sunsettommy
05-11-2006, 06:32 AM
From the HAWAII REPORTER,
Lies and distortion hour!
60 Minutes Does it Again - Rave on Ms. Stahl
By Michael R. Fox, 5/5/2006 12:02:31 PM
Excerpt:
One of the 60 Minute segments of April 30, 2006, dealt with the Hanford Reservation in Eastern Washington State. This at one time was the secret location of many nuclear facilities which made the plutonium for the U.S. weapons programs including the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. It continued to make plutonium into the early '70s. Part of the process required the production of high level liquid wastes containing large amounts of radioactivity. Since the late '40s these wastes have been stored in huge steel tanks, often of 1 million gallons each. This liquid and the solid salt cake and sludge contained within the tanks have been the subject of scare stories for decades.
This particular segment was a confused jumble of many Hanford issues. Certainly the Department of Energy is culpable for a number of problems which have occurred over the decades. Likewise, some of the large Department of Education contractors must own their share of responsibility too. However, Bechtel the current contractor in charge of building some of the largest waste cleanup facilities here, is capable of defending itself and has done so admirably. See for example -- http://www.bechtel.com/PDF/WTP_written_testimony.pdf Leslie Stahl certainly did not tell the whole truth which was available to her and her staff. Major problems which 60 Minutes refuses to grasp are the many changes of regulations and design criteria which take place after construction begins. In fact big media itself has historically had a major role in this “regulatory instability” for decades in the entire US nuclear industry.
My concerns are directed at the program subtexts for most of these issues, namely the exaggerated effects of low level radiation and related health risks alleged to exist at Hanford. Not mentioned by Stahl are the 30 years of exaggerations about Hanford which exist to this day. Likewise, local and state media have failed to address the exaggerations, as have state and national political leaders, and of course the environmental movement so quick and breezy with wild assertions. It was too much to hope that the prestigious Stahl and her staff would begin undoing the nonsense even after all these years. Regrettably, she didn’t since scare stories still sell.
(more)
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?67c29416-15b5-4226-be8d-639ff176ba1f
I have lived right next door to the place since 1964.There has been minor accidents involving workers.But the reservation itself has been quite safe to the public.
The lies and distortions spewed out by 60 Minutes and others of their ilk have been long ago debunked.The famous debate between Dr. Lapp and Ralph Nader happened at Hanford in the early 1980's.Nader was wiped out! He failed miserably to prove the overblown dangers of Nuclear reactors.But the media did not say much about it.
Still they persist and that is why Nuclear power in the minds of millions of easily led scientifically illiterate morons with alleged dangers,fight the proven power source.Meanwhile France gets 80% of their power from Nuclear.The public there seems happy to get it that way.
It is amazing that so many drooling morons here in America can bottle up a proven power source.
The people of the Tri-Cities knows that Hanford is a good source of power and that the dangers of the place is not as the media portrays it.It is among the very fastest growing region of the state and has been for a few years now.
The people here are not being fooled by the tropes at 60 minutes.
Lies and distortion hour!
60 Minutes Does it Again - Rave on Ms. Stahl
By Michael R. Fox, 5/5/2006 12:02:31 PM
Excerpt:
One of the 60 Minute segments of April 30, 2006, dealt with the Hanford Reservation in Eastern Washington State. This at one time was the secret location of many nuclear facilities which made the plutonium for the U.S. weapons programs including the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. It continued to make plutonium into the early '70s. Part of the process required the production of high level liquid wastes containing large amounts of radioactivity. Since the late '40s these wastes have been stored in huge steel tanks, often of 1 million gallons each. This liquid and the solid salt cake and sludge contained within the tanks have been the subject of scare stories for decades.
This particular segment was a confused jumble of many Hanford issues. Certainly the Department of Energy is culpable for a number of problems which have occurred over the decades. Likewise, some of the large Department of Education contractors must own their share of responsibility too. However, Bechtel the current contractor in charge of building some of the largest waste cleanup facilities here, is capable of defending itself and has done so admirably. See for example -- http://www.bechtel.com/PDF/WTP_written_testimony.pdf Leslie Stahl certainly did not tell the whole truth which was available to her and her staff. Major problems which 60 Minutes refuses to grasp are the many changes of regulations and design criteria which take place after construction begins. In fact big media itself has historically had a major role in this “regulatory instability” for decades in the entire US nuclear industry.
My concerns are directed at the program subtexts for most of these issues, namely the exaggerated effects of low level radiation and related health risks alleged to exist at Hanford. Not mentioned by Stahl are the 30 years of exaggerations about Hanford which exist to this day. Likewise, local and state media have failed to address the exaggerations, as have state and national political leaders, and of course the environmental movement so quick and breezy with wild assertions. It was too much to hope that the prestigious Stahl and her staff would begin undoing the nonsense even after all these years. Regrettably, she didn’t since scare stories still sell.
(more)
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?67c29416-15b5-4226-be8d-639ff176ba1f
I have lived right next door to the place since 1964.There has been minor accidents involving workers.But the reservation itself has been quite safe to the public.
The lies and distortions spewed out by 60 Minutes and others of their ilk have been long ago debunked.The famous debate between Dr. Lapp and Ralph Nader happened at Hanford in the early 1980's.Nader was wiped out! He failed miserably to prove the overblown dangers of Nuclear reactors.But the media did not say much about it.
Still they persist and that is why Nuclear power in the minds of millions of easily led scientifically illiterate morons with alleged dangers,fight the proven power source.Meanwhile France gets 80% of their power from Nuclear.The public there seems happy to get it that way.
It is amazing that so many drooling morons here in America can bottle up a proven power source.
The people of the Tri-Cities knows that Hanford is a good source of power and that the dangers of the place is not as the media portrays it.It is among the very fastest growing region of the state and has been for a few years now.
The people here are not being fooled by the tropes at 60 minutes.