Mendocino County Today: October 26, 2013

A SANTA ROSA attorney named Don Edgar has suspended his campaign for Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor because his wife went off on him on his Facebook page. Wifey said she not only had no idea Hubbykins was running for public office, she speculated that Hubs seemed suspiciously close to State Senator Noreen Evans. Lori Williams Edgar, in early October, wrote on hubby's campaign Facebook page, “Don, This is NOT the honorable thing to DO! You shared Nothing with Your Wife or Family about this Campaign! Absolutely nothing. … only yesterday a friend brought this to my attention!!??” “Also, what is your relationship with Noreen Evans????? Your [sic[ a Married Man?! What's Going On? You revealed nothing to US!!??! — Lori (your spouse)”

WILD PUNCTUATION is not ordinarily a positive mental health indicator, and one has to wonder if these two are even roommates.

EDGAR soon released a statement saying that he was leaving the race and canceled a November 4th fundraiser. “At this time I am placing my campaign on hold while I further consider the impact that conducting a vigorous campaign for county-wide office would have on my family,” Edgar wrote earlier this month.

THE COY CANDIDATE still has not made a decision to run and has told the Press Democrat that the issue is “a private matter.” “This whole thing is an unfortunate airing of a private disagreement between my wife and myself and is solely about my choice to be in public service,” Edgar said. “It does not involve anyone else.” Edgar declined to address the nature of his relationship with Evans.

NOREEN EVANS denied anything but chaste relations with Edgar. She said Mrs. Edgar's insinuation was a “very serious accusation that is both false and baseless.” “It appears to be a family matter that should be taken up with the Edgars,” Evans said through a spokeswoman.

MRS. EDGAR, who certainly seems to have a beef but one she might take up directly with Mr. Evans rather than the prurient public, said that she had not objected to her husband seeking public office, just the way she discovered that he was, because they had not made the decision together. “I think I was just personally hurt a little bit, but I totally support him,” she said. About Evans she said she didn't think her husband and Evans were Motel 6-ing. “I think it was just continuing on my shock of the actual event,” she said. “It was probably a little exaggeration on my part.”

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CASIMIR JANUSZ, the Hopland man who left his dead infant son at Ukiah Valley Medical Center and disappeared early last week, is still missing. The Ukiah Police Department says Janusz drove to his family's property in the Hopland area, abandoned his vehicle and hasn't been since since. Sgt. Jason Caudillo of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said an autopsy had been performed on the boy but no cause or manner of death had been determined, and would not be until toxicology reports were received.

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THE AVA RECOMMENDS the election of Michael Weidner to the Ukiah School Board simply on the basis of Weidner's intriguing statements to the Ukiah Daily Journal. Weidner said he is running for the board because he “cares about how our tax dollars are spent” and wonders why the Ukiah schools are “receiving a failing grade every year from the US Department of Education” while teachers and administrators continue to get raises. So far so good. “As an outsider I will not be afraid to take charge (and I will have a lawyer for advice at all times) so I can bring situations to the boiling point without going over the edge,” Weidner said.

Uh oh. “Boiling point”? Over the edge? On call lawyer? “My first goal is to have all board of education members pass a background check just like all employees, along with a TB test as a precaution.” TB tests for school boards? “I will do away with the Ukiah Police officer at the high school and make school personnel do their jobs.” Ukiah's gang prob requires an on-campus cop; the point really is if schools need cops and metal detectors the educational effort would seem to have failed. Weidner described himself to the UDJ as a retired healthcare worker.

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JOHN BECKER of Mendocino has filed a $50k claim against the county claiming that County Assessor Susan Ranochak and Tax Collector Shari Schapmire “ignored every letter I sent regarding disputing the outrageous tax bill after three of my parcels were appraised. All letters sent by Tax Collector stating if taxes were disputed respond within 30 days. A response was sent each and every year but I never had any letters responded to until two letters were sent to legal counsel. Inability to sell parcel to only adjoining neighbor who can and has a legal easement to this landlocked parcel.”

