Re: [Marxism] Tritium Hot Zone Expands Around Vermont Nuclear Plant

[Ralph Johansen]

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"VERNON - The Department of Health said late Monday there appears to be 
"a very large area" at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor contaminated 
with radioactive tritium, and contamination levels continue to rise."

//David:  A picocurie is to a curie as a penny is to 10 BILLION DOLLARS, 
and a curie is not even a very large unit of measure. A curie of tritium
weighs just 0.1 milligrams.?

//What can this conceivably do to allay concerns of someone who knows 
nothing of curies as a measure of relative hazard - "not even a very 
large unit of measure"?  William Irwin, radiological health chief, is 
quoted in the article as saying that there are many potential sources of 
radioactive water at this particularly high concentration of tritium. 
High levels. Is he incompetent? Is the nuclear industry acceding to 
ridiculously low levels of endangerment in  the federal standards? The 
level of contamination recorded on Monday was 2.52 million picocuries 
per liter of water. The federal standard for drinking water is 20,000 
picocuries per liter, according to the article and David doesn't respond 
to this assertion. Is that a standard that was reached by compromise 
with the industry as it's reasonable to assume? That's on the face of it 
an enormous disparity. And saying that the test wells are not used for 
drinking water doesn't pass the smell test. Everyone in the area has 
drinking water wells, apparently, likely of varying depth - so far 
untested, also according to the article, although the few deep water 
wells tested so far, it doesn't say where or how many, have tested 
tritium-free. The indications in the article are that very few have so 
far been tested.

He said the area of contamination was roughly from the reactor building 
to the Connecticut River.

//Connecticut River? That's the largest river in New England, flowing 
through Vermont, New Hampshire, Western Massachusetts, and finally 
emptying into Long Island Sound - flowing through farm and urban areas 
for miles before it reaches the ocean.

He said another groundwater monitoring well was in the final stages of 
being put into use and more wells might be drilled to help define the 
plume of contamination.

//Might be? The article states that the leakage was discovered in 
November in one of three 2007 monitoring wells! "The first indication of 
the contamination showed up in November in one of three 2007 monitoring 
wells and the levels quickly rose starting in January. New wells, closer 
to the reactor and turbine buildings, show contamination in extremely 
high levels."

Irwin said it was too early to say how long the leak or leaks had been 
active. "It could be months or even a year or two," he said.

"We have to uncover pipes and see what's leaking. And get a better image 
of flow times and flow directions," he said. Water flows west to east on 
the site, toward the Connecticut River. Some of the monitoring wells are 
15 to 20 feet from the river, while others are 100 feet or 200 feet away 
from the river.

//15 or 20 feet from the river! What is known for sure about ground 
seepage of hazardous materials?

Irwin said the Health Department is starting to test wells at private 
residences along Gov. Hunt Road, where Vermont Yankee is sited.
He said all of the private wells the state is testing are within a 
quarter of a mile of the plant and the point of the highest level of 
contamination.

//"Starting to test wells." Hang by your thumbs, neighbors. Don't panic. 
Just sit back and let your trusted experts handle things.

Irwin said the state was looking to add five or six private residences 
to the state's weekly testing program, but he said the state had to get 
landowners' permissions. He said the department wanted to publish those 
test results, with the names of the individual homes kept confidential.

//Five or six at a time out of how many?

He said the Department of Health is testing private wells at Vernon 
Elementary School, which he estimated was just under a quarter of a mile 
of the contamination. The state is also testing water at two area farms 
- the Miller farm, which he said was about a quarter of a mile north of 
the plant, and the Blodgett farm, which, he said, was a mile from the 
plant "as the crow flies."

In addition, the Vernon Green nursing home and residential center is 
also being tested, he said. He estimated Vernon Green was about a 
half-mile south of the plant.

//Public schools and nursing homes!

Why does this statement of David's seem, in view of the above, grossly 
disingenuous to me: "That means that anti-nuclear activists are
seriously advocating shutting down a power plant with a proven history 
of providing a reliable, affordable, emission free source of 620
Megawatts of electricity into a

Re: [Marxism] Tritium Hot Zone Expands Around Vermont Nuclear Plant

[Mark Lause]

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Do we need to worry that our maple syrup is going to make our pancakes glow?

ML

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Re: [Marxism] Tritium Hot Zone Expands Around Vermont Nuclear Plant

[Les Schaffer]

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On 2/10/10 10:33 PM, nada wrote:
>From Rod Adams:
>
> The most recent example of ineffective response to criticism
>

David:

i know you can do better than this Adams guy...

1. how many sampling wells surround the power plant? what fraction of 
the perimeter is effectively sampled?

2. why are the levels rising in the last couple weeks? where is the 
stuff leaking from?

3. what is possibility levels are higher  between the sampling wells? 
this article claims new wells were dug to look for the source of the leak:

   http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100120/NEWS04/1200361/1003/NEWS02

which implies that measured levels are not necessarily the worst case.

thems the issues, not whether these particular levels are dangerous, yet.

