Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message: > From: "Greg Palast" <[email protected]> > Date: March 14, 2011 10:55:25 AM PDT > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Subject: Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants > Reply-To: [email protected] > > TOKYO ELECTRIC TO BUILD US NUCLEAR PLANTS > The no-BS info on Japan's disastrous nuclear operators > > by Greg Palast > New York - March 14, 2011 > > I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead > investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering > investigations. > > > Texas plants planned by Tokyo Electric. Image:NINA > I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co > (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen. > > But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked > Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors > to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power > and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough. > > Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven't heard on > CNN: > > The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no > surprise to those of us who have worked in the field. > > Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or > "Seismic Qualification." That is, the owners swear that all components are > designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake > or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda. > > The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all > the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the > Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have > cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from 'failed' > to 'passed.' > > The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the > nuclear unit of Shaw Construction which will work with Tokyo Electric to > build the Texas plant, Lord help us. > > There's more. > > Last night I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami > disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water > unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps. > > These safety back-up systems are the 'EDGs' in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel > Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department > telling us they couldn't save a building because "it was on fire." > > What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death > at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect > of the emergency diesel system. > > Now be afraid. Obama's $4 billion bail-out-in-the-making is called the South > Texas Project. It's been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power > domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. > However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that > bought the US brand name, Westinghouse — Toshiba. > > I once had a Toshiba computer. I only had to send it in once for warranty > work. However, it's kind of hard to mail back a reactor with the warranty > slip inside the box if the fuel rods are melted and sinking halfway to the > earth's core. > > TEPCO and Toshiba don't know what my son learned in 8th grade science class: > tsunamis follow Pacific Rim earthquakes. So these companies are real stupid, > eh? Maybe. More likely is that the diesels and related systems wouldn't > have worked on a fine, dry afternoon. > > Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a > mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuke, for example, the builders > swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. > They'd been tested. The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short > time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under > emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about > an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels, "Snap, Crackle > and Pop." > > (Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three > diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.) > > In the US, we supposedly fixed our diesels after much complaining by the > industry. But in Japan, no one tells Tokyo Electric to do anything the > Emperor of Electricity doesn't want to do. > > I get lots of confidential notes from nuclear industry insiders. One > engineer, a big name in the field, is especially concerned that Obama waved > the come-hither check to Toshiba and Tokyo Electric to lure them to America. > The US has a long history of whistleblowers willing to put themselves on the > line to save the public. In our racketeering case in New York, the government > only found out about the seismic test fraud because two courageous engineers, > Gordon Dick and John Daly, gave our team the documentary evidence. > > In Japan, it's simply not done. The culture does not allow the salary-men, > who work all their their lives for one company, to drop the dime. > > Not that US law is a wondrous shield: both engineers in the New York case > were fired and blacklisted by the industry. Nevertheless, the government > (local, state, federal) brought civil racketeering charges against the > builders. The jury didn't buy the corporation's excuses and, in the end, the > plant was, thankfully, dismantled. > > Am I on some kind of xenophobic anti-Nippon crusade? No. In fact, I'm far > more frightened by the American operators in the South Texas nuclear project, > especially Shaw. Stone & Webster, now the Shaw nuclear division, was also the > firm that conspired to fake the EDG tests in New York. (The company's other > exploits have been exposed by their former consultant, John Perkins, in his > book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.) > If the planet wants to shiver, consider this: Toshiba and Shaw have recently > signed a deal to become world-wide partners in the construction of nuclear > stations. > > The other characters involved at the South Texas Plant that Obama is backing > should also give you the willies. But as I'm in the middle of investigating > the American partners, I'll save that for another day. > > So, if we turned to America's own nuclear contractors, would we be safe? > Well, two of the melting Japanese reactors, including the one whose building > blew sky high, were built by General Electric of the Good Old US of A. > > After Texas, you're next. The Obama Administration is planning a total of > $56 billion in loans for nuclear reactors all over America. > > And now, the homicides: > > CNN is only interested in body counts, how many workers burnt by radiation, > swept away or lost in the explosion. These plants are now releasing > radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Be skeptical about the statements that > the "levels are not dangerous." These are the same people who said these > meltdowns could never happen. Over years, not days, there may be a thousand > people, two thousand, ten thousand who will suffer from cancers induced by > this radiation. > > In my New York investigation, I had the unhappy job of totaling up > post-meltdown "morbidity" rates for the county government. It would be > irresponsible for me to estimate the number of cancer deaths that will occur > from these releases without further information; but it is just plain > criminal for the Tokyo Electric shoguns to say that these releases are not > dangerous. Indeed, the fact that residents near the Japanese nuclear plants > were not issued iodine pills to keep at the ready shows TEPCO doesn't care > who lives and who dies whether in Japan or the USA. The carcinogenic isotopes > that are released at Fukushima are already floating to Seattle with effects > we simply cannot measure. > > Heaven help us. Because Obama won't. > > *** > > For Truthout/Buzzflash > > Greg Palast is the co-author of Democracy and Regulation, the United Nations > ILO guide for public service regulators, with Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo > MacGregor. Palast has advised regulators in 26 states and in 12 nations on > the regulation of the utility industry. > > Palast, whose reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight, is a Puffin > Foundation Writing Fellow for investigative reporting. > > Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter and podcasts. > Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter. > > www.GregPalast.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > To no longer receive these e-mails reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in > the subject line.
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