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LIFE WITH THE HUMP

On October 14th at about 7:00 PM Ukiah Police responded to the WalMart parking lot, at 1155 Airport Park Boulevard, for subjects drinking alcohol. The arriving officer located a group seated on the ground, and recognized 23 year old Travis Humphrey seated in the middle of the group. Humphrey raised an open alcohol container towards the officer in a “cheers” type of fashion. Humphrey had previously been on probation and prohibited from being on Wal Mart property as a term of that probation, but that probation had been terminated. Humphrey told the officer he knew he could not be arrested for being on the Wal Mart property, and began calling the officer derogatory names. Humphrey had been drinking and was too intoxicated to care for himself, and the officer began to take him into custody. Humphrey pulled away and physically resisted, and was taken into custody after a brief struggle. Humphrey was arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest.

On October 20th at about 12:55 PM Ukiah Police responded to the Tractor Supply Company, at 1248 Airport Park Boulevard, for a shoplifting. Store employees had observed 23 year old Travis Joseph Humphrey in the shoe department, and saw Humphrey put on a new pair of boots worth over $180.00. Humphrey urinated on the floor, and then left the store without paying. Humphrey was located in the 700 block of Talmage Road, and arrested for shoplifting and indecent exposure. (— Ukiah Police Report)

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ODE TO THE YUROK

Down in LeValley, Where spotted owls tread,

They don’t give a hoot dear, They’re tweeting instead.

 

Those owls have new iPads, And Facebook accounts,

From taxpayer dollars, I’m glad to announce.

 

If you go to find them, You’ll have to look twice,

For the owls are all hidden, By a cloaking device.

 

That sure was a challenge, To biologists here,

Who were paid to go count them, For six figures clear.

 

They did get the job done, With methods astute,

As birds were all tallied, By telecommute!

 

Well MRB Research, Who collected that bill,

Charged us for their hard work, At nearly one mil.

 

But a broad band of natives, Began to eschew,

That MRB Research, Was invisible too.

 

Oh hear the wind blow dear, Just north of Van Damme,

At the home of LeValley, And his kind-hearted ma’am.

 

That’s where it all vanished, One big pile of dough,

With dozens of surveys, Of owls, don’t you know.

 

If that’s not enough yet, Of a story to tell,

Those expert biologists, Have vanished as well.

 

They’re all getting measured, For their brand new attire,

In jumpsuits of orange, Behind razor wire.

 

The big lesson here all, Is one of few words,

Be wary of experts, Who charge to count birds.

— Anon, Albion

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A READER WRITES: “This guy's great!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk

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HORST LOEFFLER takes [his young sons] Otis and Ziggy down to his new office at the World Trade Center, and they eat lunch at Windows on the World, which has a dress code, so the boys wear jackets and ties…. There happens to be a more-than-moderate wind blowing that day, making the tower sway back and forth in five — what feel like ten-foot excursions. On days of storm, according to Horst's co-tenant Jake Pimento, it's like being in the crow's nest of a very tall ship, allowing you to look down at helicopters and private planes and neighboring high-rises. “Seems kind of flimsy up here,” to Ziggy. “Nah,” sez Jake. “Built like a battleship.” — Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge

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GOD DOES NOT DIE on the day when we cease to believe in a personal diety, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason. — Dag Hammarskjold

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THE GLOBAL THREAT OF FUKUSHIMA

A Global Response is Needed

By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

The story of Fukushima should be on the front pages of every newspaper. Instead, it is rarely mentioned. The problems at Fukushima are unprecedented in human experience and involve a high risk of radiation events larger than any that the global community has ever experienced. It is going to take the best engineering minds in the world to solve these problems and to diminish their global impact.

When we researched the realities of Fukushima in preparation for this article, words like apocalyptic, cataclysmic and Earth-threatening came to mind. But, when we say such things, people react as if we were the little red hen screaming “the sky is falling” and the reports are ignored. So, we’re going to present what is known in this article and you can decide whether we are facing a potentially cataclysmic event.

Either way, it is clear that the problems at Fukushima demand that the world’s best nuclear engineers and other experts advise and assist in the efforts to solve them. Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds.org and an international team of scientists created a 15-point plan to address the crises at Fukushima.

A subcommittee of the Green Shadow Cabinet (of which we are members), which includes long-time nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman, is circulating a sign-on letter and a petition calling on the United Nations and Japanese government to put in place the Gundersen et al plan and to provide 24-hour media access to information about the crises at Fukushima. There is also a call for international days of action on the weekend of November 9 and 10. The letter and petitions will be delivered to the UN on November 11 which is both Armistice Day and the 32^nd month anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Problems of Fukushima

There are three major problems at Fukushima: (1) Three reactor cores are missing; (2) Radiated water has been leaking from the plant in mass quantities for 2.5 years; and (3) Eleven thousand spent nuclear fuel rods, perhaps the most dangerous things ever created by humans, are stored at the plant and need to be removed, 1,533 of those are in a very precarious and dangerous position. Each of these three could result in dramatic radiation events, unlike any radiation exposure humans have ever experienced. We’ll discuss them in order, saving the most dangerous for last.

