195 tons *.5*.25= 24 Tons (Conservative Estimate)


Under the Conservative Estimate, and using .89% Plutonium per Table 1, this would be 433 pounds of Plutonium aerosolized.   But keep in mind the MOX fuel is souped up with Plutonium which could be more like 9% to 10% of the fuel rods, so it is possible that TONS of Plutonium was launched into our HOME PLANET atmosphere.

Truth is not the friend of Nuke,
No wonder this stuff has to be covered up.


____________________________________________________________________


This Scientific Report Shows Plutonium from Fukushima AEROSOLIZED all the way to Europe.

 http://ene­news.com/j­ournal-aer­osolized-p­lutonium-f­rom-fukush­ima-detect­ed-in-euro­pe-spent-f­uel-indica­ted

Yankee one of the Clunkers

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/20/vermont_yankee/

Troll Roasting

Sometimes those industry hired pro-nuker types are just beyond annoying, well in fact lying in order to create death and disease is really beyond annoying.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nuke is 24/7 lies, it really is that simple.

Smart boys with big egos, probably didn't get any chicks in high school cause you were too nerdy, and then to feel good about yourself, you play with the atom, godlike games of turning matter into energy.....

And over times, all the lies get repeated over and over again until you actually start believing them.    And then you got a career, and a family, and family takes precedence so the pursuit of nuke goes on even though once in a while you have nightmares of little Chernobyl monsters that maybe you created, and then you go back to providing for your family, telling the same lies as before.   

Grow up, be a man, face the truth, nuke fails us again and again, accident after accident.    And the most basic problem is not the science, the most basic problem is the humans and mother natures.   Humans go through cycles, political, financial, greed, war, terrorism, religious, and through all these cycles continually monitoring the most dangerous thing on earth - a nuke plant---cannot be done with 100% certainty.   

In fact 1% of all nuke plants blow up.   SO grow up be a proper citizen, renounce nuke, I will teach you solar. 

Monday, March 19, 2012

San Onofre Summary by Ace Hoffman

March 18, 2012

Dear Readers,

It's time to decommission San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.  It's the only sensible thing to do.  It makes economic sense for just about everybody, and spares us the possibility of "Fukushima USA" here in SoCal.

Right now, neither of San Onofre's two reactors are operating.  Southern California Edison is already predicting there could be rolling blackouts during the summer if they can't get the reactors running by then.  The threat of blackouts is at odds with the historic record of energy usage, which clearly shows that there is more than enough electrical generating capacity and transmission line capacity in SoCal to replace San Onofre.

Nevertheless, SoCal residents can EXPECT rolling blackouts -- because SCE wants them to happen:  It may cost as much as a billion dollars (or more) to repair San Onofre.  Instead SCE could be securing contracts NOW for summer energy use.  They could be building a billion dollars' worth of solar rooftops, offshore wind turbines, turbine peaker plants, cogeneration plants, energy storage reservoirs, geothermal energy systems, etc..

But they don't want to, because when San Onofre is operating, it's "easy money":  A million dollars per day per reactor!  So instead they'll want to "prove" that SoCal "needs" San Onofre, so they won't prepare, the blackouts will happen, and then they'll expect us, the ratepayers, to pay for it all!

Meanwhile, there is still NO solution to the problem of long-term storage of nuclear waste, which has been piling up for decades in dangerous "temporary" locations at every nuclear power plant in the country (and nor will there ever be a good solution).  And NOR is there a solution to the dangers of nuclear weapons proliferation, which SanO exacerbates by producing plutonium and tritium.  Additionally, the dangers from terrorism, or from mother nature's fury, remain unsolved too.  San Onofre is built on or near several fault lines, and along the coast, nearly at sea level.  It's tsunami-prone and earthquake-prone.  And surrounded by about eight million people within 50 miles (noting that the U.S. Government recommended U.S. citizens evacuate from within 50 miles of Fukushima, Japan -- and ALSO noting that even that might not be far enough!).

Furthermore, San Onofre continues to have problems with worker harassment (intimidation of workers to prevent them from reporting dangers) AND, paradoxically, worker safety complaints (that safe procedures aren't being followed).  San Onofre is officially (Nuclear Regulatory Commission's own data) the worst-run commercial nuclear facility in the nation on BOTH counts.

A meltdown at San Onofre would be the ruination of SoCal.  And we don't need a tsunami or "the big one" to cause it:  It's not inconceivable that a thing as simple as a flashlight dropped in the reactor water could start a cascade of failures, leading to a meltdown "just like" Chernobyl or Fukushima.  That's why they have regulations to prevent things like dropped flashlights (I mention this specifically because it happened there last month, and the contract worker, a temporary employee at the plant, who violated workplace rules by dropping the flashlight, then further violated the rules by trying to retrieve it -- and falling in!)

SCE doesn't want to be responsible for ANY of the costs to fix the reactors.  They just want to fix them any way they can, so they can restart them as soon as possible, so they can go back to making money -- and creating a ton a week of highly dangerous "spent fuel" which will be the real legacy of San Onofre's decades of operation: Millions of pounds of deadly poison sitting on our shoreline just waiting to be released by accident/sabotage, etc..  Southern California Edison will be long out of business, all of us will be long dead, California will be a nation unto itself (perhaps), but the waste will still be here.

