I just watched the three part Atomic Meltdown U.S.A segment on Youtube (search for title: Atomic Meltdown U.S.A part 1, part 2, part 3) and was blown away. In fact as I listened I was thinking "that sure sounds like Warren Olney...but not quite." (He wasn't identified in the beginning of the piece, which I was listening to more than watching.) Then I saw the name on the screen and realized I was watching a 1970's Warren Olney.
I'll have to listen to this show, with Warren Olney, here, now.
The program on KCRW is called "High Level Radioactivity in Groundwater at Santa Susana", aired THU MAY 20, 2004, produced by Frances Anderton.
I'm trying to learn more about this because I recently found out there had been a partial meltdown in Simi, a random online discovery just a few weeks ago, this being October 2012, and I was shocked. I was even more shocked after listening to a segment of American Public Media's Living On Earth, produced in 2006, about the class-action settlement by residents who became sick or died or lost loved ones to cancer. The meltdown is described as "the third worst release of radiation in nuclear history." Contrast that with how Warren describes the reports assessing safety after the meltdown, saying the reports "practically sighed with relief."
What does that tell me? What does that imply? Nothing good for you, me, or anyone in Southern California---and there are quite a few of us.
Today was the day I heard the Atomic Meltdown USA documentary (because that's really what it is, and some of that video is just amazing) ----and I can't really even describe how pissed off it made me. It's clear that some of the people Warren interviewed were uninformed, lying, or just plain bloody weak. And I'm referring to the "officials" who are in charge of these things and, unfortunately, involved in either keeping them secret or excusing the secrecy.
Most recently in nuclear news comes the alarming news that across the Pacific at the Dai-Ichi plant, Reactor 4 sits atop a 100-foot-tall, unstable structure, which workers cannot even approach because of the raging radioactivity. There has been word that the ground upon which that reactor sits has sunk 30 inches since 3/11, from Professor Mitsuhei Murata, Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland, who speaks in the video. Consider where the Fukushima plant is situated, on the seismically-active Ring of Fire. Then consider that we in Southern California sit on the opposite edge of that ring, in a quake zone, as well.
Then, consider that San Onofre sits near fault lines capable of a slip of greater magnitude than San O has been designed for---yet Edison wants to continue to operate it. On KPCC the other day Rochelle Becker of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility made an astounding statement. She said she "didn't know" whether San Onofre workers are in jeopardy.
I listened to the segment online while I was cleaning house. It's very interesting and very relevant because this is the process of deciding whether this plant will continue to operate. I found Becker's statement absolutely amazing and no one called her on it. San Onofre sits on a quake zone that is "15 months pregnant overdue" in the words of a Scripps seismologist, for "the Big One." And the Big One is bigger than what San O was designed for.
Given this simple truth, how can Ms. Becker make such a statement that she "doesn't know" whether plant workers are in danger? We are all in danger, and they are on the front lines. They are in serious danger, and their plant does not give a rat's ass about their safety from what I can tell. They also don't give a rat's ass about employing them.
From the LA Times August 12, 2012:
The company announced Monday a planned reduction of about 730 employees that will bring down staffing at the plant in northern San Diego County to 1,500. Details of the cuts will be worked out later this year, officials said.
....
Edison said in a statement that the company had begun plans to downsize more than two years ago after concluding that San Onofre's staffing and costs were "significantly higher" than at similar nuclear plants. In documents filed with the California Public Utilities Commission in 2010, the company outlined a projected reduction of 500 workers by October 2012.
At a large public meeting this past Tuesday, Edison workers rallied for their jobs and against plant shutdown. But Edison was planning to lay them off even before the reactor shutdown and equipment failures.
And Edison has been less than truthful, as has the NRC, in describing the problems with the generators are "computer modeling" predictions gone wrong. That's a pretty unique way to describe a situation where key design changes, including the addition of 400 high-pressure tubes to carry radioactive water, to the generators. Leaving that out of the explanation cannot be described as anything but a very serious lie of omission that distorts the facts by eliminating a key influence on the events.
