1/30/2012 Home video of Byron Nuclear Generating Station venting radioactive steam

Source: rcjmd YouTube channel
Date: 1/30/2012


Offsite power was lost on 1/30/2012 due to equipment failure in the switchyard which caused the nuclear power plant's diesel backup generators to kick in. An Unusual Event was declared, which is the lowest of four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  In the video steam containing small amounts of tritium (radioactive hydrogen) is being vented from the reactor, which is out of the ordinary.  Under normal operation, only the cooling towers vent steam.  The Illinois Emergency Management Agency was sent out to gather air samples as well as water and vegetation samples to test for radioactive tritium levels.

Map of Byron Nuclear Generating Station:

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

1/31/2012 War Propaganda: 70% of Americans believe Iran has a nuke, the same percentage as in 2002 who believed Saddam Hussein had a WMD

Source: RT News
Date: 1/31/2012
by: Liz Wahl


On Tuesday the Senate held a hearing to discuss what the US views as worldwide threats. It is no surprise that Iran made the top of the list as tensions between the West and Iran have grown. According to some reports, 70 percent of Americans believe Iran has a nuclear weapon despite Secretary Defense Leon Panetta admitting that is false. Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, joins us to discuss should Americans be afraid of Iran and if America should go to war on an if.

[Editor's Note:  The following article by Ray McGovern, senior CIA analyst who used to brief Ronald Reagan, breaks down the war propaganda and true agenda (in McGovern's view) behind deceptively making the public think Iran has a nuke and is about to use it: Israel Tamps Down Iran War Threats]

1/31/2012 Depleted Uranium and the Boeing 747 Airplane Program

Source: Enformable
Date: 1/31/2012
by: Lucas Whitefield Hixson

Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor the major aircraft manufacturers publish information about which planes and helicopters contain DU components. As one industry insider told the Journal, “No one brags about DU.”

However many wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747, Lockheed L-1011,  McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed military C-130 all require the use of counter-balance weights for proper flight control.
...
Read the rest of this shocking article here

1/31/2012 Radioactive Steam Released At Nuclear Power Plant In Illinois

Source: CBS News
Date: 1/31/2012
by: Betty Nguyen


From the Chicago Tribune 1/30/2012: Backup generators kick in after shutdown at Exelon's Byron plant

Map of Byron Nuclear Generating Station:
View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

1/25/2012 Leaked Japanese Report Details 'Worst-Case' Nuclear Scenario

Source: Voice of America
Date: 1/25/2012

Photo: Reuters

The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor building is seen after the removal of debris on the upper side of the unit in Fukushima prefecture, January 5, 2012.

The Japanese government predicted a worst-case scenario at the height of its nuclear crisis last year warning that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to evacuate the region to avoid contamination.
...
Read full article here

Here is the link to the AP article about this report:

• Jan 25, 10:04 AM EST Japan kept silent on worst nuclear crisis scenario

1/24/2012 New Material to Remove Radioactive Gas from Spent Nuclear Fuel

Source: Science Daily
Date: 1/24/2012

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) — Research by a team of Sandia chemists could impact worldwide efforts to produce clean, safe nuclear energy and reduce radioactive waste.
...
Read full article here

1/25/2012 Contrary to Widespread Claims, There Is NO EVIDENCE that Iran Is Building a Nuclear Weapon

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 1/25/2012

Iran Is NOT Building a Nuclear Bomb

Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said:

Are they [the Iranians] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed in a Senate hearing – following the release of the classified National Intelligence Estimate in 2011 – that he has a “high level of confidence” that Iran “has not made a decision as of this point to restart its nuclear weapons program.”
Mohamed ElBaradei – who spent more than a decade as the director of the IAEA – said that he had not “seen a shred of evidence” that Iran was pursuing the bomb.
Six former ambassadors to Iran within the last decade say that there is no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons, and that Iran is complying with international law.
The International Atomic Energy Agency states:

All nuclear material in the facility remains under the Agency’s containment and surveillance.

