'He
kept the paper straight."
Robert Colton/The
New York Times
A. M. Rosenthal in the New York Times newsroom in
1979.
May
6 was the 10th day of Chornobyl (20 years ago)
We
remember "Chornobyl Day" as April 26, 1986, the
day when the worst nuclear catastrophe ever known occurred in the
early morning hours in Ukraine when the reactor exploded with the
force of 40 tons of dynamite, creating a graphite fire which melted
down irradiated fuel, spewing radioactive gases and particles containing
plutonium and other deadly nuclear waste into the sky.
The fires continued relentlessly for ten full days - until
May 6, 2006 - releasing radiation equivalent to several Hiroshima
bombs daily.
By May 6, 2006, a radioactive blanket covered much of western Europe,
including Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy,
Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and the
United Kingdom. Eventually, radiation was dispersed oiver the entire
Northern Hemisphere, causing death irrespective of national boundaries.
Today we pause to consider the full scope of the human folly that
killed and maimed tens of thousands of people and created genetic
mutations which are irreversible in humans, plants and animals.
We remember the hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from their
lands forever.
We suffer sorrow at the losses of loved ones and ways of life in
the Polissia region.
Chornobyl is an ongoing catastrophe. Hundreds of pounds of plutonium
released as hot particles are scattered throughout the Northern
Hemisphere. Because of government inaction, it is feared that the
"next Chornobyl" will be an uncontrolled fission explosion
at Chornobyl, which remains intensely radioactive, beyond human
imagining. The radiation did not go away: it remains in the soil
and the water and the entire environment.
We reel in shock that leaders of nations, twenty years after the
Chornobyl catastrophe began, have no understanding nor memory of
it.
Those who lived through the ten days in April and May 1986 when
Chornobyl was on fire will never forgot the horror.
We rededicate our mission to educating the leaders to end
the menace of nuclear power.
 
"The
Sky Unwashed" is a novel based on the truth of
the aftermath of Chornobyl in the historic, acient villages of the
Polissia region of northern Ukraine. The author is the enormously
gifted Irene Zabytko.
Read this book and you
will never forget the nuclear holocaust that is still underway.
Go to www.amazon.com and have a copy rushed today! You will not be
able to put it down.
| 
Jack
R. Goldberg, Vice Chairman
Department of Public Utility Control |
Do
your job, Jackl!
May 11 will be the DPUC's 100th day of illegal retaliation.
Dominion
fired Sham S. Mehta, an employee at Millstone who blew the
whistle on Dominion's deliberate daily deactivation of the
perimeter security system to save money. Dominion's management
who made these decisions should be prosecuted and run out
of town. They have exposed our community to risk of nuclear
oblivion for corporate profits.
On January 31, 2006, the Department of Public Utility Control's
prosecutorial unit recommended that Mr. Mehta be reinstated
to his job immediately.
The DPUC has failed to act on that recommendation in violation
of the the letter and spirit of Connecticut's Nuclear Whistleblower
Law.
Mr. Mehta's fate - and the community's safety and security
- are in the hands of Jack R. Goldberg, DPUC's vice chairman.
Do your job, Jack!
Give Mr. Mehta back his job.
Make Dominion's corporate team prove that they operate the
perimeter security system at Millstone 24/7 without interruption.
|
Katie
the Goat's Babies Are Due Any Day Now; Radiation Monitoring
to Resume |
Katie
the Goat will soon resume her public service
as one of Millstone's primary strontium-90 environmental
monitors. When her baby goats are delivered, she will
produce milk which will be analysed for radiation content.
Because Katie lives within 10 miles of Millstone, she
ingests Millstone's strontium-90 releases in the grass
she eats and the water she drinks and the air she breathes.
In
its routine, everyday operations, Millstone releases strontium-90
- one of the deadliest radioisotopes created by man -
to the air we breathe. It enters the food chain when it
precipitates to the ground. We cannot see it, feel it,
smell it, touch it or detect it without complex laboratory
analysis. Millstone's corporate owners persuaded the NRC
in 1997 to let them abandon monitoring for strontium-90
releases to the air. Neither Dominion nor the NRC wants
the public to know how our air, water and environment
are being routinely poisoned by Millstone's everyday operations.
That's where Katie the Goat comes in. Goat milk is recognized
as a sensitive indicator of the presence of certain radionuclides,
especially strontium-90.
When people ingest strontium-90, it can be deadly. Strontium-90
mimics calcium. Young children are particularly vulnerable
to its toxic effects. Strontium-90 and its "daughter"
products cause bone cancer, leukemia, immune deficiency
diseases, breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer
and a host of other deadly diseases.
