Bye Bye San Onofre Nuclear Reactor…….and what it does for YOU

Eons ago I lived in Orange County not too far from the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. Visiting San Diego made you pass right by it when using the freeway. As a science teacher in high school, it always made me wonder if it were “safe”. The mechanics of an atomic bomb were well known – radioactive materials release “nuclear bullets” as they decay. An uncontrolled increasingly large chain reaction can be created – just as all the old science films showed- dropping one ping pong ball into thousands of mouse traps set with other ping pong balls. One ball hits a trap and now 2 balls hit 2 traps and 4 balls are loose , the 4 turning into 8 balls loose, etc. The heat and energy released in an atomic chain reaction results in an explosion.

But……the nuclear reactor in a power plant has control rods that drop into the chain reaction and absorb the excess “nuclear bullets” to slow the reaction down and there is a cooling system also. Therefore the reactor heats water which produces steam to turn turbines and make electricity safely.


But…. What if it somehow got out of control. What if the unthinkable happened? What if there were human error? What if what could go wrong, did go wrong? It kept flowing through my mind. And I lived nearby.


So in 1975 I sat down to put my fears into writing. This was before the internet, when communication was through books and magazines, newspapers, and television. With the confidence produced from having no knowledge of the book industry, I dedicated myself for several years to writing a fiction novel that expressed my ideas of what would happen if an earthquake hit a nuclear reactor facility and jammed the control rods so that the nuclear chain reaction could not be slowed down and an explosion would occur. In a moment of brilliance I entitled the fiction novel, “The Nuclear Catastrophe”.


Suprisingly, I had no trouble getting the novel published with a moderate advance, a few good reviews, sales to libraries across the United States. Then: nothing. Hard to make a living that way so I moved on in life. In fact I forgot all about that adventure until the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Strangely enough, 30+ years later, an earthquake had jammed the control rods of a nuclear plant and the plant had explosions and a meltdown, totally destroying the plant.


Out of curiosity, I googled the name of my novel. It was all over the internet being sold as a second hand used book. Since it had never been brought out as a paperback, nor the now the ever present EBook, I decided to re-enter the contentious fray over nuclear power. Is it safe? Is it sane? Is it cost effective? Does it increase cancer risk? And how else does it affect YOU.


While my critics abound, so do my supporters. (Reading the reviews on my Amazon page is like a nuclear war). But the bottom line is, Southern California has 20 MILLION people who would be affected by a Fukushima type nuclear disaster. With San Onofre mothballed and shut down, we are never going to have thousands of acres abandoned and uninhabitable, with buildings sitting vacant from contamination from a nuclear plant meltdown. We are never going to have to try and evacuate more people that the existing road structure can handle, enduring massive traffic jams that last for days as people and their vehicles are radiated. We are never going to have to face leaving all our possessions behind, to be looted, to be irradiated so that they are useless. We are never going to have to realize that our losses are not covered by insurance from our home policy or insurance from the nuclear plant company. We are never going to have to figure out where to evacuate (bearing in mind that states close their borders as may Mexico or Canada – who wants your radioactive car in their neighborhood?). We are never going to be faced with starting over after a nuclear catastrophe with no job, no home, no usable car, no possessions, and no prospects.


40% of the population of the United States lives within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor. Shutting down San Onofre is certainly called for as it sits in earthquake country and is an old plant with previous problems. And YOU have the chance to keep this type solution moving forward for other nuclear plants. So YOU do not have to be subjected to starting over with nothing, email your local legislators and your friends with your thoughts that the risk is not acceptable. There is too much risk to YOU, for too little reward.

In 2013 I am donating 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the updated EBook, “The Nuclear

Catastrophe” a fiction novel of survival, to a charity that benefits the forgotten victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Towns are still sitting vacant with contaminated soil pushed into large piles. The victims have not been compensated. Your purchase of 99 cents will help them.

In this Monday, March 4, 2013 photo, a warning sign for drivers is seen beside a roadway, near a pile of radiation-contaminated soil at the Tsushima Junior High School in Namie, outside the the nuclear exclusion zone surrounding the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. Two years after a tsunami crippled the nuclear plant, towns surrounding it remain abandoned, too contaminated by radiation for residents to return for more than short visits. (AP Photo/Greg Baker

Kiwi TNT KIWI was an experimental nuclear-powered rocket engine. In this case "TNT" stands for "Transient Nuclear Test." This safety experiment was a deliberate burn-up of the reactor by a run-away chain reaction. The release of energy caused portions of the reactor to vaporize and the reactor to destroy itself.


