Quarter Century Retrospective On The Chernobyl Nuclear Accident By Dr. Peter Custers

Quarter Century Retrospective On The Chernobyl Nuclear Accident By Dr. Peter Custers

By Dr. Peter Custers

23 April, 2011
Countercurrents.org

The accident could have served as a wake-up call to the whole of humanity. Twenty-five years ago, on April 26th 1986, disaster struck at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear complex, in the Ukrainian state of the former Soviet Union. The accident actually started taking shape in the preceding night, when workers undertook a turbine test that had incompletely been carried out before the nuclear plant became operational. When the test was being carried out, the automatic emergency system was shut down, undermining reactor safety. During the test also, fuel elements burst, setting off a chain of events which in no time resulted in two powerful explosions. Soon the reactor’s meltdown was a fact, and a huge radioactive cloud spread its contaminating effects over a vast area of the Soviet Union and beyond. A quarter century has lapsed since this accident occurred. Until last month ‘s accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Chernobyl was considered to be the very worst disaster ever to have occurred at a nuclear production facility since the founding of the sector during World War Two. Moreover, as recent reports confirm, even today the Chernobyl disaster is far from over (1). Hence a retrospective is surely appropriate. The more so since the Japanese authorities have meanwhile rated their Fukushima accident at the same level as the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.

First, the radioactive fall-out from the Soviet granite-moderated reactor was unprecedentedly large. Officially, the fall-out is stated to have been 50 million of curies of radioactivity. But it probably was at least several times this figure. Amongst the numerous known and unknown nuclear accidents that historically have occurred, Chernobyl is not the only one to have resulted in a dangerously large fall-out of radioactivity. When storage tanks for high- radioactive waste in 1957 exploded in a nuclear-military reprocessing factory in Cheliabinsk, in a remote corner of the Ural mountains, - tens of millions of curies of radioactivity also leaked, damaging the health of hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens. Both the fall-out from Chernobyl and that from Cherniabinsk by far exceeded the radioactive fall-out from the US’s dropping of atom bombs on Japan’s cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, in 1945. Besides, since the Chernobyl complex was located close to densely populated parts of the Ukraine and Europe, the radioactive fall-out from the damaged civilian reactor was bound to be very consequential. Fifty thousand people living in Chernobyl’s immediate surroundings had to be evacuated. A vast rural region became either permanently or temporarily uninhabitable. And 15 countries of Europe saw half of their territories contaminated by the radioactive cloud. As happened in the wake of the recent Fukushima-Daiichi disaster, - public authorities every-where were forced to put restrictions on the sale and import of food, so as to reduce the risk of radiation-induced cancer deaths among their populations.

Initially, the effects of the Chernobyl catastrophe and the widespread anger it aroused put a brake on plans to expand production of nuclear energy, in particular in Europe and the US. Yet as ´Chernobyl´ started receding from public memory, proponents of nuclear energy once again went on the offensive, claiming the disaster had cost very few lives. Even a section of well known European intellectuals worried about climate change have been swayed. The renowned British thinker James Lovelock a few years back surprisingly stated that claims regarding a huge death toll from Chernobyl are ´a powerful lie´ (2). The only admission institutions representing nuclear interests, such as the IAEA, are willing to make is that the disaster caused an increase in thyroid cancers in children. This, they say, may result in just a few thousand mortalities. Not even the fact that tens of thousands of young and health men who heroically participated in clean-up activities in Chernobyl faced an early death, is admitted from this side. In a more critical report brought out in 2006, the international organization Greenpeace revealed that the figure for victims of cancer cases due to Chernobyl could top a quarter million, and that nearly a hundred thousand fatal cancers were to be deplored. Again, in an ambitious study brought out by the New York Academy of Sciences in 2009, Russian scientists compared data from severely contaminated, and from less contaminated parts of the former Soviet Union. They concluded that the death toll until end 2004 may be nine to ten times Greenpeace’s amount (3). Undoubtedly, vast numbers of fatalities from the 1986 fall-out remain unrecorded or hidden. Yet Chernobyl´s tragic effects can easily be seen by those who care. In some areas of the former Soviet Union, less than 20 percent of children are healthy. Numerous babies have been born with deformities or with disturbances of their nervous systems. Genetic disorders were found in every animal species studied by the Russian scientists.

