Five revelations about St. Louis’ history with radioactive waste

By: Allison Kite - July 12, 2023

"The #MissouriIndependent and #MuckRock spent months scouring thousands of pages of government records about St. Louis’ involvement in the race to build an #AtomicBomb during World War II and decades of #environmental #contamination that followed.

"Journalists sought to lay bare the degree to which government officials knew of the spreading contamination and the danger it posed to St. Louis County residents.

"While the contamination at the #WestLakeLandfill and in #ColdwaterCreek has been covered extensively for decades, documents obtained by the newsrooms revealed the way federal officials failed to take stronger measures to protect the health of St. Louis-area residents."

Read more:
https://missouriindependent.com/2023/07/12/five-revelations-about-st-louis-history-with-radioactive-waste/
#RadioactiveContamination #ColdWar #SaintLouisMissouri

[Thread] #Indigenous #SpiritualWalk in #Utah #Protests Last Conventional #UraniumMill

By Alex Binder, Unicorn Riot November 1, 2024

#WhiteMesa, #Utah — "The #WhiteMesaMill was built in 1979 with plans to process #uranium ore for 15 years. With the facility now well past its initial operational lifespan, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, other Indigenous tribes and allies continue their call for it to be shut down and cleaned up. On October 12, over 75 people participated in an annual spiritual walk in opposition to the mill, which is the last conventional uranium processing plant in operation in the United States.

"Participants met at the White Mesa Community Center in southern Utah at 11 a.m., then walked five miles north on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 191 to rally outside the mill. Throughout the hours-long walk, Unicorn Riot spoke with attendees about their opposition to the 45-year-old mill owned by Energy Fuels Inc."

Thread contains links to the four videos...

https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/indigenous-spiritual-walk-in-utah-protests-last-conventional-uranium-mill/

#Tewa Women United: #Pueblo Infants Endangered by #LANL 's #Radiation Plan

#NativeLedNonprofit #TewaWomenUnited Commissioned Two Reports to Study Impacts. Finding: #LosAlamos National Laboratory Omitted Dose Calculations to Infants and Children in Their Compliance Application

By Tewa Women United, #CensoredNews, November 19, 2024

#EspanolaNewMexico — "The Native-led nonprofit organization Tewa Women United, based in Española, New Mexico, has released two independent scientific technical reports assessing the implications and adherence to regulations concerning Los Alamos National Laboratory’s proposal to release tritium into the open atmosphere from four Flanged #Tritium Waste Containers located in Area G, near #WhiteRockNewMexico.

"These reports found that the concentration of tritium in the most loaded radioactive container, if vented during unfavorable weather conditions, could lead to radiation doses significantly exceeding the annual regulatory limit of 10 millirem established by the Environmental Protection Agency regulatory radiation standards.

"The author of one report, Bernd Franke, stated, 'In the case of tritium, infants and small children get a radiation dose about three times greater than adults, with the same concentrations of tritium in air, water, and food.'

"However, LANL’s application for venting did not include potential impacts of the #TritiumVenting on infants or children; in effect, LANL did not consider them as 'members of the public.' So far during the permitting process, the #EPA has allowed LANL to ignore these #VulnerablePopulations in their proposal.

"Kathy Wan Povi Sanchez, member of #SanIldefonsoPueblo and one of Tewa Women United’s co- founders, said, 'Tritium makes water, our sacred source of life, radioactive. We were shocked to learn that LANL’s compliance calculations did not take infants and other children into account.'"

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/tewa-women-united-pueblo-infants.html

#WaterIsLife #RadioactiveContamination #Genocide #NativeAmericans #ProtectTheSacred
#ReaderSupportedNews #PuebloTribes #NoNukes #TritiumContamination

Not the first time #Israel has used #DepletedUranium on civilian populations...

From 2015: VP/HR — Gaza Strip and bombs with depleted uranium

March 3, 2015

"There is now enough convincing data to prove that Israel has repeatedly used depleted uranium [#DU] weaponry. Such was the case in the large-scale massacre that took place in the #GazaStrip in August 2014.

"These weapons cause #cancers and #foetal malformations in the populations affected, which may take on epidemic proportions. In #Iraq, in the city of #Fallujah, where these bombs were launched in industrial quantities by the International Coalition led by the# UnitedStates, 52% of children today are born with #deformities.

"The lethal effects of #radioactivity caused by explosions and subsequent fires, including cancer of the lungs and pleura, can persist for centuries in the #environment and particularly in #aquifers. We are therefore on the verge of another humanitarian catastrophe in #Palestine and in particular in the #Gaza Strip, where thousands of tons of depleted uranium bombs were dropped with the effects that have already been documented.

"In view of this situation, what is the Vice-President/High Representative thinking of doing to pressure Israel into assuming its responsibilities for this crime against humanity, and what help can the Vice-President/High Representative offer to the Palestinian authorities to carry out epidemiological monitoring, which also includes all EU citizens who have moved to the territory since then?"