Les



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Re: [Marxism] Tritium Hot Zone Expands Around Vermont Nuclear Plant

[nada]

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 From Rod Adams:

The most recent example of ineffective response to criticism that is 
disproportionate to the potential harm is the hullabaloo and attention 
being paid to "tritium leaks" where measured groundwater levels have 
reached a maximum of 75,000 picocuries per liter. That scary sounding 
number, however, is in reference to a unit of measure that is 1 x 10^-12 
curies.

A picocurie is to a curie as a penny is to 10 BILLION DOLLARS, and a 
curie is not even a very large unit of measure. A curie of tritium 
weighs just 0.1 milligrams. That means that anti-nuclear activists are 
seriously advocating shutting down a power plant with a proven history 
of providing a reliable, affordable, emission free source of 620 
Megawatts of electricity into a New England power grid that needs the 
power just because some samples of water from a well that is not used 
for drinking water contains 0.00075 grams of tritium in 1000 
grams of water. The saddest part is that there are politicians who seem 
willing to go along and bend to the pressure.

If a person drank water contaminated to a level of 75,000 picocuries per 
liter for an entire year, they would receive an internal radiation dose 
of about 16 mrem, which is far below the natural variations in the 
average annual dose of 360 mrem in the US.
...
This time, instead of the leak being an almost non-existent fraction of 
a gram of material that is only weakly harmful to human health, the leak 
was a volume of methane large enough so that when it ignited, it 
exploded. The explosion released a force large enough to kill at least 
five people, seriously injure dozens of others and cause a noise that 
was audible as far away as 20-30 miles. It blew out most of the siding 
of a large industrial building, cracked foundations in homes several 
hundred yards away and caused a fire that took several hours to bring 
under control.

This type of leak is not uncommon in facilities using methane; large 
explosions and fires, though less common than leaks, also happen with 
depressing frequency. After all, the reason that methane - aka natural 
gas - is used in power plants is that it burns easily and contains a 
significant concentration of energy. The same characteristic that makes 
it a valuable fuel also means that it can be a dangerous explosive and 
fire igniter. In order to produce large quantities of power, the piping 
supplying power plants has to carry large volumes of gas, which 
increases the consequences of any leaks.

Full:
http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/2010/02/sometimes-best-defense-is-good-offense.html


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[Marxism] Immanuel Kant: An Erotic Life

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://theactivist.org/blog/immanuel-kant-an-erotic-life

I'll admit there's nothing really new here if you read the *Irish
Times*piece, but there is an explanation of why BHL is my favorite
intellectual,
which I'm convinced the world has been pining for.

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[Marxism] White Strips protest song use in Army ad: "we don't support the war"

[Stuart Munckton]

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White Stripes Protest Super Bowl Ad for Air Force Reserve By DAVE
ITZKOFF

*Update | 2:55 p.m. *In song, at least, the band the White
Stripeshas
boasted that it can hold off a seven-nation army. But now that rock
group is taking on an entire branch of the United States Armed Forces,
contending that it misused one of the band’s songs in a commercial that was
promoted as a Super Bowl Sunday ad.

At issue is a commercial for the Air Force Reserve ,
set to an instrumental track that the White Stripes say is an unauthorized
version of their song “Fell in Love With a Girl.” To make the point, at the
Web site of its record label, Third Man Records,
the band has juxtaposed the video for that
songwith a link to the
Air Force Reserve
commercial,
inviting listeners to judge for themselves. (*Update:* the commercial
appears to have been pulled from the Air Force Reserve Web site.)

In a statement posted Monday evening on the Third Man Records site, the
White Stripes wrote:

We believe our song was re-recorded and used without permission of the White
Stripes, our publishers, label or management.

The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve
presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of
our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.

The White Stripes support this nation’s military, at home and during times
when our country needs and depends on them. We simply don’t want to be a cog
in the wheel of the current conflict, and hope for a safe and speedy return
home for our troops.

We have not licensed this song to the Air Force Reserve and plan to take
strong action to stop the ad containing this music.

*www.rockrap.com* 



-- 
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original
virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through
disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under
Socialism

“The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker

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[Marxism] Two articles on Haiti

[Louis Proyect]

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Humanitarian aid for Haiti — Not troops and occupation!

and

The World Bank’s role in Haiti

read them here: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/two-guest-articles-on-haiti/


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Re: [Marxism] Tritium Hot Zone Expands Around Vermont Nuclear Plant

[Barry Brooks]

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Why make it hard? Here's a translation...

2,520 nanocuries measured
20 nanocuries max standard

are the same as the confusing

2.52 million picocuries measured
20,000 picocuries max standard

Who would want to confuse people?

Barry





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Re: [Marxism] Gays Against Gays in the Military

[Ismail Lagardien]

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I have always found it quite ironic that gays wanted to be accepted in the 
military - maybe I am naive...