However, it would be wrong to think the after-effects of Chernobyl were limited to the direct consequences of the 1986 fall-out. Towards understanding the implications of a nuclear disaster, it is also necessary to look at the outcome of the clean-up operation undertaken subsequently by the then Soviet authorities. First, 5000 tons of materials were dropped from helicopters to re-cover the damaged reactor, at the price of the life the pilots. Then, some 6 hundred thousand workers, baptized the ´liquidators´, were recruited or forced to rapidly build a sarcophagus of concrete and metal. This operation carried out over a period of six months again was extremely hazardous, and probably resulted in the largest category of radiation-induced illnesses and deaths from the catastrophe. Besides, contrary to what one would expect or hope for - the new outer shell for Chernobyl´s melted reactor never functioned as an effective barrier to radiation leakages. It reportedly has been in danger of collapse for years! Thus, since the nineties discussions have been under way over the building of a new arch. Such an arch would have to be erected in proximity of the former reactor, and will need to be glided towards its destination via rails, in order to reduce risks for humans. Also, the existing sarcophagus and the destroyed reactor will have to be dismantled, with the aid of robots. As of 2011, a major chunk of the funds required to finance this new operation still has not been collected. Clearly, the mess from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is long-, if not ever-lasting. And although Japan´s technological capacity today obviously exceeds that of the Soviet Union 25 years back, - the clean-up work in Japan is sure to extend over very many decades to come.

What fundamental lessons can we draw from Chernobyl, - for Japan and for the world at large? The experience gathered since the melt-down 25 years back appears to validate the views nuclear critics expressed at the time. The disaster fuelled immediate and worldwide resistance - not just against expansion, but against any reliance on nuclear energy. Many hundreds of thousands of people have since participated in protests in Western Europe alone. One of the central arguments critics cite is that nuclear technology is a form of technology which is so hazardous, so destructive, that humanity would do well to renounce it entirely. Yet since the late nineties, strenuous efforts have been made by proponents of nuclear energy to stage a ´renaissance´ and resume the trend of nuclear expansion worldwide. It is very unfortunate that a section of writers and intellectuals who are vocal against climate change have sought fit to voice the same arguments being used by representatives of the nuclear lobby to defend a nuclear come-back. As a retrospective on the Chernobyl catastrophe easily brings out: one cannot trade one catastrophe against another; one can´t exchange a climate catastrophe for a nuclear catastrophe. On this anniversary we need a sacred pledge in favor of reliance on technologies that are productive, that squarely sustain all forms of life on planet earth.

Dr. Peter Custers
(author of a theoretical study on nuclear production, see Questioning Globalized Militarism (Tulika/Merlin Press, 2007)
Leiden, the Netherlands, April, 2011
www.petercusters.nl

References:

(1) For a comprehensive overview, see Dirk Bannink and Peer de Rijk, ‘Chernobyl; Chronology of a Disaster’ (Nuclear Monitor, WISE/NIRS, Amsterdam, March 11, 211, no.724)

(2) James Lovelock, The Revenge of Gaya. Why the Earth is Fighting Back – and How We Can Still Save Humanity (Penguin Books, London, 2007), p.131);

(3) Alexey V.Yablokov, Vassily B.Nesterenko, Alexey V.Nesterenko, Chernobyl. Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol.1181, Blackwell Publishing, Boston, 2009).

YouTube - You won't hear this on any mainstream news!!! (Nuclear Fallout)

YouTube - You won't hear this on any mainstream news!!! (Nuclear Fallout)

Nuclear Facts A very clued in professional who will not be bought or intimidated into silence: Dr Helen Caldicott, true to style, tells it as it is. As she sees it, you wont usually hear the truth so listen up.. Nuclear fallout from Japan and Canada, You won't hear this on the news!

Investigation underway into nuclear reactor shutdown at Plant Vogtle

Investigation underway into nuclear reactor shutdown at Plant Vogtle

YouTube - Japan declares nuclear no-go zone

YouTube - Japan declares nuclear no-go zone



The Japanese government has imposed a ban on entering an exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex.

The no-go zone extends 20-kilometres around the facility, and will be enforced from midnight on Friday (1500GMT on Thursday).