The cause of San Onofre's current shutdown is defective replacement Steam Generators (SGs) made in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.  MHI has been building SGs for nuclear power plants since the 1970s and have manufactured, shipped and installed well over 100 SG units around the world.   MHI's current annual report indicates they plan to double their nuclear steam generator business several times in the next three years to almost $10 billion annually.  So this is a big setback for them as well as for SanO's owners.  The problem is almost surely the result of incorrect manufacturing procedures: This didn't have to happen.  What other SGs around the world are in trouble?

Steam Generators are massive things used in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs).  PWRs have three coolant loops:  Water under very high pressure in the primary loop goes through the reactor core, gets heated (and irradiated), and then goes through thousands of very thin tubes inside the steam generators.

San Onofre's two SGs each have nearly 9,500 long, thin U-shaped tubes (the tube's walls are about the thickness of a credit card).  Because the water inside the thin tubes is highly pressurized, it does not boil.  The water on the other side of the tubes (the secondary coolant loop) comes in contact with the hot tubes and turns to steam.  The steam is piped out of the containment domes and into the turbine room, where it is used to turn the turbines which generate electricity.  A third coolant loop (ocean water) condenses the steam in the second loop, and that condensate is then pumped back into the steam generators again.

When any company receives $800 million worth of equipment, it invariably inspects that new equipment very carefully to make sure it's exactly what they ordered.  San Onofre's replacement steam generators were inspected when they arrived at the plant in 2009, and found to be defective.  MHI had to send out a special team to SoCal to reweld them.  Like the defects that are appearing now, those defects SHOULD NEVER HAVE MADE IT OFF THE FACTORY FLOOR.

You can be sure numerous additional inspections were done after the problems were discovered in 2009.  The additional inspections and repairs took about six months.  Then they put the steam generators in the reactors (two SGs in each of two reactors) and just over a year later... problems, problems, problems!

The first problems to show up were in Unit II, the older of the two operating reactors and the one to get its steam generators replaced first.  Excessive wear was discovered on the thin U-shaped tubes inside the SGs, when were inspected during Unit II's first refueling outage after the SG replacement.  The outage was already far from "routine" despite repeated assurances by the utility that it was "just" a routine refueling outage:  The Reactor Pressure Vessel Head was being replaced, which is another massive (and expensive!) part which had worn out prematurely.  Neither the RPVH nor the SGs were ever supposed to wear out in the entire life of the plant.

Unit II's SG wear is significant: Two tubes had at least 30% wear, and nearly 70 tubes had at least 20% wear, and about 700 tubes had at least 10% wear.  The new SGs are expected to last 40 years or longer -- but all of this excessive wear was detected after only about 14 months of operation!  PWRs rely on the SGs to remove excess heat from the reactor.  They are a vital safety component of the reactor, which is one reason there is a minimum of two SGs per reactor  (sometimes more than two) in every PWR in the world -- in case one fails.

San Onofre's engineers were quick to explain to the media and the public that the wear they found on Unit II was probably just wear from "settling in":  The parts merely had to "get comfortable" with each other.  I actually heard SanO employees using these "engineering" terms!

Then Unit III's steam generators failed, too -- and it was "discovered" the hard way:  A rupture.  One of the nearly 20,000 tubes inside Unit III's SGs suddenly burst, and the subsequent release of primary coolant -- which is highly radioactive -- into the secondary coolant loop -- which normally isn't very radioactive -- caused the control room operators to have to shut down that reactor as well.  Some radiation was released to the atmosphere (and to the public) when the radioactive steam condensed back to water at atmospheric pressure.

Calling what happened Last January merely a "leak" is being too nice:  It was an extremely violent flashing to steam of super-heated, super-pressurized radioactive water and chemicals.  (If you passed your arm accidentally over the breach, it would take your arm off (by steaming it off!) in an instant.  (But at least the stump would be sanitized.))

Such steam generator tube ruptures are rare, and it's a good thing:  The real danger would be that one burst tube would damage the tube next to it, which would burst too, and so on in a cascade of failures that would throw metal parts throughout the primary and secondary coolant loops, damaging valves and reactor fuel assemblies, blocking water flow, and damaging the other SG.  And then what?  Fukushima USA: An inability to cool the reactor -- a meltdown.

San Onofre avoided that, but their troubles had only just begun.

After letting the reactor cool for several days, technicians went in and started trying to discover what had gone wrong with Unit III's new steam generators.  Was it "just" wear, like Unit II was experiencing?  It doesn't appear to be the same problem:  SanO employees identified 129 tubes that appeared to be excessively worn, and started pressure-testing them.  This involves increasing the pressure in one tube at a time to about three times the normal operating pressure.  Seven tubes have failed these tests already, and they've only just begun that phase of the testing!

Will it ever be safe, or reasonable, to restart these reactors with Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's steam generators?  When BOTH units are having problems?  (Exactly ONE tube in Unit II was pressure tested in light of the problems with Unit III.  That one tube passed the test.  All pressure tested tubes are plugged up permanently, and can no longer be used.)

There can be little doubt now that MHI has been delivering products with criminally-negligent workmanship, and San Onofre has been accepting those parts and using them.

One meltdown at SanO -- or two -- would destroy everything we love about SoCal.  Why spend billions of dollars just to restart THAT risk?  Right now we just have the spent fuel to deal with -- the radioactive waste pile.  It's deadly, difficult to manage, and will cost a fortune.  But at least it's NOT GROWING at the moment, and that's good.  In fact, slowly but surely, it's cooling and becoming less hazardous.

Restarting San Onofre is just plain stupid!

Sincerely,

Ace Hoffman
Concerned Citizen
Carlsbad, CA