I made this observation in a blog post several months ago.


Ask Not: The Documentary. A Critical Review
There is a great irony in the fact that a persecuted and oppressed group of 
people, the gay and lesbian community, would struggle, as hard as they have 
been, to join a military that can be described as the most effective killing 
machine in history. This terribly disturbing irony seemed to not affect the 
producers and, indeed, the main protagonists in the documentary film, Ask Not, 
that was broadcast on PBS last night…

http://www.ilagardien.com/words/?p=12

 

Is
http://www.ilagardien.com
My little space in the e-world: A profit-free zone :-)

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com 

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[Marxism] Islip Political Newsletter for February

[Midhurst14]

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Keeping track of imperialist rule in all its’ guises   
George Anthony on the ups and downs of the road to  Socialism 
In the absence of the Financial Times to précis and mail out, I quoted Tom 
Paine’s “The world is my  nation, to do good my religion” for my New Year’
s message.  
 
Unfortunately it came back  to bite me in the shape of the election results 
in Chile and  Massachusetts. With the former in the shape of billionaire 
Pinera, bringing his  entourage of Pinochet neoliberal economists with him, to 
undo two decades of  work by progressive presidents. 
The two million Democrat party voters staying away to deliver the  senate 
seat into the hands of a former Cosmopolitan magazine centre-fold nude  
model, thus putting Obama’s healthcare bill in jeopardy. 
The third disaster was not man made, but the Haitian earthquake made  much 
more horrendous than the earlier Chinese earthquake where the victims were  
rescued and rehabilitated by the central government, led by China’s Prime  
Minister; but by man in the shape of American imperialism, that had made the  
country a basket case for years, and making sure that as with the earlier  
Katrina hurricane, any advantage that could be extracted from the disaster 
would  be maximised by the “rescuers”. 
It’s worth remembering briefly a history of Haiti and the subsequent  
events that reduced this benighted country to its basket case  condition. 
Haiti was the most prosperous colony of all the French possessions  during 
the period of slavery. The production of sugar, coffee, and other  
agricultural products brought tremendous profits to the colonial landowners on  
the 
island of Hispaniola, which today encompasses both the Dominican Republic  
and Haiti. At the time of the uprising on August 14, 1791, which was led by  
Boukmans, there were over 500,000 African slaves and thousands more free 
blacks  and people of mixed race. 
During the rebellion of 1791, over 200 sugar plantations, 600 coffee  
plantations, 200 indigo plantations were liberated by the Haitian masses. It 
has  
been recorded that 12,000 people died during this period including 2,000  
European settlers. 
The imperialist-imposed policies directed towards Haiti, which has  
underdeveloped the country for over two centuries, are at the root cause of  
poverty and unemployment. The collapse of the agricultural sector derives from  
the neo-colonial policies designed to preserve the country as a vast reservoir 
 of cheap labour for the capitalist corporations operating in the  country. 
With the erosion of agricultural production in the rural areas, the  masses 
were forced to re-locate in the urban centres which have resulted in  
tremendous overcrowding along with an acute shortage of housing. With the  
earthquake of such magnitude and the efforts of the U.S. to dominate the relief 
 
efforts, poverty will inevitably increase in Haiti. 
What is the point of tracking these events, you may ask, particularly  the 
outcome of voting, or for that matter, any manifestation of mass expression, 
 be it at the ballot box, consumer spending, attendance at sports events, 
TV  viewing figures, demonstrations, meeting and strikes, indeed any 
worthwhile  survey?  
It is because they are all an invaluable indication of the mood of  the 
population in response to media manipulation, that being the first line of  
defence of capitalism. 
However when the defence of deception is breeched as it ultimately  will 
be, then the next line of defence is destruction and  murder. 
For instance, ranging from the Amaritsa massacre - the British troops  only 
stopped when they ran out of ammunition. The Holocaust - the Nazi’s only  
stopped when they lost World War Two. And the American atomic bombs dropped 
on  Hiroshima and Nagasaki - they only stopped when the Soviet Union got 
nuclear  weaponry.  
I give three, further examples, not as murderous but equally  ruthless, 
that have escaped the notice of the media over the years in the shape  of the 
Daily Mail or indeed the BBC with its 16 million viewers. As not being 
sufficiently newsworthy  enough for your average punter, diverted by chat 
shows, 
general media trivia,  drugs, booze and gambling. 
First, UK exporters would have greater freedom to use child workers  and 
even forced labour abroad under a policy reversal floated by the Export  
Credits Guarantee Department, which is proposing to ease tight standards on  
underage workers that it adopted six years ago after a political  outcry. 
Second, it is under Bush’s disastrous tenure that health insurance  
premiums nearly doubled for the average US family and the number of uninsured  
skyrocketed. 
Under him the deficit spiralled out of control as an unnecessary and  
endless $3,000bn war in