Barbara Griffin Billig

Available for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WDRWXY

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Also published as: as THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe in Paperback
Read an excerpt now:  http://bit.ly/pY8HxX

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

The Birth and Death of Democracy

The United States is now arguing over who has “too much” and who has “too little”.  While no one can predict the future, the following has been circulating over the internetIand bears some thought.  I have edited out the parts that "Snopes" has declared to be untrue.  The rest is for your imagination to consider.

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as

a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters  discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates  who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the  result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.  (Not verified) During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following  sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."   The United States has always been successful as a free economy. Being supported by the government promotes dependency which leads  (according to this history) to downfall.  Let us not abandon the poor or the  sick  but we need to create jobs to empower our country.  And we  need to foster knowledge to fight apathy.

????​?WHERE DOES THE TRUTH LIE?????

Each day we are presented with conflicting information that is supposedly factual. It is in the newspapers, it is on TV, it's quoted on the internet. So do we take a poll of how many represent one point of view versus those representing the other? Who is going to set up the voting? Who is going to do the research to determine what is fact and what is fiction?

Take the JOBS issue for a start. The 99 centers are occupying public places to bring the lack of jobs to the forefront of attention. Governor Jerry Brown of California is for a works program like we had after the last depression. But the newspapers point out that he is sitting on vast sums of California Bond money that has not been spent for jobs – it is just sitting there incurring interest that has to be paid on unused money. President Obama is for creating jobs – but the newspapers state that he might put off the decision on whether or not to build the North South XL oil pipeline until after the election – so he doesn't offend the environmentalists or the unions. That doesn't create jobs. The House and the Senate cannot agree on the budget or jobs – how long is this going to take? That is THEIR JOB.

14,000,000 Americans are out of work. At 100,000 per month additional jobs created it will take ten years to get America fully employed again.

Besides the WPA proposals (see my previous blog) :

     Bring back the jobs outsourced to other countries. Pay the same wages as are being paid in those    countries and supplement the wages with the unemployment funds.

     Set deadlines for the House and Senate and other government bodies to act – or they become unpaid until they do act. Maybe they would work at this harder.

     And think outside the box if you need a job. Don't wait until someone comes knocking on your door. Occupying the United States has made its point. Now personally create positive energy. Go occupy the waiting room of a place where you might get a job. Go every day. Call every day. Make them know you want this job. Move to a state or city where jobs are being created (and there are some). Take a lesser job to get started and work hard to get ahead. Think of a product or a service you could sell and use the internet to get the word out. Action and discipline create results.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson

And next, the NUCLEAR RADIATION issue.

Is it the Japan Fukushima disaster is fully under control and we have no worries – or, is it this has just begun?

The following points seem to be hotly debated:

     Is the remaining nuclear fuel at Fukushima still fissioning and releasing radiation into the air, groundwater, and sea?

     How much radioactive seawater has been created, will be created, and will circulate to the United States coasts?

     How much radioactive dust has been created, will be created, and will float over the United States, Canada, etc.

     What's a safe dose of radiation? After all we have x-rays,scans, and many forms of medical imagery.

First, there is no safe dose of radiation. A study has just been released that followed patients who had myocardial infarctions requiring various radioactive low dose scans. After five years there was a significant increase in cancer in those patients receiving the scan(s) versus the control group that did not receive the low dose radioactivity.

So it seems we should be concerned that continuing radiation being released from Fukushima (or anywhere else) is not a healthful situation. There are independent groups that have formed that are testing the radiation in the air and the seawater. There are also governmental studies by countries outside Japan. France has released over the internet various interactive maps that show wind patterns from Japan and the currents from the ocean. If the radioactive particles are out there – they are going to travel. It took only about 10 days for the winds to carry the radioactive particles to European soil. Seaweed off the coast of the United States is showing radioactivity – seaweed which is eaten by fish and then passed along to other living creatures.

I think it is time for TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co.) and the Japanese government to take further responsibility for the disaster they have created. Show us further proof of containment and the stoppage of contamination. Our government should be making these demands on behalf of its citizens. Is there a conspiracy of silence? Perhaps the lack of knowledge on the subject by the majority creates a lack of interest. But, a person's health is far more important than a person's money.

Barbara Griffin Billig Author: The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of suspense)

also published as: THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe

Follow on Twitter: @ barbarabillig

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