On November 27th the travelling Uranium film festival arrives in the USA. The main festival takes place each year in Rio de Janeiro, when films from all over the world are entered for the festival. It's the only one of its kind, showing films about nuclear power, uranium mining, nuclear weapons and the health effects of radioactivity. You can find out a lot more from their amazing website.
The first films will be shown in Albuquerque NM, followed by screenings in Santa Fe and Window Rock. Next year films will be shown in Washington D.C. and in New York City in February.
One of the films is 'The River That Harms'. Just fourteen weeks after the accident at Three Mile Island, which a great many people have heard about, there was another nuclear tragedy, which I for one, did not find out out about for many years.
When I read that ninety million gallons of liquid nuclear waste and eleven hundred tons of solid mill wastes burst through a broken dam wall at the Church Rock Uranium Mill Facility, contaminating the Puerco River, and I had never heard about it, I was bemused.
Many of the people affected were from the Navajo Nation. It was the river they lived by. It was the land that their animals grazed and the water that they drank, and the pools that their children played in....
Now we have films about children who don't play outside in Japan and children whose lives were affected by a poisoned river in the USA. But did their parents ever think it would happen to them, or that a film would be made about them? If the films weren't made, would you know about them?
The uranium that powered the plants in Fukushima, apparently, came from mines in Australia, but I also read of protests and long protest marches by Aboriginal people along with international protesters against the mining of uranium http://indymedia.org.au/2013/05/10/wgar-news-walkatjurra-walkabout-stepping-out-against-uranium-mining-wanfa-anawa
Our children, your children, have the right to be in happy films in a bright future. It's up to us to see that this happens.
Showing posts with label Uranium mining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uranium mining. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Other people's posts that leave me humbled.
At present in Rio de Janeiro, The Second International Uranium Film Festival is taking place. It's on until July 14th and if you visit their website, , the breadth and depth of coverage may surprise you. This independent film festival is, amongst its other virtues, a rich source of the often unheard and certainly unseen history of people caught up in the nuclear legacy. http://www.uraniofestival.org/index.php/en/programme
When I was looking for some more background information about uranium mining, I came across an article written in 2009 by Winona LaDuke in Orion Magazine, She begins by telling one of the Dine creation stories.... the people were gven the choice of two yellow powders. They wisely chose the yellow dust of corn pollen and were told to leave the other yellow powder, uranium, in the soil and to never dig it up. If it were to be taken from the ground, they were told, a great evil would come http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4248/ This is someone writing who knows what they re talking about and has been involved in the outcome of uranium mining.
On Thursday, The return of Navajo Boy will be screened, in Rio de Janeiro, this film is already an acclaimed documentary, and there is a long list of others you can read about, some of which are world premieres. http://www.uraniofestival.org/index.php/en/programme It is an exceptional list and I certainly had no idea of the range of issues covered, including uranium mining across the world.
What can I do about it all? Only what I can. At the moment, the world waits while our future is being decided in one of the most consequential games of "Pick a sticks" imaginable as the engineers face the problems with damaged reactors and the highly radioactive fuel rods in the spent fuel pools in Japan...
I can sign a couple of petitions. One is for everyone to sign, to the EPA: Don't Sacrifice Navajo Water for Uranium Mining https://www.change.org/petitions/epa-don-t-sacrifice-navajo-water-for-uranium-mining and the other one is for British citizens or a resident in the U.K. against nuclear power in the UK
It's the E petition http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1035
And I can leave you with the final question.. How many atom bombs have been dropped on the planet earth between 1945and 1989? Is is 22...220...1212... or 2201?
The answer is in Peter Greenaway's film, nominated for a yellow Oscar, http://www.uraniofestival.org/index.php/en/programme/53-en/films/46-atomic-bombs-on-the-planet-earth
When I was looking for some more background information about uranium mining, I came across an article written in 2009 by Winona LaDuke in Orion Magazine, She begins by telling one of the Dine creation stories.... the people were gven the choice of two yellow powders. They wisely chose the yellow dust of corn pollen and were told to leave the other yellow powder, uranium, in the soil and to never dig it up. If it were to be taken from the ground, they were told, a great evil would come http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4248/ This is someone writing who knows what they re talking about and has been involved in the outcome of uranium mining.
On Thursday, The return of Navajo Boy will be screened, in Rio de Janeiro, this film is already an acclaimed documentary, and there is a long list of others you can read about, some of which are world premieres. http://www.uraniofestival.org/index.php/en/programme It is an exceptional list and I certainly had no idea of the range of issues covered, including uranium mining across the world.
What can I do about it all? Only what I can. At the moment, the world waits while our future is being decided in one of the most consequential games of "Pick a sticks" imaginable as the engineers face the problems with damaged reactors and the highly radioactive fuel rods in the spent fuel pools in Japan...
I can sign a couple of petitions. One is for everyone to sign, to the EPA: Don't Sacrifice Navajo Water for Uranium Mining https://www.change.org/petitions/epa-don-t-sacrifice-navajo-water-for-uranium-mining and the other one is for British citizens or a resident in the U.K. against nuclear power in the UK
It's the E petition http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1035
And I can leave you with the final question.. How many atom bombs have been dropped on the planet earth between 1945and 1989? Is is 22...220...1212... or 2201?