Missing reactor cores: Since the accident at Fukushima on March 11, 2011, three reactor cores have gone missing. There was an unprecedented three reactor ‘melt-down.’ These melted cores, called corium lavas, are thought to have passed through the basements of reactor buildings 1, 2 and 3, and to be somewhere in the ground underneath.

Harvey Wasserman, who has been working on nuclear energy issues for over 40 years, tells us that during those four decades no one ever talked about the possibility of a multiple meltdown, but that is what occurred at Fukushima.

It is an unprecedented situation to not know where these cores are. TEPCO is pouring water where they think the cores are, but they are not sure. There are occasional steam eruptions coming from the grounds of the reactors, so the cores are thought to still be hot.

The concern is that the corium lavas will enter or may have already entered the aquifer below the plant. That would contaminate a much larger area with radioactive elements. Some suggest that it would require the area surrounding Tokyo, 40 million people, to be evacuated. Another concern is that if the corium lavas enter the aquifer, they could create a “super-heated pressurized steam reaction beneath a layer of caprock causing a major ‘hydrovolcanic’ explosion.”

A further concern is that a large reserve of groundwater which is coming in contact with the corium lavas is migrating towards the ocean at the rate of four meters per month. This could release greater amounts of radiation than were released in the early days of the disaster.

Radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean: TEPCO did not admit that leaks of radioactive water were occurring until July of this year. Shunichi Tanaka the head of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority finally told reporters this July that radioactive water has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean since the disaster hit over two years ago. This is the largest single contribution of radionuclides to the marine environment ever observed according to a report by the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. The Japanese government finally admitted that the situation was urgent this September – an emergency they did not acknowledge until 2.5 years after the water problem began.

How much radioactive water is leaking into the ocean? An estimated 300 tons (71,895 gallons/272,152 liters) of contaminated water is flowing into the ocean every day. The first radioactive ocean plume released by the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster will take three years to reach the shores of the United States. This means, according to a new study from the University of New South Wales, the United States will experience the first radioactive water coming to its shores sometime in early 2014.

One month after Fukushima, the FDA announced it was going to stop testing fish in the Pacific Ocean for radiation. But, independent research is showing that every bluefin tuna tested in the waters off California has been contaminated with radiation that originated in Fukushima. Daniel Madigan, the marine ecologist who led the Stanford University study from May of 2012 was quoted in the Wall Street Journalsaying, “The tuna packaged it up (the radiation) and brought it across the world’s largest ocean. We were definitely surprised to see it at all and even more surprised to see it in every one we measured.” Marine biologist Nicholas Fisher of Stony Brook University in New York State, another member of the study group, said: “We found that absolutely every one of them had comparable concentrations of cesium 134 and cesium 137.”

In addition, Science reports that fish near Fukushima are being found to have high levels of the radioactive isotope, cesium-134. The levels found in these fish are not decreasing, which indicates that radiation-polluted water continues to leak into the ocean. At least 42 fish species from the area around the plant are considered unsafe. South Korea has banned Japanese fish as a result of the ongoing leaks.

The half-life (time it takes for half of the element to decay) of cesium 134 is 2.0652 years. For cesium 137, the half-life is 30.17 years. Cesium does not sink to the ocean floor, so fish swim through it. What are the human impacts of cesium?

When contact with radioactive cesium occurs, which is highly unlikely, a person can experience cell damage due to radiation of the cesium particles. Due to this, effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding may occur. When the exposure lasts a long time, people may even lose consciousness. Coma or even death may then follow. How serious the effects are depends upon the resistance of individual persons and the duration of exposure and the concentration a person is exposed to, experts say.

There is no end in sight from the leakage of radioactive water into the Pacific from Fukushima. Harvey Wasserman is questioning whether fishing in the Pacific Ocean will be safe after years of leakage from Fukushima. The World Health Organization (WHO) is claiming that this will have limited effect on human health, with concentrations predicted to be below WHO safety levels. However, experts seriously question the WHO’s claims.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation is in the process of writing a report to assess the radiation doses and associated effects on health and environment. When finalized, it will be the most comprehensive scientific analysis of the information available to date examining how much radioactive material was released, how it was dispersed over land and water, how Fukushima compares to previous accidents, what the impact is on the environment and food, and what the impact is on human health and the environment.

