Occupy Mar 9, 2012 at 12:14 pm

Comments

1
In related news: the San Onofre nuclear plant in Southern California (which, side note, sits on a fault line) has been shut down for the last month because of leakage.
2
It's high time to re-evaluate the benefits vs. dangers of nuclear power.
It would be sweet if wind, solar, wave motion power, etc - even came anywhere close to what our society requires. But they just simply don't. Look at the even basic math about it.
This isn't to say that we shouldn't continue to explore these renewable 'green' power soarces, but they just ain't there yet on any realistic timetable.
Every power soarce has its' own set of problems, certainly - - but look at the French model of nuclear use.
It just may be the safest, and even cleanest, model of power manufacturing that mankind can generate.
I recall talking with a rafting friend of my sister, who just happened to be a nuclear scientist (like you meet one of those folks so often, right?) Nice guy.
But when I questioned him about the future of our country's power usage, he just simply said we all have some serious questions and fears we must address.
Even in light of the recent tragedy in Japan, etc - I have begun to feel we - as a society - really need to look again at nuclear power as a viable solution to a great part of the answer of our countries need for power.
Nuclear technology has been evolving. It isn't perfect. But it seems like it is becoming, ironically, the true 'green' alternative for power.
3
Also, Alex, this person that was the subject of the interview - I'm curious of to what expertise Miriam German offers, aside from opinion. Does she hold a degree in any relevent discipline?
I don't wanna sound like a dick here, but I would like to hear of the credentials of anyone claiming to be an expert on the subject, if they are offering a rallying point for the public.
4
Earth Day is actually April 22nd:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day
http://www.earthday.org/2012

I'm sure that what Miriam had meant by "April 15 is the day before Earth Day" is that April 16th is the first day of Earth Week:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day#Ear…

frankieb, you do sound like a dick. Miriam didn't claim in this article to be an expert on anything, that is just something you made up. A person does not need any special degree to organize a rally and to network people who know a lot about an issue with those who want to know about the issue.
5
OK, agreed on 'expert' - but she certainly hasn't stated her case very well at all - and comparing Hanford to Fukishima is just simply fear mongering.
And the you have the issue of 'occupy' now becoming a protest for hire by any group.
6
Actually comparing Hanford to Fukushima is apt. The remaining reactor there is similar in design.

But please note that the main focus of this event is not power generation but the defunding of Hanford cleanup -- cleanup of a slow-moving continuing nuclear disaster, occurring now, that is creeping toward mass contamination of the second biggest watershed in North America -- the Columbia.

It is an Occupy Portland event because we are downstream, the biggest population center that will be affected.

The other problem with the expertise issue, of course, is that the experts continually have been wrong. Events like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima were supposed to have astronomically small probabilities of occurring -- yet there they are in a space of 35 years. Something is wrong with the way that the risk assessments are made.
7
This is not about the defunding of Hanford, it is about getting the job done. The project is years behind in any commitments made, and slipping further as we banter here. The Project goals keep changing, the program is a secret, kind of like what is in the tanks and river.
This "clean up" right now could have many motives and goals, we do not know. It is hidden behind industry concerns, multi-billion dollar congressional appropriations, and Government agency acronyms and some tired rules. Post that with a media machine easily able to run us over and how do we talk about this?
Was there a manipulation of safety information in the early nineties, to change objectives that is costing billions of extra dollars and time?
I do not know, and after being lied to about the extent of the three Fukushimas MOX fueled reactors meltdowns, I no longer trust. I support the Message and the conversation we are bringing to Richland. We need to spend more not less!

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