The answer is in Peter Greenaway's film, nominated for a yellow Oscar, http://www.uraniofestival.org/index.php/en/programme/53-en/films/46-atomic-bombs-on-the-planet-earth
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
A is for alpha particles
It would be good if A was mainly for apple, a round, red, wholesome flavourful, juicy organic apple. Right now it's for alpha particles. Why? Well you can't identify them easily with every Geiger counter... You can make a reasonable assumption, I have read, from spikes in Geiger counter readings from other radioactive sources, that they are present.... or you need a Geiger counter that you can specifically measure them with.
What is so special about them? I was taught at A level that they couldn't get through a thin sheet of paper...bumbling, heavy kind of things in an atomic kind of way. Oh how little we knew then! I reckon that when you thought you knew it all, then... when you realise that you know very, very little, in fact almost nothing at all.... this is the beginning of true learning.
Actually, alpha particles emitted from plutonium or uranium which has been inhaled or ingested can very definitely cause you problems in the long term. It isn't just alpha particle emitters, some of the other radionuclides aren't too people friendly either.
This is why, when people in the Tokyo region reported that they have swollen lymph nodes and sores in their nostrils, it is concerning.
The website, which I, personally, am very grateful to be able to use at the moment is that of the Low Level Radiation Campaign. It has always been at the forefront of exposing uncomfortable truths and right now, people are beginning to value its content more than ever. If you want to find out more, you can look up alpha particles and cancer for yourselves and I seriously recommend a visit to http://www.llrc.org/ if you want to find out about Japan right now and see what practical steps the Japanese people can take.
I don't blame anybody... we can all make mistakes... let's just learn from them. We are possibly at a cross roads in the future of mankind... whether, frankly, we are going to survive or not .. and I am here only looking at the whole nuclear scenario.... Don't think we haven't had scares in the U.K. because we have. Belarus or Britain, it can happen anywhere.
We still have time.... some of us.
What is so special about them? I was taught at A level that they couldn't get through a thin sheet of paper...bumbling, heavy kind of things in an atomic kind of way. Oh how little we knew then! I reckon that when you thought you knew it all, then... when you realise that you know very, very little, in fact almost nothing at all.... this is the beginning of true learning.
Actually, alpha particles emitted from plutonium or uranium which has been inhaled or ingested can very definitely cause you problems in the long term. It isn't just alpha particle emitters, some of the other radionuclides aren't too people friendly either.
This is why, when people in the Tokyo region reported that they have swollen lymph nodes and sores in their nostrils, it is concerning.
The website, which I, personally, am very grateful to be able to use at the moment is that of the Low Level Radiation Campaign. It has always been at the forefront of exposing uncomfortable truths and right now, people are beginning to value its content more than ever. If you want to find out more, you can look up alpha particles and cancer for yourselves and I seriously recommend a visit to http://www.llrc.org/ if you want to find out about Japan right now and see what practical steps the Japanese people can take.
I don't blame anybody... we can all make mistakes... let's just learn from them. We are possibly at a cross roads in the future of mankind... whether, frankly, we are going to survive or not .. and I am here only looking at the whole nuclear scenario.... Don't think we haven't had scares in the U.K. because we have. Belarus or Britain, it can happen anywhere.
We still have time.... some of us.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
World Water Day
Today is, was, or will be, according to your position on the planet, World Water Day. I have always thought that water should be free, by right, ... there to drink, wash, swim and play in. Furthermore, it should be clean. It should neither be contaminated with pesticides or disease, nor should it be dangerously radioactive over thousands of years either from uranium mining, tritium leaks from nuclear power plants, or radioactive contamination from leaking storage pools.
We are told that it is one of our most precious commodities, that we have to save it. But perhaps we should save it from ourselves.
We are told that it is one of our most precious commodities, that we have to save it. But perhaps we should save it from ourselves.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
So why would twenty Quebec doctors resign en mass?
It's not usual for one doctor to resign on principle but when twenty Canadian doctors walk together, there has to be a pretty powerful reason. The cause for this extreme move was the concern they had about the proposed mining of uranium in their province. Two other provinces had already refused to allow it. This happened in December of last year and I only recently came across it. You can read the details in the Spring Edition of Nukewatch Quarterly.. under: twenty doctors resign (!) These guys aren't stupid, nor are the members of the Australian trades union, who refuse to work in uranium mines.
....Last year twenty doctors, including specialists, resigned en mass from their hospital in Sept Isles, Canada in protest at the Quebec government's decision not to ban uranium mining in their province, unlike British Columbia and Nova Scotia, who already have. There were plans for Uranium mining on the North Shore of Quebec. The doctors wrote about the historical contamination of drinking water,environmental destruction and, irreversible health hazards. You can read the full report at http://www.nukewatchinfo.org/Quarterly/2010spring/page1%5B1%5D.pdf (It's at the bottom of the page on the right hand side.)These are professional people, and they resigned as a group in an advanced nation. Canada has around 20% of the world's uranium supplies.
