The generation of electricity and weapons production
with nuclear facilities
have
negative
and positive arguments. The proponents who argue that screw-ups are rare
may not consider one of the major league radiation releases. Three nuclear
disasters are detailed (click the rad symbol) at the plutonium and tritium
production facilities in the Chelyabinsk Region of the former USSR. The
blundering bureaucratic process described is incredible but likely repeatable
by those that never learn from the past. The original articles on
Chelyabinsk have been removed from the Internet although additional sources
of the magnitude of the contamination in this area can also be found on a
Google search. Radioactive contamination areas as well as recent plans for
the the importation of spend high level radiation fuel rods from various
locations in Asia can be found at the
EcoBridge site.
Somewhat closer to home is the Environmentalists Newsletters on DOE Watch. This page provides information on contamination from the processing of nuclear materials at the Oak Ridge DOE facility in Tennessee. This page provides information and good links on beryllium. The highly visual scrolling graphics is entertaining as well as enlightening.
"There are practically no cases of radioactive watermelons this year."
-Andrei Buyanov, Moscow atomic food inspector (Daily Grist)
A bit more closer is the nuclear power plants of Pennsylvania. On April 20, 1999, all eight of the deep demineralizer valves failed due to a possible computer malfunction causing approximately a loss of 110-inches of water on the primary side of Limerick Unit-1 within 40-seconds. Overall this seems to have been classified as a potential ho humm event of possible public interest likely equivalent to an amorous canine showing interest in one of the security guard s leg. This was originally copied from nukenet and reposted (USENET newsgroup copy ) in Usenet Newsgroups. The nukenet egroup provides interesting discussion of events near and far, including the historical Y2K (not to be confused with PIE2K) issue. The search feature provides a quick method of finding information on specific topics in the numerous messages.
So how bad can certain bay areas in New York and New Jersey be polluted? At one point a potential remedy, suggested by the New Jersey State Environmental Program, was to put the sediments from the bay, put it into impermeable (if this exists for long) bags, and then place them in an approved area in "another"part of the ocean. On the flip side, placing the sediment in trucks/trains and dumping it into abandoned mines in PA was also OK.
Visit Hydra's
"HOT MUD
HOMEPAGE
now!!!
.........................................Click the skull now!
But, if you would rather look at some pictures of some
nice ash on the beach, visit the project Return to Sender homepage. This has the continuing saga of City of Philadelphia incinerator ash which went for a cruise to find a home ten years ago. In a real life maritime journey, that pales the saga of Gilligan and the Skipper, the ash was finally dumped on a beach town in Haiti, where it continues to sit and migrate into the environment. The original claim was that it was just a fertilizer. After a bit the residents found out that the only thing resembling fertilizer was the song and dance given by the crew of the ash boat. True, the ash is finally back, but as long as this link exists it is still informative.
A scientist from Russia named Adam
Took a pot shot at splitting the atom.
He blew off his penis,
And now, just between us,
Is known in the Kremlin as Madam
-unknown
Shifting back to Russia the potential hazards for human health and the environment could be severe from a former weapons grade anthrax burial site on Vozrozhdeniye Island. The Chicago Tribune (June 2, 1999) reported that live spores have been found at this burial site. Vozrozhdeniye (Renaissance) Island was the disposal site for hundreds of tons of drummed anthrax waste from the Soviet biological weapons program.
The details of a former biological weapons release is detailed in an article from Lev Fyodorov (Death from the Test-Tube). This article describes the effects of an accidental anthrax release in the Chkalovsky district of Sverdlovsk during 1979. This particular biological agent was reported to have particularly affected adult males, and may have been more than one strain (or with other bacteria or virus strains) of anthrax.
More details on the Sverdlovsk incident can be found at George Washington University's National Security Archives. The National Security Archive was founded in 1985, and is considered, "the world's largest non governmental library of declassified documents." The information on "Anthrax at Sverdlovsk, 1979" provides details (with some blacked out sections) on intelligence reports on anthrax. Also, former Soviet research on other biological agents is touched on.