Wasserman warns that “dilution is no solution.” The fact that the Pacific Ocean is large does not change the fact that these radioactive elements have long half-lives. Radiation in water is taken up by vegetation, then smaller fish eat the vegetation, larger fish eat the smaller fish and at the top of the food chain we will find fish like tuna, dolphin and whales with concentrated levels of radiation. Humans at the top of the food chain could be eating these contaminated fish.

As bad as the ongoing leakage of radioactive water is into the Pacific, that is not the largest part of the water problem. The Asia-Pacific Journal reported last month that TEPCO has 330,000 tons of water stored in 1,000 above-ground tanks and an undetermined amount in underground storage tanks. Every day, 400 tons of water comes to the site from the mountains, 300 tons of that is the source for the contaminated water leaking into the Pacific daily. It is not clear where the rest of this water goes.

Each day TEPCO injects 400 tons of water into the destroyed facilities to keep them cool; about half is recycled, and the rest goes into the above-ground tanks. They are constantly building new storage tanks for this radioactive water. The tanks being used for storage were put together rapidly and are already leaking. They expect to have 800,000 tons of radioactive water stored on the site by 2016. Harvey Wasserman warns that these unstable tanks are at risk of rupture if there is another earthquake or storm that hits Fukushima. The Asia-Pacific Journal concludes: “So at present there is no real solution to the water problem.”

The most recent news on the water problem at Fukushima adds to the concerns. On October 11, 2013, TEPCO disclosed that the radioactivity level spiked 6,500 times at a Fukushima well. “TEPCO said the findings show that radioactive substances like strontium have reached the groundwater. High levels of tritium, which transfers much easier in water than strontium, had already been detected.”

Spent Fuel Rods: As bad as the problems of radioactive water and missing cores are, the biggest problem at Fukushima comes from the spent fuel rods. The plant has been in operation for 40 years. As a result, they are storing 11 thousand spent fuel rods on the grounds of the Fukushima plant. These fuel rods are composed of highly radioactive materials such as plutonium and uranium. They are about the width of a thumb and about 15 feet long.

The biggest and most immediate challenge is the 1,533 spent fuel rods packed tightly in a pool four floors above Reactor 4. Before the storm hit, those rods had been removed for routine maintenance of the reactor. But, now they are stored 100 feet in the air in damaged racks. They weigh a total of 400 tons and contain radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The building in which these rods are stored has been damaged. TEPCO reinforced it with a steel frame, but the building itself is buckling and sagging, vulnerable to collapse if another earthquake or storm hits the area. Additionally, the ground under and around the building is becoming saturated with water, which further undermines the integrity of the structure and could cause it to tilt.

How dangerous are these fuel rods? Harvey Wasserman explains that the fuel rods are clad in zirconium which can ignite if they lose coolant. They could also ignite or explode if rods break or hit each other. Wasserman reports that some say this could result in a fission explosion like an atomic bomb, others say that is not what would happen, but agree it would be “a reaction like we have never seen before, a nuclear fire releasing incredible amounts of radiation,” says Wasserman.

These are not the only spent fuel rods at the plant, they are just the most precarious. There are 11,000 fuel rods scattered around the plant, 6,000 in a cooling pool less than 50 meters from the sagging Reactor 4. If a fire erupts in the spent fuel pool at Reactor 4, it could ignite the rods in the cooling pool and lead to an even greater release of radiation. It could set off a chain reaction that could not be stopped.

What would happen? Wasserman reports that the plant would have to be evacuated. The workers who are essential to preventing damage at the plant would leave, and we will have lost a critical safeguard. In addition, the computers will not work because of the intense radiation. As a result we would be blind – the world would have to sit and wait to see what happened. You might have to not only evacuate Fukushima but all of the population in and around Tokyo, reports Wasserman.