Cross to Australia and you will find that the electricians in a trades union.the ETU Queensland and Northern Territories Branch are opposed to uranium mining....The branch refuses to let any of its members work in uranium mining projects "When the Dust Settles" is a DVD production to explain to Members and the people of Australia the dangers and effects that Uranium mining creates.
Now come back to America, and an indigenous people. I read that the Navajo Nation has banned Uranium mining on their land.
According to Wikipedia,
"For a people that historically had almost no cases, currently several types of cancer are in evidence at rates higher than the national average on the Four Corners Navajo Reservation. (Raloff, 2004) Especially high are the rates of reproductive-organ cancers in teenage Navajo girls, averaging seventeen times higher than the average of girls in the United States.
It has been suspected that uranium mines, both active and abandoned, have released dust into the surrounding air and the water supply. Studies done on mice, exposing them to a soluble form of uranium similar to what might enter groundwater from the mines, showed heavy increases in oestrogen levels which might explain the increased cancer levels among Navajo girls. The amount of uranium given to the mice was half the level permitted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and one-tenth the level found in some wells on the Navajo reservation."
Water contamination for many thousands of years is one of the problems that people fear in the areas surrounding uranium mining.
You will see that this is one reason why they don't want it, apart from a history of exploitation, sickness and deaths,from mining..
Now, ask yourself where the uranium mining exploration and granting of licenses is going on at full speed, and one of the places is Africa, and the people who will be affected are some of the poorest and least formally educated in the world. Do you think that their voice will be heard? It's a struggle for people in developed nations with a history of sickness and deaths from uranium mining.
High burn up fuel is not the answer. The waste has to be kept on site for a minimum of 50 to 160 years before it can be safely moved. This is hardly a fair legacy to leave a generation in this country as yet unborn, facing we know not what problems and who will get no benefit from it? I have read that it is too hot to bury safely.
We have brilliant people working on renewables. In this country we have enough wind and wave and tidal energy to keep us supplied and have spare to export. In Australia, in the desert, Dr. Karl states that an area 50km by 50km of solar voltaic would provide enough electrical energy for the whole of Australia and an area 500km by 500km would supply enough electrical energy to supply the whole world. Come on guys, we can do it. Think what a future you could be leaving your grandchildren. Think happy.
....Last year twenty doctors, including specialists, resigned en mass from their hospital in Sept Isles, Canada in protest at the Quebec government's decision not to ban uranium mining in their province, unlike British Columbia and Nova Scotia, who already have. There were plans for Uranium mining on the North Shore of Quebec. The doctors wrote about the historical contamination of drinking water,environmental destruction and, irreversible health hazards. You can read the full report at http://www.nukewatchinfo.org/Quarterly/2010spring/page1%5B1%5D.pdf (It's at the bottom of the page on the right hand side.)These are professional people, and they resigned as a group in an advanced nation. Canada has around 20% of the world's uranium supplies.
Cross to Australia and you will find that the electricians in a trades union.the ETU Queensland and Northern Territories Branch are opposed to uranium mining....The branch refuses to let any of its members work in uranium mining projects "When the Dust Settles" is a DVD production to explain to Members and the people of Australia the dangers and effects that Uranium mining creates.
Now come back to America, and an indigenous people. I read that the Navajo Nation has banned Uranium mining on their land.
According to Wikipedia,
"For a people that historically had almost no cases, currently several types of cancer are in evidence at rates higher than the national average on the Four Corners Navajo Reservation. (Raloff, 2004) Especially high are the rates of reproductive-organ cancers in teenage Navajo girls, averaging seventeen times higher than the average of girls in the United States.
It has been suspected that uranium mines, both active and abandoned, have released dust into the surrounding air and the water supply. Studies done on mice, exposing them to a soluble form of uranium similar to what might enter groundwater from the mines, showed heavy increases in oestrogen levels which might explain the increased cancer levels among Navajo girls. The amount of uranium given to the mice was half the level permitted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and one-tenth the level found in some wells on the Navajo reservation."
Water contamination for many thousands of years is one of the problems that people fear in the areas surrounding uranium mining.
You will see that this is one reason why they don't want it, apart from a history of exploitation, sickness and deaths,from mining..
Now, ask yourself where the uranium mining exploration and granting of licenses is going on at full speed, and one of the places is Africa, and the people who will be affected are some of the poorest and least formally educated in the world. Do you think that their voice will be heard? It's a struggle for people in developed nations with a history of sickness and deaths from uranium mining.
High burn up fuel is not the answer. The waste has to be kept on site for a minimum of 50 to 160 years before it can be safely moved. This is hardly a fair legacy to leave a generation in this country as yet unborn, facing we know not what problems and who will get no benefit from it? I have read that it is too hot to bury safely.
We have brilliant people working on renewables. In this country we have enough wind and wave and tidal energy to keep us supplied and have spare to export. In Australia, in the desert, Dr. Karl states that an area 50km by 50km of solar voltaic would provide enough electrical energy for the whole of Australia and an area 500km by 500km would supply enough electrical energy to supply the whole world. Come on guys, we can do it. Think what a future you could be leaving your grandchildren. Think happy.
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