Three Mile Island

Fuku-Youku-Nuku

The United States government deliberately hid “the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history,” according to experts and an in-depth investigation by NBC4 Southern California. Whistleblowers have also come forward to expose the little-known catastrophe, which occurred north of Los Angeles in 1959 and leaked over 300 times the allowable amount of radiation into surrounding neighborhoods. That contamination is now linked to up to a 60% increase in cancer in the area, but the government still refuses to acknowledge its colossal mistake.

The nuclear industry in the United States has been at a standstill for several decades. After an extraordinary wave of construction in the 1960s and 1970s, the nuclear industry ground to a halt. Operating nuclear reactors for 80 years may be feasible, but wear and tear cannot only raise safety questions, but constant maintenance can make them economically unviable. Cracks can form in plants as they age, forcing the plant offline. The cost of repairs have already forced some power plants offline for good. The San Onofre plant in California, for example, was shut down by Southern California Edison after the bill to repair leaks ballooned. Duke Energy closed a reactor at its Crystal River power plant in Florida as repair costs got out of hand. Such incidents could be more frequent in the years ahead. But if the industry gets its way, some plants could operate well beyond their current 60-year licenses.

While fear still lingers of a nuclear catastrophe on a similar scale as Fukushima, or earlier accidents such as Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, that hasn’t stopped a slew of countries from moving forward on plans to develop nuclear plants as an adjunct to existing power sources like hydro, coal, natural gas and good ol’ oil. Especially in developing countries that lack access to fossil fuels, nuclear is seen as a viable and cost-effective form of baseload power.

With the Fukushima disaster having disappeared from all media coverage in recent months (and with the plan to encapsulate the radioactive plant in an ice sarcophagus recently scrapped, Japan has still to reveal what its plans are for dealing with the disaster area), the world occasionally needs a reminder of the waste land that follow when nuclear power goes horribly wrong. For that we go back to the original nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, and US photographer Phillip Grossman who, while having taken numerous pictures of the radioactive sarcophagus and its surroundings in the past, has produced his most amazing work yet courtesy of a camera-equipped drone. It allowed him to use a high powered camera and get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding landscape. The stunning result is shown in the video below.

Is Low-Level Radiation Dangerous … Or Harmless?  How Much Radiation Will We Be Exposed To?  How Can We Protect Ourselves from Radiation?

In lieu of the Japanese government doing the right thing and finally coming clean about the epic environmental catastrophe that is Fukushima, which it hopes to simply dig under the rug even as the inconvenient reality gets worse and thousands of tons of radioactive water make their way into the ocean, one is forced to rely on third-party sources for information on this tragedy. We present a useful primer from Scientific American on Fukushima "water retention" problem and "what you need to know about the radioactive water leaking from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean."

Natural resource speculators know that past uranium bull markets offered some ’explosive’ (pun intended) upside. I have been fortunate enough to experience two uranium bull markets: the 1970s bull market, which saw a tenfold increase in the uranium price and a hundredfold increase in some uranium equities, and the bull market of the last decade, which saw a repeat of the earlier performance.[1] If past is prologue, the stage may be set for a third uranium bull run.

Can Low Doses of Radiation Cause MORE Damage than High Doses?

• New Greek demands threaten debt deal (FT)
• Greek Finance Minister Heads to Brussels; Loan Talks Stall (WSJ)
• Talks Stalled on Greek Bailout as Venizelos Heads to Brussels (Bloomberg)
• US banks near historic deal on foreclosures (FT)
• Obama: Europe needs "absolute commitment" on debt crisis (Reuters)
• Fed's Lacker sees no need for more easing for now (Reuters)
• Europe compromise urged at summit (China Daily)
• China to Punish Illicit Bank Lending, Shanghai Securities Says (Bloomberg)
• Monti Meets Obama Amid ’Spectacular Progress’ (Bloomberg)
• Draghi’s First 100 Days Presage Greek Help (Bloomberg)

Forget radiation from clusterFukushima ... Let's irradiate OURSELVES too!

Radioactive tritium released ... just like 75% of nuclear plants in America.

Regulations are going to get tougher, inspections more rigorous, and taxes higher. Raising the production cost of what is already the world’s most expensive oil. Watch out for the new $10 billion liability cap. The offshore industry’s dirty little secret. Cap & Trade, once DOA, has been reborn. The only certainty is more expensive gas at the pump.