Residents fled the area after an evacuation was ordered on March 12, a day after a 9.0 earthquake and 15-metre tsunami critically damaged the plant's power and cooling systems.

Several of them have since returned for short trips to retrieve their belongings.

Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett reports from Tashiwazaki, Japan. More

Fukishima - One of the Great Disasters in Modern Time: Allen L. Rowland blog

FUKUSHIMA / ONE OF THE GREATEST DISASTERS IN MODERN TIME

The silent monstrous killer of deadly radiation has been released at Fukushima and despite the denial of the Japanese government ~ its repercussions will be rapidly rising death rates. The lessons of Chernobyl 25 years ago offers Japan a deadly hint of what’s to come for clearly we are witnessing one of the greatest disasters in modern times: Allen L Roland

The mainstream media has all but buried the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010 and the subsequent 210 million gallon oil gusher while Gulf coast residents continue to say “The oil is not gone. Dead wildlife are washing up on our shores by the hundreds, Entire livelihoods are in peril” in one of the world’s greatest ecological disasters.

Now the mainstream media is attempting to bury one of the greatest disasters in modern time in Fukushima where residents will soon be crying out that ” the radiation is not gone, people are dying and our livelihoods are in peril ” but this time other voices are being heard.

One of the most reliable voices speaking out on the Fukushima nuclear disaster is Arnie Gundersen who was an engineer and senior vice president with Danbury, Connecticut-based Nuclear Energy Services. He was as insider in commercial nuclear power generation, and understands reactor operation as well as any in his field.

Last week, when the Japanese government finally announced that the disaster rating at Fukushima went from 5 to 7 ~ the worst possible nuclear accident was finally acknowledged publicly. What went unacknowledged, according to Gundersen, was that in an instant the catastrophe became 100 times worse than had been previously reported. Each increase in numeric value officially acknowledges a ten-fold increase in level of nuclear disaster. In other words, from 5 to 7 was 10 x 10: or 100 times greater.

Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, interviewed Michio Kaku on her show last week and asked him the very same question about the raising of the category 5 to a 7 in par with Chernobyl. Dr. Michio Kaku ,professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York and the City College of New York, confirmed that Tokyo Electric has been in denial trying to downplay the full impact of this nuclear accident ~ “However, there's a mathematical formula by which you can determine what level this accident is. This accident has already released something in the order of 50,000 trillion becquerels of radiation. You do the math. That puts it right in the middle of a level 7 nuclear accident. Still less than Chernobyl; however, radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all … So, you're looking at a ticking time bomb. It appears stable but the slightest disturbance from a secondary earthquake, a pipe break, an evacuation of the crew at Fukushima can set off a full scale nuclear meltdown at three nuclear power plants far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl.”

Kaku is not a guy to be sneezed at. He's a Japanese American physicist, a best-selling author, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of New York, and the author of A Physics of the Future. This is a well-known expert in this field. He's telling the truth, and the truth is this: the Japanese government is in denial and Fukushima is a ticking time bomb.

What remains unacknowledged is that Fukushima is continuing to release terabecquerels of radioactive poison and will continue to do so for months, if not years but the public is not fully getting this message.

Gunderson's video presentation is an absolute must-watch. In the 7 and 3/4 minute video here, he exposes a great deal, including previously confidential NRC and nuclear industry inside information. It's clear, according to Gundersen, that March 21st, ten days after the earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima disaster was already rated a 7 and that the NRC, the Nuclear Industry, and TEPCO were already limiting the flow of Information and still are for that matter.

Today, we have reported evidence that the level of radioactivity in the seawater dramatically rose again. Iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit and levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly four fold.

It is here that we should address the lessons of Chernobyl ~ after 25 years, some of Chernobyl’s radioactive substances have either decayed or migrated deeper into the ground. Although levels of cesium-137 are slowly falling, concentrations of this damaging bioactive element remain high in many areas. Half of the cesium-137 deposited in 1986 will have decayed into relatively stable barium-137 by 2016 but a quarter of it will still remain in 2046 (60 years after the Chernobyl disaster)

Plants and animals continue to recycle cesium-137 through their tissue and consequently suffer from chronic radiation syndrome, increased mortality, reproductive losses and genetic defects.