In other words, all nuclear fuel is accounted for and is being controlled and monitored by the international agency tasked with nuclear non-proliferation.
What about Iran’s enriching uranium to 20%? The IAEA considers 20 percent enriched uranium to be low-enriched uranium and “a fully adequate isotopic barrier” to weaponization. In other words, 20% is well within the legal guidelines for developing a program of nuclear energy.

1/24/2012 Radiation Measurement from Eastern Ontario

Source: firebombclipper YouTube channel
Date: 1/24/2012
by: Ray Marsalas

More high numbers in the wet snow falling. Jan 24. High mark 0.67 micro-sieverts. {4 or 5 times background}.

1/24/2012 Governments Worldwide Raise Acceptable Radiation Levels Based Upon Politics … Not Science

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 1/24/2012

Instead of Protecting People, Governments Cover Up by Raising “Safe” Radiation Levels

American and Canadian authorities have virtually stopped monitoring airborne radiation.
Neither American nor Canadian authorities are testing fish for radioactivity.
Does that mean that we don’t have to worry about radiation from Fukushima?
It is a little hard to know, given that what is deemed a “safe level” of radiation is determined by politics … rather than science. For example, current safety standards are based on the ridiculous assumption that everyone exposed is a healthy man in his 20s – and that radioactive particles ingested into the body cause no more damage than radiation hitting the outside of the body.
And one of the main advisors to the Japanese government on Fukushima announced:

If you smile, the radiation will not affect you.

(Here’s the video.)

1/22/2012 (Video) ☢ Low-Dose Radiation ☢ Department of Energy Study

Source: Goddard's Journal
Date: 1/22/2012 upload date

Sources cited:

DOE: "Supporting Our Nation's Nuclear Industry"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LkHYerK8y8

DOE low-dose study:
http://lowdose.energy.gov/pdf/2011/PNAS.pdf

DOE low-dose study press release:
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/12/20/low-dose-radiation

DOE Low Dose Radiation Research Program:
http://lowdose.energy.gov

Evidence Pyramid
http://library.downstate.edu/EBM2/2100.htm

Bhatti et al (2010) finds high genetic damage at low doses in vivo
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075914

1/19/2011 Radiation Alert from Taos, New Mexico

Source: Radiation Network
Date: 1/19/2010 11:30 AM

[Editor's Note: Copy and pasted from the site since the URL presents a continuous page with no breaks.]

[...]

Update: 1/19/12, 11:30 A.M. - Radiation Alert from Taos

On January 18th, at about 5:48 PM local time, the Nokaoi station in the Taos area of New Mexico broadcast a Radiation Alert over the Network.  See the graph at right, depicting elevated readings averaging over 100 CPM (Counts per Minute) for a sustained period of about 20 minutes, then subsiding to near normal background levels of about 60 to 70 CPM.

For context, the station is operating the Inspector Geiger counter, which is a high count rate model built around an ultra-sensitive pancake style Geiger- Mueller tube.  Between that high count rate, and the high elevation of Taos at 7,300 feet, their background count of about 60 CPM is therefore considered normal.

During the alert period, the station reports they were monitoring indoors on the second floor of an adobe structure, with the instrument sitting on the bed, monitoring the environment only - no specific materials were being scanned at the time.  A few minutes of outdoor monitoring preceded the graphed activity shown above, which readings were also elevated.  It was neither raining nor snowing at the time, and the wind was still, against relatively clear skies, although the station reported a "heavy orange cloud" on the western horizon at dusk, reminiscent of an LA sunset that is color enhanced by smog.

So what was the cause?  In short, we don't know, but the fact that the elevated radiation levels were sustained for many minutes, versus a momentary spike, and then fell back to normal levels, tends to rule out a false alert that our network occasionally generates from an instrument glitch or the like.  A jet stream map from last evening located the flow too far north to be a factor, its southern edge dipping down only as far as Colorado.  Did the orange cloud somehow relate to the elevated radiation levels?  Was there a passing radioactive "plume" from Japan?  Or perhaps a downwind release from Los Alamos National Lab to the west?  These are speculative questions only.  A greater number of Monitoring Stations would provide a chance to corroborate readings, so that must be the continuing mission of the Radiation Network.

