Preventing imminent ecological catastrophe means shutting down capitalist institutions & ending capitalist rule

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6 SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 2011 the rest of us. It actually manages to replace some nutrients as advertised. But nuclear power doesn’t slow climate change one iota. Neither do any of the other capitalist solutions to climate change. And there’s no sound reason to believe they ever will.

Bio-fuels were never close to carbonneutral. And there isn’t enough land on earth to supply even a fraction of pres­ ent energy needs and at the same time feed everyone. But the recent spike in bio-fuel production did help drive up food prices, and help throw hundreds of thousands more into starvation.

Other proposed solutions include dumping massive amounts of iron slur­ ry into the oceans in an attempt to pro­ mote plankton growth, and blasting the moon with nuclear weapons in order to envelop the earth in light-reflecting dust.

But what about renewable energy based on wind, solar, water, and geo­ thermal sources? A November 2009 Scientific American article, for instance, more or less demonstrated that it is en­ tirely possible to fuel all present human activity with these energy sources using present technology, and that it could be accomplished within 20 years.

Still, there’s no reason to expect fossil fuel use to cease if the present govern­ ments and corporations were somehow forced into building such a renewable energy system. Without closing down the existing fossil fuel infrastructure, the supply of energy would simply in­ crease. This would lower the price of energy until energy-based economic activity expanded to absorb the greater energy pool. Indeed, this is the only ma­ terial impact building such technology

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... NO NUKES!

(continued from page 12: “From Three Mile Island to Japan NO MORE NUKES!”) 26 days at those levels is equivalent to a cumulative exposure of 100,000 microSieverts, fating all who are contaminated to cancer.

There is no doubt that Fukushima radiation levels are approaching those of Chernobyl. The Comprehen­ sive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBT), based in Austria, has a worldwide network of detectors used to monitor atomic bomb blasts and sniff out the tini­ est traces of radionuclides. Its readings indicate that daily levels of Iodine-131 are 73% of the 1986 disas­ ter and Cesium-137 is 60%.

The radioactive plume has definitely reached North America via winds blowing across the Pacific Ocean. CTBT stations in Alaska, Hawaii, California, and Que­ bec all agree with the high I-131 and Cs-137 Becquer­ el readings taken at Takasaki, Japan.

So far in the U.S., 14 states have reported elevated radiation levels. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which is also nothing but a promoter of nu­ clear power, has told us it’s perfectly harmless. Many Americans are not swallowing it and have scrambled to purchase potassium iodide tablets to prevent thy­ roid cancer, placing a strain on the three suppliers.

The hazards of exposure to radiation have been con­ sistently downplayed by the Japanese government to the general public, admitting it is way above the NBR, yet assuring them it’s harmless. This is a lie and the height of irresponsibility. There are no serious plans to evacuate the thousands of people who will be in harm’s way in the event of a catastrophic multiple meltdown. People in the outer perimeter are merely told to seal their homes and stay indoors, remaining trapped while running out of provisions. Those who have somewhere else to go have wisely fled the area on their own.

The seawater around the plant is crackling, yet there has been no ban on eating seafood. Tap water has been irradiated, but the government has deemed it unsafe to drink for only infants, no one else. Nonethe­ less, there has been a run on bottled water because everyone is skeptical. Vegetables grown in the north­ east are not fit to eat, and a number of nations have banned food imports. Even the rain is radioactive be­ cause of heavy atmospheric concentrations.

Helicopter crews dropping water on the crippled reactors have had to abort missions because it is too hazardous. Even airlines are rerouting international flights to avoid the plume. A Russian cargo vessel that sailed past the plant on its return voyage was quaran­ tined, with 19 crew members under medical supervi­ sion because of high radiation readings. In addition, the U.S. Navy pulled back a carrier that was flying rescue missions because it feared radiation would be taken in through the ship’s vents if it was anchored too close to the plant.

The beleaguered Japanese people are justifiably expressing their fear, anger, and frustration over be­ ing lied to by TEPCO and the government and are de­ manding to know the truth. They have begun to publi­ cally protest in Tokyo and other cities because they know nuclear power is not safe and money-grubbing utilities such as TEPCO do not have their best inter­ ests at heart.

Three associated press reporters have exposed the company’s fudging on its earthquake/tsunami risk assessment despite more than ample experience from the past for both to occur. TEPCO made up its own computer model and chose to ignore all geologi­ cal evidence from prior to 1886 in calculating risk. No wonder the nuclear power industry has an abomi­ nable safety record, with regulatory agencies always turning a blind eye to violations.

The tragic outcome of this deadly game of nuclear roulette has been another “Oops!” moment in the con­ tinuing nightmare of disaster capitalism. All of Japan’s 54 reactors are similarly situated near the sea on an island complex that is prone to frequent and intense earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The U.S. likewise has at least 10 nuclear power sites sit­ ting on fault lines.

Three Mile Island Since their inception, the nuclear weapons and power industries have been enshrouded in secrecy and lies with their propaganda mills churning out falsehoods and fairy tales. Those born in the immedi­ ate post-World War II period can recall the scary and thoroughly ridiculous “duck-and-cover” ads run regu­ larly on TV, showing school children how to protect themselves by diving under their desks in the event of an atomic blast. We needn’t mention the Miss Atomic Bomb beauty queens that were grotesquely paraded around annually in swimsuits up until 1957.

They are still lying to us today. The media is repeat­ ing the claptrap from the government, saying, yes, there was a partial meltdown in 1979 at Three Mile Island (near Harrisburg, Pa.) but no radiation escaped because the containment held. But in fact, members of the surrounding farming community exposed to the radioactive emissions from the plant all report­ ed a similar set of symptoms—metallic taste in the mouth, burning and blistering skin, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and hair loss. Clearly, they were afflicted with radiation sickness.