The legacy of iodine-131 is although it decays relatively soon after the accident ~ enough of it inhaled or consumed in milk will cause a significant increase in thyroid cancer. A recent U.N. Report, drawing on studies by Western researchers, said 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer could be linked to Chernobyl but evidence regarding other diseases is inconclusive. Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusan researchers, however, say their studies show increased incidence of high blood pressure, stroke, vascular disease and non-malignant thyroid diseases among the after effects of Chernobyl.

I agree with Jim Kirwin who writes ~ “ Much has been made, by comparisons to Chernobyl; but that event involved just one reactor and the dimensions of its meltdown were only delayed one day before the Russian government ordered evacuations just 24 hours after the world heard about it. Japan chose the opposite course and has still not owned up to just how deadly the meltdown of their six reactors really is. The amount of radiation being released is staggering; but the massive attempt by business, by governments and by the entire nuclear industry to cover-this-up is a crime against humanity! The tonnage of the fuel rods that have melted and burned, so far, makes Chernobyl look like backyard fireworks, compared to what has already been released into the global environment which is already enough to kill the planet many times over. This is the unimaginable disaster that makes contrived-fiction look like children’s fairy-tales; because the lives of all of us depend directly on what the world does now to end this continuing nightmare.”

"Fish in nearby waters are now being measured at 4,000% above the Codex Alimentation limits for Iodine-131 and 447% of Cesium-137. Radioactive cesium has a half-life of 30 years. Radiation levels for the isotope are not considered “safe” for 10 to 20 times longer. The cesium released today will remain dangerous six centuries from now.... “Fukushima has become the dirty bomb of the Pacific"....("Radiation Spreads Worldwide", Freedom Against Censorship Thailand, Global Research, April 14, 2011)

Will Englund, Washington Post, offers on the LESSONS OF CHERNOBYL a hint of the fate that may well face Japan ~ “Near Pripyat, the abandoned and now overgrown dormitory city for Chernobyl, where moss grows on the central square and the wind thrums through the rusting Ferris wheel ~ lies a more haunting place. It was once the village of Kopachi, which happens to mean "Gravedigger" in Ukrainian. Every house there was buried in 1991 because of contamination. When Gravedigger was interred, only a nursery school was left standing, with a memorial to the Soviet soldiers and the fierce battles they fought here in World War II. "No one forgets. Nothing is forgotten," reads the plaque on the memorial. But because of Chernobyl there is now no one here to remember.” http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/apr/10/chernobyl-may-teach-grim-lesson-to-japan/

Let us hope that the same fate will not befall Fukashima, Japan ~ which is already deserted and decaying.

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-one-of-greatest-disasters-in.html

About the author: Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

How to Detoxify radiation from your body : FREE E BOOK

This one really highlights the Epsom Salt "solution", one which I can verify personally.

I spent THREE YEARS in a walker due to thyroid disease and fibromyalgia and this worked and IS working.


Please give it a read.

Treatments for Nuclear Contamination | Dr. Mark's Blog

Treatments for Nuclear Contamination | Dr. Mark's Blog
Go to the link. Cannot copy .. This is just really important information. It may save your life. I am serious.
Virginia

From the comments -


Great suggestions , also may I suggest
Reishi Mushroom, Rhodiola, Astragalus, Ginsengs
Also very important:


Melatonin, NAC, glutathione (GSH)

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2800038/?tool=pubmed

   NAC is glutathione precursor. Melatonin (and vitamin D) raises glutathione levels.

   Melatonin

   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15183467

   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20652743

2. NAC

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12633746

   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8538205

   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9845106

   Possibly Nicotinamide (vit B3)

   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11538987

   
   
4. Iodine Treatments for Radiation Exposure | Dr. Mark's Blog says:
5. [...] to protect a person from uranium, cesium or plutonium radiation exposure so one has to turn to my full protocol and especially to eating clay and clay baths to try to remove these other particles as fast as [...]