[...]

Visit here for the radiation network map

1/20/2012 Despite Entergy's Court Win, Yankee Still Needs State Permit

Source: VPR (Vermont Public Radio) News
Date: Friday, 01/20/12 5:50pm
by: John Dillon

(Host) Despite a big win in federal court, Entergy Vermont Yankee still needs permission from state utility regulators to operate for another 20 years.
...
Read full article here and access radio broadcast segment

1/19/2012 Tepco Drills a Hole in Fukushima Reactor … Finds that Nuclear Fuel Has Gone Missing

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 1/19/2012

Cold Shutdown … or Escape of Hot Fuel?

I noted last month in connection with Tepco’s announcement of “cold shutdown” of the Fukushima reactors:

If the reactors are “cold”, it may be because most of the hot radioactive fuel has leaked out.
***
The New York Times pointed out last month:

A former nuclear engineer with three decades of experience at a major engineering firm … who has worked at all three nuclear power complexes operated by Tokyo Electric [said] “If the fuel is still inside the reactor core, that’s one thing” …. But if the fuel has been dispersed more widely, then we are far from any stable shutdown.”

Indeed, if the center of the reactors are in fact relatively “cold”, it may be because most of the hot radioactive fuel has leaked out of the containment vessels and escaped into areas where it can do damage to the environment.

1/18/2012 Thyroid cancer, fracking and nuclear power

Source: Activist Post
Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2012
by: Rady Ananda


Thyroid cancer cases have more than doubled since 1997 in the United States, while deadly industrial practices that contaminate groundwater with radiation and other carcinogens are also rising.


New information released by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 56,460 people will develop thyroid cancer in 2012 and 1,780 will die from it.
...
Read full article here

1/17/2012 (Video) Frontline: Nuclear Aftershock

Source: PBS Frontline
Date: 1/17/2012

FRONTLINE travels to three continents to explore the debate about nuclear power: Is it safe? What are the alternatives? And could a Fukushima-style disaster happen in the U.S.?

Watch Nuclear Aftershocks on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Further reading from PBS Frontline:

1. January 17, 2012, 11:37 pm Map: U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
2. January 17, 2012, 9:29 pm Did Fukushima Quash the Global “Nuclear Renaissance”?
3. January 17, 2012, 11:56 am How Much Electricity Does My State Generate From Nuclear?

1/16/2012 Radioactive tissue holders found at Bed, Bath & Beyond reveal hypocrisy of failed national security

Source: Natural News
Date: 1/16/2012
by: Mike Adams


Mike Adams hosts the Monday edition (1/16/2012) of Infowars Nightly News. Mike talks about his article on radioactive tissue holders -- manufactured with cobalt-60, used in radiation therapy-- and sold by Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Read the article mentioned in the news report here.

1/15/2012 Doctors unsure why thyroid cancer cases on the rise

Source: USA Today
Date: 1/15/2012

INDIANAPOLIS – Thyroid cancer, which affects about 11 people per 100,000 each year, seems to be on the rise. It's a trend that baffles medical researchers.
...
Read full article here

1/12/2012 NYT Caught Lying about Iran & IAEA Report on Civilian Nuclear Program

Source: Representative Press
Date: 1/12/2012 upload date

Devious Reporter Lies to Sell another war to the public!

Don't Let Them Trick Us into Another War‬!
See These Videos, Click Here for Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebqp-xaMfkc&list=PL90B5A93EDB34024C&fe...

Before 1979, the U.S. strongly supported Iran's nuclear energy programs. Mainstream media is helping sell another illegal war. The way they do this is mainly by not reporting things or under-reporting things.