Many near Three Mile Island also witnessed deaths, stillbirths, and deformities among their livestock and pets, which had been outside for much longer. When they reported these things, the authorities told them that they were suffering from mental anxiety and fear of radiation, and their symptoms were merely psy­ chosomatic! From that we may assume that they had also hallucinated the deaths and deformities of their animals.

Since then, epidemiologists have proven otherwise, showing that subsequent cancer rates were higher where the radioactive plume was most dense com­ pared with cancer rates of areas that were not as heavily irradiated.

The legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster is much worse. The reactor had no containment ves­ sel, so when it exploded it sent an intense radioactive plume 10 kilometers into the air that spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere. Parts of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus were heavily irradiated, with the latter having received 70% of the fallout. The terrible health consequences in the region persist to this day.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimat­ ed the death toll from the cataclysm to be only 4000. However, a new book co-authored by three Russian scientists—“Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catas­ trophe for People and the Environment”—challeng­ es that gross underestimation, saying it is more like 985,000 fatalities, mostly from cancers. They base this on health data, radiological surveys, and scientific reports from 5000 sources.

The IAEA and WHO have had an understanding that requires underreporting of the hazardous effects of nuclear radiation. In fact, 20 years after Chernobyl, in 2006, WHO presented a whitewash of its health im­ pacts that was scathingly criticized by epidemiologist Rosalie Bertell and others. The editor of the “Cher­ nobyl” book, Janette Sherman, who is a physician and toxicologist, characterized the role of WHO in this case as being “like Dracula guarding the blood bank.” The book also documents disturbing and freakish al­ terations in the plant and animal life in the region’s ecosystems and its alarming decline in biodiversity.

The steadily deteriorating situation in Japan has touched off another debate over nuclear power around the world because people are tired of greedy utilities gambling with their lives. The conservative government in Germany headed by Angela Merkel has promised to shut down its older reactors, and the Green Party scored an election victory in her home state of Baden-Wuertemberg, where it doubled its vote over the Christian Democrats. China is rethink­ Wally Santana / AP (Above) Japanese woman in shelter for tsunami refugees is screened for radiation.

Wing its plans to build new reactors, and Swit­ zerland is holding off on replacing some of its older facilities. That is, at least for now. The Obama administration, on the other hand, is going full steam ahead with six new nuclear power stations and $35 billion in loan guarantees plucked from taxpayers’ wallets. Obama’s pro-nuke Energy Secretary Stephen Chu is still insisting that nuclear power is a necessary part of the nation’s “carbon-neu­ tral” energy portfolio. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission supposedly has launched a series of inspections of the fleet of 104 badly aging and dilapidated reactors, no doubt to justify the ex­ tension on their licenses. Congress has likewise got­ ten busy in holding safety hearings. It’s all a show, of course, to assure us that we can stop worrying about radiation poisoning and learn to love nukes.

There are no safe levels of radiation, no matter how small the amount or what the form, be it gamma or medical x-rays, alpha or beta particles. All of the most common isotopes associated with nuclear reac­ tors—Iodine-129 & 131, Strontium-90, Cesium-137, and Plutonium-238—will harm the human body and other living organisms. When it comes to radioactiv­ ity penetrating living tissue, every dose is an overdose that can have mutagenic or carcinogenic effects.

Nuclear power is neither safe nor green and never will be, no matter where the reactors are located, fault lines or not. They are a hazard because of the routine venting of radioactive steam and the regular dis­ charge of tritium-contaminated hot water that harms aquatic and marine ecosystems and pollutes drink­ ing water. Because of their vast complexity, they are plagued with constant equipment failures regardless of how smart the geniuses were who designed them.

Operator error is also a serious problem. The partial meltdown at Three Mile Island was a combination of equipment and operator snafus. The seemingly end­ less build-up of radioactive wastes threatens all life in the biosphere, now and for thousands of millennia.

Nukes can never be a viable alternative to fossil fuels because, from cradle to grave, greenhouse gases are generated at every stage of the nuclear cycle. Along with radon gas, uranium mining gives off methane emissions. Milling the ore, converting the uranium to yellowcake, its conversion to hexafluoride gas, the en­ richment of the hex, the fabrication of the fuel pellets and zirconium tubes, reactor construction, fuel pro­ cessing and conditioning, the interim and permanent storage of wastes, and the lengthy decommissioning of the plants (over some 60 years) are all highly ener­ gy-intensive endeavors.

Plus, nuclear power stations are the most ludicrous and expensive way imaginable to boil water when we could be using the wind and Earth’s more benign geo­ logical forces—tides, waves, free-flowing streams— to drive turbines for electricity.

Since the beginning of the Atomic Age, the entire planet has been irradiated to one degree or another. It is high time it stopped, before life as we know it be­ comes unrecognizable. These abominations must be shut down immediately and decommissioning begun at once. Ultimately, all energy comes from the sun, and we already have the clean technologies to harness it.

The priority should be the conversion to clean, safe, renewable, nonradioactive energy that powers an economy in which the necessities of life are produced according to ecological and human needs, rather than private profit. n SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 2011 7

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News and views from SA Canada nizational independence of the NDP as a party of the labour movement and work­ ing people. As a partner in a Liberal gov­ ernment, the NDP would have to carry the can for austerity and corporate bail­ outs at home, and for imperial wars of oc­

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Nuclear power is neither safe nor green. It is a hazard because of the regular venting of radioactive steam and hot water. Greenhouse gases are generated at every stage of the nuclear cycle.