Katie's message to the people of the planet is simple:
Stop the killing -Close the killing machines. Nuclear
energy's insidious poisoning must stop.
Click here
to send a greeting to Katie the Goat! - Katie@MothballMillstone.org
|
From
The Ukrainian Weekly April 30, 2006:
Chornobyl Catastrophe Remembered with Prayers,
Conferences By Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau
Kyiv - . . .Aside from the offficial conferences, Ukrainian,
German and other European environmental organizations combined
efforts to host the "Chornobyl + 20: Remembrance for
the Future" conference, which had an explicit anti-nuclear
energy orientation.
Among those attending was Nancy Burton of the Connecticut
Coalition Against Millstone, which has led an effort to
close the Millstone nuclear power plant in Connecticut since
[1998].
She was initially drawn to Ukraine by the Orange Revolution
as an election observer and then began to study the Chornobyl
disaster.
"I am horrified to learn that far from entering the
modern era of conservation and investing in clean, green
energy, it sounds like the Orange Revolution's leaders are
pushing for a nuclear revival in the homeland of Chornobyl,"
she said.
"Frankly, it makes no sense to me."
A disaster like Chornobyl could just as easily happen at
Millstone, she said, and Americans have no reason to feel
comforted that its nuclear industry is in private hands.
"Cutting corners is the name of the game, and they
did that in the construction of Millstone," she said.
Leukemia, thyroid cancers and extraordinary cancer cases
have been increasing and are unusually high [near] Millstone,"
she added.
|
Copyright,
The Ukrainian Weekly, 2006. Reproduced with permission |
What
are you waiting for, Mr. Blumenthal?
Connecticut
has an environmental imperative: to close Millstone!
Chornobyl
Day April 26,2006
Coalition
Director Nancy Burton at Memorial to Chornobyl Victims at Chornobyl
National Museum in Kiev, Ukraine April
25, 2006
Remember
the victims of the world's worst nuclear catastrophe.
We are all victims.
There will be hundreds of thousands of human casualties all across
Europe. (Greenpeace)
Six hundred Americans died as a direct result of the Chornobyl nuclear
catastrophe. (Ian Farlie, Independent Radiation Analyst, April 25,
2006)
In areas of the nation of Belarus, which was heavily contaminated
with Chornobyl fallout, 80 per cent of the children being born today
are born unhealthy, many with severe birth defects.
We are entering an era when latent cancers will become manifest
as hard organ cancers in adults.
The full effects of Chornobyl will not be known for hundreds of
years.
On Chornobyl Day 2006, contemplate these facts, which were revealed
at the "Chornobyl + 20 Remembrance Conference" in Kiev,
Ukraine April 23-25, sponsored by Nuclear Information Resources
Service (NIRS), the German Green Party and many others: If Ukraine
invested in energy efficiency technology, it could readily achieve
the level of energy efficiency which is the world average - and
in the process reduce its electricity consumption by 60 per cent,
more than is provided by all its remaining operating nuclear power
plants. Thus Ukraine could shut down its nuclear power industry
and accomplish only positive benefits. All the government needs
to do is to listen to the people and act in the interests of humanity.
All the world is watching.
We must continue the struggle to end nuclear madness around the
world!
Visit:
www.nirs.org for reports of the
health and environmental consequences of Chornobyl reelased on the
20th anniversary of the nuclear disaster.
CHORNOBYL
+ 20: Remembrance for the Future
What
if Chernobyl happened here?
TO SEE WHAT
HARTFORD, NEW HAVEN, BRIDGEPORT, ETC. WOULD LOOK LIKE IF THERE WERE
A TERRORIST STRIKE OR A NUCLEAR ACCIDENT AT MILLSTONE OR ANOTHER
SURROUNDING PLANT, PLEASE LOOK AT http://www.kiddofspeed.com
To observe the terrible 1986 accident which still affects the gene
pool, please come to a candlelight vigil at the North Portico of
the Connecticut State Capital on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30 PM.
This vigil marks the 20th Anniversary of the catastrophic explosion
and the beginning of a terrible life change for millions.
PACE will have a 30 foot banner. Please help us hold it up.
Thanks for honoring the dead, the maimed and the sick.
Sponsored by PACE (People's Action for Clean Energy), www.pace-cleanenergy.org
Goodnight
Sweet Prince of Peace
THE
REV. WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, center, in Montgomery, Ala., earned
a national reputation in the 1960s and ‘70s marching for civil
rights in the South and encouraging young men to turn in their draft
cards to protest the Vietnam War.
William
Sloane Coffin
1924-2006
Rev.