There is no question that the 1,533 spent fuel rods need to be removed. But Arnie Gundersen, a veteran nuclear engineer and director of Fairewinds Energy Education, who used to build fuel assemblies, told Reuters ”They are going to have difficulty in removing a significant number of the rods.” He described the problem in a radio interview:

“If you think of a nuclear fuel rack as a pack of cigarettes, if you pull a cigarette straight up it will come out — but these racks have been distorted. Now when they go to pull the cigarette straight out, it’s going to likely break and release radioactive cesium and other gases, xenon and krypton, into the air. I suspect come November, December, January we’re going to hear that the building’s been evacuated, they’ve broke a fuel rod, the fuel rod is off-gassing.”

Wasserman builds on the analogy, telling us it is “worse than pulling cigarettes out of a crumbled cigarette pack.” It is likely they used salt water as a coolant out of desperation, which would cause corrosion because the rods were never meant to be in salt water. The condition of the rods is unknown. There is debris in the coolant, so there has been some crumbling from somewhere. Gundersen adds, “The roof has fallen in, which further distorted the racks,” noting that if a fuel rod snaps, it will release radioactive gas which will require at a minimum evacuation of the plant. They will release those gases into the atmosphere and try again.

The Japan Times writes: “The consequences could be far more severe than any nuclear accident the world has ever seen. If a fuel rod is dropped, breaks or becomes entangled while being removed, possible worst case scenarios include a big explosion, a meltdown in the pool, or a large fire. Any of these situations could lead to massive releases of deadly radionuclides into the atmosphere, putting much of Japan — including Tokyo and Yokohama — and even neighboring countries at serious risk.”

This is not the usual moving of fuel rods. TEPCO has been saying this is routine, but in fact it is unique – a feat of engineering never done before. As Gundersen says:

“Tokyo Electric is portraying this as easy. In a normal nuclear reactor, all of this is done with computers. Everything gets pulled perfectly vertically. Well nothing is vertical anymore, the fuel racks are distorted, it’s all going to have to be done manually. The net effect is it’s a really difficult job. It wouldn’t surprise me if they snapped some of the fuel and they can’t remove it.”

Gregory Jaczko, Former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission concurs with Gundersen describing the removal of the spent fuel rods as “a very significant activity, and … very, very unprecedented.”

Wasserman sums the challenge up: “We are doing something never done before – bent, crumbling, brittle fuel rods being removed from a pool that is compromised, in a building that is sinking, sagging and buckling, and it all must done under manual control, not with computers.” And the potential damage from failure would affect hundreds of millions of people.

The Solutions

The three major problems at Fukushima are all unprecedented, each unique in their own way and each has the potential for major damage to humans and the environment. There are no clear solutions but there are steps that need to be taken urgently to get the Fukushima clean-up and de-commissioning on track and minimize the risks.

The first thing that is needed is to end the media blackout. The global public needs to be informed about the issues the world faces from Fukushima. The impacts of Fukushima could affect almost everyone on the planet, so we all have a stake in the outcome. If the public is informed about this problem, the political will to resolve it will rapidly develop.

The nuclear industry, which wants to continue to expand, fears Fukushima being widely discussed because it undermines their already weak economic potential. But, the profits of the nuclear industry are of minor concern compared to the risks of the triple Fukushima challenges.

The second thing that must be faced is the incompetence of TEPCO. They are not capable of handling this triple complex crisis. TEPCO “is already Japan’s most distrusted firm” and has been exposed as “dangerously incompetent.” A poll foundthat 91 percent of the Japanese public wants the government to intervene at Fukushima.

Tepco’s management of the stricken power plant has been described as a comedy of errors. The constant stream of mistakes has been made worse by constant false denials and efforts to minimize major problems. Indeed the entire Fukushima catastrophe could have been avoided:

“Tepco at first blamed the accident on ‘an unforeseen massive tsunami’ triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Then it admitted it had in fact foreseen just such a scenario but hadn’t done anything about it.”

The reality is Fukushima was plagued by human error from the outset. An official Japanese government investigation concluded that the Fukushima accident was a “man-made” disaster, caused by “collusion” between government and Tepco and bad reactor design. On this point, TEPCO is not alone, this is an industry-wide problem. Many US nuclear plants have serious problems, are being operated beyond their life span, have the same design problems and are near earthquake faults. Regulatory officials in both the US and Japan are too corruptly tied to the industry.

Then, the meltdown itself was denied for months, with TEPCO claiming it had not been confirmed. Japan Times reports that “in December 2011, the government announced that the plant had reached ‘a state of cold shutdown.’ Normally, that means radiation releases are under control and the temperature of its nuclear fuel is consistently below boiling point.” Unfortunately, the statement was false – the reactors continue to need water to keep them cool, the fuel rods need to be kept cool – there has been no cold shutdown.

