March 11, 2013 - 2 Year Anniversary of Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe

From: Aslihan Tumer, Greenpeace International 

Dear  Barbara,

Today I'm writing to you about the Fukushima nuclear disaster because I need your support. First, try to imagine being forced to abandon your home so quickly that you cannot even return to warn your neighbours and friends to evacuate. Then imagine being told you may not be able to live in your home again for decades. It is too dangerous, there is too much radiation. That is what happened to some 160,000 people because of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. For the past two years these people have lived in limbo: not able to return, not able to start a new life, bearing the burden of the nuclear industry's disaster which the Red Cross calls an "ongoing humanitarian crisis".

Before this email you may never have heard of General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba's connection to this disaster. But these three famous companies were closely involved in the design, construction and servicing of the Fukushima nuclear reactors, which experienced multiple failures and three full meltdowns almost two years ago.

Then these companies walked away from the disaster without being held accountable, including without paying any of the cost - estimated at 250 billion US dollars.

This situation is completely unjust and must change. If you agree, please join us in taking action.

General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba are nuclear supplier companies who have left the Japanese people, especially the victims of Fukushima, to bear the burden of this nuclear disaster. In comparison with the zero dollars these companies have paid, the Japanese people have already paid 43.7 billion US dollars worth of public money.

The nuclear industry profits while creating huge nuclear risk, but people pay the price for this risk. This is partly because of flawed nuclear liability laws which prioritise the profits of the industry over the health and safety of the public by exempting nuclear supplier companies from paying for nuclear disasters. The situation in Japan is not an exception, nuclear liability laws are like this in most countries. The nuclear industry needs to be accountable just like any other industry in the world. The solution is simple "The polluter must pay."

You can help change this unfair situation - please help us build awareness of this issue and spread the word!

Thank you for supporting our work,

Aslihan

Looking back at 2011 and Forward to 2012

The Fukushima disaster in March of 2011 is a day that will go down in history – the largest nuclear accident in our history – and it may take 100 years to get it cleaned up. It made me google a book that I had written many years before and had been published in hardcover, “The Nuclear Catastrophe”, as a fiction novel of suspense. Surprise – while out of print it was still being sold as a used book by Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and a few survival web sites. So, in this age of the internet, I decided to update it and bring it back out in paperback and as an Ebook. Many people (thank you all) suggested that I change the name of the book so that it didn't sound like something too boring to read. Finally the name was born: “THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe”. However, by the time that got done, the originally named version was selling so well on Amazon.com that I left it alone there but changed it for B&N and smashwords. And thusly, this blog got started.

Some of the original topics were:

Stay or Flee? What would you do?

Radiation dangers

Survival List for Nuclear Disaster

Radiation sickness exposure table

Then I moved on to new topics:

French Nuclear Plant disaster, 7/2/2011

Responsibility of Nations to have laws with sufficient penalties

Nuclear Engineer whistleblower demoted

Greater LA food found high in radiation (2 peaches – but????)

By this time the Ebook had started to be more widely read. So I posted a review written by Terry Callister (Books and Novels to Read) who resides in Spain. And I wrote about the marvels of science – you can read all these Ebooks on your smart phone – whatever font size you want, backlit, and always handily with you.

But by August I was again addressing the perils of life:

The Great American Lie – nuclear accidents that have happened in the US and been covered up

Your Space and My Space and remembering 2011 – does believing you are right overshadow the rights of others?

Creating jobs in America – try the WPA way from the big depression

Where does the Truth Lie? There seems to be 2 different camps on nuclear energy

Wikipedia Tribute – they are funded by donations.

The Nuclear Industry's Dirtiest Secret – attracting unskilled labor with high wages for dangerous cleanup work at Fukushima

As we move into the new year of 2012,  I would like to leave you with some thoughts to ponder for the future.

Would you gamble your health by having electricity generated by a nuclear power plant near you? It may be perfectly safe. But time and time again it is showing us – that it's not. I actually am not anti-nuclear. I am anti-nuclear accident. So until they upgrade the existing plants which are now aging, or develop a better reactor system (if they can), I'm not into gambling.

Happy New Year to you all.