"Introduction of nuclear power will both provide for the growing needs of Iran's economy and free remaining oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals" - Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State for President Ford

"the IAEA report made no firm conclusion that Iran had a nuclear weapons program, and noted that its inspections of Iran's facilities continue to show no diversion of uranium for military purposes."
☞ PASS IT ON: http://tinyurl.com/NYTcaught
Recommended FAIR radio show clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=r-o9fiEQK-o#t=606s
PASS IT ON ☞ http://tinyurl.com/DerailWarTrain
PASS IT ON ☞ http://tinyurl.com/WarmongerCalledOut
PASS IT ON ☞ http://tinyurl.com/WarPropagandaExposed
☀ The Record of the Paper: How the New York Times Misreports US Foreign Policy
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844675831/ref=nosim/representativ-20

☀ Israel-Palestine on Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East
"Howard Friel and Richard Falk reveal the persistent ways the New York Times has ignored principles of international law in order to shield its readers from Israel's lawlessness."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844671097/ref=nosim/representativ-20

NYT bias for Israel continues
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2007/09/nyt-bias-for-israel-continues...

http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-attacks-gaza-silence-f...


‪Warmongers who sold you the Iraq war are pushing for a war with Iran.‬
CLICK HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akWdJh7auVA&index=0&list=PL90B5A93EDB3...

FAIR Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting Action Alert
NYT Misleads Readers on Iran Crisis
Paper disappears some inaccurate reporting
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4454

Youtuber tantzer sent me this info: In a Congressional hearing early in 2011, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, replying to Senator Carl Levin, confirmed that as of 2011, the American intelligence community has a high level of confidence that Iran has not made a decision as of this point to restart its nuclear weapons program.

This testimony reflects the contents of the 2011 National Intelligence Estimate. Its texts has not been released, but from the Congressional testimony, it's clear that it repeats the conclusions of the 2007 that since 2003 Iran has not pursued military applications of nuclear technology. The text of the 2007 NIE was published during the Bush presidency.

Sanger of the New York Times has often relayed misinformation from anonymous U.S. officials to the effect that the 2011 NIE would reverse that of 2007. On 6/8/10, he wrote that the new NIE "is using new evidence to revise and in some cases reverse conclusions from that [2007] estimate," and that the U.S. "is gradually backing away from a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate." On 6/15/10, he wrote that the new estimate "is likely to back away from some of the conclusions in the earlier document." On 3/27/10, he wrote that the 2007 NIE's key conclusion "is also being rewritten." On 1/2/10, he wrote, "Mr. Obama's top advisers say they no longer believe the key finding of a much disputed National Intelligence Estimate about Iran." As of today, the New York Times has not corrected such misinformation or tried to explain it.

As for the 2007 NIE: the NYT's reporting gives exhaustive coverage to criticisms of the 2007 NIE and information that seems to contradict it. Sanger rarely referred to the NIE estimate without the adjective "much-disputed"-- not pointing out that within the United States, it's politicians and media pundits who dispute it quite predictably, not U.S. intelligence organizations that voted for it 16-0 and reconfirmed it in 2011.

As late as November 6, 2011, Sanger has sentences like this: "the report has been widely criticized as flawed." Note the absence of any reference to the 2011 NIE as recently as last November in a context where it should have been mentioned! And in this story from a month ago he put the emphasis on its being "widely criticized as flawed" rather than its having been re-affirmed.

1/12/2012 Who killed Iranian nuclear scientist?

Source: RT News
Date: 1/12/2012 upload date
by: Liz Wahl

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was assassinated Wednesday when two men on a motorcycle stuck a magnet bomb to his vehicle and rode off. According to reports, Roshan is the fifth Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated in the last two years. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has publicly denied American involvement and no one has come forward claiming responsibility for the murder. Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, helps us analyze who could be responsible and will this cause greater tension between Iran and the US.

[Editor's Note: This is an excellent news report which importantly points out that the Iranians do not yet have a nuclear weapons program, as stated by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta himself. Rather, what the Iranians are actually doing (based on factual evidence) is developing nuclear capability [to boil water] and that it is up to present or future Iranian leaders to decide whether or not to go forwards with a real nuclear weapons program.