William Sloane Coffin Dies at 81; Fought for Civil Rights and Against
a War
Millstone
Insecurity Day 3/29/06
Thank
you Mr. Blumenthal! Thank you Attorney General
Richard S. Blumenthal for being the guest speaker at the Connecticut
Coalition Against Millstone's "Millstone Insecurity Rally"
on March 29, 2006 at the entranceway to Millstone in Waterford.
You joined us in honoring Sham S. Mehta for his courageous whistleblowing.
You joined us in demanding Mr. Mehta's reinstatement, implementation
of terrorist-proof security at Millstone and rejecting the Broadwater
project as an unconscionable threat to Millstone security.
Blumenthal's
remarks to the NRC 3/29/06
Mr. Blumenthal's remarks to Congress
4/4/06
Congressman
Markey Excoriates NRC as Nuke Industry Dupes
Dominion
Senior Vice President Alan Price (left) and Dominion management
appear at NRC annual assessment meeting at Millstone 3/29/06.
What
Mr. Price didn't tell Mr. Blumenthal or the public on Millstone
Insecurity Day: Millstone Unit 2 was operating at 100 per cent power
with a broken 30-year-old pump in a safety-critical backup system,
triggering a five-day shutdown of the reactor and unusual releases
of radiation to the air which Mr. Blumenthal and the public breathe.
"Coalition
to Price: We demand answers!"
April
Fools: The joke's on us!
Save
the Date! Sunday, September 17, 2:30 p.m.
Dr. Helen Caldicott: Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Global Warming!
Free
Movie Screening of Chernobyl Heart - Meet Annya, living legacy of
Chornobyl
Download
this rally poster in high resolution for printing
MILLSTONE
INSECURITY DAY EVENTS
NRC To Meet At Millstone To Review Annual Report
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet
at 3 p.m. Wednesday with the owners of Millstone Power Station to
review the commission's annual report on the station.
The meeting will be held at the Leland F. Sillin Jr. Training Center
on Rope Ferry Road. The NRC will answer questions from the public
following the meeting.
The NRC recently released its report, which describes safe and reliable
operations at Millstone's Unit 2 and Unit 3 reactors over the past
year. Dominion Nuclear Connecticut owns the station.
The report does not address recent allegations by a whistleblower
that an electronic system used to detect intruders was regularly turned
off because it was malfunctioning. The NRC has refused to discuss
the complaint, citing security concerns.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday at Town Hall, the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council,
a community watchdog group, plans to review the report.
The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone plans to rally at 2 p.m.
Wednesday at Millstone.
Where
to park for Millstone Insecurity Rally:
Best location: Marlin Drive, just to the east of Millstone's entranceway
at 314 Rope Ferry Road (Route 156) in Waterford.
Next best location: Camp View Motor Court, 344 Rope Ferry Road (Route
156) heading down the hill from Millstone.
View
or print map for driving directions
Please arrive early!
"Security
is a real issue here because of Millstone"
- U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor
March 13, 2006 |
|
| 
Help
Annya and her family:
support Greenpeace, www.greenpeace.org |
Meet
Annya, living legacy of Chornobyl.
Please
Join Us!
The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone Presents “Chernobyl
Heart,” the Academy Award-winning (2005) documentary
which shockingly and movingly depicts the continuing effects
of radiation on the children of Belarus, the country most
affected by the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Running time: 39 minutes.
Date: April 12, 2006 (Wednesday)
Time: 7 P.M.
Location: East Lyme Room, East Lyme Public Library, 39 Society
Road, East Lyme CT
Admission: Free
|
Attorney
General Intervenes To Support Millstone Whistleblower;
Cites "Matters of the utmost concern to all Connecticut
citizens regarding the safety and security of the Millstone Nuclear
Power Plant and the treatment of whistleblowers by Millstone’s
operator
View
of Millstone from McCook's Point, Niantic during
Snowstorm.
Weather
at Millstone 3/3/06: Wind blowing hard toward the east, creating whitecaps
on Niantic Bay. HOW SAFE ARE YOU?
The shocking truth can now be told: when the wind blows at Millstone
Point (as it does most of the time), Dominion routinely disables its
Intrusion Detection System because the system records hundreds of
false alarms per day. Under federal rules, each alarm must be verified
by an employee within 20 minutes to determine if it was an intruder
or just a false alarm.
That means that for hours on end during wintery
weather events and at other times, the Millstone Nuclear Power
Station, its unprotected intake structures and its nuclear reactors
and storage pools with thousands of tons of high-level nuclear waste
are highly vulnerable to intrusion.
“Once inside, the terrorists’ hard work would be over.