   Quicksilver makes Clear Way cofactors. You can buy it here:
   http://products.nihadc.com/clear-way-cofactors-75-caps.html

to buy Potassium Iodide
UST BOUGHT YESTERDAY MAR. 16TH FROM http://WWW.HERBHEALERS.COM AND I BUY EVERY FEW MONTHS. THIER PRICE IS THE BEST $7.45 A BOTTLE FOR 5% LUGOL’S THIER VERY TRUSTWORTHY BUT THESE AMERICANS ARE IN EXUADOR AND IT TAKES ABOUT TWO WEEKS TO RECIEVE IT. BUT THE BEST PRICE ON THE PLANET THAT I’VE HAVE FOUND. I USE IT EVERY DAY FOR MANY REASONS ALSO TRY J CROWS.COM BUT THEIRS IS $ 25.00 FOR THE SAME SIZE BOTTLE

Strong baths with bicarbonate are needed…..2-3 lb or more of sodium bicarbonate are added to the bath.
Directions on the bicarbonate package must be followed for oral use of bicarbonate: 7 half tsp of biicarbonate mixed in a glass of water/day is the limit. For people over age 60 only 3 half tsp/day in water are recommended.

Sincerely,
Claudia French
IMVA

Diana,
Bath water should start out hot but not so hot to cause fainteness. This draws toxins to the surface of the skin and opens pores. As the water cools, to slightly below body temperature, osmotic exchange of fluids takes place and the toxins are drawn out of the body and into the tub of water.
Hopefully someone with knowledge of essential oils can answer your question on that but I don’t think it should interfere.

Sincerely,
Claudia French
IMVA

Diana,

Green Teas and Kombuchko teas are said to have good antiradiation effects.

The baking soda recommendations above are ok, but you will just have to try it and see what kind of reaction you have. And decide which is worse, a mild reaction, possibly some diarrhea or radiation poisoning. Stay hydrated!

Sincerely,
Claudia French
IMVA

Diatomaceous Earth not Zeolite for humans

DiaSource or Perma-Guard,

Publish Post

Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) may be available at your local lawn care store. DE is superior to Zeolite due to the shape, total surface area and high negative charge.

DE is superior and may be cheaper than Zeolite.

P.S. 1 teaspoon to 3 tablespoons plain water is the best method to take DE. Depending on the person and the goals, the dose can be used between meals as much as 3 times a day.

Use with caution at high doses at the direction of your doctor. As with any food or supplement, take a day or two off per week. Sources of DE are posted below this comment.

For clarity “in 6 to 8 ounces of plain water.”

Zeolite is a money making scam. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth is the answer. The best brand on earth is DiaSource. Perma-Guard FGDE is always available locally at all feed lot stores. The truth will set you free.

Video: Robots to Aid in Japan’s Nuclear Power Crisis - Osha Gray Davidson - Edison 2.0 - Forbes

Video: Robots to Aid in Japan’s Nuclear Power Crisis - Osha Gray Davidson - Edison 2.0 - Forbes: "Video: Robots to Aid in Japan’s Nuclear Power Crisis
Apr. 1 2011 -

Video: Robots to Aid in Japan’s Nuclear Power Crisis

Apr. 1 2011 - 9:54 pm | 337 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments

MF4 robot going through its paces.

My colleague, William Pentland,blogged here yesterdayabout plans to send radiation-hardened robots from the U.S. to help Japanese engineers working at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The video below shows several of the remarkable robots made specifically for tasks such this.

U.S. Sends Radiation-Hardened Robots to Battle Nuclear Threat in Japan - William Pentland - Clean Beta - Forbes

U.S. Sends Radiation-Hardened Robots to Battle Nuclear Threat in Japan - William Pentland - Clean Beta - Forbes

Excellent article! Really gets into areas one would not assume would be covered.

Just doesn't say how high the level of radiation was ..

Exclusive: U.S. nuclear regulator a policeman or salesman? | Reuters

Exclusive: U.S. nuclear regulator a policeman or salesman? | Reuters: "By Ben Berkowitz and Roberta Rampton

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON | Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:50am EDT
(Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exists to police, not promote, the domestic nuclear industry -- but diplomatic cables show that it is sometimes used as a sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments.

The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and provided to Reuters by a third party, shed light on the way in which U.S. embassies have pulled in the NRC when lobbying for the purchase of equipment made by Westinghouse and other domestic manufacturers."

Special Report: The nuclear industry's trillion dollar question | Reuters

Special Report: The nuclear industry's trillion dollar question | Reuters

A must read. Long but full of information !

BA suspends flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport - www.travelweekly.co.uk

BA suspends flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport - www.travelweekly.co.uk

No one's believing the government of Japan ..