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2015-003481_EN.html

#WaterIsLife #FreePalestine #IsraeliWarCrimes #UraniumPoisoning #DU
#WorldWarBibi #NoWar #NoDepletedUranium #NoNuclearWeapons
#RadioactiveContamination
#HumanRightsViolations #BannedWeapons

#Israel using internationally banned bombs in #Lebanon, chemists union says

October 7, 2024

"The Syndicate of Chemists in Lebanon (#SCL) warned yesterday that the extent of destruction and the depth of damage to buildings and the ground confirms the use of internationally banned bombs containing #DepletedUranium by #Israeli forces, warning of the risk of contracting many diseases as a result of inhaling the [#radioactive] dust caused by the bombing.

"It said in a 'very important warning” that it condemns “the barbaric aggression against civilians in Lebanon and the massacres being committed against the Lebanese people,' noting that the warning aims 'to raise awareness about the effects of inhaling the dust from Israeli bombings in several Lebanese areas.'

"'The extent of destruction and the penetration of buildings and ground by dozens of metres is evidence of the use of #bombs containing depleted #uranium, which has tremendous penetrating power,' it added.

"The SCL stressed that “the use of such types of internationally banned weapons, especially in densely populated #Beirut, leads to massive destruction, and their dust causes many diseases, especially when inhaled.'

"The SCL called on 'the international community to stop the aggression against Lebanon, and to stop the use of internationally banned bombs.'

"It also called on the Lebanese state to file a lawsuit with the #UNSecurityCouncil 'against the violations taking place on Lebanese soil and the attempted mass killings of innocent #civilians.'"

Read more:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241007-israel-using-internationally-banned-bombs-in-lebanon-chemists-union-says/

#ukraine #russia : #war / #warweapons / #depleteduranium / #dumunition / #health / #radioactivecontamination / #icbuw

https://www.icbuw.eu/icbuw-update-on-du-in-ukraine/

A small town in rural Ohio is producing #EnrichedUranium again. Here's why that matters

The Ohio Newsroom | By Erin Gottsacker
Published April 18, 2024

"When Centrus Energy flipped three switches at its new plant last fall, it was a new beginning for an industry that had been dormant for more than a decade in #Ohio: #UraniumEnrichment.

"As the U.S. looks to meet its clean energy [sic] goals, there’s increasing demand for the resource, which is necessary for nuclear power generation.

"For years, the U.S. didn’t have a American-owned source of enriched uranium. (A subsidiary of #Urenco enriches #uranium in #NewMexico, but it's owned by a conglomeration of foreign governments and European-based businesses.) Now, #CentrusEnergy is attempting to fill in the gap. And it’s doing that at a plant in #PiketonOhio.

[...]

"Some locals aren’t thrilled. One group worries about the industry’s connection to #NuclearWeapons. Others fear the waste from the plant could #contaminate the surrounding #environment. The specter of the last time #uranium was being enriched in Piketon looms large: many former plant workers get federal compensation because of illnesses they sustained as a result of exposure to #toxic and #radioactive materials.

"'I feel violated,' said Vina Colley, a former worker at the #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant. 'They said I would get more radiation by getting on the plane than working out here.'

"In the time since she worked at the plant, she’s battled #beryllium disease, #ChronicBronchitis, #COPD, #neuropathy and #HeartFailure."

Read more:
https://www.wvxu.org/2024-04-18/a-small-town-in-rural-ohio-is-now-the-only-place-in-america-producing-enriched-uranium

via @bojacobs

Revealed: #Sellafield #nuclear site has leak that could pose risk to public

Safety concerns at #Europe’s most #hazardous plant have caused diplomatic tensions with US, Norway and Ireland

Anna Isaac and Alex Lawson
Tue 5 Dec 2023

"Sellafield, Europe’s most hazardous nuclear site, has a worsening leak from a huge silo of #RadioactiveWaste that could pose a risk to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

"Concerns over safety at the crumbling building, as well as cracks in a reservoir of toxic sludge known as B30, have caused diplomatic tensions with countries including the US, Norway and Ireland, which fear Sellafield has failed to get a grip of the problems.

"The leak of radioactive liquid from one of the 'highest nuclear hazards in the UK' – a decaying building at the vast Cumbrian site known as the Magnox swarf storage Silo (MSSS) – is likely to continue to 2050. That could have 'potentially significant consequences' if it gathers pace, risking contaminating #groundwater, according to an official document.

"Cracks have also developed in the concrete and asphalt skin covering the huge pond containing decades of nuclear sludge, part of a catalogue of safety problems at the site.

"These concerns have emerged in #NuclearLeaks, a year-long #Guardian investigation into problems spanning cyber #hacking, #radioactivecontamination and toxic #workplace culture at the vast nuclear dump.

"Sellafield, a sprawling 6 sq km (2 sq mile) site on the Cumbrian coast employing 11,000 people, stores and treats nuclear waste from weapons programmes and nuclear power generation, and is the largest such facility in Europe."

Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/05/sellafield-nuclear-site-leak-could-pose-risk-to-public