NH #174: MacFarlane Bails NRC, WIPP Rad-Fan Restart, Food Safety for Japanese Imports

"Does This Soup Look Ambivalent?" at Frieze Art Faire in London
“Does This Soup Taste Ambivalent?” at Frieze Art Fair in London

INTERVIEWS:

At Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP Site) near Carlsbad, NM, Department of Energy restarts exhaust fan exposed to Plutonium and Americium during February 14, 2014 radiation leak; Don Hancock of Southwest Resource and Information Center provides us with an update and insights.

One From the Vault:  Nuclear Hotseat #7, July 26, 2011
Jon Solomon of Eden Foods explains the quick action taken by the company to determine food safety of all products imported from Japan in the immediate aftermath of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.  Still a model for protection of workers and consumers that deserves to be emulated by all food providers and manufacturers doing business with Japan.

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:
Nuclear tourism at the point where it all started! 
What’s the worst that could happen…?  Oh, that!  Learn about guided tours from ground zero of the nuclear age, where once a year you can take the spouse and kids to see where everything changed in the flash of eternity.

PLUS:

  • BREAKING:  Alison MacFarlane resigns as Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, effective December 31, 2014.  Alison leaves Wonderland; can a book be far behind?
  • BREAKING:  She’s in!  She’s out!  She’s in again – and now she stays!  Dr. Helen Caldicott will testify on Wednesday, October 22, on behalf of the Four Grandmothers: Cape Cod Downwinders arrested on Mother’s Day for attempting to plant flowers of protest at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant.  Who wants a transcript?
Dr. Helen Caldicott, about to testify on behalf of the Four Grandmothers for protesting Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant on Mother's Day
Dr. Helen Caldicott, about to testify on behalf of the Four Grandmothers for protesting at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant on Mother’s Day
  • Special report from London on Frieze Art Fair and the soup-from-Fukushima art installation, “Does this Soup Taste Ambivalent?”
  • French nuke giant Areva’s CEO Luc Oursel takes leave of absence for health reasons “…in order to pursue treatment.”  Might the nuke-pusher have contracted cancer, the #1 side effect of nuclear radiation?  Could this be karma… or irony?
  • New Canadian nuclear safety regs mandate stores of Potassium Iodide stockpiled, enough to treat everyone living within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor — at the same time the country is trying to convince us that it’s perfectly safe to site a nuclear waste repository less than a mile from the shore of Lake Huron.  Disconnect, anyone?
  • San Onofre warning siren retired; don’t they realize that nuclear waste is dangerous and needs a warning, too?
Sayonara, San Onofre siren.
Sayonara, San Onofre sirens.

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