This October 5, 2012 L.A. Times story says:
"A regulatory commission report blamed errors in computer modeling by Mitsubishi for the problems in the new steam generators.
In a statement Thursday, Mitsubishi pushed back against the suggestion that using a different modeling code would have prevented the problems, saying that the type of tube wear found at San Onofre was unprecedented in the industry."
Engineer Arnie Gundersen, who ran nuclear plants in the 70's and was blacklisted in the industry for speaking out about safety problems, has compiled reports describing the design changes, including this one.
Another excellent source of information about radiation in general, from Fukushima or otherwise, is Michael Collins' EnviroReporter.com out of Santa Monica. What I would give to hear Michael Collins on Warren Olney's show.
This recent article by Michael Collins describes a Tokyo company's tests for radioactivity and the results they found in California produce, which is less than comforting.
Meanwhile, a citizen blogger named Hatrick Penry has delved into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.
These documents show what nuclear regulators and U.S. officials said to each other as the Dai-Ichi plant began its meltdown on 3/11.
If you don't trust Hatrick Penry's interpretation, you can read the official documents, posted here in part: "Official Transcripts-Audio File --transcripts of telephone conversations.
It's a 944 page document. It's a really good thing bloggers are writing and thinking about this. It amazes me how bloggers get ridiculed by Mainstream Media freaks, who only are allowed to report on what their bosses tell them. They know they're full of shit, and they're threatened by the fact that the truth is no longer on broadcast news. If they don't realize this yet, it's because they sit in a studio all day and get all kinds of loving recognition and props from the American public who are truly in the dark about what's being omitted from their information feeds. Vital public safety information, withheld by those who they pay their hard-earned money to out of every single paycheck.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year was named the second best place to work in the U.S. Government. (Source).
Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, made statements condemning the other commissioners' support for continued looseness of fire regulations last year, suggesting his agency could not properly regulate the industry given the current rules. His comments are posted here at Propublica.org.
Propublica reported:
In a forceful critique of his agency’s approach toward fire safety, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared that the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is “unacceptable” and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors.
Consider the lies of the Japanese officials and US officials about the nature of the radiation leaks. Consider and peruse the documents released under the Freedom of Information Act that are posted online and reveal much about what Nuclear Regulatory Officials said to each other privately when discussing what to tell the American public, the people who pay their salaries.
When I consider what's been publicly printed in "Official" sources like the LA Times and many other places, my head starts to feel like it's going to pop right off. They've been laying down the line that "computer simulations" caused the equipment failure. Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen has put the lie to that idea thoroughly at his website Fairewinds.com. The steam generators were souped up. Meaning there were several KEY design changes which the NRC did not scrutinize.
On the Youtube documentary comments on the Atomic USA reports, I saw several remarks from people saying "I've lived here all my life and had no idea," and similar statements of surprise.
ATOMIC U.S.A MELTDOWN part 1 on YouTube:
Santa Susana Meltdown kept secret for 20 years. This video shows how documents finally were released.
From the top to the bottom
Bottom to top I stop
At the core I've forgotten
In the middle of my thoughts
Taken far from my safety
The picture is there
The memory won't escape me
But why should I care (2x)
There's a place so dark you can't see the end
(Skies cock back) and shock that which can't defend
The rain then sends dripping acidic questions
Forcefully, the power of suggestion
Then with the eyes tightly shut looking thought the rust and rotten dust
A spot of light floods the floor
And pours over the rusted world of pretend
The eyes ease open and its dark again
Chorus
Bridge:
In the memory you'll find me
Eyes burning up
The darkness holding me tightly
Until the sun rises up
Moving all around
Screaming of the ups and downs
Pollution manifested in perpetual sound
The wheels go round and the sunset creeps past the
Street lamps, chain-link, and concrete
A little piece of paper with a picture drawn
Floats on down the street till the wind is gone
The memory now is like the picture was then
When the paper's crumpled up it can't be perfect again
Chorus
Bridge
Now you got me caught in the act
You bring the thought back
I'm telling you that
I see it right through you
Linkin Park, Forgotten
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