Then, surprisingly, would come the easy part: triggering a nuclear
meltdown.”--TIME Magazine, June 20, 2005
Dominion targeted Sham S. Mehta for retaliatory discharge because
he reported the truth and insisted on corrective action. On January
31, 2006, the Department of Public Utility Control’s Prosecutorial
Unit recommended that Mr. Mehta be ordered reinstated immediately
to his job. fifty five days have elapsed with no positive action from
the DPUC. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, DPUC! DO YOUR JOB! The people
of the State of Connecticut need Mr. Mehta to be reinstated to stop
the thuggery and reckless misconduct by Dominion.
WE
DEMAND A FULL AND OPEN INVESTIGATION AND WE DEMAND RESULTS:
1. Mr. Mehta’s immediate reinstatement;
2. Criminal investigation of Dominion by the U.S. Department of Justice;
3. Full, open and fair hearings before Congress and the State of Connecticut.
MOST OF ALL WE DEMAND THAT MILLSTONE BE PUT TO MOTHBALLS!
Whistleblower
Complaint Draws Attention
Shays To Question NRC in Wake Of Alert-system controversy At Millstone
Winter
Weather Wreaks Havoc In Region
Drivers Avoid Injury, But Not Each Other |
Millstone
Deliberately Deactivates Perimeter Security System When Wind Blows;
Time to Deactivate This Radioactive Weapon of Mass Destruction;
Couargeous Whistleblower Alerts Feds to Dominion Lies
Official
at nuclear power station alleges retaliation
Contends he lost post after raising security concerns
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | March 1, 2006
WASHINGTON -- A senior official at Millstone Nuclear Power Station in
Waterford, Conn., was recently relieved of his duties after he complained
that the plant's electronic security system was seriously flawed and
that site managers had turned it off on multiple occasions to avoid
false alarms, according to a complaint to the federal Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
Sham Mehta, 58, contends he was retaliated against after repeatedly
lodging the allegations with his superiors at Dominion Nuclear Connecticut
as well as a federal inspector at the plant. Mehta -- who was removed
on Jan. 31 and is now on paid leave -- is seeking reinstatement while
the NRC, state Department of Public Utility Control, and US Department
of Labor investigate his allegations.
While Dominion refuses to talk about security matters, state investigators
last month found there were ''sufficient grounds" to believe Mehta
was punished for raising the concerns about the plant's defenses.
The allegations about inadequate security at Millstone are occurring
as the federal government is crafting new security standards for the
nation's 64 nuclear power plants, and watchdog groups say the case highlights
the need for more stringent oversight. The Millstone plant, which was
temporarily shut down in 1997 by the NRC due to safety concerns, has
passed all current tests to see whether attackers could penetrate the
facility. But critics insist the tests are too easy to pass.
''They give them six months' warning that they're coming to test the
defenses," said Peter Stockton, a senior investigator at the nonpartisan
Project on Government Oversight and a former Energy Department security
official.
''Perimeter fences are a key part" of plants' defenses, he said,
referring to the type of electronic system allegedly turned off at Millstone.
''They should be testing these systems much more aggressively."
Mehta, whose job was to field complaints from fellow plant workers,
first notified Dominion officials in late 2004 that thousands of false
alarms in the Intrusion Detection System were the result of rainy and
windy weather coming off Long Island Sound or flocks of birds -- as
many as 1,000 false alarms per day, according to the NRC report.
He also reported that the network of motion sensors and security cameras
had been purposely turned off, posing what he described as ''an unacceptable
risk" of sabotage.
He said in the NRC complaint that he had personally noted that the system
was off at one point and that workers had told him of other times when
it had been turned off by security managers.
''I discussed my . . . concern with the security manager that potential
intruders may take advantage of an unguarded area of the fence when
the IDS is not functioning," he wrote in the December complaint.
The plant tried to compensate for the lack of adequate electronic surveillance
by having guards drive around the exterior of the plant, Mehta said.
During an investigation he performed as part of his official duties,
Mehta said in the complaint, he obtained signed statements from many
security guards reporting that they were ''desensitized" by the
frequent false alarms and sometimes declined to investigate them.
Mehta, a mechanical engineer who has worked in the nuclear industry
for 30 years, further alleged that security managers altered federal
reports to contend that ''extreme weather" was responsible for
the false alarms even though they were triggered by average conditions.
Continue>>>
Malfunction
Shuts Millstone 2
The Millstone Unit 2 nuclear reactor was shut down
by operators on Thursday, February 23. It remains shut down due to equipment
malfunction. A loss of instrument air pressure resulted in the closure
of two valves that supply water to the steam generators, according to
plant sources.
|
Peter
Bowman