There is speculation that the Mossad and MEK (formerly classified by the United States government as a terrorist group) may have been responsible for killing the director of the Iran's uranium enrichment program Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Or, as Liz Wahl's guest Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, speculates it could have been some other group or hardliners within the Iranian government itself who do not want Iran to be peacefully incorporated in to the international community. We do not know for sure who is responsible.


I hope that we the public are more vigilant this time and do not get suckered in to believing another lie similar to the WMD/yellowcake deception which was used as an excuse to invade Iraq with catastrophic consequences both in loss of life and economically.]

Further Reading:

1. Leon Panetta admits Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon
2. Israeli Source: Assassination of Iranian Nuclear Scientist Joint Mossad-MEK Operation
3. Curveball Redux: IAEA Lies to Push Case for Attacking Iran

1/12/2012 Accident at Second Japanese Nuclear Complex

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 1/12/2012

The Japanese Nuclear Accident You Never Heard About

You’ve heard about the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
But there was another Japanese nuclear accident last year.

12/18/2011 A $5 App Turns Your Smart Phone Camera Into a RADIATION DETECTOR

Source: Pissin' On the Roses
Date: 12/18/2011

We stumbled across the smart phone apps as we were investigating what looks like the latest inncident of TEPCO adding Nalgene radiation shields to their cameras to block/reduce the very affect that the "Radioactivity Counter Rolf-Dieter Klein" leverages to use your smartphone camera as a radiation detector.

The App costs $4.99 and you can find it here; The POTRBLOG team has not tried the APP, nor are we in any way affiliated with it; but it does look interesting. The FAQ on the APP may be found HERE

Below are some videos of the work that went into the application.

1/11/2012 Bomb kills Iran nuclear scientist as crisis mounts

Source: Reuters
Date: Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:59pm EST
by: Ramin Mostafavi and Parisa Hafezi

(Reuters) - An Iranian nuclear scientist was blown up in his car by a motorbike hitman on Wednesday, prompting Tehran to blame Israeli and U.S. agents but insist the killing would not derail a nuclear program that has raised fears of war and threatened world oil supplies.
...
Read the rest here

1/10/2012 Leon Panetta admits Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon

Source: Activist Post
Date: 1/10/2012
by: Madison Ruppert


Astoundingly, United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta openly admitted on national television that Iran is not, in fact, developing nuclear weapons, yet still justified the Western assault on their nuclear program.


On the CBS show “Face the Nation” Panetta stated, in no uncertain terms, that Iran is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon, making one wonder why the United States and the United Nations feel justified in pressuring Iran.
...
Read the rest here

1/5/2012 Radiation doctor says TSA naked body scanners can cause cancer

Source: Natural News
Date: Thursday, January 05, 2012
by: Jonathan Benson

(NaturalNews) No matter how many times the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) claims the machines are safe and pose no threat to travelers or personnel, naked body scanners that emit ionizing radiation are, indeed, a very serious health threat. And Dr. Edward Dauer, head of radiology at Florida Medical Center, agrees, having recently come forward to explain that naked body scanners can cause cancer, particularly in those over age 65 and in women who are said to be genetically prone to developing breast cancer.
...
Read the rest here

1/3/2011 Iran’s Nuclear Fuel Rod Doesn’t Pose Military Threat, U.S. Analysts Say

Source: Bloomberg
Date: Jan 3, 2012 11:00 PM CT 
by: Brian Wingfield

Iran’s development of a nuclear fuel rod for medical research isn’t a milestone in a quest for atomic weapons, according to energy analysts in the U.S.

“This has some diplomatic significance and virtually no military significance,” James Acton, a senior associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
...
 Read the rest here

1/1/2012 Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Felt in Tokyo

Source: ITN News


Editor's Note: The quake was felt in Tokyo, but no damage or injuries were reported.

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map