Shifting over to Iraq the biological programs do have roots in other countries, including the United States, where biological stocks as well as other nuclear, chemical, and delivery systems. Although, much of this was done in the 80's there should be some concern on why any business would help a known violator of human rights purchase these types of weapons. The full list of United States weapons suppliers are translated from an original German article at Rense.com. The list is also referenced at the Ratical News Posting service with full LA Weekly article "Made in USA - A guide to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction". This latter site also provides hyperlinks to the history of foreign actions in Iraq, including the funding from previous administrations. In retrospect, what administrations would be stupid enough to help Iraq's WMD programs? Shaking hands with Saddam Hussein provides some basic clues.
An excellent source of the microbiological suppliers for various phases of Iraq's biological weapons development at the Monterey Institute of International Studies Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The flowchart provides the hyperlink for the various phases of biological weapons aquisition with hyperlinks to the various steps.
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
-Japanese computer error message
"We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad."
-Donald Rumsfeld (on WMD facilities) March 30, 2003
"If no one were watching, Iraq could do this. But just as with the nuclear weapons programme, they'd have to start from scratch, having been deprived of all equipment, facilities and research. They'd have to procure the complicated tools and technology required through front companies. This would be detected. The manufacture of chemical weapons emits vented gases that would have been detected by now if they existed. We've been watching, via satellite and other means, and have seen none of this. If Iraq was producing weapons today, we'd have definitive proof, plain and simple."
-War On Iraq, Former Chief Weapons Inspector, Scott Ritter and William Rivers Pitt, Profile Books, 2002. p32-3
response to Iraq continued to develop WMD since 1998
Scott Ritter described Iraq as “fundamentally disarmed” with 90-95% of its WMD (and 100% of it’s nuclear capability) having been eliminated.
-Blix cartoon taken from the Rush Limbaugh Site (July 2003).
This would appear to be a graft of the Blix head on to Limbaugh's body.
More poor taste artwork, far right propaganda, Bush/Cheney apologists, and questionable data is available at this Official OXYmoron Site (at significant additional cost)
NOT to be confused with Rush Limbaugh Online . A free lampoon far left site
On the lighter side, let me relate a story of flashbacks and rabbit wars. Penn State, late 70s. It was a dark and cold walk from the Shandygaff saloon in State College shaking off the effects of more imported ales than accustomed too. Watching the butter melt (those drips look like two ratty long ears!) on the hot sticky bun at the State College Diner there was a flashback to 1969. It was during a brief vacation from Bien Hoa; while sitting on a stool at the Texas Tavern in Sydney, Australia during Happy Hour (which really lasts for several hours). The larger than average rabbit with the dirty, matted fur sat down beside me after several futile attempts at not sliding off the polished wood seats. After offering the disheveled bunny a drink (which was no big deal, since all the drinks was free over there during happy hours), a strange tale of intelligent dolphins (always armed with a modified POST slide rule under their flipper), and the recent battles of a strange mutant rabbit revolution was related. Writing this off as the expected drunk bragging from a giant mutant bunny from the Outback, little additional thought was given. I recall his mumbling something about breakfast pastry, or something, while departing for drunken (the hippies, the horses, and the predominantly DOD customers) horse back riding with enterprising hippies from a Bourke Street commune. The odd bunny was forgotten until the sticky (hot) bun with the melting butter some years later. The years continue to pass, and for some odd reason, the link for the Tuna Free Dolphin meat site (sometimes up sometimes down) pops up during a Google search. Well Damn! (I think to myself) This must be the warped philosophy of some ultra right wing , drift-net, scum sucker (not to be confused with the typical Bush type bureaucratic ultra right wing scum suckers spouting "green" adjectives) poking fun at environmentalists! Preparing to do cyber battle with this perceived vile (and likely GOP) organization, little did I know, while mashing the mouse key on the hyperlink, that this would lead to the highly intelligent and computer literate dolphins of Australia! Continued sporadic communication related the stories of other (although land locked) species. The seemingly unrelated links (not hyper) between the Sydney Happy Hour bunny, the butter sopped State College Sticky Buns, and the technologically proficient dolphins (that document everything) stood out with clarity. This information is presented on the Hydra's Bunny Facts Page.
To return to Hydra's main page click here or on Homer.