Re: NIRS anti-nuclear activity summer 2000

["Bjorn Cedervall" <bcradsafers@hotmail.com>]

An anti-nuclear group is hauling a fake spent fuel shipping cask around the 
country.
This is part of their diary, which is posted at
http://www.nirs.org/roadsrails/roadsrailsdiary75112000.htm
---
The text includes the following (below) - I have given some comments. It 
seems to be a combination of psychiatric and media techniques. The diary is 
boring.

My personal reflections only,

Bjorn Cedervall   bcradsafers@hotmail.com
-----------------------------------------
>"Such exposures would be especially harmful to pregnant women and the 
>babies within their wombs, infants and small children, the elderly, and the 
>infirm - persons whose immune system is already challenged."

The first part of the sentence above is about the women - not about the 
babies. Does any evidence point at a higher sensitivity for women who are 
pregnant? Sounds like news to me.
---------
>"Toll booth attendants are yet one more forgotten sector of the population 
>who would unknowingly be exposed to multiple radiation doses from high 
>level nuclear waste shipments."

Estimated collective doses as compared to those from people handling 
potassium fertilizers or bananas? (did they ever hear about radon?)
---------
>"Given the tens of thousands of shipments potentially traveling the Indiana 
>toll road, such exposures could add up quickly."

What about doses from fossil fuel or peat waste that may end up in various 
materials such as concrete, roads etc?
---------
>"Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana has worked against the Mobile 
>Chernobyl for years. Their door to door canvass campaign generated 15,000 
>letters to the newly elected U.S. Senator from Indiana Evan Bayh in the 
>space of just several weeks."

Old spamming technique? Does it really work?
--------
>"Lisa Gue at Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Project 
>did excellent media work, and we were pleased to wake the next morning to 
>see our rally covered as front page headline news in area papers with big, 
>full color pictures."

Can any of this be seen on the Internet? If yes - where?
--------
>"Indiana has no nuclear power reactors within its borders, thanks in large 
>part to the effective activism and legal intervention of CAC in the early 
>to mid 1980's."

Is this correct - what about coal as fuel (and radioactivity releases BTW)?
--------
>"We held a press conference at the State Capitol building, with the cask 
>parked at the foot of the Abraham Lincoln statue. Lincoln lived and 
>practiced law in Springfield when he was elected President in 1861. Honest 
>Abe probably would have been ashamed of the nuclear establishment's 
>dishonesty regarding high level nuclear waste transportation risks."

Relevance (seems like emotional self therapy)?
---------
>"Driving across the tall bridge over the river, I wondered how many 
>hundreds of feet down to the water below, and how deep the water? Had the 
>U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission tested casks for such an accident? Water 
>immersing a transport cannister could provide the neutron reflection 
>necessary to induce a nuclear criticality accident in the large quantity of 
>fissile uranium and plutonium still contained in the waste. Such an 
>inadvertent criticality accident occurred in Japan last October."

The Japan criticality accident seems to be of weak relevance (?).
----------
>"We held a press conference in conjunction with the Missouri Coalition for 
>the Environment at City Hall in downtown St. Louis."

Did any Radsafer attend any of the press conferences or slide shows 
mentioned?
----------
>"The vast majority of commercial nuclear power reactors are located east of 
>the Mississippi River, yet both the proposed "interim storage site" and the 
>proposed permanent national repository for high level nuclear wastes are 
>located in the far West, and on Native American land. A little 
>environmental racism to go with the fact that neither Utah nor Nevada have 
>nuclear reactors within their borders?!"

Comments:
1. Isn't east of the Mississippi River also Native American land? What is 
the point (NIMBY?)?
2. How many people live in Utah & Nevada?
3. What are the needs (MW & TWh) and supplies (MW & TWh) for electric power 
in Utah & Nevada?

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