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www.petside.com good article..

Japan's Ministry of Education Radiation Council: No Need to Have Stricter Standard for Radiation for Food for Infants
Because "we have to make sure producers are not inconvenienced". ex-skf.blogspot.com

Greetings my fellow scribblers!

Looks like I got out of southern california just in time!

@elainekirk hi! @lilly, was that a typo, don't you mean the edge of the planet?

@bo lol

@bo the cleanup ?

Yeah. One fellow (1) told me that he was being shown around the site and driven near a building that he described as a "golf ball" shaped dome sticking out of the earth, with a huge earthen berm almost half way up the sides, but this time the berm had been largely removed. He asked the tour guide (2) why that was so, and the guy told him that it only housed low level solid waste. 1 then asked 2 what his job was, and 2 said he was the manager of the cleanup of that specific building. 1 then told him that he knew for a fact that the building housed very high level liquid waste, and showed him his geiger counter which was off scale and demanded to know why he was being driven through such a high exposure area, and why he was not issued a dosimeter. He was quickly driven off site and left there, and has not been invited back, even though he sits on the Hanford community advisory board.

Also heard stories of houses downwind that were, and still are, laced with plutonium. One man who used to work at the plant tracked home so much plutonium and americium from work that his house was almost glowing. When his wife was cremated, after dying from cancer, her ashes were too radioactive to be returned to him.

They have no idea what is in them. These were just used for dumping anything and everything. No record was kept. How the contents of each tank should be handled will vary, but no one knows exactly how. Some of the tanks are at a rapid boil from the spontaneous mix of chemicals. It is a nightmare.

@bo ugh. What was the logic back in the 40's? Did they just not care or think it was going to be ok stored like that?

@lilly in the Cold War the logic was that we were in a race for survival with the commies, and so whatever it takes is worth it. If we win, we can go back and clean up what we did wrong.

These tanks are single shelled. And a large number of them have been leaking - leaching for decades. There are fears that some of them may spontaneously explode. A real disaster could poison the water supply of the entire northwest.

@lilly politics is a completely dysfunctional tool to deal with this problem. As we have all watched in Tohoku, politicians are ALWAYS tempted to just kick this can down the road, imagining that it will become someone else's problem. They always tend towards that decision. Obama abandoned Yucca Mountain (not that it is a good site) only because he needed Harry Reid's support in his first run. There is not a politician who has approached these problems with anything but a "can this hurt me now" perspective. That is why groups like ours, and like Hanford Challenge, are the last line of defense.

@lilly and we see how informed and logic based their decision making is!

@lilly I don't know but will ask. But my bet is, a shallow grave above the mighty Columbia. All of the stored plutonium was transferred to Savannah River some time ago.

Hibakusha: Now is the time to discuss radioactive 'black rain' mdn.mainichi.jp

@bo I see a disconnect at least is what in being said to the public and about risk to health now with Fukushima. Officials will talk in terms of external radiation. Then declare everything safe. It is so transparently stupid to do while it is known the contaminated food supply is a risk and admitted. It never ceases to amaze me the ability of PR people and officials to miss the blatant flaws in their statements.

From the article: "Under the agreement, firms that export nuclear plant technology to member countries would not be liable for claims related to any accidents at facilities using the equipment, with the operator forced to shoulder the burden."

Good lord @lilly. Behind the good notions of that pact, is the fact that this is necessary as an additional means of indemnifying the corporate owners. In the US, liability for any nuke accident is capped at $100M, so this is a way to force other governments (taxpayers) to make up the share that is being spared the guilty party!

And of course the part you cite in which faulty exports are the buyers problem.

nite all!