TEPCO has done a terrible job of cleaning up the plant. Japan Times describes some of the problems:

“The plant is being run on makeshift equipment and breakdowns are endemic. Among nearly a dozen serious problems since April this year there have been successive power outages, leaks of highly radioactive water from underground water pools — and a rat that chewed enough wires to short-circuit a switchboard, causing a power outage that interrupted cooling for nearly 30 hours. Later, the cooling system for a fuel-storage pool had to be switched off for safety checks when two dead rats were found in a transformer box.”

TEPCO has been constantly cutting financial corners and not spending enough to solve the challenges of the Fukushima disaster resulting in shoddy practices that cause environmental damage. Washington’s Blog reports that the Japanese government is spreading radioactivity throughout Japan – and other countries – by burning radioactive waste in incinerators not built to handle such toxic substances. Workers have expressed concerns and even apologized for following order regarding the ‘clean-up.’

Indeed, the workers are another serious concern. The Guardian reported in October 2013 the plummeting morale of workers, problems of alcohol abuse, anxiety, loneliness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression. TEPCO cut the pay of its workers by 20 percent in 2011 to save money even though these workers are doing very difficult work and face constant problems. Outside of work, many were traumatized by being forced to evacuate their homes after the Tsunami; and they have no idea how exposed to radiation they have been and what health consequences they will suffer. Contractors are hired based on the lowest bid, resulting in low wages for workers. According to the Guardian, Japan’s top nuclear regulator, Shunichi Tanaka, told reporters: “Mistakes are often linked to morale. People usually don’t make silly, careless mistakes when they’re motivated and working in a positive environment. The lack of it, I think, may be related to the recent problems.”

The history of TEPCO shows we cannot trust this company and its mistreated workforce to handle the complex challenges faced at Fukushima. The crisis at Fukushima is a global one, requiring a global solution.

In an open letter to the United Nations, 16 top nuclear experts urged the government of Japan to transfer responsibility for the Fukushima reactor site to a worldwide engineering group overseen by a civil society panel and an international group of nuclear experts independent from TEPCO and the International Atomic Energy Administration , IAEA. They urge that the stabilization, clean-up and de-commissioning of the plant be well-funded. They make this request with “urgency” because the situation at the Fukushima plant is “progressively deteriorating, not stabilizing.”

Beyond the clean-up, they are also critical of the estimates by the World Health Organization and IAEA of the health and environmental damage caused by the Fukushima disaster and they recommend more accurate methods of accounting, as well as the gathering of data to ensure more accurate estimates. They also want to see the people displaced by Fukushima treated in better ways; and they urge that the views of indigenous people who never wanted the uranium removed from their lands be respected in the future as their views would have prevented this disaster.

Facing Reality

The problems at Fukushima are in large part about facing reality – seeing the challenges, risks and potential harms from the incident. It is about TEPCO and Japan facing the reality that they are not equipped to handle the challenges of Fukushima and need the world to join the effort.

Facing reality is a common problem throughout the nuclear industry and those who continue to push for nuclear energy. Indeed, it is a problem with many energy issues. We must face the reality of the long-term damage being done to the planet and the people by the carbon-nuclear based energy economy.

Another reality the nuclear industry must face is that the United States is turning away from nuclear energy and the world will do the same. As Gregory Jaczko, who chaired the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the time of the Fukushima incident says “I’ve never seen a movie that’s set 200 years in the future and the planet is being powered by fission reactors—that’s nobody’s vision of the future. This is not a future technology.” He sees US nuclear reactors as aging, many in operation beyond their original lifespan. The economics of nuclear energy are increasingly difficult as it is a very expensive source of energy. Further, there is no money or desire to finance new nuclear plants. “The industry is going away,” he said bluntly.

Ralph Nader describes nuclear energy as “unnecessary, uneconomic, uninsurable, unevacuable and, most importantly, unsafe.” He argues it only continues to exist because the nuclear lobby pushes politicians to protect it. The point made by Nader about the inability to evacuate if there is a nuclear accident is worth underlining. Wasserman points out that there are nuclear plants in the US that are near earthquake faults, among them are plants near Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, DC. And, Fukushima was based on a design by General Electric, which was also used to build 23 reactors in the US.

If we faced reality, public officials would be organizing evacuation drills in those cities. If we did so, Americans would quickly learn that if there is a serious nuclear accident, US cities could not be evacuated. Activists making the reasonable demand for evacuation drills may be a very good strategy to end nuclear power.

Wasserman emphasizes that as bad as Fukushima is, it is not the worst case scenario for a nuclear disaster. Fukushima was 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the center of the earthquake. If that had been 20 kilometers (12 miles), the plant would have been reduced to rubble and caused an immediate nuclear catastrophe.

Another reality we need to face is a very positive one, Wasserman points out “All of our world’s energy needs could be met by solar, wind, thermal, ocean technology.” His point is repeated by many top energy experts, in fact a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy is not only possible, it is inevitable. The only question is how long it will take for us to get there, and how much damage will be done before we end the “all-of-the-above” energy strategy that emphasizes carbon and nuclear energy sources.

Naoto Kan, prime minister of Japan when the disaster began, recently told an audience that he had been a supporter of nuclear power, but after the Fukushima accident, “I changed my thinking 180-degrees, completely.” He realized that “no other accident or disaster” other than a nuclear plant disaster can “affect 50 million people … no other accident could cause such a tragedy.” He pointed out that all 54 nuclear plants in Japan have now been closed and expressed confidently that “without nuclear power plants we can absolutely provide the energy to meet our demands.” In fact, since the disaster Japan has tripled its use of solar energy, to the equivalent of three nuclear plants. He believes: “If humanity really would work together … we could generate all our energy through renewable energy.”

(Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-host ClearingtheFOGRadio.org on We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media, co-direct It’s Our Economy and are organizers of the Occupation of Washington DC.)

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PLEASE TUNE IN TO KMUD on Thursday, October 31^st at 7 p.m. for the Sanctuary Forest quarterly radio hour. Sanctuary Forest Executive Director Tasha McKee will be joined by Dana Stolzman, Executive Director of the Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF), for a lively discussion about Mattole and Eel River water scarcity and the next steps for solutions needed on a watershed scale. Topics will include county and state regulatory changes needed to support water conservation, technical and financial assistance, income tax credits for water conservation and streamlined permitting. Please join Sanctuary Forest for an educational hour of conversation about shared resources, what is being done to restore and conserve them, what individuals can do to help and what local non-profits and agencies are planning for the future.

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EIGHTH ANNUAL WINE & MUSHROOM FESTIVAL at ST. ANTHONY’S

12:00—4:00p.m. November 9

Wine, mushrooms & treasures take over the hall at St. Anthony’s with live and silent Wine & Gift auctions. The silent auction will feature many different selections of wines in all price ranges. All types of merchandise from local merchants plus a variety of gift certificates for merchandise, restaurants and other services. This is a perfect place for Christmas Shopping to be early and avoid the crowds. Our live auction will offer some of the best wines, wine lots and gift baskets, along with some special items and wine magnums painted by local artists. Enjoy pairing of wines from 10 Anderson Valley wineries with gourmet foods. Make a meal of everything from mushroom hors d’oeurves to sampling wild mushroom soups from top restaurants in a soup contest. Clover Stornetta Farms will premier their new Artisanal Cheeses, Pennyroyal Farm will show their new line of goat and sheep cheese and Della Terra Oils will teach you to taste like a pro in the wonderful world of olive oils. Eric Schramm, the Mushroom Man, will educate you on wild mushrooms. Complete your experience with candy cap mushroom ice cream. No one leaves hungry! $40 per person 10700 Lansing St., Mendocino (707) 937-2406 www.stanthonysofmendocino.com

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IN MAY OF 2013 the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens hosted its first, and remarkably successful, My Garden event. It showcased the beauty of the Gardens, provided inspiration about gardens and raised a net of over $120,000. The funds raised will improve the main trail and expand our vegetable garden. The craftsmen projects clearly underscored the creativity and talent resident in this county and linked it with the beauty of gardens and the enjoyment to be had by all. The Board of the Garden has decided to make this spectacular event a biannual affair. The intervening year will provide an opportunity to complete the projects for which the funds were raised and demonstrate their value to the community. In addition, it will provide the craftsmen a longer time period for inspiration and execution of their remarkable designs. The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens wishes to thank the Mendocino community, especially the sponsors and craftsmen, for their support. They have helped make the Gardens a more welcome place for all. Please mark your calendars for the next My Garden event in May of 2015, the exact date to be announced later.